[tahoe-lafs-weekly-news] TWN17

Tue Nov 22 04:48:54 PST 2011

Welcome to the Tahoe-LAFS Weekly News (TWN).  Tahoe-LAFS_ is a secure,
distributed storage system. `View TWN on the web`_ *or* `subscribe to TWN`_.
If you would like to view the "new and improved" TWN, complete with pictures;
please take a `look`_.

.. _Tahoe-LAFS: http://tahoe-lafs.org
.. _View TWN on the web: http://tahoe-lafs.org/trac/tahoe-lafs/wiki/TahoeLAFSWeeklyNews
.. _subscribe to TWN: http://tahoe-lafs.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/tahoe-lafs-weekly-news
.. _look: http://tahoe-lafs.org/~marlowe/TWN17.html

Announcements and News
======================

1.9 Released
- ------------

With all the spooky things which came out during Halloween, we also saw the
`release of 1.9.0`_.  1.9.0 offers a new mutable-file format, MDMF_ (more
efficient for large files), a `file-blacklisting`_ feature, and a new
"`drop-upload`_" feature.  A big thanks goes to Brian Warner |brian|, release
manager, and the `rest of development team`_ for such a fantastic release.

.. _`release of 1.9.0`:
   https://tahoe-lafs.org/pipermail/tahoe-dev/2011-October/006810.html
.. _MDMF:
   https://tahoe-lafs.org/trac/tahoe-lafs/browser/trunk/docs/specifications/mutable.rst
.. _`file-blacklisting`: https://tahoe-lafs.org/trac/tahoe-lafs/ticket/1425
.. _`drop-upload`:
   https://tahoe-lafs.org/trac/tahoe-lafs/browser/trunk/docs/frontends/drop-upload.rst
.. _`rest of development team`: https://tahoe-lafs.org/trac/tahoe-lafs/browser/trunk/CREDITS?rev=5356

New Server
- ----------

In the dark of many a night, the Tahoe-LAFS ninjas `migrated`_ tahoe-lafs.org
to a brand new server.  You should noticed improved speed and responsiveness
from our new server.  I would thank the ninjas, but I can't seem to find
them.  Sneaky ninjas :)

.. _migrated:
   https://tahoe-lafs.org/pipermail/tahoe-dev/2011-October/006759.html

Tahoe-LAFS Summit
- -----------------

Tahoe-LAFS held its `second Tahoe-LAFS Summit`_ from November 7 through 11.
The Summit was a huge success.  Below is some of the agenda items covered
during the Summit:

* Review: Tahoe-LAFS v1.9 release, LAE_ |LAE| product launch
* Brian explained how his `#466`_ `signed-introducer code`_ works, committed to
  a public-key signature scheme
* decided upon a safe "web control panel" scheme
* explained how Brian's `#666`_ `Accounting  code`_ works
* discussed how accounting, `#467`_ static-server-selection, and Invitations
  should interact, so Brian knows what to build going forward
* discussed Performance Improvements, HTTP-only Storage Protocols, New
  Encoding Formats (Rainhill_!)
* Thursday items: explained LAE's s3-backend branch, designed race-free
  Accounting leasedb-crawler
* Friday items: explained Rainhill

We have a report of the activities for each day:

* `Day 1`_
* `Day 2`_
* `Day 3`_
* `Day 4`_

Lastly, we would like to thank `Mozilla`_ |mozilla| for their wonderful
hospitality and those folks who made the video streams possible.  As someone
who couldn't make it, I really appreciate the latter.

.. _`second Tahoe-LAFS Summit`:
   https://tahoe-lafs.org/trac/tahoe-lafs/wiki/Summit
.. _LAE: http://leastauthority.com
.. |LAE| image:: LAE.png
   :height: 35
   :alt: Least Authority Enterprises
   :target: http://leastauthority.com
.. _`#466`: https://tahoe-lafs.org/trac/tahoe-lafs/ticket/466
.. _`signed-introducer code`:
   https://github.com/warner/tahoe-lafs/tree/466-ed25519
.. _`#666`: https://tahoe-lafs.org/trac/tahoe-lafs/ticket/666
.. _`Accounting code`: https://github.com/warner/tahoe-lafs/tree/accounting
.. _`#467`: https://tahoe-lafs.org/trac/tahoe-lafs/ticket/467
.. _Rainhill: https://tahoe-lafs.org/trac/tahoe-lafs/wiki/NewCaps/Rainhill
.. _`Day 1`: https://tahoe-lafs.org/trac/tahoe-lafs/wiki/Summit2Day1
.. _`Day 2`: https://tahoe-lafs.org/trac/tahoe-lafs/wiki/Summit2Day2
.. _`Day 3`: https://tahoe-lafs.org/trac/tahoe-lafs/wiki/Summit2Day3
.. _`Day 4`: https://tahoe-lafs.org/trac/tahoe-lafs/wiki/Summit2Day4
.. _`Mozilla`: http://www.mozilla.com
.. |mozilla| image:: Mozilla_logo-35x35.svg
   :height: 35
   :alt: Mozilla
   :target: http://www.mozilla.com

- From the tahoe-dev Mailing List
===============================

Visualizer
- ----------

Brian Warner landed a new verison of the immutable-file download visualizer,
replacing the early version in 1.9.0 with one that zooms and pans faster.
The visualizer is useful for studying the progress and significant events in
an immutable-file download.  This can aid you and developers determine any
possible issues with a download.

.. _visualizer:
   https://tahoe-lafs.org/pipermail/tahoe-dev/2011-November/006812.html

Buildslaves Need Update
- -----------------------

With the migration to the new server, buildslave operators `need to update`_
their buildslaves to point to the new server.

.. _`need to update`:
  https://tahoe-lafs.org/pipermail/tahoe-dev/2011-November/006816.html

FreedomBox Posting
- ------------------

Zooko |zooko| posted a `fantastic description`_ of Tahoe-LAFS to the
`FreedomBox discuss list`_.  He covered ways in which Tahoe-LAFS resembles a
filesystem,  arbitrarily nestable directories and files and a built in SFTP
server.  However, its performance characteristics fail to match the
expectations of user-space programs that access their storage through the
POSIX filesystem API.  I believe the following sums it up best,

  "All the people who actually Tahoe-LAFS end up using it less like it is a
  "filesystem" like ext4 and more like it is an "application" for backing up,
  sharing, or hosting files." [1_]

.. _`fantastic description`:
   http://lists.alioth.debian.org/pipermail/freedombox-discuss/2011-November/003162.html
.. _`FreedomBox discuss list`:
   http://lists.alioth.debian.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/freedombox-discuss
.. _1:
   http://lists.alioth.debian.org/pipermail/freedombox-discuss/2011-November/003162.html

Patch Needing Review of the Week
================================

There are six (6) tickets still needing review for 1.10:

* `#393`_: mutable: implement MDMF
* `#1265`_: New Visualizer is insufficiently labelled/documented (plus layout
  problem)
* `#1398`_: make docs/performance.rst more precise and accurate
* `#1557`_: apply coding tools to misc/ directories other than
  misc/build_helpers
* `#1566`_: if a stored share has a corrupt header, other shares held by that
  server for the file should still be accessible to clients
* `#1568`_: S3 backend: [storage]readonly is documented but ignored

.. _`#393`: http://tahoe-lafs.org/trac/tahoe-lafs/ticket/393
.. _`#1265`: http://tahoe-lafs.org/trac/tahoe-lafs/ticket/1265
.. _`#1398`: http://tahoe-lafs.org/trac/tahoe-lafs/ticket/1398
.. _`#1557`: http://tahoe-lafs.org/trac/tahoe-lafs/ticket/1557
.. _`#1566`: http://tahoe-lafs.org/trac/tahoe-lafs/ticket/1566
.. _`#1568`: http://tahoe-lafs.org/trac/tahoe-lafs/ticket/1568

- ----

*The Tahoe-LAFS Weekly News is published once a week by The Tahoe-LAFS*
*Software Foundation, President and Treasurer: Peter Secor* |peter|
*. Scribes: Patrick "marlowe" McDonald* |marlowe| *, Zooko Wilcox-O'Hearn*
*, Editor: Zooko.* `View TWN on the web`_ *or* `subscribe to TWN`_
*. Send your news stories to* `marlowe at antagonism.org`_ *b submission
deadline: Friday night.*

.. _marlowe at antagonism.org: mailto:marlowe at antagonism.org
.. |zooko| image:: zooko.png
   :height: 35
   :alt: zooko
   :target: http://tahoe-lafs.org/trac/tahoe-lafs/wiki/AboutUs
.. |brian| image:: warner.png
   :height: 35
   :alt: brian
   :target: http://tahoe-lafs.org/trac/tahoe-lafs/wiki/AboutUs
.. |peter| image:: psecor.jpg
   :height: 35
   :alt: peter
   :target: http://tahoe-lafs.org/trac/tahoe-lafs/wiki/AboutUs
.. |marlowe| image:: marlowe-x75-bw.jpg
   :height: 35
   :alt: marlowe
   :target: http://tahoe-lafs.org/trac/tahoe-lafs/wiki/AboutUs

- --
- ----------------------------------------------------------------
| Patrick R. McDonald                       GPG Key: A2D1E972  |
| https://www.antagonism.org/         <marlowe at antagonism.org> |
|                               <mcdonald.patrick.r at gmail.com> |
|                         <patrick at opensecurityfoundation.org> |
- ----------------------------------------------------------------
| Malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium           |
- ----------------------------------------------------------------
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