The Free Software community sometimes reminds me of those similar-but-mysteriously-not-similar parallel universes that turn up in science fiction novels. It looks just like the rest of the world, but occasionally you get a reminder that it really is a little different.

FreeBSD 12.0 and Ubuntu MATE 18.10

In the news: Software Freedom Conservancy announces end to VMware lawsuit; Chef goes all open source; SUSE spins off from parent company; Gnome 3.32 released; NSA's reverse engineering tool released; and a new Mirai Botnet variant discovered.

Zack Brown reports on enhancing KUnit, arguing over a nonexistent problem, and Cgroup core wars.

The SUSE community pondered new challenges and the path ahead at its annual SUSECON convention in Nashville, Tennessee.

The Git distributed version control system is a popular tool for managing open source development projects. If you know the basics of Git but are looking to learn the ways of the experts, read on for some useful Git tips and tricks.

Complex Git projects sometimes require a better view of the dependencies and branches. Several tools offer GUI options for Git. We take a look at gitk, gitg, git-gui, and GitAhead.

FreeBSD is a reliable and highly secure server operating system. We look at how FreeBSD fares as a desktop system.

Linux desktop users can now use an estimated two million Android apps that were previously unavailable on Linux with VolksPC OS.

By taking the time to learn sudo's many options, you can make your system more secure.