-= New Stuff =-

Ok, do to popular request, I've added a brief outline of Project Goals. My appologies for not including it earlier. I have always been a bit lazy when it comes to updating web pages... but that is all going to change because of my New Year's resolution. Hrmmmm. Guess that means I have to put this cigarette out, too ;)

BTW, I am still a bit behind on reading and returning email. So, if you sent me something and I haven't responded, it is honestly not a slight.

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What We Are...

It is the desire of those involved in the development of kha0S to produce the most secure Linux distribution possible. This is not to say that the major distros are inherently insecure. However, we cannot help but notice the limited attention these distributions have paid to the issue of strong cryptography. kha0S was born to fill this gap.

The project's name was taken from one of our favorite "myths": that of Eris, goddess of khaos and discord. Legend has it that Zeus was orchestrating a wedding reception for Peleus and Thetis. Simply everyone was invited. Except Eris (as she had a bit of a reputation as a shit disturber.

Eris became really miffed. She created an apple of solid gold and inscribed upon it the legend KALLISTI ("To The Prettiest One"). During the party, Eris rolled the apple into the very middle of things and left.

Well, one can imagine that the goddesses who were invited thought that, surely, they were "The Prettiest One", and a great cat fight ensued.

To make a long story short, the Trojan War began shortly there after, caused, more or less, by Our Lady of Discord's little joke.

So what does this have to do with Linux? Suffice it to say, we're just throwing our little distro into an already crowded field. Why? Because the GPL says we can ;)

In all seriousness, we feel strongly that "military" grade crypto is a terrific way to protect our individuality and civil liberities during this "Winter's turn of Centuries".

...and What We Aren't

kha0S has no delusions of grandeur. We do not seek to garner huge portions of the Linux market share (we shudder to think that there is such a thing), nor do we exist to point out the failings of other Linux distributions.

Where We're At

kha0S is currently in what we fondly refer to as the fetal stage of software development. We are working with the 2.1.13x kernels and experimenting with various approaches to cryptographic file systems. Expect the first beta release of kha0S to include Matt Blaze's CFS. It has been around for a while and has had the benefit of review by the cryptographic community.

Thank you to all who have emailed offering support (and even criticism). The response has been somewhat overwhelming. We will do our best to reply to each of your emails.

Mad Props to Joker of Infinite Vision Consulting for whipping up that gorgeous logo. It only cost me a SCSI drive... he did the buttons for beer.

What We Need

We are currently looking for developers and sys admins who feel they can make contributions to the project. You don't need a degree in discrete mathematics, but such a beast shouldn't cause you to run screaming from the machine room, either.

We are not looking for new and unproven crypto algorithms. Any crypto specific coding will be done with proven algorithms which are free from nasty commercial licensing restrictions (e.g. blowfish). Developers need not have the ability to design new encryption schemes. What we are looking for is people who are not strangers to breaking encryption schemes.

The bad news is that the kha0S project is located in a country boasting some of the most ass-backwards and Draconian laws relating to the export of cryptography on the face of the earth (the United States). Therefore, developers, sys admins, and the like residing in countries whose legislatures do not have their heads embedded in their own asses are enthusiastically encouraged to contribute to this project. You won't get paid, but somewhere down the line, you'll probably get a t-shirt and some stickers ;)

Further, we are in need of a teeny bit of legal advice regarding the distribution of "mathematical munitions". While I don't believe you exist, if you are a civil liberties minded attorney in the United States with extensive knowledge of IITAR and the like and you have an hour or so you'd like to donate to a cause such as kha0S, we would be more than interested in arranging a consultation with you. However, we will continue to inhale and exhale while we await your call ;)