Exim4 and PHP and PHP-CGI mail() function using incorrect From: and applying Sender: headers.

If you’re using Exim4 and PHP as a module or as a CGI with suexec. You may have noticed some issues with your mail. Specifically you would have noticed that either the “From:” header was using “nobody@machinename” or “user@machine name, its also possibly that you had an additional header called “Sender:”.

There are two things you need to do to fix this. You first need to make sure that your “php.ini” has the following value “sendmail_path = /usr/sbin/sendmail -t -i”. Which is the default, double check this variable as it might be set to something else.

Setting up daily, weekly and monthly MySQL Database Backups using AutoMySQLBackup

AutoMySQLBackup is a shell script that allows daily, weekly and monthly backups of your local and remote MySQL Databases. It’s meant to run on Linux/Unix through a cron job. Its highly configurable, and easy to setup as I will show you today!

First you will need to acquire the shell script and drop it on your server. You can download AutoMySQLBackup on their SourceForge Project Page

Sun Microsystems Acquires MySQL

I woke up to a very big announcement today. I was browsing digg and found that MySQL was acquired by Sun Microsystems. You can read more about the acquisition on the MySQL blog of Kaj Arno about the acquisition of MySQL by Sun Microsystems. My take, with Sun releasing Solaris into the Open Source realm, this is just another piece of software that they can put under their belt and package with Solaris. I have included some blurbs from Kaj Arno’s blog below.

Linux computer that takes only 8 watts of power and can be solar powered

I know everyone is loving the new Asus Eee PC and they should, its a wonderful device. But if you want to go even smaller you can take a look at Aleutia E1 it only takes 8 watts of power and can be charged using solar power. Definitely for the out and out and about type traveler that needs a small computer that can be charged easily, combined with a sattlite phone for data and you have all that you need in a remote location.

Corporate critics feel the stinging lash of DMCA misuse

I use to work for an ISP and was head of the Abuse Department. We only really received legitimate DCMA’s that were then handled by legal. We didn’t really seem to get that many DMCA notices, maybe its because we’re a Canadian organization?

Corporate critics feel the stinging lash of DMCA misuse

Two recent cases show that companies aren’t always fans of criticism, and some will file misguided DMCA notices and defamation cases to scrub it from the Internet.

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Microsoft changes mind, agrees to fix IE’s URI handler

Microsoft agrees to release a patch to fix some of the security issues but not all in Internet Explorers URI Handler. I don’t understand why Microsoft has such a lazy stance on security, I want to use Internet Explorer just as securely as any other browser. One mis-typed url after a fresh install of Windows could cause malicious software to gain entry to me desktop.

Microsoft changes mind, agrees to fix IE's URI handler – Microsoft has stated that they will be releasing a patch to fix some, but not all, potential security flaws resulting from third-party applications being fed maliciously malformed URI requests.Read More…

Microsoft changes mind, agrees to fix IE’s URI handler

Microsoft agrees to release a patch to fix some of the security issues but not all in Internet Explorers URI Handler. I don’t understand why Microsoft has such a lazy stance on security, I want to use Internet Explorer just as securely as any other browser. One mis-typed url after a fresh install of Windows could cause malicious software to gain entry to me desktop.

Hard times for hard drives: US may ban popular imports

This could be a damaging blow to quite a few companies within the United States. For instance, take a dedicated server hosting company that relies on one of many hardware vendors like Dell or HP (Hewlett-Packard). Its possible that said vendor will have stock pile of hard drives. Put lets put this into perspective.

If you read the entire article you will see a similar situation that ended with Broadcom filing a complaint against Qualcomm. The International Trade Commission banned Qualcomm from shipping any new chips and hardware into the United Sates, and any chips that were already being shipped to the United States could continue. The ban lasted for 45 days, until an appeal by Qualcomm was successful and then the ban was lifted.

Thunderbird still has potential to fly despite developers leaving the nest

Thunderbird is a pretty great open sourced mail client that is available on multiple platforms and for free. From the beginning its development has been mostly be shadowed by FireFox. The two core developers of Thunderbird have left Mozilla, which is a big blow to the ongoing development of Thunderbird. Will Thunderbird not longer get as many updates or new features? Will development complete stop? Only time will tell.