The NagAconda Python tool helps when writing plugins for the Nagios monitoring tool and is available in its first open release.

Perl is among the 15 projects that will present their work at CeBIT, the dynamic programming language.

A tiny script from U.S. network specialist Scott Iekel-Johnson extracts software licenses from source code. The oss-license-extract tool is now available in version 1.2.

The SysUsage monitoring tool is available in a new version 3.0 and provides a completely reworked Web interface.

The IRC (Internet Relay Chat) protocol lets you program bots as automatic helpers. In this month's column, we let a bot log a session and store the results in a database.

Mozilla's bug tracker Bugzilla is now available in version 3.4. and developers have worked hard on the major release to make life for the user a lot easier.

Although a USB toy such as a polystyrene rocket launcher only includes a Windows CD, it works fine on Linux with a spot of reverse engineering. With libusb, this doesn't even require compiling a device driver – Perl controls the device from userspace.

With the GIMP image editing program, and a little help from Perl, you can enhance your digital photos and transform a modern image into a nostalgic turn-of-the-century shot.