1 <?xml version=
"1.0" encoding=
"utf-8"?>
2 <rss version='
2.0' xmlns:lj='http://www.livejournal.org/rss/lj/
1.0/' xmlns:
atom=
"http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom">
4 <title>Petter Reinholdtsen
</title>
5 <description></description>
6 <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/
</link>
7 <atom:link href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/index.rss" rel=
"self" type=
"application/rss+xml" />
10 <title>Latest Jami back in Debian Testing, and scriptable using dbus
</title>
11 <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Latest_Jami_back_in_Debian_Testing__and_scriptable_using_dbus.html
</link>
12 <guid isPermaLink=
"true">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Latest_Jami_back_in_Debian_Testing__and_scriptable_using_dbus.html
</guid>
13 <pubDate>Tue,
12 Jan
2021 17:
00:
00 +
0100</pubDate>
14 <description><p
>After a lot of hard work by its maintainer Alexandre Viau and
15 others, the decentralized communication platform
16 <a href=
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jami_(software)
">Jami
</a
>
17 (earlier known as Ring), managed to get
18 <a href=
"https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/ring
">its latest version
</a
>
19 into Debian Testing. Several of its dependencies has caused build and
20 propagation problems, which all seem to be solved now.
</p
>
22 <p
>In addition to the fact that Jami is decentralized, similar to how
23 bittorrent is decentralized, I first of all like how it is not
24 connected to external IDs like phone numbers. This allow me to set up
25 computers to send me notifications using Jami without having to find
26 get a phone number for each computer. Automatic notification via Jami
27 is also made trivial thanks to the provided client side API (as a DBus
28 service). Here is my bourne shell script demonstrating how to let any
29 system send a message to any Jami address. It will create a new
30 identity before sending the message, if no Jami identity exist
36 # Usage: $
0 <jami-address
> <message
>
38 # Send
<message
> to
<jami-address
>, create local jami account if
41 # License: GPL v2 or later at your choice
42 # Author: Petter Reinholdtsen
45 if [ -z
"$HOME
" ] ; then
46 echo
"error: missing \$HOME, required for dbus to work
"
50 # First, get dbus running if not already running
51 DBUSLAUNCH=/usr/bin/dbus-launch
52 PIDFILE=/run/asterisk/dbus-session.pid
53 if [ -e $PIDFILE ] ; then
55 if ! kill -
0 $DBUS_SESSION_BUS_PID
2>/dev/null ; then
56 unset DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS
59 if [ -z
"$DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS
" ]
&& [ -x
"$DBUSLAUNCH
" ]; then
60 DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS=
"unix:path=$HOME/.dbus
"
61 dbus-daemon --session --address=
"$DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS
" --nofork --nopidfile --syslog-only
< /dev/null
> /dev/null
2>&1 3>&1 &
62 DBUS_SESSION_BUS_PID=$!
64 echo DBUS_SESSION_BUS_PID=$DBUS_SESSION_BUS_PID
65 echo DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS=\
""$DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS
"\
"
66 echo export DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS
72 part=
"$
1"; shift
73 op=
"$
1"; shift
75 --dest=
"cx.ring.Ring
" /cx/ring/Ring/$part cx.ring.Ring.$part.$op $*
79 part=
"$
1"; shift
80 op=
"$
1"; shift
81 dbus-send --session --print-reply \
82 --dest=
"cx.ring.Ring
" /cx/ring/Ring/$part cx.ring.Ring.$part.$op $*
86 dringopreply ConfigurationManager getAccountList | \
87 grep string | awk -F
'"' '{print $
2}
' | head -n
1
90 account=$(firstaccount)
92 if [ -z
"$account
" ] ; then
93 echo
"Missing local account, trying to create it
"
94 dringop ConfigurationManager addAccount \
95 dict:string:string:
"Account.type
",
"RING
",
"Account.videoEnabled
",
"false
"
96 account=$(firstaccount)
97 if [ -z
"$account
" ] ; then
98 echo
"unable to create local account
"
103 # Not using dringopreply to ensure $
2 can contain spaces
104 dbus-send --print-reply --session \
105 --dest=cx.ring.Ring \
106 /cx/ring/Ring/ConfigurationManager \
107 cx.ring.Ring.ConfigurationManager.sendTextMessage \
108 string:
"$account
" string:
"$
1" \
109 dict:string:string:
"text/plain
",
"$
2"
110 </pre
></p
>
112 <p
>If you want to check it out yourself, visit the
113 <a href=
"https://jami.net/
">the Jami system project page
</a
> to learn
114 more, and install the latest Jami client from Debian Unstable or
117 <p
>As usual, if you use Bitcoin and want to show your support of my
118 activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address
119 <b
><a href=
"bitcoin:
15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b
">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b
</a
></b
>.
</p
>
124 <title>Boken «Made with Creative Commons» lanseres på norsk
</title>
125 <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Boken__Made_with_Creative_Commons__lanseres_p__norsk.html
</link>
126 <guid isPermaLink=
"true">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Boken__Made_with_Creative_Commons__lanseres_p__norsk.html
</guid>
127 <pubDate>Sun,
15 Nov
2020 23:
50:
00 +
0100</pubDate>
128 <description><p
>Endelig er den norske utgaven av «Made with Creative Commons»
129 ferdig og publisert. Følgende pressemelding ble nettopp sendt ut:
133 <p
><strong
>Boken «Made with Creative Commons» lanseres på norsk
</strong
></p
>
135 <p
>«Gjort med Creative Commons» er en bok om gjenbruk, deling og den
136 digitale allmenningen. Boken omhandler å bygge en forretningsmodell på
137 åpne verdier, endringene i tankesett og filosofi, og fordelene og
138 praksisen som kommer med å være «åpen».
</p
>
140 <p
>Forfatterne Paul Stacey og Sarah Hinchliff Pearson tar oss med inn
141 i samtaler med
24 mennesker, prosjekter og organisasjoner som på ulike
142 måter generere inntekter gjennom deling av sine verk. Som leser får
143 man innsikt i hvordan alt fra forskere, forfattere, kunstnere og
144 filmskapere tjener penger basert på åpne forretningsmodeller. En av
145 referansestudiene i denne boken viser hvordan Blender Animation Studio
146 lager vakre animasjonsfilmer som de publiserer under en fri lisens,
147 basert på en plattform som er fri programvare.
</p
>
149 <p
>Utover praktiske eksempler på forskjellige forretningsmodeller berører
150 også boken forskjellen mellom tradisjonelle kommersielle virksomheter og
151 de som tar utgangspunkt i den globale delingskulturen.
</p
>
153 <p
>«Hvis du ønsker å lære mer om digital delingskultur og Creative Commons
154 er dette en bok som både vil inspirere og gi grunnleggende innsikt» sier
155 leder av Creative Commons Norge, Christer Solheim Gundersen. «De siste
156 årene har denne globale bevegelsen sett en betydelig vekst med totalt
157 over
1,
6 milliarder verk med CC-lisens tilgjengelig på nett.»
159 Nå er den tilgjengelig på norsk takket være liten gruppe frivillige
160 entusiaster ledet av Petter Reinholdtsen. «På vegne av Creative Commons
161 Norge vil jeg takke hver enkelt bidragsyter. Dette prosjektet er i seg
162 selv et inspirerende eksempel på at delingskulturen også har godt
163 fotfeste her i Norge.», avslutter Gundersen.
</p
>
165 <p
>Boken er selvsagt fritt tilgjengelig under en Creative Commons lisens,
166 og kan også kjøpes som ebok og papirutgave på blant annet Lulu.com og
169 <p
><strong
>Lenker og kontaktinformasjon
</strong
></p
>
173 <li
>Kontaktpunkt:
174 <br
>Ole-Erik Yrvin (oeyrvin@gmail.com) og
175 <br
>Christer Solheim Gundersen (christer@goopen.no), +
47 9341 1360</li
>
177 <li
>Bokens
<a href=
"https://madewith.cc/
">engelske nettside
</a
></li
>
179 <li
>Den
<a href=
"http://www.hungry.com/~pere/publisher/
">norske utgavens nettside
</a
></li
>
181 <li
><a href=
"https://www.lulu.com/en/us/shop/sarah-hinchliff-pearson-and-paul-stacey-and-bryan-mathers-and-ryan-merkley/gjort-med-creative-commons/paperback/product-m5jy75.html
">Papirutgaven fra Lulu
</a
></li
>
183 <li
><a href=
"https://www.lulu.com/en/us/shop/sarah-hinchliff-pearson-and-paul-stacey-and-bryan-mathers-and-ryan-merkley/gjort-med-creative-commons/ebook/product-zw2r4k.html
">Epub-utgaven fra lulu
</a
></li
>
189 <p
>Nå håper jeg bare den får mange lesere, og finner veien under mange
192 <p
>Som vanlig, hvis du bruker Bitcoin og ønsker å vise din støtte til
193 det jeg driver med, setter jeg pris på om du sender Bitcoin-donasjoner
195 <b
><a href=
"bitcoin:
15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b
">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b
</a
></b
>.
196 Merk, betaling med bitcoin er ikke anonymt. :)
</p
>
201 <title>Buster based Bokmål edition of Debian Administrator
's Handbook
</title>
202 <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Buster_based_Bokm_l_edition_of_Debian_Administrator_s_Handbook.html
</link>
203 <guid isPermaLink=
"true">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Buster_based_Bokm_l_edition_of_Debian_Administrator_s_Handbook.html
</guid>
204 <pubDate>Tue,
20 Oct
2020 18:
35:
00 +
0200</pubDate>
205 <description><p align=
"center
"><img align=
"center
" src=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/
2020-
10-
20-debian-handbook-nb-testprint.jpeg
" width=
"60%
"/
></p
>
207 <p
>I am happy to report that we finally made it! Norwegian Bokmål
208 became the first translation published on paper of the new Buster
209 based edition of
"<a href=
"https://debian-handbook.info/
">The Debian
210 Administrator
's Handbook
</a
>". The print proof reading copy arrived
211 some days ago, and it looked good, so now the book is approved for
212 general distribution. This updated paperback edition
<a
213 href=
"https://debian-handbook.info/get/#norwegian
">is available from
214 lulu.com
</a
>. The book is also available for download in electronic
215 form as PDF, EPUB and Mobipocket, and can also be
216 <a href=
"https://debian-handbook.info/browse/nb-NO/stable/
">read online
</a
>.
</p
>
218 <p
>I am very happy to wrap up this Creative Common licensed project,
219 which concludes several months of work by several volunteers. The
220 number of Linux related books published in Norwegian are few, and I
221 really hope this one will gain many readers, as it is packed with deep
222 knowledge on Linux and the Debian ecosystem. The book will be
223 available for various Internet book stores like Amazon and Barnes
&
224 Noble soon, but I recommend buying
225 "<a href=
"https://www.lulu.com/en/us/shop/roland-mas-and-rapha%C3%ABl-hertzog/h%C3%A5ndbok-for-debian-administratoren/paperback/product-
9j7qwq.html
">Håndbok
226 for Debian-administratoren
</a
>" directly from the source at Lulu.
228 <p
>As usual, if you use Bitcoin and want to show your support of my
229 activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address
230 <b
><a href=
"bitcoin:
15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b
">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b
</a
></b
>.
</p
>
235 <title>Buster update of Norwegian Bokmål edition of Debian Administrator
's Handbook almost done
</title>
236 <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Buster_update_of_Norwegian_Bokm_l_edition_of_Debian_Administrator_s_Handbook_almost_done.html
</link>
237 <guid isPermaLink=
"true">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Buster_update_of_Norwegian_Bokm_l_edition_of_Debian_Administrator_s_Handbook_almost_done.html
</guid>
238 <pubDate>Fri,
11 Sep
2020 09:
45:
00 +
0200</pubDate>
239 <description><p
>Thanks to the good work of several volunteers, the updated edition
240 of the Norwegian translation for
241 "<a href=
"https://debian-handbook.info/
">The Debian Administrator
's
242 Handbook
</a
>" is now almost completed. After many months of proof
243 reading, I consider the proof reading complete enough for us to move
244 to the next step, and have asked for the print version to be prepared
245 and sent of to the print on demand service lulu.com. While it is
246 still not to late if you find any incorrect translations on
247 <a href=
"https://hosted.weblate.org/languages/nb_NO/debian-handbook/
">the
248 hosted Weblate service
</a
>, but it will be soon. :) You can check out
249 <a href=
" https://debian-handbook.info/browse/nb-NO/stable/
">the Buster
250 edition on the web
</a
> until the print edition is ready.
</p
>
252 <p
>The book will be for sale on lulu.com and various web book stores,
253 with links available from the web site for the book linked to above.
254 I hope a lot of readers find it useful.
</p
>
256 <p
>As usual, if you use Bitcoin and want to show your support of my
257 activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address
258 <b
><a href=
"bitcoin:
15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b
">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b
</a
></b
>.
</p
>
263 <title>Working on updated Norwegian Bokmål edition of Debian Administrator
's Handbook
</title>
264 <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Working_on_updated_Norwegian_Bokm_l_edition_of_Debian_Administrator_s_Handbook.html
</link>
265 <guid isPermaLink=
"true">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Working_on_updated_Norwegian_Bokm_l_edition_of_Debian_Administrator_s_Handbook.html
</guid>
266 <pubDate>Sat,
4 Jul
2020 23:
55:
00 +
0200</pubDate>
267 <description><p
>Three years ago, the first Norwegian Bokmål edition of
268 "<a href=
"https://debian-handbook.info/
">The Debian Administrator
's
269 Handbook
</a
>" was published. This was based on Debian Jessie. Now a
270 new and updated version based on Buster is getting ready. Work on the
271 updated Norwegian Bokmål edition has been going on for a few months
272 now, and yesterday, we reached the first mile stone, with
100% of the
273 texts being translated. A lot of proof reading remains, of course,
274 but a major step towards a new edition has been taken.
</p
>
276 <p
>The book is translated by volunteers, and we would love to get some
277 help with the proof reading. The translation uses
278 <a href=
"https://hosted.weblate.org/languages/nb_NO/debian-handbook/
">the
279 hosted Weblate service
</a
>, and we welcome everyone to have a look and
280 submit improvements and suggestions. There is also a proof readers
281 PDF available on request, get in touch if you want to help out that
284 <p
>As usual, if you use Bitcoin and want to show your support of my
285 activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address
286 <b
><a href=
"bitcoin:
15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b
">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b
</a
></b
>.
</p
>
291 <title>Secure Socket API - a simple and powerful approach for TLS support in software
</title>
292 <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Secure_Socket_API___a_simple_and_powerful_approach_for_TLS_support_in_software.html
</link>
293 <guid isPermaLink=
"true">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Secure_Socket_API___a_simple_and_powerful_approach_for_TLS_support_in_software.html
</guid>
294 <pubDate>Sat,
6 Jun
2020 12:
40:
00 +
0200</pubDate>
295 <description><p
>As a member of the
<a href=
"https://www.nuug.no/
">Norwegian Unix
296 User Group
</a
>, I have the pleasure of receiving the
297 <a href=
"https://www.usenix.org/
">USENIX
</a
> magazine
298 <a href=
"https://www.usenix.org/publications/login/
">;login:
</a
>
299 several times a year. I rarely have time to read all the articles,
300 but try to at least skim through them all as there is a lot of nice
301 knowledge passed on there. I even carry the latest issue with me most
302 of the time to try to get through all the articles when I have a few
303 spare minutes.
</p
>
305 <p
>The other day I came across a nice article titled
306 "<a href=
"https://www.usenix.org/publications/login/winter2018/oneill
">The
307 Secure Socket API: TLS as an Operating System Service
</a
>" with a
308 marvellous idea I hope can make it all the way into the POSIX standard.
309 The idea is as simple as it is powerful. By introducing a new
310 socket() option IPPROTO_TLS to use TLS, and a system wide service to
311 handle setting up TLS connections, one both make it trivial to add TLS
312 support to any program currently using the POSIX socket API, and gain
313 system wide control over certificates, TLS versions and encryption
314 systems used. Instead of doing this:
</p
>
316 <p
><blockquote
><pre
>
317 int socket = socket(PF_INET, SOCK_STREAM, IPPROTO_TCP);
318 </pre
></blockquote
></p
>
320 <p
>the program code would be doing this:
<p
>
322 <p
><blockquote
><pre
>
323 int socket = socket(PF_INET, SOCK_STREAM, IPPROTO_TLS);
324 </pre
></blockquote
></p
>
326 <p
>According to the ;login: article, converting a C program to use TLS
327 would normally modify only
5-
10 lines in the code, which is amazing
328 when compared to using for example the OpenSSL API.
</p
>
330 <p
>The project has set up the
331 <a href=
"https://securesocketapi.org/
">https://securesocketapi.org/
</a
>
332 web site to spread the idea, and the code for a kernel module and the
333 associated system daemon is available from two github repositories:
334 <a href=
"https://github.com/markoneill/ssa
">ssa
</a
> and
335 <a href=
"https://github.com/markoneill/ssa-daemon
">ssa-daemon
</a
>.
336 Unfortunately there is no explicit license information with the code,
337 so its copyright status is unclear. A
338 <a href=
"https://github.com/markoneill/ssa/issues/
2">request to solve
339 this
</a
> about it has been unsolved since
2018-
08-
17.
</p
>
341 <p
>I love the idea of extending socket() to gain TLS support, and
342 understand why it is an advantage to implement this as a kernel module
343 and system wide service daemon, but can not help to think that it
344 would be a lot easier to get projects to move to this way of setting
345 up TLS if it was done with a user space approach where programs
346 wanting to use this API approach could just link with a wrapper
349 <p
>I recommend you check out this simple and powerful approach to more
350 secure network connections. :)
</p
>
352 <p
>As usual, if you use Bitcoin and want to show your support of my
353 activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address
354 <b
><a href=
"bitcoin:
15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b
">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b
</a
></b
>.
</p
>
359 <title>Bompenge-Norge, med noen tall fra bompengekalkulator
</title>
360 <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Bompenge_Norge__med_noen_tall_fra_bompengekalkulator.html
</link>
361 <guid isPermaLink=
"true">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Bompenge_Norge__med_noen_tall_fra_bompengekalkulator.html
</guid>
362 <pubDate>Mon,
1 Jun
2020 14:
50:
00 +
0200</pubDate>
363 <description><p
>Det er tett med sensorstasjoner langs veinettet i Norge, som
364 registrerer hvilke kjøretøy som passerer eller tar bilde av de som
366 <a href=
"https://vegkart.atlas.vegvesen.no/
">Vegvesenets nasjonale
367 veidatabank (NVDB)
</a
>, er det
353 bomstasjoner langs det norske
368 veinettet.
21 i nordnorge,
48 i trøndelagsområdet,
13 på
369 nordvestlandet,
91 i bergenstraktene og
180 på østlandsområdet. I
370 tillegg finnes det et utall overvåkningskamera og noen titalls
371 RFID-avlesere for bompengebrikker som samler inn informasjon om hvilke
372 biler som befinner seg hvor i landet. For ikke å glemme alle
373 mobilbasestasjoner som registrerer hvor brukere av mobilnettverket
374 befinner seg. De er ikke tema i dag.
</p
>
376 <p
>De som kjører mye har interesse av å vite hvor mye bompenger det vil
377 koste å kjøre fra et sted til et annet, og dette behovet har aktørene
378 bak
<a href=
"https://bompengekalkulator.no/
">Bompengekalkulatoren
</a
>
379 tatt sikte på å tilby i markedet. Fornuftig nok har de også en
380 gratistjeneste, slik at de får frivillige til å gi innspill om feil i
381 datagrunnlaget. Jeg ble nylig nysgjerring på hvor mye det til koste å
382 kjøre på kryss og tvers i Norge, og valgte meg ut en teststrekning fra
383 Oslo til Tromsø for å se hvilke beløp som gjelder.
</p
>
385 <p
>Bompengekalkulatoren viser frem flere rutealternativer for et gitt
386 reisesøk, og i dette tilfellet, for reise fra Oslo Sentralstasjon til
387 Tromsø sentrum, viser den tre alternativ. Merk, disse tallene gjelder
388 bensindrevet personbil. En kan velge takstkategori i
389 webgrensesnittet. Det ene rutealternativet er E6 gjennom Norge, de to
390 andre er E45 og E4 gjennom sverige. E45 er innlandsruten i Sverige,
391 motorvei gjennom store skoger som i følge kalkulatoren skal ta
22
392 timer og
26 minutter med norsk bompengebeløp på
164 kroner. Jeg har
393 mine tvil til om datasettet til Bompengekalkulatoren har svenske
394 bomstasjoner, så ta dette beløpet med en klype salt. E4 er veien
395 langs Bottenviken og mer befolket område, og skal ta
22 timer og
50
396 minutter til en norsk bompengebeløp på
71 kroner. Den norske ruten
397 langs E6 skal derimot ta
23 timer og
16 minutter og beløpe seg til
664
398 kroner. Beløpene er uten autopass-brikke, slik at en slipper å få
399 bilens posisjon registrert i alle bompengebrikkeavleserne som ikke
400 også er bomstasjoner. For trailere er bompengekostnaden
2-
3 ganger så
401 høy som for personbil. I tillegg til pengebeløpet, som faktureres
402 etterskuddsvis og de siste årene har blitt umulig å gjøre opp kontant
403 på stedet, så kommer kostnaden med å få sine personopplysninger samlet
404 inn, lagret og gjort tilgjengelig for fremmede på ubestemt tid. Jeg
405 ser på den kostnaden som mye høyere en pengebeløpet som
406 faktureres.
</p
>
408 <p
>For en tilsvarende tur fra Oslo til Bergen, så forteller
409 kalkulatoren at raskeste vei er riksvei
7 på
7 timer
4 minutter med
410 bompengebeløp
409 kroner. Alternativene listet opp er E134 på
8 timer
411 37 minutter med bompengebeløp
318 kroner og fylkesivei
40 på
7 timer
412 30 minutter med beløp
331. Det kan kanskje være greit å sjekke ut før
413 en setter seg i bilen hvor ens personopplysninger vil bli samlet inn
414 og lagret
5 fem år, når en velger hvilken rute en går for.
</p
>
416 <p
>Som vanlig, hvis du bruker Bitcoin og ønsker å vise din støtte til
417 det jeg driver med, setter jeg pris på om du sender Bitcoin-donasjoner
419 <b
><a href=
"bitcoin:
15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b
">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b
</a
></b
>.
420 Merk, betaling med bitcoin er ikke anonymt. :)
</p
>
425 <title>More reliable vlc bittorrent plugin in Debian (version
2.9)
</title>
426 <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/More_reliable_vlc_bittorrent_plugin_in_Debian__version_2_9_.html
</link>
427 <guid isPermaLink=
"true">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/More_reliable_vlc_bittorrent_plugin_in_Debian__version_2_9_.html
</guid>
428 <pubDate>Sun,
24 May
2020 17:
00:
00 +
0200</pubDate>
429 <description><p
>I am very happy to report that a more reliable
430 <a href=
"https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/vlc-plugin-bittorrent
">VLC
431 bittorrent plugin
</a
> was just uploaded into debian. This fixes a
432 couple of crash bugs in the plugin, hopefully making the VLC
433 experience even better when streaming directly from a bittorrent
434 source. The package is currently in Debian unstable, but should be
435 available in Debian testing in two days. To test it, simply install
436 it like this:
</p
>
439 apt install vlc-plugin-bittorrent
440 </pre
></p
>
442 <p
>After it is installed, you can try to use it to play a file
443 downloaded live via bittorrent like this:
446 vlc https://archive.org/download/Glass_201703/Glass_201703_archive.torrent
447 </pre
></p
>
449 <p
>It also support magnet links and local .torrent files.
</p
>
451 <p
>As usual, if you use Bitcoin and want to show your support of my
452 activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address
453 <b
><a href=
"bitcoin:
15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b
">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b
</a
></b
>.
</p
>
458 <title>Debian Edu interview: Yvan Masson
</title>
459 <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__Yvan_Masson.html
</link>
460 <guid isPermaLink=
"true">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__Yvan_Masson.html
</guid>
461 <pubDate>Tue,
12 May
2020 06:
30:
00 +
0200</pubDate>
462 <description><p
>It has been way too long since my last interview, but as the
463 <a href=
"http://www.skolelinux.org/
">Debian Edu / Skolelinux
</a
>
464 community is still active, and new people keep showing up on the IRC
465 channel
<a href=
"irc://irc.debian.org/#debian-edu
">#debian-edu
</a
> and
466 <a href=
"https://lists.debian.org/debian-edu/
">the debian-edu mailing
467 list
</a
>, I decided to give it another go. I was hoping someone else
468 might pick up the idea and run with it, but this has not happened as
469 far as I can tell, so here we are… This time the announcement of a new
470 free software tool to
471 <a href=
"https://framagit.org/Yvan-Masson/WhosWho
">create a school year
472 book
</a
> triggered my interest, and I decided to learn more about its
475 <p
><strong
>Who are you, and how do you spend your days?
</strong
></p
>
477 <p
>My name is Yvan MASSON, I live in France. I have my own one person
478 business in computer services. The work consist of visiting my
479 customers (person
's home, local authority, small business) to give
480 advise, install computers and software, fix issues, and provide
481 computing usage training. I spend the rest of my time enjoying my
482 family and promoting free software.
</p
>
484 <p
><strong
>What is your approach for promoting free
485 software?
</strong
></p
>
487 <p
>When I think that free software could be suitable for someone, I
488 explain what it is, with simple words, give a few known examples, and
489 explain that while there is no fee it is a viable alternative in many
490 situations. Most people are receptive when you explain how it is
491 better (I simplify arguments here, I know that it is not so simple):
492 Linux works on older hardware, there are no viruses, and the software
493 can be audited to ensure user is not spied upon. I think the most
494 important is to keep a clear but moderated speech: when you try to
495 convince too much, people feel attacked and stop listening.
</p
>
497 <p
><strong
>How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux / Debian Edu
498 project?
</strong
></p
>
500 <p
>I can not remember how I first heard of Skolelinux / Debian Edu,
501 but probably on planet.debian.org. As I have been working for a
502 school, I have interest in this type of project.
504 <p
>The school I am involved in is a school for
"children
" between
14
505 and
18 years old. The French government has recommended free software
506 since
2012, but they do not always use free software themselves. The
507 school computers are still using the Windows operating system, but all
508 of them have the classic set of free software: Firefox ESR,
509 LibreOffice (with the excellent extension Grammalecte that indicates
510 French grammatical errors), SumatraPDF, Audacity,
7zip, KeePass2, VLC,
513 <p
><strong
>What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux / Debian
514 Edu?
</strong
></p
>
516 <p
>It is free software! Built on Debian, I am sure that users are not
517 spied upon, and that it can run on low end hardware. This last point
518 is very important, because we really need to improve
"green IT
". I do
519 not know enough about Skolelinux / Debian Edu to tell how it is better
520 than another free software solution, but what I like is the
"all in
521 one
" solution: everything has been thought of and prepared to ease
522 installation and usage.
</p
>
524 <p
>I like Free Software because I hate using something that I can not
525 understand. I do not say that I can understand everything nor that I
526 want to understand everything, but knowing that someone / some company
527 intentionally prevents me from understanding how things work is really
528 unacceptable to me.
</p
>
530 <p
>Secondly, and more importantly, free software is a requirement to
531 prevent abuses regarding human rights and environmental care.
532 Humanity can not rely on tools that are in the hands of small group of
535 <p
><strong
>What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux / Debian
536 Edu?
</strong
></p
>
538 <p
>Again, I don
't know this project enough. Maybe a dedicated website?
539 Debian wiki works well for documentation, but is not very appealing to
540 someone discovering the project. Also, as Skolelinux / Debian Edu uses
541 OpenLDAP, it probably means that Windows workstations cannot use
542 centralized authentication. Maybe the project could use Samba as an
543 Active Directory domain controller instead, allowing Windows desktop
544 usage when necessary.
</p
>
546 <p
>(Editors note: In fact Windows workstations can
547 <a href=
"https://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/Documentation/Buster/HowTo/Samba
">use
548 the centralized authentication in a Debian Edu setup
</a
>, at least for
549 some versions of Windows, but the fact that this is not well known can
550 be seen as an indication of the need for better documentation and
551 marketing. :)
</p
>
553 <p
><strong
>Which free software do you use daily?
</strong
></p
>
555 <p
>Nothing original: Debian testing/sid with Gnome desktop, Firefox,
556 Thunderbird, LibreOffice…
</p
>
558 <p
><strong
>Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to
559 get schools to use free software?
</strong
></p
>
561 <p
>Every effort to spread free software into schools is important,
562 whatever it is. But I think, at least where I live, that IT
563 professionals maintaining schools networks are still very
"Microsoft
564 centric
". Schools will use any working solution, but they need people
565 to install and maintain it. How to make these professionals sensitive
566 about free software and train them with solutions like Debian Edu /
567 Skolelinux is a really good question :-)
</p
>
572 <title>Jami as a Zoom client, a trick for password protected rooms...
</title>
573 <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Jami_as_a_Zoom_client__a_trick_for_password_protected_rooms___.html
</link>
574 <guid isPermaLink=
"true">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Jami_as_a_Zoom_client__a_trick_for_password_protected_rooms___.html
</guid>
575 <pubDate>Fri,
8 May
2020 13:
30:
00 +
0200</pubDate>
576 <description><p
>Half a year ago,
577 <a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Jami_Ring__finally_functioning_peer_to_peer_communication_client.html
">I
578 wrote
</a
> about
<a href=
"https://jami.net/
">the Jami communication
579 client
</a
>, capable of peer-to-peer encrypted communication. It
580 handle both messages, audio and video. It uses distributed hash
581 tables instead of central infrastructure to connect its users to each
582 other, which in my book is a plus. I mentioned briefly that it could
583 also work as a SIP client, which came in handy when the higher
584 educational sector in Norway started to promote Zoom as its video
585 conferencing solution. I am reluctant to use the official Zoom client
586 software, due to their
<a href=
"https://zoom.us/terms
">copyright
587 license clauses
</a
> prohibiting users to reverse engineer (for example
588 to check the security) and benchmark it, and thus prefer to connect to
589 Zoom meetings with free software clients.
</p
>
591 <p
>Jami worked OK as a SIP client to Zoom as long as there was no
592 password set on the room. The Jami daemon leak memory like crazy
593 (approximately
1 GiB a minute) when I am connected to the video
594 conference, so I had to restart the client every
7-
10 minutes, which
595 is not great. I tried to get other SIP Linux clients to work
596 without success, so I decided I would have to live with this wart
597 until someone managed to fix the leak in the dring code base. But
598 another problem showed up once the rooms were password protected. I
599 could not get my dial tone signaling through from Jami to Zoom, and
600 dial tone signaling is used to enter the password when connecting to
601 Zoom. I tried a lot of different permutations with my Jami and
602 Asterisk setup to try to figure out why the signaling did not get
603 through, only to finally discover that the fundamental problem seem to
604 be that Zoom is simply not able to receive dial tone signaling when
605 connecting via SIP. There seem to be nothing wrong with the Jami and
606 Asterisk end, it is simply broken in the Zoom end. I got help from a
607 very skilled VoIP engineer figuring out this last part. And being a
608 very skilled engineer, he was also able to locate a solution for me.
609 Or to be exact, a workaround that solve my initial problem of
610 connecting to password protected Zoom rooms using Jami.
</p
>
612 <p
>So, how do you do this, I am sure you are wondering by now. The
614 <a href=
"https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/
202405539-H-
323-SIP-Room-Connector-Dial-Strings#sip
">documented
615 from Zoom
</a
>, and it is to modify the SIP address to include the room
616 password. What is most surprising about this is that the
617 automatically generated email from Zoom with instructions on how to
618 connect via SIP do not mention this. The SIP address to use normally
619 consist of the room ID (a number), an @ character and the IP address
620 of the Zoom SIP gateway. But Zoom understand a lot more than just the
621 room ID in front of the at sign. The format is
"<tt
>[Meeting
622 ID].[Password].[Layout].[Host Key]
</tt
>", and you can here see how you
623 can both enter password, control the layout (full screen, active
624 presence and gallery) and specify the host key to start the meeting.
625 The full SIP address entered into Jami to provide the password will
626 then look like this (all using made up numbers):
</p
>
628 <p
><blockquote
>
629 <tt
>sip:
657837644.522827@
192.168.169.170</tt
>
630 </blockquote
></p
>
632 <p
>Now if only jami would reduce its memory usage, I could even
633 recommend this setup to others. :)
</p
>
635 <p
>As usual, if you use Bitcoin and want to show your support of my
636 activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address
637 <b
><a href=
"bitcoin:
15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b
">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b
</a
></b
>.
</p
>