FreeBSD is a popular free version of Unix, much like Linux. In April, the FreeBSD project released a security advisory, which warned that any logged-in user could gain full control of, or "root access" to, almost any machine running any previous version of FreeBSD. The problem was due to a bug in a program called keyinit. It’s an atypical example of a confused deputy bug. However, it is often useful for programs to be allowed to do things their invokers can’t. In this month's bug report, Kragen Sitaker tells the story of this atypical "confused deputy" bug.

Joining forces with another company can be a logistical nightmare. This article presents a case study of a fictional merger between two large companies. It addresses four different problems that have to be overcome in a database merger: 1) duplicate records; 2) mismatched columns; 3) data corruption; and 4) front-end assumptions.

The bar hasn't been lowered, but for many, the resources have. Increased workloads and frozen spending can challenge any test team. It's not the best time to change jobs, yet it's stressful to think of the declining level of quality that may be in your soon-to-be-released product pipeline. But so what? You're not alone in these challenging times. You still have to make it happen. So, in today's climate, part of your unwritten job description is to find more efficient ways to prevent and detect defects before your customers do. In times like these, we need to build on our skills, technology awareness, and confidence. Ed Kit imparts techniques and tips to help you do more with less. You'll even learn about infrequently marketed-though full-featured-affordable test tool alternatives.

Testing system-level components such as the Java API for XML-Based Remote Procedure Calls is a challenging task. Employing use-case techniques from the Unified Modeling Language (UML), Vinay Pai describes a novel approach for testing such components. His team developed use cases for a realistic application that would use the components, then developed test case designs from those use cases. The resulting test suite uncovered more than 200 defects in eight months, and exceeded code coverage goals by almost 50 percent. Learn the details of this approach and recommendations for transitioning to application-centric testing for your system-level components.