A type of Interpreted language. P-code languages are something of a hybrid, falling between compiled languages and interpreted languages in the way they execute. Like an interpreted language, P-code programming is converted to a binary form automatically when it is run, rather than having to be compiled. However, unlike a compiled language the executable binary file is stored in pseudo-code, not machine language. In addition, unlike an Interpreted language, the program does not have to be converted to binary each time it is run. After it is converted to P-code the first time, the pseudo-code version is used for each additional execution. P-code languages (and thus their programs) tend to be slower than compiled languages and programs but faster than interpreted languages, and they generally have authorization to some low-level operating system functions but not direct hardware access. They do not require sometimes-expensive compilers, are often included along with operating systems, and some p-code languages are easier to program than compiled languages. Examples of Pcode languages are Java, Python and REXX/Object REXX. From I-gloss
They are like compiled languages in that the source is translated to a compact binary form which is what you actually execute, but that form is not machine code. Instead it's pseudocode (or p-code), which is usually a lot simpler but more powerful than a real machine language. When you run the program, you interpret the p-code. Important p-code languages include Python and Java. See Compiled language and Interpreted language. From Linux Guide @FirstLinux
On December 11, 2001 the PA-RISC Linux development community announced version 0.9.3, the latest version of Linux for computers using Hewlett Packard's PA-RISC processor. This release is the latest in a series representing several years of work by developers in the Free Software community including developers from The Debian Project, Hewlett Packard, ESIEE, and Linuxcare. From LWN Distribution List
Pluggable Authentication Modules. A suite of shared libraries that determine how a user will be authenticated. For example, conventionally UNIX users authenticate themselves by supplying a password at the password prompt after they have typed their name at the login prompt. In many circumstances, such as internal access to workstations, this simple form of authentication is considered sufficient. In other cases, more information is warranted. If a user wants to log in to an internal system from an external source, like the Internet, more or alternative information may be required, perhaps a one-time password. PAM provides this type of capability and much more. Most important, PAM modules allow you to configure your environment with the necessary level of security. From Linux System Security
A replaceable user authentication module for system security, which allows programs to be written without knowing which authentication scheme will be used. This allows a module to be replaced later with a different module without requiring rewriting the software. From I-gloss
Password Authentication Protocol: The usual method of user authentication used on the internet: sending a username and password to a server where they are compared with a table of authorized users. From Linux Guide @FirstLinux
Authentication mechinisms used after logging in using PPP. From Rute-Users-Guide
A generic term used to describe many kinds of small format personal computer systems found at schools, homes, and offices. Sometimes identified by the speed of the central processing board ('486, 68040, etc.). Sometimes used to distinguish Intel-based personal computers from others, such as Macintoshes, etc. From Glossary of Distance Education and Internet Terminology
A variety of bitmapped fonts to be used with the X Window System. From I-gloss
PCI supports the useful concept that every vendor and device have unique hex IDs. For instance, Intel has chosen to represent themselves by the completely random number 0x8086 as their vendor ID. PCI cards will provide their IDs on request. You will see numerical values listed in the output of lspci, scanpci, and cat /proc/pci, especially if the respective utility cannot look up the vendor name from the ID number. The file /usr/share/pci.ids ( /usr/share/misc/pci.ids on Debian) from the pciutils package contains a complete table of all IDs and their corresponding names. The kudzu package also has a table /usr/share/kudzu/pcitable containing the information we are really looking for: ID to kernel module mappings. This enables you to use the intended scientific method for locating the correct PCI module from the kernel's /proc/pci data. The file format is easy to understand, and as an exercise you should try writing a shell script to do the lookup automatically. From Rute-Users-Guide
A technique used to transform an incoming analog signal into a noise-free, digital equivalent. In multimedia, PCM us used to sample sounds digitally. From QUECID
Public Domain. Supposedly, the "public" owns the copyright. PD SW is the only SW rightly called "free SW". Note that derivations of PD SW need not remain PD. From Linux Guide @FirstLinux
Primary Domain Controler. This stores security and user account info for a domain. It manages all aspects of user/domain interaction. A domain has one PDC and can have multiple BDCs. BDCs hold backup copies of the PDC's info and are occasionally synchronized with the PDC. Both PDCs and BDCs can perform some tasks like user authentication. Often, a main site will have a PDC and a BDC (which can share the PDC's load for certain tasks) and remote sites will BDCs to handle certain tasks locally. From Linux Guide @FirstLinux
Binary files created with Adobe Acrobat or other programs capable of producing output in this format. Used for producing operating system-independent documents, which can be viewed using Acrobat Reader or other programs, including Web browsers equipped with an Acrobat Reader plug-in. From I-gloss
Of historical interest only, PEM was the first Internet standard for encrypting/signing e-mail. It later evolved into S/MIME. Contrast: Core components of PEM influenced later standards such as SSL. For example, the certificates used by some SSL implementations end in the suffix ".pem". Contrast: PEM and PGP are functionaly similar as far as e-mail encryption is concerned. The main difference is that PEM is based upon PKI standards like X.509 certificates, whereas PGP uses more ad hoc technologies. The frameworks are completely incompatible, so that an e-mail encrypted using one system cannot be decrypted using the other. The basic difference in the framework is that PEM uses X.509 hierarchy of certificate authorities, whereas PGP uses a more distributed "web of trust". From Hacking-Lexicon
PERL is a popular scripting language. PERL is so popular because: It runs on all platforms (UNIX, Windows, etc.) It easily parses text files and generates reports. It is easily to learn. Supports a large library of utilities to work from. Easily integrated into web-servers for CGI It is open-source Key point: v5 of PERL has the concept of "tainted" input that cannot be passed raw to the operating system without preprocessing. This is an amazingly useful feature that solves the majority of input validation problems in CGI scripts. Key point: A frequent misconfiguration is putting a PERL executable directly in the cgi-bin directory, allowing remote access of it. From Hacking-Lexicon
In UNIX an interpreted scripting language that is specifically designed for scanning text files, extracting information from these files, and preparing reports summarizing this information. Written by Larry Wall, pert is widely used to create Common Gateway Interface (CGI) scripts that handle the output of HTML forms. See HyperText Markup Language (HTML) and interpreter. From QUECID
A high-security, public-key data encryption program for UNIX/Linux and other operating systems. From I-gloss
short for PHonebook, a PH client program can be used to access a QI (CCSO Nameserver) database. QI databases are generally used to store phone books, timetables, and other forms of public information. From KADOWKEV
The Platform for Internet Content Selection. Proposed & developed in 1996-7 as a means for providing content information (metadata). Originally, it was designed with censorship of the Internet a hotly debated issue and it was primarily conceived as a way to assist parents and teachers monitor and control what children accessed. In later versions it also facilitates use of digital signatures and other metadata. From Faculty-of-Education
A diagnostic utlity program that is commonly used to determine whether a computer is properly connected to the Internet. From QUECID
A series of documents that were part of RSA's commercial toolkit. Their popularity was such that they become part of many official standard, include S/MIME and SSL. PKCS #1 - RSA Encryption and Signature Among other things, it defines details like how to pad messages. PKCS #3 - Diffie-Hellman Defines ASN.1 structures and algorithsm for DH key agreement PKCS #5 - Password-based Encryption Defines how to hash a password into a symmetric key. PKCS #7 - Cryptographic Message Syntax Standard (RFC 2315) Defines the structure of the digital envelope. Conceptually, it is a e-mail envelope that wraps an encrypted or signed message. However, the framework is used in places outside of e-mail as well. Contrast: PKCS7 is based upon PEM (Privacy Enhanced E-mail), RFC 1422. Essentially, PKCS7 is simply a PEM email in raw binary form without the headers/footers attached. S/MIME, a later standard than PEM, is simply a different wrapper around the PKCS7 envelope that conforms to the MIME standards. PKCS #10 - Certification Request Syntax Standard Used by Netscape and Microsoft web browsers, SSL libraries, ANSI X9.30. PKCS #11 - Cryptographic Token Interface Standard Abstract API for smart cards. From Hacking-Lexicon
PKI is the next wave of cryptography. Traditional cryptography (since the time of the ancient Greeks) has been based upon the concept of the "shared secret" (such as a password). This was good, but it suffered from the problem of having to communicate that secret among those people who should know it -- anybody who knew the secret could forge messages to anybody else or decrypt messages intended for other people. In 1970, a new technology called "asymmetric" cryptography was discovered in which a pair of keys could be used: one for encryption-only, and the other for decryption-only. The key used to encrypt could not decrypt, and vice versa. This peculiar mathematical property was discovered to be fantastically useful. For example, you can publish one of the keys to everyone in the world, who can then use it to encrypt a message to you that only you can decrypt. For this reason, the technology is better known as public-key cryptography. The technology works in the other direction as well. This means that you could encrypt a message with your private-key and send it out, and everyone with your public-key will know that it could only have come from you, because only you know your private-key. This authenticates that you are who you say you are. These and other properties provide solutions to a wide number of longstanding issues with cryptography. The various uses for public-keys have been bundled together in what is known as a new cryptographic infrastructure: PKI. Key point: PKI consists of: certificates A public and/or private key is stored in a file called a "certificate". It also includes identification information as to who the own of the certificate is, as well as a signature by a CA validating that the data hasn't been forged. Certificate Authorities (CA) Certificates are issued by a Certificate Authority, who usually will sign the certificate as well as provide some revocation facilities. Certificate Revocation Lists (CRLs) If the private-key is compromised (i.e. inadvertently made public), then the certificate containing that key needs to be "revoked". That essentially means the CA who assigned the certificate posts the certificate on its website. This allows people to publicly check this fact. repositories (e.g. LDAP directories) So that public-keys for people can be found. Uses: PKI (public-keys, certificates, etc.) is used in: S/MIME Secure e-mail. PGP Also secure e-mail. Smart card SSH SSL IPsec From Hacking-Lexicon
PLD is a Linux distribution made mainly in Poland and by Poles. It has many interesting features. Some of the web site is in English. From LWN Distribution List
PLD RescueCD is a bootable disk that contains a live Linux distribution based on PLD Linux with a 2.4.20 modular kernel. This version uses transparent compression to fit about 130 MB of software onto a single mini CD 50 MB in usable form. These images are small enough to fit on most business card-sized CD-ROMs (approx. 50MB), but can be burned onto any standard CD-R or CD-RW, as well. PLD RescueCD can be used to rescue ailing machines, perform intrusion post-mortems, act as a temporary secure linux-based workstation (using ssh, vpn connecting to remote host - other networking clients are also supported), install PLD Linux, and perform many other as yet unimagined tasks. Initial version 1.00 was released April 6, 2003. Version 1.01 was released June 17, 2003. From LWN Distribution List
PNG is a graphics format specifically designed for use on the World Wide Web. PNG enable compression of images without any loss of quality, including high-resolution images. Another important feature of PNG is that anyone may create software that works with PNG images without paying any fees - the PNG standard is free of any licensing costs. From Matisse
Two commonly used meanings: Point of Presence and Post Office Protocol. A Point of Presence usually means a city or location where a network can be connected to, often with dial up phone lines. So if an Internet company says they will soon have a POP in Belgrade, it means that they will soon have a local phone number in Belgrade and/or a place where leased lines can connect to their network. A second meaning, Post Office Protocol refers to a way that e-mail client software such as Eudora gets mail from a mail server. When you obtain an account from an Internet Service Provider (ISP) you almost always get a POP account with it, and it is this POP account that you tell your e-mail software to use to get your mail. Another protocol called IMAP is replacing POP for email. From Matisse
An Internet electronic mail standard that specifies how an Internet-connected computer can function as a mail-handling agent. Messages arrive at a user's electronic mailbox, which is housed on the service provider's comuter. From this central storage point, you can access your mail from different computers - a networked workstation in the office as well as a PC at home. In either case, a POP-compatible electronic mail program, which runs on your workstation or PC, establishes a connection with the POP server, and detects that new mail has arrived. You can then download the mail to the workstation or computer, and reply to it, print it, or store it, as you prefer. From QUECID
This is the most popular protocol for picking up e-mail from a server. The e-mail client program will open a connection to port 110 on the server, then pull down each e-mail message from the server. Key point: Since e-mail is one of the most popular services on the Internet, there are a huge number of different implementations of POP3 services. From Hacking-Lexicon
Portable Operating System Interface: a suite of applications program interface standards to provide for the portability of source code applications where operating systems services are required. POSIX is based on the UNIX (tm adminstrated by X/Open) Operating System, and is the basis for the X/Open specifications of The Open Group. From Linux Guide @FirstLinux
A set of programming interface standards governing how to write application source code so that the applications are portable between operating systems. POSIX is based on UNIX and is the basis for the X/Open specification of The Open Group. From I-gloss
Internal testing performed when you start or reset your computer. Encoded in read-only memory (ROM) the POST program first checks the microprocessor by having it perform a few simple operations. Then it reads the CMOS ROM, which stores the amount of memory and type of disk drives in your system. Next, the POST writes, then reads, various data patterns to each byte of memory (you can watch the bytes count off on-screen and often end the test with a keystroke); Finally, the POST communicates with every device; you see the keyboard and drive lights flash and the printer resets, for example. The BIOS continues with hardware testing, then looks in drive A for an operating system if drive A isn't found, it looks in drive C. See basic input/output system (BIOS) and boot sector. From QUECID
Postscript Printer Description specification. Adobe's spec of a standard virtual printer. From Linux Guide @FirstLinux
The process ID of the shell's parent. From Rute-Users-Guide
the processes Parent PID, the creator of the process. From Linux Guide @FirstLinux
An acronym for Point-to-Point-Protocol, an advanced serial packet protocol similar to SLIP. From KADOWKEV
Actual site of an ISP or other service. From Glossary of Distance Education and Internet Terminology
One of the two standards for directly connecting computers to the Internet via dialup telephone connections (the other is SLIP). Unlike the older SLIP protocol, PPP incorporates superior data negotiation, compression, and error correction. However, these features add overhead to data and transmission, and are unnecessary when both the sending and receiving modems offer hardware error correction and on-the-fly data compression. See Serial Linux Internet Protocol (SLIP). From QUECID
The most common protocol used to connect home computers to the Internet over regular phone lines. Most well known as a protocol that allows a computer to use a regular telephone line and a modem to make TCP/IPconnections and thus be really and truly on the Internet. From Matisse
The standard protocol for connection via a modem to an ISP. The term "point-to-point" is used to contrast this technology with preceding techniques that where based upon "multi-point" communication. For example, the popular Ethernet technology is used to connect many computers together in a single local network. Key point: Sniffing PPP dial-up connections is very hard and is virtually never done. From Hacking-Lexicon
This provides fairly high speed direct Internet connectivity using a modem. Unlike earlier modem connection methods (which many people still use) PPP is not limited by the software that exists on the host computer. With PPP, all client software (such as Netscape) runs on the local computer. From Faculty-of-Education
A technique for the encapsulation of PPP streams inside of Ethernet frames. This technology is being deployed by high-speed Internet access providers (cable modems, xDSL, etc.) in order to decouple the supply of bandwidth from ISP services. From Linux Guide @FirstLinux
Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol - a networking technology that allows the use of the Internet as a secure virtual private network (VPN). From Linux Guide @FirstLinux
A high-level programming language used in artificial intelligence research and applications, particularly expert systems. PROLOG, short for PROgramming in LOGic, is a declarative language; rather than tell the computer what procedure to follow to solve a problem, the programmer describes the problem to be solved. The language resembles the query language of a database management system such as Standard Query Language (SQL) in that you can use PROLOG to ask a question such as, "Is Foster City in Californian's But an important difference exists between PROLOG and a database management system (DBMS). A database contains information you can retrieve; a PROLOG program, in contrast, contains knowledge, from which the program can draw inferences about what is true or false. From QUECID
PXES will convert any complaint hardware into a versatile thin client capable of accessing any Microsoft Terminal Server through RDP protocol. (Future versions will include XDM, VNC and other protocols). This thin client boots from the network. Version 0.4 was released March 27, 2002. Version 0.5-final was released September 3, 2002. Version 0.5.1-41 was released May 15, 2003. From LWN Distribution List
The fundamental unit of communication on the Internet. From Linux Guide @FirstLinux
The method used to move data around on the Internet. In packet switching,all the data coming out of a machine is broken up into chunks, each chunk has the address of where it came from and where it is going. This enables chunks of data from many different sources to co-mingle on the same lines, and be sorted and directed along different routes by special machines along the way. This way many people can use the same lines at the same time. You might think of several caravans of trucks all using the same road system. to carry materials. From Matisse
The action a device takes to selectively control the flow of data to and from a network. Packet filters allow or block packets, usually while routing them from one network to another (most often from the Internet to an internal network, and vice-versa). To accomplish packet filtering, you set up rules that specify what types of packets (those to or from a particular IP address or port) are to be allowed and what types are to be blocked. From Linux Guide @FirstLinux
The name for the Linux equivalent of the Windows Taskbar. From I-gloss
Refers to the concept of speeding-up the execution of a program by dividing the program into multiple fragments that can execute simultaneously, each on its own processor. A program being executed across N processors might execute N times faster than it would using a single processor. From Linux Guide @FirstLinux
Identity beween data sent by one modem and data received by another modem. Error-correction protocols use parity checking and parity bits to determine if data needs to be re-sent. From QUECID
To break down into components. Spreadsheet progams, for example, often have parsing features that will break ASCII data into parts that will fit into cells. From QUECID
A contiguous section of a disk drive that is treated by the operating system as a physical drive. Thus, one disk drive can have several drive letters assigned to it. From I-gloss
A section of the storage area of a bard disk created for organizational purposes or to separate different operating systems. A partition is created during initial preparation of the hard disk, before the disk is formatted. In MS-DOS, every hard disk has at least one DOS partition (Version of MS-DOS before version 4.0 required a separate partition for each I'm of disk space). Each partition is treated by DOS as though it were a separate drive. Users may partition their drives to separate one operating system from another, but utility programs such as MultiDisk, are available that let you create several system partitions. See directory and subdirectory. From QUECID
A high-level, procedural proramming language that encourages programmers to write well-structured, modular programs that take advantage of modern control structures and lack spaghetti code. Pascal has gained wide acceptance as a teaching and application-development language, though most professional programmers prefer C or C++. Pascal is available in interpreted and compiled versions. A major disadvantage of Pascal is that (its standard version (Standard Pascal) contains many shortcomings. The language's inventor, Nicklaus Wirth, has covered a new language, Modula-2 as a successor to Pascal, that fixes some of the language's problems, and Borland International's Turbo Pascal makes Pascal easy for personal computer owners to use. See BASIC and FORTRAN From QUECID
An Algol-descended language designed by Niklaus Wirth on the CDC 6600 around 1967-68 as an instructional tool for elementary programming. This language, designed primarily to keep students from shooting themselves in the foot and thus extremely restrictive from a general-purpose-programming point of view, was later promoted as a general-purpose tool and, in fact, became the ancestor of a large family of languages including Modula-2 and Ada. From Linux Guide @FirstLinux
n. An Algol-descended language designed by Niklaus Wirth on the CDC 6600 around 1967-68 as an instructional tool for elementary programming. This language, designed primarily to keep students from shooting themselves in the foot and thus extremely restrictive from a general-purpose-programming point of view, was later promoted as a general-purpose tool and, in fact, became the ancestor of a large family of languages including Modula-2 and Ada (see also bondage-and-discipline language). The hackish point of view on Pascal was probably best summed up by a devastating (and, in its deadpan way, screamingly funny) 1981 paper by Brian Kernighan (of K&R fame) entitled "Why Pascal is Not My Favorite Programming Language", which was turned down by the technical journals but circulated widely via photocopies. It was eventually published in "Comparing and Assessing Programming Languages", edited by Alan Feuer and Narain Gehani (Prentice-Hall, 1984). Part of his discussion is worth repeating here, because its criticisms are still apposite to Pascal itself after ten years of improvement and could also stand as an indictment of many other bondage-and-discipline languages. At the end of a summary of the case against Pascal, Kernighan wrote: 9. There is no escape This last point is perhaps the most important. The language is inadequate but circumscribed, because there is no way to escape its limitations. There are no casts to disable the type-checking when necessary. There is no way to replace the defective run-time environment with a sensible one, unless one controls the compiler that defines the "standard procedures". The language is closed. People who use Pascal for serious programming fall into a fatal trap. Because the language is impotent, it must be extended. But each group extends Pascal in its own direction, to make it look like whatever language they really want. Extensions for separate compilation, FORTRAN-like COMMON, string data types, internal static variables, initialization, octal numbers, bit operators, etc., all add to the utility of the language for one group but destroy its portability to others. I feel that it is a mistake to use Pascal for anything much beyond its original target. In its pure form, Pascal is a toy language, suitable for teaching but not for real programming. Pascal has since been almost entirely displaced (by C) from the niches it had acquired in serious applications and systems programming, but retains some popularity as a hobbyist language in the MS-DOS and Macintosh worlds. From Jargon Dictionary
A code used to gain access (login) to a locked system. Good passwords contain letters and non-letters and are not simple combinations such as virtue7. A good password might be: 5%df(29) But don't use that one! From Matisse
A security tool used to identify authorized users of a program or network and to define their privileges, such as read-only, reading and writing, or file copying. From QUECID
A quick fix, in the form of one or more program statements, added to a program to correct bugs or to enhance the program's capabilities. From QUECID
Peanut Linux is only a 99 Mb. download, packed with fun and useful applications. A small disk distribution. From LWN Distribution List
PeeWeeLinux is an ongoing development effort to provide an environment that makes the configuration and installation of a Linux operating system on an embedded platform as easy and painless as possible.> PeeWeeLinux v0.61.1 was released February 27, 2002. From LWN Distribution List
Practical Extraction and Report Language - An interpreted language developed by Larry Wall (, author of patch(1) and rn(1)) and distributed over Usenet. Superficially resembles awk, but is much hairier, including many facilities reminiscent of sed(1) and shells and a comprehensive Unix system-call interface. From Linux Guide @FirstLinux
The authority to read and write files and directories, and execute programs. Varying permission levels can be assigned by the Superuser, or root operator, on a file-by-file, directory-by-directory basis or by account name (User ID). From I-gloss
This is part of the inode table's entries for each file and directory. The permission block can be shown for files and directores by using "ls -al" - the long output directory listing and is represented by 10 characters. The first character is a file type indicator differentiating between a file and a directory. The other nine characters refer to access permissions for the owner, group and world. From Linux Guide @FirstLinux
In late 1998, Phat Linux created a simple, easy to use Linux operating system that ran on a Windows 95/98 partition. Phat Linux v3.3 comes with lots of popular software, including KDE 2.0, XFree86 3.3.6, Netscape, and much much more. From LWN Distribution List
Phayoune-Desktop 0.0.11 was the most recent version when it was added to list July 8, 2002. The initial release of Phayoune Firewall was 0.3.3, dated December 25, 2002. Phayoune Firewall 0.3.6 was released May 21, 2003. Thailand based distribution. From LWN Distribution List
Phrealon is a bootable Linux CD based on Slackware Linux 8.0 designed to allow the easy imaging of multiple workstations. It utilizes the updcast set of Linux tools to accomplish this. The initial release, version 0.80, was released November 7, 2002. Version 0.82 was released February 27, 2003. A CD-based distribution. From LWN Distribution List
An electronic mail program for UNIX computer systems, unlike predecessor programs, such as Elm, the program contains its own easy-to-use full screen editor, thus freeing users from dependence on the not-very-easy-to-use default editors on UNIX systems (such as emacs and vi ). (The name "Pine" is actually an acronym. of the self-referential sort: Pine Is Not Elm.) From QUECID
A network program which sends UDP packets to a host, and listens for responses. Used to check if a machine on the Internet is alive and reachable, and measure the Round Trip Time (RTT) between the local and remote host. From Linux Guide @FirstLinux
French based distribution. This a Debian based distribution intended for servers. From LWN Distribution List
Pingwinek is a Linux distribution made in Poland. The main desktop is GNOME 2.2. It supports only Polish and English languages. Version 0.23 was released May 22, 2003. From LWN Distribution List
A sequence of programs through which a stream of data passes. Each stage or filter performs some operation on the data. From Linux Guide @FirstLinux
The | keyboard character (the Shift-Backslash character above the Enter key on a typical 101-key keyboard). It is often used to feed the output from one command or program to another. For example, history | grep mcopy sends the contents of the .bash_history file (via the history command) to the grep program, searching for the string "mcopy". (Also, see Append Symbol and Redirection Symbol.) From I-gloss
This looks like a Slackware based distribution. Japanese distribution From LWN Distribution List
Platform is a term usually used to describe operating systems. Typically, people will refer to an IBM compatible DOS environment as a PC platform or a Macintosh System environment as a MAC platform. From Faculty-of-Education
A (usually small) piece of software that adds features to a larger piece of software. Common examples are plug-ins for the Netscape. browser and web server. Adobe Photoshop. also uses plug-ins. From Matisse
PlumpOS is a CD-based mini-openMosix/Linux distribution. Pop the CD into a 586+ computer and you have an instant openMosix node. It supports loading 3rd-party packages and adding custom kernels. It was originally a clone of Clump/os, but it turned into a complete rewrite. Version 6.9 RC1 was released March 27, 2003. A CD-based distribution. From LWN Distribution List
Developed by Transvirtual Technologies, PocketLinux 1.0 was released January 18, 2001. Handhelds/PDA based distribution. From LWN Distribution List
A program used to remotely read e-mail across a network, often used in conjunction with SLIP. The most commonly used version, Pop3, is described in RFC number 1081. From KADOWKEV
3 meanings. First and most generally, a place where information goes into or out of a computer, or both. E.g. the serial port on a personal computer is where a modem would be connected. From Matisse
On the Internet, port often refers to a number that is part of a URL, appearing after a colon (:) right after the domain name. Every service on an Internet server listens on a particular port number on that server. Most services have standard port numbers, e.g. Web servers normally listen on port 80. Services can also listen on non-standard ports, in which case the port number must be specified in a URL when accessing the server. From Linux Guide @FirstLinux
The process of taking a program written for one operating system platform and modifying it to run on another OS with similar functionality. There is generally little or no attempt to customize the program to take advantage of the unique capabilities of the new operating system, as opposed to optimizing an application for a specific operating system. From I-gloss
A term referring to software that is designed to be use on more than one operating system with only minor modifications and recompilation. From I-gloss
Usually used as a marketing term to described a Web site that is or is intended to be the first place people see when using the Web. Typically a "Portal site" has a catalog of web sites, a search engine, or both. A Portal site may also offer email and other service to entice people to use that site as their main "point of entry" (hence "portal") to the Web. From Matisse
A free SQL server run under the BSD license. From Rute-Users-Guide
A Page Description Language that gets its leverage by using a full programming language, rather than a series of low-level escape sequences, to describe an image to be printed on a laser printer or other output device (in this it parallels EMACS, which exploited a similar insight about editing tasks). It is also noteworthy for implementing on-the fly rasterization, from Bezier curve descriptions, of high-quality fonts at low (e.g. 300 dpi) resolution. From Linux Guide @FirstLinux
A page description language developed by Adobe Systems that tells a printer how to display text or graphics on a printed page. From I-gloss
A sophisticated page description language (PDL) that's used for high-quality printing on laser printers and other high-resolution printing devices. Though Postscript is a programming language adn you can learn to write page descriptions in it, Postscript is usually invisible and automatic. Programs generate Postscript code that goes to the printer, where a Postscript interpreter follows the coded instructions to generate an image of the page precisely according to there instructions. A major benefit of Postscript is its device independence; you can print the Postscript code generated by an application on any printer with a Postscript interpreter. You can take Postscript files generated on your PC to a service bureaus which can print the document using expensive typesetting machines with resolutions of up to 2,400 dots per inch (dpi). See Postscript font, and Postscript printer. From QUECID
n. A Page Description Language (PDL), based on work originally done by John Gaffney at Evans and Sutherland in 1976, evolving through `JaM' (`John and Martin', Martin Newell) at XEROX PARC, and finally implemented in its current form by John Warnock et al. after he and Chuck Geschke founded Adobe Systems Incorporated in 1982. PostScript gets its leverage by using a full programming language, rather than a series of low-level escape sequences, to describe an image to be printed on a laser printer or other output device (in this it parallels EMACS, which exploited a similar insight about editing tasks). It is also noteworthy for implementing on-the fly rasterization, from Bezier curve descriptions, of high-quality fonts at low (e.g. 300 dpi) resolution (it was formerly believed that hand-tuned bitmap fonts were required for this task). Hackers consider PostScript to be among the most elegant hacks of all time, and the combination of technical merits and widespread availability has made PostScript the language of choice for graphical output. From Jargon Dictionary
A wide variety of fonts that can be used with OS/2, MS Windows and the X Window System. Font files include those with .afm, .pfa and .pfb extensions. Sometimes called Adobe Type 1 fonts, or ATM (Adobe Type Manager) fonts. PostScript fonts typically require a PostScript-compatible printer. (Also, see BDF Fonts and TrueType Fonts.) From I-gloss
A single message entered into a network communications system. From Matisse
An executing program. (Also, see Multitasking and Multithreading.) From I-gloss
A list of instructions, written in a programming language, that a computer can execute so that the machine arts in a predetermined way. Synonymous with software. The world of computer programs can be divided into system programs, utility pograms, and application programs: * System programs include all the programs the computer requires to function effectively, including the operating system, memory management software, and command-line interpreters The MS-DOS operating system is an example of system software. * Utility programs include all the programs you can use to maintain the computer system. MS-DOS includes several utility programmed such as CHKDSK. Most users equip their systems with utility packages (such as Norton Utilities or PC Tools) that go beyond the basics that MS-DOS provides. * Application programs transform the computer into a tool for performing a specific kind of work, such as word processing, financial analysis (with an electronic spreadsheet), or desktop publishing. Additional software categories include programming languages, games, educational programs, and a variety of vertical market programs. See executable program, high-level programming language, and machine language. From QUECID
A formal set of standards, rules, or formats for exchanging data that assures uniformity between computers and applications. From Glossary of Distance Education and Internet Terminology
Formal descriptions of what format should be used for messages by two or more computers wishing to communicate. FTP and SMTP are examples of such protocols. From Faculty-of-Education
A Proxy Server sits in between a Client and the "real" Server that a Client is trying to use. Client's are sometimes configured to use a Proxy Server, usually an HTTP server. The clients makes all of it's requests from the Proxy Server, which then makes requests from the "real" server and passes the result back to the Client. Sometimes the Proxy server will store the results and give a stored result instead of making a new one (to reduce use of a Network). Proxy servers are commonly established on Local Area Networks. From Matisse
a type of firewall that allows indirect internet access. From Linux Guide @FirstLinux
Proxyfloppy is a floppy disk that contains a bootable Linux system with 3 different types of web proxy and some added tools. The goal is to make it simple and safe for people with an always-on Internet connection to turn their desktop into a anonymous proxy server during the time that the computer would normally go unused. Version 1.1 was released on February 15, 2002. From LWN Distribution List
PsiLinux is a project to port Linux to a group of palmtops produced by Psion, and related machines such as the Geofox One. At present, working Linux systems can be installed on any of the Series 5, Series 5MX, Series 5MX-Pro, Revo (Revo+, Mako), Series 7 and netBook machines. Handhelds/PDA based distribution. From LWN Distribution List
Software that is available to be used and modified by anyone, for any purpose, and may even be incorporated for distribution in commercial software. Public domain software is not copyrighted, and no rights are retained by the author. (Also, see Open Source and Shareware.) From I-gloss
A method of data encryption that involves two separate keys: a public key and a private key. Data encrypted with the public key can be decrypted only with the private key and vice versa. Typically, the public key is published and can be used to encrypt data sent to the holder of the private key, and the private key is used to sign data. From I-gloss
PyXML is a package of libraries to process XML with Python. The distribution contains a validating XML parser, an implementation of the SAX and DOM programming interfaces, and an interface to the Expat parser. From Redhat 8.0 RPM
Pygmy Linux is small distribution of the Linux operating system, based on Slackware 7.1. PL use UMSDOS filesystem, it allows an user to install a fully functional operating system, that co-exists peacefully with DOS/Win9x on the same partition. PL is Internet ready, it supports connection via modem and network card. It is a console minilinux, so there are no X windows, Netscape or etc. From LWN Distribution List
/pi:'thon/ In the words of its author, "the other scripting language" (other than Perl, that is). Python's design is notably clean, elegant, and well thought through; it tends to attract the sort of programmers who find Perl grubby and exiguous. Python's relationship with Perl is rather like the BSD community's relationship to Linux - it's the smaller party in a (usually friendly) rivalry, but the average quality of its developers is generally conceded to be rather higher than in the larger community it competes with. There's a Python resource page at http://www.python.org. See also Guido. From Jargon Dictionary
An object-oriented p-code programming language. From I-gloss
a scripting language that is designed notably clean, elegant, and well thought through. From Linux Guide @FirstLinux
Remote configuration daemon for Gracilis Packeten. The 'p10cfgd' daemon provides support for the 'rmtcfg' command in the Gracilis Packeten amateur radio network packet switch. With this daemon, and appropriate entries in the non-volatile configuration memory of a Packeten, it is possible to have the switch load commands and information at boot time. Further, this daemon appends a command which sets the date and time in the clock on the Packeten. From Debian 3.0r0 APT
Pascal to C translator P2c is a tool for translating Pascal programs into C. The input consists of a set of source files in any of the following Pascal dialects: HP Pascal, Turbo/UCSD Pascal, DEC VAX Pascal, Oregon Software Pascal/2, Macintosh Programmer's Workshop Pascal, Sun/Berkeley Pascal, Texas Instruments Pascal, Apollo Domain Pascal. Modula-2 syntax is also supported. Output is a set of .c and .h files that comprise an equivalent program in any of several dialects of C. Output code may be kept machine and dialect-independent, or it may be targeted to a specific machine and compiler. Most reasonable Pascal programs are converted into fully functional C which will compile and run with no further modifications, although p2c sometimes chooses to generate readable code at the expense of absolute generality. From Debian 3.0r0 APT
Mount Psion series 3[ac], 5 drives. The package lets you mount psion drives on your Debian box over a serial cable. You can access all the files from the psion with the usual commands like tar, cp, vi & co. Works with Psion series 3[ac], 5 machines. Haven't tested on a Sienna yet. From Debian 3.0r0 APT
Library for computing Fast Fourier Transforms on Intel P4 This library computes Fast Fourier Transforms (FFT) in one or more dimensions. It is extremely fast. This package contains the documentation and the shared version of the libraries. To get the static library and the header files you need to install p4fftwgel-dev. This library uses the same interface as fftw so should be a drop-in replacement, but is currently limited to single precision only. The code is tuned for Intel P4 processors and can be as much as three times as fast as vanilla fftw. From Debian 3.0r0 APT
printer/plotter accounting information From whatis
register package user via mailagent From whatis
All data sent across the Internet is broken up into packets, sent individually across the network, and reassembled back into the original data at the other end. Analogy: Imagine looking at an automobile freeway during rush hour from an airplane. The freeway looks like a flowing river, but each individual car (packet) is really independent from all the others. While it looks like the cars on the freeway are going in the same direction, each car really has its own source and destination separate from the others around it. This is how Internet core routes look. Analogy: Now consider that a bunch of coworkers leave the office and go to a party. Each gets in his/her own car and drives to the party. Each person may take a slightly route, but they all end up together at the party. This demonstrates how data is broken up into individual packets, sent across the Internet (potentially following different routes), then reassembled back again at the destination. Key point: Conceptually, networking occurs at abstract layers well above the concept of packets. Users type in a URL, and the file is downloaded. By dealing with the raw packets themselves, hackers are frequently able to subvert communications in ways not detectable at these higher layers. Contrast: The term "packet switched network (PSN)" is used to describe the Internet, whereas the term "circuit switched network (CSN)" is used to contrast it with the traditional phone system. The key difference is that in the phone system, the route between two people is setup at the start, and each bit in the stream follows that route. On the Internet, each packet finds its own route through the system, so during a conversation, the packets can follow different paths, and indeed arrive out-of-order. Another key difference is latency. The phone system forwards each bit one at a time, so as soon as one arrives, it doesn't have to wait before forwarding it on. On the Internet, bits are bunched together before transmission. Each hop must wait and receive all the bits before forwarding any of them on. Each hop therefore adds a significant amount of delay. Gamers know this as the "ping" time. Key point: There are other technologies that use packets, not just the Internet. Before the Internet came along, X.25 networks were a popular form of packet-based communication (and indeed, X.25 formed the basis for many links on the nascent Internet). From Hacking-Lexicon
In firewalls, packet filters are the technology most often used to control traffic. Every packet contains the following fields: source IP address (example: 192.0.2.156) destination IP address transport type (example: TCP=6, UDP=17, ICMP=1) source port (example: HTTP=80, DNS=53, FTP=21) destination port flags (example: SYN) This data is compared against "rules" within the firewall. A typical set of rules might be: BLOCK destination=192.0.2.x TCP flag=SYNALLOW destination=192.0.2.123 TCP destport=80 ALLOW destination=192.0.2.124 TCP destport=25 If our private network is 192.0.2.x, then the first rule above blocks all incoming TCP connections (though outbound connections would still be allowed). The following rules override the first, allowing access to the web-server at port 80 and access to the e-mail server at port 25. Key point: The basic stance of a company firewall is: blocks all UDP traffic except for DNS blocks all incoming TCP connections but allows all outgoing ones allows incoming connections to public HTTP, FTP, SMTP, and DNS servers located in a "DMZ". blocks all ICMP traffic except for those packets needed for path MTU discovery. This allow most access to the Internet for end-users and allows the Internet to access the public servers. It blocks everything else. Contrast: The word "dynamic packet filter" was coined to contrast with the normal "static filter" rules in a firewall described above. Dynamic rules are needed because: Ports are a poor way of identifying protocols (and getting poorer) Whereas most communication uses only outbound connections, some (like FTP) use multiple connections in both directions. In the case of FTP, the client creates an outbound connection to the server, then the server creates separate inbound connections in order to transfer files to the client. Static firewall rules would block this incoming connection, dynamic rules monitor the state and temporarily change the static rules just to allow that connection. An example of a "dynamic" rule is to solve the FTP problem is: Block all incoming connections, but if the user has established a connection to port 21 on a server, then allowing incoming TCP connection from the server port 20 to ports higher than 1024 on the client. Another type of "dynamic" rule is one where the firewall does protocol analysis at layers higher than TCP. To contrast with the example above, the firewall might analyze the FTP connection looking for the PORT command. (The "PORT" command is the FTP protocol whereby the client tells the server which port is has opened to receive a file on). Checkpoint calls this protocol analysis "stateful packet inspection" in their firewall. Other vendors do similar stuff, but call it different names. From Hacking-Lexicon
Chase Monsters in a Labyrinth You are Pacman, and you are supposed to eat all the small dots to get to the next level. You are also supposed to keep away from the ghosts, if they take you, you lose one life, unless you have eaten a large dot, then you can, for a limited amount of time, chase and eat the ghosts. There is also bonus available, for a limited amount of time. An X gives just points, but a little pacman gives an extra life. From Debian 3.0r0 APT
Padding is the process of adding unused data to the end of a message in order to make it conform to a certain length. For example, block-ciphers often work on blocks that are 64-bits (8-bytes) long. Therefore, if you have a message that is 77-bytes long, you will need to "pad" it with an extra 3-bytes to make it an even 80-bytes in size (10-blocks). Key point: Padding is a regular feature of all crypto algorithms, including hashing and encryption. Some algorithms have been broken due to poor choices for padding. Most importantly, however, the size of the message can often reveal details about its contents. For example, let's assume a protocol whereby somebody accepts something with a simple message of "yes", but when it declines, it says "no" along with a reason why it was rejected. Therefore, even though the messages are encrypted, the "yes" will be a short message but the "no" will be a long message. From Hacking-Lexicon
opposite of more From whatis
An enhanced version of the PAL PDP8 assembler PALBART is an enhanced version of the pdp8 PAL assembler. This is a PDP8 cross assembler. Its useful for the users of SIMH or any other PDP8 emulator. The original source code is available at: http://www.cs.uiowa.edu/~jones/pdp8/index.html To quote that web page, "This enhancement was written by Gary Messenbrink to support BART's fleet of PDP-8 systems." From Debian 3.0r0 APT
Linux boot loader for parisc/hppa This package contains the parisc boot loader itself, plus palo which is the boot media management tool as lilo is for i386. From Debian 3.0r0 APT
PAM (Pluggable Authentication Modules) is a system security tool which allows system administrators to set authentication policy without having to recompile programs which do authentication. From Mandrake 9.0 RPM
The pam_krb5 module is a Pluggable Authentication Module (PAM) thatcan be used with Linux-PAM and Kerberos 5. The pam_krb5 module supports password checking, ticket creation, optional TGT verification and conversion to Kerberos IV tickets. The pam_krb5afs module, for AFStokens, is also included in this package. From Redhat 8.0 RPM
The pam_smb module can be used to authenticate users using an external SMB server. From Redhat 8.0 RPM
A Newsreader uses GTK, looks like Forte Agent. Pan is a newsreader, loosely based on Agent and Gravity, which attempts to be pleasant to use for new and advanced users alike. It has all the typical features found in newsreaders and also supports offline newsreading, sophisticated filtering, multiple connections, and a number of extra features for power users and alt.binaries fans. From Debian 3.0r0 APT
This is PAN, a powerful and user-friendly USENET newsreader for GNOME. The latest info and versions of Pan can always be found at http://pan.rebelbase.com/. From Mandrake 9.0 RPM
The Gnome panel From whatis
A library to handle unicode strings as well as complex bidirectional or context dependent shaped strings. It is the next step on Gtk+ internationalization. From Mandrake 9.0 RPM
Pango is a system for layout and rendering of internationalized text. From Redhat 8.0 RPM
A framework for 3D graphics production Panorama will include modeling, rendering, post-processing, animating, etc. Functionally, it is structured as an API, composed by two dynamic libraries, and several plugins, that you can optionally load in runtime. A simple console mode front-end for this API is included in the package, that can load a scene description in one of the supported scene languages and then outputs a single image file in any of the supported graphic formats. Its main features are: - Plugin architecture. Most elements in the system are plugin's. This means components are loaded as needed, and can be substituted, added, etc without recompiling anything. This will let third parties distribute their plugins outside the main distribution. - Object oriented scene description language, with classes, inheritance, etc. It's easy to use, and has a simple syntax. - Scene language is a plugin itself, so any other scene language can be used instead. - Several rendering methods are possible without any other change in input scene file. Currently supported methods are raytracing and zbuffer, but other methods are being tested and will be incorporated in the future. - A postprocessing system lets you apply filters to the whole image after it has been generated by renderer. - Similarly, there are object filters, that you can apply to an object in the rendering process. This means a new class of effects (e.g. a cartoon-like object in a photorealistic scene). - Materials have a BSDF (Bidirectional Scattering Distribution Function) that encapsulates its properties with respect to the light. Now, only Lambertian and Phong BSDF's are implemented, but more sophisticated ones will follow, like Schlick's, Ward's, etc. From Debian 3.0r0 APT
Objective-C library for mail handling (development files) Pantomime provides a set of Objective-C classes that model a mail system. Pantomime can be seen as a JavaMail 1.2 clone written in Objective-C. From Debian 3.0r0 APT
print paper configuration informations From whatis
configure the system default paper size From whatis
Paragraph reformatter Greatly enhanced fmt type program by Adam M. Costello. Can be used within vi or other editor to automatically reformat text in a variety of ways. Perfect for use with email & usenet messages as it correctly handles multiple levels of quoting characters. From Debian 3.0r0 APT
Standard themes for the widget set library ParaGUI is a cross-platform high-level application framework and GUI (graphical user interface) library. ParaGUI's is completely based on the Simple DirectMedia Layer. This package contains standard themes files for the paragui library. From Debian 3.0r0 APT
Use PAR files to reconstruct missing parts of multi-part archives This utility applies the data-recovery capability concepts of RAID-like systems to the posting and recovery of multi-part archives on Usenet. It supports the 'Reed-Soloman Code' implementation that allows for recovery of any 'X' volumes for 'X' parity volumes present. It is popularly used on USENET postings, but is not limited to this use. Upstream source: http://parchive.sourceforge.net/ From Debian 3.0r0 APT
PARI/GP Computer Algebra System extra data files PARI/GP is a widely used computer algebra system designed for fast computations in number theory (factorizations, algebraic number theory, elliptic curves...), but also contains a large number of other useful functions to compute with mathematical entities such as matrices, polynomials, power series, algebraic numbers, etc., and a lot of transcendental functions. PARI is also available as a C library to allow for faster computations. Originally developed by Henri Cohen and his co-workers (Universiti Bordeaux I, France), PARI is now under the GPL and maintained by Karim Belabas (Universiti Paris XI, France) with the help of many volunteer contributors. This package contains extra data files for PARI/GP, currently the Galois resolvants for the polgalois function. From Debian 3.0r0 APT
PARI/GP Computer Algebra System binaries. PARI/GP is a widely used computer algebra system designed for fast computations in number theory (factorizations, algebraic number theory, elliptic curves...), but also contains a large number of other useful functions to compute with mathematical entities such as matrices, polynomials, power series, algebraic numbers, etc., and a lot of transcendental functions. PARI is also available as a C library to allow for faster computations. Originally developed by Henri Cohen and his co-workers (Universiti Bordeaux I, France), PARI is now under the GPL and maintained by Karim Belabas (Universiti Paris XI, France) with the help of many volunteer contributors. This package contains the GP calculator. From Debian 3.0r0 APT
In asynchronous communications and primary storage, an extra bit added to a data word for parity checking. From QUECID
A technique used to detect memory or data communication errors. The computer adds up the number of bits in a one-byte data item, and if the parity bit setting disagrees with the sum of the other bits, the computer reports an error. Parity-checking schemes work by storing a one-bit digit (0 or 1) that indicates whether the sum of the bits in a data item is odd or even. When the data item is read from memory or received by another computer, a panty check occurs. If the parity check reveals that the parity bit is incorrect, the computer displays an error message. See even parity and odd parity. From QUECID
An error that a computer reports when parity checking reveals that one or more parity bits is incorrect, indicating a probable error in data processing or data transmission. From QUECID
A program that breaks large units of data into smaller, more easily interpreted pieces. For example, a will browser reads documents prepared with a markup language (such as HTML). The markup language identiies the parts of the document (such as document headings, bulleted lists, or body text), but says nothing about how those portions of the document should appear on-screen. The parser reads the tagged text and formats the various portions of the document for on-screen display. See Hypertext Markup Language (HTML). From QUECID
The GNU Parted disk partition resizing program GNU Parted is a program that allows you to create, destroy, resize, move and copy hard disk partitions. This is useful for creating space for new operating systems, reorganising disk usage, and copying data to new hard disks. This package contains the Parted binary and manual page. Parted currently supports DOS, Mac, Sun, BSD, GPT and PC98 disklabels/partition tables, as well as a 'loop' (raw disk) type which allows use on RAID/LVM. Filesystems supported are ext2, ext3, FAT (FAT16 and FAT32) and linux-swap. Parted can also detect HFS (Mac OS), JFS, NTFS, ReiserFS, UFS and XFS filesystems, but cannot create/remove/resize/check these filesystems yet. The nature of this software means that any bugs could cause massive data loss. While there are no known bugs at the moment, they could exist, so please back up all important files before running it, and do so at your own risk. From Debian 3.0r0 APT
The GNU Parted program allows you to create, destroy, resize, move, and copy hard disk partitions. Parted can be used for creating space for new operating systems, reorganizing disk usage, and copying data to new hard disks. From Redhat 8.0 RPM
The GNU Parted disk partition resizing program, small version GNU Parted is a program that allows you to create, destroy, resize, move and copy hard disk partitions. This is useful for creating space for new operating systems, reorganising disk usage, and copying data to new hard disks. This package is similar to the "big" parted package, but has less cosmetic features resulting in smaller binary. Intended to be used on boot floppies. Parted currently supports DOS, Mac, Sun, BSD, GPT and PC98 disklabels/partition tables, as well as a 'loop' (raw disk) type which allows use on RAID/LVM. Filesystems supported are ext2, ext3, fat (FAT16 and FAT32) and linux-swap. Parted can also detect HFS (Mac OS), JFS, NTFS, ReiserFS, UFS and XFS filesystems, but cannot create/remove/resize/check these filesystems yet. The nature of this software means that any bugs could cause massive data loss. While there are no known bugs at the moment, they could exist, so please back up all important files before running it, and do so at your own risk. From Debian 3.0r0 APT
Linux/UNIX utility to save partitions in a compressed image file Partition Image is a Linux/UNIX partition imaging utility: it saves partitions in the Ext2FS (the linux standard), ReiserFS (a new journaled and powerful file system), NTFS (Windows NT File System) or FAT16/32 (DOS & Windows file systems) file system formats to an image file. Only used blocks are copied. The image file can be compressed in the GZIP/BZIP2 formats to save disk space, and split into multiple files to be copied onto removable media (ZIP for example), burned on a CD-R, etc. This makes it possible to save a full Linux/Windows system with a single operation. In case of a problem (virus, crash, error, etc.), you just have to restore, and after several minutes, your entire system is restored (boot, files, etc.), and fully working. This is very useful when installing the same software on many machines: just install one of them, create an image, and just restore the image on all other machines. Then, after the first one, each installation is automatic made, and requires only a few minutes. From Debian 3.0r0 APT
Server to use partimage across a network Partition Image is a Linux/UNIX partition imaging utility. It backs up your partitions from a client to a server. All data will be transfer encripted using SSL. From Debian 3.0r0 APT
A contiguous section of blocks on your hard disk that is treated like a completely separate disk by most operating systems. From Linux Guide @FirstLinux
Highlight Pascal and Modula-2 sources for WWW presentation pas2html can highlight your source for presentation in the WWW. It can also be used as a CGI script and can detect whether the client browser supports compressed data to save bandwidth. From Debian 3.0r0 APT
PassiveTeX is a library of TeX macros which can be used to process an XML document which results from an XSL transformation to formatting objects. From Redhat 8.0 RPM
Some systems allow the user to entire an entire sentance (or phrase) rather than a short password. A long phrase can be significantly harder to guess than a simple password, providing better security. Since phrases can be difficult to type in, they are usually only used when extreme security is demanded. From Hacking-Lexicon
Change and administer password and group data. This package includes passwd, chsh, chfn, and many other programs to maintain password and group data. Shadow passwords are supported. See /usr/share/doc/passwd/README.Debian.gz From Debian 3.0r0 APT
The passwd package contains a system utility (passwd) which sets and/or changes passwords, using PAM (Pluggable Authentication Modules). To use passwd, you should have PAM installed on your system. From Mandrake 9.0 RPM
The passwd package contains a system utility (passwd) which setsand/or changes passwords, using PAM (Pluggable AuthenticationModules).To use passwd, you should have PAM installed on your system. From Redhat 8.0 RPM
The password file From whatis
change user password From whatis
A personal identifier used to validate a user's authorization to log into a Linux system. From Linux Guide @FirstLinux
A type of authentication, a pasword is a secret word that a user must know in order to gain access. A passphrse is a correspondingly larger secret consisting of multiple words. History: Passwords have been used since Roman times. The Romans were some of the first large armies where people didn't recognize each other by site. In order to gain entry into the camp, a Roman soldier would have to know the secret password. Key point: The most important defensive mechanism that a corporation can take is to create and enforce policies about proper password usage. This policy should entail: length E.g. minimum of 6 characters composition E.g. upper and lower case, numbers, and punctuation. Note that one of the big support headaches is users who have the caps-lock key on which causes passwords to be mistyped. lifetime E.g. when passwords expire. A good choice would be every 6-months. Password expiration is an overated security technique. It's biggest benefit is that it will automatically age out. source Whether users select their own password or are given one by management. There are automated password programs that will generate easy-to-remember passwords. ownership A policy should declare that passwords should never be shared; many declare that a user will automatically lose privileges if they ever share their password with somebody else. distribution How does the user get his/her password? If the system administrator chooses the password, how do they securely tell the user? If the user chooses a password the first time they log on, how do you prevent other people from getting to the account before the legitimate user? Often people will distribute an initial password, but then force the user to change it. storage Most passwords these days are stored in an encrypted format such that even the administrators cannot know what the password is. authentication period When should the terminal automatically log the user out? Should their be a fixed time, or an inactivity timer? E.g. banking terminals automatically log the user out within a few minutes, PCs have password screen savers that can be configured. Key point: A leading cause of compromise are programs that leave behind default passwords. A leading cause of compromise are users who choose weak passwords that can easily be guessed or cracked. Tools: The crack programs can be used to maintain a strong policy (or break into systems). Tools: On Windows NT, the "passflt.dll" and "passprop.exe" tools can be used to enforce strong passwords. Misunderstanding: People used to believe that a good password was a random mix of UPPER and lower case, numbers, and punctuation. However, this generates passwords that are impossible for users to remember, so they find ways around the restriction, such as writing passwords down on Post-It notes. Therefore, somebody can compromise the network by simply looking for Post-It notes (such as pasted to the bottom of a keyboard). Controversy: Many policies declare that a password must be changed frequently, and most OSes come with tools for enforcing this. However, this leads to the same problem as above: it causes pain for users, so they behave in ways that reduce security. Also, it isn't clear that it dramatically increases security. Contrast: Passwords aren't the only authentication scheme possible. Crypto-cards are often used to generate "one-time passwords" or challenge-response authentication. Tip: Use a Palm Pilot and a crypt program to store your many passwords. Make sure that you choose a encryption program that cannot be broken. Notes: In June, 2001, the British CentralNic commissioned a poll to discover what kinds of passwords people choose. They found that people could be classified: family (50%) Chooses names, such as their own, their partner's (wife, husband, other), children, or pets. They further noted that such people tended to be those who used the computer the least. fan (30%) Chooses names of sports stars, cartoon characters, or pop sars. Since the study was in the United Kingdom, Britsh soccer player David Beckham emerged as the most popular. Variations of Homer Simpson and Madonna also were popular. self-obsessed (11%) Words like "sexy", "stud", "slapper", or "goddess". Note that in the 1995 movie Hackers, the plot centers around a high-level executive who chose "god" for a password, which the hacker easily guessed. cryptics (9%) Passwords with a mix of lower and upper case characters, numbers, and punctuation. See also: grind, crack, password cache, 8-character password, PIN From Hacking-Lexicon
In a computer network, a feature of the network operating system (NOS) that keeps track of the last time you changed your password You should change your password frequently to help thwart computer crackers. When your password reaches the end of its "life" such as after six months, a message appears on-screen that encourages you to change your password. From QUECID
A temporary copy of the password. Internal to the computer, password information is constantly being checked. If you were queried for the password each and every time, you would find that computer would become unusable. Therefore, the computer attempts to "cache" the password so that internal prompts during the same session do not cause external prompts to the user. Key point: All systems cache passwords in memory during a login session. Therefore, if a hacker can gain access to all memory on the system, he/she can likely sift the memory for passwords. Likewise, hackers can frequently sift pagefiles for passwords. Key point: Many programs whose goal is ease-of-use will ask the user if they want to save the password on disk (in a file or registry. For example, the MS Outlook e-mail client has this feature to cache the POP3 passwords. Therefore, hackers have programs that will sift the filesystem or registry or these passwords. Some systems will store these cached passwords in clear-text, others attempt to encrypt the passwords, but usually this encryption mechanism ca be defeated. From Hacking-Lexicon
A file, /etc/passwd, that contains basic information about each user authorized to log into a given Linux system. For each user, the file contains a line that gives the user's login name, encrypted password, user identifier, group identifier (if any), home directory, and login program patch apply a diff file to an original. From Linux Guide @FirstLinux
A method of limiting access to a program, computer, or a network by requiring you to enter a password Some programs allow you to password-protect your files so they can't be read by others, but be sure to keep a record of the password. Many users have lost work permanently because they forgot the password and had no means to retrieve it. (If a method for retrieving a password were included in software programs, a clever cracker would quickly discover it, and your data wouldn't be secure) From QUECID
merge lines of files From whatis
1. n. A temporary addition to a piece of code, usually as a quick-and-dirty remedy to an existing bug or misfeature. A patch may or may not work, and may or may not eventually be incorporated permanently into the program. Distinguished from a diff or mod by the fact that a patch is generated by more primitive means than the rest of the program; the classical examples are instructions modified by using the front panel switches, and changes made directly to the binary executable of a program originally written in an HLL. Compare one-line fix. 2. vt. To insert a patch into a piece of code. 3. [in the Unix world] n. A diff (sense 2). 4. A set of modifications to binaries to be applied by a patching program. IBM operating systems often receive updates to the operating system in the form of absolute hexadecimal patches. If you have modified your OS, you have to disassemble these back to the source. The patches might later be corrected by other patches on top of them (patches were said to "grow scar tissue"). The result was often a convoluted patch space and headaches galore. 5. [Unix] the patch(1) program, written by Larry Wall, which automatically applies a patch (sense 3) to a set of source code. There is a classic story of a tiger team penetrating a secure military computer that illustrates the danger inherent in binary patches (or, indeed, any patches that you can't -- or don't -- inspect and examine before installing). They couldn't find any trap doors or any way to penetrate security of IBM's OS, so they made a site visit to an IBM office (remember, these were official military types who were purportedly on official business), swiped some IBM stationery, and created a fake patch. The patch was actually the trapdoor they needed. The patch was distributed at about the right time for an IBM patch, had official stationery and all accompanying documentation, and was dutifully installed. The installation manager very shortly thereafter learned something about proper procedures. From Jargon Dictionary
Apply a diff file to an original Patch will take a patch file containing any of the four forms of difference listing produced by the diff program and apply those differences to an original file, producing a patched version. From Debian 3.0r0 APT
The patch program applies diff files to originals. The diff command is used to compare an original to a changed file. Diff lists the changes made to the file. A person who has the original file can thenuse the patch command with the diff file to add the changes to their original file (patching the file). Patch should be installed because it is a common way of upgrading applications. From Mandrake 9.0 RPM
apply a diff file to an original From whatis
Security updates to products are often referred to as "patches" because they fix one small part of the product rather than updating the entire product. Analogy: Imagine that you are in a rubber raft that seems to be sinking. You look around on the boat and see small holes. You use your patch kit to fix the small holes rather than building yourself a new boat. Key point: The software you are using today likely has security holes that nobody has discovered yet. It seems unlikely, but this has been the historical precidence, whether you are using open-source (e.g. Linux), Microsoft products, or class UNIX systems (e.g. Sun). Therefore, if you don't keep up with the latest software, you will eventually get hacked. From Hacking-Lexicon
This is a collection of programs that can manipulate patch files ina variety of ways, such as interpolating between two pre-patches, combining two incremental patches, fixing line numbers in hand-edited patches, and simply listing the files modified by a patch. From Redhat 8.0 RPM
Utilities to work with patches This package includes the following utilities: - combinediff creates a cumulative patch from two incremental patches - filterdiff extracts or excludes diffs from a diff file - fixcvsdiff fixes diff files created by CVS that "patch" mis-interprets - grepdiff shows which files are modified by a patch matching a regex - interdiff shows differences between two unified diff files - lsdiff shows which files are modified by a patch - rediff fixes offsets and counts of a hand-edited diff - splitdiff separates out incremental patches From Debian 3.0r0 APT
generate patterns for TeX hyphenation From whatis
n. 1. A bang path or explicitly routed Internet address; a node-by-node specification of a link between two machines. Though these are now obsolete as a form of addressing, they still show up in diagnostics and trace headers occasionally (e.g. in NNTP headers). 2. [Unix] A filename, fully specified relative to the root directory (as opposed to relative to the current directory; the latter is sometimes called a `relative path'). This is also called a `pathname'. 3. [Unix and MS-DOS] The `search path', an environment variable specifying the directories in which the shell (COMMAND.COM, under MS-DOS) should look for commands. Other, similar constructs abound under Unix (for example, the C preprocessor has a `search path' it uses in looking for #include files). From Jargon Dictionary
In DOS, a statement that indicates the name of a file and precisely where it's located on a hard disk . When opening or saving a file with most applications, you must specify the full path name to retrieve or store the file in a directory other than the current directory. Suppose that you're using Wordperfect, and you want to store the file REPORT9.DOC in the directory C:\DOCS. If C:\DOCS isn't the current directory, you must type C:\DOCS\REPORT9.DOC to name arid store the file in the correct location. From QUECID
check whether file names are valid or portable From whatis
Multiprotocol file graber with textual and graphic control. This is a file graber, which can work in text or graphic mode. Pavuk is extremly configurable, supports FTP, HTTP, HTTPS and Gopher protocols. Pavuk also supports cookies, HTTP authentification, "robots.txt". You can also use FTP and HTTP proxy caches. Graphical interface is written in Xt or GTK. From Debian 3.0r0 APT
'pax' is the POSIX standard archive tool. It supports the two most common forms of standard Unix archive (backup) files - CPIO and TAR. From Mandrake 9.0 RPM
Portable Archive Interchange Pax is an archiving utility that reads and writes tar and cpio formats, both the traditional ones and the extended formats specified in IEEE 1003.1. It handles multi-volume archives and automatically determines the format of an archive while reading it. Three user interfaces are supported: tar, cpio, and pax. The pax interface was designed by IEEE 1003.2 as a compromise in the chronic controversy over which of tar or cpio is best. This is the free OpenBSD's version written by Keith Muller. From Debian 3.0r0 APT
personal package builder for Debian packages pbuilder constructs a chroot system, and builds a package inside the chroot. It is an ideal system to use to check that a package's build-dependencies are correct, and to be sure that unnecessary and wrong build dependencies will not exist in the resulting package. It uses apt extensively, and a local mirror, or a fast connection to a Debian mirror is ideal, but not necessary. "pbuilder create" uses debootstrap to create a chroot image. "pbuilder update" updates the image to the current state of testing/unstable/whatever "pbuilder build" takes a *.dsc file and builds a binary in the chroot image. pdebuild is a wrapper for Debian Developers, to allow running pbuilder just like "debuild", as a normal user. From Debian 3.0r0 APT
Downloader for pc532 monitor ROM. This is 'pc532down', a utility to support downloading to the monitor ROM on a pc532 system. If you don't already know what a pc532 is, you don't want to know, and you don't want this utility. This utility is also provided as part of the pc532 distribution of NetBSD under the name 'download.c'. From Debian 3.0r0 APT
Makes printable Postscript calendars without X. "Pcal" is a program to print PostScript calendars for any month and year. By default, it looks for a file in the home directory named "calendar" for entries with leading dates matching dates on the calendar, and prints any following text under the appropriate day. From Debian 3.0r0 APT
Printed Circuit Board Design Program Pcb is a handy tool for the X Window System build to design printed circuit boards. All coordinate units are 1/1000 inch. For details see the manual. From Debian 3.0r0 APT
The Purdue Compiler Construction Tool Set (PCCTS). PCCTS consists of ANother Tool for Language Recognition (ANTLR), a DFA-based Lexical analyzer Generator (DLG) and assorted other utilities designed for the construction of compilers and other language translators. ANTLR is a parser generator which generates recursive descent parsers which are easier to debug than the table driven bottom-up parsers created by YACC. It also provides support for the automatic generation of Abstract Syntax Trees (AST's). From Debian 3.0r0 APT
Scripts to convert PCD images to commented HTML pages By giving some rules and commenting text in predefined files it is possible to convert Kodak Photo CD data into linked HTML pages with describing text. English and German pages can be created. From Debian 3.0r0 APT
Characterize the bandwidth, latency and loss on network links pchar is a reimplementation of the pathchar utility, written by Van Jacobson. Both programs attempt to characterize the bandwidth, latency, and loss of links along an end-to-end path through the Internet. pchar works in both IPv4 and IPv6 networks. From Debian 3.0r0 APT
read/write PCI config space From whatis
Linux PCI Utilities (for 2.[1234].x kernels) This package contains various utilities for inspecting and setting of devices connected to the PCI bus. Requires kernel version 2.1.82 or newer (supporting the /proc/bus/pci interface). From Debian 3.0r0 APT
Clock Dock app for Window Maker window manager This is a nice analog clock. It allows different XPMs as backgrounds as well as different configurations of hands and such to match with the XPM. Make sure to check the examples for some included XPM's besides the default From Debian 3.0r0 APT
PCMCIA Card Services for Linux. PCMCIA cards are commonly used in laptops to provide expanded capabilities, such as modems, increased memory, etc. Some desktop PCs can accept PCMCIA cards as well, although this is rare. Card Services for Linux is a complete PCMCIA support package. It includes a set of client drivers for specific cards, and a card manager daemon that can respond to card insertion and removal events, loading and unloading drivers on demand. It supports ``hot swapping'' of PCMCIA cards, so cards can be inserted and ejected at any time. The actual kernel modules required for this package are contained in the pcmcia-modules-<kernel version> package, where <kernel version> is the version of the kernel for which the modules have been compiled. The wireless-tools package is required by wireless network adapters. The hotplug package is required by 2.4 (and later) series kernels to use PCI (Cardbus) devices. From Debian 3.0r0 APT
PCMCIA Modules for Linux (kernel 2.2.20). This package contains the set of loadable kernel modules for the PCMCIA Card Services applications program interface. They have been compiled to be compatible with the kernel in the kernel-image-2.2.20 package version 2.2.20-5. If you have compiled your own kernel, you will most likely need to also recompile the PCMCIA modules. The pcmcia-source package has been provided to help Debian users recompile the PCMCIA modules to work with their kernels' configurations. (It also is possible to rebuild these modules using the Debian source files for the pcmcia-cs package.) The utilities in the pcmcia-cs package are required to use these modules. From Debian 3.0r0 APT
Programmable completion for Emacs Pcomplete provides a facility for using programmatic completion in Emacs. It is especially useful for utilities like shells and command interpretors, but can in fact be used anywhere within Emacs. From Debian 3.0r0 APT
A small command-line utility to auto-detect printers pconf-detect is a simple command-line utility for detecting parallel, USB and network-connected printers. From Debian 3.0r0 APT
PCR-1000 Control Daemon / Command Line Interface PCRD is a command line program, that also supports a daemon mode, for controlling an Icom PCR-1000 Wide Band Receiver via a serial port. For more info on the PCR-1000, see http://www.icomamerica.com/receivers/pc/ From Debian 3.0r0 APT
PCRE has its own native API, but a set of "wrapper" functions that are based onthe POSIX API are also supplied in the library libpcreposix. Note that this just provides a POSIX calling interface to PCRE: the regular expressions themselves still follow Perl syntax and semantics. This package contains a grep variant based on the PCRE library. From Mandrake 9.0 RPM
Perl-compatible regular expression library. PCRE has its own native API, but a set of "wrapper" functions that are based on the POSIX API are also supplied in the library libpcreposix. Note that this just provides a POSIX calling interface to PCRE; the regular expressions themselves still follow Perl syntax and semantics. The header file for the POSIX-style functions is called pcreposix.h. From Redhat 8.0 RPM
Some tools to be used with smart cards and PC/SC This archive contains some tools useful for a user of PC/SC user. The tools provided are: pcsc_scan(1) scans available smart card readers and print detected events: card insertion with ATR, card removal; scriptor(1) Perl script to send commands to a smart card using a batch file or stdin; gscriptor(1) the same idea as scriptor.pl(1) but with Perl-Gtk GUI. From Debian 3.0r0 APT
PCSC Lite resource manager daemon The purpose of PCSC Lite is to provide a Windows(R) SCard interface in a very small form factor for communicating to smartcards and readers. The PCSC daemon is used to dynamically allocate/deallocate reader drivers at runtime and manage connections to the readers. From Debian 3.0r0 APT
Realtime Computer Music and Graphics System. A real-time graphical programming environment for audio and graphics analysis and rendering. Pd's audio functions are built-in; graphical computations require a separate package named GEM ("Graphics Environment for Multimedia"). Pd and GEM are available for SGI machines, IBM PC compatibles (running NT or W95) and Linux (PCs or Alpha machines). From Debian 3.0r0 APT
generate a PostScript page list of a PDF document From whatis
Ghostscript PDF to PostScript translator From whatis
PDF output from e-TeX From whatis
PDF output from e-TeX From whatis
PDF output from e-TeX From whatis
PDF output from e-TeX From whatis
Portable Document Format (PDF) font analyzer (version 1.00) From whatis
Portable Document Format (PDF) image extractor (version 1.00) From whatis
Portable Document Format (PDF) document information extractor (version 1.00) From whatis
PDF output from TeX From whatis
PDF output from JadeTeX From whatis
PDF output from TeX From whatis
Ghostscript PDF Optimizer From whatis
Make PDF documents which are printable and readable on screen too pdfscreen is an extension of the hyperref package to provide a screen-based document design. This package helps to generate pdf documents that are readable on screen and will fit the screen's aspect ratio. Also it can be used with various options to produce regular print versions of the same document without any extra effort. One important utility of this package is to generate slides for talks, seminars etc. It produces a pdf file which can be used for a slideshow on any machine which has a pdf viewer. (Preferrably acroread). The homepage of this project is http://www.river-valley.com/download From Debian 3.0r0 APT
PDF output from TeX From whatis
Portable Document Format (PDF) to PostScript converter (version 1.00) From whatis
Portable Document Format (PDF) to text converter (version 1.00) From whatis
PDF output from TeX From whatis
A public domain version of the Korn shell PD-ksh is a mostly complete AT&T ksh look-alike (see NOTES file for a list of things not supported). Work is currently underway to make it fully compatible with both POSIX and AT&T ksh (when the two don't conflict). Since pdksh is free and compiles and runs on most common unix systems, it is very useful in creating a consistent user interface across multiple machines. For example, in the CS department of MUN, pdksh is installed on a variety of machines including Suns, HPs, DecStations, PCs running Linux, etc., and is the login shell of ~4500 users. From Debian 3.0r0 APT
The perl data language. Perl extensions for numerics. PDL (``Perl Data Language'') gives standard perl the ability to COMPACTLY store and SPEEDILY manipulate the large N-dimensional data arrays which are the bread and butter of scientific computing. The idea is to turn perl in to a free, array-oriented, numerical language in the same sense as commercial packages like IDL and MatLab. One can write simple perl expressions to manipulate entire numerical arrays all at once. For example, using PDL the perl variable $a can hold a 1024x1024 floating point image, it only takes 4Mb of memory to store it and expressions like $a=sqrt($a)+2 would manipulate the whole image in a few seconds. A simple interactive shell (perldl) is provided for command line use together with a module (PDL) for use in perl scripts. Web page: http://pdl.perl.org/ From Debian 3.0r0 APT
Small GTK-based login program Pdm is a miniature login program, intended for use on PDAs and other small systems. It is not a proper replacement for xdm, but has just about enough functionality to authenticate a user and start a session. From Debian 3.0r0 APT
Simple full screen menu program. A simple full screen menu program, intended to be comfortable login shell for inexperienced users. Pdmenu interfaces with Debian's menu system, to provide automatically-generated lists of installed programs. From Debian 3.0r0 APT
Proxy DNS Server pdnsd is a proxy dns server with permanent caching (the cache contents are written to hard disk on exit) that is designed to cope with unreachable or down dns servers (for example in dial-in networking). pdnsd can be used with applications that do dns lookups, eg on startup, and can't be configured to change that behaviour, to prevent the often minute-long hangs (or even crashes) that result from stalled dns queries. Some Netscape Navigator versions for Unix, for example, expose this behaviour. And it's IPv6 capable. From Debian 3.0r0 APT
Simple printing system for workstations Queueless printing system for workstation installations, which also supports sending print jobs to BSD lpr queues, over Appletalk (using netatalk) or TCP connections, and over fax transmissions via the efax utilities. It also includes a contributed interface for printing to Novell NetWare-based servers. The maintainer of the Linux Printing HOWTO recommends using this system standalone, or as a front-end to LPRng. Printing to non-Postscript printers usually requires using GNU or Aladdin Ghostscript. Home Page: http://pdq.sourceforge.net/ From Debian 3.0r0 APT
a daily backup system similar to Plan9's dumpfs pdumpfs is a simple daily backup system similar to Plan9's dumpfs which preserves every daily snapshot. pdumpfs is written in Ruby. You can access the past snapshots at any time for retrieving a certain day's file. Let's backup your home directory with pdumpfs! From Debian 3.0r0 APT
A HTML Editor for GTK+/GNOME It supports most of basic HTML. It features Session Management and HTML Preview using the GtkHTML widget, Drag N' Drop among other things. From Debian 3.0r0 APT
A file-sharing technique for local area networks (LANs) in which each user has access to the public files located on the workstation of any other network user. Each user determines which files, if any, he or she wants to make public for network access. See TOPS. From QUECID
A local area network (LAN) without a central server and in which all computers in the network have access to the public idles located on all other workstation. See client/server network and peer-to-peer file transfer. From QUECID
Download images from STV0680B-001 chip based digital cameras pencam is a command line program which can download images from digital cameras which use the STV0680B-001 chip (e.g. the Aiptek Pencam or the Nisis Quickpix 2). From Debian 3.0r0 APT
A penetration test is where a client hires ethical hackers to attempt to break into their systems. The value of pentration testing is that attack and defense are different mindsets. People who must defend against systems are frequently not very good at finding ways into systems, and vice versa. Controversy: There are several well-documented cases where clients have been burned by such tests. The penetration testers may find juicy corporate data that they cannot resist taking. Controversy: Many people debate the effecacy of such tests. Evil hackers will choose a set of techniques that protect them from being caught. Penetration testers do not fear prosecution, and will therefore choose a different set of techniques. See also: tiger team From Hacking-Lexicon
a missile command clone This is a clone of the classic "Missile Command" Game, but it has better graphics and music. You have to defend cities by shooting at missiles, flyers and smartbombs. From Debian 3.0r0 APT
A gtk version of xeyes penguineyes displays Tux, Evil Tux, Penguin of Lurve, Robopenguin, Gnu, Dust Puppy or Linus following your mouse cursor with their eyes. Upstream webpage: no longer available (was http://www.crathva.fsnet.co.uk/penguineyes.html) From Debian 3.0r0 APT
Five in a row game for X and the console Pente is the English name for the Asian game ni-nuki, which itself is a version of the game go-moku. The game is a variant of the well known five in a row. Placing five stones in a row is one way to win, the other is to capture five pairs of the opponents stones. Pente can run in three different modes: X, curses or text. You can play against the computer or another human, and there is also support for playing over a network. From Debian 3.0r0 APT
force pentium optimized compilation Replaces gcc, cc, and g++ with scripts that build pentium optimized code. (Other processors can be optimized for as well.) By default, after installing this package, the compilers will behave normally. However, if the environment variable DEBIAN_BUILDARCH=pentium is set, they will enter pentium optimized compile mode. From Debian 3.0r0 APT
POP3 and IMAP4 Proxy server Perdition allows users to connect to a content-free POP3 or IMAP4 server that will redirect them to their real POP3 or IMAP4 server. This enables mail retrieval for a domain to be split across multiple backend servers on a per user basis. This can also be used to as a POP3 or IMAP4 proxy especially in firewall applications. Perdition supports arbitrary library based map access to determine the server for a user. POSIX Regular Expression, GDBM, MySQL, PostgreSQL and LDAP libraries ship with the distribution. From Debian 3.0r0 APT
Library to allow perdition to access LDAP based pop maps. Perdition allows for arbitrary user database access through shared libraries much in the manner of NSS in glibc. This package allows a user database to be sourced from LDAP. From Debian 3.0r0 APT
Library to allow perdition to access MySQL based pop maps. Perdition allows for arbitrary user database access through shared libraries much in the manner of NSS in glibc. This package allows a user database stored in a MySQL database. From Debian 3.0r0 APT
Library to allow perdition to access PostgreSQL based pop maps. Perdition allows for arbitrary user database access through shared libraries much in the manner of NSS in glibc. This package allows a user database stored in a PostgreSQL database. From Debian 3.0r0 APT
Utilities to save disk space GNU cp used to detect files that contain 0-filled holes and save disk space by skipping them with lseek when writing a file and thus not allocating disk blocks. Unfortunately it does no longer. So here is program to make holes in existing files. Also there are some scripts that help cleaning up the hard disk (finding duplicated and/or unstripped files). From Debian 3.0r0 APT
A network added between a protected network and an external network,in order to provide an additional layer of security. A perimeter network is sometimes called a DMZ. From Linux Guide @FirstLinux
Larry Wall's Practical Extraction and Report Language. An interpreted scripting language, known among some as "Unix's Swiss Army Chainsaw". Perl is optimised for scanning arbitrary text files and system administration. It has built-in extended regular expression matching and replacement, a data-flow mechanism to improve security with setuid scripts and is extensible via modules that can interface to C libraries. From Debian 3.0r0 APT
Perl is a high-level programming language with roots in C, sed, awk and shell scripting. Perl is good at handling processes and files, and is especially good at handling text. Perl's hallmarks are practicality and efficiency. While it is used to do a lot of different things, Perl's most common applications (and what it excels at) are probably system administration utilities and web programming. A large proportion of the CGI scripts on the web are written in Perl. You need the perl package installed on your system so that your system can handle Perl scripts. You need perl-base to have a full perl. From Mandrake 9.0 RPM
Practical Extraction and Report Language From whatis
Highlight perl sources for WWW presentation perl2html can highlight your source for presentation in the WWW. It can also be used as a CGI script and can detect whether the client browser supports compressed data to save bandwidth. From Debian 3.0r0 APT
how to submit bug reports on Perl From whatis
generate executables from Perl programs From whatis
A perl interface to the libMagick graphics routines. PerlMagick is a perl module which gives you all the functionality you can enjoy in the imagemagick package binaries, from perl. One can load several images with perlmagick, apply numerous transformations and operations on the images and write them back, possibly in a different format. From Debian 3.0r0 APT
Menu and Template (curses-based) UI for Perl perlmenu is a Perl module that provides your application with access to easy-to-use functions for templates, menus, forms, and the like -- everything needed to put a slick UI on a program without resorting to a GUI. From Debian 3.0r0 APT
tools to build and analyze SGML or XML document type definitions. dtd2html generates a suite of linked HTML documents listing the components and features of each element in an SGML Document Type Definition (DTD). dtddiff shows differences between two DTDs. dtdtree shows the hierarchy tree (in ASCII) of SGML elements in a DTD. dtdview is an interactive program for studying an SGML DTD. stripsgml strips SGML markup from a file, and also attempts to translate entity references to standard ASCII characters. From Debian 3.0r0 APT
A Perl script indenter and reformatter Perltidy is a Perl script which indents and reformats Perl scripts to make them easier to read. The formatting can be controlled with command line parameters. The default parameter settings approximately follow the suggestions in the Perl Style Guide. If you write Perl scripts, or spend much time reading them, you will probably find it useful. From Debian 3.0r0 APT
A text indexing and word search program Perspic is a tool for the study of documents that change infrequently if at all, e.g. sacred texts, ancient texts of historical interest, etc. Perspic build a fully indexed and compressed version of the original text files. Word search results are summarized by line. Selecting a given line opens the full text about the given word. Other features include dictionary definition of words, scanning of word derivatives, and saving selected quotations with their accompanying attribution. From Debian 3.0r0 APT
Suite for offline reading and composing of Usenet articles News Peruser is a suite of several small programs to enable a user to do offline reading and composition of Usenet news articles. Peruser can compose replies-by-mail, as well, and pass them off to a local sendmail. The toplevel applet's filename is "npcollections", but you are able to launch News Peruser by typing both "npcollections" or "peruser" at the shell prompt, or by selecting it from your window manager's menu. From Debian 3.0r0 APT
PETSc is the "Portable Extensible Toolkit for Scientific Computation", a suite of data structures and routines for the scalable (parallel) solution of scientific applications modeled by partial differential equations. It employs the MPI standard for all message-passing communication. Several sample scientific applications, as well as various papers and talks, demonstrate the features of the PETSc libraries. From Debian 3.0r0 APT
Pexts is a collection of Pike extension modules designed to fill the gaps that are in the standard Pike distribution. From Debian 3.0r0 APT
Make an AFM file from Postscript (PFB/PFA/PFM) font files using ghostscript From whatis
Font Editor for PS, TrueType and OpenType fonts PfaEdit allows you to edit outline and bitmap fonts. You can create new ones or modify old ones. It is also a font format converter and can convert among PostScript (ASCII & binary Type 1, some Type 3s, some Type 0s), TrueType, and OpenType (Type2). From Debian 3.0r0 APT
convert a type1 pfb file (binary MSDOS) into a pfa (ASCII) From whatis
Portable Forth Environment, ANS standard, all wordsets. PFE (Portable Forth Environment) is a programming environment for the programming language Forth. PFE is based on the ANSI Standard for Forth. It has been created by Dirk-Uwe Zoller and is now maintained by Guido Draheim at Tektronix. Tektronix has made a number of extensions: PFE is now fully multithreaded and you can load additional C objects at runtime to extend the Forth dictionary. It is best targeted for embedded environments since you can easily exchange the terminal driver and the initilization routines. From Debian 3.0r0 APT
Postfix log entry summarizer pflogsumm is designed to provide an over-view of postfix activity, with just enough detail to give the administrator a "heads up" for potential trouble spots. From Debian 3.0r0 APT
portable Forth interpreter pForth is a public domain, portable ANS Forth based on a kernel written in ANSI 'C'. This makes it easy to port pForth to multiple platforms. More information on pForth is available at http://www.softsynth.com/pforth/ From Debian 3.0r0 APT
Fast file transfer program (no authentication!) This program transfers files from host to host on command line (within your telnet sessions). You may copy directories recursively, send/receive stdin/stdout, use your own filters, accept specified clients ... It is the fastest file transfer program on the net! ;^) From Debian 3.0r0 APT
Internet file transfer program From whatis
Tk/Tcl front-end for PostgreSQL database A Tk/Tcl program for X that provides a front-end to PostgreSQL. It can be used to generate and store queries, views and new forms. From Debian 3.0r0 APT
A general-purpose genetic algorithm package PGAPack is a general-purpose, data-structure-neutral, parallel genetic algorithm package being developed at Argonne National Laboratory. From Debian 3.0r0 APT
PostgreSQL documentation in PDF format on US letter paper PostgreSQL documentation in PDF format formatted for US letter paper size From Debian 3.0r0 APT
PostgreSQL documentation in PDF format for A4 paper PostgreSQL documentation in PDF format, arranged for A4 size paper. From Debian 3.0r0 APT
Progeny graphical installer creation system This package contains PGI, a multi-architecture graphical installer creation system for Debian GNU/Linux originally developed by Progeny Linux Systems, Inc., for their Debian-based "Progeny Debian" operating system. This package enables the user to create ISO images containing a bootable installer (PGI) which guides the user through the steps of installation. The installer supports text and graphical installation modes. PGI runs debootstrap to install a minimal Debian system to the target filesystem(s), sets up a boot loader (if the installing user requests), and uses the pivot_root() system call to "boot" into the installed system. ISO images may be generated with complete or partial Debian package archives, or with the the installer only (useful for network-only installs, which PGI supports.) PGI is extensible and customizable. Two example extensions are provided with this package; one uses the base-config package, while the other configures the installed system using the X-based Configlet system. Two manuals are provided as part of this package. "Creating Debian Installers with PGI" documents the setup and configuration of a PGI-based installer ISO in detail. "Using the PGI Debian Installer" is an example of a PGI user's manual. Those creating custom installers with PGI will want to update the user's manual for their target audience. From Debian 3.0r0 APT
Tcl/TK script for examining the status of PostgreSQL backends This is a Tk/Tcl script for listing PostgreSQL backends and showing their current status. If run by root or the PostgreSQL admin user, it is able to show what query a backend is running. From Debian 3.0r0 APT
a Portable Game Notation (PGN) extractor Pgn-extract is a program to extract selected games from a collection of chess games in PGN format. There are several ways to specify the criteria on which to extract: textual move sequences, the position reached after a sequence of moves, information in the tag fields, and material balance in the ending. From Debian 3.0r0 APT
Popular encryption program. It was created by a fellow named Phil Zimmerman as a subversive act. Phil later exploited it as a social-engineering attack against the business community. Key point: All true hackers use open-source versions of PGP to encrypt their data. Resources: RFC 1991: PGP Message Exchange Formats RFC 2015: MIME Security with Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) RFC 2440: OpenPGP Message Format Point: Users of PGP have choices of the following algorithms. Note that older v2.6 users can only use RSA/MD5/IDEA to read messages. encryption 3DES (aka. Triple-DES) The best choice for conservative people. The NSA claims that further proliferation of triple-DES is counter to national security interests, presumably because they cannot break it. It is the most analyzed cipher (and therefore believed to be the most secure) and is extensively used in the finance industry to protect transactions. IDEA A bad choice from the standpoint that it is protected by patents and many people are unable to use it. CAST5 AES The new United States standard, a good second choice, especially if speed is a concern. Twofish Blowfish public key RSA DSS (aka. DSA) DH/ELG-E Diffie-Hellman used for encryption, but not signing. ELG ElGamal signing, not recommended as it is considered weak. hash SHA1 The best choice for security paranoid people. MD5 The worst choice for paranoids, however, it is often the most popular. RIPEMD160 From Hacking-Lexicon
A PGP/GPG Wrapper for Pine pgp4pine supports encryption/signing and decryption/verifying of PGP2, PGP5 and GnuPG email. Currently does not support MIME attachments. From Debian 3.0r0 APT
Wrapper for using GnuPG in programs designed for PGP Pgpgpg is a wrapper around Gnu Privacy Guard which takes PGP 2.6 command line options, translate them and then call GnuPG (Gnu Privacy Guard) to perform the desired action. From Debian 3.0r0 APT
grep utility that uses perl compatible regexes. Perl-style regexps have many useful features that the standard POSIX ones don't; this is basically the same as grep but with the different regexp syntax. The other reason for the existence of pgrep is that its source code is an example of programming with libpcre. From Debian 3.0r0 APT
look up or signal processes based on name and other attributes From whatis
Chess playing program. Phalanx is a simple chess playing program of conventional design. It is xboard compatible. The main aim is to write a slow thinker with a lot of chess specific knowledge. Current version plays risky, active chess and shows quite good tactical performance. From Debian 3.0r0 APT
A GNOME front-end to CVS Pharmacy intends to be a GNOME compliant front-end to CVS. Currently, it provides a limited user interface to CVS commands and a "console" for the lazy power-user. It allows you to work with several CVS servers and to have a local working directory for each. From Debian 3.0r0 APT
PSK31 terminal for X11 phaseshift is a PSK31 terminal for X11. PSK31 is a new modulation scheme popular with radio amateurs on HF radio. This program implements the PSK31 modem and a terminal to use it. From Debian 3.0r0 APT
Imlib2 based Window Manager for X This is a lightweight window manager for X, based on Enlightenment's Imlib2 library. At the moment it is still in heavy development, but has basic theming support and development is happening rapidly. With Imlib2's support for alpha transparency and blending, this will rapidly turn into a superbly attractive window manager. From Debian 3.0r0 APT
Interface to digital still cameras This is a library and a command-line frontend to manipulate digital still cameras based on Fujitsu chipset and Siarra Imaging firmware. The program is known to work with Agfa, Epson and Olympus cameras. Should also work with Sanyo, but this is untested. The cameras typically come with software for Windows and for Mac, and no description of the protocol. With this tool, they are manageable from a UNIX box. Bruce D. Lightner <lightner@metaflow.com> has added support for Win32 and DOS platforms. Note that the program does not have any GUI, it is plain command-line even on Windows. For a GUI, check out the phototk program. From Debian 3.0r0 APT
GUI interface for digital cameras This is a GUI front-end to the photopc program that is used for downloading images and manipulating certain serial-controlled digital cameras. From Debian 3.0r0 APT
Emacs support for php files. Emacs major mode for php supporting syntax highlighting, indentation and good integration with html-statements. From Debian 3.0r0 APT
PHP extension for GTK+ client-side cross-platform GUI apps. PHP-GTK: PHP language bindings for GTK+ toolkit PHP-GTK is a PHP extension that enables you to write client-side cross-platform GUI applications. This is the first such extension of this kind and one of the goals behind it was to prove that PHP is a capable general-purpose scripting language that is suited for more than just Web applications. This extension will _not_ allow you to display GTK+ programs in a Web browser, and can be used in the Web environment only if you are running the webserver locally. It is intended for creating standalone GUI applications. From Debian 3.0r0 APT
PHP Imlib2 Extension php_imlib is an extension for PHP4 that provides access to Rasterman's image manipulation library, Imlib2, from within PHP scripts. It currently implements most of the Imlib2 API, except for some X11-specific functions. From Debian 3.0r0 APT
A server-side, HTML-embedded scripting language PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor Version 3.0 is an HTML-embedded scripting language. Much of its syntax is borrowed from C, Java and Perl with a couple of unique PHP-specific features thrown in. The goal of the language is to allow web developers to write dynamically generated pages quickly. This package provides the loadable module for the apache webserver, some modules providing extra functions, and a php/fi 2.0 -> php3 script converter (works most of the time). With additional modules it supports direct communication with postgresql, mysql, msql databases, dbf files, and it has an interface to the libgd