LibreOffice 5.2 launched with tons of new features

The Document Foundation has released LibreOffice 5.2. This newest version has several new features to compete against proprietary solutions including Microsoft Office. Among them, document classification comes first. This feature is designed to classify your documents as per the TSPC standard. The suite automatically stores the classification level in the XML code of the document. Apart from the classification, the updated LibreOffice comes bundled with some financial features. There is a forecast function to predict future financial details through the Calc spreadsheet program. The suite now also supports multiple signature descriptions alongside the ability to import and export signatures from OOXML files.

The Document Foundation has additionally provided some improved interoperability features that include better import filters within Writer as well as the support for Word for DOS legacy documents. To enhance security over cloud storage, LibreOffice 5.2 has two-factor authentication for Google Drive. The office package also sports program modules with new drawing tools such as filled curves, polygons and freedom lines.

LibreOffice is already one of the leading open source office suite alternatives to Microsoft Office. The Document Foundation estimates that it has been downloaded over 140 million times since its launch in 2011. Nearly 80 people contribute each month to improve this community-driven project.

The latest version of LibreOffice comes in new packaging formats to deliver an upgraded experience. You can leverage its features through Snap on your Linuxbased desktop.

Going forward, open source enabler The Document Foundation is set to launch LibreOffice Online. This new Web-based offering will take on Google Docs by letting users access its features directly from their servers.

“LibreOffice is growing fast, thanks to distinctive advantages such as the standard document format, which is recognised by a growing number of governments as the best solution for interoperability,” said Thorsten Behrens, one of the directors of The Document Foundation.

The new release will get upgraded to LibreOffice 5.3 in February next year. Meanwhile, you can experience its features by installing the free package on your Windows, Mac OS or GNU/Linux system.

Black Duck launches Centre for Open Source Research and Innovation

Black Duck has announced the launch of its Centre for Open Source Research and Innovation with an aim to increase the use of open source software for application development. The new centre will be based at Black Duck’s Massachusetts headquarters, but the two new Black Duck research groups in Canada and Europe are likely to play major roles in the application release and development cycle.

“Open source is the way today’s applications are developed, and we expect

the worldwide adoption will continue to accelerate because of the compelling economic and productivity benefits open source provides. Over the next decade, more cutting-edge research, innovation, information and education — particularly related to open source security — are needed to ensure the open source ecosystem remains vibrant. We will be a leader in that effort,” said Lou Shipley, chief executive officer, Black Duck.

Europe-based Black Duck Security Research analyses security issues and attack patterns in open source software to offer actionable information on vulnerabilities. It also suggests steps to reduce risk and strategies for using the community-backed solutions effectively. Based in Vancouver, Canada, the group conducts applied research in data mining, machine learning, natural language processing, big data management and software engineering.

“Both groups will be sources of valuable research and reports throughout the year. Their work will help us innovate and improve our open source security and management solutions, and a great deal of what they do will also be shared for the benefit of the open source community,” Shipley said.

Black Duck aims to issue periodic Open Source Security Audit (OSSA) reports analysing results of applications audited by the company. Additionally, the company is set to enhance its open source repository and database, KnowledgeBase, and expand its online community, Open Hub.

Microsoft’s Chakra JavaScript engine debuts on Linux

Microsoft has announced that it is bringing its open source ChakraCore to Linux. The core of the Chakra JavaScript engine is already powering the company’s Edge Web browser and Universal Windows Platform system.

At the Node.js-centric NodeSummit, Microsoft showcased the first experimental implementation of the ChakraCore interpreter and runtime on x64 Linux and OS X 10.9. The Redmond company also previewed an experimental Node.js version with ChakraCore engine on x64 Linux.

“Bringing ChakraCore to Linux and OS X is all about giving developers the ability to build cross-platform applications with the engine. The JavaScript Runtime (JSRT) APIs to host ChakraCore were originally designed for Windows, so they inevitably had a few Windows dependencies – for example, Win32 usage of UTF16-LE encoding for strings, where other platforms might use UTF8-encoded strings,” Microsoft developers wrote in a blog post.

To deliver cross-platform support on ChakraCore, Microsoft refactored and redesigned some of the major JSRT APIs. Additionally, the JavaScript engine has backwards compatibility with the previous set of JSRT APIs on Windows.

Apart from bringing the same JavaScript experience to Linux that was previously available only on Windows 10, Microsoft has bigger plans. “It has been a little over a year since we started working on Node-ChakraCore, with the intention to grow the reach of the Node.js ecosystem. One of the

fundamental goals of this project from the beginning has been to ensure that the existing ecosystem continues to work, in an open and cross-platform way, exactly like Node.js,” sources in the company added.

Microsoft is updating its ChakraCore roadmap to enhance its cross-platform support. Moreover, the software giant is in development to bring a ‘fully-capable’ ChakraCore JIT compiler and Windows-exclusive concurrent and partial GC to other platforms. These new efforts are likely to improve the performance of Node. js and other applications hosting the ChakraCore engine.

Developers have started using ChakraCore for their projects on GitHub. These developments help Microsoft fix and advance the engine for multiple computing platforms.

Google tweaks Linux kernel in Android to enhance security

Google has enabled new protection features on the Linux kernel within Android to increase the security of the open source platform. The features are classified into two different categories—memory protection and attack surface reduction.

“Android relies on the Linux kernel for enforcement of its security model. To better protect the kernel, we’ve enabled a number of mechanisms within Android,” Android security team member Jeff Vander Stoep wrote in a blog post. Among the new changes, there is memory protection for user space processes through address space separation. This tweak enables the Linux kernel to maintain its integrity despite some vulnerabilities within the unrelated portions of the system’s memory. Google has also provided a feature to segment kernel memory into logical sections and sets.

To prevent direct access to user space memory, the kernel now has restricted access. “This can make a number of attacks more difficult because attackers have significantly less control over kernel memory that is executable,” Stoep said. Google has also reduced the attack surface to expose fewer entry points to the kernel. For this, the operating system now has the kernel’s perf system. Stoep revealed that Android Nougat will by default block access to perf. However, there will be an option to use the perf system via developer settings.

The kernel additionally restricts app access to ioctl commands. These commands previously helped attackers gain backdoor access to Android. Although developers do not use most of the ioctl commands, some third-party apps access them. Thus, Android Nougat will carry a precise whitelist of socket ioctl commands. The new operating system will also come with seccomp to enable an additional sandboxing mechanism.

“Due to these efforts and others, we expect the security of the kernel to

continue improving,” Stoep concluded.

Facebook releases open source tool to ease React developments

Facebook brought out React as its open source JavaScript library to let developers access its native user experience. But as developments using the library became tough for many individual developers and enterprises due to ‘an overwhelming explosion of tools’, the social networking giant has now released the Create React App.

Having evolved from a hackathon project, Create React App provides an official way to create singlepage React apps. The tool is designed to extend the presence of React without abandoning the company’s open source philosophy, which became apparent three years back with the release of the JavaScript library in March 2013.

“Create React App is a new officially supported way to create single-page React applications. It offers a modern build set-up with no configuration,” Facebook’s Dan Abramov explained in a blog post.

Facebook has designed Create React App in such a way that it leverages both the Webpack asset-bundling tool and the Babel JavaScript compiler. Also, there is the ESLint code-linting tool to list out all the lint warnings right from the console.

The build settings on Create React App tool are pre-configured, and there is just a single dependency for developing multiple React apps. Moreover, Facebook has provided all the necessary instructions on GitHub to let developers easily build some of their interesting apps.

“This is an experiment, and only time will tell if it becomes a popular way of creating and building React apps, or fades into obscurity,” Abramov stated.

Although Facebook is looking forward to influencing some developers through its Create React App, Abramov’s statement hints at a cloudy future. The company still needs to make developers aware of the benefits of its JavaScript library. Also, basic features such as testing codes are yet to arrive on the open source tool.

That being said, Facebook’s Create React App would be a productive tool for all those developers who want to ease their development efforts on the framework that is already available on multiple platforms including Android, iOS and Windows 10. The new tool will also result in the development of many new Web apps in the future.

Google develops an open source API to ease password management on Android

Google has announced the development of a new open source API project that will simplify password management on Android devices. This new move emerges from a partnership between the search giant and password manager Dashlane.

Called Open Yolo (You only login once), the new open API is specifically

designed for third-party Android developers to let them enable their apps with the ability to access passwords directly from password managers like Dashlane. Although Dashlane is the founding firm behind the new project, other password managers such as 1Password, LassPass and mSecure will also get a chance to leverage the advancements from the open API.

“To stay one step ahead of the market demand, Google and Dashlane are helping create a seamless, universally-acceptable Android app authentication solution to increase your online security,” Dashlane community manager, Malaika Nicholas, said in a statement. Google and Dashlane are set to make Open Yolo available on other mobile platforms too. This would broadly change the way you use passwords today and, ultimately, transform security across mobile platforms.

“In the future, we see this open API going beyond just Android devices, and becoming universally-implemented by apps and password managers across every platform and operating system,” Nicholas added.

Open Yolo is not the only tool by Google to upgrade password management on its Android operating system. The search giant added the Smart Lock feature to Android Lollipop last year, which keeps devices unlocked when these are close to the body of their users.

The release of Open Yolo appears to be a competitive move by Google to take on Apple. The Cupertino company has been providing its native password management system within iOS from the last several months. Users can store a large number of their passwords and grab them when required with just a single tap on the screen.

However, unlike Apple’s attempt to store passwords under one roof, Open Yolo by Google is an open source project. This will help the search giant attract more interest and support from the community.

Linux kernel 4.8 to natively support Microsoft Surface 3

While Linus Torvalds is busy developing Linux kernel 4.8, it has now been found that the next version of the open source operating system will natively support Microsoft’s Surface 3. The new support emerges from a touchscreen controller driver that will enable the last year’s Surface tablet to run Linux flawlessly.

Dmitry Torokhov, Linux kernel input subsystem maintainer and one of the active contributors to Linux 4.8, in a recent email to Torvalds suggested a driver integration for the touchscreen controller found in the Surface 3. Moreover, a changelog available in the same email hints at a tweak to support the Surface Pen stylus that enhances the functionality of the Windows-running tablet.

Support for the new drivers is apparently a part of the Linux kernel 4.8 first release candidate, which is already available for testing purposes.

“This [Linux kernel 4.8 first release candidate] seems to be building up to be one of the bigger releases lately, but let’s see how it all ends up. The merge window has been fairly normal, although the patch itself looks somewhat unusual: over 20 per cent of the patch is documentation updates, due to conversion of the DRM and media documentation from DocBook to the Sphinx doc format,” Linux creator Torvalds wrote in a community email.

Linux kernel 4.8 could bring the Surface 3 back to life. Interestingly, the new development will give Linux users an option to use Microsoft’s in-house hardware for its open source developments.

Apart from Surface 3 support, the new Linux kernel version will come with some upgrades for new GPU models while offering various updates to support advanced architecture.

Attic Labs develops open source Noms database

Attic Labs has announced that it has developed the open source Noms database to deliver an experience similar to projects like Git and Camlistone. The San Francisco-based software company has raised US$ 1.8 million in a Series A round to maintain its decentralised database over the long run.

Noms can be replicated and edited concurrently on multiple computers. This feature makes it a unique offering in the world of database systems. Additionally, the database stores structured data instead of text files, and is designed to scale to massive data records. “We think of a forkable, synchronisable database as an important primitive in our increasingly data-centric world,” wrote Aaron Boodman, co-founder of Attic Labs, in a blog post. “It can be used to collaborate on largescale structured data across organisations. It can be used as the basis for any decentralised application. And it can make a very good archive for most sorts of data,” he added.

Boodman previously developed popular Firefox extension Greasemonkey and was a technical lead for Google Chrome. Apart from Boodman’s development skills, Attic Labs has some other top-level management members who worked on open source developments like Chrome OS before releasing Noms.

Some of the primary features that could persuade you to leverage Noms for your next data-related operation include its easy aggregation and transformation of information, synchronisation of large datasets and fork as well as merging of workflow from an existing solution.

Greylock Partners, which previously backed Docker, led the funding round. Investors, including Harrison Metal, Naval Ravikant, Linus Upson and Othman Laraki, also helped in the development of the database.

Government to launch India’s own open source collaboration platform

Months after rolling out a policy to support open source software development, the Indian government is now all set to launch its own collaboration platform for hosting open source projects. The move is apparently aimed at encouraging software developers and various government bodies to start sharing code from their major projects, under one roof.

The Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY) released a policy related to the adoption of open source software in April 2015. Called ‘Collaborative Application Development by Opening the Source Code of Government Applications’, the policy aims to provide a comprehensive framework for archiving government source code in repositories. The framework

is primarily designed for open software repositories to enable reuse, sharing and remixing of new and existing code.

“While the policy is in place, it needs to be supported by appropriate technology infrastructure to create and grow a thriving open source community around Indian e-governance,” a source told Open Source For You, with regard to the launch of the open source platform.

Similar to some of the popular repositories such as GitHub and SourceForge, the new offering will enable not just some government bodies but also a large number of software developers and corporates to develop and publish their code at a single place. The team behind the ongoing development is planning to divide the repository into two different segments— while one of its parts will be exclusive to government departments, another one will be open to the public.

Taking a cue from the policy designed by the Indian government, the US government also recently announced its Federal Source Code policy. But the US agencies will not get a distinct location like their counterparts in India to archive source code. This will make the Indian platform unique and a role model for some developed regions including the US, where the government is already embracing open source technologies.

Moreover, the new initiative by the Narendra Modi-led government would improve the efficiency of existing code that different departments are already using for various public programmes. Software developers and academic institutions could also help contribute to application testing and platform enhancements to deliver effective solutions.

US launches a policy to promote open source across federal agencies

In a move to enhance digitisation among its entities, the US government has launched its first-ever open source policy. The new policy mandates that all the federal agencies in the country have to release a portion of their custom code to the public.

Called the Federal Source Code policy, the initiative is aimed at helping government agencies reduce their expenses on various software development projects and improve access to their custom application code. This emerged as a result of the plan that was revealed by the White House earlier this year.

“We’re releasing the Federal Source Code policy to support improved access to custom-developed Federal source code. The policy, which incorporates feedback received during the public comment period, requires new custom-developed source code developed specifically by or for the Federal Government to be made available for sharing and reuse across all Federal agencies,” US Chief Information Officer, Tony Scott, wrote in a blog post.

In addition to having a pool of source code to enable its sharing and reusability by government departments, the policy comes with a pilot programme that makes it necessary for the agencies to release at least 20 per cent of the new custom-developed code to the public. The US government is not demanding which portion of the code is to be made available in the public domain. However, federal agencies are recommending “transparency, participation and collaboration” in their projects.

“Agencies should calculate the percentage of source code released using a consistent measure — such as real or estimated lines of code, number of self-contained modules, or cost — that meet the intended objectives of this requirement,” the policy reads, describing the pilot programme.

This is not the first time that the Barack Obama-led government has opted for the open source way. The code of flagship public offerings such as We The People, Vets.gov and Data.gov is already available on GitHub.

“By opening more of our code to the brightest minds inside and outside of government, we can enable them to work together to ensure that the code is reliable and effective in furthering our national objectives,” Scott added.

The US government is building Code.gov to support its policy. The new website will operate as an official place for all the open source code released by federal agencies in the future.