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  13  <h1>
  14      <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/">Petter Reinholdtsen</a>
  15
  16  </h1>
  17
  18 </div>
  19
  20
  21     <h3>Entries tagged "english".</h3>
  22
  23     <div class="entry">
  24       <div class="title">
  25         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Lets_make_hardware_dongles_easier_to_use_in_Debian.html">Lets make hardware dongles easier to use in Debian</a>
  26       </div>
  27       <div class="date">
  28          9th January 2013
  29       </div>
  30       <div class="body">
  31         <p>One thing that annoys me with Debian and Linux distributions in
  32 general, is that there is a great package management system with the
  33 ability to automatically install software packages by downloading them
  34 from the distribution mirrors, but no way to get it to automatically
  35 install the packages I need to use the hardware I plug into my
  36 machine.  Even if the package to use it is easily available from the
  37 Linux distribution.  When I plug in a LEGO Mindstorms NXT, it could
  38 suggest to automatically install the python-nxt, nbc and t2n packages
  39 I need to talk to it.  When I plug in a Yubikey, it could propose the
  40 yubikey-personalization package.  The information required to do this
  41 is available, but no-one have pulled all the pieces together.</p>
  42
  43 <p>Many years ago, I proposed to
  44 <a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2010/05/msg01206.html">use
  45 the discover subsystem to implement this</a>.  The idea is fairly
  46 simple:
  47
  48 <ul>
  49
  50 <li>Add a desktop entry in /usr/share/autostart/ pointing to a program
  51   starting when a user log in.</li>
  52
  53 <li>Set this program up to listen for kernel events emitted when new
  54   hardware is inserted into the computer.</li>
  55
  56 <li>When new hardware is inserted, look up the hardware ID in a
  57   database mapping to packages, and take note of any non-installed
  58   packages.</li>
  59
  60 <li>Show a message to the user proposing to install the discovered
  61   package, and make it easy to install it.</li>
  62
  63 </ul>
  64
  65 <p>I am not sure what the best way to implement this is, but my
  66 initial idea was to use dbus events to discover new hardware, the
  67 discover database to find packages and
  68 <a href="http://www.packagekit.org/">PackageKit</a> to install
  69 packages.</p>
  70
  71 <p>Yesterday, I found time to try to implement this idea, and the
  72 draft package is now checked into
  73 <a href="http://anonscm.debian.org/viewvc/debian-edu/trunk/src/hw-support-handler/">the
  74 Debian Edu subversion repository</a>.  In the process, I updated the
  75 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/d/discover-data.html">discover-data</a>
  76 package to map the USB ids of LEGO Mindstorms and Yubikey devices to
  77 the relevant packages in Debian, and uploaded a new version
  78 2.2013.01.09 to unstable.  I also discovered that the current
  79 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/d/discover-data.html">discover</a>
  80 package in Debian no longer discovered any USB devices, because
  81 /proc/bus/usb/devices is no longer present.  I ported it to use
  82 libusb as a fall back option to get it working.  The fixed package
  83 version 2.1.2-6 is now in experimental (didn't upload it to unstable
  84 because of the freeze).</p>
  85
  86 <p>With this prototype in place, I can insert my Yubikey, and get this
  87 desktop notification to show up (only once, the first time it is
  88 inserted):</p>
  89
  90 <p align="center"><img src="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-01-09-hw-autoinstall.png"></p>
  91
  92 <p>For this prototype to be really useful, some way to automatically
  93 install the proposed packages by pressing the "Please install
  94 program(s)" button should to be implemented.</p>
  95
  96 <p>If this idea seem useful to you, and you want to help make it
  97 happen, please help me update the discover-data database with mappings
  98 from hardware to Debian packages.  Check if 'discover-pkginstall -l'
  99 list the package you would like to have installed when a given
 100 hardware device is inserted into your computer, and report bugs using
 101 reportbug if it isn't.  Or, if you know of a better way to provide
 102 such mapping, please let me know.</p>
 103
 104 <p>This prototype need more work, and there are several questions that
 105 should be considered before it is ready for production use.  Is dbus
 106 the correct way to detect new hardware?  At the moment I look for HAL
 107 dbus events on the system bus, because that is the events I could see
 108 on my Debian Squeeze KDE desktop.  Are there better events to use?
 109 How should the user be notified?  Is the desktop notification
 110 mechanism the best option, or should the background daemon raise a
 111 popup instead?  How should packages be installed?  When should they
 112 not be installed?</p>
 113
 114 <p>If you want to help getting such feature implemented in Debian,
 115 please send me an email. :)</p>
 116
 117       </div>
 118       <div class="tags">
 119
 120
 121         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
 122
 123
 124       </div>
 125     </div>
 126     <div class="padding"></div>
 127
 128     <div class="entry">
 129       <div class="title">
 130         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/New_IRC_channel_for_LEGO_designers_using_Debian.html">New IRC channel for LEGO designers using Debian</a>
 131       </div>
 132       <div class="date">
 133          2nd January 2013
 134       </div>
 135       <div class="body">
 136         <p>During Christmas, I have worked a bit on the Debian support for
 137 <a href="http://mindstorms.lego.com/en-us/Default.aspx">LEGO Mindstorm
 138 NXT</a>.  My son and I have played a bit with my NXT set, and I
 139 discovered I had to build all the tools myself because none were
 140 already in Debian Squeeze.  If Debian support for LEGO is something
 141 you care about, please join me on the IRC channel
 142 <a href="irc://irc.debian.org/%23debian-lego">#debian-lego</a> (server
 143 irc.debian.org).  There is a lot that could be done to improve the
 144 Debian support for LEGO designers.  For example both CAD software
 145 and Mindstorm compilers are missing. :)</p>
 146
 147 <p>Update 2012-01-03: A
 148 <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/LegoDesigners">project page</a>
 149 including links to Lego related packages is now available.</p>
 150
 151       </div>
 152       <div class="tags">
 153
 154
 155         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/robot">robot</a>.
 156
 157
 158       </div>
 159     </div>
 160     <div class="padding"></div>
 161
 162     <div class="entry">
 163       <div class="title">
 164         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/A_Christmas_present_for_Skolelinux___Debian_Edu.html">A Christmas present for Skolelinux / Debian Edu</a>
 165       </div>
 166       <div class="date">
 167         28th December 2012
 168       </div>
 169       <div class="body">
 170         <p>I was happy to discover a few days ago that the
 171 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Skolelinux / Debian Edu</a>
 172 project also this year received a Christmas present from Another
 173 Agency in Trondheim.  NOK 1000,- showed up on our donation account
 174 December 24th.  I want to express our thanks for this very welcome
 175 present.  As the Debian Edu / Skolelinux project is very short on
 176 funding these days, and thus lack the money to do regular developer
 177 gatherings, this donation was most welcome.  One developer gathering
 178 cost around NOK 15&nbsp;000,-, so we need quite a lot more to keep the
 179 development pace we want.  Thus, I hope their example this year is
 180 followed by many others. :)</p>
 181
 182 <p>The public list of donors can be found on
 183 <a href="http://www.linuxiskolen.no/slxdebianlabs/donations.html">the
 184 donation page</a> for the project, which also contain instructions if
 185 you want to donate to the project.</p>
 186
 187       </div>
 188       <div class="tags">
 189
 190
 191         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
 192
 193
 194       </div>
 195     </div>
 196     <div class="padding"></div>
 197
 198     <div class="entry">
 199       <div class="title">
 200         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/How_to_backport_bitcoin_qt_version_0_7_2_2_to_Debian_Squeeze.html">How to backport bitcoin-qt version 0.7.2-2 to Debian Squeeze</a>
 201       </div>
 202       <div class="date">
 203         25th December 2012
 204       </div>
 205       <div class="body">
 206         <p>Let me start by wishing you all marry Christmas and a happy new
 207 year!  I hope next year will prove to be a good year.</p>
 208
 209 <p><a href="http://www.bitcoin.org/">Bitcoin</a>, the digital
 210 decentralised "currency" that allow people to transfer bitcoins
 211 between each other with minimal overhead, is a very interesting
 212 experiment.  And as I wrote a few days ago, the bitcoin situation in
 213 <a href="http://www.debian.org/">Debian</a> is about to improve a bit.
 214 The <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/bitcoin">new debian source
 215 package</a> (version 0.7.2-2) was uploaded yesterday, and is waiting
 216 in <a href="http://ftp-master.debian.org/new.html">the NEW queue</A>
 217 for one of the ftpmasters to approve the new bitcoin-qt package
 218 name.</p>
 219
 220 <p>And thanks to the great work of Jonas and the rest of the bitcoin
 221 team in Debian, you can easily test the package in Debian Squeeze
 222 using the following steps to get a set of working packages:</p>
 223
 224 <blockquote><pre>
 225 git clone git://git.debian.org/git/collab-maint/bitcoin
 226 cd bitcoin
 227 DEB_MAINTAINER_MODE=1 DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS=noupnp fakeroot debian/rules clean
 228 DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS=noupnp git-buildpackage --git-ignore-new
 229 </pre></blockquote>
 230
 231 <p>You might have to install some build dependencies as well.  The
 232 list of commands should give you two packages, bitcoind and
 233 bitcoin-qt, ready for use in a Squeeze environment.  Note that the
 234 client will download the complete set of bitcoin "blocks", which need
 235 around 5.6 GiB of data on my machine at the moment.  Make sure your
 236 ~/.bitcoin/ directory have lots of spare room if you want to download
 237 all the blocks.  The client will warn if the disk is getting full, so
 238 there is not really a problem if you got too little room, but you will
 239 not be able to get all the features out of the client.</p>
 240
 241 <p>As usual, if you use bitcoin and want to show your support of my
 242 activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address
 243 <b><a href="bitcoin:15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b&label=PetterReinholdtsenBlog">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</a></b>.</p>
 244
 245       </div>
 246       <div class="tags">
 247
 248
 249         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/bitcoin">bitcoin</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
 250
 251
 252       </div>
 253     </div>
 254     <div class="padding"></div>
 255
 256     <div class="entry">
 257       <div class="title">
 258         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/A_word_on_bitcoin_support_in_Debian.html">A word on bitcoin support in Debian</a>
 259       </div>
 260       <div class="date">
 261         21st December 2012
 262       </div>
 263       <div class="body">
 264         <p>It has been a while since I wrote about
 265 <a href="http://www.bitcoin.org/">bitcoin</a>, the decentralised
 266 peer-to-peer based crypto-currency, and the reason is simply that I
 267 have been busy elsewhere.  But two days ago, I started looking at the
 268 state of <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/bitcoin">bitcoin in
 269 Debian</a> again to try to recover my old bitcoin wallet.  The package
 270 is now maintained by a
 271 <a href="https://alioth.debian.org/projects/pkg-bitcoin/">team of
 272 people</a>, and the grunt work had already been done by this team.  We
 273 owe a huge thank you to all these team members. :)
 274 But I was sad to discover that the bitcoin client is missing in
 275 Wheezy.  It is only available in Sid (and an outdated client from
 276 backports).  The client had several RC bugs registered in BTS blocking
 277 it from entering testing.  To try to help the team and improve the
 278 situation, I spent some time providing patches and triaging the bug
 279 reports.  I also had a look at the bitcoin package available from Matt
 280 Corallo in a
 281 <a href="https://launchpad.net/~bitcoin/+archive/bitcoin">PPA for
 282 Ubuntu</a>, and moved the useful pieces from that version into the
 283 Debian package.</p>
 284
 285 <p>After checking with the main package maintainer Jonas Smedegaard on
 286 IRC, I pushed several patches into the collab-maint git repository to
 287 improve the package.  It now contains fixes for the RC issues (not from
 288 me, but fixed by Scott Howard), build rules for a Qt GUI client
 289 package, konqueror support for the bitcoin: URI and bash completion
 290 setup.  As I work on Debian Squeeze, I also created
 291 <a href="http://lists.alioth.debian.org/pipermail/pkg-bitcoin-devel/Week-of-Mon-20121217/000041.html">a
 292 patch to backport</a> the latest version.  Jonas is going to look at
 293 it and try to integrate it into the git repository before uploading a
 294 new version to unstable.
 295
 296 <p>I would very much like bitcoin to succeed, to get rid of the
 297 centralized control currently exercised in the monetary system.  I
 298 find it completely unacceptable that the USA government is collecting
 299 transaction data for almost all international money transfers (most are done in USD and transaction logs shipped to the spooks), and
 300 that the major credit card companies can block legal money
 301 transactions to Wikileaks.  But for bitcoin to succeed, more people
 302 need to use bitcoins, and more people need to accept bitcoins when
 303 they sell products and services.  Improving the bitcoin support in
 304 Debian is a small step in the right direction, but not enough.
 305 Unfortunately the user experience when browsing the web and wanting to
 306 pay with bitcoin is still not very good.  The bitcoin: URI is a step
 307 in the right direction, but need to work in most or every browser in
 308 use.  Also the bitcoin-qt client is too heavy to fire up to do a
 309 quick transaction.  I believe there are other clients available, but
 310 have not tested them.</p>
 311
 312 <p>My
 313 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Now_accepting_bitcoins___anonymous_and_distributed_p2p_crypto_money.html">experiment
 314 with bitcoins</a> showed that at least some of my readers use bitcoin.
 315 I received 20.15 BTC so far on the address I provided in my blog two
 316 years ago, as can be
 317 <a href="http://blockexplorer.com/address/15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b">seen
 318 on the blockexplorer service</a>.  Thank you everyone for your
 319 donation.  The blockexplorer service demonstrates quite well that
 320 bitcoin is not quite anonymous and untracked. :) I wonder if the
 321 number of users have gone up since then.  If you use bitcoin and want
 322 to show your support of my activity, please send Bitcoin donations to
 323 the same address as last time,
 324 <b><a href="bitcoin:15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b&label=PetterReinholdtsenBlog">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</a></b>.</p>
 325
 326       </div>
 327       <div class="tags">
 328
 329
 330         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/bitcoin">bitcoin</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
 331
 332
 333       </div>
 334     </div>
 335     <div class="padding"></div>
 336
 337     <div class="entry">
 338       <div class="title">
 339         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Ledger___double_entry_accounting_using_text_based_storage_format.html">Ledger - double-entry accounting using text based storage format</a>
 340       </div>
 341       <div class="date">
 342         18th December 2012
 343       </div>
 344       <div class="body">
 345         <p>A few days ago I came across
 346 <a href="http://joeyh.name/blog/entry/hledger/">a blog post from Joey
 347 Hess</a> describing <a href="http://ledger-cli.org/">ledger</a> and
 348 hledger, a text based system for double-entry accounting.  I found it
 349 interesting, as I am involved with several organizations where
 350 accounting is an issue, and I have not really become too friendly with
 351 the different web based systems we use.  I find it hard to find what I
 352 look for in the menus and even harder try to get sensible data out of
 353 the systems.  Ledger seem different.  The accounting data is kept in
 354 text files that can be stored in a version control system, and there
 355
 356 are at least <a href="https://github.com/ledger/ledger/wiki/Ports">five
 357 different implementations</a> able to read the format.  An example
 358 entry look like this, and is simple enough that it will be trivial to
 359 generate entries based on CVS files fetched from the bank:</p>
 360
 361 <blockquote><pre>
 362 2004-05-27 Book Store
 363       Expenses:Books                 $20.00
 364       Liabilities:Visa
 365 </pre></blockquote>
 366
 367 <p>The concept seemed interesting enough for me to check it out and
 368 look for others using it.  I found blog posts from
 369 <a href="http://blog.spang.cc/posts/hledger_rocks_my_world/">Christine
 370 Spang</a>,
 371 <a href="http://bugsplat.info/2010-05-23-keeping-finances-with-ledger.html">Pete
 372 Keen</a>,
 373 <a href="http://blog.andrewcantino.com/blog/2010/11/06/command-line-accounting-with-ledger-and-reckon/">Andrew
 374 Cantino</a> and
 375 <a href="http://blog.iphoting.com/blog/2012/11/29/command-line-double-entry-accounting/">Ronald
 376 Ip</a> describing how they use it, as well as a post from
 377 <a href="https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups=#!topic/ledger-cli/r0oWjwbQ9Bo">Bradley
 378 M. Kuhn</a> at the Software Freedom Conservancy.  All seemed like good
 379 recommendations fitting my need.</p>
 380
 381 <p>The <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/l/ledger.html">ledger</a>
 382 package is available in Debian Squeeze, while the
 383 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/h/haskell-hledger.html">hledger</a>
 384 package only is available in Debian Sid.  As I use Squeeze, ledger
 385 seemed the best choice to get started.</p>
 386
 387 <p>To get some real data to test on, I wrote a
 388 <a href="http://www.nuug.no/tools/lodo2ledger">web scraper</a> for
 389 <a href="http://www.lodo.no/">LODO</a>, the accounting system used by
 390 the <a href="http://www.nuug.no/">NUUG</a> association, and started to
 391 play with the data set.  I'm not really deeply into accounting, but I
 392 am able to get a simple balance and accounting status for example
 393 using the "<tt>ledger balance</tt>" command.  But I will have to
 394 gather more experience before I know if the ledger way is a good fit
 395 for the organisations I am involved in.</p>
 396
 397       </div>
 398       <div class="tags">
 399
 400
 401         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug</a>.
 402
 403
 404       </div>
 405     </div>
 406     <div class="padding"></div>
 407
 408     <div class="entry">
 409       <div class="title">
 410         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Scripting_the_Cerebrum_bofhd_user_administration_system_using_XML_RPC.html">Scripting the Cerebrum/bofhd user administration system using XML-RPC</a>
 411       </div>
 412       <div class="date">
 413          6th December 2012
 414       </div>
 415       <div class="body">
 416         <p>Where I work at the <a href="http://www.uio.no/">University of
 417 Oslo</a>, we use the
 418 <a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/cerebrum/">Cerebrum user
 419 administration system</a> to maintain users, groups, DNS, DHCP, etc.
 420 I've known since the system was written that the server is providing
 421 an <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XML-RPC">XML-RPC</a> API, but
 422 I have never spent time to try to figure out how to use it, as we
 423 always use the bofh command line client at work.  Until today.  I want
 424 to script the updating of DNS and DHCP to make it easier to set up
 425 virtual machines.  Here are a few notes on how to use it with
 426 Python.</p>
 427
 428 <p>I started by looking at the source of the Java
 429 <a href="http://cerebrum.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/cerebrum/trunk/cerebrum/clients/jbofh/">bofh
 430 client</a>, to figure out how it connected to the API server.  I also
 431 googled for python examples on how to use XML-RPC, and found
 432 <a href="http://tldp.org/HOWTO/XML-RPC-HOWTO/xmlrpc-howto-python.html">a
 433 simple example in</a> the XML-RPC howto.</p>
 434
 435 <p>This simple example code show how to connect, get the list of
 436 commands (as a JSON dump), and how to get the information about the
 437 user currently logged in:</p>
 438
 439 <blockquote><pre>
 440 #!/usr/bin/env python
 441 import getpass
 442 import xmlrpclib
 443 server_url = 'https://cerebrum-uio.uio.no:8000';
 444 username = getpass.getuser()
 445 password = getpass.getpass()
 446 server = xmlrpclib.Server(server_url);
 447 #print server.get_commands(sessionid)
 448 sessionid = server.login(username, password)
 449 print server.run_command(sessionid, "user_info", username)
 450 result = server.logout(sessionid)
 451 print result
 452 </pre></blockquote>
 453
 454 <p>Armed with this knowledge I can now move forward and script the DNS
 455 and DHCP updates I wanted to do.</p>
 456
 457       </div>
 458       <div class="tags">
 459
 460
 461         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/sysadmin">sysadmin</a>.
 462
 463
 464       </div>
 465     </div>
 466     <div class="padding"></div>
 467
 468     <div class="entry">
 469       <div class="title">
 470         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Why_isn_t_the_value_of_copyright_taxed_.html">Why isn't the value of copyright taxed?</a>
 471       </div>
 472       <div class="date">
 473         17th November 2012
 474       </div>
 475       <div class="body">
 476         <p>While working on a
 477 <a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig">Norwegian
 478 translation of the Free Culture by Lawrence Lessig</a> (76% done),
 479 which cover the problems with todays copyright law and how it stifles
 480 creativity, one idea occurred to me.  The idea is to get the tax
 481 office to help make more works enter the public domain and also help
 482 make it easier to clear rights for using copyrighted works.</p>
 483
 484 <p>I mentioned this idea briefly during Yesterdays
 485 <a href="http://www.farmann.no/2012/11/14/john-perry-barlow-in-oslo-friday-nov-16
 486 -15-30-19-00/">presentation
 487 by John Perry Barlow</a>, and concluded that it was best to put it
 488 in writing for a wider audience.  The idea is not really based on the
 489 argument that copyrighted works are "intellectual property", as the
 490 core requirement is that copyrighted work have value for the copyright
 491 holder and the tax office like to collect their share from any value
 492 controlled by the citizens in a country.  I'm sharing the idea here to
 493 let others consider it and perhaps shoot it down with a fresh set of
 494 arguments.</p>
 495
 496 <p>Most valuables are taxed by the government.  At least here in
 497 Norway, the amount of money you have, the value of our land property,
 498 the value of your house, the value of your car, the value of our
 499 stocks and other valuables are all added together.  If the tax value
 500 of these values exceed your debt, you have to pay the tax office some
 501 taxes for these values.  And copyrighted work have value.  It have
 502 value for the rights holder, who can earn money selling access to the
 503 work.  But it is not included in the tax calculations?  Why not?</p>
 504
 505 <p>If the government want to tax copyrighted works, it would want to
 506 maintain a database of all the copyrighted works and who are the
 507 rights holders for a given works, to be able to associate the works
 508 value to the right citizen or company for tax purposes.  If such
 509 database exist, it will become a lot easier to find out who to talk to
 510 for clearing permissions to use a copyrighted work, which is a very
 511 hard operation with todays copyright law.  To ensure that copyright
 512 holders keep the database up-to-date, it would have to become a
 513 requirement to be able to collect money for granting access to
 514 copyrighted works that the work is listed in the database with the
 515 correct right holder.</p>
 516
 517 <p>If copyright causes copyright holders to have to pay more taxes,
 518 they will have a small incentive to "disown" their copyright, and let
 519 the work enter the public domain. For works with several right holders
 520 one of the right holders could state (and get it registered in the
 521 database) that she do not need to be consulted when clearing rights to
 522 use the work in question and thus will not get any income from that
 523 work.  Stating this would have to be impossible to revert and stop the
 524 tax office from adding the value of that work to the given citizens
 525 tax calculation.  I assume the copyright law would stay the same,
 526 allowing creators to pick a license of their choosing, and also
 527 allowing them to put their work directly in the public domain.  The
 528 existence of such database will make it even easier to clear rights,
 529 and if the right holders listed in the database is taxed, this system
 530 would increase the amount of works that enter the public domain.</p>
 531
 532 <p>The effect would be that the tax office help to make it easier to
 533 get rights to use the works that have not yet entered the public
 534 domain and help to get more work into the public domain and .</p>
 535
 536 <p>Why have such taxing not happened yet?  I am sure the tax office
 537 would like to tax copyrighted work values if they could.</p>
 538
 539       </div>
 540       <div class="tags">
 541
 542
 543         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/freeculture">freeculture</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/opphavsrett">opphavsrett</a>.
 544
 545
 546       </div>
 547     </div>
 548     <div class="padding"></div>
 549
 550     <div class="entry">
 551       <div class="title">
 552         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__Angela_Fu_.html">Debian Edu interview: Angela Fuß</a>
 553       </div>
 554       <div class="date">
 555         14th November 2012
 556       </div>
 557       <div class="body">
 558         <p>Here is another interview with one of the people in the <a
 559 href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu and Skolelinux</a>
 560 community.  I am running short on people willing to be interviewed, so
 561 if you know about someone I should interview, Please send me an email.
 562 After asking for many months, I finally managed to lure another one of
 563 the people behind the German
 564 "<a href="http://wiki.it-zukunft-schule.de/">IT-Zukunft Schule</a>"
 565 project out from maternity leave to conduct an interview.  Give a warm
 566 welcome to Angela Fuß. :)</p>
 567
 568 <p><strong>Who are you, and how do you spend your days?</strong></p>
 569
 570 <p>I am a 39-year-old woman living in the very north of Germany near
 571 Denmark. I live in a patchwork family with "my man" Mike Gabriel, my
 572 two daughters, Mikes daughter and Mikes and my rather newborn son.
 573
 574 <p>At the moment - because of our little baby - I am spending most of
 575 the day by being a caring and organising mom for all the kids.
 576 Besides that I am really involved into and occupied with several inner
 577 growth processes: New born souls always bring the whole familiar
 578 system into movement and that needs time and focus ;-).  We are also
 579 in the middle of buying a house and moving to it.</p>
 580
 581 <p>In 2013 I will work again in my job in a German foundation for
 582 nature conservation. I am doing public relation work there.  Besides
 583 that - and that is the connection to Skolelinux / Debian Edu - I am
 584 working in our own school project "IT-Zukunft Schule" in North
 585 Germany. I am responsible for the quality assurance, the customer
 586 relationship management and the communication processes in the
 587 project.</p>
 588
 589 <p>Since 2001 I constantly have been training myself in communication
 590 and leadership. Besides that I am a forester, a landscaping gardener
 591 and a yoga teacher.</p>
 592
 593 <p><strong>How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux / Debian Edu
 594 project?</strong></p>
 595
 596 <p>I fell in love with Mike ;-).</p>
 597
 598 <p>Very soon after getting to know him I was completely enrolled into
 599 Free Software.  At this time Mike did IT-services for one newly
 600 founded school in Kiel. Other schools in Kiel needed concepts for
 601 their IT environment.  Often when Mike came home from working at the
 602 newly founded school I found myself listening to his complaints about
 603 several points where the communication with the schools head or the
 604 teachers did not work.  So we were clear that he would not work for
 605 one more school if we did not set up a structure for communication
 606 between him, the schools head, the teachers, the students and the
 607 parents.</p>
 608
 609 <p>Together with our friend and hardware supplier Andreas Buchholz we
 610 started to get an overview of free software solutions suitable for
 611 schools. One day before Christmas 2010 Mike and I had a date with Kurt
 612 Gramlich in Gütersloh. As Kurt and I are really interested in building
 613 networks of people and in being in communication we dived into
 614 Skolelinux and brought it to the first grammar schools in Northern
 615 Germany.</p>
 616
 617 <p>For information about our school project you can read
 618 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__Mike_Gabriel.html">the
 619 interview with Mike Gabriel</a>.</p>
 620
 621 <p><strong>What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux / Debian
 622 Edu?</strong></p>
 623
 624 <p>First I have to say: I cannot answer this question technically. My
 625 answer comes rather from a social point of view.</p>
 626
 627 <p>The biggest advantage of Skolelinux / Debian Edu I see is the large
 628 and strong international community of Debian Developers in the
 629 background which is very alive and connected over mailinglists, blogs
 630 and meetings. My constant feeling for the Debian Community is: If
 631 something does not work they will somehow fix it. All is well
 632 ;-). This is of course a user experience.  What I also get as a big
 633 advantage of Skolelinux / Debian Edu is that everybody who uses it and
 634 works with it can also contribute to it - that includes students,
 635 teachers, parents...</p>
 636
 637 <p><strong>What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux / Debian
 638 Edu?</strong></p>
 639
 640 <p>I will answer this question relating to the internal structure of
 641 Skolelinux / Debian Edu.</p>
 642
 643 <p>What I see as a major disadvantage is that there is a gap between
 644 the group of developers for Debian Edu and the people who make the
 645 marketing, that means the people that bring Skolelinux to the
 646 schools. There is a lack of communication between these two groups and
 647 I think that does not really work for Skolelinux / Debian Edu.</p>
 648
 649 <p>Further I appreciate that Skolelinux / Debian Edu is known as a
 650 do-ocracy. Nevertheless I keep asking myself if at some points a
 651 democracy or some kind of hierarchical project structure would be good
 652 and helpful.  I am also missing some kind of contact between the
 653 Skolelinux / Debian Edu communities in Europe or on an international
 654 level. I think it would be good if there was more sharing between the
 655 different countries using Skolelinux / Debian Edu.</p>
 656
 657 <p><strong>Which free software do you use daily?</strong></p>
 658
 659 <p>On my laptop I am still using an Ubuntu 10.04 with a Gnome Desktop
 660 on.  As applications I use Openoffice.org, Gedit, Firefox, Pidgin,
 661 LaTeX and GnuCash. For mails I am using Horde. And I am really fond of
 662 my N900 running with Maemo.</p>
 663
 664 <p><strong>Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to
 665 get schools to use free software?</strong></p>
 666
 667 <p>I am really convinced that in our school project "IT-Zukunft
 668 Schule" we have developed (and keep developing) a great way to get
 669 schools to use Free Software. We have written a detailed concept for
 670 that so I cannot explain the whole thing here. But in a nutshell the
 671 strategy has three crucial pillars:</p>
 672
 673 <ul>
 674
 675 <li>We really take time to get what sort of stories, questions and
 676 concerns the schools head and the teachers have about using different
 677 kinds of IT and we take time to enrol them into Free Software.</li>
 678
 679 <li>Our solution for schools is never just technical. In the centre
 680 are always the people who are going to use the software. From the very
 681 beginning of the planning for a school, we tell the schools head that
 682 they are paying us not only for a technical solution for their school,
 683 they also pay us for leading all the communication processes
 684 needed. If they do not want that, we are not working with them because
 685 we cannot give a guarantee for the quality of our work then.</li>
 686
 687 <li>Another focus lies in the training of teachers and students in
 688 co-administrating the IT-System at their school. They start getting in
 689 contact with the Skolelinux / Debian Edu community and they get the
 690 offer to become more and more independent from us.</li>
 691
 692 </ul>
 693
 694       </div>
 695       <div class="tags">
 696
 697
 698         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/intervju">intervju</a>.
 699
 700
 701       </div>
 702     </div>
 703     <div class="padding"></div>
 704
 705     <div class="entry">
 706       <div class="title">
 707         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/The_European_Central_Bank__ECB__take_a_look_at_bitcoin.html">The European Central Bank (ECB) take a look at bitcoin</a>
 708       </div>
 709       <div class="date">
 710          4th November 2012
 711       </div>
 712       <div class="body">
 713         <p>Slashdot just ran a story about the European Central Bank (ECB)
 714 <a href="http://www.ecb.europa.eu/pub/pdf/other/virtualcurrencyschemes201210en.pdf">releasing
 715 a report (PDF)</a> about virtual currencies and
 716 <a href="http://www.bitcoin.org/">bitcoin</a>.  It is interesting to
 717 see how a member of the bitcoin community
 718 <a href="http://blog.bitinstant.com/blog/2012/10/30/the-ecb-report-on-bitcoin-and-virtual-currencies.html">receive
 719 the report</a>.  As for the future, I suspect the central banks and
 720 the governments will outlaw bitcoin if it gain any popularity, to avoid
 721 competition.  My thoughts go to the
 722 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wörgl">Wörgl experiment</a> with
 723 negative inflation on cash which was such a success that it was
 724 terminated by the Austrian National Bank in 1933.  A successful
 725 alternative would be a threat to the current money system and gain
 726 powerful forces to work against it.</p>
 727
 728 <p>While checking out the current status of bitcoin, I also discovered
 729 that the community already seem to have
 730 <a href="http://www.theverge.com/2012/8/27/3271637/bitcoin-savings-trust-pyramid-scheme-shuts-down">experienced
 731 its first pyramid game / Ponzi scheme</a>.  Not very surprising, given
 732 how members of "small" communities tend to trust each other.  I guess
 733 enterprising crocks will try again and again, as they do anywhere
 734 wealth is available.</p>
 735
 736       </div>
 737       <div class="tags">
 738
 739
 740         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/bitcoin">bitcoin</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/personvern">personvern</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/sikkerhet">sikkerhet</a>.
 741
 742
 743       </div>
 744     </div>
 745     <div class="padding"></div>
 746
 747     <div class="entry">
 748       <div class="title">
 749         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/12_years_of_outages___summarised_by_Stuart_Kendrick.html">12 years of outages - summarised by Stuart Kendrick</a>
 750       </div>
 751       <div class="date">
 752         26th October 2012
 753       </div>
 754       <div class="body">
 755         <p>I work at the <a href="http://www.uio.no/">University of Oslo</a>
 756 looking after the computers, mostly on the unix side, but in general
 757 all over the place.  I am also a member (and currently leader) of
 758 <a href="http://www.nuug.no/">the NUUG association</a>, which in turn
 759 make me a member of <a href="http://www.usenix.org/">USENIX</a>.  NUUG
 760 is an member organisation for us in Norway interested in free
 761 software, open standards and unix like operating systems, and USENIX
 762 is a US based member organisation with similar targets.  And thanks to
 763 these memberships, I get all issues of the great USENIX magazine
 764 <a href="https://www.usenix.org/publications/login">;login:</a> in the
 765 mail several times a year.  The magazine is great, and I read most of
 766 it every time.</p>
 767
 768 <p>In the last issue of the USENIX magazine ;login:, there is an
 769 article by <a href="http://www.skendric.com/">Stuart Kendrick</a> from
 770 Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center titled
 771 "<a href="https://www.usenix.org/publications/login/october-2012-volume-37-number-5/what-takes-us-down">What
 772 Takes Us Down</a>" (longer version also
 773 <a href="http://www.skendric.com/problem/incident-analysis/2012-06-30/What-Takes-Us-Down.pdf">available
 774 from his own site</a>), where he report what he found when he
 775 processed the outage reports (both planned and unplanned) from the
 776 last twelve years and classified them according to cause, time of day,
 777 etc etc.  The article is a good read to get some empirical data on
 778 what kind of problems affect a data centre, but what really inspired
 779 me was the kind of reporting they had put in place since 2000.<p>
 780
 781 <p>The centre set up a mailing list, and started to send fairly
 782 standardised messages to this list when a outage was planned or when
 783 it already occurred, to announce the plan and get feedback on the
 784 assumtions on scope and user impact.  Here is the two example from the
 785 article: First the unplanned outage:
 786
 787 <blockquote><pre>
 788 Subject:     Exchange 2003 Cluster Issues
 789 Severity:    Critical (Unplanned)
 790 Start:       Monday, May 7, 2012, 11:58
 791 End:         Monday, May 7, 2012, 12:38
 792 Duration:    40 minutes
 793 Scope:       Exchange 2003
 794 Description: The HTTPS service on the Exchange cluster crashed, triggering
 795              a cluster failover.
 796
 797 User Impact: During this period, all Exchange users were unable to
 798              access e-mail. Zimbra users were unaffected.
 799 Technician:  [xxx]
 800 </pre></blockquote>
 801
 802 Next the planned outage:
 803
 804 <blockquote><pre>
 805 Subject:     H Building Switch Upgrades
 806 Severity:    Major (Planned)
 807 Start:       Saturday, June 16, 2012, 06:00
 808 End:         Saturday, June 16, 2012, 16:00
 809 Duration:    10 hours
 810 Scope:       H2 Transport
 811 Description: Currently, Catalyst 4006s provide 10/100 Ethernet to end-
 812              stations. We will replace these with newer Catalyst
 813              4510s.
 814 User Impact: All users on H2 will be isolated from the network during
 815              this work. Afterward, they will have gigabit
 816              connectivity.
 817 Technician:  [xxx]
 818 </pre></blockquote>
 819
 820 <p>He notes in his article that the date formats and other fields have
 821 been a bit too free form to make it easy to automatically process them
 822 into a database for further analysis, and I would have used ISO 8601
 823 dates myself to make it easier to process (in other words I would ask
 824 people to write '2012-06-16 06:00 +0000' instead of the start time
 825 format listed above).  There are also other issues with the format
 826 that could be improved, read the article for the details.</p>
 827
 828 <p>I find the idea of standardising outage messages seem to be such a
 829 good idea that I would like to get it implemented here at the
 830 university too.  We do register
 831 <a href="http://www.uio.no/tjenester/it/aktuelt/planlagte-tjenesteavbrudd/">planned
 832 changes and outages in a calendar</a>, and report the to a mailing
 833 list, but we do not do so in a structured format and there is not a
 834 report to the same location for unplanned outages.  Perhaps something
 835 for other sites to consider too?</p>
 836
 837       </div>
 838       <div class="tags">
 839
 840
 841         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/standard">standard</a>.
 842
 843
 844       </div>
 845     </div>
 846     <div class="padding"></div>
 847
 848     <div class="entry">
 849       <div class="title">
 850         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Amazon_steal_books_from_customer_and_throw_out_her_out_without_any_explanation.html">Amazon steal books from customer and throw out her out without any explanation</a>
 851       </div>
 852       <div class="date">
 853         22nd October 2012
 854       </div>
 855       <div class="body">
 856         <p>A blog post from Martin Bekkelund today tell the story of
 857 <a href="http://www.bekkelund.net/2012/10/22/outlawed-by-amazon-drm/">how
 858 Amazon erased the books from a customer's kindle, locked the account
 859 and refuse to tell the customer why</a>.  If a real book store did
 860 this to a customer, it would be called breaking into private property
 861 and theft.  The story has spread around the net today.  A bit more
 862 background information is available in Norwegian from
 863 <a href="http://www.digi.no/904658/hun-ble-kastet-ut-av-amazon">digi.no</a>.
 864 It is no surprise that digital restriction mechanisms (DRM) are used
 865 this way, as it has been warned about such abuse since DRM was
 866 introduced many years back.  And Amazon proved in 2009 that it was
 867 willing to
 868 <a href="http://boingboing.net/2009/07/20/amazons-orwellian-de.html">
 869 break into customers equipment and remove the books</a> people had
 870 bought, when it removed the book 1984 by George Orwell from all the
 871 customers who had bought it.  From the official comments, it even
 872 sounded like
 873 <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/18/technology/companies/18amazon.html">Amazon
 874 would never do that again</a>.  And here we are, three years
 875 later.</p>
 876
 877 <p>And thought this action is
 878 <a href="http://www.itavisen.no/904648/forbrukerraadet-helt-haarreisende">against
 879 Norwegian regulations and law</a>, it is according to the terms of use
 880 as written by Amazon, and it is hard to hold Amazon accountable to
 881 Norwegian laws.  It is just yet another example of unacceptable terms
 882 of use on the web, and how they are used to remove customer
 883 rights.</p>
 884
 885 <p>Luckily for electronic books, there are alternatives without
 886 unacceptable terms.  For example
 887 <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/">Project Gutenberg</a> (about 40,000
 888 books), <a href="http://runeberg.org/">Project Runenberg</a> (1,652
 889 books) and <a href="http://www.archive.org/details/texts">The Internet
 890 Archive</a> (3,641,797 books) have heaps of books without DRM, which
 891 can read by anyone and shared with anyone.</p>
 892
 893 <p>Update 2012-10-23: This story broke in the morning on Monday. In
 894 the evening after the story had spread all across the Internet, Amazon
 895 restored the account of the user, as reported by
 896 <a href="http://www.digi.no/904675/helomvending-fra-amazon">digi.no</a>
 897 and <a href="http://nrk.no/kultur-og-underholdning/1.8368487">NRK</a>.
 898 Apparently public pressure work.  The story from Martin have seen
 899 several twitter messages per minute the last 24 hours, which is quite
 900 a lot, and is still drawing a lot of attention.  But even when the
 901 account is restored, the fundamental problem still exist.  I recommend
 902 reading two opinions from
 903 <a href="http://blogs.computerworlduk.com/simon-says/2012/10/rights-you-have-no-right-to-your-ebooks/index.htm">Simon
 904 Phipps</a> and
 905 <a href="http://blogs.computerworlduk.com/open-enterprise/2012/10/is-amazon-playing-fair/index.htm">Glen
 906 Moody</a> if you want to learn more about the fundamentals and more
 907 details about the original story.</p>
 908
 909       </div>
 910       <div class="tags">
 911
 912
 913         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/opphavsrett">opphavsrett</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/personvern">personvern</a>.
 914
 915
 916       </div>
 917     </div>
 918     <div class="padding"></div>
 919
 920     <div class="entry">
 921       <div class="title">
 922         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/The_fight_for_freedom_and_privacy.html">The fight for freedom and privacy</a>
 923       </div>
 924       <div class="date">
 925         18th October 2012
 926       </div>
 927       <div class="body">
 928         <p>Civil liberties and privacy in the western world are going down the
 929 drain, and it is hard to fight against it.  I try to do my best, but
 930 time is limited.  I hope you do your best too.  A few years ago I came
 931 across a marvellous drawing by
 932 <a href="http://www.claybennett.com/about.html">Clay Bennett</a>
 933 visualising some of what is going on.
 934
 935 <p><a href="http://www.claybennett.com/pages/security_fence.html">
 936 <img src="http://www.claybennett.com/images/archivetoons/security_fence.jpg"></a></p>
 937
 938 <blockquote>
 939 «They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
 940 safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.» - Benjamin Franklin
 941 </blockquote>
 942
 943 <p>Do you feel safe at the airport?  I do not.  Do you feel safe when
 944 you see a surveillance camera?  I do not.  Do you feel safe when you
 945 leave electronic traces of your behaviour and opinions?  I do not.  I
 946 just remember <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panopticon">the
 947 Panopticon</a>, and can not help to think that we are slowly
 948 transforming our society to a huge Panopticon on our own.</p>
 949
 950       </div>
 951       <div class="tags">
 952
 953
 954         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/personvern">personvern</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/sikkerhet">sikkerhet</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/surveillance">surveillance</a>.
 955
 956
 957       </div>
 958     </div>
 959     <div class="padding"></div>
 960
 961     <div class="entry">
 962       <div class="title">
 963         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/ColonHelp_produser_sue_WordPress_to_silence_critic.html">ColonHelp produser sue WordPress to silence critic</a>
 964       </div>
 965       <div class="date">
 966         12th October 2012
 967       </div>
 968       <div class="body">
 969         <p>Thanks to a blog post by
 970 <a href="http://ramblingfoo.blogspot.no/2012/10/a-shitstorm-is-comming.html">Eddy
 971 Petrișor</a>, I became aware of yet another "alternative medicine"
 972 company using legal intimidation tactics to scare off critics.
 973 According to the originating blog post about the detox "cure"
 974 <a href="http://insulaindoielii.wordpress.com/2012/10/11/colon-help-sues-wordpress/">ColonHelp
 975 and its producers Zenyth Pharmaceuticals actions</a>, the producer
 976 sues Wordpress to get rid of the critical information.  To check if
 977 the story was for real, I contacted Automattic, the company behind
 978 wordpress.com, and they reply was "We can confirm that Zenyth is
 979 seeking a court order against WordPress / Automattic.  However, we
 980 don't believe the Terms of Service have been violated in this
 981 matter".</p>
 982
 983 <p>The story seem to be simply that a blogger checked the scientific
 984 foundation for a popular health product in Rumania, ColonHelp, and
 985 reported that there was no reason at all to believe it improved the
 986 health of its users.  This caused the company behind the product,
 987 Zenyth Pharmaceuticals, to use legal intimidation to try to silence
 988 the critic, instead of presenting its views and scientific foundation
 989 to argue its side.</p>
 990
 991 <p>This is the usual story, and the Zenyth Pharmaceuticals company
 992 deserve everyone to know how it failed to act properly.  Lets hope the
 993 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streisand_effect">Streisand
 994 effect</a> can make it rethink its strategy.</p>
 995
 996 <p>What is the harm, you might think.  I suggest you take a look at
 997 <a href="http://www.whatstheharm.net/detoxification.html">a list of
 998 victims of detoxification</a>.</p>
 999
1000       </div>
1001       <div class="tags">
1002
1003
1004         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/skepsis">skepsis</a>.
1005
1006
1007       </div>
1008     </div>
1009     <div class="padding"></div>
1010
1011     <div class="entry">
1012       <div class="title">
1013         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Why_is_your_local_library_collecting_the__wrong__computer_books_.html">Why is your local library collecting the "wrong" computer books?</a>
1014       </div>
1015       <div class="date">
1016          3rd October 2012
1017       </div>
1018       <div class="body">
1019         <p>I just read the blog post from Tim Retout
1020 <a href="http://retout.co.uk/blog/2012/10/02/the-library-challenge">about
1021 the computer science book collection available in his local
1022 library</a>, and just wanted to share my comment on his theory about
1023 computer books becoming obsolete so soon.  That is part of the reason
1024 why the selection is so sad in almost any local library (it is in mine
1025 too), but I believe the major contributing factor is that the people
1026 buying books to the library have no way to know a good and future
1027 computer classic from trash.  And they need to know which one will
1028 become a classic in the future, as they would normally buy one of the
1029 recently published books.</p>
1030
1031 <p>During my university years, I worked for a while at the university
1032 library, and even there the person in charge of buying computer
1033 related books (and in fact any natural science related book), did not
1034 know enough about computers to make a good educated guess.  Once, just
1035 before Christmas, they had some leftover money on the book budget and
1036 I was asked if I could pick out a lot of computer books in the
1037 university book store, for the library to buy for their collection.  I
1038 had a great time picking all the books I dreamt of buying and reading,
1039 and the books I knew were classics (like most of the
1040 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._Richard_Stevens">Stevens
1041 collection</a>).  I picked several of the generic O'Reilly books (ie
1042 documenting protocols, formats and systems, not specific versions of
1043 products) and stayed away from the 'teach yourself X in N days' class.
1044 I had a great time, and probably picked out more than a hundred books
1045 for the library that evening.</p>
1046
1047 <p>The sad fact is that there is no way a overworked librarian is
1048 going to know that for example
1049 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Practice_of_Programming">The
1050 Practice of Programming</a> is a must-have in any computer library,
1051 and they will most of the time end up picking the wrong books to buy.
1052 Perhaps you can help your local library make better choices by giving
1053 the suggestions for books to get?  I know they would love to hear from
1054 you, even if their budget might block them from getting your favourite
1055 book right away.</p>
1056
1057       </div>
1058       <div class="tags">
1059
1060
1061         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
1062
1063
1064       </div>
1065     </div>
1066     <div class="padding"></div>
1067
1068     <div class="entry">
1069       <div class="title">
1070         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Seventy_percent_done_with_Norwegian_docbook_version_of_Free_Culture.html">Seventy percent done with Norwegian docbook version of Free Culture</a>
1071       </div>
1072       <div class="date">
1073         23rd September 2012
1074       </div>
1075       <div class="body">
1076         <p>Since this summer, I have worked in my spare time on a Norwegian <a
1077 href="http://www.docbook.org/">docbook</a> version of the 2004 book <a
1078 href="http://free-culture.cc/">Free Culture</a> by Lawrence Lessig.
1079 The reason is that this book is a great primer on what problems exist
1080 in the current copyright laws, and I want it to be available also for
1081 those that are reluctant do read an English book.
1082
1083 When I started, I
1084 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Dugnad_for___sende_norsk_versjon_av_Free_Culture_til_stortingets_representanter_.html">called
1085 for volunteers</a> to help me, but too few have volunteered so far,
1086 and progress is a bit slow.  Anyway, today I broken the 70 percent
1087 mark for the first rough translation.  At the moment, less than 700
1088 strings (paragraphs, index terms, titles) are left to translate.  With
1089 my current progress of 10-20 strings per day, it will take a while to
1090 complete the translation.  This graph show the updated progress:</p>
1091
1092 <img width="80%" align="center" src="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig/raw/master/progress.png">
1093
1094 <p>Progress have slowed down lately due to family and work
1095 commitments.  If you want to help, please get in touch, and check out
1096 the project files currently available from
1097 <a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig">github</a>.</p>
1098
1099 <p>If you are curious what the translated book currently look like,
1100 the updated
1101 <a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig/blob/master/archive/freeculture.nb.pdf?raw=true">PDF</a>
1102 and
1103 <a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig/blob/master/archive/freeculture.nb.epub?raw=true">EPUB</a>
1104 are published on github.  The HTML version is published as well, but
1105 github hand it out with MIME type text/plain, confusing browsers, so I
1106 saw no point in linking to that version.</p>
1107
1108       </div>
1109       <div class="tags">
1110
1111
1112         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/docbook">docbook</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/freeculture">freeculture</a>.
1113
1114
1115       </div>
1116     </div>
1117     <div class="padding"></div>
1118
1119     <div class="entry">
1120       <div class="title">
1121         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__Giorgio_Pioda.html">Debian Edu interview: Giorgio Pioda</a>
1122       </div>
1123       <div class="date">
1124         17th September 2012
1125       </div>
1126       <div class="body">
1127         <p>After a long break in my row of interviews with people in the
1128 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu and Skolelinux</a>
1129 community, I finally found time to wrap up another.  This time it is
1130 Giorgio Pioda, which showed up on the mailing list at the start of
1131 this year, asking questions and inspiring us to improve the first time
1132 administrators experience with Skolelinux. :) The interview was
1133 conduced in May, but I only found time to publish it now.</p>
1134
1135 <p><strong>Who are you, and how do you spend your days?</strong></p>
1136
1137 <p>I have a PhD in chemistry but since several years I work as teacher
1138 in secondary (15-18 year old students) and tertiary (a kind of "light"
1139 university) schools. Five years ago I started to manage a Learning
1140 Management Service server and slowly I got more and more involved with
1141 IT. 3 years ago the graduating schools moved completely to Linux and I
1142 got the head of the IT for this. The experience collected in chemistry
1143 labs computers (for example NMR analysis of protein folding) and in
1144 the IT-courses during university where sufficient to start. Self
1145 training is anyway very important</p>
1146
1147 <p>I live in the Italian speaking part of Switzerland, and the
1148 <a href="http://www.spse.ch/">SPSE school</a> (secondary) is a very
1149 special sport school for young people who try to became sport pro (for
1150 all sports, we have dozens of disciplines represented) and we are
1151 recognised by the Olympic Swiss Organisation.
1152
1153 <p><strong>How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux/Debian Edu
1154 project?</strong></p>
1155
1156 <p>Looking for Linux / Primary Domain Controller (PDC) I found it
1157 already several years ago. But since the system was still not
1158 Kerberized and since our schools relies strongly on laptops I didn't
1159 use it. I plan to introduce it in the next future, probably for the
1160 next school year, since the squeeze release solved this security
1161 hole.</p>
1162
1163 <p><strong>What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux/Debian
1164 Edu?</strong></p>
1165
1166 <p>Many. First of all there is a strong and living community that is
1167 very generous for help and hints.  Chat help is crucial, together with
1168 the mailing list.  Second. With Skolelinux you get an already well
1169 engineered platform and you don't have to start to build up your PDC
1170 and your clients from GNU/scratch; I've already done this once and I
1171 can tell it, it is hard. Third, since Skolelinux is a standard
1172 platform, it is way easier to educate other IT people and even if the
1173 head IT is sick another one could pick up the task without too much
1174 hassle.</p>
1175
1176 <p><strong>What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux/Debian
1177 Edu?</strong></p>
1178
1179 <p>The only real problem I see is that it is a little too less
1180 flexible at client level. Debian stable is rocky and desirable, but
1181 there are many reasons that force for another choice. For example the
1182 need of new drivers for new PC, or the need for a specific OS for some
1183 devices that have specific software packages for another specific
1184 distribution (I have such a case for whiteboards that have only
1185 Ubuntu packages). Thus, I prepared compatibility packages educlient
1186 and eduroaming, hoping not to use them ;-)</p>
1187
1188 <p><strong>Which free software do you use daily?</strong></p>
1189
1190 <p>I have a Debian Stable PDC at school (Kerberos, NIS, NFS) with
1191 mixed Debian and Ubuntu clients. If you think that this triad
1192 combination is exotic... well I discovered right yesterday that
1193 <a href="http://moo.nac.uci.edu/~hjm/Perceus-Report.html">Perceus</a>
1194 has the same...</p>
1195
1196 <p>For myself I run Debian wheezy/sid, but this combination is good
1197 only I you have enough competence to fix stuff for yourself, if
1198 something breaks.  Daily I use texmacs, gnumeric, a little bit of R
1199 statistics, kmplot, and less frequently OpenOffice.org.</p>
1200
1201 <p><strong>Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to
1202 get schools to use free software?</strong></p>
1203
1204 <P>I think that the only real argument that school managers "hear" is
1205 cost reduction. They don't give too much weight on quality, stability,
1206 just because they are normally not open to change.</p>
1207
1208 <p>Students adapts very quickly to GNU/Linux (and for them being able
1209 to switch between different OS is a plus value); teachers and managers
1210 don't.</p>
1211
1212 <p>We decided to move to Linux because students at our school have own
1213 laptop and we have the responsibility to keep the laptop ready to use;
1214 we were really unsatisfied with Microsoft since every Monday we had 20
1215 machine to fix for viral infections... With Linux this has been
1216 reduced to zero, since people installs almost only from official
1217 repositories. I think that our special needs brought us to Linux.
1218 Those who don't have such needs will hardly move to Linux.</p>
1219
1220       </div>
1221       <div class="tags">
1222
1223
1224         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/intervju">intervju</a>.
1225
1226
1227       </div>
1228     </div>
1229     <div class="padding"></div>
1230
1231     <div class="entry">
1232       <div class="title">
1233         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/IETF_activity_to_standardise_video_codec.html">IETF activity to standardise video codec</a>
1234       </div>
1235       <div class="date">
1236         15th September 2012
1237       </div>
1238       <div class="body">
1239         <p>After the
1240 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/IETF_standardize_its_first_multimedia_codec__Opus.html">Opus
1241 codec made</a> it into <a href="http://www.ietf.org/">IETF</a> as
1242 <a href="http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6716">RFC 6716</a>, I had a look
1243 to see if there is any activity in IETF to standardise a video codec
1244 too, and I was happy to discover that there is some activity in this
1245 area.  A non-"working group" mailing list
1246 <a href="https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/video-codec">video-codec</a>
1247 was
1248 <a href="http://ietf.10.n7.nabble.com/New-Non-WG-Mailing-List-video-codec-Video-codec-BoF-discussion-list-td119548.html">created 2012-08-20</a>.  It is intended to discuss the topic and if a
1249 formal working group should be formed.</p>
1250
1251 <p>I look forward to see how this plays out.  There is already
1252 <a href="http://www.ietf.org/mail-archive/web/video-codec/current/msg00003.html">an
1253 email from someone</a> in the MPEG group at ISO asking people to
1254 participate in the ISO group.  Given how ISO failed with OOXML and given
1255 that it so far (as far as I can remember) only have produced
1256 multimedia formats requiring royalty payments, I suspect
1257 joining the ISO group would be a complete waste of time, but I am not
1258 involved in any codec work and my opinion will not matter much.</p>
1259
1260 <p>If one of my readers is involved with codec work, I hope she will
1261 join this work to standardise a royalty free video codec within
1262 IETF.</p>
1263
1264       </div>
1265       <div class="tags">
1266
1267
1268         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/frikanalen">frikanalen</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/multimedia">multimedia</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/video">video</a>.
1269
1270
1271       </div>
1272     </div>
1273     <div class="padding"></div>
1274
1275     <div class="entry">
1276       <div class="title">
1277         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/IETF_standardize_its_first_multimedia_codec__Opus.html">IETF standardize its first multimedia codec: Opus</a>
1278       </div>
1279       <div class="date">
1280         12th September 2012
1281       </div>
1282       <div class="body">
1283         <p>Yesterday, <a href="http://www.ietf.org/">IETF</a> announced the
1284 publication of of
1285 <a href="http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6716">RFC 6716, the Definition
1286 of the Opus Audio Codec</a>, a low latency, variable bandwidth, codec
1287 intended for both VoIP, film and music.  This is the first time, as
1288 far as I know, that IETF have standardized a multimedia codec.  In
1289 <a href="http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc3533">RFC 3533</a>, IETF
1290 standardized the OGG container format, and it has proven to be a great
1291 royalty free container for audio, video and movies.  I hope IETF will
1292 continue to standardize more royalty free codeces, after ISO and MPEG
1293 have proven incapable of securing everyone equal rights to publish
1294 multimedia content on the Internet.</p>
1295
1296 <p>IETF require two interoperating independent implementations to
1297 ratify a standard, and have so far ensured to only standardize royalty
1298 free specifications.  Both are key factors to allow everyone (rich and
1299 poor), to compete on equal terms on the Internet.</p>
1300
1301 <p>Visit the <a href="http://opus-codec.org/">Opus project page</a> if
1302 you want to learn more about the solution.</p>
1303
1304       </div>
1305       <div class="tags">
1306
1307
1308         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/frikanalen">frikanalen</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/multimedia">multimedia</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/video">video</a>.
1309
1310
1311       </div>
1312     </div>
1313     <div class="padding"></div>
1314
1315     <div class="entry">
1316       <div class="title">
1317         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Git_repository_for_song_book_for_Computer_Scientists.html">Git repository for song book for Computer Scientists</a>
1318       </div>
1319       <div class="date">
1320          7th September 2012
1321       </div>
1322       <div class="body">
1323         <p>As I
1324 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Song_book_for_Computer_Scientists.html">mentioned
1325 this summer</a>, I have created a Computer Science song book a few
1326 years ago, and today I finally found time to create a public
1327 <a href="https://gitorious.org/pere-cs-songbook/pere-cs-songbook">Gitorious
1328 repository for the project</a>.</p>
1329
1330 <p>If you want to help out, please clone the source and submit patches
1331 to the HTML version.  To generate the PDF and PostScript version,
1332 please use prince XML, or let me know about a useful free software
1333 processor capable of creating a good looking PDF from the HTML.</p>
1334
1335 <p>Want to sing?  You can still find the song book in HTML, PDF and
1336 PostScript formats at
1337 <a href="http://www.hungry.com/~pere/cs-songbook/">Petter's Computer
1338 Science Songbook</a>.</p>
1339
1340       </div>
1341       <div class="tags">
1342
1343
1344         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/multimedia">multimedia</a>.
1345
1346
1347       </div>
1348     </div>
1349     <div class="padding"></div>
1350
1351     <div class="entry">
1352       <div class="title">
1353         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Free_software_forced_Microsoft_to_open_Office__and_don_t_forget_Officeshots_.html">Free software forced Microsoft to open Office (and don't forget Officeshots)</a>
1354       </div>
1355       <div class="date">
1356         23rd August 2012
1357       </div>
1358       <div class="body">
1359         <p>I came across a great comment from Simon Phipps today, about how
1360 <a href="http://www.infoworld.com/d/open-source-software/how-microsoft-was-forced-open-office-200233">Microsoft
1361 have been forced to open Office</a>, and it made me remember and
1362 revisit the great site
1363 <a href="http://www.officeshots.org/">officeshots</a> which allow you
1364 to check out how different programs present the ODF file format.  I
1365 recommend both to those of my readers interested in ODF. :)</p>
1366
1367       </div>
1368       <div class="tags">
1369
1370
1371         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/standard">standard</a>.
1372
1373
1374       </div>
1375     </div>
1376     <div class="padding"></div>
1377
1378     <div class="entry">
1379       <div class="title">
1380         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Half_way_there_with_translated_docbook_version_of_Free_Culture.html">Half way there with translated docbook version of Free Culture</a>
1381       </div>
1382       <div class="date">
1383         17th August 2012
1384       </div>
1385       <div class="body">
1386         <p>In my spare time, I currently work on a Norwegian
1387 <a href="http://www.docbook.org/">docbook</a> version of the 2004 book
1388 <a href="http://free-culture.cc/">Free Culture</a> by Lawrence Lessig,
1389 to get a Norwegian text explaining the problems with the copyright law
1390 I can give to my parents and others that are reluctant to read an
1391 English book.  It is a marvellous set of examples on how the ever
1392 expanding copyright regulations hurt culture and society.  When the
1393 translation is done, I hope to find funding to print and ship a copy
1394 to all the members of the Norwegian parliament, before they sit down
1395 to debate the latest revisions to the Norwegian copyright law.  This
1396 summer I
1397 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Dugnad_for___sende_norsk_versjon_av_Free_Culture_til_stortingets_representanter_.html">called
1398 for volunteers</a> to help me, and I have been able to secure the
1399 valuable contribution from at least one other Norwegian.</p>
1400
1401 <p>Two days ago, we finally broke the 50% mark.  Then more than 50% of
1402 the number of strings to translate (normally paragraphs, but also
1403 titles and index entries are also counted).  All parts from the
1404 beginning up to and including chapter four is translated.  So is
1405 chapters six, seven and the conclusion.  I created a graph to show the
1406 progress:</p>
1407
1408 <img width="80%" align="center" src="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig/raw/master/progress.png">
1409
1410 <p>The number of strings to translate increase as I insert the index
1411 entries into the docbook.  They were missing with the docbook version
1412 I initially started with.  There are still quite a few index entries
1413 missing, but everyone starting with A, B, O, Z and Y are done.  I
1414 currently focus on completing the index entries, to get a complete
1415 english version of the docbook source.</p>
1416
1417 <p>There is still need for translators and people with docbook
1418 knowledge, to be able to get a good looking book (I still struggle
1419 with dblatex, xmlto and docbook-xsl) as well as to do the draft
1420 translation and proof reading.  And I would like the figures to be
1421 redrawn as SVGs to make it easy to translate them.  Any SVG master
1422 around?  I am sure there are some legal terms that are unfamiliar to
1423 me.  If you want to help, please get in touch, and check out the
1424 project files currently available from <a
1425 href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig">github</a>.</p>
1426
1427 <p>If you are curious what the translated book currently look like,
1428 the updated
1429 <a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig/blob/master/archive/freeculture.nb.pdf?raw=true">PDF</a>
1430 and
1431 <a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig/blob/master/archive/freeculture.nb.epub?raw=true">EPUB</a>
1432 are published on github.  The HTML version is published as well, but
1433 github hand it out with MIME type text/plain, confusing browsers, so I
1434 saw no point in linking to that version.</p>
1435
1436       </div>
1437       <div class="tags">
1438
1439
1440         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/docbook">docbook</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/freeculture">freeculture</a>.
1441
1442
1443       </div>
1444     </div>
1445     <div class="padding"></div>
1446
1447     <div class="entry">
1448       <div class="title">
1449         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Notes_on_language_codes_for_Norwegian_docbook_processing___.html">Notes on language codes for Norwegian docbook processing...</a>
1450       </div>
1451       <div class="date">
1452         10th August 2012
1453       </div>
1454       <div class="body">
1455         <p>In <a href="http://www.docbook.org/">docbook</a> one can specify
1456 the language used at the top, and the processing pipeline will use
1457 this information to pick the correct translations for 'chapter', 'see
1458 also', 'index' etc.  And for most languages used with docbook, I guess
1459 this work just fine.  For example a German user can start the document
1460 with &lt;book lang="de"&gt;, and the document will show up with the
1461 correct content with any of the docbook processors.  This is not the
1462 case for the language
1463 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Free_Culture_in_Norwegian___5_chapters_done__74_percent_left_to_do.html">I
1464 am working with at the moment</a>, Norwegian Bokmål.</p>
1465
1466 <p>For a while, I was confused about which language code to use,
1467 because I was unable to find any language code that would work across
1468 all tools.  I am currently testing dblatex, xmlto, docbook-xsl, and
1469 dbtoepub, and they do not handle Norwegian Bokmål the same way.  Some
1470 of them do not handle it at all.</p>
1471
1472 <p>A bit of background information is probably needed to understand
1473 this mess.  Norwegian is not one, but two written variants.  The
1474 variants are Norwegian Nynorsk and Norwegian Bokmål.  There are three
1475 two letter language codes associated with these languages, Norwegian
1476 is 'no', Norwegian Nynorsk is 'nn' and Norwegian Bokmål is 'nb'.
1477 Historically the 'no' language code was used for Norwegian Bokmål, but
1478 many years ago this was found to be å bad idea, and the recommendation
1479 is to use the most specific language code instead, to avoid confusion.
1480 In the transition period it is a good idea to make sure 'no' was an
1481 alias for 'nb'.</p>
1482
1483 <p>Back to docbook processing tools in Debian.  The dblatex tool only
1484 understand 'nn'.  There are translations for 'no', but not 'nb' (BTS
1485 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/684391">#684391</a>), but due to a bug
1486 (BTS <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/682936">#682936</a>) the 'no'
1487 language code is not recognised.  The docbook-xsl tool chain only
1488 recognise 'nn' and 'nb', but not 'no'.  The xmlto tool only recognise
1489 'nn' and 'nb', but not 'no'.  The end result that there is no language
1490 code I can use to get the docbook file working with all of these tools
1491 at the same time. :(</p>
1492
1493 <p>The correct solution is to use &lt;book lang="nb"&gt;, but it will
1494 take time before that will work with all the free software docbook
1495 processors. :(</p>
1496
1497 <p>Oh, the joy of well integrated tools. :/</p>
1498
1499       </div>
1500       <div class="tags">
1501
1502
1503         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/docbook">docbook</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/freeculture">freeculture</a>.
1504
1505
1506       </div>
1507     </div>
1508     <div class="padding"></div>
1509
1510     <div class="entry">
1511       <div class="title">
1512         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Best_way_to_create_a_docbook_book_.html">Best way to create a docbook book?</a>
1513       </div>
1514       <div class="date">
1515         31st July 2012
1516       </div>
1517       <div class="body">
1518         <p>I tried to send this text to the
1519 <a href="https://lists.oasis-open.org/archives/docbook-apps/">docbook-apps
1520 mailing list at lists.oasis-open.org</a>, but it only accept messages
1521 from subscribers and rejected my post, and I completely lack the
1522 bandwidth required to subscribe to another mailing list, so instead I
1523 try to post my message here and hope my blog readers can help me
1524 out.</p>
1525
1526 <p>I am quite new to docbook processing, and am climbing a steep
1527 learning curve at the moment.</p>
1528
1529 <p>To give you some background, I am working on a Norwegian
1530 translation of the book Free Culture by Lawrence Lessig, and I use
1531 docbook to handle the process.  The files to build the book are
1532 available from
1533 <a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig">github</a>.
1534 The book got around 400 pages with parts, images, footnotes, tables,
1535 index entries etc, which has proven to be a challenge for the free
1536 software docbook processors.  My build platform is Debian GNU/Linux
1537 Squeeze.</p>
1538
1539 <p>I want to build PDF, EPUB and HTML version of the book, and have
1540 tried different tool chains to do the conversion from docbook to these
1541 formats.  I am currently focusing on the PDF version, and have a few
1542 problems.</p>
1543
1544 <ul>
1545
1546 <li>Using dblatex, the &lt;part&gt; handling is not the way I want to,
1547    as &lt;/part&gt; do not really end the &lt;part&gt;. (See
1548    <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/683166">BTS report #683166</a>), the
1549    xetex backend (needed to process UTF-8) give incorrect hyphens in
1550    index references spanning several pages (See
1551    <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/682901">BTS report #682901</a>), and
1552    I am unable to get the norwegian template texts (See
1553    <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/682936">BTS report #682936</a>).</li>
1554
1555 <li>Using straight xmlto fail with some latex error (See
1556    <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/683163">BTS report
1557    #683163</a>).</li>
1558
1559 <li>Using xmlto with the fop backend fail to handle images (do not
1560    show up in the PDF), fail to handle a long footnote (overlap
1561    footnote and text body, see
1562    <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/683197">BTS report #683197</a>), and
1563    fail to create a correct index (some lack page ref, and the page
1564    refs listed are not right).</li>
1565
1566 <li>Using xmlto with the dblatex backend behave like dblatex.</li>
1567
1568 <li>Using docbook-xls with xsltproc + fop have the same footnote and
1569    index problems the xmlto + fop processing.</li>
1570
1571 </ul>
1572
1573 <p>So I wonder, what would be the best way to create the PDF version
1574 of this book?  Are some of the bugs found above solved in new or
1575 experimental versions of some docbook tool chain?</p>
1576
1577 <p>What about HTML and EPUB versions?</p>
1578
1579       </div>
1580       <div class="tags">
1581
1582
1583         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/docbook">docbook</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/freeculture">freeculture</a>.
1584
1585
1586       </div>
1587     </div>
1588     <div class="padding"></div>
1589
1590     <div class="entry">
1591       <div class="title">
1592         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Free_Culture_in_Norwegian___5_chapters_done__74_percent_left_to_do.html">Free Culture in Norwegian - 5 chapters done, 74 percent left to do</a>
1593       </div>
1594       <div class="date">
1595         21st July 2012
1596       </div>
1597       <div class="body">
1598         <p>I reported earlier that I am working on
1599 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Dugnad_for___sende_norsk_versjon_av_Free_Culture_til_stortingets_representanter_.html">a
1600 norwegian version</a> of the book
1601 <a href="http://free-culture.cc/">Free Culture</a> by Lawrence Lessig.
1602 Progress is good, and yesterday I got a major contribution from Anders
1603 Hagen Jarmund completing chapter six.  The source files as well as a
1604 PDF and EPUB version of this book are available from
1605 <a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig">github</a>.</p>
1606
1607 <p>I am happy to report that the draft for the first two chapters
1608 (preface, introduction) is complete, and three other chapters are also
1609 completely translated.  This completes 26 percent of the number of
1610 strings (equivalent to paragraphs) in the book, and there is thus 74
1611 percent left to translate.  A graph of the progress is present at the
1612 bottom of the github project page.  There is still room for more
1613 contributors.  Get in touch or send github pull requests with fixes if
1614 you got time and are willing to help make this book make it to
1615 print. :)</p>
1616
1617 <p>The book translation framework could also be a good basis for other
1618 translations, if you want the book to be available in your
1619 language.</p>
1620
1621       </div>
1622       <div class="tags">
1623
1624
1625         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/docbook">docbook</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/freeculture">freeculture</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/opphavsrett">opphavsrett</a>.
1626
1627
1628       </div>
1629     </div>
1630     <div class="padding"></div>
1631
1632     <div class="entry">
1633       <div class="title">
1634         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Call_for_help_from_docbook_expert_to_tag_Free_Culture_by_Lawrence_Lessig.html">Call for help from docbook expert to tag Free Culture by Lawrence Lessig</a>
1635       </div>
1636       <div class="date">
1637         16th July 2012
1638       </div>
1639       <div class="body">
1640         <p>I am currently working on a
1641 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Dugnad_for___sende_norsk_versjon_av_Free_Culture_til_stortingets_representanter_.html">project
1642 to translate</a> the book
1643 <a href="http://free-culture.cc/">Free Culture</a> by Lawrence Lessig
1644 to Norwegian.  And the source we base our translation on is the
1645 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DocBook">docbook</a> version, to
1646 allow us to use po4a and .po files to handle the translation, and for
1647 this to work well the docbook source document need to be properly
1648 tagged.  The source files of this project is available from
1649 <a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig">github</a>.</p>
1650
1651 <p>The problem is that the docbook source have flaws, and we have
1652 no-one involved in the project that is a docbook expert.  Is there a
1653 docbook expert somewhere that is interested in helping us create a
1654 well tagged docbook version of the book, and adjust our build process
1655 for the PDF, EPUB and HTML version of the book?  This will provide a
1656 well tagged English version (our source document), and make it a lot
1657 easier for us to create a good Norwegian version.  If you can and want
1658 to help, please get in touch with me or fork the github project and
1659 send pull requests with fixes. :)</p>
1660
1661       </div>
1662       <div class="tags">
1663
1664
1665         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/docbook">docbook</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/freeculture">freeculture</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/opphavsrett">opphavsrett</a>.
1666
1667
1668       </div>
1669     </div>
1670     <div class="padding"></div>
1671
1672     <div class="entry">
1673       <div class="title">
1674         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__George_Bredberg.html">Debian Edu interview: George Bredberg</a>
1675       </div>
1676       <div class="date">
1677          9th July 2012
1678       </div>
1679       <div class="body">
1680         <p>The <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu /
1681 Skolelinux</a> project have users all over the globe, but until
1682 recently we have not known about any users in Norway's neighbour
1683 country Sweden.  This changed when George Bredberg showed up in March
1684 this year on the mailing list, asking interesting questions about how
1685 to adjust and scale the just released
1686 <a href="http://www.debian.org/News/2012/20120311.html">Debian Edu
1687 Wheezy</a> setup to his liking.  He granted me an interview, and I am
1688 happy to share his answers with you here.</p>
1689
1690 <p><strong>Who are you, and how do you spend your days?</strong></p>
1691
1692 <p>I'm a 44 year old country guy that have been working 12 years at
1693 the same school as 50% IT-manager and 50% Teacher. My educational
1694 background is fil.kand in history and religious beliefs, an exam as a
1695 "folkhighschool" teacher, that is, for teaching grownups.  In
1696 Norwegian I believe it's called "Vuxenupplaring". I also have a master
1697 in "Technology and social change". So I'm not really a tech guy, I
1698 just like to study how humans and technology interact and that is my
1699 perspective when working with IT.</p>
1700
1701 <p><strong>How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux/Debian Edu
1702 project?</strong></p>
1703
1704 I have followed the Skolelinux project for quite some time by
1705 now. Earlier I tested out the K12-LTSP project, which we used for some
1706 time, but I really like the idea of having a distribution aimed to be
1707 a complete solution for schools with necessary tools integrated. When
1708 K12-LTSP abandoned that idea some years ago, I started to look more
1709 seriously into Skolelinux instead.
1710
1711 <p><strong>What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux/Debian
1712 Edu?</strong></p>
1713
1714 The big point of Skolelinux to me is that it is a complete
1715 distribution, ready to install. It has LDAP-support, MS Windows
1716 integration tools and so forth already configured, saving an
1717 administrator a lot of time and headache. We were using another Linux
1718 based thin-client system called Thinlinc, that has served us very
1719 well. But that Skolelinux is based on VNC and LTSP, to me, is better
1720 when it comes to the kind of multimedia used in schools. That is
1721 showing videos from Youtube or educational TV. It is also easier to
1722 mix thin clients with workstations, since the user settings will be the
1723 same. In our VNC-based solution you had to "beat around the bush" by
1724 setting up a second, hidden, home-directory for user settings for the
1725 workstations, because they will be different from the ones used on the
1726 thin clients. Skolelinux support for diskless workstations are very
1727 convenient since a school today often need to use a class room
1728 projector showing videos in full screen. That is easily done with a
1729 small integrated media computer running as a diskless workstation. You
1730 have only two installs to update and configure. One for the thin
1731 clients and one for the workstations. Also saving a lot of time.  Our
1732 old system was also based on Redhat and CentOS. They are both very
1733 nice distributions, but they are sometimes painfully slow when it
1734 comes to updating multimedia support and multimedia programs (even
1735 such as Gimp), leaving us with a bit "oldish" applications. Debian is
1736 quicker to update.
1737
1738 <p><strong>What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux/Debian
1739 Edu?</strong></p>
1740
1741 <p>Debian is a bit too quick when it comes to updating. As an example
1742 we use old HP terminals as thinclients, and two times already this
1743 year (2012) the updates you get from the repositories has stopped
1744 sound from working with them.  It's a kernel/ALSA issue. So you have
1745 to be more careful properly testing the updates before you run them in
1746 a production environment. This has never happened with CentOS.</p>
1747
1748 <p>I also would like to be able to set my own domain-settings at
1749 install time.  In Skolelinux they are kind of hard coded into the
1750 distribution, when it comes to LDAP and at least samba integration.
1751 That is more a cosmetic/translation issue, and not a real problem.
1752 Running MS Windows applications within the Skolelinux environment needs
1753 to be better supported. That is, running them seamlessly via RDP, and
1754 support for single-sign on.  That will make the transition to free
1755 software easier, because you can keep the applications you really
1756 need.  No support will make it impossible if you work in a school where
1757 some applications can't be open source. As for us we really need to
1758 run Adobe InDesign in our journalist classes.  We run a journalist
1759 education, and is one of the very few non university ones that is ok:d
1760 by Svenska journalistförbundet (Swedish journalist association).  Our
1761 education gives the pupils the right of membership there, once they
1762 are done.  This is important if you want to get a job.</p>
1763
1764 <p>Adobe InDesign is the program most commonly used in newspapers and
1765 magazines.  We used Quark Express before, but they seem to loose there
1766 market to Adobe. The only "equivalent" to InDesign in the opensource
1767 world is Scribus, and its not advanced enough. At least not according
1768 to the teacher. I think it would be possible to use it, because they
1769 are not supposed to learn a program, they are supposed to learn how to
1770 edit and compile a newspaper.  But politically at our school we are not
1771 there yet.  And Scribus lacks a lot of things you find i InDesign.</p>
1772
1773 <p>We used even a windows program for sound editing when it comes to
1774 the radio-journalist part. The year to come we are going to try
1775 Audacity. That software has the same kind of limitations compared to
1776 Adobe Audition, but that teacher is a bit more open minded. We have
1777 tried Ardour also, but that instead is more like a music studio
1778 program, not intended for the kind of editing taking place in a radio
1779 studio. Its way to complex and the GUI is to scattered when you only
1780 want to cut, make pass-overs, add extra channels and normalise.  Those
1781 things you can do in Audacity, but its not as easy as in Audition. You
1782 have to do more things manually with envelopes, and that is a bit old
1783 fashion and timewasting. Its also harder to cut and move sound from
1784 one channel to another, which is a thing that you do frequently
1785 because you often find yourself needing to rearrange parts of the
1786 sound file.</p>
1787
1788 <p>So, I am not sure we will succeed in replacing even Audition, but we
1789 will try.  The problem is the students have certain expectations when
1790 they start an education towards a profession.  So the programs has to
1791 look and feel professional.  Good thing with radio, there are many
1792 programs out there, that radio studios use, so its not as standardised
1793 as Newspaper editing. That means, it does not really matter what
1794 program they learn, because once they start working they still have to
1795 learn the program the studio uses, so instead focus has to be to learn
1796 the editing part without to much focus on a specific software.</p>
1797
1798 <p><strong>Which free software do you use daily?</strong></p>
1799
1800 <p>Myself I'm running Linux Mint, or Ubuntu these days.  I use almost
1801 only open source software, and preferably Linux based. When it comes
1802 to most used applications its OpenOffice, and Firefox (of course ;)
1803 )</p>
1804
1805 <p><strong>Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to
1806 get schools to use free software?</strong></p>
1807
1808 <p>To get schools to use free software there has to be good open
1809 source software that are windows based, to ease the transition. But
1810 it's also very important that the multimedia support is working
1811 flawlessly.  The problems with Youtube, Twitter, Facebook and whatever
1812 will create problems when it comes to both teachers and
1813 students. Economy are also important for schools, so using thin
1814 clients, as long as they have good multimedia support, is a very good
1815 idea. It's also important that the open source software works even for
1816 the administration.  It's hard to convince the teachers to stick with
1817 open source, if the principal has to run Windows.  It also creates a
1818 problem if some classes has to use Windows for there tasks, since that
1819 will create a difference in "status" between classes, so a good
1820 support for running windows applications via the thin client (Linux)
1821 desktop is essential.  At least at our school, where we have mixed
1822 level of educations, from high-school to journalist-school.</p>
1823
1824 <p>Update 2012-07-09 08:30: Paul Wise tipped me on IRC about three
1825 useful sources related to Free Software for radio stations: the LWN
1826 article <a href="https://lwn.net/Articles/481607/">Radio station
1827 management with Airtime</a>,
1828 <a href="http://www.sourcefabric.org/en/airtime/">Airtime</a> which
1829 claim to be a Free open source radio automation software and
1830 <a href="http://www.rivendellaudio.org/">Rivendell</a> which claim to
1831 be complete radio broadcast automation solution.  All of them seem
1832 useful to the aspiring radio producer.</p>
1833
1834       </div>
1835       <div class="tags">
1836
1837
1838         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/intervju">intervju</a>.
1839
1840
1841       </div>
1842     </div>
1843     <div class="padding"></div>
1844
1845     <div class="entry">
1846       <div class="title">
1847         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Why_do_schools_waste_money_on_IT_.html">Why do schools waste money on IT?</a>
1848       </div>
1849       <div class="date">
1850          8th July 2012
1851       </div>
1852       <div class="body">
1853         <p>In the Debian Edu / Skolelinux project, we have realised that one
1854 of the major blockers for the project success is the purchasing skills
1855 in schools and municipalities.  We provide what the happy users of
1856 Debian Edu / Skolelinux say they need and to a lower cost than the
1857 alternatives, and yet so few schools decide to use our solution.  I
1858 was pleased to discover the same observation done by mySociety and Tom
1859 Steinberg in his blog post
1860 "<a href="http://www.mysociety.org/2012/06/19/can-you-recognize-the-million-pound-chair/">Can
1861 you recognize the million pound chair?</a>".  Read it and weep for the
1862 spending of your tax money.</p>
1863
1864 <p>Of course there are other factors involved as well, like our
1865 projects bad marketing skills and the Linux community fragmentation
1866 causing worry with the people on the outside, so we as a project need
1867 to keep working hard to gain users, but it is a up-hill battle when
1868 public decision makers are unable to understand computer system
1869 purchases.</p>
1870
1871       </div>
1872       <div class="tags">
1873
1874
1875         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
1876
1877
1878       </div>
1879     </div>
1880     <div class="padding"></div>
1881
1882     <div class="entry">
1883       <div class="title">
1884         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Free_Timetabling_Software___nice_free_software.html">Free Timetabling Software - nice free software</a>
1885       </div>
1886       <div class="date">
1887          7th July 2012
1888       </div>
1889       <div class="body">
1890         <p>Included in <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu /
1891 Skolelinux</a> is a large collection of end user and school specific
1892 software.  It is one of the packages not installed by default but
1893 provided in the Debian archive for schools to install if they want to,
1894 is a system to automatically plan the school time table using
1895 information about available teachers, classes and rooms, combined with
1896 the list of required courses and how many hours each topic should
1897 receive.  The software is
1898
1899 <a href="http://lalescu.ro/liviu/fet/">named FET</a>, and it provide a
1900 graphical user interface to input the required information, save the
1901 result in a fairly simple XML format, and generate time tables for
1902 both teachers and students.  It is available both for
1903 <a href="http://lalescu.ro/liviu/fet/download.html">Linux, MacOSX and
1904 Windows</a>.</p>
1905
1906 <p>This is <a href="http://lalescu.ro/liviu/fet/features.html">the
1907 feature list</a>, liftet from the project web site:</p>
1908
1909 <p><ul>
1910
1911   <li>FET is free software, licensed under the GNU GPL v2 or later.
1912     You can freely use, copy, modify and redistribute it </li>
1913
1914   <li>Localized to en_US (US English, default), ar (Arabic), ca
1915     (Catalan), da (Danish), de (German), el (Greek), es (Spanish), fa
1916     (Persian), fr (French), gl (Galician), he (Hebrew), hu
1917     (Hungarian), id (Indonesian), it (Italian), lt (Lithuanian), mk
1918     (Macedonian), ms (Malay), nl (Dutch), pl (Polish), pt_BR
1919     (Brazilian Portuguese), ro (Romanian), ru (Russian), si (Sinhala),
1920     sk (Slovak), sr (Serbian), tr (Turkish), uk (Ukrainian), uz
1921     (Uzbek) and vi (Vietnamese) (incompletely for some languages)
1922     </li>
1923
1924   <li>Fully automatic generation algorithm, allowing also
1925     semi-automatic or manual allocation</li>
1926
1927   <li>Platform independent implementation, allowing running on
1928     GNU/Linux, Windows, Mac and any system that Qt supports </li>
1929
1930   <li>Flexible modular XML format for the input file, allowing editing
1931     with an XML editor or by hand (besides FET interface)</li>
1932
1933   <li>Import/export from CSV format</li>
1934
1935   <li>The resulted timetables are exported into HTML, XML and CSV
1936     formats </li>
1937
1938   <li>Flexible students structure, organized into sets: years, groups
1939     and subgroups. FET allows overlapping years and groups and
1940     non-overlapping subgroups. You can even define individual students
1941     (as separate sets)</li>
1942
1943   <li>Each constraint has a weight percentage, from 0.0% to 100.0%
1944     (but some special constraints are allowed to have only 100% weight
1945     percentage)</li>
1946
1947   <li>Limits for the algorithm (all these limits can be increased on
1948     demand, as a custom version, because this would require a bit more
1949     memory):
1950     <ul>
1951       <li>Maximum total number of hours (periods) per day: 60</li>
1952       <li>Maximum number of working days per week: 35</li>
1953       <li>Maximum total number of teachers: 6000</li>
1954       <li>Maximum total number of sets of students: 30000</li>
1955       <li>Maximum total number of subjects: 6000</li>
1956       <li>Virtually unlimited number of activity tags</li>
1957       <li>Maximum number of activities: 30000</li>
1958       <li>Maximum number of rooms: 6000</li>
1959       <li>Maximum number of buildings: 6000</li>
1960       <li>Possibility of adding multiple teachers and
1961           students sets for each activity.  (it is possible
1962           also to have no teachers or no students sets for an
1963           activity)</li>
1964       <li>Virtually unlimited number of time constraints</li>
1965       <li>Virtually unlimited number of space constraints</li>
1966     </ul></li>
1967
1968   <li>A large and flexible palette of time constraints:
1969     <ul>
1970       <li>Break periods</li>
1971       <li>For teacher(s):
1972         <ul>
1973           <li>Not available periods</li>
1974           <li>Max/min days per week</li>
1975           <li>Max gaps per day/week</li>
1976           <li>Max hours daily/continuously</li>
1977           <li>Min hours daily</li>
1978           <li>Max hours daily/continuously with an activity tag</li>
1979
1980           <li>Respect working in an hourly interval a max number of
1981             days per week</li>
1982         </ul></li>
1983       <li>For students (sets):
1984         <ul>
1985           <li>Not available periods</li>
1986           <li>Begins early (specify max allowed beginnings at second hour)</li>
1987           <li>Max gaps per day/week</li>
1988           <li>Max hours daily/continuously</li>
1989           <li>Min hours daily</li>
1990           <li>Max hours daily/continuously with an activity tag</li>
1991
1992           <li>Respect working in an hourly interval a max number of
1993             days per week</li>
1994         </ul></li>
1995       <li>For an activity or a set of activities/subactivities:
1996         <ul>
1997           <li>A single preferred starting time</li>
1998           <li>A set of preferred starting times</li>
1999           <li>A set of preferred time slots</li>
2000           <li>Min/max days between them</li>
2001           <li>End(s) students day</li>
2002           <li>Same starting time/day/hour</li>
2003           <li>Occupy max time slots from selection (a complex and
2004             flexible constraint, useful in many situations)</li>
2005           <li>Consecutive, ordered, grouped (for 2 or 3 (sub)activities)</li>
2006           <li>Not overlapping</li>
2007           <li>Max simultaneous in selected time slots</li>
2008           <li>Min gaps between a set of (sub)activities</li>
2009         </ul></li>
2010     </ul></li>
2011
2012   <li>A large and flexible palette of space constraints:
2013     <ul>
2014       <li>Room not available periods</li>
2015       <li>For teacher(s):
2016         <ul>
2017           <li>Home room(s)</li>
2018           <li>Max building changes per day/week</li>
2019           <li>Min gaps between building changes</li>
2020         </ul>
2021       </li>
2022
2023       <li>For students (sets):
2024         <ul>
2025           <li>Home room(s)</li>
2026           <li>Max building changes per day/week</li>
2027           <li>Min gaps between building changes</li>
2028         </ul>
2029       </li>
2030       <li>Preferred room(s):
2031         <ul>
2032           <li>For a subject</li>
2033           <li>For an activity tag</li>
2034           <li>For a subject and an activity tag</li>
2035           <li>Individually for a (sub)activity</li>
2036         </ul>
2037       </li>
2038
2039       <li>For a set of activities:
2040         <ul>
2041           <li>Occupy a maximum number of different rooms</li>
2042         </ul>
2043       </li>
2044     </ul>
2045   </li>
2046 </ul></p>
2047
2048 <p>I have not used it myself, as I am not involved in time table
2049 planning at a school, but it seem to work fine when I test it.  If you
2050 need to set up your schools time table, and is tired of doing it
2051 manually, check it out.
2052
2053 A quick summary on how to use it can be found in
2054 <a href="http://marvelsoft.co.in/wp/2012/03/generate-timetable-for-state-cbse-icse-igcse-schools-free/">a
2055 blog post from MarvelSoft</a>.  If you find FET useful, please provide
2056 a recipe for the Debian Edu project in the
2057 <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu#Howtos">Debian Edu HowTo
2058 section</a>.</p>
2059
2060       </div>
2061       <div class="tags">
2062
2063
2064         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
2065
2066
2067       </div>
2068     </div>
2069     <div class="padding"></div>
2070
2071     <div class="entry">
2072       <div class="title">
2073         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Can_Zimbra_be_told_to_send_autoreplies_to_the_From__address_.html">Can Zimbra be told to send autoreplies to the From: address?</a>
2074       </div>
2075       <div class="date">
2076          3rd July 2012
2077       </div>
2078       <div class="body">
2079         <p>In the NUUG <a href="http://www.fiksgatami.no/">FiksGataMi</a>
2080 project (Norwegian version of
2081 <a href="http://www.fixmystreet.com/">FixMyStreet</a> from
2082 <a href="http://www.mysociety.org/">mySociety</a>), we have discovered
2083 a problem with the municipalities using
2084 <a href="http://www.zimbra.com/">Zimbra</a>.  When FiksGataMi send a
2085 problem report to the government, the email From: address is set to
2086 the address of the person reporting the problem, while envelope sender
2087 is set to the FiksGataMi contact address.  The intention is to make
2088 sure the municipality send any replies to the person reporting the
2089 problem, while any email delivery problems are sent to us in NUUG.
2090 This work well in most cases, but not for Karmøy municipality using
2091 Zimbra.  Karmøy is using the vacation message function in Zimbra to
2092 send an automatic reply to report that the message has been received,
2093 and this message is sent to the envelope sender and not the address in
2094 the From: header.</p>
2095
2096 <p>This causes the automatic message from Karmøy to go to NUUGs
2097 request-tracker instance instead of to the person reporting the
2098 problem.  We can not really change the envelope sender address, as
2099 this would make it impossible for us to discover when there are
2100 problems with the MTAs receiving problem reports.  We have been in
2101 contact with the people at Karmøy municipality, and they are willing
2102 to adjust Zimbra if something can be changed there to get a better
2103 behaviour.</p>
2104
2105 <p>The default behaviour of Zimbra is as far as I can tell according
2106 to the specification in RFC 3834, which recommend that vacation
2107 messages are sent to the envelope sender and not to the From: address.
2108 But I wonder if it is possible to adjust or configure Zimbra to behave
2109 differently.  Anyone know?  Please let us know at
2110 <a href="http://lists.nuug.no/mailman/listinfo/fiksgatami">fiksgatami
2111 (at) nuug.no</a>.</p>
2112
2113       </div>
2114       <div class="tags">
2115
2116
2117         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/fiksgatami">fiksgatami</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug</a>.
2118
2119
2120       </div>
2121     </div>
2122     <div class="padding"></div>
2123
2124     <div class="entry">
2125       <div class="title">
2126         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__Jos__Luis_Redrejo_Rodr_guez.html">Debian Edu interview: José Luis Redrejo Rodríguez</a>
2127       </div>
2128       <div class="date">
2129         26th June 2012
2130       </div>
2131       <div class="body">
2132         <p>I've been too busy at home, but finally I found time to wrap up
2133 another interview with the people behind
2134 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu and Skolelinux</a>.
2135 This time we get to know José Luis Redrejo Rodríguez, one of our great
2136 helpers from Spain.  His effort was the reason we added support for
2137 several desktop types (KDE, Gnome and most recently LXDE) in Debian
2138 Edu, and have all of these available in the recently published
2139 <a href="http://www.debian.org/News/2012/20120311.html">Debian Edu
2140 Squeeze</a> version.</p>
2141
2142 <p><strong>Who are you, and how do you spend your days?</strong></p>
2143
2144 <p>I'm a father, teacher and engineer who is working for the Education
2145 ministry of the Region of Extremadura (Spain) in the implementation of
2146 ICT in schools</p>
2147
2148 <p><strong>How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux/Debian Edu
2149 project?</strong></p>
2150
2151 <p>At 2006, I verified that both, we in Extremadura and Skolelinux
2152 project, had been working in parallel for some years, doing very
2153 similar things, using very similar tools and with similar targets, so
2154 I decided it was time to join forces as much as possible.</p>
2155
2156 <p><strong>What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux/Debian
2157 Edu?</strong></p>
2158
2159 <p>A community of highly skilled experts working together, with a
2160 really open schema of collaboration and work. I really love the
2161 concepts of Do-ocracy and Merit-ocracy and the way these concepts are
2162 been used everyday inside Debian Edu.</p>
2163
2164 <p><strong>What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux/Debian
2165 Edu?</strong></p>
2166
2167 <p>Sometimes the differences in the implementations, laws or
2168 economical and technical resources in the different countries don't
2169 allow us to agree in the same solution for all of us, and several
2170 approaches are needed, what is a waste of effort. Also, there is a
2171 lack of more man power to be able to follow the fast evolution of the
2172 technologies in school.</p>
2173
2174 <p><strong>Which free software do you use daily?</strong></p>
2175
2176 <p>Debian, of course, and due to my kind of job I am most of my time
2177 between Iceweasel, <a href="http://www.geany.org/">Geany</a> and
2178 <a href="http://www.ohloh.net/p/gnome-terminator">Terminator</a>.</p>
2179
2180 <p><strong>Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to
2181 get schools to use free software?</strong></p>
2182
2183 <p>I think there is not a single strategy because there are very
2184 different scenarios: schools with mixed proprietary and free
2185 environments, schools using only workstations, other schools using
2186 laptops, netbooks, tablets, interactive white-boards, etc.</p>
2187
2188 <p>Also the range of ages of the students is very broad and you can
2189 not use the same solutions for primary schools and secondary or even
2190 universities. So different strategies are needed.</p>
2191
2192 <p>But, looking at these differences, and looking back to the things
2193 we've done and implemented, and the places were we have spent most of
2194 our forces, I think we should focus as much as possible in free
2195 multi-platform environments, using only standards tools, and moving
2196 more and more to Internet or network solutions that could be deployed
2197 using wireless. I think we'll see more and more personal devices in
2198 the schools, devices the students and teachers will take home with
2199 them, so the solutions must be able to be taken at home and continue
2200 working there.</p>
2201
2202       </div>
2203       <div class="tags">
2204
2205
2206         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/intervju">intervju</a>.
2207
2208
2209       </div>
2210     </div>
2211     <div class="padding"></div>
2212
2213     <div class="entry">
2214       <div class="title">
2215         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Song_book_for_Computer_Scientists.html">Song book for Computer Scientists</a>
2216       </div>
2217       <div class="date">
2218         24th June 2012
2219       </div>
2220       <div class="body">
2221         <p>Many years ago, while studying Computer Science at the
2222 <a href="http://www.uit.no/">University of Tromsø</a>, I started
2223 collecting computer related songs for use at parties.  The original
2224 version was written in LaTeX, but a few years ago I got help from
2225 Håkon W. Lie, one of the inventors of W3C CSS, to convert it to HTML
2226 while keeping the ability to create a nice book in PDF format.  I have
2227 not had time to maintain the book for a while now, and guess I should
2228 put it up on some public version control repository where others can
2229 help me extend and update the book.  If anyone is volunteering to help
2230 me with this, send me an email.  Also let me know if there are songs
2231 missing in my book.</p>
2232
2233 <p>I have not mentioned the book on my blog so far, and it occured to
2234 me today that I really should let all my readers share the joys of
2235 singing out load about programming, computers and computer networks.
2236 Especially now that <a href="http://debconf12.debconf.org/">Debconf
2237 12</a> is about to start (and I am not going).  Want to sing?  Check
2238 out <a href="http://www.hungry.com/~pere/cs-songbook/">Petter's
2239 Computer Science Songbook</a>.
2240
2241       </div>
2242       <div class="tags">
2243
2244
2245         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/multimedia">multimedia</a>.
2246
2247
2248       </div>
2249     </div>
2250     <div class="padding"></div>
2251
2252     <div class="entry">
2253       <div class="title">
2254         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu___some_ideas_for_the_future_versions.html">Debian Edu - some ideas for the future versions</a>
2255       </div>
2256       <div class="date">
2257         11th June 2012
2258       </div>
2259       <div class="body">
2260         <p>During my work on
2261 <a href="http://www.debian.org/News/2012/20120311.nb.html">Debian Edu
2262 based on Squeeze</a>, I came across some issues that should be
2263 addressed in the Wheezy release.  I finally found time to wrap up my
2264 notes and provide quick summary of what I found, with a bit
2265 explanation.</p>
2266
2267 <p><ul>
2268
2269 <li>We need to rewrite our package installation framework, as tasksel
2270 changed from using tasksel tasks to using meta packages (aka packages
2271 with dependencies like our education-* packages), and our installation
2272 system depend on tasksel tasks in
2273 /usr/share/tasksel/debian-edu-tasks.desc for package
2274 installation.</li>
2275
2276 <li>Enable Kerberos login for more services.  Now with the Kerberos
2277 foundation in place, we should use it to get single sign on with more
2278 services, and avoiding unneeded password / login questions.  We should
2279 at least try to enable it for these services:
2280 <ul>
2281
2282   <li>CUPS for admins to add/configure printers and users when using
2283     quotas.</li>
2284   <li>Nagios for admins checking the system status.</li>
2285   <li>GOsa for admins updating LDAP and users changing their passwords.</li>
2286   <li>LDAP for admins updating LDAP.</li>
2287   <li>Squid for users when exam mode / filtering is active.</li>
2288   <li>ssh for admins and users to save a password prompt.</li>
2289
2290 </ul></li>
2291
2292 <li>When we move GOsa to use Kerberos instead of LDAP bind to
2293 authenticate users, we should try to block or at least limit access to
2294 use LDAP bind for authentication, to ensure Kerberos is used when it
2295 is intended, and nothing fall back to using the less safe LDAP bind</li>
2296
2297 <li>Merge debian-edu-config and debian-edu-install.  The split made
2298 sense when d-e-install did a lot more, but these days it is just an
2299 inconvenience when we update the debconf preseeding values.</li>
2300
2301 <li>Fix partman-auto to allow us to abort the installation before
2302 touching the disk if the disk is too small.  This is
2303 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/653305">BTS report #653305</a> and the
2304 d-i developers are fine with the patch and someone just need to apply
2305 it and upload.  After this is done we need to adjust
2306 debian-edu-install to use this new hook.</li>
2307
2308 <li>Adjust to new LTSP framework (boot time config instead of install
2309 time config).  LTSP changed its design, and our hooks to install
2310 packages and update the configuration is most likely not going to work
2311 in Wheezy.
2312
2313 <li>Consider switching to NBD instead of NFS for LTSP root, to allow
2314 the Kernel to cache files in its normal file cache, possibly speeding
2315 up KDE login on slow networks.</li>
2316
2317 <li>Make it possible to create expired user passwords that need to
2318 change on first login.  This is useful when handing out password on
2319 paper, to make sure only the user know the password.  This require
2320 fixes to the PAM handling of kdm and gdm.</li>
2321
2322 <li>Make GUI for adding new machines automatically from sitesummary.
2323 The current command line script is not very friendly to people most
2324 familiar with GUIs.  This should probably be integrated into GOsa to
2325 have it available where the admin will be looking for it..</li>
2326
2327 <li>We should find way for Nagios to check that the DHCP service
2328 actually is working (as in handling out IP addresses).  None of the
2329 Nagios checks I have found so far have been working for me.</li>
2330
2331 <li>We should switch from libpam-nss-ldapd to sssd for all profiles
2332 using LDAP, and not only on for roaming workstations, to have less
2333 packages to configure and consistent setup across all profiles.</li>
2334
2335 <li>We should configure Kerberos to update LDAP and Samba password
2336 when changing password using the Kerberos protocol.  The hook was
2337 requested in <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/588968">BTS report
2338 #588968</a> and is now available in Wheezy.  We might need to write a
2339 MIT Kerberos plugin in C to get this.</li>
2340
2341 <li>We should clean up the set of applications installed by default.
2342 <ul>
2343
2344 <li>reduce the number of chemistry visualisers</li>
2345 <li>consider dropping xpaint</li>
2346 <li>and probably more?</li>
2347 </ul></li>
2348
2349 <li>Some hardware need external firmware to work properly.  This is
2350 mostly the case for WiFi network cards, but there are some other
2351 examples too.  For popular laptops to work out of the box, such
2352 firmware need to be installed from non-free, and we should provide
2353 some GUI to do this.  Ubuntu already have this implemented, and we
2354 could consider using their packages.  At the moment we have some
2355 command line script to do this (one for the running system, another
2356 for the LTSP chroot).</li>
2357
2358
2359 <li>In Squeeze, we provide KDE, Gnome and LXDE as desktop options.  We
2360 should extend the list to Xfce and Sugar, and preferably find a way to
2361 install several and allow the admin or the user to select which one to
2362 use.</li>
2363
2364 <li>The golearn tool from the goplay package make it easy to check out
2365 interesting educational packages.  We should work on the package
2366 tagging in Debian to ensure it represent all the useful educational
2367 packages, and extend the tool to allow it to use packagekit to install
2368 new applications with a simple mouse click.</li>
2369
2370 <li>The Squeeze version got half a exam solution already in place,
2371 with the introduction of iptable based network blocking, but for it to
2372 be a complete exam solution the Squid proxy need to enable
2373 filtering/blocking as well when the exam mode is enabled.  We should
2374 implement a way to easily enable this for the schools that want it,
2375 instead of the "it is documented" method of today.</li>
2376
2377 <li>A feature used in several schools is the ability for a teacher to
2378 "take over" the desktop of individual or all computers in the room.
2379 There are at least three implementations,
2380 <a href="italc.sourceforge.net/">italc</a>,
2381 <a href="http://www.itais.net/help/en/">controlaula</a> og
2382 <a href="http://www.epoptes.org/">epoptes</a> and we should pick one of
2383 them and make it trivial to set it up in a school.  The challenges is
2384 how to distribute crypto keys and how to group computers in one room
2385 and how to set up which machine/user can control the machines in a
2386 given room.</li>
2387
2388 <li>Tablets and surf boards are getting more and more popular, and we
2389 should look into providing a good solution for integrating these into
2390 the Debian Edu network.  Not quite sure how.  Perhaps we should
2391 provide a installation profile with better touch screen support for
2392 them, or add some sync services to allow them to exchange
2393 configuration and data with the central server.  This should be
2394 investigated.</li>
2395
2396 </ul></p>
2397
2398 <p>I guess we will discover more as we continue to work on the Wheezy
2399 version.</p>
2400
2401       </div>
2402       <div class="tags">
2403
2404
2405         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
2406
2407
2408       </div>
2409     </div>
2410     <div class="padding"></div>
2411
2412     <div class="entry">
2413       <div class="title">
2414         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/TV_with_face_recognition__for_improved_viewer_experience.html">TV with face recognition, for improved viewer experience</a>
2415       </div>
2416       <div class="date">
2417          9th June 2012
2418       </div>
2419       <div class="body">
2420         <p>Slashdot got a story about Intel planning a
2421 <a href="http://entertainment.slashdot.org/story/12/06/09/0012247/intel-to-launch-tv-service-with-facial-recognition-by-end-of-the-year">TV
2422 with face recognition</a> to recognise the viewer, and it occurred to
2423 me that it would be more interesting to turn it around, and do face
2424 recognition on the TV image itself.  It could let the viewer know who
2425 is present on the screen, and perhaps look up their credibility,
2426 company affiliation, previous appearances etc for the viewer to better
2427 evaluate what is being said and done.  That would be a feature I would
2428 be willing to pay for.</p>
2429
2430 <p>I would not be willing to pay for a TV that point a camera on my
2431 household, like the big brother feature apparently proposed by Intel.
2432 It is the telescreen idea fetched straight out of the book
2433 <a href="http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks01/0100021.txt">1984 by George
2434 Orwell</a>.</p>
2435
2436       </div>
2437       <div class="tags">
2438
2439
2440         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/surveillance">surveillance</a>.
2441
2442
2443       </div>
2444     </div>
2445     <div class="padding"></div>
2446
2447     <div class="entry">
2448       <div class="title">
2449         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Web_service_to_look_up_HP_and_Dell_computer_hardware_support_status.html">Web service to look up HP and Dell computer hardware support status</a>
2450       </div>
2451       <div class="date">
2452          6th June 2012
2453       </div>
2454       <div class="body">
2455         <p>A few days ago
2456 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/SOAP_based_webservice_from_Dell_to_check_server_support_status.html">I
2457 reported how to get</a> the support status out of Dell using an
2458 unofficial and undocumented SOAP API, which I since have found out was
2459 <a href="http://lists.us.dell.com/pipermail/linux-poweredge/2012-February/045959.html">discovered
2460 by Daniel De Marco in february</a>.  Combined with my web scraping
2461 code for HP, Dell and IBM
2462 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Checking_server_hardware_support_status_for_Dell__HP_and_IBM_servers.html">from
2463 2009</a>, I got inspired and wrote
2464 <a href="https://views.scraperwiki.com/run/computer-hardware-support-status/">a
2465 web service</a> based on Scraperwiki to make it easy to look up the
2466 support status and get a machine readable result back.</p>
2467
2468 <p>This is what it look like at the moment when asking for the JSON
2469 output:
2470
2471 <blockquote><pre>
2472 % GET <a href="https://views.scraperwiki.com/run/computer-hardware-support-status/?format=json&vendor=Dell&servicetag=2v1xwn1">https://views.scraperwiki.com/run/computer-hardware-support-status/?format=json&vendor=Dell&servicetag=2v1xwn1</a>
2473 supportstatus({"servicetag": "2v1xwn1", "warrantyend": "2013-11-24", "shipped": "2010-11-24", "scrapestamputc": "2012-06-06T20:26:56.965847", "scrapedurl": "http://143.166.84.118/services/assetservice.asmx?WSDL", "vendor": "Dell", "productid": ""})
2474 %
2475 </pre></blockquote>
2476
2477 <p>It currently support Dell and HP, and I am hoping for help to add
2478 support for other vendors.  The python source is available on
2479 Scraperwiki and I welcome help with adding more features.</p>
2480
2481       </div>
2482       <div class="tags">
2483
2484
2485         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug</a>.
2486
2487
2488       </div>
2489     </div>
2490     <div class="padding"></div>
2491
2492     <div class="entry">
2493       <div class="title">
2494         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__Mike_Gabriel.html">Debian Edu interview: Mike Gabriel</a>
2495       </div>
2496       <div class="date">
2497          2nd June 2012
2498       </div>
2499       <div class="body">
2500         <p>Back in 2010, Mike Gabriel showed up on the
2501 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu and Skolelinux</a>
2502 mailing list.  He quickly proved to be a valuable developer, and
2503 thanks to his tireless effort we now have Kerberos integrated into the
2504 <a href="http://www.debian.org/News/2012/20120311.html">Debian Edu
2505 Squeeze</a> version.</p>
2506
2507 <p><strong>Who are you, and how do you spend your days?</strong></p>
2508
2509 <p>My name is Mike Gabriel, I am 38 years old and live near Kiel,
2510 Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. I live together with a wonderful partner
2511 (Angela Fuß) and two own children and two bonus children (contributed
2512 by Angela).</p>
2513
2514 <p>During the day I am part-time employed as a system administrator
2515 and part-time working as an IT consultant. The consultancy work
2516 touches free software topics wherever and whenever possible. During
2517 the nights I am a free software developer. In the gaps I also train in
2518 becoming an osteopath.</p>
2519
2520 <p>Starting in 2010 we (Andreas Buchholz, Angela Fuß, Mike Gabriel)
2521 have set up a free software project in the area of Kiel that aims at
2522 introducing free software into schools. The project's name is
2523 "IT-Zukunft Schule" (IT future for schools). The project links IT
2524 skills with communication skills.</p>
2525
2526 <p><strong>How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux/Debian Edu
2527 project?</strong></p>
2528
2529 <p>While preparing our own customised Linux distribution for
2530 "IT-Zukunft Schule" we were repeatedly asked if we really wanted to
2531 reinvent the wheel. What schools really need is already available,
2532 people said.  From this impulse we started evaluating other Linux
2533 distributions that target being used for school networks.</p>
2534
2535 <p>At the end we short-listed two approaches and compared them: a
2536 commercial Linux distribution developed by a company in Bremen,
2537 Germany, and Skolelinux / Debian Edu. Between 12/2010 and 03/2011 we
2538 went to several events and met people being responsible for marketing
2539 and development of either of the distributions. Skolelinux / Debian
2540 Edu was by far much more convincing compared to the other product that
2541 got short-listed beforehand--across the full spectrum. What was most
2542 attractive for me personally: the perspective of collaboration within
2543 the developmental branch of the Debian Edu project itself.</p>
2544
2545 <p>In parallel with this, we talked to many local and not-so-local
2546 people.  People teaching at schools, headmasters, politicians, data
2547 protection experts, other IT professionals.</p>
2548
2549 <p>We came to two conclusions:</p>
2550
2551 <p>First, a technical conclusion: What schools need is available in
2552 bits and pieces here and there, and none of the solutions really fit
2553 by 100%. Any school we have seen has a very individual IT setup
2554 whereas most of each school's requirements could mapped by a standard
2555 IT solution.  The requirement to this IT solution is flexibility and
2556 customisability, so that individual adaptations here and there are
2557 possible.  In terms of re-distributing and rolling out such a
2558 standardised IT system for schools (a system that is still to some
2559 degree customisable) there is still a lot of work to do here
2560 locally. Debian Edu / Skolelinux has been our choice as the starting
2561 point.</p>
2562
2563 <p>Second, a holistic conclusion: What schools need does not exist at
2564 all (or we missed it so far). There are several technical solutions
2565 for handling IT at schools that tend to make a good impression. What
2566 has been missing completely here in Germany, though, is the enrolment
2567 of people into using IT and teaching with IT. "IT-Zukunft Schule"
2568 tries to provide an approach for this.</p>
2569
2570 <p>Only some schools have some sort of a media concept which explains,
2571 defines and gives guidance on how to use IT in class. Most schools in
2572 Northern Germany do not have an IT service provider, the school's IT
2573 equipment is managed by one or (if the school is lucky) two (admin)
2574 teachers, most of the workload these admin teachers get done in there
2575 spare time.</p>
2576
2577 <p>We were surprised that only a very few admin teachers were
2578 networked with colleagues from other schools. Basically, every school
2579 here around has its individual approach of providing IT equipment to
2580 teachers and students and the exchange of ideas has been quasi
2581 non-existent until 2010/2011.</p>
2582
2583 <p>Quite some (non-admin) teachers try to avoid using IT technology in
2584 class as a learning medium completely. Several reasons for this
2585 avoidance do exist.</p>
2586
2587 <p>We discovered that no-one has ever taken a closer look at this
2588 social part of IT management in schools, so far. On our quest journey
2589 for a technical IT solution for schools, we discussed this issue with
2590 several teachers, headmasters, politicians, other IT professionals and
2591 they all confirmed: a holistic approach of considering IT management
2592 at schools, an approach that includes the people in place, will be new
2593 and probably a gain for all.</p>
2594
2595 <p><strong>What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux/Debian
2596 Edu?</strong></p>
2597
2598 <p>There is a list of advantages: international context, openness to
2599 any kind of contributions, do-ocracy policy, the closeness to Debian,
2600 the different installation scenarios possible (from stand-alone
2601 workstation to complex multi-server sites), the transparency within
2602 project communication, honest communication within the group of
2603 developers, etc.</p>
2604
2605 <p><strong>What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux/Debian
2606 Edu?</strong></p>
2607
2608 <p>Every coin has two sides:</p>
2609
2610 <p>Technically: <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/311188">BTS issue
2611 #311188</a>, tricky upgradability of a Debian Edu main server, network
2612 client installations on top of a plain vanilla Debian installation
2613 should become possible sometime in the near future, one could think
2614 about splitting the very complex package debian-edu-config into
2615 several portions (to make it easier for new developers to
2616 contribute).</p>
2617
2618 <p>Another issue I see is that we (as Debian Edu developers) should
2619 find out more about the network of people who do the marketing for
2620 Debian Edu / Skolelinux. There is a very active group in Germany
2621 promoting Skolelinux on the bigger Linux Days within Germany. Are
2622 there other groups like that in other countries? How can we bring
2623 these marketing people together (marketing group A with group B and
2624 all of them with the group of Debian Edu developers)? During the last
2625 meeting of the German Skolelinux group, I got the impression of people
2626 there being rather disconnected from the development department of
2627 Debian Edu / Skolelinux.</p>
2628
2629 <p><strong>Which free software do you use daily?</strong></p>
2630
2631 <p>For my daily business, I do not use commercial software at all.</p>
2632
2633 <p>For normal stuff I use Iceweasel/Firefox, Libreoffice.org. For
2634 serious text writing I prefer LaTeX. I use gimp, inkscape, scribus for
2635 more artistic tasks. I run virtual machines in KVM and Virtualbox.</p>
2636
2637 <p>I am one of the upstream developers of X2Go. In 2010 I started the
2638 development of a Python based X2Go Client, called PyHoca-GUI.
2639 PyHoca-GUI has brought forth a Python X2Go Client API that currently
2640 is being integrated in Ubuntu's software center.</p>
2641
2642 <p>For communications I have my own Kolab server running using Horde
2643 as web-based groupware client. For IRC I love to use irssi, for Jabber
2644 I have several clients that I use, mostly pidgin, though. I am also
2645 the Debian maintainer of Coccinella, a Jabber-based interactive
2646 whiteboard.</p>
2647
2648 <p>My favourite terminal emulator is KDE's Yakuake.</p>
2649
2650 <p><strong>Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to
2651 get schools to use free software?</strong></p>
2652
2653 <p>Communicate, communicate, communicate. Enrol people, enrol people,
2654 enrol people.</p>
2655
2656       </div>
2657       <div class="tags">
2658
2659
2660         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/intervju">intervju</a>.
2661
2662
2663       </div>
2664     </div>
2665     <div class="padding"></div>
2666
2667     <div class="entry">
2668       <div class="title">
2669         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/SOAP_based_webservice_from_Dell_to_check_server_support_status.html">SOAP based webservice from Dell to check server support status</a>
2670       </div>
2671       <div class="date">
2672          1st June 2012
2673       </div>
2674       <div class="body">
2675         <p>A few years ago I wrote
2676 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Checking_server_hardware_support_status_for_Dell__HP_and_IBM_servers.html">how
2677 to extract support status</a> for your Dell and HP servers.  Recently
2678 I have learned from colleges here at the
2679 <a href="http://www.uio.no/">University of Oslo</a> that Dell have
2680 made this even easier, by providing a SOAP based web service.  Given
2681 the service tag, one can now query the Dell servers and get machine
2682 readable information about the support status.  This perl code
2683 demonstrate how to do it:</p>
2684
2685 <p><pre>
2686 use strict;
2687 use warnings;
2688 use SOAP::Lite;
2689 use Data::Dumper;
2690 my $GUID = '11111111-1111-1111-1111-111111111111';
2691 my $App = 'test';
2692 my $servicetag = $ARGV[0] or die "Please supply a servicetag. $!\n";
2693 my ($deal, $latest, @dates);
2694 my $s = SOAP::Lite
2695     -> uri('http://support.dell.com/WebServices/')
2696     -> on_action( sub { join '', @_ } )
2697     -> proxy('http://xserv.dell.com/services/assetservice.asmx')
2698     ;
2699 my $a = $s->GetAssetInformation(
2700     SOAP::Data->name('guid')->value($GUID)->type(''),
2701     SOAP::Data->name('applicationName')->value($App)->type(''),
2702     SOAP::Data->name('serviceTags')->value($servicetag)->type(''),
2703 );
2704 print Dumper($a -> result) ;
2705 </pre></p>
2706
2707 <p>The output can look like this:</p>
2708
2709 <p><pre>
2710 $VAR1 = {
2711           'Asset' => {
2712                      'Entitlements' => {
2713                                        'EntitlementData' => [
2714                                                             {
2715                                                               'EntitlementType' => 'Expired',
2716                                                               'EndDate' => '2009-07-29T00:00:00',
2717                                                               'Provider' => '',
2718                                                               'StartDate' => '2006-07-29T00:00:00',
2719                                                               'DaysLeft' => '0'
2720                                                             },
2721                                                             {
2722                                                               'EntitlementType' => 'Expired',
2723                                                               'EndDate' => '2009-07-29T00:00:00',
2724                                                               'Provider' => '',
2725                                                               'StartDate' => '2006-07-29T00:00:00',
2726                                                               'DaysLeft' => '0'
2727                                                             },
2728                                                             {
2729                                                               'EntitlementType' => 'Expired',
2730                                                               'EndDate' => '2007-07-29T00:00:00',
2731                                                               'Provider' => '',
2732                                                               'StartDate' => '2006-07-29T00:00:00',
2733                                                               'DaysLeft' => '0'
2734                                                             }
2735                                                           ]
2736                                      },
2737                      'AssetHeaderData' => {
2738                                           'SystemModel' => 'GX620',
2739                                           'ServiceTag' => '8DSGD2J',
2740                                           'SystemShipDate' => '2006-07-29T19:00:00-05:00',
2741                                           'Buid' => '2323',
2742                                           'Region' => 'Europe',
2743                                           'SystemID' => 'PLX_GX620',
2744                                           'SystemType' => 'OptiPlex'
2745                                         }
2746                    }
2747         };
2748 </pre></p>
2749
2750 <p>I have not been able to find any documentation from Dell about this
2751 service outside the
2752 <a href="http://xserv.dell.com/services/assetservice.asmx?op=GetAssetInformation">inline
2753 documentation</a>, and according to
2754 <a href="http://iboyd.net/index.php/2012/02/14/updated-dell-warranty-information-script/">one
2755 comment</a> it can have stability issues, but it is a lot better than
2756 scraping HTML pages. :)</p>
2757
2758 <p>Wonder if HP and other server vendors have a similar service.  If
2759 you know of one, drop me an email. :)</p>
2760
2761       </div>
2762       <div class="tags">
2763
2764
2765         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug</a>.
2766
2767
2768       </div>
2769     </div>
2770     <div class="padding"></div>
2771
2772     <div class="entry">
2773       <div class="title">
2774         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/First_monitor_calibration_using_ColorHug.html">First monitor calibration using ColorHug</a>
2775       </div>
2776       <div class="date">
2777         31st May 2012
2778       </div>
2779       <div class="body">
2780         <p>A few days ago my color calibration gadget
2781 <a href="http://www.hughski.com/index.html">ColorHug</a> arrived in the
2782 mail, and I've had a few days to test it.  As all my machines are
2783 running Debian Squeeze, where
2784 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/c/colorhug-client.html">the
2785 calibration software</a> is missing (it is present in Wheezy and Sid),
2786 I ran the calibration using the Fedora based live CD.  This worked
2787 just fine.  So far I have only done the quick calibration.  It was
2788 slow enough for me, so I will leave the more extensive calibration for
2789 another day.</p>
2790
2791 <p>After calibration, I get a
2792 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ICC_profile">ICC color
2793 profile</a> file that can be passed to programs understanding such
2794 tools.  KDE do not seem to understand it out of the box, so I searched
2795 for command line tools to use to load the color profile into X.
2796 xcalib was the first one I found, and it seem to work fine for single
2797 monitor setups.  But for my video player, a laptop with a flat screen
2798 attached, it was unable to load the color profile for the correct
2799 monitor.  After searching a bit, I
2800 <a href="http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1347896">discovered</a>
2801 that the dispwin tool from the argyll package would do what I wanted,
2802 and a simple</p>
2803
2804 <p><pre>
2805 dispwin -d 1 profile.icc
2806 </pre></p>
2807
2808 <p>later I had the color profile loaded for the correct monitor.  The
2809 result was a bit more pink than I expected.  I guess I picked the
2810 wrong monitor type for the "led" monitor I got, but the result is good
2811 enough for now.</p>
2812
2813       </div>
2814       <div class="tags">
2815
2816
2817         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
2818
2819
2820       </div>
2821     </div>
2822     <div class="padding"></div>
2823
2824     <div class="entry">
2825       <div class="title">
2826         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__Ralf_Gesellensetter.html">Debian Edu interview: Ralf Gesellensetter</a>
2827       </div>
2828       <div class="date">
2829         27th May 2012
2830       </div>
2831       <div class="body">
2832         <p>In 2003, a German teacher showed up on the
2833 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu and Skolelinux</a>
2834 mailing list with interesting problems and reports proving he setting
2835 up Linux for a (for us at the time) lot of pupils.  His name was Ralf
2836 Gesellensetter, and he has been an important tester and contributor
2837 since then, helping to make sure the
2838 <a href="http://www.debian.org/News/2012/20120311.html">Debian Edu
2839 Squeeze</a> release became as good as it is..</p>
2840
2841 <p><strong>Who are you, and how do you spend your days?</strong></p>
2842
2843 <p>I am a teacher from Germany, and my subjects are Geography,
2844 Mathematics, and Computer Science ("Informatik"). During the past 12
2845 years (since 2000), I have been working for a comprehensive (and soon,
2846 also inclusive) school leading to all kind of general levels, such as
2847 O- or A-level ("Abitur").  For quite as long, I've been taking care of
2848 our computer network.</p>
2849
2850 <p>Now, in my early 40s, I enjoy the privilege of spending a lot of my
2851 spare time together with my wife, our son (3 years) and our daughter
2852 (4 months).</p>
2853
2854 <p><strong>How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux/Debian Edu
2855 project?</strong></p>
2856
2857 <p>We had tried different Linux based school servers, when members of
2858 my local Linux User Group (LUG OWL) detected Skolelinux. I remember
2859 very well, being part of a party celebrating the Linux New Media Award
2860 ("Best Newcomer Distribution", also nominated: Ubuntu) that was given
2861 to Skolelinux at Linux World Exposition in Frankfurt, 2005 (IIRC). Few
2862 months later, I had the chance to join a developer meeting in Ulsrud
2863 (Oslo) and to hand out the award to Knut Yrvin and others.  For more
2864 than 7 years, Skolelinux is part of our schools infrastructure, namely
2865 our main server (tjener), one LTSP (today without thin clients), and
2866 approximately 50 work stations. Most of these have the option to boot a
2867 locally installed Skolelinux image.  As a consequence, I joined quite
2868 a few events dealing with free software or Linux, and met many Debian
2869 (Edu) developers. All of them seemed quite nice and competent to me,
2870 one more reason to stick to Skolelinux.</p>
2871
2872 <p><strong>What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux/Debian
2873 Edu?</strong></p>
2874
2875 <p>Debian driven, you are given all the advantages of a community
2876 project including well maintained updates. Once, you are familiar with
2877 the network layout, you can easily roll out an entire educational
2878 computer infrastructure, from just one installation media. As only
2879 free software (FOSS) is used, that supports even elderly hardware,
2880 up-sizing your IT equipment is only limited by space (i.e. available
2881 labs).  Especially if you run a LTSP thin client server, your
2882 administration costs tend towards zero.</p>
2883
2884 <p><strong>What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux/Debian
2885 Edu?</strong></p>
2886
2887 <p>While Debian's stability has loads of advantages for servers, this
2888 might be different in some cases for clients: Schools with unlimited
2889 budget might buy new hardware with components that are not yet
2890 supported by Debian stable, or wish to use more recent versions of
2891 office packages or desktop environments.  These schools have the
2892 option to run Debian testing or other distributions - if they have the
2893 capacity to do so.  Another issue is that Debian release cycles
2894 include a wide range of changes; therefor a high percentage of human
2895 power seems to be absorbed by just keeping the features of Skolelinux
2896 within the new setting of the version to come. During this process,
2897 the cogs of Debian Edu are getting more and more professional,
2898 i.e. harder to understand for novices.</p>
2899
2900 <p><strong>Which free software do you use daily?</strong></p>
2901
2902 <p>LibreOffice, Wikipedia, Openstreetmap, Iceweasel (Mozilla Firefox),
2903 KMail, Gimp, Inkscape - and of course the Linux Kernel (not only on
2904 PC, Laptop, Mobile, but also our SAT receiver)</p>
2905
2906 <p><strong>Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to
2907 get schools to use free software?</strong></p>
2908
2909 <p><ol>
2910
2911 <li>Support computer science as regular subject in schools to make
2912 people really "own" their hardware, to make them understand the
2913 difference between proprietary software products, and free software
2914 developing.</li>
2915
2916 <li>Make budget baskets corresponding: In Germany's public schools
2917 there are more or less fixed budgets for IT equipment (including
2918 licenses), so schools won't benefit from any savings here. This
2919 privilege is left to private schools which have consequently a large
2920 share among German Skolelinux schools.</li>
2921
2922 <li>Get free software in the seminars where would-be teachers are
2923 trained. In many cases, teachers' software customs are respected by
2924 decision makers rather than the expertise of any IT experts.</li>
2925
2926 <li>Don't limit ourself to free software run natively. Everybody uses
2927 free software or free licenses (for instance Wikipedia), and this
2928 general concept should get expanded to free educational content to be
2929 shared world wide (school books e.g.).</li>
2930
2931 <li>Make clear where ever you can that the market share of free (libre)
2932 office suites is much above 20 p.c. today, and that you pupils don't
2933 need to know the "ribbon menu" in order to get employed.</li>
2934
2935 <li>Talk about the difference between freeware and free software.</li>
2936
2937 <li>Spread free software, or even collections of portable free apps
2938 for USB pen drives. Endorse students to get a legal copy of
2939 Libreoffice rather than accepting them to use illegal serials.  And
2940 keep sending documents in ODF formats.</li>
2941
2942 </ol></p>
2943
2944       </div>
2945       <div class="tags">
2946
2947
2948         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/intervju">intervju</a>.
2949
2950
2951       </div>
2952     </div>
2953     <div class="padding"></div>
2954
2955     <div class="entry">
2956       <div class="title">
2957         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/The_cost_of_ODF_and_OOXML.html">The cost of ODF and OOXML</a>
2958       </div>
2959       <div class="date">
2960         26th May 2012
2961       </div>
2962       <div class="body">
2963         <p>I just come across a blog post from Glyn Moody reporting the
2964 claimed cost from Microsoft on requiring ODF to be used by the UK
2965 government.  I just sent him an email to let him know that his
2966 assumption are most likely wrong.  Sharing it here in case some of my
2967 blog readers have seem the same numbers float around in the UK.</p>
2968
2969 <p><blockquote> <p>Hi.  I just noted your
2970 <a href="http://blogs.computerworlduk.com/open-enterprise/2012/04/does-microsoft-office-lock-in-cost-the-uk-government-500-million/index.htm">http://blogs.computerworlduk.com/open-enterprise/2012/04/does-microsoft-office-lock-in-cost-the-uk-government-500-million/index.htm</a>
2971 comment:</p>
2972
2973 <p><blockquote>"They're all in Danish, not unreasonably, but even
2974 with the help of Google Translate I can't find any figures about the
2975 savings of "moving to a flexible two standard" as claimed by the
2976 Microsoft email. But I assume it is backed up somewhere, so let's take
2977 it, and the £500 million figure for the UK, on trust."
2978 </blockquote></p>
2979
2980 <p>I can tell you that the Danish reports are inflated.  I believe it is
2981 the same reports that were used in the Norwegian debate around 2007,
2982 and Gisle Hannemyr (a well known IT commentator in Norway) had a look
2983 at the content.  In short, the reason it is claimed that using ODF
2984 will be so costly, is based on the assumption that this mean every
2985 existing document need to be converted from one of the MS Office
2986 formats to ODF, transferred to the receiver, and converted back from
2987 ODF to one of the MS Office formats, and that the conversion will cost
2988 10 minutes of work time for both the sender and the receiver.  In
2989 reality the sender would have a tool capable of saving to ODF, and the
2990 receiver would have a tool capable of reading it, and the time spent
2991 would at most be a few seconds for saving and loading, not 20 minutes
2992 of wasted effort.</p>
2993
2994 <p>Microsoft claimed all these costs were saved by allowing people to
2995 transfer the original files from MS Office instead of spending 10
2996 minutes converting to ODF. :)</p>
2997
2998 <p>See
2999 <a href="http://hannemyr.com/no/ms12_vl02.php">http://hannemyr.com/no/ms12_vl02.php</a>
3000 and
3001 <a href="http://hannemyr.com/no/ms12.php">http://hannemyr.com/no/ms12.php</a>
3002 for background information.  Norwegian only, sorry. :)</p>
3003 </blockquote></p>
3004
3005       </div>
3006       <div class="tags">
3007
3008
3009         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/standard">standard</a>.
3010
3011
3012       </div>
3013     </div>
3014     <div class="padding"></div>
3015
3016     <div class="entry">
3017       <div class="title">
3018         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/ColorHug___USB_and_free_software_based_screen_color_calibration.html">ColorHug - USB and free software based screen color calibration</a>
3019       </div>
3020       <div class="date">
3021         18th May 2012
3022       </div>
3023       <div class="body">
3024         <p>In january, I
3025 <a href="http://blog.cihar.com/archives/2012/01/17/colorhug-has-arrived/">discovered
3026 the ColorHug</a>, a USB dongle from
3027 <a href="http://www.hughski.com/index.html">Hughski</a> to calibrate
3028 the color on a computer screen.  The software required is
3029 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/c/colorhug-client.html">included
3030 in Debian</a>, and I decided back then to preorder from the next
3031 batch.  Yesterday I finally heard back from them, and got the
3032 opportunity to order.  Today I ordered mine, and eagerly await the
3033 delivery.  I hope it arrive next week, as I got a confirmation that it
3034 should go in the mail on monday. :)</p>
3035
3036 <p>If you want to ensure the colors on the screen match the intended
3037 colors, I suggest you check out this cheap tool with free software
3038 drivers. :)</p>
3039
3040       </div>
3041       <div class="tags">
3042
3043
3044         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
3045
3046
3047       </div>
3048     </div>
3049     <div class="padding"></div>
3050
3051     <div class="entry">
3052       <div class="title">
3053         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__J_rgen_Leibner.html">Debian Edu interview: Jürgen Leibner</a>
3054       </div>
3055       <div class="date">
3056         13th May 2012
3057       </div>
3058       <div class="body">
3059         <p>It has been a few busy weeks for me, but I am finally back to
3060 publish another interview with the people behind
3061 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu and Skolelinux</a>.
3062 This time it is one of our German developers, who have helped out over the
3063 years to make sure both a lot of major but also a lot of the minor
3064 details get right before release.
3065
3066 <p><strong>Who are you, and how do you spend your days?</strong></p>
3067
3068 <p>My name is Jürgen Leibner, I'm 49 years old and living in
3069 Bielefeld, a town in northern Germany.  I worked nearly 20 years as
3070 certified engineer in the department for plant design and layout of an
3071 international company for machinery and equipment.  Since 2011 I'm a
3072 certified technical writer (tekom e.V.) and doing technical
3073 documentations for a steam turbine manufacturer.  From April this year
3074 I will manage the department of technical documentation at a
3075 manufacturer of automation and assembly line engineering.</p>
3076
3077 <p>My first contact with linux was around 1993. Since that time I used
3078 it at work and at home repeatedly but not exclusively as I do now at
3079 home since 2006.</p>
3080
3081 <p><strong>How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux/Debian Edu
3082 project?</strong></p>
3083
3084 <p>Once a day in the early year of 2001 when I wanted to fetch my
3085 daughter from primary school, there was a teacher sitting in the
3086 middle of 20 old computers trying to boot them and he failed. I helped
3087 him to get them booting. That was seen by the school director and she
3088 asked me if I would like to manage that the school gets all that old
3089 computers in use. I answered: "Yes".</p>
3090
3091 <p>Some weeks later every of the 10 classrooms had one computer
3092 running Windows98. I began to collect old computers and equipment as
3093 gifts and installed the first computer room with a peer-to-peer
3094 network. I did my work at school without being payed in my spare time
3095 and with a lot of fun.  About one year later the school was connected
3096 to Internet and a local area network was installed in the school
3097 building.  That was the time to have a server and I knew it must be a
3098 Linux server to be able to fulfil all the wishes of the teachers and
3099 being able to do this in a transparent and economic way, without extra
3100 costs for things like licence and software.  So I searched for a
3101 school server system running under Linux and I found a couple of
3102 people nearby who founded 'skolelinux.de'. It was the Skolelinux
3103 prerelease 32 I first tried out for being used at the school.  I
3104 managed the IT of that school until the municipal authority took over
3105 the IT management and centralised the services for all schools in
3106 Bielefeld in December of 2006.</p>
3107
3108 <p><strong>What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux/Debian
3109 Edu?</strong></p>
3110
3111 <p>When I'm looking back to the beginning, there were other advantages
3112 for me as today.</p>
3113
3114 <p>In the past there were advantages like:</p>
3115
3116 <p><ul>
3117
3118 <li>I don't need to buy it so it generates no costs to the school as
3119 they had little money to spent for computers and software.</li>
3120
3121 <li>It has a licence which grands all rights to use it without
3122 cost.</li>
3123
3124 <li>It was more able to fit all requirements of a server system for
3125 schools than a Microsoft server system, even if there are only Windows
3126 clients because of it's preconfigured overall concept of being a
3127 infrastructure solution and community for schools, not only a
3128 server</li>
3129
3130 <li>I was able to configure the server to the needs of the
3131 school.</li>
3132
3133 </ul></p>
3134
3135 <p>Today some of the advantages has been lost, changed or new ones
3136 came up in this way:</p>
3137
3138 <p><ul>
3139
3140 <li>Most schools here do have money to buy hardware and software
3141 now.</li>
3142
3143 <li>They are today mostly managed from central IT departments which
3144 have own concepts which often do not fit to Debian Edu concepts
3145 because they are to close to Microsoft ideology.</li>
3146
3147 <li>With the Squeeze version of Debian Edu which now uses GOsa² for
3148 management I feel more able to manage the daily tasks than with the
3149 interfaces used in the past.</li>
3150
3151 <li>It is more modular than in the past and fits even better to the
3152 different needs.</li>
3153
3154 <li>The documentation is usable and gets better every day.</li>
3155
3156 <li>More people than ever before are using Debian Edu all over the
3157 world and so the community, which is an very important part I think,
3158 is sharing knowledge and minds.</li>
3159
3160 <li>Most, maybe all, of the technical requirements for schools are
3161 solved today by Debian Edu. </li>
3162
3163 </ul></p>
3164
3165 <p><strong>What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux/Debian
3166 Edu?</strong></p>
3167
3168 <p><ul>
3169
3170 <li>There are too few IT companies able to integrate Debian Edu into
3171 their product portfolio for serving schools with concepts or even
3172 whole municipality areas.</li>
3173
3174 <li>Debian Edu has beside other free and open software projects not
3175 enough lobbyists which promote free and open software to
3176 politicians.</li>
3177
3178 <li>Technically there are no disadvantages I'm aware of.</li>
3179
3180 </ul></p>
3181
3182 <p><strong>Which free software do you use daily?</strong></p>
3183
3184 <p>I use Debian stable on my home server and on my little desktop
3185 computer. On my laptop I use Debian testing/sid. The applications I
3186 use on my laptop and my desktop are Open/Libre-office, Iceweasel,
3187 KMail, DigiKam, Amarok, Dolphin, okular and all the other programs I
3188 need from the KDE environment.  On console I use newsbeuter, mutt,
3189 screen, irssi and all the other famous and useful tools.</p>
3190
3191 <p>My home server provides mail services with exim, dovecot, roundcube
3192 and mutt over ssh on the console, file services with samba, NFS,
3193 rsync, web services with apache, moinmoin-wiki, multimedia services
3194 with gallery2 and mediatomb and database services with MySQL for me
3195 and the whole family.  I probably forgot something.</p>
3196
3197 <p><strong>Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to
3198 get schools to use free software?</strong></p>
3199
3200 <p>I believe, we should provide concepts for IT companies to integrate
3201 Debian Edu into their product portfolio with use cases for different
3202 countries and areas all over the world.</p>
3203
3204       </div>
3205       <div class="tags">
3206
3207
3208         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/intervju">intervju</a>.
3209
3210
3211       </div>
3212     </div>
3213     <div class="padding"></div>
3214
3215     <div class="entry">
3216       <div class="title">
3217         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Cutting_it_short___and_picking_the_right_tool_for_the_job.html">Cutting it short - and picking the right tool for the job</a>
3218       </div>
3219       <div class="date">
3220         30th April 2012
3221       </div>
3222       <div class="body">
3223         <p><!-- IMG_5869.JPG -->
3224 <img src="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/panasonic-er-1611.jpeg"></p>
3225
3226 <p>I normally cut my hair short, and my tool of choice has been a
3227 common hair/beard cutter, bought in a electrical shop here in Norway.
3228 But the last ones have not really been up to the task.  My last
3229 cutter, some model from Braun, could only cut a few of my hairs at the
3230 time, and cutting my head took forever.  And the one before that did
3231 not work very well either.  We have looked for something better for a
3232 while, but it was not until I ended up visiting a hairdresser that we
3233 discovered that there are indeed better tools available.  But these
3234 are not marketed and sold to "regular consumers".  The hair saloons
3235 can get them through their suppliers, but their suppliers only sell
3236 companies.  The models they sell, are very different from the ones
3237 available from Elkjøp and Lefdal.  The main difference is their
3238 efficiency.  It would cut my hair in 5 minutes, instead of the 30-40
3239 minutes required by my impotent Braun.  The hairdresser I visited had
3240 a Panasonic ER160, which unfortunately is no longer available from the
3241 producer.  But I found it had a successor, the Panasonic ER1611.</p>
3242
3243 <p>The next step was to find somewhere to buy it.  This was not
3244 straight forward.  The list of suppliers I got from the hairdresser
3245 did not want to sell anything to me.  But searching for the model on
3246 the web we found a supplier in Norway willing to sell it to us for
3247 around NOK 4000,-.  This was a bit much.  We kept searching and
3248 finally found a Danish supplier
3249 <a href="http://nicehair.dk/panasonic-er-1611-professionel-hartrimmer.html">selling
3250 it for around NOK 1800,-</a>.  We ordered one, and it arrived a few
3251 days ago.</p>
3252
3253 <p>The instructions said it had to charge for 8 hours when we started
3254 to use it, so we left it charging over night.  Normally it will only
3255 need one hour to charge.  The following evening we successfully tested
3256 it, and I can warmly recommend it to anyone looking for a real hair
3257 cutter.  The ones we have used until now have been hair cutter
3258 toys.</p>
3259
3260       </div>
3261       <div class="tags">
3262
3263
3264         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
3265
3266
3267       </div>
3268     </div>
3269     <div class="padding"></div>
3270
3271     <div class="entry">
3272       <div class="title">
3273         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/HTC_One_X___Your_video___What_do_you_mean_.html">HTC One X - Your video?  What do you mean?</a>
3274       </div>
3275       <div class="date">
3276         26th April 2012
3277       </div>
3278       <div class="body">
3279         <p>In <a href="http://www.idg.no/computerworld/article243690.ece">an
3280 article today</a> published by Computerworld Norway, the photographer
3281 <a href="http://www.urke.com/eirik/">Eirik Helland Urke</a> reports
3282 that the video editor application included with
3283 <a href="http://www.htc.com/www/smartphones/htc-one-x/#specs">HTC One
3284 X</a> have some quite surprising terms of use.  The article is mostly
3285 based on the twitter message from mister Urke, stating:
3286
3287 <p><blockquote>
3288 "<a href="http://twitter.com/urke/status/194062269724897280">Drøy
3289 brukeravtale: HTC kan bruke MINE redigerte videoer kommersielt. Selv
3290 kan jeg KUN bruke dem privat.</a>"
3291 </blockquote></p>
3292
3293 <p>I quickly translated it to this English message:</p>
3294
3295 <p><blockquote>
3296 "Arrogant user agreement: HTC can use MY edited videos
3297 commercially.  Although I can ONLY use them privately."
3298 </blockquote></p>
3299
3300 <p>I've been unable to find the text of the license term myself, but
3301 suspect it is a variation of the MPEG-LA terms I
3302 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Terms_of_use_for_video_produced_by_a_Canon_IXUS_130_digital_camera.html">discovered
3303 with my Canon IXUS 130</a>.  The HTC One X specification specifies that
3304 the recording format of the phone is .amr for audio and .mp3 for
3305 video.  AMR is
3306 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adaptive_Multi-Rate_audio_codec#Licensing_and_patent_issues">Adaptive
3307 Multi-Rate audio codec</a> with patents which according to the
3308 Wikipedia article require an license agreement with
3309 <a href="http://www.voiceage.com/">VoiceAge</a>.  MP4 is
3310 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H.264/MPEG-4_AVC#Patent_licensing">MPEG4 with
3311 H.264</a>, which according to Wikipedia require a licence agreement
3312 with <a href="http://www.mpegla.com/">MPEG-LA</a>.</p>
3313
3314 <p>I know why I prefer
3315 <a href="http://www.digistan.org/open-standard:definition">free and open
3316 standards</a> also for video.</p>
3317
3318       </div>
3319       <div class="tags">
3320
3321
3322         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/digistan">digistan</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/multimedia">multimedia</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/personvern">personvern</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/standard">standard</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/video">video</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/web">web</a>.
3323
3324
3325       </div>
3326     </div>
3327     <div class="padding"></div>
3328
3329     <div class="entry">
3330       <div class="title">
3331         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/RAND_terms___non_reasonable_and_discriminatory.html">RAND terms - non-reasonable and discriminatory</a>
3332       </div>
3333       <div class="date">
3334         19th April 2012
3335       </div>
3336       <div class="body">
3337         <p>Here in Norway, the
3338 <a href="http://www.regjeringen.no/nb/dep/fad.html?id=339"> Ministry of
3339 Government Administration, Reform and Church Affairs</a> is behind
3340 a <a href="http://standard.difi.no/forvaltningsstandarder">directory of
3341 standards</a> that are recommended or mandatory for use by the
3342 government.  When the directory was created, the people behind it made
3343 an effort to ensure that everyone would be able to implement the
3344 standards and compete on equal terms to supply software and solutions
3345 to the government.  Free software and non-free software could compete
3346 on the same level.</p>
3347
3348 <p>But recently, some standards with RAND
3349 (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reasonable_and_non-discriminatory_licensing">Reasonable
3350 And Non-Discriminatory</a>) terms have made their way into the
3351 directory.  And while this might not sound too bad, the fact is that
3352 standard specifications with RAND terms often block free software from
3353 implementing them.  The reasonable part of RAND mean that the cost per
3354 user/unit is low,and the non-discriminatory part mean that everyone
3355 willing to pay will get a license.  Both sound great in theory.  In
3356 practice, to get such license one need to be able to count users, and
3357 be able to pay a small amount of money per unit or user.  By
3358 definition, users of free software do not need to register their use.
3359 So counting users or units is not possible for free software projects.
3360 And given that people will use the software without handing any money
3361 to the author, it is not really economically possible for a free
3362 software author to pay a small amount of money to license the rights
3363 to implement a standard when the income available is zero.  The result
3364 in these situations is that free software are locked out from
3365 implementing standards with RAND terms.</p>
3366
3367 <p>Because of this, when I see someone claiming the terms of a
3368 standard is reasonable and non-discriminatory, all I can think of is
3369 how this really is non-reasonable and discriminatory.  Because free
3370 software developers are working in a global market, it does not really
3371 help to know that software patents are not supposed to be enforceable
3372 in Norway.  The patent regimes in other countries affect us even here.
3373 I really hope the people behind the standard directory will pay more
3374 attention to these issues in the future.</p>
3375
3376 <p>You can find more on the issues with RAND, FRAND and RAND-Z terms
3377 from Simon Phipps
3378 (<a href="http://blogs.computerworlduk.com/simon-says/2010/11/rand-not-so-reasonable/">RAND:
3379 Not So Reasonable?</a>).</p>
3380
3381 <p>Update 2012-04-21: Just came across a
3382 <a href="http://blogs.computerworlduk.com/open-enterprise/2012/04/of-microsoft-netscape-patents-and-open-standards/index.htm">blog
3383 post from Glyn Moody</a> over at Computer World UK warning about the
3384 same issue, and urging people to speak out to the UK government.  I
3385 can only urge Norwegian users to do the same for
3386 <a href="http://www.standard.difi.no/hoyring/hoyring-om-nye-anbefalte-it-standarder">the
3387 hearing taking place at the moment</a> (respond before 2012-04-27).
3388 It proposes to require video conferencing standards including
3389 specifications with RAND terms.</p>
3390
3391       </div>
3392       <div class="tags">
3393
3394
3395         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/multimedia">multimedia</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/standard">standard</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/video">video</a>.
3396
3397
3398       </div>
3399     </div>
3400     <div class="padding"></div>
3401
3402     <div class="entry">
3403       <div class="title">
3404         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__Andreas_Mundt.html">Debian Edu interview: Andreas Mundt</a>
3405       </div>
3406       <div class="date">
3407         15th April 2012
3408       </div>
3409       <div class="body">
3410         <p>Behind <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu and
3411 Skolelinux</a> there are a lot of people doing the hard work of
3412 setting together all the pieces.  This time I present to you Andreas
3413 Mundt, who have been part of the technical development team several
3414 years.  He was also a key contributor in getting GOsa and Kerberos set
3415 up in the recently released
3416 <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/Documentation/Squeeze">Debian
3417 Edu Squeeze</a> version.</p>
3418
3419 <p><strong>Who are you, and how do you spend your days?</strong></p>
3420
3421 <p>My name is Andreas Mundt, I grew up in south Germany.  After
3422 studying Physics I spent several years at university doing research in
3423 Quantum Optics.  After that I worked some years in an optics company.
3424 Finally I decided to turn over a new leaf in my life and started
3425 teaching 10 to 19 years old kids at school.  I teach math, physics,
3426 information technology and science/technology.</p>
3427
3428 <p><strong>How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux/Debian Edu
3429 project?</strong></p>
3430
3431 <p>Already before I switched to teaching, I followed the Debian Edu
3432 project because of my interest in education and Debian.  Within the
3433 qualification/training period for the teaching, I started
3434 contributing.</p>
3435
3436 <p><strong>What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux/Debian
3437 Edu?</strong></p>
3438
3439 <p>The advantages of Debian Edu are the well known name, the
3440 out-of-the-box philosophy and of course the great free software of the
3441 Debian Project!</p>
3442
3443 <p><strong>What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux/Debian
3444 Edu?</strong></p>
3445
3446 <p>As every coin has two sides, the out-of-the-box philosophy has its
3447 downside, too.  In my opinion, it is hard to modify and tweak the
3448 setup, if you need or want that.  Further more, it is not easily
3449 possible to upgrade the system to a new release.  It takes much too
3450 long after a Debian release to prepare the -Edu release, perhaps
3451 because the number of developers working on the core of the code is
3452 rather small and often busy elsewhere.</p>
3453
3454 <p>The <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianLAN">Debian LAN</a>
3455 project might fill the use case of a more flexible system.</p>
3456
3457 <p><strong>Which free software do you use daily?</strong></p>
3458
3459 <p>I am only using non-free software if I am forced to and run Debian
3460 on all my machines.  For documents I prefer LaTeX and PGF/TikZ, then
3461 mutt and iceweasel for email respectively web browsing.  At school I
3462 have Arduino and Fritzing in use for a micro controller project.</p>
3463
3464 <p><strong>Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to
3465 get schools to use free software?</strong></p>
3466
3467 <p>One of the major problems is the vendor lock-in from top to bottom:
3468 Especially in combination with ignorant government employees and
3469 politicians, this works out great for the "market-leader".  The school
3470 administration here in Baden-Wuerttemberg is occupied by that vendor.
3471 Documents have to be prepared in non-free, proprietary formats.  Even
3472 free browsers do not work for the school administration.  Publishers
3473 of school books provide software only for proprietary platforms.</p>
3474
3475 <p>To change this, political work is very important.  Parts of the
3476 political spectrum have become aware of the problem in the last years.
3477 However it takes quite some time and courageous politicians to 'free'
3478 the system.  There is currently some discussion about "Open Data" and
3479 "Free/Open Standards".  I am not sure if all the involved parties have
3480 a clue about the potential of these ideas, and probably only a
3481 fraction takes them seriously.  However it might slowly make free
3482 software and the philosophy behind it more known and popular.</p>
3483
3484       </div>
3485       <div class="tags">
3486
3487
3488         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/intervju">intervju</a>.
3489
3490
3491       </div>
3492     </div>
3493     <div class="padding"></div>
3494
3495     <div class="entry">
3496       <div class="title">
3497         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__Justin_B__Rye.html">Debian Edu interview: Justin B. Rye</a>
3498       </div>
3499       <div class="date">
3500          8th April 2012
3501       </div>
3502       <div class="body">
3503         <p>It take all kind of contributions to create a Linux distribution
3504 like <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / Skolelinux</a>,
3505 and this time I lend the ear to Justin B. Rye, who is listed as a big
3506 contributor to the
3507 <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/Documentation/Squeeze">Debian
3508 Edu Squeeze release manual</a>.
3509
3510 <p><strong>Who are you, and how do you spend your days?</strong></p>
3511
3512 <p>I'm a 44-year-old linguistics graduate living in Edinburgh who has
3513 occasionally been employed as a sysadmin.</p>
3514
3515 <p><strong>How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux/Debian Edu
3516 project?</strong></p>
3517
3518 <p>I'm neither a developer nor a Skolelinux/Debian Edu user!  The only
3519 reason my name's in the credits for the documentation is that I hang
3520 around on debian-l10n-english waiting for people to mention things
3521 they'd like a native English speaker to proofread...  So I did a sweep
3522 through the wiki for typos and Norglish and inconsistent spellings of
3523 "localisation".</p>
3524
3525 <p><strong>What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux/Debian
3526 Edu?</strong></p>
3527
3528 <p><strong>What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux/Debian
3529 Edu?</strong></p>
3530
3531 <p>These questions are too hard for me - I don't use it!  In fact I
3532 had hardly any contact with I.T. until long after I'd got out of the
3533 education system.</p>
3534
3535 <p>I can tell you the advantages of Debian for me though: it soaks up
3536 as much of my free time as I want and no more, and lets me do
3537 everything I want a computer for without ever forcing me to spend
3538 money on the latest hardware.</p>
3539
3540 <p><strong>Which free software do you use daily?</strong></p>
3541
3542 <p>I've been using Debian since Rex; popularity-contest says the
3543 software that I use most is xinit, xterm, and xulrunner (in other
3544 words, I use a distinctly retro sort of desktop).</p>
3545
3546 <p><strong>Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to
3547 get schools to use free software?</strong></p>
3548
3549 <p>Well, I don't know.  I suppose I'd be inclined to try reasoning
3550 with the people who make the decisions, but obviously if that worked
3551 you would hardly need a strategy.</p>
3552
3553       </div>
3554       <div class="tags">
3555
3556
3557         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/intervju">intervju</a>.
3558
3559
3560       </div>
3561     </div>
3562     <div class="padding"></div>
3563
3564     <div class="entry">
3565       <div class="title">
3566         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Why_the_KDE_menu_is_slow_when__usr__is_NFS_mounted___and_a_workaround.html">Why the KDE menu is slow when /usr/ is NFS mounted - and a workaround</a>
3567       </div>
3568       <div class="date">
3569          6th April 2012
3570       </div>
3571       <div class="body">
3572         <p>Recently I have spent time with
3573 <a href="http://www.slxdrift.no/">Skolelinux Drift AS</a> on speeding
3574 up a <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / Skolelinux</a>
3575 Lenny installation using LTSP diskless workstations, and in the
3576 process I discovered something very surprising.  The reason the KDE
3577 menu was responding slow when using it for the first time, was mostly
3578 due to the way KDE find application icons.  I discovered that showing
3579 the Multimedia menu would cause more than 20 000 IP packages to be
3580 passed between the LTSP client and the NFS server.  Most of these were
3581
3582 NFS LOOKUP calls, resulting in a NFS3ERR_NOENT response.  Because the
3583 ping times between the client and the server were in the range 2-20
3584 ms, the menus would be very slow.  Looking at the strace of kicker in
3585 Lenny (or plasma-desktop i Squeeze - same problem there), I see that
3586 the source of these NFS calls are access(2) system calls for
3587 non-existing files.  KDE can do hundreds of access(2) calls to find
3588 one icon file.  In my example, just finding the mplayer icon required
3589 around 230 access(2) calls.</p>
3590
3591 <p>The KDE code seem to search for icons using a list of icon
3592 directories, and the list of possible directories is large.  In
3593 (almost) each directory, it look for files ending in .png, .svgz, .svg
3594 and .xpm.  The result is a very slow KDE menu when /usr/ is NFS
3595 mounted.  Showing a single sub menu may result in thousands of NFS
3596 requests.  I am not the first one to discover this.  I found a
3597 <a href="https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=211416">KDE bug report
3598 from 2009</a> about this problem, and it is still unsolved.</p>
3599
3600 <p>My solution to speed up the KDE menu was to create a package
3601 kde-icon-cache that upon installation will look at all .desktop files
3602 used to generate the KDE menu, find their icons, search the icon paths
3603 for the file that KDE will end up finding at run time, and copying the
3604 icon file to /var/lib/kde-icon-cache/.  Finally, I add symlinks to
3605 these icon files in one of the first directories where KDE will look
3606 for them.  This cut down the number of file accesses required to find
3607 one icon from several hundred to less than 5, and make the KDE menu
3608 almost instantaneous.  I'm not quite sure where to make the package
3609 publicly available, so for now it is only available on request.</p>
3610
3611 <p>The bug report mention that this do not only affect the KDE menu
3612 and icon handling, but also the login process.  Not quite sure how to
3613 speed up that part without replacing NFS with for example NBD, and
3614 that is not really an option at the moment.</p>
3615
3616 <p>If you got feedback on this issue, please let us know on debian-edu
3617 (at) lists.debian.org.</p>
3618
3619       </div>
3620       <div class="tags">
3621
3622
3623         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
3624
3625
3626       </div>
3627     </div>
3628     <div class="padding"></div>
3629
3630     <div class="entry">
3631       <div class="title">
3632         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_in_the_Linux_Weekly_News.html">Debian Edu in the Linux Weekly News</a>
3633       </div>
3634       <div class="date">
3635          5th April 2012
3636       </div>
3637       <div class="body">
3638         <p>About two weeks ago, I was interviewed via email about
3639 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu and Skolelinux</a> by
3640 Bruce Byfield in Linux Weekly News.  The result was made public for
3641 non-subscribers today.  I am pleased to see liked our Linux solution
3642 for schools.  Check out his article
3643 <a href="https://lwn.net/Articles/488805/">Debian Edu/Skolelinux: A
3644 distribution for education</a> if you want to learn more.</p>
3645
3646       </div>
3647       <div class="tags">
3648
3649
3650         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
3651
3652
3653       </div>
3654     </div>
3655     <div class="padding"></div>
3656
3657     <div class="entry">
3658       <div class="title">
3659         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__Wolfgang_Schweer.html">Debian Edu interview: Wolfgang Schweer</a>
3660       </div>
3661       <div class="date">
3662          1st April 2012
3663       </div>
3664       <div class="body">
3665         <p>Germany is a core area for the
3666 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu and Skolelinux</a>
3667 user community, and this time I managed to get hold of Wolfgang
3668 Schweer, a valuable contributor to the project from Germany.
3669
3670 <p><strong>Who are you, and how do you spend your days?</strong></p>
3671
3672 <p>I've studied Mathematics at the university 'Ruhr-Universität' in
3673 Bochum, Germany. Since 1981 I'm working as a teacher at the school
3674 "<a href="http://www.westfalenkolleg-dortmund.de/">Westfalen-Kolleg
3675 Dortmund</a>", a second chance school.  Here, young adults is given
3676 the opportunity to get further education in order to do the school
3677 examination 'Abitur', which will allow to study at a university. This
3678 second chance is of value for those who want a better job perspective
3679 or failed to get a higher school examination being teens.</p>
3680
3681 <p>Besides teaching I was involved in developing online courses for a
3682 blended learning project called 'abitur-online.nrw' and in some other
3683 information technology related projects. For about ten years I've been
3684 teacher and coordinator for the 'abitur-online' project at my
3685 school. Being now in my early sixties, I've decided to leave school at
3686 the end of April this year.</p>
3687
3688 <p><strong>How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux/Debian Edu
3689 project?</strong></p>
3690
3691 <p>The first information about Skolelinux must have come to my
3692 attention years ago and somehow related to LTSP (Linux Terminal Server
3693 Project).  At school, we had set up a network at the beginning of 1997
3694 using Suse Linux on the desktop, replacing a Novell network. Since
3695 2002, we used old machines from the city council of Dortmund as thin
3696 clients (LTSP, later Ubuntu/Lessdisks) cause new hardware was out of
3697 reach. At home I'm using Debian since years and - subscribed to the
3698 Debian news letter - heard from time to time about Skolelinux. About
3699 two years ago I proposed to replace the (somehow undocumented and only
3700 known to me) system at school by a well known Debian based system:
3701 Skolelinux.</p>
3702
3703 <p>Students and teachers appreciated the new system because of a
3704 better look and feel and an enhanced access to local media on thin
3705 clients.  The possibility to alter and/or reset passwords using a GUI
3706 was welcomed, too. Being able to do administrative tasks using a GUI
3707 and to easily set up workstations using PXE was of very high value for
3708 the admin teachers.</p>
3709
3710 <p><strong>What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux/Debian
3711 Edu?</strong></p>
3712
3713 <p>It's open source, easy to set up, stable and flexible due to it's
3714 Debian base. It integrates LTSP out-of-the-box. And it is documented!
3715 So it was a perfect choice.</p>
3716
3717 <p>Being open source, there are no license problems and so it's
3718 possible to point teachers and students to programs like
3719 OpenOffice.org, ViewYourMind (mind mapping) and The Gimp.  It's of
3720 high value to be able to adapt parts of the system to special needs of
3721 a school and to choose where to get support for this.</p>
3722
3723 <p><strong>What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux/Debian
3724 Edu?</strong></p>
3725
3726 <p>Nothing yet.</p>
3727
3728 <p><strong>Which free software do you use daily?</strong></p>
3729
3730 <p>At home (Debian Sid with Gnome Desktop): Iceweasel, LibreOffice,
3731 Mutt, Gedit, Document Viewer, Midnight Commander, flpsed (PDF
3732 Annotator).  At school (Skolelinux Lenny): Iceweasel, Gedit,
3733 LibreOffice.</p>
3734
3735 <p><strong>Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to
3736 get schools to use free software?</strong></p>
3737
3738 <p>Some time ago I thought it was enough to tell people about it. But
3739 that doesn't seem to work quite well. Now I concentrate on those more
3740 interested and hope to get multiplicators that way.</p>
3741
3742       </div>
3743       <div class="tags">
3744
3745
3746         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/intervju">intervju</a>.
3747
3748
3749       </div>
3750     </div>
3751     <div class="padding"></div>
3752
3753     <div class="entry">
3754       <div class="title">
3755         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_screencast__Checking_email_with_kmail_using_Kerberos_authentication.html">Debian Edu screencast: Checking email with kmail using Kerberos authentication</a>
3756       </div>
3757       <div class="date">
3758         25th March 2012
3759       </div>
3760       <div class="body">
3761         <!-- Video HTML based on http://www.diveintohtml5.net/video.html -->
3762
3763 <p>The same Debian Edu developer that did the last screen cast I
3764 published, Wolfgang Schweer, has created a new screen cast showing how
3765 to set up Kmail in Debian Edu Squeze to authenticate using Kerberos,
3766 allowing users to check their local email account without providing
3767 any password. The video is embedded here in quarter size,
3768 and also available from <a href="https://vimeo.com/38601767">vimeo</a>
3769 and download as a
3770 <a href="http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux/press/screencasts/2012-03-14-Debian-Edu_Configure_Kmail_for_internal_usage.ogv">Ogg
3771 Theora</a> file.  Check it out below.</p>
3772
3773 <p><video id="kmail-kerberos-movie" width="256" height="184" preload controls>
3774   <source src="http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux/press/screencasts/2012-03-14-Debian-Edu_Configure_Kmail_for_internal_usage.ogv" type='video/ogg; codecs="theora, vorbis"' />
3775     <p>Download video as
3776       <a href="http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux/press/screencasts/2012-03-14-Debian-Edu_Configure_Kmail_for_internal_usage.ogv">Ogg</a>.</p>
3777 </video></p>
3778
3779       </div>
3780       <div class="tags">
3781
3782
3783         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
3784
3785
3786       </div>
3787     </div>
3788     <div class="padding"></div>
3789
3790     <div class="entry">
3791       <div class="title">
3792         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__John_Ingleby.html">Debian Edu interview: John Ingleby</a>
3793       </div>
3794       <div class="date">
3795         19th March 2012
3796       </div>
3797       <div class="body">
3798         <p><a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / Skolelinux</a>
3799 users are spread all across the globe.  The second inteview after
3800 <a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-edu-announce/2012/03/msg00001.html">the
3801 Squeeze release</a> was publised is with John Ingleby, a teacher and
3802 long time Linux user in United Kingdom.</p>
3803
3804 <p><strong>Who are you, and how do you spend your days?</strong></p>
3805
3806 <p>I teach ICT part time at the Rudolf Steiner School in Kings
3807 Langley, near London, UK. Previously I worked as a technical
3808 author/trainer while my children attended the school, and I also
3809 contributed to the Schoolforge UK community with the aim of
3810 encouraging UK schools to adopt free/open source software. Five or six
3811 years ago we had about 50 schools interested in some way, but we
3812 weren't able to convert many of them into sustainable
3813 installations.</p>
3814
3815 <p><strong>How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux/Debian Edu
3816 project?</strong></p>
3817
3818 <p>Skolelinux had two representatives at an early Edubuntu meeting in
3819 London which I attended. However at that time our school network had
3820 just been installed using CentOS, LTSP 4 and GNOME. When LTSP 5 came
3821 along we switched to Edubuntu thin client servers so now we have a
3822 mixed environment which includes Windows PCs and student laptops, as
3823 well as their MacBooks and iPads. However, the proprietary systems
3824 have always been rather problematic, and we never built a GUI for the
3825 LDAP server, so when I discovered Skolelinux is configured for all
3826 these things we decided to try it.</p>
3827
3828 <p><strong>What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux/Debian
3829 Edu?</strong></p>
3830
3831 <p>By far the biggest advantage is the Debian Edu community. Apart
3832 from that I have always believed in the same "sustainable computing"
3833 goals that Skolelinux is built on: installing Linux on computers which
3834 would otherwise be thrown away, to provide a reliable, secure and
3835 low-cost IT environment for schools. From my own experience I know
3836 that a part-time person can teach and manage a network of about 25
3837 Linux computers, but it would take much more of my time if we had
3838 proprietary software everywhere.</p>
3839
3840 <p><strong>What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux/Debian
3841 Edu?</strong></p>
3842
3843 <p>As a newcomer I'm just finding out who's who in the community and
3844 how you're organised, and what your procedures are for dealing with
3845 various things such as editing manual pages and so-on. The only
3846 English language mailing list seems to be for developers as well as
3847 users, so my inbox needs heavy pruning each day!</p>
3848
3849 <p><strong>Which free software do you use daily?</strong></p>
3850
3851 <p>Besides the software already mentioned at school we use Samba,
3852 OpenLDAP, CUPS, Nagios and Dansguardian for the network, and on the
3853 desktops we have LibreOffice, Firefox, GIMP and Inkscape. At home I
3854 use Ubuntu and an Android 4 eePad Transformer (but I'm not sure if
3855 that counts...)</p>
3856
3857 <p><strong>Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to
3858 get schools to use free software?</strong></p>
3859
3860 <p>That's a tough question! For very many years UK schools installed
3861 and taught only proprietary software, so that at the highest levels
3862 the notion of "computer" means simply "proprietary office
3863 applications".  However, schools today are experiencing budget
3864 constraints, and many are having to think hard about upgrading Windows
3865 XP.  At the same time, we have students showing teachers how to use
3866 iPads, MacBooks and Android, so the choice of operating system is no
3867 longer quite so automatic. What is more, our government at last
3868 realised that we need people with programming skills, so they're
3869 putting coding back in the curriculum! And it's encouraging that the
3870 first 10,000 Raspberry Pi units sold out in 2 hours.</p>
3871
3872 <p>I don't really know what strategy is going to get UK schools to use
3873 free software, but building an active community of Skolelinux/Debian
3874 Edu users in this country has to be part of it.</p>
3875
3876       </div>
3877       <div class="tags">
3878
3879
3880         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/intervju">intervju</a>.
3881
3882
3883       </div>
3884     </div>
3885     <div class="padding"></div>
3886
3887     <div class="entry">
3888       <div class="title">
3889         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Writing_and_translating_documentation_in_Debian_Edu.html">Writing and translating documentation in Debian Edu</a>
3890       </div>
3891       <div class="date">
3892         16th March 2012
3893       </div>
3894       <div class="body">
3895         <p>Documentation in Debian Edu is provided in several languages, and
3896 it is important to make it both easy to contribute and to keep the
3897 translated versions in sync.  To do this we have come up with what we
3898 believe is a very efficient work flow.</p>
3899
3900 <ol>
3901
3902 <li>The documentation is written in a
3903 <a href="http://moinmo.in">moinmoin wiki</a> (see for example
3904 <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/Documentation/Squeeze">the
3905 Squeeze release manual</a>) with support for exporting the content as
3906 docbook XML.</li>
3907
3908 <li>This docbook document is given to po4a to extract a gettext style
3909 .pot file with the content, which in turn is used to create .po files
3910 with the translated text.</li>
3911
3912 <li>The .po files are given to translators, and they can always tell
3913 which part of the original wiki document is new or changed.  They can
3914 use their normal translation tools like lokalize or poedit to write
3915 the translation.  There is even a system in place to handle translated
3916 images.</li>
3917
3918 <li>The translated .po files are combined with the original docbook
3919 XML document using po4a to create a translated docbook document.</li>
3920
3921 <li>The final step is to use all the generated docbook files and
3922 create PDF and HTML version of the original and translated documents.</li>
3923
3924 </ol>
3925
3926 <p>This setup work very well, but have a few issues.  The biggest
3927 issue is that <a href="http://moinmo.in/DocBook">the docbook support
3928 we use in moinmoin</a> is not actively maintained.  The docbook
3929 support is also buggy, and our build system contain workarounds to
3930 make sure the generated docbook is usable despite these bugs.</p>
3931
3932 <p>If you want to have a look at our setup, it is all there in the
3933 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/debian-edu-doc">debian-edu-doc
3934 package</a>.</p>
3935
3936       </div>
3937       <div class="tags">
3938
3939
3940         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
3941
3942
3943       </div>
3944     </div>
3945     <div class="padding"></div>
3946
3947     <div class="entry">
3948       <div class="title">
3949         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Skolelinux___Debian_Edu_Squeeze_is_out_.html">Skolelinux / Debian Edu Squeeze is out!</a>
3950       </div>
3951       <div class="date">
3952         11th March 2012
3953       </div>
3954       <div class="body">
3955         <p>This weekend we finally published the first stable release of
3956 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Skolelinux / Debian Edu</a> based
3957 on Debian/Squeeze.  The full announcement is
3958 <a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-edu-announce/2012/03/msg00001.html">available</a>
3959 from the project announcement list.  Now is a good time to test if it
3960 you have not done so already.</p>
3961
3962 <p>I plan to present the new version at
3963 <a href="http://www.nuug.no/aktiviteter/20120313-skolelinux/">a NUUG
3964 meeting</a> on tuesday.  I look forward to seeing you there if you are
3965 in Oslo, Norway.</p>
3966
3967       </div>
3968       <div class="tags">
3969
3970
3971         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
3972
3973
3974       </div>
3975     </div>
3976     <div class="padding"></div>
3977
3978     <div class="entry">
3979       <div class="title">
3980         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__Nigel_Barker.html">Debian Edu interview: Nigel Barker</a>
3981       </div>
3982       <div class="date">
3983          9th March 2012
3984       </div>
3985       <div class="body">
3986         <p>Inspired by <a href="http://raphaelhertzog.com/tag/interview/">the
3987 interview series</a> conducted by Raphael, I started a Norwegian
3988 interview series with people involved in the Debian Edu / Skolelinux
3989 community.  This was so popular that I believe it is time to move to a
3990 more international audience.</p>
3991
3992 <p>While <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu and
3993 Skolelinux</a> originated in France and Norway, and have most users in
3994 Europe, there are users all around the globe.  One of those far away
3995 from me is Nigel Barker, a long time Debian Edu system administrator
3996 and contributor.  It is thanks to him that Debian Edu is adjusted to
3997 work out of the box in Japan.  I got him to answer a few questions,
3998 and am happy to share the response with you. :)
3999
4000
4001 <p><strong>Who are you, and how do you spend your days?</strong></p>
4002
4003 <p>My name is Nigel Barker, and I am British. I am married to Yumiko,
4004 and we have three lovely children, aged 15, 14 and 4(!) I am the IT
4005 Coordinator at Hiroshima International School, Japan. I am also a
4006 teacher, and in fact I spend most of my day teaching Mathematics,
4007 Science, IT, and Chemistry. I was originally a Chemistry teacher, but
4008 I have always had an interest in computers. Another teacher teaches
4009 primary school IT, but apart from that I am the only computer person,
4010 so that means I am the network manager, technician and webmaster,
4011 also, and I help people with their computer problems. I teach python
4012 to beginners in an after-school club. I am way too busy, so I really
4013 appreciate the simplicity of Skolelinux.</p>
4014
4015 <p><strong>How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux/Debian Edu
4016 project?</strong></p>
4017
4018 <p>In around 2004 or 5 I discovered the ltsp project, and set up a
4019 server in the IT lab. I wanted some way to connect it to our central
4020 samba server, which I was also quite poor at configuring. I discovered
4021 Edubuntu when it came out, but it didn't really improve my setup. I
4022 did various desperate searches for things like "school Linux server"
4023 and ended up in a document called "Drift" something or other. Reading
4024 there it became clear that Skolelinux was going to solve all my
4025 problems in one go. I was very excited, but apprehensive, because my
4026 previous attempts to install Debian had ended in failure (I used
4027 Mandrake for everything - ltsp, samba, apache, mail, ns...). I
4028 downloaded a beta version, had some problems, so subscribed to the
4029 Debian Edu list for help. I have remained subscribed ever since, and
4030 my school has run a Skolelinux network since Sarge.</p>
4031
4032 <p><strong>What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux/Debian
4033 Edu?</strong></p>
4034
4035 <p>For me the integrated setup. This is not just the server, or the
4036 workstation, or the ltsp. Its all of them, and its all configured
4037 ready to go. I read somewhere in the early documentation that it is
4038 designed to be setup and managed by the Maths or Science teacher, who
4039 doesn't necessarily know much about computers, in a small Norwegian
4040 school. That describes me perfectly if you replace Norway with
4041 Japan.</p>
4042
4043 <p><strong>What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux/Debian
4044 Edu?</strong></p>
4045
4046 <p>The desktop is fairly plain. If you compare it with Edubuntu, who
4047 have fun themes for children, or with distributions such as Mint, who
4048 make the desktop beautiful. They create a good impression on people
4049 who don't need to understand how to use any of it, but who might be
4050 important to the school. School administrators or directors, for
4051 instance, or parents. Even kids. Debian itself usually has ugly
4052 default theme settings. It was my dream a few years back that some
4053 kind of integration would allow Edubuntu to do the desktop stuff and
4054 Debian Edu the servers, but now I realise how impossible that is.  A
4055 second disadvantage is that if something goes wrong, or you need to
4056 customise something, then suddenly the level of expertise required
4057 multiplies. For example, backup wasn't working properly in Lenny. It
4058 took me ages to learn how to set up my own server to do rsync backups.
4059 I am afraid of anything to do with ldap, but perhaps Gosa will
4060 help.</p>
4061
4062 <p><strong>Which free software do you use daily?</strong></p>
4063
4064 <p>Nowadays I only use Debian on my personal computers. I have one for
4065 studio work (I play guitar and write songs), running AV Linux
4066 (customised Debian) a netbook running Squeeze, and a bigger laptop
4067 still running Skolelinux Lenny workstation. I have a Tjener in my
4068 house, that's very useful for the family photos and music.  At school
4069 the students only use Skolelinux. (Some teachers and the office still
4070 have windows). So that means we only use free software all day every
4071 day. Open office, The GIMP, Firefox/Iceweasel, VLC and Audacity are
4072 installed on every computer in school, irrespective of OS.  We also
4073 have Koha on Debian for the library, and Apache, Moodle, b2evolution
4074 and Etomite on Debian for the www. The firewall is Untangle.</p>
4075
4076 <p><strong>Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to
4077 get schools to use free software?</strong></p>
4078
4079 <p>Current trends are in our favour. Open source is big in industry,
4080 and ordinary people have heard of it. The spread of Android and the
4081 popularity of Apple have helped to weaken the impression that you have
4082 to have Microsoft on everything. People complain to me much less about
4083 file formats and Word than they did 5 years ago.  The Edu aspect is
4084 also a selling point. This is all customised for schools. Where is the
4085 Windows-edu, or the Mac-edu?  But of course the main attraction is
4086 budget.The trick is to convince people that the quality is not
4087 compromised when you stop paying and use free software instead. That
4088 is one reason why I say the desktop experience is a weakness. People
4089 are not impressed when their USB drive doesn't work, or their browser
4090 doesn't play flash, for example.</p>
4091
4092       </div>
4093       <div class="tags">
4094
4095
4096         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/intervju">intervju</a>.
4097
4098
4099       </div>
4100     </div>
4101     <div class="padding"></div>
4102
4103     <div class="entry">
4104       <div class="title">
4105         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_screencast__Mass_creation_of_user_accounts_in_Squeeze.html">Debian Edu screencast: Mass creation of user accounts in Squeeze</a>
4106       </div>
4107       <div class="date">
4108          7th March 2012
4109       </div>
4110       <div class="body">
4111         <!-- Video HTML based on http://www.diveintohtml5.net/video.html -->
4112
4113 <p>One of the Debian Edu developers, Wolfgang Schweer, just created a
4114 screen cast documenting how to create a lot of new users in LDAP on
4115 Debian Edu Squeeze.  The video is embedded here in quarter size, and
4116 also available from <a href="http://vimeo.com/37675399">vimeo</a> and
4117 download as a
4118 <a href="http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux/press/screencasts/2012-02-29-debian_edu_mass_create_user_accounts.ogv">Ogg
4119 Theora</a> file.  Check it out below.</p>
4120
4121 <p><video id="gosa-mass-user-create-movie" width="256" height="184" preload controls>
4122   <source src="http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux/press/screencasts/2012-02-29-debian_edu_mass_create_user_accounts.ogv" type='video/ogg; codecs="theora, vorbis"' />
4123     <p>Download video as
4124       <a href="http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux/press/screencasts/2012-02-29-debian_edu_mass_create_user_accounts.ogv">Ogg</a>.</p>
4125 </video></p>
4126
4127       </div>
4128       <div class="tags">
4129
4130
4131         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
4132
4133
4134       </div>
4135     </div>
4136     <div class="padding"></div>
4137
4138     <div class="entry">
4139       <div class="title">
4140         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Third_release_candidate_of_Debian_Edu___Skolelinux_based_on_Squeeze.html">Third release candidate of Debian Edu / Skolelinux based on Squeeze</a>
4141       </div>
4142       <div class="date">
4143          4th March 2012
4144       </div>
4145       <div class="body">
4146         <p>This weekend we wrapped up and published the third release
4147 candidate for <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu /
4148 Skolelinux</a> based on Squeeze.  The full announcement is
4149 <a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-edu-announce/2012/03/msg00000.html">available</a>
4150 from the project announcement list.  Check it out if you
4151 need a software solution for your school.</p>
4152
4153       </div>
4154       <div class="tags">
4155
4156
4157         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
4158
4159
4160       </div>
4161     </div>
4162     <div class="padding"></div>
4163
4164     <div class="entry">
4165       <div class="title">
4166         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Stopmotion_for_making_stop_motion_animations_on_Linux___reloaded.html">Stopmotion for making stop motion animations on Linux - reloaded</a>
4167       </div>
4168       <div class="date">
4169          3rd March 2012
4170       </div>
4171       <div class="body">
4172         <p>Many years ago, the <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Skolelinux
4173 / Debian Edu project</a> initiated a student project to create a tool
4174 for making stop motion movies.  The proposal came from a teacher
4175 needing such tool on Skolelinux.  The project, called "stopmotion",
4176 was manned by two extraordinary students and won a school award and a
4177 national aware with this great project.  The project was initiated and
4178 mentored by Herman Robak, and manned by the students Bjørn Erik Nilsen
4179 and Fredrik Berg Kjølstad.  They got in touch with people at Aardman
4180 Animation studio and received feedback on how professionals would like
4181 such stopmotion tool to work, and the end result was and is used by
4182 animators around the globe.  But as is usual after studying, both got
4183 jobs and went elsewhere, and did not have time to properly tend to the
4184 project, and it has been lingering for a few years now.  Until last
4185 year...</p>
4186
4187 <p>Last year some of the users got together with Herman, and moved the
4188 project to Sourceforge and in effect restarted the project under a new
4189 name,
4190 <a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/linuxstopmotion/">linuxstopmotion</a>.
4191 The name change was done to make it possible to find the project using
4192 Internet search engines (try to search for 'stopmotion' to see what I
4193 mean). I've been following
4194 <a href="https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/linuxstopmotion-community">the
4195 mailing list</a> and the improvement already in place and planned for
4196 the future is encouraging.  If you want to make stop motion movies.
4197 Check it out. :)</p>
4198
4199       </div>
4200       <div class="tags">
4201
4202
4203         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/video">video</a>.
4204
4205
4206       </div>
4207     </div>
4208     <div class="padding"></div>
4209
4210     <div class="entry">
4211       <div class="title">
4212         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Second_release_candidate_of_Debian_Edu___Skolelinux_based_on_Squeeze.html">Second release candidate of Debian Edu / Skolelinux based on Squeeze</a>
4213       </div>
4214       <div class="date">
4215         27th February 2012
4216       </div>
4217       <div class="body">
4218         <p>This weekend we wrapped up and published the second release
4219 candidate for <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu /
4220 Skolelinux</a> based on Squeeze.  The full announcement did for some
4221 reason not make it the project announcement list, but is
4222 <a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2012/02/msg00015.html">available</a>
4223 from the Debian development announcement list.  Check it out if you
4224 need a software solution for your school.</p>
4225
4226       </div>
4227       <div class="tags">
4228
4229
4230         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
4231
4232
4233       </div>
4234     </div>
4235     <div class="padding"></div>
4236
4237     <div class="entry">
4238       <div class="title">
4239         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/First_release_candidate_of_Debian_Edu___Skolelinux_based_on_Squeeze.html">First release candidate of Debian Edu / Skolelinux based on Squeeze</a>
4240       </div>
4241       <div class="date">
4242         19th February 2012
4243       </div>
4244       <div class="body">
4245         <p>One week delayed due to DVD build problems, we managed today to
4246 wrap up and publish the first release candidate for
4247 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / Skolelinux</a> based
4248 on Squeeze.  The full announcement is
4249 <a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-edu-announce/2012/02/msg00001.html">available</a>
4250 on the project announcement list.  Check it out if you need a software
4251 solution for your school.</p>
4252
4253       </div>
4254       <div class="tags">
4255
4256
4257         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
4258
4259
4260       </div>
4261     </div>
4262     <div class="padding"></div>
4263
4264     <div class="entry">
4265       <div class="title">
4266         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/How_to_figure_out_which_RAID_disk_to_replace_when_it_fail.html">How to figure out which RAID disk to replace when it fail</a>
4267       </div>
4268       <div class="date">
4269         14th February 2012
4270       </div>
4271       <div class="body">
4272         <p>Once in a while my home server have disk problems.  Thanks to Linux
4273 Software RAID, I have not lost data yet (but
4274 <a href="http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.linux.raid/34532">I was
4275 close</a> this summer :).  But once a disk is starting to behave
4276 funny, a practical problem present itself.  How to get from the Linux
4277 device name (like /dev/sdd) to something that can be used to identify
4278 the disk when the computer is turned off?  In my case I have SATA
4279 disks with a unique ID printed on the label.  All I need is a way to
4280 figure out how to query the disk to get the ID out.</p>
4281
4282 <p>After fumbling a bit, I
4283 <a href="http://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/linux-getting-scsi-ide-harddisk-information/">found
4284 that hdparm -I</a> will report the disk serial number, which is
4285 printed on the disk label.  The following (almost) one-liner can be
4286 used to look up the ID of all the failed disks:</p>
4287
4288 <blockquote><pre>
4289 for d in $(cat /proc/mdstat |grep '(F)'|tr ' ' "\n"|grep '(F)'|cut -d\[ -f1|sort -u);
4290 do
4291     printf "Failed disk $d: "
4292     hdparm -I /dev/$d |grep 'Serial Num'
4293 done
4294 </blockquote></pre>
4295
4296 <p>Putting it here to make sure I do not have to search for it the
4297 next time, and in case other find it useful.</p>
4298
4299 <p>At the moment I have two failing disk. :(</p>
4300
4301 <blockquote><pre>
4302 Failed disk sdd1:       Serial Number:      WD-WCASJ1860823
4303 Failed disk sdd2:       Serial Number:      WD-WCASJ1860823
4304 Failed disk sde2:       Serial Number:      WD-WCASJ1840589
4305 </blockquote></pre>
4306
4307 <p>The last time I had failing disks, I added the serial number on
4308 labels I printed and stuck on the short sides of each disk, to be able
4309 to figure out which disk to take out of the box without having to
4310 remove each disk to look at the physical vendor label.  The vendor
4311 label is at the top of the disk, which is hidden when the disks are
4312 mounted inside my box.</p>
4313
4314 <p>I really wish the check_linux_raid Nagios plugin for checking Linux
4315 Software RAID in the
4316 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/n/nagios-plugins.html">nagios-plugins-standard</a>
4317 debian package would look up this value automatically, as it would
4318 make the plugin a lot more useful when my disks fail.  At the moment
4319 it only report a failure when there are no more spares left (it really
4320 should warn as soon as a disk is failing), and it do not tell me which
4321 disk(s) is failing when the RAID is running short on disks.</p>
4322
4323       </div>
4324       <div class="tags">
4325
4326
4327         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/raid">raid</a>.
4328
4329
4330       </div>
4331     </div>
4332     <div class="padding"></div>
4333
4334     <div class="entry">
4335       <div class="title">
4336         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Automatic_proxy_configuration_with_Debian_Edu___Skolelinux.html">Automatic proxy configuration with Debian Edu / Skolelinux</a>
4337       </div>
4338       <div class="date">
4339         13th February 2012
4340       </div>
4341       <div class="body">
4342         <p>New in the Squeeze version of
4343 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / Skolelinux</a> is the
4344 ability for clients to automatically configure their proxy settings
4345 based on their environment.  We want all systems on the client to use
4346 the WPAD based proxy definition fetched from <tt>http://wpad/wpad.dat</tt>, to
4347 allow sites to control the proxy setting from a central place and make
4348 sure clients do not have hard coded proxy settings.  The schools can
4349 change the global proxy setting by editing
4350 <tt>tjener:/etc/debian-edu/www/wpad.dat</tt> and the change propagate
4351 to all Debian Edu clients in the network.</p>
4352
4353 <p>The problem is that some systems do not understand the WPAD system.
4354 In other words, how do one get from a WPAD file like this (this is a
4355 simple one, they can run arbitrary code):</p>
4356
4357 <blockquote><pre>
4358 function FindProxyForURL(url, host)
4359 {
4360    if (!isResolvable(host) ||
4361        isPlainHostName(host) ||
4362        dnsDomainIs(host, ".intern"))
4363       return "DIRECT";
4364    else
4365       return "PROXY webcache:3128; DIRECT";
4366 }
4367 </pre></blockquote>
4368
4369 <p>to a proxy setting in the process environment looking like this:</p>
4370
4371 <blockquote><pre>
4372 http_proxy=http://webcache:3128/
4373 ftp_proxy=http://webcache:3128/
4374 </pre></blockquote>
4375
4376 <p>To do this conversion I developed a perl script that will execute
4377 the javascript fragment in the WPAD file and return the proxy that
4378 would be used for
4379 <tt><a href="http://www.debian.org/">http://www.debian.org/</a></tt>,
4380 and insert this extracted proxy URL in <tt>/etc/environment</tt> and
4381 <tt>/etc/apt/apt.conf</tt>.  The perl script wpad-extract work just
4382 fine in Squeeze, but in Wheezy the library it need to run the
4383 javascript code is <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/631045">no longer
4384 able to build</a> because the C library it depended on is now a C++
4385 library.  I hope someone find a solution to that problem before Wheezy
4386 is frozen.  An alternative would be for us to rewrite wpad-extract to
4387 use some other javascript library currently working in Wheezy, but no
4388 known alternative is known at the moment.</p>
4389
4390 <p>This automatic proxy system allow the roaming workstation (aka
4391 laptop) setup in Debian Edu/Squeeze to use the proxy when the laptop
4392 is connected to the backbone network in a Debian Edu setup, and to
4393 automatically use any proxy present and announced using the WPAD
4394 feature when it is connected to other networks.  And if no proxy is
4395 announced, direct connections will be used instead.</p>
4396
4397 <p>Silently using a proxy announced on the network might be a privacy
4398 or security problem.  But those controlling DHCP and DNS on a network
4399 could just as easily set up a transparent proxy, and force all HTTP
4400 and FTP connections to use a proxy anyway, so I consider that
4401 distinction to be academic.  If you are afraid of using the wrong
4402 proxy, you should avoid connecting to the network in question in the
4403 first place.  In Debian Edu, the proxy setup is updated using dhcp and
4404 ifupdown hooks, to make sure the configuration is updated every time
4405 the network setup changes.</p>
4406
4407 <p>The WPAD system is documented in a
4408 <a href="http://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-ietf-wrec-wpad-01">IETF
4409 draft</a> and a
4410 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_Proxy_Autodiscovery_Protocol">Wikipedia
4411 page</a> for those that want to learn more.</p>
4412
4413       </div>
4414       <div class="tags">
4415
4416
4417         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
4418
4419
4420       </div>
4421     </div>
4422     <div class="padding"></div>
4423
4424     <div class="entry">
4425       <div class="title">
4426         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Saving_power_with_Debian_Edu___Skolelinux_using_shutdown_at_night.html">Saving power with Debian Edu / Skolelinux using shutdown-at-night</a>
4427       </div>
4428       <div class="date">
4429          5th February 2012
4430       </div>
4431       <div class="body">
4432         <p>Since the Lenny version of
4433 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / Skolelinux</a>, a
4434 feature to save power have been included.  It is as simple as it is
4435 practical: Shut down unused clients at night, and turn them on again
4436 in the morning.  This is done using the
4437 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/s/shutdown-at-night.html">shutdown-at-night</a> Debian package.</p>
4438
4439 <p>To enable this feature on a client, the machine need to be added to
4440 the netgroup shutdown-at-night-hosts.  For Debian Edu, this is done in
4441 LDAP, and once this is in place, the machine in question will check
4442 every hour from 16:00 until 06:00 to see if the machine is unused, and
4443 shut it down if it is.  If the hardware in question is supported by
4444 the
4445 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/n/nvram-wakeup.html">nvram-wakeup</a>
4446 package, the BIOS is told to turn the machine back on around 07:00 +-
4447 10 minutes.  If this isn't working, one can configure wake-on-lan to
4448 try to turn on the client.  The wake-on-lan option is only documented
4449 and not enabled by default in Debian Edu.</p>
4450
4451 <p>It is important to not turn all machines on at once, as this can
4452 blow a fuse if several computers are connected to the same fuse like
4453 the common setup for a classroom.  The nvram-wakeup method only work
4454 for machines with a functioning hardware/BIOS clock.  I've seen old
4455 machines where the BIOS battery were dead and the hardware clock were
4456 starting from 0 (or was it 1990?) every boot.  If you have one of
4457 those, you have to turn on the computer manually.</p>
4458
4459 <p>The shutdown-at-night package is completely self contained, and can
4460 also be used outside the Debian Edu environment.  For those without a
4461 central LDAP server with netgroups, one can instead touch the file
4462 <tt>/etc/shutdown-at-night/shutdown-at-night</tt> to enable it.
4463 Perhaps you too can use it to save some power?</p>
4464
4465       </div>
4466       <div class="tags">
4467
4468
4469         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
4470
4471
4472       </div>
4473     </div>
4474     <div class="padding"></div>
4475
4476     <div class="entry">
4477       <div class="title">
4478         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Third_beta_version_of_Debian_Edu___Skolelinux_based_on_Squeeze.html">Third beta version of Debian Edu / Skolelinux based on Squeeze</a>
4479       </div>
4480       <div class="date">
4481          4th February 2012
4482       </div>
4483       <div class="body">
4484         <p>I am happy to announce that finally we managed today to wrap up and
4485 publish the third beta version of
4486 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / Skolelinux</a> based
4487 on Squeeze.  If you want to test a LDAP backed Kerberos server with
4488 out of the box PXE configuration for running diskless machines and
4489 installing new machines, check it out.  If you need a software
4490 solution for your school, check it out too.  The full announcement is
4491 <a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-edu-announce/2012/02/msg00000.html">available</a>
4492 on the project announcement list.</p>
4493
4494 <p>I am very happy to report these changes and improvements since
4495 beta2 (there are more, see announcement for full list):</p>
4496
4497 <ul>
4498
4499 <li>It is now possible to change the pre-configured IP subnet from
4500   10.0.0.0/8 to something else by using the subnet-change tool after
4501   the installation.</li>
4502
4503 <li>Too full partitions are now automatically extended on the Main
4504   Server, based on the rules specified in /etc/fsautoresizetab.</li>
4505
4506 <li>The CUPS queues are now automatically flushed every night, and all
4507   disabled queues are restarted every hour.  This should cut down on
4508   the amount of manual administration needed for printers.</li>
4509
4510 <li>The set of initial users have been changed.  Now a personal user
4511   for the local system administrator is created during installation
4512   instead of the previously created localadmin and super-admin users,
4513   and this user is granted administrative privileges using group
4514   membership.  This reduces the number of passwords one need to keep
4515   up to date on the system.</li>
4516
4517 </ul>
4518
4519 <p>The new main server seem to work so well that I am testing it as my
4520 private DNS/LDAP/Kerberos/PXE/LTSP server at home.  I will use it look
4521 for issues we could fix to polish Debian Edu even further before the
4522 final Squeeze release is published.</p>
4523
4524 <p>Next weekend the project organise a
4525 <a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-edu-announce/2012/01/msg00001.html">developer
4526 gathering</a> in Oslo.  We will continue the work on the Squeeze
4527 version, and start initial planning for the Wheezy version.  Perhaps I
4528 will see you there?</p>
4529
4530       </div>
4531       <div class="tags">
4532
4533
4534         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
4535
4536
4537       </div>
4538     </div>
4539     <div class="padding"></div>
4540
4541     <div class="entry">
4542       <div class="title">
4543         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Handling_non_free_firmware_in_Debian_Edu_Squeeze.html">Handling non-free firmware in Debian Edu/Squeeze</a>
4544       </div>
4545       <div class="date">
4546         27th January 2012
4547       </div>
4548       <div class="body">
4549         <p>With some computer hardware, one need non-free firmware blobs.
4550 This is the sad fact of todays computers.  In the next version of
4551 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / Skolelinux</a> based
4552 on Squeeze, we provide several scripts and modifications to make
4553 firmware blobs easier to handle.  The common use case I run into is a
4554 laptop with a wireless network card requiring non-free firmware to
4555 work, but there are other use cases as well.</p>
4556
4557 <p>First and foremost, Debian Edu provide ISO images for DVD and CD
4558 with all firmware packages in the Debian sections main and non-free
4559 included, to ensure debian-installer find and can install all of them
4560 during installation.  This take care firmware for network devices used
4561 by the installer when installing from from local media.  But for
4562 example multimedia devices are not activated in the installer and are
4563 not taken care of by this.</p>
4564
4565 <p>For non-network devices, we provide the script
4566 <tt>/usr/share/debian-edu-config/tools/auto-addfirmware</tt> which
4567 search through the <tt>dmesg</tt> output for drivers requesting extra
4568 firmware.  The firmware file name is looked up in the Contents-ARCH.gz
4569 file available in the package repository, and the packages providing
4570 the requested firmware file(s) is installed.  I have proposed to do
4571 something similar in debian-installer (BTS report
4572 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/655507">#655507</a>), to allow PXE
4573 installs of Debian to handle firmware installation better.  Run the
4574 script as root from the command line to fetch and install the needed
4575 firmware packages.</p>
4576
4577 <p>Debian Edu provide PXE installation of Debian out of the box, and
4578 because some machines need firmware to get their network cards
4579 working, the installation initrd some times need extra firmware
4580 included to be able to install at all.  To fill the PXE installation
4581 initrd with extra firmware, the
4582 <tt>/usr/share/debian-edu-config/tools/pxe-addfirmware</tt> script is
4583 provided.  Again, just run it as root on the command line to fill the
4584 PXE initrd with firmware packages.</p>
4585
4586 <p>Last, some LTSP clients might also need firmware to get their
4587 network cards working.  For this,
4588 <tt>/usr/share/debian-edu-config/tools/ltsp-addfirmware</tt> is
4589 provided to update the LTSP initrd with firmware blobs.  It is used
4590 the same way as the other firmware related tools.</p>
4591
4592 <p>At the moment, we do not run any of these during installation.  We
4593 do not know if this is acceptable for the local administrator to use
4594 non-free software, and it is their choice.</p>
4595
4596 <p>We plan to release beta3 this weekend.  You might want to give it a
4597 try.</p>
4598
4599       </div>
4600       <div class="tags">
4601
4602
4603         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
4604
4605
4606       </div>
4607     </div>
4608     <div class="padding"></div>
4609
4610     <div class="entry">
4611       <div class="title">
4612         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Setting_up_a_new_school_with_Debian_Edu_Squeeze.html">Setting up a new school with Debian Edu/Squeeze</a>
4613       </div>
4614       <div class="date">
4615         25th January 2012
4616       </div>
4617       <div class="body">
4618         <p>The next version of <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu
4619 / Skolelinux</a> will include a new tool
4620 <tt>sitesummary2ldapdhcp</tt>, which can be used to quickly set up all
4621 the computers in a school without much manual labour.  Here is a short
4622 summary on how to use it to set up a new school.</p>
4623
4624 <p>First, install a combined Main Server and Thin Client Server as the
4625 central server in the network.  Next, PXE boot all the client machines
4626 as thin clients and wait 5 minutes after the last client booted to
4627 allow the clients to report their existence to the central server.  When
4628 this is done, log on to the central server and run
4629 <tt>sitesummary2ldapdhcp -a</tt> in the <tt>konsole</tt> to use the
4630 collected information to generate system objects in LDAP.  The output
4631 will look similar to this:</p>
4632
4633 <p><blockquote><pre>
4634 % sitesummary2ldapdhcp -a
4635 info: Updating machine tjener.intern [10.0.2.2] id ether-00:01:02:03:04:05.
4636 info: Create GOsa machine for auto-mac-00-01-02-03-04-06 [10.0.16.20] id ether-00:01:02:03:04:06.
4637
4638 Enter password if you want to activate these changes, and ^c to abort.
4639
4640 Connecting to LDAP as cn=admin,ou=ldap-access,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
4641 enter password: *******
4642 %
4643 </pre></blockquote></p>
4644
4645 <p>After providing the LDAP administrative password (the same as the
4646 root password set during installation), the LDAP database will be
4647 populated with system objects for each PXE booted machine with
4648 automatically generated names.  The final step to set up the school is
4649 then to log into <a href="https://oss.gonicus.de/labs/gosa/">GOsa</a>,
4650 the web based user, group and system administration system to change
4651 system names, add systems to the correct host groups and finally
4652 enable DHCP and DNS for the systems.  All clients that should be used
4653 as diskless workstations should be added to the workstation-hosts
4654 group.  After this is done, all computers can be booted again via PXE
4655 and get their assigned names and group based configuration
4656 automatically.</p>
4657
4658 <p>We plan to release beta3 with the updated version of this feature
4659 enabled this weekend.  You might want to give it a try.</p>
4660
4661 <p>Update 2012-01-28: When calling sitesummary2ldapdhcp to add new
4662 hosts, one need to add the option -a.  I forgot to mention this in my
4663 original text, and have added it to the text now.</p>
4664
4665       </div>
4666       <div class="tags">
4667
4668
4669         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/sitesummary">sitesummary</a>.
4670
4671
4672       </div>
4673     </div>
4674     <div class="padding"></div>
4675
4676     <div class="entry">
4677       <div class="title">
4678         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Changing_the_default_Iceweasel_start_page_in_Debian_Edu_Squeeze.html">Changing the default Iceweasel start page in Debian Edu/Squeeze</a>
4679       </div>
4680       <div class="date">
4681         10th January 2012
4682       </div>
4683       <div class="body">
4684         <p>In the Squeeze version of
4685 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / Skolelinux</a> soon
4686 to be released, users of the system will get their default browser
4687 start page set from LDAP, allowing the system administrator to point
4688 all users to the school web page by updating one setting in LDAP.  In
4689 addition to setting the default start page when a machine boots, users
4690 are shown the same page as a welcome page when they log in for the
4691 first time.</p>
4692
4693 <p>The LDAP object dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no have an attribute
4694 labeledURI with "http://www/ LDAP for Debian Edu/Skolelinux" as the
4695 default content.  By changing this value to another URL, all users get
4696 to see the page behind this new URL.</p>
4697
4698 <p>An easy way to update it is by using the ldapvi tool.  It can be
4699 called as "<tt>ldapvi -ZD '(cn=admin)'</tt>' to update LDAP with the
4700 new setting.</p>
4701
4702 <p>We have written the code to adjust the default start page and show
4703 the welcome page, and I wonder if there is an easier way to do this
4704 from within Iceweasel instead.</p>
4705
4706       </div>
4707       <div class="tags">
4708
4709
4710         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/web">web</a>.
4711
4712
4713       </div>
4714     </div>
4715     <div class="padding"></div>
4716
4717     <div class="entry">
4718       <div class="title">
4719         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Second_beta_version_of_Debian_Edu___Skolelinux_based_on_Squeeze.html">Second beta version of Debian Edu / Skolelinux based on Squeeze</a>
4720       </div>
4721       <div class="date">
4722          7th January 2012
4723       </div>
4724       <div class="body">
4725         <p>I am happy to announce that today we managed to wrap up and publish
4726 the second beta version of
4727 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / Skolelinux</a>.  If
4728 you want to test a LDAP backed Kerberos server with out of the box PXE
4729 configuration for running diskless machines and installing new
4730 machines, check it out.  If you need a software solution for your
4731 school, check it out too.  The full announcement is
4732 <a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-edu-announce/2012/01/msg00000.html">available</a>
4733 on the project announcement list.</p>
4734
4735       </div>
4736       <div class="tags">
4737
4738
4739         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
4740
4741
4742       </div>
4743     </div>
4744     <div class="padding"></div>
4745
4746     <div class="entry">
4747       <div class="title">
4748         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Fixing_an_hanging_debian_installer_for_Debian_Edu.html">Fixing an hanging debian installer for Debian Edu</a>
4749       </div>
4750       <div class="date">
4751          3rd January 2012
4752       </div>
4753       <div class="body">
4754         <p>During christmas, I have been working getting the next version of
4755 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / Skolelinux</a> ready
4756 for release.  The initial problem I looked at was particularly
4757 interesting.</p>
4758
4759 <P>The installer would hang at the end when it was doing it
4760 post-installation configuration, and whatevery I did to try to find
4761 the cause and fix it always worked while I tested it, but never when I
4762 integrated it into the installer and ran the installation from
4763 scratch.  I would try to restart processes, close file descriptors,
4764 remove or create files, and the installer would always unblock and
4765 wrap up its tasks.</p>
4766
4767 <p>Eventually the cause was found.  The kernel was simply running out
4768 of entropy, causing the Kerberos setup to hang waiting for more.
4769 Pressing keys was adding entropy to the kernel, and thus all my tries
4770 to fix the problem worked not because what I was typing to fix it, but
4771 because I was typing.</P>
4772
4773 <p>The fix I implemented was to add a background process looking at
4774 the level of entropy in the kernel (by checking
4775 /proc/sys/kernel/random/entropy_avail), and if it was too small, the
4776 installer will flush the kernel file buffers and do 'find /' to
4777 generate some disk IO.  Disk IO generate entropy in the kernel, and is
4778 one of the few things that can be initated from within the system to
4779 generate entropy.</p>
4780
4781 <p>The fix is in
4782 <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/Documentation/Squeeze/Installation">beta1
4783 of the Debian Edu/Squeeze</a> version, and we
4784 <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu">welcome more testers and
4785 developers</a>.  We plan to release beta2 this weekend.</p>
4786
4787       </div>
4788       <div class="tags">
4789
4790
4791         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
4792
4793
4794       </div>
4795     </div>
4796     <div class="padding"></div>
4797
4798     <div class="entry">
4799       <div class="title">
4800         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Automatically_upgrading_server_firmware_on_Dell_PowerEdge.html">Automatically upgrading server firmware on Dell PowerEdge</a>
4801       </div>
4802       <div class="date">
4803         21st November 2011
4804       </div>
4805       <div class="body">
4806         <p>At work we have heaps of servers.  I believe the total count is
4807 around 1000 at the moment.  To be able to get help from the vendors
4808 when something go wrong, we want to keep the firmware on the servers
4809 up to date.  If the firmware isn't the latest and greatest, the
4810 vendors typically refuse to start debugging any problems until the
4811 firmware is upgraded.  So before every reboot, we want to upgrade the
4812 firmware, and we would really like everyone handling servers at the
4813 university to do this themselves when they plan to reboot a machine.
4814 For that to happen we at the unix server admin group need to provide
4815 the tools to do so.</p>
4816
4817 <p>To make firmware upgrading easier, I am working on a script to
4818 fetch and install the latest firmware for the servers we got.  Most of
4819 our hardware are from Dell and HP, so I have focused on these servers
4820 so far.  This blog post is about the Dell part.</P>
4821
4822 <p>On the Dell FTP site I was lucky enough to find
4823 <a href="ftp://ftp.us.dell.com/catalog/Catalog.xml.gz">an XML file</a>
4824 with firmware information for all 11th generation servers, listing
4825 which firmware should be used on a given model and where on the FTP
4826 site I can find it.  Using a simple perl XML parser I can then
4827 download the shell scripts Dell provides to do firmware upgrades from
4828 within Linux and reboot when all the firmware is primed and ready to
4829 be activated on the first reboot.</p>
4830
4831 <p>This is the Dell related fragment of the perl code I am working on.
4832 Are there anyone working on similar tools for firmware upgrading all
4833 servers at a site?  Please get in touch and lets share resources.</p>
4834
4835 <p><pre>
4836 #!/usr/bin/perl
4837 use strict;
4838 use warnings;
4839 use File::Temp qw(tempdir);
4840 BEGIN {
4841     # Install needed RHEL packages if missing
4842     my %rhelmodules = (
4843         'XML::Simple' => 'perl-XML-Simple',
4844         );
4845     for my $module (keys %rhelmodules) {
4846         eval "use $module;";
4847         if ($@) {
4848             my $pkg = $rhelmodules{$module};
4849             system("yum install -y $pkg");
4850             eval "use $module;";
4851         }
4852     }
4853 }
4854 my $errorsto = 'pere@hungry.com';
4855
4856 upgrade_dell();
4857
4858 exit 0;
4859
4860 sub run_firmware_script {
4861     my ($opts, $script) = @_;
4862     unless ($script) {
4863         print STDERR "fail: missing script name\n";
4864         exit 1
4865     }
4866     print STDERR "Running $script\n\n";
4867
4868     if (0 == system("sh $script $opts")) { # FIXME correct exit code handling
4869         print STDERR "success: firmware script ran succcessfully\n";
4870     } else {
4871         print STDERR "fail: firmware script returned error\n";
4872     }
4873 }
4874
4875 sub run_firmware_scripts {
4876     my ($opts, @dirs) = @_;
4877     # Run firmware packages
4878     for my $dir (@dirs) {
4879         print STDERR "info: Running scripts in $dir\n";
4880         opendir(my $dh, $dir) or die "Unable to open directory $dir: $!";
4881         while (my $s = readdir $dh) {
4882             next if $s =~ m/^\.\.?/;
4883             run_firmware_script($opts, "$dir/$s");
4884         }
4885         closedir $dh;
4886     }
4887 }
4888
4889 sub download {
4890     my $url = shift;
4891     print STDERR "info: Downloading $url\n";
4892     system("wget --quiet \"$url\"");
4893 }
4894
4895 sub upgrade_dell {
4896     my @dirs;
4897     my $product = `dmidecode -s system-product-name`;
4898     chomp $product;
4899
4900     if ($product =~ m/PowerEdge/) {
4901
4902         # on RHEL, these pacakges are needed by the firwmare upgrade scripts
4903         system('yum install -y compat-libstdc++-33.i686 libstdc++.i686 libxml2.i686 procmail');
4904
4905         my $tmpdir = tempdir(
4906             CLEANUP => 1
4907             );
4908         chdir($tmpdir);
4909         fetch_dell_fw('catalog/Catalog.xml.gz');
4910         system('gunzip Catalog.xml.gz');
4911         my @paths = fetch_dell_fw_list('Catalog.xml');
4912         # -q is quiet, disabling interactivity and reducing console output
4913         my $fwopts = "-q";
4914         if (@paths) {
4915             for my $url (@paths) {
4916                 fetch_dell_fw($url);
4917             }
4918             run_firmware_scripts($fwopts, $tmpdir);
4919         } else {
4920             print STDERR "error: Unsupported Dell model '$product'.\n";
4921             print STDERR "error: Please report to $errorsto.\n";
4922         }
4923         chdir('/');
4924     } else {
4925         print STDERR "error: Unsupported Dell model '$product'.\n";
4926         print STDERR "error: Please report to $errorsto.\n";
4927     }
4928 }
4929
4930 sub fetch_dell_fw {
4931     my $path = shift;
4932     my $url = "ftp://ftp.us.dell.com/$path";
4933     download($url);
4934 }
4935
4936 # Using ftp://ftp.us.dell.com/catalog/Catalog.xml.gz, figure out which
4937 # firmware packages to download from Dell.  Only work for Linux
4938 # machines and 11th generation Dell servers.
4939 sub fetch_dell_fw_list {
4940     my $filename = shift;
4941
4942     my $product = `dmidecode -s system-product-name`;
4943     chomp $product;
4944     my ($mybrand, $mymodel) = split(/\s+/, $product);
4945
4946     print STDERR "Finding firmware bundles for $mybrand $mymodel\n";
4947
4948     my $xml = XMLin($filename);
4949     my @paths;
4950     for my $bundle (@{$xml->{SoftwareBundle}}) {
4951         my $brand = $bundle->{TargetSystems}->{Brand}->{Display}->{content};
4952         my $model = $bundle->{TargetSystems}->{Brand}->{Model}->{Display}->{content};
4953         my $oscode;
4954         if ("ARRAY" eq ref $bundle->{TargetOSes}->{OperatingSystem}) {
4955             $oscode = $bundle->{TargetOSes}->{OperatingSystem}[0]->{osCode};
4956         } else {
4957             $oscode = $bundle->{TargetOSes}->{OperatingSystem}->{osCode};
4958         }
4959         if ($mybrand eq $brand && $mymodel eq $model && "LIN" eq $oscode)
4960         {
4961             @paths = map { $_->{path} } @{$bundle->{Contents}->{Package}};
4962         }
4963     }
4964     for my $component (@{$xml->{SoftwareComponent}}) {
4965         my $componenttype = $component->{ComponentType}->{value};
4966
4967         # Drop application packages, only firmware and BIOS
4968         next if 'APAC' eq $componenttype;
4969
4970         my $cpath = $component->{path};
4971         for my $path (@paths) {
4972             if ($cpath =~ m%/$path$%) {
4973                 push(@paths, $cpath);
4974             }
4975         }
4976     }
4977     return @paths;
4978 }
4979 </pre>
4980
4981 <p>The code is only tested on RedHat Enterprise Linux, but I suspect
4982 it could work on other platforms with some tweaking.  Anyone know a
4983 index like Catalog.xml is available from HP for HP servers?  At the
4984 moment I maintain a similar list manually and it is quickly getting
4985 outdated.</p>
4986
4987       </div>
4988       <div class="tags">
4989
4990
4991         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
4992
4993
4994       </div>
4995     </div>
4996     <div class="padding"></div>
4997
4998     <div class="entry">
4999       <div class="title">
5000         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Free_e_book_kiosk_for_the_public_libraries_.html">Free e-book kiosk for the public libraries?</a>
5001       </div>
5002       <div class="date">
5003          7th October 2011
5004       </div>
5005       <div class="body">
5006         <p>Here in Norway the public libraries are debating with the
5007 publishing houses how to handle electronic books.  Surprisingly, the
5008 libraries seem to be willing to accept digital restriction mechanisms
5009 (DRM) on books and renting e-books with artificial scarcity from the
5010 publishing houses.  Time limited renting (2-3 years) is one proposed
5011 model, and only allowing X borrowers for each book is another.
5012 Personally I find it amazing that libraries are even considering such
5013 models.</p>
5014
5015 <p>Anyway, while reading <a href="http://boklaben.no/?p=220">part of
5016 this debate</a>, it occurred to me that someone should present a more
5017 sensible approach to the libraries, to allow its borrowers to get used
5018 to a better model.  The idea is simple:</p>
5019
5020 <p>Create a computer system for the libraries, either in the form of a
5021 Live DVD or a installable distribution, that provide a simple kiosk
5022 solution to hand out free e-books.  As a start, the books distributed
5023 by <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/">Project Gutenberg</a> (about
5024 36,000 books), <a href="http://runeberg.org/">Project Runenberg</a>
5025 (1149 books) and <a href="http://www.archive.org/details/texts">The
5026 Internet Archive</a> (3,033,748 books) could be included, but any book
5027 where the copyright has expired or with a free licence could be
5028 distributed.</p>
5029
5030 <p>The computer system would make it easy to:</p>
5031
5032 <ul>
5033
5034 <li>Copy e-books into a USB stick, reading tablets, cell phones and
5035   other relevant equipment.</li>
5036
5037 <li>Show the books for reading on the the screen in the library.</li>
5038
5039 </ul>
5040
5041 <p>In addition to such kiosk solution, there should probably be a web
5042 site as well to allow people easy access to these books without
5043 visiting the library.  The site would be the distribution point for
5044 the kiosk systems, which would connect regularly to fetch any new
5045 books available.</p>
5046
5047 <p>Are there anyone working on a system like this?  I guess it would
5048 fit any library in the world, and not just the Norwegian public
5049 libraries. :)</p>
5050
5051       </div>
5052       <div class="tags">
5053
5054
5055         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/opphavsrett">opphavsrett</a>.
5056
5057
5058       </div>
5059     </div>
5060     <div class="padding"></div>
5061
5062     <div class="entry">
5063       <div class="title">
5064         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Ripping_problematic_DVDs_using_dvdbackup_and_genisoimage.html">Ripping problematic DVDs using dvdbackup and genisoimage</a>
5065       </div>
5066       <div class="date">
5067         17th September 2011
5068       </div>
5069       <div class="body">
5070         <p>For convenience, I want to store copies of all my DVDs on my file
5071 server.  It allow me to save shelf space flat while still having my
5072 movie collection easily available.  It also make it possible to let
5073 the kids see their favourite DVDs without wearing the physical copies
5074 down.  I prefer to store the DVDs as ISOs to keep the DVD menu and
5075 subtitle options intact.  It also ensure that the entire film is one
5076 file on the disk.  As this is for personal use, the ripping is
5077 perfectly legal here in Norway.</p>
5078
5079 <p>Normally I rip the DVDs using dd like this:</p>
5080
5081 <blockquote><pre>
5082 #!/bin/sh
5083 # apt-get install lsdvd
5084 title=$(lsdvd 2>/dev/null|awk '/Disc Title: / {print $3}')
5085 dd if=/dev/dvd of=/storage/dvds/$title.iso bs=1M
5086 </pre></blockquote>
5087
5088 <p>But some DVDs give a input/output error when I read it, and I have
5089 been looking for a better alternative.  I have no idea why this I/O
5090 error occur, but suspect my DVD drive, the Linux kernel driver or
5091 something fishy with the DVDs in question.  Or perhaps all three.</p>
5092
5093 <p>Anyway, I believe I found a solution today using dvdbackup and
5094 genisoimage.  This script gave me a working ISO for a problematic
5095 movie by first extracting the DVD file system and then re-packing it
5096 back as an ISO.
5097
5098 <blockquote><pre>
5099 #!/bin/sh
5100 # apt-get install lsdvd dvdbackup genisoimage
5101 set -e
5102 tmpdir=/storage/dvds/
5103 title=$(lsdvd 2>/dev/null|awk '/Disc Title: / {print $3}')
5104 dvdbackup -i /dev/dvd -M -o $tmpdir -n$title
5105 genisoimage -dvd-video -o $tmpdir/$title.iso $tmpdir/$title
5106 rm -rf $tmpdir/$title
5107 </pre></blockquote>
5108
5109 <p>Anyone know of a better way available in Debian/Squeeze?</p>
5110
5111 <p>Update 2011-09-18: I got a tip from Konstantin Khomoutov about the
5112 readom program from the wodim package.  It is specially written to
5113 read optical media, and is called like this: <tt>readom dev=/dev/dvd
5114 f=image.iso</tt>.  It got 6 GB along with the problematic Cars DVD
5115 before it failed, and failed right away with a Timmy Time DVD.</p>
5116
5117 <p>Next, I got a tip from Bastian Blank about
5118 <a href="http://bblank.thinkmo.de/blog/new-software-python-dvdvideo">his
5119 program python-dvdvideo</a>, which seem to be just what I am looking
5120 for.  Tested it with my problematic Timmy Time DVD, and it succeeded
5121 creating a ISO image.  The git source built and installed just fine in
5122 Squeeze, so I guess this will be my tool of choice in the future.</p>
5123
5124       </div>
5125       <div class="tags">
5126
5127
5128         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/opphavsrett">opphavsrett</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/video">video</a>.
5129
5130
5131       </div>
5132     </div>
5133     <div class="padding"></div>
5134
5135     <div class="entry">
5136       <div class="title">
5137         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/How_is_booting_into_runlevel_1_different_from_single_user_boots_.html">How is booting into runlevel 1 different from single user boots?</a>
5138       </div>
5139       <div class="date">
5140          4th August 2011
5141       </div>
5142       <div class="body">
5143         <p>Wouter Verhelst have some
5144 <a href="http://grep.be/blog/en/retorts/pere_kubuntu_boot">interesting
5145 comments and opinions</a> on my blog post on
5146 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/What_should_start_from__etc_rcS_d__in_Debian____almost_nothing.html">the
5147 need to clean up /etc/rcS.d/ in Debian</a> and my blog post about
5148 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/What_is_missing_in_the_Debian_desktop__or_why_my_parents_use_Kubuntu.html">the
5149 default KDE desktop in Debian</a>.  I only have time to address one
5150 small piece of his comment now, and though it best to address the
5151 misunderstanding he bring forward:</p>
5152
5153 <p><blockquote>
5154 Currently, a system admin has four options: [...] boot to a
5155 single-user system (by adding 'single' to the kernel command line;
5156 this runs rcS and rc1 scripts)
5157 </blockquote></p>
5158
5159 <p>This make me believe Wouter believe booting into single user mode
5160 and booting into runlevel 1 is the same.  I am not surprised he
5161 believe this, because it would make sense and is a quite sensible
5162 thing to believe.  But because the boot in Debian is slightly broken,
5163 runlevel 1 do not work properly and it isn't the same as single user
5164 mode.  I'll try to explain what is actually happing, but it is a bit
5165 hard to explain.</p>
5166
5167 <p>Single user mode is defined like this in /etc/inittab:
5168 "<tt>~~:S:wait:/sbin/sulogin</tt>".  This means the only thing that is
5169 executed in single user mode is sulogin.  Single user mode is a boot
5170 state "between" the runlevels, and when booting into single user mode,
5171 only the scripts in /etc/rcS.d/ are executed before the init process
5172 enters the single user state.  When switching to runlevel 1, the state
5173 is in fact not ending in runlevel 1, but it passes through runlevel 1
5174 and end up in the single user mode (see /etc/rc1.d/S03single, which
5175 runs "init -t1 S" to switch to single user mode at the end of runlevel
5176 1.  It is confusing that the 'S' (single user) init mode is not the
5177 mode enabled by /etc/rcS.d/ (which is more like the initial boot
5178 mode).</p>
5179
5180 <p>This summary might make it clearer.  When booting for the first
5181 time into single user mode, the following commands are executed:
5182 "<tt>/etc/init.d/rc S; /sbin/sulogin</tt>".  When booting into
5183 runlevel 1, the following commands are executed: "<tt>/etc/init.d/rc
5184 S; /etc/init.d/rc 1; /sbin/sulogin</tt>".  A problem show up when
5185 trying to continue after visiting single user mode.  Not all services
5186 are started again as they should, causing the machine to end up in an
5187 unpredicatble state.  This is why Debian admins recommend rebooting
5188 after visiting single user mode.</p>
5189
5190 <p>A similar problem with runlevel 1 is caused by the amount of
5191 scripts executed from /etc/rcS.d/.  When switching from say runlevel 2
5192 to runlevel 1, the services started from /etc/rcS.d/ are not properly
5193 stopped when passing through the scripts in /etc/rc1.d/, and not
5194 started again when switching away from runlevel 1 to the runlevels
5195 2-5.  I believe the problem is best fixed by moving all the scripts
5196 out of /etc/rcS.d/ that are not <strong>required</strong> to get a
5197 functioning single user mode during boot.</p>
5198
5199 <p>I have spent several years investigating the Debian boot system,
5200 and discovered this problem a few years ago.  I suspect it originates
5201 from when sysvinit was introduced into Debian, a long time ago.</p>
5202
5203       </div>
5204       <div class="tags">
5205
5206
5207         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/bootsystem">bootsystem</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
5208
5209
5210       </div>
5211     </div>
5212     <div class="padding"></div>
5213
5214     <div class="entry">
5215       <div class="title">
5216         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/What_should_start_from__etc_rcS_d__in_Debian____almost_nothing.html">What should start from /etc/rcS.d/ in Debian? - almost nothing</a>
5217       </div>
5218       <div class="date">
5219         30th July 2011
5220       </div>
5221       <div class="body">
5222         <p>In the Debian boot system, several packages include scripts that
5223 are started from /etc/rcS.d/.  In fact, there is a bite more of them
5224 than make sense, and this causes a few problems.  What kind of
5225 problems, you might ask.  There are at least two problems.  The first
5226 is that it is not possible to recover a machine after switching to
5227 runlevel 1.  One need to actually reboot to get the machine back to
5228 the expected state.  The other is that single user boot will sometimes
5229 run into problems because some of the subsystems are activated before
5230 the root login is presented, causing problems when trying to recover a
5231 machine from a problem in that subsystem.  A minor additional point is
5232 that moving more scripts out of rcS.d/ and into the other rc#.d/
5233 directories will increase the amount of scripts that can run in
5234 parallel during boot, and thus decrease the boot time.</p>
5235
5236 <p>So, which scripts should start from rcS.d/.  In short, only the
5237 scripts that _have_ to execute before the root login prompt is
5238 presented during a single user boot should go there.  Everything else
5239 should go into the numeric runlevels.  This means things like
5240 lm-sensors, fuse and x11-common should not run from rcS.d, but from
5241 the numeric runlevels.  Today in Debian, there are around 115 init.d
5242 scripts that are started from rcS.d/, and most of them should be moved
5243 out.  Do your package have one of them?  Please help us make single
5244 user and runlevel 1 better by moving it.</p>
5245
5246 <p>Scripts setting up the screen, keyboard, system partitions
5247 etc. should still be started from rcS.d/, but there is for example no
5248 need to have the network enabled before the single user login prompt
5249 is presented.</p>
5250
5251 <p>As always, things are not so easy to fix as they sound.  To keep
5252 Debian systems working while scripts migrate and during upgrades, the
5253 scripts need to be moved from rcS.d/ to rc2.d/ in reverse dependency
5254 order, ie the scripts that nothing in rcS.d/ depend on can be moved,
5255 and the next ones can only be moved when their dependencies have been
5256 moved first.  This migration must be done sequentially while we ensure
5257 that the package system upgrade packages in the right order to keep
5258 the system state correct.  This will require some coordination when it
5259 comes to network related packages, but most of the packages with
5260 scripts that should migrate do not have anything in rcS.d/ depending
5261 on them.  Some packages have already been updated, like the sudo
5262 package, while others are still left to do.  I wish I had time to work
5263 on this myself, but real live constrains make it unlikely that I will
5264 find time to push this forward.</p>
5265
5266       </div>
5267       <div class="tags">
5268
5269
5270         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/bootsystem">bootsystem</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
5271
5272
5273       </div>
5274     </div>
5275     <div class="padding"></div>
5276
5277     <div class="entry">
5278       <div class="title">
5279         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/What_is_missing_in_the_Debian_desktop__or_why_my_parents_use_Kubuntu.html">What is missing in the Debian desktop, or why my parents use Kubuntu</a>
5280       </div>
5281       <div class="date">
5282         29th July 2011
5283       </div>
5284       <div class="body">
5285         <p>While at Debconf11, I have several times during discussions
5286 mentioned the issues I believe should be improved in Debian for its
5287 desktop to be useful for more people.  The use case for this is my
5288 parents, which are currently running Kubuntu which solve the
5289 issues.</p>
5290
5291 <p>I suspect these four missing features are not very hard to
5292 implement.  After all, they are present in Ubuntu, so if we wanted to
5293 do this in Debian we would have a source.</p>
5294
5295 <ol>
5296
5297 <li><strong>Simple GUI based upgrade of packages.</strong> When there
5298 are new packages available for upgrades, a icon in the KDE status bar
5299 indicate this, and clicking on it will activate the simple upgrade
5300 tool to handle it.  I have no problem guiding both of my parents
5301 through the process over the phone.  If a kernel reboot is required,
5302 this too is indicated by the status bars and the upgrade tool.  Last
5303 time I checked, nothing with the same features was working in KDE in
5304 Debian.</li>
5305
5306 <li><strong>Simple handling of missing Firefox browser
5307 plugins.</strong> When the browser encounter a MIME type it do not
5308 currently have a handler for, it will ask the user if the system
5309 should search for a package that would add support for this MIME type,
5310 and if the user say yes, the APT sources will be searched for packages
5311 advertising the MIME type in their control file (visible in the
5312 Packages file in the APT archive).  If one or more packages are found,
5313 it is a simple click of the mouse to add support for the missing mime
5314 type.  If the package require the user to accept some non-free
5315 license, this is explained to the user.  The entire process make it
5316 more clear to the user why something do not work in the browser, and
5317 make the chances higher for the user to blame the web page authors and
5318 not the browser for any missing features.</li>
5319
5320 <li><strong>Simple handling of missing multimedia codec/format
5321 handlers.</strong> When the media players encounter a format or codec
5322 it is not supporting, a dialog pop up asking the user if the system
5323 should search for a package that would add support for it.  This
5324 happen with things like MP3, Windows Media or H.264.  The selection
5325 and installation procedure is very similar to the Firefox browser
5326 plugin handling.  This is as far as I know implemented using a
5327 gstreamer hook.  The end result is that the user easily get access to
5328 the codecs that are present from the APT archives available, while
5329 explaining more on why a given format is unsupported by Ubuntu.</li>
5330
5331 <li><strong>Better browser handling of some MIME types.</strong> When
5332 displaying a text/plain file in my Debian browser, it will propose to
5333 start emacs to show it.  If I remember correctly, when doing the same
5334 in Kunbutu it show the file as a text file in the browser.  At least I
5335 know Opera will show text files within the browser.  I much prefer the
5336 latter behaviour.</li>
5337
5338 </ol>
5339
5340 <p>There are other nice features as well, like the simplified suite
5341 upgrader, but given that I am the one mostly doing the dist-upgrade,
5342 it do not matter much.</p>
5343
5344 <p>I really hope we could get these features in place for the next
5345 Debian release.  It would require the coordinated effort of several
5346 maintainers, but would make the end user experience a lot better.</p>
5347
5348       </div>
5349       <div class="tags">
5350
5351
5352         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/multimedia">multimedia</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/web">web</a>.
5353
5354
5355       </div>
5356     </div>
5357     <div class="padding"></div>
5358
5359     <div class="entry">
5360       <div class="title">
5361         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Perl_modules_used_by_FixMyStreet_which_are_missing_in_Debian_Squeeze.html">Perl modules used by FixMyStreet which are missing in Debian/Squeeze</a>
5362       </div>
5363       <div class="date">
5364         26th July 2011
5365       </div>
5366       <div class="body">
5367         <p>The Norwegian <a href="http://www.fiksgatami.no/">FiksGataMi</A>
5368 site is build on Debian/Squeeze, and this platform was chosen because
5369 I am most familiar with Debian (being a Debian Developer for around 10
5370 years) because it is the latest stable Debian release which should get
5371 security support for a few years.</p>
5372
5373 <p>The web service is written in Perl, and depend on some perl modules
5374 that are missing in Debian at the moment.  It would be great if these
5375 modules were added to the Debian archive, allowing anyone to set up
5376 their own <a href="http://www.fixmystreet.com">FixMyStreet</a> clone
5377 in their own country using only Debian packages.  The list of modules
5378 missing in Debian/Squeeze isn't very long, and I hope the perl group
5379 will find time to package the 12 modules Catalyst::Plugin::SmartURI,
5380 Catalyst::Plugin::Unicode::Encoding, Catalyst::View::TT, Devel::Hide,
5381 Sort::Key, Statistics::Distributions, Template::Plugin::Comma,
5382 Template::Plugin::DateTime::Format, Term::Size::Any, Term::Size::Perl,
5383 URI::SmartURI and Web::Scraper to make the maintenance of FixMyStreet
5384 easier in the future.</p>
5385
5386 <p>Thanks to the great tools in Debian, getting the missing modules
5387 installed on my server was a simple call to 'cpan2deb Module::Name'
5388 and 'dpkg -i' to install the resulting package.  But this leave me
5389 with the responsibility of tracking security problems, which I really
5390 do not have time for.</p>
5391
5392       </div>
5393       <div class="tags">
5394
5395
5396         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/fiksgatami">fiksgatami</a>.
5397
5398
5399       </div>
5400     </div>
5401     <div class="padding"></div>
5402
5403     <div class="entry">
5404       <div class="title">
5405         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Free_Software_vs__proprietary_softare___.html">Free Software vs. proprietary softare...</a>
5406       </div>
5407       <div class="date">
5408         20th June 2011
5409       </div>
5410       <div class="body">
5411         <p>Reading
5412 <a href="http://blog.thingiverse.com/2011/06/20/open-source-vs-closed-source-eulas/">the
5413 thingiverse blog</a>, I came across two highlights of interesting
5414 parts of the
5415 <a href="http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Autodesk_EULA">Autodesk</a>
5416 and
5417 <a href="http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2011/06/things-you-cant-do-with-the-microsoft-kinect-sdk.html">Microsoft
5418 Kinect</a> End User License Agreements (EULAs), which illustrates
5419 quite well why I stay away from software with EULAs.  Whenever I take
5420 the time to read their content, the terms are simply unacceptable.</p>
5421
5422       </div>
5423       <div class="tags">
5424
5425
5426         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/opphavsrett">opphavsrett</a>.
5427
5428
5429       </div>
5430     </div>
5431     <div class="padding"></div>
5432
5433     <div class="entry">
5434       <div class="title">
5435         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Experimental_Open311_API_for_the_mySociety_fixmystreet_system.html">Experimental Open311 API for the mySociety fixmystreet system</a>
5436       </div>
5437       <div class="date">
5438         30th April 2011
5439       </div>
5440       <div class="body">
5441         <p>Today, the first draft implementation of an
5442 <a href="http://www.open311.org/">Open311 API</a> for the Norwegian
5443 service <a href="http://www.fiksgatami.no/">FiksGataMi</a> started to
5444 work.  It is only available on the developer server for now, and I
5445 have not tested it using any existing Open311 client (I lack the
5446 platforms needed to run the clients I have found so far), but it is
5447 able to query the database and extract a list of open and closed
5448 requests within a given category and reported to a given municipality.
5449 I believe that is a good start to create a useful service for those
5450 that want to do data mining on the requests submitted so far.</p>
5451
5452 <p>Where is it?  Visit
5453 <a href="http://fiksgatami-dev.nuug.no/open311.cgi/v2/">http://fiksgatami-dev.nuug.no/open311.cgi/v2/</a>
5454 to have a look.  Please send feedback to the
5455 <a href="http://lists.nuug.no/mailman/listinfo/fiksgatami">fiksgatami
5456 (at) nuug.no</a> mailing list.</p>
5457
5458       </div>
5459       <div class="tags">
5460
5461
5462         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/fiksgatami">fiksgatami</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/open311">open311</a>.
5463
5464
5465       </div>
5466     </div>
5467     <div class="padding"></div>
5468
5469     <div class="entry">
5470       <div class="title">
5471         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Initial_notes_on_adding_Open311_server_API_on_FixMyStreet.html">Initial notes on adding Open311 server API on FixMyStreet</a>
5472       </div>
5473       <div class="date">
5474         29th April 2011
5475       </div>
5476       <div class="body">
5477         <p>The last few days I have spent some time trying to add support for
5478 the <a href="http://www.open311.org/">Open311 API</a> in the
5479 <a href="http://www.fiksgatami.no/">Norwegian FixMyStreet service</a>.
5480 Earlier I believed Open311 would be a useful API to use to submit
5481 reports to the municipalities, but when I noticed that the
5482 <a href="http://fixmystreet.org.nz/">New Zealand version</a> of
5483 FixMyStreet had implemented Open311 on the server side, it occurred to
5484 me that this was a nice way to allow the public, press and
5485 municipalities to do data mining directly in the FixMyStreet service.
5486 Thus I went to work implementing the Open311 specification for
5487 FixMyStreet.  The implementation is not yet ready, but I am starting
5488 to get a draft limping along.  In the process, I have discovered a few
5489 issues with the Open311 specification.</p>
5490
5491 <p>One obvious missing feature is the lack of natural language
5492 handling in the specification.  The specification seem to assume all
5493 reports will be written in English, and do not provide a way for the
5494 receiving end to specify which languages are understood there.  To be
5495 able to use the same client and submit to several Open311 receivers,
5496 it would be useful to know which language to use when writing reports.
5497 I believe the specification should be extended to allow the receivers
5498 of problem reports to specify which language they accept, and the
5499 submitter to specify which language the report is written in.
5500 Language of a text can also be automatically guessed using statistical
5501 methods, but for multi-lingual persons like myself, it is useful to
5502 know which language to use when writing a problem report.  I suspect
5503 some lang=nb,nn kind of attribute would solve it.</p>
5504
5505 <p>A key part of the Open311 API is the list of services provided,
5506 which is similar to the categories used by FixMyStreet.  One issue I
5507 run into is the need to specify both name and unique identifier for
5508 each category.  The specification do not state that the identifier
5509 should be numeric, but all example implementations have used numbers
5510 here.  In FixMyStreet, there is no number associated with each
5511 category.  As the specification do not forbid it, I will use the name
5512 as the unique identifier for now and see how open311 clients handle
5513 it.</p>
5514
5515 <p>The report format in open311 and the report format in FixMyStreet
5516 differ in a key part.  FixMyStreet have a title and a description,
5517 while Open311 only have a description and lack the title.  I'm not
5518 quite sure how to best handle this yet.  When asking for a FixMyStreet
5519 report in Open311 format, I just merge title an description into the
5520 open311 description, but this is not going to work if the open311 API
5521 should be used for submitting new reports to FixMyStreet.</p>
5522
5523 <p>The search feature in Open311 is missing a way to ask for problems
5524 near a geographic location.  I believe this is important if one is to
5525 use Open311 as the query language for mobile units.  The specification
5526 should be extended to handle this, probably using some new lat=, lon=
5527 and range= options.</p>
5528
5529 <p>The final challenge I see is that the FixMyStreet code handle
5530 several administrations in one interface, while the Open311 API seem
5531 to assume only one administration.  For FixMyStreet, this mean a
5532 report can be sent to several administrations, and the categories
5533 available depend on the location of the problem.  Not quite sure how
5534 to best handle this.  I've noticed
5535 <a href="http://seeclickfix.com/open311/">SeeClickFix</a> added
5536 latitude and longitude options to the services request, but it do not
5537 solve the problem of what to return when no location is specified.
5538 Will have to investigate this a bit more.</p>
5539
5540 <p>My distaste for web forums have kept me from bringing these issues
5541 up with the open311 developer group.  I really wish they had a email
5542 list available via <a href="http://www.gmane.org/">Gmane</a> to use for
5543 discussions instead of only
5544 <a href="http://lists.open311.org/groups/discuss">a forum<a/>.  Oh,
5545 well.  That will probably resolve itself, one way or another.  I've
5546 also tried visiting the IRC channel #open311 on FreeNode, but no-one
5547 seem to reply to my questions there.  This make me wonder if I just
5548 fail to understand how the open311 community work.  It sure do not
5549 work like the free software project communities I am used to.</p>
5550
5551       </div>
5552       <div class="tags">
5553
5554
5555         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/fiksgatami">fiksgatami</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/open311">open311</a>.
5556
5557
5558       </div>
5559     </div>
5560     <div class="padding"></div>
5561
5562     <div class="entry">
5563       <div class="title">
5564         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Gnash_enteres_Google_Summer_of_Code_2011.html">Gnash enteres Google Summer of Code 2011</a>
5565       </div>
5566       <div class="date">
5567          6th April 2011
5568       </div>
5569       <div class="body">
5570         <p><a href="http://www.getgnash.org/">The Gnash project</a> is still
5571 the most promising solution for a Free Software Flash implementation.
5572 A few days ago the project
5573 <a href="http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/gnash-dev/2011-04/msg00011.html">announced</a>
5574 that it will participate in Google Summer of Code.  I hope many
5575 students apply, and that some of them succeed in getting AVM2 support
5576 into Gnash.</p>
5577
5578       </div>
5579       <div class="tags">
5580
5581
5582         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/multimedia">multimedia</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/video">video</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/web">web</a>.
5583
5584
5585       </div>
5586     </div>
5587     <div class="padding"></div>
5588
5589     <div class="entry">
5590       <div class="title">
5591         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/A_Norwegian_FixMyStreet_have_kept_me_busy_the_last_few_weeks.html">A Norwegian FixMyStreet have kept me busy the last few weeks</a>
5592       </div>
5593       <div class="date">
5594          3rd April 2011
5595       </div>
5596       <div class="body">
5597         <p>Here is a small update for my English readers.  Most of my blog
5598 posts have been in Norwegian the last few weeks, so here is a short
5599 update in English.</p>
5600
5601 <p>The kids still keep me too busy to get much free software work
5602 done, but I did manage to organise a project to get a Norwegian port
5603 of the British service
5604 <a href="http://www.fixmystreet.com/">FixMyStreet</a> up and running,
5605 and it has been running for a month now.  The entire project has been
5606 organised by me and two others.  Around Christmas we gathered sponsors
5607 to fund the development work.  In January I drafted a contract with
5608 <a href="http://www.mysociety.org/">mySociety</a> on what to develop,
5609 and in February the development took place.  Most of it involved
5610 converting the source to use GPS coordinates instead of British
5611 easting/northing, and the resulting code should be a lot easier to get
5612 running in any country by now.  The Norwegian
5613 <a href="http://www.fiksgatami.no/">FiksGataMi</a> is using
5614 <a href="http://www.openstreetmap.org/">OpenStreetmap</a> as the map
5615 source and the source for administrative borders in Norway, and
5616 support for this had to be added/fixed.</p>
5617
5618 <p>The Norwegian version went live March 3th, and we spent the weekend
5619 polishing the system before we announced it March 7th.  The system is
5620 running on a KVM instance of Debian/Squeeze, and has seen almost 3000
5621 problem reports in a few weeks.  Soon we hope to announce the Android
5622 and iPhone versions making it even easier to report problems with the
5623 public infrastructure.</p>
5624
5625 <p>Perhaps something to consider for those of you in countries without
5626 such service?</p>
5627
5628       </div>
5629       <div class="tags">
5630
5631
5632         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/fiksgatami">fiksgatami</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/kart">kart</a>.
5633
5634
5635       </div>
5636     </div>
5637     <div class="padding"></div>
5638
5639     <div class="entry">
5640       <div class="title">
5641         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Using_NVD_and_CPE_to_track_CVEs_in_locally_maintained_software.html">Using NVD and CPE to track CVEs in locally maintained software</a>
5642       </div>
5643       <div class="date">
5644         28th January 2011
5645       </div>
5646       <div class="body">
5647         <p>The last few days I have looked at ways to track open security
5648 issues here at my work with the University of Oslo.  My idea is that
5649 it should be possible to use the information about security issues
5650 available on the Internet, and check our locally
5651 maintained/distributed software against this information.  It should
5652 allow us to verify that no known security issues are forgotten.  The
5653 CVE database listing vulnerabilities seem like a great central point,
5654 and by using the package lists from Debian mapped to CVEs provided by
5655 the testing security team, I believed it should be possible to figure
5656 out which security holes were present in our free software
5657 collection.</p>
5658
5659 <p>After reading up on the topic, it became obvious that the first
5660 building block is to be able to name software packages in a unique and
5661 consistent way across data sources.  I considered several ways to do
5662 this, for example coming up with my own naming scheme like using URLs
5663 to project home pages or URLs to the Freshmeat entries, or using some
5664 existing naming scheme.  And it seem like I am not the first one to
5665 come across this problem, as MITRE already proposed and implemented a
5666 solution.  Enter the <a href="http://cpe.mitre.org/index.html">Common
5667 Platform Enumeration</a> dictionary, a vocabulary for referring to
5668 software, hardware and other platform components.  The CPE ids are
5669 mapped to CVEs in the <a href="http://web.nvd.nist.gov/">National
5670 Vulnerability Database</a>, allowing me to look up know security
5671 issues for any CPE name.  With this in place, all I need to do is to
5672 locate the CPE id for the software packages we use at the university.
5673 This is fairly trivial (I google for 'cve cpe $package' and check the
5674 NVD entry if a CVE for the package exist).</p>
5675
5676 <p>To give you an example.  The GNU gzip source package have the CPE
5677 name cpe:/a:gnu:gzip.  If the old version 1.3.3 was the package to
5678 check out, one could look up
5679 <a href="http://web.nvd.nist.gov/view/vuln/search?cpe=cpe%3A%2Fa%3Agnu%3Agzip:1.3.3">cpe:/a:gnu:gzip:1.3.3
5680 in NVD</a> and get a list of 6 security holes with public CVE entries.
5681 The most recent one is
5682 <a href="http://web.nvd.nist.gov/view/vuln/detail?vulnId=CVE-2010-0001">CVE-2010-0001</a>,
5683 and at the bottom of the NVD page for this vulnerability the complete
5684 list of affected versions is provided.</p>
5685
5686 <p>The NVD database of CVEs is also available as a XML dump, allowing
5687 for offline processing of issues.  Using this dump, I've written a
5688 small script taking a list of CPEs as input and list all CVEs
5689 affecting the packages represented by these CPEs.  One give it CPEs
5690 with version numbers as specified above and get a list of open
5691 security issues out.</p>
5692
5693 <p>Of course for this approach to be useful, the quality of the NVD
5694 information need to be high.  For that to happen, I believe as many as
5695 possible need to use and contribute to the NVD database.  I notice
5696 RHEL is providing
5697 <a href="https://www.redhat.com/security/data/metrics/rhsamapcpe.txt">a
5698 map from CVE to CPE</a>, indicating that they are using the CPE
5699 information.  I'm not aware of Debian and Ubuntu doing the same.</p>
5700
5701 <p>To get an idea about the quality for free software, I spent some
5702 time making it possible to compare the CVE database from Debian with
5703 the CVE database in NVD.  The result look fairly good, but there are
5704 some inconsistencies in NVD (same software package having several
5705 CPEs), and some inaccuracies (NVD not mentioning buggy packages that
5706 Debian believe are affected by a CVE).  Hope to find time to improve
5707 the quality of NVD, but that require being able to get in touch with
5708 someone maintaining it.  So far my three emails with questions and
5709 corrections have not seen any reply, but I hope contact can be
5710 established soon.</p>
5711
5712 <p>An interesting application for CPEs is cross platform package
5713 mapping.  It would be useful to know which packages in for example
5714 RHEL, OpenSuSe and Mandriva are missing from Debian and Ubuntu, and
5715 this would be trivial if all linux distributions provided CPE entries
5716 for their packages.</p>
5717
5718       </div>
5719       <div class="tags">
5720
5721
5722         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/sikkerhet">sikkerhet</a>.
5723
5724
5725       </div>
5726     </div>
5727     <div class="padding"></div>
5728
5729     <div class="entry">
5730       <div class="title">
5731         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Which_module_is_loaded_for_a_given_PCI_and_USB_device_.html">Which module is loaded for a given PCI and USB device?</a>
5732       </div>
5733       <div class="date">
5734         23rd January 2011
5735       </div>
5736       <div class="body">
5737         <p>In the
5738 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/discover-data">discover-data</a>
5739 package in Debian, there is a script to report useful information
5740 about the running hardware for use when people report missing
5741 information.  One part of this script that I find very useful when
5742 debugging hardware problems, is the part mapping loaded kernel module
5743 to the PCI device it claims.  It allow me to quickly see if the kernel
5744 module I expect is driving the hardware I am struggling with.  To see
5745 the output, make sure discover-data is installed and run
5746 <tt>/usr/share/bug/discover-data 3>&1</tt>.  The relevant output on
5747 one of my machines like this:</p>
5748
5749 <pre>
5750 loaded modules:
5751 10de:03eb i2c_nforce2
5752 10de:03f1 ohci_hcd
5753 10de:03f2 ehci_hcd
5754 10de:03f0 snd_hda_intel
5755 10de:03ec pata_amd
5756 10de:03f6 sata_nv
5757 1022:1103 k8temp
5758 109e:036e bttv
5759 109e:0878 snd_bt87x
5760 11ab:4364 sky2
5761 </pre>
5762
5763 <p>The code in question look like this, slightly modified for
5764 readability and to drop the output to file descriptor 3:</p>
5765
5766 <pre>
5767 if [ -d /sys/bus/pci/devices/ ] ; then
5768     echo loaded pci modules:
5769     (
5770         cd /sys/bus/pci/devices/
5771         for address in * ; do
5772             if [ -d "$address/driver/module" ] ; then
5773                 module=`cd $address/driver/module ; pwd -P | xargs basename`
5774                 if grep -q "^$module " /proc/modules ; then
5775                     address=$(echo $address |sed s/0000://)
5776                     id=`lspci -n -s $address | tail -n 1 | awk '{print $3}'`
5777                     echo "$id $module"
5778                 fi
5779             fi
5780         done
5781     )
5782     echo
5783 fi
5784 </pre>
5785
5786 <p>Similar code could be used to extract USB device module
5787 mappings:</p>
5788
5789 <pre>
5790 if [ -d /sys/bus/usb/devices/ ] ; then
5791     echo loaded usb modules:
5792     (
5793         cd /sys/bus/usb/devices/
5794         for address in * ; do
5795             if [ -d "$address/driver/module" ] ; then
5796                 module=`cd $address/driver/module ; pwd -P | xargs basename`
5797                 if grep -q "^$module " /proc/modules ; then
5798                     address=$(echo $address |sed s/0000://)
5799                     id=$(lsusb -s $address | tail -n 1 | awk '{print $6}')
5800                     if [ "$id" ] ; then
5801                         echo "$id $module"
5802                     fi
5803                 fi
5804             fi
5805         done
5806     )
5807     echo
5808 fi
5809 </pre>
5810
5811 <p>This might perhaps be something to include in other tools as
5812 well.</p>
5813
5814       </div>
5815       <div class="tags">
5816
5817
5818         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
5819
5820
5821       </div>
5822     </div>
5823     <div class="padding"></div>
5824
5825     <div class="entry">
5826       <div class="title">
5827         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/The_video_format_most_supported_in_web_browsers_.html">The video format most supported in web browsers?</a>
5828       </div>
5829       <div class="date">
5830         16th January 2011
5831       </div>
5832       <div class="body">
5833         <p>The video format struggle on the web continues, and the three
5834 contenders seem to be Ogg Theora, H.264 and WebM.  Most video sites
5835 seem to use H.264, while others use Ogg Theora.  Interestingly enough,
5836 the comments I see give me the feeling that a lot of people believe
5837 H.264 is the most supported video format in browsers, but according to
5838 the Wikipedia article on
5839 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTML5_video">HTML5 video</a>,
5840 this is not true.  Check out the nice table of supprted formats in
5841 different browsers there.  The format supported by most browsers is
5842 Ogg Theora, supported by released versions of Mozilla Firefox, Google
5843 Chrome, Chromium, Opera, Konqueror, Epiphany, Origyn Web Browser and
5844 BOLT browser, while not supported by Internet Explorer nor Safari.
5845 The runner up is WebM supported by released versions of Google Chrome
5846 Chromium Opera and Origyn Web Browser, and test versions of Mozilla
5847 Firefox.  H.264 is supported by released versions of Safari, Origyn
5848 Web Browser and BOLT browser, and the test version of Internet
5849 Explorer.  Those wanting Ogg Theora support in Internet Explorer and
5850 Safari can install plugins to get it.</p>
5851
5852 <p>To me, the simple conclusion from this is that to reach most users
5853 without any extra software installed, one uses Ogg Theora with the
5854 HTML5 video tag.   Of course to reach all those without a browser
5855 handling HTML5, one need fallback mechanisms.  In
5856 <a href="http://www.nuug.no/">NUUG</a>, we provide first fallback to a
5857 plugin capable of playing MPEG1 video, and those without such support
5858 we have a second fallback to the Cortado java applet playing Ogg
5859 Theora.  This seem to work quite well, as can be seen in an <a
5860 href="http://www.nuug.no/aktiviteter/20110111-semantic-web/">example
5861 from last week</a>.</p>
5862
5863 <p>The reason Ogg Theora is the most supported format, and H.264 is
5864 the least supported is simple.  Implementing and using H.264
5865 require royalty payment to MPEG-LA, and the terms of use from MPEG-LA
5866 are incompatible with free software licensing.  If you believed H.264
5867 was without royalties and license terms, check out
5868 "<a href="http://webmink.com/essays/h-264/">H.264 – Not The Kind Of
5869 Free That Matters</a>" by Simon Phipps.</p>
5870
5871 <p>A incomplete list of sites providing video in Ogg Theora is
5872 available from
5873 <a href="http://wiki.xiph.org/index.php/List_of_Theora_videos">the
5874 Xiph.org wiki</a>, if you want to have a look.  I'm not aware of a
5875 similar list for WebM nor H.264.</p>
5876
5877 <p>Update 2011-01-16 09:40: A question from Tollef on IRC made me
5878 realise that I failed to make it clear enough this text is about the
5879 &lt;video&gt; tag support in browsers and not the video support
5880 provided by external plugins like the Flash plugins.</p>
5881
5882       </div>
5883       <div class="tags">
5884
5885
5886         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/standard">standard</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/video">video</a>.
5887
5888
5889       </div>
5890     </div>
5891     <div class="padding"></div>
5892
5893     <div class="entry">
5894       <div class="title">
5895         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Chrome_plan_to_drop_H_264_support_for_HTML5__lt_video_gt_.html">Chrome plan to drop H.264 support for HTML5 &lt;video&gt;</a>
5896       </div>
5897       <div class="date">
5898         12th January 2011
5899       </div>
5900       <div class="body">
5901         <p>Today I discovered
5902 <a href="http://www.digi.no/860070/google-dropper-h264-stotten-i-chrome">via
5903 digi.no</a> that the Chrome developers, in a surprising announcement,
5904 <a href="http://blog.chromium.org/2011/01/html-video-codec-support-in-chrome.html">yesterday
5905 announced</a> plans to drop H.264 support for HTML5 &lt;video&gt; in
5906 the browser.  The argument used is that H.264 is not a "completely
5907 open" codec technology.  If you believe H.264 was free for everyone
5908 to use, I recommend having a look at the essay
5909 "<a href="http://webmink.com/essays/h-264/">H.264 – Not The Kind Of
5910 Free That Matters</a>".  It is not free of cost for creators of video
5911 tools, nor those of us that want to publish on the Internet, and the
5912 terms provided by MPEG-LA excludes free software projects from
5913 licensing the patents needed for H.264.  Some background information
5914 on the Google announcement is available from
5915 <a href="http://www.osnews.com/story/24243/Google_To_Drop_H264_Support_from_Chrome">OSnews</a>.
5916 A good read. :)</p>
5917
5918 <p>Personally, I believe it is great that Google is taking a stand to
5919 promote equal terms for everyone when it comes to video publishing on
5920 the Internet.  This can only be done by publishing using free and open
5921 standards, which is only possible if the web browsers provide support
5922 for these free and open standards.  At the moment there seem to be two
5923 camps in the web browser world when it come to video support.  Some
5924 browsers support H.264, and others support
5925 <a href="http://www.theora.org/">Ogg Theora</a> and
5926 <a href="http://www.webmproject.org/">WebM</a>
5927 (<a href="http://www.diracvideo.org/">Dirac</a> is not really an option
5928 yet), forcing those of us that want to publish video on the Internet
5929 and which can not accept the terms of use presented by MPEG-LA for
5930 H.264 to not reach all potential viewers.
5931 Wikipedia keep <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTML5_video">an
5932 updated summary</a> of the current browser support.</p>
5933
5934 <p>Not surprising, several people would prefer Google to keep
5935 promoting H.264, and John Gruber
5936 <a href="http://daringfireball.net/2011/01/simple_questions">presents
5937 the mind set</a> of these people quite well.  His rhetorical questions
5938 provoked a reply from Thom Holwerda with another set of questions
5939 <a href="http://www.osnews.com/story/24245/10_Questions_for_John_Gruber_Regarding_H_264_WebM">presenting
5940 the issues with H.264</a>. Both are worth a read.</p>
5941
5942 <p>Some argue that if Google is dropping H.264 because it isn't free,
5943 they should also drop support for the Adobe Flash plugin.  This
5944 argument was covered by Simon Phipps in
5945 <a href="http://blogs.computerworlduk.com/simon-says/2011/01/google-and-h264---far-from-hypocritical/index.htm">todays
5946 blog post</a>, which I find to put the issue in context.  To me it
5947 make perfect sense to drop native H.264 support for HTML5 in the
5948 browser while still allowing plugins.</p>
5949
5950 <p>I suspect the reason this announcement make so many people protest,
5951 is that all the users and promoters of H.264 suddenly get an uneasy
5952 feeling that they might be backing the wrong horse.  A lot of TV
5953 broadcasters have been moving to H.264 the last few years, and a lot
5954 of money has been invested in hardware based on the belief that they
5955 could use the same video format for both broadcasting and web
5956 publishing.  Suddenly this belief is shaken.</p>
5957
5958 <p>An interesting question is why Google is doing this.  While the
5959 presented argument might be true enough, I believe Google would only
5960 present the argument if the change make sense from a business
5961 perspective.  One reason might be that they are currently negotiating
5962 with MPEG-LA over royalties or usage terms, and giving MPEG-LA the
5963 feeling that dropping H.264 completely from Chroome, Youtube and
5964 Google Video would improve the negotiation position of Google.
5965 Another reason might be that Google want to save money by not having
5966 to pay the video tax to MPEG-LA at all, and thus want to move to a
5967 video format not requiring royalties at all.  A third reason might be
5968 that the Chrome development team simply want to avoid the
5969 Chrome/Chromium split to get more help with the development of Chrome.
5970 I guess time will tell.</p>
5971
5972 <p>Update 2011-01-15: The Google Chrome team provided
5973 <a href="http://blog.chromium.org/2011/01/more-about-chrome-html-video-codec.html">more
5974 background and information on the move</a> it a blog post yesterday.</p>
5975
5976       </div>
5977       <div class="tags">
5978
5979
5980         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/standard">standard</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/video">video</a>.
5981
5982
5983       </div>
5984     </div>
5985     <div class="padding"></div>
5986
5987     <div class="entry">
5988       <div class="title">
5989         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/What_standards_are_Free_and_Open_as_defined_by_Digistan_.html">What standards are Free and Open as defined by Digistan?</a>
5990       </div>
5991       <div class="date">
5992         30th December 2010
5993       </div>
5994       <div class="body">
5995         <p>After trying to
5996 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Is_Ogg_Theora_a_free_and_open_standard_.html">compare
5997 Ogg Theora</a> to
5998 <a href="http://www.digistan.org/open-standard:definition">the Digistan
5999 definition</a> of a free and open standard, I concluded that this need
6000 to be done for more standards and started on a framework for doing
6001 this.  As a start, I want to get the status for all the standards in
6002 the Norwegian reference directory, which include UTF-8, HTML, PDF, ODF,
6003 JPEG, PNG, SVG and others.  But to be able to complete this in a
6004 reasonable time frame, I will need help.</p>
6005
6006 <p>If you want to help out with this work, please visit
6007 <a href="http://wiki.nuug.no/grupper/standard/digistan-analyse">the
6008 wiki pages I have set up for this</a>, and let me know that you want
6009 to help out.  The IRC channel #nuug on irc.freenode.net is a good
6010 place to coordinate this for now, as it is the IRC channel for the
6011 NUUG association where I have created the framework (I am the leader
6012 of the Norwegian Unix User Group).</p>
6013
6014 <p>The framework is still forming, and a lot is left to do.  Do not be
6015 scared by the sketchy form of the current pages. :)</p>
6016
6017       </div>
6018       <div class="tags">
6019
6020
6021         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/digistan">digistan</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/standard">standard</a>.
6022
6023
6024       </div>
6025     </div>
6026     <div class="padding"></div>
6027
6028     <div class="entry">
6029       <div class="title">
6030         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/The_many_definitions_of_a_open_standard.html">The many definitions of a open standard</a>
6031       </div>
6032       <div class="date">
6033         27th December 2010
6034       </div>
6035       <div class="body">
6036         <p>One of the reasons I like the Digistan definition of
6037 "<a href="http://www.digistan.org/open-standard:definition">Free and
6038 Open Standard</a>" is that this is a new term, and thus the meaning of
6039 the term has been decided by Digistan.  The term "Open Standard" has
6040 become so misunderstood that it is no longer very useful when talking
6041 about standards.  One end up discussing which definition is the best
6042 one and with such frame the only one gaining are the proponents of
6043 de-facto standards and proprietary solutions.</p>
6044
6045 <p>But to give us an idea about the diversity of definitions of open
6046 standards, here are a few that I know about.  This list is not
6047 complete, but can be a starting point for those that want to do a
6048 complete survey.  More definitions are available on the
6049 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_standard">wikipedia
6050 page</a>.</p>
6051
6052 <p>First off is my favourite, the definition from the European
6053 Interoperability Framework version 1.0.  Really sad to notice that BSA
6054 and others has succeeded in getting it removed from version 2.0 of the
6055 framework by stacking the committee drafting the new version with
6056 their own people.  Anyway, the definition is still available and it
6057 include the key properties needed to make sure everyone can use a
6058 specification on equal terms.</p>
6059
6060 <blockquote>
6061
6062 <p>The following are the minimal characteristics that a specification
6063 and its attendant documents must have in order to be considered an
6064 open standard:</p>
6065
6066 <ul>
6067
6068 <li>The standard is adopted and will be maintained by a not-for-profit
6069 organisation, and its ongoing development occurs on the basis of an
6070 open decision-making procedure available to all interested parties
6071 (consensus or majority decision etc.).</li>
6072
6073 <li>The standard has been published and the standard specification
6074 document is available either freely or at a nominal charge. It must be
6075 permissible to all to copy, distribute and use it for no fee or at a
6076 nominal fee.</li>
6077
6078 <li>The intellectual property - i.e. patents possibly present - of
6079 (parts of) the standard is made irrevocably available on a royalty-
6080 free basis.</li>
6081
6082 <li>There are no constraints on the re-use of the standard.</li>
6083
6084 </ul>
6085 </blockquote>
6086
6087 <p>Another one originates from my friends over at
6088 <a href="http://www.dkuug.dk/">DKUUG</a>, who coined and gathered
6089 support for <a href="http://www.aaben-standard.dk/">this
6090 definition</a> in 2004.  It even made it into the Danish parlament as
6091 <a href="http://www.ft.dk/dokumenter/tingdok.aspx?/samling/20051/beslutningsforslag/B103/som_fremsat.htm">their
6092 definition of a open standard</a>.  Another from a different part of
6093 the Danish government is available from the wikipedia page.</p>
6094
6095 <blockquote>
6096
6097 <p>En åben standard opfylder følgende krav:</p>
6098
6099 <ol>
6100
6101 <li>Veldokumenteret med den fuldstændige specifikation offentligt
6102 tilgængelig.</li>
6103
6104 <li>Frit implementerbar uden økonomiske, politiske eller juridiske
6105 begrænsninger på implementation og anvendelse.</li>
6106
6107 <li>Standardiseret og vedligeholdt i et åbent forum (en såkaldt
6108 "standardiseringsorganisation") via en åben proces.</li>
6109
6110 </ol>
6111
6112 </blockquote>
6113
6114 <p>Then there is <a href="http://www.fsfe.org/projects/os/def.html">the
6115 definition</a> from Free Software Foundation Europe.</p>
6116
6117 <blockquote>
6118
6119 <p>An Open Standard refers to a format or protocol that is</p>
6120
6121 <ol>
6122
6123 <li>subject to full public assessment and use without constraints in a
6124 manner equally available to all parties;</li>
6125
6126 <li>without any components or extensions that have dependencies on
6127 formats or protocols that do not meet the definition of an Open
6128 Standard themselves;</li>
6129
6130 <li>free from legal or technical clauses that limit its utilisation by
6131 any party or in any business model;</li>
6132
6133 <li>managed and further developed independently of any single vendor
6134 in a process open to the equal participation of competitors and third
6135 parties;</li>
6136
6137 <li>available in multiple complete implementations by competing
6138 vendors, or as a complete implementation equally available to all
6139 parties.</li>
6140
6141 </ol>
6142
6143 </blockquote>
6144
6145 <p>A long time ago, SUN Microsystems, now bought by Oracle, created
6146 its
6147 <a href="http://blogs.sun.com/dennisding/resource/Open%20Standard%20Definition.pdf">Open
6148 Standards Checklist</a> with a fairly detailed description.</p>
6149
6150 <blockquote>
6151 <p>Creation and Management of an Open Standard
6152
6153 <ul>
6154
6155 <li>Its development and management process must be collaborative and
6156   democratic:
6157
6158          <ul>
6159
6160          <li>Participation must be accessible to all those who wish to
6161             participate and can meet fair and reasonable criteria
6162             imposed by the organization under which it is developed
6163             and managed.</li>
6164
6165          <li>The processes must be documented and, through a known
6166             method, can be changed through input from all
6167             participants.</li>
6168
6169          <li>The process must be based on formal and binding commitments for
6170             the disclosure and licensing of intellectual property rights.</li>
6171
6172          <li>Development and management should strive for consensus,
6173             and an appeals process must be clearly outlined.</li>
6174
6175          <li>The standard specification must be open to extensive
6176             public review at least once in its life-cycle, with
6177             comments duly discussed and acted upon, if required.</li>
6178
6179          </ul>
6180
6181 </li>
6182
6183 </ul>
6184
6185 <p>Use and Licensing of an Open Standard</p>
6186 <ul>
6187
6188 <li>The standard must describe an interface, not an implementation,
6189   and the industry must be capable of creating multiple, competing
6190   implementations to the interface described in the standard without
6191   undue or restrictive constraints.  Interfaces include APIs,
6192   protocols, schemas, data formats and their encoding.</li>
6193
6194 <li> The standard must not contain any proprietary "hooks" that create
6195   a technical or economic barriers</li>
6196
6197 <li>Faithful implementations of the standard must
6198   interoperate. Interoperability means the ability of a computer
6199   program to communicate and exchange information with other computer
6200   programs and mutually to use the information which has been
6201   exchanged. This includes the ability to use, convert, or exchange
6202   file formats, protocols, schemas, interface information or
6203   conventions, so as to permit the computer program to work with other
6204   computer programs and users in all the ways in which they are
6205   intended to function.</li>
6206
6207 <li>It must be permissible for anyone to copy, distribute and read the
6208   standard for a nominal fee, or even no fee. If there is a fee, it
6209   must be low enough to not preclude widespread use.</li>
6210
6211 <li>It must be possible for anyone to obtain free (no royalties or
6212   fees; also known as "royalty free"), worldwide, non-exclusive and
6213   perpetual licenses to all essential patent claims to make, use and
6214   sell products based on the standard.  The only exceptions are
6215   terminations per the reciprocity and defensive suspension terms
6216   outlined below. Essential patent claims include pending, unpublished
6217   patents, published patents, and patent applications. The license is
6218   only for the exact scope of the standard in question.
6219
6220       <ul>
6221
6222       <li> May be conditioned only on reciprocal licenses to any of
6223         licensees' patent claims essential to practice that standard
6224         (also known as a reciprocity clause)</li>
6225
6226       <li> May be terminated as to any licensee who sues the licensor
6227         or any other licensee for infringement of patent claims
6228         essential to practice that standard (also known as a
6229         "defensive suspension" clause)</li>
6230
6231       <li> The same licensing terms are available to every potential
6232         licensor</li>
6233
6234       </ul>
6235 </li>
6236
6237 <li>The licensing terms of an open standards must not preclude
6238   implementations of that standard under open source licensing terms
6239   or restricted licensing terms</li>
6240
6241 </ul>
6242
6243 </blockquote>
6244
6245 <p>It is said that one of the nice things about standards is that
6246 there are so many of them.  As you can see, the same holds true for
6247 open standard definitions.  Most of the definitions have a lot in
6248 common, and it is not really controversial what properties a open
6249 standard should have, but the diversity of definitions have made it
6250 possible for those that want to avoid a level marked field and real
6251 competition to downplay the significance of open standards.  I hope we
6252 can turn this tide by focusing on the advantages of Free and Open
6253 Standards.</p>
6254
6255       </div>
6256       <div class="tags">
6257
6258
6259         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/digistan">digistan</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/standard">standard</a>.
6260
6261
6262       </div>
6263     </div>
6264     <div class="padding"></div>
6265
6266     <div class="entry">
6267       <div class="title">
6268         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Is_Ogg_Theora_a_free_and_open_standard_.html">Is Ogg Theora a free and open standard?</a>
6269       </div>
6270       <div class="date">
6271         25th December 2010
6272       </div>
6273       <div class="body">
6274         <p><a href="http://www.digistan.org/open-standard:definition">The
6275 Digistan definition</a> of a free and open standard reads like this:</p>
6276
6277 <blockquote>
6278
6279 <p>The Digital Standards Organization defines free and open standard
6280 as follows:</p>
6281
6282 <ol>
6283
6284 <li>A free and open standard is immune to vendor capture at all stages
6285 in its life-cycle. Immunity from vendor capture makes it possible to
6286 freely use, improve upon, trust, and extend a standard over time.</li>
6287
6288 <li>The standard is adopted and will be maintained by a not-for-profit
6289 organisation, and its ongoing development occurs on the basis of an
6290 open decision-making procedure available to all interested
6291 parties.</li>
6292
6293 <li>The standard has been published and the standard specification
6294 document is available freely. It must be permissible to all to copy,
6295 distribute, and use it freely.</li>
6296
6297 <li>The patents possibly present on (parts of) the standard are made
6298 irrevocably available on a royalty-free basis.</li>
6299
6300 <li>There are no constraints on the re-use of the standard.</li>
6301
6302 </ol>
6303
6304 <p>The economic outcome of a free and open standard, which can be
6305 measured, is that it enables perfect competition between suppliers of
6306 products based on the standard.</p>
6307 </blockquote>
6308
6309 <p>For a while now I have tried to figure out of Ogg Theora is a free
6310 and open standard according to this definition.  Here is a short
6311 writeup of what I have been able to gather so far.  I brought up the
6312 topic on the Xiph advocacy mailing list
6313 <a href="http://lists.xiph.org/pipermail/advocacy/2009-July/001632.html">in
6314 July 2009</a>, for those that want to see some background information.
6315 According to Ivo Emanuel Gonçalves and Monty Montgomery on that list
6316 the Ogg Theora specification fulfils the Digistan definition.</p>
6317
6318 <p><strong>Free from vendor capture?</strong></p>
6319
6320 <p>As far as I can see, there is no single vendor that can control the
6321 Ogg Theora specification.  It can be argued that the
6322 <a href="http://www.xiph.org/">Xiph foundation</A> is such vendor, but
6323 given that it is a non-profit foundation with the expressed goal
6324 making free and open protocols and standards available, it is not
6325 obvious that this is a real risk.  One issue with the Xiph
6326 foundation is that its inner working (as in board member list, or who
6327 control the foundation) are not easily available on the web.  I've
6328 been unable to find out who is in the foundation board, and have not
6329 seen any accounting information documenting how money is handled nor
6330 where is is spent in the foundation.  It is thus not obvious for an
6331 external observer who control The Xiph foundation, and for all I know
6332 it is possible for a single vendor to take control over the
6333 specification.  But it seem unlikely.</p>
6334
6335 <p><strong>Maintained by open not-for-profit organisation?</strong></p>
6336
6337 <p>Assuming that the Xiph foundation is the organisation its web pages
6338 claim it to be, this point is fulfilled.  If Xiph foundation is
6339 controlled by a single vendor, it isn't, but I have not found any
6340 documentation indicating this.</p>
6341
6342 <p>According to
6343 <a href="http://media.hiof.no/diverse/fad/rapport_4.pdf">a report</a>
6344 prepared by Audun Vaaler og Børre Ludvigsen for the Norwegian
6345 government, the Xiph foundation is a non-commercial organisation and
6346 the development process is open, transparent and non-Discrimatory.
6347 Until proven otherwise, I believe it make most sense to believe the
6348 report is correct.</p>
6349
6350 <p><strong>Specification freely available?</strong></p>
6351
6352 <p>The specification for the <a href="http://www.xiph.org/ogg/doc/">Ogg
6353 container format</a> and both the
6354 <a href="http://www.xiph.org/vorbis/doc/">Vorbis</a> and
6355 <a href="http://theora.org/doc/">Theora</a> codeces are available on
6356 the web.  This are the terms in the Vorbis and Theora specification:
6357
6358 <blockquote>
6359
6360 Anyone may freely use and distribute the Ogg and [Vorbis/Theora]
6361 specifications, whether in private, public, or corporate
6362 capacity. However, the Xiph.Org Foundation and the Ogg project reserve
6363 the right to set the Ogg [Vorbis/Theora] specification and certify
6364 specification compliance.
6365
6366 </blockquote>
6367
6368 <p>The Ogg container format is specified in IETF
6369 <a href="http://www.xiph.org/ogg/doc/rfc3533.txt">RFC 3533</a>, and
6370 this is the term:<p>
6371
6372 <blockquote>
6373
6374 <p>This document and translations of it may be copied and furnished to
6375 others, and derivative works that comment on or otherwise explain it
6376 or assist in its implementation may be prepared, copied, published and
6377 distributed, in whole or in part, without restriction of any kind,
6378 provided that the above copyright notice and this paragraph are
6379 included on all such copies and derivative works.  However, this
6380 document itself may not be modified in any way, such as by removing
6381 the copyright notice or references to the Internet Society or other
6382 Internet organizations, except as needed for the purpose of developing
6383 Internet standards in which case the procedures for copyrights defined
6384 in the Internet Standards process must be followed, or as required to
6385 translate it into languages other than English.</p>
6386
6387 <p>The limited permissions granted above are perpetual and will not be
6388 revoked by the Internet Society or its successors or assigns.</p>
6389 </blockquote>
6390
6391 <p>All these terms seem to allow unlimited distribution and use, an
6392 this term seem to be fulfilled.  There might be a problem with the
6393 missing permission to distribute modified versions of the text, and
6394 thus reuse it in other specifications.  Not quite sure if that is a
6395 requirement for the Digistan definition.</p>
6396
6397 <p><strong>Royalty-free?</strong></p>
6398
6399 <p>There are no known patent claims requiring royalties for the Ogg
6400 Theora format.
6401 <a href="http://www.streamingmedia.com/Articles/ReadArticle.aspx?ArticleID=65782">MPEG-LA</a>
6402 and
6403 <a href="http://yro.slashdot.org/story/10/04/30/237238/Steve-Jobs-Hints-At-Theora-Lawsuit">Steve
6404 Jobs</a> in Apple claim to know about some patent claims (submarine
6405 patents) against the Theora format, but no-one else seem to believe
6406 them.  Both Opera Software and the Mozilla Foundation have looked into
6407 this and decided to implement Ogg Theora support in their browsers
6408 without paying any royalties.  For now the claims from MPEG-LA and
6409 Steve Jobs seem more like FUD to scare people to use the H.264 codec
6410 than any real problem with Ogg Theora.</p>
6411
6412 <p><strong>No constraints on re-use?</strong></p>
6413
6414 <p>I am not aware of any constraints on re-use.</p>
6415
6416 <p><strong>Conclusion</strong></p>
6417
6418 <p>3 of 5 requirements seem obviously fulfilled, and the remaining 2
6419 depend on the governing structure of the Xiph foundation.  Given the
6420 background report used by the Norwegian government, I believe it is
6421 safe to assume the last two requirements are fulfilled too, but it
6422 would be nice if the Xiph foundation web site made it easier to verify
6423 this.</p>
6424
6425 <p>It would be nice to see other analysis of other specifications to
6426 see if they are free and open standards.</p>
6427
6428       </div>
6429       <div class="tags">
6430
6431
6432         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/digistan">digistan</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/standard">standard</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/video">video</a>.
6433
6434
6435       </div>
6436     </div>
6437     <div class="padding"></div>
6438
6439     <div class="entry">
6440       <div class="title">
6441         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/The_reply_from_Edgar_Villanueva_to_Microsoft_in_Peru.html">The reply from Edgar Villanueva to Microsoft in Peru</a>
6442       </div>
6443       <div class="date">
6444         25th December 2010
6445       </div>
6446       <div class="body">
6447         <p>A few days ago
6448 <a href="http://www.idg.no/computerworld/article189879.ece">an
6449 article</a> in the Norwegian Computerworld magazine about how version
6450 2.0 of
6451 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Interoperability_Framework">European
6452 Interoperability Framework</a> has been successfully lobbied by the
6453 proprietary software industry to remove the focus on free software.
6454 Nothing very surprising there, given
6455 <a href="http://news.slashdot.org/story/10/03/29/2115235/Open-Source-Open-Standards-Under-Attack-In-Europe">earlier
6456 reports</a> on how Microsoft and others have stacked the committees in
6457 this work.  But I find this very sad.   The definition of
6458 <a href="http://www.nuug.no/dokumenter/standard-presse-def-200506.txt">an
6459 open standard from version 1</a> was very good, and something I
6460 believe should be used also in the future, alongside
6461 <a href="http://www.digistan.org/open-standard:definition">the
6462 definition from Digistan</A>.  Version 2 have removed the open
6463 standard definition from its content.</p>
6464
6465 <p>Anyway, the news reminded me of the great reply sent by Dr. Edgar
6466 Villanueva, congressman in Peru at the time, to Microsoft as a reply
6467 to Microsofts attack on his proposal regarding the use of free software
6468 in the public sector in Peru.  As the text was not available from a
6469 few of the URLs where it used to be available, I copy it here from
6470 <a href="http://gnuwin.epfl.ch/articles/en/reponseperou/villanueva_to_ms.html">my
6471 source</a> to ensure it is available also in the future.  Some
6472 background information about that story is available in
6473 <a href="http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/6099">an article</a> from
6474 Linux Journal in 2002.</p>
6475
6476 <blockquote>
6477 <p>Lima, 8th of April, 2002<br>
6478 To: Señor JUAN ALBERTO GONZÁLEZ<br>
6479 General Manager of Microsoft Perú</p>
6480
6481 <p>Dear Sir:</p>
6482
6483 <p>First of all, I thank you for your letter of March 25, 2002 in which you state the official position of Microsoft relative to Bill Number 1609, Free Software in Public Administration, which is indubitably inspired by the desire for Peru to find a suitable place in the global technological context. In the same spirit, and convinced that we will find the best solutions through an exchange of clear and open ideas, I will take this opportunity to reply to the commentaries included in your letter.</p>
6484
6485 <p>While acknowledging that opinions such as yours constitute a significant contribution, it would have been even more worthwhile for me if, rather than formulating objections of a general nature (which we will analyze in detail later) you had gathered solid arguments for the advantages that proprietary software could bring to the Peruvian State, and to its citizens in general, since this would have allowed a more enlightening exchange in respect of each of our positions.</p>
6486
6487 <p>With the aim of creating an orderly debate, we will assume that what you call "open source software" is what the Bill defines as "free software", since there exists software for which the source code is distributed together with the program, but which does not fall within the definition established by the Bill; and that what you call "commercial software" is what the Bill defines as "proprietary" or "unfree", given that there exists free software which is sold in the market for a price like any other good or service.</p>
6488
6489 <p>It is also necessary to make it clear that the aim of the Bill we are discussing is not directly related to the amount of direct savings that can by made by using free software in state institutions. That is in any case a marginal aggregate value, but in no way is it the chief focus of the Bill. The basic principles which inspire the Bill are linked to the basic guarantees of a state of law, such as:</p>
6490
6491 <p>
6492 <ul>
6493 <li>Free access to public information by the citizen. </li>
6494 <li>Permanence of public data. </li>
6495 <li>Security of the State and citizens.</li>
6496 </ul>
6497 </p>
6498
6499 <p>To guarantee the free access of citizens to public information, it is indispensable that the encoding of data is not tied to a single provider. The use of standard and open formats gives a guarantee of this free access, if necessary through the creation of compatible free software.</p>
6500
6501 <p>To guarantee the permanence of public data, it is necessary that the usability and maintenance of the software does not depend on the goodwill of the suppliers, or on the monopoly conditions imposed by them. For this reason the State needs systems the development of which can be guaranteed due to the availability of the source code.</p>
6502
6503 <p>To guarantee national security or the security of the State, it is indispensable to be able to rely on systems without elements which allow control from a distance or the undesired transmission of information to third parties. Systems with source code freely accessible to the public are required to allow their inspection by the State itself, by the citizens, and by a large number of independent experts throughout the world. Our proposal brings further security, since the knowledge of the source code will eliminate the growing number of programs with *spy code*. </p>
6504
6505 <p>In the same way, our proposal strengthens the security of the citizens, both in their role as legitimate owners of information managed by the state, and in their role as consumers. In this second case, by allowing the growth of a widespread availability of free software not containing *spy code* able to put at risk privacy and individual freedoms.</p>
6506
6507 <p>In this sense, the Bill is limited to establishing the conditions under which the state bodies will obtain software in the future, that is, in a way compatible with these basic principles.</p>
6508
6509
6510 <p>From reading the Bill it will be clear that once passed:<br>
6511 <li>the law does not forbid the production of proprietary software</li>
6512 <li>the law does not forbid the sale of proprietary software</li>
6513 <li>the law does not specify which concrete software to use</li>
6514 <li>the law does not dictate the supplier from whom software will be bought</li>
6515 <li>the law does not limit the terms under which a software product can be licensed.</li>
6516
6517 </p>
6518
6519 <p>What the Bill does express clearly, is that, for software to be acceptable for the state it is not enough that it is technically capable of fulfilling a task, but that further the contractual conditions must satisfy a series of requirements regarding the license, without which the State cannot guarantee the citizen adequate processing of his data, watching over its integrity, confidentiality, and accessibility throughout time, as these are very critical aspects for its normal functioning.</p>
6520
6521 <p>We agree, Mr. Gonzalez, that information and communication technology have a significant impact on the quality of life of the citizens (whether it be positive or negative). We surely also agree that the basic values I have pointed out above are fundamental in a democratic state like Peru. So we are very interested to know of any other way of guaranteeing these principles, other than through the use of free software in the terms defined by the Bill.</p>
6522
6523 <p>As for the observations you have made, we will now go on to analyze them in detail:</p>
6524
6525 <p>Firstly, you point out that: "1. The bill makes it compulsory for all public bodies to use only free software, that is to say open source software, which breaches the principles of equality before the law, that of non-discrimination and the right of free private enterprise, freedom of industry and of contract, protected by the constitution."</p>
6526
6527 <p>This understanding is in error. The Bill in no way affects the rights you list; it limits itself entirely to establishing conditions for the use of software on the part of state institutions, without in any way meddling in private sector transactions. It is a well established principle that the State does not enjoy the wide spectrum of contractual freedom of the private sector, as it is limited in its actions precisely by the requirement for transparency of public acts; and in this sense, the preservation of the greater common interest must prevail when legislating on the matter.</p>
6528
6529 <p>The Bill protects equality under the law, since no natural or legal person is excluded from the right of offering these goods to the State under the conditions defined in the Bill and without more limitations than those established by the Law of State Contracts and Purchasing (T.U.O. by Supreme Decree No. 012-2001-PCM).</p>
6530
6531 <p>The Bill does not introduce any discrimination whatever, since it only establishes *how* the goods have to be provided (which is a state power) and not *who* has to provide them (which would effectively be discriminatory, if restrictions based on national origin, race religion, ideology, sexual preference etc. were imposed). On the contrary, the Bill is decidedly antidiscriminatory. This is so because by defining with no room for doubt the conditions for the provision of software, it prevents state bodies from using software which has a license including discriminatory conditions.</p>
6532
6533 <p>It should be obvious from the preceding two paragraphs that the Bill does not harm free private enterprise, since the latter can always choose under what conditions it will produce software; some of these will be acceptable to the State, and others will not be since they contradict the guarantee of the basic principles listed above. This free initiative is of course compatible with the freedom of industry and freedom of contract (in the limited form in which the State can exercise the latter). Any private subject can produce software under the conditions which the State requires, or can refrain from doing so. Nobody is forced to adopt a model of production, but if they wish to provide software to the State, they must provide the mechanisms which guarantee the basic principles, and which are those described in the Bill.</p>
6534
6535 <p>By way of an example: nothing in the text of the Bill would prevent your company offering the State bodies an office "suite", under the conditions defined in the Bill and setting the price that you consider satisfactory. If you did not, it would not be due to restrictions imposed by the law, but to business decisions relative to the method of commercializing your products, decisions with which the State is not involved.</p>
6536
6537 <p>To continue; you note that:" 2. The bill, by making the use of open source software compulsory, would establish discriminatory and non competitive practices in the contracting and purchasing by public bodies..."</p>
6538
6539 <p>This statement is just a reiteration of the previous one, and so the response can be found above. However, let us concern ourselves for a moment with your comment regarding "non-competitive ... practices."</p>
6540
6541 <p>Of course, in defining any kind of purchase, the buyer sets conditions which relate to the proposed use of the good or service. From the start, this excludes certain manufacturers from the possibility of competing, but does not exclude them "a priori", but rather based on a series of principles determined by the autonomous will of the purchaser, and so the process takes place in conformance with the law. And in the Bill it is established that *no one* is excluded from competing as far as he guarantees the fulfillment of the basic principles.</p>
6542
6543 <p>Furthermore, the Bill *stimulates* competition, since it tends to generate a supply of software with better conditions of usability, and to better existing work, in a model of continuous improvement.</p>
6544
6545 <p>On the other hand, the central aspect of competivity is the chance to provide better choices to the consumer. Now, it is impossible to ignore the fact that marketing does not play a neutral role when the product is offered on the market (since accepting the opposite would lead one to suppose that firms' expenses in marketing lack any sense), and that therefore a significant expense under this heading can influence the decisions of the purchaser. This influence of marketing is in large measure reduced by the bill that we are backing, since the choice within the framework proposed is based on the *technical merits* of the product and not on the effort put into commercialization by the producer; in this sense, competitiveness is increased, since the smallest software producer can compete on equal terms with the most powerful corporations.</p>
6546
6547 <p>It is necessary to stress that there is no position more anti-competitive than that of the big software producers, which frequently abuse their dominant position, since in innumerable cases they propose as a solution to problems raised by users: "update your software to the new version" (at the user's expense, naturally); furthermore, it is common to find arbitrary cessation of technical help for products, which, in the provider's judgment alone, are "old"; and so, to receive any kind of technical assistance, the user finds himself forced to migrate to new versions (with non-trivial costs, especially as changes in hardware platform are often involved). And as the whole infrastructure is based on proprietary data formats, the user stays "trapped" in the need to continue using products from the same supplier, or to make the huge effort to change to another environment (probably also proprietary).</p>
6548
6549 <p>You add: "3. So, by compelling the State to favor a business model based entirely on open source, the bill would only discourage the local and international manufacturing companies, which are the ones which really undertake important expenditures, create a significant number of direct and indirect jobs, as well as contributing to the GNP, as opposed to a model of open source software which tends to have an ever weaker economic impact, since it mainly creates jobs in the service sector."</p>
6550
6551 <p>I do not agree with your statement. Partly because of what you yourself point out in paragraph 6 of your letter, regarding the relative weight of services in the context of software use. This contradiction alone would invalidate your position. The service model, adopted by a large number of companies in the software industry, is much larger in economic terms, and with a tendency to increase, than the licensing of programs.</p>
6552
6553 <p>On the other hand, the private sector of the economy has the widest possible freedom to choose the economic model which best suits its interests, even if this freedom of choice is often obscured subliminally by the disproportionate expenditure on marketing by the producers of proprietary software.</p>
6554
6555 <p>In addition, a reading of your opinion would lead to the conclusion that the State market is crucial and essential for the proprietary software industry, to such a point that the choice made by the State in this bill would completely eliminate the market for these firms. If that is true, we can deduce that the State must be subsidizing the proprietary software industry. In the unlikely event that this were true, the State would have the right to apply the subsidies in the area it considered of greatest social value; it is undeniable, in this improbable hypothesis, that if the State decided to subsidize software, it would have to do so choosing the free over the proprietary, considering its social effect and the rational use of taxpayers money.</p>
6556
6557 <p>In respect of the jobs generated by proprietary software in countries like ours, these mainly concern technical tasks of little aggregate value; at the local level, the technicians who provide support for proprietary software produced by transnational companies do not have the possibility of fixing bugs, not necessarily for lack of technical capability or of talent, but because they do not have access to the source code to fix it. With free software one creates more technically qualified employment and a framework of free competence where success is only tied to the ability to offer good technical support and quality of service, one stimulates the market, and one increases the shared fund of knowledge, opening up alternatives to generate services of greater total value and a higher quality level, to the benefit of all involved: producers, service organizations, and consumers.</p>
6558
6559 <p>It is a common phenomenon in developing countries that local software industries obtain the majority of their takings in the service sector, or in the creation of "ad hoc" software. Therefore, any negative impact that the application of the Bill might have in this sector will be more than compensated by a growth in demand for services (as long as these are carried out to high quality standards). If the transnational software companies decide not to compete under these new rules of the game, it is likely that they will undergo some decrease in takings in terms of payment for licenses; however, considering that these firms continue to allege that much of the software used by the State has been illegally copied, one can see that the impact will not be very serious. Certainly, in any case their fortune will be determined by market laws, changes in which cannot be avoided; many firms traditionally associated with proprietary software have already set out on the road (supported by copious expense) of providing services associated with free software, which shows that the models are not mutually exclusive.</p>
6560
6561 <p>With this bill the State is deciding that it needs to preserve certain fundamental values. And it is deciding this based on its sovereign power, without affecting any of the constitutional guarantees. If these values could be guaranteed without having to choose a particular economic model, the effects of the law would be even more beneficial. In any case, it should be clear that the State does not choose an economic model; if it happens that there only exists one economic model capable of providing software which provides the basic guarantee of these principles, this is because of historical circumstances, not because of an arbitrary choice of a given model.</p>
6562
6563 <p>Your letter continues: "4. The bill imposes the use of open source software without considering the dangers that this can bring from the point of view of security, guarantee, and possible violation of the intellectual property rights of third parties."</p>
6564
6565 <p>Alluding in an abstract way to "the dangers this can bring", without specifically mentioning a single one of these supposed dangers, shows at the least some lack of knowledge of the topic. So, allow me to enlighten you on these points.</p>
6566
6567 <p>On security:</p>
6568
6569 <p>National security has already been mentioned in general terms in the initial discussion of the basic principles of the bill. In more specific terms, relative to the security of the software itself, it is well known that all software (whether proprietary or free) contains errors or "bugs" (in programmers' slang). But it is also well known that the bugs in free software are fewer, and are fixed much more quickly, than in proprietary software. It is not in vain that numerous public bodies responsible for the IT security of state systems in developed countries require the use of free software for the same conditions of security and efficiency.</p>
6570
6571 <p>What is impossible to prove is that proprietary software is more secure than free, without the public and open inspection of the scientific community and users in general. This demonstration is impossible because the model of proprietary software itself prevents this analysis, so that any guarantee of security is based only on promises of good intentions (biased, by any reckoning) made by the producer itself, or its contractors.</p>
6572
6573 <p>It should be remembered that in many cases, the licensing conditions include Non-Disclosure clauses which prevent the user from publicly revealing security flaws found in the licensed proprietary product.</p>
6574
6575 <p>In respect of the guarantee:</p>
6576
6577 <p>As you know perfectly well, or could find out by reading the "End User License Agreement" of the products you license, in the great majority of cases the guarantees are limited to replacement of the storage medium in case of defects, but in no case is compensation given for direct or indirect damages, loss of profits, etc... If as a result of a security bug in one of your products, not fixed in time by yourselves, an attacker managed to compromise crucial State systems, what guarantees, reparations and compensation would your company make in accordance with your licensing conditions? The guarantees of proprietary software, inasmuch as programs are delivered ``AS IS'', that is, in the state in which they are, with no additional responsibility of the provider in respect of function, in no way differ from those normal with free software.</p>
6578
6579 <p>On Intellectual Property:</p>
6580
6581 <p>Questions of intellectual property fall outside the scope of this bill, since they are covered by specific other laws. The model of free software in no way implies ignorance of these laws, and in fact the great majority of free software is covered by copyright. In reality, the inclusion of this question in your observations shows your confusion in respect of the legal framework in which free software is developed. The inclusion of the intellectual property of others in works claimed as one's own is not a practice that has been noted in the free software community; whereas, unfortunately, it has been in the area of proprietary software. As an example, the condemnation by the Commercial Court of Nanterre, France, on 27th September 2001 of Microsoft Corp. to a penalty of 3 million francs in damages and interest, for violation of intellectual property (piracy, to use the unfortunate term that your firm commonly uses in its publicity).</p>
6582
6583 <p>You go on to say that: "The bill uses the concept of open source software incorrectly, since it does not necessarily imply that the software is free or of zero cost, and so arrives at mistaken conclusions regarding State savings, with no cost-benefit analysis to validate its position."</p>
6584
6585 <p>This observation is wrong; in principle, freedom and lack of cost are orthogonal concepts: there is software which is proprietary and charged for (for example, MS Office), software which is proprietary and free of charge (MS Internet Explorer), software which is free and charged for (Red Hat, SuSE etc GNU/Linux distributions), software which is free and not charged for (Apache, Open Office, Mozilla), and even software which can be licensed in a range of combinations (MySQL).</p>
6586
6587 <p>Certainly free software is not necessarily free of charge. And the text of the bill does not state that it has to be so, as you will have noted after reading it. The definitions included in the Bill state clearly *what* should be considered free software, at no point referring to freedom from charges. Although the possibility of savings in payments for proprietary software licenses are mentioned, the foundations of the bill clearly refer to the fundamental guarantees to be preserved and to the stimulus to local technological development. Given that a democratic State must support these principles, it has no other choice than to use software with publicly available source code, and to exchange information only in standard formats.</p>
6588
6589 <p>If the State does not use software with these characteristics, it will be weakening basic republican principles. Luckily, free software also implies lower total costs; however, even given the hypothesis (easily disproved) that it was more expensive than proprietary software, the simple existence of an effective free software tool for a particular IT function would oblige the State to use it; not by command of this Bill, but because of the basic principles we enumerated at the start, and which arise from the very essence of the lawful democratic State.</p>
6590
6591 <p>You continue: "6. It is wrong to think that Open Source Software is free of charge. Research by the Gartner Group (an important investigator of the technological market recognized at world level) has shown that the cost of purchase of software (operating system and applications) is only 8% of the total cost which firms and institutions take on for a rational and truly beneficial use of the technology. The other 92% consists of: installation costs, enabling, support, maintenance, administration, and down-time."</p>
6592
6593 <p>This argument repeats that already given in paragraph 5 and partly contradicts paragraph 3. For the sake of brevity we refer to the comments on those paragraphs. However, allow me to point out that your conclusion is logically false: even if according to Gartner Group the cost of software is on average only 8% of the total cost of use, this does not in any way deny the existence of software which is free of charge, that is, with a licensing cost of zero.</p>
6594
6595 <p>In addition, in this paragraph you correctly point out that the service components and losses due to down-time make up the largest part of the total cost of software use, which, as you will note, contradicts your statement regarding the small value of services suggested in paragraph 3. Now the use of free software contributes significantly to reduce the remaining life-cycle costs. This reduction in the costs of installation, support etc. can be noted in several areas: in the first place, the competitive service model of free software, support and maintenance for which can be freely contracted out to a range of suppliers competing on the grounds of quality and low cost. This is true for installation, enabling, and support, and in large part for maintenance. In the second place, due to the reproductive characteristics of the model, maintenance carried out for an application is easily replicable, without incurring large costs (that is, without paying more than once for the same thing) since modifications, if one wishes, can be incorporated in the common fund of knowledge. Thirdly, the huge costs caused by non-functioning software ("blue screens of death", malicious code such as virus, worms, and trojans, exceptions, general protection faults and other well-known problems) are reduced considerably by using more stable software; and it is well known that one of the most notable virtues of free software is its stability.</p>
6596
6597 <p>You further state that: "7. One of the arguments behind the bill is the supposed freedom from costs of open-source software, compared with the costs of commercial software, without taking into account the fact that there exist types of volume licensing which can be highly advantageous for the State, as has happened in other countries."</p>
6598
6599 <p>I have already pointed out that what is in question is not the cost of the software but the principles of freedom of information, accessibility, and security. These arguments have been covered extensively in the preceding paragraphs to which I would refer you.</p>
6600
6601 <p>On the other hand, there certainly exist types of volume licensing (although unfortunately proprietary software does not satisfy the basic principles). But as you correctly pointed out in the immediately preceding paragraph of your letter, they only manage to reduce the impact of a component which makes up no more than 8% of the total.</p>
6602
6603 <p>You continue: "8. In addition, the alternative adopted by the bill (I) is clearly more expensive, due to the high costs of software migration, and (II) puts at risk compatibility and interoperability of the IT platforms within the State, and between the State and the private sector, given the hundreds of versions of open source software on the market."</p>
6604
6605 <p>Let us analyze your statement in two parts. Your first argument, that migration implies high costs, is in reality an argument in favor of the Bill. Because the more time goes by, the more difficult migration to another technology will become; and at the same time, the security risks associated with proprietary software will continue to increase. In this way, the use of proprietary systems and formats will make the State ever more dependent on specific suppliers. Once a policy of using free software has been established (which certainly, does imply some cost) then on the contrary migration from one system to another becomes very simple, since all data is stored in open formats. On the other hand, migration to an open software context implies no more costs than migration between two different proprietary software contexts, which invalidates your argument completely.</p>
6606
6607 <p>The second argument refers to "problems in interoperability of the IT platforms within the State, and between the State and the private sector" This statement implies a certain lack of knowledge of the way in which free software is built, which does not maximize the dependence of the user on a particular platform, as normally happens in the realm of proprietary software. Even when there are multiple free software distributions, and numerous programs which can be used for the same function, interoperability is guaranteed as much by the use of standard formats, as required by the bill, as by the possibility of creating interoperable software given the availability of the source code.</p>
6608
6609 <p>You then say that: "9. The majority of open source code does not offer adequate levels of service nor the guarantee from recognized manufacturers of high productivity on the part of the users, which has led various public organizations to retract their decision to go with an open source software solution and to use commercial software in its place."</p>
6610
6611 <p>This observation is without foundation. In respect of the guarantee, your argument was rebutted in the response to paragraph 4. In respect of support services, it is possible to use free software without them (just as also happens with proprietary software), but anyone who does need them can obtain support separately, whether from local firms or from international corporations, again just as in the case of proprietary software.</p>
6612
6613 <p>On the other hand, it would contribute greatly to our analysis if you could inform us about free software projects *established* in public bodies which have already been abandoned in favor of proprietary software. We know of a good number of cases where the opposite has taken place, but not know of any where what you describe has taken place.</p>
6614
6615 <p>You continue by observing that: "10. The bill discourages the creativity of the Peruvian software industry, which invoices 40 million US$/year, exports 4 million US$ (10th in ranking among non-traditional exports, more than handicrafts) and is a source of highly qualified employment. With a law that encourages the use of open source, software programmers lose their intellectual property rights and their main source of payment."</p>
6616
6617 <p>It is clear enough that nobody is forced to commercialize their code as free software. The only thing to take into account is that if it is not free software, it cannot be sold to the public sector. This is not in any case the main market for the national software industry. We covered some questions referring to the influence of the Bill on the generation of employment which would be both highly technically qualified and in better conditions for competition above, so it seems unnecessary to insist on this point.</p>
6618
6619 <p>What follows in your statement is incorrect. On the one hand, no author of free software loses his intellectual property rights, unless he expressly wishes to place his work in the public domain. The free software movement has always been very respectful of intellectual property, and has generated widespread public recognition of its authors. Names like those of Richard Stallman, Linus Torvalds, Guido van Rossum, Larry Wall, Miguel de Icaza, Andrew Tridgell, Theo de Raadt, Andrea Arcangeli, Bruce Perens, Darren Reed, Alan Cox, Eric Raymond, and many others, are recognized world-wide for their contributions to the development of software that is used today by millions of people throughout the world. On the other hand, to say that the rewards for authors rights make up the main source of payment of Peruvian programmers is in any case a guess, in particular since there is no proof to this effect, nor a demonstration of how the use of free software by the State would influence these payments.</p>
6620
6621 <p>You go on to say that: "11. Open source software, since it can be distributed without charge, does not allow the generation of income for its developers through exports. In this way, the multiplier effect of the sale of software to other countries is weakened, and so in turn is the growth of the industry, while Government rules ought on the contrary to stimulate local industry."</p>
6622
6623 <p>This statement shows once again complete ignorance of the mechanisms of and market for free software. It tries to claim that the market of sale of non- exclusive rights for use (sale of licenses) is the only possible one for the software industry, when you yourself pointed out several paragraphs above that it is not even the most important one. The incentives that the bill offers for the growth of a supply of better qualified professionals, together with the increase in experience that working on a large scale with free software within the State will bring for Peruvian technicians, will place them in a highly competitive position to offer their services abroad.</p>
6624
6625 <p>You then state that: "12. In the Forum, the use of open source software in education was discussed, without mentioning the complete collapse of this initiative in a country like Mexico, where precisely the State employees who founded the project now state that open source software did not make it possible to offer a learning experience to pupils in the schools, did not take into account the capability at a national level to give adequate support to the platform, and that the software did not and does not allow for the levels of platform integration that now exist in schools."</p>
6626
6627 <p>In fact Mexico has gone into reverse with the Red Escolar (Schools Network) project. This is due precisely to the fact that the driving forces behind the Mexican project used license costs as their main argument, instead of the other reasons specified in our project, which are far more essential. Because of this conceptual mistake, and as a result of the lack of effective support from the SEP (Secretary of State for Public Education), the assumption was made that to implant free software in schools it would be enough to drop their software budget and send them a CD ROM with Gnu/Linux instead. Of course this failed, and it couldn't have been otherwise, just as school laboratories fail when they use proprietary software and have no budget for implementation and maintenance. That's exactly why our bill is not limited to making the use of free software mandatory, but recognizes the need to create a viable migration plan, in which the State undertakes the technical transition in an orderly way in order to then enjoy the advantages of free software.</p>
6628
6629 <p>You end with a rhetorical question: "13. If open source software satisfies all the requirements of State bodies, why do you need a law to adopt it? Shouldn't it be the market which decides freely which products give most benefits or value?"</p>
6630
6631 <p>We agree that in the private sector of the economy, it must be the market that decides which products to use, and no state interference is permissible there. However, in the case of the public sector, the reasoning is not the same: as we have already established, the state archives, handles, and transmits information which does not belong to it, but which is entrusted to it by citizens, who have no alternative under the rule of law. As a counterpart to this legal requirement, the State must take extreme measures to safeguard the integrity, confidentiality, and accessibility of this information. The use of proprietary software raises serious doubts as to whether these requirements can be fulfilled, lacks conclusive evidence in this respect, and so is not suitable for use in the public sector.</p>
6632
6633 <p>The need for a law is based, firstly, on the realization of the fundamental principles listed above in the specific area of software; secondly, on the fact that the State is not an ideal homogeneous entity, but made up of multiple bodies with varying degrees of autonomy in decision making. Given that it is inappropriate to use proprietary software, the fact of establishing these rules in law will prevent the personal discretion of any state employee from putting at risk the information which belongs to citizens. And above all, because it constitutes an up-to-date reaffirmation in relation to the means of management and communication of information used today, it is based on the republican principle of openness to the public.</p>
6634
6635 <p>In conformance with this universally accepted principle, the citizen has the right to know all information held by the State and not covered by well- founded declarations of secrecy based on law. Now, software deals with information and is itself information. Information in a special form, capable of being interpreted by a machine in order to execute actions, but crucial information all the same because the citizen has a legitimate right to know, for example, how his vote is computed or his taxes calculated. And for that he must have free access to the source code and be able to prove to his satisfaction the programs used for electoral computations or calculation of his taxes.</p>
6636
6637 <p>I wish you the greatest respect, and would like to repeat that my office will always be open for you to expound your point of view to whatever level of detail you consider suitable.</p>
6638
6639 <p>Cordially,<br>
6640 DR. EDGAR DAVID VILLANUEVA NUÑEZ<br>
6641 Congressman of the Republic of Perú.</p>
6642 </blockquote>
6643
6644       </div>
6645       <div class="tags">
6646
6647
6648         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/digistan">digistan</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/standard">standard</a>.
6649
6650
6651       </div>
6652     </div>
6653     <div class="padding"></div>
6654
6655     <div class="entry">
6656       <div class="title">
6657         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Officeshots_still_going_strong.html">Officeshots still going strong</a>
6658       </div>
6659       <div class="date">
6660         25th December 2010
6661       </div>
6662       <div class="body">
6663         <p>Half a year ago I
6664 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Officeshots_taking_shape.html">wrote
6665 a bit</a> about <a href="http://www.officeshots.org/">OfficeShots</a>,
6666 a web service to allow anyone to test how ODF documents are handled by
6667 the different programs reading and writing the ODF format.</p>
6668
6669 <p>I just had a look at the service, and it seem to be going strong.
6670 Very interesting to see the results reported in the gallery, how
6671 different Office implementations handle different ODF features.  Sad
6672 to see that KOffice was not doing it very well, and happy to see that
6673 LibreOffice has been tested already (but sadly not listed as a option
6674 for OfficeShots users yet).  I am glad to see that the ODF community
6675 got such a great test tool available.</p>
6676
6677       </div>
6678       <div class="tags">
6679
6680
6681         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/standard">standard</a>.
6682
6683
6684       </div>
6685     </div>
6686     <div class="padding"></div>
6687
6688     <div class="entry">
6689       <div class="title">
6690         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/How_to_test_if_a_laptop_is_working_with_Linux.html">How to test if a laptop is working with Linux</a>
6691       </div>
6692       <div class="date">
6693         22nd December 2010
6694       </div>
6695       <div class="body">
6696         <p>The last few days I have spent at work here at the <a
6697 href="http://www.uio.no/">University of Oslo</a> testing if the new
6698 batch of computers will work with Linux.  Every year for the last few
6699 years the university have organised shared bid of a few thousand
6700 computers, and this year HP won the bid.  Two different desktops and
6701 five different laptops are on the list this year.  We in the UNIX
6702 group want to know which one of these computers work well with RHEL
6703 and Ubuntu, the two Linux distributions we currently handle at the
6704 university.</p>
6705
6706 <p>My test method is simple, and I share it here to get feedback and
6707 perhaps inspire others to test hardware as well.  To test, I PXE
6708 install the OS version of choice, and log in as my normal user and run
6709 a few applications and plug in selected pieces of hardware.  When
6710 something fail, I make a note about this in the test matrix and move
6711 on.  If I have some spare time I try to report the bug to the OS
6712 vendor, but as I only have the machines for a short time, I rarely
6713 have the time to do this for all the problems I find.</p>
6714
6715 <p>Anyway, to get to the point of this post.  Here is the simple tests
6716 I perform on a new model.</p>
6717
6718 <ul>
6719
6720 <li>Is PXE installation working?  I'm testing with RHEL6, Ubuntu Lucid
6721 and Ubuntu Maverik at the moment.  If I feel like it, I also test with
6722 RHEL5 and Debian Edu/Squeeze.</li>
6723
6724 <li>Is X.org working?  If the graphical login screen show up after
6725 installation, X.org is working.</li>
6726
6727 <li>Is hardware accelerated OpenGL working?  Running glxgears (in
6728 package mesa-utils on Ubuntu) and writing down the frames per second
6729 reported by the program.</li>
6730
6731 <li>Is sound working?  With Gnome and KDE, a sound is played when
6732 logging in, and if I can hear this the test is successful.  If there
6733 are several audio exits on the machine, I try them all and check if
6734 the Gnome/KDE audio mixer can control where to send the sound.  I
6735 normally test this by playing
6736 <a href="http://www.nuug.no/aktiviteter/20101012-chef/ ">a HTML5
6737 video</a> in Firefox/Iceweasel.</li>
6738
6739 <li>Is the USB subsystem working?  I test this by plugging in a USB
6740 memory stick and see if Gnome/KDE notices this.</li>
6741
6742 <li>Is the CD/DVD player working?  I test this by inserting any CD/DVD
6743 I have lying around, and see if Gnome/KDE notices this.</li>
6744
6745 <li>Is any built in camera working?  Test using cheese, and see if a
6746 picture from the v4l device show up.</li>
6747
6748 <li>Is bluetooth working?  Use the Gnome/KDE browsing tool to see if
6749 any bluetooth devices are discovered.  In my office, I normally see a
6750 few.</li>
6751
6752 <li>For laptops, is the SD or Compaq Flash reader working.  I have
6753 memory modules lying around, and stick them in and see if Gnome/KDE
6754 notice this.</li>
6755
6756 <li>For laptops, is suspend/hibernate working?  I'm testing if the
6757 special button work, and if the laptop continue to work after
6758 resume.</li>
6759
6760 <li>For laptops, is the extra buttons working, like audio level,
6761 adjusting background light, switching on/off external video output,
6762 switching on/off wifi, bluetooth, etc?  The set of buttons differ from
6763 laptop to laptop, so I just write down which are working and which are
6764 not.</li>
6765
6766 <li>Some laptops have smart card readers, finger print readers,
6767 acceleration sensors etc.  I rarely test these, as I do not know how
6768 to quickly test if they are working or not, so I only document their
6769 existence.</li>
6770
6771 </ul>
6772
6773 <p>By now I suspect you are really curious what the test results are
6774 for the HP machines I am testing.  I'm not done yet, so I will report
6775 the test results later.  For now I can report that HP 8100 Elite work
6776 fine, and hibernation fail with HP EliteBook 8440p on Ubuntu Lucid,
6777 and audio fail on RHEL6.  Ubuntu Maverik worked with 8440p.  As you
6778 can see, I have most machines left to test.  One interesting
6779 observation is that Ubuntu Lucid has almost twice the frame rate than
6780 RHEL6 with glxgears.  No idea why.</p>
6781
6782       </div>
6783       <div class="tags">
6784
6785
6786         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
6787
6788
6789       </div>
6790     </div>
6791     <div class="padding"></div>
6792
6793     <div class="entry">
6794       <div class="title">
6795         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Some_thoughts_on_BitCoins.html">Some thoughts on BitCoins</a>
6796       </div>
6797       <div class="date">
6798         11th December 2010
6799       </div>
6800       <div class="body">
6801         <p>As I continue to explore
6802 <a href="http://www.bitcoin.org/">BitCoin</a>, I've starting to wonder
6803 what properties the system have, and how it will be affected by laws
6804 and regulations here in Norway.  Here are some random notes.</p>
6805
6806 <p>One interesting thing to note is that since the transactions are
6807 verified using a peer to peer network, all details about a transaction
6808 is known to everyone.  This means that if a BitCoin address has been
6809 published like I did with mine in my initial post about BitCoin, it is
6810 possible for everyone to see how many BitCoins have been transfered to
6811 that address.  There is even a web service to look at the details for
6812 all transactions.  There I can see that my address
6813 <a href="http://blockexplorer.com/address/15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</a>
6814 have received 16.06 Bitcoin, the
6815 <a href="http://blockexplorer.com/address/1LfdGnGuWkpSJgbQySxxCWhv8MHqvwst3">1LfdGnGuWkpSJgbQySxxCWhv8MHqvwst3</a>
6816 address of Simon Phipps have received 181.97 BitCoin and the address
6817 <a href="http://blockexplorer.com/address/1MCwBbhNGp5hRm5rC1Aims2YFRe2SXPYKt">1MCwBbhNGp5hRm5rC1Aims2YFRe2SXPYKt</A>
6818 of EFF have received 2447.38 BitCoins so far.  Thank you to each and
6819 every one of you that donated bitcoins to support my activity. The
6820 fact that anyone can see how much money was transfered to a given
6821 address make it more obvious why the BitCoin community recommend to
6822 generate and hand out a new address for each transaction.  I'm told
6823 there is no way to track which addresses belong to a given person or
6824 organisation without the person or organisation revealing it
6825 themselves, as Simon, EFF and I have done.</p>
6826
6827 <p>In Norway, and in most other countries, there are laws and
6828 regulations limiting how much money one can transfer across the border
6829 without declaring it.  There are money laundering, tax and accounting
6830 laws and regulations I would expect to apply to the use of BitCoin.
6831 If the Skolelinux foundation
6832 (<a href="http://linuxiskolen.no/slxdebianlabs/donations.html">SLX
6833 Debian Labs</a>) were to accept donations in BitCoin in addition to
6834 normal bank transfers like EFF is doing, how should this be accounted?
6835 Given that it is impossible to know if money can cross the border or
6836 not, should everything or nothing be declared?  What exchange rate
6837 should be used when calculating taxes?  Would receivers have to pay
6838 income tax if the foundation were to pay Skolelinux contributors in
6839 BitCoin?  I have no idea, but it would be interesting to know.</p>
6840
6841 <p>For a currency to be useful and successful, it must be trusted and
6842 accepted by a lot of users.  It must be possible to get easy access to
6843 the currency (as a wage or using currency exchanges), and it must be
6844 easy to spend it.  At the moment BitCoin seem fairly easy to get
6845 access to, but there are very few places to spend it.  I am not really
6846 a regular user of any of the vendor types currently accepting BitCoin,
6847 so I wonder when my kind of shop would start accepting BitCoins.  I
6848 would like to buy electronics, travels and subway tickets, not herbs
6849 and books. :) The currency is young, and this will improve over time
6850 if it become popular, but I suspect regular banks will start to lobby
6851 to get BitCoin declared illegal if it become popular.  I'm sure they
6852 will claim it is helping fund terrorism and money laundering (which
6853 probably would be true, as is any currency in existence), but I
6854 believe the problems should be solved elsewhere and not by blaming
6855 currencies.</p>
6856
6857 <p>The process of creating new BitCoins is called mining, and it is
6858 CPU intensive process that depend on a bit of luck as well (as one is
6859 competing against all the other miners currently spending CPU cycles
6860 to see which one get the next lump of cash).  The "winner" get 50
6861 BitCoin when this happen.  Yesterday I came across the obvious way to
6862 join forces to increase ones changes of getting at least some coins,
6863 by coordinating the work on mining BitCoins across several machines
6864 and people, and sharing the result if one is lucky and get the 50
6865 BitCoins.  Check out
6866 <a href="http://www.bluishcoder.co.nz/bitcoin-pool/">BitCoin Pool</a>
6867 if this sounds interesting.  I have not had time to try to set up a
6868 machine to participate there yet, but have seen that running on ones
6869 own for a few days have not yield any BitCoins througth mining
6870 yet.</p>
6871
6872 <p>Update 2010-12-15: Found an <a
6873 href="http://inertia.posterous.com/reply-to-the-underground-economist-why-bitcoi">interesting
6874 criticism</a> of bitcoin.  Not quite sure how valid it is, but thought
6875 it was interesting to read.  The arguments presented seem to be
6876 equally valid for gold, which was used as a currency for many years.</p>
6877
6878       </div>
6879       <div class="tags">
6880
6881
6882         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/bitcoin">bitcoin</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/personvern">personvern</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/sikkerhet">sikkerhet</a>.
6883
6884
6885       </div>
6886     </div>
6887     <div class="padding"></div>
6888
6889     <div class="entry">
6890       <div class="title">
6891         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Now_accepting_bitcoins___anonymous_and_distributed_p2p_crypto_money.html">Now accepting bitcoins - anonymous and distributed p2p crypto-money</a>
6892       </div>
6893       <div class="date">
6894         10th December 2010
6895       </div>
6896       <div class="body">
6897         <p>With this weeks lawless
6898 <a href="http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/12/06/wikileaks/index.html">governmental
6899 attacks</a> on Wikileak and
6900 <a href="http://www.salon.com/technology/dan_gillmor/2010/12/06/war_on_speech">free
6901 speech</a>, it has become obvious that PayPal, visa and mastercard can
6902 not be trusted to handle money transactions.
6903 A blog post from
6904 <a href="http://webmink.com/2010/12/06/now-accepting-bitcoin/">Simon
6905 Phipps on bitcoin</a> reminded me about a project that a friend of
6906 mine mentioned earlier.  I decided to follow Simon's example, and get
6907 involved with <a href="http://www.bitcoin.org/">BitCoin</a>.  I got
6908 some help from my friend to get it all running, and he even handed me
6909 some bitcoins to get started.  I even donated a few bitcoins to Simon
6910 for helping me remember BitCoin.</p>
6911
6912 <p>So, what is bitcoins, you probably wonder?  It is a digital
6913 crypto-currency, decentralised and handled using peer-to-peer
6914 networks.  It allows anonymous transactions and prohibits central
6915 control over the transactions, making it impossible for governments
6916 and companies alike to block donations and other transactions.  The
6917 source is free software, and while the key dependency wxWidgets 2.9
6918 for the graphical user interface is missing in Debian, the command
6919 line client builds just fine.  Hopefully Jonas
6920 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/578157">will get the package into
6921 Debian</a> soon.</p>
6922
6923 <p>Bitcoins can be converted to other currencies, like USD and EUR.
6924 There are <a href="http://www.bitcoin.org/trade">companies accepting
6925 bitcoins</a> when selling services and goods, and there are even
6926 currency "stock" markets where the exchange rate is decided.  There
6927 are not many users so far, but the concept seems promising.  If you
6928 want to get started and lack a friend with any bitcoins to spare,
6929 you can even get
6930 <a href="https://freebitcoins.appspot.com/">some for free</a> (0.05
6931 bitcoin at the time of writing).  Use
6932 <a href="http://www.bitcoinwatch.com/">BitcoinWatch</a> to keep an eye
6933 on the current exchange rates.</p>
6934
6935 <p>As an experiment, I have decided to set up bitcoind on one of my
6936 machines.  If you want to support my activity, please send Bitcoin
6937 donations to the address
6938 <b>15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</b>.  Thank you!</p>
6939
6940       </div>
6941       <div class="tags">
6942
6943
6944         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/bitcoin">bitcoin</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/personvern">personvern</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/sikkerhet">sikkerhet</a>.
6945
6946
6947       </div>
6948     </div>
6949     <div class="padding"></div>
6950
6951     <div class="entry">
6952       <div class="title">
6953         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Student_group_continue_the_work_on_my_Reprap_3D_printer.html">Student group continue the work on my Reprap 3D printer</a>
6954       </div>
6955       <div class="date">
6956          9th December 2010
6957       </div>
6958       <div class="body">
6959         <p>A few days ago, I was introduces to some students in the robot
6960 student assosiation <a href="http://www.robotica.no/">Robotica
6961 Osloensis</a> at the University of Oslo where I work, who planned to
6962 get their own 3D printer.  They wanted to learn from me based on my
6963 work in the area.  After having a short lunch meeting with them, I
6964 offered them to borrow my reprap kit, as I never had time to complete
6965 the build and this seem unlike to change any time soon.  I look
6966 forward to see how this goes.  This monday their volunteer driver
6967 picked up my kit and drove it to their lab, and tomorrow I am told the
6968 last exam is over so they can start work on getting the 3D printer
6969 operational.</p>
6970
6971 <p>The robotic group have already build several robots on their own,
6972 and seem capable of getting the reprap operational.  I really look
6973 forward to being able to print all the cool 3D designs published on
6974 <a href="http://www.thingiverse.com/">Thingiverse</a>.  I even got
6975 some 3D scans I got made during Dagen@IFI when one of the groups at
6976 the computer science department at the university demonstrated their
6977 very cool 3D scanner.</p>
6978
6979       </div>
6980       <div class="tags">
6981
6982
6983         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/3d-printer">3d-printer</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/reprap">reprap</a>.
6984
6985
6986       </div>
6987     </div>
6988     <div class="padding"></div>
6989
6990     <div class="entry">
6991       <div class="title">
6992         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_development_gathering_and_General_Assembly_for_FRiSK.html">Debian Edu development gathering and General Assembly for FRiSK</a>
6993       </div>
6994       <div class="date">
6995         29th November 2010
6996       </div>
6997       <div class="body">
6998         <p>On friday, the first Debian Edu / Skolelinux
6999 <a href="http://www.friprogramvareiskolen.no/Gathering/2010-12-03-05-Oslo">development
7000 gathering</a> in a long time take place here in Oslo, Norway.  I
7001 really look forward to seeing all the good people working on the
7002 Squeeze release.  The gathering is open for everyone interested in
7003 learning more about Debian Edu / Skolelinux.</p>
7004
7005 <p>On Saturday, the Norwegian member organization taking care of
7006 organizing these development gatherings, Fri Programvare i Skolen,
7007 will hold its
7008 <a href="http://friprogramvareiskolen.no/Genfors/2010">General Assembly
7009 for 2010</a>.  Membership is open for all, and currently there are 388
7010 people registered as members.  Last year 32 members cast their vote in
7011 the memberdb based election system.  I hope more people find time to
7012 vote this year.</p>
7013
7014       </div>
7015       <div class="tags">
7016
7017
7018         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug</a>.
7019
7020
7021       </div>
7022     </div>
7023     <div class="padding"></div>
7024
7025     <div class="entry">
7026       <div class="title">
7027         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Why_isn_t_Debian_Edu_using_VLC_.html">Why isn't Debian Edu using VLC?</a>
7028       </div>
7029       <div class="date">
7030         27th November 2010
7031       </div>
7032       <div class="body">
7033         <p>In the latest issue of Linux Journal, the readers choices were
7034 presented, and the winner among the multimedia player were VLC.
7035 Personally, I like VLC, and it is my player of choice when I first try
7036 to play a video file or stream.  Only if VLC fail will I drag out
7037 gmplayer to see if it can do better.  The reason is mostly the failure
7038 model and trust.  When VLC fail, it normally pop up a error message
7039 reporting the problem.  When mplayer fail, it normally segfault or
7040 just hangs.  The latter failure mode drain my trust in the program.<p>
7041
7042 <p>But even if VLC is my player of choice, we have choosen to use
7043 mplayer in <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian
7044 Edu/Skolelinux</a>.  The reason is simple.  We need a good browser
7045 plugin to play web videos seamlessly, and the VLC browser plugin is
7046 not very good.  For example, it lack in-line control buttons, so there
7047 is no way for the user to pause the video.  Also, when I
7048 <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/BrowserMultimedia">last
7049 tested the browser plugins</a> available in Debian, the VLC plugin
7050 failed on several video pages where mplayer based plugins worked.  If
7051 the browser plugin for VLC was as good as the gecko-mediaplayer
7052 package (which uses mplayer), we would switch.</P>
7053
7054 <p>While VLC is a good player, its user interface is slightly
7055 annoying.  The most annoying feature is its inconsistent use of
7056 keyboard shortcuts.  When the player is in full screen mode, its
7057 shortcuts are different from when it is playing the video in a window.
7058 For example, space only work as pause when in full screen mode.  I
7059 wish it had consisten shortcuts and that space also would work when in
7060 window mode.  Another nice shortcut in gmplayer is [enter] to restart
7061 the current video.  It is very nice when playing short videos from the
7062 web and want to restart it when new people arrive to have a look at
7063 what is going on.</p>
7064
7065       </div>
7066       <div class="tags">
7067
7068
7069         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/multimedia">multimedia</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/video">video</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/web">web</a>.
7070
7071
7072       </div>
7073     </div>
7074     <div class="padding"></div>
7075
7076     <div class="entry">
7077       <div class="title">
7078         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Lenny__Squeeze_upgrades_of_the_Gnome_and_KDE_desktop__now_with_apt_get_autoremove.html">Lenny->Squeeze upgrades of the Gnome and KDE desktop, now with apt-get autoremove</a>
7079       </div>
7080       <div class="date">
7081         22nd November 2010
7082       </div>
7083       <div class="body">
7084         <p>Michael Biebl suggested to me on IRC, that I changed my automated
7085 upgrade testing of the
7086 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/~pere/debian-upgrade-testing/">Lenny
7087 Gnome and KDE Desktop</a> to do <tt>apt-get autoremove</tt> when using apt-get.
7088 This seem like a very good idea, so I adjusted by test scripts and
7089 can now present the updated result from today:</p>
7090
7091 <p>This is for Gnome:</p>
7092
7093 <p>Installed using apt-get, missing with aptitude</p>
7094
7095 <blockquote><p>
7096   apache2.2-bin
7097   aptdaemon
7098   baobab
7099   binfmt-support
7100   browser-plugin-gnash
7101   cheese-common
7102   cli-common
7103   cups-pk-helper
7104   dmz-cursor-theme
7105   empathy
7106   empathy-common
7107   freedesktop-sound-theme
7108   freeglut3
7109   gconf-defaults-service
7110   gdm-themes
7111   gedit-plugins
7112   geoclue
7113   geoclue-hostip
7114   geoclue-localnet
7115   geoclue-manual
7116   geoclue-yahoo
7117   gnash
7118   gnash-common
7119   gnome
7120   gnome-backgrounds
7121   gnome-cards-data
7122   gnome-codec-install
7123   gnome-core
7124   gnome-desktop-environment
7125   gnome-disk-utility
7126   gnome-screenshot
7127   gnome-search-tool
7128   gnome-session-canberra
7129   gnome-system-log
7130   gnome-themes-extras
7131   gnome-themes-more
7132   gnome-user-share
7133   gstreamer0.10-fluendo-mp3
7134   gstreamer0.10-tools
7135   gtk2-engines
7136   gtk2-engines-pixbuf
7137   gtk2-engines-smooth
7138   hamster-applet
7139   libapache2-mod-dnssd
7140   libapr1
7141   libaprutil1
7142   libaprutil1-dbd-sqlite3
7143   libaprutil1-ldap
7144   libart2.0-cil
7145   libboost-date-time1.42.0
7146   libboost-python1.42.0
7147   libboost-thread1.42.0
7148   libchamplain-0.4-0
7149   libchamplain-gtk-0.4-0
7150   libcheese-gtk18
7151   libclutter-gtk-0.10-0
7152   libcryptui0
7153   libdiscid0
7154   libelf1
7155   libepc-1.0-2
7156   libepc-common
7157   libepc-ui-1.0-2
7158   libfreerdp-plugins-standard
7159   libfreerdp0
7160   libgconf2.0-cil
7161   libgdata-common
7162   libgdata7
7163   libgdu-gtk0
7164   libgee2
7165   libgeoclue0
7166   libgexiv2-0
7167   libgif4
7168   libglade2.0-cil
7169   libglib2.0-cil
7170   libgmime2.4-cil
7171   libgnome-vfs2.0-cil
7172   libgnome2.24-cil
7173   libgnomepanel2.24-cil
7174   libgpod-common
7175   libgpod4
7176   libgtk2.0-cil
7177   libgtkglext1
7178   libgtksourceview2.0-common
7179   libmono-addins-gui0.2-cil
7180   libmono-addins0.2-cil
7181   libmono-cairo2.0-cil
7182   libmono-corlib2.0-cil
7183   libmono-i18n-west2.0-cil
7184   libmono-posix2.0-cil
7185   libmono-security2.0-cil
7186   libmono-sharpzip2.84-cil
7187   libmono-system2.0-cil
7188   libmtp8
7189   libmusicbrainz3-6
7190   libndesk-dbus-glib1.0-cil
7191   libndesk-dbus1.0-cil
7192   libopal3.6.8
7193   libpolkit-gtk-1-0
7194   libpt2.6.7
7195   libpython2.6
7196   librpm1
7197   librpmio1
7198   libsdl1.2debian
7199   libsrtp0
7200   libssh-4
7201   libtelepathy-farsight0
7202   libtelepathy-glib0
7203   libtidy-0.99-0
7204   media-player-info
7205   mesa-utils
7206   mono-2.0-gac
7207   mono-gac
7208   mono-runtime
7209   nautilus-sendto
7210   nautilus-sendto-empathy
7211   p7zip-full
7212   pkg-config
7213   python-aptdaemon
7214   python-aptdaemon-gtk
7215   python-axiom
7216   python-beautifulsoup
7217   python-bugbuddy
7218   python-clientform
7219   python-coherence
7220   python-configobj
7221   python-crypto
7222   python-cupshelpers
7223   python-elementtree
7224   python-epsilon
7225   python-evolution
7226   python-feedparser
7227   python-gdata
7228   python-gdbm
7229   python-gst0.10
7230   python-gtkglext1
7231   python-gtksourceview2
7232   python-httplib2
7233   python-louie
7234   python-mako
7235   python-markupsafe
7236   python-mechanize
7237   python-nevow
7238   python-notify
7239   python-opengl
7240   python-openssl
7241   python-pam
7242   python-pkg-resources
7243   python-pyasn1
7244   python-pysqlite2
7245   python-rdflib
7246   python-serial
7247   python-tagpy
7248   python-twisted-bin
7249   python-twisted-conch
7250   python-twisted-core
7251   python-twisted-web
7252   python-utidylib
7253   python-webkit
7254   python-xdg
7255   python-zope.interface
7256   remmina
7257   remmina-plugin-data
7258   remmina-plugin-rdp
7259   remmina-plugin-vnc
7260   rhythmbox-plugin-cdrecorder
7261   rhythmbox-plugins
7262   rpm-common
7263   rpm2cpio
7264   seahorse-plugins
7265   shotwell
7266   software-center
7267   system-config-printer-udev
7268   telepathy-gabble
7269   telepathy-mission-control-5
7270   telepathy-salut
7271   tomboy
7272   totem
7273   totem-coherence
7274   totem-mozilla
7275   totem-plugins
7276   transmission-common
7277   xdg-user-dirs
7278   xdg-user-dirs-gtk
7279   xserver-xephyr
7280 </p></blockquote>
7281
7282 <p>Installed using apt-get, removed with aptitude</p>
7283
7284 <blockquote><p>
7285   cheese
7286   ekiga
7287   eog
7288   epiphany-extensions
7289   evolution-exchange
7290   fast-user-switch-applet
7291   file-roller
7292   gcalctool
7293   gconf-editor
7294   gdm
7295   gedit
7296   gedit-common
7297   gnome-games
7298   gnome-games-data
7299   gnome-nettool
7300   gnome-system-tools
7301   gnome-themes
7302   gnuchess
7303   gucharmap
7304   guile-1.8-libs
7305   libavahi-ui0
7306   libdmx1
7307   libgalago3
7308   libgtk-vnc-1.0-0
7309   libgtksourceview2.0-0
7310   liblircclient0
7311   libsdl1.2debian-alsa
7312   libspeexdsp1
7313   libsvga1
7314   rhythmbox
7315   seahorse
7316   sound-juicer
7317   system-config-printer
7318   totem-common
7319   transmission-gtk
7320   vinagre
7321   vino
7322 </p></blockquote>
7323
7324 <p>Installed using aptitude, missing with apt-get</p>
7325
7326 <blockquote><p>
7327   gstreamer0.10-gnomevfs
7328 </p></blockquote>
7329
7330 <p>Installed using aptitude, removed with apt-get</p>
7331
7332 <blockquote><p>
7333 [nothing]
7334 </p></blockquote>
7335
7336 <p>This is for KDE:</p>
7337
7338 <p>Installed using apt-get, missing with aptitude</p>
7339
7340 <blockquote><p>
7341   ksmserver
7342 </p></blockquote>
7343
7344 <p>Installed using apt-get, removed with aptitude</p>
7345
7346 <blockquote><p>
7347   kwin
7348   network-manager-kde
7349 </p></blockquote>
7350
7351 <p>Installed using aptitude, missing with apt-get</p>
7352
7353 <blockquote><p>
7354   arts
7355   dolphin
7356   freespacenotifier
7357   google-gadgets-gst
7358   google-gadgets-xul
7359   kappfinder
7360   kcalc
7361   kcharselect
7362   kde-core
7363   kde-plasma-desktop
7364   kde-standard
7365   kde-window-manager
7366   kdeartwork
7367   kdeartwork-emoticons
7368   kdeartwork-style
7369   kdeartwork-theme-icon
7370   kdebase
7371   kdebase-apps
7372   kdebase-workspace
7373   kdebase-workspace-bin
7374   kdebase-workspace-data
7375   kdeeject
7376   kdelibs
7377   kdeplasma-addons
7378   kdeutils
7379   kdewallpapers
7380   kdf
7381   kfloppy
7382   kgpg
7383   khelpcenter4
7384   kinfocenter
7385   konq-plugins-l10n
7386   konqueror-nsplugins
7387   kscreensaver
7388   kscreensaver-xsavers
7389   ktimer
7390   kwrite
7391   libgle3
7392   libkde4-ruby1.8
7393   libkonq5
7394   libkonq5-templates
7395   libnetpbm10
7396   libplasma-ruby
7397   libplasma-ruby1.8
7398   libqt4-ruby1.8
7399   marble-data
7400   marble-plugins
7401   netpbm
7402   nuvola-icon-theme
7403   plasma-dataengines-workspace
7404   plasma-desktop
7405   plasma-desktopthemes-artwork
7406   plasma-runners-addons
7407   plasma-scriptengine-googlegadgets
7408   plasma-scriptengine-python
7409   plasma-scriptengine-qedje
7410   plasma-scriptengine-ruby
7411   plasma-scriptengine-webkit
7412   plasma-scriptengines
7413   plasma-wallpapers-addons
7414   plasma-widget-folderview
7415   plasma-widget-networkmanagement
7416   ruby
7417   sweeper
7418   update-notifier-kde
7419   xscreensaver-data-extra
7420   xscreensaver-gl
7421   xscreensaver-gl-extra
7422   xscreensaver-screensaver-bsod
7423 </p></blockquote>
7424
7425 <p>Installed using aptitude, removed with apt-get</p>
7426
7427 <blockquote><p>
7428   ark
7429   google-gadgets-common
7430   google-gadgets-qt
7431   htdig
7432   kate
7433   kdebase-bin
7434   kdebase-data
7435   kdepasswd
7436   kfind
7437   klipper
7438   konq-plugins
7439   konqueror
7440   ksysguard
7441   ksysguardd
7442   libarchive1
7443   libcln6
7444   libeet1
7445   libeina-svn-06
7446   libggadget-1.0-0b
7447   libggadget-qt-1.0-0b
7448   libgps19
7449   libkdecorations4
7450   libkephal4
7451   libkonq4
7452   libkonqsidebarplugin4a
7453   libkscreensaver5
7454   libksgrd4
7455   libksignalplotter4
7456   libkunitconversion4
7457   libkwineffects1a
7458   libmarblewidget4
7459   libntrack-qt4-1
7460   libntrack0
7461   libplasma-geolocation-interface4
7462   libplasmaclock4a
7463   libplasmagenericshell4
7464   libprocesscore4a
7465   libprocessui4a
7466   libqalculate5
7467   libqedje0a
7468   libqtruby4shared2
7469   libqzion0a
7470   libruby1.8
7471   libscim8c2a
7472   libsmokekdecore4-3
7473   libsmokekdeui4-3
7474   libsmokekfile3
7475   libsmokekhtml3
7476   libsmokekio3
7477   libsmokeknewstuff2-3
7478   libsmokeknewstuff3-3
7479   libsmokekparts3
7480   libsmokektexteditor3
7481   libsmokekutils3
7482   libsmokenepomuk3
7483   libsmokephonon3
7484   libsmokeplasma3
7485   libsmokeqtcore4-3
7486   libsmokeqtdbus4-3
7487   libsmokeqtgui4-3
7488   libsmokeqtnetwork4-3
7489   libsmokeqtopengl4-3
7490   libsmokeqtscript4-3
7491   libsmokeqtsql4-3
7492   libsmokeqtsvg4-3
7493   libsmokeqttest4-3
7494   libsmokeqtuitools4-3
7495   libsmokeqtwebkit4-3
7496   libsmokeqtxml4-3
7497   libsmokesolid3
7498   libsmokesoprano3
7499   libtaskmanager4a
7500   libtidy-0.99-0
7501   libweather-ion4a
7502   libxklavier16
7503   libxxf86misc1
7504   okteta
7505   oxygencursors
7506   plasma-dataengines-addons
7507   plasma-scriptengine-superkaramba
7508   plasma-widget-lancelot
7509   plasma-widgets-addons
7510   plasma-widgets-workspace
7511   polkit-kde-1
7512   ruby1.8
7513   systemsettings
7514   update-notifier-common
7515 </p></blockquote>
7516
7517 <p>Running apt-get autoremove made the results using apt-get and
7518 aptitude a bit more similar, but there are still quite a lott of
7519 differences.  I have no idea what packages should be installed after
7520 the upgrade, but hope those that do can have a look.</p>
7521
7522       </div>
7523       <div class="tags">
7524
7525
7526         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
7527
7528
7529       </div>
7530     </div>
7531     <div class="padding"></div>
7532
7533     <div class="entry">
7534       <div class="title">
7535         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Migrating_Xen_virtual_machines_using_LVM_to_KVM_using_disk_images.html">Migrating Xen virtual machines using LVM to KVM using disk images</a>
7536       </div>
7537       <div class="date">
7538         22nd November 2010
7539       </div>
7540       <div class="body">
7541         <p>Most of the computers in use by the
7542 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu/Skolelinux project</a>
7543 are virtual machines.  And they have been Xen machines running on a
7544 fairly old IBM eserver xseries 345 machine, and we wanted to migrate
7545 them to KVM on a newer Dell PowerEdge 2950 host machine.  This was a
7546 bit harder that it could have been, because we set up the Xen virtual
7547 machines to get the virtual partitions from LVM, which as far as I
7548 know is not supported by KVM.  So to migrate, we had to convert
7549 several LVM logical volumes to partitions on a virtual disk file.</p>
7550
7551 <p>I found
7552 <a href="http://searchnetworking.techtarget.com.au/articles/35011-Six-steps-for-migrating-Xen-virtual-machines-to-KVM">a
7553 nice recipe</a> to do this, and wrote the following script to do the
7554 migration.  It uses qemu-img from the qemu package to make the disk
7555 image, parted to partition it, losetup and kpartx to present the disk
7556 image partions as devices, and dd to copy the data.  I NFS mounted the
7557 new servers storage area on the old server to do the migration.</p>
7558
7559 <pre>
7560 #!/bin/sh
7561
7562 # Based on
7563 # http://searchnetworking.techtarget.com.au/articles/35011-Six-steps-for-migrating-Xen-virtual-machines-to-KVM
7564
7565 set -e
7566 set -x
7567
7568 if [ -z "$1" ] ; then
7569     echo "Usage: $0 &lt;hostname&gt;"
7570     exit 1
7571 else
7572     host="$1"
7573 fi
7574
7575 if [ ! -e /dev/vg_data/$host-disk ] ; then
7576     echo "error: unable to find LVM volume for $host"
7577     exit 1
7578 fi
7579
7580 # Partitions need to be a bit bigger than the LVM LVs.  not sure why.
7581 disksize=$( lvs --units m | grep $host-disk | awk '{sum = sum + $4} END { print int(sum * 1.05) }')
7582 swapsize=$( lvs --units m | grep $host-swap | awk '{sum = sum + $4} END { print int(sum * 1.05) }')
7583 totalsize=$(( ( $disksize + $swapsize ) ))
7584
7585 img=$host.img
7586 #dd if=/dev/zero of=$img bs=1M count=$(( $disksize + $swapsize ))
7587 qemu-img create $img ${totalsize}MMaking room on the Debian Edu/Sqeeze DVD
7588
7589 parted $img mklabel msdos
7590 parted $img mkpart primary linux-swap 0 $disksize
7591 parted $img mkpart primary ext2 $disksize $totalsize
7592 parted $img set 1 boot on
7593
7594 modprobe dm-mod
7595 losetup /dev/loop0 $img
7596 kpartx -a /dev/loop0
7597
7598 dd if=/dev/vg_data/$host-disk of=/dev/mapper/loop0p1 bs=1M
7599 fsck.ext3 -f /dev/mapper/loop0p1 || true
7600 mkswap /dev/mapper/loop0p2
7601
7602 kpartx -d /dev/loop0
7603 losetup -d /dev/loop0
7604 </pre>
7605
7606 <p>The script is perhaps so simple that it is not copyrightable, but
7607 if it is, it is licenced using GPL v2 or later at your discretion.</p>
7608
7609 <p>After doing this, I booted a Debian CD in rescue mode in KVM with
7610 the new disk image attached, installed grub-pc and linux-image-686 and
7611 set up grub to boot from the disk image.  After this, the KVM machines
7612 seem to work just fine.</p>
7613
7614       </div>
7615       <div class="tags">
7616
7617
7618         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
7619
7620
7621       </div>
7622     </div>
7623     <div class="padding"></div>
7624
7625     <div class="entry">
7626       <div class="title">
7627         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Lenny__Squeeze_upgrades__apt_vs_aptitude_with_the_Gnome_and_KDE_desktop.html">Lenny->Squeeze upgrades, apt vs aptitude with the Gnome and KDE desktop</a>
7628       </div>
7629       <div class="date">
7630         20th November 2010
7631       </div>
7632       <div class="body">
7633         <p>I'm still running upgrade testing of the
7634 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/~pere/debian-upgrade-testing/">Lenny
7635 Gnome and KDE Desktop</a>, but have not had time to spend on reporting the
7636 status.  Here is a short update based on a test I ran 20101118.</p>
7637
7638 <p>I still do not know what a correct migration should look like, so I
7639 report any differences between apt and aptitude and hope someone else
7640 can see if anything should be changed.</p>
7641
7642 <p>This is for Gnome:</p>
7643
7644 <p>Installed using apt-get, missing with aptitude</p>
7645
7646 <blockquote><p>
7647   apache2.2-bin aptdaemon at-spi baobab binfmt-support
7648   browser-plugin-gnash cheese-common cli-common cpp-4.3 cups-pk-helper
7649   dmz-cursor-theme empathy empathy-common finger
7650   freedesktop-sound-theme freeglut3 gconf-defaults-service gdm-themes
7651   gedit-plugins geoclue geoclue-hostip geoclue-localnet geoclue-manual
7652   geoclue-yahoo gnash gnash-common gnome gnome-backgrounds
7653   gnome-cards-data gnome-codec-install gnome-core
7654   gnome-desktop-environment gnome-disk-utility gnome-screenshot
7655   gnome-search-tool gnome-session-canberra gnome-spell
7656   gnome-system-log gnome-themes-extras gnome-themes-more
7657   gnome-user-share gs-common gstreamer0.10-fluendo-mp3
7658   gstreamer0.10-tools gtk2-engines gtk2-engines-pixbuf
7659   gtk2-engines-smooth hal-info hamster-applet libapache2-mod-dnssd
7660   libapr1 libaprutil1 libaprutil1-dbd-sqlite3 libaprutil1-ldap
7661   libart2.0-cil libatspi1.0-0 libboost-date-time1.42.0
7662   libboost-python1.42.0 libboost-thread1.42.0 libchamplain-0.4-0
7663   libchamplain-gtk-0.4-0 libcheese-gtk18 libclutter-gtk-0.10-0
7664   libcryptui0 libcupsys2 libdiscid0 libeel2-data libelf1 libepc-1.0-2
7665   libepc-common libepc-ui-1.0-2 libfreerdp-plugins-standard
7666   libfreerdp0 libgail-common libgconf2.0-cil libgdata-common libgdata7
7667   libgdl-1-common libgdu-gtk0 libgee2 libgeoclue0 libgexiv2-0 libgif4
7668   libglade2.0-cil libglib2.0-cil libgmime2.4-cil libgnome-vfs2.0-cil
7669   libgnome2.24-cil libgnomepanel2.24-cil libgnomeprint2.2-data
7670   libgnomeprintui2.2-common libgnomevfs2-bin libgpod-common libgpod4
7671   libgtk2.0-cil libgtkglext1 libgtksourceview-common
7672   libgtksourceview2.0-common libmono-addins-gui0.2-cil
7673   libmono-addins0.2-cil libmono-cairo2.0-cil libmono-corlib2.0-cil
7674   libmono-i18n-west2.0-cil libmono-posix2.0-cil
7675   libmono-security2.0-cil libmono-sharpzip2.84-cil
7676   libmono-system2.0-cil libmtp8 libmusicbrainz3-6
7677   libndesk-dbus-glib1.0-cil libndesk-dbus1.0-cil libopal3.6.8
7678   libpolkit-gtk-1-0 libpt-1.10.10-plugins-alsa
7679   libpt-1.10.10-plugins-v4l libpt2.6.7 libpython2.6 librpm1 librpmio1
7680   libsdl1.2debian libservlet2.4-java libsrtp0 libssh-4
7681   libtelepathy-farsight0 libtelepathy-glib0 libtidy-0.99-0
7682   libxalan2-java libxerces2-java media-player-info mesa-utils
7683   mono-2.0-gac mono-gac mono-runtime nautilus-sendto
7684   nautilus-sendto-empathy openoffice.org-writer2latex
7685   openssl-blacklist p7zip p7zip-full pkg-config python-4suite-xml
7686   python-aptdaemon python-aptdaemon-gtk python-axiom
7687   python-beautifulsoup python-bugbuddy python-clientform
7688   python-coherence python-configobj python-crypto python-cupshelpers
7689   python-cupsutils python-eggtrayicon python-elementtree
7690   python-epsilon python-evolution python-feedparser python-gdata
7691   python-gdbm python-gst0.10 python-gtkglext1 python-gtkmozembed
7692   python-gtksourceview2 python-httplib2 python-louie python-mako
7693   python-markupsafe python-mechanize python-nevow python-notify
7694   python-opengl python-openssl python-pam python-pkg-resources
7695   python-pyasn1 python-pysqlite2 python-rdflib python-serial
7696   python-tagpy python-twisted-bin python-twisted-conch
7697   python-twisted-core python-twisted-web python-utidylib python-webkit
7698   python-xdg python-zope.interface remmina remmina-plugin-data
7699   remmina-plugin-rdp remmina-plugin-vnc rhythmbox-plugin-cdrecorder
7700   rhythmbox-plugins rpm-common rpm2cpio seahorse-plugins shotwell
7701   software-center svgalibg1 system-config-printer-udev
7702   telepathy-gabble telepathy-mission-control-5 telepathy-salut tomboy
7703   totem totem-coherence totem-mozilla totem-plugins
7704   transmission-common xdg-user-dirs xdg-user-dirs-gtk xserver-xephyr
7705   zip
7706 </p></blockquote>
7707
7708 Installed using apt-get, removed with aptitude
7709
7710 <blockquote><p>
7711   arj bluez-utils cheese dhcdbd djvulibre-desktop ekiga eog
7712   epiphany-extensions epiphany-gecko evolution-exchange
7713   fast-user-switch-applet file-roller gcalctool gconf-editor gdm gedit
7714   gedit-common gnome-app-install gnome-games gnome-games-data
7715   gnome-nettool gnome-system-tools gnome-themes gnome-utils
7716   gnome-vfs-obexftp gnome-volume-manager gnuchess gucharmap
7717   guile-1.8-libs hal libavahi-compat-libdnssd1 libavahi-core5
7718   libavahi-ui0 libbind9-50 libbluetooth2 libcamel1.2-11 libcdio7
7719   libcucul0 libcurl3 libdirectfb-1.0-0 libdmx1 libdvdread3
7720   libedata-cal1.2-6 libedataserver1.2-9 libeel2-2.20 libepc-1.0-1
7721   libepc-ui-1.0-1 libexchange-storage1.2-3 libfaad0 libgadu3
7722   libgalago3 libgd2-noxpm libgda3-3 libgda3-common libggz2 libggzcore9
7723   libggzmod4 libgksu1.2-0 libgksuui1.0-1 libgmyth0 libgnome-desktop-2
7724   libgnome-pilot2 libgnomecups1.0-1 libgnomeprint2.2-0
7725   libgnomeprintui2.2-0 libgpod3 libgraphviz4 libgtk-vnc-1.0-0
7726   libgtkhtml2-0 libgtksourceview1.0-0 libgtksourceview2.0-0
7727   libgucharmap6 libhesiod0 libicu38 libisccc50 libisccfg50 libiw29
7728   libjaxp1.3-java-gcj libkpathsea4 liblircclient0 libltdl3 liblwres50
7729   libmagick++10 libmagick10 libmalaga7 libmozjs1d libmpfr1ldbl libmtp7
7730   libmysqlclient15off libnautilus-burn4 libneon27 libnm-glib0
7731   libnm-util0 libopal-2.2 libosp5 libparted1.8-10 libpisock9
7732   libpisync1 libpoppler-glib3 libpoppler3 libpt-1.10.10 libraw1394-8
7733   libsdl1.2debian-alsa libsensors3 libsexy2 libsmbios2 libsoup2.2-8
7734   libspeexdsp1 libssh2-1 libsuitesparse-3.1.0 libsvga1
7735   libswfdec-0.6-90 libtalloc1 libtotem-plparser10 libtrackerclient0
7736   libvoikko1 libxalan2-java-gcj libxerces2-java-gcj libxklavier12
7737   libxtrap6 libxxf86misc1 libzephyr3 mysql-common rhythmbox seahorse
7738   sound-juicer swfdec-gnome system-config-printer totem-common
7739   totem-gstreamer transmission-gtk vinagre vino w3c-dtd-xhtml wodim
7740 </p></blockquote>
7741
7742 <p>Installed using aptitude, missing with apt-get</p>
7743
7744 <blockquote><p>
7745   gstreamer0.10-gnomevfs
7746 </p></blockquote>
7747
7748 <p>Installed using aptitude, removed with apt-get</p>
7749
7750 <blockquote><p>
7751 [nothing]
7752 </p></blockquote>
7753
7754 <p>This is for KDE:</p>
7755
7756 <p>Installed using apt-get, missing with aptitude</p>
7757
7758 <blockquote><p>
7759   autopoint bomber bovo cantor cantor-backend-kalgebra cpp-4.3 dcoprss
7760   edict espeak espeak-data eyesapplet fifteenapplet finger gettext
7761   ghostscript-x git gnome-audio gnugo granatier gs-common
7762   gstreamer0.10-pulseaudio indi kaddressbook-plugins kalgebra
7763   kalzium-data kanjidic kapman kate-plugins kblocks kbreakout kbstate
7764   kde-icons-mono kdeaccessibility kdeaddons-kfile-plugins
7765   kdeadmin-kfile-plugins kdeartwork-misc kdeartwork-theme-window
7766   kdeedu kdeedu-data kdeedu-kvtml-data kdegames kdegames-card-data
7767   kdegames-mahjongg-data kdegraphics-kfile-plugins kdelirc
7768   kdemultimedia-kfile-plugins kdenetwork-kfile-plugins
7769   kdepim-kfile-plugins kdepim-kio-plugins kdessh kdetoys kdewebdev
7770   kdiamond kdnssd kfilereplace kfourinline kgeography-data kigo
7771   killbots kiriki klettres-data kmoon kmrml knewsticker-scripts
7772   kollision kpf krosspython ksirk ksmserver ksquares kstars-data
7773   ksudoku kubrick kweather libasound2-plugins libboost-python1.42.0
7774   libcfitsio3 libconvert-binhex-perl libcrypt-ssleay-perl libdb4.6++
7775   libdjvulibre-text libdotconf1.0 liberror-perl libespeak1
7776   libfinance-quote-perl libgail-common libgsl0ldbl libhtml-parser-perl
7777   libhtml-tableextract-perl libhtml-tagset-perl libhtml-tree-perl
7778   libio-stringy-perl libkdeedu4 libkdegames5 libkiten4 libkpathsea5
7779   libkrossui4 libmailtools-perl libmime-tools-perl
7780   libnews-nntpclient-perl libopenbabel3 libportaudio2 libpulse-browse0
7781   libservlet2.4-java libspeechd2 libtiff-tools libtimedate-perl
7782   libunistring0 liburi-perl libwww-perl libxalan2-java libxerces2-java
7783   lirc luatex marble networkstatus noatun-plugins
7784   openoffice.org-writer2latex palapeli palapeli-data parley
7785   parley-data poster psutils pulseaudio pulseaudio-esound-compat
7786   pulseaudio-module-x11 pulseaudio-utils quanta-data rocs rsync
7787   speech-dispatcher step svgalibg1 texlive-binaries texlive-luatex
7788   ttf-sazanami-gothic
7789 </p></blockquote>
7790
7791 <p>Installed using apt-get, removed with aptitude</p>
7792
7793 <blockquote><p>
7794   amor artsbuilder atlantik atlantikdesigner blinken bluez-utils cvs
7795   dhcdbd djvulibre-desktop imlib-base imlib11 kalzium kanagram kandy
7796   kasteroids katomic kbackgammon kbattleship kblackbox kbounce kbruch
7797   kcron kdat kdemultimedia-kappfinder-data kdeprint kdict kdvi kedit
7798   keduca kenolaba kfax kfaxview kfouleggs kgeography kghostview
7799   kgoldrunner khangman khexedit kiconedit kig kimagemapeditor
7800   kitchensync kiten kjumpingcube klatin klettres klickety klines
7801   klinkstatus kmag kmahjongg kmailcvt kmenuedit kmid kmilo kmines
7802   kmousetool kmouth kmplot knetwalk kodo kolf kommander konquest kooka
7803   kpager kpat kpdf kpercentage kpilot kpoker kpovmodeler krec
7804   kregexpeditor kreversi ksame ksayit kshisen ksig ksim ksirc ksirtet
7805   ksmiletris ksnake ksokoban kspaceduel kstars ksvg ksysv kteatime
7806   ktip ktnef ktouch ktron kttsd ktuberling kturtle ktux kuickshow
7807   kverbos kview kviewshell kvoctrain kwifimanager kwin kwin4 kwordquiz
7808   kworldclock kxsldbg libakode2 libarts1-akode libarts1-audiofile
7809   libarts1-mpeglib libarts1-xine libavahi-compat-libdnssd1
7810   libavahi-core5 libavc1394-0 libbind9-50 libbluetooth2
7811   libboost-python1.34.1 libcucul0 libcurl3 libcvsservice0
7812   libdirectfb-1.0-0 libdjvulibre21 libdvdread3 libfaad0 libfreebob0
7813   libgd2-noxpm libgraphviz4 libgsmme1c2a libgtkhtml2-0 libicu38
7814   libiec61883-0 libindex0 libisccc50 libisccfg50 libiw29
7815   libjaxp1.3-java-gcj libk3b3 libkcal2b libkcddb1 libkdeedu3
7816   libkdegames1 libkdepim1a libkgantt0 libkleopatra1 libkmime2
7817   libkpathsea4 libkpimexchange1 libkpimidentities1 libkscan1
7818   libksieve0 libktnef1 liblockdev1 libltdl3 liblwres50 libmagick10
7819   libmimelib1c2a libmodplug0c2 libmozjs1d libmpcdec3 libmpfr1ldbl
7820   libneon27 libnm-util0 libopensync0 libpisock9 libpoppler-glib3
7821   libpoppler-qt2 libpoppler3 libraw1394-8 librss1 libsensors3
7822   libsmbios2 libssh2-1 libsuitesparse-3.1.0 libswfdec-0.6-90
7823   libtalloc1 libxalan2-java-gcj libxerces2-java-gcj libxtrap6 lskat
7824   mpeglib network-manager-kde noatun pmount tex-common texlive-base
7825   texlive-common texlive-doc-base texlive-fonts-recommended tidy
7826   ttf-dustin ttf-kochi-gothic ttf-sjfonts
7827 </p></blockquote>
7828
7829 <p>Installed using aptitude, missing with apt-get</p>
7830
7831 <blockquote><p>
7832   dolphin kde-core kde-plasma-desktop kde-standard kde-window-manager
7833   kdeartwork kdebase kdebase-apps kdebase-workspace
7834   kdebase-workspace-bin kdebase-workspace-data kdeutils kscreensaver
7835   kscreensaver-xsavers libgle3 libkonq5 libkonq5-templates libnetpbm10
7836   netpbm plasma-widget-folderview plasma-widget-networkmanagement
7837   xscreensaver-data-extra xscreensaver-gl xscreensaver-gl-extra
7838   xscreensaver-screensaver-bsod
7839 </p></blockquote>
7840
7841 <p>Installed using aptitude, removed with apt-get</p>
7842
7843 <blockquote><p>
7844   kdebase-bin konq-plugins konqueror
7845 </p></blockquote>
7846
7847       </div>
7848       <div class="tags">
7849
7850
7851         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
7852
7853
7854       </div>
7855     </div>
7856     <div class="padding"></div>
7857
7858     <div class="entry">
7859       <div class="title">
7860         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Gnash_buildbot_slave_and_Debian_kfreebsd.html">Gnash buildbot slave and Debian kfreebsd</a>
7861       </div>
7862       <div class="date">
7863         20th November 2010
7864       </div>
7865       <div class="body">
7866         <p>Answering
7867 <a href="http://www.listware.net/201011/gnash-dev/67431-gnash-dev-buildbot-looking-for-slaves.html">the
7868 call from the Gnash project</a> for
7869 <a href="http://www.gnashdev.org:8010">buildbot</a> slaves to test the
7870 current source, I have set up a virtual KVM machine on the Debian
7871 Edu/Skolelinux virtualization host to test the git source on
7872 Debian/Squeeze.  I hope this can help the developers in getting new
7873 releases out more often.</p>
7874
7875 <p>As the developers want less main-stream build platforms tested to,
7876 I have considered setting up a <a
7877 href="http://www.debian.org/ports/kfreebsd-gnu/">Debian/kfreebsd</a>
7878 machine as well.  I have also considered using the kfreebsd
7879 architecture in Debian as a file server in NUUG to get access to the 5
7880 TB zfs volume we currently use to store DV video.  Because of this, I
7881 finally got around to do a test installation of Debian/Squeeze with
7882 kfreebsd.  Installation went fairly smooth, thought I noticed some
7883 visual glitches in the cdebconf dialogs (black cursor left on the
7884 screen at random locations).  Have not gotten very far with the
7885 testing.  Noticed cfdisk did not work, but fdisk did so it was not a
7886 fatal problem.  Have to spend some more time on it to see if it is
7887 useful as a file server for NUUG.  Will try to find time to set up a
7888 gnash buildbot slave on the Debian Edu/Skolelinux this weekend.</p>
7889
7890       </div>
7891       <div class="tags">
7892
7893
7894         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug</a>.
7895
7896
7897       </div>
7898     </div>
7899     <div class="padding"></div>
7900
7901     <div class="entry">
7902       <div class="title">
7903         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_in_3D.html">Debian in 3D</a>
7904       </div>
7905       <div class="date">
7906          9th November 2010
7907       </div>
7908       <div class="body">
7909         <p><img src="http://thingiverse-production.s3.amazonaws.com/renders/23/e0/c4/f9/2b/debswagtdose_preview_medium.jpg"></p>
7910
7911 <p>3D printing is just great.  I just came across this Debian logo in
7912 3D linked in from
7913 <a href="http://blog.thingiverse.com/2010/11/09/participatory-branding/">the
7914 thingiverse blog</a>.</p>
7915
7916       </div>
7917       <div class="tags">
7918
7919
7920         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/3d-printer">3d-printer</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
7921
7922
7923       </div>
7924     </div>
7925     <div class="padding"></div>
7926
7927     <div class="entry">
7928       <div class="title">
7929         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Making_room_on_the_Debian_Edu_Sqeeze_DVD.html">Making room on the Debian Edu/Sqeeze DVD</a>
7930       </div>
7931       <div class="date">
7932          7th November 2010
7933       </div>
7934       <div class="body">
7935         <p>Prioritising packages for the Debian Edu /
7936 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Skolelinux</a> DVD, which is
7937 supposed provide a school with all the services and user applications
7938 needed on the pupils computer network has always been hard.  Even
7939 schools without Internet connections should be able to get Debian Edu
7940 working using this DVD.</p>
7941
7942 <p>The job became a lot harder when apt and aptitude started
7943 installing recommended packages by default.  We want the same set of
7944 packages to be installed when using the DVD and the netinst CD, and
7945 that means all recommended packages need to be on the DVD.  I created
7946 a patch for debian-cd in <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/601203">BTS
7947 report #601203</a> to do this, and since this change was applied to
7948 the Debian Edu DVD build, we have been seriously short on space.</p>
7949
7950 <p>A few days ago we decided to drop blender, wxmaxima and kicad from
7951 the default installation to save space on the DVD, believing that
7952 those needing these applications are few and can get them from the
7953 Debian archive.</p>
7954
7955 <p>Yesterday, I had a look what source packages to see which packages
7956 were using most space.  A few large packages are well know;
7957 openoffice.org, openclipart and fluid-soundfont.  But I also
7958 discovered that lilypond used 106 MiB and fglrx-driver used 53 MiB.
7959 The lilypond package is pulled in as a dependency for rosegarden, and
7960 when looking a bit closer I discovered that 99 MiB of the 106 MiB were
7961 the documentation package, which is recommended by the binary package.
7962 I decided to drop this documentation package from our DVD, as most of
7963 our users will use the GUI front-ends and do not need the lilypond
7964 documentation.  Similarly, I dropped the non-free fglrx-driver package
7965 which might be installed by d-i when its hardware is detected, as the
7966 free X driver should work.</p>
7967
7968 <p>With this change, we finally got space for the LXDE and Gnome
7969 desktop packages as well as the language specific packages making the
7970 DVD more useful again.</p>
7971
7972       </div>
7973       <div class="tags">
7974
7975
7976         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug</a>.
7977
7978
7979       </div>
7980     </div>
7981     <div class="padding"></div>
7982
7983     <div class="entry">
7984       <div class="title">
7985         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Software_updates_2010_10_24.html">Software updates 2010-10-24</a>
7986       </div>
7987       <div class="date">
7988         24th October 2010
7989       </div>
7990       <div class="body">
7991         <p>Some updates.</p>
7992
7993 <p>My <a href="http://pledgebank.com/gnash-avm2">gnash pledge</a> to
7994 raise money for the project is going well.  The lower limit of 10
7995 signers was reached in 24 hours, and so far 13 people have signed it.
7996 More signers and more funding is most welcome, and I am really curious
7997 how far we can get before the time limit of December 24 is reached.
7998 :)</p>
7999
8000 <p>On the #gnash IRC channel on irc.freenode.net, I was just tipped
8001 about what appear to be a great code coverage tool capable of
8002 generating code coverage stats without any changes to the source code.
8003 It is called
8004 <a href="http://simonkagstrom.github.com/kcov/index.html">kcov</a>,
8005 and can be used using <tt>kcov &lt;directory&gt; &lt;binary&gt;</tt>.
8006 It is missing in Debian, but the git source built just fine in Squeeze
8007 after I installed libelf-dev, libdwarf-dev, pkg-config and
8008 libglib2.0-dev.  Failed to build in Lenny, but suspect that is
8009 solvable.  I hope kcov make it into Debian soon.</p>
8010
8011 <p>Finally found time to wrap up the release notes for <a
8012 href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-edu-announce/2010/10/msg00002.html">a
8013 new alpha release of Debian Edu</a>, and just published the second
8014 alpha test release of the Squeeze based Debian Edu /
8015 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Skolelinux</a>
8016 release.  Give it a try if you need a complete linux solution for your
8017 school, including central infrastructure server, workstations, thin
8018 client servers and diskless workstations.  A nice touch added
8019 yesterday is RDP support on the thin client servers, for windows
8020 clients to get a Linux desktop on request.</p>
8021
8022       </div>
8023       <div class="tags">
8024
8025
8026         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/multimedia">multimedia</a>.
8027
8028
8029       </div>
8030     </div>
8031     <div class="padding"></div>
8032
8033     <div class="entry">
8034       <div class="title">
8035         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Pledge_for_funding_to_the_Gnash_project_to_get_AVM2_support.html">Pledge for funding to the Gnash project to get AVM2 support</a>
8036       </div>
8037       <div class="date">
8038         19th October 2010
8039       </div>
8040       <div class="body">
8041         <p><a href="http://www.getgnash.org/">The Gnash project</a> is the
8042 most promising solution for a Free Software Flash implementation. It
8043 has done great so far, but there is still far to go, and recently its
8044 funding has dried up.  I believe AVM2 support in Gnash is vital to the
8045 continued progress of the project, as more and more sites show up with
8046 AVM2 flash files.</p>
8047
8048 <p>To try to get funding for developing such support, I have started
8049 <a href="http://www.pledgebank.com/gnash-avm2">a pledge</a> with the
8050 following text:</P>
8051
8052 <p><blockquote>
8053
8054   <p>"I will pay 100$ to the Gnash project to develop AVM2 support but
8055   only if 10 other people will do the same."</p>
8056
8057   <p>- Petter Reinholdtsen, free software developer</p>
8058
8059   <p>Deadline to sign up by: 24th December 2010</p>
8060
8061   <p>The Gnash project need to get support for the new Flash file
8062   format AVM2 to work with a lot of sites using Flash on the
8063   web. Gnash already work with a lot of Flash sites using the old AVM1
8064   format, but more and more sites are using the AVM2 format these
8065   days. The project web page is available from
8066   http://www.getgnash.org/ . Gnash is a free software implementation
8067   of Adobe Flash, allowing those of us that do not accept the terms of
8068   the Adobe Flash license to get access to Flash sites.</p>
8069
8070   <p>The project need funding to get developers to put aside enough
8071   time to develop the AVM2 support, and this pledge is my way to try
8072   to get this to happen.</p>
8073
8074   <p>The project accept donations via the OpenMediaNow foundation,
8075   <a href="http://www.openmedianow.org/?q=node/32">http://www.openmedianow.org/?q=node/32</a> .</p>
8076
8077 </blockquote></p>
8078
8079 <p>I hope you will support this effort too.  I hope more than 10
8080 people will participate to make this happen.  The more money the
8081 project gets, the more features it can develop using these funds.
8082 :)</p>
8083
8084       </div>
8085       <div class="tags">
8086
8087
8088         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/multimedia">multimedia</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/video">video</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/web">web</a>.
8089
8090
8091       </div>
8092     </div>
8093     <div class="padding"></div>
8094
8095     <div class="entry">
8096       <div class="title">
8097         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/First_version_of_a_Perl_library_to_control_the_Spykee_robot.html">First version of a Perl library to control the Spykee robot</a>
8098       </div>
8099       <div class="date">
8100          9th October 2010
8101       </div>
8102       <div class="body">
8103         <p>This summer I got the chance to buy cheap Spykee robots, and since
8104 then I have worked on getting Linux software in place to control them.
8105 The firmware for the robot is available from the producer, and using
8106 that source it was trivial to figure out the protocol specification.
8107 I've started on a perl library to control it, and made some demo
8108 programs using this perl library to allow one to control the
8109 robots.</p>
8110
8111 <p>The library is quite functional already, and capable of controlling
8112 the driving, fetching video, uploading MP3s and play them.  There are
8113 a few less important features too.</p>
8114
8115 <p>Since a few weeks ago, I ran out of time to spend on this project,
8116 but I never got around to releasing the current source.  I decided
8117 today that it was time to do something about it, and uploaded the
8118 source to my Debian package store at people.skolelinux.org.</p>
8119
8120 <p>Because it was simpler for me, I made a Debian package and
8121 published the source and deb.  If you got a spykee robot, grab the
8122 source or binary package:</p>
8123
8124 <p><ul>
8125 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/~pere/debian/packages/lenny/libspykee-perl_0.0.20101009-1.tar.gz">libspykee-perl_0.0.20101009-1.tar.gz</a></li>
8126 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/~pere/debian/packages/lenny/libspykee-perl_0.0.20101009-1.dsc">libspykee-perl_0.0.20101009-1.dsc</a></li>
8127 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/~pere/debian/packages/lenny/libspykee-perl_0.0.20101009-1_all.deb">libspykee-perl_0.0.20101009-1_all.deb</a></li>
8128 </ul></p>
8129
8130 <p>If you are interested in helping out with developing this library,
8131 please let me know.</p>
8132
8133       </div>
8134       <div class="tags">
8135
8136
8137         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/robot">robot</a>.
8138
8139
8140       </div>
8141     </div>
8142     <div class="padding"></div>
8143
8144     <div class="entry">
8145       <div class="title">
8146         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Links_for_2010_10_03.html">Links for 2010-10-03</a>
8147       </div>
8148       <div class="date">
8149          3rd October 2010
8150       </div>
8151       <div class="body">
8152         <p><ul>
8153
8154 <li><a href="http://arstechnica.com/business/news/2010/09/there-is-no-plan-b-why-the-ipv4-to-ipv6-transition-will-be-ugly.ars">There
8155 is no Plan B: why the IPv4-to-IPv6 transition will be ugly</a></li>
8156
8157 <li>Scanner looking under clothes
8158 <a href="http://www.dagbladet.no/2010/10/03/nyheter/utenriks/reise/overvakingskamera/flyplasser/13667192/">has
8159 already been misused at Heathrow</a>.</li>
8160
8161 <li><a href="http://wiki.softwarelivre.org/Landell">Landell
8162 Webcasting</a> - interesting alternative for
8163 <ahref="http://dvswitch.alioth.debian.org/wiki/">DVSwitch</a> with
8164 simple setup.
8165
8166 </ul></p>
8167
8168       </div>
8169       <div class="tags">
8170
8171
8172         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/lenker">lenker</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug</a>.
8173
8174
8175       </div>
8176     </div>
8177     <div class="padding"></div>
8178
8179     <div class="entry">
8180       <div class="title">
8181         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Terms_of_use_for_video_produced_by_a_Canon_IXUS_130_digital_camera.html">Terms of use for video produced by a Canon IXUS 130 digital camera</a>
8182       </div>
8183       <div class="date">
8184          9th September 2010
8185       </div>
8186       <div class="body">
8187         <p>A few days ago I had the mixed pleasure of bying a new digital
8188 camera, a Canon IXUS 130.  It was instructive and very disturbing to
8189 be able to verify that also this camera producer have the nerve to
8190 specify how I can or can not use the videos produced with the camera.
8191 Even thought I was aware of the issue, the options with new cameras
8192 are limited and I ended up bying the camera anyway.  What is the
8193 problem, you might ask?  It is software patents, MPEG-4, H.264 and the
8194 MPEG-LA that is the problem, and our right to record our experiences
8195 without asking for permissions that is at risk.
8196
8197 <p>On page 27 of the Danish instruction manual, this section is
8198 written:</p>
8199
8200 <blockquote>
8201 <p>This product is licensed under AT&T patents for the MPEG-4 standard
8202 and may be used for encoding MPEG-4 compliant video and/or decoding
8203 MPEG-4 compliant video that was encoded only (1) for a personal and
8204 non-commercial purpose or (2) by a video provider licensed under the
8205 AT&T patents to provide MPEG-4 compliant video.</p>
8206
8207 <p>No license is granted or implied for any other use for MPEG-4
8208 standard.</p>
8209 </blockquote>
8210
8211 <p>In short, the camera producer have chosen to use technology
8212 (MPEG-4/H.264) that is only provided if I used it for personal and
8213 non-commercial purposes, or ask for permission from the organisations
8214 holding the knowledge monopoly (patent) for technology used.</p>
8215
8216 <p>This issue has been brewing for a while, and I recommend you to
8217 read
8218 "<a href="http://www.osnews.com/story/23236/Why_Our_Civilization_s_Video_Art_and_Culture_is_Threatened_by_the_MPEG-LA">Why
8219 Our Civilization's Video Art and Culture is Threatened by the
8220 MPEG-LA</a>" by Eugenia Loli-Queru and
8221 "<a href="http://webmink.com/2010/09/03/h-264-and-foss/">H.264 Is Not
8222 The Sort Of Free That Matters</a>" by Simon Phipps to learn more about
8223 the issue.  The solution is to support the
8224 <a href="http://www.digistan.org/open-standard:definition">free and
8225 open standards</a> for video, like <a href="http://www.theora.org/">Ogg
8226 Theora</a>, and avoid MPEG-4 and H.264 if you can.</p>
8227
8228       </div>
8229       <div class="tags">
8230
8231
8232         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/digistan">digistan</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/fildeling">fildeling</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/multimedia">multimedia</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/opphavsrett">opphavsrett</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/personvern">personvern</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/standard">standard</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/video">video</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/web">web</a>.
8233
8234
8235       </div>
8236     </div>
8237     <div class="padding"></div>
8238
8239     <div class="entry">
8240       <div class="title">
8241         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Some_notes_on_Flash_in_Debian_and_Debian_Edu.html">Some notes on Flash in Debian and Debian Edu</a>
8242       </div>
8243       <div class="date">
8244          4th September 2010
8245       </div>
8246       <div class="body">
8247         <p>In the <a href="http://popcon.debian.org/unknown/by_vote">Debian
8248 popularity-contest numbers</a>, the adobe-flashplugin package the
8249 second most popular used package that is missing in Debian.  The sixth
8250 most popular is flashplayer-mozilla.  This is a clear indication that
8251 working flash is important for Debian users.  Around 10 percent of the
8252 users submitting data to popcon.debian.org have this package
8253 installed.</p>
8254
8255 <p>In the report written by Lars Risan in August 2008
8256 («<a href="http://wiki.skolelinux.no/Dokumentasjon/Rapporter?action=AttachFile&do=view&target=Skolelinux_i_bruk_rapport_1.0.pdf">Skolelinux
8257 i bruk – Rapport for Hurum kommune, Universitetet i Agder og
8258 stiftelsen SLX Debian Labs</a>»), one of the most important problems
8259 schools experienced with <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian
8260 Edu/Skolelinux</a> was the lack of working Flash.  A lot of educational
8261 web sites require Flash to work, and lacking working Flash support in
8262 the web browser and the problems with installing it was perceived as a
8263 good reason to stay with Windows.</p>
8264
8265 <p>I once saw a funny and sad comment in a web forum, where Linux was
8266 said to be the retarded cousin that did not really understand
8267 everything you told him but could work fairly well.  This was a
8268 comment regarding the problems Linux have with proprietary formats and
8269 non-standard web pages, and is sad because it exposes a fairly common
8270 understanding of whose fault it is if web pages that only work in for
8271 example Internet Explorer 6 fail to work on Firefox, and funny because
8272 it explain very well how annoying it is for users when Linux
8273 distributions do not work with the documents they receive or the web
8274 pages they want to visit.</p>
8275
8276 <p>This is part of the reason why I believe it is important for Debian
8277 and Debian Edu to have a well working Flash implementation in the
8278 distribution, to get at least popular sites as Youtube and Google
8279 Video to working out of the box.  For Squeeze, Debian have the chance
8280 to include the latest version of Gnash that will make this happen, as
8281 the new release 0.8.8 was published a few weeks ago and is resting in
8282 unstable.  The new version work with more sites that version 0.8.7.
8283 The Gnash maintainers have asked for a freeze exception, but the
8284 release team have not had time to reply to it yet.  I hope they agree
8285 with me that Flash is important for the Debian desktop users, and thus
8286 accept the new package into Squeeze.</p>
8287
8288       </div>
8289       <div class="tags">
8290
8291
8292         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/multimedia">multimedia</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/video">video</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/web">web</a>.
8293
8294
8295       </div>
8296     </div>
8297     <div class="padding"></div>
8298
8299     <div class="entry">
8300       <div class="title">
8301         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/My_first_perl_GUI_application___controlling_a_Spykee_robot.html">My first perl GUI application - controlling a Spykee robot</a>
8302       </div>
8303       <div class="date">
8304          1st September 2010
8305       </div>
8306       <div class="body">
8307         <p>This evening I made my first Perl GUI application.  The last few
8308 days I have worked on a Perl module for controlling my recently
8309 aquired Spykee robots, and the module is now getting complete enought
8310 that it is possible to use it to control the robot driving at least.
8311 It was now time to figure out how to use it to create some GUI to
8312 allow me to drive the robot around.  I picked PerlQt as I have had
8313 positive experiences with the Qt API before, and spent a few minutes
8314 browsing the web for examples.  Using Qt Designer seemed like a short
8315 cut, so I ended up writing the perl GUI using Qt Designer and
8316 compiling it into a perl program using the puic program from
8317 libqt-perl.  Nothing fancy yet, but it got buttons to connect and
8318 drive around.</p>
8319
8320 <p>The perl module I have written provide a object oriented API for
8321 controlling the robot.  Here is an small example on how to use it:</p>
8322
8323 <p><pre>
8324 use Spykee;
8325 Spykee::discover(sub {$robot{$_[0]} = $_[1]});
8326 my $host = (keys %robot)[0];
8327 my $spykee = Spykee->new();
8328 $spykee->contact($host, "admin", "admin");
8329 $spykee->left();
8330 sleep 2;
8331 $spykee->right();
8332 sleep 2;
8333 $spykee->forward();
8334 sleep 2;
8335 $spykee->back();
8336 sleep 2;
8337 $spykee->stop();
8338 </pre></p>
8339
8340 <p>Thanks to the release of the source of the robot firmware, I could
8341 peek into the implementation at the other end to figure out how to
8342 implement the protocol used by the robot.  I've implemented several of
8343 the commands the robot understand, but is still missing the camera
8344 support to make it possible to control the robot from remote.  First I
8345 want to implement support for uploading new firmware and configuring
8346 the wireless network, to make it possible to bootstrap a Spykee robot
8347 without the producers Windows and MacOSX software (I only have Linux,
8348 so I had to ask a friend to come over to get the robot testing
8349 going. :).</p>
8350
8351 <p>Will release the source to the public soon, but need to figure out
8352 where to make it available first.  I will add a link to
8353 <a href="http://wiki.nuug.no/grupper/robot/">the NUUG wiki</a> for
8354 those that want to check back later to find it.</p>
8355
8356       </div>
8357       <div class="tags">
8358
8359
8360         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/robot">robot</a>.
8361
8362
8363       </div>
8364     </div>
8365     <div class="padding"></div>
8366
8367     <div class="entry">
8368       <div class="title">
8369         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Broken_hard_link_handling_with_sshfs.html">Broken hard link handling with sshfs</a>
8370       </div>
8371       <div class="date">
8372         30th August 2010
8373       </div>
8374       <div class="body">
8375         <p>Just got an email from Tobias Gruetzmacher as a followup on my
8376 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Broken_umask_handling_with_sshfs.html">previous
8377 post about sshfs</a>.  He reported another problem with sshfs.  It
8378 fail to handle hard links properly.  A simple way to spot this is to
8379 look at the . and .. entries in the directory tree.  These should have
8380 a link count >1, but on sshfs the count is 1.  I just tested to see
8381 what happen when trying to hardlink, and this fail as well:</p>
8382
8383 <pre>
8384 % ln foo bar
8385 ln: creating hard link `bar' => `foo': Function not implemented
8386 %
8387 </pre>
8388
8389 <p>I have not yet found time to implement a test for this in my file
8390 system test code, but believe having working hard links is useful to
8391 avoid surprised unix programs.  Not as useful as working file locking
8392 and symlinks, which are required to get a working desktop, but useful
8393 nevertheless. :)</p>
8394
8395 <p>The latest version of the file system test code is available via
8396 git from
8397 <a href="http://github.com/gebi/fs-test">http://github.com/gebi/fs-test</a></p>
8398
8399       </div>
8400       <div class="tags">
8401
8402
8403         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug</a>.
8404
8405
8406       </div>
8407     </div>
8408     <div class="padding"></div>
8409
8410     <div class="entry">
8411       <div class="title">
8412         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Broken_umask_handling_with_sshfs.html">Broken umask handling with sshfs</a>
8413       </div>
8414       <div class="date">
8415         26th August 2010
8416       </div>
8417       <div class="body">
8418         <p>My file system sematics program
8419 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Testing_if_a_file_system_can_be_used_for_home_directories___.html">presented
8420 a few days ago</a> is very useful to verify that a file system can
8421 work as a unix home directory,and today I had to extend it a bit.  I'm
8422 looking into alternatives for home directory access here at the
8423 University of Oslo, and one of the options is sshfs.  My friend
8424 Finn-Arne mentioned a while back that they had used sshfs with Debian
8425 Edu, but stopped because of problems.  I asked today what the problems
8426 where, and he mentioned that sshfs failed to handle umask properly.
8427 Trying to detect the problem I wrote this addition to my fs testing
8428 script:</p>
8429
8430 <pre>
8431 mode_t touch_get_mode(const char *name, mode_t mode) {
8432   mode_t retval = 0;
8433   int fd = open(name, O_RDWR|O_CREAT|O_LARGEFILE, mode);
8434   if (-1 != fd) {
8435     unlink(name);
8436     struct stat statbuf;
8437     if (-1 != fstat(fd, &statbuf)) {
8438       retval = statbuf.st_mode & 0x1ff;
8439     }
8440     close(fd);
8441   }
8442   return retval;
8443 }
8444
8445 /* Try to detect problem discovered using sshfs */
8446 int test_umask(void) {
8447   printf("info: testing umask effect on file creation\n");
8448
8449   mode_t orig_umask = umask(000);
8450   mode_t newmode;
8451   if (0666 != (newmode = touch_get_mode("foobar", 0666))) {
8452     printf("  error: Wrong file mode %o when creating using mode 666 and umask 000\n",
8453            newmode);
8454   }
8455   umask(007);
8456   if (0660 != (newmode = touch_get_mode("foobar", 0666))) {
8457     printf("  error: Wrong file mode %o when creating using mode 666 and umask 007\n",
8458            newmode);
8459   }
8460
8461   umask (orig_umask);
8462   return 0;
8463 }
8464
8465 int main(int argc, char **argv) {
8466   [...]
8467   test_umask();
8468   return 0;
8469 }
8470 </pre>
8471
8472 <p>Sure enough.  On NFS to a netapp, I get this result:</p>
8473
8474 <pre>
8475 Testing POSIX/Unix sematics on file system
8476 info: testing symlink creation
8477 info: testing subdirectory creation
8478 info: testing fcntl locking
8479   Read-locking 1 byte from 1073741824
8480   Read-locking 510 byte from 1073741826
8481   Unlocking 1 byte from 1073741824
8482   Write-locking 1 byte from 1073741824
8483   Write-locking 510 byte from 1073741826
8484   Unlocking 2 byte from 1073741824
8485 info: testing umask effect on file creation
8486 </pre>
8487
8488 <p>When mounting the same directory using sshfs, I get this
8489 result:</p>
8490
8491 <pre>
8492 Testing POSIX/Unix sematics on file system
8493 info: testing symlink creation
8494 info: testing subdirectory creation
8495 info: testing fcntl locking
8496   Read-locking 1 byte from 1073741824
8497   Read-locking 510 byte from 1073741826
8498   Unlocking 1 byte from 1073741824
8499   Write-locking 1 byte from 1073741824
8500   Write-locking 510 byte from 1073741826
8501   Unlocking 2 byte from 1073741824
8502 info: testing umask effect on file creation
8503   error: Wrong file mode 644 when creating using mode 666 and umask 000
8504   error: Wrong file mode 640 when creating using mode 666 and umask 007
8505 </pre>
8506
8507 <p>So, I can conclude that sshfs is better than smb to a Netapp or a
8508 Windows server, but not good enough to be used as a home
8509 directory.</p>
8510
8511 <p>Update 2010-08-26: Reported the issue in
8512 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/594498">BTS report #594498</a></p>
8513
8514 <p>Update 2010-08-27: Michael Gebetsroither report that he found the
8515 script so useful that he created a GIT repository and stored it in
8516 <a href="http://github.com/gebi/fs-test">http://github.com/gebi/fs-test</a>.</p>
8517
8518       </div>
8519       <div class="tags">
8520
8521
8522         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug</a>.
8523
8524
8525       </div>
8526     </div>
8527     <div class="padding"></div>
8528
8529     <div class="entry">
8530       <div class="title">
8531         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Rob_Weir__How_to_Crush_Dissent.html">Rob Weir: How to Crush Dissent</a>
8532       </div>
8533       <div class="date">
8534         15th August 2010
8535       </div>
8536       <div class="body">
8537         <p>I found the notes from Rob Weir on
8538 <a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/robweir/antic-atom/~3/VGb23-kta8c/how-to-crush-dissent.html">how
8539 to crush dissent</a> matching my own thoughts on the matter quite
8540 well.  Highly recommended for those wondering which road our society
8541 should go down.  In my view we have been heading the wrong way for a
8542 long time.</p>
8543
8544       </div>
8545       <div class="tags">
8546
8547
8548         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/lenker">lenker</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/personvern">personvern</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/sikkerhet">sikkerhet</a>.
8549
8550
8551       </div>
8552     </div>
8553     <div class="padding"></div>
8554
8555     <div class="entry">
8556       <div class="title">
8557         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/No_hardcoded_config_on_Debian_Edu_clients.html">No hardcoded config on Debian Edu clients</a>
8558       </div>
8559       <div class="date">
8560          9th August 2010
8561       </div>
8562       <div class="body">
8563         <p>As reported earlier, the last few days I have looked at how Debian
8564 Edu clients are configured, and tried to get rid of all hardcoded
8565 configuration settings on the clients.  I believe the work to be
8566 mostly done, and the clients seem to work just fine with dynamically
8567 generated configuration.</p>
8568
8569 <p>What is the point, you might ask?  The point is to allow a Debian
8570 Edu desktop to integrate into an existing network infrastructure
8571 without any manual configuration.</p>
8572
8573 <p>This is what happens when installing a Debian Edu client here at
8574 the University of Oslo using PXE.  With the PXE installation, I am
8575 asked for language (Norwegian Bokmål), locality (Norway) and keyboard
8576 layout (no-latin1), Debian Edu profile (Roaming Workstation), if I
8577 accept to reformat the hard drive (yes), if I want to submit info to
8578 popcon.debian.org (no) and root password (secret).  After answering
8579 these questions, the installer goes ahead and does its thing, and
8580 after around 50 minutes it is done.  I press enter to finish the
8581 installation, and the machine reboots into KDE.  When the machine is
8582 ready and kdm asks for login information, I enter my university
8583 username and password, am told by kdm that a local home directory has
8584 been created and that I must log in again, and finally log in with the
8585 same username and password to the KDE 4.4 desktop.  At no point during
8586 this process did it ask for university specific settings, and all the
8587 required configuration was dynamically detected using information
8588 fetched via DHCP and DNS.  The roaming workstation is now ready for
8589 use.</p>
8590
8591 <p>How was this done, you might wonder?  First of all, here is the
8592 list of things that need to be configured on the client to get it
8593 working properly out of the box:</p>
8594
8595 <ul>
8596 <li>IP address/netmask and DNS server.</li>
8597 <li>Web proxy URL.</li>
8598 <li>LDAP server for NSS directory information (user, group, etc).</li>
8599 <li>Kerberos server for PAM password checking.</li>
8600 <li>SMB mount point to access the network home directory. (*)</li>
8601 <li>Central syslog server to send syslog messages to. (*)</li>
8602 <li>Sitesummary collector URL to submit info to central server. (*)</li>
8603 </ul>
8604
8605 <p>(Hm, did I forget anything?  Let me knew if I did.)</p>
8606
8607 <p>The points marked (*) are not required to be able to use the
8608 machine, but needed to provide central storage and allowing system
8609 administrators to track their machines.  Since yesterday, everything
8610 but the sitesummary collector URL is dynamically discovered at boot
8611 and installation time in the svn version of Debian Edu.</p>
8612
8613 <p>The IP and DNS setup is fetched during boot using DHCP as usual.
8614 When a DHCP update arrives, the proxy setup is updated by looking for
8615 http://wpat/wpad.dat and using the content of this WPAD file to
8616 configure the http and ftp proxy in /etc/environment and
8617 /etc/apt/apt.conf.  I decided to update the proxy setup using a DHCP
8618 hook to ensure that the client stops using the Debian Edu proxy when
8619 it is moved outside the Debian Edu network, and instead uses any local
8620 proxy present on the new network when it moves around.</p>
8621
8622 <p>The DNS names of the LDAP, Kerberos and syslog server and related
8623 configuration are generated using DNS information at boot.  First the
8624 installer looks for a host named ldap in the current DNS domain.  If
8625 not found, it looks for _ldap._tcp SRV records in DNS instead.  If an
8626 LDAP server is found, its root DSE entry is requested and the
8627 attributes namingContexts and defaultNamingContext are used to
8628 determine which LDAP base to use for NSS.  If there are several
8629 namingContexts attibutes and the defaultNamingContext is present, that
8630 LDAP subtree is used as the base.  If defaultNamingContext is missing,
8631 the subtrees listed as namingContexts are searched in sequence for any
8632 object with class posixAccount or posixGroup, and the first one with
8633 such an object is used as the LDAP base.  For Kerberos, a similar
8634 search is done by first looking for a host named kerberos, and then
8635 for the _kerberos._tcp SRV record.  I've been unable to find a way to
8636 look up the Kerberos realm, so for this the upper case string of the
8637 current DNS domain is used.</p>
8638
8639 <p>For the syslog server, the hosts syslog and loghost are searched
8640 for, and the _syslog._udp SRV record is consulted if no such host is
8641 found.  This algorithm works for both Debian Edu and the University of
8642 Oslo.  A similar strategy would work for locating the sitesummary
8643 server, but have not been implemented yet.  I decided to fetch and
8644 save these settings during installation, to make sure moving to a
8645 different network does not change the set of users being allowed to
8646 log in nor the passwords required to log in.  Usernames and passwords
8647 will be cached by sssd when the user logs in on the Debian Edu
8648 network, and will not change as the laptop move around.  For a
8649 non-roaming machine, there is no caching, but given that it is
8650 supposed to stay in place it should not matter much.  Perhaps we
8651 should switch those to use sssd too?</p>
8652
8653 <p>The user's SMB mount point for the network home directory is
8654 located when the user logs in for the first time.  The LDAP server is
8655 consulted to look for the user's LDAP object and the sambaHomePath
8656 attribute is used if found.  If it isn't found, the home directory
8657 path fetched from NSS is used instead.  Assuming the path is of the
8658 form /site/server/directory/username, the second part is looked up in
8659 DNS and used to generate a SMB URL of the form
8660 smb://server.domain/username.  This algorithm works for both Debian
8661 edu and the University of Oslo.  Perhaps there are better attributes
8662 to use or a better algorithm that works for more sites, but this will
8663 do for now. :)</p>
8664
8665 <p>This work should make it easier to integrate the Debian Edu clients
8666 into any LDAP/Kerberos infrastructure, and make the current setup even
8667 more flexible than before.  I suspect it will also work for thin
8668 client servers, allowing one to easily set up LTSP and hook it into a
8669 existing network infrastructure, but I have not had time to test this
8670 yet.</p>
8671
8672 <p>If you want to help out with implementing these things for Debian
8673 Edu, please contact us on debian-edu@lists.debian.org.</p>
8674
8675 <p>Update 2010-08-09: Simon Farnsworth gave me a heads-up on how to
8676 detect Kerberos realm from DNS, by looking for _kerberos TXT entries
8677 before falling back to the upper case DNS domain name.  Will have to
8678 implement it for Debian Edu. :)</p>
8679
8680       </div>
8681       <div class="tags">
8682
8683
8684         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug</a>.
8685
8686
8687       </div>
8688     </div>
8689     <div class="padding"></div>
8690
8691     <div class="entry">
8692       <div class="title">
8693         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Testing_if_a_file_system_can_be_used_for_home_directories___.html">Testing if a file system can be used for home directories...</a>
8694       </div>
8695       <div class="date">
8696          8th August 2010
8697       </div>
8698       <div class="body">
8699         <p>A few years ago, I was involved in a project planning to use
8700 Windows file servers as home directory servers for Debian
8701 Edu/Skolelinux machines.  This was thought to be no problem, as the
8702 access would be through the SMB network file system protocol, and we
8703 knew other sites used SMB with unix and samba as the file server to
8704 mount home directories without any problems.  But, after months of
8705 struggling, we had to conclude that our goal was impossible.</p>
8706
8707 <p>The reason is simply that while SMB can be used for home
8708 directories when the file server is Samba running on Unix, this only
8709 work because of Samba have some extensions and the fact that the
8710 underlying file system is a unix file system.  When using a Windows
8711 file server, the underlying file system do not have POSIX semantics,
8712 and several programs will fail if the users home directory where they
8713 want to store their configuration lack POSIX semantics.</p>
8714
8715 <p>As part of this work, I wrote a small C program I want to share
8716 with you all, to replicate a few of the problematic applications (like
8717 OpenOffice.org and GCompris) and see if the file system was working as
8718 it should.  If you find yourself in spooky file system land, it might
8719 help you find your way out again.  This is the fs-test.c source:</p>
8720
8721 <pre>
8722 /*
8723  * Some tests to check the file system sematics.  Used to verify that
8724  * CIFS from a windows server do not work properly as a linux home
8725  * directory.
8726  * License: GPL v2 or later
8727  *
8728  * needs libsqlite3-dev and build-essential installed
8729  * compile with: gcc -Wall -lsqlite3 -DTEST_SQLITE fs-test.c -o fs-test
8730 */
8731
8732 #define _FILE_OFFSET_BITS 64
8733 #define _LARGEFILE_SOURCE 1
8734 #define _LARGEFILE64_SOURCE 1
8735
8736 #define _GNU_SOURCE /* for asprintf() */
8737
8738 #include &lt;errno.h>
8739 #include &lt;fcntl.h>
8740 #include &lt;stdio.h>
8741 #include &lt;string.h>
8742 #include &lt;stdlib.h>
8743 #include &lt;sys/file.h>
8744 #include &lt;sys/stat.h>
8745 #include &lt;sys/types.h>
8746 #include &lt;unistd.h>
8747
8748 #ifdef TEST_SQLITE
8749 /*
8750  * Test sqlite open, as done by gcompris require the libsqlite3-dev
8751  * package and linking with -lsqlite3.  A more low level test is
8752  * below.
8753  * See also &lt;URL: http://www.sqlite.org./faq.html#q5 >.
8754  */
8755 #include &lt;sqlite3.h>
8756 #define CREATE_TABLE_USERS                                              \
8757   "CREATE TABLE users (user_id INT UNIQUE, login TEXT, lastname TEXT, firstname TEXT, birthdate TEXT, class_id INT ); "
8758 int test_sqlite_open(void) {
8759   char *zErrMsg;
8760   char *name = "testsqlite.db";
8761   sqlite3 *db=NULL;
8762   unlink(name);
8763   int rc = sqlite3_open(name, &db);
8764   if( rc ){
8765     printf("error: sqlite open of %s failed: %s\n", name, sqlite3_errmsg(db));
8766     sqlite3_close(db);
8767     return -1;
8768   }
8769
8770   /* create tables */
8771   rc = sqlite3_exec(db,CREATE_TABLE_USERS, NULL,  0, &zErrMsg);
8772   if( rc != SQLITE_OK ){
8773     printf("error: sqlite table create failed: %s\n", zErrMsg);
8774     sqlite3_close(db);
8775     return -1;
8776   }
8777   printf("info: sqlite worked\n");
8778   sqlite3_close(db);
8779   return 0;
8780 }
8781 #endif /* TEST_SQLITE */
8782
8783 /*
8784  * Demonstrate locking issue found in gcompris using sqlite3.  This
8785  * work with ext3, but not with cifs server on Windows 2003.  This is
8786  * done in the sqlite3 library.
8787  * See also
8788  * &lt;URL:http://www.cygwin.com/ml/cygwin/2001-08/msg00854.html> and the
8789  * POSIX specification
8790  * &lt;URL:http://www.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/009695399/functions/fcntl.html>.
8791  */
8792 int test_gcompris_locking(void) {
8793   struct flock fl;
8794   char *name = "testsqlite.db";
8795   unlink(name);
8796   int fd = open(name, O_RDWR|O_CREAT|O_LARGEFILE, 0644);
8797   printf("info: testing fcntl locking\n");
8798
8799   fl.l_whence = SEEK_SET;
8800   fl.l_pid    = getpid();
8801   printf("  Read-locking 1 byte from 1073741824");
8802   fl.l_start  = 1073741824;
8803   fl.l_len    = 1;
8804   fl.l_type   = F_RDLCK;
8805   if (0 != fcntl(fd, F_SETLK, &fl) ) printf(" - error!\n"); else printf("\n");
8806
8807   printf("  Read-locking 510 byte from 1073741826");
8808   fl.l_start  = 1073741826;
8809   fl.l_len    = 510;
8810   fl.l_type   = F_RDLCK;
8811   if (0 != fcntl(fd, F_SETLK, &fl) ) printf(" - error!\n"); else printf("\n");
8812
8813   printf("  Unlocking 1 byte from 1073741824");
8814   fl.l_start  = 1073741824;
8815   fl.l_len    = 1;
8816   fl.l_type   = F_UNLCK;
8817   if (0 != fcntl(fd, F_SETLK, &fl) ) printf(" - error!\n"); else printf("\n");
8818
8819   printf("  Write-locking 1 byte from 1073741824");
8820   fl.l_start  = 1073741824;
8821   fl.l_len    = 1;
8822   fl.l_type   = F_WRLCK;
8823   if (0 != fcntl(fd, F_SETLK, &fl) ) printf(" - error!\n"); else printf("\n");
8824
8825   printf("  Write-locking 510 byte from 1073741826");
8826   fl.l_start  = 1073741826;
8827   fl.l_len    = 510;
8828   if (0 != fcntl(fd, F_SETLK, &fl) ) printf(" - error!\n"); else printf("\n");
8829
8830   printf("  Unlocking 2 byte from 1073741824");
8831   fl.l_start  = 1073741824;
8832   fl.l_len    = 2;
8833   fl.l_type   = F_UNLCK;
8834   if (0 != fcntl(fd, F_SETLK, &fl) ) printf(" - error!\n"); else printf("\n");
8835
8836   close(fd);
8837   return 0;
8838 }
8839
8840 /*
8841  * Test if permissions of freshly created directories allow entries
8842  * below them.  This was a problem with OpenOffice.org and gcompris.
8843  * Mounting with option 'sync' seem to solve this problem while
8844  * slowing down file operations.
8845  */
8846 int test_subdirectory_creation(void) {
8847 #define LEVELS 5
8848   char *path = strdup("test");
8849   char *dirs[LEVELS];
8850   int level;
8851   printf("info: testing subdirectory creation\n");
8852   for (level = 0; level &lt; LEVELS; level++) {
8853     char *newpath = NULL;
8854     if (-1 == mkdir(path, 0777)) {
8855       printf("  error: Unable to create directory '%s': %s\n",
8856              path, strerror(errno));
8857       break;
8858     }
8859     asprintf(&newpath, "%s/%s", path, "test");
8860     free(path);
8861     path = newpath;
8862   }
8863   return 0;
8864 }
8865
8866 /*
8867  * Test if symlinks can be created.  This was a problem detected with
8868  * KDE.
8869  */
8870 int test_symlinks(void) {
8871   printf("info: testing symlink creation\n");
8872   unlink("symlink");
8873   if (-1 == symlink("file", "symlink"))
8874     printf("  error: Unable to create symlink\n");
8875   return 0;
8876 }
8877
8878 int main(int argc, char **argv) {
8879   printf("Testing POSIX/Unix sematics on file system\n");
8880   test_symlinks();
8881   test_subdirectory_creation();
8882 #ifdef TEST_SQLITE
8883   test_sqlite_open();
8884 #endif /* TEST_SQLITE */
8885   test_gcompris_locking();
8886   return 0;
8887 }
8888 </pre>
8889
8890 <p>When everything is working, it should print something like
8891 this:</p>
8892
8893 <pre>
8894 Testing POSIX/Unix sematics on file system
8895 info: testing symlink creation
8896 info: testing subdirectory creation
8897 info: sqlite worked
8898 info: testing fcntl locking
8899   Read-locking 1 byte from 1073741824
8900   Read-locking 510 byte from 1073741826
8901   Unlocking 1 byte from 1073741824
8902   Write-locking 1 byte from 1073741824
8903   Write-locking 510 byte from 1073741826
8904   Unlocking 2 byte from 1073741824
8905 </pre>
8906
8907 <p>I do not remember the exact details of the problems we saw, but one
8908 of them was with locking, where if I remember correctly, POSIX allow a
8909 read-only lock to be upgraded to a read-write lock without unlocking
8910 the read-only lock (while Windows do not).  Another was a bug in the
8911 CIFS/SMB client implementation in the Linux kernel where directory
8912 meta information would be wrong for a fraction of a second, making
8913 OpenOffice.org fail to create its deep directory tree because it was
8914 not allowed to create files in its freshly created directory.</p>
8915
8916 <p>Anyway, here is a nice tool for your tool box, might you never need
8917 it. :)</p>
8918
8919 <p>Update 2010-08-27: Michael Gebetsroither report that he found the
8920 script so useful that he created a GIT repository and stored it in
8921 <a href="http://github.com/gebi/fs-test">http://github.com/gebi/fs-test</a>.</p>
8922
8923       </div>
8924       <div class="tags">
8925
8926
8927         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug</a>.
8928
8929
8930       </div>
8931     </div>
8932     <div class="padding"></div>
8933
8934     <div class="entry">
8935       <div class="title">
8936         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Autodetecting_Client_setup_for_roaming_workstations_in_Debian_Edu.html">Autodetecting Client setup for roaming workstations in Debian Edu</a>
8937       </div>
8938       <div class="date">
8939          7th August 2010
8940       </div>
8941       <div class="body">
8942         <p>A few days ago, I
8943 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_roaming_workstation___at_the_university_of_Oslo.html">tried
8944 to install</a> a Roaming workation profile from Debian Edu/Squeeze
8945 while on the university network here at the University of Oslo, and
8946 noticed how much had to change to get it operational using the
8947 university infrastructure.  It was fairly easy, but it occured to me
8948 that Debian Edu would improve a lot if I could get the client to
8949 connect without any changes at all, and thus let the client configure
8950 itself during installation and first boot to use the infrastructure
8951 around it.  Now I am a huge step further along that road.</p>
8952
8953 <p>With our current squeeze-test packages, I can select the roaming
8954 workstation profile and get a working laptop connecting to the
8955 university LDAP server for user and group and our active directory
8956 servers for Kerberos authentication.  All this without any
8957 configuration at all during installation.  My users home directory got
8958 a bookmark in the KDE menu to mount it via SMB, with the correct URL.
8959 In short, openldap and sssd is correctly configured.  In addition to
8960 this, the client look for http://wpad/wpad.dat to configure a web
8961 proxy, and when it fail to find it no proxy settings are stored in
8962 /etc/environment and /etc/apt/apt.conf.  Iceweasel and KDE is
8963 configured to look for the same wpad configuration and also do not use
8964 a proxy when at the university network.  If the machine is moved to a
8965 network with such wpad setup, it would automatically use it when DHCP
8966 gave it a IP address.</p>
8967
8968 <p>The LDAP server is located using DNS, by first looking for the DNS
8969 entry ldap.$domain.  If this do not exist, it look for the
8970 _ldap._tcp.$domain SRV records and use the first one as the LDAP
8971 server.  Next, it connects to the LDAP server and search all
8972 namingContexts entries for posixAccount or posixGroup objects, and
8973 pick the first one as the LDAP base.  For Kerberos, a similar
8974 algorithm is used to locate the LDAP server, and the realm is the
8975 uppercase version of $domain.</p>
8976
8977 <p>So, what is not working, you might ask.  SMB mounting my home
8978 directory do not work.  No idea why, but suspected the incorrect
8979 Kerberos settings in /etc/krb5.conf and /etc/samba/smb.conf might be
8980 the cause.  These are not properly configured during installation, and
8981 had to be hand-edited to get the correct Kerberos realm and server,
8982 but SMB mounting still do not work. :(</p>
8983
8984 <p>With this automatic configuration in place, I expect a Debian Edu
8985 roaming profile installation would be able to automatically detect and
8986 connect to any site using LDAP and Kerberos for NSS directory and PAM
8987 authentication.  It should also work out of the box in a Active
8988 Directory environment providing posixAccount and posixGroup objects
8989 with UID and GID values.</p>
8990
8991 <p>If you want to help out with implementing these things for Debian
8992 Edu, please contact us on debian-edu@lists.debian.org.</p>
8993
8994       </div>
8995       <div class="tags">
8996
8997
8998         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug</a>.
8999
9000
9001       </div>
9002     </div>
9003     <div class="padding"></div>
9004
9005     <div class="entry">
9006       <div class="title">
9007         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_roaming_workstation___at_the_university_of_Oslo.html">Debian Edu roaming workstation - at the university of Oslo</a>
9008       </div>
9009       <div class="date">
9010          3rd August 2010
9011       </div>
9012       <div class="body">
9013         <p>The new roaming workstation profile in Debian Edu/Squeeze is fairly
9014 similar to the laptop setup am I working on using Ubuntu for the
9015 University of Oslo, and just for the heck of it, I tested today how
9016 hard it would be to integrate that profile into the university
9017 infrastructure.  In this case, it is the university LDAP server,
9018 Active Directory Kerberos server and SMB mounting from the Netapp file
9019 servers.</p>
9020
9021 <p>I was pleasantly surprised that the only three files needed to be
9022 changed (/etc/sssd/sssd.conf, /etc/ldap.conf and
9023 /etc/mklocaluser.d/20-debian-edu-config) and one file had to be added
9024 (/usr/share/perl5/Debian/Edu_Local.pm), to get the client working.
9025 Most of the changes were to get the client to use the university LDAP
9026 for NSS and Kerberos server for PAM, but one was to change a hard
9027 coded DNS domain name in the mklocaluser hook from .intern to
9028 .uio.no.</p>
9029
9030 <p>This testing was so encouraging, that I went ahead and adjusted the
9031 Debian Edu scripts and setup in subversion to centralise the roaming
9032 workstation setup a bit more and avoid the hardcoded DNS domain name,
9033 so that when I test this tomorrow, I expect to get away with modifying
9034 only /etc/sssd/sssd.conf and /etc/ldap.conf to get it to use the
9035 university servers.</p>
9036
9037 <p>My goal is to get the clients to have no hardcoded settings and
9038 fetch all their initial setup during installation and first boot, to
9039 allow them to be inserted also into environments where the default
9040 setup in Debian Edu has been changed or as with the university, where
9041 the environment is different but provides the protocols Debian Edu
9042 uses.</p>
9043
9044       </div>
9045       <div class="tags">
9046
9047
9048         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug</a>.
9049
9050
9051       </div>
9052     </div>
9053     <div class="padding"></div>
9054
9055     <div class="entry">
9056       <div class="title">
9057         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Circular_package_dependencies_harms_apt_recovery.html">Circular package dependencies harms apt recovery</a>
9058       </div>
9059       <div class="date">
9060         27th July 2010
9061       </div>
9062       <div class="body">
9063         <p>I discovered this while doing
9064 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Automatic_upgrade_testing_from_Lenny_to_Squeeze.html">automated
9065 testing of upgrades from Debian Lenny to Squeeze</a>.  A few packages
9066 in Debian still got circular dependencies, and it is often claimed
9067 that apt and aptitude should be able to handle this just fine, but
9068 some times these dependency loops causes apt to fail.</p>
9069
9070 <p>An example is from todays
9071 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/~pere/debian-upgrade-testing//test-20100727-lenny-squeeze-kde-aptitude.txt">upgrade
9072 of KDE using aptitude</a>.  In it, a bug in kdebase-workspace-data
9073 causes perl-modules to fail to upgrade.  The cause is simple.  If a
9074 package fail to unpack, then only part of packages with the circular
9075 dependency might end up being unpacked when unpacking aborts, and the
9076 ones already unpacked will fail to configure in the recovery phase
9077 because its dependencies are unavailable.</p>
9078
9079 <p>In this log, the problem manifest itself with this error:</p>
9080
9081 <blockquote><pre>
9082 dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of perl-modules:
9083  perl-modules depends on perl (>= 5.10.1-1); however:
9084   Version of perl on system is 5.10.0-19lenny2.
9085 dpkg: error processing perl-modules (--configure):
9086  dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
9087 </pre></blockquote>
9088
9089 <p>The perl/perl-modules circular dependency is already
9090 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/527917">reported as a bug</a>, and will
9091 hopefully be solved as soon as possible, but it is not the only one,
9092 and each one of these loops in the dependency tree can cause similar
9093 failures.  Of course, they only occur when there are bugs in other
9094 packages causing the unpacking to fail, but it is rather nasty when
9095 the failure of one package causes the problem to become worse because
9096 of dependency loops.</p>
9097
9098 <p>Thanks to
9099 <a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2010/06/msg00116.html">the
9100 tireless effort by Bill Allombert</a>, the number of circular
9101 dependencies
9102 <a href="http://debian.semistable.com/debgraph.out.html">left in Debian
9103 is dropping</a>, and perhaps it will reach zero one day. :)</p>
9104
9105 <p>Todays testing also exposed a bug in
9106 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/590605">update-notifier</a> and
9107 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/590604">different behaviour</a> between
9108 apt-get and aptitude, the latter possibly caused by some circular
9109 dependency.  Reported both to BTS to try to get someone to look at
9110 it.</p>
9111
9112       </div>
9113       <div class="tags">
9114
9115
9116         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug</a>.
9117
9118
9119       </div>
9120     </div>
9121     <div class="padding"></div>
9122
9123     <div class="entry">
9124       <div class="title">
9125         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/First_Debian_Edu_test_release__alpha0__based_on_Squeeze_is_released.html">First Debian Edu test release (alpha0) based on Squeeze is released</a>
9126       </div>
9127       <div class="date">
9128         27th July 2010
9129       </div>
9130       <div class="body">
9131         <p>I just posted this announcement culminating several months of work
9132 with the next Debian Edu release.  Not nearly done, but one major step
9133 completed.</p>
9134
9135 <blockquote>
9136 <p>This is the first test release based on Squeeze. The focus of this
9137 release is to test the user application selection. To have a look,
9138 install the standalone profile and let the developers know if the set
9139 of installed packages i.e. applications should be modified. If some
9140 user application is missing, or if there are some applications that no
9141 longer make sense to be included in Debian Edu, please let us know.
9142 Also, if a useful application is missing the translation for your
9143 language of choice, please let us know too.</p>
9144
9145 <p>In addition, feedback and help to polish the desktop (menus,
9146 artwork, starters, etc.) is appreciated. We would like to ship a nice
9147 and handy KDE4 desktop targeted for schools out of the box.</p>
9148
9149 <p>The other profiles should be installable, but there is a lot more
9150 work left to be done before they are ready, so do not expect to
9151 much.</p>
9152
9153 <p>Changes compared to the lenny based version</p>
9154
9155 <ul>
9156 <li>Everything from Debian Squeeze
9157 <ul>
9158   <li>Desktop environment KDE 4.4 => the new KDE desktop in
9159          combination with some new artwork
9160   <li>Web browser Iceweasel 3.5
9161   <li>OpenOffice.org 3.2
9162   <li>Educational toolbox GCompris 9.3
9163   <li>Music creator Rosegarden 10.04.2
9164   <li>Image editor Gimp 2.6.10
9165   <li>Virtual universe Celestia 1.6.0
9166   <li>Virtual stargazer Stellarium 0.10.4
9167   <li>3D modeler Blender 2.49.2 (new application)
9168   <li>Video editor Kdenlive 0.7.7 (new application)
9169 </ul></li>
9170 <li>Now using Kerberos for password checking (migration not finished).
9171     Enabled for:
9172 <ul>
9173   <li>PAM
9174   <li>LDAP
9175   <li>IMAP
9176   <li>SMTP (sender verification)
9177 </ul>
9178 </li>
9179 <li>New experimental roaming workstation profile for laptops.</li>
9180 <li>Show welcome page to users when they first log in. The URL is
9181     fetched from LDAP.</li>
9182 <li>New LXDE desktop option, in addition to KDE (default) and Gnome.</li>
9183 <li>General cleanup (not finished)</li>
9184 </ul>
9185 <p>The following features are not working as they should</p>
9186
9187 <ul>
9188 <li>No web based administration tool for creating users and groups. The
9189     scripts ldap-createuser-krb and ldap-add-user-to-group can be used
9190     for testing.</li>
9191 <li>DVD installs are missing debian-installer images for the PXE boot,
9192     and do not set up the PXE menu on eth0 because of this. LTSP
9193     clients should still boot from eth1 on thin client servers.</li>
9194 <li>The restructured KDE menu is not implemented.</li>
9195 <li>The LDAP server setup need to be reviewed for security.</li>
9196 <li>The LDAP directory structure need to be reworked.</li>
9197 <li>Different sets of packages are installed when using the DVD and the
9198     netinst CD. More packages are installed using the netinst CD.</li>
9199 <li>The jackd package fail to install. This is believed to be caused by
9200     some ongoing transition, and hopefully should be solved soon. The
9201     jackd1 package can be installed manually for those that need it.</li>
9202 <li>Some packages lack translations. See
9203     http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/Status/Squeeze for updated status,
9204     and help out with translations.</li>
9205 </ul>
9206
9207 <p>To download this multiarch netinstall release you can use</p>
9208
9209 <ul>
9210 <li><a href="ftp://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/squeeze-alpha/debian-edu-6.0.0+edua0-CD.iso">ftp://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/squeeze-alpha/debian-edu-6.0.0+edua0-CD.iso</a></li>
9211 <li><a href="http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/squeeze-alpha/debian-edu-6.0.0+edua0-CD.iso">http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/squeeze-alpha/debian-edu-6.0.0+edua0-CD.iso</a></li>
9212 <li>rsync -avzP ftp.skolelinux.org::skolelinux-cd/squeeze-alpha/debian-edu-6.0.0+edua0-CD.iso</li>
9213 </ul>
9214 <p>To download this multiarch dvd release you can use</p>
9215
9216 <ul>
9217 <li><a href="ftp://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/squeeze-alpha/debian-edu-6.0.0+edua0-DVD.iso">ftp://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/squeeze-alpha/debian-edu-6.0.0+edua0-DVD.iso</a></li>
9218 <li><a href="http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/squeeze-alpha/debian-edu-6.0.0+edua0-DVD.iso">http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/squeeze-alpha/debian-edu-6.0.0+edua0-DVD.iso</a></li>
9219 <li>rsync -avzP ftp.skolelinux.org::skolelinux-cd/squeeze-alpha/debian-edu-6.0.0+edua0-DVD.iso</li>
9220 </ul>
9221
9222 <p>There is no source DVD available yet. It will be prepared when we
9223 get closer to the final release.</p>
9224
9225 <p>The MD5SUM of these images are</p>
9226
9227 <ul>
9228 <li>3dbf45d59f42a53518b6e3c9ec3b5eb6 debian-edu-6.0.0+edua0-CD.iso</li>
9229 <li>22f2cbfce281d1c6e478be452638675d debian-edu-6.0.0+edua0-DVD.iso</li>
9230 </ul>
9231
9232 <p>The SHA1SUM of these images are</p>
9233 <ul>
9234 <li>c53d1b69b40cf37cd27aefaf33f6f6a3821bedf0 debian-edu-6.0.0+edua0-CD.iso</li>
9235 <li>2ec29d7db676d59d32197b05c277ffe16348376c debian-edu-6.0.0+edua0-DVD.iso</li>
9236 </ul>
9237 <p>How to report bugs:
9238 http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/HowTo/ReportBugsInBugzilla</p>
9239
9240 <p>Please direct replies to debian-edu@lists.debian.org</p>
9241 </blockquote>
9242
9243       </div>
9244       <div class="tags">
9245
9246
9247         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug</a>.
9248
9249
9250       </div>
9251     </div>
9252     <div class="padding"></div>
9253
9254     <div class="entry">
9255       <div class="title">
9256         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/One_step_closer_to_single_signon_in_Debian_Edu.html">One step closer to single signon in Debian Edu</a>
9257       </div>
9258       <div class="date">
9259         25th July 2010
9260       </div>
9261       <div class="body">
9262         <p>The last few months me and the other Debian Edu developers have
9263 been working hard to get the Debian/Squeeze based version of Debian
9264 Edu/Skolelinux into shape.  This future version will use Kerberos for
9265 authentication, and services are slowly migrated to single signon,
9266 getting rid of password questions one at the time.</p>
9267
9268 <p>It will also feature a roaming workstation profile with local home
9269 directory, for laptops that are only some times on the Skolelinux
9270 network, and for this profile a shortcut is created in Gnome and KDE
9271 to gain access to the users home directory on the file server.  This
9272 shortcut uses SMB at the moment, and yesterday I had time to test if
9273 SMB mounting had started working in KDE after we added the cifs-utils
9274 package.  I was pleasantly surprised how well it worked.</p>
9275
9276 <p>Thanks to the recent changes to our samba configuration to get it
9277 to use Kerberos for authentication, there were no question about user
9278 password when mounting the SMB volume.  A simple click on the shortcut
9279 in the KDE menu, and a window with the home directory popped
9280 up. :)</p>
9281
9282 <p>One step closer to a single signon solution out of the box in
9283 Debian Edu.  We already had PAM, LDAP, IMAP and SMTP in place, and now
9284 also Samba.  Next step is Cups and hopefully also NFS.</p>
9285
9286 <p>We had planned a alpha0 release of Debian Edu for today, but thanks
9287 to the autobuilder administrators for some architectures being slow to
9288 sign packages, we are still missing the fixed LTSP package we need for
9289 the release.  It was uploaded three days ago with urgency=high, and if
9290 it had entered testing yesterday we would have been able to test it in
9291 time for a alpha0 release today.  As the binaries for ia64 and powerpc
9292 still not uploaded to the Debian archive, we need to delay the alpha
9293 release another day.</p>
9294
9295 <p>If you want to help out with implementing Kerberos for Debian Edu,
9296 please contact us on debian-edu@lists.debian.org.</p>
9297
9298       </div>
9299       <div class="tags">
9300
9301
9302         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/sikkerhet">sikkerhet</a>.
9303
9304
9305       </div>
9306     </div>
9307     <div class="padding"></div>
9308
9309     <div class="entry">
9310       <div class="title">
9311         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/OpenStreetmap_one_step_closer_to_having_routing_on_its_front_page.html">OpenStreetmap one step closer to having routing on its front page</a>
9312       </div>
9313       <div class="date">
9314         18th July 2010
9315       </div>
9316       <div class="body">
9317         <p>Thanks to
9318 <a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Opengeodata/~3/wUTCzDZk3lc/project-of-the-week-which-way-home">todays
9319 opengeodata blog entry</a>, I just discovered that the
9320 OpenStreetmap.org site have gotten
9321 <a href="http://nroets.dev.openstreetmap.org/demo/index.html?layers=B000FTFTT">support
9322 for calculating routes</a>.  The support is still experimental and
9323 only available from the development server, until more experience is
9324 gathered on the user interface and any scalability issues.</p>
9325
9326 <p>Earlier, the routing I knew about using the OpenStreetmap.org data
9327 was provided by <a href="http://maps.cloudmade.com/">Cloudmade</a>,
9328 but having it on the main page is required to make everyone aware of
9329 the issue.  I've had people reject Openstreetmap.org as a viable
9330 alternative for them because the front page lacked routing support,
9331 and I hope their needs will be catered for when routing show up on the
9332 www.openstreetmap.org front page.</p>
9333
9334       </div>
9335       <div class="tags">
9336
9337
9338         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/kart">kart</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/web">web</a>.
9339
9340
9341       </div>
9342     </div>
9343     <div class="padding"></div>
9344
9345     <div class="entry">
9346       <div class="title">
9347         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/What_are_they_searching_for___PowerDNS_and_ISC_DHCP_in_LDAP.html">What are they searching for - PowerDNS and ISC DHCP in LDAP</a>
9348       </div>
9349       <div class="date">
9350         17th July 2010
9351       </div>
9352       <div class="body">
9353         <p>This is a
9354 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Time_for_new__LDAP_schemas_replacing_RFC_2307_.html">followup</a>
9355 on my
9356 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Idea_for_a_change_to_LDAP_schemas_allowing_DNS_and_DHCP_info_to_be_combined_into_one_object.html">previous
9357 work</a> on
9358 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Combining_PowerDNS_and_ISC_DHCP_LDAP_objects.html">merging
9359 all</a> the computer related LDAP objects in Debian Edu.</p>
9360
9361 <p>As a step to try to see if it possible to merge the DNS and DHCP
9362 LDAP objects, I have had a look at how the packages pdns-backend-ldap
9363 and dhcp3-server-ldap in Debian use the LDAP server.  The two
9364 implementations are quite different in how they use LDAP.</p>
9365
9366 To get this information, I started slapd with debugging enabled and
9367 dumped the debug output to a file to get the LDAP searches performed
9368 on a Debian Edu main-server.  Here is a summary.
9369
9370 <p><strong>powerdns</strong></p>
9371
9372 <a href="http://www.linuxnetworks.de/doc/index.php/PowerDNS_LDAP_Backend">Clues
9373 on how to</a> set up PowerDNS to use a LDAP backend is available on
9374 the web.
9375
9376 <p>PowerDNS have two modes of operation using LDAP as its backend.
9377 One "strict" mode where the forward and reverse DNS lookups are done
9378 using the same LDAP objects, and a "tree" mode where the forward and
9379 reverse entries are in two different subtrees in LDAP with a structure
9380 based on the DNS names, as in tjener.intern and
9381 2.2.0.10.in-addr.arpa.</p>
9382
9383 <p>In tree mode, the server is set up to use a LDAP subtree as its
9384 base, and uses a "base" scoped search for the DNS name by adding
9385 "dc=tjener,dc=intern," to the base with a filter for
9386 "(associateddomain=tjener.intern)" for the forward entry and
9387 "dc=2,dc=2,dc=0,dc=10,dc=in-addr,dc=arpa," with a filter for
9388 "(associateddomain=2.2.0.10.in-addr.arpa)" for the reverse entry.  For
9389 forward entries, it is looking for attributes named dnsttl, arecord,
9390 nsrecord, cnamerecord, soarecord, ptrrecord, hinforecord, mxrecord,
9391 txtrecord, rprecord, afsdbrecord, keyrecord, aaaarecord, locrecord,
9392 srvrecord, naptrrecord, kxrecord, certrecord, dsrecord, sshfprecord,
9393 ipseckeyrecord, rrsigrecord, nsecrecord, dnskeyrecord, dhcidrecord,
9394 spfrecord and modifytimestamp.  For reverse entries it is looking for
9395 the attributes dnsttl, arecord, nsrecord, cnamerecord, soarecord,
9396 ptrrecord, hinforecord, mxrecord, txtrecord, rprecord, aaaarecord,
9397 locrecord, srvrecord, naptrrecord and modifytimestamp.  The equivalent
9398 ldapsearch commands could look like this:</p>
9399
9400 <blockquote><pre>
9401 ldapsearch -h ldap \
9402   -b dc=tjener,dc=intern,ou=hosts,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no \
9403   -s base -x '(associateddomain=tjener.intern)' dNSTTL aRecord nSRecord \
9404   cNAMERecord sOARecord pTRRecord hInfoRecord mXRecord tXTRecord \
9405   rPRecord aFSDBRecord KeyRecord aAAARecord lOCRecord sRVRecord \
9406   nAPTRRecord kXRecord certRecord dSRecord sSHFPRecord iPSecKeyRecord \
9407   rRSIGRecord nSECRecord dNSKeyRecord dHCIDRecord sPFRecord modifyTimestamp
9408
9409 ldapsearch -h ldap \
9410   -b dc=2,dc=2,dc=0,dc=10,dc=in-addr,dc=arpa,ou=hosts,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no \
9411   -s base -x '(associateddomain=2.2.0.10.in-addr.arpa)'
9412   dnsttl, arecord, nsrecord, cnamerecord soarecord ptrrecord \
9413   hinforecord mxrecord txtrecord rprecord aaaarecord locrecord \
9414   srvrecord naptrrecord modifytimestamp
9415 </pre></blockquote>
9416
9417 <p>In Debian Edu/Lenny, the PowerDNS tree mode is used with
9418 ou=hosts,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no as the base, and these are two
9419 example LDAP objects used there.  In addition to these objects, the
9420 parent objects all th way up to ou=hosts,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
9421 also exist.</p>
9422
9423 <blockquote><pre>
9424 dn: dc=tjener,dc=intern,ou=hosts,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
9425 objectclass: top
9426 objectclass: dnsdomain
9427 objectclass: domainrelatedobject
9428 dc: tjener
9429 arecord: 10.0.2.2
9430 associateddomain: tjener.intern
9431
9432 dn: dc=2,dc=2,dc=0,dc=10,dc=in-addr,dc=arpa,ou=hosts,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
9433 objectclass: top
9434 objectclass: dnsdomain2
9435 objectclass: domainrelatedobject
9436 dc: 2
9437 ptrrecord: tjener.intern
9438 associateddomain: 2.2.0.10.in-addr.arpa
9439 </pre></blockquote>
9440
9441 <p>In strict mode, the server behaves differently.  When looking for
9442 forward DNS entries, it is doing a "subtree" scoped search with the
9443 same base as in the tree mode for a object with filter
9444 "(associateddomain=tjener.intern)" and requests the attributes dnsttl,
9445 arecord, nsrecord, cnamerecord, soarecord, ptrrecord, hinforecord,
9446 mxrecord, txtrecord, rprecord, aaaarecord, locrecord, srvrecord,
9447 naptrrecord and modifytimestamp.  For reverse entires it also do a
9448 subtree scoped search but this time the filter is "(arecord=10.0.2.2)"
9449 and the requested attributes are associateddomain, dnsttl and
9450 modifytimestamp.  In short, in strict mode the objects with ptrrecord
9451 go away, and the arecord attribute in the forward object is used
9452 instead.</p>
9453
9454 <p>The forward and reverse searches can be simulated using ldapsearch
9455 like this:</p>
9456
9457 <blockquote><pre>
9458 ldapsearch -h ldap -b ou=hosts,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no -s sub -x \
9459   '(associateddomain=tjener.intern)' dNSTTL aRecord nSRecord \
9460   cNAMERecord sOARecord pTRRecord hInfoRecord mXRecord tXTRecord \
9461   rPRecord aFSDBRecord KeyRecord aAAARecord lOCRecord sRVRecord \
9462   nAPTRRecord kXRecord certRecord dSRecord sSHFPRecord iPSecKeyRecord \
9463   rRSIGRecord nSECRecord dNSKeyRecord dHCIDRecord sPFRecord modifyTimestamp
9464
9465 ldapsearch -h ldap -b ou=hosts,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no -s sub -x \
9466   '(arecord=10.0.2.2)' associateddomain dnsttl modifytimestamp
9467 </pre></blockquote>
9468
9469 <p>In addition to the forward and reverse searches , there is also a
9470 search for SOA records, which behave similar to the forward and
9471 reverse lookups.</p>
9472
9473 <p>A thing to note with the PowerDNS behaviour is that it do not
9474 specify any objectclass names, and instead look for the attributes it
9475 need to generate a DNS reply.  This make it able to work with any
9476 objectclass that provide the needed attributes.</p>
9477
9478 <p>The attributes are normally provided in the cosine (RFC 1274) and
9479 dnsdomain2 schemas.  The latter is used for reverse entries like
9480 ptrrecord and recent DNS additions like aaaarecord and srvrecord.</p>
9481
9482 <p>In Debian Edu, we have created DNS objects using the object classes
9483 dcobject (for dc), dnsdomain or dnsdomain2 (structural, for the DNS
9484 attributes) and domainrelatedobject (for associatedDomain).  The use
9485 of structural object classes make it impossible to combine these
9486 classes with the object classes used by DHCP.</p>
9487
9488 <p>There are other schemas that could be used too, for example the
9489 dnszone structural object class used by Gosa and bind-sdb for the DNS
9490 attributes combined with the domainrelatedobject object class, but in
9491 this case some unused attributes would have to be included as well
9492 (zonename and relativedomainname).</p>
9493
9494 <p>My proposal for Debian Edu would be to switch PowerDNS to strict
9495 mode and not use any of the existing objectclasses (dnsdomain,
9496 dnsdomain2 and dnszone) when one want to combine the DNS information
9497 with DHCP information, and instead create a auxiliary object class
9498 defined something like this (using the attributes defined for
9499 dnsdomain and dnsdomain2 or dnszone):</p>
9500
9501 <blockquote><pre>
9502 objectclass ( some-oid NAME 'dnsDomainAux'
9503     SUP top
9504     AUXILIARY
9505     MAY ( ARecord $ MDRecord $ MXRecord $ NSRecord $ SOARecord $ CNAMERecord $
9506           DNSTTL $ DNSClass $ PTRRecord $ HINFORecord $ MINFORecord $
9507           TXTRecord $ SIGRecord $ KEYRecord $ AAAARecord $ LOCRecord $
9508           NXTRecord $ SRVRecord $ NAPTRRecord $ KXRecord $ CERTRecord $
9509           A6Record $ DNAMERecord
9510     ))
9511 </pre></blockquote>
9512
9513 <p>This will allow any object to become a DNS entry when combined with
9514 the domainrelatedobject object class, and allow any entity to include
9515 all the attributes PowerDNS wants.  I've sent an email to the PowerDNS
9516 developers asking for their view on this schema and if they are
9517 interested in providing such schema with PowerDNS, and I hope my
9518 message will be accepted into their mailing list soon.</p>
9519
9520 <p><strong>ISC dhcp</strong></p>
9521
9522 <p>The DHCP server searches for specific objectclass and requests all
9523 the object attributes, and then uses the attributes it want.  This
9524 make it harder to figure out exactly what attributes are used, but
9525 thanks to the working example in Debian Edu I can at least get an idea
9526 what is needed without having to read the source code.</p>
9527
9528 <p>In the DHCP server configuration, the LDAP base to use and the
9529 search filter to use to locate the correct dhcpServer entity is
9530 stored.  These are the relevant entries from
9531 /etc/dhcp3/dhcpd.conf:</p>
9532
9533 <blockquote><pre>
9534 ldap-base-dn "dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no";
9535 ldap-dhcp-server-cn "dhcp";
9536 </pre></blockquote>
9537
9538 <p>The DHCP server uses this information to nest all the DHCP
9539 configuration it need.  The cn "dhcp" is located using the given LDAP
9540 base and the filter "(&(objectClass=dhcpServer)(cn=dhcp))".  The
9541 search result is this entry:</p>
9542
9543 <blockquote><pre>
9544 dn: cn=dhcp,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
9545 cn: dhcp
9546 objectClass: top
9547 objectClass: dhcpServer
9548 dhcpServiceDN: cn=DHCP Config,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
9549 </pre></blockquote>
9550
9551 <p>The content of the dhcpServiceDN attribute is next used to locate the
9552 subtree with DHCP configuration.  The DHCP configuration subtree base
9553 is located using a base scope search with base "cn=DHCP
9554 Config,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no" and filter
9555 "(&(objectClass=dhcpService)(|(dhcpPrimaryDN=cn=dhcp,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no)(dhcpSecondaryDN=cn=dhcp,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no)))".
9556 The search result is this entry:</p>
9557
9558 <blockquote><pre>
9559 dn: cn=DHCP Config,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
9560 cn: DHCP Config
9561 objectClass: top
9562 objectClass: dhcpService
9563 objectClass: dhcpOptions
9564 dhcpPrimaryDN: cn=dhcp, dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
9565 dhcpStatements: ddns-update-style none
9566 dhcpStatements: authoritative
9567 dhcpOption: smtp-server code 69 = array of ip-address
9568 dhcpOption: www-server code 72 = array of ip-address
9569 dhcpOption: wpad-url code 252 = text
9570 </pre></blockquote>
9571
9572 <p>Next, the entire subtree is processed, one level at the time.  When
9573 all the DHCP configuration is loaded, it is ready to receive requests.
9574 The subtree in Debian Edu contain objects with object classes
9575 top/dhcpService/dhcpOptions, top/dhcpSharedNetwork/dhcpOptions,
9576 top/dhcpSubnet, top/dhcpGroup and top/dhcpHost.  These provide options
9577 and information about netmasks, dynamic range etc.  Leaving out the
9578 details here because it is not relevant for the focus of my
9579 investigation, which is to see if it is possible to merge dns and dhcp
9580 related computer objects.</p>
9581
9582 <p>When a DHCP request come in, LDAP is searched for the MAC address
9583 of the client (00:00:00:00:00:00 in this example), using a subtree
9584 scoped search with "cn=DHCP Config,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no" as
9585 the base and "(&(objectClass=dhcpHost)(dhcpHWAddress=ethernet
9586 00:00:00:00:00:00))" as the filter.  This is what a host object look
9587 like:</p>
9588
9589 <blockquote><pre>
9590 dn: cn=hostname,cn=group1,cn=THINCLIENTS,cn=DHCP Config,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
9591 cn: hostname
9592 objectClass: top
9593 objectClass: dhcpHost
9594 dhcpHWAddress: ethernet 00:00:00:00:00:00
9595 dhcpStatements: fixed-address hostname
9596 </pre></blockquote>
9597
9598 <p>There is less flexiblity in the way LDAP searches are done here.
9599 The object classes need to have fixed names, and the configuration
9600 need to be stored in a fairly specific LDAP structure.  On the
9601 positive side, the invidiual dhcpHost entires can be anywhere without
9602 the DN pointed to by the dhcpServer entries.  The latter should make
9603 it possible to group all host entries in a subtree next to the
9604 configuration entries, and this subtree can also be shared with the
9605 DNS server if the schema proposed above is combined with the dhcpHost
9606 structural object class.
9607
9608 <p><strong>Conclusion</strong></p>
9609
9610 <p>The PowerDNS implementation seem to be very flexible when it come
9611 to which LDAP schemas to use.  While its "tree" mode is rigid when it
9612 come to the the LDAP structure, the "strict" mode is very flexible,
9613 allowing DNS objects to be stored anywhere under the base cn specified
9614 in the configuration.</p>
9615
9616 <p>The DHCP implementation on the other hand is very inflexible, both
9617 regarding which LDAP schemas to use and which LDAP structure to use.
9618 I guess one could implement ones own schema, as long as the
9619 objectclasses and attributes have the names used, but this do not
9620 really help when the DHCP subtree need to have a fairly fixed
9621 structure.</p>
9622
9623 <p>Based on the observed behaviour, I suspect a LDAP structure like
9624 this might work for Debian Edu:</p>
9625
9626 <blockquote><pre>
9627 ou=services
9628   cn=machine-info (dhcpService) - dhcpServiceDN points here
9629     cn=dhcp (dhcpServer)
9630     cn=dhcp-internal (dhcpSharedNetwork/dhcpOptions)
9631       cn=10.0.2.0 (dhcpSubnet)
9632         cn=group1 (dhcpGroup/dhcpOptions)
9633     cn=dhcp-thinclients (dhcpSharedNetwork/dhcpOptions)
9634       cn=192.168.0.0 (dhcpSubnet)
9635         cn=group1 (dhcpGroup/dhcpOptions)
9636     ou=machines - PowerDNS base points here
9637       cn=hostname (dhcpHost/domainrelatedobject/dnsDomainAux)
9638 </pre></blockquote>
9639
9640 <P>This is not tested yet.  If the DHCP server require the dhcpHost
9641 entries to be in the dhcpGroup subtrees, the entries can be stored
9642 there instead of a common machines subtree, and the PowerDNS base
9643 would have to be moved one level up to the machine-info subtree.</p>
9644
9645 <p>The combined object under the machines subtree would look something
9646 like this:</p>
9647
9648 <blockquote><pre>
9649 dn: dc=hostname,ou=machines,cn=machine-info,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
9650 dc: hostname
9651 objectClass: top
9652 objectClass: dhcpHost
9653 objectclass: domainrelatedobject
9654 objectclass: dnsDomainAux
9655 associateddomain: hostname.intern
9656 arecord: 10.11.12.13
9657 dhcpHWAddress: ethernet 00:00:00:00:00:00
9658 dhcpStatements: fixed-address hostname.intern
9659 </pre></blockquote>
9660
9661 </p>One could even add the LTSP configuration associated with a given
9662 machine, as long as the required attributes are available in a
9663 auxiliary object class.</p>
9664
9665       </div>
9666       <div class="tags">
9667
9668
9669         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/ldap">ldap</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug</a>.
9670
9671
9672       </div>
9673     </div>
9674     <div class="padding"></div>
9675
9676     <div class="entry">
9677       <div class="title">
9678         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Combining_PowerDNS_and_ISC_DHCP_LDAP_objects.html">Combining PowerDNS and ISC DHCP LDAP objects</a>
9679       </div>
9680       <div class="date">
9681         14th July 2010
9682       </div>
9683       <div class="body">
9684         <p>For a while now, I have wanted to find a way to change the DNS and
9685 DHCP services in Debian Edu to use the same LDAP objects for a given
9686 computer, to avoid the possibility of having a inconsistent state for
9687 a computer in LDAP (as in DHCP but no DNS entry or the other way
9688 around) and make it easier to add computers to LDAP.</p>
9689
9690 <p>I've looked at how powerdns and dhcpd is using LDAP, and using this
9691 information finally found a solution that seem to work.</p>
9692
9693 <p>The old setup required three LDAP objects for a given computer.
9694 One forward DNS entry, one reverse DNS entry and one DHCP entry.  If
9695 we switch powerdns to use its strict LDAP method (ldap-method=strict
9696 in pdns-debian-edu.conf), the forward and reverse DNS entries are
9697 merged into one while making it impossible to transfer the reverse map
9698 to a slave DNS server.</p>
9699
9700 <p>If we also replace the object class used to get the DNS related
9701 attributes to one allowing these attributes to be combined with the
9702 dhcphost object class, we can merge the DNS and DHCP entries into one.
9703 I've written such object class in the dnsdomainaux.schema file (need
9704 proper OIDs, but that is a minor issue), and tested the setup.  It
9705 seem to work.</p>
9706
9707 <p>With this test setup in place, we can get away with one LDAP object
9708 for both DNS and DHCP, and even the LTSP configuration I suggested in
9709 an earlier email.  The combined LDAP object will look something like
9710 this:</p>
9711
9712 <blockquote><pre>
9713   dn: cn=hostname,cn=group1,cn=THINCLIENTS,cn=DHCP Config,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
9714   cn: hostname
9715   objectClass: dhcphost
9716   objectclass: domainrelatedobject
9717   objectclass: dnsdomainaux
9718   associateddomain: hostname.intern
9719   arecord: 10.11.12.13
9720   dhcphwaddress: ethernet 00:00:00:00:00:00
9721   dhcpstatements: fixed-address hostname
9722   ldapconfigsound: Y
9723 </pre></blockquote>
9724
9725 <p>The DNS server uses the associateddomain and arecord entries, while
9726 the DHCP server uses the dhcphwaddress and dhcpstatements entries
9727 before asking DNS to resolve the fixed-adddress.  LTSP will use
9728 dhcphwaddress or associateddomain and the ldapconfig* attributes.</p>
9729
9730 <p>I am not yet sure if I can get the DHCP server to look for its
9731 dhcphost in a different location, to allow us to put the objects
9732 outside the "DHCP Config" subtree, but hope to figure out a way to do
9733 that.  If I can't figure out a way to do that, we can still get rid of
9734 the hosts subtree and move all its content into the DHCP Config tree
9735 (which probably should be renamed to be more related to the new
9736 content.  I suspect cn=dnsdhcp,ou=services or something like that
9737 might be a good place to put it.</p>
9738
9739 <p>If you want to help out with implementing this for Debian Edu,
9740 please contact us on debian-edu@lists.debian.org.</p>
9741
9742       </div>
9743       <div class="tags">
9744
9745
9746         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/ldap">ldap</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug</a>.
9747
9748
9749       </div>
9750     </div>
9751     <div class="padding"></div>
9752
9753     <div class="entry">
9754       <div class="title">
9755         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Idea_for_storing_LTSP_configuration_in_LDAP.html">Idea for storing LTSP configuration in LDAP</a>
9756       </div>
9757       <div class="date">
9758         11th July 2010
9759       </div>
9760       <div class="body">
9761         <p>Vagrant mentioned on IRC today that ltsp_config now support
9762 sourcing files from /usr/share/ltsp/ltsp_config.d/ on the thin
9763 clients, and that this can be used to fetch configuration from LDAP if
9764 Debian Edu choose to store configuration there.</p>
9765
9766 <p>Armed with this information, I got inspired and wrote a test module
9767 to get configuration from LDAP.  The idea is to look up the MAC
9768 address of the client in LDAP, and look for attributes on the form
9769 ltspconfigsetting=value, and use this to export SETTING=value to the
9770 LTSP clients.</p>
9771
9772 <p>The goal is to be able to store the LTSP configuration attributes
9773 in a "computer" LDAP object used by both DNS and DHCP, and thus
9774 allowing us to store all information about a computer in one place.</p>
9775
9776 <p>This is a untested draft implementation, and I welcome feedback on
9777 this approach.  A real LDAP schema for the ltspClientAux objectclass
9778 need to be written.  Comments, suggestions, etc?</p>
9779
9780 <blockquote><pre>
9781 # Store in /opt/ltsp/$arch/usr/share/ltsp/ltsp_config.d/ldap-config
9782 #
9783 # Fetch LTSP client settings from LDAP based on MAC address
9784 #
9785 # Uses ethernet address as stored in the dhcpHost objectclass using
9786 # the dhcpHWAddress attribute or ethernet address stored in the
9787 # ieee802Device objectclass with the macAddress attribute.
9788 #
9789 # This module is written to be schema agnostic, and only depend on the
9790 # existence of attribute names.
9791 #
9792 # The LTSP configuration variables are saved directly using a
9793 # ltspConfig prefix and uppercasing the rest of the attribute name.
9794 # To set the SERVER variable, set the ltspConfigServer attribute.
9795 #
9796 # Some LDAP schema should be created with all the relevant
9797 # configuration settings.  Something like this should work:
9798 #
9799 # objectclass ( 1.1.2.2 NAME 'ltspClientAux'
9800 #     SUP top
9801 #     AUXILIARY
9802 #     MAY ( ltspConfigServer $ ltsConfigSound $ ... )
9803
9804 LDAPSERVER=$(debian-edu-ldapserver)
9805 if [ "$LDAPSERVER" ] ; then
9806     LDAPBASE=$(debian-edu-ldapserver -b)
9807     for MAC in $(LANG=C ifconfig |grep -i hwaddr| awk '{print $5}'|sort -u) ; do
9808         filter="(|(dhcpHWAddress=ethernet $MAC)(macAddress=$MAC))"
9809         ldapsearch -h "$LDAPSERVER" -b "$LDAPBASE" -v -x "$filter" | \
9810             grep '^ltspConfig' | while read attr value ; do
9811             # Remove prefix and convert to upper case
9812             attr=$(echo $attr | sed 's/^ltspConfig//i' | tr a-z A-Z)
9813             # bass value on to clients
9814             eval "$attr=$value; export $attr"
9815         done
9816     done
9817 fi
9818 </pre></blockquote>
9819
9820 <p>I'm not sure this shell construction will work, because I suspect
9821 the while block might end up in a subshell causing the variables set
9822 there to not show up in ltsp-config, but if that is the case I am sure
9823 the code can be restructured to make sure the variables are passed on.
9824 I expect that can be solved with some testing. :)</p>
9825
9826 <p>If you want to help out with implementing this for Debian Edu,
9827 please contact us on debian-edu@lists.debian.org.</p>
9828
9829 <p>Update 2010-07-17: I am aware of another effort to store LTSP
9830 configuration in LDAP that was created around year 2000 by
9831 <a href="http://www.pcxperience.com/thinclient/documentation/ldap.html">PC
9832 Xperience, Inc., 2000</a>.  I found its
9833 <a href="http://people.redhat.com/alikins/ltsp/ldap/">files</a> on a
9834 personal home page over at redhat.com.</p>
9835
9836       </div>
9837       <div class="tags">
9838
9839
9840         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/ldap">ldap</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug</a>.
9841
9842
9843       </div>
9844     </div>
9845     <div class="padding"></div>
9846
9847     <div class="entry">
9848       <div class="title">
9849         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/jXplorer__a_very_nice_LDAP_GUI.html">jXplorer, a very nice LDAP GUI</a>
9850       </div>
9851       <div class="date">
9852          9th July 2010
9853       </div>
9854       <div class="body">
9855         <p>Since
9856 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/LUMA__a_very_nice_LDAP_GUI.html">my
9857 last post</a> about available LDAP tools in Debian, I was told about a
9858 LDAP GUI that is even better than luma.  The java application
9859 <a href="http://jxplorer.org/">jXplorer</a> is claimed to be capable of
9860 moving LDAP objects and subtrees using drag-and-drop, and can
9861 authenticate using Kerberos.  I have only tested the Kerberos
9862 authentication, but do not have a LDAP setup allowing me to rewrite
9863 LDAP with my test user yet.  It is
9864 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/j/jxplorer.html">available in
9865 Debian</a> testing and unstable at the moment.  The only problem I
9866 have with it is how it handle errors.  If something go wrong, its
9867 non-intuitive behaviour require me to go through some query work list
9868 and remove the failing query.  Nothing big, but very annoying.</p>
9869
9870       </div>
9871       <div class="tags">
9872
9873
9874         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/ldap">ldap</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug</a>.
9875
9876
9877       </div>
9878     </div>
9879     <div class="padding"></div>
9880
9881     <div class="entry">
9882       <div class="title">
9883         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Lenny__Squeeze_upgrades__apt_vs_aptitude_with_the_Gnome_desktop.html">Lenny->Squeeze upgrades, apt vs aptitude with the Gnome desktop</a>
9884       </div>
9885       <div class="date">
9886          3rd July 2010
9887       </div>
9888       <div class="body">
9889         <p>Here is a short update on my <a
9890 href="http://people.skolelinux.org/~pere/debian-upgrade-testing/">my
9891 Debian Lenny->Squeeze upgrade testing</a>.  Here is a summary of the
9892 difference for Gnome when it is upgraded by apt-get and aptitude.  I'm
9893 not reporting the status for KDE, because the upgrade crashes when
9894 aptitude try because of missing conflicts
9895 (<a href="http://bugs.debian.org/584861">#584861</a> and
9896 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/585716">#585716</a>).</p>
9897
9898 <p>At the end of the upgrade test script, dpkg -l is executed to get a
9899 complete list of the installed packages.  Based on this I see these
9900 differences when I did a test run today.  As usual, I do not really
9901 know what the correct set of packages would be, but thought it best to
9902 publish the difference.</p>
9903
9904 <p>Installed using apt-get, missing with aptitude</p>
9905
9906 <blockquote><p>
9907   at-spi cpp-4.3 finger gnome-spell gstreamer0.10-gnomevfs
9908   libatspi1.0-0 libcupsys2 libeel2-data libgail-common libgdl-1-common
9909   libgnomeprint2.2-data libgnomeprintui2.2-common libgnomevfs2-bin
9910   libgtksourceview-common libpt-1.10.10-plugins-alsa
9911   libpt-1.10.10-plugins-v4l libservlet2.4-java libxalan2-java
9912   libxerces2-java openoffice.org-writer2latex openssl-blacklist p7zip
9913   python-4suite-xml python-eggtrayicon python-gtkhtml2
9914   python-gtkmozembed svgalibg1 xserver-xephyr zip
9915 </p></blockquote>
9916
9917 <p>Installed using apt-get, removed with aptitude</p>
9918
9919 <blockquote><p>
9920   bluez-utils dhcdbd djvulibre-desktop epiphany-gecko
9921   gnome-app-install gnome-mount gnome-vfs-obexftp gnome-volume-manager
9922   libao2 libavahi-compat-libdnssd1 libavahi-core5 libbind9-50
9923   libbluetooth2 libcamel1.2-11 libcdio7 libcucul0 libcurl3
9924   libdirectfb-1.0-0 libdvdread3 libedata-cal1.2-6 libedataserver1.2-9
9925   libeel2-2.20 libepc-1.0-1 libepc-ui-1.0-1 libexchange-storage1.2-3
9926   libfaad0 libgd2-noxpm libgda3-3 libgda3-common libggz2 libggzcore9
9927   libggzmod4 libgksu1.2-0 libgksuui1.0-1 libgmyth0 libgnome-desktop-2
9928   libgnome-pilot2 libgnomecups1.0-1 libgnomeprint2.2-0
9929   libgnomeprintui2.2-0 libgpod3 libgraphviz4 libgtkhtml2-0
9930   libgtksourceview1.0-0 libgucharmap6 libhesiod0 libicu38 libisccc50
9931   libisccfg50 libiw29 libkpathsea4 libltdl3 liblwres50 libmagick++10
9932   libmagick10 libmalaga7 libmtp7 libmysqlclient15off libnautilus-burn4
9933   libneon27 libnm-glib0 libnm-util0 libopal-2.2 libosp5
9934   libparted1.8-10 libpisock9 libpisync1 libpoppler-glib3 libpoppler3
9935   libpt-1.10.10 libraw1394-8 libsensors3 libsmbios2 libsoup2.2-8
9936   libssh2-1 libsuitesparse-3.1.0 libswfdec-0.6-90 libtalloc1
9937   libtotem-plparser10 libtrackerclient0 libvoikko1 libxalan2-java-gcj
9938   libxerces2-java-gcj libxklavier12 libxtrap6 libxxf86misc1 libzephyr3
9939   mysql-common swfdec-gnome totem-gstreamer wodim
9940 </p></blockquote>
9941
9942 <p>Installed using aptitude, missing with apt-get</p>
9943
9944 <blockquote><p>
9945   gnome gnome-desktop-environment hamster-applet python-gnomeapplet
9946   python-gnomekeyring python-wnck rhythmbox-plugins xorg
9947   xserver-xorg-input-all xserver-xorg-input-evdev
9948   xserver-xorg-input-kbd xserver-xorg-input-mouse
9949   xserver-xorg-input-synaptics xserver-xorg-video-all
9950   xserver-xorg-video-apm xserver-xorg-video-ark xserver-xorg-video-ati
9951   xserver-xorg-video-chips xserver-xorg-video-cirrus
9952   xserver-xorg-video-dummy xserver-xorg-video-fbdev
9953   xserver-xorg-video-glint xserver-xorg-video-i128
9954   xserver-xorg-video-i740 xserver-xorg-video-mach64
9955   xserver-xorg-video-mga xserver-xorg-video-neomagic
9956   xserver-xorg-video-nouveau xserver-xorg-video-nv
9957   xserver-xorg-video-r128 xserver-xorg-video-radeon
9958   xserver-xorg-video-radeonhd xserver-xorg-video-rendition
9959   xserver-xorg-video-s3 xserver-xorg-video-s3virge
9960   xserver-xorg-video-savage xserver-xorg-video-siliconmotion
9961   xserver-xorg-video-sis xserver-xorg-video-sisusb
9962   xserver-xorg-video-tdfx xserver-xorg-video-tga
9963   xserver-xorg-video-trident xserver-xorg-video-tseng
9964   xserver-xorg-video-vesa xserver-xorg-video-vmware
9965   xserver-xorg-video-voodoo
9966 </p></blockquote>
9967
9968 <p>Installed using aptitude, removed with apt-get</p>
9969
9970 <blockquote><p>
9971   deskbar-applet xserver-xorg xserver-xorg-core
9972   xserver-xorg-input-wacom xserver-xorg-video-intel
9973   xserver-xorg-video-openchrome
9974 </p></blockquote>
9975
9976 <p>I was told on IRC that the xorg-xserver package was
9977 <a href="http://git.debian.org/?p=pkg-xorg/xserver/xorg-server.git;a=commit;h=9c8080d06c457932d3bfec021c69ac000aa60120">changed
9978 in git</a> today to try to get apt-get to not remove xorg completely.
9979 No idea when it hits Squeeze, but when it does I hope it will reduce
9980 the difference somewhat.
9981
9982       </div>
9983       <div class="tags">
9984
9985
9986         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
9987
9988
9989       </div>
9990     </div>
9991     <div class="padding"></div>
9992
9993     <div class="entry">
9994       <div class="title">
9995         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Caching_password__user_and_group_on_a_roaming_Debian_laptop.html">Caching password, user and group on a roaming Debian laptop</a>
9996       </div>
9997       <div class="date">
9998          1st July 2010
9999       </div>
10000       <div class="body">
10001         <p>For a laptop, centralized user directories and password checking is
10002 a bit troubling.  Laptops are typically used also when not connected
10003 to the network, and it is vital for a user to be able to log in or
10004 unlock the screen saver also when a central server is unavailable.
10005 This is possible by caching passwords and directory information (user
10006 and group attributes) locally, and the packages to do so are available
10007 in Debian.  Here follow two recipes to set this up in Debian/Squeeze.
10008 It is also possible to set up in Debian/Lenny, but require more manual
10009 setup there because pam-auth-update is missing in Lenny.</p>
10010
10011 <h2>LDAP/Kerberos + nscd + libpam-ccreds + libpam-mklocaluser/pam_mkhomedir</h2>
10012
10013 This is the traditional method with a twist.  The password caching is
10014 provided by libpam-ccreds (version 10-4 or later is needed on
10015 Squeeze), and the directory caching is done by nscd.  The directory
10016 lookup and password checking is done using LDAP.  If one want to use
10017 Kerberos for password checking the libpam-ldapd package can be
10018 replaced with libpam-krb5 or libpam-heimdal.  If one is happy having a
10019 local home directory with the path listed in LDAP, one can use the
10020 pam_mkhomedir module from pam-modules to make this happen instead of
10021 using libpam-mklocaluser.  A setup for pam-auth-update to enable
10022 pam_mkhomedir will have to be written until a fix for
10023 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/568577">bug #568577</a> is in the
10024 archive.  Because I believe it is a bad idea to have local home
10025 directories using misleading paths like /site/server/partition/, I
10026 prefer to create a local user with the home directory in /home/.  This
10027 is done using the libpam-mklocaluser package.</p>
10028
10029 <p>These packages need to be installed and configured</p>
10030
10031 <blockquote><pre>
10032 libnss-ldapd libpam-ldapd nscd libpam-ccreds libpam-mklocaluser
10033 </pre></blockquote>
10034
10035 <p>The ldapd packages will ask for LDAP connection information, and
10036 one have to fill in the values that fits ones own site.  Make sure the
10037 PAM part uses encrypted connections, to make sure the password is not
10038 sent in clear text to the LDAP server.  I've been unable to get TLS
10039 certificate checking for a self signed certificate working, which make
10040 LDAP authentication unsafe for Debian Edu (nslcd is not checking if it
10041 is talking to the correct LDAP server), and very much welcome feedback
10042 on how to get this working.</p>
10043
10044 <p>Because nscd do not have a default configuration fit for offline
10045 caching until <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/485282">bug #485282</a>
10046 is fixed, this configuration should be used instead of the one
10047 currently in /etc/nscd.conf.  The changes are in the fields
10048 reload-count and positive-time-to-live, and is based on the
10049 instructions I found in the
10050 <a href="http://www.flyn.org/laptopldap/">LDAP for Mobile Laptops</a>
10051 instructions by Flyn Computing.</p>
10052
10053 <blockquote><pre>
10054         debug-level             0
10055         reload-count            unlimited
10056         paranoia                no
10057
10058         enable-cache            passwd          yes
10059         positive-time-to-live   passwd          2592000
10060         negative-time-to-live   passwd          20
10061         suggested-size          passwd          211
10062         check-files             passwd          yes
10063         persistent              passwd          yes
10064         shared                  passwd          yes
10065         max-db-size             passwd          33554432
10066         auto-propagate          passwd          yes
10067
10068         enable-cache            group           yes
10069         positive-time-to-live   group           2592000
10070         negative-time-to-live   group           20
10071         suggested-size          group           211
10072         check-files             group           yes
10073         persistent              group           yes
10074         shared                  group           yes
10075         max-db-size             group           33554432
10076         auto-propagate          group           yes
10077
10078         enable-cache            hosts           no
10079         positive-time-to-live   hosts           2592000
10080         negative-time-to-live   hosts           20
10081         suggested-size          hosts           211
10082         check-files             hosts           yes
10083         persistent              hosts           yes
10084         shared                  hosts           yes
10085         max-db-size             hosts           33554432
10086
10087         enable-cache            services        yes
10088         positive-time-to-live   services        2592000
10089         negative-time-to-live   services        20
10090         suggested-size          services        211
10091         check-files             services        yes
10092         persistent              services        yes
10093         shared                  services        yes
10094         max-db-size             services        33554432
10095 </pre></blockquote>
10096
10097 <p>While we wait for a mechanism to update /etc/nsswitch.conf
10098 automatically like the one provided in
10099 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/496915">bug #496915</a>, the file
10100 content need to be manually replaced to ensure LDAP is used as the
10101 directory service on the machine.  /etc/nsswitch.conf should normally
10102 look like this:</p>
10103
10104 <blockquote><pre>
10105 passwd:         files ldap
10106 group:          files ldap
10107 shadow:         files ldap
10108 hosts:          files mdns4_minimal [NOTFOUND=return] dns mdns4
10109 networks:       files
10110 protocols:      files
10111 services:       files
10112 ethers:         files
10113 rpc:            files
10114 netgroup:       files ldap
10115 </pre></blockquote>
10116
10117 <p>The important parts are that ldap is listed last for passwd, group,
10118 shadow and netgroup.</p>
10119
10120 <p>With these changes in place, any user in LDAP will be able to log
10121 in locally on the machine using for example kdm, get a local home
10122 directory created and have the password as well as user and group
10123 attributes cached.
10124
10125 <h2>LDAP/Kerberos + nss-updatedb + libpam-ccreds +
10126   libpam-mklocaluser/pam_mkhomedir</h2>
10127
10128 <p>Because nscd have had its share of problems, and seem to have
10129 problems doing proper caching, I've seen suggestions and recipes to
10130 use nss-updatedb to copy parts of the LDAP database locally when the
10131 LDAP database is available.  I have not tested such setup, because I
10132 discovered sssd.</p>
10133
10134 <h2>LDAP/Kerberos + sssd + libpam-mklocaluser</h2>
10135
10136 <p>A more flexible and robust setup than the nscd combination
10137 mentioned earlier that has shown up recently, is the
10138 <a href="https://fedorahosted.org/sssd/">sssd</a> package from Redhat.
10139 It is part of the <a href="http://www.freeipa.org/">FreeIPA</A> project
10140 to provide a Active Directory like directory service for Linux
10141 machines.  The sssd system combines the caching of passwords and user
10142 information into one package, and remove the need for nscd and
10143 libpam-ccreds.  It support LDAP and Kerberos, but not NIS.  Version
10144 1.2 do not support netgroups, but it is said that it will support this
10145 in version 1.5 expected to show up later in 2010.  Because the
10146 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/s/sssd.html">sssd package</a>
10147 was missing in Debian, I ended up co-maintaining it with Werner, and
10148 version 1.2 is now in testing.
10149
10150 <p>These packages need to be installed and configured to get the
10151 roaming setup I want</p>
10152
10153 <blockquote><pre>
10154 libpam-sss libnss-sss libpam-mklocaluser
10155 </pre></blockquote>
10156
10157 The complete setup of sssd is done by editing/creating
10158 <tt>/etc/sssd/sssd.conf</tt>.
10159
10160 <blockquote><pre>
10161 [sssd]
10162 config_file_version = 2
10163 reconnection_retries = 3
10164 sbus_timeout = 30
10165 services = nss, pam
10166 domains = INTERN
10167
10168 [nss]
10169 filter_groups = root
10170 filter_users = root
10171 reconnection_retries = 3
10172
10173 [pam]
10174 reconnection_retries = 3
10175
10176 [domain/INTERN]
10177 enumerate = false
10178 cache_credentials = true
10179
10180 id_provider = ldap
10181 auth_provider = ldap
10182 chpass_provider = ldap
10183
10184 ldap_uri = ldap://ldap
10185 ldap_search_base = dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
10186 ldap_tls_reqcert = never
10187 ldap_tls_cacert = /etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt
10188 </pre></blockquote>
10189
10190 <p>I got the same problem here with certificate checking.  Had to set
10191 "ldap_tls_reqcert = never" to get it working.</p>
10192
10193 <p>With the libnss-sss package in testing at the moment, the
10194 nsswitch.conf file is update automatically, so there is no need to
10195 modify it manually.</p>
10196
10197 <p>If you want to help out with implementing this for Debian Edu,
10198 please contact us on debian-edu@lists.debian.org.</p>
10199
10200       </div>
10201       <div class="tags">
10202
10203
10204         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/ldap">ldap</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug</a>.
10205
10206
10207       </div>
10208     </div>
10209     <div class="padding"></div>
10210
10211     <div class="entry">
10212       <div class="title">
10213         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/LUMA__a_very_nice_LDAP_GUI.html">LUMA, a very nice LDAP GUI</a>
10214       </div>
10215       <div class="date">
10216         28th June 2010
10217       </div>
10218       <div class="body">
10219         <p>The last few days I have been looking into the status of the LDAP
10220 directory in Debian Edu, and in the process I started to miss a GUI
10221 tool to browse the LDAP tree.  The only one I was able to find in
10222 Debian/Squeeze and Lenny is
10223 <a href="http://luma.sourceforge.net/">LUMA</a>, which has proved to
10224 be a great tool to get a overview of the current LDAP directory
10225 populated by default in Skolelinux.  Thanks to it, I have been able to
10226 find empty and obsolete subtrees, misplaced objects and duplicate
10227 objects.  It will be installed by default in Debian/Squeeze.  If you
10228 are working with LDAP, give it a go. :)</p>
10229
10230 <p>I did notice one problem with it I have not had time to report to
10231 the BTS yet.  There is no .desktop file in the package, so the tool do
10232 not show up in the Gnome and KDE menus, but only deep down in in the
10233 Debian submenu in KDE.  I hope that can be fixed before Squeeze is
10234 released.</p>
10235
10236 <p>I have not yet been able to get it to modify the tree yet.  I would
10237 like to move objects and remove subtrees directly in the GUI, but have
10238 not found a way to do that with LUMA yet.  So in the mean time, I use
10239 <a href="http://www.lichteblau.com/ldapvi/">ldapvi</a> for that.</p>
10240
10241 <p>If you have tips on other GUI tools for LDAP that might be useful
10242 in Debian Edu, please contact us on debian-edu@lists.debian.org.</p>
10243
10244 <p>Update 2010-06-29: Ross Reedstrom tipped us about the
10245 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/g/gq.html">gq</a> package as a
10246 useful GUI alternative.  It seem like a good tool, but is unmaintained
10247 in Debian and got a RC bug keeping it out of Squeeze.  Unless that
10248 changes, it will not be an option for Debian Edu based on Squeeze.</p>
10249
10250       </div>
10251       <div class="tags">
10252
10253
10254         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/ldap">ldap</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug</a>.
10255
10256
10257       </div>
10258     </div>
10259     <div class="padding"></div>
10260
10261     <div class="entry">
10262       <div class="title">
10263         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Idea_for_a_change_to_LDAP_schemas_allowing_DNS_and_DHCP_info_to_be_combined_into_one_object.html">Idea for a change to LDAP schemas allowing DNS and DHCP info to be combined into one object</a>
10264       </div>
10265       <div class="date">
10266         24th June 2010
10267       </div>
10268       <div class="body">
10269         <p>A while back, I
10270 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Time_for_new__LDAP_schemas_replacing_RFC_2307_.html">complained
10271 about the fact</a> that it is not possible with the provided schemas
10272 for storing DNS and DHCP information in LDAP to combine the two sets
10273 of information into one LDAP object representing a computer.</p>
10274
10275 <p>In the mean time, I discovered that a simple fix would be to make
10276 the dhcpHost object class auxiliary, to allow it to be combined with
10277 the dNSDomain object class, and thus forming one object for one
10278 computer when storing both DHCP and DNS information in LDAP.</p>
10279
10280 <p>If I understand this correctly, it is not safe to do this change
10281 without also changing the assigned number for the object class, and I
10282 do not know enough about LDAP schema design to do that properly for
10283 Debian Edu.</p>
10284
10285 <p>Anyway, for future reference, this is how I believe we could change
10286 the
10287 <a href="http://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-ietf-dhc-ldap-schema-00">DHCP
10288 schema</a> to solve at least part of the problem with the LDAP schemas
10289 available today from IETF.</p>
10290
10291 <pre>
10292 --- dhcp.schema    (revision 65192)
10293 +++ dhcp.schema    (working copy)
10294 @@ -376,7 +376,7 @@
10295  objectclass ( 2.16.840.1.113719.1.203.6.6
10296         NAME 'dhcpHost'
10297         DESC 'This represents information about a particular client'
10298 -       SUP top
10299 +       SUP top AUXILIARY
10300         MUST cn
10301         MAY  (dhcpLeaseDN $ dhcpHWAddress $ dhcpOptionsDN $ dhcpStatements $ dhcpComments $ dhcpOption)
10302         X-NDS_CONTAINMENT ('dhcpService' 'dhcpSubnet' 'dhcpGroup') )
10303 </pre>
10304
10305 <p>I very much welcome clues on how to do this properly for Debian
10306 Edu/Squeeze.  We provide the DHCP schema in our debian-edu-config
10307 package, and should thus be free to rewrite it as we see fit.</p>
10308
10309 <p>If you want to help out with implementing this for Debian Edu,
10310 please contact us on debian-edu@lists.debian.org.</p>
10311
10312       </div>
10313       <div class="tags">
10314
10315
10316         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/ldap">ldap</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug</a>.
10317
10318
10319       </div>
10320     </div>
10321     <div class="padding"></div>
10322
10323     <div class="entry">
10324       <div class="title">
10325         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Calling_tasksel_like_the_installer__while_still_getting_useful_output.html">Calling tasksel like the installer, while still getting useful output</a>
10326       </div>
10327       <div class="date">
10328         16th June 2010
10329       </div>
10330       <div class="body">
10331         <p>A few times I have had the need to simulate the way tasksel
10332 installs packages during the normal debian-installer run.  Until now,
10333 I have ended up letting tasksel do the work, with the annoying problem
10334 of not getting any feedback at all when something fails (like a
10335 conffile question from dpkg or a download that fails), using code like
10336 this:
10337
10338 <blockquote><pre>
10339 export DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive
10340 tasksel --new-install
10341 </pre></blockquote>
10342
10343 This would invoke tasksel, let its automatic task selection pick the
10344 tasks to install, and continue to install the requested tasks without
10345 any output what so ever.
10346
10347 Recently I revisited this problem while working on the automatic
10348 package upgrade testing, because tasksel would some times hang without
10349 any useful feedback, and I want to see what is going on when it
10350 happen.  Then it occured to me, I can parse the output from tasksel
10351 when asked to run in test mode, and use that aptitude command line
10352 printed by tasksel then to simulate the tasksel run.  I ended up using
10353 code like this:
10354
10355 <blockquote><pre>
10356 export DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive
10357 cmd="$(in_target tasksel -t --new-install | sed 's/debconf-apt-progress -- //')"
10358 $cmd
10359 </pre></blockquote>
10360
10361 <p>The content of $cmd is typically something like "<tt>aptitude -q
10362 --without-recommends -o APT::Install-Recommends=no -y install
10363 ~t^desktop$ ~t^gnome-desktop$ ~t^laptop$ ~pstandard ~prequired
10364 ~pimportant</tt>", which will install the gnome desktop task, the
10365 laptop task and all packages with priority standard , required and
10366 important, just like tasksel would have done it during
10367 installation.</p>
10368
10369 <p>A better approach is probably to extend tasksel to be able to
10370 install packages without using debconf-apt-progress, for use cases
10371 like this.</p>
10372
10373       </div>
10374       <div class="tags">
10375
10376
10377         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug</a>.
10378
10379
10380       </div>
10381     </div>
10382     <div class="padding"></div>
10383
10384     <div class="entry">
10385       <div class="title">
10386         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Officeshots_taking_shape.html">Officeshots taking shape</a>
10387       </div>
10388       <div class="date">
10389         13th June 2010
10390       </div>
10391       <div class="body">
10392         <p>For those of us caring about document exchange and
10393 interoperability, <a href="http://www.officeshots.org/">OfficeShots</a>
10394 is a great service.  It is to ODF documents what
10395 <a href="http://browsershots.org/">BrowserShots</a> is for web
10396 pages.</p>
10397
10398 <p>A while back, I was contacted by Knut Yrvin at the part of Nokia
10399 that used to be Trolltech, who wanted to help the OfficeShots project
10400 and wondered if the University of Oslo where I work would be
10401 interested in supporting the project.  I helped him to navigate his
10402 request to the right people at work, and his request was answered with
10403 a spot in the machine room with power and network connected, and Knut
10404 arranged funding for a machine to fill the spot.  The machine is
10405 administrated by the OfficeShots people, so I do not have daily
10406 contact with its progress, and thus from time to time check back to
10407 see how the project is doing.</p>
10408
10409 <p>Today I had a look, and was happy to see that the Dell box in our
10410 machine room now is the host for several virtual machines running as
10411 OfficeShots factories, and the project is able to render ODF documents
10412 in 17 different document processing implementation on Linux and
10413 Windows.  This is great.</p>
10414
10415       </div>
10416       <div class="tags">
10417
10418
10419         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/standard">standard</a>.
10420
10421
10422       </div>
10423     </div>
10424     <div class="padding"></div>
10425
10426     <div class="entry">
10427       <div class="title">
10428         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Lenny__Squeeze_upgrades__removals_by_apt_and_aptitude.html">Lenny->Squeeze upgrades, removals by apt and aptitude</a>
10429       </div>
10430       <div class="date">
10431         13th June 2010
10432       </div>
10433       <div class="body">
10434         <p>My
10435 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Automatic_upgrade_testing_from_Lenny_to_Squeeze.html">testing
10436 of Debian upgrades</a> from Lenny to Squeeze continues, and I've
10437 finally made the upgrade logs available from
10438 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/debian-upgrade-testing/">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/debian-upgrade-testing/</a>.
10439 I am now testing dist-upgrade of Gnome and KDE in a chroot using both
10440 apt and aptitude, and found their differences interesting.  This time
10441 I will only focus on their removal plans.</p>
10442
10443 <p>After installing a Gnome desktop and the laptop task, apt-get wants
10444 to remove 72 packages when dist-upgrading from Lenny to Squeeze.  The
10445 surprising part is that it want to remove xorg and all
10446 xserver-xorg-video* drivers.  Clearly not a good choice, but I am not
10447 sure why.  When asking aptitude to do the same, it want to remove 129
10448 packages, but most of them are library packages I suspect are no
10449 longer needed.  Both of them want to remove bluetooth packages, which
10450 I do not know.  Perhaps these bluetooth packages are obsolete?</p>
10451
10452 <p>For KDE, apt-get want to remove 82 packages, among them kdebase
10453 which seem like a bad idea and xorg the same way as with Gnome. Asking
10454 aptitude for the same, it wants to remove 192 packages, none which are
10455 too surprising.</p>
10456
10457 <p>I guess the removal of xorg during upgrades should be investigated
10458 and avoided, and perhaps others as well.  Here are the complete list
10459 of planned removals.  The complete logs is available from the URL
10460 above.  Note if you want to repeat these tests, that the upgrade test
10461 for kde+apt-get hung in the tasksel setup because of dpkg asking
10462 conffile questions.  No idea why.  I worked around it by using
10463 '<tt>echo >> /proc/<em>pidofdpkg</em>/fd/0</tt>' to tell dpkg to
10464 continue.</p>
10465
10466 <p><b>apt-get gnome 72</b>
10467 <br>bluez-gnome cupsddk-drivers deskbar-applet gnome
10468   gnome-desktop-environment gnome-network-admin gtkhtml3.14
10469   iceweasel-gnome-support libavcodec51 libdatrie0 libgdl-1-0
10470   libgnomekbd2 libgnomekbdui2 libmetacity0 libslab0 libxcb-xlib0
10471   nautilus-cd-burner python-gnome2-desktop python-gnome2-extras
10472   serpentine swfdec-mozilla update-manager xorg xserver-xorg
10473   xserver-xorg-core xserver-xorg-input-all xserver-xorg-input-evdev
10474   xserver-xorg-input-kbd xserver-xorg-input-mouse
10475   xserver-xorg-input-synaptics xserver-xorg-input-wacom
10476   xserver-xorg-video-all xserver-xorg-video-apm xserver-xorg-video-ark
10477   xserver-xorg-video-ati xserver-xorg-video-chips
10478   xserver-xorg-video-cirrus xserver-xorg-video-cyrix
10479   xserver-xorg-video-dummy xserver-xorg-video-fbdev
10480   xserver-xorg-video-glint xserver-xorg-video-i128
10481   xserver-xorg-video-i740 xserver-xorg-video-imstt
10482   xserver-xorg-video-intel xserver-xorg-video-mach64
10483   xserver-xorg-video-mga xserver-xorg-video-neomagic
10484   xserver-xorg-video-nsc xserver-xorg-video-nv
10485   xserver-xorg-video-openchrome xserver-xorg-video-r128
10486   xserver-xorg-video-radeon xserver-xorg-video-radeonhd
10487   xserver-xorg-video-rendition xserver-xorg-video-s3
10488   xserver-xorg-video-s3virge xserver-xorg-video-savage
10489   xserver-xorg-video-siliconmotion xserver-xorg-video-sis
10490   xserver-xorg-video-sisusb xserver-xorg-video-tdfx
10491   xserver-xorg-video-tga xserver-xorg-video-trident
10492   xserver-xorg-video-tseng xserver-xorg-video-v4l
10493   xserver-xorg-video-vesa xserver-xorg-video-vga
10494   xserver-xorg-video-vmware xserver-xorg-video-voodoo xulrunner-1.9
10495   xulrunner-1.9-gnome-support</p>
10496
10497 <p><b>aptitude gnome 129</b>
10498
10499 <br>bluez-gnome bluez-utils cpp-4.3 cupsddk-drivers dhcdbd
10500   djvulibre-desktop finger gnome-app-install gnome-mount
10501   gnome-network-admin gnome-spell gnome-vfs-obexftp
10502   gnome-volume-manager gstreamer0.10-gnomevfs gtkhtml3.14 libao2
10503   libavahi-compat-libdnssd1 libavahi-core5 libavcodec51 libbluetooth2
10504   libcamel1.2-11 libcdio7 libcucul0 libcupsys2 libcurl3 libdatrie0
10505   libdirectfb-1.0-0 libdvdread3 libedataserver1.2-9 libeel2-2.20
10506   libeel2-data libepc-1.0-1 libepc-ui-1.0-1 libfaad0 libgail-common
10507   libgd2-noxpm libgda3-3 libgda3-common libgdl-1-0 libgdl-1-common
10508   libggz2 libggzcore9 libggzmod4 libgksu1.2-0 libgksuui1.0-1 libgmyth0
10509   libgnomecups1.0-1 libgnomekbd2 libgnomekbdui2 libgnomeprint2.2-0
10510   libgnomeprint2.2-data libgnomeprintui2.2-0 libgnomeprintui2.2-common
10511   libgnomevfs2-bin libgpod3 libgraphviz4 libgtkhtml2-0
10512   libgtksourceview-common libgtksourceview1.0-0 libgucharmap6
10513   libhesiod0 libicu38 libiw29 libkpathsea4 libltdl3 libmagick++10
10514   libmagick10 libmalaga7 libmetacity0 libmtp7 libmysqlclient15off
10515   libnautilus-burn4 libneon27 libnm-glib0 libnm-util0 libopal-2.2
10516   libosp5 libparted1.8-10 libpoppler-glib3 libpoppler3 libpt-1.10.10
10517   libpt-1.10.10-plugins-alsa libpt-1.10.10-plugins-v4l libraw1394-8
10518   libsensors3 libslab0 libsmbios2 libsoup2.2-8 libssh2-1
10519   libsuitesparse-3.1.0 libswfdec-0.6-90 libtalloc1 libtotem-plparser10
10520   libtrackerclient0 libxalan2-java libxalan2-java-gcj libxcb-xlib0
10521   libxerces2-java libxerces2-java-gcj libxklavier12 libxtrap6
10522   libxxf86misc1 libzephyr3 mysql-common nautilus-cd-burner
10523   openoffice.org-writer2latex openssl-blacklist p7zip
10524   python-4suite-xml python-eggtrayicon python-gnome2-desktop
10525   python-gnome2-extras python-gtkhtml2 python-gtkmozembed
10526   python-numeric python-sexy serpentine svgalibg1 swfdec-gnome
10527   swfdec-mozilla totem-gstreamer update-manager wodim
10528   xserver-xorg-video-cyrix xserver-xorg-video-imstt
10529   xserver-xorg-video-nsc xserver-xorg-video-v4l xserver-xorg-video-vga
10530   zip</p>
10531
10532 <p><b>apt-get kde 82</b>
10533
10534 <br>cupsddk-drivers karm kaudiocreator kcoloredit kcontrol kde kde-core
10535   kdeaddons kdeartwork kdebase kdebase-bin kdebase-bin-kde3
10536   kdebase-kio-plugins kdesktop kdeutils khelpcenter kicker
10537   kicker-applets knewsticker kolourpaint konq-plugins konqueror korn
10538   kpersonalizer kscreensaver ksplash libavcodec51 libdatrie0 libkiten1
10539   libxcb-xlib0 quanta superkaramba texlive-base-bin xorg xserver-xorg
10540   xserver-xorg-core xserver-xorg-input-all xserver-xorg-input-evdev
10541   xserver-xorg-input-kbd xserver-xorg-input-mouse
10542   xserver-xorg-input-synaptics xserver-xorg-input-wacom
10543   xserver-xorg-video-all xserver-xorg-video-apm xserver-xorg-video-ark
10544   xserver-xorg-video-ati xserver-xorg-video-chips
10545   xserver-xorg-video-cirrus xserver-xorg-video-cyrix
10546   xserver-xorg-video-dummy xserver-xorg-video-fbdev
10547   xserver-xorg-video-glint xserver-xorg-video-i128
10548   xserver-xorg-video-i740 xserver-xorg-video-imstt
10549   xserver-xorg-video-intel xserver-xorg-video-mach64
10550   xserver-xorg-video-mga xserver-xorg-video-neomagic
10551   xserver-xorg-video-nsc xserver-xorg-video-nv
10552   xserver-xorg-video-openchrome xserver-xorg-video-r128
10553   xserver-xorg-video-radeon xserver-xorg-video-radeonhd
10554   xserver-xorg-video-rendition xserver-xorg-video-s3
10555   xserver-xorg-video-s3virge xserver-xorg-video-savage
10556   xserver-xorg-video-siliconmotion xserver-xorg-video-sis
10557   xserver-xorg-video-sisusb xserver-xorg-video-tdfx
10558   xserver-xorg-video-tga xserver-xorg-video-trident
10559   xserver-xorg-video-tseng xserver-xorg-video-v4l
10560   xserver-xorg-video-vesa xserver-xorg-video-vga
10561   xserver-xorg-video-vmware xserver-xorg-video-voodoo xulrunner-1.9</p>
10562
10563 <p><b>aptitude kde 192</b>
10564 <br>bluez-utils cpp-4.3 cupsddk-drivers cvs dcoprss dhcdbd
10565   djvulibre-desktop dosfstools eyesapplet fifteenapplet finger gettext
10566   ghostscript-x imlib-base imlib11 indi kandy karm kasteroids
10567   kaudiocreator kbackgammon kbstate kcoloredit kcontrol kcron kdat
10568   kdeadmin-kfile-plugins kdeartwork-misc kdeartwork-theme-window
10569   kdebase-bin-kde3 kdebase-kio-plugins kdeedu-data
10570   kdegraphics-kfile-plugins kdelirc kdemultimedia-kappfinder-data
10571   kdemultimedia-kfile-plugins kdenetwork-kfile-plugins
10572   kdepim-kfile-plugins kdepim-kio-plugins kdeprint kdesktop kdessh
10573   kdict kdnssd kdvi kedit keduca kenolaba kfax kfaxview kfouleggs
10574   kghostview khelpcenter khexedit kiconedit kitchensync klatin
10575   klickety kmailcvt kmenuedit kmid kmilo kmoon kmrml kodo kolourpaint
10576   kooka korn kpager kpdf kpercentage kpf kpilot kpoker kpovmodeler
10577   krec kregexpeditor ksayit ksim ksirc ksirtet ksmiletris ksmserver
10578   ksnake ksokoban ksplash ksvg ksysv ktip ktnef kuickshow kverbos
10579   kview kviewshell kvoctrain kwifimanager kwin kwin4 kworldclock
10580   kxsldbg libakode2 libao2 libarts1-akode libarts1-audiofile
10581   libarts1-mpeglib libarts1-xine libavahi-compat-libdnssd1
10582   libavahi-core5 libavc1394-0 libavcodec51 libbluetooth2
10583   libboost-python1.34.1 libcucul0 libcurl3 libcvsservice0 libdatrie0
10584   libdirectfb-1.0-0 libdjvulibre21 libdvdread3 libfaad0 libfreebob0
10585   libgail-common libgd2-noxpm libgraphviz4 libgsmme1c2a libgtkhtml2-0
10586   libicu38 libiec61883-0 libindex0 libiw29 libk3b3 libkcal2b libkcddb1
10587   libkdeedu3 libkdepim1a libkgantt0 libkiten1 libkleopatra1 libkmime2
10588   libkpathsea4 libkpimexchange1 libkpimidentities1 libkscan1
10589   libksieve0 libktnef1 liblockdev1 libltdl3 libmagick10 libmimelib1c2a
10590   libmozjs1d libmpcdec3 libneon27 libnm-util0 libopensync0 libpisock9
10591   libpoppler-glib3 libpoppler-qt2 libpoppler3 libraw1394-8 libsmbios2
10592   libssh2-1 libsuitesparse-3.1.0 libtalloc1 libtiff-tools
10593   libxalan2-java libxalan2-java-gcj libxcb-xlib0 libxerces2-java
10594   libxerces2-java-gcj libxtrap6 mpeglib networkstatus
10595   openoffice.org-writer2latex pmount poster psutils quanta quanta-data
10596   superkaramba svgalibg1 tex-common texlive-base texlive-base-bin
10597   texlive-common texlive-doc-base texlive-fonts-recommended
10598   xserver-xorg-video-cyrix xserver-xorg-video-imstt
10599   xserver-xorg-video-nsc xserver-xorg-video-v4l xserver-xorg-video-vga
10600   xulrunner-1.9</p>
10601
10602
10603       </div>
10604       <div class="tags">
10605
10606
10607         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
10608
10609
10610       </div>
10611     </div>
10612     <div class="padding"></div>
10613
10614     <div class="entry">
10615       <div class="title">
10616         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Automatic_upgrade_testing_from_Lenny_to_Squeeze.html">Automatic upgrade testing from Lenny to Squeeze</a>
10617       </div>
10618       <div class="date">
10619         11th June 2010
10620       </div>
10621       <div class="body">
10622         <p>The last few days I have done some upgrade testing in Debian, to
10623 see if the upgrade from Lenny to Squeeze will go smoothly.  A few bugs
10624 have been discovered and reported in the process
10625 (<a href="http://bugs.debian.org/585410">#585410</a> in nagios3-cgi,
10626 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/584879">#584879</a> already fixed in
10627 enscript and <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/584861">#584861</a> in
10628 kdebase-workspace-data), and to get a more regular testing going on, I
10629 am working on a script to automate the test.</p>
10630
10631 <p>The idea is to create a Lenny chroot and use tasksel to install a
10632 Gnome or KDE desktop installation inside the chroot before upgrading
10633 it.  To ensure no services are started in the chroot, a policy-rc.d
10634 script is inserted.  To make sure tasksel believe it is to install a
10635 desktop on a laptop, the tasksel tests are replaced in the chroot
10636 (only acceptable because this is a throw-away chroot).</p>
10637
10638 <p>A naive upgrade from Lenny to Squeeze using aptitude dist-upgrade
10639 currently always fail because udev refuses to upgrade with the kernel
10640 in Lenny, so to avoid that problem the file /etc/udev/kernel-upgrade
10641 is created.  The bug report
10642 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/566000">#566000</a> make me suspect
10643 this problem do not trigger in a chroot, but I touch the file anyway
10644 to make sure the upgrade go well.  Testing on virtual and real
10645 hardware have failed me because of udev so far, and creating this file
10646 do the trick in such settings anyway.  This is a
10647 <a href="http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/debian-26/failed-dist-upgrade-due-to-udev-config_sysfs_deprecated-nonsense-804130/">known
10648 issue</a> and the current udev behaviour is intended by the udev
10649 maintainer because he lack the resources to rewrite udev to keep
10650 working with old kernels or something like that.  I really wish the
10651 udev upstream would keep udev backwards compatible, to avoid such
10652 upgrade problem, but given that they fail to do so, I guess
10653 documenting the way out of this mess is the best option we got for
10654 Debian Squeeze.</p>
10655
10656 <p>Anyway, back to the task at hand, testing upgrades.  This test
10657 script, which I call <tt>upgrade-test</tt> for now, is doing the
10658 trick:</p>
10659
10660 <blockquote><pre>
10661 #!/bin/sh
10662 set -ex
10663
10664 if [ "$1" ] ; then
10665     desktop=$1
10666 else
10667     desktop=gnome
10668 fi
10669
10670 from=lenny
10671 to=squeeze
10672
10673 exec &lt; /dev/null
10674 unset LANG
10675 mirror=http://ftp.skolelinux.org/debian
10676 tmpdir=chroot-$from-upgrade-$to-$desktop
10677 fuser -mv .
10678 debootstrap $from $tmpdir $mirror
10679 chroot $tmpdir aptitude update
10680 cat > $tmpdir/usr/sbin/policy-rc.d &lt;&lt;EOF
10681 #!/bin/sh
10682 exit 101
10683 EOF
10684 chmod a+rx $tmpdir/usr/sbin/policy-rc.d
10685 exit_cleanup() {
10686     umount $tmpdir/proc
10687 }
10688 mount -t proc proc $tmpdir/proc
10689 # Make sure proc is unmounted also on failure
10690 trap exit_cleanup EXIT INT
10691
10692 chroot $tmpdir aptitude -y install debconf-utils
10693
10694 # Make sure tasksel autoselection trigger.  It need the test scripts
10695 # to return the correct answers.
10696 echo tasksel tasksel/desktop multiselect $desktop | \
10697     chroot $tmpdir debconf-set-selections
10698
10699 # Include the desktop and laptop task
10700 for test in desktop laptop ; do
10701     echo > $tmpdir/usr/lib/tasksel/tests/$test &lt;&lt;EOF
10702 #!/bin/sh
10703 exit 2
10704 EOF
10705     chmod a+rx $tmpdir/usr/lib/tasksel/tests/$test
10706 done
10707
10708 DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive
10709 DEBIAN_PRIORITY=critical
10710 export DEBIAN_FRONTEND DEBIAN_PRIORITY
10711 chroot $tmpdir tasksel --new-install
10712
10713 echo deb $mirror $to main > $tmpdir/etc/apt/sources.list
10714 chroot $tmpdir aptitude update
10715 touch $tmpdir/etc/udev/kernel-upgrade
10716 chroot $tmpdir aptitude -y dist-upgrade
10717 fuser -mv
10718 </pre></blockquote>
10719
10720 <p>I suspect it would be useful to test upgrades with both apt-get and
10721 with aptitude, but I have not had time to look at how they behave
10722 differently so far.  I hope to get a cron job running to do the test
10723 regularly and post the result on the web.  The Gnome upgrade currently
10724 work, while the KDE upgrade fail because of the bug in
10725 kdebase-workspace-data</p>
10726
10727 <p>I am not quite sure what kind of extract from the huge upgrade logs
10728 (KDE 167 KiB, Gnome 516 KiB) it make sense to include in this blog
10729 post, so I will refrain from trying.  I can report that for Gnome,
10730 aptitude report 760 packages upgraded, 448 newly installed, 129 to
10731 remove and 1 not upgraded and 1024MB need to be downloaded while for
10732 KDE the same numbers are 702 packages upgraded, 507 newly installed,
10733 193 to remove and 0 not upgraded and 1117MB need to be downloaded</p>
10734
10735 <p>I am very happy to notice that the Gnome desktop + laptop upgrade
10736 is able to migrate to dependency based boot sequencing and parallel
10737 booting without a hitch.  Was unsure if there were still bugs with
10738 packages failing to clean up their obsolete init.d script during
10739 upgrades, and no such problem seem to affect the Gnome desktop+laptop
10740 packages.</p>
10741
10742       </div>
10743       <div class="tags">
10744
10745
10746         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/bootsystem">bootsystem</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
10747
10748
10749       </div>
10750     </div>
10751     <div class="padding"></div>
10752
10753     <div class="entry">
10754       <div class="title">
10755         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Upstart_or_sysvinit___as_init_d_scripts_see_it.html">Upstart or sysvinit - as init.d scripts see it</a>
10756       </div>
10757       <div class="date">
10758          6th June 2010
10759       </div>
10760       <div class="body">
10761         <p>If Debian is to migrate to upstart on Linux, I expect some init.d
10762 scripts to migrate (some of) their operations to upstart job while
10763 keeping the init.d for hurd and kfreebsd.  The packages with such
10764 needs will need a way to get their init.d scripts to behave
10765 differently when used with sysvinit and with upstart.  Because of
10766 this, I had a look at the environment variables set when a init.d
10767 script is running under upstart, and when it is not.</p>
10768
10769 <p>With upstart, I notice these environment variables are set when a
10770 script is started from rcS.d/ (ignoring some irrelevant ones like
10771 COLUMNS):</p>
10772
10773 <blockquote><pre>
10774 DEFAULT_RUNLEVEL=2
10775 previous=N
10776 PREVLEVEL=
10777 RUNLEVEL=
10778 runlevel=S
10779 UPSTART_EVENTS=startup
10780 UPSTART_INSTANCE=
10781 UPSTART_JOB=rc-sysinit
10782 </pre></blockquote>
10783
10784 <p>With sysvinit, these environment variables are set for the same
10785 script.</p>
10786
10787 <blockquote><pre>
10788 INIT_VERSION=sysvinit-2.88
10789 previous=N
10790 PREVLEVEL=N
10791 RUNLEVEL=S
10792 runlevel=S
10793 </pre></blockquote>
10794
10795 <p>The RUNLEVEL and PREVLEVEL environment variables passed on from
10796 sysvinit are not set by upstart.  Not sure if it is intentional or not
10797 to not be compatible with sysvinit in this regard.</p>
10798
10799 <p>For scripts needing to behave differently when upstart is used,
10800 looking for the UPSTART_JOB environment variable seem to be a good
10801 choice.</p>
10802
10803       </div>
10804       <div class="tags">
10805
10806
10807         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/bootsystem">bootsystem</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
10808
10809
10810       </div>
10811     </div>
10812     <div class="padding"></div>
10813
10814     <div class="entry">
10815       <div class="title">
10816         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/A_manual_for_standards_wars___.html">A manual for standards wars...</a>
10817       </div>
10818       <div class="date">
10819          6th June 2010
10820       </div>
10821       <div class="body">
10822         <p>Via the
10823 <a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/robweir/antic-atom/~3/QzU4RgoAGMg/weekly-links-10.html">blog
10824 of Rob Weir</a> I came across the very interesting essay named
10825 <a href="http://faculty.haas.berkeley.edu/shapiro/wars.pdf">The Art of
10826 Standards Wars</a> (PDF 25 pages).  I recommend it for everyone
10827 following the standards wars of today.</p>
10828
10829       </div>
10830       <div class="tags">
10831
10832
10833         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/standard">standard</a>.
10834
10835
10836       </div>
10837     </div>
10838     <div class="padding"></div>
10839
10840     <div class="entry">
10841       <div class="title">
10842         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Sitesummary_tip__Listing_computer_hardware_models_used_at_site.html">Sitesummary tip: Listing computer hardware models used at site</a>
10843       </div>
10844       <div class="date">
10845          3rd June 2010
10846       </div>
10847       <div class="body">
10848         <p>When using sitesummary at a site to track machines, it is possible
10849 to get a list of the machine types in use thanks to the DMI
10850 information extracted from each machine.  The script to do so is
10851 included in the sitesummary package, and here is example output from
10852 the Skolelinux build servers:</p>
10853
10854 <blockquote><pre>
10855 maintainer:~# /usr/lib/sitesummary/hardware-model-summary
10856   vendor                    count
10857   Dell Computer Corporation     1
10858     PowerEdge 1750              1
10859   IBM                           1
10860     eserver xSeries 345 -[8670M1X]-     1
10861   Intel                         2
10862   [no-dmi-info]                 3
10863 maintainer:~#
10864 </pre></blockquote>
10865
10866 <p>The quality of the report depend on the quality of the DMI tables
10867 provided in each machine.  Here there are Intel machines without model
10868 information listed with Intel as vendor and no model, and virtual Xen
10869 machines listed as [no-dmi-info].  One can add -l as a command line
10870 option to list the individual machines.</p>
10871
10872 <p>A larger list is
10873 <a href="http://narvikskolen.no/sitesummary/">available from the the
10874 city of Narvik</a>, which uses Skolelinux on all their shools and also
10875 provide the basic sitesummary report publicly.  In their report there
10876 are ~1400 machines. I know they use both Ubuntu and Skolelinux on
10877 their machines, and as sitesummary is available in both distributions,
10878 it is trivial to get all of them to report to the same central
10879 collector.</p>
10880
10881       </div>
10882       <div class="tags">
10883
10884
10885         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/sitesummary">sitesummary</a>.
10886
10887
10888       </div>
10889     </div>
10890     <div class="padding"></div>
10891
10892     <div class="entry">
10893       <div class="title">
10894         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/KDM_fail_at_boot_with_NVidia_cards___and_no_one_try_to_fix_it_.html">KDM fail at boot with NVidia cards - and no one try to fix it?</a>
10895       </div>
10896       <div class="date">
10897          1st June 2010
10898       </div>
10899       <div class="body">
10900         <p>It is strange to watch how a bug in Debian causing KDM to fail to
10901 start at boot when an NVidia video card is used is handled.  The
10902 problem seem to be that the nvidia X.org driver uses a long time to
10903 initialize, and this duration is longer than kdm is configured to
10904 wait.</p>
10905
10906 <p>I came across two bugs related to this issue,
10907 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/583312">#583312</a> initially filed
10908 against initscripts and passed on to nvidia-glx when it became obvious
10909 that the nvidia drivers were involved, and
10910 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/524751">#524751</a> initially filed against
10911 kdm and passed on to src:nvidia-graphics-drivers for unknown reasons.</p>
10912
10913 <p>To me, it seem that no-one is interested in actually solving the
10914 problem nvidia video card owners experience and make sure the Debian
10915 distribution work out of the box for these users.  The nvidia driver
10916 maintainers expect kdm to be set up to wait longer, while kdm expect
10917 the nvidia driver maintainers to fix the driver to start faster, and
10918 while they wait for each other I guess the users end up switching to a
10919 distribution that work for them.  I have no idea what the solution is,
10920 but I am pretty sure that waiting for each other is not it.</p>
10921
10922 <p>I wonder why we end up handling bugs this way.</p>
10923
10924       </div>
10925       <div class="tags">
10926
10927
10928         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/bootsystem">bootsystem</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
10929
10930
10931       </div>
10932     </div>
10933     <div class="padding"></div>
10934
10935     <div class="entry">
10936       <div class="title">
10937         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Parallellized_boot_seem_to_hold_up_well_in_Debian_testing.html">Parallellized boot seem to hold up well in Debian/testing</a>
10938       </div>
10939       <div class="date">
10940         27th May 2010
10941       </div>
10942       <div class="body">
10943         <p>A few days ago, parallel booting was enabled in Debian/testing.
10944 The feature seem to hold up pretty well, but three fairly serious
10945 issues are known and should be solved:
10946
10947 <p><ul>
10948
10949 <li>The wicd package seen to
10950 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/508289">break NFS mounting</a> and
10951 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/581586">network setup</a> when
10952 parallel booting is enabled.  No idea why, but the wicd maintainer
10953 seem to be on the case.</li>
10954
10955 <li>The nvidia X driver seem to
10956 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/583312">have a race condition</a>
10957 triggered more easily when parallel booting is in effect.  The
10958 maintainer is on the case.</li>
10959
10960 <li>The sysv-rc package fail to properly enable dependency based boot
10961 sequencing (the shutdown is broken) when old file-rc users
10962 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/575080">try to switch back</a> to
10963 sysv-rc.  One way to solve it would be for file-rc to create
10964 /etc/init.d/.legacy-bootordering, and another is to try to make
10965 sysv-rc more robust.  Will investigate some more and probably upload a
10966 workaround in sysv-rc to help those trying to move from file-rc to
10967 sysv-rc get a working shutdown.</li>
10968
10969 </ul></p>
10970
10971 <p>All in all not many surprising issues, and all of them seem
10972 solvable before Squeeze is released.  In addition to these there are
10973 some packages with bugs in their dependencies and run level settings,
10974 which I expect will be fixed in a reasonable time span.</p>
10975
10976 <p>If you report any problems with dependencies in init.d scripts to
10977 the BTS, please usertag the report to get it to show up at
10978 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/pkgreport.cgi?users=initscripts-ng-devel@lists.alioth.debian.org">the
10979 list of usertagged bugs related to this</a>.</p>
10980
10981 <p>Update: Correct bug number to file-rc issue.</p>
10982
10983       </div>
10984       <div class="tags">
10985
10986
10987         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/bootsystem">bootsystem</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
10988
10989
10990       </div>
10991     </div>
10992     <div class="padding"></div>
10993
10994     <div class="entry">
10995       <div class="title">
10996         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/More_flexible_firmware_handling_in_debian_installer.html">More flexible firmware handling in debian-installer</a>
10997       </div>
10998       <div class="date">
10999         22nd May 2010
11000       </div>
11001       <div class="body">
11002         <p>After a long break from debian-installer development, I finally
11003 found time today to return to the project.  Having to spend less time
11004 working dependency based boot in debian, as it is almost complete now,
11005 definitely helped freeing some time.</p>
11006
11007 <p>A while back, I ran into a problem while working on Debian Edu.  We
11008 include some firmware packages on the Debian Edu CDs, those needed to
11009 get disk and network controllers working.  Without having these
11010 firmware packages available during installation, it is impossible to
11011 install Debian Edu on the given machine, and because our target group
11012 are non-technical people, asking them to provide firmware packages on
11013 an external medium is a support pain.  Initially, I expected it to be
11014 enough to include the firmware packages on the CD to get
11015 debian-installer to find and use them.  This proved to be wrong.
11016 Next, I hoped it was enough to symlink the relevant firmware packages
11017 to some useful location on the CD (tried /cdrom/ and
11018 /cdrom/firmware/).  This also proved to not work, and at this point I
11019 found time to look at the debian-installer code to figure out what was
11020 going to work.</p>
11021
11022 <p>The firmware loading code is in the hw-detect package, and a closer
11023 look revealed that it would only look for firmware packages outside
11024 the installation media, so the CD was never checked for firmware
11025 packages.  It would only check USB sticks, floppies and other
11026 "external" media devices.  Today I changed it to also look in the
11027 /cdrom/firmware/ directory on the mounted CD or DVD, which should
11028 solve the problem I ran into with Debian edu.  I also changed it to
11029 look in /firmware/, to make sure the installer also find firmware
11030 provided in the initrd when booting the installer via PXE, to allow us
11031 to provide the same feature in the PXE setup included in Debian
11032 Edu.</p>
11033
11034 <p>To make sure firmware deb packages with a license questions are not
11035 activated without asking if the license is accepted, I extended
11036 hw-detect to look for preinst scripts in the firmware packages, and
11037 run these before activating the firmware during installation.  The
11038 license question is asked using debconf in the preinst, so this should
11039 solve the issue for the firmware packages I have looked at so far.</p>
11040
11041 <p>If you want to discuss the details of these features, please
11042 contact us on debian-boot@lists.debian.org.</p>
11043
11044       </div>
11045       <div class="tags">
11046
11047
11048         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
11049
11050
11051       </div>
11052     </div>
11053     <div class="padding"></div>
11054
11055     <div class="entry">
11056       <div class="title">
11057         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Pieces_of_the_roaming_laptop_puzzle_in_Debian.html">Pieces of the roaming laptop puzzle in Debian</a>
11058       </div>
11059       <div class="date">
11060         19th May 2010
11061       </div>
11062       <div class="body">
11063         <p>Today, the last piece of the puzzle for roaming laptops in Debian
11064 Edu finally entered the Debian archive.  Today, the new
11065 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/libp/libpam-mklocaluser.html">libpam-mklocaluser</a>
11066 package was accepted.  Two days ago, two other pieces was accepted
11067 into unstable.  The
11068 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/p/pam-python.html">pam-python</a>
11069 package needed by libpam-mklocaluser, and the
11070 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/s/sssd.html">sssd</a> package
11071 passed NEW on Monday.  In addition, the
11072 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/libp/libpam-ccreds.html">libpam-ccreds</a>
11073 package we need is in experimental (version 10-4) since Saturday, and
11074 hopefully will be moved to unstable soon.</p>
11075
11076 <p>This collection of packages allow for two different setups for
11077 roaming laptops.  The traditional setup would be using libpam-ccreds,
11078 nscd and libpam-mklocaluser with LDAP or Kerberos authentication,
11079 which should work out of the box if the configuration changes proposed
11080 for nscd in <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/485282">BTS report
11081 #485282</a> is implemented.  The alternative setup is to use sssd with
11082 libpam-mklocaluser to connect to LDAP or Kerberos and let sssd take
11083 care of the caching of passwords and group information.</p>
11084
11085 <p>I have so far been unable to get sssd to work with the LDAP server
11086 at the University, but suspect the issue is some SSL/GnuTLS related
11087 problem with the server certificate.  I plan to update the Debian
11088 package to version 1.2, which is scheduled for next week, and hope to
11089 find time to make sure the next release will include both the
11090 Debian/Ubuntu specific patches.  Upstream is friendly and responsive,
11091 and I am sure we will find a good solution.</p>
11092
11093 <p>The idea is to set up the roaming laptops to authenticate using
11094 LDAP or Kerberos and create a local user with home directory in /home/
11095 when a usre in LDAP logs in via KDM or GDM for the first time, and
11096 cache the password for offline checking, as well as caching group
11097 memberhips and other relevant LDAP information.  The
11098 libpam-mklocaluser package was created to make sure the local home
11099 directory is in /home/, instead of /site/server/directory/ which would
11100 be the home directory if pam_mkhomedir was used.  To avoid confusion
11101 with support requests and configuration, we do not want local laptops
11102 to have users in a path that is used for the same users home directory
11103 on the home directory servers.</p>
11104
11105 <p>One annoying problem with gdm is that it do not show the PAM
11106 message passed to the user from libpam-mklocaluser when the local user
11107 is created.  Instead gdm simply reject the login with some generic
11108 message.  The message is shown in kdm, ssh and login, so I guess it is
11109 a bug in gdm.  Have not investigated if there is some other message
11110 type that can be used instead to get gdm to also show the message.</p>
11111
11112 <p>If you want to help out with implementing this for Debian Edu,
11113 please contact us on debian-edu@lists.debian.org.</p>
11114
11115       </div>
11116       <div class="tags">
11117
11118
11119         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug</a>.
11120
11121
11122       </div>
11123     </div>
11124     <div class="padding"></div>
11125
11126     <div class="entry">
11127       <div class="title">
11128         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Parallellized_boot_is_now_the_default_in_Debian_unstable.html">Parallellized boot is now the default in Debian/unstable</a>
11129       </div>
11130       <div class="date">
11131         14th May 2010
11132       </div>
11133       <div class="body">
11134         <p>Since this evening, parallel booting is the default in
11135 Debian/unstable for machines using dependency based boot sequencing.
11136 Apparently the testing of concurrent booting has been wider than
11137 expected, if I am to believe the
11138 <a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2010/05/msg00122.html">input
11139 on debian-devel@</a>, and I concluded a few days ago to move forward
11140 with the feature this weekend, to give us some time to detect any
11141 remaining problems before Squeeze is frozen.  If serious problems are
11142 detected, it is simple to change the default back to sequential boot.
11143 The upload of the new sysvinit package also activate a new upstream
11144 version.</p>
11145
11146 More information about
11147 <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/LSBInitScripts/DependencyBasedBoot">dependency
11148 based boot sequencing</a> is available from the Debian wiki.  It is
11149 currently possible to disable parallel booting when one run into
11150 problems caused by it, by adding this line to /etc/default/rcS:</p>
11151
11152 <blockquote><pre>
11153 CONCURRENCY=none
11154 </pre></blockquote>
11155
11156 <p>If you report any problems with dependencies in init.d scripts to
11157 the BTS, please usertag the report to get it to show up at
11158 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/pkgreport.cgi?users=initscripts-ng-devel@lists.alioth.debian.org">the
11159 list of usertagged bugs related to this</a>.</p>
11160
11161       </div>
11162       <div class="tags">
11163
11164
11165         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/bootsystem">bootsystem</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
11166
11167
11168       </div>
11169     </div>
11170     <div class="padding"></div>
11171
11172     <div class="entry">
11173       <div class="title">
11174         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Sitesummary_tip__Listing_MAC_address_of_all_clients.html">Sitesummary tip: Listing MAC address of all clients</a>
11175       </div>
11176       <div class="date">
11177         14th May 2010
11178       </div>
11179       <div class="body">
11180         <p>In the recent Debian Edu versions, the
11181 <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/HowTo/SiteSummary">sitesummary
11182 system</a> is used to keep track of the machines in the school
11183 network.  Each machine will automatically report its status to the
11184 central server after boot and once per night.  The network setup is
11185 also reported, and using this information it is possible to get the
11186 MAC address of all network interfaces in the machines.  This is useful
11187 to update the DHCP configuration.</p>
11188
11189 <p>To give some idea how to use sitesummary, here is a one-liner to
11190 ist all MAC addresses of all machines reporting to sitesummary.  Run
11191 this on the collector host:</p>
11192
11193 <blockquote><pre>
11194 perl -MSiteSummary -e 'for_all_hosts(sub { print join(" ", get_macaddresses(shift)), "\n"; });'
11195 </pre></blockquote>
11196
11197 <p>This will list all MAC addresses assosiated with all machine, one
11198 line per machine and with space between the MAC addresses.</p>
11199
11200 <p>To allow system administrators easier job at adding static DHCP
11201 addresses for hosts, it would be possible to extend this to fetch
11202 machine information from sitesummary and update the DHCP and DNS
11203 tables in LDAP using this information.  Such tool is unfortunately not
11204 written yet.</p>
11205
11206       </div>
11207       <div class="tags">
11208
11209
11210         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/sitesummary">sitesummary</a>.
11211
11212
11213       </div>
11214     </div>
11215     <div class="padding"></div>
11216
11217     <div class="entry">
11218       <div class="title">
11219         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/systemd__an_interesting_alternative_to_upstart.html">systemd, an interesting alternative to upstart</a>
11220       </div>
11221       <div class="date">
11222         13th May 2010
11223       </div>
11224       <div class="body">
11225         <p>The last few days a new boot system called
11226 <a href="http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/systemd">systemd</a>
11227 has been
11228 <a href="http://0pointer.de/blog/projects/systemd.html">introduced</a>
11229
11230 to the free software world.  I have not yet had time to play around
11231 with it, but it seem to be a very interesting alternative to
11232 <a href="http://upstart.ubuntu.com/">upstart</a>, and might prove to be
11233 a good alternative for Debian when we are able to switch to an event
11234 based boot system.  Tollef is
11235 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/580814">in the process</a> of getting
11236 systemd into Debian, and I look forward to seeing how well it work.  I
11237 like the fact that systemd handles init.d scripts with dependency
11238 information natively, allowing them to run in parallel where upstart
11239 at the moment do not.</p>
11240
11241 <p>Unfortunately do systemd have the same problem as upstart regarding
11242 platform support.  It only work on recent Linux kernels, and also need
11243 some new kernel features enabled to function properly.  This means
11244 kFreeBSD and Hurd ports of Debian will need a port or a different boot
11245 system.  Not sure how that will be handled if systemd proves to be the
11246 way forward.</p>
11247
11248 <p>In the mean time, based on the
11249 <a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2010/05/msg00122.html">input
11250 on debian-devel@</a> regarding parallel booting in Debian, I have
11251 decided to enable full parallel booting as the default in Debian as
11252 soon as possible (probably this weekend or early next week), to see if
11253 there are any remaining serious bugs in the init.d dependencies.  A
11254 new version of the sysvinit package implementing this change is
11255 already in experimental.  If all go well, Squeeze will be released
11256 with parallel booting enabled by default.</p>
11257
11258       </div>
11259       <div class="tags">
11260
11261
11262         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/bootsystem">bootsystem</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug</a>.
11263
11264
11265       </div>
11266     </div>
11267     <div class="padding"></div>
11268
11269     <div class="entry">
11270       <div class="title">
11271         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Parallellizing_the_boot_in_Debian_Squeeze___ready_for_wider_testing.html">Parallellizing the boot in Debian Squeeze - ready for wider testing</a>
11272       </div>
11273       <div class="date">
11274          6th May 2010
11275       </div>
11276       <div class="body">
11277         <p>These days, the init.d script dependencies in Squeeze are quite
11278 complete, so complete that it is actually possible to run all the
11279 init.d scripts in parallell based on these dependencies.  If you want
11280 to test your Squeeze system, make sure
11281 <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/LSBInitScripts/DependencyBasedBoot">dependency
11282 based boot sequencing</a> is enabled, and add this line to
11283 /etc/default/rcS:</p>
11284
11285 <blockquote><pre>
11286 CONCURRENCY=makefile
11287 </pre></blockquote>
11288
11289 <p>That is it.  It will cause sysv-rc to use the startpar tool to run
11290 scripts in parallel using the dependency information stored in
11291 /etc/init.d/.depend.boot, /etc/init.d/.depend.start and
11292 /etc/init.d/.depend.stop to order the scripts.  Startpar is configured
11293 to try to start the kdm and gdm scripts as early as possible, and will
11294 start the facilities required by kdm or gdm as early as possible to
11295 make this happen.</p>
11296
11297 <p>Give it a try, and see if you like the result.  If some services
11298 fail to start properly, it is most likely because they have incomplete
11299 init.d script dependencies in their startup script (or some of their
11300 dependent scripts have incomplete dependencies).  Report bugs and get
11301 the package maintainers to fix it. :)</p>
11302
11303 <p>Running scripts in parallel could be the default in Debian when we
11304 manage to get the init.d script dependencies complete and correct.  I
11305 expect we will get there in Squeeze+1, if we get manage to test and
11306 fix the remaining issues.</p>
11307
11308 <p>If you report any problems with dependencies in init.d scripts to
11309 the BTS, please usertag the report to get it to show up at
11310 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/pkgreport.cgi?users=initscripts-ng-devel@lists.alioth.debian.org">the
11311 list of usertagged bugs related to this</a>.</p>
11312
11313       </div>
11314       <div class="tags">
11315
11316
11317         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/bootsystem">bootsystem</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
11318
11319
11320       </div>
11321     </div>
11322     <div class="padding"></div>
11323
11324     <div class="entry">
11325       <div class="title">
11326         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Forcing_new_users_to_change_their_password_on_first_login.html">Forcing new users to change their password on first login</a>
11327       </div>
11328       <div class="date">
11329          2nd May 2010
11330       </div>
11331       <div class="body">
11332         <p>One interesting feature in Active Directory, is the ability to
11333 create a new user with an expired password, and thus force the user to
11334 change the password on the first login attempt.</p>
11335
11336 <p>I'm not quite sure how to do that with the LDAP setup in Debian
11337 Edu, but did some initial testing with a local account.  The account
11338 and password aging information is available in /etc/shadow, but
11339 unfortunately, it is not possible to specify an expiration time for
11340 passwords, only a maximum age for passwords.</p>
11341
11342 <p>A freshly created account (using adduser test) will have these
11343 settings in /etc/shadow:</p>
11344
11345 <blockquote><pre>
11346 root@tjener:~# chage -l test
11347 Last password change                                    : May 02, 2010
11348 Password expires                                        : never
11349 Password inactive                                       : never
11350 Account expires                                         : never
11351 Minimum number of days between password change          : 0
11352 Maximum number of days between password change          : 99999
11353 Number of days of warning before password expires       : 7
11354 root@tjener:~#
11355 </pre></blockquote>
11356
11357 <p>The only way I could come up with to create a user with an expired
11358 account, is to change the date of the last password change to the
11359 lowest value possible (January 1th 1970), and the maximum password age
11360 to the difference in days between that date and today.  To make it
11361 simple, I went for 30 years (30 * 365 = 10950) and January 2th (to
11362 avoid testing if 0 is a valid value).</p>
11363
11364 <p>After using these commands to set it up, it seem to work as
11365 intended:</p>
11366
11367 <blockquote><pre>
11368 root@tjener:~# chage -d 1 test; chage -M 10950 test
11369 root@tjener:~# chage -l test
11370 Last password change                                    : Jan 02, 1970
11371 Password expires                                        : never
11372 Password inactive                                       : never
11373 Account expires                                         : never
11374 Minimum number of days between password change          : 0
11375 Maximum number of days between password change          : 10950
11376 Number of days of warning before password expires       : 7
11377 root@tjener:~#
11378 </pre></blockquote>
11379
11380 <p>So far I have tested this with ssh and console, and kdm (in
11381 Squeeze) login, and all ask for a new password before login in the
11382 user (with ssh, I was thrown out and had to log in again).</p>
11383
11384 <p>Perhaps we should set up something similar for Debian Edu, to make
11385 sure only the user itself have the account password?</p>
11386
11387 <p>If you want to comment on or help out with implementing this for
11388 Debian Edu, please contact us on debian-edu@lists.debian.org.</p>
11389
11390 <p>Update 2010-05-02 17:20: Paul Tötterman tells me on IRC that the
11391 shadow(8) page in Debian/testing now state that setting the date of
11392 last password change to zero (0) will force the password to be changed
11393 on the first login.  This was not mentioned in the manual in Lenny, so
11394 I did not notice this in my initial testing.  I have tested it on
11395 Squeeze, and '<tt>chage -d 0 username</tt>' do work there.  I have not
11396 tested it on Lenny yet.</p>
11397
11398 <p>Update 2010-05-02-19:05: Jim Paris tells me via email that an
11399 equivalent command to expire a password is '<tt>passwd -e
11400 username</tt>', which insert zero into the date of the last password
11401 change.</p>
11402
11403       </div>
11404       <div class="tags">
11405
11406
11407         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/sikkerhet">sikkerhet</a>.
11408
11409
11410       </div>
11411     </div>
11412     <div class="padding"></div>
11413
11414     <div class="entry">
11415       <div class="title">
11416         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Thoughts_on_roaming_laptop_setup_for_Debian_Edu.html">Thoughts on roaming laptop setup for Debian Edu</a>
11417       </div>
11418       <div class="date">
11419         28th April 2010
11420       </div>
11421       <div class="body">
11422         <p>For some years now, I have wondered how we should handle laptops in
11423 Debian Edu.  The Debian Edu infrastructure is mostly designed to
11424 handle stationary computers, and less suited for computers that come
11425 and go.</p>
11426
11427 <p>Now I finally believe I have an sensible idea on how to adjust
11428 Debian Edu for laptops, by introducing a new profile for them, for
11429 example called Roaming Workstations.  Here are my thought on this.
11430 The setup would consist of the following:</p>
11431
11432 <ul>
11433
11434  <li>During installation, the user name of the owner / primary user of
11435    the laptop is requested and a local home directory is set up for
11436    the user, with uid and gid information fetched from the LDAP
11437    server.  This allow the user to work also when offline.  The
11438    central home directory can be available in a subdirectory on
11439    request, for example mounted via CIFS.  It could be mounted
11440    automatically when a user log in while on the Debian Edu network,
11441    and unmounted when the machine is taken away (network down,
11442    hibernate, etc), it can be set up to do automatic mounting on
11443    request (using autofs), or perhaps some GUI button on the desktop
11444    can be used to access it when needed.  Perhaps it is enough to use
11445    the fish protocol in KDE?</li>
11446
11447  <li>Password checking is set up to use LDAP or Kerberos
11448    authentication when the machine is on the Debian Edu network, and
11449    to cache the password for offline checking when the machine unable
11450    to reach the LDAP or Kerberos server.  This can be done using
11451    <a href="http://www.padl.com/OSS/pam_ccreds.html">libpam-ccreds</a>
11452    or the Fedora developed
11453    <a href="https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Features/SSSD">System
11454    Security Services Daemon</a> packages.</li>
11455
11456  <li>File synchronisation with the central home directory is set up
11457    using a shared directory in both the local and the central home
11458    directory, using unison.</li>
11459
11460  <li>Printing should be set up to print to all printers broadcasting
11461    their existence on the local network, and should then work out of
11462    the box with CUPS.  For sites needing accurate printer quotas, some
11463    system with Kerberos authentication or printing via ssh could be
11464    implemented.</li>
11465
11466  <li>For users that should have local root access to their laptop,
11467    sudo should be used to allow this to the local user.</li>
11468
11469  <li>It would be nice if user and group information from LDAP is
11470    cached on the client, but given that there are entries for the
11471    local user and primary group in /etc/, it should not be needed.</li>
11472
11473 </ul>
11474
11475 <p>I believe all the pieces to implement this are in Debian/testing at
11476 the moment.  If we work quickly, we should be able to get this ready
11477 in time for the Squeeze release to freeze.  Some of the pieces need
11478 tweaking, like libpam-ccreds should get support for pam-auth-update
11479 (<a href="http://bugs.debian.org/566718">#566718</a>) and nslcd (or
11480 perhaps debian-edu-config) should get some integration code to stop
11481 its daemon when the LDAP server is unavailable to avoid long timeouts
11482 when disconnected from the net.  If we get Kerberos enabled, we need
11483 to make sure we avoid long timeouts there too.</p>
11484
11485 <p>If you want to help out with implementing this for Debian Edu,
11486 please contact us on debian-edu@lists.debian.org.</p>
11487
11488       </div>
11489       <div class="tags">
11490
11491
11492         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug</a>.
11493
11494
11495       </div>
11496     </div>
11497     <div class="padding"></div>
11498
11499     <div class="entry">
11500       <div class="title">
11501         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Great_book___Content__Selected_Essays_on_Technology__Creativity__Copyright__and_the_Future_of_the_Future_.html">Great book: "Content: Selected Essays on Technology, Creativity, Copyright, and the Future of the Future"</a>
11502       </div>
11503       <div class="date">
11504         19th April 2010
11505       </div>
11506       <div class="body">
11507         <p>The last few weeks i have had the pleasure of reading a
11508 thought-provoking collection of essays by Cory Doctorow, on topics
11509 touching copyright, virtual worlds, the future of man when the
11510 conscience mind can be duplicated into a computer and many more. The
11511 book titled "Content: Selected Essays on Technology, Creativity,
11512 Copyright, and the Future of the Future" is available with few
11513 restrictions on the web, for example from
11514 <a href="http://craphound.com/content/">his own site</a>. I read the
11515 epub-version from
11516 <a href="http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2883">feedbooks</a> using
11517 <a href="http://www.fbreader.org/">fbreader</a> and my N810. I
11518 strongly recommend this book.</p>
11519
11520       </div>
11521       <div class="tags">
11522
11523
11524         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/fildeling">fildeling</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/opphavsrett">opphavsrett</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/personvern">personvern</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/sikkerhet">sikkerhet</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/web">web</a>.
11525
11526
11527       </div>
11528     </div>
11529     <div class="padding"></div>
11530
11531     <div class="entry">
11532       <div class="title">
11533         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Kerberos_for_Debian_Edu_Squeeze_.html">Kerberos for Debian Edu/Squeeze?</a>
11534       </div>
11535       <div class="date">
11536         14th April 2010
11537       </div>
11538       <div class="body">
11539         <p><a href="http://www.nuug.no/aktiviteter/20100413-kerberos/">Yesterdays
11540 NUUG presentation</a> about Kerberos was inspiring, and reminded me
11541 about the need to start using Kerberos in Skolelinux.  Setting up a
11542 Kerberos server seem to be straight forward, and if we get this in
11543 place a long time before the Squeeze version of Debian freezes, we
11544 have a chance to migrate Skolelinux away from NFSv3 for the home
11545 directories, and over to an architecture where the infrastructure do
11546 not have to trust IP addresses and machines, and instead can trust
11547 users and cryptographic keys instead.</p>
11548
11549 <p>A challenge will be integration and administration.  Is there a
11550 Kerberos implementation for Debian where one can control the
11551 administration access in Kerberos using LDAP groups?  With it, the
11552 school administration will have to maintain access control using flat
11553 files on the main server, which give a huge potential for errors.</p>
11554
11555 <p>A related question I would like to know is how well Kerberos and
11556 pam-ccreds (offline password check) work together.  Anyone know?</p>
11557
11558 <p>Next step will be to use Kerberos for access control in Lwat and
11559 Nagios.  I have no idea how much work that will be to implement.  We
11560 would also need to document how to integrate with Windows AD, as such
11561 shared network will require two Kerberos realms that need to cooperate
11562 to work properly.</p>
11563
11564 <p>I believe a good start would be to start using Kerberos on the
11565 skolelinux.no machines, and this way get ourselves experience with
11566 configuration and integration.  A natural starting point would be
11567 setting up ldap.skolelinux.no as the Kerberos server, and migrate the
11568 rest of the machines from PAM via LDAP to PAM via Kerberos one at the
11569 time.</p>
11570
11571 <p>If you would like to contribute to get this working in Skolelinux,
11572 I recommend you to see the video recording from yesterdays NUUG
11573 presentation, and start using Kerberos at home.  The video show show
11574 up in a few days.</p>
11575
11576       </div>
11577       <div class="tags">
11578
11579
11580         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug</a>.
11581
11582
11583       </div>
11584     </div>
11585     <div class="padding"></div>
11586
11587     <div class="entry">
11588       <div class="title">
11589         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/After_6_years_of_waiting__the_Xreset_d_feature_is_implemented.html">After 6 years of waiting, the Xreset.d feature is implemented</a>
11590       </div>
11591       <div class="date">
11592          6th March 2010
11593       </div>
11594       <div class="body">
11595         <p>6 years ago, as part of the Debian Edu development I am involved
11596 in, I asked for a hook in the kdm and gdm setup to run scripts as root
11597 when the user log out.  A bug was submitted against the xfree86-common
11598 package in 2004 (<a href="http://bugs.debian.org/230422">#230422</a>),
11599 and revisited every time Debian Edu was working on a new release.
11600 Today, this finally paid off.</p>
11601
11602 <p>The framework for this feature was today commited to the git
11603 repositry for the xorg package, and the git repository for xdm has
11604 been updated to use this framework.  Next on my agenda is to make sure
11605 kdm and gdm also add code to use this framework.</p>
11606
11607 <p>In Debian Edu, we want to ability to run commands as root when the
11608 user log out, to get rid of runaway processes and do general cleanup
11609 after a user.  With this framework in place, we finally can do that in
11610 a generic way that work with all display managers using this
11611 framework.  My goal is to get all display managers in Debian use it,
11612 similar to how they use the Xsession.d framework today.<p>
11613
11614       </div>
11615       <div class="tags">
11616
11617
11618         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug</a>.
11619
11620
11621       </div>
11622     </div>
11623     <div class="padding"></div>
11624
11625     <div class="entry">
11626       <div class="title">
11627         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu___Skolelinux_based_on_Lenny_released__work_continues.html">Debian Edu / Skolelinux based on Lenny released, work continues</a>
11628       </div>
11629       <div class="date">
11630         11th February 2010
11631       </div>
11632       <div class="body">
11633         <p>On Tuesday, the Debian/Lenny based version of
11634 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Skolelinux</a> was finally
11635 shipped.  This was a major leap forward for the project, and I am very
11636 pleased that we finally got the release wrapped up.  Work on the first
11637 point release starts imediately, as we plan to get that one out a
11638 month after the major release, to include all fixes for bugs we found
11639 and fixed too late in the release process to include last Tuesday.</p>
11640
11641 <p>Perhaps it even is time for some partying?</p>
11642
11643 <p>After this first point release, my plan is to focus again on the
11644 next major release, based on Squeeze.  We will try to get as many of
11645 the fixes we need into the official Debian packages before the freeze,
11646 and have just a few weeks or months to make it happen.</p>
11647
11648       </div>
11649       <div class="tags">
11650
11651
11652         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug</a>.
11653
11654
11655       </div>
11656     </div>
11657     <div class="padding"></div>
11658
11659     <div class="entry">
11660       <div class="title">
11661         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Automatic_Munin_and_Nagios_configuration.html">Automatic Munin and Nagios configuration</a>
11662       </div>
11663       <div class="date">
11664         27th January 2010
11665       </div>
11666       <div class="body">
11667         <p>One of the new features in the next Debian/Lenny based release of
11668 Debian Edu/Skolelinux, which is scheduled for release in the next few
11669 days, is automatic configuration of the service monitoring system
11670 Nagios.  The previous release had automatic configuration of trend
11671 analysis using Munin, and this Lenny based release take that a step
11672 further.</p>
11673
11674 <p>When installing a Debian Edu Main-server, it is automatically
11675 configured as a Munin and Nagios server.  In addition, it is
11676 configured to be a server for the
11677 <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/HowTo/SiteSummary">SiteSummary
11678 system</a> I have written for use in Debian Edu.  The SiteSummary
11679 system is inspired by a system used by the University of Oslo where I
11680 work.  In short, the system provide a centralised collector of
11681 information about the computers on the network, and a client on each
11682 computer submitting information to this collector.  This allow for
11683 automatic information on which packages are installed on each machine,
11684 which kernel the machines are using, what kind of configuration the
11685 packages got etc.  This also allow us to automatically generate Munin
11686 and Nagios configuration.</p>
11687
11688 <p>All computers reporting to the sitesummary collector with the
11689 munin-node package installed is automatically enabled as a Munin
11690 client and graphs from the statistics collected from that machine show
11691 up automatically on http://www/munin/ on the Main-server.</p>
11692
11693 <p>All non-laptop computers reporting to the sitesummary collector are
11694 automatically monitored for network presence (ping and any network
11695 services detected).  In addition, all computers (also laptops) with
11696 the nagios-nrpe-server package installed and configured the way
11697 sitesummary would configure it, are monitored for full disks, software
11698 raid status, swap free and other checks that need to run locally on
11699 the machine.</p>
11700
11701 <p>The result is that the administrator on a school using Debian Edu
11702 based on Lenny will be able to check the health of his installation
11703 with one look at the Nagios settings, without having to spend any time
11704 keeping the Nagios configuration up-to-date.</p>
11705
11706 <p>The only configuration one need to do to get Nagios up and running
11707 is to set the password used to get access via HTTP.  The system
11708 administrator need to run "<tt>htpasswd /etc/nagios3/htpasswd.users
11709 nagiosadmin</tt>" to create a nagiosadmin user and set a password for
11710 it to be able to log into the Nagios web pages.  After that,
11711 everything is taken care of.</p>
11712
11713       </div>
11714       <div class="tags">
11715
11716
11717         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/sitesummary">sitesummary</a>.
11718
11719
11720       </div>
11721     </div>
11722     <div class="padding"></div>
11723
11724     <div class="entry">
11725       <div class="title">
11726         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Relative_popularity_of_document_formats__MS_Office_vs__ODF_.html">Relative popularity of document formats (MS Office vs. ODF)</a>
11727       </div>
11728       <div class="date">
11729         12th August 2009
11730       </div>
11731       <div class="body">
11732         <p>Just for fun, I did a search right now on Google for a few file ODF
11733 and MS Office based formats (not to be mistaken for ISO or ECMA
11734 OOXML), to get an idea of their relative usage.  I searched using
11735 'filetype:odt' and equvalent terms, and got these results:</P>
11736
11737 <table>
11738 <tr><th>Type</th><th>ODF</th><th>MS Office</th></tr>
11739 <tr><td>Tekst</td> <td>odt:282000</td> <td>docx:308000</td></tr>
11740 <tr><td>Presentasjon</td> <td>odp:75600</td> <td>pptx:183000</td></tr>
11741 <tr><td>Regneark</td> <td>ods:26500     </td> <td>xlsx:145000</td></tr>
11742 </table>
11743
11744 <p>Next, I added a 'site:no' limit to get the numbers for Norway, and
11745 got these numbers:</p>
11746
11747 <table>
11748 <tr><th>Type</th><th>ODF</th><th>MS Office</th></tr>
11749 <tr><td>Tekst</td> <td>odt:2480 </td> <td>docx:4460</td></tr>
11750 <tr><td>Presentasjon</td> <td>odp:299   </td> <td>pptx:741</td></tr>
11751 <tr><td>Regneark</td> <td>ods:187       </td> <td>xlsx:372</td></tr>
11752 </table>
11753
11754 <p>I wonder how these numbers change over time.</p>
11755
11756 <p>I am aware of Google returning different results and numbers based
11757 on where the search is done, so I guess these numbers will differ if
11758 they are conduced in another country.  Because of this, I did the same
11759 search from a machine in California, USA, a few minutes after the
11760 search done from a machine here in Norway.</p>
11761
11762
11763 <table>
11764 <tr><th>Type</th><th>ODF</th><th>MS Office</th></tr>
11765 <tr><td>Tekst</td> <td>odt:129000</td> <td>docx:308000</td></tr>
11766 <tr><td>Presentasjon</td> <td>odp:44200</td> <td>pptx:93900</td></tr>
11767 <tr><td>Regneark</td> <td>ods:26500     </td> <td>xlsx:82400</td></tr>
11768 </table>
11769
11770 <p>And with 'site:no':
11771
11772 <table>
11773 <tr><th>Type</th><th>ODF</th><th>MS Office</th></tr>
11774 <tr><td>Tekst</td> <td>odt:2480</td> <td>docx:3410</td></tr>
11775 <tr><td>Presentasjon</td> <td>odp:175</td> <td>pptx:604</td></tr>
11776 <tr><td>Regneark</td> <td>ods:186       </td> <td>xlsx:296</td></tr>
11777 </table>
11778
11779 <p>Interesting difference, not sure what to conclude from these
11780 numbers.</p>
11781
11782       </div>
11783       <div class="tags">
11784
11785
11786         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/standard">standard</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/web">web</a>.
11787
11788
11789       </div>
11790     </div>
11791     <div class="padding"></div>
11792
11793     <div class="entry">
11794       <div class="title">
11795         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/ISO_still_hope_to_fix_OOXML.html">ISO still hope to fix OOXML</a>
11796       </div>
11797       <div class="date">
11798          8th August 2009
11799       </div>
11800       <div class="body">
11801         <p>According to <a
11802 href="http://twerner.blogspot.com/2009/08/defects-of-office-open-xml.html">a
11803 blog post from Torsten Werner</a>, the current defect report for ISO
11804 29500 (ISO OOXML) is 809 pages.  His interesting point is that the
11805 defect report is 71 pages more than the full ODF 1.1 specification.
11806 Personally I find it more interesting that ISO still believe ISO OOXML
11807 can be fixed in ISO.  Personally, I believe it is broken beyon repair,
11808 and I completely lack any trust in ISO for being able to get anywhere
11809 close to solving the problems.  I was part of the Norwegian committee
11810 involved in the OOXML fast track process, and was not impressed with
11811 Standard Norway and ISO in how they handled it.</p>
11812
11813 <p>These days I focus on ODF instead, which seem like a specification
11814 with the future ahead of it.  We are working in NUUG to organise a ODF
11815 seminar this autumn.</p>
11816
11817       </div>
11818       <div class="tags">
11819
11820
11821         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/standard">standard</a>.
11822
11823
11824       </div>
11825     </div>
11826     <div class="padding"></div>
11827
11828     <div class="entry">
11829       <div class="title">
11830         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_has_switched_to_dependency_based_boot_sequencing.html">Debian has switched to dependency based boot sequencing</a>
11831       </div>
11832       <div class="date">
11833         27th July 2009
11834       </div>
11835       <div class="body">
11836         <p>Since this evening, with the upload of sysvinit version 2.87dsf-2,
11837 and the upload of insserv version 1.12.0-10 yesterday, Debian unstable
11838 have been migrated to using dependency based boot sequencing.  This
11839 conclude work me and others have been doing for the last three days.
11840 It feels great to see this finally part of the default Debian
11841 installation.  Now we just need to weed out the last few problems that
11842 are bound to show up, to get everything ready for Squeeze.</p>
11843
11844 <p>The next step is migrating /sbin/init from sysvinit to upstart, and
11845 fixing the more fundamental problem of handing the event based
11846 non-predictable kernel in the early boot.</p>
11847
11848       </div>
11849       <div class="tags">
11850
11851
11852         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/bootsystem">bootsystem</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug</a>.
11853
11854
11855       </div>
11856     </div>
11857     <div class="padding"></div>
11858
11859     <div class="entry">
11860       <div class="title">
11861         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Taking_over_sysvinit_development.html">Taking over sysvinit development</a>
11862       </div>
11863       <div class="date">
11864         22nd July 2009
11865       </div>
11866       <div class="body">
11867         <p>After several years of frustration with the lack of activity from
11868 the existing sysvinit upstream developer, I decided a few weeks ago to
11869 take over the package and become the new upstream.  The number of
11870 patches to track for the Debian package was becoming a burden, and the
11871 lack of synchronization between the distribution made it hard to keep
11872 the package up to date.</p>
11873
11874 <p>On the new sysvinit team is the SuSe maintainer Dr. Werner Fink,
11875 and my Debian co-maintainer Kel Modderman.  About 10 days ago, I made
11876 a new upstream tarball with version number 2.87dsf (for Debian, SuSe
11877 and Fedora), based on the patches currently in use in these
11878 distributions.  We Debian maintainers plan to move to this tarball as
11879 the new upstream as soon as we find time to do the merge.  Since the
11880 new tarball was created, we agreed with Werner at SuSe to make a new
11881 upstream project at <a href="http://savannah.nongnu.org/">Savannah</a>, and continue
11882 development there.  The project is registered and currently waiting
11883 for approval by the Savannah administrators, and as soon as it is
11884 approved, we will import the old versions from svn and continue
11885 working on the future release.</p>
11886
11887 <p>It is a bit ironic that this is done now, when some of the involved
11888 distributions are moving to upstart as a syvinit replacement.</p>
11889
11890       </div>
11891       <div class="tags">
11892
11893
11894         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/bootsystem">bootsystem</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug</a>.
11895
11896
11897       </div>
11898     </div>
11899     <div class="padding"></div>
11900
11901     <div class="entry">
11902       <div class="title">
11903         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_boots_quicker_and_quicker.html">Debian boots quicker and quicker</a>
11904       </div>
11905       <div class="date">
11906         24th June 2009
11907       </div>
11908       <div class="body">
11909         <p>I spent Monday and tuesday this week in London with a lot of the
11910 people involved in the boot system on Debian and Ubuntu, to see if we
11911 could find more ways to speed up the boot system.  This was an Ubuntu
11912 funded
11913 <a href="https://wiki.ubuntu.com/FoundationsTeam/BootPerformance/DebianUbuntuSprint">developer
11914 gathering</a>. It was quite productive.  We also discussed the future
11915 of boot systems, and ways to handle the increasing number of boot
11916 issues introduced by the Linux kernel becoming more and more
11917 asynchronous and event base.  The Ubuntu approach using udev and
11918 upstart might be a good way forward.  Time will show.</p>
11919
11920 <p>Anyway, there are a few ways at the moment to speed up the boot
11921 process in Debian.  All of these should be applied to get a quick
11922 boot:</p>
11923
11924 <ul>
11925
11926 <li>Use dash as /bin/sh.</li>
11927
11928 <li>Disable the init.d/hwclock*.sh scripts and make sure the hardware
11929    clock is in UTC.</li>
11930
11931 <li>Install and activate the insserv package to enable
11932    <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/LSBInitScripts/DependencyBasedBoot">dependency
11933    based boot sequencing</a>, and enable concurrent booting.</li>
11934
11935 </ul>
11936
11937 These points are based on the Google summer of code work done by
11938 <a href="http://initscripts-ng.alioth.debian.org/soc2006-bootsystem/">Carlos
11939 Villegas</a>.
11940
11941 <p>Support for makefile-style concurrency during boot was uploaded to
11942 unstable yesterday.  When we tested it, we were able to cut 6 seconds
11943 from the boot sequence.  It depend on very correct dependency
11944 declaration in all init.d scripts, so I expect us to find edge cases
11945 where the dependences in some scripts are slightly wrong when we start
11946 using this.</p>
11947
11948 <p>On our IRC channel for this effort, #pkg-sysvinit, a new idea was
11949 introduced by Raphael Geissert today, one that could affect the
11950 startup speed as well.  Instead of starting some scripts concurrently
11951 from rcS.d/ and another set of scripts from rc2.d/, it would be
11952 possible to run a of them in the same process.  A quick way to test
11953 this would be to enable insserv and run 'mv /etc/rc2.d/S* /etc/rcS.d/;
11954 insserv'.  Will need to test if that work. :)</p>
11955
11956       </div>
11957       <div class="tags">
11958
11959
11960         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/bootsystem">bootsystem</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
11961
11962
11963       </div>
11964     </div>
11965     <div class="padding"></div>
11966
11967     <div class="entry">
11968       <div class="title">
11969         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Two_projects_that_have_improved_the_quality_of_free_software_a_lot.html">Two projects that have improved the quality of free software a lot</a>
11970       </div>
11971       <div class="date">
11972          2nd May 2009
11973       </div>
11974       <div class="body">
11975         <p>There are two software projects that have had huge influence on the
11976 quality of free software, and I wanted to mention both in case someone
11977 do not yet know them.</p>
11978
11979 <p>The first one is <a href="http://valgrind.org/">valgrind</a>, a
11980 tool to detect and expose errors in the memory handling of programs.
11981 It is easy to use, all one need to do is to run 'valgrind program',
11982 and it will report any problems on stdout.  It is even better if the
11983 program include debug information.  With debug information, it is able
11984 to report the source file name and line number where the problem
11985 occurs.  It can report things like 'reading past memory block in file
11986 X line N, the memory block was allocated in file Y, line M', and
11987 'using uninitialised value in control logic'.  This tool has made it
11988 trivial to investigate reproducible crash bugs in programs, and have
11989 reduced the number of this kind of bugs in free software a lot.
11990
11991 <p>The second one is
11992 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coverity">Coverity</a> which is
11993 a source code checker.  It is able to process the source of a program
11994 and find problems in the logic without running the program.  It
11995 started out as the Stanford Checker and became well known when it was
11996 used to find bugs in the Linux kernel.  It is now a commercial tool
11997 and the company behind it is running
11998 <a href="http://www.scan.coverity.com/">a community service</a> for the
11999 free software community, where a lot of free software projects get
12000 their source checked for free.  Several thousand defects have been
12001 found and fixed so far.  It can find errors like 'lock L taken in file
12002 X line N is never released if exiting in line M', or 'the code in file
12003 Y lines O to P can never be executed'.  The projects included in the
12004 community service project have managed to get rid of a lot of
12005 reliability problems thanks to Coverity.</p>
12006
12007 <p>I believe tools like this, that are able to automatically find
12008 errors in the source, are vital to improve the quality of software and
12009 make sure we can get rid of the crashing and failing software we are
12010 surrounded by today.</p>
12011
12012       </div>
12013       <div class="tags">
12014
12015
12016         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
12017
12018
12019       </div>
12020     </div>
12021     <div class="padding"></div>
12022
12023     <div class="entry">
12024       <div class="title">
12025         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/No_patch_is_not_better_than_a_useless_patch.html">No patch is not better than a useless patch</a>
12026       </div>
12027       <div class="date">
12028         28th April 2009
12029       </div>
12030       <div class="body">
12031         <p>Julien Blache
12032 <a href="http://blog.technologeek.org/2009/04/12/214">claim that no
12033 patch is better than a useless patch</a>.  I completely disagree, as a
12034 patch allow one to discuss a concrete and proposed solution, and also
12035 prove that the issue at hand is important enough for someone to spent
12036 time on fixing it.  No patch do not provide any of these positive
12037 properties.</p>
12038
12039       </div>
12040       <div class="tags">
12041
12042
12043         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug</a>.
12044
12045
12046       </div>
12047     </div>
12048     <div class="padding"></div>
12049
12050     <div class="entry">
12051       <div class="title">
12052         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Recording_video_from_cron_using_VLC.html">Recording video from cron using VLC</a>
12053       </div>
12054       <div class="date">
12055          5th April 2009
12056       </div>
12057       <div class="body">
12058         <p>One think I have wanted to figure out for a along time is how to
12059 run vlc from cron to do recording of video streams on the net.  The
12060 task is trivial with mplayer, but I do not really trust the security
12061 of mplayer (it crashes too often on strange input), and thus prefer
12062 vlc.  I finally found a way to do it today.  I spent an hour or so
12063 searching the web for recipes and reading the documentation.  The
12064 hardest part was to get rid of the GUI window, but after finding the
12065 dummy interface, the command line finally presented itself:</p>
12066
12067 <blockquote><pre>URL=http://www.ping.uio.no/video/rms-oslo_2009.ogg
12068 SAVEFILE=rms.ogg
12069 DISPLAY= vlc -q $URL \
12070   --sout="#duplicate{dst=std{access=file,url='$SAVEFILE'},dst=nodisplay}" \
12071   --intf=dummy</pre></blockquote>
12072
12073 <p>The command stream the URL and store it in the SAVEFILE by
12074 duplicating the output stream to "nodisplay" and the file, using the
12075 dummy interface.  The dummy interface and the nodisplay output make
12076 sure no X interface is needed.</p>
12077
12078 <p>The cron job then need to start this job with the appropriate URL
12079 and file name to save, sleep for the duration wanted, and then kill
12080 the vlc process with SIGTERM.  Here is a complete script
12081 <tt>vlc-record</tt> to use from <tt>at</tt> or <tt>cron</tt>:</p>
12082
12083 <blockquote><pre>#!/bin/sh
12084 set -e
12085 URL="$1"
12086 SAVEFILE="$2"
12087 DURATION="$3"
12088 DISPLAY= vlc -q "$URL" \
12089   --sout="#duplicate{dst=std{access=file,url='$SAVEFILE'},dst=nodisplay}" \
12090   --intf=dummy < /dev/null > /dev/null 2>&1 &
12091 pid=$!
12092 sleep $DURATION
12093 kill $pid
12094 wait $pid</pre></blockquote>
12095
12096       </div>
12097       <div class="tags">
12098
12099
12100         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/video">video</a>.
12101
12102
12103       </div>
12104     </div>
12105     <div class="padding"></div>
12106
12107     <div class="entry">
12108       <div class="title">
12109         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Standardize_on_protocols_and_formats__not_vendors_and_applications.html">Standardize on protocols and formats, not vendors and applications</a>
12110       </div>
12111       <div class="date">
12112         30th March 2009
12113       </div>
12114       <div class="body">
12115         <p>Where I work at the University of Oslo, one decision stand out as a
12116 very good one to form a long lived computer infrastructure.  It is the
12117 simple one, lost by many in todays computer industry: Standardize on
12118 open network protocols and open exchange/storage formats, not applications.
12119 Applications come and go, while protocols and files tend to stay, and
12120 thus one want to make it easy to change application and vendor, while
12121 avoiding conversion costs and locking users to a specific platform or
12122 application.</p>
12123
12124 <p>This approach make it possible to replace the client applications
12125 independently of the server applications.  One can even allow users to
12126 use several different applications as long as they handle the selected
12127 protocol and format.  In the normal case, only one client application
12128 is recommended and users only get help if they choose to use this
12129 application, but those that want to deviate from the easy path are not
12130 blocked from doing so.</p>
12131
12132 <p>It also allow us to replace the server side without forcing the
12133 users to replace their applications, and thus allow us to select the
12134 best server implementation at any moment, when scale and resouce
12135 requirements change.</p>
12136
12137 <p>I strongly recommend standardizing - on open network protocols and
12138 open formats, but I would never recommend standardizing on a single
12139 application that do not use open network protocol or open formats.</p>
12140
12141       </div>
12142       <div class="tags">
12143
12144
12145         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/standard">standard</a>.
12146
12147
12148       </div>
12149     </div>
12150     <div class="padding"></div>
12151
12152     <div class="entry">
12153       <div class="title">
12154         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Returning_from_Skolelinux_developer_gathering.html">Returning from Skolelinux developer gathering</a>
12155       </div>
12156       <div class="date">
12157         29th March 2009
12158       </div>
12159       <div class="body">
12160         <p>I'm sitting on the train going home from this weekends Debian
12161 Edu/Skolelinux development gathering.  I got a bit done tuning the
12162 desktop, and looked into the dynamic service location protocol
12163 implementation avahi.  It look like it could be useful for us.  Almost
12164 30 people participated, and I believe it was a great environment to
12165 get to know the Skolelinux system.  Walter Bender, involved in the
12166 development of the Sugar educational platform, presented his stuff and
12167 also helped me improve my OLPC installation.  He also showed me that
12168 his Turtle Art application can be used in standalone mode, and we
12169 agreed that I would help getting it packaged for Debian.  As a
12170 standalone application it would be great for Debian Edu.  We also
12171 tried to get the video conferencing working with two OLPCs, but that
12172 proved to be too hard for us.  The application seem to need more work
12173 before it is ready for me.  I look forward to getting home and relax
12174 now. :)</p>
12175
12176       </div>
12177       <div class="tags">
12178
12179
12180         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug</a>.
12181
12182
12183       </div>
12184     </div>
12185     <div class="padding"></div>
12186
12187     <div class="entry">
12188       <div class="title">
12189         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Time_for_new__LDAP_schemas_replacing_RFC_2307_.html">Time for new  LDAP schemas replacing RFC 2307?</a>
12190       </div>
12191       <div class="date">
12192         29th March 2009
12193       </div>
12194       <div class="body">
12195         <p>The state of standardized LDAP schemas on Linux is far from
12196 optimal.  There is RFC 2307 documenting one way to store NIS maps in
12197 LDAP, and a modified version of this normally called RFC 2307bis, with
12198 some modifications to be compatible with Active Directory.  The RFC
12199 specification handle the content of a lot of system databases, but do
12200 not handle DNS zones and DHCP configuration.</p>
12201
12202 <p>In <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu/Skolelinux</a>,
12203 we would like to store information about users, SMB clients/hosts,
12204 filegroups, netgroups (users and hosts), DHCP and DNS configuration,
12205 and LTSP configuration in LDAP.  These objects have a lot in common,
12206 but with the current LDAP schemas it is not possible to have one
12207 object per entity.  For example, one need to have at least three LDAP
12208 objects for a given computer, one with the SMB related stuff, one with
12209 DNS information and another with DHCP information.  The schemas
12210 provided for DNS and DHCP are impossible to combine into one LDAP
12211 object.  In addition, it is impossible to implement quick queries for
12212 netgroup membership, because of the way NIS triples are implemented.
12213 It just do not scale.  I believe it is time for a few RFC
12214 specifications to cleam up this mess.</p>
12215
12216 <p>I would like to have one LDAP object representing each computer in
12217 the network, and this object can then keep the SMB (ie host key), DHCP
12218 (mac address/name) and DNS (name/IP address) settings in one place.
12219 It need to be efficently stored to make sure it scale well.</p>
12220
12221 <p>I would also like to have a quick way to map from a user or
12222 computer and to the net group this user or computer is a member.</p>
12223
12224 <p>Active Directory have done a better job than unix heads like myself
12225 in this regard, and the unix side need to catch up.  Time to start a
12226 new IETF work group?</p>
12227
12228       </div>
12229       <div class="tags">
12230
12231
12232         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/ldap">ldap</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug</a>.
12233
12234
12235       </div>
12236     </div>
12237     <div class="padding"></div>
12238
12239     <div class="entry">
12240       <div class="title">
12241         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Checking_server_hardware_support_status_for_Dell__HP_and_IBM_servers.html">Checking server hardware support status for Dell, HP and IBM servers</a>
12242       </div>
12243       <div class="date">
12244         28th February 2009
12245       </div>
12246       <div class="body">
12247         <p>At work, we have a few hundred Linux servers, and with that amount
12248 of hardware it is important to keep track of when the hardware support
12249 contract expire for each server.  We have a machine (and service)
12250 register, which until recently did not contain much useful besides the
12251 machine room location and contact information for the system owner for
12252 each machine.  To make it easier for us to track support contract
12253 status, I've recently spent time on extending the machine register to
12254 include information about when the support contract expire, and to tag
12255 machines with expired contracts to make it easy to get a list of such
12256 machines.  I extended a perl script already being used to import
12257 information about machines into the register, to also do some screen
12258 scraping off the sites of Dell, HP and IBM (our majority of machines
12259 are from these vendors), and automatically check the support status
12260 for the relevant machines.  This make the support status information
12261 easily available and I hope it will make it easier for the computer
12262 owner to know when to get new hardware or renew the support contract.
12263 The result of this work documented that 27% of the machines in the
12264 registry is without a support contract, and made it very easy to find
12265 them.  27% might seem like a lot, but I see it more as the case of us
12266 using machines a bit longer than the 3 years a normal support contract
12267 last, to have test machines and a platform for less important
12268 services.  After all, the machines without a contract are working fine
12269 at the moment and the lack of contract is only a problem if any of
12270 them break down.  When that happen, we can either fix it using spare
12271 parts from other machines or move the service to another old
12272 machine.</p>
12273
12274 <p>I believe the code for screen scraping the Dell site was originally
12275 written by Trond Hasle Amundsen, and later adjusted by me and Morten
12276 Werner Forsbring.  The HP scraping was written by me after reading a
12277 nice article in ;login: about how to use WWW::Mechanize, and the IBM
12278 scraping was written by me based on the Dell code.  I know the HTML
12279 parsing could be done using nice libraries, but did not want to
12280 introduce more dependencies.  This is the current incarnation:</p>
12281
12282 <pre>
12283 use LWP::Simple;
12284 use POSIX;
12285 use WWW::Mechanize;
12286 use Date::Parse;
12287 [...]
12288 sub get_support_info {
12289     my ($machine, $model, $serial, $productnumber) = @_;
12290     my $str;
12291
12292     if ( $model =~ m/^Dell / ) {
12293         # fetch website from Dell support
12294         my $url = "http://support.euro.dell.com/support/topics/topic.aspx/emea/shared/support/my_systems_info/no/details?c=no&amp;cs=nodhs1&amp;l=no&amp;s=dhs&amp;ServiceTag=$serial";
12295         my $webpage = get($url);
12296         return undef unless ($webpage);
12297
12298         my $daysleft = -1;
12299         my @lines = split(/\n/, $webpage);
12300         foreach my $line (@lines) {
12301             next unless ($line =~ m/Beskrivelse/);
12302             $line =~ s/&lt;[^>]+?>/;/gm;
12303             $line =~ s/^.+?;(Beskrivelse;)/$1/;
12304
12305             my @f = split(/\;/, $line);
12306             @f = @f[13 .. $#f];
12307             my $lastend = "";
12308             while ($f[3] eq "DELL") {
12309                 my ($type, $startstr, $endstr, $days) = @f[0, 5, 7, 10];
12310
12311                 my $start = POSIX::strftime("%Y-%m-%d",
12312                                             localtime(str2time($startstr)));
12313                 my $end = POSIX::strftime("%Y-%m-%d",
12314                                           localtime(str2time($endstr)));
12315                 $str .= "$type $start -> $end ";
12316                 @f = @f[14 .. $#f];
12317                 $lastend = $end if ($end gt $lastend);
12318             }
12319             my $today = POSIX::strftime("%Y-%m-%d", localtime(time));
12320             tag_machine_unsupported($machine)
12321                 if ($lastend lt $today);
12322         }
12323     } elsif ( $model =~ m/^HP / ) {
12324         my $mech = WWW::Mechanize->new();
12325         my $url =
12326             'http://www1.itrc.hp.com/service/ewarranty/warrantyInput.do';
12327         $mech->get($url);
12328         my $fields = {
12329             'BODServiceID' => 'NA',
12330             'RegisteredPurchaseDate' => '',
12331             'country' => 'NO',
12332             'productNumber' => $productnumber,
12333             'serialNumber1' => $serial,
12334         };
12335         $mech->submit_form( form_number => 2,
12336                             fields      => $fields );
12337         # Next step is screen scraping
12338         my $content = $mech->content();
12339
12340         $content =~ s/&lt;[^>]+?>/;/gm;
12341         $content =~ s/\s+/ /gm;
12342         $content =~ s/;\s*;/;;/gm;
12343         $content =~ s/;[\s;]+/;/gm;
12344
12345         my $today = POSIX::strftime("%Y-%m-%d", localtime(time));
12346
12347         while ($content =~ m/;Warranty Type;/) {
12348             my ($type, $status, $startstr, $stopstr) = $content =~
12349                 m/;Warranty Type;([^;]+);.+?;Status;(\w+);Start Date;([^;]+);End Date;([^;]+);/;
12350             $content =~ s/^.+?;Warranty Type;//;
12351             my $start = POSIX::strftime("%Y-%m-%d",
12352                                         localtime(str2time($startstr)));
12353             my $end = POSIX::strftime("%Y-%m-%d",
12354                                       localtime(str2time($stopstr)));
12355
12356             $str .= "$type ($status) $start -> $end ";
12357
12358             tag_machine_unsupported($machine)
12359                 if ($end lt $today);
12360         }
12361     } elsif ( $model =~ m/^IBM / ) {
12362         # This code ignore extended support contracts.
12363         my ($producttype) = $model =~ m/.*-\[(.{4}).+\]-/;
12364         if ($producttype &amp;&amp; $serial) {
12365             my $content =
12366                 get("http://www-947.ibm.com/systems/support/supportsite.wss/warranty?action=warranty&amp;brandind=5000008&amp;Submit=Submit&amp;type=$producttype&amp;serial=$serial");
12367             if ($content) {
12368                 $content =~ s/&lt;[^>]+?>/;/gm;
12369                 $content =~ s/\s+/ /gm;
12370                 $content =~ s/;\s*;/;;/gm;
12371                 $content =~ s/;[\s;]+/;/gm;
12372
12373                 $content =~ s/^.+?;Warranty status;//;
12374                 my ($status, $end) = $content =~ m/;Warranty status;([^;]+)\s*;Expiration date;(\S+) ;/;
12375
12376                 $str .= "($status) -> $end ";
12377
12378                 my $today = POSIX::strftime("%Y-%m-%d", localtime(time));
12379                 tag_machine_unsupported($machine)
12380                     if ($end lt $today);
12381             }
12382         }
12383     }
12384     return $str;
12385 }
12386 </pre>
12387
12388 <p>Here are some examples on how to use the function, using fake
12389 serial numbers.  The information passed in as arguments are fetched
12390 from dmidecode.</p>
12391
12392 <pre>
12393 print get_support_info("hp.host", "HP ProLiant BL460c G1", "1234567890"
12394                        "447707-B21");
12395 print get_support_info("dell.host", "Dell Inc. PowerEdge 2950", "1234567");
12396 print get_support_info("ibm.host", "IBM eserver xSeries 345 -[867061X]-",
12397                        "1234567");
12398 </pre>
12399
12400 <p>I would recommend this approach for tracking support contracts for
12401 everyone with more than a few computers to administer. :)</p>
12402
12403 <p>Update 2009-03-06: The IBM page do not include extended support
12404 contracts, so it is useless in that case.  The original Dell code do
12405 not handle extended support contracts either, but has been updated to
12406 do so.</p>
12407
12408       </div>
12409       <div class="tags">
12410
12411
12412         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug</a>.
12413
12414
12415       </div>
12416     </div>
12417     <div class="padding"></div>
12418
12419     <div class="entry">
12420       <div class="title">
12421         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Using_bar_codes_at_a_computing_center.html">Using bar codes at a computing center</a>
12422       </div>
12423       <div class="date">
12424         20th February 2009
12425       </div>
12426       <div class="body">
12427         <p>At work with the University of Oslo, we have several hundred computers
12428 in our computing center.  This give us a challenge in tracking the
12429 location and cabling of the computers, when they are added, moved and
12430 removed.  Some times the location register is not updated when a
12431 computer is inserted or moved and we then have to search the room for
12432 the "missing" computer.</p>
12433
12434 <p>In the last issue of Linux Journal, I came across a project
12435 <a href="http://www.libdmtx.org/">libdmtx</a> to write and read bar
12436 code blocks as defined in the
12437 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_Matrix">The Data Matrix
12438 Standard</a>.  This is bar codes that can be read with a normal
12439 digital camera, for example that on a cell phone, and several such bar
12440 codes can be read by libdmtx from one picture.  The bar code standard
12441 allow up to 2 KiB to be written in the tag.  There is another project
12442 with <a href="http://www.terryburton.co.uk/barcodewriter/">a bar code
12443 writer written in postscript</a> capable of creating such bar codes,
12444 but this was the first time I found a tool to read these bar
12445 codes.</p>
12446
12447 <p>It occurred to me that this could be used to tag and track the
12448 machines in our computing center.  If both racks and computers are
12449 tagged this way, we can use a picture of the rack and all its
12450 computers to detect the rack location of any computer in that rack.
12451 If we do this regularly for the entire room, we will find all
12452 locations, and can detect movements and removals.</p>
12453
12454 <p>I decided to test if this would work in practice, and picked a
12455 random rack and tagged all the machines with their names.  Next, I
12456 took pictures with my digital camera, and gave the dmtxread program
12457 these JPEG pictures to see how many tags it could read.  This worked
12458 fairly well.  If the pictures was well focused and not taken from the
12459 side, all tags in the image could be read.  Because of limited space
12460 between the racks, I was unable to get a good picture of the entire
12461 rack, but could without problem read all tags from a picture covering
12462 about half the rack.  I had to limit the search time used by dmtxread
12463 to 60000 ms to make sure it terminated in a reasonable time frame.</p>
12464
12465 <p>My conclusion is that this could work, and we should probably look
12466 at adjusting our computer tagging procedures to use bar codes for
12467 easier automatic tracking of computers.</p>
12468
12469       </div>
12470       <div class="tags">
12471
12472
12473         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug</a>.
12474
12475
12476       </div>
12477     </div>
12478     <div class="padding"></div>
12479
12480     <div class="entry">
12481       <div class="title">
12482         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/When_web_browser_developers_make_a_video_player___.html">When web browser developers make a video player...</a>
12483       </div>
12484       <div class="date">
12485         17th January 2009
12486       </div>
12487       <div class="body">
12488         <p>As part of the work we do in <a href="http://www.nuug.no">NUUG</a>
12489 to publish video recordings of our monthly presentations, we provide a
12490 page with embedded video for easy access to the recording.  Putting a
12491 good set of HTML tags together to get working embedded video in all
12492 browsers and across all operating systems is not easy.  I hope this
12493 will become easier when the &lt;video&gt; tag is implemented in all
12494 browsers, but I am not sure.  We provide the recordings in several
12495 formats, MPEG1, Ogg Theora, H.264 and Quicktime, and want the
12496 browser/media plugin to pick one it support and use it to play the
12497 recording, using whatever embed mechanism the browser understand.
12498 There is at least four different tags to use for this, the new HTML5
12499 &lt;video&gt; tag, the &lt;object&gt; tag, the &lt;embed&gt; tag and
12500 the &lt;applet&gt; tag.  All of these take a lot of options, and
12501 finding the best options is a major challenge.</p>
12502
12503 <p>I just tested the experimental Opera browser available from <a
12504 href="http://labs.opera.com">labs.opera.com</a>, to see how it handled
12505 a &lt;video&gt; tag with a few video sources and no extra attributes.
12506 I was not very impressed.  The browser start by fetching a picture
12507 from the video stream.  Not sure if it is the first frame, but it is
12508 definitely very early in the recording.  So far, so good. Next,
12509 instead of streaming the 76 MiB video file, it start to download all
12510 of it, but do not start to play the video.  This mean I have to wait
12511 for several minutes for the downloading to finish.  When the download
12512 is done, the playing of the video do not start!  Waiting for the
12513 download, but I do not get to see the video?  Some testing later, I
12514 discover that I have to add the controls="true" attribute to be able
12515 to get a play button to pres to start the video.  Adding
12516 autoplay="true" did not help.  I sure hope this is a misfeature of the
12517 test version of Opera, and that future implementations of the
12518 &lt;video&gt; tag will stream recordings by default, or at least start
12519 playing when the download is done.</p>
12520
12521 <p>The test page I used (since changed to add more attributes) is
12522 <a href="http://www.nuug.no/aktiviteter/20090113-foredrag-om-foredrag/">available
12523 from the nuug site</a>.  Will have to test it with the new Firefox
12524 too.</p>
12525
12526 <p>In the test process, I discovered a missing feature.  I was unable
12527 to find a way to get the URL of the playing video out of Opera, so I
12528 am not quite sure it picked the Ogg Theora version of the video.  I
12529 sure hope it was using the announced Ogg Theora support. :)</p>
12530
12531       </div>
12532       <div class="tags">
12533
12534
12535         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/multimedia">multimedia</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/video">video</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/web">web</a>.
12536
12537
12538       </div>
12539     </div>
12540     <div class="padding"></div>
12541
12542     <div class="entry">
12543       <div class="title">
12544         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Software_video_mixer_on_a_USB_stick.html">Software video mixer on a USB stick</a>
12545       </div>
12546       <div class="date">
12547         28th December 2008
12548       </div>
12549       <div class="body">
12550         <p>The <a href="http://www.nuug.no/">Norwegian Unix User Group</a> is
12551 recording our montly presentation on video, and recently we have
12552 worked on improving the quality of the recordings by mixing the slides
12553 directly with the video stream.  For this, we use the
12554 <a href="http://dvswitch.alioth.debian.org/">dvswitch</a> package from
12555 the Debian video team.  As this require quite one computer per video
12556 source, and NUUG do not have enough laptops available, we need to
12557 borrow laptops.  And to avoid having to install extra software on
12558 these borrwed laptops, I have wrapped up all the programs needed on a
12559 bootable USB stick.  The software required is dvswitch with assosiated
12560 source, sink and mixer applications and
12561 <a href="http://www.kinodv.org/">dvgrab</a>.  To allow this setup to
12562 work without any configuration, I've patched dvswitch to use
12563 <a href="http://www.avahi.org/">avahi</a> to connect the various parts
12564 together.  And to allow us to use laptops without firewire plugs, I
12565 upgraded dvgrab to the one from Debian/unstable to get one that work
12566 with USB sources.  We have not yet tested this setup in a production
12567 setup, but I hope it will work properly, and allow us to set up a
12568 video mixer in a very short time frame.  We will need it for
12569 <a href="http://www.goopen.no/">Go Open 2009</a>.</p>
12570
12571 <p><a href="http://www.nuug.no/pub/video/bin/usbstick-dvswitch.img.gz">The
12572 USB image</a> is for a 1 GB memory stick, but can be used on any
12573 larger stick as well.</p>
12574
12575       </div>
12576       <div class="tags">
12577
12578
12579         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/video">video</a>.
12580
12581
12582       </div>
12583     </div>
12584     <div class="padding"></div>
12585
12586     <div class="entry">
12587       <div class="title">
12588         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Devcamp_brought_us_closer_to_the_Lenny_based_Debian_Edu_release.html">Devcamp brought us closer to the Lenny based Debian Edu release</a>
12589       </div>
12590       <div class="date">
12591          7th December 2008
12592       </div>
12593       <div class="body">
12594         <p>This weekend we had a small developer gathering for Debian Edu in
12595 Oslo.  Most of Saturday was used for the general assemly for the
12596 member organization, but the rest of the weekend I used to tune the
12597 LTSP installation.  LTSP now work out of the box on the 10-network.
12598 Acer Aspire One proved to be a very nice thin client, with both
12599 screen, mouse and keybard in a small box.  Was working on getting the
12600 diskless workstation setup configured out of the box, but did not
12601 finish it before the weekend was up.</p>
12602
12603 <p>Did not find time to look at the 4 VGA cards in one box we got from
12604 the Brazilian group, so that will have to wait for the next
12605 development gathering.  Would love to have the Debian Edu installer
12606 automatically detect and configure a multiseat setup when it find one
12607 of these cards.</p>
12608
12609       </div>
12610       <div class="tags">
12611
12612
12613         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/ltsp">ltsp</a>.
12614
12615
12616       </div>
12617     </div>
12618     <div class="padding"></div>
12619
12620     <div class="entry">
12621       <div class="title">
12622         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/The_sorry_state_of_multimedia_browser_plugins_in_Debian.html">The sorry state of multimedia browser plugins in Debian</a>
12623       </div>
12624       <div class="date">
12625         25th November 2008
12626       </div>
12627       <div class="body">
12628         <p>Recently I have spent some time evaluating the multimedia browser
12629 plugins available in Debian Lenny, to see which one we should use by
12630 default in Debian Edu.  We need an embedded video playing plugin with
12631 control buttons to pause or stop the video, and capable of streaming
12632 all the multimedia content available on the web.  The test results and
12633 notes are available on
12634 <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/BrowserMultimedia">the
12635 Debian wiki</a>.  I was surprised how few of the plugins are able to
12636 fill this need.  My personal video player favorite, VLC, has a really
12637 bad plugin which fail on a lot of the test pages.  A lot of the MIME
12638 types I would expect to work with any free software player (like
12639 video/ogg), just do not work.  And simple formats like the
12640 audio/x-mplegurl format (m3u playlists), just isn't supported by the
12641 totem and vlc plugins.  I hope the situation will improve soon.  No
12642 wonder sites use the proprietary Adobe flash to play video.</p>
12643
12644 <p>For Lenny, we seem to end up with the mplayer plugin.  It seem to
12645 be the only one fitting our needs. :/</p>
12646
12647       </div>
12648       <div class="tags">
12649
12650
12651         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/multimedia">multimedia</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/web">web</a>.
12652
12653
12654       </div>
12655     </div>
12656     <div class="padding"></div>
12657
12658     <p style="text-align: right;"><a href="english.rss"><img src="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/xml.gif" alt="RSS Feed" width="36" height="14" /></a></p>
12659     <div id="sidebar">
12660
12661
12662
12663 <h2>Archive</h2>
12664 <ul>
12665
12666 <li>2013
12667 <ul>
12668
12669 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2013/01/">January (3)</a></li>
12670
12671 </ul></li>
12672
12673 <li>2012
12674 <ul>
12675
12676 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/01/">January (7)</a></li>
12677
12678 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/02/">February (10)</a></li>
12679
12680 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/03/">March (17)</a></li>
12681
12682 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/04/">April (12)</a></li>
12683
12684 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/05/">May (12)</a></li>
12685
12686 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/06/">June (20)</a></li>
12687
12688 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/07/">July (17)</a></li>
12689
12690 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/08/">August (6)</a></li>
12691
12692 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/09/">September (9)</a></li>
12693
12694 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/10/">October (17)</a></li>
12695
12696 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/11/">November (10)</a></li>
12697
12698 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/12/">December (7)</a></li>
12699
12700 </ul></li>
12701
12702 <li>2011
12703 <ul>
12704
12705 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/01/">January (16)</a></li>
12706
12707 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/02/">February (6)</a></li>
12708
12709 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/03/">March (6)</a></li>
12710
12711 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/04/">April (7)</a></li>
12712
12713 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/05/">May (3)</a></li>
12714
12715 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/06/">June (2)</a></li>
12716
12717 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/07/">July (7)</a></li>
12718
12719 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/08/">August (6)</a></li>
12720
12721 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/09/">September (4)</a></li>
12722
12723 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/10/">October (2)</a></li>
12724
12725 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/11/">November (3)</a></li>
12726
12727 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/12/">December (1)</a></li>
12728
12729 </ul></li>
12730
12731 <li>2010
12732 <ul>
12733
12734 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/01/">January (2)</a></li>
12735
12736 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/02/">February (1)</a></li>
12737
12738 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/03/">March (3)</a></li>
12739
12740 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/04/">April (3)</a></li>
12741
12742 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/05/">May (9)</a></li>
12743
12744 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/06/">June (14)</a></li>
12745
12746 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/07/">July (12)</a></li>
12747
12748 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/08/">August (13)</a></li>
12749
12750 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/09/">September (7)</a></li>
12751
12752 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/10/">October (9)</a></li>
12753
12754 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/11/">November (13)</a></li>
12755
12756 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/12/">December (12)</a></li>
12757
12758 </ul></li>
12759
12760 <li>2009
12761 <ul>
12762
12763 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/01/">January (8)</a></li>
12764
12765 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/02/">February (8)</a></li>
12766
12767 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/03/">March (12)</a></li>
12768
12769 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/04/">April (10)</a></li>
12770
12771 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/05/">May (9)</a></li>
12772
12773 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/06/">June (3)</a></li>
12774
12775 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/07/">July (4)</a></li>
12776
12777 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/08/">August (3)</a></li>
12778
12779 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/09/">September (1)</a></li>
12780
12781 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/10/">October (2)</a></li>
12782
12783 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/11/">November (3)</a></li>
12784
12785 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/12/">December (3)</a></li>
12786
12787 </ul></li>
12788
12789 <li>2008
12790 <ul>
12791
12792 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2008/11/">November (5)</a></li>
12793
12794 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2008/12/">December (7)</a></li>
12795
12796 </ul></li>
12797
12798 </ul>
12799
12800
12801
12802 <h2>Tags</h2>
12803 <ul>
12804
12805  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/3d-printer">3d-printer (13)</a></li>
12806
12807  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/amiga">amiga (1)</a></li>
12808
12809  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/aros">aros (1)</a></li>
12810
12811  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/bankid">bankid (4)</a></li>
12812
12813  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/bitcoin">bitcoin (5)</a></li>
12814
12815  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/bootsystem">bootsystem (12)</a></li>
12816
12817  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/bsa">bsa (2)</a></li>
12818
12819  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian (60)</a></li>
12820
12821  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu (118)</a></li>
12822
12823  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/digistan">digistan (9)</a></li>
12824
12825  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/docbook">docbook (7)</a></li>
12826
12827  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/drivstoffpriser">drivstoffpriser (4)</a></li>
12828
12829  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english (167)</a></li>
12830
12831  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/fiksgatami">fiksgatami (21)</a></li>
12832
12833  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/fildeling">fildeling (12)</a></li>
12834
12835  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/freeculture">freeculture (10)</a></li>
12836
12837  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/frikanalen">frikanalen (9)</a></li>
12838
12839  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/intervju">intervju (32)</a></li>
12840
12841  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/kart">kart (17)</a></li>
12842
12843  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/ldap">ldap (8)</a></li>
12844
12845  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/lenker">lenker (6)</a></li>
12846
12847  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/ltsp">ltsp (1)</a></li>
12848
12849  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/multimedia">multimedia (25)</a></li>
12850
12851  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/norsk">norsk (219)</a></li>
12852
12853  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug (148)</a></li>
12854
12855  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/offentlig innsyn">offentlig innsyn (6)</a></li>
12856
12857  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/open311">open311 (2)</a></li>
12858
12859  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/opphavsrett">opphavsrett (41)</a></li>
12860
12861  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/personvern">personvern (61)</a></li>
12862
12863  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/raid">raid (1)</a></li>
12864
12865  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/reprap">reprap (11)</a></li>
12866
12867  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/rfid">rfid (2)</a></li>
12868
12869  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/robot">robot (5)</a></li>
12870
12871  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/rss">rss (1)</a></li>
12872
12873  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/ruter">ruter (4)</a></li>
12874
12875  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/scraperwiki">scraperwiki (2)</a></li>
12876
12877  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/sikkerhet">sikkerhet (28)</a></li>
12878
12879  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/sitesummary">sitesummary (4)</a></li>
12880
12881  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/skepsis">skepsis (4)</a></li>
12882
12883  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/standard">standard (39)</a></li>
12884
12885  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/stavekontroll">stavekontroll (3)</a></li>
12886
12887  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/stortinget">stortinget (5)</a></li>
12888
12889  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/surveillance">surveillance (12)</a></li>
12890
12891  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/sysadmin">sysadmin (1)</a></li>
12892
12893  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/valg">valg (7)</a></li>
12894
12895  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/video">video (35)</a></li>
12896
12897  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/vitenskap">vitenskap (4)</a></li>
12898
12899  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/web">web (26)</a></li>
12900
12901 </ul>
12902
12903
12904     </div>
12905     <p style="text-align: right">
12906  Created by <a href="http://steve.org.uk/Software/chronicle">Chronicle v4.4</a>
12907 </p>
12908
12909   </body>
12910 </html>