Latest news with #Canonical
Mint
5 days ago
- General
- Mint
Ambassadors of the Dharma: Meet the nuns leading Tibetan Buddhism into a new era
Next Story Swati Chawla One of the enduring legacies of the Dalai Lama is that for the first time, Tibetan nuns are leading their own educational institutions. Lounge takes a in-depth look at the nuns who are spearheading this change The Dalai Lama with 'geshema' graduates who subsequently completed the year-long Tantric Studies programme at Gyuto Tantric University, Sidhbari, in February 2025. Also seen in the photograph are Nangsa Choedon and Tenzin Palkyi of TNP. Gift this article "This is a precious human life. And we should do what we can." "This is a precious human life. And we should do what we can." Geshema Dawa Dolma, 43, recalls these words from the Dalai Lama during our phone interview. 'Internal work," she adds, 'is more important than external work. Nuns should work hard." Dawa Dolma teaches Tibetan language and Buddhist philosophy at Thosamling Nunnery, Institute, and Retreat Centre in Sidhpur, near Dharamsala, the seat of the 14th Dalai Lama for over six decades. Venerable Chhering Norjom, 47, who goes by Norjom and works as a nurse at the nearby Dolma Ling Nunnery and Institute of Buddhist Dialectics, echoes another of the Dalai Lama's exhortations with animation during our phone interview: 'Hum Buddhist hain karke baithe mat raho. Philosophy seekho. Zyada achche se padhai karo. (Don't be content with just saying you are Buddhist. Learn philosophy. Study harder.)" Both women are graduates of Dolma Ling's rigorous 17-year monastic programme, which centres on the Five Great Canonical Texts—Pramanavartika by Dharmakirti, Abhisamayalamkara by Maitreya, Madhyamakavatara by Chandrakirti, Vinayasutra by Gunaprabha, and Abhidharmakosha by Vasubandhu—alongside courses in Tibetan language, English, basic mathematics, computer skills and ritual arts such as sand mandalas and butter sculptures. They represent a radical shift in the landscape of Tibetan Buddhism in exile, which came into sharp focus earlier this year when their alma mater moved from male to female leadership for the first time in its three-decade history. Geshema Delek Wangmo, the new principal at Dolma Ling Nunnery. On 17 April, Dolma Ling Nunnery, home to about 300 nuns, mostly from Tibet and the Himalayan regions of India—from Ladakh to Tawang—and from all Buddhist sects, appointed a trio of senior nuns to succeed a male principal. The team includes two nuns who had escaped from Tibet in the 1990s, and a third from the Himachali district of Kinnaur, which borders Tibet. Two hold the geshema degree, equivalent to a doctorate in Buddhist philosophy in the Gelug tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, a qualification that was formally opened to women only in 2012. The Nunnery was officially inaugurated in 2005 by the Dalai Lama, after over a decade of construction by the nuns themselves. In the month we marked the Dalai Lama's 90th birthday, this achievement by monastic women is one of his quieter but more enduring legacies. To understand the significance of this moment—unimaginable even a generation ago—and why it took so long to arrive, we must trace the long arc of Buddhist ordination all the way back to the first woman ordained by the Buddha. A HISTORY OF DEFERENCE The story goes that a few years after Siddhartha Gautama became the Buddha (the enlightened one) around 450 BCE, his aunt and stepmother, Mahaprajapati Gautami, asked to join the monastic sangha along with 500 other women. The Buddha turned her down. 'It is not a good idea," he said. Undeterred, Mahaprajapati and her companions shaved their heads, donned saffron robes, and walked 150 miles east to Vaishali, where the Buddha was teaching. They were refused again. Buddha's disciple Ananda interceded: 'Can women not attain awakening?" 'No, they are equal to men in their capacity for awakening," the master responded, and agreed to ordain them. Thus began the fourfold sangha: laymen, laywomen, monks and nuns. But the Buddha's acceptance came with conditions that have shadowed monastic life ever since. Known as the garudhamma, literally weighty rules, the vinaya (monastic code) mentions eight additional precepts that apply exclusively to women. The first of these lays down that 'a nun who had been ordained for even a hundred years must rise and pay respects to a monk ordained for a day." And the last that 'a monk may point out a nun's transgressions, but it is forbidden for a nun ever to admonish a monk." We cannot know what the Buddha intended. The garudhamma might have been later interpolations, pragmatic concessions to patriarchy, or safeguards for nuns living in vulnerable conditions. Regardless, they proved to be consequential and enduring. Millennia after Mahaprajapati's ordination, Tibetan poet-activist Lhasang Tsering captured the persistence of gendered hierarchies in a roadside scene in Dharamsala. In his poem, The Monk and the Nun, first published as part of the anthology Muses in Exile, edited by Bhuchung D. Sonam (2004), two Tibetan Buddhist monastics look the same, don the same red robes, and live by the same vows. Yet one is 'ample-bellied," 'big," and 'dashing around in a Toyota," and the other is 'frail, sad-looking," 'little," and 'selling postcards by the roadside." Why? 'The big one is a monk/And the other only a nun." There have historically been fewer nunneries than monasteries in Tibet, and they were worse-resourced and did not offer the same education. Many nuns who arrived in India following the Dalai Lama, who came into exile in 1959, were destitute and illiterate. Also Read | Our world is in need of the Mahatma's teachings: Dalai Lama Geshema Delek Wangmo, 49, the new principal at Dolma Ling, says in a phone interview that she was illiterate till the age of 19, and spent her teenage years herding yaks and sheep. There was no school or nunnery in her village. There was a monastery nearby where some nuns could attend classes, but they could not live there and had to take up lodgings nearby. Geshema Tenzin Kunsel, 55, from the very first batch of geshema awardees in 2016, mentioned in a 2017 testimonial released by the Tibetan Nuns Project that she was grateful for a training in philosophy, debating and English at Dolma Ling, when her sister's nunnery in Tibet 'has only prayer and no classes and no studying…" Things were not significantly different for her contemporaries on the Indian side. Norjom shares that the older generations of women who embraced monastic life in her extended family in Himachal Pradesh did not receive a formal education. Norjom and her sister, Geshema Sherab Wangmo, 49, come from a family of apple farmers in Chango, Kinnaur. 'Wahan ani gompa nahin tha. Masi wagera gaon ki ani hain. Padhe likhe nahin hain (There was no nunnery there. My aunties are village nuns. They are not educated)," she says, explaining that they performed pujas but did not know the Bhoti language and did not study Buddhist philosophy. They would wear red suits and mostly stay at home. Nuns during prayer in Shugsep Nunnery, built by the Tibetan Nuns Project, near Dharamsala. Men had enjoyed greater mobility and educational access. Norjom's paternal uncle was a senior monk at the millennium-old Tabo monastery in Spiti valley. 'Woh baahar padhai karne ke liye bhai ko le kar gaye," she says—her uncle had taken her brother to a Tibetan monastery in Karnataka to study. THE PURSUIT OF EDUCATION Most Tibetan nuns mention the prospect of studying the dharma freely when they speak of why they undertook the arduous journey into exile. Delek Wangmo says, 'I had wanted to see His Holiness (the Dalai Lama) and I wanted to study philosophy." After being barred by Chinese authorities from visiting sacred Buddhist sites during a pilgrimage from Lithang to Lhasa and denied access to the Jokhang Temple, she and others journeyed to Mount Kailash and eventually escaped to Nepal and India in 1990. It was during the pilgrimage that she first learned the Tibetan alphabet and received teachings from her lama, belatedly beginning her education. Venerable Ngawang Palmo, 50, who has taken on the administrative leadership at Dolma Ling, escaped to India after some nuns in her nunnery, Gari Gompa near Lhasa, were expelled for celebrating the Dalai Lama's Nobel Peace Prize award in 1989. The Tibetan Nuns Project (TNP) was established in 1987 to support nuns who had fled Tibet. Most arrived in India illiterate. Its founding director is Rinchen Khando Choegyal, 78, a sister-in-law of the Dalai Lama, who also reinstated the Tibetan Women's Association in exile. Registered as a non-profit in the US, with its Indian office in Dolma Ling, the TNP currently supports around 900 nuns and seven nunneries. The TNP also extends material assistance and educational support to individual nuns, including older practitioners living outside nunneries or in long-term meditative retreat. Also Read | The Buddhist ateliers of ancient Magadha Two nuns studying in Dolma Ling Nunnery in Sidhpur Everyone I spoke to traced the course of monastic education for women to the Dalai Lama's encouragement, especially the Tibetan Women's Association's meeting in 1992, where he said that something needed to change urgently, 'In our society, we have as a legacy from the past the notion that nuns engage in ritual only and do not study Buddhist texts." This legacy 'perpetuated the nuns' dependence on monks as teachers," according to Venerable Lobsang Dechen, 65, former co-director of the TNP. The most significant curricular shift introduced by the TNP was the inclusion of rigorous training in philosophy and debate, disciplines central to the geshe degree and rooted in heterodox Indian philosophical traditions—which had historically excluded nuns. The geshe degree, a monastic academic tradition that began in the 17th century during the time of the 5th Dalai Lama and was later reformed and made more academically rigorous under the 13th Dalai Lama, was for centuries open only to men. In 2012, the degree was finally made available to nuns. The first batch of 20 geshemas graduated in 2016; as of December 2024, there were 73 geshemas. Studying for the four-year-long geshe degree requires almost two decades of prior monastic training, and very few nuns had managed that until recently. A WIDE INFLUENCE It is rightly and well acknowledged that no country has done more for Tibetans in exile than India. Just as true, but less often said, is how deeply India—particularly the Himalayan region—has been shaped by the moral presence, public service, and quotidian love of its Tibetan guests. Delek Wangmo notes that about 100 nuns in Dolma Ling are from the Himalayan belt in India. The TNP also supports many nuns and nunneries in Kinnaur, Spiti and Ladakh. For instance, the TNP provided textbooks and a school bus for the 700-year-old Dorjee Zong Nunnery in Zanskar, enabling students to make the 12-mile journey from the nunnery—where classes once ended at class V—to a government school offering education up to class X. Six nuns from Dorjee Zong studied in Dharamsala for years, and three of them have returned to help revive it. Many geshemas now serve as teachers and administrators in under-resourced schools and nunneries across the Indian Himalaya, continuing to strengthen local communities. Youdon Aukatsang, 55, a four-time member of the Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile (TPiE) and part of the TNP's Indian board of directors (Buddhist Women's Education Society), says on the phone that 'Tibetan women have always contributed to the struggle, but earlier they were largely unacknowledged and invisible." She observes that Tibetan society in exile has responded to the changing needs of contemporary times to make women more visible in public life and take on leadership positions. Nuns are indeed more visible in many areas of Tibetan public life. Delek Wangmo was sworn in as an Election Commissioner for the TPiE in 2020. She and Tenzin Kunsel also broke new ground as the first nuns to become teachers at Dolma Ling. Yet gender parity remains a distant goal. Nuns remain a minority among the predominantly male faculty at Dolma Ling: three women (all nuns) among 19 total teachers. The pattern extends to political representation. There are 11 female MPs in the current 45-member TPiE, and of the 10 ecclesiastical seats reserved for representatives from religious schools— two each from the four major sects of Tibetan Buddhism, viz. Gelug, Kagyu, Sakya, Nyingma and two from Bon—all are held by monks. Also Read | A new book looks at the art of Tantric Buddhism A PURPOSEFUL LIFE In her study of Sri Lankan nuns, Buddhist Nuns and Gendered Practice: In Search of the Female Renunciant (2013), anthropologist Nirmala Salgado notes that renunciant narratives are often misread through a liberal feminist lens that casts nuns as 'indigent subjects" in need of 'empowerment." The nuns she interviewed spoke instead in the idiom of moral discipline (sila) and renunciation. The Tibetan Buddhist nuns I've spoken with also articulate recent curricular changes—especially the introduction of philosophy and debate— as a way to live out the dharma more fully, framing them in the language of service and the responsibility that comes with a precious human life. They emphasise that rigorous study enables them to grasp the subtleties of texts and teachings and, more importantly, to communicate these effectively—a responsibility they regard as central to monastic vocation. Their chance conversations with younger nuns and the laity often change lives. Geshema Tenzin Dolma, 44, who joined Ngawang Palmo at the helm of Dolma Ling's administration, had dropped out of primary school in Kinnaur to help her farming family in the fields. Her life took a different path when a nun from Dolma Ling came to her village for the holidays. Inspired by the interaction, she decided to become a nun and pursue an education in Dharamsala. The nuns at Dolma Ling changed my life, too. I spent a summer with them in 2004 through a fellowship with the Foundation for Universal Responsibility of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and SPIC MACAY—and returned every chance I got. Norjom made offerings for my mother at the temple in Dolma Ling when she was ill and when she passed in 2007. The nuns anchored me through grief and confusion; gave me food and a room in the nunnery; held my hand and prayed for me. Every minor trigger felt like a crisis then, and the world seemed laced with landmines. Dawa Dolma—then in her 20s—shared the wisdom from the 8th century Indian pandita Santideva: rather than trying to cover the whole earth in leather to avoid pain, one can simply wrap the soles of one's own feet. Through their philosophical counsel, intercessory prayer, and quiet pastoral care, they reminded me that the Tibetan word geshe comes from the Sanskrit kalyan mitra, literally 'a beneficial friend," or someone who can serve as a spiritual adviser or guide. Norjom returns to her village over the lean seasons and teaches the Bhoti language to young girls so that they may read religious texts. People flock to her for counsel—'What do I do about my anger?", they ask, and she tells them that to truly be Buddhist, they must study the dharma: 'Buddhist ho toh matlab bhi aana chahiye." Swati Chawla is associate professor of history and digital humanities at O.P. Jindal Global University and senior fellow in Dalai Lama and Nalanda Studies at the Foundation for Universal Responsibility of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Topics You May Be Interested In Catch all the Business News, Market News, Breaking News Events and Latest News Updates on Live Mint. Download The Mint News App to get Daily Market Updates.
Extra.ie
29-06-2025
- Extra.ie
'Ogre' paedophile was left to prey on children in Africa as his Irish crimes were covered up
A lifelong predatory paedophile was left free to prey on children in Africa for decades as his superiors in Ireland covered up his crimes back home, an investigation reveals. Brother Aidan Clohessy, 85, was described by a judge this week as 'an ogre' who 'secretly carried out atrocities' in Ireland while being sentenced to more than five years in prison. In mitigation, lawyers for the former school principal told Dublin Central Criminal Court that Clohessy led a mission in Malawi to develop 'mental health services'. Pic: Colin Keegan, Collins, Dublin. However, can reveal that, in the lead-up to his prosecution, Clohessy's superiors in the St John of God order spent more than €3million on settling civil cases. These cases involve ex-pupils of Clohessy in Dublin and former street children in Malawi in southeastern Africa. Up to 20 cases from Malawi have been settled and a similar amount are pending. All settlements were made without any admission of liability. Some of those who received civil compensation from the St John of God order still had to go through the trauma of testifying in court because Clohessy pleaded not guilty. Aidan Clohessy. Pic: Seán Dwyer 20/05/25 Clohessy, who was the principal of St Augustine's in Blackrock, Co. Dublin, from the early 1970s until 1993, was jailed for a total of five years and four months this week after he was convicted of sexually abusing six Irish boys at the special needs school between 1969 and 1989. Before Clohessy's trials in Dublin, travelled to Malawi to speak with victims there, who detailed horrific abuse they suffered at the hands of the now-convicted paedophile. 'Sometimes he raped us, sometimes he played with our private parts, sometimes he beat us,' Stephen Chiumia said. 'Most of the things he was doing, he was doing when we went to the bathroom. He would take us to the bathroom, one after the other.' Pic: Getty Images Mr Chiumia was one of many street children Clohessy brought to live in his home in Malawi. At the time, Clohessy's superiors in Ireland were reassuring the authorities here that he had no access to children. Another alleged victim who lived with Clohessy in Malawi, Makaiko Banda Chimaliro, told 'What makes me angry is the fact that someone in Ireland knew that he was a risk to us and they still decided to send him to Malawi to do the same work where he was exposed to more kids. 'Sometimes I even feel like I would have been better off as a street kid compared to the way I was abused.' Saint John of God: Logo. Pic: File Clohessy remained in Malawi from 1993 until 2012 when he was withdrawn overnight amid a Vatican investigation, called a Canonical inquiry. The Vatican and Clohessy's order have refused to comment on this inquiry. No one at St John of God's services in Malawi was told why Clohessy was suddenly recalled without notice. 'There wasn't even a single rumour,' St John of God's then clinical director, Harrison Chilale, told in 2017. No effort was made to trace those put at risk in Malawi – until tracked them down. 'Ogre' Clohessy. Pic: Collins Courts The cover-up of Clohessy's past by his order was so successful he was able to lie to international funders, telling them he had never been accused of abuse, securing more than €1m in funding for St John of God's children's projects in Malawi run by Clohessy. In 2010, Clohessy's work with children in Malawi was the subject of a documentary called The Warm Heart of Africa (Croi Te Na hAfraice), which aired on TG4. 'There was a time when everywhere you went, you were meeting children who were begging. 'You could see that they were suffering,' Clohessy told the programme. 'We decided that St John of God should take leadership. People literally went out onto the streets to identify the children, and then they'd invite them to come back to hear their story.' Even as this programme aired on TV, St John of God was still receiving new abuse complaints about Clohessy from his former Irish pupils at St Augustine's, but these were kept under wraps, and he was left unsupervised to continue living and working with children in Malawi. Clohessy sought to use his time in Malawi to seek a lower sentence in mitigation. Outlining his role in establishing a mission in Malawi, his barrister, Ronan Kennedy, told the court his client 'devoted a lot of his life to serving others'. 'He is a person who has, despite his failings, made some contribution to society,' Mr Kennedy said. He added that Clohessy lived a 'humble and quiet existence' and still 'lives in service of others' by tending to the 11 elderly members of the St John of God order resident in Stillorgan. Mr Kennedy also sought leniency on the basis that his client had been 'subject to significant adverse publicity in the national media'. 'In many respects, he was already condemned and judged in the court of public opinion before he was ever tried in this court,' he said. Mr Kennedy also pointed to the fact that his client 'didn't stand in the way' of the civil cases being 'dealt with'. Clohessy, with an address at the Hospitaller Order of St John of God, Granada, Stillorgan, Co. Dublin, was convicted of 19 counts of indecent assault following two back-to-back trials held behind closed doors last month. At his sentencing hearings this week, Clohessy's barrister told the court his client would not be appealing the verdicts. Mr Kennedy said this would 'bring some closure' to the victims. But Clohessy has never apologised or expressed any remorse for his actions. The historical case against the former school principal – one of the oldest to ever be prosecuted in Ireland – followed a near-decadelong campaign by this website. Our investigation, the first part of which was published in 2018, tracked down new victims in Ireland and spoke with street children in Africa who told us that the brother frequently watched them bathe in a purpose-built shower block. This coverage prompted more victims to come forward, ultimately leading to the successful Garda investigation and State prosecution, which concluded this week. But the jailing of Clohessy is only part of a much wider, international cover-up that can now be told in full for the first time. During Clohessy's trials, jury members remained ignorant of the cover-up of the risk he posed for decades in Africa by his superiors. Their actions in keeping a lid on the danger Clohessy posed to children enabled him to remain living with minors in Malawi. The court was also unaware that, in the lead-up to his trial, St John of God spent millions settling dozens of civil cases against Clohessy and the order. The cases being taken by Dublin law firm Coleman Legal are unprecedented in that no African abuse victim had ever before sought recompense for abuse in an Irish court. These civil cases are also being taken against the leader of St John of God in Ireland, Br Donatus Forkan, who dispatched Clohessy to Africa after he abused children here. He frequently visited Clohessy in Malawi, where he was known widely simply as Br Aidan, as secret settlements were paid out to victims here. Unusually, Clohessy – whose top criminal defence team was privately funded – took the stand himself. Clohessy denied each charge, often with two-word answers, delivered with a shrug. 'That's incorrect,' he said repeatedly. 'Didn't happen.' At times, he chuckled as if he found some questions ridiculous, and he was frequently heard humming to himself in court. This confident performance was in marked contrast to the testimony of victims. Describing the abuse they suffered, they broke down emotionally, cowering from the nearby presence of their tormentor. One of them, Kildare man Joe Devine, suffered a panic attack and collapsed to the floor under cross-examination by Clohessy's defence, requiring an ambulance. The episode delayed proceedings for several days and could have jeopardised the entire trial if the key witness had not been able to resume his evidence. When first confronted Clohessy in January 2018, he denied any wrongdoing, although he acknowledged his order had made settlements to his former pupils. 'I don't think anybody is guilty until they're proved guilty,' he said at the time. 'Innocent until proven guilty.' Now, after decades of silence, those abused by Clohessy can finally speak freely. They include Wayne Farrell, a former pupil of St Augustine's school in Dublin, where Clohessy was principal until he was sent to Malawi in 1993. 'Life will never be the same. The memories are always there, and the damage can never be repaired,' he told Mr Farrell said he was appalled to learn Clohessy had been sent to Malawi after abusing him here. 'I was in shock when I heard about Africa. He's a predator. He picked on weak people. Frail people,' he added. The St John of God order refused to respond to detailed queries about the number of alleged abuse cases involving Clohessy or how much it has paid out in settlements to victims. 'There is no comment,' a spokesman said.
Forbes
27-06-2025
- Business
- Forbes
2025's Biggest Challenges In Open-Source Software Supply Chains
Stephanie Domas is the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) at Canonical, the creators of the popular Linux operating system, Ubuntu. What are the most pressing issues for organizations using open-source software (OSS) in 2025? Is it cyberattacks? Cost efficiency? Or is it the disruptions of AI and new tech? In this article, I'll give my take as a CISO and advise how I'd go about addressing them. Why Businesses Struggle With Their Open-Source Supply Chain OSS can be amazing, but software is only as good as its supply chain security. Getting this right can be a complex puzzle, and it's one that most organizations are struggling to solve: our research with IDC revealed that 9 out of 10 organizations would prefer to source packages at the operating system level, yet only 44% of them do so. Instead, organizations are pulling software from all over the place, and only when they have to, avoiding automatic upgrades to the newest versions. Instead, they prefer to wait until new features are needed or the free updates stop—essentially until things stop working. This approach exposes organizations to newly discovered vulnerabilities. It also ends up creating more expensive and time-consuming work because the organization has to do intensive, inefficient things like monitoring upstream open source and scanning for vulnerabilities. Challenges In Managing Vulnerabilities Patching is hard, but it's much harder when you have demanding SLAs needed to meet market regulations. Managing vulnerabilities across a range of OSS can be time-consuming and requires skilled labor and manual efforts. As every CISO knows, "manual" usually means mistakes in the long run. And if something goes wrong, it could spell disaster for the company: according to Statistica, as of January 2025, just 17 data breaches resulted in over $7 billion in fines. Our research at Canonical shows that 43% of organizations are concerned about their ability to secure their AI stack. Worse, 60% of organizations have zero or only basic security controls to safeguard their AI/ML systems. This sort of exposure is unacceptable: not securing your AI systems runs the risk of package hallucination attacks, prompt injection or even exposure of your valuable IP. The market is being disrupted by new cybersecurity regulations, and many organizations struggle to figure out what these mean for their operations and systems. Look at the EU Cyber Resilience Act (CRA), for example. This new regulatory compliance means that millions of devices will have stricter cybersecurity requirements. The people who make these devices will need to provide detailed documentation, consistent security patches across their device lifecycles, and long-term reporting and monitoring for vulnerabilities in their devices. The CRA is just one of dozens of cybersecurity regulations that are clamping down on unsecured devices. Navigating this complex landscape is hard. My Recommendations For Meeting These New Challenges New innovations in open source are being made every day. In our own teams, we have people building enterprise-level-competitive software for 5G and mobile private networks—something that would have been unthinkable 10 years ago. Still, addressing today's OSS-related risks requires a combination of strategic tooling, process maturity and smart sourcing decisions. First, streamline how you acquire and manage software packages. Whether you're fully OSS-based or in a hybrid environment, the goal should be reducing fragmented sourcing. One strategy I've found to be effective based on my firsthand experience is to pull packages from a trusted operating system-level repository or work with vendors who assume upstream responsibility for security and compliance. This approach eases the burden of patching, compliance and vulnerability monitoring, especially in light of new regulations like the CRA. At Canonical, we've committed to meeting CRA manufacturer requirements directly, aiming to help organizations downstream shift compliance responsibility without sacrificing flexibility. The importance of this in the open-source community cannot be understated, as some of the most important software in the world relies on tiny communities that do not have the time or resources to meet onerous cybersecurity regulations. My work involves directly overseeing security assessments required before enabling some AI tools within our teams' workflows. As a result, I've found it's especially important to be intentional about your AI security posture. Before integrating AI tooling into production workflows, conduct formal assessments to understand what systems it will touch, what data it will process and how its behavior aligns with existing security controls. Don't rush—map out targeted use cases and pilot with guardrails. Experimental adoption is fine, as long as it's paired with rigorous due diligence and clearly defined outcomes. Finally, keep in mind that innovation doesn't have to come at the cost of security or compliance. Whether you're building edge networks, standing up clouds or managing ML pipelines, OSS can certainly accelerate development and cut costs—but only if paired with disciplined implementation. We've seen organizations slash cloud bills by up to 76% using tools like OpenStack and MicroCloud on existing infrastructure. But the real win comes when that cost-efficiency is matched by secure, well-governed practices that stand up to scrutiny. Conclusion To stay competitive in 2025 and beyond, organizations must treat open-source security and compliance as strategic capabilities—not afterthoughts. That means adopting clear processes for sourcing, patching and assessing software, especially as AI adoption grows and regulations tighten. Whether you're trying to reduce costs, improve scalability or navigate frameworks like the CRA, secure open-source practices can unlock real operational advantages. But those benefits only materialize when paired with intentional governance, smart tooling and a strong understanding of your risk surface. By following these recommendations, you can better ensure you'll be ready for these challenges and more. Forbes Technology Council is an invitation-only community for world-class CIOs, CTOs and technology executives. Do I qualify?
Arabian Post
09-06-2025
- Business
- Arabian Post
Canonical Ends Bazaar Hosting on Launchpad
Canonical will cease all Bazaar code hosting on its Launchpad platform in two stages, culminating on 1 September 2025. The legacy version control system, once the backbone of many Ubuntu-related projects, will see its web interface retired soon, followed by full removal of backend functionality. Users of Bazaar, including developers relying on Ubuntu Engineering, must migrate to Git or other supported systems ahead of the deadline to preserve continuity. Bazaar, created by Martin Pool and sponsored by Canonical, never matched Git in popularity. With its last stable release in 2016, it gradually lost traction among open‑source communities. Today, Git has become the standard, hosting the vast majority of collaborative software development activity. Canonical itself acknowledged that maintaining Bazaar consumed significant development, operational, and infrastructure resources, resources now better allocated to modernising Ubuntu and Launchpad. Launchpad's rollback of Bazaar support will begin with the immediate shutdown of the Loggerhead web frontend, used for browsing Bazaar code repositories. Canonical cited declining legitimate traffic, with much of the web interface usage now coming from scrapers and automated bots. At this stage, developers will still be able to interact with repositories via command‑line tools, with pushes, pulls, and merges unaffected. The second phase, starting 1 September 2025, will eliminate the Bazaar backend entirely. After this date, Launchpad will no longer host Bazaar repositories, meaning developers cannot push, pull, merge, or browse code via Bazaar. Canonical has urged all users to migrate their code before this shutdown to avoid service disruption. ADVERTISEMENT Migration instructions have been made available on Ubuntu's Discourse platform and Launchpad's documentation site. The recommended method relies on native Bazaar‑to‑Git interop, using tools like 'brz push' that convert Bazaar revisions into Git history. Users have reported this process to be slower but more reliable than older export‑import methods. Not all Bazaar users are fluent with Git. In community discussions, one long‑time developer lamented that 'I love the simplicity of bazaar/launchpad… I really do not get git.' Another emphasised the invaluable contributions of Jezmer Vernooij, the maintainer of the Breezy fork, describing him as 'probably the most tangible act of generosity that can be made among strangers in the open source world'. Ubuntu and Launchpad gained prominence through Bazaar because it was once the only version control system supported for packaging and PPAs. Over time, Git's features, performance, branching model, and ecosystem—spanning GitHub, GitLab, and Bitbucket—made it the clear choice for modern development. Canonical highlighted its decision to deprecate Bazaar as part of its broader effort to modernise development workflows. By reallocating resources from maintaining outdated infrastructure like Bazaar, Canonical intends to better support Ubuntu's core development and implement improvements to Launchpad as a whole. Despite the shift, Bazaar will not disappear entirely from the world of open source. Users who wish to continue using Bazaar beyond Launchpad's support cutoff can host their repositories with services like GNU Savannah, which remains committed to Bazaar support. Breezy, the active fork of Bazaar, will also continue to receive maintenance, ensuring the version control system endures for those who prefer it. ADVERTISEMENT The discontinuation of Bazaar on Launchpad marks a significant moment in the history of Ubuntu's development tools. Once tightly integrated into canonical workflows for building DEBs, PPAs, snaps and Ubuntu itself, Bazaar's sundering from Launchpad symbolises the retreat of niche VCS in favour of universally supported tools. It speaks to broader shifts in software development culture, aligning Ubuntu with prevailing industry practices centred on Git. Canonical has emphasized that Ubuntu Engineering will receive migration support, and developers with unique needs are encouraged to reach out via Launchpad's feedback channels or Matrix. The company aims to collaborate closely to remove reliance on Bazaar-specific integrations used in Ubuntu's engineering systems. As the 1 September deadline approaches, developers must act swiftly to export their repositories. Migrating preserves their revision histories, branches, and tags, ensuring continued project development. Those who delay risk losing remote access to their code and may face complex manual recovery efforts after Bazaar support ends. Bazaar's sunset also underscores the dominance of Git in open‑source workflows. According to the 2024 Stack Overflow developer survey, approximately 98 per cent of developers use Git, everyone from hobbyists to large enterprises. Git's extensive ecosystem of CI/CD tools, integrations, and community support has entrenched it as the developer standard. Despite familiarity with Bazaar among legacy projects, the broader open‑source ecosystem has migrated towards Git. Organisations seeking to maintain compatibility with the wider community, attract contributors, and leverage automated development pipelines will find Git essential. Enterprises relying on Bazaar must reevaluate their infrastructure and workflows to align with this reality. Canonical's decision reflects both pragmatic resource allocation and alignment with community norms. By removing Bazaar support, it simplifies the development stack, reduces maintenance burden, and clarifies the path forward for Ubuntu's development ecosystem. While the transition brings uncertainty for long‑time Bazaar users, structured migration pathways and continued community support via Breezy and alternative hosts offer continuity. This move also signals potential future efforts by Canonical to deprecate other legacy services on Launchpad, focusing the platform on components with active developer and user bases. By streamlining services, Canonical may enhance Launchpad's relevance in contemporary software engineering workflows.
Arabian Post
20-05-2025
- Arabian Post
Ubuntu 25.10 Brings Fresh Terminal and Image Viewer Upgrades
Ubuntu 25.10 will introduce a significant update to its core user experience by replacing the default terminal and image viewer applications with modern alternatives. This development marks a shift towards more streamlined and feature-rich tools, reflecting the broader trend of enhancing Linux desktop usability without sacrificing performance or stability. The new default terminal, known as 'Console,' is set to replace GNOME Terminal, which has been a longstanding staple in the Ubuntu environment. Console offers a sleek and minimalist interface designed to improve usability and responsiveness. Among its key features are GPU acceleration, which provides smoother rendering and better performance, especially on high-resolution displays, and an emphasis on simplicity by reducing clutter and unnecessary UI elements. This change aligns with a growing demand from users for faster and more visually appealing terminal applications that can handle diverse workflows efficiently. Complementing the terminal update, the existing image viewer, Eye of GNOME , will be supplanted by 'Pix,' an image viewer developed by the Linux Mint team. Pix is celebrated for its faster loading times, enhanced support for various image formats, and a more intuitive interface that simplifies navigation and editing. It incorporates basic image editing tools such as cropping and rotation, which were notably absent in eog, thereby providing users with more functionality out of the box without needing additional software. This switch aims to improve everyday image handling tasks for Ubuntu users, particularly those who prefer lightweight applications without compromising essential features. These replacements are part of Ubuntu's ongoing effort to refine its software stack as it approaches the 25.10 release, planned for late October this year. Ubuntu developers have emphasised that the changes are driven by both user feedback and the desire to keep up with evolving software trends in the open-source ecosystem. The move also signals a willingness to incorporate applications developed by other Linux communities, fostering greater collaboration across distributions. See also openSUSE Drops Deepin Desktop Amid Ongoing Security Concerns Canonical, Ubuntu's parent company, has underscored the importance of maintaining a balance between innovation and stability. While new software like Console and Pix offer improvements, they also undergo extensive testing to ensure compatibility with the broader Ubuntu desktop environment. Early builds of Ubuntu 25.10 have already shown promising performance gains, with users reporting a more responsive terminal experience and a quicker, more versatile image viewer. The adoption of Console and Pix reflects a broader shift within the Linux desktop world, where traditional applications face increasing competition from newer projects focusing on user experience and performance. This trend is partly influenced by the rise of high-DPI displays and the growing popularity of tiling window managers, which demand terminals that can efficiently manage multiple sessions and deliver sharp visuals. Similarly, image viewers now often need to balance lightweight operation with support for various modern formats and basic editing, features that Pix addresses. Ubuntu 25.10 also continues to update other system components, including a newer Linux kernel and refreshed GNOME desktop environment. These updates improve hardware compatibility, security, and user interface consistency. However, the terminal and image viewer changes stand out for their direct impact on daily user interaction, highlighting Canonical's focus on practical enhancements. Ubuntu's decision to integrate Pix, created by a different distribution, demonstrates the increasingly collaborative nature of open source software development. Linux Mint's Pix has gained recognition for its efficiency and ease of use, prompting Canonical to evaluate it as a superior replacement to eog. This cross-pollination signals a growing recognition that user-centric improvements can transcend distribution boundaries, ultimately benefiting the broader Linux community. See also Manjaro 25.0 'Zetar' Launch Enhances Linux Desktop Experience User response to the new terminal and image viewer has been largely positive during beta testing phases. The Console terminal's clean design and responsiveness have been praised for reducing distractions while maintaining essential features like tabs and profiles. Pix's support for more image formats and built-in editing tools has been welcomed by users who previously needed to rely on external applications for minor adjustments. These updates are expected to be particularly appealing to Ubuntu's growing base of desktop users who rely on the operating system for development, creative work, and daily productivity. The streamlined terminal can enhance coding and system administration tasks, while the improved image viewer supports graphic tasks without the overhead of larger photo editing suites.
