Current stable version: 0.4.1
Current bleeding version: CVS (devel-0_5 tag)
Development news, and bug in the stable version
01/09/04
  Over the last months, there has been some (very slow) development. We have had the PICA CVS in SF for quite some time now, and a new developer has joined the project (Sean E. Millichamp). You can check out the CVS version (devel-0_5 tag) and try for yourself. Probably there are some things broken, but it's basically usable. If you find bugs, please report them (with a patch, if you can). We have refactored many things in the code so it's easier to fix stuff and add stuff. Moreover, we have tests (currently 88) to make sure things don't break (more than one time) without us knowing it.
On the other hand, a bug has been found in PICA (both branches), regarding file permissions. It's documented in http://bugs.debian.org/265377. It's fixed in CVS (again, both branches). We will release an updated stable PICA soon.
 
 
Still alive!
25/06/03
  We know it's been a looong time, but we have been very busy. We have been working a little in the 0.5.x bleeding branch (and Miguel's using PICA 0.4.1 daily), and we hope to have soon the CVS online at SF. I have updated our e-mail addresses so you can contact us directly (sorry about that, I didn't notice until now), although we prefer talking in the mailing list so everybody can "hear" it. Stay tuned :-)  
 
PICA 0.4.1 Released
05/09/02
  PICA 0.4.1 has been released. It's only a minor bugfix and documentation update release, so don't expect anything spectacular. In the meantime, we're working in the new 0.5.x development branch, with a partial rewrite and much enhanced installation (with the standard Perl modules). Enjoy!
Download pica-0.4.1!
 
 
PICALib 0.1.5 Released
22/06/02
  I've just released the latest version of PICALib (0.1.5).
This version includes a lot of bugfixes, a new directory layout, and a new Antivirus module. Users are encouraged to update because previous releases of PICALib included a broken version of PIFIA that it's fixed in PICALib 0.1.5
For more info see ChangeLog
Download picalib-0.1.5!
 
 
PICA 0.4.0 released
07/06/02
  AT LAST!!! We have released the stable version 0.4.0
For more info see ChangeLog
Download pica-0.4.0!
 
 
PICA 0.4.0rc1 released
06/05/02
  Hi all! The first release candidate for PICA 0.4.0 is out. It basically includes some minor bugfixes and updated documentation. For more info see ChangeLog
Download pica-0.4.0rc1!
NOTE! To install the RPM package you will need the packages perl-Parse-Yapp and perl-File-NCopy. You can get them here
BTW, the last pica version (3.1415...) was obviously a april fool's joke ;)
 
 
PICA 3.1415926535 Released
01/04/02
  Hi, pals.
We've just released a new PICA version. Here's the changelog:
pica (3.1415926535) unstable; urgency=high
	           
 - Added Qt-based GUI, available on X, embedded devices and also on
   console thanks to Qtconsole, http://qtconsole.nl.linux.org/
 - Now PICA stands for "PHP Installation and Configuration Agent",
   because Perl didn't give us enough flexibility and is throughly
   inconsistent about naming conventions
 - Now a non-integer (even *irrational*) number of objects/hosts can
   be processed. We have tested it with a googolplex [1] hosts and it
   works!! (yes, we had problems getting IP's for so may hosts ;)
 - As a result, PICA now depends on PDL (Perl Data Language, see
   http://search.cpan.org/search?dist=PDL)
		  
-- M. Armas, E. Manchado <{kuko,zoso}@loofslirpa.org>  Mon, 1 Apr 2002
          
[1] see http://public.logica.com/~stepneys/cyc/g/googol.htm
	  
Collect them all!
 
 
PICALib 0.1.4 Released
20/03/02
  I've just released the latest version of PICALib (0.1.4). This new release adds an alarm to automagically update the Snort alert files. It also fixes some bugs... For more info see ChangeLog
Download picalib-0.1.4!
 
 
PICALib 0.1.3 Released
21/02/02
  I've just released the latest version of PICALib (0.1.3). This new release fixes a small bug in the Firewall module.
For more info see ChangeLog
Download picalib-0.1.3!
 
 
PICALib 0.1.2 Released
13/01/02
  I've just released the latest version of PICALib (0.1.2). This new release includes modules for DNS, DHCP, Snort and an iptables based firewall. For more info see ChangeLog Download picalib-0.1.2!  
 
Debian Package for PICA 0.3.8
08/01/02
  We have just published the PICA-0.3.8 Debian package. Go get it!  
 
PICA 0.3.8 released
28/12/01
  We have released PICA 0.3.8 and PICALib 0.1.0. We haven't got Debian packages by now, see downloads at sourceforge site.  
 
PICA 0.3.7 released
20/12/01
  At last we've released PICA 0.3.7. It features a number of bugfixes and some minor improvements (for example, in directory handling). In some time we will release (at last!) PICA 0.4.0. The libfile-ncopy-perl package has been updated too. You can see it all at the downloads section.  
 
PICA 0.3.6 released
28/08/01
  Hey, PICA 0.3.6 is out! Check it out. Some minor improvements and fixes, but you may have been waiting for one of them: recursive (but verbatim) copying. That is, now you can specify a directory as an object and it will be copied recursively. The bad news is that now you need the Perl package File::NCopy. For you Debian users, there is a libfile-ncopy-perl package here in the downloads section.  
 
PICA lib and PICA 0.3.6 coming soon!
23/08/01
  Soon we'll release what we call the PICA lib, a bunch of examples, alarms and distribution files to help you do your work. PICA 0.3.6 will be released soon, too. It features some minor enhancements and updates.  
 
Moving to Sourceforge
01/08/01
  We're moving to Sourceforge.  
 
New PICA release
25/07/01
  At last PICA 0.3.5 is here. Some tiny new features, documentation updates and improved binary packages. See the ChangeLog, as always.  
 
Three new switches
26/06/01
  I've uploaded a new version, pica-current.tar.gz, which adds three new switches, --with-picaconf, --with-hostsconf and --with-objectsconf, to change the default configuration files path. I've also patched a bug in pica-0.3.4a (thanks buzzz).  
 
New host attribute and bugfixes
25/06/01
  I've uploaded a new version, pica 0.3.4a, which adds a new host attribute, `sshuser', and fixes some little bugs.  
 
At last!!! PICA 0.3.4
19/06/01
  At last PICA 0.3.4 is released! Well, this version is (probably) the most stable PICA release ever made (yes, including 0.2.0 in the stable branch). And, more importantly, now PICA features both deb and RPM packages, and the smoothest installation (just install the package, or make install at command line, if you got the sources package). The default configuration files are also fine. In the case of sources package, you'll have to copy them yourself, of course, but you can do it for the first time with make installconf.  
 
Updated link for the PICA article
12/06/01
  Due to the new SysAdmin issue, the PICA article URL has changed.  
 
Mailing list set up
29/05/01
  Now you have a mailing list to bug us with questions about both using pica and future developments.  
 
PICA 0.3.3 released!
28/05/01
  Wow! I don't know how so many bugs could avoid my eyeballs! Please upgrade right now, almost no new features, but lots (believe me) of very important bugs shallow. See the ChangeLog.  
 
PICA 0.3.3 soon to be released
15/05/01
  Soon there will be a new PICA release. It's just a bug fix one, so don't expect new features. There are several quite important bug fixes, and now PICA has a Makefile for easy installing. Stay tuned.  
 
SysAdmin article published!
11/05/01
  At last, the article in SysAdmin is published! Check it out at http://www.sysadminmag.com, or directly at http://www.sysadminmag.com/current/0106r/0106r.htm  
 
New PICA version
11/05/01
  0.3.2 is here, pals! Among other things, it includes the new hot PIFIA lib! The new PIFIA lib is a Perl package which will contain all the things you'll ever need (well, almost) to write your PICA alarms, including variable persistence, through an elegant new environment (perseval). It looks like this:
    use vars qw($foo);

    perseval {
        # your code here, messing with $foo
    } preserve '$foo';
See the ChangeLog and documentation for details.
 
 
SysAdmin article
3/05/01
  Soon, there will be a web article in SysAdmin explaining PICA. Stay tunned!  
 
Version 0.3.1 finally out!
3/05/01
  New PICA bleeding version! There is a ChangeLog, so read it if you want to :-).  
 
Documentation added
24/04/01
  I've added some documentation to both branches. The bleeding one has a TeX file with an introductory manual. Some things are not implemented yet, but mostly is a very useful document. The stable branch doesn't have documentation yet (wait for the article in SysAdmin). Go check out the documentation and tell us what you think!  
 
Documentation
17/04/01
  By now there's no documentation. We've written an article for SysAdmin, though, that is a good start. They are going to publish it on the web. When it's ready, we will link it from this page as the "official" documentation for PICA 0.2.0.  
 
First news item!
19/03/01
  It's not just like "First post!", but sorta :-)  
 
  Miguel Armas del Río <kuko@maarmas.com>
Esteban Manchado Velázquez <zoso@demiurgo.org>
 
 
  WTF, as you have probably figured out, stands for ``What's this fancyness'' :-). Well, this fancyness is a program (similar to PIKT) to administer machines. It can copy files to several machines, with modifications (minor or not), and help you manage alarms.
OK, OK, but, why the hell did you do this?
 
  Go get PICA in sources, debian package or RPM package in the download page. See also the ChangeLog, if you wish.  
 
  Current stable
Old SysAdmin Magazine Article
Join our mailing list!
 
 
  Q: I don't know Perl. What can I do?
A: There are two solutions; the Good Solution (TM), learn Perl; the Bad Solution (TM), use another program :-)

Q: Why are those magenta color changes there?
A: Heck! You're viewing this page with Internet Explorer. If you use that browser.... I don't think you need this program too much :-)

Q: What the hell is the "bleeding" version?
A: It's sort of a development version... Only it's more like a CVS nightly snapshot. I like that expression because it suggests both that it's a "bleeding edge" version and that it probably bleeds :-)
 
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