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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/Lawrence_Lessig_interviewed_Edward_Snowden_a_year_ago.html">Lawrence Lessig interviewed Edward Snowden a year ago</a>
  26       </div>
  27       <div class="date">
  28         19th October 2015
  29       </div>
  30       <div class="body">
  31         <p>Last year, <a href="https://lessig2016.us/">US president candidate
  32 in the Democratic Party</a> Lawrence interviewed Edward Snowden.  The
  33 one hour interview was
  34 <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_Sr96TFQQE">published by
  35 Harvard Law School 2014-10-23 on Youtube</a>, and the meeting took
  36 place 2014-10-20.</p>
  37
  38 <p>The questions are very good, and there is lots of useful
  39 information to be learned and very interesting issues to think about
  40 being raised.  Please check it out.</p>
  41
  42 <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/o_Sr96TFQQE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
  43
  44 <p>I find it especially interesting to hear again that Snowden did try
  45 to bring up his reservations through the official channels without any
  46 luck.  It is in sharp contrast to the answers made 2013-11-06 by the
  47 Norwegian prime minister Erna Solberg to the Norwegian Parliament,
  48 <a href="https://tale.holderdeord.no/speeches/s131106/68">claiming
  49 Snowden is no Whistle-Blower</a> because he should have taken up his
  50 concerns internally and using official channels.  It make me sad
  51 that this is the political leadership we have here in Norway.</p>
  52
  53       </div>
  54       <div class="tags">
  55
  56
  57         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>.
  58
  59
  60       </div>
  61     </div>
  62     <div class="padding"></div>
  63
  64     <div class="entry">
  65       <div class="title">
  66         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/The_Story_of_Aaron_Swartz___Let_us_all_weep_.html">The Story of Aaron Swartz - Let us all weep!</a>
  67       </div>
  68       <div class="date">
  69          8th October 2015
  70       </div>
  71       <div class="body">
  72         <p>The movie "<a href="http://www.takepart.com/internets-own-boy">The
  73 Internet's Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz</a>" is both inspiring
  74 and depressing at the same time.  The work of Aaron Swartz has
  75 inspired me in my work, and I am grateful of all the improvements he
  76 was able to initiate or complete.  I wish I am able to do as much good
  77 in my life as he did in his.  Every minute of this 1:45 long movie is
  78 inspiring in documenting how much impact a single person can have on
  79 improving the society and this world.  And it is depressing in
  80 documenting how the law enforcement of USA (and other countries) is
  81 corrupted to a point where they can push a bright kid to his death for
  82 downloading too many scientific articles.  Aaron is dead.  Let us all
  83 weep.</p>
  84
  85 <p>The movie is also available on
  86 <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXr-2hwTk58">Youtube</a>.  I
  87 wish there were Norwegian subtitles available, so I could show it to
  88 my parents.</p>
  89
  90       </div>
  91       <div class="tags">
  92
  93
  94         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>.
  95
  96
  97       </div>
  98     </div>
  99     <div class="padding"></div>
 100
 101     <div class="entry">
 102       <div class="title">
 103         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/French_Docbook_PDF_EPUB_MOBI_edition_of_the_Free_Culture_book.html">French Docbook/PDF/EPUB/MOBI edition of the Free Culture book</a>
 104       </div>
 105       <div class="date">
 106          1st October 2015
 107       </div>
 108       <div class="body">
 109         <p>As I wrap up the Norwegian version of
 110 <a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig">Free
 111 Culture</a> book by Lawrence Lessig (still waiting for my final proof
 112 reading copy to arrive in the mail), my great
 113 <a href="http://dblatex.sourceforge.net/">dblatex</a> helper and
 114 developer of the dblatex docbook processor, Benoît Guillon, decided a
 115 to try to create a French version of the book.  He started with the
 116 French translation available from the
 117 <a href="http://www.wikilivres.ca/wiki/Culture_libre">Wikilivres wiki
 118 pages</a>, and wrote a program to convert it into a PO file, allowing
 119 the translation to be integrated into the po4a based framework I use
 120 to create the Norwegian translation from the English edition.  We meet
 121 on the <a href="irc://irc.freenode.net/%23dblatex">#dblatex IRC
 122 channel</a> to discuss the work.  If you want to help create a French
 123 edition, check out
 124 <a href="https://github.com/marsgui/free-culture-lessig">his git
 125 repository</a> and join us on IRC.  If the French edition look good,
 126 we might publish it as a paper book on lulu.com.  A French version of
 127 the drawings and the cover need to be provided for this to happen.</p>
 128
 129       </div>
 130       <div class="tags">
 131
 132
 133         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>.
 134
 135
 136       </div>
 137     </div>
 138     <div class="padding"></div>
 139
 140     <div class="entry">
 141       <div class="title">
 142         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/The_life_and_death_of_a_laptop_battery.html">The life and death of a laptop battery</a>
 143       </div>
 144       <div class="date">
 145         24th September 2015
 146       </div>
 147       <div class="body">
 148         <p>When I get a new laptop, the battery life time at the start is OK.
 149 But this do not last.  The last few laptops gave me a feeling that
 150 within a year, the life time is just a fraction of what it used to be,
 151 and it slowly become painful to use the laptop without power connected
 152 all the time.  Because of this, when I got a new Thinkpad X230 laptop
 153 about two years ago, I decided to monitor its battery state to have
 154 more hard facts when the battery started to fail.</p>
 155
 156 <img src="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2015-09-24-laptop-battery-graph.png"/>
 157
 158 <p>First I tried to find a sensible Debian package to record the
 159 battery status, assuming that this must be a problem already handled
 160 by someone else.  I found
 161 <a href="https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/battery-stats">battery-stats</a>,
 162 which collects statistics from the battery, but it was completely
 163 broken.  I sent a few suggestions to the maintainer, but decided to
 164 write my own collector as a shell script while I waited for feedback
 165 from him.  Via
 166 <a href="http://www.ifweassume.com/2013/08/the-de-evolution-of-my-laptop-battery.html">a
 167 blog post about the battery development on a MacBook Air</a> I also
 168 discovered
 169 <a href="https://github.com/jradavenport/batlog.git">batlog</a>, not
 170 available in Debian.</p>
 171
 172 <p>I started my collector 2013-07-15, and it has been collecting
 173 battery stats ever since. Now my
 174 /var/log/hjemmenett-battery-status.log file contain around 115,000
 175 measurements, from the time the battery was working great until now,
 176 when it is unable to charge above 7% of original capacity.  My
 177 collector shell script is quite simple and look like this:</p>
 178
 179 <pre>
 180 #!/bin/sh
 181 # Inspired by
 182 # http://www.ifweassume.com/2013/08/the-de-evolution-of-my-laptop-battery.html
 183 # See also
 184 # http://blog.sleeplessbeastie.eu/2013/01/02/debian-how-to-monitor-battery-capacity/
 185 logfile=/var/log/hjemmenett-battery-status.log
 186
 187 files="manufacturer model_name technology serial_number \
 188     energy_full energy_full_design energy_now cycle_count status"
 189
 190 if [ ! -e "$logfile" ] ; then
 191     (
 192         printf "timestamp,"
 193         for f in $files; do
 194             printf "%s," $f
 195         done
 196         echo
 197     ) > "$logfile"
 198 fi
 199
 200 log_battery() {
 201     # Print complete message in one echo call, to avoid race condition
 202     # when several log processes run in parallel.
 203     msg=$(printf "%s," $(date +%s); \
 204         for f in $files; do \
 205             printf "%s," $(cat $f); \
 206         done)
 207     echo "$msg"
 208 }
 209
 210 cd /sys/class/power_supply
 211
 212 for bat in BAT*; do
 213     (cd $bat && log_battery >> "$logfile")
 214 done
 215 </pre>
 216
 217 <p>The script is called when the power management system detect a
 218 change in the power status (power plug in or out), and when going into
 219 and out of hibernation and suspend.  In addition, it collect a value
 220 every 10 minutes.  This make it possible for me know when the battery
 221 is discharging, charging and how the maximum charge change over time.
 222 The code for the Debian package
 223 <a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/battery-status">is now
 224 available on github</a>.</p>
 225
 226 <p>The collected log file look like this:</p>
 227
 228 <pre>
 229 timestamp,manufacturer,model_name,technology,serial_number,energy_full,energy_full_design,energy_now,cycle_count,status,
 230 1376591133,LGC,45N1025,Li-ion,974,62800000,62160000,39050000,0,Discharging,
 231 [...]
 232 1443090528,LGC,45N1025,Li-ion,974,4900000,62160000,4900000,0,Full,
 233 1443090601,LGC,45N1025,Li-ion,974,4900000,62160000,4900000,0,Full,
 234 </pre>
 235
 236 <p>I wrote a small script to create a graph of the charge development
 237 over time.  This graph depicted above show the slow death of my laptop
 238 battery.</p>
 239
 240 <p>But why is this happening?  Why are my laptop batteries always
 241 dying in a year or two, while the batteries of space probes and
 242 satellites keep working year after year.  If we are to believe
 243 <a href="http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/how_to_prolong_lithium_based_batteries">Battery
 244 University</a>, the cause is me charging the battery whenever I have a
 245 chance, and the fix is to not charge the Lithium-ion batteries to 100%
 246 all the time, but to stay below 90% of full charge most of the time.
 247 I've been told that the Tesla electric cars
 248 <a href="http://my.teslamotors.com/de_CH/forum/forums/battery-charge-limit">limit
 249 the charge of their batteries to 80%</a>, with the option to charge to
 250 100% when preparing for a longer trip (not that I would want a car
 251 like Tesla where rights to privacy is abandoned, but that is another
 252 story), which I guess is the option we should have for laptops on
 253 Linux too.</p>
 254
 255 <p>Is there a good and generic way with Linux to tell the battery to
 256 stop charging at 80%, unless requested to charge to 100% once in
 257 preparation for a longer trip?  I found
 258 <a href="http://askubuntu.com/questions/34452/how-can-i-limit-battery-charging-to-80-capacity">one
 259 recipe on askubuntu for Ubuntu to limit charging on Thinkpad to
 260 80%</a>, but could not get it to work (kernel module refused to
 261 load).</p>
 262
 263 <p>I wonder why the battery capacity was reported to be more than 100%
 264 at the start.  I also wonder why the "full capacity" increases some
 265 times, and if it is possible to repeat the process to get the battery
 266 back to design capacity.  And I wonder if the discharge and charge
 267 speed change over time, or if this stay the same.  I did not yet try
 268 to write a tool to calculate the derivative values of the battery
 269 level, but suspect some interesting insights might be learned from
 270 those.</p>
 271
 272 <p>Update 2015-09-24: I got a tip to install the packages
 273 acpi-call-dkms and tlp (unfortunately missing in Debian stable)
 274 packages instead of the tp-smapi-dkms package I had tried to use
 275 initially, and use 'tlp setcharge 40 80' to change when charging start
 276 and stop.  I've done so now, but expect my existing battery is toast
 277 and need to be replaced.  The proposal is unfortunately Thinkpad
 278 specific.</p>
 279
 280       </div>
 281       <div class="tags">
 282
 283
 284         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>.
 285
 286
 287       </div>
 288     </div>
 289     <div class="padding"></div>
 290
 291     <div class="entry">
 292       <div class="title">
 293         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Book_cover_for_the_Free_Culture_book_finally_done.html">Book cover for the Free Culture book finally done</a>
 294       </div>
 295       <div class="date">
 296          3rd September 2015
 297       </div>
 298       <div class="body">
 299         <p>Creating a good looking book cover proved harder than I expected.
 300 I wanted to create a cover looking similar to the original cover of
 301 the
 302 <a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig">Free
 303 Culture</a> book we are translating to Norwegian, and I wanted it in
 304 vector format for high resolution printing.  But my inkscape knowledge
 305 were not nearly good enough to pull that off.
 306
 307 <p>But thanks to the great inkscape community, I was able to wrap up
 308 the cover yesterday evening.  I asked on the
 309 <a href="irc://irc.freenode.net/%23inkscape">#inkscape IRC channel</a>
 310 on Freenode for help and clues, and Marc Jeanmougin (Mc-) volunteered
 311 to try to recreate it based on the PDF of the cover from the HTML
 312 version.  Not only did he create a
 313 <a href="https://marc.jeanmougin.fr/share/copy1.svg ">SVG document with
 314 the original and his vector version side by side</a>, he even provided
 315 an <a href="https://marc.jeanmougin.fr/share/out-1.ogv">instruction
 316 video</a> explaining how he did it</a>.  But the instruction video is
 317 not easy to follow for an untrained inkscape user. The video is a
 318 recording on how he did it, and he is obviously very experienced as
 319 the menu selections are very quick and he mentioned on IRC that he did
 320 use some keyboard shortcuts that can't be seen on the video, but it
 321 give a good idea about the inkscape operations to use to create the
 322 stripes with the embossed copyright sign in the center.</p>
 323
 324 <p>I took his SVG file, copied the vector image and re-sized it to fit
 325 on the cover I was drawing.  I am happy with the end result, and the
 326 current english version look like this:</p>
 327
 328 <img src="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2015-09-03-free-culture-cover.png" width="70%" align="center"/>
 329
 330 <p>I am not quite sure about the text on the back, but guess it will
 331 do.  I picked three quotes from the official site for the book, and
 332 hope it will work to trigger the interest of potential readers.  The
 333 Norwegian cover will look the same, but with the texts and bar code
 334 replaced with the Norwegian version.</p>
 335
 336 <p>The book is very close to being ready for publication, and I expect
 337 to upload the final draft to Lulu in the next few days and order a
 338 final proof reading copy to verify that everything look like it should
 339 before allowing everyone to order their own copy of Free Culture, in
 340 English or Norwegian Bokmål.  I'm waiting to give the the productive
 341 proof readers a chance to complete their work.</p>
 342
 343       </div>
 344       <div class="tags">
 345
 346
 347         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>.
 348
 349
 350       </div>
 351     </div>
 352     <div class="padding"></div>
 353
 354     <div class="entry">
 355       <div class="title">
 356         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/In_my_hand__a_pocket_book_edition_of_the_Norwegian_Free_Culture_book_.html">In my hand, a pocket book edition of the Norwegian Free Culture book!</a>
 357       </div>
 358       <div class="date">
 359         19th August 2015
 360       </div>
 361       <div class="body">
 362         <p>Today, finally, my first printed draft edition of the Norwegian
 363 translation of Free Culture I have been working on for the last few
 364 years arrived in the mail.  I had to fake a cover to get the interior
 365 printed, and the exterior of the book look awful, but that is
 366 irrelevant at this point.  I asked for a printed pocket book version
 367 to get an idea about the font sizes and paper format as well as how
 368 good the figures and images look in print, but also to test what the
 369 pocket book version would look like.  After receiving the 500 page
 370 pocket book, it became obvious to me that that pocket book size is too
 371 small for this book.  I believe the book is too thick, and several
 372 tables and figures do not look good in the size they get with that
 373 small page sizes.  I believe I will go with the 5.5x8.5 inch size
 374 instead.  A surprise discovery from the paper version was how bad the
 375 URLs look in print.  They are very hard to read in the colophon page.
 376 The URLs are red in the PDF, but light gray on paper.  I need to
 377 change the color of links somehow to look better.  But there is a
 378 printed book in my hand, and it feels great. :)</p>
 379
 380 <p>Now I only need to fix the cover, wrap up the postscript with the
 381 store behind the book, and collect the last corrections from the proof
 382 readers before the book is ready for proper printing.  Cover artists
 383 willing to work for free and create a Creative Commons licensed vector
 384 file looking similar to the original is most welcome, as my skills as
 385 a graphics designer are mostly missing.</p>
 386
 387       </div>
 388       <div class="tags">
 389
 390
 391         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>.
 392
 393
 394       </div>
 395     </div>
 396     <div class="padding"></div>
 397
 398     <div class="entry">
 399       <div class="title">
 400         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/First_paper_version_of_the_Norwegian_Free_Culture_book_heading_my_way.html">First paper version of the Norwegian Free Culture book heading my way</a>
 401       </div>
 402       <div class="date">
 403          9th August 2015
 404       </div>
 405       <div class="body">
 406         <p>Typesetting a book is harder than I hoped.  As the translation is
 407 mostly done, and a volunteer proof reader was going to check the text
 408 on paper, it was time this summer to focus on formatting my translated
 409 <a href="http://www.docbook.org/">docbook</a> based version of the
 410 <a href="http://free-culture.cc/">Free Culture</a> book by Lawrence
 411 Lessig.  I've been trying to get both docboox-xsl+fop and dblatex to
 412 give me a good looking PDF, but in the end I went with dblatex, because
 413 its Debian maintainer and upstream developer were responsive and very
 414 helpful in solving my formatting challenges.</p>
 415
 416 <p>Last night, I finally managed to create a PDF that no longer made
 417 <a href="http://www.lulu.com/">Lulu.com</a> complain after uploading,
 418 and I ordered a text version of the book on paper.  It is lacking a
 419 proper book cover and is not tagged with the correct ISBN number, but
 420 should give me an idea what the finished book will look like.</p>
 421
 422 <p>Instead of using Lulu, I did consider printing the book using
 423 <a href="http://www.createspace.com/">CreateSpace</a>, but ended up
 424 using Lulu because it had smaller book size options (CreateSpace seem
 425 to lack pocket book with extended distribution).  I looked for a
 426 similar service in Norway, but have not seen anything so far.  Please
 427 let me know if I am missing out on something here.</p>
 428
 429 <p>But I still struggle to decide the book size.  Should I go for
 430 pocket book (4.25x6.875 inches / 10.8x17.5 cm) with 556 pages, Digest
 431 (5.5x8.5 inches / 14x21.6 cm) with 323 pages or US Trade (6x8 inches /
 432 15.3x22.9 cm) with 280 pages?  Fewer pager give a cheaper book, and a
 433 smaller book is easier to carry around.  The test book I ordered was
 434 pocket book sized, to give me an idea how well that fit in my hand,
 435 but I suspect I will end up using a digest sized book in the end to
 436 bring the prize down further.</p>
 437
 438 <p>My biggest challenge at the moment is making nice cover art.  My
 439 inkscape skills are not yet up to the task of replicating the original
 440 cover in SVG format.  I also need to figure out what to write about
 441 the book on the back (will most likely use the same text as the
 442 description on web based book stores).  I would love help with this,
 443 if you are willing to license the art source and final version using
 444 the same CC license as the book.  My artistic skills are not really up
 445 to the task.</p>
 446
 447 <p>I plan to publish the book in both English and Norwegian and on
 448 paper, in PDF form as well as EPUB and MOBI format.  The current
 449 status can as usual be found on
 450 <a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig">github</a>
 451 in the archive/ directory.  So far I have spent all time on making the
 452 PDF version look good.  Someone should probably do the same with the
 453 dbtoepub generated e-book.  Help is definitely needed here, as I
 454 expect to run out of steem before I find time to improve the epub
 455 formatting.</p>
 456
 457 <p>Please let me know via github if you find typos in the book or
 458 discover translations that should be improved.  The final proof
 459 reading is being done right now, and I expect to publish the finished
 460 result in a few months.</p>
 461
 462       </div>
 463       <div class="tags">
 464
 465
 466         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>.
 467
 468
 469       </div>
 470     </div>
 471     <div class="padding"></div>
 472
 473     <div class="entry">
 474       <div class="title">
 475         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Typesetting_DocBook_footnotes_as_endnotes_with_dblatex.html">Typesetting DocBook footnotes as endnotes with dblatex</a>
 476       </div>
 477       <div class="date">
 478         16th July 2015
 479       </div>
 480       <div class="body">
 481         <p>I'm still working on the Norwegian version of the
 482 <a href="http://free-culture.cc/">Free Culture book by Lawrence
 483 Lessig</a>, and is now working on the final typesetting and layout.
 484 One of the features I want to get the structure similar to the
 485 original book is to typeset the footnotes as endnotes in the notes
 486 chapter.  Based on the
 487 <a href="https://bugs.debian.org/685063">feedback from the Debian
 488 maintainer and the dblatex developer</a>, I came up with this recipe I
 489 would like to share with you.  The proposal was to create a new LaTeX
 490 class file and add the LaTeX code there, but this is not always
 491 practical, when I want to be able to replace the class using a make
 492 file variable.  So my proposal misuses the latex.begindocument XSL
 493 parameter value, to get a small fragment into the correct location in
 494 the generated LaTeX File.</p>
 495
 496 <p>First, decide where in the DocBook document to place the endnotes,
 497 and add this text there:</p>
 498
 499 <pre>
 500 &lt;?latex \theendnotes ?&gt;
 501 </pre>
 502
 503 <p>Next, create a xsl stylesheet file dblatex-endnotes.xsl to add the
 504 code needed to add the endnote instructions in the preamble of the
 505 generated LaTeX document, with content like this:</p>
 506
 507 <pre>
 508 &lt;?xml version='1.0'?&gt;
 509 &lt;xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" version='1.0'&gt;
 510   &lt;xsl:param name="latex.begindocument"&gt;
 511     &lt;xsl:text&gt;
 512 \usepackage{endnotes}
 513 \let\footnote=\endnote
 514 \def\enoteheading{\mbox{}\par\vskip-\baselineskip }
 515 \begin{document}
 516     &lt;/xsl:text&gt;
 517   &lt;/xsl:param&gt;
 518 &lt;/xsl:stylesheet&gt;
 519 </pre>
 520
 521 <p>Finally, load this xsl file when running dblatex, for example like
 522 this:</p>
 523
 524 <pre>
 525 dblatex --xsl-user=dblatex-endnotes.xsl freeculture.nb.xml
 526 </pre>
 527
 528 <p>The end result can be seen on github, where
 529 <a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig">my
 530 book project</a> is located.</p>
 531
 532       </div>
 533       <div class="tags">
 534
 535
 536         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>.
 537
 538
 539       </div>
 540     </div>
 541     <div class="padding"></div>
 542
 543     <div class="entry">
 544       <div class="title">
 545         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/MPEG_LA_on__Internet_Broadcast_AVC_Video__licensing_and_non_private_use.html">MPEG LA on "Internet Broadcast AVC Video" licensing and non-private use</a>
 546       </div>
 547       <div class="date">
 548          7th July 2015
 549       </div>
 550       <div class="body">
 551         <p>After asking the Norwegian Broadcasting Company (NRK)
 552 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Hva_gj_r_at_NRK_kan_distribuere_H_264_video_uten_patentavtale_med_MPEG_LA_.html">why
 553 they can broadcast and stream H.264 video without an agreement with
 554 the MPEG LA</a>, I was wiser, but still confused.  So I asked MPEG LA
 555 if their understanding matched that of NRK.  As far as I can tell, it
 556 does not.</p>
 557
 558 <p>I started by asking for more information about the various
 559 licensing classes and what exactly is covered by the "Internet
 560 Broadcast AVC Video" class that NRK pointed me at to explain why NRK
 561 did not need a license for streaming H.264 video:
 562
 563 <p><blockquote>
 564
 565 <p>According to
 566 <a href="http://www.mpegla.com/Lists/MPEG%20LA%20News%20List/Attachments/226/n-10-02-02.pdf">a
 567 MPEG LA press release dated 2010-02-02</a>, there is no charge when
 568 using MPEG AVC/H.264 according to the terms of "Internet Broadcast AVC
 569 Video".  I am trying to understand exactly what the terms of "Internet
 570 Broadcast AVC Video" is, and wondered if you could help me.  What
 571 exactly is covered by these terms, and what is not?</p>
 572
 573 <p>The only source of more information I have been able to find is a
 574 PDF named
 575 <a href="http://www.mpegla.com/main/programs/avc/Documents/avcweb.pdf">AVC
 576 Patent Portfolio License Briefing</a>, which states this about the
 577 fees:</p>
 578
 579 <ul>
 580  <li>Where End User pays for AVC Video
 581   <ul>
 582    <li>Subscription (not limited by title) – 100,000 or fewer
 583      subscribers/yr = no royalty; &gt; 100,000 to 250,000 subscribers/yr =
 584      $25,000; &gt;250,000 to 500,000 subscribers/yr = $50,000; &gt;500,000 to
 585      1M subscribers/yr = $75,000; &gt;1M subscribers/yr = $100,000</li>
 586
 587    <li>Title-by-Title - 12 minutes or less = no royalty; &gt;12 minutes in
 588      length = lower of (a) 2% or (b) $0.02 per title</li>
 589   </ul></li>
 590
 591  <li>Where remuneration is from other sources
 592   <ul>
 593    <li>Free Television - (a) one-time $2,500 per transmission encoder or
 594      (b) annual fee starting at $2,500 for &gt; 100,000 HH rising to
 595      maximum $10,000 for &gt;1,000,000 HH</li>
 596
 597    <li>Internet Broadcast AVC Video (not title-by-title, not subscription)
 598      – no royalty for life of the AVC Patent Portfolio License</li>
 599   </ul></li>
 600 </ul>
 601
 602 <p>Am I correct in assuming that the four categories listed is the
 603 categories used when selecting licensing terms, and that "Internet
 604 Broadcast AVC Video" is the category for things that do not fall into
 605 one of the other three categories?  Can you point me to a good source
 606 explaining what is ment by "title-by-title" and "Free Television" in
 607 the license terms for AVC/H.264?</p>
 608
 609 <p>Will a web service providing H.264 encoded video content in a
 610 "video on demand" fashing similar to Youtube and Vimeo, where no
 611 subscription is required and no payment is required from end users to
 612 get access to the videos, fall under the terms of the "Internet
 613 Broadcast AVC Video", ie no royalty for life of the AVC Patent
 614 Portfolio license?  Does it matter if some users are subscribed to get
 615 access to personalized services?</p>
 616
 617 <p>Note, this request and all answers will be published on the
 618 Internet.</p>
 619 </blockquote></p>
 620
 621 <p>The answer came quickly from Benjamin J. Myers, Licensing Associate
 622 with the MPEG LA:</p>
 623
 624 <p><blockquote>
 625 <p>Thank you for your message and for your interest in MPEG LA.  We
 626 appreciate hearing from you and I will be happy to assist you.</p>
 627
 628 <p>As you are aware, MPEG LA offers our AVC Patent Portfolio License
 629 which provides coverage under patents that are essential for use of
 630 the AVC/H.264 Standard (MPEG-4 Part 10).  Specifically, coverage is
 631 provided for end products and video content that make use of AVC/H.264
 632 technology.  Accordingly, the party offering such end products and
 633 video to End Users concludes the AVC License and is responsible for
 634 paying the applicable royalties.</p>
 635
 636 <p>Regarding Internet Broadcast AVC Video, the AVC License generally
 637 defines such content to be video that is distributed to End Users over
 638 the Internet free-of-charge.  Therefore, if a party offers a service
 639 which allows users to upload AVC/H.264 video to its website, and such
 640 AVC Video is delivered to End Users for free, then such video would
 641 receive coverage under the sublicense for Internet Broadcast AVC
 642 Video, which is not subject to any royalties for the life of the AVC
 643 License.  This would also apply in the scenario where a user creates a
 644 free online account in order to receive a customized offering of free
 645 AVC Video content.  In other words, as long as the End User is given
 646 access to or views AVC Video content at no cost to the End User, then
 647 no royalties would be payable under our AVC License.</p>
 648
 649 <p>On the other hand, if End Users pay for access to AVC Video for a
 650 specific period of time (e.g., one month, one year, etc.), then such
 651 video would constitute Subscription AVC Video.  In cases where AVC
 652 Video is delivered to End Users on a pay-per-view basis, then such
 653 content would constitute Title-by-Title AVC Video.  If a party offers
 654 Subscription or Title-by-Title AVC Video to End Users, then they would
 655 be responsible for paying the applicable royalties you noted below.</p>
 656
 657 <p>Finally, in the case where AVC Video is distributed for free
 658 through an "over-the-air, satellite and/or cable transmission", then
 659 such content would constitute Free Television AVC Video and would be
 660 subject to the applicable royalties.</p>
 661
 662 <p>For your reference, I have attached
 663 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2015-07-07-mpegla.pdf">a
 664 .pdf copy of the AVC License</a>. You will find the relevant
 665 sublicense information regarding AVC Video in Sections 2.2 through
 666 2.5, and the corresponding royalties in Section 3.1.2 through 3.1.4.
 667 You will also find the definitions of Title-by-Title AVC Video,
 668 Subscription AVC Video, Free Television AVC Video, and Internet
 669 Broadcast AVC Video in Section 1 of the License.  Please note that the
 670 electronic copy is provided for informational purposes only and cannot
 671 be used for execution.</p>
 672
 673 <p>I hope the above information is helpful.  If you have additional
 674 questions or need further assistance with the AVC License, please feel
 675 free to contact me directly.</p>
 676 </blockquote></p>
 677
 678 <p>Having a fresh copy of the license text was useful, and knowing
 679 that the definition of Title-by-Title required payment per title made
 680 me aware that my earlier understanding of that phrase had been wrong.
 681 But I still had a few questions:</p>
 682
 683 <p><blockquote>
 684 <p>I have a small followup question.  Would it be possible for me to get
 685 a license with MPEG LA even if there are no royalties to be paid?  The
 686 reason I ask, is that some video related products have a copyright
 687 clause limiting their use without a license with MPEG LA.  The clauses
 688 typically look similar to this:
 689
 690 <p><blockquote>
 691   This product is licensed under the AVC patent portfolio license for
 692   the personal and non-commercial use of a consumer to (a) encode
 693   video in compliance with the AVC standard ("AVC video") and/or (b)
 694   decode AVC video that was encoded by a consumer engaged in a
 695   personal and non-commercial activity and/or AVC video that was
 696   obtained from a video provider licensed to provide AVC video. No
 697   license is granted or shall be implied for any other use. additional
 698   information may be obtained from MPEG LA L.L.C.
 699 </blockquote></p>
 700
 701 <p>It is unclear to me if this clause mean that I need to enter into
 702 an agreement with MPEG LA to use the product in question, even if
 703 there are no royalties to be paid to MPEG LA.  I suspect it will
 704 differ depending on the jurisdiction, and mine is Norway.  What is
 705 MPEG LAs view on this?</p>
 706 </blockquote></p>
 707
 708 <p>According to the answer, MPEG LA believe those using such tools for
 709 non-personal or commercial use need a license with them:</p>
 710
 711 <p><blockquote>
 712
 713 <p>With regard to the Notice to Customers, I would like to begin by
 714 clarifying that the Notice from Section 7.1 of the AVC License
 715 reads:</p>
 716
 717 <p>THIS PRODUCT IS LICENSED UNDER THE AVC PATENT PORTFOLIO LICENSE FOR
 718 THE PERSONAL USE OF A CONSUMER OR OTHER USES IN WHICH IT DOES NOT
 719 RECEIVE REMUNERATION TO (i) ENCODE VIDEO IN COMPLIANCE WITH THE AVC
 720 STANDARD ("AVC VIDEO") AND/OR (ii) DECODE AVC VIDEO THAT WAS ENCODED
 721 BY A CONSUMER ENGAGED IN A PERSONAL ACTIVITY AND/OR WAS OBTAINED FROM
 722 A VIDEO PROVIDER LICENSED TO PROVIDE AVC VIDEO. NO LICENSE IS GRANTED
 723 OR SHALL BE IMPLIED FOR ANY OTHER USE. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION MAY BE
 724 OBTAINED FROM MPEG LA, L.L.C. SEE HTTP://WWW.MPEGLA.COM</p>
 725
 726 <p>The Notice to Customers is intended to inform End Users of the
 727 personal usage rights (for example, to watch video content) included
 728 with the product they purchased, and to encourage any party using the
 729 product for commercial purposes to contact MPEG LA in order to become
 730 licensed for such use (for example, when they use an AVC Product to
 731 deliver Title-by-Title, Subscription, Free Television or Internet
 732 Broadcast AVC Video to End Users, or to re-Sell a third party's AVC
 733 Product as their own branded AVC Product).</p>
 734
 735 <p>Therefore, if a party is to be licensed for its use of an AVC
 736 Product to Sell AVC Video on a Title-by-Title, Subscription, Free
 737 Television or Internet Broadcast basis, that party would need to
 738 conclude the AVC License, even in the case where no royalties were
 739 payable under the License.  On the other hand, if that party (either a
 740 Consumer or business customer) simply uses an AVC Product for their
 741 own internal purposes and not for the commercial purposes referenced
 742 above, then such use would be included in the royalty paid for the AVC
 743 Products by the licensed supplier.</p>
 744
 745 <p>Finally, I note that our AVC License provides worldwide coverage in
 746 countries that have AVC Patent Portfolio Patents, including
 747 Norway.</p>
 748
 749 <p>I hope this clarification is helpful.  If I may be of any further
 750 assistance, just let me know.</p>
 751 </blockquote></p>
 752
 753 <p>The mentioning of Norwegian patents made me a bit confused, so I
 754 asked for more information:</p>
 755
 756 <p><blockquote>
 757
 758 <p>But one minor question at the end.  If I understand you correctly,
 759 you state in the quote above that there are patents in the AVC Patent
 760 Portfolio that are valid in Norway.  This make me believe I read the
 761 list available from &lt;URL:
 762 <a href="http://www.mpegla.com/main/programs/AVC/Pages/PatentList.aspx">http://www.mpegla.com/main/programs/AVC/Pages/PatentList.aspx</a>
 763 &gt; incorrectly, as I believed the "NO" prefix in front of patents
 764 were Norwegian patents, and the only one I could find under Mitsubishi
 765 Electric Corporation expired in 2012.  Which patents are you referring
 766 to that are relevant for Norway?</p>
 767
 768 </blockquote></p>
 769
 770 <p>Again, the quick answer explained how to read the list of patents
 771 in that list:</p>
 772
 773 <p><blockquote>
 774
 775 <p>Your understanding is correct that the last AVC Patent Portfolio
 776 Patent in Norway expired on 21 October 2012.  Therefore, where AVC
 777 Video is both made and Sold in Norway after that date, then no
 778 royalties would be payable for such AVC Video under the AVC License.
 779 With that said, our AVC License provides historic coverage for AVC
 780 Products and AVC Video that may have been manufactured or Sold before
 781 the last Norwegian AVC patent expired.  I would also like to clarify
 782 that coverage is provided for the country of manufacture and the
 783 country of Sale that has active AVC Patent Portfolio Patents.</p>
 784
 785 <p>Therefore, if a party offers AVC Products or AVC Video for Sale in
 786 a country with active AVC Patent Portfolio Patents (for example,
 787 Sweden, Denmark, Finland, etc.), then that party would still need
 788 coverage under the AVC License even if such products or video are
 789 initially made in a country without active AVC Patent Portfolio
 790 Patents (for example, Norway).  Similarly, a party would need to
 791 conclude the AVC License if they make AVC Products or AVC Video in a
 792 country with active AVC Patent Portfolio Patents, but eventually Sell
 793 such AVC Products or AVC Video in a country without active AVC Patent
 794 Portfolio Patents.</p>
 795 </blockquote></p>
 796
 797 <p>As far as I understand it, MPEG LA believe anyone using Adobe
 798 Premiere and other video related software with a H.264 distribution
 799 license need a license agreement with MPEG LA to use such tools for
 800 anything non-private or commercial, while it is OK to set up a
 801 Youtube-like service as long as no-one pays to get access to the
 802 content.  I still have no clear idea how this applies to Norway, where
 803 none of the patents MPEG LA is licensing are valid.  Will the
 804 copyright terms take precedence or can those terms be ignored because
 805 the patents are not valid in Norway?</p>
 806
 807       </div>
 808       <div class="tags">
 809
 810
 811         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/h264">h264</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/multimedia">multimedia</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/opphavsrett">opphavsrett</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>.
 812
 813
 814       </div>
 815     </div>
 816     <div class="padding"></div>
 817
 818     <div class="entry">
 819       <div class="title">
 820         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/New_laptop___some_more_clues_and_ideas_based_on_feedback.html">New laptop - some more clues and ideas based on feedback</a>
 821       </div>
 822       <div class="date">
 823          5th July 2015
 824       </div>
 825       <div class="body">
 826         <p>Several people contacted me after my previous blog post about my
 827 need for a new laptop, and provided very useful feedback.  I wish to
 828 thank every one of these.  Several pointed me to the possibility of
 829 fixing my X230, and I am already in the process of getting Lenovo to
 830 do so thanks to the on site, next day support contract covering the
 831 machine.  But the battery is almost useless (I expect to replace it
 832 with a non-official battery) and I do not expect the machine to live
 833 for many more years, so it is time to plan its replacement.  If I did
 834 not have a support contract, it was suggested to find replacement parts
 835 using <a href="http://www.francecrans.com/">FrancEcrans</a>, but it
 836 might present a language barrier as I do not understand French.</p>
 837
 838 <p>One tip I got was to use the
 839 <a href="https://skinflint.co.uk/?cat=nb">Skinflint</a> web service to
 840 compare laptop models.  It seem to have more models available than
 841 prisjakt.no.  Another tip I got from someone I know have similar
 842 keyboard preferences was that the HP EliteBook 840 keyboard is not
 843 very good, and this matches my experience with earlier EliteBook
 844 keyboards I tested.  Because of this, I will not consider it any further.
 845
 846 <p>When I wrote my blog post, I was not aware of Thinkpad X250, the
 847 newest Thinkpad X model.  The keyboard reintroduces mouse buttons
 848 (which is missing from the X240), and is working fairly well with
 849 Debian Sid/Unstable according to
 850 <a href="http://www.corsac.net/X250/">Corsac.net</a>.  The reports I
 851 got on the keyboard quality are not consistent.  Some say the keyboard
 852 is good, others say it is ok, while others say it is not very good.
 853 Those with experience from X41 and and X60 agree that the X250
 854 keyboard is not as good as those trusty old laptops, and suggest I
 855 keep and fix my X230 instead of upgrading, or get a used X230 to
 856 replace it.  I'm also told that the X250 lack leds for caps lock, disk
 857 activity and battery status, which is very convenient on my X230.  I'm
 858 also told that the CPU fan is running very often, making it a bit
 859 noisy.  In any case, the X250 do not work out of the box with Debian
 860 Stable/Jessie, one of my requirements.</p>
 861
 862 <p>I have also gotten a few vendor proposals, one was
 863 <a href="http://pro-star.com">Pro-Star</a>, another was
 864 <a href="http://shop.gluglug.org.uk/product/libreboot-x200/">Libreboot</a>.
 865 The latter look very attractive to me.</p>
 866
 867 <p>Again, thank you all for the very useful feedback.  It help a lot
 868 as I keep looking for a replacement.</p>
 869
 870 <p>Update 2015-07-06: I was recommended to check out the
 871 <a href="">lapstore.de</a> web shop for used laptops.  They got several
 872 different
 873 <a href="http://www.lapstore.de/f.php/shop/lapstore/f/411/lang/x/kw/Lenovo_ThinkPad_X_Serie/">old
 874 thinkpad X models</a>, and provide one year warranty.</p>
 875
 876       </div>
 877       <div class="tags">
 878
 879
 880         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>.
 881
 882
 883       </div>
 884     </div>
 885     <div class="padding"></div>
 886
 887     <div class="entry">
 888       <div class="title">
 889         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Time_to_find_a_new_laptop__as_the_old_one_is_broken_after_only_two_years.html">Time to find a new laptop, as the old one is broken after only two years</a>
 890       </div>
 891       <div class="date">
 892          3rd July 2015
 893       </div>
 894       <div class="body">
 895         <p>My primary work horse laptop is failing, and will need a
 896 replacement soon.  The left 5 cm of the screen on my Thinkpad X230
 897 started flickering yesterday, and I suspect the cause is a broken
 898 cable, as changing the angle of the screen some times get rid of the
 899 flickering.</p>
 900
 901 <p>My requirements have not really changed since I bought it, and is
 902 still as
 903 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Thank_you_Thinkpad_X41__for_your_long_and_trustworthy_service.html">I
 904 described them in 2013</a>.  The last time I bought a laptop, I had
 905 good help from
 906 <a href="http://www.prisjakt.no/category.php?k=353">prisjakt.no</a>
 907 where I could select at least a few of the requirements (mouse pin,
 908 wifi, weight) and go through the rest manually.  Three button mouse
 909 and a good keyboard is not available as an option, and all the three
 910 laptop models proposed today (Thinkpad X240, HP EliteBook 820 G1 and
 911 G2) lack three mouse buttons).  It is also unclear to me how good the
 912 keyboard on the HP EliteBooks are.  I hope Lenovo have not messed up
 913 the keyboard, even if the quality and robustness in the X series have
 914 deteriorated since X41.</p>
 915
 916 <p>I wonder how I can find a sensible laptop when none of the options
 917 seem sensible to me?  Are there better services around to search the
 918 set of available laptops for features?  Please send me an email if you
 919 have suggestions.</p>
 920
 921 <p>Update 2015-07-23: I got a suggestion to check out the FSF
 922 <a href="http://www.fsf.org/resources/hw/endorsement/respects-your-freedom">list
 923 of endorsed hardware</a>, which is useful background information.</p>
 924
 925       </div>
 926       <div class="tags">
 927
 928
 929         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>.
 930
 931
 932       </div>
 933     </div>
 934     <div class="padding"></div>
 935
 936     <div class="entry">
 937       <div class="title">
 938         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/MakerCon_Nordic_videos_now_available_on_Frikanalen.html">MakerCon Nordic videos now available on Frikanalen</a>
 939       </div>
 940       <div class="date">
 941          2nd July 2015
 942       </div>
 943       <div class="body">
 944         <p>Last oktober I was involved on behalf of
 945 <a href="http://www.nuug.no/">NUUG</a> with recording the talks at
 946 <a href="http://www.makercon.no/">MakerCon Nordic</a>, a conference for
 947 the Maker movement.  Since then it has been the plan to publish the
 948 recordings on <a href="http://www.frikanalen.no/">Frikanalen</a>, which
 949 finally happened the last few days.  A few talks are missing because
 950 the speakers asked the organizers to not publish them, but most of the
 951 talks are available.  The talks are being broadcasted on RiksTV
 952 channel 50 and using multicast on Uninett, as well as being available
 953 from the Frikanalen web site.  The unedited recordings are
 954 <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/MakerConNordic/">available on
 955 Youtube too</a>.</p>
 956
 957 <p>This is the list of talks available at the moment.  Visit the
 958 <a href="http://beta.frikanalen.no/video/?q=makercon">Frikanalen video
 959 pages</a> to view them.</p>
 960
 961 <ul>
 962
 963   <li>Evolutionary algorithms as a design tool - from art
 964       to robotics (Kyrre Glette)</li>
 965
 966   <li>Make and break (Hans Gerhard Meier)</li>
 967
 968   <li>Making a one year school course for young makers
 969       (Olav Helland)</li>
 970
 971   <li>Innovation Inspiration - IPR Databases as a Source of
 972       Inspiration (Hege Langlo)</li>
 973
 974   <li>Making a toy for makers (Erik Torstensson)</li>
 975
 976   <li>How to make 3D printer electronics (Elias Bakken)</li>
 977
 978   <li>Hovering Clouds: Looking at online tool offerings for Product
 979       Design and 3D Printing (William Kempton)</li>
 980
 981   <li>Travelling maker stories (Øyvind Nydal Dahl)</li>
 982
 983   <li>Making the first Maker Faire in Sweden (Nils Olander)</li>
 984
 985   <li>Breaking the mold: Printing 1000’s of parts (Espen Sivertsen)</li>
 986
 987   <li>Ultimaker — and open source 3D printing (Erik de Bruijn)</li>
 988
 989   <li>Autodesk’s 3D Printing Platform: Sparking innovation (Hilde
 990       Sevens)</li>
 991
 992   <li>How Making is Changing the World – and How You Can Too!
 993       (Jennifer Turliuk)</li>
 994
 995   <li>Open-Source Adventuring: OpenROV, OpenExplorer and the Future of
 996       Connected Exploration (David Lang)</li>
 997
 998   <li>Making in Norway (Haakon Karlsen Jr., Graham Hayward and Jens
 999       Dyvik)</li>
1000
1001   <li>The Impact of the Maker Movement (Mike Senese)</li>
1002
1003 </ul>
1004
1005 <p>Part of the reason this took so long was that the scripts NUUG had
1006 to prepare a recording for publication were five years old and no
1007 longer worked with the current video processing tools (command line
1008 argument changes).  In addition, we needed better audio normalization,
1009 which sent me on a detour to
1010 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Measuring_and_adjusting_the_loudness_of_a_TV_channel_using_bs1770gain.html">package
1011 bs1770gain for Debian</a>.  Now this is in place and it became a lot
1012 easier to publish NUUG videos on Frikanalen.</p>
1013
1014       </div>
1015       <div class="tags">
1016
1017
1018         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>.
1019
1020
1021       </div>
1022     </div>
1023     <div class="padding"></div>
1024
1025     <div class="entry">
1026       <div class="title">
1027         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Graphing_the_Norwegian_company_ownership_structure.html">Graphing the Norwegian company ownership structure</a>
1028       </div>
1029       <div class="date">
1030         15th June 2015
1031       </div>
1032       <div class="body">
1033         <p>It is a bit work to figure out the ownership structure of companies
1034 in Norway.  The information is publicly available, but one need to
1035 recursively look up ownership for all owners to figure out the complete
1036 ownership graph of a given set of companies.  To save me the work in
1037 the future, I wrote a script to do this automatically, outputting the
1038 ownership structure using the Graphviz/dotty format.  The data source
1039 is web scraping from <a href="http://www.proff.no/">Proff</a>, because
1040 I failed to find a useful source directly from the official keepers of
1041 the ownership data, <a href="http://www.brreg.no/">Brønnøysundsregistrene</a>.</p>
1042
1043 <p>To get an ownership graph for a set of companies, fetch
1044 <a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/brreg-norway-ownership-graph">the code from git</a> and run it using the organisation number.  I'm
1045 using the Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet as an example here, as its
1046 ownership structure is very simple:</p>
1047
1048 <pre>
1049 % time ./bin/eierskap-dotty 958033540 > dagbladet.dot
1050
1051 real    0m2.841s
1052 user    0m0.184s
1053 sys     0m0.036s
1054 %
1055 </pre>
1056
1057 <p>The script accept several organisation numbers on the command line,
1058 allowing a cluster of companies to be graphed in the same image.  The
1059 resulting dot file for the example above look like this.  The edges
1060 are labeled with the ownership percentage, and the nodes uses the
1061 organisation number as their name and the name as the label:</p>
1062
1063 <pre>
1064 digraph ownership {
1065 rankdir = LR;
1066 "Aller Holding A/s" -> "910119877" [label="100%"]
1067 "910119877" -> "998689015" [label="100%"]
1068 "998689015" -> "958033540" [label="99%"]
1069 "974530600" -> "958033540" [label="1%"]
1070 "958033540" [label="AS DAGBLADET"]
1071 "998689015" [label="Berner Media Holding AS"]
1072 "974530600" [label="Dagbladets Stiftelse"]
1073 "910119877" [label="Aller Media AS"]
1074 }
1075 </pre>
1076
1077 <p>To view the ownership graph, run "<tt>dotty dagbladet.dot</tt>" or
1078 convert it to a PNG using "<tt>dot -T png dagbladet.dot >
1079 dagbladet.png</tt>".  The result can be seen below:</p>
1080
1081 <img src="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2015-06-15-ownership-graphs-norway-dagbladet.png" width="80%">
1082
1083 <p>Note that I suspect the "Aller Holding A/S" entry to be incorrect
1084 data in the official ownership register, as that name is not
1085 registered in the official company register for Norway.  The ownership
1086 register is sensitive to typos and there seem to be no strict checking
1087 of the ownership links.</p>
1088
1089 <p>Let me know if you improve the script or find better data sources.
1090 The code is licensed according to GPL 2 or newer.</p>
1091
1092 <p>Update 2015-06-15: Since the initial post I've been told that
1093 "<a href="http://www.proff.dk/firma/carl-allers-etablissement-aktieselskab/københavn-v/hovedkontorer/13624518-3/">Aller
1094 Holding A/S</a>" is a Danish company, which explain why it did not
1095 have a Norwegian organisation number.  I've also been told that there
1096 is a <a href="http://www.brreg.no/automatiske/webservices/">web
1097 services API available</a> from Brønnøysundsregistrene, for those
1098 willing to accept the terms or pay the price.</p>
1099
1100       </div>
1101       <div class="tags">
1102
1103
1104         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/offentlig innsyn">offentlig innsyn</a>.
1105
1106
1107       </div>
1108     </div>
1109     <div class="padding"></div>
1110
1111     <div class="entry">
1112       <div class="title">
1113         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Measuring_and_adjusting_the_loudness_of_a_TV_channel_using_bs1770gain.html">Measuring and adjusting the loudness of a TV channel using bs1770gain</a>
1114       </div>
1115       <div class="date">
1116         11th June 2015
1117       </div>
1118       <div class="body">
1119         <p>Television loudness is the source of frustration for viewers
1120 everywhere.  Some channels are very load, others are less loud, and
1121 ads tend to shout very high to get the attention of the viewers, and
1122 the viewers do not like this.  This fact is well known to the TV
1123 channels.  See for example the BBC white paper
1124 "<a href="http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/rd/pubs/whp/whp-pdf-files/WHP202.pdf">Terminology
1125 for loudness and level dBTP, LU, and all that</a>" from 2011 for a
1126 summary of the problem domain.  To better address the need for even
1127 loadness, the TV channels got together several years ago to agree on a
1128 new way to measure loudness in digital files as one step in
1129 standardizing loudness.  From this came the ITU-R standard BS.1770,
1130 "<a href="http://www.itu.int/rec/R-REC-BS.1770/en">Algorithms to
1131 measure audio programme loudness and true-peak audio level</a>".</p>
1132
1133 <p>The ITU-R BS.1770 specification describe an algorithm to measure
1134 loadness in LUFS (Loudness Units, referenced to Full Scale). But
1135 having a way to measure is not enough.  To get the same loudness
1136 across TV channels, one also need to decide which value to standardize
1137 on.  For European TV channels, this was done in the EBU Recommondaton
1138 R128, "<a href="https://tech.ebu.ch/docs/r/r128.pdf">Loudness
1139 normalisation and permitted maximum level of audio signals</a>", which
1140 specifies a recommended level of -23 LUFS.  In Norway, I have been
1141 told that NRK, TV2, MTG and SBS have decided among themselves to
1142 follow the R128 recommondation for playout from 2016-03-01.</p>
1143
1144 <p>There are free software available to measure and adjust the loudness
1145 level using the LUFS.  In Debian, I am aware of a library named
1146 <a href="https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/libebur128">libebur128</a>
1147 able to measure the loudness and since yesterday morning a new binary
1148 named <a href="http://bs1770gain.sourceforge.net">bs1770gain</a>
1149 capable of both measuring and adjusting was uploaded and is waiting
1150 for NEW processing.  I plan to maintain the latter in Debian under the
1151 <a href="https://qa.debian.org/developer.php?email=pkg-multimedia-maintainers%40lists.alioth.debian.org">Debian
1152 multimedia</a> umbrella.</p>
1153
1154 <p>The free software based TV channel I am involved in,
1155 <a href="http://www.frikanalen.no/">Frikanalen</a>, plan to follow the
1156 R128 recommondation ourself as soon as we can adjust the software to
1157 do so, and the bs1770gain tool seem like a good fit for that part of
1158 the puzzle to measure loudness on new video uploaded to Frikanalen.
1159 Personally, I plan to use bs1770gain to adjust the loudness of videos
1160 I upload to Frikanalen on behalf of <a href="http://www.nuug.no/">the
1161 NUUG member organisation</a>.  The program seem to be able to measure
1162 the LUFS value of any media file handled by ffmpeg, but I've only
1163 successfully adjusted the LUFS value of WAV files.  I suspect it
1164 should be able to adjust it for all the formats handled by ffmpeg.</p>
1165
1166       </div>
1167       <div class="tags">
1168
1169
1170         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>.
1171
1172
1173       </div>
1174     </div>
1175     <div class="padding"></div>
1176
1177     <div class="entry">
1178       <div class="title">
1179         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Norwegian_citizens_now_required_by_law_to_give_their_fingerprint_to_the_police.html">Norwegian citizens now required by law to give their fingerprint to the police</a>
1180       </div>
1181       <div class="date">
1182         10th May 2015
1183       </div>
1184       <div class="body">
1185         <p>5 days ago, the Norwegian Parliament decided, unanimously, that all
1186 citizens of Norway, no matter if they are suspected of something
1187 criminal or not, are
1188 <a href="https://www.holderdeord.no/votes/1430838871e">required to
1189 give fingerprints to the police</a> (vote details from Holder de
1190 ord).  The law make it sound like it will be optional, but in a few
1191 years there will be no option any more.  The ID will be required to
1192 vote, to get a bank account, a bank card, to change address on the
1193 post office, to receive an electronic ID or to get a drivers license
1194 and many other tasks required to function in Norway.  The banks plan
1195 to stop providing their own ID on the bank cards when this new
1196 national ID is introduced, and the national road authorities plan to
1197 change the drivers license to no longer be usable as identity cards.
1198 In effect, to function as a citizen in Norway a national ID card will
1199 be required, and to get it one need to provide the fingerprints to
1200 the police.</p>
1201
1202 <p>In addition to handing the fingerprint to the police (which
1203 promised to not make a copy of the fingerprint image at that point in
1204 time, but say nothing about doing it later), a picture of the
1205 fingerprint will be stored on the RFID chip, along with a picture of
1206 the face and other information about the person.  Some of the
1207 information will be encrypted, but the encryption will be the same
1208 system as currently used in the passports.  The codes to decrypt will
1209 be available to a lot of government offices and their suppliers around
1210 the globe, but for those that do not know anyone in those circles it
1211 is good to know that
1212 <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2006/nov/17/news.homeaffairs">the
1213 encryption is already broken</a>.  And they
1214 <a href="http://www.networkworld.com/article/2215057/wireless/bad-guys-could-read-rfid-passports-at-217-feet--maybe-a-lot-more.html">can
1215 be read from 70 meters away</a>.  This can be mitigated a bit by
1216 keeping it in a Faraday cage (metal box or metal wire container), but
1217 one will be required to take it out of there often enough to expose
1218 ones private and personal information to a lot of people that have no
1219 business getting access to that information.</p>
1220
1221 <p>The new Norwegian national IDs are a vehicle for identity theft,
1222 and I feel sorry for us all having politicians accepting such invasion
1223 of privacy without any objections.  So are the Norwegian passports,
1224 but it has been possible to function in Norway without those so far.
1225 That option is going away with the passing of the new law.  In this, I
1226 envy the Germans, because for them it is optional how much biometric
1227 information is stored in their national ID.</p>
1228
1229 <p>And if forced collection of fingerprints was not bad enough, the
1230 information collected in the national ID card register can be handed
1231 over to foreign intelligence services and police authorities, "when
1232 extradition is not considered disproportionate".</p>
1233
1234 <p>Update 2015-05-12: For those unable to believe that the Parliament
1235 really could make such decision, I wrote
1236 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Blir_det_virkelig_krav_om_fingeravtrykk_i_nasjonale_ID_kort_.html">a
1237 summary of the sources I have</a> for concluding the way I do
1238 (Norwegian Only, as the sources are all in Norwegian).</p>
1239
1240       </div>
1241       <div class="tags">
1242
1243
1244         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/surveillance">surveillance</a>.
1245
1246
1247       </div>
1248     </div>
1249     <div class="padding"></div>
1250
1251     <div class="entry">
1252       <div class="title">
1253         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/What_would_it_cost_to_store_all_phone_calls_in_Norway_.html">What would it cost to store all phone calls in Norway?</a>
1254       </div>
1255       <div class="date">
1256          1st May 2015
1257       </div>
1258       <div class="body">
1259         <p>Many years ago, a friend of mine calculated how much it would cost
1260 to store the sound of all phone calls in Norway, and came up with the
1261 cost of around 20 million NOK (2.4 mill EUR) for all the calls in a
1262 year.  I got curious and wondered what the same calculation would look
1263 like today.  To do so one need an idea of how much data storage is
1264 needed for each minute of sound, how many minutes all the calls in
1265 Norway sums up to, and the cost of data storage.</p>
1266
1267 <p>The 2005 numbers are from
1268 <a href="http://www.digi.no/analyser/2005/10/04/vi-prater-stadig-mindre-i-roret">digi.no</a>,
1269 the 2012 numbers are from
1270 <a href="http://www.nkom.no/aktuelt/nyheter/fortsatt-vekst-i-det-norske-ekommarkedet">a
1271 NKOM report</a>, and I got the 2013 numbers after asking NKOM via
1272 email.  I was told the numbers for 2014 will be presented May 20th,
1273 and decided not to wait for those, as I doubt they will be very
1274 different from the numbers from 2013.</p>
1275
1276 <p>The amount of data storage per minute sound depend on the wanted
1277 quality, and for phone calls it is generally believed that 8 Kbit/s is
1278 enough.  See for example a
1279 <a href="http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/docs/voice/voice-quality/7934-bwidth-consume.html#topic1">summary
1280 on voice quality from Cisco</a> for some alternatives.  8 Kbit/s is 60
1281 Kbytes/min, and this can be multiplied with the number of call minutes
1282 to get the storage requirements.</p>
1283
1284 <p>Storage prices varies a lot, depending on speed, backup strategies,
1285 availability requirements etc.  But a simple way to calculate can be
1286 to use the price of a TiB-disk (around 1000 NOK / 120 EUR) and double
1287 it to take space, power and redundancy into account.  It could be much
1288 higher with high speed and good redundancy requirements.</p>
1289
1290 <p>But back to the question, What would it cost to store all phone
1291 calls in Norway?  Not much.  Here is a small table showing the
1292 estimated cost, which is within the budget constraint of most medium
1293 and large organisations:</p>
1294
1295 <table border="1">
1296 <tr><th>Year</th><th>Call minutes</th><th>Size</th><th>Price in NOK / EUR</th></tr>
1297 <tr><td>2005</td><td align="right">24 000 000 000</td><td align="right">1.3 PiB</td><td align="right">3 mill / 358 000</td></tr>
1298 <tr><td>2012</td><td align="right">18 000 000 000</td><td align="right">1.0 PiB</td><td align="right">2.2 mill / 262 000</td></tr>
1299 <tr><td>2013</td><td align="right">17 000 000 000</td><td align="right">950 TiB</td><td align="right">2.1 mill / 250 000</td></tr>
1300 </table>
1301
1302 <p>This is the cost of buying the storage.  Maintenance need to be
1303 taken into account too, but calculating that is left as an exercise
1304 for the reader.  But it is obvious to me from those numbers that
1305 recording the sound of all phone calls in Norway is not going to be
1306 stopped because it is too expensive.  I wonder if someone already is
1307 collecting the data?</p>
1308
1309       </div>
1310       <div class="tags">
1311
1312
1313         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/surveillance">surveillance</a>.
1314
1315
1316       </div>
1317     </div>
1318     <div class="padding"></div>
1319
1320     <div class="entry">
1321       <div class="title">
1322         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/First_Jessie_based_Debian_Edu_beta_release.html">First Jessie based Debian Edu beta release</a>
1323       </div>
1324       <div class="date">
1325         26th April 2015
1326       </div>
1327       <div class="body">
1328         <p>I am happy to report that the Debian Edu team sent out
1329 <a href="https://lists.debian.org/debian-edu-announce/2015/04/msg00000.html">this
1330 announcement today</a>:</p>
1331
1332 <pre>
1333 the Debian Edu / Skolelinux project is pleased to announce the first
1334 *beta* release of Debian Edu "Jessie" 8.0+edu0~b1, which for the first
1335 time is composed entirely of packages from the current Debian stable
1336 release, Debian 8 "Jessie".
1337
1338 (As most reading this will know, Debian "Jessie" hasn't actually been
1339 released by now. The release is still in progress but should finish
1340 later today ;)
1341
1342 We expect to make a final release of Debian Edu "Jessie" in the coming
1343 weeks, timed with the first point release of Debian Jessie. Upgrades
1344 from this beta release of Debian Edu Jessie to the final release will
1345 be possible and encouraged!
1346
1347 Please report feedback to debian-edu@lists.debian.org and/or submit
1348 bugs: http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/HowTo/ReportBugs
1349
1350 Debian Edu - sometimes also known as "Skolelinux" - is a complete
1351 operating system for schools, universities and other
1352 organisations. Through its pre- prepared installation profiles
1353 administrators can install servers, workstations and laptops which
1354 will work in harmony on the school network.  With Debian Edu, the
1355 teachers themselves or their technical support staff can roll out a
1356 complete multi-user, multi-machine study environment within hours or
1357 days.
1358
1359 Debian Edu is already in use at several hundred schools all over the
1360 world, particularly in Germany, Spain and Norway. Installations come
1361 with hundreds of applications pre-installed, plus the whole Debian
1362 archive of thousands of compatible packages within easy reach.
1363
1364 For those who want to give Debian Edu Jessie a try, download and
1365 installation instructions are available, including detailed
1366 instructions in the manual explaining the first steps, such as setting
1367 up a network or adding users.  Please note that the password for the
1368 user your prompted for during installation must have a length of at
1369 least 5 characters!
1370
1371 == Where to download ==
1372
1373 A multi-architecture CD / usbstick image (649 MiB) for network booting
1374 can be downloaded at the following locations:
1375
1376     http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/debian-edu-8.0+edu0~b1-CD.iso
1377     rsync -avzP ftp.skolelinux.org::skolelinux-cd/debian-edu-8.0+edu0~b1-CD.iso .
1378
1379 The SHA1SUM of this image is: 54a524d16246cddd8d2cfd6ea52f2dd78c47ee0a
1380
1381 Alternatively an extended DVD / usbstick image (4.9 GiB) is also
1382 available, with more software included (saving additional download
1383 time):
1384
1385     http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/debian-edu-8.0+edu0~b1-USB.iso
1386     rsync -avzP ftp.skolelinux.org::skolelinux-cd/debian-edu-8.0+edu0~b1-USB.iso
1387
1388 The SHA1SUM of this image is: fb1f1504a490c077a48653898f9d6a461cb3c636
1389
1390 Sources are available from the Debian archive, see
1391 http://ftp.debian.org/debian-cd/8.0.0/source/ for some download
1392 options.
1393
1394 == Debian Edu Jessie manual in seven languages ==
1395
1396 Please see https://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/Documentation/Jessie/ for
1397 the English version of the Debian Edu jessie manual.
1398
1399 This manual has been fully translated to German, French, Italian,
1400 Danish, Dutch and Norwegian Bokmål. A partly translated version exists
1401 for Spanish.  See http://maintainer.skolelinux.org/debian-edu-doc/ for
1402 online version of the translated manual.
1403
1404 More information about Debian 8 "Jessie" itself is provided in the
1405 release notes and the installation manual:
1406 - http://www.debian.org/releases/jessie/releasenotes
1407 - http://www.debian.org/releases/jessie/installmanual
1408
1409
1410 == Errata / known problems ==
1411
1412     It takes up to 15 minutes for a changed hostname to be updated via
1413     DHCP (#780461).
1414
1415     The hostname script fails to update LTSP server hostname (#783087).
1416
1417 Workaround: run update-hostname-from-ip on the client to update the
1418 hostname immediately.
1419
1420 Check https://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/Status/Jessie for a possibly
1421 more current and complete list.
1422
1423 == Some more details about Debian Edu 8.0+edu0~b1 Codename Jessie released 2015-04-25 ==
1424
1425 === Software updates ===
1426
1427 Everything which is new in Debian 8 Jessie, e.g.:
1428
1429  * Linux kernel 3.16.7-ctk9; for the i386 architecture, support for
1430    i486 processors has been dropped; oldest supported ones: i586 (like
1431    Intel Pentium and AMD K5).
1432
1433  * Desktop environments KDE Plasma Workspaces 4.11.13, GNOME 3.14,
1434    Xfce 4.12, LXDE 0.5.6
1435    * new optional desktop environment: MATE 1.8
1436    * KDE Plasma Workspaces is installed by default; to choose one of
1437      the others see the manual.
1438  * the browsers Iceweasel 31 ESR and Chromium 41
1439  * LibreOffice 4.3.3
1440  * GOsa 2.7.4
1441  * LTSP 5.5.4
1442  * CUPS print system 1.7.5
1443  * new boot framework: systemd
1444  * Educational toolbox GCompris 14.12
1445  * Music creator Rosegarden 14.02
1446  * Image editor Gimp 2.8.14
1447  * Virtual stargazer Stellarium 0.13.1
1448  * golearn 0.9
1449  * tuxpaint 0.9.22
1450  * New version of debian-installer from Debian Jessie.
1451  * Debian Jessie includes about 43000 packages available for installation.
1452  * More information about Debian 8 Jessie is provided in its release
1453    notes and the installation manual, see the link above.
1454
1455 === Installation changes ===
1456
1457     Installations done via PXE now also install firmware automatically
1458     for the hardware present.
1459
1460 === Fixed bugs ===
1461
1462 A number of bugs have been fixed in this release; the most noticeable
1463 from a user perspective:
1464
1465  * Inserting incorrect DNS information in Gosa will no longer break
1466    DNS completely, but instead stop DNS updates until the incorrect
1467    information is corrected (710362)
1468
1469  * shutdown-at-night now shuts the system down if gdm3 is used (775608).
1470
1471 === Sugar desktop removed ===
1472
1473 As the Sugar desktop was removed from Debian Jessie, it is also not
1474 available in Debian Edu jessie.
1475
1476
1477 == About Debian Edu / Skolelinux ==
1478
1479 Debian Edu, also known as Skolelinux, is a Linux distribution based on
1480 Debian providing an out-of-the box environment of a completely
1481 configured school network. Directly after installation a school server
1482 running all services needed for a school network is set up just
1483 waiting for users and machines being added via GOsa², a comfortable
1484 Web-UI. A netbooting environment is prepared using PXE, so after
1485 initial installation of the main server from CD or USB stick all other
1486 machines can be installed via the network. The provided school server
1487 provides LDAP database and Kerberos authentication service,
1488 centralized home directories, DHCP server, web proxy and many other
1489 services.  The desktop contains more than 60 educational software
1490 packages and more are available from the Debian archive, and schools
1491 can choose between KDE, GNOME, LXDE, Xfce and MATE desktop
1492 environment.
1493
1494 == About Debian ==
1495
1496 The Debian Project was founded in 1993 by Ian Murdock to be a truly
1497 free community project. Since then the project has grown to be one of
1498 the largest and most influential open source projects. Thousands of
1499 volunteers from all over the world work together to create and
1500 maintain Debian software. Available in 70 languages, and supporting a
1501 huge range of computer types, Debian calls itself the universal
1502 operating system.
1503
1504 == Thanks ==
1505
1506 Thanks to everyone making Debian and Debian Edu / Skolelinux happen!
1507 You rock.
1508 </pre>
1509
1510       </div>
1511       <div class="tags">
1512
1513
1514         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>.
1515
1516
1517       </div>
1518     </div>
1519     <div class="padding"></div>
1520
1521     <div class="entry">
1522       <div class="title">
1523         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__Shirish_Agarwal.html">Debian Edu interview: Shirish Agarwal</a>
1524       </div>
1525       <div class="date">
1526         15th April 2015
1527       </div>
1528       <div class="body">
1529         <p>It was a surprise to me to learn that project to create a complete
1530 computer system for schools I've involved in,
1531 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / Skolelinux</a>, was
1532 being used in India.  But apparently it is, and I managed to get an
1533 interview with one of the friends of the project there, Shirish
1534 Agarwal.</p>
1535
1536 <p><strong>Who are you, and how do you spend your days?</strong></p>
1537
1538 <p>My name is Shirish Agarwal. Based out of the educational and
1539 historical city of Pune, from the western state of Maharashtra, India.
1540 My bread comes from giving training, giving policy tips,
1541 installations on free software to mom and pop shops in different
1542 fields from Desktop publishing to retail shops as well as work with
1543 few software start-ups as well.</p>
1544
1545 <p><strong>How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux / Debian Edu
1546 project?</strong></p>
1547
1548 <p>It started innocently enough. I have been using Debian for a few
1549 years and in one local minidebconf / debutsav I was asked if there was
1550 anything for schools or education. I had worked / played with free
1551 educational softwares such as Gcompris and Stellarium for my many
1552 nieces and nephews so researched and found Debian Edu or Skolelinux as
1553 it was known then.  Since then I have started using the various
1554 education meta-packages provided by the project.</p>
1555
1556 <p><strong>What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux / Debian
1557 Edu?</strong></p>
1558
1559 <p>It's closest I have seen where a package full of educational
1560 software are packed, which are free and open (both literally and
1561 figuratively).  Even if I take the simplest software which is
1562 gcompris, the number of activities therein are amazing. Another one of
1563 the softwares that I have liked for a long time is stellarium. Even
1564 pysycache is cool except for couple of issues I encountered
1565 <a href="https://bugs.debian.org/781841">#781841</a> and
1566 <a href="https://bugs.debian.org/781842">#781842</a>.</p>
1567
1568 <p>I prefer software installed on the system over web based solutions,
1569 as a web site can disappear any time but the software on disk has the
1570 possibility of a larger life span.  Of course with both it's more a
1571 question if it has enough users who make it fun or sustainable or both
1572 for the developer per-se.</p>
1573
1574 <p><strong>What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux / Debian
1575 Edu?</strong></p>
1576
1577 <p>I do see that the Debian Edu team seems to be short-handed and I
1578 think more efforts should be made to make it popular and ask and take
1579 help from people and the larger community wherever possible.</p>
1580
1581 <p>I don't see any disadvantage to use Skolelinux apart from the fact
1582 that most apps. are generic which is good or bad how you see it.
1583 However, saying that I do acknowledge the fact that the canvas is
1584 pretty big and there are lot of interesting ideas that could be done
1585 but for reasons not known not done or if done I don't know about them.
1586 Let me share some of the ideas (these are more upstream based but
1587 still) I have had for a long time :</p>
1588
1589 <p>1. Classical maths question of two trains in opposing directions
1590 each running @x kmph/mph at y distance, when they will meet and how
1591 far would each travel and similar questions like these.
1592
1593 <p>The computer is a fantastic system where questions like these can
1594 be drawn, animated and the methodology and answers teased out in
1595 interactive manner. While sites such as the
1596 <a href="http://mathforum.org/dr.math/faq/faq.two.trains.html">Ask
1597 Dr. Math FAQ on The Two Trains problem</a> (as an example or point of
1598 inspiration) can be used there is lot more that can be done.  I dunno
1599 if there is a free software which does something like this.  The idea
1600 being a blend of objects + animation + interaction which does
1601 this. The whole interaction could be gamified with points or sounds or
1602 colourful celebration whenever the user gets even part of the question
1603 or/and methodology right. That would help reinforce good behaviour.
1604 This understanding could be used to share/showcase everything from how
1605 the first wheel came to be, to evolution to how astronomy started,
1606 psychics and everything in-between.</p>
1607
1608 <p>One specific idea in the train part was having the Linux mascot on
1609 one train and the BSD or GNU mascot on the other train and they
1610 meeting somewhere in-between. Characters from blender movies could
1611 also be used.</p>
1612
1613 <p>2. Loads of crossword-puzzles with reference to subjects: We have
1614 enormous data sets in Wikipedia and Wikitionary.  I don't think it
1615 should be a big job to design crossword puzzles. Using categories and
1616 sub-categories it should be doable to have Q&A single word answers
1617 from the existing data-sets. What would make it easy or hard could be
1618 the length of the word + existence of many or few vowels depending on
1619 the user's input.</p>
1620
1621 <p>3. Jigsaw puzzles - We already have a great software called
1622 palapeli with number of slicers making it pretty interesting. What
1623 needs to be done is to download large number of public domain and
1624 copyleft images, tease and use IPTC tags to categorise them into
1625 nature, history etc.  and let it loose. This could turn to be really
1626 huge collection of images. One source could be taken from
1627 commons.wikimedia.org, others could be huge collection of royalty-free
1628 stock photos. Potential is immense.</p>
1629
1630 <p>Apart from this, free software suffers in two directions, we lag
1631 both in development (of using new features per-se) and maintenance a
1632 lot.  This is more so in educational software as these applications
1633 need to be timely and the opportunity cost of missing deadlines is
1634 immense. If we are able to solve issues of funding for development and
1635 maintenance of such software I don't see any big difficulties. I know
1636 of few start-ups in and around India who would love to develop and
1637 maintain such software if funding issues could be solved.</p>
1638
1639 <p><strong>Which free software do you use daily?</strong></p>
1640
1641 <p>That would be huge list. Some of the softwares are obviously apt,
1642 aptitude, debdelta, leafpad, the shell of course (zsh nowadays),
1643 quassel for IRC. In games I use shisen-sho while card-games are evenly
1644 between kpat and Aiselriot.  In desktops it's a tie between
1645 gnome-flashback and mate.</p>
1646
1647 <p><strong>Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to
1648 get schools to use free software?</strong></p>
1649
1650 <p>I think it should first start with using specific FOSS apps. in
1651 whatever environment they are. If it's MS-Windows or Mac so be it.
1652 Once they are habitual with the apps. and there is buy-in from the
1653 school management then it could be installed anywhere. Most of the
1654 people now understand the concept of a repository because of the
1655 various online stores so it isn't hard to convince on that front.</p>
1656
1657 <p>What is harder is having enough people with technical skills and
1658 passion to service them. If you get buy-in from one or two teachers
1659 then ideas like above could also be asked to be done as a project as
1660 well.</p>
1661
1662 <p>I think where we fall short more than anything is in marketing. For
1663 instance, Debian has this whole range of fonts in its archive but
1664 there isn't even a page where all those different fonts in the La
1665 Ipsum format could be tried out for newcomers.</p>
1666
1667 <p>One of the issues faced constantly in installations is with updates
1668 and upgrades.  People have this myth that each update and upgrade
1669 means the user interface will / has to change. I have seen this
1670 innumerable times.  That perhaps is one of the reasons which browsers
1671 like Iceweasel / Firefox change user interfaces so much, not because
1672 it might be needed or be functional but because people believe that
1673 changed user interfaces are better. This, can easily be pointed with
1674 the user interfaces changed with almost every MS-Windows and Mac OS
1675 releases.</p>
1676
1677 <p>The problems with Debian Edu for deployment are many. The biggest
1678 is the huge gap between what is taught in schools and what Debian Edu
1679 is aimed at.
1680
1681 <p>Me and my friends did teach on week-ends in a government school for
1682 around 2 years, and
1683 <a href="https://flossexperiences.wordpress.com/2012/10/08/sharings/">gathered
1684 some experience</a> there.  Some of the things we learnt/discovered
1685 there was :</p>
1686
1687 <ol>
1688
1689   <li>Most of the teachers are very territorial about their subjects
1690    and they do not want you to teach anything out of the
1691    portion/syllabus given.</li>
1692
1693   <li>They want any activity on the system in accordance to whatever
1694    is in the syllabus.</li>
1695
1696   <li>There are huge barriers both with the English language and at
1697    times with objects or whatever. An example, let's say in gcompris
1698    you have objects falling down and you have to name them and let's
1699    say the falling object is a hat or a fedora hat, this would not be
1700    as recognizable as say a
1701    <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puneri_Pagadi">Puneri
1702    Pagdi</a> so there is need to inject local objects, words wherever
1703    possible. Especially for word-games there are so many hindi words
1704    which have become part of english vocabulary (for instance in
1705    parley), those could be made into a hinglish collection or
1706    something but that is something for upstream to do.</li>
1707
1708 </ol>
1709
1710       </div>
1711       <div class="tags">
1712
1713
1714         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>.
1715
1716
1717       </div>
1718     </div>
1719     <div class="padding"></div>
1720
1721     <div class="entry">
1722       <div class="title">
1723         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/I_m_going_to_the_Open_Source_Developers__Conference_Nordic_2015_.html">I'm going to the Open Source Developers' Conference Nordic 2015!</a>
1724       </div>
1725       <div class="date">
1726          7th April 2015
1727       </div>
1728       <div class="body">
1729         <p>I am happy to let you all know that I'm going to the <a
1730 href="http://act.osdc.no/osdc2015no/">Open Source Developers'
1731 Conference Nordic 2015</a>!</p>
1732
1733 <p>It take place Friday 8th to Sunday 10th of May in Oslo next to
1734 where I work, and I finally got around to submitting
1735 <a href="http://act.osdc.no/osdc2015no/talk/6192">a talk proposal for
1736 it</a> (dead link for most people until the talk is accepted).  As
1737 part of my involvement with the
1738 <a href="http://www.nuug.no/">Norwegian Unix User Group member
1739 association</a> I have been slightly involved in the planning of this
1740 conference for a while now, with a focus on organising a Civic Hacking
1741 Hackathon with our friends
1742 over at <a href="http://www.mysociety.org/">mySociety</a> and
1743 <a href="http://www.holderdeord.no/">Holder de ord</a>.  This part is
1744 named the 'My Society' track in the program.  There is still space for
1745 more talks and participants.  I hope to see you there.</p>
1746
1747 <p>Check out <a href="http://act.osdc.no/osdc2015no/talks">the talks
1748 submitted and accepted so far</a>.</p>
1749
1750       </div>
1751       <div class="tags">
1752
1753
1754         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>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/offentlig innsyn">offentlig innsyn</a>.
1755
1756
1757       </div>
1758     </div>
1759     <div class="padding"></div>
1760
1761     <div class="entry">
1762       <div class="title">
1763         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Proof_reading_the_Norwegian_translation_of_Free_Culture_by_Lessig.html">Proof reading the Norwegian translation of Free Culture by Lessig</a>
1764       </div>
1765       <div class="date">
1766          4th April 2015
1767       </div>
1768       <div class="body">
1769         <p>During eastern I had some time to continue working on the Norwegian
1770 <a href="http://www.docbook.org/">docbook</a> version of the 2004 book
1771 <a href="http://free-culture.cc/">Free Culture</a> by Lawrence Lessig.
1772 At the moment I am proof reading the finished text, looking for typos,
1773 inconsistent wordings and sentences that do not flow as they should.
1774 I'm more than two thirds done with the text, and welcome others to
1775 check the text up to chapter 13.  The current status is available on the
1776 <a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig">github</a>
1777 project pages.  You can also check out the
1778 <a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig/blob/master/archive/freeculture.nb.pdf?raw=true">PDF</a>,
1779 <a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig/blob/master/archive/freeculture.nb.epub?raw=true">EPUB</a>
1780 and HTML version available in the
1781 <a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig/tree/master/archive">archive
1782 directory</a>.</p>
1783
1784 <p>Please report typos, bugs and improvements to the github project if
1785 you find any.</p>
1786
1787       </div>
1788       <div class="tags">
1789
1790
1791         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>.
1792
1793
1794       </div>
1795     </div>
1796     <div class="padding"></div>
1797
1798     <div class="entry">
1799       <div class="title">
1800         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Frikanalen__Norwegian_TV_channel_for_technical_topics.html">Frikanalen, Norwegian TV channel for technical topics</a>
1801       </div>
1802       <div class="date">
1803          9th March 2015
1804       </div>
1805       <div class="body">
1806         <p>The <a href="http://www.nuug.no/">Norwegian Unix User Group</a>,
1807 where I am a member, and where people interested in free software,
1808 open standards and UNIX like operating systems like Linux and the BSDs
1809 come together, record our monthly technical presentations on video.
1810 The purpose is to document the talks and spread them to a wider
1811 audience.  For this, the the Norwegian nationwide open channel
1812 <a href="http://www.frikanalen.no/">Frikanalen</a> is a useful venue.
1813 Since a few days ago, when I figured out the
1814 <a href="http://beta.frikanalen.no/api/">REST API</a> to program the
1815 <a href="http://beta.frikanalen.tv/guide/">channel time schedule</a>,
1816 the channel has been filled with NUUG talks, related recordings and
1817 some Creative Commons licensed TED talks (from archive.org).  I fill
1818 all "leftover bits" on the channel with content from NUUG, which at
1819 the moment is almost 17 of 24 hours every day.</p>
1820
1821 <p>The list of NUUG videos
1822 <a href="http://beta.frikanalen.tv/organization/82">uploaded so far</a>
1823 include things like a
1824 <a href="http://beta.frikanalen.tv/video/625090">one hour talk by John
1825 Perry Barlow when he visited Oslo</a>, a presentation of
1826 <a href="http://beta.frikanalen.tv/video/624275">Haiku, the BeOS
1827 re-implementation</a>, the
1828 <a href="http://beta.frikanalen.tv/video/624493">history of FiksGataMi,
1829 the Norwegian version of FixMyStreet</a>, the good old
1830 <a href="http://beta.frikanalen.tv/video/623566">Warriors of the net
1831 video</A> and many others.</p>
1832
1833 <p>We have a large backlog of NUUG talks not yet uploaded to
1834 Frikanalen, and plan to upload every useful bit to the channel to
1835 spread the word there.  I also hope to find useful recordings from the
1836 Chaos Computer Club and Debian conferences and spread them on the
1837 channel as well.  But this require locating the videos and their meta
1838 information (title, description, license, etc), and preparing the
1839 recordings for broadcast, and I have not yet had the spare time to
1840 focus on this.  Perhaps you want to help.  Please join us on IRC,
1841 <a href="irc://irc.freenode.net/%23nuug">#nuug on irc.freenode.net</a>
1842 if you want to help make this happen.</p>
1843
1844 <p>But as I said, already the channel is already almost exclusively
1845 filled with technical topics, and if you want to learn something new
1846 today, check out the <a href="http://www.frikanalen.tv/se">Ogg Theora
1847 web stream</a> or use one of the other ways to get access to the
1848 channel.  Unfortunately the Ogg Theora recoding for distribution still
1849 do not properly sync the video and sound.  It is generated by recoding
1850 a internal MPEG transport stream with MPEG4 coded video (ie H.264) to
1851 Ogg Theora / Vorbis, and we have not been able to find a way that
1852 produces acceptable quality.  Help needed, please get in touch if you
1853 know how to fix it using free software.</p>
1854
1855       </div>
1856       <div class="tags">
1857
1858
1859         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/h264">h264</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>.
1860
1861
1862       </div>
1863     </div>
1864     <div class="padding"></div>
1865
1866     <div class="entry">
1867       <div class="title">
1868         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/The_Citizenfour_documentary_on_the_Snowden_confirmations_to_Norway.html">The Citizenfour documentary on the Snowden confirmations to Norway</a>
1869       </div>
1870       <div class="date">
1871         28th February 2015
1872       </div>
1873       <div class="body">
1874         <p>Today I was happy to learn that the documentary
1875 <a href="https://citizenfourfilm.com/">Citizenfour</a> by
1876 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laura_Poitras">Laura Poitras</a>
1877 finally will show up in Norway.  According to the magazine
1878 <a href="http://montages.no/">Montages</a>, a deal has finally been
1879 made for
1880 <a href="http://montages.no/nyheter/snowden-dokumentaren-citizenfour-far-norsk-kinodistribusjon/">Cinema
1881 distribution in Norway</a> and the movie will have its premiere soon.
1882 This is great news.  As part of my involvement with
1883 <a href="http://www.nuug.no/">the Norwegian Unix User Group</a>, me and
1884 a friend have
1885 <a href="http://www.nuug.no/news/Dokumentar_om_Snowdenbekreftelsene_til_Norge_.shtml">tried
1886 to get the movie to Norway</a> ourselves, but obviously
1887 <a href="http://www.nuug.no/news/Dokumentar_om_Snowdenbekreftelsene_endelig_til_Norge_.shtml">we
1888 were too late</a> and Tor Fosse beat us to it.  I am happy he did, as
1889 the movie will make its way to the public and we do not have to make
1890 it happen ourselves.
1891 <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiGwAvd5mvM">The trailer</a>
1892 can be seen on youtube, if you are curious what kind of film this
1893 is.</p>
1894
1895 <p>The whistle blower Edward Snowden really deserve political asylum
1896 here in Norway, but I am afraid he would not be safe.</p>
1897
1898       </div>
1899       <div class="tags">
1900
1901
1902         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/personvern">personvern</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/surveillance">surveillance</a>.
1903
1904
1905       </div>
1906     </div>
1907     <div class="padding"></div>
1908
1909     <div class="entry">
1910       <div class="title">
1911         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/The_Norwegian_open_channel_Frikanalen___24x7_on_the_Internet.html">The Norwegian open channel Frikanalen - 24x7 on the Internet</a>
1912       </div>
1913       <div class="date">
1914         25th February 2015
1915       </div>
1916       <div class="body">
1917         <p>The Norwegian nationwide open channel
1918 <a href="http://www.frikanalen.no/">Frikanalen</a> is still going
1919 strong.  It allow everyone to send the video they want on national
1920 television.  It is a TV station administrated completely using a web
1921 browser, running only <ahref="https://github.com/Frikanalen">Free
1922 Software</a>, providing <ahref="http://beta.frikanalen.tv/api">a REST
1923 api</a> for administrators and members, and with distribution on the
1924 national DVB-T distribution network RiksTV.  But only between 12:00
1925 and 17:30 Norwegian time.  This has finally changed, after many years
1926 with limited distribution.  A few weeks ago, we set up a Ogg Theora
1927 stream via icecast to allow everyone with Internet access to check out
1928 the channel the rest of the day.  This is presented on
1929 <a href="http://www.frikanalen.tv/se">the Frikanalen web site now</a>.  And
1930 since a few days ago, the channel is also available
1931 via <a href="https://www.uninett.no/iptv-tilgang">multicast on
1932 UNINETT</a>, available for those using IPTV TVs and set-top boxes in
1933 the Norwegian National Research and Education network.</p>
1934
1935 <p>If you want to see what is on the channel, point your media player
1936 to one of these sources.  The first should work with most players and
1937 browsers, while as far as I know, the multicast UDP stream only work
1938 with VLC.</p>
1939
1940 <ul>
1941   <li><a href="http://video.nuug.no/frikanalen.ogv">http://video.nuug.no/frikanalen.ogv</a></li>
1942   <li>udp://@224.17.43.129:1234</li>
1943 </ul>
1944
1945 <p>The Ogg Theora / icecast stream is not working well, as the video
1946 and audio is slightly out of sync.  We have not been able to figure
1947 out how to fix it.  It is generated by recoding a internal MPEG
1948 transport stream with MPEG4 coded video (ie H.264) to Ogg Theora /
1949 Vorbis, and the result is less then stellar.  If you have ideas how to
1950 fix it, please let us know on frikanalen (at) nuug.no.  We currently
1951 use this with ffmpeg2theora 0.29:</p>
1952
1953 <blockquote><pre>
1954 ./ffmpeg2theora.linux &lt;OBE_gemini_URL.ts&gt; -F 25 -x 720 -y 405 \
1955  --deinterlace --inputfps 25 -c 1 -H 48000 --keyint 8 --buf-delay 100 \
1956  --nosync -V 700 -o - | oggfwd video.nuug.no 8000 &lt;pw&gt; /frikanalen.ogv
1957 </pre></blockquote>
1958
1959 <p>If you get the multicast UDP stream working, please let me know, as
1960 I am curious how far the multicast stream reach.  It do not make it to
1961 my home network, nor any other commercially available network in
1962 Norway that I am aware of.</p>
1963
1964       </div>
1965       <div class="tags">
1966
1967
1968         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/h264">h264</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>.
1969
1970
1971       </div>
1972     </div>
1973     <div class="padding"></div>
1974
1975     <div class="entry">
1976       <div class="title">
1977         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Nude_body_scanner_now_present_on_Norwegian_airport.html">Nude body scanner now present on Norwegian airport</a>
1978       </div>
1979       <div class="date">
1980         10th February 2015
1981       </div>
1982       <div class="body">
1983         <p>Aftenposten, one of the largest newspapers in Norway, today report
1984 that
1985 <a href="http://www.aftenposten.no/reise/Slik-skannes-kroppen-din-i-fremtidens-sikkerhetskontroll-490666_1.snd">three
1986 of the nude body scanners now is put to use at Gardermoen</a>, the
1987 main airport in Norway.  This way the travelers can have their body
1988 photographed without cloths when visiting Norway.  Of course this
1989 horrible news is presented with a positive spin, stating that "now
1990 travelers can move past the security check point faster and more
1991 efficiently", but fail to mention that the machines in question take
1992 pictures of their nude bodies and store them internally in the
1993 computer, while only presenting sketch figure of the body to the
1994 public.  The article is written in a way that leave the impression
1995 that the new machines do not take these nude pictures and only create
1996 the sketch figures.  In reality the same nude pictures are still
1997 taken, but not presented to everyone.  They are still available for
1998 the owners of the system and the people doing maintenance of the
1999 scanners, as long as they are taken and stored.</p>
2000
2001 <p>Wikipedia have a more on
2002 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Full_body_scanner">Full body
2003 scanners</a>, including example images and a summary of the
2004 controversy about these scanners.</p>
2005
2006 <p>Personally I will decline to use these machines, as I believe strip
2007 searches of my body is a very intrusive attack on my privacy, and not
2008 something everyone should have to accept to travel.</p>
2009
2010       </div>
2011       <div class="tags">
2012
2013
2014         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>.
2015
2016
2017       </div>
2018     </div>
2019     <div class="padding"></div>
2020
2021     <div class="entry">
2022       <div class="title">
2023         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Nagios_module_to_check_if_the_Frikanalen_video_stream_is_working.html">Nagios module to check if the Frikanalen video stream is working</a>
2024       </div>
2025       <div class="date">
2026          8th February 2015
2027       </div>
2028       <div class="body">
2029         <p>When running a TV station with both broadcast and web stream
2030 distribution, it is useful to know that the stream is working.  As I
2031 am involved in the Norwegian open channel
2032 <a href="http://www.frikanalen.no/">Frikanalen</a> as part of my
2033 activity in the <a href="http://www.nuug.no/">NUUG member
2034 organisation</a>, I wrote a script to use mplayer to connect to a
2035 video stream, pick two images 35 seconds apart and compare them.  If
2036 the images are missing or identical, something is probably wrong with
2037 the stream and an alarm should be triggered.  The script is written as
2038 a Nagios plugin, allowing us to use Nagios to run the check regularly
2039 and sound the alarm when something is wrong.  It is able to detect
2040 both a hanging and a broken video stream.</p>
2041
2042 <p>I just uploaded the code for the script into the
2043 <a href="https://github.com/Frikanalen/frikanalen/blob/master/nagios-plugin/check_video_stream_images">Frikanalen
2044 git repository</a> on github.  If you run a TV station with web
2045 streaming, perhaps you can find it useful too.</p>
2046
2047 <p>Last year, the Frikanalen public TV station transformed into using
2048 only Linux based free software to administrate, schedule and
2049 distribute the TV content.  The
2050 <a href="https://github.com/Frikanalen">source code for the entire TV
2051 station</a> is available from the Github project page.  Everyone can
2052 use it to send their content on national TV, and we provide both a web
2053 GUI and <a href="http://beta.frikanalen.tv/api/">a web API</a> to
2054 <a href="http://beta.frikanalen.tv/login/?next=/members/video/">add</a>
2055 and <a href="http://beta.frikanalen.tv/members/plan/">schedule
2056 content</a>.  And thanks to last weeks developer gathering and
2057 following activity, we now have the schedule
2058 <a href="http://beta.frikanalen.tv/xmltv/2015/01/01">available as
2059 XMLTV</a> too.  Still a lot of work left to do, especially with the
2060 process to add videos and with the scheduling, so your contribution is
2061 most welcome.  Perhaps you want to set up your own TV station?</p>
2062
2063 <p>Update 2015-02-25: Got a tip from Uninett about their
2064 <a href="https://scm.uninett.no/maalepaaler/qstream/">qstream
2065 monitoring system</a>, which gather connection time, jitter, packet
2066 loss and burst bandwidth usage.  It look useful to check if UDP
2067 streams are working as they should.</p>
2068
2069       </div>
2070       <div class="tags">
2071
2072
2073         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/nuug">nuug</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/video">video</a>.
2074
2075
2076       </div>
2077     </div>
2078     <div class="padding"></div>
2079
2080     <div class="entry">
2081       <div class="title">
2082         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Norwegian_Bokm_l_subtitles_for_the_FSF_video_User_Liberation.html">Norwegian Bokmål subtitles for the FSF video User Liberation</a>
2083       </div>
2084       <div class="date">
2085         12th January 2015
2086       </div>
2087       <div class="body">
2088         <p>A few days ago, the <a href="https://www.fsf.org/">Free Software
2089 Foundation</a> announced a new video
2090 <a href="https://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/user-liberation-watch-and-share-our-new-video">explaining
2091 Free software</a> in simple terms.  The video named User Liberation is
2092 3 minutes long, and I recommend showing it to everyone you know as a
2093 way to explain what Free Software is all about.  Unfortunately several
2094 of the people I know do not understand English and Spanish, so it did
2095 not make sense to show it to them.</p>
2096
2097 <p>But today I was told that
2098 <a href="https://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/user-liberation-watch-and-share-our-new-video">English
2099 subtitles were available</a> and set out to provide Norwegian Bokmål
2100 subtitles based on these.  The result has been sent to FSF and made
2101 available in
2102 <a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/fsf-video-user-liberation-subtitles">a
2103 git repository</a> provided by Github.  Please let me know if you find
2104 errors or have improvements to the subtitles.</p>
2105
2106 <p>Update 2015-02-03: Since I publised this post, FSF created a
2107 Libreplanet
2108 <a href="http://libreplanet.org/wiki/Group:FSF/User_Liberation_Video_Translation">project
2109 to track subtitles</A> for the video.</p>
2110
2111       </div>
2112       <div class="tags">
2113
2114
2115         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/video">video</a>.
2116
2117
2118       </div>
2119     </div>
2120     <div class="padding"></div>
2121
2122     <div class="entry">
2123       <div class="title">
2124         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Updated_version_of_the_Norwegian_web_service_FiksGataMi.html">Updated version of the Norwegian web service FiksGataMi</a>
2125       </div>
2126       <div class="date">
2127         30th December 2014
2128       </div>
2129       <div class="body">
2130         <p>I am very happy that we in the
2131 <a href="http://www.nuug.no/">Norwegian Unix User group (NUUG)</a>,
2132 spearheaded by Marius Halden from NUUG and Matthew Somerville from
2133 <a href="http://www.mysociety.org/">mySociety</a>, finally managed to
2134 upgrade the code base for the Norwegian version of
2135 <a href="http://fixmystreet.org/">FixMyStreet</a>.  This
2136 was the first major update since 2011. The refurbished
2137 <a href="http://www.fiksgatami.no/">FiksGataMi</a> is already live, and
2138 seem to hold up the pressure.  The
2139 <a href="http://www.nuug.no/news/Pressemelding__FiksGataMi_i_oppdatert_og_mobilvennlig_klesdrakt.shtml">press
2140 release and announcement</a> went out this morning.</p>
2141
2142 <p>FixMyStreet is a web platform for allowing the citizens to easily
2143 report problems with public infrastructure to the responsible
2144 authorities.  Think of it as a shared mail client with map support,
2145 allowing everyone to see what already was reported and comment on the
2146 reports in public.</p>
2147
2148       </div>
2149       <div class="tags">
2150
2151
2152         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>.
2153
2154
2155       </div>
2156     </div>
2157     <div class="padding"></div>
2158
2159     <div class="entry">
2160       <div class="title">
2161         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Of_course_USA_loses_in_cyber_war___NSA_and_friends_made_sure_it_would_happen.html">Of course USA loses in cyber war - NSA and friends made sure it would happen</a>
2162       </div>
2163       <div class="date">
2164         19th December 2014
2165       </div>
2166       <div class="body">
2167         <p>So, Sony caved in
2168 (<a href="https://twitter.com/RobLowe/status/545338568512917504">according
2169 to Rob Lowe</a>) and demonstrated that America lost its first cyberwar
2170 (<a href="https://twitter.com/newtgingrich/status/545339074975109122">according
2171 to Newt Gingrich</a>).  It should not surprise anyone, after the
2172 whistle blower Edward Snowden documented that the government of USA
2173 and their allies for many years have done their best to make sure the
2174 technology used by its citizens is filled with security holes allowing
2175 the secret services to spy on its own population.  No one in their
2176 right minds could believe that the ability to snoop on the people all
2177 over the globe could only be used by the personnel authorized to do so
2178 by the president of the United States of America.  If the capabilities
2179 are there, they will be used by friend and foe alike, and now they are
2180 being used to bring Sony on its knees.</p>
2181
2182 <p>I doubt it will a lesson learned, and expect USA to lose its next
2183 cyber war too, given how eager the western intelligence communities
2184 (and probably the non-western too, but it is less in the news) seem to
2185 be to continue its current dragnet surveillance practice.</p>
2186
2187 <p>There is a reason why China and others are trying to move away from
2188 Windows to Linux and other alternatives, and it is not to avoid
2189 sending its hard earned dollars to Cayman Islands (or whatever
2190 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_haven">tax haven</a>
2191 Microsoft is using these days to collect the majority of its
2192 income. :)</p>
2193
2194       </div>
2195       <div class="tags">
2196
2197
2198         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/surveillance">surveillance</a>.
2199
2200
2201       </div>
2202     </div>
2203     <div class="padding"></div>
2204
2205     <div class="entry">
2206       <div class="title">
2207         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/How_to_stay_with_sysvinit_in_Debian_Jessie.html">How to stay with sysvinit in Debian Jessie</a>
2208       </div>
2209       <div class="date">
2210         22nd November 2014
2211       </div>
2212       <div class="body">
2213         <p>By now, it is well known that Debian Jessie will not be using
2214 sysvinit as its boot system by default.  But how can one keep using
2215 sysvinit in Jessie?  It is fairly easy, and here are a few recipes,
2216 courtesy of
2217 <a href="http://www.vitavonni.de/blog/201410/2014102101-avoiding-systemd.html">Erich
2218 Schubert</a> and
2219 <a href="http://smcv.pseudorandom.co.uk/2014/still_universal/">Simon
2220 McVittie</a>.
2221
2222 <p>If you already are using Wheezy and want to upgrade to Jessie and
2223 keep sysvinit as your boot system, create a file
2224 <tt>/etc/apt/preferences.d/use-sysvinit</tt> with this content before
2225 you upgrade:</p>
2226
2227 <p><blockquote><pre>
2228 Package: systemd-sysv
2229 Pin: release o=Debian
2230 Pin-Priority: -1
2231 </pre></blockquote><p>
2232
2233 <p>This file content will tell apt and aptitude to not consider
2234 installing systemd-sysv as part of any installation and upgrade
2235 solution when resolving dependencies, and thus tell it to avoid
2236 systemd as a default boot system.  The end result should be that the
2237 upgraded system keep using sysvinit.</p>
2238
2239 <p>If you are installing Jessie for the first time, there is no way to
2240 get sysvinit installed by default (debootstrap used by
2241 debian-installer have no option for this), but one can tell the
2242 installer to switch to sysvinit before the first boot.  Either by
2243 using a kernel argument to the installer, or by adding a line to the
2244 preseed file used.  First, the kernel command line argument:
2245
2246 <p><blockquote><pre>
2247 preseed/late_command="in-target apt-get install --purge -y sysvinit-core"
2248 </pre></blockquote><p>
2249
2250 <p>Next, the line to use in a preseed file:</p>
2251
2252 <p><blockquote><pre>
2253 d-i preseed/late_command string in-target apt-get install -y sysvinit-core
2254 </pre></blockquote><p>
2255
2256 <p>One can of course also do this after the first boot by installing
2257 the sysvinit-core package.</p>
2258
2259 <p>I recommend only using sysvinit if you really need it, as the
2260 sysvinit boot sequence in Debian have several hardware specific bugs
2261 on Linux caused by the fact that it is unpredictable when hardware
2262 devices show up during boot.  But on the other hand, the new default
2263 boot system still have a few rough edges I hope will be fixed before
2264 Jessie is released.</p>
2265
2266 <p>Update 2014-11-26: Inspired by
2267 <ahref="https://www.mirbsd.org/permalinks/wlog-10-tg_e20141125-tg.htm#e20141125-tg_wlog-10-tg">a
2268 blog post by Torsten Glaser</a>, added --purge to the preseed
2269 line.</p>
2270
2271       </div>
2272       <div class="tags">
2273
2274
2275         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>.
2276
2277
2278       </div>
2279     </div>
2280     <div class="padding"></div>
2281
2282     <div class="entry">
2283       <div class="title">
2284         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/A_Debian_package_for_SMTP_via_Tor__aka_SMTorP__using_exim4.html">A Debian package for SMTP via Tor (aka SMTorP) using exim4</a>
2285       </div>
2286       <div class="date">
2287         10th November 2014
2288       </div>
2289       <div class="body">
2290         <p>The right to communicate with your friends and family in private,
2291 without anyone snooping, is a right every citicen have in a liberal
2292 democracy.  But this right is under serious attack these days.</p>
2293
2294 <p>A while back it occurred to me that one way to make the dragnet
2295 surveillance conducted by NSA, GCHQ, FRA and others (and confirmed by
2296 the whisleblower Snowden) more expensive for Internet email,
2297 is to deliver all email using SMTP via Tor.  Such SMTP option would be
2298 a nice addition to the FreedomBox project if we could send email
2299 between FreedomBox machines without leaking metadata about the emails
2300 to the people peeking on the wire.  I
2301 <a href="http://lists.alioth.debian.org/pipermail/freedombox-discuss/2014-October/006493.html">proposed
2302 this on the FreedomBox project mailing list in October</a> and got a
2303 lot of useful feedback and suggestions.  It also became obvious to me
2304 that this was not a novel idea, as the same idea was tested and
2305 documented by Johannes Berg as early as 2006, and both
2306 <a href="https://github.com/pagekite/Mailpile/wiki/SMTorP">the
2307 Mailpile</a> and <a href="http://dee.su/cables">the Cables</a> systems
2308 propose a similar method / protocol to pass emails between users.</p>
2309
2310 <p>To implement such system one need to set up a Tor hidden service
2311 providing the SMTP protocol on port 25, and use email addresses
2312 looking like username@hidden-service-name.onion.  With such addresses
2313 the connections to port 25 on hidden-service-name.onion using Tor will
2314 go to the correct SMTP server.  To do this, one need to configure the
2315 Tor daemon to provide the hidden service and the mail server to accept
2316 emails for this .onion domain.  To learn more about Exim configuration
2317 in Debian and test the design provided by Johannes Berg in his FAQ, I
2318 set out yesterday to create a Debian package for making it trivial to
2319 set up such SMTP over Tor service based on Debian.  Getting it to work
2320 were fairly easy, and
2321 <a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/exim4-smtorp">the
2322 source code for the Debian package</a> is available from github.  I
2323 plan to move it into Debian if further testing prove this to be a
2324 useful approach.</p>
2325
2326 <p>If you want to test this, set up a blank Debian machine without any
2327 mail system installed (or run <tt>apt-get purge exim4-config</tt> to
2328 get rid of exim4).  Install tor, clone the git repository mentioned
2329 above, build the deb and install it on the machine.  Next, run
2330 <tt>/usr/lib/exim4-smtorp/setup-exim-hidden-service</tt> and follow
2331 the instructions to get the service up and running.  Restart tor and
2332 exim when it is done, and test mail delivery using swaks like
2333 this:</p>
2334
2335 <p><blockquote><pre>
2336 torsocks swaks --server dutlqrrmjhtfa3vp.onion \
2337   --to fbx@dutlqrrmjhtfa3vp.onion
2338 </pre></blockquote></p>
2339
2340 <p>This will test the SMTP delivery using tor.  Replace the email
2341 address with your own address to test your server. :)</p>
2342
2343 <p>The setup procedure is still to complex, and I hope it can be made
2344 easier and more automatic.  Especially the tor setup need more work.
2345 Also, the package include a tor-smtp tool written in C, but its task
2346 should probably be rewritten in some script language to make the deb
2347 architecture independent.  It would probably also make the code easier
2348 to review.  The tor-smtp tool currently need to listen on a socket for
2349 exim to talk to it and is started using xinetd.  It would be better if
2350 no daemon and no socket is needed.  I suspect it is possible to get
2351 exim to run a command line tool for delivery instead of talking to a
2352 socket, and hope to figure out how in a future version of this
2353 system.</p>
2354
2355 <p>Until I wipe my test machine, I can be reached using the
2356 <tt>fbx@dutlqrrmjhtfa3vp.onion</tt> mail address, deliverable over
2357 SMTorP. :)</p>
2358
2359       </div>
2360       <div class="tags">
2361
2362
2363         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/freedombox">freedombox</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/personvern">personvern</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/surveillance">surveillance</a>.
2364
2365
2366       </div>
2367     </div>
2368     <div class="padding"></div>
2369
2370     <div class="entry">
2371       <div class="title">
2372         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/First_Jessie_based_Debian_Edu_released__alpha0_.html">First Jessie based Debian Edu released (alpha0)</a>
2373       </div>
2374       <div class="date">
2375         27th October 2014
2376       </div>
2377       <div class="body">
2378         <p>I am happy to report that I on behalf of the Debian Edu team just
2379 sent out
2380 <a href="https://lists.debian.org/debian-edu-announce/2014/10/msg00000.html">this
2381 announcement</a>:</p>
2382
2383 <pre>
2384 The Debian Edu Team is pleased to announce the release of Debian Edu
2385 Jessie 8.0+edu0~alpha0
2386
2387 Debian Edu is a complete operating system for schools. Through its
2388 various installation profiles you can install servers, workstations
2389 and laptops which will work together on the school network. With
2390 Debian Edu, the teachers themselves or their technical support can
2391 roll out a complete multi-user multi-machine study environment within
2392 hours or a few days. Debian Edu comes with hundreds of applications
2393 pre-installed, but you can always add more packages from Debian.
2394
2395 For those who want to give Debian Edu Jessie a try, download and
2396 installation instructions are available, including detailed
2397 instructions in the manual[1] explaining the first steps, such as
2398 setting up a network or adding users. Please note that the password
2399 for the user your prompted for during installation must have a length
2400 of at least 5 characters!
2401
2402  [1] &lt;URL: <a href="https://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/Documentation/Jessie">https://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/Documentation/Jessie</a> &gt;
2403
2404 Would you like to give your school's computer a longer life? Are you
2405 tired of sneaker administration, running from computer to computer
2406 reinstalling the operating system? Would you like to administrate all
2407 the computers in your school using only a couple of hours every week?
2408 Check out Debian Edu Jessie!
2409
2410 Skolelinux is used by at least two hundred schools all over the world,
2411 mostly in Germany and Norway.
2412
2413 About Debian Edu and Skolelinux
2414 ===============================
2415
2416 Debian Edu, also known as Skolelinux[2], is a Linux distribution based
2417 on Debian providing an out-of-the box environment of a completely
2418 configured school network. Immediately after installation a school
2419 server running all services needed for a school network is set up just
2420 waiting for users and machines being added via GOsa², a comfortable
2421 Web-UI. A netbooting environment is prepared using PXE, so after
2422 initial installation of the main server from CD or USB stick all other
2423 machines can be installed via the network.  The provided school server
2424 provides LDAP database and Kerberos authentication service,
2425 centralized home directories, DHCP server, web proxy and many other
2426 services.  The desktop contains more than 60 educational software
2427 packages[3] and more are available from the Debian archive, and
2428 schools can choose between KDE, Gnome, LXDE, Xfce and MATE desktop
2429 environment.
2430
2431  [2] &lt;URL: <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">http://www.skolelinux.org/</a> &gt;
2432  [3] &lt;URL: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Educational_applications_included_in_Debian_Edu___Skolelinux__the_screenshot_collection____.html">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Educational_applications_included_in_Debian_Edu___Skolelinux__the_screenshot_collection____.html</a> &gt;
2433
2434 Full release notes and manual
2435 =============================
2436
2437 Below the download URLs there is a list of some of the new features
2438 and bugfixes of Debian Edu 8.0+edu0~alpha0 Codename Jessie. The full
2439 list is part of the manual. (See the feature list in the manual[4] for
2440 the English version.) For some languages manual translations are
2441 available, see the manual translation overview[5].
2442
2443  [4] &lt;URL: <a href="https://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/Documentation/Jessie/Features">https://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/Documentation/Jessie/Features</a> &gt;
2444  [5] &lt;URL: <a href="http://maintainer.skolelinux.org/debian-edu-doc/">http://maintainer.skolelinux.org/debian-edu-doc/</a> &gt;
2445
2446 Where to get it
2447 ---------------
2448
2449 To download the multiarch netinstall CD release (624 MiB) you can use
2450
2451  * <a href="ftp://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/debian-edu-8.0+edu0~alpha0-CD.iso">ftp://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/debian-edu-8.0+edu0~alpha0-CD.iso</a>
2452  * <a href="http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/debian-edu-8.0+edu0~alpha0-CD.iso">http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/debian-edu-8.0+edu0~alpha0-CD.iso</a>
2453  * rsync -avzP ftp.skolelinux.org::skolelinux-cd/debian-edu-8.0+edu0~alpha0-CD.iso .
2454
2455 The SHA1SUM of this image is: 361188818e036ce67280a572f757de82ebfeb095
2456
2457 New features for Debian Edu 8.0+edu0~alpha0 Codename Jessie released 2014-10-27
2458 ===============================================================================
2459
2460
2461 Installation changes
2462 --------------------
2463
2464  * PXE installation now installs firmware automatically for the hardware present.
2465
2466 Software updates
2467 ----------------
2468
2469 Everything which is new in Debian Jessie 8.0, eg:
2470
2471  * Linux kernel 3.16.x
2472  * Desktop environments KDE "Plasma" 4.11.12, GNOME 3.14, Xfce 4.10,
2473    LXDE 0.5.6 and MATE 1.8 (KDE "Plasma" is installed by default; to
2474    choose one of the others see manual.)
2475  * the browsers Iceweasel 31 ESR and Chromium 38
2476  * !LibreOffice 4.3.3
2477  * GOsa 2.7.4
2478  * LTSP 5.5.4
2479  * CUPS print system 1.7.5
2480  * new boot framework: systemd
2481  * Educational toolbox GCompris 14.07
2482  * Music creator Rosegarden 14.02
2483  * Image editor Gimp 2.8.14
2484  * Virtual stargazer Stellarium 0.13.0
2485  * golearn 0.9
2486  * tuxpaint 0.9.22
2487  * New version of debian-installer from Debian Jessie.
2488  * Debian Jessie includes about 42000 packages available for
2489    installation.
2490  * More information about Debian Jessie 8.0 is provided in the release
2491    notes[6] and the installation manual[7].
2492
2493  [6] &lt;URL: <a href="http://www.debian.org/releases/jessie/releasenotes">http://www.debian.org/releases/jessie/releasenotes</a> &gt;
2494  [7] &lt;URL: <a href="http://www.debian.org/releases/jessie/installmanual">http://www.debian.org/releases/jessie/installmanual</a> &gt;
2495
2496 Fixed bugs
2497 ----------
2498
2499  * Inserting incorrect DNS information in Gosa will no longer break
2500    DNS completely, but instead stop DNS updates until the incorrect
2501    information is corrected (Debian bug #710362)
2502  * and many others.
2503
2504 Documentation and translation updates
2505 -------------------------------------
2506
2507  * The Debian Edu Jessie Manual is fully translated to German, French,
2508    Italian, Danish and Dutch. Partly translated versions exist for
2509    Norwegian Bokmal and Spanish.
2510
2511 Other changes
2512 -------------
2513
2514  * Due to new Squid settings, powering off or rebooting the main
2515    server takes more time.
2516  * To manage printers localhost:631 has to be used, currently www:631
2517    doesn't work.
2518
2519 Regressions / known problems
2520 ----------------------------
2521
2522  * Installing LTSP chroot fails with a bug related to eatmydata about
2523    exim4-config failing to run its postinst (see Debian bug #765694
2524    and Debian bug #762103).
2525  * Munin collection is not properly configured on clients (Debian bug
2526    #764594).  The fix is available in a newer version of munin-node.
2527  * PXE setup for Main Server and Thin Client Server setup does not
2528    work when installing on a machine without direct Internet access.
2529    Will be fixed when Debian bug #766960 is fixed in Jessie.
2530
2531 See the status page[8] for the complete list.
2532
2533  [8] &lt;URL: <a href="https://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/Status/Jessie">https://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/Status/Jessie</a> &gt;
2534
2535 How to report bugs
2536 ------------------
2537
2538 &lt;URL: <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/HowTo/ReportBugs">http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/HowTo/ReportBugs</a> &gt;
2539
2540 About Debian
2541 ============
2542
2543 The Debian Project was founded in 1993 by Ian Murdock to be a truly
2544 free community project. Since then the project has grown to be one of
2545 the largest and most influential open source projects. Thousands of
2546 volunteers from all over the world work together to create and
2547 maintain Debian software. Available in 70 languages, and supporting a
2548 huge range of computer types, Debian calls itself the universal
2549 operating system.
2550
2551 Contact Information
2552 For further information, please visit the Debian web pages[9] or send
2553 mail to press@debian.org.
2554
2555  [9] &lt;URL: <a href="http://www.debian.org/">http://www.debian.org/</a> &gt;
2556 </pre>
2557
2558       </div>
2559       <div class="tags">
2560
2561
2562         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>.
2563
2564
2565       </div>
2566     </div>
2567     <div class="padding"></div>
2568
2569     <div class="entry">
2570       <div class="title">
2571         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/I_spent_last_weekend_recording_MakerCon_Nordic.html">I spent last weekend recording MakerCon Nordic</a>
2572       </div>
2573       <div class="date">
2574         23rd October 2014
2575       </div>
2576       <div class="body">
2577         <p>I spent last weekend at <a href="http://www.makercon.no/">Makercon
2578 Nordic</a>, a great conference and workshop for makers in Norway and
2579 the surrounding countries.  I had volunteered on behalf of the
2580 Norwegian Unix Users Group (NUUG) to video record the talks, and we
2581 had a great and exhausting time recording the entire day, two days in
2582 a row.  There were only two of us, Hans-Petter and me, and we used the
2583 regular video equipment for NUUG, with a
2584 <a href="http://dvswitch.alioth.debian.org/wiki/">dvswitch</a>, a
2585 camera and a VGA to DV convert box, and mixed video and slides
2586 live.</p>
2587
2588 <p>Hans-Petter did the post-processing, consisting of uploading the
2589 around 180 GiB of raw video to Youtube, and the result is
2590 <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/MakerConNordic/">now becoming
2591 public</a> on the MakerConNordic account.  The videos have the license
2592 NUUG always use on our recordings, which is
2593 <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/no/">Creative
2594 Commons Navngivelse-Del på samme vilkår 3.0 Norge</a>.  Many great
2595 talks available.  Check it out! :)</p>
2596
2597       </div>
2598       <div class="tags">
2599
2600
2601         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>.
2602
2603
2604       </div>
2605     </div>
2606     <div class="padding"></div>
2607
2608     <div class="entry">
2609       <div class="title">
2610         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/listadmin__the_quick_way_to_moderate_mailman_lists___nice_free_software.html">listadmin, the quick way to moderate mailman lists - nice free software</a>
2611       </div>
2612       <div class="date">
2613         22nd October 2014
2614       </div>
2615       <div class="body">
2616         <p>If you ever had to moderate a mailman list, like the ones on
2617 alioth.debian.org, you know the web interface is fairly slow to
2618 operate.  First you visit one web page, enter the moderation password
2619 and get a new page shown with a list of all the messages to moderate
2620 and various options for each email address.  This take a while for
2621 every list you moderate, and you need to do it regularly to do a good
2622 job as a list moderator.  But there is a quick alternative,
2623 <a href="http://heim.ifi.uio.no/kjetilho/hacks/#listadmin">the
2624 listadmin program</a>.  It allow you to check lists for new messages
2625 to moderate in a fraction of a second.  Here is a test run on two
2626 lists I recently took over:</p>
2627
2628 <p><blockquote><pre>
2629 % time listadmin xiph
2630 fetching data for pkg-xiph-commits@lists.alioth.debian.org ... nothing in queue
2631 fetching data for pkg-xiph-maint@lists.alioth.debian.org ... nothing in queue
2632
2633 real    0m1.709s
2634 user    0m0.232s
2635 sys     0m0.012s
2636 %
2637 </pre></blockquote></p>
2638
2639 <p>In 1.7 seconds I had checked two mailing lists and confirmed that
2640 there are no message in the moderation queue.  Every morning I
2641 currently moderate 68 mailman lists, and it normally take around two
2642 minutes.  When I took over the two pkg-xiph lists above a few days
2643 ago, there were 400 emails waiting in the moderator queue.  It took me
2644 less than 15 minutes to process them all using the listadmin
2645 program.</p>
2646
2647 <p>If you install
2648 <a href="https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/listadmin">the listadmin
2649 package</a> from Debian and create a file <tt>~/.listadmin.ini</tt>
2650 with content like this, the moderation task is a breeze:</p>
2651
2652 <p><blockquote><pre>
2653 username username@example.org
2654 spamlevel 23
2655 default discard
2656 discard_if_reason "Posting restricted to members only. Remove us from your mail list."
2657
2658 password secret
2659 adminurl https://{domain}/mailman/admindb/{list}
2660 mailman-list@lists.example.com
2661
2662 password hidden
2663 other-list@otherserver.example.org
2664 </pre></blockquote></p>
2665
2666 <p>There are other options to set as well.  Check the manual page to
2667 learn the details.</p>
2668
2669 <p>If you are forced to moderate lists on a mailman installation where
2670 the SSL certificate is self signed or not properly signed by a
2671 generally accepted signing authority, you can set a environment
2672 variable when calling listadmin to disable SSL verification:</p>
2673
2674 <p><blockquote><pre>
2675 PERL_LWP_SSL_VERIFY_HOSTNAME=0 listadmin
2676 </pre></blockquote></p>
2677
2678 <p>If you want to moderate a subset of the lists you take care of, you
2679 can provide an argument to the listadmin script like I do in the
2680 initial screen dump (the xiph argument).  Using an argument, only
2681 lists matching the argument string will be processed.  This make it
2682 quick to accept messages if you notice the moderation request in your
2683 email.</p>
2684
2685 <p>Without the listadmin program, I would never be the moderator of 68
2686 mailing lists, as I simply do not have time to spend on that if the
2687 process was any slower. The listadmin program have saved me hours of
2688 time I could spend elsewhere over the years.  It truly is nice free
2689 software.</p>
2690
2691 <p>As usual, if you use Bitcoin and want to show your support of my
2692 activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address
2693 <b><a href="bitcoin:15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b&label=PetterReinholdtsenBlog">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</a></b>.</p>
2694
2695 <p>Update 2014-10-27: Added missing 'username' statement in
2696 configuration example.  Also, I've been told that the
2697 PERL_LWP_SSL_VERIFY_HOSTNAME=0 setting do not work for everyone.  Not
2698 sure why.</p>
2699
2700       </div>
2701       <div class="tags">
2702
2703
2704         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>.
2705
2706
2707       </div>
2708     </div>
2709     <div class="padding"></div>
2710
2711     <div class="entry">
2712       <div class="title">
2713         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Jessie__PXE_and_automatic_firmware_installation.html">Debian Jessie, PXE and automatic firmware installation</a>
2714       </div>
2715       <div class="date">
2716         17th October 2014
2717       </div>
2718       <div class="body">
2719         <p>When PXE installing laptops with Debian, I often run into the
2720 problem that the WiFi card require some firmware to work properly.
2721 And it has been a pain to fix this using preseeding in Debian.
2722 Normally something more is needed.  But thanks to
2723 <a href="https://packages.qa.debian.org/i/isenkram.html">my isenkram
2724 package</a> and its recent tasksel extension, it has now become easy
2725 to do this using simple preseeding.</p>
2726
2727 <p>The isenkram-cli package provide tasksel tasks which will install
2728 firmware for the hardware found in the machine (actually, requested by
2729 the kernel modules for the hardware).  (It can also install user space
2730 programs supporting the hardware detected, but that is not the focus
2731 of this story.)</p>
2732
2733 <p>To get this working in the default installation, two preeseding
2734 values are needed.  First, the isenkram-cli package must be installed
2735 into the target chroot (aka the hard drive) before tasksel is executed
2736 in the pkgsel step of the debian-installer system.  This is done by
2737 preseeding the base-installer/includes debconf value to include the
2738 isenkram-cli package.  The package name is next passed to debootstrap
2739 for installation.  With the isenkram-cli package in place, tasksel
2740 will automatically use the isenkram tasks to detect hardware specific
2741 packages for the machine being installed and install them, because
2742 isenkram-cli contain tasksel tasks.</p>
2743
2744 <p>Second, one need to enable the non-free APT repository, because
2745 most firmware unfortunately is non-free.  This is done by preseeding
2746 the apt-mirror-setup step.  This is unfortunate, but for a lot of
2747 hardware it is the only option in Debian.</p>
2748
2749 <p>The end result is two lines needed in your preseeding file to get
2750 firmware installed automatically by the installer:</p>
2751
2752 <p><blockquote><pre>
2753 base-installer base-installer/includes string isenkram-cli
2754 apt-mirror-setup apt-setup/non-free boolean true
2755 </pre></blockquote></p>
2756
2757 <p>The current version of isenkram-cli in testing/jessie will install
2758 both firmware and user space packages when using this method.  It also
2759 do not work well, so use version 0.15 or later.  Installing both
2760 firmware and user space packages might give you a bit more than you
2761 want, so I decided to split the tasksel task in two, one for firmware
2762 and one for user space programs.  The firmware task is enabled by
2763 default, while the one for user space programs is not.  This split is
2764 implemented in the package currently in unstable.</p>
2765
2766 <p>If you decide to give this a go, please let me know (via email) how
2767 this recipe work for you. :)</p>
2768
2769 <p>So, I bet you are wondering, how can this work.  First and
2770 foremost, it work because tasksel is modular, and driven by whatever
2771 files it find in /usr/lib/tasksel/ and /usr/share/tasksel/.  So the
2772 isenkram-cli package place two files for tasksel to find.  First there
2773 is the task description file (/usr/share/tasksel/descs/isenkram.desc):</p>
2774
2775 <p><blockquote><pre>
2776 Task: isenkram-packages
2777 Section: hardware
2778 Description: Hardware specific packages (autodetected by isenkram)
2779  Based on the detected hardware various hardware specific packages are
2780  proposed.
2781 Test-new-install: show show
2782 Relevance: 8
2783 Packages: for-current-hardware
2784
2785 Task: isenkram-firmware
2786 Section: hardware
2787 Description: Hardware specific firmware packages (autodetected by isenkram)
2788  Based on the detected hardware various hardware specific firmware
2789  packages are proposed.
2790 Test-new-install: mark show
2791 Relevance: 8
2792 Packages: for-current-hardware-firmware
2793 </pre></blockquote></p>
2794
2795 <p>The key parts are Test-new-install which indicate how the task
2796 should be handled and the Packages line referencing to a script in
2797 /usr/lib/tasksel/packages/.  The scripts use other scripts to get a
2798 list of packages to install.  The for-current-hardware-firmware script
2799 look like this to list relevant firmware for the machine:
2800
2801 <p><blockquote><pre>
2802 #!/bin/sh
2803 #
2804 PATH=/usr/sbin:$PATH
2805 export PATH
2806 isenkram-autoinstall-firmware -l
2807 </pre></blockquote></p>
2808
2809 <p>With those two pieces in place, the firmware is installed by
2810 tasksel during the normal d-i run. :)</p>
2811
2812 <p>If you want to test what tasksel will install when isenkram-cli is
2813 installed, run <tt>DEBIAN_PRIORITY=critical tasksel --test
2814 --new-install</tt> to get the list of packages that tasksel would
2815 install.</p>
2816
2817 <p><a href="https://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/">Debian Edu</a> will be
2818 pilots in testing this feature, as isenkram is used there now to
2819 install firmware, replacing the earlier scripts.</p>
2820
2821       </div>
2822       <div class="tags">
2823
2824
2825         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>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/sysadmin">sysadmin</a>.
2826
2827
2828       </div>
2829     </div>
2830     <div class="padding"></div>
2831
2832     <div class="entry">
2833       <div class="title">
2834         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Ubuntu_used_to_show_the_bread_prizes_at_ICA_Storo.html">Ubuntu used to show the bread prizes at ICA Storo</a>
2835       </div>
2836       <div class="date">
2837          4th October 2014
2838       </div>
2839       <div class="body">
2840         <p>Today I came across an unexpected Ubuntu boot screen.  Above the
2841 bread shelf on the ICA shop at Storo in Oslo, the grub menu of Ubuntu
2842 with Linux kernel 3.2.0-23 (ie probably version 12.04 LTS) was stuck
2843 on a screen normally showing the bread types and prizes:</p>
2844
2845 <p align="center"><img width="70%" src="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2014-10-04-ubuntu-ica-storo-crop.jpeg"></p>
2846
2847 <p>If it had booted as it was supposed to, I would never had known
2848 about this hidden Linux installation.  It is interesting what
2849 <a href="http://revealingerrors.com/">errors can reveal</a>.</p>
2850
2851       </div>
2852       <div class="tags">
2853
2854
2855         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>.
2856
2857
2858       </div>
2859     </div>
2860     <div class="padding"></div>
2861
2862     <div class="entry">
2863       <div class="title">
2864         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/New_lsdvd_release_version_0_17_is_ready.html">New lsdvd release version 0.17 is ready</a>
2865       </div>
2866       <div class="date">
2867          4th October 2014
2868       </div>
2869       <div class="body">
2870         <p>The <a href="https://sourceforge.net/p/lsdvd/">lsdvd project</a>
2871 got a new set of developers a few weeks ago, after the original
2872 developer decided to step down and pass the project to fresh blood.
2873 This project is now maintained by Petter Reinholdtsen and Steve
2874 Dibb.</p>
2875
2876 <p>I just wrapped up
2877 <a href="https://sourceforge.net/p/lsdvd/mailman/message/32896061/">a
2878 new lsdvd release</a>, available in git or from
2879 <a href="https://sourceforge.net/projects/lsdvd/files/lsdvd/">the
2880 download page</a>.  This is the changelog dated 2014-10-03 for version
2881 0.17.</p>
2882
2883 <ul>
2884
2885  <li>Ignore 'phantom' audio, subtitle tracks</li>
2886  <li>Check for garbage in the program chains, which indicate that a track is
2887    non-existant, to work around additional copy protection</li>
2888  <li>Fix displaying content type for audio tracks, subtitles</li>
2889  <li>Fix pallete display of first entry</li>
2890  <li>Fix include orders</li>
2891  <li>Ignore read errors in titles that would not be displayed anyway</li>
2892  <li>Fix the chapter count</li>
2893  <li>Make sure the array size and the array limit used when initialising
2894    the palette size is the same.</li>
2895  <li>Fix array printing.</li>
2896  <li>Correct subsecond calculations.</li>
2897  <li>Add sector information to the output format.</li>
2898  <li>Clean up code to be closer to ANSI C and compile without warnings
2899    with more GCC compiler warnings.</li>
2900
2901 </ul>
2902
2903 <p>This change bring together patches for lsdvd in use in various
2904 Linux and Unix distributions, as well as patches submitted to the
2905 project the last nine years.  Please check it out. :)</p>
2906
2907       </div>
2908       <div class="tags">
2909
2910
2911         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/lsdvd">lsdvd</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/multimedia">multimedia</a>.
2912
2913
2914       </div>
2915     </div>
2916     <div class="padding"></div>
2917
2918     <div class="entry">
2919       <div class="title">
2920         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/How_to_test_Debian_Edu_Jessie_despite_some_fatal_problems_with_the_installer.html">How to test Debian Edu Jessie despite some fatal problems with the installer</a>
2921       </div>
2922       <div class="date">
2923         26th September 2014
2924       </div>
2925       <div class="body">
2926         <p>The <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / Skolelinux
2927 project</a> provide a Linux solution for schools, including a
2928 powerful desktop with education software, a central server providing
2929 web pages, user database, user home directories, central login and PXE
2930 boot of both  clients without disk and the installation to install Debian
2931 Edu on machines with disk (and a few other services perhaps to small
2932 to mention here).  We in the Debian Edu team are currently working on
2933 the Jessie based version, trying to get everything in shape before the
2934 freeze, to avoid having to maintain our own package repository in the
2935 future.  The
2936 <a href="https://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/Status/Jessie">current
2937 status</a> can be seen on the Debian wiki, and there is still heaps of
2938 work left.  Some fatal problems block testing, breaking the installer,
2939 but it is possible to work around these to get anyway.  Here is a
2940 recipe on how to get the installation limping along.</p>
2941
2942 <p>First, download the test ISO via
2943 <a href="ftp://ftp.skolelinux.no/cd-edu-testing-nolocal-netinst/debian-edu-amd64-i386-NETINST-1.iso">ftp</a>,
2944 <a href="http://ftp.skolelinux.no/cd-edu-testing-nolocal-netinst/debian-edu-amd64-i386-NETINST-1.iso">http</a>
2945 or rsync (use
2946 ftp.skolelinux.org::cd-edu-testing-nolocal-netinst/debian-edu-amd64-i386-NETINST-1.iso).
2947 The ISO build was broken on Tuesday, so we do not get a new ISO every
2948 12 hours or so, but thankfully the ISO we already got we are able to
2949 install with some tweaking.</p>
2950
2951 <p>When you get to the Debian Edu profile question, go to tty2
2952 (use Alt-Ctrl-F2), run</p>
2953
2954 <p><blockquote><pre>
2955 nano /usr/bin/edu-eatmydata-install
2956 </pre></blockquote></p>
2957
2958 <p>and add 'exit 0' as the second line, disabling the eatmydata
2959 optimization.  Return to the installation, select the profile you want
2960 and continue.  Without this change, exim4-config will fail to install
2961 due to a known bug in eatmydata.</p>
2962
2963 <p>When you get the grub question at the end, answer /dev/sda (or if
2964 this do not work, figure out what your correct value would be.  All my
2965 test machines need /dev/sda, so I have no advice if it do not fit
2966 your need.</p>
2967
2968 <p>If you installed a profile including a graphical desktop, log in as
2969 root after the initial boot from hard drive, and install the
2970 education-desktop-XXX metapackage.  XXX can be kde, gnome, lxde, xfce
2971 or mate.  If you want several desktop options, install more than one
2972 metapackage.  Once this is done, reboot and you should have a working
2973 graphical login screen.  This workaround should no longer be needed
2974 once the education-tasks package version 1.801 enter testing in two
2975 days.</p>
2976
2977 <p>I believe the ISO build will start working on two days when the new
2978 tasksel package enter testing and Steve McIntyre get a chance to
2979 update the debian-cd git repository.  The eatmydata, grub and desktop
2980 issues are already fixed in unstable and testing, and should show up
2981 on the ISO as soon as the ISO build start working again.  Well the
2982 eatmydata optimization is really just disabled.  The proper fix
2983 require an upload by the eatmydata maintainer applying the patch
2984 provided in bug <a href="https://bugs.debian.org/702711">#702711</a>.
2985 The rest have proper fixes in unstable.</p>
2986
2987 <p>I hope this get you going with the installation testing, as we are
2988 quickly running out of time trying to get our Jessie based
2989 installation ready before the distribution freeze in a month.</p>
2990
2991       </div>
2992       <div class="tags">
2993
2994
2995         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>.
2996
2997
2998       </div>
2999     </div>
3000     <div class="padding"></div>
3001
3002     <div class="entry">
3003       <div class="title">
3004         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Suddenly_I_am_the_new_upstream_of_the_lsdvd_command_line_tool.html">Suddenly I am the new upstream of the lsdvd command line tool</a>
3005       </div>
3006       <div class="date">
3007         25th September 2014
3008       </div>
3009       <div class="body">
3010         <p>I use the <a href="https://sourceforge.net/p/lsdvd/">lsdvd tool</a>
3011 to handle my fairly large DVD collection.  It is a nice command line
3012 tool to get details about a DVD, like title, tracks, track length,
3013 etc, in XML, Perl or human readable format.  But lsdvd have not seen
3014 any new development since 2006 and had a few irritating bugs affecting
3015 its use with some DVDs.  Upstream seemed to be dead, and in January I
3016 sent a small probe asking for a version control repository for the
3017 project, without any reply.  But I use it regularly and would like to
3018 get <a href="https://packages.qa.debian.org/lsdvd">an updated version
3019 into Debian</a>.  So two weeks ago I tried harder to get in touch with
3020 the project admin, and after getting a reply from him explaining that
3021 he was no longer interested in the project, I asked if I could take
3022 over.  And yesterday, I became project admin.</p>
3023
3024 <p>I've been in touch with a Gentoo developer and the Debian
3025 maintainer interested in joining forces to maintain the upstream
3026 project, and I hope we can get a new release out fairly quickly,
3027 collecting the patches spread around on the internet into on place.
3028 I've added the relevant Debian patches to the freshly created git
3029 repository, and expect the Gentoo patches to make it too.  If you got
3030 a DVD collection and care about command line tools, check out
3031 <a href="https://sourceforge.net/p/lsdvd/git/ci/master/tree/">the git source</a> and join
3032 <a href="https://sourceforge.net/p/lsdvd/mailman/">the project mailing
3033 list</a>. :)</p>
3034
3035       </div>
3036       <div class="tags">
3037
3038
3039         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/lsdvd">lsdvd</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/multimedia">multimedia</a>.
3040
3041
3042       </div>
3043     </div>
3044     <div class="padding"></div>
3045
3046     <div class="entry">
3047       <div class="title">
3048         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Speeding_up_the_Debian_installer_using_eatmydata_and_dpkg_divert.html">Speeding up the Debian installer using eatmydata and dpkg-divert</a>
3049       </div>
3050       <div class="date">
3051         16th September 2014
3052       </div>
3053       <div class="body">
3054         <p>The <a href="https://www.debian.org/">Debian</a> installer could be
3055 a lot quicker.  When we install more than 2000 packages in
3056 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Skolelinux / Debian Edu</a> using
3057 tasksel in the installer, unpacking the binary packages take forever.
3058 A part of the slow I/O issue was discussed in
3059 <a href="https://bugs.debian.org/613428">bug #613428</a> about too
3060 much file system sync-ing done by dpkg, which is the package
3061 responsible for unpacking the binary packages.  Other parts (like code
3062 executed by postinst scripts) might also sync to disk during
3063 installation.  All this sync-ing to disk do not really make sense to
3064 me.  If the machine crash half-way through, I start over, I do not try
3065 to salvage the half installed system.  So the failure sync-ing is
3066 supposed to protect against, hardware or system crash, is not really
3067 relevant while the installer is running.</p>
3068
3069 <p>A few days ago, I thought of a way to get rid of all the file
3070 system sync()-ing in a fairly non-intrusive way, without the need to
3071 change the code in several packages.  The idea is not new, but I have
3072 not heard anyone propose the approach using dpkg-divert before.  It
3073 depend on the small and clever package
3074 <a href="https://packages.qa.debian.org/eatmydata">eatmydata</a>, which
3075 uses LD_PRELOAD to replace the system functions for syncing data to
3076 disk with functions doing nothing, thus allowing programs to live
3077 dangerous while speeding up disk I/O significantly.  Instead of
3078 modifying the implementation of dpkg, apt and tasksel (which are the
3079 packages responsible for selecting, fetching and installing packages),
3080 it occurred to me that we could just divert the programs away, replace
3081 them with a simple shell wrapper calling
3082 "eatmydata&nbsp;$program&nbsp;$@", to get the same effect.
3083 Two days ago I decided to test the idea, and wrapped up a simple
3084 implementation for the Debian Edu udeb.</p>
3085
3086 <p>The effect was stunning.  In my first test it reduced the running
3087 time of the pkgsel step (installing tasks) from 64 to less than 44
3088 minutes (20 minutes shaved off the installation) on an old Dell
3089 Latitude D505 machine.  I am not quite sure what the optimised time
3090 would have been, as I messed up the testing a bit, causing the debconf
3091 priority to get low enough for two questions to pop up during
3092 installation.  As soon as I saw the questions I moved the installation
3093 along, but do not know how long the question were holding up the
3094 installation.  I did some more measurements using Debian Edu Jessie,
3095 and got these results.  The time measured is the time stamp in
3096 /var/log/syslog between the "pkgsel: starting tasksel" and the
3097 "pkgsel: finishing up" lines, if you want to do the same measurement
3098 yourself.  In Debian Edu, the tasksel dialog do not show up, and the
3099 timing thus do not depend on how quickly the user handle the tasksel
3100 dialog.</p>
3101
3102 <p><table>
3103
3104 <tr>
3105 <th>Machine/setup</th>
3106 <th>Original tasksel</th>
3107 <th>Optimised tasksel</th>
3108 <th>Reduction</th>
3109 </tr>
3110
3111 <tr>
3112 <td>Latitude D505 Main+LTSP LXDE</td>
3113 <td>64 min (07:46-08:50)</td>
3114 <td><44 min (11:27-12:11)</td>
3115 <td>>20 min 18%</td>
3116 </tr>
3117
3118 <tr>
3119 <td>Latitude D505 Roaming LXDE</td>
3120 <td>57 min (08:48-09:45)</td>
3121 <td>34 min (07:43-08:17)</td>
3122 <td>23 min 40%</td>
3123 </tr>
3124
3125 <tr>
3126 <td>Latitude D505 Minimal</td>
3127 <td>22 min (10:37-10:59)</td>
3128 <td>11 min (11:16-11:27)</td>
3129 <td>11 min 50%</td>
3130 </tr>
3131
3132 <tr>
3133 <td>Thinkpad X200 Minimal</td>
3134 <td>6 min (08:19-08:25)</td>
3135 <td>4 min (08:04-08:08)</td>
3136 <td>2 min 33%</td>
3137 </tr>
3138
3139 <tr>
3140 <td>Thinkpad X200 Roaming KDE</td>
3141 <td>19 min (09:21-09:40)</td>
3142 <td>15 min (10:25-10:40)</td>
3143 <td>4 min 21%</td>
3144 </tr>
3145
3146 </table></p>
3147
3148 <p>The test is done using a netinst ISO on a USB stick, so some of the
3149 time is spent downloading packages.  The connection to the Internet
3150 was 100Mbit/s during testing, so downloading should not be a
3151 significant factor in the measurement.  Download typically took a few
3152 seconds to a few minutes, depending on the amount of packages being
3153 installed.</p>
3154
3155 <p>The speedup is implemented by using two hooks in
3156 <a href="https://www.debian.org/devel/debian-installer/">Debian
3157 Installer</a>, the pre-pkgsel.d hook to set up the diverts, and the
3158 finish-install.d hook to remove the divert at the end of the
3159 installation.  I picked the pre-pkgsel.d hook instead of the
3160 post-base-installer.d hook because I test using an ISO without the
3161 eatmydata package included, and the post-base-installer.d hook in
3162 Debian Edu can only operate on packages included in the ISO.  The
3163 negative effect of this is that I am unable to activate this
3164 optimization for the kernel installation step in d-i.  If the code is
3165 moved to the post-base-installer.d hook, the speedup would be larger
3166 for the entire installation.</p>
3167
3168 <p>I've implemented this in the
3169 <a href="https://packages.qa.debian.org/debian-edu-install">debian-edu-install</a>
3170 git repository, and plan to provide the optimization as part of the
3171 Debian Edu installation.  If you want to test this yourself, you can
3172 create two files in the installer (or in an udeb).  One shell script
3173 need do go into /usr/lib/pre-pkgsel.d/, with content like this:</p>
3174
3175 <p><blockquote><pre>
3176 #!/bin/sh
3177 set -e
3178 . /usr/share/debconf/confmodule
3179 info() {
3180     logger -t my-pkgsel "info: $*"
3181 }
3182 error() {
3183     logger -t my-pkgsel "error: $*"
3184 }
3185 override_install() {
3186     apt-install eatmydata || true
3187     if [ -x /target/usr/bin/eatmydata ] ; then
3188         for bin in dpkg apt-get aptitude tasksel ; do
3189             file=/usr/bin/$bin
3190             # Test that the file exist and have not been diverted already.
3191             if [ -f /target$file ] ; then
3192                 info "diverting $file using eatmydata"
3193                 printf "#!/bin/sh\neatmydata $bin.distrib \"\$@\"\n" \
3194                     > /target$file.edu
3195                 chmod 755 /target$file.edu
3196                 in-target dpkg-divert --package debian-edu-config \
3197                     --rename --quiet --add $file
3198                 ln -sf ./$bin.edu /target$file
3199             else
3200                 error "unable to divert $file, as it is missing."
3201             fi
3202         done
3203     else
3204         error "unable to find /usr/bin/eatmydata after installing the eatmydata pacage"
3205     fi
3206 }
3207
3208 override_install
3209 </pre></blockquote></p>
3210
3211 <p>To clean up, another shell script should go into
3212 /usr/lib/finish-install.d/ with code like this:
3213
3214 <p><blockquote><pre>
3215 #! /bin/sh -e
3216 . /usr/share/debconf/confmodule
3217 error() {
3218     logger -t my-finish-install "error: $@"
3219 }
3220 remove_install_override() {
3221     for bin in dpkg apt-get aptitude tasksel ; do
3222         file=/usr/bin/$bin
3223         if [ -x /target$file.edu ] ; then
3224             rm /target$file
3225             in-target dpkg-divert --package debian-edu-config \
3226                 --rename --quiet --remove $file
3227             rm /target$file.edu
3228         else
3229             error "Missing divert for $file."
3230         fi
3231     done
3232     sync # Flush file buffers before continuing
3233 }
3234
3235 remove_install_override
3236 </pre></blockquote></p>
3237
3238 <p>In Debian Edu, I placed both code fragments in a separate script
3239 edu-eatmydata-install and call it from the pre-pkgsel.d and
3240 finish-install.d scripts.</p>
3241
3242 <p>By now you might ask if this change should get into the normal
3243 Debian installer too?  I suspect it should, but am not sure the
3244 current debian-installer coordinators find it useful enough.  It also
3245 depend on the side effects of the change.  I'm not aware of any, but I
3246 guess we will see if the change is safe after some more testing.
3247 Perhaps there is some package in Debian depending on sync() and
3248 fsync() having effect?  Perhaps it should go into its own udeb, to
3249 allow those of us wanting to enable it to do so without affecting
3250 everyone.</p>
3251
3252 <p>Update 2014-09-24: Since a few days ago, enabling this optimization
3253 will break installation of all programs using gnutls because of
3254 <a href="https://bugs.debian.org/702711">bug #702711</a>.  An updated
3255 eatmydata package in Debian will solve it.</p>
3256
3257 <p>Update 2014-10-17: The bug mentioned above is fixed in testing and
3258 the optimization work again.  And I have discovered that the
3259 dpkg-divert trick is not really needed and implemented a slightly
3260 simpler approach as part of the debian-edu-install package.  See
3261 tools/edu-eatmydata-install in the source package.</p>
3262
3263 <p>Update 2014-11-11: Unfortunately, a new
3264 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/765738">bug #765738</a> in eatmydata only
3265 triggering on i386 made it into testing, and broke this installation
3266 optimization again.  If <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/768893">unblock
3267 request 768893</a> is accepted, it should be working again.</p>
3268
3269       </div>
3270       <div class="tags">
3271
3272
3273         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>.
3274
3275
3276       </div>
3277     </div>
3278     <div class="padding"></div>
3279
3280     <div class="entry">
3281       <div class="title">
3282         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Good_bye_subkeys_pgp_net__welcome_pool_sks_keyservers_net.html">Good bye subkeys.pgp.net, welcome pool.sks-keyservers.net</a>
3283       </div>
3284       <div class="date">
3285         10th September 2014
3286       </div>
3287       <div class="body">
3288         <p>Yesterday, I had the pleasure of attending a talk with the
3289 <a href="http://www.nuug.no/">Norwegian Unix User Group</a> about
3290 <a href="http://www.nuug.no/aktiviteter/20140909-sks-keyservers/">the
3291 OpenPGP keyserver pool sks-keyservers.net</a>, and was very happy to
3292 learn that there is a large set of publicly available key servers to
3293 use when looking for peoples public key.  So far I have used
3294 subkeys.pgp.net, and some times wwwkeys.nl.pgp.net when the former
3295 were misbehaving, but those days are ended.  The servers I have used
3296 up until yesterday have been slow and some times unavailable.  I hope
3297 those problems are gone now.</p>
3298
3299 <p>Behind the round robin DNS entry of the
3300 <a href="https://sks-keyservers.net/">sks-keyservers.net</a> service
3301 there is a pool of more than 100 keyservers which are checked every
3302 day to ensure they are well connected and up to date.  It must be
3303 better than what I have used so far. :)</p>
3304
3305 <p>Yesterdays speaker told me that the service is the default
3306 keyserver provided by the default configuration in GnuPG, but this do
3307 not seem to be used in Debian.  Perhaps it should?</p>
3308
3309 <p>Anyway, I've updated my ~/.gnupg/options file to now include this
3310 line:</p>
3311
3312 <p><blockquote><pre>
3313 keyserver pool.sks-keyservers.net
3314 </pre></blockquote></p>
3315
3316 <p>With GnuPG version 2 one can also locate the keyserver using SRV
3317 entries in DNS.  Just for fun, I did just that at work, so now every
3318 user of GnuPG at the University of Oslo should find a OpenGPG
3319 keyserver automatically should their need it:</p>
3320
3321 <p><blockquote><pre>
3322 % host -t srv _pgpkey-http._tcp.uio.no
3323 _pgpkey-http._tcp.uio.no has SRV record 0 100 11371 pool.sks-keyservers.net.
3324 %
3325 </pre></blockquote></p>
3326
3327 <p>Now if only
3328 <a href="http://ietfreport.isoc.org/idref/draft-shaw-openpgp-hkp/">the
3329 HKP lookup protocol</a> supported finding signature paths, I would be
3330 very happy.  It can look up a given key or search for a user ID, but I
3331 normally do not want that, but to find a trust path from my key to
3332 another key.  Given a user ID or key ID, I would like to find (and
3333 download) the keys representing a signature path from my key to the
3334 key in question, to be able to get a trust path between the two keys.
3335 This is as far as I can tell not possible today.  Perhaps something
3336 for a future version of the protocol?</p>
3337
3338       </div>
3339       <div class="tags">
3340
3341
3342         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/personvern">personvern</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/sikkerhet">sikkerhet</a>.
3343
3344
3345       </div>
3346     </div>
3347     <div class="padding"></div>
3348
3349     <div class="entry">
3350       <div class="title">
3351         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Do_you_need_an_agreement_with_MPEG_LA_to_publish_and_broadcast_H_264_video_in_Norway_.html">Do you need an agreement with MPEG-LA to publish and broadcast H.264 video in Norway?</a>
3352       </div>
3353       <div class="date">
3354         25th August 2014
3355       </div>
3356       <div class="body">
3357         <p>Two years later, I am still not sure if it is legal here in Norway
3358 to use or publish a video in H.264 or MPEG4 format edited by the
3359 commercially licensed video editors, without limiting the use to
3360 create "personal" or "non-commercial" videos or get a license
3361 agreement with <a href="http://www.mpegla.com">MPEG LA</a>.  If one
3362 want to publish and broadcast video in a non-personal or commercial
3363 setting, it might be that those tools can not be used, or that video
3364 format can not be used, without breaking their copyright license.  I
3365 am not sure.
3366 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Trenger_en_avtale_med_MPEG_LA_for___publisere_og_kringkaste_H_264_video_.html">Back
3367 then</a>, I found that the copyright license terms for Adobe Premiere
3368 and Apple Final Cut Pro both specified that one could not use the
3369 program to produce anything else without a patent license from MPEG
3370 LA.  The issue is not limited to those two products, though.  Other
3371 much used products like those from Avid and Sorenson Media have terms
3372 of use are similar to those from Adobe and Apple.  The complicating
3373 factor making me unsure if those terms have effect in Norway or not is
3374 that the patents in question are not valid in Norway, but copyright
3375 licenses are.</p>
3376
3377 <p>These are the terms for Avid Artist Suite, according to their
3378 <a href="http://www.avid.com/US/about-avid/legal-notices/legal-enduserlicense2">published
3379 end user</a>
3380 <a href="http://www.avid.com/static/resources/common/documents/corporate/LICENSE.pdf">license
3381 text</a> (converted to lower case text for easier reading):</p>
3382
3383 <p><blockquote>
3384 <p>18.2. MPEG-4. MPEG-4 technology may be included with the
3385 software. MPEG LA, L.L.C. requires this notice: </p>
3386
3387 <p>This product is licensed under the MPEG-4 visual patent portfolio
3388 license for the personal and non-commercial use of a consumer for (i)
3389 encoding video in compliance with the MPEG-4 visual standard (“MPEG-4
3390 video”) and/or (ii) decoding MPEG-4 video that was encoded by a
3391 consumer engaged in a personal and non-commercial activity and/or was
3392 obtained from a video provider licensed by MPEG LA to provide MPEG-4
3393 video.  No license is granted or shall be implied for any other
3394 use. Additional information including that relating to promotional,
3395 internal and commercial uses and licensing may be obtained from MPEG
3396 LA, LLC.  See http://www.mpegla.com. This product is licensed under
3397 the MPEG-4 systems patent portfolio license for encoding in compliance
3398 with the MPEG-4 systems standard, except that an additional license
3399 and payment of royalties are necessary for encoding in connection with
3400 (i) data stored or replicated in physical media which is paid for on a
3401 title by title basis and/or (ii) data which is paid for on a title by
3402 title basis and is transmitted to an end user for permanent storage
3403 and/or use, such additional license may be obtained from MPEG LA,
3404 LLC. See http://www.mpegla.com for additional details.</p>
3405
3406 <p>18.3. H.264/AVC. H.264/AVC technology may be included with the
3407 software.  MPEG LA, L.L.C. requires this notice:</p>
3408
3409 <p>This product is licensed under the AVC patent portfolio license for
3410 the personal use of a consumer or other uses in which it does not
3411 receive remuneration to (i) encode video in compliance with the AVC
3412 standard (“AVC video”) and/or (ii) decode AVC video that was encoded
3413 by a consumer engaged in a personal activity and/or was obtained from
3414 a video provider licensed to provide AVC video. No license is granted
3415 or shall be implied for any other use. Additional information may be
3416 obtained from MPEG LA, L.L.C. See http://www.mpegla.com.</p>
3417 </blockquote></p>
3418
3419 <p>Note the requirement that the videos created can only be used for
3420 personal or non-commercial purposes.</p>
3421
3422 <p>The Sorenson Media software have
3423 <a href="http://www.sorensonmedia.com/terms/">similar terms</a>:</p>
3424
3425 <p><blockquote>
3426
3427 <p>With respect to a license from Sorenson pertaining to MPEG-4 Video
3428 Decoders and/or Encoders: Any such product is licensed under the
3429 MPEG-4 visual patent portfolio license for the personal and
3430 non-commercial use of a consumer for (i) encoding video in compliance
3431 with the MPEG-4 visual standard (“MPEG-4 video”) and/or (ii) decoding
3432 MPEG-4 video that was encoded by a consumer engaged in a personal and
3433 non-commercial activity and/or was obtained from a video provider
3434 licensed by MPEG LA to provide MPEG-4 video. No license is granted or
3435 shall be implied for any other use. Additional information including
3436 that relating to promotional, internal and commercial uses and
3437 licensing may be obtained from MPEG LA, LLC. See
3438 http://www.mpegla.com.</p>
3439
3440 <p>With respect to a license from Sorenson pertaining to MPEG-4
3441 Consumer Recorded Data Encoder, MPEG-4 Systems Internet Data Encoder,
3442 MPEG-4 Mobile Data Encoder, and/or MPEG-4 Unique Use Encoder: Any such
3443 product is licensed under the MPEG-4 systems patent portfolio license
3444 for encoding in compliance with the MPEG-4 systems standard, except
3445 that an additional license and payment of royalties are necessary for
3446 encoding in connection with (i) data stored or replicated in physical
3447 media which is paid for on a title by title basis and/or (ii) data
3448 which is paid for on a title by title basis and is transmitted to an
3449 end user for permanent storage and/or use. Such additional license may
3450 be obtained from MPEG LA, LLC. See http://www.mpegla.com for
3451 additional details.</p>
3452
3453 </blockquote></p>
3454
3455 <p>Some free software like
3456 <a href="https://handbrake.fr/">Handbrake</A> and
3457 <a href="http://ffmpeg.org/">FFMPEG</a> uses GPL/LGPL licenses and do
3458 not have any such terms included, so for those, there is no
3459 requirement to limit the use to personal and non-commercial.</p>
3460
3461       </div>
3462       <div class="tags">
3463
3464
3465         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/h264">h264</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/multimedia">multimedia</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/opphavsrett">opphavsrett</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>.
3466
3467
3468       </div>
3469     </div>
3470     <div class="padding"></div>
3471
3472     <div class="entry">
3473       <div class="title">
3474         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__Bernd_Zeitzen.html">Debian Edu interview: Bernd Zeitzen</a>
3475       </div>
3476       <div class="date">
3477         31st July 2014
3478       </div>
3479       <div class="body">
3480         <p>The complete and free “out of the box” software solution for
3481 schools, <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu /
3482 Skolelinux</a>, is used quite a lot in Germany, and one of the people
3483 involved is Bernd Zeitzen, who show up on the project mailing lists
3484 from time to time with interesting questions and tips on how to adjust
3485 the setup.  I managed to interview him this summer.</p>
3486
3487 <p><strong>Who are you, and how do you spend your days?</strong></p>
3488
3489 <p>My name is Bernd Zeitzen and I'm married with Hedda, a self
3490 employed physiotherapist.  My former profession is tool maker, but I
3491 haven't worked for 30 years in this job.  30 years ago I started to
3492 support my wife and become her officeworker and a few years later the
3493 administrator for a small computer network, today based on Ubuntu
3494 Server (Samba, OpenVPN). For her daily work she has to use Windows
3495 Desktops because the software she needs to organize her business only
3496 works with Windows . :-(</p>
3497
3498 <p>In 1988 we started with one PC and DOS, then I learned to use
3499 Windows 98, 2000, XP, …, 8, Ubuntu, MacOSX.  Today we are running a
3500 Linux server with 6 Windows clients and 10 persons (teacher of
3501 children with special needs, speech therapist, occupational therapist,
3502 psychologist and officeworkers) using our Samba shares via OpenVPN to
3503 work with the documentations of our patients.</p>
3504
3505 <p><strong>How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux / Debian Edu
3506 project?</strong></p>
3507
3508 <p>Two years ago a friend of mine asked me, if I want to get a job in
3509 his school (<a href="http://www.gymnasium-harsewinkel.de/">Gymnasium
3510 Harsewinkel</a>).  They started with Skolelinux / Debian Edu and they
3511 were looking for people to give support to the teachers using the
3512 software and the network and teaching the pupils increasing their
3513 computer skills in optional lessons.  I'm spending 4-6 hours a week
3514 with this job.</p>
3515
3516 <p><strong>What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux / Debian
3517 Edu?</strong></p>
3518
3519 <p>The independence.</p>
3520
3521 <p>First: Every person is allowed to use, share and develop the
3522 software. Even if you are poor, you are allowed to use the software
3523 included in Skolelinux/Debian Edu and all the other Free Software.</p>
3524
3525 <p>Second: The software runs on old machines and this gives us the
3526 possibility to recycle computers, weeded out from offices.  The
3527 servers and desktops are running for more than two years and they are
3528 working reliable. </p>
3529
3530 <p>We have two servers (one tjener and one terminal server), 45
3531 workstations in three classrooms and seven laptops as a mobile
3532 solution for all classrooms.  These machines are all booting from the
3533 terminal server.  In the moment we are installing 30 laptops as mobile
3534 workstations.  Then the pupils have the possibility to work with these
3535 machines in their classrooms.  Internet access is realized by a WLAN
3536 router, connected to the schools network. This is all done without a
3537 dedicated system administrator or a computer science teacher.</p>
3538
3539 <p><strong>What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux / Debian
3540 Edu?</strong></p>
3541
3542 <p>Teachers and pupils are Windows users.  &lt;Irony on&gt; And Linux
3543 isn't cool. It's software for freaks using the command line. &lt;Irony
3544 off&gt; They don't realize the stability of the system. </p>
3545
3546 <p><strong>Which free software do you use daily?</strong></p>
3547
3548 <p>Firefox, Thunderbird, LibreOffice, Ubuntu Server 12.04 (Samba,
3549 Apache, MySQL, Joomla!, … and Skolelinux / Debian Edu)</p>
3550
3551 <p><strong>Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to
3552 get schools to use free software?</strong></p>
3553
3554 <p>In Germany we have the situation: every school is free to decide
3555 which software they want to use. This decision is influenced by
3556 teachers who learned to use Windows and MS Office. They buy a PC with
3557 Windows preinstalled and an additional testing version of MS
3558 Office. They don't know about the possibility to use Free Software
3559 instead.  Another problem are the publisher of school books.  They
3560 develop their software, added to the school books, for Windows.</p>
3561
3562       </div>
3563       <div class="tags">
3564
3565
3566         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>.
3567
3568
3569       </div>
3570     </div>
3571     <div class="padding"></div>
3572
3573     <div class="entry">
3574       <div class="title">
3575         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/98_6_percent_done_with_the_Norwegian_draft_translation_of_Free_Culture.html">98.6 percent done with the Norwegian draft translation of Free Culture</a>
3576       </div>
3577       <div class="date">
3578         23rd July 2014
3579       </div>
3580       <div class="body">
3581         <p>This summer I finally had time to continue working on the Norwegian
3582 <a href="http://www.docbook.org/">docbook</a> version of the 2004 book
3583 <a href="http://free-culture.cc/">Free Culture</a> by Lawrence Lessig,
3584 to get a Norwegian text explaining the problems with todays copyright
3585 law.  Yesterday, I finally completed translated the book text.  There
3586 are still some foot/end notes left to translate, the colophon page
3587 need to be rewritten, and a few words and phrases still need to be
3588 translated, but the Norwegian text is ready for the first proof
3589 reading. :) More spell checking is needed, and several illustrations
3590 need to be cleaned up.  The work stopped up because I had to give
3591 priority to other projects the last year, and the progress graph of
3592 the translation show this very well:</p>
3593
3594 <p><img width="80%" align="center" src="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig/raw/master/progress.png"></p>
3595
3596 <p>If you want to read the result, check out the
3597 <a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig">github</a>
3598 project pages and the
3599 <a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig/blob/master/archive/freeculture.nb.pdf?raw=true">PDF</a>,
3600 <a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig/blob/master/archive/freeculture.nb.epub?raw=true">EPUB</a>
3601 and HTML version available in the
3602 <a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig/tree/master/archive">archive
3603 directory</a>.</p>
3604
3605 <p>Please report typos, bugs and improvements to the github project if
3606 you find any.</p>
3607
3608       </div>
3609       <div class="tags">
3610
3611
3612         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>.
3613
3614
3615       </div>
3616     </div>
3617     <div class="padding"></div>
3618
3619     <div class="entry">
3620       <div class="title">
3621         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/From_English_wiki_to_translated_PDF_and_epub_via_Docbook.html">From English wiki to translated PDF and epub via Docbook</a>
3622       </div>
3623       <div class="date">
3624         17th June 2014
3625       </div>
3626       <div class="body">
3627         <p>The <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / Skolelinux
3628 project</a> provide an instruction manual for teachers, system
3629 administrators and other users that contain useful tips for setting up
3630 and maintaining a Debian Edu installation.  This text is about how the
3631 text processing of this manual is handled in the project.</p>
3632
3633 <p>One goal of the project is to provide information in the native
3634 language of its users, and for this we need to handle translations.
3635 But we also want to make sure each language contain the same
3636 information, so for this we need a good way to keep the translations
3637 in sync.  And we want it to be easy for our users to improve the
3638 documentation, avoiding the need to learn special formats or tools to
3639 contribute, and the obvious way to do this is to make it possible to
3640 edit the documentation using a web browser.  We also want it to be
3641 easy for translators to keep the translation up to date, and give them
3642 help in figuring out what need to be translated. Here is the list of
3643 tools and the process we have found trying to reach all these
3644 goals.</p>
3645
3646 <p>We maintain the authoritative source of our manual in the
3647 <a href="https://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/Documentation/Wheezy/">Debian
3648 wiki</a>, as several wiki pages written in English.  It consist of one
3649 front page with references to the different chapters, several pages
3650 for each chapter, and finally one "collection page" gluing all the
3651 chapters together into one large web page (aka
3652 <a href="https://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/Documentation/Wheezy/AllInOne">the
3653 AllInOne page</a>).  The AllInOne page is the one used for further
3654 processing and translations.  Thanks to the fact that the
3655 <a href="http://moinmo.in/">MoinMoin</a> installation on
3656 wiki.debian.org support exporting pages in
3657 <a href="http://www.docbook.org/">the Docbook format</a>, we can fetch
3658 the list of pages to export using the raw version of the AllInOne
3659 page, loop over each of them to generate a Docbook XML version of the
3660 manual.  This process also download images and transform image
3661 references to use the locally downloaded images.  The generated
3662 Docbook XML files are slightly broken, so some post-processing is done
3663 using the <tt>documentation/scripts/get_manual</tt> program, and the
3664 result is a nice Docbook XML file (debian-edu-wheezy-manual.xml) and
3665 a handfull of images.  The XML file can now be used to generate PDF, HTML
3666 and epub versions of the English manual.  This is the basic step of
3667 our process, making PDF (using dblatex), HTML (using xsltproc) and
3668 epub (using dbtoepub) version from Docbook XML, and the resulting files
3669 are placed in the debian-edu-doc-en binary package.</p>
3670
3671 <p>But English documentation is not enough for us.  We want translated
3672 documentation too, and we want to make it easy for translators to
3673 track the English original.  For this we use the
3674 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/p/poxml.html">poxml</a> package,
3675 which allow us to transform the English Docbook XML file into a
3676 translation file (a .pot file), usable with the normal gettext based
3677 translation tools used by those translating free software.  The pot
3678 file is used to create and maintain translation files (several .po
3679 files), which the translations update with the native language
3680 translations of all titles, paragraphs and blocks of text in the
3681 original.  The next step is combining the original English Docbook XML
3682 and the translation file (say debian-edu-wheezy-manual.nb.po), to
3683 create a translated Docbook XML file (in this case
3684 debian-edu-wheezy-manual.nb.xml).  This translated (or partly
3685 translated, if the translation is not complete) Docbook XML file can
3686 then be used like the original to create a PDF, HTML and epub version
3687 of the documentation.</p>
3688
3689 <p>The translators use different tools to edit the .po files.  We
3690 recommend using
3691 <a href="http://www.kde.org/applications/development/lokalize/">lokalize</a>,
3692 while some use emacs and vi, others can use web based editors like
3693 <a href="http://pootle.translatehouse.org/">Poodle</a> or
3694 <a href="https://www.transifex.com/">Transifex</a>.  All we care about
3695 is where the .po file end up, in our git repository.  Updated
3696 translations can either be committed directly to git, or submitted as
3697 <a href="https://bugs.debian.org/src:debian-edu-doc">bug reports
3698 against the debian-edu-doc package</a>.</p>
3699
3700 <p>One challenge is images, which both might need to be translated (if
3701 they show translated user applications), and are needed in different
3702 formats when creating PDF and HTML versions (epub is a HTML version in
3703 this regard).  For this we transform the original PNG images to the
3704 needed density and format during build, and have a way to provide
3705 translated images by storing translated versions in
3706 images/$LANGUAGECODE/.  I am a bit unsure about the details here.  The
3707 package maintainers know more.</p>
3708
3709 <p>If you wonder what the result look like, we provide
3710 <a href="http://maintainer.skolelinux.org/debian-edu-doc/">the content
3711 of the documentation packages on the web</a>.  See for example the
3712 <a href="http://maintainer.skolelinux.org/debian-edu-doc/it/debian-edu-wheezy-manual.pdf">Italian
3713 PDF version</a> or the
3714 <a href="http://maintainer.skolelinux.org/debian-edu-doc/de/debian-edu-wheezy-manual.html">German
3715 HTML version</a>.  We do not yet build the epub version by default,
3716 but perhaps it will be done in the future.</p>
3717
3718 <p>To learn more, check out
3719 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/d/debian-edu-doc.html">the
3720 debian-edu-doc package</a>,
3721 <a href="https://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/Documentation/Wheezy/">the
3722 manual on the wiki</a> and
3723 <a href="https://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/Documentation/Wheezy/Translations">the
3724 translation instructions</a> in the manual.</p>
3725
3726       </div>
3727       <div class="tags">
3728
3729
3730         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/docbook">docbook</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
3731
3732
3733       </div>
3734     </div>
3735     <div class="padding"></div>
3736
3737     <div class="entry">
3738       <div class="title">
3739         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Free_software_car_computer_solution_.html">Free software car computer solution?</a>
3740       </div>
3741       <div class="date">
3742         29th May 2014
3743       </div>
3744       <div class="body">
3745         <p>Dear lazyweb.  I'm planning to set up a small Raspberry Pi computer
3746 in my car, connected to
3747 <a href="http://www.dx.com/p/400a-4-0-tft-lcd-digital-monitor-for-vehicle-parking-reverse-camera-1440x272-12v-dc-57776">a
3748 small screen</a> next to the rear mirror.  I plan to hook it up with a
3749 GPS and a USB wifi card too.  The idea is to get my own
3750 "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carputer">Carputer</a>".  But I
3751 wonder if someone already created a good free software solution for
3752 such car computer.</p>
3753
3754 <p>This is my current wish list for such system:</p>
3755
3756 <ul>
3757
3758  <li>Work on Raspberry Pi.</li>
3759
3760  <li>Show current speed limit based on location, and warn if going too
3761    fast (for example using color codes yellow and red on the screen,
3762    or make a sound).  This could be done either using either data from
3763    <a href="http://www.openstreetmap.org/">Openstreetmap</a> or OCR
3764    info gathered from a dashboard camera.</li>
3765
3766  <li>Track automatic toll road passes and their cost, show total spent
3767    and make it possible to calculate toll costs for planned
3768    route.</li>
3769
3770  <li>Collect GPX tracks for use with OpenStreetMap.</li>
3771
3772  <li>Automatically detect and use any wireless connection to connect
3773    to home server.  Try IP over DNS
3774    (<a href="http://dev.kryo.se/iodine/">iodine</a>) or ICMP
3775    (<a href="http://code.gerade.org/hans/">Hans</a>) if direct
3776    connection do not work.</li>
3777
3778  <li>Set up mesh network to talk to other cars with the same system,
3779    or some standard car mesh protocol.</li>
3780
3781  <li>Warn when approaching speed cameras and speed camera ranges
3782    (speed calculated between two cameras).</li>
3783
3784  <li>Suport dashboard/front facing camera to discover speed limits and
3785    run OCR to track registration number of passing cars.</li>
3786
3787 </ul>
3788
3789 <p>If you know of any free software car computer system supporting
3790 some or all of these features, please let me know.</p>
3791
3792       </div>
3793       <div class="tags">
3794
3795
3796         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
3797
3798
3799       </div>
3800     </div>
3801     <div class="padding"></div>
3802
3803     <div class="entry">
3804       <div class="title">
3805         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Half_the_Coverity_issues_in_Gnash_fixed_in_the_next_release.html">Half the Coverity issues in Gnash fixed in the next release</a>
3806       </div>
3807       <div class="date">
3808         29th April 2014
3809       </div>
3810       <div class="body">
3811         <p>I've been following <a href="http://www.getgnash.org/">the Gnash
3812 project</a> for quite a while now.  It is a free software
3813 implementation of Adobe Flash, both a standalone player and a browser
3814 plugin.  Gnash implement support for the AVM1 format (and not the
3815 newer AVM2 format - see
3816 <a href="http://lightspark.github.io/">Lightspark</a> for that one),
3817 allowing several flash based sites to work.  Thanks to the friendly
3818 developers at Youtube, it also work with Youtube videos, because the
3819 Javascript code at Youtube detect Gnash and serve a AVM1 player to
3820 those users. :) Would be great if someone found time to implement AVM2
3821 support, but it has not happened yet.  If you install both Lightspark
3822 and Gnash, Lightspark will invoke Gnash if it find a AVM1 flash file,
3823 so you can get both handled as free software.  Unfortunately,
3824 Lightspark so far only implement a small subset of AVM2, and many
3825 sites do not work yet.</p>
3826
3827 <p>A few months ago, I started looking at
3828 <a href="http://scan.coverity.com/">Coverity</a>, the static source
3829 checker used to find heaps and heaps of bugs in free software (thanks
3830 to the donation of a scanning service to free software projects by the
3831 company developing this non-free code checker), and Gnash was one of
3832 the projects I decided to check out.  Coverity is able to find lock
3833 errors, memory errors, dead code and more.  A few days ago they even
3834 extended it to also be able to find the heartbleed bug in OpenSSL.
3835 There are heaps of checks being done on the instrumented code, and the
3836 amount of bogus warnings is quite low compared to the other static
3837 code checkers I have tested over the years.</p>
3838
3839 <p>Since a few weeks ago, I've been working with the other Gnash
3840 developers squashing bugs discovered by Coverity.  I was quite happy
3841 today when I checked the current status and saw that of the 777 issues
3842 detected so far, 374 are marked as fixed.  This make me confident that
3843 the next Gnash release will be more stable and more dependable than
3844 the previous one.  Most of the reported issues were and are in the
3845 test suite, but it also found a few in the rest of the code.</p>
3846
3847 <p>If you want to help out, you find us on
3848 <a href="https://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/gnash-dev">the
3849 gnash-dev mailing list</a> and on
3850 <a href="irc://irc.freenode.net/#gnash">the #gnash channel on
3851 irc.freenode.net IRC server</a>.</p>
3852
3853       </div>
3854       <div class="tags">
3855
3856
3857         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>.
3858
3859
3860       </div>
3861     </div>
3862     <div class="padding"></div>
3863
3864     <div class="entry">
3865       <div class="title">
3866         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Install_hardware_dependent_packages_using_tasksel__Isenkram_0_7_.html">Install hardware dependent packages using tasksel (Isenkram 0.7)</a>
3867       </div>
3868       <div class="date">
3869         23rd April 2014
3870       </div>
3871       <div class="body">
3872         <p>It would be nice if it was easier in Debian to get all the hardware
3873 related packages relevant for the computer installed automatically.
3874 So I implemented one, using
3875 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/isenkram">my Isenkram
3876 package</a>.  To use it, install the tasksel and isenkram packages and
3877 run tasksel as user root.  You should be presented with a new option,
3878 "Hardware specific packages (autodetected by isenkram)".  When you
3879 select it, tasksel will install the packages isenkram claim is fit for
3880 the current hardware, hot pluggable or not.<p>
3881
3882 <p>The implementation is in two files, one is the tasksel menu entry
3883 description, and the other is the script used to extract the list of
3884 packages to install.  The first part is in
3885 <tt>/usr/share/tasksel/descs/isenkram.desc</tt> and look like
3886 this:</p>
3887
3888 <p><blockquote><pre>
3889 Task: isenkram
3890 Section: hardware
3891 Description: Hardware specific packages (autodetected by isenkram)
3892  Based on the detected hardware various hardware specific packages are
3893  proposed.
3894 Test-new-install: mark show
3895 Relevance: 8
3896 Packages: for-current-hardware
3897 </pre></blockquote></p>
3898
3899 <p>The second part is in
3900 <tt>/usr/lib/tasksel/packages/for-current-hardware</tt> and look like
3901 this:</p>
3902
3903 <p><blockquote><pre>
3904 #!/bin/sh
3905 #
3906 (
3907     isenkram-lookup
3908     isenkram-autoinstall-firmware -l
3909 ) | sort -u
3910 </pre></blockquote></p>
3911
3912 <p>All in all, a very short and simple implementation making it
3913 trivial to install the hardware dependent package we all may want to
3914 have installed on our machines.  I've not been able to find a way to
3915 get tasksel to tell you exactly which packages it plan to install
3916 before doing the installation.  So if you are curious or careful,
3917 check the output from the isenkram-* command line tools first.</p>
3918
3919 <p>The information about which packages are handling which hardware is
3920 fetched either from the isenkram package itself in
3921 /usr/share/isenkram/, from git.debian.org or from the APT package
3922 database (using the Modaliases header).  The APT package database
3923 parsing have caused a nasty resource leak in the isenkram daemon (bugs
3924 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/719837">#719837</a> and
3925 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/730704">#730704</a>).  The cause is in
3926 the python-apt code (bug
3927 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/745487">#745487</a>), but using a
3928 workaround I was able to get rid of the file descriptor leak and
3929 reduce the memory leak from ~30 MiB per hardware detection down to
3930 around 2 MiB per hardware detection.  It should make the desktop
3931 daemon a lot more useful.  The fix is in version 0.7 uploaded to
3932 unstable today.</p>
3933
3934 <p>I believe the current way of mapping hardware to packages in
3935 Isenkram is is a good draft, but in the future I expect isenkram to
3936 use the AppStream data source for this.  A proposal for getting proper
3937 AppStream support into Debian is floating around as
3938 <a href="https://wiki.debian.org/DEP-11">DEP-11</a>, and
3939 <a href="https://wiki.debian.org/SummerOfCode2014/Projects#SummerOfCode2014.2FProjects.2FAppStreamDEP11Implementation.AppStream.2FDEP-11_for_the_Debian_Archive">GSoC
3940 project</a> will take place this summer to improve the situation.  I
3941 look forward to seeing the result, and welcome patches for isenkram to
3942 start using the information when it is ready.</p>
3943
3944 <p>If you want your package to map to some specific hardware, either
3945 add a "Xb-Modaliases" header to your control file like I did in
3946 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/pymissile">the pymissile
3947 package</a> or submit a bug report with the details to the isenkram
3948 package.  See also
3949 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/isenkram/">all my
3950 blog posts tagged isenkram</a> for details on the notation.  I expect
3951 the information will be migrated to AppStream eventually, but for the
3952 moment I got no better place to store it.</p>
3953
3954       </div>
3955       <div class="tags">
3956
3957
3958         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>.
3959
3960
3961       </div>
3962     </div>
3963     <div class="padding"></div>
3964
3965     <div class="entry">
3966       <div class="title">
3967         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/FreedomBox_milestone___all_packages_now_in_Debian_Sid.html">FreedomBox milestone - all packages now in Debian Sid</a>
3968       </div>
3969       <div class="date">
3970         15th April 2014
3971       </div>
3972       <div class="body">
3973         <p>The <a href="https://wiki.debian.org/FreedomBox">Freedombox
3974 project</a> is working on providing the software and hardware to make
3975 it easy for non-technical people to host their data and communication
3976 at home, and being able to communicate with their friends and family
3977 encrypted and away from prying eyes.  It is still going strong, and
3978 today a major mile stone was reached.</p>
3979
3980 <p>Today, the last of the packages currently used by the project to
3981 created the system images were accepted into Debian Unstable.  It was
3982 the freedombox-setup package, which is used to configure the images
3983 during build and on the first boot.  Now all one need to get going is
3984 the build code from the freedom-maker git repository and packages from
3985 Debian.  And once the freedombox-setup package enter testing, we can
3986 build everything directly from Debian. :)</p>
3987
3988 <p>Some key packages used by Freedombox are
3989 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/freedombox-setup">freedombox-setup</a>,
3990 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/plinth">plinth</a>,
3991 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/pagekite">pagekite</a>,
3992 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/tor">tor</a>,
3993 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/privoxy">privoxy</a>,
3994 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/owncloud">owncloud</a> and
3995 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/dnsmasq">dnsmasq</a>.  There
3996 are plans to integrate more packages into the setup.  User
3997 documentation is maintained on the Debian wiki.  Please
3998 <a href="https://wiki.debian.org/FreedomBox/Manual/Jessie">check out
3999 the manual</a> and help us improve it.</p>
4000
4001 <p>To test for yourself and create boot images with the FreedomBox
4002 setup, run this on a Debian machine using a user with sudo rights to
4003 become root:</p>
4004
4005 <p><pre>
4006 sudo apt-get install git vmdebootstrap mercurial python-docutils \
4007   mktorrent extlinux virtualbox qemu-user-static binfmt-support \
4008   u-boot-tools
4009 git clone http://anonscm.debian.org/git/freedombox/freedom-maker.git \
4010   freedom-maker
4011 make -C freedom-maker dreamplug-image raspberry-image virtualbox-image
4012 </pre></p>
4013
4014 <p>Root access is needed to run debootstrap and mount loopback
4015 devices.  See the README in the freedom-maker git repo for more
4016 details on the build.  If you do not want all three images, trim the
4017 make line.  Note that the virtualbox-image target is not really
4018 virtualbox specific.  It create a x86 image usable in kvm, qemu,
4019 vmware and any other x86 virtual machine environment.  You might need
4020 the version of vmdebootstrap in Jessie to get the build working, as it
4021 include fixes for a race condition with kpartx.</p>
4022
4023 <p>If you instead want to install using a Debian CD and the preseed
4024 method, boot a Debian Wheezy ISO and use this boot argument to load
4025 the preseed values:</p>
4026
4027 <p><pre>
4028 url=<a href="http://www.reinholdtsen.name/freedombox/preseed-jessie.dat">http://www.reinholdtsen.name/freedombox/preseed-jessie.dat</a>
4029 </pre></p>
4030
4031 <p>I have not tested it myself the last few weeks, so I do not know if
4032 it still work.</p>
4033
4034 <p>If you wonder how to help, one task you could look at is using
4035 systemd as the boot system.  It will become the default for Linux in
4036 Jessie, so we need to make sure it is usable on the Freedombox.  I did
4037 a simple test a few weeks ago, and noticed dnsmasq failed to start
4038 during boot when using systemd.  I suspect there are other problems
4039 too. :) To detect problems, there is a test suite included, which can
4040 be run from the plinth web interface.</p>
4041
4042 <p>Give it a go and let us know how it goes on the mailing list, and help
4043 us get the new release published. :) Please join us on
4044 <a href="irc://irc.debian.org:6667/%23freedombox">IRC (#freedombox on
4045 irc.debian.org)</a> and
4046 <a href="http://lists.alioth.debian.org/mailman/listinfo/freedombox-discuss">the
4047 mailing list</a> if you want to help make this vision come true.</p>
4048
4049       </div>
4050       <div class="tags">
4051
4052
4053         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/freedombox">freedombox</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>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/web">web</a>.
4054
4055
4056       </div>
4057     </div>
4058     <div class="padding"></div>
4059
4060     <div class="entry">
4061       <div class="title">
4062         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/S3QL__a_locally_mounted_cloud_file_system___nice_free_software.html">S3QL, a locally mounted cloud file system - nice free software</a>
4063       </div>
4064       <div class="date">
4065          9th April 2014
4066       </div>
4067       <div class="body">
4068         <p>For a while now, I have been looking for a sensible offsite backup
4069 solution for use at home.  My requirements are simple, it must be
4070 cheap and locally encrypted (in other words, I keep the encryption
4071 keys, the storage provider do not have access to my private files).
4072 One idea me and my friends had many years ago, before the cloud
4073 storage providers showed up, was to use Google mail as storage,
4074 writing a Linux block device storing blocks as emails in the mail
4075 service provided by Google, and thus get heaps of free space.  On top
4076 of this one can add encryption, RAID and volume management to have
4077 lots of (fairly slow, I admit that) cheap and encrypted storage.  But
4078 I never found time to implement such system.  But the last few weeks I
4079 have looked at a system called
4080 <a href="https://bitbucket.org/nikratio/s3ql/">S3QL</a>, a locally
4081 mounted network backed file system with the features I need.</p>
4082
4083 <p>S3QL is a fuse file system with a local cache and cloud storage,
4084 handling several different storage providers, any with Amazon S3,
4085 Google Drive or OpenStack API.  There are heaps of such storage
4086 providers.  S3QL can also use a local directory as storage, which
4087 combined with sshfs allow for file storage on any ssh server.  S3QL
4088 include support for encryption, compression, de-duplication, snapshots
4089 and immutable file systems, allowing me to mount the remote storage as
4090 a local mount point, look at and use the files as if they were local,
4091 while the content is stored in the cloud as well.  This allow me to
4092 have a backup that should survive fire.  The file system can not be
4093 shared between several machines at the same time, as only one can
4094 mount it at the time, but any machine with the encryption key and
4095 access to the storage service can mount it if it is unmounted.</p>
4096
4097 <p>It is simple to use.  I'm using it on Debian Wheezy, where the
4098 package is included already.  So to get started, run <tt>apt-get
4099 install s3ql</tt>.  Next, pick a storage provider.  I ended up picking
4100 Greenqloud, after reading their nice recipe on
4101 <a href="https://greenqloud.zendesk.com/entries/44611757-How-To-Use-S3QL-to-mount-a-StorageQloud-bucket-on-Debian-Wheezy">how
4102 to use S3QL with their Amazon S3 service</a>, because I trust the laws
4103 in Iceland more than those in USA when it come to keeping my personal
4104 data safe and private, and thus would rather spend money on a company
4105 in Iceland.  Another nice recipe is available from the article
4106 <a href="http://www.admin-magazine.com/HPC/Articles/HPC-Cloud-Storage">S3QL
4107 Filesystem for HPC Storage</a> by Jeff Layton in the HPC section of
4108 Admin magazine.  When the provider is picked, figure out how to get
4109 the API key needed to connect to the storage API.  With Greencloud,
4110 the key did not show up until I had added payment details to my
4111 account.</p>
4112
4113 <p>Armed with the API access details, it is time to create the file
4114 system.  First, create a new bucket in the cloud.  This bucket is the
4115 file system storage area.  I picked a bucket name reflecting the
4116 machine that was going to store data there, but any name will do.
4117 I'll refer to it as <tt>bucket-name</tt> below.  In addition, one need
4118 the API login and password, and a locally created password.  Store it
4119 all in ~root/.s3ql/authinfo2 like this:
4120
4121 <p><blockquote><pre>
4122 [s3c]
4123 storage-url: s3c://s.greenqloud.com:443/bucket-name
4124 backend-login: API-login
4125 backend-password: API-password
4126 fs-passphrase: local-password
4127 </pre></blockquote></p>
4128
4129 <p>I create my local passphrase using <tt>pwget 50</tt> or similar,
4130 but any sensible way to create a fairly random password should do it.
4131 Armed with these details, it is now time to run mkfs, entering the API
4132 details and password to create it:</p>
4133
4134 <p><blockquote><pre>
4135 # mkdir -m 700 /var/lib/s3ql-cache
4136 # mkfs.s3ql --cachedir /var/lib/s3ql-cache --authfile /root/.s3ql/authinfo2 \
4137   --ssl s3c://s.greenqloud.com:443/bucket-name
4138 Enter backend login:
4139 Enter backend password:
4140 Before using S3QL, make sure to read the user's guide, especially
4141 the 'Important Rules to Avoid Loosing Data' section.
4142 Enter encryption password:
4143 Confirm encryption password:
4144 Generating random encryption key...
4145 Creating metadata tables...
4146 Dumping metadata...
4147 ..objects..
4148 ..blocks..
4149 ..inodes..
4150 ..inode_blocks..
4151 ..symlink_targets..
4152 ..names..
4153 ..contents..
4154 ..ext_attributes..
4155 Compressing and uploading metadata...
4156 Wrote 0.00 MB of compressed metadata.
4157 # </pre></blockquote></p>
4158
4159 <p>The next step is mounting the file system to make the storage available.
4160
4161 <p><blockquote><pre>
4162 # mount.s3ql --cachedir /var/lib/s3ql-cache --authfile /root/.s3ql/authinfo2 \
4163   --ssl --allow-root s3c://s.greenqloud.com:443/bucket-name /s3ql
4164 Using 4 upload threads.
4165 Downloading and decompressing metadata...
4166 Reading metadata...
4167 ..objects..
4168 ..blocks..
4169 ..inodes..
4170 ..inode_blocks..
4171 ..symlink_targets..
4172 ..names..
4173 ..contents..
4174 ..ext_attributes..
4175 Mounting filesystem...
4176 # df -h /s3ql
4177 Filesystem                              Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
4178 s3c://s.greenqloud.com:443/bucket-name  1.0T     0  1.0T   0% /s3ql
4179 #
4180 </pre></blockquote></p>
4181
4182 <p>The file system is now ready for use.  I use rsync to store my
4183 backups in it, and as the metadata used by rsync is downloaded at
4184 mount time, no network traffic (and storage cost) is triggered by
4185 running rsync.  To unmount, one should not use the normal umount
4186 command, as this will not flush the cache to the cloud storage, but
4187 instead running the umount.s3ql command like this:
4188
4189 <p><blockquote><pre>
4190 # umount.s3ql /s3ql
4191 #
4192 </pre></blockquote></p>
4193
4194 <p>There is a fsck command available to check the file system and
4195 correct any problems detected.  This can be used if the local server
4196 crashes while the file system is mounted, to reset the "already
4197 mounted" flag.  This is what it look like when processing a working
4198 file system:</p>
4199
4200 <p><blockquote><pre>
4201 # fsck.s3ql --force --ssl s3c://s.greenqloud.com:443/bucket-name
4202 Using cached metadata.
4203 File system seems clean, checking anyway.
4204 Checking DB integrity...
4205 Creating temporary extra indices...
4206 Checking lost+found...
4207 Checking cached objects...
4208 Checking names (refcounts)...
4209 Checking contents (names)...
4210 Checking contents (inodes)...
4211 Checking contents (parent inodes)...
4212 Checking objects (reference counts)...
4213 Checking objects (backend)...
4214 ..processed 5000 objects so far..
4215 ..processed 10000 objects so far..
4216 ..processed 15000 objects so far..
4217 Checking objects (sizes)...
4218 Checking blocks (referenced objects)...
4219 Checking blocks (refcounts)...
4220 Checking inode-block mapping (blocks)...
4221 Checking inode-block mapping (inodes)...
4222 Checking inodes (refcounts)...
4223 Checking inodes (sizes)...
4224 Checking extended attributes (names)...
4225 Checking extended attributes (inodes)...
4226 Checking symlinks (inodes)...
4227 Checking directory reachability...
4228 Checking unix conventions...
4229 Checking referential integrity...
4230 Dropping temporary indices...
4231 Backing up old metadata...
4232 Dumping metadata...
4233 ..objects..
4234 ..blocks..
4235 ..inodes..
4236 ..inode_blocks..
4237 ..symlink_targets..
4238 ..names..
4239 ..contents..
4240 ..ext_attributes..
4241 Compressing and uploading metadata...
4242 Wrote 0.89 MB of compressed metadata.
4243 #
4244 </pre></blockquote></p>
4245
4246 <p>Thanks to the cache, working on files that fit in the cache is very
4247 quick, about the same speed as local file access.  Uploading large
4248 amount of data is to me limited by the bandwidth out of and into my
4249 house.  Uploading 685 MiB with a 100 MiB cache gave me 305 kiB/s,
4250 which is very close to my upload speed, and downloading the same
4251 Debian installation ISO gave me 610 kiB/s, close to my download speed.
4252 Both were measured using <tt>dd</tt>.  So for me, the bottleneck is my
4253 network, not the file system code.  I do not know what a good cache
4254 size would be, but suspect that the cache should e larger than your
4255 working set.</p>
4256
4257 <p>I mentioned that only one machine can mount the file system at the
4258 time.  If another machine try, it is told that the file system is
4259 busy:</p>
4260
4261 <p><blockquote><pre>
4262 # mount.s3ql --cachedir /var/lib/s3ql-cache --authfile /root/.s3ql/authinfo2 \
4263   --ssl --allow-root s3c://s.greenqloud.com:443/bucket-name /s3ql
4264 Using 8 upload threads.
4265 Backend reports that fs is still mounted elsewhere, aborting.
4266 #
4267 </pre></blockquote></p>
4268
4269 <p>The file content is uploaded when the cache is full, while the
4270 metadata is uploaded once every 24 hour by default.  To ensure the
4271 file system content is flushed to the cloud, one can either umount the
4272 file system, or ask S3QL to flush the cache and metadata using
4273 s3qlctrl:
4274
4275 <p><blockquote><pre>
4276 # s3qlctrl upload-meta /s3ql
4277 # s3qlctrl flushcache /s3ql
4278 #
4279 </pre></blockquote></p>
4280
4281 <p>If you are curious about how much space your data uses in the
4282 cloud, and how much compression and deduplication cut down on the
4283 storage usage, you can use s3qlstat on the mounted file system to get
4284 a report:</p>
4285
4286 <p><blockquote><pre>
4287 # s3qlstat /s3ql
4288 Directory entries:    9141
4289 Inodes:               9143
4290 Data blocks:          8851
4291 Total data size:      22049.38 MB
4292 After de-duplication: 21955.46 MB (99.57% of total)
4293 After compression:    21877.28 MB (99.22% of total, 99.64% of de-duplicated)
4294 Database size:        2.39 MB (uncompressed)
4295 (some values do not take into account not-yet-uploaded dirty blocks in cache)
4296 #
4297 </pre></blockquote></p>
4298
4299 <p>I mentioned earlier that there are several possible suppliers of
4300 storage.  I did not try to locate them all, but am aware of at least
4301 <a href="https://www.greenqloud.com/">Greenqloud</a>,
4302 <a href="http://drive.google.com/">Google Drive</a>,
4303 <a href="http://aws.amazon.com/s3/">Amazon S3 web serivces</a>,
4304 <a href="http://www.rackspace.com/">Rackspace</a> and
4305 <a href="http://crowncloud.net/">Crowncloud</A>.  The latter even
4306 accept payment in Bitcoin.  Pick one that suit your need.  Some of
4307 them provide several GiB of free storage, but the prize models are
4308 quite different and you will have to figure out what suits you
4309 best.</p>
4310
4311 <p>While researching this blog post, I had a look at research papers
4312 and posters discussing the S3QL file system.  There are several, which
4313 told me that the file system is getting a critical check by the
4314 science community and increased my confidence in using it.  One nice
4315 poster is titled
4316 "<a href="http://www.lanl.gov/orgs/adtsc/publications/science_highlights_2013/docs/pg68_69.pdf">An
4317 Innovative Parallel Cloud Storage System using OpenStack’s SwiftObject
4318 Store and Transformative Parallel I/O Approach</a>" by Hsing-Bung
4319 Chen, Benjamin McClelland, David Sherrill, Alfred Torrez, Parks Fields
4320 and Pamela Smith.  Please  have a look.</p>
4321
4322 <p>Given my problems with different file systems earlier, I decided to
4323 check out the mounted S3QL file system to see if it would be usable as
4324 a home directory (in other word, that it provided POSIX semantics when
4325 it come to locking and umask handling etc).  Running
4326 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Testing_if_a_file_system_can_be_used_for_home_directories___.html">my
4327 test code to check file system semantics</a>, I was happy to discover that
4328 no error was found.  So the file system can be used for home
4329 directories, if one chooses to do so.</p>
4330
4331 <p>If you do not want a locally file system, and want something that
4332 work without the Linux fuse file system, I would like to mention the
4333 <a href="http://www.tarsnap.com/">Tarsnap service</a>, which also
4334 provide locally encrypted backup using a command line client.  It have
4335 a nicer access control system, where one can split out read and write
4336 access, allowing some systems to write to the backup and others to
4337 only read from it.</p>
4338
4339 <p>As usual, if you use Bitcoin and want to show your support of my
4340 activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address
4341 <b><a href="bitcoin:15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b&label=PetterReinholdtsenBlog">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</a></b>.</p>
4342
4343       </div>
4344       <div class="tags">
4345
4346
4347         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/personvern">personvern</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/sikkerhet">sikkerhet</a>.
4348
4349
4350       </div>
4351     </div>
4352     <div class="padding"></div>
4353
4354     <div class="entry">
4355       <div class="title">
4356         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/ReactOS_Windows_clone___nice_free_software.html">ReactOS Windows clone - nice free software</a>
4357       </div>
4358       <div class="date">
4359          1st April 2014
4360       </div>
4361       <div class="body">
4362         <p>Microsoft have announced that Windows XP reaches its end of life
4363 2014-04-08, in 7 days.  But there are heaps of machines still running
4364 Windows XP, and depending on Windows XP to run their applications, and
4365 upgrading will be expensive, both when it comes to money and when it
4366 comes to the amount of effort needed to migrate from Windows XP to a
4367 new operating system.  Some obvious options (buy new a Windows
4368 machine, buy a MacOSX machine, install Linux on the existing machine)
4369 are already well known and covered elsewhere.  Most of them involve
4370 leaving the user applications installed on Windows XP behind and
4371 trying out replacements or updated versions. In this blog post I want
4372 to mention one strange bird that allow people to keep the hardware and
4373 the existing Windows XP applications and run them on a free software
4374 operating system that is Windows XP compatible.</p>
4375
4376 <p><a href="http://www.reactos.org/">ReactOS</a> is a free software
4377 operating system (GNU GPL licensed) working on providing a operating
4378 system that is binary compatible with Windows, able to run windows
4379 programs directly and to use Windows drivers for hardware directly.
4380 The project goal is for Windows user to keep their existing machines,
4381 drivers and software, and gain the advantages from user a operating
4382 system without usage limitations caused by non-free licensing.  It is
4383 a Windows clone running directly on the hardware, so quite different
4384 from the approach taken by <a href="http://www.winehq.org/">the Wine
4385 project</a>, which make it possible to run Windows binaries on
4386 Linux.</p>
4387
4388 <p>The ReactOS project share code with the Wine project, so most
4389 shared libraries available on Windows are already implemented already.
4390 There is also a software manager like the one we are used to on Linux,
4391 allowing the user to install free software applications with a simple
4392 click directly from the Internet.  Check out the
4393 <a href="http://www.reactos.org/screenshots">screen shots on the
4394 project web site</a> for an idea what it look like (it looks just like
4395 Windows before metro).</p>
4396
4397 <p>I do not use ReactOS myself, preferring Linux and Unix like
4398 operating systems.  I've tested it, and it work fine in a virt-manager
4399 virtual machine.  The browser, minesweeper, notepad etc is working
4400 fine as far as I can tell.  Unfortunately, my main test application
4401 is the software included on a CD with the Lego Mindstorms NXT, which
4402 seem to install just fine from CD but fail to leave any binaries on
4403 the disk after the installation.  So no luck with that test software.
4404 No idea why, but hope someone else figure out and fix the problem.
4405 I've tried the ReactOS Live ISO on a physical machine, and it seemed
4406 to work just fine.  If you like Windows and want to keep running your
4407 old Windows binaries, check it out by
4408 <a href="http://www.reactos.org/download">downloading</a> the
4409 installation CD, the live CD or the preinstalled virtual machine
4410 image.</p>
4411
4412       </div>
4413       <div class="tags">
4414
4415
4416         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/reactos">reactos</a>.
4417
4418
4419       </div>
4420     </div>
4421     <div class="padding"></div>
4422
4423     <div class="entry">
4424       <div class="title">
4425         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__Roger_Marsal.html">Debian Edu interview: Roger Marsal</a>
4426       </div>
4427       <div class="date">
4428         30th March 2014
4429       </div>
4430       <div class="body">
4431         <p><a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / Skolelinux</a>
4432 keep gaining new users.  Some weeks ago, a person showed up on IRC,
4433 <a href="irc://irc.debian.org/#debian-edu">#debian-edu</a>, with a
4434 wish to contribute, and I managed to get a interview with this great
4435 contributor Roger Marsal to learn more about his background.</p>
4436
4437 <p><strong>Who are you, and how do you spend your days?</strong></p>
4438
4439 <p>My name is Roger Marsal, I'm 27 years old (1986 generation) and I
4440 live in Barcelona, Spain. I've got a strong business background and I
4441 work as a patrimony manager and as a real estate agent.  Additionally,
4442 I've co-founded a British based tech company that is nowadays on the
4443 last development phase of a new social networking concept.</p>
4444
4445 <p>I'm a Linux enthusiast that started its journey with Ubuntu four years
4446 ago and have recently switched to Debian seeking rock solid stability
4447 and as a necessary step to gain expertise.</p>
4448
4449 <p>In a nutshell, I spend my days working and learning as much as I
4450 can to face both my job, entrepreneur project and feed my Linux
4451 hunger.</p>
4452
4453 <p><strong>How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux / Debian Edu
4454 project?</strong></p>
4455
4456 <p>I discovered the <a href="http://www.ltsp.org/">LTSP</a> advantages
4457 with "Ubuntu 12.04 alternate install" and after a year of use I
4458 started looking for an alternative.  Even though I highly value and
4459 respect the Ubuntu project, I thought it was necessary for me to
4460 change to a more robust and stable alternative.  As far as I was using
4461 Debian on my personal laptop I thought it would be fine to install
4462 Debian and configure an LTSP server myself.  Surprised, I discovered
4463 that the Debian project also supported a kind of Edubuntu equivalent,
4464 and after having some pain I obtained a Debian Edu network up and
4465 running.  I just loved it.</p>
4466
4467 <p><strong>What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux / Debian
4468 Edu?</strong></p>
4469
4470 <p>I found a main advantage in that, once you know "the tips and
4471 tricks", a new installation just works out of the box. It's the most
4472 complete alternative I've found to create an LTSP network. All the
4473 other distributions seems to be made of plastic, Debian Edu seems to
4474 be made of steel.</p>
4475
4476 <p><strong>What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux / Debian
4477 Edu?</strong></p>
4478
4479 <p>I found two main disadvantages.</p>
4480
4481 <p>I'm not an expert but I've got notions and I had to spent a considerable
4482 amount of time trying to bring up a standard network topology. I'm quite
4483 stubborn and I just worked until I did but I'm sure many people with few
4484 resources (not big schools, but academies for example) would have switched
4485 or dropped.</p>
4486
4487 <p>It's amazing how such a complex system like Debian Edu has achieved
4488 this out-of-the-box state. Even though tweaking without breaking gets
4489 more difficult, as more factors have to be considered. This can
4490 discourage many people too.</p>
4491
4492 <p><strong>Which free software do you use daily?</strong></p>
4493
4494 <p>I use Debian, Firefox, Okular, Inkscape, LibreOffice and
4495 Virtualbox.</p>
4496
4497
4498 <p><strong>Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to
4499 get schools to use free software?</strong></p>
4500
4501 <p>I don't think there is a need for a particular strategy. The free
4502 attribute in both "freedom" and "no price" meanings is what will
4503 really bring free software to schools. In my experience I can think of
4504 the <a href="http://www.r-project.org/">"R" statistical language</a>; a
4505 few years a ago was an extremely nerd tool for university people.
4506 Today it's being increasingly used to teach statistics at many
4507 different level of studies.  I believe free and open software will
4508 increasingly gain popularity, but I'm sure schools will be one of the
4509 first scenarios where this will happen.</p>
4510
4511       </div>
4512       <div class="tags">
4513
4514
4515         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>.
4516
4517
4518       </div>
4519     </div>
4520     <div class="padding"></div>
4521
4522     <div class="entry">
4523       <div class="title">
4524         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Public_Trusted_Timestamping_services_for_everyone.html">Public Trusted Timestamping services for everyone</a>
4525       </div>
4526       <div class="date">
4527         25th March 2014
4528       </div>
4529       <div class="body">
4530         <p>Did you ever need to store logs or other files in a way that would
4531 allow it to be used as evidence in court, and needed a way to
4532 demonstrate without reasonable doubt that the file had not been
4533 changed since it was created?  Or, did you ever need to document that
4534 a given document was received at some point in time, like some
4535 archived document or the answer to an exam, and not changed after it
4536 was received?  The problem in these settings is to remove the need to
4537 trust yourself and your computers, while still being able to prove
4538 that a file is the same as it was at some given time in the past.</p>
4539
4540 <p>A solution to these problems is to have a trusted third party
4541 "stamp" the document and verify that at some given time the document
4542 looked a given way.  Such
4543 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notarius">notarius</a> service
4544 have been around for thousands of years, and its digital equivalent is
4545 called a
4546 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trusted_timestamping">trusted
4547 timestamping service</a>.  <a href="http://www.ietf.org/">The Internet
4548 Engineering Task Force</a> standardised how such service could work a
4549 few years ago as <a href="http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc3161">RFC
4550 3161</a>.  The mechanism is simple.  Create a hash of the file in
4551 question, send it to a trusted third party which add a time stamp to
4552 the hash and sign the result with its private key, and send back the
4553 signed hash + timestamp.  Both email, FTP and HTTP can be used to
4554 request such signature, depending on what is provided by the service
4555 used. Anyone with the document and the signature can then verify that
4556 the document matches the signature by creating their own hash and
4557 checking the signature using the trusted third party public key.
4558 There are several commercial services around providing such
4559 timestamping.  A quick search for
4560 "<a href="https://duckduckgo.com/?q=rfc+3161+service">rfc 3161
4561 service</a>" pointed me to at least
4562 <a href="https://www.digistamp.com/technical/how-a-digital-time-stamp-works/">DigiStamp</a>,
4563 <a href="http://www.quovadisglobal.co.uk/CertificateServices/SigningServices/TimeStamp.aspx">Quo
4564 Vadis</a>,
4565 <a href="https://www.globalsign.com/timestamp-service/">Global Sign</a>
4566 and <a href="http://www.globaltrustfinder.com/TSADefault.aspx">Global
4567 Trust Finder</a>.  The system work as long as the private key of the
4568 trusted third party is not compromised.</p>
4569
4570 <p>But as far as I can tell, there are very few public trusted
4571 timestamp services available for everyone.  I've been looking for one
4572 for a while now. But yesterday I found one over at
4573 <a href="https://www.pki.dfn.de/zeitstempeldienst/">Deutches
4574 Forschungsnetz</a> mentioned in
4575 <a href="http://www.d-mueller.de/blog/dealing-with-trusted-timestamps-in-php-rfc-3161/">a
4576 blog by David Müller</a>.  I then found
4577 <a href="http://www.rz.uni-greifswald.de/support/dfn-pki-zertifikate/zeitstempeldienst.html">a
4578 good recipe on how to use the service</a> over at the University of
4579 Greifswald.</p>
4580
4581 <p><a href="http://www.openssl.org/">The OpenSSL library</a> contain
4582 both server and tools to use and set up your own signing service.  See
4583 the ts(1SSL), tsget(1SSL) manual pages for more details.  The
4584 following shell script demonstrate how to extract a signed timestamp
4585 for any file on the disk in a Debian environment:</p>
4586
4587 <p><blockquote><pre>
4588 #!/bin/sh
4589 set -e
4590 url="http://zeitstempel.dfn.de"
4591 caurl="https://pki.pca.dfn.de/global-services-ca/pub/cacert/chain.txt"
4592 reqfile=$(mktemp -t tmp.XXXXXXXXXX.tsq)
4593 resfile=$(mktemp -t tmp.XXXXXXXXXX.tsr)
4594 cafile=chain.txt
4595 if [ ! -f $cafile ] ; then
4596     wget -O $cafile "$caurl"
4597 fi
4598 openssl ts -query -data "$1" -cert | tee "$reqfile" \
4599     | /usr/lib/ssl/misc/tsget -h "$url" -o "$resfile"
4600 openssl ts -reply -in "$resfile" -text 1>&2
4601 openssl ts -verify -data "$1" -in "$resfile" -CAfile "$cafile" 1>&2
4602 base64 < "$resfile"
4603 rm "$reqfile" "$resfile"
4604 </pre></blockquote></p>
4605
4606 <p>The argument to the script is the file to timestamp, and the output
4607 is a base64 encoded version of the signature to STDOUT and details
4608 about the signature to STDERR.  Note that due to
4609 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=742553">a bug
4610 in the tsget script</a>, you might need to modify the included script
4611 and remove the last line.  Or just write your own HTTP uploader using
4612 curl. :) Now you too can prove and verify that files have not been
4613 changed.</p>
4614
4615 <p>But the Internet need more public trusted timestamp services.
4616 Perhaps something for <a href="http://www.uninett.no/">Uninett</a> or
4617 my work place the <a href="http://www.uio.no/">University of Oslo</a>
4618 to set up?</p>
4619
4620       </div>
4621       <div class="tags">
4622
4623
4624         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/sikkerhet">sikkerhet</a>.
4625
4626
4627       </div>
4628     </div>
4629     <div class="padding"></div>
4630
4631     <div class="entry">
4632       <div class="title">
4633         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Video_DVD_reader_library___python_dvdvideo___nice_free_software.html">Video DVD reader library / python-dvdvideo - nice free software</a>
4634       </div>
4635       <div class="date">
4636         21st March 2014
4637       </div>
4638       <div class="body">
4639         <p>Keeping your DVD collection safe from scratches and curious
4640 children fingers while still having it available when you want to see a
4641 movie is not straight forward.  My preferred method at the moment is
4642 to store a full copy of the ISO on a hard drive, and use VLC, Popcorn
4643 Hour or other useful players to view the resulting file.  This way the
4644 subtitles and bonus material are still available and using the ISO is
4645 just like inserting the original DVD record in the DVD player.</p>
4646
4647 <p>Earlier I used dd for taking security copies, but it do not handle
4648 DVDs giving read errors (which are quite a few of them).  I've also
4649 tried using
4650 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Ripping_problematic_DVDs_using_dvdbackup_and_genisoimage.html">dvdbackup
4651 and genisoimage</a>, but these days I use the marvellous python library
4652 and program
4653 <a href="http://bblank.thinkmo.de/blog/new-software-python-dvdvideo">python-dvdvideo</a>
4654 written by Bastian Blank.  It is
4655 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/p/python-dvdvideo.html">in Debian
4656 already</a> and the binary package name is python3-dvdvideo. Instead
4657 of trying to read every block from the DVD, it parses the file
4658 structure and figure out which block on the DVD is actually in used,
4659 and only read those blocks from the DVD.  This work surprisingly well,
4660 and I have been able to almost backup my entire DVD collection using
4661 this method.</p>
4662
4663 <p>So far, python-dvdvideo have failed on between 10 and
4664 20 DVDs, which is a small fraction of my collection.  The most common
4665 problem is
4666 <a href="https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=720831">DVDs
4667 using UTF-16 instead of UTF-8 characters</a>, which according to
4668 Bastian is against the DVD specification (and seem to cause some
4669 players to fail too).  A rarer problem is what seem to be inconsistent
4670 DVD structures, as the python library
4671 <a href="https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=723079">claim
4672 there is a overlap between objects</a>.  An equally rare problem claim
4673 <a href="https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=741878">some
4674 value is out of range</a>.  No idea what is going on there.  I wish I
4675 knew enough about the DVD format to fix these, to ensure my movie
4676 collection will stay with me in the future.</p>
4677
4678 <p>So, if you need to keep your DVDs safe, back them up using
4679 python-dvdvideo. :)</p>
4680
4681       </div>
4682       <div class="tags">
4683
4684
4685         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/opphavsrett">opphavsrett</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/video">video</a>.
4686
4687
4688       </div>
4689     </div>
4690     <div class="padding"></div>
4691
4692     <div class="entry">
4693       <div class="title">
4694         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Freedombox_on_Dreamplug__Raspberry_Pi_and_virtual_x86_machine.html">Freedombox on Dreamplug, Raspberry Pi and virtual x86 machine</a>
4695       </div>
4696       <div class="date">
4697         14th March 2014
4698       </div>
4699       <div class="body">
4700         <p>The <a href="https://wiki.debian.org/FreedomBox">Freedombox
4701 project</a> is working on providing the software and hardware for
4702 making it easy for non-technical people to host their data and
4703 communication at home, and being able to communicate with their
4704 friends and family encrypted and away from prying eyes.  It has been
4705 going on for a while, and is slowly progressing towards a new test
4706 release (0.2).</p>
4707
4708 <p>And what day could be better than the Pi day to announce that the
4709 new version will provide "hard drive" / SD card / USB stick images for
4710 Dreamplug, Raspberry Pi and VirtualBox (or any other virtualization
4711 system), and can also be installed using a Debian installer preseed
4712 file.  The Debian based Freedombox is now based on Debian Jessie,
4713 where most of the needed packages used are already present.  Only one,
4714 the freedombox-setup package, is missing.  To try to build your own
4715 boot image to test the current status, fetch the freedom-maker scripts
4716 and build using
4717 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/vmdebootstrap">vmdebootstrap</a>
4718 with a user with sudo access to become root:
4719
4720 <pre>
4721 git clone http://anonscm.debian.org/git/freedombox/freedom-maker.git \
4722   freedom-maker
4723 sudo apt-get install git vmdebootstrap mercurial python-docutils \
4724   mktorrent extlinux virtualbox qemu-user-static binfmt-support \
4725   u-boot-tools
4726 make -C freedom-maker dreamplug-image raspberry-image virtualbox-image
4727 </pre>
4728
4729 <p>Root access is needed to run debootstrap and mount loopback
4730 devices.  See the README for more details on the build. If you do not
4731 want all three images, trim the make line.  But note that thanks to <a
4732 href="https://bugs.debian.org/741407">a race condition in
4733 vmdebootstrap</a>, the build might fail without the patch to the
4734 kpartx call.</p>
4735
4736 <p>If you instead want to install using a Debian CD and the preseed
4737 method, boot a Debian Wheezy ISO and use this boot argument to load
4738 the preseed values:</p>
4739
4740 <pre>
4741 url=<a href="http://www.reinholdtsen.name/freedombox/preseed-jessie.dat">http://www.reinholdtsen.name/freedombox/preseed-jessie.dat</a>
4742 </pre>
4743
4744 <p>But note that due to <a href="https://bugs.debian.org/740673">a
4745 recently introduced bug in apt in Jessie</a>, the installer will
4746 currently hang while setting up APT sources.  Killing the
4747 '<tt>apt-cdrom ident</tt>' process when it hang a few times during the
4748 installation will get the installation going.  This affect all
4749 installations in Jessie, and I expect it will be fixed soon.</p>
4750
4751 <p>Give it a go and let us know how it goes on the mailing list, and help
4752 us get the new release published. :) Please join us on
4753 <a href="irc://irc.debian.org:6667/%23freedombox">IRC (#freedombox on
4754 irc.debian.org)</a> and
4755 <a href="http://lists.alioth.debian.org/mailman/listinfo/freedombox-discuss">the
4756 mailing list</a> if you want to help make this vision come true.</p>
4757
4758       </div>
4759       <div class="tags">
4760
4761
4762         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/freedombox">freedombox</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>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/web">web</a>.
4763
4764
4765       </div>
4766     </div>
4767     <div class="padding"></div>
4768
4769     <div class="entry">
4770       <div class="title">
4771         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/How_to_add_extra_storage_servers_in_Debian_Edu___Skolelinux.html">How to add extra storage servers in Debian Edu / Skolelinux</a>
4772       </div>
4773       <div class="date">
4774         12th March 2014
4775       </div>
4776       <div class="body">
4777         <p>On larger sites, it is useful to use a dedicated storage server for
4778 storing user home directories and data.  The design for handling this
4779 in <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / Skolelinux</a>, is
4780 to update the automount rules in LDAP and let the automount daemon on
4781 the clients take care of the rest.  I was reminded about the need to
4782 document this better when one of the customers of
4783 <a href="http://www.slxdrift.no/">Skolelinux Drift AS</a>, where I am
4784 on the board of directors, asked about how to do this.  The steps to
4785 get this working are the following:</p>
4786
4787 <p><ol>
4788
4789 <li>Add new storage server in DNS.  I use nas-server.intern as the
4790 example host here.</li>
4791
4792 <li>Add automoun LDAP information about this server in LDAP, to allow
4793 all clients to automatically mount it on reqeust.</li>
4794
4795 <li>Add the relevant entries in tjener.intern:/etc/fstab, because
4796 tjener.intern do not use automount to avoid mounting loops.</li>
4797
4798 </ol></p>
4799
4800 <p>DNS entries are added in GOsa², and not described here.  Follow the
4801 <a href="https://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/Documentation/Wheezy/GettingStarted">instructions
4802 in the manual</a> (Machine Management with GOsa² in section Getting
4803 started).</p>
4804
4805 <p>Ensure that the NFS export points on the server are exported to the
4806 relevant subnets or machines:</p>
4807
4808 <p><blockquote><pre>
4809 root@tjener:~# showmount -e nas-server
4810 Export list for nas-server:
4811 /storage         10.0.0.0/8
4812 root@tjener:~#
4813 </pre></blockquote></p>
4814
4815 <p>Here everything on the backbone network is granted access to the
4816 /storage export.  With NFSv3 it is slightly better to limit it to
4817 netgroup membership or single IP addresses to have some limits on the
4818 NFS access.</p>
4819
4820 <p>The next step is to update LDAP.  This can not be done using GOsa²,
4821 because it lack a module for automount.  Instead, use ldapvi and add
4822 the required LDAP objects using an editor.</p>
4823
4824 <p><blockquote><pre>
4825 ldapvi --ldap-conf -ZD '(cn=admin)' -b ou=automount,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
4826 </pre></blockquote></p>
4827
4828 <p>When the editor show up, add the following LDAP objects at the
4829 bottom of the document.  The "/&" part in the last LDAP object is a
4830 wild card matching everything the nas-server exports, removing the
4831 need to list individual mount points in LDAP.</p>
4832
4833 <p><blockquote><pre>
4834 add cn=nas-server,ou=auto.skole,ou=automount,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
4835 objectClass: automount
4836 cn: nas-server
4837 automountInformation: -fstype=autofs --timeout=60 ldap:ou=auto.nas-server,ou=automount,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
4838
4839 add ou=auto.nas-server,ou=automount,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
4840 objectClass: top
4841 objectClass: automountMap
4842 ou: auto.nas-server
4843
4844 add cn=/,ou=auto.nas-server,ou=automount,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
4845 objectClass: automount
4846 cn: /
4847 automountInformation: -fstype=nfs,tcp,rsize=32768,wsize=32768,rw,intr,hard,nodev,nosuid,noatime nas-server.intern:/&
4848 </pre></blockquote></p>
4849
4850 <p>The last step to remember is to mount the relevant mount points in
4851 tjener.intern by adding them to /etc/fstab, creating the mount
4852 directories using mkdir and running "mount -a" to mount them.</p>
4853
4854 <p>When this is done, your users should be able to access the files on
4855 the storage server directly by just visiting the
4856 /tjener/nas-server/storage/ directory using any application on any
4857 workstation, LTSP client or LTSP server.</p>
4858
4859       </div>
4860       <div class="tags">
4861
4862
4863         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>.
4864
4865
4866       </div>
4867     </div>
4868     <div class="padding"></div>
4869
4870     <div class="entry">
4871       <div class="title">
4872         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/New_home_and_release_1_0_for_netgroup_and_innetgr__aka_ng_utils_.html">New home and release 1.0 for netgroup and innetgr (aka ng-utils)</a>
4873       </div>
4874       <div class="date">
4875         22nd February 2014
4876       </div>
4877       <div class="body">
4878         <p>Many years ago, I wrote a GPL licensed version of the netgroup and
4879 innetgr tools, because I needed them in
4880 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Skolelinux</a>.  I called the project
4881 ng-utils, and it has served me well.  I placed the project under the
4882 <a href="http://www.hungry.com/">Hungry Programmer</a> umbrella, and it was maintained in our CVS
4883 repository.  But many years ago, the CVS repository was dropped (lost,
4884 not migrated to new hardware, not sure), and the project have lacked a
4885 proper home since then.</p>
4886
4887 <p>Last summer, I had a look at the package and made a new release
4888 fixing a irritating crash bug, but was unable to store the changes in
4889 a proper source control system.  I applied for a project on
4890 <a href="https://alioth.debian.org/">Alioth</a>, but did not have time
4891 to follow up on it.  Until today. :)</p>
4892
4893 <p>After many hours of cleaning and migration, the ng-utils project
4894 now have a new home, and a git repository with the highlight of the
4895 history of the project.  I published all release tarballs and imported
4896 them into the git repository.  As the project is really stable and not
4897 expected to gain new features any time soon, I decided to make a new
4898 release and call it 1.0.  Visit the new project home on
4899 <a href="https://alioth.debian.org/projects/ng-utils/">https://alioth.debian.org/projects/ng-utils/</a>
4900 if you want to check it out.  The new version is also uploaded into
4901 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/n/ng-utils.html">Debian Unstable</a>.</p>
4902
4903       </div>
4904       <div class="tags">
4905
4906
4907         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>.
4908
4909
4910       </div>
4911     </div>
4912     <div class="padding"></div>
4913
4914     <div class="entry">
4915       <div class="title">
4916         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Testing_sysvinit_from_experimental_in_Debian_Hurd.html">Testing sysvinit from experimental in Debian Hurd</a>
4917       </div>
4918       <div class="date">
4919          3rd February 2014
4920       </div>
4921       <div class="body">
4922         <p>A few days ago I decided to try to help the Hurd people to get
4923 their changes into sysvinit, to allow them to use the normal sysvinit
4924 boot system instead of their old one.  This follow up on the
4925 <a href="https://teythoon.cryptobitch.de//categories/gsoc.html">great
4926 Google Summer of Code work</a> done last summer by Justus Winter to
4927 get Debian on Hurd working more like Debian on Linux.  To get started,
4928 I downloaded a prebuilt hard disk image from
4929 <a href="http://ftp.debian-ports.org/debian-cd/hurd-i386/current/debian-hurd.img.tar.gz">http://ftp.debian-ports.org/debian-cd/hurd-i386/current/debian-hurd.img.tar.gz</a>,
4930 and started it using virt-manager.</p>
4931
4932 <p>The first think I had to do after logging in (root without any
4933 password) was to get the network operational.  I followed
4934 <a href="https://www.debian.org/ports/hurd/hurd-install">the
4935 instructions on the Debian GNU/Hurd ports page</a> and ran these
4936 commands as root to get the machine to accept a IP address from the
4937 kvm internal DHCP server:</p>
4938
4939 <p><blockquote><pre>
4940 settrans -fgap /dev/netdde /hurd/netdde
4941 kill $(ps -ef|awk '/[p]finet/ { print $2}')
4942 kill $(ps -ef|awk '/[d]evnode/ { print $2}')
4943 dhclient /dev/eth0
4944 </pre></blockquote></p>
4945
4946 <p>After this, the machine had internet connectivity, and I could
4947 upgrade it and install the sysvinit packages from experimental and
4948 enable it as the default boot system in Hurd.</p>
4949
4950 <p>But before I did that, I set a password on the root user, as ssh is
4951 running on the machine it for ssh login to work a password need to be
4952 set.  Also, note that a bug somewhere in openssh on Hurd block
4953 compression from working.  Remember to turn that off on the client
4954 side.</p>
4955
4956 <p>Run these commands as root to upgrade and test the new sysvinit
4957 stuff:</p>
4958
4959 <p><blockquote><pre>
4960 cat > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/experimental.list &lt;&lt;EOF
4961 deb http://http.debian.net/debian/ experimental main
4962 EOF
4963 apt-get update
4964 apt-get dist-upgrade
4965 apt-get install -t experimental initscripts sysv-rc sysvinit \
4966     sysvinit-core sysvinit-utils
4967 update-alternatives --config runsystem
4968 </pre></blockquote></p>
4969
4970 <p>To reboot after switching boot system, you have to use
4971 <tt>reboot-hurd</tt> instead of just <tt>reboot</tt>, as there is not
4972 yet a sysvinit process able to receive the signals from the normal
4973 'reboot' command.  After switching to sysvinit as the boot system,
4974 upgrading every package and rebooting, the network come up with DHCP
4975 after boot as it should, and the settrans/pkill hack mentioned at the
4976 start is no longer needed.  But for some strange reason, there are no
4977 longer any login prompt in the virtual console, so I logged in using
4978 ssh instead.
4979
4980 <p>Note that there are some race conditions in Hurd making the boot
4981 fail some times.  No idea what the cause is, but hope the Hurd porters
4982 figure it out.  At least Justus said on IRC (#debian-hurd on
4983 irc.debian.org) that they are aware of the problem.  A way to reduce
4984 the impact is to upgrade to the Hurd packages built by Justus by
4985 adding this repository to the machine:</p>
4986
4987 <p><blockquote><pre>
4988 cat > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/hurd-ci.list &lt;&lt;EOF
4989 deb http://darnassus.sceen.net/~teythoon/hurd-ci/ sid main
4990 EOF
4991 </pre></blockquote></p>
4992
4993 <p>At the moment the prebuilt virtual machine get some packages from
4994 http://ftp.debian-ports.org/debian, because some of the packages in
4995 unstable do not yet include the required patches that are lingering in
4996 BTS.  This is the completely list of "unofficial" packages installed:</p>
4997
4998 <p><blockquote><pre>
4999 # aptitude search '?narrow(?version(CURRENT),?origin(Debian Ports))'
5000 i   emacs                   - GNU Emacs editor (metapackage)
5001 i   gdb                     - GNU Debugger
5002 i   hurd-recommended        - Miscellaneous translators
5003 i   isc-dhcp-client         - ISC DHCP client
5004 i   isc-dhcp-common         - common files used by all the isc-dhcp* packages
5005 i   libc-bin                - Embedded GNU C Library: Binaries
5006 i   libc-dev-bin            - Embedded GNU C Library: Development binaries
5007 i   libc0.3                 - Embedded GNU C Library: Shared libraries
5008 i A libc0.3-dbg             - Embedded GNU C Library: detached debugging symbols
5009 i   libc0.3-dev             - Embedded GNU C Library: Development Libraries and Hea
5010 i   multiarch-support       - Transitional package to ensure multiarch compatibilit
5011 i A x11-common              - X Window System (X.Org) infrastructure
5012 i   xorg                    - X.Org X Window System
5013 i A xserver-xorg            - X.Org X server
5014 i A xserver-xorg-input-all  - X.Org X server -- input driver metapackage
5015 #
5016 </pre></blockquote></p>
5017
5018 <p>All in all, testing hurd has been an interesting experience. :)
5019 X.org did not work out of the box and I never took the time to follow
5020 the porters instructions to fix it.  This time I was interested in the
5021 command line stuff.<p>
5022
5023       </div>
5024       <div class="tags">
5025
5026
5027         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>.
5028
5029
5030       </div>
5031     </div>
5032     <div class="padding"></div>
5033
5034     <div class="entry">
5035       <div class="title">
5036         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/A_fist_full_of_non_anonymous_Bitcoins.html">A fist full of non-anonymous Bitcoins</a>
5037       </div>
5038       <div class="date">
5039         29th January 2014
5040       </div>
5041       <div class="body">
5042         <p>Bitcoin is a incredible use of peer to peer communication and
5043 encryption, allowing direct and immediate money transfer without any
5044 central control.  It is sometimes claimed to be ideal for illegal
5045 activity, which I believe is quite a long way from the truth.  At least
5046 I would not conduct illegal money transfers using a system where the
5047 details of every transaction are kept forever.  This point is
5048 investigated in
5049 <a href="https://www.usenix.org/publications/login">USENIX ;login:</a>
5050 from December 2013, in the article
5051 "<a href="https://www.usenix.org/system/files/login/articles/03_meiklejohn-online.pdf">A
5052 Fistful of Bitcoins - Characterizing Payments Among Men with No
5053 Names</a>" by Sarah Meiklejohn, Marjori Pomarole,Grant Jordan, Kirill
5054 Levchenko, Damon McCoy, Geoffrey M. Voelker, and Stefan Savage.  They
5055 analyse the transaction log in the Bitcoin system, using it to find
5056 addresses belong to individuals and organisations and follow the flow
5057 of money from both Bitcoin theft and trades on Silk Road to where the
5058 money end up.  This is how they wrap up their article:</p>
5059
5060 <p><blockquote>
5061 <p>"To demonstrate the usefulness of this type of analysis, we turned
5062 our attention to criminal activity. In the Bitcoin economy, criminal
5063 activity can appear in a number of forms, such as dealing drugs on
5064 Silk Road or simply stealing someone else’s bitcoins. We followed the
5065 flow of bitcoins out of Silk Road (in particular, from one notorious
5066 address) and from a number of highly publicized thefts to see whether
5067 we could track the bitcoins to known services. Although some of the
5068 thieves attempted to use sophisticated mixing techniques (or possibly
5069 mix services) to obscure the flow of bitcoins, for the most part
5070 tracking the bitcoins was quite straightforward, and we ultimately saw
5071 large quantities of bitcoins flow to a variety of exchanges directly
5072 from the point of theft (or the withdrawal from Silk Road).</p>
5073
5074 <p>As acknowledged above, following stolen bitcoins to the point at
5075 which they are deposited into an exchange does not in itself identify
5076 the thief; however, it does enable further de-anonymization in the
5077 case in which certain agencies can determine (through, for example,
5078 subpoena power) the real-world owner of the account into which the
5079 stolen bitcoins were deposited.  Because such exchanges seem to serve
5080 as chokepoints into and out of the Bitcoin economy (i.e., there are
5081 few alternative ways to cash out), we conclude that using Bitcoin for
5082 money laundering or other illicit purposes does not (at least at
5083 present) seem to be particularly attractive."</p>
5084 </blockquote><p>
5085
5086 <p>These researches are not the first to analyse the Bitcoin
5087 transaction log.  The 2011 paper
5088 "<a href="http://arxiv.org/abs/1107.4524">An Analysis of Anonymity in
5089 the Bitcoin System</A>" by Fergal Reid and Martin Harrigan is
5090 summarized like this:</p>
5091
5092 <p><blockquote>
5093 "Anonymity in Bitcoin, a peer-to-peer electronic currency system, is a
5094 complicated issue. Within the system, users are identified by
5095 public-keys only. An attacker wishing to de-anonymize its users will
5096 attempt to construct the one-to-many mapping between users and
5097 public-keys and associate information external to the system with the
5098 users. Bitcoin tries to prevent this attack by storing the mapping of
5099 a user to his or her public-keys on that user's node only and by
5100 allowing each user to generate as many public-keys as required. In
5101 this chapter we consider the topological structure of two networks
5102 derived from Bitcoin's public transaction history. We show that the
5103 two networks have a non-trivial topological structure, provide
5104 complementary views of the Bitcoin system and have implications for
5105 anonymity. We combine these structures with external information and
5106 techniques such as context discovery and flow analysis to investigate
5107 an alleged theft of Bitcoins, which, at the time of the theft, had a
5108 market value of approximately half a million U.S. dollars."
5109 </blockquote></p>
5110
5111 <p>I hope these references can help kill the urban myth that Bitcoin
5112 is anonymous.  It isn't really a good fit for illegal activites.  Use
5113 cash if you need to stay anonymous, at least until regular DNA
5114 sampling of notes and coins become the norm. :)</p>
5115
5116 <p>As usual, if you use Bitcoin and want to show your support of my
5117 activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address
5118 <b><a href="bitcoin:15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b&label=PetterReinholdtsenBlog">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</a></b>.</p>
5119
5120       </div>
5121       <div class="tags">
5122
5123
5124         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>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/usenix">usenix</a>.
5125
5126
5127       </div>
5128     </div>
5129     <div class="padding"></div>
5130
5131     <div class="entry">
5132       <div class="title">
5133         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/New_chrpath_release_0_16.html">New chrpath release 0.16</a>
5134       </div>
5135       <div class="date">
5136         14th January 2014
5137       </div>
5138       <div class="body">
5139         <p><a href="http://www.coverity.com/">Coverity</a> is a nice tool to
5140 find problems in C, C++ and Java code using static source code
5141 analysis.  It can detect a lot of different problems, and is very
5142 useful to find memory and locking bugs in the error handling part of
5143 the source.  The company behind it provide
5144 <a href="https://scan.coverity.com/">check of free software projects as
5145 a community service</a>, and many hundred free software projects are
5146 already checked.  A few days ago I decided to have a closer look at
5147 the Coverity system, and discovered that the
5148 <a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/gnash/">gnash</a> and
5149 <a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/ipmitool/">ipmitool</a>
5150 projects I am involved with was already registered.  But these are
5151 fairly big, and I would also like to have a small and easy project to
5152 check, and decided to <a href="http://scan.coverity.com/projects/1179">request
5153 checking of the chrpath project</a>.  It was
5154 added to the checker and discovered seven potential defects.  Six of
5155 these were real, mostly resource "leak" when the program detected an
5156 error.  Nothing serious, as the resources would be released a fraction
5157 of a second later when the program exited because of the error, but it
5158 is nice to do it right in case the source of the program some time in
5159 the future end up in a library.  Having fixed all defects and added
5160 <a href="https://lists.alioth.debian.org/mailman/listinfo/chrpath-devel">a
5161 mailing list for the chrpath developers</a>, I decided it was time to
5162 publish a new release.  These are the release notes:</p>
5163
5164 <p>New in 0.16 released 2014-01-14:</p>
5165
5166 <ul>
5167
5168   <li>Fixed all minor bugs discovered by Coverity.</li>
5169   <li>Updated config.sub and config.guess from the GNU project.</li>
5170   <li>Mention new project mailing list in the documentation.</li>
5171
5172 </ul>
5173
5174 <p>You can
5175 <a href="https://alioth.debian.org/frs/?group_id=31052">download the
5176 new version 0.16 from alioth</a>.  Please let us know via the Alioth
5177 project if something is wrong with the new release.  The test suite
5178 did not discover any old errors, so if you find a new one, please also
5179 include a test suite check.</p>
5180
5181       </div>
5182       <div class="tags">
5183
5184
5185         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/chrpath">chrpath</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>.
5186
5187
5188       </div>
5189     </div>
5190     <div class="padding"></div>
5191
5192     <div class="entry">
5193       <div class="title">
5194         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__Dominik_George.html">Debian Edu interview: Dominik George</a>
5195       </div>
5196       <div class="date">
5197         25th December 2013
5198       </div>
5199       <div class="body">
5200         <p>The <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / Skolelinux
5201 project</a> consist of both newcomers and old timers, and this time I
5202 was able to get an interview with a newcomer in the project who showed
5203 up on the IRC channel a few weeks ago to let us know about his
5204 successful installation of Debian Edu Wheezy in his School.  Say hello
5205 to <a href="https://www.ohloh.net/accounts/Natureshadow">Dominik
5206 George</a>.</p>
5207
5208 <!-- http://www.dominik-george.de/images/foto.jpg -->
5209
5210 <p><strong>Who are you, and how do you spend your days?</strong></p>
5211
5212 <p>I am a 23 year-old student from Germany who has spent half of his
5213 life with open source. In "real life", I am, as already mentioned, a
5214 student in the fields of Computer Science, Electrical Engineering,
5215 Information Technologies and Anglistics. Due to my (only partially
5216 voluntary) huge engagement in the open source world, these things are
5217 a bit vacant right now however.</p>
5218
5219 <p>I also have been working as a project teacher at a Gymasnium
5220 (public school) for various years now. I took up that work some time
5221 around 2005 when still attending that school myself and have continued
5222 it until today. I also had been running the (kind of very advanced)
5223 network of that school together with a team of very interested and
5224 talented students in the age of 11 to 15 years, who took the chance to
5225 learn a lot about open source and networking before I left the school
5226 to help building another school's informational education concept from
5227 scratch.</p>
5228
5229 <p>That said, one might see me as a kind of "glue" between school kids
5230 and the elderly of teachers as well as between the open source
5231 ecosystem and the (even more complex) educational ecosystem.</p>
5232
5233 <p>When I am not busy with open source or education, I like Geocaching
5234 and cycling.</p>
5235
5236 <p><strong>How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux / Debian Edu
5237 project?</strong></p>
5238
5239 <p>I think that happened some time around 2009 when I first attended
5240 <a href="http://www.froscon.org">FrOSCon</a> and visited the project
5241 booth. I think I wasn't too interested back then because I used to
5242 have an attitude of disliking software that does too much stuff on its
5243 own. Maybe I was too inexperienced to realise the upsides of an
5244 "out-of-the-box" solution ;).</p>
5245
5246 <p>The first time I actively talked to Skolelinux people was at
5247 <a href="http://www.openrheinruhr.de">OpenRheinRuhr</a> 2011 when the
5248 BiscuIT project, a home-grewn software used by my school for various
5249 really cool things from timetables and class contact lists to lunch
5250 ordering, student ID card printing and project elections first got to
5251 a stage where it could have been published. I asked the Skolelinux
5252 guys running the booth if the project were interested in it and gave a
5253 small demonstration, but there wasn't any real feedback and the guys
5254 seemed rather uninterested.</p>
5255
5256 <p>After I left the school where I developed the software, it got
5257 mostly lost, but I am now reimplementing it for my new school. I have
5258 reusability and compatibility in mind, and I hop there will be a new
5259 basis for contributing it to the Skolelinux project ;)!</p>
5260
5261 <p><strong>What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux / Debian
5262 Edu?</strong></p>
5263
5264 <p>The most important advantage seems to be that it "just
5265 works". After overcoming some minor (but still very annoying) glitches
5266 in the installer, I got a fully functional, working school network,
5267 without the month-long hassle I experienced when setting all that up
5268 from scratch in earlier years. And above that, it rocked - I didn't
5269 have any real hardware at hand, because the school was just founded
5270 and has no money whatsoever, so I installed a combined server (main
5271 server, terminal services and workstation) in a VM on my personal
5272 notebook, bridging the LTSP network interface to the ethernet port,
5273 and then PXE-booted the Windows notebooks that were lying around from
5274 it. I could use 8 clients without any performance issues, by using a
5275 tiny little VM on a tiny little notebook. I think that's enough to say
5276 that it rocks!</p>
5277
5278 <p>Secondly, there are marketing reasons. Life's bad, and so no
5279 politician will ever permit a setup described as "Debian, an universal
5280 operating system, with some really cool educational tools" while they
5281 will be jsut fine with "Skolelinux, a single-purpose solution for your
5282 school network", even if both turn out to be the very same thing (yes,
5283 this is unfair towards the Skolelinux project, and must not be taken
5284 too seriously - you get the idea, anyway).</p>
5285
5286 <p><strong>What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux / Debian
5287 Edu?</strong></p>
5288
5289 <p>I have not been involved with Skolelinux long enough to really
5290 answer this question in a fair way. Thus, please allow me to put it in
5291 other words: "What do you expect from Skolelinux to keep liking it?" I
5292 can list a few points about that:</p>
5293
5294 <ul>
5295
5296  <li>always strive to get all things integrated into Debian upstream
5297  <li>be open to discussion about changes and the like, even with newcomers
5298  <li>be helpful at being helpful ;)
5299
5300 </ul>
5301
5302 <p>I'm really sorry I cannot say much more about that :(!</p>
5303
5304 <p><strong>Which free software do you use daily?</strong></p>
5305
5306 <p>First of all, all software I use is free and open. I have abandoned
5307 all non-free software (except for firmware on my darned phone) this
5308 year.</p>
5309
5310 <p>I run Debian GNU/Linux on all PC systems I use. On that, I mostly
5311 run text tools. I use
5312 <a href="https://www.mirbsd.org/mksh.htm">mksh</a> as shell,
5313 <a href="https://www.mirbsd.org/jupp.htm">jupp</a> as very advanced
5314 text editor (I even got the developer to help me write a script/macro
5315 based full-featured student management software with the two),
5316 <a href="http://mcabber.com/">mcabber</a> for XMPP and
5317 <a href="http://www.irssi.org/">irssi</a> for IRC. For that overly
5318 coloured world called the WWW, I use
5319 <a href="https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/new/">Iceweasel
5320 (Firefox)</a>. Oh, and <a href="http://www.mutt.org/">mutt</a> for
5321 e-mail.</p>
5322
5323 <p>However, while I am personally aware of the fact that text tools
5324 are more efficient and powerful than anything else, I also use (or at
5325 least operate) some tools that are suitable to bring open source to
5326 kids. One of these things is <a href="http://jappix.org/">Jappix</a>,
5327 which I already introduced to some kids even before they got aware of
5328 Facebook, making them see for themselves that they do not need
5329 Facebook now ;).</p>
5330
5331 <p><strong>Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to
5332 get schools to use free software?</strong></p>
5333
5334 <p>Well, that's a two-sided thing. One side is what I believe, and one
5335 side is what I have experienced.</p>
5336
5337 <p>I believe that the right strategy is showing them the benefits. But
5338 that won't work out as long as the acceptance of free alternatives
5339 grows globally. What I mean is that if all the kids are almost forced
5340 to use Windows, Facebook, Skype, you name it at home, they will not
5341 see why they would want to use alternatives at school. I have seen
5342 students take seat in front of a fully-functional, modern Debian
5343 desktop that could do anything their Windows at home could do, and
5344 they jsut refused to use it because "Linux sucks". It is something
5345 that makes the council of our city spend around 600000 € to buy
5346 software - not including hardware, mind you - for operating school
5347 networks, and for installing a system that, as has been proved, does
5348 not work. For those of you readers who are good at maths, have you
5349 already found out how many lives could have been saved with that money
5350 if we had instead used it to bring education to parts of the world
5351 that need it? I have, and found it to be nothing less dramatic than
5352 plain criminal.</p>
5353
5354 <p>That said, the only feasible way appears to be the bottom up
5355 method. We have to bring free software to kids and parents. I have
5356 founded an association named
5357 <a href="https://www.teckids.org">Teckids</a> here in Germany that does
5358 just that. We organise several events for kids and adolescents in the
5359 area of free and open source software, for example the
5360 <a href="http://kids.froscon.org">FrogLabs</a>, which share staff with
5361 Teckids and are the youth programme of
5362 <a href="http://www.froscon.org">the Free and Open Source Software
5363 Conference (FrOSCon)</a>. We do a lot more than most other conferences
5364 - this year, we first offered the FrogLabs as a holiday camp for kids
5365 aged 10 to 16. It was a huge success, with approx. 30 kids taking part
5366 and learning with and about free software through a whole weekend. All
5367 of us had a lot of fun, and the results were really exciting.</p>
5368
5369 <p>Apart from that, we are preparing a campaign that is supposed to bring
5370 the message of free alternatives to stuff kids use every day to them and
5371 their parents, e.g. the use of Jabber / Jappix instead of Facebook and
5372 Skype. To make that possible, we are planning to get together a team of
5373 clever kids who understand very well what their peers need and can bring
5374 it across to them. So we will have a peer-driven network of adolescents
5375 who teach each other and collect feedback from the community of minors.
5376 We then take that feedback and our own experience to work closely with
5377 open source projects, such as Skolelinux or Jappix, at improving their
5378 software in a way that makes it more and more attractive for the target
5379 group. At least I hope that we will have good cooperation with
5380 Skolelinux in the future ;)!</p>
5381
5382 <p>So in conclusion, what I believe is that, if it weren't for the world
5383 being so bad, it should be very clear to the political decision makers
5384 that the only way to go nowadays is free software for various reasons,
5385 but I have learnt that the only way that seems to work is bottom up.</p>
5386
5387 <!--
5388
5389 >  * Who should be interviewed with this questions in the future?
5390
5391 That's probably the hardest question of them all, as I do not know the
5392 community. However, I would be willing to do the following:
5393
5394  <li>Run an interview with a German headteacher who is very open to
5395    free software, and also prefers it, but cannot really use it because
5396    of the decision makers above;
5397  <li>Run interviews with some kids, both with and without previous
5398    knowledge about free software
5399
5400 If that is wanted, just let me know ;).
5401
5402 -->
5403
5404       </div>
5405       <div class="tags">
5406
5407
5408         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>.
5409
5410
5411       </div>
5412     </div>
5413     <div class="padding"></div>
5414
5415     <div class="entry">
5416       <div class="title">
5417         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__Klaus_Knopper.html">Debian Edu interview: Klaus Knopper</a>
5418       </div>
5419       <div class="date">
5420          6th December 2013
5421       </div>
5422       <div class="body">
5423         <p>It has been a while since I managed to publish the last interview,
5424 but the <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu /
5425 Skolelinux</a> community is still going strong, and yesterday we even
5426 had a new school administrator show up on
5427 <a href="irc://irc.debian.org/#debian-edu">#debian-edu</a> to share
5428 his success story with installing Debian Edu at their school.  This
5429 time I have been able to get some helpful comments from the creator of
5430 Knoppix, Klaus Knopper, who was involved in a Skolelinux project in
5431 Germany a few years ago.</p>
5432
5433 <p><strong>Who are you, and how do you spend your days?</strong></p>
5434
5435 <p>I am Klaus Knopper.  I have a master degree in electrical
5436 engineering, and is currently professor in information management at
5437 the university of applied sciences Kaiserslautern / Germany and
5438 freelance Open Source software developer and consultant.</p>
5439
5440 <p>All of this is pretty much of the work I spend my days with. Apart
5441 from teaching, I'm also conducting some more or less experimental
5442 projects like the <a href="http://www.knoppix.org">Knoppix GNU/Linux live
5443 system</a> (Debian-based like Skolelinux),
5444 <a href="http://www.knopper.net/knoppix-adriane/index-en.html">ADRIANE</a>
5445 (a blind-friendly talking desktop system) and
5446 <a href="http://www.knopper.net/linbo/index-en.html">LINBO</a>
5447 (Linux-based network boot console, a fast remote install and repair
5448 system supporting various operating systems).</p>
5449
5450 <p><strong>How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux / Debian Edu
5451 project?</strong></p>
5452
5453 <p>The credit for this have to go to Kurt Gramlich, who is the German
5454 coordinator for Skolelinux.  We were looking for an all-in-one open
5455 source community-supported distribution for schools, and Kurt
5456 introduced us to Skolelinux for this purpose.</p>
5457
5458 <p><strong>What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux / Debian
5459 Edu?</strong></p>
5460
5461 <ul>
5462   <li>Quick installation,</li>
5463   <li>works (almost) out of the box,</li>
5464   <li>contains many useful software packages for teaching and learning,</li>
5465   <li>is a purely community-based distro and not controlled by a
5466     single company,</li>
5467   <li>has a large number of supporters and teachers who share their
5468     experience and problem solutions.</li>
5469 </ul>
5470
5471 <p><strong>What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux / Debian
5472 Edu?</strong></p>
5473
5474 <ul>
5475   <li>Skolelinux is - as we had to learn - not easily upgradable to
5476   the next version.  Opposed to its genuine Debian base, upgrading to
5477   a new version means a full new installation from scratch to get it
5478   working again reliably.
5479
5480   <li>Skolelinux is based on Debian/stable, and therefore always a
5481   little outdated in terms of program versions compared to Edubuntu or
5482   similar educational Linux distros, which rather use Debian/testing
5483   as their base.
5484
5485   <li>Skolelinux has some very self-opinionated and stubborn default
5486   configuration which in my opinion adds unnecessary complexity and is
5487   not always suitable for a schools needs, the preset network
5488   configuration is actually a core definition feature of Skolelinux
5489   and not easy to change, so schools sometimes have to change their
5490   network configuration to make it "Skolelinux-compatible".
5491
5492   <li>Some proposed extensions, which were made available as
5493   contribution, like secure examination mode and lecture material
5494   distribution and collection, were not accepted into the mainline
5495   Skolelinux development and are now not easy to maintain in the
5496   future because of Skolelinux somewhat undeterministic update
5497   schemes.</li>
5498
5499   <li>Skolelinux has only a very tiny number of base developers
5500   compared to Debian.</li>
5501
5502 </ul>
5503
5504 <p>For these reasons and experience from our project, I would now
5505 rather consider using plain Debian for schools next time, until
5506 Skolelinux is more closely integrated into Debian and becomes
5507 upgradeable without reinstallation.</p>
5508
5509 <p><strong>Which free software do you use daily?</strong></p>
5510
5511 <p>GNU/Linux with LXDE desktop, bash for interactive dialog and
5512 programming, texlive for documentation and correspondence,
5513 occasionally LibreOffice for document format conversion. Various
5514 programming languages for teaching.</p>
5515
5516 <p><strong>Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to
5517 get schools to use free software?</strong></p>
5518
5519 <p>Strong arguments are</p>
5520
5521 <ul>
5522
5523   <li>Knowledge is free, and so should be methods and tools for
5524     teaching and learning.</li>
5525
5526   <li>Students can learn with and use the same software at school, at
5527     home, and at their working place without running into license or
5528     conversion problems.</li>
5529
5530   <li>Closed source or proprietary software hides knowledge rather
5531     than exposing it, and proprietary software vendors try to bind
5532     customers to certain products.  But teachers need to teach
5533     science, not products.</li>
5534
5535   <li>If you have everything you for daily work as open source, what
5536     would you need proprietary software for?</li>
5537
5538 </ul>
5539
5540       </div>
5541       <div class="tags">
5542
5543
5544         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>.
5545
5546
5547       </div>
5548     </div>
5549     <div class="padding"></div>
5550
5551     <div class="entry">
5552       <div class="title">
5553         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Dugnadsnett_for_alle__a_wireless_community_network_in_Oslo__take_shape.html">Dugnadsnett for alle, a wireless community network in Oslo, take shape</a>
5554       </div>
5555       <div class="date">
5556         30th November 2013
5557       </div>
5558       <div class="body">
5559         <p>If you want the ability to electronically communicate directly with
5560 your neighbors and friends using a network controlled by your peers in
5561 stead of centrally controlled by a few corporations, or would like to
5562 experiment with interesting network technology, the
5563 <a href="http://www.dugnadsnett.no/">Dugnasnett for alle i Oslo</a>
5564 might be project for you.  39 mesh nodes are currently being planned,
5565 in the freshly started initiative from NUUG and Hackeriet to create a
5566 wireless community network.  The work is inspired by
5567 <a href="http://freifunk.net/">Freifunk</a>,
5568 <a href="http://www.awmn.net/">Athens Wireless Metropolitan
5569 Network</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roofnet">Roofnet</a>
5570 and other successful mesh networks around the globe.  Two days ago we
5571 held a workshop to try to get people started on setting up their own
5572 mesh node, and there we decided to create a new mailing list
5573 <a href="http://lists.nuug.no/mailman/listinfo/dugnadsnett">dugnadsnett
5574 (at) nuug.no</a> and IRC channel
5575 <a href="irc://irc.freenode.net/#dugnadsnett.no">#dugnadsnett.no</a> to
5576 coordinate the work.  See also the NUUG blog post
5577 <a href="http://www.nuug.no/news/E_postliste_og_IRC_kanal_for_Dugnadsnett_for_alle_i_Oslo.shtml">announcing
5578 the mailing list and IRC channel</a>.</p>
5579
5580       </div>
5581       <div class="tags">
5582
5583
5584         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/mesh network">mesh network</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug</a>.
5585
5586
5587       </div>
5588     </div>
5589     <div class="padding"></div>
5590
5591     <div class="entry">
5592       <div class="title">
5593         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/New_chrpath_release_0_15.html">New chrpath release 0.15</a>
5594       </div>
5595       <div class="date">
5596         24th November 2013
5597       </div>
5598       <div class="body">
5599         <p>After many years break from the package and a vain hope that
5600 development would be continued by someone else, I finally pulled my
5601 acts together this morning and wrapped up a new release of chrpath,
5602 the command line tool to modify the rpath and runpath of already
5603 compiled ELF programs.  The update was triggered by the persistence of
5604 Isha Vishnoi at IBM, which needed a new config.guess file to get
5605 support for the ppc64le architecture (powerpc 64-bit Little Endian) he
5606 is working on.  I checked the
5607 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/chrpath">Debian</a>,
5608 <a href="https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/chrpath">Ubuntu</a> and
5609 <a href="https://admin.fedoraproject.org/pkgdb/acls/name/chrpath">Fedora</a>
5610 packages for interesting patches (failed to find the source from
5611 OpenSUSE and Mandriva packages), and found quite a few nice fixes.
5612 These are the release notes:</p>
5613
5614 <p>New in 0.15 released 2013-11-24:</p>
5615
5616 <ul>
5617
5618   <li>Updated config.sub and config.guess from the GNU project to work
5619    with newer architectures.  Thanks to isha vishnoi for the heads
5620    up.</li>
5621
5622   <li>Updated README with current URLs.</li>
5623
5624   <li>Added byteswap fix found in Ubuntu, credited Jeremy Kerr and
5625    Matthias Klose.</li>
5626
5627   <li>Added missing help for -k|--keepgoing option, using patch by
5628    Petr Machata found in Fedora.</li>
5629
5630   <li>Rewrite removal of RPATH/RUNPATH to make sure the entry in
5631    .dynamic is a NULL terminated string.  Based on patch found in
5632    Fedora credited Axel Thimm and Christian Krause.</li>
5633
5634 </ul>
5635
5636 <p>You can
5637 <a href="https://alioth.debian.org/frs/?group_id=31052">download the
5638 new version 0.15 from alioth</a>.  Please let us know via the Alioth
5639 project if something is wrong with the new release.  The test suite
5640 did not discover any old errors, so if you find a new one, please also
5641 include a testsuite check.</p>
5642
5643       </div>
5644       <div class="tags">
5645
5646
5647         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/chrpath">chrpath</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>.
5648
5649
5650       </div>
5651     </div>
5652     <div class="padding"></div>
5653
5654     <div class="entry">
5655       <div class="title">
5656         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/All_drones_should_be_radio_marked_with_what_they_do_and_who_they_belong_to.html">All drones should be radio marked with what they do and who they belong to</a>
5657       </div>
5658       <div class="date">
5659         21st November 2013
5660       </div>
5661       <div class="body">
5662         <p>Drones, flying robots, are getting more and more popular.  The most
5663 know ones are the killer drones used by some government to murder
5664 people they do not like without giving them the chance of a fair
5665 trial, but the technology have many good uses too, from mapping and
5666 forest maintenance to photography and search and rescue.  I am sure it
5667 is just a question of time before "bad drones" are in the hands of
5668 private enterprises and not only state criminals but petty criminals
5669 too.  The drone technology is very useful and very dangerous.  To have
5670 some control over the use of drones, I agree with Daniel Suarez in his
5671 TED talk
5672 "<a href="https://archive.org/details/DanielSuarez_2013G">The kill
5673 decision shouldn't belong to a robot</a>", where he suggested this
5674 little gem to keep the good while limiting the bad use of drones:</p>
5675
5676 <blockquote>
5677
5678 <p>Each robot and drone should have a cryptographically signed
5679 I.D. burned in at the factory that can be used to track its movement
5680 through public spaces. We have license plates on cars, tail numbers on
5681 aircraft. This is no different. And every citizen should be able to
5682 download an app that shows the population of drones and autonomous
5683 vehicles moving through public spaces around them, both right now and
5684 historically. And civic leaders should deploy sensors and civic drones
5685 to detect rogue drones, and instead of sending killer drones of their
5686 own up to shoot them down, they should notify humans to their
5687 presence. And in certain very high-security areas, perhaps civic
5688 drones would snare them and drag them off to a bomb disposal facility.</p>
5689
5690 <p>But notice, this is more an immune system than a weapons system. It
5691 would allow us to avail ourselves of the use of autonomous vehicles
5692 and drones while still preserving our open, civil society.</p>
5693
5694 </blockquote>
5695
5696 <p>The key is that <em>every citizen</em> should be able to read the
5697 radio beacons sent from the drones in the area, to be able to check
5698 both the government and others use of drones.  For such control to be
5699 effective, everyone must be able to do it.  What should such beacon
5700 contain?  At least formal owner, purpose, contact information and GPS
5701 location.  Probably also the origin and target position of the current
5702 flight.  And perhaps some registration number to be able to look up
5703 the drone in a central database tracking their movement.  Robots
5704 should not have privacy.  It is people who need privacy.</p>
5705
5706       </div>
5707       <div class="tags">
5708
5709
5710         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/robot">robot</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/sikkerhet">sikkerhet</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/surveillance">surveillance</a>.
5711
5712
5713       </div>
5714     </div>
5715     <div class="padding"></div>
5716
5717     <div class="entry">
5718       <div class="title">
5719         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Lets_make_a_wireless_community_network_in_Oslo_.html">Lets make a wireless community network in Oslo!</a>
5720       </div>
5721       <div class="date">
5722         13th November 2013
5723       </div>
5724       <div class="body">
5725         <p>Today NUUG and Hackeriet announced
5726 <a href="http://www.nuug.no/news/Bli_med___bygge_dugnadsnett_for_alle_i_Oslo.shtml">our
5727 plans to join forces and create a wireless community network in
5728 Oslo</a>.  The workshop to help people get started will take place
5729 Thursday 2013-11-28, but we already are collecting the geolocation of
5730 people joining forces to make this happen.  We have
5731 <a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/meshfx-node/blob/master/oslo-nodes.geojson">9
5732 locations plotted on the map</a>, but we will need more before we have
5733 a connected mesh spread across Oslo.  If this sound interesting to
5734 you, please join us at the workshop.  If you are too impatient to wait
5735 15 days, please join us on the IRC channel
5736 <a href="irc://irc.freenode.net/%23nuug">#nuug on irc.freenode.net</a>
5737 right away. :)</p>
5738
5739       </div>
5740       <div class="tags">
5741
5742
5743         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/mesh network">mesh network</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug</a>.
5744
5745
5746       </div>
5747     </div>
5748     <div class="padding"></div>
5749
5750     <div class="entry">
5751       <div class="title">
5752         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Running_TP_Link_MR3040_as_a_batman_adv_mesh_node_using_openwrt.html">Running TP-Link MR3040 as a batman-adv mesh node using openwrt</a>
5753       </div>
5754       <div class="date">
5755         10th November 2013
5756       </div>
5757       <div class="body">
5758         <p>Continuing my research into mesh networking, I was recommended to
5759 use TP-Link 3040 and 3600 access points as mesh nodes, and the pair I
5760 bought arrived on Friday.  Here are my notes on how to set up the
5761 MR3040 as a mesh node using
5762 <a href="http://www.openwrt.org/">OpenWrt</a>.</p>
5763
5764 <p>I started by following the instructions on the OpenWRT wiki for
5765 <a href="http://wiki.openwrt.org/toh/tp-link/tl-mr3040">TL-MR3040</a>,
5766 and downloaded
5767 <a href="http://downloads.openwrt.org/snapshots/trunk/ar71xx/openwrt-ar71xx-generic-tl-mr3040-v2-squashfs-factory.bin">the
5768 recommended firmware image</a>
5769 (openwrt-ar71xx-generic-tl-mr3040-v2-squashfs-factory.bin) and
5770 uploaded it into the original web interface.  The flashing went fine,
5771 and the machine was available via telnet on the ethernet port.  After
5772 logging in and setting the root password, ssh was available and I
5773 could start to set it up as a batman-adv mesh node.</p>
5774
5775 <p>I started off by reading the instructions from
5776 <a href="http://wirelessafrica.meraka.org.za/wiki/index.php?title=Antoine's_Research">Wireless
5777 Africa</a>, which had quite a lot of useful information, but
5778 eventually I followed the recipe from the Open Mesh wiki for
5779 <a href="http://www.open-mesh.org/projects/batman-adv/wiki/Batman-adv-openwrt-config">using
5780 batman-adv on OpenWrt</a>.  A small snag was the fact that the
5781 <tt>opkg install kmod-batman-adv</tt> command did not work as it
5782 should.  The batman-adv kernel module would fail to load because its
5783 dependency crc16 was not already loaded.  I
5784 <a href="https://dev.openwrt.org/ticket/14452">reported the bug</a> to
5785 the openwrt project and hope it will be fixed soon.  But the problem
5786 only seem to affect initial testing of batman-adv, as configuration
5787 seem to work when booting from scratch.</p>
5788
5789 <p>The setup is done using files in /etc/config/.  I did not bridge
5790 the Ethernet and mesh interfaces this time, to be able to hook up the
5791 box on my local network and log into it for configuration updates.
5792 The following files were changed and look like this after modifying
5793 them:</p>
5794
5795 <p><tt>/etc/config/network</tt></p>
5796
5797 <pre>
5798
5799 config interface 'loopback'
5800         option ifname 'lo'
5801         option proto 'static'
5802         option ipaddr '127.0.0.1'
5803         option netmask '255.0.0.0'
5804
5805 config globals 'globals'
5806         option ula_prefix 'fdbf:4c12:3fed::/48'
5807
5808 config interface 'lan'
5809         option ifname 'eth0'
5810         option type 'bridge'
5811         option proto 'dhcp'
5812         option ipaddr '192.168.1.1'
5813         option netmask '255.255.255.0'
5814         option hostname 'tl-mr3040'
5815         option ip6assign '60'
5816
5817 config interface 'mesh'
5818         option ifname 'adhoc0'
5819         option mtu '1528'
5820         option proto 'batadv'
5821         option mesh 'bat0'
5822 </pre>
5823
5824 <p><tt>/etc/config/wireless</tt></p>
5825 <pre>
5826
5827 config wifi-device 'radio0'
5828         option type 'mac80211'
5829         option channel '11'
5830         option hwmode '11ng'
5831         option path 'platform/ar933x_wmac'
5832         option htmode 'HT20'
5833         list ht_capab 'SHORT-GI-20'
5834         list ht_capab 'SHORT-GI-40'
5835         list ht_capab 'RX-STBC1'
5836         list ht_capab 'DSSS_CCK-40'
5837         option disabled '0'
5838
5839 config wifi-iface 'wmesh'
5840         option device 'radio0'
5841         option ifname 'adhoc0'
5842         option network 'mesh'
5843         option encryption 'none'
5844         option mode 'adhoc'
5845         option bssid '02:BA:00:00:00:01'
5846         option ssid 'meshfx@hackeriet'
5847 </pre>
5848 <p><tt>/etc/config/batman-adv</tt></p>
5849 <pre>
5850
5851 config 'mesh' 'bat0'
5852         option interfaces 'adhoc0'
5853         option 'aggregated_ogms'
5854         option 'ap_isolation'
5855         option 'bonding'
5856         option 'fragmentation'
5857         option 'gw_bandwidth'
5858         option 'gw_mode'
5859         option 'gw_sel_class'
5860         option 'log_level'
5861         option 'orig_interval'
5862         option 'vis_mode'
5863         option 'bridge_loop_avoidance'
5864         option 'distributed_arp_table'
5865         option 'network_coding'
5866         option 'hop_penalty'
5867
5868 # yet another batX instance
5869 # config 'mesh' 'bat5'
5870 #       option 'interfaces' 'second_mesh'
5871 </pre>
5872
5873 <p>The mesh node is now operational.  I have yet to test its range,
5874 but I hope it is good.  I have not yet tested the TP-Link 3600 box
5875 still wrapped up in plastic.</p>
5876
5877       </div>
5878       <div class="tags">
5879
5880
5881         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/mesh network">mesh network</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug</a>.
5882
5883
5884       </div>
5885     </div>
5886     <div class="padding"></div>
5887
5888     <div class="entry">
5889       <div class="title">
5890         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_init_d_boot_script_example_for_rsyslog.html">Debian init.d boot script example for rsyslog</a>
5891       </div>
5892       <div class="date">
5893          2nd November 2013
5894       </div>
5895       <div class="body">
5896         <p>If one of the points of switching to a new init system in Debian is
5897 <a href="http://thomas.goirand.fr/blog/?p=147">to get rid of huge
5898 init.d scripts</a>, I doubt we need to switch away from sysvinit and
5899 init.d scripts at all.  Here is an example init.d script, ie a rewrite
5900 of /etc/init.d/rsyslog:</p>
5901
5902 <p><pre>
5903 #!/lib/init/init-d-script
5904 ### BEGIN INIT INFO
5905 # Provides:          rsyslog
5906 # Required-Start:    $remote_fs $time
5907 # Required-Stop:     umountnfs $time
5908 # X-Stop-After:      sendsigs
5909 # Default-Start:     2 3 4 5
5910 # Default-Stop:      0 1 6
5911 # Short-Description: enhanced syslogd
5912 # Description:       Rsyslog is an enhanced multi-threaded syslogd.
5913 #                    It is quite compatible to stock sysklogd and can be
5914 #                    used as a drop-in replacement.
5915 ### END INIT INFO
5916 DESC="enhanced syslogd"
5917 DAEMON=/usr/sbin/rsyslogd
5918 </pre></p>
5919
5920 <p>Pretty minimalistic to me... For the record, the original sysv-rc
5921 script was 137 lines, and the above is just 15 lines, most of it meta
5922 info/comments.</p>
5923
5924 <p>How to do this, you ask?  Well, one create a new script
5925 /lib/init/init-d-script looking something like this:
5926
5927 <p><pre>
5928 #!/bin/sh
5929
5930 # Define LSB log_* functions.
5931 # Depend on lsb-base (>= 3.2-14) to ensure that this file is present
5932 # and status_of_proc is working.
5933 . /lib/lsb/init-functions
5934
5935 #
5936 # Function that starts the daemon/service
5937
5938 #
5939 do_start()
5940 {
5941         # Return
5942         #   0 if daemon has been started
5943         #   1 if daemon was already running
5944         #   2 if daemon could not be started
5945         start-stop-daemon --start --quiet --pidfile $PIDFILE --exec $DAEMON --test > /dev/null \
5946                 || return 1
5947         start-stop-daemon --start --quiet --pidfile $PIDFILE --exec $DAEMON -- \
5948                 $DAEMON_ARGS \
5949                 || return 2
5950         # Add code here, if necessary, that waits for the process to be ready
5951         # to handle requests from services started subsequently which depend
5952         # on this one.  As a last resort, sleep for some time.
5953 }
5954
5955 #
5956 # Function that stops the daemon/service
5957 #
5958 do_stop()
5959 {
5960         # Return
5961         #   0 if daemon has been stopped
5962         #   1 if daemon was already stopped
5963         #   2 if daemon could not be stopped
5964         #   other if a failure occurred
5965         start-stop-daemon --stop --quiet --retry=TERM/30/KILL/5 --pidfile $PIDFILE --name $NAME
5966         RETVAL="$?"
5967         [ "$RETVAL" = 2 ] && return 2
5968         # Wait for children to finish too if this is a daemon that forks
5969         # and if the daemon is only ever run from this initscript.
5970         # If the above conditions are not satisfied then add some other code
5971         # that waits for the process to drop all resources that could be
5972         # needed by services started subsequently.  A last resort is to
5973         # sleep for some time.
5974         start-stop-daemon --stop --quiet --oknodo --retry=0/30/KILL/5 --exec $DAEMON
5975         [ "$?" = 2 ] && return 2
5976         # Many daemons don't delete their pidfiles when they exit.
5977         rm -f $PIDFILE
5978         return "$RETVAL"
5979 }
5980
5981 #
5982 # Function that sends a SIGHUP to the daemon/service
5983 #
5984 do_reload() {
5985         #
5986         # If the daemon can reload its configuration without
5987         # restarting (for example, when it is sent a SIGHUP),
5988         # then implement that here.
5989         #
5990         start-stop-daemon --stop --signal 1 --quiet --pidfile $PIDFILE --name $NAME
5991         return 0
5992 }
5993
5994 SCRIPTNAME=$1
5995 scriptbasename="$(basename $1)"
5996 echo "SN: $scriptbasename"
5997 if [ "$scriptbasename" != "init-d-library" ] ; then
5998     script="$1"
5999     shift
6000     . $script
6001 else
6002     exit 0
6003 fi
6004
6005 NAME=$(basename $DAEMON)
6006 PIDFILE=/var/run/$NAME.pid
6007
6008 # Exit if the package is not installed
6009 #[ -x "$DAEMON" ] || exit 0
6010
6011 # Read configuration variable file if it is present
6012 [ -r /etc/default/$NAME ] && . /etc/default/$NAME
6013
6014 # Load the VERBOSE setting and other rcS variables
6015 . /lib/init/vars.sh
6016
6017 case "$1" in
6018   start)
6019         [ "$VERBOSE" != no ] && log_daemon_msg "Starting $DESC" "$NAME"
6020         do_start
6021         case "$?" in
6022                 0|1) [ "$VERBOSE" != no ] && log_end_msg 0 ;;
6023                 2) [ "$VERBOSE" != no ] && log_end_msg 1 ;;
6024         esac
6025         ;;
6026   stop)
6027         [ "$VERBOSE" != no ] && log_daemon_msg "Stopping $DESC" "$NAME"
6028         do_stop
6029         case "$?" in
6030                 0|1) [ "$VERBOSE" != no ] && log_end_msg 0 ;;
6031                 2) [ "$VERBOSE" != no ] && log_end_msg 1 ;;
6032         esac
6033         ;;
6034   status)
6035         status_of_proc "$DAEMON" "$NAME" && exit 0 || exit $?
6036         ;;
6037   #reload|force-reload)
6038         #
6039         # If do_reload() is not implemented then leave this commented out
6040         # and leave 'force-reload' as an alias for 'restart'.
6041         #
6042         #log_daemon_msg "Reloading $DESC" "$NAME"
6043         #do_reload
6044         #log_end_msg $?
6045         #;;
6046   restart|force-reload)
6047         #
6048         # If the "reload" option is implemented then remove the
6049         # 'force-reload' alias
6050         #
6051         log_daemon_msg "Restarting $DESC" "$NAME"
6052         do_stop
6053         case "$?" in
6054           0|1)
6055                 do_start
6056                 case "$?" in
6057                         0) log_end_msg 0 ;;
6058                         1) log_end_msg 1 ;; # Old process is still running
6059                         *) log_end_msg 1 ;; # Failed to start
6060                 esac
6061                 ;;
6062           *)
6063                 # Failed to stop
6064                 log_end_msg 1
6065                 ;;
6066         esac
6067         ;;
6068   *)
6069         echo "Usage: $SCRIPTNAME {start|stop|status|restart|force-reload}" >&2
6070         exit 3
6071         ;;
6072 esac
6073
6074 :
6075 </pre></p>
6076
6077 <p>It is based on /etc/init.d/skeleton, and could be improved quite a
6078 lot.  I did not really polish the approach, so it might not always
6079 work out of the box, but you get the idea.  I did not try very hard to
6080 optimize it nor make it more robust either.</p>
6081
6082 <p>A better argument for switching init system in Debian than reducing
6083 the size of init scripts (which is a good thing to do anyway), is to
6084 get boot system that is able to handle the kernel events sensibly and
6085 robustly, and do not depend on the boot to run sequentially.  The boot
6086 and the kernel have not behaved sequentially in years.</p>
6087
6088       </div>
6089       <div class="tags">
6090
6091
6092         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>.
6093
6094
6095       </div>
6096     </div>
6097     <div class="padding"></div>
6098
6099     <div class="entry">
6100       <div class="title">
6101         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Browser_plugin_for_SPICE__spice_xpi__uploaded_to_Debian.html">Browser plugin for SPICE (spice-xpi) uploaded to Debian</a>
6102       </div>
6103       <div class="date">
6104          1st November 2013
6105       </div>
6106       <div class="body">
6107         <p><a href="http://www.spice-space.org/">The SPICE protocol</a> for
6108 remote display access is the preferred solution with oVirt and RedHat
6109 Enterprise Virtualization, and I was sad to discover the other day
6110 that the browser plugin needed to use these systems seamlessly was
6111 missing in Debian.  The <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/668284">request
6112 for a package</a> was from 2012-04-10 with no progress since
6113 2013-04-01, so I decided to wrap up a package based on the great work
6114 from Cajus Pollmeier and put it in a collab-maint maintained git
6115 repository to get a package I could use.  I would very much like
6116 others to help me maintain the package (or just take over, I do not
6117 mind), but as no-one had volunteered so far, I just uploaded it to
6118 NEW.  I hope it will be available in Debian in a few days.</p>
6119
6120 <p>The source is now available from
6121 <a href="http://anonscm.debian.org/gitweb/?p=collab-maint/spice-xpi.git;a=summary">http://anonscm.debian.org/gitweb/?p=collab-maint/spice-xpi.git;a=summary</a>.</p>
6122
6123       </div>
6124       <div class="tags">
6125
6126
6127         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>.
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/Teaching_vmdebootstrap_to_create_Raspberry_Pi_SD_card_images.html">Teaching vmdebootstrap to create Raspberry Pi SD card images</a>
6137       </div>
6138       <div class="date">
6139         27th October 2013
6140       </div>
6141       <div class="body">
6142         <p>The
6143 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/v/vmdebootstrap.html">vmdebootstrap</a>
6144 program is a a very nice system to create virtual machine images.  It
6145 create a image file, add a partition table, mount it and run
6146 debootstrap in the mounted directory to create a Debian system on a
6147 stick.  Yesterday, I decided to try to teach it how to make images for
6148 <a href="https://wiki.debian.org/RaspberryPi">Raspberry Pi</a>, as part
6149 of a plan to simplify the build system for
6150 <a href="https://wiki.debian.org/FreedomBox">the FreedomBox
6151 project</a>.  The FreedomBox project already uses vmdebootstrap for
6152 the virtualbox images, but its current build system made multistrap
6153 based system for Dreamplug images, and it is lacking support for
6154 Raspberry Pi.</p>
6155
6156 <p>Armed with the knowledge on how to build "foreign" (aka non-native
6157 architecture) chroots for Raspberry Pi, I dived into the vmdebootstrap
6158 code and adjusted it to be able to build armel images on my amd64
6159 Debian laptop.  I ended up giving vmdebootstrap five new options,
6160 allowing me to replicate the image creation process I use to make
6161 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/A_Raspberry_Pi_based_batman_adv_Mesh_network_node.html">Debian
6162 Jessie based mesh node images for the Raspberry Pi</a>.  First, the
6163 <tt>--foreign /path/to/binfm_handler</tt> option tell vmdebootstrap to
6164 call debootstrap with --foreign and to copy the handler into the
6165 generated chroot before running the second stage.  This allow
6166 vmdebootstrap to create armel images on an amd64 host.  Next I added
6167 two new options <tt>--bootsize size</tt> and <tt>--boottype
6168 fstype</tt> to teach it to create a separate /boot/ partition with the
6169 given file system type, allowing me to create an image with a vfat
6170 partition for the /boot/ stuff.  I also added a <tt>--variant
6171 variant</tt> option to allow me to create smaller images without the
6172 Debian base system packages installed.  Finally, I added an option
6173 <tt>--no-extlinux</tt> to tell vmdebootstrap to not install extlinux
6174 as a boot loader.  It is not needed on the Raspberry Pi and probably
6175 most other non-x86 architectures.  The changes were accepted by the
6176 upstream author of vmdebootstrap yesterday and today, and is now
6177 available from
6178 <a href="http://git.liw.fi/cgi-bin/cgit/cgit.cgi/vmdebootstrap/">the
6179 upstream project page</a>.</p>
6180
6181 <p>To use it to build a Raspberry Pi image using Debian Jessie, first
6182 create a small script (the customize script) to add the non-free
6183 binary blob needed to boot the Raspberry Pi and the APT source
6184 list:</p>
6185
6186 <p><pre>
6187 #!/bin/sh
6188 set -e # Exit on first error
6189 rootdir="$1"
6190 cd "$rootdir"
6191 cat &lt;&lt;EOF > etc/apt/sources.list
6192 deb http://http.debian.net/debian/ jessie main contrib non-free
6193 EOF
6194 # Install non-free binary blob needed to boot Raspberry Pi.  This
6195 # install a kernel somewhere too.
6196 wget https://raw.github.com/Hexxeh/rpi-update/master/rpi-update \
6197     -O $rootdir/usr/bin/rpi-update
6198 chmod a+x $rootdir/usr/bin/rpi-update
6199 mkdir -p $rootdir/lib/modules
6200 touch $rootdir/boot/start.elf
6201 chroot $rootdir rpi-update
6202 </pre></p>
6203
6204 <p>Next, fetch the latest vmdebootstrap script and call it like this
6205 to build the image:</p>
6206
6207 <pre>
6208 sudo ./vmdebootstrap \
6209     --variant minbase \
6210     --arch armel \
6211     --distribution jessie \
6212     --mirror http://http.debian.net/debian \
6213     --image test.img \
6214     --size 600M \
6215     --bootsize 64M \
6216     --boottype vfat \
6217     --log-level debug \
6218     --verbose \
6219     --no-kernel \
6220     --no-extlinux \
6221     --root-password raspberry \
6222     --hostname raspberrypi \
6223     --foreign /usr/bin/qemu-arm-static \
6224     --customize `pwd`/customize \
6225     --package netbase \
6226     --package git-core \
6227     --package binutils \
6228     --package ca-certificates \
6229     --package wget \
6230     --package kmod
6231 </pre></p>
6232
6233 <p>The list of packages being installed are the ones needed by
6234 rpi-update to make the image bootable on the Raspberry Pi, with the
6235 exception of netbase, which is needed by debootstrap to find
6236 /etc/hosts with the minbase variant.  I really wish there was a way to
6237 set up an Raspberry Pi using only packages in the Debian archive, but
6238 that is not possible as far as I know, because it boots from the GPU
6239 using a non-free binary blob.</p>
6240
6241 <p>The build host need debootstrap, kpartx and qemu-user-static and
6242 probably a few others installed.  I have not checked the complete
6243 build dependency list.</p>
6244
6245 <p>The resulting image will not use the hardware floating point unit
6246 on the Raspberry PI, because the armel architecture in Debian is not
6247 optimized for that use.  So the images created will be a bit slower
6248 than <a href="http://www.raspbian.org/">Raspbian</a> based images.</p>
6249
6250       </div>
6251       <div class="tags">
6252
6253
6254         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/freedombox">freedombox</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/mesh network">mesh network</a>.
6255
6256
6257       </div>
6258     </div>
6259     <div class="padding"></div>
6260
6261     <div class="entry">
6262       <div class="title">
6263         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/A_Raspberry_Pi_based_batman_adv_Mesh_network_node.html">A Raspberry Pi based batman-adv Mesh network node</a>
6264       </div>
6265       <div class="date">
6266         21st October 2013
6267       </div>
6268       <div class="body">
6269         <p>The last few days I have been experimenting with
6270 <a href="http://www.open-mesh.org/projects/batman-adv/wiki">the
6271 batman-adv mesh technology</a>.  I want to gain some experience to see
6272 if it will fit <a href="https://wiki.debian.org/FreedomBox">the
6273 Freedombox project</a>, and together with my neighbors try to build a
6274 mesh network around the park where I live.  Batman-adv is a layer 2
6275 mesh system ("ethernet" in other words), where the mesh network appear
6276 as if all the mesh clients are connected to the same switch.</p>
6277
6278 <p>My hardware of choice was the Linksys WRT54GL routers I had lying
6279 around, but I've been unable to get them working with batman-adv.  So
6280 instead, I started playing with a
6281 <a href="http://www.raspberrypi.org/">Raspberry Pi</a>, and tried to
6282 get it working as a mesh node.  My idea is to use it to create a mesh
6283 node which function as a switch port, where everything connected to
6284 the Raspberry Pi ethernet plug is connected (bridged) to the mesh
6285 network.  This allow me to hook a wifi base station like the Linksys
6286 WRT54GL to the mesh by plugging it into a Raspberry Pi, and allow
6287 non-mesh clients to hook up to the mesh.  This in turn is useful for
6288 Android phones using <a href="http://servalproject.org/">the Serval
6289 Project</a> voip client, allowing every one around the playground to
6290 phone and message each other for free.  The reason is that Android
6291 phones do not see ad-hoc wifi networks (they are filtered away from
6292 the GUI view), and can not join the mesh without being rooted.  But if
6293 they are connected using a normal wifi base station, they can talk to
6294 every client on the local network.</p>
6295
6296 <p>To get this working, I've created a debian package
6297 <a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/meshfx-node">meshfx-node</a>
6298 and a script
6299 <a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/meshfx-node/blob/master/build-rpi-mesh-node">build-rpi-mesh-node</a>
6300 to create the Raspberry Pi boot image.  I'm using Debian Jessie (and
6301 not Raspbian), to get more control over the packages available.
6302 Unfortunately a huge binary blob need to be inserted into the boot
6303 image to get it booting, but I'll ignore that for now.  Also, as
6304 Debian lack support for the CPU features available in the Raspberry
6305 Pi, the system do not use the hardware floating point unit.  I hope
6306 the routing performance isn't affected by the lack of hardware FPU
6307 support.</p>
6308
6309 <p>To create an image, run the following with a sudo enabled user
6310 after inserting the target SD card into the build machine:</p>
6311
6312 <p><pre>
6313 % wget -O build-rpi-mesh-node \
6314     https://raw.github.com/petterreinholdtsen/meshfx-node/master/build-rpi-mesh-node
6315 % sudo bash -x ./build-rpi-mesh-node > build.log 2>&1
6316 % dd if=/root/rpi/rpi_basic_jessie_$(date +%Y%m%d).img of=/dev/mmcblk0 bs=1M
6317 %
6318 </pre></p>
6319
6320 <p>Booting with the resulting SD card on a Raspberry PI with a USB
6321 wifi card inserted should give you a mesh node.  At least it does for
6322 me with a the wifi card I am using. The default mesh settings are the
6323 ones used by the Oslo mesh project at Hackeriet, as I mentioned in
6324 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Oslo_community_mesh_network___with_NUUG_and_Hackeriet_at_Hausmania.html">an
6325 earlier blog post about this mesh testing</a>.</p>
6326
6327 <p>The mesh node was not horribly expensive either.  I bought
6328 everything over the counter in shops nearby.  If I had ordered online
6329 from the lowest bidder, the price should be significantly lower:</p>
6330
6331 <p><table>
6332
6333 <tr><th>Supplier</th><th>Model</th><th>NOK</th></tr>
6334 <tr><td>Teknikkmagasinet</td><td>Raspberry Pi model B</td><td>349.90</td></tr>
6335 <tr><td>Teknikkmagasinet</td><td>Raspberry Pi type B case</td><td>99.90</td></tr>
6336 <tr><td>Lefdal</td><td>Jensen Air:Link 25150</td><td>295.-</td></tr>
6337 <tr><td>Clas Ohlson</td><td>Kingston 16 GB SD card</td><td>199.-</td></tr>
6338 <tr><td>Total cost</td><td></td><td>943.80</td></tr>
6339
6340 </table></p>
6341
6342 <p>Now my mesh network at home consist of one laptop in the basement
6343 connected to my production network, one Raspberry Pi node on the 1th
6344 floor that can be seen by my neighbor across the park, and one
6345 play-node I use to develop the image building script.  And some times
6346 I hook up my work horse laptop to the mesh to test it.  I look forward
6347 to figuring out what kind of latency the batman-adv setup will give,
6348 and how much packet loss we will experience around the park. :)</p>
6349
6350       </div>
6351       <div class="tags">
6352
6353
6354         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/freedombox">freedombox</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/mesh network">mesh network</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug</a>.
6355
6356
6357       </div>
6358     </div>
6359     <div class="padding"></div>
6360
6361     <div class="entry">
6362       <div class="title">
6363         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Perl_library_to_control_the_Spykee_robot_moved_to_github.html">Perl library to control the Spykee robot moved to github</a>
6364       </div>
6365       <div class="date">
6366         19th October 2013
6367       </div>
6368       <div class="body">
6369         <p>Back in 2010, I created a Perl library to talk to
6370 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spykee">the Spykee robot</a>
6371 (with two belts, wifi, USB and Linux) and made it available from my
6372 web page.  Today I concluded that it should move to a site that is
6373 easier to use to cooperate with others, and moved it to github.  If
6374 you got a Spykee robot, you might want to check out
6375 <a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/libspykee-perl">the
6376 libspykee-perl github repository</a>.</p>
6377
6378       </div>
6379       <div class="tags">
6380
6381
6382         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>.
6383
6384
6385       </div>
6386     </div>
6387     <div class="padding"></div>
6388
6389     <div class="entry">
6390       <div class="title">
6391         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Good_causes__Debian_Outreach_Program_for_Women__EFF_documenting_the_spying_and_Open_access_in_Norway.html">Good causes: Debian Outreach Program for Women, EFF documenting the spying and Open access in Norway</a>
6392       </div>
6393       <div class="date">
6394         15th October 2013
6395       </div>
6396       <div class="body">
6397         <p>The last few days I came across a few good causes that should get
6398 wider attention.  I recommend signing and donating to each one of
6399 these. :)</p>
6400
6401 <p>Via <a href="http://www.debian.org/News/weekly/2013/18/">Debian
6402 Project News for 2013-10-14</a> I came across the Outreach Program for
6403 Women program which is a Google Summer of Code like initiative to get
6404 more women involved in free software.  One debian sponsor has offered
6405 to match <a href="http://debian.ch/opw2013">any donation done to Debian
6406 earmarked</a> for this initiative.  I donated a few minutes ago, and
6407 hope you will to. :)</p>
6408
6409 <p>And the Electronic Frontier Foundation just announced plans to
6410 create <a href="https://supporters.eff.org/donate/nsa-videos">video
6411 documentaries about the excessive spying</a> on every Internet user that
6412 take place these days, and their need to fund the work.  I've already
6413 donated.  Are you next?</p>
6414
6415 <p>For my Norwegian audience, the organisation Studentenes og
6416 Akademikernes Internasjonale Hjelpefond is collecting signatures for a
6417 statement under the heading
6418 <a href="http://saih.no/Bloggers_United/">Bloggers United for Open
6419 Access</a> for those of us asking for more focus on open access in the
6420 Norwegian government.  So far 499 signatures.  I hope you will sign it
6421 too.</p>
6422
6423       </div>
6424       <div class="tags">
6425
6426
6427         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/opphavsrett">opphavsrett</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/surveillance">surveillance</a>.
6428
6429
6430       </div>
6431     </div>
6432     <div class="padding"></div>
6433
6434     <div class="entry">
6435       <div class="title">
6436         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Oslo_community_mesh_network___with_NUUG_and_Hackeriet_at_Hausmania.html">Oslo community mesh network - with NUUG and Hackeriet at Hausmania</a>
6437       </div>
6438       <div class="date">
6439         11th October 2013
6440       </div>
6441       <div class="body">
6442         <p>Wireless mesh networks are self organising and self healing
6443 networks that can be used to connect computers across small and large
6444 areas, depending on the radio technology used.  Normal wifi equipment
6445 can be used to create home made radio networks, and there are several
6446 successful examples like
6447 <a href="http://www.freifunk.net/">Freifunk</a> and
6448 <a href="http://www.awmn.net/">Athens Wireless Metropolitan Network</a>
6449 (see
6450 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wireless_community_networks_by_region#Greece">wikipedia
6451 for a large list</a>) around the globe.  To give you an idea how it
6452 work, check out the nice overview of the Kiel Freifunk community which
6453 can be seen from their
6454 <a href="http://freifunk.in-kiel.de/ffmap/nodes.html">dynamically
6455 updated node graph and map</a>, where one can see how the mesh nodes
6456 automatically handle routing and recover from nodes disappearing.
6457 There is also a small community mesh network group in Oslo, Norway,
6458 and that is the main topic of this blog post.</p>
6459
6460 <p>I've wanted to check out mesh networks for a while now, and hoped
6461 to do it as part of my involvement with the <a
6462 href="http://www.nuug.no/">NUUG member organisation</a> community, and
6463 my recent involvement in
6464 <a href="https://wiki.debian.org/FreedomBox">the Freedombox project</a>
6465 finally lead me to give mesh networks some priority, as I suspect a
6466 Freedombox should use mesh networks to connect neighbours and family
6467 when possible, given that most communication between people are
6468 between those nearby (as shown for example by research on Facebook
6469 communication patterns).  It also allow people to communicate without
6470 any central hub to tap into for those that want to listen in on the
6471 private communication of citizens, which have become more and more
6472 important over the years.</p>
6473
6474 <p>So far I have only been able to find one group of people in Oslo
6475 working on community mesh networks, over at the hack space
6476 <a href="http://hackeriet.no/">Hackeriet</a> at Husmania.  They seem to
6477 have started with some Freifunk based effort using OLSR, called
6478 <a href="http://oslo.freifunk.net/index.php?title=Main_Page">the Oslo
6479 Freifunk project</a>, but that effort is now dead and the people
6480 behind it have moved on to a batman-adv based system called
6481 <a href="http://meshfx.org/trac">meshfx</a>.  Unfortunately the wiki
6482 site for the Oslo Freifunk project is no longer possible to update to
6483 reflect this fact, so the old project page can't be updated to point to
6484 the new project.  A while back, the people at Hackeriet invited people
6485 from the Freifunk community to Oslo to talk about mesh networks.  I
6486 came across this video where Hans Jørgen Lysglimt interview the
6487 speakers about this talk (from
6488 <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2Kd7CLkhSY">youtube</a>):</p>
6489
6490 <p><iframe width="420" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/N2Kd7CLkhSY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
6491
6492 <p>I mentioned OLSR and batman-adv, which are mesh routing protocols.
6493 There are heaps of different protocols, and I am still struggling to
6494 figure out which one would be "best" for some definitions of best, but
6495 given that the community mesh group in Oslo is so small, I believe it
6496 is best to hook up with the existing one instead of trying to create a
6497 completely different setup, and thus I have decided to focus on
6498 batman-adv for now.  It sure help me to  know that the very cool
6499 <a href="http://www.servalproject.org/">Serval project in Australia</a>
6500 is using batman-adv as their meshing technology when it create a self
6501 organizing and self healing telephony system for disaster areas and
6502 less industrialized communities.  Check out this cool video presenting
6503 that project (from
6504 <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30qNfzJCQOA">youtube</a>):</p>
6505
6506 <p><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/30qNfzJCQOA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
6507
6508 <p>According to the wikipedia page on
6509 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wireless_mesh_network">Wireless
6510 mesh network</a> there are around 70 competing schemes for routing
6511 packets across mesh networks, and OLSR, B.A.T.M.A.N. and
6512 B.A.T.M.A.N. advanced are protocols used by several free software
6513 based community mesh networks.</p>
6514
6515 <p>The batman-adv protocol is a bit special, as it provide layer 2
6516 (as in ethernet ) routing, allowing ipv4 and ipv6 to work on the same
6517 network.  One way to think about it is that it provide a mesh based
6518 vlan you can bridge to or handle like any other vlan connected to your
6519 computer.  The required drivers are already in the Linux kernel at
6520 least since Debian Wheezy, and it is fairly easy to set up.  A
6521 <a href="http://www.open-mesh.org/projects/batman-adv/wiki/Quick-start-guide">good
6522 introduction</a> is available from the Open Mesh project.  These are
6523 the key settings needed to join the Oslo meshfx network:</p>
6524
6525 <p><table>
6526 <tr><th>Setting</th><th>Value</th></tr>
6527 <tr><td>Protocol / kernel module</td><td>batman-adv</td></tr>
6528 <tr><td>ESSID</td><td>meshfx@hackeriet</td></tr>
6529 <td>Channel / Frequency</td><td>11 / 2462</td></tr>
6530 <td>Cell ID</td><td>02:BA:00:00:00:01</td>
6531 </table></p>
6532
6533 <p>The reason for setting ad-hoc wifi Cell ID is to work around bugs
6534 in firmware used in wifi card and wifi drivers.  (See a nice post from
6535 VillageTelco about
6536 "<a href="http://tiebing.blogspot.no/2009/12/ad-hoc-cell-splitting-re-post-original.html">Information
6537 about cell-id splitting, stuck beacons, and failed IBSS merges!</a>
6538 for details.)  When these settings are activated and you have some
6539 other mesh node nearby, your computer will be connected to the mesh
6540 network and can communicate with any mesh node that is connected to
6541 any of the nodes in your network of nodes. :)</p>
6542
6543 <p>My initial plan was to reuse my old Linksys WRT54GL as a mesh node,
6544 but that seem to be very hard, as I have not been able to locate a
6545 firmware supporting batman-adv.  If anyone know how to use that old
6546 wifi access point with batman-adv these days, please let me know.</p>
6547
6548 <p>If you find this project interesting and want to join, please join
6549 us on IRC, either channel
6550 <a href="irc://irc.freenode.net/#oslohackerspace">#oslohackerspace</a>
6551 or <a href="irc://irc.freenode.net/#nuug">#nuug</a> on
6552 irc.freenode.net.</p>
6553
6554 <p>While investigating mesh networks in Oslo, I came across an old
6555 research paper from the university of Stavanger and Telenor Research
6556 and Innovation called
6557 <a href="http://folk.uio.no/paalee/publications/netrel-egeland-iswcs-2008.pdf">The
6558 reliability of wireless backhaul mesh networks</a> and elsewhere
6559 learned that Telenor have been experimenting with mesh networks at
6560 Grünerløkka in Oslo.  So mesh networks are also interesting for
6561 commercial companies, even though Telenor discovered that it was hard
6562 to figure out a good business plan for mesh networking and as far as I
6563 know have closed down the experiment.  Perhaps Telenor or others would
6564 be interested in a cooperation?</p>
6565
6566 <p><strong>Update 2013-10-12</strong>: I was just
6567 <a href="http://lists.alioth.debian.org/pipermail/freedombox-discuss/2013-October/005900.html">told
6568 by the Serval project developers</a> that they no longer use
6569 batman-adv (but are compatible with it), but their own crypto based
6570 mesh system.</p>
6571
6572       </div>
6573       <div class="tags">
6574
6575
6576         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/freedombox">freedombox</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/mesh network">mesh network</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug</a>.
6577
6578
6579       </div>
6580     </div>
6581     <div class="padding"></div>
6582
6583     <div class="entry">
6584       <div class="title">
6585         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Skolelinux___Debian_Edu_7_1_install_and_overview_video_from_Marcelo_Salvador.html">Skolelinux / Debian Edu 7.1 install and overview video from Marcelo Salvador</a>
6586       </div>
6587       <div class="date">
6588          8th October 2013
6589       </div>
6590       <div class="body">
6591         <p>The other day I was pleased and surprised to discover that Marcelo
6592 Salvador had published a
6593 <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-GgpdqgLFc">video on
6594 Youtube</a> showing how to install the standalone Debian Edu /
6595 Skolelinux profile.  This is the profile intended for use at home or
6596 on laptops that should not be integrated into the provided network
6597 services (no central home directory, no Kerberos / LDAP directory etc,
6598 in other word a single user machine).  The result is 11 minutes long,
6599 and show some user applications (seem to be rather randomly picked).
6600 Missed a few of my favorites like celestia, planets and chromium
6601 showing the <a href="http://www.zygotebody.com/">Zygote Body 3D model
6602 of the human body</a>, but I guess he did not know about those or find
6603 other programs more interesting. :) And the video do not show the
6604 advantages I believe is one of the most valuable featuers in Debian
6605 Edu, its central school server making it possible to run hundreds of
6606 computers without hard drives by installing one central
6607 <a href="http://www.ltsp.org/">LTSP server</a>.</p>
6608
6609 <p>Anyway, check out the video, embedded below and linked to above:</p>
6610
6611 <iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/w-GgpdqgLFc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
6612
6613 <p>Are there other nice videos demonstrating Skolelinux?  Please let
6614 me know. :)</p>
6615
6616       </div>
6617       <div class="tags">
6618
6619
6620         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>.
6621
6622
6623       </div>
6624     </div>
6625     <div class="padding"></div>
6626
6627     <div class="entry">
6628       <div class="title">
6629         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Finally__Debian_Edu_Wheezy_is_released_today_.html">Finally, Debian Edu Wheezy is released today!</a>
6630       </div>
6631       <div class="date">
6632         29th September 2013
6633       </div>
6634       <div class="body">
6635         <p>A few hours ago, the announcement for the first stable release of
6636 Debian Edu Wheezy went out from the Debian publicity team.  The
6637 complete announcement text can be found at
6638 <a href="http://www.debian.org/News/2013/20130928">the Debian News
6639 section</a>, translated to several languages.  Please check it out.</p>
6640
6641 <p>There is one minor known problem that we will fix very soon.  One
6642 can not install a amd64 Thin Client Server using PXE, as the /var/
6643 partition is too small.  A workaround is to extend the partition (use
6644 lvresize + resize2fs in tty 2 while installing).</p>
6645
6646       </div>
6647       <div class="tags">
6648
6649
6650         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>.
6651
6652
6653       </div>
6654     </div>
6655     <div class="padding"></div>
6656
6657     <div class="entry">
6658       <div class="title">
6659         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Videos_about_the_Freedombox_project___for_inspiration_and_learning.html">Videos about the Freedombox project - for inspiration and learning</a>
6660       </div>
6661       <div class="date">
6662         27th September 2013
6663       </div>
6664       <div class="body">
6665         <p>The <a href="http://www.freedomboxfoundation.org/">Freedombox
6666 project</a> have been going on for a while, and have presented the
6667 vision, ideas and solution several places.  Here is a little
6668 collection of videos of talks and presentation of the project.</p>
6669
6670 <ul>
6671
6672 <li><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukvUz5taxvA">FreedomBox -
6673 2,5 minute marketing film</a> (Youtube)</li>
6674
6675 <li><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzW25QTVWsE">Eben Moglen
6676 discusses the Freedombox on CBS news 2011</a> (Youtube)</li>
6677
6678 <li><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ae8SZbxfE0g">Eben Moglen -
6679 Freedom in the Cloud - Software Freedom, Privacy and and Security for
6680 Web 2.0 and Cloud computing at ISOC-NY Public Meeting 2010</a>
6681 (Youtube)</li>
6682
6683 <li><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNaIji_3xBE">Fosdem 2011
6684 Keynote by Eben Moglen presenting the Freedombox</a> (Youtube)</li>
6685
6686 <li><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bDDUyJSQ9s">Presentation of
6687 the Freedombox by James Vasile at Elevate in Gratz 2011</a> (Youtube)</li>
6688
6689 <li><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQTmnk27g9s"> Freedombox -
6690 Discovery, Identity, and Trust by Nick Daly at Freedombox Hackfest New
6691 York City in 2012</a> (Youtube)</li>
6692
6693 <li><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkbSB4Ba7Ck">Introduction
6694 to the Freedombox at Freedombox Hackfest New York City in 2012</a>
6695 (Youtube)</li>
6696
6697 <li><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-P2Jaeg0aQ">Freedom, Out
6698 of the Box! by Bdale Garbee at linux.conf.au Ballarat, 2012</a> (Youtube) </li>
6699
6700 <li><a href="https://archive.fosdem.org/2013/schedule/event/freedombox/">Freedombox
6701 1.0 by Eben Moglen and Bdale Garbee at Fosdem 2013</a> (FOSDEM) </li>
6702
6703 <li><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1LpYX2zVYg">What is the
6704 FreedomBox today by Bdale Garbee at Debconf13 in Vaumarcus
6705 2013</a> (Youtube)</li>
6706
6707 </ul>
6708
6709 <p>A larger list is available from
6710 <a href="https://wiki.debian.org/FreedomBox/TalksAndPresentations">the
6711 Freedombox Wiki</a>.</p>
6712
6713 <p>On other news, I am happy to report that Freedombox based on Debian
6714 Jessie is coming along quite well, and soon both Owncloud and using
6715 Tor should be available for testers of the Freedombox solution. :) In
6716 a few weeks I hope everything needed to test it is included in Debian.
6717 The withsqlite package is already in Debian, and the plinth package is
6718 pending in NEW.  The third and vital part of that puzzle is the
6719 metapackage/setup framework, which is still pending an upload.  Join
6720 us on <a href="irc://irc.debian.org:6667/%23freedombox">IRC
6721 (#freedombox on irc.debian.org)</a> and
6722 <a href="http://lists.alioth.debian.org/mailman/listinfo/freedombox-discuss">the
6723 mailing list</a> if you want to help make this vision come true.</p>
6724
6725       </div>
6726       <div class="tags">
6727
6728
6729         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/freedombox">freedombox</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>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/web">web</a>.
6730
6731
6732       </div>
6733     </div>
6734     <div class="padding"></div>
6735
6736     <div class="entry">
6737       <div class="title">
6738         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Third_and_probably_last_beta_release_of_Debian_Edu_Wheezy.html">Third and probably last beta release of Debian Edu Wheezy</a>
6739       </div>
6740       <div class="date">
6741         16th September 2013
6742       </div>
6743       <div class="body">
6744         <p>The third wheezy based beta release of Debian Edu was wrapped up
6745 today.  This is the release announcement from Holger Levsen:</p>
6746
6747 <blockquote>
6748 <p>Hi,</p>
6749
6750 <p>it is my pleasure to announce the third beta release (beta 2 for
6751 short) of <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu /
6752 Skolelinux</a> based on Debian Wheezy!</p>
6753
6754 <p>Please test these images extensivly, if no new problems are found
6755 we plan to do this final Debian Edu Wheezy release this coming
6756 weekend.  We are not aware of any major problems or blockers in beta2,
6757 if you find something, please notify us immediately!</p>
6758
6759 <p>(More about the remaining steps for the Edu Wheezy release in
6760 another mail to the edu list tonight or tomorrow...)</p>
6761
6762 <p>Noteworthy changes and software updates for Debian Edu 7.1+edu0~b2
6763 compared to beta1:</p>
6764
6765 <ul>
6766
6767 <li>The KDE proxy setup has been adjusted to use the provided wpad.dat. This
6768 also gets Chromium to use this proxy.</li>
6769 <li>Install kdepim-groupware with KDE desktops to make sure korganizer
6770 understand ical/dav sources.</li>
6771 <li>Increased default maximum size of /var/spool/squid and /skole/backup on the
6772 main server.</li>
6773 <li>A source DVD image containing all source packages is now available as well.</li>
6774 <li>Updates for chromium (29.0.1547.57-1~deb7u1), imagemagick
6775 (6.7.7.10-5+deb7u2), php5 (5.4.4-14+deb7u4), libmodplug
6776 (0.8.8.4-3+deb7u1+git20130828), tiff (4.0.2-6+deb7u2), linux-image
6777 (3.2.0-4-486_3.2.46-1+deb7u1).</li>
6778
6779 </ul>
6780
6781 <p>Where to get it:</p>
6782
6783 <p>To download the multiarch netinstall CD release you can use</p>
6784
6785 <ul>
6786 <li><a href="ftp://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~b2-CD.iso">ftp://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~b2-CD.iso</a></li>
6787 <li><a href="http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~b2-CD.iso">http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~b2-CD.iso</a></li>
6788 <li>rsync -avzP ftp.skolelinux.org::skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~b2-CD.iso .</li>
6789 </ul>
6790
6791 <p>The SHA1SUM of this image is:  3a1c89f4666df80eebcd46c5bf5fedb866f9472f</p>
6792
6793 <p>To download the multiarch USB stick ISO release you can use
6794 <ul>
6795 <li><a href="ftp://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~b2-USB.iso">ftp://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~b2-USB.iso</a></li>
6796 <li><a href="http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~b2-USB.iso">http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~b2-USB.iso</a></li>
6797 <li>rsync -avzP ftp.skolelinux.org::skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~b2-USB.iso .</li>
6798 </ul>
6799
6800 <p>The SHA1SUM of this image is: 702d1718548f401c74bfa6df9f032cc3ee16597e</p>
6801
6802 <p>The Source DVD image has the filename
6803 debian-edu-7.1+edu0~b2-source-DVD.iso and the SHA1SUM
6804 089eed8b3f962db47aae1f6a9685e9bb2fa30ca5 and is available the same way
6805 as the other isos.</p>
6806
6807 <p>How to report bugs</p>
6808
6809 <p>For information how to report bugs please see
6810 <br><a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/HowTo/ReportBugs">http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/HowTo/ReportBugs</a></p>
6811
6812
6813 <p>About Debian Edu and Skolelinux</p>
6814
6815 <p>Debian Edu, also known as Skolelinux, is a Linux distribution based
6816 on Debian providing an out-of-the box environment of a completely
6817 configured school network. Immediately after installation a school
6818 server running all services needed for a school network is set up just
6819 waiting for users and machines being added via GOsa², a comfortable
6820 Web-UI. A netbooting environment is prepared using PXE, so after
6821 initial installation of the main server from CD or USB stick all other
6822 machines can be installed via the network. The provided school server
6823 provides LDAP database and Kerberos authentication service,
6824 centralized home directories, DHCP server, web proxy and many other
6825 services.  The desktop contains more than 60 educational software
6826 packages and more are available from the Debian archive, and schools
6827 can choose between KDE, Gnome, LXDE and Xfce desktop environment.</p>
6828
6829 <p>This is the seventh test release based on Debian Wheezy. Basically
6830 this is an updated and slightly improved version compared to the
6831 Squeeze release.</p>
6832
6833 <p>Notes for upgrades from Alpha Prereleases</p>
6834
6835 <p>Alpha based installations should reinstall or downgrade the
6836 versions of gosa and libpam-mklocaluser to the ones used in this beta
6837 release. Both alpha and beta0 based installations should reinstall or
6838 deal with gosa.conf manually; there are two options: (1) Keep
6839 gosa.conf and edit this file as outlined on the mailing list. (2)
6840 Accept the new version of gosa.conf and replace both contained admin
6841 password placeholders with the password hashes found in the old one
6842 (backup copy!). In both cases all users need to change their password
6843 to make sure a password is set for CIFS access to their home
6844 directory.</p>
6845
6846
6847 <p>cheers,
6848 <br>        Holger</p>
6849 </blockquote>
6850
6851       </div>
6852       <div class="tags">
6853
6854
6855         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>.
6856
6857
6858       </div>
6859     </div>
6860     <div class="padding"></div>
6861
6862     <div class="entry">
6863       <div class="title">
6864         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Recipe_to_test_the_Freedombox_project_on_amd64_or_Raspberry_Pi.html">Recipe to test the Freedombox project on amd64 or Raspberry Pi</a>
6865       </div>
6866       <div class="date">
6867         10th September 2013
6868       </div>
6869       <div class="body">
6870         <p>I was introduced to the
6871 <a href="http://www.freedomboxfoundation.org/">Freedombox project</a>
6872 in 2010, when Eben Moglen presented his vision about serving the need
6873 of non-technical people to keep their personal information private and
6874 within the legal protection of their own homes.  The idea is to give
6875 people back the power over their network and machines, and return
6876 Internet back to its intended peer-to-peer architecture.  Instead of
6877 depending on a central service, the Freedombox will give everyone
6878 control over their own basic infrastructure.</p>
6879
6880 <p>I've intended to join the effort since then, but other tasks have
6881 taken priority.  But this summers nasty news about the misuse of trust
6882 and privilege exercised by the "western" intelligence gathering
6883 communities increased my eagerness to contribute to a point where I
6884 actually started working on the project a while back.</p>
6885
6886 <p>The <a href="https://alioth.debian.org/projects/freedombox/">initial
6887 Debian initiative</a> based on the vision from Eben Moglen, is to
6888 create a simple and cheap Debian based appliance that anyone can hook
6889 up in their home and get access to secure and private services and
6890 communication.  The initial deployment platform have been the
6891 <a href="http://www.globalscaletechnologies.com/t-dreamplugdetails.aspx">Dreamplug</a>,
6892 which is a piece of hardware I do not own.  So to be able to test what
6893 the current Freedombox setup look like, I had to come up with a way to install
6894 it on some hardware I do have access to.  I have rewritten the
6895 <a href="https://github.com/NickDaly/freedom-maker">freedom-maker</a>
6896 image build framework to use .deb packages instead of only copying
6897 setup into the boot images, and thanks to this rewrite I am able to
6898 set up any machine supported by Debian Wheezy as a Freedombox, using
6899 the previously mentioned deb (and a few support debs for packages
6900 missing in Debian).</p>
6901
6902 <p>The current Freedombox setup consist of a set of bootstrapping
6903 scripts
6904 (<a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/freedombox-setup">freedombox-setup</a>),
6905 and a administrative web interface
6906 (<a href="https://github.com/NickDaly/Plinth">plinth</a> + exmachina +
6907 withsqlite), as well as a privacy enhancing proxy based on
6908 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/privoxy">privoxy</a>
6909 (freedombox-privoxy).  There is also a web/javascript based XMPP
6910 client (<a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/jwchat">jwchat</a>)
6911 trying (unsuccessfully so far) to talk to the XMPP server
6912 (<a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/ejabberd">ejabberd</a>).  The
6913 web interface is pluggable, and the goal is to use it to enable OpenID
6914 services, mesh network connectivity, use of TOR, etc, etc.  Not much of
6915 this is really working yet, see
6916 <a href="https://github.com/NickDaly/freedombox-todos/blob/master/TODO">the
6917 project TODO</a> for links to GIT repositories.  Most of the code is
6918 on github at the moment.  The HTTP proxy is operational out of the
6919 box, and the admin web interface can be used to add/remove plinth
6920 users.  I've not been able to do anything else with it so far, but
6921 know there are several branches spread around github and other places
6922 with lots of half baked features.</p>
6923
6924 <p>Anyway, if you want to have a look at the current state, the
6925 following recipes should work to give you a test machine to poke
6926 at.</p>
6927
6928 <p><strong>Debian Wheezy amd64</strong></p>
6929
6930 <ol>
6931
6932 <li>Fetch normal Debian Wheezy installation ISO.</li>
6933 <li>Boot from it, either as CD or USB stick.</li>
6934 <li><p>Press [tab] on the boot prompt and add this as a boot argument
6935 to the Debian installer:<p>
6936 <pre>url=<a href="http://www.reinholdtsen.name/freedombox/preseed-wheezy.dat">http://www.reinholdtsen.name/freedombox/preseed-wheezy.dat</a></pre></li>
6937
6938 <li>Answer the few language/region/password questions and pick disk to
6939 install on.</li>
6940
6941 <li>When the installation is finished and the machine have rebooted a
6942 few times, your Freedombox is ready for testing.</li>
6943
6944 </ol>
6945
6946 <p><strong>Raspberry Pi Raspbian</strong></p>
6947
6948 <ol>
6949
6950 <li>Fetch a Raspbian SD card image, create SD card.</li>
6951 <li>Boot from SD card, extend file system to fill the card completely.</li>
6952 <li><p>Log in and add this to /etc/sources.list:</p>
6953 <pre>
6954 deb <a href="http://www.reinholdtsen.name/freedombox/">http://www.reinholdtsen.name/freedombox</a> wheezy main
6955 </pre></li>
6956 <li><p>Run this as root:</p>
6957 <pre>
6958 wget -O - http://www.reinholdtsen.name/freedombox/BE1A583D.asc | \
6959    apt-key add -
6960 apt-get update
6961 apt-get install freedombox-setup
6962 /usr/lib/freedombox/setup
6963 </pre></li>
6964 <li>Reboot into your freshly created Freedombox.</li>
6965
6966 </ol>
6967
6968 <p>You can test it on other architectures too, but because the
6969 freedombox-privoxy package is binary, it will only work as intended on
6970 the architectures where I have had time to build the binary and put it
6971 in my APT repository.  But do not let this stop you.  It is only a
6972 short "<tt>apt-get source -b freedombox-privoxy</tt>" away. :)</p>
6973
6974 <p>Note that by default Freedombox is a DHCP server on the
6975 192.168.1.0/24 subnet, so if this is your subnet be careful and turn
6976 off the DHCP server by running "<tt>update-rc.d isc-dhcp-server
6977 disable</tt>" as root.</p>
6978
6979 <p>Please let me know if this works for you, or if you have any
6980 problems.  We gather on the IRC channel
6981 <a href="irc://irc.debian.org:6667/%23freedombox">#freedombox</a> on
6982 irc.debian.org and the
6983 <a href="http://lists.alioth.debian.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/freedombox-discuss">project
6984 mailing list</a>.</p>
6985
6986 <p>Once you get your freedombox operational, you can visit
6987 <tt>http://your-host-name:8001/</tt> to see the state of the plint
6988 welcome screen (dead end - do not be surprised if you are unable to
6989 get past it), and next visit <tt>http://your-host-name:8001/help/</tt>
6990 to look at the rest of plinth.  The default user is 'admin' and the
6991 default password is 'secret'.</p>
6992
6993       </div>
6994       <div class="tags">
6995
6996
6997         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/freedombox">freedombox</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>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/web">web</a>.
6998
6999
7000       </div>
7001     </div>
7002     <div class="padding"></div>
7003
7004     <div class="entry">
7005       <div class="title">
7006         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Second_beta_release__beta_1__of_Debian_Edu_Skolelinux_based_on_Debian_Wheezy.html">Second beta release (beta 1) of Debian Edu/Skolelinux based on Debian Wheezy</a>
7007       </div>
7008       <div class="date">
7009         22nd August 2013
7010       </div>
7011       <div class="body">
7012         <p>The second wheezy based beta release of Debian Edu was wrapped up
7013 today, slightly delayed because of some bugs in the initial Windows
7014 integration fixes .  This is the release announcement:</p>
7015
7016 <p><strong>New features for Debian Edu 7.1+edu0~b1 released 2013-08-22</strong></p>
7017
7018 <p>These are the release notes for Debian Edu / Skolelinux
7019 7.1+edu0~b1, based on Debian with codename "Wheezy".</p>
7020
7021 <p><strong>About Debian Edu and Skolelinux</strong></p>
7022
7023 <p><a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu, also known as
7024 Skolelinux</a>, is a Linux distribution based on Debian providing an
7025 out-of-the box environment of a completely configured school
7026 network. Immediately after installation a school server running all
7027 services needed for a school network is set up just waiting for users
7028 and machines being added via GOsa², a comfortable Web-UI. A netbooting
7029 environment is prepared using PXE, so after initial installation of
7030 the main server from CD or USB stick all other machines can be
7031 installed via the network. The provided school server provides LDAP
7032 database and Kerberos authentication service, centralized home
7033 directories, DHCP server, web proxy and many other services. The
7034 desktop contains
7035 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Educational_applications_included_in_Debian_Edu___Skolelinux__the_screenshot_collection____.html">more
7036 than 60 educational software packages</a> and more are available from
7037 the Debian archive, and schools can choose between KDE, Gnome, LXDE
7038 and Xfce desktop environment.</p>
7039
7040 <p>This is the sixth test release based on Debian Wheezy. Basically this
7041 is an updated and slightly improved version compared to the Squeeze
7042 release.</p>
7043
7044 <p>ALERT: Alpha based installations should reinstall or downgrade the
7045 versions of gosa and libpam-mklocaluser to the ones used in this beta
7046 release. Both alpha and beta0 based installations should reinstall or
7047 deal with gosa.conf manually; there are two options: (1) Keep
7048 gosa.conf and edit this file as outlined
7049 <a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-edu/2013/08/msg00127.html">on
7050 the mailing list</a>. (2) Accept the new version of gosa.conf and
7051 replace both contained admin password placeholders with the password
7052 hashes found in the old one (backup copy!). In both cases every user
7053 need to change their their password to make sure a password is set for
7054 CIFS access to their home directory.</p>
7055
7056 <p><strong>Software updates</strong></p>
7057
7058 <ul>
7059
7060 <li>Added ssh askpass packages to default installation, to ensure ssh
7061     work also without a attached tty.</li>
7062 <li>Add the command-not-found package to the default installation to
7063     make it easier to figure out where to find missing command line
7064     tools. Please note, that the command 'update-command-not-found'
7065     has to be run as root to actually make it useful (internet access
7066     required).</li>
7067
7068 </ul>
7069
7070 <p><strong>Other changes</strong></p>
7071
7072 <ul>
7073
7074 <li>Adjusted the USB stick ISO image build to include every tool
7075 needed for desktop=xfce installations.</li>
7076 <li>Adjust thin-client-server task to work when installing from USB
7077 stick ISO image.</li>
7078 <li>Made new grub artwork (changed png from indexed to RGB format).</li>
7079 <li>Minor cleanup in the CUPS setup.</li>
7080 <li>Make sure that bootstrapping of the Samba domain really happens
7081     during installation of the main server and adjust SID handling to
7082     cope with this.</li>
7083 <li>Make Samba passwords changeable (again) via GOsa².</li>
7084 <li>Fix generation of LM and NT password hashes via GOsa² to avoid
7085     empty password hashes.</li>
7086 <li>Adapted Samba machine domain joining to latest change in the
7087     smbldap-tools Perl package, fixing bugs blocking Windows machines
7088     from joining the Samba domain.</li>
7089
7090 </ul>
7091
7092 <p><strong>Known issues</strong></p>
7093
7094 <ul>
7095
7096 <li>KDE fails to understand the wpad.dat file provided, causing it to
7097     not use the http proxy as it should.</li>
7098 <li>Chromium also fails to use the proxy when using the KDE desktop
7099     (using the KDE configuration).</li>
7100
7101 </ul>
7102
7103 <p><strong>Where to get it</strong></p>
7104
7105 <p>To download the multiarch netinstall CD release you can use</p>
7106
7107 <ul>
7108
7109 <li><a href="ftp://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~b1-CD.iso">ftp://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~b1-CD.iso</a></li>
7110
7111 <li><a href="http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~b1-CD.iso">http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~b1-CD.iso</a></li>
7112
7113 <li>rsync -avzP ftp.skolelinux.org::skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~b1-CD.iso .</li>
7114
7115 </ul>
7116
7117 <p>The MD5SUM of this image is: 1e357f80b55e703523f2254adde6d78b
7118 <br>The SHA1SUM of this image is: 7157f9be5fd27c7694d713c6ecfed61c3edda3b2</p>
7119
7120 <p>To download the multiarch USB stick ISO release you can use</p>
7121
7122 <ul>
7123
7124 <li><a href="ftp://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~b1-USB.iso">ftp://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~b1-USB.iso</a></li>
7125 <li><a href="http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~b1-USB.iso">http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~b1-USB.iso</a></li>
7126 <li>rsync -avzP ftp.skolelinux.org::skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~b1-USB.iso .</li>
7127
7128 </ul>
7129
7130 <p>The MD5SUM of this image is: 7a8408ead59cf7e3cef25afb6e91590b
7131 <br>The SHA1SUM of this image is: f1817c031f02790d5edb3bfa0dcf8451088ad119</p>
7132
7133
7134 <p><strong>How to report bugs</strong></p>
7135
7136 <p><a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/HowTo/ReportBugs">http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/HowTo/ReportBugs</a>
7137
7138       </div>
7139       <div class="tags">
7140
7141
7142         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>.
7143
7144
7145       </div>
7146     </div>
7147     <div class="padding"></div>
7148
7149     <div class="entry">
7150       <div class="title">
7151         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Intel_180_SSD_disk_with_Lenovo_firmware_can_not_use_Intel_firmware.html">Intel 180 SSD disk with Lenovo firmware can not use Intel firmware</a>
7152       </div>
7153       <div class="date">
7154         18th August 2013
7155       </div>
7156       <div class="body">
7157         <p>Earlier, I reported about
7158 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/How_to_fix_a_Thinkpad_X230_with_a_broken_180_GB_SSD_disk.html">my
7159 problems using an Intel SSD 520 Series 180 GB disk</a>.  Friday I was
7160 told by IBM that the original disk should be thrown away.  And as
7161 there no longer was a problem if I bricked the firmware, I decided
7162 today to try to install Intel firmware to replace the Lenovo firmware
7163 currently on the disk.</p>
7164
7165 <p>I searched the Intel site for firmware, and found
7166 <a href="https://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&ProdId=3472&DwnldID=18363&ProductFamily=Solid-State+Drives+and+Caching&ProductLine=Intel%c2%ae+High+Performance+Solid-State+Drive&ProductProduct=Intel%c2%ae+SSD+520+Series+(180GB%2c+2.5in+SATA+6Gb%2fs%2c+25nm%2c+MLC)&lang=eng">issdfut_2.0.4.iso</a>
7167 (aka Intel SATA Solid-State Drive Firmware Update Tool) which
7168 according to the site should contain the latest firmware for SSD
7169 disks.  I inserted the broken disk in one of my spare laptops and
7170 booted the ISO from a USB stick.  The disk was recognized, but the
7171 program claimed the newest firmware already were installed and refused
7172 to insert any Intel firmware.  So no change, and the disk is still
7173 unable to handle write load. :( I guess the only way to get them
7174 working would be if Lenovo releases new firmware.  No idea how likely
7175 that is.  Anyway, just blogging about this test for completeness.  I
7176 got a working Samsung disk, and see no point in spending more time on
7177 the broken disks.</p>
7178
7179       </div>
7180       <div class="tags">
7181
7182
7183         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>.
7184
7185
7186       </div>
7187     </div>
7188     <div class="padding"></div>
7189
7190     <div class="entry">
7191       <div class="title">
7192         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/90_percent_done_with_the_Norwegian_draft_translation_of_Free_Culture.html">90 percent done with the Norwegian draft translation of Free Culture</a>
7193       </div>
7194       <div class="date">
7195          2nd August 2013
7196       </div>
7197       <div class="body">
7198         <p>It has been a while since my last update.  Since last summer, I
7199 have worked on a Norwegian
7200 <a href="http://www.docbook.org/">docbook</a> version of the 2004 book
7201 <a href="http://free-culture.cc/">Free Culture</a> by Lawrence Lessig,
7202 to get a Norwegian text explaining the problems with the copyright
7203 law.  Yesterday, I finally broken the 90% mark, when counting the
7204 number of strings to translate.  Due to real life constraints, I have
7205 not had time to work on it since March, but when the summer broke out,
7206 I found time to work on it again.  Still lots of work left, but the
7207 first draft is nearing completion.  I created a graph to show the
7208 progress of the translation:</p>
7209
7210 <p><img width="80%" align="center" src="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig/raw/master/progress.png"></p>
7211
7212 <p>When the first draft is done, the translated text need to be
7213 proof read, and the remaining formatting problems with images and SVG
7214 drawings need to be fixed.  There are probably also some index entries
7215 missing that need to be added.  This can be done by comparing the
7216 index entries listed in the SiSU version of the book, or comparing the
7217 English docbook version with the paper version.  Last, the colophon
7218 page with ISBN numbers etc need to be wrapped up before the release is
7219 done.  I should also figure out how to get correct Norwegian sorting
7220 of the index pages.  All docbook tools I have tried so far (xmlto,
7221 docbook-xsl, dblatex) get the order of symbols and the special
7222 Norwegian letters ÆØÅ wrong.</p>
7223
7224 <p>There is still need for translators and people with docbook
7225 knowledge, to be able to get a good looking book (I still struggle
7226 with dblatex, xmlto and docbook-xsl) as well as to do the draft
7227 translation and proof reading.  And I would like the figures to be
7228 redrawn as SVGs to make it easy to translate them.  Any SVG master
7229 around?  There are also some legal terms that are unfamiliar to me.
7230 If you want to help, please get in touch with me, and check out the
7231 project files currently available from
7232 <a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig">github</a>.</p>
7233
7234 <p>If you are curious what the translated book currently look like,
7235 the updated
7236 <a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig/blob/master/archive/freeculture.nb.pdf?raw=true">PDF</a>
7237 and
7238 <a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig/blob/master/archive/freeculture.nb.epub?raw=true">EPUB</a>
7239 are published on github.  The HTML version is published as well, but
7240 github hand it out with MIME type text/plain, confusing browsers, so I
7241 saw no point in linking to that version.</p>
7242
7243       </div>
7244       <div class="tags">
7245
7246
7247         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>.
7248
7249
7250       </div>
7251     </div>
7252     <div class="padding"></div>
7253
7254     <div class="entry">
7255       <div class="title">
7256         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/First_beta_release_of_Debian_Edu_Skolelinux_based_on_Debian_Wheezy.html">First beta release of Debian Edu/Skolelinux based on Debian Wheezy</a>
7257       </div>
7258       <div class="date">
7259         27th July 2013
7260       </div>
7261       <div class="body">
7262         <p>The first wheezy based beta release of Debian Edu was wrapped up
7263 today.  This is the release announcement:</p>
7264
7265 <p><strong>New features for Debian Edu 7.1+edu0~b0 released
7266 2013-07-27</strong></p>
7267
7268 <p>These are the release notes for for Debian Edu / Skolelinux
7269 7.1+edu0~b0, based on Debian with codename "Wheezy".</p>
7270
7271 <p><strong>About Debian Edu and Skolelinux</strong></p>
7272
7273 <p><a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu, also known as
7274 Skolelinux</a>, is a Linux distribution based on Debian providing an
7275 out-of-the box environment of a completely configured school
7276 network. Immediately after installation a school server running all
7277 services needed for a school network is set up just waiting for users
7278 and machines being added via GOsa², a comfortable Web-UI. A netbooting
7279 environment is prepared using PXE, so after initial installation of
7280 the main server from CD, DVD or USB stick all other machines can be
7281 installed via the network. The provided school server provides LDAP
7282 database and Kerberos authentication service, centralized home
7283 directories, DHCP server, web proxy and many other services. The
7284 desktop contains
7285 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Educational_applications_included_in_Debian_Edu___Skolelinux__the_screenshot_collection____.html">more
7286 than 60 educational software packages</a> and more are available from
7287 the Debian archive, and schools can choose between KDE, Gnome, LXDE
7288 and Xfce desktop environment.</p>
7289
7290 <p>This is the fifth test release based on Debian Wheezy. Basically
7291 this is an updated and slightly improved version compared to the
7292 Squeeze release.</p>
7293
7294 <p>ALERT: Alpha based installations should reinstall or downgrade the
7295 versions of gosa and libpam-mklocaluser to the ones used in this beta
7296 release.</p>
7297
7298 <p><strong>Software updates</strong></p>
7299
7300 <ul>
7301
7302 <li>Switched roaming workstation profiles from wicd to network-manager
7303    for network configuration, as wicd didn't work any more.</li>
7304 <li>Changed version numbers of patched gosa and libpam-mklocaluser
7305    packages to make sure our locally patched versions will be replaced
7306    by the official packages when they are released from Debian. Those
7307    installing alpha version need to reinstall or manually downgrade gosa
7308    and libpam-mklocaluser.</li>
7309 <li>Added bluetooth tools to the default desktop (bluedevil, blueman).</li>
7310 <li>Added tools for sharing the desktop on KDE (krdc, krfb).</li>
7311 <li>Added valgrind to the default installation for easier debugging of
7312    crash bugs.</li>
7313
7314 </ul>
7315
7316 <p><strong>Other changes</strong></p>
7317
7318 <ul>
7319
7320 <li>Fixed artwork package to work with gnome, no longer break
7321    desktop=gnome installations.</li>
7322 <li>Adjusted installer to now work when forced to use a proxy with the
7323    netinst CD.</li>
7324 <li>Fixed code detecting and setting/loading hardware specific
7325    setup/firmware to work more robust out of the box.</li>
7326 <li>Adjusted Kerberos setup to detect realm and server settings at
7327    install time instead of dynamically at run time. This avoid a crash
7328    with krb5-auth-dialog on diskless workstations without a DNS name.</li>
7329 <li>Worked around misfeature in network-manager not calling the dhclient
7330    exit hooks, causing automatic proxy configuration and automatic host
7331    name setting at run time to work again.</li>
7332 <li>Fixed feature setting the default Iceweasel start page from URL
7333    fetched from LDAP, to allow schools to set the global default by
7334    updating the dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no LDAP object.</li>
7335 <li>Changed default host name on all networked machines to be unique
7336    (generated from MAC or reverse DNS) after boot.</li>
7337 <li>Adjusted partition sizes to make sure they are big enough.</li>
7338
7339 </ul>
7340
7341 <p><strong>Known issues</strong></p>
7342
7343 <ul>
7344
7345 <li>Grub is missing the new artwork.</li>
7346 <li>KDE fail to understand the wpad.dat file provided, causing it to
7347     not use the http proxy as it should.</li>
7348 <li>Chromium also fail to use the proxy.</li>
7349
7350 </ul>
7351
7352 <p><strong>Where to get it</strong></p>
7353
7354 <p>To download the multiarch netinstall CD release you can use</p>
7355
7356 <ul>
7357
7358 <li><a href="ftp://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~b0-CD.iso">ftp://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~b0-CD.iso</a></li>
7359
7360 <li><a href="http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~b0-CD.iso">http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~b0-CD.iso</a></li>
7361
7362 <li>rsync -avzP ftp.skolelinux.org::skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~b0-CD.iso .</li>
7363
7364 </ul>
7365
7366 <p>The MD5SUM of this image is: 55d5de9765b6dccd5d9ec33cf1a07109
7367 <br>The SHA1SUM of this image is: 996a1d9517740e4d627d100de2d12b23dd545a3f</p>
7368
7369 <p>To download the multiarch USB stick ISO release you can use</p>
7370
7371 <ul>
7372
7373 <li><a href="ftp://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~b0-USB.iso">ftp://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~b0-USB.iso</a></li>
7374 <li><a href="http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~b0-USB.iso">http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~b0-USB.iso</a></li>
7375 <li>rsync -avzP ftp.skolelinux.org::skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~b0-USB.iso .</li>
7376
7377 </ul>
7378
7379 <p>The MD5SUM of this image is: d8f0818c51a78d357de794066f289f69
7380 <br>The SHA1SUM of this image is: 49185ca354e8d0543240423746924f76a6cee733</p>
7381
7382
7383 <p><strong>How to report bugs</strong></p>
7384
7385 <p><a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/HowTo/ReportBugs">http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/HowTo/ReportBugs</a>
7386
7387       </div>
7388       <div class="tags">
7389
7390
7391         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>.
7392
7393
7394       </div>
7395     </div>
7396     <div class="padding"></div>
7397
7398     <div class="entry">
7399       <div class="title">
7400         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/How_to_fix_a_Thinkpad_X230_with_a_broken_180_GB_SSD_disk.html">How to fix a Thinkpad X230 with a broken 180 GB SSD disk</a>
7401       </div>
7402       <div class="date">
7403         17th July 2013
7404       </div>
7405       <div class="body">
7406         <p>Today I switched to
7407 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/The_Thinkpad_is_dead__long_live_the_Thinkpad_X230_.html">my
7408 new laptop</a>.  I've previously written about the problems I had with
7409 my new Thinkpad X230, which was delivered with an
7410 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Intel_SSD_520_Series_180_GB_with_Lenovo_firmware_still_lock_up_from_sustained_writes.html">180
7411 GB Intel SSD disk with Lenovo firmware</a> that did not handle
7412 sustained writes.  My hardware supplier have been very forthcoming in
7413 trying to find a solution, and after first trying with another
7414 identical 180 GB disks they decided to send me a 256 GB Samsung SSD
7415 disk instead to fix it once and for all.  The Samsung disk survived
7416 the installation of Debian with encrypted disks (filling the disk with
7417 random data during installation killed the first two), and I thus
7418 decided to trust it with my data.  I have installed it as a Debian Edu
7419 Wheezy roaming workstation hooked up with my Debian Edu Squeeze main
7420 server at home using Kerberos and LDAP, and will use it as my work
7421 station from now on.</p>
7422
7423 <p>As this is a solid state disk with no moving parts, I believe the
7424 Debian Wheezy default installation need to be tuned a bit to increase
7425 performance and increase life time of the disk.  The Linux kernel and
7426 user space applications do not yet adjust automatically to such
7427 environment.  To make it easier for my self, I created a draft Debian
7428 package <tt>ssd-setup</tt> to handle this tuning.  The
7429 <a href="http://anonscm.debian.org/gitweb/?p=collab-maint/ssd-setup.git">source
7430 for the ssd-setup package</a> is available from collab-maint, and it
7431 is set up to adjust the setup of the machine by just installing the
7432 package.  If there is any non-SSD disk in the machine, the package
7433 will refuse to install, as I did not try to write any logic to sort
7434 file systems in SSD and non-SSD file systems.</p>
7435
7436 <p>I consider the package a draft, as I am a bit unsure how to best
7437 set up Debian Wheezy with an SSD.  It is adjusted to my use case,
7438 where I set up the machine with one large encrypted partition (in
7439 addition to /boot), put LVM on top of this and set up partitions on
7440 top of this again.  See the README file in the package source for the
7441 references I used to pick the settings.  At the moment these
7442 parameters are tuned:</p>
7443
7444 <ul>
7445
7446 <li>Set up cryptsetup to pass TRIM commands to the physical disk
7447     (adding discard to /etc/crypttab)</li>
7448
7449 <li>Set up LVM to pass on TRIM commands to the underlying device (in
7450     this case a cryptsetup partition) by changing issue_discards from
7451     0 to 1 in /etc/lvm/lvm.conf.</li>
7452
7453 <li>Set relatime as a file system option for ext3 and ext4 file
7454     systems.</li>
7455
7456 <li>Tell swap to use TRIM commands by adding 'discard' to
7457     /etc/fstab.</li>
7458
7459 <li>Change I/O scheduler from cfq to deadline using a udev rule.</li>
7460
7461 <li>Run fstrim on every ext3 and ext4 file system every night (from
7462     cron.daily).</li>
7463
7464 <li>Adjust sysctl values vm.swappiness to 1 and vm.vfs_cache_pressure
7465     to 50 to reduce the kernel eagerness to swap out processes.</li>
7466
7467 </ul>
7468
7469 <p>During installation, I cancelled the part where the installer fill
7470 the disk with random data, as this would kill the SSD performance for
7471 little gain.  My goal with the encrypted file system is to ensure
7472 those stealing my laptop end up with a brick and not a working
7473 computer.  I have no hope in keeping the really resourceful people
7474 from getting the data on the disk (see
7475 <a href="http://xkcd.com/538/">XKCD #538</a> for an explanation why).
7476 Thus I concluded that adding the discard option to crypttab is the
7477 right thing to do.</p>
7478
7479 <p>I considered using the noop I/O scheduler, as several recommended
7480 it for SSD, but others recommended deadline and a benchmark I found
7481 indicated that deadline might be better for interactive use.</p>
7482
7483 <p>I also considered using the 'discard' file system option for ext3
7484 and ext4, but read that it would give a performance hit ever time a
7485 file is removed, and thought it best to that that slowdown once a day
7486 instead of during my work.</p>
7487
7488 <p>My package do not set up tmpfs on /var/run, /var/lock and /tmp, as
7489 this is already done by Debian Edu.</p>
7490
7491 <p>I have not yet started on the user space tuning.  I expect
7492 iceweasel need some tuning, and perhaps other applications too, but
7493 have not yet had time to investigate those parts.</p>
7494
7495 <p>The package should work on Ubuntu too, but I have not yet tested it
7496 there.</p>
7497
7498 <p>As for the answer to the question in the title of this blog post,
7499 as far as I know, the only solution I know about is to replace the
7500 disk.  It might be possible to flash it with Intel firmware instead of
7501 the Lenovo firmware.  But I have not tried and did not want to do so
7502 without approval from Lenovo as I wanted to keep the warranty on the
7503 disk until a solution was found and they wanted the broken disks
7504 back.</p>
7505
7506       </div>
7507       <div class="tags">
7508
7509
7510         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>.
7511
7512
7513       </div>
7514     </div>
7515     <div class="padding"></div>
7516
7517     <div class="entry">
7518       <div class="title">
7519         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Intel_SSD_520_Series_180_GB_with_Lenovo_firmware_still_lock_up_from_sustained_writes.html">Intel SSD 520 Series 180 GB with Lenovo firmware still lock up from sustained writes</a>
7520       </div>
7521       <div class="date">
7522         10th July 2013
7523       </div>
7524       <div class="body">
7525         <p>A few days ago, I wrote about
7526 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/The_Thinkpad_is_dead__long_live_the_Thinkpad_X230_.html">the
7527 problems I experienced with my new X230 and its SSD disk</a>, which
7528 was dying during installation because it is unable to cope with
7529 sustained write.  My supplier is in contact with
7530 <a href="http://www.lenovo.com/">Lenovo</a>, and they wanted to send a
7531 replacement disk to try to fix the problem.  They decided to send an
7532 identical model, so my hopes for a permanent fix was slim.</p>
7533
7534 <p>Anyway, today I got the replacement disk and tried to install
7535 Debian Edu Wheezy with encrypted disk on it.  The new disk have the
7536 same firmware version as the original.  This time my hope raised
7537 slightly as the installation progressed, as the original disk used to
7538 die after 4-7% of the disk was written to, while this time it kept
7539 going past 10%, 20%, 40% and even past 50%.  But around 60%, the disk
7540 died again and I was back on square one.  I still do not have a new
7541 laptop with a disk I can trust.  I can not live with a disk that might
7542 lock up when I download a new
7543 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / Skolelinux</a> ISO or
7544 other large files.  I look forward to hearing from my supplier with
7545 the next proposal from Lenovo.</p>
7546
7547 <p>The original disk is marked Intel SSD 520 Series 180 GB,
7548 11S0C38722Z1ZNME35X1TR, ISN: CVCV321407HB180EGN, SA: G57560302, FW:
7549 LF1i, 29MAY2013, PBA: G39779-300, LBA 351,651,888, LI P/N: 0C38722,
7550 Pb-free 2LI, LC P/N: 16-200366, WWN: 55CD2E40002756C4, Model:
7551 SSDSC2BW180A3L 2.5" 6Gb/s SATA SSD 180G 5V 1A, ASM P/N 0C38732, FRU
7552 P/N 45N8295, P0C38732.</p>
7553
7554 <p>The replacement disk is marked Intel SSD 520 Series 180 GB,
7555 11S0C38722Z1ZNDE34N0L0, ISN: CVCV315306RK180EGN, SA: G57560-302, FW:
7556 LF1i, 22APR2013, PBA: G39779-300, LBA 351,651,888, LI P/N: 0C38722,
7557 Pb-free 2LI, LC P/N: 16-200366, WWN: 55CD2E40000AB69E, Model:
7558 SSDSC2BW180A3L 2.5" 6Gb/s SATA SSD 180G 5V 1A, ASM P/N 0C38732, FRU
7559 P/N 45N8295, P0C38732.</p>
7560
7561 <p>The only difference is in the first number (serial number?), ISN,
7562 SA, date and WNPP values.  Mentioning all the details here in case
7563 someone is able to use the information to find a way to identify the
7564 failing disk among working ones (if any such working disk actually
7565 exist).</p>
7566
7567       </div>
7568       <div class="tags">
7569
7570
7571         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>.
7572
7573
7574       </div>
7575     </div>
7576     <div class="padding"></div>
7577
7578     <div class="entry">
7579       <div class="title">
7580         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/July_13th__Debian_Ubuntu_BSP_and_Skolelinux_Debian_Edu_developer_gathering_in_Oslo.html">July 13th: Debian/Ubuntu BSP and Skolelinux/Debian Edu developer gathering in Oslo</a>
7581       </div>
7582       <div class="date">
7583          9th July 2013
7584       </div>
7585       <div class="body">
7586         <p>The upcoming Saturday, 2013-07-13, we are organising a combined
7587 Debian Edu developer gathering and Debian and Ubuntu bug squashing
7588 party in Oslo.  It is organised by <a href="http://www.nuug.no/">the
7589 member assosiation NUUG</a> and
7590 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">the Debian Edu / Skolelinux
7591 project</a> together with <a href="http://bitraf.no/">the hack space
7592 Bitraf</a>.</p>
7593
7594 <p>It starts 10:00 and continue until late evening.  Everyone is
7595 welcome, and there is no fee to participate.  There is on the other
7596 hand limited space, and only room for 30 people.  Please put your name
7597 on <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/BSP/2013/07/13/no/Oslo">the event
7598 wiki page</a> if you plan to join us.</p>
7599
7600       </div>
7601       <div class="tags">
7602
7603
7604         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>.
7605
7606
7607       </div>
7608     </div>
7609     <div class="padding"></div>
7610
7611     <div class="entry">
7612       <div class="title">
7613         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/The_Thinkpad_is_dead__long_live_the_Thinkpad_X230_.html">The Thinkpad is dead, long live the Thinkpad X230?</a>
7614       </div>
7615       <div class="date">
7616          5th July 2013
7617       </div>
7618       <div class="body">
7619         <p>Half a year ago, I reported that I had to find a
7620 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Thank_you_Thinkpad_X41__for_your_long_and_trustworthy_service.html">replacement
7621 for my trusty old Thinkpad X41</a>.  Unfortunately I did not have much
7622 time to spend on it, and it took a while to find a model I believe
7623 will do the job, but two days ago the replacement finally arrived.  I
7624 ended up picking a
7625 <a href="http://www.linlap.com/lenovo_thinkpad_x230">Thinkpad X230</a>
7626 with SSD disk (NZDAJMN).  I first test installed Debian Edu Wheezy as
7627 a roaming workstation, and it seemed to work flawlessly.  But my
7628 second installation with encrypted disk was not as successful.  More
7629 on that below.</p>
7630
7631 <p>I had a hard time trying to track down a good laptop, as my most
7632 important requirements (robust and with a good keyboard) are never
7633 listed in the feature list.  But I did get good help from the search
7634 feature at <a href="http://www.prisjakt.no/">Prisjakt</a>, which
7635 allowed me to limit the list of interesting laptops based on my other
7636 requirements.  A bit surprising that SSD disk are not disks according
7637 to that search interface, so I had to drop specifying the number of
7638 disks from my search parameters.  I also asked around among friends to
7639 get their impression on keyboards and robustness.</p>
7640
7641 <p>So the new laptop arrived, and it is quite a lot wider than the
7642 X41.  I am not quite convinced about the keyboard, as it is
7643 significantly wider than my old keyboard, and I have to stretch my
7644 hand a lot more to reach the edges.  But the key response is fairly
7645 good and the individual key shape is fairly easy to handle, so I hope
7646 I will get used to it.  My old X40 was starting to fail, and I really
7647 needed a new laptop now. :)</p>
7648
7649 <p>Turning off the touch pad was simple.  All it took was a quick
7650 visit to the BIOS during boot it disable it.</p>
7651
7652 <p>But there is a fatal problem with the laptop.  The 180 GB SSD disk
7653 lock up during load.  And this happen when installing Debian Wheezy
7654 with encrypted disk, while the disk is being filled with random data.
7655 I also tested to install Ubuntu Raring, and it happen there too if I
7656 reenable the code to fill the disk with random data (it is disabled by
7657 default in Ubuntu).  And the bug with is already known.  It was
7658 reported to Debian as <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/691427">BTS
7659 report #691427 2012-10-25</a> (journal commit I/O error on brand-new
7660 Thinkpad T430s ext4 on lvm on SSD).  It is also reported to the Linux
7661 kernel developers as
7662 <a href="https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=51861">Kernel bugzilla
7663 report #51861 2012-12-20</a> (Intel SSD 520 stops working under load
7664 (SSDSC2BW180A3L in Lenovo ThinkPad T430s)). It is also reported on the
7665 Lenovo forums, both for
7666 <a href="http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/T400-T500-and-newer-T-series/T430s-Intel-SSD-520-180GB-issue/m-p/1070549">T430
7667 2012-11-10</a> and for
7668 <a href="http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/X-Series-ThinkPad-Laptops/x230-SATA-errors-with-180GB-Intel-520-SSD-under-heavy-write-load/m-p/1068147">X230
7669 03-20-2013</a>.  The problem do not only affect installation.  The
7670 reports state that the disk lock up during use if many writes are done
7671 on the disk, so it is much no use to work around the installation
7672 problem and end up with a computer that can lock up at any moment.
7673 There is even a
7674 <a href="https://git.efficios.com/?p=test-ssd.git">small C program
7675 available</a> that will lock up the hard drive after running a few
7676 minutes by writing to a file.</p>
7677
7678 <p>I've contacted my supplier and asked how to handle this, and after
7679 contacting PCHELP Norway (request 01D1FDP) which handle support
7680 requests for Lenovo, his first suggestion was to upgrade the disk
7681 firmware.  Unfortunately there is no newer firmware available from
7682 Lenovo, as my disk already have the most recent one (version LF1i).  I
7683 hope to hear more from him today and hope the problem can be
7684 fixed. :)</p>
7685
7686       </div>
7687       <div class="tags">
7688
7689
7690         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>.
7691
7692
7693       </div>
7694     </div>
7695     <div class="padding"></div>
7696
7697     <div class="entry">
7698       <div class="title">
7699         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/The_Thinkpad_is_dead__long_live_the_Thinkpad_X230.html">The Thinkpad is dead, long live the Thinkpad X230</a>
7700       </div>
7701       <div class="date">
7702          4th July 2013
7703       </div>
7704       <div class="body">
7705         <p>Half a year ago, I reported that I had to find a replacement for my
7706 trusty old Thinkpad X41.  Unfortunately I did not have much time to
7707 spend on it, but today the replacement finally arrived.  I ended up
7708 picking a <a href="http://www.linlap.com/lenovo_thinkpad_x230">Thinkpad
7709 X230</a> with SSD disk (NZDAJMN).  I first test installed Debian Edu
7710 Wheezy as a roaming workstation, and it worked flawlessly.  As I write
7711 this, it is installing what I hope will be a more final installation,
7712 with a encrypted hard drive to ensure any dope head stealing it end up
7713 with an expencive door stop.</p>
7714
7715 <p>I had a hard time trying to track down a good laptop, as my most
7716 important requirements (robust and with a good keyboard) are never
7717 listed in the feature list.  But I did get good help from the search
7718 feature at <ahref="http://www.prisjakt.no/">Prisjakt</a>, which
7719 allowed me to limit the list of interesting laptops based on my other
7720 requirements.  A bit surprising that SSD disk are not disks, so I had
7721 to drop number of disks from my search parameters.</p>
7722
7723 <p>I am not quite convinced about the keyboard, as it is significantly
7724 wider than my old keyboard, and I have to stretch my hand a lot more
7725 to reach the edges.  But the key response is fairly good and the
7726 individual key shape is fairly easy to handle, so I hope I will get
7727 used to it.  My old X40 was starting to fail, and I really needed a
7728 new laptop now. :)</p>
7729
7730 <p>I look forward to figuring out how to turn off the touch pad.</p>
7731
7732       </div>
7733       <div class="tags">
7734
7735
7736         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>.
7737
7738
7739       </div>
7740     </div>
7741     <div class="padding"></div>
7742
7743     <div class="entry">
7744       <div class="title">
7745         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Fourth_alpha_release_of_Debian_Edu_Skolelinux_based_on_Debian_Wheezy.html">Fourth alpha release of Debian Edu/Skolelinux based on Debian Wheezy</a>
7746       </div>
7747       <div class="date">
7748          3rd July 2013
7749       </div>
7750       <div class="body">
7751         <p>The fourth wheezy based alpha release of Debian Edu was wrapped up
7752 today.  This is the release announcement:</p>
7753
7754 <p><strong>New features for Debian Edu 7.1+edu0~alpha3 released
7755 2013-07-03</strong></p>
7756
7757 <p>These are the release notes for for Debian Edu / Skolelinux
7758 7.1+edu0~alpha3, based on Debian with codename "Wheezy".</p>
7759
7760 <p><strong>About Debian Edu and Skolelinux</strong></p>
7761
7762 <p><a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu, also known as
7763 Skolelinux</a>, is a Linux distribution based on Debian providing an
7764 out-of-the box environment of a completely configured school
7765 network. Immediately after installation a school server running all
7766 services needed for a school network is set up just waiting for users
7767 and machines being added via GOsa², a comfortable Web-UI. A netbooting
7768 environment is prepared using PXE, so after initial installation of
7769 the main server from CD, DVD or USB stick all other machines can be
7770 installed via the network. The provided school server provides LDAP
7771 database and Kerberos authentication service, centralized home
7772 directories, DHCP server, web proxy and many other services. The
7773 desktop contains
7774 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Educational_applications_included_in_Debian_Edu___Skolelinux__the_screenshot_collection____.html">more
7775 than 60 educational software packages</a> and more are available from
7776 the Debian archive, and schools can choose between KDE, Gnome, LXDE
7777 and Xfce desktop environment.</p>
7778
7779 <p>This is the fourth test release based on Debian Wheezy. Basically
7780 this is an updated and slightly improved version compared to the
7781 Squeeze release.</p>
7782
7783 <p><strong>Software updates</strong></p>
7784 <ul>
7785   <li>Dropped ispell dictionaries from our default installation.</li>
7786   <li>Dropped menu-xdg from the KDE desktop option, to drop the Debian
7787     submenu.  It was not included with Gnome, LXDE or Xfce, so this
7788     brings KDE in line with the others.</li>
7789   <li>Dropped xdrawchem, xjig and xsok from our default installation as
7790     they don't have a desktop menu entry and thus won't show up in the
7791     menu now that menu-xdg was removed.</li>
7792   <li>Removed the killer system to kill left behind processes on
7793     multi-user machines, as it was no longer able to understand when a
7794     X display was in use and killed the processes of the active users
7795     too.</li>
7796   <li>Dropped the golearn (from goplay) package as the debtags in wheezy
7797     are too few to make the package useful.</li>
7798 </ul>
7799 <p><strong>Other changes</strong></p>
7800 <ul>
7801   <li>Updated artwork matching http://wiki.debian.org/DebianArt/Themes/Joy
7802   <li>Multi-arch i386/amd64 USB stick ISO available.</li>
7803   <li>Got rid of ispell/wordlist related debconf questions that showed
7804     up for some language options.</li>
7805   <li>Switched to using http.debian.net as APT source by default.</li>
7806   <li>Fixed proxy configuration on Main Server installations.</li>
7807   <li>Changed LTSP setup to ask dpkg to use force-unsafe-io the same way
7808     d-i is doing it.</li>
7809   <li>Made sure root and user passwords were not left behind in the
7810     debconf database after installation on Main Server installations.</li>
7811   <li>Made Roaming Workstation dynamic setup more robust and added draft
7812     script setup-ad-client to hook a Roaming Workstation up to a
7813     Active Directory server instead of a Debian Edu Main Server.</li>
7814   <li>Update system to install needed firmware packages during
7815     installation, to work properly in Wheezy.</li>
7816   <li>Update system to handle hardware quirks (debian-edu-hwsetup).</li>
7817   <li>Corrected PXE installation setup to properly pass selected desktop
7818     and keymap settings to PXE installation clients.</li>
7819   <li>LTSP diskless workstations use sshfs by default, allowing them to
7820     work without adding them to DNS and NIS netgroups for NFS access.</li>
7821 </ul>
7822 <p><strong>Known issues</strong></p>
7823 <ul>
7824   <li>No mass import of user account data in GOsa (ldif or csv)
7825     available yet (698840).</li>
7826   <li>Artwork not enabled for all desktops.</li>
7827 </ul>
7828 <p><strong>Where to get it</strong></p>
7829
7830 <p>To download the multiarch netinstall CD release you can use</p>
7831 <ul>
7832   <li><a href="ftp://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~a3-CD.iso">ftp://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~a3-CD.iso</a></li>
7833   <li><a href="http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~a3-CD.iso">http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~a3-CD.iso</a></li>
7834   <li>rsync -avzP ftp.skolelinux.org::skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~a3-CD.iso .</li>
7835 </ul>
7836
7837 <p>The MD5SUM of this image is: 2b161a99d2a848c376d8d04e3854e30c
7838 <br>The SHA1SUM of this image is: 498922e9c508c0a7ee9dbe1dfe5bf830d779c3c8</p>
7839
7840 <p>To download the multiarch USB stick ISO release you can use</p>
7841 <ul>
7842   <li><a href="ftp://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~a3-USB.iso">ftp://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~a3-USB.iso</a></li>
7843   <li><a href="http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~a3-USB.iso">http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~a3-USB.iso</a></li>
7844   <li>rsync -avzP ftp.skolelinux.org::skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~a3-USB.iso .</li>
7845 </ul>
7846
7847 <p>The MD5SUM of this image is: 25e808e403a4c15dbef1d13c37d572ac
7848 <br>The SHA1SUM of this image is: 15ecfc93eb6b4f453b7eb0bc04b6a279262d9721</p>
7849
7850 <p><strong>How to report bugs</strong></p>
7851
7852 <p><a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/HowTo/ReportBugs">http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/HowTo/ReportBugs</a></p>
7853
7854       </div>
7855       <div class="tags">
7856
7857
7858         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>.
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/Automatically_locate_and_install_required_firmware_packages_on_Debian__Isenkram_0_4_.html">Automatically locate and install required firmware packages on Debian (Isenkram 0.4)</a>
7868       </div>
7869       <div class="date">
7870         25th June 2013
7871       </div>
7872       <div class="body">
7873         <p>It annoys me when the computer fail to do automatically what it is
7874 perfectly capable of, and I have to do it manually to get things
7875 working.  One such task is to find out what firmware packages are
7876 needed to get the hardware on my computer working.  Most often this
7877 affect the wifi card, but some times it even affect the RAID
7878 controller or the ethernet card.  Today I pushed version 0.4 of the
7879 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/isenkram">Isenkram package</a>
7880 including a new script isenkram-autoinstall-firmware handling the
7881 process of asking all the loaded kernel modules what firmware files
7882 they want, find debian packages providing these files and install the
7883 debian packages.  Here is a test run on my laptop:</p>
7884
7885 <p><pre>
7886 # isenkram-autoinstall-firmware
7887 info: kernel drivers requested extra firmware: ipw2200-bss.fw ipw2200-ibss.fw ipw2200-sniffer.fw
7888 info: fetching http://http.debian.net/debian/dists/squeeze/Contents-i386.gz
7889 info: locating packages with the requested firmware files
7890 info: Updating APT sources after adding non-free APT source
7891 info: trying to install firmware-ipw2x00
7892 firmware-ipw2x00
7893 firmware-ipw2x00
7894 Preconfiguring packages ...
7895 Selecting previously deselected package firmware-ipw2x00.
7896 (Reading database ... 259727 files and directories currently installed.)
7897 Unpacking firmware-ipw2x00 (from .../firmware-ipw2x00_0.28+squeeze1_all.deb) ...
7898 Setting up firmware-ipw2x00 (0.28+squeeze1) ...
7899 #
7900 </pre></p>
7901
7902 <p>When all the requested firmware is present, a simple message is
7903 printed instead:</p>
7904
7905 <p><pre>
7906 # isenkram-autoinstall-firmware
7907 info: did not find any firmware files requested by loaded kernel modules.  exiting
7908 #
7909 </pre></p>
7910
7911 <p>It could use some polish, but it is already working well and saving
7912 me some time when setting up new machines. :)</p>
7913
7914 <p>So, how does it work?  It look at the set of currently loaded
7915 kernel modules, and look up each one of them using modinfo, to find
7916 the firmware files listed in the module meta-information.  Next, it
7917 download the Contents file from a nearby APT mirror, and search for
7918 the firmware files in this file to locate the package with the
7919 requested firmware file.  If the package is in the non-free section, a
7920 non-free APT source is added and the package is installed using
7921 <tt>apt-get install</tt>.  The end result is a slightly better working
7922 machine.</p>
7923
7924 <p>I hope someone find time to implement a more polished version of
7925 this script as part of the hw-detect debian-installer module, to
7926 finally fix <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/655507">BTS report
7927 #655507</a>.  There really is no need to insert USB sticks with
7928 firmware during a PXE install when the packages already are available
7929 from the nearby Debian mirror.</p>
7930
7931       </div>
7932       <div class="tags">
7933
7934
7935         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>.
7936
7937
7938       </div>
7939     </div>
7940     <div class="padding"></div>
7941
7942     <div class="entry">
7943       <div class="title">
7944         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/The_value_of_a_good_distro_wide_test_suite___.html">The value of a good distro wide test suite...</a>
7945       </div>
7946       <div class="date">
7947         22nd June 2013
7948       </div>
7949       <div class="body">
7950         <p>In the <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu /
7951 Skolelinux</a> project, we include a post-installation test suite,
7952 which check that services are running, working, and return the
7953 expected results.  It runs automatically just after the first boot on
7954 test installations (using test ISOs), but not on production
7955 installations (using non-test ISOs).  It test that the LDAP service is
7956 operating, Kerberos is responding, DNS is replying, file systems are
7957 online resizable, etc, etc.  And it check that the PXE service is
7958 configured, which is the topic of this post.</p>
7959
7960 <p>The last week I've fixed the DVD and USB stick ISOs for our Debian
7961 Edu Wheezy release.  These ISOs are supposed to be able to install a
7962 complete system without any Internet connection, but for that to
7963 happen all the needed packages need to be on them.  Thanks to our test
7964 suite, I discovered that we had forgotten to adjust our PXE setup to
7965 cope with the new names and paths used by the netboot d-i packages.
7966 When Internet connectivity was available, the installer fall back to
7967 using wget to fetch d-i boot images, but when offline it require
7968 working packages to get it working.  And the packages changed name
7969 from debian-installer-6.0-netboot-$arch to
7970 debian-installer-7.0-netboot-$arch, we no longer pulled in the
7971 packages during installation.  Without our test suite, I suspect we
7972 would never have discovered this before release.  Now it is fixed
7973 right after we got the ISOs operational.</p>
7974
7975 <p>Another by-product of the test suite is that we can ask system
7976 administrators with problems getting Debian Edu to work, to run the
7977 test suite using <tt>/usr/sbin/debian-edu-test-install</tt> and see if
7978 any errors are detected.  This usually pinpoint the subsystem causing
7979 the problem.</p>
7980
7981 <p>If you want to help us help kids learn how to share and create,
7982 please join us on
7983 <a href="irc://irc.debian.org/%23debian-edu">#debian-edu on
7984 irc.debian.org</a> and the
7985 <a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-edu/">debian-edu@</a> mailing
7986 list.</p>
7987
7988       </div>
7989       <div class="tags">
7990
7991
7992         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>.
7993
7994
7995       </div>
7996     </div>
7997     <div class="padding"></div>
7998
7999     <div class="entry">
8000       <div class="title">
8001         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__Victor_Ni_u.html">Debian Edu interview: Victor Nițu</a>
8002       </div>
8003       <div class="date">
8004         17th June 2013
8005       </div>
8006       <div class="body">
8007         <p>The <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu and
8008 Skolelinux</a> distribution have users and contributors all around the
8009 globe.  And a while back, an enterprising young man showed up on
8010 <a href="irc://irc.debian.org/%23debian-edu">our IRC channel
8011 #debian-edu</a> and started asking questions about how Debian Edu
8012 worked.  We answered as good as we could, and even convinced him to
8013 help us with translations.  And today I managed to get an interview
8014 with him, to learn more about him.</p>
8015
8016 <p><strong>Who are you, and how do you spend your days?</strong></p>
8017
8018 <p>I'm a 25 year old free software enthusiast, living in Romania,
8019 which is also my country of origin. Back in 2009, at a New Year's Eve
8020 party, I had a very nice <strike>beer</strike> discussion with a
8021 friend, when we realized we have no organised Debian community in our
8022 country. A few days later, we put together the infrastructure for such
8023 community and even gathered a nice Debian-ish crowd. Since then, I
8024 began my quest as a free software hacker and activist and I am
8025 constantly trying to cover as much ground as possible on that
8026 field.</p>
8027
8028 <p>A few years ago I founded a small web development company, which
8029 provided me the flexible schedule I needed so much for my
8030 activities. For the last 13 months, I have been the Technical Director
8031 of <a href="http://ceata.org/">Fundația Ceata</a>, which is a free
8032 software activist organisation endorsed by the FSF and the FSFE, and
8033 the only one we have in our country.</p>
8034
8035 <p><strong>How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux / Debian Edu
8036 project?</strong></p>
8037
8038 <p>The idea of participating in the Debian Edu project was a surprise
8039 even to me, since I never used it before I began getting involved in
8040 it. This year I had a great opportunity to deliver a talk on
8041 educational software, and I knew immediately where to look. It was a
8042 love at first sight, since I was previously involved with some of the
8043 technologies the project incorporates, and I rapidly found a lot of
8044 ways to contribute.</p>
8045
8046 <p>My first contributions consisted in translating the installer and
8047 configuration dialogs, then I found some bugs to squash (I still
8048 haven't fixed them yet though), and I even got my eyes on some other
8049 areas where I can prove myself helpful. Since the appetite for free
8050 software in my country is pretty low, I'll be happy to be the first
8051 one around here advocating for the project's adoption in educational
8052 environments, and maybe even get my hands dirty in creating a flavour
8053 for our own needs. I am not used to make very advanced plannings, so
8054 from now on, time will tell what I'll be doing next, but I think I
8055 have a pretty consistent starting point.</p>
8056
8057 <p><strong>What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux/Debian
8058 Edu?</strong></p>
8059
8060 <p>Not a long time ago, I was in the position of configuring and
8061 maintaining a LDAP server on some Debian derivative, and I must say it
8062 took me a while. A long time ago, I was maintaining a bigger
8063 Samba-powered infrastructure, and I must say I spent quite a lot of
8064 time on it. I have similar stories about many of the services included
8065 with Skolelinux, and the main advantage I see about it is the
8066 out-of-the box availability of them, making it quite competitive when
8067 it comes to managing a school's network, for example.</p>
8068
8069 <p>Of course, there is more to say about Skolelinux than the
8070 availability of the software included, its flexibility in various
8071 scenarios is something I can't wait to experiment "into the wild" (I
8072 only played with virtual machines so far). And I am sure there is a
8073 lot more I haven't discovered yet about it, being so new within the
8074 project.</p>
8075
8076 <p><strong>What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux / Debian
8077 Edu?</strong></p>
8078
8079 <p>As usual, when it comes to Debian Blends, I see as the biggest
8080 disadvantage the lack of a numerous team dedicated to the
8081 project. Every day I see the same names in the changelogs, and I have
8082 a constantly fear of the bus factor in this story.  I'd like to see
8083 Debian Edu advertised more as an entry point into the Debian
8084 ecosystem, especially amongst newcomers and students. IMHO there are a
8085 lot low-hanging fruits in terms of bug squashing, and enough
8086 opportunities to get the feeling of the Debian Project's dynamics. Not
8087 to mention it's a very fun blend to work on!</p>
8088
8089 <p>Derived from the previous statement, is the delay in catching up
8090 with the main Debian release and documentation. This is common though
8091 to all blends and derivatives, but it's an issue we can all work
8092 on.</p>
8093
8094 <p><strong>Which free software do you use daily?</strong></p>
8095
8096 <p>I can hardly imagine myself spending a day without Vim, since my
8097 daily routine covers writing code and hacking configuration files. I
8098 am a fan of the Awesome window manager (but I also like the
8099 Enlightenment project a lot!),
8100 <a href="http://www.claws-mail.org/‎">Claws Mail</a> due to its ease of
8101 use and very configurable behaviour. Recently I fell in love with
8102 <a href="https://launchpad.net/redshift">Redshift</a>, which helps me
8103 get through the night without headaches. Of course, there is much more
8104 stuff in this bag, but I'll need a blog on my own for doing this!</p>
8105
8106 <p><strong>Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to
8107 get schools to use free software?</strong></p>
8108
8109 <p>Well, on this field, I cannot do much more than experiment right
8110 now. So, being far from having a recipe for success, I can only assume
8111 that:</p>
8112
8113 <ul>
8114
8115 <li>schools would like to get rid of proprietary software</li>
8116
8117 <li>students will love the openness of the system, and will want to
8118     experiment with it - maybe we need to harvest the native curiosity
8119     of teenagers more?</li>
8120
8121 <li>there is no "right one" when it comes to strategies, but it would
8122     be useful to have some success stories published somewhere, so
8123     other can get some inspiration from them (I know I'd promote
8124     them!)</li>
8125
8126 <li>more active promotion - talks, conferences, even small school
8127     lectures can do magical things if they encounter at least one
8128     person interested. Who knows who that person might be? ;-)</li>
8129
8130 </ul>
8131
8132 <p>I also see some problems in getting Skolelinux into schools; for
8133 example, in our country we have a great deal of corruption issues, so
8134 it might be hard(er) to fight against proprietary solutions. Also,
8135 people who relied on commercial software for all their lives, would be
8136 very hard to convert against their will.</p>
8137
8138       </div>
8139       <div class="tags">
8140
8141
8142         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>.
8143
8144
8145       </div>
8146     </div>
8147     <div class="padding"></div>
8148
8149     <div class="entry">
8150       <div class="title">
8151         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__Jonathan_Carter.html">Debian Edu interview: Jonathan Carter</a>
8152       </div>
8153       <div class="date">
8154         12th June 2013
8155       </div>
8156       <div class="body">
8157         <p>There is a certain cross-over between the
8158 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / Skolelinux
8159 project</a> and <a href="http://www.edubuntu.org/">the Edubuntu
8160 project</a>, and for example the LTSP packages in Debian are a joint
8161 effort between the projects.  One person with a foot in both camps is
8162 Jonathan Carter, which I am now happy to present to you.</p>
8163
8164 <p><strong>Who are you, and how do you spend your days?</strong></p>
8165
8166 <p>I'm a South-African free software geek who lives in Cape Town. My
8167 days vary quite a bit since I'm involved in too many things. As I'm
8168 getting older I'm learning how to focus a bit more :)</p>
8169
8170 <p>I'm also an Edubuntu contributor and I love when there are
8171 opportunities for the Edubuntu and Debian Edu projects to benefit from
8172 each other.</p>
8173
8174 <p><strong>How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux / Debian Edu
8175 project?</strong></p>
8176
8177 <p>I've been somewhat familiar with the project before, but I think my
8178 first direct exposure to the project was when I met Petter
8179 [Reinholdtsen] and Knut [Yrvin] at the Edubuntu summit in 2005 in
8180 London. They provided great feedback that helped the bootstrapping of
8181 Edubuntu. Back then Edubuntu (and even Ubuntu) was still very new and
8182 it was great getting input from people who have been around longer. I
8183 was also still very excitable and said yes to everything and to this
8184 day I have a big todo list backlog that I'm catching up with. I think
8185 over the years the relationship between Edubuntu and Debian-Edu has
8186 been gradually improving, although I think there's a lot that we could
8187 still improve on in terms of working together on packages. I'm sure
8188 we'll get there one day.</p>
8189
8190 <p><strong>What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux / Debian
8191 Edu?</strong></p>
8192
8193 <p>Debian itself already has so many advantages. I could go on about
8194 it for pages, but in essence I love that it's a very honest project
8195 that puts its users first with no hidden agendas and also produces
8196 very high quality work.</p>
8197
8198 <p>I think the advantage of Debian Edu is that it makes many common
8199 set-up tasks simpler so that administrators can get up and running
8200 with a lot less effort and frustration. At the same time I think it
8201 helps to standardise installations in schools so that it's easier for
8202 community members and commercial suppliers to support.</p>
8203
8204 <p><strong>What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux / Debian
8205 Edu?</strong></p>
8206
8207 <p>I had to re-type this one a few times because I'm trying to
8208 separate "disadvantages" from "areas that need improvement" (which is
8209 what I originally rambled on about)</p>
8210
8211 <p>The biggest disadvantage I can think of is lack of manpower. The
8212 project could do so much more if there were more good contributors. I
8213 think some of the problems are external too. Free software and free
8214 content in education is a no-brainer but it takes some time to catch
8215 on. When you've been working with the same proprietary eco-system for
8216 years and have gotten used to it, it can be hard to adjust to some
8217 concepts in the free software world. It would be nice if there were
8218 more Debian Edu consultants across the world. I'd love to be one
8219 myself but I'm already so over-committed that it's just not possible
8220 currently.</p>
8221
8222 <p>I think the best short-term solution to that large-scale problem is
8223 for schools to be pro-active and share their experiences and grow
8224 their skills in-house. I'm often saddened to see how much money
8225 educational institutions spend on 3rd party solutions that they don't
8226 have access to after the service has ended and they could've gotten so
8227 much more value otherwise by being more self-sustainable and
8228 autonomous.</p>
8229
8230 <p><strong>Which free software do you use daily?</strong></p>
8231
8232 <p>My main laptop dual-boots between Debian and Windows 7. I was
8233 Windows free for years but started dual-booting again last year for
8234 some games which help me focus and relax (Starcraft II in
8235 particular). Gaming support on Linux is improving in leaps and bounds
8236 so I suppose I'll soon be able to regain that disk space :)</p>
8237
8238 <p>Besides that I rely on Icedove, Chromium, Terminator, Byobu, irssi,
8239 git, Tomboy, KVM, VLC and LibreOffice. Recently I've been torn on
8240 which desktop environment I like and I'm taking some refuge in Xfce
8241 while I figure that out. I like tools that keep things simple. I enjoy
8242 Python and shell scripting. I went to an Arduino workshop recently and
8243 it was awesome seeing how easy and simple the IDE software was to get
8244 up and running in Debian compared to the users running Windows and OS
8245 X.</p>
8246
8247 <p>I also use mc which some people frown upon slightly. I got used to
8248 using Norton Commander in the early 90's and it stuck (I think the
8249 people who sneer at it is just jealous that they don't know how to use
8250 it :p)
8251
8252 <p><strong>Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to
8253 get schools to use free software?</strong></p>
8254
8255 <p>I think trying to force it is unproductive. I also think that in
8256 many cases it's appropriate for schools to use non-free systems and I
8257 don't think that there's any particular moral or ethical problem with
8258 that.</p>
8259
8260 <p>I do think though that free software can already solve so so many
8261 problems in educational institutions and it's just a shame not taking
8262 advantage of that.</p>
8263
8264 <p>I also think that some curricula need serious review. For example,
8265 some areas of the world rely heavily on very specific versions of MS
8266 Office, teaching students to parrot menu items instead of learning the
8267 general concepts. I think that's very unproductive because firstly, MS
8268 Office's interface changes drastically every few years and on top of
8269 that it also locks in a generation to a product that might not be the
8270 best solution for them.</p>
8271
8272 <p>To answer your question, I believe that the right strategy is to
8273 educate and inform, giving someone the information they require to
8274 make a decision that would work for them.</p>
8275
8276       </div>
8277       <div class="tags">
8278
8279
8280         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>.
8281
8282
8283       </div>
8284     </div>
8285     <div class="padding"></div>
8286
8287     <div class="entry">
8288       <div class="title">
8289         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Fixing_the_Linux_black_screen_of_death_on_machines_with_Intel_HD_video.html">Fixing the Linux black screen of death on machines with Intel HD video</a>
8290       </div>
8291       <div class="date">
8292         11th June 2013
8293       </div>
8294       <div class="body">
8295         <p>When installing RedHat, Fedora, Debian and Ubuntu on some machines,
8296 the screen just turn black when Linux boot, either during installation
8297 or on first boot from the hard disk.  I've seen it once in a while the
8298 last few years, but only recently understood the cause.  I've seen it
8299 on HP laptops, and on my latest acquaintance the Packard Bell laptop.
8300 The reason seem to be in the wiring of some laptops.  The system to
8301 control the screen background light is inverted, so when Linux try to
8302 turn the brightness fully on, it end up turning it off instead.  I do
8303 not know which Linux drivers are affected, but this post is about the
8304 i915 driver used by the
8305 <a href="http://www.linlap.com/packard_bell_easynote_lv">Packard Bell
8306 EasyNote LV</a>, Thinkpad X40 and many other laptops.</p>
8307
8308 <p>The problem can be worked around two ways.  Either by adding
8309 i915.invert_brightness=1 as a kernel option, or by adding a file in
8310 /etc/modprobe.d/ to tell modprobe to add the invert_brightness=1
8311 option when it load the i915 kernel module.  On Debian and Ubuntu, it
8312 can be done by running these commands as root:</p>
8313
8314 <pre>
8315 echo options i915 invert_brightness=1 | tee /etc/modprobe.d/i915.conf
8316 update-initramfs -u -k all
8317 </pre>
8318
8319 <p>Since March 2012 there is
8320 <a href="http://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=4dca20efb1a9c2efefc28ad2867e5d6c3f5e1955">a
8321 mechanism in the Linux kernel</a> to tell the i915 driver which
8322 hardware have this problem, and get the driver to invert the
8323 brightness setting automatically.  To use it, one need to add a row in
8324 <a href="http://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/intel_display.c">the
8325 intel_quirks array</a> in the driver source
8326 <tt>drivers/gpu/drm/i915/intel_display.c</tt> (look for "<tt>static
8327 struct intel_quirk intel_quirks</tt>"), specifying the PCI device
8328 number (vendor number 8086 is assumed) and subdevice vendor and device
8329 number.</p>
8330
8331 <p>My Packard Bell EasyNote LV got this output from <tt>lspci
8332 -vvnn</tt> for the video card in question:</p>
8333
8334 <p><pre>
8335 00:02.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Intel Corporation \
8336     3rd Gen Core processor Graphics Controller [8086:0156] \
8337     (rev 09) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
8338  Subsystem: Acer Incorporated [ALI] Device [1025:0688]
8339  Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- \
8340     ParErr- Stepping- SE RR- FastB2B- DisINTx+
8341  Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- \
8342     <TAbort- <MAbort->SERR- <PERR- INTx-
8343  Latency: 0
8344  Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 42
8345  Region 0: Memory at c2000000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4M]
8346  Region 2: Memory at b0000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=256M]
8347  Region 4: I/O ports at 4000 [size=64]
8348  Expansion ROM at <unassigned> [disabled]
8349  Capabilities: <access denied>
8350  Kernel driver in use: i915
8351 </pre></p>
8352
8353 <p>The resulting intel_quirks entry would then look like this:</p>
8354
8355 <p><pre>
8356 struct intel_quirk intel_quirks[] = {
8357        ...
8358         /* Packard Bell EasyNote LV11HC needs invert brightness quirk */
8359         { 0x0156, 0x1025, 0x0688, quirk_invert_brightness },
8360        ...
8361 }
8362 </pre></p>
8363
8364 <p>According to the kernel module instructions (as seen using
8365 <tt>modinfo i915</tt>), information about hardware needing the
8366 invert_brightness flag should be sent to the
8367 <a href="http://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/dri-devel">dri-devel
8368 (at) lists.freedesktop.org</a> mailing list to reach the kernel
8369 developers.  But my email about the laptop sent 2013-06-03 have not
8370 yet shown up in
8371 <a href="http://lists.freedesktop.org/archives/dri-devel/2013-June/thread.html">the
8372 web archive for the mailing list</a>, so I suspect they do not accept
8373 emails from non-subscribers.  Because of this, I sent my patch also to
8374 the Debian bug tracking system instead as
8375 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/710938">BTS report #710938</a>, to make
8376 sure the patch is not lost.</p>
8377
8378 <p>Unfortunately, it is not enough to fix the kernel to get Laptops
8379 with this problem working properly with Linux.  If you use Gnome, your
8380 worries should be over at this point.  But if you use KDE, there is
8381 something in KDE ignoring the invert_brightness setting and turning on
8382 the screen during login.  I've reported it to Debian as
8383 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/711237">BTS report #711237</a>, and
8384 have no idea yet how to figure out exactly what subsystem is doing
8385 this.  Perhaps you can help?  Perhaps you know what the Gnome
8386 developers did to handle this, and this can give a clue to the KDE
8387 developers?  Or you know where in KDE the screen brightness is changed
8388 during login?  If so, please update the BTS report (or get in touch if
8389 you do not know how to update BTS).</p>
8390
8391 <p>Update 2013-07-19: The correct fix for this machine seem to be
8392 acpi_backlight=vendor, to disable ACPI backlight support completely,
8393 as the ACPI information on the machine is trash and it is better to
8394 leave it to the intel video driver to control the screen
8395 backlight.</p>
8396
8397       </div>
8398       <div class="tags">
8399
8400
8401         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>.
8402
8403
8404       </div>
8405     </div>
8406     <div class="padding"></div>
8407
8408     <div class="entry">
8409       <div class="title">
8410         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Third_alpha_release_of_Debian_Edu___Skolelinux_based_on_Debian_Wheezy.html">Third alpha release of Debian Edu / Skolelinux based on Debian Wheezy</a>
8411       </div>
8412       <div class="date">
8413         10th June 2013
8414       </div>
8415       <div class="body">
8416         <p>The third wheezy based alpha release of Debian Edu was wrapped up
8417 today.  This is the release announcement:</p>
8418
8419 <p><strong>New features for Debian Edu 7.0.0 alpha2 released
8420 2013-06-10</strong></p>
8421
8422 <p>This is the release notes for for Debian Edu / Skolelinux 7.0.0 edu
8423 alpha2, based on Debian with codename "Wheezy".</p>
8424
8425 <p><strong>About Debian Edu and Skolelinux</strong></p>
8426
8427 <p><a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu, also known as
8428 Skolelinux</a>, is a Linux distribution based on Debian providing an
8429 out-of-the box environment of a completely configured school
8430 network. Immediately after installation a school server running all
8431 services needed for a school network is set up just waiting for users
8432 and machines being added via GOsa², a comfortable Web-UI. A netbooting
8433 environment is prepared using PXE, so after initial installation of
8434 the main server from CD, DVD or USB stick all other machines can be
8435 installed via the network. The provided school server provides LDAP
8436 database and Kerberos authentication service, centralized home
8437 directories, DHCP server, web proxy and many other services. The
8438 desktop contains
8439 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Educational_applications_included_in_Debian_Edu___Skolelinux__the_screenshot_collection____.html">more
8440 than 60 educational software packages</a> and more are available from
8441 the Debian archive, and schools can choose between KDE, Gnome, LXDE
8442 and Xfce desktop environment.</p>
8443
8444 <p>This is the third test release based on Debian Wheezy. Basically
8445 this is an updated and slightly improved version compared to the
8446 Squeeze release.</p>
8447
8448 <p><strong>Software updates</strong></p>
8449
8450 <ul>
8451
8452 <li>Iceweasel was updated from 10 to 17. (DSA 2699-1)
8453 <li>Updated libxv (DSA-2674), libxvmc (DSA-2675), libxfixes (DSA-2676), libxrender (DSA-2677), mesa (DSA-2678), xserver-xorg-video-openchrome (DSA-2679), libxt (DSA-2680), libxcursor (DSA-2681), libxext (DSA-2682), libxi (DSA-2683), libxrandr (DSA-2684), libxp (DSA-2685), libxcb (DSA-2686), libfs (DSA-2687), libxres (DSA-2688), libxtst (DSA-2689), libxxf86dga (DSA-2690), libxinerama (DSA-2691), libxxf86vm (DSA-2692), libx11 (DSA-2693), chromium-browser (DSA-2695), gnutls26 (DSA-2697), wireshark (DSA-2700), krb5 (DSA-2701), telepathy-gabble (DSA-2702) and subversion (DSA-2703).
8454 <li>Switched xrdp on thin client servers to use tightvncserver instead of xvnc4.
8455 <li>Now install software oscilloscope xoscope by default.
8456 <li>Now install music tools gtick, lingot and pianobooster by default.
8457
8458 </ul>
8459
8460 <p><strong>Other changes</strong></p>
8461
8462 <ul>
8463
8464 <li>The subnet-change script is now able to change all files needing a change on the main-server when changing the IP network used.
8465 <li>Updated translation of the installation.
8466 <li>New Romanian translation.
8467 <li>Fix security problem causing root and first user password to no longer show up in /var/cache/debconf/templates.dat.
8468 <li>Fix roaming workstation setup (Closed in libpam-mklocaluser/0.8, libpam-mklocaluser/0.8~deb7u1: #706753: libpam-mklocaluser: Fail to create local user during first login).
8469 <li>Made roaming workstation setup more robust in non-Debian Edu environments.
8470 <li>New script debian-edu-bless to transform a Debian installation to a Debian Edu profile.
8471 <li>Adjust Iceweasel setup to improve performance when $HOME is on NFS.
8472 <li>More testsuite tests.
8473 <li>Make automatic proxy configuration more robust.
8474 <li>Adjust GOsa² GUI configuration.
8475
8476 <li>Update thin client and diskless workstation setup to work with
8477 LTSP in Wheezy.</li>
8478
8479 <li>Diskless workstations now run out of the box -- no need to set
8480 them up with GOsa².</li>
8481
8482 <li>Update IMAP server setup. </li>
8483
8484 <li>Fix login into Skolelinux Backup Tool (Closed in
8485 slbackup-php/0.4.4-1: #700257: slbackup-php: Fails to submit correctly
8486 entered password). </li>
8487
8488 </ul>
8489
8490 <p><strong>Known issues</strong></p>
8491
8492 <ul>
8493
8494 <li>DVD binary and source images are not yet ready.</li>
8495
8496 <li>No mass import of user account data in GOsa (ldif or csv)
8497 available yet (Open in gosa/2.7.4-4: #698840: gosa-plugin-ldapmanager:
8498 missing import feature).</li>
8499
8500 <li>Missing artwork for the KDE desktop (and probably a few others). </li>
8501
8502 <li>KDE Debian submenu lacks icons (Closed: #502192: menu-xdg: invents
8503 own icon names instead of using existing). This will remain
8504 unfixed.</li>
8505
8506 </ul>
8507
8508 <p><strong>Where to get it</strong></p>
8509
8510 <p>To download the multiarch netinstall CD release you can use</p>
8511
8512 <ul>
8513
8514 <li><a href="ftp://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.0+edu0~a2-CD.iso">ftp://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.0+edu0~a2-CD.iso</a></li>
8515
8516 <li><a href="http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.0+edu0~a2-CD.iso">http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.0+edu0~a2-CD.iso</a></li>
8517
8518 <li>rsync -avzP ftp.skolelinux.org::skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.0+edu0~a2-CD.iso .</li>
8519
8520 </ul>
8521
8522 <p>The MD5SUM of this image is: 27bbcace407743382f3c42c08dbe8178
8523 <br>The SHA1SUM of this image is: e35f7d7908566cd3075375b3721fa10ee420d419</p>
8524
8525 <p><strong>How to report bugs</strong></p>
8526
8527 <p><a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/HowTo/ReportBugs">http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/HowTo/ReportBugs</a>
8528
8529       </div>
8530       <div class="tags">
8531
8532
8533         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>.
8534
8535
8536       </div>
8537     </div>
8538     <div class="padding"></div>
8539
8540     <div class="entry">
8541       <div class="title">
8542         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Is_there_a_PHP_expert_in_the_building___Debian_Edu_need_help_.html">Is there a PHP expert in the building?  Debian Edu need help!</a>
8543       </div>
8544       <div class="date">
8545          5th June 2013
8546       </div>
8547       <div class="body">
8548         <p>Here is a call for help from the Debian Edu / Skolelinux project.
8549 We have two problems blocking the release of the Wheezy version we
8550 hope to get released soon.  The two problems require some with PHP
8551 skills, and we seem to lack anyone with both time and PHP skills in
8552 the project:
8553
8554 <ol>
8555
8556 <li>It is impossible to log into the slbackup web interface
8557   (slbackup-php) using the root user and password.  This is
8558   <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/700257">BTS report #700257</a>.
8559   This used to work, but stopped working some time since Squeeze.
8560   Perhaps some obsolete PHP feature was used?</li>
8561
8562 <li>It is not possible to "mass import" user lists in Gosa, neither
8563   using ldif nor using CSV files.  The feature was disabled after a
8564   major rewrite of Gosa, and need to be ported to the new system.
8565   This is <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/698840">BTS report
8566   #698840</a>.</li>
8567
8568 </ol>
8569
8570 <p>If you can help us, please join us on IRC
8571 (<a href="irc://irc.debian.org/%23debian-edu">#debian-edu on
8572 irc.debian.org</a>) and provide patches via the BTS.</p>
8573
8574       </div>
8575       <div class="tags">
8576
8577
8578         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>.
8579
8580
8581       </div>
8582     </div>
8583     <div class="padding"></div>
8584
8585     <div class="entry">
8586       <div class="title">
8587         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__C_dric_Boutillier.html">Debian Edu interview: Cédric Boutillier</a>
8588       </div>
8589       <div class="date">
8590          4th June 2013
8591       </div>
8592       <div class="body">
8593         <p>It has been a while since my last English
8594 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu and Skolelinux</a>
8595 interview last November.  But the developers and translators are still
8596 pulling along to get the Wheezy based release out the door, and this
8597 time I managed to get an interview from one of the French translators
8598 in the project, Cédric Boutillier.</p>
8599
8600 <p><strong>Who are you, and how do you spend your days?</strong></p>
8601
8602 <p>I am 34 year old. I live near Paris, France. I am an assistant
8603 professor in probability theory. I spend my daytime teaching
8604 mathematics at the university and doing fundamental research in
8605 probability in connexion with combinatorics and statistical physics.</p>
8606
8607 <p>I have been involved in the Debian project for a couple of years
8608 and became Debian Developer a few months ago. I am working on Ruby
8609 packaging, publicity and translation.</p>
8610
8611 <p><strong>How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux / Debian Edu
8612 project?</strong></p>
8613
8614 <p>I came to the Debian Edu project after a call for translation of
8615 <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/Documentation/Manuals">the
8616 Debian Edu manual</a> for the release of Debian Edu Squeeze. Since
8617 then, I have been working on updating the French translation of the
8618 manual.
8619
8620 <p>I had the opportunity to make an installation of Debian Edu in a
8621 virtual machine when I was preparing localised version of some screen
8622 shots for the manual. I was amazed to see it worked out of the box and
8623 how comprehensive the list of software installed by default was.</p>
8624
8625 <p>What amazed me was the complete network infrastructure directly
8626 ready to use, which can and the nice administration interface provided
8627 by <a href="https://oss.gonicus.de/labs/gosa/">GOsa²</a>.  What pleased
8628 me also was the fact that among the software installed by default,
8629 there were many "traditional" educative software to learn languages,
8630 to count, to program... but also software to develop creativity and
8631 artistic skills with music (<a href="http://ardour.org/">Ardour</a>,
8632 <a href="http://audacity.sourceforge.net/">Audacity</a>) and
8633 movies/animation (I was especially thinking of
8634 <a href="http://linuxstopmotion.sourceforge.net/">Stopmotion</a>).</p>
8635
8636 <p>I am following the development of Debian Edu and am hanging out on
8637 <a href="irc://irc.debian.org/%23debian-edu">#debian-edu</a>.
8638 Unfortunately, I don't much time to get more involved in this
8639 beautiful project.</p>
8640
8641 <p><strong>What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux / Debian
8642 Edu?</strong></p>
8643
8644 <p>For me, the main advantages of Skolelinux/Debian Edu are its
8645 community of experts and its precise documentation, as well as the
8646 fact that it provides a solution ready to use.</p>
8647
8648 <p>I would add also the fact that it is based on the rock solid Debian
8649 distribution, which ensures stability and provides a huge collection
8650 of educational free software.</p>
8651
8652 <p><strong>What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux / Debian
8653 Edu?</strong></p>
8654
8655 <p>Maybe the lack of manpower to do lobbying on the
8656 project. Sometimes, people who need to take decisions concerning IT do
8657 not have all the elements to evaluate properly free software
8658 solutions. The fact that support by a company may be difficult to find
8659 is probably a problem if the school does not have IT personnel.</p>
8660
8661 <p>One can find support from a company by looking at
8662 <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/Help/ProfessionalHelp">the
8663 wiki dokumentation</a>, where some countries already have a number of
8664 companies providing support for Debian Edu, like Germany or
8665 Norway. This list is easy to find readily from the manual. However,
8666 for other countries, like France, the list is empty. I guess that
8667 consultants proposing support for Debian would be able to provide some
8668 support for Debian Edu as well.</p>
8669
8670 <p><strong>Which free software do you use daily?</strong></p>
8671
8672 <p>I am using the KDE Plasma Desktop. But the pieces of software I use
8673 most runs in a terminal: Mutt and OfflineIMAP for emails, latex for
8674 scientific documents, mpd for music. VIM is my editor of choice.  I am
8675 also using the mathematical software
8676 <a href="http://www.scilab.org/en/scilab/about‎">Scilab</a> and
8677 <a href="http://www.sagemath.org/index.html‎">Sage</a> (built from
8678 source as not completely packaged for Debian, yet).
8679
8680 <p><strong>Do you have any suggestions for teachers interested in
8681 using the free software in Debian to teach mathematics and
8682 statistics?</strong></p>
8683
8684 <p>I do not have any "nice" recommendations for statistics. At our
8685 university, we use both <a href="http://www.r-project.org/‎">R</a> and
8686 Scilab to teach statistics and probabilistic simulations. For
8687 geometry, there are nice programs:</p>
8688
8689 <ul>
8690
8691 <li><a href="http://www.drgeo.eu/">drgeo</a> and
8692 <a href="http://edu.kde.org/applications/all/kig‎">kig</a> to do
8693 constructions in planar geometry
8694
8695 <li><a href="http://www.geom.uiuc.edu/software/download/kali.html">kali</a>
8696 to discover symmetry groups (the so-called wallpapers and frieze
8697 groups), although the interface looks a bit old.</li>
8698
8699 </ul>
8700
8701 <p>I like also
8702 <a href="http://edu.kde.org/applications/all/cantor">cantor</a>, which
8703 provides a uniform interface to SciLab, Sage,
8704 <a href="http://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Octave‎">Octave</a>, etc...</p>
8705
8706 <p><strong>Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to
8707 get schools to use free software?</strong></p>
8708
8709 <p>My suggestions would be to</p>
8710
8711 <ul>
8712
8713 <li>advertise the reduction of costs when free software is used.</li>
8714
8715 <li>communicate about the quality of free software projects, using
8716     well known examples like Firefox, ThunderBird and
8717     OpenOffice.org/LibreOffice.</li>
8718
8719 <li>advertise the living and strong community around the project.</li>
8720
8721 <li>show that it is not more difficult to use than any other
8722     system.</li>
8723
8724 </ul>
8725
8726       </div>
8727       <div class="tags">
8728
8729
8730         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>.
8731
8732
8733       </div>
8734     </div>
8735     <div class="padding"></div>
8736
8737     <div class="entry">
8738       <div class="title">
8739         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Educational_applications_included_in_Debian_Edu___Skolelinux__the_screenshot_collection____.html">Educational applications included in Debian Edu / Skolelinux (the screenshot collection :-)</a>
8740       </div>
8741       <div class="date">
8742          1st June 2013
8743       </div>
8744       <div class="body">
8745         <p>Included in <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu /
8746 Skolelinux</a>, there are quite a lot of educational software.
8747 Created to help teachers teach, and pupils learn.  We have tried to
8748 tag them all using debtags use::learning and role::program, and using
8749 the debtags I was happy to be able to create a collage of the
8750 educational software packages installed by default, sorted by the
8751 debtag field.  Here it is.  Click on a image to learn more about the
8752 program.</p>
8753
8754 <!-- for f in $(debtags tagcat|grep field::|awk '{print $2}'); do   echo; echo "<p><strong>$f</strong></p>"; echo "<p>";   (     for p in $(debtags search --names "use::learning && interface::x11 && role::program && $f"); do img="<img src='http://screenshots.debian.net/thumbnail/$p' alt='$p'>"; if dpkg -s $p > /dev/null 2>&1; then           echo "<a href='http://packages.qa.debian.org/$p'>$img</a>"; fi;     done;   ) | LANG=C sort; echo "</p>"; done -->
8755
8756 <p><strong>field::arts</strong></p>
8757 <p>
8758 <a href='http://packages.debian.org/search?searchon=names&exact=1&suite=all&section=all&keywords=audacity'><img src='http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-06-01-debian-edu-apps/audacity.png' alt='audacity'></a>
8759 <a href='http://packages.debian.org/search?searchon=names&exact=1&suite=all&section=all&keywords=childsplay'><img src='http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-06-01-debian-edu-apps/childsplay.png' alt='childsplay'></a>
8760 <a href='http://packages.debian.org/search?searchon=names&exact=1&suite=all&section=all&keywords=denemo'><img src='http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-06-01-debian-edu-apps/denemo.png' alt='denemo'></a>
8761 <a href='http://packages.debian.org/search?searchon=names&exact=1&suite=all&section=all&keywords=freebirth'><img src='http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-06-01-debian-edu-apps/freebirth.png' alt='freebirth'></a>
8762 <a href='http://packages.debian.org/search?searchon=names&exact=1&suite=all&section=all&keywords=gcompris'><img src='http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-06-01-debian-edu-apps/gcompris.png' alt='gcompris'></a>
8763 <a href='http://packages.debian.org/search?searchon=names&exact=1&suite=all&section=all&keywords=gimp'><img src='http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-06-01-debian-edu-apps/gimp.png' alt='gimp'></a>
8764 <a href='http://packages.debian.org/search?searchon=names&exact=1&suite=all&section=all&keywords=hydrogen'><img src='http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-06-01-debian-edu-apps/hydrogen.png' alt='hydrogen'></a>
8765 <a href='http://packages.debian.org/search?searchon=names&exact=1&suite=all&section=all&keywords=lilypond'><img src='http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-06-01-debian-edu-apps/lilypond.png' alt='lilypond'></a>
8766 <a href='http://packages.debian.org/search?searchon=names&exact=1&suite=all&section=all&keywords=lmms'><img src='http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-06-01-debian-edu-apps/lmms.png' alt='lmms'></a>
8767 <a href='http://packages.debian.org/search?searchon=names&exact=1&suite=all&section=all&keywords=rosegarden'><img src='http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-06-01-debian-edu-apps/rosegarden.png' alt='rosegarden'></a>
8768 <a href='http://packages.debian.org/search?searchon=names&exact=1&suite=all&section=all&keywords=scribus'><img src='http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-06-01-debian-edu-apps/scribus.png' alt='scribus'></a>
8769 <a href='http://packages.debian.org/search?searchon=names&exact=1&suite=all&section=all&keywords=solfege'><img src='http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-06-01-debian-edu-apps/solfege.png' alt='solfege'></a>
8770 <a href='http://packages.debian.org/search?searchon=names&exact=1&suite=all&section=all&keywords=stopmotion'><img src='http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-06-01-debian-edu-apps/stopmotion.png' alt='stopmotion'></a>
8771 <a href='http://packages.debian.org/search?searchon=names&exact=1&suite=all&section=all&keywords=tuxpaint'><img src='http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-06-01-debian-edu-apps/tuxpaint.png' alt='tuxpaint'></a>
8772 </p>
8773
8774 <p><strong>field::astronomy</strong></p>
8775 <p>
8776 <a href='http://packages.debian.org/search?searchon=names&exact=1&suite=all&section=all&keywords=celestia-gnome'><img src='http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-06-01-debian-edu-apps/celestia-gnome.png' alt='celestia-gnome'></a>
8777 <a href='http://packages.debian.org/search?searchon=names&exact=1&suite=all&section=all&keywords=gpredict'><img src='http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-06-01-debian-edu-apps/gpredict.png' alt='gpredict'></a>
8778 <a href='http://packages.debian.org/search?searchon=names&exact=1&suite=all&section=all&keywords=kstars'><img src='http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-06-01-debian-edu-apps/kstars.png' alt='kstars'></a>
8779 <a href='http://packages.debian.org/search?searchon=names&exact=1&suite=all&section=all&keywords=planets'><img src='http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-06-01-debian-edu-apps/planets.png' alt='planets'></a>
8780 <a href='http://packages.debian.org/search?searchon=names&exact=1&suite=all&section=all&keywords=stellarium'><img src='http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-06-01-debian-edu-apps/stellarium.png' alt='stellarium'></a>
8781 <a href='http://packages.debian.org/search?searchon=names&exact=1&suite=all&section=all&keywords=xplanet'><img src='http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-06-01-debian-edu-apps/xplanet.png' alt='xplanet'></a>
8782 </p>
8783
8784 <p><strong>field::biology:structural</strong></p>
8785 <p>
8786 <a href='http://packages.debian.org/search?searchon=names&exact=1&suite=all&section=all&keywords=pymol'><img src='http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-06-01-debian-edu-apps/pymol.png' alt='pymol'></a>
8787 </p>
8788
8789 <p><strong>field::chemistry</strong></p>
8790 <p>
8791 <a href='http://packages.debian.org/search?searchon=names&exact=1&suite=all&section=all&keywords=atomix'><img src='http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-06-01-debian-edu-apps/atomix.png' alt='atomix'></a>
8792 <a href='http://packages.debian.org/search?searchon=names&exact=1&suite=all&section=all&keywords=chemtool'><img src='http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-06-01-debian-edu-apps/chemtool.png' alt='chemtool'></a>
8793 <a href='http://packages.debian.org/search?searchon=names&exact=1&suite=all&section=all&keywords=easychem'><img src='http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-06-01-debian-edu-apps/easychem.png' alt='easychem'></a>
8794 <a href='http://packages.debian.org/search?searchon=names&exact=1&suite=all&section=all&keywords=gchempaint'><img src='http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-06-01-debian-edu-apps/gchempaint.png' alt='gchempaint'></a>
8795 <a href='http://packages.debian.org/search?searchon=names&exact=1&suite=all&section=all&keywords=gdis'><img src='http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-06-01-debian-edu-apps/gdis.png' alt='gdis'></a>
8796 <a href='http://packages.debian.org/search?searchon=names&exact=1&suite=all&section=all&keywords=ghemical'><img src='http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-06-01-debian-edu-apps/ghemical.png' alt='ghemical'></a>
8797 <a href='http://packages.debian.org/search?searchon=names&exact=1&suite=all&section=all&keywords=gperiodic'><img src='http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-06-01-debian-edu-apps/gperiodic.png' alt='gperiodic'></a>
8798 <a href='http://packages.debian.org/search?searchon=names&exact=1&suite=all&section=all&keywords=kalzium'><img src='http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-06-01-debian-edu-apps/kalzium.png' alt='kalzium'></a>
8799 <a href='http://packages.debian.org/search?searchon=names&exact=1&suite=all&section=all&keywords=pymol'><img src='http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-06-01-debian-edu-apps/pymol.png' alt='pymol'></a>
8800 <a href='http://packages.debian.org/search?searchon=names&exact=1&suite=all&section=all&keywords=viewmol'>[viewmol]</a>
8801 <a href='http://packages.debian.org/search?searchon=names&exact=1&suite=all&section=all&keywords=xdrawchem'><img src='http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-06-01-debian-edu-apps/xdrawchem.png' alt='xdrawchem'></a>
8802 </p>
8803
8804 <p><strong>field::electronics</strong></p>
8805 <p>
8806 <a href='http://packages.debian.org/search?searchon=names&exact=1&suite=all&section=all&keywords=gcompris'><img src='http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-06-01-debian-edu-apps/gcompris.png' alt='gcompris'></a>
8807 <a href='http://packages.debian.org/search?searchon=names&exact=1&suite=all&section=all&keywords=gpsim'>[gpsim]</a>
8808 </p>
8809
8810 <p><strong>field::geography</strong></p>
8811 <p>
8812 <a href='http://packages.debian.org/search?searchon=names&exact=1&suite=all&section=all&keywords=kgeography'><img src='http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-06-01-debian-edu-apps/kgeography.png' alt='kgeography'></a>
8813 <a href='http://packages.debian.org/search?searchon=names&exact=1&suite=all&section=all&keywords=marble'><img src='http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-06-01-debian-edu-apps/marble.png' alt='marble'></a>
8814 <a href='http://packages.debian.org/search?searchon=names&exact=1&suite=all&section=all&keywords=xplanet'><img src='http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-06-01-debian-edu-apps/xplanet.png' alt='xplanet'></a>
8815 </p>
8816
8817 <p><strong>field::linguistics</strong></p>
8818 <p>
8819 <a href='http://packages.debian.org/search?searchon=names&exact=1&suite=all&section=all&keywords=gcompris'><img src='http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-06-01-debian-edu-apps/gcompris.png' alt='gcompris'></a>
8820 <a href='http://packages.debian.org/search?searchon=names&exact=1&suite=all&section=all&keywords=kanagram'><img src='http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-06-01-debian-edu-apps/kanagram.png' alt='kanagram'></a>
8821 <a href='http://packages.debian.org/search?searchon=names&exact=1&suite=all&section=all&keywords=khangman'><img src='http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-06-01-debian-edu-apps/khangman.png' alt='khangman'></a>
8822 <a href='http://packages.debian.org/search?searchon=names&exact=1&suite=all&section=all&keywords=klettres'><img src='http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-06-01-debian-edu-apps/klettres.png' alt='klettres'></a>
8823 <a href='http://packages.debian.org/search?searchon=names&exact=1&suite=all&section=all&keywords=parley'><img src='http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-06-01-debian-edu-apps/parley.png' alt='parley'></a>
8824 </p>
8825
8826 <p><strong>field::mathematics</strong></p>
8827 <p>
8828 <a href='http://packages.debian.org/search?searchon=names&exact=1&suite=all&section=all&keywords=childsplay'><img src='http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-06-01-debian-edu-apps/childsplay.png' alt='childsplay'></a>
8829 <a href='http://packages.debian.org/search?searchon=names&exact=1&suite=all&section=all&keywords=drgeo'><img src='http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-06-01-debian-edu-apps/drgeo.png' alt='drgeo'></a>
8830 <a href='http://packages.debian.org/search?searchon=names&exact=1&suite=all&section=all&keywords=gcompris'><img src='http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-06-01-debian-edu-apps/gcompris.png' alt='gcompris'></a>
8831 <a href='http://packages.debian.org/search?searchon=names&exact=1&suite=all&section=all&keywords=geogebra'><img src='http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-06-01-debian-edu-apps/geogebra.png' alt='geogebra'></a>
8832 <a href='http://packages.debian.org/search?searchon=names&exact=1&suite=all&section=all&keywords=geomview'>[geomview]</a>
8833 <a href='http://packages.debian.org/search?searchon=names&exact=1&suite=all&section=all&keywords=grace'><img src='http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-06-01-debian-edu-apps/grace.png' alt='grace'></a>
8834 <a href='http://packages.debian.org/search?searchon=names&exact=1&suite=all&section=all&keywords=graphmonkey'><img src='http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-06-01-debian-edu-apps/graphmonkey.png' alt='graphmonkey'></a>
8835 <a href='http://packages.debian.org/search?searchon=names&exact=1&suite=all&section=all&keywords=graphthing'><img src='http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-06-01-debian-edu-apps/graphthing.png' alt='graphthing'></a>
8836 <a href='http://packages.debian.org/search?searchon=names&exact=1&suite=all&section=all&keywords=kalgebra'><img src='http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-06-01-debian-edu-apps/kalgebra.png' alt='kalgebra'></a>
8837 <a href='http://packages.debian.org/search?searchon=names&exact=1&suite=all&section=all&keywords=kbruch'><img src='http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-06-01-debian-edu-apps/kbruch.png' alt='kbruch'></a>
8838 <a href='http://packages.debian.org/search?searchon=names&exact=1&suite=all&section=all&keywords=kig'><img src='http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-06-01-debian-edu-apps/kig.png' alt='kig'></a>
8839 <a href='http://packages.debian.org/search?searchon=names&exact=1&suite=all&section=all&keywords=kmplot'><img src='http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-06-01-debian-edu-apps/kmplot.png' alt='kmplot'></a>
8840 <a href='http://packages.debian.org/search?searchon=names&exact=1&suite=all&section=all&keywords=mathwar'><img src='http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-06-01-debian-edu-apps/mathwar.png' alt='mathwar'></a>
8841 <a href='http://packages.debian.org/search?searchon=names&exact=1&suite=all&section=all&keywords=rocs'><img src='http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-06-01-debian-edu-apps/rocs.png' alt='rocs'></a>
8842 <a href='http://packages.debian.org/search?searchon=names&exact=1&suite=all&section=all&keywords=scratch'><img src='http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-06-01-debian-edu-apps/scratch.png' alt='scratch'></a>
8843 <a href='http://packages.debian.org/search?searchon=names&exact=1&suite=all&section=all&keywords=tuxmath'><img src='http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-06-01-debian-edu-apps/tuxmath.png' alt='tuxmath'></a>
8844 <a href='http://packages.debian.org/search?searchon=names&exact=1&suite=all&section=all&keywords=xabacus'><img src='http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-06-01-debian-edu-apps/xabacus.png' alt='xabacus'></a>
8845 </p>
8846
8847 <p><strong>field::physics</strong></p>
8848 <p>
8849 <a href='http://packages.debian.org/search?searchon=names&exact=1&suite=all&section=all&keywords=gcompris'><img src='http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-06-01-debian-edu-apps/gcompris.png' alt='gcompris'></a>
8850 <a href='http://packages.debian.org/search?searchon=names&exact=1&suite=all&section=all&keywords=step'><img src='http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-06-01-debian-edu-apps/step.png' alt='step'></a>
8851 </p>
8852
8853 <p><strong>field::TODO</strong></p>
8854 <p>
8855 <a href='http://packages.debian.org/search?searchon=names&exact=1&suite=all&section=all&keywords=blinken'><img src='http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-06-01-debian-edu-apps/blinken.png' alt='blinken'></a>
8856 <a href='http://packages.debian.org/search?searchon=names&exact=1&suite=all&section=all&keywords=cgoban'><img src='http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-06-01-debian-edu-apps/cgoban.png' alt='cgoban'></a>
8857 <a href='http://packages.debian.org/search?searchon=names&exact=1&suite=all&section=all&keywords=childsplay'><img src='http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-06-01-debian-edu-apps/childsplay.png' alt='childsplay'></a>
8858 <a href='http://packages.debian.org/search?searchon=names&exact=1&suite=all&section=all&keywords=gcompris'><img src='http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-06-01-debian-edu-apps/gcompris.png' alt='gcompris'></a>
8859 <a href='http://packages.debian.org/search?searchon=names&exact=1&suite=all&section=all&keywords=gnuchess'><img src='http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-06-01-debian-edu-apps/gnuchess.png' alt='gnuchess'></a>
8860 <a href='http://packages.debian.org/search?searchon=names&exact=1&suite=all&section=all&keywords=gnugo'><img src='http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-06-01-debian-edu-apps/gnugo.png' alt='gnugo'></a>
8861 <a href='http://packages.debian.org/search?searchon=names&exact=1&suite=all&section=all&keywords=gtans'><img src='http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-06-01-debian-edu-apps/gtans.png' alt='gtans'></a>
8862 <a href='http://packages.debian.org/search?searchon=names&exact=1&suite=all&section=all&keywords=ktouch'><img src='http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-06-01-debian-edu-apps/ktouch.png' alt='ktouch'></a>
8863 <a href='http://packages.debian.org/search?searchon=names&exact=1&suite=all&section=all&keywords=librecad'><img src='http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-06-01-debian-edu-apps/librecad.png' alt='librecad'></a>
8864 <a href='http://packages.debian.org/search?searchon=names&exact=1&suite=all&section=all&keywords=scratch'><img src='http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-06-01-debian-edu-apps/scratch.png' alt='scratch'></a>
8865 </p>
8866
8867 <p>In total, 61 applications.  3 of them lacked screen shots on
8868 <a href="http://screenshot.debian.net">screenshot.debian.net</a>.  If
8869 you know of some packages we should install by default, please let us
8870 know on <a href="irc://irc.debian.org/%23debian-edu">IRC, #debian-edu
8871 on irc.debian.org</a>, or our
8872 <a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-edu/">mailing list
8873 debian-edu@</a>.</p>
8874
8875       </div>
8876       <div class="tags">
8877
8878
8879         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>.
8880
8881
8882       </div>
8883     </div>
8884     <div class="padding"></div>
8885
8886     <div class="entry">
8887       <div class="title">
8888         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/How_to_install_Linux_on_a_Packard_Bell_Easynote_LV_preinstalled_with_Windows_8.html">How to install Linux on a Packard Bell Easynote LV preinstalled with Windows 8</a>
8889       </div>
8890       <div class="date">
8891         27th May 2013
8892       </div>
8893       <div class="body">
8894         <p>Two days ago, I asked
8895 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/How_can_I_install_Linux_on_a_Packard_Bell_Easynote_LV_preinstalled_with_Windows_8_.html">how
8896 I could install Linux on a Packard Bell EasyNote LV computer
8897 preinstalled with Windows 8</a>.  I found a solution, but am horrified
8898 with the obstacles put in the way of Linux users on a laptop with UEFI
8899 and Windows 8.</p>
8900
8901 <p>I never found out if the cause of my problems were the use of UEFI
8902 secure booting or fast boot.  I suspect fast boot was the problem,
8903 causing the firmware to boot directly from HD without considering any
8904 key presses and alternative devices, but do not know UEFI settings
8905 enough to tell.</p>
8906
8907 <p>There is no way to install Linux on the machine in question without
8908 opening the box and disconnecting the hard drive!  This is as far as I
8909 can tell, the only way to get access to the firmware setup menu
8910 without accepting the Windows 8 license agreement.  I am told (and
8911 found description on how to) that it is possible to configure the
8912 firmware setup once booted into Windows 8.  But as I believe the terms
8913 of that agreement are completely unacceptable, accepting the license
8914 was never an alternative.  I do not enter agreements I do not intend
8915 to follow.</p>
8916
8917 <p>I feared I had to return the laptops and ask for a refund, and
8918 waste many hours on this, but luckily there was a way to get it to
8919 work.  But I would not recommend it to anyone planning to run Linux on
8920 it, and I have become sceptical to Windows 8 certified laptops.  Is
8921 this the way Linux will be forced out of the market place, by making
8922 it close to impossible for "normal" users to install Linux without
8923 accepting the Microsoft Windows license terms?  Or at least not
8924 without risking to loose the warranty?</p>
8925
8926 <p>I've updated the
8927 <a href="http://www.linlap.com/packard_bell_easynote_lv">Linux Laptop
8928 wiki page for Packard Bell EasyNote LV</a>, to ensure the next person
8929 do not have to struggle as much as I did to get Linux into the
8930 machine.</p>
8931
8932 <p>Thanks to Bob Rosbag, Florian Weimer, Philipp Kern, Ben Hutching,
8933 Michael Tokarev and others for feedback and ideas.</p>
8934
8935       </div>
8936       <div class="tags">
8937
8938
8939         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>.
8940
8941
8942       </div>
8943     </div>
8944     <div class="padding"></div>
8945
8946     <div class="entry">
8947       <div class="title">
8948         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/How_can_I_install_Linux_on_a_Packard_Bell_Easynote_LV_preinstalled_with_Windows_8_.html">How can I install Linux on a Packard Bell Easynote LV preinstalled with Windows 8?</a>
8949       </div>
8950       <div class="date">
8951         25th May 2013
8952       </div>
8953       <div class="body">
8954         <p>I've run into quite a problem the last few days.  I bought three
8955 new laptops for my parents and a few others.  I bought Packard Bell
8956 Easynote LV to run Kubuntu on and use as their home computer.  But I
8957 am completely unable to figure out how to install Linux on it.  The
8958 computer is preinstalled with Windows 8, and I suspect it uses UEFI
8959 instead of a BIOS to boot.</p>
8960
8961 <p>The problem is that I am unable to get it to PXE boot, and unable
8962 to get it to boot the Linux installer from my USB stick.  I have yet
8963 to try the DVD install, and still hope it will work.  when I turn on
8964 the computer, there is no information on what buttons to press to get
8965 the normal boot menu.  I expect to get some boot menu to select PXE or
8966 USB stick booting.  When booting, it first ask for the language to
8967 use, then for some regional settings, and finally if I will accept the
8968 Windows 8 terms of use.  As these terms are completely unacceptable to
8969 me, I have no other choice but to turn off the computer and try again
8970 to get it to boot the Linux installer.</p>
8971
8972 <p>I have gathered my findings so far on a Linlap page about the
8973 <a href="http://www.linlap.com/packard_bell_easynote_lv">Packard Bell
8974 EasyNote LV</a> model.  If you have any idea how to get Linux
8975 installed on this machine, please get in touch or update that wiki
8976 page.  If I can't find a way to install Linux, I will have to return
8977 the laptop to the seller and find another machine for my parents.</p>
8978
8979 <p>I wonder, is this the way Linux will be forced out of the market
8980 using UEFI and "secure boot" by making it impossible to install Linux
8981 on new Laptops?</p>
8982
8983       </div>
8984       <div class="tags">
8985
8986
8987         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>.
8988
8989
8990       </div>
8991     </div>
8992     <div class="padding"></div>
8993
8994     <div class="entry">
8995       <div class="title">
8996         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/How_to_transform_a_Debian_based_system_to_a_Debian_Edu_installation.html">How to transform a Debian based system to a Debian Edu installation</a>
8997       </div>
8998       <div class="date">
8999         17th May 2013
9000       </div>
9001       <div class="body">
9002         <p><a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / Skolelinux</a> is
9003 an operating system based on Debian intended for use in schools.  It
9004 contain a turn-key solution for the computer network provided to
9005 pupils in the primary schools.  It provide both the central server,
9006 network boot servers and desktop environments with heaps of
9007 educational software.  The project was founded almost 12 years ago,
9008 2001-07-02.  If you want to support the project, which is in need for
9009 cash to fund developer gatherings and other project related activity,
9010 <a href="http://www.linuxiskolen.no/slxdebianlabs/donations.html">please
9011 donate some money</a>.
9012
9013 <p>A topic that come up again and again on the Debian Edu mailing
9014 lists and elsewhere, is the question on how to transform a Debian or
9015 Ubuntu installation into a Debian Edu installation.  It isn't very
9016 hard, and last week I wrote a script to replicate the steps done by
9017 the Debian Edu installer.</p>
9018
9019 <p>The script,
9020 <a href="http://anonscm.debian.org/viewvc/debian-edu/branches/wheezy/debian-edu-config/share/debian-edu-config/tools/debian-edu-bless?view=markup">debian-edu-bless<a/>
9021 in the debian-edu-config package, will go through these six steps and
9022 transform an existing Debian Wheezy or Ubuntu (untested) installation
9023 into a Debian Edu Workstation:</p>
9024
9025 <ol>
9026
9027 <li>Add skolelinux related APT sources.</li>
9028 <li>Create /etc/debian-edu/config with the wanted configuration.</li>
9029 <li>Install debian-edu-install to load preseeding values and pull in
9030     our configuration.</li>
9031 <li>Preseed debconf database with profile setup in
9032     /etc/debian-edu/config, and run tasksel to install packages
9033     according to the profile specified in the config above,
9034     overriding some of the Debian automation machinery.</li>
9035 <li>Run debian-edu-cfengine-D installation to configure everything
9036     that could not be done using preseeding.</li>
9037 <li>Ask for a reboot to enable all the configuration changes.</li>
9038
9039 </ol>
9040
9041 <p>There are some steps in the Debian Edu installation that can not be
9042 replicated like this.  Disk partitioning and LVM setup, for example.
9043 So this script just assume there is enough disk space to install all
9044 the needed packages.</p>
9045
9046 <p>The script was created to help a Debian Edu student working on
9047 setting up <a href="http://www.raspberrypi.org">Raspberry Pi</a> as a
9048 Debian Edu client, and using it he can take the existing
9049 <a href="http://www.raspbian.org/FrontPage‎">Raspbian</a> installation and
9050 transform it into a fully functioning Debian Edu Workstation (or
9051 Roaming Workstation, or whatever :).</p>
9052
9053 <p>The default setting in the script is to create a KDE Workstation.
9054 If a LXDE based Roaming workstation is wanted instead, modify the
9055 PROFILE and DESKTOP values at the top to look like this instead:</p>
9056
9057 <p><pre>
9058 PROFILE="Roaming-Workstation"
9059 DESKTOP="lxde"
9060 </pre></p>
9061
9062 <p>The script could even become useful to set up Debian Edu servers in
9063 the cloud, by starting with a virtual Debian installation at some
9064 virtual hosting service and setting up all the services on first
9065 boot.</p>
9066
9067       </div>
9068       <div class="tags">
9069
9070
9071         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>.
9072
9073
9074       </div>
9075     </div>
9076     <div class="padding"></div>
9077
9078     <div class="entry">
9079       <div class="title">
9080         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Second_alpha_release_of_Debian_Edu___Skolelinux_based_on_Debian_Wheezy.html">Second alpha release of Debian Edu / Skolelinux based on Debian Wheezy</a>
9081       </div>
9082       <div class="date">
9083         14th May 2013
9084       </div>
9085       <div class="body">
9086         <p>The <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / Skolelinux
9087 project</a> is making great progress and made its second Wheezy based
9088 release today.  This is the release announcement:</p>
9089
9090 <p><strong>New features for Debian Edu 7.0.0 alpha1 released
9091 2013-05-14</strong></p>
9092
9093 <p>This is the release notes for for Debian Edu / Skolelinux 7.0.0 edu
9094 alpha1, based on <a href="http://www.debian.org">Debian</a> with
9095 codename "Wheezy".</p>
9096
9097 <p><strong>About Debian Edu and Skolelinux</strong></p>
9098
9099 <p>Debian Edu, also known as Skolelinux, is a Linux distribution based
9100 on Debian providing an out-of-the box environment of a completely
9101 configured school network. Immediatly after installation a school
9102 server running all services needed for a school network is set up just
9103 waiting for users and machines being added via GOsa², a comfortable
9104 Web-UI. A netbooting environment is prepared using PXE, so after
9105 initial installation of the main server from CD, DVD or USB stick all
9106 other machines can be installed via the network.</p>
9107
9108 <p>This is the first test release based on Wheezy (which currently is
9109 not released yet). Basically this is an updated and slightly improved
9110 version compared to the Squeeze release.</p>
9111
9112 <p><strong>Software updates</strong></p>
9113 <ul>
9114   <li>Install freemind (0.9.0) by default, and stop installing vym by
9115     default.</li>
9116   <li>Install chromium (26.0.1410.43) by default.</li>
9117   <li>Install goplay (0.5-1.1) to make golearn available by default.</li>
9118   <li>Updated support for Japanese input methods, now based on
9119     ibus-anthy.</li>
9120 </ul>
9121
9122 <p><strong>Other changes</strong></p>
9123 <ul>
9124
9125   <li>Switched default file system from ext3 to ext4 for speed and
9126     reliability improvements.</li>
9127   <li>Got rid of unwanted winbind daemon and PAM setup activated because
9128     of <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/706434">706434</a>.</li>
9129   <li>Extended and improved the testsuite tests to detect more possible
9130     problems.</li>
9131   <li>Corrected proxy handling to not set http_proxy to a bogus
9132     direct:// URL.</li>
9133   <li>Corrected proxy setup for diskless workstations.</li>
9134   <li>Corrected PXE setup to use our updated udebs during installation.</li>
9135   <li>Made installation handling of low entropy level more robust.</li>
9136   <li>Create larger partitions for Roaming workstations and Thin client
9137     servers, to make room for all the software installed.</li>
9138   <li>Fix bug in Roaming workstation PAM setup, making it impossible to
9139     log in (<a href="http://bugs.debian.org/706753">706753</a>).</li>
9140 </ul>
9141
9142 <p><strong>Known issues</strong></p>
9143 <ul>
9144
9145   <li>IP resolution for the local hostname give useless IPv6 address
9146     (<a href="http://bugs.debian.org/705900">705900</a>).  Only install
9147     libnss-myhostname on roaming workstations until it is fixed.</li>
9148   <li>DVD images are not yet ready.</li>
9149   <li>No mass import of user account data in GOsa (ldif or csv)
9150     available yet (<a href="http://bugs.debian.org/698840">698840</a>).</li>
9151   <li>Missing artwork for the KDE desktop (and probably a few others).</li>
9152   <li>KDE Debian submenu lacks icons.</li>
9153   <li>LXDE menu lacks entry for changing GOsa password
9154     (website). Installing gosa-desktop will be an option.</li>
9155   <li>Backup configuration via web interface is impossible due to
9156     password submission problem
9157     (<a href="http://bugs.debian.org/700257">700257</a>).</li>
9158
9159 </ul>
9160
9161 <p><strong>Where to get it</strong></p>
9162
9163 <p>To download the multiarch netinstall CD release you can use</p>
9164 <ul>
9165
9166   <li><a href="ftp://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu~7.0+edu0~a1-CD.iso">ftp://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu~7.0+edu0~a1-CD.iso</a></li>
9167   <li><a href="http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu~7.0+edu0~a1-CD.iso">http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu~7.0+edu0~a1-CD.iso</a></li>
9168   <li>rsync -avzP ftp.skolelinux.org::skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu~7.0+edu0~a1-CD.iso debian-edu~7.0+edu0~a1-CD.iso</li>
9169
9170 </ul>
9171
9172 <p>The MD5SUM of this image is: 685ed76c1aa8e44b12d3fde21faf450b</p>
9173
9174 <p>The SHA1SUM of this image is: 6c874de157024da13e115bab29c068080a11ec4c</p>
9175
9176 <p><strong>How to report bugs</strong></p>
9177
9178 <p><a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/HowTo/ReportBugs">http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/HowTo/ReportBugs</a></p>
9179
9180       </div>
9181       <div class="tags">
9182
9183
9184         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>.
9185
9186
9187       </div>
9188     </div>
9189     <div class="padding"></div>
9190
9191     <div class="entry">
9192       <div class="title">
9193         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian__the_Linux_distribution_of_choice_for_LEGO_designers_.html">Debian, the Linux distribution of choice for LEGO designers?</a>
9194       </div>
9195       <div class="date">
9196         11th May 2013
9197       </div>
9198       <div class="body">
9199         <P>In January,
9200 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/New_IRC_channel_for_LEGO_designers_using_Debian.html">I
9201 announced a</a> new <a href="irc://irc.debian.org/%23debian-lego">IRC
9202 channel #debian-lego</a>, for those of us in the Debian and Linux
9203 community interested in <a href="http://www.lego.com/">LEGO</a>, the
9204 marvellous construction system from Denmark.  We also created
9205 <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/LegoDesigners">a wiki page</a> to have
9206 a place to take notes and write down our plans and hopes.  And several
9207 people showed up to help.  I was very happy to see the effect of my
9208 call.  Since the small start, we have a debtags tag
9209 <a href="http://debtags.debian.net/search/bytag?wl=hardware::hobby:lego">hardware::hobby:lego</a>
9210 tag for LEGO related packages, and now count 10 packages related to
9211 LEGO and <a href="http://mindstorms.lego.com/">Mindstorms</a>:</p>
9212
9213 <p><table>
9214 <tr><td><a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/brickos">brickos</a></td><td>alternative OS for LEGO Mindstorms RCX. Supports development in C/C++</td></tr>
9215 <tr><td><a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/leocad">leocad</a></td><td>virtual brick CAD software</td></tr>
9216 <tr><td><a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/libnxt">libnxt</a></td><td>utility library for talking to the LEGO Mindstorms NX</td></tr>
9217 <tr><td><a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/lnpd">lnpd</a></td><td>daemon for LNP communication with BrickOS</td></tr>
9218 <tr><td><a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/nbc">nbc</a></td><td>compiler for LEGO Mindstorms NXT bricks</td></tr>
9219 <tr><td><a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/nqc">nqc</a></td><td>Not Quite C compiler for LEGO Mindstorms RCX</td></tr>
9220 <tr><td><a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/python-nxt">python-nxt</a></td><td>python driver/interface/wrapper for the Lego Mindstorms NXT robot</td></tr>
9221 <tr><td><a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/python-nxt-filer">python-nxt-filer</a></td><td>simple GUI to manage files on a LEGO Mindstorms NXT</td></tr>
9222 <tr><td><a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/scratch">scratch</a></td><td>easy to use programming environment for ages 8 and up</td></tr>
9223 <tr><td><a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/t2n">t2n</a></td><td>simple command-line tool for Lego NXT</td></tr>
9224 </table></p>
9225
9226 <p>Some of these are available in Wheezy, and all but one are
9227 currently available in Jessie/testing.  leocad is so far only
9228 available in experimental.</p>
9229
9230 <p>If you care about LEGO in Debian, please join us on IRC and help
9231 adding the rest of the great free software tools available on Linux
9232 for LEGO designers.</p>
9233
9234       </div>
9235       <div class="tags">
9236
9237
9238         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>.
9239
9240
9241       </div>
9242     </div>
9243     <div class="padding"></div>
9244
9245     <div class="entry">
9246       <div class="title">
9247         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Wheezy_is_out___and_Debian_Edu___Skolelinux_should_soon_follow___newinwheezy.html">Debian Wheezy is out - and Debian Edu / Skolelinux should soon follow! #newinwheezy</a>
9248       </div>
9249       <div class="date">
9250          5th May 2013
9251       </div>
9252       <div class="body">
9253         <p>When I woke up this morning, I was very happy to see that the
9254 <a href="http://www.debian.org/News/2013/20130504">release announcement
9255 for Debian Wheezy</a> was waiting in my mail box.  This is a great
9256 Debian release, and I expect to move my machines at home over to it fairly
9257 soon.</p>
9258
9259 <p>The new debian release contain heaps of new stuff, and one program
9260 in particular make me very happy to see included.  The
9261 <a href="http://scratch.mit.edu/">Scratch</a> program, made famous by
9262 the <a href="http://www.code.org/">Teach kids code</a> movement, is
9263 included for the first time.  Alongside similar programs like
9264 <a href="http://edu.kde.org/kturtle/">kturtle</a> and
9265 <a href="http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Activities/Turtle_Art">turtleart</a>,
9266 it allow for visual programming where syntax errors can not happen,
9267 and a friendly programming environment for learning to control the
9268 computer.  Scratch will also be included in the next release of Debian
9269 Edu.</a>
9270
9271 <p>And now that Wheezy is wrapped up, we can wrap up the next Debian
9272 Edu/Skolelinux release too.  The
9273 <a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-edu/2013/04/msg00132.html">first
9274 alpha release</a> went out last week, and the next should soon
9275 follow.<p>
9276
9277       </div>
9278       <div class="tags">
9279
9280
9281         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>.
9282
9283
9284       </div>
9285     </div>
9286     <div class="padding"></div>
9287
9288     <div class="entry">
9289       <div class="title">
9290         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/First_alpha_release_of_Debian_Edu___Skolelinux_based_on_Debian_Wheezy.html">First alpha release of Debian Edu / Skolelinux based on Debian Wheezy</a>
9291       </div>
9292       <div class="date">
9293         26th April 2013
9294       </div>
9295       <div class="body">
9296         <p>The Debian Edu / Skolelinux project is still going strong and made
9297 its first Wheezy based release today.  This is the release
9298 announcement:</p>
9299
9300 <p><strong>New features for Debian Edu ~7.0.0 alpha0 released
9301 2013-04-26</strong></p>
9302
9303 <p>This is the release notes for for Debian Edu / Skolelinux ~7.0.0
9304 edu alpha0, based on Debian with codename "Wheezy".</p>
9305
9306 <p><strong>About Debian Edu and Skolelinux</strong></p>
9307
9308 <p><a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu, also known as
9309 Skolelinux</a>, is a Linux distribution based on Debian providing an
9310 out-of-the box environment of a completely configured school
9311 network. Immediatly after installation a school server running all
9312 services needed for a school network is set up just waiting for users
9313 and machines being added via GOsa², a comfortable Web-UI. A netbooting
9314 environment is prepared using PXE, so after initial installation of
9315 the main server from CD, DVD or USB stick all other machines can be
9316 installed via the network.</p>
9317
9318 <p>This is the first test release based on Wheezy (which currently is
9319 not released yet). Basically this is an updated and slightly improved
9320 version compared to the Squeeze release.</p>
9321
9322 <p><strong>Software updates</strong></p>
9323
9324 <ul>
9325 <li>Everything which is new in Debian Wheezy, eg:
9326   <ul>
9327      <li>Linux kernel 3.2.x</li>
9328      <li>Desktop environments KDE "Plasma" 4.8.4, GNOME 3.4, and LXDE 4
9329          (KDE is installed by default; to choose GNOME or LXDE: see
9330          manual.)</li>
9331      <li>Web browser Iceweasel 10 ESR</li>
9332      <li>LibreOffice 3.5.4</li>
9333      <li>LTSP 5.4.2</li>
9334      <li>GOsa 2.7.4</li>
9335      <li>CUPS print system 1.5.3</li>
9336      <li>Educational toolbox GCompris 12.01</li>
9337      <li>Music creator Rosegarden 12.04</li>
9338      <li>Image editor Gimp 2.8.2</li>
9339      <li>Virtual universe Celestia 1.6.1</li>
9340      <li>Virtual stargazer Stellarium 0.11.3</li>
9341      <li>Scratch visual programming environment 1.4.0.6</li>
9342      <li>New version of debian-installer from Debian Wheezy, see
9343          <a href="http://www.debian.org/releases/wheezy/installmanual">installation
9344          manual</a> for more details.</li>
9345      <li>Debian Wheezy includes about 37000 packages available for
9346          installation.</li>
9347      <li>More information about Debian Wheezy 7.0 is provided in the
9348          <a href="http://www.debian.org/releases/wheezy/releasenotes">release notes</a> and the <a href="http://www.debian.org/releases/wheezy/installmanual">installation manual</a>.</li>
9349   </ul></li>
9350 </ul>
9351
9352 <p><strong>Documentation</strong></p>
9353 <ul>
9354 <li>The (<a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/Documentation/Wheezy">English</a>) Debian Edu Wheezy Manual is fully translated to
9355     German, French, Italian and Danish. Partly translated versions exist
9356     for Norwegian Bokmal and Spanish.</li>
9357 </ul>
9358
9359 <p><Strong>LDAP related changes</strong></p>
9360 <ul>
9361 <li>Slight changes to some objects and acls to have more types to
9362     choose from when adding systems in GOsa. Now systems can be of type
9363     server, workstation, printer, terminal or netdevice.</li>
9364 </ul>
9365
9366 <p><strong>Other changes</strong></p>
9367 <ul>
9368 <li>LTSP clients start as diskless workstation / thin client can be
9369     configured via command line argument -- or individually adding an
9370     entry in lts.conf or LDAP.<li>
9371 <li>GOsa gui: Now some options that seemed to be available, but are non
9372     functional, are greyed out (or are not clickable). Some tabs are
9373     completely hidden to the end user, others even to the GOsa admin.</li>
9374 </ul>
9375
9376 <p><strong>Regressions</strong></p>
9377 <ul>
9378 <li>No mass import of user account data in GOsa (ldif or csv) available
9379     yet.</li>
9380 </ul>
9381
9382 <p><strong>No updated artwork</strong></p>
9383
9384 <ul>
9385 <li>Updated artwork which is visible during installation, in the login
9386     screen and as desktop wallpaper is still missing or the same as we
9387     had for our Squeeze based release.</li>
9388 </ul>
9389
9390 <p><strong>Where to get it</strong></p>
9391
9392 To download the multiarch netinstall CD release you can use
9393 <ul>
9394 <li><a href="ftp://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/">ftp://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/</a></li>
9395 <li><a href="http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/">http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/</a></li>
9396 <li>rsync -avzP ftp.skolelinux.org::skolelinux-cd/wheezy/</li>
9397 </ul>
9398
9399 <p>The MD5SUM of this image is: c5e773ddafdaa4f48c409c682f598b6c</p>
9400
9401 <p>The SHA1SUM of this image is: 25934fabb9b7d20235499a0a51f08ce6c54215f2</p>
9402
9403 <p><strong>How to report bugs</strong></p>
9404
9405 <p><a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/HowTo/ReportBugs">http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/HowTo/ReportBugs</a></p>
9406
9407       </div>
9408       <div class="tags">
9409
9410
9411         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>.
9412
9413
9414       </div>
9415     </div>
9416     <div class="padding"></div>
9417
9418     <div class="entry">
9419       <div class="title">
9420         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/First_Debian_Edu___Skolelinux_developer_gathering_in_2013_take_place_in_Trondheim.html">First Debian Edu / Skolelinux developer gathering in 2013 take place in Trondheim</a>
9421       </div>
9422       <div class="date">
9423         16th April 2013
9424       </div>
9425       <div class="body">
9426         <p>This years first <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Skolelinux /
9427 Debian Edu</a> developer gathering take place the coming weekend in Trondheim.
9428 Details about the gathering can be found
9429 <a href="http://www.friprogramvareiskolen.no/Gathering/2013-04-19-21-Trondheim">on
9430 the FRiSK wiki</a>.  The dates are 19-21th of April 2013, and online
9431 participation for those unable to make it in person is very welcome,
9432 and I plan to participate online myself as I could not leave Oslo this
9433 weekend.</p>
9434
9435 <p>The focus of the gathering is to work on the web pages and project
9436 infrastructure, and to continue the work on the Wheezy based Debian
9437 Edu release.</p>
9438
9439 <p>See you on <a href="irc://irc.debian.org/%23debian-edu">IRC, #debian-edu on irc.debian.org,</a> then?</p>
9440
9441       </div>
9442       <div class="tags">
9443
9444
9445         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>.
9446
9447
9448       </div>
9449     </div>
9450     <div class="padding"></div>
9451
9452     <div class="entry">
9453       <div class="title">
9454         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Isenkram_0_2_finally_in_the_Debian_archive.html">Isenkram 0.2 finally in the Debian archive</a>
9455       </div>
9456       <div class="date">
9457          3rd April 2013
9458       </div>
9459       <div class="body">
9460         <p>Today the <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/isenkram">Isenkram
9461 package</a> finally made it into the archive, after lingering in NEW
9462 for many months.  I uploaded it to the Debian experimental suite
9463 2013-01-27, and today it was accepted into the archive.</p>
9464
9465 <p>Isenkram is a system for suggesting to users what packages to
9466 install to work with a pluggable hardware device.  The suggestion pop
9467 up when the device is plugged in.  For example if a Lego Mindstorm NXT
9468 is inserted, it will suggest to install the program needed to program
9469 the NXT controller.  Give it a go, and report bugs and suggestions to
9470 BTS. :)</p>
9471
9472       </div>
9473       <div class="tags">
9474
9475
9476         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>.
9477
9478
9479       </div>
9480     </div>
9481     <div class="padding"></div>
9482
9483     <div class="entry">
9484       <div class="title">
9485         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Change_the_font__save_the_world__and_save_some_money_in_the_process_.html">Change the font, save the world (and save some money in the process)</a>
9486       </div>
9487       <div class="date">
9488         26th March 2013
9489       </div>
9490       <div class="body">
9491         <p>Would you like to help the environment and save money at the same
9492 time, without much sacrifice?  A small step could be to change the
9493 font you use when printing.</p>
9494
9495 <p>Three years ago,
9496 <a href="http://arstechnica.com/business/2010/04/last-year-printer-comparison-website/">Ars
9497 Technica</a> reported how the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay
9498 changed their default front from
9499 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arial">Arial</a> to
9500 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Century_Gothic">Century
9501 Gothic</a> to save money.  The Century Gothic font uses 30% less toner
9502 than Arial to print the same text.  In other word, you could cut your
9503 toner costs by 30% (or actually, increase your toner supply life time
9504 by more than 30%), by simply changing the default font used in your
9505 prints.</p>
9506
9507 <p>But it is not quite obvious how much one will save by switching.
9508 The University of Wisconsin-Green Bay said it used $100,000 per year
9509 on ink and toner cartridges, according to
9510 <a href="http://www.twincities.com/ci_14833097">a report from
9511 TwinCities.com</a>, and expected to save between $5,000 and $10,000
9512 per year by asking staff and students to use a different font.  Not
9513 all PDFs and documents are created internally, and those from external
9514 sources will most likely still use a different font.  Also, the
9515 Century Gothic font is slightly wider than Arial, and thus might use
9516 more sheets of paper to print the same text, so the total saving
9517 depend on the documents printed.</p>
9518
9519 <p>But it is definitely something to consider, if you want to reduce
9520 the amount of trash, decrease the amount of toner used in the world,
9521 and save some money in the process.</p>
9522
9523 <p>Update 2013-04-10: If you want to know how much ink/toner could be
9524 saved when switching between fonts, Inkfarm got a
9525 <a href="http://www.inkfarm.com/What-the-Font">service to calculate the
9526 difference between font pairs</a>.  They also
9527 <a href="http://www.inkfarm.com/Recommended-Ink-Saving-Fonts---">recommend
9528 which fonts to use</a> to save ink.  Check it out. :) While updating
9529 this blog post, I also came across a blog post from InkCloners,
9530 <a href="http://inkcloners.com/blog/ink-cartridges/change-fonts-to-save-ink-costs/">listing
9531 the fonts they recommend</a>, with Centory Gothic at the top.</p>
9532
9533       </div>
9534       <div class="tags">
9535
9536
9537         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
9538
9539
9540       </div>
9541     </div>
9542     <div class="padding"></div>
9543
9544     <div class="entry">
9545       <div class="title">
9546         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Typesetting_a_short_story_using_docbook_for_PDF__HTML_and_EPUB.html">Typesetting a short story using docbook for PDF, HTML and EPUB</a>
9547       </div>
9548       <div class="date">
9549         24th March 2013
9550       </div>
9551       <div class="body">
9552         <p>A few days ago, during a discussion in
9553 <a href="http://www.efn.no/">EFN</a> about interesting books to read
9554 about copyright and the data retention directive, a suggestion to read
9555 the 1968 short story Kodémus by
9556 <a href="http://web2.gyldendal.no/toraage/">Tore Åge Bringsværd</a>
9557 came up.  The text was only available in old paper books, and thus not
9558 easily available for current and future generations.  Some of the
9559 people participating in the discussion contacted the author, and
9560 reported back 2013-03-19 that the author was OK with releasing the
9561 short story using a <a href="http://www.creativecommons.org/">Creative
9562 Commons</a> license.  The text was quickly scanned and OCR-ed, and we
9563 were ready to start on the editing and typesetting.</p>
9564
9565 <p>As I already had some experience formatting text in my project to
9566 provide a Norwegian version of the Free Culture book by Lawrence
9567 Lessig, I chipped in and set up a
9568 <a href="http://www.docbook.org/">DocBook</a> processing framework to
9569 generate PDF, HTML and EPUB version of the short story.  The tools to
9570 transform DocBook to different formats are already in my Linux
9571 distribution of choice, <a href="http://www.debian.org/">Debian</a>, so
9572 all I had to do was to use the
9573 <a href="http://dblatex.sourceforge.net/">dblatex</a>,
9574 <a href="http://docbook.sourceforge.net/release/xsl/current/epub/README">dbtoepub</a>
9575 and <a href="https://fedorahosted.org/xmlto/">xmlto</a> tools to do the
9576 conversion.  After a few days, we decided to replace dblatex with
9577 xsltproc/fop (aka
9578 <a href="http://wiki.docbook.org/DocBookXslStylesheets">docbook-xsl</a>),
9579 to get the copyright information to show up in the PDF and to get a
9580 nicer &lt;variablelist&gt; typesetting, but that is just a minor
9581 technical detail.</p>
9582
9583 <p>There were a few challenges, of course.  We want to typeset the
9584 short story to look like the original, and that require fairly good
9585 control over the layout.  The original short story have three
9586 parts/scenes separated by a single horizontally centred star (*), and
9587 the paragraphs do not contain only flowing text, but dialogs and text
9588 that started on a new line in the middle of the paragraph.</p>
9589
9590 <p>I initially solved the first challenge by using a paragraph with a
9591 single star in it, ie &lt;para&gt;*&lt;/para&gt;, but it made sure a
9592 placeholder indicated where the scene shifted.  This did not look too
9593 good without the centring.  The next approach was to create a new
9594 preprocessor directive &lt;?newscene?&gt;, mapping to "&lt;hr/&gt;"
9595 for HTML and "&lt;fo:block text-align="center"&gt;&lt;fo:leader
9596 leader-pattern="rule" rule-thickness="0.5pt"/&gt;&lt;/fo:block&gt;"
9597 for FO/PDF output (did not try to implement this in dblatex, as we had
9598 switched at this time).  The HTML XSL file looked like this:</p>
9599
9600 <p><blockquote><pre>
9601 &lt;?xml version='1.0'?&gt;
9602 &lt;xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" version='1.0'&gt;
9603   &lt;xsl:template match="processing-instruction('newscene')"&gt;
9604     &lt;hr/&gt;
9605   &lt;/xsl:template&gt;
9606 &lt;/xsl:stylesheet&gt;
9607 </pre></blockquote></p>
9608
9609 <p>And the FO/PDF XSL file looked like this:</p>
9610
9611 <p><blockquote><pre>
9612 &lt;?xml version='1.0'?&gt;
9613 &lt;xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" version='1.0'&gt;
9614   &lt;xsl:template match="processing-instruction('newscene')"&gt;
9615     &lt;fo:block text-align="center"&gt;
9616       &lt;fo:leader leader-pattern="rule" rule-thickness="0.5pt"/&gt;
9617     &lt;/fo:block&gt;
9618   &lt;/xsl:template&gt;
9619 &lt;/xsl:stylesheet&gt;
9620 </pre></blockquote></p>
9621
9622 <p>Finally, I came across the &lt;bridgehead&gt; tag, which seem to be
9623 a good fit for the task at hand, and I replaced &lt;?newscene?&gt;
9624 with &lt;bridgehead&gt;*&lt;/bridgehead&gt;.  It isn't centred, but we
9625 can fix it with some XSL rule if the current visual layout isn't
9626 enough.</p>
9627
9628 <p>I did not find a good DocBook compliant way to solve the
9629 linebreak/paragraph challenge, so I ended up creating a new processor
9630 directive &lt;?linebreak?&gt;, mapping to &lt;br/&gt; in HTML, and
9631 &lt;fo:block/&gt; in FO/PDF.  I suspect there are better ways to do
9632 this, and welcome ideas and patches on github.  The HTML XSL file now
9633 look like this:</p>
9634
9635 <p><blockquote><pre>
9636 &lt;?xml version='1.0'?&gt;
9637 &lt;xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" version='1.0'&gt;
9638   &lt;xsl:template match="processing-instruction('linebreak)"&gt;
9639     &lt;br/&gt;
9640   &lt;/xsl:template&gt;
9641 &lt;/xsl:stylesheet&gt;
9642 </pre></blockquote></p>
9643
9644 <p>And the FO/PDF XSL file looked like this:</p>
9645
9646 <p><blockquote><pre>
9647 &lt;?xml version='1.0'?&gt;
9648 &lt;xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" version='1.0'
9649   xmlns:fo="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Format"&gt;
9650   &lt;xsl:template match="processing-instruction('linebreak)"&gt;
9651     &lt;fo:block/&gt;
9652   &lt;/xsl:template&gt;
9653 &lt;/xsl:stylesheet&gt;
9654 </pre></blockquote></p>
9655
9656 <p>One unsolved challenge is our wish to expose different ISBN numbers
9657 per publication format, while keeping all of them in some conditional
9658 structure in the DocBook source.  No idea how to do this, so we ended
9659 up listing all the ISBN numbers next to their format in the colophon
9660 page.</p>
9661
9662 <p>If you want to check out the finished result, check out the
9663 <a href="https://github.com/sickel/kodemus">source repository at
9664 github</a>
9665 (<a href="https://github.com/EFN/kodemus">future/new/official
9666 repository</a>).  We expect it to be ready and announced in a few
9667 days.</p>
9668
9669       </div>
9670       <div class="tags">
9671
9672
9673         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/opphavsrett">opphavsrett</a>.
9674
9675
9676       </div>
9677     </div>
9678     <div class="padding"></div>
9679
9680     <div class="entry">
9681       <div class="title">
9682         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Skolelinux_6_got_a_video_review_from_Pcwizz.html">Skolelinux 6 got a video review from Pcwizz</a>
9683       </div>
9684       <div class="date">
9685         17th March 2013
9686       </div>
9687       <div class="body">
9688         <p>Via
9689 <a href="https://twitter.com/pcwizz/status/313044373262716930">twitter</a>
9690 I just discovered that <a href="http://pcwizz.net/">Pcwizz</a> have
9691 done a <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPzTZ61Pcuc">video
9692 review</a> on Youtube of <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Skolelinux
9693 / Debian Edu</a> version 6.  He installed the standalone profile and
9694 the video show a walk-through of of the menu content, demonstration of
9695 a few programs and his view of our distribution.</p>
9696
9697 <p>There is also some really nice quotes (transcribed by me, might
9698 have heard wrong).  While looking thought the Graphics menu:</p>
9699
9700 <blockquote>
9701 "Basically everything you ever need in a school environment."
9702 </blockquote>
9703
9704 <p>And as a general evaluation of the entire distribution:</p>
9705
9706 <blockquote>
9707 "So, yeah, a bit bloated.  It kept all the Debian stuff in there, just
9708 to keep it nice and GNU.  So, I do not want to go on about it, but
9709 lets give it 7 out of 10.  I am not going to use it.  That is because
9710 I am not deploying a school network.  There may be some mythical
9711 feature to help you deploy Skolelinux on a school network."
9712 </blockquote>
9713
9714 <p>To bad he did not test the server profile, and discovered the PXE
9715 installation option.  It make it possible to install only the main
9716 server from CD, and the rest of the machines via the net, and might be
9717 considered the mythical feature he talk about. :)</p>
9718
9719 <p>While looking through the menus, there is also this funny comment
9720 about the part of the K menu generated from the Debian menu subsystem:
9721
9722 <blockquote>
9723 "[The K menu] have a special Debian section for software that no-one
9724 is going to look at, because it contain lots of junky stuff that you
9725 actually don't need in the education distribution, but have just been
9726 included because it isn't stripped out for some reason."
9727 </blockquote>
9728
9729 <p>I guess it is yet another argument for merging the Debian menu and
9730 Gnome/KDE desktop menu entries into
9731 <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/Proposals/DebianMenuUsingDesktopEntries">one
9732 consistent menu system</a> instead of two incomplete and partly
9733 inconsistent menu systems.</p>
9734
9735 <p>The entire video is available below for those accepting iframe
9736 embedding:</p>
9737
9738 <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/wPzTZ61Pcuc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
9739
9740       </div>
9741       <div class="tags">
9742
9743
9744         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>.
9745
9746
9747       </div>
9748     </div>
9749     <div class="padding"></div>
9750
9751     <div class="entry">
9752       <div class="title">
9753         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/First_Skolelinux___Debian_Edu_Squeeze_update_released.html">First Skolelinux / Debian Edu Squeeze update released</a>
9754       </div>
9755       <div class="date">
9756          8th March 2013
9757       </div>
9758       <div class="body">
9759         <p>Last Sunday, 2013-03-03,, Holger Levsen announced the first update
9760 of <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Skolelinux / Debian Edu</a>
9761 based on Debian Squeeze.  This is the first update since
9762 <a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-edu-announce/2012/03/msg00001.html">the
9763 initial release 2012-03-11</a>.  This is the
9764 <a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-edu-announce/2013/03/msg00000.html">release
9765 announcement email from Holger</a>:</p>
9766
9767 <blockquote><p>Hi,</p>
9768
9769 <p>it's my pleasure to announce the immediate availability of Debian
9770 Edu 6.0.7+r1 ("Debian Edu Squeeze").</p>
9771
9772 <p>Debian Edu 6.0.7+r1 is an incremental update to Debian Edu
9773 6.0.4+r0, containing all the changes between Debian 6.0.4 and 6.0.7 as
9774 well Debian Edu specific bugfixes and enhancements. See below (in this
9775 mail) for the full list of (edu) changes.  Please see
9776 <a href="http://www.debian.org/News/2012/20120311">http://www.debian.org/News/2012/20120311</a>
9777 for more information on "Debian Edu Squeeze".</p>
9778
9779 <p>Images are available for download at
9780 <a href="http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/">http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/</a></p>
9781
9782 <p>md5sums:
9783 <br>1fe79eb4f0f9ae1c58fc318e26cc1e2e  debian-edu-6.0.7+r1-CD.iso
9784 <br>a6ddd924a8bd9a1b5ca122e8fe1c34ec  debian-edu-6.0.7+r1-DVD.iso
9785 <br>ac6c72cd7925ccec51bfbf58e2a7c69c  debian-edu-6.0.7+r1-source-DVD.iso</p>
9786
9787 <p>sha1sums:
9788 <br>a4b58233b672a99c7df8dc24fb6de3327654a5c3  debian-edu-6.0.7+r1-CD.iso
9789 <br>9b524915e0ff2aa793f13d93123e5bd2bab2dbaa  debian-edu-6.0.7+r1-DVD.iso
9790 <br>43997614893fc5e9e59ad6ce066b05d07fd836fa  debian-edu-6.0.7+r1-source-DVD.iso</p>
9791
9792 <p>These images are suitable for amd64+i386.</p>
9793
9794 <p>Changes for Debian Edu 6.0.7+r1 Codename "Squeeze", released
9795 2013-03-03:</p>
9796
9797 <ul>
9798   <li>sitesummary was updated from 0.1.3 to 0.1.8
9799   <ul>
9800         <li>Make Nagios configuration more robust and efficient</li>
9801         <li>Comply with 3.X kernel</li>
9802   </ul></li>
9803   <li>debian-edu-doc from 1.4~20120310~6.0.4+r0 to 1.4~20130228~6.0.7+r1
9804   <ul>
9805         <li>Minor updates from the wiki</li>
9806         <li>Danish translation now complete</li>
9807   </ul></li>
9808   <li>debian-edu-config from 1.453 to 1.455
9809      <ul>
9810         <li>Fix /etc/hosts for LTSP diskless workstations. Closes: #699880</li>
9811         <li>Make ltsp_local_mount script work for multiple devices.</li>
9812         <li>Correct Kerberos user policy: don't expire password after 2 days.
9813                 Closes: #664596</li>
9814         <li>Handle '#' characters in the root or first users password.
9815                 Closes: #664976</li>
9816         <li>Fixes for gosa-sync:
9817            <ul>
9818                 <li>Don't fail if password contains "</li>
9819                 <li>Don't disclose new password string in syslog</li>
9820            </ul></li>
9821         <li>Fixes for gosa-create:
9822            <ul>
9823                 <li>Invalidate libnss cache before applying changes</li>
9824                 <li>Multiple failures during mass user import into GOsa²</li>
9825                 <li>gosa-netgroups plugin: don't erase entries of attribute type
9826                          "memberNisNetgroup". Closes: #687256</li>
9827                 <li>First user now uses the same Kerberos policy as all other users</li>
9828            </ul></li>
9829         <li>Add Danish web page</li>
9830     </ul>
9831   <li>debian-edu-install from 1.528 to 1.530
9832     <ul>
9833         <li>Improve preseeding support and documentation</li>
9834     </ul></li>
9835 </ul>
9836
9837 <p>End-user documentation in English is available at
9838 <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/Documentation/Squeeze/">http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/Documentation/Squeeze/</a>
9839 - translations to French, Italian, Danish and German are available in
9840 the debian-edu-doc package. (Other languages could use your help!)</p>
9841
9842 <p>If you want to contribute to Debian Edu, please join our
9843 mailinglist
9844 <a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-edu/">debian-edu@lists.debian.org</a>!
9845 </p></blockquote>
9846
9847 <p>I am very happy to see the fruits of a year of hard work. :)</p>
9848
9849       </div>
9850       <div class="tags">
9851
9852
9853         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>.
9854
9855
9856       </div>
9857     </div>
9858     <div class="padding"></div>
9859
9860     <div class="entry">
9861       <div class="title">
9862         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Frikanalen___Complete_TV_station_organised_using_the_web.html">Frikanalen - Complete TV station organised using the web</a>
9863       </div>
9864       <div class="date">
9865          3rd March 2013
9866       </div>
9867       <div class="body">
9868         <p>Do you want to set up your own TV station, schedule videos and
9869 broadcast them on the air?  Using free software?  With video on demand
9870 support using
9871 <a href="http://www.digistan.org/open-standard:definition">free and
9872 open standards</a>?  Included a web based video stream as well?  And
9873 administrate it all in your web browser from anywhere in the world?  A
9874 few years now the Norwegian public access TV-channel
9875 <a href="http://www.frikanalen.no/">Frikanalen</a> have been building a
9876 system to do just this.  The source code for the solution is licensed
9877 using the GNU LGPL, and
9878 <a href="http://github.com/Frikanalen">available from github</a>.</p>
9879
9880 <p>The idea is simple.  You upload a video file over the web, and
9881 attach meta information to the file.  You select a time slot in the
9882 program schedule, and when the time come it is played on the air and
9883 in the web stream.  It is also made available in a video on demand
9884 solution for anyone to see it also outside its scheduled time.  All
9885 you need to run a TV station - using your web browser.</p>
9886
9887 <p>There are several parts to this web based solution.  I'll mention
9888 the three most important ones.  The first part is the database of
9889 videos and the schedule.  This is written in Django and include a REST
9890 API.  The current database is SQLite, but the plan is to migrate it to
9891 PostgreSQL.  At the moment this system can be tested on
9892 <a href="http://beta.frikanalen.tv/">beta.frikanalen.tv</a>.  The
9893 second part is the video playout, taking the schedule information from
9894 the database and providing a video stream to broadcast.  This is done
9895 using <a href="http://www.casparcg.com/">CasparCG from SVT</a> and
9896 <a href="http://www.mltframework.org/">Media Lovin' Toolkit</a>.  Video
9897 signal distribution is handled using
9898 <a href="http://www.ob-encoder.com/">Open Broadcast Encoder</a>.  The
9899 third part is the converter, handling the transformation of uploaded
9900 video files to a format useful for broadcasting, streaming and video
9901 on demand.  It is still very much work in progress, so it is not yet
9902 decided what it will end up using.  Note that the source of the latter
9903 two parts are not yet pushed to github.  The lead author want to clean
9904 them up a bit more first.</p>
9905
9906 <p>The development is coordinated on the
9907 <a href="irc://irc.freenode.net/%23frikanalen">#frikanalen IRC
9908 channel</a> (irc.freenode.net), and discussed on
9909 <a href="http://lists.nuug.no/mailman/listinfo/frikanalen">the
9910 frikanalen mailing list</a>. The lead developer is Benjamin Bruheim
9911 (phed on IRC).  Anyone is welcome to participate in the
9912 development.</p>
9913
9914       </div>
9915       <div class="tags">
9916
9917
9918         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/nuug">nuug</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/video">video</a>.
9919
9920
9921       </div>
9922     </div>
9923     <div class="padding"></div>
9924
9925     <div class="entry">
9926       <div class="title">
9927         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Dr__Richard_Stallman__founder_of_Free_Software_Foundation__give_a_talk_in_Oslo_March_1st_2013.html">Dr. Richard Stallman, founder of Free Software Foundation, give a talk in Oslo March 1st 2013</a>
9928       </div>
9929       <div class="date">
9930         27th February 2013
9931       </div>
9932       <div class="body">
9933         <p>Dr. <a href="http://www.stallman.org/">Richard Stallman</a>,
9934 founder of <a href="http://www.fsf.org/">Free Software Foundation</a>,
9935 is giving <a href="http://www.nuug.no/aktiviteter/20130301-rms/">a
9936 talk in Oslo March 1st 2013 17:00 to 19:00</a>.  The event is public
9937 and organised by <a href="">Norwegian Unix Users Group (NUUG)</a>
9938 (where I am the chair of the board) and
9939 <a href="http://www.friprog.no/">The Norwegian Open Source Competence
9940 Center</a>.  The title of the talk is «The Free Software Movement and
9941 GNU», with this description:
9942
9943 <p><blockquote>
9944 The Free Software Movement campaigns for computer users' freedom to
9945 cooperate and control their own computing. The Free Software Movement
9946 developed the GNU operating system, typically used together with the
9947 kernel Linux, specifically to make these freedoms possible.
9948 </blockquote></p>
9949
9950 <p>The meeting is open for everyone.  Due to space limitations, the
9951 doors opens for NUUG members at 16:15, and everyone else at 16:45.  I
9952 am really curious how many will show up.  See
9953 <a href="http://www.nuug.no/aktiviteter/20130301-rms/">the event
9954 page</a> for the location details.</p>
9955
9956       </div>
9957       <div class="tags">
9958
9959
9960         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>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/sikkerhet">sikkerhet</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/surveillance">surveillance</a>.
9961
9962
9963       </div>
9964     </div>
9965     <div class="padding"></div>
9966
9967     <div class="entry">
9968       <div class="title">
9969         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Frikart___Free_Garmin_maps_for_European_countries_based_on_OpenStreetmap.html">Frikart - Free Garmin maps for European countries based on OpenStreetmap</a>
9970       </div>
9971       <div class="date">
9972         15th February 2013
9973       </div>
9974       <div class="body">
9975         <p>If you, like me, want an updated a map for your Garmin GPS, there is
9976 now a great source of free maps available from
9977 <a href="http://www.frikart.no/garmin/index.html">Frikart</a>.  To
9978 download a map, just click on the country you are interested in, and
9979 download the map type you want.  There are 8 different maps available,
9980 using different colours and data selection.  Pick one of Roadmap, Topo
9981 Summer, Topo Winter, Roadmap II, Topo Summer II, Topo Winter II,
9982 "Trails - overlay map" and "Cross country - overlay map" (see the web
9983 page for descriptions).</p>
9984
9985 <p>The maps are updated weekly, so if you find something wrong in the
9986 map you can just edit the
9987 <a href="http://www.openstreetmap.org/">OpenStreetmap</a> map source
9988 (anyone can contribute) and fetch a fixed map a week later. :)</p>
9989
9990       </div>
9991       <div class="tags">
9992
9993
9994         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>.
9995
9996
9997       </div>
9998     </div>
9999     <div class="padding"></div>
10000
10001     <div class="entry">
10002       <div class="title">
10003         <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>
10004       </div>
10005       <div class="date">
10006         12th February 2013
10007       </div>
10008       <div class="body">
10009         <p>Here in Norway, electronic invoices are spreading, and the
10010 <a href="http://www.anskaffelser.no/e-handel/faktura">solution promoted
10011 by the Norwegian government</a> require that invoices are sent through
10012 one of the approved facilitators, and it is not possible to send
10013 electronic invoices without an agreement with one of these
10014 facilitators.  This seem like a needless limitation to be able to
10015 transfer invoice information between buyers and sellers.  My preferred
10016 solution would be to just transfer the invoice information directly
10017 between seller and buyer, for example using SMTP, or some HTTP based
10018 protocol like REST or SOAP.  But this might also be overkill, as the
10019 "electronic" information can be transferred using paper invoices too,
10020 using a simple bar code.  My bar code encoding of choice would be QR
10021 codes, as this encoding can be read by any smart phone out there.  The
10022 content of the code could be anything, but I would go with
10023 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VCard">the vCard format</a>, as
10024 it too is supported by a lot of computer equipment these days.</p>
10025
10026 <p>The vCard format support extentions, and the invoice specific
10027 information can be included using such extentions.  For example an
10028 invoice from SLX Debian Labs (picked because we
10029 <a href="http://www.linuxiskolen.no/slxdebianlabs/donations.html">ask
10030 for donations to the Debian Edu project</a> and thus have bank account
10031 information publicly available) for NOK 1000.00 could have these extra
10032 fields:</p>
10033
10034 <p><pre>
10035 X-INVOICE-NUMBER:1
10036 X-INVOICE-AMOUNT:NOK1000.00
10037 X-INVOICE-KID:123412341234
10038 X-INVOICE-MSG:Donation to Debian Edu
10039 X-BANK-ACCOUNT-NUMBER:16040884339
10040 X-BANK-IBAN-NUMBER:NO8516040884339
10041 X-BANK-SWIFT-NUMBER:DNBANOKKXXX
10042 </pre></p>
10043
10044 <p>The X-BANK-ACCOUNT-NUMBER field was proposed in a stackoverflow
10045 answer regarding
10046 <a href="http://stackoverflow.com/questions/10045664/storing-bank-account-in-vcard-file">how
10047 to put bank account information into a vCard</a>.  For payments in
10048 Norway, either X-INVOICE-KID (payment ID) or X-INVOICE-MSG could be
10049 used to pass on information to the seller when paying the invoice.</p>
10050
10051 <p>The complete vCard could look like this:</p>
10052
10053 <p><pre>
10054 BEGIN:VCARD
10055 VERSION:2.1
10056 ORG:SLX Debian Labs Foundation
10057 ADR;WORK:;;Gunnar Schjelderups vei 29D;OSLO;;0485;Norway
10058 URL;WORK:http://www.linuxiskolen.no/slxdebianlabs/
10059 EMAIL;PREF;INTERNET:sdl-styret@rt.nuug.no
10060 REV:20130212T095000Z
10061 X-INVOICE-NUMBER:1
10062 X-INVOICE-AMOUNT:NOK1000.00
10063 X-INVOICE-MSG:Donation to Debian Edu
10064 X-BANK-ACCOUNT-NUMBER:16040884339
10065 X-BANK-IBAN-NUMBER:NO8516040884339
10066 X-BANK-SWIFT-NUMBER:DNBANOKKXXX
10067 END:VCARD
10068 </pre></p>
10069
10070 <p>The resulting QR code created using
10071 <a href="http://fukuchi.org/works/qrencode/">qrencode</a> would look
10072 like this, and should be readable (and thus checkable) by any smart
10073 phone, or for example the <a href="http://zbar.sourceforge.net/">zbar
10074 bar code reader</a> and feed right into the approval and accounting
10075 system.</p>
10076
10077 <p><img src="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-02-12-qr-invoice.png"></p>
10078
10079 <p>The extension fields will most likely not show up in any normal
10080 vCard reader, so those parts would have to go directly into a system
10081 handling invoices.  I am a bit unsure how vCards without name parts
10082 are handled, but a simple test indicate that this work just fine.</p>
10083
10084 <p><strong>Update 2013-02-12 11:30</strong>: Added KID to the proposal
10085 based on feedback from Sturle Sunde.</p>
10086
10087       </div>
10088       <div class="tags">
10089
10090
10091         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>.
10092
10093
10094       </div>
10095     </div>
10096     <div class="padding"></div>
10097
10098     <div class="entry">
10099       <div class="title">
10100         <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>
10101       </div>
10102       <div class="date">
10103         10th February 2013
10104       </div>
10105       <div class="body">
10106         <p><img align="left" style="margin-right:25px;" src="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-02-10-morning-light.jpeg"></p>
10107
10108 <p>With kids in the house, one challenge is getting them to sleep
10109 during the night and wake up when it is morning.  I mean, when I
10110 believe it is morning, and not two hours earlier.  In our household we
10111 have decided that 07:00 is the turning point, but getting the kids to
10112 sleep until 07:00 is a small challenge every day.  They have adapted
10113 quite well, and rarely wake up at 05:00 any more, but some times wake
10114 up at times like 05:50, 06:15, 06:30 or 06:45, and it is hard to put
10115 the awake one to bed again without disturbing and waking the rest.
10116 And I understand perfectly well that they fail to sleep until 07:00
10117 some times, as there is no way for them to know if it is before or
10118 after the magic moment without coming and asking us parents.</p>
10119
10120 <p>But yesterday I came up with a method to solve this problem.  It
10121 involve home automation.  A few years ago I bought a
10122 <a href="http://www.telldus.se/products/tellstick">Tellstick</a> and RF
10123 switches at the local <a href="http://www.clasohlson.com/">Clas
10124 Ohlson</a> shop, allowing me to control lights and other electrical
10125 gadgets using my Linux server.  When I moved from the old flat to a
10126 small house, I put away all this equipment as most of the lighting in
10127 the house was not using wall sockets and thus not easy to connect to
10128 the gadgets I had.  But recently I bought a
10129 <a href="http://www.telldus.se/products/tellstick_net">Tellstick
10130 Net</a> to be able to read sensor input as well as control power
10131 sockets.  I want to control ovens in the basement to avoid the pipes
10132 to freeze, and monitor the humidity to detect flooding.  The default
10133 setup for Tellstick Net is to be controlled by the vendor web service,
10134 which to me is a security problem, but it is also possible to build
10135 ones own
10136 <a href="http://developer.telldus.com/blog/2012/03/02/help-us-develop-local-access-using-tellstick-net-build-your-own-firmware">firmware
10137 with local access</A> instead of being controlled by a Swedish
10138 company, thanks to the release of the GPL licensed firmware source
10139 code.  I plan to get that running before I let it control anything
10140 important.  But while working on this, one idea to make it easier for
10141 the kids came to me yesterday.  We can set up a night light controlled
10142 by the computer, and turn it automatically on at 07:00.  The kids can
10143 then check the light in the morning to know if they are supposed to
10144 get up or not.  They joined me in setting everything up, and I
10145 repeated the concept several times before bed times to make sure they
10146 remembered to check the light before getting up in the morning.</p>
10147
10148 <p>We tested it this morning, and all the kids stayed in bed until
10149 after 07:00, and every one of them commented on the fact that the
10150 "morning light" was turned on and signalled that the morning had
10151 arrived.  So this look like a success, and I am excited to see how
10152 this develops the next few days. :) I really hope this can allow us
10153 all to sleep a bit longer in the morning.</p>
10154
10155 <p>A nice advantage of this setup is that we can remote control when
10156 to tell the kids to get up.  We do not have to wait until 07:00, and
10157 can also delay it if we want to.</p>
10158
10159       </div>
10160       <div class="tags">
10161
10162
10163         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
10164
10165
10166       </div>
10167     </div>
10168     <div class="padding"></div>
10169
10170     <div class="entry">
10171       <div class="title">
10172         <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>
10173       </div>
10174       <div class="date">
10175          2nd February 2013
10176       </div>
10177       <div class="body">
10178         <p>My
10179 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/How_to_backport_bitcoin_qt_version_0_7_2_2_to_Debian_Squeeze.html">last
10180 bitcoin related blog post</a> mentioned that the new
10181 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/bitcoin">bitcoin package</a> for
10182 Debian was waiting in NEW.  It was accepted by the Debian ftp-masters
10183 2013-01-19, and have been available in unstable since then.  It was
10184 automatically copied to Ubuntu, and is available in their Raring
10185 version too.</p>
10186
10187 <p>But there is a strange problem with the build that block this new
10188 version from being available on the i386 and kfreebsd-i386
10189 architectures.  For some strange reason, the autobuilders in Debian
10190 for these architectures fail to run the test suite on these
10191 architectures (<a href="http://bugs.debian.org/672524">BTS #672524</a>).
10192 We are so far unable to reproduce it when building it manually, and
10193 no-one have been able to propose a fix.  If you got an idea what is
10194 failing, please let us know via the BTS.</p>
10195
10196 <p>One feature that is annoying me with of the bitcoin client, because
10197 I often run low on disk space, is the fact that the client will exit
10198 if it run short on space (<a href="http://bugs.debian.org/696715">BTS
10199 #696715</a>).  So make sure you have enough disk space when you run
10200 it. :)</p>
10201
10202 <p>As usual, if you use bitcoin and want to show your support of my
10203 activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address
10204 <b><a href="bitcoin:15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b&label=PetterReinholdtsenBlog">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</a></b>.</p>
10205
10206       </div>
10207       <div class="tags">
10208
10209
10210         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>.
10211
10212
10213       </div>
10214     </div>
10215     <div class="padding"></div>
10216
10217     <div class="entry">
10218       <div class="title">
10219         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Welcome_to_the_world__Isenkram_.html">Welcome to the world, Isenkram!</a>
10220       </div>
10221       <div class="date">
10222         22nd January 2013
10223       </div>
10224       <div class="body">
10225         <p>Yesterday, I
10226 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/First_prototype_ready_making_hardware_easier_to_use_in_Debian.html">asked
10227 for testers</a> for my prototype for making Debian better at handling
10228 pluggable hardware devices, which I
10229 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Lets_make_hardware_dongles_easier_to_use_in_Debian.html">set
10230 out to create</a> earlier this month.  Several valuable testers showed
10231 up, and caused me to really want to to open up the development to more
10232 people.  But before I did this, I want to come up with a sensible name
10233 for this project.  Today I finally decided on a new name, and I have
10234 renamed the project from hw-support-handler to this new name.  In the
10235 process, I moved the source to git and made it available as a
10236 <a href="http://anonscm.debian.org/gitweb/?p=collab-maint/isenkram.git">collab-maint</a>
10237 repository in Debian.  The new name?  It is <strong>Isenkram</strong>.
10238 To fetch and build the latest version of the source, use</p>
10239
10240 <pre>
10241 git clone http://anonscm.debian.org/git/collab-maint/isenkram.git
10242 cd isenkram && git-buildpackage -us -uc
10243 </pre>
10244
10245 <p>I have not yet adjusted all files to use the new name yet.  If you
10246 want to hack on the source or improve the package, please go ahead.
10247 But please talk to me first on IRC or via email before you do major
10248 changes, to make sure we do not step on each others toes. :)</p>
10249
10250 <p>If you wonder what 'isenkram' is, it is a Norwegian word for iron
10251 stuff, typically meaning tools, nails, screws, etc.  Typical hardware
10252 stuff, in other words.  I've been told it is the Norwegian variant of
10253 the German word eisenkram, for those that are familiar with that
10254 word.</p>
10255
10256 <p><strong>Update 2013-01-26</strong>: Added -us -us to build
10257 instructions, to avoid confusing people with an error from the signing
10258 process.</p>
10259
10260 <p><strong>Update 2013-01-27</strong>: Switch to HTTP URL for the git
10261 clone argument to avoid the need for authentication.</p>
10262
10263       </div>
10264       <div class="tags">
10265
10266
10267         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>.
10268
10269
10270       </div>
10271     </div>
10272     <div class="padding"></div>
10273
10274     <div class="entry">
10275       <div class="title">
10276         <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>
10277       </div>
10278       <div class="date">
10279         21st January 2013
10280       </div>
10281       <div class="body">
10282         <p>Early this month I set out to try to
10283 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Lets_make_hardware_dongles_easier_to_use_in_Debian.html">improve
10284 the Debian support for pluggable hardware devices</a>.  Now my
10285 prototype is working, and it is ready for a larger audience.  To test
10286 it, fetch the
10287 <a href="http://anonscm.debian.org/viewvc/debian-edu/trunk/src/hw-support-handler/">source
10288 from the Debian Edu subversion repository</a>, build and install the
10289 package.  You might have to log out and in again activate the
10290 autostart script.</p>
10291
10292 <p>The design is simple:</p>
10293
10294 <ul>
10295
10296 <li>Add desktop entry in /usr/share/autostart/ causing a program
10297 hw-support-handlerd to start when the user log in.</li>
10298
10299 <li>This program listen for kernel events about new hardware (directly
10300 from the kernel like udev does), not using HAL dbus events as I
10301 initially did.</li>
10302
10303 <li>When new hardware is inserted, look up the hardware modalias in
10304 the APT database, a database
10305 <a href="http://anonscm.debian.org/viewvc/debian-edu/trunk/src/hw-support-handler/modaliases?view=markup">available
10306 via HTTP</a> and a database available as part of the package.</li>
10307
10308 <li>If a package is mapped to the hardware in question, the package
10309 isn't installed yet and this is the first time the hardware was
10310 plugged in, show a desktop notification suggesting to install the
10311 package or packages.</li>
10312
10313 <li>If the user click on the 'install package now' button, ask
10314 aptdaemon via the PackageKit API to install the requrired package.</li>
10315
10316 <li>aptdaemon ask for root password or sudo password, and install the
10317 package while showing progress information in a window.</li>
10318
10319 </ul>
10320
10321 <p>I still need to come up with a better name for the system.  Here
10322 are some screen shots showing the prototype in action.  First the
10323 notification, then the password request, and finally the request to
10324 approve all the dependencies.  Sorry for the Norwegian Bokmål GUI.</p>
10325
10326 <p><img src="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-01-21-hw-support-1-notification.png">
10327 <br><img src="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-01-21-hw-support-2-password.png">
10328 <br><img src="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-01-21-hw-support-3-dependencies.png">
10329 <br><img src="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-01-21-hw-support-4-installing.png">
10330 <br><img src="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-01-21-hw-support-5-installing-details.png" width="70%"></p>
10331
10332 <p>The prototype still need to be improved with longer timeouts, but
10333 is already useful.  The database of hardware to package mappings also
10334 need more work.  It is currently compatible with the Ubuntu way of
10335 storing such information in the package control file, but could be
10336 changed to use other formats instead or in addition to the current
10337 method.  I've dropped the use of discover for this mapping, as the
10338 modalias approach is more flexible and easier to use on Linux as long
10339 as the Linux kernel expose its modalias strings directly.</p>
10340
10341 <p><strong>Update 2013-01-21 16:50</strong>: Due to popular demand,
10342 here is the command required to check out and build the source: Use
10343 '<tt>svn checkout
10344 svn://svn.debian.org/debian-edu/trunk/src/hw-support-handler/; cd
10345 hw-support-handler; debuild</tt>'.  If you lack debuild, install the
10346 devscripts package.</p>
10347
10348 <p><strong>Update 2013-01-23 12:00</strong>: The project is now
10349 renamed to Isenkram and the source moved from the Debian Edu
10350 subversion repository to a Debian collab-maint git repository.  See
10351 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Welcome_to_the_world__Isenkram_.html">build
10352 instructions</a> for details.</p>
10353
10354       </div>
10355       <div class="tags">
10356
10357
10358         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>.
10359
10360
10361       </div>
10362     </div>
10363     <div class="padding"></div>
10364
10365     <div class="entry">
10366       <div class="title">
10367         <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>
10368       </div>
10369       <div class="date">
10370         19th January 2013
10371       </div>
10372       <div class="body">
10373         <p>This Christmas my trusty old laptop died.  It died quietly and
10374 suddenly in bed.  With a quiet whimper, it went completely quiet and
10375 black.  The power button was no longer able to turn it on.  It was a
10376 IBM Thinkpad X41, and the best laptop I ever had.  Better than both
10377 Thinkpads X30, X31, X40, X60, X61 and X61S.  Far better than the
10378 Compaq I had before that.  Now I need to find a replacement.  To keep
10379 going during Christmas, I moved the one year old SSD disk to my old
10380 X40 where it fitted (only one I had left that could use it), but it is
10381 not a durable solution.
10382
10383 <p>My laptop needs are fairly modest.  This is my wishlist from when I
10384 got a new one more than 10 years ago.  It still holds true.:)</p>
10385
10386 <ul>
10387
10388 <li>Lightweight (around 1 kg) and small volume (preferably smaller
10389   than A4).</li>
10390 <li>Robust, it will be in my backpack every day.</li>
10391 <li>Three button mouse and a mouse pin instead of touch pad.</li>
10392 <li>Long battery life time.  Preferable a week.</li>
10393 <li>Internal WIFI network card.</li>
10394 <li>Internal Twisted Pair network card.</li>
10395 <li>Some USB slots (2-3 is plenty)</li>
10396 <li>Good keyboard - similar to the Thinkpad.</li>
10397 <li>Video resolution at least 1024x768, with size around 12" (A4 paper
10398 size).</li>
10399 <li>Hardware supported by Debian Stable, ie the default kernel and
10400   X.org packages.</li>
10401 <li>Quiet, preferably fan free (or at least not using the fan most of
10402   the time).
10403
10404 </ul>
10405
10406 <p>You will notice that there are no RAM and CPU requirements in the
10407 list.  The reason is simply that the specifications on laptops the
10408 last 10-15 years have been sufficient for my needs, and I have to look
10409 at other features to choose my laptop.  But are there still made as
10410 robust laptops as my X41?  The Thinkpad X60/X61 proved to be less
10411 robust, and Thinkpads seem to be heading in the wrong direction since
10412 Lenovo took over.  But I've been told that X220 and X1 Carbon might
10413 still be useful.</p>
10414
10415 <p>Perhaps I should rethink my needs, and look for a pad with an
10416 external keyboard?  I'll have to check the
10417 <a href="http://www.linux-laptop.net/">Linux Laptops site</a> for
10418 well-supported laptops, or perhaps just buy one preinstalled from one
10419 of the vendors listed on the <a href="http://linuxpreloaded.com/">Linux
10420 Pre-loaded site</a>.</p>
10421
10422       </div>
10423       <div class="tags">
10424
10425
10426         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>.
10427
10428
10429       </div>
10430     </div>
10431     <div class="padding"></div>
10432
10433     <div class="entry">
10434       <div class="title">
10435         <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>
10436       </div>
10437       <div class="date">
10438         18th January 2013
10439       </div>
10440       <div class="body">
10441         <p>Some times I try to figure out which Iceweasel browser plugin to
10442 install to get support for a given MIME type.  Thanks to
10443 <a href="https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MozillaTeam/Plugins">specifications
10444 done by Ubuntu</a> and Mozilla, it is possible to do this in Debian.
10445 Unfortunately, not very many packages provide the needed meta
10446 information, Anyway, here is a small script to look up all browser
10447 plugin packages announcing ther MIME support using this specification:</p>
10448
10449 <pre>
10450 #!/usr/bin/python
10451 import sys
10452 import apt
10453 def pkgs_handling_mimetype(mimetype):
10454     cache = apt.Cache()
10455     cache.open(None)
10456     thepkgs = []
10457     for pkg in cache:
10458         version = pkg.candidate
10459         if version is None:
10460             version = pkg.installed
10461         if version is None:
10462             continue
10463         record = version.record
10464         if not record.has_key('Npp-MimeType'):
10465             continue
10466         mime_types = record['Npp-MimeType'].split(',')
10467         for t in mime_types:
10468             t = t.rstrip().strip()
10469             if t == mimetype:
10470                 thepkgs.append(pkg.name)
10471     return thepkgs
10472 mimetype = "audio/ogg"
10473 if 1 < len(sys.argv):
10474     mimetype = sys.argv[1]
10475 print "Browser plugin packages supporting %s:" % mimetype
10476 for pkg in pkgs_handling_mimetype(mimetype):
10477     print "  %s" %pkg
10478 </pre>
10479
10480 <p>It can be used like this to look up a given MIME type:</p>
10481
10482 <pre>
10483 % ./apt-find-browserplug-for-mimetype
10484 Browser plugin packages supporting audio/ogg:
10485   gecko-mediaplayer
10486 % ./apt-find-browserplug-for-mimetype application/x-shockwave-flash
10487 Browser plugin packages supporting application/x-shockwave-flash:
10488   browser-plugin-gnash
10489 %
10490 </pre>
10491
10492 <p>In Ubuntu this mechanism is combined with support in the browser
10493 itself to query for plugins and propose to install the needed
10494 packages.  It would be great if Debian supported such feature too.  Is
10495 anyone working on adding it?</p>
10496
10497 <p><strong>Update 2013-01-18 14:20</strong>: The Debian BTS
10498 request for icweasel support for this feature is
10499 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/484010">#484010</a> from 2008 (and
10500 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/698426">#698426</a> from today).  Lack
10501 of manpower and wish for a different design is the reason thus feature
10502 is not yet in iceweasel from Debian.</p>
10503
10504       </div>
10505       <div class="tags">
10506
10507
10508         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>.
10509
10510
10511       </div>
10512     </div>
10513     <div class="padding"></div>
10514
10515     <div class="entry">
10516       <div class="title">
10517         <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>
10518       </div>
10519       <div class="date">
10520         16th January 2013
10521       </div>
10522       <div class="body">
10523         <p>The <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/AppStreamDebianProposal">DEP-11
10524 proposal to add AppStream information to the Debian archive</a>, is a
10525 proposal to make it possible for a Desktop application to propose to
10526 the user some package to install to gain support for a given MIME
10527 type, font, library etc. that is currently missing.  With such
10528 mechanism in place, it would be possible for the desktop to
10529 automatically propose and install leocad if some LDraw file is
10530 downloaded by the browser.</p>
10531
10532 <p>To get some idea about the current content of the archive, I decided
10533 to write a simple program to extract all .desktop files from the
10534 Debian archive and look up the claimed MIME support there.  The result
10535 can be found on the
10536 <a href="http://ftp.skolelinux.org/pub/AppStreamTest">Skolelinux FTP
10537 site</a>.  Using the collected information, it become possible to
10538 answer the question in the title.  Here are the 20 most supported MIME
10539 types in Debian stable (Squeeze), testing (Wheezy) and unstable (Sid).
10540 The complete list is available from the link above.</p>
10541
10542 <p><strong>Debian Stable:</strong></p>
10543
10544 <pre>
10545   count MIME type
10546   ----- -----------------------
10547      32 text/plain
10548      30 audio/mpeg
10549      29 image/png
10550      28 image/jpeg
10551      27 application/ogg
10552      26 audio/x-mp3
10553      25 image/tiff
10554      25 image/gif
10555      22 image/bmp
10556      22 audio/x-wav
10557      20 audio/x-flac
10558      19 audio/x-mpegurl
10559      18 video/x-ms-asf
10560      18 audio/x-musepack
10561      18 audio/x-mpeg
10562      18 application/x-ogg
10563      17 video/mpeg
10564      17 audio/x-scpls
10565      17 audio/ogg
10566      16 video/x-ms-wmv
10567 </pre>
10568
10569 <p><strong>Debian Testing:</strong></p>
10570
10571 <pre>
10572   count MIME type
10573   ----- -----------------------
10574      33 text/plain
10575      32 image/png
10576      32 image/jpeg
10577      29 audio/mpeg
10578      27 image/gif
10579      26 image/tiff
10580      26 application/ogg
10581      25 audio/x-mp3
10582      22 image/bmp
10583      21 audio/x-wav
10584      19 audio/x-mpegurl
10585      19 audio/x-mpeg
10586      18 video/mpeg
10587      18 audio/x-scpls
10588      18 audio/x-flac
10589      18 application/x-ogg
10590      17 video/x-ms-asf
10591      17 text/html
10592      17 audio/x-musepack
10593      16 image/x-xbitmap
10594 </pre>
10595
10596 <p><strong>Debian Unstable:</strong></p>
10597
10598 <pre>
10599   count MIME type
10600   ----- -----------------------
10601      31 text/plain
10602      31 image/png
10603      31 image/jpeg
10604      29 audio/mpeg
10605      28 application/ogg
10606      27 image/gif
10607      26 image/tiff
10608      26 audio/x-mp3
10609      23 audio/x-wav
10610      22 image/bmp
10611      21 audio/x-flac
10612      20 audio/x-mpegurl
10613      19 audio/x-mpeg
10614      18 video/x-ms-asf
10615      18 video/mpeg
10616      18 audio/x-scpls
10617      18 application/x-ogg
10618      17 audio/x-musepack
10619      16 video/x-ms-wmv
10620      16 video/x-msvideo
10621 </pre>
10622
10623 <p>I am told that PackageKit can provide an API to access the kind of
10624 information mentioned in DEP-11.  I have not yet had time to look at
10625 it, but hope the PackageKit people in Debian are on top of these
10626 issues.</p>
10627
10628 <p><strong>Update 2013-01-16 13:35</strong>: Updated numbers after
10629 discovering a typo in my script.</p>
10630
10631       </div>
10632       <div class="tags">
10633
10634
10635         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>.
10636
10637
10638       </div>
10639     </div>
10640     <div class="padding"></div>
10641
10642     <div class="entry">
10643       <div class="title">
10644         <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>
10645       </div>
10646       <div class="date">
10647         15th January 2013
10648       </div>
10649       <div class="body">
10650         <p>Yesterday, I wrote about the
10651 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Modalias_strings___a_practical_way_to_map__stuff__to_hardware.html">modalias
10652 values provided by the Linux kernel</a> following my hope for
10653 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Lets_make_hardware_dongles_easier_to_use_in_Debian.html">better
10654 dongle support in Debian</a>.  Using this knowledge, I have tested how
10655 modalias values attached to package names can be used to map packages
10656 to hardware.  This allow the system to look up and suggest relevant
10657 packages when I plug in some new hardware into my machine, and replace
10658 discover and discover-data as the database used to map hardware to
10659 packages.</p>
10660
10661 <p>I create a modaliases file with entries like the following,
10662 containing package name, kernel module name (if relevant, otherwise
10663 the package name) and globs matching the relevant hardware
10664 modalias.</p>
10665
10666 <p><blockquote>
10667 Package: package-name
10668 <br>Modaliases: module(modaliasglob, modaliasglob, modaliasglob)</p>
10669 </blockquote></p>
10670
10671 <p>It is fairly trivial to write code to find the relevant packages
10672 for a given modalias value using this file.</p>
10673
10674 <p>An entry like this would suggest the video and picture application
10675 cheese for many USB web cameras (interface bus class 0E01):</p>
10676
10677 <p><blockquote>
10678 Package: cheese
10679 <br>Modaliases: cheese(usb:v*p*d*dc*dsc*dp*ic0Eisc01ip*)</p>
10680 </blockquote></p>
10681
10682 <p>An entry like this would suggest the pcmciautils package when a
10683 CardBus bridge (bus class 0607) PCI device is present:</p>
10684
10685 <p><blockquote>
10686 Package: pcmciautils
10687 <br>Modaliases: pcmciautils(pci:v*d*sv*sd*bc06sc07i*)
10688 </blockquote></p>
10689
10690 <p>An entry like this would suggest the package colorhug-client when
10691 plugging in a ColorHug with USB IDs 04D8:F8DA:</p>
10692
10693 <p><blockquote>
10694 Package: colorhug-client
10695 <br>Modaliases: colorhug-client(usb:v04D8pF8DAd*)</p>
10696 </blockquote></p>
10697
10698 <p>I believe the format is compatible with the format of the Packages
10699 file in the Debian archive.  Ubuntu already uses their Packages file
10700 to store their mappings from packages to hardware.</p>
10701
10702 <p>By adding a XB-Modaliases: header in debian/control, any .deb can
10703 announce the hardware it support in a way my prototype understand.
10704 This allow those publishing packages in an APT source outside the
10705 Debian archive as well as those backporting packages to make sure the
10706 hardware mapping are included in the package meta information.  I've
10707 tested such header in the pymissile package, and its modalias mapping
10708 is working as it should with my prototype.  It even made it to Ubuntu
10709 Raring.</p>
10710
10711 <p>To test if it was possible to look up supported hardware using only
10712 the shell tools available in the Debian installer, I wrote a shell
10713 implementation of the lookup code.  The idea is to create files for
10714 each modalias and let the shell do the matching.  Please check out and
10715 try the
10716 <a href="http://anonscm.debian.org/viewvc/debian-edu/trunk/src/hw-support-handler/hw-support-lookup?view=co">hw-support-lookup</a>
10717 shell script.  It run without any extra dependencies and fetch the
10718 hardware mappings from the Debian archive and the subversion
10719 repository where I currently work on my prototype.</p>
10720
10721 <p>When I use it on a machine with a yubikey inserted, it suggest to
10722 install yubikey-personalization:</p>
10723
10724 <p><blockquote>
10725 % ./hw-support-lookup
10726 <br>yubikey-personalization
10727 <br>%
10728 </blockquote></p>
10729
10730 <p>When I run it on my Thinkpad X40 with a PCMCIA/CardBus slot, it
10731 propose to install the pcmciautils package:</p>
10732
10733 <p><blockquote>
10734 % ./hw-support-lookup
10735 <br>pcmciautils
10736 <br>%
10737 </blockquote></p>
10738
10739 <p>If you know of any hardware-package mapping that should be added to
10740 <a href="http://anonscm.debian.org/viewvc/debian-edu/trunk/src/hw-support-handler/modaliases?view=co">my
10741 database</a>, please tell me about it.</p>
10742
10743 <p>It could be possible to generate several of the mappings between
10744 packages and hardware.  One source would be to look at packages with
10745 kernel modules, ie packages with *.ko files in /lib/modules/, and
10746 extract their modalias information.  Another would be to look at
10747 packages with udev rules, ie packages with files in
10748 /lib/udev/rules.d/, and extract their vendor/model information to
10749 generate a modalias matching rule.  I have not tested any of these to
10750 see if it work.</p>
10751
10752 <p>If you want to help implementing a system to let us propose what
10753 packages to install when new hardware is plugged into a Debian
10754 machine, please send me an email or talk to me on
10755 <a href="irc://irc.debian.org/%23debian-devel">#debian-devel</a>.</p>
10756
10757       </div>
10758       <div class="tags">
10759
10760
10761         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>.
10762
10763
10764       </div>
10765     </div>
10766     <div class="padding"></div>
10767
10768     <div class="entry">
10769       <div class="title">
10770         <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>
10771       </div>
10772       <div class="date">
10773         14th January 2013
10774       </div>
10775       <div class="body">
10776         <p>While looking into how to look up Debian packages based on hardware
10777 information, to find the packages that support a given piece of
10778 hardware, I refreshed my memory regarding modalias values, and decided
10779 to document the details.  Here are my findings so far, also available
10780 in
10781 <a href="http://anonscm.debian.org/viewvc/debian-edu/trunk/src/hw-support-handler/">the
10782 Debian Edu subversion repository</a>:
10783
10784 <p><strong>Modalias decoded</strong></p>
10785
10786 <p>This document try to explain what the different types of modalias
10787 values stands for.  It is in part based on information from
10788 &lt;URL: <a href="https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Modalias">https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Modalias</a> &gt;,
10789 &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;,
10790 &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
10791 &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;.
10792
10793 <p>The modalias entries for a given Linux machine can be found using
10794 this shell script:</p>
10795
10796 <pre>
10797 find /sys -name modalias -print0 | xargs -0 cat | sort -u
10798 </pre>
10799
10800 <p>The supported modalias globs for a given kernel module can be found
10801 using modinfo:</p>
10802
10803 <pre>
10804 % /sbin/modinfo psmouse | grep alias:
10805 alias:          serio:ty05pr*id*ex*
10806 alias:          serio:ty01pr*id*ex*
10807 %
10808 </pre>
10809
10810 <p><strong>PCI subtype</strong></p>
10811
10812 <p>A typical PCI entry can look like this.  This is an Intel Host
10813 Bridge memory controller:</p>
10814
10815 <p><blockquote>
10816 pci:v00008086d00002770sv00001028sd000001ADbc06sc00i00
10817 </blockquote></p>
10818
10819 <p>This represent these values:</p>
10820
10821 <pre>
10822  v   00008086  (vendor)
10823  d   00002770  (device)
10824  sv  00001028  (subvendor)
10825  sd  000001AD  (subdevice)
10826  bc  06        (bus class)
10827  sc  00        (bus subclass)
10828  i   00        (interface)
10829 </pre>
10830
10831 <p>The vendor/device values are the same values outputted from 'lspci
10832 -n' as 8086:2770.  The bus class/subclass is also shown by lspci as
10833 0600.  The 0600 class is a host bridge.  Other useful bus values are
10834 0300 (VGA compatible card) and 0200 (Ethernet controller).</p>
10835
10836 <p>Not sure how to figure out the interface value, nor what it
10837 means.</p>
10838
10839 <p><strong>USB subtype</strong></p>
10840
10841 <p>Some typical USB entries can look like this.  This is an internal
10842 USB hub in a laptop:</p>
10843
10844 <p><blockquote>
10845 usb:v1D6Bp0001d0206dc09dsc00dp00ic09isc00ip00
10846 </blockquote></p>
10847
10848 <p>Here is the values included in this alias:</p>
10849
10850 <pre>
10851  v    1D6B  (device vendor)
10852  p    0001  (device product)
10853  d    0206  (bcddevice)
10854  dc     09  (device class)
10855  dsc    00  (device subclass)
10856  dp     00  (device protocol)
10857  ic     09  (interface class)
10858  isc    00  (interface subclass)
10859  ip     00  (interface protocol)
10860 </pre>
10861
10862 <p>The 0900 device class/subclass means hub.  Some times the relevant
10863 class is in the interface class section.  For a simple USB web camera,
10864 these alias entries show up:</p>
10865
10866 <p><blockquote>
10867 usb:v0AC8p3420d5000dcEFdsc02dp01ic01isc01ip00
10868 <br>usb:v0AC8p3420d5000dcEFdsc02dp01ic01isc02ip00
10869 <br>usb:v0AC8p3420d5000dcEFdsc02dp01ic0Eisc01ip00
10870 <br>usb:v0AC8p3420d5000dcEFdsc02dp01ic0Eisc02ip00
10871 </blockquote></p>
10872
10873 <p>Interface class 0E01 is video control, 0E02 is video streaming (aka
10874 camera), 0101 is audio control device and 0102 is audio streaming (aka
10875 microphone).  Thus this is a camera with microphone included.</p>
10876
10877 <p><strong>ACPI subtype</strong></p>
10878
10879 <p>The ACPI type is used for several non-PCI/USB stuff.  This is an IR
10880 receiver in a Thinkpad X40:</p>
10881
10882 <p><blockquote>
10883 acpi:IBM0071:PNP0511:
10884 </blockquote></p>
10885
10886 <p>The values between the colons are IDs.</p>
10887
10888 <p><strong>DMI subtype</strong></p>
10889
10890 <p>The DMI table contain lots of information about the computer case
10891 and model.  This is an entry for a IBM Thinkpad X40, fetched from
10892 /sys/devices/virtual/dmi/id/modalias:</p>
10893
10894 <p><blockquote>
10895 dmi:bvnIBM:bvr1UETB6WW(1.66):bd06/15/2005:svnIBM:pn2371H4G:pvrThinkPadX40:rvnIBM:rn2371H4G:rvrNotAvailable:cvnIBM:ct10:cvrNotAvailable:
10896 </blockquote></p>
10897
10898 <p>The values present are</p>
10899
10900 <pre>
10901  bvn  IBM            (BIOS vendor)
10902  bvr  1UETB6WW(1.66) (BIOS version)
10903  bd   06/15/2005     (BIOS date)
10904  svn  IBM            (system vendor)
10905  pn   2371H4G        (product name)
10906  pvr  ThinkPadX40    (product version)
10907  rvn  IBM            (board vendor)
10908  rn   2371H4G        (board name)
10909  rvr  NotAvailable   (board version)
10910  cvn  IBM            (chassis vendor)
10911  ct   10             (chassis type)
10912  cvr  NotAvailable   (chassis version)
10913 </pre>
10914
10915 <p>The chassis type 10 is Notebook.  Other interesting values can be
10916 found in the dmidecode source:</p>
10917
10918 <pre>
10919   3 Desktop
10920   4 Low Profile Desktop
10921   5 Pizza Box
10922   6 Mini Tower
10923   7 Tower
10924   8 Portable
10925   9 Laptop
10926  10 Notebook
10927  11 Hand Held
10928  12 Docking Station
10929  13 All In One
10930  14 Sub Notebook
10931  15 Space-saving
10932  16 Lunch Box
10933  17 Main Server Chassis
10934  18 Expansion Chassis
10935  19 Sub Chassis
10936  20 Bus Expansion Chassis
10937  21 Peripheral Chassis
10938  22 RAID Chassis
10939  23 Rack Mount Chassis
10940  24 Sealed-case PC
10941  25 Multi-system
10942  26 CompactPCI
10943  27 AdvancedTCA
10944  28 Blade
10945  29 Blade Enclosing
10946 </pre>
10947
10948 <p>The chassis type values are not always accurately set in the DMI
10949 table.  For example my home server is a tower, but the DMI modalias
10950 claim it is a desktop.</p>
10951
10952 <p><strong>SerIO subtype</strong></p>
10953
10954 <p>This type is used for PS/2 mouse plugs.  One example is from my
10955 test machine:</p>
10956
10957 <p><blockquote>
10958 serio:ty01pr00id00ex00
10959 </blockquote></p>
10960
10961 <p>The values present are</p>
10962
10963 <pre>
10964   ty  01  (type)
10965   pr  00  (prototype)
10966   id  00  (id)
10967   ex  00  (extra)
10968 </pre>
10969
10970 <p>This type is supported by the psmouse driver.  I am not sure what
10971 the valid values are.</p>
10972
10973 <p><strong>Other subtypes</strong></p>
10974
10975 <p>There are heaps of other modalias subtypes according to
10976 file2alias.c.  There is the rest of the list from that source: amba,
10977 ap, bcma, ccw, css, eisa, hid, i2c, ieee1394, input, ipack, isapnp,
10978 mdio, of, parisc, pcmcia, platform, scsi, sdio, spi, ssb, vio, virtio,
10979 vmbus, x86cpu and zorro.  I did not spend time documenting all of
10980 these, as they do not seem relevant for my intended use with mapping
10981 hardware to packages when new stuff is inserted during run time.</p>
10982
10983 <p><strong>Looking up kernel modules using modalias values</strong></p>
10984
10985 <p>To check which kernel modules provide support for a given modalias,
10986 one can use the following shell script:</p>
10987
10988 <pre>
10989   for id in $(find /sys -name modalias -print0 | xargs -0 cat | sort -u); do \
10990     echo "$id" ; \
10991     /sbin/modprobe --show-depends "$id"|sed 's/^/  /' ; \
10992   done
10993 </pre>
10994
10995 <p>The output can look like this (only the first few entries as the
10996 list is very long on my test machine):</p>
10997
10998 <pre>
10999   acpi:ACPI0003:
11000     insmod /lib/modules/2.6.32-5-686/kernel/drivers/acpi/ac.ko
11001   acpi:device:
11002   FATAL: Module acpi:device: not found.
11003   acpi:IBM0068:
11004     insmod /lib/modules/2.6.32-5-686/kernel/drivers/char/nvram.ko
11005     insmod /lib/modules/2.6.32-5-686/kernel/drivers/leds/led-class.ko
11006     insmod /lib/modules/2.6.32-5-686/kernel/net/rfkill/rfkill.ko
11007     insmod /lib/modules/2.6.32-5-686/kernel/drivers/platform/x86/thinkpad_acpi.ko
11008   acpi:IBM0071:PNP0511:
11009     insmod /lib/modules/2.6.32-5-686/kernel/lib/crc-ccitt.ko
11010     insmod /lib/modules/2.6.32-5-686/kernel/net/irda/irda.ko
11011     insmod /lib/modules/2.6.32-5-686/kernel/drivers/net/irda/nsc-ircc.ko
11012   [...]
11013 </pre>
11014
11015 <p>If you want to help implementing a system to let us propose what
11016 packages to install when new hardware is plugged into a Debian
11017 machine, please send me an email or talk to me on
11018 <a href="irc://irc.debian.org/%23debian-devel">#debian-devel</a>.</p>
11019
11020 <p><strong>Update 2013-01-15:</strong> Rewrite "cat $(find ...)" to
11021 "find ... -print0 | xargs -0 cat" to make sure it handle directories
11022 in /sys/ with space in them.</p>
11023
11024       </div>
11025       <div class="tags">
11026
11027
11028         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>.
11029
11030
11031       </div>
11032     </div>
11033     <div class="padding"></div>
11034
11035     <div class="entry">
11036       <div class="title">
11037         <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>
11038       </div>
11039       <div class="date">
11040         10th January 2013
11041       </div>
11042       <div class="body">
11043         <p>As part of my investigation on how to improve the support in Debian
11044 for hardware dongles, I dug up my old Mark and Spencer USB Rocket
11045 Launcher and updated the Debian package
11046 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/pymissile">pymissile</a> to make
11047 sure udev will fix the device permissions when it is plugged in.  I
11048 also added a "Modaliases" header to test it in the Debian archive and
11049 hopefully make the package be proposed by jockey in Ubuntu when a user
11050 plug in his rocket launcher.  In the process I moved the source to a
11051 git repository under collab-maint, to make it easier for any DD to
11052 contribute.  <a href="http://code.google.com/p/pymissile/">Upstream</a>
11053 is not very active, but the software still work for me even after five
11054 years of relative silence.  The new git repository is not listed in
11055 the uploaded package yet, because I want to test the other changes a
11056 bit more before I upload the new version.  If you want to check out
11057 the new version with a .desktop file included, visit the
11058 <a href="http://anonscm.debian.org/gitweb/?p=collab-maint/pymissile.git">gitweb
11059 view</a> or use "<tt>git clone
11060 git://anonscm.debian.org/collab-maint/pymissile.git</tt>".</p>
11061
11062       </div>
11063       <div class="tags">
11064
11065
11066         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>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/robot">robot</a>.
11067
11068
11069       </div>
11070     </div>
11071     <div class="padding"></div>
11072
11073     <div class="entry">
11074       <div class="title">
11075         <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>
11076       </div>
11077       <div class="date">
11078          9th January 2013
11079       </div>
11080       <div class="body">
11081         <p>One thing that annoys me with Debian and Linux distributions in
11082 general, is that there is a great package management system with the
11083 ability to automatically install software packages by downloading them
11084 from the distribution mirrors, but no way to get it to automatically
11085 install the packages I need to use the hardware I plug into my
11086 machine.  Even if the package to use it is easily available from the
11087 Linux distribution.  When I plug in a LEGO Mindstorms NXT, it could
11088 suggest to automatically install the python-nxt, nbc and t2n packages
11089 I need to talk to it.  When I plug in a Yubikey, it could propose the
11090 yubikey-personalization package.  The information required to do this
11091 is available, but no-one have pulled all the pieces together.</p>
11092
11093 <p>Some years ago, I proposed to
11094 <a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2010/05/msg01206.html">use
11095 the discover subsystem to implement this</a>.  The idea is fairly
11096 simple:
11097
11098 <ul>
11099
11100 <li>Add a desktop entry in /usr/share/autostart/ pointing to a program
11101   starting when a user log in.</li>
11102
11103 <li>Set this program up to listen for kernel events emitted when new
11104   hardware is inserted into the computer.</li>
11105
11106 <li>When new hardware is inserted, look up the hardware ID in a
11107   database mapping to packages, and take note of any non-installed
11108   packages.</li>
11109
11110 <li>Show a message to the user proposing to install the discovered
11111   package, and make it easy to install it.</li>
11112
11113 </ul>
11114
11115 <p>I am not sure what the best way to implement this is, but my
11116 initial idea was to use dbus events to discover new hardware, the
11117 discover database to find packages and
11118 <a href="http://www.packagekit.org/">PackageKit</a> to install
11119 packages.</p>
11120
11121 <p>Yesterday, I found time to try to implement this idea, and the
11122 draft package is now checked into
11123 <a href="http://anonscm.debian.org/viewvc/debian-edu/trunk/src/hw-support-handler/">the
11124 Debian Edu subversion repository</a>.  In the process, I updated the
11125 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/d/discover-data.html">discover-data</a>
11126 package to map the USB ids of LEGO Mindstorms and Yubikey devices to
11127 the relevant packages in Debian, and uploaded a new version
11128 2.2013.01.09 to unstable.  I also discovered that the current
11129 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/d/discover.html">discover</a>
11130 package in Debian no longer discovered any USB devices, because
11131 /proc/bus/usb/devices is no longer present.  I ported it to use
11132 libusb as a fall back option to get it working.  The fixed package
11133 version 2.1.2-6 is now in experimental (didn't upload it to unstable
11134 because of the freeze).</p>
11135
11136 <p>With this prototype in place, I can insert my Yubikey, and get this
11137 desktop notification to show up (only once, the first time it is
11138 inserted):</p>
11139
11140 <p align="center"><img src="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-01-09-hw-autoinstall.png"></p>
11141
11142 <p>For this prototype to be really useful, some way to automatically
11143 install the proposed packages by pressing the "Please install
11144 program(s)" button should to be implemented.</p>
11145
11146 <p>If this idea seem useful to you, and you want to help make it
11147 happen, please help me update the discover-data database with mappings
11148 from hardware to Debian packages.  Check if 'discover-pkginstall -l'
11149 list the package you would like to have installed when a given
11150 hardware device is inserted into your computer, and report bugs using
11151 reportbug if it isn't.  Or, if you know of a better way to provide
11152 such mapping, please let me know.</p>
11153
11154 <p>This prototype need more work, and there are several questions that
11155 should be considered before it is ready for production use.  Is dbus
11156 the correct way to detect new hardware?  At the moment I look for HAL
11157 dbus events on the system bus, because that is the events I could see
11158 on my Debian Squeeze KDE desktop.  Are there better events to use?
11159 How should the user be notified?  Is the desktop notification
11160 mechanism the best option, or should the background daemon raise a
11161 popup instead?  How should packages be installed?  When should they
11162 not be installed?</p>
11163
11164 <p>If you want to help getting such feature implemented in Debian,
11165 please send me an email. :)</p>
11166
11167       </div>
11168       <div class="tags">
11169
11170
11171         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>.
11172
11173
11174       </div>
11175     </div>
11176     <div class="padding"></div>
11177
11178     <div class="entry">
11179       <div class="title">
11180         <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>
11181       </div>
11182       <div class="date">
11183          2nd January 2013
11184       </div>
11185       <div class="body">
11186         <p>During Christmas, I have worked a bit on the Debian support for
11187 <a href="http://mindstorms.lego.com/en-us/Default.aspx">LEGO Mindstorm
11188 NXT</a>.  My son and I have played a bit with my NXT set, and I
11189 discovered I had to build all the tools myself because none were
11190 already in Debian Squeeze.  If Debian support for LEGO is something
11191 you care about, please join me on the IRC channel
11192 <a href="irc://irc.debian.org/%23debian-lego">#debian-lego</a> (server
11193 irc.debian.org).  There is a lot that could be done to improve the
11194 Debian support for LEGO designers.  For example both CAD software
11195 and Mindstorm compilers are missing. :)</p>
11196
11197 <p>Update 2012-01-03: A
11198 <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/LegoDesigners">project page</a>
11199 including links to Lego related packages is now available.</p>
11200
11201       </div>
11202       <div class="tags">
11203
11204
11205         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>.
11206
11207
11208       </div>
11209     </div>
11210     <div class="padding"></div>
11211
11212     <div class="entry">
11213       <div class="title">
11214         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/A_Christmas_present_for_Skolelinux___Debian_Edu.html">A Christmas present for Skolelinux / Debian Edu</a>
11215       </div>
11216       <div class="date">
11217         28th December 2012
11218       </div>
11219       <div class="body">
11220         <p>I was happy to discover a few days ago that the
11221 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Skolelinux / Debian Edu</a>
11222 project also this year received a Christmas present from Another
11223 Agency in Trondheim.  NOK 1000,- showed up on our donation account
11224 December 24th.  I want to express our thanks for this very welcome
11225 present.  As the Debian Edu / Skolelinux project is very short on
11226 funding these days, and thus lack the money to do regular developer
11227 gatherings, this donation was most welcome.  One developer gathering
11228 cost around NOK 15&nbsp;000,-, so we need quite a lot more to keep the
11229 development pace we want.  Thus, I hope their example this year is
11230 followed by many others. :)</p>
11231
11232 <p>The public list of donors can be found on
11233 <a href="http://www.linuxiskolen.no/slxdebianlabs/donations.html">the
11234 donation page</a> for the project, which also contain instructions if
11235 you want to donate to the project.</p>
11236
11237       </div>
11238       <div class="tags">
11239
11240
11241         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>.
11242
11243
11244       </div>
11245     </div>
11246     <div class="padding"></div>
11247
11248     <div class="entry">
11249       <div class="title">
11250         <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>
11251       </div>
11252       <div class="date">
11253         25th December 2012
11254       </div>
11255       <div class="body">
11256         <p>Let me start by wishing you all marry Christmas and a happy new
11257 year!  I hope next year will prove to be a good year.</p>
11258
11259 <p><a href="http://www.bitcoin.org/">Bitcoin</a>, the digital
11260 decentralised "currency" that allow people to transfer bitcoins
11261 between each other with minimal overhead, is a very interesting
11262 experiment.  And as I wrote a few days ago, the bitcoin situation in
11263 <a href="http://www.debian.org/">Debian</a> is about to improve a bit.
11264 The <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/bitcoin">new debian source
11265 package</a> (version 0.7.2-2) was uploaded yesterday, and is waiting
11266 in <a href="http://ftp-master.debian.org/new.html">the NEW queue</A>
11267 for one of the ftpmasters to approve the new bitcoin-qt package
11268 name.</p>
11269
11270 <p>And thanks to the great work of Jonas and the rest of the bitcoin
11271 team in Debian, you can easily test the package in Debian Squeeze
11272 using the following steps to get a set of working packages:</p>
11273
11274 <blockquote><pre>
11275 git clone git://git.debian.org/git/collab-maint/bitcoin
11276 cd bitcoin
11277 DEB_MAINTAINER_MODE=1 DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS=noupnp fakeroot debian/rules clean
11278 DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS=noupnp git-buildpackage --git-ignore-new
11279 </pre></blockquote>
11280
11281 <p>You might have to install some build dependencies as well.  The
11282 list of commands should give you two packages, bitcoind and
11283 bitcoin-qt, ready for use in a Squeeze environment.  Note that the
11284 client will download the complete set of bitcoin "blocks", which need
11285 around 5.6 GiB of data on my machine at the moment.  Make sure your
11286 ~/.bitcoin/ directory have lots of spare room if you want to download
11287 all the blocks.  The client will warn if the disk is getting full, so
11288 there is not really a problem if you got too little room, but you will
11289 not be able to get all the features out of the client.</p>
11290
11291 <p>As usual, if you use bitcoin and want to show your support of my
11292 activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address
11293 <b><a href="bitcoin:15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b&label=PetterReinholdtsenBlog">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</a></b>.</p>
11294
11295       </div>
11296       <div class="tags">
11297
11298
11299         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>.
11300
11301
11302       </div>
11303     </div>
11304     <div class="padding"></div>
11305
11306     <div class="entry">
11307       <div class="title">
11308         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/A_word_on_bitcoin_support_in_Debian.html">A word on bitcoin support in Debian</a>
11309       </div>
11310       <div class="date">
11311         21st December 2012
11312       </div>
11313       <div class="body">
11314         <p>It has been a while since I wrote about
11315 <a href="http://www.bitcoin.org/">bitcoin</a>, the decentralised
11316 peer-to-peer based crypto-currency, and the reason is simply that I
11317 have been busy elsewhere.  But two days ago, I started looking at the
11318 state of <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/bitcoin">bitcoin in
11319 Debian</a> again to try to recover my old bitcoin wallet.  The package
11320 is now maintained by a
11321 <a href="https://alioth.debian.org/projects/pkg-bitcoin/">team of
11322 people</a>, and the grunt work had already been done by this team.  We
11323 owe a huge thank you to all these team members. :)
11324 But I was sad to discover that the bitcoin client is missing in
11325 Wheezy.  It is only available in Sid (and an outdated client from
11326 backports).  The client had several RC bugs registered in BTS blocking
11327 it from entering testing.  To try to help the team and improve the
11328 situation, I spent some time providing patches and triaging the bug
11329 reports.  I also had a look at the bitcoin package available from Matt
11330 Corallo in a
11331 <a href="https://launchpad.net/~bitcoin/+archive/bitcoin">PPA for
11332 Ubuntu</a>, and moved the useful pieces from that version into the
11333 Debian package.</p>
11334
11335 <p>After checking with the main package maintainer Jonas Smedegaard on
11336 IRC, I pushed several patches into the collab-maint git repository to
11337 improve the package.  It now contains fixes for the RC issues (not from
11338 me, but fixed by Scott Howard), build rules for a Qt GUI client
11339 package, konqueror support for the bitcoin: URI and bash completion
11340 setup.  As I work on Debian Squeeze, I also created
11341 <a href="http://lists.alioth.debian.org/pipermail/pkg-bitcoin-devel/Week-of-Mon-20121217/000041.html">a
11342 patch to backport</a> the latest version.  Jonas is going to look at
11343 it and try to integrate it into the git repository before uploading a
11344 new version to unstable.
11345
11346 <p>I would very much like bitcoin to succeed, to get rid of the
11347 centralized control currently exercised in the monetary system.  I
11348 find it completely unacceptable that the USA government is collecting
11349 transaction data for almost all international money transfers (most are done in USD and transaction logs shipped to the spooks), and
11350 that the major credit card companies can block legal money
11351 transactions to Wikileaks.  But for bitcoin to succeed, more people
11352 need to use bitcoins, and more people need to accept bitcoins when
11353 they sell products and services.  Improving the bitcoin support in
11354 Debian is a small step in the right direction, but not enough.
11355 Unfortunately the user experience when browsing the web and wanting to
11356 pay with bitcoin is still not very good.  The bitcoin: URI is a step
11357 in the right direction, but need to work in most or every browser in
11358 use.  Also the bitcoin-qt client is too heavy to fire up to do a
11359 quick transaction.  I believe there are other clients available, but
11360 have not tested them.</p>
11361
11362 <p>My
11363 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Now_accepting_bitcoins___anonymous_and_distributed_p2p_crypto_money.html">experiment
11364 with bitcoins</a> showed that at least some of my readers use bitcoin.
11365 I received 20.15 BTC so far on the address I provided in my blog two
11366 years ago, as can be
11367 <a href="http://blockexplorer.com/address/15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b">seen
11368 on the blockexplorer service</a>.  Thank you everyone for your
11369 donation.  The blockexplorer service demonstrates quite well that
11370 bitcoin is not quite anonymous and untracked. :) I wonder if the
11371 number of users have gone up since then.  If you use bitcoin and want
11372 to show your support of my activity, please send Bitcoin donations to
11373 the same address as last time,
11374 <b><a href="bitcoin:15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b&label=PetterReinholdtsenBlog">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</a></b>.</p>
11375
11376       </div>
11377       <div class="tags">
11378
11379
11380         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>.
11381
11382
11383       </div>
11384     </div>
11385     <div class="padding"></div>
11386
11387     <div class="entry">
11388       <div class="title">
11389         <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>
11390       </div>
11391       <div class="date">
11392         18th December 2012
11393       </div>
11394       <div class="body">
11395         <p>A few days ago I came across
11396 <a href="http://joeyh.name/blog/entry/hledger/">a blog post from Joey
11397 Hess</a> describing <a href="http://ledger-cli.org/">ledger</a> and
11398 hledger, a text based system for double-entry accounting.  I found it
11399 interesting, as I am involved with several organizations where
11400 accounting is an issue, and I have not really become too friendly with
11401 the different web based systems we use.  I find it hard to find what I
11402 look for in the menus and even harder try to get sensible data out of
11403 the systems.  Ledger seem different.  The accounting data is kept in
11404 text files that can be stored in a version control system, and there
11405
11406 are at least <a href="https://github.com/ledger/ledger/wiki/Ports">five
11407 different implementations</a> able to read the format.  An example
11408 entry look like this, and is simple enough that it will be trivial to
11409 generate entries based on CVS files fetched from the bank:</p>
11410
11411 <blockquote><pre>
11412 2004-05-27 Book Store
11413       Expenses:Books                 $20.00
11414       Liabilities:Visa
11415 </pre></blockquote>
11416
11417 <p>The concept seemed interesting enough for me to check it out and
11418 look for others using it.  I found blog posts from
11419 <a href="http://blog.spang.cc/posts/hledger_rocks_my_world/">Christine
11420 Spang</a>,
11421 <a href="http://bugsplat.info/2010-05-23-keeping-finances-with-ledger.html">Pete
11422 Keen</a>,
11423 <a href="http://blog.andrewcantino.com/blog/2010/11/06/command-line-accounting-with-ledger-and-reckon/">Andrew
11424 Cantino</a> and
11425 <a href="http://blog.iphoting.com/blog/2012/11/29/command-line-double-entry-accounting/">Ronald
11426 Ip</a> describing how they use it, as well as a post from
11427 <a href="https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups=#!topic/ledger-cli/r0oWjwbQ9Bo">Bradley
11428 M. Kuhn</a> at the Software Freedom Conservancy.  All seemed like good
11429 recommendations fitting my need.</p>
11430
11431 <p>The <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/l/ledger.html">ledger</a>
11432 package is available in Debian Squeeze, while the
11433 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/h/haskell-hledger.html">hledger</a>
11434 package only is available in Debian Sid.  As I use Squeeze, ledger
11435 seemed the best choice to get started.</p>
11436
11437 <p>To get some real data to test on, I wrote a
11438 <a href="http://www.nuug.no/tools/lodo2ledger">web scraper</a> for
11439 <a href="http://www.lodo.no/">LODO</a>, the accounting system used by
11440 the <a href="http://www.nuug.no/">NUUG</a> association, and started to
11441 play with the data set.  I'm not really deeply into accounting, but I
11442 am able to get a simple balance and accounting status for example
11443 using the "<tt>ledger balance</tt>" command.  But I will have to
11444 gather more experience before I know if the ledger way is a good fit
11445 for the organisations I am involved in.</p>
11446
11447       </div>
11448       <div class="tags">
11449
11450
11451         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>.
11452
11453
11454       </div>
11455     </div>
11456     <div class="padding"></div>
11457
11458     <div class="entry">
11459       <div class="title">
11460         <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>
11461       </div>
11462       <div class="date">
11463          6th December 2012
11464       </div>
11465       <div class="body">
11466         <p>Where I work at the <a href="http://www.uio.no/">University of
11467 Oslo</a>, we use the
11468 <a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/cerebrum/">Cerebrum user
11469 administration system</a> to maintain users, groups, DNS, DHCP, etc.
11470 I've known since the system was written that the server is providing
11471 an <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XML-RPC">XML-RPC</a> API, but
11472 I have never spent time to try to figure out how to use it, as we
11473 always use the bofh command line client at work.  Until today.  I want
11474 to script the updating of DNS and DHCP to make it easier to set up
11475 virtual machines.  Here are a few notes on how to use it with
11476 Python.</p>
11477
11478 <p>I started by looking at the source of the Java
11479 <a href="http://cerebrum.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/cerebrum/trunk/cerebrum/clients/jbofh/">bofh
11480 client</a>, to figure out how it connected to the API server.  I also
11481 googled for python examples on how to use XML-RPC, and found
11482 <a href="http://tldp.org/HOWTO/XML-RPC-HOWTO/xmlrpc-howto-python.html">a
11483 simple example in</a> the XML-RPC howto.</p>
11484
11485 <p>This simple example code show how to connect, get the list of
11486 commands (as a JSON dump), and how to get the information about the
11487 user currently logged in:</p>
11488
11489 <blockquote><pre>
11490 #!/usr/bin/env python
11491 import getpass
11492 import xmlrpclib
11493 server_url = 'https://cerebrum-uio.uio.no:8000';
11494 username = getpass.getuser()
11495 password = getpass.getpass()
11496 server = xmlrpclib.Server(server_url);
11497 #print server.get_commands(sessionid)
11498 sessionid = server.login(username, password)
11499 print server.run_command(sessionid, "user_info", username)
11500 result = server.logout(sessionid)
11501 print result
11502 </pre></blockquote>
11503
11504 <p>Armed with this knowledge I can now move forward and script the DNS
11505 and DHCP updates I wanted to do.</p>
11506
11507       </div>
11508       <div class="tags">
11509
11510
11511         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>.
11512
11513
11514       </div>
11515     </div>
11516     <div class="padding"></div>
11517
11518     <div class="entry">
11519       <div class="title">
11520         <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>
11521       </div>
11522       <div class="date">
11523         17th November 2012
11524       </div>
11525       <div class="body">
11526         <p>While working on a
11527 <a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig">Norwegian
11528 translation of the Free Culture by Lawrence Lessig</a> (76% done),
11529 which cover the problems with todays copyright law and how it stifles
11530 creativity, one idea occurred to me.  The idea is to get the tax
11531 office to help make more works enter the public domain and also help
11532 make it easier to clear rights for using copyrighted works.</p>
11533
11534 <p>I mentioned this idea briefly during Yesterdays
11535 <a href="http://www.farmann.no/2012/11/14/john-perry-barlow-in-oslo-friday-nov-16
11536 -15-30-19-00/">presentation
11537 by John Perry Barlow</a>, and concluded that it was best to put it
11538 in writing for a wider audience.  The idea is not really based on the
11539 argument that copyrighted works are "intellectual property", as the
11540 core requirement is that copyrighted work have value for the copyright
11541 holder and the tax office like to collect their share from any value
11542 controlled by the citizens in a country.  I'm sharing the idea here to
11543 let others consider it and perhaps shoot it down with a fresh set of
11544 arguments.</p>
11545
11546 <p>Most valuables are taxed by the government.  At least here in
11547 Norway, the amount of money you have, the value of our land property,
11548 the value of your house, the value of your car, the value of our
11549 stocks and other valuables are all added together.  If the tax value
11550 of these values exceed your debt, you have to pay the tax office some
11551 taxes for these values.  And copyrighted work have value.  It have
11552 value for the rights holder, who can earn money selling access to the
11553 work.  But it is not included in the tax calculations?  Why not?</p>
11554
11555 <p>If the government want to tax copyrighted works, it would want to
11556 maintain a database of all the copyrighted works and who are the
11557 rights holders for a given works, to be able to associate the works
11558 value to the right citizen or company for tax purposes.  If such
11559 database exist, it will become a lot easier to find out who to talk to
11560 for clearing permissions to use a copyrighted work, which is a very
11561 hard operation with todays copyright law.  To ensure that copyright
11562 holders keep the database up-to-date, it would have to become a
11563 requirement to be able to collect money for granting access to
11564 copyrighted works that the work is listed in the database with the
11565 correct right holder.</p>
11566
11567 <p>If copyright causes copyright holders to have to pay more taxes,
11568 they will have a small incentive to "disown" their copyright, and let
11569 the work enter the public domain. For works with several right holders
11570 one of the right holders could state (and get it registered in the
11571 database) that she do not need to be consulted when clearing rights to
11572 use the work in question and thus will not get any income from that
11573 work.  Stating this would have to be impossible to revert and stop the
11574 tax office from adding the value of that work to the given citizens
11575 tax calculation.  I assume the copyright law would stay the same,
11576 allowing creators to pick a license of their choosing, and also
11577 allowing them to put their work directly in the public domain.  The
11578 existence of such database will make it even easier to clear rights,
11579 and if the right holders listed in the database is taxed, this system
11580 would increase the amount of works that enter the public domain.</p>
11581
11582 <p>The effect would be that the tax office help to make it easier to
11583 get rights to use the works that have not yet entered the public
11584 domain and help to get more work into the public domain and .</p>
11585
11586 <p>Why have such taxing not happened yet?  I am sure the tax office
11587 would like to tax copyrighted work values if they could.</p>
11588
11589       </div>
11590       <div class="tags">
11591
11592
11593         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>.
11594
11595
11596       </div>
11597     </div>
11598     <div class="padding"></div>
11599
11600     <div class="entry">
11601       <div class="title">
11602         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__Angela_Fu_.html">Debian Edu interview: Angela Fuß</a>
11603       </div>
11604       <div class="date">
11605         14th November 2012
11606       </div>
11607       <div class="body">
11608         <p>Here is another interview with one of the people in the <a
11609 href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu and Skolelinux</a>
11610 community.  I am running short on people willing to be interviewed, so
11611 if you know about someone I should interview, Please send me an email.
11612 After asking for many months, I finally managed to lure another one of
11613 the people behind the German
11614 "<a href="http://wiki.it-zukunft-schule.de/">IT-Zukunft Schule</a>"
11615 project out from maternity leave to conduct an interview.  Give a warm
11616 welcome to Angela Fuß. :)</p>
11617
11618 <p><strong>Who are you, and how do you spend your days?</strong></p>
11619
11620 <p>I am a 39-year-old woman living in the very north of Germany near
11621 Denmark. I live in a patchwork family with "my man" Mike Gabriel, my
11622 two daughters, Mikes daughter and Mikes and my rather newborn son.
11623
11624 <p>At the moment - because of our little baby - I am spending most of
11625 the day by being a caring and organising mom for all the kids.
11626 Besides that I am really involved into and occupied with several inner
11627 growth processes: New born souls always bring the whole familiar
11628 system into movement and that needs time and focus ;-).  We are also
11629 in the middle of buying a house and moving to it.</p>
11630
11631 <p>In 2013 I will work again in my job in a German foundation for
11632 nature conservation. I am doing public relation work there.  Besides
11633 that - and that is the connection to Skolelinux / Debian Edu - I am
11634 working in our own school project "IT-Zukunft Schule" in North
11635 Germany. I am responsible for the quality assurance, the customer
11636 relationship management and the communication processes in the
11637 project.</p>
11638
11639 <p>Since 2001 I constantly have been training myself in communication
11640 and leadership. Besides that I am a forester, a landscaping gardener
11641 and a yoga teacher.</p>
11642
11643 <p><strong>How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux / Debian Edu
11644 project?</strong></p>
11645
11646 <p>I fell in love with Mike ;-).</p>
11647
11648 <p>Very soon after getting to know him I was completely enrolled into
11649 Free Software.  At this time Mike did IT-services for one newly
11650 founded school in Kiel. Other schools in Kiel needed concepts for
11651 their IT environment.  Often when Mike came home from working at the
11652 newly founded school I found myself listening to his complaints about
11653 several points where the communication with the schools head or the
11654 teachers did not work.  So we were clear that he would not work for
11655 one more school if we did not set up a structure for communication
11656 between him, the schools head, the teachers, the students and the
11657 parents.</p>
11658
11659 <p>Together with our friend and hardware supplier Andreas Buchholz we
11660 started to get an overview of free software solutions suitable for
11661 schools. One day before Christmas 2010 Mike and I had a date with Kurt
11662 Gramlich in Gütersloh. As Kurt and I are really interested in building
11663 networks of people and in being in communication we dived into
11664 Skolelinux and brought it to the first grammar schools in Northern
11665 Germany.</p>
11666
11667 <p>For information about our school project you can read
11668 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__Mike_Gabriel.html">the
11669 interview with Mike Gabriel</a>.</p>
11670
11671 <p><strong>What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux / Debian
11672 Edu?</strong></p>
11673
11674 <p>First I have to say: I cannot answer this question technically. My
11675 answer comes rather from a social point of view.</p>
11676
11677 <p>The biggest advantage of Skolelinux / Debian Edu I see is the large
11678 and strong international community of Debian Developers in the
11679 background which is very alive and connected over mailinglists, blogs
11680 and meetings. My constant feeling for the Debian Community is: If
11681 something does not work they will somehow fix it. All is well
11682 ;-). This is of course a user experience.  What I also get as a big
11683 advantage of Skolelinux / Debian Edu is that everybody who uses it and
11684 works with it can also contribute to it - that includes students,
11685 teachers, parents...</p>
11686
11687 <p><strong>What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux / Debian
11688 Edu?</strong></p>
11689
11690 <p>I will answer this question relating to the internal structure of
11691 Skolelinux / Debian Edu.</p>
11692
11693 <p>What I see as a major disadvantage is that there is a gap between
11694 the group of developers for Debian Edu and the people who make the
11695 marketing, that means the people that bring Skolelinux to the
11696 schools. There is a lack of communication between these two groups and
11697 I think that does not really work for Skolelinux / Debian Edu.</p>
11698
11699 <p>Further I appreciate that Skolelinux / Debian Edu is known as a
11700 do-ocracy. Nevertheless I keep asking myself if at some points a
11701 democracy or some kind of hierarchical project structure would be good
11702 and helpful.  I am also missing some kind of contact between the
11703 Skolelinux / Debian Edu communities in Europe or on an international
11704 level. I think it would be good if there was more sharing between the
11705 different countries using Skolelinux / Debian Edu.</p>
11706
11707 <p><strong>Which free software do you use daily?</strong></p>
11708
11709 <p>On my laptop I am still using an Ubuntu 10.04 with a Gnome Desktop
11710 on.  As applications I use Openoffice.org, Gedit, Firefox, Pidgin,
11711 LaTeX and GnuCash. For mails I am using Horde. And I am really fond of
11712 my N900 running with Maemo.</p>
11713
11714 <p><strong>Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to
11715 get schools to use free software?</strong></p>
11716
11717 <p>I am really convinced that in our school project "IT-Zukunft
11718 Schule" we have developed (and keep developing) a great way to get
11719 schools to use Free Software. We have written a detailed concept for
11720 that so I cannot explain the whole thing here. But in a nutshell the
11721 strategy has three crucial pillars:</p>
11722
11723 <ul>
11724
11725 <li>We really take time to get what sort of stories, questions and
11726 concerns the schools head and the teachers have about using different
11727 kinds of IT and we take time to enrol them into Free Software.</li>
11728
11729 <li>Our solution for schools is never just technical. In the centre
11730 are always the people who are going to use the software. From the very
11731 beginning of the planning for a school, we tell the schools head that
11732 they are paying us not only for a technical solution for their school,
11733 they also pay us for leading all the communication processes
11734 needed. If they do not want that, we are not working with them because
11735 we cannot give a guarantee for the quality of our work then.</li>
11736
11737 <li>Another focus lies in the training of teachers and students in
11738 co-administrating the IT-System at their school. They start getting in
11739 contact with the Skolelinux / Debian Edu community and they get the
11740 offer to become more and more independent from us.</li>
11741
11742 </ul>
11743
11744       </div>
11745       <div class="tags">
11746
11747
11748         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>.
11749
11750
11751       </div>
11752     </div>
11753     <div class="padding"></div>
11754
11755     <div class="entry">
11756       <div class="title">
11757         <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>
11758       </div>
11759       <div class="date">
11760          4th November 2012
11761       </div>
11762       <div class="body">
11763         <p>Slashdot just ran a story about the European Central Bank (ECB)
11764 <a href="http://www.ecb.europa.eu/pub/pdf/other/virtualcurrencyschemes201210en.pdf">releasing
11765 a report (PDF)</a> about virtual currencies and
11766 <a href="http://www.bitcoin.org/">bitcoin</a>.  It is interesting to
11767 see how a member of the bitcoin community
11768 <a href="http://blog.bitinstant.com/blog/2012/10/30/the-ecb-report-on-bitcoin-and-virtual-currencies.html">receive
11769 the report</a>.  As for the future, I suspect the central banks and
11770 the governments will outlaw bitcoin if it gain any popularity, to avoid
11771 competition.  My thoughts go to the
11772 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wörgl">Wörgl experiment</a> with
11773 negative inflation on cash which was such a success that it was
11774 terminated by the Austrian National Bank in 1933.  A successful
11775 alternative would be a threat to the current money system and gain
11776 powerful forces to work against it.</p>
11777
11778 <p>While checking out the current status of bitcoin, I also discovered
11779 that the community already seem to have
11780 <a href="http://www.theverge.com/2012/8/27/3271637/bitcoin-savings-trust-pyramid-scheme-shuts-down">experienced
11781 its first pyramid game / Ponzi scheme</a>.  Not very surprising, given
11782 how members of "small" communities tend to trust each other.  I guess
11783 enterprising crocks will try again and again, as they do anywhere
11784 wealth is available.</p>
11785
11786       </div>
11787       <div class="tags">
11788
11789
11790         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>.
11791
11792
11793       </div>
11794     </div>
11795     <div class="padding"></div>
11796
11797     <div class="entry">
11798       <div class="title">
11799         <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>
11800       </div>
11801       <div class="date">
11802         26th October 2012
11803       </div>
11804       <div class="body">
11805         <p>I work at the <a href="http://www.uio.no/">University of Oslo</a>
11806 looking after the computers, mostly on the unix side, but in general
11807 all over the place.  I am also a member (and currently leader) of
11808 <a href="http://www.nuug.no/">the NUUG association</a>, which in turn
11809 make me a member of <a href="http://www.usenix.org/">USENIX</a>.  NUUG
11810 is an member organisation for us in Norway interested in free
11811 software, open standards and unix like operating systems, and USENIX
11812 is a US based member organisation with similar targets.  And thanks to
11813 these memberships, I get all issues of the great USENIX magazine
11814 <a href="https://www.usenix.org/publications/login">;login:</a> in the
11815 mail several times a year.  The magazine is great, and I read most of
11816 it every time.</p>
11817
11818 <p>In the last issue of the USENIX magazine ;login:, there is an
11819 article by <a href="http://www.skendric.com/">Stuart Kendrick</a> from
11820 Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center titled
11821 "<a href="https://www.usenix.org/publications/login/october-2012-volume-37-number-5/what-takes-us-down">What
11822 Takes Us Down</a>" (longer version also
11823 <a href="http://www.skendric.com/problem/incident-analysis/2012-06-30/What-Takes-Us-Down.pdf">available
11824 from his own site</a>), where he report what he found when he
11825 processed the outage reports (both planned and unplanned) from the
11826 last twelve years and classified them according to cause, time of day,
11827 etc etc.  The article is a good read to get some empirical data on
11828 what kind of problems affect a data centre, but what really inspired
11829 me was the kind of reporting they had put in place since 2000.<p>
11830
11831 <p>The centre set up a mailing list, and started to send fairly
11832 standardised messages to this list when a outage was planned or when
11833 it already occurred, to announce the plan and get feedback on the
11834 assumtions on scope and user impact.  Here is the two example from the
11835 article: First the unplanned outage:
11836
11837 <blockquote><pre>
11838 Subject:     Exchange 2003 Cluster Issues
11839 Severity:    Critical (Unplanned)
11840 Start:       Monday, May 7, 2012, 11:58
11841 End:         Monday, May 7, 2012, 12:38
11842 Duration:    40 minutes
11843 Scope:       Exchange 2003
11844 Description: The HTTPS service on the Exchange cluster crashed, triggering
11845              a cluster failover.
11846
11847 User Impact: During this period, all Exchange users were unable to
11848              access e-mail. Zimbra users were unaffected.
11849 Technician:  [xxx]
11850 </pre></blockquote>
11851
11852 Next the planned outage:
11853
11854 <blockquote><pre>
11855 Subject:     H Building Switch Upgrades
11856 Severity:    Major (Planned)
11857 Start:       Saturday, June 16, 2012, 06:00
11858 End:         Saturday, June 16, 2012, 16:00
11859 Duration:    10 hours
11860 Scope:       H2 Transport
11861 Description: Currently, Catalyst 4006s provide 10/100 Ethernet to end-
11862              stations. We will replace these with newer Catalyst
11863              4510s.
11864 User Impact: All users on H2 will be isolated from the network during
11865              this work. Afterward, they will have gigabit
11866              connectivity.
11867 Technician:  [xxx]
11868 </pre></blockquote>
11869
11870 <p>He notes in his article that the date formats and other fields have
11871 been a bit too free form to make it easy to automatically process them
11872 into a database for further analysis, and I would have used ISO 8601
11873 dates myself to make it easier to process (in other words I would ask
11874 people to write '2012-06-16 06:00 +0000' instead of the start time
11875 format listed above).  There are also other issues with the format
11876 that could be improved, read the article for the details.</p>
11877
11878 <p>I find the idea of standardising outage messages seem to be such a
11879 good idea that I would like to get it implemented here at the
11880 university too.  We do register
11881 <a href="http://www.uio.no/tjenester/it/aktuelt/planlagte-tjenesteavbrudd/">planned
11882 changes and outages in a calendar</a>, and report the to a mailing
11883 list, but we do not do so in a structured format and there is not a
11884 report to the same location for unplanned outages.  Perhaps something
11885 for other sites to consider too?</p>
11886
11887       </div>
11888       <div class="tags">
11889
11890
11891         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/usenix">usenix</a>.
11892
11893
11894       </div>
11895     </div>
11896     <div class="padding"></div>
11897
11898     <div class="entry">
11899       <div class="title">
11900         <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>
11901       </div>
11902       <div class="date">
11903         22nd October 2012
11904       </div>
11905       <div class="body">
11906         <p>A blog post from Martin Bekkelund today tell the story of
11907 <a href="http://www.bekkelund.net/2012/10/22/outlawed-by-amazon-drm/">how
11908 Amazon erased the books from a customer's kindle, locked the account
11909 and refuse to tell the customer why</a>.  If a real book store did
11910 this to a customer, it would be called breaking into private property
11911 and theft.  The story has spread around the net today.  A bit more
11912 background information is available in Norwegian from
11913 <a href="http://www.digi.no/904658/hun-ble-kastet-ut-av-amazon">digi.no</a>.
11914 It is no surprise that digital restriction mechanisms (DRM) are used
11915 this way, as it has been warned about such abuse since DRM was
11916 introduced many years back.  And Amazon proved in 2009 that it was
11917 willing to
11918 <a href="http://boingboing.net/2009/07/20/amazons-orwellian-de.html">
11919 break into customers equipment and remove the books</a> people had
11920 bought, when it removed the book 1984 by George Orwell from all the
11921 customers who had bought it.  From the official comments, it even
11922 sounded like
11923 <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/18/technology/companies/18amazon.html">Amazon
11924 would never do that again</a>.  And here we are, three years
11925 later.</p>
11926
11927 <p>And thought this action is
11928 <a href="http://www.itavisen.no/904648/forbrukerraadet-helt-haarreisende">against
11929 Norwegian regulations and law</a>, it is according to the terms of use
11930 as written by Amazon, and it is hard to hold Amazon accountable to
11931 Norwegian laws.  It is just yet another example of unacceptable terms
11932 of use on the web, and how they are used to remove customer
11933 rights.</p>
11934
11935 <p>Luckily for electronic books, there are alternatives without
11936 unacceptable terms.  For example
11937 <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/">Project Gutenberg</a> (about 40,000
11938 books), <a href="http://runeberg.org/">Project Runenberg</a> (1,652
11939 books) and <a href="http://www.archive.org/details/texts">The Internet
11940 Archive</a> (3,641,797 books) have heaps of books without DRM, which
11941 can read by anyone and shared with anyone.</p>
11942
11943 <p>Update 2012-10-23: This story broke in the morning on Monday. In
11944 the evening after the story had spread all across the Internet, Amazon
11945 restored the account of the user, as reported by
11946 <a href="http://www.digi.no/904675/helomvending-fra-amazon">digi.no</a>
11947 and <a href="http://nrk.no/kultur-og-underholdning/1.8368487">NRK</a>.
11948 Apparently public pressure work.  The story from Martin have seen
11949 several twitter messages per minute the last 24 hours, which is quite
11950 a lot, and is still drawing a lot of attention.  But even when the
11951 account is restored, the fundamental problem still exist.  I recommend
11952 reading two opinions from
11953 <a href="http://blogs.computerworlduk.com/simon-says/2012/10/rights-you-have-no-right-to-your-ebooks/index.htm">Simon
11954 Phipps</a> and
11955 <a href="http://blogs.computerworlduk.com/open-enterprise/2012/10/is-amazon-playing-fair/index.htm">Glen
11956 Moody</a> if you want to learn more about the fundamentals and more
11957 details about the original story.</p>
11958
11959       </div>
11960       <div class="tags">
11961
11962
11963         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>.
11964
11965
11966       </div>
11967     </div>
11968     <div class="padding"></div>
11969
11970     <div class="entry">
11971       <div class="title">
11972         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/The_fight_for_freedom_and_privacy.html">The fight for freedom and privacy</a>
11973       </div>
11974       <div class="date">
11975         18th October 2012
11976       </div>
11977       <div class="body">
11978         <p>Civil liberties and privacy in the western world are going down the
11979 drain, and it is hard to fight against it.  I try to do my best, but
11980 time is limited.  I hope you do your best too.  A few years ago I came
11981 across a marvellous drawing by
11982 <a href="http://www.claybennett.com/about.html">Clay Bennett</a>
11983 visualising some of what is going on.
11984
11985 <p><a href="http://www.claybennett.com/pages/security_fence.html">
11986 <img src="http://www.claybennett.com/images/archivetoons/security_fence.jpg"></a></p>
11987
11988 <blockquote>
11989 «They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
11990 safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.» - Benjamin Franklin
11991 </blockquote>
11992
11993 <p>Do you feel safe at the airport?  I do not.  Do you feel safe when
11994 you see a surveillance camera?  I do not.  Do you feel safe when you
11995 leave electronic traces of your behaviour and opinions?  I do not.  I
11996 just remember <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panopticon">the
11997 Panopticon</a>, and can not help to think that we are slowly
11998 transforming our society to a huge Panopticon on our own.</p>
11999
12000       </div>
12001       <div class="tags">
12002
12003
12004         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>.
12005
12006
12007       </div>
12008     </div>
12009     <div class="padding"></div>
12010
12011     <div class="entry">
12012       <div class="title">
12013         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/ColonHelp_produser_sue_WordPress_to_silence_critic.html">ColonHelp produser sue WordPress to silence critic</a>
12014       </div>
12015       <div class="date">
12016         12th October 2012
12017       </div>
12018       <div class="body">
12019         <p>Thanks to a blog post by
12020 <a href="http://ramblingfoo.blogspot.no/2012/10/a-shitstorm-is-comming.html">Eddy
12021 Petrișor</a>, I became aware of yet another "alternative medicine"
12022 company using legal intimidation tactics to scare off critics.
12023 According to the originating blog post about the detox "cure"
12024 <a href="http://insulaindoielii.wordpress.com/2012/10/11/colon-help-sues-wordpress/">ColonHelp
12025 and its producers Zenyth Pharmaceuticals actions</a>, the producer
12026 sues Wordpress to get rid of the critical information.  To check if
12027 the story was for real, I contacted Automattic, the company behind
12028 wordpress.com, and they reply was "We can confirm that Zenyth is
12029 seeking a court order against WordPress / Automattic.  However, we
12030 don't believe the Terms of Service have been violated in this
12031 matter".</p>
12032
12033 <p>The story seem to be simply that a blogger checked the scientific
12034 foundation for a popular health product in Rumania, ColonHelp, and
12035 reported that there was no reason at all to believe it improved the
12036 health of its users.  This caused the company behind the product,
12037 Zenyth Pharmaceuticals, to use legal intimidation to try to silence
12038 the critic, instead of presenting its views and scientific foundation
12039 to argue its side.</p>
12040
12041 <p>This is the usual story, and the Zenyth Pharmaceuticals company
12042 deserve everyone to know how it failed to act properly.  Lets hope the
12043 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streisand_effect">Streisand
12044 effect</a> can make it rethink its strategy.</p>
12045
12046 <p>What is the harm, you might think.  I suggest you take a look at
12047 <a href="http://www.whatstheharm.net/detoxification.html">a list of
12048 victims of detoxification</a>.</p>
12049
12050       </div>
12051       <div class="tags">
12052
12053
12054         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>.
12055
12056
12057       </div>
12058     </div>
12059     <div class="padding"></div>
12060
12061     <div class="entry">
12062       <div class="title">
12063         <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>
12064       </div>
12065       <div class="date">
12066          3rd October 2012
12067       </div>
12068       <div class="body">
12069         <p>I just read the blog post from Tim Retout
12070 <a href="http://retout.co.uk/blog/2012/10/02/the-library-challenge">about
12071 the computer science book collection available in his local
12072 library</a>, and just wanted to share my comment on his theory about
12073 computer books becoming obsolete so soon.  That is part of the reason
12074 why the selection is so sad in almost any local library (it is in mine
12075 too), but I believe the major contributing factor is that the people
12076 buying books to the library have no way to know a good and future
12077 computer classic from trash.  And they need to know which one will
12078 become a classic in the future, as they would normally buy one of the
12079 recently published books.</p>
12080
12081 <p>During my university years, I worked for a while at the university
12082 library, and even there the person in charge of buying computer
12083 related books (and in fact any natural science related book), did not
12084 know enough about computers to make a good educated guess.  Once, just
12085 before Christmas, they had some leftover money on the book budget and
12086 I was asked if I could pick out a lot of computer books in the
12087 university book store, for the library to buy for their collection.  I
12088 had a great time picking all the books I dreamt of buying and reading,
12089 and the books I knew were classics (like most of the
12090 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._Richard_Stevens">Stevens
12091 collection</a>).  I picked several of the generic O'Reilly books (ie
12092 documenting protocols, formats and systems, not specific versions of
12093 products) and stayed away from the 'teach yourself X in N days' class.
12094 I had a great time, and probably picked out more than a hundred books
12095 for the library that evening.</p>
12096
12097 <p>The sad fact is that there is no way a overworked librarian is
12098 going to know that for example
12099 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Practice_of_Programming">The
12100 Practice of Programming</a> is a must-have in any computer library,
12101 and they will most of the time end up picking the wrong books to buy.
12102 Perhaps you can help your local library make better choices by giving
12103 the suggestions for books to get?  I know they would love to hear from
12104 you, even if their budget might block them from getting your favourite
12105 book right away.</p>
12106
12107       </div>
12108       <div class="tags">
12109
12110
12111         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
12112
12113
12114       </div>
12115     </div>
12116     <div class="padding"></div>
12117
12118     <div class="entry">
12119       <div class="title">
12120         <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>
12121       </div>
12122       <div class="date">
12123         23rd September 2012
12124       </div>
12125       <div class="body">
12126         <p>Since this summer, I have worked in my spare time on a Norwegian <a
12127 href="http://www.docbook.org/">docbook</a> version of the 2004 book <a
12128 href="http://free-culture.cc/">Free Culture</a> by Lawrence Lessig.
12129 The reason is that this book is a great primer on what problems exist
12130 in the current copyright laws, and I want it to be available also for
12131 those that are reluctant do read an English book.
12132
12133 When I started, I
12134 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Dugnad_for___sende_norsk_versjon_av_Free_Culture_til_stortingets_representanter_.html">called
12135 for volunteers</a> to help me, but too few have volunteered so far,
12136 and progress is a bit slow.  Anyway, today I broken the 70 percent
12137 mark for the first rough translation.  At the moment, less than 700
12138 strings (paragraphs, index terms, titles) are left to translate.  With
12139 my current progress of 10-20 strings per day, it will take a while to
12140 complete the translation.  This graph show the updated progress:</p>
12141
12142 <img width="80%" align="center" src="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig/raw/master/progress.png">
12143
12144 <p>Progress have slowed down lately due to family and work
12145 commitments.  If you want to help, please get in touch, and check out
12146 the project files currently available from
12147 <a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig">github</a>.</p>
12148
12149 <p>If you are curious what the translated book currently look like,
12150 the updated
12151 <a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig/blob/master/archive/freeculture.nb.pdf?raw=true">PDF</a>
12152 and
12153 <a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig/blob/master/archive/freeculture.nb.epub?raw=true">EPUB</a>
12154 are published on github.  The HTML version is published as well, but
12155 github hand it out with MIME type text/plain, confusing browsers, so I
12156 saw no point in linking to that version.</p>
12157
12158       </div>
12159       <div class="tags">
12160
12161
12162         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>.
12163
12164
12165       </div>
12166     </div>
12167     <div class="padding"></div>
12168
12169     <div class="entry">
12170       <div class="title">
12171         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__Giorgio_Pioda.html">Debian Edu interview: Giorgio Pioda</a>
12172       </div>
12173       <div class="date">
12174         17th September 2012
12175       </div>
12176       <div class="body">
12177         <p>After a long break in my row of interviews with people in the
12178 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu and Skolelinux</a>
12179 community, I finally found time to wrap up another.  This time it is
12180 Giorgio Pioda, which showed up on the mailing list at the start of
12181 this year, asking questions and inspiring us to improve the first time
12182 administrators experience with Skolelinux. :) The interview was
12183 conduced in May, but I only found time to publish it now.</p>
12184
12185 <p><strong>Who are you, and how do you spend your days?</strong></p>
12186
12187 <p>I have a PhD in chemistry but since several years I work as teacher
12188 in secondary (15-18 year old students) and tertiary (a kind of "light"
12189 university) schools. Five years ago I started to manage a Learning
12190 Management Service server and slowly I got more and more involved with
12191 IT. 3 years ago the graduating schools moved completely to Linux and I
12192 got the head of the IT for this. The experience collected in chemistry
12193 labs computers (for example NMR analysis of protein folding) and in
12194 the IT-courses during university where sufficient to start. Self
12195 training is anyway very important</p>
12196
12197 <p>I live in the Italian speaking part of Switzerland, and the
12198 <a href="http://www.spse.ch/">SPSE school</a> (secondary) is a very
12199 special sport school for young people who try to became sport pro (for
12200 all sports, we have dozens of disciplines represented) and we are
12201 recognised by the Olympic Swiss Organisation.
12202
12203 <p><strong>How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux/Debian Edu
12204 project?</strong></p>
12205
12206 <p>Looking for Linux / Primary Domain Controller (PDC) I found it
12207 already several years ago. But since the system was still not
12208 Kerberized and since our schools relies strongly on laptops I didn't
12209 use it. I plan to introduce it in the next future, probably for the
12210 next school year, since the squeeze release solved this security
12211 hole.</p>
12212
12213 <p><strong>What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux/Debian
12214 Edu?</strong></p>
12215
12216 <p>Many. First of all there is a strong and living community that is
12217 very generous for help and hints.  Chat help is crucial, together with
12218 the mailing list.  Second. With Skolelinux you get an already well
12219 engineered platform and you don't have to start to build up your PDC
12220 and your clients from GNU/scratch; I've already done this once and I
12221 can tell it, it is hard. Third, since Skolelinux is a standard
12222 platform, it is way easier to educate other IT people and even if the
12223 head IT is sick another one could pick up the task without too much
12224 hassle.</p>
12225
12226 <p><strong>What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux/Debian
12227 Edu?</strong></p>
12228
12229 <p>The only real problem I see is that it is a little too less
12230 flexible at client level. Debian stable is rocky and desirable, but
12231 there are many reasons that force for another choice. For example the
12232 need of new drivers for new PC, or the need for a specific OS for some
12233 devices that have specific software packages for another specific
12234 distribution (I have such a case for whiteboards that have only
12235 Ubuntu packages). Thus, I prepared compatibility packages educlient
12236 and eduroaming, hoping not to use them ;-)</p>
12237
12238 <p><strong>Which free software do you use daily?</strong></p>
12239
12240 <p>I have a Debian Stable PDC at school (Kerberos, NIS, NFS) with
12241 mixed Debian and Ubuntu clients. If you think that this triad
12242 combination is exotic... well I discovered right yesterday that
12243 <a href="http://moo.nac.uci.edu/~hjm/Perceus-Report.html">Perceus</a>
12244 has the same...</p>
12245
12246 <p>For myself I run Debian wheezy/sid, but this combination is good
12247 only I you have enough competence to fix stuff for yourself, if
12248 something breaks.  Daily I use texmacs, gnumeric, a little bit of R
12249 statistics, kmplot, and less frequently OpenOffice.org.</p>
12250
12251 <p><strong>Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to
12252 get schools to use free software?</strong></p>
12253
12254 <P>I think that the only real argument that school managers "hear" is
12255 cost reduction. They don't give too much weight on quality, stability,
12256 just because they are normally not open to change.</p>
12257
12258 <p>Students adapts very quickly to GNU/Linux (and for them being able
12259 to switch between different OS is a plus value); teachers and managers
12260 don't.</p>
12261
12262 <p>We decided to move to Linux because students at our school have own
12263 laptop and we have the responsibility to keep the laptop ready to use;
12264 we were really unsatisfied with Microsoft since every Monday we had 20
12265 machine to fix for viral infections... With Linux this has been
12266 reduced to zero, since people installs almost only from official
12267 repositories. I think that our special needs brought us to Linux.
12268 Those who don't have such needs will hardly move to Linux.</p>
12269
12270       </div>
12271       <div class="tags">
12272
12273
12274         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>.
12275
12276
12277       </div>
12278     </div>
12279     <div class="padding"></div>
12280
12281     <div class="entry">
12282       <div class="title">
12283         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/IETF_activity_to_standardise_video_codec.html">IETF activity to standardise video codec</a>
12284       </div>
12285       <div class="date">
12286         15th September 2012
12287       </div>
12288       <div class="body">
12289         <p>After the
12290 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/IETF_standardize_its_first_multimedia_codec__Opus.html">Opus
12291 codec made</a> it into <a href="http://www.ietf.org/">IETF</a> as
12292 <a href="http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6716">RFC 6716</a>, I had a look
12293 to see if there is any activity in IETF to standardise a video codec
12294 too, and I was happy to discover that there is some activity in this
12295 area.  A non-"working group" mailing list
12296 <a href="https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/video-codec">video-codec</a>
12297 was
12298 <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
12299 formal working group should be formed.</p>
12300
12301 <p>I look forward to see how this plays out.  There is already
12302 <a href="http://www.ietf.org/mail-archive/web/video-codec/current/msg00003.html">an
12303 email from someone</a> in the MPEG group at ISO asking people to
12304 participate in the ISO group.  Given how ISO failed with OOXML and given
12305 that it so far (as far as I can remember) only have produced
12306 multimedia formats requiring royalty payments, I suspect
12307 joining the ISO group would be a complete waste of time, but I am not
12308 involved in any codec work and my opinion will not matter much.</p>
12309
12310 <p>If one of my readers is involved with codec work, I hope she will
12311 join this work to standardise a royalty free video codec within
12312 IETF.</p>
12313
12314       </div>
12315       <div class="tags">
12316
12317
12318         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>.
12319
12320
12321       </div>
12322     </div>
12323     <div class="padding"></div>
12324
12325     <div class="entry">
12326       <div class="title">
12327         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/IETF_standardize_its_first_multimedia_codec__Opus.html">IETF standardize its first multimedia codec: Opus</a>
12328       </div>
12329       <div class="date">
12330         12th September 2012
12331       </div>
12332       <div class="body">
12333         <p>Yesterday, <a href="http://www.ietf.org/">IETF</a> announced the
12334 publication of of
12335 <a href="http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6716">RFC 6716, the Definition
12336 of the Opus Audio Codec</a>, a low latency, variable bandwidth, codec
12337 intended for both VoIP, film and music.  This is the first time, as
12338 far as I know, that IETF have standardized a multimedia codec.  In
12339 <a href="http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc3533">RFC 3533</a>, IETF
12340 standardized the OGG container format, and it has proven to be a great
12341 royalty free container for audio, video and movies.  I hope IETF will
12342 continue to standardize more royalty free codeces, after ISO and MPEG
12343 have proven incapable of securing everyone equal rights to publish
12344 multimedia content on the Internet.</p>
12345
12346 <p>IETF require two interoperating independent implementations to
12347 ratify a standard, and have so far ensured to only standardize royalty
12348 free specifications.  Both are key factors to allow everyone (rich and
12349 poor), to compete on equal terms on the Internet.</p>
12350
12351 <p>Visit the <a href="http://opus-codec.org/">Opus project page</a> if
12352 you want to learn more about the solution.</p>
12353
12354       </div>
12355       <div class="tags">
12356
12357
12358         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>.
12359
12360
12361       </div>
12362     </div>
12363     <div class="padding"></div>
12364
12365     <div class="entry">
12366       <div class="title">
12367         <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>
12368       </div>
12369       <div class="date">
12370          7th September 2012
12371       </div>
12372       <div class="body">
12373         <p>As I
12374 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Song_book_for_Computer_Scientists.html">mentioned
12375 this summer</a>, I have created a Computer Science song book a few
12376 years ago, and today I finally found time to create a public
12377 <a href="https://gitorious.org/pere-cs-songbook/pere-cs-songbook">Gitorious
12378 repository for the project</a>.</p>
12379
12380 <p>If you want to help out, please clone the source and submit patches
12381 to the HTML version.  To generate the PDF and PostScript version,
12382 please use prince XML, or let me know about a useful free software
12383 processor capable of creating a good looking PDF from the HTML.</p>
12384
12385 <p>Want to sing?  You can still find the song book in HTML, PDF and
12386 PostScript formats at
12387 <a href="http://www.hungry.com/~pere/cs-songbook/">Petter's Computer
12388 Science Songbook</a>.</p>
12389
12390       </div>
12391       <div class="tags">
12392
12393
12394         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>.
12395
12396
12397       </div>
12398     </div>
12399     <div class="padding"></div>
12400
12401     <div class="entry">
12402       <div class="title">
12403         <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>
12404       </div>
12405       <div class="date">
12406         23rd August 2012
12407       </div>
12408       <div class="body">
12409         <p>I came across a great comment from Simon Phipps today, about how
12410 <a href="http://www.infoworld.com/d/open-source-software/how-microsoft-was-forced-open-office-200233">Microsoft
12411 have been forced to open Office</a>, and it made me remember and
12412 revisit the great site
12413 <a href="http://www.officeshots.org/">officeshots</a> which allow you
12414 to check out how different programs present the ODF file format.  I
12415 recommend both to those of my readers interested in ODF. :)</p>
12416
12417       </div>
12418       <div class="tags">
12419
12420
12421         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>.
12422
12423
12424       </div>
12425     </div>
12426     <div class="padding"></div>
12427
12428     <div class="entry">
12429       <div class="title">
12430         <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>
12431       </div>
12432       <div class="date">
12433         17th August 2012
12434       </div>
12435       <div class="body">
12436         <p>In my spare time, I currently work on a Norwegian
12437 <a href="http://www.docbook.org/">docbook</a> version of the 2004 book
12438 <a href="http://free-culture.cc/">Free Culture</a> by Lawrence Lessig,
12439 to get a Norwegian text explaining the problems with the copyright law
12440 I can give to my parents and others that are reluctant to read an
12441 English book.  It is a marvellous set of examples on how the ever
12442 expanding copyright regulations hurt culture and society.  When the
12443 translation is done, I hope to find funding to print and ship a copy
12444 to all the members of the Norwegian parliament, before they sit down
12445 to debate the latest revisions to the Norwegian copyright law.  This
12446 summer I
12447 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Dugnad_for___sende_norsk_versjon_av_Free_Culture_til_stortingets_representanter_.html">called
12448 for volunteers</a> to help me, and I have been able to secure the
12449 valuable contribution from at least one other Norwegian.</p>
12450
12451 <p>Two days ago, we finally broke the 50% mark.  Then more than 50% of
12452 the number of strings to translate (normally paragraphs, but also
12453 titles and index entries are also counted).  All parts from the
12454 beginning up to and including chapter four is translated.  So is
12455 chapters six, seven and the conclusion.  I created a graph to show the
12456 progress:</p>
12457
12458 <img width="80%" align="center" src="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig/raw/master/progress.png">
12459
12460 <p>The number of strings to translate increase as I insert the index
12461 entries into the docbook.  They were missing with the docbook version
12462 I initially started with.  There are still quite a few index entries
12463 missing, but everyone starting with A, B, O, Z and Y are done.  I
12464 currently focus on completing the index entries, to get a complete
12465 english version of the docbook source.</p>
12466
12467 <p>There is still need for translators and people with docbook
12468 knowledge, to be able to get a good looking book (I still struggle
12469 with dblatex, xmlto and docbook-xsl) as well as to do the draft
12470 translation and proof reading.  And I would like the figures to be
12471 redrawn as SVGs to make it easy to translate them.  Any SVG master
12472 around?  I am sure there are some legal terms that are unfamiliar to
12473 me.  If you want to help, please get in touch, and check out the
12474 project files currently available from <a
12475 href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig">github</a>.</p>
12476
12477 <p>If you are curious what the translated book currently look like,
12478 the updated
12479 <a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig/blob/master/archive/freeculture.nb.pdf?raw=true">PDF</a>
12480 and
12481 <a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig/blob/master/archive/freeculture.nb.epub?raw=true">EPUB</a>
12482 are published on github.  The HTML version is published as well, but
12483 github hand it out with MIME type text/plain, confusing browsers, so I
12484 saw no point in linking to that version.</p>
12485
12486       </div>
12487       <div class="tags">
12488
12489
12490         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>.
12491
12492
12493       </div>
12494     </div>
12495     <div class="padding"></div>
12496
12497     <div class="entry">
12498       <div class="title">
12499         <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>
12500       </div>
12501       <div class="date">
12502         10th August 2012
12503       </div>
12504       <div class="body">
12505         <p>In <a href="http://www.docbook.org/">docbook</a> one can specify
12506 the language used at the top, and the processing pipeline will use
12507 this information to pick the correct translations for 'chapter', 'see
12508 also', 'index' etc.  And for most languages used with docbook, I guess
12509 this work just fine.  For example a German user can start the document
12510 with &lt;book lang="de"&gt;, and the document will show up with the
12511 correct content with any of the docbook processors.  This is not the
12512 case for the language
12513 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Free_Culture_in_Norwegian___5_chapters_done__74_percent_left_to_do.html">I
12514 am working with at the moment</a>, Norwegian Bokmål.</p>
12515
12516 <p>For a while, I was confused about which language code to use,
12517 because I was unable to find any language code that would work across
12518 all tools.  I am currently testing dblatex, xmlto, docbook-xsl, and
12519 dbtoepub, and they do not handle Norwegian Bokmål the same way.  Some
12520 of them do not handle it at all.</p>
12521
12522 <p>A bit of background information is probably needed to understand
12523 this mess.  Norwegian is not one, but two written variants.  The
12524 variants are Norwegian Nynorsk and Norwegian Bokmål.  There are three
12525 two letter language codes associated with these languages, Norwegian
12526 is 'no', Norwegian Nynorsk is 'nn' and Norwegian Bokmål is 'nb'.
12527 Historically the 'no' language code was used for Norwegian Bokmål, but
12528 many years ago this was found to be å bad idea, and the recommendation
12529 is to use the most specific language code instead, to avoid confusion.
12530 In the transition period it is a good idea to make sure 'no' was an
12531 alias for 'nb'.</p>
12532
12533 <p>Back to docbook processing tools in Debian.  The dblatex tool only
12534 understand 'nn'.  There are translations for 'no', but not 'nb' (BTS
12535 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/684391">#684391</a>), but due to a bug
12536 (BTS <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/682936">#682936</a>) the 'no'
12537 language code is not recognised.  The docbook-xsl tool chain only
12538 recognise 'nn' and 'nb', but not 'no'.  The xmlto tool only recognise
12539 'nn' and 'nb', but not 'no'.  The end result that there is no language
12540 code I can use to get the docbook file working with all of these tools
12541 at the same time. :(</p>
12542
12543 <p>The correct solution is to use &lt;book lang="nb"&gt;, but it will
12544 take time before that will work with all the free software docbook
12545 processors. :(</p>
12546
12547 <p>Oh, the joy of well integrated tools. :/</p>
12548
12549       </div>
12550       <div class="tags">
12551
12552
12553         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>.
12554
12555
12556       </div>
12557     </div>
12558     <div class="padding"></div>
12559
12560     <div class="entry">
12561       <div class="title">
12562         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Best_way_to_create_a_docbook_book_.html">Best way to create a docbook book?</a>
12563       </div>
12564       <div class="date">
12565         31st July 2012
12566       </div>
12567       <div class="body">
12568         <p>I tried to send this text to the
12569 <a href="https://lists.oasis-open.org/archives/docbook-apps/">docbook-apps
12570 mailing list at lists.oasis-open.org</a>, but it only accept messages
12571 from subscribers and rejected my post, and I completely lack the
12572 bandwidth required to subscribe to another mailing list, so instead I
12573 try to post my message here and hope my blog readers can help me
12574 out.</p>
12575
12576 <p>I am quite new to docbook processing, and am climbing a steep
12577 learning curve at the moment.</p>
12578
12579 <p>To give you some background, I am working on a Norwegian
12580 translation of the book Free Culture by Lawrence Lessig, and I use
12581 docbook to handle the process.  The files to build the book are
12582 available from
12583 <a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig">github</a>.
12584 The book got around 400 pages with parts, images, footnotes, tables,
12585 index entries etc, which has proven to be a challenge for the free
12586 software docbook processors.  My build platform is Debian GNU/Linux
12587 Squeeze.</p>
12588
12589 <p>I want to build PDF, EPUB and HTML version of the book, and have
12590 tried different tool chains to do the conversion from docbook to these
12591 formats.  I am currently focusing on the PDF version, and have a few
12592 problems.</p>
12593
12594 <ul>
12595
12596 <li>Using dblatex, the &lt;part&gt; handling is not the way I want to,
12597    as &lt;/part&gt; do not really end the &lt;part&gt;. (See
12598    <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/683166">BTS report #683166</a>), the
12599    xetex backend (needed to process UTF-8) give incorrect hyphens in
12600    index references spanning several pages (See
12601    <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/682901">BTS report #682901</a>), and
12602    I am unable to get the norwegian template texts (See
12603    <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/682936">BTS report #682936</a>).</li>
12604
12605 <li>Using straight xmlto fail with some latex error (See
12606    <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/683163">BTS report
12607    #683163</a>).</li>
12608
12609 <li>Using xmlto with the fop backend fail to handle images (do not
12610    show up in the PDF), fail to handle a long footnote (overlap
12611    footnote and text body, see
12612    <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/683197">BTS report #683197</a>), and
12613    fail to create a correct index (some lack page ref, and the page
12614    refs listed are not right).</li>
12615
12616 <li>Using xmlto with the dblatex backend behave like dblatex.</li>
12617
12618 <li>Using docbook-xls with xsltproc + fop have the same footnote and
12619    index problems the xmlto + fop processing.</li>
12620
12621 </ul>
12622
12623 <p>So I wonder, what would be the best way to create the PDF version
12624 of this book?  Are some of the bugs found above solved in new or
12625 experimental versions of some docbook tool chain?</p>
12626
12627 <p>What about HTML and EPUB versions?</p>
12628
12629       </div>
12630       <div class="tags">
12631
12632
12633         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>.
12634
12635
12636       </div>
12637     </div>
12638     <div class="padding"></div>
12639
12640     <div class="entry">
12641       <div class="title">
12642         <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>
12643       </div>
12644       <div class="date">
12645         21st July 2012
12646       </div>
12647       <div class="body">
12648         <p>I reported earlier that I am working on
12649 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Dugnad_for___sende_norsk_versjon_av_Free_Culture_til_stortingets_representanter_.html">a
12650 norwegian version</a> of the book
12651 <a href="http://free-culture.cc/">Free Culture</a> by Lawrence Lessig.
12652 Progress is good, and yesterday I got a major contribution from Anders
12653 Hagen Jarmund completing chapter six.  The source files as well as a
12654 PDF and EPUB version of this book are available from
12655 <a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig">github</a>.</p>
12656
12657 <p>I am happy to report that the draft for the first two chapters
12658 (preface, introduction) is complete, and three other chapters are also
12659 completely translated.  This completes 26 percent of the number of
12660 strings (equivalent to paragraphs) in the book, and there is thus 74
12661 percent left to translate.  A graph of the progress is present at the
12662 bottom of the github project page.  There is still room for more
12663 contributors.  Get in touch or send github pull requests with fixes if
12664 you got time and are willing to help make this book make it to
12665 print. :)</p>
12666
12667 <p>The book translation framework could also be a good basis for other
12668 translations, if you want the book to be available in your
12669 language.</p>
12670
12671       </div>
12672       <div class="tags">
12673
12674
12675         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>.
12676
12677
12678       </div>
12679     </div>
12680     <div class="padding"></div>
12681
12682     <div class="entry">
12683       <div class="title">
12684         <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>
12685       </div>
12686       <div class="date">
12687         16th July 2012
12688       </div>
12689       <div class="body">
12690         <p>I am currently working on a
12691 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Dugnad_for___sende_norsk_versjon_av_Free_Culture_til_stortingets_representanter_.html">project
12692 to translate</a> the book
12693 <a href="http://free-culture.cc/">Free Culture</a> by Lawrence Lessig
12694 to Norwegian.  And the source we base our translation on is the
12695 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DocBook">docbook</a> version, to
12696 allow us to use po4a and .po files to handle the translation, and for
12697 this to work well the docbook source document need to be properly
12698 tagged.  The source files of this project is available from
12699 <a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig">github</a>.</p>
12700
12701 <p>The problem is that the docbook source have flaws, and we have
12702 no-one involved in the project that is a docbook expert.  Is there a
12703 docbook expert somewhere that is interested in helping us create a
12704 well tagged docbook version of the book, and adjust our build process
12705 for the PDF, EPUB and HTML version of the book?  This will provide a
12706 well tagged English version (our source document), and make it a lot
12707 easier for us to create a good Norwegian version.  If you can and want
12708 to help, please get in touch with me or fork the github project and
12709 send pull requests with fixes. :)</p>
12710
12711       </div>
12712       <div class="tags">
12713
12714
12715         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>.
12716
12717
12718       </div>
12719     </div>
12720     <div class="padding"></div>
12721
12722     <div class="entry">
12723       <div class="title">
12724         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__George_Bredberg.html">Debian Edu interview: George Bredberg</a>
12725       </div>
12726       <div class="date">
12727          9th July 2012
12728       </div>
12729       <div class="body">
12730         <p>The <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu /
12731 Skolelinux</a> project have users all over the globe, but until
12732 recently we have not known about any users in Norway's neighbour
12733 country Sweden.  This changed when George Bredberg showed up in March
12734 this year on the mailing list, asking interesting questions about how
12735 to adjust and scale the just released
12736 <a href="http://www.debian.org/News/2012/20120311.html">Debian Edu
12737 Wheezy</a> setup to his liking.  He granted me an interview, and I am
12738 happy to share his answers with you here.</p>
12739
12740 <p><strong>Who are you, and how do you spend your days?</strong></p>
12741
12742 <p>I'm a 44 year old country guy that have been working 12 years at
12743 the same school as 50% IT-manager and 50% Teacher. My educational
12744 background is fil.kand in history and religious beliefs, an exam as a
12745 "folkhighschool" teacher, that is, for teaching grownups.  In
12746 Norwegian I believe it's called "Vuxenupplaring". I also have a master
12747 in "Technology and social change". So I'm not really a tech guy, I
12748 just like to study how humans and technology interact and that is my
12749 perspective when working with IT.</p>
12750
12751 <p><strong>How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux/Debian Edu
12752 project?</strong></p>
12753
12754 I have followed the Skolelinux project for quite some time by
12755 now. Earlier I tested out the K12-LTSP project, which we used for some
12756 time, but I really like the idea of having a distribution aimed to be
12757 a complete solution for schools with necessary tools integrated. When
12758 K12-LTSP abandoned that idea some years ago, I started to look more
12759 seriously into Skolelinux instead.
12760
12761 <p><strong>What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux/Debian
12762 Edu?</strong></p>
12763
12764 The big point of Skolelinux to me is that it is a complete
12765 distribution, ready to install. It has LDAP-support, MS Windows
12766 integration tools and so forth already configured, saving an
12767 administrator a lot of time and headache. We were using another Linux
12768 based thin-client system called Thinlinc, that has served us very
12769 well. But that Skolelinux is based on VNC and LTSP, to me, is better
12770 when it comes to the kind of multimedia used in schools. That is
12771 showing videos from Youtube or educational TV. It is also easier to
12772 mix thin clients with workstations, since the user settings will be the
12773 same. In our VNC-based solution you had to "beat around the bush" by
12774 setting up a second, hidden, home-directory for user settings for the
12775 workstations, because they will be different from the ones used on the
12776 thin clients. Skolelinux support for diskless workstations are very
12777 convenient since a school today often need to use a class room
12778 projector showing videos in full screen. That is easily done with a
12779 small integrated media computer running as a diskless workstation. You
12780 have only two installs to update and configure. One for the thin
12781 clients and one for the workstations. Also saving a lot of time.  Our
12782 old system was also based on Redhat and CentOS. They are both very
12783 nice distributions, but they are sometimes painfully slow when it
12784 comes to updating multimedia support and multimedia programs (even
12785 such as Gimp), leaving us with a bit "oldish" applications. Debian is
12786 quicker to update.
12787
12788 <p><strong>What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux/Debian
12789 Edu?</strong></p>
12790
12791 <p>Debian is a bit too quick when it comes to updating. As an example
12792 we use old HP terminals as thinclients, and two times already this
12793 year (2012) the updates you get from the repositories has stopped
12794 sound from working with them.  It's a kernel/ALSA issue. So you have
12795 to be more careful properly testing the updates before you run them in
12796 a production environment. This has never happened with CentOS.</p>
12797
12798 <p>I also would like to be able to set my own domain-settings at
12799 install time.  In Skolelinux they are kind of hard coded into the
12800 distribution, when it comes to LDAP and at least samba integration.
12801 That is more a cosmetic/translation issue, and not a real problem.
12802 Running MS Windows applications within the Skolelinux environment needs
12803 to be better supported. That is, running them seamlessly via RDP, and
12804 support for single-sign on.  That will make the transition to free
12805 software easier, because you can keep the applications you really
12806 need.  No support will make it impossible if you work in a school where
12807 some applications can't be open source. As for us we really need to
12808 run Adobe InDesign in our journalist classes.  We run a journalist
12809 education, and is one of the very few non university ones that is ok:d
12810 by Svenska journalistförbundet (Swedish journalist association).  Our
12811 education gives the pupils the right of membership there, once they
12812 are done.  This is important if you want to get a job.</p>
12813
12814 <p>Adobe InDesign is the program most commonly used in newspapers and
12815 magazines.  We used Quark Express before, but they seem to loose there
12816 market to Adobe. The only "equivalent" to InDesign in the opensource
12817 world is Scribus, and its not advanced enough. At least not according
12818 to the teacher. I think it would be possible to use it, because they
12819 are not supposed to learn a program, they are supposed to learn how to
12820 edit and compile a newspaper.  But politically at our school we are not
12821 there yet.  And Scribus lacks a lot of things you find i InDesign.</p>
12822
12823 <p>We used even a windows program for sound editing when it comes to
12824 the radio-journalist part. The year to come we are going to try
12825 Audacity. That software has the same kind of limitations compared to
12826 Adobe Audition, but that teacher is a bit more open minded. We have
12827 tried Ardour also, but that instead is more like a music studio
12828 program, not intended for the kind of editing taking place in a radio
12829 studio. Its way to complex and the GUI is to scattered when you only
12830 want to cut, make pass-overs, add extra channels and normalise.  Those
12831 things you can do in Audacity, but its not as easy as in Audition. You
12832 have to do more things manually with envelopes, and that is a bit old
12833 fashion and timewasting. Its also harder to cut and move sound from
12834 one channel to another, which is a thing that you do frequently
12835 because you often find yourself needing to rearrange parts of the
12836 sound file.</p>
12837
12838 <p>So, I am not sure we will succeed in replacing even Audition, but we
12839 will try.  The problem is the students have certain expectations when
12840 they start an education towards a profession.  So the programs has to
12841 look and feel professional.  Good thing with radio, there are many
12842 programs out there, that radio studios use, so its not as standardised
12843 as Newspaper editing. That means, it does not really matter what
12844 program they learn, because once they start working they still have to
12845 learn the program the studio uses, so instead focus has to be to learn
12846 the editing part without to much focus on a specific software.</p>
12847
12848 <p><strong>Which free software do you use daily?</strong></p>
12849
12850 <p>Myself I'm running Linux Mint, or Ubuntu these days.  I use almost
12851 only open source software, and preferably Linux based. When it comes
12852 to most used applications its OpenOffice, and Firefox (of course ;)
12853 )</p>
12854
12855 <p><strong>Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to
12856 get schools to use free software?</strong></p>
12857
12858 <p>To get schools to use free software there has to be good open
12859 source software that are windows based, to ease the transition. But
12860 it's also very important that the multimedia support is working
12861 flawlessly.  The problems with Youtube, Twitter, Facebook and whatever
12862 will create problems when it comes to both teachers and
12863 students. Economy are also important for schools, so using thin
12864 clients, as long as they have good multimedia support, is a very good
12865 idea. It's also important that the open source software works even for
12866 the administration.  It's hard to convince the teachers to stick with
12867 open source, if the principal has to run Windows.  It also creates a
12868 problem if some classes has to use Windows for there tasks, since that
12869 will create a difference in "status" between classes, so a good
12870 support for running windows applications via the thin client (Linux)
12871 desktop is essential.  At least at our school, where we have mixed
12872 level of educations, from high-school to journalist-school.</p>
12873
12874 <p>Update 2012-07-09 08:30: Paul Wise tipped me on IRC about three
12875 useful sources related to Free Software for radio stations: the LWN
12876 article <a href="https://lwn.net/Articles/481607/">Radio station
12877 management with Airtime</a>,
12878 <a href="http://www.sourcefabric.org/en/airtime/">Airtime</a> which
12879 claim to be a Free open source radio automation software and
12880 <a href="http://www.rivendellaudio.org/">Rivendell</a> which claim to
12881 be complete radio broadcast automation solution.  All of them seem
12882 useful to the aspiring radio producer.</p>
12883
12884       </div>
12885       <div class="tags">
12886
12887
12888         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>.
12889
12890
12891       </div>
12892     </div>
12893     <div class="padding"></div>
12894
12895     <div class="entry">
12896       <div class="title">
12897         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Why_do_schools_waste_money_on_IT_.html">Why do schools waste money on IT?</a>
12898       </div>
12899       <div class="date">
12900          8th July 2012
12901       </div>
12902       <div class="body">
12903         <p>In the Debian Edu / Skolelinux project, we have realised that one
12904 of the major blockers for the project success is the purchasing skills
12905 in schools and municipalities.  We provide what the happy users of
12906 Debian Edu / Skolelinux say they need and to a lower cost than the
12907 alternatives, and yet so few schools decide to use our solution.  I
12908 was pleased to discover the same observation done by mySociety and Tom
12909 Steinberg in his blog post
12910 "<a href="http://www.mysociety.org/2012/06/19/can-you-recognize-the-million-pound-chair/">Can
12911 you recognize the million pound chair?</a>".  Read it and weep for the
12912 spending of your tax money.</p>
12913
12914 <p>Of course there are other factors involved as well, like our
12915 projects bad marketing skills and the Linux community fragmentation
12916 causing worry with the people on the outside, so we as a project need
12917 to keep working hard to gain users, but it is a up-hill battle when
12918 public decision makers are unable to understand computer system
12919 purchases.</p>
12920
12921       </div>
12922       <div class="tags">
12923
12924
12925         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>.
12926
12927
12928       </div>
12929     </div>
12930     <div class="padding"></div>
12931
12932     <div class="entry">
12933       <div class="title">
12934         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Free_Timetabling_Software___nice_free_software.html">Free Timetabling Software - nice free software</a>
12935       </div>
12936       <div class="date">
12937          7th July 2012
12938       </div>
12939       <div class="body">
12940         <p>Included in <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu /
12941 Skolelinux</a> is a large collection of end user and school specific
12942 software.  It is one of the packages not installed by default but
12943 provided in the Debian archive for schools to install if they want to,
12944 is a system to automatically plan the school time table using
12945 information about available teachers, classes and rooms, combined with
12946 the list of required courses and how many hours each topic should
12947 receive.  The software is
12948
12949 <a href="http://lalescu.ro/liviu/fet/">named FET</a>, and it provide a
12950 graphical user interface to input the required information, save the
12951 result in a fairly simple XML format, and generate time tables for
12952 both teachers and students.  It is available both for
12953 <a href="http://lalescu.ro/liviu/fet/download.html">Linux, MacOSX and
12954 Windows</a>.</p>
12955
12956 <p>This is <a href="http://lalescu.ro/liviu/fet/features.html">the
12957 feature list</a>, liftet from the project web site:</p>
12958
12959 <p><ul>
12960
12961   <li>FET is free software, licensed under the GNU GPL v2 or later.
12962     You can freely use, copy, modify and redistribute it </li>
12963
12964   <li>Localized to en_US (US English, default), ar (Arabic), ca
12965     (Catalan), da (Danish), de (German), el (Greek), es (Spanish), fa
12966     (Persian), fr (French), gl (Galician), he (Hebrew), hu
12967     (Hungarian), id (Indonesian), it (Italian), lt (Lithuanian), mk
12968     (Macedonian), ms (Malay), nl (Dutch), pl (Polish), pt_BR
12969     (Brazilian Portuguese), ro (Romanian), ru (Russian), si (Sinhala),
12970     sk (Slovak), sr (Serbian), tr (Turkish), uk (Ukrainian), uz
12971     (Uzbek) and vi (Vietnamese) (incompletely for some languages)
12972     </li>
12973
12974   <li>Fully automatic generation algorithm, allowing also
12975     semi-automatic or manual allocation</li>
12976
12977   <li>Platform independent implementation, allowing running on
12978     GNU/Linux, Windows, Mac and any system that Qt supports </li>
12979
12980   <li>Flexible modular XML format for the input file, allowing editing
12981     with an XML editor or by hand (besides FET interface)</li>
12982
12983   <li>Import/export from CSV format</li>
12984
12985   <li>The resulted timetables are exported into HTML, XML and CSV
12986     formats </li>
12987
12988   <li>Flexible students structure, organized into sets: years, groups
12989     and subgroups. FET allows overlapping years and groups and
12990     non-overlapping subgroups. You can even define individual students
12991     (as separate sets)</li>
12992
12993   <li>Each constraint has a weight percentage, from 0.0% to 100.0%
12994     (but some special constraints are allowed to have only 100% weight
12995     percentage)</li>
12996
12997   <li>Limits for the algorithm (all these limits can be increased on
12998     demand, as a custom version, because this would require a bit more
12999     memory):
13000     <ul>
13001       <li>Maximum total number of hours (periods) per day: 60</li>
13002       <li>Maximum number of working days per week: 35</li>
13003       <li>Maximum total number of teachers: 6000</li>
13004       <li>Maximum total number of sets of students: 30000</li>
13005       <li>Maximum total number of subjects: 6000</li>
13006       <li>Virtually unlimited number of activity tags</li>
13007       <li>Maximum number of activities: 30000</li>
13008       <li>Maximum number of rooms: 6000</li>
13009       <li>Maximum number of buildings: 6000</li>
13010       <li>Possibility of adding multiple teachers and
13011           students sets for each activity.  (it is possible
13012           also to have no teachers or no students sets for an
13013           activity)</li>
13014       <li>Virtually unlimited number of time constraints</li>
13015       <li>Virtually unlimited number of space constraints</li>
13016     </ul></li>
13017
13018   <li>A large and flexible palette of time constraints:
13019     <ul>
13020       <li>Break periods</li>
13021       <li>For teacher(s):
13022         <ul>
13023           <li>Not available periods</li>
13024           <li>Max/min days per week</li>
13025           <li>Max gaps per day/week</li>
13026           <li>Max hours daily/continuously</li>
13027           <li>Min hours daily</li>
13028           <li>Max hours daily/continuously with an activity tag</li>
13029
13030           <li>Respect working in an hourly interval a max number of
13031             days per week</li>
13032         </ul></li>
13033       <li>For students (sets):
13034         <ul>
13035           <li>Not available periods</li>
13036           <li>Begins early (specify max allowed beginnings at second hour)</li>
13037           <li>Max gaps per day/week</li>
13038           <li>Max hours daily/continuously</li>
13039           <li>Min hours daily</li>
13040           <li>Max hours daily/continuously with an activity tag</li>
13041
13042           <li>Respect working in an hourly interval a max number of
13043             days per week</li>
13044         </ul></li>
13045       <li>For an activity or a set of activities/subactivities:
13046         <ul>
13047           <li>A single preferred starting time</li>
13048           <li>A set of preferred starting times</li>
13049           <li>A set of preferred time slots</li>
13050           <li>Min/max days between them</li>
13051           <li>End(s) students day</li>
13052           <li>Same starting time/day/hour</li>
13053           <li>Occupy max time slots from selection (a complex and
13054             flexible constraint, useful in many situations)</li>
13055           <li>Consecutive, ordered, grouped (for 2 or 3 (sub)activities)</li>
13056           <li>Not overlapping</li>
13057           <li>Max simultaneous in selected time slots</li>
13058           <li>Min gaps between a set of (sub)activities</li>
13059         </ul></li>
13060     </ul></li>
13061
13062   <li>A large and flexible palette of space constraints:
13063     <ul>
13064       <li>Room not available periods</li>
13065       <li>For teacher(s):
13066         <ul>
13067           <li>Home room(s)</li>
13068           <li>Max building changes per day/week</li>
13069           <li>Min gaps between building changes</li>
13070         </ul>
13071       </li>
13072
13073       <li>For students (sets):
13074         <ul>
13075           <li>Home room(s)</li>
13076           <li>Max building changes per day/week</li>
13077           <li>Min gaps between building changes</li>
13078         </ul>
13079       </li>
13080       <li>Preferred room(s):
13081         <ul>
13082           <li>For a subject</li>
13083           <li>For an activity tag</li>
13084           <li>For a subject and an activity tag</li>
13085           <li>Individually for a (sub)activity</li>
13086         </ul>
13087       </li>
13088
13089       <li>For a set of activities:
13090         <ul>
13091           <li>Occupy a maximum number of different rooms</li>
13092         </ul>
13093       </li>
13094     </ul>
13095   </li>
13096 </ul></p>
13097
13098 <p>I have not used it myself, as I am not involved in time table
13099 planning at a school, but it seem to work fine when I test it.  If you
13100 need to set up your schools time table, and is tired of doing it
13101 manually, check it out.
13102
13103 A quick summary on how to use it can be found in
13104 <a href="http://marvelsoft.co.in/wp/2012/03/generate-timetable-for-state-cbse-icse-igcse-schools-free/">a
13105 blog post from MarvelSoft</a>.  If you find FET useful, please provide
13106 a recipe for the Debian Edu project in the
13107 <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu#Howtos">Debian Edu HowTo
13108 section</a>.</p>
13109
13110       </div>
13111       <div class="tags">
13112
13113
13114         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>.
13115
13116
13117       </div>
13118     </div>
13119     <div class="padding"></div>
13120
13121     <div class="entry">
13122       <div class="title">
13123         <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>
13124       </div>
13125       <div class="date">
13126          3rd July 2012
13127       </div>
13128       <div class="body">
13129         <p>In the NUUG <a href="http://www.fiksgatami.no/">FiksGataMi</a>
13130 project (Norwegian version of
13131 <a href="http://www.fixmystreet.com/">FixMyStreet</a> from
13132 <a href="http://www.mysociety.org/">mySociety</a>), we have discovered
13133 a problem with the municipalities using
13134 <a href="http://www.zimbra.com/">Zimbra</a>.  When FiksGataMi send a
13135 problem report to the government, the email From: address is set to
13136 the address of the person reporting the problem, while envelope sender
13137 is set to the FiksGataMi contact address.  The intention is to make
13138 sure the municipality send any replies to the person reporting the
13139 problem, while any email delivery problems are sent to us in NUUG.
13140 This work well in most cases, but not for Karmøy municipality using
13141 Zimbra.  Karmøy is using the vacation message function in Zimbra to
13142 send an automatic reply to report that the message has been received,
13143 and this message is sent to the envelope sender and not the address in
13144 the From: header.</p>
13145
13146 <p>This causes the automatic message from Karmøy to go to NUUGs
13147 request-tracker instance instead of to the person reporting the
13148 problem.  We can not really change the envelope sender address, as
13149 this would make it impossible for us to discover when there are
13150 problems with the MTAs receiving problem reports.  We have been in
13151 contact with the people at Karmøy municipality, and they are willing
13152 to adjust Zimbra if something can be changed there to get a better
13153 behaviour.</p>
13154
13155 <p>The default behaviour of Zimbra is as far as I can tell according
13156 to the specification in RFC 3834, which recommend that vacation
13157 messages are sent to the envelope sender and not to the From: address.
13158 But I wonder if it is possible to adjust or configure Zimbra to behave
13159 differently.  Anyone know?  Please let us know at
13160 <a href="http://lists.nuug.no/mailman/listinfo/fiksgatami">fiksgatami
13161 (at) nuug.no</a>.</p>
13162
13163       </div>
13164       <div class="tags">
13165
13166
13167         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>.
13168
13169
13170       </div>
13171     </div>
13172     <div class="padding"></div>
13173
13174     <div class="entry">
13175       <div class="title">
13176         <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>
13177       </div>
13178       <div class="date">
13179         26th June 2012
13180       </div>
13181       <div class="body">
13182         <p>I've been too busy at home, but finally I found time to wrap up
13183 another interview with the people behind
13184 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu and Skolelinux</a>.
13185 This time we get to know José Luis Redrejo Rodríguez, one of our great
13186 helpers from Spain.  His effort was the reason we added support for
13187 several desktop types (KDE, Gnome and most recently LXDE) in Debian
13188 Edu, and have all of these available in the recently published
13189 <a href="http://www.debian.org/News/2012/20120311.html">Debian Edu
13190 Squeeze</a> version.</p>
13191
13192 <p><strong>Who are you, and how do you spend your days?</strong></p>
13193
13194 <p>I'm a father, teacher and engineer who is working for the Education
13195 ministry of the Region of Extremadura (Spain) in the implementation of
13196 ICT in schools</p>
13197
13198 <p><strong>How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux/Debian Edu
13199 project?</strong></p>
13200
13201 <p>At 2006, I verified that both, we in Extremadura and Skolelinux
13202 project, had been working in parallel for some years, doing very
13203 similar things, using very similar tools and with similar targets, so
13204 I decided it was time to join forces as much as possible.</p>
13205
13206 <p><strong>What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux/Debian
13207 Edu?</strong></p>
13208
13209 <p>A community of highly skilled experts working together, with a
13210 really open schema of collaboration and work. I really love the
13211 concepts of Do-ocracy and Merit-ocracy and the way these concepts are
13212 been used everyday inside Debian Edu.</p>
13213
13214 <p><strong>What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux/Debian
13215 Edu?</strong></p>
13216
13217 <p>Sometimes the differences in the implementations, laws or
13218 economical and technical resources in the different countries don't
13219 allow us to agree in the same solution for all of us, and several
13220 approaches are needed, what is a waste of effort. Also, there is a
13221 lack of more man power to be able to follow the fast evolution of the
13222 technologies in school.</p>
13223
13224 <p><strong>Which free software do you use daily?</strong></p>
13225
13226 <p>Debian, of course, and due to my kind of job I am most of my time
13227 between Iceweasel, <a href="http://www.geany.org/">Geany</a> and
13228 <a href="http://www.ohloh.net/p/gnome-terminator">Terminator</a>.</p>
13229
13230 <p><strong>Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to
13231 get schools to use free software?</strong></p>
13232
13233 <p>I think there is not a single strategy because there are very
13234 different scenarios: schools with mixed proprietary and free
13235 environments, schools using only workstations, other schools using
13236 laptops, netbooks, tablets, interactive white-boards, etc.</p>
13237
13238 <p>Also the range of ages of the students is very broad and you can
13239 not use the same solutions for primary schools and secondary or even
13240 universities. So different strategies are needed.</p>
13241
13242 <p>But, looking at these differences, and looking back to the things
13243 we've done and implemented, and the places were we have spent most of
13244 our forces, I think we should focus as much as possible in free
13245 multi-platform environments, using only standards tools, and moving
13246 more and more to Internet or network solutions that could be deployed
13247 using wireless. I think we'll see more and more personal devices in
13248 the schools, devices the students and teachers will take home with
13249 them, so the solutions must be able to be taken at home and continue
13250 working there.</p>
13251
13252       </div>
13253       <div class="tags">
13254
13255
13256         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>.
13257
13258
13259       </div>
13260     </div>
13261     <div class="padding"></div>
13262
13263     <div class="entry">
13264       <div class="title">
13265         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Song_book_for_Computer_Scientists.html">Song book for Computer Scientists</a>
13266       </div>
13267       <div class="date">
13268         24th June 2012
13269       </div>
13270       <div class="body">
13271         <p>Many years ago, while studying Computer Science at the
13272 <a href="http://www.uit.no/">University of Tromsø</a>, I started
13273 collecting computer related songs for use at parties.  The original
13274 version was written in LaTeX, but a few years ago I got help from
13275 Håkon W. Lie, one of the inventors of W3C CSS, to convert it to HTML
13276 while keeping the ability to create a nice book in PDF format.  I have
13277 not had time to maintain the book for a while now, and guess I should
13278 put it up on some public version control repository where others can
13279 help me extend and update the book.  If anyone is volunteering to help
13280 me with this, send me an email.  Also let me know if there are songs
13281 missing in my book.</p>
13282
13283 <p>I have not mentioned the book on my blog so far, and it occured to
13284 me today that I really should let all my readers share the joys of
13285 singing out load about programming, computers and computer networks.
13286 Especially now that <a href="http://debconf12.debconf.org/">Debconf
13287 12</a> is about to start (and I am not going).  Want to sing?  Check
13288 out <a href="http://www.hungry.com/~pere/cs-songbook/">Petter's
13289 Computer Science Songbook</a>.
13290
13291       </div>
13292       <div class="tags">
13293
13294
13295         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>.
13296
13297
13298       </div>
13299     </div>
13300     <div class="padding"></div>
13301
13302     <div class="entry">
13303       <div class="title">
13304         <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>
13305       </div>
13306       <div class="date">
13307         11th June 2012
13308       </div>
13309       <div class="body">
13310         <p>During my work on
13311 <a href="http://www.debian.org/News/2012/20120311.nb.html">Debian Edu
13312 based on Squeeze</a>, I came across some issues that should be
13313 addressed in the Wheezy release.  I finally found time to wrap up my
13314 notes and provide quick summary of what I found, with a bit
13315 explanation.</p>
13316
13317 <p><ul>
13318
13319 <li>We need to rewrite our package installation framework, as tasksel
13320 changed from using tasksel tasks to using meta packages (aka packages
13321 with dependencies like our education-* packages), and our installation
13322 system depend on tasksel tasks in
13323 /usr/share/tasksel/debian-edu-tasks.desc for package
13324 installation.</li>
13325
13326 <li>Enable Kerberos login for more services.  Now with the Kerberos
13327 foundation in place, we should use it to get single sign on with more
13328 services, and avoiding unneeded password / login questions.  We should
13329 at least try to enable it for these services:
13330 <ul>
13331
13332   <li>CUPS for admins to add/configure printers and users when using
13333     quotas.</li>
13334   <li>Nagios for admins checking the system status.</li>
13335   <li>GOsa for admins updating LDAP and users changing their passwords.</li>
13336   <li>LDAP for admins updating LDAP.</li>
13337   <li>Squid for users when exam mode / filtering is active.</li>
13338   <li>ssh for admins and users to save a password prompt.</li>
13339
13340 </ul></li>
13341
13342 <li>When we move GOsa to use Kerberos instead of LDAP bind to
13343 authenticate users, we should try to block or at least limit access to
13344 use LDAP bind for authentication, to ensure Kerberos is used when it
13345 is intended, and nothing fall back to using the less safe LDAP bind</li>
13346
13347 <li>Merge debian-edu-config and debian-edu-install.  The split made
13348 sense when d-e-install did a lot more, but these days it is just an
13349 inconvenience when we update the debconf preseeding values.</li>
13350
13351 <li>Fix partman-auto to allow us to abort the installation before
13352 touching the disk if the disk is too small.  This is
13353 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/653305">BTS report #653305</a> and the
13354 d-i developers are fine with the patch and someone just need to apply
13355 it and upload.  After this is done we need to adjust
13356 debian-edu-install to use this new hook.</li>
13357
13358 <li>Adjust to new LTSP framework (boot time config instead of install
13359 time config).  LTSP changed its design, and our hooks to install
13360 packages and update the configuration is most likely not going to work
13361 in Wheezy.
13362
13363 <li>Consider switching to NBD instead of NFS for LTSP root, to allow
13364 the Kernel to cache files in its normal file cache, possibly speeding
13365 up KDE login on slow networks.</li>
13366
13367 <li>Make it possible to create expired user passwords that need to
13368 change on first login.  This is useful when handing out password on
13369 paper, to make sure only the user know the password.  This require
13370 fixes to the PAM handling of kdm and gdm.</li>
13371
13372 <li>Make GUI for adding new machines automatically from sitesummary.
13373 The current command line script is not very friendly to people most
13374 familiar with GUIs.  This should probably be integrated into GOsa to
13375 have it available where the admin will be looking for it..</li>
13376
13377 <li>We should find way for Nagios to check that the DHCP service
13378 actually is working (as in handling out IP addresses).  None of the
13379 Nagios checks I have found so far have been working for me.</li>
13380
13381 <li>We should switch from libpam-nss-ldapd to sssd for all profiles
13382 using LDAP, and not only on for roaming workstations, to have less
13383 packages to configure and consistent setup across all profiles.</li>
13384
13385 <li>We should configure Kerberos to update LDAP and Samba password
13386 when changing password using the Kerberos protocol.  The hook was
13387 requested in <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/588968">BTS report
13388 #588968</a> and is now available in Wheezy.  We might need to write a
13389 MIT Kerberos plugin in C to get this.</li>
13390
13391 <li>We should clean up the set of applications installed by default.
13392 <ul>
13393
13394 <li>reduce the number of chemistry visualisers</li>
13395 <li>consider dropping xpaint</li>
13396 <li>and probably more?</li>
13397 </ul></li>
13398
13399 <li>Some hardware need external firmware to work properly.  This is
13400 mostly the case for WiFi network cards, but there are some other
13401 examples too.  For popular laptops to work out of the box, such
13402 firmware need to be installed from non-free, and we should provide
13403 some GUI to do this.  Ubuntu already have this implemented, and we
13404 could consider using their packages.  At the moment we have some
13405 command line script to do this (one for the running system, another
13406 for the LTSP chroot).</li>
13407
13408
13409 <li>In Squeeze, we provide KDE, Gnome and LXDE as desktop options.  We
13410 should extend the list to Xfce and Sugar, and preferably find a way to
13411 install several and allow the admin or the user to select which one to
13412 use.</li>
13413
13414 <li>The golearn tool from the goplay package make it easy to check out
13415 interesting educational packages.  We should work on the package
13416 tagging in Debian to ensure it represent all the useful educational
13417 packages, and extend the tool to allow it to use packagekit to install
13418 new applications with a simple mouse click.</li>
13419
13420 <li>The Squeeze version got half a exam solution already in place,
13421 with the introduction of iptable based network blocking, but for it to
13422 be a complete exam solution the Squid proxy need to enable
13423 filtering/blocking as well when the exam mode is enabled.  We should
13424 implement a way to easily enable this for the schools that want it,
13425 instead of the "it is documented" method of today.</li>
13426
13427 <li>A feature used in several schools is the ability for a teacher to
13428 "take over" the desktop of individual or all computers in the room.
13429 There are at least three implementations,
13430 <a href="italc.sourceforge.net/">italc</a>,
13431 <a href="http://www.itais.net/help/en/">controlaula</a> og
13432 <a href="http://www.epoptes.org/">epoptes</a> and we should pick one of
13433 them and make it trivial to set it up in a school.  The challenges is
13434 how to distribute crypto keys and how to group computers in one room
13435 and how to set up which machine/user can control the machines in a
13436 given room.</li>
13437
13438 <li>Tablets and surf boards are getting more and more popular, and we
13439 should look into providing a good solution for integrating these into
13440 the Debian Edu network.  Not quite sure how.  Perhaps we should
13441 provide a installation profile with better touch screen support for
13442 them, or add some sync services to allow them to exchange
13443 configuration and data with the central server.  This should be
13444 investigated.</li>
13445
13446 </ul></p>
13447
13448 <p>I guess we will discover more as we continue to work on the Wheezy
13449 version.</p>
13450
13451       </div>
13452       <div class="tags">
13453
13454
13455         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>.
13456
13457
13458       </div>
13459     </div>
13460     <div class="padding"></div>
13461
13462     <div class="entry">
13463       <div class="title">
13464         <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>
13465       </div>
13466       <div class="date">
13467          9th June 2012
13468       </div>
13469       <div class="body">
13470         <p>Slashdot got a story about Intel planning a
13471 <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
13472 with face recognition</a> to recognise the viewer, and it occurred to
13473 me that it would be more interesting to turn it around, and do face
13474 recognition on the TV image itself.  It could let the viewer know who
13475 is present on the screen, and perhaps look up their credibility,
13476 company affiliation, previous appearances etc for the viewer to better
13477 evaluate what is being said and done.  That would be a feature I would
13478 be willing to pay for.</p>
13479
13480 <p>I would not be willing to pay for a TV that point a camera on my
13481 household, like the big brother feature apparently proposed by Intel.
13482 It is the telescreen idea fetched straight out of the book
13483 <a href="http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks01/0100021.txt">1984 by George
13484 Orwell</a>.</p>
13485
13486       </div>
13487       <div class="tags">
13488
13489
13490         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>.
13491
13492
13493       </div>
13494     </div>
13495     <div class="padding"></div>
13496
13497     <div class="entry">
13498       <div class="title">
13499         <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>
13500       </div>
13501       <div class="date">
13502          6th June 2012
13503       </div>
13504       <div class="body">
13505         <p>A few days ago
13506 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/SOAP_based_webservice_from_Dell_to_check_server_support_status.html">I
13507 reported how to get</a> the support status out of Dell using an
13508 unofficial and undocumented SOAP API, which I since have found out was
13509 <a href="http://lists.us.dell.com/pipermail/linux-poweredge/2012-February/045959.html">discovered
13510 by Daniel De Marco in february</a>.  Combined with my web scraping
13511 code for HP, Dell and IBM
13512 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Checking_server_hardware_support_status_for_Dell__HP_and_IBM_servers.html">from
13513 2009</a>, I got inspired and wrote
13514 <a href="https://views.scraperwiki.com/run/computer-hardware-support-status/">a
13515 web service</a> based on Scraperwiki to make it easy to look up the
13516 support status and get a machine readable result back.</p>
13517
13518 <p>This is what it look like at the moment when asking for the JSON
13519 output:
13520
13521 <blockquote><pre>
13522 % 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>
13523 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": ""})
13524 %
13525 </pre></blockquote>
13526
13527 <p>It currently support Dell and HP, and I am hoping for help to add
13528 support for other vendors.  The python source is available on
13529 Scraperwiki and I welcome help with adding more features.</p>
13530
13531       </div>
13532       <div class="tags">
13533
13534
13535         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>.
13536
13537
13538       </div>
13539     </div>
13540     <div class="padding"></div>
13541
13542     <div class="entry">
13543       <div class="title">
13544         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__Mike_Gabriel.html">Debian Edu interview: Mike Gabriel</a>
13545       </div>
13546       <div class="date">
13547          2nd June 2012
13548       </div>
13549       <div class="body">
13550         <p>Back in 2010, Mike Gabriel showed up on the
13551 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu and Skolelinux</a>
13552 mailing list.  He quickly proved to be a valuable developer, and
13553 thanks to his tireless effort we now have Kerberos integrated into the
13554 <a href="http://www.debian.org/News/2012/20120311.html">Debian Edu
13555 Squeeze</a> version.</p>
13556
13557 <p><strong>Who are you, and how do you spend your days?</strong></p>
13558
13559 <p>My name is Mike Gabriel, I am 38 years old and live near Kiel,
13560 Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. I live together with a wonderful partner
13561 (Angela Fuß) and two own children and two bonus children (contributed
13562 by Angela).</p>
13563
13564 <p>During the day I am part-time employed as a system administrator
13565 and part-time working as an IT consultant. The consultancy work
13566 touches free software topics wherever and whenever possible. During
13567 the nights I am a free software developer. In the gaps I also train in
13568 becoming an osteopath.</p>
13569
13570 <p>Starting in 2010 we (Andreas Buchholz, Angela Fuß, Mike Gabriel)
13571 have set up a free software project in the area of Kiel that aims at
13572 introducing free software into schools. The project's name is
13573 "IT-Zukunft Schule" (IT future for schools). The project links IT
13574 skills with communication skills.</p>
13575
13576 <p><strong>How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux/Debian Edu
13577 project?</strong></p>
13578
13579 <p>While preparing our own customised Linux distribution for
13580 "IT-Zukunft Schule" we were repeatedly asked if we really wanted to
13581 reinvent the wheel. What schools really need is already available,
13582 people said.  From this impulse we started evaluating other Linux
13583 distributions that target being used for school networks.</p>
13584
13585 <p>At the end we short-listed two approaches and compared them: a
13586 commercial Linux distribution developed by a company in Bremen,
13587 Germany, and Skolelinux / Debian Edu. Between 12/2010 and 03/2011 we
13588 went to several events and met people being responsible for marketing
13589 and development of either of the distributions. Skolelinux / Debian
13590 Edu was by far much more convincing compared to the other product that
13591 got short-listed beforehand--across the full spectrum. What was most
13592 attractive for me personally: the perspective of collaboration within
13593 the developmental branch of the Debian Edu project itself.</p>
13594
13595 <p>In parallel with this, we talked to many local and not-so-local
13596 people.  People teaching at schools, headmasters, politicians, data
13597 protection experts, other IT professionals.</p>
13598
13599 <p>We came to two conclusions:</p>
13600
13601 <p>First, a technical conclusion: What schools need is available in
13602 bits and pieces here and there, and none of the solutions really fit
13603 by 100%. Any school we have seen has a very individual IT setup
13604 whereas most of each school's requirements could mapped by a standard
13605 IT solution.  The requirement to this IT solution is flexibility and
13606 customisability, so that individual adaptations here and there are
13607 possible.  In terms of re-distributing and rolling out such a
13608 standardised IT system for schools (a system that is still to some
13609 degree customisable) there is still a lot of work to do here
13610 locally. Debian Edu / Skolelinux has been our choice as the starting
13611 point.</p>
13612
13613 <p>Second, a holistic conclusion: What schools need does not exist at
13614 all (or we missed it so far). There are several technical solutions
13615 for handling IT at schools that tend to make a good impression. What
13616 has been missing completely here in Germany, though, is the enrolment
13617 of people into using IT and teaching with IT. "IT-Zukunft Schule"
13618 tries to provide an approach for this.</p>
13619
13620 <p>Only some schools have some sort of a media concept which explains,
13621 defines and gives guidance on how to use IT in class. Most schools in
13622 Northern Germany do not have an IT service provider, the school's IT
13623 equipment is managed by one or (if the school is lucky) two (admin)
13624 teachers, most of the workload these admin teachers get done in there
13625 spare time.</p>
13626
13627 <p>We were surprised that only a very few admin teachers were
13628 networked with colleagues from other schools. Basically, every school
13629 here around has its individual approach of providing IT equipment to
13630 teachers and students and the exchange of ideas has been quasi
13631 non-existent until 2010/2011.</p>
13632
13633 <p>Quite some (non-admin) teachers try to avoid using IT technology in
13634 class as a learning medium completely. Several reasons for this
13635 avoidance do exist.</p>
13636
13637 <p>We discovered that no-one has ever taken a closer look at this
13638 social part of IT management in schools, so far. On our quest journey
13639 for a technical IT solution for schools, we discussed this issue with
13640 several teachers, headmasters, politicians, other IT professionals and
13641 they all confirmed: a holistic approach of considering IT management
13642 at schools, an approach that includes the people in place, will be new
13643 and probably a gain for all.</p>
13644
13645 <p><strong>What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux/Debian
13646 Edu?</strong></p>
13647
13648 <p>There is a list of advantages: international context, openness to
13649 any kind of contributions, do-ocracy policy, the closeness to Debian,
13650 the different installation scenarios possible (from stand-alone
13651 workstation to complex multi-server sites), the transparency within
13652 project communication, honest communication within the group of
13653 developers, etc.</p>
13654
13655 <p><strong>What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux/Debian
13656 Edu?</strong></p>
13657
13658 <p>Every coin has two sides:</p>
13659
13660 <p>Technically: <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/311188">BTS issue
13661 #311188</a>, tricky upgradability of a Debian Edu main server, network
13662 client installations on top of a plain vanilla Debian installation
13663 should become possible sometime in the near future, one could think
13664 about splitting the very complex package debian-edu-config into
13665 several portions (to make it easier for new developers to
13666 contribute).</p>
13667
13668 <p>Another issue I see is that we (as Debian Edu developers) should
13669 find out more about the network of people who do the marketing for
13670 Debian Edu / Skolelinux. There is a very active group in Germany
13671 promoting Skolelinux on the bigger Linux Days within Germany. Are
13672 there other groups like that in other countries? How can we bring
13673 these marketing people together (marketing group A with group B and
13674 all of them with the group of Debian Edu developers)? During the last
13675 meeting of the German Skolelinux group, I got the impression of people
13676 there being rather disconnected from the development department of
13677 Debian Edu / Skolelinux.</p>
13678
13679 <p><strong>Which free software do you use daily?</strong></p>
13680
13681 <p>For my daily business, I do not use commercial software at all.</p>
13682
13683 <p>For normal stuff I use Iceweasel/Firefox, Libreoffice.org. For
13684 serious text writing I prefer LaTeX. I use gimp, inkscape, scribus for
13685 more artistic tasks. I run virtual machines in KVM and Virtualbox.</p>
13686
13687 <p>I am one of the upstream developers of X2Go. In 2010 I started the
13688 development of a Python based X2Go Client, called PyHoca-GUI.
13689 PyHoca-GUI has brought forth a Python X2Go Client API that currently
13690 is being integrated in Ubuntu's software center.</p>
13691
13692 <p>For communications I have my own Kolab server running using Horde
13693 as web-based groupware client. For IRC I love to use irssi, for Jabber
13694 I have several clients that I use, mostly pidgin, though. I am also
13695 the Debian maintainer of Coccinella, a Jabber-based interactive
13696 whiteboard.</p>
13697
13698 <p>My favourite terminal emulator is KDE's Yakuake.</p>
13699
13700 <p><strong>Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to
13701 get schools to use free software?</strong></p>
13702
13703 <p>Communicate, communicate, communicate. Enrol people, enrol people,
13704 enrol people.</p>
13705
13706       </div>
13707       <div class="tags">
13708
13709
13710         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>.
13711
13712
13713       </div>
13714     </div>
13715     <div class="padding"></div>
13716
13717     <div class="entry">
13718       <div class="title">
13719         <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>
13720       </div>
13721       <div class="date">
13722          1st June 2012
13723       </div>
13724       <div class="body">
13725         <p>A few years ago I wrote
13726 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Checking_server_hardware_support_status_for_Dell__HP_and_IBM_servers.html">how
13727 to extract support status</a> for your Dell and HP servers.  Recently
13728 I have learned from colleges here at the
13729 <a href="http://www.uio.no/">University of Oslo</a> that Dell have
13730 made this even easier, by providing a SOAP based web service.  Given
13731 the service tag, one can now query the Dell servers and get machine
13732 readable information about the support status.  This perl code
13733 demonstrate how to do it:</p>
13734
13735 <p><pre>
13736 use strict;
13737 use warnings;
13738 use SOAP::Lite;
13739 use Data::Dumper;
13740 my $GUID = '11111111-1111-1111-1111-111111111111';
13741 my $App = 'test';
13742 my $servicetag = $ARGV[0] or die "Please supply a servicetag. $!\n";
13743 my ($deal, $latest, @dates);
13744 my $s = SOAP::Lite
13745     -> uri('http://support.dell.com/WebServices/')
13746     -> on_action( sub { join '', @_ } )
13747     -> proxy('http://xserv.dell.com/services/assetservice.asmx')
13748     ;
13749 my $a = $s->GetAssetInformation(
13750     SOAP::Data->name('guid')->value($GUID)->type(''),
13751     SOAP::Data->name('applicationName')->value($App)->type(''),
13752     SOAP::Data->name('serviceTags')->value($servicetag)->type(''),
13753 );
13754 print Dumper($a -> result) ;
13755 </pre></p>
13756
13757 <p>The output can look like this:</p>
13758
13759 <p><pre>
13760 $VAR1 = {
13761           'Asset' => {
13762                      'Entitlements' => {
13763                                        'EntitlementData' => [
13764                                                             {
13765                                                               'EntitlementType' => 'Expired',
13766                                                               'EndDate' => '2009-07-29T00:00:00',
13767                                                               'Provider' => '',
13768                                                               'StartDate' => '2006-07-29T00:00:00',
13769                                                               'DaysLeft' => '0'
13770                                                             },
13771                                                             {
13772                                                               'EntitlementType' => 'Expired',
13773                                                               'EndDate' => '2009-07-29T00:00:00',
13774                                                               'Provider' => '',
13775                                                               'StartDate' => '2006-07-29T00:00:00',
13776                                                               'DaysLeft' => '0'
13777                                                             },
13778                                                             {
13779                                                               'EntitlementType' => 'Expired',
13780                                                               'EndDate' => '2007-07-29T00:00:00',
13781                                                               'Provider' => '',
13782                                                               'StartDate' => '2006-07-29T00:00:00',
13783                                                               'DaysLeft' => '0'
13784                                                             }
13785                                                           ]
13786                                      },
13787                      'AssetHeaderData' => {
13788                                           'SystemModel' => 'GX620',
13789                                           'ServiceTag' => '8DSGD2J',
13790                                           'SystemShipDate' => '2006-07-29T19:00:00-05:00',
13791                                           'Buid' => '2323',
13792                                           'Region' => 'Europe',
13793                                           'SystemID' => 'PLX_GX620',
13794                                           'SystemType' => 'OptiPlex'
13795                                         }
13796                    }
13797         };
13798 </pre></p>
13799
13800 <p>I have not been able to find any documentation from Dell about this
13801 service outside the
13802 <a href="http://xserv.dell.com/services/assetservice.asmx?op=GetAssetInformation">inline
13803 documentation</a>, and according to
13804 <a href="http://iboyd.net/index.php/2012/02/14/updated-dell-warranty-information-script/">one
13805 comment</a> it can have stability issues, but it is a lot better than
13806 scraping HTML pages. :)</p>
13807
13808 <p>Wonder if HP and other server vendors have a similar service.  If
13809 you know of one, drop me an email. :)</p>
13810
13811       </div>
13812       <div class="tags">
13813
13814
13815         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>.
13816
13817
13818       </div>
13819     </div>
13820     <div class="padding"></div>
13821
13822     <div class="entry">
13823       <div class="title">
13824         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/First_monitor_calibration_using_ColorHug.html">First monitor calibration using ColorHug</a>
13825       </div>
13826       <div class="date">
13827         31st May 2012
13828       </div>
13829       <div class="body">
13830         <p>A few days ago my color calibration gadget
13831 <a href="http://www.hughski.com/index.html">ColorHug</a> arrived in the
13832 mail, and I've had a few days to test it.  As all my machines are
13833 running Debian Squeeze, where
13834 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/c/colorhug-client.html">the
13835 calibration software</a> is missing (it is present in Wheezy and Sid),
13836 I ran the calibration using the Fedora based live CD.  This worked
13837 just fine.  So far I have only done the quick calibration.  It was
13838 slow enough for me, so I will leave the more extensive calibration for
13839 another day.</p>
13840
13841 <p>After calibration, I get a
13842 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ICC_profile">ICC color
13843 profile</a> file that can be passed to programs understanding such
13844 tools.  KDE do not seem to understand it out of the box, so I searched
13845 for command line tools to use to load the color profile into X.
13846 xcalib was the first one I found, and it seem to work fine for single
13847 monitor setups.  But for my video player, a laptop with a flat screen
13848 attached, it was unable to load the color profile for the correct
13849 monitor.  After searching a bit, I
13850 <a href="http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1347896">discovered</a>
13851 that the dispwin tool from the argyll package would do what I wanted,
13852 and a simple</p>
13853
13854 <p><pre>
13855 dispwin -d 1 profile.icc
13856 </pre></p>
13857
13858 <p>later I had the color profile loaded for the correct monitor.  The
13859 result was a bit more pink than I expected.  I guess I picked the
13860 wrong monitor type for the "led" monitor I got, but the result is good
13861 enough for now.</p>
13862
13863       </div>
13864       <div class="tags">
13865
13866
13867         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
13868
13869
13870       </div>
13871     </div>
13872     <div class="padding"></div>
13873
13874     <div class="entry">
13875       <div class="title">
13876         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__Ralf_Gesellensetter.html">Debian Edu interview: Ralf Gesellensetter</a>
13877       </div>
13878       <div class="date">
13879         27th May 2012
13880       </div>
13881       <div class="body">
13882         <p>In 2003, a German teacher showed up on the
13883 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu and Skolelinux</a>
13884 mailing list with interesting problems and reports proving he setting
13885 up Linux for a (for us at the time) lot of pupils.  His name was Ralf
13886 Gesellensetter, and he has been an important tester and contributor
13887 since then, helping to make sure the
13888 <a href="http://www.debian.org/News/2012/20120311.html">Debian Edu
13889 Squeeze</a> release became as good as it is..</p>
13890
13891 <p><strong>Who are you, and how do you spend your days?</strong></p>
13892
13893 <p>I am a teacher from Germany, and my subjects are Geography,
13894 Mathematics, and Computer Science ("Informatik"). During the past 12
13895 years (since 2000), I have been working for a comprehensive (and soon,
13896 also inclusive) school leading to all kind of general levels, such as
13897 O- or A-level ("Abitur").  For quite as long, I've been taking care of
13898 our computer network.</p>
13899
13900 <p>Now, in my early 40s, I enjoy the privilege of spending a lot of my
13901 spare time together with my wife, our son (3 years) and our daughter
13902 (4 months).</p>
13903
13904 <p><strong>How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux/Debian Edu
13905 project?</strong></p>
13906
13907 <p>We had tried different Linux based school servers, when members of
13908 my local Linux User Group (LUG OWL) detected Skolelinux. I remember
13909 very well, being part of a party celebrating the Linux New Media Award
13910 ("Best Newcomer Distribution", also nominated: Ubuntu) that was given
13911 to Skolelinux at Linux World Exposition in Frankfurt, 2005 (IIRC). Few
13912 months later, I had the chance to join a developer meeting in Ulsrud
13913 (Oslo) and to hand out the award to Knut Yrvin and others.  For more
13914 than 7 years, Skolelinux is part of our schools infrastructure, namely
13915 our main server (tjener), one LTSP (today without thin clients), and
13916 approximately 50 work stations. Most of these have the option to boot a
13917 locally installed Skolelinux image.  As a consequence, I joined quite
13918 a few events dealing with free software or Linux, and met many Debian
13919 (Edu) developers. All of them seemed quite nice and competent to me,
13920 one more reason to stick to Skolelinux.</p>
13921
13922 <p><strong>What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux/Debian
13923 Edu?</strong></p>
13924
13925 <p>Debian driven, you are given all the advantages of a community
13926 project including well maintained updates. Once, you are familiar with
13927 the network layout, you can easily roll out an entire educational
13928 computer infrastructure, from just one installation media. As only
13929 free software (FOSS) is used, that supports even elderly hardware,
13930 up-sizing your IT equipment is only limited by space (i.e. available
13931 labs).  Especially if you run a LTSP thin client server, your
13932 administration costs tend towards zero.</p>
13933
13934 <p><strong>What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux/Debian
13935 Edu?</strong></p>
13936
13937 <p>While Debian's stability has loads of advantages for servers, this
13938 might be different in some cases for clients: Schools with unlimited
13939 budget might buy new hardware with components that are not yet
13940 supported by Debian stable, or wish to use more recent versions of
13941 office packages or desktop environments.  These schools have the
13942 option to run Debian testing or other distributions - if they have the
13943 capacity to do so.  Another issue is that Debian release cycles
13944 include a wide range of changes; therefor a high percentage of human
13945 power seems to be absorbed by just keeping the features of Skolelinux
13946 within the new setting of the version to come. During this process,
13947 the cogs of Debian Edu are getting more and more professional,
13948 i.e. harder to understand for novices.</p>
13949
13950 <p><strong>Which free software do you use daily?</strong></p>
13951
13952 <p>LibreOffice, Wikipedia, Openstreetmap, Iceweasel (Mozilla Firefox),
13953 KMail, Gimp, Inkscape - and of course the Linux Kernel (not only on
13954 PC, Laptop, Mobile, but also our SAT receiver)</p>
13955
13956 <p><strong>Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to
13957 get schools to use free software?</strong></p>
13958
13959 <p><ol>
13960
13961 <li>Support computer science as regular subject in schools to make
13962 people really "own" their hardware, to make them understand the
13963 difference between proprietary software products, and free software
13964 developing.</li>
13965
13966 <li>Make budget baskets corresponding: In Germany's public schools
13967 there are more or less fixed budgets for IT equipment (including
13968 licenses), so schools won't benefit from any savings here. This
13969 privilege is left to private schools which have consequently a large
13970 share among German Skolelinux schools.</li>
13971
13972 <li>Get free software in the seminars where would-be teachers are
13973 trained. In many cases, teachers' software customs are respected by
13974 decision makers rather than the expertise of any IT experts.</li>
13975
13976 <li>Don't limit ourself to free software run natively. Everybody uses
13977 free software or free licenses (for instance Wikipedia), and this
13978 general concept should get expanded to free educational content to be
13979 shared world wide (school books e.g.).</li>
13980
13981 <li>Make clear where ever you can that the market share of free (libre)
13982 office suites is much above 20 p.c. today, and that you pupils don't
13983 need to know the "ribbon menu" in order to get employed.</li>
13984
13985 <li>Talk about the difference between freeware and free software.</li>
13986
13987 <li>Spread free software, or even collections of portable free apps
13988 for USB pen drives. Endorse students to get a legal copy of
13989 Libreoffice rather than accepting them to use illegal serials.  And
13990 keep sending documents in ODF formats.</li>
13991
13992 </ol></p>
13993
13994       </div>
13995       <div class="tags">
13996
13997
13998         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>.
13999
14000
14001       </div>
14002     </div>
14003     <div class="padding"></div>
14004
14005     <div class="entry">
14006       <div class="title">
14007         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/The_cost_of_ODF_and_OOXML.html">The cost of ODF and OOXML</a>
14008       </div>
14009       <div class="date">
14010         26th May 2012
14011       </div>
14012       <div class="body">
14013         <p>I just come across a blog post from Glyn Moody reporting the
14014 claimed cost from Microsoft on requiring ODF to be used by the UK
14015 government.  I just sent him an email to let him know that his
14016 assumption are most likely wrong.  Sharing it here in case some of my
14017 blog readers have seem the same numbers float around in the UK.</p>
14018
14019 <p><blockquote> <p>Hi.  I just noted your
14020 <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>
14021 comment:</p>
14022
14023 <p><blockquote>"They're all in Danish, not unreasonably, but even
14024 with the help of Google Translate I can't find any figures about the
14025 savings of "moving to a flexible two standard" as claimed by the
14026 Microsoft email. But I assume it is backed up somewhere, so let's take
14027 it, and the £500 million figure for the UK, on trust."
14028 </blockquote></p>
14029
14030 <p>I can tell you that the Danish reports are inflated.  I believe it is
14031 the same reports that were used in the Norwegian debate around 2007,
14032 and Gisle Hannemyr (a well known IT commentator in Norway) had a look
14033 at the content.  In short, the reason it is claimed that using ODF
14034 will be so costly, is based on the assumption that this mean every
14035 existing document need to be converted from one of the MS Office
14036 formats to ODF, transferred to the receiver, and converted back from
14037 ODF to one of the MS Office formats, and that the conversion will cost
14038 10 minutes of work time for both the sender and the receiver.  In
14039 reality the sender would have a tool capable of saving to ODF, and the
14040 receiver would have a tool capable of reading it, and the time spent
14041 would at most be a few seconds for saving and loading, not 20 minutes
14042 of wasted effort.</p>
14043
14044 <p>Microsoft claimed all these costs were saved by allowing people to
14045 transfer the original files from MS Office instead of spending 10
14046 minutes converting to ODF. :)</p>
14047
14048 <p>See
14049 <a href="http://hannemyr.com/no/ms12_vl02.php">http://hannemyr.com/no/ms12_vl02.php</a>
14050 and
14051 <a href="http://hannemyr.com/no/ms12.php">http://hannemyr.com/no/ms12.php</a>
14052 for background information.  Norwegian only, sorry. :)</p>
14053 </blockquote></p>
14054
14055       </div>
14056       <div class="tags">
14057
14058
14059         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>.
14060
14061
14062       </div>
14063     </div>
14064     <div class="padding"></div>
14065
14066     <div class="entry">
14067       <div class="title">
14068         <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>
14069       </div>
14070       <div class="date">
14071         18th May 2012
14072       </div>
14073       <div class="body">
14074         <p>In january, I
14075 <a href="http://blog.cihar.com/archives/2012/01/17/colorhug-has-arrived/">discovered
14076 the ColorHug</a>, a USB dongle from
14077 <a href="http://www.hughski.com/index.html">Hughski</a> to calibrate
14078 the color on a computer screen.  The software required is
14079 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/c/colorhug-client.html">included
14080 in Debian</a>, and I decided back then to preorder from the next
14081 batch.  Yesterday I finally heard back from them, and got the
14082 opportunity to order.  Today I ordered mine, and eagerly await the
14083 delivery.  I hope it arrive next week, as I got a confirmation that it
14084 should go in the mail on monday. :)</p>
14085
14086 <p>If you want to ensure the colors on the screen match the intended
14087 colors, I suggest you check out this cheap tool with free software
14088 drivers. :)</p>
14089
14090       </div>
14091       <div class="tags">
14092
14093
14094         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
14095
14096
14097       </div>
14098     </div>
14099     <div class="padding"></div>
14100
14101     <div class="entry">
14102       <div class="title">
14103         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__J_rgen_Leibner.html">Debian Edu interview: Jürgen Leibner</a>
14104       </div>
14105       <div class="date">
14106         13th May 2012
14107       </div>
14108       <div class="body">
14109         <p>It has been a few busy weeks for me, but I am finally back to
14110 publish another interview with the people behind
14111 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu and Skolelinux</a>.
14112 This time it is one of our German developers, who have helped out over the
14113 years to make sure both a lot of major but also a lot of the minor
14114 details get right before release.
14115
14116 <p><strong>Who are you, and how do you spend your days?</strong></p>
14117
14118 <p>My name is Jürgen Leibner, I'm 49 years old and living in
14119 Bielefeld, a town in northern Germany.  I worked nearly 20 years as
14120 certified engineer in the department for plant design and layout of an
14121 international company for machinery and equipment.  Since 2011 I'm a
14122 certified technical writer (tekom e.V.) and doing technical
14123 documentations for a steam turbine manufacturer.  From April this year
14124 I will manage the department of technical documentation at a
14125 manufacturer of automation and assembly line engineering.</p>
14126
14127 <p>My first contact with linux was around 1993. Since that time I used
14128 it at work and at home repeatedly but not exclusively as I do now at
14129 home since 2006.</p>
14130
14131 <p><strong>How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux/Debian Edu
14132 project?</strong></p>
14133
14134 <p>Once a day in the early year of 2001 when I wanted to fetch my
14135 daughter from primary school, there was a teacher sitting in the
14136 middle of 20 old computers trying to boot them and he failed. I helped
14137 him to get them booting. That was seen by the school director and she
14138 asked me if I would like to manage that the school gets all that old
14139 computers in use. I answered: "Yes".</p>
14140
14141 <p>Some weeks later every of the 10 classrooms had one computer
14142 running Windows98. I began to collect old computers and equipment as
14143 gifts and installed the first computer room with a peer-to-peer
14144 network. I did my work at school without being payed in my spare time
14145 and with a lot of fun.  About one year later the school was connected
14146 to Internet and a local area network was installed in the school
14147 building.  That was the time to have a server and I knew it must be a
14148 Linux server to be able to fulfil all the wishes of the teachers and
14149 being able to do this in a transparent and economic way, without extra
14150 costs for things like licence and software.  So I searched for a
14151 school server system running under Linux and I found a couple of
14152 people nearby who founded 'skolelinux.de'. It was the Skolelinux
14153 prerelease 32 I first tried out for being used at the school.  I
14154 managed the IT of that school until the municipal authority took over
14155 the IT management and centralised the services for all schools in
14156 Bielefeld in December of 2006.</p>
14157
14158 <p><strong>What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux/Debian
14159 Edu?</strong></p>
14160
14161 <p>When I'm looking back to the beginning, there were other advantages
14162 for me as today.</p>
14163
14164 <p>In the past there were advantages like:</p>
14165
14166 <p><ul>
14167
14168 <li>I don't need to buy it so it generates no costs to the school as
14169 they had little money to spent for computers and software.</li>
14170
14171 <li>It has a licence which grands all rights to use it without
14172 cost.</li>
14173
14174 <li>It was more able to fit all requirements of a server system for
14175 schools than a Microsoft server system, even if there are only Windows
14176 clients because of it's preconfigured overall concept of being a
14177 infrastructure solution and community for schools, not only a
14178 server</li>
14179
14180 <li>I was able to configure the server to the needs of the
14181 school.</li>
14182
14183 </ul></p>
14184
14185 <p>Today some of the advantages has been lost, changed or new ones
14186 came up in this way:</p>
14187
14188 <p><ul>
14189
14190 <li>Most schools here do have money to buy hardware and software
14191 now.</li>
14192
14193 <li>They are today mostly managed from central IT departments which
14194 have own concepts which often do not fit to Debian Edu concepts
14195 because they are to close to Microsoft ideology.</li>
14196
14197 <li>With the Squeeze version of Debian Edu which now uses GOsa² for
14198 management I feel more able to manage the daily tasks than with the
14199 interfaces used in the past.</li>
14200
14201 <li>It is more modular than in the past and fits even better to the
14202 different needs.</li>
14203
14204 <li>The documentation is usable and gets better every day.</li>
14205
14206 <li>More people than ever before are using Debian Edu all over the
14207 world and so the community, which is an very important part I think,
14208 is sharing knowledge and minds.</li>
14209
14210 <li>Most, maybe all, of the technical requirements for schools are
14211 solved today by Debian Edu. </li>
14212
14213 </ul></p>
14214
14215 <p><strong>What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux/Debian
14216 Edu?</strong></p>
14217
14218 <p><ul>
14219
14220 <li>There are too few IT companies able to integrate Debian Edu into
14221 their product portfolio for serving schools with concepts or even
14222 whole municipality areas.</li>
14223
14224 <li>Debian Edu has beside other free and open software projects not
14225 enough lobbyists which promote free and open software to
14226 politicians.</li>
14227
14228 <li>Technically there are no disadvantages I'm aware of.</li>
14229
14230 </ul></p>
14231
14232 <p><strong>Which free software do you use daily?</strong></p>
14233
14234 <p>I use Debian stable on my home server and on my little desktop
14235 computer. On my laptop I use Debian testing/sid. The applications I
14236 use on my laptop and my desktop are Open/Libre-office, Iceweasel,
14237 KMail, DigiKam, Amarok, Dolphin, okular and all the other programs I
14238 need from the KDE environment.  On console I use newsbeuter, mutt,
14239 screen, irssi and all the other famous and useful tools.</p>
14240
14241 <p>My home server provides mail services with exim, dovecot, roundcube
14242 and mutt over ssh on the console, file services with samba, NFS,
14243 rsync, web services with apache, moinmoin-wiki, multimedia services
14244 with gallery2 and mediatomb and database services with MySQL for me
14245 and the whole family.  I probably forgot something.</p>
14246
14247 <p><strong>Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to
14248 get schools to use free software?</strong></p>
14249
14250 <p>I believe, we should provide concepts for IT companies to integrate
14251 Debian Edu into their product portfolio with use cases for different
14252 countries and areas all over the world.</p>
14253
14254       </div>
14255       <div class="tags">
14256
14257
14258         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>.
14259
14260
14261       </div>
14262     </div>
14263     <div class="padding"></div>
14264
14265     <div class="entry">
14266       <div class="title">
14267         <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>
14268       </div>
14269       <div class="date">
14270         30th April 2012
14271       </div>
14272       <div class="body">
14273         <p><!-- IMG_5869.JPG -->
14274 <img src="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/panasonic-er-1611.jpeg"></p>
14275
14276 <p>I normally cut my hair short, and my tool of choice has been a
14277 common hair/beard cutter, bought in a electrical shop here in Norway.
14278 But the last ones have not really been up to the task.  My last
14279 cutter, some model from Braun, could only cut a few of my hairs at the
14280 time, and cutting my head took forever.  And the one before that did
14281 not work very well either.  We have looked for something better for a
14282 while, but it was not until I ended up visiting a hairdresser that we
14283 discovered that there are indeed better tools available.  But these
14284 are not marketed and sold to "regular consumers".  The hair saloons
14285 can get them through their suppliers, but their suppliers only sell
14286 companies.  The models they sell, are very different from the ones
14287 available from Elkjøp and Lefdal.  The main difference is their
14288 efficiency.  It would cut my hair in 5 minutes, instead of the 30-40
14289 minutes required by my impotent Braun.  The hairdresser I visited had
14290 a Panasonic ER160, which unfortunately is no longer available from the
14291 producer.  But I found it had a successor, the Panasonic ER1611.</p>
14292
14293 <p>The next step was to find somewhere to buy it.  This was not
14294 straight forward.  The list of suppliers I got from the hairdresser
14295 did not want to sell anything to me.  But searching for the model on
14296 the web we found a supplier in Norway willing to sell it to us for
14297 around NOK 4000,-.  This was a bit much.  We kept searching and
14298 finally found a Danish supplier
14299 <a href="http://nicehair.dk/panasonic-er-1611-professionel-hartrimmer.html">selling
14300 it for around NOK 1800,-</a>.  We ordered one, and it arrived a few
14301 days ago.</p>
14302
14303 <p>The instructions said it had to charge for 8 hours when we started
14304 to use it, so we left it charging over night.  Normally it will only
14305 need one hour to charge.  The following evening we successfully tested
14306 it, and I can warmly recommend it to anyone looking for a real hair
14307 cutter.  The ones we have used until now have been hair cutter
14308 toys.</p>
14309
14310       </div>
14311       <div class="tags">
14312
14313
14314         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
14315
14316
14317       </div>
14318     </div>
14319     <div class="padding"></div>
14320
14321     <div class="entry">
14322       <div class="title">
14323         <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>
14324       </div>
14325       <div class="date">
14326         26th April 2012
14327       </div>
14328       <div class="body">
14329         <p>In <a href="http://www.idg.no/computerworld/article243690.ece">an
14330 article today</a> published by Computerworld Norway, the photographer
14331 <a href="http://www.urke.com/eirik/">Eirik Helland Urke</a> reports
14332 that the video editor application included with
14333 <a href="http://www.htc.com/www/smartphones/htc-one-x/#specs">HTC One
14334 X</a> have some quite surprising terms of use.  The article is mostly
14335 based on the twitter message from mister Urke, stating:
14336
14337 <p><blockquote>
14338 "<a href="http://twitter.com/urke/status/194062269724897280">Drøy
14339 brukeravtale: HTC kan bruke MINE redigerte videoer kommersielt. Selv
14340 kan jeg KUN bruke dem privat.</a>"
14341 </blockquote></p>
14342
14343 <p>I quickly translated it to this English message:</p>
14344
14345 <p><blockquote>
14346 "Arrogant user agreement: HTC can use MY edited videos
14347 commercially.  Although I can ONLY use them privately."
14348 </blockquote></p>
14349
14350 <p>I've been unable to find the text of the license term myself, but
14351 suspect it is a variation of the MPEG-LA terms I
14352 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Terms_of_use_for_video_produced_by_a_Canon_IXUS_130_digital_camera.html">discovered
14353 with my Canon IXUS 130</a>.  The HTC One X specification specifies that
14354 the recording format of the phone is .amr for audio and .mp3 for
14355 video.  AMR is
14356 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adaptive_Multi-Rate_audio_codec#Licensing_and_patent_issues">Adaptive
14357 Multi-Rate audio codec</a> with patents which according to the
14358 Wikipedia article require an license agreement with
14359 <a href="http://www.voiceage.com/">VoiceAge</a>.  MP4 is
14360 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H.264/MPEG-4_AVC#Patent_licensing">MPEG4 with
14361 H.264</a>, which according to Wikipedia require a licence agreement
14362 with <a href="http://www.mpegla.com/">MPEG-LA</a>.</p>
14363
14364 <p>I know why I prefer
14365 <a href="http://www.digistan.org/open-standard:definition">free and open
14366 standards</a> also for video.</p>
14367
14368       </div>
14369       <div class="tags">
14370
14371
14372         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/h264">h264</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>.
14373
14374
14375       </div>
14376     </div>
14377     <div class="padding"></div>
14378
14379     <div class="entry">
14380       <div class="title">
14381         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/RAND_terms___non_reasonable_and_discriminatory.html">RAND terms - non-reasonable and discriminatory</a>
14382       </div>
14383       <div class="date">
14384         19th April 2012
14385       </div>
14386       <div class="body">
14387         <p>Here in Norway, the
14388 <a href="http://www.regjeringen.no/nb/dep/fad.html?id=339"> Ministry of
14389 Government Administration, Reform and Church Affairs</a> is behind
14390 a <a href="http://standard.difi.no/forvaltningsstandarder">directory of
14391 standards</a> that are recommended or mandatory for use by the
14392 government.  When the directory was created, the people behind it made
14393 an effort to ensure that everyone would be able to implement the
14394 standards and compete on equal terms to supply software and solutions
14395 to the government.  Free software and non-free software could compete
14396 on the same level.</p>
14397
14398 <p>But recently, some standards with RAND
14399 (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reasonable_and_non-discriminatory_licensing">Reasonable
14400 And Non-Discriminatory</a>) terms have made their way into the
14401 directory.  And while this might not sound too bad, the fact is that
14402 standard specifications with RAND terms often block free software from
14403 implementing them.  The reasonable part of RAND mean that the cost per
14404 user/unit is low,and the non-discriminatory part mean that everyone
14405 willing to pay will get a license.  Both sound great in theory.  In
14406 practice, to get such license one need to be able to count users, and
14407 be able to pay a small amount of money per unit or user.  By
14408 definition, users of free software do not need to register their use.
14409 So counting users or units is not possible for free software projects.
14410 And given that people will use the software without handing any money
14411 to the author, it is not really economically possible for a free
14412 software author to pay a small amount of money to license the rights
14413 to implement a standard when the income available is zero.  The result
14414 in these situations is that free software are locked out from
14415 implementing standards with RAND terms.</p>
14416
14417 <p>Because of this, when I see someone claiming the terms of a
14418 standard is reasonable and non-discriminatory, all I can think of is
14419 how this really is non-reasonable and discriminatory.  Because free
14420 software developers are working in a global market, it does not really
14421 help to know that software patents are not supposed to be enforceable
14422 in Norway.  The patent regimes in other countries affect us even here.
14423 I really hope the people behind the standard directory will pay more
14424 attention to these issues in the future.</p>
14425
14426 <p>You can find more on the issues with RAND, FRAND and RAND-Z terms
14427 from Simon Phipps
14428 (<a href="http://blogs.computerworlduk.com/simon-says/2010/11/rand-not-so-reasonable/">RAND:
14429 Not So Reasonable?</a>).</p>
14430
14431 <p>Update 2012-04-21: Just came across a
14432 <a href="http://blogs.computerworlduk.com/open-enterprise/2012/04/of-microsoft-netscape-patents-and-open-standards/index.htm">blog
14433 post from Glyn Moody</a> over at Computer World UK warning about the
14434 same issue, and urging people to speak out to the UK government.  I
14435 can only urge Norwegian users to do the same for
14436 <a href="http://www.standard.difi.no/hoyring/hoyring-om-nye-anbefalte-it-standarder">the
14437 hearing taking place at the moment</a> (respond before 2012-04-27).
14438 It proposes to require video conferencing standards including
14439 specifications with RAND terms.</p>
14440
14441       </div>
14442       <div class="tags">
14443
14444
14445         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>.
14446
14447
14448       </div>
14449     </div>
14450     <div class="padding"></div>
14451
14452     <div class="entry">
14453       <div class="title">
14454         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__Andreas_Mundt.html">Debian Edu interview: Andreas Mundt</a>
14455       </div>
14456       <div class="date">
14457         15th April 2012
14458       </div>
14459       <div class="body">
14460         <p>Behind <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu and
14461 Skolelinux</a> there are a lot of people doing the hard work of
14462 setting together all the pieces.  This time I present to you Andreas
14463 Mundt, who have been part of the technical development team several
14464 years.  He was also a key contributor in getting GOsa and Kerberos set
14465 up in the recently released
14466 <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/Documentation/Squeeze">Debian
14467 Edu Squeeze</a> version.</p>
14468
14469 <p><strong>Who are you, and how do you spend your days?</strong></p>
14470
14471 <p>My name is Andreas Mundt, I grew up in south Germany.  After
14472 studying Physics I spent several years at university doing research in
14473 Quantum Optics.  After that I worked some years in an optics company.
14474 Finally I decided to turn over a new leaf in my life and started
14475 teaching 10 to 19 years old kids at school.  I teach math, physics,
14476 information technology and science/technology.</p>
14477
14478 <p><strong>How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux/Debian Edu
14479 project?</strong></p>
14480
14481 <p>Already before I switched to teaching, I followed the Debian Edu
14482 project because of my interest in education and Debian.  Within the
14483 qualification/training period for the teaching, I started
14484 contributing.</p>
14485
14486 <p><strong>What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux/Debian
14487 Edu?</strong></p>
14488
14489 <p>The advantages of Debian Edu are the well known name, the
14490 out-of-the-box philosophy and of course the great free software of the
14491 Debian Project!</p>
14492
14493 <p><strong>What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux/Debian
14494 Edu?</strong></p>
14495
14496 <p>As every coin has two sides, the out-of-the-box philosophy has its
14497 downside, too.  In my opinion, it is hard to modify and tweak the
14498 setup, if you need or want that.  Further more, it is not easily
14499 possible to upgrade the system to a new release.  It takes much too
14500 long after a Debian release to prepare the -Edu release, perhaps
14501 because the number of developers working on the core of the code is
14502 rather small and often busy elsewhere.</p>
14503
14504 <p>The <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianLAN">Debian LAN</a>
14505 project might fill the use case of a more flexible system.</p>
14506
14507 <p><strong>Which free software do you use daily?</strong></p>
14508
14509 <p>I am only using non-free software if I am forced to and run Debian
14510 on all my machines.  For documents I prefer LaTeX and PGF/TikZ, then
14511 mutt and iceweasel for email respectively web browsing.  At school I
14512 have Arduino and Fritzing in use for a micro controller project.</p>
14513
14514 <p><strong>Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to
14515 get schools to use free software?</strong></p>
14516
14517 <p>One of the major problems is the vendor lock-in from top to bottom:
14518 Especially in combination with ignorant government employees and
14519 politicians, this works out great for the "market-leader".  The school
14520 administration here in Baden-Wuerttemberg is occupied by that vendor.
14521 Documents have to be prepared in non-free, proprietary formats.  Even
14522 free browsers do not work for the school administration.  Publishers
14523 of school books provide software only for proprietary platforms.</p>
14524
14525 <p>To change this, political work is very important.  Parts of the
14526 political spectrum have become aware of the problem in the last years.
14527 However it takes quite some time and courageous politicians to 'free'
14528 the system.  There is currently some discussion about "Open Data" and
14529 "Free/Open Standards".  I am not sure if all the involved parties have
14530 a clue about the potential of these ideas, and probably only a
14531 fraction takes them seriously.  However it might slowly make free
14532 software and the philosophy behind it more known and popular.</p>
14533
14534       </div>
14535       <div class="tags">
14536
14537
14538         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>.
14539
14540
14541       </div>
14542     </div>
14543     <div class="padding"></div>
14544
14545     <div class="entry">
14546       <div class="title">
14547         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__Justin_B__Rye.html">Debian Edu interview: Justin B. Rye</a>
14548       </div>
14549       <div class="date">
14550          8th April 2012
14551       </div>
14552       <div class="body">
14553         <p>It take all kind of contributions to create a Linux distribution
14554 like <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / Skolelinux</a>,
14555 and this time I lend the ear to Justin B. Rye, who is listed as a big
14556 contributor to the
14557 <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/Documentation/Squeeze">Debian
14558 Edu Squeeze release manual</a>.
14559
14560 <p><strong>Who are you, and how do you spend your days?</strong></p>
14561
14562 <p>I'm a 44-year-old linguistics graduate living in Edinburgh who has
14563 occasionally been employed as a sysadmin.</p>
14564
14565 <p><strong>How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux/Debian Edu
14566 project?</strong></p>
14567
14568 <p>I'm neither a developer nor a Skolelinux/Debian Edu user!  The only
14569 reason my name's in the credits for the documentation is that I hang
14570 around on debian-l10n-english waiting for people to mention things
14571 they'd like a native English speaker to proofread...  So I did a sweep
14572 through the wiki for typos and Norglish and inconsistent spellings of
14573 "localisation".</p>
14574
14575 <p><strong>What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux/Debian
14576 Edu?</strong></p>
14577
14578 <p><strong>What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux/Debian
14579 Edu?</strong></p>
14580
14581 <p>These questions are too hard for me - I don't use it!  In fact I
14582 had hardly any contact with I.T. until long after I'd got out of the
14583 education system.</p>
14584
14585 <p>I can tell you the advantages of Debian for me though: it soaks up
14586 as much of my free time as I want and no more, and lets me do
14587 everything I want a computer for without ever forcing me to spend
14588 money on the latest hardware.</p>
14589
14590 <p><strong>Which free software do you use daily?</strong></p>
14591
14592 <p>I've been using Debian since Rex; popularity-contest says the
14593 software that I use most is xinit, xterm, and xulrunner (in other
14594 words, I use a distinctly retro sort of desktop).</p>
14595
14596 <p><strong>Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to
14597 get schools to use free software?</strong></p>
14598
14599 <p>Well, I don't know.  I suppose I'd be inclined to try reasoning
14600 with the people who make the decisions, but obviously if that worked
14601 you would hardly need a strategy.</p>
14602
14603       </div>
14604       <div class="tags">
14605
14606
14607         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>.
14608
14609
14610       </div>
14611     </div>
14612     <div class="padding"></div>
14613
14614     <div class="entry">
14615       <div class="title">
14616         <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>
14617       </div>
14618       <div class="date">
14619          6th April 2012
14620       </div>
14621       <div class="body">
14622         <p>Recently I have spent time with
14623 <a href="http://www.slxdrift.no/">Skolelinux Drift AS</a> on speeding
14624 up a <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / Skolelinux</a>
14625 Lenny installation using LTSP diskless workstations, and in the
14626 process I discovered something very surprising.  The reason the KDE
14627 menu was responding slow when using it for the first time, was mostly
14628 due to the way KDE find application icons.  I discovered that showing
14629 the Multimedia menu would cause more than 20 000 IP packages to be
14630 passed between the LTSP client and the NFS server.  Most of these were
14631
14632 NFS LOOKUP calls, resulting in a NFS3ERR_NOENT response.  Because the
14633 ping times between the client and the server were in the range 2-20
14634 ms, the menus would be very slow.  Looking at the strace of kicker in
14635 Lenny (or plasma-desktop i Squeeze - same problem there), I see that
14636 the source of these NFS calls are access(2) system calls for
14637 non-existing files.  KDE can do hundreds of access(2) calls to find
14638 one icon file.  In my example, just finding the mplayer icon required
14639 around 230 access(2) calls.</p>
14640
14641 <p>The KDE code seem to search for icons using a list of icon
14642 directories, and the list of possible directories is large.  In
14643 (almost) each directory, it look for files ending in .png, .svgz, .svg
14644 and .xpm.  The result is a very slow KDE menu when /usr/ is NFS
14645 mounted.  Showing a single sub menu may result in thousands of NFS
14646 requests.  I am not the first one to discover this.  I found a
14647 <a href="https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=211416">KDE bug report
14648 from 2009</a> about this problem, and it is still unsolved.</p>
14649
14650 <p>My solution to speed up the KDE menu was to create a package
14651 kde-icon-cache that upon installation will look at all .desktop files
14652 used to generate the KDE menu, find their icons, search the icon paths
14653 for the file that KDE will end up finding at run time, and copying the
14654 icon file to /var/lib/kde-icon-cache/.  Finally, I add symlinks to
14655 these icon files in one of the first directories where KDE will look
14656 for them.  This cut down the number of file accesses required to find
14657 one icon from several hundred to less than 5, and make the KDE menu
14658 almost instantaneous.  I'm not quite sure where to make the package
14659 publicly available, so for now it is only available on request.</p>
14660
14661 <p>The bug report mention that this do not only affect the KDE menu
14662 and icon handling, but also the login process.  Not quite sure how to
14663 speed up that part without replacing NFS with for example NBD, and
14664 that is not really an option at the moment.</p>
14665
14666 <p>If you got feedback on this issue, please let us know on debian-edu
14667 (at) lists.debian.org.</p>
14668
14669 <p>Update 2015-08-04: The
14670 <a href="http://anonscm.debian.org/cgit/debian-edu/upstream/kde-icon-cache.git/">source
14671 of the scripts and associated Debian package</a> is available from the
14672 Debian Edu github repository.</p>
14673
14674       </div>
14675       <div class="tags">
14676
14677
14678         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>.
14679
14680
14681       </div>
14682     </div>
14683     <div class="padding"></div>
14684
14685     <div class="entry">
14686       <div class="title">
14687         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_in_the_Linux_Weekly_News.html">Debian Edu in the Linux Weekly News</a>
14688       </div>
14689       <div class="date">
14690          5th April 2012
14691       </div>
14692       <div class="body">
14693         <p>About two weeks ago, I was interviewed via email about
14694 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu and Skolelinux</a> by
14695 Bruce Byfield in Linux Weekly News.  The result was made public for
14696 non-subscribers today.  I am pleased to see liked our Linux solution
14697 for schools.  Check out his article
14698 <a href="https://lwn.net/Articles/488805/">Debian Edu/Skolelinux: A
14699 distribution for education</a> if you want to learn more.</p>
14700
14701       </div>
14702       <div class="tags">
14703
14704
14705         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>.
14706
14707
14708       </div>
14709     </div>
14710     <div class="padding"></div>
14711
14712     <div class="entry">
14713       <div class="title">
14714         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__Wolfgang_Schweer.html">Debian Edu interview: Wolfgang Schweer</a>
14715       </div>
14716       <div class="date">
14717          1st April 2012
14718       </div>
14719       <div class="body">
14720         <p>Germany is a core area for the
14721 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu and Skolelinux</a>
14722 user community, and this time I managed to get hold of Wolfgang
14723 Schweer, a valuable contributor to the project from Germany.
14724
14725 <p><strong>Who are you, and how do you spend your days?</strong></p>
14726
14727 <p>I've studied Mathematics at the university 'Ruhr-Universität' in
14728 Bochum, Germany. Since 1981 I'm working as a teacher at the school
14729 "<a href="http://www.westfalenkolleg-dortmund.de/">Westfalen-Kolleg
14730 Dortmund</a>", a second chance school.  Here, young adults is given
14731 the opportunity to get further education in order to do the school
14732 examination 'Abitur', which will allow to study at a university. This
14733 second chance is of value for those who want a better job perspective
14734 or failed to get a higher school examination being teens.</p>
14735
14736 <p>Besides teaching I was involved in developing online courses for a
14737 blended learning project called 'abitur-online.nrw' and in some other
14738 information technology related projects. For about ten years I've been
14739 teacher and coordinator for the 'abitur-online' project at my
14740 school. Being now in my early sixties, I've decided to leave school at
14741 the end of April this year.</p>
14742
14743 <p><strong>How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux/Debian Edu
14744 project?</strong></p>
14745
14746 <p>The first information about Skolelinux must have come to my
14747 attention years ago and somehow related to LTSP (Linux Terminal Server
14748 Project).  At school, we had set up a network at the beginning of 1997
14749 using Suse Linux on the desktop, replacing a Novell network. Since
14750 2002, we used old machines from the city council of Dortmund as thin
14751 clients (LTSP, later Ubuntu/Lessdisks) cause new hardware was out of
14752 reach. At home I'm using Debian since years and - subscribed to the
14753 Debian news letter - heard from time to time about Skolelinux. About
14754 two years ago I proposed to replace the (somehow undocumented and only
14755 known to me) system at school by a well known Debian based system:
14756 Skolelinux.</p>
14757
14758 <p>Students and teachers appreciated the new system because of a
14759 better look and feel and an enhanced access to local media on thin
14760 clients.  The possibility to alter and/or reset passwords using a GUI
14761 was welcomed, too. Being able to do administrative tasks using a GUI
14762 and to easily set up workstations using PXE was of very high value for
14763 the admin teachers.</p>
14764
14765 <p><strong>What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux/Debian
14766 Edu?</strong></p>
14767
14768 <p>It's open source, easy to set up, stable and flexible due to it's
14769 Debian base. It integrates LTSP out-of-the-box. And it is documented!
14770 So it was a perfect choice.</p>
14771
14772 <p>Being open source, there are no license problems and so it's
14773 possible to point teachers and students to programs like
14774 OpenOffice.org, ViewYourMind (mind mapping) and The Gimp.  It's of
14775 high value to be able to adapt parts of the system to special needs of
14776 a school and to choose where to get support for this.</p>
14777
14778 <p><strong>What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux/Debian
14779 Edu?</strong></p>
14780
14781 <p>Nothing yet.</p>
14782
14783 <p><strong>Which free software do you use daily?</strong></p>
14784
14785 <p>At home (Debian Sid with Gnome Desktop): Iceweasel, LibreOffice,
14786 Mutt, Gedit, Document Viewer, Midnight Commander, flpsed (PDF
14787 Annotator).  At school (Skolelinux Lenny): Iceweasel, Gedit,
14788 LibreOffice.</p>
14789
14790 <p><strong>Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to
14791 get schools to use free software?</strong></p>
14792
14793 <p>Some time ago I thought it was enough to tell people about it. But
14794 that doesn't seem to work quite well. Now I concentrate on those more
14795 interested and hope to get multiplicators that way.</p>
14796
14797       </div>
14798       <div class="tags">
14799
14800
14801         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>.
14802
14803
14804       </div>
14805     </div>
14806     <div class="padding"></div>
14807
14808     <div class="entry">
14809       <div class="title">
14810         <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>
14811       </div>
14812       <div class="date">
14813         25th March 2012
14814       </div>
14815       <div class="body">
14816         <!-- Video HTML based on http://www.diveintohtml5.net/video.html -->
14817
14818 <p>The same Debian Edu developer that did the last screen cast I
14819 published, Wolfgang Schweer, has created a new screen cast showing how
14820 to set up Kmail in Debian Edu Squeze to authenticate using Kerberos,
14821 allowing users to check their local email account without providing
14822 any password. The video is embedded here in quarter size,
14823 and also available from <a href="https://vimeo.com/38601767">vimeo</a>
14824 and download as a
14825 <a href="http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux/press/screencasts/2012-03-14-Debian-Edu_Configure_Kmail_for_internal_usage.ogv">Ogg
14826 Theora</a> file.  Check it out below.</p>
14827
14828 <p><video id="kmail-kerberos-movie" width="256" height="184" preload controls>
14829   <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"' />
14830     <p>Download video as
14831       <a href="http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux/press/screencasts/2012-03-14-Debian-Edu_Configure_Kmail_for_internal_usage.ogv">Ogg</a>.</p>
14832 </video></p>
14833
14834       </div>
14835       <div class="tags">
14836
14837
14838         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>.
14839
14840
14841       </div>
14842     </div>
14843     <div class="padding"></div>
14844
14845     <div class="entry">
14846       <div class="title">
14847         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__John_Ingleby.html">Debian Edu interview: John Ingleby</a>
14848       </div>
14849       <div class="date">
14850         19th March 2012
14851       </div>
14852       <div class="body">
14853         <p><a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / Skolelinux</a>
14854 users are spread all across the globe.  The second inteview after
14855 <a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-edu-announce/2012/03/msg00001.html">the
14856 Squeeze release</a> was publised is with John Ingleby, a teacher and
14857 long time Linux user in United Kingdom.</p>
14858
14859 <p><strong>Who are you, and how do you spend your days?</strong></p>
14860
14861 <p>I teach ICT part time at the Rudolf Steiner School in Kings
14862 Langley, near London, UK. Previously I worked as a technical
14863 author/trainer while my children attended the school, and I also
14864 contributed to the Schoolforge UK community with the aim of
14865 encouraging UK schools to adopt free/open source software. Five or six
14866 years ago we had about 50 schools interested in some way, but we
14867 weren't able to convert many of them into sustainable
14868 installations.</p>
14869
14870 <p><strong>How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux/Debian Edu
14871 project?</strong></p>
14872
14873 <p>Skolelinux had two representatives at an early Edubuntu meeting in
14874 London which I attended. However at that time our school network had
14875 just been installed using CentOS, LTSP 4 and GNOME. When LTSP 5 came
14876 along we switched to Edubuntu thin client servers so now we have a
14877 mixed environment which includes Windows PCs and student laptops, as
14878 well as their MacBooks and iPads. However, the proprietary systems
14879 have always been rather problematic, and we never built a GUI for the
14880 LDAP server, so when I discovered Skolelinux is configured for all
14881 these things we decided to try it.</p>
14882
14883 <p><strong>What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux/Debian
14884 Edu?</strong></p>
14885
14886 <p>By far the biggest advantage is the Debian Edu community. Apart
14887 from that I have always believed in the same "sustainable computing"
14888 goals that Skolelinux is built on: installing Linux on computers which
14889 would otherwise be thrown away, to provide a reliable, secure and
14890 low-cost IT environment for schools. From my own experience I know
14891 that a part-time person can teach and manage a network of about 25
14892 Linux computers, but it would take much more of my time if we had
14893 proprietary software everywhere.</p>
14894
14895 <p><strong>What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux/Debian
14896 Edu?</strong></p>
14897
14898 <p>As a newcomer I'm just finding out who's who in the community and
14899 how you're organised, and what your procedures are for dealing with
14900 various things such as editing manual pages and so-on. The only
14901 English language mailing list seems to be for developers as well as
14902 users, so my inbox needs heavy pruning each day!</p>
14903
14904 <p><strong>Which free software do you use daily?</strong></p>
14905
14906 <p>Besides the software already mentioned at school we use Samba,
14907 OpenLDAP, CUPS, Nagios and Dansguardian for the network, and on the
14908 desktops we have LibreOffice, Firefox, GIMP and Inkscape. At home I
14909 use Ubuntu and an Android 4 eePad Transformer (but I'm not sure if
14910 that counts...)</p>
14911
14912 <p><strong>Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to
14913 get schools to use free software?</strong></p>
14914
14915 <p>That's a tough question! For very many years UK schools installed
14916 and taught only proprietary software, so that at the highest levels
14917 the notion of "computer" means simply "proprietary office
14918 applications".  However, schools today are experiencing budget
14919 constraints, and many are having to think hard about upgrading Windows
14920 XP.  At the same time, we have students showing teachers how to use
14921 iPads, MacBooks and Android, so the choice of operating system is no
14922 longer quite so automatic. What is more, our government at last
14923 realised that we need people with programming skills, so they're
14924 putting coding back in the curriculum! And it's encouraging that the
14925 first 10,000 Raspberry Pi units sold out in 2 hours.</p>
14926
14927 <p>I don't really know what strategy is going to get UK schools to use
14928 free software, but building an active community of Skolelinux/Debian
14929 Edu users in this country has to be part of it.</p>
14930
14931       </div>
14932       <div class="tags">
14933
14934
14935         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>.
14936
14937
14938       </div>
14939     </div>
14940     <div class="padding"></div>
14941
14942     <div class="entry">
14943       <div class="title">
14944         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Writing_and_translating_documentation_in_Debian_Edu.html">Writing and translating documentation in Debian Edu</a>
14945       </div>
14946       <div class="date">
14947         16th March 2012
14948       </div>
14949       <div class="body">
14950         <p>Documentation in Debian Edu is provided in several languages, and
14951 it is important to make it both easy to contribute and to keep the
14952 translated versions in sync.  To do this we have come up with what we
14953 believe is a very efficient work flow.</p>
14954
14955 <ol>
14956
14957 <li>The documentation is written in a
14958 <a href="http://moinmo.in">moinmoin wiki</a> (see for example
14959 <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/Documentation/Squeeze">the
14960 Squeeze release manual</a>) with support for exporting the content as
14961 docbook XML.</li>
14962
14963 <li>This docbook document is given to po4a to extract a gettext style
14964 .pot file with the content, which in turn is used to create .po files
14965 with the translated text.</li>
14966
14967 <li>The .po files are given to translators, and they can always tell
14968 which part of the original wiki document is new or changed.  They can
14969 use their normal translation tools like lokalize or poedit to write
14970 the translation.  There is even a system in place to handle translated
14971 images.</li>
14972
14973 <li>The translated .po files are combined with the original docbook
14974 XML document using po4a to create a translated docbook document.</li>
14975
14976 <li>The final step is to use all the generated docbook files and
14977 create PDF and HTML version of the original and translated documents.</li>
14978
14979 </ol>
14980
14981 <p>This setup work very well, but have a few issues.  The biggest
14982 issue is that <a href="http://moinmo.in/DocBook">the docbook support
14983 we use in moinmoin</a> is not actively maintained.  The docbook
14984 support is also buggy, and our build system contain workarounds to
14985 make sure the generated docbook is usable despite these bugs.</p>
14986
14987 <p>If you want to have a look at our setup, it is all there in the
14988 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/debian-edu-doc">debian-edu-doc
14989 package</a>.</p>
14990
14991       </div>
14992       <div class="tags">
14993
14994
14995         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>.
14996
14997
14998       </div>
14999     </div>
15000     <div class="padding"></div>
15001
15002     <div class="entry">
15003       <div class="title">
15004         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Skolelinux___Debian_Edu_Squeeze_is_out_.html">Skolelinux / Debian Edu Squeeze is out!</a>
15005       </div>
15006       <div class="date">
15007         11th March 2012
15008       </div>
15009       <div class="body">
15010         <p>This weekend we finally published the first stable release of
15011 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Skolelinux / Debian Edu</a> based
15012 on Debian/Squeeze.  The full announcement is
15013 <a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-edu-announce/2012/03/msg00001.html">available</a>
15014 from the project announcement list.  Now is a good time to test if it
15015 you have not done so already.</p>
15016
15017 <p>I plan to present the new version at
15018 <a href="http://www.nuug.no/aktiviteter/20120313-skolelinux/">a NUUG
15019 meeting</a> on tuesday.  I look forward to seeing you there if you are
15020 in Oslo, Norway.</p>
15021
15022       </div>
15023       <div class="tags">
15024
15025
15026         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>.
15027
15028
15029       </div>
15030     </div>
15031     <div class="padding"></div>
15032
15033     <div class="entry">
15034       <div class="title">
15035         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__Nigel_Barker.html">Debian Edu interview: Nigel Barker</a>
15036       </div>
15037       <div class="date">
15038          9th March 2012
15039       </div>
15040       <div class="body">
15041         <p>Inspired by <a href="http://raphaelhertzog.com/tag/interview/">the
15042 interview series</a> conducted by Raphael, I started a Norwegian
15043 interview series with people involved in the Debian Edu / Skolelinux
15044 community.  This was so popular that I believe it is time to move to a
15045 more international audience.</p>
15046
15047 <p>While <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu and
15048 Skolelinux</a> originated in France and Norway, and have most users in
15049 Europe, there are users all around the globe.  One of those far away
15050 from me is Nigel Barker, a long time Debian Edu system administrator
15051 and contributor.  It is thanks to him that Debian Edu is adjusted to
15052 work out of the box in Japan.  I got him to answer a few questions,
15053 and am happy to share the response with you. :)
15054
15055
15056 <p><strong>Who are you, and how do you spend your days?</strong></p>
15057
15058 <p>My name is Nigel Barker, and I am British. I am married to Yumiko,
15059 and we have three lovely children, aged 15, 14 and 4(!) I am the IT
15060 Coordinator at Hiroshima International School, Japan. I am also a
15061 teacher, and in fact I spend most of my day teaching Mathematics,
15062 Science, IT, and Chemistry. I was originally a Chemistry teacher, but
15063 I have always had an interest in computers. Another teacher teaches
15064 primary school IT, but apart from that I am the only computer person,
15065 so that means I am the network manager, technician and webmaster,
15066 also, and I help people with their computer problems. I teach python
15067 to beginners in an after-school club. I am way too busy, so I really
15068 appreciate the simplicity of Skolelinux.</p>
15069
15070 <p><strong>How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux/Debian Edu
15071 project?</strong></p>
15072
15073 <p>In around 2004 or 5 I discovered the ltsp project, and set up a
15074 server in the IT lab. I wanted some way to connect it to our central
15075 samba server, which I was also quite poor at configuring. I discovered
15076 Edubuntu when it came out, but it didn't really improve my setup. I
15077 did various desperate searches for things like "school Linux server"
15078 and ended up in a document called "Drift" something or other. Reading
15079 there it became clear that Skolelinux was going to solve all my
15080 problems in one go. I was very excited, but apprehensive, because my
15081 previous attempts to install Debian had ended in failure (I used
15082 Mandrake for everything - ltsp, samba, apache, mail, ns...). I
15083 downloaded a beta version, had some problems, so subscribed to the
15084 Debian Edu list for help. I have remained subscribed ever since, and
15085 my school has run a Skolelinux network since Sarge.</p>
15086
15087 <p><strong>What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux/Debian
15088 Edu?</strong></p>
15089
15090 <p>For me the integrated setup. This is not just the server, or the
15091 workstation, or the ltsp. Its all of them, and its all configured
15092 ready to go. I read somewhere in the early documentation that it is
15093 designed to be setup and managed by the Maths or Science teacher, who
15094 doesn't necessarily know much about computers, in a small Norwegian
15095 school. That describes me perfectly if you replace Norway with
15096 Japan.</p>
15097
15098 <p><strong>What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux/Debian
15099 Edu?</strong></p>
15100
15101 <p>The desktop is fairly plain. If you compare it with Edubuntu, who
15102 have fun themes for children, or with distributions such as Mint, who
15103 make the desktop beautiful. They create a good impression on people
15104 who don't need to understand how to use any of it, but who might be
15105 important to the school. School administrators or directors, for
15106 instance, or parents. Even kids. Debian itself usually has ugly
15107 default theme settings. It was my dream a few years back that some
15108 kind of integration would allow Edubuntu to do the desktop stuff and
15109 Debian Edu the servers, but now I realise how impossible that is.  A
15110 second disadvantage is that if something goes wrong, or you need to
15111 customise something, then suddenly the level of expertise required
15112 multiplies. For example, backup wasn't working properly in Lenny. It
15113 took me ages to learn how to set up my own server to do rsync backups.
15114 I am afraid of anything to do with ldap, but perhaps Gosa will
15115 help.</p>
15116
15117 <p><strong>Which free software do you use daily?</strong></p>
15118
15119 <p>Nowadays I only use Debian on my personal computers. I have one for
15120 studio work (I play guitar and write songs), running AV Linux
15121 (customised Debian) a netbook running Squeeze, and a bigger laptop
15122 still running Skolelinux Lenny workstation. I have a Tjener in my
15123 house, that's very useful for the family photos and music.  At school
15124 the students only use Skolelinux. (Some teachers and the office still
15125 have windows). So that means we only use free software all day every
15126 day. Open office, The GIMP, Firefox/Iceweasel, VLC and Audacity are
15127 installed on every computer in school, irrespective of OS.  We also
15128 have Koha on Debian for the library, and Apache, Moodle, b2evolution
15129 and Etomite on Debian for the www. The firewall is Untangle.</p>
15130
15131 <p><strong>Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to
15132 get schools to use free software?</strong></p>
15133
15134 <p>Current trends are in our favour. Open source is big in industry,
15135 and ordinary people have heard of it. The spread of Android and the
15136 popularity of Apple have helped to weaken the impression that you have
15137 to have Microsoft on everything. People complain to me much less about
15138 file formats and Word than they did 5 years ago.  The Edu aspect is
15139 also a selling point. This is all customised for schools. Where is the
15140 Windows-edu, or the Mac-edu?  But of course the main attraction is
15141 budget.The trick is to convince people that the quality is not
15142 compromised when you stop paying and use free software instead. That
15143 is one reason why I say the desktop experience is a weakness. People
15144 are not impressed when their USB drive doesn't work, or their browser
15145 doesn't play flash, for example.</p>
15146
15147       </div>
15148       <div class="tags">
15149
15150
15151         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>.
15152
15153
15154       </div>
15155     </div>
15156     <div class="padding"></div>
15157
15158     <div class="entry">
15159       <div class="title">
15160         <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>
15161       </div>
15162       <div class="date">
15163          7th March 2012
15164       </div>
15165       <div class="body">
15166         <!-- Video HTML based on http://www.diveintohtml5.net/video.html -->
15167
15168 <p>One of the Debian Edu developers, Wolfgang Schweer, just created a
15169 screen cast documenting how to create a lot of new users in LDAP on
15170 Debian Edu Squeeze.  The video is embedded here in quarter size, and
15171 also available from <a href="http://vimeo.com/37675399">vimeo</a> and
15172 download as a
15173 <a href="http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux/press/screencasts/2012-02-29-debian_edu_mass_create_user_accounts.ogv">Ogg
15174 Theora</a> file.  Check it out below.</p>
15175
15176 <p><video id="gosa-mass-user-create-movie" width="256" height="184" preload controls>
15177   <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"' />
15178     <p>Download video as
15179       <a href="http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux/press/screencasts/2012-02-29-debian_edu_mass_create_user_accounts.ogv">Ogg</a>.</p>
15180 </video></p>
15181
15182       </div>
15183       <div class="tags">
15184
15185
15186         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>.
15187
15188
15189       </div>
15190     </div>
15191     <div class="padding"></div>
15192
15193     <div class="entry">
15194       <div class="title">
15195         <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>
15196       </div>
15197       <div class="date">
15198          4th March 2012
15199       </div>
15200       <div class="body">
15201         <p>This weekend we wrapped up and published the third release
15202 candidate for <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu /
15203 Skolelinux</a> based on Squeeze.  The full announcement is
15204 <a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-edu-announce/2012/03/msg00000.html">available</a>
15205 from the project announcement list.  Check it out if you
15206 need a software solution for your school.</p>
15207
15208       </div>
15209       <div class="tags">
15210
15211
15212         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>.
15213
15214
15215       </div>
15216     </div>
15217     <div class="padding"></div>
15218
15219     <div class="entry">
15220       <div class="title">
15221         <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>
15222       </div>
15223       <div class="date">
15224          3rd March 2012
15225       </div>
15226       <div class="body">
15227         <p>Many years ago, the <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Skolelinux
15228 / Debian Edu project</a> initiated a student project to create a tool
15229 for making stop motion movies.  The proposal came from a teacher
15230 needing such tool on Skolelinux.  The project, called "stopmotion",
15231 was manned by two extraordinary students and won a school award and a
15232 national aware with this great project.  The project was initiated and
15233 mentored by Herman Robak, and manned by the students Bjørn Erik Nilsen
15234 and Fredrik Berg Kjølstad.  They got in touch with people at Aardman
15235 Animation studio and received feedback on how professionals would like
15236 such stopmotion tool to work, and the end result was and is used by
15237 animators around the globe.  But as is usual after studying, both got
15238 jobs and went elsewhere, and did not have time to properly tend to the
15239 project, and it has been lingering for a few years now.  Until last
15240 year...</p>
15241
15242 <p>Last year some of the users got together with Herman, and moved the
15243 project to Sourceforge and in effect restarted the project under a new
15244 name,
15245 <a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/linuxstopmotion/">linuxstopmotion</a>.
15246 The name change was done to make it possible to find the project using
15247 Internet search engines (try to search for 'stopmotion' to see what I
15248 mean). I've been following
15249 <a href="https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/linuxstopmotion-community">the
15250 mailing list</a> and the improvement already in place and planned for
15251 the future is encouraging.  If you want to make stop motion movies.
15252 Check it out. :)</p>
15253
15254       </div>
15255       <div class="tags">
15256
15257
15258         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>.
15259
15260
15261       </div>
15262     </div>
15263     <div class="padding"></div>
15264
15265     <div class="entry">
15266       <div class="title">
15267         <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>
15268       </div>
15269       <div class="date">
15270         27th February 2012
15271       </div>
15272       <div class="body">
15273         <p>This weekend we wrapped up and published the second release
15274 candidate for <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu /
15275 Skolelinux</a> based on Squeeze.  The full announcement did for some
15276 reason not make it the project announcement list, but is
15277 <a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2012/02/msg00015.html">available</a>
15278 from the Debian development announcement list.  Check it out if you
15279 need a software solution for your school.</p>
15280
15281       </div>
15282       <div class="tags">
15283
15284
15285         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>.
15286
15287
15288       </div>
15289     </div>
15290     <div class="padding"></div>
15291
15292     <div class="entry">
15293       <div class="title">
15294         <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>
15295       </div>
15296       <div class="date">
15297         19th February 2012
15298       </div>
15299       <div class="body">
15300         <p>One week delayed due to DVD build problems, we managed today to
15301 wrap up and publish the first release candidate for
15302 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / Skolelinux</a> based
15303 on Squeeze.  The full announcement is
15304 <a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-edu-announce/2012/02/msg00001.html">available</a>
15305 on the project announcement list.  Check it out if you need a software
15306 solution for your school.</p>
15307
15308       </div>
15309       <div class="tags">
15310
15311
15312         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>.
15313
15314
15315       </div>
15316     </div>
15317     <div class="padding"></div>
15318
15319     <div class="entry">
15320       <div class="title">
15321         <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>
15322       </div>
15323       <div class="date">
15324         14th February 2012
15325       </div>
15326       <div class="body">
15327         <p>Once in a while my home server have disk problems.  Thanks to Linux
15328 Software RAID, I have not lost data yet (but
15329 <a href="http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.linux.raid/34532">I was
15330 close</a> this summer :).  But once a disk is starting to behave
15331 funny, a practical problem present itself.  How to get from the Linux
15332 device name (like /dev/sdd) to something that can be used to identify
15333 the disk when the computer is turned off?  In my case I have SATA
15334 disks with a unique ID printed on the label.  All I need is a way to
15335 figure out how to query the disk to get the ID out.</p>
15336
15337 <p>After fumbling a bit, I
15338 <a href="http://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/linux-getting-scsi-ide-harddisk-information/">found
15339 that hdparm -I</a> will report the disk serial number, which is
15340 printed on the disk label.  The following (almost) one-liner can be
15341 used to look up the ID of all the failed disks:</p>
15342
15343 <blockquote><pre>
15344 for d in $(cat /proc/mdstat |grep '(F)'|tr ' ' "\n"|grep '(F)'|cut -d\[ -f1|sort -u);
15345 do
15346     printf "Failed disk $d: "
15347     hdparm -I /dev/$d |grep 'Serial Num'
15348 done
15349 </blockquote></pre>
15350
15351 <p>Putting it here to make sure I do not have to search for it the
15352 next time, and in case other find it useful.</p>
15353
15354 <p>At the moment I have two failing disk. :(</p>
15355
15356 <blockquote><pre>
15357 Failed disk sdd1:       Serial Number:      WD-WCASJ1860823
15358 Failed disk sdd2:       Serial Number:      WD-WCASJ1860823
15359 Failed disk sde2:       Serial Number:      WD-WCASJ1840589
15360 </blockquote></pre>
15361
15362 <p>The last time I had failing disks, I added the serial number on
15363 labels I printed and stuck on the short sides of each disk, to be able
15364 to figure out which disk to take out of the box without having to
15365 remove each disk to look at the physical vendor label.  The vendor
15366 label is at the top of the disk, which is hidden when the disks are
15367 mounted inside my box.</p>
15368
15369 <p>I really wish the check_linux_raid Nagios plugin for checking Linux
15370 Software RAID in the
15371 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/n/nagios-plugins.html">nagios-plugins-standard</a>
15372 debian package would look up this value automatically, as it would
15373 make the plugin a lot more useful when my disks fail.  At the moment
15374 it only report a failure when there are no more spares left (it really
15375 should warn as soon as a disk is failing), and it do not tell me which
15376 disk(s) is failing when the RAID is running short on disks.</p>
15377
15378       </div>
15379       <div class="tags">
15380
15381
15382         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>.
15383
15384
15385       </div>
15386     </div>
15387     <div class="padding"></div>
15388
15389     <div class="entry">
15390       <div class="title">
15391         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Automatic_proxy_configuration_with_Debian_Edu___Skolelinux.html">Automatic proxy configuration with Debian Edu / Skolelinux</a>
15392       </div>
15393       <div class="date">
15394         13th February 2012
15395       </div>
15396       <div class="body">
15397         <p>New in the Squeeze version of
15398 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / Skolelinux</a> is the
15399 ability for clients to automatically configure their proxy settings
15400 based on their environment.  We want all systems on the client to use
15401 the WPAD based proxy definition fetched from <tt>http://wpad/wpad.dat</tt>, to
15402 allow sites to control the proxy setting from a central place and make
15403 sure clients do not have hard coded proxy settings.  The schools can
15404 change the global proxy setting by editing
15405 <tt>tjener:/etc/debian-edu/www/wpad.dat</tt> and the change propagate
15406 to all Debian Edu clients in the network.</p>
15407
15408 <p>The problem is that some systems do not understand the WPAD system.
15409 In other words, how do one get from a WPAD file like this (this is a
15410 simple one, they can run arbitrary code):</p>
15411
15412 <blockquote><pre>
15413 function FindProxyForURL(url, host)
15414 {
15415    if (!isResolvable(host) ||
15416        isPlainHostName(host) ||
15417        dnsDomainIs(host, ".intern"))
15418       return "DIRECT";
15419    else
15420       return "PROXY webcache:3128; DIRECT";
15421 }
15422 </pre></blockquote>
15423
15424 <p>to a proxy setting in the process environment looking like this:</p>
15425
15426 <blockquote><pre>
15427 http_proxy=http://webcache:3128/
15428 ftp_proxy=http://webcache:3128/
15429 </pre></blockquote>
15430
15431 <p>To do this conversion I developed a perl script that will execute
15432 the javascript fragment in the WPAD file and return the proxy that
15433 would be used for
15434 <tt><a href="http://www.debian.org/">http://www.debian.org/</a></tt>,
15435 and insert this extracted proxy URL in <tt>/etc/environment</tt> and
15436 <tt>/etc/apt/apt.conf</tt>.  The perl script wpad-extract work just
15437 fine in Squeeze, but in Wheezy the library it need to run the
15438 javascript code is <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/631045">no longer
15439 able to build</a> because the C library it depended on is now a C++
15440 library.  I hope someone find a solution to that problem before Wheezy
15441 is frozen.  An alternative would be for us to rewrite wpad-extract to
15442 use some other javascript library currently working in Wheezy, but no
15443 known alternative is known at the moment.</p>
15444
15445 <p>This automatic proxy system allow the roaming workstation (aka
15446 laptop) setup in Debian Edu/Squeeze to use the proxy when the laptop
15447 is connected to the backbone network in a Debian Edu setup, and to
15448 automatically use any proxy present and announced using the WPAD
15449 feature when it is connected to other networks.  And if no proxy is
15450 announced, direct connections will be used instead.</p>
15451
15452 <p>Silently using a proxy announced on the network might be a privacy
15453 or security problem.  But those controlling DHCP and DNS on a network
15454 could just as easily set up a transparent proxy, and force all HTTP
15455 and FTP connections to use a proxy anyway, so I consider that
15456 distinction to be academic.  If you are afraid of using the wrong
15457 proxy, you should avoid connecting to the network in question in the
15458 first place.  In Debian Edu, the proxy setup is updated using dhcp and
15459 ifupdown hooks, to make sure the configuration is updated every time
15460 the network setup changes.</p>
15461
15462 <p>The WPAD system is documented in a
15463 <a href="http://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-ietf-wrec-wpad-01">IETF
15464 draft</a> and a
15465 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_Proxy_Autodiscovery_Protocol">Wikipedia
15466 page</a> for those that want to learn more.</p>
15467
15468       </div>
15469       <div class="tags">
15470
15471
15472         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>.
15473
15474
15475       </div>
15476     </div>
15477     <div class="padding"></div>
15478
15479     <div class="entry">
15480       <div class="title">
15481         <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>
15482       </div>
15483       <div class="date">
15484          5th February 2012
15485       </div>
15486       <div class="body">
15487         <p>Since the Lenny version of
15488 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / Skolelinux</a>, a
15489 feature to save power have been included.  It is as simple as it is
15490 practical: Shut down unused clients at night, and turn them on again
15491 in the morning.  This is done using the
15492 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/s/shutdown-at-night.html">shutdown-at-night</a> Debian package.</p>
15493
15494 <p>To enable this feature on a client, the machine need to be added to
15495 the netgroup shutdown-at-night-hosts.  For Debian Edu, this is done in
15496 LDAP, and once this is in place, the machine in question will check
15497 every hour from 16:00 until 06:00 to see if the machine is unused, and
15498 shut it down if it is.  If the hardware in question is supported by
15499 the
15500 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/n/nvram-wakeup.html">nvram-wakeup</a>
15501 package, the BIOS is told to turn the machine back on around 07:00 +-
15502 10 minutes.  If this isn't working, one can configure wake-on-lan to
15503 try to turn on the client.  The wake-on-lan option is only documented
15504 and not enabled by default in Debian Edu.</p>
15505
15506 <p>It is important to not turn all machines on at once, as this can
15507 blow a fuse if several computers are connected to the same fuse like
15508 the common setup for a classroom.  The nvram-wakeup method only work
15509 for machines with a functioning hardware/BIOS clock.  I've seen old
15510 machines where the BIOS battery were dead and the hardware clock were
15511 starting from 0 (or was it 1990?) every boot.  If you have one of
15512 those, you have to turn on the computer manually.</p>
15513
15514 <p>The shutdown-at-night package is completely self contained, and can
15515 also be used outside the Debian Edu environment.  For those without a
15516 central LDAP server with netgroups, one can instead touch the file
15517 <tt>/etc/shutdown-at-night/shutdown-at-night</tt> to enable it.
15518 Perhaps you too can use it to save some power?</p>
15519
15520       </div>
15521       <div class="tags">
15522
15523
15524         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>.
15525
15526
15527       </div>
15528     </div>
15529     <div class="padding"></div>
15530
15531     <div class="entry">
15532       <div class="title">
15533         <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>
15534       </div>
15535       <div class="date">
15536          4th February 2012
15537       </div>
15538       <div class="body">
15539         <p>I am happy to announce that finally we managed today to wrap up and
15540 publish the third beta version of
15541 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / Skolelinux</a> based
15542 on Squeeze.  If you want to test a LDAP backed Kerberos server with
15543 out of the box PXE configuration for running diskless machines and
15544 installing new machines, check it out.  If you need a software
15545 solution for your school, check it out too.  The full announcement is
15546 <a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-edu-announce/2012/02/msg00000.html">available</a>
15547 on the project announcement list.</p>
15548
15549 <p>I am very happy to report these changes and improvements since
15550 beta2 (there are more, see announcement for full list):</p>
15551
15552 <ul>
15553
15554 <li>It is now possible to change the pre-configured IP subnet from
15555   10.0.0.0/8 to something else by using the subnet-change tool after
15556   the installation.</li>
15557
15558 <li>Too full partitions are now automatically extended on the Main
15559   Server, based on the rules specified in /etc/fsautoresizetab.</li>
15560
15561 <li>The CUPS queues are now automatically flushed every night, and all
15562   disabled queues are restarted every hour.  This should cut down on
15563   the amount of manual administration needed for printers.</li>
15564
15565 <li>The set of initial users have been changed.  Now a personal user
15566   for the local system administrator is created during installation
15567   instead of the previously created localadmin and super-admin users,
15568   and this user is granted administrative privileges using group
15569   membership.  This reduces the number of passwords one need to keep
15570   up to date on the system.</li>
15571
15572 </ul>
15573
15574 <p>The new main server seem to work so well that I am testing it as my
15575 private DNS/LDAP/Kerberos/PXE/LTSP server at home.  I will use it look
15576 for issues we could fix to polish Debian Edu even further before the
15577 final Squeeze release is published.</p>
15578
15579 <p>Next weekend the project organise a
15580 <a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-edu-announce/2012/01/msg00001.html">developer
15581 gathering</a> in Oslo.  We will continue the work on the Squeeze
15582 version, and start initial planning for the Wheezy version.  Perhaps I
15583 will see you there?</p>
15584
15585       </div>
15586       <div class="tags">
15587
15588
15589         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>.
15590
15591
15592       </div>
15593     </div>
15594     <div class="padding"></div>
15595
15596     <div class="entry">
15597       <div class="title">
15598         <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>
15599       </div>
15600       <div class="date">
15601         27th January 2012
15602       </div>
15603       <div class="body">
15604         <p>With some computer hardware, one need non-free firmware blobs.
15605 This is the sad fact of todays computers.  In the next version of
15606 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / Skolelinux</a> based
15607 on Squeeze, we provide several scripts and modifications to make
15608 firmware blobs easier to handle.  The common use case I run into is a
15609 laptop with a wireless network card requiring non-free firmware to
15610 work, but there are other use cases as well.</p>
15611
15612 <p>First and foremost, Debian Edu provide ISO images for DVD and CD
15613 with all firmware packages in the Debian sections main and non-free
15614 included, to ensure debian-installer find and can install all of them
15615 during installation.  This take care firmware for network devices used
15616 by the installer when installing from from local media.  But for
15617 example multimedia devices are not activated in the installer and are
15618 not taken care of by this.</p>
15619
15620 <p>For non-network devices, we provide the script
15621 <tt>/usr/share/debian-edu-config/tools/auto-addfirmware</tt> which
15622 search through the <tt>dmesg</tt> output for drivers requesting extra
15623 firmware.  The firmware file name is looked up in the Contents-ARCH.gz
15624 file available in the package repository, and the packages providing
15625 the requested firmware file(s) is installed.  I have proposed to do
15626 something similar in debian-installer (BTS report
15627 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/655507">#655507</a>), to allow PXE
15628 installs of Debian to handle firmware installation better.  Run the
15629 script as root from the command line to fetch and install the needed
15630 firmware packages.</p>
15631
15632 <p>Debian Edu provide PXE installation of Debian out of the box, and
15633 because some machines need firmware to get their network cards
15634 working, the installation initrd some times need extra firmware
15635 included to be able to install at all.  To fill the PXE installation
15636 initrd with extra firmware, the
15637 <tt>/usr/share/debian-edu-config/tools/pxe-addfirmware</tt> script is
15638 provided.  Again, just run it as root on the command line to fill the
15639 PXE initrd with firmware packages.</p>
15640
15641 <p>Last, some LTSP clients might also need firmware to get their
15642 network cards working.  For this,
15643 <tt>/usr/share/debian-edu-config/tools/ltsp-addfirmware</tt> is
15644 provided to update the LTSP initrd with firmware blobs.  It is used
15645 the same way as the other firmware related tools.</p>
15646
15647 <p>At the moment, we do not run any of these during installation.  We
15648 do not know if this is acceptable for the local administrator to use
15649 non-free software, and it is their choice.</p>
15650
15651 <p>We plan to release beta3 this weekend.  You might want to give it a
15652 try.</p>
15653
15654       </div>
15655       <div class="tags">
15656
15657
15658         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>.
15659
15660
15661       </div>
15662     </div>
15663     <div class="padding"></div>
15664
15665     <div class="entry">
15666       <div class="title">
15667         <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>
15668       </div>
15669       <div class="date">
15670         25th January 2012
15671       </div>
15672       <div class="body">
15673         <p>The next version of <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu
15674 / Skolelinux</a> will include a new tool
15675 <tt>sitesummary2ldapdhcp</tt>, which can be used to quickly set up all
15676 the computers in a school without much manual labour.  Here is a short
15677 summary on how to use it to set up a new school.</p>
15678
15679 <p>First, install a combined Main Server and Thin Client Server as the
15680 central server in the network.  Next, PXE boot all the client machines
15681 as thin clients and wait 5 minutes after the last client booted to
15682 allow the clients to report their existence to the central server.  When
15683 this is done, log on to the central server and run
15684 <tt>sitesummary2ldapdhcp -a</tt> in the <tt>konsole</tt> to use the
15685 collected information to generate system objects in LDAP.  The output
15686 will look similar to this:</p>
15687
15688 <p><blockquote><pre>
15689 % sitesummary2ldapdhcp -a
15690 info: Updating machine tjener.intern [10.0.2.2] id ether-00:01:02:03:04:05.
15691 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.
15692
15693 Enter password if you want to activate these changes, and ^c to abort.
15694
15695 Connecting to LDAP as cn=admin,ou=ldap-access,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
15696 enter password: *******
15697 %
15698 </pre></blockquote></p>
15699
15700 <p>After providing the LDAP administrative password (the same as the
15701 root password set during installation), the LDAP database will be
15702 populated with system objects for each PXE booted machine with
15703 automatically generated names.  The final step to set up the school is
15704 then to log into <a href="https://oss.gonicus.de/labs/gosa/">GOsa</a>,
15705 the web based user, group and system administration system to change
15706 system names, add systems to the correct host groups and finally
15707 enable DHCP and DNS for the systems.  All clients that should be used
15708 as diskless workstations should be added to the workstation-hosts
15709 group.  After this is done, all computers can be booted again via PXE
15710 and get their assigned names and group based configuration
15711 automatically.</p>
15712
15713 <p>We plan to release beta3 with the updated version of this feature
15714 enabled this weekend.  You might want to give it a try.</p>
15715
15716 <p>Update 2012-01-28: When calling sitesummary2ldapdhcp to add new
15717 hosts, one need to add the option -a.  I forgot to mention this in my
15718 original text, and have added it to the text now.</p>
15719
15720       </div>
15721       <div class="tags">
15722
15723
15724         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>.
15725
15726
15727       </div>
15728     </div>
15729     <div class="padding"></div>
15730
15731     <div class="entry">
15732       <div class="title">
15733         <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>
15734       </div>
15735       <div class="date">
15736         10th January 2012
15737       </div>
15738       <div class="body">
15739         <p>In the Squeeze version of
15740 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / Skolelinux</a> soon
15741 to be released, users of the system will get their default browser
15742 start page set from LDAP, allowing the system administrator to point
15743 all users to the school web page by updating one setting in LDAP.  In
15744 addition to setting the default start page when a machine boots, users
15745 are shown the same page as a welcome page when they log in for the
15746 first time.</p>
15747
15748 <p>The LDAP object dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no have an attribute
15749 labeledURI with "http://www/ LDAP for Debian Edu/Skolelinux" as the
15750 default content.  By changing this value to another URL, all users get
15751 to see the page behind this new URL.</p>
15752
15753 <p>An easy way to update it is by using the ldapvi tool.  It can be
15754 called as "<tt>ldapvi -ZD '(cn=admin)'</tt>' to update LDAP with the
15755 new setting.</p>
15756
15757 <p>We have written the code to adjust the default start page and show
15758 the welcome page, and I wonder if there is an easier way to do this
15759 from within Iceweasel instead.</p>
15760
15761       </div>
15762       <div class="tags">
15763
15764
15765         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>.
15766
15767
15768       </div>
15769     </div>
15770     <div class="padding"></div>
15771
15772     <div class="entry">
15773       <div class="title">
15774         <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>
15775       </div>
15776       <div class="date">
15777          7th January 2012
15778       </div>
15779       <div class="body">
15780         <p>I am happy to announce that today we managed to wrap up and publish
15781 the second beta version of
15782 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / Skolelinux</a>.  If
15783 you want to test a LDAP backed Kerberos server with out of the box PXE
15784 configuration for running diskless machines and installing new
15785 machines, check it out.  If you need a software solution for your
15786 school, check it out too.  The full announcement is
15787 <a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-edu-announce/2012/01/msg00000.html">available</a>
15788 on the project announcement list.</p>
15789
15790       </div>
15791       <div class="tags">
15792
15793
15794         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>.
15795
15796
15797       </div>
15798     </div>
15799     <div class="padding"></div>
15800
15801     <div class="entry">
15802       <div class="title">
15803         <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>
15804       </div>
15805       <div class="date">
15806          3rd January 2012
15807       </div>
15808       <div class="body">
15809         <p>During christmas, I have been working getting the next version of
15810 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / Skolelinux</a> ready
15811 for release.  The initial problem I looked at was particularly
15812 interesting.</p>
15813
15814 <P>The installer would hang at the end when it was doing it
15815 post-installation configuration, and whatevery I did to try to find
15816 the cause and fix it always worked while I tested it, but never when I
15817 integrated it into the installer and ran the installation from
15818 scratch.  I would try to restart processes, close file descriptors,
15819 remove or create files, and the installer would always unblock and
15820 wrap up its tasks.</p>
15821
15822 <p>Eventually the cause was found.  The kernel was simply running out
15823 of entropy, causing the Kerberos setup to hang waiting for more.
15824 Pressing keys was adding entropy to the kernel, and thus all my tries
15825 to fix the problem worked not because what I was typing to fix it, but
15826 because I was typing.</P>
15827
15828 <p>The fix I implemented was to add a background process looking at
15829 the level of entropy in the kernel (by checking
15830 /proc/sys/kernel/random/entropy_avail), and if it was too small, the
15831 installer will flush the kernel file buffers and do 'find /' to
15832 generate some disk IO.  Disk IO generate entropy in the kernel, and is
15833 one of the few things that can be initated from within the system to
15834 generate entropy.</p>
15835
15836 <p>The fix is in
15837 <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/Documentation/Squeeze/Installation">beta1
15838 of the Debian Edu/Squeeze</a> version, and we
15839 <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu">welcome more testers and
15840 developers</a>.  We plan to release beta2 this weekend.</p>
15841
15842       </div>
15843       <div class="tags">
15844
15845
15846         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>.
15847
15848
15849       </div>
15850     </div>
15851     <div class="padding"></div>
15852
15853     <div class="entry">
15854       <div class="title">
15855         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Automatically_upgrading_server_firmware_on_Dell_PowerEdge.html">Automatically upgrading server firmware on Dell PowerEdge</a>
15856       </div>
15857       <div class="date">
15858         21st November 2011
15859       </div>
15860       <div class="body">
15861         <p>At work we have heaps of servers.  I believe the total count is
15862 around 1000 at the moment.  To be able to get help from the vendors
15863 when something go wrong, we want to keep the firmware on the servers
15864 up to date.  If the firmware isn't the latest and greatest, the
15865 vendors typically refuse to start debugging any problems until the
15866 firmware is upgraded.  So before every reboot, we want to upgrade the
15867 firmware, and we would really like everyone handling servers at the
15868 university to do this themselves when they plan to reboot a machine.
15869 For that to happen we at the unix server admin group need to provide
15870 the tools to do so.</p>
15871
15872 <p>To make firmware upgrading easier, I am working on a script to
15873 fetch and install the latest firmware for the servers we got.  Most of
15874 our hardware are from Dell and HP, so I have focused on these servers
15875 so far.  This blog post is about the Dell part.</P>
15876
15877 <p>On the Dell FTP site I was lucky enough to find
15878 <a href="ftp://ftp.us.dell.com/catalog/Catalog.xml.gz">an XML file</a>
15879 with firmware information for all 11th generation servers, listing
15880 which firmware should be used on a given model and where on the FTP
15881 site I can find it.  Using a simple perl XML parser I can then
15882 download the shell scripts Dell provides to do firmware upgrades from
15883 within Linux and reboot when all the firmware is primed and ready to
15884 be activated on the first reboot.</p>
15885
15886 <p>This is the Dell related fragment of the perl code I am working on.
15887 Are there anyone working on similar tools for firmware upgrading all
15888 servers at a site?  Please get in touch and lets share resources.</p>
15889
15890 <p><pre>
15891 #!/usr/bin/perl
15892 use strict;
15893 use warnings;
15894 use File::Temp qw(tempdir);
15895 BEGIN {
15896     # Install needed RHEL packages if missing
15897     my %rhelmodules = (
15898         'XML::Simple' => 'perl-XML-Simple',
15899         );
15900     for my $module (keys %rhelmodules) {
15901         eval "use $module;";
15902         if ($@) {
15903             my $pkg = $rhelmodules{$module};
15904             system("yum install -y $pkg");
15905             eval "use $module;";
15906         }
15907     }
15908 }
15909 my $errorsto = 'pere@hungry.com';
15910
15911 upgrade_dell();
15912
15913 exit 0;
15914
15915 sub run_firmware_script {
15916     my ($opts, $script) = @_;
15917     unless ($script) {
15918         print STDERR "fail: missing script name\n";
15919         exit 1
15920     }
15921     print STDERR "Running $script\n\n";
15922
15923     if (0 == system("sh $script $opts")) { # FIXME correct exit code handling
15924         print STDERR "success: firmware script ran succcessfully\n";
15925     } else {
15926         print STDERR "fail: firmware script returned error\n";
15927     }
15928 }
15929
15930 sub run_firmware_scripts {
15931     my ($opts, @dirs) = @_;
15932     # Run firmware packages
15933     for my $dir (@dirs) {
15934         print STDERR "info: Running scripts in $dir\n";
15935         opendir(my $dh, $dir) or die "Unable to open directory $dir: $!";
15936         while (my $s = readdir $dh) {
15937             next if $s =~ m/^\.\.?/;
15938             run_firmware_script($opts, "$dir/$s");
15939         }
15940         closedir $dh;
15941     }
15942 }
15943
15944 sub download {
15945     my $url = shift;
15946     print STDERR "info: Downloading $url\n";
15947     system("wget --quiet \"$url\"");
15948 }
15949
15950 sub upgrade_dell {
15951     my @dirs;
15952     my $product = `dmidecode -s system-product-name`;
15953     chomp $product;
15954
15955     if ($product =~ m/PowerEdge/) {
15956
15957         # on RHEL, these pacakges are needed by the firwmare upgrade scripts
15958         system('yum install -y compat-libstdc++-33.i686 libstdc++.i686 libxml2.i686 procmail');
15959
15960         my $tmpdir = tempdir(
15961             CLEANUP => 1
15962             );
15963         chdir($tmpdir);
15964         fetch_dell_fw('catalog/Catalog.xml.gz');
15965         system('gunzip Catalog.xml.gz');
15966         my @paths = fetch_dell_fw_list('Catalog.xml');
15967         # -q is quiet, disabling interactivity and reducing console output
15968         my $fwopts = "-q";
15969         if (@paths) {
15970             for my $url (@paths) {
15971                 fetch_dell_fw($url);
15972             }
15973             run_firmware_scripts($fwopts, $tmpdir);
15974         } else {
15975             print STDERR "error: Unsupported Dell model '$product'.\n";
15976             print STDERR "error: Please report to $errorsto.\n";
15977         }
15978         chdir('/');
15979     } else {
15980         print STDERR "error: Unsupported Dell model '$product'.\n";
15981         print STDERR "error: Please report to $errorsto.\n";
15982     }
15983 }
15984
15985 sub fetch_dell_fw {
15986     my $path = shift;
15987     my $url = "ftp://ftp.us.dell.com/$path";
15988     download($url);
15989 }
15990
15991 # Using ftp://ftp.us.dell.com/catalog/Catalog.xml.gz, figure out which
15992 # firmware packages to download from Dell.  Only work for Linux
15993 # machines and 11th generation Dell servers.
15994 sub fetch_dell_fw_list {
15995     my $filename = shift;
15996
15997     my $product = `dmidecode -s system-product-name`;
15998     chomp $product;
15999     my ($mybrand, $mymodel) = split(/\s+/, $product);
16000
16001     print STDERR "Finding firmware bundles for $mybrand $mymodel\n";
16002
16003     my $xml = XMLin($filename);
16004     my @paths;
16005     for my $bundle (@{$xml->{SoftwareBundle}}) {
16006         my $brand = $bundle->{TargetSystems}->{Brand}->{Display}->{content};
16007         my $model = $bundle->{TargetSystems}->{Brand}->{Model}->{Display}->{content};
16008         my $oscode;
16009         if ("ARRAY" eq ref $bundle->{TargetOSes}->{OperatingSystem}) {
16010             $oscode = $bundle->{TargetOSes}->{OperatingSystem}[0]->{osCode};
16011         } else {
16012             $oscode = $bundle->{TargetOSes}->{OperatingSystem}->{osCode};
16013         }
16014         if ($mybrand eq $brand && $mymodel eq $model && "LIN" eq $oscode)
16015         {
16016             @paths = map { $_->{path} } @{$bundle->{Contents}->{Package}};
16017         }
16018     }
16019     for my $component (@{$xml->{SoftwareComponent}}) {
16020         my $componenttype = $component->{ComponentType}->{value};
16021
16022         # Drop application packages, only firmware and BIOS
16023         next if 'APAC' eq $componenttype;
16024
16025         my $cpath = $component->{path};
16026         for my $path (@paths) {
16027             if ($cpath =~ m%/$path$%) {
16028                 push(@paths, $cpath);
16029             }
16030         }
16031     }
16032     return @paths;
16033 }
16034 </pre>
16035
16036 <p>The code is only tested on RedHat Enterprise Linux, but I suspect
16037 it could work on other platforms with some tweaking.  Anyone know a
16038 index like Catalog.xml is available from HP for HP servers?  At the
16039 moment I maintain a similar list manually and it is quickly getting
16040 outdated.</p>
16041
16042       </div>
16043       <div class="tags">
16044
16045
16046         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>.
16047
16048
16049       </div>
16050     </div>
16051     <div class="padding"></div>
16052
16053     <div class="entry">
16054       <div class="title">
16055         <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>
16056       </div>
16057       <div class="date">
16058          7th October 2011
16059       </div>
16060       <div class="body">
16061         <p>Here in Norway the public libraries are debating with the
16062 publishing houses how to handle electronic books.  Surprisingly, the
16063 libraries seem to be willing to accept digital restriction mechanisms
16064 (DRM) on books and renting e-books with artificial scarcity from the
16065 publishing houses.  Time limited renting (2-3 years) is one proposed
16066 model, and only allowing X borrowers for each book is another.
16067 Personally I find it amazing that libraries are even considering such
16068 models.</p>
16069
16070 <p>Anyway, while reading <a href="http://boklaben.no/?p=220">part of
16071 this debate</a>, it occurred to me that someone should present a more
16072 sensible approach to the libraries, to allow its borrowers to get used
16073 to a better model.  The idea is simple:</p>
16074
16075 <p>Create a computer system for the libraries, either in the form of a
16076 Live DVD or a installable distribution, that provide a simple kiosk
16077 solution to hand out free e-books.  As a start, the books distributed
16078 by <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/">Project Gutenberg</a> (about
16079 36,000 books), <a href="http://runeberg.org/">Project Runenberg</a>
16080 (1149 books) and <a href="http://www.archive.org/details/texts">The
16081 Internet Archive</a> (3,033,748 books) could be included, but any book
16082 where the copyright has expired or with a free licence could be
16083 distributed.</p>
16084
16085 <p>The computer system would make it easy to:</p>
16086
16087 <ul>
16088
16089 <li>Copy e-books into a USB stick, reading tablets, cell phones and
16090   other relevant equipment.</li>
16091
16092 <li>Show the books for reading on the the screen in the library.</li>
16093
16094 </ul>
16095
16096 <p>In addition to such kiosk solution, there should probably be a web
16097 site as well to allow people easy access to these books without
16098 visiting the library.  The site would be the distribution point for
16099 the kiosk systems, which would connect regularly to fetch any new
16100 books available.</p>
16101
16102 <p>Are there anyone working on a system like this?  I guess it would
16103 fit any library in the world, and not just the Norwegian public
16104 libraries. :)</p>
16105
16106       </div>
16107       <div class="tags">
16108
16109
16110         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>.
16111
16112
16113       </div>
16114     </div>
16115     <div class="padding"></div>
16116
16117     <div class="entry">
16118       <div class="title">
16119         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Ripping_problematic_DVDs_using_dvdbackup_and_genisoimage.html">Ripping problematic DVDs using dvdbackup and genisoimage</a>
16120       </div>
16121       <div class="date">
16122         17th September 2011
16123       </div>
16124       <div class="body">
16125         <p>For convenience, I want to store copies of all my DVDs on my file
16126 server.  It allow me to save shelf space flat while still having my
16127 movie collection easily available.  It also make it possible to let
16128 the kids see their favourite DVDs without wearing the physical copies
16129 down.  I prefer to store the DVDs as ISOs to keep the DVD menu and
16130 subtitle options intact.  It also ensure that the entire film is one
16131 file on the disk.  As this is for personal use, the ripping is
16132 perfectly legal here in Norway.</p>
16133
16134 <p>Normally I rip the DVDs using dd like this:</p>
16135
16136 <blockquote><pre>
16137 #!/bin/sh
16138 # apt-get install lsdvd
16139 title=$(lsdvd 2>/dev/null|awk '/Disc Title: / {print $3}')
16140 dd if=/dev/dvd of=/storage/dvds/$title.iso bs=1M
16141 </pre></blockquote>
16142
16143 <p>But some DVDs give a input/output error when I read it, and I have
16144 been looking for a better alternative.  I have no idea why this I/O
16145 error occur, but suspect my DVD drive, the Linux kernel driver or
16146 something fishy with the DVDs in question.  Or perhaps all three.</p>
16147
16148 <p>Anyway, I believe I found a solution today using dvdbackup and
16149 genisoimage.  This script gave me a working ISO for a problematic
16150 movie by first extracting the DVD file system and then re-packing it
16151 back as an ISO.
16152
16153 <blockquote><pre>
16154 #!/bin/sh
16155 # apt-get install lsdvd dvdbackup genisoimage
16156 set -e
16157 tmpdir=/storage/dvds/
16158 title=$(lsdvd 2>/dev/null|awk '/Disc Title: / {print $3}')
16159 dvdbackup -i /dev/dvd -M -o $tmpdir -n$title
16160 genisoimage -dvd-video -o $tmpdir/$title.iso $tmpdir/$title
16161 rm -rf $tmpdir/$title
16162 </pre></blockquote>
16163
16164 <p>Anyone know of a better way available in Debian/Squeeze?</p>
16165
16166 <p>Update 2011-09-18: I got a tip from Konstantin Khomoutov about the
16167 readom program from the wodim package.  It is specially written to
16168 read optical media, and is called like this: <tt>readom dev=/dev/dvd
16169 f=image.iso</tt>.  It got 6 GB along with the problematic Cars DVD
16170 before it failed, and failed right away with a Timmy Time DVD.</p>
16171
16172 <p>Next, I got a tip from Bastian Blank about
16173 <a href="http://bblank.thinkmo.de/blog/new-software-python-dvdvideo">his
16174 program python-dvdvideo</a>, which seem to be just what I am looking
16175 for.  Tested it with my problematic Timmy Time DVD, and it succeeded
16176 creating a ISO image.  The git source built and installed just fine in
16177 Squeeze, so I guess this will be my tool of choice in the future.</p>
16178
16179       </div>
16180       <div class="tags">
16181
16182
16183         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>.
16184
16185
16186       </div>
16187     </div>
16188     <div class="padding"></div>
16189
16190     <div class="entry">
16191       <div class="title">
16192         <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>
16193       </div>
16194       <div class="date">
16195          4th August 2011
16196       </div>
16197       <div class="body">
16198         <p>Wouter Verhelst have some
16199 <a href="http://grep.be/blog/en/retorts/pere_kubuntu_boot">interesting
16200 comments and opinions</a> on my blog post on
16201 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/What_should_start_from__etc_rcS_d__in_Debian____almost_nothing.html">the
16202 need to clean up /etc/rcS.d/ in Debian</a> and my blog post about
16203 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/What_is_missing_in_the_Debian_desktop__or_why_my_parents_use_Kubuntu.html">the
16204 default KDE desktop in Debian</a>.  I only have time to address one
16205 small piece of his comment now, and though it best to address the
16206 misunderstanding he bring forward:</p>
16207
16208 <p><blockquote>
16209 Currently, a system admin has four options: [...] boot to a
16210 single-user system (by adding 'single' to the kernel command line;
16211 this runs rcS and rc1 scripts)
16212 </blockquote></p>
16213
16214 <p>This make me believe Wouter believe booting into single user mode
16215 and booting into runlevel 1 is the same.  I am not surprised he
16216 believe this, because it would make sense and is a quite sensible
16217 thing to believe.  But because the boot in Debian is slightly broken,
16218 runlevel 1 do not work properly and it isn't the same as single user
16219 mode.  I'll try to explain what is actually happing, but it is a bit
16220 hard to explain.</p>
16221
16222 <p>Single user mode is defined like this in /etc/inittab:
16223 "<tt>~~:S:wait:/sbin/sulogin</tt>".  This means the only thing that is
16224 executed in single user mode is sulogin.  Single user mode is a boot
16225 state "between" the runlevels, and when booting into single user mode,
16226 only the scripts in /etc/rcS.d/ are executed before the init process
16227 enters the single user state.  When switching to runlevel 1, the state
16228 is in fact not ending in runlevel 1, but it passes through runlevel 1
16229 and end up in the single user mode (see /etc/rc1.d/S03single, which
16230 runs "init -t1 S" to switch to single user mode at the end of runlevel
16231 1.  It is confusing that the 'S' (single user) init mode is not the
16232 mode enabled by /etc/rcS.d/ (which is more like the initial boot
16233 mode).</p>
16234
16235 <p>This summary might make it clearer.  When booting for the first
16236 time into single user mode, the following commands are executed:
16237 "<tt>/etc/init.d/rc S; /sbin/sulogin</tt>".  When booting into
16238 runlevel 1, the following commands are executed: "<tt>/etc/init.d/rc
16239 S; /etc/init.d/rc 1; /sbin/sulogin</tt>".  A problem show up when
16240 trying to continue after visiting single user mode.  Not all services
16241 are started again as they should, causing the machine to end up in an
16242 unpredicatble state.  This is why Debian admins recommend rebooting
16243 after visiting single user mode.</p>
16244
16245 <p>A similar problem with runlevel 1 is caused by the amount of
16246 scripts executed from /etc/rcS.d/.  When switching from say runlevel 2
16247 to runlevel 1, the services started from /etc/rcS.d/ are not properly
16248 stopped when passing through the scripts in /etc/rc1.d/, and not
16249 started again when switching away from runlevel 1 to the runlevels
16250 2-5.  I believe the problem is best fixed by moving all the scripts
16251 out of /etc/rcS.d/ that are not <strong>required</strong> to get a
16252 functioning single user mode during boot.</p>
16253
16254 <p>I have spent several years investigating the Debian boot system,
16255 and discovered this problem a few years ago.  I suspect it originates
16256 from when sysvinit was introduced into Debian, a long time ago.</p>
16257
16258       </div>
16259       <div class="tags">
16260
16261
16262         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>.
16263
16264
16265       </div>
16266     </div>
16267     <div class="padding"></div>
16268
16269     <div class="entry">
16270       <div class="title">
16271         <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>
16272       </div>
16273       <div class="date">
16274         30th July 2011
16275       </div>
16276       <div class="body">
16277         <p>In the Debian boot system, several packages include scripts that
16278 are started from /etc/rcS.d/.  In fact, there is a bite more of them
16279 than make sense, and this causes a few problems.  What kind of
16280 problems, you might ask.  There are at least two problems.  The first
16281 is that it is not possible to recover a machine after switching to
16282 runlevel 1.  One need to actually reboot to get the machine back to
16283 the expected state.  The other is that single user boot will sometimes
16284 run into problems because some of the subsystems are activated before
16285 the root login is presented, causing problems when trying to recover a
16286 machine from a problem in that subsystem.  A minor additional point is
16287 that moving more scripts out of rcS.d/ and into the other rc#.d/
16288 directories will increase the amount of scripts that can run in
16289 parallel during boot, and thus decrease the boot time.</p>
16290
16291 <p>So, which scripts should start from rcS.d/.  In short, only the
16292 scripts that _have_ to execute before the root login prompt is
16293 presented during a single user boot should go there.  Everything else
16294 should go into the numeric runlevels.  This means things like
16295 lm-sensors, fuse and x11-common should not run from rcS.d, but from
16296 the numeric runlevels.  Today in Debian, there are around 115 init.d
16297 scripts that are started from rcS.d/, and most of them should be moved
16298 out.  Do your package have one of them?  Please help us make single
16299 user and runlevel 1 better by moving it.</p>
16300
16301 <p>Scripts setting up the screen, keyboard, system partitions
16302 etc. should still be started from rcS.d/, but there is for example no
16303 need to have the network enabled before the single user login prompt
16304 is presented.</p>
16305
16306 <p>As always, things are not so easy to fix as they sound.  To keep
16307 Debian systems working while scripts migrate and during upgrades, the
16308 scripts need to be moved from rcS.d/ to rc2.d/ in reverse dependency
16309 order, ie the scripts that nothing in rcS.d/ depend on can be moved,
16310 and the next ones can only be moved when their dependencies have been
16311 moved first.  This migration must be done sequentially while we ensure
16312 that the package system upgrade packages in the right order to keep
16313 the system state correct.  This will require some coordination when it
16314 comes to network related packages, but most of the packages with
16315 scripts that should migrate do not have anything in rcS.d/ depending
16316 on them.  Some packages have already been updated, like the sudo
16317 package, while others are still left to do.  I wish I had time to work
16318 on this myself, but real live constrains make it unlikely that I will
16319 find time to push this forward.</p>
16320
16321       </div>
16322       <div class="tags">
16323
16324
16325         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>.
16326
16327
16328       </div>
16329     </div>
16330     <div class="padding"></div>
16331
16332     <div class="entry">
16333       <div class="title">
16334         <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>
16335       </div>
16336       <div class="date">
16337         29th July 2011
16338       </div>
16339       <div class="body">
16340         <p>While at Debconf11, I have several times during discussions
16341 mentioned the issues I believe should be improved in Debian for its
16342 desktop to be useful for more people.  The use case for this is my
16343 parents, which are currently running Kubuntu which solve the
16344 issues.</p>
16345
16346 <p>I suspect these four missing features are not very hard to
16347 implement.  After all, they are present in Ubuntu, so if we wanted to
16348 do this in Debian we would have a source.</p>
16349
16350 <ol>
16351
16352 <li><strong>Simple GUI based upgrade of packages.</strong> When there
16353 are new packages available for upgrades, a icon in the KDE status bar
16354 indicate this, and clicking on it will activate the simple upgrade
16355 tool to handle it.  I have no problem guiding both of my parents
16356 through the process over the phone.  If a kernel reboot is required,
16357 this too is indicated by the status bars and the upgrade tool.  Last
16358 time I checked, nothing with the same features was working in KDE in
16359 Debian.</li>
16360
16361 <li><strong>Simple handling of missing Firefox browser
16362 plugins.</strong> When the browser encounter a MIME type it do not
16363 currently have a handler for, it will ask the user if the system
16364 should search for a package that would add support for this MIME type,
16365 and if the user say yes, the APT sources will be searched for packages
16366 advertising the MIME type in their control file (visible in the
16367 Packages file in the APT archive).  If one or more packages are found,
16368 it is a simple click of the mouse to add support for the missing mime
16369 type.  If the package require the user to accept some non-free
16370 license, this is explained to the user.  The entire process make it
16371 more clear to the user why something do not work in the browser, and
16372 make the chances higher for the user to blame the web page authors and
16373 not the browser for any missing features.</li>
16374
16375 <li><strong>Simple handling of missing multimedia codec/format
16376 handlers.</strong> When the media players encounter a format or codec
16377 it is not supporting, a dialog pop up asking the user if the system
16378 should search for a package that would add support for it.  This
16379 happen with things like MP3, Windows Media or H.264.  The selection
16380 and installation procedure is very similar to the Firefox browser
16381 plugin handling.  This is as far as I know implemented using a
16382 gstreamer hook.  The end result is that the user easily get access to
16383 the codecs that are present from the APT archives available, while
16384 explaining more on why a given format is unsupported by Ubuntu.</li>
16385
16386 <li><strong>Better browser handling of some MIME types.</strong> When
16387 displaying a text/plain file in my Debian browser, it will propose to
16388 start emacs to show it.  If I remember correctly, when doing the same
16389 in Kunbutu it show the file as a text file in the browser.  At least I
16390 know Opera will show text files within the browser.  I much prefer the
16391 latter behaviour.</li>
16392
16393 </ol>
16394
16395 <p>There are other nice features as well, like the simplified suite
16396 upgrader, but given that I am the one mostly doing the dist-upgrade,
16397 it do not matter much.</p>
16398
16399 <p>I really hope we could get these features in place for the next
16400 Debian release.  It would require the coordinated effort of several
16401 maintainers, but would make the end user experience a lot better.</p>
16402
16403       </div>
16404       <div class="tags">
16405
16406
16407         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/h264">h264</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>.
16408
16409
16410       </div>
16411     </div>
16412     <div class="padding"></div>
16413
16414     <div class="entry">
16415       <div class="title">
16416         <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>
16417       </div>
16418       <div class="date">
16419         26th July 2011
16420       </div>
16421       <div class="body">
16422         <p>The Norwegian <a href="http://www.fiksgatami.no/">FiksGataMi</A>
16423 site is build on Debian/Squeeze, and this platform was chosen because
16424 I am most familiar with Debian (being a Debian Developer for around 10
16425 years) because it is the latest stable Debian release which should get
16426 security support for a few years.</p>
16427
16428 <p>The web service is written in Perl, and depend on some perl modules
16429 that are missing in Debian at the moment.  It would be great if these
16430 modules were added to the Debian archive, allowing anyone to set up
16431 their own <a href="http://www.fixmystreet.com">FixMyStreet</a> clone
16432 in their own country using only Debian packages.  The list of modules
16433 missing in Debian/Squeeze isn't very long, and I hope the perl group
16434 will find time to package the 12 modules Catalyst::Plugin::SmartURI,
16435 Catalyst::Plugin::Unicode::Encoding, Catalyst::View::TT, Devel::Hide,
16436 Sort::Key, Statistics::Distributions, Template::Plugin::Comma,
16437 Template::Plugin::DateTime::Format, Term::Size::Any, Term::Size::Perl,
16438 URI::SmartURI and Web::Scraper to make the maintenance of FixMyStreet
16439 easier in the future.</p>
16440
16441 <p>Thanks to the great tools in Debian, getting the missing modules
16442 installed on my server was a simple call to 'cpan2deb Module::Name'
16443 and 'dpkg -i' to install the resulting package.  But this leave me
16444 with the responsibility of tracking security problems, which I really
16445 do not have time for.</p>
16446
16447       </div>
16448       <div class="tags">
16449
16450
16451         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>.
16452
16453
16454       </div>
16455     </div>
16456     <div class="padding"></div>
16457
16458     <div class="entry">
16459       <div class="title">
16460         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Free_Software_vs__proprietary_softare___.html">Free Software vs. proprietary softare...</a>
16461       </div>
16462       <div class="date">
16463         20th June 2011
16464       </div>
16465       <div class="body">
16466         <p>Reading
16467 <a href="http://blog.thingiverse.com/2011/06/20/open-source-vs-closed-source-eulas/">the
16468 thingiverse blog</a>, I came across two highlights of interesting
16469 parts of the
16470 <a href="http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Autodesk_EULA">Autodesk</a>
16471 and
16472 <a href="http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2011/06/things-you-cant-do-with-the-microsoft-kinect-sdk.html">Microsoft
16473 Kinect</a> End User License Agreements (EULAs), which illustrates
16474 quite well why I stay away from software with EULAs.  Whenever I take
16475 the time to read their content, the terms are simply unacceptable.</p>
16476
16477       </div>
16478       <div class="tags">
16479
16480
16481         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>.
16482
16483
16484       </div>
16485     </div>
16486     <div class="padding"></div>
16487
16488     <div class="entry">
16489       <div class="title">
16490         <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>
16491       </div>
16492       <div class="date">
16493         30th April 2011
16494       </div>
16495       <div class="body">
16496         <p>Today, the first draft implementation of an
16497 <a href="http://www.open311.org/">Open311 API</a> for the Norwegian
16498 service <a href="http://www.fiksgatami.no/">FiksGataMi</a> started to
16499 work.  It is only available on the developer server for now, and I
16500 have not tested it using any existing Open311 client (I lack the
16501 platforms needed to run the clients I have found so far), but it is
16502 able to query the database and extract a list of open and closed
16503 requests within a given category and reported to a given municipality.
16504 I believe that is a good start to create a useful service for those
16505 that want to do data mining on the requests submitted so far.</p>
16506
16507 <p>Where is it?  Visit
16508 <a href="http://fiksgatami-dev.nuug.no/open311.cgi/v2/">http://fiksgatami-dev.nuug.no/open311.cgi/v2/</a>
16509 to have a look.  Please send feedback to the
16510 <a href="http://lists.nuug.no/mailman/listinfo/fiksgatami">fiksgatami
16511 (at) nuug.no</a> mailing list.</p>
16512
16513       </div>
16514       <div class="tags">
16515
16516
16517         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>.
16518
16519
16520       </div>
16521     </div>
16522     <div class="padding"></div>
16523
16524     <div class="entry">
16525       <div class="title">
16526         <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>
16527       </div>
16528       <div class="date">
16529         29th April 2011
16530       </div>
16531       <div class="body">
16532         <p>The last few days I have spent some time trying to add support for
16533 the <a href="http://www.open311.org/">Open311 API</a> in the
16534 <a href="http://www.fiksgatami.no/">Norwegian FixMyStreet service</a>.
16535 Earlier I believed Open311 would be a useful API to use to submit
16536 reports to the municipalities, but when I noticed that the
16537 <a href="http://fixmystreet.org.nz/">New Zealand version</a> of
16538 FixMyStreet had implemented Open311 on the server side, it occurred to
16539 me that this was a nice way to allow the public, press and
16540 municipalities to do data mining directly in the FixMyStreet service.
16541 Thus I went to work implementing the Open311 specification for
16542 FixMyStreet.  The implementation is not yet ready, but I am starting
16543 to get a draft limping along.  In the process, I have discovered a few
16544 issues with the Open311 specification.</p>
16545
16546 <p>One obvious missing feature is the lack of natural language
16547 handling in the specification.  The specification seem to assume all
16548 reports will be written in English, and do not provide a way for the
16549 receiving end to specify which languages are understood there.  To be
16550 able to use the same client and submit to several Open311 receivers,
16551 it would be useful to know which language to use when writing reports.
16552 I believe the specification should be extended to allow the receivers
16553 of problem reports to specify which language they accept, and the
16554 submitter to specify which language the report is written in.
16555 Language of a text can also be automatically guessed using statistical
16556 methods, but for multi-lingual persons like myself, it is useful to
16557 know which language to use when writing a problem report.  I suspect
16558 some lang=nb,nn kind of attribute would solve it.</p>
16559
16560 <p>A key part of the Open311 API is the list of services provided,
16561 which is similar to the categories used by FixMyStreet.  One issue I
16562 run into is the need to specify both name and unique identifier for
16563 each category.  The specification do not state that the identifier
16564 should be numeric, but all example implementations have used numbers
16565 here.  In FixMyStreet, there is no number associated with each
16566 category.  As the specification do not forbid it, I will use the name
16567 as the unique identifier for now and see how open311 clients handle
16568 it.</p>
16569
16570 <p>The report format in open311 and the report format in FixMyStreet
16571 differ in a key part.  FixMyStreet have a title and a description,
16572 while Open311 only have a description and lack the title.  I'm not
16573 quite sure how to best handle this yet.  When asking for a FixMyStreet
16574 report in Open311 format, I just merge title an description into the
16575 open311 description, but this is not going to work if the open311 API
16576 should be used for submitting new reports to FixMyStreet.</p>
16577
16578 <p>The search feature in Open311 is missing a way to ask for problems
16579 near a geographic location.  I believe this is important if one is to
16580 use Open311 as the query language for mobile units.  The specification
16581 should be extended to handle this, probably using some new lat=, lon=
16582 and range= options.</p>
16583
16584 <p>The final challenge I see is that the FixMyStreet code handle
16585 several administrations in one interface, while the Open311 API seem
16586 to assume only one administration.  For FixMyStreet, this mean a
16587 report can be sent to several administrations, and the categories
16588 available depend on the location of the problem.  Not quite sure how
16589 to best handle this.  I've noticed
16590 <a href="http://seeclickfix.com/open311/">SeeClickFix</a> added
16591 latitude and longitude options to the services request, but it do not
16592 solve the problem of what to return when no location is specified.
16593 Will have to investigate this a bit more.</p>
16594
16595 <p>My distaste for web forums have kept me from bringing these issues
16596 up with the open311 developer group.  I really wish they had a email
16597 list available via <a href="http://www.gmane.org/">Gmane</a> to use for
16598 discussions instead of only
16599 <a href="http://lists.open311.org/groups/discuss">a forum<a/>.  Oh,
16600 well.  That will probably resolve itself, one way or another.  I've
16601 also tried visiting the IRC channel #open311 on FreeNode, but no-one
16602 seem to reply to my questions there.  This make me wonder if I just
16603 fail to understand how the open311 community work.  It sure do not
16604 work like the free software project communities I am used to.</p>
16605
16606       </div>
16607       <div class="tags">
16608
16609
16610         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>.
16611
16612
16613       </div>
16614     </div>
16615     <div class="padding"></div>
16616
16617     <div class="entry">
16618       <div class="title">
16619         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Gnash_enteres_Google_Summer_of_Code_2011.html">Gnash enteres Google Summer of Code 2011</a>
16620       </div>
16621       <div class="date">
16622          6th April 2011
16623       </div>
16624       <div class="body">
16625         <p><a href="http://www.getgnash.org/">The Gnash project</a> is still
16626 the most promising solution for a Free Software Flash implementation.
16627 A few days ago the project
16628 <a href="http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/gnash-dev/2011-04/msg00011.html">announced</a>
16629 that it will participate in Google Summer of Code.  I hope many
16630 students apply, and that some of them succeed in getting AVM2 support
16631 into Gnash.</p>
16632
16633       </div>
16634       <div class="tags">
16635
16636
16637         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>.
16638
16639
16640       </div>
16641     </div>
16642     <div class="padding"></div>
16643
16644     <div class="entry">
16645       <div class="title">
16646         <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>
16647       </div>
16648       <div class="date">
16649          3rd April 2011
16650       </div>
16651       <div class="body">
16652         <p>Here is a small update for my English readers.  Most of my blog
16653 posts have been in Norwegian the last few weeks, so here is a short
16654 update in English.</p>
16655
16656 <p>The kids still keep me too busy to get much free software work
16657 done, but I did manage to organise a project to get a Norwegian port
16658 of the British service
16659 <a href="http://www.fixmystreet.com/">FixMyStreet</a> up and running,
16660 and it has been running for a month now.  The entire project has been
16661 organised by me and two others.  Around Christmas we gathered sponsors
16662 to fund the development work.  In January I drafted a contract with
16663 <a href="http://www.mysociety.org/">mySociety</a> on what to develop,
16664 and in February the development took place.  Most of it involved
16665 converting the source to use GPS coordinates instead of British
16666 easting/northing, and the resulting code should be a lot easier to get
16667 running in any country by now.  The Norwegian
16668 <a href="http://www.fiksgatami.no/">FiksGataMi</a> is using
16669 <a href="http://www.openstreetmap.org/">OpenStreetmap</a> as the map
16670 source and the source for administrative borders in Norway, and
16671 support for this had to be added/fixed.</p>
16672
16673 <p>The Norwegian version went live March 3th, and we spent the weekend
16674 polishing the system before we announced it March 7th.  The system is
16675 running on a KVM instance of Debian/Squeeze, and has seen almost 3000
16676 problem reports in a few weeks.  Soon we hope to announce the Android
16677 and iPhone versions making it even easier to report problems with the
16678 public infrastructure.</p>
16679
16680 <p>Perhaps something to consider for those of you in countries without
16681 such service?</p>
16682
16683       </div>
16684       <div class="tags">
16685
16686
16687         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>.
16688
16689
16690       </div>
16691     </div>
16692     <div class="padding"></div>
16693
16694     <div class="entry">
16695       <div class="title">
16696         <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>
16697       </div>
16698       <div class="date">
16699         28th January 2011
16700       </div>
16701       <div class="body">
16702         <p>The last few days I have looked at ways to track open security
16703 issues here at my work with the University of Oslo.  My idea is that
16704 it should be possible to use the information about security issues
16705 available on the Internet, and check our locally
16706 maintained/distributed software against this information.  It should
16707 allow us to verify that no known security issues are forgotten.  The
16708 CVE database listing vulnerabilities seem like a great central point,
16709 and by using the package lists from Debian mapped to CVEs provided by
16710 the testing security team, I believed it should be possible to figure
16711 out which security holes were present in our free software
16712 collection.</p>
16713
16714 <p>After reading up on the topic, it became obvious that the first
16715 building block is to be able to name software packages in a unique and
16716 consistent way across data sources.  I considered several ways to do
16717 this, for example coming up with my own naming scheme like using URLs
16718 to project home pages or URLs to the Freshmeat entries, or using some
16719 existing naming scheme.  And it seem like I am not the first one to
16720 come across this problem, as MITRE already proposed and implemented a
16721 solution.  Enter the <a href="http://cpe.mitre.org/index.html">Common
16722 Platform Enumeration</a> dictionary, a vocabulary for referring to
16723 software, hardware and other platform components.  The CPE ids are
16724 mapped to CVEs in the <a href="http://web.nvd.nist.gov/">National
16725 Vulnerability Database</a>, allowing me to look up know security
16726 issues for any CPE name.  With this in place, all I need to do is to
16727 locate the CPE id for the software packages we use at the university.
16728 This is fairly trivial (I google for 'cve cpe $package' and check the
16729 NVD entry if a CVE for the package exist).</p>
16730
16731 <p>To give you an example.  The GNU gzip source package have the CPE
16732 name cpe:/a:gnu:gzip.  If the old version 1.3.3 was the package to
16733 check out, one could look up
16734 <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
16735 in NVD</a> and get a list of 6 security holes with public CVE entries.
16736 The most recent one is
16737 <a href="http://web.nvd.nist.gov/view/vuln/detail?vulnId=CVE-2010-0001">CVE-2010-0001</a>,
16738 and at the bottom of the NVD page for this vulnerability the complete
16739 list of affected versions is provided.</p>
16740
16741 <p>The NVD database of CVEs is also available as a XML dump, allowing
16742 for offline processing of issues.  Using this dump, I've written a
16743 small script taking a list of CPEs as input and list all CVEs
16744 affecting the packages represented by these CPEs.  One give it CPEs
16745 with version numbers as specified above and get a list of open
16746 security issues out.</p>
16747
16748 <p>Of course for this approach to be useful, the quality of the NVD
16749 information need to be high.  For that to happen, I believe as many as
16750 possible need to use and contribute to the NVD database.  I notice
16751 RHEL is providing
16752 <a href="https://www.redhat.com/security/data/metrics/rhsamapcpe.txt">a
16753 map from CVE to CPE</a>, indicating that they are using the CPE
16754 information.  I'm not aware of Debian and Ubuntu doing the same.</p>
16755
16756 <p>To get an idea about the quality for free software, I spent some
16757 time making it possible to compare the CVE database from Debian with
16758 the CVE database in NVD.  The result look fairly good, but there are
16759 some inconsistencies in NVD (same software package having several
16760 CPEs), and some inaccuracies (NVD not mentioning buggy packages that
16761 Debian believe are affected by a CVE).  Hope to find time to improve
16762 the quality of NVD, but that require being able to get in touch with
16763 someone maintaining it.  So far my three emails with questions and
16764 corrections have not seen any reply, but I hope contact can be
16765 established soon.</p>
16766
16767 <p>An interesting application for CPEs is cross platform package
16768 mapping.  It would be useful to know which packages in for example
16769 RHEL, OpenSuSe and Mandriva are missing from Debian and Ubuntu, and
16770 this would be trivial if all linux distributions provided CPE entries
16771 for their packages.</p>
16772
16773       </div>
16774       <div class="tags">
16775
16776
16777         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>.
16778
16779
16780       </div>
16781     </div>
16782     <div class="padding"></div>
16783
16784     <div class="entry">
16785       <div class="title">
16786         <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>
16787       </div>
16788       <div class="date">
16789         23rd January 2011
16790       </div>
16791       <div class="body">
16792         <p>In the
16793 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/discover-data">discover-data</a>
16794 package in Debian, there is a script to report useful information
16795 about the running hardware for use when people report missing
16796 information.  One part of this script that I find very useful when
16797 debugging hardware problems, is the part mapping loaded kernel module
16798 to the PCI device it claims.  It allow me to quickly see if the kernel
16799 module I expect is driving the hardware I am struggling with.  To see
16800 the output, make sure discover-data is installed and run
16801 <tt>/usr/share/bug/discover-data 3>&1</tt>.  The relevant output on
16802 one of my machines like this:</p>
16803
16804 <pre>
16805 loaded modules:
16806 10de:03eb i2c_nforce2
16807 10de:03f1 ohci_hcd
16808 10de:03f2 ehci_hcd
16809 10de:03f0 snd_hda_intel
16810 10de:03ec pata_amd
16811 10de:03f6 sata_nv
16812 1022:1103 k8temp
16813 109e:036e bttv
16814 109e:0878 snd_bt87x
16815 11ab:4364 sky2
16816 </pre>
16817
16818 <p>The code in question look like this, slightly modified for
16819 readability and to drop the output to file descriptor 3:</p>
16820
16821 <pre>
16822 if [ -d /sys/bus/pci/devices/ ] ; then
16823     echo loaded pci modules:
16824     (
16825         cd /sys/bus/pci/devices/
16826         for address in * ; do
16827             if [ -d "$address/driver/module" ] ; then
16828                 module=`cd $address/driver/module ; pwd -P | xargs basename`
16829                 if grep -q "^$module " /proc/modules ; then
16830                     address=$(echo $address |sed s/0000://)
16831                     id=`lspci -n -s $address | tail -n 1 | awk '{print $3}'`
16832                     echo "$id $module"
16833                 fi
16834             fi
16835         done
16836     )
16837     echo
16838 fi
16839 </pre>
16840
16841 <p>Similar code could be used to extract USB device module
16842 mappings:</p>
16843
16844 <pre>
16845 if [ -d /sys/bus/usb/devices/ ] ; then
16846     echo loaded usb modules:
16847     (
16848         cd /sys/bus/usb/devices/
16849         for address in * ; do
16850             if [ -d "$address/driver/module" ] ; then
16851                 module=`cd $address/driver/module ; pwd -P | xargs basename`
16852                 if grep -q "^$module " /proc/modules ; then
16853                     address=$(echo $address |sed s/0000://)
16854                     id=$(lsusb -s $address | tail -n 1 | awk '{print $6}')
16855                     if [ "$id" ] ; then
16856                         echo "$id $module"
16857                     fi
16858                 fi
16859             fi
16860         done
16861     )
16862     echo
16863 fi
16864 </pre>
16865
16866 <p>This might perhaps be something to include in other tools as
16867 well.</p>
16868
16869       </div>
16870       <div class="tags">
16871
16872
16873         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>.
16874
16875
16876       </div>
16877     </div>
16878     <div class="padding"></div>
16879
16880     <div class="entry">
16881       <div class="title">
16882         <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>
16883       </div>
16884       <div class="date">
16885         16th January 2011
16886       </div>
16887       <div class="body">
16888         <p>The video format struggle on the web continues, and the three
16889 contenders seem to be Ogg Theora, H.264 and WebM.  Most video sites
16890 seem to use H.264, while others use Ogg Theora.  Interestingly enough,
16891 the comments I see give me the feeling that a lot of people believe
16892 H.264 is the most supported video format in browsers, but according to
16893 the Wikipedia article on
16894 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTML5_video">HTML5 video</a>,
16895 this is not true.  Check out the nice table of supprted formats in
16896 different browsers there.  The format supported by most browsers is
16897 Ogg Theora, supported by released versions of Mozilla Firefox, Google
16898 Chrome, Chromium, Opera, Konqueror, Epiphany, Origyn Web Browser and
16899 BOLT browser, while not supported by Internet Explorer nor Safari.
16900 The runner up is WebM supported by released versions of Google Chrome
16901 Chromium Opera and Origyn Web Browser, and test versions of Mozilla
16902 Firefox.  H.264 is supported by released versions of Safari, Origyn
16903 Web Browser and BOLT browser, and the test version of Internet
16904 Explorer.  Those wanting Ogg Theora support in Internet Explorer and
16905 Safari can install plugins to get it.</p>
16906
16907 <p>To me, the simple conclusion from this is that to reach most users
16908 without any extra software installed, one uses Ogg Theora with the
16909 HTML5 video tag.   Of course to reach all those without a browser
16910 handling HTML5, one need fallback mechanisms.  In
16911 <a href="http://www.nuug.no/">NUUG</a>, we provide first fallback to a
16912 plugin capable of playing MPEG1 video, and those without such support
16913 we have a second fallback to the Cortado java applet playing Ogg
16914 Theora.  This seem to work quite well, as can be seen in an <a
16915 href="http://www.nuug.no/aktiviteter/20110111-semantic-web/">example
16916 from last week</a>.</p>
16917
16918 <p>The reason Ogg Theora is the most supported format, and H.264 is
16919 the least supported is simple.  Implementing and using H.264
16920 require royalty payment to MPEG-LA, and the terms of use from MPEG-LA
16921 are incompatible with free software licensing.  If you believed H.264
16922 was without royalties and license terms, check out
16923 "<a href="http://webmink.com/essays/h-264/">H.264 – Not The Kind Of
16924 Free That Matters</a>" by Simon Phipps.</p>
16925
16926 <p>A incomplete list of sites providing video in Ogg Theora is
16927 available from
16928 <a href="http://wiki.xiph.org/index.php/List_of_Theora_videos">the
16929 Xiph.org wiki</a>, if you want to have a look.  I'm not aware of a
16930 similar list for WebM nor H.264.</p>
16931
16932 <p>Update 2011-01-16 09:40: A question from Tollef on IRC made me
16933 realise that I failed to make it clear enough this text is about the
16934 &lt;video&gt; tag support in browsers and not the video support
16935 provided by external plugins like the Flash plugins.</p>
16936
16937       </div>
16938       <div class="tags">
16939
16940
16941         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/h264">h264</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>.
16942
16943
16944       </div>
16945     </div>
16946     <div class="padding"></div>
16947
16948     <div class="entry">
16949       <div class="title">
16950         <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>
16951       </div>
16952       <div class="date">
16953         12th January 2011
16954       </div>
16955       <div class="body">
16956         <p>Today I discovered
16957 <a href="http://www.digi.no/860070/google-dropper-h264-stotten-i-chrome">via
16958 digi.no</a> that the Chrome developers, in a surprising announcement,
16959 <a href="http://blog.chromium.org/2011/01/html-video-codec-support-in-chrome.html">yesterday
16960 announced</a> plans to drop H.264 support for HTML5 &lt;video&gt; in
16961 the browser.  The argument used is that H.264 is not a "completely
16962 open" codec technology.  If you believe H.264 was free for everyone
16963 to use, I recommend having a look at the essay
16964 "<a href="http://webmink.com/essays/h-264/">H.264 – Not The Kind Of
16965 Free That Matters</a>".  It is not free of cost for creators of video
16966 tools, nor those of us that want to publish on the Internet, and the
16967 terms provided by MPEG-LA excludes free software projects from
16968 licensing the patents needed for H.264.  Some background information
16969 on the Google announcement is available from
16970 <a href="http://www.osnews.com/story/24243/Google_To_Drop_H264_Support_from_Chrome">OSnews</a>.
16971 A good read. :)</p>
16972
16973 <p>Personally, I believe it is great that Google is taking a stand to
16974 promote equal terms for everyone when it comes to video publishing on
16975 the Internet.  This can only be done by publishing using free and open
16976 standards, which is only possible if the web browsers provide support
16977 for these free and open standards.  At the moment there seem to be two
16978 camps in the web browser world when it come to video support.  Some
16979 browsers support H.264, and others support
16980 <a href="http://www.theora.org/">Ogg Theora</a> and
16981 <a href="http://www.webmproject.org/">WebM</a>
16982 (<a href="http://www.diracvideo.org/">Dirac</a> is not really an option
16983 yet), forcing those of us that want to publish video on the Internet
16984 and which can not accept the terms of use presented by MPEG-LA for
16985 H.264 to not reach all potential viewers.
16986 Wikipedia keep <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTML5_video">an
16987 updated summary</a> of the current browser support.</p>
16988
16989 <p>Not surprising, several people would prefer Google to keep
16990 promoting H.264, and John Gruber
16991 <a href="http://daringfireball.net/2011/01/simple_questions">presents
16992 the mind set</a> of these people quite well.  His rhetorical questions
16993 provoked a reply from Thom Holwerda with another set of questions
16994 <a href="http://www.osnews.com/story/24245/10_Questions_for_John_Gruber_Regarding_H_264_WebM">presenting
16995 the issues with H.264</a>. Both are worth a read.</p>
16996
16997 <p>Some argue that if Google is dropping H.264 because it isn't free,
16998 they should also drop support for the Adobe Flash plugin.  This
16999 argument was covered by Simon Phipps in
17000 <a href="http://blogs.computerworlduk.com/simon-says/2011/01/google-and-h264---far-from-hypocritical/index.htm">todays
17001 blog post</a>, which I find to put the issue in context.  To me it
17002 make perfect sense to drop native H.264 support for HTML5 in the
17003 browser while still allowing plugins.</p>
17004
17005 <p>I suspect the reason this announcement make so many people protest,
17006 is that all the users and promoters of H.264 suddenly get an uneasy
17007 feeling that they might be backing the wrong horse.  A lot of TV
17008 broadcasters have been moving to H.264 the last few years, and a lot
17009 of money has been invested in hardware based on the belief that they
17010 could use the same video format for both broadcasting and web
17011 publishing.  Suddenly this belief is shaken.</p>
17012
17013 <p>An interesting question is why Google is doing this.  While the
17014 presented argument might be true enough, I believe Google would only
17015 present the argument if the change make sense from a business
17016 perspective.  One reason might be that they are currently negotiating
17017 with MPEG-LA over royalties or usage terms, and giving MPEG-LA the
17018 feeling that dropping H.264 completely from Chroome, Youtube and
17019 Google Video would improve the negotiation position of Google.
17020 Another reason might be that Google want to save money by not having
17021 to pay the video tax to MPEG-LA at all, and thus want to move to a
17022 video format not requiring royalties at all.  A third reason might be
17023 that the Chrome development team simply want to avoid the
17024 Chrome/Chromium split to get more help with the development of Chrome.
17025 I guess time will tell.</p>
17026
17027 <p>Update 2011-01-15: The Google Chrome team provided
17028 <a href="http://blog.chromium.org/2011/01/more-about-chrome-html-video-codec.html">more
17029 background and information on the move</a> it a blog post yesterday.</p>
17030
17031       </div>
17032       <div class="tags">
17033
17034
17035         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/h264">h264</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>.
17036
17037
17038       </div>
17039     </div>
17040     <div class="padding"></div>
17041
17042     <div class="entry">
17043       <div class="title">
17044         <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>
17045       </div>
17046       <div class="date">
17047         30th December 2010
17048       </div>
17049       <div class="body">
17050         <p>After trying to
17051 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Is_Ogg_Theora_a_free_and_open_standard_.html">compare
17052 Ogg Theora</a> to
17053 <a href="http://www.digistan.org/open-standard:definition">the Digistan
17054 definition</a> of a free and open standard, I concluded that this need
17055 to be done for more standards and started on a framework for doing
17056 this.  As a start, I want to get the status for all the standards in
17057 the Norwegian reference directory, which include UTF-8, HTML, PDF, ODF,
17058 JPEG, PNG, SVG and others.  But to be able to complete this in a
17059 reasonable time frame, I will need help.</p>
17060
17061 <p>If you want to help out with this work, please visit
17062 <a href="http://wiki.nuug.no/grupper/standard/digistan-analyse">the
17063 wiki pages I have set up for this</a>, and let me know that you want
17064 to help out.  The IRC channel #nuug on irc.freenode.net is a good
17065 place to coordinate this for now, as it is the IRC channel for the
17066 NUUG association where I have created the framework (I am the leader
17067 of the Norwegian Unix User Group).</p>
17068
17069 <p>The framework is still forming, and a lot is left to do.  Do not be
17070 scared by the sketchy form of the current pages. :)</p>
17071
17072       </div>
17073       <div class="tags">
17074
17075
17076         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>.
17077
17078
17079       </div>
17080     </div>
17081     <div class="padding"></div>
17082
17083     <div class="entry">
17084       <div class="title">
17085         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/The_many_definitions_of_a_open_standard.html">The many definitions of a open standard</a>
17086       </div>
17087       <div class="date">
17088         27th December 2010
17089       </div>
17090       <div class="body">
17091         <p>One of the reasons I like the Digistan definition of
17092 "<a href="http://www.digistan.org/open-standard:definition">Free and
17093 Open Standard</a>" is that this is a new term, and thus the meaning of
17094 the term has been decided by Digistan.  The term "Open Standard" has
17095 become so misunderstood that it is no longer very useful when talking
17096 about standards.  One end up discussing which definition is the best
17097 one and with such frame the only one gaining are the proponents of
17098 de-facto standards and proprietary solutions.</p>
17099
17100 <p>But to give us an idea about the diversity of definitions of open
17101 standards, here are a few that I know about.  This list is not
17102 complete, but can be a starting point for those that want to do a
17103 complete survey.  More definitions are available on the
17104 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_standard">wikipedia
17105 page</a>.</p>
17106
17107 <p>First off is my favourite, the definition from the European
17108 Interoperability Framework version 1.0.  Really sad to notice that BSA
17109 and others has succeeded in getting it removed from version 2.0 of the
17110 framework by stacking the committee drafting the new version with
17111 their own people.  Anyway, the definition is still available and it
17112 include the key properties needed to make sure everyone can use a
17113 specification on equal terms.</p>
17114
17115 <blockquote>
17116
17117 <p>The following are the minimal characteristics that a specification
17118 and its attendant documents must have in order to be considered an
17119 open standard:</p>
17120
17121 <ul>
17122
17123 <li>The standard is adopted and will be maintained by a not-for-profit
17124 organisation, and its ongoing development occurs on the basis of an
17125 open decision-making procedure available to all interested parties
17126 (consensus or majority decision etc.).</li>
17127
17128 <li>The standard has been published and the standard specification
17129 document is available either freely or at a nominal charge. It must be
17130 permissible to all to copy, distribute and use it for no fee or at a
17131 nominal fee.</li>
17132
17133 <li>The intellectual property - i.e. patents possibly present - of
17134 (parts of) the standard is made irrevocably available on a royalty-
17135 free basis.</li>
17136
17137 <li>There are no constraints on the re-use of the standard.</li>
17138
17139 </ul>
17140 </blockquote>
17141
17142 <p>Another one originates from my friends over at
17143 <a href="http://www.dkuug.dk/">DKUUG</a>, who coined and gathered
17144 support for <a href="http://www.aaben-standard.dk/">this
17145 definition</a> in 2004.  It even made it into the Danish parlament as
17146 <a href="http://www.ft.dk/dokumenter/tingdok.aspx?/samling/20051/beslutningsforslag/B103/som_fremsat.htm">their
17147 definition of a open standard</a>.  Another from a different part of
17148 the Danish government is available from the wikipedia page.</p>
17149
17150 <blockquote>
17151
17152 <p>En åben standard opfylder følgende krav:</p>
17153
17154 <ol>
17155
17156 <li>Veldokumenteret med den fuldstændige specifikation offentligt
17157 tilgængelig.</li>
17158
17159 <li>Frit implementerbar uden økonomiske, politiske eller juridiske
17160 begrænsninger på implementation og anvendelse.</li>
17161
17162 <li>Standardiseret og vedligeholdt i et åbent forum (en såkaldt
17163 "standardiseringsorganisation") via en åben proces.</li>
17164
17165 </ol>
17166
17167 </blockquote>
17168
17169 <p>Then there is <a href="http://www.fsfe.org/projects/os/def.html">the
17170 definition</a> from Free Software Foundation Europe.</p>
17171
17172 <blockquote>
17173
17174 <p>An Open Standard refers to a format or protocol that is</p>
17175
17176 <ol>
17177
17178 <li>subject to full public assessment and use without constraints in a
17179 manner equally available to all parties;</li>
17180
17181 <li>without any components or extensions that have dependencies on
17182 formats or protocols that do not meet the definition of an Open
17183 Standard themselves;</li>
17184
17185 <li>free from legal or technical clauses that limit its utilisation by
17186 any party or in any business model;</li>
17187
17188 <li>managed and further developed independently of any single vendor
17189 in a process open to the equal participation of competitors and third
17190 parties;</li>
17191
17192 <li>available in multiple complete implementations by competing
17193 vendors, or as a complete implementation equally available to all
17194 parties.</li>
17195
17196 </ol>
17197
17198 </blockquote>
17199
17200 <p>A long time ago, SUN Microsystems, now bought by Oracle, created
17201 its
17202 <a href="http://blogs.sun.com/dennisding/resource/Open%20Standard%20Definition.pdf">Open
17203 Standards Checklist</a> with a fairly detailed description.</p>
17204
17205 <blockquote>
17206 <p>Creation and Management of an Open Standard
17207
17208 <ul>
17209
17210 <li>Its development and management process must be collaborative and
17211   democratic:
17212
17213          <ul>
17214
17215          <li>Participation must be accessible to all those who wish to
17216             participate and can meet fair and reasonable criteria
17217             imposed by the organization under which it is developed
17218             and managed.</li>
17219
17220          <li>The processes must be documented and, through a known
17221             method, can be changed through input from all
17222             participants.</li>
17223
17224          <li>The process must be based on formal and binding commitments for
17225             the disclosure and licensing of intellectual property rights.</li>
17226
17227          <li>Development and management should strive for consensus,
17228             and an appeals process must be clearly outlined.</li>
17229
17230          <li>The standard specification must be open to extensive
17231             public review at least once in its life-cycle, with
17232             comments duly discussed and acted upon, if required.</li>
17233
17234          </ul>
17235
17236 </li>
17237
17238 </ul>
17239
17240 <p>Use and Licensing of an Open Standard</p>
17241 <ul>
17242
17243 <li>The standard must describe an interface, not an implementation,
17244   and the industry must be capable of creating multiple, competing
17245   implementations to the interface described in the standard without
17246   undue or restrictive constraints.  Interfaces include APIs,
17247   protocols, schemas, data formats and their encoding.</li>
17248
17249 <li> The standard must not contain any proprietary "hooks" that create
17250   a technical or economic barriers</li>
17251
17252 <li>Faithful implementations of the standard must
17253   interoperate. Interoperability means the ability of a computer
17254   program to communicate and exchange information with other computer
17255   programs and mutually to use the information which has been
17256   exchanged. This includes the ability to use, convert, or exchange
17257   file formats, protocols, schemas, interface information or
17258   conventions, so as to permit the computer program to work with other
17259   computer programs and users in all the ways in which they are
17260   intended to function.</li>
17261
17262 <li>It must be permissible for anyone to copy, distribute and read the
17263   standard for a nominal fee, or even no fee. If there is a fee, it
17264   must be low enough to not preclude widespread use.</li>
17265
17266 <li>It must be possible for anyone to obtain free (no royalties or
17267   fees; also known as "royalty free"), worldwide, non-exclusive and
17268   perpetual licenses to all essential patent claims to make, use and
17269   sell products based on the standard.  The only exceptions are
17270   terminations per the reciprocity and defensive suspension terms
17271   outlined below. Essential patent claims include pending, unpublished
17272   patents, published patents, and patent applications. The license is
17273   only for the exact scope of the standard in question.
17274
17275       <ul>
17276
17277       <li> May be conditioned only on reciprocal licenses to any of
17278         licensees' patent claims essential to practice that standard
17279         (also known as a reciprocity clause)</li>
17280
17281       <li> May be terminated as to any licensee who sues the licensor
17282         or any other licensee for infringement of patent claims
17283         essential to practice that standard (also known as a
17284         "defensive suspension" clause)</li>
17285
17286       <li> The same licensing terms are available to every potential
17287         licensor</li>
17288
17289       </ul>
17290 </li>
17291
17292 <li>The licensing terms of an open standards must not preclude
17293   implementations of that standard under open source licensing terms
17294   or restricted licensing terms</li>
17295
17296 </ul>
17297
17298 </blockquote>
17299
17300 <p>It is said that one of the nice things about standards is that
17301 there are so many of them.  As you can see, the same holds true for
17302 open standard definitions.  Most of the definitions have a lot in
17303 common, and it is not really controversial what properties a open
17304 standard should have, but the diversity of definitions have made it
17305 possible for those that want to avoid a level marked field and real
17306 competition to downplay the significance of open standards.  I hope we
17307 can turn this tide by focusing on the advantages of Free and Open
17308 Standards.</p>
17309
17310       </div>
17311       <div class="tags">
17312
17313
17314         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>.
17315
17316
17317       </div>
17318     </div>
17319     <div class="padding"></div>
17320
17321     <div class="entry">
17322       <div class="title">
17323         <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>
17324       </div>
17325       <div class="date">
17326         25th December 2010
17327       </div>
17328       <div class="body">
17329         <p><a href="http://www.digistan.org/open-standard:definition">The
17330 Digistan definition</a> of a free and open standard reads like this:</p>
17331
17332 <blockquote>
17333
17334 <p>The Digital Standards Organization defines free and open standard
17335 as follows:</p>
17336
17337 <ol>
17338
17339 <li>A free and open standard is immune to vendor capture at all stages
17340 in its life-cycle. Immunity from vendor capture makes it possible to
17341 freely use, improve upon, trust, and extend a standard over time.</li>
17342
17343 <li>The standard is adopted and will be maintained by a not-for-profit
17344 organisation, and its ongoing development occurs on the basis of an
17345 open decision-making procedure available to all interested
17346 parties.</li>
17347
17348 <li>The standard has been published and the standard specification
17349 document is available freely. It must be permissible to all to copy,
17350 distribute, and use it freely.</li>
17351
17352 <li>The patents possibly present on (parts of) the standard are made
17353 irrevocably available on a royalty-free basis.</li>
17354
17355 <li>There are no constraints on the re-use of the standard.</li>
17356
17357 </ol>
17358
17359 <p>The economic outcome of a free and open standard, which can be
17360 measured, is that it enables perfect competition between suppliers of
17361 products based on the standard.</p>
17362 </blockquote>
17363
17364 <p>For a while now I have tried to figure out of Ogg Theora is a free
17365 and open standard according to this definition.  Here is a short
17366 writeup of what I have been able to gather so far.  I brought up the
17367 topic on the Xiph advocacy mailing list
17368 <a href="http://lists.xiph.org/pipermail/advocacy/2009-July/001632.html">in
17369 July 2009</a>, for those that want to see some background information.
17370 According to Ivo Emanuel Gonçalves and Monty Montgomery on that list
17371 the Ogg Theora specification fulfils the Digistan definition.</p>
17372
17373 <p><strong>Free from vendor capture?</strong></p>
17374
17375 <p>As far as I can see, there is no single vendor that can control the
17376 Ogg Theora specification.  It can be argued that the
17377 <a href="http://www.xiph.org/">Xiph foundation</A> is such vendor, but
17378 given that it is a non-profit foundation with the expressed goal
17379 making free and open protocols and standards available, it is not
17380 obvious that this is a real risk.  One issue with the Xiph
17381 foundation is that its inner working (as in board member list, or who
17382 control the foundation) are not easily available on the web.  I've
17383 been unable to find out who is in the foundation board, and have not
17384 seen any accounting information documenting how money is handled nor
17385 where is is spent in the foundation.  It is thus not obvious for an
17386 external observer who control The Xiph foundation, and for all I know
17387 it is possible for a single vendor to take control over the
17388 specification.  But it seem unlikely.</p>
17389
17390 <p><strong>Maintained by open not-for-profit organisation?</strong></p>
17391
17392 <p>Assuming that the Xiph foundation is the organisation its web pages
17393 claim it to be, this point is fulfilled.  If Xiph foundation is
17394 controlled by a single vendor, it isn't, but I have not found any
17395 documentation indicating this.</p>
17396
17397 <p>According to
17398 <a href="http://media.hiof.no/diverse/fad/rapport_4.pdf">a report</a>
17399 prepared by Audun Vaaler og Børre Ludvigsen for the Norwegian
17400 government, the Xiph foundation is a non-commercial organisation and
17401 the development process is open, transparent and non-Discrimatory.
17402 Until proven otherwise, I believe it make most sense to believe the
17403 report is correct.</p>
17404
17405 <p><strong>Specification freely available?</strong></p>
17406
17407 <p>The specification for the <a href="http://www.xiph.org/ogg/doc/">Ogg
17408 container format</a> and both the
17409 <a href="http://www.xiph.org/vorbis/doc/">Vorbis</a> and
17410 <a href="http://theora.org/doc/">Theora</a> codeces are available on
17411 the web.  This are the terms in the Vorbis and Theora specification:
17412
17413 <blockquote>
17414
17415 Anyone may freely use and distribute the Ogg and [Vorbis/Theora]
17416 specifications, whether in private, public, or corporate
17417 capacity. However, the Xiph.Org Foundation and the Ogg project reserve
17418 the right to set the Ogg [Vorbis/Theora] specification and certify
17419 specification compliance.
17420
17421 </blockquote>
17422
17423 <p>The Ogg container format is specified in IETF
17424 <a href="http://www.xiph.org/ogg/doc/rfc3533.txt">RFC 3533</a>, and
17425 this is the term:<p>
17426
17427 <blockquote>
17428
17429 <p>This document and translations of it may be copied and furnished to
17430 others, and derivative works that comment on or otherwise explain it
17431 or assist in its implementation may be prepared, copied, published and
17432 distributed, in whole or in part, without restriction of any kind,
17433 provided that the above copyright notice and this paragraph are
17434 included on all such copies and derivative works.  However, this
17435 document itself may not be modified in any way, such as by removing
17436 the copyright notice or references to the Internet Society or other
17437 Internet organizations, except as needed for the purpose of developing
17438 Internet standards in which case the procedures for copyrights defined
17439 in the Internet Standards process must be followed, or as required to
17440 translate it into languages other than English.</p>
17441
17442 <p>The limited permissions granted above are perpetual and will not be
17443 revoked by the Internet Society or its successors or assigns.</p>
17444 </blockquote>
17445
17446 <p>All these terms seem to allow unlimited distribution and use, an
17447 this term seem to be fulfilled.  There might be a problem with the
17448 missing permission to distribute modified versions of the text, and
17449 thus reuse it in other specifications.  Not quite sure if that is a
17450 requirement for the Digistan definition.</p>
17451
17452 <p><strong>Royalty-free?</strong></p>
17453
17454 <p>There are no known patent claims requiring royalties for the Ogg
17455 Theora format.
17456 <a href="http://www.streamingmedia.com/Articles/ReadArticle.aspx?ArticleID=65782">MPEG-LA</a>
17457 and
17458 <a href="http://yro.slashdot.org/story/10/04/30/237238/Steve-Jobs-Hints-At-Theora-Lawsuit">Steve
17459 Jobs</a> in Apple claim to know about some patent claims (submarine
17460 patents) against the Theora format, but no-one else seem to believe
17461 them.  Both Opera Software and the Mozilla Foundation have looked into
17462 this and decided to implement Ogg Theora support in their browsers
17463 without paying any royalties.  For now the claims from MPEG-LA and
17464 Steve Jobs seem more like FUD to scare people to use the H.264 codec
17465 than any real problem with Ogg Theora.</p>
17466
17467 <p><strong>No constraints on re-use?</strong></p>
17468
17469 <p>I am not aware of any constraints on re-use.</p>
17470
17471 <p><strong>Conclusion</strong></p>
17472
17473 <p>3 of 5 requirements seem obviously fulfilled, and the remaining 2
17474 depend on the governing structure of the Xiph foundation.  Given the
17475 background report used by the Norwegian government, I believe it is
17476 safe to assume the last two requirements are fulfilled too, but it
17477 would be nice if the Xiph foundation web site made it easier to verify
17478 this.</p>
17479
17480 <p>It would be nice to see other analysis of other specifications to
17481 see if they are free and open standards.</p>
17482
17483       </div>
17484       <div class="tags">
17485
17486
17487         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/h264">h264</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>.
17488
17489
17490       </div>
17491     </div>
17492     <div class="padding"></div>
17493
17494     <div class="entry">
17495       <div class="title">
17496         <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>
17497       </div>
17498       <div class="date">
17499         25th December 2010
17500       </div>
17501       <div class="body">
17502         <p>A few days ago
17503 <a href="http://www.idg.no/computerworld/article189879.ece">an
17504 article</a> in the Norwegian Computerworld magazine about how version
17505 2.0 of
17506 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Interoperability_Framework">European
17507 Interoperability Framework</a> has been successfully lobbied by the
17508 proprietary software industry to remove the focus on free software.
17509 Nothing very surprising there, given
17510 <a href="http://news.slashdot.org/story/10/03/29/2115235/Open-Source-Open-Standards-Under-Attack-In-Europe">earlier
17511 reports</a> on how Microsoft and others have stacked the committees in
17512 this work.  But I find this very sad.   The definition of
17513 <a href="http://www.nuug.no/dokumenter/standard-presse-def-200506.txt">an
17514 open standard from version 1</a> was very good, and something I
17515 believe should be used also in the future, alongside
17516 <a href="http://www.digistan.org/open-standard:definition">the
17517 definition from Digistan</A>.  Version 2 have removed the open
17518 standard definition from its content.</p>
17519
17520 <p>Anyway, the news reminded me of the great reply sent by Dr. Edgar
17521 Villanueva, congressman in Peru at the time, to Microsoft as a reply
17522 to Microsofts attack on his proposal regarding the use of free software
17523 in the public sector in Peru.  As the text was not available from a
17524 few of the URLs where it used to be available, I copy it here from
17525 <a href="http://gnuwin.epfl.ch/articles/en/reponseperou/villanueva_to_ms.html">my
17526 source</a> to ensure it is available also in the future.  Some
17527 background information about that story is available in
17528 <a href="http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/6099">an article</a> from
17529 Linux Journal in 2002.</p>
17530
17531 <blockquote>
17532 <p>Lima, 8th of April, 2002<br>
17533 To: Señor JUAN ALBERTO GONZÁLEZ<br>
17534 General Manager of Microsoft Perú</p>
17535
17536 <p>Dear Sir:</p>
17537
17538 <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>
17539
17540 <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>
17541
17542 <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>
17543
17544 <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>
17545
17546 <p>
17547 <ul>
17548 <li>Free access to public information by the citizen. </li>
17549 <li>Permanence of public data. </li>
17550 <li>Security of the State and citizens.</li>
17551 </ul>
17552 </p>
17553
17554 <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>
17555
17556 <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>
17557
17558 <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>
17559
17560 <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>
17561
17562 <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>
17563
17564
17565 <p>From reading the Bill it will be clear that once passed:<br>
17566 <li>the law does not forbid the production of proprietary software</li>
17567 <li>the law does not forbid the sale of proprietary software</li>
17568 <li>the law does not specify which concrete software to use</li>
17569 <li>the law does not dictate the supplier from whom software will be bought</li>
17570 <li>the law does not limit the terms under which a software product can be licensed.</li>
17571
17572 </p>
17573
17574 <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>
17575
17576 <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>
17577
17578 <p>As for the observations you have made, we will now go on to analyze them in detail:</p>
17579
17580 <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>
17581
17582 <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>
17583
17584 <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>
17585
17586 <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>
17587
17588 <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>
17589
17590 <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>
17591
17592 <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>
17593
17594 <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>
17595
17596 <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>
17597
17598 <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>
17599
17600 <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>
17601
17602 <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>
17603
17604 <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>
17605
17606 <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>
17607
17608 <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>
17609
17610 <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>
17611
17612 <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>
17613
17614 <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>
17615
17616 <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>
17617
17618 <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>
17619
17620 <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>
17621
17622 <p>On security:</p>
17623
17624 <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>
17625
17626 <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>
17627
17628 <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>
17629
17630 <p>In respect of the guarantee:</p>
17631
17632 <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>
17633
17634 <p>On Intellectual Property:</p>
17635
17636 <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>
17637
17638 <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>
17639
17640 <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>
17641
17642 <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>
17643
17644 <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>
17645
17646 <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>
17647
17648 <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>
17649
17650 <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>
17651
17652 <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>
17653
17654 <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>
17655
17656 <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>
17657
17658 <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>
17659
17660 <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>
17661
17662 <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>
17663
17664 <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>
17665
17666 <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>
17667
17668 <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>
17669
17670 <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>
17671
17672 <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>
17673
17674 <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>
17675
17676 <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>
17677
17678 <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>
17679
17680 <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>
17681
17682 <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>
17683
17684 <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>
17685
17686 <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>
17687
17688 <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>
17689
17690 <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>
17691
17692 <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>
17693
17694 <p>Cordially,<br>
17695 DR. EDGAR DAVID VILLANUEVA NUÑEZ<br>
17696 Congressman of the Republic of Perú.</p>
17697 </blockquote>
17698
17699       </div>
17700       <div class="tags">
17701
17702
17703         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>.
17704
17705
17706       </div>
17707     </div>
17708     <div class="padding"></div>
17709
17710     <div class="entry">
17711       <div class="title">
17712         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Officeshots_still_going_strong.html">Officeshots still going strong</a>
17713       </div>
17714       <div class="date">
17715         25th December 2010
17716       </div>
17717       <div class="body">
17718         <p>Half a year ago I
17719 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Officeshots_taking_shape.html">wrote
17720 a bit</a> about <a href="http://www.officeshots.org/">OfficeShots</a>,
17721 a web service to allow anyone to test how ODF documents are handled by
17722 the different programs reading and writing the ODF format.</p>
17723
17724 <p>I just had a look at the service, and it seem to be going strong.
17725 Very interesting to see the results reported in the gallery, how
17726 different Office implementations handle different ODF features.  Sad
17727 to see that KOffice was not doing it very well, and happy to see that
17728 LibreOffice has been tested already (but sadly not listed as a option
17729 for OfficeShots users yet).  I am glad to see that the ODF community
17730 got such a great test tool available.</p>
17731
17732       </div>
17733       <div class="tags">
17734
17735
17736         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>.
17737
17738
17739       </div>
17740     </div>
17741     <div class="padding"></div>
17742
17743     <div class="entry">
17744       <div class="title">
17745         <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>
17746       </div>
17747       <div class="date">
17748         22nd December 2010
17749       </div>
17750       <div class="body">
17751         <p>The last few days I have spent at work here at the <a
17752 href="http://www.uio.no/">University of Oslo</a> testing if the new
17753 batch of computers will work with Linux.  Every year for the last few
17754 years the university have organised shared bid of a few thousand
17755 computers, and this year HP won the bid.  Two different desktops and
17756 five different laptops are on the list this year.  We in the UNIX
17757 group want to know which one of these computers work well with RHEL
17758 and Ubuntu, the two Linux distributions we currently handle at the
17759 university.</p>
17760
17761 <p>My test method is simple, and I share it here to get feedback and
17762 perhaps inspire others to test hardware as well.  To test, I PXE
17763 install the OS version of choice, and log in as my normal user and run
17764 a few applications and plug in selected pieces of hardware.  When
17765 something fail, I make a note about this in the test matrix and move
17766 on.  If I have some spare time I try to report the bug to the OS
17767 vendor, but as I only have the machines for a short time, I rarely
17768 have the time to do this for all the problems I find.</p>
17769
17770 <p>Anyway, to get to the point of this post.  Here is the simple tests
17771 I perform on a new model.</p>
17772
17773 <ul>
17774
17775 <li>Is PXE installation working?  I'm testing with RHEL6, Ubuntu Lucid
17776 and Ubuntu Maverik at the moment.  If I feel like it, I also test with
17777 RHEL5 and Debian Edu/Squeeze.</li>
17778
17779 <li>Is X.org working?  If the graphical login screen show up after
17780 installation, X.org is working.</li>
17781
17782 <li>Is hardware accelerated OpenGL working?  Running glxgears (in
17783 package mesa-utils on Ubuntu) and writing down the frames per second
17784 reported by the program.</li>
17785
17786 <li>Is sound working?  With Gnome and KDE, a sound is played when
17787 logging in, and if I can hear this the test is successful.  If there
17788 are several audio exits on the machine, I try them all and check if
17789 the Gnome/KDE audio mixer can control where to send the sound.  I
17790 normally test this by playing
17791 <a href="http://www.nuug.no/aktiviteter/20101012-chef/ ">a HTML5
17792 video</a> in Firefox/Iceweasel.</li>
17793
17794 <li>Is the USB subsystem working?  I test this by plugging in a USB
17795 memory stick and see if Gnome/KDE notices this.</li>
17796
17797 <li>Is the CD/DVD player working?  I test this by inserting any CD/DVD
17798 I have lying around, and see if Gnome/KDE notices this.</li>
17799
17800 <li>Is any built in camera working?  Test using cheese, and see if a
17801 picture from the v4l device show up.</li>
17802
17803 <li>Is bluetooth working?  Use the Gnome/KDE browsing tool to see if
17804 any bluetooth devices are discovered.  In my office, I normally see a
17805 few.</li>
17806
17807 <li>For laptops, is the SD or Compaq Flash reader working.  I have
17808 memory modules lying around, and stick them in and see if Gnome/KDE
17809 notice this.</li>
17810
17811 <li>For laptops, is suspend/hibernate working?  I'm testing if the
17812 special button work, and if the laptop continue to work after
17813 resume.</li>
17814
17815 <li>For laptops, is the extra buttons working, like audio level,
17816 adjusting background light, switching on/off external video output,
17817 switching on/off wifi, bluetooth, etc?  The set of buttons differ from
17818 laptop to laptop, so I just write down which are working and which are
17819 not.</li>
17820
17821 <li>Some laptops have smart card readers, finger print readers,
17822 acceleration sensors etc.  I rarely test these, as I do not know how
17823 to quickly test if they are working or not, so I only document their
17824 existence.</li>
17825
17826 </ul>
17827
17828 <p>By now I suspect you are really curious what the test results are
17829 for the HP machines I am testing.  I'm not done yet, so I will report
17830 the test results later.  For now I can report that HP 8100 Elite work
17831 fine, and hibernation fail with HP EliteBook 8440p on Ubuntu Lucid,
17832 and audio fail on RHEL6.  Ubuntu Maverik worked with 8440p.  As you
17833 can see, I have most machines left to test.  One interesting
17834 observation is that Ubuntu Lucid has almost twice the frame rate than
17835 RHEL6 with glxgears.  No idea why.</p>
17836
17837       </div>
17838       <div class="tags">
17839
17840
17841         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>.
17842
17843
17844       </div>
17845     </div>
17846     <div class="padding"></div>
17847
17848     <div class="entry">
17849       <div class="title">
17850         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Some_thoughts_on_BitCoins.html">Some thoughts on BitCoins</a>
17851       </div>
17852       <div class="date">
17853         11th December 2010
17854       </div>
17855       <div class="body">
17856         <p>As I continue to explore
17857 <a href="http://www.bitcoin.org/">BitCoin</a>, I've starting to wonder
17858 what properties the system have, and how it will be affected by laws
17859 and regulations here in Norway.  Here are some random notes.</p>
17860
17861 <p>One interesting thing to note is that since the transactions are
17862 verified using a peer to peer network, all details about a transaction
17863 is known to everyone.  This means that if a BitCoin address has been
17864 published like I did with mine in my initial post about BitCoin, it is
17865 possible for everyone to see how many BitCoins have been transfered to
17866 that address.  There is even a web service to look at the details for
17867 all transactions.  There I can see that my address
17868 <a href="http://blockexplorer.com/address/15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</a>
17869 have received 16.06 Bitcoin, the
17870 <a href="http://blockexplorer.com/address/1LfdGnGuWkpSJgbQySxxCWhv8MHqvwst3">1LfdGnGuWkpSJgbQySxxCWhv8MHqvwst3</a>
17871 address of Simon Phipps have received 181.97 BitCoin and the address
17872 <a href="http://blockexplorer.com/address/1MCwBbhNGp5hRm5rC1Aims2YFRe2SXPYKt">1MCwBbhNGp5hRm5rC1Aims2YFRe2SXPYKt</A>
17873 of EFF have received 2447.38 BitCoins so far.  Thank you to each and
17874 every one of you that donated bitcoins to support my activity. The
17875 fact that anyone can see how much money was transfered to a given
17876 address make it more obvious why the BitCoin community recommend to
17877 generate and hand out a new address for each transaction.  I'm told
17878 there is no way to track which addresses belong to a given person or
17879 organisation without the person or organisation revealing it
17880 themselves, as Simon, EFF and I have done.</p>
17881
17882 <p>In Norway, and in most other countries, there are laws and
17883 regulations limiting how much money one can transfer across the border
17884 without declaring it.  There are money laundering, tax and accounting
17885 laws and regulations I would expect to apply to the use of BitCoin.
17886 If the Skolelinux foundation
17887 (<a href="http://linuxiskolen.no/slxdebianlabs/donations.html">SLX
17888 Debian Labs</a>) were to accept donations in BitCoin in addition to
17889 normal bank transfers like EFF is doing, how should this be accounted?
17890 Given that it is impossible to know if money can cross the border or
17891 not, should everything or nothing be declared?  What exchange rate
17892 should be used when calculating taxes?  Would receivers have to pay
17893 income tax if the foundation were to pay Skolelinux contributors in
17894 BitCoin?  I have no idea, but it would be interesting to know.</p>
17895
17896 <p>For a currency to be useful and successful, it must be trusted and
17897 accepted by a lot of users.  It must be possible to get easy access to
17898 the currency (as a wage or using currency exchanges), and it must be
17899 easy to spend it.  At the moment BitCoin seem fairly easy to get
17900 access to, but there are very few places to spend it.  I am not really
17901 a regular user of any of the vendor types currently accepting BitCoin,
17902 so I wonder when my kind of shop would start accepting BitCoins.  I
17903 would like to buy electronics, travels and subway tickets, not herbs
17904 and books. :) The currency is young, and this will improve over time
17905 if it become popular, but I suspect regular banks will start to lobby
17906 to get BitCoin declared illegal if it become popular.  I'm sure they
17907 will claim it is helping fund terrorism and money laundering (which
17908 probably would be true, as is any currency in existence), but I
17909 believe the problems should be solved elsewhere and not by blaming
17910 currencies.</p>
17911
17912 <p>The process of creating new BitCoins is called mining, and it is
17913 CPU intensive process that depend on a bit of luck as well (as one is
17914 competing against all the other miners currently spending CPU cycles
17915 to see which one get the next lump of cash).  The "winner" get 50
17916 BitCoin when this happen.  Yesterday I came across the obvious way to
17917 join forces to increase ones changes of getting at least some coins,
17918 by coordinating the work on mining BitCoins across several machines
17919 and people, and sharing the result if one is lucky and get the 50
17920 BitCoins.  Check out
17921 <a href="http://www.bluishcoder.co.nz/bitcoin-pool/">BitCoin Pool</a>
17922 if this sounds interesting.  I have not had time to try to set up a
17923 machine to participate there yet, but have seen that running on ones
17924 own for a few days have not yield any BitCoins througth mining
17925 yet.</p>
17926
17927 <p>Update 2010-12-15: Found an <a
17928 href="http://inertia.posterous.com/reply-to-the-underground-economist-why-bitcoi">interesting
17929 criticism</a> of bitcoin.  Not quite sure how valid it is, but thought
17930 it was interesting to read.  The arguments presented seem to be
17931 equally valid for gold, which was used as a currency for many years.</p>
17932
17933       </div>
17934       <div class="tags">
17935
17936
17937         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>.
17938
17939
17940       </div>
17941     </div>
17942     <div class="padding"></div>
17943
17944     <div class="entry">
17945       <div class="title">
17946         <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>
17947       </div>
17948       <div class="date">
17949         10th December 2010
17950       </div>
17951       <div class="body">
17952         <p>With this weeks lawless
17953 <a href="http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/12/06/wikileaks/index.html">governmental
17954 attacks</a> on Wikileak and
17955 <a href="http://www.salon.com/technology/dan_gillmor/2010/12/06/war_on_speech">free
17956 speech</a>, it has become obvious that PayPal, visa and mastercard can
17957 not be trusted to handle money transactions.
17958 A blog post from
17959 <a href="http://webmink.com/2010/12/06/now-accepting-bitcoin/">Simon
17960 Phipps on bitcoin</a> reminded me about a project that a friend of
17961 mine mentioned earlier.  I decided to follow Simon's example, and get
17962 involved with <a href="http://www.bitcoin.org/">BitCoin</a>.  I got
17963 some help from my friend to get it all running, and he even handed me
17964 some bitcoins to get started.  I even donated a few bitcoins to Simon
17965 for helping me remember BitCoin.</p>
17966
17967 <p>So, what is bitcoins, you probably wonder?  It is a digital
17968 crypto-currency, decentralised and handled using peer-to-peer
17969 networks.  It allows anonymous transactions and prohibits central
17970 control over the transactions, making it impossible for governments
17971 and companies alike to block donations and other transactions.  The
17972 source is free software, and while the key dependency wxWidgets 2.9
17973 for the graphical user interface is missing in Debian, the command
17974 line client builds just fine.  Hopefully Jonas
17975 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/578157">will get the package into
17976 Debian</a> soon.</p>
17977
17978 <p>Bitcoins can be converted to other currencies, like USD and EUR.
17979 There are <a href="http://www.bitcoin.org/trade">companies accepting
17980 bitcoins</a> when selling services and goods, and there are even
17981 currency "stock" markets where the exchange rate is decided.  There
17982 are not many users so far, but the concept seems promising.  If you
17983 want to get started and lack a friend with any bitcoins to spare,
17984 you can even get
17985 <a href="https://freebitcoins.appspot.com/">some for free</a> (0.05
17986 bitcoin at the time of writing).  Use
17987 <a href="http://www.bitcoinwatch.com/">BitcoinWatch</a> to keep an eye
17988 on the current exchange rates.</p>
17989
17990 <p>As an experiment, I have decided to set up bitcoind on one of my
17991 machines.  If you want to support my activity, please send Bitcoin
17992 donations to the address
17993 <b>15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</b>.  Thank you!</p>
17994
17995       </div>
17996       <div class="tags">
17997
17998
17999         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>.
18000
18001
18002       </div>
18003     </div>
18004     <div class="padding"></div>
18005
18006     <div class="entry">
18007       <div class="title">
18008         <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>
18009       </div>
18010       <div class="date">
18011          9th December 2010
18012       </div>
18013       <div class="body">
18014         <p>A few days ago, I was introduces to some students in the robot
18015 student assosiation <a href="http://www.robotica.no/">Robotica
18016 Osloensis</a> at the University of Oslo where I work, who planned to
18017 get their own 3D printer.  They wanted to learn from me based on my
18018 work in the area.  After having a short lunch meeting with them, I
18019 offered them to borrow my reprap kit, as I never had time to complete
18020 the build and this seem unlike to change any time soon.  I look
18021 forward to see how this goes.  This monday their volunteer driver
18022 picked up my kit and drove it to their lab, and tomorrow I am told the
18023 last exam is over so they can start work on getting the 3D printer
18024 operational.</p>
18025
18026 <p>The robotic group have already build several robots on their own,
18027 and seem capable of getting the reprap operational.  I really look
18028 forward to being able to print all the cool 3D designs published on
18029 <a href="http://www.thingiverse.com/">Thingiverse</a>.  I even got
18030 some 3D scans I got made during Dagen@IFI when one of the groups at
18031 the computer science department at the university demonstrated their
18032 very cool 3D scanner.</p>
18033
18034       </div>
18035       <div class="tags">
18036
18037
18038         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>.
18039
18040
18041       </div>
18042     </div>
18043     <div class="padding"></div>
18044
18045     <div class="entry">
18046       <div class="title">
18047         <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>
18048       </div>
18049       <div class="date">
18050         29th November 2010
18051       </div>
18052       <div class="body">
18053         <p>On friday, the first Debian Edu / Skolelinux
18054 <a href="http://www.friprogramvareiskolen.no/Gathering/2010-12-03-05-Oslo">development
18055 gathering</a> in a long time take place here in Oslo, Norway.  I
18056 really look forward to seeing all the good people working on the
18057 Squeeze release.  The gathering is open for everyone interested in
18058 learning more about Debian Edu / Skolelinux.</p>
18059
18060 <p>On Saturday, the Norwegian member organization taking care of
18061 organizing these development gatherings, Fri Programvare i Skolen,
18062 will hold its
18063 <a href="http://friprogramvareiskolen.no/Genfors/2010">General Assembly
18064 for 2010</a>.  Membership is open for all, and currently there are 388
18065 people registered as members.  Last year 32 members cast their vote in
18066 the memberdb based election system.  I hope more people find time to
18067 vote this year.</p>
18068
18069       </div>
18070       <div class="tags">
18071
18072
18073         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>.
18074
18075
18076       </div>
18077     </div>
18078     <div class="padding"></div>
18079
18080     <div class="entry">
18081       <div class="title">
18082         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Why_isn_t_Debian_Edu_using_VLC_.html">Why isn't Debian Edu using VLC?</a>
18083       </div>
18084       <div class="date">
18085         27th November 2010
18086       </div>
18087       <div class="body">
18088         <p>In the latest issue of Linux Journal, the readers choices were
18089 presented, and the winner among the multimedia player were VLC.
18090 Personally, I like VLC, and it is my player of choice when I first try
18091 to play a video file or stream.  Only if VLC fail will I drag out
18092 gmplayer to see if it can do better.  The reason is mostly the failure
18093 model and trust.  When VLC fail, it normally pop up a error message
18094 reporting the problem.  When mplayer fail, it normally segfault or
18095 just hangs.  The latter failure mode drain my trust in the program.<p>
18096
18097 <p>But even if VLC is my player of choice, we have choosen to use
18098 mplayer in <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian
18099 Edu/Skolelinux</a>.  The reason is simple.  We need a good browser
18100 plugin to play web videos seamlessly, and the VLC browser plugin is
18101 not very good.  For example, it lack in-line control buttons, so there
18102 is no way for the user to pause the video.  Also, when I
18103 <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/BrowserMultimedia">last
18104 tested the browser plugins</a> available in Debian, the VLC plugin
18105 failed on several video pages where mplayer based plugins worked.  If
18106 the browser plugin for VLC was as good as the gecko-mediaplayer
18107 package (which uses mplayer), we would switch.</P>
18108
18109 <p>While VLC is a good player, its user interface is slightly
18110 annoying.  The most annoying feature is its inconsistent use of
18111 keyboard shortcuts.  When the player is in full screen mode, its
18112 shortcuts are different from when it is playing the video in a window.
18113 For example, space only work as pause when in full screen mode.  I
18114 wish it had consisten shortcuts and that space also would work when in
18115 window mode.  Another nice shortcut in gmplayer is [enter] to restart
18116 the current video.  It is very nice when playing short videos from the
18117 web and want to restart it when new people arrive to have a look at
18118 what is going on.</p>
18119
18120       </div>
18121       <div class="tags">
18122
18123
18124         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>.
18125
18126
18127       </div>
18128     </div>
18129     <div class="padding"></div>
18130
18131     <div class="entry">
18132       <div class="title">
18133         <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>
18134       </div>
18135       <div class="date">
18136         22nd November 2010
18137       </div>
18138       <div class="body">
18139         <p>Michael Biebl suggested to me on IRC, that I changed my automated
18140 upgrade testing of the
18141 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/~pere/debian-upgrade-testing/">Lenny
18142 Gnome and KDE Desktop</a> to do <tt>apt-get autoremove</tt> when using apt-get.
18143 This seem like a very good idea, so I adjusted by test scripts and
18144 can now present the updated result from today:</p>
18145
18146 <p>This is for Gnome:</p>
18147
18148 <p>Installed using apt-get, missing with aptitude</p>
18149
18150 <blockquote><p>
18151   apache2.2-bin
18152   aptdaemon
18153   baobab
18154   binfmt-support
18155   browser-plugin-gnash
18156   cheese-common
18157   cli-common
18158   cups-pk-helper
18159   dmz-cursor-theme
18160   empathy
18161   empathy-common
18162   freedesktop-sound-theme
18163   freeglut3
18164   gconf-defaults-service
18165   gdm-themes
18166   gedit-plugins
18167   geoclue
18168   geoclue-hostip
18169   geoclue-localnet
18170   geoclue-manual
18171   geoclue-yahoo
18172   gnash
18173   gnash-common
18174   gnome
18175   gnome-backgrounds
18176   gnome-cards-data
18177   gnome-codec-install
18178   gnome-core
18179   gnome-desktop-environment
18180   gnome-disk-utility
18181   gnome-screenshot
18182   gnome-search-tool
18183   gnome-session-canberra
18184   gnome-system-log
18185   gnome-themes-extras
18186   gnome-themes-more
18187   gnome-user-share
18188   gstreamer0.10-fluendo-mp3
18189   gstreamer0.10-tools
18190   gtk2-engines
18191   gtk2-engines-pixbuf
18192   gtk2-engines-smooth
18193   hamster-applet
18194   libapache2-mod-dnssd
18195   libapr1
18196   libaprutil1
18197   libaprutil1-dbd-sqlite3
18198   libaprutil1-ldap
18199   libart2.0-cil
18200   libboost-date-time1.42.0
18201   libboost-python1.42.0
18202   libboost-thread1.42.0
18203   libchamplain-0.4-0
18204   libchamplain-gtk-0.4-0
18205   libcheese-gtk18
18206   libclutter-gtk-0.10-0
18207   libcryptui0
18208   libdiscid0
18209   libelf1
18210   libepc-1.0-2
18211   libepc-common
18212   libepc-ui-1.0-2
18213   libfreerdp-plugins-standard
18214   libfreerdp0
18215   libgconf2.0-cil
18216   libgdata-common
18217   libgdata7
18218   libgdu-gtk0
18219   libgee2
18220   libgeoclue0
18221   libgexiv2-0
18222   libgif4
18223   libglade2.0-cil
18224   libglib2.0-cil
18225   libgmime2.4-cil
18226   libgnome-vfs2.0-cil
18227   libgnome2.24-cil
18228   libgnomepanel2.24-cil
18229   libgpod-common
18230   libgpod4
18231   libgtk2.0-cil
18232   libgtkglext1
18233   libgtksourceview2.0-common
18234   libmono-addins-gui0.2-cil
18235   libmono-addins0.2-cil
18236   libmono-cairo2.0-cil
18237   libmono-corlib2.0-cil
18238   libmono-i18n-west2.0-cil
18239   libmono-posix2.0-cil
18240   libmono-security2.0-cil
18241   libmono-sharpzip2.84-cil
18242   libmono-system2.0-cil
18243   libmtp8
18244   libmusicbrainz3-6
18245   libndesk-dbus-glib1.0-cil
18246   libndesk-dbus1.0-cil
18247   libopal3.6.8
18248   libpolkit-gtk-1-0
18249   libpt2.6.7
18250   libpython2.6
18251   librpm1
18252   librpmio1
18253   libsdl1.2debian
18254   libsrtp0
18255   libssh-4
18256   libtelepathy-farsight0
18257   libtelepathy-glib0
18258   libtidy-0.99-0
18259   media-player-info
18260   mesa-utils
18261   mono-2.0-gac
18262   mono-gac
18263   mono-runtime
18264   nautilus-sendto
18265   nautilus-sendto-empathy
18266   p7zip-full
18267   pkg-config
18268   python-aptdaemon
18269   python-aptdaemon-gtk
18270   python-axiom
18271   python-beautifulsoup
18272   python-bugbuddy
18273   python-clientform
18274   python-coherence
18275   python-configobj
18276   python-crypto
18277   python-cupshelpers
18278   python-elementtree
18279   python-epsilon
18280   python-evolution
18281   python-feedparser
18282   python-gdata
18283   python-gdbm
18284   python-gst0.10
18285   python-gtkglext1
18286   python-gtksourceview2
18287   python-httplib2
18288   python-louie
18289   python-mako
18290   python-markupsafe
18291   python-mechanize
18292   python-nevow
18293   python-notify
18294   python-opengl
18295   python-openssl
18296   python-pam
18297   python-pkg-resources
18298   python-pyasn1
18299   python-pysqlite2
18300   python-rdflib
18301   python-serial
18302   python-tagpy
18303   python-twisted-bin
18304   python-twisted-conch
18305   python-twisted-core
18306   python-twisted-web
18307   python-utidylib
18308   python-webkit
18309   python-xdg
18310   python-zope.interface
18311   remmina
18312   remmina-plugin-data
18313   remmina-plugin-rdp
18314   remmina-plugin-vnc
18315   rhythmbox-plugin-cdrecorder
18316   rhythmbox-plugins
18317   rpm-common
18318   rpm2cpio
18319   seahorse-plugins
18320   shotwell
18321   software-center
18322   system-config-printer-udev
18323   telepathy-gabble
18324   telepathy-mission-control-5
18325   telepathy-salut
18326   tomboy
18327   totem
18328   totem-coherence
18329   totem-mozilla
18330   totem-plugins
18331   transmission-common
18332   xdg-user-dirs
18333   xdg-user-dirs-gtk
18334   xserver-xephyr
18335 </p></blockquote>
18336
18337 <p>Installed using apt-get, removed with aptitude</p>
18338
18339 <blockquote><p>
18340   cheese
18341   ekiga
18342   eog
18343   epiphany-extensions
18344   evolution-exchange
18345   fast-user-switch-applet
18346   file-roller
18347   gcalctool
18348   gconf-editor
18349   gdm
18350   gedit
18351   gedit-common
18352   gnome-games
18353   gnome-games-data
18354   gnome-nettool
18355   gnome-system-tools
18356   gnome-themes
18357   gnuchess
18358   gucharmap
18359   guile-1.8-libs
18360   libavahi-ui0
18361   libdmx1
18362   libgalago3
18363   libgtk-vnc-1.0-0
18364   libgtksourceview2.0-0
18365   liblircclient0
18366   libsdl1.2debian-alsa
18367   libspeexdsp1
18368   libsvga1
18369   rhythmbox
18370   seahorse
18371   sound-juicer
18372   system-config-printer
18373   totem-common
18374   transmission-gtk
18375   vinagre
18376   vino
18377 </p></blockquote>
18378
18379 <p>Installed using aptitude, missing with apt-get</p>
18380
18381 <blockquote><p>
18382   gstreamer0.10-gnomevfs
18383 </p></blockquote>
18384
18385 <p>Installed using aptitude, removed with apt-get</p>
18386
18387 <blockquote><p>
18388 [nothing]
18389 </p></blockquote>
18390
18391 <p>This is for KDE:</p>
18392
18393 <p>Installed using apt-get, missing with aptitude</p>
18394
18395 <blockquote><p>
18396   ksmserver
18397 </p></blockquote>
18398
18399 <p>Installed using apt-get, removed with aptitude</p>
18400
18401 <blockquote><p>
18402   kwin
18403   network-manager-kde
18404 </p></blockquote>
18405
18406 <p>Installed using aptitude, missing with apt-get</p>
18407
18408 <blockquote><p>
18409   arts
18410   dolphin
18411   freespacenotifier
18412   google-gadgets-gst
18413   google-gadgets-xul
18414   kappfinder
18415   kcalc
18416   kcharselect
18417   kde-core
18418   kde-plasma-desktop
18419   kde-standard
18420   kde-window-manager
18421   kdeartwork
18422   kdeartwork-emoticons
18423   kdeartwork-style
18424   kdeartwork-theme-icon
18425   kdebase
18426   kdebase-apps
18427   kdebase-workspace
18428   kdebase-workspace-bin
18429   kdebase-workspace-data
18430   kdeeject
18431   kdelibs
18432   kdeplasma-addons
18433   kdeutils
18434   kdewallpapers
18435   kdf
18436   kfloppy
18437   kgpg
18438   khelpcenter4
18439   kinfocenter
18440   konq-plugins-l10n
18441   konqueror-nsplugins
18442   kscreensaver
18443   kscreensaver-xsavers
18444   ktimer
18445   kwrite
18446   libgle3
18447   libkde4-ruby1.8
18448   libkonq5
18449   libkonq5-templates
18450   libnetpbm10
18451   libplasma-ruby
18452   libplasma-ruby1.8
18453   libqt4-ruby1.8
18454   marble-data
18455   marble-plugins
18456   netpbm
18457   nuvola-icon-theme
18458   plasma-dataengines-workspace
18459   plasma-desktop
18460   plasma-desktopthemes-artwork
18461   plasma-runners-addons
18462   plasma-scriptengine-googlegadgets
18463   plasma-scriptengine-python
18464   plasma-scriptengine-qedje
18465   plasma-scriptengine-ruby
18466   plasma-scriptengine-webkit
18467   plasma-scriptengines
18468   plasma-wallpapers-addons
18469   plasma-widget-folderview
18470   plasma-widget-networkmanagement
18471   ruby
18472   sweeper
18473   update-notifier-kde
18474   xscreensaver-data-extra
18475   xscreensaver-gl
18476   xscreensaver-gl-extra
18477   xscreensaver-screensaver-bsod
18478 </p></blockquote>
18479
18480 <p>Installed using aptitude, removed with apt-get</p>
18481
18482 <blockquote><p>
18483   ark
18484   google-gadgets-common
18485   google-gadgets-qt
18486   htdig
18487   kate
18488   kdebase-bin
18489   kdebase-data
18490   kdepasswd
18491   kfind
18492   klipper
18493   konq-plugins
18494   konqueror
18495   ksysguard
18496   ksysguardd
18497   libarchive1
18498   libcln6
18499   libeet1
18500   libeina-svn-06
18501   libggadget-1.0-0b
18502   libggadget-qt-1.0-0b
18503   libgps19
18504   libkdecorations4
18505   libkephal4
18506   libkonq4
18507   libkonqsidebarplugin4a
18508   libkscreensaver5
18509   libksgrd4
18510   libksignalplotter4
18511   libkunitconversion4
18512   libkwineffects1a
18513   libmarblewidget4
18514   libntrack-qt4-1
18515   libntrack0
18516   libplasma-geolocation-interface4
18517   libplasmaclock4a
18518   libplasmagenericshell4
18519   libprocesscore4a
18520   libprocessui4a
18521   libqalculate5
18522   libqedje0a
18523   libqtruby4shared2
18524   libqzion0a
18525   libruby1.8
18526   libscim8c2a
18527   libsmokekdecore4-3
18528   libsmokekdeui4-3
18529   libsmokekfile3
18530   libsmokekhtml3
18531   libsmokekio3
18532   libsmokeknewstuff2-3
18533   libsmokeknewstuff3-3
18534   libsmokekparts3
18535   libsmokektexteditor3
18536   libsmokekutils3
18537   libsmokenepomuk3
18538   libsmokephonon3
18539   libsmokeplasma3
18540   libsmokeqtcore4-3
18541   libsmokeqtdbus4-3
18542   libsmokeqtgui4-3
18543   libsmokeqtnetwork4-3
18544   libsmokeqtopengl4-3
18545   libsmokeqtscript4-3
18546   libsmokeqtsql4-3
18547   libsmokeqtsvg4-3
18548   libsmokeqttest4-3
18549   libsmokeqtuitools4-3
18550   libsmokeqtwebkit4-3
18551   libsmokeqtxml4-3
18552   libsmokesolid3
18553   libsmokesoprano3
18554   libtaskmanager4a
18555   libtidy-0.99-0
18556   libweather-ion4a
18557   libxklavier16
18558   libxxf86misc1
18559   okteta
18560   oxygencursors
18561   plasma-dataengines-addons
18562   plasma-scriptengine-superkaramba
18563   plasma-widget-lancelot
18564   plasma-widgets-addons
18565   plasma-widgets-workspace
18566   polkit-kde-1
18567   ruby1.8
18568   systemsettings
18569   update-notifier-common
18570 </p></blockquote>
18571
18572 <p>Running apt-get autoremove made the results using apt-get and
18573 aptitude a bit more similar, but there are still quite a lott of
18574 differences.  I have no idea what packages should be installed after
18575 the upgrade, but hope those that do can have a look.</p>
18576
18577       </div>
18578       <div class="tags">
18579
18580
18581         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>.
18582
18583
18584       </div>
18585     </div>
18586     <div class="padding"></div>
18587
18588     <div class="entry">
18589       <div class="title">
18590         <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>
18591       </div>
18592       <div class="date">
18593         22nd November 2010
18594       </div>
18595       <div class="body">
18596         <p>Most of the computers in use by the
18597 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu/Skolelinux project</a>
18598 are virtual machines.  And they have been Xen machines running on a
18599 fairly old IBM eserver xseries 345 machine, and we wanted to migrate
18600 them to KVM on a newer Dell PowerEdge 2950 host machine.  This was a
18601 bit harder that it could have been, because we set up the Xen virtual
18602 machines to get the virtual partitions from LVM, which as far as I
18603 know is not supported by KVM.  So to migrate, we had to convert
18604 several LVM logical volumes to partitions on a virtual disk file.</p>
18605
18606 <p>I found
18607 <a href="http://searchnetworking.techtarget.com.au/articles/35011-Six-steps-for-migrating-Xen-virtual-machines-to-KVM">a
18608 nice recipe</a> to do this, and wrote the following script to do the
18609 migration.  It uses qemu-img from the qemu package to make the disk
18610 image, parted to partition it, losetup and kpartx to present the disk
18611 image partions as devices, and dd to copy the data.  I NFS mounted the
18612 new servers storage area on the old server to do the migration.</p>
18613
18614 <pre>
18615 #!/bin/sh
18616
18617 # Based on
18618 # http://searchnetworking.techtarget.com.au/articles/35011-Six-steps-for-migrating-Xen-virtual-machines-to-KVM
18619
18620 set -e
18621 set -x
18622
18623 if [ -z "$1" ] ; then
18624     echo "Usage: $0 &lt;hostname&gt;"
18625     exit 1
18626 else
18627     host="$1"
18628 fi
18629
18630 if [ ! -e /dev/vg_data/$host-disk ] ; then
18631     echo "error: unable to find LVM volume for $host"
18632     exit 1
18633 fi
18634
18635 # Partitions need to be a bit bigger than the LVM LVs.  not sure why.
18636 disksize=$( lvs --units m | grep $host-disk | awk '{sum = sum + $4} END { print int(sum * 1.05) }')
18637 swapsize=$( lvs --units m | grep $host-swap | awk '{sum = sum + $4} END { print int(sum * 1.05) }')
18638 totalsize=$(( ( $disksize + $swapsize ) ))
18639
18640 img=$host.img
18641 #dd if=/dev/zero of=$img bs=1M count=$(( $disksize + $swapsize ))
18642 qemu-img create $img ${totalsize}MMaking room on the Debian Edu/Sqeeze DVD
18643
18644 parted $img mklabel msdos
18645 parted $img mkpart primary linux-swap 0 $disksize
18646 parted $img mkpart primary ext2 $disksize $totalsize
18647 parted $img set 1 boot on
18648
18649 modprobe dm-mod
18650 losetup /dev/loop0 $img
18651 kpartx -a /dev/loop0
18652
18653 dd if=/dev/vg_data/$host-disk of=/dev/mapper/loop0p1 bs=1M
18654 fsck.ext3 -f /dev/mapper/loop0p1 || true
18655 mkswap /dev/mapper/loop0p2
18656
18657 kpartx -d /dev/loop0
18658 losetup -d /dev/loop0
18659 </pre>
18660
18661 <p>The script is perhaps so simple that it is not copyrightable, but
18662 if it is, it is licenced using GPL v2 or later at your discretion.</p>
18663
18664 <p>After doing this, I booted a Debian CD in rescue mode in KVM with
18665 the new disk image attached, installed grub-pc and linux-image-686 and
18666 set up grub to boot from the disk image.  After this, the KVM machines
18667 seem to work just fine.</p>
18668
18669       </div>
18670       <div class="tags">
18671
18672
18673         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>.
18674
18675
18676       </div>
18677     </div>
18678     <div class="padding"></div>
18679
18680     <div class="entry">
18681       <div class="title">
18682         <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>
18683       </div>
18684       <div class="date">
18685         20th November 2010
18686       </div>
18687       <div class="body">
18688         <p>I'm still running upgrade testing of the
18689 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/~pere/debian-upgrade-testing/">Lenny
18690 Gnome and KDE Desktop</a>, but have not had time to spend on reporting the
18691 status.  Here is a short update based on a test I ran 20101118.</p>
18692
18693 <p>I still do not know what a correct migration should look like, so I
18694 report any differences between apt and aptitude and hope someone else
18695 can see if anything should be changed.</p>
18696
18697 <p>This is for Gnome:</p>
18698
18699 <p>Installed using apt-get, missing with aptitude</p>
18700
18701 <blockquote><p>
18702   apache2.2-bin aptdaemon at-spi baobab binfmt-support
18703   browser-plugin-gnash cheese-common cli-common cpp-4.3 cups-pk-helper
18704   dmz-cursor-theme empathy empathy-common finger
18705   freedesktop-sound-theme freeglut3 gconf-defaults-service gdm-themes
18706   gedit-plugins geoclue geoclue-hostip geoclue-localnet geoclue-manual
18707   geoclue-yahoo gnash gnash-common gnome gnome-backgrounds
18708   gnome-cards-data gnome-codec-install gnome-core
18709   gnome-desktop-environment gnome-disk-utility gnome-screenshot
18710   gnome-search-tool gnome-session-canberra gnome-spell
18711   gnome-system-log gnome-themes-extras gnome-themes-more
18712   gnome-user-share gs-common gstreamer0.10-fluendo-mp3
18713   gstreamer0.10-tools gtk2-engines gtk2-engines-pixbuf
18714   gtk2-engines-smooth hal-info hamster-applet libapache2-mod-dnssd
18715   libapr1 libaprutil1 libaprutil1-dbd-sqlite3 libaprutil1-ldap
18716   libart2.0-cil libatspi1.0-0 libboost-date-time1.42.0
18717   libboost-python1.42.0 libboost-thread1.42.0 libchamplain-0.4-0
18718   libchamplain-gtk-0.4-0 libcheese-gtk18 libclutter-gtk-0.10-0
18719   libcryptui0 libcupsys2 libdiscid0 libeel2-data libelf1 libepc-1.0-2
18720   libepc-common libepc-ui-1.0-2 libfreerdp-plugins-standard
18721   libfreerdp0 libgail-common libgconf2.0-cil libgdata-common libgdata7
18722   libgdl-1-common libgdu-gtk0 libgee2 libgeoclue0 libgexiv2-0 libgif4
18723   libglade2.0-cil libglib2.0-cil libgmime2.4-cil libgnome-vfs2.0-cil
18724   libgnome2.24-cil libgnomepanel2.24-cil libgnomeprint2.2-data
18725   libgnomeprintui2.2-common libgnomevfs2-bin libgpod-common libgpod4
18726   libgtk2.0-cil libgtkglext1 libgtksourceview-common
18727   libgtksourceview2.0-common libmono-addins-gui0.2-cil
18728   libmono-addins0.2-cil libmono-cairo2.0-cil libmono-corlib2.0-cil
18729   libmono-i18n-west2.0-cil libmono-posix2.0-cil
18730   libmono-security2.0-cil libmono-sharpzip2.84-cil
18731   libmono-system2.0-cil libmtp8 libmusicbrainz3-6
18732   libndesk-dbus-glib1.0-cil libndesk-dbus1.0-cil libopal3.6.8
18733   libpolkit-gtk-1-0 libpt-1.10.10-plugins-alsa
18734   libpt-1.10.10-plugins-v4l libpt2.6.7 libpython2.6 librpm1 librpmio1
18735   libsdl1.2debian libservlet2.4-java libsrtp0 libssh-4
18736   libtelepathy-farsight0 libtelepathy-glib0 libtidy-0.99-0
18737   libxalan2-java libxerces2-java media-player-info mesa-utils
18738   mono-2.0-gac mono-gac mono-runtime nautilus-sendto
18739   nautilus-sendto-empathy openoffice.org-writer2latex
18740   openssl-blacklist p7zip p7zip-full pkg-config python-4suite-xml
18741   python-aptdaemon python-aptdaemon-gtk python-axiom
18742   python-beautifulsoup python-bugbuddy python-clientform
18743   python-coherence python-configobj python-crypto python-cupshelpers
18744   python-cupsutils python-eggtrayicon python-elementtree
18745   python-epsilon python-evolution python-feedparser python-gdata
18746   python-gdbm python-gst0.10 python-gtkglext1 python-gtkmozembed
18747   python-gtksourceview2 python-httplib2 python-louie python-mako
18748   python-markupsafe python-mechanize python-nevow python-notify
18749   python-opengl python-openssl python-pam python-pkg-resources
18750   python-pyasn1 python-pysqlite2 python-rdflib python-serial
18751   python-tagpy python-twisted-bin python-twisted-conch
18752   python-twisted-core python-twisted-web python-utidylib python-webkit
18753   python-xdg python-zope.interface remmina remmina-plugin-data
18754   remmina-plugin-rdp remmina-plugin-vnc rhythmbox-plugin-cdrecorder
18755   rhythmbox-plugins rpm-common rpm2cpio seahorse-plugins shotwell
18756   software-center svgalibg1 system-config-printer-udev
18757   telepathy-gabble telepathy-mission-control-5 telepathy-salut tomboy
18758   totem totem-coherence totem-mozilla totem-plugins
18759   transmission-common xdg-user-dirs xdg-user-dirs-gtk xserver-xephyr
18760   zip
18761 </p></blockquote>
18762
18763 Installed using apt-get, removed with aptitude
18764
18765 <blockquote><p>
18766   arj bluez-utils cheese dhcdbd djvulibre-desktop ekiga eog
18767   epiphany-extensions epiphany-gecko evolution-exchange
18768   fast-user-switch-applet file-roller gcalctool gconf-editor gdm gedit
18769   gedit-common gnome-app-install gnome-games gnome-games-data
18770   gnome-nettool gnome-system-tools gnome-themes gnome-utils
18771   gnome-vfs-obexftp gnome-volume-manager gnuchess gucharmap
18772   guile-1.8-libs hal libavahi-compat-libdnssd1 libavahi-core5
18773   libavahi-ui0 libbind9-50 libbluetooth2 libcamel1.2-11 libcdio7
18774   libcucul0 libcurl3 libdirectfb-1.0-0 libdmx1 libdvdread3
18775   libedata-cal1.2-6 libedataserver1.2-9 libeel2-2.20 libepc-1.0-1
18776   libepc-ui-1.0-1 libexchange-storage1.2-3 libfaad0 libgadu3
18777   libgalago3 libgd2-noxpm libgda3-3 libgda3-common libggz2 libggzcore9
18778   libggzmod4 libgksu1.2-0 libgksuui1.0-1 libgmyth0 libgnome-desktop-2
18779   libgnome-pilot2 libgnomecups1.0-1 libgnomeprint2.2-0
18780   libgnomeprintui2.2-0 libgpod3 libgraphviz4 libgtk-vnc-1.0-0
18781   libgtkhtml2-0 libgtksourceview1.0-0 libgtksourceview2.0-0
18782   libgucharmap6 libhesiod0 libicu38 libisccc50 libisccfg50 libiw29
18783   libjaxp1.3-java-gcj libkpathsea4 liblircclient0 libltdl3 liblwres50
18784   libmagick++10 libmagick10 libmalaga7 libmozjs1d libmpfr1ldbl libmtp7
18785   libmysqlclient15off libnautilus-burn4 libneon27 libnm-glib0
18786   libnm-util0 libopal-2.2 libosp5 libparted1.8-10 libpisock9
18787   libpisync1 libpoppler-glib3 libpoppler3 libpt-1.10.10 libraw1394-8
18788   libsdl1.2debian-alsa libsensors3 libsexy2 libsmbios2 libsoup2.2-8
18789   libspeexdsp1 libssh2-1 libsuitesparse-3.1.0 libsvga1
18790   libswfdec-0.6-90 libtalloc1 libtotem-plparser10 libtrackerclient0
18791   libvoikko1 libxalan2-java-gcj libxerces2-java-gcj libxklavier12
18792   libxtrap6 libxxf86misc1 libzephyr3 mysql-common rhythmbox seahorse
18793   sound-juicer swfdec-gnome system-config-printer totem-common
18794   totem-gstreamer transmission-gtk vinagre vino w3c-dtd-xhtml wodim
18795 </p></blockquote>
18796
18797 <p>Installed using aptitude, missing with apt-get</p>
18798
18799 <blockquote><p>
18800   gstreamer0.10-gnomevfs
18801 </p></blockquote>
18802
18803 <p>Installed using aptitude, removed with apt-get</p>
18804
18805 <blockquote><p>
18806 [nothing]
18807 </p></blockquote>
18808
18809 <p>This is for KDE:</p>
18810
18811 <p>Installed using apt-get, missing with aptitude</p>
18812
18813 <blockquote><p>
18814   autopoint bomber bovo cantor cantor-backend-kalgebra cpp-4.3 dcoprss
18815   edict espeak espeak-data eyesapplet fifteenapplet finger gettext
18816   ghostscript-x git gnome-audio gnugo granatier gs-common
18817   gstreamer0.10-pulseaudio indi kaddressbook-plugins kalgebra
18818   kalzium-data kanjidic kapman kate-plugins kblocks kbreakout kbstate
18819   kde-icons-mono kdeaccessibility kdeaddons-kfile-plugins
18820   kdeadmin-kfile-plugins kdeartwork-misc kdeartwork-theme-window
18821   kdeedu kdeedu-data kdeedu-kvtml-data kdegames kdegames-card-data
18822   kdegames-mahjongg-data kdegraphics-kfile-plugins kdelirc
18823   kdemultimedia-kfile-plugins kdenetwork-kfile-plugins
18824   kdepim-kfile-plugins kdepim-kio-plugins kdessh kdetoys kdewebdev
18825   kdiamond kdnssd kfilereplace kfourinline kgeography-data kigo
18826   killbots kiriki klettres-data kmoon kmrml knewsticker-scripts
18827   kollision kpf krosspython ksirk ksmserver ksquares kstars-data
18828   ksudoku kubrick kweather libasound2-plugins libboost-python1.42.0
18829   libcfitsio3 libconvert-binhex-perl libcrypt-ssleay-perl libdb4.6++
18830   libdjvulibre-text libdotconf1.0 liberror-perl libespeak1
18831   libfinance-quote-perl libgail-common libgsl0ldbl libhtml-parser-perl
18832   libhtml-tableextract-perl libhtml-tagset-perl libhtml-tree-perl
18833   libio-stringy-perl libkdeedu4 libkdegames5 libkiten4 libkpathsea5
18834   libkrossui4 libmailtools-perl libmime-tools-perl
18835   libnews-nntpclient-perl libopenbabel3 libportaudio2 libpulse-browse0
18836   libservlet2.4-java libspeechd2 libtiff-tools libtimedate-perl
18837   libunistring0 liburi-perl libwww-perl libxalan2-java libxerces2-java
18838   lirc luatex marble networkstatus noatun-plugins
18839   openoffice.org-writer2latex palapeli palapeli-data parley
18840   parley-data poster psutils pulseaudio pulseaudio-esound-compat
18841   pulseaudio-module-x11 pulseaudio-utils quanta-data rocs rsync
18842   speech-dispatcher step svgalibg1 texlive-binaries texlive-luatex
18843   ttf-sazanami-gothic
18844 </p></blockquote>
18845
18846 <p>Installed using apt-get, removed with aptitude</p>
18847
18848 <blockquote><p>
18849   amor artsbuilder atlantik atlantikdesigner blinken bluez-utils cvs
18850   dhcdbd djvulibre-desktop imlib-base imlib11 kalzium kanagram kandy
18851   kasteroids katomic kbackgammon kbattleship kblackbox kbounce kbruch
18852   kcron kdat kdemultimedia-kappfinder-data kdeprint kdict kdvi kedit
18853   keduca kenolaba kfax kfaxview kfouleggs kgeography kghostview
18854   kgoldrunner khangman khexedit kiconedit kig kimagemapeditor
18855   kitchensync kiten kjumpingcube klatin klettres klickety klines
18856   klinkstatus kmag kmahjongg kmailcvt kmenuedit kmid kmilo kmines
18857   kmousetool kmouth kmplot knetwalk kodo kolf kommander konquest kooka
18858   kpager kpat kpdf kpercentage kpilot kpoker kpovmodeler krec
18859   kregexpeditor kreversi ksame ksayit kshisen ksig ksim ksirc ksirtet
18860   ksmiletris ksnake ksokoban kspaceduel kstars ksvg ksysv kteatime
18861   ktip ktnef ktouch ktron kttsd ktuberling kturtle ktux kuickshow
18862   kverbos kview kviewshell kvoctrain kwifimanager kwin kwin4 kwordquiz
18863   kworldclock kxsldbg libakode2 libarts1-akode libarts1-audiofile
18864   libarts1-mpeglib libarts1-xine libavahi-compat-libdnssd1
18865   libavahi-core5 libavc1394-0 libbind9-50 libbluetooth2
18866   libboost-python1.34.1 libcucul0 libcurl3 libcvsservice0
18867   libdirectfb-1.0-0 libdjvulibre21 libdvdread3 libfaad0 libfreebob0
18868   libgd2-noxpm libgraphviz4 libgsmme1c2a libgtkhtml2-0 libicu38
18869   libiec61883-0 libindex0 libisccc50 libisccfg50 libiw29
18870   libjaxp1.3-java-gcj libk3b3 libkcal2b libkcddb1 libkdeedu3
18871   libkdegames1 libkdepim1a libkgantt0 libkleopatra1 libkmime2
18872   libkpathsea4 libkpimexchange1 libkpimidentities1 libkscan1
18873   libksieve0 libktnef1 liblockdev1 libltdl3 liblwres50 libmagick10
18874   libmimelib1c2a libmodplug0c2 libmozjs1d libmpcdec3 libmpfr1ldbl
18875   libneon27 libnm-util0 libopensync0 libpisock9 libpoppler-glib3
18876   libpoppler-qt2 libpoppler3 libraw1394-8 librss1 libsensors3
18877   libsmbios2 libssh2-1 libsuitesparse-3.1.0 libswfdec-0.6-90
18878   libtalloc1 libxalan2-java-gcj libxerces2-java-gcj libxtrap6 lskat
18879   mpeglib network-manager-kde noatun pmount tex-common texlive-base
18880   texlive-common texlive-doc-base texlive-fonts-recommended tidy
18881   ttf-dustin ttf-kochi-gothic ttf-sjfonts
18882 </p></blockquote>
18883
18884 <p>Installed using aptitude, missing with apt-get</p>
18885
18886 <blockquote><p>
18887   dolphin kde-core kde-plasma-desktop kde-standard kde-window-manager
18888   kdeartwork kdebase kdebase-apps kdebase-workspace
18889   kdebase-workspace-bin kdebase-workspace-data kdeutils kscreensaver
18890   kscreensaver-xsavers libgle3 libkonq5 libkonq5-templates libnetpbm10
18891   netpbm plasma-widget-folderview plasma-widget-networkmanagement
18892   xscreensaver-data-extra xscreensaver-gl xscreensaver-gl-extra
18893   xscreensaver-screensaver-bsod
18894 </p></blockquote>
18895
18896 <p>Installed using aptitude, removed with apt-get</p>
18897
18898 <blockquote><p>
18899   kdebase-bin konq-plugins konqueror
18900 </p></blockquote>
18901
18902       </div>
18903       <div class="tags">
18904
18905
18906         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>.
18907
18908
18909       </div>
18910     </div>
18911     <div class="padding"></div>
18912
18913     <div class="entry">
18914       <div class="title">
18915         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Gnash_buildbot_slave_and_Debian_kfreebsd.html">Gnash buildbot slave and Debian kfreebsd</a>
18916       </div>
18917       <div class="date">
18918         20th November 2010
18919       </div>
18920       <div class="body">
18921         <p>Answering
18922 <a href="http://www.listware.net/201011/gnash-dev/67431-gnash-dev-buildbot-looking-for-slaves.html">the
18923 call from the Gnash project</a> for
18924 <a href="http://www.gnashdev.org:8010">buildbot</a> slaves to test the
18925 current source, I have set up a virtual KVM machine on the Debian
18926 Edu/Skolelinux virtualization host to test the git source on
18927 Debian/Squeeze.  I hope this can help the developers in getting new
18928 releases out more often.</p>
18929
18930 <p>As the developers want less main-stream build platforms tested to,
18931 I have considered setting up a <a
18932 href="http://www.debian.org/ports/kfreebsd-gnu/">Debian/kfreebsd</a>
18933 machine as well.  I have also considered using the kfreebsd
18934 architecture in Debian as a file server in NUUG to get access to the 5
18935 TB zfs volume we currently use to store DV video.  Because of this, I
18936 finally got around to do a test installation of Debian/Squeeze with
18937 kfreebsd.  Installation went fairly smooth, thought I noticed some
18938 visual glitches in the cdebconf dialogs (black cursor left on the
18939 screen at random locations).  Have not gotten very far with the
18940 testing.  Noticed cfdisk did not work, but fdisk did so it was not a
18941 fatal problem.  Have to spend some more time on it to see if it is
18942 useful as a file server for NUUG.  Will try to find time to set up a
18943 gnash buildbot slave on the Debian Edu/Skolelinux this weekend.</p>
18944
18945       </div>
18946       <div class="tags">
18947
18948
18949         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>.
18950
18951
18952       </div>
18953     </div>
18954     <div class="padding"></div>
18955
18956     <div class="entry">
18957       <div class="title">
18958         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_in_3D.html">Debian in 3D</a>
18959       </div>
18960       <div class="date">
18961          9th November 2010
18962       </div>
18963       <div class="body">
18964         <p><img src="http://thingiverse-production.s3.amazonaws.com/renders/23/e0/c4/f9/2b/debswagtdose_preview_medium.jpg"></p>
18965
18966 <p>3D printing is just great.  I just came across this Debian logo in
18967 3D linked in from
18968 <a href="http://blog.thingiverse.com/2010/11/09/participatory-branding/">the
18969 thingiverse blog</a>.</p>
18970
18971       </div>
18972       <div class="tags">
18973
18974
18975         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>.
18976
18977
18978       </div>
18979     </div>
18980     <div class="padding"></div>
18981
18982     <div class="entry">
18983       <div class="title">
18984         <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>
18985       </div>
18986       <div class="date">
18987          7th November 2010
18988       </div>
18989       <div class="body">
18990         <p>Prioritising packages for the Debian Edu /
18991 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Skolelinux</a> DVD, which is
18992 supposed provide a school with all the services and user applications
18993 needed on the pupils computer network has always been hard.  Even
18994 schools without Internet connections should be able to get Debian Edu
18995 working using this DVD.</p>
18996
18997 <p>The job became a lot harder when apt and aptitude started
18998 installing recommended packages by default.  We want the same set of
18999 packages to be installed when using the DVD and the netinst CD, and
19000 that means all recommended packages need to be on the DVD.  I created
19001 a patch for debian-cd in <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/601203">BTS
19002 report #601203</a> to do this, and since this change was applied to
19003 the Debian Edu DVD build, we have been seriously short on space.</p>
19004
19005 <p>A few days ago we decided to drop blender, wxmaxima and kicad from
19006 the default installation to save space on the DVD, believing that
19007 those needing these applications are few and can get them from the
19008 Debian archive.</p>
19009
19010 <p>Yesterday, I had a look what source packages to see which packages
19011 were using most space.  A few large packages are well know;
19012 openoffice.org, openclipart and fluid-soundfont.  But I also
19013 discovered that lilypond used 106 MiB and fglrx-driver used 53 MiB.
19014 The lilypond package is pulled in as a dependency for rosegarden, and
19015 when looking a bit closer I discovered that 99 MiB of the 106 MiB were
19016 the documentation package, which is recommended by the binary package.
19017 I decided to drop this documentation package from our DVD, as most of
19018 our users will use the GUI front-ends and do not need the lilypond
19019 documentation.  Similarly, I dropped the non-free fglrx-driver package
19020 which might be installed by d-i when its hardware is detected, as the
19021 free X driver should work.</p>
19022
19023 <p>With this change, we finally got space for the LXDE and Gnome
19024 desktop packages as well as the language specific packages making the
19025 DVD more useful again.</p>
19026
19027       </div>
19028       <div class="tags">
19029
19030
19031         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>.
19032
19033
19034       </div>
19035     </div>
19036     <div class="padding"></div>
19037
19038     <div class="entry">
19039       <div class="title">
19040         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Software_updates_2010_10_24.html">Software updates 2010-10-24</a>
19041       </div>
19042       <div class="date">
19043         24th October 2010
19044       </div>
19045       <div class="body">
19046         <p>Some updates.</p>
19047
19048 <p>My <a href="http://pledgebank.com/gnash-avm2">gnash pledge</a> to
19049 raise money for the project is going well.  The lower limit of 10
19050 signers was reached in 24 hours, and so far 13 people have signed it.
19051 More signers and more funding is most welcome, and I am really curious
19052 how far we can get before the time limit of December 24 is reached.
19053 :)</p>
19054
19055 <p>On the #gnash IRC channel on irc.freenode.net, I was just tipped
19056 about what appear to be a great code coverage tool capable of
19057 generating code coverage stats without any changes to the source code.
19058 It is called
19059 <a href="http://simonkagstrom.github.com/kcov/index.html">kcov</a>,
19060 and can be used using <tt>kcov &lt;directory&gt; &lt;binary&gt;</tt>.
19061 It is missing in Debian, but the git source built just fine in Squeeze
19062 after I installed libelf-dev, libdwarf-dev, pkg-config and
19063 libglib2.0-dev.  Failed to build in Lenny, but suspect that is
19064 solvable.  I hope kcov make it into Debian soon.</p>
19065
19066 <p>Finally found time to wrap up the release notes for <a
19067 href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-edu-announce/2010/10/msg00002.html">a
19068 new alpha release of Debian Edu</a>, and just published the second
19069 alpha test release of the Squeeze based Debian Edu /
19070 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Skolelinux</a>
19071 release.  Give it a try if you need a complete linux solution for your
19072 school, including central infrastructure server, workstations, thin
19073 client servers and diskless workstations.  A nice touch added
19074 yesterday is RDP support on the thin client servers, for windows
19075 clients to get a Linux desktop on request.</p>
19076
19077       </div>
19078       <div class="tags">
19079
19080
19081         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>.
19082
19083
19084       </div>
19085     </div>
19086     <div class="padding"></div>
19087
19088     <div class="entry">
19089       <div class="title">
19090         <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>
19091       </div>
19092       <div class="date">
19093         19th October 2010
19094       </div>
19095       <div class="body">
19096         <p><a href="http://www.getgnash.org/">The Gnash project</a> is the
19097 most promising solution for a Free Software Flash implementation. It
19098 has done great so far, but there is still far to go, and recently its
19099 funding has dried up.  I believe AVM2 support in Gnash is vital to the
19100 continued progress of the project, as more and more sites show up with
19101 AVM2 flash files.</p>
19102
19103 <p>To try to get funding for developing such support, I have started
19104 <a href="http://www.pledgebank.com/gnash-avm2">a pledge</a> with the
19105 following text:</P>
19106
19107 <p><blockquote>
19108
19109   <p>"I will pay 100$ to the Gnash project to develop AVM2 support but
19110   only if 10 other people will do the same."</p>
19111
19112   <p>- Petter Reinholdtsen, free software developer</p>
19113
19114   <p>Deadline to sign up by: 24th December 2010</p>
19115
19116   <p>The Gnash project need to get support for the new Flash file
19117   format AVM2 to work with a lot of sites using Flash on the
19118   web. Gnash already work with a lot of Flash sites using the old AVM1
19119   format, but more and more sites are using the AVM2 format these
19120   days. The project web page is available from
19121   http://www.getgnash.org/ . Gnash is a free software implementation
19122   of Adobe Flash, allowing those of us that do not accept the terms of
19123   the Adobe Flash license to get access to Flash sites.</p>
19124
19125   <p>The project need funding to get developers to put aside enough
19126   time to develop the AVM2 support, and this pledge is my way to try
19127   to get this to happen.</p>
19128
19129   <p>The project accept donations via the OpenMediaNow foundation,
19130   <a href="http://www.openmedianow.org/?q=node/32">http://www.openmedianow.org/?q=node/32</a> .</p>
19131
19132 </blockquote></p>
19133
19134 <p>I hope you will support this effort too.  I hope more than 10
19135 people will participate to make this happen.  The more money the
19136 project gets, the more features it can develop using these funds.
19137 :)</p>
19138
19139       </div>
19140       <div class="tags">
19141
19142
19143         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>.
19144
19145
19146       </div>
19147     </div>
19148     <div class="padding"></div>
19149
19150     <div class="entry">
19151       <div class="title">
19152         <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>
19153       </div>
19154       <div class="date">
19155          9th October 2010
19156       </div>
19157       <div class="body">
19158         <p>This summer I got the chance to buy cheap Spykee robots, and since
19159 then I have worked on getting Linux software in place to control them.
19160 The firmware for the robot is available from the producer, and using
19161 that source it was trivial to figure out the protocol specification.
19162 I've started on a perl library to control it, and made some demo
19163 programs using this perl library to allow one to control the
19164 robots.</p>
19165
19166 <p>The library is quite functional already, and capable of controlling
19167 the driving, fetching video, uploading MP3s and play them.  There are
19168 a few less important features too.</p>
19169
19170 <p>Since a few weeks ago, I ran out of time to spend on this project,
19171 but I never got around to releasing the current source.  I decided
19172 today that it was time to do something about it, and uploaded the
19173 source to my Debian package store at people.skolelinux.org.</p>
19174
19175 <p>Because it was simpler for me, I made a Debian package and
19176 published the source and deb.  If you got a spykee robot, grab the
19177 source or binary package:</p>
19178
19179 <p><ul>
19180 <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>
19181 <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>
19182 <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>
19183 </ul></p>
19184
19185 <p>If you are interested in helping out with developing this library,
19186 please let me know.</p>
19187
19188       </div>
19189       <div class="tags">
19190
19191
19192         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>.
19193
19194
19195       </div>
19196     </div>
19197     <div class="padding"></div>
19198
19199     <div class="entry">
19200       <div class="title">
19201         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Links_for_2010_10_03.html">Links for 2010-10-03</a>
19202       </div>
19203       <div class="date">
19204          3rd October 2010
19205       </div>
19206       <div class="body">
19207         <p><ul>
19208
19209 <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
19210 is no Plan B: why the IPv4-to-IPv6 transition will be ugly</a></li>
19211
19212 <li>Scanner looking under clothes
19213 <a href="http://www.dagbladet.no/2010/10/03/nyheter/utenriks/reise/overvakingskamera/flyplasser/13667192/">has
19214 already been misused at Heathrow</a>.</li>
19215
19216 <li><a href="http://wiki.softwarelivre.org/Landell">Landell
19217 Webcasting</a> - interesting alternative for
19218 <ahref="http://dvswitch.alioth.debian.org/wiki/">DVSwitch</a> with
19219 simple setup.
19220
19221 </ul></p>
19222
19223       </div>
19224       <div class="tags">
19225
19226
19227         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>.
19228
19229
19230       </div>
19231     </div>
19232     <div class="padding"></div>
19233
19234     <div class="entry">
19235       <div class="title">
19236         <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>
19237       </div>
19238       <div class="date">
19239          9th September 2010
19240       </div>
19241       <div class="body">
19242         <p>A few days ago I had the mixed pleasure of bying a new digital
19243 camera, a Canon IXUS 130.  It was instructive and very disturbing to
19244 be able to verify that also this camera producer have the nerve to
19245 specify how I can or can not use the videos produced with the camera.
19246 Even thought I was aware of the issue, the options with new cameras
19247 are limited and I ended up bying the camera anyway.  What is the
19248 problem, you might ask?  It is software patents, MPEG-4, H.264 and the
19249 MPEG-LA that is the problem, and our right to record our experiences
19250 without asking for permissions that is at risk.
19251
19252 <p>On page 27 of the Danish instruction manual, this section is
19253 written:</p>
19254
19255 <blockquote>
19256 <p>This product is licensed under AT&T patents for the MPEG-4 standard
19257 and may be used for encoding MPEG-4 compliant video and/or decoding
19258 MPEG-4 compliant video that was encoded only (1) for a personal and
19259 non-commercial purpose or (2) by a video provider licensed under the
19260 AT&T patents to provide MPEG-4 compliant video.</p>
19261
19262 <p>No license is granted or implied for any other use for MPEG-4
19263 standard.</p>
19264 </blockquote>
19265
19266 <p>In short, the camera producer have chosen to use technology
19267 (MPEG-4/H.264) that is only provided if I used it for personal and
19268 non-commercial purposes, or ask for permission from the organisations
19269 holding the knowledge monopoly (patent) for technology used.</p>
19270
19271 <p>This issue has been brewing for a while, and I recommend you to
19272 read
19273 "<a href="http://www.osnews.com/story/23236/Why_Our_Civilization_s_Video_Art_and_Culture_is_Threatened_by_the_MPEG-LA">Why
19274 Our Civilization's Video Art and Culture is Threatened by the
19275 MPEG-LA</a>" by Eugenia Loli-Queru and
19276 "<a href="http://webmink.com/2010/09/03/h-264-and-foss/">H.264 Is Not
19277 The Sort Of Free That Matters</a>" by Simon Phipps to learn more about
19278 the issue.  The solution is to support the
19279 <a href="http://www.digistan.org/open-standard:definition">free and
19280 open standards</a> for video, like <a href="http://www.theora.org/">Ogg
19281 Theora</a>, and avoid MPEG-4 and H.264 if you can.</p>
19282
19283       </div>
19284       <div class="tags">
19285
19286
19287         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/h264">h264</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>.
19288
19289
19290       </div>
19291     </div>
19292     <div class="padding"></div>
19293
19294     <div class="entry">
19295       <div class="title">
19296         <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>
19297       </div>
19298       <div class="date">
19299          4th September 2010
19300       </div>
19301       <div class="body">
19302         <p>In the <a href="http://popcon.debian.org/unknown/by_vote">Debian
19303 popularity-contest numbers</a>, the adobe-flashplugin package the
19304 second most popular used package that is missing in Debian.  The sixth
19305 most popular is flashplayer-mozilla.  This is a clear indication that
19306 working flash is important for Debian users.  Around 10 percent of the
19307 users submitting data to popcon.debian.org have this package
19308 installed.</p>
19309
19310 <p>In the report written by Lars Risan in August 2008
19311 («<a href="http://wiki.skolelinux.no/Dokumentasjon/Rapporter?action=AttachFile&do=view&target=Skolelinux_i_bruk_rapport_1.0.pdf">Skolelinux
19312 i bruk – Rapport for Hurum kommune, Universitetet i Agder og
19313 stiftelsen SLX Debian Labs</a>»), one of the most important problems
19314 schools experienced with <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian
19315 Edu/Skolelinux</a> was the lack of working Flash.  A lot of educational
19316 web sites require Flash to work, and lacking working Flash support in
19317 the web browser and the problems with installing it was perceived as a
19318 good reason to stay with Windows.</p>
19319
19320 <p>I once saw a funny and sad comment in a web forum, where Linux was
19321 said to be the retarded cousin that did not really understand
19322 everything you told him but could work fairly well.  This was a
19323 comment regarding the problems Linux have with proprietary formats and
19324 non-standard web pages, and is sad because it exposes a fairly common
19325 understanding of whose fault it is if web pages that only work in for
19326 example Internet Explorer 6 fail to work on Firefox, and funny because
19327 it explain very well how annoying it is for users when Linux
19328 distributions do not work with the documents they receive or the web
19329 pages they want to visit.</p>
19330
19331 <p>This is part of the reason why I believe it is important for Debian
19332 and Debian Edu to have a well working Flash implementation in the
19333 distribution, to get at least popular sites as Youtube and Google
19334 Video to working out of the box.  For Squeeze, Debian have the chance
19335 to include the latest version of Gnash that will make this happen, as
19336 the new release 0.8.8 was published a few weeks ago and is resting in
19337 unstable.  The new version work with more sites that version 0.8.7.
19338 The Gnash maintainers have asked for a freeze exception, but the
19339 release team have not had time to reply to it yet.  I hope they agree
19340 with me that Flash is important for the Debian desktop users, and thus
19341 accept the new package into Squeeze.</p>
19342
19343       </div>
19344       <div class="tags">
19345
19346
19347         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>.
19348
19349
19350       </div>
19351     </div>
19352     <div class="padding"></div>
19353
19354     <div class="entry">
19355       <div class="title">
19356         <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>
19357       </div>
19358       <div class="date">
19359          1st September 2010
19360       </div>
19361       <div class="body">
19362         <p>This evening I made my first Perl GUI application.  The last few
19363 days I have worked on a Perl module for controlling my recently
19364 aquired Spykee robots, and the module is now getting complete enought
19365 that it is possible to use it to control the robot driving at least.
19366 It was now time to figure out how to use it to create some GUI to
19367 allow me to drive the robot around.  I picked PerlQt as I have had
19368 positive experiences with the Qt API before, and spent a few minutes
19369 browsing the web for examples.  Using Qt Designer seemed like a short
19370 cut, so I ended up writing the perl GUI using Qt Designer and
19371 compiling it into a perl program using the puic program from
19372 libqt-perl.  Nothing fancy yet, but it got buttons to connect and
19373 drive around.</p>
19374
19375 <p>The perl module I have written provide a object oriented API for
19376 controlling the robot.  Here is an small example on how to use it:</p>
19377
19378 <p><pre>
19379 use Spykee;
19380 Spykee::discover(sub {$robot{$_[0]} = $_[1]});
19381 my $host = (keys %robot)[0];
19382 my $spykee = Spykee->new();
19383 $spykee->contact($host, "admin", "admin");
19384 $spykee->left();
19385 sleep 2;
19386 $spykee->right();
19387 sleep 2;
19388 $spykee->forward();
19389 sleep 2;
19390 $spykee->back();
19391 sleep 2;
19392 $spykee->stop();
19393 </pre></p>
19394
19395 <p>Thanks to the release of the source of the robot firmware, I could
19396 peek into the implementation at the other end to figure out how to
19397 implement the protocol used by the robot.  I've implemented several of
19398 the commands the robot understand, but is still missing the camera
19399 support to make it possible to control the robot from remote.  First I
19400 want to implement support for uploading new firmware and configuring
19401 the wireless network, to make it possible to bootstrap a Spykee robot
19402 without the producers Windows and MacOSX software (I only have Linux,
19403 so I had to ask a friend to come over to get the robot testing
19404 going. :).</p>
19405
19406 <p>Will release the source to the public soon, but need to figure out
19407 where to make it available first.  I will add a link to
19408 <a href="http://wiki.nuug.no/grupper/robot/">the NUUG wiki</a> for
19409 those that want to check back later to find it.</p>
19410
19411       </div>
19412       <div class="tags">
19413
19414
19415         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>.
19416
19417
19418       </div>
19419     </div>
19420     <div class="padding"></div>
19421
19422     <div class="entry">
19423       <div class="title">
19424         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Broken_hard_link_handling_with_sshfs.html">Broken hard link handling with sshfs</a>
19425       </div>
19426       <div class="date">
19427         30th August 2010
19428       </div>
19429       <div class="body">
19430         <p>Just got an email from Tobias Gruetzmacher as a followup on my
19431 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Broken_umask_handling_with_sshfs.html">previous
19432 post about sshfs</a>.  He reported another problem with sshfs.  It
19433 fail to handle hard links properly.  A simple way to spot this is to
19434 look at the . and .. entries in the directory tree.  These should have
19435 a link count >1, but on sshfs the count is 1.  I just tested to see
19436 what happen when trying to hardlink, and this fail as well:</p>
19437
19438 <pre>
19439 % ln foo bar
19440 ln: creating hard link `bar' => `foo': Function not implemented
19441 %
19442 </pre>
19443
19444 <p>I have not yet found time to implement a test for this in my file
19445 system test code, but believe having working hard links is useful to
19446 avoid surprised unix programs.  Not as useful as working file locking
19447 and symlinks, which are required to get a working desktop, but useful
19448 nevertheless. :)</p>
19449
19450 <p>The latest version of the file system test code is available via
19451 git from
19452 <a href="http://github.com/gebi/fs-test">http://github.com/gebi/fs-test</a></p>
19453
19454       </div>
19455       <div class="tags">
19456
19457
19458         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>.
19459
19460
19461       </div>
19462     </div>
19463     <div class="padding"></div>
19464
19465     <div class="entry">
19466       <div class="title">
19467         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Broken_umask_handling_with_sshfs.html">Broken umask handling with sshfs</a>
19468       </div>
19469       <div class="date">
19470         26th August 2010
19471       </div>
19472       <div class="body">
19473         <p>My file system sematics program
19474 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Testing_if_a_file_system_can_be_used_for_home_directories___.html">presented
19475 a few days ago</a> is very useful to verify that a file system can
19476 work as a unix home directory,and today I had to extend it a bit.  I'm
19477 looking into alternatives for home directory access here at the
19478 University of Oslo, and one of the options is sshfs.  My friend
19479 Finn-Arne mentioned a while back that they had used sshfs with Debian
19480 Edu, but stopped because of problems.  I asked today what the problems
19481 where, and he mentioned that sshfs failed to handle umask properly.
19482 Trying to detect the problem I wrote this addition to my fs testing
19483 script:</p>
19484
19485 <pre>
19486 mode_t touch_get_mode(const char *name, mode_t mode) {
19487   mode_t retval = 0;
19488   int fd = open(name, O_RDWR|O_CREAT|O_LARGEFILE, mode);
19489   if (-1 != fd) {
19490     unlink(name);
19491     struct stat statbuf;
19492     if (-1 != fstat(fd, &statbuf)) {
19493       retval = statbuf.st_mode & 0x1ff;
19494     }
19495     close(fd);
19496   }
19497   return retval;
19498 }
19499
19500 /* Try to detect problem discovered using sshfs */
19501 int test_umask(void) {
19502   printf("info: testing umask effect on file creation\n");
19503
19504   mode_t orig_umask = umask(000);
19505   mode_t newmode;
19506   if (0666 != (newmode = touch_get_mode("foobar", 0666))) {
19507     printf("  error: Wrong file mode %o when creating using mode 666 and umask 000\n",
19508            newmode);
19509   }
19510   umask(007);
19511   if (0660 != (newmode = touch_get_mode("foobar", 0666))) {
19512     printf("  error: Wrong file mode %o when creating using mode 666 and umask 007\n",
19513            newmode);
19514   }
19515
19516   umask (orig_umask);
19517   return 0;
19518 }
19519
19520 int main(int argc, char **argv) {
19521   [...]
19522   test_umask();
19523   return 0;
19524 }
19525 </pre>
19526
19527 <p>Sure enough.  On NFS to a netapp, I get this result:</p>
19528
19529 <pre>
19530 Testing POSIX/Unix sematics on file system
19531 info: testing symlink creation
19532 info: testing subdirectory creation
19533 info: testing fcntl locking
19534   Read-locking 1 byte from 1073741824
19535   Read-locking 510 byte from 1073741826
19536   Unlocking 1 byte from 1073741824
19537   Write-locking 1 byte from 1073741824
19538   Write-locking 510 byte from 1073741826
19539   Unlocking 2 byte from 1073741824
19540 info: testing umask effect on file creation
19541 </pre>
19542
19543 <p>When mounting the same directory using sshfs, I get this
19544 result:</p>
19545
19546 <pre>
19547 Testing POSIX/Unix sematics on file system
19548 info: testing symlink creation
19549 info: testing subdirectory creation
19550 info: testing fcntl locking
19551   Read-locking 1 byte from 1073741824
19552   Read-locking 510 byte from 1073741826
19553   Unlocking 1 byte from 1073741824
19554   Write-locking 1 byte from 1073741824
19555   Write-locking 510 byte from 1073741826
19556   Unlocking 2 byte from 1073741824
19557 info: testing umask effect on file creation
19558   error: Wrong file mode 644 when creating using mode 666 and umask 000
19559   error: Wrong file mode 640 when creating using mode 666 and umask 007
19560 </pre>
19561
19562 <p>So, I can conclude that sshfs is better than smb to a Netapp or a
19563 Windows server, but not good enough to be used as a home
19564 directory.</p>
19565
19566 <p>Update 2010-08-26: Reported the issue in
19567 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/594498">BTS report #594498</a></p>
19568
19569 <p>Update 2010-08-27: Michael Gebetsroither report that he found the
19570 script so useful that he created a GIT repository and stored it in
19571 <a href="http://github.com/gebi/fs-test">http://github.com/gebi/fs-test</a>.</p>
19572
19573       </div>
19574       <div class="tags">
19575
19576
19577         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>.
19578
19579
19580       </div>
19581     </div>
19582     <div class="padding"></div>
19583
19584     <div class="entry">
19585       <div class="title">
19586         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Rob_Weir__How_to_Crush_Dissent.html">Rob Weir: How to Crush Dissent</a>
19587       </div>
19588       <div class="date">
19589         15th August 2010
19590       </div>
19591       <div class="body">
19592         <p>I found the notes from Rob Weir on
19593 <a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/robweir/antic-atom/~3/VGb23-kta8c/how-to-crush-dissent.html">how
19594 to crush dissent</a> matching my own thoughts on the matter quite
19595 well.  Highly recommended for those wondering which road our society
19596 should go down.  In my view we have been heading the wrong way for a
19597 long time.</p>
19598
19599       </div>
19600       <div class="tags">
19601
19602
19603         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>.
19604
19605
19606       </div>
19607     </div>
19608     <div class="padding"></div>
19609
19610     <div class="entry">
19611       <div class="title">
19612         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/No_hardcoded_config_on_Debian_Edu_clients.html">No hardcoded config on Debian Edu clients</a>
19613       </div>
19614       <div class="date">
19615          9th August 2010
19616       </div>
19617       <div class="body">
19618         <p>As reported earlier, the last few days I have looked at how Debian
19619 Edu clients are configured, and tried to get rid of all hardcoded
19620 configuration settings on the clients.  I believe the work to be
19621 mostly done, and the clients seem to work just fine with dynamically
19622 generated configuration.</p>
19623
19624 <p>What is the point, you might ask?  The point is to allow a Debian
19625 Edu desktop to integrate into an existing network infrastructure
19626 without any manual configuration.</p>
19627
19628 <p>This is what happens when installing a Debian Edu client here at
19629 the University of Oslo using PXE.  With the PXE installation, I am
19630 asked for language (Norwegian Bokmål), locality (Norway) and keyboard
19631 layout (no-latin1), Debian Edu profile (Roaming Workstation), if I
19632 accept to reformat the hard drive (yes), if I want to submit info to
19633 popcon.debian.org (no) and root password (secret).  After answering
19634 these questions, the installer goes ahead and does its thing, and
19635 after around 50 minutes it is done.  I press enter to finish the
19636 installation, and the machine reboots into KDE.  When the machine is
19637 ready and kdm asks for login information, I enter my university
19638 username and password, am told by kdm that a local home directory has
19639 been created and that I must log in again, and finally log in with the
19640 same username and password to the KDE 4.4 desktop.  At no point during
19641 this process did it ask for university specific settings, and all the
19642 required configuration was dynamically detected using information
19643 fetched via DHCP and DNS.  The roaming workstation is now ready for
19644 use.</p>
19645
19646 <p>How was this done, you might wonder?  First of all, here is the
19647 list of things that need to be configured on the client to get it
19648 working properly out of the box:</p>
19649
19650 <ul>
19651 <li>IP address/netmask and DNS server.</li>
19652 <li>Web proxy URL.</li>
19653 <li>LDAP server for NSS directory information (user, group, etc).</li>
19654 <li>Kerberos server for PAM password checking.</li>
19655 <li>SMB mount point to access the network home directory. (*)</li>
19656 <li>Central syslog server to send syslog messages to. (*)</li>
19657 <li>Sitesummary collector URL to submit info to central server. (*)</li>
19658 </ul>
19659
19660 <p>(Hm, did I forget anything?  Let me knew if I did.)</p>
19661
19662 <p>The points marked (*) are not required to be able to use the
19663 machine, but needed to provide central storage and allowing system
19664 administrators to track their machines.  Since yesterday, everything
19665 but the sitesummary collector URL is dynamically discovered at boot
19666 and installation time in the svn version of Debian Edu.</p>
19667
19668 <p>The IP and DNS setup is fetched during boot using DHCP as usual.
19669 When a DHCP update arrives, the proxy setup is updated by looking for
19670 http://wpat/wpad.dat and using the content of this WPAD file to
19671 configure the http and ftp proxy in /etc/environment and
19672 /etc/apt/apt.conf.  I decided to update the proxy setup using a DHCP
19673 hook to ensure that the client stops using the Debian Edu proxy when
19674 it is moved outside the Debian Edu network, and instead uses any local
19675 proxy present on the new network when it moves around.</p>
19676
19677 <p>The DNS names of the LDAP, Kerberos and syslog server and related
19678 configuration are generated using DNS information at boot.  First the
19679 installer looks for a host named ldap in the current DNS domain.  If
19680 not found, it looks for _ldap._tcp SRV records in DNS instead.  If an
19681 LDAP server is found, its root DSE entry is requested and the
19682 attributes namingContexts and defaultNamingContext are used to
19683 determine which LDAP base to use for NSS.  If there are several
19684 namingContexts attibutes and the defaultNamingContext is present, that
19685 LDAP subtree is used as the base.  If defaultNamingContext is missing,
19686 the subtrees listed as namingContexts are searched in sequence for any
19687 object with class posixAccount or posixGroup, and the first one with
19688 such an object is used as the LDAP base.  For Kerberos, a similar
19689 search is done by first looking for a host named kerberos, and then
19690 for the _kerberos._tcp SRV record.  I've been unable to find a way to
19691 look up the Kerberos realm, so for this the upper case string of the
19692 current DNS domain is used.</p>
19693
19694 <p>For the syslog server, the hosts syslog and loghost are searched
19695 for, and the _syslog._udp SRV record is consulted if no such host is
19696 found.  This algorithm works for both Debian Edu and the University of
19697 Oslo.  A similar strategy would work for locating the sitesummary
19698 server, but have not been implemented yet.  I decided to fetch and
19699 save these settings during installation, to make sure moving to a
19700 different network does not change the set of users being allowed to
19701 log in nor the passwords required to log in.  Usernames and passwords
19702 will be cached by sssd when the user logs in on the Debian Edu
19703 network, and will not change as the laptop move around.  For a
19704 non-roaming machine, there is no caching, but given that it is
19705 supposed to stay in place it should not matter much.  Perhaps we
19706 should switch those to use sssd too?</p>
19707
19708 <p>The user's SMB mount point for the network home directory is
19709 located when the user logs in for the first time.  The LDAP server is
19710 consulted to look for the user's LDAP object and the sambaHomePath
19711 attribute is used if found.  If it isn't found, the home directory
19712 path fetched from NSS is used instead.  Assuming the path is of the
19713 form /site/server/directory/username, the second part is looked up in
19714 DNS and used to generate a SMB URL of the form
19715 smb://server.domain/username.  This algorithm works for both Debian
19716 edu and the University of Oslo.  Perhaps there are better attributes
19717 to use or a better algorithm that works for more sites, but this will
19718 do for now. :)</p>
19719
19720 <p>This work should make it easier to integrate the Debian Edu clients
19721 into any LDAP/Kerberos infrastructure, and make the current setup even
19722 more flexible than before.  I suspect it will also work for thin
19723 client servers, allowing one to easily set up LTSP and hook it into a
19724 existing network infrastructure, but I have not had time to test this
19725 yet.</p>
19726
19727 <p>If you want to help out with implementing these things for Debian
19728 Edu, please contact us on debian-edu@lists.debian.org.</p>
19729
19730 <p>Update 2010-08-09: Simon Farnsworth gave me a heads-up on how to
19731 detect Kerberos realm from DNS, by looking for _kerberos TXT entries
19732 before falling back to the upper case DNS domain name.  Will have to
19733 implement it for Debian Edu. :)</p>
19734
19735       </div>
19736       <div class="tags">
19737
19738
19739         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>.
19740
19741
19742       </div>
19743     </div>
19744     <div class="padding"></div>
19745
19746     <div class="entry">
19747       <div class="title">
19748         <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>
19749       </div>
19750       <div class="date">
19751          8th August 2010
19752       </div>
19753       <div class="body">
19754         <p>A few years ago, I was involved in a project planning to use
19755 Windows file servers as home directory servers for Debian
19756 Edu/Skolelinux machines.  This was thought to be no problem, as the
19757 access would be through the SMB network file system protocol, and we
19758 knew other sites used SMB with unix and samba as the file server to
19759 mount home directories without any problems.  But, after months of
19760 struggling, we had to conclude that our goal was impossible.</p>
19761
19762 <p>The reason is simply that while SMB can be used for home
19763 directories when the file server is Samba running on Unix, this only
19764 work because of Samba have some extensions and the fact that the
19765 underlying file system is a unix file system.  When using a Windows
19766 file server, the underlying file system do not have POSIX semantics,
19767 and several programs will fail if the users home directory where they
19768 want to store their configuration lack POSIX semantics.</p>
19769
19770 <p>As part of this work, I wrote a small C program I want to share
19771 with you all, to replicate a few of the problematic applications (like
19772 OpenOffice.org and GCompris) and see if the file system was working as
19773 it should.  If you find yourself in spooky file system land, it might
19774 help you find your way out again.  This is the fs-test.c source:</p>
19775
19776 <pre>
19777 /*
19778  * Some tests to check the file system sematics.  Used to verify that
19779  * CIFS from a windows server do not work properly as a linux home
19780  * directory.
19781  * License: GPL v2 or later
19782  *
19783  * needs libsqlite3-dev and build-essential installed
19784  * compile with: gcc -Wall -lsqlite3 -DTEST_SQLITE fs-test.c -o fs-test
19785 */
19786
19787 #define _FILE_OFFSET_BITS 64
19788 #define _LARGEFILE_SOURCE 1
19789 #define _LARGEFILE64_SOURCE 1
19790
19791 #define _GNU_SOURCE /* for asprintf() */
19792
19793 #include &lt;errno.h>
19794 #include &lt;fcntl.h>
19795 #include &lt;stdio.h>
19796 #include &lt;string.h>
19797 #include &lt;stdlib.h>
19798 #include &lt;sys/file.h>
19799 #include &lt;sys/stat.h>
19800 #include &lt;sys/types.h>
19801 #include &lt;unistd.h>
19802
19803 #ifdef TEST_SQLITE
19804 /*
19805  * Test sqlite open, as done by gcompris require the libsqlite3-dev
19806  * package and linking with -lsqlite3.  A more low level test is
19807  * below.
19808  * See also &lt;URL: http://www.sqlite.org./faq.html#q5 >.
19809  */
19810 #include &lt;sqlite3.h>
19811 #define CREATE_TABLE_USERS                                              \
19812   "CREATE TABLE users (user_id INT UNIQUE, login TEXT, lastname TEXT, firstname TEXT, birthdate TEXT, class_id INT ); "
19813 int test_sqlite_open(void) {
19814   char *zErrMsg;
19815   char *name = "testsqlite.db";
19816   sqlite3 *db=NULL;
19817   unlink(name);
19818   int rc = sqlite3_open(name, &db);
19819   if( rc ){
19820     printf("error: sqlite open of %s failed: %s\n", name, sqlite3_errmsg(db));
19821     sqlite3_close(db);
19822     return -1;
19823   }
19824
19825   /* create tables */
19826   rc = sqlite3_exec(db,CREATE_TABLE_USERS, NULL,  0, &zErrMsg);
19827   if( rc != SQLITE_OK ){
19828     printf("error: sqlite table create failed: %s\n", zErrMsg);
19829     sqlite3_close(db);
19830     return -1;
19831   }
19832   printf("info: sqlite worked\n");
19833   sqlite3_close(db);
19834   return 0;
19835 }
19836 #endif /* TEST_SQLITE */
19837
19838 /*
19839  * Demonstrate locking issue found in gcompris using sqlite3.  This
19840  * work with ext3, but not with cifs server on Windows 2003.  This is
19841  * done in the sqlite3 library.
19842  * See also
19843  * &lt;URL:http://www.cygwin.com/ml/cygwin/2001-08/msg00854.html> and the
19844  * POSIX specification
19845  * &lt;URL:http://www.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/009695399/functions/fcntl.html>.
19846  */
19847 int test_gcompris_locking(void) {
19848   struct flock fl;
19849   char *name = "testsqlite.db";
19850   unlink(name);
19851   int fd = open(name, O_RDWR|O_CREAT|O_LARGEFILE, 0644);
19852   printf("info: testing fcntl locking\n");
19853
19854   fl.l_whence = SEEK_SET;
19855   fl.l_pid    = getpid();
19856   printf("  Read-locking 1 byte from 1073741824");
19857   fl.l_start  = 1073741824;
19858   fl.l_len    = 1;
19859   fl.l_type   = F_RDLCK;
19860   if (0 != fcntl(fd, F_SETLK, &fl) ) printf(" - error!\n"); else printf("\n");
19861
19862   printf("  Read-locking 510 byte from 1073741826");
19863   fl.l_start  = 1073741826;
19864   fl.l_len    = 510;
19865   fl.l_type   = F_RDLCK;
19866   if (0 != fcntl(fd, F_SETLK, &fl) ) printf(" - error!\n"); else printf("\n");
19867
19868   printf("  Unlocking 1 byte from 1073741824");
19869   fl.l_start  = 1073741824;
19870   fl.l_len    = 1;
19871   fl.l_type   = F_UNLCK;
19872   if (0 != fcntl(fd, F_SETLK, &fl) ) printf(" - error!\n"); else printf("\n");
19873
19874   printf("  Write-locking 1 byte from 1073741824");
19875   fl.l_start  = 1073741824;
19876   fl.l_len    = 1;
19877   fl.l_type   = F_WRLCK;
19878   if (0 != fcntl(fd, F_SETLK, &fl) ) printf(" - error!\n"); else printf("\n");
19879
19880   printf("  Write-locking 510 byte from 1073741826");
19881   fl.l_start  = 1073741826;
19882   fl.l_len    = 510;
19883   if (0 != fcntl(fd, F_SETLK, &fl) ) printf(" - error!\n"); else printf("\n");
19884
19885   printf("  Unlocking 2 byte from 1073741824");
19886   fl.l_start  = 1073741824;
19887   fl.l_len    = 2;
19888   fl.l_type   = F_UNLCK;
19889   if (0 != fcntl(fd, F_SETLK, &fl) ) printf(" - error!\n"); else printf("\n");
19890
19891   close(fd);
19892   return 0;
19893 }
19894
19895 /*
19896  * Test if permissions of freshly created directories allow entries
19897  * below them.  This was a problem with OpenOffice.org and gcompris.
19898  * Mounting with option 'sync' seem to solve this problem while
19899  * slowing down file operations.
19900  */
19901 int test_subdirectory_creation(void) {
19902 #define LEVELS 5
19903   char *path = strdup("test");
19904   char *dirs[LEVELS];
19905   int level;
19906   printf("info: testing subdirectory creation\n");
19907   for (level = 0; level &lt; LEVELS; level++) {
19908     char *newpath = NULL;
19909     if (-1 == mkdir(path, 0777)) {
19910       printf("  error: Unable to create directory '%s': %s\n",
19911              path, strerror(errno));
19912       break;
19913     }
19914     asprintf(&newpath, "%s/%s", path, "test");
19915     free(path);
19916     path = newpath;
19917   }
19918   return 0;
19919 }
19920
19921 /*
19922  * Test if symlinks can be created.  This was a problem detected with
19923  * KDE.
19924  */
19925 int test_symlinks(void) {
19926   printf("info: testing symlink creation\n");
19927   unlink("symlink");
19928   if (-1 == symlink("file", "symlink"))
19929     printf("  error: Unable to create symlink\n");
19930   return 0;
19931 }
19932
19933 int main(int argc, char **argv) {
19934   printf("Testing POSIX/Unix sematics on file system\n");
19935   test_symlinks();
19936   test_subdirectory_creation();
19937 #ifdef TEST_SQLITE
19938   test_sqlite_open();
19939 #endif /* TEST_SQLITE */
19940   test_gcompris_locking();
19941   return 0;
19942 }
19943 </pre>
19944
19945 <p>When everything is working, it should print something like
19946 this:</p>
19947
19948 <pre>
19949 Testing POSIX/Unix sematics on file system
19950 info: testing symlink creation
19951 info: testing subdirectory creation
19952 info: sqlite worked
19953 info: testing fcntl locking
19954   Read-locking 1 byte from 1073741824
19955   Read-locking 510 byte from 1073741826
19956   Unlocking 1 byte from 1073741824
19957   Write-locking 1 byte from 1073741824
19958   Write-locking 510 byte from 1073741826
19959   Unlocking 2 byte from 1073741824
19960 </pre>
19961
19962 <p>I do not remember the exact details of the problems we saw, but one
19963 of them was with locking, where if I remember correctly, POSIX allow a
19964 read-only lock to be upgraded to a read-write lock without unlocking
19965 the read-only lock (while Windows do not).  Another was a bug in the
19966 CIFS/SMB client implementation in the Linux kernel where directory
19967 meta information would be wrong for a fraction of a second, making
19968 OpenOffice.org fail to create its deep directory tree because it was
19969 not allowed to create files in its freshly created directory.</p>
19970
19971 <p>Anyway, here is a nice tool for your tool box, might you never need
19972 it. :)</p>
19973
19974 <p>Update 2010-08-27: Michael Gebetsroither report that he found the
19975 script so useful that he created a GIT repository and stored it in
19976 <a href="http://github.com/gebi/fs-test">http://github.com/gebi/fs-test</a>.</p>
19977
19978       </div>
19979       <div class="tags">
19980
19981
19982         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>.
19983
19984
19985       </div>
19986     </div>
19987     <div class="padding"></div>
19988
19989     <div class="entry">
19990       <div class="title">
19991         <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>
19992       </div>
19993       <div class="date">
19994          7th August 2010
19995       </div>
19996       <div class="body">
19997         <p>A few days ago, I
19998 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_roaming_workstation___at_the_university_of_Oslo.html">tried
19999 to install</a> a Roaming workation profile from Debian Edu/Squeeze
20000 while on the university network here at the University of Oslo, and
20001 noticed how much had to change to get it operational using the
20002 university infrastructure.  It was fairly easy, but it occured to me
20003 that Debian Edu would improve a lot if I could get the client to
20004 connect without any changes at all, and thus let the client configure
20005 itself during installation and first boot to use the infrastructure
20006 around it.  Now I am a huge step further along that road.</p>
20007
20008 <p>With our current squeeze-test packages, I can select the roaming
20009 workstation profile and get a working laptop connecting to the
20010 university LDAP server for user and group and our active directory
20011 servers for Kerberos authentication.  All this without any
20012 configuration at all during installation.  My users home directory got
20013 a bookmark in the KDE menu to mount it via SMB, with the correct URL.
20014 In short, openldap and sssd is correctly configured.  In addition to
20015 this, the client look for http://wpad/wpad.dat to configure a web
20016 proxy, and when it fail to find it no proxy settings are stored in
20017 /etc/environment and /etc/apt/apt.conf.  Iceweasel and KDE is
20018 configured to look for the same wpad configuration and also do not use
20019 a proxy when at the university network.  If the machine is moved to a
20020 network with such wpad setup, it would automatically use it when DHCP
20021 gave it a IP address.</p>
20022
20023 <p>The LDAP server is located using DNS, by first looking for the DNS
20024 entry ldap.$domain.  If this do not exist, it look for the
20025 _ldap._tcp.$domain SRV records and use the first one as the LDAP
20026 server.  Next, it connects to the LDAP server and search all
20027 namingContexts entries for posixAccount or posixGroup objects, and
20028 pick the first one as the LDAP base.  For Kerberos, a similar
20029 algorithm is used to locate the LDAP server, and the realm is the
20030 uppercase version of $domain.</p>
20031
20032 <p>So, what is not working, you might ask.  SMB mounting my home
20033 directory do not work.  No idea why, but suspected the incorrect
20034 Kerberos settings in /etc/krb5.conf and /etc/samba/smb.conf might be
20035 the cause.  These are not properly configured during installation, and
20036 had to be hand-edited to get the correct Kerberos realm and server,
20037 but SMB mounting still do not work. :(</p>
20038
20039 <p>With this automatic configuration in place, I expect a Debian Edu
20040 roaming profile installation would be able to automatically detect and
20041 connect to any site using LDAP and Kerberos for NSS directory and PAM
20042 authentication.  It should also work out of the box in a Active
20043 Directory environment providing posixAccount and posixGroup objects
20044 with UID and GID values.</p>
20045
20046 <p>If you want to help out with implementing these things for Debian
20047 Edu, please contact us on debian-edu@lists.debian.org.</p>
20048
20049       </div>
20050       <div class="tags">
20051
20052
20053         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>.
20054
20055
20056       </div>
20057     </div>
20058     <div class="padding"></div>
20059
20060     <div class="entry">
20061       <div class="title">
20062         <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>
20063       </div>
20064       <div class="date">
20065          3rd August 2010
20066       </div>
20067       <div class="body">
20068         <p>The new roaming workstation profile in Debian Edu/Squeeze is fairly
20069 similar to the laptop setup am I working on using Ubuntu for the
20070 University of Oslo, and just for the heck of it, I tested today how
20071 hard it would be to integrate that profile into the university
20072 infrastructure.  In this case, it is the university LDAP server,
20073 Active Directory Kerberos server and SMB mounting from the Netapp file
20074 servers.</p>
20075
20076 <p>I was pleasantly surprised that the only three files needed to be
20077 changed (/etc/sssd/sssd.conf, /etc/ldap.conf and
20078 /etc/mklocaluser.d/20-debian-edu-config) and one file had to be added
20079 (/usr/share/perl5/Debian/Edu_Local.pm), to get the client working.
20080 Most of the changes were to get the client to use the university LDAP
20081 for NSS and Kerberos server for PAM, but one was to change a hard
20082 coded DNS domain name in the mklocaluser hook from .intern to
20083 .uio.no.</p>
20084
20085 <p>This testing was so encouraging, that I went ahead and adjusted the
20086 Debian Edu scripts and setup in subversion to centralise the roaming
20087 workstation setup a bit more and avoid the hardcoded DNS domain name,
20088 so that when I test this tomorrow, I expect to get away with modifying
20089 only /etc/sssd/sssd.conf and /etc/ldap.conf to get it to use the
20090 university servers.</p>
20091
20092 <p>My goal is to get the clients to have no hardcoded settings and
20093 fetch all their initial setup during installation and first boot, to
20094 allow them to be inserted also into environments where the default
20095 setup in Debian Edu has been changed or as with the university, where
20096 the environment is different but provides the protocols Debian Edu
20097 uses.</p>
20098
20099       </div>
20100       <div class="tags">
20101
20102
20103         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>.
20104
20105
20106       </div>
20107     </div>
20108     <div class="padding"></div>
20109
20110     <div class="entry">
20111       <div class="title">
20112         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Circular_package_dependencies_harms_apt_recovery.html">Circular package dependencies harms apt recovery</a>
20113       </div>
20114       <div class="date">
20115         27th July 2010
20116       </div>
20117       <div class="body">
20118         <p>I discovered this while doing
20119 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Automatic_upgrade_testing_from_Lenny_to_Squeeze.html">automated
20120 testing of upgrades from Debian Lenny to Squeeze</a>.  A few packages
20121 in Debian still got circular dependencies, and it is often claimed
20122 that apt and aptitude should be able to handle this just fine, but
20123 some times these dependency loops causes apt to fail.</p>
20124
20125 <p>An example is from todays
20126 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/~pere/debian-upgrade-testing//test-20100727-lenny-squeeze-kde-aptitude.txt">upgrade
20127 of KDE using aptitude</a>.  In it, a bug in kdebase-workspace-data
20128 causes perl-modules to fail to upgrade.  The cause is simple.  If a
20129 package fail to unpack, then only part of packages with the circular
20130 dependency might end up being unpacked when unpacking aborts, and the
20131 ones already unpacked will fail to configure in the recovery phase
20132 because its dependencies are unavailable.</p>
20133
20134 <p>In this log, the problem manifest itself with this error:</p>
20135
20136 <blockquote><pre>
20137 dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of perl-modules:
20138  perl-modules depends on perl (>= 5.10.1-1); however:
20139   Version of perl on system is 5.10.0-19lenny2.
20140 dpkg: error processing perl-modules (--configure):
20141  dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
20142 </pre></blockquote>
20143
20144 <p>The perl/perl-modules circular dependency is already
20145 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/527917">reported as a bug</a>, and will
20146 hopefully be solved as soon as possible, but it is not the only one,
20147 and each one of these loops in the dependency tree can cause similar
20148 failures.  Of course, they only occur when there are bugs in other
20149 packages causing the unpacking to fail, but it is rather nasty when
20150 the failure of one package causes the problem to become worse because
20151 of dependency loops.</p>
20152
20153 <p>Thanks to
20154 <a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2010/06/msg00116.html">the
20155 tireless effort by Bill Allombert</a>, the number of circular
20156 dependencies
20157 <a href="http://debian.semistable.com/debgraph.out.html">left in Debian
20158 is dropping</a>, and perhaps it will reach zero one day. :)</p>
20159
20160 <p>Todays testing also exposed a bug in
20161 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/590605">update-notifier</a> and
20162 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/590604">different behaviour</a> between
20163 apt-get and aptitude, the latter possibly caused by some circular
20164 dependency.  Reported both to BTS to try to get someone to look at
20165 it.</p>
20166
20167       </div>
20168       <div class="tags">
20169
20170
20171         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>.
20172
20173
20174       </div>
20175     </div>
20176     <div class="padding"></div>
20177
20178     <div class="entry">
20179       <div class="title">
20180         <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>
20181       </div>
20182       <div class="date">
20183         27th July 2010
20184       </div>
20185       <div class="body">
20186         <p>I just posted this announcement culminating several months of work
20187 with the next Debian Edu release.  Not nearly done, but one major step
20188 completed.</p>
20189
20190 <blockquote>
20191 <p>This is the first test release based on Squeeze. The focus of this
20192 release is to test the user application selection. To have a look,
20193 install the standalone profile and let the developers know if the set
20194 of installed packages i.e. applications should be modified. If some
20195 user application is missing, or if there are some applications that no
20196 longer make sense to be included in Debian Edu, please let us know.
20197 Also, if a useful application is missing the translation for your
20198 language of choice, please let us know too.</p>
20199
20200 <p>In addition, feedback and help to polish the desktop (menus,
20201 artwork, starters, etc.) is appreciated. We would like to ship a nice
20202 and handy KDE4 desktop targeted for schools out of the box.</p>
20203
20204 <p>The other profiles should be installable, but there is a lot more
20205 work left to be done before they are ready, so do not expect to
20206 much.</p>
20207
20208 <p>Changes compared to the lenny based version</p>
20209
20210 <ul>
20211 <li>Everything from Debian Squeeze
20212 <ul>
20213   <li>Desktop environment KDE 4.4 => the new KDE desktop in
20214          combination with some new artwork
20215   <li>Web browser Iceweasel 3.5
20216   <li>OpenOffice.org 3.2
20217   <li>Educational toolbox GCompris 9.3
20218   <li>Music creator Rosegarden 10.04.2
20219   <li>Image editor Gimp 2.6.10
20220   <li>Virtual universe Celestia 1.6.0
20221   <li>Virtual stargazer Stellarium 0.10.4
20222   <li>3D modeler Blender 2.49.2 (new application)
20223   <li>Video editor Kdenlive 0.7.7 (new application)
20224 </ul></li>
20225 <li>Now using Kerberos for password checking (migration not finished).
20226     Enabled for:
20227 <ul>
20228   <li>PAM
20229   <li>LDAP
20230   <li>IMAP
20231   <li>SMTP (sender verification)
20232 </ul>
20233 </li>
20234 <li>New experimental roaming workstation profile for laptops.</li>
20235 <li>Show welcome page to users when they first log in. The URL is
20236     fetched from LDAP.</li>
20237 <li>New LXDE desktop option, in addition to KDE (default) and Gnome.</li>
20238 <li>General cleanup (not finished)</li>
20239 </ul>
20240 <p>The following features are not working as they should</p>
20241
20242 <ul>
20243 <li>No web based administration tool for creating users and groups. The
20244     scripts ldap-createuser-krb and ldap-add-user-to-group can be used
20245     for testing.</li>
20246 <li>DVD installs are missing debian-installer images for the PXE boot,
20247     and do not set up the PXE menu on eth0 because of this. LTSP
20248     clients should still boot from eth1 on thin client servers.</li>
20249 <li>The restructured KDE menu is not implemented.</li>
20250 <li>The LDAP server setup need to be reviewed for security.</li>
20251 <li>The LDAP directory structure need to be reworked.</li>
20252 <li>Different sets of packages are installed when using the DVD and the
20253     netinst CD. More packages are installed using the netinst CD.</li>
20254 <li>The jackd package fail to install. This is believed to be caused by
20255     some ongoing transition, and hopefully should be solved soon. The
20256     jackd1 package can be installed manually for those that need it.</li>
20257 <li>Some packages lack translations. See
20258     http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/Status/Squeeze for updated status,
20259     and help out with translations.</li>
20260 </ul>
20261
20262 <p>To download this multiarch netinstall release you can use</p>
20263
20264 <ul>
20265 <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>
20266 <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>
20267 <li>rsync -avzP ftp.skolelinux.org::skolelinux-cd/squeeze-alpha/debian-edu-6.0.0+edua0-CD.iso</li>
20268 </ul>
20269 <p>To download this multiarch dvd release you can use</p>
20270
20271 <ul>
20272 <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>
20273 <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>
20274 <li>rsync -avzP ftp.skolelinux.org::skolelinux-cd/squeeze-alpha/debian-edu-6.0.0+edua0-DVD.iso</li>
20275 </ul>
20276
20277 <p>There is no source DVD available yet. It will be prepared when we
20278 get closer to the final release.</p>
20279
20280 <p>The MD5SUM of these images are</p>
20281
20282 <ul>
20283 <li>3dbf45d59f42a53518b6e3c9ec3b5eb6 debian-edu-6.0.0+edua0-CD.iso</li>
20284 <li>22f2cbfce281d1c6e478be452638675d debian-edu-6.0.0+edua0-DVD.iso</li>
20285 </ul>
20286
20287 <p>The SHA1SUM of these images are</p>
20288 <ul>
20289 <li>c53d1b69b40cf37cd27aefaf33f6f6a3821bedf0 debian-edu-6.0.0+edua0-CD.iso</li>
20290 <li>2ec29d7db676d59d32197b05c277ffe16348376c debian-edu-6.0.0+edua0-DVD.iso</li>
20291 </ul>
20292 <p>How to report bugs:
20293 http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/HowTo/ReportBugsInBugzilla</p>
20294
20295 <p>Please direct replies to debian-edu@lists.debian.org</p>
20296 </blockquote>
20297
20298       </div>
20299       <div class="tags">
20300
20301
20302         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>.
20303
20304
20305       </div>
20306     </div>
20307     <div class="padding"></div>
20308
20309     <div class="entry">
20310       <div class="title">
20311         <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>
20312       </div>
20313       <div class="date">
20314         25th July 2010
20315       </div>
20316       <div class="body">
20317         <p>The last few months me and the other Debian Edu developers have
20318 been working hard to get the Debian/Squeeze based version of Debian
20319 Edu/Skolelinux into shape.  This future version will use Kerberos for
20320 authentication, and services are slowly migrated to single signon,
20321 getting rid of password questions one at the time.</p>
20322
20323 <p>It will also feature a roaming workstation profile with local home
20324 directory, for laptops that are only some times on the Skolelinux
20325 network, and for this profile a shortcut is created in Gnome and KDE
20326 to gain access to the users home directory on the file server.  This
20327 shortcut uses SMB at the moment, and yesterday I had time to test if
20328 SMB mounting had started working in KDE after we added the cifs-utils
20329 package.  I was pleasantly surprised how well it worked.</p>
20330
20331 <p>Thanks to the recent changes to our samba configuration to get it
20332 to use Kerberos for authentication, there were no question about user
20333 password when mounting the SMB volume.  A simple click on the shortcut
20334 in the KDE menu, and a window with the home directory popped
20335 up. :)</p>
20336
20337 <p>One step closer to a single signon solution out of the box in
20338 Debian Edu.  We already had PAM, LDAP, IMAP and SMTP in place, and now
20339 also Samba.  Next step is Cups and hopefully also NFS.</p>
20340
20341 <p>We had planned a alpha0 release of Debian Edu for today, but thanks
20342 to the autobuilder administrators for some architectures being slow to
20343 sign packages, we are still missing the fixed LTSP package we need for
20344 the release.  It was uploaded three days ago with urgency=high, and if
20345 it had entered testing yesterday we would have been able to test it in
20346 time for a alpha0 release today.  As the binaries for ia64 and powerpc
20347 still not uploaded to the Debian archive, we need to delay the alpha
20348 release another day.</p>
20349
20350 <p>If you want to help out with implementing Kerberos for Debian Edu,
20351 please contact us on debian-edu@lists.debian.org.</p>
20352
20353       </div>
20354       <div class="tags">
20355
20356
20357         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>.
20358
20359
20360       </div>
20361     </div>
20362     <div class="padding"></div>
20363
20364     <div class="entry">
20365       <div class="title">
20366         <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>
20367       </div>
20368       <div class="date">
20369         18th July 2010
20370       </div>
20371       <div class="body">
20372         <p>Thanks to
20373 <a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Opengeodata/~3/wUTCzDZk3lc/project-of-the-week-which-way-home">todays
20374 opengeodata blog entry</a>, I just discovered that the
20375 OpenStreetmap.org site have gotten
20376 <a href="http://nroets.dev.openstreetmap.org/demo/index.html?layers=B000FTFTT">support
20377 for calculating routes</a>.  The support is still experimental and
20378 only available from the development server, until more experience is
20379 gathered on the user interface and any scalability issues.</p>
20380
20381 <p>Earlier, the routing I knew about using the OpenStreetmap.org data
20382 was provided by <a href="http://maps.cloudmade.com/">Cloudmade</a>,
20383 but having it on the main page is required to make everyone aware of
20384 the issue.  I've had people reject Openstreetmap.org as a viable
20385 alternative for them because the front page lacked routing support,
20386 and I hope their needs will be catered for when routing show up on the
20387 www.openstreetmap.org front page.</p>
20388
20389       </div>
20390       <div class="tags">
20391
20392
20393         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>.
20394
20395
20396       </div>
20397     </div>
20398     <div class="padding"></div>
20399
20400     <div class="entry">
20401       <div class="title">
20402         <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>
20403       </div>
20404       <div class="date">
20405         17th July 2010
20406       </div>
20407       <div class="body">
20408         <p>This is a
20409 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Time_for_new__LDAP_schemas_replacing_RFC_2307_.html">followup</a>
20410 on my
20411 <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
20412 work</a> on
20413 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Combining_PowerDNS_and_ISC_DHCP_LDAP_objects.html">merging
20414 all</a> the computer related LDAP objects in Debian Edu.</p>
20415
20416 <p>As a step to try to see if it possible to merge the DNS and DHCP
20417 LDAP objects, I have had a look at how the packages pdns-backend-ldap
20418 and dhcp3-server-ldap in Debian use the LDAP server.  The two
20419 implementations are quite different in how they use LDAP.</p>
20420
20421 To get this information, I started slapd with debugging enabled and
20422 dumped the debug output to a file to get the LDAP searches performed
20423 on a Debian Edu main-server.  Here is a summary.
20424
20425 <p><strong>powerdns</strong></p>
20426
20427 <a href="http://www.linuxnetworks.de/doc/index.php/PowerDNS_LDAP_Backend">Clues
20428 on how to</a> set up PowerDNS to use a LDAP backend is available on
20429 the web.
20430
20431 <p>PowerDNS have two modes of operation using LDAP as its backend.
20432 One "strict" mode where the forward and reverse DNS lookups are done
20433 using the same LDAP objects, and a "tree" mode where the forward and
20434 reverse entries are in two different subtrees in LDAP with a structure
20435 based on the DNS names, as in tjener.intern and
20436 2.2.0.10.in-addr.arpa.</p>
20437
20438 <p>In tree mode, the server is set up to use a LDAP subtree as its
20439 base, and uses a "base" scoped search for the DNS name by adding
20440 "dc=tjener,dc=intern," to the base with a filter for
20441 "(associateddomain=tjener.intern)" for the forward entry and
20442 "dc=2,dc=2,dc=0,dc=10,dc=in-addr,dc=arpa," with a filter for
20443 "(associateddomain=2.2.0.10.in-addr.arpa)" for the reverse entry.  For
20444 forward entries, it is looking for attributes named dnsttl, arecord,
20445 nsrecord, cnamerecord, soarecord, ptrrecord, hinforecord, mxrecord,
20446 txtrecord, rprecord, afsdbrecord, keyrecord, aaaarecord, locrecord,
20447 srvrecord, naptrrecord, kxrecord, certrecord, dsrecord, sshfprecord,
20448 ipseckeyrecord, rrsigrecord, nsecrecord, dnskeyrecord, dhcidrecord,
20449 spfrecord and modifytimestamp.  For reverse entries it is looking for
20450 the attributes dnsttl, arecord, nsrecord, cnamerecord, soarecord,
20451 ptrrecord, hinforecord, mxrecord, txtrecord, rprecord, aaaarecord,
20452 locrecord, srvrecord, naptrrecord and modifytimestamp.  The equivalent
20453 ldapsearch commands could look like this:</p>
20454
20455 <blockquote><pre>
20456 ldapsearch -h ldap \
20457   -b dc=tjener,dc=intern,ou=hosts,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no \
20458   -s base -x '(associateddomain=tjener.intern)' dNSTTL aRecord nSRecord \
20459   cNAMERecord sOARecord pTRRecord hInfoRecord mXRecord tXTRecord \
20460   rPRecord aFSDBRecord KeyRecord aAAARecord lOCRecord sRVRecord \
20461   nAPTRRecord kXRecord certRecord dSRecord sSHFPRecord iPSecKeyRecord \
20462   rRSIGRecord nSECRecord dNSKeyRecord dHCIDRecord sPFRecord modifyTimestamp
20463
20464 ldapsearch -h ldap \
20465   -b dc=2,dc=2,dc=0,dc=10,dc=in-addr,dc=arpa,ou=hosts,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no \
20466   -s base -x '(associateddomain=2.2.0.10.in-addr.arpa)'
20467   dnsttl, arecord, nsrecord, cnamerecord soarecord ptrrecord \
20468   hinforecord mxrecord txtrecord rprecord aaaarecord locrecord \
20469   srvrecord naptrrecord modifytimestamp
20470 </pre></blockquote>
20471
20472 <p>In Debian Edu/Lenny, the PowerDNS tree mode is used with
20473 ou=hosts,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no as the base, and these are two
20474 example LDAP objects used there.  In addition to these objects, the
20475 parent objects all th way up to ou=hosts,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
20476 also exist.</p>
20477
20478 <blockquote><pre>
20479 dn: dc=tjener,dc=intern,ou=hosts,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
20480 objectclass: top
20481 objectclass: dnsdomain
20482 objectclass: domainrelatedobject
20483 dc: tjener
20484 arecord: 10.0.2.2
20485 associateddomain: tjener.intern
20486
20487 dn: dc=2,dc=2,dc=0,dc=10,dc=in-addr,dc=arpa,ou=hosts,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
20488 objectclass: top
20489 objectclass: dnsdomain2
20490 objectclass: domainrelatedobject
20491 dc: 2
20492 ptrrecord: tjener.intern
20493 associateddomain: 2.2.0.10.in-addr.arpa
20494 </pre></blockquote>
20495
20496 <p>In strict mode, the server behaves differently.  When looking for
20497 forward DNS entries, it is doing a "subtree" scoped search with the
20498 same base as in the tree mode for a object with filter
20499 "(associateddomain=tjener.intern)" and requests the attributes dnsttl,
20500 arecord, nsrecord, cnamerecord, soarecord, ptrrecord, hinforecord,
20501 mxrecord, txtrecord, rprecord, aaaarecord, locrecord, srvrecord,
20502 naptrrecord and modifytimestamp.  For reverse entires it also do a
20503 subtree scoped search but this time the filter is "(arecord=10.0.2.2)"
20504 and the requested attributes are associateddomain, dnsttl and
20505 modifytimestamp.  In short, in strict mode the objects with ptrrecord
20506 go away, and the arecord attribute in the forward object is used
20507 instead.</p>
20508
20509 <p>The forward and reverse searches can be simulated using ldapsearch
20510 like this:</p>
20511
20512 <blockquote><pre>
20513 ldapsearch -h ldap -b ou=hosts,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no -s sub -x \
20514   '(associateddomain=tjener.intern)' dNSTTL aRecord nSRecord \
20515   cNAMERecord sOARecord pTRRecord hInfoRecord mXRecord tXTRecord \
20516   rPRecord aFSDBRecord KeyRecord aAAARecord lOCRecord sRVRecord \
20517   nAPTRRecord kXRecord certRecord dSRecord sSHFPRecord iPSecKeyRecord \
20518   rRSIGRecord nSECRecord dNSKeyRecord dHCIDRecord sPFRecord modifyTimestamp
20519
20520 ldapsearch -h ldap -b ou=hosts,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no -s sub -x \
20521   '(arecord=10.0.2.2)' associateddomain dnsttl modifytimestamp
20522 </pre></blockquote>
20523
20524 <p>In addition to the forward and reverse searches , there is also a
20525 search for SOA records, which behave similar to the forward and
20526 reverse lookups.</p>
20527
20528 <p>A thing to note with the PowerDNS behaviour is that it do not
20529 specify any objectclass names, and instead look for the attributes it
20530 need to generate a DNS reply.  This make it able to work with any
20531 objectclass that provide the needed attributes.</p>
20532
20533 <p>The attributes are normally provided in the cosine (RFC 1274) and
20534 dnsdomain2 schemas.  The latter is used for reverse entries like
20535 ptrrecord and recent DNS additions like aaaarecord and srvrecord.</p>
20536
20537 <p>In Debian Edu, we have created DNS objects using the object classes
20538 dcobject (for dc), dnsdomain or dnsdomain2 (structural, for the DNS
20539 attributes) and domainrelatedobject (for associatedDomain).  The use
20540 of structural object classes make it impossible to combine these
20541 classes with the object classes used by DHCP.</p>
20542
20543 <p>There are other schemas that could be used too, for example the
20544 dnszone structural object class used by Gosa and bind-sdb for the DNS
20545 attributes combined with the domainrelatedobject object class, but in
20546 this case some unused attributes would have to be included as well
20547 (zonename and relativedomainname).</p>
20548
20549 <p>My proposal for Debian Edu would be to switch PowerDNS to strict
20550 mode and not use any of the existing objectclasses (dnsdomain,
20551 dnsdomain2 and dnszone) when one want to combine the DNS information
20552 with DHCP information, and instead create a auxiliary object class
20553 defined something like this (using the attributes defined for
20554 dnsdomain and dnsdomain2 or dnszone):</p>
20555
20556 <blockquote><pre>
20557 objectclass ( some-oid NAME 'dnsDomainAux'
20558     SUP top
20559     AUXILIARY
20560     MAY ( ARecord $ MDRecord $ MXRecord $ NSRecord $ SOARecord $ CNAMERecord $
20561           DNSTTL $ DNSClass $ PTRRecord $ HINFORecord $ MINFORecord $
20562           TXTRecord $ SIGRecord $ KEYRecord $ AAAARecord $ LOCRecord $
20563           NXTRecord $ SRVRecord $ NAPTRRecord $ KXRecord $ CERTRecord $
20564           A6Record $ DNAMERecord
20565     ))
20566 </pre></blockquote>
20567
20568 <p>This will allow any object to become a DNS entry when combined with
20569 the domainrelatedobject object class, and allow any entity to include
20570 all the attributes PowerDNS wants.  I've sent an email to the PowerDNS
20571 developers asking for their view on this schema and if they are
20572 interested in providing such schema with PowerDNS, and I hope my
20573 message will be accepted into their mailing list soon.</p>
20574
20575 <p><strong>ISC dhcp</strong></p>
20576
20577 <p>The DHCP server searches for specific objectclass and requests all
20578 the object attributes, and then uses the attributes it want.  This
20579 make it harder to figure out exactly what attributes are used, but
20580 thanks to the working example in Debian Edu I can at least get an idea
20581 what is needed without having to read the source code.</p>
20582
20583 <p>In the DHCP server configuration, the LDAP base to use and the
20584 search filter to use to locate the correct dhcpServer entity is
20585 stored.  These are the relevant entries from
20586 /etc/dhcp3/dhcpd.conf:</p>
20587
20588 <blockquote><pre>
20589 ldap-base-dn "dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no";
20590 ldap-dhcp-server-cn "dhcp";
20591 </pre></blockquote>
20592
20593 <p>The DHCP server uses this information to nest all the DHCP
20594 configuration it need.  The cn "dhcp" is located using the given LDAP
20595 base and the filter "(&(objectClass=dhcpServer)(cn=dhcp))".  The
20596 search result is this entry:</p>
20597
20598 <blockquote><pre>
20599 dn: cn=dhcp,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
20600 cn: dhcp
20601 objectClass: top
20602 objectClass: dhcpServer
20603 dhcpServiceDN: cn=DHCP Config,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
20604 </pre></blockquote>
20605
20606 <p>The content of the dhcpServiceDN attribute is next used to locate the
20607 subtree with DHCP configuration.  The DHCP configuration subtree base
20608 is located using a base scope search with base "cn=DHCP
20609 Config,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no" and filter
20610 "(&(objectClass=dhcpService)(|(dhcpPrimaryDN=cn=dhcp,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no)(dhcpSecondaryDN=cn=dhcp,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no)))".
20611 The search result is this entry:</p>
20612
20613 <blockquote><pre>
20614 dn: cn=DHCP Config,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
20615 cn: DHCP Config
20616 objectClass: top
20617 objectClass: dhcpService
20618 objectClass: dhcpOptions
20619 dhcpPrimaryDN: cn=dhcp, dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
20620 dhcpStatements: ddns-update-style none
20621 dhcpStatements: authoritative
20622 dhcpOption: smtp-server code 69 = array of ip-address
20623 dhcpOption: www-server code 72 = array of ip-address
20624 dhcpOption: wpad-url code 252 = text
20625 </pre></blockquote>
20626
20627 <p>Next, the entire subtree is processed, one level at the time.  When
20628 all the DHCP configuration is loaded, it is ready to receive requests.
20629 The subtree in Debian Edu contain objects with object classes
20630 top/dhcpService/dhcpOptions, top/dhcpSharedNetwork/dhcpOptions,
20631 top/dhcpSubnet, top/dhcpGroup and top/dhcpHost.  These provide options
20632 and information about netmasks, dynamic range etc.  Leaving out the
20633 details here because it is not relevant for the focus of my
20634 investigation, which is to see if it is possible to merge dns and dhcp
20635 related computer objects.</p>
20636
20637 <p>When a DHCP request come in, LDAP is searched for the MAC address
20638 of the client (00:00:00:00:00:00 in this example), using a subtree
20639 scoped search with "cn=DHCP Config,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no" as
20640 the base and "(&(objectClass=dhcpHost)(dhcpHWAddress=ethernet
20641 00:00:00:00:00:00))" as the filter.  This is what a host object look
20642 like:</p>
20643
20644 <blockquote><pre>
20645 dn: cn=hostname,cn=group1,cn=THINCLIENTS,cn=DHCP Config,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
20646 cn: hostname
20647 objectClass: top
20648 objectClass: dhcpHost
20649 dhcpHWAddress: ethernet 00:00:00:00:00:00
20650 dhcpStatements: fixed-address hostname
20651 </pre></blockquote>
20652
20653 <p>There is less flexiblity in the way LDAP searches are done here.
20654 The object classes need to have fixed names, and the configuration
20655 need to be stored in a fairly specific LDAP structure.  On the
20656 positive side, the invidiual dhcpHost entires can be anywhere without
20657 the DN pointed to by the dhcpServer entries.  The latter should make
20658 it possible to group all host entries in a subtree next to the
20659 configuration entries, and this subtree can also be shared with the
20660 DNS server if the schema proposed above is combined with the dhcpHost
20661 structural object class.
20662
20663 <p><strong>Conclusion</strong></p>
20664
20665 <p>The PowerDNS implementation seem to be very flexible when it come
20666 to which LDAP schemas to use.  While its "tree" mode is rigid when it
20667 come to the the LDAP structure, the "strict" mode is very flexible,
20668 allowing DNS objects to be stored anywhere under the base cn specified
20669 in the configuration.</p>
20670
20671 <p>The DHCP implementation on the other hand is very inflexible, both
20672 regarding which LDAP schemas to use and which LDAP structure to use.
20673 I guess one could implement ones own schema, as long as the
20674 objectclasses and attributes have the names used, but this do not
20675 really help when the DHCP subtree need to have a fairly fixed
20676 structure.</p>
20677
20678 <p>Based on the observed behaviour, I suspect a LDAP structure like
20679 this might work for Debian Edu:</p>
20680
20681 <blockquote><pre>
20682 ou=services
20683   cn=machine-info (dhcpService) - dhcpServiceDN points here
20684     cn=dhcp (dhcpServer)
20685     cn=dhcp-internal (dhcpSharedNetwork/dhcpOptions)
20686       cn=10.0.2.0 (dhcpSubnet)
20687         cn=group1 (dhcpGroup/dhcpOptions)
20688     cn=dhcp-thinclients (dhcpSharedNetwork/dhcpOptions)
20689       cn=192.168.0.0 (dhcpSubnet)
20690         cn=group1 (dhcpGroup/dhcpOptions)
20691     ou=machines - PowerDNS base points here
20692       cn=hostname (dhcpHost/domainrelatedobject/dnsDomainAux)
20693 </pre></blockquote>
20694
20695 <P>This is not tested yet.  If the DHCP server require the dhcpHost
20696 entries to be in the dhcpGroup subtrees, the entries can be stored
20697 there instead of a common machines subtree, and the PowerDNS base
20698 would have to be moved one level up to the machine-info subtree.</p>
20699
20700 <p>The combined object under the machines subtree would look something
20701 like this:</p>
20702
20703 <blockquote><pre>
20704 dn: dc=hostname,ou=machines,cn=machine-info,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
20705 dc: hostname
20706 objectClass: top
20707 objectClass: dhcpHost
20708 objectclass: domainrelatedobject
20709 objectclass: dnsDomainAux
20710 associateddomain: hostname.intern
20711 arecord: 10.11.12.13
20712 dhcpHWAddress: ethernet 00:00:00:00:00:00
20713 dhcpStatements: fixed-address hostname.intern
20714 </pre></blockquote>
20715
20716 </p>One could even add the LTSP configuration associated with a given
20717 machine, as long as the required attributes are available in a
20718 auxiliary object class.</p>
20719
20720       </div>
20721       <div class="tags">
20722
20723
20724         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>.
20725
20726
20727       </div>
20728     </div>
20729     <div class="padding"></div>
20730
20731     <div class="entry">
20732       <div class="title">
20733         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Combining_PowerDNS_and_ISC_DHCP_LDAP_objects.html">Combining PowerDNS and ISC DHCP LDAP objects</a>
20734       </div>
20735       <div class="date">
20736         14th July 2010
20737       </div>
20738       <div class="body">
20739         <p>For a while now, I have wanted to find a way to change the DNS and
20740 DHCP services in Debian Edu to use the same LDAP objects for a given
20741 computer, to avoid the possibility of having a inconsistent state for
20742 a computer in LDAP (as in DHCP but no DNS entry or the other way
20743 around) and make it easier to add computers to LDAP.</p>
20744
20745 <p>I've looked at how powerdns and dhcpd is using LDAP, and using this
20746 information finally found a solution that seem to work.</p>
20747
20748 <p>The old setup required three LDAP objects for a given computer.
20749 One forward DNS entry, one reverse DNS entry and one DHCP entry.  If
20750 we switch powerdns to use its strict LDAP method (ldap-method=strict
20751 in pdns-debian-edu.conf), the forward and reverse DNS entries are
20752 merged into one while making it impossible to transfer the reverse map
20753 to a slave DNS server.</p>
20754
20755 <p>If we also replace the object class used to get the DNS related
20756 attributes to one allowing these attributes to be combined with the
20757 dhcphost object class, we can merge the DNS and DHCP entries into one.
20758 I've written such object class in the dnsdomainaux.schema file (need
20759 proper OIDs, but that is a minor issue), and tested the setup.  It
20760 seem to work.</p>
20761
20762 <p>With this test setup in place, we can get away with one LDAP object
20763 for both DNS and DHCP, and even the LTSP configuration I suggested in
20764 an earlier email.  The combined LDAP object will look something like
20765 this:</p>
20766
20767 <blockquote><pre>
20768   dn: cn=hostname,cn=group1,cn=THINCLIENTS,cn=DHCP Config,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
20769   cn: hostname
20770   objectClass: dhcphost
20771   objectclass: domainrelatedobject
20772   objectclass: dnsdomainaux
20773   associateddomain: hostname.intern
20774   arecord: 10.11.12.13
20775   dhcphwaddress: ethernet 00:00:00:00:00:00
20776   dhcpstatements: fixed-address hostname
20777   ldapconfigsound: Y
20778 </pre></blockquote>
20779
20780 <p>The DNS server uses the associateddomain and arecord entries, while
20781 the DHCP server uses the dhcphwaddress and dhcpstatements entries
20782 before asking DNS to resolve the fixed-adddress.  LTSP will use
20783 dhcphwaddress or associateddomain and the ldapconfig* attributes.</p>
20784
20785 <p>I am not yet sure if I can get the DHCP server to look for its
20786 dhcphost in a different location, to allow us to put the objects
20787 outside the "DHCP Config" subtree, but hope to figure out a way to do
20788 that.  If I can't figure out a way to do that, we can still get rid of
20789 the hosts subtree and move all its content into the DHCP Config tree
20790 (which probably should be renamed to be more related to the new
20791 content.  I suspect cn=dnsdhcp,ou=services or something like that
20792 might be a good place to put it.</p>
20793
20794 <p>If you want to help out with implementing this for Debian Edu,
20795 please contact us on debian-edu@lists.debian.org.</p>
20796
20797       </div>
20798       <div class="tags">
20799
20800
20801         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>.
20802
20803
20804       </div>
20805     </div>
20806     <div class="padding"></div>
20807
20808     <div class="entry">
20809       <div class="title">
20810         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Idea_for_storing_LTSP_configuration_in_LDAP.html">Idea for storing LTSP configuration in LDAP</a>
20811       </div>
20812       <div class="date">
20813         11th July 2010
20814       </div>
20815       <div class="body">
20816         <p>Vagrant mentioned on IRC today that ltsp_config now support
20817 sourcing files from /usr/share/ltsp/ltsp_config.d/ on the thin
20818 clients, and that this can be used to fetch configuration from LDAP if
20819 Debian Edu choose to store configuration there.</p>
20820
20821 <p>Armed with this information, I got inspired and wrote a test module
20822 to get configuration from LDAP.  The idea is to look up the MAC
20823 address of the client in LDAP, and look for attributes on the form
20824 ltspconfigsetting=value, and use this to export SETTING=value to the
20825 LTSP clients.</p>
20826
20827 <p>The goal is to be able to store the LTSP configuration attributes
20828 in a "computer" LDAP object used by both DNS and DHCP, and thus
20829 allowing us to store all information about a computer in one place.</p>
20830
20831 <p>This is a untested draft implementation, and I welcome feedback on
20832 this approach.  A real LDAP schema for the ltspClientAux objectclass
20833 need to be written.  Comments, suggestions, etc?</p>
20834
20835 <blockquote><pre>
20836 # Store in /opt/ltsp/$arch/usr/share/ltsp/ltsp_config.d/ldap-config
20837 #
20838 # Fetch LTSP client settings from LDAP based on MAC address
20839 #
20840 # Uses ethernet address as stored in the dhcpHost objectclass using
20841 # the dhcpHWAddress attribute or ethernet address stored in the
20842 # ieee802Device objectclass with the macAddress attribute.
20843 #
20844 # This module is written to be schema agnostic, and only depend on the
20845 # existence of attribute names.
20846 #
20847 # The LTSP configuration variables are saved directly using a
20848 # ltspConfig prefix and uppercasing the rest of the attribute name.
20849 # To set the SERVER variable, set the ltspConfigServer attribute.
20850 #
20851 # Some LDAP schema should be created with all the relevant
20852 # configuration settings.  Something like this should work:
20853 #
20854 # objectclass ( 1.1.2.2 NAME 'ltspClientAux'
20855 #     SUP top
20856 #     AUXILIARY
20857 #     MAY ( ltspConfigServer $ ltsConfigSound $ ... )
20858
20859 LDAPSERVER=$(debian-edu-ldapserver)
20860 if [ "$LDAPSERVER" ] ; then
20861     LDAPBASE=$(debian-edu-ldapserver -b)
20862     for MAC in $(LANG=C ifconfig |grep -i hwaddr| awk '{print $5}'|sort -u) ; do
20863         filter="(|(dhcpHWAddress=ethernet $MAC)(macAddress=$MAC))"
20864         ldapsearch -h "$LDAPSERVER" -b "$LDAPBASE" -v -x "$filter" | \
20865             grep '^ltspConfig' | while read attr value ; do
20866             # Remove prefix and convert to upper case
20867             attr=$(echo $attr | sed 's/^ltspConfig//i' | tr a-z A-Z)
20868             # bass value on to clients
20869             eval "$attr=$value; export $attr"
20870         done
20871     done
20872 fi
20873 </pre></blockquote>
20874
20875 <p>I'm not sure this shell construction will work, because I suspect
20876 the while block might end up in a subshell causing the variables set
20877 there to not show up in ltsp-config, but if that is the case I am sure
20878 the code can be restructured to make sure the variables are passed on.
20879 I expect that can be solved with some testing. :)</p>
20880
20881 <p>If you want to help out with implementing this for Debian Edu,
20882 please contact us on debian-edu@lists.debian.org.</p>
20883
20884 <p>Update 2010-07-17: I am aware of another effort to store LTSP
20885 configuration in LDAP that was created around year 2000 by
20886 <a href="http://www.pcxperience.com/thinclient/documentation/ldap.html">PC
20887 Xperience, Inc., 2000</a>.  I found its
20888 <a href="http://people.redhat.com/alikins/ltsp/ldap/">files</a> on a
20889 personal home page over at redhat.com.</p>
20890
20891       </div>
20892       <div class="tags">
20893
20894
20895         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>.
20896
20897
20898       </div>
20899     </div>
20900     <div class="padding"></div>
20901
20902     <div class="entry">
20903       <div class="title">
20904         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/jXplorer__a_very_nice_LDAP_GUI.html">jXplorer, a very nice LDAP GUI</a>
20905       </div>
20906       <div class="date">
20907          9th July 2010
20908       </div>
20909       <div class="body">
20910         <p>Since
20911 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/LUMA__a_very_nice_LDAP_GUI.html">my
20912 last post</a> about available LDAP tools in Debian, I was told about a
20913 LDAP GUI that is even better than luma.  The java application
20914 <a href="http://jxplorer.org/">jXplorer</a> is claimed to be capable of
20915 moving LDAP objects and subtrees using drag-and-drop, and can
20916 authenticate using Kerberos.  I have only tested the Kerberos
20917 authentication, but do not have a LDAP setup allowing me to rewrite
20918 LDAP with my test user yet.  It is
20919 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/j/jxplorer.html">available in
20920 Debian</a> testing and unstable at the moment.  The only problem I
20921 have with it is how it handle errors.  If something go wrong, its
20922 non-intuitive behaviour require me to go through some query work list
20923 and remove the failing query.  Nothing big, but very annoying.</p>
20924
20925       </div>
20926       <div class="tags">
20927
20928
20929         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>.
20930
20931
20932       </div>
20933     </div>
20934     <div class="padding"></div>
20935
20936     <div class="entry">
20937       <div class="title">
20938         <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>
20939       </div>
20940       <div class="date">
20941          3rd July 2010
20942       </div>
20943       <div class="body">
20944         <p>Here is a short update on my <a
20945 href="http://people.skolelinux.org/~pere/debian-upgrade-testing/">my
20946 Debian Lenny->Squeeze upgrade testing</a>.  Here is a summary of the
20947 difference for Gnome when it is upgraded by apt-get and aptitude.  I'm
20948 not reporting the status for KDE, because the upgrade crashes when
20949 aptitude try because of missing conflicts
20950 (<a href="http://bugs.debian.org/584861">#584861</a> and
20951 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/585716">#585716</a>).</p>
20952
20953 <p>At the end of the upgrade test script, dpkg -l is executed to get a
20954 complete list of the installed packages.  Based on this I see these
20955 differences when I did a test run today.  As usual, I do not really
20956 know what the correct set of packages would be, but thought it best to
20957 publish the difference.</p>
20958
20959 <p>Installed using apt-get, missing with aptitude</p>
20960
20961 <blockquote><p>
20962   at-spi cpp-4.3 finger gnome-spell gstreamer0.10-gnomevfs
20963   libatspi1.0-0 libcupsys2 libeel2-data libgail-common libgdl-1-common
20964   libgnomeprint2.2-data libgnomeprintui2.2-common libgnomevfs2-bin
20965   libgtksourceview-common libpt-1.10.10-plugins-alsa
20966   libpt-1.10.10-plugins-v4l libservlet2.4-java libxalan2-java
20967   libxerces2-java openoffice.org-writer2latex openssl-blacklist p7zip
20968   python-4suite-xml python-eggtrayicon python-gtkhtml2
20969   python-gtkmozembed svgalibg1 xserver-xephyr zip
20970 </p></blockquote>
20971
20972 <p>Installed using apt-get, removed with aptitude</p>
20973
20974 <blockquote><p>
20975   bluez-utils dhcdbd djvulibre-desktop epiphany-gecko
20976   gnome-app-install gnome-mount gnome-vfs-obexftp gnome-volume-manager
20977   libao2 libavahi-compat-libdnssd1 libavahi-core5 libbind9-50
20978   libbluetooth2 libcamel1.2-11 libcdio7 libcucul0 libcurl3
20979   libdirectfb-1.0-0 libdvdread3 libedata-cal1.2-6 libedataserver1.2-9
20980   libeel2-2.20 libepc-1.0-1 libepc-ui-1.0-1 libexchange-storage1.2-3
20981   libfaad0 libgd2-noxpm libgda3-3 libgda3-common libggz2 libggzcore9
20982   libggzmod4 libgksu1.2-0 libgksuui1.0-1 libgmyth0 libgnome-desktop-2
20983   libgnome-pilot2 libgnomecups1.0-1 libgnomeprint2.2-0
20984   libgnomeprintui2.2-0 libgpod3 libgraphviz4 libgtkhtml2-0
20985   libgtksourceview1.0-0 libgucharmap6 libhesiod0 libicu38 libisccc50
20986   libisccfg50 libiw29 libkpathsea4 libltdl3 liblwres50 libmagick++10
20987   libmagick10 libmalaga7 libmtp7 libmysqlclient15off libnautilus-burn4
20988   libneon27 libnm-glib0 libnm-util0 libopal-2.2 libosp5
20989   libparted1.8-10 libpisock9 libpisync1 libpoppler-glib3 libpoppler3
20990   libpt-1.10.10 libraw1394-8 libsensors3 libsmbios2 libsoup2.2-8
20991   libssh2-1 libsuitesparse-3.1.0 libswfdec-0.6-90 libtalloc1
20992   libtotem-plparser10 libtrackerclient0 libvoikko1 libxalan2-java-gcj
20993   libxerces2-java-gcj libxklavier12 libxtrap6 libxxf86misc1 libzephyr3
20994   mysql-common swfdec-gnome totem-gstreamer wodim
20995 </p></blockquote>
20996
20997 <p>Installed using aptitude, missing with apt-get</p>
20998
20999 <blockquote><p>
21000   gnome gnome-desktop-environment hamster-applet python-gnomeapplet
21001   python-gnomekeyring python-wnck rhythmbox-plugins xorg
21002   xserver-xorg-input-all xserver-xorg-input-evdev
21003   xserver-xorg-input-kbd xserver-xorg-input-mouse
21004   xserver-xorg-input-synaptics xserver-xorg-video-all
21005   xserver-xorg-video-apm xserver-xorg-video-ark xserver-xorg-video-ati
21006   xserver-xorg-video-chips xserver-xorg-video-cirrus
21007   xserver-xorg-video-dummy xserver-xorg-video-fbdev
21008   xserver-xorg-video-glint xserver-xorg-video-i128
21009   xserver-xorg-video-i740 xserver-xorg-video-mach64
21010   xserver-xorg-video-mga xserver-xorg-video-neomagic
21011   xserver-xorg-video-nouveau xserver-xorg-video-nv
21012   xserver-xorg-video-r128 xserver-xorg-video-radeon
21013   xserver-xorg-video-radeonhd xserver-xorg-video-rendition
21014   xserver-xorg-video-s3 xserver-xorg-video-s3virge
21015   xserver-xorg-video-savage xserver-xorg-video-siliconmotion
21016   xserver-xorg-video-sis xserver-xorg-video-sisusb
21017   xserver-xorg-video-tdfx xserver-xorg-video-tga
21018   xserver-xorg-video-trident xserver-xorg-video-tseng
21019   xserver-xorg-video-vesa xserver-xorg-video-vmware
21020   xserver-xorg-video-voodoo
21021 </p></blockquote>
21022
21023 <p>Installed using aptitude, removed with apt-get</p>
21024
21025 <blockquote><p>
21026   deskbar-applet xserver-xorg xserver-xorg-core
21027   xserver-xorg-input-wacom xserver-xorg-video-intel
21028   xserver-xorg-video-openchrome
21029 </p></blockquote>
21030
21031 <p>I was told on IRC that the xorg-xserver package was
21032 <a href="http://git.debian.org/?p=pkg-xorg/xserver/xorg-server.git;a=commit;h=9c8080d06c457932d3bfec021c69ac000aa60120">changed
21033 in git</a> today to try to get apt-get to not remove xorg completely.
21034 No idea when it hits Squeeze, but when it does I hope it will reduce
21035 the difference somewhat.
21036
21037       </div>
21038       <div class="tags">
21039
21040
21041         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>.
21042
21043
21044       </div>
21045     </div>
21046     <div class="padding"></div>
21047
21048     <div class="entry">
21049       <div class="title">
21050         <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>
21051       </div>
21052       <div class="date">
21053          1st July 2010
21054       </div>
21055       <div class="body">
21056         <p>For a laptop, centralized user directories and password checking is
21057 a bit troubling.  Laptops are typically used also when not connected
21058 to the network, and it is vital for a user to be able to log in or
21059 unlock the screen saver also when a central server is unavailable.
21060 This is possible by caching passwords and directory information (user
21061 and group attributes) locally, and the packages to do so are available
21062 in Debian.  Here follow two recipes to set this up in Debian/Squeeze.
21063 It is also possible to set up in Debian/Lenny, but require more manual
21064 setup there because pam-auth-update is missing in Lenny.</p>
21065
21066 <h2>LDAP/Kerberos + nscd + libpam-ccreds + libpam-mklocaluser/pam_mkhomedir</h2>
21067
21068 This is the traditional method with a twist.  The password caching is
21069 provided by libpam-ccreds (version 10-4 or later is needed on
21070 Squeeze), and the directory caching is done by nscd.  The directory
21071 lookup and password checking is done using LDAP.  If one want to use
21072 Kerberos for password checking the libpam-ldapd package can be
21073 replaced with libpam-krb5 or libpam-heimdal.  If one is happy having a
21074 local home directory with the path listed in LDAP, one can use the
21075 pam_mkhomedir module from pam-modules to make this happen instead of
21076 using libpam-mklocaluser.  A setup for pam-auth-update to enable
21077 pam_mkhomedir will have to be written until a fix for
21078 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/568577">bug #568577</a> is in the
21079 archive.  Because I believe it is a bad idea to have local home
21080 directories using misleading paths like /site/server/partition/, I
21081 prefer to create a local user with the home directory in /home/.  This
21082 is done using the libpam-mklocaluser package.</p>
21083
21084 <p>These packages need to be installed and configured</p>
21085
21086 <blockquote><pre>
21087 libnss-ldapd libpam-ldapd nscd libpam-ccreds libpam-mklocaluser
21088 </pre></blockquote>
21089
21090 <p>The ldapd packages will ask for LDAP connection information, and
21091 one have to fill in the values that fits ones own site.  Make sure the
21092 PAM part uses encrypted connections, to make sure the password is not
21093 sent in clear text to the LDAP server.  I've been unable to get TLS
21094 certificate checking for a self signed certificate working, which make
21095 LDAP authentication unsafe for Debian Edu (nslcd is not checking if it
21096 is talking to the correct LDAP server), and very much welcome feedback
21097 on how to get this working.</p>
21098
21099 <p>Because nscd do not have a default configuration fit for offline
21100 caching until <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/485282">bug #485282</a>
21101 is fixed, this configuration should be used instead of the one
21102 currently in /etc/nscd.conf.  The changes are in the fields
21103 reload-count and positive-time-to-live, and is based on the
21104 instructions I found in the
21105 <a href="http://www.flyn.org/laptopldap/">LDAP for Mobile Laptops</a>
21106 instructions by Flyn Computing.</p>
21107
21108 <blockquote><pre>
21109         debug-level             0
21110         reload-count            unlimited
21111         paranoia                no
21112
21113         enable-cache            passwd          yes
21114         positive-time-to-live   passwd          2592000
21115         negative-time-to-live   passwd          20
21116         suggested-size          passwd          211
21117         check-files             passwd          yes
21118         persistent              passwd          yes
21119         shared                  passwd          yes
21120         max-db-size             passwd          33554432
21121         auto-propagate          passwd          yes
21122
21123         enable-cache            group           yes
21124         positive-time-to-live   group           2592000
21125         negative-time-to-live   group           20
21126         suggested-size          group           211
21127         check-files             group           yes
21128         persistent              group           yes
21129         shared                  group           yes
21130         max-db-size             group           33554432
21131         auto-propagate          group           yes
21132
21133         enable-cache            hosts           no
21134         positive-time-to-live   hosts           2592000
21135         negative-time-to-live   hosts           20
21136         suggested-size          hosts           211
21137         check-files             hosts           yes
21138         persistent              hosts           yes
21139         shared                  hosts           yes
21140         max-db-size             hosts           33554432
21141
21142         enable-cache            services        yes
21143         positive-time-to-live   services        2592000
21144         negative-time-to-live   services        20
21145         suggested-size          services        211
21146         check-files             services        yes
21147         persistent              services        yes
21148         shared                  services        yes
21149         max-db-size             services        33554432
21150 </pre></blockquote>
21151
21152 <p>While we wait for a mechanism to update /etc/nsswitch.conf
21153 automatically like the one provided in
21154 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/496915">bug #496915</a>, the file
21155 content need to be manually replaced to ensure LDAP is used as the
21156 directory service on the machine.  /etc/nsswitch.conf should normally
21157 look like this:</p>
21158
21159 <blockquote><pre>
21160 passwd:         files ldap
21161 group:          files ldap
21162 shadow:         files ldap
21163 hosts:          files mdns4_minimal [NOTFOUND=return] dns mdns4
21164 networks:       files
21165 protocols:      files
21166 services:       files
21167 ethers:         files
21168 rpc:            files
21169 netgroup:       files ldap
21170 </pre></blockquote>
21171
21172 <p>The important parts are that ldap is listed last for passwd, group,
21173 shadow and netgroup.</p>
21174
21175 <p>With these changes in place, any user in LDAP will be able to log
21176 in locally on the machine using for example kdm, get a local home
21177 directory created and have the password as well as user and group
21178 attributes cached.
21179
21180 <h2>LDAP/Kerberos + nss-updatedb + libpam-ccreds +
21181   libpam-mklocaluser/pam_mkhomedir</h2>
21182
21183 <p>Because nscd have had its share of problems, and seem to have
21184 problems doing proper caching, I've seen suggestions and recipes to
21185 use nss-updatedb to copy parts of the LDAP database locally when the
21186 LDAP database is available.  I have not tested such setup, because I
21187 discovered sssd.</p>
21188
21189 <h2>LDAP/Kerberos + sssd + libpam-mklocaluser</h2>
21190
21191 <p>A more flexible and robust setup than the nscd combination
21192 mentioned earlier that has shown up recently, is the
21193 <a href="https://fedorahosted.org/sssd/">sssd</a> package from Redhat.
21194 It is part of the <a href="http://www.freeipa.org/">FreeIPA</A> project
21195 to provide a Active Directory like directory service for Linux
21196 machines.  The sssd system combines the caching of passwords and user
21197 information into one package, and remove the need for nscd and
21198 libpam-ccreds.  It support LDAP and Kerberos, but not NIS.  Version
21199 1.2 do not support netgroups, but it is said that it will support this
21200 in version 1.5 expected to show up later in 2010.  Because the
21201 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/s/sssd.html">sssd package</a>
21202 was missing in Debian, I ended up co-maintaining it with Werner, and
21203 version 1.2 is now in testing.
21204
21205 <p>These packages need to be installed and configured to get the
21206 roaming setup I want</p>
21207
21208 <blockquote><pre>
21209 libpam-sss libnss-sss libpam-mklocaluser
21210 </pre></blockquote>
21211
21212 The complete setup of sssd is done by editing/creating
21213 <tt>/etc/sssd/sssd.conf</tt>.
21214
21215 <blockquote><pre>
21216 [sssd]
21217 config_file_version = 2
21218 reconnection_retries = 3
21219 sbus_timeout = 30
21220 services = nss, pam
21221 domains = INTERN
21222
21223 [nss]
21224 filter_groups = root
21225 filter_users = root
21226 reconnection_retries = 3
21227
21228 [pam]
21229 reconnection_retries = 3
21230
21231 [domain/INTERN]
21232 enumerate = false
21233 cache_credentials = true
21234
21235 id_provider = ldap
21236 auth_provider = ldap
21237 chpass_provider = ldap
21238
21239 ldap_uri = ldap://ldap
21240 ldap_search_base = dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
21241 ldap_tls_reqcert = never
21242 ldap_tls_cacert = /etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt
21243 </pre></blockquote>
21244
21245 <p>I got the same problem here with certificate checking.  Had to set
21246 "ldap_tls_reqcert = never" to get it working.</p>
21247
21248 <p>With the libnss-sss package in testing at the moment, the
21249 nsswitch.conf file is update automatically, so there is no need to
21250 modify it manually.</p>
21251
21252 <p>If you want to help out with implementing this for Debian Edu,
21253 please contact us on debian-edu@lists.debian.org.</p>
21254
21255       </div>
21256       <div class="tags">
21257
21258
21259         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>.
21260
21261
21262       </div>
21263     </div>
21264     <div class="padding"></div>
21265
21266     <div class="entry">
21267       <div class="title">
21268         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/LUMA__a_very_nice_LDAP_GUI.html">LUMA, a very nice LDAP GUI</a>
21269       </div>
21270       <div class="date">
21271         28th June 2010
21272       </div>
21273       <div class="body">
21274         <p>The last few days I have been looking into the status of the LDAP
21275 directory in Debian Edu, and in the process I started to miss a GUI
21276 tool to browse the LDAP tree.  The only one I was able to find in
21277 Debian/Squeeze and Lenny is
21278 <a href="http://luma.sourceforge.net/">LUMA</a>, which has proved to
21279 be a great tool to get a overview of the current LDAP directory
21280 populated by default in Skolelinux.  Thanks to it, I have been able to
21281 find empty and obsolete subtrees, misplaced objects and duplicate
21282 objects.  It will be installed by default in Debian/Squeeze.  If you
21283 are working with LDAP, give it a go. :)</p>
21284
21285 <p>I did notice one problem with it I have not had time to report to
21286 the BTS yet.  There is no .desktop file in the package, so the tool do
21287 not show up in the Gnome and KDE menus, but only deep down in in the
21288 Debian submenu in KDE.  I hope that can be fixed before Squeeze is
21289 released.</p>
21290
21291 <p>I have not yet been able to get it to modify the tree yet.  I would
21292 like to move objects and remove subtrees directly in the GUI, but have
21293 not found a way to do that with LUMA yet.  So in the mean time, I use
21294 <a href="http://www.lichteblau.com/ldapvi/">ldapvi</a> for that.</p>
21295
21296 <p>If you have tips on other GUI tools for LDAP that might be useful
21297 in Debian Edu, please contact us on debian-edu@lists.debian.org.</p>
21298
21299 <p>Update 2010-06-29: Ross Reedstrom tipped us about the
21300 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/g/gq.html">gq</a> package as a
21301 useful GUI alternative.  It seem like a good tool, but is unmaintained
21302 in Debian and got a RC bug keeping it out of Squeeze.  Unless that
21303 changes, it will not be an option for Debian Edu based on Squeeze.</p>
21304
21305       </div>
21306       <div class="tags">
21307
21308
21309         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>.
21310
21311
21312       </div>
21313     </div>
21314     <div class="padding"></div>
21315
21316     <div class="entry">
21317       <div class="title">
21318         <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>
21319       </div>
21320       <div class="date">
21321         24th June 2010
21322       </div>
21323       <div class="body">
21324         <p>A while back, I
21325 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Time_for_new__LDAP_schemas_replacing_RFC_2307_.html">complained
21326 about the fact</a> that it is not possible with the provided schemas
21327 for storing DNS and DHCP information in LDAP to combine the two sets
21328 of information into one LDAP object representing a computer.</p>
21329
21330 <p>In the mean time, I discovered that a simple fix would be to make
21331 the dhcpHost object class auxiliary, to allow it to be combined with
21332 the dNSDomain object class, and thus forming one object for one
21333 computer when storing both DHCP and DNS information in LDAP.</p>
21334
21335 <p>If I understand this correctly, it is not safe to do this change
21336 without also changing the assigned number for the object class, and I
21337 do not know enough about LDAP schema design to do that properly for
21338 Debian Edu.</p>
21339
21340 <p>Anyway, for future reference, this is how I believe we could change
21341 the
21342 <a href="http://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-ietf-dhc-ldap-schema-00">DHCP
21343 schema</a> to solve at least part of the problem with the LDAP schemas
21344 available today from IETF.</p>
21345
21346 <pre>
21347 --- dhcp.schema    (revision 65192)
21348 +++ dhcp.schema    (working copy)
21349 @@ -376,7 +376,7 @@
21350  objectclass ( 2.16.840.1.113719.1.203.6.6
21351         NAME 'dhcpHost'
21352         DESC 'This represents information about a particular client'
21353 -       SUP top
21354 +       SUP top AUXILIARY
21355         MUST cn
21356         MAY  (dhcpLeaseDN $ dhcpHWAddress $ dhcpOptionsDN $ dhcpStatements $ dhcpComments $ dhcpOption)
21357         X-NDS_CONTAINMENT ('dhcpService' 'dhcpSubnet' 'dhcpGroup') )
21358 </pre>
21359
21360 <p>I very much welcome clues on how to do this properly for Debian
21361 Edu/Squeeze.  We provide the DHCP schema in our debian-edu-config
21362 package, and should thus be free to rewrite it as we see fit.</p>
21363
21364 <p>If you want to help out with implementing this for Debian Edu,
21365 please contact us on debian-edu@lists.debian.org.</p>
21366
21367       </div>
21368       <div class="tags">
21369
21370
21371         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>.
21372
21373
21374       </div>
21375     </div>
21376     <div class="padding"></div>
21377
21378     <div class="entry">
21379       <div class="title">
21380         <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>
21381       </div>
21382       <div class="date">
21383         16th June 2010
21384       </div>
21385       <div class="body">
21386         <p>A few times I have had the need to simulate the way tasksel
21387 installs packages during the normal debian-installer run.  Until now,
21388 I have ended up letting tasksel do the work, with the annoying problem
21389 of not getting any feedback at all when something fails (like a
21390 conffile question from dpkg or a download that fails), using code like
21391 this:
21392
21393 <blockquote><pre>
21394 export DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive
21395 tasksel --new-install
21396 </pre></blockquote>
21397
21398 This would invoke tasksel, let its automatic task selection pick the
21399 tasks to install, and continue to install the requested tasks without
21400 any output what so ever.
21401
21402 Recently I revisited this problem while working on the automatic
21403 package upgrade testing, because tasksel would some times hang without
21404 any useful feedback, and I want to see what is going on when it
21405 happen.  Then it occured to me, I can parse the output from tasksel
21406 when asked to run in test mode, and use that aptitude command line
21407 printed by tasksel then to simulate the tasksel run.  I ended up using
21408 code like this:
21409
21410 <blockquote><pre>
21411 export DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive
21412 cmd="$(in_target tasksel -t --new-install | sed 's/debconf-apt-progress -- //')"
21413 $cmd
21414 </pre></blockquote>
21415
21416 <p>The content of $cmd is typically something like "<tt>aptitude -q
21417 --without-recommends -o APT::Install-Recommends=no -y install
21418 ~t^desktop$ ~t^gnome-desktop$ ~t^laptop$ ~pstandard ~prequired
21419 ~pimportant</tt>", which will install the gnome desktop task, the
21420 laptop task and all packages with priority standard , required and
21421 important, just like tasksel would have done it during
21422 installation.</p>
21423
21424 <p>A better approach is probably to extend tasksel to be able to
21425 install packages without using debconf-apt-progress, for use cases
21426 like this.</p>
21427
21428       </div>
21429       <div class="tags">
21430
21431
21432         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>.
21433
21434
21435       </div>
21436     </div>
21437     <div class="padding"></div>
21438
21439     <div class="entry">
21440       <div class="title">
21441         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Officeshots_taking_shape.html">Officeshots taking shape</a>
21442       </div>
21443       <div class="date">
21444         13th June 2010
21445       </div>
21446       <div class="body">
21447         <p>For those of us caring about document exchange and
21448 interoperability, <a href="http://www.officeshots.org/">OfficeShots</a>
21449 is a great service.  It is to ODF documents what
21450 <a href="http://browsershots.org/">BrowserShots</a> is for web
21451 pages.</p>
21452
21453 <p>A while back, I was contacted by Knut Yrvin at the part of Nokia
21454 that used to be Trolltech, who wanted to help the OfficeShots project
21455 and wondered if the University of Oslo where I work would be
21456 interested in supporting the project.  I helped him to navigate his
21457 request to the right people at work, and his request was answered with
21458 a spot in the machine room with power and network connected, and Knut
21459 arranged funding for a machine to fill the spot.  The machine is
21460 administrated by the OfficeShots people, so I do not have daily
21461 contact with its progress, and thus from time to time check back to
21462 see how the project is doing.</p>
21463
21464 <p>Today I had a look, and was happy to see that the Dell box in our
21465 machine room now is the host for several virtual machines running as
21466 OfficeShots factories, and the project is able to render ODF documents
21467 in 17 different document processing implementation on Linux and
21468 Windows.  This is great.</p>
21469
21470       </div>
21471       <div class="tags">
21472
21473
21474         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>.
21475
21476
21477       </div>
21478     </div>
21479     <div class="padding"></div>
21480
21481     <div class="entry">
21482       <div class="title">
21483         <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>
21484       </div>
21485       <div class="date">
21486         13th June 2010
21487       </div>
21488       <div class="body">
21489         <p>My
21490 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Automatic_upgrade_testing_from_Lenny_to_Squeeze.html">testing
21491 of Debian upgrades</a> from Lenny to Squeeze continues, and I've
21492 finally made the upgrade logs available from
21493 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/debian-upgrade-testing/">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/debian-upgrade-testing/</a>.
21494 I am now testing dist-upgrade of Gnome and KDE in a chroot using both
21495 apt and aptitude, and found their differences interesting.  This time
21496 I will only focus on their removal plans.</p>
21497
21498 <p>After installing a Gnome desktop and the laptop task, apt-get wants
21499 to remove 72 packages when dist-upgrading from Lenny to Squeeze.  The
21500 surprising part is that it want to remove xorg and all
21501 xserver-xorg-video* drivers.  Clearly not a good choice, but I am not
21502 sure why.  When asking aptitude to do the same, it want to remove 129
21503 packages, but most of them are library packages I suspect are no
21504 longer needed.  Both of them want to remove bluetooth packages, which
21505 I do not know.  Perhaps these bluetooth packages are obsolete?</p>
21506
21507 <p>For KDE, apt-get want to remove 82 packages, among them kdebase
21508 which seem like a bad idea and xorg the same way as with Gnome. Asking
21509 aptitude for the same, it wants to remove 192 packages, none which are
21510 too surprising.</p>
21511
21512 <p>I guess the removal of xorg during upgrades should be investigated
21513 and avoided, and perhaps others as well.  Here are the complete list
21514 of planned removals.  The complete logs is available from the URL
21515 above.  Note if you want to repeat these tests, that the upgrade test
21516 for kde+apt-get hung in the tasksel setup because of dpkg asking
21517 conffile questions.  No idea why.  I worked around it by using
21518 '<tt>echo >> /proc/<em>pidofdpkg</em>/fd/0</tt>' to tell dpkg to
21519 continue.</p>
21520
21521 <p><b>apt-get gnome 72</b>
21522 <br>bluez-gnome cupsddk-drivers deskbar-applet gnome
21523   gnome-desktop-environment gnome-network-admin gtkhtml3.14
21524   iceweasel-gnome-support libavcodec51 libdatrie0 libgdl-1-0
21525   libgnomekbd2 libgnomekbdui2 libmetacity0 libslab0 libxcb-xlib0
21526   nautilus-cd-burner python-gnome2-desktop python-gnome2-extras
21527   serpentine swfdec-mozilla update-manager xorg xserver-xorg
21528   xserver-xorg-core xserver-xorg-input-all xserver-xorg-input-evdev
21529   xserver-xorg-input-kbd xserver-xorg-input-mouse
21530   xserver-xorg-input-synaptics xserver-xorg-input-wacom
21531   xserver-xorg-video-all xserver-xorg-video-apm xserver-xorg-video-ark
21532   xserver-xorg-video-ati xserver-xorg-video-chips
21533   xserver-xorg-video-cirrus xserver-xorg-video-cyrix
21534   xserver-xorg-video-dummy xserver-xorg-video-fbdev
21535   xserver-xorg-video-glint xserver-xorg-video-i128
21536   xserver-xorg-video-i740 xserver-xorg-video-imstt
21537   xserver-xorg-video-intel xserver-xorg-video-mach64
21538   xserver-xorg-video-mga xserver-xorg-video-neomagic
21539   xserver-xorg-video-nsc xserver-xorg-video-nv
21540   xserver-xorg-video-openchrome xserver-xorg-video-r128
21541   xserver-xorg-video-radeon xserver-xorg-video-radeonhd
21542   xserver-xorg-video-rendition xserver-xorg-video-s3
21543   xserver-xorg-video-s3virge xserver-xorg-video-savage
21544   xserver-xorg-video-siliconmotion xserver-xorg-video-sis
21545   xserver-xorg-video-sisusb xserver-xorg-video-tdfx
21546   xserver-xorg-video-tga xserver-xorg-video-trident
21547   xserver-xorg-video-tseng xserver-xorg-video-v4l
21548   xserver-xorg-video-vesa xserver-xorg-video-vga
21549   xserver-xorg-video-vmware xserver-xorg-video-voodoo xulrunner-1.9
21550   xulrunner-1.9-gnome-support</p>
21551
21552 <p><b>aptitude gnome 129</b>
21553
21554 <br>bluez-gnome bluez-utils cpp-4.3 cupsddk-drivers dhcdbd
21555   djvulibre-desktop finger gnome-app-install gnome-mount
21556   gnome-network-admin gnome-spell gnome-vfs-obexftp
21557   gnome-volume-manager gstreamer0.10-gnomevfs gtkhtml3.14 libao2
21558   libavahi-compat-libdnssd1 libavahi-core5 libavcodec51 libbluetooth2
21559   libcamel1.2-11 libcdio7 libcucul0 libcupsys2 libcurl3 libdatrie0
21560   libdirectfb-1.0-0 libdvdread3 libedataserver1.2-9 libeel2-2.20
21561   libeel2-data libepc-1.0-1 libepc-ui-1.0-1 libfaad0 libgail-common
21562   libgd2-noxpm libgda3-3 libgda3-common libgdl-1-0 libgdl-1-common
21563   libggz2 libggzcore9 libggzmod4 libgksu1.2-0 libgksuui1.0-1 libgmyth0
21564   libgnomecups1.0-1 libgnomekbd2 libgnomekbdui2 libgnomeprint2.2-0
21565   libgnomeprint2.2-data libgnomeprintui2.2-0 libgnomeprintui2.2-common
21566   libgnomevfs2-bin libgpod3 libgraphviz4 libgtkhtml2-0
21567   libgtksourceview-common libgtksourceview1.0-0 libgucharmap6
21568   libhesiod0 libicu38 libiw29 libkpathsea4 libltdl3 libmagick++10
21569   libmagick10 libmalaga7 libmetacity0 libmtp7 libmysqlclient15off
21570   libnautilus-burn4 libneon27 libnm-glib0 libnm-util0 libopal-2.2
21571   libosp5 libparted1.8-10 libpoppler-glib3 libpoppler3 libpt-1.10.10
21572   libpt-1.10.10-plugins-alsa libpt-1.10.10-plugins-v4l libraw1394-8
21573   libsensors3 libslab0 libsmbios2 libsoup2.2-8 libssh2-1
21574   libsuitesparse-3.1.0 libswfdec-0.6-90 libtalloc1 libtotem-plparser10
21575   libtrackerclient0 libxalan2-java libxalan2-java-gcj libxcb-xlib0
21576   libxerces2-java libxerces2-java-gcj libxklavier12 libxtrap6
21577   libxxf86misc1 libzephyr3 mysql-common nautilus-cd-burner
21578   openoffice.org-writer2latex openssl-blacklist p7zip
21579   python-4suite-xml python-eggtrayicon python-gnome2-desktop
21580   python-gnome2-extras python-gtkhtml2 python-gtkmozembed
21581   python-numeric python-sexy serpentine svgalibg1 swfdec-gnome
21582   swfdec-mozilla totem-gstreamer update-manager wodim
21583   xserver-xorg-video-cyrix xserver-xorg-video-imstt
21584   xserver-xorg-video-nsc xserver-xorg-video-v4l xserver-xorg-video-vga
21585   zip</p>
21586
21587 <p><b>apt-get kde 82</b>
21588
21589 <br>cupsddk-drivers karm kaudiocreator kcoloredit kcontrol kde kde-core
21590   kdeaddons kdeartwork kdebase kdebase-bin kdebase-bin-kde3
21591   kdebase-kio-plugins kdesktop kdeutils khelpcenter kicker
21592   kicker-applets knewsticker kolourpaint konq-plugins konqueror korn
21593   kpersonalizer kscreensaver ksplash libavcodec51 libdatrie0 libkiten1
21594   libxcb-xlib0 quanta superkaramba texlive-base-bin xorg xserver-xorg
21595   xserver-xorg-core xserver-xorg-input-all xserver-xorg-input-evdev
21596   xserver-xorg-input-kbd xserver-xorg-input-mouse
21597   xserver-xorg-input-synaptics xserver-xorg-input-wacom
21598   xserver-xorg-video-all xserver-xorg-video-apm xserver-xorg-video-ark
21599   xserver-xorg-video-ati xserver-xorg-video-chips
21600   xserver-xorg-video-cirrus xserver-xorg-video-cyrix
21601   xserver-xorg-video-dummy xserver-xorg-video-fbdev
21602   xserver-xorg-video-glint xserver-xorg-video-i128
21603   xserver-xorg-video-i740 xserver-xorg-video-imstt
21604   xserver-xorg-video-intel xserver-xorg-video-mach64
21605   xserver-xorg-video-mga xserver-xorg-video-neomagic
21606   xserver-xorg-video-nsc xserver-xorg-video-nv
21607   xserver-xorg-video-openchrome xserver-xorg-video-r128
21608   xserver-xorg-video-radeon xserver-xorg-video-radeonhd
21609   xserver-xorg-video-rendition xserver-xorg-video-s3
21610   xserver-xorg-video-s3virge xserver-xorg-video-savage
21611   xserver-xorg-video-siliconmotion xserver-xorg-video-sis
21612   xserver-xorg-video-sisusb xserver-xorg-video-tdfx
21613   xserver-xorg-video-tga xserver-xorg-video-trident
21614   xserver-xorg-video-tseng xserver-xorg-video-v4l
21615   xserver-xorg-video-vesa xserver-xorg-video-vga
21616   xserver-xorg-video-vmware xserver-xorg-video-voodoo xulrunner-1.9</p>
21617
21618 <p><b>aptitude kde 192</b>
21619 <br>bluez-utils cpp-4.3 cupsddk-drivers cvs dcoprss dhcdbd
21620   djvulibre-desktop dosfstools eyesapplet fifteenapplet finger gettext
21621   ghostscript-x imlib-base imlib11 indi kandy karm kasteroids
21622   kaudiocreator kbackgammon kbstate kcoloredit kcontrol kcron kdat
21623   kdeadmin-kfile-plugins kdeartwork-misc kdeartwork-theme-window
21624   kdebase-bin-kde3 kdebase-kio-plugins kdeedu-data
21625   kdegraphics-kfile-plugins kdelirc kdemultimedia-kappfinder-data
21626   kdemultimedia-kfile-plugins kdenetwork-kfile-plugins
21627   kdepim-kfile-plugins kdepim-kio-plugins kdeprint kdesktop kdessh
21628   kdict kdnssd kdvi kedit keduca kenolaba kfax kfaxview kfouleggs
21629   kghostview khelpcenter khexedit kiconedit kitchensync klatin
21630   klickety kmailcvt kmenuedit kmid kmilo kmoon kmrml kodo kolourpaint
21631   kooka korn kpager kpdf kpercentage kpf kpilot kpoker kpovmodeler
21632   krec kregexpeditor ksayit ksim ksirc ksirtet ksmiletris ksmserver
21633   ksnake ksokoban ksplash ksvg ksysv ktip ktnef kuickshow kverbos
21634   kview kviewshell kvoctrain kwifimanager kwin kwin4 kworldclock
21635   kxsldbg libakode2 libao2 libarts1-akode libarts1-audiofile
21636   libarts1-mpeglib libarts1-xine libavahi-compat-libdnssd1
21637   libavahi-core5 libavc1394-0 libavcodec51 libbluetooth2
21638   libboost-python1.34.1 libcucul0 libcurl3 libcvsservice0 libdatrie0
21639   libdirectfb-1.0-0 libdjvulibre21 libdvdread3 libfaad0 libfreebob0
21640   libgail-common libgd2-noxpm libgraphviz4 libgsmme1c2a libgtkhtml2-0
21641   libicu38 libiec61883-0 libindex0 libiw29 libk3b3 libkcal2b libkcddb1
21642   libkdeedu3 libkdepim1a libkgantt0 libkiten1 libkleopatra1 libkmime2
21643   libkpathsea4 libkpimexchange1 libkpimidentities1 libkscan1
21644   libksieve0 libktnef1 liblockdev1 libltdl3 libmagick10 libmimelib1c2a
21645   libmozjs1d libmpcdec3 libneon27 libnm-util0 libopensync0 libpisock9
21646   libpoppler-glib3 libpoppler-qt2 libpoppler3 libraw1394-8 libsmbios2
21647   libssh2-1 libsuitesparse-3.1.0 libtalloc1 libtiff-tools
21648   libxalan2-java libxalan2-java-gcj libxcb-xlib0 libxerces2-java
21649   libxerces2-java-gcj libxtrap6 mpeglib networkstatus
21650   openoffice.org-writer2latex pmount poster psutils quanta quanta-data
21651   superkaramba svgalibg1 tex-common texlive-base texlive-base-bin
21652   texlive-common texlive-doc-base texlive-fonts-recommended
21653   xserver-xorg-video-cyrix xserver-xorg-video-imstt
21654   xserver-xorg-video-nsc xserver-xorg-video-v4l xserver-xorg-video-vga
21655   xulrunner-1.9</p>
21656
21657
21658       </div>
21659       <div class="tags">
21660
21661
21662         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>.
21663
21664
21665       </div>
21666     </div>
21667     <div class="padding"></div>
21668
21669     <div class="entry">
21670       <div class="title">
21671         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Automatic_upgrade_testing_from_Lenny_to_Squeeze.html">Automatic upgrade testing from Lenny to Squeeze</a>
21672       </div>
21673       <div class="date">
21674         11th June 2010
21675       </div>
21676       <div class="body">
21677         <p>The last few days I have done some upgrade testing in Debian, to
21678 see if the upgrade from Lenny to Squeeze will go smoothly.  A few bugs
21679 have been discovered and reported in the process
21680 (<a href="http://bugs.debian.org/585410">#585410</a> in nagios3-cgi,
21681 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/584879">#584879</a> already fixed in
21682 enscript and <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/584861">#584861</a> in
21683 kdebase-workspace-data), and to get a more regular testing going on, I
21684 am working on a script to automate the test.</p>
21685
21686 <p>The idea is to create a Lenny chroot and use tasksel to install a
21687 Gnome or KDE desktop installation inside the chroot before upgrading
21688 it.  To ensure no services are started in the chroot, a policy-rc.d
21689 script is inserted.  To make sure tasksel believe it is to install a
21690 desktop on a laptop, the tasksel tests are replaced in the chroot
21691 (only acceptable because this is a throw-away chroot).</p>
21692
21693 <p>A naive upgrade from Lenny to Squeeze using aptitude dist-upgrade
21694 currently always fail because udev refuses to upgrade with the kernel
21695 in Lenny, so to avoid that problem the file /etc/udev/kernel-upgrade
21696 is created.  The bug report
21697 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/566000">#566000</a> make me suspect
21698 this problem do not trigger in a chroot, but I touch the file anyway
21699 to make sure the upgrade go well.  Testing on virtual and real
21700 hardware have failed me because of udev so far, and creating this file
21701 do the trick in such settings anyway.  This is a
21702 <a href="http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/debian-26/failed-dist-upgrade-due-to-udev-config_sysfs_deprecated-nonsense-804130/">known
21703 issue</a> and the current udev behaviour is intended by the udev
21704 maintainer because he lack the resources to rewrite udev to keep
21705 working with old kernels or something like that.  I really wish the
21706 udev upstream would keep udev backwards compatible, to avoid such
21707 upgrade problem, but given that they fail to do so, I guess
21708 documenting the way out of this mess is the best option we got for
21709 Debian Squeeze.</p>
21710
21711 <p>Anyway, back to the task at hand, testing upgrades.  This test
21712 script, which I call <tt>upgrade-test</tt> for now, is doing the
21713 trick:</p>
21714
21715 <blockquote><pre>
21716 #!/bin/sh
21717 set -ex
21718
21719 if [ "$1" ] ; then
21720     desktop=$1
21721 else
21722     desktop=gnome
21723 fi
21724
21725 from=lenny
21726 to=squeeze
21727
21728 exec &lt; /dev/null
21729 unset LANG
21730 mirror=http://ftp.skolelinux.org/debian
21731 tmpdir=chroot-$from-upgrade-$to-$desktop
21732 fuser -mv .
21733 debootstrap $from $tmpdir $mirror
21734 chroot $tmpdir aptitude update
21735 cat > $tmpdir/usr/sbin/policy-rc.d &lt;&lt;EOF
21736 #!/bin/sh
21737 exit 101
21738 EOF
21739 chmod a+rx $tmpdir/usr/sbin/policy-rc.d
21740 exit_cleanup() {
21741     umount $tmpdir/proc
21742 }
21743 mount -t proc proc $tmpdir/proc
21744 # Make sure proc is unmounted also on failure
21745 trap exit_cleanup EXIT INT
21746
21747 chroot $tmpdir aptitude -y install debconf-utils
21748
21749 # Make sure tasksel autoselection trigger.  It need the test scripts
21750 # to return the correct answers.
21751 echo tasksel tasksel/desktop multiselect $desktop | \
21752     chroot $tmpdir debconf-set-selections
21753
21754 # Include the desktop and laptop task
21755 for test in desktop laptop ; do
21756     echo > $tmpdir/usr/lib/tasksel/tests/$test &lt;&lt;EOF
21757 #!/bin/sh
21758 exit 2
21759 EOF
21760     chmod a+rx $tmpdir/usr/lib/tasksel/tests/$test
21761 done
21762
21763 DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive
21764 DEBIAN_PRIORITY=critical
21765 export DEBIAN_FRONTEND DEBIAN_PRIORITY
21766 chroot $tmpdir tasksel --new-install
21767
21768 echo deb $mirror $to main > $tmpdir/etc/apt/sources.list
21769 chroot $tmpdir aptitude update
21770 touch $tmpdir/etc/udev/kernel-upgrade
21771 chroot $tmpdir aptitude -y dist-upgrade
21772 fuser -mv
21773 </pre></blockquote>
21774
21775 <p>I suspect it would be useful to test upgrades with both apt-get and
21776 with aptitude, but I have not had time to look at how they behave
21777 differently so far.  I hope to get a cron job running to do the test
21778 regularly and post the result on the web.  The Gnome upgrade currently
21779 work, while the KDE upgrade fail because of the bug in
21780 kdebase-workspace-data</p>
21781
21782 <p>I am not quite sure what kind of extract from the huge upgrade logs
21783 (KDE 167 KiB, Gnome 516 KiB) it make sense to include in this blog
21784 post, so I will refrain from trying.  I can report that for Gnome,
21785 aptitude report 760 packages upgraded, 448 newly installed, 129 to
21786 remove and 1 not upgraded and 1024MB need to be downloaded while for
21787 KDE the same numbers are 702 packages upgraded, 507 newly installed,
21788 193 to remove and 0 not upgraded and 1117MB need to be downloaded</p>
21789
21790 <p>I am very happy to notice that the Gnome desktop + laptop upgrade
21791 is able to migrate to dependency based boot sequencing and parallel
21792 booting without a hitch.  Was unsure if there were still bugs with
21793 packages failing to clean up their obsolete init.d script during
21794 upgrades, and no such problem seem to affect the Gnome desktop+laptop
21795 packages.</p>
21796
21797       </div>
21798       <div class="tags">
21799
21800
21801         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>.
21802
21803
21804       </div>
21805     </div>
21806     <div class="padding"></div>
21807
21808     <div class="entry">
21809       <div class="title">
21810         <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>
21811       </div>
21812       <div class="date">
21813          6th June 2010
21814       </div>
21815       <div class="body">
21816         <p>If Debian is to migrate to upstart on Linux, I expect some init.d
21817 scripts to migrate (some of) their operations to upstart job while
21818 keeping the init.d for hurd and kfreebsd.  The packages with such
21819 needs will need a way to get their init.d scripts to behave
21820 differently when used with sysvinit and with upstart.  Because of
21821 this, I had a look at the environment variables set when a init.d
21822 script is running under upstart, and when it is not.</p>
21823
21824 <p>With upstart, I notice these environment variables are set when a
21825 script is started from rcS.d/ (ignoring some irrelevant ones like
21826 COLUMNS):</p>
21827
21828 <blockquote><pre>
21829 DEFAULT_RUNLEVEL=2
21830 previous=N
21831 PREVLEVEL=
21832 RUNLEVEL=
21833 runlevel=S
21834 UPSTART_EVENTS=startup
21835 UPSTART_INSTANCE=
21836 UPSTART_JOB=rc-sysinit
21837 </pre></blockquote>
21838
21839 <p>With sysvinit, these environment variables are set for the same
21840 script.</p>
21841
21842 <blockquote><pre>
21843 INIT_VERSION=sysvinit-2.88
21844 previous=N
21845 PREVLEVEL=N
21846 RUNLEVEL=S
21847 runlevel=S
21848 </pre></blockquote>
21849
21850 <p>The RUNLEVEL and PREVLEVEL environment variables passed on from
21851 sysvinit are not set by upstart.  Not sure if it is intentional or not
21852 to not be compatible with sysvinit in this regard.</p>
21853
21854 <p>For scripts needing to behave differently when upstart is used,
21855 looking for the UPSTART_JOB environment variable seem to be a good
21856 choice.</p>
21857
21858       </div>
21859       <div class="tags">
21860
21861
21862         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>.
21863
21864
21865       </div>
21866     </div>
21867     <div class="padding"></div>
21868
21869     <div class="entry">
21870       <div class="title">
21871         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/A_manual_for_standards_wars___.html">A manual for standards wars...</a>
21872       </div>
21873       <div class="date">
21874          6th June 2010
21875       </div>
21876       <div class="body">
21877         <p>Via the
21878 <a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/robweir/antic-atom/~3/QzU4RgoAGMg/weekly-links-10.html">blog
21879 of Rob Weir</a> I came across the very interesting essay named
21880 <a href="http://faculty.haas.berkeley.edu/shapiro/wars.pdf">The Art of
21881 Standards Wars</a> (PDF 25 pages).  I recommend it for everyone
21882 following the standards wars of today.</p>
21883
21884       </div>
21885       <div class="tags">
21886
21887
21888         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>.
21889
21890
21891       </div>
21892     </div>
21893     <div class="padding"></div>
21894
21895     <div class="entry">
21896       <div class="title">
21897         <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>
21898       </div>
21899       <div class="date">
21900          3rd June 2010
21901       </div>
21902       <div class="body">
21903         <p>When using sitesummary at a site to track machines, it is possible
21904 to get a list of the machine types in use thanks to the DMI
21905 information extracted from each machine.  The script to do so is
21906 included in the sitesummary package, and here is example output from
21907 the Skolelinux build servers:</p>
21908
21909 <blockquote><pre>
21910 maintainer:~# /usr/lib/sitesummary/hardware-model-summary
21911   vendor                    count
21912   Dell Computer Corporation     1
21913     PowerEdge 1750              1
21914   IBM                           1
21915     eserver xSeries 345 -[8670M1X]-     1
21916   Intel                         2
21917   [no-dmi-info]                 3
21918 maintainer:~#
21919 </pre></blockquote>
21920
21921 <p>The quality of the report depend on the quality of the DMI tables
21922 provided in each machine.  Here there are Intel machines without model
21923 information listed with Intel as vendor and no model, and virtual Xen
21924 machines listed as [no-dmi-info].  One can add -l as a command line
21925 option to list the individual machines.</p>
21926
21927 <p>A larger list is
21928 <a href="http://narvikskolen.no/sitesummary/">available from the the
21929 city of Narvik</a>, which uses Skolelinux on all their shools and also
21930 provide the basic sitesummary report publicly.  In their report there
21931 are ~1400 machines. I know they use both Ubuntu and Skolelinux on
21932 their machines, and as sitesummary is available in both distributions,
21933 it is trivial to get all of them to report to the same central
21934 collector.</p>
21935
21936       </div>
21937       <div class="tags">
21938
21939
21940         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>.
21941
21942
21943       </div>
21944     </div>
21945     <div class="padding"></div>
21946
21947     <div class="entry">
21948       <div class="title">
21949         <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>
21950       </div>
21951       <div class="date">
21952          1st June 2010
21953       </div>
21954       <div class="body">
21955         <p>It is strange to watch how a bug in Debian causing KDM to fail to
21956 start at boot when an NVidia video card is used is handled.  The
21957 problem seem to be that the nvidia X.org driver uses a long time to
21958 initialize, and this duration is longer than kdm is configured to
21959 wait.</p>
21960
21961 <p>I came across two bugs related to this issue,
21962 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/583312">#583312</a> initially filed
21963 against initscripts and passed on to nvidia-glx when it became obvious
21964 that the nvidia drivers were involved, and
21965 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/524751">#524751</a> initially filed against
21966 kdm and passed on to src:nvidia-graphics-drivers for unknown reasons.</p>
21967
21968 <p>To me, it seem that no-one is interested in actually solving the
21969 problem nvidia video card owners experience and make sure the Debian
21970 distribution work out of the box for these users.  The nvidia driver
21971 maintainers expect kdm to be set up to wait longer, while kdm expect
21972 the nvidia driver maintainers to fix the driver to start faster, and
21973 while they wait for each other I guess the users end up switching to a
21974 distribution that work for them.  I have no idea what the solution is,
21975 but I am pretty sure that waiting for each other is not it.</p>
21976
21977 <p>I wonder why we end up handling bugs this way.</p>
21978
21979       </div>
21980       <div class="tags">
21981
21982
21983         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>.
21984
21985
21986       </div>
21987     </div>
21988     <div class="padding"></div>
21989
21990     <div class="entry">
21991       <div class="title">
21992         <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>
21993       </div>
21994       <div class="date">
21995         27th May 2010
21996       </div>
21997       <div class="body">
21998         <p>A few days ago, parallel booting was enabled in Debian/testing.
21999 The feature seem to hold up pretty well, but three fairly serious
22000 issues are known and should be solved:
22001
22002 <p><ul>
22003
22004 <li>The wicd package seen to
22005 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/508289">break NFS mounting</a> and
22006 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/581586">network setup</a> when
22007 parallel booting is enabled.  No idea why, but the wicd maintainer
22008 seem to be on the case.</li>
22009
22010 <li>The nvidia X driver seem to
22011 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/583312">have a race condition</a>
22012 triggered more easily when parallel booting is in effect.  The
22013 maintainer is on the case.</li>
22014
22015 <li>The sysv-rc package fail to properly enable dependency based boot
22016 sequencing (the shutdown is broken) when old file-rc users
22017 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/575080">try to switch back</a> to
22018 sysv-rc.  One way to solve it would be for file-rc to create
22019 /etc/init.d/.legacy-bootordering, and another is to try to make
22020 sysv-rc more robust.  Will investigate some more and probably upload a
22021 workaround in sysv-rc to help those trying to move from file-rc to
22022 sysv-rc get a working shutdown.</li>
22023
22024 </ul></p>
22025
22026 <p>All in all not many surprising issues, and all of them seem
22027 solvable before Squeeze is released.  In addition to these there are
22028 some packages with bugs in their dependencies and run level settings,
22029 which I expect will be fixed in a reasonable time span.</p>
22030
22031 <p>If you report any problems with dependencies in init.d scripts to
22032 the BTS, please usertag the report to get it to show up at
22033 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/pkgreport.cgi?users=initscripts-ng-devel@lists.alioth.debian.org">the
22034 list of usertagged bugs related to this</a>.</p>
22035
22036 <p>Update: Correct bug number to file-rc issue.</p>
22037
22038       </div>
22039       <div class="tags">
22040
22041
22042         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>.
22043
22044
22045       </div>
22046     </div>
22047     <div class="padding"></div>
22048
22049     <div class="entry">
22050       <div class="title">
22051         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/More_flexible_firmware_handling_in_debian_installer.html">More flexible firmware handling in debian-installer</a>
22052       </div>
22053       <div class="date">
22054         22nd May 2010
22055       </div>
22056       <div class="body">
22057         <p>After a long break from debian-installer development, I finally
22058 found time today to return to the project.  Having to spend less time
22059 working dependency based boot in debian, as it is almost complete now,
22060 definitely helped freeing some time.</p>
22061
22062 <p>A while back, I ran into a problem while working on Debian Edu.  We
22063 include some firmware packages on the Debian Edu CDs, those needed to
22064 get disk and network controllers working.  Without having these
22065 firmware packages available during installation, it is impossible to
22066 install Debian Edu on the given machine, and because our target group
22067 are non-technical people, asking them to provide firmware packages on
22068 an external medium is a support pain.  Initially, I expected it to be
22069 enough to include the firmware packages on the CD to get
22070 debian-installer to find and use them.  This proved to be wrong.
22071 Next, I hoped it was enough to symlink the relevant firmware packages
22072 to some useful location on the CD (tried /cdrom/ and
22073 /cdrom/firmware/).  This also proved to not work, and at this point I
22074 found time to look at the debian-installer code to figure out what was
22075 going to work.</p>
22076
22077 <p>The firmware loading code is in the hw-detect package, and a closer
22078 look revealed that it would only look for firmware packages outside
22079 the installation media, so the CD was never checked for firmware
22080 packages.  It would only check USB sticks, floppies and other
22081 "external" media devices.  Today I changed it to also look in the
22082 /cdrom/firmware/ directory on the mounted CD or DVD, which should
22083 solve the problem I ran into with Debian edu.  I also changed it to
22084 look in /firmware/, to make sure the installer also find firmware
22085 provided in the initrd when booting the installer via PXE, to allow us
22086 to provide the same feature in the PXE setup included in Debian
22087 Edu.</p>
22088
22089 <p>To make sure firmware deb packages with a license questions are not
22090 activated without asking if the license is accepted, I extended
22091 hw-detect to look for preinst scripts in the firmware packages, and
22092 run these before activating the firmware during installation.  The
22093 license question is asked using debconf in the preinst, so this should
22094 solve the issue for the firmware packages I have looked at so far.</p>
22095
22096 <p>If you want to discuss the details of these features, please
22097 contact us on debian-boot@lists.debian.org.</p>
22098
22099       </div>
22100       <div class="tags">
22101
22102
22103         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>.
22104
22105
22106       </div>
22107     </div>
22108     <div class="padding"></div>
22109
22110     <div class="entry">
22111       <div class="title">
22112         <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>
22113       </div>
22114       <div class="date">
22115         19th May 2010
22116       </div>
22117       <div class="body">
22118         <p>Today, the last piece of the puzzle for roaming laptops in Debian
22119 Edu finally entered the Debian archive.  Today, the new
22120 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/libp/libpam-mklocaluser.html">libpam-mklocaluser</a>
22121 package was accepted.  Two days ago, two other pieces was accepted
22122 into unstable.  The
22123 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/p/pam-python.html">pam-python</a>
22124 package needed by libpam-mklocaluser, and the
22125 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/s/sssd.html">sssd</a> package
22126 passed NEW on Monday.  In addition, the
22127 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/libp/libpam-ccreds.html">libpam-ccreds</a>
22128 package we need is in experimental (version 10-4) since Saturday, and
22129 hopefully will be moved to unstable soon.</p>
22130
22131 <p>This collection of packages allow for two different setups for
22132 roaming laptops.  The traditional setup would be using libpam-ccreds,
22133 nscd and libpam-mklocaluser with LDAP or Kerberos authentication,
22134 which should work out of the box if the configuration changes proposed
22135 for nscd in <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/485282">BTS report
22136 #485282</a> is implemented.  The alternative setup is to use sssd with
22137 libpam-mklocaluser to connect to LDAP or Kerberos and let sssd take
22138 care of the caching of passwords and group information.</p>
22139
22140 <p>I have so far been unable to get sssd to work with the LDAP server
22141 at the University, but suspect the issue is some SSL/GnuTLS related
22142 problem with the server certificate.  I plan to update the Debian
22143 package to version 1.2, which is scheduled for next week, and hope to
22144 find time to make sure the next release will include both the
22145 Debian/Ubuntu specific patches.  Upstream is friendly and responsive,
22146 and I am sure we will find a good solution.</p>
22147
22148 <p>The idea is to set up the roaming laptops to authenticate using
22149 LDAP or Kerberos and create a local user with home directory in /home/
22150 when a usre in LDAP logs in via KDM or GDM for the first time, and
22151 cache the password for offline checking, as well as caching group
22152 memberhips and other relevant LDAP information.  The
22153 libpam-mklocaluser package was created to make sure the local home
22154 directory is in /home/, instead of /site/server/directory/ which would
22155 be the home directory if pam_mkhomedir was used.  To avoid confusion
22156 with support requests and configuration, we do not want local laptops
22157 to have users in a path that is used for the same users home directory
22158 on the home directory servers.</p>
22159
22160 <p>One annoying problem with gdm is that it do not show the PAM
22161 message passed to the user from libpam-mklocaluser when the local user
22162 is created.  Instead gdm simply reject the login with some generic
22163 message.  The message is shown in kdm, ssh and login, so I guess it is
22164 a bug in gdm.  Have not investigated if there is some other message
22165 type that can be used instead to get gdm to also show the message.</p>
22166
22167 <p>If you want to help out with implementing this for Debian Edu,
22168 please contact us on debian-edu@lists.debian.org.</p>
22169
22170       </div>
22171       <div class="tags">
22172
22173
22174         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>.
22175
22176
22177       </div>
22178     </div>
22179     <div class="padding"></div>
22180
22181     <div class="entry">
22182       <div class="title">
22183         <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>
22184       </div>
22185       <div class="date">
22186         14th May 2010
22187       </div>
22188       <div class="body">
22189         <p>Since this evening, parallel booting is the default in
22190 Debian/unstable for machines using dependency based boot sequencing.
22191 Apparently the testing of concurrent booting has been wider than
22192 expected, if I am to believe the
22193 <a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2010/05/msg00122.html">input
22194 on debian-devel@</a>, and I concluded a few days ago to move forward
22195 with the feature this weekend, to give us some time to detect any
22196 remaining problems before Squeeze is frozen.  If serious problems are
22197 detected, it is simple to change the default back to sequential boot.
22198 The upload of the new sysvinit package also activate a new upstream
22199 version.</p>
22200
22201 More information about
22202 <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/LSBInitScripts/DependencyBasedBoot">dependency
22203 based boot sequencing</a> is available from the Debian wiki.  It is
22204 currently possible to disable parallel booting when one run into
22205 problems caused by it, by adding this line to /etc/default/rcS:</p>
22206
22207 <blockquote><pre>
22208 CONCURRENCY=none
22209 </pre></blockquote>
22210
22211 <p>If you report any problems with dependencies in init.d scripts to
22212 the BTS, please usertag the report to get it to show up at
22213 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/pkgreport.cgi?users=initscripts-ng-devel@lists.alioth.debian.org">the
22214 list of usertagged bugs related to this</a>.</p>
22215
22216       </div>
22217       <div class="tags">
22218
22219
22220         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>.
22221
22222
22223       </div>
22224     </div>
22225     <div class="padding"></div>
22226
22227     <div class="entry">
22228       <div class="title">
22229         <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>
22230       </div>
22231       <div class="date">
22232         14th May 2010
22233       </div>
22234       <div class="body">
22235         <p>In the recent Debian Edu versions, the
22236 <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/HowTo/SiteSummary">sitesummary
22237 system</a> is used to keep track of the machines in the school
22238 network.  Each machine will automatically report its status to the
22239 central server after boot and once per night.  The network setup is
22240 also reported, and using this information it is possible to get the
22241 MAC address of all network interfaces in the machines.  This is useful
22242 to update the DHCP configuration.</p>
22243
22244 <p>To give some idea how to use sitesummary, here is a one-liner to
22245 ist all MAC addresses of all machines reporting to sitesummary.  Run
22246 this on the collector host:</p>
22247
22248 <blockquote><pre>
22249 perl -MSiteSummary -e 'for_all_hosts(sub { print join(" ", get_macaddresses(shift)), "\n"; });'
22250 </pre></blockquote>
22251
22252 <p>This will list all MAC addresses assosiated with all machine, one
22253 line per machine and with space between the MAC addresses.</p>
22254
22255 <p>To allow system administrators easier job at adding static DHCP
22256 addresses for hosts, it would be possible to extend this to fetch
22257 machine information from sitesummary and update the DHCP and DNS
22258 tables in LDAP using this information.  Such tool is unfortunately not
22259 written yet.</p>
22260
22261       </div>
22262       <div class="tags">
22263
22264
22265         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>.
22266
22267
22268       </div>
22269     </div>
22270     <div class="padding"></div>
22271
22272     <div class="entry">
22273       <div class="title">
22274         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/systemd__an_interesting_alternative_to_upstart.html">systemd, an interesting alternative to upstart</a>
22275       </div>
22276       <div class="date">
22277         13th May 2010
22278       </div>
22279       <div class="body">
22280         <p>The last few days a new boot system called
22281 <a href="http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/systemd">systemd</a>
22282 has been
22283 <a href="http://0pointer.de/blog/projects/systemd.html">introduced</a>
22284
22285 to the free software world.  I have not yet had time to play around
22286 with it, but it seem to be a very interesting alternative to
22287 <a href="http://upstart.ubuntu.com/">upstart</a>, and might prove to be
22288 a good alternative for Debian when we are able to switch to an event
22289 based boot system.  Tollef is
22290 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/580814">in the process</a> of getting
22291 systemd into Debian, and I look forward to seeing how well it work.  I
22292 like the fact that systemd handles init.d scripts with dependency
22293 information natively, allowing them to run in parallel where upstart
22294 at the moment do not.</p>
22295
22296 <p>Unfortunately do systemd have the same problem as upstart regarding
22297 platform support.  It only work on recent Linux kernels, and also need
22298 some new kernel features enabled to function properly.  This means
22299 kFreeBSD and Hurd ports of Debian will need a port or a different boot
22300 system.  Not sure how that will be handled if systemd proves to be the
22301 way forward.</p>
22302
22303 <p>In the mean time, based on the
22304 <a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2010/05/msg00122.html">input
22305 on debian-devel@</a> regarding parallel booting in Debian, I have
22306 decided to enable full parallel booting as the default in Debian as
22307 soon as possible (probably this weekend or early next week), to see if
22308 there are any remaining serious bugs in the init.d dependencies.  A
22309 new version of the sysvinit package implementing this change is
22310 already in experimental.  If all go well, Squeeze will be released
22311 with parallel booting enabled by default.</p>
22312
22313       </div>
22314       <div class="tags">
22315
22316
22317         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>.
22318
22319
22320       </div>
22321     </div>
22322     <div class="padding"></div>
22323
22324     <div class="entry">
22325       <div class="title">
22326         <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>
22327       </div>
22328       <div class="date">
22329          6th May 2010
22330       </div>
22331       <div class="body">
22332         <p>These days, the init.d script dependencies in Squeeze are quite
22333 complete, so complete that it is actually possible to run all the
22334 init.d scripts in parallell based on these dependencies.  If you want
22335 to test your Squeeze system, make sure
22336 <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/LSBInitScripts/DependencyBasedBoot">dependency
22337 based boot sequencing</a> is enabled, and add this line to
22338 /etc/default/rcS:</p>
22339
22340 <blockquote><pre>
22341 CONCURRENCY=makefile
22342 </pre></blockquote>
22343
22344 <p>That is it.  It will cause sysv-rc to use the startpar tool to run
22345 scripts in parallel using the dependency information stored in
22346 /etc/init.d/.depend.boot, /etc/init.d/.depend.start and
22347 /etc/init.d/.depend.stop to order the scripts.  Startpar is configured
22348 to try to start the kdm and gdm scripts as early as possible, and will
22349 start the facilities required by kdm or gdm as early as possible to
22350 make this happen.</p>
22351
22352 <p>Give it a try, and see if you like the result.  If some services
22353 fail to start properly, it is most likely because they have incomplete
22354 init.d script dependencies in their startup script (or some of their
22355 dependent scripts have incomplete dependencies).  Report bugs and get
22356 the package maintainers to fix it. :)</p>
22357
22358 <p>Running scripts in parallel could be the default in Debian when we
22359 manage to get the init.d script dependencies complete and correct.  I
22360 expect we will get there in Squeeze+1, if we get manage to test and
22361 fix the remaining issues.</p>
22362
22363 <p>If you report any problems with dependencies in init.d scripts to
22364 the BTS, please usertag the report to get it to show up at
22365 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/pkgreport.cgi?users=initscripts-ng-devel@lists.alioth.debian.org">the
22366 list of usertagged bugs related to this</a>.</p>
22367
22368       </div>
22369       <div class="tags">
22370
22371
22372         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>.
22373
22374
22375       </div>
22376     </div>
22377     <div class="padding"></div>
22378
22379     <div class="entry">
22380       <div class="title">
22381         <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>
22382       </div>
22383       <div class="date">
22384          2nd May 2010
22385       </div>
22386       <div class="body">
22387         <p>One interesting feature in Active Directory, is the ability to
22388 create a new user with an expired password, and thus force the user to
22389 change the password on the first login attempt.</p>
22390
22391 <p>I'm not quite sure how to do that with the LDAP setup in Debian
22392 Edu, but did some initial testing with a local account.  The account
22393 and password aging information is available in /etc/shadow, but
22394 unfortunately, it is not possible to specify an expiration time for
22395 passwords, only a maximum age for passwords.</p>
22396
22397 <p>A freshly created account (using adduser test) will have these
22398 settings in /etc/shadow:</p>
22399
22400 <blockquote><pre>
22401 root@tjener:~# chage -l test
22402 Last password change                                    : May 02, 2010
22403 Password expires                                        : never
22404 Password inactive                                       : never
22405 Account expires                                         : never
22406 Minimum number of days between password change          : 0
22407 Maximum number of days between password change          : 99999
22408 Number of days of warning before password expires       : 7
22409 root@tjener:~#
22410 </pre></blockquote>
22411
22412 <p>The only way I could come up with to create a user with an expired
22413 account, is to change the date of the last password change to the
22414 lowest value possible (January 1th 1970), and the maximum password age
22415 to the difference in days between that date and today.  To make it
22416 simple, I went for 30 years (30 * 365 = 10950) and January 2th (to
22417 avoid testing if 0 is a valid value).</p>
22418
22419 <p>After using these commands to set it up, it seem to work as
22420 intended:</p>
22421
22422 <blockquote><pre>
22423 root@tjener:~# chage -d 1 test; chage -M 10950 test
22424 root@tjener:~# chage -l test
22425 Last password change                                    : Jan 02, 1970
22426 Password expires                                        : never
22427 Password inactive                                       : never
22428 Account expires                                         : never
22429 Minimum number of days between password change          : 0
22430 Maximum number of days between password change          : 10950
22431 Number of days of warning before password expires       : 7
22432 root@tjener:~#
22433 </pre></blockquote>
22434
22435 <p>So far I have tested this with ssh and console, and kdm (in
22436 Squeeze) login, and all ask for a new password before login in the
22437 user (with ssh, I was thrown out and had to log in again).</p>
22438
22439 <p>Perhaps we should set up something similar for Debian Edu, to make
22440 sure only the user itself have the account password?</p>
22441
22442 <p>If you want to comment on or help out with implementing this for
22443 Debian Edu, please contact us on debian-edu@lists.debian.org.</p>
22444
22445 <p>Update 2010-05-02 17:20: Paul Tötterman tells me on IRC that the
22446 shadow(8) page in Debian/testing now state that setting the date of
22447 last password change to zero (0) will force the password to be changed
22448 on the first login.  This was not mentioned in the manual in Lenny, so
22449 I did not notice this in my initial testing.  I have tested it on
22450 Squeeze, and '<tt>chage -d 0 username</tt>' do work there.  I have not
22451 tested it on Lenny yet.</p>
22452
22453 <p>Update 2010-05-02-19:05: Jim Paris tells me via email that an
22454 equivalent command to expire a password is '<tt>passwd -e
22455 username</tt>', which insert zero into the date of the last password
22456 change.</p>
22457
22458       </div>
22459       <div class="tags">
22460
22461
22462         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>.
22463
22464
22465       </div>
22466     </div>
22467     <div class="padding"></div>
22468
22469     <div class="entry">
22470       <div class="title">
22471         <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>
22472       </div>
22473       <div class="date">
22474         28th April 2010
22475       </div>
22476       <div class="body">
22477         <p>For some years now, I have wondered how we should handle laptops in
22478 Debian Edu.  The Debian Edu infrastructure is mostly designed to
22479 handle stationary computers, and less suited for computers that come
22480 and go.</p>
22481
22482 <p>Now I finally believe I have an sensible idea on how to adjust
22483 Debian Edu for laptops, by introducing a new profile for them, for
22484 example called Roaming Workstations.  Here are my thought on this.
22485 The setup would consist of the following:</p>
22486
22487 <ul>
22488
22489  <li>During installation, the user name of the owner / primary user of
22490    the laptop is requested and a local home directory is set up for
22491    the user, with uid and gid information fetched from the LDAP
22492    server.  This allow the user to work also when offline.  The
22493    central home directory can be available in a subdirectory on
22494    request, for example mounted via CIFS.  It could be mounted
22495    automatically when a user log in while on the Debian Edu network,
22496    and unmounted when the machine is taken away (network down,
22497    hibernate, etc), it can be set up to do automatic mounting on
22498    request (using autofs), or perhaps some GUI button on the desktop
22499    can be used to access it when needed.  Perhaps it is enough to use
22500    the fish protocol in KDE?</li>
22501
22502  <li>Password checking is set up to use LDAP or Kerberos
22503    authentication when the machine is on the Debian Edu network, and
22504    to cache the password for offline checking when the machine unable
22505    to reach the LDAP or Kerberos server.  This can be done using
22506    <a href="http://www.padl.com/OSS/pam_ccreds.html">libpam-ccreds</a>
22507    or the Fedora developed
22508    <a href="https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Features/SSSD">System
22509    Security Services Daemon</a> packages.</li>
22510
22511  <li>File synchronisation with the central home directory is set up
22512    using a shared directory in both the local and the central home
22513    directory, using unison.</li>
22514
22515  <li>Printing should be set up to print to all printers broadcasting
22516    their existence on the local network, and should then work out of
22517    the box with CUPS.  For sites needing accurate printer quotas, some
22518    system with Kerberos authentication or printing via ssh could be
22519    implemented.</li>
22520
22521  <li>For users that should have local root access to their laptop,
22522    sudo should be used to allow this to the local user.</li>
22523
22524  <li>It would be nice if user and group information from LDAP is
22525    cached on the client, but given that there are entries for the
22526    local user and primary group in /etc/, it should not be needed.</li>
22527
22528 </ul>
22529
22530 <p>I believe all the pieces to implement this are in Debian/testing at
22531 the moment.  If we work quickly, we should be able to get this ready
22532 in time for the Squeeze release to freeze.  Some of the pieces need
22533 tweaking, like libpam-ccreds should get support for pam-auth-update
22534 (<a href="http://bugs.debian.org/566718">#566718</a>) and nslcd (or
22535 perhaps debian-edu-config) should get some integration code to stop
22536 its daemon when the LDAP server is unavailable to avoid long timeouts
22537 when disconnected from the net.  If we get Kerberos enabled, we need
22538 to make sure we avoid long timeouts there too.</p>
22539
22540 <p>If you want to help out with implementing this for Debian Edu,
22541 please contact us on debian-edu@lists.debian.org.</p>
22542
22543       </div>
22544       <div class="tags">
22545
22546
22547         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>.
22548
22549
22550       </div>
22551     </div>
22552     <div class="padding"></div>
22553
22554     <div class="entry">
22555       <div class="title">
22556         <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>
22557       </div>
22558       <div class="date">
22559         19th April 2010
22560       </div>
22561       <div class="body">
22562         <p>The last few weeks i have had the pleasure of reading a
22563 thought-provoking collection of essays by Cory Doctorow, on topics
22564 touching copyright, virtual worlds, the future of man when the
22565 conscience mind can be duplicated into a computer and many more. The
22566 book titled "Content: Selected Essays on Technology, Creativity,
22567 Copyright, and the Future of the Future" is available with few
22568 restrictions on the web, for example from
22569 <a href="http://craphound.com/content/">his own site</a>. I read the
22570 epub-version from
22571 <a href="http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2883">feedbooks</a> using
22572 <a href="http://www.fbreader.org/">fbreader</a> and my N810. I
22573 strongly recommend this book.</p>
22574
22575       </div>
22576       <div class="tags">
22577
22578
22579         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>.
22580
22581
22582       </div>
22583     </div>
22584     <div class="padding"></div>
22585
22586     <div class="entry">
22587       <div class="title">
22588         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Kerberos_for_Debian_Edu_Squeeze_.html">Kerberos for Debian Edu/Squeeze?</a>
22589       </div>
22590       <div class="date">
22591         14th April 2010
22592       </div>
22593       <div class="body">
22594         <p><a href="http://www.nuug.no/aktiviteter/20100413-kerberos/">Yesterdays
22595 NUUG presentation</a> about Kerberos was inspiring, and reminded me
22596 about the need to start using Kerberos in Skolelinux.  Setting up a
22597 Kerberos server seem to be straight forward, and if we get this in
22598 place a long time before the Squeeze version of Debian freezes, we
22599 have a chance to migrate Skolelinux away from NFSv3 for the home
22600 directories, and over to an architecture where the infrastructure do
22601 not have to trust IP addresses and machines, and instead can trust
22602 users and cryptographic keys instead.</p>
22603
22604 <p>A challenge will be integration and administration.  Is there a
22605 Kerberos implementation for Debian where one can control the
22606 administration access in Kerberos using LDAP groups?  With it, the
22607 school administration will have to maintain access control using flat
22608 files on the main server, which give a huge potential for errors.</p>
22609
22610 <p>A related question I would like to know is how well Kerberos and
22611 pam-ccreds (offline password check) work together.  Anyone know?</p>
22612
22613 <p>Next step will be to use Kerberos for access control in Lwat and
22614 Nagios.  I have no idea how much work that will be to implement.  We
22615 would also need to document how to integrate with Windows AD, as such
22616 shared network will require two Kerberos realms that need to cooperate
22617 to work properly.</p>
22618
22619 <p>I believe a good start would be to start using Kerberos on the
22620 skolelinux.no machines, and this way get ourselves experience with
22621 configuration and integration.  A natural starting point would be
22622 setting up ldap.skolelinux.no as the Kerberos server, and migrate the
22623 rest of the machines from PAM via LDAP to PAM via Kerberos one at the
22624 time.</p>
22625
22626 <p>If you would like to contribute to get this working in Skolelinux,
22627 I recommend you to see the video recording from yesterdays NUUG
22628 presentation, and start using Kerberos at home.  The video show show
22629 up in a few days.</p>
22630
22631       </div>
22632       <div class="tags">
22633
22634
22635         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>.
22636
22637
22638       </div>
22639     </div>
22640     <div class="padding"></div>
22641
22642     <div class="entry">
22643       <div class="title">
22644         <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>
22645       </div>
22646       <div class="date">
22647          6th March 2010
22648       </div>
22649       <div class="body">
22650         <p>6 years ago, as part of the Debian Edu development I am involved
22651 in, I asked for a hook in the kdm and gdm setup to run scripts as root
22652 when the user log out.  A bug was submitted against the xfree86-common
22653 package in 2004 (<a href="http://bugs.debian.org/230422">#230422</a>),
22654 and revisited every time Debian Edu was working on a new release.
22655 Today, this finally paid off.</p>
22656
22657 <p>The framework for this feature was today commited to the git
22658 repositry for the xorg package, and the git repository for xdm has
22659 been updated to use this framework.  Next on my agenda is to make sure
22660 kdm and gdm also add code to use this framework.</p>
22661
22662 <p>In Debian Edu, we want to ability to run commands as root when the
22663 user log out, to get rid of runaway processes and do general cleanup
22664 after a user.  With this framework in place, we finally can do that in
22665 a generic way that work with all display managers using this
22666 framework.  My goal is to get all display managers in Debian use it,
22667 similar to how they use the Xsession.d framework today.<p>
22668
22669       </div>
22670       <div class="tags">
22671
22672
22673         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>.
22674
22675
22676       </div>
22677     </div>
22678     <div class="padding"></div>
22679
22680     <div class="entry">
22681       <div class="title">
22682         <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>
22683       </div>
22684       <div class="date">
22685         11th February 2010
22686       </div>
22687       <div class="body">
22688         <p>On Tuesday, the Debian/Lenny based version of
22689 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Skolelinux</a> was finally
22690 shipped.  This was a major leap forward for the project, and I am very
22691 pleased that we finally got the release wrapped up.  Work on the first
22692 point release starts imediately, as we plan to get that one out a
22693 month after the major release, to include all fixes for bugs we found
22694 and fixed too late in the release process to include last Tuesday.</p>
22695
22696 <p>Perhaps it even is time for some partying?</p>
22697
22698 <p>After this first point release, my plan is to focus again on the
22699 next major release, based on Squeeze.  We will try to get as many of
22700 the fixes we need into the official Debian packages before the freeze,
22701 and have just a few weeks or months to make it happen.</p>
22702
22703       </div>
22704       <div class="tags">
22705
22706
22707         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>.
22708
22709
22710       </div>
22711     </div>
22712     <div class="padding"></div>
22713
22714     <div class="entry">
22715       <div class="title">
22716         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Automatic_Munin_and_Nagios_configuration.html">Automatic Munin and Nagios configuration</a>
22717       </div>
22718       <div class="date">
22719         27th January 2010
22720       </div>
22721       <div class="body">
22722         <p>One of the new features in the next Debian/Lenny based release of
22723 Debian Edu/Skolelinux, which is scheduled for release in the next few
22724 days, is automatic configuration of the service monitoring system
22725 Nagios.  The previous release had automatic configuration of trend
22726 analysis using Munin, and this Lenny based release take that a step
22727 further.</p>
22728
22729 <p>When installing a Debian Edu Main-server, it is automatically
22730 configured as a Munin and Nagios server.  In addition, it is
22731 configured to be a server for the
22732 <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/HowTo/SiteSummary">SiteSummary
22733 system</a> I have written for use in Debian Edu.  The SiteSummary
22734 system is inspired by a system used by the University of Oslo where I
22735 work.  In short, the system provide a centralised collector of
22736 information about the computers on the network, and a client on each
22737 computer submitting information to this collector.  This allow for
22738 automatic information on which packages are installed on each machine,
22739 which kernel the machines are using, what kind of configuration the
22740 packages got etc.  This also allow us to automatically generate Munin
22741 and Nagios configuration.</p>
22742
22743 <p>All computers reporting to the sitesummary collector with the
22744 munin-node package installed is automatically enabled as a Munin
22745 client and graphs from the statistics collected from that machine show
22746 up automatically on http://www/munin/ on the Main-server.</p>
22747
22748 <p>All non-laptop computers reporting to the sitesummary collector are
22749 automatically monitored for network presence (ping and any network
22750 services detected).  In addition, all computers (also laptops) with
22751 the nagios-nrpe-server package installed and configured the way
22752 sitesummary would configure it, are monitored for full disks, software
22753 raid status, swap free and other checks that need to run locally on
22754 the machine.</p>
22755
22756 <p>The result is that the administrator on a school using Debian Edu
22757 based on Lenny will be able to check the health of his installation
22758 with one look at the Nagios settings, without having to spend any time
22759 keeping the Nagios configuration up-to-date.</p>
22760
22761 <p>The only configuration one need to do to get Nagios up and running
22762 is to set the password used to get access via HTTP.  The system
22763 administrator need to run "<tt>htpasswd /etc/nagios3/htpasswd.users
22764 nagiosadmin</tt>" to create a nagiosadmin user and set a password for
22765 it to be able to log into the Nagios web pages.  After that,
22766 everything is taken care of.</p>
22767
22768       </div>
22769       <div class="tags">
22770
22771
22772         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>.
22773
22774
22775       </div>
22776     </div>
22777     <div class="padding"></div>
22778
22779     <div class="entry">
22780       <div class="title">
22781         <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>
22782       </div>
22783       <div class="date">
22784         12th August 2009
22785       </div>
22786       <div class="body">
22787         <p>Just for fun, I did a search right now on Google for a few file ODF
22788 and MS Office based formats (not to be mistaken for ISO or ECMA
22789 OOXML), to get an idea of their relative usage.  I searched using
22790 'filetype:odt' and equvalent terms, and got these results:</P>
22791
22792 <table>
22793 <tr><th>Type</th><th>ODF</th><th>MS Office</th></tr>
22794 <tr><td>Tekst</td> <td>odt:282000</td> <td>docx:308000</td></tr>
22795 <tr><td>Presentasjon</td> <td>odp:75600</td> <td>pptx:183000</td></tr>
22796 <tr><td>Regneark</td> <td>ods:26500     </td> <td>xlsx:145000</td></tr>
22797 </table>
22798
22799 <p>Next, I added a 'site:no' limit to get the numbers for Norway, and
22800 got these numbers:</p>
22801
22802 <table>
22803 <tr><th>Type</th><th>ODF</th><th>MS Office</th></tr>
22804 <tr><td>Tekst</td> <td>odt:2480 </td> <td>docx:4460</td></tr>
22805 <tr><td>Presentasjon</td> <td>odp:299   </td> <td>pptx:741</td></tr>
22806 <tr><td>Regneark</td> <td>ods:187       </td> <td>xlsx:372</td></tr>
22807 </table>
22808
22809 <p>I wonder how these numbers change over time.</p>
22810
22811 <p>I am aware of Google returning different results and numbers based
22812 on where the search is done, so I guess these numbers will differ if
22813 they are conduced in another country.  Because of this, I did the same
22814 search from a machine in California, USA, a few minutes after the
22815 search done from a machine here in Norway.</p>
22816
22817
22818 <table>
22819 <tr><th>Type</th><th>ODF</th><th>MS Office</th></tr>
22820 <tr><td>Tekst</td> <td>odt:129000</td> <td>docx:308000</td></tr>
22821 <tr><td>Presentasjon</td> <td>odp:44200</td> <td>pptx:93900</td></tr>
22822 <tr><td>Regneark</td> <td>ods:26500     </td> <td>xlsx:82400</td></tr>
22823 </table>
22824
22825 <p>And with 'site:no':
22826
22827 <table>
22828 <tr><th>Type</th><th>ODF</th><th>MS Office</th></tr>
22829 <tr><td>Tekst</td> <td>odt:2480</td> <td>docx:3410</td></tr>
22830 <tr><td>Presentasjon</td> <td>odp:175</td> <td>pptx:604</td></tr>
22831 <tr><td>Regneark</td> <td>ods:186       </td> <td>xlsx:296</td></tr>
22832 </table>
22833
22834 <p>Interesting difference, not sure what to conclude from these
22835 numbers.</p>
22836
22837       </div>
22838       <div class="tags">
22839
22840
22841         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>.
22842
22843
22844       </div>
22845     </div>
22846     <div class="padding"></div>
22847
22848     <div class="entry">
22849       <div class="title">
22850         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/ISO_still_hope_to_fix_OOXML.html">ISO still hope to fix OOXML</a>
22851       </div>
22852       <div class="date">
22853          8th August 2009
22854       </div>
22855       <div class="body">
22856         <p>According to <a
22857 href="http://twerner.blogspot.com/2009/08/defects-of-office-open-xml.html">a
22858 blog post from Torsten Werner</a>, the current defect report for ISO
22859 29500 (ISO OOXML) is 809 pages.  His interesting point is that the
22860 defect report is 71 pages more than the full ODF 1.1 specification.
22861 Personally I find it more interesting that ISO still believe ISO OOXML
22862 can be fixed in ISO.  Personally, I believe it is broken beyon repair,
22863 and I completely lack any trust in ISO for being able to get anywhere
22864 close to solving the problems.  I was part of the Norwegian committee
22865 involved in the OOXML fast track process, and was not impressed with
22866 Standard Norway and ISO in how they handled it.</p>
22867
22868 <p>These days I focus on ODF instead, which seem like a specification
22869 with the future ahead of it.  We are working in NUUG to organise a ODF
22870 seminar this autumn.</p>
22871
22872       </div>
22873       <div class="tags">
22874
22875
22876         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>.
22877
22878
22879       </div>
22880     </div>
22881     <div class="padding"></div>
22882
22883     <div class="entry">
22884       <div class="title">
22885         <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>
22886       </div>
22887       <div class="date">
22888         27th July 2009
22889       </div>
22890       <div class="body">
22891         <p>Since this evening, with the upload of sysvinit version 2.87dsf-2,
22892 and the upload of insserv version 1.12.0-10 yesterday, Debian unstable
22893 have been migrated to using dependency based boot sequencing.  This
22894 conclude work me and others have been doing for the last three days.
22895 It feels great to see this finally part of the default Debian
22896 installation.  Now we just need to weed out the last few problems that
22897 are bound to show up, to get everything ready for Squeeze.</p>
22898
22899 <p>The next step is migrating /sbin/init from sysvinit to upstart, and
22900 fixing the more fundamental problem of handing the event based
22901 non-predictable kernel in the early boot.</p>
22902
22903       </div>
22904       <div class="tags">
22905
22906
22907         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>.
22908
22909
22910       </div>
22911     </div>
22912     <div class="padding"></div>
22913
22914     <div class="entry">
22915       <div class="title">
22916         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Taking_over_sysvinit_development.html">Taking over sysvinit development</a>
22917       </div>
22918       <div class="date">
22919         22nd July 2009
22920       </div>
22921       <div class="body">
22922         <p>After several years of frustration with the lack of activity from
22923 the existing sysvinit upstream developer, I decided a few weeks ago to
22924 take over the package and become the new upstream.  The number of
22925 patches to track for the Debian package was becoming a burden, and the
22926 lack of synchronization between the distribution made it hard to keep
22927 the package up to date.</p>
22928
22929 <p>On the new sysvinit team is the SuSe maintainer Dr. Werner Fink,
22930 and my Debian co-maintainer Kel Modderman.  About 10 days ago, I made
22931 a new upstream tarball with version number 2.87dsf (for Debian, SuSe
22932 and Fedora), based on the patches currently in use in these
22933 distributions.  We Debian maintainers plan to move to this tarball as
22934 the new upstream as soon as we find time to do the merge.  Since the
22935 new tarball was created, we agreed with Werner at SuSe to make a new
22936 upstream project at <a href="http://savannah.nongnu.org/">Savannah</a>, and continue
22937 development there.  The project is registered and currently waiting
22938 for approval by the Savannah administrators, and as soon as it is
22939 approved, we will import the old versions from svn and continue
22940 working on the future release.</p>
22941
22942 <p>It is a bit ironic that this is done now, when some of the involved
22943 distributions are moving to upstart as a syvinit replacement.</p>
22944
22945       </div>
22946       <div class="tags">
22947
22948
22949         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>.
22950
22951
22952       </div>
22953     </div>
22954     <div class="padding"></div>
22955
22956     <div class="entry">
22957       <div class="title">
22958         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_boots_quicker_and_quicker.html">Debian boots quicker and quicker</a>
22959       </div>
22960       <div class="date">
22961         24th June 2009
22962       </div>
22963       <div class="body">
22964         <p>I spent Monday and tuesday this week in London with a lot of the
22965 people involved in the boot system on Debian and Ubuntu, to see if we
22966 could find more ways to speed up the boot system.  This was an Ubuntu
22967 funded
22968 <a href="https://wiki.ubuntu.com/FoundationsTeam/BootPerformance/DebianUbuntuSprint">developer
22969 gathering</a>. It was quite productive.  We also discussed the future
22970 of boot systems, and ways to handle the increasing number of boot
22971 issues introduced by the Linux kernel becoming more and more
22972 asynchronous and event base.  The Ubuntu approach using udev and
22973 upstart might be a good way forward.  Time will show.</p>
22974
22975 <p>Anyway, there are a few ways at the moment to speed up the boot
22976 process in Debian.  All of these should be applied to get a quick
22977 boot:</p>
22978
22979 <ul>
22980
22981 <li>Use dash as /bin/sh.</li>
22982
22983 <li>Disable the init.d/hwclock*.sh scripts and make sure the hardware
22984    clock is in UTC.</li>
22985
22986 <li>Install and activate the insserv package to enable
22987    <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/LSBInitScripts/DependencyBasedBoot">dependency
22988    based boot sequencing</a>, and enable concurrent booting.</li>
22989
22990 </ul>
22991
22992 These points are based on the Google summer of code work done by
22993 <a href="http://initscripts-ng.alioth.debian.org/soc2006-bootsystem/">Carlos
22994 Villegas</a>.
22995
22996 <p>Support for makefile-style concurrency during boot was uploaded to
22997 unstable yesterday.  When we tested it, we were able to cut 6 seconds
22998 from the boot sequence.  It depend on very correct dependency
22999 declaration in all init.d scripts, so I expect us to find edge cases
23000 where the dependences in some scripts are slightly wrong when we start
23001 using this.</p>
23002
23003 <p>On our IRC channel for this effort, #pkg-sysvinit, a new idea was
23004 introduced by Raphael Geissert today, one that could affect the
23005 startup speed as well.  Instead of starting some scripts concurrently
23006 from rcS.d/ and another set of scripts from rc2.d/, it would be
23007 possible to run a of them in the same process.  A quick way to test
23008 this would be to enable insserv and run 'mv /etc/rc2.d/S* /etc/rcS.d/;
23009 insserv'.  Will need to test if that work. :)</p>
23010
23011       </div>
23012       <div class="tags">
23013
23014
23015         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>.
23016
23017
23018       </div>
23019     </div>
23020     <div class="padding"></div>
23021
23022     <div class="entry">
23023       <div class="title">
23024         <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>
23025       </div>
23026       <div class="date">
23027          2nd May 2009
23028       </div>
23029       <div class="body">
23030         <p>There are two software projects that have had huge influence on the
23031 quality of free software, and I wanted to mention both in case someone
23032 do not yet know them.</p>
23033
23034 <p>The first one is <a href="http://valgrind.org/">valgrind</a>, a
23035 tool to detect and expose errors in the memory handling of programs.
23036 It is easy to use, all one need to do is to run 'valgrind program',
23037 and it will report any problems on stdout.  It is even better if the
23038 program include debug information.  With debug information, it is able
23039 to report the source file name and line number where the problem
23040 occurs.  It can report things like 'reading past memory block in file
23041 X line N, the memory block was allocated in file Y, line M', and
23042 'using uninitialised value in control logic'.  This tool has made it
23043 trivial to investigate reproducible crash bugs in programs, and have
23044 reduced the number of this kind of bugs in free software a lot.
23045
23046 <p>The second one is
23047 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coverity">Coverity</a> which is
23048 a source code checker.  It is able to process the source of a program
23049 and find problems in the logic without running the program.  It
23050 started out as the Stanford Checker and became well known when it was
23051 used to find bugs in the Linux kernel.  It is now a commercial tool
23052 and the company behind it is running
23053 <a href="http://www.scan.coverity.com/">a community service</a> for the
23054 free software community, where a lot of free software projects get
23055 their source checked for free.  Several thousand defects have been
23056 found and fixed so far.  It can find errors like 'lock L taken in file
23057 X line N is never released if exiting in line M', or 'the code in file
23058 Y lines O to P can never be executed'.  The projects included in the
23059 community service project have managed to get rid of a lot of
23060 reliability problems thanks to Coverity.</p>
23061
23062 <p>I believe tools like this, that are able to automatically find
23063 errors in the source, are vital to improve the quality of software and
23064 make sure we can get rid of the crashing and failing software we are
23065 surrounded by today.</p>
23066
23067       </div>
23068       <div class="tags">
23069
23070
23071         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>.
23072
23073
23074       </div>
23075     </div>
23076     <div class="padding"></div>
23077
23078     <div class="entry">
23079       <div class="title">
23080         <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>
23081       </div>
23082       <div class="date">
23083         28th April 2009
23084       </div>
23085       <div class="body">
23086         <p>Julien Blache
23087 <a href="http://blog.technologeek.org/2009/04/12/214">claim that no
23088 patch is better than a useless patch</a>.  I completely disagree, as a
23089 patch allow one to discuss a concrete and proposed solution, and also
23090 prove that the issue at hand is important enough for someone to spent
23091 time on fixing it.  No patch do not provide any of these positive
23092 properties.</p>
23093
23094       </div>
23095       <div class="tags">
23096
23097
23098         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>.
23099
23100
23101       </div>
23102     </div>
23103     <div class="padding"></div>
23104
23105     <div class="entry">
23106       <div class="title">
23107         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Recording_video_from_cron_using_VLC.html">Recording video from cron using VLC</a>
23108       </div>
23109       <div class="date">
23110          5th April 2009
23111       </div>
23112       <div class="body">
23113         <p>One think I have wanted to figure out for a along time is how to
23114 run vlc from cron to do recording of video streams on the net.  The
23115 task is trivial with mplayer, but I do not really trust the security
23116 of mplayer (it crashes too often on strange input), and thus prefer
23117 vlc.  I finally found a way to do it today.  I spent an hour or so
23118 searching the web for recipes and reading the documentation.  The
23119 hardest part was to get rid of the GUI window, but after finding the
23120 dummy interface, the command line finally presented itself:</p>
23121
23122 <blockquote><pre>URL=http://www.ping.uio.no/video/rms-oslo_2009.ogg
23123 SAVEFILE=rms.ogg
23124 DISPLAY= vlc -q $URL \
23125   --sout="#duplicate{dst=std{access=file,url='$SAVEFILE'},dst=nodisplay}" \
23126   --intf=dummy</pre></blockquote>
23127
23128 <p>The command stream the URL and store it in the SAVEFILE by
23129 duplicating the output stream to "nodisplay" and the file, using the
23130 dummy interface.  The dummy interface and the nodisplay output make
23131 sure no X interface is needed.</p>
23132
23133 <p>The cron job then need to start this job with the appropriate URL
23134 and file name to save, sleep for the duration wanted, and then kill
23135 the vlc process with SIGTERM.  Here is a complete script
23136 <tt>vlc-record</tt> to use from <tt>at</tt> or <tt>cron</tt>:</p>
23137
23138 <blockquote><pre>#!/bin/sh
23139 set -e
23140 URL="$1"
23141 SAVEFILE="$2"
23142 DURATION="$3"
23143 DISPLAY= vlc -q "$URL" \
23144   --sout="#duplicate{dst=std{access=file,url='$SAVEFILE'},dst=nodisplay}" \
23145   --intf=dummy < /dev/null > /dev/null 2>&1 &
23146 pid=$!
23147 sleep $DURATION
23148 kill $pid
23149 wait $pid</pre></blockquote>
23150
23151       </div>
23152       <div class="tags">
23153
23154
23155         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>.
23156
23157
23158       </div>
23159     </div>
23160     <div class="padding"></div>
23161
23162     <div class="entry">
23163       <div class="title">
23164         <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>
23165       </div>
23166       <div class="date">
23167         30th March 2009
23168       </div>
23169       <div class="body">
23170         <p>Where I work at the University of Oslo, one decision stand out as a
23171 very good one to form a long lived computer infrastructure.  It is the
23172 simple one, lost by many in todays computer industry: Standardize on
23173 open network protocols and open exchange/storage formats, not applications.
23174 Applications come and go, while protocols and files tend to stay, and
23175 thus one want to make it easy to change application and vendor, while
23176 avoiding conversion costs and locking users to a specific platform or
23177 application.</p>
23178
23179 <p>This approach make it possible to replace the client applications
23180 independently of the server applications.  One can even allow users to
23181 use several different applications as long as they handle the selected
23182 protocol and format.  In the normal case, only one client application
23183 is recommended and users only get help if they choose to use this
23184 application, but those that want to deviate from the easy path are not
23185 blocked from doing so.</p>
23186
23187 <p>It also allow us to replace the server side without forcing the
23188 users to replace their applications, and thus allow us to select the
23189 best server implementation at any moment, when scale and resouce
23190 requirements change.</p>
23191
23192 <p>I strongly recommend standardizing - on open network protocols and
23193 open formats, but I would never recommend standardizing on a single
23194 application that do not use open network protocol or open formats.</p>
23195
23196       </div>
23197       <div class="tags">
23198
23199
23200         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>.
23201
23202
23203       </div>
23204     </div>
23205     <div class="padding"></div>
23206
23207     <div class="entry">
23208       <div class="title">
23209         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Returning_from_Skolelinux_developer_gathering.html">Returning from Skolelinux developer gathering</a>
23210       </div>
23211       <div class="date">
23212         29th March 2009
23213       </div>
23214       <div class="body">
23215         <p>I'm sitting on the train going home from this weekends Debian
23216 Edu/Skolelinux development gathering.  I got a bit done tuning the
23217 desktop, and looked into the dynamic service location protocol
23218 implementation avahi.  It look like it could be useful for us.  Almost
23219 30 people participated, and I believe it was a great environment to
23220 get to know the Skolelinux system.  Walter Bender, involved in the
23221 development of the Sugar educational platform, presented his stuff and
23222 also helped me improve my OLPC installation.  He also showed me that
23223 his Turtle Art application can be used in standalone mode, and we
23224 agreed that I would help getting it packaged for Debian.  As a
23225 standalone application it would be great for Debian Edu.  We also
23226 tried to get the video conferencing working with two OLPCs, but that
23227 proved to be too hard for us.  The application seem to need more work
23228 before it is ready for me.  I look forward to getting home and relax
23229 now. :)</p>
23230
23231       </div>
23232       <div class="tags">
23233
23234
23235         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>.
23236
23237
23238       </div>
23239     </div>
23240     <div class="padding"></div>
23241
23242     <div class="entry">
23243       <div class="title">
23244         <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>
23245       </div>
23246       <div class="date">
23247         29th March 2009
23248       </div>
23249       <div class="body">
23250         <p>The state of standardized LDAP schemas on Linux is far from
23251 optimal.  There is RFC 2307 documenting one way to store NIS maps in
23252 LDAP, and a modified version of this normally called RFC 2307bis, with
23253 some modifications to be compatible with Active Directory.  The RFC
23254 specification handle the content of a lot of system databases, but do
23255 not handle DNS zones and DHCP configuration.</p>
23256
23257 <p>In <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu/Skolelinux</a>,
23258 we would like to store information about users, SMB clients/hosts,
23259 filegroups, netgroups (users and hosts), DHCP and DNS configuration,
23260 and LTSP configuration in LDAP.  These objects have a lot in common,
23261 but with the current LDAP schemas it is not possible to have one
23262 object per entity.  For example, one need to have at least three LDAP
23263 objects for a given computer, one with the SMB related stuff, one with
23264 DNS information and another with DHCP information.  The schemas
23265 provided for DNS and DHCP are impossible to combine into one LDAP
23266 object.  In addition, it is impossible to implement quick queries for
23267 netgroup membership, because of the way NIS triples are implemented.
23268 It just do not scale.  I believe it is time for a few RFC
23269 specifications to cleam up this mess.</p>
23270
23271 <p>I would like to have one LDAP object representing each computer in
23272 the network, and this object can then keep the SMB (ie host key), DHCP
23273 (mac address/name) and DNS (name/IP address) settings in one place.
23274 It need to be efficently stored to make sure it scale well.</p>
23275
23276 <p>I would also like to have a quick way to map from a user or
23277 computer and to the net group this user or computer is a member.</p>
23278
23279 <p>Active Directory have done a better job than unix heads like myself
23280 in this regard, and the unix side need to catch up.  Time to start a
23281 new IETF work group?</p>
23282
23283       </div>
23284       <div class="tags">
23285
23286
23287         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>.
23288
23289
23290       </div>
23291     </div>
23292     <div class="padding"></div>
23293
23294     <div class="entry">
23295       <div class="title">
23296         <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>
23297       </div>
23298       <div class="date">
23299         28th February 2009
23300       </div>
23301       <div class="body">
23302         <p>At work, we have a few hundred Linux servers, and with that amount
23303 of hardware it is important to keep track of when the hardware support
23304 contract expire for each server.  We have a machine (and service)
23305 register, which until recently did not contain much useful besides the
23306 machine room location and contact information for the system owner for
23307 each machine.  To make it easier for us to track support contract
23308 status, I've recently spent time on extending the machine register to
23309 include information about when the support contract expire, and to tag
23310 machines with expired contracts to make it easy to get a list of such
23311 machines.  I extended a perl script already being used to import
23312 information about machines into the register, to also do some screen
23313 scraping off the sites of Dell, HP and IBM (our majority of machines
23314 are from these vendors), and automatically check the support status
23315 for the relevant machines.  This make the support status information
23316 easily available and I hope it will make it easier for the computer
23317 owner to know when to get new hardware or renew the support contract.
23318 The result of this work documented that 27% of the machines in the
23319 registry is without a support contract, and made it very easy to find
23320 them.  27% might seem like a lot, but I see it more as the case of us
23321 using machines a bit longer than the 3 years a normal support contract
23322 last, to have test machines and a platform for less important
23323 services.  After all, the machines without a contract are working fine
23324 at the moment and the lack of contract is only a problem if any of
23325 them break down.  When that happen, we can either fix it using spare
23326 parts from other machines or move the service to another old
23327 machine.</p>
23328
23329 <p>I believe the code for screen scraping the Dell site was originally
23330 written by Trond Hasle Amundsen, and later adjusted by me and Morten
23331 Werner Forsbring.  The HP scraping was written by me after reading a
23332 nice article in ;login: about how to use WWW::Mechanize, and the IBM
23333 scraping was written by me based on the Dell code.  I know the HTML
23334 parsing could be done using nice libraries, but did not want to
23335 introduce more dependencies.  This is the current incarnation:</p>
23336
23337 <pre>
23338 use LWP::Simple;
23339 use POSIX;
23340 use WWW::Mechanize;
23341 use Date::Parse;
23342 [...]
23343 sub get_support_info {
23344     my ($machine, $model, $serial, $productnumber) = @_;
23345     my $str;
23346
23347     if ( $model =~ m/^Dell / ) {
23348         # fetch website from Dell support
23349         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";
23350         my $webpage = get($url);
23351         return undef unless ($webpage);
23352
23353         my $daysleft = -1;
23354         my @lines = split(/\n/, $webpage);
23355         foreach my $line (@lines) {
23356             next unless ($line =~ m/Beskrivelse/);
23357             $line =~ s/&lt;[^>]+?>/;/gm;
23358             $line =~ s/^.+?;(Beskrivelse;)/$1/;
23359
23360             my @f = split(/\;/, $line);
23361             @f = @f[13 .. $#f];
23362             my $lastend = "";
23363             while ($f[3] eq "DELL") {
23364                 my ($type, $startstr, $endstr, $days) = @f[0, 5, 7, 10];
23365
23366                 my $start = POSIX::strftime("%Y-%m-%d",
23367                                             localtime(str2time($startstr)));
23368                 my $end = POSIX::strftime("%Y-%m-%d",
23369                                           localtime(str2time($endstr)));
23370                 $str .= "$type $start -> $end ";
23371                 @f = @f[14 .. $#f];
23372                 $lastend = $end if ($end gt $lastend);
23373             }
23374             my $today = POSIX::strftime("%Y-%m-%d", localtime(time));
23375             tag_machine_unsupported($machine)
23376                 if ($lastend lt $today);
23377         }
23378     } elsif ( $model =~ m/^HP / ) {
23379         my $mech = WWW::Mechanize->new();
23380         my $url =
23381             'http://www1.itrc.hp.com/service/ewarranty/warrantyInput.do';
23382         $mech->get($url);
23383         my $fields = {
23384             'BODServiceID' => 'NA',
23385             'RegisteredPurchaseDate' => '',
23386             'country' => 'NO',
23387             'productNumber' => $productnumber,
23388             'serialNumber1' => $serial,
23389         };
23390         $mech->submit_form( form_number => 2,
23391                             fields      => $fields );
23392         # Next step is screen scraping
23393         my $content = $mech->content();
23394
23395         $content =~ s/&lt;[^>]+?>/;/gm;
23396         $content =~ s/\s+/ /gm;
23397         $content =~ s/;\s*;/;;/gm;
23398         $content =~ s/;[\s;]+/;/gm;
23399
23400         my $today = POSIX::strftime("%Y-%m-%d", localtime(time));
23401
23402         while ($content =~ m/;Warranty Type;/) {
23403             my ($type, $status, $startstr, $stopstr) = $content =~
23404                 m/;Warranty Type;([^;]+);.+?;Status;(\w+);Start Date;([^;]+);End Date;([^;]+);/;
23405             $content =~ s/^.+?;Warranty Type;//;
23406             my $start = POSIX::strftime("%Y-%m-%d",
23407                                         localtime(str2time($startstr)));
23408             my $end = POSIX::strftime("%Y-%m-%d",
23409                                       localtime(str2time($stopstr)));
23410
23411             $str .= "$type ($status) $start -> $end ";
23412
23413             tag_machine_unsupported($machine)
23414                 if ($end lt $today);
23415         }
23416     } elsif ( $model =~ m/^IBM / ) {
23417         # This code ignore extended support contracts.
23418         my ($producttype) = $model =~ m/.*-\[(.{4}).+\]-/;
23419         if ($producttype &amp;&amp; $serial) {
23420             my $content =
23421                 get("http://www-947.ibm.com/systems/support/supportsite.wss/warranty?action=warranty&amp;brandind=5000008&amp;Submit=Submit&amp;type=$producttype&amp;serial=$serial");
23422             if ($content) {
23423                 $content =~ s/&lt;[^>]+?>/;/gm;
23424                 $content =~ s/\s+/ /gm;
23425                 $content =~ s/;\s*;/;;/gm;
23426                 $content =~ s/;[\s;]+/;/gm;
23427
23428                 $content =~ s/^.+?;Warranty status;//;
23429                 my ($status, $end) = $content =~ m/;Warranty status;([^;]+)\s*;Expiration date;(\S+) ;/;
23430
23431                 $str .= "($status) -> $end ";
23432
23433                 my $today = POSIX::strftime("%Y-%m-%d", localtime(time));
23434                 tag_machine_unsupported($machine)
23435                     if ($end lt $today);
23436             }
23437         }
23438     }
23439     return $str;
23440 }
23441 </pre>
23442
23443 <p>Here are some examples on how to use the function, using fake
23444 serial numbers.  The information passed in as arguments are fetched
23445 from dmidecode.</p>
23446
23447 <pre>
23448 print get_support_info("hp.host", "HP ProLiant BL460c G1", "1234567890"
23449                        "447707-B21");
23450 print get_support_info("dell.host", "Dell Inc. PowerEdge 2950", "1234567");
23451 print get_support_info("ibm.host", "IBM eserver xSeries 345 -[867061X]-",
23452                        "1234567");
23453 </pre>
23454
23455 <p>I would recommend this approach for tracking support contracts for
23456 everyone with more than a few computers to administer. :)</p>
23457
23458 <p>Update 2009-03-06: The IBM page do not include extended support
23459 contracts, so it is useless in that case.  The original Dell code do
23460 not handle extended support contracts either, but has been updated to
23461 do so.</p>
23462
23463       </div>
23464       <div class="tags">
23465
23466
23467         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>.
23468
23469
23470       </div>
23471     </div>
23472     <div class="padding"></div>
23473
23474     <div class="entry">
23475       <div class="title">
23476         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Using_bar_codes_at_a_computing_center.html">Using bar codes at a computing center</a>
23477       </div>
23478       <div class="date">
23479         20th February 2009
23480       </div>
23481       <div class="body">
23482         <p>At work with the University of Oslo, we have several hundred computers
23483 in our computing center.  This give us a challenge in tracking the
23484 location and cabling of the computers, when they are added, moved and
23485 removed.  Some times the location register is not updated when a
23486 computer is inserted or moved and we then have to search the room for
23487 the "missing" computer.</p>
23488
23489 <p>In the last issue of Linux Journal, I came across a project
23490 <a href="http://www.libdmtx.org/">libdmtx</a> to write and read bar
23491 code blocks as defined in the
23492 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_Matrix">The Data Matrix
23493 Standard</a>.  This is bar codes that can be read with a normal
23494 digital camera, for example that on a cell phone, and several such bar
23495 codes can be read by libdmtx from one picture.  The bar code standard
23496 allow up to 2 KiB to be written in the tag.  There is another project
23497 with <a href="http://www.terryburton.co.uk/barcodewriter/">a bar code
23498 writer written in postscript</a> capable of creating such bar codes,
23499 but this was the first time I found a tool to read these bar
23500 codes.</p>
23501
23502 <p>It occurred to me that this could be used to tag and track the
23503 machines in our computing center.  If both racks and computers are
23504 tagged this way, we can use a picture of the rack and all its
23505 computers to detect the rack location of any computer in that rack.
23506 If we do this regularly for the entire room, we will find all
23507 locations, and can detect movements and removals.</p>
23508
23509 <p>I decided to test if this would work in practice, and picked a
23510 random rack and tagged all the machines with their names.  Next, I
23511 took pictures with my digital camera, and gave the dmtxread program
23512 these JPEG pictures to see how many tags it could read.  This worked
23513 fairly well.  If the pictures was well focused and not taken from the
23514 side, all tags in the image could be read.  Because of limited space
23515 between the racks, I was unable to get a good picture of the entire
23516 rack, but could without problem read all tags from a picture covering
23517 about half the rack.  I had to limit the search time used by dmtxread
23518 to 60000 ms to make sure it terminated in a reasonable time frame.</p>
23519
23520 <p>My conclusion is that this could work, and we should probably look
23521 at adjusting our computer tagging procedures to use bar codes for
23522 easier automatic tracking of computers.</p>
23523
23524       </div>
23525       <div class="tags">
23526
23527
23528         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>.
23529
23530
23531       </div>
23532     </div>
23533     <div class="padding"></div>
23534
23535     <div class="entry">
23536       <div class="title">
23537         <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>
23538       </div>
23539       <div class="date">
23540         17th January 2009
23541       </div>
23542       <div class="body">
23543         <p>As part of the work we do in <a href="http://www.nuug.no">NUUG</a>
23544 to publish video recordings of our monthly presentations, we provide a
23545 page with embedded video for easy access to the recording.  Putting a
23546 good set of HTML tags together to get working embedded video in all
23547 browsers and across all operating systems is not easy.  I hope this
23548 will become easier when the &lt;video&gt; tag is implemented in all
23549 browsers, but I am not sure.  We provide the recordings in several
23550 formats, MPEG1, Ogg Theora, H.264 and Quicktime, and want the
23551 browser/media plugin to pick one it support and use it to play the
23552 recording, using whatever embed mechanism the browser understand.
23553 There is at least four different tags to use for this, the new HTML5
23554 &lt;video&gt; tag, the &lt;object&gt; tag, the &lt;embed&gt; tag and
23555 the &lt;applet&gt; tag.  All of these take a lot of options, and
23556 finding the best options is a major challenge.</p>
23557
23558 <p>I just tested the experimental Opera browser available from <a
23559 href="http://labs.opera.com">labs.opera.com</a>, to see how it handled
23560 a &lt;video&gt; tag with a few video sources and no extra attributes.
23561 I was not very impressed.  The browser start by fetching a picture
23562 from the video stream.  Not sure if it is the first frame, but it is
23563 definitely very early in the recording.  So far, so good. Next,
23564 instead of streaming the 76 MiB video file, it start to download all
23565 of it, but do not start to play the video.  This mean I have to wait
23566 for several minutes for the downloading to finish.  When the download
23567 is done, the playing of the video do not start!  Waiting for the
23568 download, but I do not get to see the video?  Some testing later, I
23569 discover that I have to add the controls="true" attribute to be able
23570 to get a play button to pres to start the video.  Adding
23571 autoplay="true" did not help.  I sure hope this is a misfeature of the
23572 test version of Opera, and that future implementations of the
23573 &lt;video&gt; tag will stream recordings by default, or at least start
23574 playing when the download is done.</p>
23575
23576 <p>The test page I used (since changed to add more attributes) is
23577 <a href="http://www.nuug.no/aktiviteter/20090113-foredrag-om-foredrag/">available
23578 from the nuug site</a>.  Will have to test it with the new Firefox
23579 too.</p>
23580
23581 <p>In the test process, I discovered a missing feature.  I was unable
23582 to find a way to get the URL of the playing video out of Opera, so I
23583 am not quite sure it picked the Ogg Theora version of the video.  I
23584 sure hope it was using the announced Ogg Theora support. :)</p>
23585
23586       </div>
23587       <div class="tags">
23588
23589
23590         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/h264">h264</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>.
23591
23592
23593       </div>
23594     </div>
23595     <div class="padding"></div>
23596
23597     <div class="entry">
23598       <div class="title">
23599         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Software_video_mixer_on_a_USB_stick.html">Software video mixer on a USB stick</a>
23600       </div>
23601       <div class="date">
23602         28th December 2008
23603       </div>
23604       <div class="body">
23605         <p>The <a href="http://www.nuug.no/">Norwegian Unix User Group</a> is
23606 recording our montly presentation on video, and recently we have
23607 worked on improving the quality of the recordings by mixing the slides
23608 directly with the video stream.  For this, we use the
23609 <a href="http://dvswitch.alioth.debian.org/">dvswitch</a> package from
23610 the Debian video team.  As this require quite one computer per video
23611 source, and NUUG do not have enough laptops available, we need to
23612 borrow laptops.  And to avoid having to install extra software on
23613 these borrwed laptops, I have wrapped up all the programs needed on a
23614 bootable USB stick.  The software required is dvswitch with assosiated
23615 source, sink and mixer applications and
23616 <a href="http://www.kinodv.org/">dvgrab</a>.  To allow this setup to
23617 work without any configuration, I've patched dvswitch to use
23618 <a href="http://www.avahi.org/">avahi</a> to connect the various parts
23619 together.  And to allow us to use laptops without firewire plugs, I
23620 upgraded dvgrab to the one from Debian/unstable to get one that work
23621 with USB sources.  We have not yet tested this setup in a production
23622 setup, but I hope it will work properly, and allow us to set up a
23623 video mixer in a very short time frame.  We will need it for
23624 <a href="http://www.goopen.no/">Go Open 2009</a>.</p>
23625
23626 <p><a href="http://www.nuug.no/pub/video/bin/usbstick-dvswitch.img.gz">The
23627 USB image</a> is for a 1 GB memory stick, but can be used on any
23628 larger stick as well.</p>
23629
23630       </div>
23631       <div class="tags">
23632
23633
23634         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>.
23635
23636
23637       </div>
23638     </div>
23639     <div class="padding"></div>
23640
23641     <div class="entry">
23642       <div class="title">
23643         <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>
23644       </div>
23645       <div class="date">
23646          7th December 2008
23647       </div>
23648       <div class="body">
23649         <p>This weekend we had a small developer gathering for Debian Edu in
23650 Oslo.  Most of Saturday was used for the general assemly for the
23651 member organization, but the rest of the weekend I used to tune the
23652 LTSP installation.  LTSP now work out of the box on the 10-network.
23653 Acer Aspire One proved to be a very nice thin client, with both
23654 screen, mouse and keybard in a small box.  Was working on getting the
23655 diskless workstation setup configured out of the box, but did not
23656 finish it before the weekend was up.</p>
23657
23658 <p>Did not find time to look at the 4 VGA cards in one box we got from
23659 the Brazilian group, so that will have to wait for the next
23660 development gathering.  Would love to have the Debian Edu installer
23661 automatically detect and configure a multiseat setup when it find one
23662 of these cards.</p>
23663
23664       </div>
23665       <div class="tags">
23666
23667
23668         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>.
23669
23670
23671       </div>
23672     </div>
23673     <div class="padding"></div>
23674
23675     <div class="entry">
23676       <div class="title">
23677         <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>
23678       </div>
23679       <div class="date">
23680         25th November 2008
23681       </div>
23682       <div class="body">
23683         <p>Recently I have spent some time evaluating the multimedia browser
23684 plugins available in Debian Lenny, to see which one we should use by
23685 default in Debian Edu.  We need an embedded video playing plugin with
23686 control buttons to pause or stop the video, and capable of streaming
23687 all the multimedia content available on the web.  The test results and
23688 notes are available on
23689 <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/BrowserMultimedia">the
23690 Debian wiki</a>.  I was surprised how few of the plugins are able to
23691 fill this need.  My personal video player favorite, VLC, has a really
23692 bad plugin which fail on a lot of the test pages.  A lot of the MIME
23693 types I would expect to work with any free software player (like
23694 video/ogg), just do not work.  And simple formats like the
23695 audio/x-mplegurl format (m3u playlists), just isn't supported by the
23696 totem and vlc plugins.  I hope the situation will improve soon.  No
23697 wonder sites use the proprietary Adobe flash to play video.</p>
23698
23699 <p>For Lenny, we seem to end up with the mplayer plugin.  It seem to
23700 be the only one fitting our needs. :/</p>
23701
23702       </div>
23703       <div class="tags">
23704
23705
23706         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>.
23707
23708
23709       </div>
23710     </div>
23711     <div class="padding"></div>
23712
23713     <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>
23714     <div id="sidebar">
23715
23716
23717
23718 <h2>Archive</h2>
23719 <ul>
23720
23721 <li>2015
23722 <ul>
23723
23724 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2015/01/">January (7)</a></li>
23725
23726 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2015/02/">February (6)</a></li>
23727
23728 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2015/03/">March (1)</a></li>
23729
23730 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2015/04/">April (4)</a></li>
23731
23732 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2015/05/">May (3)</a></li>
23733
23734 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2015/06/">June (4)</a></li>
23735
23736 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2015/07/">July (6)</a></li>
23737
23738 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2015/08/">August (2)</a></li>
23739
23740 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2015/09/">September (2)</a></li>
23741
23742 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2015/10/">October (4)</a></li>
23743
23744 </ul></li>
23745
23746 <li>2014
23747 <ul>
23748
23749 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2014/01/">January (2)</a></li>
23750
23751 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2014/02/">February (3)</a></li>
23752
23753 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2014/03/">March (8)</a></li>
23754
23755 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2014/04/">April (7)</a></li>
23756
23757 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2014/05/">May (1)</a></li>
23758
23759 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2014/06/">June (2)</a></li>
23760
23761 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2014/07/">July (2)</a></li>
23762
23763 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2014/08/">August (2)</a></li>
23764
23765 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2014/09/">September (5)</a></li>
23766
23767 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2014/10/">October (6)</a></li>
23768
23769 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2014/11/">November (3)</a></li>
23770
23771 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2014/12/">December (5)</a></li>
23772
23773 </ul></li>
23774
23775 <li>2013
23776 <ul>
23777
23778 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2013/01/">January (11)</a></li>
23779
23780 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2013/02/">February (9)</a></li>
23781
23782 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2013/03/">March (9)</a></li>
23783
23784 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2013/04/">April (6)</a></li>
23785
23786 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2013/05/">May (9)</a></li>
23787
23788 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2013/06/">June (10)</a></li>
23789
23790 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2013/07/">July (7)</a></li>
23791
23792 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2013/08/">August (3)</a></li>
23793
23794 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2013/09/">September (5)</a></li>
23795
23796 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2013/10/">October (7)</a></li>
23797
23798 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2013/11/">November (9)</a></li>
23799
23800 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2013/12/">December (3)</a></li>
23801
23802 </ul></li>
23803
23804 <li>2012
23805 <ul>
23806
23807 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/01/">January (7)</a></li>
23808
23809 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/02/">February (10)</a></li>
23810
23811 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/03/">March (17)</a></li>
23812
23813 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/04/">April (12)</a></li>
23814
23815 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/05/">May (12)</a></li>
23816
23817 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/06/">June (20)</a></li>
23818
23819 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/07/">July (17)</a></li>
23820
23821 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/08/">August (6)</a></li>
23822
23823 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/09/">September (9)</a></li>
23824
23825 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/10/">October (17)</a></li>
23826
23827 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/11/">November (10)</a></li>
23828
23829 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/12/">December (7)</a></li>
23830
23831 </ul></li>
23832
23833 <li>2011
23834 <ul>
23835
23836 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/01/">January (16)</a></li>
23837
23838 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/02/">February (6)</a></li>
23839
23840 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/03/">March (6)</a></li>
23841
23842 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/04/">April (7)</a></li>
23843
23844 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/05/">May (3)</a></li>
23845
23846 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/06/">June (2)</a></li>
23847
23848 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/07/">July (7)</a></li>
23849
23850 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/08/">August (6)</a></li>
23851
23852 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/09/">September (4)</a></li>
23853
23854 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/10/">October (2)</a></li>
23855
23856 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/11/">November (3)</a></li>
23857
23858 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/12/">December (1)</a></li>
23859
23860 </ul></li>
23861
23862 <li>2010
23863 <ul>
23864
23865 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/01/">January (2)</a></li>
23866
23867 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/02/">February (1)</a></li>
23868
23869 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/03/">March (3)</a></li>
23870
23871 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/04/">April (3)</a></li>
23872
23873 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/05/">May (9)</a></li>
23874
23875 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/06/">June (14)</a></li>
23876
23877 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/07/">July (12)</a></li>
23878
23879 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/08/">August (13)</a></li>
23880
23881 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/09/">September (7)</a></li>
23882
23883 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/10/">October (9)</a></li>
23884
23885 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/11/">November (13)</a></li>
23886
23887 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/12/">December (12)</a></li>
23888
23889 </ul></li>
23890
23891 <li>2009
23892 <ul>
23893
23894 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/01/">January (8)</a></li>
23895
23896 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/02/">February (8)</a></li>
23897
23898 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/03/">March (12)</a></li>
23899
23900 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/04/">April (10)</a></li>
23901
23902 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/05/">May (9)</a></li>
23903
23904 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/06/">June (3)</a></li>
23905
23906 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/07/">July (4)</a></li>
23907
23908 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/08/">August (3)</a></li>
23909
23910 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/09/">September (1)</a></li>
23911
23912 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/10/">October (2)</a></li>
23913
23914 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/11/">November (3)</a></li>
23915
23916 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/12/">December (3)</a></li>
23917
23918 </ul></li>
23919
23920 <li>2008
23921 <ul>
23922
23923 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2008/11/">November (5)</a></li>
23924
23925 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2008/12/">December (7)</a></li>
23926
23927 </ul></li>
23928
23929 </ul>
23930
23931
23932
23933 <h2>Tags</h2>
23934 <ul>
23935
23936  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/3d-printer">3d-printer (13)</a></li>
23937
23938  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/amiga">amiga (1)</a></li>
23939
23940  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/aros">aros (1)</a></li>
23941
23942  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/bankid">bankid (4)</a></li>
23943
23944  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/bitcoin">bitcoin (8)</a></li>
23945
23946  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/bootsystem">bootsystem (15)</a></li>
23947
23948  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/bsa">bsa (2)</a></li>
23949
23950  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/chrpath">chrpath (2)</a></li>
23951
23952  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian (112)</a></li>
23953
23954  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu (153)</a></li>
23955
23956  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/digistan">digistan (10)</a></li>
23957
23958  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/dld">dld (15)</a></li>
23959
23960  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/docbook">docbook (18)</a></li>
23961
23962  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/drivstoffpriser">drivstoffpriser (4)</a></li>
23963
23964  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english (291)</a></li>
23965
23966  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/fiksgatami">fiksgatami (23)</a></li>
23967
23968  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/fildeling">fildeling (12)</a></li>
23969
23970  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/freeculture">freeculture (20)</a></li>
23971
23972  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/freedombox">freedombox (9)</a></li>
23973
23974  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/frikanalen">frikanalen (16)</a></li>
23975
23976  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/h264">h264 (20)</a></li>
23977
23978  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/intervju">intervju (42)</a></li>
23979
23980  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/isenkram">isenkram (10)</a></li>
23981
23982  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/kart">kart (19)</a></li>
23983
23984  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/ldap">ldap (9)</a></li>
23985
23986  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/lenker">lenker (8)</a></li>
23987
23988  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/lsdvd">lsdvd (2)</a></li>
23989
23990  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/ltsp">ltsp (1)</a></li>
23991
23992  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/mesh network">mesh network (8)</a></li>
23993
23994  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/multimedia">multimedia (36)</a></li>
23995
23996  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/norsk">norsk (265)</a></li>
23997
23998  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug (177)</a></li>
23999
24000  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/offentlig innsyn">offentlig innsyn (20)</a></li>
24001
24002  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/open311">open311 (2)</a></li>
24003
24004  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/opphavsrett">opphavsrett (54)</a></li>
24005
24006  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/personvern">personvern (88)</a></li>
24007
24008  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/raid">raid (1)</a></li>
24009
24010  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/reactos">reactos (1)</a></li>
24011
24012  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/reprap">reprap (11)</a></li>
24013
24014  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/rfid">rfid (3)</a></li>
24015
24016  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/robot">robot (9)</a></li>
24017
24018  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/rss">rss (1)</a></li>
24019
24020  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/ruter">ruter (4)</a></li>
24021
24022  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/scraperwiki">scraperwiki (2)</a></li>
24023
24024  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/sikkerhet">sikkerhet (43)</a></li>
24025
24026  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/sitesummary">sitesummary (4)</a></li>
24027
24028  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/skepsis">skepsis (4)</a></li>
24029
24030  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/standard">standard (48)</a></li>
24031
24032  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/stavekontroll">stavekontroll (3)</a></li>
24033
24034  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/stortinget">stortinget (10)</a></li>
24035
24036  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/surveillance">surveillance (35)</a></li>
24037
24038  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/sysadmin">sysadmin (2)</a></li>
24039
24040  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/usenix">usenix (2)</a></li>
24041
24042  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/valg">valg (8)</a></li>
24043
24044  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/video">video (54)</a></li>
24045
24046  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/vitenskap">vitenskap (4)</a></li>
24047
24048  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/web">web (37)</a></li>
24049
24050 </ul>
24051
24052
24053     </div>
24054     <p style="text-align: right">
24055  Created by <a href="http://steve.org.uk/Software/chronicle">Chronicle v4.6</a>
24056 </p>
24057
24058   </body>
24059 </html>