blog/tags/english/index.html

   1 <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
   2           "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
   3 <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" dir="ltr">
   4   <head>
   5     <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8" />
   6     <title>Petter Reinholdtsen: Entries Tagged english</title>
   7     <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="screen" href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/style.css" />
   8     <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="screen" href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/vim.css" />
   9     <link rel="alternate" title="RSS Feed" href="english.rss" type="application/rss+xml" />
  10   </head>
  11   <body>
  12     <div class="title">
  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/Isenkram_0_2_finally_in_the_Debian_archive.html">Isenkram 0.2 finally in the Debian archive</a>
  26       </div>
  27       <div class="date">
  28          3rd April 2013
  29       </div>
  30       <div class="body">
  31         <p>Today the <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/isenkram">Isenkram
  32 package</a> finally made it into the archive, after lingering in NEW
  33 for many months.  I uploaded it to the Debian experimental suite
  34 2013-01-27, and today it was accepted into the archive.</p>
  35
  36 <p>Isenkram is a system for suggesting to users what packages to
  37 install to work with a pluggable hardware device.  The suggestion pop
  38 up when the device is plugged in.  For example if a Lego Mindstorm NXT
  39 is inserted, it will suggest to install the program needed to program
  40 the NXT controller.  Give it a go, and report bugs and suggestions to
  41 BTS. :)</p>
  42
  43       </div>
  44       <div class="tags">
  45
  46
  47         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>.
  48
  49
  50       </div>
  51     </div>
  52     <div class="padding"></div>
  53
  54     <div class="entry">
  55       <div class="title">
  56         <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>
  57       </div>
  58       <div class="date">
  59         26th March 2013
  60       </div>
  61       <div class="body">
  62         <p>Would you like to help the environment and save money at the same
  63 time, without much sacrifice?  A small step could be to change the
  64 font you use when printing.</p>
  65
  66 <p>Three years ago,
  67 <a href="http://arstechnica.com/business/2010/04/last-year-printer-comparison-website/">Ars
  68 Technica</a> reported how the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay
  69 changed their default front from
  70 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arial">Arial</a> to
  71 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Century_Gothic">Century
  72 Gothic</a> to save money.  The Century Gothic font uses 30% less toner
  73 than Arial to print the same text.  In other word, you could cut your
  74 toner costs by 30% (or actually, increase your toner supply life time
  75 by more than 30%), by simply changing the default font used in your
  76 prints.</p>
  77
  78 <p>But it is not quite obvious how much one will safe by switching.
  79 The University of Wisconsin-Green Bay said it used $100,000 per year
  80 on ink and toner cartridges, according to
  81 <a href="http://www.twincities.com/ci_14833097">a report from
  82 TwinCities.com</a>, and expected to save between $5,000 and $10,000
  83 per year by asking staff and students to use a different font.  Not
  84 all PDFs and documents are created internally, and those from external
  85 sources will most likely still use a different font.  Also, the
  86 Century Gothic font is slightly wider than Arial, and thus might use
  87 more sheets of paper to print the same text, so the total saving
  88 depend on the documents printed.</p>
  89
  90 <p>But it is definitely something to consider, if you want to reduce
  91 the amount of trash, decrease the amount of toner used in the world,
  92 and save some money in the process.</p>
  93
  94       </div>
  95       <div class="tags">
  96
  97
  98         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
  99
 100
 101       </div>
 102     </div>
 103     <div class="padding"></div>
 104
 105     <div class="entry">
 106       <div class="title">
 107         <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>
 108       </div>
 109       <div class="date">
 110         24th March 2013
 111       </div>
 112       <div class="body">
 113         <p>A few days ago, during a discussion in
 114 <a href="http://www.efn.no/">EFN</a> about interesting books to read
 115 about copyright and the data retention directive, a suggestion to read
 116 the 1968 short story Kodémus by
 117 <a href="http://web2.gyldendal.no/toraage/">Tore Åge Bringsværd</a>
 118 came up.  The text was only available in old paper books, and thus not
 119 easily available for current and future generations.  Some of the
 120 people participating in the discussion contacted the author, and
 121 reported back 2013-03-19 that the author was OK with releasing the
 122 short story using a <a href="http://www.creativecommons.org/">Creative
 123 Commons</a> license.  The text was quickly scanned and OCR-ed, and we
 124 were ready to start on the editing and typesetting.</p>
 125
 126 <p>As I already had some experience formatting text in my project to
 127 provide a Norwegian version of the Free Culture book by Lawrence
 128 Lessig, I chipped in and set up a
 129 <a href="http://www.docbook.org/">DocBook</a> processing framework to
 130 generate PDF, HTML and EPUB version of the short story.  The tools to
 131 transform DocBook to different formats are already in my Linux
 132 distribution of choice, <a href="http://www.debian.org/">Debian</a>, so
 133 all I had to do was to use the
 134 <a href="http://dblatex.sourceforge.net/">dblatex</a>,
 135 <a href="http://docbook.sourceforge.net/release/xsl/current/epub/README">dbtoepub</a>
 136 and <a href="https://fedorahosted.org/xmlto/">xmlto</a> tools to do the
 137 conversion.  After a few days, we decided to replace dblatex with
 138 xsltproc/fop (aka
 139 <a href="http://wiki.docbook.org/DocBookXslStylesheets">docbook-xsl</a>),
 140 to get the copyright information to show up in the PDF and to get a
 141 nicer &lt;variablelist&gt; typesetting, but that is just a minor
 142 technical detail.</p>
 143
 144 <p>There were a few challenges, of course.  We want to typeset the
 145 short story to look like the original, and that require fairly good
 146 control over the layout.  The original short story have three
 147 parts/scenes separated by a single horizontally centred star (*), and
 148 the paragraphs do not contain only flowing text, but dialogs and text
 149 that started on a new line in the middle of the paragraph.</p>
 150
 151 <p>I initially solved the first challenge by using a paragraph with a
 152 single star in it, ie &lt;para&gt;*&lt;/para&gt;, but it made sure a
 153 placeholder indicated where the scene shifted.  This did not look too
 154 good without the centring.  The next approach was to create a new
 155 preprocessor directive &lt;?newscene?&gt;, mapping to "&lt;hr/&gt;"
 156 for HTML and "&lt;fo:block text-align="center"&gt;&lt;fo:leader
 157 leader-pattern="rule" rule-thickness="0.5pt"/&gt;&lt;/fo:block&gt;"
 158 for FO/PDF output (did not try to implement this in dblatex, as we had
 159 switched at this time).  The HTML XSL file looked like this:</p>
 160
 161 <p><blockquote><pre>
 162 &lt;?xml version='1.0'?&gt;
 163 &lt;xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" version='1.0'&gt;
 164   &lt;xsl:template match="processing-instruction('newscene')"&gt;
 165     &lt;hr/&gt;
 166   &lt;/xsl:template&gt;
 167 &lt;/xsl:stylesheet&gt;
 168 </pre></blockquote></p>
 169
 170 <p>And the FO/PDF XSL file looked like this:</p>
 171
 172 <p><blockquote><pre>
 173 &lt;?xml version='1.0'?&gt;
 174 &lt;xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" version='1.0'&gt;
 175   &lt;xsl:template match="processing-instruction('newscene')"&gt;
 176     &lt;fo:block text-align="center"&gt;
 177       &lt;fo:leader leader-pattern="rule" rule-thickness="0.5pt"/&gt;
 178     &lt;/fo:block&gt;
 179   &lt;/xsl:template&gt;
 180 &lt;/xsl:stylesheet&gt;
 181 </pre></blockquote></p>
 182
 183 <p>Finally, I came across the &lt;bridgehead&gt; tag, which seem to be
 184 a good fit for the task at hand, and I replaced &lt;?newscene?&gt;
 185 with &lt;bridgehead&gt;*&lt;/bridgehead&gt;.  It isn't centred, but we
 186 can fix it with some XSL rule if the current visual layout isn't
 187 enough.</p>
 188
 189 <p>I did not find a good DocBook compliant way to solve the
 190 linebreak/paragraph challenge, so I ended up creating a new processor
 191 directive &lt;?linebreak?&gt;, mapping to &lt;br/&gt; in HTML, and
 192 &lt;fo:block/&gt; in FO/PDF.  I suspect there are better ways to do
 193 this, and welcome ideas and patches on github.  The HTML XSL file now
 194 look like this:</p>
 195
 196 <p><blockquote><pre>
 197 &lt;?xml version='1.0'?&gt;
 198 &lt;xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" version='1.0'&gt;
 199   &lt;xsl:template match="processing-instruction('linebreak)"&gt;
 200     &lt;br/&gt;
 201   &lt;/xsl:template&gt;
 202 &lt;/xsl:stylesheet&gt;
 203 </pre></blockquote></p>
 204
 205 <p>And the FO/PDF XSL file looked like this:</p>
 206
 207 <p><blockquote><pre>
 208 &lt;?xml version='1.0'?&gt;
 209 &lt;xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" version='1.0'
 210   xmlns:fo="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Format"&gt;
 211   &lt;xsl:template match="processing-instruction('linebreak)"&gt;
 212     &lt;fo:block/&gt;
 213   &lt;/xsl:template&gt;
 214 &lt;/xsl:stylesheet&gt;
 215 </pre></blockquote></p>
 216
 217 <p>One unsolved challenge is our wish to expose different ISBN numbers
 218 per publication format, while keeping all of them in some conditional
 219 structure in the DocBook source.  No idea how to do this, so we ended
 220 up listing all the ISBN numbers next to their format in the colophon
 221 page.</p>
 222
 223 <p>If you want to check out the finished result, check out the
 224 <a href="https://github.com/sickel/kodemus">source repository at
 225 github</a>
 226 (<a href="https://github.com/EFN/kodemus">future/new/official
 227 repository</a>).  We expect it to be ready and announced in a few
 228 days.</p>
 229
 230       </div>
 231       <div class="tags">
 232
 233
 234         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>.
 235
 236
 237       </div>
 238     </div>
 239     <div class="padding"></div>
 240
 241     <div class="entry">
 242       <div class="title">
 243         <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>
 244       </div>
 245       <div class="date">
 246         17th March 2013
 247       </div>
 248       <div class="body">
 249         <p>Via
 250 <a href="https://twitter.com/pcwizz/status/313044373262716930">twitter</a>
 251 I just discovered that <a href="http://pcwizz.net/">Pcwizz</a> have
 252 done a <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPzTZ61Pcuc">video
 253 review</a> on Youtube of <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Skolelinux
 254 / Debian Edu</a> version 6.  He installed the standalone profile and
 255 the video show a walk-through of of the menu content, demonstration of
 256 a few programs and his view of our distribution.</p>
 257
 258 <p>There is also some really nice quotes (transcribed by me, might
 259 have heard wrong).  While looking thought the Graphics menu:</p>
 260
 261 <blockquote>
 262 "Basically everything you ever need in a school environment."
 263 </blockquote>
 264
 265 <p>And as a general evaluation of the entire distribution:</p>
 266
 267 <blockquote>
 268 "So, yeah, a bit bloated.  It kept all the Debian stuff in there, just
 269 to keep it nice and GNU.  So, I do not want to go on about it, but
 270 lets give it 7 out of 10.  I am not going to use it.  That is because
 271 I am not deploying a school network.  There may be some mythical
 272 feature to help you deploy Skolelinux on a school network."
 273 </blockquote>
 274
 275 <p>To bad he did not test the server profile, and discovered the PXE
 276 installation option.  It make it possible to install only the main
 277 server from CD, and the rest of the machines via the net, and might be
 278 considered the mythical feature he talk about. :)</p>
 279
 280 <p>While looking through the menus, there is also this funny comment
 281 about the part of the K menu generated from the Debian menu subsystem:
 282
 283 <blockquote>
 284 "[The K menu] have a special Debian section for software that no-one
 285 is going to look at, because it contain lots of junky stuff that you
 286 actually don't need in the education distribution, but have just been
 287 included because it isn't stripped out for some reason."
 288 </blockquote>
 289
 290 <p>I guess it is yet another argument for merging the Debian menu and
 291 Gnome/KDE desktop menu entries into
 292 <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/Proposals/DebianMenuUsingDesktopEntries">one
 293 consistent menu system</a> instead of two incomplete and partly
 294 inconsistent menu systems.</p>
 295
 296 <p>The entire video is available below for those accepting iframe
 297 embedding:</p>
 298
 299 <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/wPzTZ61Pcuc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 300
 301       </div>
 302       <div class="tags">
 303
 304
 305         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>.
 306
 307
 308       </div>
 309     </div>
 310     <div class="padding"></div>
 311
 312     <div class="entry">
 313       <div class="title">
 314         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/First_Skolelinux___Debian_Edu_Squeeze_update_released.html">First Skolelinux / Debian Edu Squeeze update released</a>
 315       </div>
 316       <div class="date">
 317          8th March 2013
 318       </div>
 319       <div class="body">
 320         <p>Last Sunday, 2013-03-03,, Holger Levsen announced the first update
 321 of <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Skolelinux / Debian Edu</a>
 322 based on Debian Squeeze.  This is the first update since
 323 <a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-edu-announce/2012/03/msg00001.html">the
 324 initial release 2012-03-11</a>.  This is the
 325 <a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-edu-announce/2013/03/msg00000.html">release
 326 announcement email from Holger</a>:</p>
 327
 328 <blockquote><p>Hi,</p>
 329
 330 <p>it's my pleasure to announce the immediate availability of Debian
 331 Edu 6.0.7+r1 ("Debian Edu Squeeze").</p>
 332
 333 <p>Debian Edu 6.0.7+r1 is an incremental update to Debian Edu
 334 6.0.4+r0, containing all the changes between Debian 6.0.4 and 6.0.7 as
 335 well Debian Edu specific bugfixes and enhancements. See below (in this
 336 mail) for the full list of (edu) changes.  Please see
 337 <a href="http://www.debian.org/News/2012/20120311">http://www.debian.org/News/2012/20120311</a>
 338 for more information on "Debian Edu Squeeze".</p>
 339
 340 <p>Images are available for download at
 341 <a href="http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/">http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/</a></p>
 342
 343 <p>md5sums:
 344 <br>1fe79eb4f0f9ae1c58fc318e26cc1e2e  debian-edu-6.0.7+r1-CD.iso
 345 <br>a6ddd924a8bd9a1b5ca122e8fe1c34ec  debian-edu-6.0.7+r1-DVD.iso
 346 <br>ac6c72cd7925ccec51bfbf58e2a7c69c  debian-edu-6.0.7+r1-source-DVD.iso</p>
 347
 348 <p>sha1sums:
 349 <br>a4b58233b672a99c7df8dc24fb6de3327654a5c3  debian-edu-6.0.7+r1-CD.iso
 350 <br>9b524915e0ff2aa793f13d93123e5bd2bab2dbaa  debian-edu-6.0.7+r1-DVD.iso
 351 <br>43997614893fc5e9e59ad6ce066b05d07fd836fa  debian-edu-6.0.7+r1-source-DVD.iso</p>
 352
 353 <p>These images are suitable for amd64+i386.</p>
 354
 355 <p>Changes for Debian Edu 6.0.7+r1 Codename "Squeeze", released
 356 2013-03-03:</p>
 357
 358 <ul>
 359   <li>sitesummary was updated from 0.1.3 to 0.1.8
 360   <ul>
 361         <li>Make Nagios configuration more robust and efficient</li>
 362         <li>Comply with 3.X kernel</li>
 363   </ul></li>
 364   <li>debian-edu-doc from 1.4~20120310~6.0.4+r0 to 1.4~20130228~6.0.7+r1
 365   <ul>
 366         <li>Minor updates from the wiki</li>
 367         <li>Danish translation now complete</li>
 368   </ul></li>
 369   <li>debian-edu-config from 1.453 to 1.455
 370      <ul>
 371         <li>Fix /etc/hosts for LTSP diskless workstations. Closes: #699880</li>
 372         <li>Make ltsp_local_mount script work for multiple devices.</li>
 373         <li>Correct Kerberos user policy: don't expire password after 2 days.
 374                 Closes: #664596</li>
 375         <li>Handle '#' characters in the root or first users password.
 376                 Closes: #664976</li>
 377         <li>Fixes for gosa-sync:
 378            <ul>
 379                 <li>Don't fail if password contains "</li>
 380                 <li>Don't disclose new password string in syslog</li>
 381            </ul></li>
 382         <li>Fixes for gosa-create:
 383            <ul>
 384                 <li>Invalidate libnss cache before applying changes</li>
 385                 <li>Multiple failures during mass user import into GOsa²</li>
 386                 <li>gosa-netgroups plugin: don't erase entries of attribute type
 387                          "memberNisNetgroup". Closes: #687256</li>
 388                 <li>First user now uses the same Kerberos policy as all other users</li>
 389            </ul></li>
 390         <li>Add Danish web page</li>
 391     </ul>
 392   <li>debian-edu-install from 1.528 to 1.530
 393     <ul>
 394         <li>Improve preseeding support and documentation</li>
 395     </ul></li>
 396 </ul>
 397
 398 <p>End-user documentation in English is available at
 399 <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/Documentation/Squeeze/">http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/Documentation/Squeeze/</a>
 400 - translations to French, Italian, Danish and German are available in
 401 the debian-edu-doc package. (Other languages could use your help!)</p>
 402
 403 <p>If you want to contribute to Debian Edu, please join our
 404 mailinglist
 405 <a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-edu/">debian-edu@lists.debian.org</a>!
 406 </p></blockquote>
 407
 408 <p>I am very happy to see the fruits of a year of hard work. :)</p>
 409
 410       </div>
 411       <div class="tags">
 412
 413
 414         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
 415
 416
 417       </div>
 418     </div>
 419     <div class="padding"></div>
 420
 421     <div class="entry">
 422       <div class="title">
 423         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Frikanalen___Complete_TV_station_organised_using_the_web.html">Frikanalen - Complete TV station organised using the web</a>
 424       </div>
 425       <div class="date">
 426          3rd March 2013
 427       </div>
 428       <div class="body">
 429         <p>Do you want to set up your own TV station, schedule videos and
 430 broadcast them on the air?  Using free software?  With video on demand
 431 support using
 432 <a href="http://www.digistan.org/open-standard:definition">free and
 433 open standards</a>?  Included a web based video stream as well?  And
 434 administrate it all in your web browser from anywhere in the world?  A
 435 few years now the Norwegian public access TV-channel
 436 <a href="http://www.frikanalen.no/">Frikanalen</a> have been building a
 437 system to do just this.  The source code for the solution is licensed
 438 using the GNU LGPL, and
 439 <a href="http://github.com/Frikanalen">available from github</a>.</p>
 440
 441 <p>The idea is simple.  You upload a video file over the web, and
 442 attach meta information to the file.  You select a time slot in the
 443 program schedule, and when the time come it is played on the air and
 444 in the web stream.  It is also made available in a video on demand
 445 solution for anyone to see it also outside its scheduled time.  All
 446 you need to run a TV station - using your web browser.</p>
 447
 448 <p>There are several parts to this web based solution.  I'll mention
 449 the three most important ones.  The first part is the database of
 450 videos and the schedule.  This is written in Django and include a REST
 451 API.  The current database is SQLite, but the plan is to migrate it to
 452 PostgreSQL.  At the moment this system can be tested on
 453 <a href="http://beta.frikanalen.tv/">beta.frikanalen.tv</a>.  The
 454 second part is the video playout, taking the schedule information from
 455 the database and providing a video stream to broadcast.  This is done
 456 using <a href="http://www.casparcg.com/">CasparCG from SVT</a> and
 457 <a href="http://www.mltframework.org/">Media Lovin' Toolkit</a>.  Video
 458 signal distribution is handled using
 459 <a href="http://www.ob-encoder.com/">Open Broadcast Encoder</a>.  The
 460 third part is the converter, handling the transformation of uploaded
 461 video files to a format useful for broadcasting, streaming and video
 462 on demand.  It is still very much work in progress, so it is not yet
 463 decided what it will end up using.  Note that the source of the latter
 464 two parts are not yet pushed to github.  The lead author want to clean
 465 them up a bit more first.</p>
 466
 467 <p>The development is coordinated on the
 468 <a href="irc://irc.freenode.net/%23frikanalen">#frikanalen IRC
 469 channel</a> (irc.freenode.net), and discussed on
 470 <a href="http://lists.nuug.no/mailman/listinfo/frikanalen">the
 471 frikanalen mailing list</a>. The lead developer is Benjamin Bruheim
 472 (phed on IRC).  Anyone is welcome to participate in the
 473 development.</p>
 474
 475       </div>
 476       <div class="tags">
 477
 478
 479         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>.
 480
 481
 482       </div>
 483     </div>
 484     <div class="padding"></div>
 485
 486     <div class="entry">
 487       <div class="title">
 488         <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>
 489       </div>
 490       <div class="date">
 491         27th February 2013
 492       </div>
 493       <div class="body">
 494         <p>Dr. <a href="http://www.stallman.org/">Richard Stallman</a>,
 495 founder of <a href="http://www.fsf.org/">Free Software Foundation</a>,
 496 is giving <a href="http://www.nuug.no/aktiviteter/20130301-rms/">a
 497 talk in Oslo March 1st 2013 17:00 to 19:00</a>.  The event is public
 498 and organised by <a href="">Norwegian Unix Users Group (NUUG)</a>
 499 (where I am the chair of the board) and
 500 <a href="http://www.friprog.no/">The Norwegian Open Source Competence
 501 Center</a>.  The title of the talk is «The Free Software Movement and
 502 GNU», with this description:
 503
 504 <p><blockquote>
 505 The Free Software Movement campaigns for computer users' freedom to
 506 cooperate and control their own computing. The Free Software Movement
 507 developed the GNU operating system, typically used together with the
 508 kernel Linux, specifically to make these freedoms possible.
 509 </blockquote></p>
 510
 511 <p>The meeting is open for everyone.  Due to space limitations, the
 512 doors opens for NUUG members at 16:15, and everyone else at 16:45.  I
 513 am really curious how many will show up.  See
 514 <a href="http://www.nuug.no/aktiviteter/20130301-rms/">the event
 515 page</a> for the location details.</p>
 516
 517       </div>
 518       <div class="tags">
 519
 520
 521         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>.
 522
 523
 524       </div>
 525     </div>
 526     <div class="padding"></div>
 527
 528     <div class="entry">
 529       <div class="title">
 530         <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>
 531       </div>
 532       <div class="date">
 533         15th February 2013
 534       </div>
 535       <div class="body">
 536         <p>If you, like me, want an updated a map for your Garmin GPS, there is
 537 now a great source of free maps available from
 538 <a href="http://www.frikart.no/garmin/index.html">Frikart</a>.  To
 539 download a map, just click on the country you are interested in, and
 540 download the map type you want.  There are 8 different maps available,
 541 using different colours and data selection.  Pick one of Roadmap, Topo
 542 Summer, Topo Winter, Roadmap II, Topo Summer II, Topo Winter II,
 543 "Trails - overlay map" and "Cross country - overlay map" (see the web
 544 page for descriptions).</p>
 545
 546 <p>The maps are updated weekly, so if you find something wrong in the
 547 map you can just edit the
 548 <a href="http://www.openstreetmap.org/">OpenStreetmap</a> map source
 549 (anyone can contribute) and fetch a fixed map a week later. :)</p>
 550
 551       </div>
 552       <div class="tags">
 553
 554
 555         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>.
 556
 557
 558       </div>
 559     </div>
 560     <div class="padding"></div>
 561
 562     <div class="entry">
 563       <div class="title">
 564         <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>
 565       </div>
 566       <div class="date">
 567         12th February 2013
 568       </div>
 569       <div class="body">
 570         <p>Here in Norway, electronic invoices are spreading, and the
 571 <a href="http://www.anskaffelser.no/e-handel/faktura">solution promoted
 572 by the Norwegian government</a> require that invoices are sent through
 573 one of the approved facilitators, and it is not possible to send
 574 electronic invoices without an agreement with one of these
 575 facilitators.  This seem like a needless limitation to be able to
 576 transfer invoice information between buyers and sellers.  My preferred
 577 solution would be to just transfer the invoice information directly
 578 between seller and buyer, for example using SMTP, or some HTTP based
 579 protocol like REST or SOAP.  But this might also be overkill, as the
 580 "electronic" information can be transferred using paper invoices too,
 581 using a simple bar code.  My bar code encoding of choice would be QR
 582 codes, as this encoding can be read by any smart phone out there.  The
 583 content of the code could be anything, but I would go with
 584 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VCard">the vCard format</a>, as
 585 it too is supported by a lot of computer equipment these days.</p>
 586
 587 <p>The vCard format support extentions, and the invoice specific
 588 information can be included using such extentions.  For example an
 589 invoice from SLX Debian Labs (picked because we
 590 <a href="http://www.linuxiskolen.no/slxdebianlabs/donations.html">ask
 591 for donations to the Debian Edu project</a> and thus have bank account
 592 information publicly available) for NOK 1000.00 could have these extra
 593 fields:</p>
 594
 595 <p><pre>
 596 X-INVOICE-NUMBER:1
 597 X-INVOICE-AMOUNT:NOK1000.00
 598 X-INVOICE-KID:123412341234
 599 X-INVOICE-MSG:Donation to Debian Edu
 600 X-BANK-ACCOUNT-NUMBER:16040884339
 601 X-BANK-IBAN-NUMBER:NO8516040884339
 602 X-BANK-SWIFT-NUMBER:DNBANOKKXXX
 603 </pre></p>
 604
 605 <p>The X-BANK-ACCOUNT-NUMBER field was proposed in a stackoverflow
 606 answer regarding
 607 <a href="http://stackoverflow.com/questions/10045664/storing-bank-account-in-vcard-file">how
 608 to put bank account information into a vCard</a>.  For payments in
 609 Norway, either X-INVOICE-KID (payment ID) or X-INVOICE-MSG could be
 610 used to pass on information to the seller when paying the invoice.</p>
 611
 612 <p>The complete vCard could look like this:</p>
 613
 614 <p><pre>
 615 BEGIN:VCARD
 616 VERSION:2.1
 617 ORG:SLX Debian Labs Foundation
 618 ADR;WORK:;;Gunnar Schjelderups vei 29D;OSLO;;0485;Norway
 619 URL;WORK:http://www.linuxiskolen.no/slxdebianlabs/
 620 EMAIL;PREF;INTERNET:sdl-styret@rt.nuug.no
 621 REV:20130212T095000Z
 622 X-INVOICE-NUMBER:1
 623 X-INVOICE-AMOUNT:NOK1000.00
 624 X-INVOICE-MSG:Donation to Debian Edu
 625 X-BANK-ACCOUNT-NUMBER:16040884339
 626 X-BANK-IBAN-NUMBER:NO8516040884339
 627 X-BANK-SWIFT-NUMBER:DNBANOKKXXX
 628 END:VCARD
 629 </pre></p>
 630
 631 <p>The resulting QR code created using
 632 <a href="http://fukuchi.org/works/qrencode/">qrencode</a> would look
 633 like this, and should be readable (and thus checkable) by any smart
 634 phone, or for example the <a href="http://zbar.sourceforge.net/">zbar
 635 bar code reader</a> and feed right into the approval and accounting
 636 system.</p>
 637
 638 <p><img src="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-02-12-qr-invoice.png"></p>
 639
 640 <p>The extension fields will most likely not show up in any normal
 641 vCard reader, so those parts would have to go directly into a system
 642 handling invoices.  I am a bit unsure how vCards without name parts
 643 are handled, but a simple test indicate that this work just fine.</p>
 644
 645 <p><strong>Update 2013-02-12 11:30</strong>: Added KID to the proposal
 646 based on feedback from Sturle Sunde.</p>
 647
 648       </div>
 649       <div class="tags">
 650
 651
 652         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>.
 653
 654
 655       </div>
 656     </div>
 657     <div class="padding"></div>
 658
 659     <div class="entry">
 660       <div class="title">
 661         <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>
 662       </div>
 663       <div class="date">
 664         10th February 2013
 665       </div>
 666       <div class="body">
 667         <p><img align="left" style="margin-right:25px;" src="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-02-10-morning-light.jpeg"></p>
 668
 669 <p>With kids in the house, one challenge is getting them to sleep
 670 during the night and wake up when it is morning.  I mean, when I
 671 believe it is morning, and not two hours earlier.  In our household we
 672 have decided that 07:00 is the turning point, but getting the kids to
 673 sleep until 07:00 is a small challenge every day.  They have adapted
 674 quite well, and rarely wake up at 05:00 any more, but some times wake
 675 up at times like 05:50, 06:15, 06:30 or 06:45, and it is hard to put
 676 the awake one to bed again without disturbing and waking the rest.
 677 And I understand perfectly well that they fail to sleep until 07:00
 678 some times, as there is no way for them to know if it is before or
 679 after the magic moment without coming and asking us parents.</p>
 680
 681 <p>But yesterday I came up with a method to solve this problem.  It
 682 involve home automation.  A few years ago I bought a
 683 <a href="http://www.telldus.se/products/tellstick">Tellstick</a> and RF
 684 switches at the local <a href="http://www.clasohlson.com/">Clas
 685 Ohlson</a> shop, allowing me to control lights and other electrical
 686 gadgets using my Linux server.  When I moved from the old flat to a
 687 small house, I put away all this equipment as most of the lighting in
 688 the house was not using wall sockets and thus not easy to connect to
 689 the gadgets I had.  But recently I bought a
 690 <a href="http://www.telldus.se/products/tellstick_net">Tellstick
 691 Net</a> to be able to read sensor input as well as control power
 692 sockets.  I want to control ovens in the basement to avoid the pipes
 693 to freeze, and monitor the humidity to detect flooding.  The default
 694 setup for Tellstick Net is to be controlled by the vendor web service,
 695 which to me is a security problem, but it is also possible to build
 696 ones own
 697 <a href="http://developer.telldus.com/blog/2012/03/02/help-us-develop-local-access-using-tellstick-net-build-your-own-firmware">firmware
 698 with local access</A> instead of being controlled by a Swedish
 699 company, thanks to the release of the GPL licensed firmware source
 700 code.  I plan to get that running before I let it control anything
 701 important.  But while working on this, one idea to make it easier for
 702 the kids came to me yesterday.  We can set up a night light controlled
 703 by the computer, and turn it automatically on at 07:00.  The kids can
 704 then check the light in the morning to know if they are supposed to
 705 get up or not.  They joined me in setting everything up, and I
 706 repeated the concept several times before bed times to make sure they
 707 remembered to check the light before getting up in the morning.</p>
 708
 709 <p>We tested it this morning, and all the kids stayed in bed until
 710 after 07:00, and every one of them commented on the fact that the
 711 "morning light" was turned on and signalled that the morning had
 712 arrived.  So this look like a success, and I am excited to see how
 713 this develops the next few days. :) I really hope this can allow us
 714 all to sleep a bit longer in the morning.</p>
 715
 716 <p>A nice advantage of this setup is that we can remote control when
 717 to tell the kids to get up.  We do not have to wait until 07:00, and
 718 can also delay it if we want to.</p>
 719
 720       </div>
 721       <div class="tags">
 722
 723
 724         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
 725
 726
 727       </div>
 728     </div>
 729     <div class="padding"></div>
 730
 731     <div class="entry">
 732       <div class="title">
 733         <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>
 734       </div>
 735       <div class="date">
 736          2nd February 2013
 737       </div>
 738       <div class="body">
 739         <p>My
 740 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/How_to_backport_bitcoin_qt_version_0_7_2_2_to_Debian_Squeeze.html">last
 741 bitcoin related blog post</a> mentioned that the new
 742 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/bitcoin">bitcoin package</a> for
 743 Debian was waiting in NEW.  It was accepted by the Debian ftp-masters
 744 2013-01-19, and have been available in unstable since then.  It was
 745 automatically copied to Ubuntu, and is available in their Raring
 746 version too.</p>
 747
 748 <p>But there is a strange problem with the build that block this new
 749 version from being available on the i386 and kfreebsd-i386
 750 architectures.  For some strange reason, the autobuilders in Debian
 751 for these architectures fail to run the test suite on these
 752 architectures (<a href="http://bugs.debian.org/672524">BTS #672524</a>).
 753 We are so far unable to reproduce it when building it manually, and
 754 no-one have been able to propose a fix.  If you got an idea what is
 755 failing, please let us know via the BTS.</p>
 756
 757 <p>One feature that is annoying me with of the bitcoin client, because
 758 I often run low on disk space, is the fact that the client will exit
 759 if it run short on space (<a href="http://bugs.debian.org/696715">BTS
 760 #696715</a>).  So make sure you have enough disk space when you run
 761 it. :)</p>
 762
 763 <p>As usual, if you use bitcoin and want to show your support of my
 764 activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address
 765 <b><a href="bitcoin:15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b&label=PetterReinholdtsenBlog">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</a></b>.</p>
 766
 767       </div>
 768       <div class="tags">
 769
 770
 771         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>.
 772
 773
 774       </div>
 775     </div>
 776     <div class="padding"></div>
 777
 778     <div class="entry">
 779       <div class="title">
 780         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Welcome_to_the_world__Isenkram_.html">Welcome to the world, Isenkram!</a>
 781       </div>
 782       <div class="date">
 783         22nd January 2013
 784       </div>
 785       <div class="body">
 786         <p>Yesterday, I
 787 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/First_prototype_ready_making_hardware_easier_to_use_in_Debian.html">asked
 788 for testers</a> for my prototype for making Debian better at handling
 789 pluggable hardware devices, which I
 790 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Lets_make_hardware_dongles_easier_to_use_in_Debian.html">set
 791 out to create</a> earlier this month.  Several valuable testers showed
 792 up, and caused me to really want to to open up the development to more
 793 people.  But before I did this, I want to come up with a sensible name
 794 for this project.  Today I finally decided on a new name, and I have
 795 renamed the project from hw-support-handler to this new name.  In the
 796 process, I moved the source to git and made it available as a
 797 <a href="http://anonscm.debian.org/gitweb/?p=collab-maint/isenkram.git">collab-maint</a>
 798 repository in Debian.  The new name?  It is <strong>Isenkram</strong>.
 799 To fetch and build the latest version of the source, use</p>
 800
 801 <pre>
 802 git clone http://anonscm.debian.org/git/collab-maint/isenkram.git
 803 cd isenkram && git-buildpackage -us -uc
 804 </pre>
 805
 806 <p>I have not yet adjusted all files to use the new name yet.  If you
 807 want to hack on the source or improve the package, please go ahead.
 808 But please talk to me first on IRC or via email before you do major
 809 changes, to make sure we do not step on each others toes. :)</p>
 810
 811 <p>If you wonder what 'isenkram' is, it is a Norwegian word for iron
 812 stuff, typically meaning tools, nails, screws, etc.  Typical hardware
 813 stuff, in other words.  I've been told it is the Norwegian variant of
 814 the German word eisenkram, for those that are familiar with that
 815 word.</p>
 816
 817 <p><strong>Update 2013-01-26</strong>: Added -us -us to build
 818 instructions, to avoid confusing people with an error from the signing
 819 process.</p>
 820
 821 <p><strong>Update 2013-01-27</strong>: Switch to HTTP URL for the git
 822 clone argument to avoid the need for authentication.</p>
 823
 824       </div>
 825       <div class="tags">
 826
 827
 828         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>.
 829
 830
 831       </div>
 832     </div>
 833     <div class="padding"></div>
 834
 835     <div class="entry">
 836       <div class="title">
 837         <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>
 838       </div>
 839       <div class="date">
 840         21st January 2013
 841       </div>
 842       <div class="body">
 843         <p>Early this month I set out to try to
 844 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Lets_make_hardware_dongles_easier_to_use_in_Debian.html">improve
 845 the Debian support for pluggable hardware devices</a>.  Now my
 846 prototype is working, and it is ready for a larger audience.  To test
 847 it, fetch the
 848 <a href="http://anonscm.debian.org/viewvc/debian-edu/trunk/src/hw-support-handler/">source
 849 from the Debian Edu subversion repository</a>, build and install the
 850 package.  You might have to log out and in again activate the
 851 autostart script.</p>
 852
 853 <p>The design is simple:</p>
 854
 855 <ul>
 856
 857 <li>Add desktop entry in /usr/share/autostart/ causing a program
 858 hw-support-handlerd to start when the user log in.</li>
 859
 860 <li>This program listen for kernel events about new hardware (directly
 861 from the kernel like udev does), not using HAL dbus events as I
 862 initially did.</li>
 863
 864 <li>When new hardware is inserted, look up the hardware modalias in
 865 the APT database, a database
 866 <a href="http://anonscm.debian.org/viewvc/debian-edu/trunk/src/hw-support-handler/modaliases?view=markup">available
 867 via HTTP</a> and a database available as part of the package.</li>
 868
 869 <li>If a package is mapped to the hardware in question, the package
 870 isn't installed yet and this is the first time the hardware was
 871 plugged in, show a desktop notification suggesting to install the
 872 package or packages.</li>
 873
 874 <li>If the user click on the 'install package now' button, ask
 875 aptdaemon via the PackageKit API to install the requrired package.</li>
 876
 877 <li>aptdaemon ask for root password or sudo password, and install the
 878 package while showing progress information in a window.</li>
 879
 880 </ul>
 881
 882 <p>I still need to come up with a better name for the system.  Here
 883 are some screen shots showing the prototype in action.  First the
 884 notification, then the password request, and finally the request to
 885 approve all the dependencies.  Sorry for the Norwegian Bokmål GUI.</p>
 886
 887 <p><img src="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-01-21-hw-support-1-notification.png">
 888 <br><img src="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-01-21-hw-support-2-password.png">
 889 <br><img src="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-01-21-hw-support-3-dependencies.png">
 890 <br><img src="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-01-21-hw-support-4-installing.png">
 891 <br><img src="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-01-21-hw-support-5-installing-details.png" width="70%"></p>
 892
 893 <p>The prototype still need to be improved with longer timeouts, but
 894 is already useful.  The database of hardware to package mappings also
 895 need more work.  It is currently compatible with the Ubuntu way of
 896 storing such information in the package control file, but could be
 897 changed to use other formats instead or in addition to the current
 898 method.  I've dropped the use of discover for this mapping, as the
 899 modalias approach is more flexible and easier to use on Linux as long
 900 as the Linux kernel expose its modalias strings directly.</p>
 901
 902 <p><strong>Update 2013-01-21 16:50</strong>: Due to popular demand,
 903 here is the command required to check out and build the source: Use
 904 '<tt>svn checkout
 905 svn://svn.debian.org/debian-edu/trunk/src/hw-support-handler/; cd
 906 hw-support-handler; debuild</tt>'.  If you lack debuild, install the
 907 devscripts package.</p>
 908
 909 <p><strong>Update 2013-01-23 12:00</strong>: The project is now
 910 renamed to Isenkram and the source moved from the Debian Edu
 911 subversion repository to a Debian collab-maint git repository.  See
 912 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Welcome_to_the_world__Isenkram_.html">build
 913 instructions</a> for details.</p>
 914
 915       </div>
 916       <div class="tags">
 917
 918
 919         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>.
 920
 921
 922       </div>
 923     </div>
 924     <div class="padding"></div>
 925
 926     <div class="entry">
 927       <div class="title">
 928         <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>
 929       </div>
 930       <div class="date">
 931         19th January 2013
 932       </div>
 933       <div class="body">
 934         <p>This Christmas my trusty old laptop died.  It died quietly and
 935 suddenly in bed.  With a quiet whimper, it went completely quiet and
 936 black.  The power button was no longer able to turn it on.  It was a
 937 IBM Thinkpad X41, and the best laptop I ever had.  Better than both
 938 Thinkpads X30, X31, X40, X60, X61 and X61S.  Far better than the
 939 Compaq I had before that.  Now I need to find a replacement.  To keep
 940 going during Christmas, I moved the one year old SSD disk to my old
 941 X40 where it fitted (only one I had left that could use it), but it is
 942 not a durable solution.
 943
 944 <p>My laptop needs are fairly modest.  This is my wishlist from when I
 945 got a new one more than 10 years ago.  It still holds true.:)</p>
 946
 947 <ul>
 948
 949 <li>Lightweight (around 1 kg) and small volume (preferably smaller
 950   than A4).</li>
 951 <li>Robust, it will be in my backpack every day.</li>
 952 <li>Three button mouse and a mouse pin instead of touch pad.</li>
 953 <li>Long battery life time.  Preferable a week.</li>
 954 <li>Internal WIFI network card.</li>
 955 <li>Internal Twisted Pair network card.</li>
 956 <li>Some USB slots (2-3 is plenty)</li>
 957 <li>Good keyboard - similar to the Thinkpad.</li>
 958 <li>Video resolution at least 1024x768, with size around 12" (A4 paper
 959 size).</li>
 960 <li>Hardware supported by Debian Stable, ie the default kernel and
 961   X.org packages.</li>
 962 <li>Quiet, preferably fan free (or at least not using the fan most of
 963   the time).
 964
 965 </ul>
 966
 967 <p>You will notice that there are no RAM and CPU requirements in the
 968 list.  The reason is simply that the specifications on laptops the
 969 last 10-15 years have been sufficient for my needs, and I have to look
 970 at other features to choose my laptop.  But are there still made as
 971 robust laptops as my X41?  The Thinkpad X60/X61 proved to be less
 972 robust, and Thinkpads seem to be heading in the wrong direction since
 973 Lenovo took over.  But I've been told that X220 and X1 Carbon might
 974 still be useful.</p>
 975
 976 <p>Perhaps I should rethink my needs, and look for a pad with an
 977 external keyboard?  I'll have to check the
 978 <a href="http://www.linux-laptop.net/">Linux Laptops site</a> for
 979 well-supported laptops, or perhaps just buy one preinstalled from one
 980 of the vendors listed on the <a href="http://linuxpreloaded.com/">Linux
 981 Pre-loaded site</a>.</p>
 982
 983       </div>
 984       <div class="tags">
 985
 986
 987         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>.
 988
 989
 990       </div>
 991     </div>
 992     <div class="padding"></div>
 993
 994     <div class="entry">
 995       <div class="title">
 996         <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>
 997       </div>
 998       <div class="date">
 999         18th January 2013
1000       </div>
1001       <div class="body">
1002         <p>Some times I try to figure out which Iceweasel browser plugin to
1003 install to get support for a given MIME type.  Thanks to
1004 <a href="https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MozillaTeam/Plugins">specifications
1005 done by Ubuntu</a> and Mozilla, it is possible to do this in Debian.
1006 Unfortunately, not very many packages provide the needed meta
1007 information, Anyway, here is a small script to look up all browser
1008 plugin packages announcing ther MIME support using this specification:</p>
1009
1010 <pre>
1011 #!/usr/bin/python
1012 import sys
1013 import apt
1014 def pkgs_handling_mimetype(mimetype):
1015     cache = apt.Cache()
1016     cache.open(None)
1017     thepkgs = []
1018     for pkg in cache:
1019         version = pkg.candidate
1020         if version is None:
1021             version = pkg.installed
1022         if version is None:
1023             continue
1024         record = version.record
1025         if not record.has_key('Npp-MimeType'):
1026             continue
1027         mime_types = record['Npp-MimeType'].split(',')
1028         for t in mime_types:
1029             t = t.rstrip().strip()
1030             if t == mimetype:
1031                 thepkgs.append(pkg.name)
1032     return thepkgs
1033 mimetype = "audio/ogg"
1034 if 1 < len(sys.argv):
1035     mimetype = sys.argv[1]
1036 print "Browser plugin packages supporting %s:" % mimetype
1037 for pkg in pkgs_handling_mimetype(mimetype):
1038     print "  %s" %pkg
1039 </pre>
1040
1041 <p>It can be used like this to look up a given MIME type:</p>
1042
1043 <pre>
1044 % ./apt-find-browserplug-for-mimetype
1045 Browser plugin packages supporting audio/ogg:
1046   gecko-mediaplayer
1047 % ./apt-find-browserplug-for-mimetype application/x-shockwave-flash
1048 Browser plugin packages supporting application/x-shockwave-flash:
1049   browser-plugin-gnash
1050 %
1051 </pre>
1052
1053 <p>In Ubuntu this mechanism is combined with support in the browser
1054 itself to query for plugins and propose to install the needed
1055 packages.  It would be great if Debian supported such feature too.  Is
1056 anyone working on adding it?</p>
1057
1058 <p><strong>Update 2013-01-18 14:20</strong>: The Debian BTS
1059 request for icweasel support for this feature is
1060 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/484010">#484010</a> from 2008 (and
1061 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/698426">#698426</a> from today).  Lack
1062 of manpower and wish for a different design is the reason thus feature
1063 is not yet in iceweasel from Debian.</p>
1064
1065       </div>
1066       <div class="tags">
1067
1068
1069         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>.
1070
1071
1072       </div>
1073     </div>
1074     <div class="padding"></div>
1075
1076     <div class="entry">
1077       <div class="title">
1078         <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>
1079       </div>
1080       <div class="date">
1081         16th January 2013
1082       </div>
1083       <div class="body">
1084         <p>The <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/AppStreamDebianProposal">DEP-11
1085 proposal to add AppStream information to the Debian archive</a>, is a
1086 proposal to make it possible for a Desktop application to propose to
1087 the user some package to install to gain support for a given MIME
1088 type, font, library etc. that is currently missing.  With such
1089 mechanism in place, it would be possible for the desktop to
1090 automatically propose and install leocad if some LDraw file is
1091 downloaded by the browser.</p>
1092
1093 <p>To get some idea about the current content of the archive, I decided
1094 to write a simple program to extract all .desktop files from the
1095 Debian archive and look up the claimed MIME support there.  The result
1096 can be found on the
1097 <a href="http://ftp.skolelinux.org/pub/AppStreamTest">Skolelinux FTP
1098 site</a>.  Using the collected information, it become possible to
1099 answer the question in the title.  Here are the 20 most supported MIME
1100 types in Debian stable (Squeeze), testing (Wheezy) and unstable (Sid).
1101 The complete list is available from the link above.</p>
1102
1103 <p><strong>Debian Stable:</strong></p>
1104
1105 <pre>
1106   count MIME type
1107   ----- -----------------------
1108      32 text/plain
1109      30 audio/mpeg
1110      29 image/png
1111      28 image/jpeg
1112      27 application/ogg
1113      26 audio/x-mp3
1114      25 image/tiff
1115      25 image/gif
1116      22 image/bmp
1117      22 audio/x-wav
1118      20 audio/x-flac
1119      19 audio/x-mpegurl
1120      18 video/x-ms-asf
1121      18 audio/x-musepack
1122      18 audio/x-mpeg
1123      18 application/x-ogg
1124      17 video/mpeg
1125      17 audio/x-scpls
1126      17 audio/ogg
1127      16 video/x-ms-wmv
1128 </pre>
1129
1130 <p><strong>Debian Testing:</strong></p>
1131
1132 <pre>
1133   count MIME type
1134   ----- -----------------------
1135      33 text/plain
1136      32 image/png
1137      32 image/jpeg
1138      29 audio/mpeg
1139      27 image/gif
1140      26 image/tiff
1141      26 application/ogg
1142      25 audio/x-mp3
1143      22 image/bmp
1144      21 audio/x-wav
1145      19 audio/x-mpegurl
1146      19 audio/x-mpeg
1147      18 video/mpeg
1148      18 audio/x-scpls
1149      18 audio/x-flac
1150      18 application/x-ogg
1151      17 video/x-ms-asf
1152      17 text/html
1153      17 audio/x-musepack
1154      16 image/x-xbitmap
1155 </pre>
1156
1157 <p><strong>Debian Unstable:</strong></p>
1158
1159 <pre>
1160   count MIME type
1161   ----- -----------------------
1162      31 text/plain
1163      31 image/png
1164      31 image/jpeg
1165      29 audio/mpeg
1166      28 application/ogg
1167      27 image/gif
1168      26 image/tiff
1169      26 audio/x-mp3
1170      23 audio/x-wav
1171      22 image/bmp
1172      21 audio/x-flac
1173      20 audio/x-mpegurl
1174      19 audio/x-mpeg
1175      18 video/x-ms-asf
1176      18 video/mpeg
1177      18 audio/x-scpls
1178      18 application/x-ogg
1179      17 audio/x-musepack
1180      16 video/x-ms-wmv
1181      16 video/x-msvideo
1182 </pre>
1183
1184 <p>I am told that PackageKit can provide an API to access the kind of
1185 information mentioned in DEP-11.  I have not yet had time to look at
1186 it, but hope the PackageKit people in Debian are on top of these
1187 issues.</p>
1188
1189 <p><strong>Update 2013-01-16 13:35</strong>: Updated numbers after
1190 discovering a typo in my script.</p>
1191
1192       </div>
1193       <div class="tags">
1194
1195
1196         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>.
1197
1198
1199       </div>
1200     </div>
1201     <div class="padding"></div>
1202
1203     <div class="entry">
1204       <div class="title">
1205         <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>
1206       </div>
1207       <div class="date">
1208         15th January 2013
1209       </div>
1210       <div class="body">
1211         <p>Yesterday, I wrote about the
1212 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Modalias_strings___a_practical_way_to_map__stuff__to_hardware.html">modalias
1213 values provided by the Linux kernel</a> following my hope for
1214 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Lets_make_hardware_dongles_easier_to_use_in_Debian.html">better
1215 dongle support in Debian</a>.  Using this knowledge, I have tested how
1216 modalias values attached to package names can be used to map packages
1217 to hardware.  This allow the system to look up and suggest relevant
1218 packages when I plug in some new hardware into my machine, and replace
1219 discover and discover-data as the database used to map hardware to
1220 packages.</p>
1221
1222 <p>I create a modaliases file with entries like the following,
1223 containing package name, kernel module name (if relevant, otherwise
1224 the package name) and globs matching the relevant hardware
1225 modalias.</p>
1226
1227 <p><blockquote>
1228 Package: package-name
1229 <br>Modaliases: module(modaliasglob, modaliasglob, modaliasglob)</p>
1230 </blockquote></p>
1231
1232 <p>It is fairly trivial to write code to find the relevant packages
1233 for a given modalias value using this file.</p>
1234
1235 <p>An entry like this would suggest the video and picture application
1236 cheese for many USB web cameras (interface bus class 0E01):</p>
1237
1238 <p><blockquote>
1239 Package: cheese
1240 <br>Modaliases: cheese(usb:v*p*d*dc*dsc*dp*ic0Eisc01ip*)</p>
1241 </blockquote></p>
1242
1243 <p>An entry like this would suggest the pcmciautils package when a
1244 CardBus bridge (bus class 0607) PCI device is present:</p>
1245
1246 <p><blockquote>
1247 Package: pcmciautils
1248 <br>Modaliases: pcmciautils(pci:v*d*sv*sd*bc06sc07i*)
1249 </blockquote></p>
1250
1251 <p>An entry like this would suggest the package colorhug-client when
1252 plugging in a ColorHug with USB IDs 04D8:F8DA:</p>
1253
1254 <p><blockquote>
1255 Package: colorhug-client
1256 <br>Modaliases: colorhug-client(usb:v04D8pF8DAd*)</p>
1257 </blockquote></p>
1258
1259 <p>I believe the format is compatible with the format of the Packages
1260 file in the Debian archive.  Ubuntu already uses their Packages file
1261 to store their mappings from packages to hardware.</p>
1262
1263 <p>By adding a XB-Modaliases: header in debian/control, any .deb can
1264 announce the hardware it support in a way my prototype understand.
1265 This allow those publishing packages in an APT source outside the
1266 Debian archive as well as those backporting packages to make sure the
1267 hardware mapping are included in the package meta information.  I've
1268 tested such header in the pymissile package, and its modalias mapping
1269 is working as it should with my prototype.  It even made it to Ubuntu
1270 Raring.</p>
1271
1272 <p>To test if it was possible to look up supported hardware using only
1273 the shell tools available in the Debian installer, I wrote a shell
1274 implementation of the lookup code.  The idea is to create files for
1275 each modalias and let the shell do the matching.  Please check out and
1276 try the
1277 <a href="http://anonscm.debian.org/viewvc/debian-edu/trunk/src/hw-support-handler/hw-support-lookup?view=co">hw-support-lookup</a>
1278 shell script.  It run without any extra dependencies and fetch the
1279 hardware mappings from the Debian archive and the subversion
1280 repository where I currently work on my prototype.</p>
1281
1282 <p>When I use it on a machine with a yubikey inserted, it suggest to
1283 install yubikey-personalization:</p>
1284
1285 <p><blockquote>
1286 % ./hw-support-lookup
1287 <br>yubikey-personalization
1288 <br>%
1289 </blockquote></p>
1290
1291 <p>When I run it on my Thinkpad X40 with a PCMCIA/CardBus slot, it
1292 propose to install the pcmciautils package:</p>
1293
1294 <p><blockquote>
1295 % ./hw-support-lookup
1296 <br>pcmciautils
1297 <br>%
1298 </blockquote></p>
1299
1300 <p>If you know of any hardware-package mapping that should be added to
1301 <a href="http://anonscm.debian.org/viewvc/debian-edu/trunk/src/hw-support-handler/modaliases?view=co">my
1302 database</a>, please tell me about it.</p>
1303
1304 <p>It could be possible to generate several of the mappings between
1305 packages and hardware.  One source would be to look at packages with
1306 kernel modules, ie packages with *.ko files in /lib/modules/, and
1307 extract their modalias information.  Another would be to look at
1308 packages with udev rules, ie packages with files in
1309 /lib/udev/rules.d/, and extract their vendor/model information to
1310 generate a modalias matching rule.  I have not tested any of these to
1311 see if it work.</p>
1312
1313 <p>If you want to help implementing a system to let us propose what
1314 packages to install when new hardware is plugged into a Debian
1315 machine, please send me an email or talk to me on
1316 <a href="irc://irc.debian.org/%23debian-devel">#debian-devel</a>.</p>
1317
1318       </div>
1319       <div class="tags">
1320
1321
1322         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>.
1323
1324
1325       </div>
1326     </div>
1327     <div class="padding"></div>
1328
1329     <div class="entry">
1330       <div class="title">
1331         <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>
1332       </div>
1333       <div class="date">
1334         14th January 2013
1335       </div>
1336       <div class="body">
1337         <p>While looking into how to look up Debian packages based on hardware
1338 information, to find the packages that support a given piece of
1339 hardware, I refreshed my memory regarding modalias values, and decided
1340 to document the details.  Here are my findings so far, also available
1341 in
1342 <a href="http://anonscm.debian.org/viewvc/debian-edu/trunk/src/hw-support-handler/">the
1343 Debian Edu subversion repository</a>:
1344
1345 <p><strong>Modalias decoded</strong></p>
1346
1347 <p>This document try to explain what the different types of modalias
1348 values stands for.  It is in part based on information from
1349 &lt;URL: <a href="https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Modalias">https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Modalias</a> &gt;,
1350 &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;,
1351 &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
1352 &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;.
1353
1354 <p>The modalias entries for a given Linux machine can be found using
1355 this shell script:</p>
1356
1357 <pre>
1358 find /sys -name modalias -print0 | xargs -0 cat | sort -u
1359 </pre>
1360
1361 <p>The supported modalias globs for a given kernel module can be found
1362 using modinfo:</p>
1363
1364 <pre>
1365 % /sbin/modinfo psmouse | grep alias:
1366 alias:          serio:ty05pr*id*ex*
1367 alias:          serio:ty01pr*id*ex*
1368 %
1369 </pre>
1370
1371 <p><strong>PCI subtype</strong></p>
1372
1373 <p>A typical PCI entry can look like this.  This is an Intel Host
1374 Bridge memory controller:</p>
1375
1376 <p><blockquote>
1377 pci:v00008086d00002770sv00001028sd000001ADbc06sc00i00
1378 </blockquote></p>
1379
1380 <p>This represent these values:</p>
1381
1382 <pre>
1383  v   00008086  (vendor)
1384  d   00002770  (device)
1385  sv  00001028  (subvendor)
1386  sd  000001AD  (subdevice)
1387  bc  06        (bus class)
1388  sc  00        (bus subclass)
1389  i   00        (interface)
1390 </pre>
1391
1392 <p>The vendor/device values are the same values outputted from 'lspci
1393 -n' as 8086:2770.  The bus class/subclass is also shown by lspci as
1394 0600.  The 0600 class is a host bridge.  Other useful bus values are
1395 0300 (VGA compatible card) and 0200 (Ethernet controller).</p>
1396
1397 <p>Not sure how to figure out the interface value, nor what it
1398 means.</p>
1399
1400 <p><strong>USB subtype</strong></p>
1401
1402 <p>Some typical USB entries can look like this.  This is an internal
1403 USB hub in a laptop:</p>
1404
1405 <p><blockquote>
1406 usb:v1D6Bp0001d0206dc09dsc00dp00ic09isc00ip00
1407 </blockquote></p>
1408
1409 <p>Here is the values included in this alias:</p>
1410
1411 <pre>
1412  v    1D6B  (device vendor)
1413  p    0001  (device product)
1414  d    0206  (bcddevice)
1415  dc     09  (device class)
1416  dsc    00  (device subclass)
1417  dp     00  (device protocol)
1418  ic     09  (interface class)
1419  isc    00  (interface subclass)
1420  ip     00  (interface protocol)
1421 </pre>
1422
1423 <p>The 0900 device class/subclass means hub.  Some times the relevant
1424 class is in the interface class section.  For a simple USB web camera,
1425 these alias entries show up:</p>
1426
1427 <p><blockquote>
1428 usb:v0AC8p3420d5000dcEFdsc02dp01ic01isc01ip00
1429 <br>usb:v0AC8p3420d5000dcEFdsc02dp01ic01isc02ip00
1430 <br>usb:v0AC8p3420d5000dcEFdsc02dp01ic0Eisc01ip00
1431 <br>usb:v0AC8p3420d5000dcEFdsc02dp01ic0Eisc02ip00
1432 </blockquote></p>
1433
1434 <p>Interface class 0E01 is video control, 0E02 is video streaming (aka
1435 camera), 0101 is audio control device and 0102 is audio streaming (aka
1436 microphone).  Thus this is a camera with microphone included.</p>
1437
1438 <p><strong>ACPI subtype</strong></p>
1439
1440 <p>The ACPI type is used for several non-PCI/USB stuff.  This is an IR
1441 receiver in a Thinkpad X40:</p>
1442
1443 <p><blockquote>
1444 acpi:IBM0071:PNP0511:
1445 </blockquote></p>
1446
1447 <p>The values between the colons are IDs.</p>
1448
1449 <p><strong>DMI subtype</strong></p>
1450
1451 <p>The DMI table contain lots of information about the computer case
1452 and model.  This is an entry for a IBM Thinkpad X40, fetched from
1453 /sys/devices/virtual/dmi/id/modalias:</p>
1454
1455 <p><blockquote>
1456 dmi:bvnIBM:bvr1UETB6WW(1.66):bd06/15/2005:svnIBM:pn2371H4G:pvrThinkPadX40:rvnIBM:rn2371H4G:rvrNotAvailable:cvnIBM:ct10:cvrNotAvailable:
1457 </blockquote></p>
1458
1459 <p>The values present are</p>
1460
1461 <pre>
1462  bvn  IBM            (BIOS vendor)
1463  bvr  1UETB6WW(1.66) (BIOS version)
1464  bd   06/15/2005     (BIOS date)
1465  svn  IBM            (system vendor)
1466  pn   2371H4G        (product name)
1467  pvr  ThinkPadX40    (product version)
1468  rvn  IBM            (board vendor)
1469  rn   2371H4G        (board name)
1470  rvr  NotAvailable   (board version)
1471  cvn  IBM            (chassis vendor)
1472  ct   10             (chassis type)
1473  cvr  NotAvailable   (chassis version)
1474 </pre>
1475
1476 <p>The chassis type 10 is Notebook.  Other interesting values can be
1477 found in the dmidecode source:</p>
1478
1479 <pre>
1480   3 Desktop
1481   4 Low Profile Desktop
1482   5 Pizza Box
1483   6 Mini Tower
1484   7 Tower
1485   8 Portable
1486   9 Laptop
1487  10 Notebook
1488  11 Hand Held
1489  12 Docking Station
1490  13 All In One
1491  14 Sub Notebook
1492  15 Space-saving
1493  16 Lunch Box
1494  17 Main Server Chassis
1495  18 Expansion Chassis
1496  19 Sub Chassis
1497  20 Bus Expansion Chassis
1498  21 Peripheral Chassis
1499  22 RAID Chassis
1500  23 Rack Mount Chassis
1501  24 Sealed-case PC
1502  25 Multi-system
1503  26 CompactPCI
1504  27 AdvancedTCA
1505  28 Blade
1506  29 Blade Enclosing
1507 </pre>
1508
1509 <p>The chassis type values are not always accurately set in the DMI
1510 table.  For example my home server is a tower, but the DMI modalias
1511 claim it is a desktop.</p>
1512
1513 <p><strong>SerIO subtype</strong></p>
1514
1515 <p>This type is used for PS/2 mouse plugs.  One example is from my
1516 test machine:</p>
1517
1518 <p><blockquote>
1519 serio:ty01pr00id00ex00
1520 </blockquote></p>
1521
1522 <p>The values present are</p>
1523
1524 <pre>
1525   ty  01  (type)
1526   pr  00  (prototype)
1527   id  00  (id)
1528   ex  00  (extra)
1529 </pre>
1530
1531 <p>This type is supported by the psmouse driver.  I am not sure what
1532 the valid values are.</p>
1533
1534 <p><strong>Other subtypes</strong></p>
1535
1536 <p>There are heaps of other modalias subtypes according to
1537 file2alias.c.  There is the rest of the list from that source: amba,
1538 ap, bcma, ccw, css, eisa, hid, i2c, ieee1394, input, ipack, isapnp,
1539 mdio, of, parisc, pcmcia, platform, scsi, sdio, spi, ssb, vio, virtio,
1540 vmbus, x86cpu and zorro.  I did not spend time documenting all of
1541 these, as they do not seem relevant for my intended use with mapping
1542 hardware to packages when new stuff is inserted during run time.</p>
1543
1544 <p><strong>Looking up kernel modules using modalias values</strong></p>
1545
1546 <p>To check which kernel modules provide support for a given modalias,
1547 one can use the following shell script:</p>
1548
1549 <pre>
1550   for id in $(find /sys -name modalias -print0 | xargs -0 cat | sort -u); do \
1551     echo "$id" ; \
1552     /sbin/modprobe --show-depends "$id"|sed 's/^/  /' ; \
1553   done
1554 </pre>
1555
1556 <p>The output can look like this (only the first few entries as the
1557 list is very long on my test machine):</p>
1558
1559 <pre>
1560   acpi:ACPI0003:
1561     insmod /lib/modules/2.6.32-5-686/kernel/drivers/acpi/ac.ko
1562   acpi:device:
1563   FATAL: Module acpi:device: not found.
1564   acpi:IBM0068:
1565     insmod /lib/modules/2.6.32-5-686/kernel/drivers/char/nvram.ko
1566     insmod /lib/modules/2.6.32-5-686/kernel/drivers/leds/led-class.ko
1567     insmod /lib/modules/2.6.32-5-686/kernel/net/rfkill/rfkill.ko
1568     insmod /lib/modules/2.6.32-5-686/kernel/drivers/platform/x86/thinkpad_acpi.ko
1569   acpi:IBM0071:PNP0511:
1570     insmod /lib/modules/2.6.32-5-686/kernel/lib/crc-ccitt.ko
1571     insmod /lib/modules/2.6.32-5-686/kernel/net/irda/irda.ko
1572     insmod /lib/modules/2.6.32-5-686/kernel/drivers/net/irda/nsc-ircc.ko
1573   [...]
1574 </pre>
1575
1576 <p>If you want to help implementing a system to let us propose what
1577 packages to install when new hardware is plugged into a Debian
1578 machine, please send me an email or talk to me on
1579 <a href="irc://irc.debian.org/%23debian-devel">#debian-devel</a>.</p>
1580
1581 <p><strong>Update 2013-01-15:</strong> Rewrite "cat $(find ...)" to
1582 "find ... -print0 | xargs -0 cat" to make sure it handle directories
1583 in /sys/ with space in them.</p>
1584
1585       </div>
1586       <div class="tags">
1587
1588
1589         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>.
1590
1591
1592       </div>
1593     </div>
1594     <div class="padding"></div>
1595
1596     <div class="entry">
1597       <div class="title">
1598         <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>
1599       </div>
1600       <div class="date">
1601         10th January 2013
1602       </div>
1603       <div class="body">
1604         <p>As part of my investigation on how to improve the support in Debian
1605 for hardware dongles, I dug up my old Mark and Spencer USB Rocket
1606 Launcher and updated the Debian package
1607 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/pymissile">pymissile</a> to make
1608 sure udev will fix the device permissions when it is plugged in.  I
1609 also added a "Modaliases" header to test it in the Debian archive and
1610 hopefully make the package be proposed by jockey in Ubuntu when a user
1611 plug in his rocket launcher.  In the process I moved the source to a
1612 git repository under collab-maint, to make it easier for any DD to
1613 contribute.  <a href="http://code.google.com/p/pymissile/">Upstream</a>
1614 is not very active, but the software still work for me even after five
1615 years of relative silence.  The new git repository is not listed in
1616 the uploaded package yet, because I want to test the other changes a
1617 bit more before I upload the new version.  If you want to check out
1618 the new version with a .desktop file included, visit the
1619 <a href="http://anonscm.debian.org/gitweb/?p=collab-maint/pymissile.git">gitweb
1620 view</a> or use "<tt>git clone
1621 git://anonscm.debian.org/collab-maint/pymissile.git</tt>".</p>
1622
1623       </div>
1624       <div class="tags">
1625
1626
1627         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>.
1628
1629
1630       </div>
1631     </div>
1632     <div class="padding"></div>
1633
1634     <div class="entry">
1635       <div class="title">
1636         <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>
1637       </div>
1638       <div class="date">
1639          9th January 2013
1640       </div>
1641       <div class="body">
1642         <p>One thing that annoys me with Debian and Linux distributions in
1643 general, is that there is a great package management system with the
1644 ability to automatically install software packages by downloading them
1645 from the distribution mirrors, but no way to get it to automatically
1646 install the packages I need to use the hardware I plug into my
1647 machine.  Even if the package to use it is easily available from the
1648 Linux distribution.  When I plug in a LEGO Mindstorms NXT, it could
1649 suggest to automatically install the python-nxt, nbc and t2n packages
1650 I need to talk to it.  When I plug in a Yubikey, it could propose the
1651 yubikey-personalization package.  The information required to do this
1652 is available, but no-one have pulled all the pieces together.</p>
1653
1654 <p>Some years ago, I proposed to
1655 <a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2010/05/msg01206.html">use
1656 the discover subsystem to implement this</a>.  The idea is fairly
1657 simple:
1658
1659 <ul>
1660
1661 <li>Add a desktop entry in /usr/share/autostart/ pointing to a program
1662   starting when a user log in.</li>
1663
1664 <li>Set this program up to listen for kernel events emitted when new
1665   hardware is inserted into the computer.</li>
1666
1667 <li>When new hardware is inserted, look up the hardware ID in a
1668   database mapping to packages, and take note of any non-installed
1669   packages.</li>
1670
1671 <li>Show a message to the user proposing to install the discovered
1672   package, and make it easy to install it.</li>
1673
1674 </ul>
1675
1676 <p>I am not sure what the best way to implement this is, but my
1677 initial idea was to use dbus events to discover new hardware, the
1678 discover database to find packages and
1679 <a href="http://www.packagekit.org/">PackageKit</a> to install
1680 packages.</p>
1681
1682 <p>Yesterday, I found time to try to implement this idea, and the
1683 draft package is now checked into
1684 <a href="http://anonscm.debian.org/viewvc/debian-edu/trunk/src/hw-support-handler/">the
1685 Debian Edu subversion repository</a>.  In the process, I updated the
1686 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/d/discover-data.html">discover-data</a>
1687 package to map the USB ids of LEGO Mindstorms and Yubikey devices to
1688 the relevant packages in Debian, and uploaded a new version
1689 2.2013.01.09 to unstable.  I also discovered that the current
1690 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/d/discover.html">discover</a>
1691 package in Debian no longer discovered any USB devices, because
1692 /proc/bus/usb/devices is no longer present.  I ported it to use
1693 libusb as a fall back option to get it working.  The fixed package
1694 version 2.1.2-6 is now in experimental (didn't upload it to unstable
1695 because of the freeze).</p>
1696
1697 <p>With this prototype in place, I can insert my Yubikey, and get this
1698 desktop notification to show up (only once, the first time it is
1699 inserted):</p>
1700
1701 <p align="center"><img src="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-01-09-hw-autoinstall.png"></p>
1702
1703 <p>For this prototype to be really useful, some way to automatically
1704 install the proposed packages by pressing the "Please install
1705 program(s)" button should to be implemented.</p>
1706
1707 <p>If this idea seem useful to you, and you want to help make it
1708 happen, please help me update the discover-data database with mappings
1709 from hardware to Debian packages.  Check if 'discover-pkginstall -l'
1710 list the package you would like to have installed when a given
1711 hardware device is inserted into your computer, and report bugs using
1712 reportbug if it isn't.  Or, if you know of a better way to provide
1713 such mapping, please let me know.</p>
1714
1715 <p>This prototype need more work, and there are several questions that
1716 should be considered before it is ready for production use.  Is dbus
1717 the correct way to detect new hardware?  At the moment I look for HAL
1718 dbus events on the system bus, because that is the events I could see
1719 on my Debian Squeeze KDE desktop.  Are there better events to use?
1720 How should the user be notified?  Is the desktop notification
1721 mechanism the best option, or should the background daemon raise a
1722 popup instead?  How should packages be installed?  When should they
1723 not be installed?</p>
1724
1725 <p>If you want to help getting such feature implemented in Debian,
1726 please send me an email. :)</p>
1727
1728       </div>
1729       <div class="tags">
1730
1731
1732         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>.
1733
1734
1735       </div>
1736     </div>
1737     <div class="padding"></div>
1738
1739     <div class="entry">
1740       <div class="title">
1741         <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>
1742       </div>
1743       <div class="date">
1744          2nd January 2013
1745       </div>
1746       <div class="body">
1747         <p>During Christmas, I have worked a bit on the Debian support for
1748 <a href="http://mindstorms.lego.com/en-us/Default.aspx">LEGO Mindstorm
1749 NXT</a>.  My son and I have played a bit with my NXT set, and I
1750 discovered I had to build all the tools myself because none were
1751 already in Debian Squeeze.  If Debian support for LEGO is something
1752 you care about, please join me on the IRC channel
1753 <a href="irc://irc.debian.org/%23debian-lego">#debian-lego</a> (server
1754 irc.debian.org).  There is a lot that could be done to improve the
1755 Debian support for LEGO designers.  For example both CAD software
1756 and Mindstorm compilers are missing. :)</p>
1757
1758 <p>Update 2012-01-03: A
1759 <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/LegoDesigners">project page</a>
1760 including links to Lego related packages is now available.</p>
1761
1762       </div>
1763       <div class="tags">
1764
1765
1766         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>.
1767
1768
1769       </div>
1770     </div>
1771     <div class="padding"></div>
1772
1773     <div class="entry">
1774       <div class="title">
1775         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/A_Christmas_present_for_Skolelinux___Debian_Edu.html">A Christmas present for Skolelinux / Debian Edu</a>
1776       </div>
1777       <div class="date">
1778         28th December 2012
1779       </div>
1780       <div class="body">
1781         <p>I was happy to discover a few days ago that the
1782 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Skolelinux / Debian Edu</a>
1783 project also this year received a Christmas present from Another
1784 Agency in Trondheim.  NOK 1000,- showed up on our donation account
1785 December 24th.  I want to express our thanks for this very welcome
1786 present.  As the Debian Edu / Skolelinux project is very short on
1787 funding these days, and thus lack the money to do regular developer
1788 gatherings, this donation was most welcome.  One developer gathering
1789 cost around NOK 15&nbsp;000,-, so we need quite a lot more to keep the
1790 development pace we want.  Thus, I hope their example this year is
1791 followed by many others. :)</p>
1792
1793 <p>The public list of donors can be found on
1794 <a href="http://www.linuxiskolen.no/slxdebianlabs/donations.html">the
1795 donation page</a> for the project, which also contain instructions if
1796 you want to donate to the project.</p>
1797
1798       </div>
1799       <div class="tags">
1800
1801
1802         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>.
1803
1804
1805       </div>
1806     </div>
1807     <div class="padding"></div>
1808
1809     <div class="entry">
1810       <div class="title">
1811         <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>
1812       </div>
1813       <div class="date">
1814         25th December 2012
1815       </div>
1816       <div class="body">
1817         <p>Let me start by wishing you all marry Christmas and a happy new
1818 year!  I hope next year will prove to be a good year.</p>
1819
1820 <p><a href="http://www.bitcoin.org/">Bitcoin</a>, the digital
1821 decentralised "currency" that allow people to transfer bitcoins
1822 between each other with minimal overhead, is a very interesting
1823 experiment.  And as I wrote a few days ago, the bitcoin situation in
1824 <a href="http://www.debian.org/">Debian</a> is about to improve a bit.
1825 The <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/bitcoin">new debian source
1826 package</a> (version 0.7.2-2) was uploaded yesterday, and is waiting
1827 in <a href="http://ftp-master.debian.org/new.html">the NEW queue</A>
1828 for one of the ftpmasters to approve the new bitcoin-qt package
1829 name.</p>
1830
1831 <p>And thanks to the great work of Jonas and the rest of the bitcoin
1832 team in Debian, you can easily test the package in Debian Squeeze
1833 using the following steps to get a set of working packages:</p>
1834
1835 <blockquote><pre>
1836 git clone git://git.debian.org/git/collab-maint/bitcoin
1837 cd bitcoin
1838 DEB_MAINTAINER_MODE=1 DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS=noupnp fakeroot debian/rules clean
1839 DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS=noupnp git-buildpackage --git-ignore-new
1840 </pre></blockquote>
1841
1842 <p>You might have to install some build dependencies as well.  The
1843 list of commands should give you two packages, bitcoind and
1844 bitcoin-qt, ready for use in a Squeeze environment.  Note that the
1845 client will download the complete set of bitcoin "blocks", which need
1846 around 5.6 GiB of data on my machine at the moment.  Make sure your
1847 ~/.bitcoin/ directory have lots of spare room if you want to download
1848 all the blocks.  The client will warn if the disk is getting full, so
1849 there is not really a problem if you got too little room, but you will
1850 not be able to get all the features out of the client.</p>
1851
1852 <p>As usual, if you use bitcoin and want to show your support of my
1853 activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address
1854 <b><a href="bitcoin:15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b&label=PetterReinholdtsenBlog">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</a></b>.</p>
1855
1856       </div>
1857       <div class="tags">
1858
1859
1860         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>.
1861
1862
1863       </div>
1864     </div>
1865     <div class="padding"></div>
1866
1867     <div class="entry">
1868       <div class="title">
1869         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/A_word_on_bitcoin_support_in_Debian.html">A word on bitcoin support in Debian</a>
1870       </div>
1871       <div class="date">
1872         21st December 2012
1873       </div>
1874       <div class="body">
1875         <p>It has been a while since I wrote about
1876 <a href="http://www.bitcoin.org/">bitcoin</a>, the decentralised
1877 peer-to-peer based crypto-currency, and the reason is simply that I
1878 have been busy elsewhere.  But two days ago, I started looking at the
1879 state of <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/bitcoin">bitcoin in
1880 Debian</a> again to try to recover my old bitcoin wallet.  The package
1881 is now maintained by a
1882 <a href="https://alioth.debian.org/projects/pkg-bitcoin/">team of
1883 people</a>, and the grunt work had already been done by this team.  We
1884 owe a huge thank you to all these team members. :)
1885 But I was sad to discover that the bitcoin client is missing in
1886 Wheezy.  It is only available in Sid (and an outdated client from
1887 backports).  The client had several RC bugs registered in BTS blocking
1888 it from entering testing.  To try to help the team and improve the
1889 situation, I spent some time providing patches and triaging the bug
1890 reports.  I also had a look at the bitcoin package available from Matt
1891 Corallo in a
1892 <a href="https://launchpad.net/~bitcoin/+archive/bitcoin">PPA for
1893 Ubuntu</a>, and moved the useful pieces from that version into the
1894 Debian package.</p>
1895
1896 <p>After checking with the main package maintainer Jonas Smedegaard on
1897 IRC, I pushed several patches into the collab-maint git repository to
1898 improve the package.  It now contains fixes for the RC issues (not from
1899 me, but fixed by Scott Howard), build rules for a Qt GUI client
1900 package, konqueror support for the bitcoin: URI and bash completion
1901 setup.  As I work on Debian Squeeze, I also created
1902 <a href="http://lists.alioth.debian.org/pipermail/pkg-bitcoin-devel/Week-of-Mon-20121217/000041.html">a
1903 patch to backport</a> the latest version.  Jonas is going to look at
1904 it and try to integrate it into the git repository before uploading a
1905 new version to unstable.
1906
1907 <p>I would very much like bitcoin to succeed, to get rid of the
1908 centralized control currently exercised in the monetary system.  I
1909 find it completely unacceptable that the USA government is collecting
1910 transaction data for almost all international money transfers (most are done in USD and transaction logs shipped to the spooks), and
1911 that the major credit card companies can block legal money
1912 transactions to Wikileaks.  But for bitcoin to succeed, more people
1913 need to use bitcoins, and more people need to accept bitcoins when
1914 they sell products and services.  Improving the bitcoin support in
1915 Debian is a small step in the right direction, but not enough.
1916 Unfortunately the user experience when browsing the web and wanting to
1917 pay with bitcoin is still not very good.  The bitcoin: URI is a step
1918 in the right direction, but need to work in most or every browser in
1919 use.  Also the bitcoin-qt client is too heavy to fire up to do a
1920 quick transaction.  I believe there are other clients available, but
1921 have not tested them.</p>
1922
1923 <p>My
1924 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Now_accepting_bitcoins___anonymous_and_distributed_p2p_crypto_money.html">experiment
1925 with bitcoins</a> showed that at least some of my readers use bitcoin.
1926 I received 20.15 BTC so far on the address I provided in my blog two
1927 years ago, as can be
1928 <a href="http://blockexplorer.com/address/15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b">seen
1929 on the blockexplorer service</a>.  Thank you everyone for your
1930 donation.  The blockexplorer service demonstrates quite well that
1931 bitcoin is not quite anonymous and untracked. :) I wonder if the
1932 number of users have gone up since then.  If you use bitcoin and want
1933 to show your support of my activity, please send Bitcoin donations to
1934 the same address as last time,
1935 <b><a href="bitcoin:15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b&label=PetterReinholdtsenBlog">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</a></b>.</p>
1936
1937       </div>
1938       <div class="tags">
1939
1940
1941         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>.
1942
1943
1944       </div>
1945     </div>
1946     <div class="padding"></div>
1947
1948     <div class="entry">
1949       <div class="title">
1950         <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>
1951       </div>
1952       <div class="date">
1953         18th December 2012
1954       </div>
1955       <div class="body">
1956         <p>A few days ago I came across
1957 <a href="http://joeyh.name/blog/entry/hledger/">a blog post from Joey
1958 Hess</a> describing <a href="http://ledger-cli.org/">ledger</a> and
1959 hledger, a text based system for double-entry accounting.  I found it
1960 interesting, as I am involved with several organizations where
1961 accounting is an issue, and I have not really become too friendly with
1962 the different web based systems we use.  I find it hard to find what I
1963 look for in the menus and even harder try to get sensible data out of
1964 the systems.  Ledger seem different.  The accounting data is kept in
1965 text files that can be stored in a version control system, and there
1966
1967 are at least <a href="https://github.com/ledger/ledger/wiki/Ports">five
1968 different implementations</a> able to read the format.  An example
1969 entry look like this, and is simple enough that it will be trivial to
1970 generate entries based on CVS files fetched from the bank:</p>
1971
1972 <blockquote><pre>
1973 2004-05-27 Book Store
1974       Expenses:Books                 $20.00
1975       Liabilities:Visa
1976 </pre></blockquote>
1977
1978 <p>The concept seemed interesting enough for me to check it out and
1979 look for others using it.  I found blog posts from
1980 <a href="http://blog.spang.cc/posts/hledger_rocks_my_world/">Christine
1981 Spang</a>,
1982 <a href="http://bugsplat.info/2010-05-23-keeping-finances-with-ledger.html">Pete
1983 Keen</a>,
1984 <a href="http://blog.andrewcantino.com/blog/2010/11/06/command-line-accounting-with-ledger-and-reckon/">Andrew
1985 Cantino</a> and
1986 <a href="http://blog.iphoting.com/blog/2012/11/29/command-line-double-entry-accounting/">Ronald
1987 Ip</a> describing how they use it, as well as a post from
1988 <a href="https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups=#!topic/ledger-cli/r0oWjwbQ9Bo">Bradley
1989 M. Kuhn</a> at the Software Freedom Conservancy.  All seemed like good
1990 recommendations fitting my need.</p>
1991
1992 <p>The <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/l/ledger.html">ledger</a>
1993 package is available in Debian Squeeze, while the
1994 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/h/haskell-hledger.html">hledger</a>
1995 package only is available in Debian Sid.  As I use Squeeze, ledger
1996 seemed the best choice to get started.</p>
1997
1998 <p>To get some real data to test on, I wrote a
1999 <a href="http://www.nuug.no/tools/lodo2ledger">web scraper</a> for
2000 <a href="http://www.lodo.no/">LODO</a>, the accounting system used by
2001 the <a href="http://www.nuug.no/">NUUG</a> association, and started to
2002 play with the data set.  I'm not really deeply into accounting, but I
2003 am able to get a simple balance and accounting status for example
2004 using the "<tt>ledger balance</tt>" command.  But I will have to
2005 gather more experience before I know if the ledger way is a good fit
2006 for the organisations I am involved in.</p>
2007
2008       </div>
2009       <div class="tags">
2010
2011
2012         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>.
2013
2014
2015       </div>
2016     </div>
2017     <div class="padding"></div>
2018
2019     <div class="entry">
2020       <div class="title">
2021         <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>
2022       </div>
2023       <div class="date">
2024          6th December 2012
2025       </div>
2026       <div class="body">
2027         <p>Where I work at the <a href="http://www.uio.no/">University of
2028 Oslo</a>, we use the
2029 <a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/cerebrum/">Cerebrum user
2030 administration system</a> to maintain users, groups, DNS, DHCP, etc.
2031 I've known since the system was written that the server is providing
2032 an <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XML-RPC">XML-RPC</a> API, but
2033 I have never spent time to try to figure out how to use it, as we
2034 always use the bofh command line client at work.  Until today.  I want
2035 to script the updating of DNS and DHCP to make it easier to set up
2036 virtual machines.  Here are a few notes on how to use it with
2037 Python.</p>
2038
2039 <p>I started by looking at the source of the Java
2040 <a href="http://cerebrum.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/cerebrum/trunk/cerebrum/clients/jbofh/">bofh
2041 client</a>, to figure out how it connected to the API server.  I also
2042 googled for python examples on how to use XML-RPC, and found
2043 <a href="http://tldp.org/HOWTO/XML-RPC-HOWTO/xmlrpc-howto-python.html">a
2044 simple example in</a> the XML-RPC howto.</p>
2045
2046 <p>This simple example code show how to connect, get the list of
2047 commands (as a JSON dump), and how to get the information about the
2048 user currently logged in:</p>
2049
2050 <blockquote><pre>
2051 #!/usr/bin/env python
2052 import getpass
2053 import xmlrpclib
2054 server_url = 'https://cerebrum-uio.uio.no:8000';
2055 username = getpass.getuser()
2056 password = getpass.getpass()
2057 server = xmlrpclib.Server(server_url);
2058 #print server.get_commands(sessionid)
2059 sessionid = server.login(username, password)
2060 print server.run_command(sessionid, "user_info", username)
2061 result = server.logout(sessionid)
2062 print result
2063 </pre></blockquote>
2064
2065 <p>Armed with this knowledge I can now move forward and script the DNS
2066 and DHCP updates I wanted to do.</p>
2067
2068       </div>
2069       <div class="tags">
2070
2071
2072         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>.
2073
2074
2075       </div>
2076     </div>
2077     <div class="padding"></div>
2078
2079     <div class="entry">
2080       <div class="title">
2081         <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>
2082       </div>
2083       <div class="date">
2084         17th November 2012
2085       </div>
2086       <div class="body">
2087         <p>While working on a
2088 <a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig">Norwegian
2089 translation of the Free Culture by Lawrence Lessig</a> (76% done),
2090 which cover the problems with todays copyright law and how it stifles
2091 creativity, one idea occurred to me.  The idea is to get the tax
2092 office to help make more works enter the public domain and also help
2093 make it easier to clear rights for using copyrighted works.</p>
2094
2095 <p>I mentioned this idea briefly during Yesterdays
2096 <a href="http://www.farmann.no/2012/11/14/john-perry-barlow-in-oslo-friday-nov-16
2097 -15-30-19-00/">presentation
2098 by John Perry Barlow</a>, and concluded that it was best to put it
2099 in writing for a wider audience.  The idea is not really based on the
2100 argument that copyrighted works are "intellectual property", as the
2101 core requirement is that copyrighted work have value for the copyright
2102 holder and the tax office like to collect their share from any value
2103 controlled by the citizens in a country.  I'm sharing the idea here to
2104 let others consider it and perhaps shoot it down with a fresh set of
2105 arguments.</p>
2106
2107 <p>Most valuables are taxed by the government.  At least here in
2108 Norway, the amount of money you have, the value of our land property,
2109 the value of your house, the value of your car, the value of our
2110 stocks and other valuables are all added together.  If the tax value
2111 of these values exceed your debt, you have to pay the tax office some
2112 taxes for these values.  And copyrighted work have value.  It have
2113 value for the rights holder, who can earn money selling access to the
2114 work.  But it is not included in the tax calculations?  Why not?</p>
2115
2116 <p>If the government want to tax copyrighted works, it would want to
2117 maintain a database of all the copyrighted works and who are the
2118 rights holders for a given works, to be able to associate the works
2119 value to the right citizen or company for tax purposes.  If such
2120 database exist, it will become a lot easier to find out who to talk to
2121 for clearing permissions to use a copyrighted work, which is a very
2122 hard operation with todays copyright law.  To ensure that copyright
2123 holders keep the database up-to-date, it would have to become a
2124 requirement to be able to collect money for granting access to
2125 copyrighted works that the work is listed in the database with the
2126 correct right holder.</p>
2127
2128 <p>If copyright causes copyright holders to have to pay more taxes,
2129 they will have a small incentive to "disown" their copyright, and let
2130 the work enter the public domain. For works with several right holders
2131 one of the right holders could state (and get it registered in the
2132 database) that she do not need to be consulted when clearing rights to
2133 use the work in question and thus will not get any income from that
2134 work.  Stating this would have to be impossible to revert and stop the
2135 tax office from adding the value of that work to the given citizens
2136 tax calculation.  I assume the copyright law would stay the same,
2137 allowing creators to pick a license of their choosing, and also
2138 allowing them to put their work directly in the public domain.  The
2139 existence of such database will make it even easier to clear rights,
2140 and if the right holders listed in the database is taxed, this system
2141 would increase the amount of works that enter the public domain.</p>
2142
2143 <p>The effect would be that the tax office help to make it easier to
2144 get rights to use the works that have not yet entered the public
2145 domain and help to get more work into the public domain and .</p>
2146
2147 <p>Why have such taxing not happened yet?  I am sure the tax office
2148 would like to tax copyrighted work values if they could.</p>
2149
2150       </div>
2151       <div class="tags">
2152
2153
2154         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>.
2155
2156
2157       </div>
2158     </div>
2159     <div class="padding"></div>
2160
2161     <div class="entry">
2162       <div class="title">
2163         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__Angela_Fu_.html">Debian Edu interview: Angela Fuß</a>
2164       </div>
2165       <div class="date">
2166         14th November 2012
2167       </div>
2168       <div class="body">
2169         <p>Here is another interview with one of the people in the <a
2170 href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu and Skolelinux</a>
2171 community.  I am running short on people willing to be interviewed, so
2172 if you know about someone I should interview, Please send me an email.
2173 After asking for many months, I finally managed to lure another one of
2174 the people behind the German
2175 "<a href="http://wiki.it-zukunft-schule.de/">IT-Zukunft Schule</a>"
2176 project out from maternity leave to conduct an interview.  Give a warm
2177 welcome to Angela Fuß. :)</p>
2178
2179 <p><strong>Who are you, and how do you spend your days?</strong></p>
2180
2181 <p>I am a 39-year-old woman living in the very north of Germany near
2182 Denmark. I live in a patchwork family with "my man" Mike Gabriel, my
2183 two daughters, Mikes daughter and Mikes and my rather newborn son.
2184
2185 <p>At the moment - because of our little baby - I am spending most of
2186 the day by being a caring and organising mom for all the kids.
2187 Besides that I am really involved into and occupied with several inner
2188 growth processes: New born souls always bring the whole familiar
2189 system into movement and that needs time and focus ;-).  We are also
2190 in the middle of buying a house and moving to it.</p>
2191
2192 <p>In 2013 I will work again in my job in a German foundation for
2193 nature conservation. I am doing public relation work there.  Besides
2194 that - and that is the connection to Skolelinux / Debian Edu - I am
2195 working in our own school project "IT-Zukunft Schule" in North
2196 Germany. I am responsible for the quality assurance, the customer
2197 relationship management and the communication processes in the
2198 project.</p>
2199
2200 <p>Since 2001 I constantly have been training myself in communication
2201 and leadership. Besides that I am a forester, a landscaping gardener
2202 and a yoga teacher.</p>
2203
2204 <p><strong>How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux / Debian Edu
2205 project?</strong></p>
2206
2207 <p>I fell in love with Mike ;-).</p>
2208
2209 <p>Very soon after getting to know him I was completely enrolled into
2210 Free Software.  At this time Mike did IT-services for one newly
2211 founded school in Kiel. Other schools in Kiel needed concepts for
2212 their IT environment.  Often when Mike came home from working at the
2213 newly founded school I found myself listening to his complaints about
2214 several points where the communication with the schools head or the
2215 teachers did not work.  So we were clear that he would not work for
2216 one more school if we did not set up a structure for communication
2217 between him, the schools head, the teachers, the students and the
2218 parents.</p>
2219
2220 <p>Together with our friend and hardware supplier Andreas Buchholz we
2221 started to get an overview of free software solutions suitable for
2222 schools. One day before Christmas 2010 Mike and I had a date with Kurt
2223 Gramlich in Gütersloh. As Kurt and I are really interested in building
2224 networks of people and in being in communication we dived into
2225 Skolelinux and brought it to the first grammar schools in Northern
2226 Germany.</p>
2227
2228 <p>For information about our school project you can read
2229 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__Mike_Gabriel.html">the
2230 interview with Mike Gabriel</a>.</p>
2231
2232 <p><strong>What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux / Debian
2233 Edu?</strong></p>
2234
2235 <p>First I have to say: I cannot answer this question technically. My
2236 answer comes rather from a social point of view.</p>
2237
2238 <p>The biggest advantage of Skolelinux / Debian Edu I see is the large
2239 and strong international community of Debian Developers in the
2240 background which is very alive and connected over mailinglists, blogs
2241 and meetings. My constant feeling for the Debian Community is: If
2242 something does not work they will somehow fix it. All is well
2243 ;-). This is of course a user experience.  What I also get as a big
2244 advantage of Skolelinux / Debian Edu is that everybody who uses it and
2245 works with it can also contribute to it - that includes students,
2246 teachers, parents...</p>
2247
2248 <p><strong>What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux / Debian
2249 Edu?</strong></p>
2250
2251 <p>I will answer this question relating to the internal structure of
2252 Skolelinux / Debian Edu.</p>
2253
2254 <p>What I see as a major disadvantage is that there is a gap between
2255 the group of developers for Debian Edu and the people who make the
2256 marketing, that means the people that bring Skolelinux to the
2257 schools. There is a lack of communication between these two groups and
2258 I think that does not really work for Skolelinux / Debian Edu.</p>
2259
2260 <p>Further I appreciate that Skolelinux / Debian Edu is known as a
2261 do-ocracy. Nevertheless I keep asking myself if at some points a
2262 democracy or some kind of hierarchical project structure would be good
2263 and helpful.  I am also missing some kind of contact between the
2264 Skolelinux / Debian Edu communities in Europe or on an international
2265 level. I think it would be good if there was more sharing between the
2266 different countries using Skolelinux / Debian Edu.</p>
2267
2268 <p><strong>Which free software do you use daily?</strong></p>
2269
2270 <p>On my laptop I am still using an Ubuntu 10.04 with a Gnome Desktop
2271 on.  As applications I use Openoffice.org, Gedit, Firefox, Pidgin,
2272 LaTeX and GnuCash. For mails I am using Horde. And I am really fond of
2273 my N900 running with Maemo.</p>
2274
2275 <p><strong>Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to
2276 get schools to use free software?</strong></p>
2277
2278 <p>I am really convinced that in our school project "IT-Zukunft
2279 Schule" we have developed (and keep developing) a great way to get
2280 schools to use Free Software. We have written a detailed concept for
2281 that so I cannot explain the whole thing here. But in a nutshell the
2282 strategy has three crucial pillars:</p>
2283
2284 <ul>
2285
2286 <li>We really take time to get what sort of stories, questions and
2287 concerns the schools head and the teachers have about using different
2288 kinds of IT and we take time to enrol them into Free Software.</li>
2289
2290 <li>Our solution for schools is never just technical. In the centre
2291 are always the people who are going to use the software. From the very
2292 beginning of the planning for a school, we tell the schools head that
2293 they are paying us not only for a technical solution for their school,
2294 they also pay us for leading all the communication processes
2295 needed. If they do not want that, we are not working with them because
2296 we cannot give a guarantee for the quality of our work then.</li>
2297
2298 <li>Another focus lies in the training of teachers and students in
2299 co-administrating the IT-System at their school. They start getting in
2300 contact with the Skolelinux / Debian Edu community and they get the
2301 offer to become more and more independent from us.</li>
2302
2303 </ul>
2304
2305       </div>
2306       <div class="tags">
2307
2308
2309         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>.
2310
2311
2312       </div>
2313     </div>
2314     <div class="padding"></div>
2315
2316     <div class="entry">
2317       <div class="title">
2318         <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>
2319       </div>
2320       <div class="date">
2321          4th November 2012
2322       </div>
2323       <div class="body">
2324         <p>Slashdot just ran a story about the European Central Bank (ECB)
2325 <a href="http://www.ecb.europa.eu/pub/pdf/other/virtualcurrencyschemes201210en.pdf">releasing
2326 a report (PDF)</a> about virtual currencies and
2327 <a href="http://www.bitcoin.org/">bitcoin</a>.  It is interesting to
2328 see how a member of the bitcoin community
2329 <a href="http://blog.bitinstant.com/blog/2012/10/30/the-ecb-report-on-bitcoin-and-virtual-currencies.html">receive
2330 the report</a>.  As for the future, I suspect the central banks and
2331 the governments will outlaw bitcoin if it gain any popularity, to avoid
2332 competition.  My thoughts go to the
2333 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wörgl">Wörgl experiment</a> with
2334 negative inflation on cash which was such a success that it was
2335 terminated by the Austrian National Bank in 1933.  A successful
2336 alternative would be a threat to the current money system and gain
2337 powerful forces to work against it.</p>
2338
2339 <p>While checking out the current status of bitcoin, I also discovered
2340 that the community already seem to have
2341 <a href="http://www.theverge.com/2012/8/27/3271637/bitcoin-savings-trust-pyramid-scheme-shuts-down">experienced
2342 its first pyramid game / Ponzi scheme</a>.  Not very surprising, given
2343 how members of "small" communities tend to trust each other.  I guess
2344 enterprising crocks will try again and again, as they do anywhere
2345 wealth is available.</p>
2346
2347       </div>
2348       <div class="tags">
2349
2350
2351         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>.
2352
2353
2354       </div>
2355     </div>
2356     <div class="padding"></div>
2357
2358     <div class="entry">
2359       <div class="title">
2360         <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>
2361       </div>
2362       <div class="date">
2363         26th October 2012
2364       </div>
2365       <div class="body">
2366         <p>I work at the <a href="http://www.uio.no/">University of Oslo</a>
2367 looking after the computers, mostly on the unix side, but in general
2368 all over the place.  I am also a member (and currently leader) of
2369 <a href="http://www.nuug.no/">the NUUG association</a>, which in turn
2370 make me a member of <a href="http://www.usenix.org/">USENIX</a>.  NUUG
2371 is an member organisation for us in Norway interested in free
2372 software, open standards and unix like operating systems, and USENIX
2373 is a US based member organisation with similar targets.  And thanks to
2374 these memberships, I get all issues of the great USENIX magazine
2375 <a href="https://www.usenix.org/publications/login">;login:</a> in the
2376 mail several times a year.  The magazine is great, and I read most of
2377 it every time.</p>
2378
2379 <p>In the last issue of the USENIX magazine ;login:, there is an
2380 article by <a href="http://www.skendric.com/">Stuart Kendrick</a> from
2381 Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center titled
2382 "<a href="https://www.usenix.org/publications/login/october-2012-volume-37-number-5/what-takes-us-down">What
2383 Takes Us Down</a>" (longer version also
2384 <a href="http://www.skendric.com/problem/incident-analysis/2012-06-30/What-Takes-Us-Down.pdf">available
2385 from his own site</a>), where he report what he found when he
2386 processed the outage reports (both planned and unplanned) from the
2387 last twelve years and classified them according to cause, time of day,
2388 etc etc.  The article is a good read to get some empirical data on
2389 what kind of problems affect a data centre, but what really inspired
2390 me was the kind of reporting they had put in place since 2000.<p>
2391
2392 <p>The centre set up a mailing list, and started to send fairly
2393 standardised messages to this list when a outage was planned or when
2394 it already occurred, to announce the plan and get feedback on the
2395 assumtions on scope and user impact.  Here is the two example from the
2396 article: First the unplanned outage:
2397
2398 <blockquote><pre>
2399 Subject:     Exchange 2003 Cluster Issues
2400 Severity:    Critical (Unplanned)
2401 Start:       Monday, May 7, 2012, 11:58
2402 End:         Monday, May 7, 2012, 12:38
2403 Duration:    40 minutes
2404 Scope:       Exchange 2003
2405 Description: The HTTPS service on the Exchange cluster crashed, triggering
2406              a cluster failover.
2407
2408 User Impact: During this period, all Exchange users were unable to
2409              access e-mail. Zimbra users were unaffected.
2410 Technician:  [xxx]
2411 </pre></blockquote>
2412
2413 Next the planned outage:
2414
2415 <blockquote><pre>
2416 Subject:     H Building Switch Upgrades
2417 Severity:    Major (Planned)
2418 Start:       Saturday, June 16, 2012, 06:00
2419 End:         Saturday, June 16, 2012, 16:00
2420 Duration:    10 hours
2421 Scope:       H2 Transport
2422 Description: Currently, Catalyst 4006s provide 10/100 Ethernet to end-
2423              stations. We will replace these with newer Catalyst
2424              4510s.
2425 User Impact: All users on H2 will be isolated from the network during
2426              this work. Afterward, they will have gigabit
2427              connectivity.
2428 Technician:  [xxx]
2429 </pre></blockquote>
2430
2431 <p>He notes in his article that the date formats and other fields have
2432 been a bit too free form to make it easy to automatically process them
2433 into a database for further analysis, and I would have used ISO 8601
2434 dates myself to make it easier to process (in other words I would ask
2435 people to write '2012-06-16 06:00 +0000' instead of the start time
2436 format listed above).  There are also other issues with the format
2437 that could be improved, read the article for the details.</p>
2438
2439 <p>I find the idea of standardising outage messages seem to be such a
2440 good idea that I would like to get it implemented here at the
2441 university too.  We do register
2442 <a href="http://www.uio.no/tjenester/it/aktuelt/planlagte-tjenesteavbrudd/">planned
2443 changes and outages in a calendar</a>, and report the to a mailing
2444 list, but we do not do so in a structured format and there is not a
2445 report to the same location for unplanned outages.  Perhaps something
2446 for other sites to consider too?</p>
2447
2448       </div>
2449       <div class="tags">
2450
2451
2452         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>.
2453
2454
2455       </div>
2456     </div>
2457     <div class="padding"></div>
2458
2459     <div class="entry">
2460       <div class="title">
2461         <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>
2462       </div>
2463       <div class="date">
2464         22nd October 2012
2465       </div>
2466       <div class="body">
2467         <p>A blog post from Martin Bekkelund today tell the story of
2468 <a href="http://www.bekkelund.net/2012/10/22/outlawed-by-amazon-drm/">how
2469 Amazon erased the books from a customer's kindle, locked the account
2470 and refuse to tell the customer why</a>.  If a real book store did
2471 this to a customer, it would be called breaking into private property
2472 and theft.  The story has spread around the net today.  A bit more
2473 background information is available in Norwegian from
2474 <a href="http://www.digi.no/904658/hun-ble-kastet-ut-av-amazon">digi.no</a>.
2475 It is no surprise that digital restriction mechanisms (DRM) are used
2476 this way, as it has been warned about such abuse since DRM was
2477 introduced many years back.  And Amazon proved in 2009 that it was
2478 willing to
2479 <a href="http://boingboing.net/2009/07/20/amazons-orwellian-de.html">
2480 break into customers equipment and remove the books</a> people had
2481 bought, when it removed the book 1984 by George Orwell from all the
2482 customers who had bought it.  From the official comments, it even
2483 sounded like
2484 <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/18/technology/companies/18amazon.html">Amazon
2485 would never do that again</a>.  And here we are, three years
2486 later.</p>
2487
2488 <p>And thought this action is
2489 <a href="http://www.itavisen.no/904648/forbrukerraadet-helt-haarreisende">against
2490 Norwegian regulations and law</a>, it is according to the terms of use
2491 as written by Amazon, and it is hard to hold Amazon accountable to
2492 Norwegian laws.  It is just yet another example of unacceptable terms
2493 of use on the web, and how they are used to remove customer
2494 rights.</p>
2495
2496 <p>Luckily for electronic books, there are alternatives without
2497 unacceptable terms.  For example
2498 <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/">Project Gutenberg</a> (about 40,000
2499 books), <a href="http://runeberg.org/">Project Runenberg</a> (1,652
2500 books) and <a href="http://www.archive.org/details/texts">The Internet
2501 Archive</a> (3,641,797 books) have heaps of books without DRM, which
2502 can read by anyone and shared with anyone.</p>
2503
2504 <p>Update 2012-10-23: This story broke in the morning on Monday. In
2505 the evening after the story had spread all across the Internet, Amazon
2506 restored the account of the user, as reported by
2507 <a href="http://www.digi.no/904675/helomvending-fra-amazon">digi.no</a>
2508 and <a href="http://nrk.no/kultur-og-underholdning/1.8368487">NRK</a>.
2509 Apparently public pressure work.  The story from Martin have seen
2510 several twitter messages per minute the last 24 hours, which is quite
2511 a lot, and is still drawing a lot of attention.  But even when the
2512 account is restored, the fundamental problem still exist.  I recommend
2513 reading two opinions from
2514 <a href="http://blogs.computerworlduk.com/simon-says/2012/10/rights-you-have-no-right-to-your-ebooks/index.htm">Simon
2515 Phipps</a> and
2516 <a href="http://blogs.computerworlduk.com/open-enterprise/2012/10/is-amazon-playing-fair/index.htm">Glen
2517 Moody</a> if you want to learn more about the fundamentals and more
2518 details about the original story.</p>
2519
2520       </div>
2521       <div class="tags">
2522
2523
2524         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>.
2525
2526
2527       </div>
2528     </div>
2529     <div class="padding"></div>
2530
2531     <div class="entry">
2532       <div class="title">
2533         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/The_fight_for_freedom_and_privacy.html">The fight for freedom and privacy</a>
2534       </div>
2535       <div class="date">
2536         18th October 2012
2537       </div>
2538       <div class="body">
2539         <p>Civil liberties and privacy in the western world are going down the
2540 drain, and it is hard to fight against it.  I try to do my best, but
2541 time is limited.  I hope you do your best too.  A few years ago I came
2542 across a marvellous drawing by
2543 <a href="http://www.claybennett.com/about.html">Clay Bennett</a>
2544 visualising some of what is going on.
2545
2546 <p><a href="http://www.claybennett.com/pages/security_fence.html">
2547 <img src="http://www.claybennett.com/images/archivetoons/security_fence.jpg"></a></p>
2548
2549 <blockquote>
2550 «They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
2551 safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.» - Benjamin Franklin
2552 </blockquote>
2553
2554 <p>Do you feel safe at the airport?  I do not.  Do you feel safe when
2555 you see a surveillance camera?  I do not.  Do you feel safe when you
2556 leave electronic traces of your behaviour and opinions?  I do not.  I
2557 just remember <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panopticon">the
2558 Panopticon</a>, and can not help to think that we are slowly
2559 transforming our society to a huge Panopticon on our own.</p>
2560
2561       </div>
2562       <div class="tags">
2563
2564
2565         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>.
2566
2567
2568       </div>
2569     </div>
2570     <div class="padding"></div>
2571
2572     <div class="entry">
2573       <div class="title">
2574         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/ColonHelp_produser_sue_WordPress_to_silence_critic.html">ColonHelp produser sue WordPress to silence critic</a>
2575       </div>
2576       <div class="date">
2577         12th October 2012
2578       </div>
2579       <div class="body">
2580         <p>Thanks to a blog post by
2581 <a href="http://ramblingfoo.blogspot.no/2012/10/a-shitstorm-is-comming.html">Eddy
2582 Petrișor</a>, I became aware of yet another "alternative medicine"
2583 company using legal intimidation tactics to scare off critics.
2584 According to the originating blog post about the detox "cure"
2585 <a href="http://insulaindoielii.wordpress.com/2012/10/11/colon-help-sues-wordpress/">ColonHelp
2586 and its producers Zenyth Pharmaceuticals actions</a>, the producer
2587 sues Wordpress to get rid of the critical information.  To check if
2588 the story was for real, I contacted Automattic, the company behind
2589 wordpress.com, and they reply was "We can confirm that Zenyth is
2590 seeking a court order against WordPress / Automattic.  However, we
2591 don't believe the Terms of Service have been violated in this
2592 matter".</p>
2593
2594 <p>The story seem to be simply that a blogger checked the scientific
2595 foundation for a popular health product in Rumania, ColonHelp, and
2596 reported that there was no reason at all to believe it improved the
2597 health of its users.  This caused the company behind the product,
2598 Zenyth Pharmaceuticals, to use legal intimidation to try to silence
2599 the critic, instead of presenting its views and scientific foundation
2600 to argue its side.</p>
2601
2602 <p>This is the usual story, and the Zenyth Pharmaceuticals company
2603 deserve everyone to know how it failed to act properly.  Lets hope the
2604 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streisand_effect">Streisand
2605 effect</a> can make it rethink its strategy.</p>
2606
2607 <p>What is the harm, you might think.  I suggest you take a look at
2608 <a href="http://www.whatstheharm.net/detoxification.html">a list of
2609 victims of detoxification</a>.</p>
2610
2611       </div>
2612       <div class="tags">
2613
2614
2615         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>.
2616
2617
2618       </div>
2619     </div>
2620     <div class="padding"></div>
2621
2622     <div class="entry">
2623       <div class="title">
2624         <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>
2625       </div>
2626       <div class="date">
2627          3rd October 2012
2628       </div>
2629       <div class="body">
2630         <p>I just read the blog post from Tim Retout
2631 <a href="http://retout.co.uk/blog/2012/10/02/the-library-challenge">about
2632 the computer science book collection available in his local
2633 library</a>, and just wanted to share my comment on his theory about
2634 computer books becoming obsolete so soon.  That is part of the reason
2635 why the selection is so sad in almost any local library (it is in mine
2636 too), but I believe the major contributing factor is that the people
2637 buying books to the library have no way to know a good and future
2638 computer classic from trash.  And they need to know which one will
2639 become a classic in the future, as they would normally buy one of the
2640 recently published books.</p>
2641
2642 <p>During my university years, I worked for a while at the university
2643 library, and even there the person in charge of buying computer
2644 related books (and in fact any natural science related book), did not
2645 know enough about computers to make a good educated guess.  Once, just
2646 before Christmas, they had some leftover money on the book budget and
2647 I was asked if I could pick out a lot of computer books in the
2648 university book store, for the library to buy for their collection.  I
2649 had a great time picking all the books I dreamt of buying and reading,
2650 and the books I knew were classics (like most of the
2651 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._Richard_Stevens">Stevens
2652 collection</a>).  I picked several of the generic O'Reilly books (ie
2653 documenting protocols, formats and systems, not specific versions of
2654 products) and stayed away from the 'teach yourself X in N days' class.
2655 I had a great time, and probably picked out more than a hundred books
2656 for the library that evening.</p>
2657
2658 <p>The sad fact is that there is no way a overworked librarian is
2659 going to know that for example
2660 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Practice_of_Programming">The
2661 Practice of Programming</a> is a must-have in any computer library,
2662 and they will most of the time end up picking the wrong books to buy.
2663 Perhaps you can help your local library make better choices by giving
2664 the suggestions for books to get?  I know they would love to hear from
2665 you, even if their budget might block them from getting your favourite
2666 book right away.</p>
2667
2668       </div>
2669       <div class="tags">
2670
2671
2672         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
2673
2674
2675       </div>
2676     </div>
2677     <div class="padding"></div>
2678
2679     <div class="entry">
2680       <div class="title">
2681         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Seventy_percent_done_with_Norwegian_docbook_version_of_Free_Culture.html">Seventy percent done with Norwegian docbook version of Free Culture</a>
2682       </div>
2683       <div class="date">
2684         23rd September 2012
2685       </div>
2686       <div class="body">
2687         <p>Since this summer, I have worked in my spare time on a Norwegian <a
2688 href="http://www.docbook.org/">docbook</a> version of the 2004 book <a
2689 href="http://free-culture.cc/">Free Culture</a> by Lawrence Lessig.
2690 The reason is that this book is a great primer on what problems exist
2691 in the current copyright laws, and I want it to be available also for
2692 those that are reluctant do read an English book.
2693
2694 When I started, I
2695 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Dugnad_for___sende_norsk_versjon_av_Free_Culture_til_stortingets_representanter_.html">called
2696 for volunteers</a> to help me, but too few have volunteered so far,
2697 and progress is a bit slow.  Anyway, today I broken the 70 percent
2698 mark for the first rough translation.  At the moment, less than 700
2699 strings (paragraphs, index terms, titles) are left to translate.  With
2700 my current progress of 10-20 strings per day, it will take a while to
2701 complete the translation.  This graph show the updated progress:</p>
2702
2703 <img width="80%" align="center" src="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig/raw/master/progress.png">
2704
2705 <p>Progress have slowed down lately due to family and work
2706 commitments.  If you want to help, please get in touch, and check out
2707 the project files currently available from
2708 <a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig">github</a>.</p>
2709
2710 <p>If you are curious what the translated book currently look like,
2711 the updated
2712 <a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig/blob/master/archive/freeculture.nb.pdf?raw=true">PDF</a>
2713 and
2714 <a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig/blob/master/archive/freeculture.nb.epub?raw=true">EPUB</a>
2715 are published on github.  The HTML version is published as well, but
2716 github hand it out with MIME type text/plain, confusing browsers, so I
2717 saw no point in linking to that version.</p>
2718
2719       </div>
2720       <div class="tags">
2721
2722
2723         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>.
2724
2725
2726       </div>
2727     </div>
2728     <div class="padding"></div>
2729
2730     <div class="entry">
2731       <div class="title">
2732         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__Giorgio_Pioda.html">Debian Edu interview: Giorgio Pioda</a>
2733       </div>
2734       <div class="date">
2735         17th September 2012
2736       </div>
2737       <div class="body">
2738         <p>After a long break in my row of interviews with people in the
2739 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu and Skolelinux</a>
2740 community, I finally found time to wrap up another.  This time it is
2741 Giorgio Pioda, which showed up on the mailing list at the start of
2742 this year, asking questions and inspiring us to improve the first time
2743 administrators experience with Skolelinux. :) The interview was
2744 conduced in May, but I only found time to publish it now.</p>
2745
2746 <p><strong>Who are you, and how do you spend your days?</strong></p>
2747
2748 <p>I have a PhD in chemistry but since several years I work as teacher
2749 in secondary (15-18 year old students) and tertiary (a kind of "light"
2750 university) schools. Five years ago I started to manage a Learning
2751 Management Service server and slowly I got more and more involved with
2752 IT. 3 years ago the graduating schools moved completely to Linux and I
2753 got the head of the IT for this. The experience collected in chemistry
2754 labs computers (for example NMR analysis of protein folding) and in
2755 the IT-courses during university where sufficient to start. Self
2756 training is anyway very important</p>
2757
2758 <p>I live in the Italian speaking part of Switzerland, and the
2759 <a href="http://www.spse.ch/">SPSE school</a> (secondary) is a very
2760 special sport school for young people who try to became sport pro (for
2761 all sports, we have dozens of disciplines represented) and we are
2762 recognised by the Olympic Swiss Organisation.
2763
2764 <p><strong>How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux/Debian Edu
2765 project?</strong></p>
2766
2767 <p>Looking for Linux / Primary Domain Controller (PDC) I found it
2768 already several years ago. But since the system was still not
2769 Kerberized and since our schools relies strongly on laptops I didn't
2770 use it. I plan to introduce it in the next future, probably for the
2771 next school year, since the squeeze release solved this security
2772 hole.</p>
2773
2774 <p><strong>What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux/Debian
2775 Edu?</strong></p>
2776
2777 <p>Many. First of all there is a strong and living community that is
2778 very generous for help and hints.  Chat help is crucial, together with
2779 the mailing list.  Second. With Skolelinux you get an already well
2780 engineered platform and you don't have to start to build up your PDC
2781 and your clients from GNU/scratch; I've already done this once and I
2782 can tell it, it is hard. Third, since Skolelinux is a standard
2783 platform, it is way easier to educate other IT people and even if the
2784 head IT is sick another one could pick up the task without too much
2785 hassle.</p>
2786
2787 <p><strong>What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux/Debian
2788 Edu?</strong></p>
2789
2790 <p>The only real problem I see is that it is a little too less
2791 flexible at client level. Debian stable is rocky and desirable, but
2792 there are many reasons that force for another choice. For example the
2793 need of new drivers for new PC, or the need for a specific OS for some
2794 devices that have specific software packages for another specific
2795 distribution (I have such a case for whiteboards that have only
2796 Ubuntu packages). Thus, I prepared compatibility packages educlient
2797 and eduroaming, hoping not to use them ;-)</p>
2798
2799 <p><strong>Which free software do you use daily?</strong></p>
2800
2801 <p>I have a Debian Stable PDC at school (Kerberos, NIS, NFS) with
2802 mixed Debian and Ubuntu clients. If you think that this triad
2803 combination is exotic... well I discovered right yesterday that
2804 <a href="http://moo.nac.uci.edu/~hjm/Perceus-Report.html">Perceus</a>
2805 has the same...</p>
2806
2807 <p>For myself I run Debian wheezy/sid, but this combination is good
2808 only I you have enough competence to fix stuff for yourself, if
2809 something breaks.  Daily I use texmacs, gnumeric, a little bit of R
2810 statistics, kmplot, and less frequently OpenOffice.org.</p>
2811
2812 <p><strong>Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to
2813 get schools to use free software?</strong></p>
2814
2815 <P>I think that the only real argument that school managers "hear" is
2816 cost reduction. They don't give too much weight on quality, stability,
2817 just because they are normally not open to change.</p>
2818
2819 <p>Students adapts very quickly to GNU/Linux (and for them being able
2820 to switch between different OS is a plus value); teachers and managers
2821 don't.</p>
2822
2823 <p>We decided to move to Linux because students at our school have own
2824 laptop and we have the responsibility to keep the laptop ready to use;
2825 we were really unsatisfied with Microsoft since every Monday we had 20
2826 machine to fix for viral infections... With Linux this has been
2827 reduced to zero, since people installs almost only from official
2828 repositories. I think that our special needs brought us to Linux.
2829 Those who don't have such needs will hardly move to Linux.</p>
2830
2831       </div>
2832       <div class="tags">
2833
2834
2835         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>.
2836
2837
2838       </div>
2839     </div>
2840     <div class="padding"></div>
2841
2842     <div class="entry">
2843       <div class="title">
2844         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/IETF_activity_to_standardise_video_codec.html">IETF activity to standardise video codec</a>
2845       </div>
2846       <div class="date">
2847         15th September 2012
2848       </div>
2849       <div class="body">
2850         <p>After the
2851 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/IETF_standardize_its_first_multimedia_codec__Opus.html">Opus
2852 codec made</a> it into <a href="http://www.ietf.org/">IETF</a> as
2853 <a href="http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6716">RFC 6716</a>, I had a look
2854 to see if there is any activity in IETF to standardise a video codec
2855 too, and I was happy to discover that there is some activity in this
2856 area.  A non-"working group" mailing list
2857 <a href="https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/video-codec">video-codec</a>
2858 was
2859 <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
2860 formal working group should be formed.</p>
2861
2862 <p>I look forward to see how this plays out.  There is already
2863 <a href="http://www.ietf.org/mail-archive/web/video-codec/current/msg00003.html">an
2864 email from someone</a> in the MPEG group at ISO asking people to
2865 participate in the ISO group.  Given how ISO failed with OOXML and given
2866 that it so far (as far as I can remember) only have produced
2867 multimedia formats requiring royalty payments, I suspect
2868 joining the ISO group would be a complete waste of time, but I am not
2869 involved in any codec work and my opinion will not matter much.</p>
2870
2871 <p>If one of my readers is involved with codec work, I hope she will
2872 join this work to standardise a royalty free video codec within
2873 IETF.</p>
2874
2875       </div>
2876       <div class="tags">
2877
2878
2879         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>.
2880
2881
2882       </div>
2883     </div>
2884     <div class="padding"></div>
2885
2886     <div class="entry">
2887       <div class="title">
2888         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/IETF_standardize_its_first_multimedia_codec__Opus.html">IETF standardize its first multimedia codec: Opus</a>
2889       </div>
2890       <div class="date">
2891         12th September 2012
2892       </div>
2893       <div class="body">
2894         <p>Yesterday, <a href="http://www.ietf.org/">IETF</a> announced the
2895 publication of of
2896 <a href="http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6716">RFC 6716, the Definition
2897 of the Opus Audio Codec</a>, a low latency, variable bandwidth, codec
2898 intended for both VoIP, film and music.  This is the first time, as
2899 far as I know, that IETF have standardized a multimedia codec.  In
2900 <a href="http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc3533">RFC 3533</a>, IETF
2901 standardized the OGG container format, and it has proven to be a great
2902 royalty free container for audio, video and movies.  I hope IETF will
2903 continue to standardize more royalty free codeces, after ISO and MPEG
2904 have proven incapable of securing everyone equal rights to publish
2905 multimedia content on the Internet.</p>
2906
2907 <p>IETF require two interoperating independent implementations to
2908 ratify a standard, and have so far ensured to only standardize royalty
2909 free specifications.  Both are key factors to allow everyone (rich and
2910 poor), to compete on equal terms on the Internet.</p>
2911
2912 <p>Visit the <a href="http://opus-codec.org/">Opus project page</a> if
2913 you want to learn more about the solution.</p>
2914
2915       </div>
2916       <div class="tags">
2917
2918
2919         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>.
2920
2921
2922       </div>
2923     </div>
2924     <div class="padding"></div>
2925
2926     <div class="entry">
2927       <div class="title">
2928         <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>
2929       </div>
2930       <div class="date">
2931          7th September 2012
2932       </div>
2933       <div class="body">
2934         <p>As I
2935 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Song_book_for_Computer_Scientists.html">mentioned
2936 this summer</a>, I have created a Computer Science song book a few
2937 years ago, and today I finally found time to create a public
2938 <a href="https://gitorious.org/pere-cs-songbook/pere-cs-songbook">Gitorious
2939 repository for the project</a>.</p>
2940
2941 <p>If you want to help out, please clone the source and submit patches
2942 to the HTML version.  To generate the PDF and PostScript version,
2943 please use prince XML, or let me know about a useful free software
2944 processor capable of creating a good looking PDF from the HTML.</p>
2945
2946 <p>Want to sing?  You can still find the song book in HTML, PDF and
2947 PostScript formats at
2948 <a href="http://www.hungry.com/~pere/cs-songbook/">Petter's Computer
2949 Science Songbook</a>.</p>
2950
2951       </div>
2952       <div class="tags">
2953
2954
2955         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>.
2956
2957
2958       </div>
2959     </div>
2960     <div class="padding"></div>
2961
2962     <div class="entry">
2963       <div class="title">
2964         <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>
2965       </div>
2966       <div class="date">
2967         23rd August 2012
2968       </div>
2969       <div class="body">
2970         <p>I came across a great comment from Simon Phipps today, about how
2971 <a href="http://www.infoworld.com/d/open-source-software/how-microsoft-was-forced-open-office-200233">Microsoft
2972 have been forced to open Office</a>, and it made me remember and
2973 revisit the great site
2974 <a href="http://www.officeshots.org/">officeshots</a> which allow you
2975 to check out how different programs present the ODF file format.  I
2976 recommend both to those of my readers interested in ODF. :)</p>
2977
2978       </div>
2979       <div class="tags">
2980
2981
2982         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>.
2983
2984
2985       </div>
2986     </div>
2987     <div class="padding"></div>
2988
2989     <div class="entry">
2990       <div class="title">
2991         <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>
2992       </div>
2993       <div class="date">
2994         17th August 2012
2995       </div>
2996       <div class="body">
2997         <p>In my spare time, I currently work on a Norwegian
2998 <a href="http://www.docbook.org/">docbook</a> version of the 2004 book
2999 <a href="http://free-culture.cc/">Free Culture</a> by Lawrence Lessig,
3000 to get a Norwegian text explaining the problems with the copyright law
3001 I can give to my parents and others that are reluctant to read an
3002 English book.  It is a marvellous set of examples on how the ever
3003 expanding copyright regulations hurt culture and society.  When the
3004 translation is done, I hope to find funding to print and ship a copy
3005 to all the members of the Norwegian parliament, before they sit down
3006 to debate the latest revisions to the Norwegian copyright law.  This
3007 summer I
3008 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Dugnad_for___sende_norsk_versjon_av_Free_Culture_til_stortingets_representanter_.html">called
3009 for volunteers</a> to help me, and I have been able to secure the
3010 valuable contribution from at least one other Norwegian.</p>
3011
3012 <p>Two days ago, we finally broke the 50% mark.  Then more than 50% of
3013 the number of strings to translate (normally paragraphs, but also
3014 titles and index entries are also counted).  All parts from the
3015 beginning up to and including chapter four is translated.  So is
3016 chapters six, seven and the conclusion.  I created a graph to show the
3017 progress:</p>
3018
3019 <img width="80%" align="center" src="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig/raw/master/progress.png">
3020
3021 <p>The number of strings to translate increase as I insert the index
3022 entries into the docbook.  They were missing with the docbook version
3023 I initially started with.  There are still quite a few index entries
3024 missing, but everyone starting with A, B, O, Z and Y are done.  I
3025 currently focus on completing the index entries, to get a complete
3026 english version of the docbook source.</p>
3027
3028 <p>There is still need for translators and people with docbook
3029 knowledge, to be able to get a good looking book (I still struggle
3030 with dblatex, xmlto and docbook-xsl) as well as to do the draft
3031 translation and proof reading.  And I would like the figures to be
3032 redrawn as SVGs to make it easy to translate them.  Any SVG master
3033 around?  I am sure there are some legal terms that are unfamiliar to
3034 me.  If you want to help, please get in touch, and check out the
3035 project files currently available from <a
3036 href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig">github</a>.</p>
3037
3038 <p>If you are curious what the translated book currently look like,
3039 the updated
3040 <a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig/blob/master/archive/freeculture.nb.pdf?raw=true">PDF</a>
3041 and
3042 <a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig/blob/master/archive/freeculture.nb.epub?raw=true">EPUB</a>
3043 are published on github.  The HTML version is published as well, but
3044 github hand it out with MIME type text/plain, confusing browsers, so I
3045 saw no point in linking to that version.</p>
3046
3047       </div>
3048       <div class="tags">
3049
3050
3051         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>.
3052
3053
3054       </div>
3055     </div>
3056     <div class="padding"></div>
3057
3058     <div class="entry">
3059       <div class="title">
3060         <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>
3061       </div>
3062       <div class="date">
3063         10th August 2012
3064       </div>
3065       <div class="body">
3066         <p>In <a href="http://www.docbook.org/">docbook</a> one can specify
3067 the language used at the top, and the processing pipeline will use
3068 this information to pick the correct translations for 'chapter', 'see
3069 also', 'index' etc.  And for most languages used with docbook, I guess
3070 this work just fine.  For example a German user can start the document
3071 with &lt;book lang="de"&gt;, and the document will show up with the
3072 correct content with any of the docbook processors.  This is not the
3073 case for the language
3074 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Free_Culture_in_Norwegian___5_chapters_done__74_percent_left_to_do.html">I
3075 am working with at the moment</a>, Norwegian Bokmål.</p>
3076
3077 <p>For a while, I was confused about which language code to use,
3078 because I was unable to find any language code that would work across
3079 all tools.  I am currently testing dblatex, xmlto, docbook-xsl, and
3080 dbtoepub, and they do not handle Norwegian Bokmål the same way.  Some
3081 of them do not handle it at all.</p>
3082
3083 <p>A bit of background information is probably needed to understand
3084 this mess.  Norwegian is not one, but two written variants.  The
3085 variants are Norwegian Nynorsk and Norwegian Bokmål.  There are three
3086 two letter language codes associated with these languages, Norwegian
3087 is 'no', Norwegian Nynorsk is 'nn' and Norwegian Bokmål is 'nb'.
3088 Historically the 'no' language code was used for Norwegian Bokmål, but
3089 many years ago this was found to be å bad idea, and the recommendation
3090 is to use the most specific language code instead, to avoid confusion.
3091 In the transition period it is a good idea to make sure 'no' was an
3092 alias for 'nb'.</p>
3093
3094 <p>Back to docbook processing tools in Debian.  The dblatex tool only
3095 understand 'nn'.  There are translations for 'no', but not 'nb' (BTS
3096 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/684391">#684391</a>), but due to a bug
3097 (BTS <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/682936">#682936</a>) the 'no'
3098 language code is not recognised.  The docbook-xsl tool chain only
3099 recognise 'nn' and 'nb', but not 'no'.  The xmlto tool only recognise
3100 'nn' and 'nb', but not 'no'.  The end result that there is no language
3101 code I can use to get the docbook file working with all of these tools
3102 at the same time. :(</p>
3103
3104 <p>The correct solution is to use &lt;book lang="nb"&gt;, but it will
3105 take time before that will work with all the free software docbook
3106 processors. :(</p>
3107
3108 <p>Oh, the joy of well integrated tools. :/</p>
3109
3110       </div>
3111       <div class="tags">
3112
3113
3114         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>.
3115
3116
3117       </div>
3118     </div>
3119     <div class="padding"></div>
3120
3121     <div class="entry">
3122       <div class="title">
3123         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Best_way_to_create_a_docbook_book_.html">Best way to create a docbook book?</a>
3124       </div>
3125       <div class="date">
3126         31st July 2012
3127       </div>
3128       <div class="body">
3129         <p>I tried to send this text to the
3130 <a href="https://lists.oasis-open.org/archives/docbook-apps/">docbook-apps
3131 mailing list at lists.oasis-open.org</a>, but it only accept messages
3132 from subscribers and rejected my post, and I completely lack the
3133 bandwidth required to subscribe to another mailing list, so instead I
3134 try to post my message here and hope my blog readers can help me
3135 out.</p>
3136
3137 <p>I am quite new to docbook processing, and am climbing a steep
3138 learning curve at the moment.</p>
3139
3140 <p>To give you some background, I am working on a Norwegian
3141 translation of the book Free Culture by Lawrence Lessig, and I use
3142 docbook to handle the process.  The files to build the book are
3143 available from
3144 <a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig">github</a>.
3145 The book got around 400 pages with parts, images, footnotes, tables,
3146 index entries etc, which has proven to be a challenge for the free
3147 software docbook processors.  My build platform is Debian GNU/Linux
3148 Squeeze.</p>
3149
3150 <p>I want to build PDF, EPUB and HTML version of the book, and have
3151 tried different tool chains to do the conversion from docbook to these
3152 formats.  I am currently focusing on the PDF version, and have a few
3153 problems.</p>
3154
3155 <ul>
3156
3157 <li>Using dblatex, the &lt;part&gt; handling is not the way I want to,
3158    as &lt;/part&gt; do not really end the &lt;part&gt;. (See
3159    <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/683166">BTS report #683166</a>), the
3160    xetex backend (needed to process UTF-8) give incorrect hyphens in
3161    index references spanning several pages (See
3162    <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/682901">BTS report #682901</a>), and
3163    I am unable to get the norwegian template texts (See
3164    <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/682936">BTS report #682936</a>).</li>
3165
3166 <li>Using straight xmlto fail with some latex error (See
3167    <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/683163">BTS report
3168    #683163</a>).</li>
3169
3170 <li>Using xmlto with the fop backend fail to handle images (do not
3171    show up in the PDF), fail to handle a long footnote (overlap
3172    footnote and text body, see
3173    <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/683197">BTS report #683197</a>), and
3174    fail to create a correct index (some lack page ref, and the page
3175    refs listed are not right).</li>
3176
3177 <li>Using xmlto with the dblatex backend behave like dblatex.</li>
3178
3179 <li>Using docbook-xls with xsltproc + fop have the same footnote and
3180    index problems the xmlto + fop processing.</li>
3181
3182 </ul>
3183
3184 <p>So I wonder, what would be the best way to create the PDF version
3185 of this book?  Are some of the bugs found above solved in new or
3186 experimental versions of some docbook tool chain?</p>
3187
3188 <p>What about HTML and EPUB versions?</p>
3189
3190       </div>
3191       <div class="tags">
3192
3193
3194         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>.
3195
3196
3197       </div>
3198     </div>
3199     <div class="padding"></div>
3200
3201     <div class="entry">
3202       <div class="title">
3203         <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>
3204       </div>
3205       <div class="date">
3206         21st July 2012
3207       </div>
3208       <div class="body">
3209         <p>I reported earlier that I am working on
3210 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Dugnad_for___sende_norsk_versjon_av_Free_Culture_til_stortingets_representanter_.html">a
3211 norwegian version</a> of the book
3212 <a href="http://free-culture.cc/">Free Culture</a> by Lawrence Lessig.
3213 Progress is good, and yesterday I got a major contribution from Anders
3214 Hagen Jarmund completing chapter six.  The source files as well as a
3215 PDF and EPUB version of this book are available from
3216 <a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig">github</a>.</p>
3217
3218 <p>I am happy to report that the draft for the first two chapters
3219 (preface, introduction) is complete, and three other chapters are also
3220 completely translated.  This completes 26 percent of the number of
3221 strings (equivalent to paragraphs) in the book, and there is thus 74
3222 percent left to translate.  A graph of the progress is present at the
3223 bottom of the github project page.  There is still room for more
3224 contributors.  Get in touch or send github pull requests with fixes if
3225 you got time and are willing to help make this book make it to
3226 print. :)</p>
3227
3228 <p>The book translation framework could also be a good basis for other
3229 translations, if you want the book to be available in your
3230 language.</p>
3231
3232       </div>
3233       <div class="tags">
3234
3235
3236         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>.
3237
3238
3239       </div>
3240     </div>
3241     <div class="padding"></div>
3242
3243     <div class="entry">
3244       <div class="title">
3245         <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>
3246       </div>
3247       <div class="date">
3248         16th July 2012
3249       </div>
3250       <div class="body">
3251         <p>I am currently working on a
3252 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Dugnad_for___sende_norsk_versjon_av_Free_Culture_til_stortingets_representanter_.html">project
3253 to translate</a> the book
3254 <a href="http://free-culture.cc/">Free Culture</a> by Lawrence Lessig
3255 to Norwegian.  And the source we base our translation on is the
3256 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DocBook">docbook</a> version, to
3257 allow us to use po4a and .po files to handle the translation, and for
3258 this to work well the docbook source document need to be properly
3259 tagged.  The source files of this project is available from
3260 <a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig">github</a>.</p>
3261
3262 <p>The problem is that the docbook source have flaws, and we have
3263 no-one involved in the project that is a docbook expert.  Is there a
3264 docbook expert somewhere that is interested in helping us create a
3265 well tagged docbook version of the book, and adjust our build process
3266 for the PDF, EPUB and HTML version of the book?  This will provide a
3267 well tagged English version (our source document), and make it a lot
3268 easier for us to create a good Norwegian version.  If you can and want
3269 to help, please get in touch with me or fork the github project and
3270 send pull requests with fixes. :)</p>
3271
3272       </div>
3273       <div class="tags">
3274
3275
3276         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>.
3277
3278
3279       </div>
3280     </div>
3281     <div class="padding"></div>
3282
3283     <div class="entry">
3284       <div class="title">
3285         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__George_Bredberg.html">Debian Edu interview: George Bredberg</a>
3286       </div>
3287       <div class="date">
3288          9th July 2012
3289       </div>
3290       <div class="body">
3291         <p>The <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu /
3292 Skolelinux</a> project have users all over the globe, but until
3293 recently we have not known about any users in Norway's neighbour
3294 country Sweden.  This changed when George Bredberg showed up in March
3295 this year on the mailing list, asking interesting questions about how
3296 to adjust and scale the just released
3297 <a href="http://www.debian.org/News/2012/20120311.html">Debian Edu
3298 Wheezy</a> setup to his liking.  He granted me an interview, and I am
3299 happy to share his answers with you here.</p>
3300
3301 <p><strong>Who are you, and how do you spend your days?</strong></p>
3302
3303 <p>I'm a 44 year old country guy that have been working 12 years at
3304 the same school as 50% IT-manager and 50% Teacher. My educational
3305 background is fil.kand in history and religious beliefs, an exam as a
3306 "folkhighschool" teacher, that is, for teaching grownups.  In
3307 Norwegian I believe it's called "Vuxenupplaring". I also have a master
3308 in "Technology and social change". So I'm not really a tech guy, I
3309 just like to study how humans and technology interact and that is my
3310 perspective when working with IT.</p>
3311
3312 <p><strong>How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux/Debian Edu
3313 project?</strong></p>
3314
3315 I have followed the Skolelinux project for quite some time by
3316 now. Earlier I tested out the K12-LTSP project, which we used for some
3317 time, but I really like the idea of having a distribution aimed to be
3318 a complete solution for schools with necessary tools integrated. When
3319 K12-LTSP abandoned that idea some years ago, I started to look more
3320 seriously into Skolelinux instead.
3321
3322 <p><strong>What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux/Debian
3323 Edu?</strong></p>
3324
3325 The big point of Skolelinux to me is that it is a complete
3326 distribution, ready to install. It has LDAP-support, MS Windows
3327 integration tools and so forth already configured, saving an
3328 administrator a lot of time and headache. We were using another Linux
3329 based thin-client system called Thinlinc, that has served us very
3330 well. But that Skolelinux is based on VNC and LTSP, to me, is better
3331 when it comes to the kind of multimedia used in schools. That is
3332 showing videos from Youtube or educational TV. It is also easier to
3333 mix thin clients with workstations, since the user settings will be the
3334 same. In our VNC-based solution you had to "beat around the bush" by
3335 setting up a second, hidden, home-directory for user settings for the
3336 workstations, because they will be different from the ones used on the
3337 thin clients. Skolelinux support for diskless workstations are very
3338 convenient since a school today often need to use a class room
3339 projector showing videos in full screen. That is easily done with a
3340 small integrated media computer running as a diskless workstation. You
3341 have only two installs to update and configure. One for the thin
3342 clients and one for the workstations. Also saving a lot of time.  Our
3343 old system was also based on Redhat and CentOS. They are both very
3344 nice distributions, but they are sometimes painfully slow when it
3345 comes to updating multimedia support and multimedia programs (even
3346 such as Gimp), leaving us with a bit "oldish" applications. Debian is
3347 quicker to update.
3348
3349 <p><strong>What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux/Debian
3350 Edu?</strong></p>
3351
3352 <p>Debian is a bit too quick when it comes to updating. As an example
3353 we use old HP terminals as thinclients, and two times already this
3354 year (2012) the updates you get from the repositories has stopped
3355 sound from working with them.  It's a kernel/ALSA issue. So you have
3356 to be more careful properly testing the updates before you run them in
3357 a production environment. This has never happened with CentOS.</p>
3358
3359 <p>I also would like to be able to set my own domain-settings at
3360 install time.  In Skolelinux they are kind of hard coded into the
3361 distribution, when it comes to LDAP and at least samba integration.
3362 That is more a cosmetic/translation issue, and not a real problem.
3363 Running MS Windows applications within the Skolelinux environment needs
3364 to be better supported. That is, running them seamlessly via RDP, and
3365 support for single-sign on.  That will make the transition to free
3366 software easier, because you can keep the applications you really
3367 need.  No support will make it impossible if you work in a school where
3368 some applications can't be open source. As for us we really need to
3369 run Adobe InDesign in our journalist classes.  We run a journalist
3370 education, and is one of the very few non university ones that is ok:d
3371 by Svenska journalistförbundet (Swedish journalist association).  Our
3372 education gives the pupils the right of membership there, once they
3373 are done.  This is important if you want to get a job.</p>
3374
3375 <p>Adobe InDesign is the program most commonly used in newspapers and
3376 magazines.  We used Quark Express before, but they seem to loose there
3377 market to Adobe. The only "equivalent" to InDesign in the opensource
3378 world is Scribus, and its not advanced enough. At least not according
3379 to the teacher. I think it would be possible to use it, because they
3380 are not supposed to learn a program, they are supposed to learn how to
3381 edit and compile a newspaper.  But politically at our school we are not
3382 there yet.  And Scribus lacks a lot of things you find i InDesign.</p>
3383
3384 <p>We used even a windows program for sound editing when it comes to
3385 the radio-journalist part. The year to come we are going to try
3386 Audacity. That software has the same kind of limitations compared to
3387 Adobe Audition, but that teacher is a bit more open minded. We have
3388 tried Ardour also, but that instead is more like a music studio
3389 program, not intended for the kind of editing taking place in a radio
3390 studio. Its way to complex and the GUI is to scattered when you only
3391 want to cut, make pass-overs, add extra channels and normalise.  Those
3392 things you can do in Audacity, but its not as easy as in Audition. You
3393 have to do more things manually with envelopes, and that is a bit old
3394 fashion and timewasting. Its also harder to cut and move sound from
3395 one channel to another, which is a thing that you do frequently
3396 because you often find yourself needing to rearrange parts of the
3397 sound file.</p>
3398
3399 <p>So, I am not sure we will succeed in replacing even Audition, but we
3400 will try.  The problem is the students have certain expectations when
3401 they start an education towards a profession.  So the programs has to
3402 look and feel professional.  Good thing with radio, there are many
3403 programs out there, that radio studios use, so its not as standardised
3404 as Newspaper editing. That means, it does not really matter what
3405 program they learn, because once they start working they still have to
3406 learn the program the studio uses, so instead focus has to be to learn
3407 the editing part without to much focus on a specific software.</p>
3408
3409 <p><strong>Which free software do you use daily?</strong></p>
3410
3411 <p>Myself I'm running Linux Mint, or Ubuntu these days.  I use almost
3412 only open source software, and preferably Linux based. When it comes
3413 to most used applications its OpenOffice, and Firefox (of course ;)
3414 )</p>
3415
3416 <p><strong>Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to
3417 get schools to use free software?</strong></p>
3418
3419 <p>To get schools to use free software there has to be good open
3420 source software that are windows based, to ease the transition. But
3421 it's also very important that the multimedia support is working
3422 flawlessly.  The problems with Youtube, Twitter, Facebook and whatever
3423 will create problems when it comes to both teachers and
3424 students. Economy are also important for schools, so using thin
3425 clients, as long as they have good multimedia support, is a very good
3426 idea. It's also important that the open source software works even for
3427 the administration.  It's hard to convince the teachers to stick with
3428 open source, if the principal has to run Windows.  It also creates a
3429 problem if some classes has to use Windows for there tasks, since that
3430 will create a difference in "status" between classes, so a good
3431 support for running windows applications via the thin client (Linux)
3432 desktop is essential.  At least at our school, where we have mixed
3433 level of educations, from high-school to journalist-school.</p>
3434
3435 <p>Update 2012-07-09 08:30: Paul Wise tipped me on IRC about three
3436 useful sources related to Free Software for radio stations: the LWN
3437 article <a href="https://lwn.net/Articles/481607/">Radio station
3438 management with Airtime</a>,
3439 <a href="http://www.sourcefabric.org/en/airtime/">Airtime</a> which
3440 claim to be a Free open source radio automation software and
3441 <a href="http://www.rivendellaudio.org/">Rivendell</a> which claim to
3442 be complete radio broadcast automation solution.  All of them seem
3443 useful to the aspiring radio producer.</p>
3444
3445       </div>
3446       <div class="tags">
3447
3448
3449         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>.
3450
3451
3452       </div>
3453     </div>
3454     <div class="padding"></div>
3455
3456     <div class="entry">
3457       <div class="title">
3458         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Why_do_schools_waste_money_on_IT_.html">Why do schools waste money on IT?</a>
3459       </div>
3460       <div class="date">
3461          8th July 2012
3462       </div>
3463       <div class="body">
3464         <p>In the Debian Edu / Skolelinux project, we have realised that one
3465 of the major blockers for the project success is the purchasing skills
3466 in schools and municipalities.  We provide what the happy users of
3467 Debian Edu / Skolelinux say they need and to a lower cost than the
3468 alternatives, and yet so few schools decide to use our solution.  I
3469 was pleased to discover the same observation done by mySociety and Tom
3470 Steinberg in his blog post
3471 "<a href="http://www.mysociety.org/2012/06/19/can-you-recognize-the-million-pound-chair/">Can
3472 you recognize the million pound chair?</a>".  Read it and weep for the
3473 spending of your tax money.</p>
3474
3475 <p>Of course there are other factors involved as well, like our
3476 projects bad marketing skills and the Linux community fragmentation
3477 causing worry with the people on the outside, so we as a project need
3478 to keep working hard to gain users, but it is a up-hill battle when
3479 public decision makers are unable to understand computer system
3480 purchases.</p>
3481
3482       </div>
3483       <div class="tags">
3484
3485
3486         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>.
3487
3488
3489       </div>
3490     </div>
3491     <div class="padding"></div>
3492
3493     <div class="entry">
3494       <div class="title">
3495         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Free_Timetabling_Software___nice_free_software.html">Free Timetabling Software - nice free software</a>
3496       </div>
3497       <div class="date">
3498          7th July 2012
3499       </div>
3500       <div class="body">
3501         <p>Included in <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu /
3502 Skolelinux</a> is a large collection of end user and school specific
3503 software.  It is one of the packages not installed by default but
3504 provided in the Debian archive for schools to install if they want to,
3505 is a system to automatically plan the school time table using
3506 information about available teachers, classes and rooms, combined with
3507 the list of required courses and how many hours each topic should
3508 receive.  The software is
3509
3510 <a href="http://lalescu.ro/liviu/fet/">named FET</a>, and it provide a
3511 graphical user interface to input the required information, save the
3512 result in a fairly simple XML format, and generate time tables for
3513 both teachers and students.  It is available both for
3514 <a href="http://lalescu.ro/liviu/fet/download.html">Linux, MacOSX and
3515 Windows</a>.</p>
3516
3517 <p>This is <a href="http://lalescu.ro/liviu/fet/features.html">the
3518 feature list</a>, liftet from the project web site:</p>
3519
3520 <p><ul>
3521
3522   <li>FET is free software, licensed under the GNU GPL v2 or later.
3523     You can freely use, copy, modify and redistribute it </li>
3524
3525   <li>Localized to en_US (US English, default), ar (Arabic), ca
3526     (Catalan), da (Danish), de (German), el (Greek), es (Spanish), fa
3527     (Persian), fr (French), gl (Galician), he (Hebrew), hu
3528     (Hungarian), id (Indonesian), it (Italian), lt (Lithuanian), mk
3529     (Macedonian), ms (Malay), nl (Dutch), pl (Polish), pt_BR
3530     (Brazilian Portuguese), ro (Romanian), ru (Russian), si (Sinhala),
3531     sk (Slovak), sr (Serbian), tr (Turkish), uk (Ukrainian), uz
3532     (Uzbek) and vi (Vietnamese) (incompletely for some languages)
3533     </li>
3534
3535   <li>Fully automatic generation algorithm, allowing also
3536     semi-automatic or manual allocation</li>
3537
3538   <li>Platform independent implementation, allowing running on
3539     GNU/Linux, Windows, Mac and any system that Qt supports </li>
3540
3541   <li>Flexible modular XML format for the input file, allowing editing
3542     with an XML editor or by hand (besides FET interface)</li>
3543
3544   <li>Import/export from CSV format</li>
3545
3546   <li>The resulted timetables are exported into HTML, XML and CSV
3547     formats </li>
3548
3549   <li>Flexible students structure, organized into sets: years, groups
3550     and subgroups. FET allows overlapping years and groups and
3551     non-overlapping subgroups. You can even define individual students
3552     (as separate sets)</li>
3553
3554   <li>Each constraint has a weight percentage, from 0.0% to 100.0%
3555     (but some special constraints are allowed to have only 100% weight
3556     percentage)</li>
3557
3558   <li>Limits for the algorithm (all these limits can be increased on
3559     demand, as a custom version, because this would require a bit more
3560     memory):
3561     <ul>
3562       <li>Maximum total number of hours (periods) per day: 60</li>
3563       <li>Maximum number of working days per week: 35</li>
3564       <li>Maximum total number of teachers: 6000</li>
3565       <li>Maximum total number of sets of students: 30000</li>
3566       <li>Maximum total number of subjects: 6000</li>
3567       <li>Virtually unlimited number of activity tags</li>
3568       <li>Maximum number of activities: 30000</li>
3569       <li>Maximum number of rooms: 6000</li>
3570       <li>Maximum number of buildings: 6000</li>
3571       <li>Possibility of adding multiple teachers and
3572           students sets for each activity.  (it is possible
3573           also to have no teachers or no students sets for an
3574           activity)</li>
3575       <li>Virtually unlimited number of time constraints</li>
3576       <li>Virtually unlimited number of space constraints</li>
3577     </ul></li>
3578
3579   <li>A large and flexible palette of time constraints:
3580     <ul>
3581       <li>Break periods</li>
3582       <li>For teacher(s):
3583         <ul>
3584           <li>Not available periods</li>
3585           <li>Max/min days per week</li>
3586           <li>Max gaps per day/week</li>
3587           <li>Max hours daily/continuously</li>
3588           <li>Min hours daily</li>
3589           <li>Max hours daily/continuously with an activity tag</li>
3590
3591           <li>Respect working in an hourly interval a max number of
3592             days per week</li>
3593         </ul></li>
3594       <li>For students (sets):
3595         <ul>
3596           <li>Not available periods</li>
3597           <li>Begins early (specify max allowed beginnings at second hour)</li>
3598           <li>Max gaps per day/week</li>
3599           <li>Max hours daily/continuously</li>
3600           <li>Min hours daily</li>
3601           <li>Max hours daily/continuously with an activity tag</li>
3602
3603           <li>Respect working in an hourly interval a max number of
3604             days per week</li>
3605         </ul></li>
3606       <li>For an activity or a set of activities/subactivities:
3607         <ul>
3608           <li>A single preferred starting time</li>
3609           <li>A set of preferred starting times</li>
3610           <li>A set of preferred time slots</li>
3611           <li>Min/max days between them</li>
3612           <li>End(s) students day</li>
3613           <li>Same starting time/day/hour</li>
3614           <li>Occupy max time slots from selection (a complex and
3615             flexible constraint, useful in many situations)</li>
3616           <li>Consecutive, ordered, grouped (for 2 or 3 (sub)activities)</li>
3617           <li>Not overlapping</li>
3618           <li>Max simultaneous in selected time slots</li>
3619           <li>Min gaps between a set of (sub)activities</li>
3620         </ul></li>
3621     </ul></li>
3622
3623   <li>A large and flexible palette of space constraints:
3624     <ul>
3625       <li>Room not available periods</li>
3626       <li>For teacher(s):
3627         <ul>
3628           <li>Home room(s)</li>
3629           <li>Max building changes per day/week</li>
3630           <li>Min gaps between building changes</li>
3631         </ul>
3632       </li>
3633
3634       <li>For students (sets):
3635         <ul>
3636           <li>Home room(s)</li>
3637           <li>Max building changes per day/week</li>
3638           <li>Min gaps between building changes</li>
3639         </ul>
3640       </li>
3641       <li>Preferred room(s):
3642         <ul>
3643           <li>For a subject</li>
3644           <li>For an activity tag</li>
3645           <li>For a subject and an activity tag</li>
3646           <li>Individually for a (sub)activity</li>
3647         </ul>
3648       </li>
3649
3650       <li>For a set of activities:
3651         <ul>
3652           <li>Occupy a maximum number of different rooms</li>
3653         </ul>
3654       </li>
3655     </ul>
3656   </li>
3657 </ul></p>
3658
3659 <p>I have not used it myself, as I am not involved in time table
3660 planning at a school, but it seem to work fine when I test it.  If you
3661 need to set up your schools time table, and is tired of doing it
3662 manually, check it out.
3663
3664 A quick summary on how to use it can be found in
3665 <a href="http://marvelsoft.co.in/wp/2012/03/generate-timetable-for-state-cbse-icse-igcse-schools-free/">a
3666 blog post from MarvelSoft</a>.  If you find FET useful, please provide
3667 a recipe for the Debian Edu project in the
3668 <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu#Howtos">Debian Edu HowTo
3669 section</a>.</p>
3670
3671       </div>
3672       <div class="tags">
3673
3674
3675         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>.
3676
3677
3678       </div>
3679     </div>
3680     <div class="padding"></div>
3681
3682     <div class="entry">
3683       <div class="title">
3684         <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>
3685       </div>
3686       <div class="date">
3687          3rd July 2012
3688       </div>
3689       <div class="body">
3690         <p>In the NUUG <a href="http://www.fiksgatami.no/">FiksGataMi</a>
3691 project (Norwegian version of
3692 <a href="http://www.fixmystreet.com/">FixMyStreet</a> from
3693 <a href="http://www.mysociety.org/">mySociety</a>), we have discovered
3694 a problem with the municipalities using
3695 <a href="http://www.zimbra.com/">Zimbra</a>.  When FiksGataMi send a
3696 problem report to the government, the email From: address is set to
3697 the address of the person reporting the problem, while envelope sender
3698 is set to the FiksGataMi contact address.  The intention is to make
3699 sure the municipality send any replies to the person reporting the
3700 problem, while any email delivery problems are sent to us in NUUG.
3701 This work well in most cases, but not for Karmøy municipality using
3702 Zimbra.  Karmøy is using the vacation message function in Zimbra to
3703 send an automatic reply to report that the message has been received,
3704 and this message is sent to the envelope sender and not the address in
3705 the From: header.</p>
3706
3707 <p>This causes the automatic message from Karmøy to go to NUUGs
3708 request-tracker instance instead of to the person reporting the
3709 problem.  We can not really change the envelope sender address, as
3710 this would make it impossible for us to discover when there are
3711 problems with the MTAs receiving problem reports.  We have been in
3712 contact with the people at Karmøy municipality, and they are willing
3713 to adjust Zimbra if something can be changed there to get a better
3714 behaviour.</p>
3715
3716 <p>The default behaviour of Zimbra is as far as I can tell according
3717 to the specification in RFC 3834, which recommend that vacation
3718 messages are sent to the envelope sender and not to the From: address.
3719 But I wonder if it is possible to adjust or configure Zimbra to behave
3720 differently.  Anyone know?  Please let us know at
3721 <a href="http://lists.nuug.no/mailman/listinfo/fiksgatami">fiksgatami
3722 (at) nuug.no</a>.</p>
3723
3724       </div>
3725       <div class="tags">
3726
3727
3728         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>.
3729
3730
3731       </div>
3732     </div>
3733     <div class="padding"></div>
3734
3735     <div class="entry">
3736       <div class="title">
3737         <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>
3738       </div>
3739       <div class="date">
3740         26th June 2012
3741       </div>
3742       <div class="body">
3743         <p>I've been too busy at home, but finally I found time to wrap up
3744 another interview with the people behind
3745 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu and Skolelinux</a>.
3746 This time we get to know José Luis Redrejo Rodríguez, one of our great
3747 helpers from Spain.  His effort was the reason we added support for
3748 several desktop types (KDE, Gnome and most recently LXDE) in Debian
3749 Edu, and have all of these available in the recently published
3750 <a href="http://www.debian.org/News/2012/20120311.html">Debian Edu
3751 Squeeze</a> version.</p>
3752
3753 <p><strong>Who are you, and how do you spend your days?</strong></p>
3754
3755 <p>I'm a father, teacher and engineer who is working for the Education
3756 ministry of the Region of Extremadura (Spain) in the implementation of
3757 ICT in schools</p>
3758
3759 <p><strong>How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux/Debian Edu
3760 project?</strong></p>
3761
3762 <p>At 2006, I verified that both, we in Extremadura and Skolelinux
3763 project, had been working in parallel for some years, doing very
3764 similar things, using very similar tools and with similar targets, so
3765 I decided it was time to join forces as much as possible.</p>
3766
3767 <p><strong>What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux/Debian
3768 Edu?</strong></p>
3769
3770 <p>A community of highly skilled experts working together, with a
3771 really open schema of collaboration and work. I really love the
3772 concepts of Do-ocracy and Merit-ocracy and the way these concepts are
3773 been used everyday inside Debian Edu.</p>
3774
3775 <p><strong>What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux/Debian
3776 Edu?</strong></p>
3777
3778 <p>Sometimes the differences in the implementations, laws or
3779 economical and technical resources in the different countries don't
3780 allow us to agree in the same solution for all of us, and several
3781 approaches are needed, what is a waste of effort. Also, there is a
3782 lack of more man power to be able to follow the fast evolution of the
3783 technologies in school.</p>
3784
3785 <p><strong>Which free software do you use daily?</strong></p>
3786
3787 <p>Debian, of course, and due to my kind of job I am most of my time
3788 between Iceweasel, <a href="http://www.geany.org/">Geany</a> and
3789 <a href="http://www.ohloh.net/p/gnome-terminator">Terminator</a>.</p>
3790
3791 <p><strong>Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to
3792 get schools to use free software?</strong></p>
3793
3794 <p>I think there is not a single strategy because there are very
3795 different scenarios: schools with mixed proprietary and free
3796 environments, schools using only workstations, other schools using
3797 laptops, netbooks, tablets, interactive white-boards, etc.</p>
3798
3799 <p>Also the range of ages of the students is very broad and you can
3800 not use the same solutions for primary schools and secondary or even
3801 universities. So different strategies are needed.</p>
3802
3803 <p>But, looking at these differences, and looking back to the things
3804 we've done and implemented, and the places were we have spent most of
3805 our forces, I think we should focus as much as possible in free
3806 multi-platform environments, using only standards tools, and moving
3807 more and more to Internet or network solutions that could be deployed
3808 using wireless. I think we'll see more and more personal devices in
3809 the schools, devices the students and teachers will take home with
3810 them, so the solutions must be able to be taken at home and continue
3811 working there.</p>
3812
3813       </div>
3814       <div class="tags">
3815
3816
3817         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>.
3818
3819
3820       </div>
3821     </div>
3822     <div class="padding"></div>
3823
3824     <div class="entry">
3825       <div class="title">
3826         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Song_book_for_Computer_Scientists.html">Song book for Computer Scientists</a>
3827       </div>
3828       <div class="date">
3829         24th June 2012
3830       </div>
3831       <div class="body">
3832         <p>Many years ago, while studying Computer Science at the
3833 <a href="http://www.uit.no/">University of Tromsø</a>, I started
3834 collecting computer related songs for use at parties.  The original
3835 version was written in LaTeX, but a few years ago I got help from
3836 Håkon W. Lie, one of the inventors of W3C CSS, to convert it to HTML
3837 while keeping the ability to create a nice book in PDF format.  I have
3838 not had time to maintain the book for a while now, and guess I should
3839 put it up on some public version control repository where others can
3840 help me extend and update the book.  If anyone is volunteering to help
3841 me with this, send me an email.  Also let me know if there are songs
3842 missing in my book.</p>
3843
3844 <p>I have not mentioned the book on my blog so far, and it occured to
3845 me today that I really should let all my readers share the joys of
3846 singing out load about programming, computers and computer networks.
3847 Especially now that <a href="http://debconf12.debconf.org/">Debconf
3848 12</a> is about to start (and I am not going).  Want to sing?  Check
3849 out <a href="http://www.hungry.com/~pere/cs-songbook/">Petter's
3850 Computer Science Songbook</a>.
3851
3852       </div>
3853       <div class="tags">
3854
3855
3856         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>.
3857
3858
3859       </div>
3860     </div>
3861     <div class="padding"></div>
3862
3863     <div class="entry">
3864       <div class="title">
3865         <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>
3866       </div>
3867       <div class="date">
3868         11th June 2012
3869       </div>
3870       <div class="body">
3871         <p>During my work on
3872 <a href="http://www.debian.org/News/2012/20120311.nb.html">Debian Edu
3873 based on Squeeze</a>, I came across some issues that should be
3874 addressed in the Wheezy release.  I finally found time to wrap up my
3875 notes and provide quick summary of what I found, with a bit
3876 explanation.</p>
3877
3878 <p><ul>
3879
3880 <li>We need to rewrite our package installation framework, as tasksel
3881 changed from using tasksel tasks to using meta packages (aka packages
3882 with dependencies like our education-* packages), and our installation
3883 system depend on tasksel tasks in
3884 /usr/share/tasksel/debian-edu-tasks.desc for package
3885 installation.</li>
3886
3887 <li>Enable Kerberos login for more services.  Now with the Kerberos
3888 foundation in place, we should use it to get single sign on with more
3889 services, and avoiding unneeded password / login questions.  We should
3890 at least try to enable it for these services:
3891 <ul>
3892
3893   <li>CUPS for admins to add/configure printers and users when using
3894     quotas.</li>
3895   <li>Nagios for admins checking the system status.</li>
3896   <li>GOsa for admins updating LDAP and users changing their passwords.</li>
3897   <li>LDAP for admins updating LDAP.</li>
3898   <li>Squid for users when exam mode / filtering is active.</li>
3899   <li>ssh for admins and users to save a password prompt.</li>
3900
3901 </ul></li>
3902
3903 <li>When we move GOsa to use Kerberos instead of LDAP bind to
3904 authenticate users, we should try to block or at least limit access to
3905 use LDAP bind for authentication, to ensure Kerberos is used when it
3906 is intended, and nothing fall back to using the less safe LDAP bind</li>
3907
3908 <li>Merge debian-edu-config and debian-edu-install.  The split made
3909 sense when d-e-install did a lot more, but these days it is just an
3910 inconvenience when we update the debconf preseeding values.</li>
3911
3912 <li>Fix partman-auto to allow us to abort the installation before
3913 touching the disk if the disk is too small.  This is
3914 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/653305">BTS report #653305</a> and the
3915 d-i developers are fine with the patch and someone just need to apply
3916 it and upload.  After this is done we need to adjust
3917 debian-edu-install to use this new hook.</li>
3918
3919 <li>Adjust to new LTSP framework (boot time config instead of install
3920 time config).  LTSP changed its design, and our hooks to install
3921 packages and update the configuration is most likely not going to work
3922 in Wheezy.
3923
3924 <li>Consider switching to NBD instead of NFS for LTSP root, to allow
3925 the Kernel to cache files in its normal file cache, possibly speeding
3926 up KDE login on slow networks.</li>
3927
3928 <li>Make it possible to create expired user passwords that need to
3929 change on first login.  This is useful when handing out password on
3930 paper, to make sure only the user know the password.  This require
3931 fixes to the PAM handling of kdm and gdm.</li>
3932
3933 <li>Make GUI for adding new machines automatically from sitesummary.
3934 The current command line script is not very friendly to people most
3935 familiar with GUIs.  This should probably be integrated into GOsa to
3936 have it available where the admin will be looking for it..</li>
3937
3938 <li>We should find way for Nagios to check that the DHCP service
3939 actually is working (as in handling out IP addresses).  None of the
3940 Nagios checks I have found so far have been working for me.</li>
3941
3942 <li>We should switch from libpam-nss-ldapd to sssd for all profiles
3943 using LDAP, and not only on for roaming workstations, to have less
3944 packages to configure and consistent setup across all profiles.</li>
3945
3946 <li>We should configure Kerberos to update LDAP and Samba password
3947 when changing password using the Kerberos protocol.  The hook was
3948 requested in <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/588968">BTS report
3949 #588968</a> and is now available in Wheezy.  We might need to write a
3950 MIT Kerberos plugin in C to get this.</li>
3951
3952 <li>We should clean up the set of applications installed by default.
3953 <ul>
3954
3955 <li>reduce the number of chemistry visualisers</li>
3956 <li>consider dropping xpaint</li>
3957 <li>and probably more?</li>
3958 </ul></li>
3959
3960 <li>Some hardware need external firmware to work properly.  This is
3961 mostly the case for WiFi network cards, but there are some other
3962 examples too.  For popular laptops to work out of the box, such
3963 firmware need to be installed from non-free, and we should provide
3964 some GUI to do this.  Ubuntu already have this implemented, and we
3965 could consider using their packages.  At the moment we have some
3966 command line script to do this (one for the running system, another
3967 for the LTSP chroot).</li>
3968
3969
3970 <li>In Squeeze, we provide KDE, Gnome and LXDE as desktop options.  We
3971 should extend the list to Xfce and Sugar, and preferably find a way to
3972 install several and allow the admin or the user to select which one to
3973 use.</li>
3974
3975 <li>The golearn tool from the goplay package make it easy to check out
3976 interesting educational packages.  We should work on the package
3977 tagging in Debian to ensure it represent all the useful educational
3978 packages, and extend the tool to allow it to use packagekit to install
3979 new applications with a simple mouse click.</li>
3980
3981 <li>The Squeeze version got half a exam solution already in place,
3982 with the introduction of iptable based network blocking, but for it to
3983 be a complete exam solution the Squid proxy need to enable
3984 filtering/blocking as well when the exam mode is enabled.  We should
3985 implement a way to easily enable this for the schools that want it,
3986 instead of the "it is documented" method of today.</li>
3987
3988 <li>A feature used in several schools is the ability for a teacher to
3989 "take over" the desktop of individual or all computers in the room.
3990 There are at least three implementations,
3991 <a href="italc.sourceforge.net/">italc</a>,
3992 <a href="http://www.itais.net/help/en/">controlaula</a> og
3993 <a href="http://www.epoptes.org/">epoptes</a> and we should pick one of
3994 them and make it trivial to set it up in a school.  The challenges is
3995 how to distribute crypto keys and how to group computers in one room
3996 and how to set up which machine/user can control the machines in a
3997 given room.</li>
3998
3999 <li>Tablets and surf boards are getting more and more popular, and we
4000 should look into providing a good solution for integrating these into
4001 the Debian Edu network.  Not quite sure how.  Perhaps we should
4002 provide a installation profile with better touch screen support for
4003 them, or add some sync services to allow them to exchange
4004 configuration and data with the central server.  This should be
4005 investigated.</li>
4006
4007 </ul></p>
4008
4009 <p>I guess we will discover more as we continue to work on the Wheezy
4010 version.</p>
4011
4012       </div>
4013       <div class="tags">
4014
4015
4016         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>.
4017
4018
4019       </div>
4020     </div>
4021     <div class="padding"></div>
4022
4023     <div class="entry">
4024       <div class="title">
4025         <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>
4026       </div>
4027       <div class="date">
4028          9th June 2012
4029       </div>
4030       <div class="body">
4031         <p>Slashdot got a story about Intel planning a
4032 <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
4033 with face recognition</a> to recognise the viewer, and it occurred to
4034 me that it would be more interesting to turn it around, and do face
4035 recognition on the TV image itself.  It could let the viewer know who
4036 is present on the screen, and perhaps look up their credibility,
4037 company affiliation, previous appearances etc for the viewer to better
4038 evaluate what is being said and done.  That would be a feature I would
4039 be willing to pay for.</p>
4040
4041 <p>I would not be willing to pay for a TV that point a camera on my
4042 household, like the big brother feature apparently proposed by Intel.
4043 It is the telescreen idea fetched straight out of the book
4044 <a href="http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks01/0100021.txt">1984 by George
4045 Orwell</a>.</p>
4046
4047       </div>
4048       <div class="tags">
4049
4050
4051         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>.
4052
4053
4054       </div>
4055     </div>
4056     <div class="padding"></div>
4057
4058     <div class="entry">
4059       <div class="title">
4060         <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>
4061       </div>
4062       <div class="date">
4063          6th June 2012
4064       </div>
4065       <div class="body">
4066         <p>A few days ago
4067 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/SOAP_based_webservice_from_Dell_to_check_server_support_status.html">I
4068 reported how to get</a> the support status out of Dell using an
4069 unofficial and undocumented SOAP API, which I since have found out was
4070 <a href="http://lists.us.dell.com/pipermail/linux-poweredge/2012-February/045959.html">discovered
4071 by Daniel De Marco in february</a>.  Combined with my web scraping
4072 code for HP, Dell and IBM
4073 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Checking_server_hardware_support_status_for_Dell__HP_and_IBM_servers.html">from
4074 2009</a>, I got inspired and wrote
4075 <a href="https://views.scraperwiki.com/run/computer-hardware-support-status/">a
4076 web service</a> based on Scraperwiki to make it easy to look up the
4077 support status and get a machine readable result back.</p>
4078
4079 <p>This is what it look like at the moment when asking for the JSON
4080 output:
4081
4082 <blockquote><pre>
4083 % 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>
4084 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": ""})
4085 %
4086 </pre></blockquote>
4087
4088 <p>It currently support Dell and HP, and I am hoping for help to add
4089 support for other vendors.  The python source is available on
4090 Scraperwiki and I welcome help with adding more features.</p>
4091
4092       </div>
4093       <div class="tags">
4094
4095
4096         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>.
4097
4098
4099       </div>
4100     </div>
4101     <div class="padding"></div>
4102
4103     <div class="entry">
4104       <div class="title">
4105         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__Mike_Gabriel.html">Debian Edu interview: Mike Gabriel</a>
4106       </div>
4107       <div class="date">
4108          2nd June 2012
4109       </div>
4110       <div class="body">
4111         <p>Back in 2010, Mike Gabriel showed up on the
4112 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu and Skolelinux</a>
4113 mailing list.  He quickly proved to be a valuable developer, and
4114 thanks to his tireless effort we now have Kerberos integrated into the
4115 <a href="http://www.debian.org/News/2012/20120311.html">Debian Edu
4116 Squeeze</a> version.</p>
4117
4118 <p><strong>Who are you, and how do you spend your days?</strong></p>
4119
4120 <p>My name is Mike Gabriel, I am 38 years old and live near Kiel,
4121 Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. I live together with a wonderful partner
4122 (Angela Fuß) and two own children and two bonus children (contributed
4123 by Angela).</p>
4124
4125 <p>During the day I am part-time employed as a system administrator
4126 and part-time working as an IT consultant. The consultancy work
4127 touches free software topics wherever and whenever possible. During
4128 the nights I am a free software developer. In the gaps I also train in
4129 becoming an osteopath.</p>
4130
4131 <p>Starting in 2010 we (Andreas Buchholz, Angela Fuß, Mike Gabriel)
4132 have set up a free software project in the area of Kiel that aims at
4133 introducing free software into schools. The project's name is
4134 "IT-Zukunft Schule" (IT future for schools). The project links IT
4135 skills with communication skills.</p>
4136
4137 <p><strong>How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux/Debian Edu
4138 project?</strong></p>
4139
4140 <p>While preparing our own customised Linux distribution for
4141 "IT-Zukunft Schule" we were repeatedly asked if we really wanted to
4142 reinvent the wheel. What schools really need is already available,
4143 people said.  From this impulse we started evaluating other Linux
4144 distributions that target being used for school networks.</p>
4145
4146 <p>At the end we short-listed two approaches and compared them: a
4147 commercial Linux distribution developed by a company in Bremen,
4148 Germany, and Skolelinux / Debian Edu. Between 12/2010 and 03/2011 we
4149 went to several events and met people being responsible for marketing
4150 and development of either of the distributions. Skolelinux / Debian
4151 Edu was by far much more convincing compared to the other product that
4152 got short-listed beforehand--across the full spectrum. What was most
4153 attractive for me personally: the perspective of collaboration within
4154 the developmental branch of the Debian Edu project itself.</p>
4155
4156 <p>In parallel with this, we talked to many local and not-so-local
4157 people.  People teaching at schools, headmasters, politicians, data
4158 protection experts, other IT professionals.</p>
4159
4160 <p>We came to two conclusions:</p>
4161
4162 <p>First, a technical conclusion: What schools need is available in
4163 bits and pieces here and there, and none of the solutions really fit
4164 by 100%. Any school we have seen has a very individual IT setup
4165 whereas most of each school's requirements could mapped by a standard
4166 IT solution.  The requirement to this IT solution is flexibility and
4167 customisability, so that individual adaptations here and there are
4168 possible.  In terms of re-distributing and rolling out such a
4169 standardised IT system for schools (a system that is still to some
4170 degree customisable) there is still a lot of work to do here
4171 locally. Debian Edu / Skolelinux has been our choice as the starting
4172 point.</p>
4173
4174 <p>Second, a holistic conclusion: What schools need does not exist at
4175 all (or we missed it so far). There are several technical solutions
4176 for handling IT at schools that tend to make a good impression. What
4177 has been missing completely here in Germany, though, is the enrolment
4178 of people into using IT and teaching with IT. "IT-Zukunft Schule"
4179 tries to provide an approach for this.</p>
4180
4181 <p>Only some schools have some sort of a media concept which explains,
4182 defines and gives guidance on how to use IT in class. Most schools in
4183 Northern Germany do not have an IT service provider, the school's IT
4184 equipment is managed by one or (if the school is lucky) two (admin)
4185 teachers, most of the workload these admin teachers get done in there
4186 spare time.</p>
4187
4188 <p>We were surprised that only a very few admin teachers were
4189 networked with colleagues from other schools. Basically, every school
4190 here around has its individual approach of providing IT equipment to
4191 teachers and students and the exchange of ideas has been quasi
4192 non-existent until 2010/2011.</p>
4193
4194 <p>Quite some (non-admin) teachers try to avoid using IT technology in
4195 class as a learning medium completely. Several reasons for this
4196 avoidance do exist.</p>
4197
4198 <p>We discovered that no-one has ever taken a closer look at this
4199 social part of IT management in schools, so far. On our quest journey
4200 for a technical IT solution for schools, we discussed this issue with
4201 several teachers, headmasters, politicians, other IT professionals and
4202 they all confirmed: a holistic approach of considering IT management
4203 at schools, an approach that includes the people in place, will be new
4204 and probably a gain for all.</p>
4205
4206 <p><strong>What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux/Debian
4207 Edu?</strong></p>
4208
4209 <p>There is a list of advantages: international context, openness to
4210 any kind of contributions, do-ocracy policy, the closeness to Debian,
4211 the different installation scenarios possible (from stand-alone
4212 workstation to complex multi-server sites), the transparency within
4213 project communication, honest communication within the group of
4214 developers, etc.</p>
4215
4216 <p><strong>What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux/Debian
4217 Edu?</strong></p>
4218
4219 <p>Every coin has two sides:</p>
4220
4221 <p>Technically: <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/311188">BTS issue
4222 #311188</a>, tricky upgradability of a Debian Edu main server, network
4223 client installations on top of a plain vanilla Debian installation
4224 should become possible sometime in the near future, one could think
4225 about splitting the very complex package debian-edu-config into
4226 several portions (to make it easier for new developers to
4227 contribute).</p>
4228
4229 <p>Another issue I see is that we (as Debian Edu developers) should
4230 find out more about the network of people who do the marketing for
4231 Debian Edu / Skolelinux. There is a very active group in Germany
4232 promoting Skolelinux on the bigger Linux Days within Germany. Are
4233 there other groups like that in other countries? How can we bring
4234 these marketing people together (marketing group A with group B and
4235 all of them with the group of Debian Edu developers)? During the last
4236 meeting of the German Skolelinux group, I got the impression of people
4237 there being rather disconnected from the development department of
4238 Debian Edu / Skolelinux.</p>
4239
4240 <p><strong>Which free software do you use daily?</strong></p>
4241
4242 <p>For my daily business, I do not use commercial software at all.</p>
4243
4244 <p>For normal stuff I use Iceweasel/Firefox, Libreoffice.org. For
4245 serious text writing I prefer LaTeX. I use gimp, inkscape, scribus for
4246 more artistic tasks. I run virtual machines in KVM and Virtualbox.</p>
4247
4248 <p>I am one of the upstream developers of X2Go. In 2010 I started the
4249 development of a Python based X2Go Client, called PyHoca-GUI.
4250 PyHoca-GUI has brought forth a Python X2Go Client API that currently
4251 is being integrated in Ubuntu's software center.</p>
4252
4253 <p>For communications I have my own Kolab server running using Horde
4254 as web-based groupware client. For IRC I love to use irssi, for Jabber
4255 I have several clients that I use, mostly pidgin, though. I am also
4256 the Debian maintainer of Coccinella, a Jabber-based interactive
4257 whiteboard.</p>
4258
4259 <p>My favourite terminal emulator is KDE's Yakuake.</p>
4260
4261 <p><strong>Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to
4262 get schools to use free software?</strong></p>
4263
4264 <p>Communicate, communicate, communicate. Enrol people, enrol people,
4265 enrol people.</p>
4266
4267       </div>
4268       <div class="tags">
4269
4270
4271         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>.
4272
4273
4274       </div>
4275     </div>
4276     <div class="padding"></div>
4277
4278     <div class="entry">
4279       <div class="title">
4280         <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>
4281       </div>
4282       <div class="date">
4283          1st June 2012
4284       </div>
4285       <div class="body">
4286         <p>A few years ago I wrote
4287 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Checking_server_hardware_support_status_for_Dell__HP_and_IBM_servers.html">how
4288 to extract support status</a> for your Dell and HP servers.  Recently
4289 I have learned from colleges here at the
4290 <a href="http://www.uio.no/">University of Oslo</a> that Dell have
4291 made this even easier, by providing a SOAP based web service.  Given
4292 the service tag, one can now query the Dell servers and get machine
4293 readable information about the support status.  This perl code
4294 demonstrate how to do it:</p>
4295
4296 <p><pre>
4297 use strict;
4298 use warnings;
4299 use SOAP::Lite;
4300 use Data::Dumper;
4301 my $GUID = '11111111-1111-1111-1111-111111111111';
4302 my $App = 'test';
4303 my $servicetag = $ARGV[0] or die "Please supply a servicetag. $!\n";
4304 my ($deal, $latest, @dates);
4305 my $s = SOAP::Lite
4306     -> uri('http://support.dell.com/WebServices/')
4307     -> on_action( sub { join '', @_ } )
4308     -> proxy('http://xserv.dell.com/services/assetservice.asmx')
4309     ;
4310 my $a = $s->GetAssetInformation(
4311     SOAP::Data->name('guid')->value($GUID)->type(''),
4312     SOAP::Data->name('applicationName')->value($App)->type(''),
4313     SOAP::Data->name('serviceTags')->value($servicetag)->type(''),
4314 );
4315 print Dumper($a -> result) ;
4316 </pre></p>
4317
4318 <p>The output can look like this:</p>
4319
4320 <p><pre>
4321 $VAR1 = {
4322           'Asset' => {
4323                      'Entitlements' => {
4324                                        'EntitlementData' => [
4325                                                             {
4326                                                               'EntitlementType' => 'Expired',
4327                                                               'EndDate' => '2009-07-29T00:00:00',
4328                                                               'Provider' => '',
4329                                                               'StartDate' => '2006-07-29T00:00:00',
4330                                                               'DaysLeft' => '0'
4331                                                             },
4332                                                             {
4333                                                               'EntitlementType' => 'Expired',
4334                                                               'EndDate' => '2009-07-29T00:00:00',
4335                                                               'Provider' => '',
4336                                                               'StartDate' => '2006-07-29T00:00:00',
4337                                                               'DaysLeft' => '0'
4338                                                             },
4339                                                             {
4340                                                               'EntitlementType' => 'Expired',
4341                                                               'EndDate' => '2007-07-29T00:00:00',
4342                                                               'Provider' => '',
4343                                                               'StartDate' => '2006-07-29T00:00:00',
4344                                                               'DaysLeft' => '0'
4345                                                             }
4346                                                           ]
4347                                      },
4348                      'AssetHeaderData' => {
4349                                           'SystemModel' => 'GX620',
4350                                           'ServiceTag' => '8DSGD2J',
4351                                           'SystemShipDate' => '2006-07-29T19:00:00-05:00',
4352                                           'Buid' => '2323',
4353                                           'Region' => 'Europe',
4354                                           'SystemID' => 'PLX_GX620',
4355                                           'SystemType' => 'OptiPlex'
4356                                         }
4357                    }
4358         };
4359 </pre></p>
4360
4361 <p>I have not been able to find any documentation from Dell about this
4362 service outside the
4363 <a href="http://xserv.dell.com/services/assetservice.asmx?op=GetAssetInformation">inline
4364 documentation</a>, and according to
4365 <a href="http://iboyd.net/index.php/2012/02/14/updated-dell-warranty-information-script/">one
4366 comment</a> it can have stability issues, but it is a lot better than
4367 scraping HTML pages. :)</p>
4368
4369 <p>Wonder if HP and other server vendors have a similar service.  If
4370 you know of one, drop me an email. :)</p>
4371
4372       </div>
4373       <div class="tags">
4374
4375
4376         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>.
4377
4378
4379       </div>
4380     </div>
4381     <div class="padding"></div>
4382
4383     <div class="entry">
4384       <div class="title">
4385         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/First_monitor_calibration_using_ColorHug.html">First monitor calibration using ColorHug</a>
4386       </div>
4387       <div class="date">
4388         31st May 2012
4389       </div>
4390       <div class="body">
4391         <p>A few days ago my color calibration gadget
4392 <a href="http://www.hughski.com/index.html">ColorHug</a> arrived in the
4393 mail, and I've had a few days to test it.  As all my machines are
4394 running Debian Squeeze, where
4395 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/c/colorhug-client.html">the
4396 calibration software</a> is missing (it is present in Wheezy and Sid),
4397 I ran the calibration using the Fedora based live CD.  This worked
4398 just fine.  So far I have only done the quick calibration.  It was
4399 slow enough for me, so I will leave the more extensive calibration for
4400 another day.</p>
4401
4402 <p>After calibration, I get a
4403 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ICC_profile">ICC color
4404 profile</a> file that can be passed to programs understanding such
4405 tools.  KDE do not seem to understand it out of the box, so I searched
4406 for command line tools to use to load the color profile into X.
4407 xcalib was the first one I found, and it seem to work fine for single
4408 monitor setups.  But for my video player, a laptop with a flat screen
4409 attached, it was unable to load the color profile for the correct
4410 monitor.  After searching a bit, I
4411 <a href="http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1347896">discovered</a>
4412 that the dispwin tool from the argyll package would do what I wanted,
4413 and a simple</p>
4414
4415 <p><pre>
4416 dispwin -d 1 profile.icc
4417 </pre></p>
4418
4419 <p>later I had the color profile loaded for the correct monitor.  The
4420 result was a bit more pink than I expected.  I guess I picked the
4421 wrong monitor type for the "led" monitor I got, but the result is good
4422 enough for now.</p>
4423
4424       </div>
4425       <div class="tags">
4426
4427
4428         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
4429
4430
4431       </div>
4432     </div>
4433     <div class="padding"></div>
4434
4435     <div class="entry">
4436       <div class="title">
4437         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__Ralf_Gesellensetter.html">Debian Edu interview: Ralf Gesellensetter</a>
4438       </div>
4439       <div class="date">
4440         27th May 2012
4441       </div>
4442       <div class="body">
4443         <p>In 2003, a German teacher showed up on the
4444 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu and Skolelinux</a>
4445 mailing list with interesting problems and reports proving he setting
4446 up Linux for a (for us at the time) lot of pupils.  His name was Ralf
4447 Gesellensetter, and he has been an important tester and contributor
4448 since then, helping to make sure the
4449 <a href="http://www.debian.org/News/2012/20120311.html">Debian Edu
4450 Squeeze</a> release became as good as it is..</p>
4451
4452 <p><strong>Who are you, and how do you spend your days?</strong></p>
4453
4454 <p>I am a teacher from Germany, and my subjects are Geography,
4455 Mathematics, and Computer Science ("Informatik"). During the past 12
4456 years (since 2000), I have been working for a comprehensive (and soon,
4457 also inclusive) school leading to all kind of general levels, such as
4458 O- or A-level ("Abitur").  For quite as long, I've been taking care of
4459 our computer network.</p>
4460
4461 <p>Now, in my early 40s, I enjoy the privilege of spending a lot of my
4462 spare time together with my wife, our son (3 years) and our daughter
4463 (4 months).</p>
4464
4465 <p><strong>How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux/Debian Edu
4466 project?</strong></p>
4467
4468 <p>We had tried different Linux based school servers, when members of
4469 my local Linux User Group (LUG OWL) detected Skolelinux. I remember
4470 very well, being part of a party celebrating the Linux New Media Award
4471 ("Best Newcomer Distribution", also nominated: Ubuntu) that was given
4472 to Skolelinux at Linux World Exposition in Frankfurt, 2005 (IIRC). Few
4473 months later, I had the chance to join a developer meeting in Ulsrud
4474 (Oslo) and to hand out the award to Knut Yrvin and others.  For more
4475 than 7 years, Skolelinux is part of our schools infrastructure, namely
4476 our main server (tjener), one LTSP (today without thin clients), and
4477 approximately 50 work stations. Most of these have the option to boot a
4478 locally installed Skolelinux image.  As a consequence, I joined quite
4479 a few events dealing with free software or Linux, and met many Debian
4480 (Edu) developers. All of them seemed quite nice and competent to me,
4481 one more reason to stick to Skolelinux.</p>
4482
4483 <p><strong>What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux/Debian
4484 Edu?</strong></p>
4485
4486 <p>Debian driven, you are given all the advantages of a community
4487 project including well maintained updates. Once, you are familiar with
4488 the network layout, you can easily roll out an entire educational
4489 computer infrastructure, from just one installation media. As only
4490 free software (FOSS) is used, that supports even elderly hardware,
4491 up-sizing your IT equipment is only limited by space (i.e. available
4492 labs).  Especially if you run a LTSP thin client server, your
4493 administration costs tend towards zero.</p>
4494
4495 <p><strong>What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux/Debian
4496 Edu?</strong></p>
4497
4498 <p>While Debian's stability has loads of advantages for servers, this
4499 might be different in some cases for clients: Schools with unlimited
4500 budget might buy new hardware with components that are not yet
4501 supported by Debian stable, or wish to use more recent versions of
4502 office packages or desktop environments.  These schools have the
4503 option to run Debian testing or other distributions - if they have the
4504 capacity to do so.  Another issue is that Debian release cycles
4505 include a wide range of changes; therefor a high percentage of human
4506 power seems to be absorbed by just keeping the features of Skolelinux
4507 within the new setting of the version to come. During this process,
4508 the cogs of Debian Edu are getting more and more professional,
4509 i.e. harder to understand for novices.</p>
4510
4511 <p><strong>Which free software do you use daily?</strong></p>
4512
4513 <p>LibreOffice, Wikipedia, Openstreetmap, Iceweasel (Mozilla Firefox),
4514 KMail, Gimp, Inkscape - and of course the Linux Kernel (not only on
4515 PC, Laptop, Mobile, but also our SAT receiver)</p>
4516
4517 <p><strong>Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to
4518 get schools to use free software?</strong></p>
4519
4520 <p><ol>
4521
4522 <li>Support computer science as regular subject in schools to make
4523 people really "own" their hardware, to make them understand the
4524 difference between proprietary software products, and free software
4525 developing.</li>
4526
4527 <li>Make budget baskets corresponding: In Germany's public schools
4528 there are more or less fixed budgets for IT equipment (including
4529 licenses), so schools won't benefit from any savings here. This
4530 privilege is left to private schools which have consequently a large
4531 share among German Skolelinux schools.</li>
4532
4533 <li>Get free software in the seminars where would-be teachers are
4534 trained. In many cases, teachers' software customs are respected by
4535 decision makers rather than the expertise of any IT experts.</li>
4536
4537 <li>Don't limit ourself to free software run natively. Everybody uses
4538 free software or free licenses (for instance Wikipedia), and this
4539 general concept should get expanded to free educational content to be
4540 shared world wide (school books e.g.).</li>
4541
4542 <li>Make clear where ever you can that the market share of free (libre)
4543 office suites is much above 20 p.c. today, and that you pupils don't
4544 need to know the "ribbon menu" in order to get employed.</li>
4545
4546 <li>Talk about the difference between freeware and free software.</li>
4547
4548 <li>Spread free software, or even collections of portable free apps
4549 for USB pen drives. Endorse students to get a legal copy of
4550 Libreoffice rather than accepting them to use illegal serials.  And
4551 keep sending documents in ODF formats.</li>
4552
4553 </ol></p>
4554
4555       </div>
4556       <div class="tags">
4557
4558
4559         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>.
4560
4561
4562       </div>
4563     </div>
4564     <div class="padding"></div>
4565
4566     <div class="entry">
4567       <div class="title">
4568         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/The_cost_of_ODF_and_OOXML.html">The cost of ODF and OOXML</a>
4569       </div>
4570       <div class="date">
4571         26th May 2012
4572       </div>
4573       <div class="body">
4574         <p>I just come across a blog post from Glyn Moody reporting the
4575 claimed cost from Microsoft on requiring ODF to be used by the UK
4576 government.  I just sent him an email to let him know that his
4577 assumption are most likely wrong.  Sharing it here in case some of my
4578 blog readers have seem the same numbers float around in the UK.</p>
4579
4580 <p><blockquote> <p>Hi.  I just noted your
4581 <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>
4582 comment:</p>
4583
4584 <p><blockquote>"They're all in Danish, not unreasonably, but even
4585 with the help of Google Translate I can't find any figures about the
4586 savings of "moving to a flexible two standard" as claimed by the
4587 Microsoft email. But I assume it is backed up somewhere, so let's take
4588 it, and the £500 million figure for the UK, on trust."
4589 </blockquote></p>
4590
4591 <p>I can tell you that the Danish reports are inflated.  I believe it is
4592 the same reports that were used in the Norwegian debate around 2007,
4593 and Gisle Hannemyr (a well known IT commentator in Norway) had a look
4594 at the content.  In short, the reason it is claimed that using ODF
4595 will be so costly, is based on the assumption that this mean every
4596 existing document need to be converted from one of the MS Office
4597 formats to ODF, transferred to the receiver, and converted back from
4598 ODF to one of the MS Office formats, and that the conversion will cost
4599 10 minutes of work time for both the sender and the receiver.  In
4600 reality the sender would have a tool capable of saving to ODF, and the
4601 receiver would have a tool capable of reading it, and the time spent
4602 would at most be a few seconds for saving and loading, not 20 minutes
4603 of wasted effort.</p>
4604
4605 <p>Microsoft claimed all these costs were saved by allowing people to
4606 transfer the original files from MS Office instead of spending 10
4607 minutes converting to ODF. :)</p>
4608
4609 <p>See
4610 <a href="http://hannemyr.com/no/ms12_vl02.php">http://hannemyr.com/no/ms12_vl02.php</a>
4611 and
4612 <a href="http://hannemyr.com/no/ms12.php">http://hannemyr.com/no/ms12.php</a>
4613 for background information.  Norwegian only, sorry. :)</p>
4614 </blockquote></p>
4615
4616       </div>
4617       <div class="tags">
4618
4619
4620         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>.
4621
4622
4623       </div>
4624     </div>
4625     <div class="padding"></div>
4626
4627     <div class="entry">
4628       <div class="title">
4629         <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>
4630       </div>
4631       <div class="date">
4632         18th May 2012
4633       </div>
4634       <div class="body">
4635         <p>In january, I
4636 <a href="http://blog.cihar.com/archives/2012/01/17/colorhug-has-arrived/">discovered
4637 the ColorHug</a>, a USB dongle from
4638 <a href="http://www.hughski.com/index.html">Hughski</a> to calibrate
4639 the color on a computer screen.  The software required is
4640 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/c/colorhug-client.html">included
4641 in Debian</a>, and I decided back then to preorder from the next
4642 batch.  Yesterday I finally heard back from them, and got the
4643 opportunity to order.  Today I ordered mine, and eagerly await the
4644 delivery.  I hope it arrive next week, as I got a confirmation that it
4645 should go in the mail on monday. :)</p>
4646
4647 <p>If you want to ensure the colors on the screen match the intended
4648 colors, I suggest you check out this cheap tool with free software
4649 drivers. :)</p>
4650
4651       </div>
4652       <div class="tags">
4653
4654
4655         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
4656
4657
4658       </div>
4659     </div>
4660     <div class="padding"></div>
4661
4662     <div class="entry">
4663       <div class="title">
4664         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__J_rgen_Leibner.html">Debian Edu interview: Jürgen Leibner</a>
4665       </div>
4666       <div class="date">
4667         13th May 2012
4668       </div>
4669       <div class="body">
4670         <p>It has been a few busy weeks for me, but I am finally back to
4671 publish another interview with the people behind
4672 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu and Skolelinux</a>.
4673 This time it is one of our German developers, who have helped out over the
4674 years to make sure both a lot of major but also a lot of the minor
4675 details get right before release.
4676
4677 <p><strong>Who are you, and how do you spend your days?</strong></p>
4678
4679 <p>My name is Jürgen Leibner, I'm 49 years old and living in
4680 Bielefeld, a town in northern Germany.  I worked nearly 20 years as
4681 certified engineer in the department for plant design and layout of an
4682 international company for machinery and equipment.  Since 2011 I'm a
4683 certified technical writer (tekom e.V.) and doing technical
4684 documentations for a steam turbine manufacturer.  From April this year
4685 I will manage the department of technical documentation at a
4686 manufacturer of automation and assembly line engineering.</p>
4687
4688 <p>My first contact with linux was around 1993. Since that time I used
4689 it at work and at home repeatedly but not exclusively as I do now at
4690 home since 2006.</p>
4691
4692 <p><strong>How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux/Debian Edu
4693 project?</strong></p>
4694
4695 <p>Once a day in the early year of 2001 when I wanted to fetch my
4696 daughter from primary school, there was a teacher sitting in the
4697 middle of 20 old computers trying to boot them and he failed. I helped
4698 him to get them booting. That was seen by the school director and she
4699 asked me if I would like to manage that the school gets all that old
4700 computers in use. I answered: "Yes".</p>
4701
4702 <p>Some weeks later every of the 10 classrooms had one computer
4703 running Windows98. I began to collect old computers and equipment as
4704 gifts and installed the first computer room with a peer-to-peer
4705 network. I did my work at school without being payed in my spare time
4706 and with a lot of fun.  About one year later the school was connected
4707 to Internet and a local area network was installed in the school
4708 building.  That was the time to have a server and I knew it must be a
4709 Linux server to be able to fulfil all the wishes of the teachers and
4710 being able to do this in a transparent and economic way, without extra
4711 costs for things like licence and software.  So I searched for a
4712 school server system running under Linux and I found a couple of
4713 people nearby who founded 'skolelinux.de'. It was the Skolelinux
4714 prerelease 32 I first tried out for being used at the school.  I
4715 managed the IT of that school until the municipal authority took over
4716 the IT management and centralised the services for all schools in
4717 Bielefeld in December of 2006.</p>
4718
4719 <p><strong>What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux/Debian
4720 Edu?</strong></p>
4721
4722 <p>When I'm looking back to the beginning, there were other advantages
4723 for me as today.</p>
4724
4725 <p>In the past there were advantages like:</p>
4726
4727 <p><ul>
4728
4729 <li>I don't need to buy it so it generates no costs to the school as
4730 they had little money to spent for computers and software.</li>
4731
4732 <li>It has a licence which grands all rights to use it without
4733 cost.</li>
4734
4735 <li>It was more able to fit all requirements of a server system for
4736 schools than a Microsoft server system, even if there are only Windows
4737 clients because of it's preconfigured overall concept of being a
4738 infrastructure solution and community for schools, not only a
4739 server</li>
4740
4741 <li>I was able to configure the server to the needs of the
4742 school.</li>
4743
4744 </ul></p>
4745
4746 <p>Today some of the advantages has been lost, changed or new ones
4747 came up in this way:</p>
4748
4749 <p><ul>
4750
4751 <li>Most schools here do have money to buy hardware and software
4752 now.</li>
4753
4754 <li>They are today mostly managed from central IT departments which
4755 have own concepts which often do not fit to Debian Edu concepts
4756 because they are to close to Microsoft ideology.</li>
4757
4758 <li>With the Squeeze version of Debian Edu which now uses GOsa² for
4759 management I feel more able to manage the daily tasks than with the
4760 interfaces used in the past.</li>
4761
4762 <li>It is more modular than in the past and fits even better to the
4763 different needs.</li>
4764
4765 <li>The documentation is usable and gets better every day.</li>
4766
4767 <li>More people than ever before are using Debian Edu all over the
4768 world and so the community, which is an very important part I think,
4769 is sharing knowledge and minds.</li>
4770
4771 <li>Most, maybe all, of the technical requirements for schools are
4772 solved today by Debian Edu. </li>
4773
4774 </ul></p>
4775
4776 <p><strong>What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux/Debian
4777 Edu?</strong></p>
4778
4779 <p><ul>
4780
4781 <li>There are too few IT companies able to integrate Debian Edu into
4782 their product portfolio for serving schools with concepts or even
4783 whole municipality areas.</li>
4784
4785 <li>Debian Edu has beside other free and open software projects not
4786 enough lobbyists which promote free and open software to
4787 politicians.</li>
4788
4789 <li>Technically there are no disadvantages I'm aware of.</li>
4790
4791 </ul></p>
4792
4793 <p><strong>Which free software do you use daily?</strong></p>
4794
4795 <p>I use Debian stable on my home server and on my little desktop
4796 computer. On my laptop I use Debian testing/sid. The applications I
4797 use on my laptop and my desktop are Open/Libre-office, Iceweasel,
4798 KMail, DigiKam, Amarok, Dolphin, okular and all the other programs I
4799 need from the KDE environment.  On console I use newsbeuter, mutt,
4800 screen, irssi and all the other famous and useful tools.</p>
4801
4802 <p>My home server provides mail services with exim, dovecot, roundcube
4803 and mutt over ssh on the console, file services with samba, NFS,
4804 rsync, web services with apache, moinmoin-wiki, multimedia services
4805 with gallery2 and mediatomb and database services with MySQL for me
4806 and the whole family.  I probably forgot something.</p>
4807
4808 <p><strong>Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to
4809 get schools to use free software?</strong></p>
4810
4811 <p>I believe, we should provide concepts for IT companies to integrate
4812 Debian Edu into their product portfolio with use cases for different
4813 countries and areas all over the world.</p>
4814
4815       </div>
4816       <div class="tags">
4817
4818
4819         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>.
4820
4821
4822       </div>
4823     </div>
4824     <div class="padding"></div>
4825
4826     <div class="entry">
4827       <div class="title">
4828         <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>
4829       </div>
4830       <div class="date">
4831         30th April 2012
4832       </div>
4833       <div class="body">
4834         <p><!-- IMG_5869.JPG -->
4835 <img src="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/panasonic-er-1611.jpeg"></p>
4836
4837 <p>I normally cut my hair short, and my tool of choice has been a
4838 common hair/beard cutter, bought in a electrical shop here in Norway.
4839 But the last ones have not really been up to the task.  My last
4840 cutter, some model from Braun, could only cut a few of my hairs at the
4841 time, and cutting my head took forever.  And the one before that did
4842 not work very well either.  We have looked for something better for a
4843 while, but it was not until I ended up visiting a hairdresser that we
4844 discovered that there are indeed better tools available.  But these
4845 are not marketed and sold to "regular consumers".  The hair saloons
4846 can get them through their suppliers, but their suppliers only sell
4847 companies.  The models they sell, are very different from the ones
4848 available from Elkjøp and Lefdal.  The main difference is their
4849 efficiency.  It would cut my hair in 5 minutes, instead of the 30-40
4850 minutes required by my impotent Braun.  The hairdresser I visited had
4851 a Panasonic ER160, which unfortunately is no longer available from the
4852 producer.  But I found it had a successor, the Panasonic ER1611.</p>
4853
4854 <p>The next step was to find somewhere to buy it.  This was not
4855 straight forward.  The list of suppliers I got from the hairdresser
4856 did not want to sell anything to me.  But searching for the model on
4857 the web we found a supplier in Norway willing to sell it to us for
4858 around NOK 4000,-.  This was a bit much.  We kept searching and
4859 finally found a Danish supplier
4860 <a href="http://nicehair.dk/panasonic-er-1611-professionel-hartrimmer.html">selling
4861 it for around NOK 1800,-</a>.  We ordered one, and it arrived a few
4862 days ago.</p>
4863
4864 <p>The instructions said it had to charge for 8 hours when we started
4865 to use it, so we left it charging over night.  Normally it will only
4866 need one hour to charge.  The following evening we successfully tested
4867 it, and I can warmly recommend it to anyone looking for a real hair
4868 cutter.  The ones we have used until now have been hair cutter
4869 toys.</p>
4870
4871       </div>
4872       <div class="tags">
4873
4874
4875         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
4876
4877
4878       </div>
4879     </div>
4880     <div class="padding"></div>
4881
4882     <div class="entry">
4883       <div class="title">
4884         <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>
4885       </div>
4886       <div class="date">
4887         26th April 2012
4888       </div>
4889       <div class="body">
4890         <p>In <a href="http://www.idg.no/computerworld/article243690.ece">an
4891 article today</a> published by Computerworld Norway, the photographer
4892 <a href="http://www.urke.com/eirik/">Eirik Helland Urke</a> reports
4893 that the video editor application included with
4894 <a href="http://www.htc.com/www/smartphones/htc-one-x/#specs">HTC One
4895 X</a> have some quite surprising terms of use.  The article is mostly
4896 based on the twitter message from mister Urke, stating:
4897
4898 <p><blockquote>
4899 "<a href="http://twitter.com/urke/status/194062269724897280">Drøy
4900 brukeravtale: HTC kan bruke MINE redigerte videoer kommersielt. Selv
4901 kan jeg KUN bruke dem privat.</a>"
4902 </blockquote></p>
4903
4904 <p>I quickly translated it to this English message:</p>
4905
4906 <p><blockquote>
4907 "Arrogant user agreement: HTC can use MY edited videos
4908 commercially.  Although I can ONLY use them privately."
4909 </blockquote></p>
4910
4911 <p>I've been unable to find the text of the license term myself, but
4912 suspect it is a variation of the MPEG-LA terms I
4913 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Terms_of_use_for_video_produced_by_a_Canon_IXUS_130_digital_camera.html">discovered
4914 with my Canon IXUS 130</a>.  The HTC One X specification specifies that
4915 the recording format of the phone is .amr for audio and .mp3 for
4916 video.  AMR is
4917 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adaptive_Multi-Rate_audio_codec#Licensing_and_patent_issues">Adaptive
4918 Multi-Rate audio codec</a> with patents which according to the
4919 Wikipedia article require an license agreement with
4920 <a href="http://www.voiceage.com/">VoiceAge</a>.  MP4 is
4921 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H.264/MPEG-4_AVC#Patent_licensing">MPEG4 with
4922 H.264</a>, which according to Wikipedia require a licence agreement
4923 with <a href="http://www.mpegla.com/">MPEG-LA</a>.</p>
4924
4925 <p>I know why I prefer
4926 <a href="http://www.digistan.org/open-standard:definition">free and open
4927 standards</a> also for video.</p>
4928
4929       </div>
4930       <div class="tags">
4931
4932
4933         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/digistan">digistan</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/multimedia">multimedia</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/personvern">personvern</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/standard">standard</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/video">video</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/web">web</a>.
4934
4935
4936       </div>
4937     </div>
4938     <div class="padding"></div>
4939
4940     <div class="entry">
4941       <div class="title">
4942         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/RAND_terms___non_reasonable_and_discriminatory.html">RAND terms - non-reasonable and discriminatory</a>
4943       </div>
4944       <div class="date">
4945         19th April 2012
4946       </div>
4947       <div class="body">
4948         <p>Here in Norway, the
4949 <a href="http://www.regjeringen.no/nb/dep/fad.html?id=339"> Ministry of
4950 Government Administration, Reform and Church Affairs</a> is behind
4951 a <a href="http://standard.difi.no/forvaltningsstandarder">directory of
4952 standards</a> that are recommended or mandatory for use by the
4953 government.  When the directory was created, the people behind it made
4954 an effort to ensure that everyone would be able to implement the
4955 standards and compete on equal terms to supply software and solutions
4956 to the government.  Free software and non-free software could compete
4957 on the same level.</p>
4958
4959 <p>But recently, some standards with RAND
4960 (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reasonable_and_non-discriminatory_licensing">Reasonable
4961 And Non-Discriminatory</a>) terms have made their way into the
4962 directory.  And while this might not sound too bad, the fact is that
4963 standard specifications with RAND terms often block free software from
4964 implementing them.  The reasonable part of RAND mean that the cost per
4965 user/unit is low,and the non-discriminatory part mean that everyone
4966 willing to pay will get a license.  Both sound great in theory.  In
4967 practice, to get such license one need to be able to count users, and
4968 be able to pay a small amount of money per unit or user.  By
4969 definition, users of free software do not need to register their use.
4970 So counting users or units is not possible for free software projects.
4971 And given that people will use the software without handing any money
4972 to the author, it is not really economically possible for a free
4973 software author to pay a small amount of money to license the rights
4974 to implement a standard when the income available is zero.  The result
4975 in these situations is that free software are locked out from
4976 implementing standards with RAND terms.</p>
4977
4978 <p>Because of this, when I see someone claiming the terms of a
4979 standard is reasonable and non-discriminatory, all I can think of is
4980 how this really is non-reasonable and discriminatory.  Because free
4981 software developers are working in a global market, it does not really
4982 help to know that software patents are not supposed to be enforceable
4983 in Norway.  The patent regimes in other countries affect us even here.
4984 I really hope the people behind the standard directory will pay more
4985 attention to these issues in the future.</p>
4986
4987 <p>You can find more on the issues with RAND, FRAND and RAND-Z terms
4988 from Simon Phipps
4989 (<a href="http://blogs.computerworlduk.com/simon-says/2010/11/rand-not-so-reasonable/">RAND:
4990 Not So Reasonable?</a>).</p>
4991
4992 <p>Update 2012-04-21: Just came across a
4993 <a href="http://blogs.computerworlduk.com/open-enterprise/2012/04/of-microsoft-netscape-patents-and-open-standards/index.htm">blog
4994 post from Glyn Moody</a> over at Computer World UK warning about the
4995 same issue, and urging people to speak out to the UK government.  I
4996 can only urge Norwegian users to do the same for
4997 <a href="http://www.standard.difi.no/hoyring/hoyring-om-nye-anbefalte-it-standarder">the
4998 hearing taking place at the moment</a> (respond before 2012-04-27).
4999 It proposes to require video conferencing standards including
5000 specifications with RAND terms.</p>
5001
5002       </div>
5003       <div class="tags">
5004
5005
5006         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>.
5007
5008
5009       </div>
5010     </div>
5011     <div class="padding"></div>
5012
5013     <div class="entry">
5014       <div class="title">
5015         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__Andreas_Mundt.html">Debian Edu interview: Andreas Mundt</a>
5016       </div>
5017       <div class="date">
5018         15th April 2012
5019       </div>
5020       <div class="body">
5021         <p>Behind <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu and
5022 Skolelinux</a> there are a lot of people doing the hard work of
5023 setting together all the pieces.  This time I present to you Andreas
5024 Mundt, who have been part of the technical development team several
5025 years.  He was also a key contributor in getting GOsa and Kerberos set
5026 up in the recently released
5027 <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/Documentation/Squeeze">Debian
5028 Edu Squeeze</a> version.</p>
5029
5030 <p><strong>Who are you, and how do you spend your days?</strong></p>
5031
5032 <p>My name is Andreas Mundt, I grew up in south Germany.  After
5033 studying Physics I spent several years at university doing research in
5034 Quantum Optics.  After that I worked some years in an optics company.
5035 Finally I decided to turn over a new leaf in my life and started
5036 teaching 10 to 19 years old kids at school.  I teach math, physics,
5037 information technology and science/technology.</p>
5038
5039 <p><strong>How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux/Debian Edu
5040 project?</strong></p>
5041
5042 <p>Already before I switched to teaching, I followed the Debian Edu
5043 project because of my interest in education and Debian.  Within the
5044 qualification/training period for the teaching, I started
5045 contributing.</p>
5046
5047 <p><strong>What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux/Debian
5048 Edu?</strong></p>
5049
5050 <p>The advantages of Debian Edu are the well known name, the
5051 out-of-the-box philosophy and of course the great free software of the
5052 Debian Project!</p>
5053
5054 <p><strong>What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux/Debian
5055 Edu?</strong></p>
5056
5057 <p>As every coin has two sides, the out-of-the-box philosophy has its
5058 downside, too.  In my opinion, it is hard to modify and tweak the
5059 setup, if you need or want that.  Further more, it is not easily
5060 possible to upgrade the system to a new release.  It takes much too
5061 long after a Debian release to prepare the -Edu release, perhaps
5062 because the number of developers working on the core of the code is
5063 rather small and often busy elsewhere.</p>
5064
5065 <p>The <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianLAN">Debian LAN</a>
5066 project might fill the use case of a more flexible system.</p>
5067
5068 <p><strong>Which free software do you use daily?</strong></p>
5069
5070 <p>I am only using non-free software if I am forced to and run Debian
5071 on all my machines.  For documents I prefer LaTeX and PGF/TikZ, then
5072 mutt and iceweasel for email respectively web browsing.  At school I
5073 have Arduino and Fritzing in use for a micro controller project.</p>
5074
5075 <p><strong>Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to
5076 get schools to use free software?</strong></p>
5077
5078 <p>One of the major problems is the vendor lock-in from top to bottom:
5079 Especially in combination with ignorant government employees and
5080 politicians, this works out great for the "market-leader".  The school
5081 administration here in Baden-Wuerttemberg is occupied by that vendor.
5082 Documents have to be prepared in non-free, proprietary formats.  Even
5083 free browsers do not work for the school administration.  Publishers
5084 of school books provide software only for proprietary platforms.</p>
5085
5086 <p>To change this, political work is very important.  Parts of the
5087 political spectrum have become aware of the problem in the last years.
5088 However it takes quite some time and courageous politicians to 'free'
5089 the system.  There is currently some discussion about "Open Data" and
5090 "Free/Open Standards".  I am not sure if all the involved parties have
5091 a clue about the potential of these ideas, and probably only a
5092 fraction takes them seriously.  However it might slowly make free
5093 software and the philosophy behind it more known and popular.</p>
5094
5095       </div>
5096       <div class="tags">
5097
5098
5099         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>.
5100
5101
5102       </div>
5103     </div>
5104     <div class="padding"></div>
5105
5106     <div class="entry">
5107       <div class="title">
5108         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__Justin_B__Rye.html">Debian Edu interview: Justin B. Rye</a>
5109       </div>
5110       <div class="date">
5111          8th April 2012
5112       </div>
5113       <div class="body">
5114         <p>It take all kind of contributions to create a Linux distribution
5115 like <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / Skolelinux</a>,
5116 and this time I lend the ear to Justin B. Rye, who is listed as a big
5117 contributor to the
5118 <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/Documentation/Squeeze">Debian
5119 Edu Squeeze release manual</a>.
5120
5121 <p><strong>Who are you, and how do you spend your days?</strong></p>
5122
5123 <p>I'm a 44-year-old linguistics graduate living in Edinburgh who has
5124 occasionally been employed as a sysadmin.</p>
5125
5126 <p><strong>How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux/Debian Edu
5127 project?</strong></p>
5128
5129 <p>I'm neither a developer nor a Skolelinux/Debian Edu user!  The only
5130 reason my name's in the credits for the documentation is that I hang
5131 around on debian-l10n-english waiting for people to mention things
5132 they'd like a native English speaker to proofread...  So I did a sweep
5133 through the wiki for typos and Norglish and inconsistent spellings of
5134 "localisation".</p>
5135
5136 <p><strong>What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux/Debian
5137 Edu?</strong></p>
5138
5139 <p><strong>What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux/Debian
5140 Edu?</strong></p>
5141
5142 <p>These questions are too hard for me - I don't use it!  In fact I
5143 had hardly any contact with I.T. until long after I'd got out of the
5144 education system.</p>
5145
5146 <p>I can tell you the advantages of Debian for me though: it soaks up
5147 as much of my free time as I want and no more, and lets me do
5148 everything I want a computer for without ever forcing me to spend
5149 money on the latest hardware.</p>
5150
5151 <p><strong>Which free software do you use daily?</strong></p>
5152
5153 <p>I've been using Debian since Rex; popularity-contest says the
5154 software that I use most is xinit, xterm, and xulrunner (in other
5155 words, I use a distinctly retro sort of desktop).</p>
5156
5157 <p><strong>Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to
5158 get schools to use free software?</strong></p>
5159
5160 <p>Well, I don't know.  I suppose I'd be inclined to try reasoning
5161 with the people who make the decisions, but obviously if that worked
5162 you would hardly need a strategy.</p>
5163
5164       </div>
5165       <div class="tags">
5166
5167
5168         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/intervju">intervju</a>.
5169
5170
5171       </div>
5172     </div>
5173     <div class="padding"></div>
5174
5175     <div class="entry">
5176       <div class="title">
5177         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/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>
5178       </div>
5179       <div class="date">
5180          6th April 2012
5181       </div>
5182       <div class="body">
5183         <p>Recently I have spent time with
5184 <a href="http://www.slxdrift.no/">Skolelinux Drift AS</a> on speeding
5185 up a <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / Skolelinux</a>
5186 Lenny installation using LTSP diskless workstations, and in the
5187 process I discovered something very surprising.  The reason the KDE
5188 menu was responding slow when using it for the first time, was mostly
5189 due to the way KDE find application icons.  I discovered that showing
5190 the Multimedia menu would cause more than 20 000 IP packages to be
5191 passed between the LTSP client and the NFS server.  Most of these were
5192
5193 NFS LOOKUP calls, resulting in a NFS3ERR_NOENT response.  Because the
5194 ping times between the client and the server were in the range 2-20
5195 ms, the menus would be very slow.  Looking at the strace of kicker in
5196 Lenny (or plasma-desktop i Squeeze - same problem there), I see that
5197 the source of these NFS calls are access(2) system calls for
5198 non-existing files.  KDE can do hundreds of access(2) calls to find
5199 one icon file.  In my example, just finding the mplayer icon required
5200 around 230 access(2) calls.</p>
5201
5202 <p>The KDE code seem to search for icons using a list of icon
5203 directories, and the list of possible directories is large.  In
5204 (almost) each directory, it look for files ending in .png, .svgz, .svg
5205 and .xpm.  The result is a very slow KDE menu when /usr/ is NFS
5206 mounted.  Showing a single sub menu may result in thousands of NFS
5207 requests.  I am not the first one to discover this.  I found a
5208 <a href="https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=211416">KDE bug report
5209 from 2009</a> about this problem, and it is still unsolved.</p>
5210
5211 <p>My solution to speed up the KDE menu was to create a package
5212 kde-icon-cache that upon installation will look at all .desktop files
5213 used to generate the KDE menu, find their icons, search the icon paths
5214 for the file that KDE will end up finding at run time, and copying the
5215 icon file to /var/lib/kde-icon-cache/.  Finally, I add symlinks to
5216 these icon files in one of the first directories where KDE will look
5217 for them.  This cut down the number of file accesses required to find
5218 one icon from several hundred to less than 5, and make the KDE menu
5219 almost instantaneous.  I'm not quite sure where to make the package
5220 publicly available, so for now it is only available on request.</p>
5221
5222 <p>The bug report mention that this do not only affect the KDE menu
5223 and icon handling, but also the login process.  Not quite sure how to
5224 speed up that part without replacing NFS with for example NBD, and
5225 that is not really an option at the moment.</p>
5226
5227 <p>If you got feedback on this issue, please let us know on debian-edu
5228 (at) lists.debian.org.</p>
5229
5230       </div>
5231       <div class="tags">
5232
5233
5234         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>.
5235
5236
5237       </div>
5238     </div>
5239     <div class="padding"></div>
5240
5241     <div class="entry">
5242       <div class="title">
5243         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_in_the_Linux_Weekly_News.html">Debian Edu in the Linux Weekly News</a>
5244       </div>
5245       <div class="date">
5246          5th April 2012
5247       </div>
5248       <div class="body">
5249         <p>About two weeks ago, I was interviewed via email about
5250 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu and Skolelinux</a> by
5251 Bruce Byfield in Linux Weekly News.  The result was made public for
5252 non-subscribers today.  I am pleased to see liked our Linux solution
5253 for schools.  Check out his article
5254 <a href="https://lwn.net/Articles/488805/">Debian Edu/Skolelinux: A
5255 distribution for education</a> if you want to learn more.</p>
5256
5257       </div>
5258       <div class="tags">
5259
5260
5261         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>.
5262
5263
5264       </div>
5265     </div>
5266     <div class="padding"></div>
5267
5268     <div class="entry">
5269       <div class="title">
5270         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__Wolfgang_Schweer.html">Debian Edu interview: Wolfgang Schweer</a>
5271       </div>
5272       <div class="date">
5273          1st April 2012
5274       </div>
5275       <div class="body">
5276         <p>Germany is a core area for the
5277 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu and Skolelinux</a>
5278 user community, and this time I managed to get hold of Wolfgang
5279 Schweer, a valuable contributor to the project from Germany.
5280
5281 <p><strong>Who are you, and how do you spend your days?</strong></p>
5282
5283 <p>I've studied Mathematics at the university 'Ruhr-Universität' in
5284 Bochum, Germany. Since 1981 I'm working as a teacher at the school
5285 "<a href="http://www.westfalenkolleg-dortmund.de/">Westfalen-Kolleg
5286 Dortmund</a>", a second chance school.  Here, young adults is given
5287 the opportunity to get further education in order to do the school
5288 examination 'Abitur', which will allow to study at a university. This
5289 second chance is of value for those who want a better job perspective
5290 or failed to get a higher school examination being teens.</p>
5291
5292 <p>Besides teaching I was involved in developing online courses for a
5293 blended learning project called 'abitur-online.nrw' and in some other
5294 information technology related projects. For about ten years I've been
5295 teacher and coordinator for the 'abitur-online' project at my
5296 school. Being now in my early sixties, I've decided to leave school at
5297 the end of April this year.</p>
5298
5299 <p><strong>How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux/Debian Edu
5300 project?</strong></p>
5301
5302 <p>The first information about Skolelinux must have come to my
5303 attention years ago and somehow related to LTSP (Linux Terminal Server
5304 Project).  At school, we had set up a network at the beginning of 1997
5305 using Suse Linux on the desktop, replacing a Novell network. Since
5306 2002, we used old machines from the city council of Dortmund as thin
5307 clients (LTSP, later Ubuntu/Lessdisks) cause new hardware was out of
5308 reach. At home I'm using Debian since years and - subscribed to the
5309 Debian news letter - heard from time to time about Skolelinux. About
5310 two years ago I proposed to replace the (somehow undocumented and only
5311 known to me) system at school by a well known Debian based system:
5312 Skolelinux.</p>
5313
5314 <p>Students and teachers appreciated the new system because of a
5315 better look and feel and an enhanced access to local media on thin
5316 clients.  The possibility to alter and/or reset passwords using a GUI
5317 was welcomed, too. Being able to do administrative tasks using a GUI
5318 and to easily set up workstations using PXE was of very high value for
5319 the admin teachers.</p>
5320
5321 <p><strong>What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux/Debian
5322 Edu?</strong></p>
5323
5324 <p>It's open source, easy to set up, stable and flexible due to it's
5325 Debian base. It integrates LTSP out-of-the-box. And it is documented!
5326 So it was a perfect choice.</p>
5327
5328 <p>Being open source, there are no license problems and so it's
5329 possible to point teachers and students to programs like
5330 OpenOffice.org, ViewYourMind (mind mapping) and The Gimp.  It's of
5331 high value to be able to adapt parts of the system to special needs of
5332 a school and to choose where to get support for this.</p>
5333
5334 <p><strong>What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux/Debian
5335 Edu?</strong></p>
5336
5337 <p>Nothing yet.</p>
5338
5339 <p><strong>Which free software do you use daily?</strong></p>
5340
5341 <p>At home (Debian Sid with Gnome Desktop): Iceweasel, LibreOffice,
5342 Mutt, Gedit, Document Viewer, Midnight Commander, flpsed (PDF
5343 Annotator).  At school (Skolelinux Lenny): Iceweasel, Gedit,
5344 LibreOffice.</p>
5345
5346 <p><strong>Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to
5347 get schools to use free software?</strong></p>
5348
5349 <p>Some time ago I thought it was enough to tell people about it. But
5350 that doesn't seem to work quite well. Now I concentrate on those more
5351 interested and hope to get multiplicators that way.</p>
5352
5353       </div>
5354       <div class="tags">
5355
5356
5357         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>.
5358
5359
5360       </div>
5361     </div>
5362     <div class="padding"></div>
5363
5364     <div class="entry">
5365       <div class="title">
5366         <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>
5367       </div>
5368       <div class="date">
5369         25th March 2012
5370       </div>
5371       <div class="body">
5372         <!-- Video HTML based on http://www.diveintohtml5.net/video.html -->
5373
5374 <p>The same Debian Edu developer that did the last screen cast I
5375 published, Wolfgang Schweer, has created a new screen cast showing how
5376 to set up Kmail in Debian Edu Squeze to authenticate using Kerberos,
5377 allowing users to check their local email account without providing
5378 any password. The video is embedded here in quarter size,
5379 and also available from <a href="https://vimeo.com/38601767">vimeo</a>
5380 and download as a
5381 <a href="http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux/press/screencasts/2012-03-14-Debian-Edu_Configure_Kmail_for_internal_usage.ogv">Ogg
5382 Theora</a> file.  Check it out below.</p>
5383
5384 <p><video id="kmail-kerberos-movie" width="256" height="184" preload controls>
5385   <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"' />
5386     <p>Download video as
5387       <a href="http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux/press/screencasts/2012-03-14-Debian-Edu_Configure_Kmail_for_internal_usage.ogv">Ogg</a>.</p>
5388 </video></p>
5389
5390       </div>
5391       <div class="tags">
5392
5393
5394         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>.
5395
5396
5397       </div>
5398     </div>
5399     <div class="padding"></div>
5400
5401     <div class="entry">
5402       <div class="title">
5403         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__John_Ingleby.html">Debian Edu interview: John Ingleby</a>
5404       </div>
5405       <div class="date">
5406         19th March 2012
5407       </div>
5408       <div class="body">
5409         <p><a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / Skolelinux</a>
5410 users are spread all across the globe.  The second inteview after
5411 <a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-edu-announce/2012/03/msg00001.html">the
5412 Squeeze release</a> was publised is with John Ingleby, a teacher and
5413 long time Linux user in United Kingdom.</p>
5414
5415 <p><strong>Who are you, and how do you spend your days?</strong></p>
5416
5417 <p>I teach ICT part time at the Rudolf Steiner School in Kings
5418 Langley, near London, UK. Previously I worked as a technical
5419 author/trainer while my children attended the school, and I also
5420 contributed to the Schoolforge UK community with the aim of
5421 encouraging UK schools to adopt free/open source software. Five or six
5422 years ago we had about 50 schools interested in some way, but we
5423 weren't able to convert many of them into sustainable
5424 installations.</p>
5425
5426 <p><strong>How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux/Debian Edu
5427 project?</strong></p>
5428
5429 <p>Skolelinux had two representatives at an early Edubuntu meeting in
5430 London which I attended. However at that time our school network had
5431 just been installed using CentOS, LTSP 4 and GNOME. When LTSP 5 came
5432 along we switched to Edubuntu thin client servers so now we have a
5433 mixed environment which includes Windows PCs and student laptops, as
5434 well as their MacBooks and iPads. However, the proprietary systems
5435 have always been rather problematic, and we never built a GUI for the
5436 LDAP server, so when I discovered Skolelinux is configured for all
5437 these things we decided to try it.</p>
5438
5439 <p><strong>What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux/Debian
5440 Edu?</strong></p>
5441
5442 <p>By far the biggest advantage is the Debian Edu community. Apart
5443 from that I have always believed in the same "sustainable computing"
5444 goals that Skolelinux is built on: installing Linux on computers which
5445 would otherwise be thrown away, to provide a reliable, secure and
5446 low-cost IT environment for schools. From my own experience I know
5447 that a part-time person can teach and manage a network of about 25
5448 Linux computers, but it would take much more of my time if we had
5449 proprietary software everywhere.</p>
5450
5451 <p><strong>What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux/Debian
5452 Edu?</strong></p>
5453
5454 <p>As a newcomer I'm just finding out who's who in the community and
5455 how you're organised, and what your procedures are for dealing with
5456 various things such as editing manual pages and so-on. The only
5457 English language mailing list seems to be for developers as well as
5458 users, so my inbox needs heavy pruning each day!</p>
5459
5460 <p><strong>Which free software do you use daily?</strong></p>
5461
5462 <p>Besides the software already mentioned at school we use Samba,
5463 OpenLDAP, CUPS, Nagios and Dansguardian for the network, and on the
5464 desktops we have LibreOffice, Firefox, GIMP and Inkscape. At home I
5465 use Ubuntu and an Android 4 eePad Transformer (but I'm not sure if
5466 that counts...)</p>
5467
5468 <p><strong>Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to
5469 get schools to use free software?</strong></p>
5470
5471 <p>That's a tough question! For very many years UK schools installed
5472 and taught only proprietary software, so that at the highest levels
5473 the notion of "computer" means simply "proprietary office
5474 applications".  However, schools today are experiencing budget
5475 constraints, and many are having to think hard about upgrading Windows
5476 XP.  At the same time, we have students showing teachers how to use
5477 iPads, MacBooks and Android, so the choice of operating system is no
5478 longer quite so automatic. What is more, our government at last
5479 realised that we need people with programming skills, so they're
5480 putting coding back in the curriculum! And it's encouraging that the
5481 first 10,000 Raspberry Pi units sold out in 2 hours.</p>
5482
5483 <p>I don't really know what strategy is going to get UK schools to use
5484 free software, but building an active community of Skolelinux/Debian
5485 Edu users in this country has to be part of it.</p>
5486
5487       </div>
5488       <div class="tags">
5489
5490
5491         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>.
5492
5493
5494       </div>
5495     </div>
5496     <div class="padding"></div>
5497
5498     <div class="entry">
5499       <div class="title">
5500         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Writing_and_translating_documentation_in_Debian_Edu.html">Writing and translating documentation in Debian Edu</a>
5501       </div>
5502       <div class="date">
5503         16th March 2012
5504       </div>
5505       <div class="body">
5506         <p>Documentation in Debian Edu is provided in several languages, and
5507 it is important to make it both easy to contribute and to keep the
5508 translated versions in sync.  To do this we have come up with what we
5509 believe is a very efficient work flow.</p>
5510
5511 <ol>
5512
5513 <li>The documentation is written in a
5514 <a href="http://moinmo.in">moinmoin wiki</a> (see for example
5515 <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/Documentation/Squeeze">the
5516 Squeeze release manual</a>) with support for exporting the content as
5517 docbook XML.</li>
5518
5519 <li>This docbook document is given to po4a to extract a gettext style
5520 .pot file with the content, which in turn is used to create .po files
5521 with the translated text.</li>
5522
5523 <li>The .po files are given to translators, and they can always tell
5524 which part of the original wiki document is new or changed.  They can
5525 use their normal translation tools like lokalize or poedit to write
5526 the translation.  There is even a system in place to handle translated
5527 images.</li>
5528
5529 <li>The translated .po files are combined with the original docbook
5530 XML document using po4a to create a translated docbook document.</li>
5531
5532 <li>The final step is to use all the generated docbook files and
5533 create PDF and HTML version of the original and translated documents.</li>
5534
5535 </ol>
5536
5537 <p>This setup work very well, but have a few issues.  The biggest
5538 issue is that <a href="http://moinmo.in/DocBook">the docbook support
5539 we use in moinmoin</a> is not actively maintained.  The docbook
5540 support is also buggy, and our build system contain workarounds to
5541 make sure the generated docbook is usable despite these bugs.</p>
5542
5543 <p>If you want to have a look at our setup, it is all there in the
5544 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/debian-edu-doc">debian-edu-doc
5545 package</a>.</p>
5546
5547       </div>
5548       <div class="tags">
5549
5550
5551         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>.
5552
5553
5554       </div>
5555     </div>
5556     <div class="padding"></div>
5557
5558     <div class="entry">
5559       <div class="title">
5560         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Skolelinux___Debian_Edu_Squeeze_is_out_.html">Skolelinux / Debian Edu Squeeze is out!</a>
5561       </div>
5562       <div class="date">
5563         11th March 2012
5564       </div>
5565       <div class="body">
5566         <p>This weekend we finally published the first stable release of
5567 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Skolelinux / Debian Edu</a> based
5568 on Debian/Squeeze.  The full announcement is
5569 <a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-edu-announce/2012/03/msg00001.html">available</a>
5570 from the project announcement list.  Now is a good time to test if it
5571 you have not done so already.</p>
5572
5573 <p>I plan to present the new version at
5574 <a href="http://www.nuug.no/aktiviteter/20120313-skolelinux/">a NUUG
5575 meeting</a> on tuesday.  I look forward to seeing you there if you are
5576 in Oslo, Norway.</p>
5577
5578       </div>
5579       <div class="tags">
5580
5581
5582         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>.
5583
5584
5585       </div>
5586     </div>
5587     <div class="padding"></div>
5588
5589     <div class="entry">
5590       <div class="title">
5591         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__Nigel_Barker.html">Debian Edu interview: Nigel Barker</a>
5592       </div>
5593       <div class="date">
5594          9th March 2012
5595       </div>
5596       <div class="body">
5597         <p>Inspired by <a href="http://raphaelhertzog.com/tag/interview/">the
5598 interview series</a> conducted by Raphael, I started a Norwegian
5599 interview series with people involved in the Debian Edu / Skolelinux
5600 community.  This was so popular that I believe it is time to move to a
5601 more international audience.</p>
5602
5603 <p>While <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu and
5604 Skolelinux</a> originated in France and Norway, and have most users in
5605 Europe, there are users all around the globe.  One of those far away
5606 from me is Nigel Barker, a long time Debian Edu system administrator
5607 and contributor.  It is thanks to him that Debian Edu is adjusted to
5608 work out of the box in Japan.  I got him to answer a few questions,
5609 and am happy to share the response with you. :)
5610
5611
5612 <p><strong>Who are you, and how do you spend your days?</strong></p>
5613
5614 <p>My name is Nigel Barker, and I am British. I am married to Yumiko,
5615 and we have three lovely children, aged 15, 14 and 4(!) I am the IT
5616 Coordinator at Hiroshima International School, Japan. I am also a
5617 teacher, and in fact I spend most of my day teaching Mathematics,
5618 Science, IT, and Chemistry. I was originally a Chemistry teacher, but
5619 I have always had an interest in computers. Another teacher teaches
5620 primary school IT, but apart from that I am the only computer person,
5621 so that means I am the network manager, technician and webmaster,
5622 also, and I help people with their computer problems. I teach python
5623 to beginners in an after-school club. I am way too busy, so I really
5624 appreciate the simplicity of Skolelinux.</p>
5625
5626 <p><strong>How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux/Debian Edu
5627 project?</strong></p>
5628
5629 <p>In around 2004 or 5 I discovered the ltsp project, and set up a
5630 server in the IT lab. I wanted some way to connect it to our central
5631 samba server, which I was also quite poor at configuring. I discovered
5632 Edubuntu when it came out, but it didn't really improve my setup. I
5633 did various desperate searches for things like "school Linux server"
5634 and ended up in a document called "Drift" something or other. Reading
5635 there it became clear that Skolelinux was going to solve all my
5636 problems in one go. I was very excited, but apprehensive, because my
5637 previous attempts to install Debian had ended in failure (I used
5638 Mandrake for everything - ltsp, samba, apache, mail, ns...). I
5639 downloaded a beta version, had some problems, so subscribed to the
5640 Debian Edu list for help. I have remained subscribed ever since, and
5641 my school has run a Skolelinux network since Sarge.</p>
5642
5643 <p><strong>What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux/Debian
5644 Edu?</strong></p>
5645
5646 <p>For me the integrated setup. This is not just the server, or the
5647 workstation, or the ltsp. Its all of them, and its all configured
5648 ready to go. I read somewhere in the early documentation that it is
5649 designed to be setup and managed by the Maths or Science teacher, who
5650 doesn't necessarily know much about computers, in a small Norwegian
5651 school. That describes me perfectly if you replace Norway with
5652 Japan.</p>
5653
5654 <p><strong>What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux/Debian
5655 Edu?</strong></p>
5656
5657 <p>The desktop is fairly plain. If you compare it with Edubuntu, who
5658 have fun themes for children, or with distributions such as Mint, who
5659 make the desktop beautiful. They create a good impression on people
5660 who don't need to understand how to use any of it, but who might be
5661 important to the school. School administrators or directors, for
5662 instance, or parents. Even kids. Debian itself usually has ugly
5663 default theme settings. It was my dream a few years back that some
5664 kind of integration would allow Edubuntu to do the desktop stuff and
5665 Debian Edu the servers, but now I realise how impossible that is.  A
5666 second disadvantage is that if something goes wrong, or you need to
5667 customise something, then suddenly the level of expertise required
5668 multiplies. For example, backup wasn't working properly in Lenny. It
5669 took me ages to learn how to set up my own server to do rsync backups.
5670 I am afraid of anything to do with ldap, but perhaps Gosa will
5671 help.</p>
5672
5673 <p><strong>Which free software do you use daily?</strong></p>
5674
5675 <p>Nowadays I only use Debian on my personal computers. I have one for
5676 studio work (I play guitar and write songs), running AV Linux
5677 (customised Debian) a netbook running Squeeze, and a bigger laptop
5678 still running Skolelinux Lenny workstation. I have a Tjener in my
5679 house, that's very useful for the family photos and music.  At school
5680 the students only use Skolelinux. (Some teachers and the office still
5681 have windows). So that means we only use free software all day every
5682 day. Open office, The GIMP, Firefox/Iceweasel, VLC and Audacity are
5683 installed on every computer in school, irrespective of OS.  We also
5684 have Koha on Debian for the library, and Apache, Moodle, b2evolution
5685 and Etomite on Debian for the www. The firewall is Untangle.</p>
5686
5687 <p><strong>Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to
5688 get schools to use free software?</strong></p>
5689
5690 <p>Current trends are in our favour. Open source is big in industry,
5691 and ordinary people have heard of it. The spread of Android and the
5692 popularity of Apple have helped to weaken the impression that you have
5693 to have Microsoft on everything. People complain to me much less about
5694 file formats and Word than they did 5 years ago.  The Edu aspect is
5695 also a selling point. This is all customised for schools. Where is the
5696 Windows-edu, or the Mac-edu?  But of course the main attraction is
5697 budget.The trick is to convince people that the quality is not
5698 compromised when you stop paying and use free software instead. That
5699 is one reason why I say the desktop experience is a weakness. People
5700 are not impressed when their USB drive doesn't work, or their browser
5701 doesn't play flash, for example.</p>
5702
5703       </div>
5704       <div class="tags">
5705
5706
5707         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>.
5708
5709
5710       </div>
5711     </div>
5712     <div class="padding"></div>
5713
5714     <div class="entry">
5715       <div class="title">
5716         <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>
5717       </div>
5718       <div class="date">
5719          7th March 2012
5720       </div>
5721       <div class="body">
5722         <!-- Video HTML based on http://www.diveintohtml5.net/video.html -->
5723
5724 <p>One of the Debian Edu developers, Wolfgang Schweer, just created a
5725 screen cast documenting how to create a lot of new users in LDAP on
5726 Debian Edu Squeeze.  The video is embedded here in quarter size, and
5727 also available from <a href="http://vimeo.com/37675399">vimeo</a> and
5728 download as a
5729 <a href="http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux/press/screencasts/2012-02-29-debian_edu_mass_create_user_accounts.ogv">Ogg
5730 Theora</a> file.  Check it out below.</p>
5731
5732 <p><video id="gosa-mass-user-create-movie" width="256" height="184" preload controls>
5733   <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"' />
5734     <p>Download video as
5735       <a href="http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux/press/screencasts/2012-02-29-debian_edu_mass_create_user_accounts.ogv">Ogg</a>.</p>
5736 </video></p>
5737
5738       </div>
5739       <div class="tags">
5740
5741
5742         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>.
5743
5744
5745       </div>
5746     </div>
5747     <div class="padding"></div>
5748
5749     <div class="entry">
5750       <div class="title">
5751         <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>
5752       </div>
5753       <div class="date">
5754          4th March 2012
5755       </div>
5756       <div class="body">
5757         <p>This weekend we wrapped up and published the third release
5758 candidate for <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu /
5759 Skolelinux</a> based on Squeeze.  The full announcement is
5760 <a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-edu-announce/2012/03/msg00000.html">available</a>
5761 from the project announcement list.  Check it out if you
5762 need a software solution for your school.</p>
5763
5764       </div>
5765       <div class="tags">
5766
5767
5768         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>.
5769
5770
5771       </div>
5772     </div>
5773     <div class="padding"></div>
5774
5775     <div class="entry">
5776       <div class="title">
5777         <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>
5778       </div>
5779       <div class="date">
5780          3rd March 2012
5781       </div>
5782       <div class="body">
5783         <p>Many years ago, the <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Skolelinux
5784 / Debian Edu project</a> initiated a student project to create a tool
5785 for making stop motion movies.  The proposal came from a teacher
5786 needing such tool on Skolelinux.  The project, called "stopmotion",
5787 was manned by two extraordinary students and won a school award and a
5788 national aware with this great project.  The project was initiated and
5789 mentored by Herman Robak, and manned by the students Bjørn Erik Nilsen
5790 and Fredrik Berg Kjølstad.  They got in touch with people at Aardman
5791 Animation studio and received feedback on how professionals would like
5792 such stopmotion tool to work, and the end result was and is used by
5793 animators around the globe.  But as is usual after studying, both got
5794 jobs and went elsewhere, and did not have time to properly tend to the
5795 project, and it has been lingering for a few years now.  Until last
5796 year...</p>
5797
5798 <p>Last year some of the users got together with Herman, and moved the
5799 project to Sourceforge and in effect restarted the project under a new
5800 name,
5801 <a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/linuxstopmotion/">linuxstopmotion</a>.
5802 The name change was done to make it possible to find the project using
5803 Internet search engines (try to search for 'stopmotion' to see what I
5804 mean). I've been following
5805 <a href="https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/linuxstopmotion-community">the
5806 mailing list</a> and the improvement already in place and planned for
5807 the future is encouraging.  If you want to make stop motion movies.
5808 Check it out. :)</p>
5809
5810       </div>
5811       <div class="tags">
5812
5813
5814         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>.
5815
5816
5817       </div>
5818     </div>
5819     <div class="padding"></div>
5820
5821     <div class="entry">
5822       <div class="title">
5823         <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>
5824       </div>
5825       <div class="date">
5826         27th February 2012
5827       </div>
5828       <div class="body">
5829         <p>This weekend we wrapped up and published the second release
5830 candidate for <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu /
5831 Skolelinux</a> based on Squeeze.  The full announcement did for some
5832 reason not make it the project announcement list, but is
5833 <a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2012/02/msg00015.html">available</a>
5834 from the Debian development announcement list.  Check it out if you
5835 need a software solution for your school.</p>
5836
5837       </div>
5838       <div class="tags">
5839
5840
5841         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>.
5842
5843
5844       </div>
5845     </div>
5846     <div class="padding"></div>
5847
5848     <div class="entry">
5849       <div class="title">
5850         <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>
5851       </div>
5852       <div class="date">
5853         19th February 2012
5854       </div>
5855       <div class="body">
5856         <p>One week delayed due to DVD build problems, we managed today to
5857 wrap up and publish the first release candidate for
5858 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / Skolelinux</a> based
5859 on Squeeze.  The full announcement is
5860 <a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-edu-announce/2012/02/msg00001.html">available</a>
5861 on the project announcement list.  Check it out if you need a software
5862 solution for your school.</p>
5863
5864       </div>
5865       <div class="tags">
5866
5867
5868         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>.
5869
5870
5871       </div>
5872     </div>
5873     <div class="padding"></div>
5874
5875     <div class="entry">
5876       <div class="title">
5877         <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>
5878       </div>
5879       <div class="date">
5880         14th February 2012
5881       </div>
5882       <div class="body">
5883         <p>Once in a while my home server have disk problems.  Thanks to Linux
5884 Software RAID, I have not lost data yet (but
5885 <a href="http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.linux.raid/34532">I was
5886 close</a> this summer :).  But once a disk is starting to behave
5887 funny, a practical problem present itself.  How to get from the Linux
5888 device name (like /dev/sdd) to something that can be used to identify
5889 the disk when the computer is turned off?  In my case I have SATA
5890 disks with a unique ID printed on the label.  All I need is a way to
5891 figure out how to query the disk to get the ID out.</p>
5892
5893 <p>After fumbling a bit, I
5894 <a href="http://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/linux-getting-scsi-ide-harddisk-information/">found
5895 that hdparm -I</a> will report the disk serial number, which is
5896 printed on the disk label.  The following (almost) one-liner can be
5897 used to look up the ID of all the failed disks:</p>
5898
5899 <blockquote><pre>
5900 for d in $(cat /proc/mdstat |grep '(F)'|tr ' ' "\n"|grep '(F)'|cut -d\[ -f1|sort -u);
5901 do
5902     printf "Failed disk $d: "
5903     hdparm -I /dev/$d |grep 'Serial Num'
5904 done
5905 </blockquote></pre>
5906
5907 <p>Putting it here to make sure I do not have to search for it the
5908 next time, and in case other find it useful.</p>
5909
5910 <p>At the moment I have two failing disk. :(</p>
5911
5912 <blockquote><pre>
5913 Failed disk sdd1:       Serial Number:      WD-WCASJ1860823
5914 Failed disk sdd2:       Serial Number:      WD-WCASJ1860823
5915 Failed disk sde2:       Serial Number:      WD-WCASJ1840589
5916 </blockquote></pre>
5917
5918 <p>The last time I had failing disks, I added the serial number on
5919 labels I printed and stuck on the short sides of each disk, to be able
5920 to figure out which disk to take out of the box without having to
5921 remove each disk to look at the physical vendor label.  The vendor
5922 label is at the top of the disk, which is hidden when the disks are
5923 mounted inside my box.</p>
5924
5925 <p>I really wish the check_linux_raid Nagios plugin for checking Linux
5926 Software RAID in the
5927 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/n/nagios-plugins.html">nagios-plugins-standard</a>
5928 debian package would look up this value automatically, as it would
5929 make the plugin a lot more useful when my disks fail.  At the moment
5930 it only report a failure when there are no more spares left (it really
5931 should warn as soon as a disk is failing), and it do not tell me which
5932 disk(s) is failing when the RAID is running short on disks.</p>
5933
5934       </div>
5935       <div class="tags">
5936
5937
5938         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>.
5939
5940
5941       </div>
5942     </div>
5943     <div class="padding"></div>
5944
5945     <div class="entry">
5946       <div class="title">
5947         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Automatic_proxy_configuration_with_Debian_Edu___Skolelinux.html">Automatic proxy configuration with Debian Edu / Skolelinux</a>
5948       </div>
5949       <div class="date">
5950         13th February 2012
5951       </div>
5952       <div class="body">
5953         <p>New in the Squeeze version of
5954 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / Skolelinux</a> is the
5955 ability for clients to automatically configure their proxy settings
5956 based on their environment.  We want all systems on the client to use
5957 the WPAD based proxy definition fetched from <tt>http://wpad/wpad.dat</tt>, to
5958 allow sites to control the proxy setting from a central place and make
5959 sure clients do not have hard coded proxy settings.  The schools can
5960 change the global proxy setting by editing
5961 <tt>tjener:/etc/debian-edu/www/wpad.dat</tt> and the change propagate
5962 to all Debian Edu clients in the network.</p>
5963
5964 <p>The problem is that some systems do not understand the WPAD system.
5965 In other words, how do one get from a WPAD file like this (this is a
5966 simple one, they can run arbitrary code):</p>
5967
5968 <blockquote><pre>
5969 function FindProxyForURL(url, host)
5970 {
5971    if (!isResolvable(host) ||
5972        isPlainHostName(host) ||
5973        dnsDomainIs(host, ".intern"))
5974       return "DIRECT";
5975    else
5976       return "PROXY webcache:3128; DIRECT";
5977 }
5978 </pre></blockquote>
5979
5980 <p>to a proxy setting in the process environment looking like this:</p>
5981
5982 <blockquote><pre>
5983 http_proxy=http://webcache:3128/
5984 ftp_proxy=http://webcache:3128/
5985 </pre></blockquote>
5986
5987 <p>To do this conversion I developed a perl script that will execute
5988 the javascript fragment in the WPAD file and return the proxy that
5989 would be used for
5990 <tt><a href="http://www.debian.org/">http://www.debian.org/</a></tt>,
5991 and insert this extracted proxy URL in <tt>/etc/environment</tt> and
5992 <tt>/etc/apt/apt.conf</tt>.  The perl script wpad-extract work just
5993 fine in Squeeze, but in Wheezy the library it need to run the
5994 javascript code is <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/631045">no longer
5995 able to build</a> because the C library it depended on is now a C++
5996 library.  I hope someone find a solution to that problem before Wheezy
5997 is frozen.  An alternative would be for us to rewrite wpad-extract to
5998 use some other javascript library currently working in Wheezy, but no
5999 known alternative is known at the moment.</p>
6000
6001 <p>This automatic proxy system allow the roaming workstation (aka
6002 laptop) setup in Debian Edu/Squeeze to use the proxy when the laptop
6003 is connected to the backbone network in a Debian Edu setup, and to
6004 automatically use any proxy present and announced using the WPAD
6005 feature when it is connected to other networks.  And if no proxy is
6006 announced, direct connections will be used instead.</p>
6007
6008 <p>Silently using a proxy announced on the network might be a privacy
6009 or security problem.  But those controlling DHCP and DNS on a network
6010 could just as easily set up a transparent proxy, and force all HTTP
6011 and FTP connections to use a proxy anyway, so I consider that
6012 distinction to be academic.  If you are afraid of using the wrong
6013 proxy, you should avoid connecting to the network in question in the
6014 first place.  In Debian Edu, the proxy setup is updated using dhcp and
6015 ifupdown hooks, to make sure the configuration is updated every time
6016 the network setup changes.</p>
6017
6018 <p>The WPAD system is documented in a
6019 <a href="http://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-ietf-wrec-wpad-01">IETF
6020 draft</a> and a
6021 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_Proxy_Autodiscovery_Protocol">Wikipedia
6022 page</a> for those that want to learn more.</p>
6023
6024       </div>
6025       <div class="tags">
6026
6027
6028         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>.
6029
6030
6031       </div>
6032     </div>
6033     <div class="padding"></div>
6034
6035     <div class="entry">
6036       <div class="title">
6037         <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>
6038       </div>
6039       <div class="date">
6040          5th February 2012
6041       </div>
6042       <div class="body">
6043         <p>Since the Lenny version of
6044 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / Skolelinux</a>, a
6045 feature to save power have been included.  It is as simple as it is
6046 practical: Shut down unused clients at night, and turn them on again
6047 in the morning.  This is done using the
6048 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/s/shutdown-at-night.html">shutdown-at-night</a> Debian package.</p>
6049
6050 <p>To enable this feature on a client, the machine need to be added to
6051 the netgroup shutdown-at-night-hosts.  For Debian Edu, this is done in
6052 LDAP, and once this is in place, the machine in question will check
6053 every hour from 16:00 until 06:00 to see if the machine is unused, and
6054 shut it down if it is.  If the hardware in question is supported by
6055 the
6056 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/n/nvram-wakeup.html">nvram-wakeup</a>
6057 package, the BIOS is told to turn the machine back on around 07:00 +-
6058 10 minutes.  If this isn't working, one can configure wake-on-lan to
6059 try to turn on the client.  The wake-on-lan option is only documented
6060 and not enabled by default in Debian Edu.</p>
6061
6062 <p>It is important to not turn all machines on at once, as this can
6063 blow a fuse if several computers are connected to the same fuse like
6064 the common setup for a classroom.  The nvram-wakeup method only work
6065 for machines with a functioning hardware/BIOS clock.  I've seen old
6066 machines where the BIOS battery were dead and the hardware clock were
6067 starting from 0 (or was it 1990?) every boot.  If you have one of
6068 those, you have to turn on the computer manually.</p>
6069
6070 <p>The shutdown-at-night package is completely self contained, and can
6071 also be used outside the Debian Edu environment.  For those without a
6072 central LDAP server with netgroups, one can instead touch the file
6073 <tt>/etc/shutdown-at-night/shutdown-at-night</tt> to enable it.
6074 Perhaps you too can use it to save some power?</p>
6075
6076       </div>
6077       <div class="tags">
6078
6079
6080         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>.
6081
6082
6083       </div>
6084     </div>
6085     <div class="padding"></div>
6086
6087     <div class="entry">
6088       <div class="title">
6089         <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>
6090       </div>
6091       <div class="date">
6092          4th February 2012
6093       </div>
6094       <div class="body">
6095         <p>I am happy to announce that finally we managed today to wrap up and
6096 publish the third beta version of
6097 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / Skolelinux</a> based
6098 on Squeeze.  If you want to test a LDAP backed Kerberos server with
6099 out of the box PXE configuration for running diskless machines and
6100 installing new machines, check it out.  If you need a software
6101 solution for your school, check it out too.  The full announcement is
6102 <a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-edu-announce/2012/02/msg00000.html">available</a>
6103 on the project announcement list.</p>
6104
6105 <p>I am very happy to report these changes and improvements since
6106 beta2 (there are more, see announcement for full list):</p>
6107
6108 <ul>
6109
6110 <li>It is now possible to change the pre-configured IP subnet from
6111   10.0.0.0/8 to something else by using the subnet-change tool after
6112   the installation.</li>
6113
6114 <li>Too full partitions are now automatically extended on the Main
6115   Server, based on the rules specified in /etc/fsautoresizetab.</li>
6116
6117 <li>The CUPS queues are now automatically flushed every night, and all
6118   disabled queues are restarted every hour.  This should cut down on
6119   the amount of manual administration needed for printers.</li>
6120
6121 <li>The set of initial users have been changed.  Now a personal user
6122   for the local system administrator is created during installation
6123   instead of the previously created localadmin and super-admin users,
6124   and this user is granted administrative privileges using group
6125   membership.  This reduces the number of passwords one need to keep
6126   up to date on the system.</li>
6127
6128 </ul>
6129
6130 <p>The new main server seem to work so well that I am testing it as my
6131 private DNS/LDAP/Kerberos/PXE/LTSP server at home.  I will use it look
6132 for issues we could fix to polish Debian Edu even further before the
6133 final Squeeze release is published.</p>
6134
6135 <p>Next weekend the project organise a
6136 <a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-edu-announce/2012/01/msg00001.html">developer
6137 gathering</a> in Oslo.  We will continue the work on the Squeeze
6138 version, and start initial planning for the Wheezy version.  Perhaps I
6139 will see you there?</p>
6140
6141       </div>
6142       <div class="tags">
6143
6144
6145         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>.
6146
6147
6148       </div>
6149     </div>
6150     <div class="padding"></div>
6151
6152     <div class="entry">
6153       <div class="title">
6154         <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>
6155       </div>
6156       <div class="date">
6157         27th January 2012
6158       </div>
6159       <div class="body">
6160         <p>With some computer hardware, one need non-free firmware blobs.
6161 This is the sad fact of todays computers.  In the next version of
6162 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / Skolelinux</a> based
6163 on Squeeze, we provide several scripts and modifications to make
6164 firmware blobs easier to handle.  The common use case I run into is a
6165 laptop with a wireless network card requiring non-free firmware to
6166 work, but there are other use cases as well.</p>
6167
6168 <p>First and foremost, Debian Edu provide ISO images for DVD and CD
6169 with all firmware packages in the Debian sections main and non-free
6170 included, to ensure debian-installer find and can install all of them
6171 during installation.  This take care firmware for network devices used
6172 by the installer when installing from from local media.  But for
6173 example multimedia devices are not activated in the installer and are
6174 not taken care of by this.</p>
6175
6176 <p>For non-network devices, we provide the script
6177 <tt>/usr/share/debian-edu-config/tools/auto-addfirmware</tt> which
6178 search through the <tt>dmesg</tt> output for drivers requesting extra
6179 firmware.  The firmware file name is looked up in the Contents-ARCH.gz
6180 file available in the package repository, and the packages providing
6181 the requested firmware file(s) is installed.  I have proposed to do
6182 something similar in debian-installer (BTS report
6183 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/655507">#655507</a>), to allow PXE
6184 installs of Debian to handle firmware installation better.  Run the
6185 script as root from the command line to fetch and install the needed
6186 firmware packages.</p>
6187
6188 <p>Debian Edu provide PXE installation of Debian out of the box, and
6189 because some machines need firmware to get their network cards
6190 working, the installation initrd some times need extra firmware
6191 included to be able to install at all.  To fill the PXE installation
6192 initrd with extra firmware, the
6193 <tt>/usr/share/debian-edu-config/tools/pxe-addfirmware</tt> script is
6194 provided.  Again, just run it as root on the command line to fill the
6195 PXE initrd with firmware packages.</p>
6196
6197 <p>Last, some LTSP clients might also need firmware to get their
6198 network cards working.  For this,
6199 <tt>/usr/share/debian-edu-config/tools/ltsp-addfirmware</tt> is
6200 provided to update the LTSP initrd with firmware blobs.  It is used
6201 the same way as the other firmware related tools.</p>
6202
6203 <p>At the moment, we do not run any of these during installation.  We
6204 do not know if this is acceptable for the local administrator to use
6205 non-free software, and it is their choice.</p>
6206
6207 <p>We plan to release beta3 this weekend.  You might want to give it a
6208 try.</p>
6209
6210       </div>
6211       <div class="tags">
6212
6213
6214         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>.
6215
6216
6217       </div>
6218     </div>
6219     <div class="padding"></div>
6220
6221     <div class="entry">
6222       <div class="title">
6223         <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>
6224       </div>
6225       <div class="date">
6226         25th January 2012
6227       </div>
6228       <div class="body">
6229         <p>The next version of <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu
6230 / Skolelinux</a> will include a new tool
6231 <tt>sitesummary2ldapdhcp</tt>, which can be used to quickly set up all
6232 the computers in a school without much manual labour.  Here is a short
6233 summary on how to use it to set up a new school.</p>
6234
6235 <p>First, install a combined Main Server and Thin Client Server as the
6236 central server in the network.  Next, PXE boot all the client machines
6237 as thin clients and wait 5 minutes after the last client booted to
6238 allow the clients to report their existence to the central server.  When
6239 this is done, log on to the central server and run
6240 <tt>sitesummary2ldapdhcp -a</tt> in the <tt>konsole</tt> to use the
6241 collected information to generate system objects in LDAP.  The output
6242 will look similar to this:</p>
6243
6244 <p><blockquote><pre>
6245 % sitesummary2ldapdhcp -a
6246 info: Updating machine tjener.intern [10.0.2.2] id ether-00:01:02:03:04:05.
6247 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.
6248
6249 Enter password if you want to activate these changes, and ^c to abort.
6250
6251 Connecting to LDAP as cn=admin,ou=ldap-access,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
6252 enter password: *******
6253 %
6254 </pre></blockquote></p>
6255
6256 <p>After providing the LDAP administrative password (the same as the
6257 root password set during installation), the LDAP database will be
6258 populated with system objects for each PXE booted machine with
6259 automatically generated names.  The final step to set up the school is
6260 then to log into <a href="https://oss.gonicus.de/labs/gosa/">GOsa</a>,
6261 the web based user, group and system administration system to change
6262 system names, add systems to the correct host groups and finally
6263 enable DHCP and DNS for the systems.  All clients that should be used
6264 as diskless workstations should be added to the workstation-hosts
6265 group.  After this is done, all computers can be booted again via PXE
6266 and get their assigned names and group based configuration
6267 automatically.</p>
6268
6269 <p>We plan to release beta3 with the updated version of this feature
6270 enabled this weekend.  You might want to give it a try.</p>
6271
6272 <p>Update 2012-01-28: When calling sitesummary2ldapdhcp to add new
6273 hosts, one need to add the option -a.  I forgot to mention this in my
6274 original text, and have added it to the text now.</p>
6275
6276       </div>
6277       <div class="tags">
6278
6279
6280         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>.
6281
6282
6283       </div>
6284     </div>
6285     <div class="padding"></div>
6286
6287     <div class="entry">
6288       <div class="title">
6289         <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>
6290       </div>
6291       <div class="date">
6292         10th January 2012
6293       </div>
6294       <div class="body">
6295         <p>In the Squeeze version of
6296 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / Skolelinux</a> soon
6297 to be released, users of the system will get their default browser
6298 start page set from LDAP, allowing the system administrator to point
6299 all users to the school web page by updating one setting in LDAP.  In
6300 addition to setting the default start page when a machine boots, users
6301 are shown the same page as a welcome page when they log in for the
6302 first time.</p>
6303
6304 <p>The LDAP object dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no have an attribute
6305 labeledURI with "http://www/ LDAP for Debian Edu/Skolelinux" as the
6306 default content.  By changing this value to another URL, all users get
6307 to see the page behind this new URL.</p>
6308
6309 <p>An easy way to update it is by using the ldapvi tool.  It can be
6310 called as "<tt>ldapvi -ZD '(cn=admin)'</tt>' to update LDAP with the
6311 new setting.</p>
6312
6313 <p>We have written the code to adjust the default start page and show
6314 the welcome page, and I wonder if there is an easier way to do this
6315 from within Iceweasel instead.</p>
6316
6317       </div>
6318       <div class="tags">
6319
6320
6321         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>.
6322
6323
6324       </div>
6325     </div>
6326     <div class="padding"></div>
6327
6328     <div class="entry">
6329       <div class="title">
6330         <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>
6331       </div>
6332       <div class="date">
6333          7th January 2012
6334       </div>
6335       <div class="body">
6336         <p>I am happy to announce that today we managed to wrap up and publish
6337 the second beta version of
6338 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / Skolelinux</a>.  If
6339 you want to test a LDAP backed Kerberos server with out of the box PXE
6340 configuration for running diskless machines and installing new
6341 machines, check it out.  If you need a software solution for your
6342 school, check it out too.  The full announcement is
6343 <a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-edu-announce/2012/01/msg00000.html">available</a>
6344 on the project announcement list.</p>
6345
6346       </div>
6347       <div class="tags">
6348
6349
6350         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>.
6351
6352
6353       </div>
6354     </div>
6355     <div class="padding"></div>
6356
6357     <div class="entry">
6358       <div class="title">
6359         <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>
6360       </div>
6361       <div class="date">
6362          3rd January 2012
6363       </div>
6364       <div class="body">
6365         <p>During christmas, I have been working getting the next version of
6366 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / Skolelinux</a> ready
6367 for release.  The initial problem I looked at was particularly
6368 interesting.</p>
6369
6370 <P>The installer would hang at the end when it was doing it
6371 post-installation configuration, and whatevery I did to try to find
6372 the cause and fix it always worked while I tested it, but never when I
6373 integrated it into the installer and ran the installation from
6374 scratch.  I would try to restart processes, close file descriptors,
6375 remove or create files, and the installer would always unblock and
6376 wrap up its tasks.</p>
6377
6378 <p>Eventually the cause was found.  The kernel was simply running out
6379 of entropy, causing the Kerberos setup to hang waiting for more.
6380 Pressing keys was adding entropy to the kernel, and thus all my tries
6381 to fix the problem worked not because what I was typing to fix it, but
6382 because I was typing.</P>
6383
6384 <p>The fix I implemented was to add a background process looking at
6385 the level of entropy in the kernel (by checking
6386 /proc/sys/kernel/random/entropy_avail), and if it was too small, the
6387 installer will flush the kernel file buffers and do 'find /' to
6388 generate some disk IO.  Disk IO generate entropy in the kernel, and is
6389 one of the few things that can be initated from within the system to
6390 generate entropy.</p>
6391
6392 <p>The fix is in
6393 <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/Documentation/Squeeze/Installation">beta1
6394 of the Debian Edu/Squeeze</a> version, and we
6395 <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu">welcome more testers and
6396 developers</a>.  We plan to release beta2 this weekend.</p>
6397
6398       </div>
6399       <div class="tags">
6400
6401
6402         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>.
6403
6404
6405       </div>
6406     </div>
6407     <div class="padding"></div>
6408
6409     <div class="entry">
6410       <div class="title">
6411         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Automatically_upgrading_server_firmware_on_Dell_PowerEdge.html">Automatically upgrading server firmware on Dell PowerEdge</a>
6412       </div>
6413       <div class="date">
6414         21st November 2011
6415       </div>
6416       <div class="body">
6417         <p>At work we have heaps of servers.  I believe the total count is
6418 around 1000 at the moment.  To be able to get help from the vendors
6419 when something go wrong, we want to keep the firmware on the servers
6420 up to date.  If the firmware isn't the latest and greatest, the
6421 vendors typically refuse to start debugging any problems until the
6422 firmware is upgraded.  So before every reboot, we want to upgrade the
6423 firmware, and we would really like everyone handling servers at the
6424 university to do this themselves when they plan to reboot a machine.
6425 For that to happen we at the unix server admin group need to provide
6426 the tools to do so.</p>
6427
6428 <p>To make firmware upgrading easier, I am working on a script to
6429 fetch and install the latest firmware for the servers we got.  Most of
6430 our hardware are from Dell and HP, so I have focused on these servers
6431 so far.  This blog post is about the Dell part.</P>
6432
6433 <p>On the Dell FTP site I was lucky enough to find
6434 <a href="ftp://ftp.us.dell.com/catalog/Catalog.xml.gz">an XML file</a>
6435 with firmware information for all 11th generation servers, listing
6436 which firmware should be used on a given model and where on the FTP
6437 site I can find it.  Using a simple perl XML parser I can then
6438 download the shell scripts Dell provides to do firmware upgrades from
6439 within Linux and reboot when all the firmware is primed and ready to
6440 be activated on the first reboot.</p>
6441
6442 <p>This is the Dell related fragment of the perl code I am working on.
6443 Are there anyone working on similar tools for firmware upgrading all
6444 servers at a site?  Please get in touch and lets share resources.</p>
6445
6446 <p><pre>
6447 #!/usr/bin/perl
6448 use strict;
6449 use warnings;
6450 use File::Temp qw(tempdir);
6451 BEGIN {
6452     # Install needed RHEL packages if missing
6453     my %rhelmodules = (
6454         'XML::Simple' => 'perl-XML-Simple',
6455         );
6456     for my $module (keys %rhelmodules) {
6457         eval "use $module;";
6458         if ($@) {
6459             my $pkg = $rhelmodules{$module};
6460             system("yum install -y $pkg");
6461             eval "use $module;";
6462         }
6463     }
6464 }
6465 my $errorsto = 'pere@hungry.com';
6466
6467 upgrade_dell();
6468
6469 exit 0;
6470
6471 sub run_firmware_script {
6472     my ($opts, $script) = @_;
6473     unless ($script) {
6474         print STDERR "fail: missing script name\n";
6475         exit 1
6476     }
6477     print STDERR "Running $script\n\n";
6478
6479     if (0 == system("sh $script $opts")) { # FIXME correct exit code handling
6480         print STDERR "success: firmware script ran succcessfully\n";
6481     } else {
6482         print STDERR "fail: firmware script returned error\n";
6483     }
6484 }
6485
6486 sub run_firmware_scripts {
6487     my ($opts, @dirs) = @_;
6488     # Run firmware packages
6489     for my $dir (@dirs) {
6490         print STDERR "info: Running scripts in $dir\n";
6491         opendir(my $dh, $dir) or die "Unable to open directory $dir: $!";
6492         while (my $s = readdir $dh) {
6493             next if $s =~ m/^\.\.?/;
6494             run_firmware_script($opts, "$dir/$s");
6495         }
6496         closedir $dh;
6497     }
6498 }
6499
6500 sub download {
6501     my $url = shift;
6502     print STDERR "info: Downloading $url\n";
6503     system("wget --quiet \"$url\"");
6504 }
6505
6506 sub upgrade_dell {
6507     my @dirs;
6508     my $product = `dmidecode -s system-product-name`;
6509     chomp $product;
6510
6511     if ($product =~ m/PowerEdge/) {
6512
6513         # on RHEL, these pacakges are needed by the firwmare upgrade scripts
6514         system('yum install -y compat-libstdc++-33.i686 libstdc++.i686 libxml2.i686 procmail');
6515
6516         my $tmpdir = tempdir(
6517             CLEANUP => 1
6518             );
6519         chdir($tmpdir);
6520         fetch_dell_fw('catalog/Catalog.xml.gz');
6521         system('gunzip Catalog.xml.gz');
6522         my @paths = fetch_dell_fw_list('Catalog.xml');
6523         # -q is quiet, disabling interactivity and reducing console output
6524         my $fwopts = "-q";
6525         if (@paths) {
6526             for my $url (@paths) {
6527                 fetch_dell_fw($url);
6528             }
6529             run_firmware_scripts($fwopts, $tmpdir);
6530         } else {
6531             print STDERR "error: Unsupported Dell model '$product'.\n";
6532             print STDERR "error: Please report to $errorsto.\n";
6533         }
6534         chdir('/');
6535     } else {
6536         print STDERR "error: Unsupported Dell model '$product'.\n";
6537         print STDERR "error: Please report to $errorsto.\n";
6538     }
6539 }
6540
6541 sub fetch_dell_fw {
6542     my $path = shift;
6543     my $url = "ftp://ftp.us.dell.com/$path";
6544     download($url);
6545 }
6546
6547 # Using ftp://ftp.us.dell.com/catalog/Catalog.xml.gz, figure out which
6548 # firmware packages to download from Dell.  Only work for Linux
6549 # machines and 11th generation Dell servers.
6550 sub fetch_dell_fw_list {
6551     my $filename = shift;
6552
6553     my $product = `dmidecode -s system-product-name`;
6554     chomp $product;
6555     my ($mybrand, $mymodel) = split(/\s+/, $product);
6556
6557     print STDERR "Finding firmware bundles for $mybrand $mymodel\n";
6558
6559     my $xml = XMLin($filename);
6560     my @paths;
6561     for my $bundle (@{$xml->{SoftwareBundle}}) {
6562         my $brand = $bundle->{TargetSystems}->{Brand}->{Display}->{content};
6563         my $model = $bundle->{TargetSystems}->{Brand}->{Model}->{Display}->{content};
6564         my $oscode;
6565         if ("ARRAY" eq ref $bundle->{TargetOSes}->{OperatingSystem}) {
6566             $oscode = $bundle->{TargetOSes}->{OperatingSystem}[0]->{osCode};
6567         } else {
6568             $oscode = $bundle->{TargetOSes}->{OperatingSystem}->{osCode};
6569         }
6570         if ($mybrand eq $brand && $mymodel eq $model && "LIN" eq $oscode)
6571         {
6572             @paths = map { $_->{path} } @{$bundle->{Contents}->{Package}};
6573         }
6574     }
6575     for my $component (@{$xml->{SoftwareComponent}}) {
6576         my $componenttype = $component->{ComponentType}->{value};
6577
6578         # Drop application packages, only firmware and BIOS
6579         next if 'APAC' eq $componenttype;
6580
6581         my $cpath = $component->{path};
6582         for my $path (@paths) {
6583             if ($cpath =~ m%/$path$%) {
6584                 push(@paths, $cpath);
6585             }
6586         }
6587     }
6588     return @paths;
6589 }
6590 </pre>
6591
6592 <p>The code is only tested on RedHat Enterprise Linux, but I suspect
6593 it could work on other platforms with some tweaking.  Anyone know a
6594 index like Catalog.xml is available from HP for HP servers?  At the
6595 moment I maintain a similar list manually and it is quickly getting
6596 outdated.</p>
6597
6598       </div>
6599       <div class="tags">
6600
6601
6602         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
6603
6604
6605       </div>
6606     </div>
6607     <div class="padding"></div>
6608
6609     <div class="entry">
6610       <div class="title">
6611         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Free_e_book_kiosk_for_the_public_libraries_.html">Free e-book kiosk for the public libraries?</a>
6612       </div>
6613       <div class="date">
6614          7th October 2011
6615       </div>
6616       <div class="body">
6617         <p>Here in Norway the public libraries are debating with the
6618 publishing houses how to handle electronic books.  Surprisingly, the
6619 libraries seem to be willing to accept digital restriction mechanisms
6620 (DRM) on books and renting e-books with artificial scarcity from the
6621 publishing houses.  Time limited renting (2-3 years) is one proposed
6622 model, and only allowing X borrowers for each book is another.
6623 Personally I find it amazing that libraries are even considering such
6624 models.</p>
6625
6626 <p>Anyway, while reading <a href="http://boklaben.no/?p=220">part of
6627 this debate</a>, it occurred to me that someone should present a more
6628 sensible approach to the libraries, to allow its borrowers to get used
6629 to a better model.  The idea is simple:</p>
6630
6631 <p>Create a computer system for the libraries, either in the form of a
6632 Live DVD or a installable distribution, that provide a simple kiosk
6633 solution to hand out free e-books.  As a start, the books distributed
6634 by <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/">Project Gutenberg</a> (about
6635 36,000 books), <a href="http://runeberg.org/">Project Runenberg</a>
6636 (1149 books) and <a href="http://www.archive.org/details/texts">The
6637 Internet Archive</a> (3,033,748 books) could be included, but any book
6638 where the copyright has expired or with a free licence could be
6639 distributed.</p>
6640
6641 <p>The computer system would make it easy to:</p>
6642
6643 <ul>
6644
6645 <li>Copy e-books into a USB stick, reading tablets, cell phones and
6646   other relevant equipment.</li>
6647
6648 <li>Show the books for reading on the the screen in the library.</li>
6649
6650 </ul>
6651
6652 <p>In addition to such kiosk solution, there should probably be a web
6653 site as well to allow people easy access to these books without
6654 visiting the library.  The site would be the distribution point for
6655 the kiosk systems, which would connect regularly to fetch any new
6656 books available.</p>
6657
6658 <p>Are there anyone working on a system like this?  I guess it would
6659 fit any library in the world, and not just the Norwegian public
6660 libraries. :)</p>
6661
6662       </div>
6663       <div class="tags">
6664
6665
6666         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>.
6667
6668
6669       </div>
6670     </div>
6671     <div class="padding"></div>
6672
6673     <div class="entry">
6674       <div class="title">
6675         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Ripping_problematic_DVDs_using_dvdbackup_and_genisoimage.html">Ripping problematic DVDs using dvdbackup and genisoimage</a>
6676       </div>
6677       <div class="date">
6678         17th September 2011
6679       </div>
6680       <div class="body">
6681         <p>For convenience, I want to store copies of all my DVDs on my file
6682 server.  It allow me to save shelf space flat while still having my
6683 movie collection easily available.  It also make it possible to let
6684 the kids see their favourite DVDs without wearing the physical copies
6685 down.  I prefer to store the DVDs as ISOs to keep the DVD menu and
6686 subtitle options intact.  It also ensure that the entire film is one
6687 file on the disk.  As this is for personal use, the ripping is
6688 perfectly legal here in Norway.</p>
6689
6690 <p>Normally I rip the DVDs using dd like this:</p>
6691
6692 <blockquote><pre>
6693 #!/bin/sh
6694 # apt-get install lsdvd
6695 title=$(lsdvd 2>/dev/null|awk '/Disc Title: / {print $3}')
6696 dd if=/dev/dvd of=/storage/dvds/$title.iso bs=1M
6697 </pre></blockquote>
6698
6699 <p>But some DVDs give a input/output error when I read it, and I have
6700 been looking for a better alternative.  I have no idea why this I/O
6701 error occur, but suspect my DVD drive, the Linux kernel driver or
6702 something fishy with the DVDs in question.  Or perhaps all three.</p>
6703
6704 <p>Anyway, I believe I found a solution today using dvdbackup and
6705 genisoimage.  This script gave me a working ISO for a problematic
6706 movie by first extracting the DVD file system and then re-packing it
6707 back as an ISO.
6708
6709 <blockquote><pre>
6710 #!/bin/sh
6711 # apt-get install lsdvd dvdbackup genisoimage
6712 set -e
6713 tmpdir=/storage/dvds/
6714 title=$(lsdvd 2>/dev/null|awk '/Disc Title: / {print $3}')
6715 dvdbackup -i /dev/dvd -M -o $tmpdir -n$title
6716 genisoimage -dvd-video -o $tmpdir/$title.iso $tmpdir/$title
6717 rm -rf $tmpdir/$title
6718 </pre></blockquote>
6719
6720 <p>Anyone know of a better way available in Debian/Squeeze?</p>
6721
6722 <p>Update 2011-09-18: I got a tip from Konstantin Khomoutov about the
6723 readom program from the wodim package.  It is specially written to
6724 read optical media, and is called like this: <tt>readom dev=/dev/dvd
6725 f=image.iso</tt>.  It got 6 GB along with the problematic Cars DVD
6726 before it failed, and failed right away with a Timmy Time DVD.</p>
6727
6728 <p>Next, I got a tip from Bastian Blank about
6729 <a href="http://bblank.thinkmo.de/blog/new-software-python-dvdvideo">his
6730 program python-dvdvideo</a>, which seem to be just what I am looking
6731 for.  Tested it with my problematic Timmy Time DVD, and it succeeded
6732 creating a ISO image.  The git source built and installed just fine in
6733 Squeeze, so I guess this will be my tool of choice in the future.</p>
6734
6735       </div>
6736       <div class="tags">
6737
6738
6739         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>.
6740
6741
6742       </div>
6743     </div>
6744     <div class="padding"></div>
6745
6746     <div class="entry">
6747       <div class="title">
6748         <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>
6749       </div>
6750       <div class="date">
6751          4th August 2011
6752       </div>
6753       <div class="body">
6754         <p>Wouter Verhelst have some
6755 <a href="http://grep.be/blog/en/retorts/pere_kubuntu_boot">interesting
6756 comments and opinions</a> on my blog post on
6757 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/What_should_start_from__etc_rcS_d__in_Debian____almost_nothing.html">the
6758 need to clean up /etc/rcS.d/ in Debian</a> and my blog post about
6759 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/What_is_missing_in_the_Debian_desktop__or_why_my_parents_use_Kubuntu.html">the
6760 default KDE desktop in Debian</a>.  I only have time to address one
6761 small piece of his comment now, and though it best to address the
6762 misunderstanding he bring forward:</p>
6763
6764 <p><blockquote>
6765 Currently, a system admin has four options: [...] boot to a
6766 single-user system (by adding 'single' to the kernel command line;
6767 this runs rcS and rc1 scripts)
6768 </blockquote></p>
6769
6770 <p>This make me believe Wouter believe booting into single user mode
6771 and booting into runlevel 1 is the same.  I am not surprised he
6772 believe this, because it would make sense and is a quite sensible
6773 thing to believe.  But because the boot in Debian is slightly broken,
6774 runlevel 1 do not work properly and it isn't the same as single user
6775 mode.  I'll try to explain what is actually happing, but it is a bit
6776 hard to explain.</p>
6777
6778 <p>Single user mode is defined like this in /etc/inittab:
6779 "<tt>~~:S:wait:/sbin/sulogin</tt>".  This means the only thing that is
6780 executed in single user mode is sulogin.  Single user mode is a boot
6781 state "between" the runlevels, and when booting into single user mode,
6782 only the scripts in /etc/rcS.d/ are executed before the init process
6783 enters the single user state.  When switching to runlevel 1, the state
6784 is in fact not ending in runlevel 1, but it passes through runlevel 1
6785 and end up in the single user mode (see /etc/rc1.d/S03single, which
6786 runs "init -t1 S" to switch to single user mode at the end of runlevel
6787 1.  It is confusing that the 'S' (single user) init mode is not the
6788 mode enabled by /etc/rcS.d/ (which is more like the initial boot
6789 mode).</p>
6790
6791 <p>This summary might make it clearer.  When booting for the first
6792 time into single user mode, the following commands are executed:
6793 "<tt>/etc/init.d/rc S; /sbin/sulogin</tt>".  When booting into
6794 runlevel 1, the following commands are executed: "<tt>/etc/init.d/rc
6795 S; /etc/init.d/rc 1; /sbin/sulogin</tt>".  A problem show up when
6796 trying to continue after visiting single user mode.  Not all services
6797 are started again as they should, causing the machine to end up in an
6798 unpredicatble state.  This is why Debian admins recommend rebooting
6799 after visiting single user mode.</p>
6800
6801 <p>A similar problem with runlevel 1 is caused by the amount of
6802 scripts executed from /etc/rcS.d/.  When switching from say runlevel 2
6803 to runlevel 1, the services started from /etc/rcS.d/ are not properly
6804 stopped when passing through the scripts in /etc/rc1.d/, and not
6805 started again when switching away from runlevel 1 to the runlevels
6806 2-5.  I believe the problem is best fixed by moving all the scripts
6807 out of /etc/rcS.d/ that are not <strong>required</strong> to get a
6808 functioning single user mode during boot.</p>
6809
6810 <p>I have spent several years investigating the Debian boot system,
6811 and discovered this problem a few years ago.  I suspect it originates
6812 from when sysvinit was introduced into Debian, a long time ago.</p>
6813
6814       </div>
6815       <div class="tags">
6816
6817
6818         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>.
6819
6820
6821       </div>
6822     </div>
6823     <div class="padding"></div>
6824
6825     <div class="entry">
6826       <div class="title">
6827         <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>
6828       </div>
6829       <div class="date">
6830         30th July 2011
6831       </div>
6832       <div class="body">
6833         <p>In the Debian boot system, several packages include scripts that
6834 are started from /etc/rcS.d/.  In fact, there is a bite more of them
6835 than make sense, and this causes a few problems.  What kind of
6836 problems, you might ask.  There are at least two problems.  The first
6837 is that it is not possible to recover a machine after switching to
6838 runlevel 1.  One need to actually reboot to get the machine back to
6839 the expected state.  The other is that single user boot will sometimes
6840 run into problems because some of the subsystems are activated before
6841 the root login is presented, causing problems when trying to recover a
6842 machine from a problem in that subsystem.  A minor additional point is
6843 that moving more scripts out of rcS.d/ and into the other rc#.d/
6844 directories will increase the amount of scripts that can run in
6845 parallel during boot, and thus decrease the boot time.</p>
6846
6847 <p>So, which scripts should start from rcS.d/.  In short, only the
6848 scripts that _have_ to execute before the root login prompt is
6849 presented during a single user boot should go there.  Everything else
6850 should go into the numeric runlevels.  This means things like
6851 lm-sensors, fuse and x11-common should not run from rcS.d, but from
6852 the numeric runlevels.  Today in Debian, there are around 115 init.d
6853 scripts that are started from rcS.d/, and most of them should be moved
6854 out.  Do your package have one of them?  Please help us make single
6855 user and runlevel 1 better by moving it.</p>
6856
6857 <p>Scripts setting up the screen, keyboard, system partitions
6858 etc. should still be started from rcS.d/, but there is for example no
6859 need to have the network enabled before the single user login prompt
6860 is presented.</p>
6861
6862 <p>As always, things are not so easy to fix as they sound.  To keep
6863 Debian systems working while scripts migrate and during upgrades, the
6864 scripts need to be moved from rcS.d/ to rc2.d/ in reverse dependency
6865 order, ie the scripts that nothing in rcS.d/ depend on can be moved,
6866 and the next ones can only be moved when their dependencies have been
6867 moved first.  This migration must be done sequentially while we ensure
6868 that the package system upgrade packages in the right order to keep
6869 the system state correct.  This will require some coordination when it
6870 comes to network related packages, but most of the packages with
6871 scripts that should migrate do not have anything in rcS.d/ depending
6872 on them.  Some packages have already been updated, like the sudo
6873 package, while others are still left to do.  I wish I had time to work
6874 on this myself, but real live constrains make it unlikely that I will
6875 find time to push this forward.</p>
6876
6877       </div>
6878       <div class="tags">
6879
6880
6881         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>.
6882
6883
6884       </div>
6885     </div>
6886     <div class="padding"></div>
6887
6888     <div class="entry">
6889       <div class="title">
6890         <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>
6891       </div>
6892       <div class="date">
6893         29th July 2011
6894       </div>
6895       <div class="body">
6896         <p>While at Debconf11, I have several times during discussions
6897 mentioned the issues I believe should be improved in Debian for its
6898 desktop to be useful for more people.  The use case for this is my
6899 parents, which are currently running Kubuntu which solve the
6900 issues.</p>
6901
6902 <p>I suspect these four missing features are not very hard to
6903 implement.  After all, they are present in Ubuntu, so if we wanted to
6904 do this in Debian we would have a source.</p>
6905
6906 <ol>
6907
6908 <li><strong>Simple GUI based upgrade of packages.</strong> When there
6909 are new packages available for upgrades, a icon in the KDE status bar
6910 indicate this, and clicking on it will activate the simple upgrade
6911 tool to handle it.  I have no problem guiding both of my parents
6912 through the process over the phone.  If a kernel reboot is required,
6913 this too is indicated by the status bars and the upgrade tool.  Last
6914 time I checked, nothing with the same features was working in KDE in
6915 Debian.</li>
6916
6917 <li><strong>Simple handling of missing Firefox browser
6918 plugins.</strong> When the browser encounter a MIME type it do not
6919 currently have a handler for, it will ask the user if the system
6920 should search for a package that would add support for this MIME type,
6921 and if the user say yes, the APT sources will be searched for packages
6922 advertising the MIME type in their control file (visible in the
6923 Packages file in the APT archive).  If one or more packages are found,
6924 it is a simple click of the mouse to add support for the missing mime
6925 type.  If the package require the user to accept some non-free
6926 license, this is explained to the user.  The entire process make it
6927 more clear to the user why something do not work in the browser, and
6928 make the chances higher for the user to blame the web page authors and
6929 not the browser for any missing features.</li>
6930
6931 <li><strong>Simple handling of missing multimedia codec/format
6932 handlers.</strong> When the media players encounter a format or codec
6933 it is not supporting, a dialog pop up asking the user if the system
6934 should search for a package that would add support for it.  This
6935 happen with things like MP3, Windows Media or H.264.  The selection
6936 and installation procedure is very similar to the Firefox browser
6937 plugin handling.  This is as far as I know implemented using a
6938 gstreamer hook.  The end result is that the user easily get access to
6939 the codecs that are present from the APT archives available, while
6940 explaining more on why a given format is unsupported by Ubuntu.</li>
6941
6942 <li><strong>Better browser handling of some MIME types.</strong> When
6943 displaying a text/plain file in my Debian browser, it will propose to
6944 start emacs to show it.  If I remember correctly, when doing the same
6945 in Kunbutu it show the file as a text file in the browser.  At least I
6946 know Opera will show text files within the browser.  I much prefer the
6947 latter behaviour.</li>
6948
6949 </ol>
6950
6951 <p>There are other nice features as well, like the simplified suite
6952 upgrader, but given that I am the one mostly doing the dist-upgrade,
6953 it do not matter much.</p>
6954
6955 <p>I really hope we could get these features in place for the next
6956 Debian release.  It would require the coordinated effort of several
6957 maintainers, but would make the end user experience a lot better.</p>
6958
6959       </div>
6960       <div class="tags">
6961
6962
6963         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/multimedia">multimedia</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/web">web</a>.
6964
6965
6966       </div>
6967     </div>
6968     <div class="padding"></div>
6969
6970     <div class="entry">
6971       <div class="title">
6972         <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>
6973       </div>
6974       <div class="date">
6975         26th July 2011
6976       </div>
6977       <div class="body">
6978         <p>The Norwegian <a href="http://www.fiksgatami.no/">FiksGataMi</A>
6979 site is build on Debian/Squeeze, and this platform was chosen because
6980 I am most familiar with Debian (being a Debian Developer for around 10
6981 years) because it is the latest stable Debian release which should get
6982 security support for a few years.</p>
6983
6984 <p>The web service is written in Perl, and depend on some perl modules
6985 that are missing in Debian at the moment.  It would be great if these
6986 modules were added to the Debian archive, allowing anyone to set up
6987 their own <a href="http://www.fixmystreet.com">FixMyStreet</a> clone
6988 in their own country using only Debian packages.  The list of modules
6989 missing in Debian/Squeeze isn't very long, and I hope the perl group
6990 will find time to package the 12 modules Catalyst::Plugin::SmartURI,
6991 Catalyst::Plugin::Unicode::Encoding, Catalyst::View::TT, Devel::Hide,
6992 Sort::Key, Statistics::Distributions, Template::Plugin::Comma,
6993 Template::Plugin::DateTime::Format, Term::Size::Any, Term::Size::Perl,
6994 URI::SmartURI and Web::Scraper to make the maintenance of FixMyStreet
6995 easier in the future.</p>
6996
6997 <p>Thanks to the great tools in Debian, getting the missing modules
6998 installed on my server was a simple call to 'cpan2deb Module::Name'
6999 and 'dpkg -i' to install the resulting package.  But this leave me
7000 with the responsibility of tracking security problems, which I really
7001 do not have time for.</p>
7002
7003       </div>
7004       <div class="tags">
7005
7006
7007         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>.
7008
7009
7010       </div>
7011     </div>
7012     <div class="padding"></div>
7013
7014     <div class="entry">
7015       <div class="title">
7016         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Free_Software_vs__proprietary_softare___.html">Free Software vs. proprietary softare...</a>
7017       </div>
7018       <div class="date">
7019         20th June 2011
7020       </div>
7021       <div class="body">
7022         <p>Reading
7023 <a href="http://blog.thingiverse.com/2011/06/20/open-source-vs-closed-source-eulas/">the
7024 thingiverse blog</a>, I came across two highlights of interesting
7025 parts of the
7026 <a href="http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Autodesk_EULA">Autodesk</a>
7027 and
7028 <a href="http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2011/06/things-you-cant-do-with-the-microsoft-kinect-sdk.html">Microsoft
7029 Kinect</a> End User License Agreements (EULAs), which illustrates
7030 quite well why I stay away from software with EULAs.  Whenever I take
7031 the time to read their content, the terms are simply unacceptable.</p>
7032
7033       </div>
7034       <div class="tags">
7035
7036
7037         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>.
7038
7039
7040       </div>
7041     </div>
7042     <div class="padding"></div>
7043
7044     <div class="entry">
7045       <div class="title">
7046         <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>
7047       </div>
7048       <div class="date">
7049         30th April 2011
7050       </div>
7051       <div class="body">
7052         <p>Today, the first draft implementation of an
7053 <a href="http://www.open311.org/">Open311 API</a> for the Norwegian
7054 service <a href="http://www.fiksgatami.no/">FiksGataMi</a> started to
7055 work.  It is only available on the developer server for now, and I
7056 have not tested it using any existing Open311 client (I lack the
7057 platforms needed to run the clients I have found so far), but it is
7058 able to query the database and extract a list of open and closed
7059 requests within a given category and reported to a given municipality.
7060 I believe that is a good start to create a useful service for those
7061 that want to do data mining on the requests submitted so far.</p>
7062
7063 <p>Where is it?  Visit
7064 <a href="http://fiksgatami-dev.nuug.no/open311.cgi/v2/">http://fiksgatami-dev.nuug.no/open311.cgi/v2/</a>
7065 to have a look.  Please send feedback to the
7066 <a href="http://lists.nuug.no/mailman/listinfo/fiksgatami">fiksgatami
7067 (at) nuug.no</a> mailing list.</p>
7068
7069       </div>
7070       <div class="tags">
7071
7072
7073         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>.
7074
7075
7076       </div>
7077     </div>
7078     <div class="padding"></div>
7079
7080     <div class="entry">
7081       <div class="title">
7082         <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>
7083       </div>
7084       <div class="date">
7085         29th April 2011
7086       </div>
7087       <div class="body">
7088         <p>The last few days I have spent some time trying to add support for
7089 the <a href="http://www.open311.org/">Open311 API</a> in the
7090 <a href="http://www.fiksgatami.no/">Norwegian FixMyStreet service</a>.
7091 Earlier I believed Open311 would be a useful API to use to submit
7092 reports to the municipalities, but when I noticed that the
7093 <a href="http://fixmystreet.org.nz/">New Zealand version</a> of
7094 FixMyStreet had implemented Open311 on the server side, it occurred to
7095 me that this was a nice way to allow the public, press and
7096 municipalities to do data mining directly in the FixMyStreet service.
7097 Thus I went to work implementing the Open311 specification for
7098 FixMyStreet.  The implementation is not yet ready, but I am starting
7099 to get a draft limping along.  In the process, I have discovered a few
7100 issues with the Open311 specification.</p>
7101
7102 <p>One obvious missing feature is the lack of natural language
7103 handling in the specification.  The specification seem to assume all
7104 reports will be written in English, and do not provide a way for the
7105 receiving end to specify which languages are understood there.  To be
7106 able to use the same client and submit to several Open311 receivers,
7107 it would be useful to know which language to use when writing reports.
7108 I believe the specification should be extended to allow the receivers
7109 of problem reports to specify which language they accept, and the
7110 submitter to specify which language the report is written in.
7111 Language of a text can also be automatically guessed using statistical
7112 methods, but for multi-lingual persons like myself, it is useful to
7113 know which language to use when writing a problem report.  I suspect
7114 some lang=nb,nn kind of attribute would solve it.</p>
7115
7116 <p>A key part of the Open311 API is the list of services provided,
7117 which is similar to the categories used by FixMyStreet.  One issue I
7118 run into is the need to specify both name and unique identifier for
7119 each category.  The specification do not state that the identifier
7120 should be numeric, but all example implementations have used numbers
7121 here.  In FixMyStreet, there is no number associated with each
7122 category.  As the specification do not forbid it, I will use the name
7123 as the unique identifier for now and see how open311 clients handle
7124 it.</p>
7125
7126 <p>The report format in open311 and the report format in FixMyStreet
7127 differ in a key part.  FixMyStreet have a title and a description,
7128 while Open311 only have a description and lack the title.  I'm not
7129 quite sure how to best handle this yet.  When asking for a FixMyStreet
7130 report in Open311 format, I just merge title an description into the
7131 open311 description, but this is not going to work if the open311 API
7132 should be used for submitting new reports to FixMyStreet.</p>
7133
7134 <p>The search feature in Open311 is missing a way to ask for problems
7135 near a geographic location.  I believe this is important if one is to
7136 use Open311 as the query language for mobile units.  The specification
7137 should be extended to handle this, probably using some new lat=, lon=
7138 and range= options.</p>
7139
7140 <p>The final challenge I see is that the FixMyStreet code handle
7141 several administrations in one interface, while the Open311 API seem
7142 to assume only one administration.  For FixMyStreet, this mean a
7143 report can be sent to several administrations, and the categories
7144 available depend on the location of the problem.  Not quite sure how
7145 to best handle this.  I've noticed
7146 <a href="http://seeclickfix.com/open311/">SeeClickFix</a> added
7147 latitude and longitude options to the services request, but it do not
7148 solve the problem of what to return when no location is specified.
7149 Will have to investigate this a bit more.</p>
7150
7151 <p>My distaste for web forums have kept me from bringing these issues
7152 up with the open311 developer group.  I really wish they had a email
7153 list available via <a href="http://www.gmane.org/">Gmane</a> to use for
7154 discussions instead of only
7155 <a href="http://lists.open311.org/groups/discuss">a forum<a/>.  Oh,
7156 well.  That will probably resolve itself, one way or another.  I've
7157 also tried visiting the IRC channel #open311 on FreeNode, but no-one
7158 seem to reply to my questions there.  This make me wonder if I just
7159 fail to understand how the open311 community work.  It sure do not
7160 work like the free software project communities I am used to.</p>
7161
7162       </div>
7163       <div class="tags">
7164
7165
7166         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>.
7167
7168
7169       </div>
7170     </div>
7171     <div class="padding"></div>
7172
7173     <div class="entry">
7174       <div class="title">
7175         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Gnash_enteres_Google_Summer_of_Code_2011.html">Gnash enteres Google Summer of Code 2011</a>
7176       </div>
7177       <div class="date">
7178          6th April 2011
7179       </div>
7180       <div class="body">
7181         <p><a href="http://www.getgnash.org/">The Gnash project</a> is still
7182 the most promising solution for a Free Software Flash implementation.
7183 A few days ago the project
7184 <a href="http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/gnash-dev/2011-04/msg00011.html">announced</a>
7185 that it will participate in Google Summer of Code.  I hope many
7186 students apply, and that some of them succeed in getting AVM2 support
7187 into Gnash.</p>
7188
7189       </div>
7190       <div class="tags">
7191
7192
7193         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>.
7194
7195
7196       </div>
7197     </div>
7198     <div class="padding"></div>
7199
7200     <div class="entry">
7201       <div class="title">
7202         <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>
7203       </div>
7204       <div class="date">
7205          3rd April 2011
7206       </div>
7207       <div class="body">
7208         <p>Here is a small update for my English readers.  Most of my blog
7209 posts have been in Norwegian the last few weeks, so here is a short
7210 update in English.</p>
7211
7212 <p>The kids still keep me too busy to get much free software work
7213 done, but I did manage to organise a project to get a Norwegian port
7214 of the British service
7215 <a href="http://www.fixmystreet.com/">FixMyStreet</a> up and running,
7216 and it has been running for a month now.  The entire project has been
7217 organised by me and two others.  Around Christmas we gathered sponsors
7218 to fund the development work.  In January I drafted a contract with
7219 <a href="http://www.mysociety.org/">mySociety</a> on what to develop,
7220 and in February the development took place.  Most of it involved
7221 converting the source to use GPS coordinates instead of British
7222 easting/northing, and the resulting code should be a lot easier to get
7223 running in any country by now.  The Norwegian
7224 <a href="http://www.fiksgatami.no/">FiksGataMi</a> is using
7225 <a href="http://www.openstreetmap.org/">OpenStreetmap</a> as the map
7226 source and the source for administrative borders in Norway, and
7227 support for this had to be added/fixed.</p>
7228
7229 <p>The Norwegian version went live March 3th, and we spent the weekend
7230 polishing the system before we announced it March 7th.  The system is
7231 running on a KVM instance of Debian/Squeeze, and has seen almost 3000
7232 problem reports in a few weeks.  Soon we hope to announce the Android
7233 and iPhone versions making it even easier to report problems with the
7234 public infrastructure.</p>
7235
7236 <p>Perhaps something to consider for those of you in countries without
7237 such service?</p>
7238
7239       </div>
7240       <div class="tags">
7241
7242
7243         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>.
7244
7245
7246       </div>
7247     </div>
7248     <div class="padding"></div>
7249
7250     <div class="entry">
7251       <div class="title">
7252         <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>
7253       </div>
7254       <div class="date">
7255         28th January 2011
7256       </div>
7257       <div class="body">
7258         <p>The last few days I have looked at ways to track open security
7259 issues here at my work with the University of Oslo.  My idea is that
7260 it should be possible to use the information about security issues
7261 available on the Internet, and check our locally
7262 maintained/distributed software against this information.  It should
7263 allow us to verify that no known security issues are forgotten.  The
7264 CVE database listing vulnerabilities seem like a great central point,
7265 and by using the package lists from Debian mapped to CVEs provided by
7266 the testing security team, I believed it should be possible to figure
7267 out which security holes were present in our free software
7268 collection.</p>
7269
7270 <p>After reading up on the topic, it became obvious that the first
7271 building block is to be able to name software packages in a unique and
7272 consistent way across data sources.  I considered several ways to do
7273 this, for example coming up with my own naming scheme like using URLs
7274 to project home pages or URLs to the Freshmeat entries, or using some
7275 existing naming scheme.  And it seem like I am not the first one to
7276 come across this problem, as MITRE already proposed and implemented a
7277 solution.  Enter the <a href="http://cpe.mitre.org/index.html">Common
7278 Platform Enumeration</a> dictionary, a vocabulary for referring to
7279 software, hardware and other platform components.  The CPE ids are
7280 mapped to CVEs in the <a href="http://web.nvd.nist.gov/">National
7281 Vulnerability Database</a>, allowing me to look up know security
7282 issues for any CPE name.  With this in place, all I need to do is to
7283 locate the CPE id for the software packages we use at the university.
7284 This is fairly trivial (I google for 'cve cpe $package' and check the
7285 NVD entry if a CVE for the package exist).</p>
7286
7287 <p>To give you an example.  The GNU gzip source package have the CPE
7288 name cpe:/a:gnu:gzip.  If the old version 1.3.3 was the package to
7289 check out, one could look up
7290 <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
7291 in NVD</a> and get a list of 6 security holes with public CVE entries.
7292 The most recent one is
7293 <a href="http://web.nvd.nist.gov/view/vuln/detail?vulnId=CVE-2010-0001">CVE-2010-0001</a>,
7294 and at the bottom of the NVD page for this vulnerability the complete
7295 list of affected versions is provided.</p>
7296
7297 <p>The NVD database of CVEs is also available as a XML dump, allowing
7298 for offline processing of issues.  Using this dump, I've written a
7299 small script taking a list of CPEs as input and list all CVEs
7300 affecting the packages represented by these CPEs.  One give it CPEs
7301 with version numbers as specified above and get a list of open
7302 security issues out.</p>
7303
7304 <p>Of course for this approach to be useful, the quality of the NVD
7305 information need to be high.  For that to happen, I believe as many as
7306 possible need to use and contribute to the NVD database.  I notice
7307 RHEL is providing
7308 <a href="https://www.redhat.com/security/data/metrics/rhsamapcpe.txt">a
7309 map from CVE to CPE</a>, indicating that they are using the CPE
7310 information.  I'm not aware of Debian and Ubuntu doing the same.</p>
7311
7312 <p>To get an idea about the quality for free software, I spent some
7313 time making it possible to compare the CVE database from Debian with
7314 the CVE database in NVD.  The result look fairly good, but there are
7315 some inconsistencies in NVD (same software package having several
7316 CPEs), and some inaccuracies (NVD not mentioning buggy packages that
7317 Debian believe are affected by a CVE).  Hope to find time to improve
7318 the quality of NVD, but that require being able to get in touch with
7319 someone maintaining it.  So far my three emails with questions and
7320 corrections have not seen any reply, but I hope contact can be
7321 established soon.</p>
7322
7323 <p>An interesting application for CPEs is cross platform package
7324 mapping.  It would be useful to know which packages in for example
7325 RHEL, OpenSuSe and Mandriva are missing from Debian and Ubuntu, and
7326 this would be trivial if all linux distributions provided CPE entries
7327 for their packages.</p>
7328
7329       </div>
7330       <div class="tags">
7331
7332
7333         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>.
7334
7335
7336       </div>
7337     </div>
7338     <div class="padding"></div>
7339
7340     <div class="entry">
7341       <div class="title">
7342         <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>
7343       </div>
7344       <div class="date">
7345         23rd January 2011
7346       </div>
7347       <div class="body">
7348         <p>In the
7349 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/discover-data">discover-data</a>
7350 package in Debian, there is a script to report useful information
7351 about the running hardware for use when people report missing
7352 information.  One part of this script that I find very useful when
7353 debugging hardware problems, is the part mapping loaded kernel module
7354 to the PCI device it claims.  It allow me to quickly see if the kernel
7355 module I expect is driving the hardware I am struggling with.  To see
7356 the output, make sure discover-data is installed and run
7357 <tt>/usr/share/bug/discover-data 3>&1</tt>.  The relevant output on
7358 one of my machines like this:</p>
7359
7360 <pre>
7361 loaded modules:
7362 10de:03eb i2c_nforce2
7363 10de:03f1 ohci_hcd
7364 10de:03f2 ehci_hcd
7365 10de:03f0 snd_hda_intel
7366 10de:03ec pata_amd
7367 10de:03f6 sata_nv
7368 1022:1103 k8temp
7369 109e:036e bttv
7370 109e:0878 snd_bt87x
7371 11ab:4364 sky2
7372 </pre>
7373
7374 <p>The code in question look like this, slightly modified for
7375 readability and to drop the output to file descriptor 3:</p>
7376
7377 <pre>
7378 if [ -d /sys/bus/pci/devices/ ] ; then
7379     echo loaded pci modules:
7380     (
7381         cd /sys/bus/pci/devices/
7382         for address in * ; do
7383             if [ -d "$address/driver/module" ] ; then
7384                 module=`cd $address/driver/module ; pwd -P | xargs basename`
7385                 if grep -q "^$module " /proc/modules ; then
7386                     address=$(echo $address |sed s/0000://)
7387                     id=`lspci -n -s $address | tail -n 1 | awk '{print $3}'`
7388                     echo "$id $module"
7389                 fi
7390             fi
7391         done
7392     )
7393     echo
7394 fi
7395 </pre>
7396
7397 <p>Similar code could be used to extract USB device module
7398 mappings:</p>
7399
7400 <pre>
7401 if [ -d /sys/bus/usb/devices/ ] ; then
7402     echo loaded usb modules:
7403     (
7404         cd /sys/bus/usb/devices/
7405         for address in * ; do
7406             if [ -d "$address/driver/module" ] ; then
7407                 module=`cd $address/driver/module ; pwd -P | xargs basename`
7408                 if grep -q "^$module " /proc/modules ; then
7409                     address=$(echo $address |sed s/0000://)
7410                     id=$(lsusb -s $address | tail -n 1 | awk '{print $6}')
7411                     if [ "$id" ] ; then
7412                         echo "$id $module"
7413                     fi
7414                 fi
7415             fi
7416         done
7417     )
7418     echo
7419 fi
7420 </pre>
7421
7422 <p>This might perhaps be something to include in other tools as
7423 well.</p>
7424
7425       </div>
7426       <div class="tags">
7427
7428
7429         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>.
7430
7431
7432       </div>
7433     </div>
7434     <div class="padding"></div>
7435
7436     <div class="entry">
7437       <div class="title">
7438         <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>
7439       </div>
7440       <div class="date">
7441         16th January 2011
7442       </div>
7443       <div class="body">
7444         <p>The video format struggle on the web continues, and the three
7445 contenders seem to be Ogg Theora, H.264 and WebM.  Most video sites
7446 seem to use H.264, while others use Ogg Theora.  Interestingly enough,
7447 the comments I see give me the feeling that a lot of people believe
7448 H.264 is the most supported video format in browsers, but according to
7449 the Wikipedia article on
7450 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTML5_video">HTML5 video</a>,
7451 this is not true.  Check out the nice table of supprted formats in
7452 different browsers there.  The format supported by most browsers is
7453 Ogg Theora, supported by released versions of Mozilla Firefox, Google
7454 Chrome, Chromium, Opera, Konqueror, Epiphany, Origyn Web Browser and
7455 BOLT browser, while not supported by Internet Explorer nor Safari.
7456 The runner up is WebM supported by released versions of Google Chrome
7457 Chromium Opera and Origyn Web Browser, and test versions of Mozilla
7458 Firefox.  H.264 is supported by released versions of Safari, Origyn
7459 Web Browser and BOLT browser, and the test version of Internet
7460 Explorer.  Those wanting Ogg Theora support in Internet Explorer and
7461 Safari can install plugins to get it.</p>
7462
7463 <p>To me, the simple conclusion from this is that to reach most users
7464 without any extra software installed, one uses Ogg Theora with the
7465 HTML5 video tag.   Of course to reach all those without a browser
7466 handling HTML5, one need fallback mechanisms.  In
7467 <a href="http://www.nuug.no/">NUUG</a>, we provide first fallback to a
7468 plugin capable of playing MPEG1 video, and those without such support
7469 we have a second fallback to the Cortado java applet playing Ogg
7470 Theora.  This seem to work quite well, as can be seen in an <a
7471 href="http://www.nuug.no/aktiviteter/20110111-semantic-web/">example
7472 from last week</a>.</p>
7473
7474 <p>The reason Ogg Theora is the most supported format, and H.264 is
7475 the least supported is simple.  Implementing and using H.264
7476 require royalty payment to MPEG-LA, and the terms of use from MPEG-LA
7477 are incompatible with free software licensing.  If you believed H.264
7478 was without royalties and license terms, check out
7479 "<a href="http://webmink.com/essays/h-264/">H.264 – Not The Kind Of
7480 Free That Matters</a>" by Simon Phipps.</p>
7481
7482 <p>A incomplete list of sites providing video in Ogg Theora is
7483 available from
7484 <a href="http://wiki.xiph.org/index.php/List_of_Theora_videos">the
7485 Xiph.org wiki</a>, if you want to have a look.  I'm not aware of a
7486 similar list for WebM nor H.264.</p>
7487
7488 <p>Update 2011-01-16 09:40: A question from Tollef on IRC made me
7489 realise that I failed to make it clear enough this text is about the
7490 &lt;video&gt; tag support in browsers and not the video support
7491 provided by external plugins like the Flash plugins.</p>
7492
7493       </div>
7494       <div class="tags">
7495
7496
7497         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/standard">standard</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/video">video</a>.
7498
7499
7500       </div>
7501     </div>
7502     <div class="padding"></div>
7503
7504     <div class="entry">
7505       <div class="title">
7506         <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>
7507       </div>
7508       <div class="date">
7509         12th January 2011
7510       </div>
7511       <div class="body">
7512         <p>Today I discovered
7513 <a href="http://www.digi.no/860070/google-dropper-h264-stotten-i-chrome">via
7514 digi.no</a> that the Chrome developers, in a surprising announcement,
7515 <a href="http://blog.chromium.org/2011/01/html-video-codec-support-in-chrome.html">yesterday
7516 announced</a> plans to drop H.264 support for HTML5 &lt;video&gt; in
7517 the browser.  The argument used is that H.264 is not a "completely
7518 open" codec technology.  If you believe H.264 was free for everyone
7519 to use, I recommend having a look at the essay
7520 "<a href="http://webmink.com/essays/h-264/">H.264 – Not The Kind Of
7521 Free That Matters</a>".  It is not free of cost for creators of video
7522 tools, nor those of us that want to publish on the Internet, and the
7523 terms provided by MPEG-LA excludes free software projects from
7524 licensing the patents needed for H.264.  Some background information
7525 on the Google announcement is available from
7526 <a href="http://www.osnews.com/story/24243/Google_To_Drop_H264_Support_from_Chrome">OSnews</a>.
7527 A good read. :)</p>
7528
7529 <p>Personally, I believe it is great that Google is taking a stand to
7530 promote equal terms for everyone when it comes to video publishing on
7531 the Internet.  This can only be done by publishing using free and open
7532 standards, which is only possible if the web browsers provide support
7533 for these free and open standards.  At the moment there seem to be two
7534 camps in the web browser world when it come to video support.  Some
7535 browsers support H.264, and others support
7536 <a href="http://www.theora.org/">Ogg Theora</a> and
7537 <a href="http://www.webmproject.org/">WebM</a>
7538 (<a href="http://www.diracvideo.org/">Dirac</a> is not really an option
7539 yet), forcing those of us that want to publish video on the Internet
7540 and which can not accept the terms of use presented by MPEG-LA for
7541 H.264 to not reach all potential viewers.
7542 Wikipedia keep <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTML5_video">an
7543 updated summary</a> of the current browser support.</p>
7544
7545 <p>Not surprising, several people would prefer Google to keep
7546 promoting H.264, and John Gruber
7547 <a href="http://daringfireball.net/2011/01/simple_questions">presents
7548 the mind set</a> of these people quite well.  His rhetorical questions
7549 provoked a reply from Thom Holwerda with another set of questions
7550 <a href="http://www.osnews.com/story/24245/10_Questions_for_John_Gruber_Regarding_H_264_WebM">presenting
7551 the issues with H.264</a>. Both are worth a read.</p>
7552
7553 <p>Some argue that if Google is dropping H.264 because it isn't free,
7554 they should also drop support for the Adobe Flash plugin.  This
7555 argument was covered by Simon Phipps in
7556 <a href="http://blogs.computerworlduk.com/simon-says/2011/01/google-and-h264---far-from-hypocritical/index.htm">todays
7557 blog post</a>, which I find to put the issue in context.  To me it
7558 make perfect sense to drop native H.264 support for HTML5 in the
7559 browser while still allowing plugins.</p>
7560
7561 <p>I suspect the reason this announcement make so many people protest,
7562 is that all the users and promoters of H.264 suddenly get an uneasy
7563 feeling that they might be backing the wrong horse.  A lot of TV
7564 broadcasters have been moving to H.264 the last few years, and a lot
7565 of money has been invested in hardware based on the belief that they
7566 could use the same video format for both broadcasting and web
7567 publishing.  Suddenly this belief is shaken.</p>
7568
7569 <p>An interesting question is why Google is doing this.  While the
7570 presented argument might be true enough, I believe Google would only
7571 present the argument if the change make sense from a business
7572 perspective.  One reason might be that they are currently negotiating
7573 with MPEG-LA over royalties or usage terms, and giving MPEG-LA the
7574 feeling that dropping H.264 completely from Chroome, Youtube and
7575 Google Video would improve the negotiation position of Google.
7576 Another reason might be that Google want to save money by not having
7577 to pay the video tax to MPEG-LA at all, and thus want to move to a
7578 video format not requiring royalties at all.  A third reason might be
7579 that the Chrome development team simply want to avoid the
7580 Chrome/Chromium split to get more help with the development of Chrome.
7581 I guess time will tell.</p>
7582
7583 <p>Update 2011-01-15: The Google Chrome team provided
7584 <a href="http://blog.chromium.org/2011/01/more-about-chrome-html-video-codec.html">more
7585 background and information on the move</a> it a blog post yesterday.</p>
7586
7587       </div>
7588       <div class="tags">
7589
7590
7591         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/standard">standard</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/video">video</a>.
7592
7593
7594       </div>
7595     </div>
7596     <div class="padding"></div>
7597
7598     <div class="entry">
7599       <div class="title">
7600         <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>
7601       </div>
7602       <div class="date">
7603         30th December 2010
7604       </div>
7605       <div class="body">
7606         <p>After trying to
7607 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Is_Ogg_Theora_a_free_and_open_standard_.html">compare
7608 Ogg Theora</a> to
7609 <a href="http://www.digistan.org/open-standard:definition">the Digistan
7610 definition</a> of a free and open standard, I concluded that this need
7611 to be done for more standards and started on a framework for doing
7612 this.  As a start, I want to get the status for all the standards in
7613 the Norwegian reference directory, which include UTF-8, HTML, PDF, ODF,
7614 JPEG, PNG, SVG and others.  But to be able to complete this in a
7615 reasonable time frame, I will need help.</p>
7616
7617 <p>If you want to help out with this work, please visit
7618 <a href="http://wiki.nuug.no/grupper/standard/digistan-analyse">the
7619 wiki pages I have set up for this</a>, and let me know that you want
7620 to help out.  The IRC channel #nuug on irc.freenode.net is a good
7621 place to coordinate this for now, as it is the IRC channel for the
7622 NUUG association where I have created the framework (I am the leader
7623 of the Norwegian Unix User Group).</p>
7624
7625 <p>The framework is still forming, and a lot is left to do.  Do not be
7626 scared by the sketchy form of the current pages. :)</p>
7627
7628       </div>
7629       <div class="tags">
7630
7631
7632         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>.
7633
7634
7635       </div>
7636     </div>
7637     <div class="padding"></div>
7638
7639     <div class="entry">
7640       <div class="title">
7641         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/The_many_definitions_of_a_open_standard.html">The many definitions of a open standard</a>
7642       </div>
7643       <div class="date">
7644         27th December 2010
7645       </div>
7646       <div class="body">
7647         <p>One of the reasons I like the Digistan definition of
7648 "<a href="http://www.digistan.org/open-standard:definition">Free and
7649 Open Standard</a>" is that this is a new term, and thus the meaning of
7650 the term has been decided by Digistan.  The term "Open Standard" has
7651 become so misunderstood that it is no longer very useful when talking
7652 about standards.  One end up discussing which definition is the best
7653 one and with such frame the only one gaining are the proponents of
7654 de-facto standards and proprietary solutions.</p>
7655
7656 <p>But to give us an idea about the diversity of definitions of open
7657 standards, here are a few that I know about.  This list is not
7658 complete, but can be a starting point for those that want to do a
7659 complete survey.  More definitions are available on the
7660 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_standard">wikipedia
7661 page</a>.</p>
7662
7663 <p>First off is my favourite, the definition from the European
7664 Interoperability Framework version 1.0.  Really sad to notice that BSA
7665 and others has succeeded in getting it removed from version 2.0 of the
7666 framework by stacking the committee drafting the new version with
7667 their own people.  Anyway, the definition is still available and it
7668 include the key properties needed to make sure everyone can use a
7669 specification on equal terms.</p>
7670
7671 <blockquote>
7672
7673 <p>The following are the minimal characteristics that a specification
7674 and its attendant documents must have in order to be considered an
7675 open standard:</p>
7676
7677 <ul>
7678
7679 <li>The standard is adopted and will be maintained by a not-for-profit
7680 organisation, and its ongoing development occurs on the basis of an
7681 open decision-making procedure available to all interested parties
7682 (consensus or majority decision etc.).</li>
7683
7684 <li>The standard has been published and the standard specification
7685 document is available either freely or at a nominal charge. It must be
7686 permissible to all to copy, distribute and use it for no fee or at a
7687 nominal fee.</li>
7688
7689 <li>The intellectual property - i.e. patents possibly present - of
7690 (parts of) the standard is made irrevocably available on a royalty-
7691 free basis.</li>
7692
7693 <li>There are no constraints on the re-use of the standard.</li>
7694
7695 </ul>
7696 </blockquote>
7697
7698 <p>Another one originates from my friends over at
7699 <a href="http://www.dkuug.dk/">DKUUG</a>, who coined and gathered
7700 support for <a href="http://www.aaben-standard.dk/">this
7701 definition</a> in 2004.  It even made it into the Danish parlament as
7702 <a href="http://www.ft.dk/dokumenter/tingdok.aspx?/samling/20051/beslutningsforslag/B103/som_fremsat.htm">their
7703 definition of a open standard</a>.  Another from a different part of
7704 the Danish government is available from the wikipedia page.</p>
7705
7706 <blockquote>
7707
7708 <p>En åben standard opfylder følgende krav:</p>
7709
7710 <ol>
7711
7712 <li>Veldokumenteret med den fuldstændige specifikation offentligt
7713 tilgængelig.</li>
7714
7715 <li>Frit implementerbar uden økonomiske, politiske eller juridiske
7716 begrænsninger på implementation og anvendelse.</li>
7717
7718 <li>Standardiseret og vedligeholdt i et åbent forum (en såkaldt
7719 "standardiseringsorganisation") via en åben proces.</li>
7720
7721 </ol>
7722
7723 </blockquote>
7724
7725 <p>Then there is <a href="http://www.fsfe.org/projects/os/def.html">the
7726 definition</a> from Free Software Foundation Europe.</p>
7727
7728 <blockquote>
7729
7730 <p>An Open Standard refers to a format or protocol that is</p>
7731
7732 <ol>
7733
7734 <li>subject to full public assessment and use without constraints in a
7735 manner equally available to all parties;</li>
7736
7737 <li>without any components or extensions that have dependencies on
7738 formats or protocols that do not meet the definition of an Open
7739 Standard themselves;</li>
7740
7741 <li>free from legal or technical clauses that limit its utilisation by
7742 any party or in any business model;</li>
7743
7744 <li>managed and further developed independently of any single vendor
7745 in a process open to the equal participation of competitors and third
7746 parties;</li>
7747
7748 <li>available in multiple complete implementations by competing
7749 vendors, or as a complete implementation equally available to all
7750 parties.</li>
7751
7752 </ol>
7753
7754 </blockquote>
7755
7756 <p>A long time ago, SUN Microsystems, now bought by Oracle, created
7757 its
7758 <a href="http://blogs.sun.com/dennisding/resource/Open%20Standard%20Definition.pdf">Open
7759 Standards Checklist</a> with a fairly detailed description.</p>
7760
7761 <blockquote>
7762 <p>Creation and Management of an Open Standard
7763
7764 <ul>
7765
7766 <li>Its development and management process must be collaborative and
7767   democratic:
7768
7769          <ul>
7770
7771          <li>Participation must be accessible to all those who wish to
7772             participate and can meet fair and reasonable criteria
7773             imposed by the organization under which it is developed
7774             and managed.</li>
7775
7776          <li>The processes must be documented and, through a known
7777             method, can be changed through input from all
7778             participants.</li>
7779
7780          <li>The process must be based on formal and binding commitments for
7781             the disclosure and licensing of intellectual property rights.</li>
7782
7783          <li>Development and management should strive for consensus,
7784             and an appeals process must be clearly outlined.</li>
7785
7786          <li>The standard specification must be open to extensive
7787             public review at least once in its life-cycle, with
7788             comments duly discussed and acted upon, if required.</li>
7789
7790          </ul>
7791
7792 </li>
7793
7794 </ul>
7795
7796 <p>Use and Licensing of an Open Standard</p>
7797 <ul>
7798
7799 <li>The standard must describe an interface, not an implementation,
7800   and the industry must be capable of creating multiple, competing
7801   implementations to the interface described in the standard without
7802   undue or restrictive constraints.  Interfaces include APIs,
7803   protocols, schemas, data formats and their encoding.</li>
7804
7805 <li> The standard must not contain any proprietary "hooks" that create
7806   a technical or economic barriers</li>
7807
7808 <li>Faithful implementations of the standard must
7809   interoperate. Interoperability means the ability of a computer
7810   program to communicate and exchange information with other computer
7811   programs and mutually to use the information which has been
7812   exchanged. This includes the ability to use, convert, or exchange
7813   file formats, protocols, schemas, interface information or
7814   conventions, so as to permit the computer program to work with other
7815   computer programs and users in all the ways in which they are
7816   intended to function.</li>
7817
7818 <li>It must be permissible for anyone to copy, distribute and read the
7819   standard for a nominal fee, or even no fee. If there is a fee, it
7820   must be low enough to not preclude widespread use.</li>
7821
7822 <li>It must be possible for anyone to obtain free (no royalties or
7823   fees; also known as "royalty free"), worldwide, non-exclusive and
7824   perpetual licenses to all essential patent claims to make, use and
7825   sell products based on the standard.  The only exceptions are
7826   terminations per the reciprocity and defensive suspension terms
7827   outlined below. Essential patent claims include pending, unpublished
7828   patents, published patents, and patent applications. The license is
7829   only for the exact scope of the standard in question.
7830
7831       <ul>
7832
7833       <li> May be conditioned only on reciprocal licenses to any of
7834         licensees' patent claims essential to practice that standard
7835         (also known as a reciprocity clause)</li>
7836
7837       <li> May be terminated as to any licensee who sues the licensor
7838         or any other licensee for infringement of patent claims
7839         essential to practice that standard (also known as a
7840         "defensive suspension" clause)</li>
7841
7842       <li> The same licensing terms are available to every potential
7843         licensor</li>
7844
7845       </ul>
7846 </li>
7847
7848 <li>The licensing terms of an open standards must not preclude
7849   implementations of that standard under open source licensing terms
7850   or restricted licensing terms</li>
7851
7852 </ul>
7853
7854 </blockquote>
7855
7856 <p>It is said that one of the nice things about standards is that
7857 there are so many of them.  As you can see, the same holds true for
7858 open standard definitions.  Most of the definitions have a lot in
7859 common, and it is not really controversial what properties a open
7860 standard should have, but the diversity of definitions have made it
7861 possible for those that want to avoid a level marked field and real
7862 competition to downplay the significance of open standards.  I hope we
7863 can turn this tide by focusing on the advantages of Free and Open
7864 Standards.</p>
7865
7866       </div>
7867       <div class="tags">
7868
7869
7870         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>.
7871
7872
7873       </div>
7874     </div>
7875     <div class="padding"></div>
7876
7877     <div class="entry">
7878       <div class="title">
7879         <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>
7880       </div>
7881       <div class="date">
7882         25th December 2010
7883       </div>
7884       <div class="body">
7885         <p><a href="http://www.digistan.org/open-standard:definition">The
7886 Digistan definition</a> of a free and open standard reads like this:</p>
7887
7888 <blockquote>
7889
7890 <p>The Digital Standards Organization defines free and open standard
7891 as follows:</p>
7892
7893 <ol>
7894
7895 <li>A free and open standard is immune to vendor capture at all stages
7896 in its life-cycle. Immunity from vendor capture makes it possible to
7897 freely use, improve upon, trust, and extend a standard over time.</li>
7898
7899 <li>The standard is adopted and will be maintained by a not-for-profit
7900 organisation, and its ongoing development occurs on the basis of an
7901 open decision-making procedure available to all interested
7902 parties.</li>
7903
7904 <li>The standard has been published and the standard specification
7905 document is available freely. It must be permissible to all to copy,
7906 distribute, and use it freely.</li>
7907
7908 <li>The patents possibly present on (parts of) the standard are made
7909 irrevocably available on a royalty-free basis.</li>
7910
7911 <li>There are no constraints on the re-use of the standard.</li>
7912
7913 </ol>
7914
7915 <p>The economic outcome of a free and open standard, which can be
7916 measured, is that it enables perfect competition between suppliers of
7917 products based on the standard.</p>
7918 </blockquote>
7919
7920 <p>For a while now I have tried to figure out of Ogg Theora is a free
7921 and open standard according to this definition.  Here is a short
7922 writeup of what I have been able to gather so far.  I brought up the
7923 topic on the Xiph advocacy mailing list
7924 <a href="http://lists.xiph.org/pipermail/advocacy/2009-July/001632.html">in
7925 July 2009</a>, for those that want to see some background information.
7926 According to Ivo Emanuel Gonçalves and Monty Montgomery on that list
7927 the Ogg Theora specification fulfils the Digistan definition.</p>
7928
7929 <p><strong>Free from vendor capture?</strong></p>
7930
7931 <p>As far as I can see, there is no single vendor that can control the
7932 Ogg Theora specification.  It can be argued that the
7933 <a href="http://www.xiph.org/">Xiph foundation</A> is such vendor, but
7934 given that it is a non-profit foundation with the expressed goal
7935 making free and open protocols and standards available, it is not
7936 obvious that this is a real risk.  One issue with the Xiph
7937 foundation is that its inner working (as in board member list, or who
7938 control the foundation) are not easily available on the web.  I've
7939 been unable to find out who is in the foundation board, and have not
7940 seen any accounting information documenting how money is handled nor
7941 where is is spent in the foundation.  It is thus not obvious for an
7942 external observer who control The Xiph foundation, and for all I know
7943 it is possible for a single vendor to take control over the
7944 specification.  But it seem unlikely.</p>
7945
7946 <p><strong>Maintained by open not-for-profit organisation?</strong></p>
7947
7948 <p>Assuming that the Xiph foundation is the organisation its web pages
7949 claim it to be, this point is fulfilled.  If Xiph foundation is
7950 controlled by a single vendor, it isn't, but I have not found any
7951 documentation indicating this.</p>
7952
7953 <p>According to
7954 <a href="http://media.hiof.no/diverse/fad/rapport_4.pdf">a report</a>
7955 prepared by Audun Vaaler og Børre Ludvigsen for the Norwegian
7956 government, the Xiph foundation is a non-commercial organisation and
7957 the development process is open, transparent and non-Discrimatory.
7958 Until proven otherwise, I believe it make most sense to believe the
7959 report is correct.</p>
7960
7961 <p><strong>Specification freely available?</strong></p>
7962
7963 <p>The specification for the <a href="http://www.xiph.org/ogg/doc/">Ogg
7964 container format</a> and both the
7965 <a href="http://www.xiph.org/vorbis/doc/">Vorbis</a> and
7966 <a href="http://theora.org/doc/">Theora</a> codeces are available on
7967 the web.  This are the terms in the Vorbis and Theora specification:
7968
7969 <blockquote>
7970
7971 Anyone may freely use and distribute the Ogg and [Vorbis/Theora]
7972 specifications, whether in private, public, or corporate
7973 capacity. However, the Xiph.Org Foundation and the Ogg project reserve
7974 the right to set the Ogg [Vorbis/Theora] specification and certify
7975 specification compliance.
7976
7977 </blockquote>
7978
7979 <p>The Ogg container format is specified in IETF
7980 <a href="http://www.xiph.org/ogg/doc/rfc3533.txt">RFC 3533</a>, and
7981 this is the term:<p>
7982
7983 <blockquote>
7984
7985 <p>This document and translations of it may be copied and furnished to
7986 others, and derivative works that comment on or otherwise explain it
7987 or assist in its implementation may be prepared, copied, published and
7988 distributed, in whole or in part, without restriction of any kind,
7989 provided that the above copyright notice and this paragraph are
7990 included on all such copies and derivative works.  However, this
7991 document itself may not be modified in any way, such as by removing
7992 the copyright notice or references to the Internet Society or other
7993 Internet organizations, except as needed for the purpose of developing
7994 Internet standards in which case the procedures for copyrights defined
7995 in the Internet Standards process must be followed, or as required to
7996 translate it into languages other than English.</p>
7997
7998 <p>The limited permissions granted above are perpetual and will not be
7999 revoked by the Internet Society or its successors or assigns.</p>
8000 </blockquote>
8001
8002 <p>All these terms seem to allow unlimited distribution and use, an
8003 this term seem to be fulfilled.  There might be a problem with the
8004 missing permission to distribute modified versions of the text, and
8005 thus reuse it in other specifications.  Not quite sure if that is a
8006 requirement for the Digistan definition.</p>
8007
8008 <p><strong>Royalty-free?</strong></p>
8009
8010 <p>There are no known patent claims requiring royalties for the Ogg
8011 Theora format.
8012 <a href="http://www.streamingmedia.com/Articles/ReadArticle.aspx?ArticleID=65782">MPEG-LA</a>
8013 and
8014 <a href="http://yro.slashdot.org/story/10/04/30/237238/Steve-Jobs-Hints-At-Theora-Lawsuit">Steve
8015 Jobs</a> in Apple claim to know about some patent claims (submarine
8016 patents) against the Theora format, but no-one else seem to believe
8017 them.  Both Opera Software and the Mozilla Foundation have looked into
8018 this and decided to implement Ogg Theora support in their browsers
8019 without paying any royalties.  For now the claims from MPEG-LA and
8020 Steve Jobs seem more like FUD to scare people to use the H.264 codec
8021 than any real problem with Ogg Theora.</p>
8022
8023 <p><strong>No constraints on re-use?</strong></p>
8024
8025 <p>I am not aware of any constraints on re-use.</p>
8026
8027 <p><strong>Conclusion</strong></p>
8028
8029 <p>3 of 5 requirements seem obviously fulfilled, and the remaining 2
8030 depend on the governing structure of the Xiph foundation.  Given the
8031 background report used by the Norwegian government, I believe it is
8032 safe to assume the last two requirements are fulfilled too, but it
8033 would be nice if the Xiph foundation web site made it easier to verify
8034 this.</p>
8035
8036 <p>It would be nice to see other analysis of other specifications to
8037 see if they are free and open standards.</p>
8038
8039       </div>
8040       <div class="tags">
8041
8042
8043         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/digistan">digistan</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/standard">standard</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/video">video</a>.
8044
8045
8046       </div>
8047     </div>
8048     <div class="padding"></div>
8049
8050     <div class="entry">
8051       <div class="title">
8052         <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>
8053       </div>
8054       <div class="date">
8055         25th December 2010
8056       </div>
8057       <div class="body">
8058         <p>A few days ago
8059 <a href="http://www.idg.no/computerworld/article189879.ece">an
8060 article</a> in the Norwegian Computerworld magazine about how version
8061 2.0 of
8062 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Interoperability_Framework">European
8063 Interoperability Framework</a> has been successfully lobbied by the
8064 proprietary software industry to remove the focus on free software.
8065 Nothing very surprising there, given
8066 <a href="http://news.slashdot.org/story/10/03/29/2115235/Open-Source-Open-Standards-Under-Attack-In-Europe">earlier
8067 reports</a> on how Microsoft and others have stacked the committees in
8068 this work.  But I find this very sad.   The definition of
8069 <a href="http://www.nuug.no/dokumenter/standard-presse-def-200506.txt">an
8070 open standard from version 1</a> was very good, and something I
8071 believe should be used also in the future, alongside
8072 <a href="http://www.digistan.org/open-standard:definition">the
8073 definition from Digistan</A>.  Version 2 have removed the open
8074 standard definition from its content.</p>
8075
8076 <p>Anyway, the news reminded me of the great reply sent by Dr. Edgar
8077 Villanueva, congressman in Peru at the time, to Microsoft as a reply
8078 to Microsofts attack on his proposal regarding the use of free software
8079 in the public sector in Peru.  As the text was not available from a
8080 few of the URLs where it used to be available, I copy it here from
8081 <a href="http://gnuwin.epfl.ch/articles/en/reponseperou/villanueva_to_ms.html">my
8082 source</a> to ensure it is available also in the future.  Some
8083 background information about that story is available in
8084 <a href="http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/6099">an article</a> from
8085 Linux Journal in 2002.</p>
8086
8087 <blockquote>
8088 <p>Lima, 8th of April, 2002<br>
8089 To: Señor JUAN ALBERTO GONZÁLEZ<br>
8090 General Manager of Microsoft Perú</p>
8091
8092 <p>Dear Sir:</p>
8093
8094 <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>
8095
8096 <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>
8097
8098 <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>
8099
8100 <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>
8101
8102 <p>
8103 <ul>
8104 <li>Free access to public information by the citizen. </li>
8105 <li>Permanence of public data. </li>
8106 <li>Security of the State and citizens.</li>
8107 </ul>
8108 </p>
8109
8110 <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>
8111
8112 <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>
8113
8114 <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>
8115
8116 <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>
8117
8118 <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>
8119
8120
8121 <p>From reading the Bill it will be clear that once passed:<br>
8122 <li>the law does not forbid the production of proprietary software</li>
8123 <li>the law does not forbid the sale of proprietary software</li>
8124 <li>the law does not specify which concrete software to use</li>
8125 <li>the law does not dictate the supplier from whom software will be bought</li>
8126 <li>the law does not limit the terms under which a software product can be licensed.</li>
8127
8128 </p>
8129
8130 <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>
8131
8132 <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>
8133
8134 <p>As for the observations you have made, we will now go on to analyze them in detail:</p>
8135
8136 <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>
8137
8138 <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>
8139
8140 <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>
8141
8142 <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>
8143
8144 <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>
8145
8146 <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>
8147
8148 <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>
8149
8150 <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>
8151
8152 <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>
8153
8154 <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>
8155
8156 <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>
8157
8158 <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>
8159
8160 <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>
8161
8162 <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>
8163
8164 <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>
8165
8166 <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>
8167
8168 <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>
8169
8170 <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>
8171
8172 <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>
8173
8174 <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>
8175
8176 <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>
8177
8178 <p>On security:</p>
8179
8180 <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>
8181
8182 <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>
8183
8184 <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>
8185
8186 <p>In respect of the guarantee:</p>
8187
8188 <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>
8189
8190 <p>On Intellectual Property:</p>
8191
8192 <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>
8193
8194 <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>
8195
8196 <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>
8197
8198 <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>
8199
8200 <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>
8201
8202 <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>
8203
8204 <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>
8205
8206 <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>
8207
8208 <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>
8209
8210 <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>
8211
8212 <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>
8213
8214 <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>
8215
8216 <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>
8217
8218 <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>
8219
8220 <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>
8221
8222 <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>
8223
8224 <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>
8225
8226 <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>
8227
8228 <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>
8229
8230 <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>
8231
8232 <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>
8233
8234 <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>
8235
8236 <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>
8237
8238 <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>
8239
8240 <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>
8241
8242 <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>
8243
8244 <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>
8245
8246 <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>
8247
8248 <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>
8249
8250 <p>Cordially,<br>
8251 DR. EDGAR DAVID VILLANUEVA NUÑEZ<br>
8252 Congressman of the Republic of Perú.</p>
8253 </blockquote>
8254
8255       </div>
8256       <div class="tags">
8257
8258
8259         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>.
8260
8261
8262       </div>
8263     </div>
8264     <div class="padding"></div>
8265
8266     <div class="entry">
8267       <div class="title">
8268         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Officeshots_still_going_strong.html">Officeshots still going strong</a>
8269       </div>
8270       <div class="date">
8271         25th December 2010
8272       </div>
8273       <div class="body">
8274         <p>Half a year ago I
8275 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Officeshots_taking_shape.html">wrote
8276 a bit</a> about <a href="http://www.officeshots.org/">OfficeShots</a>,
8277 a web service to allow anyone to test how ODF documents are handled by
8278 the different programs reading and writing the ODF format.</p>
8279
8280 <p>I just had a look at the service, and it seem to be going strong.
8281 Very interesting to see the results reported in the gallery, how
8282 different Office implementations handle different ODF features.  Sad
8283 to see that KOffice was not doing it very well, and happy to see that
8284 LibreOffice has been tested already (but sadly not listed as a option
8285 for OfficeShots users yet).  I am glad to see that the ODF community
8286 got such a great test tool available.</p>
8287
8288       </div>
8289       <div class="tags">
8290
8291
8292         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>.
8293
8294
8295       </div>
8296     </div>
8297     <div class="padding"></div>
8298
8299     <div class="entry">
8300       <div class="title">
8301         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/How_to_test_if_a_laptop_is_working_with_Linux.html">How to test if a laptop is working with Linux</a>
8302       </div>
8303       <div class="date">
8304         22nd December 2010
8305       </div>
8306       <div class="body">
8307         <p>The last few days I have spent at work here at the <a
8308 href="http://www.uio.no/">University of Oslo</a> testing if the new
8309 batch of computers will work with Linux.  Every year for the last few
8310 years the university have organised shared bid of a few thousand
8311 computers, and this year HP won the bid.  Two different desktops and
8312 five different laptops are on the list this year.  We in the UNIX
8313 group want to know which one of these computers work well with RHEL
8314 and Ubuntu, the two Linux distributions we currently handle at the
8315 university.</p>
8316
8317 <p>My test method is simple, and I share it here to get feedback and
8318 perhaps inspire others to test hardware as well.  To test, I PXE
8319 install the OS version of choice, and log in as my normal user and run
8320 a few applications and plug in selected pieces of hardware.  When
8321 something fail, I make a note about this in the test matrix and move
8322 on.  If I have some spare time I try to report the bug to the OS
8323 vendor, but as I only have the machines for a short time, I rarely
8324 have the time to do this for all the problems I find.</p>
8325
8326 <p>Anyway, to get to the point of this post.  Here is the simple tests
8327 I perform on a new model.</p>
8328
8329 <ul>
8330
8331 <li>Is PXE installation working?  I'm testing with RHEL6, Ubuntu Lucid
8332 and Ubuntu Maverik at the moment.  If I feel like it, I also test with
8333 RHEL5 and Debian Edu/Squeeze.</li>
8334
8335 <li>Is X.org working?  If the graphical login screen show up after
8336 installation, X.org is working.</li>
8337
8338 <li>Is hardware accelerated OpenGL working?  Running glxgears (in
8339 package mesa-utils on Ubuntu) and writing down the frames per second
8340 reported by the program.</li>
8341
8342 <li>Is sound working?  With Gnome and KDE, a sound is played when
8343 logging in, and if I can hear this the test is successful.  If there
8344 are several audio exits on the machine, I try them all and check if
8345 the Gnome/KDE audio mixer can control where to send the sound.  I
8346 normally test this by playing
8347 <a href="http://www.nuug.no/aktiviteter/20101012-chef/ ">a HTML5
8348 video</a> in Firefox/Iceweasel.</li>
8349
8350 <li>Is the USB subsystem working?  I test this by plugging in a USB
8351 memory stick and see if Gnome/KDE notices this.</li>
8352
8353 <li>Is the CD/DVD player working?  I test this by inserting any CD/DVD
8354 I have lying around, and see if Gnome/KDE notices this.</li>
8355
8356 <li>Is any built in camera working?  Test using cheese, and see if a
8357 picture from the v4l device show up.</li>
8358
8359 <li>Is bluetooth working?  Use the Gnome/KDE browsing tool to see if
8360 any bluetooth devices are discovered.  In my office, I normally see a
8361 few.</li>
8362
8363 <li>For laptops, is the SD or Compaq Flash reader working.  I have
8364 memory modules lying around, and stick them in and see if Gnome/KDE
8365 notice this.</li>
8366
8367 <li>For laptops, is suspend/hibernate working?  I'm testing if the
8368 special button work, and if the laptop continue to work after
8369 resume.</li>
8370
8371 <li>For laptops, is the extra buttons working, like audio level,
8372 adjusting background light, switching on/off external video output,
8373 switching on/off wifi, bluetooth, etc?  The set of buttons differ from
8374 laptop to laptop, so I just write down which are working and which are
8375 not.</li>
8376
8377 <li>Some laptops have smart card readers, finger print readers,
8378 acceleration sensors etc.  I rarely test these, as I do not know how
8379 to quickly test if they are working or not, so I only document their
8380 existence.</li>
8381
8382 </ul>
8383
8384 <p>By now I suspect you are really curious what the test results are
8385 for the HP machines I am testing.  I'm not done yet, so I will report
8386 the test results later.  For now I can report that HP 8100 Elite work
8387 fine, and hibernation fail with HP EliteBook 8440p on Ubuntu Lucid,
8388 and audio fail on RHEL6.  Ubuntu Maverik worked with 8440p.  As you
8389 can see, I have most machines left to test.  One interesting
8390 observation is that Ubuntu Lucid has almost twice the frame rate than
8391 RHEL6 with glxgears.  No idea why.</p>
8392
8393       </div>
8394       <div class="tags">
8395
8396
8397         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>.
8398
8399
8400       </div>
8401     </div>
8402     <div class="padding"></div>
8403
8404     <div class="entry">
8405       <div class="title">
8406         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Some_thoughts_on_BitCoins.html">Some thoughts on BitCoins</a>
8407       </div>
8408       <div class="date">
8409         11th December 2010
8410       </div>
8411       <div class="body">
8412         <p>As I continue to explore
8413 <a href="http://www.bitcoin.org/">BitCoin</a>, I've starting to wonder
8414 what properties the system have, and how it will be affected by laws
8415 and regulations here in Norway.  Here are some random notes.</p>
8416
8417 <p>One interesting thing to note is that since the transactions are
8418 verified using a peer to peer network, all details about a transaction
8419 is known to everyone.  This means that if a BitCoin address has been
8420 published like I did with mine in my initial post about BitCoin, it is
8421 possible for everyone to see how many BitCoins have been transfered to
8422 that address.  There is even a web service to look at the details for
8423 all transactions.  There I can see that my address
8424 <a href="http://blockexplorer.com/address/15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</a>
8425 have received 16.06 Bitcoin, the
8426 <a href="http://blockexplorer.com/address/1LfdGnGuWkpSJgbQySxxCWhv8MHqvwst3">1LfdGnGuWkpSJgbQySxxCWhv8MHqvwst3</a>
8427 address of Simon Phipps have received 181.97 BitCoin and the address
8428 <a href="http://blockexplorer.com/address/1MCwBbhNGp5hRm5rC1Aims2YFRe2SXPYKt">1MCwBbhNGp5hRm5rC1Aims2YFRe2SXPYKt</A>
8429 of EFF have received 2447.38 BitCoins so far.  Thank you to each and
8430 every one of you that donated bitcoins to support my activity. The
8431 fact that anyone can see how much money was transfered to a given
8432 address make it more obvious why the BitCoin community recommend to
8433 generate and hand out a new address for each transaction.  I'm told
8434 there is no way to track which addresses belong to a given person or
8435 organisation without the person or organisation revealing it
8436 themselves, as Simon, EFF and I have done.</p>
8437
8438 <p>In Norway, and in most other countries, there are laws and
8439 regulations limiting how much money one can transfer across the border
8440 without declaring it.  There are money laundering, tax and accounting
8441 laws and regulations I would expect to apply to the use of BitCoin.
8442 If the Skolelinux foundation
8443 (<a href="http://linuxiskolen.no/slxdebianlabs/donations.html">SLX
8444 Debian Labs</a>) were to accept donations in BitCoin in addition to
8445 normal bank transfers like EFF is doing, how should this be accounted?
8446 Given that it is impossible to know if money can cross the border or
8447 not, should everything or nothing be declared?  What exchange rate
8448 should be used when calculating taxes?  Would receivers have to pay
8449 income tax if the foundation were to pay Skolelinux contributors in
8450 BitCoin?  I have no idea, but it would be interesting to know.</p>
8451
8452 <p>For a currency to be useful and successful, it must be trusted and
8453 accepted by a lot of users.  It must be possible to get easy access to
8454 the currency (as a wage or using currency exchanges), and it must be
8455 easy to spend it.  At the moment BitCoin seem fairly easy to get
8456 access to, but there are very few places to spend it.  I am not really
8457 a regular user of any of the vendor types currently accepting BitCoin,
8458 so I wonder when my kind of shop would start accepting BitCoins.  I
8459 would like to buy electronics, travels and subway tickets, not herbs
8460 and books. :) The currency is young, and this will improve over time
8461 if it become popular, but I suspect regular banks will start to lobby
8462 to get BitCoin declared illegal if it become popular.  I'm sure they
8463 will claim it is helping fund terrorism and money laundering (which
8464 probably would be true, as is any currency in existence), but I
8465 believe the problems should be solved elsewhere and not by blaming
8466 currencies.</p>
8467
8468 <p>The process of creating new BitCoins is called mining, and it is
8469 CPU intensive process that depend on a bit of luck as well (as one is
8470 competing against all the other miners currently spending CPU cycles
8471 to see which one get the next lump of cash).  The "winner" get 50
8472 BitCoin when this happen.  Yesterday I came across the obvious way to
8473 join forces to increase ones changes of getting at least some coins,
8474 by coordinating the work on mining BitCoins across several machines
8475 and people, and sharing the result if one is lucky and get the 50
8476 BitCoins.  Check out
8477 <a href="http://www.bluishcoder.co.nz/bitcoin-pool/">BitCoin Pool</a>
8478 if this sounds interesting.  I have not had time to try to set up a
8479 machine to participate there yet, but have seen that running on ones
8480 own for a few days have not yield any BitCoins througth mining
8481 yet.</p>
8482
8483 <p>Update 2010-12-15: Found an <a
8484 href="http://inertia.posterous.com/reply-to-the-underground-economist-why-bitcoi">interesting
8485 criticism</a> of bitcoin.  Not quite sure how valid it is, but thought
8486 it was interesting to read.  The arguments presented seem to be
8487 equally valid for gold, which was used as a currency for many years.</p>
8488
8489       </div>
8490       <div class="tags">
8491
8492
8493         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>.
8494
8495
8496       </div>
8497     </div>
8498     <div class="padding"></div>
8499
8500     <div class="entry">
8501       <div class="title">
8502         <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>
8503       </div>
8504       <div class="date">
8505         10th December 2010
8506       </div>
8507       <div class="body">
8508         <p>With this weeks lawless
8509 <a href="http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/12/06/wikileaks/index.html">governmental
8510 attacks</a> on Wikileak and
8511 <a href="http://www.salon.com/technology/dan_gillmor/2010/12/06/war_on_speech">free
8512 speech</a>, it has become obvious that PayPal, visa and mastercard can
8513 not be trusted to handle money transactions.
8514 A blog post from
8515 <a href="http://webmink.com/2010/12/06/now-accepting-bitcoin/">Simon
8516 Phipps on bitcoin</a> reminded me about a project that a friend of
8517 mine mentioned earlier.  I decided to follow Simon's example, and get
8518 involved with <a href="http://www.bitcoin.org/">BitCoin</a>.  I got
8519 some help from my friend to get it all running, and he even handed me
8520 some bitcoins to get started.  I even donated a few bitcoins to Simon
8521 for helping me remember BitCoin.</p>
8522
8523 <p>So, what is bitcoins, you probably wonder?  It is a digital
8524 crypto-currency, decentralised and handled using peer-to-peer
8525 networks.  It allows anonymous transactions and prohibits central
8526 control over the transactions, making it impossible for governments
8527 and companies alike to block donations and other transactions.  The
8528 source is free software, and while the key dependency wxWidgets 2.9
8529 for the graphical user interface is missing in Debian, the command
8530 line client builds just fine.  Hopefully Jonas
8531 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/578157">will get the package into
8532 Debian</a> soon.</p>
8533
8534 <p>Bitcoins can be converted to other currencies, like USD and EUR.
8535 There are <a href="http://www.bitcoin.org/trade">companies accepting
8536 bitcoins</a> when selling services and goods, and there are even
8537 currency "stock" markets where the exchange rate is decided.  There
8538 are not many users so far, but the concept seems promising.  If you
8539 want to get started and lack a friend with any bitcoins to spare,
8540 you can even get
8541 <a href="https://freebitcoins.appspot.com/">some for free</a> (0.05
8542 bitcoin at the time of writing).  Use
8543 <a href="http://www.bitcoinwatch.com/">BitcoinWatch</a> to keep an eye
8544 on the current exchange rates.</p>
8545
8546 <p>As an experiment, I have decided to set up bitcoind on one of my
8547 machines.  If you want to support my activity, please send Bitcoin
8548 donations to the address
8549 <b>15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</b>.  Thank you!</p>
8550
8551       </div>
8552       <div class="tags">
8553
8554
8555         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>.
8556
8557
8558       </div>
8559     </div>
8560     <div class="padding"></div>
8561
8562     <div class="entry">
8563       <div class="title">
8564         <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>
8565       </div>
8566       <div class="date">
8567          9th December 2010
8568       </div>
8569       <div class="body">
8570         <p>A few days ago, I was introduces to some students in the robot
8571 student assosiation <a href="http://www.robotica.no/">Robotica
8572 Osloensis</a> at the University of Oslo where I work, who planned to
8573 get their own 3D printer.  They wanted to learn from me based on my
8574 work in the area.  After having a short lunch meeting with them, I
8575 offered them to borrow my reprap kit, as I never had time to complete
8576 the build and this seem unlike to change any time soon.  I look
8577 forward to see how this goes.  This monday their volunteer driver
8578 picked up my kit and drove it to their lab, and tomorrow I am told the
8579 last exam is over so they can start work on getting the 3D printer
8580 operational.</p>
8581
8582 <p>The robotic group have already build several robots on their own,
8583 and seem capable of getting the reprap operational.  I really look
8584 forward to being able to print all the cool 3D designs published on
8585 <a href="http://www.thingiverse.com/">Thingiverse</a>.  I even got
8586 some 3D scans I got made during Dagen@IFI when one of the groups at
8587 the computer science department at the university demonstrated their
8588 very cool 3D scanner.</p>
8589
8590       </div>
8591       <div class="tags">
8592
8593
8594         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>.
8595
8596
8597       </div>
8598     </div>
8599     <div class="padding"></div>
8600
8601     <div class="entry">
8602       <div class="title">
8603         <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>
8604       </div>
8605       <div class="date">
8606         29th November 2010
8607       </div>
8608       <div class="body">
8609         <p>On friday, the first Debian Edu / Skolelinux
8610 <a href="http://www.friprogramvareiskolen.no/Gathering/2010-12-03-05-Oslo">development
8611 gathering</a> in a long time take place here in Oslo, Norway.  I
8612 really look forward to seeing all the good people working on the
8613 Squeeze release.  The gathering is open for everyone interested in
8614 learning more about Debian Edu / Skolelinux.</p>
8615
8616 <p>On Saturday, the Norwegian member organization taking care of
8617 organizing these development gatherings, Fri Programvare i Skolen,
8618 will hold its
8619 <a href="http://friprogramvareiskolen.no/Genfors/2010">General Assembly
8620 for 2010</a>.  Membership is open for all, and currently there are 388
8621 people registered as members.  Last year 32 members cast their vote in
8622 the memberdb based election system.  I hope more people find time to
8623 vote this year.</p>
8624
8625       </div>
8626       <div class="tags">
8627
8628
8629         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>.
8630
8631
8632       </div>
8633     </div>
8634     <div class="padding"></div>
8635
8636     <div class="entry">
8637       <div class="title">
8638         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Why_isn_t_Debian_Edu_using_VLC_.html">Why isn't Debian Edu using VLC?</a>
8639       </div>
8640       <div class="date">
8641         27th November 2010
8642       </div>
8643       <div class="body">
8644         <p>In the latest issue of Linux Journal, the readers choices were
8645 presented, and the winner among the multimedia player were VLC.
8646 Personally, I like VLC, and it is my player of choice when I first try
8647 to play a video file or stream.  Only if VLC fail will I drag out
8648 gmplayer to see if it can do better.  The reason is mostly the failure
8649 model and trust.  When VLC fail, it normally pop up a error message
8650 reporting the problem.  When mplayer fail, it normally segfault or
8651 just hangs.  The latter failure mode drain my trust in the program.<p>
8652
8653 <p>But even if VLC is my player of choice, we have choosen to use
8654 mplayer in <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian
8655 Edu/Skolelinux</a>.  The reason is simple.  We need a good browser
8656 plugin to play web videos seamlessly, and the VLC browser plugin is
8657 not very good.  For example, it lack in-line control buttons, so there
8658 is no way for the user to pause the video.  Also, when I
8659 <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/BrowserMultimedia">last
8660 tested the browser plugins</a> available in Debian, the VLC plugin
8661 failed on several video pages where mplayer based plugins worked.  If
8662 the browser plugin for VLC was as good as the gecko-mediaplayer
8663 package (which uses mplayer), we would switch.</P>
8664
8665 <p>While VLC is a good player, its user interface is slightly
8666 annoying.  The most annoying feature is its inconsistent use of
8667 keyboard shortcuts.  When the player is in full screen mode, its
8668 shortcuts are different from when it is playing the video in a window.
8669 For example, space only work as pause when in full screen mode.  I
8670 wish it had consisten shortcuts and that space also would work when in
8671 window mode.  Another nice shortcut in gmplayer is [enter] to restart
8672 the current video.  It is very nice when playing short videos from the
8673 web and want to restart it when new people arrive to have a look at
8674 what is going on.</p>
8675
8676       </div>
8677       <div class="tags">
8678
8679
8680         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>.
8681
8682
8683       </div>
8684     </div>
8685     <div class="padding"></div>
8686
8687     <div class="entry">
8688       <div class="title">
8689         <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>
8690       </div>
8691       <div class="date">
8692         22nd November 2010
8693       </div>
8694       <div class="body">
8695         <p>Michael Biebl suggested to me on IRC, that I changed my automated
8696 upgrade testing of the
8697 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/~pere/debian-upgrade-testing/">Lenny
8698 Gnome and KDE Desktop</a> to do <tt>apt-get autoremove</tt> when using apt-get.
8699 This seem like a very good idea, so I adjusted by test scripts and
8700 can now present the updated result from today:</p>
8701
8702 <p>This is for Gnome:</p>
8703
8704 <p>Installed using apt-get, missing with aptitude</p>
8705
8706 <blockquote><p>
8707   apache2.2-bin
8708   aptdaemon
8709   baobab
8710   binfmt-support
8711   browser-plugin-gnash
8712   cheese-common
8713   cli-common
8714   cups-pk-helper
8715   dmz-cursor-theme
8716   empathy
8717   empathy-common
8718   freedesktop-sound-theme
8719   freeglut3
8720   gconf-defaults-service
8721   gdm-themes
8722   gedit-plugins
8723   geoclue
8724   geoclue-hostip
8725   geoclue-localnet
8726   geoclue-manual
8727   geoclue-yahoo
8728   gnash
8729   gnash-common
8730   gnome
8731   gnome-backgrounds
8732   gnome-cards-data
8733   gnome-codec-install
8734   gnome-core
8735   gnome-desktop-environment
8736   gnome-disk-utility
8737   gnome-screenshot
8738   gnome-search-tool
8739   gnome-session-canberra
8740   gnome-system-log
8741   gnome-themes-extras
8742   gnome-themes-more
8743   gnome-user-share
8744   gstreamer0.10-fluendo-mp3
8745   gstreamer0.10-tools
8746   gtk2-engines
8747   gtk2-engines-pixbuf
8748   gtk2-engines-smooth
8749   hamster-applet
8750   libapache2-mod-dnssd
8751   libapr1
8752   libaprutil1
8753   libaprutil1-dbd-sqlite3
8754   libaprutil1-ldap
8755   libart2.0-cil
8756   libboost-date-time1.42.0
8757   libboost-python1.42.0
8758   libboost-thread1.42.0
8759   libchamplain-0.4-0
8760   libchamplain-gtk-0.4-0
8761   libcheese-gtk18
8762   libclutter-gtk-0.10-0
8763   libcryptui0
8764   libdiscid0
8765   libelf1
8766   libepc-1.0-2
8767   libepc-common
8768   libepc-ui-1.0-2
8769   libfreerdp-plugins-standard
8770   libfreerdp0
8771   libgconf2.0-cil
8772   libgdata-common
8773   libgdata7
8774   libgdu-gtk0
8775   libgee2
8776   libgeoclue0
8777   libgexiv2-0
8778   libgif4
8779   libglade2.0-cil
8780   libglib2.0-cil
8781   libgmime2.4-cil
8782   libgnome-vfs2.0-cil
8783   libgnome2.24-cil
8784   libgnomepanel2.24-cil
8785   libgpod-common
8786   libgpod4
8787   libgtk2.0-cil
8788   libgtkglext1
8789   libgtksourceview2.0-common
8790   libmono-addins-gui0.2-cil
8791   libmono-addins0.2-cil
8792   libmono-cairo2.0-cil
8793   libmono-corlib2.0-cil
8794   libmono-i18n-west2.0-cil
8795   libmono-posix2.0-cil
8796   libmono-security2.0-cil
8797   libmono-sharpzip2.84-cil
8798   libmono-system2.0-cil
8799   libmtp8
8800   libmusicbrainz3-6
8801   libndesk-dbus-glib1.0-cil
8802   libndesk-dbus1.0-cil
8803   libopal3.6.8
8804   libpolkit-gtk-1-0
8805   libpt2.6.7
8806   libpython2.6
8807   librpm1
8808   librpmio1
8809   libsdl1.2debian
8810   libsrtp0
8811   libssh-4
8812   libtelepathy-farsight0
8813   libtelepathy-glib0
8814   libtidy-0.99-0
8815   media-player-info
8816   mesa-utils
8817   mono-2.0-gac
8818   mono-gac
8819   mono-runtime
8820   nautilus-sendto
8821   nautilus-sendto-empathy
8822   p7zip-full
8823   pkg-config
8824   python-aptdaemon
8825   python-aptdaemon-gtk
8826   python-axiom
8827   python-beautifulsoup
8828   python-bugbuddy
8829   python-clientform
8830   python-coherence
8831   python-configobj
8832   python-crypto
8833   python-cupshelpers
8834   python-elementtree
8835   python-epsilon
8836   python-evolution
8837   python-feedparser
8838   python-gdata
8839   python-gdbm
8840   python-gst0.10
8841   python-gtkglext1
8842   python-gtksourceview2
8843   python-httplib2
8844   python-louie
8845   python-mako
8846   python-markupsafe
8847   python-mechanize
8848   python-nevow
8849   python-notify
8850   python-opengl
8851   python-openssl
8852   python-pam
8853   python-pkg-resources
8854   python-pyasn1
8855   python-pysqlite2
8856   python-rdflib
8857   python-serial
8858   python-tagpy
8859   python-twisted-bin
8860   python-twisted-conch
8861   python-twisted-core
8862   python-twisted-web
8863   python-utidylib
8864   python-webkit
8865   python-xdg
8866   python-zope.interface
8867   remmina
8868   remmina-plugin-data
8869   remmina-plugin-rdp
8870   remmina-plugin-vnc
8871   rhythmbox-plugin-cdrecorder
8872   rhythmbox-plugins
8873   rpm-common
8874   rpm2cpio
8875   seahorse-plugins
8876   shotwell
8877   software-center
8878   system-config-printer-udev
8879   telepathy-gabble
8880   telepathy-mission-control-5
8881   telepathy-salut
8882   tomboy
8883   totem
8884   totem-coherence
8885   totem-mozilla
8886   totem-plugins
8887   transmission-common
8888   xdg-user-dirs
8889   xdg-user-dirs-gtk
8890   xserver-xephyr
8891 </p></blockquote>
8892
8893 <p>Installed using apt-get, removed with aptitude</p>
8894
8895 <blockquote><p>
8896   cheese
8897   ekiga
8898   eog
8899   epiphany-extensions
8900   evolution-exchange
8901   fast-user-switch-applet
8902   file-roller
8903   gcalctool
8904   gconf-editor
8905   gdm
8906   gedit
8907   gedit-common
8908   gnome-games
8909   gnome-games-data
8910   gnome-nettool
8911   gnome-system-tools
8912   gnome-themes
8913   gnuchess
8914   gucharmap
8915   guile-1.8-libs
8916   libavahi-ui0
8917   libdmx1
8918   libgalago3
8919   libgtk-vnc-1.0-0
8920   libgtksourceview2.0-0
8921   liblircclient0
8922   libsdl1.2debian-alsa
8923   libspeexdsp1
8924   libsvga1
8925   rhythmbox
8926   seahorse
8927   sound-juicer
8928   system-config-printer
8929   totem-common
8930   transmission-gtk
8931   vinagre
8932   vino
8933 </p></blockquote>
8934
8935 <p>Installed using aptitude, missing with apt-get</p>
8936
8937 <blockquote><p>
8938   gstreamer0.10-gnomevfs
8939 </p></blockquote>
8940
8941 <p>Installed using aptitude, removed with apt-get</p>
8942
8943 <blockquote><p>
8944 [nothing]
8945 </p></blockquote>
8946
8947 <p>This is for KDE:</p>
8948
8949 <p>Installed using apt-get, missing with aptitude</p>
8950
8951 <blockquote><p>
8952   ksmserver
8953 </p></blockquote>
8954
8955 <p>Installed using apt-get, removed with aptitude</p>
8956
8957 <blockquote><p>
8958   kwin
8959   network-manager-kde
8960 </p></blockquote>
8961
8962 <p>Installed using aptitude, missing with apt-get</p>
8963
8964 <blockquote><p>
8965   arts
8966   dolphin
8967   freespacenotifier
8968   google-gadgets-gst
8969   google-gadgets-xul
8970   kappfinder
8971   kcalc
8972   kcharselect
8973   kde-core
8974   kde-plasma-desktop
8975   kde-standard
8976   kde-window-manager
8977   kdeartwork
8978   kdeartwork-emoticons
8979   kdeartwork-style
8980   kdeartwork-theme-icon
8981   kdebase
8982   kdebase-apps
8983   kdebase-workspace
8984   kdebase-workspace-bin
8985   kdebase-workspace-data
8986   kdeeject
8987   kdelibs
8988   kdeplasma-addons
8989   kdeutils
8990   kdewallpapers
8991   kdf
8992   kfloppy
8993   kgpg
8994   khelpcenter4
8995   kinfocenter
8996   konq-plugins-l10n
8997   konqueror-nsplugins
8998   kscreensaver
8999   kscreensaver-xsavers
9000   ktimer
9001   kwrite
9002   libgle3
9003   libkde4-ruby1.8
9004   libkonq5
9005   libkonq5-templates
9006   libnetpbm10
9007   libplasma-ruby
9008   libplasma-ruby1.8
9009   libqt4-ruby1.8
9010   marble-data
9011   marble-plugins
9012   netpbm
9013   nuvola-icon-theme
9014   plasma-dataengines-workspace
9015   plasma-desktop
9016   plasma-desktopthemes-artwork
9017   plasma-runners-addons
9018   plasma-scriptengine-googlegadgets
9019   plasma-scriptengine-python
9020   plasma-scriptengine-qedje
9021   plasma-scriptengine-ruby
9022   plasma-scriptengine-webkit
9023   plasma-scriptengines
9024   plasma-wallpapers-addons
9025   plasma-widget-folderview
9026   plasma-widget-networkmanagement
9027   ruby
9028   sweeper
9029   update-notifier-kde
9030   xscreensaver-data-extra
9031   xscreensaver-gl
9032   xscreensaver-gl-extra
9033   xscreensaver-screensaver-bsod
9034 </p></blockquote>
9035
9036 <p>Installed using aptitude, removed with apt-get</p>
9037
9038 <blockquote><p>
9039   ark
9040   google-gadgets-common
9041   google-gadgets-qt
9042   htdig
9043   kate
9044   kdebase-bin
9045   kdebase-data
9046   kdepasswd
9047   kfind
9048   klipper
9049   konq-plugins
9050   konqueror
9051   ksysguard
9052   ksysguardd
9053   libarchive1
9054   libcln6
9055   libeet1
9056   libeina-svn-06
9057   libggadget-1.0-0b
9058   libggadget-qt-1.0-0b
9059   libgps19
9060   libkdecorations4
9061   libkephal4
9062   libkonq4
9063   libkonqsidebarplugin4a
9064   libkscreensaver5
9065   libksgrd4
9066   libksignalplotter4
9067   libkunitconversion4
9068   libkwineffects1a
9069   libmarblewidget4
9070   libntrack-qt4-1
9071   libntrack0
9072   libplasma-geolocation-interface4
9073   libplasmaclock4a
9074   libplasmagenericshell4
9075   libprocesscore4a
9076   libprocessui4a
9077   libqalculate5
9078   libqedje0a
9079   libqtruby4shared2
9080   libqzion0a
9081   libruby1.8
9082   libscim8c2a
9083   libsmokekdecore4-3
9084   libsmokekdeui4-3
9085   libsmokekfile3
9086   libsmokekhtml3
9087   libsmokekio3
9088   libsmokeknewstuff2-3
9089   libsmokeknewstuff3-3
9090   libsmokekparts3
9091   libsmokektexteditor3
9092   libsmokekutils3
9093   libsmokenepomuk3
9094   libsmokephonon3
9095   libsmokeplasma3
9096   libsmokeqtcore4-3
9097   libsmokeqtdbus4-3
9098   libsmokeqtgui4-3
9099   libsmokeqtnetwork4-3
9100   libsmokeqtopengl4-3
9101   libsmokeqtscript4-3
9102   libsmokeqtsql4-3
9103   libsmokeqtsvg4-3
9104   libsmokeqttest4-3
9105   libsmokeqtuitools4-3
9106   libsmokeqtwebkit4-3
9107   libsmokeqtxml4-3
9108   libsmokesolid3
9109   libsmokesoprano3
9110   libtaskmanager4a
9111   libtidy-0.99-0
9112   libweather-ion4a
9113   libxklavier16
9114   libxxf86misc1
9115   okteta
9116   oxygencursors
9117   plasma-dataengines-addons
9118   plasma-scriptengine-superkaramba
9119   plasma-widget-lancelot
9120   plasma-widgets-addons
9121   plasma-widgets-workspace
9122   polkit-kde-1
9123   ruby1.8
9124   systemsettings
9125   update-notifier-common
9126 </p></blockquote>
9127
9128 <p>Running apt-get autoremove made the results using apt-get and
9129 aptitude a bit more similar, but there are still quite a lott of
9130 differences.  I have no idea what packages should be installed after
9131 the upgrade, but hope those that do can have a look.</p>
9132
9133       </div>
9134       <div class="tags">
9135
9136
9137         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>.
9138
9139
9140       </div>
9141     </div>
9142     <div class="padding"></div>
9143
9144     <div class="entry">
9145       <div class="title">
9146         <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>
9147       </div>
9148       <div class="date">
9149         22nd November 2010
9150       </div>
9151       <div class="body">
9152         <p>Most of the computers in use by the
9153 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu/Skolelinux project</a>
9154 are virtual machines.  And they have been Xen machines running on a
9155 fairly old IBM eserver xseries 345 machine, and we wanted to migrate
9156 them to KVM on a newer Dell PowerEdge 2950 host machine.  This was a
9157 bit harder that it could have been, because we set up the Xen virtual
9158 machines to get the virtual partitions from LVM, which as far as I
9159 know is not supported by KVM.  So to migrate, we had to convert
9160 several LVM logical volumes to partitions on a virtual disk file.</p>
9161
9162 <p>I found
9163 <a href="http://searchnetworking.techtarget.com.au/articles/35011-Six-steps-for-migrating-Xen-virtual-machines-to-KVM">a
9164 nice recipe</a> to do this, and wrote the following script to do the
9165 migration.  It uses qemu-img from the qemu package to make the disk
9166 image, parted to partition it, losetup and kpartx to present the disk
9167 image partions as devices, and dd to copy the data.  I NFS mounted the
9168 new servers storage area on the old server to do the migration.</p>
9169
9170 <pre>
9171 #!/bin/sh
9172
9173 # Based on
9174 # http://searchnetworking.techtarget.com.au/articles/35011-Six-steps-for-migrating-Xen-virtual-machines-to-KVM
9175
9176 set -e
9177 set -x
9178
9179 if [ -z "$1" ] ; then
9180     echo "Usage: $0 &lt;hostname&gt;"
9181     exit 1
9182 else
9183     host="$1"
9184 fi
9185
9186 if [ ! -e /dev/vg_data/$host-disk ] ; then
9187     echo "error: unable to find LVM volume for $host"
9188     exit 1
9189 fi
9190
9191 # Partitions need to be a bit bigger than the LVM LVs.  not sure why.
9192 disksize=$( lvs --units m | grep $host-disk | awk '{sum = sum + $4} END { print int(sum * 1.05) }')
9193 swapsize=$( lvs --units m | grep $host-swap | awk '{sum = sum + $4} END { print int(sum * 1.05) }')
9194 totalsize=$(( ( $disksize + $swapsize ) ))
9195
9196 img=$host.img
9197 #dd if=/dev/zero of=$img bs=1M count=$(( $disksize + $swapsize ))
9198 qemu-img create $img ${totalsize}MMaking room on the Debian Edu/Sqeeze DVD
9199
9200 parted $img mklabel msdos
9201 parted $img mkpart primary linux-swap 0 $disksize
9202 parted $img mkpart primary ext2 $disksize $totalsize
9203 parted $img set 1 boot on
9204
9205 modprobe dm-mod
9206 losetup /dev/loop0 $img
9207 kpartx -a /dev/loop0
9208
9209 dd if=/dev/vg_data/$host-disk of=/dev/mapper/loop0p1 bs=1M
9210 fsck.ext3 -f /dev/mapper/loop0p1 || true
9211 mkswap /dev/mapper/loop0p2
9212
9213 kpartx -d /dev/loop0
9214 losetup -d /dev/loop0
9215 </pre>
9216
9217 <p>The script is perhaps so simple that it is not copyrightable, but
9218 if it is, it is licenced using GPL v2 or later at your discretion.</p>
9219
9220 <p>After doing this, I booted a Debian CD in rescue mode in KVM with
9221 the new disk image attached, installed grub-pc and linux-image-686 and
9222 set up grub to boot from the disk image.  After this, the KVM machines
9223 seem to work just fine.</p>
9224
9225       </div>
9226       <div class="tags">
9227
9228
9229         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>.
9230
9231
9232       </div>
9233     </div>
9234     <div class="padding"></div>
9235
9236     <div class="entry">
9237       <div class="title">
9238         <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>
9239       </div>
9240       <div class="date">
9241         20th November 2010
9242       </div>
9243       <div class="body">
9244         <p>I'm still running upgrade testing of the
9245 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/~pere/debian-upgrade-testing/">Lenny
9246 Gnome and KDE Desktop</a>, but have not had time to spend on reporting the
9247 status.  Here is a short update based on a test I ran 20101118.</p>
9248
9249 <p>I still do not know what a correct migration should look like, so I
9250 report any differences between apt and aptitude and hope someone else
9251 can see if anything should be changed.</p>
9252
9253 <p>This is for Gnome:</p>
9254
9255 <p>Installed using apt-get, missing with aptitude</p>
9256
9257 <blockquote><p>
9258   apache2.2-bin aptdaemon at-spi baobab binfmt-support
9259   browser-plugin-gnash cheese-common cli-common cpp-4.3 cups-pk-helper
9260   dmz-cursor-theme empathy empathy-common finger
9261   freedesktop-sound-theme freeglut3 gconf-defaults-service gdm-themes
9262   gedit-plugins geoclue geoclue-hostip geoclue-localnet geoclue-manual
9263   geoclue-yahoo gnash gnash-common gnome gnome-backgrounds
9264   gnome-cards-data gnome-codec-install gnome-core
9265   gnome-desktop-environment gnome-disk-utility gnome-screenshot
9266   gnome-search-tool gnome-session-canberra gnome-spell
9267   gnome-system-log gnome-themes-extras gnome-themes-more
9268   gnome-user-share gs-common gstreamer0.10-fluendo-mp3
9269   gstreamer0.10-tools gtk2-engines gtk2-engines-pixbuf
9270   gtk2-engines-smooth hal-info hamster-applet libapache2-mod-dnssd
9271   libapr1 libaprutil1 libaprutil1-dbd-sqlite3 libaprutil1-ldap
9272   libart2.0-cil libatspi1.0-0 libboost-date-time1.42.0
9273   libboost-python1.42.0 libboost-thread1.42.0 libchamplain-0.4-0
9274   libchamplain-gtk-0.4-0 libcheese-gtk18 libclutter-gtk-0.10-0
9275   libcryptui0 libcupsys2 libdiscid0 libeel2-data libelf1 libepc-1.0-2
9276   libepc-common libepc-ui-1.0-2 libfreerdp-plugins-standard
9277   libfreerdp0 libgail-common libgconf2.0-cil libgdata-common libgdata7
9278   libgdl-1-common libgdu-gtk0 libgee2 libgeoclue0 libgexiv2-0 libgif4
9279   libglade2.0-cil libglib2.0-cil libgmime2.4-cil libgnome-vfs2.0-cil
9280   libgnome2.24-cil libgnomepanel2.24-cil libgnomeprint2.2-data
9281   libgnomeprintui2.2-common libgnomevfs2-bin libgpod-common libgpod4
9282   libgtk2.0-cil libgtkglext1 libgtksourceview-common
9283   libgtksourceview2.0-common libmono-addins-gui0.2-cil
9284   libmono-addins0.2-cil libmono-cairo2.0-cil libmono-corlib2.0-cil
9285   libmono-i18n-west2.0-cil libmono-posix2.0-cil
9286   libmono-security2.0-cil libmono-sharpzip2.84-cil
9287   libmono-system2.0-cil libmtp8 libmusicbrainz3-6
9288   libndesk-dbus-glib1.0-cil libndesk-dbus1.0-cil libopal3.6.8
9289   libpolkit-gtk-1-0 libpt-1.10.10-plugins-alsa
9290   libpt-1.10.10-plugins-v4l libpt2.6.7 libpython2.6 librpm1 librpmio1
9291   libsdl1.2debian libservlet2.4-java libsrtp0 libssh-4
9292   libtelepathy-farsight0 libtelepathy-glib0 libtidy-0.99-0
9293   libxalan2-java libxerces2-java media-player-info mesa-utils
9294   mono-2.0-gac mono-gac mono-runtime nautilus-sendto
9295   nautilus-sendto-empathy openoffice.org-writer2latex
9296   openssl-blacklist p7zip p7zip-full pkg-config python-4suite-xml
9297   python-aptdaemon python-aptdaemon-gtk python-axiom
9298   python-beautifulsoup python-bugbuddy python-clientform
9299   python-coherence python-configobj python-crypto python-cupshelpers
9300   python-cupsutils python-eggtrayicon python-elementtree
9301   python-epsilon python-evolution python-feedparser python-gdata
9302   python-gdbm python-gst0.10 python-gtkglext1 python-gtkmozembed
9303   python-gtksourceview2 python-httplib2 python-louie python-mako
9304   python-markupsafe python-mechanize python-nevow python-notify
9305   python-opengl python-openssl python-pam python-pkg-resources
9306   python-pyasn1 python-pysqlite2 python-rdflib python-serial
9307   python-tagpy python-twisted-bin python-twisted-conch
9308   python-twisted-core python-twisted-web python-utidylib python-webkit
9309   python-xdg python-zope.interface remmina remmina-plugin-data
9310   remmina-plugin-rdp remmina-plugin-vnc rhythmbox-plugin-cdrecorder
9311   rhythmbox-plugins rpm-common rpm2cpio seahorse-plugins shotwell
9312   software-center svgalibg1 system-config-printer-udev
9313   telepathy-gabble telepathy-mission-control-5 telepathy-salut tomboy
9314   totem totem-coherence totem-mozilla totem-plugins
9315   transmission-common xdg-user-dirs xdg-user-dirs-gtk xserver-xephyr
9316   zip
9317 </p></blockquote>
9318
9319 Installed using apt-get, removed with aptitude
9320
9321 <blockquote><p>
9322   arj bluez-utils cheese dhcdbd djvulibre-desktop ekiga eog
9323   epiphany-extensions epiphany-gecko evolution-exchange
9324   fast-user-switch-applet file-roller gcalctool gconf-editor gdm gedit
9325   gedit-common gnome-app-install gnome-games gnome-games-data
9326   gnome-nettool gnome-system-tools gnome-themes gnome-utils
9327   gnome-vfs-obexftp gnome-volume-manager gnuchess gucharmap
9328   guile-1.8-libs hal libavahi-compat-libdnssd1 libavahi-core5
9329   libavahi-ui0 libbind9-50 libbluetooth2 libcamel1.2-11 libcdio7
9330   libcucul0 libcurl3 libdirectfb-1.0-0 libdmx1 libdvdread3
9331   libedata-cal1.2-6 libedataserver1.2-9 libeel2-2.20 libepc-1.0-1
9332   libepc-ui-1.0-1 libexchange-storage1.2-3 libfaad0 libgadu3
9333   libgalago3 libgd2-noxpm libgda3-3 libgda3-common libggz2 libggzcore9
9334   libggzmod4 libgksu1.2-0 libgksuui1.0-1 libgmyth0 libgnome-desktop-2
9335   libgnome-pilot2 libgnomecups1.0-1 libgnomeprint2.2-0
9336   libgnomeprintui2.2-0 libgpod3 libgraphviz4 libgtk-vnc-1.0-0
9337   libgtkhtml2-0 libgtksourceview1.0-0 libgtksourceview2.0-0
9338   libgucharmap6 libhesiod0 libicu38 libisccc50 libisccfg50 libiw29
9339   libjaxp1.3-java-gcj libkpathsea4 liblircclient0 libltdl3 liblwres50
9340   libmagick++10 libmagick10 libmalaga7 libmozjs1d libmpfr1ldbl libmtp7
9341   libmysqlclient15off libnautilus-burn4 libneon27 libnm-glib0
9342   libnm-util0 libopal-2.2 libosp5 libparted1.8-10 libpisock9
9343   libpisync1 libpoppler-glib3 libpoppler3 libpt-1.10.10 libraw1394-8
9344   libsdl1.2debian-alsa libsensors3 libsexy2 libsmbios2 libsoup2.2-8
9345   libspeexdsp1 libssh2-1 libsuitesparse-3.1.0 libsvga1
9346   libswfdec-0.6-90 libtalloc1 libtotem-plparser10 libtrackerclient0
9347   libvoikko1 libxalan2-java-gcj libxerces2-java-gcj libxklavier12
9348   libxtrap6 libxxf86misc1 libzephyr3 mysql-common rhythmbox seahorse
9349   sound-juicer swfdec-gnome system-config-printer totem-common
9350   totem-gstreamer transmission-gtk vinagre vino w3c-dtd-xhtml wodim
9351 </p></blockquote>
9352
9353 <p>Installed using aptitude, missing with apt-get</p>
9354
9355 <blockquote><p>
9356   gstreamer0.10-gnomevfs
9357 </p></blockquote>
9358
9359 <p>Installed using aptitude, removed with apt-get</p>
9360
9361 <blockquote><p>
9362 [nothing]
9363 </p></blockquote>
9364
9365 <p>This is for KDE:</p>
9366
9367 <p>Installed using apt-get, missing with aptitude</p>
9368
9369 <blockquote><p>
9370   autopoint bomber bovo cantor cantor-backend-kalgebra cpp-4.3 dcoprss
9371   edict espeak espeak-data eyesapplet fifteenapplet finger gettext
9372   ghostscript-x git gnome-audio gnugo granatier gs-common
9373   gstreamer0.10-pulseaudio indi kaddressbook-plugins kalgebra
9374   kalzium-data kanjidic kapman kate-plugins kblocks kbreakout kbstate
9375   kde-icons-mono kdeaccessibility kdeaddons-kfile-plugins
9376   kdeadmin-kfile-plugins kdeartwork-misc kdeartwork-theme-window
9377   kdeedu kdeedu-data kdeedu-kvtml-data kdegames kdegames-card-data
9378   kdegames-mahjongg-data kdegraphics-kfile-plugins kdelirc
9379   kdemultimedia-kfile-plugins kdenetwork-kfile-plugins
9380   kdepim-kfile-plugins kdepim-kio-plugins kdessh kdetoys kdewebdev
9381   kdiamond kdnssd kfilereplace kfourinline kgeography-data kigo
9382   killbots kiriki klettres-data kmoon kmrml knewsticker-scripts
9383   kollision kpf krosspython ksirk ksmserver ksquares kstars-data
9384   ksudoku kubrick kweather libasound2-plugins libboost-python1.42.0
9385   libcfitsio3 libconvert-binhex-perl libcrypt-ssleay-perl libdb4.6++
9386   libdjvulibre-text libdotconf1.0 liberror-perl libespeak1
9387   libfinance-quote-perl libgail-common libgsl0ldbl libhtml-parser-perl
9388   libhtml-tableextract-perl libhtml-tagset-perl libhtml-tree-perl
9389   libio-stringy-perl libkdeedu4 libkdegames5 libkiten4 libkpathsea5
9390   libkrossui4 libmailtools-perl libmime-tools-perl
9391   libnews-nntpclient-perl libopenbabel3 libportaudio2 libpulse-browse0
9392   libservlet2.4-java libspeechd2 libtiff-tools libtimedate-perl
9393   libunistring0 liburi-perl libwww-perl libxalan2-java libxerces2-java
9394   lirc luatex marble networkstatus noatun-plugins
9395   openoffice.org-writer2latex palapeli palapeli-data parley
9396   parley-data poster psutils pulseaudio pulseaudio-esound-compat
9397   pulseaudio-module-x11 pulseaudio-utils quanta-data rocs rsync
9398   speech-dispatcher step svgalibg1 texlive-binaries texlive-luatex
9399   ttf-sazanami-gothic
9400 </p></blockquote>
9401
9402 <p>Installed using apt-get, removed with aptitude</p>
9403
9404 <blockquote><p>
9405   amor artsbuilder atlantik atlantikdesigner blinken bluez-utils cvs
9406   dhcdbd djvulibre-desktop imlib-base imlib11 kalzium kanagram kandy
9407   kasteroids katomic kbackgammon kbattleship kblackbox kbounce kbruch
9408   kcron kdat kdemultimedia-kappfinder-data kdeprint kdict kdvi kedit
9409   keduca kenolaba kfax kfaxview kfouleggs kgeography kghostview
9410   kgoldrunner khangman khexedit kiconedit kig kimagemapeditor
9411   kitchensync kiten kjumpingcube klatin klettres klickety klines
9412   klinkstatus kmag kmahjongg kmailcvt kmenuedit kmid kmilo kmines
9413   kmousetool kmouth kmplot knetwalk kodo kolf kommander konquest kooka
9414   kpager kpat kpdf kpercentage kpilot kpoker kpovmodeler krec
9415   kregexpeditor kreversi ksame ksayit kshisen ksig ksim ksirc ksirtet
9416   ksmiletris ksnake ksokoban kspaceduel kstars ksvg ksysv kteatime
9417   ktip ktnef ktouch ktron kttsd ktuberling kturtle ktux kuickshow
9418   kverbos kview kviewshell kvoctrain kwifimanager kwin kwin4 kwordquiz
9419   kworldclock kxsldbg libakode2 libarts1-akode libarts1-audiofile
9420   libarts1-mpeglib libarts1-xine libavahi-compat-libdnssd1
9421   libavahi-core5 libavc1394-0 libbind9-50 libbluetooth2
9422   libboost-python1.34.1 libcucul0 libcurl3 libcvsservice0
9423   libdirectfb-1.0-0 libdjvulibre21 libdvdread3 libfaad0 libfreebob0
9424   libgd2-noxpm libgraphviz4 libgsmme1c2a libgtkhtml2-0 libicu38
9425   libiec61883-0 libindex0 libisccc50 libisccfg50 libiw29
9426   libjaxp1.3-java-gcj libk3b3 libkcal2b libkcddb1 libkdeedu3
9427   libkdegames1 libkdepim1a libkgantt0 libkleopatra1 libkmime2
9428   libkpathsea4 libkpimexchange1 libkpimidentities1 libkscan1
9429   libksieve0 libktnef1 liblockdev1 libltdl3 liblwres50 libmagick10
9430   libmimelib1c2a libmodplug0c2 libmozjs1d libmpcdec3 libmpfr1ldbl
9431   libneon27 libnm-util0 libopensync0 libpisock9 libpoppler-glib3
9432   libpoppler-qt2 libpoppler3 libraw1394-8 librss1 libsensors3
9433   libsmbios2 libssh2-1 libsuitesparse-3.1.0 libswfdec-0.6-90
9434   libtalloc1 libxalan2-java-gcj libxerces2-java-gcj libxtrap6 lskat
9435   mpeglib network-manager-kde noatun pmount tex-common texlive-base
9436   texlive-common texlive-doc-base texlive-fonts-recommended tidy
9437   ttf-dustin ttf-kochi-gothic ttf-sjfonts
9438 </p></blockquote>
9439
9440 <p>Installed using aptitude, missing with apt-get</p>
9441
9442 <blockquote><p>
9443   dolphin kde-core kde-plasma-desktop kde-standard kde-window-manager
9444   kdeartwork kdebase kdebase-apps kdebase-workspace
9445   kdebase-workspace-bin kdebase-workspace-data kdeutils kscreensaver
9446   kscreensaver-xsavers libgle3 libkonq5 libkonq5-templates libnetpbm10
9447   netpbm plasma-widget-folderview plasma-widget-networkmanagement
9448   xscreensaver-data-extra xscreensaver-gl xscreensaver-gl-extra
9449   xscreensaver-screensaver-bsod
9450 </p></blockquote>
9451
9452 <p>Installed using aptitude, removed with apt-get</p>
9453
9454 <blockquote><p>
9455   kdebase-bin konq-plugins konqueror
9456 </p></blockquote>
9457
9458       </div>
9459       <div class="tags">
9460
9461
9462         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>.
9463
9464
9465       </div>
9466     </div>
9467     <div class="padding"></div>
9468
9469     <div class="entry">
9470       <div class="title">
9471         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Gnash_buildbot_slave_and_Debian_kfreebsd.html">Gnash buildbot slave and Debian kfreebsd</a>
9472       </div>
9473       <div class="date">
9474         20th November 2010
9475       </div>
9476       <div class="body">
9477         <p>Answering
9478 <a href="http://www.listware.net/201011/gnash-dev/67431-gnash-dev-buildbot-looking-for-slaves.html">the
9479 call from the Gnash project</a> for
9480 <a href="http://www.gnashdev.org:8010">buildbot</a> slaves to test the
9481 current source, I have set up a virtual KVM machine on the Debian
9482 Edu/Skolelinux virtualization host to test the git source on
9483 Debian/Squeeze.  I hope this can help the developers in getting new
9484 releases out more often.</p>
9485
9486 <p>As the developers want less main-stream build platforms tested to,
9487 I have considered setting up a <a
9488 href="http://www.debian.org/ports/kfreebsd-gnu/">Debian/kfreebsd</a>
9489 machine as well.  I have also considered using the kfreebsd
9490 architecture in Debian as a file server in NUUG to get access to the 5
9491 TB zfs volume we currently use to store DV video.  Because of this, I
9492 finally got around to do a test installation of Debian/Squeeze with
9493 kfreebsd.  Installation went fairly smooth, thought I noticed some
9494 visual glitches in the cdebconf dialogs (black cursor left on the
9495 screen at random locations).  Have not gotten very far with the
9496 testing.  Noticed cfdisk did not work, but fdisk did so it was not a
9497 fatal problem.  Have to spend some more time on it to see if it is
9498 useful as a file server for NUUG.  Will try to find time to set up a
9499 gnash buildbot slave on the Debian Edu/Skolelinux this weekend.</p>
9500
9501       </div>
9502       <div class="tags">
9503
9504
9505         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>.
9506
9507
9508       </div>
9509     </div>
9510     <div class="padding"></div>
9511
9512     <div class="entry">
9513       <div class="title">
9514         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_in_3D.html">Debian in 3D</a>
9515       </div>
9516       <div class="date">
9517          9th November 2010
9518       </div>
9519       <div class="body">
9520         <p><img src="http://thingiverse-production.s3.amazonaws.com/renders/23/e0/c4/f9/2b/debswagtdose_preview_medium.jpg"></p>
9521
9522 <p>3D printing is just great.  I just came across this Debian logo in
9523 3D linked in from
9524 <a href="http://blog.thingiverse.com/2010/11/09/participatory-branding/">the
9525 thingiverse blog</a>.</p>
9526
9527       </div>
9528       <div class="tags">
9529
9530
9531         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>.
9532
9533
9534       </div>
9535     </div>
9536     <div class="padding"></div>
9537
9538     <div class="entry">
9539       <div class="title">
9540         <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>
9541       </div>
9542       <div class="date">
9543          7th November 2010
9544       </div>
9545       <div class="body">
9546         <p>Prioritising packages for the Debian Edu /
9547 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Skolelinux</a> DVD, which is
9548 supposed provide a school with all the services and user applications
9549 needed on the pupils computer network has always been hard.  Even
9550 schools without Internet connections should be able to get Debian Edu
9551 working using this DVD.</p>
9552
9553 <p>The job became a lot harder when apt and aptitude started
9554 installing recommended packages by default.  We want the same set of
9555 packages to be installed when using the DVD and the netinst CD, and
9556 that means all recommended packages need to be on the DVD.  I created
9557 a patch for debian-cd in <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/601203">BTS
9558 report #601203</a> to do this, and since this change was applied to
9559 the Debian Edu DVD build, we have been seriously short on space.</p>
9560
9561 <p>A few days ago we decided to drop blender, wxmaxima and kicad from
9562 the default installation to save space on the DVD, believing that
9563 those needing these applications are few and can get them from the
9564 Debian archive.</p>
9565
9566 <p>Yesterday, I had a look what source packages to see which packages
9567 were using most space.  A few large packages are well know;
9568 openoffice.org, openclipart and fluid-soundfont.  But I also
9569 discovered that lilypond used 106 MiB and fglrx-driver used 53 MiB.
9570 The lilypond package is pulled in as a dependency for rosegarden, and
9571 when looking a bit closer I discovered that 99 MiB of the 106 MiB were
9572 the documentation package, which is recommended by the binary package.
9573 I decided to drop this documentation package from our DVD, as most of
9574 our users will use the GUI front-ends and do not need the lilypond
9575 documentation.  Similarly, I dropped the non-free fglrx-driver package
9576 which might be installed by d-i when its hardware is detected, as the
9577 free X driver should work.</p>
9578
9579 <p>With this change, we finally got space for the LXDE and Gnome
9580 desktop packages as well as the language specific packages making the
9581 DVD more useful again.</p>
9582
9583       </div>
9584       <div class="tags">
9585
9586
9587         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>.
9588
9589
9590       </div>
9591     </div>
9592     <div class="padding"></div>
9593
9594     <div class="entry">
9595       <div class="title">
9596         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Software_updates_2010_10_24.html">Software updates 2010-10-24</a>
9597       </div>
9598       <div class="date">
9599         24th October 2010
9600       </div>
9601       <div class="body">
9602         <p>Some updates.</p>
9603
9604 <p>My <a href="http://pledgebank.com/gnash-avm2">gnash pledge</a> to
9605 raise money for the project is going well.  The lower limit of 10
9606 signers was reached in 24 hours, and so far 13 people have signed it.
9607 More signers and more funding is most welcome, and I am really curious
9608 how far we can get before the time limit of December 24 is reached.
9609 :)</p>
9610
9611 <p>On the #gnash IRC channel on irc.freenode.net, I was just tipped
9612 about what appear to be a great code coverage tool capable of
9613 generating code coverage stats without any changes to the source code.
9614 It is called
9615 <a href="http://simonkagstrom.github.com/kcov/index.html">kcov</a>,
9616 and can be used using <tt>kcov &lt;directory&gt; &lt;binary&gt;</tt>.
9617 It is missing in Debian, but the git source built just fine in Squeeze
9618 after I installed libelf-dev, libdwarf-dev, pkg-config and
9619 libglib2.0-dev.  Failed to build in Lenny, but suspect that is
9620 solvable.  I hope kcov make it into Debian soon.</p>
9621
9622 <p>Finally found time to wrap up the release notes for <a
9623 href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-edu-announce/2010/10/msg00002.html">a
9624 new alpha release of Debian Edu</a>, and just published the second
9625 alpha test release of the Squeeze based Debian Edu /
9626 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Skolelinux</a>
9627 release.  Give it a try if you need a complete linux solution for your
9628 school, including central infrastructure server, workstations, thin
9629 client servers and diskless workstations.  A nice touch added
9630 yesterday is RDP support on the thin client servers, for windows
9631 clients to get a Linux desktop on request.</p>
9632
9633       </div>
9634       <div class="tags">
9635
9636
9637         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>.
9638
9639
9640       </div>
9641     </div>
9642     <div class="padding"></div>
9643
9644     <div class="entry">
9645       <div class="title">
9646         <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>
9647       </div>
9648       <div class="date">
9649         19th October 2010
9650       </div>
9651       <div class="body">
9652         <p><a href="http://www.getgnash.org/">The Gnash project</a> is the
9653 most promising solution for a Free Software Flash implementation. It
9654 has done great so far, but there is still far to go, and recently its
9655 funding has dried up.  I believe AVM2 support in Gnash is vital to the
9656 continued progress of the project, as more and more sites show up with
9657 AVM2 flash files.</p>
9658
9659 <p>To try to get funding for developing such support, I have started
9660 <a href="http://www.pledgebank.com/gnash-avm2">a pledge</a> with the
9661 following text:</P>
9662
9663 <p><blockquote>
9664
9665   <p>"I will pay 100$ to the Gnash project to develop AVM2 support but
9666   only if 10 other people will do the same."</p>
9667
9668   <p>- Petter Reinholdtsen, free software developer</p>
9669
9670   <p>Deadline to sign up by: 24th December 2010</p>
9671
9672   <p>The Gnash project need to get support for the new Flash file
9673   format AVM2 to work with a lot of sites using Flash on the
9674   web. Gnash already work with a lot of Flash sites using the old AVM1
9675   format, but more and more sites are using the AVM2 format these
9676   days. The project web page is available from
9677   http://www.getgnash.org/ . Gnash is a free software implementation
9678   of Adobe Flash, allowing those of us that do not accept the terms of
9679   the Adobe Flash license to get access to Flash sites.</p>
9680
9681   <p>The project need funding to get developers to put aside enough
9682   time to develop the AVM2 support, and this pledge is my way to try
9683   to get this to happen.</p>
9684
9685   <p>The project accept donations via the OpenMediaNow foundation,
9686   <a href="http://www.openmedianow.org/?q=node/32">http://www.openmedianow.org/?q=node/32</a> .</p>
9687
9688 </blockquote></p>
9689
9690 <p>I hope you will support this effort too.  I hope more than 10
9691 people will participate to make this happen.  The more money the
9692 project gets, the more features it can develop using these funds.
9693 :)</p>
9694
9695       </div>
9696       <div class="tags">
9697
9698
9699         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>.
9700
9701
9702       </div>
9703     </div>
9704     <div class="padding"></div>
9705
9706     <div class="entry">
9707       <div class="title">
9708         <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>
9709       </div>
9710       <div class="date">
9711          9th October 2010
9712       </div>
9713       <div class="body">
9714         <p>This summer I got the chance to buy cheap Spykee robots, and since
9715 then I have worked on getting Linux software in place to control them.
9716 The firmware for the robot is available from the producer, and using
9717 that source it was trivial to figure out the protocol specification.
9718 I've started on a perl library to control it, and made some demo
9719 programs using this perl library to allow one to control the
9720 robots.</p>
9721
9722 <p>The library is quite functional already, and capable of controlling
9723 the driving, fetching video, uploading MP3s and play them.  There are
9724 a few less important features too.</p>
9725
9726 <p>Since a few weeks ago, I ran out of time to spend on this project,
9727 but I never got around to releasing the current source.  I decided
9728 today that it was time to do something about it, and uploaded the
9729 source to my Debian package store at people.skolelinux.org.</p>
9730
9731 <p>Because it was simpler for me, I made a Debian package and
9732 published the source and deb.  If you got a spykee robot, grab the
9733 source or binary package:</p>
9734
9735 <p><ul>
9736 <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>
9737 <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>
9738 <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>
9739 </ul></p>
9740
9741 <p>If you are interested in helping out with developing this library,
9742 please let me know.</p>
9743
9744       </div>
9745       <div class="tags">
9746
9747
9748         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>.
9749
9750
9751       </div>
9752     </div>
9753     <div class="padding"></div>
9754
9755     <div class="entry">
9756       <div class="title">
9757         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Links_for_2010_10_03.html">Links for 2010-10-03</a>
9758       </div>
9759       <div class="date">
9760          3rd October 2010
9761       </div>
9762       <div class="body">
9763         <p><ul>
9764
9765 <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
9766 is no Plan B: why the IPv4-to-IPv6 transition will be ugly</a></li>
9767
9768 <li>Scanner looking under clothes
9769 <a href="http://www.dagbladet.no/2010/10/03/nyheter/utenriks/reise/overvakingskamera/flyplasser/13667192/">has
9770 already been misused at Heathrow</a>.</li>
9771
9772 <li><a href="http://wiki.softwarelivre.org/Landell">Landell
9773 Webcasting</a> - interesting alternative for
9774 <ahref="http://dvswitch.alioth.debian.org/wiki/">DVSwitch</a> with
9775 simple setup.
9776
9777 </ul></p>
9778
9779       </div>
9780       <div class="tags">
9781
9782
9783         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>.
9784
9785
9786       </div>
9787     </div>
9788     <div class="padding"></div>
9789
9790     <div class="entry">
9791       <div class="title">
9792         <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>
9793       </div>
9794       <div class="date">
9795          9th September 2010
9796       </div>
9797       <div class="body">
9798         <p>A few days ago I had the mixed pleasure of bying a new digital
9799 camera, a Canon IXUS 130.  It was instructive and very disturbing to
9800 be able to verify that also this camera producer have the nerve to
9801 specify how I can or can not use the videos produced with the camera.
9802 Even thought I was aware of the issue, the options with new cameras
9803 are limited and I ended up bying the camera anyway.  What is the
9804 problem, you might ask?  It is software patents, MPEG-4, H.264 and the
9805 MPEG-LA that is the problem, and our right to record our experiences
9806 without asking for permissions that is at risk.
9807
9808 <p>On page 27 of the Danish instruction manual, this section is
9809 written:</p>
9810
9811 <blockquote>
9812 <p>This product is licensed under AT&T patents for the MPEG-4 standard
9813 and may be used for encoding MPEG-4 compliant video and/or decoding
9814 MPEG-4 compliant video that was encoded only (1) for a personal and
9815 non-commercial purpose or (2) by a video provider licensed under the
9816 AT&T patents to provide MPEG-4 compliant video.</p>
9817
9818 <p>No license is granted or implied for any other use for MPEG-4
9819 standard.</p>
9820 </blockquote>
9821
9822 <p>In short, the camera producer have chosen to use technology
9823 (MPEG-4/H.264) that is only provided if I used it for personal and
9824 non-commercial purposes, or ask for permission from the organisations
9825 holding the knowledge monopoly (patent) for technology used.</p>
9826
9827 <p>This issue has been brewing for a while, and I recommend you to
9828 read
9829 "<a href="http://www.osnews.com/story/23236/Why_Our_Civilization_s_Video_Art_and_Culture_is_Threatened_by_the_MPEG-LA">Why
9830 Our Civilization's Video Art and Culture is Threatened by the
9831 MPEG-LA</a>" by Eugenia Loli-Queru and
9832 "<a href="http://webmink.com/2010/09/03/h-264-and-foss/">H.264 Is Not
9833 The Sort Of Free That Matters</a>" by Simon Phipps to learn more about
9834 the issue.  The solution is to support the
9835 <a href="http://www.digistan.org/open-standard:definition">free and
9836 open standards</a> for video, like <a href="http://www.theora.org/">Ogg
9837 Theora</a>, and avoid MPEG-4 and H.264 if you can.</p>
9838
9839       </div>
9840       <div class="tags">
9841
9842
9843         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/digistan">digistan</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/fildeling">fildeling</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/multimedia">multimedia</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/opphavsrett">opphavsrett</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/personvern">personvern</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/standard">standard</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/video">video</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/web">web</a>.
9844
9845
9846       </div>
9847     </div>
9848     <div class="padding"></div>
9849
9850     <div class="entry">
9851       <div class="title">
9852         <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>
9853       </div>
9854       <div class="date">
9855          4th September 2010
9856       </div>
9857       <div class="body">
9858         <p>In the <a href="http://popcon.debian.org/unknown/by_vote">Debian
9859 popularity-contest numbers</a>, the adobe-flashplugin package the
9860 second most popular used package that is missing in Debian.  The sixth
9861 most popular is flashplayer-mozilla.  This is a clear indication that
9862 working flash is important for Debian users.  Around 10 percent of the
9863 users submitting data to popcon.debian.org have this package
9864 installed.</p>
9865
9866 <p>In the report written by Lars Risan in August 2008
9867 («<a href="http://wiki.skolelinux.no/Dokumentasjon/Rapporter?action=AttachFile&do=view&target=Skolelinux_i_bruk_rapport_1.0.pdf">Skolelinux
9868 i bruk – Rapport for Hurum kommune, Universitetet i Agder og
9869 stiftelsen SLX Debian Labs</a>»), one of the most important problems
9870 schools experienced with <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian
9871 Edu/Skolelinux</a> was the lack of working Flash.  A lot of educational
9872 web sites require Flash to work, and lacking working Flash support in
9873 the web browser and the problems with installing it was perceived as a
9874 good reason to stay with Windows.</p>
9875
9876 <p>I once saw a funny and sad comment in a web forum, where Linux was
9877 said to be the retarded cousin that did not really understand
9878 everything you told him but could work fairly well.  This was a
9879 comment regarding the problems Linux have with proprietary formats and
9880 non-standard web pages, and is sad because it exposes a fairly common
9881 understanding of whose fault it is if web pages that only work in for
9882 example Internet Explorer 6 fail to work on Firefox, and funny because
9883 it explain very well how annoying it is for users when Linux
9884 distributions do not work with the documents they receive or the web
9885 pages they want to visit.</p>
9886
9887 <p>This is part of the reason why I believe it is important for Debian
9888 and Debian Edu to have a well working Flash implementation in the
9889 distribution, to get at least popular sites as Youtube and Google
9890 Video to working out of the box.  For Squeeze, Debian have the chance
9891 to include the latest version of Gnash that will make this happen, as
9892 the new release 0.8.8 was published a few weeks ago and is resting in
9893 unstable.  The new version work with more sites that version 0.8.7.
9894 The Gnash maintainers have asked for a freeze exception, but the
9895 release team have not had time to reply to it yet.  I hope they agree
9896 with me that Flash is important for the Debian desktop users, and thus
9897 accept the new package into Squeeze.</p>
9898
9899       </div>
9900       <div class="tags">
9901
9902
9903         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>.
9904
9905
9906       </div>
9907     </div>
9908     <div class="padding"></div>
9909
9910     <div class="entry">
9911       <div class="title">
9912         <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>
9913       </div>
9914       <div class="date">
9915          1st September 2010
9916       </div>
9917       <div class="body">
9918         <p>This evening I made my first Perl GUI application.  The last few
9919 days I have worked on a Perl module for controlling my recently
9920 aquired Spykee robots, and the module is now getting complete enought
9921 that it is possible to use it to control the robot driving at least.
9922 It was now time to figure out how to use it to create some GUI to
9923 allow me to drive the robot around.  I picked PerlQt as I have had
9924 positive experiences with the Qt API before, and spent a few minutes
9925 browsing the web for examples.  Using Qt Designer seemed like a short
9926 cut, so I ended up writing the perl GUI using Qt Designer and
9927 compiling it into a perl program using the puic program from
9928 libqt-perl.  Nothing fancy yet, but it got buttons to connect and
9929 drive around.</p>
9930
9931 <p>The perl module I have written provide a object oriented API for
9932 controlling the robot.  Here is an small example on how to use it:</p>
9933
9934 <p><pre>
9935 use Spykee;
9936 Spykee::discover(sub {$robot{$_[0]} = $_[1]});
9937 my $host = (keys %robot)[0];
9938 my $spykee = Spykee->new();
9939 $spykee->contact($host, "admin", "admin");
9940 $spykee->left();
9941 sleep 2;
9942 $spykee->right();
9943 sleep 2;
9944 $spykee->forward();
9945 sleep 2;
9946 $spykee->back();
9947 sleep 2;
9948 $spykee->stop();
9949 </pre></p>
9950
9951 <p>Thanks to the release of the source of the robot firmware, I could
9952 peek into the implementation at the other end to figure out how to
9953 implement the protocol used by the robot.  I've implemented several of
9954 the commands the robot understand, but is still missing the camera
9955 support to make it possible to control the robot from remote.  First I
9956 want to implement support for uploading new firmware and configuring
9957 the wireless network, to make it possible to bootstrap a Spykee robot
9958 without the producers Windows and MacOSX software (I only have Linux,
9959 so I had to ask a friend to come over to get the robot testing
9960 going. :).</p>
9961
9962 <p>Will release the source to the public soon, but need to figure out
9963 where to make it available first.  I will add a link to
9964 <a href="http://wiki.nuug.no/grupper/robot/">the NUUG wiki</a> for
9965 those that want to check back later to find it.</p>
9966
9967       </div>
9968       <div class="tags">
9969
9970
9971         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>.
9972
9973
9974       </div>
9975     </div>
9976     <div class="padding"></div>
9977
9978     <div class="entry">
9979       <div class="title">
9980         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Broken_hard_link_handling_with_sshfs.html">Broken hard link handling with sshfs</a>
9981       </div>
9982       <div class="date">
9983         30th August 2010
9984       </div>
9985       <div class="body">
9986         <p>Just got an email from Tobias Gruetzmacher as a followup on my
9987 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Broken_umask_handling_with_sshfs.html">previous
9988 post about sshfs</a>.  He reported another problem with sshfs.  It
9989 fail to handle hard links properly.  A simple way to spot this is to
9990 look at the . and .. entries in the directory tree.  These should have
9991 a link count >1, but on sshfs the count is 1.  I just tested to see
9992 what happen when trying to hardlink, and this fail as well:</p>
9993
9994 <pre>
9995 % ln foo bar
9996 ln: creating hard link `bar' => `foo': Function not implemented
9997 %
9998 </pre>
9999
10000 <p>I have not yet found time to implement a test for this in my file
10001 system test code, but believe having working hard links is useful to
10002 avoid surprised unix programs.  Not as useful as working file locking
10003 and symlinks, which are required to get a working desktop, but useful
10004 nevertheless. :)</p>
10005
10006 <p>The latest version of the file system test code is available via
10007 git from
10008 <a href="http://github.com/gebi/fs-test">http://github.com/gebi/fs-test</a></p>
10009
10010       </div>
10011       <div class="tags">
10012
10013
10014         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>.
10015
10016
10017       </div>
10018     </div>
10019     <div class="padding"></div>
10020
10021     <div class="entry">
10022       <div class="title">
10023         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Broken_umask_handling_with_sshfs.html">Broken umask handling with sshfs</a>
10024       </div>
10025       <div class="date">
10026         26th August 2010
10027       </div>
10028       <div class="body">
10029         <p>My file system sematics program
10030 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Testing_if_a_file_system_can_be_used_for_home_directories___.html">presented
10031 a few days ago</a> is very useful to verify that a file system can
10032 work as a unix home directory,and today I had to extend it a bit.  I'm
10033 looking into alternatives for home directory access here at the
10034 University of Oslo, and one of the options is sshfs.  My friend
10035 Finn-Arne mentioned a while back that they had used sshfs with Debian
10036 Edu, but stopped because of problems.  I asked today what the problems
10037 where, and he mentioned that sshfs failed to handle umask properly.
10038 Trying to detect the problem I wrote this addition to my fs testing
10039 script:</p>
10040
10041 <pre>
10042 mode_t touch_get_mode(const char *name, mode_t mode) {
10043   mode_t retval = 0;
10044   int fd = open(name, O_RDWR|O_CREAT|O_LARGEFILE, mode);
10045   if (-1 != fd) {
10046     unlink(name);
10047     struct stat statbuf;
10048     if (-1 != fstat(fd, &statbuf)) {
10049       retval = statbuf.st_mode & 0x1ff;
10050     }
10051     close(fd);
10052   }
10053   return retval;
10054 }
10055
10056 /* Try to detect problem discovered using sshfs */
10057 int test_umask(void) {
10058   printf("info: testing umask effect on file creation\n");
10059
10060   mode_t orig_umask = umask(000);
10061   mode_t newmode;
10062   if (0666 != (newmode = touch_get_mode("foobar", 0666))) {
10063     printf("  error: Wrong file mode %o when creating using mode 666 and umask 000\n",
10064            newmode);
10065   }
10066   umask(007);
10067   if (0660 != (newmode = touch_get_mode("foobar", 0666))) {
10068     printf("  error: Wrong file mode %o when creating using mode 666 and umask 007\n",
10069            newmode);
10070   }
10071
10072   umask (orig_umask);
10073   return 0;
10074 }
10075
10076 int main(int argc, char **argv) {
10077   [...]
10078   test_umask();
10079   return 0;
10080 }
10081 </pre>
10082
10083 <p>Sure enough.  On NFS to a netapp, I get this result:</p>
10084
10085 <pre>
10086 Testing POSIX/Unix sematics on file system
10087 info: testing symlink creation
10088 info: testing subdirectory creation
10089 info: testing fcntl locking
10090   Read-locking 1 byte from 1073741824
10091   Read-locking 510 byte from 1073741826
10092   Unlocking 1 byte from 1073741824
10093   Write-locking 1 byte from 1073741824
10094   Write-locking 510 byte from 1073741826
10095   Unlocking 2 byte from 1073741824
10096 info: testing umask effect on file creation
10097 </pre>
10098
10099 <p>When mounting the same directory using sshfs, I get this
10100 result:</p>
10101
10102 <pre>
10103 Testing POSIX/Unix sematics on file system
10104 info: testing symlink creation
10105 info: testing subdirectory creation
10106 info: testing fcntl locking
10107   Read-locking 1 byte from 1073741824
10108   Read-locking 510 byte from 1073741826
10109   Unlocking 1 byte from 1073741824
10110   Write-locking 1 byte from 1073741824
10111   Write-locking 510 byte from 1073741826
10112   Unlocking 2 byte from 1073741824
10113 info: testing umask effect on file creation
10114   error: Wrong file mode 644 when creating using mode 666 and umask 000
10115   error: Wrong file mode 640 when creating using mode 666 and umask 007
10116 </pre>
10117
10118 <p>So, I can conclude that sshfs is better than smb to a Netapp or a
10119 Windows server, but not good enough to be used as a home
10120 directory.</p>
10121
10122 <p>Update 2010-08-26: Reported the issue in
10123 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/594498">BTS report #594498</a></p>
10124
10125 <p>Update 2010-08-27: Michael Gebetsroither report that he found the
10126 script so useful that he created a GIT repository and stored it in
10127 <a href="http://github.com/gebi/fs-test">http://github.com/gebi/fs-test</a>.</p>
10128
10129       </div>
10130       <div class="tags">
10131
10132
10133         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>.
10134
10135
10136       </div>
10137     </div>
10138     <div class="padding"></div>
10139
10140     <div class="entry">
10141       <div class="title">
10142         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Rob_Weir__How_to_Crush_Dissent.html">Rob Weir: How to Crush Dissent</a>
10143       </div>
10144       <div class="date">
10145         15th August 2010
10146       </div>
10147       <div class="body">
10148         <p>I found the notes from Rob Weir on
10149 <a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/robweir/antic-atom/~3/VGb23-kta8c/how-to-crush-dissent.html">how
10150 to crush dissent</a> matching my own thoughts on the matter quite
10151 well.  Highly recommended for those wondering which road our society
10152 should go down.  In my view we have been heading the wrong way for a
10153 long time.</p>
10154
10155       </div>
10156       <div class="tags">
10157
10158
10159         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>.
10160
10161
10162       </div>
10163     </div>
10164     <div class="padding"></div>
10165
10166     <div class="entry">
10167       <div class="title">
10168         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/No_hardcoded_config_on_Debian_Edu_clients.html">No hardcoded config on Debian Edu clients</a>
10169       </div>
10170       <div class="date">
10171          9th August 2010
10172       </div>
10173       <div class="body">
10174         <p>As reported earlier, the last few days I have looked at how Debian
10175 Edu clients are configured, and tried to get rid of all hardcoded
10176 configuration settings on the clients.  I believe the work to be
10177 mostly done, and the clients seem to work just fine with dynamically
10178 generated configuration.</p>
10179
10180 <p>What is the point, you might ask?  The point is to allow a Debian
10181 Edu desktop to integrate into an existing network infrastructure
10182 without any manual configuration.</p>
10183
10184 <p>This is what happens when installing a Debian Edu client here at
10185 the University of Oslo using PXE.  With the PXE installation, I am
10186 asked for language (Norwegian Bokmål), locality (Norway) and keyboard
10187 layout (no-latin1), Debian Edu profile (Roaming Workstation), if I
10188 accept to reformat the hard drive (yes), if I want to submit info to
10189 popcon.debian.org (no) and root password (secret).  After answering
10190 these questions, the installer goes ahead and does its thing, and
10191 after around 50 minutes it is done.  I press enter to finish the
10192 installation, and the machine reboots into KDE.  When the machine is
10193 ready and kdm asks for login information, I enter my university
10194 username and password, am told by kdm that a local home directory has
10195 been created and that I must log in again, and finally log in with the
10196 same username and password to the KDE 4.4 desktop.  At no point during
10197 this process did it ask for university specific settings, and all the
10198 required configuration was dynamically detected using information
10199 fetched via DHCP and DNS.  The roaming workstation is now ready for
10200 use.</p>
10201
10202 <p>How was this done, you might wonder?  First of all, here is the
10203 list of things that need to be configured on the client to get it
10204 working properly out of the box:</p>
10205
10206 <ul>
10207 <li>IP address/netmask and DNS server.</li>
10208 <li>Web proxy URL.</li>
10209 <li>LDAP server for NSS directory information (user, group, etc).</li>
10210 <li>Kerberos server for PAM password checking.</li>
10211 <li>SMB mount point to access the network home directory. (*)</li>
10212 <li>Central syslog server to send syslog messages to. (*)</li>
10213 <li>Sitesummary collector URL to submit info to central server. (*)</li>
10214 </ul>
10215
10216 <p>(Hm, did I forget anything?  Let me knew if I did.)</p>
10217
10218 <p>The points marked (*) are not required to be able to use the
10219 machine, but needed to provide central storage and allowing system
10220 administrators to track their machines.  Since yesterday, everything
10221 but the sitesummary collector URL is dynamically discovered at boot
10222 and installation time in the svn version of Debian Edu.</p>
10223
10224 <p>The IP and DNS setup is fetched during boot using DHCP as usual.
10225 When a DHCP update arrives, the proxy setup is updated by looking for
10226 http://wpat/wpad.dat and using the content of this WPAD file to
10227 configure the http and ftp proxy in /etc/environment and
10228 /etc/apt/apt.conf.  I decided to update the proxy setup using a DHCP
10229 hook to ensure that the client stops using the Debian Edu proxy when
10230 it is moved outside the Debian Edu network, and instead uses any local
10231 proxy present on the new network when it moves around.</p>
10232
10233 <p>The DNS names of the LDAP, Kerberos and syslog server and related
10234 configuration are generated using DNS information at boot.  First the
10235 installer looks for a host named ldap in the current DNS domain.  If
10236 not found, it looks for _ldap._tcp SRV records in DNS instead.  If an
10237 LDAP server is found, its root DSE entry is requested and the
10238 attributes namingContexts and defaultNamingContext are used to
10239 determine which LDAP base to use for NSS.  If there are several
10240 namingContexts attibutes and the defaultNamingContext is present, that
10241 LDAP subtree is used as the base.  If defaultNamingContext is missing,
10242 the subtrees listed as namingContexts are searched in sequence for any
10243 object with class posixAccount or posixGroup, and the first one with
10244 such an object is used as the LDAP base.  For Kerberos, a similar
10245 search is done by first looking for a host named kerberos, and then
10246 for the _kerberos._tcp SRV record.  I've been unable to find a way to
10247 look up the Kerberos realm, so for this the upper case string of the
10248 current DNS domain is used.</p>
10249
10250 <p>For the syslog server, the hosts syslog and loghost are searched
10251 for, and the _syslog._udp SRV record is consulted if no such host is
10252 found.  This algorithm works for both Debian Edu and the University of
10253 Oslo.  A similar strategy would work for locating the sitesummary
10254 server, but have not been implemented yet.  I decided to fetch and
10255 save these settings during installation, to make sure moving to a
10256 different network does not change the set of users being allowed to
10257 log in nor the passwords required to log in.  Usernames and passwords
10258 will be cached by sssd when the user logs in on the Debian Edu
10259 network, and will not change as the laptop move around.  For a
10260 non-roaming machine, there is no caching, but given that it is
10261 supposed to stay in place it should not matter much.  Perhaps we
10262 should switch those to use sssd too?</p>
10263
10264 <p>The user's SMB mount point for the network home directory is
10265 located when the user logs in for the first time.  The LDAP server is
10266 consulted to look for the user's LDAP object and the sambaHomePath
10267 attribute is used if found.  If it isn't found, the home directory
10268 path fetched from NSS is used instead.  Assuming the path is of the
10269 form /site/server/directory/username, the second part is looked up in
10270 DNS and used to generate a SMB URL of the form
10271 smb://server.domain/username.  This algorithm works for both Debian
10272 edu and the University of Oslo.  Perhaps there are better attributes
10273 to use or a better algorithm that works for more sites, but this will
10274 do for now. :)</p>
10275
10276 <p>This work should make it easier to integrate the Debian Edu clients
10277 into any LDAP/Kerberos infrastructure, and make the current setup even
10278 more flexible than before.  I suspect it will also work for thin
10279 client servers, allowing one to easily set up LTSP and hook it into a
10280 existing network infrastructure, but I have not had time to test this
10281 yet.</p>
10282
10283 <p>If you want to help out with implementing these things for Debian
10284 Edu, please contact us on debian-edu@lists.debian.org.</p>
10285
10286 <p>Update 2010-08-09: Simon Farnsworth gave me a heads-up on how to
10287 detect Kerberos realm from DNS, by looking for _kerberos TXT entries
10288 before falling back to the upper case DNS domain name.  Will have to
10289 implement it for Debian Edu. :)</p>
10290
10291       </div>
10292       <div class="tags">
10293
10294
10295         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>.
10296
10297
10298       </div>
10299     </div>
10300     <div class="padding"></div>
10301
10302     <div class="entry">
10303       <div class="title">
10304         <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>
10305       </div>
10306       <div class="date">
10307          8th August 2010
10308       </div>
10309       <div class="body">
10310         <p>A few years ago, I was involved in a project planning to use
10311 Windows file servers as home directory servers for Debian
10312 Edu/Skolelinux machines.  This was thought to be no problem, as the
10313 access would be through the SMB network file system protocol, and we
10314 knew other sites used SMB with unix and samba as the file server to
10315 mount home directories without any problems.  But, after months of
10316 struggling, we had to conclude that our goal was impossible.</p>
10317
10318 <p>The reason is simply that while SMB can be used for home
10319 directories when the file server is Samba running on Unix, this only
10320 work because of Samba have some extensions and the fact that the
10321 underlying file system is a unix file system.  When using a Windows
10322 file server, the underlying file system do not have POSIX semantics,
10323 and several programs will fail if the users home directory where they
10324 want to store their configuration lack POSIX semantics.</p>
10325
10326 <p>As part of this work, I wrote a small C program I want to share
10327 with you all, to replicate a few of the problematic applications (like
10328 OpenOffice.org and GCompris) and see if the file system was working as
10329 it should.  If you find yourself in spooky file system land, it might
10330 help you find your way out again.  This is the fs-test.c source:</p>
10331
10332 <pre>
10333 /*
10334  * Some tests to check the file system sematics.  Used to verify that
10335  * CIFS from a windows server do not work properly as a linux home
10336  * directory.
10337  * License: GPL v2 or later
10338  *
10339  * needs libsqlite3-dev and build-essential installed
10340  * compile with: gcc -Wall -lsqlite3 -DTEST_SQLITE fs-test.c -o fs-test
10341 */
10342
10343 #define _FILE_OFFSET_BITS 64
10344 #define _LARGEFILE_SOURCE 1
10345 #define _LARGEFILE64_SOURCE 1
10346
10347 #define _GNU_SOURCE /* for asprintf() */
10348
10349 #include &lt;errno.h>
10350 #include &lt;fcntl.h>
10351 #include &lt;stdio.h>
10352 #include &lt;string.h>
10353 #include &lt;stdlib.h>
10354 #include &lt;sys/file.h>
10355 #include &lt;sys/stat.h>
10356 #include &lt;sys/types.h>
10357 #include &lt;unistd.h>
10358
10359 #ifdef TEST_SQLITE
10360 /*
10361  * Test sqlite open, as done by gcompris require the libsqlite3-dev
10362  * package and linking with -lsqlite3.  A more low level test is
10363  * below.
10364  * See also &lt;URL: http://www.sqlite.org./faq.html#q5 >.
10365  */
10366 #include &lt;sqlite3.h>
10367 #define CREATE_TABLE_USERS                                              \
10368   "CREATE TABLE users (user_id INT UNIQUE, login TEXT, lastname TEXT, firstname TEXT, birthdate TEXT, class_id INT ); "
10369 int test_sqlite_open(void) {
10370   char *zErrMsg;
10371   char *name = "testsqlite.db";
10372   sqlite3 *db=NULL;
10373   unlink(name);
10374   int rc = sqlite3_open(name, &db);
10375   if( rc ){
10376     printf("error: sqlite open of %s failed: %s\n", name, sqlite3_errmsg(db));
10377     sqlite3_close(db);
10378     return -1;
10379   }
10380
10381   /* create tables */
10382   rc = sqlite3_exec(db,CREATE_TABLE_USERS, NULL,  0, &zErrMsg);
10383   if( rc != SQLITE_OK ){
10384     printf("error: sqlite table create failed: %s\n", zErrMsg);
10385     sqlite3_close(db);
10386     return -1;
10387   }
10388   printf("info: sqlite worked\n");
10389   sqlite3_close(db);
10390   return 0;
10391 }
10392 #endif /* TEST_SQLITE */
10393
10394 /*
10395  * Demonstrate locking issue found in gcompris using sqlite3.  This
10396  * work with ext3, but not with cifs server on Windows 2003.  This is
10397  * done in the sqlite3 library.
10398  * See also
10399  * &lt;URL:http://www.cygwin.com/ml/cygwin/2001-08/msg00854.html> and the
10400  * POSIX specification
10401  * &lt;URL:http://www.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/009695399/functions/fcntl.html>.
10402  */
10403 int test_gcompris_locking(void) {
10404   struct flock fl;
10405   char *name = "testsqlite.db";
10406   unlink(name);
10407   int fd = open(name, O_RDWR|O_CREAT|O_LARGEFILE, 0644);
10408   printf("info: testing fcntl locking\n");
10409
10410   fl.l_whence = SEEK_SET;
10411   fl.l_pid    = getpid();
10412   printf("  Read-locking 1 byte from 1073741824");
10413   fl.l_start  = 1073741824;
10414   fl.l_len    = 1;
10415   fl.l_type   = F_RDLCK;
10416   if (0 != fcntl(fd, F_SETLK, &fl) ) printf(" - error!\n"); else printf("\n");
10417
10418   printf("  Read-locking 510 byte from 1073741826");
10419   fl.l_start  = 1073741826;
10420   fl.l_len    = 510;
10421   fl.l_type   = F_RDLCK;
10422   if (0 != fcntl(fd, F_SETLK, &fl) ) printf(" - error!\n"); else printf("\n");
10423
10424   printf("  Unlocking 1 byte from 1073741824");
10425   fl.l_start  = 1073741824;
10426   fl.l_len    = 1;
10427   fl.l_type   = F_UNLCK;
10428   if (0 != fcntl(fd, F_SETLK, &fl) ) printf(" - error!\n"); else printf("\n");
10429
10430   printf("  Write-locking 1 byte from 1073741824");
10431   fl.l_start  = 1073741824;
10432   fl.l_len    = 1;
10433   fl.l_type   = F_WRLCK;
10434   if (0 != fcntl(fd, F_SETLK, &fl) ) printf(" - error!\n"); else printf("\n");
10435
10436   printf("  Write-locking 510 byte from 1073741826");
10437   fl.l_start  = 1073741826;
10438   fl.l_len    = 510;
10439   if (0 != fcntl(fd, F_SETLK, &fl) ) printf(" - error!\n"); else printf("\n");
10440
10441   printf("  Unlocking 2 byte from 1073741824");
10442   fl.l_start  = 1073741824;
10443   fl.l_len    = 2;
10444   fl.l_type   = F_UNLCK;
10445   if (0 != fcntl(fd, F_SETLK, &fl) ) printf(" - error!\n"); else printf("\n");
10446
10447   close(fd);
10448   return 0;
10449 }
10450
10451 /*
10452  * Test if permissions of freshly created directories allow entries
10453  * below them.  This was a problem with OpenOffice.org and gcompris.
10454  * Mounting with option 'sync' seem to solve this problem while
10455  * slowing down file operations.
10456  */
10457 int test_subdirectory_creation(void) {
10458 #define LEVELS 5
10459   char *path = strdup("test");
10460   char *dirs[LEVELS];
10461   int level;
10462   printf("info: testing subdirectory creation\n");
10463   for (level = 0; level &lt; LEVELS; level++) {
10464     char *newpath = NULL;
10465     if (-1 == mkdir(path, 0777)) {
10466       printf("  error: Unable to create directory '%s': %s\n",
10467              path, strerror(errno));
10468       break;
10469     }
10470     asprintf(&newpath, "%s/%s", path, "test");
10471     free(path);
10472     path = newpath;
10473   }
10474   return 0;
10475 }
10476
10477 /*
10478  * Test if symlinks can be created.  This was a problem detected with
10479  * KDE.
10480  */
10481 int test_symlinks(void) {
10482   printf("info: testing symlink creation\n");
10483   unlink("symlink");
10484   if (-1 == symlink("file", "symlink"))
10485     printf("  error: Unable to create symlink\n");
10486   return 0;
10487 }
10488
10489 int main(int argc, char **argv) {
10490   printf("Testing POSIX/Unix sematics on file system\n");
10491   test_symlinks();
10492   test_subdirectory_creation();
10493 #ifdef TEST_SQLITE
10494   test_sqlite_open();
10495 #endif /* TEST_SQLITE */
10496   test_gcompris_locking();
10497   return 0;
10498 }
10499 </pre>
10500
10501 <p>When everything is working, it should print something like
10502 this:</p>
10503
10504 <pre>
10505 Testing POSIX/Unix sematics on file system
10506 info: testing symlink creation
10507 info: testing subdirectory creation
10508 info: sqlite worked
10509 info: testing fcntl locking
10510   Read-locking 1 byte from 1073741824
10511   Read-locking 510 byte from 1073741826
10512   Unlocking 1 byte from 1073741824
10513   Write-locking 1 byte from 1073741824
10514   Write-locking 510 byte from 1073741826
10515   Unlocking 2 byte from 1073741824
10516 </pre>
10517
10518 <p>I do not remember the exact details of the problems we saw, but one
10519 of them was with locking, where if I remember correctly, POSIX allow a
10520 read-only lock to be upgraded to a read-write lock without unlocking
10521 the read-only lock (while Windows do not).  Another was a bug in the
10522 CIFS/SMB client implementation in the Linux kernel where directory
10523 meta information would be wrong for a fraction of a second, making
10524 OpenOffice.org fail to create its deep directory tree because it was
10525 not allowed to create files in its freshly created directory.</p>
10526
10527 <p>Anyway, here is a nice tool for your tool box, might you never need
10528 it. :)</p>
10529
10530 <p>Update 2010-08-27: Michael Gebetsroither report that he found the
10531 script so useful that he created a GIT repository and stored it in
10532 <a href="http://github.com/gebi/fs-test">http://github.com/gebi/fs-test</a>.</p>
10533
10534       </div>
10535       <div class="tags">
10536
10537
10538         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>.
10539
10540
10541       </div>
10542     </div>
10543     <div class="padding"></div>
10544
10545     <div class="entry">
10546       <div class="title">
10547         <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>
10548       </div>
10549       <div class="date">
10550          7th August 2010
10551       </div>
10552       <div class="body">
10553         <p>A few days ago, I
10554 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_roaming_workstation___at_the_university_of_Oslo.html">tried
10555 to install</a> a Roaming workation profile from Debian Edu/Squeeze
10556 while on the university network here at the University of Oslo, and
10557 noticed how much had to change to get it operational using the
10558 university infrastructure.  It was fairly easy, but it occured to me
10559 that Debian Edu would improve a lot if I could get the client to
10560 connect without any changes at all, and thus let the client configure
10561 itself during installation and first boot to use the infrastructure
10562 around it.  Now I am a huge step further along that road.</p>
10563
10564 <p>With our current squeeze-test packages, I can select the roaming
10565 workstation profile and get a working laptop connecting to the
10566 university LDAP server for user and group and our active directory
10567 servers for Kerberos authentication.  All this without any
10568 configuration at all during installation.  My users home directory got
10569 a bookmark in the KDE menu to mount it via SMB, with the correct URL.
10570 In short, openldap and sssd is correctly configured.  In addition to
10571 this, the client look for http://wpad/wpad.dat to configure a web
10572 proxy, and when it fail to find it no proxy settings are stored in
10573 /etc/environment and /etc/apt/apt.conf.  Iceweasel and KDE is
10574 configured to look for the same wpad configuration and also do not use
10575 a proxy when at the university network.  If the machine is moved to a
10576 network with such wpad setup, it would automatically use it when DHCP
10577 gave it a IP address.</p>
10578
10579 <p>The LDAP server is located using DNS, by first looking for the DNS
10580 entry ldap.$domain.  If this do not exist, it look for the
10581 _ldap._tcp.$domain SRV records and use the first one as the LDAP
10582 server.  Next, it connects to the LDAP server and search all
10583 namingContexts entries for posixAccount or posixGroup objects, and
10584 pick the first one as the LDAP base.  For Kerberos, a similar
10585 algorithm is used to locate the LDAP server, and the realm is the
10586 uppercase version of $domain.</p>
10587
10588 <p>So, what is not working, you might ask.  SMB mounting my home
10589 directory do not work.  No idea why, but suspected the incorrect
10590 Kerberos settings in /etc/krb5.conf and /etc/samba/smb.conf might be
10591 the cause.  These are not properly configured during installation, and
10592 had to be hand-edited to get the correct Kerberos realm and server,
10593 but SMB mounting still do not work. :(</p>
10594
10595 <p>With this automatic configuration in place, I expect a Debian Edu
10596 roaming profile installation would be able to automatically detect and
10597 connect to any site using LDAP and Kerberos for NSS directory and PAM
10598 authentication.  It should also work out of the box in a Active
10599 Directory environment providing posixAccount and posixGroup objects
10600 with UID and GID values.</p>
10601
10602 <p>If you want to help out with implementing these things for Debian
10603 Edu, please contact us on debian-edu@lists.debian.org.</p>
10604
10605       </div>
10606       <div class="tags">
10607
10608
10609         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>.
10610
10611
10612       </div>
10613     </div>
10614     <div class="padding"></div>
10615
10616     <div class="entry">
10617       <div class="title">
10618         <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>
10619       </div>
10620       <div class="date">
10621          3rd August 2010
10622       </div>
10623       <div class="body">
10624         <p>The new roaming workstation profile in Debian Edu/Squeeze is fairly
10625 similar to the laptop setup am I working on using Ubuntu for the
10626 University of Oslo, and just for the heck of it, I tested today how
10627 hard it would be to integrate that profile into the university
10628 infrastructure.  In this case, it is the university LDAP server,
10629 Active Directory Kerberos server and SMB mounting from the Netapp file
10630 servers.</p>
10631
10632 <p>I was pleasantly surprised that the only three files needed to be
10633 changed (/etc/sssd/sssd.conf, /etc/ldap.conf and
10634 /etc/mklocaluser.d/20-debian-edu-config) and one file had to be added
10635 (/usr/share/perl5/Debian/Edu_Local.pm), to get the client working.
10636 Most of the changes were to get the client to use the university LDAP
10637 for NSS and Kerberos server for PAM, but one was to change a hard
10638 coded DNS domain name in the mklocaluser hook from .intern to
10639 .uio.no.</p>
10640
10641 <p>This testing was so encouraging, that I went ahead and adjusted the
10642 Debian Edu scripts and setup in subversion to centralise the roaming
10643 workstation setup a bit more and avoid the hardcoded DNS domain name,
10644 so that when I test this tomorrow, I expect to get away with modifying
10645 only /etc/sssd/sssd.conf and /etc/ldap.conf to get it to use the
10646 university servers.</p>
10647
10648 <p>My goal is to get the clients to have no hardcoded settings and
10649 fetch all their initial setup during installation and first boot, to
10650 allow them to be inserted also into environments where the default
10651 setup in Debian Edu has been changed or as with the university, where
10652 the environment is different but provides the protocols Debian Edu
10653 uses.</p>
10654
10655       </div>
10656       <div class="tags">
10657
10658
10659         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>.
10660
10661
10662       </div>
10663     </div>
10664     <div class="padding"></div>
10665
10666     <div class="entry">
10667       <div class="title">
10668         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Circular_package_dependencies_harms_apt_recovery.html">Circular package dependencies harms apt recovery</a>
10669       </div>
10670       <div class="date">
10671         27th July 2010
10672       </div>
10673       <div class="body">
10674         <p>I discovered this while doing
10675 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Automatic_upgrade_testing_from_Lenny_to_Squeeze.html">automated
10676 testing of upgrades from Debian Lenny to Squeeze</a>.  A few packages
10677 in Debian still got circular dependencies, and it is often claimed
10678 that apt and aptitude should be able to handle this just fine, but
10679 some times these dependency loops causes apt to fail.</p>
10680
10681 <p>An example is from todays
10682 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/~pere/debian-upgrade-testing//test-20100727-lenny-squeeze-kde-aptitude.txt">upgrade
10683 of KDE using aptitude</a>.  In it, a bug in kdebase-workspace-data
10684 causes perl-modules to fail to upgrade.  The cause is simple.  If a
10685 package fail to unpack, then only part of packages with the circular
10686 dependency might end up being unpacked when unpacking aborts, and the
10687 ones already unpacked will fail to configure in the recovery phase
10688 because its dependencies are unavailable.</p>
10689
10690 <p>In this log, the problem manifest itself with this error:</p>
10691
10692 <blockquote><pre>
10693 dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of perl-modules:
10694  perl-modules depends on perl (>= 5.10.1-1); however:
10695   Version of perl on system is 5.10.0-19lenny2.
10696 dpkg: error processing perl-modules (--configure):
10697  dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
10698 </pre></blockquote>
10699
10700 <p>The perl/perl-modules circular dependency is already
10701 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/527917">reported as a bug</a>, and will
10702 hopefully be solved as soon as possible, but it is not the only one,
10703 and each one of these loops in the dependency tree can cause similar
10704 failures.  Of course, they only occur when there are bugs in other
10705 packages causing the unpacking to fail, but it is rather nasty when
10706 the failure of one package causes the problem to become worse because
10707 of dependency loops.</p>
10708
10709 <p>Thanks to
10710 <a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2010/06/msg00116.html">the
10711 tireless effort by Bill Allombert</a>, the number of circular
10712 dependencies
10713 <a href="http://debian.semistable.com/debgraph.out.html">left in Debian
10714 is dropping</a>, and perhaps it will reach zero one day. :)</p>
10715
10716 <p>Todays testing also exposed a bug in
10717 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/590605">update-notifier</a> and
10718 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/590604">different behaviour</a> between
10719 apt-get and aptitude, the latter possibly caused by some circular
10720 dependency.  Reported both to BTS to try to get someone to look at
10721 it.</p>
10722
10723       </div>
10724       <div class="tags">
10725
10726
10727         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>.
10728
10729
10730       </div>
10731     </div>
10732     <div class="padding"></div>
10733
10734     <div class="entry">
10735       <div class="title">
10736         <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>
10737       </div>
10738       <div class="date">
10739         27th July 2010
10740       </div>
10741       <div class="body">
10742         <p>I just posted this announcement culminating several months of work
10743 with the next Debian Edu release.  Not nearly done, but one major step
10744 completed.</p>
10745
10746 <blockquote>
10747 <p>This is the first test release based on Squeeze. The focus of this
10748 release is to test the user application selection. To have a look,
10749 install the standalone profile and let the developers know if the set
10750 of installed packages i.e. applications should be modified. If some
10751 user application is missing, or if there are some applications that no
10752 longer make sense to be included in Debian Edu, please let us know.
10753 Also, if a useful application is missing the translation for your
10754 language of choice, please let us know too.</p>
10755
10756 <p>In addition, feedback and help to polish the desktop (menus,
10757 artwork, starters, etc.) is appreciated. We would like to ship a nice
10758 and handy KDE4 desktop targeted for schools out of the box.</p>
10759
10760 <p>The other profiles should be installable, but there is a lot more
10761 work left to be done before they are ready, so do not expect to
10762 much.</p>
10763
10764 <p>Changes compared to the lenny based version</p>
10765
10766 <ul>
10767 <li>Everything from Debian Squeeze
10768 <ul>
10769   <li>Desktop environment KDE 4.4 => the new KDE desktop in
10770          combination with some new artwork
10771   <li>Web browser Iceweasel 3.5
10772   <li>OpenOffice.org 3.2
10773   <li>Educational toolbox GCompris 9.3
10774   <li>Music creator Rosegarden 10.04.2
10775   <li>Image editor Gimp 2.6.10
10776   <li>Virtual universe Celestia 1.6.0
10777   <li>Virtual stargazer Stellarium 0.10.4
10778   <li>3D modeler Blender 2.49.2 (new application)
10779   <li>Video editor Kdenlive 0.7.7 (new application)
10780 </ul></li>
10781 <li>Now using Kerberos for password checking (migration not finished).
10782     Enabled for:
10783 <ul>
10784   <li>PAM
10785   <li>LDAP
10786   <li>IMAP
10787   <li>SMTP (sender verification)
10788 </ul>
10789 </li>
10790 <li>New experimental roaming workstation profile for laptops.</li>
10791 <li>Show welcome page to users when they first log in. The URL is
10792     fetched from LDAP.</li>
10793 <li>New LXDE desktop option, in addition to KDE (default) and Gnome.</li>
10794 <li>General cleanup (not finished)</li>
10795 </ul>
10796 <p>The following features are not working as they should</p>
10797
10798 <ul>
10799 <li>No web based administration tool for creating users and groups. The
10800     scripts ldap-createuser-krb and ldap-add-user-to-group can be used
10801     for testing.</li>
10802 <li>DVD installs are missing debian-installer images for the PXE boot,
10803     and do not set up the PXE menu on eth0 because of this. LTSP
10804     clients should still boot from eth1 on thin client servers.</li>
10805 <li>The restructured KDE menu is not implemented.</li>
10806 <li>The LDAP server setup need to be reviewed for security.</li>
10807 <li>The LDAP directory structure need to be reworked.</li>
10808 <li>Different sets of packages are installed when using the DVD and the
10809     netinst CD. More packages are installed using the netinst CD.</li>
10810 <li>The jackd package fail to install. This is believed to be caused by
10811     some ongoing transition, and hopefully should be solved soon. The
10812     jackd1 package can be installed manually for those that need it.</li>
10813 <li>Some packages lack translations. See
10814     http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/Status/Squeeze for updated status,
10815     and help out with translations.</li>
10816 </ul>
10817
10818 <p>To download this multiarch netinstall release you can use</p>
10819
10820 <ul>
10821 <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>
10822 <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>
10823 <li>rsync -avzP ftp.skolelinux.org::skolelinux-cd/squeeze-alpha/debian-edu-6.0.0+edua0-CD.iso</li>
10824 </ul>
10825 <p>To download this multiarch dvd release you can use</p>
10826
10827 <ul>
10828 <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>
10829 <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>
10830 <li>rsync -avzP ftp.skolelinux.org::skolelinux-cd/squeeze-alpha/debian-edu-6.0.0+edua0-DVD.iso</li>
10831 </ul>
10832
10833 <p>There is no source DVD available yet. It will be prepared when we
10834 get closer to the final release.</p>
10835
10836 <p>The MD5SUM of these images are</p>
10837
10838 <ul>
10839 <li>3dbf45d59f42a53518b6e3c9ec3b5eb6 debian-edu-6.0.0+edua0-CD.iso</li>
10840 <li>22f2cbfce281d1c6e478be452638675d debian-edu-6.0.0+edua0-DVD.iso</li>
10841 </ul>
10842
10843 <p>The SHA1SUM of these images are</p>
10844 <ul>
10845 <li>c53d1b69b40cf37cd27aefaf33f6f6a3821bedf0 debian-edu-6.0.0+edua0-CD.iso</li>
10846 <li>2ec29d7db676d59d32197b05c277ffe16348376c debian-edu-6.0.0+edua0-DVD.iso</li>
10847 </ul>
10848 <p>How to report bugs:
10849 http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/HowTo/ReportBugsInBugzilla</p>
10850
10851 <p>Please direct replies to debian-edu@lists.debian.org</p>
10852 </blockquote>
10853
10854       </div>
10855       <div class="tags">
10856
10857
10858         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>.
10859
10860
10861       </div>
10862     </div>
10863     <div class="padding"></div>
10864
10865     <div class="entry">
10866       <div class="title">
10867         <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>
10868       </div>
10869       <div class="date">
10870         25th July 2010
10871       </div>
10872       <div class="body">
10873         <p>The last few months me and the other Debian Edu developers have
10874 been working hard to get the Debian/Squeeze based version of Debian
10875 Edu/Skolelinux into shape.  This future version will use Kerberos for
10876 authentication, and services are slowly migrated to single signon,
10877 getting rid of password questions one at the time.</p>
10878
10879 <p>It will also feature a roaming workstation profile with local home
10880 directory, for laptops that are only some times on the Skolelinux
10881 network, and for this profile a shortcut is created in Gnome and KDE
10882 to gain access to the users home directory on the file server.  This
10883 shortcut uses SMB at the moment, and yesterday I had time to test if
10884 SMB mounting had started working in KDE after we added the cifs-utils
10885 package.  I was pleasantly surprised how well it worked.</p>
10886
10887 <p>Thanks to the recent changes to our samba configuration to get it
10888 to use Kerberos for authentication, there were no question about user
10889 password when mounting the SMB volume.  A simple click on the shortcut
10890 in the KDE menu, and a window with the home directory popped
10891 up. :)</p>
10892
10893 <p>One step closer to a single signon solution out of the box in
10894 Debian Edu.  We already had PAM, LDAP, IMAP and SMTP in place, and now
10895 also Samba.  Next step is Cups and hopefully also NFS.</p>
10896
10897 <p>We had planned a alpha0 release of Debian Edu for today, but thanks
10898 to the autobuilder administrators for some architectures being slow to
10899 sign packages, we are still missing the fixed LTSP package we need for
10900 the release.  It was uploaded three days ago with urgency=high, and if
10901 it had entered testing yesterday we would have been able to test it in
10902 time for a alpha0 release today.  As the binaries for ia64 and powerpc
10903 still not uploaded to the Debian archive, we need to delay the alpha
10904 release another day.</p>
10905
10906 <p>If you want to help out with implementing Kerberos for Debian Edu,
10907 please contact us on debian-edu@lists.debian.org.</p>
10908
10909       </div>
10910       <div class="tags">
10911
10912
10913         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>.
10914
10915
10916       </div>
10917     </div>
10918     <div class="padding"></div>
10919
10920     <div class="entry">
10921       <div class="title">
10922         <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>
10923       </div>
10924       <div class="date">
10925         18th July 2010
10926       </div>
10927       <div class="body">
10928         <p>Thanks to
10929 <a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Opengeodata/~3/wUTCzDZk3lc/project-of-the-week-which-way-home">todays
10930 opengeodata blog entry</a>, I just discovered that the
10931 OpenStreetmap.org site have gotten
10932 <a href="http://nroets.dev.openstreetmap.org/demo/index.html?layers=B000FTFTT">support
10933 for calculating routes</a>.  The support is still experimental and
10934 only available from the development server, until more experience is
10935 gathered on the user interface and any scalability issues.</p>
10936
10937 <p>Earlier, the routing I knew about using the OpenStreetmap.org data
10938 was provided by <a href="http://maps.cloudmade.com/">Cloudmade</a>,
10939 but having it on the main page is required to make everyone aware of
10940 the issue.  I've had people reject Openstreetmap.org as a viable
10941 alternative for them because the front page lacked routing support,
10942 and I hope their needs will be catered for when routing show up on the
10943 www.openstreetmap.org front page.</p>
10944
10945       </div>
10946       <div class="tags">
10947
10948
10949         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>.
10950
10951
10952       </div>
10953     </div>
10954     <div class="padding"></div>
10955
10956     <div class="entry">
10957       <div class="title">
10958         <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>
10959       </div>
10960       <div class="date">
10961         17th July 2010
10962       </div>
10963       <div class="body">
10964         <p>This is a
10965 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Time_for_new__LDAP_schemas_replacing_RFC_2307_.html">followup</a>
10966 on my
10967 <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
10968 work</a> on
10969 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Combining_PowerDNS_and_ISC_DHCP_LDAP_objects.html">merging
10970 all</a> the computer related LDAP objects in Debian Edu.</p>
10971
10972 <p>As a step to try to see if it possible to merge the DNS and DHCP
10973 LDAP objects, I have had a look at how the packages pdns-backend-ldap
10974 and dhcp3-server-ldap in Debian use the LDAP server.  The two
10975 implementations are quite different in how they use LDAP.</p>
10976
10977 To get this information, I started slapd with debugging enabled and
10978 dumped the debug output to a file to get the LDAP searches performed
10979 on a Debian Edu main-server.  Here is a summary.
10980
10981 <p><strong>powerdns</strong></p>
10982
10983 <a href="http://www.linuxnetworks.de/doc/index.php/PowerDNS_LDAP_Backend">Clues
10984 on how to</a> set up PowerDNS to use a LDAP backend is available on
10985 the web.
10986
10987 <p>PowerDNS have two modes of operation using LDAP as its backend.
10988 One "strict" mode where the forward and reverse DNS lookups are done
10989 using the same LDAP objects, and a "tree" mode where the forward and
10990 reverse entries are in two different subtrees in LDAP with a structure
10991 based on the DNS names, as in tjener.intern and
10992 2.2.0.10.in-addr.arpa.</p>
10993
10994 <p>In tree mode, the server is set up to use a LDAP subtree as its
10995 base, and uses a "base" scoped search for the DNS name by adding
10996 "dc=tjener,dc=intern," to the base with a filter for
10997 "(associateddomain=tjener.intern)" for the forward entry and
10998 "dc=2,dc=2,dc=0,dc=10,dc=in-addr,dc=arpa," with a filter for
10999 "(associateddomain=2.2.0.10.in-addr.arpa)" for the reverse entry.  For
11000 forward entries, it is looking for attributes named dnsttl, arecord,
11001 nsrecord, cnamerecord, soarecord, ptrrecord, hinforecord, mxrecord,
11002 txtrecord, rprecord, afsdbrecord, keyrecord, aaaarecord, locrecord,
11003 srvrecord, naptrrecord, kxrecord, certrecord, dsrecord, sshfprecord,
11004 ipseckeyrecord, rrsigrecord, nsecrecord, dnskeyrecord, dhcidrecord,
11005 spfrecord and modifytimestamp.  For reverse entries it is looking for
11006 the attributes dnsttl, arecord, nsrecord, cnamerecord, soarecord,
11007 ptrrecord, hinforecord, mxrecord, txtrecord, rprecord, aaaarecord,
11008 locrecord, srvrecord, naptrrecord and modifytimestamp.  The equivalent
11009 ldapsearch commands could look like this:</p>
11010
11011 <blockquote><pre>
11012 ldapsearch -h ldap \
11013   -b dc=tjener,dc=intern,ou=hosts,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no \
11014   -s base -x '(associateddomain=tjener.intern)' dNSTTL aRecord nSRecord \
11015   cNAMERecord sOARecord pTRRecord hInfoRecord mXRecord tXTRecord \
11016   rPRecord aFSDBRecord KeyRecord aAAARecord lOCRecord sRVRecord \
11017   nAPTRRecord kXRecord certRecord dSRecord sSHFPRecord iPSecKeyRecord \
11018   rRSIGRecord nSECRecord dNSKeyRecord dHCIDRecord sPFRecord modifyTimestamp
11019
11020 ldapsearch -h ldap \
11021   -b dc=2,dc=2,dc=0,dc=10,dc=in-addr,dc=arpa,ou=hosts,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no \
11022   -s base -x '(associateddomain=2.2.0.10.in-addr.arpa)'
11023   dnsttl, arecord, nsrecord, cnamerecord soarecord ptrrecord \
11024   hinforecord mxrecord txtrecord rprecord aaaarecord locrecord \
11025   srvrecord naptrrecord modifytimestamp
11026 </pre></blockquote>
11027
11028 <p>In Debian Edu/Lenny, the PowerDNS tree mode is used with
11029 ou=hosts,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no as the base, and these are two
11030 example LDAP objects used there.  In addition to these objects, the
11031 parent objects all th way up to ou=hosts,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
11032 also exist.</p>
11033
11034 <blockquote><pre>
11035 dn: dc=tjener,dc=intern,ou=hosts,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
11036 objectclass: top
11037 objectclass: dnsdomain
11038 objectclass: domainrelatedobject
11039 dc: tjener
11040 arecord: 10.0.2.2
11041 associateddomain: tjener.intern
11042
11043 dn: dc=2,dc=2,dc=0,dc=10,dc=in-addr,dc=arpa,ou=hosts,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
11044 objectclass: top
11045 objectclass: dnsdomain2
11046 objectclass: domainrelatedobject
11047 dc: 2
11048 ptrrecord: tjener.intern
11049 associateddomain: 2.2.0.10.in-addr.arpa
11050 </pre></blockquote>
11051
11052 <p>In strict mode, the server behaves differently.  When looking for
11053 forward DNS entries, it is doing a "subtree" scoped search with the
11054 same base as in the tree mode for a object with filter
11055 "(associateddomain=tjener.intern)" and requests the attributes dnsttl,
11056 arecord, nsrecord, cnamerecord, soarecord, ptrrecord, hinforecord,
11057 mxrecord, txtrecord, rprecord, aaaarecord, locrecord, srvrecord,
11058 naptrrecord and modifytimestamp.  For reverse entires it also do a
11059 subtree scoped search but this time the filter is "(arecord=10.0.2.2)"
11060 and the requested attributes are associateddomain, dnsttl and
11061 modifytimestamp.  In short, in strict mode the objects with ptrrecord
11062 go away, and the arecord attribute in the forward object is used
11063 instead.</p>
11064
11065 <p>The forward and reverse searches can be simulated using ldapsearch
11066 like this:</p>
11067
11068 <blockquote><pre>
11069 ldapsearch -h ldap -b ou=hosts,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no -s sub -x \
11070   '(associateddomain=tjener.intern)' dNSTTL aRecord nSRecord \
11071   cNAMERecord sOARecord pTRRecord hInfoRecord mXRecord tXTRecord \
11072   rPRecord aFSDBRecord KeyRecord aAAARecord lOCRecord sRVRecord \
11073   nAPTRRecord kXRecord certRecord dSRecord sSHFPRecord iPSecKeyRecord \
11074   rRSIGRecord nSECRecord dNSKeyRecord dHCIDRecord sPFRecord modifyTimestamp
11075
11076 ldapsearch -h ldap -b ou=hosts,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no -s sub -x \
11077   '(arecord=10.0.2.2)' associateddomain dnsttl modifytimestamp
11078 </pre></blockquote>
11079
11080 <p>In addition to the forward and reverse searches , there is also a
11081 search for SOA records, which behave similar to the forward and
11082 reverse lookups.</p>
11083
11084 <p>A thing to note with the PowerDNS behaviour is that it do not
11085 specify any objectclass names, and instead look for the attributes it
11086 need to generate a DNS reply.  This make it able to work with any
11087 objectclass that provide the needed attributes.</p>
11088
11089 <p>The attributes are normally provided in the cosine (RFC 1274) and
11090 dnsdomain2 schemas.  The latter is used for reverse entries like
11091 ptrrecord and recent DNS additions like aaaarecord and srvrecord.</p>
11092
11093 <p>In Debian Edu, we have created DNS objects using the object classes
11094 dcobject (for dc), dnsdomain or dnsdomain2 (structural, for the DNS
11095 attributes) and domainrelatedobject (for associatedDomain).  The use
11096 of structural object classes make it impossible to combine these
11097 classes with the object classes used by DHCP.</p>
11098
11099 <p>There are other schemas that could be used too, for example the
11100 dnszone structural object class used by Gosa and bind-sdb for the DNS
11101 attributes combined with the domainrelatedobject object class, but in
11102 this case some unused attributes would have to be included as well
11103 (zonename and relativedomainname).</p>
11104
11105 <p>My proposal for Debian Edu would be to switch PowerDNS to strict
11106 mode and not use any of the existing objectclasses (dnsdomain,
11107 dnsdomain2 and dnszone) when one want to combine the DNS information
11108 with DHCP information, and instead create a auxiliary object class
11109 defined something like this (using the attributes defined for
11110 dnsdomain and dnsdomain2 or dnszone):</p>
11111
11112 <blockquote><pre>
11113 objectclass ( some-oid NAME 'dnsDomainAux'
11114     SUP top
11115     AUXILIARY
11116     MAY ( ARecord $ MDRecord $ MXRecord $ NSRecord $ SOARecord $ CNAMERecord $
11117           DNSTTL $ DNSClass $ PTRRecord $ HINFORecord $ MINFORecord $
11118           TXTRecord $ SIGRecord $ KEYRecord $ AAAARecord $ LOCRecord $
11119           NXTRecord $ SRVRecord $ NAPTRRecord $ KXRecord $ CERTRecord $
11120           A6Record $ DNAMERecord
11121     ))
11122 </pre></blockquote>
11123
11124 <p>This will allow any object to become a DNS entry when combined with
11125 the domainrelatedobject object class, and allow any entity to include
11126 all the attributes PowerDNS wants.  I've sent an email to the PowerDNS
11127 developers asking for their view on this schema and if they are
11128 interested in providing such schema with PowerDNS, and I hope my
11129 message will be accepted into their mailing list soon.</p>
11130
11131 <p><strong>ISC dhcp</strong></p>
11132
11133 <p>The DHCP server searches for specific objectclass and requests all
11134 the object attributes, and then uses the attributes it want.  This
11135 make it harder to figure out exactly what attributes are used, but
11136 thanks to the working example in Debian Edu I can at least get an idea
11137 what is needed without having to read the source code.</p>
11138
11139 <p>In the DHCP server configuration, the LDAP base to use and the
11140 search filter to use to locate the correct dhcpServer entity is
11141 stored.  These are the relevant entries from
11142 /etc/dhcp3/dhcpd.conf:</p>
11143
11144 <blockquote><pre>
11145 ldap-base-dn "dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no";
11146 ldap-dhcp-server-cn "dhcp";
11147 </pre></blockquote>
11148
11149 <p>The DHCP server uses this information to nest all the DHCP
11150 configuration it need.  The cn "dhcp" is located using the given LDAP
11151 base and the filter "(&(objectClass=dhcpServer)(cn=dhcp))".  The
11152 search result is this entry:</p>
11153
11154 <blockquote><pre>
11155 dn: cn=dhcp,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
11156 cn: dhcp
11157 objectClass: top
11158 objectClass: dhcpServer
11159 dhcpServiceDN: cn=DHCP Config,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
11160 </pre></blockquote>
11161
11162 <p>The content of the dhcpServiceDN attribute is next used to locate the
11163 subtree with DHCP configuration.  The DHCP configuration subtree base
11164 is located using a base scope search with base "cn=DHCP
11165 Config,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no" and filter
11166 "(&(objectClass=dhcpService)(|(dhcpPrimaryDN=cn=dhcp,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no)(dhcpSecondaryDN=cn=dhcp,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no)))".
11167 The search result is this entry:</p>
11168
11169 <blockquote><pre>
11170 dn: cn=DHCP Config,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
11171 cn: DHCP Config
11172 objectClass: top
11173 objectClass: dhcpService
11174 objectClass: dhcpOptions
11175 dhcpPrimaryDN: cn=dhcp, dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
11176 dhcpStatements: ddns-update-style none
11177 dhcpStatements: authoritative
11178 dhcpOption: smtp-server code 69 = array of ip-address
11179 dhcpOption: www-server code 72 = array of ip-address
11180 dhcpOption: wpad-url code 252 = text
11181 </pre></blockquote>
11182
11183 <p>Next, the entire subtree is processed, one level at the time.  When
11184 all the DHCP configuration is loaded, it is ready to receive requests.
11185 The subtree in Debian Edu contain objects with object classes
11186 top/dhcpService/dhcpOptions, top/dhcpSharedNetwork/dhcpOptions,
11187 top/dhcpSubnet, top/dhcpGroup and top/dhcpHost.  These provide options
11188 and information about netmasks, dynamic range etc.  Leaving out the
11189 details here because it is not relevant for the focus of my
11190 investigation, which is to see if it is possible to merge dns and dhcp
11191 related computer objects.</p>
11192
11193 <p>When a DHCP request come in, LDAP is searched for the MAC address
11194 of the client (00:00:00:00:00:00 in this example), using a subtree
11195 scoped search with "cn=DHCP Config,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no" as
11196 the base and "(&(objectClass=dhcpHost)(dhcpHWAddress=ethernet
11197 00:00:00:00:00:00))" as the filter.  This is what a host object look
11198 like:</p>
11199
11200 <blockquote><pre>
11201 dn: cn=hostname,cn=group1,cn=THINCLIENTS,cn=DHCP Config,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
11202 cn: hostname
11203 objectClass: top
11204 objectClass: dhcpHost
11205 dhcpHWAddress: ethernet 00:00:00:00:00:00
11206 dhcpStatements: fixed-address hostname
11207 </pre></blockquote>
11208
11209 <p>There is less flexiblity in the way LDAP searches are done here.
11210 The object classes need to have fixed names, and the configuration
11211 need to be stored in a fairly specific LDAP structure.  On the
11212 positive side, the invidiual dhcpHost entires can be anywhere without
11213 the DN pointed to by the dhcpServer entries.  The latter should make
11214 it possible to group all host entries in a subtree next to the
11215 configuration entries, and this subtree can also be shared with the
11216 DNS server if the schema proposed above is combined with the dhcpHost
11217 structural object class.
11218
11219 <p><strong>Conclusion</strong></p>
11220
11221 <p>The PowerDNS implementation seem to be very flexible when it come
11222 to which LDAP schemas to use.  While its "tree" mode is rigid when it
11223 come to the the LDAP structure, the "strict" mode is very flexible,
11224 allowing DNS objects to be stored anywhere under the base cn specified
11225 in the configuration.</p>
11226
11227 <p>The DHCP implementation on the other hand is very inflexible, both
11228 regarding which LDAP schemas to use and which LDAP structure to use.
11229 I guess one could implement ones own schema, as long as the
11230 objectclasses and attributes have the names used, but this do not
11231 really help when the DHCP subtree need to have a fairly fixed
11232 structure.</p>
11233
11234 <p>Based on the observed behaviour, I suspect a LDAP structure like
11235 this might work for Debian Edu:</p>
11236
11237 <blockquote><pre>
11238 ou=services
11239   cn=machine-info (dhcpService) - dhcpServiceDN points here
11240     cn=dhcp (dhcpServer)
11241     cn=dhcp-internal (dhcpSharedNetwork/dhcpOptions)
11242       cn=10.0.2.0 (dhcpSubnet)
11243         cn=group1 (dhcpGroup/dhcpOptions)
11244     cn=dhcp-thinclients (dhcpSharedNetwork/dhcpOptions)
11245       cn=192.168.0.0 (dhcpSubnet)
11246         cn=group1 (dhcpGroup/dhcpOptions)
11247     ou=machines - PowerDNS base points here
11248       cn=hostname (dhcpHost/domainrelatedobject/dnsDomainAux)
11249 </pre></blockquote>
11250
11251 <P>This is not tested yet.  If the DHCP server require the dhcpHost
11252 entries to be in the dhcpGroup subtrees, the entries can be stored
11253 there instead of a common machines subtree, and the PowerDNS base
11254 would have to be moved one level up to the machine-info subtree.</p>
11255
11256 <p>The combined object under the machines subtree would look something
11257 like this:</p>
11258
11259 <blockquote><pre>
11260 dn: dc=hostname,ou=machines,cn=machine-info,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
11261 dc: hostname
11262 objectClass: top
11263 objectClass: dhcpHost
11264 objectclass: domainrelatedobject
11265 objectclass: dnsDomainAux
11266 associateddomain: hostname.intern
11267 arecord: 10.11.12.13
11268 dhcpHWAddress: ethernet 00:00:00:00:00:00
11269 dhcpStatements: fixed-address hostname.intern
11270 </pre></blockquote>
11271
11272 </p>One could even add the LTSP configuration associated with a given
11273 machine, as long as the required attributes are available in a
11274 auxiliary object class.</p>
11275
11276       </div>
11277       <div class="tags">
11278
11279
11280         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>.
11281
11282
11283       </div>
11284     </div>
11285     <div class="padding"></div>
11286
11287     <div class="entry">
11288       <div class="title">
11289         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Combining_PowerDNS_and_ISC_DHCP_LDAP_objects.html">Combining PowerDNS and ISC DHCP LDAP objects</a>
11290       </div>
11291       <div class="date">
11292         14th July 2010
11293       </div>
11294       <div class="body">
11295         <p>For a while now, I have wanted to find a way to change the DNS and
11296 DHCP services in Debian Edu to use the same LDAP objects for a given
11297 computer, to avoid the possibility of having a inconsistent state for
11298 a computer in LDAP (as in DHCP but no DNS entry or the other way
11299 around) and make it easier to add computers to LDAP.</p>
11300
11301 <p>I've looked at how powerdns and dhcpd is using LDAP, and using this
11302 information finally found a solution that seem to work.</p>
11303
11304 <p>The old setup required three LDAP objects for a given computer.
11305 One forward DNS entry, one reverse DNS entry and one DHCP entry.  If
11306 we switch powerdns to use its strict LDAP method (ldap-method=strict
11307 in pdns-debian-edu.conf), the forward and reverse DNS entries are
11308 merged into one while making it impossible to transfer the reverse map
11309 to a slave DNS server.</p>
11310
11311 <p>If we also replace the object class used to get the DNS related
11312 attributes to one allowing these attributes to be combined with the
11313 dhcphost object class, we can merge the DNS and DHCP entries into one.
11314 I've written such object class in the dnsdomainaux.schema file (need
11315 proper OIDs, but that is a minor issue), and tested the setup.  It
11316 seem to work.</p>
11317
11318 <p>With this test setup in place, we can get away with one LDAP object
11319 for both DNS and DHCP, and even the LTSP configuration I suggested in
11320 an earlier email.  The combined LDAP object will look something like
11321 this:</p>
11322
11323 <blockquote><pre>
11324   dn: cn=hostname,cn=group1,cn=THINCLIENTS,cn=DHCP Config,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
11325   cn: hostname
11326   objectClass: dhcphost
11327   objectclass: domainrelatedobject
11328   objectclass: dnsdomainaux
11329   associateddomain: hostname.intern
11330   arecord: 10.11.12.13
11331   dhcphwaddress: ethernet 00:00:00:00:00:00
11332   dhcpstatements: fixed-address hostname
11333   ldapconfigsound: Y
11334 </pre></blockquote>
11335
11336 <p>The DNS server uses the associateddomain and arecord entries, while
11337 the DHCP server uses the dhcphwaddress and dhcpstatements entries
11338 before asking DNS to resolve the fixed-adddress.  LTSP will use
11339 dhcphwaddress or associateddomain and the ldapconfig* attributes.</p>
11340
11341 <p>I am not yet sure if I can get the DHCP server to look for its
11342 dhcphost in a different location, to allow us to put the objects
11343 outside the "DHCP Config" subtree, but hope to figure out a way to do
11344 that.  If I can't figure out a way to do that, we can still get rid of
11345 the hosts subtree and move all its content into the DHCP Config tree
11346 (which probably should be renamed to be more related to the new
11347 content.  I suspect cn=dnsdhcp,ou=services or something like that
11348 might be a good place to put it.</p>
11349
11350 <p>If you want to help out with implementing this for Debian Edu,
11351 please contact us on debian-edu@lists.debian.org.</p>
11352
11353       </div>
11354       <div class="tags">
11355
11356
11357         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>.
11358
11359
11360       </div>
11361     </div>
11362     <div class="padding"></div>
11363
11364     <div class="entry">
11365       <div class="title">
11366         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Idea_for_storing_LTSP_configuration_in_LDAP.html">Idea for storing LTSP configuration in LDAP</a>
11367       </div>
11368       <div class="date">
11369         11th July 2010
11370       </div>
11371       <div class="body">
11372         <p>Vagrant mentioned on IRC today that ltsp_config now support
11373 sourcing files from /usr/share/ltsp/ltsp_config.d/ on the thin
11374 clients, and that this can be used to fetch configuration from LDAP if
11375 Debian Edu choose to store configuration there.</p>
11376
11377 <p>Armed with this information, I got inspired and wrote a test module
11378 to get configuration from LDAP.  The idea is to look up the MAC
11379 address of the client in LDAP, and look for attributes on the form
11380 ltspconfigsetting=value, and use this to export SETTING=value to the
11381 LTSP clients.</p>
11382
11383 <p>The goal is to be able to store the LTSP configuration attributes
11384 in a "computer" LDAP object used by both DNS and DHCP, and thus
11385 allowing us to store all information about a computer in one place.</p>
11386
11387 <p>This is a untested draft implementation, and I welcome feedback on
11388 this approach.  A real LDAP schema for the ltspClientAux objectclass
11389 need to be written.  Comments, suggestions, etc?</p>
11390
11391 <blockquote><pre>
11392 # Store in /opt/ltsp/$arch/usr/share/ltsp/ltsp_config.d/ldap-config
11393 #
11394 # Fetch LTSP client settings from LDAP based on MAC address
11395 #
11396 # Uses ethernet address as stored in the dhcpHost objectclass using
11397 # the dhcpHWAddress attribute or ethernet address stored in the
11398 # ieee802Device objectclass with the macAddress attribute.
11399 #
11400 # This module is written to be schema agnostic, and only depend on the
11401 # existence of attribute names.
11402 #
11403 # The LTSP configuration variables are saved directly using a
11404 # ltspConfig prefix and uppercasing the rest of the attribute name.
11405 # To set the SERVER variable, set the ltspConfigServer attribute.
11406 #
11407 # Some LDAP schema should be created with all the relevant
11408 # configuration settings.  Something like this should work:
11409 #
11410 # objectclass ( 1.1.2.2 NAME 'ltspClientAux'
11411 #     SUP top
11412 #     AUXILIARY
11413 #     MAY ( ltspConfigServer $ ltsConfigSound $ ... )
11414
11415 LDAPSERVER=$(debian-edu-ldapserver)
11416 if [ "$LDAPSERVER" ] ; then
11417     LDAPBASE=$(debian-edu-ldapserver -b)
11418     for MAC in $(LANG=C ifconfig |grep -i hwaddr| awk '{print $5}'|sort -u) ; do
11419         filter="(|(dhcpHWAddress=ethernet $MAC)(macAddress=$MAC))"
11420         ldapsearch -h "$LDAPSERVER" -b "$LDAPBASE" -v -x "$filter" | \
11421             grep '^ltspConfig' | while read attr value ; do
11422             # Remove prefix and convert to upper case
11423             attr=$(echo $attr | sed 's/^ltspConfig//i' | tr a-z A-Z)
11424             # bass value on to clients
11425             eval "$attr=$value; export $attr"
11426         done
11427     done
11428 fi
11429 </pre></blockquote>
11430
11431 <p>I'm not sure this shell construction will work, because I suspect
11432 the while block might end up in a subshell causing the variables set
11433 there to not show up in ltsp-config, but if that is the case I am sure
11434 the code can be restructured to make sure the variables are passed on.
11435 I expect that can be solved with some testing. :)</p>
11436
11437 <p>If you want to help out with implementing this for Debian Edu,
11438 please contact us on debian-edu@lists.debian.org.</p>
11439
11440 <p>Update 2010-07-17: I am aware of another effort to store LTSP
11441 configuration in LDAP that was created around year 2000 by
11442 <a href="http://www.pcxperience.com/thinclient/documentation/ldap.html">PC
11443 Xperience, Inc., 2000</a>.  I found its
11444 <a href="http://people.redhat.com/alikins/ltsp/ldap/">files</a> on a
11445 personal home page over at redhat.com.</p>
11446
11447       </div>
11448       <div class="tags">
11449
11450
11451         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>.
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/jXplorer__a_very_nice_LDAP_GUI.html">jXplorer, a very nice LDAP GUI</a>
11461       </div>
11462       <div class="date">
11463          9th July 2010
11464       </div>
11465       <div class="body">
11466         <p>Since
11467 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/LUMA__a_very_nice_LDAP_GUI.html">my
11468 last post</a> about available LDAP tools in Debian, I was told about a
11469 LDAP GUI that is even better than luma.  The java application
11470 <a href="http://jxplorer.org/">jXplorer</a> is claimed to be capable of
11471 moving LDAP objects and subtrees using drag-and-drop, and can
11472 authenticate using Kerberos.  I have only tested the Kerberos
11473 authentication, but do not have a LDAP setup allowing me to rewrite
11474 LDAP with my test user yet.  It is
11475 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/j/jxplorer.html">available in
11476 Debian</a> testing and unstable at the moment.  The only problem I
11477 have with it is how it handle errors.  If something go wrong, its
11478 non-intuitive behaviour require me to go through some query work list
11479 and remove the failing query.  Nothing big, but very annoying.</p>
11480
11481       </div>
11482       <div class="tags">
11483
11484
11485         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>.
11486
11487
11488       </div>
11489     </div>
11490     <div class="padding"></div>
11491
11492     <div class="entry">
11493       <div class="title">
11494         <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>
11495       </div>
11496       <div class="date">
11497          3rd July 2010
11498       </div>
11499       <div class="body">
11500         <p>Here is a short update on my <a
11501 href="http://people.skolelinux.org/~pere/debian-upgrade-testing/">my
11502 Debian Lenny->Squeeze upgrade testing</a>.  Here is a summary of the
11503 difference for Gnome when it is upgraded by apt-get and aptitude.  I'm
11504 not reporting the status for KDE, because the upgrade crashes when
11505 aptitude try because of missing conflicts
11506 (<a href="http://bugs.debian.org/584861">#584861</a> and
11507 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/585716">#585716</a>).</p>
11508
11509 <p>At the end of the upgrade test script, dpkg -l is executed to get a
11510 complete list of the installed packages.  Based on this I see these
11511 differences when I did a test run today.  As usual, I do not really
11512 know what the correct set of packages would be, but thought it best to
11513 publish the difference.</p>
11514
11515 <p>Installed using apt-get, missing with aptitude</p>
11516
11517 <blockquote><p>
11518   at-spi cpp-4.3 finger gnome-spell gstreamer0.10-gnomevfs
11519   libatspi1.0-0 libcupsys2 libeel2-data libgail-common libgdl-1-common
11520   libgnomeprint2.2-data libgnomeprintui2.2-common libgnomevfs2-bin
11521   libgtksourceview-common libpt-1.10.10-plugins-alsa
11522   libpt-1.10.10-plugins-v4l libservlet2.4-java libxalan2-java
11523   libxerces2-java openoffice.org-writer2latex openssl-blacklist p7zip
11524   python-4suite-xml python-eggtrayicon python-gtkhtml2
11525   python-gtkmozembed svgalibg1 xserver-xephyr zip
11526 </p></blockquote>
11527
11528 <p>Installed using apt-get, removed with aptitude</p>
11529
11530 <blockquote><p>
11531   bluez-utils dhcdbd djvulibre-desktop epiphany-gecko
11532   gnome-app-install gnome-mount gnome-vfs-obexftp gnome-volume-manager
11533   libao2 libavahi-compat-libdnssd1 libavahi-core5 libbind9-50
11534   libbluetooth2 libcamel1.2-11 libcdio7 libcucul0 libcurl3
11535   libdirectfb-1.0-0 libdvdread3 libedata-cal1.2-6 libedataserver1.2-9
11536   libeel2-2.20 libepc-1.0-1 libepc-ui-1.0-1 libexchange-storage1.2-3
11537   libfaad0 libgd2-noxpm libgda3-3 libgda3-common libggz2 libggzcore9
11538   libggzmod4 libgksu1.2-0 libgksuui1.0-1 libgmyth0 libgnome-desktop-2
11539   libgnome-pilot2 libgnomecups1.0-1 libgnomeprint2.2-0
11540   libgnomeprintui2.2-0 libgpod3 libgraphviz4 libgtkhtml2-0
11541   libgtksourceview1.0-0 libgucharmap6 libhesiod0 libicu38 libisccc50
11542   libisccfg50 libiw29 libkpathsea4 libltdl3 liblwres50 libmagick++10
11543   libmagick10 libmalaga7 libmtp7 libmysqlclient15off libnautilus-burn4
11544   libneon27 libnm-glib0 libnm-util0 libopal-2.2 libosp5
11545   libparted1.8-10 libpisock9 libpisync1 libpoppler-glib3 libpoppler3
11546   libpt-1.10.10 libraw1394-8 libsensors3 libsmbios2 libsoup2.2-8
11547   libssh2-1 libsuitesparse-3.1.0 libswfdec-0.6-90 libtalloc1
11548   libtotem-plparser10 libtrackerclient0 libvoikko1 libxalan2-java-gcj
11549   libxerces2-java-gcj libxklavier12 libxtrap6 libxxf86misc1 libzephyr3
11550   mysql-common swfdec-gnome totem-gstreamer wodim
11551 </p></blockquote>
11552
11553 <p>Installed using aptitude, missing with apt-get</p>
11554
11555 <blockquote><p>
11556   gnome gnome-desktop-environment hamster-applet python-gnomeapplet
11557   python-gnomekeyring python-wnck rhythmbox-plugins xorg
11558   xserver-xorg-input-all xserver-xorg-input-evdev
11559   xserver-xorg-input-kbd xserver-xorg-input-mouse
11560   xserver-xorg-input-synaptics xserver-xorg-video-all
11561   xserver-xorg-video-apm xserver-xorg-video-ark xserver-xorg-video-ati
11562   xserver-xorg-video-chips xserver-xorg-video-cirrus
11563   xserver-xorg-video-dummy xserver-xorg-video-fbdev
11564   xserver-xorg-video-glint xserver-xorg-video-i128
11565   xserver-xorg-video-i740 xserver-xorg-video-mach64
11566   xserver-xorg-video-mga xserver-xorg-video-neomagic
11567   xserver-xorg-video-nouveau xserver-xorg-video-nv
11568   xserver-xorg-video-r128 xserver-xorg-video-radeon
11569   xserver-xorg-video-radeonhd xserver-xorg-video-rendition
11570   xserver-xorg-video-s3 xserver-xorg-video-s3virge
11571   xserver-xorg-video-savage xserver-xorg-video-siliconmotion
11572   xserver-xorg-video-sis xserver-xorg-video-sisusb
11573   xserver-xorg-video-tdfx xserver-xorg-video-tga
11574   xserver-xorg-video-trident xserver-xorg-video-tseng
11575   xserver-xorg-video-vesa xserver-xorg-video-vmware
11576   xserver-xorg-video-voodoo
11577 </p></blockquote>
11578
11579 <p>Installed using aptitude, removed with apt-get</p>
11580
11581 <blockquote><p>
11582   deskbar-applet xserver-xorg xserver-xorg-core
11583   xserver-xorg-input-wacom xserver-xorg-video-intel
11584   xserver-xorg-video-openchrome
11585 </p></blockquote>
11586
11587 <p>I was told on IRC that the xorg-xserver package was
11588 <a href="http://git.debian.org/?p=pkg-xorg/xserver/xorg-server.git;a=commit;h=9c8080d06c457932d3bfec021c69ac000aa60120">changed
11589 in git</a> today to try to get apt-get to not remove xorg completely.
11590 No idea when it hits Squeeze, but when it does I hope it will reduce
11591 the difference somewhat.
11592
11593       </div>
11594       <div class="tags">
11595
11596
11597         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>.
11598
11599
11600       </div>
11601     </div>
11602     <div class="padding"></div>
11603
11604     <div class="entry">
11605       <div class="title">
11606         <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>
11607       </div>
11608       <div class="date">
11609          1st July 2010
11610       </div>
11611       <div class="body">
11612         <p>For a laptop, centralized user directories and password checking is
11613 a bit troubling.  Laptops are typically used also when not connected
11614 to the network, and it is vital for a user to be able to log in or
11615 unlock the screen saver also when a central server is unavailable.
11616 This is possible by caching passwords and directory information (user
11617 and group attributes) locally, and the packages to do so are available
11618 in Debian.  Here follow two recipes to set this up in Debian/Squeeze.
11619 It is also possible to set up in Debian/Lenny, but require more manual
11620 setup there because pam-auth-update is missing in Lenny.</p>
11621
11622 <h2>LDAP/Kerberos + nscd + libpam-ccreds + libpam-mklocaluser/pam_mkhomedir</h2>
11623
11624 This is the traditional method with a twist.  The password caching is
11625 provided by libpam-ccreds (version 10-4 or later is needed on
11626 Squeeze), and the directory caching is done by nscd.  The directory
11627 lookup and password checking is done using LDAP.  If one want to use
11628 Kerberos for password checking the libpam-ldapd package can be
11629 replaced with libpam-krb5 or libpam-heimdal.  If one is happy having a
11630 local home directory with the path listed in LDAP, one can use the
11631 pam_mkhomedir module from pam-modules to make this happen instead of
11632 using libpam-mklocaluser.  A setup for pam-auth-update to enable
11633 pam_mkhomedir will have to be written until a fix for
11634 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/568577">bug #568577</a> is in the
11635 archive.  Because I believe it is a bad idea to have local home
11636 directories using misleading paths like /site/server/partition/, I
11637 prefer to create a local user with the home directory in /home/.  This
11638 is done using the libpam-mklocaluser package.</p>
11639
11640 <p>These packages need to be installed and configured</p>
11641
11642 <blockquote><pre>
11643 libnss-ldapd libpam-ldapd nscd libpam-ccreds libpam-mklocaluser
11644 </pre></blockquote>
11645
11646 <p>The ldapd packages will ask for LDAP connection information, and
11647 one have to fill in the values that fits ones own site.  Make sure the
11648 PAM part uses encrypted connections, to make sure the password is not
11649 sent in clear text to the LDAP server.  I've been unable to get TLS
11650 certificate checking for a self signed certificate working, which make
11651 LDAP authentication unsafe for Debian Edu (nslcd is not checking if it
11652 is talking to the correct LDAP server), and very much welcome feedback
11653 on how to get this working.</p>
11654
11655 <p>Because nscd do not have a default configuration fit for offline
11656 caching until <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/485282">bug #485282</a>
11657 is fixed, this configuration should be used instead of the one
11658 currently in /etc/nscd.conf.  The changes are in the fields
11659 reload-count and positive-time-to-live, and is based on the
11660 instructions I found in the
11661 <a href="http://www.flyn.org/laptopldap/">LDAP for Mobile Laptops</a>
11662 instructions by Flyn Computing.</p>
11663
11664 <blockquote><pre>
11665         debug-level             0
11666         reload-count            unlimited
11667         paranoia                no
11668
11669         enable-cache            passwd          yes
11670         positive-time-to-live   passwd          2592000
11671         negative-time-to-live   passwd          20
11672         suggested-size          passwd          211
11673         check-files             passwd          yes
11674         persistent              passwd          yes
11675         shared                  passwd          yes
11676         max-db-size             passwd          33554432
11677         auto-propagate          passwd          yes
11678
11679         enable-cache            group           yes
11680         positive-time-to-live   group           2592000
11681         negative-time-to-live   group           20
11682         suggested-size          group           211
11683         check-files             group           yes
11684         persistent              group           yes
11685         shared                  group           yes
11686         max-db-size             group           33554432
11687         auto-propagate          group           yes
11688
11689         enable-cache            hosts           no
11690         positive-time-to-live   hosts           2592000
11691         negative-time-to-live   hosts           20
11692         suggested-size          hosts           211
11693         check-files             hosts           yes
11694         persistent              hosts           yes
11695         shared                  hosts           yes
11696         max-db-size             hosts           33554432
11697
11698         enable-cache            services        yes
11699         positive-time-to-live   services        2592000
11700         negative-time-to-live   services        20
11701         suggested-size          services        211
11702         check-files             services        yes
11703         persistent              services        yes
11704         shared                  services        yes
11705         max-db-size             services        33554432
11706 </pre></blockquote>
11707
11708 <p>While we wait for a mechanism to update /etc/nsswitch.conf
11709 automatically like the one provided in
11710 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/496915">bug #496915</a>, the file
11711 content need to be manually replaced to ensure LDAP is used as the
11712 directory service on the machine.  /etc/nsswitch.conf should normally
11713 look like this:</p>
11714
11715 <blockquote><pre>
11716 passwd:         files ldap
11717 group:          files ldap
11718 shadow:         files ldap
11719 hosts:          files mdns4_minimal [NOTFOUND=return] dns mdns4
11720 networks:       files
11721 protocols:      files
11722 services:       files
11723 ethers:         files
11724 rpc:            files
11725 netgroup:       files ldap
11726 </pre></blockquote>
11727
11728 <p>The important parts are that ldap is listed last for passwd, group,
11729 shadow and netgroup.</p>
11730
11731 <p>With these changes in place, any user in LDAP will be able to log
11732 in locally on the machine using for example kdm, get a local home
11733 directory created and have the password as well as user and group
11734 attributes cached.
11735
11736 <h2>LDAP/Kerberos + nss-updatedb + libpam-ccreds +
11737   libpam-mklocaluser/pam_mkhomedir</h2>
11738
11739 <p>Because nscd have had its share of problems, and seem to have
11740 problems doing proper caching, I've seen suggestions and recipes to
11741 use nss-updatedb to copy parts of the LDAP database locally when the
11742 LDAP database is available.  I have not tested such setup, because I
11743 discovered sssd.</p>
11744
11745 <h2>LDAP/Kerberos + sssd + libpam-mklocaluser</h2>
11746
11747 <p>A more flexible and robust setup than the nscd combination
11748 mentioned earlier that has shown up recently, is the
11749 <a href="https://fedorahosted.org/sssd/">sssd</a> package from Redhat.
11750 It is part of the <a href="http://www.freeipa.org/">FreeIPA</A> project
11751 to provide a Active Directory like directory service for Linux
11752 machines.  The sssd system combines the caching of passwords and user
11753 information into one package, and remove the need for nscd and
11754 libpam-ccreds.  It support LDAP and Kerberos, but not NIS.  Version
11755 1.2 do not support netgroups, but it is said that it will support this
11756 in version 1.5 expected to show up later in 2010.  Because the
11757 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/s/sssd.html">sssd package</a>
11758 was missing in Debian, I ended up co-maintaining it with Werner, and
11759 version 1.2 is now in testing.
11760
11761 <p>These packages need to be installed and configured to get the
11762 roaming setup I want</p>
11763
11764 <blockquote><pre>
11765 libpam-sss libnss-sss libpam-mklocaluser
11766 </pre></blockquote>
11767
11768 The complete setup of sssd is done by editing/creating
11769 <tt>/etc/sssd/sssd.conf</tt>.
11770
11771 <blockquote><pre>
11772 [sssd]
11773 config_file_version = 2
11774 reconnection_retries = 3
11775 sbus_timeout = 30
11776 services = nss, pam
11777 domains = INTERN
11778
11779 [nss]
11780 filter_groups = root
11781 filter_users = root
11782 reconnection_retries = 3
11783
11784 [pam]
11785 reconnection_retries = 3
11786
11787 [domain/INTERN]
11788 enumerate = false
11789 cache_credentials = true
11790
11791 id_provider = ldap
11792 auth_provider = ldap
11793 chpass_provider = ldap
11794
11795 ldap_uri = ldap://ldap
11796 ldap_search_base = dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
11797 ldap_tls_reqcert = never
11798 ldap_tls_cacert = /etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt
11799 </pre></blockquote>
11800
11801 <p>I got the same problem here with certificate checking.  Had to set
11802 "ldap_tls_reqcert = never" to get it working.</p>
11803
11804 <p>With the libnss-sss package in testing at the moment, the
11805 nsswitch.conf file is update automatically, so there is no need to
11806 modify it manually.</p>
11807
11808 <p>If you want to help out with implementing this for Debian Edu,
11809 please contact us on debian-edu@lists.debian.org.</p>
11810
11811       </div>
11812       <div class="tags">
11813
11814
11815         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>.
11816
11817
11818       </div>
11819     </div>
11820     <div class="padding"></div>
11821
11822     <div class="entry">
11823       <div class="title">
11824         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/LUMA__a_very_nice_LDAP_GUI.html">LUMA, a very nice LDAP GUI</a>
11825       </div>
11826       <div class="date">
11827         28th June 2010
11828       </div>
11829       <div class="body">
11830         <p>The last few days I have been looking into the status of the LDAP
11831 directory in Debian Edu, and in the process I started to miss a GUI
11832 tool to browse the LDAP tree.  The only one I was able to find in
11833 Debian/Squeeze and Lenny is
11834 <a href="http://luma.sourceforge.net/">LUMA</a>, which has proved to
11835 be a great tool to get a overview of the current LDAP directory
11836 populated by default in Skolelinux.  Thanks to it, I have been able to
11837 find empty and obsolete subtrees, misplaced objects and duplicate
11838 objects.  It will be installed by default in Debian/Squeeze.  If you
11839 are working with LDAP, give it a go. :)</p>
11840
11841 <p>I did notice one problem with it I have not had time to report to
11842 the BTS yet.  There is no .desktop file in the package, so the tool do
11843 not show up in the Gnome and KDE menus, but only deep down in in the
11844 Debian submenu in KDE.  I hope that can be fixed before Squeeze is
11845 released.</p>
11846
11847 <p>I have not yet been able to get it to modify the tree yet.  I would
11848 like to move objects and remove subtrees directly in the GUI, but have
11849 not found a way to do that with LUMA yet.  So in the mean time, I use
11850 <a href="http://www.lichteblau.com/ldapvi/">ldapvi</a> for that.</p>
11851
11852 <p>If you have tips on other GUI tools for LDAP that might be useful
11853 in Debian Edu, please contact us on debian-edu@lists.debian.org.</p>
11854
11855 <p>Update 2010-06-29: Ross Reedstrom tipped us about the
11856 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/g/gq.html">gq</a> package as a
11857 useful GUI alternative.  It seem like a good tool, but is unmaintained
11858 in Debian and got a RC bug keeping it out of Squeeze.  Unless that
11859 changes, it will not be an option for Debian Edu based on Squeeze.</p>
11860
11861       </div>
11862       <div class="tags">
11863
11864
11865         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>.
11866
11867
11868       </div>
11869     </div>
11870     <div class="padding"></div>
11871
11872     <div class="entry">
11873       <div class="title">
11874         <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>
11875       </div>
11876       <div class="date">
11877         24th June 2010
11878       </div>
11879       <div class="body">
11880         <p>A while back, I
11881 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Time_for_new__LDAP_schemas_replacing_RFC_2307_.html">complained
11882 about the fact</a> that it is not possible with the provided schemas
11883 for storing DNS and DHCP information in LDAP to combine the two sets
11884 of information into one LDAP object representing a computer.</p>
11885
11886 <p>In the mean time, I discovered that a simple fix would be to make
11887 the dhcpHost object class auxiliary, to allow it to be combined with
11888 the dNSDomain object class, and thus forming one object for one
11889 computer when storing both DHCP and DNS information in LDAP.</p>
11890
11891 <p>If I understand this correctly, it is not safe to do this change
11892 without also changing the assigned number for the object class, and I
11893 do not know enough about LDAP schema design to do that properly for
11894 Debian Edu.</p>
11895
11896 <p>Anyway, for future reference, this is how I believe we could change
11897 the
11898 <a href="http://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-ietf-dhc-ldap-schema-00">DHCP
11899 schema</a> to solve at least part of the problem with the LDAP schemas
11900 available today from IETF.</p>
11901
11902 <pre>
11903 --- dhcp.schema    (revision 65192)
11904 +++ dhcp.schema    (working copy)
11905 @@ -376,7 +376,7 @@
11906  objectclass ( 2.16.840.1.113719.1.203.6.6
11907         NAME 'dhcpHost'
11908         DESC 'This represents information about a particular client'
11909 -       SUP top
11910 +       SUP top AUXILIARY
11911         MUST cn
11912         MAY  (dhcpLeaseDN $ dhcpHWAddress $ dhcpOptionsDN $ dhcpStatements $ dhcpComments $ dhcpOption)
11913         X-NDS_CONTAINMENT ('dhcpService' 'dhcpSubnet' 'dhcpGroup') )
11914 </pre>
11915
11916 <p>I very much welcome clues on how to do this properly for Debian
11917 Edu/Squeeze.  We provide the DHCP schema in our debian-edu-config
11918 package, and should thus be free to rewrite it as we see fit.</p>
11919
11920 <p>If you want to help out with implementing this for Debian Edu,
11921 please contact us on debian-edu@lists.debian.org.</p>
11922
11923       </div>
11924       <div class="tags">
11925
11926
11927         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>.
11928
11929
11930       </div>
11931     </div>
11932     <div class="padding"></div>
11933
11934     <div class="entry">
11935       <div class="title">
11936         <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>
11937       </div>
11938       <div class="date">
11939         16th June 2010
11940       </div>
11941       <div class="body">
11942         <p>A few times I have had the need to simulate the way tasksel
11943 installs packages during the normal debian-installer run.  Until now,
11944 I have ended up letting tasksel do the work, with the annoying problem
11945 of not getting any feedback at all when something fails (like a
11946 conffile question from dpkg or a download that fails), using code like
11947 this:
11948
11949 <blockquote><pre>
11950 export DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive
11951 tasksel --new-install
11952 </pre></blockquote>
11953
11954 This would invoke tasksel, let its automatic task selection pick the
11955 tasks to install, and continue to install the requested tasks without
11956 any output what so ever.
11957
11958 Recently I revisited this problem while working on the automatic
11959 package upgrade testing, because tasksel would some times hang without
11960 any useful feedback, and I want to see what is going on when it
11961 happen.  Then it occured to me, I can parse the output from tasksel
11962 when asked to run in test mode, and use that aptitude command line
11963 printed by tasksel then to simulate the tasksel run.  I ended up using
11964 code like this:
11965
11966 <blockquote><pre>
11967 export DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive
11968 cmd="$(in_target tasksel -t --new-install | sed 's/debconf-apt-progress -- //')"
11969 $cmd
11970 </pre></blockquote>
11971
11972 <p>The content of $cmd is typically something like "<tt>aptitude -q
11973 --without-recommends -o APT::Install-Recommends=no -y install
11974 ~t^desktop$ ~t^gnome-desktop$ ~t^laptop$ ~pstandard ~prequired
11975 ~pimportant</tt>", which will install the gnome desktop task, the
11976 laptop task and all packages with priority standard , required and
11977 important, just like tasksel would have done it during
11978 installation.</p>
11979
11980 <p>A better approach is probably to extend tasksel to be able to
11981 install packages without using debconf-apt-progress, for use cases
11982 like this.</p>
11983
11984       </div>
11985       <div class="tags">
11986
11987
11988         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>.
11989
11990
11991       </div>
11992     </div>
11993     <div class="padding"></div>
11994
11995     <div class="entry">
11996       <div class="title">
11997         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Officeshots_taking_shape.html">Officeshots taking shape</a>
11998       </div>
11999       <div class="date">
12000         13th June 2010
12001       </div>
12002       <div class="body">
12003         <p>For those of us caring about document exchange and
12004 interoperability, <a href="http://www.officeshots.org/">OfficeShots</a>
12005 is a great service.  It is to ODF documents what
12006 <a href="http://browsershots.org/">BrowserShots</a> is for web
12007 pages.</p>
12008
12009 <p>A while back, I was contacted by Knut Yrvin at the part of Nokia
12010 that used to be Trolltech, who wanted to help the OfficeShots project
12011 and wondered if the University of Oslo where I work would be
12012 interested in supporting the project.  I helped him to navigate his
12013 request to the right people at work, and his request was answered with
12014 a spot in the machine room with power and network connected, and Knut
12015 arranged funding for a machine to fill the spot.  The machine is
12016 administrated by the OfficeShots people, so I do not have daily
12017 contact with its progress, and thus from time to time check back to
12018 see how the project is doing.</p>
12019
12020 <p>Today I had a look, and was happy to see that the Dell box in our
12021 machine room now is the host for several virtual machines running as
12022 OfficeShots factories, and the project is able to render ODF documents
12023 in 17 different document processing implementation on Linux and
12024 Windows.  This is great.</p>
12025
12026       </div>
12027       <div class="tags">
12028
12029
12030         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>.
12031
12032
12033       </div>
12034     </div>
12035     <div class="padding"></div>
12036
12037     <div class="entry">
12038       <div class="title">
12039         <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>
12040       </div>
12041       <div class="date">
12042         13th June 2010
12043       </div>
12044       <div class="body">
12045         <p>My
12046 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Automatic_upgrade_testing_from_Lenny_to_Squeeze.html">testing
12047 of Debian upgrades</a> from Lenny to Squeeze continues, and I've
12048 finally made the upgrade logs available from
12049 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/debian-upgrade-testing/">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/debian-upgrade-testing/</a>.
12050 I am now testing dist-upgrade of Gnome and KDE in a chroot using both
12051 apt and aptitude, and found their differences interesting.  This time
12052 I will only focus on their removal plans.</p>
12053
12054 <p>After installing a Gnome desktop and the laptop task, apt-get wants
12055 to remove 72 packages when dist-upgrading from Lenny to Squeeze.  The
12056 surprising part is that it want to remove xorg and all
12057 xserver-xorg-video* drivers.  Clearly not a good choice, but I am not
12058 sure why.  When asking aptitude to do the same, it want to remove 129
12059 packages, but most of them are library packages I suspect are no
12060 longer needed.  Both of them want to remove bluetooth packages, which
12061 I do not know.  Perhaps these bluetooth packages are obsolete?</p>
12062
12063 <p>For KDE, apt-get want to remove 82 packages, among them kdebase
12064 which seem like a bad idea and xorg the same way as with Gnome. Asking
12065 aptitude for the same, it wants to remove 192 packages, none which are
12066 too surprising.</p>
12067
12068 <p>I guess the removal of xorg during upgrades should be investigated
12069 and avoided, and perhaps others as well.  Here are the complete list
12070 of planned removals.  The complete logs is available from the URL
12071 above.  Note if you want to repeat these tests, that the upgrade test
12072 for kde+apt-get hung in the tasksel setup because of dpkg asking
12073 conffile questions.  No idea why.  I worked around it by using
12074 '<tt>echo >> /proc/<em>pidofdpkg</em>/fd/0</tt>' to tell dpkg to
12075 continue.</p>
12076
12077 <p><b>apt-get gnome 72</b>
12078 <br>bluez-gnome cupsddk-drivers deskbar-applet gnome
12079   gnome-desktop-environment gnome-network-admin gtkhtml3.14
12080   iceweasel-gnome-support libavcodec51 libdatrie0 libgdl-1-0
12081   libgnomekbd2 libgnomekbdui2 libmetacity0 libslab0 libxcb-xlib0
12082   nautilus-cd-burner python-gnome2-desktop python-gnome2-extras
12083   serpentine swfdec-mozilla update-manager xorg xserver-xorg
12084   xserver-xorg-core xserver-xorg-input-all xserver-xorg-input-evdev
12085   xserver-xorg-input-kbd xserver-xorg-input-mouse
12086   xserver-xorg-input-synaptics xserver-xorg-input-wacom
12087   xserver-xorg-video-all xserver-xorg-video-apm xserver-xorg-video-ark
12088   xserver-xorg-video-ati xserver-xorg-video-chips
12089   xserver-xorg-video-cirrus xserver-xorg-video-cyrix
12090   xserver-xorg-video-dummy xserver-xorg-video-fbdev
12091   xserver-xorg-video-glint xserver-xorg-video-i128
12092   xserver-xorg-video-i740 xserver-xorg-video-imstt
12093   xserver-xorg-video-intel xserver-xorg-video-mach64
12094   xserver-xorg-video-mga xserver-xorg-video-neomagic
12095   xserver-xorg-video-nsc xserver-xorg-video-nv
12096   xserver-xorg-video-openchrome xserver-xorg-video-r128
12097   xserver-xorg-video-radeon xserver-xorg-video-radeonhd
12098   xserver-xorg-video-rendition xserver-xorg-video-s3
12099   xserver-xorg-video-s3virge xserver-xorg-video-savage
12100   xserver-xorg-video-siliconmotion xserver-xorg-video-sis
12101   xserver-xorg-video-sisusb xserver-xorg-video-tdfx
12102   xserver-xorg-video-tga xserver-xorg-video-trident
12103   xserver-xorg-video-tseng xserver-xorg-video-v4l
12104   xserver-xorg-video-vesa xserver-xorg-video-vga
12105   xserver-xorg-video-vmware xserver-xorg-video-voodoo xulrunner-1.9
12106   xulrunner-1.9-gnome-support</p>
12107
12108 <p><b>aptitude gnome 129</b>
12109
12110 <br>bluez-gnome bluez-utils cpp-4.3 cupsddk-drivers dhcdbd
12111   djvulibre-desktop finger gnome-app-install gnome-mount
12112   gnome-network-admin gnome-spell gnome-vfs-obexftp
12113   gnome-volume-manager gstreamer0.10-gnomevfs gtkhtml3.14 libao2
12114   libavahi-compat-libdnssd1 libavahi-core5 libavcodec51 libbluetooth2
12115   libcamel1.2-11 libcdio7 libcucul0 libcupsys2 libcurl3 libdatrie0
12116   libdirectfb-1.0-0 libdvdread3 libedataserver1.2-9 libeel2-2.20
12117   libeel2-data libepc-1.0-1 libepc-ui-1.0-1 libfaad0 libgail-common
12118   libgd2-noxpm libgda3-3 libgda3-common libgdl-1-0 libgdl-1-common
12119   libggz2 libggzcore9 libggzmod4 libgksu1.2-0 libgksuui1.0-1 libgmyth0
12120   libgnomecups1.0-1 libgnomekbd2 libgnomekbdui2 libgnomeprint2.2-0
12121   libgnomeprint2.2-data libgnomeprintui2.2-0 libgnomeprintui2.2-common
12122   libgnomevfs2-bin libgpod3 libgraphviz4 libgtkhtml2-0
12123   libgtksourceview-common libgtksourceview1.0-0 libgucharmap6
12124   libhesiod0 libicu38 libiw29 libkpathsea4 libltdl3 libmagick++10
12125   libmagick10 libmalaga7 libmetacity0 libmtp7 libmysqlclient15off
12126   libnautilus-burn4 libneon27 libnm-glib0 libnm-util0 libopal-2.2
12127   libosp5 libparted1.8-10 libpoppler-glib3 libpoppler3 libpt-1.10.10
12128   libpt-1.10.10-plugins-alsa libpt-1.10.10-plugins-v4l libraw1394-8
12129   libsensors3 libslab0 libsmbios2 libsoup2.2-8 libssh2-1
12130   libsuitesparse-3.1.0 libswfdec-0.6-90 libtalloc1 libtotem-plparser10
12131   libtrackerclient0 libxalan2-java libxalan2-java-gcj libxcb-xlib0
12132   libxerces2-java libxerces2-java-gcj libxklavier12 libxtrap6
12133   libxxf86misc1 libzephyr3 mysql-common nautilus-cd-burner
12134   openoffice.org-writer2latex openssl-blacklist p7zip
12135   python-4suite-xml python-eggtrayicon python-gnome2-desktop
12136   python-gnome2-extras python-gtkhtml2 python-gtkmozembed
12137   python-numeric python-sexy serpentine svgalibg1 swfdec-gnome
12138   swfdec-mozilla totem-gstreamer update-manager wodim
12139   xserver-xorg-video-cyrix xserver-xorg-video-imstt
12140   xserver-xorg-video-nsc xserver-xorg-video-v4l xserver-xorg-video-vga
12141   zip</p>
12142
12143 <p><b>apt-get kde 82</b>
12144
12145 <br>cupsddk-drivers karm kaudiocreator kcoloredit kcontrol kde kde-core
12146   kdeaddons kdeartwork kdebase kdebase-bin kdebase-bin-kde3
12147   kdebase-kio-plugins kdesktop kdeutils khelpcenter kicker
12148   kicker-applets knewsticker kolourpaint konq-plugins konqueror korn
12149   kpersonalizer kscreensaver ksplash libavcodec51 libdatrie0 libkiten1
12150   libxcb-xlib0 quanta superkaramba texlive-base-bin xorg xserver-xorg
12151   xserver-xorg-core xserver-xorg-input-all xserver-xorg-input-evdev
12152   xserver-xorg-input-kbd xserver-xorg-input-mouse
12153   xserver-xorg-input-synaptics xserver-xorg-input-wacom
12154   xserver-xorg-video-all xserver-xorg-video-apm xserver-xorg-video-ark
12155   xserver-xorg-video-ati xserver-xorg-video-chips
12156   xserver-xorg-video-cirrus xserver-xorg-video-cyrix
12157   xserver-xorg-video-dummy xserver-xorg-video-fbdev
12158   xserver-xorg-video-glint xserver-xorg-video-i128
12159   xserver-xorg-video-i740 xserver-xorg-video-imstt
12160   xserver-xorg-video-intel xserver-xorg-video-mach64
12161   xserver-xorg-video-mga xserver-xorg-video-neomagic
12162   xserver-xorg-video-nsc xserver-xorg-video-nv
12163   xserver-xorg-video-openchrome xserver-xorg-video-r128
12164   xserver-xorg-video-radeon xserver-xorg-video-radeonhd
12165   xserver-xorg-video-rendition xserver-xorg-video-s3
12166   xserver-xorg-video-s3virge xserver-xorg-video-savage
12167   xserver-xorg-video-siliconmotion xserver-xorg-video-sis
12168   xserver-xorg-video-sisusb xserver-xorg-video-tdfx
12169   xserver-xorg-video-tga xserver-xorg-video-trident
12170   xserver-xorg-video-tseng xserver-xorg-video-v4l
12171   xserver-xorg-video-vesa xserver-xorg-video-vga
12172   xserver-xorg-video-vmware xserver-xorg-video-voodoo xulrunner-1.9</p>
12173
12174 <p><b>aptitude kde 192</b>
12175 <br>bluez-utils cpp-4.3 cupsddk-drivers cvs dcoprss dhcdbd
12176   djvulibre-desktop dosfstools eyesapplet fifteenapplet finger gettext
12177   ghostscript-x imlib-base imlib11 indi kandy karm kasteroids
12178   kaudiocreator kbackgammon kbstate kcoloredit kcontrol kcron kdat
12179   kdeadmin-kfile-plugins kdeartwork-misc kdeartwork-theme-window
12180   kdebase-bin-kde3 kdebase-kio-plugins kdeedu-data
12181   kdegraphics-kfile-plugins kdelirc kdemultimedia-kappfinder-data
12182   kdemultimedia-kfile-plugins kdenetwork-kfile-plugins
12183   kdepim-kfile-plugins kdepim-kio-plugins kdeprint kdesktop kdessh
12184   kdict kdnssd kdvi kedit keduca kenolaba kfax kfaxview kfouleggs
12185   kghostview khelpcenter khexedit kiconedit kitchensync klatin
12186   klickety kmailcvt kmenuedit kmid kmilo kmoon kmrml kodo kolourpaint
12187   kooka korn kpager kpdf kpercentage kpf kpilot kpoker kpovmodeler
12188   krec kregexpeditor ksayit ksim ksirc ksirtet ksmiletris ksmserver
12189   ksnake ksokoban ksplash ksvg ksysv ktip ktnef kuickshow kverbos
12190   kview kviewshell kvoctrain kwifimanager kwin kwin4 kworldclock
12191   kxsldbg libakode2 libao2 libarts1-akode libarts1-audiofile
12192   libarts1-mpeglib libarts1-xine libavahi-compat-libdnssd1
12193   libavahi-core5 libavc1394-0 libavcodec51 libbluetooth2
12194   libboost-python1.34.1 libcucul0 libcurl3 libcvsservice0 libdatrie0
12195   libdirectfb-1.0-0 libdjvulibre21 libdvdread3 libfaad0 libfreebob0
12196   libgail-common libgd2-noxpm libgraphviz4 libgsmme1c2a libgtkhtml2-0
12197   libicu38 libiec61883-0 libindex0 libiw29 libk3b3 libkcal2b libkcddb1
12198   libkdeedu3 libkdepim1a libkgantt0 libkiten1 libkleopatra1 libkmime2
12199   libkpathsea4 libkpimexchange1 libkpimidentities1 libkscan1
12200   libksieve0 libktnef1 liblockdev1 libltdl3 libmagick10 libmimelib1c2a
12201   libmozjs1d libmpcdec3 libneon27 libnm-util0 libopensync0 libpisock9
12202   libpoppler-glib3 libpoppler-qt2 libpoppler3 libraw1394-8 libsmbios2
12203   libssh2-1 libsuitesparse-3.1.0 libtalloc1 libtiff-tools
12204   libxalan2-java libxalan2-java-gcj libxcb-xlib0 libxerces2-java
12205   libxerces2-java-gcj libxtrap6 mpeglib networkstatus
12206   openoffice.org-writer2latex pmount poster psutils quanta quanta-data
12207   superkaramba svgalibg1 tex-common texlive-base texlive-base-bin
12208   texlive-common texlive-doc-base texlive-fonts-recommended
12209   xserver-xorg-video-cyrix xserver-xorg-video-imstt
12210   xserver-xorg-video-nsc xserver-xorg-video-v4l xserver-xorg-video-vga
12211   xulrunner-1.9</p>
12212
12213
12214       </div>
12215       <div class="tags">
12216
12217
12218         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>.
12219
12220
12221       </div>
12222     </div>
12223     <div class="padding"></div>
12224
12225     <div class="entry">
12226       <div class="title">
12227         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Automatic_upgrade_testing_from_Lenny_to_Squeeze.html">Automatic upgrade testing from Lenny to Squeeze</a>
12228       </div>
12229       <div class="date">
12230         11th June 2010
12231       </div>
12232       <div class="body">
12233         <p>The last few days I have done some upgrade testing in Debian, to
12234 see if the upgrade from Lenny to Squeeze will go smoothly.  A few bugs
12235 have been discovered and reported in the process
12236 (<a href="http://bugs.debian.org/585410">#585410</a> in nagios3-cgi,
12237 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/584879">#584879</a> already fixed in
12238 enscript and <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/584861">#584861</a> in
12239 kdebase-workspace-data), and to get a more regular testing going on, I
12240 am working on a script to automate the test.</p>
12241
12242 <p>The idea is to create a Lenny chroot and use tasksel to install a
12243 Gnome or KDE desktop installation inside the chroot before upgrading
12244 it.  To ensure no services are started in the chroot, a policy-rc.d
12245 script is inserted.  To make sure tasksel believe it is to install a
12246 desktop on a laptop, the tasksel tests are replaced in the chroot
12247 (only acceptable because this is a throw-away chroot).</p>
12248
12249 <p>A naive upgrade from Lenny to Squeeze using aptitude dist-upgrade
12250 currently always fail because udev refuses to upgrade with the kernel
12251 in Lenny, so to avoid that problem the file /etc/udev/kernel-upgrade
12252 is created.  The bug report
12253 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/566000">#566000</a> make me suspect
12254 this problem do not trigger in a chroot, but I touch the file anyway
12255 to make sure the upgrade go well.  Testing on virtual and real
12256 hardware have failed me because of udev so far, and creating this file
12257 do the trick in such settings anyway.  This is a
12258 <a href="http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/debian-26/failed-dist-upgrade-due-to-udev-config_sysfs_deprecated-nonsense-804130/">known
12259 issue</a> and the current udev behaviour is intended by the udev
12260 maintainer because he lack the resources to rewrite udev to keep
12261 working with old kernels or something like that.  I really wish the
12262 udev upstream would keep udev backwards compatible, to avoid such
12263 upgrade problem, but given that they fail to do so, I guess
12264 documenting the way out of this mess is the best option we got for
12265 Debian Squeeze.</p>
12266
12267 <p>Anyway, back to the task at hand, testing upgrades.  This test
12268 script, which I call <tt>upgrade-test</tt> for now, is doing the
12269 trick:</p>
12270
12271 <blockquote><pre>
12272 #!/bin/sh
12273 set -ex
12274
12275 if [ "$1" ] ; then
12276     desktop=$1
12277 else
12278     desktop=gnome
12279 fi
12280
12281 from=lenny
12282 to=squeeze
12283
12284 exec &lt; /dev/null
12285 unset LANG
12286 mirror=http://ftp.skolelinux.org/debian
12287 tmpdir=chroot-$from-upgrade-$to-$desktop
12288 fuser -mv .
12289 debootstrap $from $tmpdir $mirror
12290 chroot $tmpdir aptitude update
12291 cat > $tmpdir/usr/sbin/policy-rc.d &lt;&lt;EOF
12292 #!/bin/sh
12293 exit 101
12294 EOF
12295 chmod a+rx $tmpdir/usr/sbin/policy-rc.d
12296 exit_cleanup() {
12297     umount $tmpdir/proc
12298 }
12299 mount -t proc proc $tmpdir/proc
12300 # Make sure proc is unmounted also on failure
12301 trap exit_cleanup EXIT INT
12302
12303 chroot $tmpdir aptitude -y install debconf-utils
12304
12305 # Make sure tasksel autoselection trigger.  It need the test scripts
12306 # to return the correct answers.
12307 echo tasksel tasksel/desktop multiselect $desktop | \
12308     chroot $tmpdir debconf-set-selections
12309
12310 # Include the desktop and laptop task
12311 for test in desktop laptop ; do
12312     echo > $tmpdir/usr/lib/tasksel/tests/$test &lt;&lt;EOF
12313 #!/bin/sh
12314 exit 2
12315 EOF
12316     chmod a+rx $tmpdir/usr/lib/tasksel/tests/$test
12317 done
12318
12319 DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive
12320 DEBIAN_PRIORITY=critical
12321 export DEBIAN_FRONTEND DEBIAN_PRIORITY
12322 chroot $tmpdir tasksel --new-install
12323
12324 echo deb $mirror $to main > $tmpdir/etc/apt/sources.list
12325 chroot $tmpdir aptitude update
12326 touch $tmpdir/etc/udev/kernel-upgrade
12327 chroot $tmpdir aptitude -y dist-upgrade
12328 fuser -mv
12329 </pre></blockquote>
12330
12331 <p>I suspect it would be useful to test upgrades with both apt-get and
12332 with aptitude, but I have not had time to look at how they behave
12333 differently so far.  I hope to get a cron job running to do the test
12334 regularly and post the result on the web.  The Gnome upgrade currently
12335 work, while the KDE upgrade fail because of the bug in
12336 kdebase-workspace-data</p>
12337
12338 <p>I am not quite sure what kind of extract from the huge upgrade logs
12339 (KDE 167 KiB, Gnome 516 KiB) it make sense to include in this blog
12340 post, so I will refrain from trying.  I can report that for Gnome,
12341 aptitude report 760 packages upgraded, 448 newly installed, 129 to
12342 remove and 1 not upgraded and 1024MB need to be downloaded while for
12343 KDE the same numbers are 702 packages upgraded, 507 newly installed,
12344 193 to remove and 0 not upgraded and 1117MB need to be downloaded</p>
12345
12346 <p>I am very happy to notice that the Gnome desktop + laptop upgrade
12347 is able to migrate to dependency based boot sequencing and parallel
12348 booting without a hitch.  Was unsure if there were still bugs with
12349 packages failing to clean up their obsolete init.d script during
12350 upgrades, and no such problem seem to affect the Gnome desktop+laptop
12351 packages.</p>
12352
12353       </div>
12354       <div class="tags">
12355
12356
12357         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>.
12358
12359
12360       </div>
12361     </div>
12362     <div class="padding"></div>
12363
12364     <div class="entry">
12365       <div class="title">
12366         <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>
12367       </div>
12368       <div class="date">
12369          6th June 2010
12370       </div>
12371       <div class="body">
12372         <p>If Debian is to migrate to upstart on Linux, I expect some init.d
12373 scripts to migrate (some of) their operations to upstart job while
12374 keeping the init.d for hurd and kfreebsd.  The packages with such
12375 needs will need a way to get their init.d scripts to behave
12376 differently when used with sysvinit and with upstart.  Because of
12377 this, I had a look at the environment variables set when a init.d
12378 script is running under upstart, and when it is not.</p>
12379
12380 <p>With upstart, I notice these environment variables are set when a
12381 script is started from rcS.d/ (ignoring some irrelevant ones like
12382 COLUMNS):</p>
12383
12384 <blockquote><pre>
12385 DEFAULT_RUNLEVEL=2
12386 previous=N
12387 PREVLEVEL=
12388 RUNLEVEL=
12389 runlevel=S
12390 UPSTART_EVENTS=startup
12391 UPSTART_INSTANCE=
12392 UPSTART_JOB=rc-sysinit
12393 </pre></blockquote>
12394
12395 <p>With sysvinit, these environment variables are set for the same
12396 script.</p>
12397
12398 <blockquote><pre>
12399 INIT_VERSION=sysvinit-2.88
12400 previous=N
12401 PREVLEVEL=N
12402 RUNLEVEL=S
12403 runlevel=S
12404 </pre></blockquote>
12405
12406 <p>The RUNLEVEL and PREVLEVEL environment variables passed on from
12407 sysvinit are not set by upstart.  Not sure if it is intentional or not
12408 to not be compatible with sysvinit in this regard.</p>
12409
12410 <p>For scripts needing to behave differently when upstart is used,
12411 looking for the UPSTART_JOB environment variable seem to be a good
12412 choice.</p>
12413
12414       </div>
12415       <div class="tags">
12416
12417
12418         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>.
12419
12420
12421       </div>
12422     </div>
12423     <div class="padding"></div>
12424
12425     <div class="entry">
12426       <div class="title">
12427         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/A_manual_for_standards_wars___.html">A manual for standards wars...</a>
12428       </div>
12429       <div class="date">
12430          6th June 2010
12431       </div>
12432       <div class="body">
12433         <p>Via the
12434 <a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/robweir/antic-atom/~3/QzU4RgoAGMg/weekly-links-10.html">blog
12435 of Rob Weir</a> I came across the very interesting essay named
12436 <a href="http://faculty.haas.berkeley.edu/shapiro/wars.pdf">The Art of
12437 Standards Wars</a> (PDF 25 pages).  I recommend it for everyone
12438 following the standards wars of today.</p>
12439
12440       </div>
12441       <div class="tags">
12442
12443
12444         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>.
12445
12446
12447       </div>
12448     </div>
12449     <div class="padding"></div>
12450
12451     <div class="entry">
12452       <div class="title">
12453         <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>
12454       </div>
12455       <div class="date">
12456          3rd June 2010
12457       </div>
12458       <div class="body">
12459         <p>When using sitesummary at a site to track machines, it is possible
12460 to get a list of the machine types in use thanks to the DMI
12461 information extracted from each machine.  The script to do so is
12462 included in the sitesummary package, and here is example output from
12463 the Skolelinux build servers:</p>
12464
12465 <blockquote><pre>
12466 maintainer:~# /usr/lib/sitesummary/hardware-model-summary
12467   vendor                    count
12468   Dell Computer Corporation     1
12469     PowerEdge 1750              1
12470   IBM                           1
12471     eserver xSeries 345 -[8670M1X]-     1
12472   Intel                         2
12473   [no-dmi-info]                 3
12474 maintainer:~#
12475 </pre></blockquote>
12476
12477 <p>The quality of the report depend on the quality of the DMI tables
12478 provided in each machine.  Here there are Intel machines without model
12479 information listed with Intel as vendor and no model, and virtual Xen
12480 machines listed as [no-dmi-info].  One can add -l as a command line
12481 option to list the individual machines.</p>
12482
12483 <p>A larger list is
12484 <a href="http://narvikskolen.no/sitesummary/">available from the the
12485 city of Narvik</a>, which uses Skolelinux on all their shools and also
12486 provide the basic sitesummary report publicly.  In their report there
12487 are ~1400 machines. I know they use both Ubuntu and Skolelinux on
12488 their machines, and as sitesummary is available in both distributions,
12489 it is trivial to get all of them to report to the same central
12490 collector.</p>
12491
12492       </div>
12493       <div class="tags">
12494
12495
12496         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>.
12497
12498
12499       </div>
12500     </div>
12501     <div class="padding"></div>
12502
12503     <div class="entry">
12504       <div class="title">
12505         <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>
12506       </div>
12507       <div class="date">
12508          1st June 2010
12509       </div>
12510       <div class="body">
12511         <p>It is strange to watch how a bug in Debian causing KDM to fail to
12512 start at boot when an NVidia video card is used is handled.  The
12513 problem seem to be that the nvidia X.org driver uses a long time to
12514 initialize, and this duration is longer than kdm is configured to
12515 wait.</p>
12516
12517 <p>I came across two bugs related to this issue,
12518 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/583312">#583312</a> initially filed
12519 against initscripts and passed on to nvidia-glx when it became obvious
12520 that the nvidia drivers were involved, and
12521 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/524751">#524751</a> initially filed against
12522 kdm and passed on to src:nvidia-graphics-drivers for unknown reasons.</p>
12523
12524 <p>To me, it seem that no-one is interested in actually solving the
12525 problem nvidia video card owners experience and make sure the Debian
12526 distribution work out of the box for these users.  The nvidia driver
12527 maintainers expect kdm to be set up to wait longer, while kdm expect
12528 the nvidia driver maintainers to fix the driver to start faster, and
12529 while they wait for each other I guess the users end up switching to a
12530 distribution that work for them.  I have no idea what the solution is,
12531 but I am pretty sure that waiting for each other is not it.</p>
12532
12533 <p>I wonder why we end up handling bugs this way.</p>
12534
12535       </div>
12536       <div class="tags">
12537
12538
12539         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>.
12540
12541
12542       </div>
12543     </div>
12544     <div class="padding"></div>
12545
12546     <div class="entry">
12547       <div class="title">
12548         <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>
12549       </div>
12550       <div class="date">
12551         27th May 2010
12552       </div>
12553       <div class="body">
12554         <p>A few days ago, parallel booting was enabled in Debian/testing.
12555 The feature seem to hold up pretty well, but three fairly serious
12556 issues are known and should be solved:
12557
12558 <p><ul>
12559
12560 <li>The wicd package seen to
12561 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/508289">break NFS mounting</a> and
12562 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/581586">network setup</a> when
12563 parallel booting is enabled.  No idea why, but the wicd maintainer
12564 seem to be on the case.</li>
12565
12566 <li>The nvidia X driver seem to
12567 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/583312">have a race condition</a>
12568 triggered more easily when parallel booting is in effect.  The
12569 maintainer is on the case.</li>
12570
12571 <li>The sysv-rc package fail to properly enable dependency based boot
12572 sequencing (the shutdown is broken) when old file-rc users
12573 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/575080">try to switch back</a> to
12574 sysv-rc.  One way to solve it would be for file-rc to create
12575 /etc/init.d/.legacy-bootordering, and another is to try to make
12576 sysv-rc more robust.  Will investigate some more and probably upload a
12577 workaround in sysv-rc to help those trying to move from file-rc to
12578 sysv-rc get a working shutdown.</li>
12579
12580 </ul></p>
12581
12582 <p>All in all not many surprising issues, and all of them seem
12583 solvable before Squeeze is released.  In addition to these there are
12584 some packages with bugs in their dependencies and run level settings,
12585 which I expect will be fixed in a reasonable time span.</p>
12586
12587 <p>If you report any problems with dependencies in init.d scripts to
12588 the BTS, please usertag the report to get it to show up at
12589 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/pkgreport.cgi?users=initscripts-ng-devel@lists.alioth.debian.org">the
12590 list of usertagged bugs related to this</a>.</p>
12591
12592 <p>Update: Correct bug number to file-rc issue.</p>
12593
12594       </div>
12595       <div class="tags">
12596
12597
12598         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>.
12599
12600
12601       </div>
12602     </div>
12603     <div class="padding"></div>
12604
12605     <div class="entry">
12606       <div class="title">
12607         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/More_flexible_firmware_handling_in_debian_installer.html">More flexible firmware handling in debian-installer</a>
12608       </div>
12609       <div class="date">
12610         22nd May 2010
12611       </div>
12612       <div class="body">
12613         <p>After a long break from debian-installer development, I finally
12614 found time today to return to the project.  Having to spend less time
12615 working dependency based boot in debian, as it is almost complete now,
12616 definitely helped freeing some time.</p>
12617
12618 <p>A while back, I ran into a problem while working on Debian Edu.  We
12619 include some firmware packages on the Debian Edu CDs, those needed to
12620 get disk and network controllers working.  Without having these
12621 firmware packages available during installation, it is impossible to
12622 install Debian Edu on the given machine, and because our target group
12623 are non-technical people, asking them to provide firmware packages on
12624 an external medium is a support pain.  Initially, I expected it to be
12625 enough to include the firmware packages on the CD to get
12626 debian-installer to find and use them.  This proved to be wrong.
12627 Next, I hoped it was enough to symlink the relevant firmware packages
12628 to some useful location on the CD (tried /cdrom/ and
12629 /cdrom/firmware/).  This also proved to not work, and at this point I
12630 found time to look at the debian-installer code to figure out what was
12631 going to work.</p>
12632
12633 <p>The firmware loading code is in the hw-detect package, and a closer
12634 look revealed that it would only look for firmware packages outside
12635 the installation media, so the CD was never checked for firmware
12636 packages.  It would only check USB sticks, floppies and other
12637 "external" media devices.  Today I changed it to also look in the
12638 /cdrom/firmware/ directory on the mounted CD or DVD, which should
12639 solve the problem I ran into with Debian edu.  I also changed it to
12640 look in /firmware/, to make sure the installer also find firmware
12641 provided in the initrd when booting the installer via PXE, to allow us
12642 to provide the same feature in the PXE setup included in Debian
12643 Edu.</p>
12644
12645 <p>To make sure firmware deb packages with a license questions are not
12646 activated without asking if the license is accepted, I extended
12647 hw-detect to look for preinst scripts in the firmware packages, and
12648 run these before activating the firmware during installation.  The
12649 license question is asked using debconf in the preinst, so this should
12650 solve the issue for the firmware packages I have looked at so far.</p>
12651
12652 <p>If you want to discuss the details of these features, please
12653 contact us on debian-boot@lists.debian.org.</p>
12654
12655       </div>
12656       <div class="tags">
12657
12658
12659         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>.
12660
12661
12662       </div>
12663     </div>
12664     <div class="padding"></div>
12665
12666     <div class="entry">
12667       <div class="title">
12668         <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>
12669       </div>
12670       <div class="date">
12671         19th May 2010
12672       </div>
12673       <div class="body">
12674         <p>Today, the last piece of the puzzle for roaming laptops in Debian
12675 Edu finally entered the Debian archive.  Today, the new
12676 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/libp/libpam-mklocaluser.html">libpam-mklocaluser</a>
12677 package was accepted.  Two days ago, two other pieces was accepted
12678 into unstable.  The
12679 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/p/pam-python.html">pam-python</a>
12680 package needed by libpam-mklocaluser, and the
12681 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/s/sssd.html">sssd</a> package
12682 passed NEW on Monday.  In addition, the
12683 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/libp/libpam-ccreds.html">libpam-ccreds</a>
12684 package we need is in experimental (version 10-4) since Saturday, and
12685 hopefully will be moved to unstable soon.</p>
12686
12687 <p>This collection of packages allow for two different setups for
12688 roaming laptops.  The traditional setup would be using libpam-ccreds,
12689 nscd and libpam-mklocaluser with LDAP or Kerberos authentication,
12690 which should work out of the box if the configuration changes proposed
12691 for nscd in <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/485282">BTS report
12692 #485282</a> is implemented.  The alternative setup is to use sssd with
12693 libpam-mklocaluser to connect to LDAP or Kerberos and let sssd take
12694 care of the caching of passwords and group information.</p>
12695
12696 <p>I have so far been unable to get sssd to work with the LDAP server
12697 at the University, but suspect the issue is some SSL/GnuTLS related
12698 problem with the server certificate.  I plan to update the Debian
12699 package to version 1.2, which is scheduled for next week, and hope to
12700 find time to make sure the next release will include both the
12701 Debian/Ubuntu specific patches.  Upstream is friendly and responsive,
12702 and I am sure we will find a good solution.</p>
12703
12704 <p>The idea is to set up the roaming laptops to authenticate using
12705 LDAP or Kerberos and create a local user with home directory in /home/
12706 when a usre in LDAP logs in via KDM or GDM for the first time, and
12707 cache the password for offline checking, as well as caching group
12708 memberhips and other relevant LDAP information.  The
12709 libpam-mklocaluser package was created to make sure the local home
12710 directory is in /home/, instead of /site/server/directory/ which would
12711 be the home directory if pam_mkhomedir was used.  To avoid confusion
12712 with support requests and configuration, we do not want local laptops
12713 to have users in a path that is used for the same users home directory
12714 on the home directory servers.</p>
12715
12716 <p>One annoying problem with gdm is that it do not show the PAM
12717 message passed to the user from libpam-mklocaluser when the local user
12718 is created.  Instead gdm simply reject the login with some generic
12719 message.  The message is shown in kdm, ssh and login, so I guess it is
12720 a bug in gdm.  Have not investigated if there is some other message
12721 type that can be used instead to get gdm to also show the message.</p>
12722
12723 <p>If you want to help out with implementing this for Debian Edu,
12724 please contact us on debian-edu@lists.debian.org.</p>
12725
12726       </div>
12727       <div class="tags">
12728
12729
12730         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>.
12731
12732
12733       </div>
12734     </div>
12735     <div class="padding"></div>
12736
12737     <div class="entry">
12738       <div class="title">
12739         <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>
12740       </div>
12741       <div class="date">
12742         14th May 2010
12743       </div>
12744       <div class="body">
12745         <p>Since this evening, parallel booting is the default in
12746 Debian/unstable for machines using dependency based boot sequencing.
12747 Apparently the testing of concurrent booting has been wider than
12748 expected, if I am to believe the
12749 <a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2010/05/msg00122.html">input
12750 on debian-devel@</a>, and I concluded a few days ago to move forward
12751 with the feature this weekend, to give us some time to detect any
12752 remaining problems before Squeeze is frozen.  If serious problems are
12753 detected, it is simple to change the default back to sequential boot.
12754 The upload of the new sysvinit package also activate a new upstream
12755 version.</p>
12756
12757 More information about
12758 <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/LSBInitScripts/DependencyBasedBoot">dependency
12759 based boot sequencing</a> is available from the Debian wiki.  It is
12760 currently possible to disable parallel booting when one run into
12761 problems caused by it, by adding this line to /etc/default/rcS:</p>
12762
12763 <blockquote><pre>
12764 CONCURRENCY=none
12765 </pre></blockquote>
12766
12767 <p>If you report any problems with dependencies in init.d scripts to
12768 the BTS, please usertag the report to get it to show up at
12769 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/pkgreport.cgi?users=initscripts-ng-devel@lists.alioth.debian.org">the
12770 list of usertagged bugs related to this</a>.</p>
12771
12772       </div>
12773       <div class="tags">
12774
12775
12776         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>.
12777
12778
12779       </div>
12780     </div>
12781     <div class="padding"></div>
12782
12783     <div class="entry">
12784       <div class="title">
12785         <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>
12786       </div>
12787       <div class="date">
12788         14th May 2010
12789       </div>
12790       <div class="body">
12791         <p>In the recent Debian Edu versions, the
12792 <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/HowTo/SiteSummary">sitesummary
12793 system</a> is used to keep track of the machines in the school
12794 network.  Each machine will automatically report its status to the
12795 central server after boot and once per night.  The network setup is
12796 also reported, and using this information it is possible to get the
12797 MAC address of all network interfaces in the machines.  This is useful
12798 to update the DHCP configuration.</p>
12799
12800 <p>To give some idea how to use sitesummary, here is a one-liner to
12801 ist all MAC addresses of all machines reporting to sitesummary.  Run
12802 this on the collector host:</p>
12803
12804 <blockquote><pre>
12805 perl -MSiteSummary -e 'for_all_hosts(sub { print join(" ", get_macaddresses(shift)), "\n"; });'
12806 </pre></blockquote>
12807
12808 <p>This will list all MAC addresses assosiated with all machine, one
12809 line per machine and with space between the MAC addresses.</p>
12810
12811 <p>To allow system administrators easier job at adding static DHCP
12812 addresses for hosts, it would be possible to extend this to fetch
12813 machine information from sitesummary and update the DHCP and DNS
12814 tables in LDAP using this information.  Such tool is unfortunately not
12815 written yet.</p>
12816
12817       </div>
12818       <div class="tags">
12819
12820
12821         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>.
12822
12823
12824       </div>
12825     </div>
12826     <div class="padding"></div>
12827
12828     <div class="entry">
12829       <div class="title">
12830         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/systemd__an_interesting_alternative_to_upstart.html">systemd, an interesting alternative to upstart</a>
12831       </div>
12832       <div class="date">
12833         13th May 2010
12834       </div>
12835       <div class="body">
12836         <p>The last few days a new boot system called
12837 <a href="http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/systemd">systemd</a>
12838 has been
12839 <a href="http://0pointer.de/blog/projects/systemd.html">introduced</a>
12840
12841 to the free software world.  I have not yet had time to play around
12842 with it, but it seem to be a very interesting alternative to
12843 <a href="http://upstart.ubuntu.com/">upstart</a>, and might prove to be
12844 a good alternative for Debian when we are able to switch to an event
12845 based boot system.  Tollef is
12846 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/580814">in the process</a> of getting
12847 systemd into Debian, and I look forward to seeing how well it work.  I
12848 like the fact that systemd handles init.d scripts with dependency
12849 information natively, allowing them to run in parallel where upstart
12850 at the moment do not.</p>
12851
12852 <p>Unfortunately do systemd have the same problem as upstart regarding
12853 platform support.  It only work on recent Linux kernels, and also need
12854 some new kernel features enabled to function properly.  This means
12855 kFreeBSD and Hurd ports of Debian will need a port or a different boot
12856 system.  Not sure how that will be handled if systemd proves to be the
12857 way forward.</p>
12858
12859 <p>In the mean time, based on the
12860 <a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2010/05/msg00122.html">input
12861 on debian-devel@</a> regarding parallel booting in Debian, I have
12862 decided to enable full parallel booting as the default in Debian as
12863 soon as possible (probably this weekend or early next week), to see if
12864 there are any remaining serious bugs in the init.d dependencies.  A
12865 new version of the sysvinit package implementing this change is
12866 already in experimental.  If all go well, Squeeze will be released
12867 with parallel booting enabled by default.</p>
12868
12869       </div>
12870       <div class="tags">
12871
12872
12873         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>.
12874
12875
12876       </div>
12877     </div>
12878     <div class="padding"></div>
12879
12880     <div class="entry">
12881       <div class="title">
12882         <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>
12883       </div>
12884       <div class="date">
12885          6th May 2010
12886       </div>
12887       <div class="body">
12888         <p>These days, the init.d script dependencies in Squeeze are quite
12889 complete, so complete that it is actually possible to run all the
12890 init.d scripts in parallell based on these dependencies.  If you want
12891 to test your Squeeze system, make sure
12892 <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/LSBInitScripts/DependencyBasedBoot">dependency
12893 based boot sequencing</a> is enabled, and add this line to
12894 /etc/default/rcS:</p>
12895
12896 <blockquote><pre>
12897 CONCURRENCY=makefile
12898 </pre></blockquote>
12899
12900 <p>That is it.  It will cause sysv-rc to use the startpar tool to run
12901 scripts in parallel using the dependency information stored in
12902 /etc/init.d/.depend.boot, /etc/init.d/.depend.start and
12903 /etc/init.d/.depend.stop to order the scripts.  Startpar is configured
12904 to try to start the kdm and gdm scripts as early as possible, and will
12905 start the facilities required by kdm or gdm as early as possible to
12906 make this happen.</p>
12907
12908 <p>Give it a try, and see if you like the result.  If some services
12909 fail to start properly, it is most likely because they have incomplete
12910 init.d script dependencies in their startup script (or some of their
12911 dependent scripts have incomplete dependencies).  Report bugs and get
12912 the package maintainers to fix it. :)</p>
12913
12914 <p>Running scripts in parallel could be the default in Debian when we
12915 manage to get the init.d script dependencies complete and correct.  I
12916 expect we will get there in Squeeze+1, if we get manage to test and
12917 fix the remaining issues.</p>
12918
12919 <p>If you report any problems with dependencies in init.d scripts to
12920 the BTS, please usertag the report to get it to show up at
12921 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/pkgreport.cgi?users=initscripts-ng-devel@lists.alioth.debian.org">the
12922 list of usertagged bugs related to this</a>.</p>
12923
12924       </div>
12925       <div class="tags">
12926
12927
12928         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>.
12929
12930
12931       </div>
12932     </div>
12933     <div class="padding"></div>
12934
12935     <div class="entry">
12936       <div class="title">
12937         <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>
12938       </div>
12939       <div class="date">
12940          2nd May 2010
12941       </div>
12942       <div class="body">
12943         <p>One interesting feature in Active Directory, is the ability to
12944 create a new user with an expired password, and thus force the user to
12945 change the password on the first login attempt.</p>
12946
12947 <p>I'm not quite sure how to do that with the LDAP setup in Debian
12948 Edu, but did some initial testing with a local account.  The account
12949 and password aging information is available in /etc/shadow, but
12950 unfortunately, it is not possible to specify an expiration time for
12951 passwords, only a maximum age for passwords.</p>
12952
12953 <p>A freshly created account (using adduser test) will have these
12954 settings in /etc/shadow:</p>
12955
12956 <blockquote><pre>
12957 root@tjener:~# chage -l test
12958 Last password change                                    : May 02, 2010
12959 Password expires                                        : never
12960 Password inactive                                       : never
12961 Account expires                                         : never
12962 Minimum number of days between password change          : 0
12963 Maximum number of days between password change          : 99999
12964 Number of days of warning before password expires       : 7
12965 root@tjener:~#
12966 </pre></blockquote>
12967
12968 <p>The only way I could come up with to create a user with an expired
12969 account, is to change the date of the last password change to the
12970 lowest value possible (January 1th 1970), and the maximum password age
12971 to the difference in days between that date and today.  To make it
12972 simple, I went for 30 years (30 * 365 = 10950) and January 2th (to
12973 avoid testing if 0 is a valid value).</p>
12974
12975 <p>After using these commands to set it up, it seem to work as
12976 intended:</p>
12977
12978 <blockquote><pre>
12979 root@tjener:~# chage -d 1 test; chage -M 10950 test
12980 root@tjener:~# chage -l test
12981 Last password change                                    : Jan 02, 1970
12982 Password expires                                        : never
12983 Password inactive                                       : never
12984 Account expires                                         : never
12985 Minimum number of days between password change          : 0
12986 Maximum number of days between password change          : 10950
12987 Number of days of warning before password expires       : 7
12988 root@tjener:~#
12989 </pre></blockquote>
12990
12991 <p>So far I have tested this with ssh and console, and kdm (in
12992 Squeeze) login, and all ask for a new password before login in the
12993 user (with ssh, I was thrown out and had to log in again).</p>
12994
12995 <p>Perhaps we should set up something similar for Debian Edu, to make
12996 sure only the user itself have the account password?</p>
12997
12998 <p>If you want to comment on or help out with implementing this for
12999 Debian Edu, please contact us on debian-edu@lists.debian.org.</p>
13000
13001 <p>Update 2010-05-02 17:20: Paul Tötterman tells me on IRC that the
13002 shadow(8) page in Debian/testing now state that setting the date of
13003 last password change to zero (0) will force the password to be changed
13004 on the first login.  This was not mentioned in the manual in Lenny, so
13005 I did not notice this in my initial testing.  I have tested it on
13006 Squeeze, and '<tt>chage -d 0 username</tt>' do work there.  I have not
13007 tested it on Lenny yet.</p>
13008
13009 <p>Update 2010-05-02-19:05: Jim Paris tells me via email that an
13010 equivalent command to expire a password is '<tt>passwd -e
13011 username</tt>', which insert zero into the date of the last password
13012 change.</p>
13013
13014       </div>
13015       <div class="tags">
13016
13017
13018         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>.
13019
13020
13021       </div>
13022     </div>
13023     <div class="padding"></div>
13024
13025     <div class="entry">
13026       <div class="title">
13027         <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>
13028       </div>
13029       <div class="date">
13030         28th April 2010
13031       </div>
13032       <div class="body">
13033         <p>For some years now, I have wondered how we should handle laptops in
13034 Debian Edu.  The Debian Edu infrastructure is mostly designed to
13035 handle stationary computers, and less suited for computers that come
13036 and go.</p>
13037
13038 <p>Now I finally believe I have an sensible idea on how to adjust
13039 Debian Edu for laptops, by introducing a new profile for them, for
13040 example called Roaming Workstations.  Here are my thought on this.
13041 The setup would consist of the following:</p>
13042
13043 <ul>
13044
13045  <li>During installation, the user name of the owner / primary user of
13046    the laptop is requested and a local home directory is set up for
13047    the user, with uid and gid information fetched from the LDAP
13048    server.  This allow the user to work also when offline.  The
13049    central home directory can be available in a subdirectory on
13050    request, for example mounted via CIFS.  It could be mounted
13051    automatically when a user log in while on the Debian Edu network,
13052    and unmounted when the machine is taken away (network down,
13053    hibernate, etc), it can be set up to do automatic mounting on
13054    request (using autofs), or perhaps some GUI button on the desktop
13055    can be used to access it when needed.  Perhaps it is enough to use
13056    the fish protocol in KDE?</li>
13057
13058  <li>Password checking is set up to use LDAP or Kerberos
13059    authentication when the machine is on the Debian Edu network, and
13060    to cache the password for offline checking when the machine unable
13061    to reach the LDAP or Kerberos server.  This can be done using
13062    <a href="http://www.padl.com/OSS/pam_ccreds.html">libpam-ccreds</a>
13063    or the Fedora developed
13064    <a href="https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Features/SSSD">System
13065    Security Services Daemon</a> packages.</li>
13066
13067  <li>File synchronisation with the central home directory is set up
13068    using a shared directory in both the local and the central home
13069    directory, using unison.</li>
13070
13071  <li>Printing should be set up to print to all printers broadcasting
13072    their existence on the local network, and should then work out of
13073    the box with CUPS.  For sites needing accurate printer quotas, some
13074    system with Kerberos authentication or printing via ssh could be
13075    implemented.</li>
13076
13077  <li>For users that should have local root access to their laptop,
13078    sudo should be used to allow this to the local user.</li>
13079
13080  <li>It would be nice if user and group information from LDAP is
13081    cached on the client, but given that there are entries for the
13082    local user and primary group in /etc/, it should not be needed.</li>
13083
13084 </ul>
13085
13086 <p>I believe all the pieces to implement this are in Debian/testing at
13087 the moment.  If we work quickly, we should be able to get this ready
13088 in time for the Squeeze release to freeze.  Some of the pieces need
13089 tweaking, like libpam-ccreds should get support for pam-auth-update
13090 (<a href="http://bugs.debian.org/566718">#566718</a>) and nslcd (or
13091 perhaps debian-edu-config) should get some integration code to stop
13092 its daemon when the LDAP server is unavailable to avoid long timeouts
13093 when disconnected from the net.  If we get Kerberos enabled, we need
13094 to make sure we avoid long timeouts there too.</p>
13095
13096 <p>If you want to help out with implementing this for Debian Edu,
13097 please contact us on debian-edu@lists.debian.org.</p>
13098
13099       </div>
13100       <div class="tags">
13101
13102
13103         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>.
13104
13105
13106       </div>
13107     </div>
13108     <div class="padding"></div>
13109
13110     <div class="entry">
13111       <div class="title">
13112         <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>
13113       </div>
13114       <div class="date">
13115         19th April 2010
13116       </div>
13117       <div class="body">
13118         <p>The last few weeks i have had the pleasure of reading a
13119 thought-provoking collection of essays by Cory Doctorow, on topics
13120 touching copyright, virtual worlds, the future of man when the
13121 conscience mind can be duplicated into a computer and many more. The
13122 book titled "Content: Selected Essays on Technology, Creativity,
13123 Copyright, and the Future of the Future" is available with few
13124 restrictions on the web, for example from
13125 <a href="http://craphound.com/content/">his own site</a>. I read the
13126 epub-version from
13127 <a href="http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2883">feedbooks</a> using
13128 <a href="http://www.fbreader.org/">fbreader</a> and my N810. I
13129 strongly recommend this book.</p>
13130
13131       </div>
13132       <div class="tags">
13133
13134
13135         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>.
13136
13137
13138       </div>
13139     </div>
13140     <div class="padding"></div>
13141
13142     <div class="entry">
13143       <div class="title">
13144         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Kerberos_for_Debian_Edu_Squeeze_.html">Kerberos for Debian Edu/Squeeze?</a>
13145       </div>
13146       <div class="date">
13147         14th April 2010
13148       </div>
13149       <div class="body">
13150         <p><a href="http://www.nuug.no/aktiviteter/20100413-kerberos/">Yesterdays
13151 NUUG presentation</a> about Kerberos was inspiring, and reminded me
13152 about the need to start using Kerberos in Skolelinux.  Setting up a
13153 Kerberos server seem to be straight forward, and if we get this in
13154 place a long time before the Squeeze version of Debian freezes, we
13155 have a chance to migrate Skolelinux away from NFSv3 for the home
13156 directories, and over to an architecture where the infrastructure do
13157 not have to trust IP addresses and machines, and instead can trust
13158 users and cryptographic keys instead.</p>
13159
13160 <p>A challenge will be integration and administration.  Is there a
13161 Kerberos implementation for Debian where one can control the
13162 administration access in Kerberos using LDAP groups?  With it, the
13163 school administration will have to maintain access control using flat
13164 files on the main server, which give a huge potential for errors.</p>
13165
13166 <p>A related question I would like to know is how well Kerberos and
13167 pam-ccreds (offline password check) work together.  Anyone know?</p>
13168
13169 <p>Next step will be to use Kerberos for access control in Lwat and
13170 Nagios.  I have no idea how much work that will be to implement.  We
13171 would also need to document how to integrate with Windows AD, as such
13172 shared network will require two Kerberos realms that need to cooperate
13173 to work properly.</p>
13174
13175 <p>I believe a good start would be to start using Kerberos on the
13176 skolelinux.no machines, and this way get ourselves experience with
13177 configuration and integration.  A natural starting point would be
13178 setting up ldap.skolelinux.no as the Kerberos server, and migrate the
13179 rest of the machines from PAM via LDAP to PAM via Kerberos one at the
13180 time.</p>
13181
13182 <p>If you would like to contribute to get this working in Skolelinux,
13183 I recommend you to see the video recording from yesterdays NUUG
13184 presentation, and start using Kerberos at home.  The video show show
13185 up in a few days.</p>
13186
13187       </div>
13188       <div class="tags">
13189
13190
13191         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>.
13192
13193
13194       </div>
13195     </div>
13196     <div class="padding"></div>
13197
13198     <div class="entry">
13199       <div class="title">
13200         <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>
13201       </div>
13202       <div class="date">
13203          6th March 2010
13204       </div>
13205       <div class="body">
13206         <p>6 years ago, as part of the Debian Edu development I am involved
13207 in, I asked for a hook in the kdm and gdm setup to run scripts as root
13208 when the user log out.  A bug was submitted against the xfree86-common
13209 package in 2004 (<a href="http://bugs.debian.org/230422">#230422</a>),
13210 and revisited every time Debian Edu was working on a new release.
13211 Today, this finally paid off.</p>
13212
13213 <p>The framework for this feature was today commited to the git
13214 repositry for the xorg package, and the git repository for xdm has
13215 been updated to use this framework.  Next on my agenda is to make sure
13216 kdm and gdm also add code to use this framework.</p>
13217
13218 <p>In Debian Edu, we want to ability to run commands as root when the
13219 user log out, to get rid of runaway processes and do general cleanup
13220 after a user.  With this framework in place, we finally can do that in
13221 a generic way that work with all display managers using this
13222 framework.  My goal is to get all display managers in Debian use it,
13223 similar to how they use the Xsession.d framework today.<p>
13224
13225       </div>
13226       <div class="tags">
13227
13228
13229         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>.
13230
13231
13232       </div>
13233     </div>
13234     <div class="padding"></div>
13235
13236     <div class="entry">
13237       <div class="title">
13238         <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>
13239       </div>
13240       <div class="date">
13241         11th February 2010
13242       </div>
13243       <div class="body">
13244         <p>On Tuesday, the Debian/Lenny based version of
13245 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Skolelinux</a> was finally
13246 shipped.  This was a major leap forward for the project, and I am very
13247 pleased that we finally got the release wrapped up.  Work on the first
13248 point release starts imediately, as we plan to get that one out a
13249 month after the major release, to include all fixes for bugs we found
13250 and fixed too late in the release process to include last Tuesday.</p>
13251
13252 <p>Perhaps it even is time for some partying?</p>
13253
13254 <p>After this first point release, my plan is to focus again on the
13255 next major release, based on Squeeze.  We will try to get as many of
13256 the fixes we need into the official Debian packages before the freeze,
13257 and have just a few weeks or months to make it happen.</p>
13258
13259       </div>
13260       <div class="tags">
13261
13262
13263         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>.
13264
13265
13266       </div>
13267     </div>
13268     <div class="padding"></div>
13269
13270     <div class="entry">
13271       <div class="title">
13272         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Automatic_Munin_and_Nagios_configuration.html">Automatic Munin and Nagios configuration</a>
13273       </div>
13274       <div class="date">
13275         27th January 2010
13276       </div>
13277       <div class="body">
13278         <p>One of the new features in the next Debian/Lenny based release of
13279 Debian Edu/Skolelinux, which is scheduled for release in the next few
13280 days, is automatic configuration of the service monitoring system
13281 Nagios.  The previous release had automatic configuration of trend
13282 analysis using Munin, and this Lenny based release take that a step
13283 further.</p>
13284
13285 <p>When installing a Debian Edu Main-server, it is automatically
13286 configured as a Munin and Nagios server.  In addition, it is
13287 configured to be a server for the
13288 <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/HowTo/SiteSummary">SiteSummary
13289 system</a> I have written for use in Debian Edu.  The SiteSummary
13290 system is inspired by a system used by the University of Oslo where I
13291 work.  In short, the system provide a centralised collector of
13292 information about the computers on the network, and a client on each
13293 computer submitting information to this collector.  This allow for
13294 automatic information on which packages are installed on each machine,
13295 which kernel the machines are using, what kind of configuration the
13296 packages got etc.  This also allow us to automatically generate Munin
13297 and Nagios configuration.</p>
13298
13299 <p>All computers reporting to the sitesummary collector with the
13300 munin-node package installed is automatically enabled as a Munin
13301 client and graphs from the statistics collected from that machine show
13302 up automatically on http://www/munin/ on the Main-server.</p>
13303
13304 <p>All non-laptop computers reporting to the sitesummary collector are
13305 automatically monitored for network presence (ping and any network
13306 services detected).  In addition, all computers (also laptops) with
13307 the nagios-nrpe-server package installed and configured the way
13308 sitesummary would configure it, are monitored for full disks, software
13309 raid status, swap free and other checks that need to run locally on
13310 the machine.</p>
13311
13312 <p>The result is that the administrator on a school using Debian Edu
13313 based on Lenny will be able to check the health of his installation
13314 with one look at the Nagios settings, without having to spend any time
13315 keeping the Nagios configuration up-to-date.</p>
13316
13317 <p>The only configuration one need to do to get Nagios up and running
13318 is to set the password used to get access via HTTP.  The system
13319 administrator need to run "<tt>htpasswd /etc/nagios3/htpasswd.users
13320 nagiosadmin</tt>" to create a nagiosadmin user and set a password for
13321 it to be able to log into the Nagios web pages.  After that,
13322 everything is taken care of.</p>
13323
13324       </div>
13325       <div class="tags">
13326
13327
13328         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>.
13329
13330
13331       </div>
13332     </div>
13333     <div class="padding"></div>
13334
13335     <div class="entry">
13336       <div class="title">
13337         <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>
13338       </div>
13339       <div class="date">
13340         12th August 2009
13341       </div>
13342       <div class="body">
13343         <p>Just for fun, I did a search right now on Google for a few file ODF
13344 and MS Office based formats (not to be mistaken for ISO or ECMA
13345 OOXML), to get an idea of their relative usage.  I searched using
13346 'filetype:odt' and equvalent terms, and got these results:</P>
13347
13348 <table>
13349 <tr><th>Type</th><th>ODF</th><th>MS Office</th></tr>
13350 <tr><td>Tekst</td> <td>odt:282000</td> <td>docx:308000</td></tr>
13351 <tr><td>Presentasjon</td> <td>odp:75600</td> <td>pptx:183000</td></tr>
13352 <tr><td>Regneark</td> <td>ods:26500     </td> <td>xlsx:145000</td></tr>
13353 </table>
13354
13355 <p>Next, I added a 'site:no' limit to get the numbers for Norway, and
13356 got these numbers:</p>
13357
13358 <table>
13359 <tr><th>Type</th><th>ODF</th><th>MS Office</th></tr>
13360 <tr><td>Tekst</td> <td>odt:2480 </td> <td>docx:4460</td></tr>
13361 <tr><td>Presentasjon</td> <td>odp:299   </td> <td>pptx:741</td></tr>
13362 <tr><td>Regneark</td> <td>ods:187       </td> <td>xlsx:372</td></tr>
13363 </table>
13364
13365 <p>I wonder how these numbers change over time.</p>
13366
13367 <p>I am aware of Google returning different results and numbers based
13368 on where the search is done, so I guess these numbers will differ if
13369 they are conduced in another country.  Because of this, I did the same
13370 search from a machine in California, USA, a few minutes after the
13371 search done from a machine here in Norway.</p>
13372
13373
13374 <table>
13375 <tr><th>Type</th><th>ODF</th><th>MS Office</th></tr>
13376 <tr><td>Tekst</td> <td>odt:129000</td> <td>docx:308000</td></tr>
13377 <tr><td>Presentasjon</td> <td>odp:44200</td> <td>pptx:93900</td></tr>
13378 <tr><td>Regneark</td> <td>ods:26500     </td> <td>xlsx:82400</td></tr>
13379 </table>
13380
13381 <p>And with 'site:no':
13382
13383 <table>
13384 <tr><th>Type</th><th>ODF</th><th>MS Office</th></tr>
13385 <tr><td>Tekst</td> <td>odt:2480</td> <td>docx:3410</td></tr>
13386 <tr><td>Presentasjon</td> <td>odp:175</td> <td>pptx:604</td></tr>
13387 <tr><td>Regneark</td> <td>ods:186       </td> <td>xlsx:296</td></tr>
13388 </table>
13389
13390 <p>Interesting difference, not sure what to conclude from these
13391 numbers.</p>
13392
13393       </div>
13394       <div class="tags">
13395
13396
13397         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>.
13398
13399
13400       </div>
13401     </div>
13402     <div class="padding"></div>
13403
13404     <div class="entry">
13405       <div class="title">
13406         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/ISO_still_hope_to_fix_OOXML.html">ISO still hope to fix OOXML</a>
13407       </div>
13408       <div class="date">
13409          8th August 2009
13410       </div>
13411       <div class="body">
13412         <p>According to <a
13413 href="http://twerner.blogspot.com/2009/08/defects-of-office-open-xml.html">a
13414 blog post from Torsten Werner</a>, the current defect report for ISO
13415 29500 (ISO OOXML) is 809 pages.  His interesting point is that the
13416 defect report is 71 pages more than the full ODF 1.1 specification.
13417 Personally I find it more interesting that ISO still believe ISO OOXML
13418 can be fixed in ISO.  Personally, I believe it is broken beyon repair,
13419 and I completely lack any trust in ISO for being able to get anywhere
13420 close to solving the problems.  I was part of the Norwegian committee
13421 involved in the OOXML fast track process, and was not impressed with
13422 Standard Norway and ISO in how they handled it.</p>
13423
13424 <p>These days I focus on ODF instead, which seem like a specification
13425 with the future ahead of it.  We are working in NUUG to organise a ODF
13426 seminar this autumn.</p>
13427
13428       </div>
13429       <div class="tags">
13430
13431
13432         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>.
13433
13434
13435       </div>
13436     </div>
13437     <div class="padding"></div>
13438
13439     <div class="entry">
13440       <div class="title">
13441         <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>
13442       </div>
13443       <div class="date">
13444         27th July 2009
13445       </div>
13446       <div class="body">
13447         <p>Since this evening, with the upload of sysvinit version 2.87dsf-2,
13448 and the upload of insserv version 1.12.0-10 yesterday, Debian unstable
13449 have been migrated to using dependency based boot sequencing.  This
13450 conclude work me and others have been doing for the last three days.
13451 It feels great to see this finally part of the default Debian
13452 installation.  Now we just need to weed out the last few problems that
13453 are bound to show up, to get everything ready for Squeeze.</p>
13454
13455 <p>The next step is migrating /sbin/init from sysvinit to upstart, and
13456 fixing the more fundamental problem of handing the event based
13457 non-predictable kernel in the early boot.</p>
13458
13459       </div>
13460       <div class="tags">
13461
13462
13463         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>.
13464
13465
13466       </div>
13467     </div>
13468     <div class="padding"></div>
13469
13470     <div class="entry">
13471       <div class="title">
13472         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Taking_over_sysvinit_development.html">Taking over sysvinit development</a>
13473       </div>
13474       <div class="date">
13475         22nd July 2009
13476       </div>
13477       <div class="body">
13478         <p>After several years of frustration with the lack of activity from
13479 the existing sysvinit upstream developer, I decided a few weeks ago to
13480 take over the package and become the new upstream.  The number of
13481 patches to track for the Debian package was becoming a burden, and the
13482 lack of synchronization between the distribution made it hard to keep
13483 the package up to date.</p>
13484
13485 <p>On the new sysvinit team is the SuSe maintainer Dr. Werner Fink,
13486 and my Debian co-maintainer Kel Modderman.  About 10 days ago, I made
13487 a new upstream tarball with version number 2.87dsf (for Debian, SuSe
13488 and Fedora), based on the patches currently in use in these
13489 distributions.  We Debian maintainers plan to move to this tarball as
13490 the new upstream as soon as we find time to do the merge.  Since the
13491 new tarball was created, we agreed with Werner at SuSe to make a new
13492 upstream project at <a href="http://savannah.nongnu.org/">Savannah</a>, and continue
13493 development there.  The project is registered and currently waiting
13494 for approval by the Savannah administrators, and as soon as it is
13495 approved, we will import the old versions from svn and continue
13496 working on the future release.</p>
13497
13498 <p>It is a bit ironic that this is done now, when some of the involved
13499 distributions are moving to upstart as a syvinit replacement.</p>
13500
13501       </div>
13502       <div class="tags">
13503
13504
13505         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>.
13506
13507
13508       </div>
13509     </div>
13510     <div class="padding"></div>
13511
13512     <div class="entry">
13513       <div class="title">
13514         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_boots_quicker_and_quicker.html">Debian boots quicker and quicker</a>
13515       </div>
13516       <div class="date">
13517         24th June 2009
13518       </div>
13519       <div class="body">
13520         <p>I spent Monday and tuesday this week in London with a lot of the
13521 people involved in the boot system on Debian and Ubuntu, to see if we
13522 could find more ways to speed up the boot system.  This was an Ubuntu
13523 funded
13524 <a href="https://wiki.ubuntu.com/FoundationsTeam/BootPerformance/DebianUbuntuSprint">developer
13525 gathering</a>. It was quite productive.  We also discussed the future
13526 of boot systems, and ways to handle the increasing number of boot
13527 issues introduced by the Linux kernel becoming more and more
13528 asynchronous and event base.  The Ubuntu approach using udev and
13529 upstart might be a good way forward.  Time will show.</p>
13530
13531 <p>Anyway, there are a few ways at the moment to speed up the boot
13532 process in Debian.  All of these should be applied to get a quick
13533 boot:</p>
13534
13535 <ul>
13536
13537 <li>Use dash as /bin/sh.</li>
13538
13539 <li>Disable the init.d/hwclock*.sh scripts and make sure the hardware
13540    clock is in UTC.</li>
13541
13542 <li>Install and activate the insserv package to enable
13543    <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/LSBInitScripts/DependencyBasedBoot">dependency
13544    based boot sequencing</a>, and enable concurrent booting.</li>
13545
13546 </ul>
13547
13548 These points are based on the Google summer of code work done by
13549 <a href="http://initscripts-ng.alioth.debian.org/soc2006-bootsystem/">Carlos
13550 Villegas</a>.
13551
13552 <p>Support for makefile-style concurrency during boot was uploaded to
13553 unstable yesterday.  When we tested it, we were able to cut 6 seconds
13554 from the boot sequence.  It depend on very correct dependency
13555 declaration in all init.d scripts, so I expect us to find edge cases
13556 where the dependences in some scripts are slightly wrong when we start
13557 using this.</p>
13558
13559 <p>On our IRC channel for this effort, #pkg-sysvinit, a new idea was
13560 introduced by Raphael Geissert today, one that could affect the
13561 startup speed as well.  Instead of starting some scripts concurrently
13562 from rcS.d/ and another set of scripts from rc2.d/, it would be
13563 possible to run a of them in the same process.  A quick way to test
13564 this would be to enable insserv and run 'mv /etc/rc2.d/S* /etc/rcS.d/;
13565 insserv'.  Will need to test if that work. :)</p>
13566
13567       </div>
13568       <div class="tags">
13569
13570
13571         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>.
13572
13573
13574       </div>
13575     </div>
13576     <div class="padding"></div>
13577
13578     <div class="entry">
13579       <div class="title">
13580         <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>
13581       </div>
13582       <div class="date">
13583          2nd May 2009
13584       </div>
13585       <div class="body">
13586         <p>There are two software projects that have had huge influence on the
13587 quality of free software, and I wanted to mention both in case someone
13588 do not yet know them.</p>
13589
13590 <p>The first one is <a href="http://valgrind.org/">valgrind</a>, a
13591 tool to detect and expose errors in the memory handling of programs.
13592 It is easy to use, all one need to do is to run 'valgrind program',
13593 and it will report any problems on stdout.  It is even better if the
13594 program include debug information.  With debug information, it is able
13595 to report the source file name and line number where the problem
13596 occurs.  It can report things like 'reading past memory block in file
13597 X line N, the memory block was allocated in file Y, line M', and
13598 'using uninitialised value in control logic'.  This tool has made it
13599 trivial to investigate reproducible crash bugs in programs, and have
13600 reduced the number of this kind of bugs in free software a lot.
13601
13602 <p>The second one is
13603 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coverity">Coverity</a> which is
13604 a source code checker.  It is able to process the source of a program
13605 and find problems in the logic without running the program.  It
13606 started out as the Stanford Checker and became well known when it was
13607 used to find bugs in the Linux kernel.  It is now a commercial tool
13608 and the company behind it is running
13609 <a href="http://www.scan.coverity.com/">a community service</a> for the
13610 free software community, where a lot of free software projects get
13611 their source checked for free.  Several thousand defects have been
13612 found and fixed so far.  It can find errors like 'lock L taken in file
13613 X line N is never released if exiting in line M', or 'the code in file
13614 Y lines O to P can never be executed'.  The projects included in the
13615 community service project have managed to get rid of a lot of
13616 reliability problems thanks to Coverity.</p>
13617
13618 <p>I believe tools like this, that are able to automatically find
13619 errors in the source, are vital to improve the quality of software and
13620 make sure we can get rid of the crashing and failing software we are
13621 surrounded by today.</p>
13622
13623       </div>
13624       <div class="tags">
13625
13626
13627         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>.
13628
13629
13630       </div>
13631     </div>
13632     <div class="padding"></div>
13633
13634     <div class="entry">
13635       <div class="title">
13636         <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>
13637       </div>
13638       <div class="date">
13639         28th April 2009
13640       </div>
13641       <div class="body">
13642         <p>Julien Blache
13643 <a href="http://blog.technologeek.org/2009/04/12/214">claim that no
13644 patch is better than a useless patch</a>.  I completely disagree, as a
13645 patch allow one to discuss a concrete and proposed solution, and also
13646 prove that the issue at hand is important enough for someone to spent
13647 time on fixing it.  No patch do not provide any of these positive
13648 properties.</p>
13649
13650       </div>
13651       <div class="tags">
13652
13653
13654         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>.
13655
13656
13657       </div>
13658     </div>
13659     <div class="padding"></div>
13660
13661     <div class="entry">
13662       <div class="title">
13663         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Recording_video_from_cron_using_VLC.html">Recording video from cron using VLC</a>
13664       </div>
13665       <div class="date">
13666          5th April 2009
13667       </div>
13668       <div class="body">
13669         <p>One think I have wanted to figure out for a along time is how to
13670 run vlc from cron to do recording of video streams on the net.  The
13671 task is trivial with mplayer, but I do not really trust the security
13672 of mplayer (it crashes too often on strange input), and thus prefer
13673 vlc.  I finally found a way to do it today.  I spent an hour or so
13674 searching the web for recipes and reading the documentation.  The
13675 hardest part was to get rid of the GUI window, but after finding the
13676 dummy interface, the command line finally presented itself:</p>
13677
13678 <blockquote><pre>URL=http://www.ping.uio.no/video/rms-oslo_2009.ogg
13679 SAVEFILE=rms.ogg
13680 DISPLAY= vlc -q $URL \
13681   --sout="#duplicate{dst=std{access=file,url='$SAVEFILE'},dst=nodisplay}" \
13682   --intf=dummy</pre></blockquote>
13683
13684 <p>The command stream the URL and store it in the SAVEFILE by
13685 duplicating the output stream to "nodisplay" and the file, using the
13686 dummy interface.  The dummy interface and the nodisplay output make
13687 sure no X interface is needed.</p>
13688
13689 <p>The cron job then need to start this job with the appropriate URL
13690 and file name to save, sleep for the duration wanted, and then kill
13691 the vlc process with SIGTERM.  Here is a complete script
13692 <tt>vlc-record</tt> to use from <tt>at</tt> or <tt>cron</tt>:</p>
13693
13694 <blockquote><pre>#!/bin/sh
13695 set -e
13696 URL="$1"
13697 SAVEFILE="$2"
13698 DURATION="$3"
13699 DISPLAY= vlc -q "$URL" \
13700   --sout="#duplicate{dst=std{access=file,url='$SAVEFILE'},dst=nodisplay}" \
13701   --intf=dummy < /dev/null > /dev/null 2>&1 &
13702 pid=$!
13703 sleep $DURATION
13704 kill $pid
13705 wait $pid</pre></blockquote>
13706
13707       </div>
13708       <div class="tags">
13709
13710
13711         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>.
13712
13713
13714       </div>
13715     </div>
13716     <div class="padding"></div>
13717
13718     <div class="entry">
13719       <div class="title">
13720         <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>
13721       </div>
13722       <div class="date">
13723         30th March 2009
13724       </div>
13725       <div class="body">
13726         <p>Where I work at the University of Oslo, one decision stand out as a
13727 very good one to form a long lived computer infrastructure.  It is the
13728 simple one, lost by many in todays computer industry: Standardize on
13729 open network protocols and open exchange/storage formats, not applications.
13730 Applications come and go, while protocols and files tend to stay, and
13731 thus one want to make it easy to change application and vendor, while
13732 avoiding conversion costs and locking users to a specific platform or
13733 application.</p>
13734
13735 <p>This approach make it possible to replace the client applications
13736 independently of the server applications.  One can even allow users to
13737 use several different applications as long as they handle the selected
13738 protocol and format.  In the normal case, only one client application
13739 is recommended and users only get help if they choose to use this
13740 application, but those that want to deviate from the easy path are not
13741 blocked from doing so.</p>
13742
13743 <p>It also allow us to replace the server side without forcing the
13744 users to replace their applications, and thus allow us to select the
13745 best server implementation at any moment, when scale and resouce
13746 requirements change.</p>
13747
13748 <p>I strongly recommend standardizing - on open network protocols and
13749 open formats, but I would never recommend standardizing on a single
13750 application that do not use open network protocol or open formats.</p>
13751
13752       </div>
13753       <div class="tags">
13754
13755
13756         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>.
13757
13758
13759       </div>
13760     </div>
13761     <div class="padding"></div>
13762
13763     <div class="entry">
13764       <div class="title">
13765         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Returning_from_Skolelinux_developer_gathering.html">Returning from Skolelinux developer gathering</a>
13766       </div>
13767       <div class="date">
13768         29th March 2009
13769       </div>
13770       <div class="body">
13771         <p>I'm sitting on the train going home from this weekends Debian
13772 Edu/Skolelinux development gathering.  I got a bit done tuning the
13773 desktop, and looked into the dynamic service location protocol
13774 implementation avahi.  It look like it could be useful for us.  Almost
13775 30 people participated, and I believe it was a great environment to
13776 get to know the Skolelinux system.  Walter Bender, involved in the
13777 development of the Sugar educational platform, presented his stuff and
13778 also helped me improve my OLPC installation.  He also showed me that
13779 his Turtle Art application can be used in standalone mode, and we
13780 agreed that I would help getting it packaged for Debian.  As a
13781 standalone application it would be great for Debian Edu.  We also
13782 tried to get the video conferencing working with two OLPCs, but that
13783 proved to be too hard for us.  The application seem to need more work
13784 before it is ready for me.  I look forward to getting home and relax
13785 now. :)</p>
13786
13787       </div>
13788       <div class="tags">
13789
13790
13791         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>.
13792
13793
13794       </div>
13795     </div>
13796     <div class="padding"></div>
13797
13798     <div class="entry">
13799       <div class="title">
13800         <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>
13801       </div>
13802       <div class="date">
13803         29th March 2009
13804       </div>
13805       <div class="body">
13806         <p>The state of standardized LDAP schemas on Linux is far from
13807 optimal.  There is RFC 2307 documenting one way to store NIS maps in
13808 LDAP, and a modified version of this normally called RFC 2307bis, with
13809 some modifications to be compatible with Active Directory.  The RFC
13810 specification handle the content of a lot of system databases, but do
13811 not handle DNS zones and DHCP configuration.</p>
13812
13813 <p>In <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu/Skolelinux</a>,
13814 we would like to store information about users, SMB clients/hosts,
13815 filegroups, netgroups (users and hosts), DHCP and DNS configuration,
13816 and LTSP configuration in LDAP.  These objects have a lot in common,
13817 but with the current LDAP schemas it is not possible to have one
13818 object per entity.  For example, one need to have at least three LDAP
13819 objects for a given computer, one with the SMB related stuff, one with
13820 DNS information and another with DHCP information.  The schemas
13821 provided for DNS and DHCP are impossible to combine into one LDAP
13822 object.  In addition, it is impossible to implement quick queries for
13823 netgroup membership, because of the way NIS triples are implemented.
13824 It just do not scale.  I believe it is time for a few RFC
13825 specifications to cleam up this mess.</p>
13826
13827 <p>I would like to have one LDAP object representing each computer in
13828 the network, and this object can then keep the SMB (ie host key), DHCP
13829 (mac address/name) and DNS (name/IP address) settings in one place.
13830 It need to be efficently stored to make sure it scale well.</p>
13831
13832 <p>I would also like to have a quick way to map from a user or
13833 computer and to the net group this user or computer is a member.</p>
13834
13835 <p>Active Directory have done a better job than unix heads like myself
13836 in this regard, and the unix side need to catch up.  Time to start a
13837 new IETF work group?</p>
13838
13839       </div>
13840       <div class="tags">
13841
13842
13843         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>.
13844
13845
13846       </div>
13847     </div>
13848     <div class="padding"></div>
13849
13850     <div class="entry">
13851       <div class="title">
13852         <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>
13853       </div>
13854       <div class="date">
13855         28th February 2009
13856       </div>
13857       <div class="body">
13858         <p>At work, we have a few hundred Linux servers, and with that amount
13859 of hardware it is important to keep track of when the hardware support
13860 contract expire for each server.  We have a machine (and service)
13861 register, which until recently did not contain much useful besides the
13862 machine room location and contact information for the system owner for
13863 each machine.  To make it easier for us to track support contract
13864 status, I've recently spent time on extending the machine register to
13865 include information about when the support contract expire, and to tag
13866 machines with expired contracts to make it easy to get a list of such
13867 machines.  I extended a perl script already being used to import
13868 information about machines into the register, to also do some screen
13869 scraping off the sites of Dell, HP and IBM (our majority of machines
13870 are from these vendors), and automatically check the support status
13871 for the relevant machines.  This make the support status information
13872 easily available and I hope it will make it easier for the computer
13873 owner to know when to get new hardware or renew the support contract.
13874 The result of this work documented that 27% of the machines in the
13875 registry is without a support contract, and made it very easy to find
13876 them.  27% might seem like a lot, but I see it more as the case of us
13877 using machines a bit longer than the 3 years a normal support contract
13878 last, to have test machines and a platform for less important
13879 services.  After all, the machines without a contract are working fine
13880 at the moment and the lack of contract is only a problem if any of
13881 them break down.  When that happen, we can either fix it using spare
13882 parts from other machines or move the service to another old
13883 machine.</p>
13884
13885 <p>I believe the code for screen scraping the Dell site was originally
13886 written by Trond Hasle Amundsen, and later adjusted by me and Morten
13887 Werner Forsbring.  The HP scraping was written by me after reading a
13888 nice article in ;login: about how to use WWW::Mechanize, and the IBM
13889 scraping was written by me based on the Dell code.  I know the HTML
13890 parsing could be done using nice libraries, but did not want to
13891 introduce more dependencies.  This is the current incarnation:</p>
13892
13893 <pre>
13894 use LWP::Simple;
13895 use POSIX;
13896 use WWW::Mechanize;
13897 use Date::Parse;
13898 [...]
13899 sub get_support_info {
13900     my ($machine, $model, $serial, $productnumber) = @_;
13901     my $str;
13902
13903     if ( $model =~ m/^Dell / ) {
13904         # fetch website from Dell support
13905         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";
13906         my $webpage = get($url);
13907         return undef unless ($webpage);
13908
13909         my $daysleft = -1;
13910         my @lines = split(/\n/, $webpage);
13911         foreach my $line (@lines) {
13912             next unless ($line =~ m/Beskrivelse/);
13913             $line =~ s/&lt;[^>]+?>/;/gm;
13914             $line =~ s/^.+?;(Beskrivelse;)/$1/;
13915
13916             my @f = split(/\;/, $line);
13917             @f = @f[13 .. $#f];
13918             my $lastend = "";
13919             while ($f[3] eq "DELL") {
13920                 my ($type, $startstr, $endstr, $days) = @f[0, 5, 7, 10];
13921
13922                 my $start = POSIX::strftime("%Y-%m-%d",
13923                                             localtime(str2time($startstr)));
13924                 my $end = POSIX::strftime("%Y-%m-%d",
13925                                           localtime(str2time($endstr)));
13926                 $str .= "$type $start -> $end ";
13927                 @f = @f[14 .. $#f];
13928                 $lastend = $end if ($end gt $lastend);
13929             }
13930             my $today = POSIX::strftime("%Y-%m-%d", localtime(time));
13931             tag_machine_unsupported($machine)
13932                 if ($lastend lt $today);
13933         }
13934     } elsif ( $model =~ m/^HP / ) {
13935         my $mech = WWW::Mechanize->new();
13936         my $url =
13937             'http://www1.itrc.hp.com/service/ewarranty/warrantyInput.do';
13938         $mech->get($url);
13939         my $fields = {
13940             'BODServiceID' => 'NA',
13941             'RegisteredPurchaseDate' => '',
13942             'country' => 'NO',
13943             'productNumber' => $productnumber,
13944             'serialNumber1' => $serial,
13945         };
13946         $mech->submit_form( form_number => 2,
13947                             fields      => $fields );
13948         # Next step is screen scraping
13949         my $content = $mech->content();
13950
13951         $content =~ s/&lt;[^>]+?>/;/gm;
13952         $content =~ s/\s+/ /gm;
13953         $content =~ s/;\s*;/;;/gm;
13954         $content =~ s/;[\s;]+/;/gm;
13955
13956         my $today = POSIX::strftime("%Y-%m-%d", localtime(time));
13957
13958         while ($content =~ m/;Warranty Type;/) {
13959             my ($type, $status, $startstr, $stopstr) = $content =~
13960                 m/;Warranty Type;([^;]+);.+?;Status;(\w+);Start Date;([^;]+);End Date;([^;]+);/;
13961             $content =~ s/^.+?;Warranty Type;//;
13962             my $start = POSIX::strftime("%Y-%m-%d",
13963                                         localtime(str2time($startstr)));
13964             my $end = POSIX::strftime("%Y-%m-%d",
13965                                       localtime(str2time($stopstr)));
13966
13967             $str .= "$type ($status) $start -> $end ";
13968
13969             tag_machine_unsupported($machine)
13970                 if ($end lt $today);
13971         }
13972     } elsif ( $model =~ m/^IBM / ) {
13973         # This code ignore extended support contracts.
13974         my ($producttype) = $model =~ m/.*-\[(.{4}).+\]-/;
13975         if ($producttype &amp;&amp; $serial) {
13976             my $content =
13977                 get("http://www-947.ibm.com/systems/support/supportsite.wss/warranty?action=warranty&amp;brandind=5000008&amp;Submit=Submit&amp;type=$producttype&amp;serial=$serial");
13978             if ($content) {
13979                 $content =~ s/&lt;[^>]+?>/;/gm;
13980                 $content =~ s/\s+/ /gm;
13981                 $content =~ s/;\s*;/;;/gm;
13982                 $content =~ s/;[\s;]+/;/gm;
13983
13984                 $content =~ s/^.+?;Warranty status;//;
13985                 my ($status, $end) = $content =~ m/;Warranty status;([^;]+)\s*;Expiration date;(\S+) ;/;
13986
13987                 $str .= "($status) -> $end ";
13988
13989                 my $today = POSIX::strftime("%Y-%m-%d", localtime(time));
13990                 tag_machine_unsupported($machine)
13991                     if ($end lt $today);
13992             }
13993         }
13994     }
13995     return $str;
13996 }
13997 </pre>
13998
13999 <p>Here are some examples on how to use the function, using fake
14000 serial numbers.  The information passed in as arguments are fetched
14001 from dmidecode.</p>
14002
14003 <pre>
14004 print get_support_info("hp.host", "HP ProLiant BL460c G1", "1234567890"
14005                        "447707-B21");
14006 print get_support_info("dell.host", "Dell Inc. PowerEdge 2950", "1234567");
14007 print get_support_info("ibm.host", "IBM eserver xSeries 345 -[867061X]-",
14008                        "1234567");
14009 </pre>
14010
14011 <p>I would recommend this approach for tracking support contracts for
14012 everyone with more than a few computers to administer. :)</p>
14013
14014 <p>Update 2009-03-06: The IBM page do not include extended support
14015 contracts, so it is useless in that case.  The original Dell code do
14016 not handle extended support contracts either, but has been updated to
14017 do so.</p>
14018
14019       </div>
14020       <div class="tags">
14021
14022
14023         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>.
14024
14025
14026       </div>
14027     </div>
14028     <div class="padding"></div>
14029
14030     <div class="entry">
14031       <div class="title">
14032         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Using_bar_codes_at_a_computing_center.html">Using bar codes at a computing center</a>
14033       </div>
14034       <div class="date">
14035         20th February 2009
14036       </div>
14037       <div class="body">
14038         <p>At work with the University of Oslo, we have several hundred computers
14039 in our computing center.  This give us a challenge in tracking the
14040 location and cabling of the computers, when they are added, moved and
14041 removed.  Some times the location register is not updated when a
14042 computer is inserted or moved and we then have to search the room for
14043 the "missing" computer.</p>
14044
14045 <p>In the last issue of Linux Journal, I came across a project
14046 <a href="http://www.libdmtx.org/">libdmtx</a> to write and read bar
14047 code blocks as defined in the
14048 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_Matrix">The Data Matrix
14049 Standard</a>.  This is bar codes that can be read with a normal
14050 digital camera, for example that on a cell phone, and several such bar
14051 codes can be read by libdmtx from one picture.  The bar code standard
14052 allow up to 2 KiB to be written in the tag.  There is another project
14053 with <a href="http://www.terryburton.co.uk/barcodewriter/">a bar code
14054 writer written in postscript</a> capable of creating such bar codes,
14055 but this was the first time I found a tool to read these bar
14056 codes.</p>
14057
14058 <p>It occurred to me that this could be used to tag and track the
14059 machines in our computing center.  If both racks and computers are
14060 tagged this way, we can use a picture of the rack and all its
14061 computers to detect the rack location of any computer in that rack.
14062 If we do this regularly for the entire room, we will find all
14063 locations, and can detect movements and removals.</p>
14064
14065 <p>I decided to test if this would work in practice, and picked a
14066 random rack and tagged all the machines with their names.  Next, I
14067 took pictures with my digital camera, and gave the dmtxread program
14068 these JPEG pictures to see how many tags it could read.  This worked
14069 fairly well.  If the pictures was well focused and not taken from the
14070 side, all tags in the image could be read.  Because of limited space
14071 between the racks, I was unable to get a good picture of the entire
14072 rack, but could without problem read all tags from a picture covering
14073 about half the rack.  I had to limit the search time used by dmtxread
14074 to 60000 ms to make sure it terminated in a reasonable time frame.</p>
14075
14076 <p>My conclusion is that this could work, and we should probably look
14077 at adjusting our computer tagging procedures to use bar codes for
14078 easier automatic tracking of computers.</p>
14079
14080       </div>
14081       <div class="tags">
14082
14083
14084         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>.
14085
14086
14087       </div>
14088     </div>
14089     <div class="padding"></div>
14090
14091     <div class="entry">
14092       <div class="title">
14093         <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>
14094       </div>
14095       <div class="date">
14096         17th January 2009
14097       </div>
14098       <div class="body">
14099         <p>As part of the work we do in <a href="http://www.nuug.no">NUUG</a>
14100 to publish video recordings of our monthly presentations, we provide a
14101 page with embedded video for easy access to the recording.  Putting a
14102 good set of HTML tags together to get working embedded video in all
14103 browsers and across all operating systems is not easy.  I hope this
14104 will become easier when the &lt;video&gt; tag is implemented in all
14105 browsers, but I am not sure.  We provide the recordings in several
14106 formats, MPEG1, Ogg Theora, H.264 and Quicktime, and want the
14107 browser/media plugin to pick one it support and use it to play the
14108 recording, using whatever embed mechanism the browser understand.
14109 There is at least four different tags to use for this, the new HTML5
14110 &lt;video&gt; tag, the &lt;object&gt; tag, the &lt;embed&gt; tag and
14111 the &lt;applet&gt; tag.  All of these take a lot of options, and
14112 finding the best options is a major challenge.</p>
14113
14114 <p>I just tested the experimental Opera browser available from <a
14115 href="http://labs.opera.com">labs.opera.com</a>, to see how it handled
14116 a &lt;video&gt; tag with a few video sources and no extra attributes.
14117 I was not very impressed.  The browser start by fetching a picture
14118 from the video stream.  Not sure if it is the first frame, but it is
14119 definitely very early in the recording.  So far, so good. Next,
14120 instead of streaming the 76 MiB video file, it start to download all
14121 of it, but do not start to play the video.  This mean I have to wait
14122 for several minutes for the downloading to finish.  When the download
14123 is done, the playing of the video do not start!  Waiting for the
14124 download, but I do not get to see the video?  Some testing later, I
14125 discover that I have to add the controls="true" attribute to be able
14126 to get a play button to pres to start the video.  Adding
14127 autoplay="true" did not help.  I sure hope this is a misfeature of the
14128 test version of Opera, and that future implementations of the
14129 &lt;video&gt; tag will stream recordings by default, or at least start
14130 playing when the download is done.</p>
14131
14132 <p>The test page I used (since changed to add more attributes) is
14133 <a href="http://www.nuug.no/aktiviteter/20090113-foredrag-om-foredrag/">available
14134 from the nuug site</a>.  Will have to test it with the new Firefox
14135 too.</p>
14136
14137 <p>In the test process, I discovered a missing feature.  I was unable
14138 to find a way to get the URL of the playing video out of Opera, so I
14139 am not quite sure it picked the Ogg Theora version of the video.  I
14140 sure hope it was using the announced Ogg Theora support. :)</p>
14141
14142       </div>
14143       <div class="tags">
14144
14145
14146         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>.
14147
14148
14149       </div>
14150     </div>
14151     <div class="padding"></div>
14152
14153     <div class="entry">
14154       <div class="title">
14155         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Software_video_mixer_on_a_USB_stick.html">Software video mixer on a USB stick</a>
14156       </div>
14157       <div class="date">
14158         28th December 2008
14159       </div>
14160       <div class="body">
14161         <p>The <a href="http://www.nuug.no/">Norwegian Unix User Group</a> is
14162 recording our montly presentation on video, and recently we have
14163 worked on improving the quality of the recordings by mixing the slides
14164 directly with the video stream.  For this, we use the
14165 <a href="http://dvswitch.alioth.debian.org/">dvswitch</a> package from
14166 the Debian video team.  As this require quite one computer per video
14167 source, and NUUG do not have enough laptops available, we need to
14168 borrow laptops.  And to avoid having to install extra software on
14169 these borrwed laptops, I have wrapped up all the programs needed on a
14170 bootable USB stick.  The software required is dvswitch with assosiated
14171 source, sink and mixer applications and
14172 <a href="http://www.kinodv.org/">dvgrab</a>.  To allow this setup to
14173 work without any configuration, I've patched dvswitch to use
14174 <a href="http://www.avahi.org/">avahi</a> to connect the various parts
14175 together.  And to allow us to use laptops without firewire plugs, I
14176 upgraded dvgrab to the one from Debian/unstable to get one that work
14177 with USB sources.  We have not yet tested this setup in a production
14178 setup, but I hope it will work properly, and allow us to set up a
14179 video mixer in a very short time frame.  We will need it for
14180 <a href="http://www.goopen.no/">Go Open 2009</a>.</p>
14181
14182 <p><a href="http://www.nuug.no/pub/video/bin/usbstick-dvswitch.img.gz">The
14183 USB image</a> is for a 1 GB memory stick, but can be used on any
14184 larger stick as well.</p>
14185
14186       </div>
14187       <div class="tags">
14188
14189
14190         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>.
14191
14192
14193       </div>
14194     </div>
14195     <div class="padding"></div>
14196
14197     <div class="entry">
14198       <div class="title">
14199         <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>
14200       </div>
14201       <div class="date">
14202          7th December 2008
14203       </div>
14204       <div class="body">
14205         <p>This weekend we had a small developer gathering for Debian Edu in
14206 Oslo.  Most of Saturday was used for the general assemly for the
14207 member organization, but the rest of the weekend I used to tune the
14208 LTSP installation.  LTSP now work out of the box on the 10-network.
14209 Acer Aspire One proved to be a very nice thin client, with both
14210 screen, mouse and keybard in a small box.  Was working on getting the
14211 diskless workstation setup configured out of the box, but did not
14212 finish it before the weekend was up.</p>
14213
14214 <p>Did not find time to look at the 4 VGA cards in one box we got from
14215 the Brazilian group, so that will have to wait for the next
14216 development gathering.  Would love to have the Debian Edu installer
14217 automatically detect and configure a multiseat setup when it find one
14218 of these cards.</p>
14219
14220       </div>
14221       <div class="tags">
14222
14223
14224         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>.
14225
14226
14227       </div>
14228     </div>
14229     <div class="padding"></div>
14230
14231     <div class="entry">
14232       <div class="title">
14233         <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>
14234       </div>
14235       <div class="date">
14236         25th November 2008
14237       </div>
14238       <div class="body">
14239         <p>Recently I have spent some time evaluating the multimedia browser
14240 plugins available in Debian Lenny, to see which one we should use by
14241 default in Debian Edu.  We need an embedded video playing plugin with
14242 control buttons to pause or stop the video, and capable of streaming
14243 all the multimedia content available on the web.  The test results and
14244 notes are available on
14245 <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/BrowserMultimedia">the
14246 Debian wiki</a>.  I was surprised how few of the plugins are able to
14247 fill this need.  My personal video player favorite, VLC, has a really
14248 bad plugin which fail on a lot of the test pages.  A lot of the MIME
14249 types I would expect to work with any free software player (like
14250 video/ogg), just do not work.  And simple formats like the
14251 audio/x-mplegurl format (m3u playlists), just isn't supported by the
14252 totem and vlc plugins.  I hope the situation will improve soon.  No
14253 wonder sites use the proprietary Adobe flash to play video.</p>
14254
14255 <p>For Lenny, we seem to end up with the mplayer plugin.  It seem to
14256 be the only one fitting our needs. :/</p>
14257
14258       </div>
14259       <div class="tags">
14260
14261
14262         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>.
14263
14264
14265       </div>
14266     </div>
14267     <div class="padding"></div>
14268
14269     <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>
14270     <div id="sidebar">
14271
14272
14273
14274 <h2>Archive</h2>
14275 <ul>
14276
14277 <li>2013
14278 <ul>
14279
14280 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2013/01/">January (11)</a></li>
14281
14282 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2013/02/">February (9)</a></li>
14283
14284 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2013/03/">March (9)</a></li>
14285
14286 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2013/04/">April (3)</a></li>
14287
14288 </ul></li>
14289
14290 <li>2012
14291 <ul>
14292
14293 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/01/">January (7)</a></li>
14294
14295 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/02/">February (10)</a></li>
14296
14297 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/03/">March (17)</a></li>
14298
14299 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/04/">April (12)</a></li>
14300
14301 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/05/">May (12)</a></li>
14302
14303 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/06/">June (20)</a></li>
14304
14305 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/07/">July (17)</a></li>
14306
14307 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/08/">August (6)</a></li>
14308
14309 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/09/">September (9)</a></li>
14310
14311 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/10/">October (17)</a></li>
14312
14313 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/11/">November (10)</a></li>
14314
14315 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/12/">December (7)</a></li>
14316
14317 </ul></li>
14318
14319 <li>2011
14320 <ul>
14321
14322 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/01/">January (16)</a></li>
14323
14324 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/02/">February (6)</a></li>
14325
14326 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/03/">March (6)</a></li>
14327
14328 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/04/">April (7)</a></li>
14329
14330 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/05/">May (3)</a></li>
14331
14332 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/06/">June (2)</a></li>
14333
14334 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/07/">July (7)</a></li>
14335
14336 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/08/">August (6)</a></li>
14337
14338 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/09/">September (4)</a></li>
14339
14340 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/10/">October (2)</a></li>
14341
14342 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/11/">November (3)</a></li>
14343
14344 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/12/">December (1)</a></li>
14345
14346 </ul></li>
14347
14348 <li>2010
14349 <ul>
14350
14351 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/01/">January (2)</a></li>
14352
14353 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/02/">February (1)</a></li>
14354
14355 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/03/">March (3)</a></li>
14356
14357 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/04/">April (3)</a></li>
14358
14359 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/05/">May (9)</a></li>
14360
14361 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/06/">June (14)</a></li>
14362
14363 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/07/">July (12)</a></li>
14364
14365 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/08/">August (13)</a></li>
14366
14367 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/09/">September (7)</a></li>
14368
14369 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/10/">October (9)</a></li>
14370
14371 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/11/">November (13)</a></li>
14372
14373 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/12/">December (12)</a></li>
14374
14375 </ul></li>
14376
14377 <li>2009
14378 <ul>
14379
14380 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/01/">January (8)</a></li>
14381
14382 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/02/">February (8)</a></li>
14383
14384 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/03/">March (12)</a></li>
14385
14386 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/04/">April (10)</a></li>
14387
14388 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/05/">May (9)</a></li>
14389
14390 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/06/">June (3)</a></li>
14391
14392 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/07/">July (4)</a></li>
14393
14394 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/08/">August (3)</a></li>
14395
14396 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/09/">September (1)</a></li>
14397
14398 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/10/">October (2)</a></li>
14399
14400 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/11/">November (3)</a></li>
14401
14402 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/12/">December (3)</a></li>
14403
14404 </ul></li>
14405
14406 <li>2008
14407 <ul>
14408
14409 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2008/11/">November (5)</a></li>
14410
14411 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2008/12/">December (7)</a></li>
14412
14413 </ul></li>
14414
14415 </ul>
14416
14417
14418
14419 <h2>Tags</h2>
14420 <ul>
14421
14422  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/3d-printer">3d-printer (13)</a></li>
14423
14424  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/amiga">amiga (1)</a></li>
14425
14426  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/aros">aros (1)</a></li>
14427
14428  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/bankid">bankid (4)</a></li>
14429
14430  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/bitcoin">bitcoin (6)</a></li>
14431
14432  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/bootsystem">bootsystem (12)</a></li>
14433
14434  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/bsa">bsa (2)</a></li>
14435
14436  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian (71)</a></li>
14437
14438  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu (121)</a></li>
14439
14440  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/digistan">digistan (10)</a></li>
14441
14442  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/docbook">docbook (9)</a></li>
14443
14444  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/drivstoffpriser">drivstoffpriser (4)</a></li>
14445
14446  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english (186)</a></li>
14447
14448  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/fiksgatami">fiksgatami (21)</a></li>
14449
14450  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/fildeling">fildeling (12)</a></li>
14451
14452  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/freeculture">freeculture (11)</a></li>
14453
14454  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/frikanalen">frikanalen (11)</a></li>
14455
14456  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/intervju">intervju (33)</a></li>
14457
14458  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/isenkram">isenkram (6)</a></li>
14459
14460  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/kart">kart (18)</a></li>
14461
14462  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/ldap">ldap (8)</a></li>
14463
14464  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/lenker">lenker (6)</a></li>
14465
14466  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/ltsp">ltsp (1)</a></li>
14467
14468  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/multimedia">multimedia (25)</a></li>
14469
14470  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/norsk">norsk (229)</a></li>
14471
14472  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug (151)</a></li>
14473
14474  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/offentlig innsyn">offentlig innsyn (7)</a></li>
14475
14476  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/open311">open311 (2)</a></li>
14477
14478  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/opphavsrett">opphavsrett (44)</a></li>
14479
14480  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/personvern">personvern (65)</a></li>
14481
14482  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/raid">raid (1)</a></li>
14483
14484  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/reprap">reprap (11)</a></li>
14485
14486  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/rfid">rfid (2)</a></li>
14487
14488  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/robot">robot (6)</a></li>
14489
14490  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/rss">rss (1)</a></li>
14491
14492  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/ruter">ruter (4)</a></li>
14493
14494  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/scraperwiki">scraperwiki (2)</a></li>
14495
14496  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/sikkerhet">sikkerhet (29)</a></li>
14497
14498  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/sitesummary">sitesummary (4)</a></li>
14499
14500  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/skepsis">skepsis (4)</a></li>
14501
14502  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/standard">standard (42)</a></li>
14503
14504  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/stavekontroll">stavekontroll (3)</a></li>
14505
14506  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/stortinget">stortinget (6)</a></li>
14507
14508  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/surveillance">surveillance (15)</a></li>
14509
14510  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/sysadmin">sysadmin (1)</a></li>
14511
14512  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/valg">valg (7)</a></li>
14513
14514  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/video">video (38)</a></li>
14515
14516  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/vitenskap">vitenskap (4)</a></li>
14517
14518  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/web">web (26)</a></li>
14519
14520 </ul>
14521
14522
14523     </div>
14524     <p style="text-align: right">
14525  Created by <a href="http://steve.org.uk/Software/chronicle">Chronicle v4.6</a>
14526 </p>
14527
14528   </body>
14529 </html>