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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/Notes_on_language_codes_for_Norwegian_docbook_processing___.html">Notes on language codes for Norwegian docbook processing...</a>
  26       </div>
  27       <div class="date">
  28         10th August 2012
  29       </div>
  30       <div class="body">
  31         <p>In <a href="http://www.docbook.org/">docbook</a> one can specify
  32 the language used at the top, and the processing pipeline will use
  33 this information to pick the correct translations for 'chapter', 'see
  34 also', 'index' etc.  And for most languages used with docbook, I guess
  35 this work just fine.  For example a German user can start the document
  36 with &lt;book lang="de"&gt;, and the document will show up with the
  37 correct content with any of the docbook processors.  This is not the
  38 case for the language
  39 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Free_Culture_in_Norwegian___5_chapters_done__74_percent_left_to_do.html">I
  40 am working with at the moment</a>, Norwegian Bokmål.</p>
  41
  42 <p>For a while, I was confused about which language code to use,
  43 because I was unable to find any language code that would work across
  44 all tools.  I am currently testing dblatex, xmlto, docbook-xsl, and
  45 dbtoepub, and they do not handle Norwegian Bokmål the same way.  Some
  46 of them do not handle it at all.</p>
  47
  48 <p>A bit of background information is probably needed to understand
  49 this mess.  Norwegian is not one, but two written variants.  The
  50 variants are Norwegian Nynorsk and Norwegian Bokmål.  There are three
  51 two letter language codes associated with these languages, Norwegian
  52 is 'no', Norwegian Nynorsk is 'nn' and Norwegian Bokmål is 'nb'.
  53 Historically the 'no' language code was used for Norwegian Bokmål, but
  54 many years ago this was found to be å bad idea, and the recommendation
  55 is to use the most specific language code instead, to avoid confusion.
  56 In the transition period it is a good idea to make sure 'no' was an
  57 alias for 'nb'.</p>
  58
  59 <p>Back to docbook processing tools in Debian.  The dblatex tool only
  60 understand 'nn'.  There are translations for 'no', but not 'nb' (BTS
  61 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/684391">#684391</a>), but due to a bug
  62 (BTS <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/682936">#682936</a>) the 'no'
  63 language code is not recognised.  The docbook-xsl tool chain only
  64 recognise 'nn' and 'nb', but not 'no'.  The xmlto tool only recognise
  65 'nn' and 'nb', but not 'no'.  The end result that there is no language
  66 code I can use to get the docbook file working with all of these tools
  67 at the same time. :(</p>
  68
  69 <p>The correct solution is to use &lt;book lang="nb"&gt;, but it will
  70 take time before that will work with all the free software docbook
  71 processors. :(</p>
  72
  73 <p>Oh, the joy of well integrated tools. :/</p>
  74
  75       </div>
  76       <div class="tags">
  77
  78
  79         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
  80
  81
  82       </div>
  83     </div>
  84     <div class="padding"></div>
  85
  86     <div class="entry">
  87       <div class="title">
  88         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Best_way_to_create_a_docbook_book_.html">Best way to create a docbook book?</a>
  89       </div>
  90       <div class="date">
  91         31st July 2012
  92       </div>
  93       <div class="body">
  94         <p>I tried to send this text to the
  95 <a href="https://lists.oasis-open.org/archives/docbook-apps/">docbook-apps
  96 mailing list at lists.oasis-open.org</a>, but it only accept messages
  97 from subscribers and rejected my post, and I completely lack the
  98 bandwidth required to subscribe to another mailing list, so instead I
  99 try to post my message here and hope my blog readers can help me
 100 out.</p>
 101
 102 <p>I am quite new to docbook processing, and am climbing a steep
 103 learning curve at the moment.</p>
 104
 105 <p>To give you some background, I am working on a Norwegian
 106 translation of the book Free Culture by Lawrence Lessig, and I use
 107 docbook to handle the process.  The files to build the book are
 108 available from
 109 <a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig">github</a>.
 110 The book got around 400 pages with parts, images, footnotes, tables,
 111 index entries etc, which has proven to be a challenge for the free
 112 software docbook processors.  My build platform is Debian GNU/Linux
 113 Squeeze.</p>
 114
 115 <p>I want to build PDF, EPUB and HTML version of the book, and have
 116 tried different tool chains to do the conversion from docbook to these
 117 formats.  I am currently focusing on the PDF version, and have a few
 118 problems.</p>
 119
 120 <ul>
 121
 122 <li>Using dblatex, the &lt;part&gt; handling is not the way I want to,
 123    as &lt;/part&gt; do not really end the &lt;part&gt;. (See
 124    <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/683166">BTS report #683166</a>), the
 125    xetex backend (needed to process UTF-8) give incorrect hyphens in
 126    index references spanning several pages (See
 127    <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/682901">BTS report #682901</a>), and
 128    I am unable to get the norwegian template texts (See
 129    <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/682936">BTS report #682936</a>).</li>
 130
 131 <li>Using straight xmlto fail with some latex error (See
 132    <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/683163">BTS report
 133    #683163</a>).</li>
 134
 135 <li>Using xmlto with the fop backend fail to handle images (do not
 136    show up in the PDF), fail to handle a long footnote (overlap
 137    footnote and text body, see
 138    <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/683197">BTS report #683197</a>), and
 139    fail to create a correct index (some lack page ref, and the page
 140    refs listed are not right).</li>
 141
 142 <li>Using xmlto with the dblatex backend behave like dblatex.</li>
 143
 144 <li>Using docbook-xls with xsltproc + fop have the same footnote and
 145    index problems the xmlto + fop processing.</li>
 146
 147 </ul>
 148
 149 <p>So I wonder, what would be the best way to create the PDF version
 150 of this book?  Are some of the bugs found above solved in new or
 151 experimental versions of some docbook tool chain?</p>
 152
 153 <p>What about HTML and EPUB versions?</p>
 154
 155       </div>
 156       <div class="tags">
 157
 158
 159         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
 160
 161
 162       </div>
 163     </div>
 164     <div class="padding"></div>
 165
 166     <div class="entry">
 167       <div class="title">
 168         <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>
 169       </div>
 170       <div class="date">
 171         21st July 2012
 172       </div>
 173       <div class="body">
 174         <p>I reported earlier that I am working on
 175 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Dugnad_for___sende_norsk_versjon_av_Free_Culture_til_stortingets_representanter_.html">a
 176 norwegian version</a> of the book
 177 <a href="http://free-culture.cc/">Free Culture</a> by Lawrence Lessig.
 178 Progress is good, and yesterday I got a major contribution from Anders
 179 Hagen Jarmund completing chapter six.  The source files as well as a
 180 PDF and EPUB version of this book are available from
 181 <a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig">github</a>.</p>
 182
 183 <p>I am happy to report that the draft for the first two chapters
 184 (preface, introduction) is complete, and three other chapters are also
 185 completely translated.  This completes 26 percent of the number of
 186 strings (equivalent to paragraphs) in the book, and there is thus 74
 187 percent left to translate.  A graph of the progress is present at the
 188 bottom of the github project page.  There is still room for more
 189 contributors.  Get in touch or send github pull requests with fixes if
 190 you got time and are willing to help make this book make it to
 191 print. :)</p>
 192
 193 <p>The book translation framework could also be a good basis for other
 194 translations, if you want the book to be available in your
 195 language.</p>
 196
 197       </div>
 198       <div class="tags">
 199
 200
 201         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/opphavsrett">opphavsrett</a>.
 202
 203
 204       </div>
 205     </div>
 206     <div class="padding"></div>
 207
 208     <div class="entry">
 209       <div class="title">
 210         <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>
 211       </div>
 212       <div class="date">
 213         16th July 2012
 214       </div>
 215       <div class="body">
 216         <p>I am currently working on a
 217 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Dugnad_for___sende_norsk_versjon_av_Free_Culture_til_stortingets_representanter_.html">project
 218 to translate</a> the book
 219 <a href="http://free-culture.cc/">Free Culture</a> by Lawrence Lessig
 220 to Norwegian.  And the source we base our translation on is the
 221 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DocBook">docbook</a> version, to
 222 allow us to use po4a and .po files to handle the translation, and for
 223 this to work well the docbook source document need to be properly
 224 tagged.  The source files of this project is available from
 225 <a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig">github</a>.</p>
 226
 227 <p>The problem is that the docbook source have flaws, and we have
 228 no-one involved in the project that is a docbook expert.  Is there a
 229 docbook expert somewhere that is interested in helping us create a
 230 well tagged docbook version of the book, and adjust our build process
 231 for the PDF, EPUB and HTML version of the book?  This will provide a
 232 well tagged English version (our source document), and make it a lot
 233 easier for us to create a good Norwegian version.  If you can and want
 234 to help, please get in touch with me or fork the github project and
 235 send pull requests with fixes. :)</p>
 236
 237       </div>
 238       <div class="tags">
 239
 240
 241         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/opphavsrett">opphavsrett</a>.
 242
 243
 244       </div>
 245     </div>
 246     <div class="padding"></div>
 247
 248     <div class="entry">
 249       <div class="title">
 250         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__George_Bredberg.html">Debian Edu interview: George Bredberg</a>
 251       </div>
 252       <div class="date">
 253          9th July 2012
 254       </div>
 255       <div class="body">
 256         <p>The <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu /
 257 Skolelinux</a> project have users all over the globe, but until
 258 recently we have not known about any users in Norway's neighbour
 259 country Sweden.  This changed when George Bredberg showed up in March
 260 this year on the mailing list, asking interesting questions about how
 261 to adjust and scale the just released
 262 <a href="http://www.debian.org/News/2012/20120311.html">Debian Edu
 263 Wheezy</a> setup to his liking.  He granted me an interview, and I am
 264 happy to share his answers with you here.</p>
 265
 266 <p><strong>Who are you, and how do you spend your days?</strong></p>
 267
 268 <p>I'm a 44 year old country guy that have been working 12 years at
 269 the same school as 50% IT-manager and 50% Teacher. My educational
 270 background is fil.kand in history and religious beliefs, an exam as a
 271 "folkhighschool" teacher, that is, for teaching grownups.  In
 272 Norwegian I believe it's called "Vuxenupplaring". I also have a master
 273 in "Technology and social change". So I'm not really a tech guy, I
 274 just like to study how humans and technology interact and that is my
 275 perspective when working with IT.</p>
 276
 277 <p><strong>How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux/Debian Edu
 278 project?</strong></p>
 279
 280 I have followed the Skolelinux project for quite some time by
 281 now. Earlier I tested out the K12-LTSP project, which we used for some
 282 time, but I really like the idea of having a distribution aimed to be
 283 a complete solution for schools with necessary tools integrated. When
 284 K12-LTSP abandoned that idea some years ago, I started to look more
 285 seriously into Skolelinux instead.
 286
 287 <p><strong>What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux/Debian
 288 Edu?</strong></p>
 289
 290 The big point of Skolelinux to me is that it is a complete
 291 distribution, ready to install. It has LDAP-support, MS Windows
 292 integration tools and so forth already configured, saving an
 293 administrator a lot of time and headache. We were using another Linux
 294 based thin-client system called Thinlinc, that has served us very
 295 well. But that Skolelinux is based on VNC and LTSP, to me, is better
 296 when it comes to the kind of multimedia used in schools. That is
 297 showing videos from Youtube or educational TV. It is also easier to
 298 mix thin clients with workstations, since the user settings will be the
 299 same. In our VNC-based solution you had to "beat around the bush" by
 300 setting up a second, hidden, home-directory for user settings for the
 301 workstations, because they will be different from the ones used on the
 302 thin clients. Skolelinux support for diskless workstations are very
 303 convenient since a school today often need to use a class room
 304 projector showing videos in full screen. That is easily done with a
 305 small integrated media computer running as a diskless workstation. You
 306 have only two installs to update and configure. One for the thin
 307 clients and one for the workstations. Also saving a lot of time.  Our
 308 old system was also based on Redhat and CentOS. They are both very
 309 nice distributions, but they are sometimes painfully slow when it
 310 comes to updating multimedia support and multimedia programs (even
 311 such as Gimp), leaving us with a bit "oldish" applications. Debian is
 312 quicker to update.
 313
 314 <p><strong>What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux/Debian
 315 Edu?</strong></p>
 316
 317 <p>Debian is a bit too quick when it comes to updating. As an example
 318 we use old HP terminals as thinclients, and two times already this
 319 year (2012) the updates you get from the repositories has stopped
 320 sound from working with them.  It's a kernel/ALSA issue. So you have
 321 to be more careful properly testing the updates before you run them in
 322 a production environment. This has never happened with CentOS.</p>
 323
 324 <p>I also would like to be able to set my own domain-settings at
 325 install time.  In Skolelinux they are kind of hard coded into the
 326 distribution, when it comes to LDAP and at least samba integration.
 327 That is more a cosmetic/translation issue, and not a real problem.
 328 Running MS Windows applications within the Skolelinux environment needs
 329 to be better supported. That is, running them seamlessly via RDP, and
 330 support for single-sign on.  That will make the transition to free
 331 software easier, because you can keep the applications you really
 332 need.  No support will make it impossible if you work in a school where
 333 some applications can't be open source. As for us we really need to
 334 run Adobe InDesign in our journalist classes.  We run a journalist
 335 education, and is one of the very few non university ones that is ok:d
 336 by Svenska journalistförbundet (Swedish journalist association).  Our
 337 education gives the pupils the right of membership there, once they
 338 are done.  This is important if you want to get a job.</p>
 339
 340 <p>Adobe InDesign is the program most commonly used in newspapers and
 341 magazines.  We used Quark Express before, but they seem to loose there
 342 market to Adobe. The only "equivalent" to InDesign in the opensource
 343 world is Scribus, and its not advanced enough. At least not according
 344 to the teacher. I think it would be possible to use it, because they
 345 are not supposed to learn a program, they are supposed to learn how to
 346 edit and compile a newspaper.  But politically at our school we are not
 347 there yet.  And Scribus lacks a lot of things you find i InDesign.</p>
 348
 349 <p>We used even a windows program for sound editing when it comes to
 350 the radio-journalist part. The year to come we are going to try
 351 Audacity. That software has the same kind of limitations compared to
 352 Adobe Audition, but that teacher is a bit more open minded. We have
 353 tried Ardour also, but that instead is more like a music studio
 354 program, not intended for the kind of editing taking place in a radio
 355 studio. Its way to complex and the GUI is to scattered when you only
 356 want to cut, make pass-overs, add extra channels and normalise.  Those
 357 things you can do in Audacity, but its not as easy as in Audition. You
 358 have to do more things manually with envelopes, and that is a bit old
 359 fashion and timewasting. Its also harder to cut and move sound from
 360 one channel to another, which is a thing that you do frequently
 361 because you often find yourself needing to rearrange parts of the
 362 sound file.</p>
 363
 364 <p>So, I am not sure we will succeed in replacing even Audition, but we
 365 will try.  The problem is the students have certain expectations when
 366 they start an education towards a profession.  So the programs has to
 367 look and feel professional.  Good thing with radio, there are many
 368 programs out there, that radio studios use, so its not as standardised
 369 as Newspaper editing. That means, it does not really matter what
 370 program they learn, because once they start working they still have to
 371 learn the program the studio uses, so instead focus has to be to learn
 372 the editing part without to much focus on a specific software.</p>
 373
 374 <p><strong>Which free software do you use daily?</strong></p>
 375
 376 <p>Myself I'm running Linux Mint, or Ubuntu these days.  I use almost
 377 only open source software, and preferably Linux based. When it comes
 378 to most used applications its OpenOffice, and Firefox (of course ;)
 379 )</p>
 380
 381 <p><strong>Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to
 382 get schools to use free software?</strong></p>
 383
 384 <p>To get schools to use free software there has to be good open
 385 source software that are windows based, to ease the transition. But
 386 it's also very important that the multimedia support is working
 387 flawlessly.  The problems with Youtube, Twitter, Facebook and whatever
 388 will create problems when it comes to both teachers and
 389 students. Economy are also important for schools, so using thin
 390 clients, as long as they have good multimedia support, is a very good
 391 idea. It's also important that the open source software works even for
 392 the administration.  It's hard to convince the teachers to stick with
 393 open source, if the principal has to run Windows.  It also creates a
 394 problem if some classes has to use Windows for there tasks, since that
 395 will create a difference in "status" between classes, so a good
 396 support for running windows applications via the thin client (Linux)
 397 desktop is essential.  At least at our school, where we have mixed
 398 level of educations, from high-school to journalist-school.</p>
 399
 400 <p>Update 2012-07-09 08:30: Paul Wise tipped me on IRC about three
 401 useful sources related to Free Software for radio stations: the LWN
 402 article <a href="https://lwn.net/Articles/481607/">Radio station
 403 management with Airtime</a>,
 404 <a href="http://www.sourcefabric.org/en/airtime/">Airtime</a> which
 405 claim to be a Free open source radio automation software and
 406 <a href="http://www.rivendellaudio.org/">Rivendell</a> which claim to
 407 be complete radio broadcast automation solution.  All of them seem
 408 useful to the aspiring radio producer.</p>
 409
 410       </div>
 411       <div class="tags">
 412
 413
 414         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>.
 415
 416
 417       </div>
 418     </div>
 419     <div class="padding"></div>
 420
 421     <div class="entry">
 422       <div class="title">
 423         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Why_do_schools_waste_money_on_IT_.html">Why do schools waste money on IT?</a>
 424       </div>
 425       <div class="date">
 426          8th July 2012
 427       </div>
 428       <div class="body">
 429         <p>In the Debian Edu / Skolelinux project, we have realised that one
 430 of the major blockers for the project success is the purchasing skills
 431 in schools and municipalities.  We provide what the happy users of
 432 Debian Edu / Skolelinux say they need and to a lower cost than the
 433 alternatives, and yet so few schools decide to use our solution.  I
 434 was pleased to discover the same observation done by mySociety and Tom
 435 Steinberg in his blog post
 436 "<a href="http://www.mysociety.org/2012/06/19/can-you-recognize-the-million-pound-chair/">Can
 437 you recognize the million pound chair?</a>".  Read it and weep for the
 438 spending of your tax money.</p>
 439
 440 <p>Of course there are other factors involved as well, like our
 441 projects bad marketing skills and the Linux community fragmentation
 442 causing worry with the people on the outside, so we as a project need
 443 to keep working hard to gain users, but it is a up-hill battle when
 444 public decision makers are unable to understand computer system
 445 purchases.</p>
 446
 447       </div>
 448       <div class="tags">
 449
 450
 451         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>.
 452
 453
 454       </div>
 455     </div>
 456     <div class="padding"></div>
 457
 458     <div class="entry">
 459       <div class="title">
 460         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Free_Timetabling_Software___nice_free_software.html">Free Timetabling Software - nice free software</a>
 461       </div>
 462       <div class="date">
 463          7th July 2012
 464       </div>
 465       <div class="body">
 466         <p>Included in <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu /
 467 Skolelinux</a> is a large collection of end user and school specific
 468 software.  It is one of the packages not installed by default but
 469 provided in the Debian archive for schools to install if they want to,
 470 is a system to automatically plan the school time table using
 471 information about available teachers, classes and rooms, combined with
 472 the list of required courses and how many hours each topic should
 473 receive.  The software is
 474
 475 <a href="http://lalescu.ro/liviu/fet/">named FET</a>, and it provide a
 476 graphical user interface to input the required information, save the
 477 result in a fairly simple XML format, and generate time tables for
 478 both teachers and students.  It is available both for
 479 <a href="http://lalescu.ro/liviu/fet/download.html">Linux, MacOSX and
 480 Windows</a>.</p>
 481
 482 <p>This is <a href="http://lalescu.ro/liviu/fet/features.html">the
 483 feature list</a>, liftet from the project web site:</p>
 484
 485 <p><ul>
 486
 487   <li>FET is free software, licensed under the GNU GPL v2 or later.
 488     You can freely use, copy, modify and redistribute it </li>
 489
 490   <li>Localized to en_US (US English, default), ar (Arabic), ca
 491     (Catalan), da (Danish), de (German), el (Greek), es (Spanish), fa
 492     (Persian), fr (French), gl (Galician), he (Hebrew), hu
 493     (Hungarian), id (Indonesian), it (Italian), lt (Lithuanian), mk
 494     (Macedonian), ms (Malay), nl (Dutch), pl (Polish), pt_BR
 495     (Brazilian Portuguese), ro (Romanian), ru (Russian), si (Sinhala),
 496     sk (Slovak), sr (Serbian), tr (Turkish), uk (Ukrainian), uz
 497     (Uzbek) and vi (Vietnamese) (incompletely for some languages)
 498     </li>
 499
 500   <li>Fully automatic generation algorithm, allowing also
 501     semi-automatic or manual allocation</li>
 502
 503   <li>Platform independent implementation, allowing running on
 504     GNU/Linux, Windows, Mac and any system that Qt supports </li>
 505
 506   <li>Flexible modular XML format for the input file, allowing editing
 507     with an XML editor or by hand (besides FET interface)</li>
 508
 509   <li>Import/export from CSV format</li>
 510
 511   <li>The resulted timetables are exported into HTML, XML and CSV
 512     formats </li>
 513
 514   <li>Flexible students structure, organized into sets: years, groups
 515     and subgroups. FET allows overlapping years and groups and
 516     non-overlapping subgroups. You can even define individual students
 517     (as separate sets)</li>
 518
 519   <li>Each constraint has a weight percentage, from 0.0% to 100.0%
 520     (but some special constraints are allowed to have only 100% weight
 521     percentage)</li>
 522
 523   <li>Limits for the algorithm (all these limits can be increased on
 524     demand, as a custom version, because this would require a bit more
 525     memory):
 526     <ul>
 527       <li>Maximum total number of hours (periods) per day: 60</li>
 528       <li>Maximum number of working days per week: 35</li>
 529       <li>Maximum total number of teachers: 6000</li>
 530       <li>Maximum total number of sets of students: 30000</li>
 531       <li>Maximum total number of subjects: 6000</li>
 532       <li>Virtually unlimited number of activity tags</li>
 533       <li>Maximum number of activities: 30000</li>
 534       <li>Maximum number of rooms: 6000</li>
 535       <li>Maximum number of buildings: 6000</li>
 536       <li>Possibility of adding multiple teachers and
 537           students sets for each activity.  (it is possible
 538           also to have no teachers or no students sets for an
 539           activity)</li>
 540       <li>Virtually unlimited number of time constraints</li>
 541       <li>Virtually unlimited number of space constraints</li>
 542     </ul></li>
 543
 544   <li>A large and flexible palette of time constraints:
 545     <ul>
 546       <li>Break periods</li>
 547       <li>For teacher(s):
 548         <ul>
 549           <li>Not available periods</li>
 550           <li>Max/min days per week</li>
 551           <li>Max gaps per day/week</li>
 552           <li>Max hours daily/continuously</li>
 553           <li>Min hours daily</li>
 554           <li>Max hours daily/continuously with an activity tag</li>
 555
 556           <li>Respect working in an hourly interval a max number of
 557             days per week</li>
 558         </ul></li>
 559       <li>For students (sets):
 560         <ul>
 561           <li>Not available periods</li>
 562           <li>Begins early (specify max allowed beginnings at second hour)</li>
 563           <li>Max gaps per day/week</li>
 564           <li>Max hours daily/continuously</li>
 565           <li>Min hours daily</li>
 566           <li>Max hours daily/continuously with an activity tag</li>
 567
 568           <li>Respect working in an hourly interval a max number of
 569             days per week</li>
 570         </ul></li>
 571       <li>For an activity or a set of activities/subactivities:
 572         <ul>
 573           <li>A single preferred starting time</li>
 574           <li>A set of preferred starting times</li>
 575           <li>A set of preferred time slots</li>
 576           <li>Min/max days between them</li>
 577           <li>End(s) students day</li>
 578           <li>Same starting time/day/hour</li>
 579           <li>Occupy max time slots from selection (a complex and
 580             flexible constraint, useful in many situations)</li>
 581           <li>Consecutive, ordered, grouped (for 2 or 3 (sub)activities)</li>
 582           <li>Not overlapping</li>
 583           <li>Max simultaneous in selected time slots</li>
 584           <li>Min gaps between a set of (sub)activities</li>
 585         </ul></li>
 586     </ul></li>
 587
 588   <li>A large and flexible palette of space constraints:
 589     <ul>
 590       <li>Room not available periods</li>
 591       <li>For teacher(s):
 592         <ul>
 593           <li>Home room(s)</li>
 594           <li>Max building changes per day/week</li>
 595           <li>Min gaps between building changes</li>
 596         </ul>
 597       </li>
 598
 599       <li>For students (sets):
 600         <ul>
 601           <li>Home room(s)</li>
 602           <li>Max building changes per day/week</li>
 603           <li>Min gaps between building changes</li>
 604         </ul>
 605       </li>
 606       <li>Preferred room(s):
 607         <ul>
 608           <li>For a subject</li>
 609           <li>For an activity tag</li>
 610           <li>For a subject and an activity tag</li>
 611           <li>Individually for a (sub)activity</li>
 612         </ul>
 613       </li>
 614
 615       <li>For a set of activities:
 616         <ul>
 617           <li>Occupy a maximum number of different rooms</li>
 618         </ul>
 619       </li>
 620     </ul>
 621   </li>
 622 </ul></p>
 623
 624 <p>I have not used it myself, as I am not involved in time table
 625 planning at a school, but it seem to work fine when I test it.  If you
 626 need to set up your schools time table, and is tired of doing it
 627 manually, check it out.
 628
 629 A quick summary on how to use it can be found in
 630 <a href="http://marvelsoft.co.in/wp/2012/03/generate-timetable-for-state-cbse-icse-igcse-schools-free/">a
 631 blog post from MarvelSoft</a>.  If you find FET useful, please provide
 632 a recipe for the Debian Edu project in the
 633 <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu#Howtos">Debian Edu HowTo
 634 section</a>.</p>
 635
 636       </div>
 637       <div class="tags">
 638
 639
 640         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>.
 641
 642
 643       </div>
 644     </div>
 645     <div class="padding"></div>
 646
 647     <div class="entry">
 648       <div class="title">
 649         <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>
 650       </div>
 651       <div class="date">
 652          3rd July 2012
 653       </div>
 654       <div class="body">
 655         <p>In the NUUG <a href="http://www.fiksgatami.no/">FiksGataMi</a>
 656 project (Norwegian version of
 657 <a href="http://www.fixmystreet.com/">FixMyStreet</a> from
 658 <a href="http://www.mysociety.org/">mySociety</a>), we have discovered
 659 a problem with the municipalities using
 660 <a href="http://www.zimbra.com/">Zimbra</a>.  When FiksGataMi send a
 661 problem report to the government, the email From: address is set to
 662 the address of the person reporting the problem, while envelope sender
 663 is set to the FiksGataMi contact address.  The intention is to make
 664 sure the municipality send any replies to the person reporting the
 665 problem, while any email delivery problems are sent to us in NUUG.
 666 This work well in most cases, but not for Karmøy municipality using
 667 Zimbra.  Karmøy is using the vacation message function in Zimbra to
 668 send an automatic reply to report that the message has been received,
 669 and this message is sent to the envelope sender and not the address in
 670 the From: header.</p>
 671
 672 <p>This causes the automatic message from Karmøy to go to NUUGs
 673 request-tracker instance instead of to the person reporting the
 674 problem.  We can not really change the envelope sender address, as
 675 this would make it impossible for us to discover when there are
 676 problems with the MTAs receiving problem reports.  We have been in
 677 contact with the people at Karmøy municipality, and they are willing
 678 to adjust Zimbra if something can be changed there to get a better
 679 behaviour.</p>
 680
 681 <p>The default behaviour of Zimbra is as far as I can tell according
 682 to the specification in RFC 3834, which recommend that vacation
 683 messages are sent to the envelope sender and not to the From: address.
 684 But I wonder if it is possible to adjust or configure Zimbra to behave
 685 differently.  Anyone know?  Please let us know at
 686 <a href="http://lists.nuug.no/mailman/listinfo/fiksgatami">fiksgatami
 687 (at) nuug.no</a>.</p>
 688
 689       </div>
 690       <div class="tags">
 691
 692
 693         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>.
 694
 695
 696       </div>
 697     </div>
 698     <div class="padding"></div>
 699
 700     <div class="entry">
 701       <div class="title">
 702         <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>
 703       </div>
 704       <div class="date">
 705         26th June 2012
 706       </div>
 707       <div class="body">
 708         <p>I've been too busy at home, but finally I found time to wrap up
 709 another interview with the people behind
 710 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu and Skolelinux</a>.
 711 This time we get to know José Luis Redrejo Rodríguez, one of our great
 712 helpers from Spain.  His effort was the reason we added support for
 713 several desktop types (KDE, Gnome and most recently LXDE) in Debian
 714 Edu, and have all of these available in the recently published
 715 <a href="http://www.debian.org/News/2012/20120311.html">Debian Edu
 716 Squeeze</a> version.</p>
 717
 718 <p><strong>Who are you, and how do you spend your days?</strong></p>
 719
 720 <p>I'm a father, teacher and engineer who is working for the Education
 721 ministry of the Region of Extremadura (Spain) in the implementation of
 722 ICT in schools</p>
 723
 724 <p><strong>How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux/Debian Edu
 725 project?</strong></p>
 726
 727 <p>At 2006, I verified that both, we in Extremadura and Skolelinux
 728 project, had been working in parallel for some years, doing very
 729 similar things, using very similar tools and with similar targets, so
 730 I decided it was time to join forces as much as possible.</p>
 731
 732 <p><strong>What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux/Debian
 733 Edu?</strong></p>
 734
 735 <p>A community of highly skilled experts working together, with a
 736 really open schema of collaboration and work. I really love the
 737 concepts of Do-ocracy and Merit-ocracy and the way these concepts are
 738 been used everyday inside Debian Edu.</p>
 739
 740 <p><strong>What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux/Debian
 741 Edu?</strong></p>
 742
 743 <p>Sometimes the differences in the implementations, laws or
 744 economical and technical resources in the different countries don't
 745 allow us to agree in the same solution for all of us, and several
 746 approaches are needed, what is a waste of effort. Also, there is a
 747 lack of more man power to be able to follow the fast evolution of the
 748 technologies in school.</p>
 749
 750 <p><strong>Which free software do you use daily?</strong></p>
 751
 752 <p>Debian, of course, and due to my kind of job I am most of my time
 753 between Iceweasel, <a href="http://www.geany.org/">Geany</a> and
 754 <a href="http://www.ohloh.net/p/gnome-terminator">Terminator</a>.</p>
 755
 756 <p><strong>Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to
 757 get schools to use free software?</strong></p>
 758
 759 <p>I think there is not a single strategy because there are very
 760 different scenarios: schools with mixed proprietary and free
 761 environments, schools using only workstations, other schools using
 762 laptops, netbooks, tablets, interactive white-boards, etc.</p>
 763
 764 <p>Also the range of ages of the students is very broad and you can
 765 not use the same solutions for primary schools and secondary or even
 766 universities. So different strategies are needed.</p>
 767
 768 <p>But, looking at these differences, and looking back to the things
 769 we've done and implemented, and the places were we have spent most of
 770 our forces, I think we should focus as much as possible in free
 771 multi-platform environments, using only standards tools, and moving
 772 more and more to Internet or network solutions that could be deployed
 773 using wireless. I think we'll see more and more personal devices in
 774 the schools, devices the students and teachers will take home with
 775 them, so the solutions must be able to be taken at home and continue
 776 working there.</p>
 777
 778       </div>
 779       <div class="tags">
 780
 781
 782         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>.
 783
 784
 785       </div>
 786     </div>
 787     <div class="padding"></div>
 788
 789     <div class="entry">
 790       <div class="title">
 791         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Song_book_for_Computer_Scientists.html">Song book for Computer Scientists</a>
 792       </div>
 793       <div class="date">
 794         24th June 2012
 795       </div>
 796       <div class="body">
 797         <p>Many years ago, while studying Computer Science at the
 798 <a href="http://www.uit.no/">University of Tromsø</a>, I started
 799 collecting computer related songs for use at parties.  The original
 800 version was written in LaTeX, but a few years ago I got help from
 801 Håkon W. Lie, one of the inventors of W3C CSS, to convert it to HTML
 802 while keeping the ability to create a nice book in PDF format.  I have
 803 not had time to maintain the book for a while now, and guess I should
 804 put it up on some public version control repository where others can
 805 help me extend and update the book.  If anyone is volunteering to help
 806 me with this, send me an email.  Also let me know if there are songs
 807 missing in my book.</p>
 808
 809 <p>I have not mentioned the book on my blog so far, and it occured to
 810 me today that I really should let all my readers share the joys of
 811 singing out load about programming, computers and computer networks.
 812 Especially now that <a href="http://debconf12.debconf.org/">Debconf
 813 12</a> is about to start (and I am not going).  Want to sing?  Check
 814 out <a href="http://www.hungry.com/~pere/cs-songbook/">Petter's
 815 Computer Science Songbook</a>.
 816
 817       </div>
 818       <div class="tags">
 819
 820
 821         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>.
 822
 823
 824       </div>
 825     </div>
 826     <div class="padding"></div>
 827
 828     <div class="entry">
 829       <div class="title">
 830         <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>
 831       </div>
 832       <div class="date">
 833         11th June 2012
 834       </div>
 835       <div class="body">
 836         <p>During my work on
 837 <a href="http://www.debian.org/News/2012/20120311.nb.html">Debian Edu
 838 based on Squeeze</a>, I came across some issues that should be
 839 addressed in the Wheezy release.  I finally found time to wrap up my
 840 notes and provide quick summary of what I found, with a bit
 841 explanation.</p>
 842
 843 <p><ul>
 844
 845 <li>We need to rewrite our package installation framework, as tasksel
 846 changed from using tasksel tasks to using meta packages (aka packages
 847 with dependencies like our education-* packages), and our installation
 848 system depend on tasksel tasks in
 849 /usr/share/tasksel/debian-edu-tasks.desc for package
 850 installation.</li>
 851
 852 <li>Enable Kerberos login for more services.  Now with the Kerberos
 853 foundation in place, we should use it to get single sign on with more
 854 services, and avoiding unneeded password / login questions.  We should
 855 at least try to enable it for these services:
 856 <ul>
 857
 858   <li>CUPS for admins to add/configure printers and users when using
 859     quotas.</li>
 860   <li>Nagios for admins checking the system status.</li>
 861   <li>GOsa for admins updating LDAP and users changing their passwords.</li>
 862   <li>LDAP for admins updating LDAP.</li>
 863   <li>Squid for users when exam mode / filtering is active.</li>
 864   <li>ssh for admins and users to save a password prompt.</li>
 865
 866 </ul></li>
 867
 868 <li>When we move GOsa to use Kerberos instead of LDAP bind to
 869 authenticate users, we should try to block or at least limit access to
 870 use LDAP bind for authentication, to ensure Kerberos is used when it
 871 is intended, and nothing fall back to using the less safe LDAP bind</li>
 872
 873 <li>Merge debian-edu-config and debian-edu-install.  The split made
 874 sense when d-e-install did a lot more, but these days it is just an
 875 inconvenience when we update the debconf preseeding values.</li>
 876
 877 <li>Fix partman-auto to allow us to abort the installation before
 878 touching the disk if the disk is too small.  This is
 879 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/653305">BTS report #653305</a> and the
 880 d-i developers are fine with the patch and someone just need to apply
 881 it and upload.  After this is done we need to adjust
 882 debian-edu-install to use this new hook.</li>
 883
 884 <li>Adjust to new LTSP framework (boot time config instead of install
 885 time config).  LTSP changed its design, and our hooks to install
 886 packages and update the configuration is most likely not going to work
 887 in Wheezy.
 888
 889 <li>Consider switching to NBD instead of NFS for LTSP root, to allow
 890 the Kernel to cache files in its normal file cache, possibly speeding
 891 up KDE login on slow networks.</li>
 892
 893 <li>Make it possible to create expired user passwords that need to
 894 change on first login.  This is useful when handing out password on
 895 paper, to make sure only the user know the password.  This require
 896 fixes to the PAM handling of kdm and gdm.</li>
 897
 898 <li>Make GUI for adding new machines automatically from sitesummary.
 899 The current command line script is not very friendly to people most
 900 familiar with GUIs.  This should probably be integrated into GOsa to
 901 have it available where the admin will be looking for it..</li>
 902
 903 <li>We should find way for Nagios to check that the DHCP service
 904 actually is working (as in handling out IP addresses).  None of the
 905 Nagios checks I have found so far have been working for me.</li>
 906
 907 <li>We should switch from libpam-nss-ldapd to sssd for all profiles
 908 using LDAP, and not only on for roaming workstations, to have less
 909 packages to configure and consistent setup across all profiles.</li>
 910
 911 <li>We should configure Kerberos to update LDAP and Samba password
 912 when changing password using the Kerberos protocol.  The hook was
 913 requested in <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/588968">BTS report
 914 #588968</a> and is now available in Wheezy.  We might need to write a
 915 MIT Kerberos plugin in C to get this.</li>
 916
 917 <li>We should clean up the set of applications installed by default.
 918 <ul>
 919
 920 <li>reduce the number of chemistry visualisers</li>
 921 <li>consider dropping xpaint</li>
 922 <li>and probably more?</li>
 923 </ul></li>
 924
 925 <li>Some hardware need external firmware to work properly.  This is
 926 mostly the case for WiFi network cards, but there are some other
 927 examples too.  For popular laptops to work out of the box, such
 928 firmware need to be installed from non-free, and we should provide
 929 some GUI to do this.  Ubuntu already have this implemented, and we
 930 could consider using their packages.  At the moment we have some
 931 command line script to do this (one for the running system, another
 932 for the LTSP chroot).</li>
 933
 934
 935 <li>In Squeeze, we provide KDE, Gnome and LXDE as desktop options.  We
 936 should extend the list to Xfce and Sugar, and preferably find a way to
 937 install several and allow the admin or the user to select which one to
 938 use.</li>
 939
 940 <li>The golearn tool from the goplay package make it easy to check out
 941 interesting educational packages.  We should work on the package
 942 tagging in Debian to ensure it represent all the useful educational
 943 packages, and extend the tool to allow it to use packagekit to install
 944 new applications with a simple mouse click.</li>
 945
 946 <li>The Squeeze version got half a exam solution already in place,
 947 with the introduction of iptable based network blocking, but for it to
 948 be a complete exam solution the Squid proxy need to enable
 949 filtering/blocking as well when the exam mode is enabled.  We should
 950 implement a way to easily enable this for the schools that want it,
 951 instead of the "it is documented" method of today.</li>
 952
 953 <li>A feature used in several schools is the ability for a teacher to
 954 "take over" the desktop of individual or all computers in the room.
 955 There are at least three implementations,
 956 <a href="italc.sourceforge.net/">italc</a>,
 957 <a href="http://www.itais.net/help/en/">controlaula</a> og
 958 <a href="http://www.epoptes.org/">epoptes</a> and we should pick one of
 959 them and make it trivial to set it up in a school.  The challenges is
 960 how to distribute crypto keys and how to group computers in one room
 961 and how to set up which machine/user can control the machines in a
 962 given room.</li>
 963
 964 <li>Tablets and surf boards are getting more and more popular, and we
 965 should look into providing a good solution for integrating these into
 966 the Debian Edu network.  Not quite sure how.  Perhaps we should
 967 provide a installation profile with better touch screen support for
 968 them, or add some sync services to allow them to exchange
 969 configuration and data with the central server.  This should be
 970 investigated.</li>
 971
 972 </ul></p>
 973
 974 <p>I guess we will discover more as we continue to work on the Wheezy
 975 version.</p>
 976
 977       </div>
 978       <div class="tags">
 979
 980
 981         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>.
 982
 983
 984       </div>
 985     </div>
 986     <div class="padding"></div>
 987
 988     <div class="entry">
 989       <div class="title">
 990         <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>
 991       </div>
 992       <div class="date">
 993          9th June 2012
 994       </div>
 995       <div class="body">
 996         <p>Slashdot got a story about Intel planning a
 997 <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
 998 with face recognition</a> to recognise the viewer, and it occurred to
 999 me that it would be more interesting to turn it around, and do face
1000 recognition on the TV image itself.  It could let the viewer know who
1001 is present on the screen, and perhaps look up their credibility,
1002 company affiliation, previous appearances etc for the viewer to better
1003 evaluate what is being said and done.  That would be a feature I would
1004 be willing to pay for.</p>
1005
1006 <p>I would not be willing to pay for a TV that point a camera on my
1007 household, like the big brother feature apparently proposed by Intel.
1008 It is the telescreen idea fetched straight out of the book
1009 <a href="http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks01/0100021.txt">1984 by George
1010 Orwell</a>.</p>
1011
1012       </div>
1013       <div class="tags">
1014
1015
1016         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>.
1017
1018
1019       </div>
1020     </div>
1021     <div class="padding"></div>
1022
1023     <div class="entry">
1024       <div class="title">
1025         <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>
1026       </div>
1027       <div class="date">
1028          6th June 2012
1029       </div>
1030       <div class="body">
1031         <p>A few days ago
1032 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/SOAP_based_webservice_from_Dell_to_check_server_support_status.html">I
1033 reported how to get</a> the support status out of Dell using an
1034 unofficial and undocumented SOAP API, which I since have found out was
1035 <a href="http://lists.us.dell.com/pipermail/linux-poweredge/2012-February/045959.html">discovered
1036 by Daniel De Marco in february</a>.  Combined with my web scraping
1037 code for HP, Dell and IBM
1038 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Checking_server_hardware_support_status_for_Dell__HP_and_IBM_servers.html">from
1039 2009</a>, I got inspired and wrote
1040 <a href="https://views.scraperwiki.com/run/computer-hardware-support-status/">a
1041 web service</a> based on Scraperwiki to make it easy to look up the
1042 support status and get a machine readable result back.</p>
1043
1044 <p>This is what it look like at the moment when asking for the JSON
1045 output:
1046
1047 <blockquote><pre>
1048 % 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>
1049 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": ""})
1050 %
1051 </pre></blockquote>
1052
1053 <p>It currently support Dell and HP, and I am hoping for help to add
1054 support for other vendors.  The python source is available on
1055 Scraperwiki and I welcome help with adding more features.</p>
1056
1057       </div>
1058       <div class="tags">
1059
1060
1061         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>.
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/Debian_Edu_interview__Mike_Gabriel.html">Debian Edu interview: Mike Gabriel</a>
1071       </div>
1072       <div class="date">
1073          2nd June 2012
1074       </div>
1075       <div class="body">
1076         <p>Back in 2010, Mike Gabriel showed up on the
1077 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu and Skolelinux</a>
1078 mailing list.  He quickly proved to be a valuable developer, and
1079 thanks to his tireless effort we now have Kerberos integrated into the
1080 <a href="http://www.debian.org/News/2012/20120311.html">Debian Edu
1081 Squeeze</a> version.</p>
1082
1083 <p><strong>Who are you, and how do you spend your days?</strong></p>
1084
1085 <p>My name is Mike Gabriel, I am 38 years old and live near Kiel,
1086 Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. I live together with a wonderful partner
1087 (Angela Fuß) and two own children and two bonus children (contributed
1088 by Angela).</p>
1089
1090 <p>During the day I am part-time employed as a system administrator
1091 and part-time working as an IT consultant. The consultancy work
1092 touches free software topics wherever and whenever possible. During
1093 the nights I am a free software developer. In the gaps I also train in
1094 becoming an osteopath.</p>
1095
1096 <p>Starting in 2010 we (Andreas Buchholz, Angela Fuß, Mike Gabriel)
1097 have set up a free software project in the area of Kiel that aims at
1098 introducing free software into schools. The project's name is
1099 "IT-Zukunft Schule" (IT future for schools). The project links IT
1100 skills with communication skills.</p>
1101
1102 <p><strong>How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux/Debian Edu
1103 project?</strong></p>
1104
1105 <p>While preparing our own customised Linux distribution for
1106 "IT-Zukunft Schule" we were repeatedly asked if we really wanted to
1107 reinvent the wheel. What schools really need is already available,
1108 people said.  From this impulse we started evaluating other Linux
1109 distributions that target being used for school networks.</p>
1110
1111 <p>At the end we short-listed two approaches and compared them: a
1112 commercial Linux distribution developed by a company in Bremen,
1113 Germany, and Skolelinux / Debian Edu. Between 12/2010 and 03/2011 we
1114 went to several events and met people being responsible for marketing
1115 and development of either of the distributions. Skolelinux / Debian
1116 Edu was by far much more convincing compared to the other product that
1117 got short-listed beforehand--across the full spectrum. What was most
1118 attractive for me personally: the perspective of collaboration within
1119 the developmental branch of the Debian Edu project itself.</p>
1120
1121 <p>In parallel with this, we talked to many local and not-so-local
1122 people.  People teaching at schools, headmasters, politicians, data
1123 protection experts, other IT professionals.</p>
1124
1125 <p>We came to two conclusions:</p>
1126
1127 <p>First, a technical conclusion: What schools need is available in
1128 bits and pieces here and there, and none of the solutions really fit
1129 by 100%. Any school we have seen has a very individual IT setup
1130 whereas most of each school's requirements could mapped by a standard
1131 IT solution.  The requirement to this IT solution is flexibility and
1132 customisability, so that individual adaptations here and there are
1133 possible.  In terms of re-distributing and rolling out such a
1134 standardised IT system for schools (a system that is still to some
1135 degree customisable) there is still a lot of work to do here
1136 locally. Debian Edu / Skolelinux has been our choice as the starting
1137 point.</p>
1138
1139 <p>Second, a holistic conclusion: What schools need does not exist at
1140 all (or we missed it so far). There are several technical solutions
1141 for handling IT at schools that tend to make a good impression. What
1142 has been missing completely here in Germany, though, is the enrolment
1143 of people into using IT and teaching with IT. "IT-Zukunft Schule"
1144 tries to provide an approach for this.</p>
1145
1146 <p>Only some schools have some sort of a media concept which explains,
1147 defines and gives guidance on how to use IT in class. Most schools in
1148 Northern Germany do not have an IT service provider, the school's IT
1149 equipment is managed by one or (if the school is lucky) two (admin)
1150 teachers, most of the workload these admin teachers get done in there
1151 spare time.</p>
1152
1153 <p>We were surprised that only a very few admin teachers were
1154 networked with colleagues from other schools. Basically, every school
1155 here around has its individual approach of providing IT equipment to
1156 teachers and students and the exchange of ideas has been quasi
1157 non-existent until 2010/2011.</p>
1158
1159 <p>Quite some (non-admin) teachers try to avoid using IT technology in
1160 class as a learning medium completely. Several reasons for this
1161 avoidance do exist.</p>
1162
1163 <p>We discovered that no-one has ever taken a closer look at this
1164 social part of IT management in schools, so far. On our quest journey
1165 for a technical IT solution for schools, we discussed this issue with
1166 several teachers, headmasters, politicians, other IT professionals and
1167 they all confirmed: a holistic approach of considering IT management
1168 at schools, an approach that includes the people in place, will be new
1169 and probably a gain for all.</p>
1170
1171 <p><strong>What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux/Debian
1172 Edu?</strong></p>
1173
1174 <p>There is a list of advantages: international context, openness to
1175 any kind of contributions, do-ocracy policy, the closeness to Debian,
1176 the different installation scenarios possible (from stand-alone
1177 workstation to complex multi-server sites), the transparency within
1178 project communication, honest communication within the group of
1179 developers, etc.</p>
1180
1181 <p><strong>What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux/Debian
1182 Edu?</strong></p>
1183
1184 <p>Every coin has two sides:</p>
1185
1186 <p>Technically: <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/311188">BTS issue
1187 #311188</a>, tricky upgradability of a Debian Edu main server, network
1188 client installations on top of a plain vanilla Debian installation
1189 should become possible sometime in the near future, one could think
1190 about splitting the very complex package debian-edu-config into
1191 several portions (to make it easier for new developers to
1192 contribute).</p>
1193
1194 <p>Another issue I see is that we (as Debian Edu developers) should
1195 find out more about the network of people who do the marketing for
1196 Debian Edu / Skolelinux. There is a very active group in Germany
1197 promoting Skolelinux on the bigger Linux Days within Germany. Are
1198 there other groups like that in other countries? How can we bring
1199 these marketing people together (marketing group A with group B and
1200 all of them with the group of Debian Edu developers)? During the last
1201 meeting of the German Skolelinux group, I got the impression of people
1202 there being rather disconnected from the development department of
1203 Debian Edu / Skolelinux.</p>
1204
1205 <p><strong>Which free software do you use daily?</strong></p>
1206
1207 <p>For my daily business, I do not use commercial software at all.</p>
1208
1209 <p>For normal stuff I use Iceweasel/Firefox, Libreoffice.org. For
1210 serious text writing I prefer LaTeX. I use gimp, inkscape, scribus for
1211 more artistic tasks. I run virtual machines in KVM and Virtualbox.</p>
1212
1213 <p>I am one of the upstream developers of X2Go. In 2010 I started the
1214 development of a Python based X2Go Client, called PyHoca-GUI.
1215 PyHoca-GUI has brought forth a Python X2Go Client API that currently
1216 is being integrated in Ubuntu's software center.</p>
1217
1218 <p>For communications I have my own Kolab server running using Horde
1219 as web-based groupware client. For IRC I love to use irssi, for Jabber
1220 I have several clients that I use, mostly pidgin, though. I am also
1221 the Debian maintainer of Coccinella, a Jabber-based interactive
1222 whiteboard.</p>
1223
1224 <p>My favourite terminal emulator is KDE's Yakuake.</p>
1225
1226 <p><strong>Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to
1227 get schools to use free software?</strong></p>
1228
1229 <p>Communicate, communicate, communicate. Enrol people, enrol people,
1230 enrol people.</p>
1231
1232       </div>
1233       <div class="tags">
1234
1235
1236         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>.
1237
1238
1239       </div>
1240     </div>
1241     <div class="padding"></div>
1242
1243     <div class="entry">
1244       <div class="title">
1245         <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>
1246       </div>
1247       <div class="date">
1248          1st June 2012
1249       </div>
1250       <div class="body">
1251         <p>A few years ago I wrote
1252 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Checking_server_hardware_support_status_for_Dell__HP_and_IBM_servers.html">how
1253 to extract support status</a> for your Dell and HP servers.  Recently
1254 I have learned from colleges here at the
1255 <a href="http://www.uio.no/">University of Oslo</a> that Dell have
1256 made this even easier, by providing a SOAP based web service.  Given
1257 the service tag, one can now query the Dell servers and get machine
1258 readable information about the support status.  This perl code
1259 demonstrate how to do it:</p>
1260
1261 <p><pre>
1262 use strict;
1263 use warnings;
1264 use SOAP::Lite;
1265 use Data::Dumper;
1266 my $GUID = '11111111-1111-1111-1111-111111111111';
1267 my $App = 'test';
1268 my $servicetag = $ARGV[0] or die "Please supply a servicetag. $!\n";
1269 my ($deal, $latest, @dates);
1270 my $s = SOAP::Lite
1271     -> uri('http://support.dell.com/WebServices/')
1272     -> on_action( sub { join '', @_ } )
1273     -> proxy('http://xserv.dell.com/services/assetservice.asmx')
1274     ;
1275 my $a = $s->GetAssetInformation(
1276     SOAP::Data->name('guid')->value($GUID)->type(''),
1277     SOAP::Data->name('applicationName')->value($App)->type(''),
1278     SOAP::Data->name('serviceTags')->value($servicetag)->type(''),
1279 );
1280 print Dumper($a -> result) ;
1281 </pre></p>
1282
1283 <p>The output can look like this:</p>
1284
1285 <p><pre>
1286 $VAR1 = {
1287           'Asset' => {
1288                      'Entitlements' => {
1289                                        'EntitlementData' => [
1290                                                             {
1291                                                               'EntitlementType' => 'Expired',
1292                                                               'EndDate' => '2009-07-29T00:00:00',
1293                                                               'Provider' => '',
1294                                                               'StartDate' => '2006-07-29T00:00:00',
1295                                                               'DaysLeft' => '0'
1296                                                             },
1297                                                             {
1298                                                               'EntitlementType' => 'Expired',
1299                                                               'EndDate' => '2009-07-29T00:00:00',
1300                                                               'Provider' => '',
1301                                                               'StartDate' => '2006-07-29T00:00:00',
1302                                                               'DaysLeft' => '0'
1303                                                             },
1304                                                             {
1305                                                               'EntitlementType' => 'Expired',
1306                                                               'EndDate' => '2007-07-29T00:00:00',
1307                                                               'Provider' => '',
1308                                                               'StartDate' => '2006-07-29T00:00:00',
1309                                                               'DaysLeft' => '0'
1310                                                             }
1311                                                           ]
1312                                      },
1313                      'AssetHeaderData' => {
1314                                           'SystemModel' => 'GX620',
1315                                           'ServiceTag' => '8DSGD2J',
1316                                           'SystemShipDate' => '2006-07-29T19:00:00-05:00',
1317                                           'Buid' => '2323',
1318                                           'Region' => 'Europe',
1319                                           'SystemID' => 'PLX_GX620',
1320                                           'SystemType' => 'OptiPlex'
1321                                         }
1322                    }
1323         };
1324 </pre></p>
1325
1326 <p>I have not been able to find any documentation from Dell about this
1327 service outside the
1328 <a href="http://xserv.dell.com/services/assetservice.asmx?op=GetAssetInformation">inline
1329 documentation</a>, and according to
1330 <a href="http://iboyd.net/index.php/2012/02/14/updated-dell-warranty-information-script/">one
1331 comment</a> it can have stability issues, but it is a lot better than
1332 scraping HTML pages. :)</p>
1333
1334 <p>Wonder if HP and other server vendors have a similar service.  If
1335 you know of one, drop me an email. :)</p>
1336
1337       </div>
1338       <div class="tags">
1339
1340
1341         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>.
1342
1343
1344       </div>
1345     </div>
1346     <div class="padding"></div>
1347
1348     <div class="entry">
1349       <div class="title">
1350         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/First_monitor_calibration_using_ColorHug.html">First monitor calibration using ColorHug</a>
1351       </div>
1352       <div class="date">
1353         31st May 2012
1354       </div>
1355       <div class="body">
1356         <p>A few days ago my color calibration gadget
1357 <a href="http://www.hughski.com/index.html">ColorHug</a> arrived in the
1358 mail, and I've had a few days to test it.  As all my machines are
1359 running Debian Squeeze, where
1360 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/c/colorhug-client.html">the
1361 calibration software</a> is missing (it is present in Wheezy and Sid),
1362 I ran the calibration using the Fedora based live CD.  This worked
1363 just fine.  So far I have only done the quick calibration.  It was
1364 slow enough for me, so I will leave the more extensive calibration for
1365 another day.</p>
1366
1367 <p>After calibration, I get a
1368 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ICC_profile">ICC color
1369 profile</a> file that can be passed to programs understanding such
1370 tools.  KDE do not seem to understand it out of the box, so I searched
1371 for command line tools to use to load the color profile into X.
1372 xcalib was the first one I found, and it seem to work fine for single
1373 monitor setups.  But for my video player, a laptop with a flat screen
1374 attached, it was unable to load the color profile for the correct
1375 monitor.  After searching a bit, I
1376 <a href="http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1347896">discovered</a>
1377 that the dispwin tool from the argyll package would do what I wanted,
1378 and a simple</p>
1379
1380 <p><pre>
1381 dispwin -d 1 profile.icc
1382 </pre></p>
1383
1384 <p>later I had the color profile loaded for the correct monitor.  The
1385 result was a bit more pink than I expected.  I guess I picked the
1386 wrong monitor type for the "led" monitor I got, but the result is good
1387 enough for now.</p>
1388
1389       </div>
1390       <div class="tags">
1391
1392
1393         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
1394
1395
1396       </div>
1397     </div>
1398     <div class="padding"></div>
1399
1400     <div class="entry">
1401       <div class="title">
1402         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__Ralf_Gesellensetter.html">Debian Edu interview: Ralf Gesellensetter</a>
1403       </div>
1404       <div class="date">
1405         27th May 2012
1406       </div>
1407       <div class="body">
1408         <p>In 2003, a German teacher showed up on the
1409 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu and Skolelinux</a>
1410 mailing list with interesting problems and reports proving he setting
1411 up Linux for a (for us at the time) lot of pupils.  His name was Ralf
1412 Gesellensetter, and he has been an important tester and contributor
1413 since then, helping to make sure the
1414 <a href="http://www.debian.org/News/2012/20120311.html">Debian Edu
1415 Squeeze</a> release became as good as it is..</p>
1416
1417 <p><strong>Who are you, and how do you spend your days?</strong></p>
1418
1419 <p>I am a teacher from Germany, and my subjects are Geography,
1420 Mathematics, and Computer Science ("Informatik"). During the past 12
1421 years (since 2000), I have been working for a comprehensive (and soon,
1422 also inclusive) school leading to all kind of general levels, such as
1423 O- or A-level ("Abitur").  For quite as long, I've been taking care of
1424 our computer network.</p>
1425
1426 <p>Now, in my early 40s, I enjoy the privilege of spending a lot of my
1427 spare time together with my wife, our son (3 years) and our daughter
1428 (4 months).</p>
1429
1430 <p><strong>How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux/Debian Edu
1431 project?</strong></p>
1432
1433 <p>We had tried different Linux based school servers, when members of
1434 my local Linux User Group (LUG OWL) detected Skolelinux. I remember
1435 very well, being part of a party celebrating the Linux New Media Award
1436 ("Best Newcomer Distribution", also nominated: Ubuntu) that was given
1437 to Skolelinux at Linux World Exposition in Frankfurt, 2005 (IIRC). Few
1438 months later, I had the chance to join a developer meeting in Ulsrud
1439 (Oslo) and to hand out the award to Knut Yrvin and others.  For more
1440 than 7 years, Skolelinux is part of our schools infrastructure, namely
1441 our main server (tjener), one LTSP (today without thin clients), and
1442 approximately 50 work stations. Most of these have the option to boot a
1443 locally installed Skolelinux image.  As a consequence, I joined quite
1444 a few events dealing with free software or Linux, and met many Debian
1445 (Edu) developers. All of them seemed quite nice and competent to me,
1446 one more reason to stick to Skolelinux.</p>
1447
1448 <p><strong>What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux/Debian
1449 Edu?</strong></p>
1450
1451 <p>Debian driven, you are given all the advantages of a community
1452 project including well maintained updates. Once, you are familiar with
1453 the network layout, you can easily roll out an entire educational
1454 computer infrastructure, from just one installation media. As only
1455 free software (FOSS) is used, that supports even elderly hardware,
1456 up-sizing your IT equipment is only limited by space (i.e. available
1457 labs).  Especially if you run a LTSP thin client server, your
1458 administration costs tend towards zero.</p>
1459
1460 <p><strong>What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux/Debian
1461 Edu?</strong></p>
1462
1463 <p>While Debian's stability has loads of advantages for servers, this
1464 might be different in some cases for clients: Schools with unlimited
1465 budget might buy new hardware with components that are not yet
1466 supported by Debian stable, or wish to use more recent versions of
1467 office packages or desktop environments.  These schools have the
1468 option to run Debian testing or other distributions - if they have the
1469 capacity to do so.  Another issue is that Debian release cycles
1470 include a wide range of changes; therefor a high percentage of human
1471 power seems to be absorbed by just keeping the features of Skolelinux
1472 within the new setting of the version to come. During this process,
1473 the cogs of Debian Edu are getting more and more professional,
1474 i.e. harder to understand for novices.</p>
1475
1476 <p><strong>Which free software do you use daily?</strong></p>
1477
1478 <p>LibreOffice, Wikipedia, Openstreetmap, Iceweasel (Mozilla Firefox),
1479 KMail, Gimp, Inkscape - and of course the Linux Kernel (not only on
1480 PC, Laptop, Mobile, but also our SAT receiver)</p>
1481
1482 <p><strong>Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to
1483 get schools to use free software?</strong></p>
1484
1485 <p><ol>
1486
1487 <li>Support computer science as regular subject in schools to make
1488 people really "own" their hardware, to make them understand the
1489 difference between proprietary software products, and free software
1490 developing.</li>
1491
1492 <li>Make budget baskets corresponding: In Germany's public schools
1493 there are more or less fixed budgets for IT equipment (including
1494 licenses), so schools won't benefit from any savings here. This
1495 privilege is left to private schools which have consequently a large
1496 share among German Skolelinux schools.</li>
1497
1498 <li>Get free software in the seminars where would-be teachers are
1499 trained. In many cases, teachers' software customs are respected by
1500 decision makers rather than the expertise of any IT experts.</li>
1501
1502 <li>Don't limit ourself to free software run natively. Everybody uses
1503 free software or free licenses (for instance Wikipedia), and this
1504 general concept should get expanded to free educational content to be
1505 shared world wide (school books e.g.).</li>
1506
1507 <li>Make clear where ever you can that the market share of free (libre)
1508 office suites is much above 20 p.c. today, and that you pupils don't
1509 need to know the "ribbon menu" in order to get employed.</li>
1510
1511 <li>Talk about the difference between freeware and free software.</li>
1512
1513 <li>Spread free software, or even collections of portable free apps
1514 for USB pen drives. Endorse students to get a legal copy of
1515 Libreoffice rather than accepting them to use illegal serials.  And
1516 keep sending documents in ODF formats.</li>
1517
1518 </ol></p>
1519
1520       </div>
1521       <div class="tags">
1522
1523
1524         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>.
1525
1526
1527       </div>
1528     </div>
1529     <div class="padding"></div>
1530
1531     <div class="entry">
1532       <div class="title">
1533         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/The_cost_of_ODF_and_OOXML.html">The cost of ODF and OOXML</a>
1534       </div>
1535       <div class="date">
1536         26th May 2012
1537       </div>
1538       <div class="body">
1539         <p>I just come across a blog post from Glyn Moody reporting the
1540 claimed cost from Microsoft on requiring ODF to be used by the UK
1541 government.  I just sent him an email to let him know that his
1542 assumption are most likely wrong.  Sharing it here in case some of my
1543 blog readers have seem the same numbers float around in the UK.</p>
1544
1545 <p><blockquote> <p>Hi.  I just noted your
1546 <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>
1547 comment:</p>
1548
1549 <p><blockquote>"They're all in Danish, not unreasonably, but even
1550 with the help of Google Translate I can't find any figures about the
1551 savings of "moving to a flexible two standard" as claimed by the
1552 Microsoft email. But I assume it is backed up somewhere, so let's take
1553 it, and the £500 million figure for the UK, on trust."
1554 </blockquote></p>
1555
1556 <p>I can tell you that the Danish reports are inflated.  I believe it is
1557 the same reports that were used in the Norwegian debate around 2007,
1558 and Gisle Hannemyr (a well known IT commentator in Norway) had a look
1559 at the content.  In short, the reason it is claimed that using ODF
1560 will be so costly, is based on the assumption that this mean every
1561 existing document need to be converted from one of the MS Office
1562 formats to ODF, transferred to the receiver, and converted back from
1563 ODF to one of the MS Office formats, and that the conversion will cost
1564 10 minutes of work time for both the sender and the receiver.  In
1565 reality the sender would have a tool capable of saving to ODF, and the
1566 receiver would have a tool capable of reading it, and the time spent
1567 would at most be a few seconds for saving and loading, not 20 minutes
1568 of wasted effort.</p>
1569
1570 <p>Microsoft claimed all these costs were saved by allowing people to
1571 transfer the original files from MS Office instead of spending 10
1572 minutes converting to ODF. :)</p>
1573
1574 <p>See
1575 <a href="http://hannemyr.com/no/ms12_vl02.php">http://hannemyr.com/no/ms12_vl02.php</a>
1576 and
1577 <a href="http://hannemyr.com/no/ms12.php">http://hannemyr.com/no/ms12.php</a>
1578 for background information.  Norwegian only, sorry. :)</p>
1579 </blockquote></p>
1580
1581       </div>
1582       <div class="tags">
1583
1584
1585         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>.
1586
1587
1588       </div>
1589     </div>
1590     <div class="padding"></div>
1591
1592     <div class="entry">
1593       <div class="title">
1594         <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>
1595       </div>
1596       <div class="date">
1597         18th May 2012
1598       </div>
1599       <div class="body">
1600         <p>In january, I
1601 <a href="http://blog.cihar.com/archives/2012/01/17/colorhug-has-arrived/">discovered
1602 the ColorHug</a>, a USB dongle from
1603 <a href="http://www.hughski.com/index.html">Hughski</a> to calibrate
1604 the color on a computer screen.  The software required is
1605 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/c/colorhug-client.html">included
1606 in Debian</a>, and I decided back then to preorder from the next
1607 batch.  Yesterday I finally heard back from them, and got the
1608 opportunity to order.  Today I ordered mine, and eagerly await the
1609 delivery.  I hope it arrive next week, as I got a confirmation that it
1610 should go in the mail on monday. :)</p>
1611
1612 <p>If you want to ensure the colors on the screen match the intended
1613 colors, I suggest you check out this cheap tool with free software
1614 drivers. :)</p>
1615
1616       </div>
1617       <div class="tags">
1618
1619
1620         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
1621
1622
1623       </div>
1624     </div>
1625     <div class="padding"></div>
1626
1627     <div class="entry">
1628       <div class="title">
1629         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__J_rgen_Leibner.html">Debian Edu interview: Jürgen Leibner</a>
1630       </div>
1631       <div class="date">
1632         13th May 2012
1633       </div>
1634       <div class="body">
1635         <p>It has been a few busy weeks for me, but I am finally back to
1636 publish another interview with the people behind
1637 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu and Skolelinux</a>.
1638 This time it is one of our German developers, who have helped out over the
1639 years to make sure both a lot of major but also a lot of the minor
1640 details get right before release.
1641
1642 <p><strong>Who are you, and how do you spend your days?</strong></p>
1643
1644 <p>My name is Jürgen Leibner, I'm 49 years old and living in
1645 Bielefeld, a town in northern Germany.  I worked nearly 20 years as
1646 certified engineer in the department for plant design and layout of an
1647 international company for machinery and equipment.  Since 2011 I'm a
1648 certified technical writer (tekom e.V.) and doing technical
1649 documentations for a steam turbine manufacturer.  From April this year
1650 I will manage the department of technical documentation at a
1651 manufacturer of automation and assembly line engineering.</p>
1652
1653 <p>My first contact with linux was around 1993. Since that time I used
1654 it at work and at home repeatedly but not exclusively as I do now at
1655 home since 2006.</p>
1656
1657 <p><strong>How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux/Debian Edu
1658 project?</strong></p>
1659
1660 <p>Once a day in the early year of 2001 when I wanted to fetch my
1661 daughter from primary school, there was a teacher sitting in the
1662 middle of 20 old computers trying to boot them and he failed. I helped
1663 him to get them booting. That was seen by the school director and she
1664 asked me if I would like to manage that the school gets all that old
1665 computers in use. I answered: "Yes".</p>
1666
1667 <p>Some weeks later every of the 10 classrooms had one computer
1668 running Windows98. I began to collect old computers and equipment as
1669 gifts and installed the first computer room with a peer-to-peer
1670 network. I did my work at school without being payed in my spare time
1671 and with a lot of fun.  About one year later the school was connected
1672 to Internet and a local area network was installed in the school
1673 building.  That was the time to have a server and I knew it must be a
1674 Linux server to be able to fulfil all the wishes of the teachers and
1675 being able to do this in a transparent and economic way, without extra
1676 costs for things like licence and software.  So I searched for a
1677 school server system running under Linux and I found a couple of
1678 people nearby who founded 'skolelinux.de'. It was the Skolelinux
1679 prerelease 32 I first tried out for being used at the school.  I
1680 managed the IT of that school until the municipal authority took over
1681 the IT management and centralised the services for all schools in
1682 Bielefeld in December of 2006.</p>
1683
1684 <p><strong>What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux/Debian
1685 Edu?</strong></p>
1686
1687 <p>When I'm looking back to the beginning, there were other advantages
1688 for me as today.</p>
1689
1690 <p>In the past there were advantages like:</p>
1691
1692 <p><ul>
1693
1694 <li>I don't need to buy it so it generates no costs to the school as
1695 they had little money to spent for computers and software.</li>
1696
1697 <li>It has a licence which grands all rights to use it without
1698 cost.</li>
1699
1700 <li>It was more able to fit all requirements of a server system for
1701 schools than a Microsoft server system, even if there are only Windows
1702 clients because of it's preconfigured overall concept of being a
1703 infrastructure solution and community for schools, not only a
1704 server</li>
1705
1706 <li>I was able to configure the server to the needs of the
1707 school.</li>
1708
1709 </ul></p>
1710
1711 <p>Today some of the advantages has been lost, changed or new ones
1712 came up in this way:</p>
1713
1714 <p><ul>
1715
1716 <li>Most schools here do have money to buy hardware and software
1717 now.</li>
1718
1719 <li>They are today mostly managed from central IT departments which
1720 have own concepts which often do not fit to Debian Edu concepts
1721 because they are to close to Microsoft ideology.</li>
1722
1723 <li>With the Squeeze version of Debian Edu which now uses GOsa² for
1724 management I feel more able to manage the daily tasks than with the
1725 interfaces used in the past.</li>
1726
1727 <li>It is more modular than in the past and fits even better to the
1728 different needs.</li>
1729
1730 <li>The documentation is usable and gets better every day.</li>
1731
1732 <li>More people than ever before are using Debian Edu all over the
1733 world and so the community, which is an very important part I think,
1734 is sharing knowledge and minds.</li>
1735
1736 <li>Most, maybe all, of the technical requirements for schools are
1737 solved today by Debian Edu. </li>
1738
1739 </ul></p>
1740
1741 <p><strong>What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux/Debian
1742 Edu?</strong></p>
1743
1744 <p><ul>
1745
1746 <li>There are too few IT companies able to integrate Debian Edu into
1747 their product portfolio for serving schools with concepts or even
1748 whole municipality areas.</li>
1749
1750 <li>Debian Edu has beside other free and open software projects not
1751 enough lobbyists which promote free and open software to
1752 politicians.</li>
1753
1754 <li>Technically there are no disadvantages I'm aware of.</li>
1755
1756 </ul></p>
1757
1758 <p><strong>Which free software do you use daily?</strong></p>
1759
1760 <p>I use Debian stable on my home server and on my little desktop
1761 computer. On my laptop I use Debian testing/sid. The applications I
1762 use on my laptop and my desktop are Open/Libre-office, Iceweasel,
1763 KMail, DigiKam, Amarok, Dolphin, okular and all the other programs I
1764 need from the KDE environment.  On console I use newsbeuter, mutt,
1765 screen, irssi and all the other famous and useful tools.</p>
1766
1767 <p>My home server provides mail services with exim, dovecot, roundcube
1768 and mutt over ssh on the console, file services with samba, NFS,
1769 rsync, web services with apache, moinmoin-wiki, multimedia services
1770 with gallery2 and mediatomb and database services with MySQL for me
1771 and the whole family.  I probably forgot something.</p>
1772
1773 <p><strong>Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to
1774 get schools to use free software?</strong></p>
1775
1776 <p>I believe, we should provide concepts for IT companies to integrate
1777 Debian Edu into their product portfolio with use cases for different
1778 countries and areas all over the world.</p>
1779
1780       </div>
1781       <div class="tags">
1782
1783
1784         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>.
1785
1786
1787       </div>
1788     </div>
1789     <div class="padding"></div>
1790
1791     <div class="entry">
1792       <div class="title">
1793         <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>
1794       </div>
1795       <div class="date">
1796         30th April 2012
1797       </div>
1798       <div class="body">
1799         <p><!-- IMG_5869.JPG -->
1800 <img src="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/panasonic-er-1611.jpeg"></p>
1801
1802 <p>I normally cut my hair short, and my tool of choice has been a
1803 common hair/beard cutter, bought in a electrical shop here in Norway.
1804 But the last ones have not really been up to the task.  My last
1805 cutter, some model from Braun, could only cut a few of my hairs at the
1806 time, and cutting my head took forever.  And the one before that did
1807 not work very well either.  We have looked for something better for a
1808 while, but it was not until I ended up visiting a hairdresser that we
1809 discovered that there are indeed better tools available.  But these
1810 are not marketed and sold to "regular consumers".  The hair saloons
1811 can get them through their suppliers, but their suppliers only sell
1812 companies.  The models they sell, are very different from the ones
1813 available from Elkjøp and Lefdal.  The main difference is their
1814 efficiency.  It would cut my hair in 5 minutes, instead of the 30-40
1815 minutes required by my impotent Braun.  The hairdresser I visited had
1816 a Panasonic ER160, which unfortunately is no longer available from the
1817 producer.  But I found it had a successor, the Panasonic ER1611.</p>
1818
1819 <p>The next step was to find somewhere to buy it.  This was not
1820 straight forward.  The list of suppliers I got from the hairdresser
1821 did not want to sell anything to me.  But searching for the model on
1822 the web we found a supplier in Norway willing to sell it to us for
1823 around NOK 4000,-.  This was a bit much.  We kept searching and
1824 finally found a Danish supplier
1825 <a href="http://nicehair.dk/panasonic-er-1611-professionel-hartrimmer.html">selling
1826 it for around NOK 1800,-</a>.  We ordered one, and it arrived a few
1827 days ago.</p>
1828
1829 <p>The instructions said it had to charge for 8 hours when we started
1830 to use it, so we left it charging over night.  Normally it will only
1831 need one hour to charge.  The following evening we successfully tested
1832 it, and I can warmly recommend it to anyone looking for a real hair
1833 cutter.  The ones we have used until now have been hair cutter
1834 toys.</p>
1835
1836       </div>
1837       <div class="tags">
1838
1839
1840         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
1841
1842
1843       </div>
1844     </div>
1845     <div class="padding"></div>
1846
1847     <div class="entry">
1848       <div class="title">
1849         <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>
1850       </div>
1851       <div class="date">
1852         26th April 2012
1853       </div>
1854       <div class="body">
1855         <p>In <a href="http://www.idg.no/computerworld/article243690.ece">an
1856 article today</a> published by Computerworld Norway, the photographer
1857 <a href="http://www.urke.com/eirik/">Eirik Helland Urke</a> reports
1858 that the video editor application included with
1859 <a href="http://www.htc.com/www/smartphones/htc-one-x/#specs">HTC One
1860 X</a> have some quite surprising terms of use.  The article is mostly
1861 based on the twitter message from mister Urke, stating:
1862
1863 <p><blockquote>
1864 "<a href="http://twitter.com/urke/status/194062269724897280">Drøy
1865 brukeravtale: HTC kan bruke MINE redigerte videoer kommersielt. Selv
1866 kan jeg KUN bruke dem privat.</a>"
1867 </blockquote></p>
1868
1869 <p>I quickly translated it to this English message:</p>
1870
1871 <p><blockquote>
1872 "Arrogant user agreement: HTC can use MY edited videos
1873 commercially.  Although I can ONLY use them privately."
1874 </blockquote></p>
1875
1876 <p>I've been unable to find the text of the license term myself, but
1877 suspect it is a variation of the MPEG-LA terms I
1878 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Terms_of_use_for_video_produced_by_a_Canon_IXUS_130_digital_camera.html">discovered
1879 with my Canon IXUS 130</a>.  The HTC One X specification specifies that
1880 the recording format of the phone is .amr for audio and .mp3 for
1881 video.  AMR is
1882 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adaptive_Multi-Rate_audio_codec#Licensing_and_patent_issues">Adaptive
1883 Multi-Rate audio codec</a> with patents which according to the
1884 Wikipedia article require an license agreement with
1885 <a href="http://www.voiceage.com/">VoiceAge</a>.  MP4 is
1886 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H.264/MPEG-4_AVC#Patent_licensing">MPEG4 with
1887 H.264</a>, which according to Wikipedia require a licence agreement
1888 with <a href="http://www.mpegla.com/">MPEG-LA</a>.</p>
1889
1890 <p>I know why I prefer
1891 <a href="http://www.digistan.org/open-standard:definition">free and open
1892 standards</a> also for video.</p>
1893
1894       </div>
1895       <div class="tags">
1896
1897
1898         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>.
1899
1900
1901       </div>
1902     </div>
1903     <div class="padding"></div>
1904
1905     <div class="entry">
1906       <div class="title">
1907         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/RAND_terms___non_reasonable_and_discriminatory.html">RAND terms - non-reasonable and discriminatory</a>
1908       </div>
1909       <div class="date">
1910         19th April 2012
1911       </div>
1912       <div class="body">
1913         <p>Here in Norway, the
1914 <a href="http://www.regjeringen.no/nb/dep/fad.html?id=339"> Ministry of
1915 Government Administration, Reform and Church Affairs</a> is behind
1916 a <a href="http://standard.difi.no/forvaltningsstandarder">directory of
1917 standards</a> that are recommended or mandatory for use by the
1918 government.  When the directory was created, the people behind it made
1919 an effort to ensure that everyone would be able to implement the
1920 standards and compete on equal terms to supply software and solutions
1921 to the government.  Free software and non-free software could compete
1922 on the same level.</p>
1923
1924 <p>But recently, some standards with RAND
1925 (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reasonable_and_non-discriminatory_licensing">Reasonable
1926 And Non-Discriminatory</a>) terms have made their way into the
1927 directory.  And while this might not sound too bad, the fact is that
1928 standard specifications with RAND terms often block free software from
1929 implementing them.  The reasonable part of RAND mean that the cost per
1930 user/unit is low,and the non-discriminatory part mean that everyone
1931 willing to pay will get a license.  Both sound great in theory.  In
1932 practice, to get such license one need to be able to count users, and
1933 be able to pay a small amount of money per unit or user.  By
1934 definition, users of free software do not need to register their use.
1935 So counting users or units is not possible for free software projects.
1936 And given that people will use the software without handing any money
1937 to the author, it is not really economically possible for a free
1938 software author to pay a small amount of money to license the rights
1939 to implement a standard when the income available is zero.  The result
1940 in these situations is that free software are locked out from
1941 implementing standards with RAND terms.</p>
1942
1943 <p>Because of this, when I see someone claiming the terms of a
1944 standard is reasonable and non-discriminatory, all I can think of is
1945 how this really is non-reasonable and discriminatory.  Because free
1946 software developers are working in a global market, it does not really
1947 help to know that software patents are not supposed to be enforceable
1948 in Norway.  The patent regimes in other countries affect us even here.
1949 I really hope the people behind the standard directory will pay more
1950 attention to these issues in the future.</p>
1951
1952 <p>You can find more on the issues with RAND, FRAND and RAND-Z terms
1953 from Simon Phipps
1954 (<a href="http://blogs.computerworlduk.com/simon-says/2010/11/rand-not-so-reasonable/">RAND:
1955 Not So Reasonable?</a>).</p>
1956
1957 <p>Update 2012-04-21: Just came across a
1958 <a href="http://blogs.computerworlduk.com/open-enterprise/2012/04/of-microsoft-netscape-patents-and-open-standards/index.htm">blog
1959 post from Glyn Moody</a> over at Computer World UK warning about the
1960 same issue, and urging people to speak out to the UK government.  I
1961 can only urge Norwegian users to do the same for
1962 <a href="http://www.standard.difi.no/hoyring/hoyring-om-nye-anbefalte-it-standarder">the
1963 hearing taking place at the moment</a> (respond before 2012-04-27).
1964 It proposes to require video conferencing standards including
1965 specifications with RAND terms.</p>
1966
1967       </div>
1968       <div class="tags">
1969
1970
1971         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>.
1972
1973
1974       </div>
1975     </div>
1976     <div class="padding"></div>
1977
1978     <div class="entry">
1979       <div class="title">
1980         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__Andreas_Mundt.html">Debian Edu interview: Andreas Mundt</a>
1981       </div>
1982       <div class="date">
1983         15th April 2012
1984       </div>
1985       <div class="body">
1986         <p>Behind <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu and
1987 Skolelinux</a> there are a lot of people doing the hard work of
1988 setting together all the pieces.  This time I present to you Andreas
1989 Mundt, who have been part of the technical development team several
1990 years.  He was also a key contributor in getting GOsa and Kerberos set
1991 up in the recently released
1992 <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/Documentation/Squeeze">Debian
1993 Edu Squeeze</a> version.</p>
1994
1995 <p><strong>Who are you, and how do you spend your days?</strong></p>
1996
1997 <p>My name is Andreas Mundt, I grew up in south Germany.  After
1998 studying Physics I spent several years at university doing research in
1999 Quantum Optics.  After that I worked some years in an optics company.
2000 Finally I decided to turn over a new leaf in my life and started
2001 teaching 10 to 19 years old kids at school.  I teach math, physics,
2002 information technology and science/technology.</p>
2003
2004 <p><strong>How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux/Debian Edu
2005 project?</strong></p>
2006
2007 <p>Already before I switched to teaching, I followed the Debian Edu
2008 project because of my interest in education and Debian.  Within the
2009 qualification/training period for the teaching, I started
2010 contributing.</p>
2011
2012 <p><strong>What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux/Debian
2013 Edu?</strong></p>
2014
2015 <p>The advantages of Debian Edu are the well known name, the
2016 out-of-the-box philosophy and of course the great free software of the
2017 Debian Project!</p>
2018
2019 <p><strong>What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux/Debian
2020 Edu?</strong></p>
2021
2022 <p>As every coin has two sides, the out-of-the-box philosophy has its
2023 downside, too.  In my opinion, it is hard to modify and tweak the
2024 setup, if you need or want that.  Further more, it is not easily
2025 possible to upgrade the system to a new release.  It takes much too
2026 long after a Debian release to prepare the -Edu release, perhaps
2027 because the number of developers working on the core of the code is
2028 rather small and often busy elsewhere.</p>
2029
2030 <p>The <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianLAN">Debian LAN</a>
2031 project might fill the use case of a more flexible system.</p>
2032
2033 <p><strong>Which free software do you use daily?</strong></p>
2034
2035 <p>I am only using non-free software if I am forced to and run Debian
2036 on all my machines.  For documents I prefer LaTeX and PGF/TikZ, then
2037 mutt and iceweasel for email respectively web browsing.  At school I
2038 have Arduino and Fritzing in use for a micro controller project.</p>
2039
2040 <p><strong>Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to
2041 get schools to use free software?</strong></p>
2042
2043 <p>One of the major problems is the vendor lock-in from top to bottom:
2044 Especially in combination with ignorant government employees and
2045 politicians, this works out great for the "market-leader".  The school
2046 administration here in Baden-Wuerttemberg is occupied by that vendor.
2047 Documents have to be prepared in non-free, proprietary formats.  Even
2048 free browsers do not work for the school administration.  Publishers
2049 of school books provide software only for proprietary platforms.</p>
2050
2051 <p>To change this, political work is very important.  Parts of the
2052 political spectrum have become aware of the problem in the last years.
2053 However it takes quite some time and courageous politicians to 'free'
2054 the system.  There is currently some discussion about "Open Data" and
2055 "Free/Open Standards".  I am not sure if all the involved parties have
2056 a clue about the potential of these ideas, and probably only a
2057 fraction takes them seriously.  However it might slowly make free
2058 software and the philosophy behind it more known and popular.</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>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/intervju">intervju</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/Debian_Edu_interview__Justin_B__Rye.html">Debian Edu interview: Justin B. Rye</a>
2074       </div>
2075       <div class="date">
2076          8th April 2012
2077       </div>
2078       <div class="body">
2079         <p>It take all kind of contributions to create a Linux distribution
2080 like <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / Skolelinux</a>,
2081 and this time I lend the ear to Justin B. Rye, who is listed as a big
2082 contributor to the
2083 <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/Documentation/Squeeze">Debian
2084 Edu Squeeze release manual</a>.
2085
2086 <p><strong>Who are you, and how do you spend your days?</strong></p>
2087
2088 <p>I'm a 44-year-old linguistics graduate living in Edinburgh who has
2089 occasionally been employed as a sysadmin.</p>
2090
2091 <p><strong>How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux/Debian Edu
2092 project?</strong></p>
2093
2094 <p>I'm neither a developer nor a Skolelinux/Debian Edu user!  The only
2095 reason my name's in the credits for the documentation is that I hang
2096 around on debian-l10n-english waiting for people to mention things
2097 they'd like a native English speaker to proofread...  So I did a sweep
2098 through the wiki for typos and Norglish and inconsistent spellings of
2099 "localisation".</p>
2100
2101 <p><strong>What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux/Debian
2102 Edu?</strong></p>
2103
2104 <p><strong>What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux/Debian
2105 Edu?</strong></p>
2106
2107 <p>These questions are too hard for me - I don't use it!  In fact I
2108 had hardly any contact with I.T. until long after I'd got out of the
2109 education system.</p>
2110
2111 <p>I can tell you the advantages of Debian for me though: it soaks up
2112 as much of my free time as I want and no more, and lets me do
2113 everything I want a computer for without ever forcing me to spend
2114 money on the latest hardware.</p>
2115
2116 <p><strong>Which free software do you use daily?</strong></p>
2117
2118 <p>I've been using Debian since Rex; popularity-contest says the
2119 software that I use most is xinit, xterm, and xulrunner (in other
2120 words, I use a distinctly retro sort of desktop).</p>
2121
2122 <p><strong>Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to
2123 get schools to use free software?</strong></p>
2124
2125 <p>Well, I don't know.  I suppose I'd be inclined to try reasoning
2126 with the people who make the decisions, but obviously if that worked
2127 you would hardly need a strategy.</p>
2128
2129       </div>
2130       <div class="tags">
2131
2132
2133         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>.
2134
2135
2136       </div>
2137     </div>
2138     <div class="padding"></div>
2139
2140     <div class="entry">
2141       <div class="title">
2142         <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>
2143       </div>
2144       <div class="date">
2145          6th April 2012
2146       </div>
2147       <div class="body">
2148         <p>Recently I have spent time with
2149 <a href="http://www.slxdrift.no/">Skolelinux Drift AS</a> on speeding
2150 up a <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / Skolelinux</a>
2151 Lenny installation using LTSP diskless workstations, and in the
2152 process I discovered something very surprising.  The reason the KDE
2153 menu was responding slow when using it for the first time, was mostly
2154 due to the way KDE find application icons.  I discovered that showing
2155 the Multimedia menu would cause more than 20 000 IP packages to be
2156 passed between the LTSP client and the NFS server.  Most of these were
2157
2158 NFS LOOKUP calls, resulting in a NFS3ERR_NOENT response.  Because the
2159 ping times between the client and the server were in the range 2-20
2160 ms, the menus would be very slow.  Looking at the strace of kicker in
2161 Lenny (or plasma-desktop i Squeeze - same problem there), I see that
2162 the source of these NFS calls are access(2) system calls for
2163 non-existing files.  KDE can do hundreds of access(2) calls to find
2164 one icon file.  In my example, just finding the mplayer icon required
2165 around 230 access(2) calls.</p>
2166
2167 <p>The KDE code seem to search for icons using a list of icon
2168 directories, and the list of possible directories is large.  In
2169 (almost) each directory, it look for files ending in .png, .svgz, .svg
2170 and .xpm.  The result is a very slow KDE menu when /usr/ is NFS
2171 mounted.  Showing a single sub menu may result in thousands of NFS
2172 requests.  I am not the first one to discover this.  I found a
2173 <a href="https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=211416">KDE bug report
2174 from 2009</a> about this problem, and it is still unsolved.</p>
2175
2176 <p>My solution to speed up the KDE menu was to create a package
2177 kde-icon-cache that upon installation will look at all .desktop files
2178 used to generate the KDE menu, find their icons, search the icon paths
2179 for the file that KDE will end up finding at run time, and copying the
2180 icon file to /var/lib/kde-icon-cache/.  Finally, I add symlinks to
2181 these icon files in one of the first directories where KDE will look
2182 for them.  This cut down the number of file accesses required to find
2183 one icon from several hundred to less than 5, and make the KDE menu
2184 almost instantaneous.  I'm not quite sure where to make the package
2185 publicly available, so for now it is only available on request.</p>
2186
2187 <p>The bug report mention that this do not only affect the KDE menu
2188 and icon handling, but also the login process.  Not quite sure how to
2189 speed up that part without replacing NFS with for example NBD, and
2190 that is not really an option at the moment.</p>
2191
2192 <p>If you got feedback on this issue, please let us know on debian-edu
2193 (at) lists.debian.org.</p>
2194
2195       </div>
2196       <div class="tags">
2197
2198
2199         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>.
2200
2201
2202       </div>
2203     </div>
2204     <div class="padding"></div>
2205
2206     <div class="entry">
2207       <div class="title">
2208         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_in_the_Linux_Weekly_News.html">Debian Edu in the Linux Weekly News</a>
2209       </div>
2210       <div class="date">
2211          5th April 2012
2212       </div>
2213       <div class="body">
2214         <p>About two weeks ago, I was interviewed via email about
2215 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu and Skolelinux</a> by
2216 Bruce Byfield in Linux Weekly News.  The result was made public for
2217 non-subscribers today.  I am pleased to see liked our Linux solution
2218 for schools.  Check out his article
2219 <a href="https://lwn.net/Articles/488805/">Debian Edu/Skolelinux: A
2220 distribution for education</a> if you want to learn more.</p>
2221
2222       </div>
2223       <div class="tags">
2224
2225
2226         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>.
2227
2228
2229       </div>
2230     </div>
2231     <div class="padding"></div>
2232
2233     <div class="entry">
2234       <div class="title">
2235         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__Wolfgang_Schweer.html">Debian Edu interview: Wolfgang Schweer</a>
2236       </div>
2237       <div class="date">
2238          1st April 2012
2239       </div>
2240       <div class="body">
2241         <p>Germany is a core area for the
2242 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu and Skolelinux</a>
2243 user community, and this time I managed to get hold of Wolfgang
2244 Schweer, a valuable contributor to the project from Germany.
2245
2246 <p><strong>Who are you, and how do you spend your days?</strong></p>
2247
2248 <p>I've studied Mathematics at the university 'Ruhr-Universität' in
2249 Bochum, Germany. Since 1981 I'm working as a teacher at the school
2250 "<a href="http://www.westfalenkolleg-dortmund.de/">Westfalen-Kolleg
2251 Dortmund</a>", a second chance school.  Here, young adults is given
2252 the opportunity to get further education in order to do the school
2253 examination 'Abitur', which will allow to study at a university. This
2254 second chance is of value for those who want a better job perspective
2255 or failed to get a higher school examination being teens.</p>
2256
2257 <p>Besides teaching I was involved in developing online courses for a
2258 blended learning project called 'abitur-online.nrw' and in some other
2259 information technology related projects. For about ten years I've been
2260 teacher and coordinator for the 'abitur-online' project at my
2261 school. Being now in my early sixties, I've decided to leave school at
2262 the end of April this year.</p>
2263
2264 <p><strong>How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux/Debian Edu
2265 project?</strong></p>
2266
2267 <p>The first information about Skolelinux must have come to my
2268 attention years ago and somehow related to LTSP (Linux Terminal Server
2269 Project).  At school, we had set up a network at the beginning of 1997
2270 using Suse Linux on the desktop, replacing a Novell network. Since
2271 2002, we used old machines from the city council of Dortmund as thin
2272 clients (LTSP, later Ubuntu/Lessdisks) cause new hardware was out of
2273 reach. At home I'm using Debian since years and - subscribed to the
2274 Debian news letter - heard from time to time about Skolelinux. About
2275 two years ago I proposed to replace the (somehow undocumented and only
2276 known to me) system at school by a well known Debian based system:
2277 Skolelinux.</p>
2278
2279 <p>Students and teachers appreciated the new system because of a
2280 better look and feel and an enhanced access to local media on thin
2281 clients.  The possibility to alter and/or reset passwords using a GUI
2282 was welcomed, too. Being able to do administrative tasks using a GUI
2283 and to easily set up workstations using PXE was of very high value for
2284 the admin teachers.</p>
2285
2286 <p><strong>What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux/Debian
2287 Edu?</strong></p>
2288
2289 <p>It's open source, easy to set up, stable and flexible due to it's
2290 Debian base. It integrates LTSP out-of-the-box. And it is documented!
2291 So it was a perfect choice.</p>
2292
2293 <p>Being open source, there are no license problems and so it's
2294 possible to point teachers and students to programs like
2295 OpenOffice.org, ViewYourMind (mind mapping) and The Gimp.  It's of
2296 high value to be able to adapt parts of the system to special needs of
2297 a school and to choose where to get support for this.</p>
2298
2299 <p><strong>What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux/Debian
2300 Edu?</strong></p>
2301
2302 <p>Nothing yet.</p>
2303
2304 <p><strong>Which free software do you use daily?</strong></p>
2305
2306 <p>At home (Debian Sid with Gnome Desktop): Iceweasel, LibreOffice,
2307 Mutt, Gedit, Document Viewer, Midnight Commander, flpsed (PDF
2308 Annotator).  At school (Skolelinux Lenny): Iceweasel, Gedit,
2309 LibreOffice.</p>
2310
2311 <p><strong>Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to
2312 get schools to use free software?</strong></p>
2313
2314 <p>Some time ago I thought it was enough to tell people about it. But
2315 that doesn't seem to work quite well. Now I concentrate on those more
2316 interested and hope to get multiplicators that way.</p>
2317
2318       </div>
2319       <div class="tags">
2320
2321
2322         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>.
2323
2324
2325       </div>
2326     </div>
2327     <div class="padding"></div>
2328
2329     <div class="entry">
2330       <div class="title">
2331         <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>
2332       </div>
2333       <div class="date">
2334         25th March 2012
2335       </div>
2336       <div class="body">
2337         <!-- Video HTML based on http://www.diveintohtml5.net/video.html -->
2338
2339 <p>The same Debian Edu developer that did the last screen cast I
2340 published, Wolfgang Schweer, has created a new screen cast showing how
2341 to set up Kmail in Debian Edu Squeze to authenticate using Kerberos,
2342 allowing users to check their local email account without providing
2343 any password. The video is embedded here in quarter size,
2344 and also available from <a href="https://vimeo.com/38601767">vimeo</a>
2345 and download as a
2346 <a href="http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux/press/screencasts/2012-03-14-Debian-Edu_Configure_Kmail_for_internal_usage.ogv">Ogg
2347 Theora</a> file.  Check it out below.</p>
2348
2349 <p><video id="kmail-kerberos-movie" width="256" height="184" preload controls>
2350   <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"' />
2351     <p>Download video as
2352       <a href="http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux/press/screencasts/2012-03-14-Debian-Edu_Configure_Kmail_for_internal_usage.ogv">Ogg</a>.</p>
2353 </video></p>
2354
2355       </div>
2356       <div class="tags">
2357
2358
2359         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>.
2360
2361
2362       </div>
2363     </div>
2364     <div class="padding"></div>
2365
2366     <div class="entry">
2367       <div class="title">
2368         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__John_Ingleby.html">Debian Edu interview: John Ingleby</a>
2369       </div>
2370       <div class="date">
2371         19th March 2012
2372       </div>
2373       <div class="body">
2374         <p><a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / Skolelinux</a>
2375 users are spread all across the globe.  The second inteview after
2376 <a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-edu-announce/2012/03/msg00001.html">the
2377 Squeeze release</a> was publised is with John Ingleby, a teacher and
2378 long time Linux user in United Kingdom.</p>
2379
2380 <p><strong>Who are you, and how do you spend your days?</strong></p>
2381
2382 <p>I teach ICT part time at the Rudolf Steiner School in Kings
2383 Langley, near London, UK. Previously I worked as a technical
2384 author/trainer while my children attended the school, and I also
2385 contributed to the Schoolforge UK community with the aim of
2386 encouraging UK schools to adopt free/open source software. Five or six
2387 years ago we had about 50 schools interested in some way, but we
2388 weren't able to convert many of them into sustainable
2389 installations.</p>
2390
2391 <p><strong>How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux/Debian Edu
2392 project?</strong></p>
2393
2394 <p>Skolelinux had two representatives at an early Edubuntu meeting in
2395 London which I attended. However at that time our school network had
2396 just been installed using CentOS, LTSP 4 and GNOME. When LTSP 5 came
2397 along we switched to Edubuntu thin client servers so now we have a
2398 mixed environment which includes Windows PCs and student laptops, as
2399 well as their MacBooks and iPads. However, the proprietary systems
2400 have always been rather problematic, and we never built a GUI for the
2401 LDAP server, so when I discovered Skolelinux is configured for all
2402 these things we decided to try it.</p>
2403
2404 <p><strong>What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux/Debian
2405 Edu?</strong></p>
2406
2407 <p>By far the biggest advantage is the Debian Edu community. Apart
2408 from that I have always believed in the same "sustainable computing"
2409 goals that Skolelinux is built on: installing Linux on computers which
2410 would otherwise be thrown away, to provide a reliable, secure and
2411 low-cost IT environment for schools. From my own experience I know
2412 that a part-time person can teach and manage a network of about 25
2413 Linux computers, but it would take much more of my time if we had
2414 proprietary software everywhere.</p>
2415
2416 <p><strong>What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux/Debian
2417 Edu?</strong></p>
2418
2419 <p>As a newcomer I'm just finding out who's who in the community and
2420 how you're organised, and what your procedures are for dealing with
2421 various things such as editing manual pages and so-on. The only
2422 English language mailing list seems to be for developers as well as
2423 users, so my inbox needs heavy pruning each day!</p>
2424
2425 <p><strong>Which free software do you use daily?</strong></p>
2426
2427 <p>Besides the software already mentioned at school we use Samba,
2428 OpenLDAP, CUPS, Nagios and Dansguardian for the network, and on the
2429 desktops we have LibreOffice, Firefox, GIMP and Inkscape. At home I
2430 use Ubuntu and an Android 4 eePad Transformer (but I'm not sure if
2431 that counts...)</p>
2432
2433 <p><strong>Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to
2434 get schools to use free software?</strong></p>
2435
2436 <p>That's a tough question! For very many years UK schools installed
2437 and taught only proprietary software, so that at the highest levels
2438 the notion of "computer" means simply "proprietary office
2439 applications".  However, schools today are experiencing budget
2440 constraints, and many are having to think hard about upgrading Windows
2441 XP.  At the same time, we have students showing teachers how to use
2442 iPads, MacBooks and Android, so the choice of operating system is no
2443 longer quite so automatic. What is more, our government at last
2444 realised that we need people with programming skills, so they're
2445 putting coding back in the curriculum! And it's encouraging that the
2446 first 10,000 Raspberry Pi units sold out in 2 hours.</p>
2447
2448 <p>I don't really know what strategy is going to get UK schools to use
2449 free software, but building an active community of Skolelinux/Debian
2450 Edu users in this country has to be part of it.</p>
2451
2452       </div>
2453       <div class="tags">
2454
2455
2456         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>.
2457
2458
2459       </div>
2460     </div>
2461     <div class="padding"></div>
2462
2463     <div class="entry">
2464       <div class="title">
2465         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Writing_and_translating_documentation_in_Debian_Edu.html">Writing and translating documentation in Debian Edu</a>
2466       </div>
2467       <div class="date">
2468         16th March 2012
2469       </div>
2470       <div class="body">
2471         <p>Documentation in Debian Edu is provided in several languages, and
2472 it is important to make it both easy to contribute and to keep the
2473 translated versions in sync.  To do this we have come up with what we
2474 believe is a very efficient work flow.</p>
2475
2476 <ol>
2477
2478 <li>The documentation is written in a
2479 <a href="http://moinmo.in">moinmoin wiki</a> (see for example
2480 <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/Documentation/Squeeze">the
2481 Squeeze release manual</a>) with support for exporting the content as
2482 docbook XML.</li>
2483
2484 <li>This docbook document is given to po4a to extract a gettext style
2485 .pot file with the content, which in turn is used to create .po files
2486 with the translated text.</li>
2487
2488 <li>The .po files are given to translators, and they can always tell
2489 which part of the original wiki document is new or changed.  They can
2490 use their normal translation tools like lokalize or poedit to write
2491 the translation.  There is even a system in place to handle translated
2492 images.</li>
2493
2494 <li>The translated .po files are combined with the original docbook
2495 XML document using po4a to create a translated docbook document.</li>
2496
2497 <li>The final step is to use all the generated docbook files and
2498 create PDF and HTML version of the original and translated documents.</li>
2499
2500 </ol>
2501
2502 <p>This setup work very well, but have a few issues.  The biggest
2503 issue is that <a href="http://moinmo.in/DocBook">the docbook support
2504 we use in moinmoin</a> is not actively maintained.  The docbook
2505 support is also buggy, and our build system contain workarounds to
2506 make sure the generated docbook is usable despite these bugs.</p>
2507
2508 <p>If you want to have a look at our setup, it is all there in the
2509 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/debian-edu-doc">debian-edu-doc
2510 package</a>.</p>
2511
2512       </div>
2513       <div class="tags">
2514
2515
2516         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>.
2517
2518
2519       </div>
2520     </div>
2521     <div class="padding"></div>
2522
2523     <div class="entry">
2524       <div class="title">
2525         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Skolelinux___Debian_Edu_Squeeze_is_out_.html">Skolelinux / Debian Edu Squeeze is out!</a>
2526       </div>
2527       <div class="date">
2528         11th March 2012
2529       </div>
2530       <div class="body">
2531         <p>This weekend we finally published the first stable release of
2532 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Skolelinux / Debian Edu</a> based
2533 on Debian/Squeeze.  The full announcement is
2534 <a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-edu-announce/2012/03/msg00001.html">available</a>
2535 from the project announcement list.  Now is a good time to test if it
2536 you have not done so already.</p>
2537
2538 <p>I plan to present the new version at
2539 <a href="http://www.nuug.no/aktiviteter/20120313-skolelinux/">a NUUG
2540 meeting</a> on tuesday.  I look forward to seeing you there if you are
2541 in Oslo, Norway.</p>
2542
2543       </div>
2544       <div class="tags">
2545
2546
2547         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>.
2548
2549
2550       </div>
2551     </div>
2552     <div class="padding"></div>
2553
2554     <div class="entry">
2555       <div class="title">
2556         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__Nigel_Barker.html">Debian Edu interview: Nigel Barker</a>
2557       </div>
2558       <div class="date">
2559          9th March 2012
2560       </div>
2561       <div class="body">
2562         <p>Inspired by <a href="http://raphaelhertzog.com/tag/interview/">the
2563 interview series</a> conducted by Raphael, I started a Norwegian
2564 interview series with people involved in the Debian Edu / Skolelinux
2565 community.  This was so popular that I believe it is time to move to a
2566 more international audience.</p>
2567
2568 <p>While <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu and
2569 Skolelinux</a> originated in France and Norway, and have most users in
2570 Europe, there are users all around the globe.  One of those far away
2571 from me is Nigel Barker, a long time Debian Edu system administrator
2572 and contributor.  It is thanks to him that Debian Edu is adjusted to
2573 work out of the box in Japan.  I got him to answer a few questions,
2574 and am happy to share the response with you. :)
2575
2576
2577 <p><strong>Who are you, and how do you spend your days?</strong></p>
2578
2579 <p>My name is Nigel Barker, and I am British. I am married to Yumiko,
2580 and we have three lovely children, aged 15, 14 and 4(!) I am the IT
2581 Coordinator at Hiroshima International School, Japan. I am also a
2582 teacher, and in fact I spend most of my day teaching Mathematics,
2583 Science, IT, and Chemistry. I was originally a Chemistry teacher, but
2584 I have always had an interest in computers. Another teacher teaches
2585 primary school IT, but apart from that I am the only computer person,
2586 so that means I am the network manager, technician and webmaster,
2587 also, and I help people with their computer problems. I teach python
2588 to beginners in an after-school club. I am way too busy, so I really
2589 appreciate the simplicity of Skolelinux.</p>
2590
2591 <p><strong>How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux/Debian Edu
2592 project?</strong></p>
2593
2594 <p>In around 2004 or 5 I discovered the ltsp project, and set up a
2595 server in the IT lab. I wanted some way to connect it to our central
2596 samba server, which I was also quite poor at configuring. I discovered
2597 Edubuntu when it came out, but it didn't really improve my setup. I
2598 did various desperate searches for things like "school Linux server"
2599 and ended up in a document called "Drift" something or other. Reading
2600 there it became clear that Skolelinux was going to solve all my
2601 problems in one go. I was very excited, but apprehensive, because my
2602 previous attempts to install Debian had ended in failure (I used
2603 Mandrake for everything - ltsp, samba, apache, mail, ns...). I
2604 downloaded a beta version, had some problems, so subscribed to the
2605 Debian Edu list for help. I have remained subscribed ever since, and
2606 my school has run a Skolelinux network since Sarge.</p>
2607
2608 <p><strong>What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux/Debian
2609 Edu?</strong></p>
2610
2611 <p>For me the integrated setup. This is not just the server, or the
2612 workstation, or the ltsp. Its all of them, and its all configured
2613 ready to go. I read somewhere in the early documentation that it is
2614 designed to be setup and managed by the Maths or Science teacher, who
2615 doesn't necessarily know much about computers, in a small Norwegian
2616 school. That describes me perfectly if you replace Norway with
2617 Japan.</p>
2618
2619 <p><strong>What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux/Debian
2620 Edu?</strong></p>
2621
2622 <p>The desktop is fairly plain. If you compare it with Edubuntu, who
2623 have fun themes for children, or with distributions such as Mint, who
2624 make the desktop beautiful. They create a good impression on people
2625 who don't need to understand how to use any of it, but who might be
2626 important to the school. School administrators or directors, for
2627 instance, or parents. Even kids. Debian itself usually has ugly
2628 default theme settings. It was my dream a few years back that some
2629 kind of integration would allow Edubuntu to do the desktop stuff and
2630 Debian Edu the servers, but now I realise how impossible that is.  A
2631 second disadvantage is that if something goes wrong, or you need to
2632 customise something, then suddenly the level of expertise required
2633 multiplies. For example, backup wasn't working properly in Lenny. It
2634 took me ages to learn how to set up my own server to do rsync backups.
2635 I am afraid of anything to do with ldap, but perhaps Gosa will
2636 help.</p>
2637
2638 <p><strong>Which free software do you use daily?</strong></p>
2639
2640 <p>Nowadays I only use Debian on my personal computers. I have one for
2641 studio work (I play guitar and write songs), running AV Linux
2642 (customised Debian) a netbook running Squeeze, and a bigger laptop
2643 still running Skolelinux Lenny workstation. I have a Tjener in my
2644 house, that's very useful for the family photos and music.  At school
2645 the students only use Skolelinux. (Some teachers and the office still
2646 have windows). So that means we only use free software all day every
2647 day. Open office, The GIMP, Firefox/Iceweasel, VLC and Audacity are
2648 installed on every computer in school, irrespective of OS.  We also
2649 have Koha on Debian for the library, and Apache, Moodle, b2evolution
2650 and Etomite on Debian for the www. The firewall is Untangle.</p>
2651
2652 <p><strong>Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to
2653 get schools to use free software?</strong></p>
2654
2655 <p>Current trends are in our favour. Open source is big in industry,
2656 and ordinary people have heard of it. The spread of Android and the
2657 popularity of Apple have helped to weaken the impression that you have
2658 to have Microsoft on everything. People complain to me much less about
2659 file formats and Word than they did 5 years ago.  The Edu aspect is
2660 also a selling point. This is all customised for schools. Where is the
2661 Windows-edu, or the Mac-edu?  But of course the main attraction is
2662 budget.The trick is to convince people that the quality is not
2663 compromised when you stop paying and use free software instead. That
2664 is one reason why I say the desktop experience is a weakness. People
2665 are not impressed when their USB drive doesn't work, or their browser
2666 doesn't play flash, for example.</p>
2667
2668       </div>
2669       <div class="tags">
2670
2671
2672         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>.
2673
2674
2675       </div>
2676     </div>
2677     <div class="padding"></div>
2678
2679     <div class="entry">
2680       <div class="title">
2681         <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>
2682       </div>
2683       <div class="date">
2684          7th March 2012
2685       </div>
2686       <div class="body">
2687         <!-- Video HTML based on http://www.diveintohtml5.net/video.html -->
2688
2689 <p>One of the Debian Edu developers, Wolfgang Schweer, just created a
2690 screen cast documenting how to create a lot of new users in LDAP on
2691 Debian Edu Squeeze.  The video is embedded here in quarter size, and
2692 also available from <a href="http://vimeo.com/37675399">vimeo</a> and
2693 download as a
2694 <a href="http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux/press/screencasts/2012-02-29-debian_edu_mass_create_user_accounts.ogv">Ogg
2695 Theora</a> file.  Check it out below.</p>
2696
2697 <p><video id="gosa-mass-user-create-movie" width="256" height="184" preload controls>
2698   <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"' />
2699     <p>Download video as
2700       <a href="http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux/press/screencasts/2012-02-29-debian_edu_mass_create_user_accounts.ogv">Ogg</a>.</p>
2701 </video></p>
2702
2703       </div>
2704       <div class="tags">
2705
2706
2707         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>.
2708
2709
2710       </div>
2711     </div>
2712     <div class="padding"></div>
2713
2714     <div class="entry">
2715       <div class="title">
2716         <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>
2717       </div>
2718       <div class="date">
2719          4th March 2012
2720       </div>
2721       <div class="body">
2722         <p>This weekend we wrapped up and published the third release
2723 candidate for <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu /
2724 Skolelinux</a> based on Squeeze.  The full announcement is
2725 <a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-edu-announce/2012/03/msg00000.html">available</a>
2726 from the project announcement list.  Check it out if you
2727 need a software solution for your school.</p>
2728
2729       </div>
2730       <div class="tags">
2731
2732
2733         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>.
2734
2735
2736       </div>
2737     </div>
2738     <div class="padding"></div>
2739
2740     <div class="entry">
2741       <div class="title">
2742         <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>
2743       </div>
2744       <div class="date">
2745          3rd March 2012
2746       </div>
2747       <div class="body">
2748         <p>Many years ago, the <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Skolelinux
2749 / Debian Edu project</a> initiated a student project to create a tool
2750 for making stop motion movies.  The proposal came from a teacher
2751 needing such tool on Skolelinux.  The project, called "stopmotion",
2752 was manned by two extraordinary students and won a school award and a
2753 national aware with this great project.  The project was initiated and
2754 mentored by Herman Robak, and manned by the students Bjørn Erik Nilsen
2755 and Fredrik Berg Kjølstad.  They got in touch with people at Aardman
2756 Animation studio and received feedback on how professionals would like
2757 such stopmotion tool to work, and the end result was and is used by
2758 animators around the globe.  But as is usual after studying, both got
2759 jobs and went elsewhere, and did not have time to properly tend to the
2760 project, and it has been lingering for a few years now.  Until last
2761 year...</p>
2762
2763 <p>Last year some of the users got together with Herman, and moved the
2764 project to Sourceforge and in effect restarted the project under a new
2765 name,
2766 <a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/linuxstopmotion/">linuxstopmotion</a>.
2767 The name change was done to make it possible to find the project using
2768 Internet search engines (try to search for 'stopmotion' to see what I
2769 mean). I've been following
2770 <a href="https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/linuxstopmotion-community">the
2771 mailing list</a> and the improvement already in place and planned for
2772 the future is encouraging.  If you want to make stop motion movies.
2773 Check it out. :)</p>
2774
2775       </div>
2776       <div class="tags">
2777
2778
2779         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>.
2780
2781
2782       </div>
2783     </div>
2784     <div class="padding"></div>
2785
2786     <div class="entry">
2787       <div class="title">
2788         <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>
2789       </div>
2790       <div class="date">
2791         27th February 2012
2792       </div>
2793       <div class="body">
2794         <p>This weekend we wrapped up and published the second release
2795 candidate for <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu /
2796 Skolelinux</a> based on Squeeze.  The full announcement did for some
2797 reason not make it the project announcement list, but is
2798 <a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2012/02/msg00015.html">available</a>
2799 from the Debian development announcement list.  Check it out if you
2800 need a software solution for your school.</p>
2801
2802       </div>
2803       <div class="tags">
2804
2805
2806         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>.
2807
2808
2809       </div>
2810     </div>
2811     <div class="padding"></div>
2812
2813     <div class="entry">
2814       <div class="title">
2815         <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>
2816       </div>
2817       <div class="date">
2818         19th February 2012
2819       </div>
2820       <div class="body">
2821         <p>One week delayed due to DVD build problems, we managed today to
2822 wrap up and publish the first release candidate for
2823 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / Skolelinux</a> based
2824 on Squeeze.  The full announcement is
2825 <a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-edu-announce/2012/02/msg00001.html">available</a>
2826 on the project announcement list.  Check it out if you need a software
2827 solution for your school.</p>
2828
2829       </div>
2830       <div class="tags">
2831
2832
2833         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>.
2834
2835
2836       </div>
2837     </div>
2838     <div class="padding"></div>
2839
2840     <div class="entry">
2841       <div class="title">
2842         <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>
2843       </div>
2844       <div class="date">
2845         14th February 2012
2846       </div>
2847       <div class="body">
2848         <p>Once in a while my home server have disk problems.  Thanks to Linux
2849 Software RAID, I have not lost data yet (but
2850 <a href="http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.linux.raid/34532">I was
2851 close</a> this summer :).  But once a disk is starting to behave
2852 funny, a practical problem present itself.  How to get from the Linux
2853 device name (like /dev/sdd) to something that can be used to identify
2854 the disk when the computer is turned off?  In my case I have SATA
2855 disks with a unique ID printed on the label.  All I need is a way to
2856 figure out how to query the disk to get the ID out.</p>
2857
2858 <p>After fumbling a bit, I
2859 <a href="http://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/linux-getting-scsi-ide-harddisk-information/">found
2860 that hdparm -I</a> will report the disk serial number, which is
2861 printed on the disk label.  The following (almost) one-liner can be
2862 used to look up the ID of all the failed disks:</p>
2863
2864 <blockquote><pre>
2865 for d in $(cat /proc/mdstat |grep '(F)'|tr ' ' "\n"|grep '(F)'|cut -d\[ -f1|sort -u);
2866 do
2867     printf "Failed disk $d: "
2868     hdparm -I /dev/$d |grep 'Serial Num'
2869 done
2870 </blockquote></pre>
2871
2872 <p>Putting it here to make sure I do not have to search for it the
2873 next time, and in case other find it useful.</p>
2874
2875 <p>At the moment I have two failing disk. :(</p>
2876
2877 <blockquote><pre>
2878 Failed disk sdd1:       Serial Number:      WD-WCASJ1860823
2879 Failed disk sdd2:       Serial Number:      WD-WCASJ1860823
2880 Failed disk sde2:       Serial Number:      WD-WCASJ1840589
2881 </blockquote></pre>
2882
2883 <p>The last time I had failing disks, I added the serial number on
2884 labels I printed and stuck on the short sides of each disk, to be able
2885 to figure out which disk to take out of the box without having to
2886 remove each disk to look at the physical vendor label.  The vendor
2887 label is at the top of the disk, which is hidden when the disks are
2888 mounted inside my box.</p>
2889
2890 <p>I really wish the check_linux_raid Nagios plugin for checking Linux
2891 Software RAID in the
2892 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/n/nagios-plugins.html">nagios-plugins-standard</a>
2893 debian package would look up this value automatically, as it would
2894 make the plugin a lot more useful when my disks fail.  At the moment
2895 it only report a failure when there are no more spares left (it really
2896 should warn as soon as a disk is failing), and it do not tell me which
2897 disk(s) is failing when the RAID is running short on disks.</p>
2898
2899       </div>
2900       <div class="tags">
2901
2902
2903         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>.
2904
2905
2906       </div>
2907     </div>
2908     <div class="padding"></div>
2909
2910     <div class="entry">
2911       <div class="title">
2912         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Automatic_proxy_configuration_with_Debian_Edu___Skolelinux.html">Automatic proxy configuration with Debian Edu / Skolelinux</a>
2913       </div>
2914       <div class="date">
2915         13th February 2012
2916       </div>
2917       <div class="body">
2918         <p>New in the Squeeze version of
2919 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / Skolelinux</a> is the
2920 ability for clients to automatically configure their proxy settings
2921 based on their environment.  We want all systems on the client to use
2922 the WPAD based proxy definition fetched from <tt>http://wpad/wpad.dat</tt>, to
2923 allow sites to control the proxy setting from a central place and make
2924 sure clients do not have hard coded proxy settings.  The schools can
2925 change the global proxy setting by editing
2926 <tt>tjener:/etc/debian-edu/www/wpad.dat</tt> and the change propagate
2927 to all Debian Edu clients in the network.</p>
2928
2929 <p>The problem is that some systems do not understand the WPAD system.
2930 In other words, how do one get from a WPAD file like this (this is a
2931 simple one, they can run arbitrary code):</p>
2932
2933 <blockquote><pre>
2934 function FindProxyForURL(url, host)
2935 {
2936    if (!isResolvable(host) ||
2937        isPlainHostName(host) ||
2938        dnsDomainIs(host, ".intern"))
2939       return "DIRECT";
2940    else
2941       return "PROXY webcache:3128; DIRECT";
2942 }
2943 </pre></blockquote>
2944
2945 <p>to a proxy setting in the process environment looking like this:</p>
2946
2947 <blockquote><pre>
2948 http_proxy=http://webcache:3128/
2949 ftp_proxy=http://webcache:3128/
2950 </pre></blockquote>
2951
2952 <p>To do this conversion I developed a perl script that will execute
2953 the javascript fragment in the WPAD file and return the proxy that
2954 would be used for
2955 <tt><a href="http://www.debian.org/">http://www.debian.org/</a></tt>,
2956 and insert this extracted proxy URL in <tt>/etc/environment</tt> and
2957 <tt>/etc/apt/apt.conf</tt>.  The perl script wpad-extract work just
2958 fine in Squeeze, but in Wheezy the library it need to run the
2959 javascript code is <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/631045">no longer
2960 able to build</a> because the C library it depended on is now a C++
2961 library.  I hope someone find a solution to that problem before Wheezy
2962 is frozen.  An alternative would be for us to rewrite wpad-extract to
2963 use some other javascript library currently working in Wheezy, but no
2964 known alternative is known at the moment.</p>
2965
2966 <p>This automatic proxy system allow the roaming workstation (aka
2967 laptop) setup in Debian Edu/Squeeze to use the proxy when the laptop
2968 is connected to the backbone network in a Debian Edu setup, and to
2969 automatically use any proxy present and announced using the WPAD
2970 feature when it is connected to other networks.  And if no proxy is
2971 announced, direct connections will be used instead.</p>
2972
2973 <p>Silently using a proxy announced on the network might be a privacy
2974 or security problem.  But those controlling DHCP and DNS on a network
2975 could just as easily set up a transparent proxy, and force all HTTP
2976 and FTP connections to use a proxy anyway, so I consider that
2977 distinction to be academic.  If you are afraid of using the wrong
2978 proxy, you should avoid connecting to the network in question in the
2979 first place.  In Debian Edu, the proxy setup is updated using dhcp and
2980 ifupdown hooks, to make sure the configuration is updated every time
2981 the network setup changes.</p>
2982
2983 <p>The WPAD system is documented in a
2984 <a href="http://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-ietf-wrec-wpad-01">IETF
2985 draft</a> and a
2986 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_Proxy_Autodiscovery_Protocol">Wikipedia
2987 page</a> for those that want to learn more.</p>
2988
2989       </div>
2990       <div class="tags">
2991
2992
2993         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>.
2994
2995
2996       </div>
2997     </div>
2998     <div class="padding"></div>
2999
3000     <div class="entry">
3001       <div class="title">
3002         <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>
3003       </div>
3004       <div class="date">
3005          5th February 2012
3006       </div>
3007       <div class="body">
3008         <p>Since the Lenny version of
3009 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / Skolelinux</a>, a
3010 feature to save power have been included.  It is as simple as it is
3011 practical: Shut down unused clients at night, and turn them on again
3012 in the morning.  This is done using the
3013 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/s/shutdown-at-night.html">shutdown-at-night</a> Debian package.</p>
3014
3015 <p>To enable this feature on a client, the machine need to be added to
3016 the netgroup shutdown-at-night-hosts.  For Debian Edu, this is done in
3017 LDAP, and once this is in place, the machine in question will check
3018 every hour from 16:00 until 06:00 to see if the machine is unused, and
3019 shut it down if it is.  If the hardware in question is supported by
3020 the
3021 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/n/nvram-wakeup.html">nvram-wakeup</a>
3022 package, the BIOS is told to turn the machine back on around 07:00 +-
3023 10 minutes.  If this isn't working, one can configure wake-on-lan to
3024 try to turn on the client.  The wake-on-lan option is only documented
3025 and not enabled by default in Debian Edu.</p>
3026
3027 <p>It is important to not turn all machines on at once, as this can
3028 blow a fuse if several computers are connected to the same fuse like
3029 the common setup for a classroom.  The nvram-wakeup method only work
3030 for machines with a functioning hardware/BIOS clock.  I've seen old
3031 machines where the BIOS battery were dead and the hardware clock were
3032 starting from 0 (or was it 1990?) every boot.  If you have one of
3033 those, you have to turn on the computer manually.</p>
3034
3035 <p>The shutdown-at-night package is completely self contained, and can
3036 also be used outside the Debian Edu environment.  For those without a
3037 central LDAP server with netgroups, one can instead touch the file
3038 <tt>/etc/shutdown-at-night/shutdown-at-night</tt> to enable it.
3039 Perhaps you too can use it to save some power?</p>
3040
3041       </div>
3042       <div class="tags">
3043
3044
3045         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>.
3046
3047
3048       </div>
3049     </div>
3050     <div class="padding"></div>
3051
3052     <div class="entry">
3053       <div class="title">
3054         <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>
3055       </div>
3056       <div class="date">
3057          4th February 2012
3058       </div>
3059       <div class="body">
3060         <p>I am happy to announce that finally we managed today to wrap up and
3061 publish the third beta version of
3062 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / Skolelinux</a> based
3063 on Squeeze.  If you want to test a LDAP backed Kerberos server with
3064 out of the box PXE configuration for running diskless machines and
3065 installing new machines, check it out.  If you need a software
3066 solution for your school, check it out too.  The full announcement is
3067 <a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-edu-announce/2012/02/msg00000.html">available</a>
3068 on the project announcement list.</p>
3069
3070 <p>I am very happy to report these changes and improvements since
3071 beta2 (there are more, see announcement for full list):</p>
3072
3073 <ul>
3074
3075 <li>It is now possible to change the pre-configured IP subnet from
3076   10.0.0.0/8 to something else by using the subnet-change tool after
3077   the installation.</li>
3078
3079 <li>Too full partitions are now automatically extended on the Main
3080   Server, based on the rules specified in /etc/fsautoresizetab.</li>
3081
3082 <li>The CUPS queues are now automatically flushed every night, and all
3083   disabled queues are restarted every hour.  This should cut down on
3084   the amount of manual administration needed for printers.</li>
3085
3086 <li>The set of initial users have been changed.  Now a personal user
3087   for the local system administrator is created during installation
3088   instead of the previously created localadmin and super-admin users,
3089   and this user is granted administrative privileges using group
3090   membership.  This reduces the number of passwords one need to keep
3091   up to date on the system.</li>
3092
3093 </ul>
3094
3095 <p>The new main server seem to work so well that I am testing it as my
3096 private DNS/LDAP/Kerberos/PXE/LTSP server at home.  I will use it look
3097 for issues we could fix to polish Debian Edu even further before the
3098 final Squeeze release is published.</p>
3099
3100 <p>Next weekend the project organise a
3101 <a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-edu-announce/2012/01/msg00001.html">developer
3102 gathering</a> in Oslo.  We will continue the work on the Squeeze
3103 version, and start initial planning for the Wheezy version.  Perhaps I
3104 will see you there?</p>
3105
3106       </div>
3107       <div class="tags">
3108
3109
3110         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>.
3111
3112
3113       </div>
3114     </div>
3115     <div class="padding"></div>
3116
3117     <div class="entry">
3118       <div class="title">
3119         <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>
3120       </div>
3121       <div class="date">
3122         27th January 2012
3123       </div>
3124       <div class="body">
3125         <p>With some computer hardware, one need non-free firmware blobs.
3126 This is the sad fact of todays computers.  In the next version of
3127 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / Skolelinux</a> based
3128 on Squeeze, we provide several scripts and modifications to make
3129 firmware blobs easier to handle.  The common use case I run into is a
3130 laptop with a wireless network card requiring non-free firmware to
3131 work, but there are other use cases as well.</p>
3132
3133 <p>First and foremost, Debian Edu provide ISO images for DVD and CD
3134 with all firmware packages in the Debian sections main and non-free
3135 included, to ensure debian-installer find and can install all of them
3136 during installation.  This take care firmware for network devices used
3137 by the installer when installing from from local media.  But for
3138 example multimedia devices are not activated in the installer and are
3139 not taken care of by this.</p>
3140
3141 <p>For non-network devices, we provide the script
3142 <tt>/usr/share/debian-edu-config/tools/auto-addfirmware</tt> which
3143 search through the <tt>dmesg</tt> output for drivers requesting extra
3144 firmware.  The firmware file name is looked up in the Contents-ARCH.gz
3145 file available in the package repository, and the packages providing
3146 the requested firmware file(s) is installed.  I have proposed to do
3147 something similar in debian-installer (BTS report
3148 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/655507">#655507</a>), to allow PXE
3149 installs of Debian to handle firmware installation better.  Run the
3150 script as root from the command line to fetch and install the needed
3151 firmware packages.</p>
3152
3153 <p>Debian Edu provide PXE installation of Debian out of the box, and
3154 because some machines need firmware to get their network cards
3155 working, the installation initrd some times need extra firmware
3156 included to be able to install at all.  To fill the PXE installation
3157 initrd with extra firmware, the
3158 <tt>/usr/share/debian-edu-config/tools/pxe-addfirmware</tt> script is
3159 provided.  Again, just run it as root on the command line to fill the
3160 PXE initrd with firmware packages.</p>
3161
3162 <p>Last, some LTSP clients might also need firmware to get their
3163 network cards working.  For this,
3164 <tt>/usr/share/debian-edu-config/tools/ltsp-addfirmware</tt> is
3165 provided to update the LTSP initrd with firmware blobs.  It is used
3166 the same way as the other firmware related tools.</p>
3167
3168 <p>At the moment, we do not run any of these during installation.  We
3169 do not know if this is acceptable for the local administrator to use
3170 non-free software, and it is their choice.</p>
3171
3172 <p>We plan to release beta3 this weekend.  You might want to give it a
3173 try.</p>
3174
3175       </div>
3176       <div class="tags">
3177
3178
3179         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>.
3180
3181
3182       </div>
3183     </div>
3184     <div class="padding"></div>
3185
3186     <div class="entry">
3187       <div class="title">
3188         <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>
3189       </div>
3190       <div class="date">
3191         25th January 2012
3192       </div>
3193       <div class="body">
3194         <p>The next version of <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu
3195 / Skolelinux</a> will include a new tool
3196 <tt>sitesummary2ldapdhcp</tt>, which can be used to quickly set up all
3197 the computers in a school without much manual labour.  Here is a short
3198 summary on how to use it to set up a new school.</p>
3199
3200 <p>First, install a combined Main Server and Thin Client Server as the
3201 central server in the network.  Next, PXE boot all the client machines
3202 as thin clients and wait 5 minutes after the last client booted to
3203 allow the clients to report their existence to the central server.  When
3204 this is done, log on to the central server and run
3205 <tt>sitesummary2ldapdhcp -a</tt> in the <tt>konsole</tt> to use the
3206 collected information to generate system objects in LDAP.  The output
3207 will look similar to this:</p>
3208
3209 <p><blockquote><pre>
3210 % sitesummary2ldapdhcp -a
3211 info: Updating machine tjener.intern [10.0.2.2] id ether-00:01:02:03:04:05.
3212 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.
3213
3214 Enter password if you want to activate these changes, and ^c to abort.
3215
3216 Connecting to LDAP as cn=admin,ou=ldap-access,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
3217 enter password: *******
3218 %
3219 </pre></blockquote></p>
3220
3221 <p>After providing the LDAP administrative password (the same as the
3222 root password set during installation), the LDAP database will be
3223 populated with system objects for each PXE booted machine with
3224 automatically generated names.  The final step to set up the school is
3225 then to log into <a href="https://oss.gonicus.de/labs/gosa/">GOsa</a>,
3226 the web based user, group and system administration system to change
3227 system names, add systems to the correct host groups and finally
3228 enable DHCP and DNS for the systems.  All clients that should be used
3229 as diskless workstations should be added to the workstation-hosts
3230 group.  After this is done, all computers can be booted again via PXE
3231 and get their assigned names and group based configuration
3232 automatically.</p>
3233
3234 <p>We plan to release beta3 with the updated version of this feature
3235 enabled this weekend.  You might want to give it a try.</p>
3236
3237 <p>Update 2012-01-28: When calling sitesummary2ldapdhcp to add new
3238 hosts, one need to add the option -a.  I forgot to mention this in my
3239 original text, and have added it to the text now.</p>
3240
3241       </div>
3242       <div class="tags">
3243
3244
3245         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>.
3246
3247
3248       </div>
3249     </div>
3250     <div class="padding"></div>
3251
3252     <div class="entry">
3253       <div class="title">
3254         <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>
3255       </div>
3256       <div class="date">
3257         10th January 2012
3258       </div>
3259       <div class="body">
3260         <p>In the Squeeze version of
3261 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / Skolelinux</a> soon
3262 to be released, users of the system will get their default browser
3263 start page set from LDAP, allowing the system administrator to point
3264 all users to the school web page by updating one setting in LDAP.  In
3265 addition to setting the default start page when a machine boots, users
3266 are shown the same page as a welcome page when they log in for the
3267 first time.</p>
3268
3269 <p>The LDAP object dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no have an attribute
3270 labeledURI with "http://www/ LDAP for Debian Edu/Skolelinux" as the
3271 default content.  By changing this value to another URL, all users get
3272 to see the page behind this new URL.</p>
3273
3274 <p>An easy way to update it is by using the ldapvi tool.  It can be
3275 called as "<tt>ldapvi -ZD '(cn=admin)'</tt>' to update LDAP with the
3276 new setting.</p>
3277
3278 <p>We have written the code to adjust the default start page and show
3279 the welcome page, and I wonder if there is an easier way to do this
3280 from within Iceweasel instead.</p>
3281
3282       </div>
3283       <div class="tags">
3284
3285
3286         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>.
3287
3288
3289       </div>
3290     </div>
3291     <div class="padding"></div>
3292
3293     <div class="entry">
3294       <div class="title">
3295         <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>
3296       </div>
3297       <div class="date">
3298          7th January 2012
3299       </div>
3300       <div class="body">
3301         <p>I am happy to announce that today we managed to wrap up and publish
3302 the second beta version of
3303 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / Skolelinux</a>.  If
3304 you want to test a LDAP backed Kerberos server with out of the box PXE
3305 configuration for running diskless machines and installing new
3306 machines, check it out.  If you need a software solution for your
3307 school, check it out too.  The full announcement is
3308 <a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-edu-announce/2012/01/msg00000.html">available</a>
3309 on the project announcement list.</p>
3310
3311       </div>
3312       <div class="tags">
3313
3314
3315         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>.
3316
3317
3318       </div>
3319     </div>
3320     <div class="padding"></div>
3321
3322     <div class="entry">
3323       <div class="title">
3324         <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>
3325       </div>
3326       <div class="date">
3327          3rd January 2012
3328       </div>
3329       <div class="body">
3330         <p>During christmas, I have been working getting the next version of
3331 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / Skolelinux</a> ready
3332 for release.  The initial problem I looked at was particularly
3333 interesting.</p>
3334
3335 <P>The installer would hang at the end when it was doing it
3336 post-installation configuration, and whatevery I did to try to find
3337 the cause and fix it always worked while I tested it, but never when I
3338 integrated it into the installer and ran the installation from
3339 scratch.  I would try to restart processes, close file descriptors,
3340 remove or create files, and the installer would always unblock and
3341 wrap up its tasks.</p>
3342
3343 <p>Eventually the cause was found.  The kernel was simply running out
3344 of entropy, causing the Kerberos setup to hang waiting for more.
3345 Pressing keys was adding entropy to the kernel, and thus all my tries
3346 to fix the problem worked not because what I was typing to fix it, but
3347 because I was typing.</P>
3348
3349 <p>The fix I implemented was to add a background process looking at
3350 the level of entropy in the kernel (by checking
3351 /proc/sys/kernel/random/entropy_avail), and if it was too small, the
3352 installer will flush the kernel file buffers and do 'find /' to
3353 generate some disk IO.  Disk IO generate entropy in the kernel, and is
3354 one of the few things that can be initated from within the system to
3355 generate entropy.</p>
3356
3357 <p>The fix is in
3358 <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/Documentation/Squeeze/Installation">beta1
3359 of the Debian Edu/Squeeze</a> version, and we
3360 <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu">welcome more testers and
3361 developers</a>.  We plan to release beta2 this weekend.</p>
3362
3363       </div>
3364       <div class="tags">
3365
3366
3367         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>.
3368
3369
3370       </div>
3371     </div>
3372     <div class="padding"></div>
3373
3374     <div class="entry">
3375       <div class="title">
3376         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Automatically_upgrading_server_firmware_on_Dell_PowerEdge.html">Automatically upgrading server firmware on Dell PowerEdge</a>
3377       </div>
3378       <div class="date">
3379         21st November 2011
3380       </div>
3381       <div class="body">
3382         <p>At work we have heaps of servers.  I believe the total count is
3383 around 1000 at the moment.  To be able to get help from the vendors
3384 when something go wrong, we want to keep the firmware on the servers
3385 up to date.  If the firmware isn't the latest and greatest, the
3386 vendors typically refuse to start debugging any problems until the
3387 firmware is upgraded.  So before every reboot, we want to upgrade the
3388 firmware, and we would really like everyone handling servers at the
3389 university to do this themselves when they plan to reboot a machine.
3390 For that to happen we at the unix server admin group need to provide
3391 the tools to do so.</p>
3392
3393 <p>To make firmware upgrading easier, I am working on a script to
3394 fetch and install the latest firmware for the servers we got.  Most of
3395 our hardware are from Dell and HP, so I have focused on these servers
3396 so far.  This blog post is about the Dell part.</P>
3397
3398 <p>On the Dell FTP site I was lucky enough to find
3399 <a href="ftp://ftp.us.dell.com/catalog/Catalog.xml.gz">an XML file</a>
3400 with firmware information for all 11th generation servers, listing
3401 which firmware should be used on a given model and where on the FTP
3402 site I can find it.  Using a simple perl XML parser I can then
3403 download the shell scripts Dell provides to do firmware upgrades from
3404 within Linux and reboot when all the firmware is primed and ready to
3405 be activated on the first reboot.</p>
3406
3407 <p>This is the Dell related fragment of the perl code I am working on.
3408 Are there anyone working on similar tools for firmware upgrading all
3409 servers at a site?  Please get in touch and lets share resources.</p>
3410
3411 <p><pre>
3412 #!/usr/bin/perl
3413 use strict;
3414 use warnings;
3415 use File::Temp qw(tempdir);
3416 BEGIN {
3417     # Install needed RHEL packages if missing
3418     my %rhelmodules = (
3419         'XML::Simple' => 'perl-XML-Simple',
3420         );
3421     for my $module (keys %rhelmodules) {
3422         eval "use $module;";
3423         if ($@) {
3424             my $pkg = $rhelmodules{$module};
3425             system("yum install -y $pkg");
3426             eval "use $module;";
3427         }
3428     }
3429 }
3430 my $errorsto = 'pere@hungry.com';
3431
3432 upgrade_dell();
3433
3434 exit 0;
3435
3436 sub run_firmware_script {
3437     my ($opts, $script) = @_;
3438     unless ($script) {
3439         print STDERR "fail: missing script name\n";
3440         exit 1
3441     }
3442     print STDERR "Running $script\n\n";
3443
3444     if (0 == system("sh $script $opts")) { # FIXME correct exit code handling
3445         print STDERR "success: firmware script ran succcessfully\n";
3446     } else {
3447         print STDERR "fail: firmware script returned error\n";
3448     }
3449 }
3450
3451 sub run_firmware_scripts {
3452     my ($opts, @dirs) = @_;
3453     # Run firmware packages
3454     for my $dir (@dirs) {
3455         print STDERR "info: Running scripts in $dir\n";
3456         opendir(my $dh, $dir) or die "Unable to open directory $dir: $!";
3457         while (my $s = readdir $dh) {
3458             next if $s =~ m/^\.\.?/;
3459             run_firmware_script($opts, "$dir/$s");
3460         }
3461         closedir $dh;
3462     }
3463 }
3464
3465 sub download {
3466     my $url = shift;
3467     print STDERR "info: Downloading $url\n";
3468     system("wget --quiet \"$url\"");
3469 }
3470
3471 sub upgrade_dell {
3472     my @dirs;
3473     my $product = `dmidecode -s system-product-name`;
3474     chomp $product;
3475
3476     if ($product =~ m/PowerEdge/) {
3477
3478         # on RHEL, these pacakges are needed by the firwmare upgrade scripts
3479         system('yum install -y compat-libstdc++-33.i686 libstdc++.i686 libxml2.i686 procmail');
3480
3481         my $tmpdir = tempdir(
3482             CLEANUP => 1
3483             );
3484         chdir($tmpdir);
3485         fetch_dell_fw('catalog/Catalog.xml.gz');
3486         system('gunzip Catalog.xml.gz');
3487         my @paths = fetch_dell_fw_list('Catalog.xml');
3488         # -q is quiet, disabling interactivity and reducing console output
3489         my $fwopts = "-q";
3490         if (@paths) {
3491             for my $url (@paths) {
3492                 fetch_dell_fw($url);
3493             }
3494             run_firmware_scripts($fwopts, $tmpdir);
3495         } else {
3496             print STDERR "error: Unsupported Dell model '$product'.\n";
3497             print STDERR "error: Please report to $errorsto.\n";
3498         }
3499         chdir('/');
3500     } else {
3501         print STDERR "error: Unsupported Dell model '$product'.\n";
3502         print STDERR "error: Please report to $errorsto.\n";
3503     }
3504 }
3505
3506 sub fetch_dell_fw {
3507     my $path = shift;
3508     my $url = "ftp://ftp.us.dell.com/$path";
3509     download($url);
3510 }
3511
3512 # Using ftp://ftp.us.dell.com/catalog/Catalog.xml.gz, figure out which
3513 # firmware packages to download from Dell.  Only work for Linux
3514 # machines and 11th generation Dell servers.
3515 sub fetch_dell_fw_list {
3516     my $filename = shift;
3517
3518     my $product = `dmidecode -s system-product-name`;
3519     chomp $product;
3520     my ($mybrand, $mymodel) = split(/\s+/, $product);
3521
3522     print STDERR "Finding firmware bundles for $mybrand $mymodel\n";
3523
3524     my $xml = XMLin($filename);
3525     my @paths;
3526     for my $bundle (@{$xml->{SoftwareBundle}}) {
3527         my $brand = $bundle->{TargetSystems}->{Brand}->{Display}->{content};
3528         my $model = $bundle->{TargetSystems}->{Brand}->{Model}->{Display}->{content};
3529         my $oscode;
3530         if ("ARRAY" eq ref $bundle->{TargetOSes}->{OperatingSystem}) {
3531             $oscode = $bundle->{TargetOSes}->{OperatingSystem}[0]->{osCode};
3532         } else {
3533             $oscode = $bundle->{TargetOSes}->{OperatingSystem}->{osCode};
3534         }
3535         if ($mybrand eq $brand && $mymodel eq $model && "LIN" eq $oscode)
3536         {
3537             @paths = map { $_->{path} } @{$bundle->{Contents}->{Package}};
3538         }
3539     }
3540     for my $component (@{$xml->{SoftwareComponent}}) {
3541         my $componenttype = $component->{ComponentType}->{value};
3542
3543         # Drop application packages, only firmware and BIOS
3544         next if 'APAC' eq $componenttype;
3545
3546         my $cpath = $component->{path};
3547         for my $path (@paths) {
3548             if ($cpath =~ m%/$path$%) {
3549                 push(@paths, $cpath);
3550             }
3551         }
3552     }
3553     return @paths;
3554 }
3555 </pre>
3556
3557 <p>The code is only tested on RedHat Enterprise Linux, but I suspect
3558 it could work on other platforms with some tweaking.  Anyone know a
3559 index like Catalog.xml is available from HP for HP servers?  At the
3560 moment I maintain a similar list manually and it is quickly getting
3561 outdated.</p>
3562
3563       </div>
3564       <div class="tags">
3565
3566
3567         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>.
3568
3569
3570       </div>
3571     </div>
3572     <div class="padding"></div>
3573
3574     <div class="entry">
3575       <div class="title">
3576         <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>
3577       </div>
3578       <div class="date">
3579          7th October 2011
3580       </div>
3581       <div class="body">
3582         <p>Here in Norway the public libraries are debating with the
3583 publishing houses how to handle electronic books.  Surprisingly, the
3584 libraries seem to be willing to accept digital restriction mechanisms
3585 (DRM) on books and renting e-books with artificial scarcity from the
3586 publishing houses.  Time limited renting (2-3 years) is one proposed
3587 model, and only allowing X borrowers for each book is another.
3588 Personally I find it amazing that libraries are even considering such
3589 models.</p>
3590
3591 <p>Anyway, while reading <a href="http://boklaben.no/?p=220">part of
3592 this debate</a>, it occurred to me that someone should present a more
3593 sensible approach to the libraries, to allow its borrowers to get used
3594 to a better model.  The idea is simple:</p>
3595
3596 <p>Create a computer system for the libraries, either in the form of a
3597 Live DVD or a installable distribution, that provide a simple kiosk
3598 solution to hand out free e-books.  As a start, the books distributed
3599 by <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/">Project Gutenberg</a> (abount
3600 36,000 books), <a href="http://runeberg.org/">Project Runenberg</a>
3601 (1149 books) and <a href="http://www.archive.org/details/texts">The
3602 Internet Archive</a> (3,033,748 books) could be included, but any book
3603 where the copyright has expired or with a free licence could be
3604 distributed.</p>
3605
3606 <p>The computer system would make it easy to:</p>
3607
3608 <ul>
3609
3610 <li>Copy e-books into a USB stick, reading tablets, cell phones and
3611   other relevant equipment.</li>
3612
3613 <li>Show the books for reading on the the screen in the library.</li>
3614
3615 </ul>
3616
3617 <p>In addition to such kiosk solution, there should probably be a web
3618 site as well to allow people easy access to these books without
3619 visiting the library.  The site would be the distribution point for
3620 the kiosk systems, which would connect regularly to fetch any new
3621 books available.</p>
3622
3623 <p>Are there anyone working on a system like this?  I guess it would
3624 fit any library in the world, and not just the Norwegian public
3625 libraries. :)</p>
3626
3627       </div>
3628       <div class="tags">
3629
3630
3631         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>.
3632
3633
3634       </div>
3635     </div>
3636     <div class="padding"></div>
3637
3638     <div class="entry">
3639       <div class="title">
3640         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Ripping_problematic_DVDs_using_dvdbackup_and_genisoimage.html">Ripping problematic DVDs using dvdbackup and genisoimage</a>
3641       </div>
3642       <div class="date">
3643         17th September 2011
3644       </div>
3645       <div class="body">
3646         <p>For convenience, I want to store copies of all my DVDs on my file
3647 server.  It allow me to save shelf space flat while still having my
3648 movie collection easily available.  It also make it possible to let
3649 the kids see their favourite DVDs without wearing the physical copies
3650 down.  I prefer to store the DVDs as ISOs to keep the DVD menu and
3651 subtitle options intact.  It also ensure that the entire film is one
3652 file on the disk.  As this is for personal use, the ripping is
3653 perfectly legal here in Norway.</p>
3654
3655 <p>Normally I rip the DVDs using dd like this:</p>
3656
3657 <blockquote><pre>
3658 #!/bin/sh
3659 # apt-get install lsdvd
3660 title=$(lsdvd 2>/dev/null|awk '/Disc Title: / {print $3}')
3661 dd if=/dev/dvd of=/storage/dvds/$title.iso bs=1M
3662 </pre></blockquote>
3663
3664 <p>But some DVDs give a input/output error when I read it, and I have
3665 been looking for a better alternative.  I have no idea why this I/O
3666 error occur, but suspect my DVD drive, the Linux kernel driver or
3667 something fishy with the DVDs in question.  Or perhaps all three.</p>
3668
3669 <p>Anyway, I believe I found a solution today using dvdbackup and
3670 genisoimage.  This script gave me a working ISO for a problematic
3671 movie by first extracting the DVD file system and then re-packing it
3672 back as an ISO.
3673
3674 <blockquote><pre>
3675 #!/bin/sh
3676 # apt-get install lsdvd dvdbackup genisoimage
3677 set -e
3678 tmpdir=/storage/dvds/
3679 title=$(lsdvd 2>/dev/null|awk '/Disc Title: / {print $3}')
3680 dvdbackup -i /dev/dvd -M -o $tmpdir -n$title
3681 genisoimage -dvd-video -o $tmpdir/$title.iso $tmpdir/$title
3682 rm -rf $tmpdir/$title
3683 </pre></blockquote>
3684
3685 <p>Anyone know of a better way available in Debian/Squeeze?</p>
3686
3687 <p>Update 2011-09-18: I got a tip from Konstantin Khomoutov about the
3688 readom program from the wodim package.  It is specially written to
3689 read optical media, and is called like this: <tt>readom dev=/dev/dvd
3690 f=image.iso</tt>.  It got 6 GB along with the problematic Cars DVD
3691 before it failed, and failed right away with a Timmy Time DVD.</p>
3692
3693 <p>Next, I got a tip from Bastian Blank about
3694 <a href="http://bblank.thinkmo.de/blog/new-software-python-dvdvideo">his
3695 program python-dvdvideo</a>, which seem to be just what I am looking
3696 for.  Tested it with my problematic Timmy Time DVD, and it succeeded
3697 creating a ISO image.  The git source built and installed just fine in
3698 Squeeze, so I guess this will be my tool of choice in the future.</p>
3699
3700       </div>
3701       <div class="tags">
3702
3703
3704         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>.
3705
3706
3707       </div>
3708     </div>
3709     <div class="padding"></div>
3710
3711     <div class="entry">
3712       <div class="title">
3713         <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>
3714       </div>
3715       <div class="date">
3716          4th August 2011
3717       </div>
3718       <div class="body">
3719         <p>Wouter Verhelst have some
3720 <a href="http://grep.be/blog/en/retorts/pere_kubuntu_boot">interesting
3721 comments and opinions</a> on my blog post on
3722 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/What_should_start_from__etc_rcS_d__in_Debian____almost_nothing.html">the
3723 need to clean up /etc/rcS.d/ in Debian</a> and my blog post about
3724 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/What_is_missing_in_the_Debian_desktop__or_why_my_parents_use_Kubuntu.html">the
3725 default KDE desktop in Debian</a>.  I only have time to address one
3726 small piece of his comment now, and though it best to address the
3727 misunderstanding he bring forward:</p>
3728
3729 <p><blockquote>
3730 Currently, a system admin has four options: [...] boot to a
3731 single-user system (by adding 'single' to the kernel command line;
3732 this runs rcS and rc1 scripts)
3733 </blockquote></p>
3734
3735 <p>This make me believe Wouter believe booting into single user mode
3736 and booting into runlevel 1 is the same.  I am not surprised he
3737 believe this, because it would make sense and is a quite sensible
3738 thing to believe.  But because the boot in Debian is slightly broken,
3739 runlevel 1 do not work properly and it isn't the same as single user
3740 mode.  I'll try to explain what is actually happing, but it is a bit
3741 hard to explain.</p>
3742
3743 <p>Single user mode is defined like this in /etc/inittab:
3744 "<tt>~~:S:wait:/sbin/sulogin</tt>".  This means the only thing that is
3745 executed in single user mode is sulogin.  Single user mode is a boot
3746 state "between" the runlevels, and when booting into single user mode,
3747 only the scripts in /etc/rcS.d/ are executed before the init process
3748 enters the single user state.  When switching to runlevel 1, the state
3749 is in fact not ending in runlevel 1, but it passes through runlevel 1
3750 and end up in the single user mode (see /etc/rc1.d/S03single, which
3751 runs "init -t1 S" to switch to single user mode at the end of runlevel
3752 1.  It is confusing that the 'S' (single user) init mode is not the
3753 mode enabled by /etc/rcS.d/ (which is more like the initial boot
3754 mode).</p>
3755
3756 <p>This summary might make it clearer.  When booting for the first
3757 time into single user mode, the following commands are executed:
3758 "<tt>/etc/init.d/rc S; /sbin/sulogin</tt>".  When booting into
3759 runlevel 1, the following commands are executed: "<tt>/etc/init.d/rc
3760 S; /etc/init.d/rc 1; /sbin/sulogin</tt>".  A problem show up when
3761 trying to continue after visiting single user mode.  Not all services
3762 are started again as they should, causing the machine to end up in an
3763 unpredicatble state.  This is why Debian admins recommend rebooting
3764 after visiting single user mode.</p>
3765
3766 <p>A similar problem with runlevel 1 is caused by the amount of
3767 scripts executed from /etc/rcS.d/.  When switching from say runlevel 2
3768 to runlevel 1, the services started from /etc/rcS.d/ are not properly
3769 stopped when passing through the scripts in /etc/rc1.d/, and not
3770 started again when switching away from runlevel 1 to the runlevels
3771 2-5.  I believe the problem is best fixed by moving all the scripts
3772 out of /etc/rcS.d/ that are not <strong>required</strong> to get a
3773 functioning single user mode during boot.</p>
3774
3775 <p>I have spent several years investigating the Debian boot system,
3776 and discovered this problem a few years ago.  I suspect it originates
3777 from when sysvinit was introduced into Debian, a long time ago.</p>
3778
3779       </div>
3780       <div class="tags">
3781
3782
3783         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>.
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/What_should_start_from__etc_rcS_d__in_Debian____almost_nothing.html">What should start from /etc/rcS.d/ in Debian? - almost nothing</a>
3793       </div>
3794       <div class="date">
3795         30th July 2011
3796       </div>
3797       <div class="body">
3798         <p>In the Debian boot system, several packages include scripts that
3799 are started from /etc/rcS.d/.  In fact, there is a bite more of them
3800 than make sense, and this causes a few problems.  What kind of
3801 problems, you might ask.  There are at least two problems.  The first
3802 is that it is not possible to recover a machine after switching to
3803 runlevel 1.  One need to actually reboot to get the machine back to
3804 the expected state.  The other is that single user boot will sometimes
3805 run into problems because some of the subsystems are activated before
3806 the root login is presented, causing problems when trying to recover a
3807 machine from a problem in that subsystem.  A minor additional point is
3808 that moving more scripts out of rcS.d/ and into the other rc#.d/
3809 directories will increase the amount of scripts that can run in
3810 parallel during boot, and thus decrease the boot time.</p>
3811
3812 <p>So, which scripts should start from rcS.d/.  In short, only the
3813 scripts that _have_ to execute before the root login prompt is
3814 presented during a single user boot should go there.  Everything else
3815 should go into the numeric runlevels.  This means things like
3816 lm-sensors, fuse and x11-common should not run from rcS.d, but from
3817 the numeric runlevels.  Today in Debian, there are around 115 init.d
3818 scripts that are started from rcS.d/, and most of them should be moved
3819 out.  Do your package have one of them?  Please help us make single
3820 user and runlevel 1 better by moving it.</p>
3821
3822 <p>Scripts setting up the screen, keyboard, system partitions
3823 etc. should still be started from rcS.d/, but there is for example no
3824 need to have the network enabled before the single user login prompt
3825 is presented.</p>
3826
3827 <p>As always, things are not so easy to fix as they sound.  To keep
3828 Debian systems working while scripts migrate and during upgrades, the
3829 scripts need to be moved from rcS.d/ to rc2.d/ in reverse dependency
3830 order, ie the scripts that nothing in rcS.d/ depend on can be moved,
3831 and the next ones can only be moved when their dependencies have been
3832 moved first.  This migration must be done sequentially while we ensure
3833 that the package system upgrade packages in the right order to keep
3834 the system state correct.  This will require some coordination when it
3835 comes to network related packages, but most of the packages with
3836 scripts that should migrate do not have anything in rcS.d/ depending
3837 on them.  Some packages have already been updated, like the sudo
3838 package, while others are still left to do.  I wish I had time to work
3839 on this myself, but real live constrains make it unlikely that I will
3840 find time to push this forward.</p>
3841
3842       </div>
3843       <div class="tags">
3844
3845
3846         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>.
3847
3848
3849       </div>
3850     </div>
3851     <div class="padding"></div>
3852
3853     <div class="entry">
3854       <div class="title">
3855         <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>
3856       </div>
3857       <div class="date">
3858         29th July 2011
3859       </div>
3860       <div class="body">
3861         <p>While at Debconf11, I have several times during discussions
3862 mentioned the issues I believe should be improved in Debian for its
3863 desktop to be useful for more people.  The use case for this is my
3864 parents, which are currently running Kubuntu which solve the
3865 issues.</p>
3866
3867 <p>I suspect these four missing features are not very hard to
3868 implement.  After all, they are present in Ubuntu, so if we wanted to
3869 do this in Debian we would have a source.</p>
3870
3871 <ol>
3872
3873 <li><strong>Simple GUI based upgrade of packages.</strong> When there
3874 are new packages available for upgrades, a icon in the KDE status bar
3875 indicate this, and clicking on it will activate the simple upgrade
3876 tool to handle it.  I have no problem guiding both of my parents
3877 through the process over the phone.  If a kernel reboot is required,
3878 this too is indicated by the status bars and the upgrade tool.  Last
3879 time I checked, nothing with the same features was working in KDE in
3880 Debian.</li>
3881
3882 <li><strong>Simple handling of missing Firefox browser
3883 plugins.</strong> When the browser encounter a MIME type it do not
3884 currently have a handler for, it will ask the user if the system
3885 should search for a package that would add support for this MIME type,
3886 and if the user say yes, the APT sources will be searched for packages
3887 advertising the MIME type in their control file (visible in the
3888 Packages file in the APT archive).  If one or more packages are found,
3889 it is a simple click of the mouse to add support for the missing mime
3890 type.  If the package require the user to accept some non-free
3891 license, this is explained to the user.  The entire process make it
3892 more clear to the user why something do not work in the browser, and
3893 make the chances higher for the user to blame the web page authors and
3894 not the browser for any missing features.</li>
3895
3896 <li><strong>Simple handling of missing multimedia codec/format
3897 handlers.</strong> When the media players encounter a format or codec
3898 it is not supporting, a dialog pop up asking the user if the system
3899 should search for a package that would add support for it.  This
3900 happen with things like MP3, Windows Media or H.264.  The selection
3901 and installation procedure is very similar to the Firefox browser
3902 plugin handling.  This is as far as I know implemented using a
3903 gstreamer hook.  The end result is that the user easily get access to
3904 the codecs that are present from the APT archives available, while
3905 explaining more on why a given format is unsupported by Ubuntu.</li>
3906
3907 <li><strong>Better browser handling of some MIME types.</strong> When
3908 displaying a text/plain file in my Debian browser, it will propose to
3909 start emacs to show it.  If I remember correctly, when doing the same
3910 in Kunbutu it show the file as a text file in the browser.  At least I
3911 know Opera will show text files within the browser.  I much prefer the
3912 latter behaviour.</li>
3913
3914 </ol>
3915
3916 <p>There are other nice features as well, like the simplified suite
3917 upgrader, but given that I am the one mostly doing the dist-upgrade,
3918 it do not matter much.</p>
3919
3920 <p>I really hope we could get these features in place for the next
3921 Debian release.  It would require the coordinated effort of several
3922 maintainers, but would make the end user experience a lot better.</p>
3923
3924       </div>
3925       <div class="tags">
3926
3927
3928         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>.
3929
3930
3931       </div>
3932     </div>
3933     <div class="padding"></div>
3934
3935     <div class="entry">
3936       <div class="title">
3937         <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>
3938       </div>
3939       <div class="date">
3940         26th July 2011
3941       </div>
3942       <div class="body">
3943         <p>The Norwegian <a href="http://www.fiksgatami.no/">FiksGataMi</A>
3944 site is build on Debian/Squeeze, and this platform was chosen because
3945 I am most familiar with Debian (being a Debian Developer for around 10
3946 years) because it is the latest stable Debian release which should get
3947 security support for a few years.</p>
3948
3949 <p>The web service is written in Perl, and depend on some perl modules
3950 that are missing in Debian at the moment.  It would be great if these
3951 modules were added to the Debian archive, allowing anyone to set up
3952 their own <a href="http://www.fixmystreet.com">FixMyStreet</a> clone
3953 in their own country using only Debian packages.  The list of modules
3954 missing in Debian/Squeeze isn't very long, and I hope the perl group
3955 will find time to package the 12 modules Catalyst::Plugin::SmartURI,
3956 Catalyst::Plugin::Unicode::Encoding, Catalyst::View::TT, Devel::Hide,
3957 Sort::Key, Statistics::Distributions, Template::Plugin::Comma,
3958 Template::Plugin::DateTime::Format, Term::Size::Any, Term::Size::Perl,
3959 URI::SmartURI and Web::Scraper to make the maintenance of FixMyStreet
3960 easier in the future.</p>
3961
3962 <p>Thanks to the great tools in Debian, getting the missing modules
3963 installed on my server was a simple call to 'cpan2deb Module::Name'
3964 and 'dpkg -i' to install the resulting package.  But this leave me
3965 with the responsibility of tracking security problems, which I really
3966 do not have time for.</p>
3967
3968       </div>
3969       <div class="tags">
3970
3971
3972         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>.
3973
3974
3975       </div>
3976     </div>
3977     <div class="padding"></div>
3978
3979     <div class="entry">
3980       <div class="title">
3981         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Free_Software_vs__proprietary_softare___.html">Free Software vs. proprietary softare...</a>
3982       </div>
3983       <div class="date">
3984         20th June 2011
3985       </div>
3986       <div class="body">
3987         <p>Reading
3988 <a href="http://blog.thingiverse.com/2011/06/20/open-source-vs-closed-source-eulas/">the
3989 thingiverse blog</a>, I came across two highlights of interesting
3990 parts of the
3991 <a href="http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Autodesk_EULA">Autodesk</a>
3992 and
3993 <a href="http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2011/06/things-you-cant-do-with-the-microsoft-kinect-sdk.html">Microsoft
3994 Kinect</a> End User License Agreements (EULAs), which illustrates
3995 quite well why I stay away from software with EULAs.  Whenever I take
3996 the time to read their content, the terms are simply unacceptable.</p>
3997
3998       </div>
3999       <div class="tags">
4000
4001
4002         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>.
4003
4004
4005       </div>
4006     </div>
4007     <div class="padding"></div>
4008
4009     <div class="entry">
4010       <div class="title">
4011         <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>
4012       </div>
4013       <div class="date">
4014         30th April 2011
4015       </div>
4016       <div class="body">
4017         <p>Today, the first draft implementation of an
4018 <a href="http://www.open311.org/">Open311 API</a> for the Norwegian
4019 service <a href="http://www.fiksgatami.no/">FiksGataMi</a> started to
4020 work.  It is only available on the developer server for now, and I
4021 have not tested it using any existing Open311 client (I lack the
4022 platforms needed to run the clients I have found so far), but it is
4023 able to query the database and extract a list of open and closed
4024 requests within a given category and reported to a given municipality.
4025 I believe that is a good start to create a useful service for those
4026 that want to do data mining on the requests submitted so far.</p>
4027
4028 <p>Where is it?  Visit
4029 <a href="http://fiksgatami-dev.nuug.no/open311.cgi/v2/">http://fiksgatami-dev.nuug.no/open311.cgi/v2/</a>
4030 to have a look.  Please send feedback to the
4031 <a href="http://lists.nuug.no/mailman/listinfo/fiksgatami">fiksgatami
4032 (at) nuug.no</a> mailing list.</p>
4033
4034       </div>
4035       <div class="tags">
4036
4037
4038         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>.
4039
4040
4041       </div>
4042     </div>
4043     <div class="padding"></div>
4044
4045     <div class="entry">
4046       <div class="title">
4047         <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>
4048       </div>
4049       <div class="date">
4050         29th April 2011
4051       </div>
4052       <div class="body">
4053         <p>The last few days I have spent some time trying to add support for
4054 the <a href="http://www.open311.org/">Open311 API</a> in the
4055 <a href="http://www.fiksgatami.no/">Norwegian FixMyStreet service</a>.
4056 Earlier I believed Open311 would be a useful API to use to submit
4057 reports to the municipalities, but when I noticed that the
4058 <a href="http://fixmystreet.org.nz/">New Zealand version</a> of
4059 FixMyStreet had implemented Open311 on the server side, it occurred to
4060 me that this was a nice way to allow the public, press and
4061 municipalities to do data mining directly in the FixMyStreet service.
4062 Thus I went to work implementing the Open311 specification for
4063 FixMyStreet.  The implementation is not yet ready, but I am starting
4064 to get a draft limping along.  In the process, I have discovered a few
4065 issues with the Open311 specification.</p>
4066
4067 <p>One obvious missing feature is the lack of natural language
4068 handling in the specification.  The specification seem to assume all
4069 reports will be written in English, and do not provide a way for the
4070 receiving end to specify which languages are understood there.  To be
4071 able to use the same client and submit to several Open311 receivers,
4072 it would be useful to know which language to use when writing reports.
4073 I believe the specification should be extended to allow the receivers
4074 of problem reports to specify which language they accept, and the
4075 submitter to specify which language the report is written in.
4076 Language of a text can also be automatically guessed using statistical
4077 methods, but for multi-lingual persons like myself, it is useful to
4078 know which language to use when writing a problem report.  I suspect
4079 some lang=nb,nn kind of attribute would solve it.</p>
4080
4081 <p>A key part of the Open311 API is the list of services provided,
4082 which is similar to the categories used by FixMyStreet.  One issue I
4083 run into is the need to specify both name and unique identifier for
4084 each category.  The specification do not state that the identifier
4085 should be numeric, but all example implementations have used numbers
4086 here.  In FixMyStreet, there is no number associated with each
4087 category.  As the specification do not forbid it, I will use the name
4088 as the unique identifier for now and see how open311 clients handle
4089 it.</p>
4090
4091 <p>The report format in open311 and the report format in FixMyStreet
4092 differ in a key part.  FixMyStreet have a title and a description,
4093 while Open311 only have a description and lack the title.  I'm not
4094 quite sure how to best handle this yet.  When asking for a FixMyStreet
4095 report in Open311 format, I just merge title an description into the
4096 open311 description, but this is not going to work if the open311 API
4097 should be used for submitting new reports to FixMyStreet.</p>
4098
4099 <p>The search feature in Open311 is missing a way to ask for problems
4100 near a geographic location.  I believe this is important if one is to
4101 use Open311 as the query language for mobile units.  The specification
4102 should be extended to handle this, probably using some new lat=, lon=
4103 and range= options.</p>
4104
4105 <p>The final challenge I see is that the FixMyStreet code handle
4106 several administrations in one interface, while the Open311 API seem
4107 to assume only one administration.  For FixMyStreet, this mean a
4108 report can be sent to several administrations, and the categories
4109 available depend on the location of the problem.  Not quite sure how
4110 to best handle this.  I've noticed
4111 <a href="http://seeclickfix.com/open311/">SeeClickFix</a> added
4112 latitude and longitude options to the services request, but it do not
4113 solve the problem of what to return when no location is specified.
4114 Will have to investigate this a bit more.</p>
4115
4116 <p>My distaste for web forums have kept me from bringing these issues
4117 up with the open311 developer group.  I really wish they had a email
4118 list available via <a href="http://www.gmane.org/">Gmane</a> to use for
4119 discussions instead of only
4120 <a href="http://lists.open311.org/groups/discuss">a forum<a/>.  Oh,
4121 well.  That will probably resolve itself, one way or another.  I've
4122 also tried visiting the IRC channel #open311 on FreeNode, but no-one
4123 seem to reply to my questions there.  This make me wonder if I just
4124 fail to understand how the open311 community work.  It sure do not
4125 work like the free software project communities I am used to.</p>
4126
4127       </div>
4128       <div class="tags">
4129
4130
4131         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>.
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/Gnash_enteres_Google_Summer_of_Code_2011.html">Gnash enteres Google Summer of Code 2011</a>
4141       </div>
4142       <div class="date">
4143          6th April 2011
4144       </div>
4145       <div class="body">
4146         <p><a href="http://www.getgnash.org/">The Gnash project</a> is still
4147 the most promising solution for a Free Software Flash implementation.
4148 A few days ago the project
4149 <a href="http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/gnash-dev/2011-04/msg00011.html">announced</a>
4150 that it will participate in Google Summer of Code.  I hope many
4151 students apply, and that some of them succeed in getting AVM2 support
4152 into Gnash.</p>
4153
4154       </div>
4155       <div class="tags">
4156
4157
4158         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>.
4159
4160
4161       </div>
4162     </div>
4163     <div class="padding"></div>
4164
4165     <div class="entry">
4166       <div class="title">
4167         <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>
4168       </div>
4169       <div class="date">
4170          3rd April 2011
4171       </div>
4172       <div class="body">
4173         <p>Here is a small update for my English readers.  Most of my blog
4174 posts have been in Norwegian the last few weeks, so here is a short
4175 update in English.</p>
4176
4177 <p>The kids still keep me too busy to get much free software work
4178 done, but I did manage to organise a project to get a Norwegian port
4179 of the British service
4180 <a href="http://www.fixmystreet.com/">FixMyStreet</a> up and running,
4181 and it has been running for a month now.  The entire project has been
4182 organised by me and two others.  Around Christmas we gathered sponsors
4183 to fund the development work.  In January I drafted a contract with
4184 <a href="http://www.mysociety.org/">mySociety</a> on what to develop,
4185 and in February the development took place.  Most of it involved
4186 converting the source to use GPS coordinates instead of British
4187 easting/northing, and the resulting code should be a lot easier to get
4188 running in any country by now.  The Norwegian
4189 <a href="http://www.fiksgatami.no/">FiksGataMi</a> is using
4190 <a href="http://www.openstreetmap.org/">OpenStreetmap</a> as the map
4191 source and the source for administrative borders in Norway, and
4192 support for this had to be added/fixed.</p>
4193
4194 <p>The Norwegian version went live March 3th, and we spent the weekend
4195 polishing the system before we announced it March 7th.  The system is
4196 running on a KVM instance of Debian/Squeeze, and has seen almost 3000
4197 problem reports in a few weeks.  Soon we hope to announce the Android
4198 and iPhone versions making it even easier to report problems with the
4199 public infrastructure.</p>
4200
4201 <p>Perhaps something to consider for those of you in countries without
4202 such service?</p>
4203
4204       </div>
4205       <div class="tags">
4206
4207
4208         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>.
4209
4210
4211       </div>
4212     </div>
4213     <div class="padding"></div>
4214
4215     <div class="entry">
4216       <div class="title">
4217         <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>
4218       </div>
4219       <div class="date">
4220         28th January 2011
4221       </div>
4222       <div class="body">
4223         <p>The last few days I have looked at ways to track open security
4224 issues here at my work with the University of Oslo.  My idea is that
4225 it should be possible to use the information about security issues
4226 available on the Internet, and check our locally
4227 maintained/distributed software against this information.  It should
4228 allow us to verify that no known security issues are forgotten.  The
4229 CVE database listing vulnerabilities seem like a great central point,
4230 and by using the package lists from Debian mapped to CVEs provided by
4231 the testing security team, I believed it should be possible to figure
4232 out which security holes were present in our free software
4233 collection.</p>
4234
4235 <p>After reading up on the topic, it became obvious that the first
4236 building block is to be able to name software packages in a unique and
4237 consistent way across data sources.  I considered several ways to do
4238 this, for example coming up with my own naming scheme like using URLs
4239 to project home pages or URLs to the Freshmeat entries, or using some
4240 existing naming scheme.  And it seem like I am not the first one to
4241 come across this problem, as MITRE already proposed and implemented a
4242 solution.  Enter the <a href="http://cpe.mitre.org/index.html">Common
4243 Platform Enumeration</a> dictionary, a vocabulary for referring to
4244 software, hardware and other platform components.  The CPE ids are
4245 mapped to CVEs in the <a href="http://web.nvd.nist.gov/">National
4246 Vulnerability Database</a>, allowing me to look up know security
4247 issues for any CPE name.  With this in place, all I need to do is to
4248 locate the CPE id for the software packages we use at the university.
4249 This is fairly trivial (I google for 'cve cpe $package' and check the
4250 NVD entry if a CVE for the package exist).</p>
4251
4252 <p>To give you an example.  The GNU gzip source package have the CPE
4253 name cpe:/a:gnu:gzip.  If the old version 1.3.3 was the package to
4254 check out, one could look up
4255 <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
4256 in NVD</a> and get a list of 6 security holes with public CVE entries.
4257 The most recent one is
4258 <a href="http://web.nvd.nist.gov/view/vuln/detail?vulnId=CVE-2010-0001">CVE-2010-0001</a>,
4259 and at the bottom of the NVD page for this vulnerability the complete
4260 list of affected versions is provided.</p>
4261
4262 <p>The NVD database of CVEs is also available as a XML dump, allowing
4263 for offline processing of issues.  Using this dump, I've written a
4264 small script taking a list of CPEs as input and list all CVEs
4265 affecting the packages represented by these CPEs.  One give it CPEs
4266 with version numbers as specified above and get a list of open
4267 security issues out.</p>
4268
4269 <p>Of course for this approach to be useful, the quality of the NVD
4270 information need to be high.  For that to happen, I believe as many as
4271 possible need to use and contribute to the NVD database.  I notice
4272 RHEL is providing
4273 <a href="https://www.redhat.com/security/data/metrics/rhsamapcpe.txt">a
4274 map from CVE to CPE</a>, indicating that they are using the CPE
4275 information.  I'm not aware of Debian and Ubuntu doing the same.</p>
4276
4277 <p>To get an idea about the quality for free software, I spent some
4278 time making it possible to compare the CVE database from Debian with
4279 the CVE database in NVD.  The result look fairly good, but there are
4280 some inconsistencies in NVD (same software package having several
4281 CPEs), and some inaccuracies (NVD not mentioning buggy packages that
4282 Debian believe are affected by a CVE).  Hope to find time to improve
4283 the quality of NVD, but that require being able to get in touch with
4284 someone maintaining it.  So far my three emails with questions and
4285 corrections have not seen any reply, but I hope contact can be
4286 established soon.</p>
4287
4288 <p>An interesting application for CPEs is cross platform package
4289 mapping.  It would be useful to know which packages in for example
4290 RHEL, OpenSuSe and Mandriva are missing from Debian and Ubuntu, and
4291 this would be trivial if all linux distributions provided CPE entries
4292 for their packages.</p>
4293
4294       </div>
4295       <div class="tags">
4296
4297
4298         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>.
4299
4300
4301       </div>
4302     </div>
4303     <div class="padding"></div>
4304
4305     <div class="entry">
4306       <div class="title">
4307         <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>
4308       </div>
4309       <div class="date">
4310         23rd January 2011
4311       </div>
4312       <div class="body">
4313         <p>In the
4314 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/discover-data">discover-data</a>
4315 package in Debian, there is a script to report useful information
4316 about the running hardware for use when people report missing
4317 information.  One part of this script that I find very useful when
4318 debugging hardware problems, is the part mapping loaded kernel module
4319 to the PCI device it claims.  It allow me to quickly see if the kernel
4320 module I expect is driving the hardware I am struggling with.  To see
4321 the output, make sure discover-data is installed and run
4322 <tt>/usr/share/bug/discover-data 3>&1</tt>.  The relevant output on
4323 one of my machines like this:</p>
4324
4325 <pre>
4326 loaded modules:
4327 10de:03eb i2c_nforce2
4328 10de:03f1 ohci_hcd
4329 10de:03f2 ehci_hcd
4330 10de:03f0 snd_hda_intel
4331 10de:03ec pata_amd
4332 10de:03f6 sata_nv
4333 1022:1103 k8temp
4334 109e:036e bttv
4335 109e:0878 snd_bt87x
4336 11ab:4364 sky2
4337 </pre>
4338
4339 <p>The code in question look like this, slightly modified for
4340 readability and to drop the output to file descriptor 3:</p>
4341
4342 <pre>
4343 if [ -d /sys/bus/pci/devices/ ] ; then
4344     echo loaded pci modules:
4345     (
4346         cd /sys/bus/pci/devices/
4347         for address in * ; do
4348             if [ -d "$address/driver/module" ] ; then
4349                 module=`cd $address/driver/module ; pwd -P | xargs basename`
4350                 if grep -q "^$module " /proc/modules ; then
4351                     address=$(echo $address |sed s/0000://)
4352                     id=`lspci -n -s $address | tail -n 1 | awk '{print $3}'`
4353                     echo "$id $module"
4354                 fi
4355             fi
4356         done
4357     )
4358     echo
4359 fi
4360 </pre>
4361
4362 <p>Similar code could be used to extract USB device module
4363 mappings:</p>
4364
4365 <pre>
4366 if [ -d /sys/bus/usb/devices/ ] ; then
4367     echo loaded usb modules:
4368     (
4369         cd /sys/bus/usb/devices/
4370         for address in * ; do
4371             if [ -d "$address/driver/module" ] ; then
4372                 module=`cd $address/driver/module ; pwd -P | xargs basename`
4373                 if grep -q "^$module " /proc/modules ; then
4374                     address=$(echo $address |sed s/0000://)
4375                     id=$(lsusb -s $address | tail -n 1 | awk '{print $6}')
4376                     if [ "$id" ] ; then
4377                         echo "$id $module"
4378                     fi
4379                 fi
4380             fi
4381         done
4382     )
4383     echo
4384 fi
4385 </pre>
4386
4387 <p>This might perhaps be something to include in other tools as
4388 well.</p>
4389
4390       </div>
4391       <div class="tags">
4392
4393
4394         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>.
4395
4396
4397       </div>
4398     </div>
4399     <div class="padding"></div>
4400
4401     <div class="entry">
4402       <div class="title">
4403         <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>
4404       </div>
4405       <div class="date">
4406         16th January 2011
4407       </div>
4408       <div class="body">
4409         <p>The video format struggle on the web continues, and the three
4410 contenders seem to be Ogg Theora, H.264 and WebM.  Most video sites
4411 seem to use H.264, while others use Ogg Theora.  Interestingly enough,
4412 the comments I see give me the feeling that a lot of people believe
4413 H.264 is the most supported video format in browsers, but according to
4414 the Wikipedia article on
4415 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTML5_video">HTML5 video</a>,
4416 this is not true.  Check out the nice table of supprted formats in
4417 different browsers there.  The format supported by most browsers is
4418 Ogg Theora, supported by released versions of Mozilla Firefox, Google
4419 Chrome, Chromium, Opera, Konqueror, Epiphany, Origyn Web Browser and
4420 BOLT browser, while not supported by Internet Explorer nor Safari.
4421 The runner up is WebM supported by released versions of Google Chrome
4422 Chromium Opera and Origyn Web Browser, and test versions of Mozilla
4423 Firefox.  H.264 is supported by released versions of Safari, Origyn
4424 Web Browser and BOLT browser, and the test version of Internet
4425 Explorer.  Those wanting Ogg Theora support in Internet Explorer and
4426 Safari can install plugins to get it.</p>
4427
4428 <p>To me, the simple conclusion from this is that to reach most users
4429 without any extra software installed, one uses Ogg Theora with the
4430 HTML5 video tag.   Of course to reach all those without a browser
4431 handling HTML5, one need fallback mechanisms.  In
4432 <a href="http://www.nuug.no/">NUUG</a>, we provide first fallback to a
4433 plugin capable of playing MPEG1 video, and those without such support
4434 we have a second fallback to the Cortado java applet playing Ogg
4435 Theora.  This seem to work quite well, as can be seen in an <a
4436 href="http://www.nuug.no/aktiviteter/20110111-semantic-web/">example
4437 from last week</a>.</p>
4438
4439 <p>The reason Ogg Theora is the most supported format, and H.264 is
4440 the least supported is simple.  Implementing and using H.264
4441 require royalty payment to MPEG-LA, and the terms of use from MPEG-LA
4442 are incompatible with free software licensing.  If you believed H.264
4443 was without royalties and license terms, check out
4444 "<a href="http://webmink.com/essays/h-264/">H.264 – Not The Kind Of
4445 Free That Matters</a>" by Simon Phipps.</p>
4446
4447 <p>A incomplete list of sites providing video in Ogg Theora is
4448 available from
4449 <a href="http://wiki.xiph.org/index.php/List_of_Theora_videos">the
4450 Xiph.org wiki</a>, if you want to have a look.  I'm not aware of a
4451 similar list for WebM nor H.264.</p>
4452
4453 <p>Update 2011-01-16 09:40: A question from Tollef on IRC made me
4454 realise that I failed to make it clear enough this text is about the
4455 &lt;video&gt; tag support in browsers and not the video support
4456 provided by external plugins like the Flash plugins.</p>
4457
4458       </div>
4459       <div class="tags">
4460
4461
4462         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>.
4463
4464
4465       </div>
4466     </div>
4467     <div class="padding"></div>
4468
4469     <div class="entry">
4470       <div class="title">
4471         <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>
4472       </div>
4473       <div class="date">
4474         12th January 2011
4475       </div>
4476       <div class="body">
4477         <p>Today I discovered
4478 <a href="http://www.digi.no/860070/google-dropper-h264-stotten-i-chrome">via
4479 digi.no</a> that the Chrome developers, in a surprising announcement,
4480 <a href="http://blog.chromium.org/2011/01/html-video-codec-support-in-chrome.html">yesterday
4481 announced</a> plans to drop H.264 support for HTML5 &lt;video&gt; in
4482 the browser.  The argument used is that H.264 is not a "completely
4483 open" codec technology.  If you believe H.264 was free for everyone
4484 to use, I recommend having a look at the essay
4485 "<a href="http://webmink.com/essays/h-264/">H.264 – Not The Kind Of
4486 Free That Matters</a>".  It is not free of cost for creators of video
4487 tools, nor those of us that want to publish on the Internet, and the
4488 terms provided by MPEG-LA excludes free software projects from
4489 licensing the patents needed for H.264.  Some background information
4490 on the Google announcement is available from
4491 <a href="http://www.osnews.com/story/24243/Google_To_Drop_H264_Support_from_Chrome">OSnews</a>.
4492 A good read. :)</p>
4493
4494 <p>Personally, I believe it is great that Google is taking a stand to
4495 promote equal terms for everyone when it comes to video publishing on
4496 the Internet.  This can only be done by publishing using free and open
4497 standards, which is only possible if the web browsers provide support
4498 for these free and open standards.  At the moment there seem to be two
4499 camps in the web browser world when it come to video support.  Some
4500 browsers support H.264, and others support
4501 <a href="http://www.theora.org/">Ogg Theora</a> and
4502 <a href="http://www.webmproject.org/">WebM</a>
4503 (<a href="http://www.diracvideo.org/">Dirac</a> is not really an option
4504 yet), forcing those of us that want to publish video on the Internet
4505 and which can not accept the terms of use presented by MPEG-LA for
4506 H.264 to not reach all potential viewers.
4507 Wikipedia keep <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTML5_video">an
4508 updated summary</a> of the current browser support.</p>
4509
4510 <p>Not surprising, several people would prefer Google to keep
4511 promoting H.264, and John Gruber
4512 <a href="http://daringfireball.net/2011/01/simple_questions">presents
4513 the mind set</a> of these people quite well.  His rhetorical questions
4514 provoked a reply from Thom Holwerda with another set of questions
4515 <a href="http://www.osnews.com/story/24245/10_Questions_for_John_Gruber_Regarding_H_264_WebM">presenting
4516 the issues with H.264</a>. Both are worth a read.</p>
4517
4518 <p>Some argue that if Google is dropping H.264 because it isn't free,
4519 they should also drop support for the Adobe Flash plugin.  This
4520 argument was covered by Simon Phipps in
4521 <a href="http://blogs.computerworlduk.com/simon-says/2011/01/google-and-h264---far-from-hypocritical/index.htm">todays
4522 blog post</a>, which I find to put the issue in context.  To me it
4523 make perfect sense to drop native H.264 support for HTML5 in the
4524 browser while still allowing plugins.</p>
4525
4526 <p>I suspect the reason this announcement make so many people protest,
4527 is that all the users and promoters of H.264 suddenly get an uneasy
4528 feeling that they might be backing the wrong horse.  A lot of TV
4529 broadcasters have been moving to H.264 the last few years, and a lot
4530 of money has been invested in hardware based on the belief that they
4531 could use the same video format for both broadcasting and web
4532 publishing.  Suddenly this belief is shaken.</p>
4533
4534 <p>An interesting question is why Google is doing this.  While the
4535 presented argument might be true enough, I believe Google would only
4536 present the argument if the change make sense from a business
4537 perspective.  One reason might be that they are currently negotiating
4538 with MPEG-LA over royalties or usage terms, and giving MPEG-LA the
4539 feeling that dropping H.264 completely from Chroome, Youtube and
4540 Google Video would improve the negotiation position of Google.
4541 Another reason might be that Google want to save money by not having
4542 to pay the video tax to MPEG-LA at all, and thus want to move to a
4543 video format not requiring royalties at all.  A third reason might be
4544 that the Chrome development team simply want to avoid the
4545 Chrome/Chromium split to get more help with the development of Chrome.
4546 I guess time will tell.</p>
4547
4548 <p>Update 2011-01-15: The Google Chrome team provided
4549 <a href="http://blog.chromium.org/2011/01/more-about-chrome-html-video-codec.html">more
4550 background and information on the move</a> it a blog post yesterday.</p>
4551
4552       </div>
4553       <div class="tags">
4554
4555
4556         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>.
4557
4558
4559       </div>
4560     </div>
4561     <div class="padding"></div>
4562
4563     <div class="entry">
4564       <div class="title">
4565         <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>
4566       </div>
4567       <div class="date">
4568         30th December 2010
4569       </div>
4570       <div class="body">
4571         <p>After trying to
4572 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Is_Ogg_Theora_a_free_and_open_standard_.html">compare
4573 Ogg Theora</a> to
4574 <a href="http://www.digistan.org/open-standard:definition">the Digistan
4575 definition</a> of a free and open standard, I concluded that this need
4576 to be done for more standards and started on a framework for doing
4577 this.  As a start, I want to get the status for all the standards in
4578 the Norwegian reference directory, which include UTF-8, HTML, PDF, ODF,
4579 JPEG, PNG, SVG and others.  But to be able to complete this in a
4580 reasonable time frame, I will need help.</p>
4581
4582 <p>If you want to help out with this work, please visit
4583 <a href="http://wiki.nuug.no/grupper/standard/digistan-analyse">the
4584 wiki pages I have set up for this</a>, and let me know that you want
4585 to help out.  The IRC channel #nuug on irc.freenode.net is a good
4586 place to coordinate this for now, as it is the IRC channel for the
4587 NUUG association where I have created the framework (I am the leader
4588 of the Norwegian Unix User Group).</p>
4589
4590 <p>The framework is still forming, and a lot is left to do.  Do not be
4591 scared by the sketchy form of the current pages. :)</p>
4592
4593       </div>
4594       <div class="tags">
4595
4596
4597         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>.
4598
4599
4600       </div>
4601     </div>
4602     <div class="padding"></div>
4603
4604     <div class="entry">
4605       <div class="title">
4606         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/The_many_definitions_of_a_open_standard.html">The many definitions of a open standard</a>
4607       </div>
4608       <div class="date">
4609         27th December 2010
4610       </div>
4611       <div class="body">
4612         <p>One of the reasons I like the Digistan definition of
4613 "<a href="http://www.digistan.org/open-standard:definition">Free and
4614 Open Standard</a>" is that this is a new term, and thus the meaning of
4615 the term has been decided by Digistan.  The term "Open Standard" has
4616 become so misunderstood that it is no longer very useful when talking
4617 about standards.  One end up discussing which definition is the best
4618 one and with such frame the only one gaining are the proponents of
4619 de-facto standards and proprietary solutions.</p>
4620
4621 <p>But to give us an idea about the diversity of definitions of open
4622 standards, here are a few that I know about.  This list is not
4623 complete, but can be a starting point for those that want to do a
4624 complete survey.  More definitions are available on the
4625 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_standard">wikipedia
4626 page</a>.</p>
4627
4628 <p>First off is my favourite, the definition from the European
4629 Interoperability Framework version 1.0.  Really sad to notice that BSA
4630 and others has succeeded in getting it removed from version 2.0 of the
4631 framework by stacking the committee drafting the new version with
4632 their own people.  Anyway, the definition is still available and it
4633 include the key properties needed to make sure everyone can use a
4634 specification on equal terms.</p>
4635
4636 <blockquote>
4637
4638 <p>The following are the minimal characteristics that a specification
4639 and its attendant documents must have in order to be considered an
4640 open standard:</p>
4641
4642 <ul>
4643
4644 <li>The standard is adopted and will be maintained by a not-for-profit
4645 organisation, and its ongoing development occurs on the basis of an
4646 open decision-making procedure available to all interested parties
4647 (consensus or majority decision etc.).</li>
4648
4649 <li>The standard has been published and the standard specification
4650 document is available either freely or at a nominal charge. It must be
4651 permissible to all to copy, distribute and use it for no fee or at a
4652 nominal fee.</li>
4653
4654 <li>The intellectual property - i.e. patents possibly present - of
4655 (parts of) the standard is made irrevocably available on a royalty-
4656 free basis.</li>
4657
4658 <li>There are no constraints on the re-use of the standard.</li>
4659
4660 </ul>
4661 </blockquote>
4662
4663 <p>Another one originates from my friends over at
4664 <a href="http://www.dkuug.dk/">DKUUG</a>, who coined and gathered
4665 support for <a href="http://www.aaben-standard.dk/">this
4666 definition</a> in 2004.  It even made it into the Danish parlament as
4667 <a href="http://www.ft.dk/dokumenter/tingdok.aspx?/samling/20051/beslutningsforslag/B103/som_fremsat.htm">their
4668 definition of a open standard</a>.  Another from a different part of
4669 the Danish government is available from the wikipedia page.</p>
4670
4671 <blockquote>
4672
4673 <p>En åben standard opfylder følgende krav:</p>
4674
4675 <ol>
4676
4677 <li>Veldokumenteret med den fuldstændige specifikation offentligt
4678 tilgængelig.</li>
4679
4680 <li>Frit implementerbar uden økonomiske, politiske eller juridiske
4681 begrænsninger på implementation og anvendelse.</li>
4682
4683 <li>Standardiseret og vedligeholdt i et åbent forum (en såkaldt
4684 "standardiseringsorganisation") via en åben proces.</li>
4685
4686 </ol>
4687
4688 </blockquote>
4689
4690 <p>Then there is <a href="http://www.fsfe.org/projects/os/def.html">the
4691 definition</a> from Free Software Foundation Europe.</p>
4692
4693 <blockquote>
4694
4695 <p>An Open Standard refers to a format or protocol that is</p>
4696
4697 <ol>
4698
4699 <li>subject to full public assessment and use without constraints in a
4700 manner equally available to all parties;</li>
4701
4702 <li>without any components or extensions that have dependencies on
4703 formats or protocols that do not meet the definition of an Open
4704 Standard themselves;</li>
4705
4706 <li>free from legal or technical clauses that limit its utilisation by
4707 any party or in any business model;</li>
4708
4709 <li>managed and further developed independently of any single vendor
4710 in a process open to the equal participation of competitors and third
4711 parties;</li>
4712
4713 <li>available in multiple complete implementations by competing
4714 vendors, or as a complete implementation equally available to all
4715 parties.</li>
4716
4717 </ol>
4718
4719 </blockquote>
4720
4721 <p>A long time ago, SUN Microsystems, now bought by Oracle, created
4722 its
4723 <a href="http://blogs.sun.com/dennisding/resource/Open%20Standard%20Definition.pdf">Open
4724 Standards Checklist</a> with a fairly detailed description.</p>
4725
4726 <blockquote>
4727 <p>Creation and Management of an Open Standard
4728
4729 <ul>
4730
4731 <li>Its development and management process must be collaborative and
4732   democratic:
4733
4734          <ul>
4735
4736          <li>Participation must be accessible to all those who wish to
4737             participate and can meet fair and reasonable criteria
4738             imposed by the organization under which it is developed
4739             and managed.</li>
4740
4741          <li>The processes must be documented and, through a known
4742             method, can be changed through input from all
4743             participants.</li>
4744
4745          <li>The process must be based on formal and binding commitments for
4746             the disclosure and licensing of intellectual property rights.</li>
4747
4748          <li>Development and management should strive for consensus,
4749             and an appeals process must be clearly outlined.</li>
4750
4751          <li>The standard specification must be open to extensive
4752             public review at least once in its life-cycle, with
4753             comments duly discussed and acted upon, if required.</li>
4754
4755          </ul>
4756
4757 </li>
4758
4759 </ul>
4760
4761 <p>Use and Licensing of an Open Standard</p>
4762 <ul>
4763
4764 <li>The standard must describe an interface, not an implementation,
4765   and the industry must be capable of creating multiple, competing
4766   implementations to the interface described in the standard without
4767   undue or restrictive constraints.  Interfaces include APIs,
4768   protocols, schemas, data formats and their encoding.</li>
4769
4770 <li> The standard must not contain any proprietary "hooks" that create
4771   a technical or economic barriers</li>
4772
4773 <li>Faithful implementations of the standard must
4774   interoperate. Interoperability means the ability of a computer
4775   program to communicate and exchange information with other computer
4776   programs and mutually to use the information which has been
4777   exchanged. This includes the ability to use, convert, or exchange
4778   file formats, protocols, schemas, interface information or
4779   conventions, so as to permit the computer program to work with other
4780   computer programs and users in all the ways in which they are
4781   intended to function.</li>
4782
4783 <li>It must be permissible for anyone to copy, distribute and read the
4784   standard for a nominal fee, or even no fee. If there is a fee, it
4785   must be low enough to not preclude widespread use.</li>
4786
4787 <li>It must be possible for anyone to obtain free (no royalties or
4788   fees; also known as "royalty free"), worldwide, non-exclusive and
4789   perpetual licenses to all essential patent claims to make, use and
4790   sell products based on the standard.  The only exceptions are
4791   terminations per the reciprocity and defensive suspension terms
4792   outlined below. Essential patent claims include pending, unpublished
4793   patents, published patents, and patent applications. The license is
4794   only for the exact scope of the standard in question.
4795
4796       <ul>
4797
4798       <li> May be conditioned only on reciprocal licenses to any of
4799         licensees' patent claims essential to practice that standard
4800         (also known as a reciprocity clause)</li>
4801
4802       <li> May be terminated as to any licensee who sues the licensor
4803         or any other licensee for infringement of patent claims
4804         essential to practice that standard (also known as a
4805         "defensive suspension" clause)</li>
4806
4807       <li> The same licensing terms are available to every potential
4808         licensor</li>
4809
4810       </ul>
4811 </li>
4812
4813 <li>The licensing terms of an open standards must not preclude
4814   implementations of that standard under open source licensing terms
4815   or restricted licensing terms</li>
4816
4817 </ul>
4818
4819 </blockquote>
4820
4821 <p>It is said that one of the nice things about standards is that
4822 there are so many of them.  As you can see, the same holds true for
4823 open standard definitions.  Most of the definitions have a lot in
4824 common, and it is not really controversial what properties a open
4825 standard should have, but the diversity of definitions have made it
4826 possible for those that want to avoid a level marked field and real
4827 competition to downplay the significance of open standards.  I hope we
4828 can turn this tide by focusing on the advantages of Free and Open
4829 Standards.</p>
4830
4831       </div>
4832       <div class="tags">
4833
4834
4835         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>.
4836
4837
4838       </div>
4839     </div>
4840     <div class="padding"></div>
4841
4842     <div class="entry">
4843       <div class="title">
4844         <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>
4845       </div>
4846       <div class="date">
4847         25th December 2010
4848       </div>
4849       <div class="body">
4850         <p><a href="http://www.digistan.org/open-standard:definition">The
4851 Digistan definition</a> of a free and open standard reads like this:</p>
4852
4853 <blockquote>
4854
4855 <p>The Digital Standards Organization defines free and open standard
4856 as follows:</p>
4857
4858 <ol>
4859
4860 <li>A free and open standard is immune to vendor capture at all stages
4861 in its life-cycle. Immunity from vendor capture makes it possible to
4862 freely use, improve upon, trust, and extend a standard over time.</li>
4863
4864 <li>The standard is adopted and will be maintained by a not-for-profit
4865 organisation, and its ongoing development occurs on the basis of an
4866 open decision-making procedure available to all interested
4867 parties.</li>
4868
4869 <li>The standard has been published and the standard specification
4870 document is available freely. It must be permissible to all to copy,
4871 distribute, and use it freely.</li>
4872
4873 <li>The patents possibly present on (parts of) the standard are made
4874 irrevocably available on a royalty-free basis.</li>
4875
4876 <li>There are no constraints on the re-use of the standard.</li>
4877
4878 </ol>
4879
4880 <p>The economic outcome of a free and open standard, which can be
4881 measured, is that it enables perfect competition between suppliers of
4882 products based on the standard.</p>
4883 </blockquote>
4884
4885 <p>For a while now I have tried to figure out of Ogg Theora is a free
4886 and open standard according to this definition.  Here is a short
4887 writeup of what I have been able to gather so far.  I brought up the
4888 topic on the Xiph advocacy mailing list
4889 <a href="http://lists.xiph.org/pipermail/advocacy/2009-July/001632.html">in
4890 July 2009</a>, for those that want to see some background information.
4891 According to Ivo Emanuel Gonçalves and Monty Montgomery on that list
4892 the Ogg Theora specification fulfils the Digistan definition.</p>
4893
4894 <p><strong>Free from vendor capture?</strong></p>
4895
4896 <p>As far as I can see, there is no single vendor that can control the
4897 Ogg Theora specification.  It can be argued that the
4898 <a href="http://www.xiph.org/">Xiph foundation</A> is such vendor, but
4899 given that it is a non-profit foundation with the expressed goal
4900 making free and open protocols and standards available, it is not
4901 obvious that this is a real risk.  One issue with the Xiph
4902 foundation is that its inner working (as in board member list, or who
4903 control the foundation) are not easily available on the web.  I've
4904 been unable to find out who is in the foundation board, and have not
4905 seen any accounting information documenting how money is handled nor
4906 where is is spent in the foundation.  It is thus not obvious for an
4907 external observer who control The Xiph foundation, and for all I know
4908 it is possible for a single vendor to take control over the
4909 specification.  But it seem unlikely.</p>
4910
4911 <p><strong>Maintained by open not-for-profit organisation?</strong></p>
4912
4913 <p>Assuming that the Xiph foundation is the organisation its web pages
4914 claim it to be, this point is fulfilled.  If Xiph foundation is
4915 controlled by a single vendor, it isn't, but I have not found any
4916 documentation indicating this.</p>
4917
4918 <p>According to
4919 <a href="http://media.hiof.no/diverse/fad/rapport_4.pdf">a report</a>
4920 prepared by Audun Vaaler og Børre Ludvigsen for the Norwegian
4921 government, the Xiph foundation is a non-commercial organisation and
4922 the development process is open, transparent and non-Discrimatory.
4923 Until proven otherwise, I believe it make most sense to believe the
4924 report is correct.</p>
4925
4926 <p><strong>Specification freely available?</strong></p>
4927
4928 <p>The specification for the <a href="http://www.xiph.org/ogg/doc/">Ogg
4929 container format</a> and both the
4930 <a href="http://www.xiph.org/vorbis/doc/">Vorbis</a> and
4931 <a href="http://theora.org/doc/">Theora</a> codeces are available on
4932 the web.  This are the terms in the Vorbis and Theora specification:
4933
4934 <blockquote>
4935
4936 Anyone may freely use and distribute the Ogg and [Vorbis/Theora]
4937 specifications, whether in private, public, or corporate
4938 capacity. However, the Xiph.Org Foundation and the Ogg project reserve
4939 the right to set the Ogg [Vorbis/Theora] specification and certify
4940 specification compliance.
4941
4942 </blockquote>
4943
4944 <p>The Ogg container format is specified in IETF
4945 <a href="http://www.xiph.org/ogg/doc/rfc3533.txt">RFC 3533</a>, and
4946 this is the term:<p>
4947
4948 <blockquote>
4949
4950 <p>This document and translations of it may be copied and furnished to
4951 others, and derivative works that comment on or otherwise explain it
4952 or assist in its implementation may be prepared, copied, published and
4953 distributed, in whole or in part, without restriction of any kind,
4954 provided that the above copyright notice and this paragraph are
4955 included on all such copies and derivative works.  However, this
4956 document itself may not be modified in any way, such as by removing
4957 the copyright notice or references to the Internet Society or other
4958 Internet organizations, except as needed for the purpose of developing
4959 Internet standards in which case the procedures for copyrights defined
4960 in the Internet Standards process must be followed, or as required to
4961 translate it into languages other than English.</p>
4962
4963 <p>The limited permissions granted above are perpetual and will not be
4964 revoked by the Internet Society or its successors or assigns.</p>
4965 </blockquote>
4966
4967 <p>All these terms seem to allow unlimited distribution and use, an
4968 this term seem to be fulfilled.  There might be a problem with the
4969 missing permission to distribute modified versions of the text, and
4970 thus reuse it in other specifications.  Not quite sure if that is a
4971 requirement for the Digistan definition.</p>
4972
4973 <p><strong>Royalty-free?</strong></p>
4974
4975 <p>There are no known patent claims requiring royalties for the Ogg
4976 Theora format.
4977 <a href="http://www.streamingmedia.com/Articles/ReadArticle.aspx?ArticleID=65782">MPEG-LA</a>
4978 and
4979 <a href="http://yro.slashdot.org/story/10/04/30/237238/Steve-Jobs-Hints-At-Theora-Lawsuit">Steve
4980 Jobs</a> in Apple claim to know about some patent claims (submarine
4981 patents) against the Theora format, but no-one else seem to believe
4982 them.  Both Opera Software and the Mozilla Foundation have looked into
4983 this and decided to implement Ogg Theora support in their browsers
4984 without paying any royalties.  For now the claims from MPEG-LA and
4985 Steve Jobs seem more like FUD to scare people to use the H.264 codec
4986 than any real problem with Ogg Theora.</p>
4987
4988 <p><strong>No constraints on re-use?</strong></p>
4989
4990 <p>I am not aware of any constraints on re-use.</p>
4991
4992 <p><strong>Conclusion</strong></p>
4993
4994 <p>3 of 5 requirements seem obviously fulfilled, and the remaining 2
4995 depend on the governing structure of the Xiph foundation.  Given the
4996 background report used by the Norwegian government, I believe it is
4997 safe to assume the last two requirements are fulfilled too, but it
4998 would be nice if the Xiph foundation web site made it easier to verify
4999 this.</p>
5000
5001 <p>It would be nice to see other analysis of other specifications to
5002 see if they are free and open standards.</p>
5003
5004       </div>
5005       <div class="tags">
5006
5007
5008         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>.
5009
5010
5011       </div>
5012     </div>
5013     <div class="padding"></div>
5014
5015     <div class="entry">
5016       <div class="title">
5017         <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>
5018       </div>
5019       <div class="date">
5020         25th December 2010
5021       </div>
5022       <div class="body">
5023         <p>A few days ago
5024 <a href="http://www.idg.no/computerworld/article189879.ece">an
5025 article</a> in the Norwegian Computerworld magazine about how version
5026 2.0 of
5027 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Interoperability_Framework">European
5028 Interoperability Framework</a> has been successfully lobbied by the
5029 proprietary software industry to remove the focus on free software.
5030 Nothing very surprising there, given
5031 <a href="http://news.slashdot.org/story/10/03/29/2115235/Open-Source-Open-Standards-Under-Attack-In-Europe">earlier
5032 reports</a> on how Microsoft and others have stacked the committees in
5033 this work.  But I find this very sad.   The definition of
5034 <a href="http://www.nuug.no/dokumenter/standard-presse-def-200506.txt">an
5035 open standard from version 1</a> was very good, and something I
5036 believe should be used also in the future, alongside
5037 <a href="http://www.digistan.org/open-standard:definition">the
5038 definition from Digistan</A>.  Version 2 have removed the open
5039 standard definition from its content.</p>
5040
5041 <p>Anyway, the news reminded me of the great reply sent by Dr. Edgar
5042 Villanueva, congressman in Peru at the time, to Microsoft as a reply
5043 to Microsofts attack on his proposal regarding the use of free software
5044 in the public sector in Peru.  As the text was not available from a
5045 few of the URLs where it used to be available, I copy it here from
5046 <a href="http://gnuwin.epfl.ch/articles/en/reponseperou/villanueva_to_ms.html">my
5047 source</a> to ensure it is available also in the future.  Some
5048 background information about that story is available in
5049 <a href="http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/6099">an article</a> from
5050 Linux Journal in 2002.</p>
5051
5052 <blockquote>
5053 <p>Lima, 8th of April, 2002<br>
5054 To: Señor JUAN ALBERTO GONZÁLEZ<br>
5055 General Manager of Microsoft Perú</p>
5056
5057 <p>Dear Sir:</p>
5058
5059 <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>
5060
5061 <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>
5062
5063 <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>
5064
5065 <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>
5066
5067 <p>
5068 <ul>
5069 <li>Free access to public information by the citizen. </li>
5070 <li>Permanence of public data. </li>
5071 <li>Security of the State and citizens.</li>
5072 </ul>
5073 </p>
5074
5075 <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>
5076
5077 <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>
5078
5079 <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>
5080
5081 <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>
5082
5083 <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>
5084
5085
5086 <p>From reading the Bill it will be clear that once passed:<br>
5087 <li>the law does not forbid the production of proprietary software</li>
5088 <li>the law does not forbid the sale of proprietary software</li>
5089 <li>the law does not specify which concrete software to use</li>
5090 <li>the law does not dictate the supplier from whom software will be bought</li>
5091 <li>the law does not limit the terms under which a software product can be licensed.</li>
5092
5093 </p>
5094
5095 <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>
5096
5097 <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>
5098
5099 <p>As for the observations you have made, we will now go on to analyze them in detail:</p>
5100
5101 <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>
5102
5103 <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>
5104
5105 <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>
5106
5107 <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>
5108
5109 <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>
5110
5111 <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>
5112
5113 <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>
5114
5115 <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>
5116
5117 <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>
5118
5119 <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>
5120
5121 <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>
5122
5123 <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>
5124
5125 <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>
5126
5127 <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>
5128
5129 <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>
5130
5131 <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>
5132
5133 <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>
5134
5135 <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>
5136
5137 <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>
5138
5139 <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>
5140
5141 <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>
5142
5143 <p>On security:</p>
5144
5145 <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>
5146
5147 <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>
5148
5149 <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>
5150
5151 <p>In respect of the guarantee:</p>
5152
5153 <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>
5154
5155 <p>On Intellectual Property:</p>
5156
5157 <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>
5158
5159 <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>
5160
5161 <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>
5162
5163 <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>
5164
5165 <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>
5166
5167 <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>
5168
5169 <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>
5170
5171 <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>
5172
5173 <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>
5174
5175 <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>
5176
5177 <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>
5178
5179 <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>
5180
5181 <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>
5182
5183 <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>
5184
5185 <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>
5186
5187 <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>
5188
5189 <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>
5190
5191 <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>
5192
5193 <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>
5194
5195 <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>
5196
5197 <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>
5198
5199 <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>
5200
5201 <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>
5202
5203 <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>
5204
5205 <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>
5206
5207 <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>
5208
5209 <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>
5210
5211 <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>
5212
5213 <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>
5214
5215 <p>Cordially,<br>
5216 DR. EDGAR DAVID VILLANUEVA NUÑEZ<br>
5217 Congressman of the Republic of Perú.</p>
5218 </blockquote>
5219
5220       </div>
5221       <div class="tags">
5222
5223
5224         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>.
5225
5226
5227       </div>
5228     </div>
5229     <div class="padding"></div>
5230
5231     <div class="entry">
5232       <div class="title">
5233         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Officeshots_still_going_strong.html">Officeshots still going strong</a>
5234       </div>
5235       <div class="date">
5236         25th December 2010
5237       </div>
5238       <div class="body">
5239         <p>Half a year ago I
5240 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Officeshots_taking_shape.html">wrote
5241 a bit</a> about <a href="http://www.officeshots.org/">OfficeShots</a>,
5242 a web service to allow anyone to test how ODF documents are handled by
5243 the different programs reading and writing the ODF format.</p>
5244
5245 <p>I just had a look at the service, and it seem to be going strong.
5246 Very interesting to see the results reported in the gallery, how
5247 different Office implementations handle different ODF features.  Sad
5248 to see that KOffice was not doing it very well, and happy to see that
5249 LibreOffice has been tested already (but sadly not listed as a option
5250 for OfficeShots users yet).  I am glad to see that the ODF community
5251 got such a great test tool available.</p>
5252
5253       </div>
5254       <div class="tags">
5255
5256
5257         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>.
5258
5259
5260       </div>
5261     </div>
5262     <div class="padding"></div>
5263
5264     <div class="entry">
5265       <div class="title">
5266         <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>
5267       </div>
5268       <div class="date">
5269         22nd December 2010
5270       </div>
5271       <div class="body">
5272         <p>The last few days I have spent at work here at the <a
5273 href="http://www.uio.no/">University of Oslo</a> testing if the new
5274 batch of computers will work with Linux.  Every year for the last few
5275 years the university have organised shared bid of a few thousand
5276 computers, and this year HP won the bid.  Two different desktops and
5277 five different laptops are on the list this year.  We in the UNIX
5278 group want to know which one of these computers work well with RHEL
5279 and Ubuntu, the two Linux distributions we currently handle at the
5280 university.</p>
5281
5282 <p>My test method is simple, and I share it here to get feedback and
5283 perhaps inspire others to test hardware as well.  To test, I PXE
5284 install the OS version of choice, and log in as my normal user and run
5285 a few applications and plug in selected pieces of hardware.  When
5286 something fail, I make a note about this in the test matrix and move
5287 on.  If I have some spare time I try to report the bug to the OS
5288 vendor, but as I only have the machines for a short time, I rarely
5289 have the time to do this for all the problems I find.</p>
5290
5291 <p>Anyway, to get to the point of this post.  Here is the simple tests
5292 I perform on a new model.</p>
5293
5294 <ul>
5295
5296 <li>Is PXE installation working?  I'm testing with RHEL6, Ubuntu Lucid
5297 and Ubuntu Maverik at the moment.  If I feel like it, I also test with
5298 RHEL5 and Debian Edu/Squeeze.</li>
5299
5300 <li>Is X.org working?  If the graphical login screen show up after
5301 installation, X.org is working.</li>
5302
5303 <li>Is hardware accelerated OpenGL working?  Running glxgears (in
5304 package mesa-utils on Ubuntu) and writing down the frames per second
5305 reported by the program.</li>
5306
5307 <li>Is sound working?  With Gnome and KDE, a sound is played when
5308 logging in, and if I can hear this the test is successful.  If there
5309 are several audio exits on the machine, I try them all and check if
5310 the Gnome/KDE audio mixer can control where to send the sound.  I
5311 normally test this by playing
5312 <a href="http://www.nuug.no/aktiviteter/20101012-chef/ ">a HTML5
5313 video</a> in Firefox/Iceweasel.</li>
5314
5315 <li>Is the USB subsystem working?  I test this by plugging in a USB
5316 memory stick and see if Gnome/KDE notices this.</li>
5317
5318 <li>Is the CD/DVD player working?  I test this by inserting any CD/DVD
5319 I have lying around, and see if Gnome/KDE notices this.</li>
5320
5321 <li>Is any built in camera working?  Test using cheese, and see if a
5322 picture from the v4l device show up.</li>
5323
5324 <li>Is bluetooth working?  Use the Gnome/KDE browsing tool to see if
5325 any bluetooth devices are discovered.  In my office, I normally see a
5326 few.</li>
5327
5328 <li>For laptops, is the SD or Compaq Flash reader working.  I have
5329 memory modules lying around, and stick them in and see if Gnome/KDE
5330 notice this.</li>
5331
5332 <li>For laptops, is suspend/hibernate working?  I'm testing if the
5333 special button work, and if the laptop continue to work after
5334 resume.</li>
5335
5336 <li>For laptops, is the extra buttons working, like audio level,
5337 adjusting background light, switching on/off external video output,
5338 switching on/off wifi, bluetooth, etc?  The set of buttons differ from
5339 laptop to laptop, so I just write down which are working and which are
5340 not.</li>
5341
5342 <li>Some laptops have smart card readers, finger print readers,
5343 acceleration sensors etc.  I rarely test these, as I do not know how
5344 to quickly test if they are working or not, so I only document their
5345 existence.</li>
5346
5347 </ul>
5348
5349 <p>By now I suspect you are really curious what the test results are
5350 for the HP machines I am testing.  I'm not done yet, so I will report
5351 the test results later.  For now I can report that HP 8100 Elite work
5352 fine, and hibernation fail with HP EliteBook 8440p on Ubuntu Lucid,
5353 and audio fail on RHEL6.  Ubuntu Maverik worked with 8440p.  As you
5354 can see, I have most machines left to test.  One interesting
5355 observation is that Ubuntu Lucid has almost twice the frame rate than
5356 RHEL6 with glxgears.  No idea why.</p>
5357
5358       </div>
5359       <div class="tags">
5360
5361
5362         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>.
5363
5364
5365       </div>
5366     </div>
5367     <div class="padding"></div>
5368
5369     <div class="entry">
5370       <div class="title">
5371         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Some_thoughts_on_BitCoins.html">Some thoughts on BitCoins</a>
5372       </div>
5373       <div class="date">
5374         11th December 2010
5375       </div>
5376       <div class="body">
5377         <p>As I continue to explore
5378 <a href="http://www.bitcoin.org/">BitCoin</a>, I've starting to wonder
5379 what properties the system have, and how it will be affected by laws
5380 and regulations here in Norway.  Here are some random notes.</p>
5381
5382 <p>One interesting thing to note is that since the transactions are
5383 verified using a peer to peer network, all details about a transaction
5384 is known to everyone.  This means that if a BitCoin address has been
5385 published like I did with mine in my initial post about BitCoin, it is
5386 possible for everyone to see how many BitCoins have been transfered to
5387 that address.  There is even a web service to look at the details for
5388 all transactions.  There I can see that my address
5389 <a href="http://blockexplorer.com/address/15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</a>
5390 have received 16.06 Bitcoin, the
5391 <a href="http://blockexplorer.com/address/1LfdGnGuWkpSJgbQySxxCWhv8MHqvwst3">1LfdGnGuWkpSJgbQySxxCWhv8MHqvwst3</a>
5392 address of Simon Phipps have received 181.97 BitCoin and the address
5393 <a href="http://blockexplorer.com/address/1MCwBbhNGp5hRm5rC1Aims2YFRe2SXPYKt">1MCwBbhNGp5hRm5rC1Aims2YFRe2SXPYKt</A>
5394 of EFF have received 2447.38 BitCoins so far.  Thank you to each and
5395 every one of you that donated bitcoins to support my activity. The
5396 fact that anyone can see how much money was transfered to a given
5397 address make it more obvious why the BitCoin community recommend to
5398 generate and hand out a new address for each transaction.  I'm told
5399 there is no way to track which addresses belong to a given person or
5400 organisation without the person or organisation revealing it
5401 themselves, as Simon, EFF and I have done.</p>
5402
5403 <p>In Norway, and in most other countries, there are laws and
5404 regulations limiting how much money one can transfer across the border
5405 without declaring it.  There are money laundering, tax and accounting
5406 laws and regulations I would expect to apply to the use of BitCoin.
5407 If the Skolelinux foundation
5408 (<a href="http://linuxiskolen.no/slxdebianlabs/donations.html">SLX
5409 Debian Labs</a>) were to accept donations in BitCoin in addition to
5410 normal bank transfers like EFF is doing, how should this be accounted?
5411 Given that it is impossible to know if money can across the border or
5412 not, should everything or nothing be declared?  What exchange rate
5413 should be used when calculating taxes?  Would receivers have to pay
5414 income tax if the foundation were to pay Skolelinux contributors in
5415 BitCoin?  I have no idea, but it would be interesting to know.</p>
5416
5417 <p>For a currency to be useful and successful, it must be trusted and
5418 accepted by a lot of users.  It must be possible to get easy access to
5419 the currency (as a wage or using currency exchanges), and it must be
5420 easy to spend it.  At the moment BitCoin seem fairly easy to get
5421 access to, but there are very few places to spend it.  I am not really
5422 a regular user of any of the vendor types currently accepting BitCoin,
5423 so I wonder when my kind of shop would start accepting BitCoins.  I
5424 would like to buy electronics, travels and subway tickets, not herbs
5425 and books. :) The currency is young, and this will improve over time
5426 if it become popular, but I suspect regular banks will start to lobby
5427 to get BitCoin declared illegal if it become popular.  I'm sure they
5428 will claim it is helping fund terrorism and money laundering (which
5429 probably would be true, as is any currency in existence), but I
5430 believe the problems should be solved elsewhere and not by blaming
5431 currencies.</p>
5432
5433 <p>The process of creating new BitCoins is called mining, and it is
5434 CPU intensive process that depend on a bit of luck as well (as one is
5435 competing against all the other miners currently spending CPU cycles
5436 to see which one get the next lump of cash).  The "winner" get 50
5437 BitCoin when this happen.  Yesterday I came across the obvious way to
5438 join forces to increase ones changes of getting at least some coins,
5439 by coordinating the work on mining BitCoins across several machines
5440 and people, and sharing the result if one is lucky and get the 50
5441 BitCoins.  Check out
5442 <a href="http://www.bluishcoder.co.nz/bitcoin-pool/">BitCoin Pool</a>
5443 if this sounds interesting.  I have not had time to try to set up a
5444 machine to participate there yet, but have seen that running on ones
5445 own for a few days have not yield any BitCoins througth mining
5446 yet.</p>
5447
5448 <p>Update 2010-12-15: Found an <a
5449 href="http://inertia.posterous.com/reply-to-the-underground-economist-why-bitcoi">interesting
5450 criticism</a> of bitcoin.  Not quite sure how valid it is, but thought
5451 it was interesting to read.  The arguments presented seem to be
5452 equally valid for gold, which was used as a currency for many years.</p>
5453
5454       </div>
5455       <div class="tags">
5456
5457
5458         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>.
5459
5460
5461       </div>
5462     </div>
5463     <div class="padding"></div>
5464
5465     <div class="entry">
5466       <div class="title">
5467         <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>
5468       </div>
5469       <div class="date">
5470         10th December 2010
5471       </div>
5472       <div class="body">
5473         <p>With this weeks lawless
5474 <a href="http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/12/06/wikileaks/index.html">governmental
5475 attacks</a> on Wikileak and
5476 <a href="http://www.salon.com/technology/dan_gillmor/2010/12/06/war_on_speech">free
5477 speech</a>, it has become obvious that PayPal, visa and mastercard can
5478 not be trusted to handle money transactions.
5479 A blog post from
5480 <a href="http://webmink.com/2010/12/06/now-accepting-bitcoin/">Simon
5481 Phipps on bitcoin</a> reminded me about a project that a friend of
5482 mine mentioned earlier.  I decided to follow Simon's example, and get
5483 involved with <a href="http://www.bitcoin.org/">BitCoin</a>.  I got
5484 some help from my friend to get it all running, and he even handed me
5485 some bitcoins to get started.  I even donated a few bitcoins to Simon
5486 for helping me remember BitCoin.</p>
5487
5488 <p>So, what is bitcoins, you probably wonder?  It is a digital
5489 crypto-currency, decentralised and handled using peer-to-peer
5490 networks.  It allows anonymous transactions and prohibits central
5491 control over the transactions, making it impossible for governments
5492 and companies alike to block donations and other transactions.  The
5493 source is free software, and while the key dependency wxWidgets 2.9
5494 for the graphical user interface is missing in Debian, the command
5495 line client builds just fine.  Hopefully Jonas
5496 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/578157">will get the package into
5497 Debian</a> soon.</p>
5498
5499 <p>Bitcoins can be converted to other currencies, like USD and EUR.
5500 There are <a href="http://www.bitcoin.org/trade">companies accepting
5501 bitcoins</a> when selling services and goods, and there are even
5502 currency "stock" markets where the exchange rate is decided.  There
5503 are not many users so far, but the concept seems promising.  If you
5504 want to get started and lack a friend with any bitcoins to spare,
5505 you can even get
5506 <a href="https://freebitcoins.appspot.com/">some for free</a> (0.05
5507 bitcoin at the time of writing).  Use
5508 <a href="http://www.bitcoinwatch.com/">BitcoinWatch</a> to keep an eye
5509 on the current exchange rates.</p>
5510
5511 <p>As an experiment, I have decided to set up bitcoind on one of my
5512 machines.  If you want to support my activity, please send Bitcoin
5513 donations to the address
5514 <b>15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</b>.  Thank you!</p>
5515
5516       </div>
5517       <div class="tags">
5518
5519
5520         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>.
5521
5522
5523       </div>
5524     </div>
5525     <div class="padding"></div>
5526
5527     <div class="entry">
5528       <div class="title">
5529         <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>
5530       </div>
5531       <div class="date">
5532          9th December 2010
5533       </div>
5534       <div class="body">
5535         <p>A few days ago, I was introduces to some students in the robot
5536 student assosiation <a href="http://www.robotica.no/">Robotica
5537 Osloensis</a> at the University of Oslo where I work, who planned to
5538 get their own 3D printer.  They wanted to learn from me based on my
5539 work in the area.  After having a short lunch meeting with them, I
5540 offered them to borrow my reprap kit, as I never had time to complete
5541 the build and this seem unlike to change any time soon.  I look
5542 forward to see how this goes.  This monday their volunteer driver
5543 picked up my kit and drove it to their lab, and tomorrow I am told the
5544 last exam is over so they can start work on getting the 3D printer
5545 operational.</p>
5546
5547 <p>The robotic group have already build several robots on their own,
5548 and seem capable of getting the reprap operational.  I really look
5549 forward to being able to print all the cool 3D designs published on
5550 <a href="http://www.thingiverse.com/">Thingiverse</a>.  I even got
5551 some 3D scans I got made during Dagen@IFI when one of the groups at
5552 the computer science department at the university demonstrated their
5553 very cool 3D scanner.</p>
5554
5555       </div>
5556       <div class="tags">
5557
5558
5559         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>.
5560
5561
5562       </div>
5563     </div>
5564     <div class="padding"></div>
5565
5566     <div class="entry">
5567       <div class="title">
5568         <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>
5569       </div>
5570       <div class="date">
5571         29th November 2010
5572       </div>
5573       <div class="body">
5574         <p>On friday, the first Debian Edu / Skolelinux
5575 <a href="http://www.friprogramvareiskolen.no/Gathering/2010-12-03-05-Oslo">development
5576 gathering</a> in a long time take place here in Oslo, Norway.  I
5577 really look forward to seeing all the good people working on the
5578 Squeeze release.  The gathering is open for everyone interested in
5579 learning more about Debian Edu / Skolelinux.</p>
5580
5581 <p>On Saturday, the Norwegian member organization taking care of
5582 organizing these development gatherings, Fri Programvare i Skolen,
5583 will hold its
5584 <a href="http://friprogramvareiskolen.no/Genfors/2010">General Assembly
5585 for 2010</a>.  Membership is open for all, and currently there are 388
5586 people registered as members.  Last year 32 members cast their vote in
5587 the memberdb based election system.  I hope more people find time to
5588 vote this year.</p>
5589
5590       </div>
5591       <div class="tags">
5592
5593
5594         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>.
5595
5596
5597       </div>
5598     </div>
5599     <div class="padding"></div>
5600
5601     <div class="entry">
5602       <div class="title">
5603         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Why_isn_t_Debian_Edu_using_VLC_.html">Why isn't Debian Edu using VLC?</a>
5604       </div>
5605       <div class="date">
5606         27th November 2010
5607       </div>
5608       <div class="body">
5609         <p>In the latest issue of Linux Journal, the readers choices were
5610 presented, and the winner among the multimedia player were VLC.
5611 Personally, I like VLC, and it is my player of choice when I first try
5612 to play a video file or stream.  Only if VLC fail will I drag out
5613 gmplayer to see if it can do better.  The reason is mostly the failure
5614 model and trust.  When VLC fail, it normally pop up a error message
5615 reporting the problem.  When mplayer fail, it normally segfault or
5616 just hangs.  The latter failure mode drain my trust in the program.<p>
5617
5618 <p>But even if VLC is my player of choice, we have choosen to use
5619 mplayer in <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian
5620 Edu/Skolelinux</a>.  The reason is simple.  We need a good browser
5621 plugin to play web videos seamlessly, and the VLC browser plugin is
5622 not very good.  For example, it lack in-line control buttons, so there
5623 is no way for the user to pause the video.  Also, when I
5624 <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/BrowserMultimedia">last
5625 tested the browser plugins</a> available in Debian, the VLC plugin
5626 failed on several video pages where mplayer based plugins worked.  If
5627 the browser plugin for VLC was as good as the gecko-mediaplayer
5628 package (which uses mplayer), we would switch.</P>
5629
5630 <p>While VLC is a good player, its user interface is slightly
5631 annoying.  The most annoying feature is its inconsistent use of
5632 keyboard shortcuts.  When the player is in full screen mode, its
5633 shortcuts are different from when it is playing the video in a window.
5634 For example, space only work as pause when in full screen mode.  I
5635 wish it had consisten shortcuts and that space also would work when in
5636 window mode.  Another nice shortcut in gmplayer is [enter] to restart
5637 the current video.  It is very nice when playing short videos from the
5638 web and want to restart it when new people arrive to have a look at
5639 what is going on.</p>
5640
5641       </div>
5642       <div class="tags">
5643
5644
5645         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>.
5646
5647
5648       </div>
5649     </div>
5650     <div class="padding"></div>
5651
5652     <div class="entry">
5653       <div class="title">
5654         <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>
5655       </div>
5656       <div class="date">
5657         22nd November 2010
5658       </div>
5659       <div class="body">
5660         <p>Michael Biebl suggested to me on IRC, that I changed my automated
5661 upgrade testing of the
5662 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/~pere/debian-upgrade-testing/">Lenny
5663 Gnome and KDE Desktop</a> to do <tt>apt-get autoremove</tt> when using apt-get.
5664 This seem like a very good idea, so I adjusted by test scripts and
5665 can now present the updated result from today:</p>
5666
5667 <p>This is for Gnome:</p>
5668
5669 <p>Installed using apt-get, missing with aptitude</p>
5670
5671 <blockquote><p>
5672   apache2.2-bin
5673   aptdaemon
5674   baobab
5675   binfmt-support
5676   browser-plugin-gnash
5677   cheese-common
5678   cli-common
5679   cups-pk-helper
5680   dmz-cursor-theme
5681   empathy
5682   empathy-common
5683   freedesktop-sound-theme
5684   freeglut3
5685   gconf-defaults-service
5686   gdm-themes
5687   gedit-plugins
5688   geoclue
5689   geoclue-hostip
5690   geoclue-localnet
5691   geoclue-manual
5692   geoclue-yahoo
5693   gnash
5694   gnash-common
5695   gnome
5696   gnome-backgrounds
5697   gnome-cards-data
5698   gnome-codec-install
5699   gnome-core
5700   gnome-desktop-environment
5701   gnome-disk-utility
5702   gnome-screenshot
5703   gnome-search-tool
5704   gnome-session-canberra
5705   gnome-system-log
5706   gnome-themes-extras
5707   gnome-themes-more
5708   gnome-user-share
5709   gstreamer0.10-fluendo-mp3
5710   gstreamer0.10-tools
5711   gtk2-engines
5712   gtk2-engines-pixbuf
5713   gtk2-engines-smooth
5714   hamster-applet
5715   libapache2-mod-dnssd
5716   libapr1
5717   libaprutil1
5718   libaprutil1-dbd-sqlite3
5719   libaprutil1-ldap
5720   libart2.0-cil
5721   libboost-date-time1.42.0
5722   libboost-python1.42.0
5723   libboost-thread1.42.0
5724   libchamplain-0.4-0
5725   libchamplain-gtk-0.4-0
5726   libcheese-gtk18
5727   libclutter-gtk-0.10-0
5728   libcryptui0
5729   libdiscid0
5730   libelf1
5731   libepc-1.0-2
5732   libepc-common
5733   libepc-ui-1.0-2
5734   libfreerdp-plugins-standard
5735   libfreerdp0
5736   libgconf2.0-cil
5737   libgdata-common
5738   libgdata7
5739   libgdu-gtk0
5740   libgee2
5741   libgeoclue0
5742   libgexiv2-0
5743   libgif4
5744   libglade2.0-cil
5745   libglib2.0-cil
5746   libgmime2.4-cil
5747   libgnome-vfs2.0-cil
5748   libgnome2.24-cil
5749   libgnomepanel2.24-cil
5750   libgpod-common
5751   libgpod4
5752   libgtk2.0-cil
5753   libgtkglext1
5754   libgtksourceview2.0-common
5755   libmono-addins-gui0.2-cil
5756   libmono-addins0.2-cil
5757   libmono-cairo2.0-cil
5758   libmono-corlib2.0-cil
5759   libmono-i18n-west2.0-cil
5760   libmono-posix2.0-cil
5761   libmono-security2.0-cil
5762   libmono-sharpzip2.84-cil
5763   libmono-system2.0-cil
5764   libmtp8
5765   libmusicbrainz3-6
5766   libndesk-dbus-glib1.0-cil
5767   libndesk-dbus1.0-cil
5768   libopal3.6.8
5769   libpolkit-gtk-1-0
5770   libpt2.6.7
5771   libpython2.6
5772   librpm1
5773   librpmio1
5774   libsdl1.2debian
5775   libsrtp0
5776   libssh-4
5777   libtelepathy-farsight0
5778   libtelepathy-glib0
5779   libtidy-0.99-0
5780   media-player-info
5781   mesa-utils
5782   mono-2.0-gac
5783   mono-gac
5784   mono-runtime
5785   nautilus-sendto
5786   nautilus-sendto-empathy
5787   p7zip-full
5788   pkg-config
5789   python-aptdaemon
5790   python-aptdaemon-gtk
5791   python-axiom
5792   python-beautifulsoup
5793   python-bugbuddy
5794   python-clientform
5795   python-coherence
5796   python-configobj
5797   python-crypto
5798   python-cupshelpers
5799   python-elementtree
5800   python-epsilon
5801   python-evolution
5802   python-feedparser
5803   python-gdata
5804   python-gdbm
5805   python-gst0.10
5806   python-gtkglext1
5807   python-gtksourceview2
5808   python-httplib2
5809   python-louie
5810   python-mako
5811   python-markupsafe
5812   python-mechanize
5813   python-nevow
5814   python-notify
5815   python-opengl
5816   python-openssl
5817   python-pam
5818   python-pkg-resources
5819   python-pyasn1
5820   python-pysqlite2
5821   python-rdflib
5822   python-serial
5823   python-tagpy
5824   python-twisted-bin
5825   python-twisted-conch
5826   python-twisted-core
5827   python-twisted-web
5828   python-utidylib
5829   python-webkit
5830   python-xdg
5831   python-zope.interface
5832   remmina
5833   remmina-plugin-data
5834   remmina-plugin-rdp
5835   remmina-plugin-vnc
5836   rhythmbox-plugin-cdrecorder
5837   rhythmbox-plugins
5838   rpm-common
5839   rpm2cpio
5840   seahorse-plugins
5841   shotwell
5842   software-center
5843   system-config-printer-udev
5844   telepathy-gabble
5845   telepathy-mission-control-5
5846   telepathy-salut
5847   tomboy
5848   totem
5849   totem-coherence
5850   totem-mozilla
5851   totem-plugins
5852   transmission-common
5853   xdg-user-dirs
5854   xdg-user-dirs-gtk
5855   xserver-xephyr
5856 </p></blockquote>
5857
5858 <p>Installed using apt-get, removed with aptitude</p>
5859
5860 <blockquote><p>
5861   cheese
5862   ekiga
5863   eog
5864   epiphany-extensions
5865   evolution-exchange
5866   fast-user-switch-applet
5867   file-roller
5868   gcalctool
5869   gconf-editor
5870   gdm
5871   gedit
5872   gedit-common
5873   gnome-games
5874   gnome-games-data
5875   gnome-nettool
5876   gnome-system-tools
5877   gnome-themes
5878   gnuchess
5879   gucharmap
5880   guile-1.8-libs
5881   libavahi-ui0
5882   libdmx1
5883   libgalago3
5884   libgtk-vnc-1.0-0
5885   libgtksourceview2.0-0
5886   liblircclient0
5887   libsdl1.2debian-alsa
5888   libspeexdsp1
5889   libsvga1
5890   rhythmbox
5891   seahorse
5892   sound-juicer
5893   system-config-printer
5894   totem-common
5895   transmission-gtk
5896   vinagre
5897   vino
5898 </p></blockquote>
5899
5900 <p>Installed using aptitude, missing with apt-get</p>
5901
5902 <blockquote><p>
5903   gstreamer0.10-gnomevfs
5904 </p></blockquote>
5905
5906 <p>Installed using aptitude, removed with apt-get</p>
5907
5908 <blockquote><p>
5909 [nothing]
5910 </p></blockquote>
5911
5912 <p>This is for KDE:</p>
5913
5914 <p>Installed using apt-get, missing with aptitude</p>
5915
5916 <blockquote><p>
5917   ksmserver
5918 </p></blockquote>
5919
5920 <p>Installed using apt-get, removed with aptitude</p>
5921
5922 <blockquote><p>
5923   kwin
5924   network-manager-kde
5925 </p></blockquote>
5926
5927 <p>Installed using aptitude, missing with apt-get</p>
5928
5929 <blockquote><p>
5930   arts
5931   dolphin
5932   freespacenotifier
5933   google-gadgets-gst
5934   google-gadgets-xul
5935   kappfinder
5936   kcalc
5937   kcharselect
5938   kde-core
5939   kde-plasma-desktop
5940   kde-standard
5941   kde-window-manager
5942   kdeartwork
5943   kdeartwork-emoticons
5944   kdeartwork-style
5945   kdeartwork-theme-icon
5946   kdebase
5947   kdebase-apps
5948   kdebase-workspace
5949   kdebase-workspace-bin
5950   kdebase-workspace-data
5951   kdeeject
5952   kdelibs
5953   kdeplasma-addons
5954   kdeutils
5955   kdewallpapers
5956   kdf
5957   kfloppy
5958   kgpg
5959   khelpcenter4
5960   kinfocenter
5961   konq-plugins-l10n
5962   konqueror-nsplugins
5963   kscreensaver
5964   kscreensaver-xsavers
5965   ktimer
5966   kwrite
5967   libgle3
5968   libkde4-ruby1.8
5969   libkonq5
5970   libkonq5-templates
5971   libnetpbm10
5972   libplasma-ruby
5973   libplasma-ruby1.8
5974   libqt4-ruby1.8
5975   marble-data
5976   marble-plugins
5977   netpbm
5978   nuvola-icon-theme
5979   plasma-dataengines-workspace
5980   plasma-desktop
5981   plasma-desktopthemes-artwork
5982   plasma-runners-addons
5983   plasma-scriptengine-googlegadgets
5984   plasma-scriptengine-python
5985   plasma-scriptengine-qedje
5986   plasma-scriptengine-ruby
5987   plasma-scriptengine-webkit
5988   plasma-scriptengines
5989   plasma-wallpapers-addons
5990   plasma-widget-folderview
5991   plasma-widget-networkmanagement
5992   ruby
5993   sweeper
5994   update-notifier-kde
5995   xscreensaver-data-extra
5996   xscreensaver-gl
5997   xscreensaver-gl-extra
5998   xscreensaver-screensaver-bsod
5999 </p></blockquote>
6000
6001 <p>Installed using aptitude, removed with apt-get</p>
6002
6003 <blockquote><p>
6004   ark
6005   google-gadgets-common
6006   google-gadgets-qt
6007   htdig
6008   kate
6009   kdebase-bin
6010   kdebase-data
6011   kdepasswd
6012   kfind
6013   klipper
6014   konq-plugins
6015   konqueror
6016   ksysguard
6017   ksysguardd
6018   libarchive1
6019   libcln6
6020   libeet1
6021   libeina-svn-06
6022   libggadget-1.0-0b
6023   libggadget-qt-1.0-0b
6024   libgps19
6025   libkdecorations4
6026   libkephal4
6027   libkonq4
6028   libkonqsidebarplugin4a
6029   libkscreensaver5
6030   libksgrd4
6031   libksignalplotter4
6032   libkunitconversion4
6033   libkwineffects1a
6034   libmarblewidget4
6035   libntrack-qt4-1
6036   libntrack0
6037   libplasma-geolocation-interface4
6038   libplasmaclock4a
6039   libplasmagenericshell4
6040   libprocesscore4a
6041   libprocessui4a
6042   libqalculate5
6043   libqedje0a
6044   libqtruby4shared2
6045   libqzion0a
6046   libruby1.8
6047   libscim8c2a
6048   libsmokekdecore4-3
6049   libsmokekdeui4-3
6050   libsmokekfile3
6051   libsmokekhtml3
6052   libsmokekio3
6053   libsmokeknewstuff2-3
6054   libsmokeknewstuff3-3
6055   libsmokekparts3
6056   libsmokektexteditor3
6057   libsmokekutils3
6058   libsmokenepomuk3
6059   libsmokephonon3
6060   libsmokeplasma3
6061   libsmokeqtcore4-3
6062   libsmokeqtdbus4-3
6063   libsmokeqtgui4-3
6064   libsmokeqtnetwork4-3
6065   libsmokeqtopengl4-3
6066   libsmokeqtscript4-3
6067   libsmokeqtsql4-3
6068   libsmokeqtsvg4-3
6069   libsmokeqttest4-3
6070   libsmokeqtuitools4-3
6071   libsmokeqtwebkit4-3
6072   libsmokeqtxml4-3
6073   libsmokesolid3
6074   libsmokesoprano3
6075   libtaskmanager4a
6076   libtidy-0.99-0
6077   libweather-ion4a
6078   libxklavier16
6079   libxxf86misc1
6080   okteta
6081   oxygencursors
6082   plasma-dataengines-addons
6083   plasma-scriptengine-superkaramba
6084   plasma-widget-lancelot
6085   plasma-widgets-addons
6086   plasma-widgets-workspace
6087   polkit-kde-1
6088   ruby1.8
6089   systemsettings
6090   update-notifier-common
6091 </p></blockquote>
6092
6093 <p>Running apt-get autoremove made the results using apt-get and
6094 aptitude a bit more similar, but there are still quite a lott of
6095 differences.  I have no idea what packages should be installed after
6096 the upgrade, but hope those that do can have a look.</p>
6097
6098       </div>
6099       <div class="tags">
6100
6101
6102         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>.
6103
6104
6105       </div>
6106     </div>
6107     <div class="padding"></div>
6108
6109     <div class="entry">
6110       <div class="title">
6111         <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>
6112       </div>
6113       <div class="date">
6114         22nd November 2010
6115       </div>
6116       <div class="body">
6117         <p>Most of the computers in use by the
6118 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu/Skolelinux project</a>
6119 are virtual machines.  And they have been Xen machines running on a
6120 fairly old IBM eserver xseries 345 machine, and we wanted to migrate
6121 them to KVM on a newer Dell PowerEdge 2950 host machine.  This was a
6122 bit harder that it could have been, because we set up the Xen virtual
6123 machines to get the virtual partitions from LVM, which as far as I
6124 know is not supported by KVM.  So to migrate, we had to convert
6125 several LVM logical volumes to partitions on a virtual disk file.</p>
6126
6127 <p>I found
6128 <a href="http://searchnetworking.techtarget.com.au/articles/35011-Six-steps-for-migrating-Xen-virtual-machines-to-KVM">a
6129 nice recipe</a> to do this, and wrote the following script to do the
6130 migration.  It uses qemu-img from the qemu package to make the disk
6131 image, parted to partition it, losetup and kpartx to present the disk
6132 image partions as devices, and dd to copy the data.  I NFS mounted the
6133 new servers storage area on the old server to do the migration.</p>
6134
6135 <pre>
6136 #!/bin/sh
6137
6138 # Based on
6139 # http://searchnetworking.techtarget.com.au/articles/35011-Six-steps-for-migrating-Xen-virtual-machines-to-KVM
6140
6141 set -e
6142 set -x
6143
6144 if [ -z "$1" ] ; then
6145     echo "Usage: $0 &lt;hostname&gt;"
6146     exit 1
6147 else
6148     host="$1"
6149 fi
6150
6151 if [ ! -e /dev/vg_data/$host-disk ] ; then
6152     echo "error: unable to find LVM volume for $host"
6153     exit 1
6154 fi
6155
6156 # Partitions need to be a bit bigger than the LVM LVs.  not sure why.
6157 disksize=$( lvs --units m | grep $host-disk | awk '{sum = sum + $4} END { print int(sum * 1.05) }')
6158 swapsize=$( lvs --units m | grep $host-swap | awk '{sum = sum + $4} END { print int(sum * 1.05) }')
6159 totalsize=$(( ( $disksize + $swapsize ) ))
6160
6161 img=$host.img
6162 #dd if=/dev/zero of=$img bs=1M count=$(( $disksize + $swapsize ))
6163 qemu-img create $img ${totalsize}MMaking room on the Debian Edu/Sqeeze DVD
6164
6165 parted $img mklabel msdos
6166 parted $img mkpart primary linux-swap 0 $disksize
6167 parted $img mkpart primary ext2 $disksize $totalsize
6168 parted $img set 1 boot on
6169
6170 modprobe dm-mod
6171 losetup /dev/loop0 $img
6172 kpartx -a /dev/loop0
6173
6174 dd if=/dev/vg_data/$host-disk of=/dev/mapper/loop0p1 bs=1M
6175 fsck.ext3 -f /dev/mapper/loop0p1 || true
6176 mkswap /dev/mapper/loop0p2
6177
6178 kpartx -d /dev/loop0
6179 losetup -d /dev/loop0
6180 </pre>
6181
6182 <p>The script is perhaps so simple that it is not copyrightable, but
6183 if it is, it is licenced using GPL v2 or later at your discretion.</p>
6184
6185 <p>After doing this, I booted a Debian CD in rescue mode in KVM with
6186 the new disk image attached, installed grub-pc and linux-image-686 and
6187 set up grub to boot from the disk image.  After this, the KVM machines
6188 seem to work just fine.</p>
6189
6190       </div>
6191       <div class="tags">
6192
6193
6194         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>.
6195
6196
6197       </div>
6198     </div>
6199     <div class="padding"></div>
6200
6201     <div class="entry">
6202       <div class="title">
6203         <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>
6204       </div>
6205       <div class="date">
6206         20th November 2010
6207       </div>
6208       <div class="body">
6209         <p>I'm still running upgrade testing of the
6210 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/~pere/debian-upgrade-testing/">Lenny
6211 Gnome and KDE Desktop</a>, but have not had time to spend on reporting the
6212 status.  Here is a short update based on a test I ran 20101118.</p>
6213
6214 <p>I still do not know what a correct migration should look like, so I
6215 report any differences between apt and aptitude and hope someone else
6216 can see if anything should be changed.</p>
6217
6218 <p>This is for Gnome:</p>
6219
6220 <p>Installed using apt-get, missing with aptitude</p>
6221
6222 <blockquote><p>
6223   apache2.2-bin aptdaemon at-spi baobab binfmt-support
6224   browser-plugin-gnash cheese-common cli-common cpp-4.3 cups-pk-helper
6225   dmz-cursor-theme empathy empathy-common finger
6226   freedesktop-sound-theme freeglut3 gconf-defaults-service gdm-themes
6227   gedit-plugins geoclue geoclue-hostip geoclue-localnet geoclue-manual
6228   geoclue-yahoo gnash gnash-common gnome gnome-backgrounds
6229   gnome-cards-data gnome-codec-install gnome-core
6230   gnome-desktop-environment gnome-disk-utility gnome-screenshot
6231   gnome-search-tool gnome-session-canberra gnome-spell
6232   gnome-system-log gnome-themes-extras gnome-themes-more
6233   gnome-user-share gs-common gstreamer0.10-fluendo-mp3
6234   gstreamer0.10-tools gtk2-engines gtk2-engines-pixbuf
6235   gtk2-engines-smooth hal-info hamster-applet libapache2-mod-dnssd
6236   libapr1 libaprutil1 libaprutil1-dbd-sqlite3 libaprutil1-ldap
6237   libart2.0-cil libatspi1.0-0 libboost-date-time1.42.0
6238   libboost-python1.42.0 libboost-thread1.42.0 libchamplain-0.4-0
6239   libchamplain-gtk-0.4-0 libcheese-gtk18 libclutter-gtk-0.10-0
6240   libcryptui0 libcupsys2 libdiscid0 libeel2-data libelf1 libepc-1.0-2
6241   libepc-common libepc-ui-1.0-2 libfreerdp-plugins-standard
6242   libfreerdp0 libgail-common libgconf2.0-cil libgdata-common libgdata7
6243   libgdl-1-common libgdu-gtk0 libgee2 libgeoclue0 libgexiv2-0 libgif4
6244   libglade2.0-cil libglib2.0-cil libgmime2.4-cil libgnome-vfs2.0-cil
6245   libgnome2.24-cil libgnomepanel2.24-cil libgnomeprint2.2-data
6246   libgnomeprintui2.2-common libgnomevfs2-bin libgpod-common libgpod4
6247   libgtk2.0-cil libgtkglext1 libgtksourceview-common
6248   libgtksourceview2.0-common libmono-addins-gui0.2-cil
6249   libmono-addins0.2-cil libmono-cairo2.0-cil libmono-corlib2.0-cil
6250   libmono-i18n-west2.0-cil libmono-posix2.0-cil
6251   libmono-security2.0-cil libmono-sharpzip2.84-cil
6252   libmono-system2.0-cil libmtp8 libmusicbrainz3-6
6253   libndesk-dbus-glib1.0-cil libndesk-dbus1.0-cil libopal3.6.8
6254   libpolkit-gtk-1-0 libpt-1.10.10-plugins-alsa
6255   libpt-1.10.10-plugins-v4l libpt2.6.7 libpython2.6 librpm1 librpmio1
6256   libsdl1.2debian libservlet2.4-java libsrtp0 libssh-4
6257   libtelepathy-farsight0 libtelepathy-glib0 libtidy-0.99-0
6258   libxalan2-java libxerces2-java media-player-info mesa-utils
6259   mono-2.0-gac mono-gac mono-runtime nautilus-sendto
6260   nautilus-sendto-empathy openoffice.org-writer2latex
6261   openssl-blacklist p7zip p7zip-full pkg-config python-4suite-xml
6262   python-aptdaemon python-aptdaemon-gtk python-axiom
6263   python-beautifulsoup python-bugbuddy python-clientform
6264   python-coherence python-configobj python-crypto python-cupshelpers
6265   python-cupsutils python-eggtrayicon python-elementtree
6266   python-epsilon python-evolution python-feedparser python-gdata
6267   python-gdbm python-gst0.10 python-gtkglext1 python-gtkmozembed
6268   python-gtksourceview2 python-httplib2 python-louie python-mako
6269   python-markupsafe python-mechanize python-nevow python-notify
6270   python-opengl python-openssl python-pam python-pkg-resources
6271   python-pyasn1 python-pysqlite2 python-rdflib python-serial
6272   python-tagpy python-twisted-bin python-twisted-conch
6273   python-twisted-core python-twisted-web python-utidylib python-webkit
6274   python-xdg python-zope.interface remmina remmina-plugin-data
6275   remmina-plugin-rdp remmina-plugin-vnc rhythmbox-plugin-cdrecorder
6276   rhythmbox-plugins rpm-common rpm2cpio seahorse-plugins shotwell
6277   software-center svgalibg1 system-config-printer-udev
6278   telepathy-gabble telepathy-mission-control-5 telepathy-salut tomboy
6279   totem totem-coherence totem-mozilla totem-plugins
6280   transmission-common xdg-user-dirs xdg-user-dirs-gtk xserver-xephyr
6281   zip
6282 </p></blockquote>
6283
6284 Installed using apt-get, removed with aptitude
6285
6286 <blockquote><p>
6287   arj bluez-utils cheese dhcdbd djvulibre-desktop ekiga eog
6288   epiphany-extensions epiphany-gecko evolution-exchange
6289   fast-user-switch-applet file-roller gcalctool gconf-editor gdm gedit
6290   gedit-common gnome-app-install gnome-games gnome-games-data
6291   gnome-nettool gnome-system-tools gnome-themes gnome-utils
6292   gnome-vfs-obexftp gnome-volume-manager gnuchess gucharmap
6293   guile-1.8-libs hal libavahi-compat-libdnssd1 libavahi-core5
6294   libavahi-ui0 libbind9-50 libbluetooth2 libcamel1.2-11 libcdio7
6295   libcucul0 libcurl3 libdirectfb-1.0-0 libdmx1 libdvdread3
6296   libedata-cal1.2-6 libedataserver1.2-9 libeel2-2.20 libepc-1.0-1
6297   libepc-ui-1.0-1 libexchange-storage1.2-3 libfaad0 libgadu3
6298   libgalago3 libgd2-noxpm libgda3-3 libgda3-common libggz2 libggzcore9
6299   libggzmod4 libgksu1.2-0 libgksuui1.0-1 libgmyth0 libgnome-desktop-2
6300   libgnome-pilot2 libgnomecups1.0-1 libgnomeprint2.2-0
6301   libgnomeprintui2.2-0 libgpod3 libgraphviz4 libgtk-vnc-1.0-0
6302   libgtkhtml2-0 libgtksourceview1.0-0 libgtksourceview2.0-0
6303   libgucharmap6 libhesiod0 libicu38 libisccc50 libisccfg50 libiw29
6304   libjaxp1.3-java-gcj libkpathsea4 liblircclient0 libltdl3 liblwres50
6305   libmagick++10 libmagick10 libmalaga7 libmozjs1d libmpfr1ldbl libmtp7
6306   libmysqlclient15off libnautilus-burn4 libneon27 libnm-glib0
6307   libnm-util0 libopal-2.2 libosp5 libparted1.8-10 libpisock9
6308   libpisync1 libpoppler-glib3 libpoppler3 libpt-1.10.10 libraw1394-8
6309   libsdl1.2debian-alsa libsensors3 libsexy2 libsmbios2 libsoup2.2-8
6310   libspeexdsp1 libssh2-1 libsuitesparse-3.1.0 libsvga1
6311   libswfdec-0.6-90 libtalloc1 libtotem-plparser10 libtrackerclient0
6312   libvoikko1 libxalan2-java-gcj libxerces2-java-gcj libxklavier12
6313   libxtrap6 libxxf86misc1 libzephyr3 mysql-common rhythmbox seahorse
6314   sound-juicer swfdec-gnome system-config-printer totem-common
6315   totem-gstreamer transmission-gtk vinagre vino w3c-dtd-xhtml wodim
6316 </p></blockquote>
6317
6318 <p>Installed using aptitude, missing with apt-get</p>
6319
6320 <blockquote><p>
6321   gstreamer0.10-gnomevfs
6322 </p></blockquote>
6323
6324 <p>Installed using aptitude, removed with apt-get</p>
6325
6326 <blockquote><p>
6327 [nothing]
6328 </p></blockquote>
6329
6330 <p>This is for KDE:</p>
6331
6332 <p>Installed using apt-get, missing with aptitude</p>
6333
6334 <blockquote><p>
6335   autopoint bomber bovo cantor cantor-backend-kalgebra cpp-4.3 dcoprss
6336   edict espeak espeak-data eyesapplet fifteenapplet finger gettext
6337   ghostscript-x git gnome-audio gnugo granatier gs-common
6338   gstreamer0.10-pulseaudio indi kaddressbook-plugins kalgebra
6339   kalzium-data kanjidic kapman kate-plugins kblocks kbreakout kbstate
6340   kde-icons-mono kdeaccessibility kdeaddons-kfile-plugins
6341   kdeadmin-kfile-plugins kdeartwork-misc kdeartwork-theme-window
6342   kdeedu kdeedu-data kdeedu-kvtml-data kdegames kdegames-card-data
6343   kdegames-mahjongg-data kdegraphics-kfile-plugins kdelirc
6344   kdemultimedia-kfile-plugins kdenetwork-kfile-plugins
6345   kdepim-kfile-plugins kdepim-kio-plugins kdessh kdetoys kdewebdev
6346   kdiamond kdnssd kfilereplace kfourinline kgeography-data kigo
6347   killbots kiriki klettres-data kmoon kmrml knewsticker-scripts
6348   kollision kpf krosspython ksirk ksmserver ksquares kstars-data
6349   ksudoku kubrick kweather libasound2-plugins libboost-python1.42.0
6350   libcfitsio3 libconvert-binhex-perl libcrypt-ssleay-perl libdb4.6++
6351   libdjvulibre-text libdotconf1.0 liberror-perl libespeak1
6352   libfinance-quote-perl libgail-common libgsl0ldbl libhtml-parser-perl
6353   libhtml-tableextract-perl libhtml-tagset-perl libhtml-tree-perl
6354   libio-stringy-perl libkdeedu4 libkdegames5 libkiten4 libkpathsea5
6355   libkrossui4 libmailtools-perl libmime-tools-perl
6356   libnews-nntpclient-perl libopenbabel3 libportaudio2 libpulse-browse0
6357   libservlet2.4-java libspeechd2 libtiff-tools libtimedate-perl
6358   libunistring0 liburi-perl libwww-perl libxalan2-java libxerces2-java
6359   lirc luatex marble networkstatus noatun-plugins
6360   openoffice.org-writer2latex palapeli palapeli-data parley
6361   parley-data poster psutils pulseaudio pulseaudio-esound-compat
6362   pulseaudio-module-x11 pulseaudio-utils quanta-data rocs rsync
6363   speech-dispatcher step svgalibg1 texlive-binaries texlive-luatex
6364   ttf-sazanami-gothic
6365 </p></blockquote>
6366
6367 <p>Installed using apt-get, removed with aptitude</p>
6368
6369 <blockquote><p>
6370   amor artsbuilder atlantik atlantikdesigner blinken bluez-utils cvs
6371   dhcdbd djvulibre-desktop imlib-base imlib11 kalzium kanagram kandy
6372   kasteroids katomic kbackgammon kbattleship kblackbox kbounce kbruch
6373   kcron kdat kdemultimedia-kappfinder-data kdeprint kdict kdvi kedit
6374   keduca kenolaba kfax kfaxview kfouleggs kgeography kghostview
6375   kgoldrunner khangman khexedit kiconedit kig kimagemapeditor
6376   kitchensync kiten kjumpingcube klatin klettres klickety klines
6377   klinkstatus kmag kmahjongg kmailcvt kmenuedit kmid kmilo kmines
6378   kmousetool kmouth kmplot knetwalk kodo kolf kommander konquest kooka
6379   kpager kpat kpdf kpercentage kpilot kpoker kpovmodeler krec
6380   kregexpeditor kreversi ksame ksayit kshisen ksig ksim ksirc ksirtet
6381   ksmiletris ksnake ksokoban kspaceduel kstars ksvg ksysv kteatime
6382   ktip ktnef ktouch ktron kttsd ktuberling kturtle ktux kuickshow
6383   kverbos kview kviewshell kvoctrain kwifimanager kwin kwin4 kwordquiz
6384   kworldclock kxsldbg libakode2 libarts1-akode libarts1-audiofile
6385   libarts1-mpeglib libarts1-xine libavahi-compat-libdnssd1
6386   libavahi-core5 libavc1394-0 libbind9-50 libbluetooth2
6387   libboost-python1.34.1 libcucul0 libcurl3 libcvsservice0
6388   libdirectfb-1.0-0 libdjvulibre21 libdvdread3 libfaad0 libfreebob0
6389   libgd2-noxpm libgraphviz4 libgsmme1c2a libgtkhtml2-0 libicu38
6390   libiec61883-0 libindex0 libisccc50 libisccfg50 libiw29
6391   libjaxp1.3-java-gcj libk3b3 libkcal2b libkcddb1 libkdeedu3
6392   libkdegames1 libkdepim1a libkgantt0 libkleopatra1 libkmime2
6393   libkpathsea4 libkpimexchange1 libkpimidentities1 libkscan1
6394   libksieve0 libktnef1 liblockdev1 libltdl3 liblwres50 libmagick10
6395   libmimelib1c2a libmodplug0c2 libmozjs1d libmpcdec3 libmpfr1ldbl
6396   libneon27 libnm-util0 libopensync0 libpisock9 libpoppler-glib3
6397   libpoppler-qt2 libpoppler3 libraw1394-8 librss1 libsensors3
6398   libsmbios2 libssh2-1 libsuitesparse-3.1.0 libswfdec-0.6-90
6399   libtalloc1 libxalan2-java-gcj libxerces2-java-gcj libxtrap6 lskat
6400   mpeglib network-manager-kde noatun pmount tex-common texlive-base
6401   texlive-common texlive-doc-base texlive-fonts-recommended tidy
6402   ttf-dustin ttf-kochi-gothic ttf-sjfonts
6403 </p></blockquote>
6404
6405 <p>Installed using aptitude, missing with apt-get</p>
6406
6407 <blockquote><p>
6408   dolphin kde-core kde-plasma-desktop kde-standard kde-window-manager
6409   kdeartwork kdebase kdebase-apps kdebase-workspace
6410   kdebase-workspace-bin kdebase-workspace-data kdeutils kscreensaver
6411   kscreensaver-xsavers libgle3 libkonq5 libkonq5-templates libnetpbm10
6412   netpbm plasma-widget-folderview plasma-widget-networkmanagement
6413   xscreensaver-data-extra xscreensaver-gl xscreensaver-gl-extra
6414   xscreensaver-screensaver-bsod
6415 </p></blockquote>
6416
6417 <p>Installed using aptitude, removed with apt-get</p>
6418
6419 <blockquote><p>
6420   kdebase-bin konq-plugins konqueror
6421 </p></blockquote>
6422
6423       </div>
6424       <div class="tags">
6425
6426
6427         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>.
6428
6429
6430       </div>
6431     </div>
6432     <div class="padding"></div>
6433
6434     <div class="entry">
6435       <div class="title">
6436         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Gnash_buildbot_slave_and_Debian_kfreebsd.html">Gnash buildbot slave and Debian kfreebsd</a>
6437       </div>
6438       <div class="date">
6439         20th November 2010
6440       </div>
6441       <div class="body">
6442         <p>Answering
6443 <a href="http://www.listware.net/201011/gnash-dev/67431-gnash-dev-buildbot-looking-for-slaves.html">the
6444 call from the Gnash project</a> for
6445 <a href="http://www.gnashdev.org:8010">buildbot</a> slaves to test the
6446 current source, I have set up a virtual KVM machine on the Debian
6447 Edu/Skolelinux virtualization host to test the git source on
6448 Debian/Squeeze.  I hope this can help the developers in getting new
6449 releases out more often.</p>
6450
6451 <p>As the developers want less main-stream build platforms tested to,
6452 I have considered setting up a <a
6453 href="http://www.debian.org/ports/kfreebsd-gnu/">Debian/kfreebsd</a>
6454 machine as well.  I have also considered using the kfreebsd
6455 architecture in Debian as a file server in NUUG to get access to the 5
6456 TB zfs volume we currently use to store DV video.  Because of this, I
6457 finally got around to do a test installation of Debian/Squeeze with
6458 kfreebsd.  Installation went fairly smooth, thought I noticed some
6459 visual glitches in the cdebconf dialogs (black cursor left on the
6460 screen at random locations).  Have not gotten very far with the
6461 testing.  Noticed cfdisk did not work, but fdisk did so it was not a
6462 fatal problem.  Have to spend some more time on it to see if it is
6463 useful as a file server for NUUG.  Will try to find time to set up a
6464 gnash buildbot slave on the Debian Edu/Skolelinux this weekend.</p>
6465
6466       </div>
6467       <div class="tags">
6468
6469
6470         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>.
6471
6472
6473       </div>
6474     </div>
6475     <div class="padding"></div>
6476
6477     <div class="entry">
6478       <div class="title">
6479         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_in_3D.html">Debian in 3D</a>
6480       </div>
6481       <div class="date">
6482          9th November 2010
6483       </div>
6484       <div class="body">
6485         <p><img src="http://thingiverse-production.s3.amazonaws.com/renders/23/e0/c4/f9/2b/debswagtdose_preview_medium.jpg"></p>
6486
6487 <p>3D printing is just great.  I just came across this Debian logo in
6488 3D linked in from
6489 <a href="http://blog.thingiverse.com/2010/11/09/participatory-branding/">the
6490 thingiverse blog</a>.</p>
6491
6492       </div>
6493       <div class="tags">
6494
6495
6496         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>.
6497
6498
6499       </div>
6500     </div>
6501     <div class="padding"></div>
6502
6503     <div class="entry">
6504       <div class="title">
6505         <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>
6506       </div>
6507       <div class="date">
6508          7th November 2010
6509       </div>
6510       <div class="body">
6511         <p>Prioritising packages for the Debian Edu /
6512 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Skolelinux</a> DVD, which is
6513 supposed provide a school with all the services and user applications
6514 needed on the pupils computer network has always been hard.  Even
6515 schools without Internet connections should be able to get Debian Edu
6516 working using this DVD.</p>
6517
6518 <p>The job became a lot harder when apt and aptitude started
6519 installing recommended packages by default.  We want the same set of
6520 packages to be installed when using the DVD and the netinst CD, and
6521 that means all recommended packages need to be on the DVD.  I created
6522 a patch for debian-cd in <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/601203">BTS
6523 report #601203</a> to do this, and since this change was applied to
6524 the Debian Edu DVD build, we have been seriously short on space.</p>
6525
6526 <p>A few days ago we decided to drop blender, wxmaxima and kicad from
6527 the default installation to save space on the DVD, believing that
6528 those needing these applications are few and can get them from the
6529 Debian archive.</p>
6530
6531 <p>Yesterday, I had a look what source packages to see which packages
6532 were using most space.  A few large packages are well know;
6533 openoffice.org, openclipart and fluid-soundfont.  But I also
6534 discovered that lilypond used 106 MiB and fglrx-driver used 53 MiB.
6535 The lilypond package is pulled in as a dependency for rosegarden, and
6536 when looking a bit closer I discovered that 99 MiB of the 106 MiB were
6537 the documentation package, which is recommended by the binary package.
6538 I decided to drop this documentation package from our DVD, as most of
6539 our users will use the GUI front-ends and do not need the lilypond
6540 documentation.  Similarly, I dropped the non-free fglrx-driver package
6541 which might be installed by d-i when its hardware is detected, as the
6542 free X driver should work.</p>
6543
6544 <p>With this change, we finally got space for the LXDE and Gnome
6545 desktop packages as well as the language specific packages making the
6546 DVD more useful again.</p>
6547
6548       </div>
6549       <div class="tags">
6550
6551
6552         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>.
6553
6554
6555       </div>
6556     </div>
6557     <div class="padding"></div>
6558
6559     <div class="entry">
6560       <div class="title">
6561         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Software_updates_2010_10_24.html">Software updates 2010-10-24</a>
6562       </div>
6563       <div class="date">
6564         24th October 2010
6565       </div>
6566       <div class="body">
6567         <p>Some updates.</p>
6568
6569 <p>My <a href="http://pledgebank.com/gnash-avm2">gnash pledge</a> to
6570 raise money for the project is going well.  The lower limit of 10
6571 signers was reached in 24 hours, and so far 13 people have signed it.
6572 More signers and more funding is most welcome, and I am really curious
6573 how far we can get before the time limit of December 24 is reached.
6574 :)</p>
6575
6576 <p>On the #gnash IRC channel on irc.freenode.net, I was just tipped
6577 about what appear to be a great code coverage tool capable of
6578 generating code coverage stats without any changes to the source code.
6579 It is called
6580 <a href="http://simonkagstrom.github.com/kcov/index.html">kcov</a>,
6581 and can be used using <tt>kcov &lt;directory&gt; &lt;binary&gt;</tt>.
6582 It is missing in Debian, but the git source built just fine in Squeeze
6583 after I installed libelf-dev, libdwarf-dev, pkg-config and
6584 libglib2.0-dev.  Failed to build in Lenny, but suspect that is
6585 solvable.  I hope kcov make it into Debian soon.</p>
6586
6587 <p>Finally found time to wrap up the release notes for <a
6588 href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-edu-announce/2010/10/msg00002.html">a
6589 new alpha release of Debian Edu</a>, and just published the second
6590 alpha test release of the Squeeze based Debian Edu /
6591 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Skolelinux</a>
6592 release.  Give it a try if you need a complete linux solution for your
6593 school, including central infrastructure server, workstations, thin
6594 client servers and diskless workstations.  A nice touch added
6595 yesterday is RDP support on the thin client servers, for windows
6596 clients to get a Linux desktop on request.</p>
6597
6598       </div>
6599       <div class="tags">
6600
6601
6602         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>.
6603
6604
6605       </div>
6606     </div>
6607     <div class="padding"></div>
6608
6609     <div class="entry">
6610       <div class="title">
6611         <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>
6612       </div>
6613       <div class="date">
6614         19th October 2010
6615       </div>
6616       <div class="body">
6617         <p><a href="http://www.getgnash.org/">The Gnash project</a> is the
6618 most promising solution for a Free Software Flash implementation. It
6619 has done great so far, but there is still far to go, and recently its
6620 funding has dried up.  I believe AVM2 support in Gnash is vital to the
6621 continued progress of the project, as more and more sites show up with
6622 AVM2 flash files.</p>
6623
6624 <p>To try to get funding for developing such support, I have started
6625 <a href="http://www.pledgebank.com/gnash-avm2">a pledge</a> with the
6626 following text:</P>
6627
6628 <p><blockquote>
6629
6630   <p>"I will pay 100$ to the Gnash project to develop AVM2 support but
6631   only if 10 other people will do the same."</p>
6632
6633   <p>- Petter Reinholdtsen, free software developer</p>
6634
6635   <p>Deadline to sign up by: 24th December 2010</p>
6636
6637   <p>The Gnash project need to get support for the new Flash file
6638   format AVM2 to work with a lot of sites using Flash on the
6639   web. Gnash already work with a lot of Flash sites using the old AVM1
6640   format, but more and more sites are using the AVM2 format these
6641   days. The project web page is available from
6642   http://www.getgnash.org/ . Gnash is a free software implementation
6643   of Adobe Flash, allowing those of us that do not accept the terms of
6644   the Adobe Flash license to get access to Flash sites.</p>
6645
6646   <p>The project need funding to get developers to put aside enough
6647   time to develop the AVM2 support, and this pledge is my way to try
6648   to get this to happen.</p>
6649
6650   <p>The project accept donations via the OpenMediaNow foundation,
6651   <a href="http://www.openmedianow.org/?q=node/32">http://www.openmedianow.org/?q=node/32</a> .</p>
6652
6653 </blockquote></p>
6654
6655 <p>I hope you will support this effort too.  I hope more than 10
6656 people will participate to make this happen.  The more money the
6657 project gets, the more features it can develop using these funds.
6658 :)</p>
6659
6660       </div>
6661       <div class="tags">
6662
6663
6664         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>.
6665
6666
6667       </div>
6668     </div>
6669     <div class="padding"></div>
6670
6671     <div class="entry">
6672       <div class="title">
6673         <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>
6674       </div>
6675       <div class="date">
6676          9th October 2010
6677       </div>
6678       <div class="body">
6679         <p>This summer I got the chance to buy cheap Spykee robots, and since
6680 then I have worked on getting Linux software in place to control them.
6681 The firmware for the robot is available from the producer, and using
6682 that source it was trivial to figure out the protocol specification.
6683 I've started on a perl library to control it, and made some demo
6684 programs using this perl library to allow one to control the
6685 robots.</p>
6686
6687 <p>The library is quite functional already, and capable of controlling
6688 the driving, fetching video, uploading MP3s and play them.  There are
6689 a few less important features too.</p>
6690
6691 <p>Since a few weeks ago, I ran out of time to spend on this project,
6692 but I never got around to releasing the current source.  I decided
6693 today that it was time to do something about it, and uploaded the
6694 source to my Debian package store at people.skolelinux.org.</p>
6695
6696 <p>Because it was simpler for me, I made a Debian package and
6697 published the source and deb.  If you got a spykee robot, grab the
6698 source or binary package:</p>
6699
6700 <p><ul>
6701 <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>
6702 <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>
6703 <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>
6704 </ul></p>
6705
6706 <p>If you are interested in helping out with developing this library,
6707 please let me know.</p>
6708
6709       </div>
6710       <div class="tags">
6711
6712
6713         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>.
6714
6715
6716       </div>
6717     </div>
6718     <div class="padding"></div>
6719
6720     <div class="entry">
6721       <div class="title">
6722         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Links_for_2010_10_03.html">Links for 2010-10-03</a>
6723       </div>
6724       <div class="date">
6725          3rd October 2010
6726       </div>
6727       <div class="body">
6728         <p><ul>
6729
6730 <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
6731 is no Plan B: why the IPv4-to-IPv6 transition will be ugly</a></li>
6732
6733 <li>Scanner looking under clothes
6734 <a href="http://www.dagbladet.no/2010/10/03/nyheter/utenriks/reise/overvakingskamera/flyplasser/13667192/">has
6735 already been misused at Heathrow</a>.</li>
6736
6737 <li><a href="http://wiki.softwarelivre.org/Landell">Landell
6738 Webcasting</a> - interesting alternative for
6739 <ahref="http://dvswitch.alioth.debian.org/wiki/">DVSwitch</a> with
6740 simple setup.
6741
6742 </ul></p>
6743
6744       </div>
6745       <div class="tags">
6746
6747
6748         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>.
6749
6750
6751       </div>
6752     </div>
6753     <div class="padding"></div>
6754
6755     <div class="entry">
6756       <div class="title">
6757         <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>
6758       </div>
6759       <div class="date">
6760          9th September 2010
6761       </div>
6762       <div class="body">
6763         <p>A few days ago I had the mixed pleasure of bying a new digital
6764 camera, a Canon IXUS 130.  It was instructive and very disturbing to
6765 be able to verify that also this camera producer have the nerve to
6766 specify how I can or can not use the videos produced with the camera.
6767 Even thought I was aware of the issue, the options with new cameras
6768 are limited and I ended up bying the camera anyway.  What is the
6769 problem, you might ask?  It is software patents, MPEG-4, H.264 and the
6770 MPEG-LA that is the problem, and our right to record our experiences
6771 without asking for permissions that is at risk.
6772
6773 <p>On page 27 of the Danish instruction manual, this section is
6774 written:</p>
6775
6776 <blockquote>
6777 <p>This product is licensed under AT&T patents for the MPEG-4 standard
6778 and may be used for encoding MPEG-4 compliant video and/or decoding
6779 MPEG-4 compliant video that was encoded only (1) for a personal and
6780 non-commercial purpose or (2) by a video provider licensed under the
6781 AT&T patents to provide MPEG-4 compliant video.</p>
6782
6783 <p>No license is granted or implied for any other use for MPEG-4
6784 standard.</p>
6785 </blockquote>
6786
6787 <p>In short, the camera producer have chosen to use technology
6788 (MPEG-4/H.264) that is only provided if I used it for personal and
6789 non-commercial purposes, or ask for permission from the organisations
6790 holding the knowledge monopoly (patent) for technology used.</p>
6791
6792 <p>This issue has been brewing for a while, and I recommend you to
6793 read
6794 "<a href="http://www.osnews.com/story/23236/Why_Our_Civilization_s_Video_Art_and_Culture_is_Threatened_by_the_MPEG-LA">Why
6795 Our Civilization's Video Art and Culture is Threatened by the
6796 MPEG-LA</a>" by Eugenia Loli-Queru and
6797 "<a href="http://webmink.com/2010/09/03/h-264-and-foss/">H.264 Is Not
6798 The Sort Of Free That Matters</a>" by Simon Phipps to learn more about
6799 the issue.  The solution is to support the
6800 <a href="http://www.digistan.org/open-standard:definition">free and
6801 open standards</a> for video, like <a href="http://www.theora.org/">Ogg
6802 Theora</a>, and avoid MPEG-4 and H.264 if you can.</p>
6803
6804       </div>
6805       <div class="tags">
6806
6807
6808         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>.
6809
6810
6811       </div>
6812     </div>
6813     <div class="padding"></div>
6814
6815     <div class="entry">
6816       <div class="title">
6817         <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>
6818       </div>
6819       <div class="date">
6820          4th September 2010
6821       </div>
6822       <div class="body">
6823         <p>In the <a href="http://popcon.debian.org/unknown/by_vote">Debian
6824 popularity-contest numbers</a>, the adobe-flashplugin package the
6825 second most popular used package that is missing in Debian.  The sixth
6826 most popular is flashplayer-mozilla.  This is a clear indication that
6827 working flash is important for Debian users.  Around 10 percent of the
6828 users submitting data to popcon.debian.org have this package
6829 installed.</p>
6830
6831 <p>In the report written by Lars Risan in August 2008
6832 («<a href="http://wiki.skolelinux.no/Dokumentasjon/Rapporter?action=AttachFile&do=view&target=Skolelinux_i_bruk_rapport_1.0.pdf">Skolelinux
6833 i bruk – Rapport for Hurum kommune, Universitetet i Agder og
6834 stiftelsen SLX Debian Labs</a>»), one of the most important problems
6835 schools experienced with <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian
6836 Edu/Skolelinux</a> was the lack of working Flash.  A lot of educational
6837 web sites require Flash to work, and lacking working Flash support in
6838 the web browser and the problems with installing it was perceived as a
6839 good reason to stay with Windows.</p>
6840
6841 <p>I once saw a funny and sad comment in a web forum, where Linux was
6842 said to be the retarded cousin that did not really understand
6843 everything you told him but could work fairly well.  This was a
6844 comment regarding the problems Linux have with proprietary formats and
6845 non-standard web pages, and is sad because it exposes a fairly common
6846 understanding of whose fault it is if web pages that only work in for
6847 example Internet Explorer 6 fail to work on Firefox, and funny because
6848 it explain very well how annoying it is for users when Linux
6849 distributions do not work with the documents they receive or the web
6850 pages they want to visit.</p>
6851
6852 <p>This is part of the reason why I believe it is important for Debian
6853 and Debian Edu to have a well working Flash implementation in the
6854 distribution, to get at least popular sites as Youtube and Google
6855 Video to working out of the box.  For Squeeze, Debian have the chance
6856 to include the latest version of Gnash that will make this happen, as
6857 the new release 0.8.8 was published a few weeks ago and is resting in
6858 unstable.  The new version work with more sites that version 0.8.7.
6859 The Gnash maintainers have asked for a freeze exception, but the
6860 release team have not had time to reply to it yet.  I hope they agree
6861 with me that Flash is important for the Debian desktop users, and thus
6862 accept the new package into Squeeze.</p>
6863
6864       </div>
6865       <div class="tags">
6866
6867
6868         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>.
6869
6870
6871       </div>
6872     </div>
6873     <div class="padding"></div>
6874
6875     <div class="entry">
6876       <div class="title">
6877         <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>
6878       </div>
6879       <div class="date">
6880          1st September 2010
6881       </div>
6882       <div class="body">
6883         <p>This evening I made my first Perl GUI application.  The last few
6884 days I have worked on a Perl module for controlling my recently
6885 aquired Spykee robots, and the module is now getting complete enought
6886 that it is possible to use it to control the robot driving at least.
6887 It was now time to figure out how to use it to create some GUI to
6888 allow me to drive the robot around.  I picked PerlQt as I have had
6889 positive experiences with the Qt API before, and spent a few minutes
6890 browsing the web for examples.  Using Qt Designer seemed like a short
6891 cut, so I ended up writing the perl GUI using Qt Designer and
6892 compiling it into a perl program using the puic program from
6893 libqt-perl.  Nothing fancy yet, but it got buttons to connect and
6894 drive around.</p>
6895
6896 <p>The perl module I have written provide a object oriented API for
6897 controlling the robot.  Here is an small example on how to use it:</p>
6898
6899 <p><pre>
6900 use Spykee;
6901 Spykee::discover(sub {$robot{$_[0]} = $_[1]});
6902 my $host = (keys %robot)[0];
6903 my $spykee = Spykee->new();
6904 $spykee->contact($host, "admin", "admin");
6905 $spykee->left();
6906 sleep 2;
6907 $spykee->right();
6908 sleep 2;
6909 $spykee->forward();
6910 sleep 2;
6911 $spykee->back();
6912 sleep 2;
6913 $spykee->stop();
6914 </pre></p>
6915
6916 <p>Thanks to the release of the source of the robot firmware, I could
6917 peek into the implementation at the other end to figure out how to
6918 implement the protocol used by the robot.  I've implemented several of
6919 the commands the robot understand, but is still missing the camera
6920 support to make it possible to control the robot from remote.  First I
6921 want to implement support for uploading new firmware and configuring
6922 the wireless network, to make it possible to bootstrap a Spykee robot
6923 without the producers Windows and MacOSX software (I only have Linux,
6924 so I had to ask a friend to come over to get the robot testing
6925 going. :).</p>
6926
6927 <p>Will release the source to the public soon, but need to figure out
6928 where to make it available first.  I will add a link to
6929 <a href="http://wiki.nuug.no/grupper/robot/">the NUUG wiki</a> for
6930 those that want to check back later to find it.</p>
6931
6932       </div>
6933       <div class="tags">
6934
6935
6936         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>.
6937
6938
6939       </div>
6940     </div>
6941     <div class="padding"></div>
6942
6943     <div class="entry">
6944       <div class="title">
6945         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Broken_hard_link_handling_with_sshfs.html">Broken hard link handling with sshfs</a>
6946       </div>
6947       <div class="date">
6948         30th August 2010
6949       </div>
6950       <div class="body">
6951         <p>Just got an email from Tobias Gruetzmacher as a followup on my
6952 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Broken_umask_handling_with_sshfs.html">previous
6953 post about sshfs</a>.  He reported another problem with sshfs.  It
6954 fail to handle hard links properly.  A simple way to spot this is to
6955 look at the . and .. entries in the directory tree.  These should have
6956 a link count >1, but on sshfs the count is 1.  I just tested to see
6957 what happen when trying to hardlink, and this fail as well:</p>
6958
6959 <pre>
6960 % ln foo bar
6961 ln: creating hard link `bar' => `foo': Function not implemented
6962 %
6963 </pre>
6964
6965 <p>I have not yet found time to implement a test for this in my file
6966 system test code, but believe having working hard links is useful to
6967 avoid surprised unix programs.  Not as useful as working file locking
6968 and symlinks, which are required to get a working desktop, but useful
6969 nevertheless. :)</p>
6970
6971 <p>The latest version of the file system test code is available via
6972 git from
6973 <a href="http://github.com/gebi/fs-test">http://github.com/gebi/fs-test</a></p>
6974
6975       </div>
6976       <div class="tags">
6977
6978
6979         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>.
6980
6981
6982       </div>
6983     </div>
6984     <div class="padding"></div>
6985
6986     <div class="entry">
6987       <div class="title">
6988         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Broken_umask_handling_with_sshfs.html">Broken umask handling with sshfs</a>
6989       </div>
6990       <div class="date">
6991         26th August 2010
6992       </div>
6993       <div class="body">
6994         <p>My file system sematics program
6995 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Testing_if_a_file_system_can_be_used_for_home_directories___.html">presented
6996 a few days ago</a> is very useful to verify that a file system can
6997 work as a unix home directory,and today I had to extend it a bit.  I'm
6998 looking into alternatives for home directory access here at the
6999 University of Oslo, and one of the options is sshfs.  My friend
7000 Finn-Arne mentioned a while back that they had used sshfs with Debian
7001 Edu, but stopped because of problems.  I asked today what the problems
7002 where, and he mentioned that sshfs failed to handle umask properly.
7003 Trying to detect the problem I wrote this addition to my fs testing
7004 script:</p>
7005
7006 <pre>
7007 mode_t touch_get_mode(const char *name, mode_t mode) {
7008   mode_t retval = 0;
7009   int fd = open(name, O_RDWR|O_CREAT|O_LARGEFILE, mode);
7010   if (-1 != fd) {
7011     unlink(name);
7012     struct stat statbuf;
7013     if (-1 != fstat(fd, &statbuf)) {
7014       retval = statbuf.st_mode & 0x1ff;
7015     }
7016     close(fd);
7017   }
7018   return retval;
7019 }
7020
7021 /* Try to detect problem discovered using sshfs */
7022 int test_umask(void) {
7023   printf("info: testing umask effect on file creation\n");
7024
7025   mode_t orig_umask = umask(000);
7026   mode_t newmode;
7027   if (0666 != (newmode = touch_get_mode("foobar", 0666))) {
7028     printf("  error: Wrong file mode %o when creating using mode 666 and umask 000\n",
7029            newmode);
7030   }
7031   umask(007);
7032   if (0660 != (newmode = touch_get_mode("foobar", 0666))) {
7033     printf("  error: Wrong file mode %o when creating using mode 666 and umask 007\n",
7034            newmode);
7035   }
7036
7037   umask (orig_umask);
7038   return 0;
7039 }
7040
7041 int main(int argc, char **argv) {
7042   [...]
7043   test_umask();
7044   return 0;
7045 }
7046 </pre>
7047
7048 <p>Sure enough.  On NFS to a netapp, I get this result:</p>
7049
7050 <pre>
7051 Testing POSIX/Unix sematics on file system
7052 info: testing symlink creation
7053 info: testing subdirectory creation
7054 info: testing fcntl locking
7055   Read-locking 1 byte from 1073741824
7056   Read-locking 510 byte from 1073741826
7057   Unlocking 1 byte from 1073741824
7058   Write-locking 1 byte from 1073741824
7059   Write-locking 510 byte from 1073741826
7060   Unlocking 2 byte from 1073741824
7061 info: testing umask effect on file creation
7062 </pre>
7063
7064 <p>When mounting the same directory using sshfs, I get this
7065 result:</p>
7066
7067 <pre>
7068 Testing POSIX/Unix sematics on file system
7069 info: testing symlink creation
7070 info: testing subdirectory creation
7071 info: testing fcntl locking
7072   Read-locking 1 byte from 1073741824
7073   Read-locking 510 byte from 1073741826
7074   Unlocking 1 byte from 1073741824
7075   Write-locking 1 byte from 1073741824
7076   Write-locking 510 byte from 1073741826
7077   Unlocking 2 byte from 1073741824
7078 info: testing umask effect on file creation
7079   error: Wrong file mode 644 when creating using mode 666 and umask 000
7080   error: Wrong file mode 640 when creating using mode 666 and umask 007
7081 </pre>
7082
7083 <p>So, I can conclude that sshfs is better than smb to a Netapp or a
7084 Windows server, but not good enough to be used as a home
7085 directory.</p>
7086
7087 <p>Update 2010-08-26: Reported the issue in
7088 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/594498">BTS report #594498</a></p>
7089
7090 <p>Update 2010-08-27: Michael Gebetsroither report that he found the
7091 script so useful that he created a GIT repository and stored it in
7092 <a href="http://github.com/gebi/fs-test">http://github.com/gebi/fs-test</a>.</p>
7093
7094       </div>
7095       <div class="tags">
7096
7097
7098         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>.
7099
7100
7101       </div>
7102     </div>
7103     <div class="padding"></div>
7104
7105     <div class="entry">
7106       <div class="title">
7107         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Rob_Weir__How_to_Crush_Dissent.html">Rob Weir: How to Crush Dissent</a>
7108       </div>
7109       <div class="date">
7110         15th August 2010
7111       </div>
7112       <div class="body">
7113         <p>I found the notes from Rob Weir on
7114 <a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/robweir/antic-atom/~3/VGb23-kta8c/how-to-crush-dissent.html">how
7115 to crush dissent</a> matching my own thoughts on the matter quite
7116 well.  Highly recommended for those wondering which road our society
7117 should go down.  In my view we have been heading the wrong way for a
7118 long time.</p>
7119
7120       </div>
7121       <div class="tags">
7122
7123
7124         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>.
7125
7126
7127       </div>
7128     </div>
7129     <div class="padding"></div>
7130
7131     <div class="entry">
7132       <div class="title">
7133         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/No_hardcoded_config_on_Debian_Edu_clients.html">No hardcoded config on Debian Edu clients</a>
7134       </div>
7135       <div class="date">
7136          9th August 2010
7137       </div>
7138       <div class="body">
7139         <p>As reported earlier, the last few days I have looked at how Debian
7140 Edu clients are configured, and tried to get rid of all hardcoded
7141 configuration settings on the clients.  I believe the work to be
7142 mostly done, and the clients seem to work just fine with dynamically
7143 generated configuration.</p>
7144
7145 <p>What is the point, you might ask?  The point is to allow a Debian
7146 Edu desktop to integrate into an existing network infrastructure
7147 without any manual configuration.</p>
7148
7149 <p>This is what happens when installing a Debian Edu client here at
7150 the University of Oslo using PXE.  With the PXE installation, I am
7151 asked for language (Norwegian Bokmål), locality (Norway) and keyboard
7152 layout (no-latin1), Debian Edu profile (Roaming Workstation), if I
7153 accept to reformat the hard drive (yes), if I want to submit info to
7154 popcon.debian.org (no) and root password (secret).  After answering
7155 these questions, the installer goes ahead and does its thing, and
7156 after around 50 minutes it is done.  I press enter to finish the
7157 installation, and the machine reboots into KDE.  When the machine is
7158 ready and kdm asks for login information, I enter my university
7159 username and password, am told by kdm that a local home directory has
7160 been created and that I must log in again, and finally log in with the
7161 same username and password to the KDE 4.4 desktop.  At no point during
7162 this process did it ask for university specific settings, and all the
7163 required configuration was dynamically detected using information
7164 fetched via DHCP and DNS.  The roaming workstation is now ready for
7165 use.</p>
7166
7167 <p>How was this done, you might wonder?  First of all, here is the
7168 list of things that need to be configured on the client to get it
7169 working properly out of the box:</p>
7170
7171 <ul>
7172 <li>IP address/netmask and DNS server.</li>
7173 <li>Web proxy URL.</li>
7174 <li>LDAP server for NSS directory information (user, group, etc).</li>
7175 <li>Kerberos server for PAM password checking.</li>
7176 <li>SMB mount point to access the network home directory. (*)</li>
7177 <li>Central syslog server to send syslog messages to. (*)</li>
7178 <li>Sitesummary collector URL to submit info to central server. (*)</li>
7179 </ul>
7180
7181 <p>(Hm, did I forget anything?  Let me knew if I did.)</p>
7182
7183 <p>The points marked (*) are not required to be able to use the
7184 machine, but needed to provide central storage and allowing system
7185 administrators to track their machines.  Since yesterday, everything
7186 but the sitesummary collector URL is dynamically discovered at boot
7187 and installation time in the svn version of Debian Edu.</p>
7188
7189 <p>The IP and DNS setup is fetched during boot using DHCP as usual.
7190 When a DHCP update arrives, the proxy setup is updated by looking for
7191 http://wpat/wpad.dat and using the content of this WPAD file to
7192 configure the http and ftp proxy in /etc/environment and
7193 /etc/apt/apt.conf.  I decided to update the proxy setup using a DHCP
7194 hook to ensure that the client stops using the Debian Edu proxy when
7195 it is moved outside the Debian Edu network, and instead uses any local
7196 proxy present on the new network when it moves around.</p>
7197
7198 <p>The DNS names of the LDAP, Kerberos and syslog server and related
7199 configuration are generated using DNS information at boot.  First the
7200 installer looks for a host named ldap in the current DNS domain.  If
7201 not found, it looks for _ldap._tcp SRV records in DNS instead.  If an
7202 LDAP server is found, its root DSE entry is requested and the
7203 attributes namingContexts and defaultNamingContext are used to
7204 determine which LDAP base to use for NSS.  If there are several
7205 namingContexts attibutes and the defaultNamingContext is present, that
7206 LDAP subtree is used as the base.  If defaultNamingContext is missing,
7207 the subtrees listed as namingContexts are searched in sequence for any
7208 object with class posixAccount or posixGroup, and the first one with
7209 such an object is used as the LDAP base.  For Kerberos, a similar
7210 search is done by first looking for a host named kerberos, and then
7211 for the _kerberos._tcp SRV record.  I've been unable to find a way to
7212 look up the Kerberos realm, so for this the upper case string of the
7213 current DNS domain is used.</p>
7214
7215 <p>For the syslog server, the hosts syslog and loghost are searched
7216 for, and the _syslog._udp SRV record is consulted if no such host is
7217 found.  This algorithm works for both Debian Edu and the University of
7218 Oslo.  A similar strategy would work for locating the sitesummary
7219 server, but have not been implemented yet.  I decided to fetch and
7220 save these settings during installation, to make sure moving to a
7221 different network does not change the set of users being allowed to
7222 log in nor the passwords required to log in.  Usernames and passwords
7223 will be cached by sssd when the user logs in on the Debian Edu
7224 network, and will not change as the laptop move around.  For a
7225 non-roaming machine, there is no caching, but given that it is
7226 supposed to stay in place it should not matter much.  Perhaps we
7227 should switch those to use sssd too?</p>
7228
7229 <p>The user's SMB mount point for the network home directory is
7230 located when the user logs in for the first time.  The LDAP server is
7231 consulted to look for the user's LDAP object and the sambaHomePath
7232 attribute is used if found.  If it isn't found, the home directory
7233 path fetched from NSS is used instead.  Assuming the path is of the
7234 form /site/server/directory/username, the second part is looked up in
7235 DNS and used to generate a SMB URL of the form
7236 smb://server.domain/username.  This algorithm works for both Debian
7237 edu and the University of Oslo.  Perhaps there are better attributes
7238 to use or a better algorithm that works for more sites, but this will
7239 do for now. :)</p>
7240
7241 <p>This work should make it easier to integrate the Debian Edu clients
7242 into any LDAP/Kerberos infrastructure, and make the current setup even
7243 more flexible than before.  I suspect it will also work for thin
7244 client servers, allowing one to easily set up LTSP and hook it into a
7245 existing network infrastructure, but I have not had time to test this
7246 yet.</p>
7247
7248 <p>If you want to help out with implementing these things for Debian
7249 Edu, please contact us on debian-edu@lists.debian.org.</p>
7250
7251 <p>Update 2010-08-09: Simon Farnsworth gave me a heads-up on how to
7252 detect Kerberos realm from DNS, by looking for _kerberos TXT entries
7253 before falling back to the upper case DNS domain name.  Will have to
7254 implement it for Debian Edu. :)</p>
7255
7256       </div>
7257       <div class="tags">
7258
7259
7260         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>.
7261
7262
7263       </div>
7264     </div>
7265     <div class="padding"></div>
7266
7267     <div class="entry">
7268       <div class="title">
7269         <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>
7270       </div>
7271       <div class="date">
7272          8th August 2010
7273       </div>
7274       <div class="body">
7275         <p>A few years ago, I was involved in a project planning to use
7276 Windows file servers as home directory servers for Debian
7277 Edu/Skolelinux machines.  This was thought to be no problem, as the
7278 access would be through the SMB network file system protocol, and we
7279 knew other sites used SMB with unix and samba as the file server to
7280 mount home directories without any problems.  But, after months of
7281 struggling, we had to conclude that our goal was impossible.</p>
7282
7283 <p>The reason is simply that while SMB can be used for home
7284 directories when the file server is Samba running on Unix, this only
7285 work because of Samba have some extensions and the fact that the
7286 underlying file system is a unix file system.  When using a Windows
7287 file server, the underlying file system do not have POSIX semantics,
7288 and several programs will fail if the users home directory where they
7289 want to store their configuration lack POSIX semantics.</p>
7290
7291 <p>As part of this work, I wrote a small C program I want to share
7292 with you all, to replicate a few of the problematic applications (like
7293 OpenOffice.org and GCompris) and see if the file system was working as
7294 it should.  If you find yourself in spooky file system land, it might
7295 help you find your way out again.  This is the fs-test.c source:</p>
7296
7297 <pre>
7298 /*
7299  * Some tests to check the file system sematics.  Used to verify that
7300  * CIFS from a windows server do not work properly as a linux home
7301  * directory.
7302  * License: GPL v2 or later
7303  *
7304  * needs libsqlite3-dev and build-essential installed
7305  * compile with: gcc -Wall -lsqlite3 -DTEST_SQLITE fs-test.c -o fs-test
7306 */
7307
7308 #define _FILE_OFFSET_BITS 64
7309 #define _LARGEFILE_SOURCE 1
7310 #define _LARGEFILE64_SOURCE 1
7311
7312 #define _GNU_SOURCE /* for asprintf() */
7313
7314 #include &lt;errno.h>
7315 #include &lt;fcntl.h>
7316 #include &lt;stdio.h>
7317 #include &lt;string.h>
7318 #include &lt;stdlib.h>
7319 #include &lt;sys/file.h>
7320 #include &lt;sys/stat.h>
7321 #include &lt;sys/types.h>
7322 #include &lt;unistd.h>
7323
7324 #ifdef TEST_SQLITE
7325 /*
7326  * Test sqlite open, as done by gcompris require the libsqlite3-dev
7327  * package and linking with -lsqlite3.  A more low level test is
7328  * below.
7329  * See also &lt;URL: http://www.sqlite.org./faq.html#q5 >.
7330  */
7331 #include &lt;sqlite3.h>
7332 #define CREATE_TABLE_USERS                                              \
7333   "CREATE TABLE users (user_id INT UNIQUE, login TEXT, lastname TEXT, firstname TEXT, birthdate TEXT, class_id INT ); "
7334 int test_sqlite_open(void) {
7335   char *zErrMsg;
7336   char *name = "testsqlite.db";
7337   sqlite3 *db=NULL;
7338   unlink(name);
7339   int rc = sqlite3_open(name, &db);
7340   if( rc ){
7341     printf("error: sqlite open of %s failed: %s\n", name, sqlite3_errmsg(db));
7342     sqlite3_close(db);
7343     return -1;
7344   }
7345
7346   /* create tables */
7347   rc = sqlite3_exec(db,CREATE_TABLE_USERS, NULL,  0, &zErrMsg);
7348   if( rc != SQLITE_OK ){
7349     printf("error: sqlite table create failed: %s\n", zErrMsg);
7350     sqlite3_close(db);
7351     return -1;
7352   }
7353   printf("info: sqlite worked\n");
7354   sqlite3_close(db);
7355   return 0;
7356 }
7357 #endif /* TEST_SQLITE */
7358
7359 /*
7360  * Demonstrate locking issue found in gcompris using sqlite3.  This
7361  * work with ext3, but not with cifs server on Windows 2003.  This is
7362  * done in the sqlite3 library.
7363  * See also
7364  * &lt;URL:http://www.cygwin.com/ml/cygwin/2001-08/msg00854.html> and the
7365  * POSIX specification
7366  * &lt;URL:http://www.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/009695399/functions/fcntl.html>.
7367  */
7368 int test_gcompris_locking(void) {
7369   struct flock fl;
7370   char *name = "testsqlite.db";
7371   unlink(name);
7372   int fd = open(name, O_RDWR|O_CREAT|O_LARGEFILE, 0644);
7373   printf("info: testing fcntl locking\n");
7374
7375   fl.l_whence = SEEK_SET;
7376   fl.l_pid    = getpid();
7377   printf("  Read-locking 1 byte from 1073741824");
7378   fl.l_start  = 1073741824;
7379   fl.l_len    = 1;
7380   fl.l_type   = F_RDLCK;
7381   if (0 != fcntl(fd, F_SETLK, &fl) ) printf(" - error!\n"); else printf("\n");
7382
7383   printf("  Read-locking 510 byte from 1073741826");
7384   fl.l_start  = 1073741826;
7385   fl.l_len    = 510;
7386   fl.l_type   = F_RDLCK;
7387   if (0 != fcntl(fd, F_SETLK, &fl) ) printf(" - error!\n"); else printf("\n");
7388
7389   printf("  Unlocking 1 byte from 1073741824");
7390   fl.l_start  = 1073741824;
7391   fl.l_len    = 1;
7392   fl.l_type   = F_UNLCK;
7393   if (0 != fcntl(fd, F_SETLK, &fl) ) printf(" - error!\n"); else printf("\n");
7394
7395   printf("  Write-locking 1 byte from 1073741824");
7396   fl.l_start  = 1073741824;
7397   fl.l_len    = 1;
7398   fl.l_type   = F_WRLCK;
7399   if (0 != fcntl(fd, F_SETLK, &fl) ) printf(" - error!\n"); else printf("\n");
7400
7401   printf("  Write-locking 510 byte from 1073741826");
7402   fl.l_start  = 1073741826;
7403   fl.l_len    = 510;
7404   if (0 != fcntl(fd, F_SETLK, &fl) ) printf(" - error!\n"); else printf("\n");
7405
7406   printf("  Unlocking 2 byte from 1073741824");
7407   fl.l_start  = 1073741824;
7408   fl.l_len    = 2;
7409   fl.l_type   = F_UNLCK;
7410   if (0 != fcntl(fd, F_SETLK, &fl) ) printf(" - error!\n"); else printf("\n");
7411
7412   close(fd);
7413   return 0;
7414 }
7415
7416 /*
7417  * Test if permissions of freshly created directories allow entries
7418  * below them.  This was a problem with OpenOffice.org and gcompris.
7419  * Mounting with option 'sync' seem to solve this problem while
7420  * slowing down file operations.
7421  */
7422 int test_subdirectory_creation(void) {
7423 #define LEVELS 5
7424   char *path = strdup("test");
7425   char *dirs[LEVELS];
7426   int level;
7427   printf("info: testing subdirectory creation\n");
7428   for (level = 0; level &lt; LEVELS; level++) {
7429     char *newpath = NULL;
7430     if (-1 == mkdir(path, 0777)) {
7431       printf("  error: Unable to create directory '%s': %s\n",
7432              path, strerror(errno));
7433       break;
7434     }
7435     asprintf(&newpath, "%s/%s", path, "test");
7436     free(path);
7437     path = newpath;
7438   }
7439   return 0;
7440 }
7441
7442 /*
7443  * Test if symlinks can be created.  This was a problem detected with
7444  * KDE.
7445  */
7446 int test_symlinks(void) {
7447   printf("info: testing symlink creation\n");
7448   unlink("symlink");
7449   if (-1 == symlink("file", "symlink"))
7450     printf("  error: Unable to create symlink\n");
7451   return 0;
7452 }
7453
7454 int main(int argc, char **argv) {
7455   printf("Testing POSIX/Unix sematics on file system\n");
7456   test_symlinks();
7457   test_subdirectory_creation();
7458 #ifdef TEST_SQLITE
7459   test_sqlite_open();
7460 #endif /* TEST_SQLITE */
7461   test_gcompris_locking();
7462   return 0;
7463 }
7464 </pre>
7465
7466 <p>When everything is working, it should print something like
7467 this:</p>
7468
7469 <pre>
7470 Testing POSIX/Unix sematics on file system
7471 info: testing symlink creation
7472 info: testing subdirectory creation
7473 info: sqlite worked
7474 info: testing fcntl locking
7475   Read-locking 1 byte from 1073741824
7476   Read-locking 510 byte from 1073741826
7477   Unlocking 1 byte from 1073741824
7478   Write-locking 1 byte from 1073741824
7479   Write-locking 510 byte from 1073741826
7480   Unlocking 2 byte from 1073741824
7481 </pre>
7482
7483 <p>I do not remember the exact details of the problems we saw, but one
7484 of them was with locking, where if I remember correctly, POSIX allow a
7485 read-only lock to be upgraded to a read-write lock without unlocking
7486 the read-only lock (while Windows do not).  Another was a bug in the
7487 CIFS/SMB client implementation in the Linux kernel where directory
7488 meta information would be wrong for a fraction of a second, making
7489 OpenOffice.org fail to create its deep directory tree because it was
7490 not allowed to create files in its freshly created directory.</p>
7491
7492 <p>Anyway, here is a nice tool for your tool box, might you never need
7493 it. :)</p>
7494
7495 <p>Update 2010-08-27: Michael Gebetsroither report that he found the
7496 script so useful that he created a GIT repository and stored it in
7497 <a href="http://github.com/gebi/fs-test">http://github.com/gebi/fs-test</a>.</p>
7498
7499       </div>
7500       <div class="tags">
7501
7502
7503         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>.
7504
7505
7506       </div>
7507     </div>
7508     <div class="padding"></div>
7509
7510     <div class="entry">
7511       <div class="title">
7512         <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>
7513       </div>
7514       <div class="date">
7515          7th August 2010
7516       </div>
7517       <div class="body">
7518         <p>A few days ago, I
7519 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_roaming_workstation___at_the_university_of_Oslo.html">tried
7520 to install</a> a Roaming workation profile from Debian Edu/Squeeze
7521 while on the university network here at the University of Oslo, and
7522 noticed how much had to change to get it operational using the
7523 university infrastructure.  It was fairly easy, but it occured to me
7524 that Debian Edu would improve a lot if I could get the client to
7525 connect without any changes at all, and thus let the client configure
7526 itself during installation and first boot to use the infrastructure
7527 around it.  Now I am a huge step further along that road.</p>
7528
7529 <p>With our current squeeze-test packages, I can select the roaming
7530 workstation profile and get a working laptop connecting to the
7531 university LDAP server for user and group and our active directory
7532 servers for Kerberos authentication.  All this without any
7533 configuration at all during installation.  My users home directory got
7534 a bookmark in the KDE menu to mount it via SMB, with the correct URL.
7535 In short, openldap and sssd is correctly configured.  In addition to
7536 this, the client look for http://wpad/wpad.dat to configure a web
7537 proxy, and when it fail to find it no proxy settings are stored in
7538 /etc/environment and /etc/apt/apt.conf.  Iceweasel and KDE is
7539 configured to look for the same wpad configuration and also do not use
7540 a proxy when at the university network.  If the machine is moved to a
7541 network with such wpad setup, it would automatically use it when DHCP
7542 gave it a IP address.</p>
7543
7544 <p>The LDAP server is located using DNS, by first looking for the DNS
7545 entry ldap.$domain.  If this do not exist, it look for the
7546 _ldap._tcp.$domain SRV records and use the first one as the LDAP
7547 server.  Next, it connects to the LDAP server and search all
7548 namingContexts entries for posixAccount or posixGroup objects, and
7549 pick the first one as the LDAP base.  For Kerberos, a similar
7550 algorithm is used to locate the LDAP server, and the realm is the
7551 uppercase version of $domain.</p>
7552
7553 <p>So, what is not working, you might ask.  SMB mounting my home
7554 directory do not work.  No idea why, but suspected the incorrect
7555 Kerberos settings in /etc/krb5.conf and /etc/samba/smb.conf might be
7556 the cause.  These are not properly configured during installation, and
7557 had to be hand-edited to get the correct Kerberos realm and server,
7558 but SMB mounting still do not work. :(</p>
7559
7560 <p>With this automatic configuration in place, I expect a Debian Edu
7561 roaming profile installation would be able to automatically detect and
7562 connect to any site using LDAP and Kerberos for NSS directory and PAM
7563 authentication.  It should also work out of the box in a Active
7564 Directory environment providing posixAccount and posixGroup objects
7565 with UID and GID values.</p>
7566
7567 <p>If you want to help out with implementing these things for Debian
7568 Edu, please contact us on debian-edu@lists.debian.org.</p>
7569
7570       </div>
7571       <div class="tags">
7572
7573
7574         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>.
7575
7576
7577       </div>
7578     </div>
7579     <div class="padding"></div>
7580
7581     <div class="entry">
7582       <div class="title">
7583         <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>
7584       </div>
7585       <div class="date">
7586          3rd August 2010
7587       </div>
7588       <div class="body">
7589         <p>The new roaming workstation profile in Debian Edu/Squeeze is fairly
7590 similar to the laptop setup am I working on using Ubuntu for the
7591 University of Oslo, and just for the heck of it, I tested today how
7592 hard it would be to integrate that profile into the university
7593 infrastructure.  In this case, it is the university LDAP server,
7594 Active Directory Kerberos server and SMB mounting from the Netapp file
7595 servers.</p>
7596
7597 <p>I was pleasantly surprised that the only three files needed to be
7598 changed (/etc/sssd/sssd.conf, /etc/ldap.conf and
7599 /etc/mklocaluser.d/20-debian-edu-config) and one file had to be added
7600 (/usr/share/perl5/Debian/Edu_Local.pm), to get the client working.
7601 Most of the changes were to get the client to use the university LDAP
7602 for NSS and Kerberos server for PAM, but one was to change a hard
7603 coded DNS domain name in the mklocaluser hook from .intern to
7604 .uio.no.</p>
7605
7606 <p>This testing was so encouraging, that I went ahead and adjusted the
7607 Debian Edu scripts and setup in subversion to centralise the roaming
7608 workstation setup a bit more and avoid the hardcoded DNS domain name,
7609 so that when I test this tomorrow, I expect to get away with modifying
7610 only /etc/sssd/sssd.conf and /etc/ldap.conf to get it to use the
7611 university servers.</p>
7612
7613 <p>My goal is to get the clients to have no hardcoded settings and
7614 fetch all their initial setup during installation and first boot, to
7615 allow them to be inserted also into environments where the default
7616 setup in Debian Edu has been changed or as with the university, where
7617 the environment is different but provides the protocols Debian Edu
7618 uses.</p>
7619
7620       </div>
7621       <div class="tags">
7622
7623
7624         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>.
7625
7626
7627       </div>
7628     </div>
7629     <div class="padding"></div>
7630
7631     <div class="entry">
7632       <div class="title">
7633         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Circular_package_dependencies_harms_apt_recovery.html">Circular package dependencies harms apt recovery</a>
7634       </div>
7635       <div class="date">
7636         27th July 2010
7637       </div>
7638       <div class="body">
7639         <p>I discovered this while doing
7640 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Automatic_upgrade_testing_from_Lenny_to_Squeeze.html">automated
7641 testing of upgrades from Debian Lenny to Squeeze</a>.  A few packages
7642 in Debian still got circular dependencies, and it is often claimed
7643 that apt and aptitude should be able to handle this just fine, but
7644 some times these dependency loops causes apt to fail.</p>
7645
7646 <p>An example is from todays
7647 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/~pere/debian-upgrade-testing//test-20100727-lenny-squeeze-kde-aptitude.txt">upgrade
7648 of KDE using aptitude</a>.  In it, a bug in kdebase-workspace-data
7649 causes perl-modules to fail to upgrade.  The cause is simple.  If a
7650 package fail to unpack, then only part of packages with the circular
7651 dependency might end up being unpacked when unpacking aborts, and the
7652 ones already unpacked will fail to configure in the recovery phase
7653 because its dependencies are unavailable.</p>
7654
7655 <p>In this log, the problem manifest itself with this error:</p>
7656
7657 <blockquote><pre>
7658 dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of perl-modules:
7659  perl-modules depends on perl (>= 5.10.1-1); however:
7660   Version of perl on system is 5.10.0-19lenny2.
7661 dpkg: error processing perl-modules (--configure):
7662  dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
7663 </pre></blockquote>
7664
7665 <p>The perl/perl-modules circular dependency is already
7666 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/527917">reported as a bug</a>, and will
7667 hopefully be solved as soon as possible, but it is not the only one,
7668 and each one of these loops in the dependency tree can cause similar
7669 failures.  Of course, they only occur when there are bugs in other
7670 packages causing the unpacking to fail, but it is rather nasty when
7671 the failure of one package causes the problem to become worse because
7672 of dependency loops.</p>
7673
7674 <p>Thanks to
7675 <a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2010/06/msg00116.html">the
7676 tireless effort by Bill Allombert</a>, the number of circular
7677 dependencies
7678 <a href="http://debian.semistable.com/debgraph.out.html">left in Debian
7679 is dropping</a>, and perhaps it will reach zero one day. :)</p>
7680
7681 <p>Todays testing also exposed a bug in
7682 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/590605">update-notifier</a> and
7683 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/590604">different behaviour</a> between
7684 apt-get and aptitude, the latter possibly caused by some circular
7685 dependency.  Reported both to BTS to try to get someone to look at
7686 it.</p>
7687
7688       </div>
7689       <div class="tags">
7690
7691
7692         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>.
7693
7694
7695       </div>
7696     </div>
7697     <div class="padding"></div>
7698
7699     <div class="entry">
7700       <div class="title">
7701         <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>
7702       </div>
7703       <div class="date">
7704         27th July 2010
7705       </div>
7706       <div class="body">
7707         <p>I just posted this announcement culminating several months of work
7708 with the next Debian Edu release.  Not nearly done, but one major step
7709 completed.</p>
7710
7711 <blockquote>
7712 <p>This is the first test release based on Squeeze. The focus of this
7713 release is to test the user application selection. To have a look,
7714 install the standalone profile and let the developers know if the set
7715 of installed packages i.e. applications should be modified. If some
7716 user application is missing, or if there are some applications that no
7717 longer make sense to be included in Debian Edu, please let us know.
7718 Also, if a useful application is missing the translation for your
7719 language of choice, please let us know too.</p>
7720
7721 <p>In addition, feedback and help to polish the desktop (menus,
7722 artwork, starters, etc.) is appreciated. We would like to ship a nice
7723 and handy KDE4 desktop targeted for schools out of the box.</p>
7724
7725 <p>The other profiles should be installable, but there is a lot more
7726 work left to be done before they are ready, so do not expect to
7727 much.</p>
7728
7729 <p>Changes compared to the lenny based version</p>
7730
7731 <ul>
7732 <li>Everything from Debian Squeeze
7733 <ul>
7734   <li>Desktop environment KDE 4.4 => the new KDE desktop in
7735          combination with some new artwork
7736   <li>Web browser Iceweasel 3.5
7737   <li>OpenOffice.org 3.2
7738   <li>Educational toolbox GCompris 9.3
7739   <li>Music creator Rosegarden 10.04.2
7740   <li>Image editor Gimp 2.6.10
7741   <li>Virtual universe Celestia 1.6.0
7742   <li>Virtual stargazer Stellarium 0.10.4
7743   <li>3D modeler Blender 2.49.2 (new application)
7744   <li>Video editor Kdenlive 0.7.7 (new application)
7745 </ul></li>
7746 <li>Now using Kerberos for password checking (migration not finished).
7747     Enabled for:
7748 <ul>
7749   <li>PAM
7750   <li>LDAP
7751   <li>IMAP
7752   <li>SMTP (sender verification)
7753 </ul>
7754 </li>
7755 <li>New experimental roaming workstation profile for laptops.</li>
7756 <li>Show welcome page to users when they first log in. The URL is
7757     fetched from LDAP.</li>
7758 <li>New LXDE desktop option, in addition to KDE (default) and Gnome.</li>
7759 <li>General cleanup (not finished)</li>
7760 </ul>
7761 <p>The following features are not working as they should</p>
7762
7763 <ul>
7764 <li>No web based administration tool for creating users and groups. The
7765     scripts ldap-createuser-krb and ldap-add-user-to-group can be used
7766     for testing.</li>
7767 <li>DVD installs are missing debian-installer images for the PXE boot,
7768     and do not set up the PXE menu on eth0 because of this. LTSP
7769     clients should still boot from eth1 on thin client servers.</li>
7770 <li>The restructured KDE menu is not implemented.</li>
7771 <li>The LDAP server setup need to be reviewed for security.</li>
7772 <li>The LDAP directory structure need to be reworked.</li>
7773 <li>Different sets of packages are installed when using the DVD and the
7774     netinst CD. More packages are installed using the netinst CD.</li>
7775 <li>The jackd package fail to install. This is believed to be caused by
7776     some ongoing transition, and hopefully should be solved soon. The
7777     jackd1 package can be installed manually for those that need it.</li>
7778 <li>Some packages lack translations. See
7779     http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/Status/Squeeze for updated status,
7780     and help out with translations.</li>
7781 </ul>
7782
7783 <p>To download this multiarch netinstall release you can use</p>
7784
7785 <ul>
7786 <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>
7787 <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>
7788 <li>rsync -avzP ftp.skolelinux.org::skolelinux-cd/squeeze-alpha/debian-edu-6.0.0+edua0-CD.iso</li>
7789 </ul>
7790 <p>To download this multiarch dvd release you can use</p>
7791
7792 <ul>
7793 <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>
7794 <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>
7795 <li>rsync -avzP ftp.skolelinux.org::skolelinux-cd/squeeze-alpha/debian-edu-6.0.0+edua0-DVD.iso</li>
7796 </ul>
7797
7798 <p>There is no source DVD available yet. It will be prepared when we
7799 get closer to the final release.</p>
7800
7801 <p>The MD5SUM of these images are</p>
7802
7803 <ul>
7804 <li>3dbf45d59f42a53518b6e3c9ec3b5eb6 debian-edu-6.0.0+edua0-CD.iso</li>
7805 <li>22f2cbfce281d1c6e478be452638675d debian-edu-6.0.0+edua0-DVD.iso</li>
7806 </ul>
7807
7808 <p>The SHA1SUM of these images are</p>
7809 <ul>
7810 <li>c53d1b69b40cf37cd27aefaf33f6f6a3821bedf0 debian-edu-6.0.0+edua0-CD.iso</li>
7811 <li>2ec29d7db676d59d32197b05c277ffe16348376c debian-edu-6.0.0+edua0-DVD.iso</li>
7812 </ul>
7813 <p>How to report bugs:
7814 http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/HowTo/ReportBugsInBugzilla</p>
7815
7816 <p>Please direct replies to debian-edu@lists.debian.org</p>
7817 </blockquote>
7818
7819       </div>
7820       <div class="tags">
7821
7822
7823         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>.
7824
7825
7826       </div>
7827     </div>
7828     <div class="padding"></div>
7829
7830     <div class="entry">
7831       <div class="title">
7832         <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>
7833       </div>
7834       <div class="date">
7835         25th July 2010
7836       </div>
7837       <div class="body">
7838         <p>The last few months me and the other Debian Edu developers have
7839 been working hard to get the Debian/Squeeze based version of Debian
7840 Edu/Skolelinux into shape.  This future version will use Kerberos for
7841 authentication, and services are slowly migrated to single signon,
7842 getting rid of password questions one at the time.</p>
7843
7844 <p>It will also feature a roaming workstation profile with local home
7845 directory, for laptops that are only some times on the Skolelinux
7846 network, and for this profile a shortcut is created in Gnome and KDE
7847 to gain access to the users home directory on the file server.  This
7848 shortcut uses SMB at the moment, and yesterday I had time to test if
7849 SMB mounting had started working in KDE after we added the cifs-utils
7850 package.  I was pleasantly surprised how well it worked.</p>
7851
7852 <p>Thanks to the recent changes to our samba configuration to get it
7853 to use Kerberos for authentication, there were no question about user
7854 password when mounting the SMB volume.  A simple click on the shortcut
7855 in the KDE menu, and a window with the home directory popped
7856 up. :)</p>
7857
7858 <p>One step closer to a single signon solution out of the box in
7859 Debian Edu.  We already had PAM, LDAP, IMAP and SMTP in place, and now
7860 also Samba.  Next step is Cups and hopefully also NFS.</p>
7861
7862 <p>We had planned a alpha0 release of Debian Edu for today, but thanks
7863 to the autobuilder administrators for some architectures being slow to
7864 sign packages, we are still missing the fixed LTSP package we need for
7865 the release.  It was uploaded three days ago with urgency=high, and if
7866 it had entered testing yesterday we would have been able to test it in
7867 time for a alpha0 release today.  As the binaries for ia64 and powerpc
7868 still not uploaded to the Debian archive, we need to delay the alpha
7869 release another day.</p>
7870
7871 <p>If you want to help out with implementing Kerberos for Debian Edu,
7872 please contact us on debian-edu@lists.debian.org.</p>
7873
7874       </div>
7875       <div class="tags">
7876
7877
7878         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>.
7879
7880
7881       </div>
7882     </div>
7883     <div class="padding"></div>
7884
7885     <div class="entry">
7886       <div class="title">
7887         <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>
7888       </div>
7889       <div class="date">
7890         18th July 2010
7891       </div>
7892       <div class="body">
7893         <p>Thanks to
7894 <a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Opengeodata/~3/wUTCzDZk3lc/project-of-the-week-which-way-home">todays
7895 opengeodata blog entry</a>, I just discovered that the
7896 OpenStreetmap.org site have gotten
7897 <a href="http://nroets.dev.openstreetmap.org/demo/index.html?layers=B000FTFTT">support
7898 for calculating routes</a>.  The support is still experimental and
7899 only available from the development server, until more experience is
7900 gathered on the user interface and any scalability issues.</p>
7901
7902 <p>Earlier, the routing I knew about using the OpenStreetmap.org data
7903 was provided by <a href="http://maps.cloudmade.com/">Cloudmade</a>,
7904 but having it on the main page is required to make everyone aware of
7905 the issue.  I've had people reject Openstreetmap.org as a viable
7906 alternative for them because the front page lacked routing support,
7907 and I hope their needs will be catered for when routing show up on the
7908 www.openstreetmap.org front page.</p>
7909
7910       </div>
7911       <div class="tags">
7912
7913
7914         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>.
7915
7916
7917       </div>
7918     </div>
7919     <div class="padding"></div>
7920
7921     <div class="entry">
7922       <div class="title">
7923         <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>
7924       </div>
7925       <div class="date">
7926         17th July 2010
7927       </div>
7928       <div class="body">
7929         <p>This is a
7930 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Time_for_new__LDAP_schemas_replacing_RFC_2307_.html">followup</a>
7931 on my
7932 <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
7933 work</a> on
7934 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Combining_PowerDNS_and_ISC_DHCP_LDAP_objects.html">merging
7935 all</a> the computer related LDAP objects in Debian Edu.</p>
7936
7937 <p>As a step to try to see if it possible to merge the DNS and DHCP
7938 LDAP objects, I have had a look at how the packages pdns-backend-ldap
7939 and dhcp3-server-ldap in Debian use the LDAP server.  The two
7940 implementations are quite different in how they use LDAP.</p>
7941
7942 To get this information, I started slapd with debugging enabled and
7943 dumped the debug output to a file to get the LDAP searches performed
7944 on a Debian Edu main-server.  Here is a summary.
7945
7946 <p><strong>powerdns</strong></p>
7947
7948 <a href="http://www.linuxnetworks.de/doc/index.php/PowerDNS_LDAP_Backend">Clues
7949 on how to</a> set up PowerDNS to use a LDAP backend is available on
7950 the web.
7951
7952 <p>PowerDNS have two modes of operation using LDAP as its backend.
7953 One "strict" mode where the forward and reverse DNS lookups are done
7954 using the same LDAP objects, and a "tree" mode where the forward and
7955 reverse entries are in two different subtrees in LDAP with a structure
7956 based on the DNS names, as in tjener.intern and
7957 2.2.0.10.in-addr.arpa.</p>
7958
7959 <p>In tree mode, the server is set up to use a LDAP subtree as its
7960 base, and uses a "base" scoped search for the DNS name by adding
7961 "dc=tjener,dc=intern," to the base with a filter for
7962 "(associateddomain=tjener.intern)" for the forward entry and
7963 "dc=2,dc=2,dc=0,dc=10,dc=in-addr,dc=arpa," with a filter for
7964 "(associateddomain=2.2.0.10.in-addr.arpa)" for the reverse entry.  For
7965 forward entries, it is looking for attributes named dnsttl, arecord,
7966 nsrecord, cnamerecord, soarecord, ptrrecord, hinforecord, mxrecord,
7967 txtrecord, rprecord, afsdbrecord, keyrecord, aaaarecord, locrecord,
7968 srvrecord, naptrrecord, kxrecord, certrecord, dsrecord, sshfprecord,
7969 ipseckeyrecord, rrsigrecord, nsecrecord, dnskeyrecord, dhcidrecord,
7970 spfrecord and modifytimestamp.  For reverse entries it is looking for
7971 the attributes dnsttl, arecord, nsrecord, cnamerecord, soarecord,
7972 ptrrecord, hinforecord, mxrecord, txtrecord, rprecord, aaaarecord,
7973 locrecord, srvrecord, naptrrecord and modifytimestamp.  The equivalent
7974 ldapsearch commands could look like this:</p>
7975
7976 <blockquote><pre>
7977 ldapsearch -h ldap \
7978   -b dc=tjener,dc=intern,ou=hosts,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no \
7979   -s base -x '(associateddomain=tjener.intern)' dNSTTL aRecord nSRecord \
7980   cNAMERecord sOARecord pTRRecord hInfoRecord mXRecord tXTRecord \
7981   rPRecord aFSDBRecord KeyRecord aAAARecord lOCRecord sRVRecord \
7982   nAPTRRecord kXRecord certRecord dSRecord sSHFPRecord iPSecKeyRecord \
7983   rRSIGRecord nSECRecord dNSKeyRecord dHCIDRecord sPFRecord modifyTimestamp
7984
7985 ldapsearch -h ldap \
7986   -b dc=2,dc=2,dc=0,dc=10,dc=in-addr,dc=arpa,ou=hosts,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no \
7987   -s base -x '(associateddomain=2.2.0.10.in-addr.arpa)'
7988   dnsttl, arecord, nsrecord, cnamerecord soarecord ptrrecord \
7989   hinforecord mxrecord txtrecord rprecord aaaarecord locrecord \
7990   srvrecord naptrrecord modifytimestamp
7991 </pre></blockquote>
7992
7993 <p>In Debian Edu/Lenny, the PowerDNS tree mode is used with
7994 ou=hosts,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no as the base, and these are two
7995 example LDAP objects used there.  In addition to these objects, the
7996 parent objects all th way up to ou=hosts,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
7997 also exist.</p>
7998
7999 <blockquote><pre>
8000 dn: dc=tjener,dc=intern,ou=hosts,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
8001 objectclass: top
8002 objectclass: dnsdomain
8003 objectclass: domainrelatedobject
8004 dc: tjener
8005 arecord: 10.0.2.2
8006 associateddomain: tjener.intern
8007
8008 dn: dc=2,dc=2,dc=0,dc=10,dc=in-addr,dc=arpa,ou=hosts,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
8009 objectclass: top
8010 objectclass: dnsdomain2
8011 objectclass: domainrelatedobject
8012 dc: 2
8013 ptrrecord: tjener.intern
8014 associateddomain: 2.2.0.10.in-addr.arpa
8015 </pre></blockquote>
8016
8017 <p>In strict mode, the server behaves differently.  When looking for
8018 forward DNS entries, it is doing a "subtree" scoped search with the
8019 same base as in the tree mode for a object with filter
8020 "(associateddomain=tjener.intern)" and requests the attributes dnsttl,
8021 arecord, nsrecord, cnamerecord, soarecord, ptrrecord, hinforecord,
8022 mxrecord, txtrecord, rprecord, aaaarecord, locrecord, srvrecord,
8023 naptrrecord and modifytimestamp.  For reverse entires it also do a
8024 subtree scoped search but this time the filter is "(arecord=10.0.2.2)"
8025 and the requested attributes are associateddomain, dnsttl and
8026 modifytimestamp.  In short, in strict mode the objects with ptrrecord
8027 go away, and the arecord attribute in the forward object is used
8028 instead.</p>
8029
8030 <p>The forward and reverse searches can be simulated using ldapsearch
8031 like this:</p>
8032
8033 <blockquote><pre>
8034 ldapsearch -h ldap -b ou=hosts,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no -s sub -x \
8035   '(associateddomain=tjener.intern)' dNSTTL aRecord nSRecord \
8036   cNAMERecord sOARecord pTRRecord hInfoRecord mXRecord tXTRecord \
8037   rPRecord aFSDBRecord KeyRecord aAAARecord lOCRecord sRVRecord \
8038   nAPTRRecord kXRecord certRecord dSRecord sSHFPRecord iPSecKeyRecord \
8039   rRSIGRecord nSECRecord dNSKeyRecord dHCIDRecord sPFRecord modifyTimestamp
8040
8041 ldapsearch -h ldap -b ou=hosts,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no -s sub -x \
8042   '(arecord=10.0.2.2)' associateddomain dnsttl modifytimestamp
8043 </pre></blockquote>
8044
8045 <p>In addition to the forward and reverse searches , there is also a
8046 search for SOA records, which behave similar to the forward and
8047 reverse lookups.</p>
8048
8049 <p>A thing to note with the PowerDNS behaviour is that it do not
8050 specify any objectclass names, and instead look for the attributes it
8051 need to generate a DNS reply.  This make it able to work with any
8052 objectclass that provide the needed attributes.</p>
8053
8054 <p>The attributes are normally provided in the cosine (RFC 1274) and
8055 dnsdomain2 schemas.  The latter is used for reverse entries like
8056 ptrrecord and recent DNS additions like aaaarecord and srvrecord.</p>
8057
8058 <p>In Debian Edu, we have created DNS objects using the object classes
8059 dcobject (for dc), dnsdomain or dnsdomain2 (structural, for the DNS
8060 attributes) and domainrelatedobject (for associatedDomain).  The use
8061 of structural object classes make it impossible to combine these
8062 classes with the object classes used by DHCP.</p>
8063
8064 <p>There are other schemas that could be used too, for example the
8065 dnszone structural object class used by Gosa and bind-sdb for the DNS
8066 attributes combined with the domainrelatedobject object class, but in
8067 this case some unused attributes would have to be included as well
8068 (zonename and relativedomainname).</p>
8069
8070 <p>My proposal for Debian Edu would be to switch PowerDNS to strict
8071 mode and not use any of the existing objectclasses (dnsdomain,
8072 dnsdomain2 and dnszone) when one want to combine the DNS information
8073 with DHCP information, and instead create a auxiliary object class
8074 defined something like this (using the attributes defined for
8075 dnsdomain and dnsdomain2 or dnszone):</p>
8076
8077 <blockquote><pre>
8078 objectclass ( some-oid NAME 'dnsDomainAux'
8079     SUP top
8080     AUXILIARY
8081     MAY ( ARecord $ MDRecord $ MXRecord $ NSRecord $ SOARecord $ CNAMERecord $
8082           DNSTTL $ DNSClass $ PTRRecord $ HINFORecord $ MINFORecord $
8083           TXTRecord $ SIGRecord $ KEYRecord $ AAAARecord $ LOCRecord $
8084           NXTRecord $ SRVRecord $ NAPTRRecord $ KXRecord $ CERTRecord $
8085           A6Record $ DNAMERecord
8086     ))
8087 </pre></blockquote>
8088
8089 <p>This will allow any object to become a DNS entry when combined with
8090 the domainrelatedobject object class, and allow any entity to include
8091 all the attributes PowerDNS wants.  I've sent an email to the PowerDNS
8092 developers asking for their view on this schema and if they are
8093 interested in providing such schema with PowerDNS, and I hope my
8094 message will be accepted into their mailing list soon.</p>
8095
8096 <p><strong>ISC dhcp</strong></p>
8097
8098 <p>The DHCP server searches for specific objectclass and requests all
8099 the object attributes, and then uses the attributes it want.  This
8100 make it harder to figure out exactly what attributes are used, but
8101 thanks to the working example in Debian Edu I can at least get an idea
8102 what is needed without having to read the source code.</p>
8103
8104 <p>In the DHCP server configuration, the LDAP base to use and the
8105 search filter to use to locate the correct dhcpServer entity is
8106 stored.  These are the relevant entries from
8107 /etc/dhcp3/dhcpd.conf:</p>
8108
8109 <blockquote><pre>
8110 ldap-base-dn "dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no";
8111 ldap-dhcp-server-cn "dhcp";
8112 </pre></blockquote>
8113
8114 <p>The DHCP server uses this information to nest all the DHCP
8115 configuration it need.  The cn "dhcp" is located using the given LDAP
8116 base and the filter "(&(objectClass=dhcpServer)(cn=dhcp))".  The
8117 search result is this entry:</p>
8118
8119 <blockquote><pre>
8120 dn: cn=dhcp,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
8121 cn: dhcp
8122 objectClass: top
8123 objectClass: dhcpServer
8124 dhcpServiceDN: cn=DHCP Config,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
8125 </pre></blockquote>
8126
8127 <p>The content of the dhcpServiceDN attribute is next used to locate the
8128 subtree with DHCP configuration.  The DHCP configuration subtree base
8129 is located using a base scope search with base "cn=DHCP
8130 Config,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no" and filter
8131 "(&(objectClass=dhcpService)(|(dhcpPrimaryDN=cn=dhcp,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no)(dhcpSecondaryDN=cn=dhcp,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no)))".
8132 The search result is this entry:</p>
8133
8134 <blockquote><pre>
8135 dn: cn=DHCP Config,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
8136 cn: DHCP Config
8137 objectClass: top
8138 objectClass: dhcpService
8139 objectClass: dhcpOptions
8140 dhcpPrimaryDN: cn=dhcp, dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
8141 dhcpStatements: ddns-update-style none
8142 dhcpStatements: authoritative
8143 dhcpOption: smtp-server code 69 = array of ip-address
8144 dhcpOption: www-server code 72 = array of ip-address
8145 dhcpOption: wpad-url code 252 = text
8146 </pre></blockquote>
8147
8148 <p>Next, the entire subtree is processed, one level at the time.  When
8149 all the DHCP configuration is loaded, it is ready to receive requests.
8150 The subtree in Debian Edu contain objects with object classes
8151 top/dhcpService/dhcpOptions, top/dhcpSharedNetwork/dhcpOptions,
8152 top/dhcpSubnet, top/dhcpGroup and top/dhcpHost.  These provide options
8153 and information about netmasks, dynamic range etc.  Leaving out the
8154 details here because it is not relevant for the focus of my
8155 investigation, which is to see if it is possible to merge dns and dhcp
8156 related computer objects.</p>
8157
8158 <p>When a DHCP request come in, LDAP is searched for the MAC address
8159 of the client (00:00:00:00:00:00 in this example), using a subtree
8160 scoped search with "cn=DHCP Config,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no" as
8161 the base and "(&(objectClass=dhcpHost)(dhcpHWAddress=ethernet
8162 00:00:00:00:00:00))" as the filter.  This is what a host object look
8163 like:</p>
8164
8165 <blockquote><pre>
8166 dn: cn=hostname,cn=group1,cn=THINCLIENTS,cn=DHCP Config,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
8167 cn: hostname
8168 objectClass: top
8169 objectClass: dhcpHost
8170 dhcpHWAddress: ethernet 00:00:00:00:00:00
8171 dhcpStatements: fixed-address hostname
8172 </pre></blockquote>
8173
8174 <p>There is less flexiblity in the way LDAP searches are done here.
8175 The object classes need to have fixed names, and the configuration
8176 need to be stored in a fairly specific LDAP structure.  On the
8177 positive side, the invidiual dhcpHost entires can be anywhere without
8178 the DN pointed to by the dhcpServer entries.  The latter should make
8179 it possible to group all host entries in a subtree next to the
8180 configuration entries, and this subtree can also be shared with the
8181 DNS server if the schema proposed above is combined with the dhcpHost
8182 structural object class.
8183
8184 <p><strong>Conclusion</strong></p>
8185
8186 <p>The PowerDNS implementation seem to be very flexible when it come
8187 to which LDAP schemas to use.  While its "tree" mode is rigid when it
8188 come to the the LDAP structure, the "strict" mode is very flexible,
8189 allowing DNS objects to be stored anywhere under the base cn specified
8190 in the configuration.</p>
8191
8192 <p>The DHCP implementation on the other hand is very inflexible, both
8193 regarding which LDAP schemas to use and which LDAP structure to use.
8194 I guess one could implement ones own schema, as long as the
8195 objectclasses and attributes have the names used, but this do not
8196 really help when the DHCP subtree need to have a fairly fixed
8197 structure.</p>
8198
8199 <p>Based on the observed behaviour, I suspect a LDAP structure like
8200 this might work for Debian Edu:</p>
8201
8202 <blockquote><pre>
8203 ou=services
8204   cn=machine-info (dhcpService) - dhcpServiceDN points here
8205     cn=dhcp (dhcpServer)
8206     cn=dhcp-internal (dhcpSharedNetwork/dhcpOptions)
8207       cn=10.0.2.0 (dhcpSubnet)
8208         cn=group1 (dhcpGroup/dhcpOptions)
8209     cn=dhcp-thinclients (dhcpSharedNetwork/dhcpOptions)
8210       cn=192.168.0.0 (dhcpSubnet)
8211         cn=group1 (dhcpGroup/dhcpOptions)
8212     ou=machines - PowerDNS base points here
8213       cn=hostname (dhcpHost/domainrelatedobject/dnsDomainAux)
8214 </pre></blockquote>
8215
8216 <P>This is not tested yet.  If the DHCP server require the dhcpHost
8217 entries to be in the dhcpGroup subtrees, the entries can be stored
8218 there instead of a common machines subtree, and the PowerDNS base
8219 would have to be moved one level up to the machine-info subtree.</p>
8220
8221 <p>The combined object under the machines subtree would look something
8222 like this:</p>
8223
8224 <blockquote><pre>
8225 dn: dc=hostname,ou=machines,cn=machine-info,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
8226 dc: hostname
8227 objectClass: top
8228 objectClass: dhcpHost
8229 objectclass: domainrelatedobject
8230 objectclass: dnsDomainAux
8231 associateddomain: hostname.intern
8232 arecord: 10.11.12.13
8233 dhcpHWAddress: ethernet 00:00:00:00:00:00
8234 dhcpStatements: fixed-address hostname.intern
8235 </pre></blockquote>
8236
8237 </p>One could even add the LTSP configuration associated with a given
8238 machine, as long as the required attributes are available in a
8239 auxiliary object class.</p>
8240
8241       </div>
8242       <div class="tags">
8243
8244
8245         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>.
8246
8247
8248       </div>
8249     </div>
8250     <div class="padding"></div>
8251
8252     <div class="entry">
8253       <div class="title">
8254         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Combining_PowerDNS_and_ISC_DHCP_LDAP_objects.html">Combining PowerDNS and ISC DHCP LDAP objects</a>
8255       </div>
8256       <div class="date">
8257         14th July 2010
8258       </div>
8259       <div class="body">
8260         <p>For a while now, I have wanted to find a way to change the DNS and
8261 DHCP services in Debian Edu to use the same LDAP objects for a given
8262 computer, to avoid the possibility of having a inconsistent state for
8263 a computer in LDAP (as in DHCP but no DNS entry or the other way
8264 around) and make it easier to add computers to LDAP.</p>
8265
8266 <p>I've looked at how powerdns and dhcpd is using LDAP, and using this
8267 information finally found a solution that seem to work.</p>
8268
8269 <p>The old setup required three LDAP objects for a given computer.
8270 One forward DNS entry, one reverse DNS entry and one DHCP entry.  If
8271 we switch powerdns to use its strict LDAP method (ldap-method=strict
8272 in pdns-debian-edu.conf), the forward and reverse DNS entries are
8273 merged into one while making it impossible to transfer the reverse map
8274 to a slave DNS server.</p>
8275
8276 <p>If we also replace the object class used to get the DNS related
8277 attributes to one allowing these attributes to be combined with the
8278 dhcphost object class, we can merge the DNS and DHCP entries into one.
8279 I've written such object class in the dnsdomainaux.schema file (need
8280 proper OIDs, but that is a minor issue), and tested the setup.  It
8281 seem to work.</p>
8282
8283 <p>With this test setup in place, we can get away with one LDAP object
8284 for both DNS and DHCP, and even the LTSP configuration I suggested in
8285 an earlier email.  The combined LDAP object will look something like
8286 this:</p>
8287
8288 <blockquote><pre>
8289   dn: cn=hostname,cn=group1,cn=THINCLIENTS,cn=DHCP Config,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
8290   cn: hostname
8291   objectClass: dhcphost
8292   objectclass: domainrelatedobject
8293   objectclass: dnsdomainaux
8294   associateddomain: hostname.intern
8295   arecord: 10.11.12.13
8296   dhcphwaddress: ethernet 00:00:00:00:00:00
8297   dhcpstatements: fixed-address hostname
8298   ldapconfigsound: Y
8299 </pre></blockquote>
8300
8301 <p>The DNS server uses the associateddomain and arecord entries, while
8302 the DHCP server uses the dhcphwaddress and dhcpstatements entries
8303 before asking DNS to resolve the fixed-adddress.  LTSP will use
8304 dhcphwaddress or associateddomain and the ldapconfig* attributes.</p>
8305
8306 <p>I am not yet sure if I can get the DHCP server to look for its
8307 dhcphost in a different location, to allow us to put the objects
8308 outside the "DHCP Config" subtree, but hope to figure out a way to do
8309 that.  If I can't figure out a way to do that, we can still get rid of
8310 the hosts subtree and move all its content into the DHCP Config tree
8311 (which probably should be renamed to be more related to the new
8312 content.  I suspect cn=dnsdhcp,ou=services or something like that
8313 might be a good place to put it.</p>
8314
8315 <p>If you want to help out with implementing this for Debian Edu,
8316 please contact us on debian-edu@lists.debian.org.</p>
8317
8318       </div>
8319       <div class="tags">
8320
8321
8322         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>.
8323
8324
8325       </div>
8326     </div>
8327     <div class="padding"></div>
8328
8329     <div class="entry">
8330       <div class="title">
8331         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Idea_for_storing_LTSP_configuration_in_LDAP.html">Idea for storing LTSP configuration in LDAP</a>
8332       </div>
8333       <div class="date">
8334         11th July 2010
8335       </div>
8336       <div class="body">
8337         <p>Vagrant mentioned on IRC today that ltsp_config now support
8338 sourcing files from /usr/share/ltsp/ltsp_config.d/ on the thin
8339 clients, and that this can be used to fetch configuration from LDAP if
8340 Debian Edu choose to store configuration there.</p>
8341
8342 <p>Armed with this information, I got inspired and wrote a test module
8343 to get configuration from LDAP.  The idea is to look up the MAC
8344 address of the client in LDAP, and look for attributes on the form
8345 ltspconfigsetting=value, and use this to export SETTING=value to the
8346 LTSP clients.</p>
8347
8348 <p>The goal is to be able to store the LTSP configuration attributes
8349 in a "computer" LDAP object used by both DNS and DHCP, and thus
8350 allowing us to store all information about a computer in one place.</p>
8351
8352 <p>This is a untested draft implementation, and I welcome feedback on
8353 this approach.  A real LDAP schema for the ltspClientAux objectclass
8354 need to be written.  Comments, suggestions, etc?</p>
8355
8356 <blockquote><pre>
8357 # Store in /opt/ltsp/$arch/usr/share/ltsp/ltsp_config.d/ldap-config
8358 #
8359 # Fetch LTSP client settings from LDAP based on MAC address
8360 #
8361 # Uses ethernet address as stored in the dhcpHost objectclass using
8362 # the dhcpHWAddress attribute or ethernet address stored in the
8363 # ieee802Device objectclass with the macAddress attribute.
8364 #
8365 # This module is written to be schema agnostic, and only depend on the
8366 # existence of attribute names.
8367 #
8368 # The LTSP configuration variables are saved directly using a
8369 # ltspConfig prefix and uppercasing the rest of the attribute name.
8370 # To set the SERVER variable, set the ltspConfigServer attribute.
8371 #
8372 # Some LDAP schema should be created with all the relevant
8373 # configuration settings.  Something like this should work:
8374 #
8375 # objectclass ( 1.1.2.2 NAME 'ltspClientAux'
8376 #     SUP top
8377 #     AUXILIARY
8378 #     MAY ( ltspConfigServer $ ltsConfigSound $ ... )
8379
8380 LDAPSERVER=$(debian-edu-ldapserver)
8381 if [ "$LDAPSERVER" ] ; then
8382     LDAPBASE=$(debian-edu-ldapserver -b)
8383     for MAC in $(LANG=C ifconfig |grep -i hwaddr| awk '{print $5}'|sort -u) ; do
8384         filter="(|(dhcpHWAddress=ethernet $MAC)(macAddress=$MAC))"
8385         ldapsearch -h "$LDAPSERVER" -b "$LDAPBASE" -v -x "$filter" | \
8386             grep '^ltspConfig' | while read attr value ; do
8387             # Remove prefix and convert to upper case
8388             attr=$(echo $attr | sed 's/^ltspConfig//i' | tr a-z A-Z)
8389             # bass value on to clients
8390             eval "$attr=$value; export $attr"
8391         done
8392     done
8393 fi
8394 </pre></blockquote>
8395
8396 <p>I'm not sure this shell construction will work, because I suspect
8397 the while block might end up in a subshell causing the variables set
8398 there to not show up in ltsp-config, but if that is the case I am sure
8399 the code can be restructured to make sure the variables are passed on.
8400 I expect that can be solved with some testing. :)</p>
8401
8402 <p>If you want to help out with implementing this for Debian Edu,
8403 please contact us on debian-edu@lists.debian.org.</p>
8404
8405 <p>Update 2010-07-17: I am aware of another effort to store LTSP
8406 configuration in LDAP that was created around year 2000 by
8407 <a href="http://www.pcxperience.com/thinclient/documentation/ldap.html">PC
8408 Xperience, Inc., 2000</a>.  I found its
8409 <a href="http://people.redhat.com/alikins/ltsp/ldap/">files</a> on a
8410 personal home page over at redhat.com.</p>
8411
8412       </div>
8413       <div class="tags">
8414
8415
8416         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>.
8417
8418
8419       </div>
8420     </div>
8421     <div class="padding"></div>
8422
8423     <div class="entry">
8424       <div class="title">
8425         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/jXplorer__a_very_nice_LDAP_GUI.html">jXplorer, a very nice LDAP GUI</a>
8426       </div>
8427       <div class="date">
8428          9th July 2010
8429       </div>
8430       <div class="body">
8431         <p>Since
8432 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/LUMA__a_very_nice_LDAP_GUI.html">my
8433 last post</a> about available LDAP tools in Debian, I was told about a
8434 LDAP GUI that is even better than luma.  The java application
8435 <a href="http://jxplorer.org/">jXplorer</a> is claimed to be capable of
8436 moving LDAP objects and subtrees using drag-and-drop, and can
8437 authenticate using Kerberos.  I have only tested the Kerberos
8438 authentication, but do not have a LDAP setup allowing me to rewrite
8439 LDAP with my test user yet.  It is
8440 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/j/jxplorer.html">available in
8441 Debian</a> testing and unstable at the moment.  The only problem I
8442 have with it is how it handle errors.  If something go wrong, its
8443 non-intuitive behaviour require me to go through some query work list
8444 and remove the failing query.  Nothing big, but very annoying.</p>
8445
8446       </div>
8447       <div class="tags">
8448
8449
8450         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>.
8451
8452
8453       </div>
8454     </div>
8455     <div class="padding"></div>
8456
8457     <div class="entry">
8458       <div class="title">
8459         <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>
8460       </div>
8461       <div class="date">
8462          3rd July 2010
8463       </div>
8464       <div class="body">
8465         <p>Here is a short update on my <a
8466 href="http://people.skolelinux.org/~pere/debian-upgrade-testing/">my
8467 Debian Lenny->Squeeze upgrade testing</a>.  Here is a summary of the
8468 difference for Gnome when it is upgraded by apt-get and aptitude.  I'm
8469 not reporting the status for KDE, because the upgrade crashes when
8470 aptitude try because of missing conflicts
8471 (<a href="http://bugs.debian.org/584861">#584861</a> and
8472 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/585716">#585716</a>).</p>
8473
8474 <p>At the end of the upgrade test script, dpkg -l is executed to get a
8475 complete list of the installed packages.  Based on this I see these
8476 differences when I did a test run today.  As usual, I do not really
8477 know what the correct set of packages would be, but thought it best to
8478 publish the difference.</p>
8479
8480 <p>Installed using apt-get, missing with aptitude</p>
8481
8482 <blockquote><p>
8483   at-spi cpp-4.3 finger gnome-spell gstreamer0.10-gnomevfs
8484   libatspi1.0-0 libcupsys2 libeel2-data libgail-common libgdl-1-common
8485   libgnomeprint2.2-data libgnomeprintui2.2-common libgnomevfs2-bin
8486   libgtksourceview-common libpt-1.10.10-plugins-alsa
8487   libpt-1.10.10-plugins-v4l libservlet2.4-java libxalan2-java
8488   libxerces2-java openoffice.org-writer2latex openssl-blacklist p7zip
8489   python-4suite-xml python-eggtrayicon python-gtkhtml2
8490   python-gtkmozembed svgalibg1 xserver-xephyr zip
8491 </p></blockquote>
8492
8493 <p>Installed using apt-get, removed with aptitude</p>
8494
8495 <blockquote><p>
8496   bluez-utils dhcdbd djvulibre-desktop epiphany-gecko
8497   gnome-app-install gnome-mount gnome-vfs-obexftp gnome-volume-manager
8498   libao2 libavahi-compat-libdnssd1 libavahi-core5 libbind9-50
8499   libbluetooth2 libcamel1.2-11 libcdio7 libcucul0 libcurl3
8500   libdirectfb-1.0-0 libdvdread3 libedata-cal1.2-6 libedataserver1.2-9
8501   libeel2-2.20 libepc-1.0-1 libepc-ui-1.0-1 libexchange-storage1.2-3
8502   libfaad0 libgd2-noxpm libgda3-3 libgda3-common libggz2 libggzcore9
8503   libggzmod4 libgksu1.2-0 libgksuui1.0-1 libgmyth0 libgnome-desktop-2
8504   libgnome-pilot2 libgnomecups1.0-1 libgnomeprint2.2-0
8505   libgnomeprintui2.2-0 libgpod3 libgraphviz4 libgtkhtml2-0
8506   libgtksourceview1.0-0 libgucharmap6 libhesiod0 libicu38 libisccc50
8507   libisccfg50 libiw29 libkpathsea4 libltdl3 liblwres50 libmagick++10
8508   libmagick10 libmalaga7 libmtp7 libmysqlclient15off libnautilus-burn4
8509   libneon27 libnm-glib0 libnm-util0 libopal-2.2 libosp5
8510   libparted1.8-10 libpisock9 libpisync1 libpoppler-glib3 libpoppler3
8511   libpt-1.10.10 libraw1394-8 libsensors3 libsmbios2 libsoup2.2-8
8512   libssh2-1 libsuitesparse-3.1.0 libswfdec-0.6-90 libtalloc1
8513   libtotem-plparser10 libtrackerclient0 libvoikko1 libxalan2-java-gcj
8514   libxerces2-java-gcj libxklavier12 libxtrap6 libxxf86misc1 libzephyr3
8515   mysql-common swfdec-gnome totem-gstreamer wodim
8516 </p></blockquote>
8517
8518 <p>Installed using aptitude, missing with apt-get</p>
8519
8520 <blockquote><p>
8521   gnome gnome-desktop-environment hamster-applet python-gnomeapplet
8522   python-gnomekeyring python-wnck rhythmbox-plugins xorg
8523   xserver-xorg-input-all xserver-xorg-input-evdev
8524   xserver-xorg-input-kbd xserver-xorg-input-mouse
8525   xserver-xorg-input-synaptics xserver-xorg-video-all
8526   xserver-xorg-video-apm xserver-xorg-video-ark xserver-xorg-video-ati
8527   xserver-xorg-video-chips xserver-xorg-video-cirrus
8528   xserver-xorg-video-dummy xserver-xorg-video-fbdev
8529   xserver-xorg-video-glint xserver-xorg-video-i128
8530   xserver-xorg-video-i740 xserver-xorg-video-mach64
8531   xserver-xorg-video-mga xserver-xorg-video-neomagic
8532   xserver-xorg-video-nouveau xserver-xorg-video-nv
8533   xserver-xorg-video-r128 xserver-xorg-video-radeon
8534   xserver-xorg-video-radeonhd xserver-xorg-video-rendition
8535   xserver-xorg-video-s3 xserver-xorg-video-s3virge
8536   xserver-xorg-video-savage xserver-xorg-video-siliconmotion
8537   xserver-xorg-video-sis xserver-xorg-video-sisusb
8538   xserver-xorg-video-tdfx xserver-xorg-video-tga
8539   xserver-xorg-video-trident xserver-xorg-video-tseng
8540   xserver-xorg-video-vesa xserver-xorg-video-vmware
8541   xserver-xorg-video-voodoo
8542 </p></blockquote>
8543
8544 <p>Installed using aptitude, removed with apt-get</p>
8545
8546 <blockquote><p>
8547   deskbar-applet xserver-xorg xserver-xorg-core
8548   xserver-xorg-input-wacom xserver-xorg-video-intel
8549   xserver-xorg-video-openchrome
8550 </p></blockquote>
8551
8552 <p>I was told on IRC that the xorg-xserver package was
8553 <a href="http://git.debian.org/?p=pkg-xorg/xserver/xorg-server.git;a=commit;h=9c8080d06c457932d3bfec021c69ac000aa60120">changed
8554 in git</a> today to try to get apt-get to not remove xorg completely.
8555 No idea when it hits Squeeze, but when it does I hope it will reduce
8556 the difference somewhat.
8557
8558       </div>
8559       <div class="tags">
8560
8561
8562         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>.
8563
8564
8565       </div>
8566     </div>
8567     <div class="padding"></div>
8568
8569     <div class="entry">
8570       <div class="title">
8571         <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>
8572       </div>
8573       <div class="date">
8574          1st July 2010
8575       </div>
8576       <div class="body">
8577         <p>For a laptop, centralized user directories and password checking is
8578 a bit troubling.  Laptops are typically used also when not connected
8579 to the network, and it is vital for a user to be able to log in or
8580 unlock the screen saver also when a central server is unavailable.
8581 This is possible by caching passwords and directory information (user
8582 and group attributes) locally, and the packages to do so are available
8583 in Debian.  Here follow two recipes to set this up in Debian/Squeeze.
8584 It is also possible to set up in Debian/Lenny, but require more manual
8585 setup there because pam-auth-update is missing in Lenny.</p>
8586
8587 <h2>LDAP/Kerberos + nscd + libpam-ccreds + libpam-mklocaluser/pam_mkhomedir</h2>
8588
8589 This is the traditional method with a twist.  The password caching is
8590 provided by libpam-ccreds (version 10-4 or later is needed on
8591 Squeeze), and the directory caching is done by nscd.  The directory
8592 lookup and password checking is done using LDAP.  If one want to use
8593 Kerberos for password checking the libpam-ldapd package can be
8594 replaced with libpam-krb5 or libpam-heimdal.  If one is happy having a
8595 local home directory with the path listed in LDAP, one can use the
8596 pam_mkhomedir module from pam-modules to make this happen instead of
8597 using libpam-mklocaluser.  A setup for pam-auth-update to enable
8598 pam_mkhomedir will have to be written until a fix for
8599 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/568577">bug #568577</a> is in the
8600 archive.  Because I believe it is a bad idea to have local home
8601 directories using misleading paths like /site/server/partition/, I
8602 prefer to create a local user with the home directory in /home/.  This
8603 is done using the libpam-mklocaluser package.</p>
8604
8605 <p>These packages need to be installed and configured</p>
8606
8607 <blockquote><pre>
8608 libnss-ldapd libpam-ldapd nscd libpam-ccreds libpam-mklocaluser
8609 </pre></blockquote>
8610
8611 <p>The ldapd packages will ask for LDAP connection information, and
8612 one have to fill in the values that fits ones own site.  Make sure the
8613 PAM part uses encrypted connections, to make sure the password is not
8614 sent in clear text to the LDAP server.  I've been unable to get TLS
8615 certificate checking for a self signed certificate working, which make
8616 LDAP authentication unsafe for Debian Edu (nslcd is not checking if it
8617 is talking to the correct LDAP server), and very much welcome feedback
8618 on how to get this working.</p>
8619
8620 <p>Because nscd do not have a default configuration fit for offline
8621 caching until <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/485282">bug #485282</a>
8622 is fixed, this configuration should be used instead of the one
8623 currently in /etc/nscd.conf.  The changes are in the fields
8624 reload-count and positive-time-to-live, and is based on the
8625 instructions I found in the
8626 <a href="http://www.flyn.org/laptopldap/">LDAP for Mobile Laptops</a>
8627 instructions by Flyn Computing.</p>
8628
8629 <blockquote><pre>
8630         debug-level             0
8631         reload-count            unlimited
8632         paranoia                no
8633
8634         enable-cache            passwd          yes
8635         positive-time-to-live   passwd          2592000
8636         negative-time-to-live   passwd          20
8637         suggested-size          passwd          211
8638         check-files             passwd          yes
8639         persistent              passwd          yes
8640         shared                  passwd          yes
8641         max-db-size             passwd          33554432
8642         auto-propagate          passwd          yes
8643
8644         enable-cache            group           yes
8645         positive-time-to-live   group           2592000
8646         negative-time-to-live   group           20
8647         suggested-size          group           211
8648         check-files             group           yes
8649         persistent              group           yes
8650         shared                  group           yes
8651         max-db-size             group           33554432
8652         auto-propagate          group           yes
8653
8654         enable-cache            hosts           no
8655         positive-time-to-live   hosts           2592000
8656         negative-time-to-live   hosts           20
8657         suggested-size          hosts           211
8658         check-files             hosts           yes
8659         persistent              hosts           yes
8660         shared                  hosts           yes
8661         max-db-size             hosts           33554432
8662
8663         enable-cache            services        yes
8664         positive-time-to-live   services        2592000
8665         negative-time-to-live   services        20
8666         suggested-size          services        211
8667         check-files             services        yes
8668         persistent              services        yes
8669         shared                  services        yes
8670         max-db-size             services        33554432
8671 </pre></blockquote>
8672
8673 <p>While we wait for a mechanism to update /etc/nsswitch.conf
8674 automatically like the one provided in
8675 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/496915">bug #496915</a>, the file
8676 content need to be manually replaced to ensure LDAP is used as the
8677 directory service on the machine.  /etc/nsswitch.conf should normally
8678 look like this:</p>
8679
8680 <blockquote><pre>
8681 passwd:         files ldap
8682 group:          files ldap
8683 shadow:         files ldap
8684 hosts:          files mdns4_minimal [NOTFOUND=return] dns mdns4
8685 networks:       files
8686 protocols:      files
8687 services:       files
8688 ethers:         files
8689 rpc:            files
8690 netgroup:       files ldap
8691 </pre></blockquote>
8692
8693 <p>The important parts are that ldap is listed last for passwd, group,
8694 shadow and netgroup.</p>
8695
8696 <p>With these changes in place, any user in LDAP will be able to log
8697 in locally on the machine using for example kdm, get a local home
8698 directory created and have the password as well as user and group
8699 attributes cached.
8700
8701 <h2>LDAP/Kerberos + nss-updatedb + libpam-ccreds +
8702   libpam-mklocaluser/pam_mkhomedir</h2>
8703
8704 <p>Because nscd have had its share of problems, and seem to have
8705 problems doing proper caching, I've seen suggestions and recipes to
8706 use nss-updatedb to copy parts of the LDAP database locally when the
8707 LDAP database is available.  I have not tested such setup, because I
8708 discovered sssd.</p>
8709
8710 <h2>LDAP/Kerberos + sssd + libpam-mklocaluser</h2>
8711
8712 <p>A more flexible and robust setup than the nscd combination
8713 mentioned earlier that has shown up recently, is the
8714 <a href="https://fedorahosted.org/sssd/">sssd</a> package from Redhat.
8715 It is part of the <a href="http://www.freeipa.org/">FreeIPA</A> project
8716 to provide a Active Directory like directory service for Linux
8717 machines.  The sssd system combines the caching of passwords and user
8718 information into one package, and remove the need for nscd and
8719 libpam-ccreds.  It support LDAP and Kerberos, but not NIS.  Version
8720 1.2 do not support netgroups, but it is said that it will support this
8721 in version 1.5 expected to show up later in 2010.  Because the
8722 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/s/sssd.html">sssd package</a>
8723 was missing in Debian, I ended up co-maintaining it with Werner, and
8724 version 1.2 is now in testing.
8725
8726 <p>These packages need to be installed and configured to get the
8727 roaming setup I want</p>
8728
8729 <blockquote><pre>
8730 libpam-sss libnss-sss libpam-mklocaluser
8731 </pre></blockquote>
8732
8733 The complete setup of sssd is done by editing/creating
8734 <tt>/etc/sssd/sssd.conf</tt>.
8735
8736 <blockquote><pre>
8737 [sssd]
8738 config_file_version = 2
8739 reconnection_retries = 3
8740 sbus_timeout = 30
8741 services = nss, pam
8742 domains = INTERN
8743
8744 [nss]
8745 filter_groups = root
8746 filter_users = root
8747 reconnection_retries = 3
8748
8749 [pam]
8750 reconnection_retries = 3
8751
8752 [domain/INTERN]
8753 enumerate = false
8754 cache_credentials = true
8755
8756 id_provider = ldap
8757 auth_provider = ldap
8758 chpass_provider = ldap
8759
8760 ldap_uri = ldap://ldap
8761 ldap_search_base = dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
8762 ldap_tls_reqcert = never
8763 ldap_tls_cacert = /etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt
8764 </pre></blockquote>
8765
8766 <p>I got the same problem here with certificate checking.  Had to set
8767 "ldap_tls_reqcert = never" to get it working.</p>
8768
8769 <p>With the libnss-sss package in testing at the moment, the
8770 nsswitch.conf file is update automatically, so there is no need to
8771 modify it manually.</p>
8772
8773 <p>If you want to help out with implementing this for Debian Edu,
8774 please contact us on debian-edu@lists.debian.org.</p>
8775
8776       </div>
8777       <div class="tags">
8778
8779
8780         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>.
8781
8782
8783       </div>
8784     </div>
8785     <div class="padding"></div>
8786
8787     <div class="entry">
8788       <div class="title">
8789         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/LUMA__a_very_nice_LDAP_GUI.html">LUMA, a very nice LDAP GUI</a>
8790       </div>
8791       <div class="date">
8792         28th June 2010
8793       </div>
8794       <div class="body">
8795         <p>The last few days I have been looking into the status of the LDAP
8796 directory in Debian Edu, and in the process I started to miss a GUI
8797 tool to browse the LDAP tree.  The only one I was able to find in
8798 Debian/Squeeze and Lenny is
8799 <a href="http://luma.sourceforge.net/">LUMA</a>, which has proved to
8800 be a great tool to get a overview of the current LDAP directory
8801 populated by default in Skolelinux.  Thanks to it, I have been able to
8802 find empty and obsolete subtrees, misplaced objects and duplicate
8803 objects.  It will be installed by default in Debian/Squeeze.  If you
8804 are working with LDAP, give it a go. :)</p>
8805
8806 <p>I did notice one problem with it I have not had time to report to
8807 the BTS yet.  There is no .desktop file in the package, so the tool do
8808 not show up in the Gnome and KDE menus, but only deep down in in the
8809 Debian submenu in KDE.  I hope that can be fixed before Squeeze is
8810 released.</p>
8811
8812 <p>I have not yet been able to get it to modify the tree yet.  I would
8813 like to move objects and remove subtrees directly in the GUI, but have
8814 not found a way to do that with LUMA yet.  So in the mean time, I use
8815 <a href="http://www.lichteblau.com/ldapvi/">ldapvi</a> for that.</p>
8816
8817 <p>If you have tips on other GUI tools for LDAP that might be useful
8818 in Debian Edu, please contact us on debian-edu@lists.debian.org.</p>
8819
8820 <p>Update 2010-06-29: Ross Reedstrom tipped us about the
8821 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/g/gq.html">gq</a> package as a
8822 useful GUI alternative.  It seem like a good tool, but is unmaintained
8823 in Debian and got a RC bug keeping it out of Squeeze.  Unless that
8824 changes, it will not be an option for Debian Edu based on Squeeze.</p>
8825
8826       </div>
8827       <div class="tags">
8828
8829
8830         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>.
8831
8832
8833       </div>
8834     </div>
8835     <div class="padding"></div>
8836
8837     <div class="entry">
8838       <div class="title">
8839         <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>
8840       </div>
8841       <div class="date">
8842         24th June 2010
8843       </div>
8844       <div class="body">
8845         <p>A while back, I
8846 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Time_for_new__LDAP_schemas_replacing_RFC_2307_.html">complained
8847 about the fact</a> that it is not possible with the provided schemas
8848 for storing DNS and DHCP information in LDAP to combine the two sets
8849 of information into one LDAP object representing a computer.</p>
8850
8851 <p>In the mean time, I discovered that a simple fix would be to make
8852 the dhcpHost object class auxiliary, to allow it to be combined with
8853 the dNSDomain object class, and thus forming one object for one
8854 computer when storing both DHCP and DNS information in LDAP.</p>
8855
8856 <p>If I understand this correctly, it is not safe to do this change
8857 without also changing the assigned number for the object class, and I
8858 do not know enough about LDAP schema design to do that properly for
8859 Debian Edu.</p>
8860
8861 <p>Anyway, for future reference, this is how I believe we could change
8862 the
8863 <a href="http://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-ietf-dhc-ldap-schema-00">DHCP
8864 schema</a> to solve at least part of the problem with the LDAP schemas
8865 available today from IETF.</p>
8866
8867 <pre>
8868 --- dhcp.schema    (revision 65192)
8869 +++ dhcp.schema    (working copy)
8870 @@ -376,7 +376,7 @@
8871  objectclass ( 2.16.840.1.113719.1.203.6.6
8872         NAME 'dhcpHost'
8873         DESC 'This represents information about a particular client'
8874 -       SUP top
8875 +       SUP top AUXILIARY
8876         MUST cn
8877         MAY  (dhcpLeaseDN $ dhcpHWAddress $ dhcpOptionsDN $ dhcpStatements $ dhcpComments $ dhcpOption)
8878         X-NDS_CONTAINMENT ('dhcpService' 'dhcpSubnet' 'dhcpGroup') )
8879 </pre>
8880
8881 <p>I very much welcome clues on how to do this properly for Debian
8882 Edu/Squeeze.  We provide the DHCP schema in our debian-edu-config
8883 package, and should thus be free to rewrite it as we see fit.</p>
8884
8885 <p>If you want to help out with implementing this for Debian Edu,
8886 please contact us on debian-edu@lists.debian.org.</p>
8887
8888       </div>
8889       <div class="tags">
8890
8891
8892         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>.
8893
8894
8895       </div>
8896     </div>
8897     <div class="padding"></div>
8898
8899     <div class="entry">
8900       <div class="title">
8901         <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>
8902       </div>
8903       <div class="date">
8904         16th June 2010
8905       </div>
8906       <div class="body">
8907         <p>A few times I have had the need to simulate the way tasksel
8908 installs packages during the normal debian-installer run.  Until now,
8909 I have ended up letting tasksel do the work, with the annoying problem
8910 of not getting any feedback at all when something fails (like a
8911 conffile question from dpkg or a download that fails), using code like
8912 this:
8913
8914 <blockquote><pre>
8915 export DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive
8916 tasksel --new-install
8917 </pre></blockquote>
8918
8919 This would invoke tasksel, let its automatic task selection pick the
8920 tasks to install, and continue to install the requested tasks without
8921 any output what so ever.
8922
8923 Recently I revisited this problem while working on the automatic
8924 package upgrade testing, because tasksel would some times hang without
8925 any useful feedback, and I want to see what is going on when it
8926 happen.  Then it occured to me, I can parse the output from tasksel
8927 when asked to run in test mode, and use that aptitude command line
8928 printed by tasksel then to simulate the tasksel run.  I ended up using
8929 code like this:
8930
8931 <blockquote><pre>
8932 export DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive
8933 cmd="$(in_target tasksel -t --new-install | sed 's/debconf-apt-progress -- //')"
8934 $cmd
8935 </pre></blockquote>
8936
8937 <p>The content of $cmd is typically something like "<tt>aptitude -q
8938 --without-recommends -o APT::Install-Recommends=no -y install
8939 ~t^desktop$ ~t^gnome-desktop$ ~t^laptop$ ~pstandard ~prequired
8940 ~pimportant</tt>", which will install the gnome desktop task, the
8941 laptop task and all packages with priority standard , required and
8942 important, just like tasksel would have done it during
8943 installation.</p>
8944
8945 <p>A better approach is probably to extend tasksel to be able to
8946 install packages without using debconf-apt-progress, for use cases
8947 like this.</p>
8948
8949       </div>
8950       <div class="tags">
8951
8952
8953         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>.
8954
8955
8956       </div>
8957     </div>
8958     <div class="padding"></div>
8959
8960     <div class="entry">
8961       <div class="title">
8962         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Officeshots_taking_shape.html">Officeshots taking shape</a>
8963       </div>
8964       <div class="date">
8965         13th June 2010
8966       </div>
8967       <div class="body">
8968         <p>For those of us caring about document exchange and
8969 interoperability, <a href="http://www.officeshots.org/">OfficeShots</a>
8970 is a great service.  It is to ODF documents what
8971 <a href="http://browsershots.org/">BrowserShots</a> is for web
8972 pages.</p>
8973
8974 <p>A while back, I was contacted by Knut Yrvin at the part of Nokia
8975 that used to be Trolltech, who wanted to help the OfficeShots project
8976 and wondered if the University of Oslo where I work would be
8977 interested in supporting the project.  I helped him to navigate his
8978 request to the right people at work, and his request was answered with
8979 a spot in the machine room with power and network connected, and Knut
8980 arranged funding for a machine to fill the spot.  The machine is
8981 administrated by the OfficeShots people, so I do not have daily
8982 contact with its progress, and thus from time to time check back to
8983 see how the project is doing.</p>
8984
8985 <p>Today I had a look, and was happy to see that the Dell box in our
8986 machine room now is the host for several virtual machines running as
8987 OfficeShots factories, and the project is able to render ODF documents
8988 in 17 different document processing implementation on Linux and
8989 Windows.  This is great.</p>
8990
8991       </div>
8992       <div class="tags">
8993
8994
8995         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>.
8996
8997
8998       </div>
8999     </div>
9000     <div class="padding"></div>
9001
9002     <div class="entry">
9003       <div class="title">
9004         <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>
9005       </div>
9006       <div class="date">
9007         13th June 2010
9008       </div>
9009       <div class="body">
9010         <p>My
9011 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Automatic_upgrade_testing_from_Lenny_to_Squeeze.html">testing
9012 of Debian upgrades</a> from Lenny to Squeeze continues, and I've
9013 finally made the upgrade logs available from
9014 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/debian-upgrade-testing/">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/debian-upgrade-testing/</a>.
9015 I am now testing dist-upgrade of Gnome and KDE in a chroot using both
9016 apt and aptitude, and found their differences interesting.  This time
9017 I will only focus on their removal plans.</p>
9018
9019 <p>After installing a Gnome desktop and the laptop task, apt-get wants
9020 to remove 72 packages when dist-upgrading from Lenny to Squeeze.  The
9021 surprising part is that it want to remove xorg and all
9022 xserver-xorg-video* drivers.  Clearly not a good choice, but I am not
9023 sure why.  When asking aptitude to do the same, it want to remove 129
9024 packages, but most of them are library packages I suspect are no
9025 longer needed.  Both of them want to remove bluetooth packages, which
9026 I do not know.  Perhaps these bluetooth packages are obsolete?</p>
9027
9028 <p>For KDE, apt-get want to remove 82 packages, among them kdebase
9029 which seem like a bad idea and xorg the same way as with Gnome. Asking
9030 aptitude for the same, it wants to remove 192 packages, none which are
9031 too surprising.</p>
9032
9033 <p>I guess the removal of xorg during upgrades should be investigated
9034 and avoided, and perhaps others as well.  Here are the complete list
9035 of planned removals.  The complete logs is available from the URL
9036 above.  Note if you want to repeat these tests, that the upgrade test
9037 for kde+apt-get hung in the tasksel setup because of dpkg asking
9038 conffile questions.  No idea why.  I worked around it by using
9039 '<tt>echo >> /proc/<em>pidofdpkg</em>/fd/0</tt>' to tell dpkg to
9040 continue.</p>
9041
9042 <p><b>apt-get gnome 72</b>
9043 <br>bluez-gnome cupsddk-drivers deskbar-applet gnome
9044   gnome-desktop-environment gnome-network-admin gtkhtml3.14
9045   iceweasel-gnome-support libavcodec51 libdatrie0 libgdl-1-0
9046   libgnomekbd2 libgnomekbdui2 libmetacity0 libslab0 libxcb-xlib0
9047   nautilus-cd-burner python-gnome2-desktop python-gnome2-extras
9048   serpentine swfdec-mozilla update-manager xorg xserver-xorg
9049   xserver-xorg-core xserver-xorg-input-all xserver-xorg-input-evdev
9050   xserver-xorg-input-kbd xserver-xorg-input-mouse
9051   xserver-xorg-input-synaptics xserver-xorg-input-wacom
9052   xserver-xorg-video-all xserver-xorg-video-apm xserver-xorg-video-ark
9053   xserver-xorg-video-ati xserver-xorg-video-chips
9054   xserver-xorg-video-cirrus xserver-xorg-video-cyrix
9055   xserver-xorg-video-dummy xserver-xorg-video-fbdev
9056   xserver-xorg-video-glint xserver-xorg-video-i128
9057   xserver-xorg-video-i740 xserver-xorg-video-imstt
9058   xserver-xorg-video-intel xserver-xorg-video-mach64
9059   xserver-xorg-video-mga xserver-xorg-video-neomagic
9060   xserver-xorg-video-nsc xserver-xorg-video-nv
9061   xserver-xorg-video-openchrome xserver-xorg-video-r128
9062   xserver-xorg-video-radeon xserver-xorg-video-radeonhd
9063   xserver-xorg-video-rendition xserver-xorg-video-s3
9064   xserver-xorg-video-s3virge xserver-xorg-video-savage
9065   xserver-xorg-video-siliconmotion xserver-xorg-video-sis
9066   xserver-xorg-video-sisusb xserver-xorg-video-tdfx
9067   xserver-xorg-video-tga xserver-xorg-video-trident
9068   xserver-xorg-video-tseng xserver-xorg-video-v4l
9069   xserver-xorg-video-vesa xserver-xorg-video-vga
9070   xserver-xorg-video-vmware xserver-xorg-video-voodoo xulrunner-1.9
9071   xulrunner-1.9-gnome-support</p>
9072
9073 <p><b>aptitude gnome 129</b>
9074
9075 <br>bluez-gnome bluez-utils cpp-4.3 cupsddk-drivers dhcdbd
9076   djvulibre-desktop finger gnome-app-install gnome-mount
9077   gnome-network-admin gnome-spell gnome-vfs-obexftp
9078   gnome-volume-manager gstreamer0.10-gnomevfs gtkhtml3.14 libao2
9079   libavahi-compat-libdnssd1 libavahi-core5 libavcodec51 libbluetooth2
9080   libcamel1.2-11 libcdio7 libcucul0 libcupsys2 libcurl3 libdatrie0
9081   libdirectfb-1.0-0 libdvdread3 libedataserver1.2-9 libeel2-2.20
9082   libeel2-data libepc-1.0-1 libepc-ui-1.0-1 libfaad0 libgail-common
9083   libgd2-noxpm libgda3-3 libgda3-common libgdl-1-0 libgdl-1-common
9084   libggz2 libggzcore9 libggzmod4 libgksu1.2-0 libgksuui1.0-1 libgmyth0
9085   libgnomecups1.0-1 libgnomekbd2 libgnomekbdui2 libgnomeprint2.2-0
9086   libgnomeprint2.2-data libgnomeprintui2.2-0 libgnomeprintui2.2-common
9087   libgnomevfs2-bin libgpod3 libgraphviz4 libgtkhtml2-0
9088   libgtksourceview-common libgtksourceview1.0-0 libgucharmap6
9089   libhesiod0 libicu38 libiw29 libkpathsea4 libltdl3 libmagick++10
9090   libmagick10 libmalaga7 libmetacity0 libmtp7 libmysqlclient15off
9091   libnautilus-burn4 libneon27 libnm-glib0 libnm-util0 libopal-2.2
9092   libosp5 libparted1.8-10 libpoppler-glib3 libpoppler3 libpt-1.10.10
9093   libpt-1.10.10-plugins-alsa libpt-1.10.10-plugins-v4l libraw1394-8
9094   libsensors3 libslab0 libsmbios2 libsoup2.2-8 libssh2-1
9095   libsuitesparse-3.1.0 libswfdec-0.6-90 libtalloc1 libtotem-plparser10
9096   libtrackerclient0 libxalan2-java libxalan2-java-gcj libxcb-xlib0
9097   libxerces2-java libxerces2-java-gcj libxklavier12 libxtrap6
9098   libxxf86misc1 libzephyr3 mysql-common nautilus-cd-burner
9099   openoffice.org-writer2latex openssl-blacklist p7zip
9100   python-4suite-xml python-eggtrayicon python-gnome2-desktop
9101   python-gnome2-extras python-gtkhtml2 python-gtkmozembed
9102   python-numeric python-sexy serpentine svgalibg1 swfdec-gnome
9103   swfdec-mozilla totem-gstreamer update-manager wodim
9104   xserver-xorg-video-cyrix xserver-xorg-video-imstt
9105   xserver-xorg-video-nsc xserver-xorg-video-v4l xserver-xorg-video-vga
9106   zip</p>
9107
9108 <p><b>apt-get kde 82</b>
9109
9110 <br>cupsddk-drivers karm kaudiocreator kcoloredit kcontrol kde kde-core
9111   kdeaddons kdeartwork kdebase kdebase-bin kdebase-bin-kde3
9112   kdebase-kio-plugins kdesktop kdeutils khelpcenter kicker
9113   kicker-applets knewsticker kolourpaint konq-plugins konqueror korn
9114   kpersonalizer kscreensaver ksplash libavcodec51 libdatrie0 libkiten1
9115   libxcb-xlib0 quanta superkaramba texlive-base-bin xorg xserver-xorg
9116   xserver-xorg-core xserver-xorg-input-all xserver-xorg-input-evdev
9117   xserver-xorg-input-kbd xserver-xorg-input-mouse
9118   xserver-xorg-input-synaptics xserver-xorg-input-wacom
9119   xserver-xorg-video-all xserver-xorg-video-apm xserver-xorg-video-ark
9120   xserver-xorg-video-ati xserver-xorg-video-chips
9121   xserver-xorg-video-cirrus xserver-xorg-video-cyrix
9122   xserver-xorg-video-dummy xserver-xorg-video-fbdev
9123   xserver-xorg-video-glint xserver-xorg-video-i128
9124   xserver-xorg-video-i740 xserver-xorg-video-imstt
9125   xserver-xorg-video-intel xserver-xorg-video-mach64
9126   xserver-xorg-video-mga xserver-xorg-video-neomagic
9127   xserver-xorg-video-nsc xserver-xorg-video-nv
9128   xserver-xorg-video-openchrome xserver-xorg-video-r128
9129   xserver-xorg-video-radeon xserver-xorg-video-radeonhd
9130   xserver-xorg-video-rendition xserver-xorg-video-s3
9131   xserver-xorg-video-s3virge xserver-xorg-video-savage
9132   xserver-xorg-video-siliconmotion xserver-xorg-video-sis
9133   xserver-xorg-video-sisusb xserver-xorg-video-tdfx
9134   xserver-xorg-video-tga xserver-xorg-video-trident
9135   xserver-xorg-video-tseng xserver-xorg-video-v4l
9136   xserver-xorg-video-vesa xserver-xorg-video-vga
9137   xserver-xorg-video-vmware xserver-xorg-video-voodoo xulrunner-1.9</p>
9138
9139 <p><b>aptitude kde 192</b>
9140 <br>bluez-utils cpp-4.3 cupsddk-drivers cvs dcoprss dhcdbd
9141   djvulibre-desktop dosfstools eyesapplet fifteenapplet finger gettext
9142   ghostscript-x imlib-base imlib11 indi kandy karm kasteroids
9143   kaudiocreator kbackgammon kbstate kcoloredit kcontrol kcron kdat
9144   kdeadmin-kfile-plugins kdeartwork-misc kdeartwork-theme-window
9145   kdebase-bin-kde3 kdebase-kio-plugins kdeedu-data
9146   kdegraphics-kfile-plugins kdelirc kdemultimedia-kappfinder-data
9147   kdemultimedia-kfile-plugins kdenetwork-kfile-plugins
9148   kdepim-kfile-plugins kdepim-kio-plugins kdeprint kdesktop kdessh
9149   kdict kdnssd kdvi kedit keduca kenolaba kfax kfaxview kfouleggs
9150   kghostview khelpcenter khexedit kiconedit kitchensync klatin
9151   klickety kmailcvt kmenuedit kmid kmilo kmoon kmrml kodo kolourpaint
9152   kooka korn kpager kpdf kpercentage kpf kpilot kpoker kpovmodeler
9153   krec kregexpeditor ksayit ksim ksirc ksirtet ksmiletris ksmserver
9154   ksnake ksokoban ksplash ksvg ksysv ktip ktnef kuickshow kverbos
9155   kview kviewshell kvoctrain kwifimanager kwin kwin4 kworldclock
9156   kxsldbg libakode2 libao2 libarts1-akode libarts1-audiofile
9157   libarts1-mpeglib libarts1-xine libavahi-compat-libdnssd1
9158   libavahi-core5 libavc1394-0 libavcodec51 libbluetooth2
9159   libboost-python1.34.1 libcucul0 libcurl3 libcvsservice0 libdatrie0
9160   libdirectfb-1.0-0 libdjvulibre21 libdvdread3 libfaad0 libfreebob0
9161   libgail-common libgd2-noxpm libgraphviz4 libgsmme1c2a libgtkhtml2-0
9162   libicu38 libiec61883-0 libindex0 libiw29 libk3b3 libkcal2b libkcddb1
9163   libkdeedu3 libkdepim1a libkgantt0 libkiten1 libkleopatra1 libkmime2
9164   libkpathsea4 libkpimexchange1 libkpimidentities1 libkscan1
9165   libksieve0 libktnef1 liblockdev1 libltdl3 libmagick10 libmimelib1c2a
9166   libmozjs1d libmpcdec3 libneon27 libnm-util0 libopensync0 libpisock9
9167   libpoppler-glib3 libpoppler-qt2 libpoppler3 libraw1394-8 libsmbios2
9168   libssh2-1 libsuitesparse-3.1.0 libtalloc1 libtiff-tools
9169   libxalan2-java libxalan2-java-gcj libxcb-xlib0 libxerces2-java
9170   libxerces2-java-gcj libxtrap6 mpeglib networkstatus
9171   openoffice.org-writer2latex pmount poster psutils quanta quanta-data
9172   superkaramba svgalibg1 tex-common texlive-base texlive-base-bin
9173   texlive-common texlive-doc-base texlive-fonts-recommended
9174   xserver-xorg-video-cyrix xserver-xorg-video-imstt
9175   xserver-xorg-video-nsc xserver-xorg-video-v4l xserver-xorg-video-vga
9176   xulrunner-1.9</p>
9177
9178
9179       </div>
9180       <div class="tags">
9181
9182
9183         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>.
9184
9185
9186       </div>
9187     </div>
9188     <div class="padding"></div>
9189
9190     <div class="entry">
9191       <div class="title">
9192         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Automatic_upgrade_testing_from_Lenny_to_Squeeze.html">Automatic upgrade testing from Lenny to Squeeze</a>
9193       </div>
9194       <div class="date">
9195         11th June 2010
9196       </div>
9197       <div class="body">
9198         <p>The last few days I have done some upgrade testing in Debian, to
9199 see if the upgrade from Lenny to Squeeze will go smoothly.  A few bugs
9200 have been discovered and reported in the process
9201 (<a href="http://bugs.debian.org/585410">#585410</a> in nagios3-cgi,
9202 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/584879">#584879</a> already fixed in
9203 enscript and <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/584861">#584861</a> in
9204 kdebase-workspace-data), and to get a more regular testing going on, I
9205 am working on a script to automate the test.</p>
9206
9207 <p>The idea is to create a Lenny chroot and use tasksel to install a
9208 Gnome or KDE desktop installation inside the chroot before upgrading
9209 it.  To ensure no services are started in the chroot, a policy-rc.d
9210 script is inserted.  To make sure tasksel believe it is to install a
9211 desktop on a laptop, the tasksel tests are replaced in the chroot
9212 (only acceptable because this is a throw-away chroot).</p>
9213
9214 <p>A naive upgrade from Lenny to Squeeze using aptitude dist-upgrade
9215 currently always fail because udev refuses to upgrade with the kernel
9216 in Lenny, so to avoid that problem the file /etc/udev/kernel-upgrade
9217 is created.  The bug report
9218 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/566000">#566000</a> make me suspect
9219 this problem do not trigger in a chroot, but I touch the file anyway
9220 to make sure the upgrade go well.  Testing on virtual and real
9221 hardware have failed me because of udev so far, and creating this file
9222 do the trick in such settings anyway.  This is a
9223 <a href="http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/debian-26/failed-dist-upgrade-due-to-udev-config_sysfs_deprecated-nonsense-804130/">known
9224 issue</a> and the current udev behaviour is intended by the udev
9225 maintainer because he lack the resources to rewrite udev to keep
9226 working with old kernels or something like that.  I really wish the
9227 udev upstream would keep udev backwards compatible, to avoid such
9228 upgrade problem, but given that they fail to do so, I guess
9229 documenting the way out of this mess is the best option we got for
9230 Debian Squeeze.</p>
9231
9232 <p>Anyway, back to the task at hand, testing upgrades.  This test
9233 script, which I call <tt>upgrade-test</tt> for now, is doing the
9234 trick:</p>
9235
9236 <blockquote><pre>
9237 #!/bin/sh
9238 set -ex
9239
9240 if [ "$1" ] ; then
9241     desktop=$1
9242 else
9243     desktop=gnome
9244 fi
9245
9246 from=lenny
9247 to=squeeze
9248
9249 exec &lt; /dev/null
9250 unset LANG
9251 mirror=http://ftp.skolelinux.org/debian
9252 tmpdir=chroot-$from-upgrade-$to-$desktop
9253 fuser -mv .
9254 debootstrap $from $tmpdir $mirror
9255 chroot $tmpdir aptitude update
9256 cat > $tmpdir/usr/sbin/policy-rc.d &lt;&lt;EOF
9257 #!/bin/sh
9258 exit 101
9259 EOF
9260 chmod a+rx $tmpdir/usr/sbin/policy-rc.d
9261 exit_cleanup() {
9262     umount $tmpdir/proc
9263 }
9264 mount -t proc proc $tmpdir/proc
9265 # Make sure proc is unmounted also on failure
9266 trap exit_cleanup EXIT INT
9267
9268 chroot $tmpdir aptitude -y install debconf-utils
9269
9270 # Make sure tasksel autoselection trigger.  It need the test scripts
9271 # to return the correct answers.
9272 echo tasksel tasksel/desktop multiselect $desktop | \
9273     chroot $tmpdir debconf-set-selections
9274
9275 # Include the desktop and laptop task
9276 for test in desktop laptop ; do
9277     echo > $tmpdir/usr/lib/tasksel/tests/$test &lt;&lt;EOF
9278 #!/bin/sh
9279 exit 2
9280 EOF
9281     chmod a+rx $tmpdir/usr/lib/tasksel/tests/$test
9282 done
9283
9284 DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive
9285 DEBIAN_PRIORITY=critical
9286 export DEBIAN_FRONTEND DEBIAN_PRIORITY
9287 chroot $tmpdir tasksel --new-install
9288
9289 echo deb $mirror $to main > $tmpdir/etc/apt/sources.list
9290 chroot $tmpdir aptitude update
9291 touch $tmpdir/etc/udev/kernel-upgrade
9292 chroot $tmpdir aptitude -y dist-upgrade
9293 fuser -mv
9294 </pre></blockquote>
9295
9296 <p>I suspect it would be useful to test upgrades with both apt-get and
9297 with aptitude, but I have not had time to look at how they behave
9298 differently so far.  I hope to get a cron job running to do the test
9299 regularly and post the result on the web.  The Gnome upgrade currently
9300 work, while the KDE upgrade fail because of the bug in
9301 kdebase-workspace-data</p>
9302
9303 <p>I am not quite sure what kind of extract from the huge upgrade logs
9304 (KDE 167 KiB, Gnome 516 KiB) it make sense to include in this blog
9305 post, so I will refrain from trying.  I can report that for Gnome,
9306 aptitude report 760 packages upgraded, 448 newly installed, 129 to
9307 remove and 1 not upgraded and 1024MB need to be downloaded while for
9308 KDE the same numbers are 702 packages upgraded, 507 newly installed,
9309 193 to remove and 0 not upgraded and 1117MB need to be downloaded</p>
9310
9311 <p>I am very happy to notice that the Gnome desktop + laptop upgrade
9312 is able to migrate to dependency based boot sequencing and parallel
9313 booting without a hitch.  Was unsure if there were still bugs with
9314 packages failing to clean up their obsolete init.d script during
9315 upgrades, and no such problem seem to affect the Gnome desktop+laptop
9316 packages.</p>
9317
9318       </div>
9319       <div class="tags">
9320
9321
9322         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>.
9323
9324
9325       </div>
9326     </div>
9327     <div class="padding"></div>
9328
9329     <div class="entry">
9330       <div class="title">
9331         <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>
9332       </div>
9333       <div class="date">
9334          6th June 2010
9335       </div>
9336       <div class="body">
9337         <p>If Debian is to migrate to upstart on Linux, I expect some init.d
9338 scripts to migrate (some of) their operations to upstart job while
9339 keeping the init.d for hurd and kfreebsd.  The packages with such
9340 needs will need a way to get their init.d scripts to behave
9341 differently when used with sysvinit and with upstart.  Because of
9342 this, I had a look at the environment variables set when a init.d
9343 script is running under upstart, and when it is not.</p>
9344
9345 <p>With upstart, I notice these environment variables are set when a
9346 script is started from rcS.d/ (ignoring some irrelevant ones like
9347 COLUMNS):</p>
9348
9349 <blockquote><pre>
9350 DEFAULT_RUNLEVEL=2
9351 previous=N
9352 PREVLEVEL=
9353 RUNLEVEL=
9354 runlevel=S
9355 UPSTART_EVENTS=startup
9356 UPSTART_INSTANCE=
9357 UPSTART_JOB=rc-sysinit
9358 </pre></blockquote>
9359
9360 <p>With sysvinit, these environment variables are set for the same
9361 script.</p>
9362
9363 <blockquote><pre>
9364 INIT_VERSION=sysvinit-2.88
9365 previous=N
9366 PREVLEVEL=N
9367 RUNLEVEL=S
9368 runlevel=S
9369 </pre></blockquote>
9370
9371 <p>The RUNLEVEL and PREVLEVEL environment variables passed on from
9372 sysvinit are not set by upstart.  Not sure if it is intentional or not
9373 to not be compatible with sysvinit in this regard.</p>
9374
9375 <p>For scripts needing to behave differently when upstart is used,
9376 looking for the UPSTART_JOB environment variable seem to be a good
9377 choice.</p>
9378
9379       </div>
9380       <div class="tags">
9381
9382
9383         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>.
9384
9385
9386       </div>
9387     </div>
9388     <div class="padding"></div>
9389
9390     <div class="entry">
9391       <div class="title">
9392         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/A_manual_for_standards_wars___.html">A manual for standards wars...</a>
9393       </div>
9394       <div class="date">
9395          6th June 2010
9396       </div>
9397       <div class="body">
9398         <p>Via the
9399 <a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/robweir/antic-atom/~3/QzU4RgoAGMg/weekly-links-10.html">blog
9400 of Rob Weir</a> I came across the very interesting essay named
9401 <a href="http://faculty.haas.berkeley.edu/shapiro/wars.pdf">The Art of
9402 Standards Wars</a> (PDF 25 pages).  I recommend it for everyone
9403 following the standards wars of today.</p>
9404
9405       </div>
9406       <div class="tags">
9407
9408
9409         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>.
9410
9411
9412       </div>
9413     </div>
9414     <div class="padding"></div>
9415
9416     <div class="entry">
9417       <div class="title">
9418         <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>
9419       </div>
9420       <div class="date">
9421          3rd June 2010
9422       </div>
9423       <div class="body">
9424         <p>When using sitesummary at a site to track machines, it is possible
9425 to get a list of the machine types in use thanks to the DMI
9426 information extracted from each machine.  The script to do so is
9427 included in the sitesummary package, and here is example output from
9428 the Skolelinux build servers:</p>
9429
9430 <blockquote><pre>
9431 maintainer:~# /usr/lib/sitesummary/hardware-model-summary
9432   vendor                    count
9433   Dell Computer Corporation     1
9434     PowerEdge 1750              1
9435   IBM                           1
9436     eserver xSeries 345 -[8670M1X]-     1
9437   Intel                         2
9438   [no-dmi-info]                 3
9439 maintainer:~#
9440 </pre></blockquote>
9441
9442 <p>The quality of the report depend on the quality of the DMI tables
9443 provided in each machine.  Here there are Intel machines without model
9444 information listed with Intel as vendor and no model, and virtual Xen
9445 machines listed as [no-dmi-info].  One can add -l as a command line
9446 option to list the individual machines.</p>
9447
9448 <p>A larger list is
9449 <a href="http://narvikskolen.no/sitesummary/">available from the the
9450 city of Narvik</a>, which uses Skolelinux on all their shools and also
9451 provide the basic sitesummary report publicly.  In their report there
9452 are ~1400 machines. I know they use both Ubuntu and Skolelinux on
9453 their machines, and as sitesummary is available in both distributions,
9454 it is trivial to get all of them to report to the same central
9455 collector.</p>
9456
9457       </div>
9458       <div class="tags">
9459
9460
9461         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>.
9462
9463
9464       </div>
9465     </div>
9466     <div class="padding"></div>
9467
9468     <div class="entry">
9469       <div class="title">
9470         <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>
9471       </div>
9472       <div class="date">
9473          1st June 2010
9474       </div>
9475       <div class="body">
9476         <p>It is strange to watch how a bug in Debian causing KDM to fail to
9477 start at boot when an NVidia video card is used is handled.  The
9478 problem seem to be that the nvidia X.org driver uses a long time to
9479 initialize, and this duration is longer than kdm is configured to
9480 wait.</p>
9481
9482 <p>I came across two bugs related to this issue,
9483 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/583312">#583312</a> initially filed
9484 against initscripts and passed on to nvidia-glx when it became obvious
9485 that the nvidia drivers were involved, and
9486 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/524751">#524751</a> initially filed against
9487 kdm and passed on to src:nvidia-graphics-drivers for unknown reasons.</p>
9488
9489 <p>To me, it seem that no-one is interested in actually solving the
9490 problem nvidia video card owners experience and make sure the Debian
9491 distribution work out of the box for these users.  The nvidia driver
9492 maintainers expect kdm to be set up to wait longer, while kdm expect
9493 the nvidia driver maintainers to fix the driver to start faster, and
9494 while they wait for each other I guess the users end up switching to a
9495 distribution that work for them.  I have no idea what the solution is,
9496 but I am pretty sure that waiting for each other is not it.</p>
9497
9498 <p>I wonder why we end up handling bugs this way.</p>
9499
9500       </div>
9501       <div class="tags">
9502
9503
9504         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>.
9505
9506
9507       </div>
9508     </div>
9509     <div class="padding"></div>
9510
9511     <div class="entry">
9512       <div class="title">
9513         <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>
9514       </div>
9515       <div class="date">
9516         27th May 2010
9517       </div>
9518       <div class="body">
9519         <p>A few days ago, parallel booting was enabled in Debian/testing.
9520 The feature seem to hold up pretty well, but three fairly serious
9521 issues are known and should be solved:
9522
9523 <p><ul>
9524
9525 <li>The wicd package seen to
9526 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/508289">break NFS mounting</a> and
9527 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/581586">network setup</a> when
9528 parallel booting is enabled.  No idea why, but the wicd maintainer
9529 seem to be on the case.</li>
9530
9531 <li>The nvidia X driver seem to
9532 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/583312">have a race condition</a>
9533 triggered more easily when parallel booting is in effect.  The
9534 maintainer is on the case.</li>
9535
9536 <li>The sysv-rc package fail to properly enable dependency based boot
9537 sequencing (the shutdown is broken) when old file-rc users
9538 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/575080">try to switch back</a> to
9539 sysv-rc.  One way to solve it would be for file-rc to create
9540 /etc/init.d/.legacy-bootordering, and another is to try to make
9541 sysv-rc more robust.  Will investigate some more and probably upload a
9542 workaround in sysv-rc to help those trying to move from file-rc to
9543 sysv-rc get a working shutdown.</li>
9544
9545 </ul></p>
9546
9547 <p>All in all not many surprising issues, and all of them seem
9548 solvable before Squeeze is released.  In addition to these there are
9549 some packages with bugs in their dependencies and run level settings,
9550 which I expect will be fixed in a reasonable time span.</p>
9551
9552 <p>If you report any problems with dependencies in init.d scripts to
9553 the BTS, please usertag the report to get it to show up at
9554 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/pkgreport.cgi?users=initscripts-ng-devel@lists.alioth.debian.org">the
9555 list of usertagged bugs related to this</a>.</p>
9556
9557 <p>Update: Correct bug number to file-rc issue.</p>
9558
9559       </div>
9560       <div class="tags">
9561
9562
9563         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>.
9564
9565
9566       </div>
9567     </div>
9568     <div class="padding"></div>
9569
9570     <div class="entry">
9571       <div class="title">
9572         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/More_flexible_firmware_handling_in_debian_installer.html">More flexible firmware handling in debian-installer</a>
9573       </div>
9574       <div class="date">
9575         22nd May 2010
9576       </div>
9577       <div class="body">
9578         <p>After a long break from debian-installer development, I finally
9579 found time today to return to the project.  Having to spend less time
9580 working dependency based boot in debian, as it is almost complete now,
9581 definitely helped freeing some time.</p>
9582
9583 <p>A while back, I ran into a problem while working on Debian Edu.  We
9584 include some firmware packages on the Debian Edu CDs, those needed to
9585 get disk and network controllers working.  Without having these
9586 firmware packages available during installation, it is impossible to
9587 install Debian Edu on the given machine, and because our target group
9588 are non-technical people, asking them to provide firmware packages on
9589 an external medium is a support pain.  Initially, I expected it to be
9590 enough to include the firmware packages on the CD to get
9591 debian-installer to find and use them.  This proved to be wrong.
9592 Next, I hoped it was enough to symlink the relevant firmware packages
9593 to some useful location on the CD (tried /cdrom/ and
9594 /cdrom/firmware/).  This also proved to not work, and at this point I
9595 found time to look at the debian-installer code to figure out what was
9596 going to work.</p>
9597
9598 <p>The firmware loading code is in the hw-detect package, and a closer
9599 look revealed that it would only look for firmware packages outside
9600 the installation media, so the CD was never checked for firmware
9601 packages.  It would only check USB sticks, floppies and other
9602 "external" media devices.  Today I changed it to also look in the
9603 /cdrom/firmware/ directory on the mounted CD or DVD, which should
9604 solve the problem I ran into with Debian edu.  I also changed it to
9605 look in /firmware/, to make sure the installer also find firmware
9606 provided in the initrd when booting the installer via PXE, to allow us
9607 to provide the same feature in the PXE setup included in Debian
9608 Edu.</p>
9609
9610 <p>To make sure firmware deb packages with a license questions are not
9611 activated without asking if the license is accepted, I extended
9612 hw-detect to look for preinst scripts in the firmware packages, and
9613 run these before activating the firmware during installation.  The
9614 license question is asked using debconf in the preinst, so this should
9615 solve the issue for the firmware packages I have looked at so far.</p>
9616
9617 <p>If you want to discuss the details of these features, please
9618 contact us on debian-boot@lists.debian.org.</p>
9619
9620       </div>
9621       <div class="tags">
9622
9623
9624         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>.
9625
9626
9627       </div>
9628     </div>
9629     <div class="padding"></div>
9630
9631     <div class="entry">
9632       <div class="title">
9633         <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>
9634       </div>
9635       <div class="date">
9636         19th May 2010
9637       </div>
9638       <div class="body">
9639         <p>Today, the last piece of the puzzle for roaming laptops in Debian
9640 Edu finally entered the Debian archive.  Today, the new
9641 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/libp/libpam-mklocaluser.html">libpam-mklocaluser</a>
9642 package was accepted.  Two days ago, two other pieces was accepted
9643 into unstable.  The
9644 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/p/pam-python.html">pam-python</a>
9645 package needed by libpam-mklocaluser, and the
9646 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/s/sssd.html">sssd</a> package
9647 passed NEW on Monday.  In addition, the
9648 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/libp/libpam-ccreds.html">libpam-ccreds</a>
9649 package we need is in experimental (version 10-4) since Saturday, and
9650 hopefully will be moved to unstable soon.</p>
9651
9652 <p>This collection of packages allow for two different setups for
9653 roaming laptops.  The traditional setup would be using libpam-ccreds,
9654 nscd and libpam-mklocaluser with LDAP or Kerberos authentication,
9655 which should work out of the box if the configuration changes proposed
9656 for nscd in <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/485282">BTS report
9657 #485282</a> is implemented.  The alternative setup is to use sssd with
9658 libpam-mklocaluser to connect to LDAP or Kerberos and let sssd take
9659 care of the caching of passwords and group information.</p>
9660
9661 <p>I have so far been unable to get sssd to work with the LDAP server
9662 at the University, but suspect the issue is some SSL/GnuTLS related
9663 problem with the server certificate.  I plan to update the Debian
9664 package to version 1.2, which is scheduled for next week, and hope to
9665 find time to make sure the next release will include both the
9666 Debian/Ubuntu specific patches.  Upstream is friendly and responsive,
9667 and I am sure we will find a good solution.</p>
9668
9669 <p>The idea is to set up the roaming laptops to authenticate using
9670 LDAP or Kerberos and create a local user with home directory in /home/
9671 when a usre in LDAP logs in via KDM or GDM for the first time, and
9672 cache the password for offline checking, as well as caching group
9673 memberhips and other relevant LDAP information.  The
9674 libpam-mklocaluser package was created to make sure the local home
9675 directory is in /home/, instead of /site/server/directory/ which would
9676 be the home directory if pam_mkhomedir was used.  To avoid confusion
9677 with support requests and configuration, we do not want local laptops
9678 to have users in a path that is used for the same users home directory
9679 on the home directory servers.</p>
9680
9681 <p>One annoying problem with gdm is that it do not show the PAM
9682 message passed to the user from libpam-mklocaluser when the local user
9683 is created.  Instead gdm simply reject the login with some generic
9684 message.  The message is shown in kdm, ssh and login, so I guess it is
9685 a bug in gdm.  Have not investigated if there is some other message
9686 type that can be used instead to get gdm to also show the message.</p>
9687
9688 <p>If you want to help out with implementing this for Debian Edu,
9689 please contact us on debian-edu@lists.debian.org.</p>
9690
9691       </div>
9692       <div class="tags">
9693
9694
9695         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>.
9696
9697
9698       </div>
9699     </div>
9700     <div class="padding"></div>
9701
9702     <div class="entry">
9703       <div class="title">
9704         <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>
9705       </div>
9706       <div class="date">
9707         14th May 2010
9708       </div>
9709       <div class="body">
9710         <p>Since this evening, parallel booting is the default in
9711 Debian/unstable for machines using dependency based boot sequencing.
9712 Apparently the testing of concurrent booting has been wider than
9713 expected, if I am to believe the
9714 <a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2010/05/msg00122.html">input
9715 on debian-devel@</a>, and I concluded a few days ago to move forward
9716 with the feature this weekend, to give us some time to detect any
9717 remaining problems before Squeeze is frozen.  If serious problems are
9718 detected, it is simple to change the default back to sequential boot.
9719 The upload of the new sysvinit package also activate a new upstream
9720 version.</p>
9721
9722 More information about
9723 <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/LSBInitScripts/DependencyBasedBoot">dependency
9724 based boot sequencing</a> is available from the Debian wiki.  It is
9725 currently possible to disable parallel booting when one run into
9726 problems caused by it, by adding this line to /etc/default/rcS:</p>
9727
9728 <blockquote><pre>
9729 CONCURRENCY=none
9730 </pre></blockquote>
9731
9732 <p>If you report any problems with dependencies in init.d scripts to
9733 the BTS, please usertag the report to get it to show up at
9734 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/pkgreport.cgi?users=initscripts-ng-devel@lists.alioth.debian.org">the
9735 list of usertagged bugs related to this</a>.</p>
9736
9737       </div>
9738       <div class="tags">
9739
9740
9741         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>.
9742
9743
9744       </div>
9745     </div>
9746     <div class="padding"></div>
9747
9748     <div class="entry">
9749       <div class="title">
9750         <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>
9751       </div>
9752       <div class="date">
9753         14th May 2010
9754       </div>
9755       <div class="body">
9756         <p>In the recent Debian Edu versions, the
9757 <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/HowTo/SiteSummary">sitesummary
9758 system</a> is used to keep track of the machines in the school
9759 network.  Each machine will automatically report its status to the
9760 central server after boot and once per night.  The network setup is
9761 also reported, and using this information it is possible to get the
9762 MAC address of all network interfaces in the machines.  This is useful
9763 to update the DHCP configuration.</p>
9764
9765 <p>To give some idea how to use sitesummary, here is a one-liner to
9766 ist all MAC addresses of all machines reporting to sitesummary.  Run
9767 this on the collector host:</p>
9768
9769 <blockquote><pre>
9770 perl -MSiteSummary -e 'for_all_hosts(sub { print join(" ", get_macaddresses(shift)), "\n"; });'
9771 </pre></blockquote>
9772
9773 <p>This will list all MAC addresses assosiated with all machine, one
9774 line per machine and with space between the MAC addresses.</p>
9775
9776 <p>To allow system administrators easier job at adding static DHCP
9777 addresses for hosts, it would be possible to extend this to fetch
9778 machine information from sitesummary and update the DHCP and DNS
9779 tables in LDAP using this information.  Such tool is unfortunately not
9780 written yet.</p>
9781
9782       </div>
9783       <div class="tags">
9784
9785
9786         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>.
9787
9788
9789       </div>
9790     </div>
9791     <div class="padding"></div>
9792
9793     <div class="entry">
9794       <div class="title">
9795         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/systemd__an_interesting_alternative_to_upstart.html">systemd, an interesting alternative to upstart</a>
9796       </div>
9797       <div class="date">
9798         13th May 2010
9799       </div>
9800       <div class="body">
9801         <p>The last few days a new boot system called
9802 <a href="http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/systemd">systemd</a>
9803 has been
9804 <a href="http://0pointer.de/blog/projects/systemd.html">introduced</a>
9805
9806 to the free software world.  I have not yet had time to play around
9807 with it, but it seem to be a very interesting alternative to
9808 <a href="http://upstart.ubuntu.com/">upstart</a>, and might prove to be
9809 a good alternative for Debian when we are able to switch to an event
9810 based boot system.  Tollef is
9811 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/580814">in the process</a> of getting
9812 systemd into Debian, and I look forward to seeing how well it work.  I
9813 like the fact that systemd handles init.d scripts with dependency
9814 information natively, allowing them to run in parallel where upstart
9815 at the moment do not.</p>
9816
9817 <p>Unfortunately do systemd have the same problem as upstart regarding
9818 platform support.  It only work on recent Linux kernels, and also need
9819 some new kernel features enabled to function properly.  This means
9820 kFreeBSD and Hurd ports of Debian will need a port or a different boot
9821 system.  Not sure how that will be handled if systemd proves to be the
9822 way forward.</p>
9823
9824 <p>In the mean time, based on the
9825 <a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2010/05/msg00122.html">input
9826 on debian-devel@</a> regarding parallel booting in Debian, I have
9827 decided to enable full parallel booting as the default in Debian as
9828 soon as possible (probably this weekend or early next week), to see if
9829 there are any remaining serious bugs in the init.d dependencies.  A
9830 new version of the sysvinit package implementing this change is
9831 already in experimental.  If all go well, Squeeze will be released
9832 with parallel booting enabled by default.</p>
9833
9834       </div>
9835       <div class="tags">
9836
9837
9838         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>.
9839
9840
9841       </div>
9842     </div>
9843     <div class="padding"></div>
9844
9845     <div class="entry">
9846       <div class="title">
9847         <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>
9848       </div>
9849       <div class="date">
9850          6th May 2010
9851       </div>
9852       <div class="body">
9853         <p>These days, the init.d script dependencies in Squeeze are quite
9854 complete, so complete that it is actually possible to run all the
9855 init.d scripts in parallell based on these dependencies.  If you want
9856 to test your Squeeze system, make sure
9857 <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/LSBInitScripts/DependencyBasedBoot">dependency
9858 based boot sequencing</a> is enabled, and add this line to
9859 /etc/default/rcS:</p>
9860
9861 <blockquote><pre>
9862 CONCURRENCY=makefile
9863 </pre></blockquote>
9864
9865 <p>That is it.  It will cause sysv-rc to use the startpar tool to run
9866 scripts in parallel using the dependency information stored in
9867 /etc/init.d/.depend.boot, /etc/init.d/.depend.start and
9868 /etc/init.d/.depend.stop to order the scripts.  Startpar is configured
9869 to try to start the kdm and gdm scripts as early as possible, and will
9870 start the facilities required by kdm or gdm as early as possible to
9871 make this happen.</p>
9872
9873 <p>Give it a try, and see if you like the result.  If some services
9874 fail to start properly, it is most likely because they have incomplete
9875 init.d script dependencies in their startup script (or some of their
9876 dependent scripts have incomplete dependencies).  Report bugs and get
9877 the package maintainers to fix it. :)</p>
9878
9879 <p>Running scripts in parallel could be the default in Debian when we
9880 manage to get the init.d script dependencies complete and correct.  I
9881 expect we will get there in Squeeze+1, if we get manage to test and
9882 fix the remaining issues.</p>
9883
9884 <p>If you report any problems with dependencies in init.d scripts to
9885 the BTS, please usertag the report to get it to show up at
9886 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/pkgreport.cgi?users=initscripts-ng-devel@lists.alioth.debian.org">the
9887 list of usertagged bugs related to this</a>.</p>
9888
9889       </div>
9890       <div class="tags">
9891
9892
9893         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>.
9894
9895
9896       </div>
9897     </div>
9898     <div class="padding"></div>
9899
9900     <div class="entry">
9901       <div class="title">
9902         <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>
9903       </div>
9904       <div class="date">
9905          2nd May 2010
9906       </div>
9907       <div class="body">
9908         <p>One interesting feature in Active Directory, is the ability to
9909 create a new user with an expired password, and thus force the user to
9910 change the password on the first login attempt.</p>
9911
9912 <p>I'm not quite sure how to do that with the LDAP setup in Debian
9913 Edu, but did some initial testing with a local account.  The account
9914 and password aging information is available in /etc/shadow, but
9915 unfortunately, it is not possible to specify an expiration time for
9916 passwords, only a maximum age for passwords.</p>
9917
9918 <p>A freshly created account (using adduser test) will have these
9919 settings in /etc/shadow:</p>
9920
9921 <blockquote><pre>
9922 root@tjener:~# chage -l test
9923 Last password change                                    : May 02, 2010
9924 Password expires                                        : never
9925 Password inactive                                       : never
9926 Account expires                                         : never
9927 Minimum number of days between password change          : 0
9928 Maximum number of days between password change          : 99999
9929 Number of days of warning before password expires       : 7
9930 root@tjener:~#
9931 </pre></blockquote>
9932
9933 <p>The only way I could come up with to create a user with an expired
9934 account, is to change the date of the last password change to the
9935 lowest value possible (January 1th 1970), and the maximum password age
9936 to the difference in days between that date and today.  To make it
9937 simple, I went for 30 years (30 * 365 = 10950) and January 2th (to
9938 avoid testing if 0 is a valid value).</p>
9939
9940 <p>After using these commands to set it up, it seem to work as
9941 intended:</p>
9942
9943 <blockquote><pre>
9944 root@tjener:~# chage -d 1 test; chage -M 10950 test
9945 root@tjener:~# chage -l test
9946 Last password change                                    : Jan 02, 1970
9947 Password expires                                        : never
9948 Password inactive                                       : never
9949 Account expires                                         : never
9950 Minimum number of days between password change          : 0
9951 Maximum number of days between password change          : 10950
9952 Number of days of warning before password expires       : 7
9953 root@tjener:~#
9954 </pre></blockquote>
9955
9956 <p>So far I have tested this with ssh and console, and kdm (in
9957 Squeeze) login, and all ask for a new password before login in the
9958 user (with ssh, I was thrown out and had to log in again).</p>
9959
9960 <p>Perhaps we should set up something similar for Debian Edu, to make
9961 sure only the user itself have the account password?</p>
9962
9963 <p>If you want to comment on or help out with implementing this for
9964 Debian Edu, please contact us on debian-edu@lists.debian.org.</p>
9965
9966 <p>Update 2010-05-02 17:20: Paul Tötterman tells me on IRC that the
9967 shadow(8) page in Debian/testing now state that setting the date of
9968 last password change to zero (0) will force the password to be changed
9969 on the first login.  This was not mentioned in the manual in Lenny, so
9970 I did not notice this in my initial testing.  I have tested it on
9971 Squeeze, and '<tt>chage -d 0 username</tt>' do work there.  I have not
9972 tested it on Lenny yet.</p>
9973
9974 <p>Update 2010-05-02-19:05: Jim Paris tells me via email that an
9975 equivalent command to expire a password is '<tt>passwd -e
9976 username</tt>', which insert zero into the date of the last password
9977 change.</p>
9978
9979       </div>
9980       <div class="tags">
9981
9982
9983         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>.
9984
9985
9986       </div>
9987     </div>
9988     <div class="padding"></div>
9989
9990     <div class="entry">
9991       <div class="title">
9992         <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>
9993       </div>
9994       <div class="date">
9995         28th April 2010
9996       </div>
9997       <div class="body">
9998         <p>For some years now, I have wondered how we should handle laptops in
9999 Debian Edu.  The Debian Edu infrastructure is mostly designed to
10000 handle stationary computers, and less suited for computers that come
10001 and go.</p>
10002
10003 <p>Now I finally believe I have an sensible idea on how to adjust
10004 Debian Edu for laptops, by introducing a new profile for them, for
10005 example called Roaming Workstations.  Here are my thought on this.
10006 The setup would consist of the following:</p>
10007
10008 <ul>
10009
10010  <li>During installation, the user name of the owner / primary user of
10011    the laptop is requested and a local home directory is set up for
10012    the user, with uid and gid information fetched from the LDAP
10013    server.  This allow the user to work also when offline.  The
10014    central home directory can be available in a subdirectory on
10015    request, for example mounted via CIFS.  It could be mounted
10016    automatically when a user log in while on the Debian Edu network,
10017    and unmounted when the machine is taken away (network down,
10018    hibernate, etc), it can be set up to do automatic mounting on
10019    request (using autofs), or perhaps some GUI button on the desktop
10020    can be used to access it when needed.  Perhaps it is enough to use
10021    the fish protocol in KDE?</li>
10022
10023  <li>Password checking is set up to use LDAP or Kerberos
10024    authentication when the machine is on the Debian Edu network, and
10025    to cache the password for offline checking when the machine unable
10026    to reach the LDAP or Kerberos server.  This can be done using
10027    <a href="http://www.padl.com/OSS/pam_ccreds.html">libpam-ccreds</a>
10028    or the Fedora developed
10029    <a href="https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Features/SSSD">System
10030    Security Services Daemon</a> packages.</li>
10031
10032  <li>File synchronisation with the central home directory is set up
10033    using a shared directory in both the local and the central home
10034    directory, using unison.</li>
10035
10036  <li>Printing should be set up to print to all printers broadcasting
10037    their existence on the local network, and should then work out of
10038    the box with CUPS.  For sites needing accurate printer quotas, some
10039    system with Kerberos authentication or printing via ssh could be
10040    implemented.</li>
10041
10042  <li>For users that should have local root access to their laptop,
10043    sudo should be used to allow this to the local user.</li>
10044
10045  <li>It would be nice if user and group information from LDAP is
10046    cached on the client, but given that there are entries for the
10047    local user and primary group in /etc/, it should not be needed.</li>
10048
10049 </ul>
10050
10051 <p>I believe all the pieces to implement this are in Debian/testing at
10052 the moment.  If we work quickly, we should be able to get this ready
10053 in time for the Squeeze release to freeze.  Some of the pieces need
10054 tweaking, like libpam-ccreds should get support for pam-auth-update
10055 (<a href="http://bugs.debian.org/566718">#566718</a>) and nslcd (or
10056 perhaps debian-edu-config) should get some integration code to stop
10057 its daemon when the LDAP server is unavailable to avoid long timeouts
10058 when disconnected from the net.  If we get Kerberos enabled, we need
10059 to make sure we avoid long timeouts there too.</p>
10060
10061 <p>If you want to help out with implementing this for Debian Edu,
10062 please contact us on debian-edu@lists.debian.org.</p>
10063
10064       </div>
10065       <div class="tags">
10066
10067
10068         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>.
10069
10070
10071       </div>
10072     </div>
10073     <div class="padding"></div>
10074
10075     <div class="entry">
10076       <div class="title">
10077         <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>
10078       </div>
10079       <div class="date">
10080         19th April 2010
10081       </div>
10082       <div class="body">
10083         <p>The last few weeks i have had the pleasure of reading a
10084 thought-provoking collection of essays by Cory Doctorow, on topics
10085 touching copyright, virtual worlds, the future of man when the
10086 conscience mind can be duplicated into a computer and many more. The
10087 book titled "Content: Selected Essays on Technology, Creativity,
10088 Copyright, and the Future of the Future" is available with few
10089 restrictions on the web, for example from
10090 <a href="http://craphound.com/content/">his own site</a>. I read the
10091 epub-version from
10092 <a href="http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2883">feedbooks</a> using
10093 <a href="http://www.fbreader.org/">fbreader</a> and my N810. I
10094 strongly recommend this book.</p>
10095
10096       </div>
10097       <div class="tags">
10098
10099
10100         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>.
10101
10102
10103       </div>
10104     </div>
10105     <div class="padding"></div>
10106
10107     <div class="entry">
10108       <div class="title">
10109         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Kerberos_for_Debian_Edu_Squeeze_.html">Kerberos for Debian Edu/Squeeze?</a>
10110       </div>
10111       <div class="date">
10112         14th April 2010
10113       </div>
10114       <div class="body">
10115         <p><a href="http://www.nuug.no/aktiviteter/20100413-kerberos/">Yesterdays
10116 NUUG presentation</a> about Kerberos was inspiring, and reminded me
10117 about the need to start using Kerberos in Skolelinux.  Setting up a
10118 Kerberos server seem to be straight forward, and if we get this in
10119 place a long time before the Squeeze version of Debian freezes, we
10120 have a chance to migrate Skolelinux away from NFSv3 for the home
10121 directories, and over to an architecture where the infrastructure do
10122 not have to trust IP addresses and machines, and instead can trust
10123 users and cryptographic keys instead.</p>
10124
10125 <p>A challenge will be integration and administration.  Is there a
10126 Kerberos implementation for Debian where one can control the
10127 administration access in Kerberos using LDAP groups?  With it, the
10128 school administration will have to maintain access control using flat
10129 files on the main server, which give a huge potential for errors.</p>
10130
10131 <p>A related question I would like to know is how well Kerberos and
10132 pam-ccreds (offline password check) work together.  Anyone know?</p>
10133
10134 <p>Next step will be to use Kerberos for access control in Lwat and
10135 Nagios.  I have no idea how much work that will be to implement.  We
10136 would also need to document how to integrate with Windows AD, as such
10137 shared network will require two Kerberos realms that need to cooperate
10138 to work properly.</p>
10139
10140 <p>I believe a good start would be to start using Kerberos on the
10141 skolelinux.no machines, and this way get ourselves experience with
10142 configuration and integration.  A natural starting point would be
10143 setting up ldap.skolelinux.no as the Kerberos server, and migrate the
10144 rest of the machines from PAM via LDAP to PAM via Kerberos one at the
10145 time.</p>
10146
10147 <p>If you would like to contribute to get this working in Skolelinux,
10148 I recommend you to see the video recording from yesterdays NUUG
10149 presentation, and start using Kerberos at home.  The video show show
10150 up in a few days.</p>
10151
10152       </div>
10153       <div class="tags">
10154
10155
10156         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>.
10157
10158
10159       </div>
10160     </div>
10161     <div class="padding"></div>
10162
10163     <div class="entry">
10164       <div class="title">
10165         <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>
10166       </div>
10167       <div class="date">
10168          6th March 2010
10169       </div>
10170       <div class="body">
10171         <p>6 years ago, as part of the Debian Edu development I am involved
10172 in, I asked for a hook in the kdm and gdm setup to run scripts as root
10173 when the user log out.  A bug was submitted against the xfree86-common
10174 package in 2004 (<a href="http://bugs.debian.org/230422">#230422</a>),
10175 and revisited every time Debian Edu was working on a new release.
10176 Today, this finally paid off.</p>
10177
10178 <p>The framework for this feature was today commited to the git
10179 repositry for the xorg package, and the git repository for xdm has
10180 been updated to use this framework.  Next on my agenda is to make sure
10181 kdm and gdm also add code to use this framework.</p>
10182
10183 <p>In Debian Edu, we want to ability to run commands as root when the
10184 user log out, to get rid of runaway processes and do general cleanup
10185 after a user.  With this framework in place, we finally can do that in
10186 a generic way that work with all display managers using this
10187 framework.  My goal is to get all display managers in Debian use it,
10188 similar to how they use the Xsession.d framework today.<p>
10189
10190       </div>
10191       <div class="tags">
10192
10193
10194         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>.
10195
10196
10197       </div>
10198     </div>
10199     <div class="padding"></div>
10200
10201     <div class="entry">
10202       <div class="title">
10203         <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>
10204       </div>
10205       <div class="date">
10206         11th February 2010
10207       </div>
10208       <div class="body">
10209         <p>On Tuesday, the Debian/Lenny based version of
10210 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Skolelinux</a> was finally
10211 shipped.  This was a major leap forward for the project, and I am very
10212 pleased that we finally got the release wrapped up.  Work on the first
10213 point release starts imediately, as we plan to get that one out a
10214 month after the major release, to include all fixes for bugs we found
10215 and fixed too late in the release process to include last Tuesday.</p>
10216
10217 <p>Perhaps it even is time for some partying?</p>
10218
10219 <p>After this first point release, my plan is to focus again on the
10220 next major release, based on Squeeze.  We will try to get as many of
10221 the fixes we need into the official Debian packages before the freeze,
10222 and have just a few weeks or months to make it happen.</p>
10223
10224       </div>
10225       <div class="tags">
10226
10227
10228         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>.
10229
10230
10231       </div>
10232     </div>
10233     <div class="padding"></div>
10234
10235     <div class="entry">
10236       <div class="title">
10237         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Automatic_Munin_and_Nagios_configuration.html">Automatic Munin and Nagios configuration</a>
10238       </div>
10239       <div class="date">
10240         27th January 2010
10241       </div>
10242       <div class="body">
10243         <p>One of the new features in the next Debian/Lenny based release of
10244 Debian Edu/Skolelinux, which is scheduled for release in the next few
10245 days, is automatic configuration of the service monitoring system
10246 Nagios.  The previous release had automatic configuration of trend
10247 analysis using Munin, and this Lenny based release take that a step
10248 further.</p>
10249
10250 <p>When installing a Debian Edu Main-server, it is automatically
10251 configured as a Munin and Nagios server.  In addition, it is
10252 configured to be a server for the
10253 <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/HowTo/SiteSummary">SiteSummary
10254 system</a> I have written for use in Debian Edu.  The SiteSummary
10255 system is inspired by a system used by the University of Oslo where I
10256 work.  In short, the system provide a centralised collector of
10257 information about the computers on the network, and a client on each
10258 computer submitting information to this collector.  This allow for
10259 automatic information on which packages are installed on each machine,
10260 which kernel the machines are using, what kind of configuration the
10261 packages got etc.  This also allow us to automatically generate Munin
10262 and Nagios configuration.</p>
10263
10264 <p>All computers reporting to the sitesummary collector with the
10265 munin-node package installed is automatically enabled as a Munin
10266 client and graphs from the statistics collected from that machine show
10267 up automatically on http://www/munin/ on the Main-server.</p>
10268
10269 <p>All non-laptop computers reporting to the sitesummary collector are
10270 automatically monitored for network presence (ping and any network
10271 services detected).  In addition, all computers (also laptops) with
10272 the nagios-nrpe-server package installed and configured the way
10273 sitesummary would configure it, are monitored for full disks, software
10274 raid status, swap free and other checks that need to run locally on
10275 the machine.</p>
10276
10277 <p>The result is that the administrator on a school using Debian Edu
10278 based on Lenny will be able to check the health of his installation
10279 with one look at the Nagios settings, without having to spend any time
10280 keeping the Nagios configuration up-to-date.</p>
10281
10282 <p>The only configuration one need to do to get Nagios up and running
10283 is to set the password used to get access via HTTP.  The system
10284 administrator need to run "<tt>htpasswd /etc/nagios3/htpasswd.users
10285 nagiosadmin</tt>" to create a nagiosadmin user and set a password for
10286 it to be able to log into the Nagios web pages.  After that,
10287 everything is taken care of.</p>
10288
10289       </div>
10290       <div class="tags">
10291
10292
10293         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>.
10294
10295
10296       </div>
10297     </div>
10298     <div class="padding"></div>
10299
10300     <div class="entry">
10301       <div class="title">
10302         <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>
10303       </div>
10304       <div class="date">
10305         12th August 2009
10306       </div>
10307       <div class="body">
10308         <p>Just for fun, I did a search right now on Google for a few file ODF
10309 and MS Office based formats (not to be mistaken for ISO or ECMA
10310 OOXML), to get an idea of their relative usage.  I searched using
10311 'filetype:odt' and equvalent terms, and got these results:</P>
10312
10313 <table>
10314 <tr><th>Type</th><th>ODF</th><th>MS Office</th></tr>
10315 <tr><td>Tekst</td> <td>odt:282000</td> <td>docx:308000</td></tr>
10316 <tr><td>Presentasjon</td> <td>odp:75600</td> <td>pptx:183000</td></tr>
10317 <tr><td>Regneark</td> <td>ods:26500     </td> <td>xlsx:145000</td></tr>
10318 </table>
10319
10320 <p>Next, I added a 'site:no' limit to get the numbers for Norway, and
10321 got these numbers:</p>
10322
10323 <table>
10324 <tr><th>Type</th><th>ODF</th><th>MS Office</th></tr>
10325 <tr><td>Tekst</td> <td>odt:2480 </td> <td>docx:4460</td></tr>
10326 <tr><td>Presentasjon</td> <td>odp:299   </td> <td>pptx:741</td></tr>
10327 <tr><td>Regneark</td> <td>ods:187       </td> <td>xlsx:372</td></tr>
10328 </table>
10329
10330 <p>I wonder how these numbers change over time.</p>
10331
10332 <p>I am aware of Google returning different results and numbers based
10333 on where the search is done, so I guess these numbers will differ if
10334 they are conduced in another country.  Because of this, I did the same
10335 search from a machine in California, USA, a few minutes after the
10336 search done from a machine here in Norway.</p>
10337
10338
10339 <table>
10340 <tr><th>Type</th><th>ODF</th><th>MS Office</th></tr>
10341 <tr><td>Tekst</td> <td>odt:129000</td> <td>docx:308000</td></tr>
10342 <tr><td>Presentasjon</td> <td>odp:44200</td> <td>pptx:93900</td></tr>
10343 <tr><td>Regneark</td> <td>ods:26500     </td> <td>xlsx:82400</td></tr>
10344 </table>
10345
10346 <p>And with 'site:no':
10347
10348 <table>
10349 <tr><th>Type</th><th>ODF</th><th>MS Office</th></tr>
10350 <tr><td>Tekst</td> <td>odt:2480</td> <td>docx:3410</td></tr>
10351 <tr><td>Presentasjon</td> <td>odp:175</td> <td>pptx:604</td></tr>
10352 <tr><td>Regneark</td> <td>ods:186       </td> <td>xlsx:296</td></tr>
10353 </table>
10354
10355 <p>Interesting difference, not sure what to conclude from these
10356 numbers.</p>
10357
10358       </div>
10359       <div class="tags">
10360
10361
10362         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>.
10363
10364
10365       </div>
10366     </div>
10367     <div class="padding"></div>
10368
10369     <div class="entry">
10370       <div class="title">
10371         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/ISO_still_hope_to_fix_OOXML.html">ISO still hope to fix OOXML</a>
10372       </div>
10373       <div class="date">
10374          8th August 2009
10375       </div>
10376       <div class="body">
10377         <p>According to <a
10378 href="http://twerner.blogspot.com/2009/08/defects-of-office-open-xml.html">a
10379 blog post from Torsten Werner</a>, the current defect report for ISO
10380 29500 (ISO OOXML) is 809 pages.  His interesting point is that the
10381 defect report is 71 pages more than the full ODF 1.1 specification.
10382 Personally I find it more interesting that ISO still believe ISO OOXML
10383 can be fixed in ISO.  Personally, I believe it is broken beyon repair,
10384 and I completely lack any trust in ISO for being able to get anywhere
10385 close to solving the problems.  I was part of the Norwegian committee
10386 involved in the OOXML fast track process, and was not impressed with
10387 Standard Norway and ISO in how they handled it.</p>
10388
10389 <p>These days I focus on ODF instead, which seem like a specification
10390 with the future ahead of it.  We are working in NUUG to organise a ODF
10391 seminar this autumn.</p>
10392
10393       </div>
10394       <div class="tags">
10395
10396
10397         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>.
10398
10399
10400       </div>
10401     </div>
10402     <div class="padding"></div>
10403
10404     <div class="entry">
10405       <div class="title">
10406         <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>
10407       </div>
10408       <div class="date">
10409         27th July 2009
10410       </div>
10411       <div class="body">
10412         <p>Since this evening, with the upload of sysvinit version 2.87dsf-2,
10413 and the upload of insserv version 1.12.0-10 yesterday, Debian unstable
10414 have been migrated to using dependency based boot sequencing.  This
10415 conclude work me and others have been doing for the last three days.
10416 It feels great to see this finally part of the default Debian
10417 installation.  Now we just need to weed out the last few problems that
10418 are bound to show up, to get everything ready for Squeeze.</p>
10419
10420 <p>The next step is migrating /sbin/init from sysvinit to upstart, and
10421 fixing the more fundamental problem of handing the event based
10422 non-predictable kernel in the early boot.</p>
10423
10424       </div>
10425       <div class="tags">
10426
10427
10428         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>.
10429
10430
10431       </div>
10432     </div>
10433     <div class="padding"></div>
10434
10435     <div class="entry">
10436       <div class="title">
10437         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Taking_over_sysvinit_development.html">Taking over sysvinit development</a>
10438       </div>
10439       <div class="date">
10440         22nd July 2009
10441       </div>
10442       <div class="body">
10443         <p>After several years of frustration with the lack of activity from
10444 the existing sysvinit upstream developer, I decided a few weeks ago to
10445 take over the package and become the new upstream.  The number of
10446 patches to track for the Debian package was becoming a burden, and the
10447 lack of synchronization between the distribution made it hard to keep
10448 the package up to date.</p>
10449
10450 <p>On the new sysvinit team is the SuSe maintainer Dr. Werner Fink,
10451 and my Debian co-maintainer Kel Modderman.  About 10 days ago, I made
10452 a new upstream tarball with version number 2.87dsf (for Debian, SuSe
10453 and Fedora), based on the patches currently in use in these
10454 distributions.  We Debian maintainers plan to move to this tarball as
10455 the new upstream as soon as we find time to do the merge.  Since the
10456 new tarball was created, we agreed with Werner at SuSe to make a new
10457 upstream project at <a href="http://savannah.nongnu.org/">Savannah</a>, and continue
10458 development there.  The project is registered and currently waiting
10459 for approval by the Savannah administrators, and as soon as it is
10460 approved, we will import the old versions from svn and continue
10461 working on the future release.</p>
10462
10463 <p>It is a bit ironic that this is done now, when some of the involved
10464 distributions are moving to upstart as a syvinit replacement.</p>
10465
10466       </div>
10467       <div class="tags">
10468
10469
10470         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>.
10471
10472
10473       </div>
10474     </div>
10475     <div class="padding"></div>
10476
10477     <div class="entry">
10478       <div class="title">
10479         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_boots_quicker_and_quicker.html">Debian boots quicker and quicker</a>
10480       </div>
10481       <div class="date">
10482         24th June 2009
10483       </div>
10484       <div class="body">
10485         <p>I spent Monday and tuesday this week in London with a lot of the
10486 people involved in the boot system on Debian and Ubuntu, to see if we
10487 could find more ways to speed up the boot system.  This was an Ubuntu
10488 funded
10489 <a href="https://wiki.ubuntu.com/FoundationsTeam/BootPerformance/DebianUbuntuSprint">developer
10490 gathering</a>. It was quite productive.  We also discussed the future
10491 of boot systems, and ways to handle the increasing number of boot
10492 issues introduced by the Linux kernel becoming more and more
10493 asynchronous and event base.  The Ubuntu approach using udev and
10494 upstart might be a good way forward.  Time will show.</p>
10495
10496 <p>Anyway, there are a few ways at the moment to speed up the boot
10497 process in Debian.  All of these should be applied to get a quick
10498 boot:</p>
10499
10500 <ul>
10501
10502 <li>Use dash as /bin/sh.</li>
10503
10504 <li>Disable the init.d/hwclock*.sh scripts and make sure the hardware
10505    clock is in UTC.</li>
10506
10507 <li>Install and activate the insserv package to enable
10508    <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/LSBInitScripts/DependencyBasedBoot">dependency
10509    based boot sequencing</a>, and enable concurrent booting.</li>
10510
10511 </ul>
10512
10513 These points are based on the Google summer of code work done by
10514 <a href="http://initscripts-ng.alioth.debian.org/soc2006-bootsystem/">Carlos
10515 Villegas</a>.
10516
10517 <p>Support for makefile-style concurrency during boot was uploaded to
10518 unstable yesterday.  When we tested it, we were able to cut 6 seconds
10519 from the boot sequence.  It depend on very correct dependency
10520 declaration in all init.d scripts, so I expect us to find edge cases
10521 where the dependences in some scripts are slightly wrong when we start
10522 using this.</p>
10523
10524 <p>On our IRC channel for this effort, #pkg-sysvinit, a new idea was
10525 introduced by Raphael Geissert today, one that could affect the
10526 startup speed as well.  Instead of starting some scripts concurrently
10527 from rcS.d/ and another set of scripts from rc2.d/, it would be
10528 possible to run a of them in the same process.  A quick way to test
10529 this would be to enable insserv and run 'mv /etc/rc2.d/S* /etc/rcS.d/;
10530 insserv'.  Will need to test if that work. :)</p>
10531
10532       </div>
10533       <div class="tags">
10534
10535
10536         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>.
10537
10538
10539       </div>
10540     </div>
10541     <div class="padding"></div>
10542
10543     <div class="entry">
10544       <div class="title">
10545         <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>
10546       </div>
10547       <div class="date">
10548          2nd May 2009
10549       </div>
10550       <div class="body">
10551         <p>There are two software projects that have had huge influence on the
10552 quality of free software, and I wanted to mention both in case someone
10553 do not yet know them.</p>
10554
10555 <p>The first one is <a href="http://valgrind.org/">valgrind</a>, a
10556 tool to detect and expose errors in the memory handling of programs.
10557 It is easy to use, all one need to do is to run 'valgrind program',
10558 and it will report any problems on stdout.  It is even better if the
10559 program include debug information.  With debug information, it is able
10560 to report the source file name and line number where the problem
10561 occurs.  It can report things like 'reading past memory block in file
10562 X line N, the memory block was allocated in file Y, line M', and
10563 'using uninitialised value in control logic'.  This tool has made it
10564 trivial to investigate reproducible crash bugs in programs, and have
10565 reduced the number of this kind of bugs in free software a lot.
10566
10567 <p>The second one is
10568 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coverity">Coverity</a> which is
10569 a source code checker.  It is able to process the source of a program
10570 and find problems in the logic without running the program.  It
10571 started out as the Stanford Checker and became well known when it was
10572 used to find bugs in the Linux kernel.  It is now a commercial tool
10573 and the company behind it is running
10574 <a href="http://www.scan.coverity.com/">a community service</a> for the
10575 free software community, where a lot of free software projects get
10576 their source checked for free.  Several thousand defects have been
10577 found and fixed so far.  It can find errors like 'lock L taken in file
10578 X line N is never released if exiting in line M', or 'the code in file
10579 Y lines O to P can never be executed'.  The projects included in the
10580 community service project have managed to get rid of a lot of
10581 reliability problems thanks to Coverity.</p>
10582
10583 <p>I believe tools like this, that are able to automatically find
10584 errors in the source, are vital to improve the quality of software and
10585 make sure we can get rid of the crashing and failing software we are
10586 surrounded by today.</p>
10587
10588       </div>
10589       <div class="tags">
10590
10591
10592         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>.
10593
10594
10595       </div>
10596     </div>
10597     <div class="padding"></div>
10598
10599     <div class="entry">
10600       <div class="title">
10601         <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>
10602       </div>
10603       <div class="date">
10604         28th April 2009
10605       </div>
10606       <div class="body">
10607         <p>Julien Blache
10608 <a href="http://blog.technologeek.org/2009/04/12/214">claim that no
10609 patch is better than a useless patch</a>.  I completely disagree, as a
10610 patch allow one to discuss a concrete and proposed solution, and also
10611 prove that the issue at hand is important enough for someone to spent
10612 time on fixing it.  No patch do not provide any of these positive
10613 properties.</p>
10614
10615       </div>
10616       <div class="tags">
10617
10618
10619         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>.
10620
10621
10622       </div>
10623     </div>
10624     <div class="padding"></div>
10625
10626     <div class="entry">
10627       <div class="title">
10628         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Recording_video_from_cron_using_VLC.html">Recording video from cron using VLC</a>
10629       </div>
10630       <div class="date">
10631          5th April 2009
10632       </div>
10633       <div class="body">
10634         <p>One think I have wanted to figure out for a along time is how to
10635 run vlc from cron to do recording of video streams on the net.  The
10636 task is trivial with mplayer, but I do not really trust the security
10637 of mplayer (it crashes too often on strange input), and thus prefer
10638 vlc.  I finally found a way to do it today.  I spent an hour or so
10639 searching the web for recipes and reading the documentation.  The
10640 hardest part was to get rid of the GUI window, but after finding the
10641 dummy interface, the command line finally presented itself:</p>
10642
10643 <blockquote><pre>URL=http://www.ping.uio.no/video/rms-oslo_2009.ogg
10644 SAVEFILE=rms.ogg
10645 DISPLAY= vlc -q $URL \
10646   --sout="#duplicate{dst=std{access=file,url='$SAVEFILE'},dst=nodisplay}" \
10647   --intf=dummy</pre></blockquote>
10648
10649 <p>The command stream the URL and store it in the SAVEFILE by
10650 duplicating the output stream to "nodisplay" and the file, using the
10651 dummy interface.  The dummy interface and the nodisplay output make
10652 sure no X interface is needed.</p>
10653
10654 <p>The cron job then need to start this job with the appropriate URL
10655 and file name to save, sleep for the duration wanted, and then kill
10656 the vlc process with SIGTERM.  Here is a complete script
10657 <tt>vlc-record</tt> to use from <tt>at</tt> or <tt>cron</tt>:</p>
10658
10659 <blockquote><pre>#!/bin/sh
10660 set -e
10661 URL="$1"
10662 SAVEFILE="$2"
10663 DURATION="$3"
10664 DISPLAY= vlc -q "$URL" \
10665   --sout="#duplicate{dst=std{access=file,url='$SAVEFILE'},dst=nodisplay}" \
10666   --intf=dummy < /dev/null > /dev/null 2>&1 &
10667 pid=$!
10668 sleep $DURATION
10669 kill $pid
10670 wait $pid</pre></blockquote>
10671
10672       </div>
10673       <div class="tags">
10674
10675
10676         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>.
10677
10678
10679       </div>
10680     </div>
10681     <div class="padding"></div>
10682
10683     <div class="entry">
10684       <div class="title">
10685         <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>
10686       </div>
10687       <div class="date">
10688         30th March 2009
10689       </div>
10690       <div class="body">
10691         <p>Where I work at the University of Oslo, one decision stand out as a
10692 very good one to form a long lived computer infrastructure.  It is the
10693 simple one, lost by many in todays computer industry: Standardize on
10694 open network protocols and open exchange/storage formats, not applications.
10695 Applications come and go, while protocols and files tend to stay, and
10696 thus one want to make it easy to change application and vendor, while
10697 avoiding conversion costs and locking users to a specific platform or
10698 application.</p>
10699
10700 <p>This approach make it possible to replace the client applications
10701 independently of the server applications.  One can even allow users to
10702 use several different applications as long as they handle the selected
10703 protocol and format.  In the normal case, only one client application
10704 is recommended and users only get help if they choose to use this
10705 application, but those that want to deviate from the easy path are not
10706 blocked from doing so.</p>
10707
10708 <p>It also allow us to replace the server side without forcing the
10709 users to replace their applications, and thus allow us to select the
10710 best server implementation at any moment, when scale and resouce
10711 requirements change.</p>
10712
10713 <p>I strongly recommend standardizing - on open network protocols and
10714 open formats, but I would never recommend standardizing on a single
10715 application that do not use open network protocol or open formats.</p>
10716
10717       </div>
10718       <div class="tags">
10719
10720
10721         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>.
10722
10723
10724       </div>
10725     </div>
10726     <div class="padding"></div>
10727
10728     <div class="entry">
10729       <div class="title">
10730         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Returning_from_Skolelinux_developer_gathering.html">Returning from Skolelinux developer gathering</a>
10731       </div>
10732       <div class="date">
10733         29th March 2009
10734       </div>
10735       <div class="body">
10736         <p>I'm sitting on the train going home from this weekends Debian
10737 Edu/Skolelinux development gathering.  I got a bit done tuning the
10738 desktop, and looked into the dynamic service location protocol
10739 implementation avahi.  It look like it could be useful for us.  Almost
10740 30 people participated, and I believe it was a great environment to
10741 get to know the Skolelinux system.  Walter Bender, involved in the
10742 development of the Sugar educational platform, presented his stuff and
10743 also helped me improve my OLPC installation.  He also showed me that
10744 his Turtle Art application can be used in standalone mode, and we
10745 agreed that I would help getting it packaged for Debian.  As a
10746 standalone application it would be great for Debian Edu.  We also
10747 tried to get the video conferencing working with two OLPCs, but that
10748 proved to be too hard for us.  The application seem to need more work
10749 before it is ready for me.  I look forward to getting home and relax
10750 now. :)</p>
10751
10752       </div>
10753       <div class="tags">
10754
10755
10756         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>.
10757
10758
10759       </div>
10760     </div>
10761     <div class="padding"></div>
10762
10763     <div class="entry">
10764       <div class="title">
10765         <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>
10766       </div>
10767       <div class="date">
10768         29th March 2009
10769       </div>
10770       <div class="body">
10771         <p>The state of standardized LDAP schemas on Linux is far from
10772 optimal.  There is RFC 2307 documenting one way to store NIS maps in
10773 LDAP, and a modified version of this normally called RFC 2307bis, with
10774 some modifications to be compatible with Active Directory.  The RFC
10775 specification handle the content of a lot of system databases, but do
10776 not handle DNS zones and DHCP configuration.</p>
10777
10778 <p>In <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu/Skolelinux</a>,
10779 we would like to store information about users, SMB clients/hosts,
10780 filegroups, netgroups (users and hosts), DHCP and DNS configuration,
10781 and LTSP configuration in LDAP.  These objects have a lot in common,
10782 but with the current LDAP schemas it is not possible to have one
10783 object per entity.  For example, one need to have at least three LDAP
10784 objects for a given computer, one with the SMB related stuff, one with
10785 DNS information and another with DHCP information.  The schemas
10786 provided for DNS and DHCP are impossible to combine into one LDAP
10787 object.  In addition, it is impossible to implement quick queries for
10788 netgroup membership, because of the way NIS triples are implemented.
10789 It just do not scale.  I believe it is time for a few RFC
10790 specifications to cleam up this mess.</p>
10791
10792 <p>I would like to have one LDAP object representing each computer in
10793 the network, and this object can then keep the SMB (ie host key), DHCP
10794 (mac address/name) and DNS (name/IP address) settings in one place.
10795 It need to be efficently stored to make sure it scale well.</p>
10796
10797 <p>I would also like to have a quick way to map from a user or
10798 computer and to the net group this user or computer is a member.</p>
10799
10800 <p>Active Directory have done a better job than unix heads like myself
10801 in this regard, and the unix side need to catch up.  Time to start a
10802 new IETF work group?</p>
10803
10804       </div>
10805       <div class="tags">
10806
10807
10808         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>.
10809
10810
10811       </div>
10812     </div>
10813     <div class="padding"></div>
10814
10815     <div class="entry">
10816       <div class="title">
10817         <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>
10818       </div>
10819       <div class="date">
10820         28th February 2009
10821       </div>
10822       <div class="body">
10823         <p>At work, we have a few hundred Linux servers, and with that amount
10824 of hardware it is important to keep track of when the hardware support
10825 contract expire for each server.  We have a machine (and service)
10826 register, which until recently did not contain much useful besides the
10827 machine room location and contact information for the system owner for
10828 each machine.  To make it easier for us to track support contract
10829 status, I've recently spent time on extending the machine register to
10830 include information about when the support contract expire, and to tag
10831 machines with expired contracts to make it easy to get a list of such
10832 machines.  I extended a perl script already being used to import
10833 information about machines into the register, to also do some screen
10834 scraping off the sites of Dell, HP and IBM (our majority of machines
10835 are from these vendors), and automatically check the support status
10836 for the relevant machines.  This make the support status information
10837 easily available and I hope it will make it easier for the computer
10838 owner to know when to get new hardware or renew the support contract.
10839 The result of this work documented that 27% of the machines in the
10840 registry is without a support contract, and made it very easy to find
10841 them.  27% might seem like a lot, but I see it more as the case of us
10842 using machines a bit longer than the 3 years a normal support contract
10843 last, to have test machines and a platform for less important
10844 services.  After all, the machines without a contract are working fine
10845 at the moment and the lack of contract is only a problem if any of
10846 them break down.  When that happen, we can either fix it using spare
10847 parts from other machines or move the service to another old
10848 machine.</p>
10849
10850 <p>I believe the code for screen scraping the Dell site was originally
10851 written by Trond Hasle Amundsen, and later adjusted by me and Morten
10852 Werner Forsbring.  The HP scraping was written by me after reading a
10853 nice article in ;login: about how to use WWW::Mechanize, and the IBM
10854 scraping was written by me based on the Dell code.  I know the HTML
10855 parsing could be done using nice libraries, but did not want to
10856 introduce more dependencies.  This is the current incarnation:</p>
10857
10858 <pre>
10859 use LWP::Simple;
10860 use POSIX;
10861 use WWW::Mechanize;
10862 use Date::Parse;
10863 [...]
10864 sub get_support_info {
10865     my ($machine, $model, $serial, $productnumber) = @_;
10866     my $str;
10867
10868     if ( $model =~ m/^Dell / ) {
10869         # fetch website from Dell support
10870         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";
10871         my $webpage = get($url);
10872         return undef unless ($webpage);
10873
10874         my $daysleft = -1;
10875         my @lines = split(/\n/, $webpage);
10876         foreach my $line (@lines) {
10877             next unless ($line =~ m/Beskrivelse/);
10878             $line =~ s/&lt;[^>]+?>/;/gm;
10879             $line =~ s/^.+?;(Beskrivelse;)/$1/;
10880
10881             my @f = split(/\;/, $line);
10882             @f = @f[13 .. $#f];
10883             my $lastend = "";
10884             while ($f[3] eq "DELL") {
10885                 my ($type, $startstr, $endstr, $days) = @f[0, 5, 7, 10];
10886
10887                 my $start = POSIX::strftime("%Y-%m-%d",
10888                                             localtime(str2time($startstr)));
10889                 my $end = POSIX::strftime("%Y-%m-%d",
10890                                           localtime(str2time($endstr)));
10891                 $str .= "$type $start -> $end ";
10892                 @f = @f[14 .. $#f];
10893                 $lastend = $end if ($end gt $lastend);
10894             }
10895             my $today = POSIX::strftime("%Y-%m-%d", localtime(time));
10896             tag_machine_unsupported($machine)
10897                 if ($lastend lt $today);
10898         }
10899     } elsif ( $model =~ m/^HP / ) {
10900         my $mech = WWW::Mechanize->new();
10901         my $url =
10902             'http://www1.itrc.hp.com/service/ewarranty/warrantyInput.do';
10903         $mech->get($url);
10904         my $fields = {
10905             'BODServiceID' => 'NA',
10906             'RegisteredPurchaseDate' => '',
10907             'country' => 'NO',
10908             'productNumber' => $productnumber,
10909             'serialNumber1' => $serial,
10910         };
10911         $mech->submit_form( form_number => 2,
10912                             fields      => $fields );
10913         # Next step is screen scraping
10914         my $content = $mech->content();
10915
10916         $content =~ s/&lt;[^>]+?>/;/gm;
10917         $content =~ s/\s+/ /gm;
10918         $content =~ s/;\s*;/;;/gm;
10919         $content =~ s/;[\s;]+/;/gm;
10920
10921         my $today = POSIX::strftime("%Y-%m-%d", localtime(time));
10922
10923         while ($content =~ m/;Warranty Type;/) {
10924             my ($type, $status, $startstr, $stopstr) = $content =~
10925                 m/;Warranty Type;([^;]+);.+?;Status;(\w+);Start Date;([^;]+);End Date;([^;]+);/;
10926             $content =~ s/^.+?;Warranty Type;//;
10927             my $start = POSIX::strftime("%Y-%m-%d",
10928                                         localtime(str2time($startstr)));
10929             my $end = POSIX::strftime("%Y-%m-%d",
10930                                       localtime(str2time($stopstr)));
10931
10932             $str .= "$type ($status) $start -> $end ";
10933
10934             tag_machine_unsupported($machine)
10935                 if ($end lt $today);
10936         }
10937     } elsif ( $model =~ m/^IBM / ) {
10938         # This code ignore extended support contracts.
10939         my ($producttype) = $model =~ m/.*-\[(.{4}).+\]-/;
10940         if ($producttype &amp;&amp; $serial) {
10941             my $content =
10942                 get("http://www-947.ibm.com/systems/support/supportsite.wss/warranty?action=warranty&amp;brandind=5000008&amp;Submit=Submit&amp;type=$producttype&amp;serial=$serial");
10943             if ($content) {
10944                 $content =~ s/&lt;[^>]+?>/;/gm;
10945                 $content =~ s/\s+/ /gm;
10946                 $content =~ s/;\s*;/;;/gm;
10947                 $content =~ s/;[\s;]+/;/gm;
10948
10949                 $content =~ s/^.+?;Warranty status;//;
10950                 my ($status, $end) = $content =~ m/;Warranty status;([^;]+)\s*;Expiration date;(\S+) ;/;
10951
10952                 $str .= "($status) -> $end ";
10953
10954                 my $today = POSIX::strftime("%Y-%m-%d", localtime(time));
10955                 tag_machine_unsupported($machine)
10956                     if ($end lt $today);
10957             }
10958         }
10959     }
10960     return $str;
10961 }
10962 </pre>
10963
10964 <p>Here are some examples on how to use the function, using fake
10965 serial numbers.  The information passed in as arguments are fetched
10966 from dmidecode.</p>
10967
10968 <pre>
10969 print get_support_info("hp.host", "HP ProLiant BL460c G1", "1234567890"
10970                        "447707-B21");
10971 print get_support_info("dell.host", "Dell Inc. PowerEdge 2950", "1234567");
10972 print get_support_info("ibm.host", "IBM eserver xSeries 345 -[867061X]-",
10973                        "1234567");
10974 </pre>
10975
10976 <p>I would recommend this approach for tracking support contracts for
10977 everyone with more than a few computers to administer. :)</p>
10978
10979 <p>Update 2009-03-06: The IBM page do not include extended support
10980 contracts, so it is useless in that case.  The original Dell code do
10981 not handle extended support contracts either, but has been updated to
10982 do so.</p>
10983
10984       </div>
10985       <div class="tags">
10986
10987
10988         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>.
10989
10990
10991       </div>
10992     </div>
10993     <div class="padding"></div>
10994
10995     <div class="entry">
10996       <div class="title">
10997         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Using_bar_codes_at_a_computing_center.html">Using bar codes at a computing center</a>
10998       </div>
10999       <div class="date">
11000         20th February 2009
11001       </div>
11002       <div class="body">
11003         <p>At work with the University of Oslo, we have several hundred computers
11004 in our computing center.  This give us a challenge in tracking the
11005 location and cabling of the computers, when they are added, moved and
11006 removed.  Some times the location register is not updated when a
11007 computer is inserted or moved and we then have to search the room for
11008 the "missing" computer.</p>
11009
11010 <p>In the last issue of Linux Journal, I came across a project
11011 <a href="http://www.libdmtx.org/">libdmtx</a> to write and read bar
11012 code blocks as defined in the
11013 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_Matrix">The Data Matrix
11014 Standard</a>.  This is bar codes that can be read with a normal
11015 digital camera, for example that on a cell phone, and several such bar
11016 codes can be read by libdmtx from one picture.  The bar code standard
11017 allow up to 2 KiB to be written in the tag.  There is another project
11018 with <a href="http://www.terryburton.co.uk/barcodewriter/">a bar code
11019 writer written in postscript</a> capable of creating such bar codes,
11020 but this was the first time I found a tool to read these bar
11021 codes.</p>
11022
11023 <p>It occurred to me that this could be used to tag and track the
11024 machines in our computing center.  If both racks and computers are
11025 tagged this way, we can use a picture of the rack and all its
11026 computers to detect the rack location of any computer in that rack.
11027 If we do this regularly for the entire room, we will find all
11028 locations, and can detect movements and removals.</p>
11029
11030 <p>I decided to test if this would work in practice, and picked a
11031 random rack and tagged all the machines with their names.  Next, I
11032 took pictures with my digital camera, and gave the dmtxread program
11033 these JPEG pictures to see how many tags it could read.  This worked
11034 fairly well.  If the pictures was well focused and not taken from the
11035 side, all tags in the image could be read.  Because of limited space
11036 between the racks, I was unable to get a good picture of the entire
11037 rack, but could without problem read all tags from a picture covering
11038 about half the rack.  I had to limit the search time used by dmtxread
11039 to 60000 ms to make sure it terminated in a reasonable time frame.</p>
11040
11041 <p>My conclusion is that this could work, and we should probably look
11042 at adjusting our computer tagging procedures to use bar codes for
11043 easier automatic tracking of computers.</p>
11044
11045       </div>
11046       <div class="tags">
11047
11048
11049         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>.
11050
11051
11052       </div>
11053     </div>
11054     <div class="padding"></div>
11055
11056     <div class="entry">
11057       <div class="title">
11058         <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>
11059       </div>
11060       <div class="date">
11061         17th January 2009
11062       </div>
11063       <div class="body">
11064         <p>As part of the work we do in <a href="http://www.nuug.no">NUUG</a>
11065 to publish video recordings of our monthly presentations, we provide a
11066 page with embedded video for easy access to the recording.  Putting a
11067 good set of HTML tags together to get working embedded video in all
11068 browsers and across all operating systems is not easy.  I hope this
11069 will become easier when the &lt;video&gt; tag is implemented in all
11070 browsers, but I am not sure.  We provide the recordings in several
11071 formats, MPEG1, Ogg Theora, H.264 and Quicktime, and want the
11072 browser/media plugin to pick one it support and use it to play the
11073 recording, using whatever embed mechanism the browser understand.
11074 There is at least four different tags to use for this, the new HTML5
11075 &lt;video&gt; tag, the &lt;object&gt; tag, the &lt;embed&gt; tag and
11076 the &lt;applet&gt; tag.  All of these take a lot of options, and
11077 finding the best options is a major challenge.</p>
11078
11079 <p>I just tested the experimental Opera browser available from <a
11080 href="http://labs.opera.com">labs.opera.com</a>, to see how it handled
11081 a &lt;video&gt; tag with a few video sources and no extra attributes.
11082 I was not very impressed.  The browser start by fetching a picture
11083 from the video stream.  Not sure if it is the first frame, but it is
11084 definitely very early in the recording.  So far, so good. Next,
11085 instead of streaming the 76 MiB video file, it start to download all
11086 of it, but do not start to play the video.  This mean I have to wait
11087 for several minutes for the downloading to finish.  When the download
11088 is done, the playing of the video do not start!  Waiting for the
11089 download, but I do not get to see the video?  Some testing later, I
11090 discover that I have to add the controls="true" attribute to be able
11091 to get a play button to pres to start the video.  Adding
11092 autoplay="true" did not help.  I sure hope this is a misfeature of the
11093 test version of Opera, and that future implementations of the
11094 &lt;video&gt; tag will stream recordings by default, or at least start
11095 playing when the download is done.</p>
11096
11097 <p>The test page I used (since changed to add more attributes) is
11098 <a href="http://www.nuug.no/aktiviteter/20090113-foredrag-om-foredrag/">available
11099 from the nuug site</a>.  Will have to test it with the new Firefox
11100 too.</p>
11101
11102 <p>In the test process, I discovered a missing feature.  I was unable
11103 to find a way to get the URL of the playing video out of Opera, so I
11104 am not quite sure it picked the Ogg Theora version of the video.  I
11105 sure hope it was using the announced Ogg Theora support. :)</p>
11106
11107       </div>
11108       <div class="tags">
11109
11110
11111         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>.
11112
11113
11114       </div>
11115     </div>
11116     <div class="padding"></div>
11117
11118     <div class="entry">
11119       <div class="title">
11120         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Software_video_mixer_on_a_USB_stick.html">Software video mixer on a USB stick</a>
11121       </div>
11122       <div class="date">
11123         28th December 2008
11124       </div>
11125       <div class="body">
11126         <p>The <a href="http://www.nuug.no/">Norwegian Unix User Group</a> is
11127 recording our montly presentation on video, and recently we have
11128 worked on improving the quality of the recordings by mixing the slides
11129 directly with the video stream.  For this, we use the
11130 <a href="http://dvswitch.alioth.debian.org/">dvswitch</a> package from
11131 the Debian video team.  As this require quite one computer per video
11132 source, and NUUG do not have enough laptops available, we need to
11133 borrow laptops.  And to avoid having to install extra software on
11134 these borrwed laptops, I have wrapped up all the programs needed on a
11135 bootable USB stick.  The software required is dvswitch with assosiated
11136 source, sink and mixer applications and
11137 <a href="http://www.kinodv.org/">dvgrab</a>.  To allow this setup to
11138 work without any configuration, I've patched dvswitch to use
11139 <a href="http://www.avahi.org/">avahi</a> to connect the various parts
11140 together.  And to allow us to use laptops without firewire plugs, I
11141 upgraded dvgrab to the one from Debian/unstable to get one that work
11142 with USB sources.  We have not yet tested this setup in a production
11143 setup, but I hope it will work properly, and allow us to set up a
11144 video mixer in a very short time frame.  We will need it for
11145 <a href="http://www.goopen.no/">Go Open 2009</a>.</p>
11146
11147 <p><a href="http://www.nuug.no/pub/video/bin/usbstick-dvswitch.img.gz">The
11148 USB image</a> is for a 1 GB memory stick, but can be used on any
11149 larger stick as well.</p>
11150
11151       </div>
11152       <div class="tags">
11153
11154
11155         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>.
11156
11157
11158       </div>
11159     </div>
11160     <div class="padding"></div>
11161
11162     <div class="entry">
11163       <div class="title">
11164         <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>
11165       </div>
11166       <div class="date">
11167          7th December 2008
11168       </div>
11169       <div class="body">
11170         <p>This weekend we had a small developer gathering for Debian Edu in
11171 Oslo.  Most of Saturday was used for the general assemly for the
11172 member organization, but the rest of the weekend I used to tune the
11173 LTSP installation.  LTSP now work out of the box on the 10-network.
11174 Acer Aspire One proved to be a very nice thin client, with both
11175 screen, mouse and keybard in a small box.  Was working on getting the
11176 diskless workstation setup configured out of the box, but did not
11177 finish it before the weekend was up.</p>
11178
11179 <p>Did not find time to look at the 4 VGA cards in one box we got from
11180 the Brazilian group, so that will have to wait for the next
11181 development gathering.  Would love to have the Debian Edu installer
11182 automatically detect and configure a multiseat setup when it find one
11183 of these cards.</p>
11184
11185       </div>
11186       <div class="tags">
11187
11188
11189         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>.
11190
11191
11192       </div>
11193     </div>
11194     <div class="padding"></div>
11195
11196     <div class="entry">
11197       <div class="title">
11198         <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>
11199       </div>
11200       <div class="date">
11201         25th November 2008
11202       </div>
11203       <div class="body">
11204         <p>Recently I have spent some time evaluating the multimedia browser
11205 plugins available in Debian Lenny, to see which one we should use by
11206 default in Debian Edu.  We need an embedded video playing plugin with
11207 control buttons to pause or stop the video, and capable of streaming
11208 all the multimedia content available on the web.  The test results and
11209 notes are available on
11210 <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/BrowserMultimedia">the
11211 Debian wiki</a>.  I was surprised how few of the plugins are able to
11212 fill this need.  My personal video player favorite, VLC, has a really
11213 bad plugin which fail on a lot of the test pages.  A lot of the MIME
11214 types I would expect to work with any free software player (like
11215 video/ogg), just do not work.  And simple formats like the
11216 audio/x-mplegurl format (m3u playlists), just isn't supported by the
11217 totem and vlc plugins.  I hope the situation will improve soon.  No
11218 wonder sites use the proprietary Adobe flash to play video.</p>
11219
11220 <p>For Lenny, we seem to end up with the mplayer plugin.  It seem to
11221 be the only one fitting our needs. :/</p>
11222
11223       </div>
11224       <div class="tags">
11225
11226
11227         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>.
11228
11229
11230       </div>
11231     </div>
11232     <div class="padding"></div>
11233
11234     <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>
11235     <div id="sidebar">
11236
11237
11238
11239 <h2>Archive</h2>
11240 <ul>
11241
11242 <li>2012
11243 <ul>
11244
11245 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/01/">January (7)</a></li>
11246
11247 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/02/">February (10)</a></li>
11248
11249 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/03/">March (17)</a></li>
11250
11251 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/04/">April (12)</a></li>
11252
11253 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/05/">May (12)</a></li>
11254
11255 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/06/">June (20)</a></li>
11256
11257 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/07/">July (17)</a></li>
11258
11259 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/08/">August (2)</a></li>
11260
11261 </ul></li>
11262
11263 <li>2011
11264 <ul>
11265
11266 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/01/">January (16)</a></li>
11267
11268 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/02/">February (6)</a></li>
11269
11270 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/03/">March (6)</a></li>
11271
11272 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/04/">April (7)</a></li>
11273
11274 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/05/">May (3)</a></li>
11275
11276 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/06/">June (2)</a></li>
11277
11278 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/07/">July (7)</a></li>
11279
11280 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/08/">August (6)</a></li>
11281
11282 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/09/">September (4)</a></li>
11283
11284 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/10/">October (2)</a></li>
11285
11286 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/11/">November (3)</a></li>
11287
11288 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/12/">December (1)</a></li>
11289
11290 </ul></li>
11291
11292 <li>2010
11293 <ul>
11294
11295 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/01/">January (2)</a></li>
11296
11297 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/02/">February (1)</a></li>
11298
11299 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/03/">March (3)</a></li>
11300
11301 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/04/">April (3)</a></li>
11302
11303 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/05/">May (9)</a></li>
11304
11305 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/06/">June (14)</a></li>
11306
11307 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/07/">July (12)</a></li>
11308
11309 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/08/">August (13)</a></li>
11310
11311 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/09/">September (7)</a></li>
11312
11313 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/10/">October (9)</a></li>
11314
11315 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/11/">November (13)</a></li>
11316
11317 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/12/">December (12)</a></li>
11318
11319 </ul></li>
11320
11321 <li>2009
11322 <ul>
11323
11324 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/01/">January (8)</a></li>
11325
11326 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/02/">February (8)</a></li>
11327
11328 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/03/">March (12)</a></li>
11329
11330 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/04/">April (10)</a></li>
11331
11332 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/05/">May (9)</a></li>
11333
11334 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/06/">June (3)</a></li>
11335
11336 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/07/">July (4)</a></li>
11337
11338 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/08/">August (3)</a></li>
11339
11340 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/09/">September (1)</a></li>
11341
11342 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/10/">October (2)</a></li>
11343
11344 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/11/">November (3)</a></li>
11345
11346 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/12/">December (3)</a></li>
11347
11348 </ul></li>
11349
11350 <li>2008
11351 <ul>
11352
11353 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2008/11/">November (5)</a></li>
11354
11355 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2008/12/">December (7)</a></li>
11356
11357 </ul></li>
11358
11359 </ul>
11360
11361
11362
11363 <h2>Tags</h2>
11364 <ul>
11365
11366  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/3d-printer">3d-printer (13)</a></li>
11367
11368  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/amiga">amiga (1)</a></li>
11369
11370  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/aros">aros (1)</a></li>
11371
11372  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/bitcoin">bitcoin (2)</a></li>
11373
11374  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/bootsystem">bootsystem (12)</a></li>
11375
11376  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/bsa">bsa (2)</a></li>
11377
11378  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian (55)</a></li>
11379
11380  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu (111)</a></li>
11381
11382  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/digistan">digistan (9)</a></li>
11383
11384  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/drivstoffpriser">drivstoffpriser (4)</a></li>
11385
11386  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english (145)</a></li>
11387
11388  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/fiksgatami">fiksgatami (17)</a></li>
11389
11390  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/fildeling">fildeling (12)</a></li>
11391
11392  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/frikanalen">frikanalen (6)</a></li>
11393
11394  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/intervju">intervju (30)</a></li>
11395
11396  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/kart">kart (16)</a></li>
11397
11398  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/ldap">ldap (8)</a></li>
11399
11400  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/lenker">lenker (4)</a></li>
11401
11402  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/ltsp">ltsp (1)</a></li>
11403
11404  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/multimedia">multimedia (22)</a></li>
11405
11406  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/norsk">norsk (191)</a></li>
11407
11408  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug (142)</a></li>
11409
11410  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/offentlig innsyn">offentlig innsyn (4)</a></li>
11411
11412  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/open311">open311 (2)</a></li>
11413
11414  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/opphavsrett">opphavsrett (34)</a></li>
11415
11416  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/personvern">personvern (48)</a></li>
11417
11418  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/raid">raid (1)</a></li>
11419
11420  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/reprap">reprap (11)</a></li>
11421
11422  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/rfid">rfid (2)</a></li>
11423
11424  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/robot">robot (4)</a></li>
11425
11426  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/rss">rss (1)</a></li>
11427
11428  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/ruter">ruter (4)</a></li>
11429
11430  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/scraperwiki">scraperwiki (2)</a></li>
11431
11432  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/sikkerhet">sikkerhet (23)</a></li>
11433
11434  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/sitesummary">sitesummary (4)</a></li>
11435
11436  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/skepsis">skepsis (1)</a></li>
11437
11438  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/standard">standard (36)</a></li>
11439
11440  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/stavekontroll">stavekontroll (1)</a></li>
11441
11442  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/stortinget">stortinget (4)</a></li>
11443
11444  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/surveillance">surveillance (10)</a></li>
11445
11446  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/valg">valg (6)</a></li>
11447
11448  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/video">video (32)</a></li>
11449
11450  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/vitenskap">vitenskap (1)</a></li>
11451
11452  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/web">web (25)</a></li>
11453
11454 </ul>
11455
11456
11457     </div>
11458     <p style="text-align: right">
11459  Created by <a href="http://steve.org.uk/Software/chronicle">Chronicle v4.4</a>
11460 </p>
11461
11462   </body>
11463 </html>