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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/_Electronic__paper_invoices___using_vCard_in_a_QR_code.html">"Electronic" paper invoices - using vCard in a QR code</a>
  26       </div>
  27       <div class="date">
  28         12th February 2013
  29       </div>
  30       <div class="body">
  31         Here in Norway, electronic invoices are spreading, and the
  32 <a href="http://www.anskaffelser.no/e-handel/faktura">solution promoted
  33 by the Norwegian government</a> require that invoices are sent through
  34 one of the approved facilitators, and it is not possible to send
  35 electronic invoices without an agreement with one of these
  36 facilitators.  This seem like a needless limitation to be able to
  37 transfer invoice information between buyers and sellers.  My preferred
  38 solution would be to just transfer the invoice information directly
  39 between seller and buyer, for example using SMTP, or some HTTP based
  40 protocol like REST or SOAP.  But this might also be overkill, as the
  41 "electronic" information can be transferred using paper invoices too,
  42 using a simple bar code.  My bar code encoding of choice would be QR
  43 codes, as this encoding can be read by any smart phone out there.  The
  44 content of the code could be anything, but I would go with
  45 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VCard">the vCard format</a>, as
  46 it too is supported by a lot of computer equipment these days.</p>
  47
  48 <p>The vCard format support extentions, and the invoice specific
  49 information can be included using such extentions.  For example an
  50 invoice from SLX Debian Labs (picked because we
  51 <a href="http://www.linuxiskolen.no/slxdebianlabs/donations.html">ask
  52 for donations to the Debian Edu project</a> and thus have bank account
  53 information publicly available) for NOK 1000.00 could have these extra
  54 fields:</p>
  55
  56 <p><pre>
  57 X-INVOICE-NUMBER:1
  58 X-INVOICE-AMOUNT:NOK1000.00
  59 X-INVOICE-KID:123412341234
  60 X-INVOICE-MSG:Donation to Debian Edu
  61 X-BANK-ACCOUNT-NUMBER:16040884339
  62 X-BANK-IBAN-NUMBER:NO8516040884339
  63 X-BANK-SWIFT-NUMBER:DNBANOKKXXX
  64 </pre></p>
  65
  66 <p>The X-BANK-ACCOUNT-NUMBER field was proposed in a stackoverflow
  67 answer regarding
  68 <a href="http://stackoverflow.com/questions/10045664/storing-bank-account-in-vcard-file">how
  69 to put bank account information into a vCard</a>.  For payments in
  70 Norway, either X-INVOICE-KID (payment ID) or X-INVOICE-MSG could be
  71 used to pass on information to the seller when paying the invoice.</p>
  72
  73 The complete vCard could look like this:
  74
  75 <p><pre>
  76 BEGIN:VCARD
  77 VERSION:2.1
  78 ORG:SLX Debian Labs Foundation
  79 ADR;WORK:;;Gunnar Schjelderups vei 29D;OSLO;;0485;Norway
  80 URL;WORK:http://www.linuxiskolen.no/slxdebianlabs/
  81 EMAIL;PREF;INTERNET:sdl-styret@rt.nuug.no
  82 REV:20130212T095000Z
  83 X-INVOICE-NUMBER:1
  84 X-INVOICE-AMOUNT:NOK1000.00
  85 X-INVOICE-MSG:Donation to Debian Edu
  86 X-BANK-ACCOUNT-NUMBER:16040884339
  87 X-BANK-IBAN-NUMBER:NO8516040884339
  88 X-BANK-SWIFT-NUMBER:DNBANOKKXXX
  89 END:VCARD
  90 </pre></p>
  91
  92 <p>The resulting QR code created using
  93 <a href="http://fukuchi.org/works/qrencode/">qrencode</a> would look
  94 like this, and should be readable (and thus checkable) by any smart
  95 phone, or for example the <a href="http://zbar.sourceforge.net/">zbar
  96 bar code reader</a> and feed right into the approval and accounting
  97 system.</p>
  98
  99 <p><img src="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-02-12-qr-invoice.png"></p>
 100
 101 <p>The extension fields will most likely not show up in any normal
 102 vCard reader, so those parts would have to go directly into a system
 103 handling invoices.  I am a bit unsure how vCards without name parts
 104 are handled, but a simple test indicate that this work just fine.</p>
 105
 106 <p><strong>Update 2013-02-12 11:30</strong>: Added KID to the proposal
 107 based on Feedback from Sturle Sunde.</p>
 108
 109       </div>
 110       <div class="tags">
 111
 112
 113         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>.
 114
 115
 116       </div>
 117     </div>
 118     <div class="padding"></div>
 119
 120     <div class="entry">
 121       <div class="title">
 122         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Sleep_until_morning___home_automation_for_the_kids.html">Sleep until morning - home automation for the kids</a>
 123       </div>
 124       <div class="date">
 125         10th February 2013
 126       </div>
 127       <div class="body">
 128         <p><img align="left" style="margin-right:25px;" src="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-02-10-morning-light.jpeg"></p>
 129
 130 <p>With kids in the house, one challenge is getting them to sleep
 131 during the night and wake up when it is morning.  I mean, when I
 132 believe it is morning, and not two hours earlier.  In our household we
 133 have decided that 07:00 is the turning point, but getting the kids to
 134 sleep until 07:00 is a small challenge every day.  They have adapted
 135 quite well, and rarely wake up at 05:00 any more, but some times wake
 136 up at times like 05:50, 06:15, 06:30 or 06:45, and it is hard to put
 137 the awake one to bed again without disturbing and waking the rest.
 138 And I understand perfectly well that they fail to sleep until 07:00
 139 some times, as there is no way for them to know if it is before or
 140 after the magic moment without coming and asking us parents.</p>
 141
 142 <p>But yesterday I came up with a method to solve this problem.  It
 143 involve home automation.  A few years ago I bought a
 144 <a href="http://www.telldus.se/products/tellstick">Tellstick</a> and RF
 145 switches at the local <a href="http://www.clasohlson.com/">Clas
 146 Ohlson</a> shop, allowing me to control lights and other electrical
 147 gadgets using my Linux server.  When I moved from the old flat to a
 148 small house, I put away all this equipment as most of the lighting in
 149 the house was not using wall sockets and thus not easy to connect to
 150 the gadgets I had.  But recently I bought a
 151 <a href="http://www.telldus.se/products/tellstick_net">Tellstick
 152 Net</a> to be able to read sensor input as well as control power
 153 sockets.  I want to control ovens in the basement to avoid the pipes
 154 to freeze, and monitor the humidity to detect flooding.  The default
 155 setup for Tellstick Net is to be controlled by the vendor web service,
 156 which to me is a security problem, but it is also possible to build
 157 ones own
 158 <a href="http://developer.telldus.com/blog/2012/03/02/help-us-develop-local-access-using-tellstick-net-build-your-own-firmware">firmware
 159 with local access</A> instead of being controlled by a Swedish
 160 company, thanks to the release of the GPL licensed firmware source
 161 code.  I plan to get that running before I let it control anything
 162 important.  But while working on this, one idea to make it easier for
 163 the kids came to me yesterday.  We can set up a night light controlled
 164 by the computer, and turn it automatically on at 07:00.  The kids can
 165 then check the light in the morning to know if they are supposed to
 166 get up or not.  They joined me in setting everything up, and I
 167 repeated the concept several times before bed times to make sure they
 168 remembered to check the light before getting up in the morning.</p>
 169
 170 <p>We tested it this morning, and all the kids stayed in bed until
 171 after 07:00, and every one of them commented on the fact that the
 172 "morning light" was turned on and signalled that the morning had
 173 arrived.  So this look like a success, and I am excited to see how
 174 this develops the next few days. :) I really hope this can allow us
 175 all to sleep a bit longer in the morning.</p>
 176
 177 <p>A nice advantage of this setup is that we can remote control when
 178 to tell the kids to get up.  We do not have to wait until 07:00, and
 179 can also delay it if we want to.</p>
 180
 181       </div>
 182       <div class="tags">
 183
 184
 185         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
 186
 187
 188       </div>
 189     </div>
 190     <div class="padding"></div>
 191
 192     <div class="entry">
 193       <div class="title">
 194         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Bitcoin_GUI_now_available_from_Debian_unstable__and_Ubuntu_raring_.html">Bitcoin GUI now available from Debian/unstable (and Ubuntu/raring)</a>
 195       </div>
 196       <div class="date">
 197          2nd February 2013
 198       </div>
 199       <div class="body">
 200         <p>My
 201 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/How_to_backport_bitcoin_qt_version_0_7_2_2_to_Debian_Squeeze.html">last
 202 bitcoin related blog post</a> mentioned that the new
 203 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/bitcoin">bitcoin package</a> for
 204 Debian was waiting in NEW.  It was accepted by the Debian ftp-masters
 205 2013-01-19, and have been available in unstable since then.  It was
 206 automatically copied to Ubuntu, and is available in their Raring
 207 version too.</p>
 208
 209 <p>But there is a strange problem with the build that block this new
 210 version from being available on the i386 and kfreebsd-i386
 211 architectures.  For some strange reason, the autobuilders in Debian
 212 for these architectures fail to run the test suite on these
 213 architectures (<a href="http://bugs.debian.org/672524">BTS #672524</a>).
 214 We are so far unable to reproduce it when building it manually, and
 215 no-one have been able to propose a fix.  If you got an idea what is
 216 failing, please let us know via the BTS.</p>
 217
 218 <p>One feature that is annoying me with of the bitcoin client, because
 219 I often run low on disk space, is the fact that the client will exit
 220 if it run short on space (<a href="http://bugs.debian.org/696715">BTS
 221 #696715</a>).  So make sure you have enough disk space when you run
 222 it. :)</p>
 223
 224 <p>As usual, if you use bitcoin and want to show your support of my
 225 activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address
 226 <b><a href="bitcoin:15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b&label=PetterReinholdtsenBlog">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</a></b>.</p>
 227
 228       </div>
 229       <div class="tags">
 230
 231
 232         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>.
 233
 234
 235       </div>
 236     </div>
 237     <div class="padding"></div>
 238
 239     <div class="entry">
 240       <div class="title">
 241         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Welcome_to_the_world__Isenkram_.html">Welcome to the world, Isenkram!</a>
 242       </div>
 243       <div class="date">
 244         22nd January 2013
 245       </div>
 246       <div class="body">
 247         <p>Yesterday, I
 248 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/First_prototype_ready_making_hardware_easier_to_use_in_Debian.html">asked
 249 for testers</a> for my prototype for making Debian better at handling
 250 pluggable hardware devices, which I
 251 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Lets_make_hardware_dongles_easier_to_use_in_Debian.html">set
 252 out to create</a> earlier this month.  Several valuable testers showed
 253 up, and caused me to really want to to open up the development to more
 254 people.  But before I did this, I want to come up with a sensible name
 255 for this project.  Today I finally decided on a new name, and I have
 256 renamed the project from hw-support-handler to this new name.  In the
 257 process, I moved the source to git and made it available as a
 258 <a href="http://anonscm.debian.org/gitweb/?p=collab-maint/isenkram.git">collab-maint</a>
 259 repository in Debian.  The new name?  It is <strong>Isenkram</strong>.
 260 To fetch and build the latest version of the source, use</p>
 261
 262 <pre>
 263 git clone http://anonscm.debian.org/git/collab-maint/isenkram.git
 264 cd isenkram && git-buildpackage -us -uc
 265 </pre>
 266
 267 <p>I have not yet adjusted all files to use the new name yet.  If you
 268 want to hack on the source or improve the package, please go ahead.
 269 But please talk to me first on IRC or via email before you do major
 270 changes, to make sure we do not step on each others toes. :)</p>
 271
 272 <p>If you wonder what 'isenkram' is, it is a Norwegian word for iron
 273 stuff, typically meaning tools, nails, screws, etc.  Typical hardware
 274 stuff, in other words.  I've been told it is the Norwegian variant of
 275 the German word eisenkram, for those that are familiar with that
 276 word.</p>
 277
 278 <p><strong>Update 2013-01-26</strong>: Added -us -us to build
 279 instructions, to avoid confusing people with an error from the signing
 280 process.</p>
 281
 282 <p><strong>Update 2013-01-27</strong>: Switch to HTTP URL for the git
 283 clone argument to avoid the need for authentication.</p>
 284
 285       </div>
 286       <div class="tags">
 287
 288
 289         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/isenkram">isenkram</a>.
 290
 291
 292       </div>
 293     </div>
 294     <div class="padding"></div>
 295
 296     <div class="entry">
 297       <div class="title">
 298         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/First_prototype_ready_making_hardware_easier_to_use_in_Debian.html">First prototype ready making hardware easier to use in Debian</a>
 299       </div>
 300       <div class="date">
 301         21st January 2013
 302       </div>
 303       <div class="body">
 304         <p>Early this month I set out to try to
 305 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Lets_make_hardware_dongles_easier_to_use_in_Debian.html">improve
 306 the Debian support for pluggable hardware devices</a>.  Now my
 307 prototype is working, and it is ready for a larger audience.  To test
 308 it, fetch the
 309 <a href="http://anonscm.debian.org/viewvc/debian-edu/trunk/src/hw-support-handler/">source
 310 from the Debian Edu subversion repository</a>, build and install the
 311 package.  You might have to log out and in again activate the
 312 autostart script.</p>
 313
 314 <p>The design is simple:</p>
 315
 316 <ul>
 317
 318 <li>Add desktop entry in /usr/share/autostart/ causing a program
 319 hw-support-handlerd to start when the user log in.</li>
 320
 321 <li>This program listen for kernel events about new hardware (directly
 322 from the kernel like udev does), not using HAL dbus events as I
 323 initially did.</li>
 324
 325 <li>When new hardware is inserted, look up the hardware modalias in
 326 the APT database, a database
 327 <a href="http://anonscm.debian.org/viewvc/debian-edu/trunk/src/hw-support-handler/modaliases?view=markup">available
 328 via HTTP</a> and a database available as part of the package.</li>
 329
 330 <li>If a package is mapped to the hardware in question, the package
 331 isn't installed yet and this is the first time the hardware was
 332 plugged in, show a desktop notification suggesting to install the
 333 package or packages.</li>
 334
 335 <li>If the user click on the 'install package now' button, ask
 336 aptdaemon via the PackageKit API to install the requrired package.</li>
 337
 338 <li>aptdaemon ask for root password or sudo password, and install the
 339 package while showing progress information in a window.</li>
 340
 341 </ul>
 342
 343 <p>I still need to come up with a better name for the system.  Here
 344 are some screen shots showing the prototype in action.  First the
 345 notification, then the password request, and finally the request to
 346 approve all the dependencies.  Sorry for the Norwegian Bokmål GUI.</p>
 347
 348 <p><img src="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-01-21-hw-support-1-notification.png">
 349 <br><img src="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-01-21-hw-support-2-password.png">
 350 <br><img src="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-01-21-hw-support-3-dependencies.png">
 351 <br><img src="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-01-21-hw-support-4-installing.png">
 352 <br><img src="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-01-21-hw-support-5-installing-details.png" width="70%"></p>
 353
 354 <p>The prototype still need to be improved with longer timeouts, but
 355 is already useful.  The database of hardware to package mappings also
 356 need more work.  It is currently compatible with the Ubuntu way of
 357 storing such information in the package control file, but could be
 358 changed to use other formats instead or in addition to the current
 359 method.  I've dropped the use of discover for this mapping, as the
 360 modalias approach is more flexible and easier to use on Linux as long
 361 as the Linux kernel expose its modalias strings directly.</p>
 362
 363 <p><strong>Update 2013-01-21 16:50</strong>: Due to popular demand,
 364 here is the command required to check out and build the source: Use
 365 '<tt>svn checkout
 366 svn://svn.debian.org/debian-edu/trunk/src/hw-support-handler/; cd
 367 hw-support-handler; debuild</tt>'.  If you lack debuild, install the
 368 devscripts package.</p>
 369
 370 <p><strong>Update 2013-01-23 12:00</strong>: The project is now
 371 renamed to Isenkram and the source moved from the Debian Edu
 372 subversion repository to a Debian collab-maint git repository.  See
 373 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Welcome_to_the_world__Isenkram_.html">build
 374 instructions</a> for details.</p>
 375
 376       </div>
 377       <div class="tags">
 378
 379
 380         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/isenkram">isenkram</a>.
 381
 382
 383       </div>
 384     </div>
 385     <div class="padding"></div>
 386
 387     <div class="entry">
 388       <div class="title">
 389         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Thank_you_Thinkpad_X41__for_your_long_and_trustworthy_service.html">Thank you Thinkpad X41, for your long and trustworthy service</a>
 390       </div>
 391       <div class="date">
 392         19th January 2013
 393       </div>
 394       <div class="body">
 395         <p>This Christmas my trusty old laptop died.  It died quietly and
 396 suddenly in bed.  With a quiet whimper, it went completely quiet and
 397 black.  The power button was no longer able to turn it on.  It was a
 398 IBM Thinkpad X41, and the best laptop I ever had.  Better than both
 399 Thinkpads X30, X31, X40, X60, X61 and X61S.  Far better than the
 400 Compaq I had before that.  Now I need to find a replacement.  To keep
 401 going during Christmas, I moved the one year old SSD disk to my old
 402 X40 where it fitted (only one I had left that could use it), but it is
 403 not a durable solution.
 404
 405 <p>My laptop needs are fairly modest.  This is my wishlist from when I
 406 got a new one more than 10 years ago.  It still holds true.:)</p>
 407
 408 <ul>
 409
 410 <li>Lightweight (around 1 kg) and small volume (preferably smaller
 411   than A4).</li>
 412 <li>Robust, it will be in my backpack every day.</li>
 413 <li>Three button mouse and a mouse pin instead of touch pad.</li>
 414 <li>Long battery life time.  Preferable a week.</li>
 415 <li>Internal WIFI network card.</li>
 416 <li>Internal Twisted Pair network card.</li>
 417 <li>Some USB slots (2-3 is plenty)</li>
 418 <li>Good keyboard - similar to the Thinkpad.</li>
 419 <li>Video resolution at least 1024x768, with size around 12" (A4 paper
 420 size).</li>
 421 <li>Hardware supported by Debian Stable, ie the default kernel and
 422   X.org packages.</li>
 423 <li>Quiet, preferably fan free (or at least not using the fan most of
 424   the time).
 425
 426 </ul>
 427
 428 <p>You will notice that there are no RAM and CPU requirements in the
 429 list.  The reason is simply that the specifications on laptops the
 430 last 10-15 years have been sufficient for my needs, and I have to look
 431 at other features to choose my laptop.  But are there still made as
 432 robust laptops as my X41?  The Thinkpad X60/X61 proved to be less
 433 robust, and Thinkpads seem to be heading in the wrong direction since
 434 Lenovo took over.  But I've been told that X220 and X1 Carbon might
 435 still be useful.</p>
 436
 437 <p>Perhaps I should rethink my needs, and look for a pad with an
 438 external keyboard?  I'll have to check the
 439 <a href="http://www.linux-laptop.net/">Linux Laptops site</a> for
 440 well-supported laptops, or perhaps just buy one preinstalled from one
 441 of the vendors listed on the <a href="http://linuxpreloaded.com/">Linux
 442 Pre-loaded site</a>.</p>
 443
 444       </div>
 445       <div class="tags">
 446
 447
 448         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>.
 449
 450
 451       </div>
 452     </div>
 453     <div class="padding"></div>
 454
 455     <div class="entry">
 456       <div class="title">
 457         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/How_to_find_a_browser_plugin_supporting_a_given_MIME_type.html">How to find a browser plugin supporting a given MIME type</a>
 458       </div>
 459       <div class="date">
 460         18th January 2013
 461       </div>
 462       <div class="body">
 463         <p>Some times I try to figure out which Iceweasel browser plugin to
 464 install to get support for a given MIME type.  Thanks to
 465 <a href="https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MozillaTeam/Plugins">specifications
 466 done by Ubuntu</a> and Mozilla, it is possible to do this in Debian.
 467 Unfortunately, not very many packages provide the needed meta
 468 information, Anyway, here is a small script to look up all browser
 469 plugin packages announcing ther MIME support using this specification:</p>
 470
 471 <pre>
 472 #!/usr/bin/python
 473 import sys
 474 import apt
 475 def pkgs_handling_mimetype(mimetype):
 476     cache = apt.Cache()
 477     cache.open(None)
 478     thepkgs = []
 479     for pkg in cache:
 480         version = pkg.candidate
 481         if version is None:
 482             version = pkg.installed
 483         if version is None:
 484             continue
 485         record = version.record
 486         if not record.has_key('Npp-MimeType'):
 487             continue
 488         mime_types = record['Npp-MimeType'].split(',')
 489         for t in mime_types:
 490             t = t.rstrip().strip()
 491             if t == mimetype:
 492                 thepkgs.append(pkg.name)
 493     return thepkgs
 494 mimetype = "audio/ogg"
 495 if 1 < len(sys.argv):
 496     mimetype = sys.argv[1]
 497 print "Browser plugin packages supporting %s:" % mimetype
 498 for pkg in pkgs_handling_mimetype(mimetype):
 499     print "  %s" %pkg
 500 </pre>
 501
 502 <p>It can be used like this to look up a given MIME type:</p>
 503
 504 <pre>
 505 % ./apt-find-browserplug-for-mimetype
 506 Browser plugin packages supporting audio/ogg:
 507   gecko-mediaplayer
 508 % ./apt-find-browserplug-for-mimetype application/x-shockwave-flash
 509 Browser plugin packages supporting application/x-shockwave-flash:
 510   browser-plugin-gnash
 511 %
 512 </pre>
 513
 514 <p>In Ubuntu this mechanism is combined with support in the browser
 515 itself to query for plugins and propose to install the needed
 516 packages.  It would be great if Debian supported such feature too.  Is
 517 anyone working on adding it?</p>
 518
 519 <p><strong>Update 2013-01-18 14:20</strong>: The Debian BTS
 520 request for icweasel support for this feature is
 521 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/484010">#484010</a> from 2008 (and
 522 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/698426">#698426</a> from today).  Lack
 523 of manpower and wish for a different design is the reason thus feature
 524 is not yet in iceweasel from Debian.</p>
 525
 526       </div>
 527       <div class="tags">
 528
 529
 530         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>.
 531
 532
 533       </div>
 534     </div>
 535     <div class="padding"></div>
 536
 537     <div class="entry">
 538       <div class="title">
 539         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/What_is_the_most_supported_MIME_type_in_Debian_.html">What is the most supported MIME type in Debian?</a>
 540       </div>
 541       <div class="date">
 542         16th January 2013
 543       </div>
 544       <div class="body">
 545         <p>The <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/AppStreamDebianProposal">DEP-11
 546 proposal to add AppStream information to the Debian archive</a>, is a
 547 proposal to make it possible for a Desktop application to propose to
 548 the user some package to install to gain support for a given MIME
 549 type, font, library etc. that is currently missing.  With such
 550 mechanism in place, it would be possible for the desktop to
 551 automatically propose and install leocad if some LDraw file is
 552 downloaded by the browser.</p>
 553
 554 <p>To get some idea about the current content of the archive, I decided
 555 to write a simple program to extract all .desktop files from the
 556 Debian archive and look up the claimed MIME support there.  The result
 557 can be found on the
 558 <a href="http://ftp.skolelinux.org/pub/AppStreamTest">Skolelinux FTP
 559 site</a>.  Using the collected information, it become possible to
 560 answer the question in the title.  Here are the 20 most supported MIME
 561 types in Debian stable (Squeeze), testing (Wheezy) and unstable (Sid).
 562 The complete list is available from the link above.</p>
 563
 564 <p><strong>Debian Stable:</strong></p>
 565
 566 <pre>
 567   count MIME type
 568   ----- -----------------------
 569      32 text/plain
 570      30 audio/mpeg
 571      29 image/png
 572      28 image/jpeg
 573      27 application/ogg
 574      26 audio/x-mp3
 575      25 image/tiff
 576      25 image/gif
 577      22 image/bmp
 578      22 audio/x-wav
 579      20 audio/x-flac
 580      19 audio/x-mpegurl
 581      18 video/x-ms-asf
 582      18 audio/x-musepack
 583      18 audio/x-mpeg
 584      18 application/x-ogg
 585      17 video/mpeg
 586      17 audio/x-scpls
 587      17 audio/ogg
 588      16 video/x-ms-wmv
 589 </pre>
 590
 591 <p><strong>Debian Testing:</strong></p>
 592
 593 <pre>
 594   count MIME type
 595   ----- -----------------------
 596      33 text/plain
 597      32 image/png
 598      32 image/jpeg
 599      29 audio/mpeg
 600      27 image/gif
 601      26 image/tiff
 602      26 application/ogg
 603      25 audio/x-mp3
 604      22 image/bmp
 605      21 audio/x-wav
 606      19 audio/x-mpegurl
 607      19 audio/x-mpeg
 608      18 video/mpeg
 609      18 audio/x-scpls
 610      18 audio/x-flac
 611      18 application/x-ogg
 612      17 video/x-ms-asf
 613      17 text/html
 614      17 audio/x-musepack
 615      16 image/x-xbitmap
 616 </pre>
 617
 618 <p><strong>Debian Unstable:</strong></p>
 619
 620 <pre>
 621   count MIME type
 622   ----- -----------------------
 623      31 text/plain
 624      31 image/png
 625      31 image/jpeg
 626      29 audio/mpeg
 627      28 application/ogg
 628      27 image/gif
 629      26 image/tiff
 630      26 audio/x-mp3
 631      23 audio/x-wav
 632      22 image/bmp
 633      21 audio/x-flac
 634      20 audio/x-mpegurl
 635      19 audio/x-mpeg
 636      18 video/x-ms-asf
 637      18 video/mpeg
 638      18 audio/x-scpls
 639      18 application/x-ogg
 640      17 audio/x-musepack
 641      16 video/x-ms-wmv
 642      16 video/x-msvideo
 643 </pre>
 644
 645 <p>I am told that PackageKit can provide an API to access the kind of
 646 information mentioned in DEP-11.  I have not yet had time to look at
 647 it, but hope the PackageKit people in Debian are on top of these
 648 issues.</p>
 649
 650 <p><strong>Update 2013-01-16 13:35</strong>: Updated numbers after
 651 discovering a typo in my script.</p>
 652
 653       </div>
 654       <div class="tags">
 655
 656
 657         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>.
 658
 659
 660       </div>
 661     </div>
 662     <div class="padding"></div>
 663
 664     <div class="entry">
 665       <div class="title">
 666         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Using_modalias_info_to_find_packages_handling_my_hardware.html">Using modalias info to find packages handling my hardware</a>
 667       </div>
 668       <div class="date">
 669         15th January 2013
 670       </div>
 671       <div class="body">
 672         <p>Yesterday, I wrote about the
 673 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Modalias_strings___a_practical_way_to_map__stuff__to_hardware.html">modalias
 674 values provided by the Linux kernel</a> following my hope for
 675 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Lets_make_hardware_dongles_easier_to_use_in_Debian.html">better
 676 dongle support in Debian</a>.  Using this knowledge, I have tested how
 677 modalias values attached to package names can be used to map packages
 678 to hardware.  This allow the system to look up and suggest relevant
 679 packages when I plug in some new hardware into my machine, and replace
 680 discover and discover-data as the database used to map hardware to
 681 packages.</p>
 682
 683 <p>I create a modaliases file with entries like the following,
 684 containing package name, kernel module name (if relevant, otherwise
 685 the package name) and globs matching the relevant hardware
 686 modalias.</p>
 687
 688 <p><blockquote>
 689 Package: package-name
 690 <br>Modaliases: module(modaliasglob, modaliasglob, modaliasglob)</p>
 691 </blockquote></p>
 692
 693 <p>It is fairly trivial to write code to find the relevant packages
 694 for a given modalias value using this file.</p>
 695
 696 <p>An entry like this would suggest the video and picture application
 697 cheese for many USB web cameras (interface bus class 0E01):</p>
 698
 699 <p><blockquote>
 700 Package: cheese
 701 <br>Modaliases: cheese(usb:v*p*d*dc*dsc*dp*ic0Eisc01ip*)</p>
 702 </blockquote></p>
 703
 704 <p>An entry like this would suggest the pcmciautils package when a
 705 CardBus bridge (bus class 0607) PCI device is present:</p>
 706
 707 <p><blockquote>
 708 Package: pcmciautils
 709 <br>Modaliases: pcmciautils(pci:v*d*sv*sd*bc06sc07i*)
 710 </blockquote></p>
 711
 712 <p>An entry like this would suggest the package colorhug-client when
 713 plugging in a ColorHug with USB IDs 04D8:F8DA:</p>
 714
 715 <p><blockquote>
 716 Package: colorhug-client
 717 <br>Modaliases: colorhug-client(usb:v04D8pF8DAd*)</p>
 718 </blockquote></p>
 719
 720 <p>I believe the format is compatible with the format of the Packages
 721 file in the Debian archive.  Ubuntu already uses their Packages file
 722 to store their mappings from packages to hardware.</p>
 723
 724 <p>By adding a XB-Modaliases: header in debian/control, any .deb can
 725 announce the hardware it support in a way my prototype understand.
 726 This allow those publishing packages in an APT source outside the
 727 Debian archive as well as those backporting packages to make sure the
 728 hardware mapping are included in the package meta information.  I've
 729 tested such header in the pymissile package, and its modalias mapping
 730 is working as it should with my prototype.  It even made it to Ubuntu
 731 Raring.</p>
 732
 733 <p>To test if it was possible to look up supported hardware using only
 734 the shell tools available in the Debian installer, I wrote a shell
 735 implementation of the lookup code.  The idea is to create files for
 736 each modalias and let the shell do the matching.  Please check out and
 737 try the
 738 <a href="http://anonscm.debian.org/viewvc/debian-edu/trunk/src/hw-support-handler/hw-support-lookup?view=co">hw-support-lookup</a>
 739 shell script.  It run without any extra dependencies and fetch the
 740 hardware mappings from the Debian archive and the subversion
 741 repository where I currently work on my prototype.</p>
 742
 743 <p>When I use it on a machine with a yubikey inserted, it suggest to
 744 install yubikey-personalization:</p>
 745
 746 <p><blockquote>
 747 % ./hw-support-lookup
 748 <br>yubikey-personalization
 749 <br>%
 750 </blockquote></p>
 751
 752 <p>When I run it on my Thinkpad X40 with a PCMCIA/CardBus slot, it
 753 propose to install the pcmciautils package:</p>
 754
 755 <p><blockquote>
 756 % ./hw-support-lookup
 757 <br>pcmciautils
 758 <br>%
 759 </blockquote></p>
 760
 761 <p>If you know of any hardware-package mapping that should be added to
 762 <a href="http://anonscm.debian.org/viewvc/debian-edu/trunk/src/hw-support-handler/modaliases?view=co">my
 763 database</a>, please tell me about it.</p>
 764
 765 <p>It could be possible to generate several of the mappings between
 766 packages and hardware.  One source would be to look at packages with
 767 kernel modules, ie packages with *.ko files in /lib/modules/, and
 768 extract their modalias information.  Another would be to look at
 769 packages with udev rules, ie packages with files in
 770 /lib/udev/rules.d/, and extract their vendor/model information to
 771 generate a modalias matching rule.  I have not tested any of these to
 772 see if it work.</p>
 773
 774 <p>If you want to help implementing a system to let us propose what
 775 packages to install when new hardware is plugged into a Debian
 776 machine, please send me an email or talk to me on
 777 <a href="irc://irc.debian.org/%23debian-devel">#debian-devel</a>.</p>
 778
 779       </div>
 780       <div class="tags">
 781
 782
 783         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/isenkram">isenkram</a>.
 784
 785
 786       </div>
 787     </div>
 788     <div class="padding"></div>
 789
 790     <div class="entry">
 791       <div class="title">
 792         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Modalias_strings___a_practical_way_to_map__stuff__to_hardware.html">Modalias strings - a practical way to map "stuff" to hardware</a>
 793       </div>
 794       <div class="date">
 795         14th January 2013
 796       </div>
 797       <div class="body">
 798         <p>While looking into how to look up Debian packages based on hardware
 799 information, to find the packages that support a given piece of
 800 hardware, I refreshed my memory regarding modalias values, and decided
 801 to document the details.  Here are my findings so far, also available
 802 in
 803 <a href="http://anonscm.debian.org/viewvc/debian-edu/trunk/src/hw-support-handler/">the
 804 Debian Edu subversion repository</a>:
 805
 806 <p><strong>Modalias decoded</strong></p>
 807
 808 <p>This document try to explain what the different types of modalias
 809 values stands for.  It is in part based on information from
 810 &lt;URL: <a href="https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Modalias">https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Modalias</a> &gt;,
 811 &lt;URL: <a href="http://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/26132/how-to-assign-usb-driver-to-device">http://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/26132/how-to-assign-usb-driver-to-device</a> &gt;,
 812 &lt;URL: <a href="http://code.metager.de/source/history/linux/stable/scripts/mod/file2alias.c">http://code.metager.de/source/history/linux/stable/scripts/mod/file2alias.c</a> &gt; and
 813 &lt;URL: <a href="http://cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewvc/dmidecode/dmidecode.c?root=dmidecode&view=markup">http://cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewvc/dmidecode/dmidecode.c?root=dmidecode&view=markup</a> &gt;.
 814
 815 <p>The modalias entries for a given Linux machine can be found using
 816 this shell script:</p>
 817
 818 <pre>
 819 find /sys -name modalias -print0 | xargs -0 cat | sort -u
 820 </pre>
 821
 822 <p>The supported modalias globs for a given kernel module can be found
 823 using modinfo:</p>
 824
 825 <pre>
 826 % /sbin/modinfo psmouse | grep alias:
 827 alias:          serio:ty05pr*id*ex*
 828 alias:          serio:ty01pr*id*ex*
 829 %
 830 </pre>
 831
 832 <p><strong>PCI subtype</strong></p>
 833
 834 <p>A typical PCI entry can look like this.  This is an Intel Host
 835 Bridge memory controller:</p>
 836
 837 <p><blockquote>
 838 pci:v00008086d00002770sv00001028sd000001ADbc06sc00i00
 839 </blockquote></p>
 840
 841 <p>This represent these values:</p>
 842
 843 <pre>
 844  v   00008086  (vendor)
 845  d   00002770  (device)
 846  sv  00001028  (subvendor)
 847  sd  000001AD  (subdevice)
 848  bc  06        (bus class)
 849  sc  00        (bus subclass)
 850  i   00        (interface)
 851 </pre>
 852
 853 <p>The vendor/device values are the same values outputted from 'lspci
 854 -n' as 8086:2770.  The bus class/subclass is also shown by lspci as
 855 0600.  The 0600 class is a host bridge.  Other useful bus values are
 856 0300 (VGA compatible card) and 0200 (Ethernet controller).</p>
 857
 858 <p>Not sure how to figure out the interface value, nor what it
 859 means.</p>
 860
 861 <p><strong>USB subtype</strong></p>
 862
 863 <p>Some typical USB entries can look like this.  This is an internal
 864 USB hub in a laptop:</p>
 865
 866 <p><blockquote>
 867 usb:v1D6Bp0001d0206dc09dsc00dp00ic09isc00ip00
 868 </blockquote></p>
 869
 870 <p>Here is the values included in this alias:</p>
 871
 872 <pre>
 873  v    1D6B  (device vendor)
 874  p    0001  (device product)
 875  d    0206  (bcddevice)
 876  dc     09  (device class)
 877  dsc    00  (device subclass)
 878  dp     00  (device protocol)
 879  ic     09  (interface class)
 880  isc    00  (interface subclass)
 881  ip     00  (interface protocol)
 882 </pre>
 883
 884 <p>The 0900 device class/subclass means hub.  Some times the relevant
 885 class is in the interface class section.  For a simple USB web camera,
 886 these alias entries show up:</p>
 887
 888 <p><blockquote>
 889 usb:v0AC8p3420d5000dcEFdsc02dp01ic01isc01ip00
 890 <br>usb:v0AC8p3420d5000dcEFdsc02dp01ic01isc02ip00
 891 <br>usb:v0AC8p3420d5000dcEFdsc02dp01ic0Eisc01ip00
 892 <br>usb:v0AC8p3420d5000dcEFdsc02dp01ic0Eisc02ip00
 893 </blockquote></p>
 894
 895 <p>Interface class 0E01 is video control, 0E02 is video streaming (aka
 896 camera), 0101 is audio control device and 0102 is audio streaming (aka
 897 microphone).  Thus this is a camera with microphone included.</p>
 898
 899 <p><strong>ACPI subtype</strong></p>
 900
 901 <p>The ACPI type is used for several non-PCI/USB stuff.  This is an IR
 902 receiver in a Thinkpad X40:</p>
 903
 904 <p><blockquote>
 905 acpi:IBM0071:PNP0511:
 906 </blockquote></p>
 907
 908 <p>The values between the colons are IDs.</p>
 909
 910 <p><strong>DMI subtype</strong></p>
 911
 912 <p>The DMI table contain lots of information about the computer case
 913 and model.  This is an entry for a IBM Thinkpad X40, fetched from
 914 /sys/devices/virtual/dmi/id/modalias:</p>
 915
 916 <p><blockquote>
 917 dmi:bvnIBM:bvr1UETB6WW(1.66):bd06/15/2005:svnIBM:pn2371H4G:pvrThinkPadX40:rvnIBM:rn2371H4G:rvrNotAvailable:cvnIBM:ct10:cvrNotAvailable:
 918 </blockquote></p>
 919
 920 <p>The values present are</p>
 921
 922 <pre>
 923  bvn  IBM            (BIOS vendor)
 924  bvr  1UETB6WW(1.66) (BIOS version)
 925  bd   06/15/2005     (BIOS date)
 926  svn  IBM            (system vendor)
 927  pn   2371H4G        (product name)
 928  pvr  ThinkPadX40    (product version)
 929  rvn  IBM            (board vendor)
 930  rn   2371H4G        (board name)
 931  rvr  NotAvailable   (board version)
 932  cvn  IBM            (chassis vendor)
 933  ct   10             (chassis type)
 934  cvr  NotAvailable   (chassis version)
 935 </pre>
 936
 937 <p>The chassis type 10 is Notebook.  Other interesting values can be
 938 found in the dmidecode source:</p>
 939
 940 <pre>
 941   3 Desktop
 942   4 Low Profile Desktop
 943   5 Pizza Box
 944   6 Mini Tower
 945   7 Tower
 946   8 Portable
 947   9 Laptop
 948  10 Notebook
 949  11 Hand Held
 950  12 Docking Station
 951  13 All In One
 952  14 Sub Notebook
 953  15 Space-saving
 954  16 Lunch Box
 955  17 Main Server Chassis
 956  18 Expansion Chassis
 957  19 Sub Chassis
 958  20 Bus Expansion Chassis
 959  21 Peripheral Chassis
 960  22 RAID Chassis
 961  23 Rack Mount Chassis
 962  24 Sealed-case PC
 963  25 Multi-system
 964  26 CompactPCI
 965  27 AdvancedTCA
 966  28 Blade
 967  29 Blade Enclosing
 968 </pre>
 969
 970 <p>The chassis type values are not always accurately set in the DMI
 971 table.  For example my home server is a tower, but the DMI modalias
 972 claim it is a desktop.</p>
 973
 974 <p><strong>SerIO subtype</strong></p>
 975
 976 <p>This type is used for PS/2 mouse plugs.  One example is from my
 977 test machine:</p>
 978
 979 <p><blockquote>
 980 serio:ty01pr00id00ex00
 981 </blockquote></p>
 982
 983 <p>The values present are</p>
 984
 985 <pre>
 986   ty  01  (type)
 987   pr  00  (prototype)
 988   id  00  (id)
 989   ex  00  (extra)
 990 </pre>
 991
 992 <p>This type is supported by the psmouse driver.  I am not sure what
 993 the valid values are.</p>
 994
 995 <p><strong>Other subtypes</strong></p>
 996
 997 <p>There are heaps of other modalias subtypes according to
 998 file2alias.c.  There is the rest of the list from that source: amba,
 999 ap, bcma, ccw, css, eisa, hid, i2c, ieee1394, input, ipack, isapnp,
1000 mdio, of, parisc, pcmcia, platform, scsi, sdio, spi, ssb, vio, virtio,
1001 vmbus, x86cpu and zorro.  I did not spend time documenting all of
1002 these, as they do not seem relevant for my intended use with mapping
1003 hardware to packages when new stuff is inserted during run time.</p>
1004
1005 <p><strong>Looking up kernel modules using modalias values</strong></p>
1006
1007 <p>To check which kernel modules provide support for a given modalias,
1008 one can use the following shell script:</p>
1009
1010 <pre>
1011   for id in $(find /sys -name modalias -print0 | xargs -0 cat | sort -u); do \
1012     echo "$id" ; \
1013     /sbin/modprobe --show-depends "$id"|sed 's/^/  /' ; \
1014   done
1015 </pre>
1016
1017 <p>The output can look like this (only the first few entries as the
1018 list is very long on my test machine):</p>
1019
1020 <pre>
1021   acpi:ACPI0003:
1022     insmod /lib/modules/2.6.32-5-686/kernel/drivers/acpi/ac.ko
1023   acpi:device:
1024   FATAL: Module acpi:device: not found.
1025   acpi:IBM0068:
1026     insmod /lib/modules/2.6.32-5-686/kernel/drivers/char/nvram.ko
1027     insmod /lib/modules/2.6.32-5-686/kernel/drivers/leds/led-class.ko
1028     insmod /lib/modules/2.6.32-5-686/kernel/net/rfkill/rfkill.ko
1029     insmod /lib/modules/2.6.32-5-686/kernel/drivers/platform/x86/thinkpad_acpi.ko
1030   acpi:IBM0071:PNP0511:
1031     insmod /lib/modules/2.6.32-5-686/kernel/lib/crc-ccitt.ko
1032     insmod /lib/modules/2.6.32-5-686/kernel/net/irda/irda.ko
1033     insmod /lib/modules/2.6.32-5-686/kernel/drivers/net/irda/nsc-ircc.ko
1034   [...]
1035 </pre>
1036
1037 <p>If you want to help implementing a system to let us propose what
1038 packages to install when new hardware is plugged into a Debian
1039 machine, please send me an email or talk to me on
1040 <a href="irc://irc.debian.org/%23debian-devel">#debian-devel</a>.</p>
1041
1042 <p><strong>Update 2013-01-15:</strong> Rewrite "cat $(find ...)" to
1043 "find ... -print0 | xargs -0 cat" to make sure it handle directories
1044 in /sys/ with space in them.</p>
1045
1046       </div>
1047       <div class="tags">
1048
1049
1050         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/isenkram">isenkram</a>.
1051
1052
1053       </div>
1054     </div>
1055     <div class="padding"></div>
1056
1057     <div class="entry">
1058       <div class="title">
1059         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Moved_the_pymissile_Debian_packaging_to_collab_maint.html">Moved the pymissile Debian packaging to collab-maint</a>
1060       </div>
1061       <div class="date">
1062         10th January 2013
1063       </div>
1064       <div class="body">
1065         <p>As part of my investigation on how to improve the support in Debian
1066 for hardware dongles, I dug up my old Mark and Spencer USB Rocket
1067 Launcher and updated the Debian package
1068 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/pymissile">pymissile</a> to make
1069 sure udev will fix the device permissions when it is plugged in.  I
1070 also added a "Modaliases" header to test it in the Debian archive and
1071 hopefully make the package be proposed by jockey in Ubuntu when a user
1072 plug in his rocket launcher.  In the process I moved the source to a
1073 git repository under collab-maint, to make it easier for any DD to
1074 contribute.  <a href="http://code.google.com/p/pymissile/">Upstream</a>
1075 is not very active, but the software still work for me even after five
1076 years of relative silence.  The new git repository is not listed in
1077 the uploaded package yet, because I want to test the other changes a
1078 bit more before I upload the new version.  If you want to check out
1079 the new version with a .desktop file included, visit the
1080 <a href="http://anonscm.debian.org/gitweb/?p=collab-maint/pymissile.git">gitweb
1081 view</a> or use "<tt>git clone
1082 git://anonscm.debian.org/collab-maint/pymissile.git</tt>".</p>
1083
1084       </div>
1085       <div class="tags">
1086
1087
1088         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/robot">robot</a>.
1089
1090
1091       </div>
1092     </div>
1093     <div class="padding"></div>
1094
1095     <div class="entry">
1096       <div class="title">
1097         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Lets_make_hardware_dongles_easier_to_use_in_Debian.html">Lets make hardware dongles easier to use in Debian</a>
1098       </div>
1099       <div class="date">
1100          9th January 2013
1101       </div>
1102       <div class="body">
1103         <p>One thing that annoys me with Debian and Linux distributions in
1104 general, is that there is a great package management system with the
1105 ability to automatically install software packages by downloading them
1106 from the distribution mirrors, but no way to get it to automatically
1107 install the packages I need to use the hardware I plug into my
1108 machine.  Even if the package to use it is easily available from the
1109 Linux distribution.  When I plug in a LEGO Mindstorms NXT, it could
1110 suggest to automatically install the python-nxt, nbc and t2n packages
1111 I need to talk to it.  When I plug in a Yubikey, it could propose the
1112 yubikey-personalization package.  The information required to do this
1113 is available, but no-one have pulled all the pieces together.</p>
1114
1115 <p>Some years ago, I proposed to
1116 <a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2010/05/msg01206.html">use
1117 the discover subsystem to implement this</a>.  The idea is fairly
1118 simple:
1119
1120 <ul>
1121
1122 <li>Add a desktop entry in /usr/share/autostart/ pointing to a program
1123   starting when a user log in.</li>
1124
1125 <li>Set this program up to listen for kernel events emitted when new
1126   hardware is inserted into the computer.</li>
1127
1128 <li>When new hardware is inserted, look up the hardware ID in a
1129   database mapping to packages, and take note of any non-installed
1130   packages.</li>
1131
1132 <li>Show a message to the user proposing to install the discovered
1133   package, and make it easy to install it.</li>
1134
1135 </ul>
1136
1137 <p>I am not sure what the best way to implement this is, but my
1138 initial idea was to use dbus events to discover new hardware, the
1139 discover database to find packages and
1140 <a href="http://www.packagekit.org/">PackageKit</a> to install
1141 packages.</p>
1142
1143 <p>Yesterday, I found time to try to implement this idea, and the
1144 draft package is now checked into
1145 <a href="http://anonscm.debian.org/viewvc/debian-edu/trunk/src/hw-support-handler/">the
1146 Debian Edu subversion repository</a>.  In the process, I updated the
1147 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/d/discover-data.html">discover-data</a>
1148 package to map the USB ids of LEGO Mindstorms and Yubikey devices to
1149 the relevant packages in Debian, and uploaded a new version
1150 2.2013.01.09 to unstable.  I also discovered that the current
1151 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/d/discover.html">discover</a>
1152 package in Debian no longer discovered any USB devices, because
1153 /proc/bus/usb/devices is no longer present.  I ported it to use
1154 libusb as a fall back option to get it working.  The fixed package
1155 version 2.1.2-6 is now in experimental (didn't upload it to unstable
1156 because of the freeze).</p>
1157
1158 <p>With this prototype in place, I can insert my Yubikey, and get this
1159 desktop notification to show up (only once, the first time it is
1160 inserted):</p>
1161
1162 <p align="center"><img src="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-01-09-hw-autoinstall.png"></p>
1163
1164 <p>For this prototype to be really useful, some way to automatically
1165 install the proposed packages by pressing the "Please install
1166 program(s)" button should to be implemented.</p>
1167
1168 <p>If this idea seem useful to you, and you want to help make it
1169 happen, please help me update the discover-data database with mappings
1170 from hardware to Debian packages.  Check if 'discover-pkginstall -l'
1171 list the package you would like to have installed when a given
1172 hardware device is inserted into your computer, and report bugs using
1173 reportbug if it isn't.  Or, if you know of a better way to provide
1174 such mapping, please let me know.</p>
1175
1176 <p>This prototype need more work, and there are several questions that
1177 should be considered before it is ready for production use.  Is dbus
1178 the correct way to detect new hardware?  At the moment I look for HAL
1179 dbus events on the system bus, because that is the events I could see
1180 on my Debian Squeeze KDE desktop.  Are there better events to use?
1181 How should the user be notified?  Is the desktop notification
1182 mechanism the best option, or should the background daemon raise a
1183 popup instead?  How should packages be installed?  When should they
1184 not be installed?</p>
1185
1186 <p>If you want to help getting such feature implemented in Debian,
1187 please send me an email. :)</p>
1188
1189       </div>
1190       <div class="tags">
1191
1192
1193         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/isenkram">isenkram</a>.
1194
1195
1196       </div>
1197     </div>
1198     <div class="padding"></div>
1199
1200     <div class="entry">
1201       <div class="title">
1202         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/New_IRC_channel_for_LEGO_designers_using_Debian.html">New IRC channel for LEGO designers using Debian</a>
1203       </div>
1204       <div class="date">
1205          2nd January 2013
1206       </div>
1207       <div class="body">
1208         <p>During Christmas, I have worked a bit on the Debian support for
1209 <a href="http://mindstorms.lego.com/en-us/Default.aspx">LEGO Mindstorm
1210 NXT</a>.  My son and I have played a bit with my NXT set, and I
1211 discovered I had to build all the tools myself because none were
1212 already in Debian Squeeze.  If Debian support for LEGO is something
1213 you care about, please join me on the IRC channel
1214 <a href="irc://irc.debian.org/%23debian-lego">#debian-lego</a> (server
1215 irc.debian.org).  There is a lot that could be done to improve the
1216 Debian support for LEGO designers.  For example both CAD software
1217 and Mindstorm compilers are missing. :)</p>
1218
1219 <p>Update 2012-01-03: A
1220 <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/LegoDesigners">project page</a>
1221 including links to Lego related packages is now available.</p>
1222
1223       </div>
1224       <div class="tags">
1225
1226
1227         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/robot">robot</a>.
1228
1229
1230       </div>
1231     </div>
1232     <div class="padding"></div>
1233
1234     <div class="entry">
1235       <div class="title">
1236         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/A_Christmas_present_for_Skolelinux___Debian_Edu.html">A Christmas present for Skolelinux / Debian Edu</a>
1237       </div>
1238       <div class="date">
1239         28th December 2012
1240       </div>
1241       <div class="body">
1242         <p>I was happy to discover a few days ago that the
1243 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Skolelinux / Debian Edu</a>
1244 project also this year received a Christmas present from Another
1245 Agency in Trondheim.  NOK 1000,- showed up on our donation account
1246 December 24th.  I want to express our thanks for this very welcome
1247 present.  As the Debian Edu / Skolelinux project is very short on
1248 funding these days, and thus lack the money to do regular developer
1249 gatherings, this donation was most welcome.  One developer gathering
1250 cost around NOK 15&nbsp;000,-, so we need quite a lot more to keep the
1251 development pace we want.  Thus, I hope their example this year is
1252 followed by many others. :)</p>
1253
1254 <p>The public list of donors can be found on
1255 <a href="http://www.linuxiskolen.no/slxdebianlabs/donations.html">the
1256 donation page</a> for the project, which also contain instructions if
1257 you want to donate to the project.</p>
1258
1259       </div>
1260       <div class="tags">
1261
1262
1263         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>.
1264
1265
1266       </div>
1267     </div>
1268     <div class="padding"></div>
1269
1270     <div class="entry">
1271       <div class="title">
1272         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/How_to_backport_bitcoin_qt_version_0_7_2_2_to_Debian_Squeeze.html">How to backport bitcoin-qt version 0.7.2-2 to Debian Squeeze</a>
1273       </div>
1274       <div class="date">
1275         25th December 2012
1276       </div>
1277       <div class="body">
1278         <p>Let me start by wishing you all marry Christmas and a happy new
1279 year!  I hope next year will prove to be a good year.</p>
1280
1281 <p><a href="http://www.bitcoin.org/">Bitcoin</a>, the digital
1282 decentralised "currency" that allow people to transfer bitcoins
1283 between each other with minimal overhead, is a very interesting
1284 experiment.  And as I wrote a few days ago, the bitcoin situation in
1285 <a href="http://www.debian.org/">Debian</a> is about to improve a bit.
1286 The <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/bitcoin">new debian source
1287 package</a> (version 0.7.2-2) was uploaded yesterday, and is waiting
1288 in <a href="http://ftp-master.debian.org/new.html">the NEW queue</A>
1289 for one of the ftpmasters to approve the new bitcoin-qt package
1290 name.</p>
1291
1292 <p>And thanks to the great work of Jonas and the rest of the bitcoin
1293 team in Debian, you can easily test the package in Debian Squeeze
1294 using the following steps to get a set of working packages:</p>
1295
1296 <blockquote><pre>
1297 git clone git://git.debian.org/git/collab-maint/bitcoin
1298 cd bitcoin
1299 DEB_MAINTAINER_MODE=1 DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS=noupnp fakeroot debian/rules clean
1300 DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS=noupnp git-buildpackage --git-ignore-new
1301 </pre></blockquote>
1302
1303 <p>You might have to install some build dependencies as well.  The
1304 list of commands should give you two packages, bitcoind and
1305 bitcoin-qt, ready for use in a Squeeze environment.  Note that the
1306 client will download the complete set of bitcoin "blocks", which need
1307 around 5.6 GiB of data on my machine at the moment.  Make sure your
1308 ~/.bitcoin/ directory have lots of spare room if you want to download
1309 all the blocks.  The client will warn if the disk is getting full, so
1310 there is not really a problem if you got too little room, but you will
1311 not be able to get all the features out of the client.</p>
1312
1313 <p>As usual, if you use bitcoin and want to show your support of my
1314 activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address
1315 <b><a href="bitcoin:15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b&label=PetterReinholdtsenBlog">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</a></b>.</p>
1316
1317       </div>
1318       <div class="tags">
1319
1320
1321         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>.
1322
1323
1324       </div>
1325     </div>
1326     <div class="padding"></div>
1327
1328     <div class="entry">
1329       <div class="title">
1330         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/A_word_on_bitcoin_support_in_Debian.html">A word on bitcoin support in Debian</a>
1331       </div>
1332       <div class="date">
1333         21st December 2012
1334       </div>
1335       <div class="body">
1336         <p>It has been a while since I wrote about
1337 <a href="http://www.bitcoin.org/">bitcoin</a>, the decentralised
1338 peer-to-peer based crypto-currency, and the reason is simply that I
1339 have been busy elsewhere.  But two days ago, I started looking at the
1340 state of <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/bitcoin">bitcoin in
1341 Debian</a> again to try to recover my old bitcoin wallet.  The package
1342 is now maintained by a
1343 <a href="https://alioth.debian.org/projects/pkg-bitcoin/">team of
1344 people</a>, and the grunt work had already been done by this team.  We
1345 owe a huge thank you to all these team members. :)
1346 But I was sad to discover that the bitcoin client is missing in
1347 Wheezy.  It is only available in Sid (and an outdated client from
1348 backports).  The client had several RC bugs registered in BTS blocking
1349 it from entering testing.  To try to help the team and improve the
1350 situation, I spent some time providing patches and triaging the bug
1351 reports.  I also had a look at the bitcoin package available from Matt
1352 Corallo in a
1353 <a href="https://launchpad.net/~bitcoin/+archive/bitcoin">PPA for
1354 Ubuntu</a>, and moved the useful pieces from that version into the
1355 Debian package.</p>
1356
1357 <p>After checking with the main package maintainer Jonas Smedegaard on
1358 IRC, I pushed several patches into the collab-maint git repository to
1359 improve the package.  It now contains fixes for the RC issues (not from
1360 me, but fixed by Scott Howard), build rules for a Qt GUI client
1361 package, konqueror support for the bitcoin: URI and bash completion
1362 setup.  As I work on Debian Squeeze, I also created
1363 <a href="http://lists.alioth.debian.org/pipermail/pkg-bitcoin-devel/Week-of-Mon-20121217/000041.html">a
1364 patch to backport</a> the latest version.  Jonas is going to look at
1365 it and try to integrate it into the git repository before uploading a
1366 new version to unstable.
1367
1368 <p>I would very much like bitcoin to succeed, to get rid of the
1369 centralized control currently exercised in the monetary system.  I
1370 find it completely unacceptable that the USA government is collecting
1371 transaction data for almost all international money transfers (most are done in USD and transaction logs shipped to the spooks), and
1372 that the major credit card companies can block legal money
1373 transactions to Wikileaks.  But for bitcoin to succeed, more people
1374 need to use bitcoins, and more people need to accept bitcoins when
1375 they sell products and services.  Improving the bitcoin support in
1376 Debian is a small step in the right direction, but not enough.
1377 Unfortunately the user experience when browsing the web and wanting to
1378 pay with bitcoin is still not very good.  The bitcoin: URI is a step
1379 in the right direction, but need to work in most or every browser in
1380 use.  Also the bitcoin-qt client is too heavy to fire up to do a
1381 quick transaction.  I believe there are other clients available, but
1382 have not tested them.</p>
1383
1384 <p>My
1385 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Now_accepting_bitcoins___anonymous_and_distributed_p2p_crypto_money.html">experiment
1386 with bitcoins</a> showed that at least some of my readers use bitcoin.
1387 I received 20.15 BTC so far on the address I provided in my blog two
1388 years ago, as can be
1389 <a href="http://blockexplorer.com/address/15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b">seen
1390 on the blockexplorer service</a>.  Thank you everyone for your
1391 donation.  The blockexplorer service demonstrates quite well that
1392 bitcoin is not quite anonymous and untracked. :) I wonder if the
1393 number of users have gone up since then.  If you use bitcoin and want
1394 to show your support of my activity, please send Bitcoin donations to
1395 the same address as last time,
1396 <b><a href="bitcoin:15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b&label=PetterReinholdtsenBlog">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</a></b>.</p>
1397
1398       </div>
1399       <div class="tags">
1400
1401
1402         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>.
1403
1404
1405       </div>
1406     </div>
1407     <div class="padding"></div>
1408
1409     <div class="entry">
1410       <div class="title">
1411         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Ledger___double_entry_accounting_using_text_based_storage_format.html">Ledger - double-entry accounting using text based storage format</a>
1412       </div>
1413       <div class="date">
1414         18th December 2012
1415       </div>
1416       <div class="body">
1417         <p>A few days ago I came across
1418 <a href="http://joeyh.name/blog/entry/hledger/">a blog post from Joey
1419 Hess</a> describing <a href="http://ledger-cli.org/">ledger</a> and
1420 hledger, a text based system for double-entry accounting.  I found it
1421 interesting, as I am involved with several organizations where
1422 accounting is an issue, and I have not really become too friendly with
1423 the different web based systems we use.  I find it hard to find what I
1424 look for in the menus and even harder try to get sensible data out of
1425 the systems.  Ledger seem different.  The accounting data is kept in
1426 text files that can be stored in a version control system, and there
1427
1428 are at least <a href="https://github.com/ledger/ledger/wiki/Ports">five
1429 different implementations</a> able to read the format.  An example
1430 entry look like this, and is simple enough that it will be trivial to
1431 generate entries based on CVS files fetched from the bank:</p>
1432
1433 <blockquote><pre>
1434 2004-05-27 Book Store
1435       Expenses:Books                 $20.00
1436       Liabilities:Visa
1437 </pre></blockquote>
1438
1439 <p>The concept seemed interesting enough for me to check it out and
1440 look for others using it.  I found blog posts from
1441 <a href="http://blog.spang.cc/posts/hledger_rocks_my_world/">Christine
1442 Spang</a>,
1443 <a href="http://bugsplat.info/2010-05-23-keeping-finances-with-ledger.html">Pete
1444 Keen</a>,
1445 <a href="http://blog.andrewcantino.com/blog/2010/11/06/command-line-accounting-with-ledger-and-reckon/">Andrew
1446 Cantino</a> and
1447 <a href="http://blog.iphoting.com/blog/2012/11/29/command-line-double-entry-accounting/">Ronald
1448 Ip</a> describing how they use it, as well as a post from
1449 <a href="https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups=#!topic/ledger-cli/r0oWjwbQ9Bo">Bradley
1450 M. Kuhn</a> at the Software Freedom Conservancy.  All seemed like good
1451 recommendations fitting my need.</p>
1452
1453 <p>The <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/l/ledger.html">ledger</a>
1454 package is available in Debian Squeeze, while the
1455 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/h/haskell-hledger.html">hledger</a>
1456 package only is available in Debian Sid.  As I use Squeeze, ledger
1457 seemed the best choice to get started.</p>
1458
1459 <p>To get some real data to test on, I wrote a
1460 <a href="http://www.nuug.no/tools/lodo2ledger">web scraper</a> for
1461 <a href="http://www.lodo.no/">LODO</a>, the accounting system used by
1462 the <a href="http://www.nuug.no/">NUUG</a> association, and started to
1463 play with the data set.  I'm not really deeply into accounting, but I
1464 am able to get a simple balance and accounting status for example
1465 using the "<tt>ledger balance</tt>" command.  But I will have to
1466 gather more experience before I know if the ledger way is a good fit
1467 for the organisations I am involved in.</p>
1468
1469       </div>
1470       <div class="tags">
1471
1472
1473         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>.
1474
1475
1476       </div>
1477     </div>
1478     <div class="padding"></div>
1479
1480     <div class="entry">
1481       <div class="title">
1482         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Scripting_the_Cerebrum_bofhd_user_administration_system_using_XML_RPC.html">Scripting the Cerebrum/bofhd user administration system using XML-RPC</a>
1483       </div>
1484       <div class="date">
1485          6th December 2012
1486       </div>
1487       <div class="body">
1488         <p>Where I work at the <a href="http://www.uio.no/">University of
1489 Oslo</a>, we use the
1490 <a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/cerebrum/">Cerebrum user
1491 administration system</a> to maintain users, groups, DNS, DHCP, etc.
1492 I've known since the system was written that the server is providing
1493 an <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XML-RPC">XML-RPC</a> API, but
1494 I have never spent time to try to figure out how to use it, as we
1495 always use the bofh command line client at work.  Until today.  I want
1496 to script the updating of DNS and DHCP to make it easier to set up
1497 virtual machines.  Here are a few notes on how to use it with
1498 Python.</p>
1499
1500 <p>I started by looking at the source of the Java
1501 <a href="http://cerebrum.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/cerebrum/trunk/cerebrum/clients/jbofh/">bofh
1502 client</a>, to figure out how it connected to the API server.  I also
1503 googled for python examples on how to use XML-RPC, and found
1504 <a href="http://tldp.org/HOWTO/XML-RPC-HOWTO/xmlrpc-howto-python.html">a
1505 simple example in</a> the XML-RPC howto.</p>
1506
1507 <p>This simple example code show how to connect, get the list of
1508 commands (as a JSON dump), and how to get the information about the
1509 user currently logged in:</p>
1510
1511 <blockquote><pre>
1512 #!/usr/bin/env python
1513 import getpass
1514 import xmlrpclib
1515 server_url = 'https://cerebrum-uio.uio.no:8000';
1516 username = getpass.getuser()
1517 password = getpass.getpass()
1518 server = xmlrpclib.Server(server_url);
1519 #print server.get_commands(sessionid)
1520 sessionid = server.login(username, password)
1521 print server.run_command(sessionid, "user_info", username)
1522 result = server.logout(sessionid)
1523 print result
1524 </pre></blockquote>
1525
1526 <p>Armed with this knowledge I can now move forward and script the DNS
1527 and DHCP updates I wanted to do.</p>
1528
1529       </div>
1530       <div class="tags">
1531
1532
1533         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/sysadmin">sysadmin</a>.
1534
1535
1536       </div>
1537     </div>
1538     <div class="padding"></div>
1539
1540     <div class="entry">
1541       <div class="title">
1542         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Why_isn_t_the_value_of_copyright_taxed_.html">Why isn't the value of copyright taxed?</a>
1543       </div>
1544       <div class="date">
1545         17th November 2012
1546       </div>
1547       <div class="body">
1548         <p>While working on a
1549 <a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig">Norwegian
1550 translation of the Free Culture by Lawrence Lessig</a> (76% done),
1551 which cover the problems with todays copyright law and how it stifles
1552 creativity, one idea occurred to me.  The idea is to get the tax
1553 office to help make more works enter the public domain and also help
1554 make it easier to clear rights for using copyrighted works.</p>
1555
1556 <p>I mentioned this idea briefly during Yesterdays
1557 <a href="http://www.farmann.no/2012/11/14/john-perry-barlow-in-oslo-friday-nov-16
1558 -15-30-19-00/">presentation
1559 by John Perry Barlow</a>, and concluded that it was best to put it
1560 in writing for a wider audience.  The idea is not really based on the
1561 argument that copyrighted works are "intellectual property", as the
1562 core requirement is that copyrighted work have value for the copyright
1563 holder and the tax office like to collect their share from any value
1564 controlled by the citizens in a country.  I'm sharing the idea here to
1565 let others consider it and perhaps shoot it down with a fresh set of
1566 arguments.</p>
1567
1568 <p>Most valuables are taxed by the government.  At least here in
1569 Norway, the amount of money you have, the value of our land property,
1570 the value of your house, the value of your car, the value of our
1571 stocks and other valuables are all added together.  If the tax value
1572 of these values exceed your debt, you have to pay the tax office some
1573 taxes for these values.  And copyrighted work have value.  It have
1574 value for the rights holder, who can earn money selling access to the
1575 work.  But it is not included in the tax calculations?  Why not?</p>
1576
1577 <p>If the government want to tax copyrighted works, it would want to
1578 maintain a database of all the copyrighted works and who are the
1579 rights holders for a given works, to be able to associate the works
1580 value to the right citizen or company for tax purposes.  If such
1581 database exist, it will become a lot easier to find out who to talk to
1582 for clearing permissions to use a copyrighted work, which is a very
1583 hard operation with todays copyright law.  To ensure that copyright
1584 holders keep the database up-to-date, it would have to become a
1585 requirement to be able to collect money for granting access to
1586 copyrighted works that the work is listed in the database with the
1587 correct right holder.</p>
1588
1589 <p>If copyright causes copyright holders to have to pay more taxes,
1590 they will have a small incentive to "disown" their copyright, and let
1591 the work enter the public domain. For works with several right holders
1592 one of the right holders could state (and get it registered in the
1593 database) that she do not need to be consulted when clearing rights to
1594 use the work in question and thus will not get any income from that
1595 work.  Stating this would have to be impossible to revert and stop the
1596 tax office from adding the value of that work to the given citizens
1597 tax calculation.  I assume the copyright law would stay the same,
1598 allowing creators to pick a license of their choosing, and also
1599 allowing them to put their work directly in the public domain.  The
1600 existence of such database will make it even easier to clear rights,
1601 and if the right holders listed in the database is taxed, this system
1602 would increase the amount of works that enter the public domain.</p>
1603
1604 <p>The effect would be that the tax office help to make it easier to
1605 get rights to use the works that have not yet entered the public
1606 domain and help to get more work into the public domain and .</p>
1607
1608 <p>Why have such taxing not happened yet?  I am sure the tax office
1609 would like to tax copyrighted work values if they could.</p>
1610
1611       </div>
1612       <div class="tags">
1613
1614
1615         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/freeculture">freeculture</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/opphavsrett">opphavsrett</a>.
1616
1617
1618       </div>
1619     </div>
1620     <div class="padding"></div>
1621
1622     <div class="entry">
1623       <div class="title">
1624         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__Angela_Fu_.html">Debian Edu interview: Angela Fuß</a>
1625       </div>
1626       <div class="date">
1627         14th November 2012
1628       </div>
1629       <div class="body">
1630         <p>Here is another interview with one of the people in the <a
1631 href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu and Skolelinux</a>
1632 community.  I am running short on people willing to be interviewed, so
1633 if you know about someone I should interview, Please send me an email.
1634 After asking for many months, I finally managed to lure another one of
1635 the people behind the German
1636 "<a href="http://wiki.it-zukunft-schule.de/">IT-Zukunft Schule</a>"
1637 project out from maternity leave to conduct an interview.  Give a warm
1638 welcome to Angela Fuß. :)</p>
1639
1640 <p><strong>Who are you, and how do you spend your days?</strong></p>
1641
1642 <p>I am a 39-year-old woman living in the very north of Germany near
1643 Denmark. I live in a patchwork family with "my man" Mike Gabriel, my
1644 two daughters, Mikes daughter and Mikes and my rather newborn son.
1645
1646 <p>At the moment - because of our little baby - I am spending most of
1647 the day by being a caring and organising mom for all the kids.
1648 Besides that I am really involved into and occupied with several inner
1649 growth processes: New born souls always bring the whole familiar
1650 system into movement and that needs time and focus ;-).  We are also
1651 in the middle of buying a house and moving to it.</p>
1652
1653 <p>In 2013 I will work again in my job in a German foundation for
1654 nature conservation. I am doing public relation work there.  Besides
1655 that - and that is the connection to Skolelinux / Debian Edu - I am
1656 working in our own school project "IT-Zukunft Schule" in North
1657 Germany. I am responsible for the quality assurance, the customer
1658 relationship management and the communication processes in the
1659 project.</p>
1660
1661 <p>Since 2001 I constantly have been training myself in communication
1662 and leadership. Besides that I am a forester, a landscaping gardener
1663 and a yoga teacher.</p>
1664
1665 <p><strong>How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux / Debian Edu
1666 project?</strong></p>
1667
1668 <p>I fell in love with Mike ;-).</p>
1669
1670 <p>Very soon after getting to know him I was completely enrolled into
1671 Free Software.  At this time Mike did IT-services for one newly
1672 founded school in Kiel. Other schools in Kiel needed concepts for
1673 their IT environment.  Often when Mike came home from working at the
1674 newly founded school I found myself listening to his complaints about
1675 several points where the communication with the schools head or the
1676 teachers did not work.  So we were clear that he would not work for
1677 one more school if we did not set up a structure for communication
1678 between him, the schools head, the teachers, the students and the
1679 parents.</p>
1680
1681 <p>Together with our friend and hardware supplier Andreas Buchholz we
1682 started to get an overview of free software solutions suitable for
1683 schools. One day before Christmas 2010 Mike and I had a date with Kurt
1684 Gramlich in Gütersloh. As Kurt and I are really interested in building
1685 networks of people and in being in communication we dived into
1686 Skolelinux and brought it to the first grammar schools in Northern
1687 Germany.</p>
1688
1689 <p>For information about our school project you can read
1690 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__Mike_Gabriel.html">the
1691 interview with Mike Gabriel</a>.</p>
1692
1693 <p><strong>What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux / Debian
1694 Edu?</strong></p>
1695
1696 <p>First I have to say: I cannot answer this question technically. My
1697 answer comes rather from a social point of view.</p>
1698
1699 <p>The biggest advantage of Skolelinux / Debian Edu I see is the large
1700 and strong international community of Debian Developers in the
1701 background which is very alive and connected over mailinglists, blogs
1702 and meetings. My constant feeling for the Debian Community is: If
1703 something does not work they will somehow fix it. All is well
1704 ;-). This is of course a user experience.  What I also get as a big
1705 advantage of Skolelinux / Debian Edu is that everybody who uses it and
1706 works with it can also contribute to it - that includes students,
1707 teachers, parents...</p>
1708
1709 <p><strong>What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux / Debian
1710 Edu?</strong></p>
1711
1712 <p>I will answer this question relating to the internal structure of
1713 Skolelinux / Debian Edu.</p>
1714
1715 <p>What I see as a major disadvantage is that there is a gap between
1716 the group of developers for Debian Edu and the people who make the
1717 marketing, that means the people that bring Skolelinux to the
1718 schools. There is a lack of communication between these two groups and
1719 I think that does not really work for Skolelinux / Debian Edu.</p>
1720
1721 <p>Further I appreciate that Skolelinux / Debian Edu is known as a
1722 do-ocracy. Nevertheless I keep asking myself if at some points a
1723 democracy or some kind of hierarchical project structure would be good
1724 and helpful.  I am also missing some kind of contact between the
1725 Skolelinux / Debian Edu communities in Europe or on an international
1726 level. I think it would be good if there was more sharing between the
1727 different countries using Skolelinux / Debian Edu.</p>
1728
1729 <p><strong>Which free software do you use daily?</strong></p>
1730
1731 <p>On my laptop I am still using an Ubuntu 10.04 with a Gnome Desktop
1732 on.  As applications I use Openoffice.org, Gedit, Firefox, Pidgin,
1733 LaTeX and GnuCash. For mails I am using Horde. And I am really fond of
1734 my N900 running with Maemo.</p>
1735
1736 <p><strong>Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to
1737 get schools to use free software?</strong></p>
1738
1739 <p>I am really convinced that in our school project "IT-Zukunft
1740 Schule" we have developed (and keep developing) a great way to get
1741 schools to use Free Software. We have written a detailed concept for
1742 that so I cannot explain the whole thing here. But in a nutshell the
1743 strategy has three crucial pillars:</p>
1744
1745 <ul>
1746
1747 <li>We really take time to get what sort of stories, questions and
1748 concerns the schools head and the teachers have about using different
1749 kinds of IT and we take time to enrol them into Free Software.</li>
1750
1751 <li>Our solution for schools is never just technical. In the centre
1752 are always the people who are going to use the software. From the very
1753 beginning of the planning for a school, we tell the schools head that
1754 they are paying us not only for a technical solution for their school,
1755 they also pay us for leading all the communication processes
1756 needed. If they do not want that, we are not working with them because
1757 we cannot give a guarantee for the quality of our work then.</li>
1758
1759 <li>Another focus lies in the training of teachers and students in
1760 co-administrating the IT-System at their school. They start getting in
1761 contact with the Skolelinux / Debian Edu community and they get the
1762 offer to become more and more independent from us.</li>
1763
1764 </ul>
1765
1766       </div>
1767       <div class="tags">
1768
1769
1770         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>.
1771
1772
1773       </div>
1774     </div>
1775     <div class="padding"></div>
1776
1777     <div class="entry">
1778       <div class="title">
1779         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/The_European_Central_Bank__ECB__take_a_look_at_bitcoin.html">The European Central Bank (ECB) take a look at bitcoin</a>
1780       </div>
1781       <div class="date">
1782          4th November 2012
1783       </div>
1784       <div class="body">
1785         <p>Slashdot just ran a story about the European Central Bank (ECB)
1786 <a href="http://www.ecb.europa.eu/pub/pdf/other/virtualcurrencyschemes201210en.pdf">releasing
1787 a report (PDF)</a> about virtual currencies and
1788 <a href="http://www.bitcoin.org/">bitcoin</a>.  It is interesting to
1789 see how a member of the bitcoin community
1790 <a href="http://blog.bitinstant.com/blog/2012/10/30/the-ecb-report-on-bitcoin-and-virtual-currencies.html">receive
1791 the report</a>.  As for the future, I suspect the central banks and
1792 the governments will outlaw bitcoin if it gain any popularity, to avoid
1793 competition.  My thoughts go to the
1794 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wörgl">Wörgl experiment</a> with
1795 negative inflation on cash which was such a success that it was
1796 terminated by the Austrian National Bank in 1933.  A successful
1797 alternative would be a threat to the current money system and gain
1798 powerful forces to work against it.</p>
1799
1800 <p>While checking out the current status of bitcoin, I also discovered
1801 that the community already seem to have
1802 <a href="http://www.theverge.com/2012/8/27/3271637/bitcoin-savings-trust-pyramid-scheme-shuts-down">experienced
1803 its first pyramid game / Ponzi scheme</a>.  Not very surprising, given
1804 how members of "small" communities tend to trust each other.  I guess
1805 enterprising crocks will try again and again, as they do anywhere
1806 wealth is available.</p>
1807
1808       </div>
1809       <div class="tags">
1810
1811
1812         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/bitcoin">bitcoin</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/personvern">personvern</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/sikkerhet">sikkerhet</a>.
1813
1814
1815       </div>
1816     </div>
1817     <div class="padding"></div>
1818
1819     <div class="entry">
1820       <div class="title">
1821         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/12_years_of_outages___summarised_by_Stuart_Kendrick.html">12 years of outages - summarised by Stuart Kendrick</a>
1822       </div>
1823       <div class="date">
1824         26th October 2012
1825       </div>
1826       <div class="body">
1827         <p>I work at the <a href="http://www.uio.no/">University of Oslo</a>
1828 looking after the computers, mostly on the unix side, but in general
1829 all over the place.  I am also a member (and currently leader) of
1830 <a href="http://www.nuug.no/">the NUUG association</a>, which in turn
1831 make me a member of <a href="http://www.usenix.org/">USENIX</a>.  NUUG
1832 is an member organisation for us in Norway interested in free
1833 software, open standards and unix like operating systems, and USENIX
1834 is a US based member organisation with similar targets.  And thanks to
1835 these memberships, I get all issues of the great USENIX magazine
1836 <a href="https://www.usenix.org/publications/login">;login:</a> in the
1837 mail several times a year.  The magazine is great, and I read most of
1838 it every time.</p>
1839
1840 <p>In the last issue of the USENIX magazine ;login:, there is an
1841 article by <a href="http://www.skendric.com/">Stuart Kendrick</a> from
1842 Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center titled
1843 "<a href="https://www.usenix.org/publications/login/october-2012-volume-37-number-5/what-takes-us-down">What
1844 Takes Us Down</a>" (longer version also
1845 <a href="http://www.skendric.com/problem/incident-analysis/2012-06-30/What-Takes-Us-Down.pdf">available
1846 from his own site</a>), where he report what he found when he
1847 processed the outage reports (both planned and unplanned) from the
1848 last twelve years and classified them according to cause, time of day,
1849 etc etc.  The article is a good read to get some empirical data on
1850 what kind of problems affect a data centre, but what really inspired
1851 me was the kind of reporting they had put in place since 2000.<p>
1852
1853 <p>The centre set up a mailing list, and started to send fairly
1854 standardised messages to this list when a outage was planned or when
1855 it already occurred, to announce the plan and get feedback on the
1856 assumtions on scope and user impact.  Here is the two example from the
1857 article: First the unplanned outage:
1858
1859 <blockquote><pre>
1860 Subject:     Exchange 2003 Cluster Issues
1861 Severity:    Critical (Unplanned)
1862 Start:       Monday, May 7, 2012, 11:58
1863 End:         Monday, May 7, 2012, 12:38
1864 Duration:    40 minutes
1865 Scope:       Exchange 2003
1866 Description: The HTTPS service on the Exchange cluster crashed, triggering
1867              a cluster failover.
1868
1869 User Impact: During this period, all Exchange users were unable to
1870              access e-mail. Zimbra users were unaffected.
1871 Technician:  [xxx]
1872 </pre></blockquote>
1873
1874 Next the planned outage:
1875
1876 <blockquote><pre>
1877 Subject:     H Building Switch Upgrades
1878 Severity:    Major (Planned)
1879 Start:       Saturday, June 16, 2012, 06:00
1880 End:         Saturday, June 16, 2012, 16:00
1881 Duration:    10 hours
1882 Scope:       H2 Transport
1883 Description: Currently, Catalyst 4006s provide 10/100 Ethernet to end-
1884              stations. We will replace these with newer Catalyst
1885              4510s.
1886 User Impact: All users on H2 will be isolated from the network during
1887              this work. Afterward, they will have gigabit
1888              connectivity.
1889 Technician:  [xxx]
1890 </pre></blockquote>
1891
1892 <p>He notes in his article that the date formats and other fields have
1893 been a bit too free form to make it easy to automatically process them
1894 into a database for further analysis, and I would have used ISO 8601
1895 dates myself to make it easier to process (in other words I would ask
1896 people to write '2012-06-16 06:00 +0000' instead of the start time
1897 format listed above).  There are also other issues with the format
1898 that could be improved, read the article for the details.</p>
1899
1900 <p>I find the idea of standardising outage messages seem to be such a
1901 good idea that I would like to get it implemented here at the
1902 university too.  We do register
1903 <a href="http://www.uio.no/tjenester/it/aktuelt/planlagte-tjenesteavbrudd/">planned
1904 changes and outages in a calendar</a>, and report the to a mailing
1905 list, but we do not do so in a structured format and there is not a
1906 report to the same location for unplanned outages.  Perhaps something
1907 for other sites to consider too?</p>
1908
1909       </div>
1910       <div class="tags">
1911
1912
1913         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>.
1914
1915
1916       </div>
1917     </div>
1918     <div class="padding"></div>
1919
1920     <div class="entry">
1921       <div class="title">
1922         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Amazon_steal_books_from_customer_and_throw_out_her_out_without_any_explanation.html">Amazon steal books from customer and throw out her out without any explanation</a>
1923       </div>
1924       <div class="date">
1925         22nd October 2012
1926       </div>
1927       <div class="body">
1928         <p>A blog post from Martin Bekkelund today tell the story of
1929 <a href="http://www.bekkelund.net/2012/10/22/outlawed-by-amazon-drm/">how
1930 Amazon erased the books from a customer's kindle, locked the account
1931 and refuse to tell the customer why</a>.  If a real book store did
1932 this to a customer, it would be called breaking into private property
1933 and theft.  The story has spread around the net today.  A bit more
1934 background information is available in Norwegian from
1935 <a href="http://www.digi.no/904658/hun-ble-kastet-ut-av-amazon">digi.no</a>.
1936 It is no surprise that digital restriction mechanisms (DRM) are used
1937 this way, as it has been warned about such abuse since DRM was
1938 introduced many years back.  And Amazon proved in 2009 that it was
1939 willing to
1940 <a href="http://boingboing.net/2009/07/20/amazons-orwellian-de.html">
1941 break into customers equipment and remove the books</a> people had
1942 bought, when it removed the book 1984 by George Orwell from all the
1943 customers who had bought it.  From the official comments, it even
1944 sounded like
1945 <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/18/technology/companies/18amazon.html">Amazon
1946 would never do that again</a>.  And here we are, three years
1947 later.</p>
1948
1949 <p>And thought this action is
1950 <a href="http://www.itavisen.no/904648/forbrukerraadet-helt-haarreisende">against
1951 Norwegian regulations and law</a>, it is according to the terms of use
1952 as written by Amazon, and it is hard to hold Amazon accountable to
1953 Norwegian laws.  It is just yet another example of unacceptable terms
1954 of use on the web, and how they are used to remove customer
1955 rights.</p>
1956
1957 <p>Luckily for electronic books, there are alternatives without
1958 unacceptable terms.  For example
1959 <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/">Project Gutenberg</a> (about 40,000
1960 books), <a href="http://runeberg.org/">Project Runenberg</a> (1,652
1961 books) and <a href="http://www.archive.org/details/texts">The Internet
1962 Archive</a> (3,641,797 books) have heaps of books without DRM, which
1963 can read by anyone and shared with anyone.</p>
1964
1965 <p>Update 2012-10-23: This story broke in the morning on Monday. In
1966 the evening after the story had spread all across the Internet, Amazon
1967 restored the account of the user, as reported by
1968 <a href="http://www.digi.no/904675/helomvending-fra-amazon">digi.no</a>
1969 and <a href="http://nrk.no/kultur-og-underholdning/1.8368487">NRK</a>.
1970 Apparently public pressure work.  The story from Martin have seen
1971 several twitter messages per minute the last 24 hours, which is quite
1972 a lot, and is still drawing a lot of attention.  But even when the
1973 account is restored, the fundamental problem still exist.  I recommend
1974 reading two opinions from
1975 <a href="http://blogs.computerworlduk.com/simon-says/2012/10/rights-you-have-no-right-to-your-ebooks/index.htm">Simon
1976 Phipps</a> and
1977 <a href="http://blogs.computerworlduk.com/open-enterprise/2012/10/is-amazon-playing-fair/index.htm">Glen
1978 Moody</a> if you want to learn more about the fundamentals and more
1979 details about the original story.</p>
1980
1981       </div>
1982       <div class="tags">
1983
1984
1985         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/opphavsrett">opphavsrett</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/personvern">personvern</a>.
1986
1987
1988       </div>
1989     </div>
1990     <div class="padding"></div>
1991
1992     <div class="entry">
1993       <div class="title">
1994         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/The_fight_for_freedom_and_privacy.html">The fight for freedom and privacy</a>
1995       </div>
1996       <div class="date">
1997         18th October 2012
1998       </div>
1999       <div class="body">
2000         <p>Civil liberties and privacy in the western world are going down the
2001 drain, and it is hard to fight against it.  I try to do my best, but
2002 time is limited.  I hope you do your best too.  A few years ago I came
2003 across a marvellous drawing by
2004 <a href="http://www.claybennett.com/about.html">Clay Bennett</a>
2005 visualising some of what is going on.
2006
2007 <p><a href="http://www.claybennett.com/pages/security_fence.html">
2008 <img src="http://www.claybennett.com/images/archivetoons/security_fence.jpg"></a></p>
2009
2010 <blockquote>
2011 «They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
2012 safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.» - Benjamin Franklin
2013 </blockquote>
2014
2015 <p>Do you feel safe at the airport?  I do not.  Do you feel safe when
2016 you see a surveillance camera?  I do not.  Do you feel safe when you
2017 leave electronic traces of your behaviour and opinions?  I do not.  I
2018 just remember <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panopticon">the
2019 Panopticon</a>, and can not help to think that we are slowly
2020 transforming our society to a huge Panopticon on our own.</p>
2021
2022       </div>
2023       <div class="tags">
2024
2025
2026         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/personvern">personvern</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/sikkerhet">sikkerhet</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/surveillance">surveillance</a>.
2027
2028
2029       </div>
2030     </div>
2031     <div class="padding"></div>
2032
2033     <div class="entry">
2034       <div class="title">
2035         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/ColonHelp_produser_sue_WordPress_to_silence_critic.html">ColonHelp produser sue WordPress to silence critic</a>
2036       </div>
2037       <div class="date">
2038         12th October 2012
2039       </div>
2040       <div class="body">
2041         <p>Thanks to a blog post by
2042 <a href="http://ramblingfoo.blogspot.no/2012/10/a-shitstorm-is-comming.html">Eddy
2043 Petrișor</a>, I became aware of yet another "alternative medicine"
2044 company using legal intimidation tactics to scare off critics.
2045 According to the originating blog post about the detox "cure"
2046 <a href="http://insulaindoielii.wordpress.com/2012/10/11/colon-help-sues-wordpress/">ColonHelp
2047 and its producers Zenyth Pharmaceuticals actions</a>, the producer
2048 sues Wordpress to get rid of the critical information.  To check if
2049 the story was for real, I contacted Automattic, the company behind
2050 wordpress.com, and they reply was "We can confirm that Zenyth is
2051 seeking a court order against WordPress / Automattic.  However, we
2052 don't believe the Terms of Service have been violated in this
2053 matter".</p>
2054
2055 <p>The story seem to be simply that a blogger checked the scientific
2056 foundation for a popular health product in Rumania, ColonHelp, and
2057 reported that there was no reason at all to believe it improved the
2058 health of its users.  This caused the company behind the product,
2059 Zenyth Pharmaceuticals, to use legal intimidation to try to silence
2060 the critic, instead of presenting its views and scientific foundation
2061 to argue its side.</p>
2062
2063 <p>This is the usual story, and the Zenyth Pharmaceuticals company
2064 deserve everyone to know how it failed to act properly.  Lets hope the
2065 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streisand_effect">Streisand
2066 effect</a> can make it rethink its strategy.</p>
2067
2068 <p>What is the harm, you might think.  I suggest you take a look at
2069 <a href="http://www.whatstheharm.net/detoxification.html">a list of
2070 victims of detoxification</a>.</p>
2071
2072       </div>
2073       <div class="tags">
2074
2075
2076         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/skepsis">skepsis</a>.
2077
2078
2079       </div>
2080     </div>
2081     <div class="padding"></div>
2082
2083     <div class="entry">
2084       <div class="title">
2085         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Why_is_your_local_library_collecting_the__wrong__computer_books_.html">Why is your local library collecting the "wrong" computer books?</a>
2086       </div>
2087       <div class="date">
2088          3rd October 2012
2089       </div>
2090       <div class="body">
2091         <p>I just read the blog post from Tim Retout
2092 <a href="http://retout.co.uk/blog/2012/10/02/the-library-challenge">about
2093 the computer science book collection available in his local
2094 library</a>, and just wanted to share my comment on his theory about
2095 computer books becoming obsolete so soon.  That is part of the reason
2096 why the selection is so sad in almost any local library (it is in mine
2097 too), but I believe the major contributing factor is that the people
2098 buying books to the library have no way to know a good and future
2099 computer classic from trash.  And they need to know which one will
2100 become a classic in the future, as they would normally buy one of the
2101 recently published books.</p>
2102
2103 <p>During my university years, I worked for a while at the university
2104 library, and even there the person in charge of buying computer
2105 related books (and in fact any natural science related book), did not
2106 know enough about computers to make a good educated guess.  Once, just
2107 before Christmas, they had some leftover money on the book budget and
2108 I was asked if I could pick out a lot of computer books in the
2109 university book store, for the library to buy for their collection.  I
2110 had a great time picking all the books I dreamt of buying and reading,
2111 and the books I knew were classics (like most of the
2112 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._Richard_Stevens">Stevens
2113 collection</a>).  I picked several of the generic O'Reilly books (ie
2114 documenting protocols, formats and systems, not specific versions of
2115 products) and stayed away from the 'teach yourself X in N days' class.
2116 I had a great time, and probably picked out more than a hundred books
2117 for the library that evening.</p>
2118
2119 <p>The sad fact is that there is no way a overworked librarian is
2120 going to know that for example
2121 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Practice_of_Programming">The
2122 Practice of Programming</a> is a must-have in any computer library,
2123 and they will most of the time end up picking the wrong books to buy.
2124 Perhaps you can help your local library make better choices by giving
2125 the suggestions for books to get?  I know they would love to hear from
2126 you, even if their budget might block them from getting your favourite
2127 book right away.</p>
2128
2129       </div>
2130       <div class="tags">
2131
2132
2133         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</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/Seventy_percent_done_with_Norwegian_docbook_version_of_Free_Culture.html">Seventy percent done with Norwegian docbook version of Free Culture</a>
2143       </div>
2144       <div class="date">
2145         23rd September 2012
2146       </div>
2147       <div class="body">
2148         <p>Since this summer, I have worked in my spare time on a Norwegian <a
2149 href="http://www.docbook.org/">docbook</a> version of the 2004 book <a
2150 href="http://free-culture.cc/">Free Culture</a> by Lawrence Lessig.
2151 The reason is that this book is a great primer on what problems exist
2152 in the current copyright laws, and I want it to be available also for
2153 those that are reluctant do read an English book.
2154
2155 When I started, I
2156 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Dugnad_for___sende_norsk_versjon_av_Free_Culture_til_stortingets_representanter_.html">called
2157 for volunteers</a> to help me, but too few have volunteered so far,
2158 and progress is a bit slow.  Anyway, today I broken the 70 percent
2159 mark for the first rough translation.  At the moment, less than 700
2160 strings (paragraphs, index terms, titles) are left to translate.  With
2161 my current progress of 10-20 strings per day, it will take a while to
2162 complete the translation.  This graph show the updated progress:</p>
2163
2164 <img width="80%" align="center" src="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig/raw/master/progress.png">
2165
2166 <p>Progress have slowed down lately due to family and work
2167 commitments.  If you want to help, please get in touch, and check out
2168 the project files currently available from
2169 <a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig">github</a>.</p>
2170
2171 <p>If you are curious what the translated book currently look like,
2172 the updated
2173 <a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig/blob/master/archive/freeculture.nb.pdf?raw=true">PDF</a>
2174 and
2175 <a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig/blob/master/archive/freeculture.nb.epub?raw=true">EPUB</a>
2176 are published on github.  The HTML version is published as well, but
2177 github hand it out with MIME type text/plain, confusing browsers, so I
2178 saw no point in linking to that version.</p>
2179
2180       </div>
2181       <div class="tags">
2182
2183
2184         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/docbook">docbook</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/freeculture">freeculture</a>.
2185
2186
2187       </div>
2188     </div>
2189     <div class="padding"></div>
2190
2191     <div class="entry">
2192       <div class="title">
2193         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__Giorgio_Pioda.html">Debian Edu interview: Giorgio Pioda</a>
2194       </div>
2195       <div class="date">
2196         17th September 2012
2197       </div>
2198       <div class="body">
2199         <p>After a long break in my row of interviews with people in the
2200 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu and Skolelinux</a>
2201 community, I finally found time to wrap up another.  This time it is
2202 Giorgio Pioda, which showed up on the mailing list at the start of
2203 this year, asking questions and inspiring us to improve the first time
2204 administrators experience with Skolelinux. :) The interview was
2205 conduced in May, but I only found time to publish it now.</p>
2206
2207 <p><strong>Who are you, and how do you spend your days?</strong></p>
2208
2209 <p>I have a PhD in chemistry but since several years I work as teacher
2210 in secondary (15-18 year old students) and tertiary (a kind of "light"
2211 university) schools. Five years ago I started to manage a Learning
2212 Management Service server and slowly I got more and more involved with
2213 IT. 3 years ago the graduating schools moved completely to Linux and I
2214 got the head of the IT for this. The experience collected in chemistry
2215 labs computers (for example NMR analysis of protein folding) and in
2216 the IT-courses during university where sufficient to start. Self
2217 training is anyway very important</p>
2218
2219 <p>I live in the Italian speaking part of Switzerland, and the
2220 <a href="http://www.spse.ch/">SPSE school</a> (secondary) is a very
2221 special sport school for young people who try to became sport pro (for
2222 all sports, we have dozens of disciplines represented) and we are
2223 recognised by the Olympic Swiss Organisation.
2224
2225 <p><strong>How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux/Debian Edu
2226 project?</strong></p>
2227
2228 <p>Looking for Linux / Primary Domain Controller (PDC) I found it
2229 already several years ago. But since the system was still not
2230 Kerberized and since our schools relies strongly on laptops I didn't
2231 use it. I plan to introduce it in the next future, probably for the
2232 next school year, since the squeeze release solved this security
2233 hole.</p>
2234
2235 <p><strong>What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux/Debian
2236 Edu?</strong></p>
2237
2238 <p>Many. First of all there is a strong and living community that is
2239 very generous for help and hints.  Chat help is crucial, together with
2240 the mailing list.  Second. With Skolelinux you get an already well
2241 engineered platform and you don't have to start to build up your PDC
2242 and your clients from GNU/scratch; I've already done this once and I
2243 can tell it, it is hard. Third, since Skolelinux is a standard
2244 platform, it is way easier to educate other IT people and even if the
2245 head IT is sick another one could pick up the task without too much
2246 hassle.</p>
2247
2248 <p><strong>What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux/Debian
2249 Edu?</strong></p>
2250
2251 <p>The only real problem I see is that it is a little too less
2252 flexible at client level. Debian stable is rocky and desirable, but
2253 there are many reasons that force for another choice. For example the
2254 need of new drivers for new PC, or the need for a specific OS for some
2255 devices that have specific software packages for another specific
2256 distribution (I have such a case for whiteboards that have only
2257 Ubuntu packages). Thus, I prepared compatibility packages educlient
2258 and eduroaming, hoping not to use them ;-)</p>
2259
2260 <p><strong>Which free software do you use daily?</strong></p>
2261
2262 <p>I have a Debian Stable PDC at school (Kerberos, NIS, NFS) with
2263 mixed Debian and Ubuntu clients. If you think that this triad
2264 combination is exotic... well I discovered right yesterday that
2265 <a href="http://moo.nac.uci.edu/~hjm/Perceus-Report.html">Perceus</a>
2266 has the same...</p>
2267
2268 <p>For myself I run Debian wheezy/sid, but this combination is good
2269 only I you have enough competence to fix stuff for yourself, if
2270 something breaks.  Daily I use texmacs, gnumeric, a little bit of R
2271 statistics, kmplot, and less frequently OpenOffice.org.</p>
2272
2273 <p><strong>Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to
2274 get schools to use free software?</strong></p>
2275
2276 <P>I think that the only real argument that school managers "hear" is
2277 cost reduction. They don't give too much weight on quality, stability,
2278 just because they are normally not open to change.</p>
2279
2280 <p>Students adapts very quickly to GNU/Linux (and for them being able
2281 to switch between different OS is a plus value); teachers and managers
2282 don't.</p>
2283
2284 <p>We decided to move to Linux because students at our school have own
2285 laptop and we have the responsibility to keep the laptop ready to use;
2286 we were really unsatisfied with Microsoft since every Monday we had 20
2287 machine to fix for viral infections... With Linux this has been
2288 reduced to zero, since people installs almost only from official
2289 repositories. I think that our special needs brought us to Linux.
2290 Those who don't have such needs will hardly move to Linux.</p>
2291
2292       </div>
2293       <div class="tags">
2294
2295
2296         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>.
2297
2298
2299       </div>
2300     </div>
2301     <div class="padding"></div>
2302
2303     <div class="entry">
2304       <div class="title">
2305         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/IETF_activity_to_standardise_video_codec.html">IETF activity to standardise video codec</a>
2306       </div>
2307       <div class="date">
2308         15th September 2012
2309       </div>
2310       <div class="body">
2311         <p>After the
2312 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/IETF_standardize_its_first_multimedia_codec__Opus.html">Opus
2313 codec made</a> it into <a href="http://www.ietf.org/">IETF</a> as
2314 <a href="http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6716">RFC 6716</a>, I had a look
2315 to see if there is any activity in IETF to standardise a video codec
2316 too, and I was happy to discover that there is some activity in this
2317 area.  A non-"working group" mailing list
2318 <a href="https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/video-codec">video-codec</a>
2319 was
2320 <a href="http://ietf.10.n7.nabble.com/New-Non-WG-Mailing-List-video-codec-Video-codec-BoF-discussion-list-td119548.html">created 2012-08-20</a>.  It is intended to discuss the topic and if a
2321 formal working group should be formed.</p>
2322
2323 <p>I look forward to see how this plays out.  There is already
2324 <a href="http://www.ietf.org/mail-archive/web/video-codec/current/msg00003.html">an
2325 email from someone</a> in the MPEG group at ISO asking people to
2326 participate in the ISO group.  Given how ISO failed with OOXML and given
2327 that it so far (as far as I can remember) only have produced
2328 multimedia formats requiring royalty payments, I suspect
2329 joining the ISO group would be a complete waste of time, but I am not
2330 involved in any codec work and my opinion will not matter much.</p>
2331
2332 <p>If one of my readers is involved with codec work, I hope she will
2333 join this work to standardise a royalty free video codec within
2334 IETF.</p>
2335
2336       </div>
2337       <div class="tags">
2338
2339
2340         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/frikanalen">frikanalen</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/multimedia">multimedia</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/video">video</a>.
2341
2342
2343       </div>
2344     </div>
2345     <div class="padding"></div>
2346
2347     <div class="entry">
2348       <div class="title">
2349         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/IETF_standardize_its_first_multimedia_codec__Opus.html">IETF standardize its first multimedia codec: Opus</a>
2350       </div>
2351       <div class="date">
2352         12th September 2012
2353       </div>
2354       <div class="body">
2355         <p>Yesterday, <a href="http://www.ietf.org/">IETF</a> announced the
2356 publication of of
2357 <a href="http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6716">RFC 6716, the Definition
2358 of the Opus Audio Codec</a>, a low latency, variable bandwidth, codec
2359 intended for both VoIP, film and music.  This is the first time, as
2360 far as I know, that IETF have standardized a multimedia codec.  In
2361 <a href="http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc3533">RFC 3533</a>, IETF
2362 standardized the OGG container format, and it has proven to be a great
2363 royalty free container for audio, video and movies.  I hope IETF will
2364 continue to standardize more royalty free codeces, after ISO and MPEG
2365 have proven incapable of securing everyone equal rights to publish
2366 multimedia content on the Internet.</p>
2367
2368 <p>IETF require two interoperating independent implementations to
2369 ratify a standard, and have so far ensured to only standardize royalty
2370 free specifications.  Both are key factors to allow everyone (rich and
2371 poor), to compete on equal terms on the Internet.</p>
2372
2373 <p>Visit the <a href="http://opus-codec.org/">Opus project page</a> if
2374 you want to learn more about the solution.</p>
2375
2376       </div>
2377       <div class="tags">
2378
2379
2380         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/frikanalen">frikanalen</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/multimedia">multimedia</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/video">video</a>.
2381
2382
2383       </div>
2384     </div>
2385     <div class="padding"></div>
2386
2387     <div class="entry">
2388       <div class="title">
2389         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Git_repository_for_song_book_for_Computer_Scientists.html">Git repository for song book for Computer Scientists</a>
2390       </div>
2391       <div class="date">
2392          7th September 2012
2393       </div>
2394       <div class="body">
2395         <p>As I
2396 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Song_book_for_Computer_Scientists.html">mentioned
2397 this summer</a>, I have created a Computer Science song book a few
2398 years ago, and today I finally found time to create a public
2399 <a href="https://gitorious.org/pere-cs-songbook/pere-cs-songbook">Gitorious
2400 repository for the project</a>.</p>
2401
2402 <p>If you want to help out, please clone the source and submit patches
2403 to the HTML version.  To generate the PDF and PostScript version,
2404 please use prince XML, or let me know about a useful free software
2405 processor capable of creating a good looking PDF from the HTML.</p>
2406
2407 <p>Want to sing?  You can still find the song book in HTML, PDF and
2408 PostScript formats at
2409 <a href="http://www.hungry.com/~pere/cs-songbook/">Petter's Computer
2410 Science Songbook</a>.</p>
2411
2412       </div>
2413       <div class="tags">
2414
2415
2416         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>.
2417
2418
2419       </div>
2420     </div>
2421     <div class="padding"></div>
2422
2423     <div class="entry">
2424       <div class="title">
2425         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Free_software_forced_Microsoft_to_open_Office__and_don_t_forget_Officeshots_.html">Free software forced Microsoft to open Office (and don't forget Officeshots)</a>
2426       </div>
2427       <div class="date">
2428         23rd August 2012
2429       </div>
2430       <div class="body">
2431         <p>I came across a great comment from Simon Phipps today, about how
2432 <a href="http://www.infoworld.com/d/open-source-software/how-microsoft-was-forced-open-office-200233">Microsoft
2433 have been forced to open Office</a>, and it made me remember and
2434 revisit the great site
2435 <a href="http://www.officeshots.org/">officeshots</a> which allow you
2436 to check out how different programs present the ODF file format.  I
2437 recommend both to those of my readers interested in ODF. :)</p>
2438
2439       </div>
2440       <div class="tags">
2441
2442
2443         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>.
2444
2445
2446       </div>
2447     </div>
2448     <div class="padding"></div>
2449
2450     <div class="entry">
2451       <div class="title">
2452         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Half_way_there_with_translated_docbook_version_of_Free_Culture.html">Half way there with translated docbook version of Free Culture</a>
2453       </div>
2454       <div class="date">
2455         17th August 2012
2456       </div>
2457       <div class="body">
2458         <p>In my spare time, I currently work on a Norwegian
2459 <a href="http://www.docbook.org/">docbook</a> version of the 2004 book
2460 <a href="http://free-culture.cc/">Free Culture</a> by Lawrence Lessig,
2461 to get a Norwegian text explaining the problems with the copyright law
2462 I can give to my parents and others that are reluctant to read an
2463 English book.  It is a marvellous set of examples on how the ever
2464 expanding copyright regulations hurt culture and society.  When the
2465 translation is done, I hope to find funding to print and ship a copy
2466 to all the members of the Norwegian parliament, before they sit down
2467 to debate the latest revisions to the Norwegian copyright law.  This
2468 summer I
2469 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Dugnad_for___sende_norsk_versjon_av_Free_Culture_til_stortingets_representanter_.html">called
2470 for volunteers</a> to help me, and I have been able to secure the
2471 valuable contribution from at least one other Norwegian.</p>
2472
2473 <p>Two days ago, we finally broke the 50% mark.  Then more than 50% of
2474 the number of strings to translate (normally paragraphs, but also
2475 titles and index entries are also counted).  All parts from the
2476 beginning up to and including chapter four is translated.  So is
2477 chapters six, seven and the conclusion.  I created a graph to show the
2478 progress:</p>
2479
2480 <img width="80%" align="center" src="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig/raw/master/progress.png">
2481
2482 <p>The number of strings to translate increase as I insert the index
2483 entries into the docbook.  They were missing with the docbook version
2484 I initially started with.  There are still quite a few index entries
2485 missing, but everyone starting with A, B, O, Z and Y are done.  I
2486 currently focus on completing the index entries, to get a complete
2487 english version of the docbook source.</p>
2488
2489 <p>There is still need for translators and people with docbook
2490 knowledge, to be able to get a good looking book (I still struggle
2491 with dblatex, xmlto and docbook-xsl) as well as to do the draft
2492 translation and proof reading.  And I would like the figures to be
2493 redrawn as SVGs to make it easy to translate them.  Any SVG master
2494 around?  I am sure there are some legal terms that are unfamiliar to
2495 me.  If you want to help, please get in touch, and check out the
2496 project files currently available from <a
2497 href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig">github</a>.</p>
2498
2499 <p>If you are curious what the translated book currently look like,
2500 the updated
2501 <a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig/blob/master/archive/freeculture.nb.pdf?raw=true">PDF</a>
2502 and
2503 <a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig/blob/master/archive/freeculture.nb.epub?raw=true">EPUB</a>
2504 are published on github.  The HTML version is published as well, but
2505 github hand it out with MIME type text/plain, confusing browsers, so I
2506 saw no point in linking to that version.</p>
2507
2508       </div>
2509       <div class="tags">
2510
2511
2512         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/docbook">docbook</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/freeculture">freeculture</a>.
2513
2514
2515       </div>
2516     </div>
2517     <div class="padding"></div>
2518
2519     <div class="entry">
2520       <div class="title">
2521         <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>
2522       </div>
2523       <div class="date">
2524         10th August 2012
2525       </div>
2526       <div class="body">
2527         <p>In <a href="http://www.docbook.org/">docbook</a> one can specify
2528 the language used at the top, and the processing pipeline will use
2529 this information to pick the correct translations for 'chapter', 'see
2530 also', 'index' etc.  And for most languages used with docbook, I guess
2531 this work just fine.  For example a German user can start the document
2532 with &lt;book lang="de"&gt;, and the document will show up with the
2533 correct content with any of the docbook processors.  This is not the
2534 case for the language
2535 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Free_Culture_in_Norwegian___5_chapters_done__74_percent_left_to_do.html">I
2536 am working with at the moment</a>, Norwegian Bokmål.</p>
2537
2538 <p>For a while, I was confused about which language code to use,
2539 because I was unable to find any language code that would work across
2540 all tools.  I am currently testing dblatex, xmlto, docbook-xsl, and
2541 dbtoepub, and they do not handle Norwegian Bokmål the same way.  Some
2542 of them do not handle it at all.</p>
2543
2544 <p>A bit of background information is probably needed to understand
2545 this mess.  Norwegian is not one, but two written variants.  The
2546 variants are Norwegian Nynorsk and Norwegian Bokmål.  There are three
2547 two letter language codes associated with these languages, Norwegian
2548 is 'no', Norwegian Nynorsk is 'nn' and Norwegian Bokmål is 'nb'.
2549 Historically the 'no' language code was used for Norwegian Bokmål, but
2550 many years ago this was found to be å bad idea, and the recommendation
2551 is to use the most specific language code instead, to avoid confusion.
2552 In the transition period it is a good idea to make sure 'no' was an
2553 alias for 'nb'.</p>
2554
2555 <p>Back to docbook processing tools in Debian.  The dblatex tool only
2556 understand 'nn'.  There are translations for 'no', but not 'nb' (BTS
2557 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/684391">#684391</a>), but due to a bug
2558 (BTS <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/682936">#682936</a>) the 'no'
2559 language code is not recognised.  The docbook-xsl tool chain only
2560 recognise 'nn' and 'nb', but not 'no'.  The xmlto tool only recognise
2561 'nn' and 'nb', but not 'no'.  The end result that there is no language
2562 code I can use to get the docbook file working with all of these tools
2563 at the same time. :(</p>
2564
2565 <p>The correct solution is to use &lt;book lang="nb"&gt;, but it will
2566 take time before that will work with all the free software docbook
2567 processors. :(</p>
2568
2569 <p>Oh, the joy of well integrated tools. :/</p>
2570
2571       </div>
2572       <div class="tags">
2573
2574
2575         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/docbook">docbook</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/freeculture">freeculture</a>.
2576
2577
2578       </div>
2579     </div>
2580     <div class="padding"></div>
2581
2582     <div class="entry">
2583       <div class="title">
2584         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Best_way_to_create_a_docbook_book_.html">Best way to create a docbook book?</a>
2585       </div>
2586       <div class="date">
2587         31st July 2012
2588       </div>
2589       <div class="body">
2590         <p>I tried to send this text to the
2591 <a href="https://lists.oasis-open.org/archives/docbook-apps/">docbook-apps
2592 mailing list at lists.oasis-open.org</a>, but it only accept messages
2593 from subscribers and rejected my post, and I completely lack the
2594 bandwidth required to subscribe to another mailing list, so instead I
2595 try to post my message here and hope my blog readers can help me
2596 out.</p>
2597
2598 <p>I am quite new to docbook processing, and am climbing a steep
2599 learning curve at the moment.</p>
2600
2601 <p>To give you some background, I am working on a Norwegian
2602 translation of the book Free Culture by Lawrence Lessig, and I use
2603 docbook to handle the process.  The files to build the book are
2604 available from
2605 <a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig">github</a>.
2606 The book got around 400 pages with parts, images, footnotes, tables,
2607 index entries etc, which has proven to be a challenge for the free
2608 software docbook processors.  My build platform is Debian GNU/Linux
2609 Squeeze.</p>
2610
2611 <p>I want to build PDF, EPUB and HTML version of the book, and have
2612 tried different tool chains to do the conversion from docbook to these
2613 formats.  I am currently focusing on the PDF version, and have a few
2614 problems.</p>
2615
2616 <ul>
2617
2618 <li>Using dblatex, the &lt;part&gt; handling is not the way I want to,
2619    as &lt;/part&gt; do not really end the &lt;part&gt;. (See
2620    <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/683166">BTS report #683166</a>), the
2621    xetex backend (needed to process UTF-8) give incorrect hyphens in
2622    index references spanning several pages (See
2623    <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/682901">BTS report #682901</a>), and
2624    I am unable to get the norwegian template texts (See
2625    <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/682936">BTS report #682936</a>).</li>
2626
2627 <li>Using straight xmlto fail with some latex error (See
2628    <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/683163">BTS report
2629    #683163</a>).</li>
2630
2631 <li>Using xmlto with the fop backend fail to handle images (do not
2632    show up in the PDF), fail to handle a long footnote (overlap
2633    footnote and text body, see
2634    <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/683197">BTS report #683197</a>), and
2635    fail to create a correct index (some lack page ref, and the page
2636    refs listed are not right).</li>
2637
2638 <li>Using xmlto with the dblatex backend behave like dblatex.</li>
2639
2640 <li>Using docbook-xls with xsltproc + fop have the same footnote and
2641    index problems the xmlto + fop processing.</li>
2642
2643 </ul>
2644
2645 <p>So I wonder, what would be the best way to create the PDF version
2646 of this book?  Are some of the bugs found above solved in new or
2647 experimental versions of some docbook tool chain?</p>
2648
2649 <p>What about HTML and EPUB versions?</p>
2650
2651       </div>
2652       <div class="tags">
2653
2654
2655         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/docbook">docbook</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/freeculture">freeculture</a>.
2656
2657
2658       </div>
2659     </div>
2660     <div class="padding"></div>
2661
2662     <div class="entry">
2663       <div class="title">
2664         <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>
2665       </div>
2666       <div class="date">
2667         21st July 2012
2668       </div>
2669       <div class="body">
2670         <p>I reported earlier that I am working on
2671 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Dugnad_for___sende_norsk_versjon_av_Free_Culture_til_stortingets_representanter_.html">a
2672 norwegian version</a> of the book
2673 <a href="http://free-culture.cc/">Free Culture</a> by Lawrence Lessig.
2674 Progress is good, and yesterday I got a major contribution from Anders
2675 Hagen Jarmund completing chapter six.  The source files as well as a
2676 PDF and EPUB version of this book are available from
2677 <a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig">github</a>.</p>
2678
2679 <p>I am happy to report that the draft for the first two chapters
2680 (preface, introduction) is complete, and three other chapters are also
2681 completely translated.  This completes 26 percent of the number of
2682 strings (equivalent to paragraphs) in the book, and there is thus 74
2683 percent left to translate.  A graph of the progress is present at the
2684 bottom of the github project page.  There is still room for more
2685 contributors.  Get in touch or send github pull requests with fixes if
2686 you got time and are willing to help make this book make it to
2687 print. :)</p>
2688
2689 <p>The book translation framework could also be a good basis for other
2690 translations, if you want the book to be available in your
2691 language.</p>
2692
2693       </div>
2694       <div class="tags">
2695
2696
2697         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/docbook">docbook</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/freeculture">freeculture</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/opphavsrett">opphavsrett</a>.
2698
2699
2700       </div>
2701     </div>
2702     <div class="padding"></div>
2703
2704     <div class="entry">
2705       <div class="title">
2706         <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>
2707       </div>
2708       <div class="date">
2709         16th July 2012
2710       </div>
2711       <div class="body">
2712         <p>I am currently working on a
2713 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Dugnad_for___sende_norsk_versjon_av_Free_Culture_til_stortingets_representanter_.html">project
2714 to translate</a> the book
2715 <a href="http://free-culture.cc/">Free Culture</a> by Lawrence Lessig
2716 to Norwegian.  And the source we base our translation on is the
2717 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DocBook">docbook</a> version, to
2718 allow us to use po4a and .po files to handle the translation, and for
2719 this to work well the docbook source document need to be properly
2720 tagged.  The source files of this project is available from
2721 <a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig">github</a>.</p>
2722
2723 <p>The problem is that the docbook source have flaws, and we have
2724 no-one involved in the project that is a docbook expert.  Is there a
2725 docbook expert somewhere that is interested in helping us create a
2726 well tagged docbook version of the book, and adjust our build process
2727 for the PDF, EPUB and HTML version of the book?  This will provide a
2728 well tagged English version (our source document), and make it a lot
2729 easier for us to create a good Norwegian version.  If you can and want
2730 to help, please get in touch with me or fork the github project and
2731 send pull requests with fixes. :)</p>
2732
2733       </div>
2734       <div class="tags">
2735
2736
2737         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/docbook">docbook</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/freeculture">freeculture</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/opphavsrett">opphavsrett</a>.
2738
2739
2740       </div>
2741     </div>
2742     <div class="padding"></div>
2743
2744     <div class="entry">
2745       <div class="title">
2746         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__George_Bredberg.html">Debian Edu interview: George Bredberg</a>
2747       </div>
2748       <div class="date">
2749          9th July 2012
2750       </div>
2751       <div class="body">
2752         <p>The <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu /
2753 Skolelinux</a> project have users all over the globe, but until
2754 recently we have not known about any users in Norway's neighbour
2755 country Sweden.  This changed when George Bredberg showed up in March
2756 this year on the mailing list, asking interesting questions about how
2757 to adjust and scale the just released
2758 <a href="http://www.debian.org/News/2012/20120311.html">Debian Edu
2759 Wheezy</a> setup to his liking.  He granted me an interview, and I am
2760 happy to share his answers with you here.</p>
2761
2762 <p><strong>Who are you, and how do you spend your days?</strong></p>
2763
2764 <p>I'm a 44 year old country guy that have been working 12 years at
2765 the same school as 50% IT-manager and 50% Teacher. My educational
2766 background is fil.kand in history and religious beliefs, an exam as a
2767 "folkhighschool" teacher, that is, for teaching grownups.  In
2768 Norwegian I believe it's called "Vuxenupplaring". I also have a master
2769 in "Technology and social change". So I'm not really a tech guy, I
2770 just like to study how humans and technology interact and that is my
2771 perspective when working with IT.</p>
2772
2773 <p><strong>How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux/Debian Edu
2774 project?</strong></p>
2775
2776 I have followed the Skolelinux project for quite some time by
2777 now. Earlier I tested out the K12-LTSP project, which we used for some
2778 time, but I really like the idea of having a distribution aimed to be
2779 a complete solution for schools with necessary tools integrated. When
2780 K12-LTSP abandoned that idea some years ago, I started to look more
2781 seriously into Skolelinux instead.
2782
2783 <p><strong>What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux/Debian
2784 Edu?</strong></p>
2785
2786 The big point of Skolelinux to me is that it is a complete
2787 distribution, ready to install. It has LDAP-support, MS Windows
2788 integration tools and so forth already configured, saving an
2789 administrator a lot of time and headache. We were using another Linux
2790 based thin-client system called Thinlinc, that has served us very
2791 well. But that Skolelinux is based on VNC and LTSP, to me, is better
2792 when it comes to the kind of multimedia used in schools. That is
2793 showing videos from Youtube or educational TV. It is also easier to
2794 mix thin clients with workstations, since the user settings will be the
2795 same. In our VNC-based solution you had to "beat around the bush" by
2796 setting up a second, hidden, home-directory for user settings for the
2797 workstations, because they will be different from the ones used on the
2798 thin clients. Skolelinux support for diskless workstations are very
2799 convenient since a school today often need to use a class room
2800 projector showing videos in full screen. That is easily done with a
2801 small integrated media computer running as a diskless workstation. You
2802 have only two installs to update and configure. One for the thin
2803 clients and one for the workstations. Also saving a lot of time.  Our
2804 old system was also based on Redhat and CentOS. They are both very
2805 nice distributions, but they are sometimes painfully slow when it
2806 comes to updating multimedia support and multimedia programs (even
2807 such as Gimp), leaving us with a bit "oldish" applications. Debian is
2808 quicker to update.
2809
2810 <p><strong>What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux/Debian
2811 Edu?</strong></p>
2812
2813 <p>Debian is a bit too quick when it comes to updating. As an example
2814 we use old HP terminals as thinclients, and two times already this
2815 year (2012) the updates you get from the repositories has stopped
2816 sound from working with them.  It's a kernel/ALSA issue. So you have
2817 to be more careful properly testing the updates before you run them in
2818 a production environment. This has never happened with CentOS.</p>
2819
2820 <p>I also would like to be able to set my own domain-settings at
2821 install time.  In Skolelinux they are kind of hard coded into the
2822 distribution, when it comes to LDAP and at least samba integration.
2823 That is more a cosmetic/translation issue, and not a real problem.
2824 Running MS Windows applications within the Skolelinux environment needs
2825 to be better supported. That is, running them seamlessly via RDP, and
2826 support for single-sign on.  That will make the transition to free
2827 software easier, because you can keep the applications you really
2828 need.  No support will make it impossible if you work in a school where
2829 some applications can't be open source. As for us we really need to
2830 run Adobe InDesign in our journalist classes.  We run a journalist
2831 education, and is one of the very few non university ones that is ok:d
2832 by Svenska journalistförbundet (Swedish journalist association).  Our
2833 education gives the pupils the right of membership there, once they
2834 are done.  This is important if you want to get a job.</p>
2835
2836 <p>Adobe InDesign is the program most commonly used in newspapers and
2837 magazines.  We used Quark Express before, but they seem to loose there
2838 market to Adobe. The only "equivalent" to InDesign in the opensource
2839 world is Scribus, and its not advanced enough. At least not according
2840 to the teacher. I think it would be possible to use it, because they
2841 are not supposed to learn a program, they are supposed to learn how to
2842 edit and compile a newspaper.  But politically at our school we are not
2843 there yet.  And Scribus lacks a lot of things you find i InDesign.</p>
2844
2845 <p>We used even a windows program for sound editing when it comes to
2846 the radio-journalist part. The year to come we are going to try
2847 Audacity. That software has the same kind of limitations compared to
2848 Adobe Audition, but that teacher is a bit more open minded. We have
2849 tried Ardour also, but that instead is more like a music studio
2850 program, not intended for the kind of editing taking place in a radio
2851 studio. Its way to complex and the GUI is to scattered when you only
2852 want to cut, make pass-overs, add extra channels and normalise.  Those
2853 things you can do in Audacity, but its not as easy as in Audition. You
2854 have to do more things manually with envelopes, and that is a bit old
2855 fashion and timewasting. Its also harder to cut and move sound from
2856 one channel to another, which is a thing that you do frequently
2857 because you often find yourself needing to rearrange parts of the
2858 sound file.</p>
2859
2860 <p>So, I am not sure we will succeed in replacing even Audition, but we
2861 will try.  The problem is the students have certain expectations when
2862 they start an education towards a profession.  So the programs has to
2863 look and feel professional.  Good thing with radio, there are many
2864 programs out there, that radio studios use, so its not as standardised
2865 as Newspaper editing. That means, it does not really matter what
2866 program they learn, because once they start working they still have to
2867 learn the program the studio uses, so instead focus has to be to learn
2868 the editing part without to much focus on a specific software.</p>
2869
2870 <p><strong>Which free software do you use daily?</strong></p>
2871
2872 <p>Myself I'm running Linux Mint, or Ubuntu these days.  I use almost
2873 only open source software, and preferably Linux based. When it comes
2874 to most used applications its OpenOffice, and Firefox (of course ;)
2875 )</p>
2876
2877 <p><strong>Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to
2878 get schools to use free software?</strong></p>
2879
2880 <p>To get schools to use free software there has to be good open
2881 source software that are windows based, to ease the transition. But
2882 it's also very important that the multimedia support is working
2883 flawlessly.  The problems with Youtube, Twitter, Facebook and whatever
2884 will create problems when it comes to both teachers and
2885 students. Economy are also important for schools, so using thin
2886 clients, as long as they have good multimedia support, is a very good
2887 idea. It's also important that the open source software works even for
2888 the administration.  It's hard to convince the teachers to stick with
2889 open source, if the principal has to run Windows.  It also creates a
2890 problem if some classes has to use Windows for there tasks, since that
2891 will create a difference in "status" between classes, so a good
2892 support for running windows applications via the thin client (Linux)
2893 desktop is essential.  At least at our school, where we have mixed
2894 level of educations, from high-school to journalist-school.</p>
2895
2896 <p>Update 2012-07-09 08:30: Paul Wise tipped me on IRC about three
2897 useful sources related to Free Software for radio stations: the LWN
2898 article <a href="https://lwn.net/Articles/481607/">Radio station
2899 management with Airtime</a>,
2900 <a href="http://www.sourcefabric.org/en/airtime/">Airtime</a> which
2901 claim to be a Free open source radio automation software and
2902 <a href="http://www.rivendellaudio.org/">Rivendell</a> which claim to
2903 be complete radio broadcast automation solution.  All of them seem
2904 useful to the aspiring radio producer.</p>
2905
2906       </div>
2907       <div class="tags">
2908
2909
2910         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>.
2911
2912
2913       </div>
2914     </div>
2915     <div class="padding"></div>
2916
2917     <div class="entry">
2918       <div class="title">
2919         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Why_do_schools_waste_money_on_IT_.html">Why do schools waste money on IT?</a>
2920       </div>
2921       <div class="date">
2922          8th July 2012
2923       </div>
2924       <div class="body">
2925         <p>In the Debian Edu / Skolelinux project, we have realised that one
2926 of the major blockers for the project success is the purchasing skills
2927 in schools and municipalities.  We provide what the happy users of
2928 Debian Edu / Skolelinux say they need and to a lower cost than the
2929 alternatives, and yet so few schools decide to use our solution.  I
2930 was pleased to discover the same observation done by mySociety and Tom
2931 Steinberg in his blog post
2932 "<a href="http://www.mysociety.org/2012/06/19/can-you-recognize-the-million-pound-chair/">Can
2933 you recognize the million pound chair?</a>".  Read it and weep for the
2934 spending of your tax money.</p>
2935
2936 <p>Of course there are other factors involved as well, like our
2937 projects bad marketing skills and the Linux community fragmentation
2938 causing worry with the people on the outside, so we as a project need
2939 to keep working hard to gain users, but it is a up-hill battle when
2940 public decision makers are unable to understand computer system
2941 purchases.</p>
2942
2943       </div>
2944       <div class="tags">
2945
2946
2947         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>.
2948
2949
2950       </div>
2951     </div>
2952     <div class="padding"></div>
2953
2954     <div class="entry">
2955       <div class="title">
2956         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Free_Timetabling_Software___nice_free_software.html">Free Timetabling Software - nice free software</a>
2957       </div>
2958       <div class="date">
2959          7th July 2012
2960       </div>
2961       <div class="body">
2962         <p>Included in <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu /
2963 Skolelinux</a> is a large collection of end user and school specific
2964 software.  It is one of the packages not installed by default but
2965 provided in the Debian archive for schools to install if they want to,
2966 is a system to automatically plan the school time table using
2967 information about available teachers, classes and rooms, combined with
2968 the list of required courses and how many hours each topic should
2969 receive.  The software is
2970
2971 <a href="http://lalescu.ro/liviu/fet/">named FET</a>, and it provide a
2972 graphical user interface to input the required information, save the
2973 result in a fairly simple XML format, and generate time tables for
2974 both teachers and students.  It is available both for
2975 <a href="http://lalescu.ro/liviu/fet/download.html">Linux, MacOSX and
2976 Windows</a>.</p>
2977
2978 <p>This is <a href="http://lalescu.ro/liviu/fet/features.html">the
2979 feature list</a>, liftet from the project web site:</p>
2980
2981 <p><ul>
2982
2983   <li>FET is free software, licensed under the GNU GPL v2 or later.
2984     You can freely use, copy, modify and redistribute it </li>
2985
2986   <li>Localized to en_US (US English, default), ar (Arabic), ca
2987     (Catalan), da (Danish), de (German), el (Greek), es (Spanish), fa
2988     (Persian), fr (French), gl (Galician), he (Hebrew), hu
2989     (Hungarian), id (Indonesian), it (Italian), lt (Lithuanian), mk
2990     (Macedonian), ms (Malay), nl (Dutch), pl (Polish), pt_BR
2991     (Brazilian Portuguese), ro (Romanian), ru (Russian), si (Sinhala),
2992     sk (Slovak), sr (Serbian), tr (Turkish), uk (Ukrainian), uz
2993     (Uzbek) and vi (Vietnamese) (incompletely for some languages)
2994     </li>
2995
2996   <li>Fully automatic generation algorithm, allowing also
2997     semi-automatic or manual allocation</li>
2998
2999   <li>Platform independent implementation, allowing running on
3000     GNU/Linux, Windows, Mac and any system that Qt supports </li>
3001
3002   <li>Flexible modular XML format for the input file, allowing editing
3003     with an XML editor or by hand (besides FET interface)</li>
3004
3005   <li>Import/export from CSV format</li>
3006
3007   <li>The resulted timetables are exported into HTML, XML and CSV
3008     formats </li>
3009
3010   <li>Flexible students structure, organized into sets: years, groups
3011     and subgroups. FET allows overlapping years and groups and
3012     non-overlapping subgroups. You can even define individual students
3013     (as separate sets)</li>
3014
3015   <li>Each constraint has a weight percentage, from 0.0% to 100.0%
3016     (but some special constraints are allowed to have only 100% weight
3017     percentage)</li>
3018
3019   <li>Limits for the algorithm (all these limits can be increased on
3020     demand, as a custom version, because this would require a bit more
3021     memory):
3022     <ul>
3023       <li>Maximum total number of hours (periods) per day: 60</li>
3024       <li>Maximum number of working days per week: 35</li>
3025       <li>Maximum total number of teachers: 6000</li>
3026       <li>Maximum total number of sets of students: 30000</li>
3027       <li>Maximum total number of subjects: 6000</li>
3028       <li>Virtually unlimited number of activity tags</li>
3029       <li>Maximum number of activities: 30000</li>
3030       <li>Maximum number of rooms: 6000</li>
3031       <li>Maximum number of buildings: 6000</li>
3032       <li>Possibility of adding multiple teachers and
3033           students sets for each activity.  (it is possible
3034           also to have no teachers or no students sets for an
3035           activity)</li>
3036       <li>Virtually unlimited number of time constraints</li>
3037       <li>Virtually unlimited number of space constraints</li>
3038     </ul></li>
3039
3040   <li>A large and flexible palette of time constraints:
3041     <ul>
3042       <li>Break periods</li>
3043       <li>For teacher(s):
3044         <ul>
3045           <li>Not available periods</li>
3046           <li>Max/min days per week</li>
3047           <li>Max gaps per day/week</li>
3048           <li>Max hours daily/continuously</li>
3049           <li>Min hours daily</li>
3050           <li>Max hours daily/continuously with an activity tag</li>
3051
3052           <li>Respect working in an hourly interval a max number of
3053             days per week</li>
3054         </ul></li>
3055       <li>For students (sets):
3056         <ul>
3057           <li>Not available periods</li>
3058           <li>Begins early (specify max allowed beginnings at second hour)</li>
3059           <li>Max gaps per day/week</li>
3060           <li>Max hours daily/continuously</li>
3061           <li>Min hours daily</li>
3062           <li>Max hours daily/continuously with an activity tag</li>
3063
3064           <li>Respect working in an hourly interval a max number of
3065             days per week</li>
3066         </ul></li>
3067       <li>For an activity or a set of activities/subactivities:
3068         <ul>
3069           <li>A single preferred starting time</li>
3070           <li>A set of preferred starting times</li>
3071           <li>A set of preferred time slots</li>
3072           <li>Min/max days between them</li>
3073           <li>End(s) students day</li>
3074           <li>Same starting time/day/hour</li>
3075           <li>Occupy max time slots from selection (a complex and
3076             flexible constraint, useful in many situations)</li>
3077           <li>Consecutive, ordered, grouped (for 2 or 3 (sub)activities)</li>
3078           <li>Not overlapping</li>
3079           <li>Max simultaneous in selected time slots</li>
3080           <li>Min gaps between a set of (sub)activities</li>
3081         </ul></li>
3082     </ul></li>
3083
3084   <li>A large and flexible palette of space constraints:
3085     <ul>
3086       <li>Room not available periods</li>
3087       <li>For teacher(s):
3088         <ul>
3089           <li>Home room(s)</li>
3090           <li>Max building changes per day/week</li>
3091           <li>Min gaps between building changes</li>
3092         </ul>
3093       </li>
3094
3095       <li>For students (sets):
3096         <ul>
3097           <li>Home room(s)</li>
3098           <li>Max building changes per day/week</li>
3099           <li>Min gaps between building changes</li>
3100         </ul>
3101       </li>
3102       <li>Preferred room(s):
3103         <ul>
3104           <li>For a subject</li>
3105           <li>For an activity tag</li>
3106           <li>For a subject and an activity tag</li>
3107           <li>Individually for a (sub)activity</li>
3108         </ul>
3109       </li>
3110
3111       <li>For a set of activities:
3112         <ul>
3113           <li>Occupy a maximum number of different rooms</li>
3114         </ul>
3115       </li>
3116     </ul>
3117   </li>
3118 </ul></p>
3119
3120 <p>I have not used it myself, as I am not involved in time table
3121 planning at a school, but it seem to work fine when I test it.  If you
3122 need to set up your schools time table, and is tired of doing it
3123 manually, check it out.
3124
3125 A quick summary on how to use it can be found in
3126 <a href="http://marvelsoft.co.in/wp/2012/03/generate-timetable-for-state-cbse-icse-igcse-schools-free/">a
3127 blog post from MarvelSoft</a>.  If you find FET useful, please provide
3128 a recipe for the Debian Edu project in the
3129 <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu#Howtos">Debian Edu HowTo
3130 section</a>.</p>
3131
3132       </div>
3133       <div class="tags">
3134
3135
3136         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>.
3137
3138
3139       </div>
3140     </div>
3141     <div class="padding"></div>
3142
3143     <div class="entry">
3144       <div class="title">
3145         <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>
3146       </div>
3147       <div class="date">
3148          3rd July 2012
3149       </div>
3150       <div class="body">
3151         <p>In the NUUG <a href="http://www.fiksgatami.no/">FiksGataMi</a>
3152 project (Norwegian version of
3153 <a href="http://www.fixmystreet.com/">FixMyStreet</a> from
3154 <a href="http://www.mysociety.org/">mySociety</a>), we have discovered
3155 a problem with the municipalities using
3156 <a href="http://www.zimbra.com/">Zimbra</a>.  When FiksGataMi send a
3157 problem report to the government, the email From: address is set to
3158 the address of the person reporting the problem, while envelope sender
3159 is set to the FiksGataMi contact address.  The intention is to make
3160 sure the municipality send any replies to the person reporting the
3161 problem, while any email delivery problems are sent to us in NUUG.
3162 This work well in most cases, but not for Karmøy municipality using
3163 Zimbra.  Karmøy is using the vacation message function in Zimbra to
3164 send an automatic reply to report that the message has been received,
3165 and this message is sent to the envelope sender and not the address in
3166 the From: header.</p>
3167
3168 <p>This causes the automatic message from Karmøy to go to NUUGs
3169 request-tracker instance instead of to the person reporting the
3170 problem.  We can not really change the envelope sender address, as
3171 this would make it impossible for us to discover when there are
3172 problems with the MTAs receiving problem reports.  We have been in
3173 contact with the people at Karmøy municipality, and they are willing
3174 to adjust Zimbra if something can be changed there to get a better
3175 behaviour.</p>
3176
3177 <p>The default behaviour of Zimbra is as far as I can tell according
3178 to the specification in RFC 3834, which recommend that vacation
3179 messages are sent to the envelope sender and not to the From: address.
3180 But I wonder if it is possible to adjust or configure Zimbra to behave
3181 differently.  Anyone know?  Please let us know at
3182 <a href="http://lists.nuug.no/mailman/listinfo/fiksgatami">fiksgatami
3183 (at) nuug.no</a>.</p>
3184
3185       </div>
3186       <div class="tags">
3187
3188
3189         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>.
3190
3191
3192       </div>
3193     </div>
3194     <div class="padding"></div>
3195
3196     <div class="entry">
3197       <div class="title">
3198         <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>
3199       </div>
3200       <div class="date">
3201         26th June 2012
3202       </div>
3203       <div class="body">
3204         <p>I've been too busy at home, but finally I found time to wrap up
3205 another interview with the people behind
3206 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu and Skolelinux</a>.
3207 This time we get to know José Luis Redrejo Rodríguez, one of our great
3208 helpers from Spain.  His effort was the reason we added support for
3209 several desktop types (KDE, Gnome and most recently LXDE) in Debian
3210 Edu, and have all of these available in the recently published
3211 <a href="http://www.debian.org/News/2012/20120311.html">Debian Edu
3212 Squeeze</a> version.</p>
3213
3214 <p><strong>Who are you, and how do you spend your days?</strong></p>
3215
3216 <p>I'm a father, teacher and engineer who is working for the Education
3217 ministry of the Region of Extremadura (Spain) in the implementation of
3218 ICT in schools</p>
3219
3220 <p><strong>How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux/Debian Edu
3221 project?</strong></p>
3222
3223 <p>At 2006, I verified that both, we in Extremadura and Skolelinux
3224 project, had been working in parallel for some years, doing very
3225 similar things, using very similar tools and with similar targets, so
3226 I decided it was time to join forces as much as possible.</p>
3227
3228 <p><strong>What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux/Debian
3229 Edu?</strong></p>
3230
3231 <p>A community of highly skilled experts working together, with a
3232 really open schema of collaboration and work. I really love the
3233 concepts of Do-ocracy and Merit-ocracy and the way these concepts are
3234 been used everyday inside Debian Edu.</p>
3235
3236 <p><strong>What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux/Debian
3237 Edu?</strong></p>
3238
3239 <p>Sometimes the differences in the implementations, laws or
3240 economical and technical resources in the different countries don't
3241 allow us to agree in the same solution for all of us, and several
3242 approaches are needed, what is a waste of effort. Also, there is a
3243 lack of more man power to be able to follow the fast evolution of the
3244 technologies in school.</p>
3245
3246 <p><strong>Which free software do you use daily?</strong></p>
3247
3248 <p>Debian, of course, and due to my kind of job I am most of my time
3249 between Iceweasel, <a href="http://www.geany.org/">Geany</a> and
3250 <a href="http://www.ohloh.net/p/gnome-terminator">Terminator</a>.</p>
3251
3252 <p><strong>Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to
3253 get schools to use free software?</strong></p>
3254
3255 <p>I think there is not a single strategy because there are very
3256 different scenarios: schools with mixed proprietary and free
3257 environments, schools using only workstations, other schools using
3258 laptops, netbooks, tablets, interactive white-boards, etc.</p>
3259
3260 <p>Also the range of ages of the students is very broad and you can
3261 not use the same solutions for primary schools and secondary or even
3262 universities. So different strategies are needed.</p>
3263
3264 <p>But, looking at these differences, and looking back to the things
3265 we've done and implemented, and the places were we have spent most of
3266 our forces, I think we should focus as much as possible in free
3267 multi-platform environments, using only standards tools, and moving
3268 more and more to Internet or network solutions that could be deployed
3269 using wireless. I think we'll see more and more personal devices in
3270 the schools, devices the students and teachers will take home with
3271 them, so the solutions must be able to be taken at home and continue
3272 working there.</p>
3273
3274       </div>
3275       <div class="tags">
3276
3277
3278         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>.
3279
3280
3281       </div>
3282     </div>
3283     <div class="padding"></div>
3284
3285     <div class="entry">
3286       <div class="title">
3287         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Song_book_for_Computer_Scientists.html">Song book for Computer Scientists</a>
3288       </div>
3289       <div class="date">
3290         24th June 2012
3291       </div>
3292       <div class="body">
3293         <p>Many years ago, while studying Computer Science at the
3294 <a href="http://www.uit.no/">University of Tromsø</a>, I started
3295 collecting computer related songs for use at parties.  The original
3296 version was written in LaTeX, but a few years ago I got help from
3297 Håkon W. Lie, one of the inventors of W3C CSS, to convert it to HTML
3298 while keeping the ability to create a nice book in PDF format.  I have
3299 not had time to maintain the book for a while now, and guess I should
3300 put it up on some public version control repository where others can
3301 help me extend and update the book.  If anyone is volunteering to help
3302 me with this, send me an email.  Also let me know if there are songs
3303 missing in my book.</p>
3304
3305 <p>I have not mentioned the book on my blog so far, and it occured to
3306 me today that I really should let all my readers share the joys of
3307 singing out load about programming, computers and computer networks.
3308 Especially now that <a href="http://debconf12.debconf.org/">Debconf
3309 12</a> is about to start (and I am not going).  Want to sing?  Check
3310 out <a href="http://www.hungry.com/~pere/cs-songbook/">Petter's
3311 Computer Science Songbook</a>.
3312
3313       </div>
3314       <div class="tags">
3315
3316
3317         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>.
3318
3319
3320       </div>
3321     </div>
3322     <div class="padding"></div>
3323
3324     <div class="entry">
3325       <div class="title">
3326         <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>
3327       </div>
3328       <div class="date">
3329         11th June 2012
3330       </div>
3331       <div class="body">
3332         <p>During my work on
3333 <a href="http://www.debian.org/News/2012/20120311.nb.html">Debian Edu
3334 based on Squeeze</a>, I came across some issues that should be
3335 addressed in the Wheezy release.  I finally found time to wrap up my
3336 notes and provide quick summary of what I found, with a bit
3337 explanation.</p>
3338
3339 <p><ul>
3340
3341 <li>We need to rewrite our package installation framework, as tasksel
3342 changed from using tasksel tasks to using meta packages (aka packages
3343 with dependencies like our education-* packages), and our installation
3344 system depend on tasksel tasks in
3345 /usr/share/tasksel/debian-edu-tasks.desc for package
3346 installation.</li>
3347
3348 <li>Enable Kerberos login for more services.  Now with the Kerberos
3349 foundation in place, we should use it to get single sign on with more
3350 services, and avoiding unneeded password / login questions.  We should
3351 at least try to enable it for these services:
3352 <ul>
3353
3354   <li>CUPS for admins to add/configure printers and users when using
3355     quotas.</li>
3356   <li>Nagios for admins checking the system status.</li>
3357   <li>GOsa for admins updating LDAP and users changing their passwords.</li>
3358   <li>LDAP for admins updating LDAP.</li>
3359   <li>Squid for users when exam mode / filtering is active.</li>
3360   <li>ssh for admins and users to save a password prompt.</li>
3361
3362 </ul></li>
3363
3364 <li>When we move GOsa to use Kerberos instead of LDAP bind to
3365 authenticate users, we should try to block or at least limit access to
3366 use LDAP bind for authentication, to ensure Kerberos is used when it
3367 is intended, and nothing fall back to using the less safe LDAP bind</li>
3368
3369 <li>Merge debian-edu-config and debian-edu-install.  The split made
3370 sense when d-e-install did a lot more, but these days it is just an
3371 inconvenience when we update the debconf preseeding values.</li>
3372
3373 <li>Fix partman-auto to allow us to abort the installation before
3374 touching the disk if the disk is too small.  This is
3375 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/653305">BTS report #653305</a> and the
3376 d-i developers are fine with the patch and someone just need to apply
3377 it and upload.  After this is done we need to adjust
3378 debian-edu-install to use this new hook.</li>
3379
3380 <li>Adjust to new LTSP framework (boot time config instead of install
3381 time config).  LTSP changed its design, and our hooks to install
3382 packages and update the configuration is most likely not going to work
3383 in Wheezy.
3384
3385 <li>Consider switching to NBD instead of NFS for LTSP root, to allow
3386 the Kernel to cache files in its normal file cache, possibly speeding
3387 up KDE login on slow networks.</li>
3388
3389 <li>Make it possible to create expired user passwords that need to
3390 change on first login.  This is useful when handing out password on
3391 paper, to make sure only the user know the password.  This require
3392 fixes to the PAM handling of kdm and gdm.</li>
3393
3394 <li>Make GUI for adding new machines automatically from sitesummary.
3395 The current command line script is not very friendly to people most
3396 familiar with GUIs.  This should probably be integrated into GOsa to
3397 have it available where the admin will be looking for it..</li>
3398
3399 <li>We should find way for Nagios to check that the DHCP service
3400 actually is working (as in handling out IP addresses).  None of the
3401 Nagios checks I have found so far have been working for me.</li>
3402
3403 <li>We should switch from libpam-nss-ldapd to sssd for all profiles
3404 using LDAP, and not only on for roaming workstations, to have less
3405 packages to configure and consistent setup across all profiles.</li>
3406
3407 <li>We should configure Kerberos to update LDAP and Samba password
3408 when changing password using the Kerberos protocol.  The hook was
3409 requested in <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/588968">BTS report
3410 #588968</a> and is now available in Wheezy.  We might need to write a
3411 MIT Kerberos plugin in C to get this.</li>
3412
3413 <li>We should clean up the set of applications installed by default.
3414 <ul>
3415
3416 <li>reduce the number of chemistry visualisers</li>
3417 <li>consider dropping xpaint</li>
3418 <li>and probably more?</li>
3419 </ul></li>
3420
3421 <li>Some hardware need external firmware to work properly.  This is
3422 mostly the case for WiFi network cards, but there are some other
3423 examples too.  For popular laptops to work out of the box, such
3424 firmware need to be installed from non-free, and we should provide
3425 some GUI to do this.  Ubuntu already have this implemented, and we
3426 could consider using their packages.  At the moment we have some
3427 command line script to do this (one for the running system, another
3428 for the LTSP chroot).</li>
3429
3430
3431 <li>In Squeeze, we provide KDE, Gnome and LXDE as desktop options.  We
3432 should extend the list to Xfce and Sugar, and preferably find a way to
3433 install several and allow the admin or the user to select which one to
3434 use.</li>
3435
3436 <li>The golearn tool from the goplay package make it easy to check out
3437 interesting educational packages.  We should work on the package
3438 tagging in Debian to ensure it represent all the useful educational
3439 packages, and extend the tool to allow it to use packagekit to install
3440 new applications with a simple mouse click.</li>
3441
3442 <li>The Squeeze version got half a exam solution already in place,
3443 with the introduction of iptable based network blocking, but for it to
3444 be a complete exam solution the Squid proxy need to enable
3445 filtering/blocking as well when the exam mode is enabled.  We should
3446 implement a way to easily enable this for the schools that want it,
3447 instead of the "it is documented" method of today.</li>
3448
3449 <li>A feature used in several schools is the ability for a teacher to
3450 "take over" the desktop of individual or all computers in the room.
3451 There are at least three implementations,
3452 <a href="italc.sourceforge.net/">italc</a>,
3453 <a href="http://www.itais.net/help/en/">controlaula</a> og
3454 <a href="http://www.epoptes.org/">epoptes</a> and we should pick one of
3455 them and make it trivial to set it up in a school.  The challenges is
3456 how to distribute crypto keys and how to group computers in one room
3457 and how to set up which machine/user can control the machines in a
3458 given room.</li>
3459
3460 <li>Tablets and surf boards are getting more and more popular, and we
3461 should look into providing a good solution for integrating these into
3462 the Debian Edu network.  Not quite sure how.  Perhaps we should
3463 provide a installation profile with better touch screen support for
3464 them, or add some sync services to allow them to exchange
3465 configuration and data with the central server.  This should be
3466 investigated.</li>
3467
3468 </ul></p>
3469
3470 <p>I guess we will discover more as we continue to work on the Wheezy
3471 version.</p>
3472
3473       </div>
3474       <div class="tags">
3475
3476
3477         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>.
3478
3479
3480       </div>
3481     </div>
3482     <div class="padding"></div>
3483
3484     <div class="entry">
3485       <div class="title">
3486         <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>
3487       </div>
3488       <div class="date">
3489          9th June 2012
3490       </div>
3491       <div class="body">
3492         <p>Slashdot got a story about Intel planning a
3493 <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
3494 with face recognition</a> to recognise the viewer, and it occurred to
3495 me that it would be more interesting to turn it around, and do face
3496 recognition on the TV image itself.  It could let the viewer know who
3497 is present on the screen, and perhaps look up their credibility,
3498 company affiliation, previous appearances etc for the viewer to better
3499 evaluate what is being said and done.  That would be a feature I would
3500 be willing to pay for.</p>
3501
3502 <p>I would not be willing to pay for a TV that point a camera on my
3503 household, like the big brother feature apparently proposed by Intel.
3504 It is the telescreen idea fetched straight out of the book
3505 <a href="http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks01/0100021.txt">1984 by George
3506 Orwell</a>.</p>
3507
3508       </div>
3509       <div class="tags">
3510
3511
3512         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>.
3513
3514
3515       </div>
3516     </div>
3517     <div class="padding"></div>
3518
3519     <div class="entry">
3520       <div class="title">
3521         <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>
3522       </div>
3523       <div class="date">
3524          6th June 2012
3525       </div>
3526       <div class="body">
3527         <p>A few days ago
3528 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/SOAP_based_webservice_from_Dell_to_check_server_support_status.html">I
3529 reported how to get</a> the support status out of Dell using an
3530 unofficial and undocumented SOAP API, which I since have found out was
3531 <a href="http://lists.us.dell.com/pipermail/linux-poweredge/2012-February/045959.html">discovered
3532 by Daniel De Marco in february</a>.  Combined with my web scraping
3533 code for HP, Dell and IBM
3534 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Checking_server_hardware_support_status_for_Dell__HP_and_IBM_servers.html">from
3535 2009</a>, I got inspired and wrote
3536 <a href="https://views.scraperwiki.com/run/computer-hardware-support-status/">a
3537 web service</a> based on Scraperwiki to make it easy to look up the
3538 support status and get a machine readable result back.</p>
3539
3540 <p>This is what it look like at the moment when asking for the JSON
3541 output:
3542
3543 <blockquote><pre>
3544 % 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>
3545 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": ""})
3546 %
3547 </pre></blockquote>
3548
3549 <p>It currently support Dell and HP, and I am hoping for help to add
3550 support for other vendors.  The python source is available on
3551 Scraperwiki and I welcome help with adding more features.</p>
3552
3553       </div>
3554       <div class="tags">
3555
3556
3557         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>.
3558
3559
3560       </div>
3561     </div>
3562     <div class="padding"></div>
3563
3564     <div class="entry">
3565       <div class="title">
3566         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__Mike_Gabriel.html">Debian Edu interview: Mike Gabriel</a>
3567       </div>
3568       <div class="date">
3569          2nd June 2012
3570       </div>
3571       <div class="body">
3572         <p>Back in 2010, Mike Gabriel showed up on the
3573 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu and Skolelinux</a>
3574 mailing list.  He quickly proved to be a valuable developer, and
3575 thanks to his tireless effort we now have Kerberos integrated into the
3576 <a href="http://www.debian.org/News/2012/20120311.html">Debian Edu
3577 Squeeze</a> version.</p>
3578
3579 <p><strong>Who are you, and how do you spend your days?</strong></p>
3580
3581 <p>My name is Mike Gabriel, I am 38 years old and live near Kiel,
3582 Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. I live together with a wonderful partner
3583 (Angela Fuß) and two own children and two bonus children (contributed
3584 by Angela).</p>
3585
3586 <p>During the day I am part-time employed as a system administrator
3587 and part-time working as an IT consultant. The consultancy work
3588 touches free software topics wherever and whenever possible. During
3589 the nights I am a free software developer. In the gaps I also train in
3590 becoming an osteopath.</p>
3591
3592 <p>Starting in 2010 we (Andreas Buchholz, Angela Fuß, Mike Gabriel)
3593 have set up a free software project in the area of Kiel that aims at
3594 introducing free software into schools. The project's name is
3595 "IT-Zukunft Schule" (IT future for schools). The project links IT
3596 skills with communication skills.</p>
3597
3598 <p><strong>How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux/Debian Edu
3599 project?</strong></p>
3600
3601 <p>While preparing our own customised Linux distribution for
3602 "IT-Zukunft Schule" we were repeatedly asked if we really wanted to
3603 reinvent the wheel. What schools really need is already available,
3604 people said.  From this impulse we started evaluating other Linux
3605 distributions that target being used for school networks.</p>
3606
3607 <p>At the end we short-listed two approaches and compared them: a
3608 commercial Linux distribution developed by a company in Bremen,
3609 Germany, and Skolelinux / Debian Edu. Between 12/2010 and 03/2011 we
3610 went to several events and met people being responsible for marketing
3611 and development of either of the distributions. Skolelinux / Debian
3612 Edu was by far much more convincing compared to the other product that
3613 got short-listed beforehand--across the full spectrum. What was most
3614 attractive for me personally: the perspective of collaboration within
3615 the developmental branch of the Debian Edu project itself.</p>
3616
3617 <p>In parallel with this, we talked to many local and not-so-local
3618 people.  People teaching at schools, headmasters, politicians, data
3619 protection experts, other IT professionals.</p>
3620
3621 <p>We came to two conclusions:</p>
3622
3623 <p>First, a technical conclusion: What schools need is available in
3624 bits and pieces here and there, and none of the solutions really fit
3625 by 100%. Any school we have seen has a very individual IT setup
3626 whereas most of each school's requirements could mapped by a standard
3627 IT solution.  The requirement to this IT solution is flexibility and
3628 customisability, so that individual adaptations here and there are
3629 possible.  In terms of re-distributing and rolling out such a
3630 standardised IT system for schools (a system that is still to some
3631 degree customisable) there is still a lot of work to do here
3632 locally. Debian Edu / Skolelinux has been our choice as the starting
3633 point.</p>
3634
3635 <p>Second, a holistic conclusion: What schools need does not exist at
3636 all (or we missed it so far). There are several technical solutions
3637 for handling IT at schools that tend to make a good impression. What
3638 has been missing completely here in Germany, though, is the enrolment
3639 of people into using IT and teaching with IT. "IT-Zukunft Schule"
3640 tries to provide an approach for this.</p>
3641
3642 <p>Only some schools have some sort of a media concept which explains,
3643 defines and gives guidance on how to use IT in class. Most schools in
3644 Northern Germany do not have an IT service provider, the school's IT
3645 equipment is managed by one or (if the school is lucky) two (admin)
3646 teachers, most of the workload these admin teachers get done in there
3647 spare time.</p>
3648
3649 <p>We were surprised that only a very few admin teachers were
3650 networked with colleagues from other schools. Basically, every school
3651 here around has its individual approach of providing IT equipment to
3652 teachers and students and the exchange of ideas has been quasi
3653 non-existent until 2010/2011.</p>
3654
3655 <p>Quite some (non-admin) teachers try to avoid using IT technology in
3656 class as a learning medium completely. Several reasons for this
3657 avoidance do exist.</p>
3658
3659 <p>We discovered that no-one has ever taken a closer look at this
3660 social part of IT management in schools, so far. On our quest journey
3661 for a technical IT solution for schools, we discussed this issue with
3662 several teachers, headmasters, politicians, other IT professionals and
3663 they all confirmed: a holistic approach of considering IT management
3664 at schools, an approach that includes the people in place, will be new
3665 and probably a gain for all.</p>
3666
3667 <p><strong>What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux/Debian
3668 Edu?</strong></p>
3669
3670 <p>There is a list of advantages: international context, openness to
3671 any kind of contributions, do-ocracy policy, the closeness to Debian,
3672 the different installation scenarios possible (from stand-alone
3673 workstation to complex multi-server sites), the transparency within
3674 project communication, honest communication within the group of
3675 developers, etc.</p>
3676
3677 <p><strong>What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux/Debian
3678 Edu?</strong></p>
3679
3680 <p>Every coin has two sides:</p>
3681
3682 <p>Technically: <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/311188">BTS issue
3683 #311188</a>, tricky upgradability of a Debian Edu main server, network
3684 client installations on top of a plain vanilla Debian installation
3685 should become possible sometime in the near future, one could think
3686 about splitting the very complex package debian-edu-config into
3687 several portions (to make it easier for new developers to
3688 contribute).</p>
3689
3690 <p>Another issue I see is that we (as Debian Edu developers) should
3691 find out more about the network of people who do the marketing for
3692 Debian Edu / Skolelinux. There is a very active group in Germany
3693 promoting Skolelinux on the bigger Linux Days within Germany. Are
3694 there other groups like that in other countries? How can we bring
3695 these marketing people together (marketing group A with group B and
3696 all of them with the group of Debian Edu developers)? During the last
3697 meeting of the German Skolelinux group, I got the impression of people
3698 there being rather disconnected from the development department of
3699 Debian Edu / Skolelinux.</p>
3700
3701 <p><strong>Which free software do you use daily?</strong></p>
3702
3703 <p>For my daily business, I do not use commercial software at all.</p>
3704
3705 <p>For normal stuff I use Iceweasel/Firefox, Libreoffice.org. For
3706 serious text writing I prefer LaTeX. I use gimp, inkscape, scribus for
3707 more artistic tasks. I run virtual machines in KVM and Virtualbox.</p>
3708
3709 <p>I am one of the upstream developers of X2Go. In 2010 I started the
3710 development of a Python based X2Go Client, called PyHoca-GUI.
3711 PyHoca-GUI has brought forth a Python X2Go Client API that currently
3712 is being integrated in Ubuntu's software center.</p>
3713
3714 <p>For communications I have my own Kolab server running using Horde
3715 as web-based groupware client. For IRC I love to use irssi, for Jabber
3716 I have several clients that I use, mostly pidgin, though. I am also
3717 the Debian maintainer of Coccinella, a Jabber-based interactive
3718 whiteboard.</p>
3719
3720 <p>My favourite terminal emulator is KDE's Yakuake.</p>
3721
3722 <p><strong>Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to
3723 get schools to use free software?</strong></p>
3724
3725 <p>Communicate, communicate, communicate. Enrol people, enrol people,
3726 enrol people.</p>
3727
3728       </div>
3729       <div class="tags">
3730
3731
3732         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>.
3733
3734
3735       </div>
3736     </div>
3737     <div class="padding"></div>
3738
3739     <div class="entry">
3740       <div class="title">
3741         <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>
3742       </div>
3743       <div class="date">
3744          1st June 2012
3745       </div>
3746       <div class="body">
3747         <p>A few years ago I wrote
3748 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Checking_server_hardware_support_status_for_Dell__HP_and_IBM_servers.html">how
3749 to extract support status</a> for your Dell and HP servers.  Recently
3750 I have learned from colleges here at the
3751 <a href="http://www.uio.no/">University of Oslo</a> that Dell have
3752 made this even easier, by providing a SOAP based web service.  Given
3753 the service tag, one can now query the Dell servers and get machine
3754 readable information about the support status.  This perl code
3755 demonstrate how to do it:</p>
3756
3757 <p><pre>
3758 use strict;
3759 use warnings;
3760 use SOAP::Lite;
3761 use Data::Dumper;
3762 my $GUID = '11111111-1111-1111-1111-111111111111';
3763 my $App = 'test';
3764 my $servicetag = $ARGV[0] or die "Please supply a servicetag. $!\n";
3765 my ($deal, $latest, @dates);
3766 my $s = SOAP::Lite
3767     -> uri('http://support.dell.com/WebServices/')
3768     -> on_action( sub { join '', @_ } )
3769     -> proxy('http://xserv.dell.com/services/assetservice.asmx')
3770     ;
3771 my $a = $s->GetAssetInformation(
3772     SOAP::Data->name('guid')->value($GUID)->type(''),
3773     SOAP::Data->name('applicationName')->value($App)->type(''),
3774     SOAP::Data->name('serviceTags')->value($servicetag)->type(''),
3775 );
3776 print Dumper($a -> result) ;
3777 </pre></p>
3778
3779 <p>The output can look like this:</p>
3780
3781 <p><pre>
3782 $VAR1 = {
3783           'Asset' => {
3784                      'Entitlements' => {
3785                                        'EntitlementData' => [
3786                                                             {
3787                                                               'EntitlementType' => 'Expired',
3788                                                               'EndDate' => '2009-07-29T00:00:00',
3789                                                               'Provider' => '',
3790                                                               'StartDate' => '2006-07-29T00:00:00',
3791                                                               'DaysLeft' => '0'
3792                                                             },
3793                                                             {
3794                                                               'EntitlementType' => 'Expired',
3795                                                               'EndDate' => '2009-07-29T00:00:00',
3796                                                               'Provider' => '',
3797                                                               'StartDate' => '2006-07-29T00:00:00',
3798                                                               'DaysLeft' => '0'
3799                                                             },
3800                                                             {
3801                                                               'EntitlementType' => 'Expired',
3802                                                               'EndDate' => '2007-07-29T00:00:00',
3803                                                               'Provider' => '',
3804                                                               'StartDate' => '2006-07-29T00:00:00',
3805                                                               'DaysLeft' => '0'
3806                                                             }
3807                                                           ]
3808                                      },
3809                      'AssetHeaderData' => {
3810                                           'SystemModel' => 'GX620',
3811                                           'ServiceTag' => '8DSGD2J',
3812                                           'SystemShipDate' => '2006-07-29T19:00:00-05:00',
3813                                           'Buid' => '2323',
3814                                           'Region' => 'Europe',
3815                                           'SystemID' => 'PLX_GX620',
3816                                           'SystemType' => 'OptiPlex'
3817                                         }
3818                    }
3819         };
3820 </pre></p>
3821
3822 <p>I have not been able to find any documentation from Dell about this
3823 service outside the
3824 <a href="http://xserv.dell.com/services/assetservice.asmx?op=GetAssetInformation">inline
3825 documentation</a>, and according to
3826 <a href="http://iboyd.net/index.php/2012/02/14/updated-dell-warranty-information-script/">one
3827 comment</a> it can have stability issues, but it is a lot better than
3828 scraping HTML pages. :)</p>
3829
3830 <p>Wonder if HP and other server vendors have a similar service.  If
3831 you know of one, drop me an email. :)</p>
3832
3833       </div>
3834       <div class="tags">
3835
3836
3837         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>.
3838
3839
3840       </div>
3841     </div>
3842     <div class="padding"></div>
3843
3844     <div class="entry">
3845       <div class="title">
3846         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/First_monitor_calibration_using_ColorHug.html">First monitor calibration using ColorHug</a>
3847       </div>
3848       <div class="date">
3849         31st May 2012
3850       </div>
3851       <div class="body">
3852         <p>A few days ago my color calibration gadget
3853 <a href="http://www.hughski.com/index.html">ColorHug</a> arrived in the
3854 mail, and I've had a few days to test it.  As all my machines are
3855 running Debian Squeeze, where
3856 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/c/colorhug-client.html">the
3857 calibration software</a> is missing (it is present in Wheezy and Sid),
3858 I ran the calibration using the Fedora based live CD.  This worked
3859 just fine.  So far I have only done the quick calibration.  It was
3860 slow enough for me, so I will leave the more extensive calibration for
3861 another day.</p>
3862
3863 <p>After calibration, I get a
3864 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ICC_profile">ICC color
3865 profile</a> file that can be passed to programs understanding such
3866 tools.  KDE do not seem to understand it out of the box, so I searched
3867 for command line tools to use to load the color profile into X.
3868 xcalib was the first one I found, and it seem to work fine for single
3869 monitor setups.  But for my video player, a laptop with a flat screen
3870 attached, it was unable to load the color profile for the correct
3871 monitor.  After searching a bit, I
3872 <a href="http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1347896">discovered</a>
3873 that the dispwin tool from the argyll package would do what I wanted,
3874 and a simple</p>
3875
3876 <p><pre>
3877 dispwin -d 1 profile.icc
3878 </pre></p>
3879
3880 <p>later I had the color profile loaded for the correct monitor.  The
3881 result was a bit more pink than I expected.  I guess I picked the
3882 wrong monitor type for the "led" monitor I got, but the result is good
3883 enough for now.</p>
3884
3885       </div>
3886       <div class="tags">
3887
3888
3889         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
3890
3891
3892       </div>
3893     </div>
3894     <div class="padding"></div>
3895
3896     <div class="entry">
3897       <div class="title">
3898         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__Ralf_Gesellensetter.html">Debian Edu interview: Ralf Gesellensetter</a>
3899       </div>
3900       <div class="date">
3901         27th May 2012
3902       </div>
3903       <div class="body">
3904         <p>In 2003, a German teacher showed up on the
3905 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu and Skolelinux</a>
3906 mailing list with interesting problems and reports proving he setting
3907 up Linux for a (for us at the time) lot of pupils.  His name was Ralf
3908 Gesellensetter, and he has been an important tester and contributor
3909 since then, helping to make sure the
3910 <a href="http://www.debian.org/News/2012/20120311.html">Debian Edu
3911 Squeeze</a> release became as good as it is..</p>
3912
3913 <p><strong>Who are you, and how do you spend your days?</strong></p>
3914
3915 <p>I am a teacher from Germany, and my subjects are Geography,
3916 Mathematics, and Computer Science ("Informatik"). During the past 12
3917 years (since 2000), I have been working for a comprehensive (and soon,
3918 also inclusive) school leading to all kind of general levels, such as
3919 O- or A-level ("Abitur").  For quite as long, I've been taking care of
3920 our computer network.</p>
3921
3922 <p>Now, in my early 40s, I enjoy the privilege of spending a lot of my
3923 spare time together with my wife, our son (3 years) and our daughter
3924 (4 months).</p>
3925
3926 <p><strong>How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux/Debian Edu
3927 project?</strong></p>
3928
3929 <p>We had tried different Linux based school servers, when members of
3930 my local Linux User Group (LUG OWL) detected Skolelinux. I remember
3931 very well, being part of a party celebrating the Linux New Media Award
3932 ("Best Newcomer Distribution", also nominated: Ubuntu) that was given
3933 to Skolelinux at Linux World Exposition in Frankfurt, 2005 (IIRC). Few
3934 months later, I had the chance to join a developer meeting in Ulsrud
3935 (Oslo) and to hand out the award to Knut Yrvin and others.  For more
3936 than 7 years, Skolelinux is part of our schools infrastructure, namely
3937 our main server (tjener), one LTSP (today without thin clients), and
3938 approximately 50 work stations. Most of these have the option to boot a
3939 locally installed Skolelinux image.  As a consequence, I joined quite
3940 a few events dealing with free software or Linux, and met many Debian
3941 (Edu) developers. All of them seemed quite nice and competent to me,
3942 one more reason to stick to Skolelinux.</p>
3943
3944 <p><strong>What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux/Debian
3945 Edu?</strong></p>
3946
3947 <p>Debian driven, you are given all the advantages of a community
3948 project including well maintained updates. Once, you are familiar with
3949 the network layout, you can easily roll out an entire educational
3950 computer infrastructure, from just one installation media. As only
3951 free software (FOSS) is used, that supports even elderly hardware,
3952 up-sizing your IT equipment is only limited by space (i.e. available
3953 labs).  Especially if you run a LTSP thin client server, your
3954 administration costs tend towards zero.</p>
3955
3956 <p><strong>What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux/Debian
3957 Edu?</strong></p>
3958
3959 <p>While Debian's stability has loads of advantages for servers, this
3960 might be different in some cases for clients: Schools with unlimited
3961 budget might buy new hardware with components that are not yet
3962 supported by Debian stable, or wish to use more recent versions of
3963 office packages or desktop environments.  These schools have the
3964 option to run Debian testing or other distributions - if they have the
3965 capacity to do so.  Another issue is that Debian release cycles
3966 include a wide range of changes; therefor a high percentage of human
3967 power seems to be absorbed by just keeping the features of Skolelinux
3968 within the new setting of the version to come. During this process,
3969 the cogs of Debian Edu are getting more and more professional,
3970 i.e. harder to understand for novices.</p>
3971
3972 <p><strong>Which free software do you use daily?</strong></p>
3973
3974 <p>LibreOffice, Wikipedia, Openstreetmap, Iceweasel (Mozilla Firefox),
3975 KMail, Gimp, Inkscape - and of course the Linux Kernel (not only on
3976 PC, Laptop, Mobile, but also our SAT receiver)</p>
3977
3978 <p><strong>Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to
3979 get schools to use free software?</strong></p>
3980
3981 <p><ol>
3982
3983 <li>Support computer science as regular subject in schools to make
3984 people really "own" their hardware, to make them understand the
3985 difference between proprietary software products, and free software
3986 developing.</li>
3987
3988 <li>Make budget baskets corresponding: In Germany's public schools
3989 there are more or less fixed budgets for IT equipment (including
3990 licenses), so schools won't benefit from any savings here. This
3991 privilege is left to private schools which have consequently a large
3992 share among German Skolelinux schools.</li>
3993
3994 <li>Get free software in the seminars where would-be teachers are
3995 trained. In many cases, teachers' software customs are respected by
3996 decision makers rather than the expertise of any IT experts.</li>
3997
3998 <li>Don't limit ourself to free software run natively. Everybody uses
3999 free software or free licenses (for instance Wikipedia), and this
4000 general concept should get expanded to free educational content to be
4001 shared world wide (school books e.g.).</li>
4002
4003 <li>Make clear where ever you can that the market share of free (libre)
4004 office suites is much above 20 p.c. today, and that you pupils don't
4005 need to know the "ribbon menu" in order to get employed.</li>
4006
4007 <li>Talk about the difference between freeware and free software.</li>
4008
4009 <li>Spread free software, or even collections of portable free apps
4010 for USB pen drives. Endorse students to get a legal copy of
4011 Libreoffice rather than accepting them to use illegal serials.  And
4012 keep sending documents in ODF formats.</li>
4013
4014 </ol></p>
4015
4016       </div>
4017       <div class="tags">
4018
4019
4020         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>.
4021
4022
4023       </div>
4024     </div>
4025     <div class="padding"></div>
4026
4027     <div class="entry">
4028       <div class="title">
4029         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/The_cost_of_ODF_and_OOXML.html">The cost of ODF and OOXML</a>
4030       </div>
4031       <div class="date">
4032         26th May 2012
4033       </div>
4034       <div class="body">
4035         <p>I just come across a blog post from Glyn Moody reporting the
4036 claimed cost from Microsoft on requiring ODF to be used by the UK
4037 government.  I just sent him an email to let him know that his
4038 assumption are most likely wrong.  Sharing it here in case some of my
4039 blog readers have seem the same numbers float around in the UK.</p>
4040
4041 <p><blockquote> <p>Hi.  I just noted your
4042 <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>
4043 comment:</p>
4044
4045 <p><blockquote>"They're all in Danish, not unreasonably, but even
4046 with the help of Google Translate I can't find any figures about the
4047 savings of "moving to a flexible two standard" as claimed by the
4048 Microsoft email. But I assume it is backed up somewhere, so let's take
4049 it, and the £500 million figure for the UK, on trust."
4050 </blockquote></p>
4051
4052 <p>I can tell you that the Danish reports are inflated.  I believe it is
4053 the same reports that were used in the Norwegian debate around 2007,
4054 and Gisle Hannemyr (a well known IT commentator in Norway) had a look
4055 at the content.  In short, the reason it is claimed that using ODF
4056 will be so costly, is based on the assumption that this mean every
4057 existing document need to be converted from one of the MS Office
4058 formats to ODF, transferred to the receiver, and converted back from
4059 ODF to one of the MS Office formats, and that the conversion will cost
4060 10 minutes of work time for both the sender and the receiver.  In
4061 reality the sender would have a tool capable of saving to ODF, and the
4062 receiver would have a tool capable of reading it, and the time spent
4063 would at most be a few seconds for saving and loading, not 20 minutes
4064 of wasted effort.</p>
4065
4066 <p>Microsoft claimed all these costs were saved by allowing people to
4067 transfer the original files from MS Office instead of spending 10
4068 minutes converting to ODF. :)</p>
4069
4070 <p>See
4071 <a href="http://hannemyr.com/no/ms12_vl02.php">http://hannemyr.com/no/ms12_vl02.php</a>
4072 and
4073 <a href="http://hannemyr.com/no/ms12.php">http://hannemyr.com/no/ms12.php</a>
4074 for background information.  Norwegian only, sorry. :)</p>
4075 </blockquote></p>
4076
4077       </div>
4078       <div class="tags">
4079
4080
4081         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>.
4082
4083
4084       </div>
4085     </div>
4086     <div class="padding"></div>
4087
4088     <div class="entry">
4089       <div class="title">
4090         <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>
4091       </div>
4092       <div class="date">
4093         18th May 2012
4094       </div>
4095       <div class="body">
4096         <p>In january, I
4097 <a href="http://blog.cihar.com/archives/2012/01/17/colorhug-has-arrived/">discovered
4098 the ColorHug</a>, a USB dongle from
4099 <a href="http://www.hughski.com/index.html">Hughski</a> to calibrate
4100 the color on a computer screen.  The software required is
4101 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/c/colorhug-client.html">included
4102 in Debian</a>, and I decided back then to preorder from the next
4103 batch.  Yesterday I finally heard back from them, and got the
4104 opportunity to order.  Today I ordered mine, and eagerly await the
4105 delivery.  I hope it arrive next week, as I got a confirmation that it
4106 should go in the mail on monday. :)</p>
4107
4108 <p>If you want to ensure the colors on the screen match the intended
4109 colors, I suggest you check out this cheap tool with free software
4110 drivers. :)</p>
4111
4112       </div>
4113       <div class="tags">
4114
4115
4116         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
4117
4118
4119       </div>
4120     </div>
4121     <div class="padding"></div>
4122
4123     <div class="entry">
4124       <div class="title">
4125         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__J_rgen_Leibner.html">Debian Edu interview: Jürgen Leibner</a>
4126       </div>
4127       <div class="date">
4128         13th May 2012
4129       </div>
4130       <div class="body">
4131         <p>It has been a few busy weeks for me, but I am finally back to
4132 publish another interview with the people behind
4133 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu and Skolelinux</a>.
4134 This time it is one of our German developers, who have helped out over the
4135 years to make sure both a lot of major but also a lot of the minor
4136 details get right before release.
4137
4138 <p><strong>Who are you, and how do you spend your days?</strong></p>
4139
4140 <p>My name is Jürgen Leibner, I'm 49 years old and living in
4141 Bielefeld, a town in northern Germany.  I worked nearly 20 years as
4142 certified engineer in the department for plant design and layout of an
4143 international company for machinery and equipment.  Since 2011 I'm a
4144 certified technical writer (tekom e.V.) and doing technical
4145 documentations for a steam turbine manufacturer.  From April this year
4146 I will manage the department of technical documentation at a
4147 manufacturer of automation and assembly line engineering.</p>
4148
4149 <p>My first contact with linux was around 1993. Since that time I used
4150 it at work and at home repeatedly but not exclusively as I do now at
4151 home since 2006.</p>
4152
4153 <p><strong>How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux/Debian Edu
4154 project?</strong></p>
4155
4156 <p>Once a day in the early year of 2001 when I wanted to fetch my
4157 daughter from primary school, there was a teacher sitting in the
4158 middle of 20 old computers trying to boot them and he failed. I helped
4159 him to get them booting. That was seen by the school director and she
4160 asked me if I would like to manage that the school gets all that old
4161 computers in use. I answered: "Yes".</p>
4162
4163 <p>Some weeks later every of the 10 classrooms had one computer
4164 running Windows98. I began to collect old computers and equipment as
4165 gifts and installed the first computer room with a peer-to-peer
4166 network. I did my work at school without being payed in my spare time
4167 and with a lot of fun.  About one year later the school was connected
4168 to Internet and a local area network was installed in the school
4169 building.  That was the time to have a server and I knew it must be a
4170 Linux server to be able to fulfil all the wishes of the teachers and
4171 being able to do this in a transparent and economic way, without extra
4172 costs for things like licence and software.  So I searched for a
4173 school server system running under Linux and I found a couple of
4174 people nearby who founded 'skolelinux.de'. It was the Skolelinux
4175 prerelease 32 I first tried out for being used at the school.  I
4176 managed the IT of that school until the municipal authority took over
4177 the IT management and centralised the services for all schools in
4178 Bielefeld in December of 2006.</p>
4179
4180 <p><strong>What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux/Debian
4181 Edu?</strong></p>
4182
4183 <p>When I'm looking back to the beginning, there were other advantages
4184 for me as today.</p>
4185
4186 <p>In the past there were advantages like:</p>
4187
4188 <p><ul>
4189
4190 <li>I don't need to buy it so it generates no costs to the school as
4191 they had little money to spent for computers and software.</li>
4192
4193 <li>It has a licence which grands all rights to use it without
4194 cost.</li>
4195
4196 <li>It was more able to fit all requirements of a server system for
4197 schools than a Microsoft server system, even if there are only Windows
4198 clients because of it's preconfigured overall concept of being a
4199 infrastructure solution and community for schools, not only a
4200 server</li>
4201
4202 <li>I was able to configure the server to the needs of the
4203 school.</li>
4204
4205 </ul></p>
4206
4207 <p>Today some of the advantages has been lost, changed or new ones
4208 came up in this way:</p>
4209
4210 <p><ul>
4211
4212 <li>Most schools here do have money to buy hardware and software
4213 now.</li>
4214
4215 <li>They are today mostly managed from central IT departments which
4216 have own concepts which often do not fit to Debian Edu concepts
4217 because they are to close to Microsoft ideology.</li>
4218
4219 <li>With the Squeeze version of Debian Edu which now uses GOsa² for
4220 management I feel more able to manage the daily tasks than with the
4221 interfaces used in the past.</li>
4222
4223 <li>It is more modular than in the past and fits even better to the
4224 different needs.</li>
4225
4226 <li>The documentation is usable and gets better every day.</li>
4227
4228 <li>More people than ever before are using Debian Edu all over the
4229 world and so the community, which is an very important part I think,
4230 is sharing knowledge and minds.</li>
4231
4232 <li>Most, maybe all, of the technical requirements for schools are
4233 solved today by Debian Edu. </li>
4234
4235 </ul></p>
4236
4237 <p><strong>What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux/Debian
4238 Edu?</strong></p>
4239
4240 <p><ul>
4241
4242 <li>There are too few IT companies able to integrate Debian Edu into
4243 their product portfolio for serving schools with concepts or even
4244 whole municipality areas.</li>
4245
4246 <li>Debian Edu has beside other free and open software projects not
4247 enough lobbyists which promote free and open software to
4248 politicians.</li>
4249
4250 <li>Technically there are no disadvantages I'm aware of.</li>
4251
4252 </ul></p>
4253
4254 <p><strong>Which free software do you use daily?</strong></p>
4255
4256 <p>I use Debian stable on my home server and on my little desktop
4257 computer. On my laptop I use Debian testing/sid. The applications I
4258 use on my laptop and my desktop are Open/Libre-office, Iceweasel,
4259 KMail, DigiKam, Amarok, Dolphin, okular and all the other programs I
4260 need from the KDE environment.  On console I use newsbeuter, mutt,
4261 screen, irssi and all the other famous and useful tools.</p>
4262
4263 <p>My home server provides mail services with exim, dovecot, roundcube
4264 and mutt over ssh on the console, file services with samba, NFS,
4265 rsync, web services with apache, moinmoin-wiki, multimedia services
4266 with gallery2 and mediatomb and database services with MySQL for me
4267 and the whole family.  I probably forgot something.</p>
4268
4269 <p><strong>Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to
4270 get schools to use free software?</strong></p>
4271
4272 <p>I believe, we should provide concepts for IT companies to integrate
4273 Debian Edu into their product portfolio with use cases for different
4274 countries and areas all over the world.</p>
4275
4276       </div>
4277       <div class="tags">
4278
4279
4280         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>.
4281
4282
4283       </div>
4284     </div>
4285     <div class="padding"></div>
4286
4287     <div class="entry">
4288       <div class="title">
4289         <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>
4290       </div>
4291       <div class="date">
4292         30th April 2012
4293       </div>
4294       <div class="body">
4295         <p><!-- IMG_5869.JPG -->
4296 <img src="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/panasonic-er-1611.jpeg"></p>
4297
4298 <p>I normally cut my hair short, and my tool of choice has been a
4299 common hair/beard cutter, bought in a electrical shop here in Norway.
4300 But the last ones have not really been up to the task.  My last
4301 cutter, some model from Braun, could only cut a few of my hairs at the
4302 time, and cutting my head took forever.  And the one before that did
4303 not work very well either.  We have looked for something better for a
4304 while, but it was not until I ended up visiting a hairdresser that we
4305 discovered that there are indeed better tools available.  But these
4306 are not marketed and sold to "regular consumers".  The hair saloons
4307 can get them through their suppliers, but their suppliers only sell
4308 companies.  The models they sell, are very different from the ones
4309 available from Elkjøp and Lefdal.  The main difference is their
4310 efficiency.  It would cut my hair in 5 minutes, instead of the 30-40
4311 minutes required by my impotent Braun.  The hairdresser I visited had
4312 a Panasonic ER160, which unfortunately is no longer available from the
4313 producer.  But I found it had a successor, the Panasonic ER1611.</p>
4314
4315 <p>The next step was to find somewhere to buy it.  This was not
4316 straight forward.  The list of suppliers I got from the hairdresser
4317 did not want to sell anything to me.  But searching for the model on
4318 the web we found a supplier in Norway willing to sell it to us for
4319 around NOK 4000,-.  This was a bit much.  We kept searching and
4320 finally found a Danish supplier
4321 <a href="http://nicehair.dk/panasonic-er-1611-professionel-hartrimmer.html">selling
4322 it for around NOK 1800,-</a>.  We ordered one, and it arrived a few
4323 days ago.</p>
4324
4325 <p>The instructions said it had to charge for 8 hours when we started
4326 to use it, so we left it charging over night.  Normally it will only
4327 need one hour to charge.  The following evening we successfully tested
4328 it, and I can warmly recommend it to anyone looking for a real hair
4329 cutter.  The ones we have used until now have been hair cutter
4330 toys.</p>
4331
4332       </div>
4333       <div class="tags">
4334
4335
4336         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
4337
4338
4339       </div>
4340     </div>
4341     <div class="padding"></div>
4342
4343     <div class="entry">
4344       <div class="title">
4345         <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>
4346       </div>
4347       <div class="date">
4348         26th April 2012
4349       </div>
4350       <div class="body">
4351         <p>In <a href="http://www.idg.no/computerworld/article243690.ece">an
4352 article today</a> published by Computerworld Norway, the photographer
4353 <a href="http://www.urke.com/eirik/">Eirik Helland Urke</a> reports
4354 that the video editor application included with
4355 <a href="http://www.htc.com/www/smartphones/htc-one-x/#specs">HTC One
4356 X</a> have some quite surprising terms of use.  The article is mostly
4357 based on the twitter message from mister Urke, stating:
4358
4359 <p><blockquote>
4360 "<a href="http://twitter.com/urke/status/194062269724897280">Drøy
4361 brukeravtale: HTC kan bruke MINE redigerte videoer kommersielt. Selv
4362 kan jeg KUN bruke dem privat.</a>"
4363 </blockquote></p>
4364
4365 <p>I quickly translated it to this English message:</p>
4366
4367 <p><blockquote>
4368 "Arrogant user agreement: HTC can use MY edited videos
4369 commercially.  Although I can ONLY use them privately."
4370 </blockquote></p>
4371
4372 <p>I've been unable to find the text of the license term myself, but
4373 suspect it is a variation of the MPEG-LA terms I
4374 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Terms_of_use_for_video_produced_by_a_Canon_IXUS_130_digital_camera.html">discovered
4375 with my Canon IXUS 130</a>.  The HTC One X specification specifies that
4376 the recording format of the phone is .amr for audio and .mp3 for
4377 video.  AMR is
4378 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adaptive_Multi-Rate_audio_codec#Licensing_and_patent_issues">Adaptive
4379 Multi-Rate audio codec</a> with patents which according to the
4380 Wikipedia article require an license agreement with
4381 <a href="http://www.voiceage.com/">VoiceAge</a>.  MP4 is
4382 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H.264/MPEG-4_AVC#Patent_licensing">MPEG4 with
4383 H.264</a>, which according to Wikipedia require a licence agreement
4384 with <a href="http://www.mpegla.com/">MPEG-LA</a>.</p>
4385
4386 <p>I know why I prefer
4387 <a href="http://www.digistan.org/open-standard:definition">free and open
4388 standards</a> also for video.</p>
4389
4390       </div>
4391       <div class="tags">
4392
4393
4394         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>.
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/RAND_terms___non_reasonable_and_discriminatory.html">RAND terms - non-reasonable and discriminatory</a>
4404       </div>
4405       <div class="date">
4406         19th April 2012
4407       </div>
4408       <div class="body">
4409         <p>Here in Norway, the
4410 <a href="http://www.regjeringen.no/nb/dep/fad.html?id=339"> Ministry of
4411 Government Administration, Reform and Church Affairs</a> is behind
4412 a <a href="http://standard.difi.no/forvaltningsstandarder">directory of
4413 standards</a> that are recommended or mandatory for use by the
4414 government.  When the directory was created, the people behind it made
4415 an effort to ensure that everyone would be able to implement the
4416 standards and compete on equal terms to supply software and solutions
4417 to the government.  Free software and non-free software could compete
4418 on the same level.</p>
4419
4420 <p>But recently, some standards with RAND
4421 (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reasonable_and_non-discriminatory_licensing">Reasonable
4422 And Non-Discriminatory</a>) terms have made their way into the
4423 directory.  And while this might not sound too bad, the fact is that
4424 standard specifications with RAND terms often block free software from
4425 implementing them.  The reasonable part of RAND mean that the cost per
4426 user/unit is low,and the non-discriminatory part mean that everyone
4427 willing to pay will get a license.  Both sound great in theory.  In
4428 practice, to get such license one need to be able to count users, and
4429 be able to pay a small amount of money per unit or user.  By
4430 definition, users of free software do not need to register their use.
4431 So counting users or units is not possible for free software projects.
4432 And given that people will use the software without handing any money
4433 to the author, it is not really economically possible for a free
4434 software author to pay a small amount of money to license the rights
4435 to implement a standard when the income available is zero.  The result
4436 in these situations is that free software are locked out from
4437 implementing standards with RAND terms.</p>
4438
4439 <p>Because of this, when I see someone claiming the terms of a
4440 standard is reasonable and non-discriminatory, all I can think of is
4441 how this really is non-reasonable and discriminatory.  Because free
4442 software developers are working in a global market, it does not really
4443 help to know that software patents are not supposed to be enforceable
4444 in Norway.  The patent regimes in other countries affect us even here.
4445 I really hope the people behind the standard directory will pay more
4446 attention to these issues in the future.</p>
4447
4448 <p>You can find more on the issues with RAND, FRAND and RAND-Z terms
4449 from Simon Phipps
4450 (<a href="http://blogs.computerworlduk.com/simon-says/2010/11/rand-not-so-reasonable/">RAND:
4451 Not So Reasonable?</a>).</p>
4452
4453 <p>Update 2012-04-21: Just came across a
4454 <a href="http://blogs.computerworlduk.com/open-enterprise/2012/04/of-microsoft-netscape-patents-and-open-standards/index.htm">blog
4455 post from Glyn Moody</a> over at Computer World UK warning about the
4456 same issue, and urging people to speak out to the UK government.  I
4457 can only urge Norwegian users to do the same for
4458 <a href="http://www.standard.difi.no/hoyring/hoyring-om-nye-anbefalte-it-standarder">the
4459 hearing taking place at the moment</a> (respond before 2012-04-27).
4460 It proposes to require video conferencing standards including
4461 specifications with RAND terms.</p>
4462
4463       </div>
4464       <div class="tags">
4465
4466
4467         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>.
4468
4469
4470       </div>
4471     </div>
4472     <div class="padding"></div>
4473
4474     <div class="entry">
4475       <div class="title">
4476         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__Andreas_Mundt.html">Debian Edu interview: Andreas Mundt</a>
4477       </div>
4478       <div class="date">
4479         15th April 2012
4480       </div>
4481       <div class="body">
4482         <p>Behind <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu and
4483 Skolelinux</a> there are a lot of people doing the hard work of
4484 setting together all the pieces.  This time I present to you Andreas
4485 Mundt, who have been part of the technical development team several
4486 years.  He was also a key contributor in getting GOsa and Kerberos set
4487 up in the recently released
4488 <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/Documentation/Squeeze">Debian
4489 Edu Squeeze</a> version.</p>
4490
4491 <p><strong>Who are you, and how do you spend your days?</strong></p>
4492
4493 <p>My name is Andreas Mundt, I grew up in south Germany.  After
4494 studying Physics I spent several years at university doing research in
4495 Quantum Optics.  After that I worked some years in an optics company.
4496 Finally I decided to turn over a new leaf in my life and started
4497 teaching 10 to 19 years old kids at school.  I teach math, physics,
4498 information technology and science/technology.</p>
4499
4500 <p><strong>How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux/Debian Edu
4501 project?</strong></p>
4502
4503 <p>Already before I switched to teaching, I followed the Debian Edu
4504 project because of my interest in education and Debian.  Within the
4505 qualification/training period for the teaching, I started
4506 contributing.</p>
4507
4508 <p><strong>What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux/Debian
4509 Edu?</strong></p>
4510
4511 <p>The advantages of Debian Edu are the well known name, the
4512 out-of-the-box philosophy and of course the great free software of the
4513 Debian Project!</p>
4514
4515 <p><strong>What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux/Debian
4516 Edu?</strong></p>
4517
4518 <p>As every coin has two sides, the out-of-the-box philosophy has its
4519 downside, too.  In my opinion, it is hard to modify and tweak the
4520 setup, if you need or want that.  Further more, it is not easily
4521 possible to upgrade the system to a new release.  It takes much too
4522 long after a Debian release to prepare the -Edu release, perhaps
4523 because the number of developers working on the core of the code is
4524 rather small and often busy elsewhere.</p>
4525
4526 <p>The <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianLAN">Debian LAN</a>
4527 project might fill the use case of a more flexible system.</p>
4528
4529 <p><strong>Which free software do you use daily?</strong></p>
4530
4531 <p>I am only using non-free software if I am forced to and run Debian
4532 on all my machines.  For documents I prefer LaTeX and PGF/TikZ, then
4533 mutt and iceweasel for email respectively web browsing.  At school I
4534 have Arduino and Fritzing in use for a micro controller project.</p>
4535
4536 <p><strong>Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to
4537 get schools to use free software?</strong></p>
4538
4539 <p>One of the major problems is the vendor lock-in from top to bottom:
4540 Especially in combination with ignorant government employees and
4541 politicians, this works out great for the "market-leader".  The school
4542 administration here in Baden-Wuerttemberg is occupied by that vendor.
4543 Documents have to be prepared in non-free, proprietary formats.  Even
4544 free browsers do not work for the school administration.  Publishers
4545 of school books provide software only for proprietary platforms.</p>
4546
4547 <p>To change this, political work is very important.  Parts of the
4548 political spectrum have become aware of the problem in the last years.
4549 However it takes quite some time and courageous politicians to 'free'
4550 the system.  There is currently some discussion about "Open Data" and
4551 "Free/Open Standards".  I am not sure if all the involved parties have
4552 a clue about the potential of these ideas, and probably only a
4553 fraction takes them seriously.  However it might slowly make free
4554 software and the philosophy behind it more known and popular.</p>
4555
4556       </div>
4557       <div class="tags">
4558
4559
4560         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>.
4561
4562
4563       </div>
4564     </div>
4565     <div class="padding"></div>
4566
4567     <div class="entry">
4568       <div class="title">
4569         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__Justin_B__Rye.html">Debian Edu interview: Justin B. Rye</a>
4570       </div>
4571       <div class="date">
4572          8th April 2012
4573       </div>
4574       <div class="body">
4575         <p>It take all kind of contributions to create a Linux distribution
4576 like <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / Skolelinux</a>,
4577 and this time I lend the ear to Justin B. Rye, who is listed as a big
4578 contributor to the
4579 <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/Documentation/Squeeze">Debian
4580 Edu Squeeze release manual</a>.
4581
4582 <p><strong>Who are you, and how do you spend your days?</strong></p>
4583
4584 <p>I'm a 44-year-old linguistics graduate living in Edinburgh who has
4585 occasionally been employed as a sysadmin.</p>
4586
4587 <p><strong>How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux/Debian Edu
4588 project?</strong></p>
4589
4590 <p>I'm neither a developer nor a Skolelinux/Debian Edu user!  The only
4591 reason my name's in the credits for the documentation is that I hang
4592 around on debian-l10n-english waiting for people to mention things
4593 they'd like a native English speaker to proofread...  So I did a sweep
4594 through the wiki for typos and Norglish and inconsistent spellings of
4595 "localisation".</p>
4596
4597 <p><strong>What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux/Debian
4598 Edu?</strong></p>
4599
4600 <p><strong>What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux/Debian
4601 Edu?</strong></p>
4602
4603 <p>These questions are too hard for me - I don't use it!  In fact I
4604 had hardly any contact with I.T. until long after I'd got out of the
4605 education system.</p>
4606
4607 <p>I can tell you the advantages of Debian for me though: it soaks up
4608 as much of my free time as I want and no more, and lets me do
4609 everything I want a computer for without ever forcing me to spend
4610 money on the latest hardware.</p>
4611
4612 <p><strong>Which free software do you use daily?</strong></p>
4613
4614 <p>I've been using Debian since Rex; popularity-contest says the
4615 software that I use most is xinit, xterm, and xulrunner (in other
4616 words, I use a distinctly retro sort of desktop).</p>
4617
4618 <p><strong>Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to
4619 get schools to use free software?</strong></p>
4620
4621 <p>Well, I don't know.  I suppose I'd be inclined to try reasoning
4622 with the people who make the decisions, but obviously if that worked
4623 you would hardly need a strategy.</p>
4624
4625       </div>
4626       <div class="tags">
4627
4628
4629         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>.
4630
4631
4632       </div>
4633     </div>
4634     <div class="padding"></div>
4635
4636     <div class="entry">
4637       <div class="title">
4638         <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>
4639       </div>
4640       <div class="date">
4641          6th April 2012
4642       </div>
4643       <div class="body">
4644         <p>Recently I have spent time with
4645 <a href="http://www.slxdrift.no/">Skolelinux Drift AS</a> on speeding
4646 up a <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / Skolelinux</a>
4647 Lenny installation using LTSP diskless workstations, and in the
4648 process I discovered something very surprising.  The reason the KDE
4649 menu was responding slow when using it for the first time, was mostly
4650 due to the way KDE find application icons.  I discovered that showing
4651 the Multimedia menu would cause more than 20 000 IP packages to be
4652 passed between the LTSP client and the NFS server.  Most of these were
4653
4654 NFS LOOKUP calls, resulting in a NFS3ERR_NOENT response.  Because the
4655 ping times between the client and the server were in the range 2-20
4656 ms, the menus would be very slow.  Looking at the strace of kicker in
4657 Lenny (or plasma-desktop i Squeeze - same problem there), I see that
4658 the source of these NFS calls are access(2) system calls for
4659 non-existing files.  KDE can do hundreds of access(2) calls to find
4660 one icon file.  In my example, just finding the mplayer icon required
4661 around 230 access(2) calls.</p>
4662
4663 <p>The KDE code seem to search for icons using a list of icon
4664 directories, and the list of possible directories is large.  In
4665 (almost) each directory, it look for files ending in .png, .svgz, .svg
4666 and .xpm.  The result is a very slow KDE menu when /usr/ is NFS
4667 mounted.  Showing a single sub menu may result in thousands of NFS
4668 requests.  I am not the first one to discover this.  I found a
4669 <a href="https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=211416">KDE bug report
4670 from 2009</a> about this problem, and it is still unsolved.</p>
4671
4672 <p>My solution to speed up the KDE menu was to create a package
4673 kde-icon-cache that upon installation will look at all .desktop files
4674 used to generate the KDE menu, find their icons, search the icon paths
4675 for the file that KDE will end up finding at run time, and copying the
4676 icon file to /var/lib/kde-icon-cache/.  Finally, I add symlinks to
4677 these icon files in one of the first directories where KDE will look
4678 for them.  This cut down the number of file accesses required to find
4679 one icon from several hundred to less than 5, and make the KDE menu
4680 almost instantaneous.  I'm not quite sure where to make the package
4681 publicly available, so for now it is only available on request.</p>
4682
4683 <p>The bug report mention that this do not only affect the KDE menu
4684 and icon handling, but also the login process.  Not quite sure how to
4685 speed up that part without replacing NFS with for example NBD, and
4686 that is not really an option at the moment.</p>
4687
4688 <p>If you got feedback on this issue, please let us know on debian-edu
4689 (at) lists.debian.org.</p>
4690
4691       </div>
4692       <div class="tags">
4693
4694
4695         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>.
4696
4697
4698       </div>
4699     </div>
4700     <div class="padding"></div>
4701
4702     <div class="entry">
4703       <div class="title">
4704         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_in_the_Linux_Weekly_News.html">Debian Edu in the Linux Weekly News</a>
4705       </div>
4706       <div class="date">
4707          5th April 2012
4708       </div>
4709       <div class="body">
4710         <p>About two weeks ago, I was interviewed via email about
4711 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu and Skolelinux</a> by
4712 Bruce Byfield in Linux Weekly News.  The result was made public for
4713 non-subscribers today.  I am pleased to see liked our Linux solution
4714 for schools.  Check out his article
4715 <a href="https://lwn.net/Articles/488805/">Debian Edu/Skolelinux: A
4716 distribution for education</a> if you want to learn more.</p>
4717
4718       </div>
4719       <div class="tags">
4720
4721
4722         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>.
4723
4724
4725       </div>
4726     </div>
4727     <div class="padding"></div>
4728
4729     <div class="entry">
4730       <div class="title">
4731         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__Wolfgang_Schweer.html">Debian Edu interview: Wolfgang Schweer</a>
4732       </div>
4733       <div class="date">
4734          1st April 2012
4735       </div>
4736       <div class="body">
4737         <p>Germany is a core area for the
4738 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu and Skolelinux</a>
4739 user community, and this time I managed to get hold of Wolfgang
4740 Schweer, a valuable contributor to the project from Germany.
4741
4742 <p><strong>Who are you, and how do you spend your days?</strong></p>
4743
4744 <p>I've studied Mathematics at the university 'Ruhr-Universität' in
4745 Bochum, Germany. Since 1981 I'm working as a teacher at the school
4746 "<a href="http://www.westfalenkolleg-dortmund.de/">Westfalen-Kolleg
4747 Dortmund</a>", a second chance school.  Here, young adults is given
4748 the opportunity to get further education in order to do the school
4749 examination 'Abitur', which will allow to study at a university. This
4750 second chance is of value for those who want a better job perspective
4751 or failed to get a higher school examination being teens.</p>
4752
4753 <p>Besides teaching I was involved in developing online courses for a
4754 blended learning project called 'abitur-online.nrw' and in some other
4755 information technology related projects. For about ten years I've been
4756 teacher and coordinator for the 'abitur-online' project at my
4757 school. Being now in my early sixties, I've decided to leave school at
4758 the end of April this year.</p>
4759
4760 <p><strong>How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux/Debian Edu
4761 project?</strong></p>
4762
4763 <p>The first information about Skolelinux must have come to my
4764 attention years ago and somehow related to LTSP (Linux Terminal Server
4765 Project).  At school, we had set up a network at the beginning of 1997
4766 using Suse Linux on the desktop, replacing a Novell network. Since
4767 2002, we used old machines from the city council of Dortmund as thin
4768 clients (LTSP, later Ubuntu/Lessdisks) cause new hardware was out of
4769 reach. At home I'm using Debian since years and - subscribed to the
4770 Debian news letter - heard from time to time about Skolelinux. About
4771 two years ago I proposed to replace the (somehow undocumented and only
4772 known to me) system at school by a well known Debian based system:
4773 Skolelinux.</p>
4774
4775 <p>Students and teachers appreciated the new system because of a
4776 better look and feel and an enhanced access to local media on thin
4777 clients.  The possibility to alter and/or reset passwords using a GUI
4778 was welcomed, too. Being able to do administrative tasks using a GUI
4779 and to easily set up workstations using PXE was of very high value for
4780 the admin teachers.</p>
4781
4782 <p><strong>What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux/Debian
4783 Edu?</strong></p>
4784
4785 <p>It's open source, easy to set up, stable and flexible due to it's
4786 Debian base. It integrates LTSP out-of-the-box. And it is documented!
4787 So it was a perfect choice.</p>
4788
4789 <p>Being open source, there are no license problems and so it's
4790 possible to point teachers and students to programs like
4791 OpenOffice.org, ViewYourMind (mind mapping) and The Gimp.  It's of
4792 high value to be able to adapt parts of the system to special needs of
4793 a school and to choose where to get support for this.</p>
4794
4795 <p><strong>What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux/Debian
4796 Edu?</strong></p>
4797
4798 <p>Nothing yet.</p>
4799
4800 <p><strong>Which free software do you use daily?</strong></p>
4801
4802 <p>At home (Debian Sid with Gnome Desktop): Iceweasel, LibreOffice,
4803 Mutt, Gedit, Document Viewer, Midnight Commander, flpsed (PDF
4804 Annotator).  At school (Skolelinux Lenny): Iceweasel, Gedit,
4805 LibreOffice.</p>
4806
4807 <p><strong>Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to
4808 get schools to use free software?</strong></p>
4809
4810 <p>Some time ago I thought it was enough to tell people about it. But
4811 that doesn't seem to work quite well. Now I concentrate on those more
4812 interested and hope to get multiplicators that way.</p>
4813
4814       </div>
4815       <div class="tags">
4816
4817
4818         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>.
4819
4820
4821       </div>
4822     </div>
4823     <div class="padding"></div>
4824
4825     <div class="entry">
4826       <div class="title">
4827         <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>
4828       </div>
4829       <div class="date">
4830         25th March 2012
4831       </div>
4832       <div class="body">
4833         <!-- Video HTML based on http://www.diveintohtml5.net/video.html -->
4834
4835 <p>The same Debian Edu developer that did the last screen cast I
4836 published, Wolfgang Schweer, has created a new screen cast showing how
4837 to set up Kmail in Debian Edu Squeze to authenticate using Kerberos,
4838 allowing users to check their local email account without providing
4839 any password. The video is embedded here in quarter size,
4840 and also available from <a href="https://vimeo.com/38601767">vimeo</a>
4841 and download as a
4842 <a href="http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux/press/screencasts/2012-03-14-Debian-Edu_Configure_Kmail_for_internal_usage.ogv">Ogg
4843 Theora</a> file.  Check it out below.</p>
4844
4845 <p><video id="kmail-kerberos-movie" width="256" height="184" preload controls>
4846   <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"' />
4847     <p>Download video as
4848       <a href="http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux/press/screencasts/2012-03-14-Debian-Edu_Configure_Kmail_for_internal_usage.ogv">Ogg</a>.</p>
4849 </video></p>
4850
4851       </div>
4852       <div class="tags">
4853
4854
4855         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>.
4856
4857
4858       </div>
4859     </div>
4860     <div class="padding"></div>
4861
4862     <div class="entry">
4863       <div class="title">
4864         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__John_Ingleby.html">Debian Edu interview: John Ingleby</a>
4865       </div>
4866       <div class="date">
4867         19th March 2012
4868       </div>
4869       <div class="body">
4870         <p><a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / Skolelinux</a>
4871 users are spread all across the globe.  The second inteview after
4872 <a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-edu-announce/2012/03/msg00001.html">the
4873 Squeeze release</a> was publised is with John Ingleby, a teacher and
4874 long time Linux user in United Kingdom.</p>
4875
4876 <p><strong>Who are you, and how do you spend your days?</strong></p>
4877
4878 <p>I teach ICT part time at the Rudolf Steiner School in Kings
4879 Langley, near London, UK. Previously I worked as a technical
4880 author/trainer while my children attended the school, and I also
4881 contributed to the Schoolforge UK community with the aim of
4882 encouraging UK schools to adopt free/open source software. Five or six
4883 years ago we had about 50 schools interested in some way, but we
4884 weren't able to convert many of them into sustainable
4885 installations.</p>
4886
4887 <p><strong>How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux/Debian Edu
4888 project?</strong></p>
4889
4890 <p>Skolelinux had two representatives at an early Edubuntu meeting in
4891 London which I attended. However at that time our school network had
4892 just been installed using CentOS, LTSP 4 and GNOME. When LTSP 5 came
4893 along we switched to Edubuntu thin client servers so now we have a
4894 mixed environment which includes Windows PCs and student laptops, as
4895 well as their MacBooks and iPads. However, the proprietary systems
4896 have always been rather problematic, and we never built a GUI for the
4897 LDAP server, so when I discovered Skolelinux is configured for all
4898 these things we decided to try it.</p>
4899
4900 <p><strong>What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux/Debian
4901 Edu?</strong></p>
4902
4903 <p>By far the biggest advantage is the Debian Edu community. Apart
4904 from that I have always believed in the same "sustainable computing"
4905 goals that Skolelinux is built on: installing Linux on computers which
4906 would otherwise be thrown away, to provide a reliable, secure and
4907 low-cost IT environment for schools. From my own experience I know
4908 that a part-time person can teach and manage a network of about 25
4909 Linux computers, but it would take much more of my time if we had
4910 proprietary software everywhere.</p>
4911
4912 <p><strong>What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux/Debian
4913 Edu?</strong></p>
4914
4915 <p>As a newcomer I'm just finding out who's who in the community and
4916 how you're organised, and what your procedures are for dealing with
4917 various things such as editing manual pages and so-on. The only
4918 English language mailing list seems to be for developers as well as
4919 users, so my inbox needs heavy pruning each day!</p>
4920
4921 <p><strong>Which free software do you use daily?</strong></p>
4922
4923 <p>Besides the software already mentioned at school we use Samba,
4924 OpenLDAP, CUPS, Nagios and Dansguardian for the network, and on the
4925 desktops we have LibreOffice, Firefox, GIMP and Inkscape. At home I
4926 use Ubuntu and an Android 4 eePad Transformer (but I'm not sure if
4927 that counts...)</p>
4928
4929 <p><strong>Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to
4930 get schools to use free software?</strong></p>
4931
4932 <p>That's a tough question! For very many years UK schools installed
4933 and taught only proprietary software, so that at the highest levels
4934 the notion of "computer" means simply "proprietary office
4935 applications".  However, schools today are experiencing budget
4936 constraints, and many are having to think hard about upgrading Windows
4937 XP.  At the same time, we have students showing teachers how to use
4938 iPads, MacBooks and Android, so the choice of operating system is no
4939 longer quite so automatic. What is more, our government at last
4940 realised that we need people with programming skills, so they're
4941 putting coding back in the curriculum! And it's encouraging that the
4942 first 10,000 Raspberry Pi units sold out in 2 hours.</p>
4943
4944 <p>I don't really know what strategy is going to get UK schools to use
4945 free software, but building an active community of Skolelinux/Debian
4946 Edu users in this country has to be part of it.</p>
4947
4948       </div>
4949       <div class="tags">
4950
4951
4952         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>.
4953
4954
4955       </div>
4956     </div>
4957     <div class="padding"></div>
4958
4959     <div class="entry">
4960       <div class="title">
4961         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Writing_and_translating_documentation_in_Debian_Edu.html">Writing and translating documentation in Debian Edu</a>
4962       </div>
4963       <div class="date">
4964         16th March 2012
4965       </div>
4966       <div class="body">
4967         <p>Documentation in Debian Edu is provided in several languages, and
4968 it is important to make it both easy to contribute and to keep the
4969 translated versions in sync.  To do this we have come up with what we
4970 believe is a very efficient work flow.</p>
4971
4972 <ol>
4973
4974 <li>The documentation is written in a
4975 <a href="http://moinmo.in">moinmoin wiki</a> (see for example
4976 <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/Documentation/Squeeze">the
4977 Squeeze release manual</a>) with support for exporting the content as
4978 docbook XML.</li>
4979
4980 <li>This docbook document is given to po4a to extract a gettext style
4981 .pot file with the content, which in turn is used to create .po files
4982 with the translated text.</li>
4983
4984 <li>The .po files are given to translators, and they can always tell
4985 which part of the original wiki document is new or changed.  They can
4986 use their normal translation tools like lokalize or poedit to write
4987 the translation.  There is even a system in place to handle translated
4988 images.</li>
4989
4990 <li>The translated .po files are combined with the original docbook
4991 XML document using po4a to create a translated docbook document.</li>
4992
4993 <li>The final step is to use all the generated docbook files and
4994 create PDF and HTML version of the original and translated documents.</li>
4995
4996 </ol>
4997
4998 <p>This setup work very well, but have a few issues.  The biggest
4999 issue is that <a href="http://moinmo.in/DocBook">the docbook support
5000 we use in moinmoin</a> is not actively maintained.  The docbook
5001 support is also buggy, and our build system contain workarounds to
5002 make sure the generated docbook is usable despite these bugs.</p>
5003
5004 <p>If you want to have a look at our setup, it is all there in the
5005 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/debian-edu-doc">debian-edu-doc
5006 package</a>.</p>
5007
5008       </div>
5009       <div class="tags">
5010
5011
5012         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>.
5013
5014
5015       </div>
5016     </div>
5017     <div class="padding"></div>
5018
5019     <div class="entry">
5020       <div class="title">
5021         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Skolelinux___Debian_Edu_Squeeze_is_out_.html">Skolelinux / Debian Edu Squeeze is out!</a>
5022       </div>
5023       <div class="date">
5024         11th March 2012
5025       </div>
5026       <div class="body">
5027         <p>This weekend we finally published the first stable release of
5028 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Skolelinux / Debian Edu</a> based
5029 on Debian/Squeeze.  The full announcement is
5030 <a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-edu-announce/2012/03/msg00001.html">available</a>
5031 from the project announcement list.  Now is a good time to test if it
5032 you have not done so already.</p>
5033
5034 <p>I plan to present the new version at
5035 <a href="http://www.nuug.no/aktiviteter/20120313-skolelinux/">a NUUG
5036 meeting</a> on tuesday.  I look forward to seeing you there if you are
5037 in Oslo, Norway.</p>
5038
5039       </div>
5040       <div class="tags">
5041
5042
5043         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>.
5044
5045
5046       </div>
5047     </div>
5048     <div class="padding"></div>
5049
5050     <div class="entry">
5051       <div class="title">
5052         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__Nigel_Barker.html">Debian Edu interview: Nigel Barker</a>
5053       </div>
5054       <div class="date">
5055          9th March 2012
5056       </div>
5057       <div class="body">
5058         <p>Inspired by <a href="http://raphaelhertzog.com/tag/interview/">the
5059 interview series</a> conducted by Raphael, I started a Norwegian
5060 interview series with people involved in the Debian Edu / Skolelinux
5061 community.  This was so popular that I believe it is time to move to a
5062 more international audience.</p>
5063
5064 <p>While <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu and
5065 Skolelinux</a> originated in France and Norway, and have most users in
5066 Europe, there are users all around the globe.  One of those far away
5067 from me is Nigel Barker, a long time Debian Edu system administrator
5068 and contributor.  It is thanks to him that Debian Edu is adjusted to
5069 work out of the box in Japan.  I got him to answer a few questions,
5070 and am happy to share the response with you. :)
5071
5072
5073 <p><strong>Who are you, and how do you spend your days?</strong></p>
5074
5075 <p>My name is Nigel Barker, and I am British. I am married to Yumiko,
5076 and we have three lovely children, aged 15, 14 and 4(!) I am the IT
5077 Coordinator at Hiroshima International School, Japan. I am also a
5078 teacher, and in fact I spend most of my day teaching Mathematics,
5079 Science, IT, and Chemistry. I was originally a Chemistry teacher, but
5080 I have always had an interest in computers. Another teacher teaches
5081 primary school IT, but apart from that I am the only computer person,
5082 so that means I am the network manager, technician and webmaster,
5083 also, and I help people with their computer problems. I teach python
5084 to beginners in an after-school club. I am way too busy, so I really
5085 appreciate the simplicity of Skolelinux.</p>
5086
5087 <p><strong>How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux/Debian Edu
5088 project?</strong></p>
5089
5090 <p>In around 2004 or 5 I discovered the ltsp project, and set up a
5091 server in the IT lab. I wanted some way to connect it to our central
5092 samba server, which I was also quite poor at configuring. I discovered
5093 Edubuntu when it came out, but it didn't really improve my setup. I
5094 did various desperate searches for things like "school Linux server"
5095 and ended up in a document called "Drift" something or other. Reading
5096 there it became clear that Skolelinux was going to solve all my
5097 problems in one go. I was very excited, but apprehensive, because my
5098 previous attempts to install Debian had ended in failure (I used
5099 Mandrake for everything - ltsp, samba, apache, mail, ns...). I
5100 downloaded a beta version, had some problems, so subscribed to the
5101 Debian Edu list for help. I have remained subscribed ever since, and
5102 my school has run a Skolelinux network since Sarge.</p>
5103
5104 <p><strong>What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux/Debian
5105 Edu?</strong></p>
5106
5107 <p>For me the integrated setup. This is not just the server, or the
5108 workstation, or the ltsp. Its all of them, and its all configured
5109 ready to go. I read somewhere in the early documentation that it is
5110 designed to be setup and managed by the Maths or Science teacher, who
5111 doesn't necessarily know much about computers, in a small Norwegian
5112 school. That describes me perfectly if you replace Norway with
5113 Japan.</p>
5114
5115 <p><strong>What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux/Debian
5116 Edu?</strong></p>
5117
5118 <p>The desktop is fairly plain. If you compare it with Edubuntu, who
5119 have fun themes for children, or with distributions such as Mint, who
5120 make the desktop beautiful. They create a good impression on people
5121 who don't need to understand how to use any of it, but who might be
5122 important to the school. School administrators or directors, for
5123 instance, or parents. Even kids. Debian itself usually has ugly
5124 default theme settings. It was my dream a few years back that some
5125 kind of integration would allow Edubuntu to do the desktop stuff and
5126 Debian Edu the servers, but now I realise how impossible that is.  A
5127 second disadvantage is that if something goes wrong, or you need to
5128 customise something, then suddenly the level of expertise required
5129 multiplies. For example, backup wasn't working properly in Lenny. It
5130 took me ages to learn how to set up my own server to do rsync backups.
5131 I am afraid of anything to do with ldap, but perhaps Gosa will
5132 help.</p>
5133
5134 <p><strong>Which free software do you use daily?</strong></p>
5135
5136 <p>Nowadays I only use Debian on my personal computers. I have one for
5137 studio work (I play guitar and write songs), running AV Linux
5138 (customised Debian) a netbook running Squeeze, and a bigger laptop
5139 still running Skolelinux Lenny workstation. I have a Tjener in my
5140 house, that's very useful for the family photos and music.  At school
5141 the students only use Skolelinux. (Some teachers and the office still
5142 have windows). So that means we only use free software all day every
5143 day. Open office, The GIMP, Firefox/Iceweasel, VLC and Audacity are
5144 installed on every computer in school, irrespective of OS.  We also
5145 have Koha on Debian for the library, and Apache, Moodle, b2evolution
5146 and Etomite on Debian for the www. The firewall is Untangle.</p>
5147
5148 <p><strong>Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to
5149 get schools to use free software?</strong></p>
5150
5151 <p>Current trends are in our favour. Open source is big in industry,
5152 and ordinary people have heard of it. The spread of Android and the
5153 popularity of Apple have helped to weaken the impression that you have
5154 to have Microsoft on everything. People complain to me much less about
5155 file formats and Word than they did 5 years ago.  The Edu aspect is
5156 also a selling point. This is all customised for schools. Where is the
5157 Windows-edu, or the Mac-edu?  But of course the main attraction is
5158 budget.The trick is to convince people that the quality is not
5159 compromised when you stop paying and use free software instead. That
5160 is one reason why I say the desktop experience is a weakness. People
5161 are not impressed when their USB drive doesn't work, or their browser
5162 doesn't play flash, for example.</p>
5163
5164       </div>
5165       <div class="tags">
5166
5167
5168         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>.
5169
5170
5171       </div>
5172     </div>
5173     <div class="padding"></div>
5174
5175     <div class="entry">
5176       <div class="title">
5177         <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>
5178       </div>
5179       <div class="date">
5180          7th March 2012
5181       </div>
5182       <div class="body">
5183         <!-- Video HTML based on http://www.diveintohtml5.net/video.html -->
5184
5185 <p>One of the Debian Edu developers, Wolfgang Schweer, just created a
5186 screen cast documenting how to create a lot of new users in LDAP on
5187 Debian Edu Squeeze.  The video is embedded here in quarter size, and
5188 also available from <a href="http://vimeo.com/37675399">vimeo</a> and
5189 download as a
5190 <a href="http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux/press/screencasts/2012-02-29-debian_edu_mass_create_user_accounts.ogv">Ogg
5191 Theora</a> file.  Check it out below.</p>
5192
5193 <p><video id="gosa-mass-user-create-movie" width="256" height="184" preload controls>
5194   <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"' />
5195     <p>Download video as
5196       <a href="http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux/press/screencasts/2012-02-29-debian_edu_mass_create_user_accounts.ogv">Ogg</a>.</p>
5197 </video></p>
5198
5199       </div>
5200       <div class="tags">
5201
5202
5203         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>.
5204
5205
5206       </div>
5207     </div>
5208     <div class="padding"></div>
5209
5210     <div class="entry">
5211       <div class="title">
5212         <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>
5213       </div>
5214       <div class="date">
5215          4th March 2012
5216       </div>
5217       <div class="body">
5218         <p>This weekend we wrapped up and published the third release
5219 candidate for <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu /
5220 Skolelinux</a> based on Squeeze.  The full announcement is
5221 <a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-edu-announce/2012/03/msg00000.html">available</a>
5222 from the project announcement list.  Check it out if you
5223 need a software solution for your school.</p>
5224
5225       </div>
5226       <div class="tags">
5227
5228
5229         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>.
5230
5231
5232       </div>
5233     </div>
5234     <div class="padding"></div>
5235
5236     <div class="entry">
5237       <div class="title">
5238         <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>
5239       </div>
5240       <div class="date">
5241          3rd March 2012
5242       </div>
5243       <div class="body">
5244         <p>Many years ago, the <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Skolelinux
5245 / Debian Edu project</a> initiated a student project to create a tool
5246 for making stop motion movies.  The proposal came from a teacher
5247 needing such tool on Skolelinux.  The project, called "stopmotion",
5248 was manned by two extraordinary students and won a school award and a
5249 national aware with this great project.  The project was initiated and
5250 mentored by Herman Robak, and manned by the students Bjørn Erik Nilsen
5251 and Fredrik Berg Kjølstad.  They got in touch with people at Aardman
5252 Animation studio and received feedback on how professionals would like
5253 such stopmotion tool to work, and the end result was and is used by
5254 animators around the globe.  But as is usual after studying, both got
5255 jobs and went elsewhere, and did not have time to properly tend to the
5256 project, and it has been lingering for a few years now.  Until last
5257 year...</p>
5258
5259 <p>Last year some of the users got together with Herman, and moved the
5260 project to Sourceforge and in effect restarted the project under a new
5261 name,
5262 <a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/linuxstopmotion/">linuxstopmotion</a>.
5263 The name change was done to make it possible to find the project using
5264 Internet search engines (try to search for 'stopmotion' to see what I
5265 mean). I've been following
5266 <a href="https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/linuxstopmotion-community">the
5267 mailing list</a> and the improvement already in place and planned for
5268 the future is encouraging.  If you want to make stop motion movies.
5269 Check it out. :)</p>
5270
5271       </div>
5272       <div class="tags">
5273
5274
5275         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>.
5276
5277
5278       </div>
5279     </div>
5280     <div class="padding"></div>
5281
5282     <div class="entry">
5283       <div class="title">
5284         <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>
5285       </div>
5286       <div class="date">
5287         27th February 2012
5288       </div>
5289       <div class="body">
5290         <p>This weekend we wrapped up and published the second release
5291 candidate for <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu /
5292 Skolelinux</a> based on Squeeze.  The full announcement did for some
5293 reason not make it the project announcement list, but is
5294 <a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2012/02/msg00015.html">available</a>
5295 from the Debian development announcement list.  Check it out if you
5296 need a software solution for your school.</p>
5297
5298       </div>
5299       <div class="tags">
5300
5301
5302         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>.
5303
5304
5305       </div>
5306     </div>
5307     <div class="padding"></div>
5308
5309     <div class="entry">
5310       <div class="title">
5311         <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>
5312       </div>
5313       <div class="date">
5314         19th February 2012
5315       </div>
5316       <div class="body">
5317         <p>One week delayed due to DVD build problems, we managed today to
5318 wrap up and publish the first release candidate for
5319 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / Skolelinux</a> based
5320 on Squeeze.  The full announcement is
5321 <a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-edu-announce/2012/02/msg00001.html">available</a>
5322 on the project announcement list.  Check it out if you need a software
5323 solution for your school.</p>
5324
5325       </div>
5326       <div class="tags">
5327
5328
5329         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>.
5330
5331
5332       </div>
5333     </div>
5334     <div class="padding"></div>
5335
5336     <div class="entry">
5337       <div class="title">
5338         <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>
5339       </div>
5340       <div class="date">
5341         14th February 2012
5342       </div>
5343       <div class="body">
5344         <p>Once in a while my home server have disk problems.  Thanks to Linux
5345 Software RAID, I have not lost data yet (but
5346 <a href="http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.linux.raid/34532">I was
5347 close</a> this summer :).  But once a disk is starting to behave
5348 funny, a practical problem present itself.  How to get from the Linux
5349 device name (like /dev/sdd) to something that can be used to identify
5350 the disk when the computer is turned off?  In my case I have SATA
5351 disks with a unique ID printed on the label.  All I need is a way to
5352 figure out how to query the disk to get the ID out.</p>
5353
5354 <p>After fumbling a bit, I
5355 <a href="http://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/linux-getting-scsi-ide-harddisk-information/">found
5356 that hdparm -I</a> will report the disk serial number, which is
5357 printed on the disk label.  The following (almost) one-liner can be
5358 used to look up the ID of all the failed disks:</p>
5359
5360 <blockquote><pre>
5361 for d in $(cat /proc/mdstat |grep '(F)'|tr ' ' "\n"|grep '(F)'|cut -d\[ -f1|sort -u);
5362 do
5363     printf "Failed disk $d: "
5364     hdparm -I /dev/$d |grep 'Serial Num'
5365 done
5366 </blockquote></pre>
5367
5368 <p>Putting it here to make sure I do not have to search for it the
5369 next time, and in case other find it useful.</p>
5370
5371 <p>At the moment I have two failing disk. :(</p>
5372
5373 <blockquote><pre>
5374 Failed disk sdd1:       Serial Number:      WD-WCASJ1860823
5375 Failed disk sdd2:       Serial Number:      WD-WCASJ1860823
5376 Failed disk sde2:       Serial Number:      WD-WCASJ1840589
5377 </blockquote></pre>
5378
5379 <p>The last time I had failing disks, I added the serial number on
5380 labels I printed and stuck on the short sides of each disk, to be able
5381 to figure out which disk to take out of the box without having to
5382 remove each disk to look at the physical vendor label.  The vendor
5383 label is at the top of the disk, which is hidden when the disks are
5384 mounted inside my box.</p>
5385
5386 <p>I really wish the check_linux_raid Nagios plugin for checking Linux
5387 Software RAID in the
5388 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/n/nagios-plugins.html">nagios-plugins-standard</a>
5389 debian package would look up this value automatically, as it would
5390 make the plugin a lot more useful when my disks fail.  At the moment
5391 it only report a failure when there are no more spares left (it really
5392 should warn as soon as a disk is failing), and it do not tell me which
5393 disk(s) is failing when the RAID is running short on disks.</p>
5394
5395       </div>
5396       <div class="tags">
5397
5398
5399         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>.
5400
5401
5402       </div>
5403     </div>
5404     <div class="padding"></div>
5405
5406     <div class="entry">
5407       <div class="title">
5408         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Automatic_proxy_configuration_with_Debian_Edu___Skolelinux.html">Automatic proxy configuration with Debian Edu / Skolelinux</a>
5409       </div>
5410       <div class="date">
5411         13th February 2012
5412       </div>
5413       <div class="body">
5414         <p>New in the Squeeze version of
5415 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / Skolelinux</a> is the
5416 ability for clients to automatically configure their proxy settings
5417 based on their environment.  We want all systems on the client to use
5418 the WPAD based proxy definition fetched from <tt>http://wpad/wpad.dat</tt>, to
5419 allow sites to control the proxy setting from a central place and make
5420 sure clients do not have hard coded proxy settings.  The schools can
5421 change the global proxy setting by editing
5422 <tt>tjener:/etc/debian-edu/www/wpad.dat</tt> and the change propagate
5423 to all Debian Edu clients in the network.</p>
5424
5425 <p>The problem is that some systems do not understand the WPAD system.
5426 In other words, how do one get from a WPAD file like this (this is a
5427 simple one, they can run arbitrary code):</p>
5428
5429 <blockquote><pre>
5430 function FindProxyForURL(url, host)
5431 {
5432    if (!isResolvable(host) ||
5433        isPlainHostName(host) ||
5434        dnsDomainIs(host, ".intern"))
5435       return "DIRECT";
5436    else
5437       return "PROXY webcache:3128; DIRECT";
5438 }
5439 </pre></blockquote>
5440
5441 <p>to a proxy setting in the process environment looking like this:</p>
5442
5443 <blockquote><pre>
5444 http_proxy=http://webcache:3128/
5445 ftp_proxy=http://webcache:3128/
5446 </pre></blockquote>
5447
5448 <p>To do this conversion I developed a perl script that will execute
5449 the javascript fragment in the WPAD file and return the proxy that
5450 would be used for
5451 <tt><a href="http://www.debian.org/">http://www.debian.org/</a></tt>,
5452 and insert this extracted proxy URL in <tt>/etc/environment</tt> and
5453 <tt>/etc/apt/apt.conf</tt>.  The perl script wpad-extract work just
5454 fine in Squeeze, but in Wheezy the library it need to run the
5455 javascript code is <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/631045">no longer
5456 able to build</a> because the C library it depended on is now a C++
5457 library.  I hope someone find a solution to that problem before Wheezy
5458 is frozen.  An alternative would be for us to rewrite wpad-extract to
5459 use some other javascript library currently working in Wheezy, but no
5460 known alternative is known at the moment.</p>
5461
5462 <p>This automatic proxy system allow the roaming workstation (aka
5463 laptop) setup in Debian Edu/Squeeze to use the proxy when the laptop
5464 is connected to the backbone network in a Debian Edu setup, and to
5465 automatically use any proxy present and announced using the WPAD
5466 feature when it is connected to other networks.  And if no proxy is
5467 announced, direct connections will be used instead.</p>
5468
5469 <p>Silently using a proxy announced on the network might be a privacy
5470 or security problem.  But those controlling DHCP and DNS on a network
5471 could just as easily set up a transparent proxy, and force all HTTP
5472 and FTP connections to use a proxy anyway, so I consider that
5473 distinction to be academic.  If you are afraid of using the wrong
5474 proxy, you should avoid connecting to the network in question in the
5475 first place.  In Debian Edu, the proxy setup is updated using dhcp and
5476 ifupdown hooks, to make sure the configuration is updated every time
5477 the network setup changes.</p>
5478
5479 <p>The WPAD system is documented in a
5480 <a href="http://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-ietf-wrec-wpad-01">IETF
5481 draft</a> and a
5482 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_Proxy_Autodiscovery_Protocol">Wikipedia
5483 page</a> for those that want to learn more.</p>
5484
5485       </div>
5486       <div class="tags">
5487
5488
5489         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>.
5490
5491
5492       </div>
5493     </div>
5494     <div class="padding"></div>
5495
5496     <div class="entry">
5497       <div class="title">
5498         <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>
5499       </div>
5500       <div class="date">
5501          5th February 2012
5502       </div>
5503       <div class="body">
5504         <p>Since the Lenny version of
5505 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / Skolelinux</a>, a
5506 feature to save power have been included.  It is as simple as it is
5507 practical: Shut down unused clients at night, and turn them on again
5508 in the morning.  This is done using the
5509 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/s/shutdown-at-night.html">shutdown-at-night</a> Debian package.</p>
5510
5511 <p>To enable this feature on a client, the machine need to be added to
5512 the netgroup shutdown-at-night-hosts.  For Debian Edu, this is done in
5513 LDAP, and once this is in place, the machine in question will check
5514 every hour from 16:00 until 06:00 to see if the machine is unused, and
5515 shut it down if it is.  If the hardware in question is supported by
5516 the
5517 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/n/nvram-wakeup.html">nvram-wakeup</a>
5518 package, the BIOS is told to turn the machine back on around 07:00 +-
5519 10 minutes.  If this isn't working, one can configure wake-on-lan to
5520 try to turn on the client.  The wake-on-lan option is only documented
5521 and not enabled by default in Debian Edu.</p>
5522
5523 <p>It is important to not turn all machines on at once, as this can
5524 blow a fuse if several computers are connected to the same fuse like
5525 the common setup for a classroom.  The nvram-wakeup method only work
5526 for machines with a functioning hardware/BIOS clock.  I've seen old
5527 machines where the BIOS battery were dead and the hardware clock were
5528 starting from 0 (or was it 1990?) every boot.  If you have one of
5529 those, you have to turn on the computer manually.</p>
5530
5531 <p>The shutdown-at-night package is completely self contained, and can
5532 also be used outside the Debian Edu environment.  For those without a
5533 central LDAP server with netgroups, one can instead touch the file
5534 <tt>/etc/shutdown-at-night/shutdown-at-night</tt> to enable it.
5535 Perhaps you too can use it to save some power?</p>
5536
5537       </div>
5538       <div class="tags">
5539
5540
5541         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>.
5542
5543
5544       </div>
5545     </div>
5546     <div class="padding"></div>
5547
5548     <div class="entry">
5549       <div class="title">
5550         <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>
5551       </div>
5552       <div class="date">
5553          4th February 2012
5554       </div>
5555       <div class="body">
5556         <p>I am happy to announce that finally we managed today to wrap up and
5557 publish the third beta version of
5558 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / Skolelinux</a> based
5559 on Squeeze.  If you want to test a LDAP backed Kerberos server with
5560 out of the box PXE configuration for running diskless machines and
5561 installing new machines, check it out.  If you need a software
5562 solution for your school, check it out too.  The full announcement is
5563 <a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-edu-announce/2012/02/msg00000.html">available</a>
5564 on the project announcement list.</p>
5565
5566 <p>I am very happy to report these changes and improvements since
5567 beta2 (there are more, see announcement for full list):</p>
5568
5569 <ul>
5570
5571 <li>It is now possible to change the pre-configured IP subnet from
5572   10.0.0.0/8 to something else by using the subnet-change tool after
5573   the installation.</li>
5574
5575 <li>Too full partitions are now automatically extended on the Main
5576   Server, based on the rules specified in /etc/fsautoresizetab.</li>
5577
5578 <li>The CUPS queues are now automatically flushed every night, and all
5579   disabled queues are restarted every hour.  This should cut down on
5580   the amount of manual administration needed for printers.</li>
5581
5582 <li>The set of initial users have been changed.  Now a personal user
5583   for the local system administrator is created during installation
5584   instead of the previously created localadmin and super-admin users,
5585   and this user is granted administrative privileges using group
5586   membership.  This reduces the number of passwords one need to keep
5587   up to date on the system.</li>
5588
5589 </ul>
5590
5591 <p>The new main server seem to work so well that I am testing it as my
5592 private DNS/LDAP/Kerberos/PXE/LTSP server at home.  I will use it look
5593 for issues we could fix to polish Debian Edu even further before the
5594 final Squeeze release is published.</p>
5595
5596 <p>Next weekend the project organise a
5597 <a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-edu-announce/2012/01/msg00001.html">developer
5598 gathering</a> in Oslo.  We will continue the work on the Squeeze
5599 version, and start initial planning for the Wheezy version.  Perhaps I
5600 will see you there?</p>
5601
5602       </div>
5603       <div class="tags">
5604
5605
5606         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>.
5607
5608
5609       </div>
5610     </div>
5611     <div class="padding"></div>
5612
5613     <div class="entry">
5614       <div class="title">
5615         <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>
5616       </div>
5617       <div class="date">
5618         27th January 2012
5619       </div>
5620       <div class="body">
5621         <p>With some computer hardware, one need non-free firmware blobs.
5622 This is the sad fact of todays computers.  In the next version of
5623 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / Skolelinux</a> based
5624 on Squeeze, we provide several scripts and modifications to make
5625 firmware blobs easier to handle.  The common use case I run into is a
5626 laptop with a wireless network card requiring non-free firmware to
5627 work, but there are other use cases as well.</p>
5628
5629 <p>First and foremost, Debian Edu provide ISO images for DVD and CD
5630 with all firmware packages in the Debian sections main and non-free
5631 included, to ensure debian-installer find and can install all of them
5632 during installation.  This take care firmware for network devices used
5633 by the installer when installing from from local media.  But for
5634 example multimedia devices are not activated in the installer and are
5635 not taken care of by this.</p>
5636
5637 <p>For non-network devices, we provide the script
5638 <tt>/usr/share/debian-edu-config/tools/auto-addfirmware</tt> which
5639 search through the <tt>dmesg</tt> output for drivers requesting extra
5640 firmware.  The firmware file name is looked up in the Contents-ARCH.gz
5641 file available in the package repository, and the packages providing
5642 the requested firmware file(s) is installed.  I have proposed to do
5643 something similar in debian-installer (BTS report
5644 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/655507">#655507</a>), to allow PXE
5645 installs of Debian to handle firmware installation better.  Run the
5646 script as root from the command line to fetch and install the needed
5647 firmware packages.</p>
5648
5649 <p>Debian Edu provide PXE installation of Debian out of the box, and
5650 because some machines need firmware to get their network cards
5651 working, the installation initrd some times need extra firmware
5652 included to be able to install at all.  To fill the PXE installation
5653 initrd with extra firmware, the
5654 <tt>/usr/share/debian-edu-config/tools/pxe-addfirmware</tt> script is
5655 provided.  Again, just run it as root on the command line to fill the
5656 PXE initrd with firmware packages.</p>
5657
5658 <p>Last, some LTSP clients might also need firmware to get their
5659 network cards working.  For this,
5660 <tt>/usr/share/debian-edu-config/tools/ltsp-addfirmware</tt> is
5661 provided to update the LTSP initrd with firmware blobs.  It is used
5662 the same way as the other firmware related tools.</p>
5663
5664 <p>At the moment, we do not run any of these during installation.  We
5665 do not know if this is acceptable for the local administrator to use
5666 non-free software, and it is their choice.</p>
5667
5668 <p>We plan to release beta3 this weekend.  You might want to give it a
5669 try.</p>
5670
5671       </div>
5672       <div class="tags">
5673
5674
5675         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>.
5676
5677
5678       </div>
5679     </div>
5680     <div class="padding"></div>
5681
5682     <div class="entry">
5683       <div class="title">
5684         <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>
5685       </div>
5686       <div class="date">
5687         25th January 2012
5688       </div>
5689       <div class="body">
5690         <p>The next version of <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu
5691 / Skolelinux</a> will include a new tool
5692 <tt>sitesummary2ldapdhcp</tt>, which can be used to quickly set up all
5693 the computers in a school without much manual labour.  Here is a short
5694 summary on how to use it to set up a new school.</p>
5695
5696 <p>First, install a combined Main Server and Thin Client Server as the
5697 central server in the network.  Next, PXE boot all the client machines
5698 as thin clients and wait 5 minutes after the last client booted to
5699 allow the clients to report their existence to the central server.  When
5700 this is done, log on to the central server and run
5701 <tt>sitesummary2ldapdhcp -a</tt> in the <tt>konsole</tt> to use the
5702 collected information to generate system objects in LDAP.  The output
5703 will look similar to this:</p>
5704
5705 <p><blockquote><pre>
5706 % sitesummary2ldapdhcp -a
5707 info: Updating machine tjener.intern [10.0.2.2] id ether-00:01:02:03:04:05.
5708 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.
5709
5710 Enter password if you want to activate these changes, and ^c to abort.
5711
5712 Connecting to LDAP as cn=admin,ou=ldap-access,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
5713 enter password: *******
5714 %
5715 </pre></blockquote></p>
5716
5717 <p>After providing the LDAP administrative password (the same as the
5718 root password set during installation), the LDAP database will be
5719 populated with system objects for each PXE booted machine with
5720 automatically generated names.  The final step to set up the school is
5721 then to log into <a href="https://oss.gonicus.de/labs/gosa/">GOsa</a>,
5722 the web based user, group and system administration system to change
5723 system names, add systems to the correct host groups and finally
5724 enable DHCP and DNS for the systems.  All clients that should be used
5725 as diskless workstations should be added to the workstation-hosts
5726 group.  After this is done, all computers can be booted again via PXE
5727 and get their assigned names and group based configuration
5728 automatically.</p>
5729
5730 <p>We plan to release beta3 with the updated version of this feature
5731 enabled this weekend.  You might want to give it a try.</p>
5732
5733 <p>Update 2012-01-28: When calling sitesummary2ldapdhcp to add new
5734 hosts, one need to add the option -a.  I forgot to mention this in my
5735 original text, and have added it to the text now.</p>
5736
5737       </div>
5738       <div class="tags">
5739
5740
5741         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>.
5742
5743
5744       </div>
5745     </div>
5746     <div class="padding"></div>
5747
5748     <div class="entry">
5749       <div class="title">
5750         <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>
5751       </div>
5752       <div class="date">
5753         10th January 2012
5754       </div>
5755       <div class="body">
5756         <p>In the Squeeze version of
5757 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / Skolelinux</a> soon
5758 to be released, users of the system will get their default browser
5759 start page set from LDAP, allowing the system administrator to point
5760 all users to the school web page by updating one setting in LDAP.  In
5761 addition to setting the default start page when a machine boots, users
5762 are shown the same page as a welcome page when they log in for the
5763 first time.</p>
5764
5765 <p>The LDAP object dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no have an attribute
5766 labeledURI with "http://www/ LDAP for Debian Edu/Skolelinux" as the
5767 default content.  By changing this value to another URL, all users get
5768 to see the page behind this new URL.</p>
5769
5770 <p>An easy way to update it is by using the ldapvi tool.  It can be
5771 called as "<tt>ldapvi -ZD '(cn=admin)'</tt>' to update LDAP with the
5772 new setting.</p>
5773
5774 <p>We have written the code to adjust the default start page and show
5775 the welcome page, and I wonder if there is an easier way to do this
5776 from within Iceweasel instead.</p>
5777
5778       </div>
5779       <div class="tags">
5780
5781
5782         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>.
5783
5784
5785       </div>
5786     </div>
5787     <div class="padding"></div>
5788
5789     <div class="entry">
5790       <div class="title">
5791         <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>
5792       </div>
5793       <div class="date">
5794          7th January 2012
5795       </div>
5796       <div class="body">
5797         <p>I am happy to announce that today we managed to wrap up and publish
5798 the second beta version of
5799 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / Skolelinux</a>.  If
5800 you want to test a LDAP backed Kerberos server with out of the box PXE
5801 configuration for running diskless machines and installing new
5802 machines, check it out.  If you need a software solution for your
5803 school, check it out too.  The full announcement is
5804 <a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-edu-announce/2012/01/msg00000.html">available</a>
5805 on the project announcement list.</p>
5806
5807       </div>
5808       <div class="tags">
5809
5810
5811         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>.
5812
5813
5814       </div>
5815     </div>
5816     <div class="padding"></div>
5817
5818     <div class="entry">
5819       <div class="title">
5820         <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>
5821       </div>
5822       <div class="date">
5823          3rd January 2012
5824       </div>
5825       <div class="body">
5826         <p>During christmas, I have been working getting the next version of
5827 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / Skolelinux</a> ready
5828 for release.  The initial problem I looked at was particularly
5829 interesting.</p>
5830
5831 <P>The installer would hang at the end when it was doing it
5832 post-installation configuration, and whatevery I did to try to find
5833 the cause and fix it always worked while I tested it, but never when I
5834 integrated it into the installer and ran the installation from
5835 scratch.  I would try to restart processes, close file descriptors,
5836 remove or create files, and the installer would always unblock and
5837 wrap up its tasks.</p>
5838
5839 <p>Eventually the cause was found.  The kernel was simply running out
5840 of entropy, causing the Kerberos setup to hang waiting for more.
5841 Pressing keys was adding entropy to the kernel, and thus all my tries
5842 to fix the problem worked not because what I was typing to fix it, but
5843 because I was typing.</P>
5844
5845 <p>The fix I implemented was to add a background process looking at
5846 the level of entropy in the kernel (by checking
5847 /proc/sys/kernel/random/entropy_avail), and if it was too small, the
5848 installer will flush the kernel file buffers and do 'find /' to
5849 generate some disk IO.  Disk IO generate entropy in the kernel, and is
5850 one of the few things that can be initated from within the system to
5851 generate entropy.</p>
5852
5853 <p>The fix is in
5854 <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/Documentation/Squeeze/Installation">beta1
5855 of the Debian Edu/Squeeze</a> version, and we
5856 <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu">welcome more testers and
5857 developers</a>.  We plan to release beta2 this weekend.</p>
5858
5859       </div>
5860       <div class="tags">
5861
5862
5863         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>.
5864
5865
5866       </div>
5867     </div>
5868     <div class="padding"></div>
5869
5870     <div class="entry">
5871       <div class="title">
5872         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Automatically_upgrading_server_firmware_on_Dell_PowerEdge.html">Automatically upgrading server firmware on Dell PowerEdge</a>
5873       </div>
5874       <div class="date">
5875         21st November 2011
5876       </div>
5877       <div class="body">
5878         <p>At work we have heaps of servers.  I believe the total count is
5879 around 1000 at the moment.  To be able to get help from the vendors
5880 when something go wrong, we want to keep the firmware on the servers
5881 up to date.  If the firmware isn't the latest and greatest, the
5882 vendors typically refuse to start debugging any problems until the
5883 firmware is upgraded.  So before every reboot, we want to upgrade the
5884 firmware, and we would really like everyone handling servers at the
5885 university to do this themselves when they plan to reboot a machine.
5886 For that to happen we at the unix server admin group need to provide
5887 the tools to do so.</p>
5888
5889 <p>To make firmware upgrading easier, I am working on a script to
5890 fetch and install the latest firmware for the servers we got.  Most of
5891 our hardware are from Dell and HP, so I have focused on these servers
5892 so far.  This blog post is about the Dell part.</P>
5893
5894 <p>On the Dell FTP site I was lucky enough to find
5895 <a href="ftp://ftp.us.dell.com/catalog/Catalog.xml.gz">an XML file</a>
5896 with firmware information for all 11th generation servers, listing
5897 which firmware should be used on a given model and where on the FTP
5898 site I can find it.  Using a simple perl XML parser I can then
5899 download the shell scripts Dell provides to do firmware upgrades from
5900 within Linux and reboot when all the firmware is primed and ready to
5901 be activated on the first reboot.</p>
5902
5903 <p>This is the Dell related fragment of the perl code I am working on.
5904 Are there anyone working on similar tools for firmware upgrading all
5905 servers at a site?  Please get in touch and lets share resources.</p>
5906
5907 <p><pre>
5908 #!/usr/bin/perl
5909 use strict;
5910 use warnings;
5911 use File::Temp qw(tempdir);
5912 BEGIN {
5913     # Install needed RHEL packages if missing
5914     my %rhelmodules = (
5915         'XML::Simple' => 'perl-XML-Simple',
5916         );
5917     for my $module (keys %rhelmodules) {
5918         eval "use $module;";
5919         if ($@) {
5920             my $pkg = $rhelmodules{$module};
5921             system("yum install -y $pkg");
5922             eval "use $module;";
5923         }
5924     }
5925 }
5926 my $errorsto = 'pere@hungry.com';
5927
5928 upgrade_dell();
5929
5930 exit 0;
5931
5932 sub run_firmware_script {
5933     my ($opts, $script) = @_;
5934     unless ($script) {
5935         print STDERR "fail: missing script name\n";
5936         exit 1
5937     }
5938     print STDERR "Running $script\n\n";
5939
5940     if (0 == system("sh $script $opts")) { # FIXME correct exit code handling
5941         print STDERR "success: firmware script ran succcessfully\n";
5942     } else {
5943         print STDERR "fail: firmware script returned error\n";
5944     }
5945 }
5946
5947 sub run_firmware_scripts {
5948     my ($opts, @dirs) = @_;
5949     # Run firmware packages
5950     for my $dir (@dirs) {
5951         print STDERR "info: Running scripts in $dir\n";
5952         opendir(my $dh, $dir) or die "Unable to open directory $dir: $!";
5953         while (my $s = readdir $dh) {
5954             next if $s =~ m/^\.\.?/;
5955             run_firmware_script($opts, "$dir/$s");
5956         }
5957         closedir $dh;
5958     }
5959 }
5960
5961 sub download {
5962     my $url = shift;
5963     print STDERR "info: Downloading $url\n";
5964     system("wget --quiet \"$url\"");
5965 }
5966
5967 sub upgrade_dell {
5968     my @dirs;
5969     my $product = `dmidecode -s system-product-name`;
5970     chomp $product;
5971
5972     if ($product =~ m/PowerEdge/) {
5973
5974         # on RHEL, these pacakges are needed by the firwmare upgrade scripts
5975         system('yum install -y compat-libstdc++-33.i686 libstdc++.i686 libxml2.i686 procmail');
5976
5977         my $tmpdir = tempdir(
5978             CLEANUP => 1
5979             );
5980         chdir($tmpdir);
5981         fetch_dell_fw('catalog/Catalog.xml.gz');
5982         system('gunzip Catalog.xml.gz');
5983         my @paths = fetch_dell_fw_list('Catalog.xml');
5984         # -q is quiet, disabling interactivity and reducing console output
5985         my $fwopts = "-q";
5986         if (@paths) {
5987             for my $url (@paths) {
5988                 fetch_dell_fw($url);
5989             }
5990             run_firmware_scripts($fwopts, $tmpdir);
5991         } else {
5992             print STDERR "error: Unsupported Dell model '$product'.\n";
5993             print STDERR "error: Please report to $errorsto.\n";
5994         }
5995         chdir('/');
5996     } else {
5997         print STDERR "error: Unsupported Dell model '$product'.\n";
5998         print STDERR "error: Please report to $errorsto.\n";
5999     }
6000 }
6001
6002 sub fetch_dell_fw {
6003     my $path = shift;
6004     my $url = "ftp://ftp.us.dell.com/$path";
6005     download($url);
6006 }
6007
6008 # Using ftp://ftp.us.dell.com/catalog/Catalog.xml.gz, figure out which
6009 # firmware packages to download from Dell.  Only work for Linux
6010 # machines and 11th generation Dell servers.
6011 sub fetch_dell_fw_list {
6012     my $filename = shift;
6013
6014     my $product = `dmidecode -s system-product-name`;
6015     chomp $product;
6016     my ($mybrand, $mymodel) = split(/\s+/, $product);
6017
6018     print STDERR "Finding firmware bundles for $mybrand $mymodel\n";
6019
6020     my $xml = XMLin($filename);
6021     my @paths;
6022     for my $bundle (@{$xml->{SoftwareBundle}}) {
6023         my $brand = $bundle->{TargetSystems}->{Brand}->{Display}->{content};
6024         my $model = $bundle->{TargetSystems}->{Brand}->{Model}->{Display}->{content};
6025         my $oscode;
6026         if ("ARRAY" eq ref $bundle->{TargetOSes}->{OperatingSystem}) {
6027             $oscode = $bundle->{TargetOSes}->{OperatingSystem}[0]->{osCode};
6028         } else {
6029             $oscode = $bundle->{TargetOSes}->{OperatingSystem}->{osCode};
6030         }
6031         if ($mybrand eq $brand && $mymodel eq $model && "LIN" eq $oscode)
6032         {
6033             @paths = map { $_->{path} } @{$bundle->{Contents}->{Package}};
6034         }
6035     }
6036     for my $component (@{$xml->{SoftwareComponent}}) {
6037         my $componenttype = $component->{ComponentType}->{value};
6038
6039         # Drop application packages, only firmware and BIOS
6040         next if 'APAC' eq $componenttype;
6041
6042         my $cpath = $component->{path};
6043         for my $path (@paths) {
6044             if ($cpath =~ m%/$path$%) {
6045                 push(@paths, $cpath);
6046             }
6047         }
6048     }
6049     return @paths;
6050 }
6051 </pre>
6052
6053 <p>The code is only tested on RedHat Enterprise Linux, but I suspect
6054 it could work on other platforms with some tweaking.  Anyone know a
6055 index like Catalog.xml is available from HP for HP servers?  At the
6056 moment I maintain a similar list manually and it is quickly getting
6057 outdated.</p>
6058
6059       </div>
6060       <div class="tags">
6061
6062
6063         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>.
6064
6065
6066       </div>
6067     </div>
6068     <div class="padding"></div>
6069
6070     <div class="entry">
6071       <div class="title">
6072         <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>
6073       </div>
6074       <div class="date">
6075          7th October 2011
6076       </div>
6077       <div class="body">
6078         <p>Here in Norway the public libraries are debating with the
6079 publishing houses how to handle electronic books.  Surprisingly, the
6080 libraries seem to be willing to accept digital restriction mechanisms
6081 (DRM) on books and renting e-books with artificial scarcity from the
6082 publishing houses.  Time limited renting (2-3 years) is one proposed
6083 model, and only allowing X borrowers for each book is another.
6084 Personally I find it amazing that libraries are even considering such
6085 models.</p>
6086
6087 <p>Anyway, while reading <a href="http://boklaben.no/?p=220">part of
6088 this debate</a>, it occurred to me that someone should present a more
6089 sensible approach to the libraries, to allow its borrowers to get used
6090 to a better model.  The idea is simple:</p>
6091
6092 <p>Create a computer system for the libraries, either in the form of a
6093 Live DVD or a installable distribution, that provide a simple kiosk
6094 solution to hand out free e-books.  As a start, the books distributed
6095 by <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/">Project Gutenberg</a> (about
6096 36,000 books), <a href="http://runeberg.org/">Project Runenberg</a>
6097 (1149 books) and <a href="http://www.archive.org/details/texts">The
6098 Internet Archive</a> (3,033,748 books) could be included, but any book
6099 where the copyright has expired or with a free licence could be
6100 distributed.</p>
6101
6102 <p>The computer system would make it easy to:</p>
6103
6104 <ul>
6105
6106 <li>Copy e-books into a USB stick, reading tablets, cell phones and
6107   other relevant equipment.</li>
6108
6109 <li>Show the books for reading on the the screen in the library.</li>
6110
6111 </ul>
6112
6113 <p>In addition to such kiosk solution, there should probably be a web
6114 site as well to allow people easy access to these books without
6115 visiting the library.  The site would be the distribution point for
6116 the kiosk systems, which would connect regularly to fetch any new
6117 books available.</p>
6118
6119 <p>Are there anyone working on a system like this?  I guess it would
6120 fit any library in the world, and not just the Norwegian public
6121 libraries. :)</p>
6122
6123       </div>
6124       <div class="tags">
6125
6126
6127         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>.
6128
6129
6130       </div>
6131     </div>
6132     <div class="padding"></div>
6133
6134     <div class="entry">
6135       <div class="title">
6136         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Ripping_problematic_DVDs_using_dvdbackup_and_genisoimage.html">Ripping problematic DVDs using dvdbackup and genisoimage</a>
6137       </div>
6138       <div class="date">
6139         17th September 2011
6140       </div>
6141       <div class="body">
6142         <p>For convenience, I want to store copies of all my DVDs on my file
6143 server.  It allow me to save shelf space flat while still having my
6144 movie collection easily available.  It also make it possible to let
6145 the kids see their favourite DVDs without wearing the physical copies
6146 down.  I prefer to store the DVDs as ISOs to keep the DVD menu and
6147 subtitle options intact.  It also ensure that the entire film is one
6148 file on the disk.  As this is for personal use, the ripping is
6149 perfectly legal here in Norway.</p>
6150
6151 <p>Normally I rip the DVDs using dd like this:</p>
6152
6153 <blockquote><pre>
6154 #!/bin/sh
6155 # apt-get install lsdvd
6156 title=$(lsdvd 2>/dev/null|awk '/Disc Title: / {print $3}')
6157 dd if=/dev/dvd of=/storage/dvds/$title.iso bs=1M
6158 </pre></blockquote>
6159
6160 <p>But some DVDs give a input/output error when I read it, and I have
6161 been looking for a better alternative.  I have no idea why this I/O
6162 error occur, but suspect my DVD drive, the Linux kernel driver or
6163 something fishy with the DVDs in question.  Or perhaps all three.</p>
6164
6165 <p>Anyway, I believe I found a solution today using dvdbackup and
6166 genisoimage.  This script gave me a working ISO for a problematic
6167 movie by first extracting the DVD file system and then re-packing it
6168 back as an ISO.
6169
6170 <blockquote><pre>
6171 #!/bin/sh
6172 # apt-get install lsdvd dvdbackup genisoimage
6173 set -e
6174 tmpdir=/storage/dvds/
6175 title=$(lsdvd 2>/dev/null|awk '/Disc Title: / {print $3}')
6176 dvdbackup -i /dev/dvd -M -o $tmpdir -n$title
6177 genisoimage -dvd-video -o $tmpdir/$title.iso $tmpdir/$title
6178 rm -rf $tmpdir/$title
6179 </pre></blockquote>
6180
6181 <p>Anyone know of a better way available in Debian/Squeeze?</p>
6182
6183 <p>Update 2011-09-18: I got a tip from Konstantin Khomoutov about the
6184 readom program from the wodim package.  It is specially written to
6185 read optical media, and is called like this: <tt>readom dev=/dev/dvd
6186 f=image.iso</tt>.  It got 6 GB along with the problematic Cars DVD
6187 before it failed, and failed right away with a Timmy Time DVD.</p>
6188
6189 <p>Next, I got a tip from Bastian Blank about
6190 <a href="http://bblank.thinkmo.de/blog/new-software-python-dvdvideo">his
6191 program python-dvdvideo</a>, which seem to be just what I am looking
6192 for.  Tested it with my problematic Timmy Time DVD, and it succeeded
6193 creating a ISO image.  The git source built and installed just fine in
6194 Squeeze, so I guess this will be my tool of choice in the future.</p>
6195
6196       </div>
6197       <div class="tags">
6198
6199
6200         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>.
6201
6202
6203       </div>
6204     </div>
6205     <div class="padding"></div>
6206
6207     <div class="entry">
6208       <div class="title">
6209         <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>
6210       </div>
6211       <div class="date">
6212          4th August 2011
6213       </div>
6214       <div class="body">
6215         <p>Wouter Verhelst have some
6216 <a href="http://grep.be/blog/en/retorts/pere_kubuntu_boot">interesting
6217 comments and opinions</a> on my blog post on
6218 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/What_should_start_from__etc_rcS_d__in_Debian____almost_nothing.html">the
6219 need to clean up /etc/rcS.d/ in Debian</a> and my blog post about
6220 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/What_is_missing_in_the_Debian_desktop__or_why_my_parents_use_Kubuntu.html">the
6221 default KDE desktop in Debian</a>.  I only have time to address one
6222 small piece of his comment now, and though it best to address the
6223 misunderstanding he bring forward:</p>
6224
6225 <p><blockquote>
6226 Currently, a system admin has four options: [...] boot to a
6227 single-user system (by adding 'single' to the kernel command line;
6228 this runs rcS and rc1 scripts)
6229 </blockquote></p>
6230
6231 <p>This make me believe Wouter believe booting into single user mode
6232 and booting into runlevel 1 is the same.  I am not surprised he
6233 believe this, because it would make sense and is a quite sensible
6234 thing to believe.  But because the boot in Debian is slightly broken,
6235 runlevel 1 do not work properly and it isn't the same as single user
6236 mode.  I'll try to explain what is actually happing, but it is a bit
6237 hard to explain.</p>
6238
6239 <p>Single user mode is defined like this in /etc/inittab:
6240 "<tt>~~:S:wait:/sbin/sulogin</tt>".  This means the only thing that is
6241 executed in single user mode is sulogin.  Single user mode is a boot
6242 state "between" the runlevels, and when booting into single user mode,
6243 only the scripts in /etc/rcS.d/ are executed before the init process
6244 enters the single user state.  When switching to runlevel 1, the state
6245 is in fact not ending in runlevel 1, but it passes through runlevel 1
6246 and end up in the single user mode (see /etc/rc1.d/S03single, which
6247 runs "init -t1 S" to switch to single user mode at the end of runlevel
6248 1.  It is confusing that the 'S' (single user) init mode is not the
6249 mode enabled by /etc/rcS.d/ (which is more like the initial boot
6250 mode).</p>
6251
6252 <p>This summary might make it clearer.  When booting for the first
6253 time into single user mode, the following commands are executed:
6254 "<tt>/etc/init.d/rc S; /sbin/sulogin</tt>".  When booting into
6255 runlevel 1, the following commands are executed: "<tt>/etc/init.d/rc
6256 S; /etc/init.d/rc 1; /sbin/sulogin</tt>".  A problem show up when
6257 trying to continue after visiting single user mode.  Not all services
6258 are started again as they should, causing the machine to end up in an
6259 unpredicatble state.  This is why Debian admins recommend rebooting
6260 after visiting single user mode.</p>
6261
6262 <p>A similar problem with runlevel 1 is caused by the amount of
6263 scripts executed from /etc/rcS.d/.  When switching from say runlevel 2
6264 to runlevel 1, the services started from /etc/rcS.d/ are not properly
6265 stopped when passing through the scripts in /etc/rc1.d/, and not
6266 started again when switching away from runlevel 1 to the runlevels
6267 2-5.  I believe the problem is best fixed by moving all the scripts
6268 out of /etc/rcS.d/ that are not <strong>required</strong> to get a
6269 functioning single user mode during boot.</p>
6270
6271 <p>I have spent several years investigating the Debian boot system,
6272 and discovered this problem a few years ago.  I suspect it originates
6273 from when sysvinit was introduced into Debian, a long time ago.</p>
6274
6275       </div>
6276       <div class="tags">
6277
6278
6279         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>.
6280
6281
6282       </div>
6283     </div>
6284     <div class="padding"></div>
6285
6286     <div class="entry">
6287       <div class="title">
6288         <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>
6289       </div>
6290       <div class="date">
6291         30th July 2011
6292       </div>
6293       <div class="body">
6294         <p>In the Debian boot system, several packages include scripts that
6295 are started from /etc/rcS.d/.  In fact, there is a bite more of them
6296 than make sense, and this causes a few problems.  What kind of
6297 problems, you might ask.  There are at least two problems.  The first
6298 is that it is not possible to recover a machine after switching to
6299 runlevel 1.  One need to actually reboot to get the machine back to
6300 the expected state.  The other is that single user boot will sometimes
6301 run into problems because some of the subsystems are activated before
6302 the root login is presented, causing problems when trying to recover a
6303 machine from a problem in that subsystem.  A minor additional point is
6304 that moving more scripts out of rcS.d/ and into the other rc#.d/
6305 directories will increase the amount of scripts that can run in
6306 parallel during boot, and thus decrease the boot time.</p>
6307
6308 <p>So, which scripts should start from rcS.d/.  In short, only the
6309 scripts that _have_ to execute before the root login prompt is
6310 presented during a single user boot should go there.  Everything else
6311 should go into the numeric runlevels.  This means things like
6312 lm-sensors, fuse and x11-common should not run from rcS.d, but from
6313 the numeric runlevels.  Today in Debian, there are around 115 init.d
6314 scripts that are started from rcS.d/, and most of them should be moved
6315 out.  Do your package have one of them?  Please help us make single
6316 user and runlevel 1 better by moving it.</p>
6317
6318 <p>Scripts setting up the screen, keyboard, system partitions
6319 etc. should still be started from rcS.d/, but there is for example no
6320 need to have the network enabled before the single user login prompt
6321 is presented.</p>
6322
6323 <p>As always, things are not so easy to fix as they sound.  To keep
6324 Debian systems working while scripts migrate and during upgrades, the
6325 scripts need to be moved from rcS.d/ to rc2.d/ in reverse dependency
6326 order, ie the scripts that nothing in rcS.d/ depend on can be moved,
6327 and the next ones can only be moved when their dependencies have been
6328 moved first.  This migration must be done sequentially while we ensure
6329 that the package system upgrade packages in the right order to keep
6330 the system state correct.  This will require some coordination when it
6331 comes to network related packages, but most of the packages with
6332 scripts that should migrate do not have anything in rcS.d/ depending
6333 on them.  Some packages have already been updated, like the sudo
6334 package, while others are still left to do.  I wish I had time to work
6335 on this myself, but real live constrains make it unlikely that I will
6336 find time to push this forward.</p>
6337
6338       </div>
6339       <div class="tags">
6340
6341
6342         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>.
6343
6344
6345       </div>
6346     </div>
6347     <div class="padding"></div>
6348
6349     <div class="entry">
6350       <div class="title">
6351         <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>
6352       </div>
6353       <div class="date">
6354         29th July 2011
6355       </div>
6356       <div class="body">
6357         <p>While at Debconf11, I have several times during discussions
6358 mentioned the issues I believe should be improved in Debian for its
6359 desktop to be useful for more people.  The use case for this is my
6360 parents, which are currently running Kubuntu which solve the
6361 issues.</p>
6362
6363 <p>I suspect these four missing features are not very hard to
6364 implement.  After all, they are present in Ubuntu, so if we wanted to
6365 do this in Debian we would have a source.</p>
6366
6367 <ol>
6368
6369 <li><strong>Simple GUI based upgrade of packages.</strong> When there
6370 are new packages available for upgrades, a icon in the KDE status bar
6371 indicate this, and clicking on it will activate the simple upgrade
6372 tool to handle it.  I have no problem guiding both of my parents
6373 through the process over the phone.  If a kernel reboot is required,
6374 this too is indicated by the status bars and the upgrade tool.  Last
6375 time I checked, nothing with the same features was working in KDE in
6376 Debian.</li>
6377
6378 <li><strong>Simple handling of missing Firefox browser
6379 plugins.</strong> When the browser encounter a MIME type it do not
6380 currently have a handler for, it will ask the user if the system
6381 should search for a package that would add support for this MIME type,
6382 and if the user say yes, the APT sources will be searched for packages
6383 advertising the MIME type in their control file (visible in the
6384 Packages file in the APT archive).  If one or more packages are found,
6385 it is a simple click of the mouse to add support for the missing mime
6386 type.  If the package require the user to accept some non-free
6387 license, this is explained to the user.  The entire process make it
6388 more clear to the user why something do not work in the browser, and
6389 make the chances higher for the user to blame the web page authors and
6390 not the browser for any missing features.</li>
6391
6392 <li><strong>Simple handling of missing multimedia codec/format
6393 handlers.</strong> When the media players encounter a format or codec
6394 it is not supporting, a dialog pop up asking the user if the system
6395 should search for a package that would add support for it.  This
6396 happen with things like MP3, Windows Media or H.264.  The selection
6397 and installation procedure is very similar to the Firefox browser
6398 plugin handling.  This is as far as I know implemented using a
6399 gstreamer hook.  The end result is that the user easily get access to
6400 the codecs that are present from the APT archives available, while
6401 explaining more on why a given format is unsupported by Ubuntu.</li>
6402
6403 <li><strong>Better browser handling of some MIME types.</strong> When
6404 displaying a text/plain file in my Debian browser, it will propose to
6405 start emacs to show it.  If I remember correctly, when doing the same
6406 in Kunbutu it show the file as a text file in the browser.  At least I
6407 know Opera will show text files within the browser.  I much prefer the
6408 latter behaviour.</li>
6409
6410 </ol>
6411
6412 <p>There are other nice features as well, like the simplified suite
6413 upgrader, but given that I am the one mostly doing the dist-upgrade,
6414 it do not matter much.</p>
6415
6416 <p>I really hope we could get these features in place for the next
6417 Debian release.  It would require the coordinated effort of several
6418 maintainers, but would make the end user experience a lot better.</p>
6419
6420       </div>
6421       <div class="tags">
6422
6423
6424         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>.
6425
6426
6427       </div>
6428     </div>
6429     <div class="padding"></div>
6430
6431     <div class="entry">
6432       <div class="title">
6433         <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>
6434       </div>
6435       <div class="date">
6436         26th July 2011
6437       </div>
6438       <div class="body">
6439         <p>The Norwegian <a href="http://www.fiksgatami.no/">FiksGataMi</A>
6440 site is build on Debian/Squeeze, and this platform was chosen because
6441 I am most familiar with Debian (being a Debian Developer for around 10
6442 years) because it is the latest stable Debian release which should get
6443 security support for a few years.</p>
6444
6445 <p>The web service is written in Perl, and depend on some perl modules
6446 that are missing in Debian at the moment.  It would be great if these
6447 modules were added to the Debian archive, allowing anyone to set up
6448 their own <a href="http://www.fixmystreet.com">FixMyStreet</a> clone
6449 in their own country using only Debian packages.  The list of modules
6450 missing in Debian/Squeeze isn't very long, and I hope the perl group
6451 will find time to package the 12 modules Catalyst::Plugin::SmartURI,
6452 Catalyst::Plugin::Unicode::Encoding, Catalyst::View::TT, Devel::Hide,
6453 Sort::Key, Statistics::Distributions, Template::Plugin::Comma,
6454 Template::Plugin::DateTime::Format, Term::Size::Any, Term::Size::Perl,
6455 URI::SmartURI and Web::Scraper to make the maintenance of FixMyStreet
6456 easier in the future.</p>
6457
6458 <p>Thanks to the great tools in Debian, getting the missing modules
6459 installed on my server was a simple call to 'cpan2deb Module::Name'
6460 and 'dpkg -i' to install the resulting package.  But this leave me
6461 with the responsibility of tracking security problems, which I really
6462 do not have time for.</p>
6463
6464       </div>
6465       <div class="tags">
6466
6467
6468         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>.
6469
6470
6471       </div>
6472     </div>
6473     <div class="padding"></div>
6474
6475     <div class="entry">
6476       <div class="title">
6477         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Free_Software_vs__proprietary_softare___.html">Free Software vs. proprietary softare...</a>
6478       </div>
6479       <div class="date">
6480         20th June 2011
6481       </div>
6482       <div class="body">
6483         <p>Reading
6484 <a href="http://blog.thingiverse.com/2011/06/20/open-source-vs-closed-source-eulas/">the
6485 thingiverse blog</a>, I came across two highlights of interesting
6486 parts of the
6487 <a href="http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Autodesk_EULA">Autodesk</a>
6488 and
6489 <a href="http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2011/06/things-you-cant-do-with-the-microsoft-kinect-sdk.html">Microsoft
6490 Kinect</a> End User License Agreements (EULAs), which illustrates
6491 quite well why I stay away from software with EULAs.  Whenever I take
6492 the time to read their content, the terms are simply unacceptable.</p>
6493
6494       </div>
6495       <div class="tags">
6496
6497
6498         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>.
6499
6500
6501       </div>
6502     </div>
6503     <div class="padding"></div>
6504
6505     <div class="entry">
6506       <div class="title">
6507         <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>
6508       </div>
6509       <div class="date">
6510         30th April 2011
6511       </div>
6512       <div class="body">
6513         <p>Today, the first draft implementation of an
6514 <a href="http://www.open311.org/">Open311 API</a> for the Norwegian
6515 service <a href="http://www.fiksgatami.no/">FiksGataMi</a> started to
6516 work.  It is only available on the developer server for now, and I
6517 have not tested it using any existing Open311 client (I lack the
6518 platforms needed to run the clients I have found so far), but it is
6519 able to query the database and extract a list of open and closed
6520 requests within a given category and reported to a given municipality.
6521 I believe that is a good start to create a useful service for those
6522 that want to do data mining on the requests submitted so far.</p>
6523
6524 <p>Where is it?  Visit
6525 <a href="http://fiksgatami-dev.nuug.no/open311.cgi/v2/">http://fiksgatami-dev.nuug.no/open311.cgi/v2/</a>
6526 to have a look.  Please send feedback to the
6527 <a href="http://lists.nuug.no/mailman/listinfo/fiksgatami">fiksgatami
6528 (at) nuug.no</a> mailing list.</p>
6529
6530       </div>
6531       <div class="tags">
6532
6533
6534         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>.
6535
6536
6537       </div>
6538     </div>
6539     <div class="padding"></div>
6540
6541     <div class="entry">
6542       <div class="title">
6543         <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>
6544       </div>
6545       <div class="date">
6546         29th April 2011
6547       </div>
6548       <div class="body">
6549         <p>The last few days I have spent some time trying to add support for
6550 the <a href="http://www.open311.org/">Open311 API</a> in the
6551 <a href="http://www.fiksgatami.no/">Norwegian FixMyStreet service</a>.
6552 Earlier I believed Open311 would be a useful API to use to submit
6553 reports to the municipalities, but when I noticed that the
6554 <a href="http://fixmystreet.org.nz/">New Zealand version</a> of
6555 FixMyStreet had implemented Open311 on the server side, it occurred to
6556 me that this was a nice way to allow the public, press and
6557 municipalities to do data mining directly in the FixMyStreet service.
6558 Thus I went to work implementing the Open311 specification for
6559 FixMyStreet.  The implementation is not yet ready, but I am starting
6560 to get a draft limping along.  In the process, I have discovered a few
6561 issues with the Open311 specification.</p>
6562
6563 <p>One obvious missing feature is the lack of natural language
6564 handling in the specification.  The specification seem to assume all
6565 reports will be written in English, and do not provide a way for the
6566 receiving end to specify which languages are understood there.  To be
6567 able to use the same client and submit to several Open311 receivers,
6568 it would be useful to know which language to use when writing reports.
6569 I believe the specification should be extended to allow the receivers
6570 of problem reports to specify which language they accept, and the
6571 submitter to specify which language the report is written in.
6572 Language of a text can also be automatically guessed using statistical
6573 methods, but for multi-lingual persons like myself, it is useful to
6574 know which language to use when writing a problem report.  I suspect
6575 some lang=nb,nn kind of attribute would solve it.</p>
6576
6577 <p>A key part of the Open311 API is the list of services provided,
6578 which is similar to the categories used by FixMyStreet.  One issue I
6579 run into is the need to specify both name and unique identifier for
6580 each category.  The specification do not state that the identifier
6581 should be numeric, but all example implementations have used numbers
6582 here.  In FixMyStreet, there is no number associated with each
6583 category.  As the specification do not forbid it, I will use the name
6584 as the unique identifier for now and see how open311 clients handle
6585 it.</p>
6586
6587 <p>The report format in open311 and the report format in FixMyStreet
6588 differ in a key part.  FixMyStreet have a title and a description,
6589 while Open311 only have a description and lack the title.  I'm not
6590 quite sure how to best handle this yet.  When asking for a FixMyStreet
6591 report in Open311 format, I just merge title an description into the
6592 open311 description, but this is not going to work if the open311 API
6593 should be used for submitting new reports to FixMyStreet.</p>
6594
6595 <p>The search feature in Open311 is missing a way to ask for problems
6596 near a geographic location.  I believe this is important if one is to
6597 use Open311 as the query language for mobile units.  The specification
6598 should be extended to handle this, probably using some new lat=, lon=
6599 and range= options.</p>
6600
6601 <p>The final challenge I see is that the FixMyStreet code handle
6602 several administrations in one interface, while the Open311 API seem
6603 to assume only one administration.  For FixMyStreet, this mean a
6604 report can be sent to several administrations, and the categories
6605 available depend on the location of the problem.  Not quite sure how
6606 to best handle this.  I've noticed
6607 <a href="http://seeclickfix.com/open311/">SeeClickFix</a> added
6608 latitude and longitude options to the services request, but it do not
6609 solve the problem of what to return when no location is specified.
6610 Will have to investigate this a bit more.</p>
6611
6612 <p>My distaste for web forums have kept me from bringing these issues
6613 up with the open311 developer group.  I really wish they had a email
6614 list available via <a href="http://www.gmane.org/">Gmane</a> to use for
6615 discussions instead of only
6616 <a href="http://lists.open311.org/groups/discuss">a forum<a/>.  Oh,
6617 well.  That will probably resolve itself, one way or another.  I've
6618 also tried visiting the IRC channel #open311 on FreeNode, but no-one
6619 seem to reply to my questions there.  This make me wonder if I just
6620 fail to understand how the open311 community work.  It sure do not
6621 work like the free software project communities I am used to.</p>
6622
6623       </div>
6624       <div class="tags">
6625
6626
6627         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>.
6628
6629
6630       </div>
6631     </div>
6632     <div class="padding"></div>
6633
6634     <div class="entry">
6635       <div class="title">
6636         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Gnash_enteres_Google_Summer_of_Code_2011.html">Gnash enteres Google Summer of Code 2011</a>
6637       </div>
6638       <div class="date">
6639          6th April 2011
6640       </div>
6641       <div class="body">
6642         <p><a href="http://www.getgnash.org/">The Gnash project</a> is still
6643 the most promising solution for a Free Software Flash implementation.
6644 A few days ago the project
6645 <a href="http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/gnash-dev/2011-04/msg00011.html">announced</a>
6646 that it will participate in Google Summer of Code.  I hope many
6647 students apply, and that some of them succeed in getting AVM2 support
6648 into Gnash.</p>
6649
6650       </div>
6651       <div class="tags">
6652
6653
6654         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>.
6655
6656
6657       </div>
6658     </div>
6659     <div class="padding"></div>
6660
6661     <div class="entry">
6662       <div class="title">
6663         <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>
6664       </div>
6665       <div class="date">
6666          3rd April 2011
6667       </div>
6668       <div class="body">
6669         <p>Here is a small update for my English readers.  Most of my blog
6670 posts have been in Norwegian the last few weeks, so here is a short
6671 update in English.</p>
6672
6673 <p>The kids still keep me too busy to get much free software work
6674 done, but I did manage to organise a project to get a Norwegian port
6675 of the British service
6676 <a href="http://www.fixmystreet.com/">FixMyStreet</a> up and running,
6677 and it has been running for a month now.  The entire project has been
6678 organised by me and two others.  Around Christmas we gathered sponsors
6679 to fund the development work.  In January I drafted a contract with
6680 <a href="http://www.mysociety.org/">mySociety</a> on what to develop,
6681 and in February the development took place.  Most of it involved
6682 converting the source to use GPS coordinates instead of British
6683 easting/northing, and the resulting code should be a lot easier to get
6684 running in any country by now.  The Norwegian
6685 <a href="http://www.fiksgatami.no/">FiksGataMi</a> is using
6686 <a href="http://www.openstreetmap.org/">OpenStreetmap</a> as the map
6687 source and the source for administrative borders in Norway, and
6688 support for this had to be added/fixed.</p>
6689
6690 <p>The Norwegian version went live March 3th, and we spent the weekend
6691 polishing the system before we announced it March 7th.  The system is
6692 running on a KVM instance of Debian/Squeeze, and has seen almost 3000
6693 problem reports in a few weeks.  Soon we hope to announce the Android
6694 and iPhone versions making it even easier to report problems with the
6695 public infrastructure.</p>
6696
6697 <p>Perhaps something to consider for those of you in countries without
6698 such service?</p>
6699
6700       </div>
6701       <div class="tags">
6702
6703
6704         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>.
6705
6706
6707       </div>
6708     </div>
6709     <div class="padding"></div>
6710
6711     <div class="entry">
6712       <div class="title">
6713         <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>
6714       </div>
6715       <div class="date">
6716         28th January 2011
6717       </div>
6718       <div class="body">
6719         <p>The last few days I have looked at ways to track open security
6720 issues here at my work with the University of Oslo.  My idea is that
6721 it should be possible to use the information about security issues
6722 available on the Internet, and check our locally
6723 maintained/distributed software against this information.  It should
6724 allow us to verify that no known security issues are forgotten.  The
6725 CVE database listing vulnerabilities seem like a great central point,
6726 and by using the package lists from Debian mapped to CVEs provided by
6727 the testing security team, I believed it should be possible to figure
6728 out which security holes were present in our free software
6729 collection.</p>
6730
6731 <p>After reading up on the topic, it became obvious that the first
6732 building block is to be able to name software packages in a unique and
6733 consistent way across data sources.  I considered several ways to do
6734 this, for example coming up with my own naming scheme like using URLs
6735 to project home pages or URLs to the Freshmeat entries, or using some
6736 existing naming scheme.  And it seem like I am not the first one to
6737 come across this problem, as MITRE already proposed and implemented a
6738 solution.  Enter the <a href="http://cpe.mitre.org/index.html">Common
6739 Platform Enumeration</a> dictionary, a vocabulary for referring to
6740 software, hardware and other platform components.  The CPE ids are
6741 mapped to CVEs in the <a href="http://web.nvd.nist.gov/">National
6742 Vulnerability Database</a>, allowing me to look up know security
6743 issues for any CPE name.  With this in place, all I need to do is to
6744 locate the CPE id for the software packages we use at the university.
6745 This is fairly trivial (I google for 'cve cpe $package' and check the
6746 NVD entry if a CVE for the package exist).</p>
6747
6748 <p>To give you an example.  The GNU gzip source package have the CPE
6749 name cpe:/a:gnu:gzip.  If the old version 1.3.3 was the package to
6750 check out, one could look up
6751 <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
6752 in NVD</a> and get a list of 6 security holes with public CVE entries.
6753 The most recent one is
6754 <a href="http://web.nvd.nist.gov/view/vuln/detail?vulnId=CVE-2010-0001">CVE-2010-0001</a>,
6755 and at the bottom of the NVD page for this vulnerability the complete
6756 list of affected versions is provided.</p>
6757
6758 <p>The NVD database of CVEs is also available as a XML dump, allowing
6759 for offline processing of issues.  Using this dump, I've written a
6760 small script taking a list of CPEs as input and list all CVEs
6761 affecting the packages represented by these CPEs.  One give it CPEs
6762 with version numbers as specified above and get a list of open
6763 security issues out.</p>
6764
6765 <p>Of course for this approach to be useful, the quality of the NVD
6766 information need to be high.  For that to happen, I believe as many as
6767 possible need to use and contribute to the NVD database.  I notice
6768 RHEL is providing
6769 <a href="https://www.redhat.com/security/data/metrics/rhsamapcpe.txt">a
6770 map from CVE to CPE</a>, indicating that they are using the CPE
6771 information.  I'm not aware of Debian and Ubuntu doing the same.</p>
6772
6773 <p>To get an idea about the quality for free software, I spent some
6774 time making it possible to compare the CVE database from Debian with
6775 the CVE database in NVD.  The result look fairly good, but there are
6776 some inconsistencies in NVD (same software package having several
6777 CPEs), and some inaccuracies (NVD not mentioning buggy packages that
6778 Debian believe are affected by a CVE).  Hope to find time to improve
6779 the quality of NVD, but that require being able to get in touch with
6780 someone maintaining it.  So far my three emails with questions and
6781 corrections have not seen any reply, but I hope contact can be
6782 established soon.</p>
6783
6784 <p>An interesting application for CPEs is cross platform package
6785 mapping.  It would be useful to know which packages in for example
6786 RHEL, OpenSuSe and Mandriva are missing from Debian and Ubuntu, and
6787 this would be trivial if all linux distributions provided CPE entries
6788 for their packages.</p>
6789
6790       </div>
6791       <div class="tags">
6792
6793
6794         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>.
6795
6796
6797       </div>
6798     </div>
6799     <div class="padding"></div>
6800
6801     <div class="entry">
6802       <div class="title">
6803         <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>
6804       </div>
6805       <div class="date">
6806         23rd January 2011
6807       </div>
6808       <div class="body">
6809         <p>In the
6810 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/discover-data">discover-data</a>
6811 package in Debian, there is a script to report useful information
6812 about the running hardware for use when people report missing
6813 information.  One part of this script that I find very useful when
6814 debugging hardware problems, is the part mapping loaded kernel module
6815 to the PCI device it claims.  It allow me to quickly see if the kernel
6816 module I expect is driving the hardware I am struggling with.  To see
6817 the output, make sure discover-data is installed and run
6818 <tt>/usr/share/bug/discover-data 3>&1</tt>.  The relevant output on
6819 one of my machines like this:</p>
6820
6821 <pre>
6822 loaded modules:
6823 10de:03eb i2c_nforce2
6824 10de:03f1 ohci_hcd
6825 10de:03f2 ehci_hcd
6826 10de:03f0 snd_hda_intel
6827 10de:03ec pata_amd
6828 10de:03f6 sata_nv
6829 1022:1103 k8temp
6830 109e:036e bttv
6831 109e:0878 snd_bt87x
6832 11ab:4364 sky2
6833 </pre>
6834
6835 <p>The code in question look like this, slightly modified for
6836 readability and to drop the output to file descriptor 3:</p>
6837
6838 <pre>
6839 if [ -d /sys/bus/pci/devices/ ] ; then
6840     echo loaded pci modules:
6841     (
6842         cd /sys/bus/pci/devices/
6843         for address in * ; do
6844             if [ -d "$address/driver/module" ] ; then
6845                 module=`cd $address/driver/module ; pwd -P | xargs basename`
6846                 if grep -q "^$module " /proc/modules ; then
6847                     address=$(echo $address |sed s/0000://)
6848                     id=`lspci -n -s $address | tail -n 1 | awk '{print $3}'`
6849                     echo "$id $module"
6850                 fi
6851             fi
6852         done
6853     )
6854     echo
6855 fi
6856 </pre>
6857
6858 <p>Similar code could be used to extract USB device module
6859 mappings:</p>
6860
6861 <pre>
6862 if [ -d /sys/bus/usb/devices/ ] ; then
6863     echo loaded usb modules:
6864     (
6865         cd /sys/bus/usb/devices/
6866         for address in * ; do
6867             if [ -d "$address/driver/module" ] ; then
6868                 module=`cd $address/driver/module ; pwd -P | xargs basename`
6869                 if grep -q "^$module " /proc/modules ; then
6870                     address=$(echo $address |sed s/0000://)
6871                     id=$(lsusb -s $address | tail -n 1 | awk '{print $6}')
6872                     if [ "$id" ] ; then
6873                         echo "$id $module"
6874                     fi
6875                 fi
6876             fi
6877         done
6878     )
6879     echo
6880 fi
6881 </pre>
6882
6883 <p>This might perhaps be something to include in other tools as
6884 well.</p>
6885
6886       </div>
6887       <div class="tags">
6888
6889
6890         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>.
6891
6892
6893       </div>
6894     </div>
6895     <div class="padding"></div>
6896
6897     <div class="entry">
6898       <div class="title">
6899         <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>
6900       </div>
6901       <div class="date">
6902         16th January 2011
6903       </div>
6904       <div class="body">
6905         <p>The video format struggle on the web continues, and the three
6906 contenders seem to be Ogg Theora, H.264 and WebM.  Most video sites
6907 seem to use H.264, while others use Ogg Theora.  Interestingly enough,
6908 the comments I see give me the feeling that a lot of people believe
6909 H.264 is the most supported video format in browsers, but according to
6910 the Wikipedia article on
6911 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTML5_video">HTML5 video</a>,
6912 this is not true.  Check out the nice table of supprted formats in
6913 different browsers there.  The format supported by most browsers is
6914 Ogg Theora, supported by released versions of Mozilla Firefox, Google
6915 Chrome, Chromium, Opera, Konqueror, Epiphany, Origyn Web Browser and
6916 BOLT browser, while not supported by Internet Explorer nor Safari.
6917 The runner up is WebM supported by released versions of Google Chrome
6918 Chromium Opera and Origyn Web Browser, and test versions of Mozilla
6919 Firefox.  H.264 is supported by released versions of Safari, Origyn
6920 Web Browser and BOLT browser, and the test version of Internet
6921 Explorer.  Those wanting Ogg Theora support in Internet Explorer and
6922 Safari can install plugins to get it.</p>
6923
6924 <p>To me, the simple conclusion from this is that to reach most users
6925 without any extra software installed, one uses Ogg Theora with the
6926 HTML5 video tag.   Of course to reach all those without a browser
6927 handling HTML5, one need fallback mechanisms.  In
6928 <a href="http://www.nuug.no/">NUUG</a>, we provide first fallback to a
6929 plugin capable of playing MPEG1 video, and those without such support
6930 we have a second fallback to the Cortado java applet playing Ogg
6931 Theora.  This seem to work quite well, as can be seen in an <a
6932 href="http://www.nuug.no/aktiviteter/20110111-semantic-web/">example
6933 from last week</a>.</p>
6934
6935 <p>The reason Ogg Theora is the most supported format, and H.264 is
6936 the least supported is simple.  Implementing and using H.264
6937 require royalty payment to MPEG-LA, and the terms of use from MPEG-LA
6938 are incompatible with free software licensing.  If you believed H.264
6939 was without royalties and license terms, check out
6940 "<a href="http://webmink.com/essays/h-264/">H.264 – Not The Kind Of
6941 Free That Matters</a>" by Simon Phipps.</p>
6942
6943 <p>A incomplete list of sites providing video in Ogg Theora is
6944 available from
6945 <a href="http://wiki.xiph.org/index.php/List_of_Theora_videos">the
6946 Xiph.org wiki</a>, if you want to have a look.  I'm not aware of a
6947 similar list for WebM nor H.264.</p>
6948
6949 <p>Update 2011-01-16 09:40: A question from Tollef on IRC made me
6950 realise that I failed to make it clear enough this text is about the
6951 &lt;video&gt; tag support in browsers and not the video support
6952 provided by external plugins like the Flash plugins.</p>
6953
6954       </div>
6955       <div class="tags">
6956
6957
6958         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>.
6959
6960
6961       </div>
6962     </div>
6963     <div class="padding"></div>
6964
6965     <div class="entry">
6966       <div class="title">
6967         <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>
6968       </div>
6969       <div class="date">
6970         12th January 2011
6971       </div>
6972       <div class="body">
6973         <p>Today I discovered
6974 <a href="http://www.digi.no/860070/google-dropper-h264-stotten-i-chrome">via
6975 digi.no</a> that the Chrome developers, in a surprising announcement,
6976 <a href="http://blog.chromium.org/2011/01/html-video-codec-support-in-chrome.html">yesterday
6977 announced</a> plans to drop H.264 support for HTML5 &lt;video&gt; in
6978 the browser.  The argument used is that H.264 is not a "completely
6979 open" codec technology.  If you believe H.264 was free for everyone
6980 to use, I recommend having a look at the essay
6981 "<a href="http://webmink.com/essays/h-264/">H.264 – Not The Kind Of
6982 Free That Matters</a>".  It is not free of cost for creators of video
6983 tools, nor those of us that want to publish on the Internet, and the
6984 terms provided by MPEG-LA excludes free software projects from
6985 licensing the patents needed for H.264.  Some background information
6986 on the Google announcement is available from
6987 <a href="http://www.osnews.com/story/24243/Google_To_Drop_H264_Support_from_Chrome">OSnews</a>.
6988 A good read. :)</p>
6989
6990 <p>Personally, I believe it is great that Google is taking a stand to
6991 promote equal terms for everyone when it comes to video publishing on
6992 the Internet.  This can only be done by publishing using free and open
6993 standards, which is only possible if the web browsers provide support
6994 for these free and open standards.  At the moment there seem to be two
6995 camps in the web browser world when it come to video support.  Some
6996 browsers support H.264, and others support
6997 <a href="http://www.theora.org/">Ogg Theora</a> and
6998 <a href="http://www.webmproject.org/">WebM</a>
6999 (<a href="http://www.diracvideo.org/">Dirac</a> is not really an option
7000 yet), forcing those of us that want to publish video on the Internet
7001 and which can not accept the terms of use presented by MPEG-LA for
7002 H.264 to not reach all potential viewers.
7003 Wikipedia keep <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTML5_video">an
7004 updated summary</a> of the current browser support.</p>
7005
7006 <p>Not surprising, several people would prefer Google to keep
7007 promoting H.264, and John Gruber
7008 <a href="http://daringfireball.net/2011/01/simple_questions">presents
7009 the mind set</a> of these people quite well.  His rhetorical questions
7010 provoked a reply from Thom Holwerda with another set of questions
7011 <a href="http://www.osnews.com/story/24245/10_Questions_for_John_Gruber_Regarding_H_264_WebM">presenting
7012 the issues with H.264</a>. Both are worth a read.</p>
7013
7014 <p>Some argue that if Google is dropping H.264 because it isn't free,
7015 they should also drop support for the Adobe Flash plugin.  This
7016 argument was covered by Simon Phipps in
7017 <a href="http://blogs.computerworlduk.com/simon-says/2011/01/google-and-h264---far-from-hypocritical/index.htm">todays
7018 blog post</a>, which I find to put the issue in context.  To me it
7019 make perfect sense to drop native H.264 support for HTML5 in the
7020 browser while still allowing plugins.</p>
7021
7022 <p>I suspect the reason this announcement make so many people protest,
7023 is that all the users and promoters of H.264 suddenly get an uneasy
7024 feeling that they might be backing the wrong horse.  A lot of TV
7025 broadcasters have been moving to H.264 the last few years, and a lot
7026 of money has been invested in hardware based on the belief that they
7027 could use the same video format for both broadcasting and web
7028 publishing.  Suddenly this belief is shaken.</p>
7029
7030 <p>An interesting question is why Google is doing this.  While the
7031 presented argument might be true enough, I believe Google would only
7032 present the argument if the change make sense from a business
7033 perspective.  One reason might be that they are currently negotiating
7034 with MPEG-LA over royalties or usage terms, and giving MPEG-LA the
7035 feeling that dropping H.264 completely from Chroome, Youtube and
7036 Google Video would improve the negotiation position of Google.
7037 Another reason might be that Google want to save money by not having
7038 to pay the video tax to MPEG-LA at all, and thus want to move to a
7039 video format not requiring royalties at all.  A third reason might be
7040 that the Chrome development team simply want to avoid the
7041 Chrome/Chromium split to get more help with the development of Chrome.
7042 I guess time will tell.</p>
7043
7044 <p>Update 2011-01-15: The Google Chrome team provided
7045 <a href="http://blog.chromium.org/2011/01/more-about-chrome-html-video-codec.html">more
7046 background and information on the move</a> it a blog post yesterday.</p>
7047
7048       </div>
7049       <div class="tags">
7050
7051
7052         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>.
7053
7054
7055       </div>
7056     </div>
7057     <div class="padding"></div>
7058
7059     <div class="entry">
7060       <div class="title">
7061         <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>
7062       </div>
7063       <div class="date">
7064         30th December 2010
7065       </div>
7066       <div class="body">
7067         <p>After trying to
7068 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Is_Ogg_Theora_a_free_and_open_standard_.html">compare
7069 Ogg Theora</a> to
7070 <a href="http://www.digistan.org/open-standard:definition">the Digistan
7071 definition</a> of a free and open standard, I concluded that this need
7072 to be done for more standards and started on a framework for doing
7073 this.  As a start, I want to get the status for all the standards in
7074 the Norwegian reference directory, which include UTF-8, HTML, PDF, ODF,
7075 JPEG, PNG, SVG and others.  But to be able to complete this in a
7076 reasonable time frame, I will need help.</p>
7077
7078 <p>If you want to help out with this work, please visit
7079 <a href="http://wiki.nuug.no/grupper/standard/digistan-analyse">the
7080 wiki pages I have set up for this</a>, and let me know that you want
7081 to help out.  The IRC channel #nuug on irc.freenode.net is a good
7082 place to coordinate this for now, as it is the IRC channel for the
7083 NUUG association where I have created the framework (I am the leader
7084 of the Norwegian Unix User Group).</p>
7085
7086 <p>The framework is still forming, and a lot is left to do.  Do not be
7087 scared by the sketchy form of the current pages. :)</p>
7088
7089       </div>
7090       <div class="tags">
7091
7092
7093         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>.
7094
7095
7096       </div>
7097     </div>
7098     <div class="padding"></div>
7099
7100     <div class="entry">
7101       <div class="title">
7102         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/The_many_definitions_of_a_open_standard.html">The many definitions of a open standard</a>
7103       </div>
7104       <div class="date">
7105         27th December 2010
7106       </div>
7107       <div class="body">
7108         <p>One of the reasons I like the Digistan definition of
7109 "<a href="http://www.digistan.org/open-standard:definition">Free and
7110 Open Standard</a>" is that this is a new term, and thus the meaning of
7111 the term has been decided by Digistan.  The term "Open Standard" has
7112 become so misunderstood that it is no longer very useful when talking
7113 about standards.  One end up discussing which definition is the best
7114 one and with such frame the only one gaining are the proponents of
7115 de-facto standards and proprietary solutions.</p>
7116
7117 <p>But to give us an idea about the diversity of definitions of open
7118 standards, here are a few that I know about.  This list is not
7119 complete, but can be a starting point for those that want to do a
7120 complete survey.  More definitions are available on the
7121 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_standard">wikipedia
7122 page</a>.</p>
7123
7124 <p>First off is my favourite, the definition from the European
7125 Interoperability Framework version 1.0.  Really sad to notice that BSA
7126 and others has succeeded in getting it removed from version 2.0 of the
7127 framework by stacking the committee drafting the new version with
7128 their own people.  Anyway, the definition is still available and it
7129 include the key properties needed to make sure everyone can use a
7130 specification on equal terms.</p>
7131
7132 <blockquote>
7133
7134 <p>The following are the minimal characteristics that a specification
7135 and its attendant documents must have in order to be considered an
7136 open standard:</p>
7137
7138 <ul>
7139
7140 <li>The standard is adopted and will be maintained by a not-for-profit
7141 organisation, and its ongoing development occurs on the basis of an
7142 open decision-making procedure available to all interested parties
7143 (consensus or majority decision etc.).</li>
7144
7145 <li>The standard has been published and the standard specification
7146 document is available either freely or at a nominal charge. It must be
7147 permissible to all to copy, distribute and use it for no fee or at a
7148 nominal fee.</li>
7149
7150 <li>The intellectual property - i.e. patents possibly present - of
7151 (parts of) the standard is made irrevocably available on a royalty-
7152 free basis.</li>
7153
7154 <li>There are no constraints on the re-use of the standard.</li>
7155
7156 </ul>
7157 </blockquote>
7158
7159 <p>Another one originates from my friends over at
7160 <a href="http://www.dkuug.dk/">DKUUG</a>, who coined and gathered
7161 support for <a href="http://www.aaben-standard.dk/">this
7162 definition</a> in 2004.  It even made it into the Danish parlament as
7163 <a href="http://www.ft.dk/dokumenter/tingdok.aspx?/samling/20051/beslutningsforslag/B103/som_fremsat.htm">their
7164 definition of a open standard</a>.  Another from a different part of
7165 the Danish government is available from the wikipedia page.</p>
7166
7167 <blockquote>
7168
7169 <p>En åben standard opfylder følgende krav:</p>
7170
7171 <ol>
7172
7173 <li>Veldokumenteret med den fuldstændige specifikation offentligt
7174 tilgængelig.</li>
7175
7176 <li>Frit implementerbar uden økonomiske, politiske eller juridiske
7177 begrænsninger på implementation og anvendelse.</li>
7178
7179 <li>Standardiseret og vedligeholdt i et åbent forum (en såkaldt
7180 "standardiseringsorganisation") via en åben proces.</li>
7181
7182 </ol>
7183
7184 </blockquote>
7185
7186 <p>Then there is <a href="http://www.fsfe.org/projects/os/def.html">the
7187 definition</a> from Free Software Foundation Europe.</p>
7188
7189 <blockquote>
7190
7191 <p>An Open Standard refers to a format or protocol that is</p>
7192
7193 <ol>
7194
7195 <li>subject to full public assessment and use without constraints in a
7196 manner equally available to all parties;</li>
7197
7198 <li>without any components or extensions that have dependencies on
7199 formats or protocols that do not meet the definition of an Open
7200 Standard themselves;</li>
7201
7202 <li>free from legal or technical clauses that limit its utilisation by
7203 any party or in any business model;</li>
7204
7205 <li>managed and further developed independently of any single vendor
7206 in a process open to the equal participation of competitors and third
7207 parties;</li>
7208
7209 <li>available in multiple complete implementations by competing
7210 vendors, or as a complete implementation equally available to all
7211 parties.</li>
7212
7213 </ol>
7214
7215 </blockquote>
7216
7217 <p>A long time ago, SUN Microsystems, now bought by Oracle, created
7218 its
7219 <a href="http://blogs.sun.com/dennisding/resource/Open%20Standard%20Definition.pdf">Open
7220 Standards Checklist</a> with a fairly detailed description.</p>
7221
7222 <blockquote>
7223 <p>Creation and Management of an Open Standard
7224
7225 <ul>
7226
7227 <li>Its development and management process must be collaborative and
7228   democratic:
7229
7230          <ul>
7231
7232          <li>Participation must be accessible to all those who wish to
7233             participate and can meet fair and reasonable criteria
7234             imposed by the organization under which it is developed
7235             and managed.</li>
7236
7237          <li>The processes must be documented and, through a known
7238             method, can be changed through input from all
7239             participants.</li>
7240
7241          <li>The process must be based on formal and binding commitments for
7242             the disclosure and licensing of intellectual property rights.</li>
7243
7244          <li>Development and management should strive for consensus,
7245             and an appeals process must be clearly outlined.</li>
7246
7247          <li>The standard specification must be open to extensive
7248             public review at least once in its life-cycle, with
7249             comments duly discussed and acted upon, if required.</li>
7250
7251          </ul>
7252
7253 </li>
7254
7255 </ul>
7256
7257 <p>Use and Licensing of an Open Standard</p>
7258 <ul>
7259
7260 <li>The standard must describe an interface, not an implementation,
7261   and the industry must be capable of creating multiple, competing
7262   implementations to the interface described in the standard without
7263   undue or restrictive constraints.  Interfaces include APIs,
7264   protocols, schemas, data formats and their encoding.</li>
7265
7266 <li> The standard must not contain any proprietary "hooks" that create
7267   a technical or economic barriers</li>
7268
7269 <li>Faithful implementations of the standard must
7270   interoperate. Interoperability means the ability of a computer
7271   program to communicate and exchange information with other computer
7272   programs and mutually to use the information which has been
7273   exchanged. This includes the ability to use, convert, or exchange
7274   file formats, protocols, schemas, interface information or
7275   conventions, so as to permit the computer program to work with other
7276   computer programs and users in all the ways in which they are
7277   intended to function.</li>
7278
7279 <li>It must be permissible for anyone to copy, distribute and read the
7280   standard for a nominal fee, or even no fee. If there is a fee, it
7281   must be low enough to not preclude widespread use.</li>
7282
7283 <li>It must be possible for anyone to obtain free (no royalties or
7284   fees; also known as "royalty free"), worldwide, non-exclusive and
7285   perpetual licenses to all essential patent claims to make, use and
7286   sell products based on the standard.  The only exceptions are
7287   terminations per the reciprocity and defensive suspension terms
7288   outlined below. Essential patent claims include pending, unpublished
7289   patents, published patents, and patent applications. The license is
7290   only for the exact scope of the standard in question.
7291
7292       <ul>
7293
7294       <li> May be conditioned only on reciprocal licenses to any of
7295         licensees' patent claims essential to practice that standard
7296         (also known as a reciprocity clause)</li>
7297
7298       <li> May be terminated as to any licensee who sues the licensor
7299         or any other licensee for infringement of patent claims
7300         essential to practice that standard (also known as a
7301         "defensive suspension" clause)</li>
7302
7303       <li> The same licensing terms are available to every potential
7304         licensor</li>
7305
7306       </ul>
7307 </li>
7308
7309 <li>The licensing terms of an open standards must not preclude
7310   implementations of that standard under open source licensing terms
7311   or restricted licensing terms</li>
7312
7313 </ul>
7314
7315 </blockquote>
7316
7317 <p>It is said that one of the nice things about standards is that
7318 there are so many of them.  As you can see, the same holds true for
7319 open standard definitions.  Most of the definitions have a lot in
7320 common, and it is not really controversial what properties a open
7321 standard should have, but the diversity of definitions have made it
7322 possible for those that want to avoid a level marked field and real
7323 competition to downplay the significance of open standards.  I hope we
7324 can turn this tide by focusing on the advantages of Free and Open
7325 Standards.</p>
7326
7327       </div>
7328       <div class="tags">
7329
7330
7331         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>.
7332
7333
7334       </div>
7335     </div>
7336     <div class="padding"></div>
7337
7338     <div class="entry">
7339       <div class="title">
7340         <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>
7341       </div>
7342       <div class="date">
7343         25th December 2010
7344       </div>
7345       <div class="body">
7346         <p><a href="http://www.digistan.org/open-standard:definition">The
7347 Digistan definition</a> of a free and open standard reads like this:</p>
7348
7349 <blockquote>
7350
7351 <p>The Digital Standards Organization defines free and open standard
7352 as follows:</p>
7353
7354 <ol>
7355
7356 <li>A free and open standard is immune to vendor capture at all stages
7357 in its life-cycle. Immunity from vendor capture makes it possible to
7358 freely use, improve upon, trust, and extend a standard over time.</li>
7359
7360 <li>The standard is adopted and will be maintained by a not-for-profit
7361 organisation, and its ongoing development occurs on the basis of an
7362 open decision-making procedure available to all interested
7363 parties.</li>
7364
7365 <li>The standard has been published and the standard specification
7366 document is available freely. It must be permissible to all to copy,
7367 distribute, and use it freely.</li>
7368
7369 <li>The patents possibly present on (parts of) the standard are made
7370 irrevocably available on a royalty-free basis.</li>
7371
7372 <li>There are no constraints on the re-use of the standard.</li>
7373
7374 </ol>
7375
7376 <p>The economic outcome of a free and open standard, which can be
7377 measured, is that it enables perfect competition between suppliers of
7378 products based on the standard.</p>
7379 </blockquote>
7380
7381 <p>For a while now I have tried to figure out of Ogg Theora is a free
7382 and open standard according to this definition.  Here is a short
7383 writeup of what I have been able to gather so far.  I brought up the
7384 topic on the Xiph advocacy mailing list
7385 <a href="http://lists.xiph.org/pipermail/advocacy/2009-July/001632.html">in
7386 July 2009</a>, for those that want to see some background information.
7387 According to Ivo Emanuel Gonçalves and Monty Montgomery on that list
7388 the Ogg Theora specification fulfils the Digistan definition.</p>
7389
7390 <p><strong>Free from vendor capture?</strong></p>
7391
7392 <p>As far as I can see, there is no single vendor that can control the
7393 Ogg Theora specification.  It can be argued that the
7394 <a href="http://www.xiph.org/">Xiph foundation</A> is such vendor, but
7395 given that it is a non-profit foundation with the expressed goal
7396 making free and open protocols and standards available, it is not
7397 obvious that this is a real risk.  One issue with the Xiph
7398 foundation is that its inner working (as in board member list, or who
7399 control the foundation) are not easily available on the web.  I've
7400 been unable to find out who is in the foundation board, and have not
7401 seen any accounting information documenting how money is handled nor
7402 where is is spent in the foundation.  It is thus not obvious for an
7403 external observer who control The Xiph foundation, and for all I know
7404 it is possible for a single vendor to take control over the
7405 specification.  But it seem unlikely.</p>
7406
7407 <p><strong>Maintained by open not-for-profit organisation?</strong></p>
7408
7409 <p>Assuming that the Xiph foundation is the organisation its web pages
7410 claim it to be, this point is fulfilled.  If Xiph foundation is
7411 controlled by a single vendor, it isn't, but I have not found any
7412 documentation indicating this.</p>
7413
7414 <p>According to
7415 <a href="http://media.hiof.no/diverse/fad/rapport_4.pdf">a report</a>
7416 prepared by Audun Vaaler og Børre Ludvigsen for the Norwegian
7417 government, the Xiph foundation is a non-commercial organisation and
7418 the development process is open, transparent and non-Discrimatory.
7419 Until proven otherwise, I believe it make most sense to believe the
7420 report is correct.</p>
7421
7422 <p><strong>Specification freely available?</strong></p>
7423
7424 <p>The specification for the <a href="http://www.xiph.org/ogg/doc/">Ogg
7425 container format</a> and both the
7426 <a href="http://www.xiph.org/vorbis/doc/">Vorbis</a> and
7427 <a href="http://theora.org/doc/">Theora</a> codeces are available on
7428 the web.  This are the terms in the Vorbis and Theora specification:
7429
7430 <blockquote>
7431
7432 Anyone may freely use and distribute the Ogg and [Vorbis/Theora]
7433 specifications, whether in private, public, or corporate
7434 capacity. However, the Xiph.Org Foundation and the Ogg project reserve
7435 the right to set the Ogg [Vorbis/Theora] specification and certify
7436 specification compliance.
7437
7438 </blockquote>
7439
7440 <p>The Ogg container format is specified in IETF
7441 <a href="http://www.xiph.org/ogg/doc/rfc3533.txt">RFC 3533</a>, and
7442 this is the term:<p>
7443
7444 <blockquote>
7445
7446 <p>This document and translations of it may be copied and furnished to
7447 others, and derivative works that comment on or otherwise explain it
7448 or assist in its implementation may be prepared, copied, published and
7449 distributed, in whole or in part, without restriction of any kind,
7450 provided that the above copyright notice and this paragraph are
7451 included on all such copies and derivative works.  However, this
7452 document itself may not be modified in any way, such as by removing
7453 the copyright notice or references to the Internet Society or other
7454 Internet organizations, except as needed for the purpose of developing
7455 Internet standards in which case the procedures for copyrights defined
7456 in the Internet Standards process must be followed, or as required to
7457 translate it into languages other than English.</p>
7458
7459 <p>The limited permissions granted above are perpetual and will not be
7460 revoked by the Internet Society or its successors or assigns.</p>
7461 </blockquote>
7462
7463 <p>All these terms seem to allow unlimited distribution and use, an
7464 this term seem to be fulfilled.  There might be a problem with the
7465 missing permission to distribute modified versions of the text, and
7466 thus reuse it in other specifications.  Not quite sure if that is a
7467 requirement for the Digistan definition.</p>
7468
7469 <p><strong>Royalty-free?</strong></p>
7470
7471 <p>There are no known patent claims requiring royalties for the Ogg
7472 Theora format.
7473 <a href="http://www.streamingmedia.com/Articles/ReadArticle.aspx?ArticleID=65782">MPEG-LA</a>
7474 and
7475 <a href="http://yro.slashdot.org/story/10/04/30/237238/Steve-Jobs-Hints-At-Theora-Lawsuit">Steve
7476 Jobs</a> in Apple claim to know about some patent claims (submarine
7477 patents) against the Theora format, but no-one else seem to believe
7478 them.  Both Opera Software and the Mozilla Foundation have looked into
7479 this and decided to implement Ogg Theora support in their browsers
7480 without paying any royalties.  For now the claims from MPEG-LA and
7481 Steve Jobs seem more like FUD to scare people to use the H.264 codec
7482 than any real problem with Ogg Theora.</p>
7483
7484 <p><strong>No constraints on re-use?</strong></p>
7485
7486 <p>I am not aware of any constraints on re-use.</p>
7487
7488 <p><strong>Conclusion</strong></p>
7489
7490 <p>3 of 5 requirements seem obviously fulfilled, and the remaining 2
7491 depend on the governing structure of the Xiph foundation.  Given the
7492 background report used by the Norwegian government, I believe it is
7493 safe to assume the last two requirements are fulfilled too, but it
7494 would be nice if the Xiph foundation web site made it easier to verify
7495 this.</p>
7496
7497 <p>It would be nice to see other analysis of other specifications to
7498 see if they are free and open standards.</p>
7499
7500       </div>
7501       <div class="tags">
7502
7503
7504         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>.
7505
7506
7507       </div>
7508     </div>
7509     <div class="padding"></div>
7510
7511     <div class="entry">
7512       <div class="title">
7513         <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>
7514       </div>
7515       <div class="date">
7516         25th December 2010
7517       </div>
7518       <div class="body">
7519         <p>A few days ago
7520 <a href="http://www.idg.no/computerworld/article189879.ece">an
7521 article</a> in the Norwegian Computerworld magazine about how version
7522 2.0 of
7523 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Interoperability_Framework">European
7524 Interoperability Framework</a> has been successfully lobbied by the
7525 proprietary software industry to remove the focus on free software.
7526 Nothing very surprising there, given
7527 <a href="http://news.slashdot.org/story/10/03/29/2115235/Open-Source-Open-Standards-Under-Attack-In-Europe">earlier
7528 reports</a> on how Microsoft and others have stacked the committees in
7529 this work.  But I find this very sad.   The definition of
7530 <a href="http://www.nuug.no/dokumenter/standard-presse-def-200506.txt">an
7531 open standard from version 1</a> was very good, and something I
7532 believe should be used also in the future, alongside
7533 <a href="http://www.digistan.org/open-standard:definition">the
7534 definition from Digistan</A>.  Version 2 have removed the open
7535 standard definition from its content.</p>
7536
7537 <p>Anyway, the news reminded me of the great reply sent by Dr. Edgar
7538 Villanueva, congressman in Peru at the time, to Microsoft as a reply
7539 to Microsofts attack on his proposal regarding the use of free software
7540 in the public sector in Peru.  As the text was not available from a
7541 few of the URLs where it used to be available, I copy it here from
7542 <a href="http://gnuwin.epfl.ch/articles/en/reponseperou/villanueva_to_ms.html">my
7543 source</a> to ensure it is available also in the future.  Some
7544 background information about that story is available in
7545 <a href="http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/6099">an article</a> from
7546 Linux Journal in 2002.</p>
7547
7548 <blockquote>
7549 <p>Lima, 8th of April, 2002<br>
7550 To: Señor JUAN ALBERTO GONZÁLEZ<br>
7551 General Manager of Microsoft Perú</p>
7552
7553 <p>Dear Sir:</p>
7554
7555 <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>
7556
7557 <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>
7558
7559 <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>
7560
7561 <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>
7562
7563 <p>
7564 <ul>
7565 <li>Free access to public information by the citizen. </li>
7566 <li>Permanence of public data. </li>
7567 <li>Security of the State and citizens.</li>
7568 </ul>
7569 </p>
7570
7571 <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>
7572
7573 <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>
7574
7575 <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>
7576
7577 <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>
7578
7579 <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>
7580
7581
7582 <p>From reading the Bill it will be clear that once passed:<br>
7583 <li>the law does not forbid the production of proprietary software</li>
7584 <li>the law does not forbid the sale of proprietary software</li>
7585 <li>the law does not specify which concrete software to use</li>
7586 <li>the law does not dictate the supplier from whom software will be bought</li>
7587 <li>the law does not limit the terms under which a software product can be licensed.</li>
7588
7589 </p>
7590
7591 <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>
7592
7593 <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>
7594
7595 <p>As for the observations you have made, we will now go on to analyze them in detail:</p>
7596
7597 <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>
7598
7599 <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>
7600
7601 <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>
7602
7603 <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>
7604
7605 <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>
7606
7607 <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>
7608
7609 <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>
7610
7611 <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>
7612
7613 <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>
7614
7615 <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>
7616
7617 <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>
7618
7619 <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>
7620
7621 <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>
7622
7623 <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>
7624
7625 <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>
7626
7627 <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>
7628
7629 <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>
7630
7631 <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>
7632
7633 <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>
7634
7635 <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>
7636
7637 <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>
7638
7639 <p>On security:</p>
7640
7641 <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>
7642
7643 <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>
7644
7645 <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>
7646
7647 <p>In respect of the guarantee:</p>
7648
7649 <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>
7650
7651 <p>On Intellectual Property:</p>
7652
7653 <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>
7654
7655 <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>
7656
7657 <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>
7658
7659 <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>
7660
7661 <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>
7662
7663 <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>
7664
7665 <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>
7666
7667 <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>
7668
7669 <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>
7670
7671 <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>
7672
7673 <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>
7674
7675 <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>
7676
7677 <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>
7678
7679 <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>
7680
7681 <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>
7682
7683 <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>
7684
7685 <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>
7686
7687 <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>
7688
7689 <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>
7690
7691 <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>
7692
7693 <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>
7694
7695 <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>
7696
7697 <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>
7698
7699 <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>
7700
7701 <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>
7702
7703 <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>
7704
7705 <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>
7706
7707 <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>
7708
7709 <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>
7710
7711 <p>Cordially,<br>
7712 DR. EDGAR DAVID VILLANUEVA NUÑEZ<br>
7713 Congressman of the Republic of Perú.</p>
7714 </blockquote>
7715
7716       </div>
7717       <div class="tags">
7718
7719
7720         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>.
7721
7722
7723       </div>
7724     </div>
7725     <div class="padding"></div>
7726
7727     <div class="entry">
7728       <div class="title">
7729         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Officeshots_still_going_strong.html">Officeshots still going strong</a>
7730       </div>
7731       <div class="date">
7732         25th December 2010
7733       </div>
7734       <div class="body">
7735         <p>Half a year ago I
7736 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Officeshots_taking_shape.html">wrote
7737 a bit</a> about <a href="http://www.officeshots.org/">OfficeShots</a>,
7738 a web service to allow anyone to test how ODF documents are handled by
7739 the different programs reading and writing the ODF format.</p>
7740
7741 <p>I just had a look at the service, and it seem to be going strong.
7742 Very interesting to see the results reported in the gallery, how
7743 different Office implementations handle different ODF features.  Sad
7744 to see that KOffice was not doing it very well, and happy to see that
7745 LibreOffice has been tested already (but sadly not listed as a option
7746 for OfficeShots users yet).  I am glad to see that the ODF community
7747 got such a great test tool available.</p>
7748
7749       </div>
7750       <div class="tags">
7751
7752
7753         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>.
7754
7755
7756       </div>
7757     </div>
7758     <div class="padding"></div>
7759
7760     <div class="entry">
7761       <div class="title">
7762         <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>
7763       </div>
7764       <div class="date">
7765         22nd December 2010
7766       </div>
7767       <div class="body">
7768         <p>The last few days I have spent at work here at the <a
7769 href="http://www.uio.no/">University of Oslo</a> testing if the new
7770 batch of computers will work with Linux.  Every year for the last few
7771 years the university have organised shared bid of a few thousand
7772 computers, and this year HP won the bid.  Two different desktops and
7773 five different laptops are on the list this year.  We in the UNIX
7774 group want to know which one of these computers work well with RHEL
7775 and Ubuntu, the two Linux distributions we currently handle at the
7776 university.</p>
7777
7778 <p>My test method is simple, and I share it here to get feedback and
7779 perhaps inspire others to test hardware as well.  To test, I PXE
7780 install the OS version of choice, and log in as my normal user and run
7781 a few applications and plug in selected pieces of hardware.  When
7782 something fail, I make a note about this in the test matrix and move
7783 on.  If I have some spare time I try to report the bug to the OS
7784 vendor, but as I only have the machines for a short time, I rarely
7785 have the time to do this for all the problems I find.</p>
7786
7787 <p>Anyway, to get to the point of this post.  Here is the simple tests
7788 I perform on a new model.</p>
7789
7790 <ul>
7791
7792 <li>Is PXE installation working?  I'm testing with RHEL6, Ubuntu Lucid
7793 and Ubuntu Maverik at the moment.  If I feel like it, I also test with
7794 RHEL5 and Debian Edu/Squeeze.</li>
7795
7796 <li>Is X.org working?  If the graphical login screen show up after
7797 installation, X.org is working.</li>
7798
7799 <li>Is hardware accelerated OpenGL working?  Running glxgears (in
7800 package mesa-utils on Ubuntu) and writing down the frames per second
7801 reported by the program.</li>
7802
7803 <li>Is sound working?  With Gnome and KDE, a sound is played when
7804 logging in, and if I can hear this the test is successful.  If there
7805 are several audio exits on the machine, I try them all and check if
7806 the Gnome/KDE audio mixer can control where to send the sound.  I
7807 normally test this by playing
7808 <a href="http://www.nuug.no/aktiviteter/20101012-chef/ ">a HTML5
7809 video</a> in Firefox/Iceweasel.</li>
7810
7811 <li>Is the USB subsystem working?  I test this by plugging in a USB
7812 memory stick and see if Gnome/KDE notices this.</li>
7813
7814 <li>Is the CD/DVD player working?  I test this by inserting any CD/DVD
7815 I have lying around, and see if Gnome/KDE notices this.</li>
7816
7817 <li>Is any built in camera working?  Test using cheese, and see if a
7818 picture from the v4l device show up.</li>
7819
7820 <li>Is bluetooth working?  Use the Gnome/KDE browsing tool to see if
7821 any bluetooth devices are discovered.  In my office, I normally see a
7822 few.</li>
7823
7824 <li>For laptops, is the SD or Compaq Flash reader working.  I have
7825 memory modules lying around, and stick them in and see if Gnome/KDE
7826 notice this.</li>
7827
7828 <li>For laptops, is suspend/hibernate working?  I'm testing if the
7829 special button work, and if the laptop continue to work after
7830 resume.</li>
7831
7832 <li>For laptops, is the extra buttons working, like audio level,
7833 adjusting background light, switching on/off external video output,
7834 switching on/off wifi, bluetooth, etc?  The set of buttons differ from
7835 laptop to laptop, so I just write down which are working and which are
7836 not.</li>
7837
7838 <li>Some laptops have smart card readers, finger print readers,
7839 acceleration sensors etc.  I rarely test these, as I do not know how
7840 to quickly test if they are working or not, so I only document their
7841 existence.</li>
7842
7843 </ul>
7844
7845 <p>By now I suspect you are really curious what the test results are
7846 for the HP machines I am testing.  I'm not done yet, so I will report
7847 the test results later.  For now I can report that HP 8100 Elite work
7848 fine, and hibernation fail with HP EliteBook 8440p on Ubuntu Lucid,
7849 and audio fail on RHEL6.  Ubuntu Maverik worked with 8440p.  As you
7850 can see, I have most machines left to test.  One interesting
7851 observation is that Ubuntu Lucid has almost twice the frame rate than
7852 RHEL6 with glxgears.  No idea why.</p>
7853
7854       </div>
7855       <div class="tags">
7856
7857
7858         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>.
7859
7860
7861       </div>
7862     </div>
7863     <div class="padding"></div>
7864
7865     <div class="entry">
7866       <div class="title">
7867         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Some_thoughts_on_BitCoins.html">Some thoughts on BitCoins</a>
7868       </div>
7869       <div class="date">
7870         11th December 2010
7871       </div>
7872       <div class="body">
7873         <p>As I continue to explore
7874 <a href="http://www.bitcoin.org/">BitCoin</a>, I've starting to wonder
7875 what properties the system have, and how it will be affected by laws
7876 and regulations here in Norway.  Here are some random notes.</p>
7877
7878 <p>One interesting thing to note is that since the transactions are
7879 verified using a peer to peer network, all details about a transaction
7880 is known to everyone.  This means that if a BitCoin address has been
7881 published like I did with mine in my initial post about BitCoin, it is
7882 possible for everyone to see how many BitCoins have been transfered to
7883 that address.  There is even a web service to look at the details for
7884 all transactions.  There I can see that my address
7885 <a href="http://blockexplorer.com/address/15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</a>
7886 have received 16.06 Bitcoin, the
7887 <a href="http://blockexplorer.com/address/1LfdGnGuWkpSJgbQySxxCWhv8MHqvwst3">1LfdGnGuWkpSJgbQySxxCWhv8MHqvwst3</a>
7888 address of Simon Phipps have received 181.97 BitCoin and the address
7889 <a href="http://blockexplorer.com/address/1MCwBbhNGp5hRm5rC1Aims2YFRe2SXPYKt">1MCwBbhNGp5hRm5rC1Aims2YFRe2SXPYKt</A>
7890 of EFF have received 2447.38 BitCoins so far.  Thank you to each and
7891 every one of you that donated bitcoins to support my activity. The
7892 fact that anyone can see how much money was transfered to a given
7893 address make it more obvious why the BitCoin community recommend to
7894 generate and hand out a new address for each transaction.  I'm told
7895 there is no way to track which addresses belong to a given person or
7896 organisation without the person or organisation revealing it
7897 themselves, as Simon, EFF and I have done.</p>
7898
7899 <p>In Norway, and in most other countries, there are laws and
7900 regulations limiting how much money one can transfer across the border
7901 without declaring it.  There are money laundering, tax and accounting
7902 laws and regulations I would expect to apply to the use of BitCoin.
7903 If the Skolelinux foundation
7904 (<a href="http://linuxiskolen.no/slxdebianlabs/donations.html">SLX
7905 Debian Labs</a>) were to accept donations in BitCoin in addition to
7906 normal bank transfers like EFF is doing, how should this be accounted?
7907 Given that it is impossible to know if money can cross the border or
7908 not, should everything or nothing be declared?  What exchange rate
7909 should be used when calculating taxes?  Would receivers have to pay
7910 income tax if the foundation were to pay Skolelinux contributors in
7911 BitCoin?  I have no idea, but it would be interesting to know.</p>
7912
7913 <p>For a currency to be useful and successful, it must be trusted and
7914 accepted by a lot of users.  It must be possible to get easy access to
7915 the currency (as a wage or using currency exchanges), and it must be
7916 easy to spend it.  At the moment BitCoin seem fairly easy to get
7917 access to, but there are very few places to spend it.  I am not really
7918 a regular user of any of the vendor types currently accepting BitCoin,
7919 so I wonder when my kind of shop would start accepting BitCoins.  I
7920 would like to buy electronics, travels and subway tickets, not herbs
7921 and books. :) The currency is young, and this will improve over time
7922 if it become popular, but I suspect regular banks will start to lobby
7923 to get BitCoin declared illegal if it become popular.  I'm sure they
7924 will claim it is helping fund terrorism and money laundering (which
7925 probably would be true, as is any currency in existence), but I
7926 believe the problems should be solved elsewhere and not by blaming
7927 currencies.</p>
7928
7929 <p>The process of creating new BitCoins is called mining, and it is
7930 CPU intensive process that depend on a bit of luck as well (as one is
7931 competing against all the other miners currently spending CPU cycles
7932 to see which one get the next lump of cash).  The "winner" get 50
7933 BitCoin when this happen.  Yesterday I came across the obvious way to
7934 join forces to increase ones changes of getting at least some coins,
7935 by coordinating the work on mining BitCoins across several machines
7936 and people, and sharing the result if one is lucky and get the 50
7937 BitCoins.  Check out
7938 <a href="http://www.bluishcoder.co.nz/bitcoin-pool/">BitCoin Pool</a>
7939 if this sounds interesting.  I have not had time to try to set up a
7940 machine to participate there yet, but have seen that running on ones
7941 own for a few days have not yield any BitCoins througth mining
7942 yet.</p>
7943
7944 <p>Update 2010-12-15: Found an <a
7945 href="http://inertia.posterous.com/reply-to-the-underground-economist-why-bitcoi">interesting
7946 criticism</a> of bitcoin.  Not quite sure how valid it is, but thought
7947 it was interesting to read.  The arguments presented seem to be
7948 equally valid for gold, which was used as a currency for many years.</p>
7949
7950       </div>
7951       <div class="tags">
7952
7953
7954         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>.
7955
7956
7957       </div>
7958     </div>
7959     <div class="padding"></div>
7960
7961     <div class="entry">
7962       <div class="title">
7963         <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>
7964       </div>
7965       <div class="date">
7966         10th December 2010
7967       </div>
7968       <div class="body">
7969         <p>With this weeks lawless
7970 <a href="http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/12/06/wikileaks/index.html">governmental
7971 attacks</a> on Wikileak and
7972 <a href="http://www.salon.com/technology/dan_gillmor/2010/12/06/war_on_speech">free
7973 speech</a>, it has become obvious that PayPal, visa and mastercard can
7974 not be trusted to handle money transactions.
7975 A blog post from
7976 <a href="http://webmink.com/2010/12/06/now-accepting-bitcoin/">Simon
7977 Phipps on bitcoin</a> reminded me about a project that a friend of
7978 mine mentioned earlier.  I decided to follow Simon's example, and get
7979 involved with <a href="http://www.bitcoin.org/">BitCoin</a>.  I got
7980 some help from my friend to get it all running, and he even handed me
7981 some bitcoins to get started.  I even donated a few bitcoins to Simon
7982 for helping me remember BitCoin.</p>
7983
7984 <p>So, what is bitcoins, you probably wonder?  It is a digital
7985 crypto-currency, decentralised and handled using peer-to-peer
7986 networks.  It allows anonymous transactions and prohibits central
7987 control over the transactions, making it impossible for governments
7988 and companies alike to block donations and other transactions.  The
7989 source is free software, and while the key dependency wxWidgets 2.9
7990 for the graphical user interface is missing in Debian, the command
7991 line client builds just fine.  Hopefully Jonas
7992 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/578157">will get the package into
7993 Debian</a> soon.</p>
7994
7995 <p>Bitcoins can be converted to other currencies, like USD and EUR.
7996 There are <a href="http://www.bitcoin.org/trade">companies accepting
7997 bitcoins</a> when selling services and goods, and there are even
7998 currency "stock" markets where the exchange rate is decided.  There
7999 are not many users so far, but the concept seems promising.  If you
8000 want to get started and lack a friend with any bitcoins to spare,
8001 you can even get
8002 <a href="https://freebitcoins.appspot.com/">some for free</a> (0.05
8003 bitcoin at the time of writing).  Use
8004 <a href="http://www.bitcoinwatch.com/">BitcoinWatch</a> to keep an eye
8005 on the current exchange rates.</p>
8006
8007 <p>As an experiment, I have decided to set up bitcoind on one of my
8008 machines.  If you want to support my activity, please send Bitcoin
8009 donations to the address
8010 <b>15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</b>.  Thank you!</p>
8011
8012       </div>
8013       <div class="tags">
8014
8015
8016         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>.
8017
8018
8019       </div>
8020     </div>
8021     <div class="padding"></div>
8022
8023     <div class="entry">
8024       <div class="title">
8025         <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>
8026       </div>
8027       <div class="date">
8028          9th December 2010
8029       </div>
8030       <div class="body">
8031         <p>A few days ago, I was introduces to some students in the robot
8032 student assosiation <a href="http://www.robotica.no/">Robotica
8033 Osloensis</a> at the University of Oslo where I work, who planned to
8034 get their own 3D printer.  They wanted to learn from me based on my
8035 work in the area.  After having a short lunch meeting with them, I
8036 offered them to borrow my reprap kit, as I never had time to complete
8037 the build and this seem unlike to change any time soon.  I look
8038 forward to see how this goes.  This monday their volunteer driver
8039 picked up my kit and drove it to their lab, and tomorrow I am told the
8040 last exam is over so they can start work on getting the 3D printer
8041 operational.</p>
8042
8043 <p>The robotic group have already build several robots on their own,
8044 and seem capable of getting the reprap operational.  I really look
8045 forward to being able to print all the cool 3D designs published on
8046 <a href="http://www.thingiverse.com/">Thingiverse</a>.  I even got
8047 some 3D scans I got made during Dagen@IFI when one of the groups at
8048 the computer science department at the university demonstrated their
8049 very cool 3D scanner.</p>
8050
8051       </div>
8052       <div class="tags">
8053
8054
8055         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>.
8056
8057
8058       </div>
8059     </div>
8060     <div class="padding"></div>
8061
8062     <div class="entry">
8063       <div class="title">
8064         <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>
8065       </div>
8066       <div class="date">
8067         29th November 2010
8068       </div>
8069       <div class="body">
8070         <p>On friday, the first Debian Edu / Skolelinux
8071 <a href="http://www.friprogramvareiskolen.no/Gathering/2010-12-03-05-Oslo">development
8072 gathering</a> in a long time take place here in Oslo, Norway.  I
8073 really look forward to seeing all the good people working on the
8074 Squeeze release.  The gathering is open for everyone interested in
8075 learning more about Debian Edu / Skolelinux.</p>
8076
8077 <p>On Saturday, the Norwegian member organization taking care of
8078 organizing these development gatherings, Fri Programvare i Skolen,
8079 will hold its
8080 <a href="http://friprogramvareiskolen.no/Genfors/2010">General Assembly
8081 for 2010</a>.  Membership is open for all, and currently there are 388
8082 people registered as members.  Last year 32 members cast their vote in
8083 the memberdb based election system.  I hope more people find time to
8084 vote this year.</p>
8085
8086       </div>
8087       <div class="tags">
8088
8089
8090         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>.
8091
8092
8093       </div>
8094     </div>
8095     <div class="padding"></div>
8096
8097     <div class="entry">
8098       <div class="title">
8099         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Why_isn_t_Debian_Edu_using_VLC_.html">Why isn't Debian Edu using VLC?</a>
8100       </div>
8101       <div class="date">
8102         27th November 2010
8103       </div>
8104       <div class="body">
8105         <p>In the latest issue of Linux Journal, the readers choices were
8106 presented, and the winner among the multimedia player were VLC.
8107 Personally, I like VLC, and it is my player of choice when I first try
8108 to play a video file or stream.  Only if VLC fail will I drag out
8109 gmplayer to see if it can do better.  The reason is mostly the failure
8110 model and trust.  When VLC fail, it normally pop up a error message
8111 reporting the problem.  When mplayer fail, it normally segfault or
8112 just hangs.  The latter failure mode drain my trust in the program.<p>
8113
8114 <p>But even if VLC is my player of choice, we have choosen to use
8115 mplayer in <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian
8116 Edu/Skolelinux</a>.  The reason is simple.  We need a good browser
8117 plugin to play web videos seamlessly, and the VLC browser plugin is
8118 not very good.  For example, it lack in-line control buttons, so there
8119 is no way for the user to pause the video.  Also, when I
8120 <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/BrowserMultimedia">last
8121 tested the browser plugins</a> available in Debian, the VLC plugin
8122 failed on several video pages where mplayer based plugins worked.  If
8123 the browser plugin for VLC was as good as the gecko-mediaplayer
8124 package (which uses mplayer), we would switch.</P>
8125
8126 <p>While VLC is a good player, its user interface is slightly
8127 annoying.  The most annoying feature is its inconsistent use of
8128 keyboard shortcuts.  When the player is in full screen mode, its
8129 shortcuts are different from when it is playing the video in a window.
8130 For example, space only work as pause when in full screen mode.  I
8131 wish it had consisten shortcuts and that space also would work when in
8132 window mode.  Another nice shortcut in gmplayer is [enter] to restart
8133 the current video.  It is very nice when playing short videos from the
8134 web and want to restart it when new people arrive to have a look at
8135 what is going on.</p>
8136
8137       </div>
8138       <div class="tags">
8139
8140
8141         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>.
8142
8143
8144       </div>
8145     </div>
8146     <div class="padding"></div>
8147
8148     <div class="entry">
8149       <div class="title">
8150         <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>
8151       </div>
8152       <div class="date">
8153         22nd November 2010
8154       </div>
8155       <div class="body">
8156         <p>Michael Biebl suggested to me on IRC, that I changed my automated
8157 upgrade testing of the
8158 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/~pere/debian-upgrade-testing/">Lenny
8159 Gnome and KDE Desktop</a> to do <tt>apt-get autoremove</tt> when using apt-get.
8160 This seem like a very good idea, so I adjusted by test scripts and
8161 can now present the updated result from today:</p>
8162
8163 <p>This is for Gnome:</p>
8164
8165 <p>Installed using apt-get, missing with aptitude</p>
8166
8167 <blockquote><p>
8168   apache2.2-bin
8169   aptdaemon
8170   baobab
8171   binfmt-support
8172   browser-plugin-gnash
8173   cheese-common
8174   cli-common
8175   cups-pk-helper
8176   dmz-cursor-theme
8177   empathy
8178   empathy-common
8179   freedesktop-sound-theme
8180   freeglut3
8181   gconf-defaults-service
8182   gdm-themes
8183   gedit-plugins
8184   geoclue
8185   geoclue-hostip
8186   geoclue-localnet
8187   geoclue-manual
8188   geoclue-yahoo
8189   gnash
8190   gnash-common
8191   gnome
8192   gnome-backgrounds
8193   gnome-cards-data
8194   gnome-codec-install
8195   gnome-core
8196   gnome-desktop-environment
8197   gnome-disk-utility
8198   gnome-screenshot
8199   gnome-search-tool
8200   gnome-session-canberra
8201   gnome-system-log
8202   gnome-themes-extras
8203   gnome-themes-more
8204   gnome-user-share
8205   gstreamer0.10-fluendo-mp3
8206   gstreamer0.10-tools
8207   gtk2-engines
8208   gtk2-engines-pixbuf
8209   gtk2-engines-smooth
8210   hamster-applet
8211   libapache2-mod-dnssd
8212   libapr1
8213   libaprutil1
8214   libaprutil1-dbd-sqlite3
8215   libaprutil1-ldap
8216   libart2.0-cil
8217   libboost-date-time1.42.0
8218   libboost-python1.42.0
8219   libboost-thread1.42.0
8220   libchamplain-0.4-0
8221   libchamplain-gtk-0.4-0
8222   libcheese-gtk18
8223   libclutter-gtk-0.10-0
8224   libcryptui0
8225   libdiscid0
8226   libelf1
8227   libepc-1.0-2
8228   libepc-common
8229   libepc-ui-1.0-2
8230   libfreerdp-plugins-standard
8231   libfreerdp0
8232   libgconf2.0-cil
8233   libgdata-common
8234   libgdata7
8235   libgdu-gtk0
8236   libgee2
8237   libgeoclue0
8238   libgexiv2-0
8239   libgif4
8240   libglade2.0-cil
8241   libglib2.0-cil
8242   libgmime2.4-cil
8243   libgnome-vfs2.0-cil
8244   libgnome2.24-cil
8245   libgnomepanel2.24-cil
8246   libgpod-common
8247   libgpod4
8248   libgtk2.0-cil
8249   libgtkglext1
8250   libgtksourceview2.0-common
8251   libmono-addins-gui0.2-cil
8252   libmono-addins0.2-cil
8253   libmono-cairo2.0-cil
8254   libmono-corlib2.0-cil
8255   libmono-i18n-west2.0-cil
8256   libmono-posix2.0-cil
8257   libmono-security2.0-cil
8258   libmono-sharpzip2.84-cil
8259   libmono-system2.0-cil
8260   libmtp8
8261   libmusicbrainz3-6
8262   libndesk-dbus-glib1.0-cil
8263   libndesk-dbus1.0-cil
8264   libopal3.6.8
8265   libpolkit-gtk-1-0
8266   libpt2.6.7
8267   libpython2.6
8268   librpm1
8269   librpmio1
8270   libsdl1.2debian
8271   libsrtp0
8272   libssh-4
8273   libtelepathy-farsight0
8274   libtelepathy-glib0
8275   libtidy-0.99-0
8276   media-player-info
8277   mesa-utils
8278   mono-2.0-gac
8279   mono-gac
8280   mono-runtime
8281   nautilus-sendto
8282   nautilus-sendto-empathy
8283   p7zip-full
8284   pkg-config
8285   python-aptdaemon
8286   python-aptdaemon-gtk
8287   python-axiom
8288   python-beautifulsoup
8289   python-bugbuddy
8290   python-clientform
8291   python-coherence
8292   python-configobj
8293   python-crypto
8294   python-cupshelpers
8295   python-elementtree
8296   python-epsilon
8297   python-evolution
8298   python-feedparser
8299   python-gdata
8300   python-gdbm
8301   python-gst0.10
8302   python-gtkglext1
8303   python-gtksourceview2
8304   python-httplib2
8305   python-louie
8306   python-mako
8307   python-markupsafe
8308   python-mechanize
8309   python-nevow
8310   python-notify
8311   python-opengl
8312   python-openssl
8313   python-pam
8314   python-pkg-resources
8315   python-pyasn1
8316   python-pysqlite2
8317   python-rdflib
8318   python-serial
8319   python-tagpy
8320   python-twisted-bin
8321   python-twisted-conch
8322   python-twisted-core
8323   python-twisted-web
8324   python-utidylib
8325   python-webkit
8326   python-xdg
8327   python-zope.interface
8328   remmina
8329   remmina-plugin-data
8330   remmina-plugin-rdp
8331   remmina-plugin-vnc
8332   rhythmbox-plugin-cdrecorder
8333   rhythmbox-plugins
8334   rpm-common
8335   rpm2cpio
8336   seahorse-plugins
8337   shotwell
8338   software-center
8339   system-config-printer-udev
8340   telepathy-gabble
8341   telepathy-mission-control-5
8342   telepathy-salut
8343   tomboy
8344   totem
8345   totem-coherence
8346   totem-mozilla
8347   totem-plugins
8348   transmission-common
8349   xdg-user-dirs
8350   xdg-user-dirs-gtk
8351   xserver-xephyr
8352 </p></blockquote>
8353
8354 <p>Installed using apt-get, removed with aptitude</p>
8355
8356 <blockquote><p>
8357   cheese
8358   ekiga
8359   eog
8360   epiphany-extensions
8361   evolution-exchange
8362   fast-user-switch-applet
8363   file-roller
8364   gcalctool
8365   gconf-editor
8366   gdm
8367   gedit
8368   gedit-common
8369   gnome-games
8370   gnome-games-data
8371   gnome-nettool
8372   gnome-system-tools
8373   gnome-themes
8374   gnuchess
8375   gucharmap
8376   guile-1.8-libs
8377   libavahi-ui0
8378   libdmx1
8379   libgalago3
8380   libgtk-vnc-1.0-0
8381   libgtksourceview2.0-0
8382   liblircclient0
8383   libsdl1.2debian-alsa
8384   libspeexdsp1
8385   libsvga1
8386   rhythmbox
8387   seahorse
8388   sound-juicer
8389   system-config-printer
8390   totem-common
8391   transmission-gtk
8392   vinagre
8393   vino
8394 </p></blockquote>
8395
8396 <p>Installed using aptitude, missing with apt-get</p>
8397
8398 <blockquote><p>
8399   gstreamer0.10-gnomevfs
8400 </p></blockquote>
8401
8402 <p>Installed using aptitude, removed with apt-get</p>
8403
8404 <blockquote><p>
8405 [nothing]
8406 </p></blockquote>
8407
8408 <p>This is for KDE:</p>
8409
8410 <p>Installed using apt-get, missing with aptitude</p>
8411
8412 <blockquote><p>
8413   ksmserver
8414 </p></blockquote>
8415
8416 <p>Installed using apt-get, removed with aptitude</p>
8417
8418 <blockquote><p>
8419   kwin
8420   network-manager-kde
8421 </p></blockquote>
8422
8423 <p>Installed using aptitude, missing with apt-get</p>
8424
8425 <blockquote><p>
8426   arts
8427   dolphin
8428   freespacenotifier
8429   google-gadgets-gst
8430   google-gadgets-xul
8431   kappfinder
8432   kcalc
8433   kcharselect
8434   kde-core
8435   kde-plasma-desktop
8436   kde-standard
8437   kde-window-manager
8438   kdeartwork
8439   kdeartwork-emoticons
8440   kdeartwork-style
8441   kdeartwork-theme-icon
8442   kdebase
8443   kdebase-apps
8444   kdebase-workspace
8445   kdebase-workspace-bin
8446   kdebase-workspace-data
8447   kdeeject
8448   kdelibs
8449   kdeplasma-addons
8450   kdeutils
8451   kdewallpapers
8452   kdf
8453   kfloppy
8454   kgpg
8455   khelpcenter4
8456   kinfocenter
8457   konq-plugins-l10n
8458   konqueror-nsplugins
8459   kscreensaver
8460   kscreensaver-xsavers
8461   ktimer
8462   kwrite
8463   libgle3
8464   libkde4-ruby1.8
8465   libkonq5
8466   libkonq5-templates
8467   libnetpbm10
8468   libplasma-ruby
8469   libplasma-ruby1.8
8470   libqt4-ruby1.8
8471   marble-data
8472   marble-plugins
8473   netpbm
8474   nuvola-icon-theme
8475   plasma-dataengines-workspace
8476   plasma-desktop
8477   plasma-desktopthemes-artwork
8478   plasma-runners-addons
8479   plasma-scriptengine-googlegadgets
8480   plasma-scriptengine-python
8481   plasma-scriptengine-qedje
8482   plasma-scriptengine-ruby
8483   plasma-scriptengine-webkit
8484   plasma-scriptengines
8485   plasma-wallpapers-addons
8486   plasma-widget-folderview
8487   plasma-widget-networkmanagement
8488   ruby
8489   sweeper
8490   update-notifier-kde
8491   xscreensaver-data-extra
8492   xscreensaver-gl
8493   xscreensaver-gl-extra
8494   xscreensaver-screensaver-bsod
8495 </p></blockquote>
8496
8497 <p>Installed using aptitude, removed with apt-get</p>
8498
8499 <blockquote><p>
8500   ark
8501   google-gadgets-common
8502   google-gadgets-qt
8503   htdig
8504   kate
8505   kdebase-bin
8506   kdebase-data
8507   kdepasswd
8508   kfind
8509   klipper
8510   konq-plugins
8511   konqueror
8512   ksysguard
8513   ksysguardd
8514   libarchive1
8515   libcln6
8516   libeet1
8517   libeina-svn-06
8518   libggadget-1.0-0b
8519   libggadget-qt-1.0-0b
8520   libgps19
8521   libkdecorations4
8522   libkephal4
8523   libkonq4
8524   libkonqsidebarplugin4a
8525   libkscreensaver5
8526   libksgrd4
8527   libksignalplotter4
8528   libkunitconversion4
8529   libkwineffects1a
8530   libmarblewidget4
8531   libntrack-qt4-1
8532   libntrack0
8533   libplasma-geolocation-interface4
8534   libplasmaclock4a
8535   libplasmagenericshell4
8536   libprocesscore4a
8537   libprocessui4a
8538   libqalculate5
8539   libqedje0a
8540   libqtruby4shared2
8541   libqzion0a
8542   libruby1.8
8543   libscim8c2a
8544   libsmokekdecore4-3
8545   libsmokekdeui4-3
8546   libsmokekfile3
8547   libsmokekhtml3
8548   libsmokekio3
8549   libsmokeknewstuff2-3
8550   libsmokeknewstuff3-3
8551   libsmokekparts3
8552   libsmokektexteditor3
8553   libsmokekutils3
8554   libsmokenepomuk3
8555   libsmokephonon3
8556   libsmokeplasma3
8557   libsmokeqtcore4-3
8558   libsmokeqtdbus4-3
8559   libsmokeqtgui4-3
8560   libsmokeqtnetwork4-3
8561   libsmokeqtopengl4-3
8562   libsmokeqtscript4-3
8563   libsmokeqtsql4-3
8564   libsmokeqtsvg4-3
8565   libsmokeqttest4-3
8566   libsmokeqtuitools4-3
8567   libsmokeqtwebkit4-3
8568   libsmokeqtxml4-3
8569   libsmokesolid3
8570   libsmokesoprano3
8571   libtaskmanager4a
8572   libtidy-0.99-0
8573   libweather-ion4a
8574   libxklavier16
8575   libxxf86misc1
8576   okteta
8577   oxygencursors
8578   plasma-dataengines-addons
8579   plasma-scriptengine-superkaramba
8580   plasma-widget-lancelot
8581   plasma-widgets-addons
8582   plasma-widgets-workspace
8583   polkit-kde-1
8584   ruby1.8
8585   systemsettings
8586   update-notifier-common
8587 </p></blockquote>
8588
8589 <p>Running apt-get autoremove made the results using apt-get and
8590 aptitude a bit more similar, but there are still quite a lott of
8591 differences.  I have no idea what packages should be installed after
8592 the upgrade, but hope those that do can have a look.</p>
8593
8594       </div>
8595       <div class="tags">
8596
8597
8598         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>.
8599
8600
8601       </div>
8602     </div>
8603     <div class="padding"></div>
8604
8605     <div class="entry">
8606       <div class="title">
8607         <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>
8608       </div>
8609       <div class="date">
8610         22nd November 2010
8611       </div>
8612       <div class="body">
8613         <p>Most of the computers in use by the
8614 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu/Skolelinux project</a>
8615 are virtual machines.  And they have been Xen machines running on a
8616 fairly old IBM eserver xseries 345 machine, and we wanted to migrate
8617 them to KVM on a newer Dell PowerEdge 2950 host machine.  This was a
8618 bit harder that it could have been, because we set up the Xen virtual
8619 machines to get the virtual partitions from LVM, which as far as I
8620 know is not supported by KVM.  So to migrate, we had to convert
8621 several LVM logical volumes to partitions on a virtual disk file.</p>
8622
8623 <p>I found
8624 <a href="http://searchnetworking.techtarget.com.au/articles/35011-Six-steps-for-migrating-Xen-virtual-machines-to-KVM">a
8625 nice recipe</a> to do this, and wrote the following script to do the
8626 migration.  It uses qemu-img from the qemu package to make the disk
8627 image, parted to partition it, losetup and kpartx to present the disk
8628 image partions as devices, and dd to copy the data.  I NFS mounted the
8629 new servers storage area on the old server to do the migration.</p>
8630
8631 <pre>
8632 #!/bin/sh
8633
8634 # Based on
8635 # http://searchnetworking.techtarget.com.au/articles/35011-Six-steps-for-migrating-Xen-virtual-machines-to-KVM
8636
8637 set -e
8638 set -x
8639
8640 if [ -z "$1" ] ; then
8641     echo "Usage: $0 &lt;hostname&gt;"
8642     exit 1
8643 else
8644     host="$1"
8645 fi
8646
8647 if [ ! -e /dev/vg_data/$host-disk ] ; then
8648     echo "error: unable to find LVM volume for $host"
8649     exit 1
8650 fi
8651
8652 # Partitions need to be a bit bigger than the LVM LVs.  not sure why.
8653 disksize=$( lvs --units m | grep $host-disk | awk '{sum = sum + $4} END { print int(sum * 1.05) }')
8654 swapsize=$( lvs --units m | grep $host-swap | awk '{sum = sum + $4} END { print int(sum * 1.05) }')
8655 totalsize=$(( ( $disksize + $swapsize ) ))
8656
8657 img=$host.img
8658 #dd if=/dev/zero of=$img bs=1M count=$(( $disksize + $swapsize ))
8659 qemu-img create $img ${totalsize}MMaking room on the Debian Edu/Sqeeze DVD
8660
8661 parted $img mklabel msdos
8662 parted $img mkpart primary linux-swap 0 $disksize
8663 parted $img mkpart primary ext2 $disksize $totalsize
8664 parted $img set 1 boot on
8665
8666 modprobe dm-mod
8667 losetup /dev/loop0 $img
8668 kpartx -a /dev/loop0
8669
8670 dd if=/dev/vg_data/$host-disk of=/dev/mapper/loop0p1 bs=1M
8671 fsck.ext3 -f /dev/mapper/loop0p1 || true
8672 mkswap /dev/mapper/loop0p2
8673
8674 kpartx -d /dev/loop0
8675 losetup -d /dev/loop0
8676 </pre>
8677
8678 <p>The script is perhaps so simple that it is not copyrightable, but
8679 if it is, it is licenced using GPL v2 or later at your discretion.</p>
8680
8681 <p>After doing this, I booted a Debian CD in rescue mode in KVM with
8682 the new disk image attached, installed grub-pc and linux-image-686 and
8683 set up grub to boot from the disk image.  After this, the KVM machines
8684 seem to work just fine.</p>
8685
8686       </div>
8687       <div class="tags">
8688
8689
8690         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>.
8691
8692
8693       </div>
8694     </div>
8695     <div class="padding"></div>
8696
8697     <div class="entry">
8698       <div class="title">
8699         <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>
8700       </div>
8701       <div class="date">
8702         20th November 2010
8703       </div>
8704       <div class="body">
8705         <p>I'm still running upgrade testing of the
8706 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/~pere/debian-upgrade-testing/">Lenny
8707 Gnome and KDE Desktop</a>, but have not had time to spend on reporting the
8708 status.  Here is a short update based on a test I ran 20101118.</p>
8709
8710 <p>I still do not know what a correct migration should look like, so I
8711 report any differences between apt and aptitude and hope someone else
8712 can see if anything should be changed.</p>
8713
8714 <p>This is for Gnome:</p>
8715
8716 <p>Installed using apt-get, missing with aptitude</p>
8717
8718 <blockquote><p>
8719   apache2.2-bin aptdaemon at-spi baobab binfmt-support
8720   browser-plugin-gnash cheese-common cli-common cpp-4.3 cups-pk-helper
8721   dmz-cursor-theme empathy empathy-common finger
8722   freedesktop-sound-theme freeglut3 gconf-defaults-service gdm-themes
8723   gedit-plugins geoclue geoclue-hostip geoclue-localnet geoclue-manual
8724   geoclue-yahoo gnash gnash-common gnome gnome-backgrounds
8725   gnome-cards-data gnome-codec-install gnome-core
8726   gnome-desktop-environment gnome-disk-utility gnome-screenshot
8727   gnome-search-tool gnome-session-canberra gnome-spell
8728   gnome-system-log gnome-themes-extras gnome-themes-more
8729   gnome-user-share gs-common gstreamer0.10-fluendo-mp3
8730   gstreamer0.10-tools gtk2-engines gtk2-engines-pixbuf
8731   gtk2-engines-smooth hal-info hamster-applet libapache2-mod-dnssd
8732   libapr1 libaprutil1 libaprutil1-dbd-sqlite3 libaprutil1-ldap
8733   libart2.0-cil libatspi1.0-0 libboost-date-time1.42.0
8734   libboost-python1.42.0 libboost-thread1.42.0 libchamplain-0.4-0
8735   libchamplain-gtk-0.4-0 libcheese-gtk18 libclutter-gtk-0.10-0
8736   libcryptui0 libcupsys2 libdiscid0 libeel2-data libelf1 libepc-1.0-2
8737   libepc-common libepc-ui-1.0-2 libfreerdp-plugins-standard
8738   libfreerdp0 libgail-common libgconf2.0-cil libgdata-common libgdata7
8739   libgdl-1-common libgdu-gtk0 libgee2 libgeoclue0 libgexiv2-0 libgif4
8740   libglade2.0-cil libglib2.0-cil libgmime2.4-cil libgnome-vfs2.0-cil
8741   libgnome2.24-cil libgnomepanel2.24-cil libgnomeprint2.2-data
8742   libgnomeprintui2.2-common libgnomevfs2-bin libgpod-common libgpod4
8743   libgtk2.0-cil libgtkglext1 libgtksourceview-common
8744   libgtksourceview2.0-common libmono-addins-gui0.2-cil
8745   libmono-addins0.2-cil libmono-cairo2.0-cil libmono-corlib2.0-cil
8746   libmono-i18n-west2.0-cil libmono-posix2.0-cil
8747   libmono-security2.0-cil libmono-sharpzip2.84-cil
8748   libmono-system2.0-cil libmtp8 libmusicbrainz3-6
8749   libndesk-dbus-glib1.0-cil libndesk-dbus1.0-cil libopal3.6.8
8750   libpolkit-gtk-1-0 libpt-1.10.10-plugins-alsa
8751   libpt-1.10.10-plugins-v4l libpt2.6.7 libpython2.6 librpm1 librpmio1
8752   libsdl1.2debian libservlet2.4-java libsrtp0 libssh-4
8753   libtelepathy-farsight0 libtelepathy-glib0 libtidy-0.99-0
8754   libxalan2-java libxerces2-java media-player-info mesa-utils
8755   mono-2.0-gac mono-gac mono-runtime nautilus-sendto
8756   nautilus-sendto-empathy openoffice.org-writer2latex
8757   openssl-blacklist p7zip p7zip-full pkg-config python-4suite-xml
8758   python-aptdaemon python-aptdaemon-gtk python-axiom
8759   python-beautifulsoup python-bugbuddy python-clientform
8760   python-coherence python-configobj python-crypto python-cupshelpers
8761   python-cupsutils python-eggtrayicon python-elementtree
8762   python-epsilon python-evolution python-feedparser python-gdata
8763   python-gdbm python-gst0.10 python-gtkglext1 python-gtkmozembed
8764   python-gtksourceview2 python-httplib2 python-louie python-mako
8765   python-markupsafe python-mechanize python-nevow python-notify
8766   python-opengl python-openssl python-pam python-pkg-resources
8767   python-pyasn1 python-pysqlite2 python-rdflib python-serial
8768   python-tagpy python-twisted-bin python-twisted-conch
8769   python-twisted-core python-twisted-web python-utidylib python-webkit
8770   python-xdg python-zope.interface remmina remmina-plugin-data
8771   remmina-plugin-rdp remmina-plugin-vnc rhythmbox-plugin-cdrecorder
8772   rhythmbox-plugins rpm-common rpm2cpio seahorse-plugins shotwell
8773   software-center svgalibg1 system-config-printer-udev
8774   telepathy-gabble telepathy-mission-control-5 telepathy-salut tomboy
8775   totem totem-coherence totem-mozilla totem-plugins
8776   transmission-common xdg-user-dirs xdg-user-dirs-gtk xserver-xephyr
8777   zip
8778 </p></blockquote>
8779
8780 Installed using apt-get, removed with aptitude
8781
8782 <blockquote><p>
8783   arj bluez-utils cheese dhcdbd djvulibre-desktop ekiga eog
8784   epiphany-extensions epiphany-gecko evolution-exchange
8785   fast-user-switch-applet file-roller gcalctool gconf-editor gdm gedit
8786   gedit-common gnome-app-install gnome-games gnome-games-data
8787   gnome-nettool gnome-system-tools gnome-themes gnome-utils
8788   gnome-vfs-obexftp gnome-volume-manager gnuchess gucharmap
8789   guile-1.8-libs hal libavahi-compat-libdnssd1 libavahi-core5
8790   libavahi-ui0 libbind9-50 libbluetooth2 libcamel1.2-11 libcdio7
8791   libcucul0 libcurl3 libdirectfb-1.0-0 libdmx1 libdvdread3
8792   libedata-cal1.2-6 libedataserver1.2-9 libeel2-2.20 libepc-1.0-1
8793   libepc-ui-1.0-1 libexchange-storage1.2-3 libfaad0 libgadu3
8794   libgalago3 libgd2-noxpm libgda3-3 libgda3-common libggz2 libggzcore9
8795   libggzmod4 libgksu1.2-0 libgksuui1.0-1 libgmyth0 libgnome-desktop-2
8796   libgnome-pilot2 libgnomecups1.0-1 libgnomeprint2.2-0
8797   libgnomeprintui2.2-0 libgpod3 libgraphviz4 libgtk-vnc-1.0-0
8798   libgtkhtml2-0 libgtksourceview1.0-0 libgtksourceview2.0-0
8799   libgucharmap6 libhesiod0 libicu38 libisccc50 libisccfg50 libiw29
8800   libjaxp1.3-java-gcj libkpathsea4 liblircclient0 libltdl3 liblwres50
8801   libmagick++10 libmagick10 libmalaga7 libmozjs1d libmpfr1ldbl libmtp7
8802   libmysqlclient15off libnautilus-burn4 libneon27 libnm-glib0
8803   libnm-util0 libopal-2.2 libosp5 libparted1.8-10 libpisock9
8804   libpisync1 libpoppler-glib3 libpoppler3 libpt-1.10.10 libraw1394-8
8805   libsdl1.2debian-alsa libsensors3 libsexy2 libsmbios2 libsoup2.2-8
8806   libspeexdsp1 libssh2-1 libsuitesparse-3.1.0 libsvga1
8807   libswfdec-0.6-90 libtalloc1 libtotem-plparser10 libtrackerclient0
8808   libvoikko1 libxalan2-java-gcj libxerces2-java-gcj libxklavier12
8809   libxtrap6 libxxf86misc1 libzephyr3 mysql-common rhythmbox seahorse
8810   sound-juicer swfdec-gnome system-config-printer totem-common
8811   totem-gstreamer transmission-gtk vinagre vino w3c-dtd-xhtml wodim
8812 </p></blockquote>
8813
8814 <p>Installed using aptitude, missing with apt-get</p>
8815
8816 <blockquote><p>
8817   gstreamer0.10-gnomevfs
8818 </p></blockquote>
8819
8820 <p>Installed using aptitude, removed with apt-get</p>
8821
8822 <blockquote><p>
8823 [nothing]
8824 </p></blockquote>
8825
8826 <p>This is for KDE:</p>
8827
8828 <p>Installed using apt-get, missing with aptitude</p>
8829
8830 <blockquote><p>
8831   autopoint bomber bovo cantor cantor-backend-kalgebra cpp-4.3 dcoprss
8832   edict espeak espeak-data eyesapplet fifteenapplet finger gettext
8833   ghostscript-x git gnome-audio gnugo granatier gs-common
8834   gstreamer0.10-pulseaudio indi kaddressbook-plugins kalgebra
8835   kalzium-data kanjidic kapman kate-plugins kblocks kbreakout kbstate
8836   kde-icons-mono kdeaccessibility kdeaddons-kfile-plugins
8837   kdeadmin-kfile-plugins kdeartwork-misc kdeartwork-theme-window
8838   kdeedu kdeedu-data kdeedu-kvtml-data kdegames kdegames-card-data
8839   kdegames-mahjongg-data kdegraphics-kfile-plugins kdelirc
8840   kdemultimedia-kfile-plugins kdenetwork-kfile-plugins
8841   kdepim-kfile-plugins kdepim-kio-plugins kdessh kdetoys kdewebdev
8842   kdiamond kdnssd kfilereplace kfourinline kgeography-data kigo
8843   killbots kiriki klettres-data kmoon kmrml knewsticker-scripts
8844   kollision kpf krosspython ksirk ksmserver ksquares kstars-data
8845   ksudoku kubrick kweather libasound2-plugins libboost-python1.42.0
8846   libcfitsio3 libconvert-binhex-perl libcrypt-ssleay-perl libdb4.6++
8847   libdjvulibre-text libdotconf1.0 liberror-perl libespeak1
8848   libfinance-quote-perl libgail-common libgsl0ldbl libhtml-parser-perl
8849   libhtml-tableextract-perl libhtml-tagset-perl libhtml-tree-perl
8850   libio-stringy-perl libkdeedu4 libkdegames5 libkiten4 libkpathsea5
8851   libkrossui4 libmailtools-perl libmime-tools-perl
8852   libnews-nntpclient-perl libopenbabel3 libportaudio2 libpulse-browse0
8853   libservlet2.4-java libspeechd2 libtiff-tools libtimedate-perl
8854   libunistring0 liburi-perl libwww-perl libxalan2-java libxerces2-java
8855   lirc luatex marble networkstatus noatun-plugins
8856   openoffice.org-writer2latex palapeli palapeli-data parley
8857   parley-data poster psutils pulseaudio pulseaudio-esound-compat
8858   pulseaudio-module-x11 pulseaudio-utils quanta-data rocs rsync
8859   speech-dispatcher step svgalibg1 texlive-binaries texlive-luatex
8860   ttf-sazanami-gothic
8861 </p></blockquote>
8862
8863 <p>Installed using apt-get, removed with aptitude</p>
8864
8865 <blockquote><p>
8866   amor artsbuilder atlantik atlantikdesigner blinken bluez-utils cvs
8867   dhcdbd djvulibre-desktop imlib-base imlib11 kalzium kanagram kandy
8868   kasteroids katomic kbackgammon kbattleship kblackbox kbounce kbruch
8869   kcron kdat kdemultimedia-kappfinder-data kdeprint kdict kdvi kedit
8870   keduca kenolaba kfax kfaxview kfouleggs kgeography kghostview
8871   kgoldrunner khangman khexedit kiconedit kig kimagemapeditor
8872   kitchensync kiten kjumpingcube klatin klettres klickety klines
8873   klinkstatus kmag kmahjongg kmailcvt kmenuedit kmid kmilo kmines
8874   kmousetool kmouth kmplot knetwalk kodo kolf kommander konquest kooka
8875   kpager kpat kpdf kpercentage kpilot kpoker kpovmodeler krec
8876   kregexpeditor kreversi ksame ksayit kshisen ksig ksim ksirc ksirtet
8877   ksmiletris ksnake ksokoban kspaceduel kstars ksvg ksysv kteatime
8878   ktip ktnef ktouch ktron kttsd ktuberling kturtle ktux kuickshow
8879   kverbos kview kviewshell kvoctrain kwifimanager kwin kwin4 kwordquiz
8880   kworldclock kxsldbg libakode2 libarts1-akode libarts1-audiofile
8881   libarts1-mpeglib libarts1-xine libavahi-compat-libdnssd1
8882   libavahi-core5 libavc1394-0 libbind9-50 libbluetooth2
8883   libboost-python1.34.1 libcucul0 libcurl3 libcvsservice0
8884   libdirectfb-1.0-0 libdjvulibre21 libdvdread3 libfaad0 libfreebob0
8885   libgd2-noxpm libgraphviz4 libgsmme1c2a libgtkhtml2-0 libicu38
8886   libiec61883-0 libindex0 libisccc50 libisccfg50 libiw29
8887   libjaxp1.3-java-gcj libk3b3 libkcal2b libkcddb1 libkdeedu3
8888   libkdegames1 libkdepim1a libkgantt0 libkleopatra1 libkmime2
8889   libkpathsea4 libkpimexchange1 libkpimidentities1 libkscan1
8890   libksieve0 libktnef1 liblockdev1 libltdl3 liblwres50 libmagick10
8891   libmimelib1c2a libmodplug0c2 libmozjs1d libmpcdec3 libmpfr1ldbl
8892   libneon27 libnm-util0 libopensync0 libpisock9 libpoppler-glib3
8893   libpoppler-qt2 libpoppler3 libraw1394-8 librss1 libsensors3
8894   libsmbios2 libssh2-1 libsuitesparse-3.1.0 libswfdec-0.6-90
8895   libtalloc1 libxalan2-java-gcj libxerces2-java-gcj libxtrap6 lskat
8896   mpeglib network-manager-kde noatun pmount tex-common texlive-base
8897   texlive-common texlive-doc-base texlive-fonts-recommended tidy
8898   ttf-dustin ttf-kochi-gothic ttf-sjfonts
8899 </p></blockquote>
8900
8901 <p>Installed using aptitude, missing with apt-get</p>
8902
8903 <blockquote><p>
8904   dolphin kde-core kde-plasma-desktop kde-standard kde-window-manager
8905   kdeartwork kdebase kdebase-apps kdebase-workspace
8906   kdebase-workspace-bin kdebase-workspace-data kdeutils kscreensaver
8907   kscreensaver-xsavers libgle3 libkonq5 libkonq5-templates libnetpbm10
8908   netpbm plasma-widget-folderview plasma-widget-networkmanagement
8909   xscreensaver-data-extra xscreensaver-gl xscreensaver-gl-extra
8910   xscreensaver-screensaver-bsod
8911 </p></blockquote>
8912
8913 <p>Installed using aptitude, removed with apt-get</p>
8914
8915 <blockquote><p>
8916   kdebase-bin konq-plugins konqueror
8917 </p></blockquote>
8918
8919       </div>
8920       <div class="tags">
8921
8922
8923         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>.
8924
8925
8926       </div>
8927     </div>
8928     <div class="padding"></div>
8929
8930     <div class="entry">
8931       <div class="title">
8932         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Gnash_buildbot_slave_and_Debian_kfreebsd.html">Gnash buildbot slave and Debian kfreebsd</a>
8933       </div>
8934       <div class="date">
8935         20th November 2010
8936       </div>
8937       <div class="body">
8938         <p>Answering
8939 <a href="http://www.listware.net/201011/gnash-dev/67431-gnash-dev-buildbot-looking-for-slaves.html">the
8940 call from the Gnash project</a> for
8941 <a href="http://www.gnashdev.org:8010">buildbot</a> slaves to test the
8942 current source, I have set up a virtual KVM machine on the Debian
8943 Edu/Skolelinux virtualization host to test the git source on
8944 Debian/Squeeze.  I hope this can help the developers in getting new
8945 releases out more often.</p>
8946
8947 <p>As the developers want less main-stream build platforms tested to,
8948 I have considered setting up a <a
8949 href="http://www.debian.org/ports/kfreebsd-gnu/">Debian/kfreebsd</a>
8950 machine as well.  I have also considered using the kfreebsd
8951 architecture in Debian as a file server in NUUG to get access to the 5
8952 TB zfs volume we currently use to store DV video.  Because of this, I
8953 finally got around to do a test installation of Debian/Squeeze with
8954 kfreebsd.  Installation went fairly smooth, thought I noticed some
8955 visual glitches in the cdebconf dialogs (black cursor left on the
8956 screen at random locations).  Have not gotten very far with the
8957 testing.  Noticed cfdisk did not work, but fdisk did so it was not a
8958 fatal problem.  Have to spend some more time on it to see if it is
8959 useful as a file server for NUUG.  Will try to find time to set up a
8960 gnash buildbot slave on the Debian Edu/Skolelinux this weekend.</p>
8961
8962       </div>
8963       <div class="tags">
8964
8965
8966         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>.
8967
8968
8969       </div>
8970     </div>
8971     <div class="padding"></div>
8972
8973     <div class="entry">
8974       <div class="title">
8975         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_in_3D.html">Debian in 3D</a>
8976       </div>
8977       <div class="date">
8978          9th November 2010
8979       </div>
8980       <div class="body">
8981         <p><img src="http://thingiverse-production.s3.amazonaws.com/renders/23/e0/c4/f9/2b/debswagtdose_preview_medium.jpg"></p>
8982
8983 <p>3D printing is just great.  I just came across this Debian logo in
8984 3D linked in from
8985 <a href="http://blog.thingiverse.com/2010/11/09/participatory-branding/">the
8986 thingiverse blog</a>.</p>
8987
8988       </div>
8989       <div class="tags">
8990
8991
8992         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>.
8993
8994
8995       </div>
8996     </div>
8997     <div class="padding"></div>
8998
8999     <div class="entry">
9000       <div class="title">
9001         <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>
9002       </div>
9003       <div class="date">
9004          7th November 2010
9005       </div>
9006       <div class="body">
9007         <p>Prioritising packages for the Debian Edu /
9008 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Skolelinux</a> DVD, which is
9009 supposed provide a school with all the services and user applications
9010 needed on the pupils computer network has always been hard.  Even
9011 schools without Internet connections should be able to get Debian Edu
9012 working using this DVD.</p>
9013
9014 <p>The job became a lot harder when apt and aptitude started
9015 installing recommended packages by default.  We want the same set of
9016 packages to be installed when using the DVD and the netinst CD, and
9017 that means all recommended packages need to be on the DVD.  I created
9018 a patch for debian-cd in <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/601203">BTS
9019 report #601203</a> to do this, and since this change was applied to
9020 the Debian Edu DVD build, we have been seriously short on space.</p>
9021
9022 <p>A few days ago we decided to drop blender, wxmaxima and kicad from
9023 the default installation to save space on the DVD, believing that
9024 those needing these applications are few and can get them from the
9025 Debian archive.</p>
9026
9027 <p>Yesterday, I had a look what source packages to see which packages
9028 were using most space.  A few large packages are well know;
9029 openoffice.org, openclipart and fluid-soundfont.  But I also
9030 discovered that lilypond used 106 MiB and fglrx-driver used 53 MiB.
9031 The lilypond package is pulled in as a dependency for rosegarden, and
9032 when looking a bit closer I discovered that 99 MiB of the 106 MiB were
9033 the documentation package, which is recommended by the binary package.
9034 I decided to drop this documentation package from our DVD, as most of
9035 our users will use the GUI front-ends and do not need the lilypond
9036 documentation.  Similarly, I dropped the non-free fglrx-driver package
9037 which might be installed by d-i when its hardware is detected, as the
9038 free X driver should work.</p>
9039
9040 <p>With this change, we finally got space for the LXDE and Gnome
9041 desktop packages as well as the language specific packages making the
9042 DVD more useful again.</p>
9043
9044       </div>
9045       <div class="tags">
9046
9047
9048         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug</a>.
9049
9050
9051       </div>
9052     </div>
9053     <div class="padding"></div>
9054
9055     <div class="entry">
9056       <div class="title">
9057         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Software_updates_2010_10_24.html">Software updates 2010-10-24</a>
9058       </div>
9059       <div class="date">
9060         24th October 2010
9061       </div>
9062       <div class="body">
9063         <p>Some updates.</p>
9064
9065 <p>My <a href="http://pledgebank.com/gnash-avm2">gnash pledge</a> to
9066 raise money for the project is going well.  The lower limit of 10
9067 signers was reached in 24 hours, and so far 13 people have signed it.
9068 More signers and more funding is most welcome, and I am really curious
9069 how far we can get before the time limit of December 24 is reached.
9070 :)</p>
9071
9072 <p>On the #gnash IRC channel on irc.freenode.net, I was just tipped
9073 about what appear to be a great code coverage tool capable of
9074 generating code coverage stats without any changes to the source code.
9075 It is called
9076 <a href="http://simonkagstrom.github.com/kcov/index.html">kcov</a>,
9077 and can be used using <tt>kcov &lt;directory&gt; &lt;binary&gt;</tt>.
9078 It is missing in Debian, but the git source built just fine in Squeeze
9079 after I installed libelf-dev, libdwarf-dev, pkg-config and
9080 libglib2.0-dev.  Failed to build in Lenny, but suspect that is
9081 solvable.  I hope kcov make it into Debian soon.</p>
9082
9083 <p>Finally found time to wrap up the release notes for <a
9084 href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-edu-announce/2010/10/msg00002.html">a
9085 new alpha release of Debian Edu</a>, and just published the second
9086 alpha test release of the Squeeze based Debian Edu /
9087 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Skolelinux</a>
9088 release.  Give it a try if you need a complete linux solution for your
9089 school, including central infrastructure server, workstations, thin
9090 client servers and diskless workstations.  A nice touch added
9091 yesterday is RDP support on the thin client servers, for windows
9092 clients to get a Linux desktop on request.</p>
9093
9094       </div>
9095       <div class="tags">
9096
9097
9098         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>.
9099
9100
9101       </div>
9102     </div>
9103     <div class="padding"></div>
9104
9105     <div class="entry">
9106       <div class="title">
9107         <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>
9108       </div>
9109       <div class="date">
9110         19th October 2010
9111       </div>
9112       <div class="body">
9113         <p><a href="http://www.getgnash.org/">The Gnash project</a> is the
9114 most promising solution for a Free Software Flash implementation. It
9115 has done great so far, but there is still far to go, and recently its
9116 funding has dried up.  I believe AVM2 support in Gnash is vital to the
9117 continued progress of the project, as more and more sites show up with
9118 AVM2 flash files.</p>
9119
9120 <p>To try to get funding for developing such support, I have started
9121 <a href="http://www.pledgebank.com/gnash-avm2">a pledge</a> with the
9122 following text:</P>
9123
9124 <p><blockquote>
9125
9126   <p>"I will pay 100$ to the Gnash project to develop AVM2 support but
9127   only if 10 other people will do the same."</p>
9128
9129   <p>- Petter Reinholdtsen, free software developer</p>
9130
9131   <p>Deadline to sign up by: 24th December 2010</p>
9132
9133   <p>The Gnash project need to get support for the new Flash file
9134   format AVM2 to work with a lot of sites using Flash on the
9135   web. Gnash already work with a lot of Flash sites using the old AVM1
9136   format, but more and more sites are using the AVM2 format these
9137   days. The project web page is available from
9138   http://www.getgnash.org/ . Gnash is a free software implementation
9139   of Adobe Flash, allowing those of us that do not accept the terms of
9140   the Adobe Flash license to get access to Flash sites.</p>
9141
9142   <p>The project need funding to get developers to put aside enough
9143   time to develop the AVM2 support, and this pledge is my way to try
9144   to get this to happen.</p>
9145
9146   <p>The project accept donations via the OpenMediaNow foundation,
9147   <a href="http://www.openmedianow.org/?q=node/32">http://www.openmedianow.org/?q=node/32</a> .</p>
9148
9149 </blockquote></p>
9150
9151 <p>I hope you will support this effort too.  I hope more than 10
9152 people will participate to make this happen.  The more money the
9153 project gets, the more features it can develop using these funds.
9154 :)</p>
9155
9156       </div>
9157       <div class="tags">
9158
9159
9160         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>.
9161
9162
9163       </div>
9164     </div>
9165     <div class="padding"></div>
9166
9167     <div class="entry">
9168       <div class="title">
9169         <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>
9170       </div>
9171       <div class="date">
9172          9th October 2010
9173       </div>
9174       <div class="body">
9175         <p>This summer I got the chance to buy cheap Spykee robots, and since
9176 then I have worked on getting Linux software in place to control them.
9177 The firmware for the robot is available from the producer, and using
9178 that source it was trivial to figure out the protocol specification.
9179 I've started on a perl library to control it, and made some demo
9180 programs using this perl library to allow one to control the
9181 robots.</p>
9182
9183 <p>The library is quite functional already, and capable of controlling
9184 the driving, fetching video, uploading MP3s and play them.  There are
9185 a few less important features too.</p>
9186
9187 <p>Since a few weeks ago, I ran out of time to spend on this project,
9188 but I never got around to releasing the current source.  I decided
9189 today that it was time to do something about it, and uploaded the
9190 source to my Debian package store at people.skolelinux.org.</p>
9191
9192 <p>Because it was simpler for me, I made a Debian package and
9193 published the source and deb.  If you got a spykee robot, grab the
9194 source or binary package:</p>
9195
9196 <p><ul>
9197 <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>
9198 <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>
9199 <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>
9200 </ul></p>
9201
9202 <p>If you are interested in helping out with developing this library,
9203 please let me know.</p>
9204
9205       </div>
9206       <div class="tags">
9207
9208
9209         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>.
9210
9211
9212       </div>
9213     </div>
9214     <div class="padding"></div>
9215
9216     <div class="entry">
9217       <div class="title">
9218         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Links_for_2010_10_03.html">Links for 2010-10-03</a>
9219       </div>
9220       <div class="date">
9221          3rd October 2010
9222       </div>
9223       <div class="body">
9224         <p><ul>
9225
9226 <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
9227 is no Plan B: why the IPv4-to-IPv6 transition will be ugly</a></li>
9228
9229 <li>Scanner looking under clothes
9230 <a href="http://www.dagbladet.no/2010/10/03/nyheter/utenriks/reise/overvakingskamera/flyplasser/13667192/">has
9231 already been misused at Heathrow</a>.</li>
9232
9233 <li><a href="http://wiki.softwarelivre.org/Landell">Landell
9234 Webcasting</a> - interesting alternative for
9235 <ahref="http://dvswitch.alioth.debian.org/wiki/">DVSwitch</a> with
9236 simple setup.
9237
9238 </ul></p>
9239
9240       </div>
9241       <div class="tags">
9242
9243
9244         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>.
9245
9246
9247       </div>
9248     </div>
9249     <div class="padding"></div>
9250
9251     <div class="entry">
9252       <div class="title">
9253         <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>
9254       </div>
9255       <div class="date">
9256          9th September 2010
9257       </div>
9258       <div class="body">
9259         <p>A few days ago I had the mixed pleasure of bying a new digital
9260 camera, a Canon IXUS 130.  It was instructive and very disturbing to
9261 be able to verify that also this camera producer have the nerve to
9262 specify how I can or can not use the videos produced with the camera.
9263 Even thought I was aware of the issue, the options with new cameras
9264 are limited and I ended up bying the camera anyway.  What is the
9265 problem, you might ask?  It is software patents, MPEG-4, H.264 and the
9266 MPEG-LA that is the problem, and our right to record our experiences
9267 without asking for permissions that is at risk.
9268
9269 <p>On page 27 of the Danish instruction manual, this section is
9270 written:</p>
9271
9272 <blockquote>
9273 <p>This product is licensed under AT&T patents for the MPEG-4 standard
9274 and may be used for encoding MPEG-4 compliant video and/or decoding
9275 MPEG-4 compliant video that was encoded only (1) for a personal and
9276 non-commercial purpose or (2) by a video provider licensed under the
9277 AT&T patents to provide MPEG-4 compliant video.</p>
9278
9279 <p>No license is granted or implied for any other use for MPEG-4
9280 standard.</p>
9281 </blockquote>
9282
9283 <p>In short, the camera producer have chosen to use technology
9284 (MPEG-4/H.264) that is only provided if I used it for personal and
9285 non-commercial purposes, or ask for permission from the organisations
9286 holding the knowledge monopoly (patent) for technology used.</p>
9287
9288 <p>This issue has been brewing for a while, and I recommend you to
9289 read
9290 "<a href="http://www.osnews.com/story/23236/Why_Our_Civilization_s_Video_Art_and_Culture_is_Threatened_by_the_MPEG-LA">Why
9291 Our Civilization's Video Art and Culture is Threatened by the
9292 MPEG-LA</a>" by Eugenia Loli-Queru and
9293 "<a href="http://webmink.com/2010/09/03/h-264-and-foss/">H.264 Is Not
9294 The Sort Of Free That Matters</a>" by Simon Phipps to learn more about
9295 the issue.  The solution is to support the
9296 <a href="http://www.digistan.org/open-standard:definition">free and
9297 open standards</a> for video, like <a href="http://www.theora.org/">Ogg
9298 Theora</a>, and avoid MPEG-4 and H.264 if you can.</p>
9299
9300       </div>
9301       <div class="tags">
9302
9303
9304         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>.
9305
9306
9307       </div>
9308     </div>
9309     <div class="padding"></div>
9310
9311     <div class="entry">
9312       <div class="title">
9313         <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>
9314       </div>
9315       <div class="date">
9316          4th September 2010
9317       </div>
9318       <div class="body">
9319         <p>In the <a href="http://popcon.debian.org/unknown/by_vote">Debian
9320 popularity-contest numbers</a>, the adobe-flashplugin package the
9321 second most popular used package that is missing in Debian.  The sixth
9322 most popular is flashplayer-mozilla.  This is a clear indication that
9323 working flash is important for Debian users.  Around 10 percent of the
9324 users submitting data to popcon.debian.org have this package
9325 installed.</p>
9326
9327 <p>In the report written by Lars Risan in August 2008
9328 («<a href="http://wiki.skolelinux.no/Dokumentasjon/Rapporter?action=AttachFile&do=view&target=Skolelinux_i_bruk_rapport_1.0.pdf">Skolelinux
9329 i bruk – Rapport for Hurum kommune, Universitetet i Agder og
9330 stiftelsen SLX Debian Labs</a>»), one of the most important problems
9331 schools experienced with <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian
9332 Edu/Skolelinux</a> was the lack of working Flash.  A lot of educational
9333 web sites require Flash to work, and lacking working Flash support in
9334 the web browser and the problems with installing it was perceived as a
9335 good reason to stay with Windows.</p>
9336
9337 <p>I once saw a funny and sad comment in a web forum, where Linux was
9338 said to be the retarded cousin that did not really understand
9339 everything you told him but could work fairly well.  This was a
9340 comment regarding the problems Linux have with proprietary formats and
9341 non-standard web pages, and is sad because it exposes a fairly common
9342 understanding of whose fault it is if web pages that only work in for
9343 example Internet Explorer 6 fail to work on Firefox, and funny because
9344 it explain very well how annoying it is for users when Linux
9345 distributions do not work with the documents they receive or the web
9346 pages they want to visit.</p>
9347
9348 <p>This is part of the reason why I believe it is important for Debian
9349 and Debian Edu to have a well working Flash implementation in the
9350 distribution, to get at least popular sites as Youtube and Google
9351 Video to working out of the box.  For Squeeze, Debian have the chance
9352 to include the latest version of Gnash that will make this happen, as
9353 the new release 0.8.8 was published a few weeks ago and is resting in
9354 unstable.  The new version work with more sites that version 0.8.7.
9355 The Gnash maintainers have asked for a freeze exception, but the
9356 release team have not had time to reply to it yet.  I hope they agree
9357 with me that Flash is important for the Debian desktop users, and thus
9358 accept the new package into Squeeze.</p>
9359
9360       </div>
9361       <div class="tags">
9362
9363
9364         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>.
9365
9366
9367       </div>
9368     </div>
9369     <div class="padding"></div>
9370
9371     <div class="entry">
9372       <div class="title">
9373         <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>
9374       </div>
9375       <div class="date">
9376          1st September 2010
9377       </div>
9378       <div class="body">
9379         <p>This evening I made my first Perl GUI application.  The last few
9380 days I have worked on a Perl module for controlling my recently
9381 aquired Spykee robots, and the module is now getting complete enought
9382 that it is possible to use it to control the robot driving at least.
9383 It was now time to figure out how to use it to create some GUI to
9384 allow me to drive the robot around.  I picked PerlQt as I have had
9385 positive experiences with the Qt API before, and spent a few minutes
9386 browsing the web for examples.  Using Qt Designer seemed like a short
9387 cut, so I ended up writing the perl GUI using Qt Designer and
9388 compiling it into a perl program using the puic program from
9389 libqt-perl.  Nothing fancy yet, but it got buttons to connect and
9390 drive around.</p>
9391
9392 <p>The perl module I have written provide a object oriented API for
9393 controlling the robot.  Here is an small example on how to use it:</p>
9394
9395 <p><pre>
9396 use Spykee;
9397 Spykee::discover(sub {$robot{$_[0]} = $_[1]});
9398 my $host = (keys %robot)[0];
9399 my $spykee = Spykee->new();
9400 $spykee->contact($host, "admin", "admin");
9401 $spykee->left();
9402 sleep 2;
9403 $spykee->right();
9404 sleep 2;
9405 $spykee->forward();
9406 sleep 2;
9407 $spykee->back();
9408 sleep 2;
9409 $spykee->stop();
9410 </pre></p>
9411
9412 <p>Thanks to the release of the source of the robot firmware, I could
9413 peek into the implementation at the other end to figure out how to
9414 implement the protocol used by the robot.  I've implemented several of
9415 the commands the robot understand, but is still missing the camera
9416 support to make it possible to control the robot from remote.  First I
9417 want to implement support for uploading new firmware and configuring
9418 the wireless network, to make it possible to bootstrap a Spykee robot
9419 without the producers Windows and MacOSX software (I only have Linux,
9420 so I had to ask a friend to come over to get the robot testing
9421 going. :).</p>
9422
9423 <p>Will release the source to the public soon, but need to figure out
9424 where to make it available first.  I will add a link to
9425 <a href="http://wiki.nuug.no/grupper/robot/">the NUUG wiki</a> for
9426 those that want to check back later to find it.</p>
9427
9428       </div>
9429       <div class="tags">
9430
9431
9432         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>.
9433
9434
9435       </div>
9436     </div>
9437     <div class="padding"></div>
9438
9439     <div class="entry">
9440       <div class="title">
9441         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Broken_hard_link_handling_with_sshfs.html">Broken hard link handling with sshfs</a>
9442       </div>
9443       <div class="date">
9444         30th August 2010
9445       </div>
9446       <div class="body">
9447         <p>Just got an email from Tobias Gruetzmacher as a followup on my
9448 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Broken_umask_handling_with_sshfs.html">previous
9449 post about sshfs</a>.  He reported another problem with sshfs.  It
9450 fail to handle hard links properly.  A simple way to spot this is to
9451 look at the . and .. entries in the directory tree.  These should have
9452 a link count >1, but on sshfs the count is 1.  I just tested to see
9453 what happen when trying to hardlink, and this fail as well:</p>
9454
9455 <pre>
9456 % ln foo bar
9457 ln: creating hard link `bar' => `foo': Function not implemented
9458 %
9459 </pre>
9460
9461 <p>I have not yet found time to implement a test for this in my file
9462 system test code, but believe having working hard links is useful to
9463 avoid surprised unix programs.  Not as useful as working file locking
9464 and symlinks, which are required to get a working desktop, but useful
9465 nevertheless. :)</p>
9466
9467 <p>The latest version of the file system test code is available via
9468 git from
9469 <a href="http://github.com/gebi/fs-test">http://github.com/gebi/fs-test</a></p>
9470
9471       </div>
9472       <div class="tags">
9473
9474
9475         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>.
9476
9477
9478       </div>
9479     </div>
9480     <div class="padding"></div>
9481
9482     <div class="entry">
9483       <div class="title">
9484         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Broken_umask_handling_with_sshfs.html">Broken umask handling with sshfs</a>
9485       </div>
9486       <div class="date">
9487         26th August 2010
9488       </div>
9489       <div class="body">
9490         <p>My file system sematics program
9491 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Testing_if_a_file_system_can_be_used_for_home_directories___.html">presented
9492 a few days ago</a> is very useful to verify that a file system can
9493 work as a unix home directory,and today I had to extend it a bit.  I'm
9494 looking into alternatives for home directory access here at the
9495 University of Oslo, and one of the options is sshfs.  My friend
9496 Finn-Arne mentioned a while back that they had used sshfs with Debian
9497 Edu, but stopped because of problems.  I asked today what the problems
9498 where, and he mentioned that sshfs failed to handle umask properly.
9499 Trying to detect the problem I wrote this addition to my fs testing
9500 script:</p>
9501
9502 <pre>
9503 mode_t touch_get_mode(const char *name, mode_t mode) {
9504   mode_t retval = 0;
9505   int fd = open(name, O_RDWR|O_CREAT|O_LARGEFILE, mode);
9506   if (-1 != fd) {
9507     unlink(name);
9508     struct stat statbuf;
9509     if (-1 != fstat(fd, &statbuf)) {
9510       retval = statbuf.st_mode & 0x1ff;
9511     }
9512     close(fd);
9513   }
9514   return retval;
9515 }
9516
9517 /* Try to detect problem discovered using sshfs */
9518 int test_umask(void) {
9519   printf("info: testing umask effect on file creation\n");
9520
9521   mode_t orig_umask = umask(000);
9522   mode_t newmode;
9523   if (0666 != (newmode = touch_get_mode("foobar", 0666))) {
9524     printf("  error: Wrong file mode %o when creating using mode 666 and umask 000\n",
9525            newmode);
9526   }
9527   umask(007);
9528   if (0660 != (newmode = touch_get_mode("foobar", 0666))) {
9529     printf("  error: Wrong file mode %o when creating using mode 666 and umask 007\n",
9530            newmode);
9531   }
9532
9533   umask (orig_umask);
9534   return 0;
9535 }
9536
9537 int main(int argc, char **argv) {
9538   [...]
9539   test_umask();
9540   return 0;
9541 }
9542 </pre>
9543
9544 <p>Sure enough.  On NFS to a netapp, I get this result:</p>
9545
9546 <pre>
9547 Testing POSIX/Unix sematics on file system
9548 info: testing symlink creation
9549 info: testing subdirectory creation
9550 info: testing fcntl locking
9551   Read-locking 1 byte from 1073741824
9552   Read-locking 510 byte from 1073741826
9553   Unlocking 1 byte from 1073741824
9554   Write-locking 1 byte from 1073741824
9555   Write-locking 510 byte from 1073741826
9556   Unlocking 2 byte from 1073741824
9557 info: testing umask effect on file creation
9558 </pre>
9559
9560 <p>When mounting the same directory using sshfs, I get this
9561 result:</p>
9562
9563 <pre>
9564 Testing POSIX/Unix sematics on file system
9565 info: testing symlink creation
9566 info: testing subdirectory creation
9567 info: testing fcntl locking
9568   Read-locking 1 byte from 1073741824
9569   Read-locking 510 byte from 1073741826
9570   Unlocking 1 byte from 1073741824
9571   Write-locking 1 byte from 1073741824
9572   Write-locking 510 byte from 1073741826
9573   Unlocking 2 byte from 1073741824
9574 info: testing umask effect on file creation
9575   error: Wrong file mode 644 when creating using mode 666 and umask 000
9576   error: Wrong file mode 640 when creating using mode 666 and umask 007
9577 </pre>
9578
9579 <p>So, I can conclude that sshfs is better than smb to a Netapp or a
9580 Windows server, but not good enough to be used as a home
9581 directory.</p>
9582
9583 <p>Update 2010-08-26: Reported the issue in
9584 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/594498">BTS report #594498</a></p>
9585
9586 <p>Update 2010-08-27: Michael Gebetsroither report that he found the
9587 script so useful that he created a GIT repository and stored it in
9588 <a href="http://github.com/gebi/fs-test">http://github.com/gebi/fs-test</a>.</p>
9589
9590       </div>
9591       <div class="tags">
9592
9593
9594         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>.
9595
9596
9597       </div>
9598     </div>
9599     <div class="padding"></div>
9600
9601     <div class="entry">
9602       <div class="title">
9603         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Rob_Weir__How_to_Crush_Dissent.html">Rob Weir: How to Crush Dissent</a>
9604       </div>
9605       <div class="date">
9606         15th August 2010
9607       </div>
9608       <div class="body">
9609         <p>I found the notes from Rob Weir on
9610 <a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/robweir/antic-atom/~3/VGb23-kta8c/how-to-crush-dissent.html">how
9611 to crush dissent</a> matching my own thoughts on the matter quite
9612 well.  Highly recommended for those wondering which road our society
9613 should go down.  In my view we have been heading the wrong way for a
9614 long time.</p>
9615
9616       </div>
9617       <div class="tags">
9618
9619
9620         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>.
9621
9622
9623       </div>
9624     </div>
9625     <div class="padding"></div>
9626
9627     <div class="entry">
9628       <div class="title">
9629         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/No_hardcoded_config_on_Debian_Edu_clients.html">No hardcoded config on Debian Edu clients</a>
9630       </div>
9631       <div class="date">
9632          9th August 2010
9633       </div>
9634       <div class="body">
9635         <p>As reported earlier, the last few days I have looked at how Debian
9636 Edu clients are configured, and tried to get rid of all hardcoded
9637 configuration settings on the clients.  I believe the work to be
9638 mostly done, and the clients seem to work just fine with dynamically
9639 generated configuration.</p>
9640
9641 <p>What is the point, you might ask?  The point is to allow a Debian
9642 Edu desktop to integrate into an existing network infrastructure
9643 without any manual configuration.</p>
9644
9645 <p>This is what happens when installing a Debian Edu client here at
9646 the University of Oslo using PXE.  With the PXE installation, I am
9647 asked for language (Norwegian Bokmål), locality (Norway) and keyboard
9648 layout (no-latin1), Debian Edu profile (Roaming Workstation), if I
9649 accept to reformat the hard drive (yes), if I want to submit info to
9650 popcon.debian.org (no) and root password (secret).  After answering
9651 these questions, the installer goes ahead and does its thing, and
9652 after around 50 minutes it is done.  I press enter to finish the
9653 installation, and the machine reboots into KDE.  When the machine is
9654 ready and kdm asks for login information, I enter my university
9655 username and password, am told by kdm that a local home directory has
9656 been created and that I must log in again, and finally log in with the
9657 same username and password to the KDE 4.4 desktop.  At no point during
9658 this process did it ask for university specific settings, and all the
9659 required configuration was dynamically detected using information
9660 fetched via DHCP and DNS.  The roaming workstation is now ready for
9661 use.</p>
9662
9663 <p>How was this done, you might wonder?  First of all, here is the
9664 list of things that need to be configured on the client to get it
9665 working properly out of the box:</p>
9666
9667 <ul>
9668 <li>IP address/netmask and DNS server.</li>
9669 <li>Web proxy URL.</li>
9670 <li>LDAP server for NSS directory information (user, group, etc).</li>
9671 <li>Kerberos server for PAM password checking.</li>
9672 <li>SMB mount point to access the network home directory. (*)</li>
9673 <li>Central syslog server to send syslog messages to. (*)</li>
9674 <li>Sitesummary collector URL to submit info to central server. (*)</li>
9675 </ul>
9676
9677 <p>(Hm, did I forget anything?  Let me knew if I did.)</p>
9678
9679 <p>The points marked (*) are not required to be able to use the
9680 machine, but needed to provide central storage and allowing system
9681 administrators to track their machines.  Since yesterday, everything
9682 but the sitesummary collector URL is dynamically discovered at boot
9683 and installation time in the svn version of Debian Edu.</p>
9684
9685 <p>The IP and DNS setup is fetched during boot using DHCP as usual.
9686 When a DHCP update arrives, the proxy setup is updated by looking for
9687 http://wpat/wpad.dat and using the content of this WPAD file to
9688 configure the http and ftp proxy in /etc/environment and
9689 /etc/apt/apt.conf.  I decided to update the proxy setup using a DHCP
9690 hook to ensure that the client stops using the Debian Edu proxy when
9691 it is moved outside the Debian Edu network, and instead uses any local
9692 proxy present on the new network when it moves around.</p>
9693
9694 <p>The DNS names of the LDAP, Kerberos and syslog server and related
9695 configuration are generated using DNS information at boot.  First the
9696 installer looks for a host named ldap in the current DNS domain.  If
9697 not found, it looks for _ldap._tcp SRV records in DNS instead.  If an
9698 LDAP server is found, its root DSE entry is requested and the
9699 attributes namingContexts and defaultNamingContext are used to
9700 determine which LDAP base to use for NSS.  If there are several
9701 namingContexts attibutes and the defaultNamingContext is present, that
9702 LDAP subtree is used as the base.  If defaultNamingContext is missing,
9703 the subtrees listed as namingContexts are searched in sequence for any
9704 object with class posixAccount or posixGroup, and the first one with
9705 such an object is used as the LDAP base.  For Kerberos, a similar
9706 search is done by first looking for a host named kerberos, and then
9707 for the _kerberos._tcp SRV record.  I've been unable to find a way to
9708 look up the Kerberos realm, so for this the upper case string of the
9709 current DNS domain is used.</p>
9710
9711 <p>For the syslog server, the hosts syslog and loghost are searched
9712 for, and the _syslog._udp SRV record is consulted if no such host is
9713 found.  This algorithm works for both Debian Edu and the University of
9714 Oslo.  A similar strategy would work for locating the sitesummary
9715 server, but have not been implemented yet.  I decided to fetch and
9716 save these settings during installation, to make sure moving to a
9717 different network does not change the set of users being allowed to
9718 log in nor the passwords required to log in.  Usernames and passwords
9719 will be cached by sssd when the user logs in on the Debian Edu
9720 network, and will not change as the laptop move around.  For a
9721 non-roaming machine, there is no caching, but given that it is
9722 supposed to stay in place it should not matter much.  Perhaps we
9723 should switch those to use sssd too?</p>
9724
9725 <p>The user's SMB mount point for the network home directory is
9726 located when the user logs in for the first time.  The LDAP server is
9727 consulted to look for the user's LDAP object and the sambaHomePath
9728 attribute is used if found.  If it isn't found, the home directory
9729 path fetched from NSS is used instead.  Assuming the path is of the
9730 form /site/server/directory/username, the second part is looked up in
9731 DNS and used to generate a SMB URL of the form
9732 smb://server.domain/username.  This algorithm works for both Debian
9733 edu and the University of Oslo.  Perhaps there are better attributes
9734 to use or a better algorithm that works for more sites, but this will
9735 do for now. :)</p>
9736
9737 <p>This work should make it easier to integrate the Debian Edu clients
9738 into any LDAP/Kerberos infrastructure, and make the current setup even
9739 more flexible than before.  I suspect it will also work for thin
9740 client servers, allowing one to easily set up LTSP and hook it into a
9741 existing network infrastructure, but I have not had time to test this
9742 yet.</p>
9743
9744 <p>If you want to help out with implementing these things for Debian
9745 Edu, please contact us on debian-edu@lists.debian.org.</p>
9746
9747 <p>Update 2010-08-09: Simon Farnsworth gave me a heads-up on how to
9748 detect Kerberos realm from DNS, by looking for _kerberos TXT entries
9749 before falling back to the upper case DNS domain name.  Will have to
9750 implement it for Debian Edu. :)</p>
9751
9752       </div>
9753       <div class="tags">
9754
9755
9756         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>.
9757
9758
9759       </div>
9760     </div>
9761     <div class="padding"></div>
9762
9763     <div class="entry">
9764       <div class="title">
9765         <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>
9766       </div>
9767       <div class="date">
9768          8th August 2010
9769       </div>
9770       <div class="body">
9771         <p>A few years ago, I was involved in a project planning to use
9772 Windows file servers as home directory servers for Debian
9773 Edu/Skolelinux machines.  This was thought to be no problem, as the
9774 access would be through the SMB network file system protocol, and we
9775 knew other sites used SMB with unix and samba as the file server to
9776 mount home directories without any problems.  But, after months of
9777 struggling, we had to conclude that our goal was impossible.</p>
9778
9779 <p>The reason is simply that while SMB can be used for home
9780 directories when the file server is Samba running on Unix, this only
9781 work because of Samba have some extensions and the fact that the
9782 underlying file system is a unix file system.  When using a Windows
9783 file server, the underlying file system do not have POSIX semantics,
9784 and several programs will fail if the users home directory where they
9785 want to store their configuration lack POSIX semantics.</p>
9786
9787 <p>As part of this work, I wrote a small C program I want to share
9788 with you all, to replicate a few of the problematic applications (like
9789 OpenOffice.org and GCompris) and see if the file system was working as
9790 it should.  If you find yourself in spooky file system land, it might
9791 help you find your way out again.  This is the fs-test.c source:</p>
9792
9793 <pre>
9794 /*
9795  * Some tests to check the file system sematics.  Used to verify that
9796  * CIFS from a windows server do not work properly as a linux home
9797  * directory.
9798  * License: GPL v2 or later
9799  *
9800  * needs libsqlite3-dev and build-essential installed
9801  * compile with: gcc -Wall -lsqlite3 -DTEST_SQLITE fs-test.c -o fs-test
9802 */
9803
9804 #define _FILE_OFFSET_BITS 64
9805 #define _LARGEFILE_SOURCE 1
9806 #define _LARGEFILE64_SOURCE 1
9807
9808 #define _GNU_SOURCE /* for asprintf() */
9809
9810 #include &lt;errno.h>
9811 #include &lt;fcntl.h>
9812 #include &lt;stdio.h>
9813 #include &lt;string.h>
9814 #include &lt;stdlib.h>
9815 #include &lt;sys/file.h>
9816 #include &lt;sys/stat.h>
9817 #include &lt;sys/types.h>
9818 #include &lt;unistd.h>
9819
9820 #ifdef TEST_SQLITE
9821 /*
9822  * Test sqlite open, as done by gcompris require the libsqlite3-dev
9823  * package and linking with -lsqlite3.  A more low level test is
9824  * below.
9825  * See also &lt;URL: http://www.sqlite.org./faq.html#q5 >.
9826  */
9827 #include &lt;sqlite3.h>
9828 #define CREATE_TABLE_USERS                                              \
9829   "CREATE TABLE users (user_id INT UNIQUE, login TEXT, lastname TEXT, firstname TEXT, birthdate TEXT, class_id INT ); "
9830 int test_sqlite_open(void) {
9831   char *zErrMsg;
9832   char *name = "testsqlite.db";
9833   sqlite3 *db=NULL;
9834   unlink(name);
9835   int rc = sqlite3_open(name, &db);
9836   if( rc ){
9837     printf("error: sqlite open of %s failed: %s\n", name, sqlite3_errmsg(db));
9838     sqlite3_close(db);
9839     return -1;
9840   }
9841
9842   /* create tables */
9843   rc = sqlite3_exec(db,CREATE_TABLE_USERS, NULL,  0, &zErrMsg);
9844   if( rc != SQLITE_OK ){
9845     printf("error: sqlite table create failed: %s\n", zErrMsg);
9846     sqlite3_close(db);
9847     return -1;
9848   }
9849   printf("info: sqlite worked\n");
9850   sqlite3_close(db);
9851   return 0;
9852 }
9853 #endif /* TEST_SQLITE */
9854
9855 /*
9856  * Demonstrate locking issue found in gcompris using sqlite3.  This
9857  * work with ext3, but not with cifs server on Windows 2003.  This is
9858  * done in the sqlite3 library.
9859  * See also
9860  * &lt;URL:http://www.cygwin.com/ml/cygwin/2001-08/msg00854.html> and the
9861  * POSIX specification
9862  * &lt;URL:http://www.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/009695399/functions/fcntl.html>.
9863  */
9864 int test_gcompris_locking(void) {
9865   struct flock fl;
9866   char *name = "testsqlite.db";
9867   unlink(name);
9868   int fd = open(name, O_RDWR|O_CREAT|O_LARGEFILE, 0644);
9869   printf("info: testing fcntl locking\n");
9870
9871   fl.l_whence = SEEK_SET;
9872   fl.l_pid    = getpid();
9873   printf("  Read-locking 1 byte from 1073741824");
9874   fl.l_start  = 1073741824;
9875   fl.l_len    = 1;
9876   fl.l_type   = F_RDLCK;
9877   if (0 != fcntl(fd, F_SETLK, &fl) ) printf(" - error!\n"); else printf("\n");
9878
9879   printf("  Read-locking 510 byte from 1073741826");
9880   fl.l_start  = 1073741826;
9881   fl.l_len    = 510;
9882   fl.l_type   = F_RDLCK;
9883   if (0 != fcntl(fd, F_SETLK, &fl) ) printf(" - error!\n"); else printf("\n");
9884
9885   printf("  Unlocking 1 byte from 1073741824");
9886   fl.l_start  = 1073741824;
9887   fl.l_len    = 1;
9888   fl.l_type   = F_UNLCK;
9889   if (0 != fcntl(fd, F_SETLK, &fl) ) printf(" - error!\n"); else printf("\n");
9890
9891   printf("  Write-locking 1 byte from 1073741824");
9892   fl.l_start  = 1073741824;
9893   fl.l_len    = 1;
9894   fl.l_type   = F_WRLCK;
9895   if (0 != fcntl(fd, F_SETLK, &fl) ) printf(" - error!\n"); else printf("\n");
9896
9897   printf("  Write-locking 510 byte from 1073741826");
9898   fl.l_start  = 1073741826;
9899   fl.l_len    = 510;
9900   if (0 != fcntl(fd, F_SETLK, &fl) ) printf(" - error!\n"); else printf("\n");
9901
9902   printf("  Unlocking 2 byte from 1073741824");
9903   fl.l_start  = 1073741824;
9904   fl.l_len    = 2;
9905   fl.l_type   = F_UNLCK;
9906   if (0 != fcntl(fd, F_SETLK, &fl) ) printf(" - error!\n"); else printf("\n");
9907
9908   close(fd);
9909   return 0;
9910 }
9911
9912 /*
9913  * Test if permissions of freshly created directories allow entries
9914  * below them.  This was a problem with OpenOffice.org and gcompris.
9915  * Mounting with option 'sync' seem to solve this problem while
9916  * slowing down file operations.
9917  */
9918 int test_subdirectory_creation(void) {
9919 #define LEVELS 5
9920   char *path = strdup("test");
9921   char *dirs[LEVELS];
9922   int level;
9923   printf("info: testing subdirectory creation\n");
9924   for (level = 0; level &lt; LEVELS; level++) {
9925     char *newpath = NULL;
9926     if (-1 == mkdir(path, 0777)) {
9927       printf("  error: Unable to create directory '%s': %s\n",
9928              path, strerror(errno));
9929       break;
9930     }
9931     asprintf(&newpath, "%s/%s", path, "test");
9932     free(path);
9933     path = newpath;
9934   }
9935   return 0;
9936 }
9937
9938 /*
9939  * Test if symlinks can be created.  This was a problem detected with
9940  * KDE.
9941  */
9942 int test_symlinks(void) {
9943   printf("info: testing symlink creation\n");
9944   unlink("symlink");
9945   if (-1 == symlink("file", "symlink"))
9946     printf("  error: Unable to create symlink\n");
9947   return 0;
9948 }
9949
9950 int main(int argc, char **argv) {
9951   printf("Testing POSIX/Unix sematics on file system\n");
9952   test_symlinks();
9953   test_subdirectory_creation();
9954 #ifdef TEST_SQLITE
9955   test_sqlite_open();
9956 #endif /* TEST_SQLITE */
9957   test_gcompris_locking();
9958   return 0;
9959 }
9960 </pre>
9961
9962 <p>When everything is working, it should print something like
9963 this:</p>
9964
9965 <pre>
9966 Testing POSIX/Unix sematics on file system
9967 info: testing symlink creation
9968 info: testing subdirectory creation
9969 info: sqlite worked
9970 info: testing fcntl locking
9971   Read-locking 1 byte from 1073741824
9972   Read-locking 510 byte from 1073741826
9973   Unlocking 1 byte from 1073741824
9974   Write-locking 1 byte from 1073741824
9975   Write-locking 510 byte from 1073741826
9976   Unlocking 2 byte from 1073741824
9977 </pre>
9978
9979 <p>I do not remember the exact details of the problems we saw, but one
9980 of them was with locking, where if I remember correctly, POSIX allow a
9981 read-only lock to be upgraded to a read-write lock without unlocking
9982 the read-only lock (while Windows do not).  Another was a bug in the
9983 CIFS/SMB client implementation in the Linux kernel where directory
9984 meta information would be wrong for a fraction of a second, making
9985 OpenOffice.org fail to create its deep directory tree because it was
9986 not allowed to create files in its freshly created directory.</p>
9987
9988 <p>Anyway, here is a nice tool for your tool box, might you never need
9989 it. :)</p>
9990
9991 <p>Update 2010-08-27: Michael Gebetsroither report that he found the
9992 script so useful that he created a GIT repository and stored it in
9993 <a href="http://github.com/gebi/fs-test">http://github.com/gebi/fs-test</a>.</p>
9994
9995       </div>
9996       <div class="tags">
9997
9998
9999         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>.
10000
10001
10002       </div>
10003     </div>
10004     <div class="padding"></div>
10005
10006     <div class="entry">
10007       <div class="title">
10008         <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>
10009       </div>
10010       <div class="date">
10011          7th August 2010
10012       </div>
10013       <div class="body">
10014         <p>A few days ago, I
10015 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_roaming_workstation___at_the_university_of_Oslo.html">tried
10016 to install</a> a Roaming workation profile from Debian Edu/Squeeze
10017 while on the university network here at the University of Oslo, and
10018 noticed how much had to change to get it operational using the
10019 university infrastructure.  It was fairly easy, but it occured to me
10020 that Debian Edu would improve a lot if I could get the client to
10021 connect without any changes at all, and thus let the client configure
10022 itself during installation and first boot to use the infrastructure
10023 around it.  Now I am a huge step further along that road.</p>
10024
10025 <p>With our current squeeze-test packages, I can select the roaming
10026 workstation profile and get a working laptop connecting to the
10027 university LDAP server for user and group and our active directory
10028 servers for Kerberos authentication.  All this without any
10029 configuration at all during installation.  My users home directory got
10030 a bookmark in the KDE menu to mount it via SMB, with the correct URL.
10031 In short, openldap and sssd is correctly configured.  In addition to
10032 this, the client look for http://wpad/wpad.dat to configure a web
10033 proxy, and when it fail to find it no proxy settings are stored in
10034 /etc/environment and /etc/apt/apt.conf.  Iceweasel and KDE is
10035 configured to look for the same wpad configuration and also do not use
10036 a proxy when at the university network.  If the machine is moved to a
10037 network with such wpad setup, it would automatically use it when DHCP
10038 gave it a IP address.</p>
10039
10040 <p>The LDAP server is located using DNS, by first looking for the DNS
10041 entry ldap.$domain.  If this do not exist, it look for the
10042 _ldap._tcp.$domain SRV records and use the first one as the LDAP
10043 server.  Next, it connects to the LDAP server and search all
10044 namingContexts entries for posixAccount or posixGroup objects, and
10045 pick the first one as the LDAP base.  For Kerberos, a similar
10046 algorithm is used to locate the LDAP server, and the realm is the
10047 uppercase version of $domain.</p>
10048
10049 <p>So, what is not working, you might ask.  SMB mounting my home
10050 directory do not work.  No idea why, but suspected the incorrect
10051 Kerberos settings in /etc/krb5.conf and /etc/samba/smb.conf might be
10052 the cause.  These are not properly configured during installation, and
10053 had to be hand-edited to get the correct Kerberos realm and server,
10054 but SMB mounting still do not work. :(</p>
10055
10056 <p>With this automatic configuration in place, I expect a Debian Edu
10057 roaming profile installation would be able to automatically detect and
10058 connect to any site using LDAP and Kerberos for NSS directory and PAM
10059 authentication.  It should also work out of the box in a Active
10060 Directory environment providing posixAccount and posixGroup objects
10061 with UID and GID values.</p>
10062
10063 <p>If you want to help out with implementing these things for Debian
10064 Edu, please contact us on debian-edu@lists.debian.org.</p>
10065
10066       </div>
10067       <div class="tags">
10068
10069
10070         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>.
10071
10072
10073       </div>
10074     </div>
10075     <div class="padding"></div>
10076
10077     <div class="entry">
10078       <div class="title">
10079         <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>
10080       </div>
10081       <div class="date">
10082          3rd August 2010
10083       </div>
10084       <div class="body">
10085         <p>The new roaming workstation profile in Debian Edu/Squeeze is fairly
10086 similar to the laptop setup am I working on using Ubuntu for the
10087 University of Oslo, and just for the heck of it, I tested today how
10088 hard it would be to integrate that profile into the university
10089 infrastructure.  In this case, it is the university LDAP server,
10090 Active Directory Kerberos server and SMB mounting from the Netapp file
10091 servers.</p>
10092
10093 <p>I was pleasantly surprised that the only three files needed to be
10094 changed (/etc/sssd/sssd.conf, /etc/ldap.conf and
10095 /etc/mklocaluser.d/20-debian-edu-config) and one file had to be added
10096 (/usr/share/perl5/Debian/Edu_Local.pm), to get the client working.
10097 Most of the changes were to get the client to use the university LDAP
10098 for NSS and Kerberos server for PAM, but one was to change a hard
10099 coded DNS domain name in the mklocaluser hook from .intern to
10100 .uio.no.</p>
10101
10102 <p>This testing was so encouraging, that I went ahead and adjusted the
10103 Debian Edu scripts and setup in subversion to centralise the roaming
10104 workstation setup a bit more and avoid the hardcoded DNS domain name,
10105 so that when I test this tomorrow, I expect to get away with modifying
10106 only /etc/sssd/sssd.conf and /etc/ldap.conf to get it to use the
10107 university servers.</p>
10108
10109 <p>My goal is to get the clients to have no hardcoded settings and
10110 fetch all their initial setup during installation and first boot, to
10111 allow them to be inserted also into environments where the default
10112 setup in Debian Edu has been changed or as with the university, where
10113 the environment is different but provides the protocols Debian Edu
10114 uses.</p>
10115
10116       </div>
10117       <div class="tags">
10118
10119
10120         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>.
10121
10122
10123       </div>
10124     </div>
10125     <div class="padding"></div>
10126
10127     <div class="entry">
10128       <div class="title">
10129         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Circular_package_dependencies_harms_apt_recovery.html">Circular package dependencies harms apt recovery</a>
10130       </div>
10131       <div class="date">
10132         27th July 2010
10133       </div>
10134       <div class="body">
10135         <p>I discovered this while doing
10136 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Automatic_upgrade_testing_from_Lenny_to_Squeeze.html">automated
10137 testing of upgrades from Debian Lenny to Squeeze</a>.  A few packages
10138 in Debian still got circular dependencies, and it is often claimed
10139 that apt and aptitude should be able to handle this just fine, but
10140 some times these dependency loops causes apt to fail.</p>
10141
10142 <p>An example is from todays
10143 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/~pere/debian-upgrade-testing//test-20100727-lenny-squeeze-kde-aptitude.txt">upgrade
10144 of KDE using aptitude</a>.  In it, a bug in kdebase-workspace-data
10145 causes perl-modules to fail to upgrade.  The cause is simple.  If a
10146 package fail to unpack, then only part of packages with the circular
10147 dependency might end up being unpacked when unpacking aborts, and the
10148 ones already unpacked will fail to configure in the recovery phase
10149 because its dependencies are unavailable.</p>
10150
10151 <p>In this log, the problem manifest itself with this error:</p>
10152
10153 <blockquote><pre>
10154 dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of perl-modules:
10155  perl-modules depends on perl (>= 5.10.1-1); however:
10156   Version of perl on system is 5.10.0-19lenny2.
10157 dpkg: error processing perl-modules (--configure):
10158  dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
10159 </pre></blockquote>
10160
10161 <p>The perl/perl-modules circular dependency is already
10162 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/527917">reported as a bug</a>, and will
10163 hopefully be solved as soon as possible, but it is not the only one,
10164 and each one of these loops in the dependency tree can cause similar
10165 failures.  Of course, they only occur when there are bugs in other
10166 packages causing the unpacking to fail, but it is rather nasty when
10167 the failure of one package causes the problem to become worse because
10168 of dependency loops.</p>
10169
10170 <p>Thanks to
10171 <a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2010/06/msg00116.html">the
10172 tireless effort by Bill Allombert</a>, the number of circular
10173 dependencies
10174 <a href="http://debian.semistable.com/debgraph.out.html">left in Debian
10175 is dropping</a>, and perhaps it will reach zero one day. :)</p>
10176
10177 <p>Todays testing also exposed a bug in
10178 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/590605">update-notifier</a> and
10179 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/590604">different behaviour</a> between
10180 apt-get and aptitude, the latter possibly caused by some circular
10181 dependency.  Reported both to BTS to try to get someone to look at
10182 it.</p>
10183
10184       </div>
10185       <div class="tags">
10186
10187
10188         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>.
10189
10190
10191       </div>
10192     </div>
10193     <div class="padding"></div>
10194
10195     <div class="entry">
10196       <div class="title">
10197         <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>
10198       </div>
10199       <div class="date">
10200         27th July 2010
10201       </div>
10202       <div class="body">
10203         <p>I just posted this announcement culminating several months of work
10204 with the next Debian Edu release.  Not nearly done, but one major step
10205 completed.</p>
10206
10207 <blockquote>
10208 <p>This is the first test release based on Squeeze. The focus of this
10209 release is to test the user application selection. To have a look,
10210 install the standalone profile and let the developers know if the set
10211 of installed packages i.e. applications should be modified. If some
10212 user application is missing, or if there are some applications that no
10213 longer make sense to be included in Debian Edu, please let us know.
10214 Also, if a useful application is missing the translation for your
10215 language of choice, please let us know too.</p>
10216
10217 <p>In addition, feedback and help to polish the desktop (menus,
10218 artwork, starters, etc.) is appreciated. We would like to ship a nice
10219 and handy KDE4 desktop targeted for schools out of the box.</p>
10220
10221 <p>The other profiles should be installable, but there is a lot more
10222 work left to be done before they are ready, so do not expect to
10223 much.</p>
10224
10225 <p>Changes compared to the lenny based version</p>
10226
10227 <ul>
10228 <li>Everything from Debian Squeeze
10229 <ul>
10230   <li>Desktop environment KDE 4.4 => the new KDE desktop in
10231          combination with some new artwork
10232   <li>Web browser Iceweasel 3.5
10233   <li>OpenOffice.org 3.2
10234   <li>Educational toolbox GCompris 9.3
10235   <li>Music creator Rosegarden 10.04.2
10236   <li>Image editor Gimp 2.6.10
10237   <li>Virtual universe Celestia 1.6.0
10238   <li>Virtual stargazer Stellarium 0.10.4
10239   <li>3D modeler Blender 2.49.2 (new application)
10240   <li>Video editor Kdenlive 0.7.7 (new application)
10241 </ul></li>
10242 <li>Now using Kerberos for password checking (migration not finished).
10243     Enabled for:
10244 <ul>
10245   <li>PAM
10246   <li>LDAP
10247   <li>IMAP
10248   <li>SMTP (sender verification)
10249 </ul>
10250 </li>
10251 <li>New experimental roaming workstation profile for laptops.</li>
10252 <li>Show welcome page to users when they first log in. The URL is
10253     fetched from LDAP.</li>
10254 <li>New LXDE desktop option, in addition to KDE (default) and Gnome.</li>
10255 <li>General cleanup (not finished)</li>
10256 </ul>
10257 <p>The following features are not working as they should</p>
10258
10259 <ul>
10260 <li>No web based administration tool for creating users and groups. The
10261     scripts ldap-createuser-krb and ldap-add-user-to-group can be used
10262     for testing.</li>
10263 <li>DVD installs are missing debian-installer images for the PXE boot,
10264     and do not set up the PXE menu on eth0 because of this. LTSP
10265     clients should still boot from eth1 on thin client servers.</li>
10266 <li>The restructured KDE menu is not implemented.</li>
10267 <li>The LDAP server setup need to be reviewed for security.</li>
10268 <li>The LDAP directory structure need to be reworked.</li>
10269 <li>Different sets of packages are installed when using the DVD and the
10270     netinst CD. More packages are installed using the netinst CD.</li>
10271 <li>The jackd package fail to install. This is believed to be caused by
10272     some ongoing transition, and hopefully should be solved soon. The
10273     jackd1 package can be installed manually for those that need it.</li>
10274 <li>Some packages lack translations. See
10275     http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/Status/Squeeze for updated status,
10276     and help out with translations.</li>
10277 </ul>
10278
10279 <p>To download this multiarch netinstall release you can use</p>
10280
10281 <ul>
10282 <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>
10283 <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>
10284 <li>rsync -avzP ftp.skolelinux.org::skolelinux-cd/squeeze-alpha/debian-edu-6.0.0+edua0-CD.iso</li>
10285 </ul>
10286 <p>To download this multiarch dvd release you can use</p>
10287
10288 <ul>
10289 <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>
10290 <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>
10291 <li>rsync -avzP ftp.skolelinux.org::skolelinux-cd/squeeze-alpha/debian-edu-6.0.0+edua0-DVD.iso</li>
10292 </ul>
10293
10294 <p>There is no source DVD available yet. It will be prepared when we
10295 get closer to the final release.</p>
10296
10297 <p>The MD5SUM of these images are</p>
10298
10299 <ul>
10300 <li>3dbf45d59f42a53518b6e3c9ec3b5eb6 debian-edu-6.0.0+edua0-CD.iso</li>
10301 <li>22f2cbfce281d1c6e478be452638675d debian-edu-6.0.0+edua0-DVD.iso</li>
10302 </ul>
10303
10304 <p>The SHA1SUM of these images are</p>
10305 <ul>
10306 <li>c53d1b69b40cf37cd27aefaf33f6f6a3821bedf0 debian-edu-6.0.0+edua0-CD.iso</li>
10307 <li>2ec29d7db676d59d32197b05c277ffe16348376c debian-edu-6.0.0+edua0-DVD.iso</li>
10308 </ul>
10309 <p>How to report bugs:
10310 http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/HowTo/ReportBugsInBugzilla</p>
10311
10312 <p>Please direct replies to debian-edu@lists.debian.org</p>
10313 </blockquote>
10314
10315       </div>
10316       <div class="tags">
10317
10318
10319         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>.
10320
10321
10322       </div>
10323     </div>
10324     <div class="padding"></div>
10325
10326     <div class="entry">
10327       <div class="title">
10328         <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>
10329       </div>
10330       <div class="date">
10331         25th July 2010
10332       </div>
10333       <div class="body">
10334         <p>The last few months me and the other Debian Edu developers have
10335 been working hard to get the Debian/Squeeze based version of Debian
10336 Edu/Skolelinux into shape.  This future version will use Kerberos for
10337 authentication, and services are slowly migrated to single signon,
10338 getting rid of password questions one at the time.</p>
10339
10340 <p>It will also feature a roaming workstation profile with local home
10341 directory, for laptops that are only some times on the Skolelinux
10342 network, and for this profile a shortcut is created in Gnome and KDE
10343 to gain access to the users home directory on the file server.  This
10344 shortcut uses SMB at the moment, and yesterday I had time to test if
10345 SMB mounting had started working in KDE after we added the cifs-utils
10346 package.  I was pleasantly surprised how well it worked.</p>
10347
10348 <p>Thanks to the recent changes to our samba configuration to get it
10349 to use Kerberos for authentication, there were no question about user
10350 password when mounting the SMB volume.  A simple click on the shortcut
10351 in the KDE menu, and a window with the home directory popped
10352 up. :)</p>
10353
10354 <p>One step closer to a single signon solution out of the box in
10355 Debian Edu.  We already had PAM, LDAP, IMAP and SMTP in place, and now
10356 also Samba.  Next step is Cups and hopefully also NFS.</p>
10357
10358 <p>We had planned a alpha0 release of Debian Edu for today, but thanks
10359 to the autobuilder administrators for some architectures being slow to
10360 sign packages, we are still missing the fixed LTSP package we need for
10361 the release.  It was uploaded three days ago with urgency=high, and if
10362 it had entered testing yesterday we would have been able to test it in
10363 time for a alpha0 release today.  As the binaries for ia64 and powerpc
10364 still not uploaded to the Debian archive, we need to delay the alpha
10365 release another day.</p>
10366
10367 <p>If you want to help out with implementing Kerberos for Debian Edu,
10368 please contact us on debian-edu@lists.debian.org.</p>
10369
10370       </div>
10371       <div class="tags">
10372
10373
10374         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>.
10375
10376
10377       </div>
10378     </div>
10379     <div class="padding"></div>
10380
10381     <div class="entry">
10382       <div class="title">
10383         <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>
10384       </div>
10385       <div class="date">
10386         18th July 2010
10387       </div>
10388       <div class="body">
10389         <p>Thanks to
10390 <a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Opengeodata/~3/wUTCzDZk3lc/project-of-the-week-which-way-home">todays
10391 opengeodata blog entry</a>, I just discovered that the
10392 OpenStreetmap.org site have gotten
10393 <a href="http://nroets.dev.openstreetmap.org/demo/index.html?layers=B000FTFTT">support
10394 for calculating routes</a>.  The support is still experimental and
10395 only available from the development server, until more experience is
10396 gathered on the user interface and any scalability issues.</p>
10397
10398 <p>Earlier, the routing I knew about using the OpenStreetmap.org data
10399 was provided by <a href="http://maps.cloudmade.com/">Cloudmade</a>,
10400 but having it on the main page is required to make everyone aware of
10401 the issue.  I've had people reject Openstreetmap.org as a viable
10402 alternative for them because the front page lacked routing support,
10403 and I hope their needs will be catered for when routing show up on the
10404 www.openstreetmap.org front page.</p>
10405
10406       </div>
10407       <div class="tags">
10408
10409
10410         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>.
10411
10412
10413       </div>
10414     </div>
10415     <div class="padding"></div>
10416
10417     <div class="entry">
10418       <div class="title">
10419         <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>
10420       </div>
10421       <div class="date">
10422         17th July 2010
10423       </div>
10424       <div class="body">
10425         <p>This is a
10426 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Time_for_new__LDAP_schemas_replacing_RFC_2307_.html">followup</a>
10427 on my
10428 <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
10429 work</a> on
10430 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Combining_PowerDNS_and_ISC_DHCP_LDAP_objects.html">merging
10431 all</a> the computer related LDAP objects in Debian Edu.</p>
10432
10433 <p>As a step to try to see if it possible to merge the DNS and DHCP
10434 LDAP objects, I have had a look at how the packages pdns-backend-ldap
10435 and dhcp3-server-ldap in Debian use the LDAP server.  The two
10436 implementations are quite different in how they use LDAP.</p>
10437
10438 To get this information, I started slapd with debugging enabled and
10439 dumped the debug output to a file to get the LDAP searches performed
10440 on a Debian Edu main-server.  Here is a summary.
10441
10442 <p><strong>powerdns</strong></p>
10443
10444 <a href="http://www.linuxnetworks.de/doc/index.php/PowerDNS_LDAP_Backend">Clues
10445 on how to</a> set up PowerDNS to use a LDAP backend is available on
10446 the web.
10447
10448 <p>PowerDNS have two modes of operation using LDAP as its backend.
10449 One "strict" mode where the forward and reverse DNS lookups are done
10450 using the same LDAP objects, and a "tree" mode where the forward and
10451 reverse entries are in two different subtrees in LDAP with a structure
10452 based on the DNS names, as in tjener.intern and
10453 2.2.0.10.in-addr.arpa.</p>
10454
10455 <p>In tree mode, the server is set up to use a LDAP subtree as its
10456 base, and uses a "base" scoped search for the DNS name by adding
10457 "dc=tjener,dc=intern," to the base with a filter for
10458 "(associateddomain=tjener.intern)" for the forward entry and
10459 "dc=2,dc=2,dc=0,dc=10,dc=in-addr,dc=arpa," with a filter for
10460 "(associateddomain=2.2.0.10.in-addr.arpa)" for the reverse entry.  For
10461 forward entries, it is looking for attributes named dnsttl, arecord,
10462 nsrecord, cnamerecord, soarecord, ptrrecord, hinforecord, mxrecord,
10463 txtrecord, rprecord, afsdbrecord, keyrecord, aaaarecord, locrecord,
10464 srvrecord, naptrrecord, kxrecord, certrecord, dsrecord, sshfprecord,
10465 ipseckeyrecord, rrsigrecord, nsecrecord, dnskeyrecord, dhcidrecord,
10466 spfrecord and modifytimestamp.  For reverse entries it is looking for
10467 the attributes dnsttl, arecord, nsrecord, cnamerecord, soarecord,
10468 ptrrecord, hinforecord, mxrecord, txtrecord, rprecord, aaaarecord,
10469 locrecord, srvrecord, naptrrecord and modifytimestamp.  The equivalent
10470 ldapsearch commands could look like this:</p>
10471
10472 <blockquote><pre>
10473 ldapsearch -h ldap \
10474   -b dc=tjener,dc=intern,ou=hosts,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no \
10475   -s base -x '(associateddomain=tjener.intern)' dNSTTL aRecord nSRecord \
10476   cNAMERecord sOARecord pTRRecord hInfoRecord mXRecord tXTRecord \
10477   rPRecord aFSDBRecord KeyRecord aAAARecord lOCRecord sRVRecord \
10478   nAPTRRecord kXRecord certRecord dSRecord sSHFPRecord iPSecKeyRecord \
10479   rRSIGRecord nSECRecord dNSKeyRecord dHCIDRecord sPFRecord modifyTimestamp
10480
10481 ldapsearch -h ldap \
10482   -b dc=2,dc=2,dc=0,dc=10,dc=in-addr,dc=arpa,ou=hosts,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no \
10483   -s base -x '(associateddomain=2.2.0.10.in-addr.arpa)'
10484   dnsttl, arecord, nsrecord, cnamerecord soarecord ptrrecord \
10485   hinforecord mxrecord txtrecord rprecord aaaarecord locrecord \
10486   srvrecord naptrrecord modifytimestamp
10487 </pre></blockquote>
10488
10489 <p>In Debian Edu/Lenny, the PowerDNS tree mode is used with
10490 ou=hosts,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no as the base, and these are two
10491 example LDAP objects used there.  In addition to these objects, the
10492 parent objects all th way up to ou=hosts,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
10493 also exist.</p>
10494
10495 <blockquote><pre>
10496 dn: dc=tjener,dc=intern,ou=hosts,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
10497 objectclass: top
10498 objectclass: dnsdomain
10499 objectclass: domainrelatedobject
10500 dc: tjener
10501 arecord: 10.0.2.2
10502 associateddomain: tjener.intern
10503
10504 dn: dc=2,dc=2,dc=0,dc=10,dc=in-addr,dc=arpa,ou=hosts,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
10505 objectclass: top
10506 objectclass: dnsdomain2
10507 objectclass: domainrelatedobject
10508 dc: 2
10509 ptrrecord: tjener.intern
10510 associateddomain: 2.2.0.10.in-addr.arpa
10511 </pre></blockquote>
10512
10513 <p>In strict mode, the server behaves differently.  When looking for
10514 forward DNS entries, it is doing a "subtree" scoped search with the
10515 same base as in the tree mode for a object with filter
10516 "(associateddomain=tjener.intern)" and requests the attributes dnsttl,
10517 arecord, nsrecord, cnamerecord, soarecord, ptrrecord, hinforecord,
10518 mxrecord, txtrecord, rprecord, aaaarecord, locrecord, srvrecord,
10519 naptrrecord and modifytimestamp.  For reverse entires it also do a
10520 subtree scoped search but this time the filter is "(arecord=10.0.2.2)"
10521 and the requested attributes are associateddomain, dnsttl and
10522 modifytimestamp.  In short, in strict mode the objects with ptrrecord
10523 go away, and the arecord attribute in the forward object is used
10524 instead.</p>
10525
10526 <p>The forward and reverse searches can be simulated using ldapsearch
10527 like this:</p>
10528
10529 <blockquote><pre>
10530 ldapsearch -h ldap -b ou=hosts,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no -s sub -x \
10531   '(associateddomain=tjener.intern)' dNSTTL aRecord nSRecord \
10532   cNAMERecord sOARecord pTRRecord hInfoRecord mXRecord tXTRecord \
10533   rPRecord aFSDBRecord KeyRecord aAAARecord lOCRecord sRVRecord \
10534   nAPTRRecord kXRecord certRecord dSRecord sSHFPRecord iPSecKeyRecord \
10535   rRSIGRecord nSECRecord dNSKeyRecord dHCIDRecord sPFRecord modifyTimestamp
10536
10537 ldapsearch -h ldap -b ou=hosts,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no -s sub -x \
10538   '(arecord=10.0.2.2)' associateddomain dnsttl modifytimestamp
10539 </pre></blockquote>
10540
10541 <p>In addition to the forward and reverse searches , there is also a
10542 search for SOA records, which behave similar to the forward and
10543 reverse lookups.</p>
10544
10545 <p>A thing to note with the PowerDNS behaviour is that it do not
10546 specify any objectclass names, and instead look for the attributes it
10547 need to generate a DNS reply.  This make it able to work with any
10548 objectclass that provide the needed attributes.</p>
10549
10550 <p>The attributes are normally provided in the cosine (RFC 1274) and
10551 dnsdomain2 schemas.  The latter is used for reverse entries like
10552 ptrrecord and recent DNS additions like aaaarecord and srvrecord.</p>
10553
10554 <p>In Debian Edu, we have created DNS objects using the object classes
10555 dcobject (for dc), dnsdomain or dnsdomain2 (structural, for the DNS
10556 attributes) and domainrelatedobject (for associatedDomain).  The use
10557 of structural object classes make it impossible to combine these
10558 classes with the object classes used by DHCP.</p>
10559
10560 <p>There are other schemas that could be used too, for example the
10561 dnszone structural object class used by Gosa and bind-sdb for the DNS
10562 attributes combined with the domainrelatedobject object class, but in
10563 this case some unused attributes would have to be included as well
10564 (zonename and relativedomainname).</p>
10565
10566 <p>My proposal for Debian Edu would be to switch PowerDNS to strict
10567 mode and not use any of the existing objectclasses (dnsdomain,
10568 dnsdomain2 and dnszone) when one want to combine the DNS information
10569 with DHCP information, and instead create a auxiliary object class
10570 defined something like this (using the attributes defined for
10571 dnsdomain and dnsdomain2 or dnszone):</p>
10572
10573 <blockquote><pre>
10574 objectclass ( some-oid NAME 'dnsDomainAux'
10575     SUP top
10576     AUXILIARY
10577     MAY ( ARecord $ MDRecord $ MXRecord $ NSRecord $ SOARecord $ CNAMERecord $
10578           DNSTTL $ DNSClass $ PTRRecord $ HINFORecord $ MINFORecord $
10579           TXTRecord $ SIGRecord $ KEYRecord $ AAAARecord $ LOCRecord $
10580           NXTRecord $ SRVRecord $ NAPTRRecord $ KXRecord $ CERTRecord $
10581           A6Record $ DNAMERecord
10582     ))
10583 </pre></blockquote>
10584
10585 <p>This will allow any object to become a DNS entry when combined with
10586 the domainrelatedobject object class, and allow any entity to include
10587 all the attributes PowerDNS wants.  I've sent an email to the PowerDNS
10588 developers asking for their view on this schema and if they are
10589 interested in providing such schema with PowerDNS, and I hope my
10590 message will be accepted into their mailing list soon.</p>
10591
10592 <p><strong>ISC dhcp</strong></p>
10593
10594 <p>The DHCP server searches for specific objectclass and requests all
10595 the object attributes, and then uses the attributes it want.  This
10596 make it harder to figure out exactly what attributes are used, but
10597 thanks to the working example in Debian Edu I can at least get an idea
10598 what is needed without having to read the source code.</p>
10599
10600 <p>In the DHCP server configuration, the LDAP base to use and the
10601 search filter to use to locate the correct dhcpServer entity is
10602 stored.  These are the relevant entries from
10603 /etc/dhcp3/dhcpd.conf:</p>
10604
10605 <blockquote><pre>
10606 ldap-base-dn "dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no";
10607 ldap-dhcp-server-cn "dhcp";
10608 </pre></blockquote>
10609
10610 <p>The DHCP server uses this information to nest all the DHCP
10611 configuration it need.  The cn "dhcp" is located using the given LDAP
10612 base and the filter "(&(objectClass=dhcpServer)(cn=dhcp))".  The
10613 search result is this entry:</p>
10614
10615 <blockquote><pre>
10616 dn: cn=dhcp,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
10617 cn: dhcp
10618 objectClass: top
10619 objectClass: dhcpServer
10620 dhcpServiceDN: cn=DHCP Config,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
10621 </pre></blockquote>
10622
10623 <p>The content of the dhcpServiceDN attribute is next used to locate the
10624 subtree with DHCP configuration.  The DHCP configuration subtree base
10625 is located using a base scope search with base "cn=DHCP
10626 Config,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no" and filter
10627 "(&(objectClass=dhcpService)(|(dhcpPrimaryDN=cn=dhcp,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no)(dhcpSecondaryDN=cn=dhcp,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no)))".
10628 The search result is this entry:</p>
10629
10630 <blockquote><pre>
10631 dn: cn=DHCP Config,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
10632 cn: DHCP Config
10633 objectClass: top
10634 objectClass: dhcpService
10635 objectClass: dhcpOptions
10636 dhcpPrimaryDN: cn=dhcp, dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
10637 dhcpStatements: ddns-update-style none
10638 dhcpStatements: authoritative
10639 dhcpOption: smtp-server code 69 = array of ip-address
10640 dhcpOption: www-server code 72 = array of ip-address
10641 dhcpOption: wpad-url code 252 = text
10642 </pre></blockquote>
10643
10644 <p>Next, the entire subtree is processed, one level at the time.  When
10645 all the DHCP configuration is loaded, it is ready to receive requests.
10646 The subtree in Debian Edu contain objects with object classes
10647 top/dhcpService/dhcpOptions, top/dhcpSharedNetwork/dhcpOptions,
10648 top/dhcpSubnet, top/dhcpGroup and top/dhcpHost.  These provide options
10649 and information about netmasks, dynamic range etc.  Leaving out the
10650 details here because it is not relevant for the focus of my
10651 investigation, which is to see if it is possible to merge dns and dhcp
10652 related computer objects.</p>
10653
10654 <p>When a DHCP request come in, LDAP is searched for the MAC address
10655 of the client (00:00:00:00:00:00 in this example), using a subtree
10656 scoped search with "cn=DHCP Config,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no" as
10657 the base and "(&(objectClass=dhcpHost)(dhcpHWAddress=ethernet
10658 00:00:00:00:00:00))" as the filter.  This is what a host object look
10659 like:</p>
10660
10661 <blockquote><pre>
10662 dn: cn=hostname,cn=group1,cn=THINCLIENTS,cn=DHCP Config,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
10663 cn: hostname
10664 objectClass: top
10665 objectClass: dhcpHost
10666 dhcpHWAddress: ethernet 00:00:00:00:00:00
10667 dhcpStatements: fixed-address hostname
10668 </pre></blockquote>
10669
10670 <p>There is less flexiblity in the way LDAP searches are done here.
10671 The object classes need to have fixed names, and the configuration
10672 need to be stored in a fairly specific LDAP structure.  On the
10673 positive side, the invidiual dhcpHost entires can be anywhere without
10674 the DN pointed to by the dhcpServer entries.  The latter should make
10675 it possible to group all host entries in a subtree next to the
10676 configuration entries, and this subtree can also be shared with the
10677 DNS server if the schema proposed above is combined with the dhcpHost
10678 structural object class.
10679
10680 <p><strong>Conclusion</strong></p>
10681
10682 <p>The PowerDNS implementation seem to be very flexible when it come
10683 to which LDAP schemas to use.  While its "tree" mode is rigid when it
10684 come to the the LDAP structure, the "strict" mode is very flexible,
10685 allowing DNS objects to be stored anywhere under the base cn specified
10686 in the configuration.</p>
10687
10688 <p>The DHCP implementation on the other hand is very inflexible, both
10689 regarding which LDAP schemas to use and which LDAP structure to use.
10690 I guess one could implement ones own schema, as long as the
10691 objectclasses and attributes have the names used, but this do not
10692 really help when the DHCP subtree need to have a fairly fixed
10693 structure.</p>
10694
10695 <p>Based on the observed behaviour, I suspect a LDAP structure like
10696 this might work for Debian Edu:</p>
10697
10698 <blockquote><pre>
10699 ou=services
10700   cn=machine-info (dhcpService) - dhcpServiceDN points here
10701     cn=dhcp (dhcpServer)
10702     cn=dhcp-internal (dhcpSharedNetwork/dhcpOptions)
10703       cn=10.0.2.0 (dhcpSubnet)
10704         cn=group1 (dhcpGroup/dhcpOptions)
10705     cn=dhcp-thinclients (dhcpSharedNetwork/dhcpOptions)
10706       cn=192.168.0.0 (dhcpSubnet)
10707         cn=group1 (dhcpGroup/dhcpOptions)
10708     ou=machines - PowerDNS base points here
10709       cn=hostname (dhcpHost/domainrelatedobject/dnsDomainAux)
10710 </pre></blockquote>
10711
10712 <P>This is not tested yet.  If the DHCP server require the dhcpHost
10713 entries to be in the dhcpGroup subtrees, the entries can be stored
10714 there instead of a common machines subtree, and the PowerDNS base
10715 would have to be moved one level up to the machine-info subtree.</p>
10716
10717 <p>The combined object under the machines subtree would look something
10718 like this:</p>
10719
10720 <blockquote><pre>
10721 dn: dc=hostname,ou=machines,cn=machine-info,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
10722 dc: hostname
10723 objectClass: top
10724 objectClass: dhcpHost
10725 objectclass: domainrelatedobject
10726 objectclass: dnsDomainAux
10727 associateddomain: hostname.intern
10728 arecord: 10.11.12.13
10729 dhcpHWAddress: ethernet 00:00:00:00:00:00
10730 dhcpStatements: fixed-address hostname.intern
10731 </pre></blockquote>
10732
10733 </p>One could even add the LTSP configuration associated with a given
10734 machine, as long as the required attributes are available in a
10735 auxiliary object class.</p>
10736
10737       </div>
10738       <div class="tags">
10739
10740
10741         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>.
10742
10743
10744       </div>
10745     </div>
10746     <div class="padding"></div>
10747
10748     <div class="entry">
10749       <div class="title">
10750         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Combining_PowerDNS_and_ISC_DHCP_LDAP_objects.html">Combining PowerDNS and ISC DHCP LDAP objects</a>
10751       </div>
10752       <div class="date">
10753         14th July 2010
10754       </div>
10755       <div class="body">
10756         <p>For a while now, I have wanted to find a way to change the DNS and
10757 DHCP services in Debian Edu to use the same LDAP objects for a given
10758 computer, to avoid the possibility of having a inconsistent state for
10759 a computer in LDAP (as in DHCP but no DNS entry or the other way
10760 around) and make it easier to add computers to LDAP.</p>
10761
10762 <p>I've looked at how powerdns and dhcpd is using LDAP, and using this
10763 information finally found a solution that seem to work.</p>
10764
10765 <p>The old setup required three LDAP objects for a given computer.
10766 One forward DNS entry, one reverse DNS entry and one DHCP entry.  If
10767 we switch powerdns to use its strict LDAP method (ldap-method=strict
10768 in pdns-debian-edu.conf), the forward and reverse DNS entries are
10769 merged into one while making it impossible to transfer the reverse map
10770 to a slave DNS server.</p>
10771
10772 <p>If we also replace the object class used to get the DNS related
10773 attributes to one allowing these attributes to be combined with the
10774 dhcphost object class, we can merge the DNS and DHCP entries into one.
10775 I've written such object class in the dnsdomainaux.schema file (need
10776 proper OIDs, but that is a minor issue), and tested the setup.  It
10777 seem to work.</p>
10778
10779 <p>With this test setup in place, we can get away with one LDAP object
10780 for both DNS and DHCP, and even the LTSP configuration I suggested in
10781 an earlier email.  The combined LDAP object will look something like
10782 this:</p>
10783
10784 <blockquote><pre>
10785   dn: cn=hostname,cn=group1,cn=THINCLIENTS,cn=DHCP Config,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
10786   cn: hostname
10787   objectClass: dhcphost
10788   objectclass: domainrelatedobject
10789   objectclass: dnsdomainaux
10790   associateddomain: hostname.intern
10791   arecord: 10.11.12.13
10792   dhcphwaddress: ethernet 00:00:00:00:00:00
10793   dhcpstatements: fixed-address hostname
10794   ldapconfigsound: Y
10795 </pre></blockquote>
10796
10797 <p>The DNS server uses the associateddomain and arecord entries, while
10798 the DHCP server uses the dhcphwaddress and dhcpstatements entries
10799 before asking DNS to resolve the fixed-adddress.  LTSP will use
10800 dhcphwaddress or associateddomain and the ldapconfig* attributes.</p>
10801
10802 <p>I am not yet sure if I can get the DHCP server to look for its
10803 dhcphost in a different location, to allow us to put the objects
10804 outside the "DHCP Config" subtree, but hope to figure out a way to do
10805 that.  If I can't figure out a way to do that, we can still get rid of
10806 the hosts subtree and move all its content into the DHCP Config tree
10807 (which probably should be renamed to be more related to the new
10808 content.  I suspect cn=dnsdhcp,ou=services or something like that
10809 might be a good place to put it.</p>
10810
10811 <p>If you want to help out with implementing this for Debian Edu,
10812 please contact us on debian-edu@lists.debian.org.</p>
10813
10814       </div>
10815       <div class="tags">
10816
10817
10818         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>.
10819
10820
10821       </div>
10822     </div>
10823     <div class="padding"></div>
10824
10825     <div class="entry">
10826       <div class="title">
10827         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Idea_for_storing_LTSP_configuration_in_LDAP.html">Idea for storing LTSP configuration in LDAP</a>
10828       </div>
10829       <div class="date">
10830         11th July 2010
10831       </div>
10832       <div class="body">
10833         <p>Vagrant mentioned on IRC today that ltsp_config now support
10834 sourcing files from /usr/share/ltsp/ltsp_config.d/ on the thin
10835 clients, and that this can be used to fetch configuration from LDAP if
10836 Debian Edu choose to store configuration there.</p>
10837
10838 <p>Armed with this information, I got inspired and wrote a test module
10839 to get configuration from LDAP.  The idea is to look up the MAC
10840 address of the client in LDAP, and look for attributes on the form
10841 ltspconfigsetting=value, and use this to export SETTING=value to the
10842 LTSP clients.</p>
10843
10844 <p>The goal is to be able to store the LTSP configuration attributes
10845 in a "computer" LDAP object used by both DNS and DHCP, and thus
10846 allowing us to store all information about a computer in one place.</p>
10847
10848 <p>This is a untested draft implementation, and I welcome feedback on
10849 this approach.  A real LDAP schema for the ltspClientAux objectclass
10850 need to be written.  Comments, suggestions, etc?</p>
10851
10852 <blockquote><pre>
10853 # Store in /opt/ltsp/$arch/usr/share/ltsp/ltsp_config.d/ldap-config
10854 #
10855 # Fetch LTSP client settings from LDAP based on MAC address
10856 #
10857 # Uses ethernet address as stored in the dhcpHost objectclass using
10858 # the dhcpHWAddress attribute or ethernet address stored in the
10859 # ieee802Device objectclass with the macAddress attribute.
10860 #
10861 # This module is written to be schema agnostic, and only depend on the
10862 # existence of attribute names.
10863 #
10864 # The LTSP configuration variables are saved directly using a
10865 # ltspConfig prefix and uppercasing the rest of the attribute name.
10866 # To set the SERVER variable, set the ltspConfigServer attribute.
10867 #
10868 # Some LDAP schema should be created with all the relevant
10869 # configuration settings.  Something like this should work:
10870 #
10871 # objectclass ( 1.1.2.2 NAME 'ltspClientAux'
10872 #     SUP top
10873 #     AUXILIARY
10874 #     MAY ( ltspConfigServer $ ltsConfigSound $ ... )
10875
10876 LDAPSERVER=$(debian-edu-ldapserver)
10877 if [ "$LDAPSERVER" ] ; then
10878     LDAPBASE=$(debian-edu-ldapserver -b)
10879     for MAC in $(LANG=C ifconfig |grep -i hwaddr| awk '{print $5}'|sort -u) ; do
10880         filter="(|(dhcpHWAddress=ethernet $MAC)(macAddress=$MAC))"
10881         ldapsearch -h "$LDAPSERVER" -b "$LDAPBASE" -v -x "$filter" | \
10882             grep '^ltspConfig' | while read attr value ; do
10883             # Remove prefix and convert to upper case
10884             attr=$(echo $attr | sed 's/^ltspConfig//i' | tr a-z A-Z)
10885             # bass value on to clients
10886             eval "$attr=$value; export $attr"
10887         done
10888     done
10889 fi
10890 </pre></blockquote>
10891
10892 <p>I'm not sure this shell construction will work, because I suspect
10893 the while block might end up in a subshell causing the variables set
10894 there to not show up in ltsp-config, but if that is the case I am sure
10895 the code can be restructured to make sure the variables are passed on.
10896 I expect that can be solved with some testing. :)</p>
10897
10898 <p>If you want to help out with implementing this for Debian Edu,
10899 please contact us on debian-edu@lists.debian.org.</p>
10900
10901 <p>Update 2010-07-17: I am aware of another effort to store LTSP
10902 configuration in LDAP that was created around year 2000 by
10903 <a href="http://www.pcxperience.com/thinclient/documentation/ldap.html">PC
10904 Xperience, Inc., 2000</a>.  I found its
10905 <a href="http://people.redhat.com/alikins/ltsp/ldap/">files</a> on a
10906 personal home page over at redhat.com.</p>
10907
10908       </div>
10909       <div class="tags">
10910
10911
10912         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>.
10913
10914
10915       </div>
10916     </div>
10917     <div class="padding"></div>
10918
10919     <div class="entry">
10920       <div class="title">
10921         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/jXplorer__a_very_nice_LDAP_GUI.html">jXplorer, a very nice LDAP GUI</a>
10922       </div>
10923       <div class="date">
10924          9th July 2010
10925       </div>
10926       <div class="body">
10927         <p>Since
10928 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/LUMA__a_very_nice_LDAP_GUI.html">my
10929 last post</a> about available LDAP tools in Debian, I was told about a
10930 LDAP GUI that is even better than luma.  The java application
10931 <a href="http://jxplorer.org/">jXplorer</a> is claimed to be capable of
10932 moving LDAP objects and subtrees using drag-and-drop, and can
10933 authenticate using Kerberos.  I have only tested the Kerberos
10934 authentication, but do not have a LDAP setup allowing me to rewrite
10935 LDAP with my test user yet.  It is
10936 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/j/jxplorer.html">available in
10937 Debian</a> testing and unstable at the moment.  The only problem I
10938 have with it is how it handle errors.  If something go wrong, its
10939 non-intuitive behaviour require me to go through some query work list
10940 and remove the failing query.  Nothing big, but very annoying.</p>
10941
10942       </div>
10943       <div class="tags">
10944
10945
10946         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>.
10947
10948
10949       </div>
10950     </div>
10951     <div class="padding"></div>
10952
10953     <div class="entry">
10954       <div class="title">
10955         <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>
10956       </div>
10957       <div class="date">
10958          3rd July 2010
10959       </div>
10960       <div class="body">
10961         <p>Here is a short update on my <a
10962 href="http://people.skolelinux.org/~pere/debian-upgrade-testing/">my
10963 Debian Lenny->Squeeze upgrade testing</a>.  Here is a summary of the
10964 difference for Gnome when it is upgraded by apt-get and aptitude.  I'm
10965 not reporting the status for KDE, because the upgrade crashes when
10966 aptitude try because of missing conflicts
10967 (<a href="http://bugs.debian.org/584861">#584861</a> and
10968 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/585716">#585716</a>).</p>
10969
10970 <p>At the end of the upgrade test script, dpkg -l is executed to get a
10971 complete list of the installed packages.  Based on this I see these
10972 differences when I did a test run today.  As usual, I do not really
10973 know what the correct set of packages would be, but thought it best to
10974 publish the difference.</p>
10975
10976 <p>Installed using apt-get, missing with aptitude</p>
10977
10978 <blockquote><p>
10979   at-spi cpp-4.3 finger gnome-spell gstreamer0.10-gnomevfs
10980   libatspi1.0-0 libcupsys2 libeel2-data libgail-common libgdl-1-common
10981   libgnomeprint2.2-data libgnomeprintui2.2-common libgnomevfs2-bin
10982   libgtksourceview-common libpt-1.10.10-plugins-alsa
10983   libpt-1.10.10-plugins-v4l libservlet2.4-java libxalan2-java
10984   libxerces2-java openoffice.org-writer2latex openssl-blacklist p7zip
10985   python-4suite-xml python-eggtrayicon python-gtkhtml2
10986   python-gtkmozembed svgalibg1 xserver-xephyr zip
10987 </p></blockquote>
10988
10989 <p>Installed using apt-get, removed with aptitude</p>
10990
10991 <blockquote><p>
10992   bluez-utils dhcdbd djvulibre-desktop epiphany-gecko
10993   gnome-app-install gnome-mount gnome-vfs-obexftp gnome-volume-manager
10994   libao2 libavahi-compat-libdnssd1 libavahi-core5 libbind9-50
10995   libbluetooth2 libcamel1.2-11 libcdio7 libcucul0 libcurl3
10996   libdirectfb-1.0-0 libdvdread3 libedata-cal1.2-6 libedataserver1.2-9
10997   libeel2-2.20 libepc-1.0-1 libepc-ui-1.0-1 libexchange-storage1.2-3
10998   libfaad0 libgd2-noxpm libgda3-3 libgda3-common libggz2 libggzcore9
10999   libggzmod4 libgksu1.2-0 libgksuui1.0-1 libgmyth0 libgnome-desktop-2
11000   libgnome-pilot2 libgnomecups1.0-1 libgnomeprint2.2-0
11001   libgnomeprintui2.2-0 libgpod3 libgraphviz4 libgtkhtml2-0
11002   libgtksourceview1.0-0 libgucharmap6 libhesiod0 libicu38 libisccc50
11003   libisccfg50 libiw29 libkpathsea4 libltdl3 liblwres50 libmagick++10
11004   libmagick10 libmalaga7 libmtp7 libmysqlclient15off libnautilus-burn4
11005   libneon27 libnm-glib0 libnm-util0 libopal-2.2 libosp5
11006   libparted1.8-10 libpisock9 libpisync1 libpoppler-glib3 libpoppler3
11007   libpt-1.10.10 libraw1394-8 libsensors3 libsmbios2 libsoup2.2-8
11008   libssh2-1 libsuitesparse-3.1.0 libswfdec-0.6-90 libtalloc1
11009   libtotem-plparser10 libtrackerclient0 libvoikko1 libxalan2-java-gcj
11010   libxerces2-java-gcj libxklavier12 libxtrap6 libxxf86misc1 libzephyr3
11011   mysql-common swfdec-gnome totem-gstreamer wodim
11012 </p></blockquote>
11013
11014 <p>Installed using aptitude, missing with apt-get</p>
11015
11016 <blockquote><p>
11017   gnome gnome-desktop-environment hamster-applet python-gnomeapplet
11018   python-gnomekeyring python-wnck rhythmbox-plugins xorg
11019   xserver-xorg-input-all xserver-xorg-input-evdev
11020   xserver-xorg-input-kbd xserver-xorg-input-mouse
11021   xserver-xorg-input-synaptics xserver-xorg-video-all
11022   xserver-xorg-video-apm xserver-xorg-video-ark xserver-xorg-video-ati
11023   xserver-xorg-video-chips xserver-xorg-video-cirrus
11024   xserver-xorg-video-dummy xserver-xorg-video-fbdev
11025   xserver-xorg-video-glint xserver-xorg-video-i128
11026   xserver-xorg-video-i740 xserver-xorg-video-mach64
11027   xserver-xorg-video-mga xserver-xorg-video-neomagic
11028   xserver-xorg-video-nouveau xserver-xorg-video-nv
11029   xserver-xorg-video-r128 xserver-xorg-video-radeon
11030   xserver-xorg-video-radeonhd xserver-xorg-video-rendition
11031   xserver-xorg-video-s3 xserver-xorg-video-s3virge
11032   xserver-xorg-video-savage xserver-xorg-video-siliconmotion
11033   xserver-xorg-video-sis xserver-xorg-video-sisusb
11034   xserver-xorg-video-tdfx xserver-xorg-video-tga
11035   xserver-xorg-video-trident xserver-xorg-video-tseng
11036   xserver-xorg-video-vesa xserver-xorg-video-vmware
11037   xserver-xorg-video-voodoo
11038 </p></blockquote>
11039
11040 <p>Installed using aptitude, removed with apt-get</p>
11041
11042 <blockquote><p>
11043   deskbar-applet xserver-xorg xserver-xorg-core
11044   xserver-xorg-input-wacom xserver-xorg-video-intel
11045   xserver-xorg-video-openchrome
11046 </p></blockquote>
11047
11048 <p>I was told on IRC that the xorg-xserver package was
11049 <a href="http://git.debian.org/?p=pkg-xorg/xserver/xorg-server.git;a=commit;h=9c8080d06c457932d3bfec021c69ac000aa60120">changed
11050 in git</a> today to try to get apt-get to not remove xorg completely.
11051 No idea when it hits Squeeze, but when it does I hope it will reduce
11052 the difference somewhat.
11053
11054       </div>
11055       <div class="tags">
11056
11057
11058         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>.
11059
11060
11061       </div>
11062     </div>
11063     <div class="padding"></div>
11064
11065     <div class="entry">
11066       <div class="title">
11067         <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>
11068       </div>
11069       <div class="date">
11070          1st July 2010
11071       </div>
11072       <div class="body">
11073         <p>For a laptop, centralized user directories and password checking is
11074 a bit troubling.  Laptops are typically used also when not connected
11075 to the network, and it is vital for a user to be able to log in or
11076 unlock the screen saver also when a central server is unavailable.
11077 This is possible by caching passwords and directory information (user
11078 and group attributes) locally, and the packages to do so are available
11079 in Debian.  Here follow two recipes to set this up in Debian/Squeeze.
11080 It is also possible to set up in Debian/Lenny, but require more manual
11081 setup there because pam-auth-update is missing in Lenny.</p>
11082
11083 <h2>LDAP/Kerberos + nscd + libpam-ccreds + libpam-mklocaluser/pam_mkhomedir</h2>
11084
11085 This is the traditional method with a twist.  The password caching is
11086 provided by libpam-ccreds (version 10-4 or later is needed on
11087 Squeeze), and the directory caching is done by nscd.  The directory
11088 lookup and password checking is done using LDAP.  If one want to use
11089 Kerberos for password checking the libpam-ldapd package can be
11090 replaced with libpam-krb5 or libpam-heimdal.  If one is happy having a
11091 local home directory with the path listed in LDAP, one can use the
11092 pam_mkhomedir module from pam-modules to make this happen instead of
11093 using libpam-mklocaluser.  A setup for pam-auth-update to enable
11094 pam_mkhomedir will have to be written until a fix for
11095 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/568577">bug #568577</a> is in the
11096 archive.  Because I believe it is a bad idea to have local home
11097 directories using misleading paths like /site/server/partition/, I
11098 prefer to create a local user with the home directory in /home/.  This
11099 is done using the libpam-mklocaluser package.</p>
11100
11101 <p>These packages need to be installed and configured</p>
11102
11103 <blockquote><pre>
11104 libnss-ldapd libpam-ldapd nscd libpam-ccreds libpam-mklocaluser
11105 </pre></blockquote>
11106
11107 <p>The ldapd packages will ask for LDAP connection information, and
11108 one have to fill in the values that fits ones own site.  Make sure the
11109 PAM part uses encrypted connections, to make sure the password is not
11110 sent in clear text to the LDAP server.  I've been unable to get TLS
11111 certificate checking for a self signed certificate working, which make
11112 LDAP authentication unsafe for Debian Edu (nslcd is not checking if it
11113 is talking to the correct LDAP server), and very much welcome feedback
11114 on how to get this working.</p>
11115
11116 <p>Because nscd do not have a default configuration fit for offline
11117 caching until <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/485282">bug #485282</a>
11118 is fixed, this configuration should be used instead of the one
11119 currently in /etc/nscd.conf.  The changes are in the fields
11120 reload-count and positive-time-to-live, and is based on the
11121 instructions I found in the
11122 <a href="http://www.flyn.org/laptopldap/">LDAP for Mobile Laptops</a>
11123 instructions by Flyn Computing.</p>
11124
11125 <blockquote><pre>
11126         debug-level             0
11127         reload-count            unlimited
11128         paranoia                no
11129
11130         enable-cache            passwd          yes
11131         positive-time-to-live   passwd          2592000
11132         negative-time-to-live   passwd          20
11133         suggested-size          passwd          211
11134         check-files             passwd          yes
11135         persistent              passwd          yes
11136         shared                  passwd          yes
11137         max-db-size             passwd          33554432
11138         auto-propagate          passwd          yes
11139
11140         enable-cache            group           yes
11141         positive-time-to-live   group           2592000
11142         negative-time-to-live   group           20
11143         suggested-size          group           211
11144         check-files             group           yes
11145         persistent              group           yes
11146         shared                  group           yes
11147         max-db-size             group           33554432
11148         auto-propagate          group           yes
11149
11150         enable-cache            hosts           no
11151         positive-time-to-live   hosts           2592000
11152         negative-time-to-live   hosts           20
11153         suggested-size          hosts           211
11154         check-files             hosts           yes
11155         persistent              hosts           yes
11156         shared                  hosts           yes
11157         max-db-size             hosts           33554432
11158
11159         enable-cache            services        yes
11160         positive-time-to-live   services        2592000
11161         negative-time-to-live   services        20
11162         suggested-size          services        211
11163         check-files             services        yes
11164         persistent              services        yes
11165         shared                  services        yes
11166         max-db-size             services        33554432
11167 </pre></blockquote>
11168
11169 <p>While we wait for a mechanism to update /etc/nsswitch.conf
11170 automatically like the one provided in
11171 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/496915">bug #496915</a>, the file
11172 content need to be manually replaced to ensure LDAP is used as the
11173 directory service on the machine.  /etc/nsswitch.conf should normally
11174 look like this:</p>
11175
11176 <blockquote><pre>
11177 passwd:         files ldap
11178 group:          files ldap
11179 shadow:         files ldap
11180 hosts:          files mdns4_minimal [NOTFOUND=return] dns mdns4
11181 networks:       files
11182 protocols:      files
11183 services:       files
11184 ethers:         files
11185 rpc:            files
11186 netgroup:       files ldap
11187 </pre></blockquote>
11188
11189 <p>The important parts are that ldap is listed last for passwd, group,
11190 shadow and netgroup.</p>
11191
11192 <p>With these changes in place, any user in LDAP will be able to log
11193 in locally on the machine using for example kdm, get a local home
11194 directory created and have the password as well as user and group
11195 attributes cached.
11196
11197 <h2>LDAP/Kerberos + nss-updatedb + libpam-ccreds +
11198   libpam-mklocaluser/pam_mkhomedir</h2>
11199
11200 <p>Because nscd have had its share of problems, and seem to have
11201 problems doing proper caching, I've seen suggestions and recipes to
11202 use nss-updatedb to copy parts of the LDAP database locally when the
11203 LDAP database is available.  I have not tested such setup, because I
11204 discovered sssd.</p>
11205
11206 <h2>LDAP/Kerberos + sssd + libpam-mklocaluser</h2>
11207
11208 <p>A more flexible and robust setup than the nscd combination
11209 mentioned earlier that has shown up recently, is the
11210 <a href="https://fedorahosted.org/sssd/">sssd</a> package from Redhat.
11211 It is part of the <a href="http://www.freeipa.org/">FreeIPA</A> project
11212 to provide a Active Directory like directory service for Linux
11213 machines.  The sssd system combines the caching of passwords and user
11214 information into one package, and remove the need for nscd and
11215 libpam-ccreds.  It support LDAP and Kerberos, but not NIS.  Version
11216 1.2 do not support netgroups, but it is said that it will support this
11217 in version 1.5 expected to show up later in 2010.  Because the
11218 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/s/sssd.html">sssd package</a>
11219 was missing in Debian, I ended up co-maintaining it with Werner, and
11220 version 1.2 is now in testing.
11221
11222 <p>These packages need to be installed and configured to get the
11223 roaming setup I want</p>
11224
11225 <blockquote><pre>
11226 libpam-sss libnss-sss libpam-mklocaluser
11227 </pre></blockquote>
11228
11229 The complete setup of sssd is done by editing/creating
11230 <tt>/etc/sssd/sssd.conf</tt>.
11231
11232 <blockquote><pre>
11233 [sssd]
11234 config_file_version = 2
11235 reconnection_retries = 3
11236 sbus_timeout = 30
11237 services = nss, pam
11238 domains = INTERN
11239
11240 [nss]
11241 filter_groups = root
11242 filter_users = root
11243 reconnection_retries = 3
11244
11245 [pam]
11246 reconnection_retries = 3
11247
11248 [domain/INTERN]
11249 enumerate = false
11250 cache_credentials = true
11251
11252 id_provider = ldap
11253 auth_provider = ldap
11254 chpass_provider = ldap
11255
11256 ldap_uri = ldap://ldap
11257 ldap_search_base = dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
11258 ldap_tls_reqcert = never
11259 ldap_tls_cacert = /etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt
11260 </pre></blockquote>
11261
11262 <p>I got the same problem here with certificate checking.  Had to set
11263 "ldap_tls_reqcert = never" to get it working.</p>
11264
11265 <p>With the libnss-sss package in testing at the moment, the
11266 nsswitch.conf file is update automatically, so there is no need to
11267 modify it manually.</p>
11268
11269 <p>If you want to help out with implementing this for Debian Edu,
11270 please contact us on debian-edu@lists.debian.org.</p>
11271
11272       </div>
11273       <div class="tags">
11274
11275
11276         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>.
11277
11278
11279       </div>
11280     </div>
11281     <div class="padding"></div>
11282
11283     <div class="entry">
11284       <div class="title">
11285         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/LUMA__a_very_nice_LDAP_GUI.html">LUMA, a very nice LDAP GUI</a>
11286       </div>
11287       <div class="date">
11288         28th June 2010
11289       </div>
11290       <div class="body">
11291         <p>The last few days I have been looking into the status of the LDAP
11292 directory in Debian Edu, and in the process I started to miss a GUI
11293 tool to browse the LDAP tree.  The only one I was able to find in
11294 Debian/Squeeze and Lenny is
11295 <a href="http://luma.sourceforge.net/">LUMA</a>, which has proved to
11296 be a great tool to get a overview of the current LDAP directory
11297 populated by default in Skolelinux.  Thanks to it, I have been able to
11298 find empty and obsolete subtrees, misplaced objects and duplicate
11299 objects.  It will be installed by default in Debian/Squeeze.  If you
11300 are working with LDAP, give it a go. :)</p>
11301
11302 <p>I did notice one problem with it I have not had time to report to
11303 the BTS yet.  There is no .desktop file in the package, so the tool do
11304 not show up in the Gnome and KDE menus, but only deep down in in the
11305 Debian submenu in KDE.  I hope that can be fixed before Squeeze is
11306 released.</p>
11307
11308 <p>I have not yet been able to get it to modify the tree yet.  I would
11309 like to move objects and remove subtrees directly in the GUI, but have
11310 not found a way to do that with LUMA yet.  So in the mean time, I use
11311 <a href="http://www.lichteblau.com/ldapvi/">ldapvi</a> for that.</p>
11312
11313 <p>If you have tips on other GUI tools for LDAP that might be useful
11314 in Debian Edu, please contact us on debian-edu@lists.debian.org.</p>
11315
11316 <p>Update 2010-06-29: Ross Reedstrom tipped us about the
11317 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/g/gq.html">gq</a> package as a
11318 useful GUI alternative.  It seem like a good tool, but is unmaintained
11319 in Debian and got a RC bug keeping it out of Squeeze.  Unless that
11320 changes, it will not be an option for Debian Edu based on Squeeze.</p>
11321
11322       </div>
11323       <div class="tags">
11324
11325
11326         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>.
11327
11328
11329       </div>
11330     </div>
11331     <div class="padding"></div>
11332
11333     <div class="entry">
11334       <div class="title">
11335         <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>
11336       </div>
11337       <div class="date">
11338         24th June 2010
11339       </div>
11340       <div class="body">
11341         <p>A while back, I
11342 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Time_for_new__LDAP_schemas_replacing_RFC_2307_.html">complained
11343 about the fact</a> that it is not possible with the provided schemas
11344 for storing DNS and DHCP information in LDAP to combine the two sets
11345 of information into one LDAP object representing a computer.</p>
11346
11347 <p>In the mean time, I discovered that a simple fix would be to make
11348 the dhcpHost object class auxiliary, to allow it to be combined with
11349 the dNSDomain object class, and thus forming one object for one
11350 computer when storing both DHCP and DNS information in LDAP.</p>
11351
11352 <p>If I understand this correctly, it is not safe to do this change
11353 without also changing the assigned number for the object class, and I
11354 do not know enough about LDAP schema design to do that properly for
11355 Debian Edu.</p>
11356
11357 <p>Anyway, for future reference, this is how I believe we could change
11358 the
11359 <a href="http://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-ietf-dhc-ldap-schema-00">DHCP
11360 schema</a> to solve at least part of the problem with the LDAP schemas
11361 available today from IETF.</p>
11362
11363 <pre>
11364 --- dhcp.schema    (revision 65192)
11365 +++ dhcp.schema    (working copy)
11366 @@ -376,7 +376,7 @@
11367  objectclass ( 2.16.840.1.113719.1.203.6.6
11368         NAME 'dhcpHost'
11369         DESC 'This represents information about a particular client'
11370 -       SUP top
11371 +       SUP top AUXILIARY
11372         MUST cn
11373         MAY  (dhcpLeaseDN $ dhcpHWAddress $ dhcpOptionsDN $ dhcpStatements $ dhcpComments $ dhcpOption)
11374         X-NDS_CONTAINMENT ('dhcpService' 'dhcpSubnet' 'dhcpGroup') )
11375 </pre>
11376
11377 <p>I very much welcome clues on how to do this properly for Debian
11378 Edu/Squeeze.  We provide the DHCP schema in our debian-edu-config
11379 package, and should thus be free to rewrite it as we see fit.</p>
11380
11381 <p>If you want to help out with implementing this for Debian Edu,
11382 please contact us on debian-edu@lists.debian.org.</p>
11383
11384       </div>
11385       <div class="tags">
11386
11387
11388         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>.
11389
11390
11391       </div>
11392     </div>
11393     <div class="padding"></div>
11394
11395     <div class="entry">
11396       <div class="title">
11397         <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>
11398       </div>
11399       <div class="date">
11400         16th June 2010
11401       </div>
11402       <div class="body">
11403         <p>A few times I have had the need to simulate the way tasksel
11404 installs packages during the normal debian-installer run.  Until now,
11405 I have ended up letting tasksel do the work, with the annoying problem
11406 of not getting any feedback at all when something fails (like a
11407 conffile question from dpkg or a download that fails), using code like
11408 this:
11409
11410 <blockquote><pre>
11411 export DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive
11412 tasksel --new-install
11413 </pre></blockquote>
11414
11415 This would invoke tasksel, let its automatic task selection pick the
11416 tasks to install, and continue to install the requested tasks without
11417 any output what so ever.
11418
11419 Recently I revisited this problem while working on the automatic
11420 package upgrade testing, because tasksel would some times hang without
11421 any useful feedback, and I want to see what is going on when it
11422 happen.  Then it occured to me, I can parse the output from tasksel
11423 when asked to run in test mode, and use that aptitude command line
11424 printed by tasksel then to simulate the tasksel run.  I ended up using
11425 code like this:
11426
11427 <blockquote><pre>
11428 export DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive
11429 cmd="$(in_target tasksel -t --new-install | sed 's/debconf-apt-progress -- //')"
11430 $cmd
11431 </pre></blockquote>
11432
11433 <p>The content of $cmd is typically something like "<tt>aptitude -q
11434 --without-recommends -o APT::Install-Recommends=no -y install
11435 ~t^desktop$ ~t^gnome-desktop$ ~t^laptop$ ~pstandard ~prequired
11436 ~pimportant</tt>", which will install the gnome desktop task, the
11437 laptop task and all packages with priority standard , required and
11438 important, just like tasksel would have done it during
11439 installation.</p>
11440
11441 <p>A better approach is probably to extend tasksel to be able to
11442 install packages without using debconf-apt-progress, for use cases
11443 like this.</p>
11444
11445       </div>
11446       <div class="tags">
11447
11448
11449         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>.
11450
11451
11452       </div>
11453     </div>
11454     <div class="padding"></div>
11455
11456     <div class="entry">
11457       <div class="title">
11458         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Officeshots_taking_shape.html">Officeshots taking shape</a>
11459       </div>
11460       <div class="date">
11461         13th June 2010
11462       </div>
11463       <div class="body">
11464         <p>For those of us caring about document exchange and
11465 interoperability, <a href="http://www.officeshots.org/">OfficeShots</a>
11466 is a great service.  It is to ODF documents what
11467 <a href="http://browsershots.org/">BrowserShots</a> is for web
11468 pages.</p>
11469
11470 <p>A while back, I was contacted by Knut Yrvin at the part of Nokia
11471 that used to be Trolltech, who wanted to help the OfficeShots project
11472 and wondered if the University of Oslo where I work would be
11473 interested in supporting the project.  I helped him to navigate his
11474 request to the right people at work, and his request was answered with
11475 a spot in the machine room with power and network connected, and Knut
11476 arranged funding for a machine to fill the spot.  The machine is
11477 administrated by the OfficeShots people, so I do not have daily
11478 contact with its progress, and thus from time to time check back to
11479 see how the project is doing.</p>
11480
11481 <p>Today I had a look, and was happy to see that the Dell box in our
11482 machine room now is the host for several virtual machines running as
11483 OfficeShots factories, and the project is able to render ODF documents
11484 in 17 different document processing implementation on Linux and
11485 Windows.  This is great.</p>
11486
11487       </div>
11488       <div class="tags">
11489
11490
11491         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>.
11492
11493
11494       </div>
11495     </div>
11496     <div class="padding"></div>
11497
11498     <div class="entry">
11499       <div class="title">
11500         <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>
11501       </div>
11502       <div class="date">
11503         13th June 2010
11504       </div>
11505       <div class="body">
11506         <p>My
11507 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Automatic_upgrade_testing_from_Lenny_to_Squeeze.html">testing
11508 of Debian upgrades</a> from Lenny to Squeeze continues, and I've
11509 finally made the upgrade logs available from
11510 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/debian-upgrade-testing/">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/debian-upgrade-testing/</a>.
11511 I am now testing dist-upgrade of Gnome and KDE in a chroot using both
11512 apt and aptitude, and found their differences interesting.  This time
11513 I will only focus on their removal plans.</p>
11514
11515 <p>After installing a Gnome desktop and the laptop task, apt-get wants
11516 to remove 72 packages when dist-upgrading from Lenny to Squeeze.  The
11517 surprising part is that it want to remove xorg and all
11518 xserver-xorg-video* drivers.  Clearly not a good choice, but I am not
11519 sure why.  When asking aptitude to do the same, it want to remove 129
11520 packages, but most of them are library packages I suspect are no
11521 longer needed.  Both of them want to remove bluetooth packages, which
11522 I do not know.  Perhaps these bluetooth packages are obsolete?</p>
11523
11524 <p>For KDE, apt-get want to remove 82 packages, among them kdebase
11525 which seem like a bad idea and xorg the same way as with Gnome. Asking
11526 aptitude for the same, it wants to remove 192 packages, none which are
11527 too surprising.</p>
11528
11529 <p>I guess the removal of xorg during upgrades should be investigated
11530 and avoided, and perhaps others as well.  Here are the complete list
11531 of planned removals.  The complete logs is available from the URL
11532 above.  Note if you want to repeat these tests, that the upgrade test
11533 for kde+apt-get hung in the tasksel setup because of dpkg asking
11534 conffile questions.  No idea why.  I worked around it by using
11535 '<tt>echo >> /proc/<em>pidofdpkg</em>/fd/0</tt>' to tell dpkg to
11536 continue.</p>
11537
11538 <p><b>apt-get gnome 72</b>
11539 <br>bluez-gnome cupsddk-drivers deskbar-applet gnome
11540   gnome-desktop-environment gnome-network-admin gtkhtml3.14
11541   iceweasel-gnome-support libavcodec51 libdatrie0 libgdl-1-0
11542   libgnomekbd2 libgnomekbdui2 libmetacity0 libslab0 libxcb-xlib0
11543   nautilus-cd-burner python-gnome2-desktop python-gnome2-extras
11544   serpentine swfdec-mozilla update-manager xorg xserver-xorg
11545   xserver-xorg-core xserver-xorg-input-all xserver-xorg-input-evdev
11546   xserver-xorg-input-kbd xserver-xorg-input-mouse
11547   xserver-xorg-input-synaptics xserver-xorg-input-wacom
11548   xserver-xorg-video-all xserver-xorg-video-apm xserver-xorg-video-ark
11549   xserver-xorg-video-ati xserver-xorg-video-chips
11550   xserver-xorg-video-cirrus xserver-xorg-video-cyrix
11551   xserver-xorg-video-dummy xserver-xorg-video-fbdev
11552   xserver-xorg-video-glint xserver-xorg-video-i128
11553   xserver-xorg-video-i740 xserver-xorg-video-imstt
11554   xserver-xorg-video-intel xserver-xorg-video-mach64
11555   xserver-xorg-video-mga xserver-xorg-video-neomagic
11556   xserver-xorg-video-nsc xserver-xorg-video-nv
11557   xserver-xorg-video-openchrome xserver-xorg-video-r128
11558   xserver-xorg-video-radeon xserver-xorg-video-radeonhd
11559   xserver-xorg-video-rendition xserver-xorg-video-s3
11560   xserver-xorg-video-s3virge xserver-xorg-video-savage
11561   xserver-xorg-video-siliconmotion xserver-xorg-video-sis
11562   xserver-xorg-video-sisusb xserver-xorg-video-tdfx
11563   xserver-xorg-video-tga xserver-xorg-video-trident
11564   xserver-xorg-video-tseng xserver-xorg-video-v4l
11565   xserver-xorg-video-vesa xserver-xorg-video-vga
11566   xserver-xorg-video-vmware xserver-xorg-video-voodoo xulrunner-1.9
11567   xulrunner-1.9-gnome-support</p>
11568
11569 <p><b>aptitude gnome 129</b>
11570
11571 <br>bluez-gnome bluez-utils cpp-4.3 cupsddk-drivers dhcdbd
11572   djvulibre-desktop finger gnome-app-install gnome-mount
11573   gnome-network-admin gnome-spell gnome-vfs-obexftp
11574   gnome-volume-manager gstreamer0.10-gnomevfs gtkhtml3.14 libao2
11575   libavahi-compat-libdnssd1 libavahi-core5 libavcodec51 libbluetooth2
11576   libcamel1.2-11 libcdio7 libcucul0 libcupsys2 libcurl3 libdatrie0
11577   libdirectfb-1.0-0 libdvdread3 libedataserver1.2-9 libeel2-2.20
11578   libeel2-data libepc-1.0-1 libepc-ui-1.0-1 libfaad0 libgail-common
11579   libgd2-noxpm libgda3-3 libgda3-common libgdl-1-0 libgdl-1-common
11580   libggz2 libggzcore9 libggzmod4 libgksu1.2-0 libgksuui1.0-1 libgmyth0
11581   libgnomecups1.0-1 libgnomekbd2 libgnomekbdui2 libgnomeprint2.2-0
11582   libgnomeprint2.2-data libgnomeprintui2.2-0 libgnomeprintui2.2-common
11583   libgnomevfs2-bin libgpod3 libgraphviz4 libgtkhtml2-0
11584   libgtksourceview-common libgtksourceview1.0-0 libgucharmap6
11585   libhesiod0 libicu38 libiw29 libkpathsea4 libltdl3 libmagick++10
11586   libmagick10 libmalaga7 libmetacity0 libmtp7 libmysqlclient15off
11587   libnautilus-burn4 libneon27 libnm-glib0 libnm-util0 libopal-2.2
11588   libosp5 libparted1.8-10 libpoppler-glib3 libpoppler3 libpt-1.10.10
11589   libpt-1.10.10-plugins-alsa libpt-1.10.10-plugins-v4l libraw1394-8
11590   libsensors3 libslab0 libsmbios2 libsoup2.2-8 libssh2-1
11591   libsuitesparse-3.1.0 libswfdec-0.6-90 libtalloc1 libtotem-plparser10
11592   libtrackerclient0 libxalan2-java libxalan2-java-gcj libxcb-xlib0
11593   libxerces2-java libxerces2-java-gcj libxklavier12 libxtrap6
11594   libxxf86misc1 libzephyr3 mysql-common nautilus-cd-burner
11595   openoffice.org-writer2latex openssl-blacklist p7zip
11596   python-4suite-xml python-eggtrayicon python-gnome2-desktop
11597   python-gnome2-extras python-gtkhtml2 python-gtkmozembed
11598   python-numeric python-sexy serpentine svgalibg1 swfdec-gnome
11599   swfdec-mozilla totem-gstreamer update-manager wodim
11600   xserver-xorg-video-cyrix xserver-xorg-video-imstt
11601   xserver-xorg-video-nsc xserver-xorg-video-v4l xserver-xorg-video-vga
11602   zip</p>
11603
11604 <p><b>apt-get kde 82</b>
11605
11606 <br>cupsddk-drivers karm kaudiocreator kcoloredit kcontrol kde kde-core
11607   kdeaddons kdeartwork kdebase kdebase-bin kdebase-bin-kde3
11608   kdebase-kio-plugins kdesktop kdeutils khelpcenter kicker
11609   kicker-applets knewsticker kolourpaint konq-plugins konqueror korn
11610   kpersonalizer kscreensaver ksplash libavcodec51 libdatrie0 libkiten1
11611   libxcb-xlib0 quanta superkaramba texlive-base-bin xorg xserver-xorg
11612   xserver-xorg-core xserver-xorg-input-all xserver-xorg-input-evdev
11613   xserver-xorg-input-kbd xserver-xorg-input-mouse
11614   xserver-xorg-input-synaptics xserver-xorg-input-wacom
11615   xserver-xorg-video-all xserver-xorg-video-apm xserver-xorg-video-ark
11616   xserver-xorg-video-ati xserver-xorg-video-chips
11617   xserver-xorg-video-cirrus xserver-xorg-video-cyrix
11618   xserver-xorg-video-dummy xserver-xorg-video-fbdev
11619   xserver-xorg-video-glint xserver-xorg-video-i128
11620   xserver-xorg-video-i740 xserver-xorg-video-imstt
11621   xserver-xorg-video-intel xserver-xorg-video-mach64
11622   xserver-xorg-video-mga xserver-xorg-video-neomagic
11623   xserver-xorg-video-nsc xserver-xorg-video-nv
11624   xserver-xorg-video-openchrome xserver-xorg-video-r128
11625   xserver-xorg-video-radeon xserver-xorg-video-radeonhd
11626   xserver-xorg-video-rendition xserver-xorg-video-s3
11627   xserver-xorg-video-s3virge xserver-xorg-video-savage
11628   xserver-xorg-video-siliconmotion xserver-xorg-video-sis
11629   xserver-xorg-video-sisusb xserver-xorg-video-tdfx
11630   xserver-xorg-video-tga xserver-xorg-video-trident
11631   xserver-xorg-video-tseng xserver-xorg-video-v4l
11632   xserver-xorg-video-vesa xserver-xorg-video-vga
11633   xserver-xorg-video-vmware xserver-xorg-video-voodoo xulrunner-1.9</p>
11634
11635 <p><b>aptitude kde 192</b>
11636 <br>bluez-utils cpp-4.3 cupsddk-drivers cvs dcoprss dhcdbd
11637   djvulibre-desktop dosfstools eyesapplet fifteenapplet finger gettext
11638   ghostscript-x imlib-base imlib11 indi kandy karm kasteroids
11639   kaudiocreator kbackgammon kbstate kcoloredit kcontrol kcron kdat
11640   kdeadmin-kfile-plugins kdeartwork-misc kdeartwork-theme-window
11641   kdebase-bin-kde3 kdebase-kio-plugins kdeedu-data
11642   kdegraphics-kfile-plugins kdelirc kdemultimedia-kappfinder-data
11643   kdemultimedia-kfile-plugins kdenetwork-kfile-plugins
11644   kdepim-kfile-plugins kdepim-kio-plugins kdeprint kdesktop kdessh
11645   kdict kdnssd kdvi kedit keduca kenolaba kfax kfaxview kfouleggs
11646   kghostview khelpcenter khexedit kiconedit kitchensync klatin
11647   klickety kmailcvt kmenuedit kmid kmilo kmoon kmrml kodo kolourpaint
11648   kooka korn kpager kpdf kpercentage kpf kpilot kpoker kpovmodeler
11649   krec kregexpeditor ksayit ksim ksirc ksirtet ksmiletris ksmserver
11650   ksnake ksokoban ksplash ksvg ksysv ktip ktnef kuickshow kverbos
11651   kview kviewshell kvoctrain kwifimanager kwin kwin4 kworldclock
11652   kxsldbg libakode2 libao2 libarts1-akode libarts1-audiofile
11653   libarts1-mpeglib libarts1-xine libavahi-compat-libdnssd1
11654   libavahi-core5 libavc1394-0 libavcodec51 libbluetooth2
11655   libboost-python1.34.1 libcucul0 libcurl3 libcvsservice0 libdatrie0
11656   libdirectfb-1.0-0 libdjvulibre21 libdvdread3 libfaad0 libfreebob0
11657   libgail-common libgd2-noxpm libgraphviz4 libgsmme1c2a libgtkhtml2-0
11658   libicu38 libiec61883-0 libindex0 libiw29 libk3b3 libkcal2b libkcddb1
11659   libkdeedu3 libkdepim1a libkgantt0 libkiten1 libkleopatra1 libkmime2
11660   libkpathsea4 libkpimexchange1 libkpimidentities1 libkscan1
11661   libksieve0 libktnef1 liblockdev1 libltdl3 libmagick10 libmimelib1c2a
11662   libmozjs1d libmpcdec3 libneon27 libnm-util0 libopensync0 libpisock9
11663   libpoppler-glib3 libpoppler-qt2 libpoppler3 libraw1394-8 libsmbios2
11664   libssh2-1 libsuitesparse-3.1.0 libtalloc1 libtiff-tools
11665   libxalan2-java libxalan2-java-gcj libxcb-xlib0 libxerces2-java
11666   libxerces2-java-gcj libxtrap6 mpeglib networkstatus
11667   openoffice.org-writer2latex pmount poster psutils quanta quanta-data
11668   superkaramba svgalibg1 tex-common texlive-base texlive-base-bin
11669   texlive-common texlive-doc-base texlive-fonts-recommended
11670   xserver-xorg-video-cyrix xserver-xorg-video-imstt
11671   xserver-xorg-video-nsc xserver-xorg-video-v4l xserver-xorg-video-vga
11672   xulrunner-1.9</p>
11673
11674
11675       </div>
11676       <div class="tags">
11677
11678
11679         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>.
11680
11681
11682       </div>
11683     </div>
11684     <div class="padding"></div>
11685
11686     <div class="entry">
11687       <div class="title">
11688         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Automatic_upgrade_testing_from_Lenny_to_Squeeze.html">Automatic upgrade testing from Lenny to Squeeze</a>
11689       </div>
11690       <div class="date">
11691         11th June 2010
11692       </div>
11693       <div class="body">
11694         <p>The last few days I have done some upgrade testing in Debian, to
11695 see if the upgrade from Lenny to Squeeze will go smoothly.  A few bugs
11696 have been discovered and reported in the process
11697 (<a href="http://bugs.debian.org/585410">#585410</a> in nagios3-cgi,
11698 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/584879">#584879</a> already fixed in
11699 enscript and <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/584861">#584861</a> in
11700 kdebase-workspace-data), and to get a more regular testing going on, I
11701 am working on a script to automate the test.</p>
11702
11703 <p>The idea is to create a Lenny chroot and use tasksel to install a
11704 Gnome or KDE desktop installation inside the chroot before upgrading
11705 it.  To ensure no services are started in the chroot, a policy-rc.d
11706 script is inserted.  To make sure tasksel believe it is to install a
11707 desktop on a laptop, the tasksel tests are replaced in the chroot
11708 (only acceptable because this is a throw-away chroot).</p>
11709
11710 <p>A naive upgrade from Lenny to Squeeze using aptitude dist-upgrade
11711 currently always fail because udev refuses to upgrade with the kernel
11712 in Lenny, so to avoid that problem the file /etc/udev/kernel-upgrade
11713 is created.  The bug report
11714 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/566000">#566000</a> make me suspect
11715 this problem do not trigger in a chroot, but I touch the file anyway
11716 to make sure the upgrade go well.  Testing on virtual and real
11717 hardware have failed me because of udev so far, and creating this file
11718 do the trick in such settings anyway.  This is a
11719 <a href="http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/debian-26/failed-dist-upgrade-due-to-udev-config_sysfs_deprecated-nonsense-804130/">known
11720 issue</a> and the current udev behaviour is intended by the udev
11721 maintainer because he lack the resources to rewrite udev to keep
11722 working with old kernels or something like that.  I really wish the
11723 udev upstream would keep udev backwards compatible, to avoid such
11724 upgrade problem, but given that they fail to do so, I guess
11725 documenting the way out of this mess is the best option we got for
11726 Debian Squeeze.</p>
11727
11728 <p>Anyway, back to the task at hand, testing upgrades.  This test
11729 script, which I call <tt>upgrade-test</tt> for now, is doing the
11730 trick:</p>
11731
11732 <blockquote><pre>
11733 #!/bin/sh
11734 set -ex
11735
11736 if [ "$1" ] ; then
11737     desktop=$1
11738 else
11739     desktop=gnome
11740 fi
11741
11742 from=lenny
11743 to=squeeze
11744
11745 exec &lt; /dev/null
11746 unset LANG
11747 mirror=http://ftp.skolelinux.org/debian
11748 tmpdir=chroot-$from-upgrade-$to-$desktop
11749 fuser -mv .
11750 debootstrap $from $tmpdir $mirror
11751 chroot $tmpdir aptitude update
11752 cat > $tmpdir/usr/sbin/policy-rc.d &lt;&lt;EOF
11753 #!/bin/sh
11754 exit 101
11755 EOF
11756 chmod a+rx $tmpdir/usr/sbin/policy-rc.d
11757 exit_cleanup() {
11758     umount $tmpdir/proc
11759 }
11760 mount -t proc proc $tmpdir/proc
11761 # Make sure proc is unmounted also on failure
11762 trap exit_cleanup EXIT INT
11763
11764 chroot $tmpdir aptitude -y install debconf-utils
11765
11766 # Make sure tasksel autoselection trigger.  It need the test scripts
11767 # to return the correct answers.
11768 echo tasksel tasksel/desktop multiselect $desktop | \
11769     chroot $tmpdir debconf-set-selections
11770
11771 # Include the desktop and laptop task
11772 for test in desktop laptop ; do
11773     echo > $tmpdir/usr/lib/tasksel/tests/$test &lt;&lt;EOF
11774 #!/bin/sh
11775 exit 2
11776 EOF
11777     chmod a+rx $tmpdir/usr/lib/tasksel/tests/$test
11778 done
11779
11780 DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive
11781 DEBIAN_PRIORITY=critical
11782 export DEBIAN_FRONTEND DEBIAN_PRIORITY
11783 chroot $tmpdir tasksel --new-install
11784
11785 echo deb $mirror $to main > $tmpdir/etc/apt/sources.list
11786 chroot $tmpdir aptitude update
11787 touch $tmpdir/etc/udev/kernel-upgrade
11788 chroot $tmpdir aptitude -y dist-upgrade
11789 fuser -mv
11790 </pre></blockquote>
11791
11792 <p>I suspect it would be useful to test upgrades with both apt-get and
11793 with aptitude, but I have not had time to look at how they behave
11794 differently so far.  I hope to get a cron job running to do the test
11795 regularly and post the result on the web.  The Gnome upgrade currently
11796 work, while the KDE upgrade fail because of the bug in
11797 kdebase-workspace-data</p>
11798
11799 <p>I am not quite sure what kind of extract from the huge upgrade logs
11800 (KDE 167 KiB, Gnome 516 KiB) it make sense to include in this blog
11801 post, so I will refrain from trying.  I can report that for Gnome,
11802 aptitude report 760 packages upgraded, 448 newly installed, 129 to
11803 remove and 1 not upgraded and 1024MB need to be downloaded while for
11804 KDE the same numbers are 702 packages upgraded, 507 newly installed,
11805 193 to remove and 0 not upgraded and 1117MB need to be downloaded</p>
11806
11807 <p>I am very happy to notice that the Gnome desktop + laptop upgrade
11808 is able to migrate to dependency based boot sequencing and parallel
11809 booting without a hitch.  Was unsure if there were still bugs with
11810 packages failing to clean up their obsolete init.d script during
11811 upgrades, and no such problem seem to affect the Gnome desktop+laptop
11812 packages.</p>
11813
11814       </div>
11815       <div class="tags">
11816
11817
11818         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>.
11819
11820
11821       </div>
11822     </div>
11823     <div class="padding"></div>
11824
11825     <div class="entry">
11826       <div class="title">
11827         <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>
11828       </div>
11829       <div class="date">
11830          6th June 2010
11831       </div>
11832       <div class="body">
11833         <p>If Debian is to migrate to upstart on Linux, I expect some init.d
11834 scripts to migrate (some of) their operations to upstart job while
11835 keeping the init.d for hurd and kfreebsd.  The packages with such
11836 needs will need a way to get their init.d scripts to behave
11837 differently when used with sysvinit and with upstart.  Because of
11838 this, I had a look at the environment variables set when a init.d
11839 script is running under upstart, and when it is not.</p>
11840
11841 <p>With upstart, I notice these environment variables are set when a
11842 script is started from rcS.d/ (ignoring some irrelevant ones like
11843 COLUMNS):</p>
11844
11845 <blockquote><pre>
11846 DEFAULT_RUNLEVEL=2
11847 previous=N
11848 PREVLEVEL=
11849 RUNLEVEL=
11850 runlevel=S
11851 UPSTART_EVENTS=startup
11852 UPSTART_INSTANCE=
11853 UPSTART_JOB=rc-sysinit
11854 </pre></blockquote>
11855
11856 <p>With sysvinit, these environment variables are set for the same
11857 script.</p>
11858
11859 <blockquote><pre>
11860 INIT_VERSION=sysvinit-2.88
11861 previous=N
11862 PREVLEVEL=N
11863 RUNLEVEL=S
11864 runlevel=S
11865 </pre></blockquote>
11866
11867 <p>The RUNLEVEL and PREVLEVEL environment variables passed on from
11868 sysvinit are not set by upstart.  Not sure if it is intentional or not
11869 to not be compatible with sysvinit in this regard.</p>
11870
11871 <p>For scripts needing to behave differently when upstart is used,
11872 looking for the UPSTART_JOB environment variable seem to be a good
11873 choice.</p>
11874
11875       </div>
11876       <div class="tags">
11877
11878
11879         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>.
11880
11881
11882       </div>
11883     </div>
11884     <div class="padding"></div>
11885
11886     <div class="entry">
11887       <div class="title">
11888         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/A_manual_for_standards_wars___.html">A manual for standards wars...</a>
11889       </div>
11890       <div class="date">
11891          6th June 2010
11892       </div>
11893       <div class="body">
11894         <p>Via the
11895 <a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/robweir/antic-atom/~3/QzU4RgoAGMg/weekly-links-10.html">blog
11896 of Rob Weir</a> I came across the very interesting essay named
11897 <a href="http://faculty.haas.berkeley.edu/shapiro/wars.pdf">The Art of
11898 Standards Wars</a> (PDF 25 pages).  I recommend it for everyone
11899 following the standards wars of today.</p>
11900
11901       </div>
11902       <div class="tags">
11903
11904
11905         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>.
11906
11907
11908       </div>
11909     </div>
11910     <div class="padding"></div>
11911
11912     <div class="entry">
11913       <div class="title">
11914         <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>
11915       </div>
11916       <div class="date">
11917          3rd June 2010
11918       </div>
11919       <div class="body">
11920         <p>When using sitesummary at a site to track machines, it is possible
11921 to get a list of the machine types in use thanks to the DMI
11922 information extracted from each machine.  The script to do so is
11923 included in the sitesummary package, and here is example output from
11924 the Skolelinux build servers:</p>
11925
11926 <blockquote><pre>
11927 maintainer:~# /usr/lib/sitesummary/hardware-model-summary
11928   vendor                    count
11929   Dell Computer Corporation     1
11930     PowerEdge 1750              1
11931   IBM                           1
11932     eserver xSeries 345 -[8670M1X]-     1
11933   Intel                         2
11934   [no-dmi-info]                 3
11935 maintainer:~#
11936 </pre></blockquote>
11937
11938 <p>The quality of the report depend on the quality of the DMI tables
11939 provided in each machine.  Here there are Intel machines without model
11940 information listed with Intel as vendor and no model, and virtual Xen
11941 machines listed as [no-dmi-info].  One can add -l as a command line
11942 option to list the individual machines.</p>
11943
11944 <p>A larger list is
11945 <a href="http://narvikskolen.no/sitesummary/">available from the the
11946 city of Narvik</a>, which uses Skolelinux on all their shools and also
11947 provide the basic sitesummary report publicly.  In their report there
11948 are ~1400 machines. I know they use both Ubuntu and Skolelinux on
11949 their machines, and as sitesummary is available in both distributions,
11950 it is trivial to get all of them to report to the same central
11951 collector.</p>
11952
11953       </div>
11954       <div class="tags">
11955
11956
11957         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>.
11958
11959
11960       </div>
11961     </div>
11962     <div class="padding"></div>
11963
11964     <div class="entry">
11965       <div class="title">
11966         <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>
11967       </div>
11968       <div class="date">
11969          1st June 2010
11970       </div>
11971       <div class="body">
11972         <p>It is strange to watch how a bug in Debian causing KDM to fail to
11973 start at boot when an NVidia video card is used is handled.  The
11974 problem seem to be that the nvidia X.org driver uses a long time to
11975 initialize, and this duration is longer than kdm is configured to
11976 wait.</p>
11977
11978 <p>I came across two bugs related to this issue,
11979 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/583312">#583312</a> initially filed
11980 against initscripts and passed on to nvidia-glx when it became obvious
11981 that the nvidia drivers were involved, and
11982 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/524751">#524751</a> initially filed against
11983 kdm and passed on to src:nvidia-graphics-drivers for unknown reasons.</p>
11984
11985 <p>To me, it seem that no-one is interested in actually solving the
11986 problem nvidia video card owners experience and make sure the Debian
11987 distribution work out of the box for these users.  The nvidia driver
11988 maintainers expect kdm to be set up to wait longer, while kdm expect
11989 the nvidia driver maintainers to fix the driver to start faster, and
11990 while they wait for each other I guess the users end up switching to a
11991 distribution that work for them.  I have no idea what the solution is,
11992 but I am pretty sure that waiting for each other is not it.</p>
11993
11994 <p>I wonder why we end up handling bugs this way.</p>
11995
11996       </div>
11997       <div class="tags">
11998
11999
12000         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>.
12001
12002
12003       </div>
12004     </div>
12005     <div class="padding"></div>
12006
12007     <div class="entry">
12008       <div class="title">
12009         <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>
12010       </div>
12011       <div class="date">
12012         27th May 2010
12013       </div>
12014       <div class="body">
12015         <p>A few days ago, parallel booting was enabled in Debian/testing.
12016 The feature seem to hold up pretty well, but three fairly serious
12017 issues are known and should be solved:
12018
12019 <p><ul>
12020
12021 <li>The wicd package seen to
12022 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/508289">break NFS mounting</a> and
12023 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/581586">network setup</a> when
12024 parallel booting is enabled.  No idea why, but the wicd maintainer
12025 seem to be on the case.</li>
12026
12027 <li>The nvidia X driver seem to
12028 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/583312">have a race condition</a>
12029 triggered more easily when parallel booting is in effect.  The
12030 maintainer is on the case.</li>
12031
12032 <li>The sysv-rc package fail to properly enable dependency based boot
12033 sequencing (the shutdown is broken) when old file-rc users
12034 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/575080">try to switch back</a> to
12035 sysv-rc.  One way to solve it would be for file-rc to create
12036 /etc/init.d/.legacy-bootordering, and another is to try to make
12037 sysv-rc more robust.  Will investigate some more and probably upload a
12038 workaround in sysv-rc to help those trying to move from file-rc to
12039 sysv-rc get a working shutdown.</li>
12040
12041 </ul></p>
12042
12043 <p>All in all not many surprising issues, and all of them seem
12044 solvable before Squeeze is released.  In addition to these there are
12045 some packages with bugs in their dependencies and run level settings,
12046 which I expect will be fixed in a reasonable time span.</p>
12047
12048 <p>If you report any problems with dependencies in init.d scripts to
12049 the BTS, please usertag the report to get it to show up at
12050 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/pkgreport.cgi?users=initscripts-ng-devel@lists.alioth.debian.org">the
12051 list of usertagged bugs related to this</a>.</p>
12052
12053 <p>Update: Correct bug number to file-rc issue.</p>
12054
12055       </div>
12056       <div class="tags">
12057
12058
12059         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>.
12060
12061
12062       </div>
12063     </div>
12064     <div class="padding"></div>
12065
12066     <div class="entry">
12067       <div class="title">
12068         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/More_flexible_firmware_handling_in_debian_installer.html">More flexible firmware handling in debian-installer</a>
12069       </div>
12070       <div class="date">
12071         22nd May 2010
12072       </div>
12073       <div class="body">
12074         <p>After a long break from debian-installer development, I finally
12075 found time today to return to the project.  Having to spend less time
12076 working dependency based boot in debian, as it is almost complete now,
12077 definitely helped freeing some time.</p>
12078
12079 <p>A while back, I ran into a problem while working on Debian Edu.  We
12080 include some firmware packages on the Debian Edu CDs, those needed to
12081 get disk and network controllers working.  Without having these
12082 firmware packages available during installation, it is impossible to
12083 install Debian Edu on the given machine, and because our target group
12084 are non-technical people, asking them to provide firmware packages on
12085 an external medium is a support pain.  Initially, I expected it to be
12086 enough to include the firmware packages on the CD to get
12087 debian-installer to find and use them.  This proved to be wrong.
12088 Next, I hoped it was enough to symlink the relevant firmware packages
12089 to some useful location on the CD (tried /cdrom/ and
12090 /cdrom/firmware/).  This also proved to not work, and at this point I
12091 found time to look at the debian-installer code to figure out what was
12092 going to work.</p>
12093
12094 <p>The firmware loading code is in the hw-detect package, and a closer
12095 look revealed that it would only look for firmware packages outside
12096 the installation media, so the CD was never checked for firmware
12097 packages.  It would only check USB sticks, floppies and other
12098 "external" media devices.  Today I changed it to also look in the
12099 /cdrom/firmware/ directory on the mounted CD or DVD, which should
12100 solve the problem I ran into with Debian edu.  I also changed it to
12101 look in /firmware/, to make sure the installer also find firmware
12102 provided in the initrd when booting the installer via PXE, to allow us
12103 to provide the same feature in the PXE setup included in Debian
12104 Edu.</p>
12105
12106 <p>To make sure firmware deb packages with a license questions are not
12107 activated without asking if the license is accepted, I extended
12108 hw-detect to look for preinst scripts in the firmware packages, and
12109 run these before activating the firmware during installation.  The
12110 license question is asked using debconf in the preinst, so this should
12111 solve the issue for the firmware packages I have looked at so far.</p>
12112
12113 <p>If you want to discuss the details of these features, please
12114 contact us on debian-boot@lists.debian.org.</p>
12115
12116       </div>
12117       <div class="tags">
12118
12119
12120         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>.
12121
12122
12123       </div>
12124     </div>
12125     <div class="padding"></div>
12126
12127     <div class="entry">
12128       <div class="title">
12129         <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>
12130       </div>
12131       <div class="date">
12132         19th May 2010
12133       </div>
12134       <div class="body">
12135         <p>Today, the last piece of the puzzle for roaming laptops in Debian
12136 Edu finally entered the Debian archive.  Today, the new
12137 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/libp/libpam-mklocaluser.html">libpam-mklocaluser</a>
12138 package was accepted.  Two days ago, two other pieces was accepted
12139 into unstable.  The
12140 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/p/pam-python.html">pam-python</a>
12141 package needed by libpam-mklocaluser, and the
12142 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/s/sssd.html">sssd</a> package
12143 passed NEW on Monday.  In addition, the
12144 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/libp/libpam-ccreds.html">libpam-ccreds</a>
12145 package we need is in experimental (version 10-4) since Saturday, and
12146 hopefully will be moved to unstable soon.</p>
12147
12148 <p>This collection of packages allow for two different setups for
12149 roaming laptops.  The traditional setup would be using libpam-ccreds,
12150 nscd and libpam-mklocaluser with LDAP or Kerberos authentication,
12151 which should work out of the box if the configuration changes proposed
12152 for nscd in <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/485282">BTS report
12153 #485282</a> is implemented.  The alternative setup is to use sssd with
12154 libpam-mklocaluser to connect to LDAP or Kerberos and let sssd take
12155 care of the caching of passwords and group information.</p>
12156
12157 <p>I have so far been unable to get sssd to work with the LDAP server
12158 at the University, but suspect the issue is some SSL/GnuTLS related
12159 problem with the server certificate.  I plan to update the Debian
12160 package to version 1.2, which is scheduled for next week, and hope to
12161 find time to make sure the next release will include both the
12162 Debian/Ubuntu specific patches.  Upstream is friendly and responsive,
12163 and I am sure we will find a good solution.</p>
12164
12165 <p>The idea is to set up the roaming laptops to authenticate using
12166 LDAP or Kerberos and create a local user with home directory in /home/
12167 when a usre in LDAP logs in via KDM or GDM for the first time, and
12168 cache the password for offline checking, as well as caching group
12169 memberhips and other relevant LDAP information.  The
12170 libpam-mklocaluser package was created to make sure the local home
12171 directory is in /home/, instead of /site/server/directory/ which would
12172 be the home directory if pam_mkhomedir was used.  To avoid confusion
12173 with support requests and configuration, we do not want local laptops
12174 to have users in a path that is used for the same users home directory
12175 on the home directory servers.</p>
12176
12177 <p>One annoying problem with gdm is that it do not show the PAM
12178 message passed to the user from libpam-mklocaluser when the local user
12179 is created.  Instead gdm simply reject the login with some generic
12180 message.  The message is shown in kdm, ssh and login, so I guess it is
12181 a bug in gdm.  Have not investigated if there is some other message
12182 type that can be used instead to get gdm to also show the message.</p>
12183
12184 <p>If you want to help out with implementing this for Debian Edu,
12185 please contact us on debian-edu@lists.debian.org.</p>
12186
12187       </div>
12188       <div class="tags">
12189
12190
12191         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>.
12192
12193
12194       </div>
12195     </div>
12196     <div class="padding"></div>
12197
12198     <div class="entry">
12199       <div class="title">
12200         <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>
12201       </div>
12202       <div class="date">
12203         14th May 2010
12204       </div>
12205       <div class="body">
12206         <p>Since this evening, parallel booting is the default in
12207 Debian/unstable for machines using dependency based boot sequencing.
12208 Apparently the testing of concurrent booting has been wider than
12209 expected, if I am to believe the
12210 <a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2010/05/msg00122.html">input
12211 on debian-devel@</a>, and I concluded a few days ago to move forward
12212 with the feature this weekend, to give us some time to detect any
12213 remaining problems before Squeeze is frozen.  If serious problems are
12214 detected, it is simple to change the default back to sequential boot.
12215 The upload of the new sysvinit package also activate a new upstream
12216 version.</p>
12217
12218 More information about
12219 <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/LSBInitScripts/DependencyBasedBoot">dependency
12220 based boot sequencing</a> is available from the Debian wiki.  It is
12221 currently possible to disable parallel booting when one run into
12222 problems caused by it, by adding this line to /etc/default/rcS:</p>
12223
12224 <blockquote><pre>
12225 CONCURRENCY=none
12226 </pre></blockquote>
12227
12228 <p>If you report any problems with dependencies in init.d scripts to
12229 the BTS, please usertag the report to get it to show up at
12230 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/pkgreport.cgi?users=initscripts-ng-devel@lists.alioth.debian.org">the
12231 list of usertagged bugs related to this</a>.</p>
12232
12233       </div>
12234       <div class="tags">
12235
12236
12237         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>.
12238
12239
12240       </div>
12241     </div>
12242     <div class="padding"></div>
12243
12244     <div class="entry">
12245       <div class="title">
12246         <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>
12247       </div>
12248       <div class="date">
12249         14th May 2010
12250       </div>
12251       <div class="body">
12252         <p>In the recent Debian Edu versions, the
12253 <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/HowTo/SiteSummary">sitesummary
12254 system</a> is used to keep track of the machines in the school
12255 network.  Each machine will automatically report its status to the
12256 central server after boot and once per night.  The network setup is
12257 also reported, and using this information it is possible to get the
12258 MAC address of all network interfaces in the machines.  This is useful
12259 to update the DHCP configuration.</p>
12260
12261 <p>To give some idea how to use sitesummary, here is a one-liner to
12262 ist all MAC addresses of all machines reporting to sitesummary.  Run
12263 this on the collector host:</p>
12264
12265 <blockquote><pre>
12266 perl -MSiteSummary -e 'for_all_hosts(sub { print join(" ", get_macaddresses(shift)), "\n"; });'
12267 </pre></blockquote>
12268
12269 <p>This will list all MAC addresses assosiated with all machine, one
12270 line per machine and with space between the MAC addresses.</p>
12271
12272 <p>To allow system administrators easier job at adding static DHCP
12273 addresses for hosts, it would be possible to extend this to fetch
12274 machine information from sitesummary and update the DHCP and DNS
12275 tables in LDAP using this information.  Such tool is unfortunately not
12276 written yet.</p>
12277
12278       </div>
12279       <div class="tags">
12280
12281
12282         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>.
12283
12284
12285       </div>
12286     </div>
12287     <div class="padding"></div>
12288
12289     <div class="entry">
12290       <div class="title">
12291         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/systemd__an_interesting_alternative_to_upstart.html">systemd, an interesting alternative to upstart</a>
12292       </div>
12293       <div class="date">
12294         13th May 2010
12295       </div>
12296       <div class="body">
12297         <p>The last few days a new boot system called
12298 <a href="http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/systemd">systemd</a>
12299 has been
12300 <a href="http://0pointer.de/blog/projects/systemd.html">introduced</a>
12301
12302 to the free software world.  I have not yet had time to play around
12303 with it, but it seem to be a very interesting alternative to
12304 <a href="http://upstart.ubuntu.com/">upstart</a>, and might prove to be
12305 a good alternative for Debian when we are able to switch to an event
12306 based boot system.  Tollef is
12307 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/580814">in the process</a> of getting
12308 systemd into Debian, and I look forward to seeing how well it work.  I
12309 like the fact that systemd handles init.d scripts with dependency
12310 information natively, allowing them to run in parallel where upstart
12311 at the moment do not.</p>
12312
12313 <p>Unfortunately do systemd have the same problem as upstart regarding
12314 platform support.  It only work on recent Linux kernels, and also need
12315 some new kernel features enabled to function properly.  This means
12316 kFreeBSD and Hurd ports of Debian will need a port or a different boot
12317 system.  Not sure how that will be handled if systemd proves to be the
12318 way forward.</p>
12319
12320 <p>In the mean time, based on the
12321 <a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2010/05/msg00122.html">input
12322 on debian-devel@</a> regarding parallel booting in Debian, I have
12323 decided to enable full parallel booting as the default in Debian as
12324 soon as possible (probably this weekend or early next week), to see if
12325 there are any remaining serious bugs in the init.d dependencies.  A
12326 new version of the sysvinit package implementing this change is
12327 already in experimental.  If all go well, Squeeze will be released
12328 with parallel booting enabled by default.</p>
12329
12330       </div>
12331       <div class="tags">
12332
12333
12334         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>.
12335
12336
12337       </div>
12338     </div>
12339     <div class="padding"></div>
12340
12341     <div class="entry">
12342       <div class="title">
12343         <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>
12344       </div>
12345       <div class="date">
12346          6th May 2010
12347       </div>
12348       <div class="body">
12349         <p>These days, the init.d script dependencies in Squeeze are quite
12350 complete, so complete that it is actually possible to run all the
12351 init.d scripts in parallell based on these dependencies.  If you want
12352 to test your Squeeze system, make sure
12353 <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/LSBInitScripts/DependencyBasedBoot">dependency
12354 based boot sequencing</a> is enabled, and add this line to
12355 /etc/default/rcS:</p>
12356
12357 <blockquote><pre>
12358 CONCURRENCY=makefile
12359 </pre></blockquote>
12360
12361 <p>That is it.  It will cause sysv-rc to use the startpar tool to run
12362 scripts in parallel using the dependency information stored in
12363 /etc/init.d/.depend.boot, /etc/init.d/.depend.start and
12364 /etc/init.d/.depend.stop to order the scripts.  Startpar is configured
12365 to try to start the kdm and gdm scripts as early as possible, and will
12366 start the facilities required by kdm or gdm as early as possible to
12367 make this happen.</p>
12368
12369 <p>Give it a try, and see if you like the result.  If some services
12370 fail to start properly, it is most likely because they have incomplete
12371 init.d script dependencies in their startup script (or some of their
12372 dependent scripts have incomplete dependencies).  Report bugs and get
12373 the package maintainers to fix it. :)</p>
12374
12375 <p>Running scripts in parallel could be the default in Debian when we
12376 manage to get the init.d script dependencies complete and correct.  I
12377 expect we will get there in Squeeze+1, if we get manage to test and
12378 fix the remaining issues.</p>
12379
12380 <p>If you report any problems with dependencies in init.d scripts to
12381 the BTS, please usertag the report to get it to show up at
12382 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/pkgreport.cgi?users=initscripts-ng-devel@lists.alioth.debian.org">the
12383 list of usertagged bugs related to this</a>.</p>
12384
12385       </div>
12386       <div class="tags">
12387
12388
12389         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>.
12390
12391
12392       </div>
12393     </div>
12394     <div class="padding"></div>
12395
12396     <div class="entry">
12397       <div class="title">
12398         <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>
12399       </div>
12400       <div class="date">
12401          2nd May 2010
12402       </div>
12403       <div class="body">
12404         <p>One interesting feature in Active Directory, is the ability to
12405 create a new user with an expired password, and thus force the user to
12406 change the password on the first login attempt.</p>
12407
12408 <p>I'm not quite sure how to do that with the LDAP setup in Debian
12409 Edu, but did some initial testing with a local account.  The account
12410 and password aging information is available in /etc/shadow, but
12411 unfortunately, it is not possible to specify an expiration time for
12412 passwords, only a maximum age for passwords.</p>
12413
12414 <p>A freshly created account (using adduser test) will have these
12415 settings in /etc/shadow:</p>
12416
12417 <blockquote><pre>
12418 root@tjener:~# chage -l test
12419 Last password change                                    : May 02, 2010
12420 Password expires                                        : never
12421 Password inactive                                       : never
12422 Account expires                                         : never
12423 Minimum number of days between password change          : 0
12424 Maximum number of days between password change          : 99999
12425 Number of days of warning before password expires       : 7
12426 root@tjener:~#
12427 </pre></blockquote>
12428
12429 <p>The only way I could come up with to create a user with an expired
12430 account, is to change the date of the last password change to the
12431 lowest value possible (January 1th 1970), and the maximum password age
12432 to the difference in days between that date and today.  To make it
12433 simple, I went for 30 years (30 * 365 = 10950) and January 2th (to
12434 avoid testing if 0 is a valid value).</p>
12435
12436 <p>After using these commands to set it up, it seem to work as
12437 intended:</p>
12438
12439 <blockquote><pre>
12440 root@tjener:~# chage -d 1 test; chage -M 10950 test
12441 root@tjener:~# chage -l test
12442 Last password change                                    : Jan 02, 1970
12443 Password expires                                        : never
12444 Password inactive                                       : never
12445 Account expires                                         : never
12446 Minimum number of days between password change          : 0
12447 Maximum number of days between password change          : 10950
12448 Number of days of warning before password expires       : 7
12449 root@tjener:~#
12450 </pre></blockquote>
12451
12452 <p>So far I have tested this with ssh and console, and kdm (in
12453 Squeeze) login, and all ask for a new password before login in the
12454 user (with ssh, I was thrown out and had to log in again).</p>
12455
12456 <p>Perhaps we should set up something similar for Debian Edu, to make
12457 sure only the user itself have the account password?</p>
12458
12459 <p>If you want to comment on or help out with implementing this for
12460 Debian Edu, please contact us on debian-edu@lists.debian.org.</p>
12461
12462 <p>Update 2010-05-02 17:20: Paul Tötterman tells me on IRC that the
12463 shadow(8) page in Debian/testing now state that setting the date of
12464 last password change to zero (0) will force the password to be changed
12465 on the first login.  This was not mentioned in the manual in Lenny, so
12466 I did not notice this in my initial testing.  I have tested it on
12467 Squeeze, and '<tt>chage -d 0 username</tt>' do work there.  I have not
12468 tested it on Lenny yet.</p>
12469
12470 <p>Update 2010-05-02-19:05: Jim Paris tells me via email that an
12471 equivalent command to expire a password is '<tt>passwd -e
12472 username</tt>', which insert zero into the date of the last password
12473 change.</p>
12474
12475       </div>
12476       <div class="tags">
12477
12478
12479         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>.
12480
12481
12482       </div>
12483     </div>
12484     <div class="padding"></div>
12485
12486     <div class="entry">
12487       <div class="title">
12488         <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>
12489       </div>
12490       <div class="date">
12491         28th April 2010
12492       </div>
12493       <div class="body">
12494         <p>For some years now, I have wondered how we should handle laptops in
12495 Debian Edu.  The Debian Edu infrastructure is mostly designed to
12496 handle stationary computers, and less suited for computers that come
12497 and go.</p>
12498
12499 <p>Now I finally believe I have an sensible idea on how to adjust
12500 Debian Edu for laptops, by introducing a new profile for them, for
12501 example called Roaming Workstations.  Here are my thought on this.
12502 The setup would consist of the following:</p>
12503
12504 <ul>
12505
12506  <li>During installation, the user name of the owner / primary user of
12507    the laptop is requested and a local home directory is set up for
12508    the user, with uid and gid information fetched from the LDAP
12509    server.  This allow the user to work also when offline.  The
12510    central home directory can be available in a subdirectory on
12511    request, for example mounted via CIFS.  It could be mounted
12512    automatically when a user log in while on the Debian Edu network,
12513    and unmounted when the machine is taken away (network down,
12514    hibernate, etc), it can be set up to do automatic mounting on
12515    request (using autofs), or perhaps some GUI button on the desktop
12516    can be used to access it when needed.  Perhaps it is enough to use
12517    the fish protocol in KDE?</li>
12518
12519  <li>Password checking is set up to use LDAP or Kerberos
12520    authentication when the machine is on the Debian Edu network, and
12521    to cache the password for offline checking when the machine unable
12522    to reach the LDAP or Kerberos server.  This can be done using
12523    <a href="http://www.padl.com/OSS/pam_ccreds.html">libpam-ccreds</a>
12524    or the Fedora developed
12525    <a href="https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Features/SSSD">System
12526    Security Services Daemon</a> packages.</li>
12527
12528  <li>File synchronisation with the central home directory is set up
12529    using a shared directory in both the local and the central home
12530    directory, using unison.</li>
12531
12532  <li>Printing should be set up to print to all printers broadcasting
12533    their existence on the local network, and should then work out of
12534    the box with CUPS.  For sites needing accurate printer quotas, some
12535    system with Kerberos authentication or printing via ssh could be
12536    implemented.</li>
12537
12538  <li>For users that should have local root access to their laptop,
12539    sudo should be used to allow this to the local user.</li>
12540
12541  <li>It would be nice if user and group information from LDAP is
12542    cached on the client, but given that there are entries for the
12543    local user and primary group in /etc/, it should not be needed.</li>
12544
12545 </ul>
12546
12547 <p>I believe all the pieces to implement this are in Debian/testing at
12548 the moment.  If we work quickly, we should be able to get this ready
12549 in time for the Squeeze release to freeze.  Some of the pieces need
12550 tweaking, like libpam-ccreds should get support for pam-auth-update
12551 (<a href="http://bugs.debian.org/566718">#566718</a>) and nslcd (or
12552 perhaps debian-edu-config) should get some integration code to stop
12553 its daemon when the LDAP server is unavailable to avoid long timeouts
12554 when disconnected from the net.  If we get Kerberos enabled, we need
12555 to make sure we avoid long timeouts there too.</p>
12556
12557 <p>If you want to help out with implementing this for Debian Edu,
12558 please contact us on debian-edu@lists.debian.org.</p>
12559
12560       </div>
12561       <div class="tags">
12562
12563
12564         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>.
12565
12566
12567       </div>
12568     </div>
12569     <div class="padding"></div>
12570
12571     <div class="entry">
12572       <div class="title">
12573         <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>
12574       </div>
12575       <div class="date">
12576         19th April 2010
12577       </div>
12578       <div class="body">
12579         <p>The last few weeks i have had the pleasure of reading a
12580 thought-provoking collection of essays by Cory Doctorow, on topics
12581 touching copyright, virtual worlds, the future of man when the
12582 conscience mind can be duplicated into a computer and many more. The
12583 book titled "Content: Selected Essays on Technology, Creativity,
12584 Copyright, and the Future of the Future" is available with few
12585 restrictions on the web, for example from
12586 <a href="http://craphound.com/content/">his own site</a>. I read the
12587 epub-version from
12588 <a href="http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2883">feedbooks</a> using
12589 <a href="http://www.fbreader.org/">fbreader</a> and my N810. I
12590 strongly recommend this book.</p>
12591
12592       </div>
12593       <div class="tags">
12594
12595
12596         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>.
12597
12598
12599       </div>
12600     </div>
12601     <div class="padding"></div>
12602
12603     <div class="entry">
12604       <div class="title">
12605         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Kerberos_for_Debian_Edu_Squeeze_.html">Kerberos for Debian Edu/Squeeze?</a>
12606       </div>
12607       <div class="date">
12608         14th April 2010
12609       </div>
12610       <div class="body">
12611         <p><a href="http://www.nuug.no/aktiviteter/20100413-kerberos/">Yesterdays
12612 NUUG presentation</a> about Kerberos was inspiring, and reminded me
12613 about the need to start using Kerberos in Skolelinux.  Setting up a
12614 Kerberos server seem to be straight forward, and if we get this in
12615 place a long time before the Squeeze version of Debian freezes, we
12616 have a chance to migrate Skolelinux away from NFSv3 for the home
12617 directories, and over to an architecture where the infrastructure do
12618 not have to trust IP addresses and machines, and instead can trust
12619 users and cryptographic keys instead.</p>
12620
12621 <p>A challenge will be integration and administration.  Is there a
12622 Kerberos implementation for Debian where one can control the
12623 administration access in Kerberos using LDAP groups?  With it, the
12624 school administration will have to maintain access control using flat
12625 files on the main server, which give a huge potential for errors.</p>
12626
12627 <p>A related question I would like to know is how well Kerberos and
12628 pam-ccreds (offline password check) work together.  Anyone know?</p>
12629
12630 <p>Next step will be to use Kerberos for access control in Lwat and
12631 Nagios.  I have no idea how much work that will be to implement.  We
12632 would also need to document how to integrate with Windows AD, as such
12633 shared network will require two Kerberos realms that need to cooperate
12634 to work properly.</p>
12635
12636 <p>I believe a good start would be to start using Kerberos on the
12637 skolelinux.no machines, and this way get ourselves experience with
12638 configuration and integration.  A natural starting point would be
12639 setting up ldap.skolelinux.no as the Kerberos server, and migrate the
12640 rest of the machines from PAM via LDAP to PAM via Kerberos one at the
12641 time.</p>
12642
12643 <p>If you would like to contribute to get this working in Skolelinux,
12644 I recommend you to see the video recording from yesterdays NUUG
12645 presentation, and start using Kerberos at home.  The video show show
12646 up in a few days.</p>
12647
12648       </div>
12649       <div class="tags">
12650
12651
12652         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>.
12653
12654
12655       </div>
12656     </div>
12657     <div class="padding"></div>
12658
12659     <div class="entry">
12660       <div class="title">
12661         <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>
12662       </div>
12663       <div class="date">
12664          6th March 2010
12665       </div>
12666       <div class="body">
12667         <p>6 years ago, as part of the Debian Edu development I am involved
12668 in, I asked for a hook in the kdm and gdm setup to run scripts as root
12669 when the user log out.  A bug was submitted against the xfree86-common
12670 package in 2004 (<a href="http://bugs.debian.org/230422">#230422</a>),
12671 and revisited every time Debian Edu was working on a new release.
12672 Today, this finally paid off.</p>
12673
12674 <p>The framework for this feature was today commited to the git
12675 repositry for the xorg package, and the git repository for xdm has
12676 been updated to use this framework.  Next on my agenda is to make sure
12677 kdm and gdm also add code to use this framework.</p>
12678
12679 <p>In Debian Edu, we want to ability to run commands as root when the
12680 user log out, to get rid of runaway processes and do general cleanup
12681 after a user.  With this framework in place, we finally can do that in
12682 a generic way that work with all display managers using this
12683 framework.  My goal is to get all display managers in Debian use it,
12684 similar to how they use the Xsession.d framework today.<p>
12685
12686       </div>
12687       <div class="tags">
12688
12689
12690         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>.
12691
12692
12693       </div>
12694     </div>
12695     <div class="padding"></div>
12696
12697     <div class="entry">
12698       <div class="title">
12699         <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>
12700       </div>
12701       <div class="date">
12702         11th February 2010
12703       </div>
12704       <div class="body">
12705         <p>On Tuesday, the Debian/Lenny based version of
12706 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Skolelinux</a> was finally
12707 shipped.  This was a major leap forward for the project, and I am very
12708 pleased that we finally got the release wrapped up.  Work on the first
12709 point release starts imediately, as we plan to get that one out a
12710 month after the major release, to include all fixes for bugs we found
12711 and fixed too late in the release process to include last Tuesday.</p>
12712
12713 <p>Perhaps it even is time for some partying?</p>
12714
12715 <p>After this first point release, my plan is to focus again on the
12716 next major release, based on Squeeze.  We will try to get as many of
12717 the fixes we need into the official Debian packages before the freeze,
12718 and have just a few weeks or months to make it happen.</p>
12719
12720       </div>
12721       <div class="tags">
12722
12723
12724         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>.
12725
12726
12727       </div>
12728     </div>
12729     <div class="padding"></div>
12730
12731     <div class="entry">
12732       <div class="title">
12733         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Automatic_Munin_and_Nagios_configuration.html">Automatic Munin and Nagios configuration</a>
12734       </div>
12735       <div class="date">
12736         27th January 2010
12737       </div>
12738       <div class="body">
12739         <p>One of the new features in the next Debian/Lenny based release of
12740 Debian Edu/Skolelinux, which is scheduled for release in the next few
12741 days, is automatic configuration of the service monitoring system
12742 Nagios.  The previous release had automatic configuration of trend
12743 analysis using Munin, and this Lenny based release take that a step
12744 further.</p>
12745
12746 <p>When installing a Debian Edu Main-server, it is automatically
12747 configured as a Munin and Nagios server.  In addition, it is
12748 configured to be a server for the
12749 <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/HowTo/SiteSummary">SiteSummary
12750 system</a> I have written for use in Debian Edu.  The SiteSummary
12751 system is inspired by a system used by the University of Oslo where I
12752 work.  In short, the system provide a centralised collector of
12753 information about the computers on the network, and a client on each
12754 computer submitting information to this collector.  This allow for
12755 automatic information on which packages are installed on each machine,
12756 which kernel the machines are using, what kind of configuration the
12757 packages got etc.  This also allow us to automatically generate Munin
12758 and Nagios configuration.</p>
12759
12760 <p>All computers reporting to the sitesummary collector with the
12761 munin-node package installed is automatically enabled as a Munin
12762 client and graphs from the statistics collected from that machine show
12763 up automatically on http://www/munin/ on the Main-server.</p>
12764
12765 <p>All non-laptop computers reporting to the sitesummary collector are
12766 automatically monitored for network presence (ping and any network
12767 services detected).  In addition, all computers (also laptops) with
12768 the nagios-nrpe-server package installed and configured the way
12769 sitesummary would configure it, are monitored for full disks, software
12770 raid status, swap free and other checks that need to run locally on
12771 the machine.</p>
12772
12773 <p>The result is that the administrator on a school using Debian Edu
12774 based on Lenny will be able to check the health of his installation
12775 with one look at the Nagios settings, without having to spend any time
12776 keeping the Nagios configuration up-to-date.</p>
12777
12778 <p>The only configuration one need to do to get Nagios up and running
12779 is to set the password used to get access via HTTP.  The system
12780 administrator need to run "<tt>htpasswd /etc/nagios3/htpasswd.users
12781 nagiosadmin</tt>" to create a nagiosadmin user and set a password for
12782 it to be able to log into the Nagios web pages.  After that,
12783 everything is taken care of.</p>
12784
12785       </div>
12786       <div class="tags">
12787
12788
12789         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>.
12790
12791
12792       </div>
12793     </div>
12794     <div class="padding"></div>
12795
12796     <div class="entry">
12797       <div class="title">
12798         <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>
12799       </div>
12800       <div class="date">
12801         12th August 2009
12802       </div>
12803       <div class="body">
12804         <p>Just for fun, I did a search right now on Google for a few file ODF
12805 and MS Office based formats (not to be mistaken for ISO or ECMA
12806 OOXML), to get an idea of their relative usage.  I searched using
12807 'filetype:odt' and equvalent terms, and got these results:</P>
12808
12809 <table>
12810 <tr><th>Type</th><th>ODF</th><th>MS Office</th></tr>
12811 <tr><td>Tekst</td> <td>odt:282000</td> <td>docx:308000</td></tr>
12812 <tr><td>Presentasjon</td> <td>odp:75600</td> <td>pptx:183000</td></tr>
12813 <tr><td>Regneark</td> <td>ods:26500     </td> <td>xlsx:145000</td></tr>
12814 </table>
12815
12816 <p>Next, I added a 'site:no' limit to get the numbers for Norway, and
12817 got these numbers:</p>
12818
12819 <table>
12820 <tr><th>Type</th><th>ODF</th><th>MS Office</th></tr>
12821 <tr><td>Tekst</td> <td>odt:2480 </td> <td>docx:4460</td></tr>
12822 <tr><td>Presentasjon</td> <td>odp:299   </td> <td>pptx:741</td></tr>
12823 <tr><td>Regneark</td> <td>ods:187       </td> <td>xlsx:372</td></tr>
12824 </table>
12825
12826 <p>I wonder how these numbers change over time.</p>
12827
12828 <p>I am aware of Google returning different results and numbers based
12829 on where the search is done, so I guess these numbers will differ if
12830 they are conduced in another country.  Because of this, I did the same
12831 search from a machine in California, USA, a few minutes after the
12832 search done from a machine here in Norway.</p>
12833
12834
12835 <table>
12836 <tr><th>Type</th><th>ODF</th><th>MS Office</th></tr>
12837 <tr><td>Tekst</td> <td>odt:129000</td> <td>docx:308000</td></tr>
12838 <tr><td>Presentasjon</td> <td>odp:44200</td> <td>pptx:93900</td></tr>
12839 <tr><td>Regneark</td> <td>ods:26500     </td> <td>xlsx:82400</td></tr>
12840 </table>
12841
12842 <p>And with 'site:no':
12843
12844 <table>
12845 <tr><th>Type</th><th>ODF</th><th>MS Office</th></tr>
12846 <tr><td>Tekst</td> <td>odt:2480</td> <td>docx:3410</td></tr>
12847 <tr><td>Presentasjon</td> <td>odp:175</td> <td>pptx:604</td></tr>
12848 <tr><td>Regneark</td> <td>ods:186       </td> <td>xlsx:296</td></tr>
12849 </table>
12850
12851 <p>Interesting difference, not sure what to conclude from these
12852 numbers.</p>
12853
12854       </div>
12855       <div class="tags">
12856
12857
12858         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>.
12859
12860
12861       </div>
12862     </div>
12863     <div class="padding"></div>
12864
12865     <div class="entry">
12866       <div class="title">
12867         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/ISO_still_hope_to_fix_OOXML.html">ISO still hope to fix OOXML</a>
12868       </div>
12869       <div class="date">
12870          8th August 2009
12871       </div>
12872       <div class="body">
12873         <p>According to <a
12874 href="http://twerner.blogspot.com/2009/08/defects-of-office-open-xml.html">a
12875 blog post from Torsten Werner</a>, the current defect report for ISO
12876 29500 (ISO OOXML) is 809 pages.  His interesting point is that the
12877 defect report is 71 pages more than the full ODF 1.1 specification.
12878 Personally I find it more interesting that ISO still believe ISO OOXML
12879 can be fixed in ISO.  Personally, I believe it is broken beyon repair,
12880 and I completely lack any trust in ISO for being able to get anywhere
12881 close to solving the problems.  I was part of the Norwegian committee
12882 involved in the OOXML fast track process, and was not impressed with
12883 Standard Norway and ISO in how they handled it.</p>
12884
12885 <p>These days I focus on ODF instead, which seem like a specification
12886 with the future ahead of it.  We are working in NUUG to organise a ODF
12887 seminar this autumn.</p>
12888
12889       </div>
12890       <div class="tags">
12891
12892
12893         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>.
12894
12895
12896       </div>
12897     </div>
12898     <div class="padding"></div>
12899
12900     <div class="entry">
12901       <div class="title">
12902         <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>
12903       </div>
12904       <div class="date">
12905         27th July 2009
12906       </div>
12907       <div class="body">
12908         <p>Since this evening, with the upload of sysvinit version 2.87dsf-2,
12909 and the upload of insserv version 1.12.0-10 yesterday, Debian unstable
12910 have been migrated to using dependency based boot sequencing.  This
12911 conclude work me and others have been doing for the last three days.
12912 It feels great to see this finally part of the default Debian
12913 installation.  Now we just need to weed out the last few problems that
12914 are bound to show up, to get everything ready for Squeeze.</p>
12915
12916 <p>The next step is migrating /sbin/init from sysvinit to upstart, and
12917 fixing the more fundamental problem of handing the event based
12918 non-predictable kernel in the early boot.</p>
12919
12920       </div>
12921       <div class="tags">
12922
12923
12924         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>.
12925
12926
12927       </div>
12928     </div>
12929     <div class="padding"></div>
12930
12931     <div class="entry">
12932       <div class="title">
12933         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Taking_over_sysvinit_development.html">Taking over sysvinit development</a>
12934       </div>
12935       <div class="date">
12936         22nd July 2009
12937       </div>
12938       <div class="body">
12939         <p>After several years of frustration with the lack of activity from
12940 the existing sysvinit upstream developer, I decided a few weeks ago to
12941 take over the package and become the new upstream.  The number of
12942 patches to track for the Debian package was becoming a burden, and the
12943 lack of synchronization between the distribution made it hard to keep
12944 the package up to date.</p>
12945
12946 <p>On the new sysvinit team is the SuSe maintainer Dr. Werner Fink,
12947 and my Debian co-maintainer Kel Modderman.  About 10 days ago, I made
12948 a new upstream tarball with version number 2.87dsf (for Debian, SuSe
12949 and Fedora), based on the patches currently in use in these
12950 distributions.  We Debian maintainers plan to move to this tarball as
12951 the new upstream as soon as we find time to do the merge.  Since the
12952 new tarball was created, we agreed with Werner at SuSe to make a new
12953 upstream project at <a href="http://savannah.nongnu.org/">Savannah</a>, and continue
12954 development there.  The project is registered and currently waiting
12955 for approval by the Savannah administrators, and as soon as it is
12956 approved, we will import the old versions from svn and continue
12957 working on the future release.</p>
12958
12959 <p>It is a bit ironic that this is done now, when some of the involved
12960 distributions are moving to upstart as a syvinit replacement.</p>
12961
12962       </div>
12963       <div class="tags">
12964
12965
12966         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>.
12967
12968
12969       </div>
12970     </div>
12971     <div class="padding"></div>
12972
12973     <div class="entry">
12974       <div class="title">
12975         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_boots_quicker_and_quicker.html">Debian boots quicker and quicker</a>
12976       </div>
12977       <div class="date">
12978         24th June 2009
12979       </div>
12980       <div class="body">
12981         <p>I spent Monday and tuesday this week in London with a lot of the
12982 people involved in the boot system on Debian and Ubuntu, to see if we
12983 could find more ways to speed up the boot system.  This was an Ubuntu
12984 funded
12985 <a href="https://wiki.ubuntu.com/FoundationsTeam/BootPerformance/DebianUbuntuSprint">developer
12986 gathering</a>. It was quite productive.  We also discussed the future
12987 of boot systems, and ways to handle the increasing number of boot
12988 issues introduced by the Linux kernel becoming more and more
12989 asynchronous and event base.  The Ubuntu approach using udev and
12990 upstart might be a good way forward.  Time will show.</p>
12991
12992 <p>Anyway, there are a few ways at the moment to speed up the boot
12993 process in Debian.  All of these should be applied to get a quick
12994 boot:</p>
12995
12996 <ul>
12997
12998 <li>Use dash as /bin/sh.</li>
12999
13000 <li>Disable the init.d/hwclock*.sh scripts and make sure the hardware
13001    clock is in UTC.</li>
13002
13003 <li>Install and activate the insserv package to enable
13004    <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/LSBInitScripts/DependencyBasedBoot">dependency
13005    based boot sequencing</a>, and enable concurrent booting.</li>
13006
13007 </ul>
13008
13009 These points are based on the Google summer of code work done by
13010 <a href="http://initscripts-ng.alioth.debian.org/soc2006-bootsystem/">Carlos
13011 Villegas</a>.
13012
13013 <p>Support for makefile-style concurrency during boot was uploaded to
13014 unstable yesterday.  When we tested it, we were able to cut 6 seconds
13015 from the boot sequence.  It depend on very correct dependency
13016 declaration in all init.d scripts, so I expect us to find edge cases
13017 where the dependences in some scripts are slightly wrong when we start
13018 using this.</p>
13019
13020 <p>On our IRC channel for this effort, #pkg-sysvinit, a new idea was
13021 introduced by Raphael Geissert today, one that could affect the
13022 startup speed as well.  Instead of starting some scripts concurrently
13023 from rcS.d/ and another set of scripts from rc2.d/, it would be
13024 possible to run a of them in the same process.  A quick way to test
13025 this would be to enable insserv and run 'mv /etc/rc2.d/S* /etc/rcS.d/;
13026 insserv'.  Will need to test if that work. :)</p>
13027
13028       </div>
13029       <div class="tags">
13030
13031
13032         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>.
13033
13034
13035       </div>
13036     </div>
13037     <div class="padding"></div>
13038
13039     <div class="entry">
13040       <div class="title">
13041         <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>
13042       </div>
13043       <div class="date">
13044          2nd May 2009
13045       </div>
13046       <div class="body">
13047         <p>There are two software projects that have had huge influence on the
13048 quality of free software, and I wanted to mention both in case someone
13049 do not yet know them.</p>
13050
13051 <p>The first one is <a href="http://valgrind.org/">valgrind</a>, a
13052 tool to detect and expose errors in the memory handling of programs.
13053 It is easy to use, all one need to do is to run 'valgrind program',
13054 and it will report any problems on stdout.  It is even better if the
13055 program include debug information.  With debug information, it is able
13056 to report the source file name and line number where the problem
13057 occurs.  It can report things like 'reading past memory block in file
13058 X line N, the memory block was allocated in file Y, line M', and
13059 'using uninitialised value in control logic'.  This tool has made it
13060 trivial to investigate reproducible crash bugs in programs, and have
13061 reduced the number of this kind of bugs in free software a lot.
13062
13063 <p>The second one is
13064 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coverity">Coverity</a> which is
13065 a source code checker.  It is able to process the source of a program
13066 and find problems in the logic without running the program.  It
13067 started out as the Stanford Checker and became well known when it was
13068 used to find bugs in the Linux kernel.  It is now a commercial tool
13069 and the company behind it is running
13070 <a href="http://www.scan.coverity.com/">a community service</a> for the
13071 free software community, where a lot of free software projects get
13072 their source checked for free.  Several thousand defects have been
13073 found and fixed so far.  It can find errors like 'lock L taken in file
13074 X line N is never released if exiting in line M', or 'the code in file
13075 Y lines O to P can never be executed'.  The projects included in the
13076 community service project have managed to get rid of a lot of
13077 reliability problems thanks to Coverity.</p>
13078
13079 <p>I believe tools like this, that are able to automatically find
13080 errors in the source, are vital to improve the quality of software and
13081 make sure we can get rid of the crashing and failing software we are
13082 surrounded by today.</p>
13083
13084       </div>
13085       <div class="tags">
13086
13087
13088         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>.
13089
13090
13091       </div>
13092     </div>
13093     <div class="padding"></div>
13094
13095     <div class="entry">
13096       <div class="title">
13097         <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>
13098       </div>
13099       <div class="date">
13100         28th April 2009
13101       </div>
13102       <div class="body">
13103         <p>Julien Blache
13104 <a href="http://blog.technologeek.org/2009/04/12/214">claim that no
13105 patch is better than a useless patch</a>.  I completely disagree, as a
13106 patch allow one to discuss a concrete and proposed solution, and also
13107 prove that the issue at hand is important enough for someone to spent
13108 time on fixing it.  No patch do not provide any of these positive
13109 properties.</p>
13110
13111       </div>
13112       <div class="tags">
13113
13114
13115         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>.
13116
13117
13118       </div>
13119     </div>
13120     <div class="padding"></div>
13121
13122     <div class="entry">
13123       <div class="title">
13124         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Recording_video_from_cron_using_VLC.html">Recording video from cron using VLC</a>
13125       </div>
13126       <div class="date">
13127          5th April 2009
13128       </div>
13129       <div class="body">
13130         <p>One think I have wanted to figure out for a along time is how to
13131 run vlc from cron to do recording of video streams on the net.  The
13132 task is trivial with mplayer, but I do not really trust the security
13133 of mplayer (it crashes too often on strange input), and thus prefer
13134 vlc.  I finally found a way to do it today.  I spent an hour or so
13135 searching the web for recipes and reading the documentation.  The
13136 hardest part was to get rid of the GUI window, but after finding the
13137 dummy interface, the command line finally presented itself:</p>
13138
13139 <blockquote><pre>URL=http://www.ping.uio.no/video/rms-oslo_2009.ogg
13140 SAVEFILE=rms.ogg
13141 DISPLAY= vlc -q $URL \
13142   --sout="#duplicate{dst=std{access=file,url='$SAVEFILE'},dst=nodisplay}" \
13143   --intf=dummy</pre></blockquote>
13144
13145 <p>The command stream the URL and store it in the SAVEFILE by
13146 duplicating the output stream to "nodisplay" and the file, using the
13147 dummy interface.  The dummy interface and the nodisplay output make
13148 sure no X interface is needed.</p>
13149
13150 <p>The cron job then need to start this job with the appropriate URL
13151 and file name to save, sleep for the duration wanted, and then kill
13152 the vlc process with SIGTERM.  Here is a complete script
13153 <tt>vlc-record</tt> to use from <tt>at</tt> or <tt>cron</tt>:</p>
13154
13155 <blockquote><pre>#!/bin/sh
13156 set -e
13157 URL="$1"
13158 SAVEFILE="$2"
13159 DURATION="$3"
13160 DISPLAY= vlc -q "$URL" \
13161   --sout="#duplicate{dst=std{access=file,url='$SAVEFILE'},dst=nodisplay}" \
13162   --intf=dummy < /dev/null > /dev/null 2>&1 &
13163 pid=$!
13164 sleep $DURATION
13165 kill $pid
13166 wait $pid</pre></blockquote>
13167
13168       </div>
13169       <div class="tags">
13170
13171
13172         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>.
13173
13174
13175       </div>
13176     </div>
13177     <div class="padding"></div>
13178
13179     <div class="entry">
13180       <div class="title">
13181         <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>
13182       </div>
13183       <div class="date">
13184         30th March 2009
13185       </div>
13186       <div class="body">
13187         <p>Where I work at the University of Oslo, one decision stand out as a
13188 very good one to form a long lived computer infrastructure.  It is the
13189 simple one, lost by many in todays computer industry: Standardize on
13190 open network protocols and open exchange/storage formats, not applications.
13191 Applications come and go, while protocols and files tend to stay, and
13192 thus one want to make it easy to change application and vendor, while
13193 avoiding conversion costs and locking users to a specific platform or
13194 application.</p>
13195
13196 <p>This approach make it possible to replace the client applications
13197 independently of the server applications.  One can even allow users to
13198 use several different applications as long as they handle the selected
13199 protocol and format.  In the normal case, only one client application
13200 is recommended and users only get help if they choose to use this
13201 application, but those that want to deviate from the easy path are not
13202 blocked from doing so.</p>
13203
13204 <p>It also allow us to replace the server side without forcing the
13205 users to replace their applications, and thus allow us to select the
13206 best server implementation at any moment, when scale and resouce
13207 requirements change.</p>
13208
13209 <p>I strongly recommend standardizing - on open network protocols and
13210 open formats, but I would never recommend standardizing on a single
13211 application that do not use open network protocol or open formats.</p>
13212
13213       </div>
13214       <div class="tags">
13215
13216
13217         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>.
13218
13219
13220       </div>
13221     </div>
13222     <div class="padding"></div>
13223
13224     <div class="entry">
13225       <div class="title">
13226         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Returning_from_Skolelinux_developer_gathering.html">Returning from Skolelinux developer gathering</a>
13227       </div>
13228       <div class="date">
13229         29th March 2009
13230       </div>
13231       <div class="body">
13232         <p>I'm sitting on the train going home from this weekends Debian
13233 Edu/Skolelinux development gathering.  I got a bit done tuning the
13234 desktop, and looked into the dynamic service location protocol
13235 implementation avahi.  It look like it could be useful for us.  Almost
13236 30 people participated, and I believe it was a great environment to
13237 get to know the Skolelinux system.  Walter Bender, involved in the
13238 development of the Sugar educational platform, presented his stuff and
13239 also helped me improve my OLPC installation.  He also showed me that
13240 his Turtle Art application can be used in standalone mode, and we
13241 agreed that I would help getting it packaged for Debian.  As a
13242 standalone application it would be great for Debian Edu.  We also
13243 tried to get the video conferencing working with two OLPCs, but that
13244 proved to be too hard for us.  The application seem to need more work
13245 before it is ready for me.  I look forward to getting home and relax
13246 now. :)</p>
13247
13248       </div>
13249       <div class="tags">
13250
13251
13252         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>.
13253
13254
13255       </div>
13256     </div>
13257     <div class="padding"></div>
13258
13259     <div class="entry">
13260       <div class="title">
13261         <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>
13262       </div>
13263       <div class="date">
13264         29th March 2009
13265       </div>
13266       <div class="body">
13267         <p>The state of standardized LDAP schemas on Linux is far from
13268 optimal.  There is RFC 2307 documenting one way to store NIS maps in
13269 LDAP, and a modified version of this normally called RFC 2307bis, with
13270 some modifications to be compatible with Active Directory.  The RFC
13271 specification handle the content of a lot of system databases, but do
13272 not handle DNS zones and DHCP configuration.</p>
13273
13274 <p>In <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu/Skolelinux</a>,
13275 we would like to store information about users, SMB clients/hosts,
13276 filegroups, netgroups (users and hosts), DHCP and DNS configuration,
13277 and LTSP configuration in LDAP.  These objects have a lot in common,
13278 but with the current LDAP schemas it is not possible to have one
13279 object per entity.  For example, one need to have at least three LDAP
13280 objects for a given computer, one with the SMB related stuff, one with
13281 DNS information and another with DHCP information.  The schemas
13282 provided for DNS and DHCP are impossible to combine into one LDAP
13283 object.  In addition, it is impossible to implement quick queries for
13284 netgroup membership, because of the way NIS triples are implemented.
13285 It just do not scale.  I believe it is time for a few RFC
13286 specifications to cleam up this mess.</p>
13287
13288 <p>I would like to have one LDAP object representing each computer in
13289 the network, and this object can then keep the SMB (ie host key), DHCP
13290 (mac address/name) and DNS (name/IP address) settings in one place.
13291 It need to be efficently stored to make sure it scale well.</p>
13292
13293 <p>I would also like to have a quick way to map from a user or
13294 computer and to the net group this user or computer is a member.</p>
13295
13296 <p>Active Directory have done a better job than unix heads like myself
13297 in this regard, and the unix side need to catch up.  Time to start a
13298 new IETF work group?</p>
13299
13300       </div>
13301       <div class="tags">
13302
13303
13304         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>.
13305
13306
13307       </div>
13308     </div>
13309     <div class="padding"></div>
13310
13311     <div class="entry">
13312       <div class="title">
13313         <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>
13314       </div>
13315       <div class="date">
13316         28th February 2009
13317       </div>
13318       <div class="body">
13319         <p>At work, we have a few hundred Linux servers, and with that amount
13320 of hardware it is important to keep track of when the hardware support
13321 contract expire for each server.  We have a machine (and service)
13322 register, which until recently did not contain much useful besides the
13323 machine room location and contact information for the system owner for
13324 each machine.  To make it easier for us to track support contract
13325 status, I've recently spent time on extending the machine register to
13326 include information about when the support contract expire, and to tag
13327 machines with expired contracts to make it easy to get a list of such
13328 machines.  I extended a perl script already being used to import
13329 information about machines into the register, to also do some screen
13330 scraping off the sites of Dell, HP and IBM (our majority of machines
13331 are from these vendors), and automatically check the support status
13332 for the relevant machines.  This make the support status information
13333 easily available and I hope it will make it easier for the computer
13334 owner to know when to get new hardware or renew the support contract.
13335 The result of this work documented that 27% of the machines in the
13336 registry is without a support contract, and made it very easy to find
13337 them.  27% might seem like a lot, but I see it more as the case of us
13338 using machines a bit longer than the 3 years a normal support contract
13339 last, to have test machines and a platform for less important
13340 services.  After all, the machines without a contract are working fine
13341 at the moment and the lack of contract is only a problem if any of
13342 them break down.  When that happen, we can either fix it using spare
13343 parts from other machines or move the service to another old
13344 machine.</p>
13345
13346 <p>I believe the code for screen scraping the Dell site was originally
13347 written by Trond Hasle Amundsen, and later adjusted by me and Morten
13348 Werner Forsbring.  The HP scraping was written by me after reading a
13349 nice article in ;login: about how to use WWW::Mechanize, and the IBM
13350 scraping was written by me based on the Dell code.  I know the HTML
13351 parsing could be done using nice libraries, but did not want to
13352 introduce more dependencies.  This is the current incarnation:</p>
13353
13354 <pre>
13355 use LWP::Simple;
13356 use POSIX;
13357 use WWW::Mechanize;
13358 use Date::Parse;
13359 [...]
13360 sub get_support_info {
13361     my ($machine, $model, $serial, $productnumber) = @_;
13362     my $str;
13363
13364     if ( $model =~ m/^Dell / ) {
13365         # fetch website from Dell support
13366         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";
13367         my $webpage = get($url);
13368         return undef unless ($webpage);
13369
13370         my $daysleft = -1;
13371         my @lines = split(/\n/, $webpage);
13372         foreach my $line (@lines) {
13373             next unless ($line =~ m/Beskrivelse/);
13374             $line =~ s/&lt;[^>]+?>/;/gm;
13375             $line =~ s/^.+?;(Beskrivelse;)/$1/;
13376
13377             my @f = split(/\;/, $line);
13378             @f = @f[13 .. $#f];
13379             my $lastend = "";
13380             while ($f[3] eq "DELL") {
13381                 my ($type, $startstr, $endstr, $days) = @f[0, 5, 7, 10];
13382
13383                 my $start = POSIX::strftime("%Y-%m-%d",
13384                                             localtime(str2time($startstr)));
13385                 my $end = POSIX::strftime("%Y-%m-%d",
13386                                           localtime(str2time($endstr)));
13387                 $str .= "$type $start -> $end ";
13388                 @f = @f[14 .. $#f];
13389                 $lastend = $end if ($end gt $lastend);
13390             }
13391             my $today = POSIX::strftime("%Y-%m-%d", localtime(time));
13392             tag_machine_unsupported($machine)
13393                 if ($lastend lt $today);
13394         }
13395     } elsif ( $model =~ m/^HP / ) {
13396         my $mech = WWW::Mechanize->new();
13397         my $url =
13398             'http://www1.itrc.hp.com/service/ewarranty/warrantyInput.do';
13399         $mech->get($url);
13400         my $fields = {
13401             'BODServiceID' => 'NA',
13402             'RegisteredPurchaseDate' => '',
13403             'country' => 'NO',
13404             'productNumber' => $productnumber,
13405             'serialNumber1' => $serial,
13406         };
13407         $mech->submit_form( form_number => 2,
13408                             fields      => $fields );
13409         # Next step is screen scraping
13410         my $content = $mech->content();
13411
13412         $content =~ s/&lt;[^>]+?>/;/gm;
13413         $content =~ s/\s+/ /gm;
13414         $content =~ s/;\s*;/;;/gm;
13415         $content =~ s/;[\s;]+/;/gm;
13416
13417         my $today = POSIX::strftime("%Y-%m-%d", localtime(time));
13418
13419         while ($content =~ m/;Warranty Type;/) {
13420             my ($type, $status, $startstr, $stopstr) = $content =~
13421                 m/;Warranty Type;([^;]+);.+?;Status;(\w+);Start Date;([^;]+);End Date;([^;]+);/;
13422             $content =~ s/^.+?;Warranty Type;//;
13423             my $start = POSIX::strftime("%Y-%m-%d",
13424                                         localtime(str2time($startstr)));
13425             my $end = POSIX::strftime("%Y-%m-%d",
13426                                       localtime(str2time($stopstr)));
13427
13428             $str .= "$type ($status) $start -> $end ";
13429
13430             tag_machine_unsupported($machine)
13431                 if ($end lt $today);
13432         }
13433     } elsif ( $model =~ m/^IBM / ) {
13434         # This code ignore extended support contracts.
13435         my ($producttype) = $model =~ m/.*-\[(.{4}).+\]-/;
13436         if ($producttype &amp;&amp; $serial) {
13437             my $content =
13438                 get("http://www-947.ibm.com/systems/support/supportsite.wss/warranty?action=warranty&amp;brandind=5000008&amp;Submit=Submit&amp;type=$producttype&amp;serial=$serial");
13439             if ($content) {
13440                 $content =~ s/&lt;[^>]+?>/;/gm;
13441                 $content =~ s/\s+/ /gm;
13442                 $content =~ s/;\s*;/;;/gm;
13443                 $content =~ s/;[\s;]+/;/gm;
13444
13445                 $content =~ s/^.+?;Warranty status;//;
13446                 my ($status, $end) = $content =~ m/;Warranty status;([^;]+)\s*;Expiration date;(\S+) ;/;
13447
13448                 $str .= "($status) -> $end ";
13449
13450                 my $today = POSIX::strftime("%Y-%m-%d", localtime(time));
13451                 tag_machine_unsupported($machine)
13452                     if ($end lt $today);
13453             }
13454         }
13455     }
13456     return $str;
13457 }
13458 </pre>
13459
13460 <p>Here are some examples on how to use the function, using fake
13461 serial numbers.  The information passed in as arguments are fetched
13462 from dmidecode.</p>
13463
13464 <pre>
13465 print get_support_info("hp.host", "HP ProLiant BL460c G1", "1234567890"
13466                        "447707-B21");
13467 print get_support_info("dell.host", "Dell Inc. PowerEdge 2950", "1234567");
13468 print get_support_info("ibm.host", "IBM eserver xSeries 345 -[867061X]-",
13469                        "1234567");
13470 </pre>
13471
13472 <p>I would recommend this approach for tracking support contracts for
13473 everyone with more than a few computers to administer. :)</p>
13474
13475 <p>Update 2009-03-06: The IBM page do not include extended support
13476 contracts, so it is useless in that case.  The original Dell code do
13477 not handle extended support contracts either, but has been updated to
13478 do so.</p>
13479
13480       </div>
13481       <div class="tags">
13482
13483
13484         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>.
13485
13486
13487       </div>
13488     </div>
13489     <div class="padding"></div>
13490
13491     <div class="entry">
13492       <div class="title">
13493         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Using_bar_codes_at_a_computing_center.html">Using bar codes at a computing center</a>
13494       </div>
13495       <div class="date">
13496         20th February 2009
13497       </div>
13498       <div class="body">
13499         <p>At work with the University of Oslo, we have several hundred computers
13500 in our computing center.  This give us a challenge in tracking the
13501 location and cabling of the computers, when they are added, moved and
13502 removed.  Some times the location register is not updated when a
13503 computer is inserted or moved and we then have to search the room for
13504 the "missing" computer.</p>
13505
13506 <p>In the last issue of Linux Journal, I came across a project
13507 <a href="http://www.libdmtx.org/">libdmtx</a> to write and read bar
13508 code blocks as defined in the
13509 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_Matrix">The Data Matrix
13510 Standard</a>.  This is bar codes that can be read with a normal
13511 digital camera, for example that on a cell phone, and several such bar
13512 codes can be read by libdmtx from one picture.  The bar code standard
13513 allow up to 2 KiB to be written in the tag.  There is another project
13514 with <a href="http://www.terryburton.co.uk/barcodewriter/">a bar code
13515 writer written in postscript</a> capable of creating such bar codes,
13516 but this was the first time I found a tool to read these bar
13517 codes.</p>
13518
13519 <p>It occurred to me that this could be used to tag and track the
13520 machines in our computing center.  If both racks and computers are
13521 tagged this way, we can use a picture of the rack and all its
13522 computers to detect the rack location of any computer in that rack.
13523 If we do this regularly for the entire room, we will find all
13524 locations, and can detect movements and removals.</p>
13525
13526 <p>I decided to test if this would work in practice, and picked a
13527 random rack and tagged all the machines with their names.  Next, I
13528 took pictures with my digital camera, and gave the dmtxread program
13529 these JPEG pictures to see how many tags it could read.  This worked
13530 fairly well.  If the pictures was well focused and not taken from the
13531 side, all tags in the image could be read.  Because of limited space
13532 between the racks, I was unable to get a good picture of the entire
13533 rack, but could without problem read all tags from a picture covering
13534 about half the rack.  I had to limit the search time used by dmtxread
13535 to 60000 ms to make sure it terminated in a reasonable time frame.</p>
13536
13537 <p>My conclusion is that this could work, and we should probably look
13538 at adjusting our computer tagging procedures to use bar codes for
13539 easier automatic tracking of computers.</p>
13540
13541       </div>
13542       <div class="tags">
13543
13544
13545         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>.
13546
13547
13548       </div>
13549     </div>
13550     <div class="padding"></div>
13551
13552     <div class="entry">
13553       <div class="title">
13554         <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>
13555       </div>
13556       <div class="date">
13557         17th January 2009
13558       </div>
13559       <div class="body">
13560         <p>As part of the work we do in <a href="http://www.nuug.no">NUUG</a>
13561 to publish video recordings of our monthly presentations, we provide a
13562 page with embedded video for easy access to the recording.  Putting a
13563 good set of HTML tags together to get working embedded video in all
13564 browsers and across all operating systems is not easy.  I hope this
13565 will become easier when the &lt;video&gt; tag is implemented in all
13566 browsers, but I am not sure.  We provide the recordings in several
13567 formats, MPEG1, Ogg Theora, H.264 and Quicktime, and want the
13568 browser/media plugin to pick one it support and use it to play the
13569 recording, using whatever embed mechanism the browser understand.
13570 There is at least four different tags to use for this, the new HTML5
13571 &lt;video&gt; tag, the &lt;object&gt; tag, the &lt;embed&gt; tag and
13572 the &lt;applet&gt; tag.  All of these take a lot of options, and
13573 finding the best options is a major challenge.</p>
13574
13575 <p>I just tested the experimental Opera browser available from <a
13576 href="http://labs.opera.com">labs.opera.com</a>, to see how it handled
13577 a &lt;video&gt; tag with a few video sources and no extra attributes.
13578 I was not very impressed.  The browser start by fetching a picture
13579 from the video stream.  Not sure if it is the first frame, but it is
13580 definitely very early in the recording.  So far, so good. Next,
13581 instead of streaming the 76 MiB video file, it start to download all
13582 of it, but do not start to play the video.  This mean I have to wait
13583 for several minutes for the downloading to finish.  When the download
13584 is done, the playing of the video do not start!  Waiting for the
13585 download, but I do not get to see the video?  Some testing later, I
13586 discover that I have to add the controls="true" attribute to be able
13587 to get a play button to pres to start the video.  Adding
13588 autoplay="true" did not help.  I sure hope this is a misfeature of the
13589 test version of Opera, and that future implementations of the
13590 &lt;video&gt; tag will stream recordings by default, or at least start
13591 playing when the download is done.</p>
13592
13593 <p>The test page I used (since changed to add more attributes) is
13594 <a href="http://www.nuug.no/aktiviteter/20090113-foredrag-om-foredrag/">available
13595 from the nuug site</a>.  Will have to test it with the new Firefox
13596 too.</p>
13597
13598 <p>In the test process, I discovered a missing feature.  I was unable
13599 to find a way to get the URL of the playing video out of Opera, so I
13600 am not quite sure it picked the Ogg Theora version of the video.  I
13601 sure hope it was using the announced Ogg Theora support. :)</p>
13602
13603       </div>
13604       <div class="tags">
13605
13606
13607         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>.
13608
13609
13610       </div>
13611     </div>
13612     <div class="padding"></div>
13613
13614     <div class="entry">
13615       <div class="title">
13616         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Software_video_mixer_on_a_USB_stick.html">Software video mixer on a USB stick</a>
13617       </div>
13618       <div class="date">
13619         28th December 2008
13620       </div>
13621       <div class="body">
13622         <p>The <a href="http://www.nuug.no/">Norwegian Unix User Group</a> is
13623 recording our montly presentation on video, and recently we have
13624 worked on improving the quality of the recordings by mixing the slides
13625 directly with the video stream.  For this, we use the
13626 <a href="http://dvswitch.alioth.debian.org/">dvswitch</a> package from
13627 the Debian video team.  As this require quite one computer per video
13628 source, and NUUG do not have enough laptops available, we need to
13629 borrow laptops.  And to avoid having to install extra software on
13630 these borrwed laptops, I have wrapped up all the programs needed on a
13631 bootable USB stick.  The software required is dvswitch with assosiated
13632 source, sink and mixer applications and
13633 <a href="http://www.kinodv.org/">dvgrab</a>.  To allow this setup to
13634 work without any configuration, I've patched dvswitch to use
13635 <a href="http://www.avahi.org/">avahi</a> to connect the various parts
13636 together.  And to allow us to use laptops without firewire plugs, I
13637 upgraded dvgrab to the one from Debian/unstable to get one that work
13638 with USB sources.  We have not yet tested this setup in a production
13639 setup, but I hope it will work properly, and allow us to set up a
13640 video mixer in a very short time frame.  We will need it for
13641 <a href="http://www.goopen.no/">Go Open 2009</a>.</p>
13642
13643 <p><a href="http://www.nuug.no/pub/video/bin/usbstick-dvswitch.img.gz">The
13644 USB image</a> is for a 1 GB memory stick, but can be used on any
13645 larger stick as well.</p>
13646
13647       </div>
13648       <div class="tags">
13649
13650
13651         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>.
13652
13653
13654       </div>
13655     </div>
13656     <div class="padding"></div>
13657
13658     <div class="entry">
13659       <div class="title">
13660         <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>
13661       </div>
13662       <div class="date">
13663          7th December 2008
13664       </div>
13665       <div class="body">
13666         <p>This weekend we had a small developer gathering for Debian Edu in
13667 Oslo.  Most of Saturday was used for the general assemly for the
13668 member organization, but the rest of the weekend I used to tune the
13669 LTSP installation.  LTSP now work out of the box on the 10-network.
13670 Acer Aspire One proved to be a very nice thin client, with both
13671 screen, mouse and keybard in a small box.  Was working on getting the
13672 diskless workstation setup configured out of the box, but did not
13673 finish it before the weekend was up.</p>
13674
13675 <p>Did not find time to look at the 4 VGA cards in one box we got from
13676 the Brazilian group, so that will have to wait for the next
13677 development gathering.  Would love to have the Debian Edu installer
13678 automatically detect and configure a multiseat setup when it find one
13679 of these cards.</p>
13680
13681       </div>
13682       <div class="tags">
13683
13684
13685         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>.
13686
13687
13688       </div>
13689     </div>
13690     <div class="padding"></div>
13691
13692     <div class="entry">
13693       <div class="title">
13694         <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>
13695       </div>
13696       <div class="date">
13697         25th November 2008
13698       </div>
13699       <div class="body">
13700         <p>Recently I have spent some time evaluating the multimedia browser
13701 plugins available in Debian Lenny, to see which one we should use by
13702 default in Debian Edu.  We need an embedded video playing plugin with
13703 control buttons to pause or stop the video, and capable of streaming
13704 all the multimedia content available on the web.  The test results and
13705 notes are available on
13706 <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/BrowserMultimedia">the
13707 Debian wiki</a>.  I was surprised how few of the plugins are able to
13708 fill this need.  My personal video player favorite, VLC, has a really
13709 bad plugin which fail on a lot of the test pages.  A lot of the MIME
13710 types I would expect to work with any free software player (like
13711 video/ogg), just do not work.  And simple formats like the
13712 audio/x-mplegurl format (m3u playlists), just isn't supported by the
13713 totem and vlc plugins.  I hope the situation will improve soon.  No
13714 wonder sites use the proprietary Adobe flash to play video.</p>
13715
13716 <p>For Lenny, we seem to end up with the mplayer plugin.  It seem to
13717 be the only one fitting our needs. :/</p>
13718
13719       </div>
13720       <div class="tags">
13721
13722
13723         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>.
13724
13725
13726       </div>
13727     </div>
13728     <div class="padding"></div>
13729
13730     <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>
13731     <div id="sidebar">
13732
13733
13734
13735 <h2>Archive</h2>
13736 <ul>
13737
13738 <li>2013
13739 <ul>
13740
13741 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2013/01/">January (11)</a></li>
13742
13743 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2013/02/">February (6)</a></li>
13744
13745 </ul></li>
13746
13747 <li>2012
13748 <ul>
13749
13750 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/01/">January (7)</a></li>
13751
13752 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/02/">February (10)</a></li>
13753
13754 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/03/">March (17)</a></li>
13755
13756 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/04/">April (12)</a></li>
13757
13758 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/05/">May (12)</a></li>
13759
13760 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/06/">June (20)</a></li>
13761
13762 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/07/">July (17)</a></li>
13763
13764 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/08/">August (6)</a></li>
13765
13766 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/09/">September (9)</a></li>
13767
13768 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/10/">October (17)</a></li>
13769
13770 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/11/">November (10)</a></li>
13771
13772 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/12/">December (7)</a></li>
13773
13774 </ul></li>
13775
13776 <li>2011
13777 <ul>
13778
13779 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/01/">January (16)</a></li>
13780
13781 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/02/">February (6)</a></li>
13782
13783 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/03/">March (6)</a></li>
13784
13785 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/04/">April (7)</a></li>
13786
13787 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/05/">May (3)</a></li>
13788
13789 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/06/">June (2)</a></li>
13790
13791 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/07/">July (7)</a></li>
13792
13793 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/08/">August (6)</a></li>
13794
13795 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/09/">September (4)</a></li>
13796
13797 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/10/">October (2)</a></li>
13798
13799 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/11/">November (3)</a></li>
13800
13801 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/12/">December (1)</a></li>
13802
13803 </ul></li>
13804
13805 <li>2010
13806 <ul>
13807
13808 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/01/">January (2)</a></li>
13809
13810 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/02/">February (1)</a></li>
13811
13812 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/03/">March (3)</a></li>
13813
13814 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/04/">April (3)</a></li>
13815
13816 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/05/">May (9)</a></li>
13817
13818 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/06/">June (14)</a></li>
13819
13820 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/07/">July (12)</a></li>
13821
13822 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/08/">August (13)</a></li>
13823
13824 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/09/">September (7)</a></li>
13825
13826 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/10/">October (9)</a></li>
13827
13828 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/11/">November (13)</a></li>
13829
13830 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/12/">December (12)</a></li>
13831
13832 </ul></li>
13833
13834 <li>2009
13835 <ul>
13836
13837 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/01/">January (8)</a></li>
13838
13839 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/02/">February (8)</a></li>
13840
13841 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/03/">March (12)</a></li>
13842
13843 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/04/">April (10)</a></li>
13844
13845 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/05/">May (9)</a></li>
13846
13847 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/06/">June (3)</a></li>
13848
13849 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/07/">July (4)</a></li>
13850
13851 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/08/">August (3)</a></li>
13852
13853 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/09/">September (1)</a></li>
13854
13855 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/10/">October (2)</a></li>
13856
13857 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/11/">November (3)</a></li>
13858
13859 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/12/">December (3)</a></li>
13860
13861 </ul></li>
13862
13863 <li>2008
13864 <ul>
13865
13866 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2008/11/">November (5)</a></li>
13867
13868 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2008/12/">December (7)</a></li>
13869
13870 </ul></li>
13871
13872 </ul>
13873
13874
13875
13876 <h2>Tags</h2>
13877 <ul>
13878
13879  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/3d-printer">3d-printer (13)</a></li>
13880
13881  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/amiga">amiga (1)</a></li>
13882
13883  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/aros">aros (1)</a></li>
13884
13885  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/bankid">bankid (4)</a></li>
13886
13887  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/bitcoin">bitcoin (6)</a></li>
13888
13889  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/bootsystem">bootsystem (12)</a></li>
13890
13891  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/bsa">bsa (2)</a></li>
13892
13893  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian (70)</a></li>
13894
13895  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu (118)</a></li>
13896
13897  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/digistan">digistan (9)</a></li>
13898
13899  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/docbook">docbook (7)</a></li>
13900
13901  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/drivstoffpriser">drivstoffpriser (4)</a></li>
13902
13903  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english (178)</a></li>
13904
13905  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/fiksgatami">fiksgatami (21)</a></li>
13906
13907  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/fildeling">fildeling (12)</a></li>
13908
13909  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/freeculture">freeculture (10)</a></li>
13910
13911  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/frikanalen">frikanalen (9)</a></li>
13912
13913  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/intervju">intervju (32)</a></li>
13914
13915  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/isenkram">isenkram (5)</a></li>
13916
13917  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/kart">kart (17)</a></li>
13918
13919  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/ldap">ldap (8)</a></li>
13920
13921  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/lenker">lenker (6)</a></li>
13922
13923  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/ltsp">ltsp (1)</a></li>
13924
13925  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/multimedia">multimedia (25)</a></li>
13926
13927  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/norsk">norsk (222)</a></li>
13928
13929  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug (149)</a></li>
13930
13931  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/offentlig innsyn">offentlig innsyn (7)</a></li>
13932
13933  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/open311">open311 (2)</a></li>
13934
13935  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/opphavsrett">opphavsrett (41)</a></li>
13936
13937  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/personvern">personvern (63)</a></li>
13938
13939  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/raid">raid (1)</a></li>
13940
13941  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/reprap">reprap (11)</a></li>
13942
13943  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/rfid">rfid (2)</a></li>
13944
13945  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/robot">robot (6)</a></li>
13946
13947  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/rss">rss (1)</a></li>
13948
13949  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/ruter">ruter (4)</a></li>
13950
13951  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/scraperwiki">scraperwiki (2)</a></li>
13952
13953  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/sikkerhet">sikkerhet (28)</a></li>
13954
13955  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/sitesummary">sitesummary (4)</a></li>
13956
13957  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/skepsis">skepsis (4)</a></li>
13958
13959  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/standard">standard (40)</a></li>
13960
13961  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/stavekontroll">stavekontroll (3)</a></li>
13962
13963  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/stortinget">stortinget (6)</a></li>
13964
13965  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/surveillance">surveillance (14)</a></li>
13966
13967  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/sysadmin">sysadmin (1)</a></li>
13968
13969  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/valg">valg (7)</a></li>
13970
13971  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/video">video (35)</a></li>
13972
13973  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/vitenskap">vitenskap (4)</a></li>
13974
13975  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/web">web (26)</a></li>
13976
13977 </ul>
13978
13979
13980     </div>
13981     <p style="text-align: right">
13982  Created by <a href="http://steve.org.uk/Software/chronicle">Chronicle v4.6</a>
13983 </p>
13984
13985   </body>
13986 </html>