PostgreSQL Updates to Address Security Issue, openSUSE Announces New Legal Review System, Gumstix Launches Board Builder Service, Creative Commons on the EU "Link Tax" and Unreal Engine 4.21 Released

News briefs for November 8, 2018.

PostgreSQL 11.1 was released today. In addition, updates are available for all supported versions, including 10.6, 9.6.11, 9.5.15, 9.4.20 and 9.3.25. The updates address a security issue as well as several bugfixes, so update as soon as possible.

openSUSE announces a new legal review system called Cavil, "designed to help Linux/GNU distributions with the legal review process of licenses". The new project is "collectively beneficial not only for the openSUSE Project, but distributions and projects that want to use it".

Gumstix has added a free new service called Board Builder to its Geppetto Design-to-Order (D2O) custom-board design service. According to LinuxGizmos, Board Builder makes "the drag-and-drop Geppetto interface even easier to use, enabling customization of ports, layout and other features. With Board Builder, you can select items from a checklist, including computer-on-modules, memory, network, sensors, audio, USB, and other features. You can then select a custom size, and you're presented with 2D and 3D views of board diagrams that you can further manipulate." Visit the Board Builder page for more information.

Creative Commons urges the EU Parliament and Council to delete Article 11 that would "require news aggregators that wish to index or incorporate links and snippets of journalistic content to first get a license or pay a fee to the publisher for their use online". According to Creative Commons, the link tax "would undermine the intention of authors who wish to share without additional strings attached, such as creators who want to share works under open licenses. This could be especially harmful to Creative Commons licensors if it means that remuneration must be granted notwithstanding the terms of the CC license."

Unreal Engine 4.21 released yesterday. Unreal Engine's goal is the "relentless pursuit of greater efficiency, performance, and stability for every project on any platform". New features include the "Niagara effects toolset is now even more powerful and easier to use"; "you can build multiplayer experiences on a scale not previously possible using now production-ready Replication Graph functionality"; an up to "60% speed increase when cooking content"; "usability improvements to the Animation system, Blueprint Visual Scripting, Sequencer, and more."

Jill Franklin is an editorial professional with more than 17 years experience in technical and scientific publishing, both print and digital. As Executive Editor of Linux Journal, she wrangles writers, develops content, manages projects, meets deadlines and makes sentences sparkle. She also was Managing Editor for TUX and Embedded Linux Journal, and the book Linux in the Workplace. Before entering the Linux and open-source realm, she was Managing Editor of several scientific and scholarly journals, including Veterinary Pathology, The Journal of Mammalogy, Toxicologic Pathology and The Journal of Scientific Exploration. In a previous life, she taught English literature and composition, managed a bookstore and tended bar. When she’s not bugging writers about deadlines or editing copy, she throws pots, gardens and reads.

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