The end of the year 2013 is there faster than we would have thought ;-) This is the reason why the version m23 rock 13.3 previously planned for the end of this year will be released early in 2014 - freshly renamed - as m23 rock 14.1.

However, you will not have to wait too long until the release: The functions of the coming version are ready. Now, we only need to do some final testing, update the documentation and the translations and build the different installation media (ISO, VirtualBox appliance, Raspberry Pi image, Debian packages).

See you soon and best wishes for 2013 from the m23 team!

Today, a vigilant user notified us of a security vulnerability in m23 in our forums. In the (still) current version 13.2 and its predecessors, by mistake two SSH keys, which we have used for testing purposes, are not being deleted. This makes it possible that strangers get access to the m23 server (if this is not prevented by a firewall).

To resolve this security issue as fast as possible, we have changed the installation guide for all new installations of the current version in a way that protects new installations when following the guide.

All users with an existing m23 installation are asked to update their m23 servers as fast as possible, as today's update corrects this error.

To also update the keys on the clients, the update also contains a new special package. This package is called m23updateAuthorizedKeys and should immediately be installed on all m23 clients via the group 'default'. Because the key on the m23 server now does no longer match the one on the clients, the installation of this package (and all other packages) and automatic backups of the m23 clients will only start when the client itself contacts the server to ask for new jobs. This will happen automatically after a reboot of the client or can be started manually on the client by calling /etc/init.d/m23fetchjob start locally.

Even though, inherent to its functional principle, m23 cannot be boring, we have prepared a Linux / OpenSource / free media / m23 - advent calendar for you this year. Of course, it doesn't contain dull chocolate, but presents you - after you have found and clicked the right number (you need to move the mouse over the penguin) - with a BAfH pretext and something worth knowin, interesting or creative from the subject area of Linux, Open Source, free media or m23. Although it is in German, you might find the linked information useful.

We will start, following tradition, at the first of December - and from the 25th on, you will again have to rely on the BAfH pretexts in your m23 server ;-)

Hint: Just reload the iframe (where the penguin is located), if the number for the current day will not open in your browser. Then it should work :-)

Have fun :-)

Among other things, we laid the foundation for the m23 command line (m23-cli), to make many functions, which could until now only be accessed from the m23 web interface, accessible from a Linux shell or from scripts in the future. For this, a module format was developed, which can provide arbitrary m23 functions to the m23 cli.

We also introduced an option for m23 Ubuntu / Linux Mint clients, which determines if normal users can get root permissions via sudo. Up to now, it was possible - as is typical for Ubuntu - that users can get root permissions with their own passwords and sudo.

Aside from the functional novelties, we also added some eye-candy: CSS effects in the tables now highlight the current line and in the group overview, the line colors alternate to improve readability.

As the list of the available kernels can be very long - depending on the selected distro - the generic kernels are now on top of the lists - as in most cases, they are the best choice ;-). Another adaptation takes care of updating the list of available kernels, which is usually cached for 15 minutes, if the list could not be retrieved from the repository server.

Corrections now allow to correctly merge the changelog from the stable and the development branch, and to upload them to the m23 project page and that the mass installation shows the usual dialog. In addition, the option to deactivate the SSL certificate check for wget and the display of the "Update"-button were corrected. Another modification makes it possible, that package names from the package list files are added correctly to the installation job and at the same time, characters which don't belong are filtered from the file.

The updates are available via the m23 interface or APT.