CitaNews

[#] Mon May 29 2023 23:53:51 EDT from IGnatius T Foobar

Subject: Important: the Citadel git repository has MOVED

Important announcement: the Citadel git repository has moved!

TL;DR: it is now at [ https://code.citadel.org/citadel/citadel.git ]

The longer story is that we are now running a private GitLab server, so that we can do all of that neat stuff with CI/CD and automatic builds and have a better way of handling merge requests and all of those other things.

You don't need to have an account on the server to download or browse the code. However, if you intend to submit patches or otherwise contribute, you can sign up -- but to limit abuse, we have it configured so that you MUST use an @uncensored.citadel.org email address. I think you can change it later if you want to. I just don't have the time or patience to deal with random kiddies from out of town trying to mess with the system.

[#] Thu Jun 08 2023 19:21:18 EDT from IGnatius T Foobar

Subject: IMPORTANT RELEASE NOTE regarding Citadel 976

This is an important release note regarding Citadel version 976, which is appearing shortly on all the usual download places.

Every installation of Citadel has a database called the Use Table, which keeps track of external data items that have already been "seen" so they are not downloaded again. During the most recent development cycle, we became aware that these items have been getting stored in a way that (1) consumed much more space than required, and (2) never got purged from disk.

Regrettably, this bug was not fixable in a way that could preserve the table, so part of the fix involves erasing the whole table during the next upgrade.
Don't worry, this doesn't erase any of YOUR data. It just means that after your next upgrade, you're going to see some duplicates in rooms that are pulling external RSS feeds or remote POP3 mailboxes. After that first run, the duplicates will not appear again.

We apologize for the minor inconvenience this may cause.

[#] Tue Jul 18 2023 00:02:05 EDT from IGnatius T Foobar

Subject: ctdlmigrate to be replaced by new utilities

Consider it vaporware -- but not really, since it's already been written, but not published yet. This is just an advance notice so that Citadel sites can take advantage of an upcoming improvement.

If anyone has tried using the "ctdlmigrate" utility to move a Citadel database between machines -- perhaps on different architectures (AMD64 vs. ARM) or different bit widths (32-bit vs. 64-bit), then you already know how slow that utility is, and on very large systems the fidelity can be less than perfect.
Therefore, this utility is being retired in an upcoming release.

It will be replaced by simple "dump" and "load" utilities, whose purpose will be instantly familiar to anyone who has ever worked with databases. You can dump your Citadel database to a flat file, which can then be loaded onto another system running the same version of Citadel -- even if it's a different CPU. These utilities are intended to be used while Citadel Server is *NOT* running, so they are much faster and more reliable.

So if you've been putting off a migration to a different CPU because ctdlmigrate was too finicky (like I have -- my system still runs on 32-bit) then the upcoming release and its new dump and load utilities are for you.

[#] Sat Sep 02 2023 18:03:55 EDT from IGnatius T Foobar

Citadel 992 is now available. There are no end user visible changes in this version, but there's a whole lot going on in the back end. So if you're a system administrator, you might want to get this one.

* As promised, `ctdlmigrate` has been removed. It has been replaced by two utilities that get the job done much faster and more reliably: `ctdldump` and `ctdlload`. They are, as their name suggests, dump and load utilities for your Citadel database. These must be run while Citadel Server is *stopped*.
You can use these utilities to move a Citadel installation around between machines that have different architectures -- for example, you can go from 32-bit to 64-bit, from AMD/Intel to ARM, etc.

* This version has been tested on FreeBSD. There are no sexy installation scripts included but if you're running FreeBSD you probably want to roll-your-own anyway. It does require GCC and GMake.

* IMPORTANT: if you've had problems with database corruption in the past, then this is the one for you! We've got it running REALLY SOLIDLY at this point. I personally haven't been able to get my test databases to fail no matter how badly I abused them. Ironically, this was part of an effort to get ready to move AWAY from Berkeley DB, but in the process we figured out how to get Berkeley DB to be as stable as it was when we first started using it 20+ years ago.

* There is a new `loadtest` utility that you can use to abuse the system for a while before you put real users onto it, if you feel like doing that.
It's multithreaded and can support hundreds of concurrent load testing threads.

So there it is ... that's how the Citadel team spent our summer. :) This is an upgrade that makes the Citadel Server far more solid, far more reliable, and far more portable. We are also now in a position where someone can write alternative back end storage layers for Citadel Server, such as LMDB or MariaDB or whatever.
Such a back end could potentially be written in a few days, and the new dump-and-load utilities would allow quick porting to them.

Once the dust settles down from this upgrade we'll be going back to work on WebCit-N[5~G.

[#] Tue Feb 13 2024 18:29:50 EST from IGnatius T Foobar

Subject: CitaNews - February 2024

Hello to everyone out there in Citadel land! We hope your new year has been fresh and exciting so far. This is a quick update on what's new, what's coming, and what's possible.

Citadel software releases

There have been a few new point releases of the Citadel system in the last five months. These are just maintenance releases, containing minor bug fixes and minor feature updates.

Community feedback from the Version 992 release last fall has been overwhelmingly positive. For sites which experienced database corruption on, shall we say less than ideal machines, these reports have completely stopped. We cannot overstate how good it feels to know that we have once again achieved one of the most stable data stores available. This thing is rock solid! We're also pleased that the dump and load utilities have been well received by the community, for sites which need to move to new hardware, or different hardware.

Development work

You're not seeing a lot of new features because all of our UI effort is going into WebCit-NG right now. I wish this was something that you could see the progress on, but it's useless to end users until it's feature complete! So for those who think our Web UI looks a bit dated, fear not: the new one is gorgeous. The "forum" and "mail" modules are complete, and we are currently focusing on the "calendar" module. Since WebCit-NG natively uses DAV/REST as its browser-to-server interface, we're making it CalDAV native! Everyone is looking forward to not only the web user interface, but also native access from all of your favorite desktop and mobile calendar applications.

Follow along?

Our git repository at code.citadel.org is one again running GitWeb. For all the features that GitLab CE offered, we just weren't using them, and so it was a waste of server space. But you can still follow along and watch the development progress. If you're a developer, or can write documentation, we'd love to have you join our community!

And don't forget, the community bulletin board at uncensored.citadel.org isn't just for Citadel support; it's also a vibrant set of forums covering all sorts of topics about technolibertarianism and life in the free world. Join us!

[#] Sat May 18 2024 12:23:02 EDT from IGnatius T Foobar

Subject: CitaNews - May 2024

Hello friends! Here in the northern hemisphere we're taking in the beautiful weather of spring and enjoying our little corner of the digital world here in Citadel land. We have a few little bits of news that we think you'll enjoy.

Citadel 1000 now includes DKIM signing support

That's not a branding exercise -- it actually happens to be Version 1000 in the release train. And it contains something special.

If you are using Citadel as an email server, you know how frustrating it can be when the big email services throw your messages into the spam folder or even reject them entirely. Google and Yahoo in particular have really turned up the heat on email senders. Now hear the good news: Citadel now automatically creates a DKIM signature for all outbound email. If you want to take advantage of this feature -- and you absolutely should -- it is implemented with Citadel's legendary ease of use. Citadel Server automatically creates your site's private key, automatically sets up signing of outbound messages, and the ever-helpful Citadel Aide will send you (the site administrator) a message containing the exact DNS records you have to create. All you have to do is copy and paste those records into your DNS provider, and you're done!

Here at citadel.org, we were getting everything rejected by gmail at the door, but when DKIM went online, the effect was dramatic and immediate; we had no problem getting email to those users within 12 hours. So if you're using Citadel for email, upgrade now and take advantage of this exciting new feature.

Roadmap

We've added a new "Development Roadmap" to the Citadel web site. It's at https://www.citadel.org/roadmap.html and you can see where we're going next, including screenshots of some of the exciting new developments we have in the works.

And as always, remember to join us at https://uncensored.citadel.org for vibrant forums covering all sorts of topics about technolibertarianism and life in the free world.

[#] Sat May 18 2024 15:27:47 EDT from darknetuser

Subject: Re: CitaNews - May 2024

You placed the pony pictures in there just to lure me to comment, didn't you? The pony foal is soooo cute. I also loved the wood-chipper.

HOw long until ActivityPub is a thing?

[#] Sun May 19 2024 00:03:39 EDT from IGnatius T Foobar

Subject: Re: CitaNews - May 2024

HOw long until ActivityPub is a thing?

Good question, thanks for asking. The short answer is that we won't be adding that to WebCit Classic, so it will be implemented once WebCit-NG goes live.
I know that's a frustrating answer because it's what we really want to be adding right now. The new framework will make it possible. Unfortunately WebCit Classic has become so difficult to maintain that it really isn't feasible to add a major new subsystem to it. The new code is architecturally beautiful and should put us into a good position to add, change, and replace new features for many years to come.

[#] Sun May 19 2024 09:32:02 EDT from Kurisu

Subject: Re: CitaNews - May 2024

so it will be implemented once WebCit-NG goes live.

Naturally makes one have to ask, do we have an estimate on when NG will be live? Pretty excited for that interface more than anything else in the works ATM -- that's all "icing on the cake" so to speak.

[#] Mon May 20 2024 10:01:15 EDT from IGnatius T Foobar

Subject: Re: CitaNews - May 2024

Naturally makes one have to ask, do we have an estimate on when NG
will be live? Pretty excited for that interface more than anything
else in the works ATM -- that's all "icing on the cake" so to speak.

Realistically ... probably some time next year. The good news is that what you saw in the screenshots is real and actually completed, not a mockup. So the basic framework is in place, including all of the REST/DAV foundation and SSL and even some CalDAV support now, and as you saw in the screenshots the Mail and Forums modules are feature complete.

At this time the Calendar module is being developed, which is probably the most complex one out of all the remaining modules...... And we are actively working on it; this is the top and only priority. Unfortunately we just lost a couple of weeks to the DKIM side quest; this was unplanned but it became an emergency when the Gatekeepers Of Mountain View stopp accepting all email being sent to gmail accounts. But with that out of the way we're back to WebCit-NG.

[#] Mon May 20 2024 12:14:38 EDT from Kurisu

Subject: Re: CitaNews - May 2024

Realistically ... probably some time next year.

Oooh a wait but one that sounds well worth it. Pretty excited for it all obviously.

[#] Mon May 20 2024 12:48:35 EDT from Marisa Giancarla <fstltna@yahoo.com> to room_CitaNews@uncensored.citadel.org

Subject: Re: CitaNews - May 2024

I tried running the easy install to update my existing server but it gets stuck here at the end - I tried manually starting the citadel server process and I can then log in but it never sent me the DNS code. Any ideas?

Marisa

On 5/18/24 09:23, IGnatius T Foobar wrote:

Hello friends! Here in the northern hemisphere we're taking in the beautiful weather of spring and enjoying our little corner of the digital world here in Citadel land. We have a few little bits of news that we think you'll enjoy.

Citadel 1000 now includes DKIM signing support

That's not a branding exercise -- it actually happens to be Version 1000 in the release train. And it contains something special.

If you are using Citadel as an email server, you know how frustrating it can be when the big email services throw your messages into the spam folder or even reject them entirely. Google and Yahoo in particular have really turned up the heat on email senders. Now hear the good news: Citadel now automatically creates a DKIM signature for all outbound email. If you want to take advantage of this feature -- and you absolutely should -- it is implemented with Citadel's legendary ease of use. Citadel Server automatically creates your site's private key, automatically sets up signing of outbound messages, and the ever-helpful Citadel Aide will send you (the site administrator) a message containing the exact DNS records you have to create. All you have to do is copy and paste those records into your DNS provider, and you're done!

Here at citadel.org, we were getting everything rejected by gmail at the door, but when DKIM went online, the effect was dramatic and immediate; we had no problem getting email to those users within 12 hours. So if you're using Citadel for email, upgrade now and take advantage of this exciting new feature.

Roadmap

We've added a new "Development Roadmap" to the Citadel web site. It's at https://www.citadel.org/roadmap.html and you can see where we're going next, including screenshots of some of the exciting new developments we have in the works.

And as always, remember to join us at https://uncensored.citadel.org for vibrant forums covering all sorts of topics about technolibertarianism and life in the free world.

Screenshot from 2024-05-20 09-45-46.png (image/png, 24384 bytes) [ View | Download ]

[#] Mon May 20 2024 15:08:13 EDT from IGnatius T Foobar

Subject: Re: CitaNews - May 2024

I tried running the easy install to update my existing server but it
gets stuck here at the end - I tried manually starting the citadel
server process and I can then log in but it never sent me the DNS code.

Any ideas?

Well you could start by posting your help request in the Citadel Support forum instead of in CitaNews.

[#] Sat Jul 20 2024 13:27:44 EDT from IGnatius T Foobar

Subject: Advisory for sites geting DOSed on the "s" ports (smtps/pop3s/imaps/nntps)

Over the past year or so we have seen an increase in brute-force attempts on the "s" ports -- SMTPS, POP3S, IMAPS, NNTPS -- and these don't time out as quickly as the unencrypted ports, so we end up with the effect of it being a denial of service attack when you hit the maximum number of sessions limit for your site.

We are recommending that you disable these ports. The good news is that these ports are seldom used; just about all users are configured for STARTTLS on the regular port numbers anyway.

The next release of Citadel Server will have these ports disabled by default.
They can be activated at any time for the few sites that need them.

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