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  13  <h1>
  14      <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/">Petter Reinholdtsen</a>
  15
  16  </h1>
  17
  18 </div>
  19
  20
  21     <h3>Entries tagged "english".</h3>
  22
  23     <div class="entry">
  24       <div class="title">
  25         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/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>
  26       </div>
  27       <div class="date">
  28         22nd October 2012
  29       </div>
  30       <div class="body">
  31         <p>A blog post from Martin Bekkelund today tell the story of
  32 <a href="http://www.bekkelund.net/2012/10/22/outlawed-by-amazon-drm/">how
  33 Amazon erased the books from a customer's kindle, locked the account
  34 and refuse to tell the customer why</a>.  If a real book store did
  35 this to a customer, it would be called breaking into private property
  36 and theft.  The story has spread around the net today.  A bit more
  37 background information is available in Norwegian from
  38 <a href="http://www.digi.no/904658/hun-ble-kastet-ut-av-amazon">digi.no</a>.
  39 It is no surprise that digital restriction mechanisms (DRM) are used
  40 this way, as it has been warned about such abuse since DRM was
  41 introduced many years back.  And Amazon proved in 2009 that it was
  42 willing to
  43 <a href="http://boingboing.net/2009/07/20/amazons-orwellian-de.html">
  44 break into customers equipment and remove the books</a> people had
  45 bought, when it removed the book 1984 by George Orwell from all the
  46 customers who had bought it.  From the official comments, it even
  47 sounded like
  48 <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/18/technology/companies/18amazon.html">Amazon
  49 would never do that again</a>.  And here we are, three years
  50 later.</p>
  51
  52 <p>And thought this action is
  53 <a href="http://www.itavisen.no/904648/forbrukerraadet-helt-haarreisende">against
  54 Norwegian regulations and law</a>, it is according to the terms of use
  55 as written by Amazon, and it is hard to hold Amazon accountable to
  56 Norwegian laws.  It is just yet another example of unacceptable terms
  57 of use on the web, and how they are used to remove customer
  58 rights.</p>
  59
  60 <p>Luckily for electronic books, there are alternatives without
  61 unacceptable terms.  For example
  62 <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/">Project Gutenberg</a> (about 40,000
  63 books), <a href="http://runeberg.org/">Project Runenberg</a> (1,652
  64 books) and <a href="http://www.archive.org/details/texts">The Internet
  65 Archive</a> (3,641,797 books) have heaps of books without DRM, which
  66 can read by anyone and shared with anyone.</p>
  67
  68       </div>
  69       <div class="tags">
  70
  71
  72         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>.
  73
  74
  75       </div>
  76     </div>
  77     <div class="padding"></div>
  78
  79     <div class="entry">
  80       <div class="title">
  81         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/The_fight_for_freedom_and_privacy.html">The fight for freedom and privacy</a>
  82       </div>
  83       <div class="date">
  84         18th October 2012
  85       </div>
  86       <div class="body">
  87         <p>Civil liberties and privacy in the western world are going down the
  88 drain, and it is hard to fight against it.  I try to do my best, but
  89 time is limited.  I hope you do your best too.  A few years ago I came
  90 across a marvellous drawing by
  91 <a href="http://www.claybennett.com/about.html">Clay Bennett</a>
  92 visualising some of what is going on.
  93
  94 <p><a href="http://www.claybennett.com/pages/security_fence.html">
  95 <img src="http://www.claybennett.com/images/archivetoons/security_fence.jpg"></a></p>
  96
  97 <blockquote>
  98 «They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
  99 safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.» - Benjamin Franklin
 100 </blockquote>
 101
 102 <p>Do you feel safe at the airport?  I do not.  Do you feel safe when
 103 you see a surveillance camera?  I do not.  Do you feel safe when you
 104 leave electronic traces of your behaviour and opinions?  I do not.  I
 105 just remember <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panopticon">the
 106 Panopticom</a>, and can not help help to think that we are slowly
 107 transforming our society to a huge Panopticom on our own.</p>
 108
 109       </div>
 110       <div class="tags">
 111
 112
 113         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/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>.
 114
 115
 116       </div>
 117     </div>
 118     <div class="padding"></div>
 119
 120     <div class="entry">
 121       <div class="title">
 122         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/ColonHelp_produser_sue_WordPress_to_silence_critic.html">ColonHelp produser sue WordPress to silence critic</a>
 123       </div>
 124       <div class="date">
 125         12th October 2012
 126       </div>
 127       <div class="body">
 128         <p>Thanks to a blog post by
 129 <a href="http://ramblingfoo.blogspot.no/2012/10/a-shitstorm-is-comming.html">Eddy
 130 Petrișor</a>, I became aware of yet another "alternative medicine"
 131 company using legal intimidation tactics to scare off critics.
 132 According to the originating blog post about the detox "cure"
 133 <a href="http://insulaindoielii.wordpress.com/2012/10/11/colon-help-sues-wordpress/">ColonHelp
 134 and its producers Zenyth Pharmaceuticals actions</a>, the producer
 135 sues Wordpress to get rid of the critical information.  To check if
 136 the story was for real, I contacted Automattic, the company behind
 137 wordpress.com, and they reply was "We can confirm that Zenyth is
 138 seeking a court order against WordPress / Automattic.  However, we
 139 don't believe the Terms of Service have been violated in this
 140 matter".</p>
 141
 142 <p>The story seem to be simply that a blogger checked the scientific
 143 foundation for a popular health product in Rumania, ColonHelp, and
 144 reported that there was no reason at all to believe it improved the
 145 health of its users.  This caused the company behind the product,
 146 Zenyth Pharmaceuticals, to use legal intimidation to try to silence
 147 the critic, instead of presenting its views and scientific foundation
 148 to argue its side.</p>
 149
 150 <p>This is the usual story, and the Zenyth Pharmaceuticals company
 151 deserve everyone to know how it failed to act properly.  Lets hope the
 152 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streisand_effect">Streisand
 153 effect</a> can make it rethink its strategy.</p>
 154
 155 <p>What is the harm, you might think.  I suggest you take a look at
 156 <a href="http://www.whatstheharm.net/detoxification.html">a list of
 157 victims of detoxification</a>.</p>
 158
 159       </div>
 160       <div class="tags">
 161
 162
 163         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>.
 164
 165
 166       </div>
 167     </div>
 168     <div class="padding"></div>
 169
 170     <div class="entry">
 171       <div class="title">
 172         <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>
 173       </div>
 174       <div class="date">
 175          3rd October 2012
 176       </div>
 177       <div class="body">
 178         <p>I just read the blog post from Tim Retout
 179 <a href="http://retout.co.uk/blog/2012/10/02/the-library-challenge">about
 180 the computer science book collection available in his local
 181 library</a>, and just wanted to share my comment on his theory about
 182 computer books becoming obsolete so soon.  That is part of the reason
 183 why the selection is so sad in almost any local library (it is in mine
 184 too), but I believe the major contributing factor is that the people
 185 buying books to the library have no way to know a good and future
 186 computer classic from trash.  And they need to know which one will
 187 become a classic in the future, as they would normally buy one of the
 188 recently published books.</p>
 189
 190 <p>During my university years, I worked for a while at the university
 191 library, and even there the person in charge of buying computer
 192 related books (and in fact any natural science related book), did not
 193 know enough about computers to make a good educated guess.  Once, just
 194 before Christmas, they had some leftover money on the book budget and
 195 I was asked if I could pick out a lot of computer books in the
 196 university book store, for the library to buy for their collection.  I
 197 had a great time picking all the books I dreamt of buying and reading,
 198 and the books I knew were classics (like most of the
 199 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._Richard_Stevens">Stevens
 200 collection</a>).  I picked several of the generic O'Reilly books (ie
 201 documenting protocols, formats and systems, not specific versions of
 202 products) and stayed away from the 'teach yourself X in N days' class.
 203 I had a great time, and probably picked out more than a hundred books
 204 for the library that evening.</p>
 205
 206 <p>The sad fact is that there is no way a overworked librarian is
 207 going to know that for example
 208 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Practice_of_Programming">The
 209 Practice of Programming</a> is a must-have in any computer library,
 210 and they will most of the time end up picking the wrong books to buy.
 211 Perhaps you can help your local library make better choices by giving
 212 the suggestions for books to get?  I know they would love to hear from
 213 you, even if their budget might block them from getting your favourite
 214 book right away.</p>
 215
 216       </div>
 217       <div class="tags">
 218
 219
 220         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
 221
 222
 223       </div>
 224     </div>
 225     <div class="padding"></div>
 226
 227     <div class="entry">
 228       <div class="title">
 229         <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>
 230       </div>
 231       <div class="date">
 232         23rd September 2012
 233       </div>
 234       <div class="body">
 235         <p>Since this summer, I have worked in my spare time on a Norwegian <a
 236 href="http://www.docbook.org/">docbook</a> version of the 2004 book <a
 237 href="http://free-culture.cc/">Free Culture</a> by Lawrence Lessig.
 238 The reason is that this book is a great primer on what problems exist
 239 in the current copyright laws, and I want it to be available also for
 240 those that are reluctant do read an English book.
 241
 242 When I started, I
 243 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Dugnad_for___sende_norsk_versjon_av_Free_Culture_til_stortingets_representanter_.html">called
 244 for volunteers</a> to help me, but too few have volunteered so far,
 245 and progress is a bit slow.  Anyway, today I broken the 70 percent
 246 mark for the first rough translation.  At the moment, less than 700
 247 strings (paragraphs, index terms, titles) are left to translate.  With
 248 my current progress of 10-20 strings per day, it will take a while to
 249 complete the translation.  This graph show the updated progress:</p>
 250
 251 <img width="80%" align="center" src="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig/raw/master/progress.png">
 252
 253 <p>Progress have slowed down lately due to family and work
 254 commitments.  If you want to help, please get in touch, and check out
 255 the project files currently available from
 256 <a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig">github</a>.</p>
 257
 258 <p>If you are curious what the translated book currently look like,
 259 the updated
 260 <a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig/blob/master/archive/freeculture.nb.pdf?raw=true">PDF</a>
 261 and
 262 <a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig/blob/master/archive/freeculture.nb.epub?raw=true">EPUB</a>
 263 are published on github.  The HTML version is published as well, but
 264 github hand it out with MIME type text/plain, confusing browsers, so I
 265 saw no point in linking to that version.</p>
 266
 267       </div>
 268       <div class="tags">
 269
 270
 271         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>.
 272
 273
 274       </div>
 275     </div>
 276     <div class="padding"></div>
 277
 278     <div class="entry">
 279       <div class="title">
 280         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__Giorgio_Pioda.html">Debian Edu interview: Giorgio Pioda</a>
 281       </div>
 282       <div class="date">
 283         17th September 2012
 284       </div>
 285       <div class="body">
 286         <p>After a long break in my row of interviews with people in the
 287 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu and Skolelinux</a>
 288 community, I finally found time to wrap up another.  This time it is
 289 Giorgio Pioda, which showed up on the mailing list at the start of
 290 this year, asking questions and inspiring us to improve the first time
 291 administrators experience with Skolelinux. :) The interview was
 292 conduced in May, but I only found time to publish it now.</p>
 293
 294 <p><strong>Who are you, and how do you spend your days?</strong></p>
 295
 296 <p>I have a PhD in chemistry but since several years I work as teacher
 297 in secondary (15-18 year old students) and tertiary (a kind of "light"
 298 university) schools. Five years ago I started to manage a Learning
 299 Management Service server and slowly I got more and more involved with
 300 IT. 3 years ago the graduating schools moved completely to Linux and I
 301 got the head of the IT for this. The experience collected in chemistry
 302 labs computers (for example NMR analysis of protein folding) and in
 303 the IT-courses during university where sufficient to start. Self
 304 training is anyway very important</p>
 305
 306 <p>I live in the Italian speaking part of Switzerland, and the
 307 <a href="http://www.spse.ch/">SPSE school</a> (secondary) is a very
 308 special sport school for young people who try to became sport pro (for
 309 all sports, we have dozens of disciplines represented) and we are
 310 recognised by the Olympic Swiss Organisation.
 311
 312 <p><strong>How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux/Debian Edu
 313 project?</strong></p>
 314
 315 <p>Looking for Linux / Primary Domain Controller (PDC) I found it
 316 already several years ago. But since the system was still not
 317 Kerberized and since our schools relies strongly on laptops I didn't
 318 use it. I plan to introduce it in the next future, probably for the
 319 next school year, since the squeeze release solved this security
 320 hole.</p>
 321
 322 <p><strong>What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux/Debian
 323 Edu?</strong></p>
 324
 325 <p>Many. First of all there is a strong and living community that is
 326 very generous for help and hints.  Chat help is crucial, together with
 327 the mailing list.  Second. With Skolelinux you get an already well
 328 engineered platform and you don't have to start to build up your PDC
 329 and your clients from GNU/scratch; I've already done this once and I
 330 can tell it, it is hard. Third, since Skolelinux is a standard
 331 platform, it is way easier to educate other IT people and even if the
 332 head IT is sick another one could pick up the task without too much
 333 hassle.</p>
 334
 335 <p><strong>What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux/Debian
 336 Edu?</strong></p>
 337
 338 <p>The only real problem I see is that it is a little too less
 339 flexible at client level. Debian stable is rocky and desirable, but
 340 there are many reasons that force for another choice. For example the
 341 need of new drivers for new PC, or the need for a specific OS for some
 342 devices that have specific software packages for another specific
 343 distribution (I have such a case for whiteboards that have only
 344 Ubuntu packages). Thus, I prepared compatibility packages educlient
 345 and eduroaming, hoping not to use them ;-)</p>
 346
 347 <p><strong>Which free software do you use daily?</strong></p>
 348
 349 <p>I have a Debian Stable PDC at school (Kerberos, NIS, NFS) with
 350 mixed Debian and Ubuntu clients. If you think that this triad
 351 combination is exotic... well I discovered right yesterday that
 352 <a href="http://moo.nac.uci.edu/~hjm/Perceus-Report.html">Perceus</a>
 353 has the same...</p>
 354
 355 <p>For myself I run Debian wheezy/sid, but this combination is good
 356 only I you have enough competence to fix stuff for yourself, if
 357 something breaks.  Daily I use texmacs, gnumeric, a little bit of R
 358 statistics, kmplot, and less frequently OpenOffice.org.</p>
 359
 360 <p><strong>Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to
 361 get schools to use free software?</strong></p>
 362
 363 <P>I think that the only real argument that school managers "hear" is
 364 cost reduction. They don't give too much weight on quality, stability,
 365 just because they are normally not open to change.</p>
 366
 367 <p>Students adapts very quickly to GNU/Linux (and for them being able
 368 to switch between different OS is a plus value); teachers and managers
 369 don't.</p>
 370
 371 <p>We decided to move to Linux because students at our school have own
 372 laptop and we have the responsibility to keep the laptop ready to use;
 373 we were really unsatisfied with Microsoft since every Monday we had 20
 374 machine to fix for viral infections... With Linux this has been
 375 reduced to zero, since people installs almost only from official
 376 repositories. I think that our special needs brought us to Linux.
 377 Those who don't have such needs will hardly move to Linux.</p>
 378
 379       </div>
 380       <div class="tags">
 381
 382
 383         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">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>.
 384
 385
 386       </div>
 387     </div>
 388     <div class="padding"></div>
 389
 390     <div class="entry">
 391       <div class="title">
 392         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/IETF_activity_to_standardise_video_codec.html">IETF activity to standardise video codec</a>
 393       </div>
 394       <div class="date">
 395         15th September 2012
 396       </div>
 397       <div class="body">
 398         <p>After the
 399 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/IETF_standardize_its_first_multimedia_codec__Opus.html">Opus
 400 codec made</a> it into <a href="http://www.ietf.org/">IETF</a> as
 401 <a href="http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6716">RFC 6716</a>, I had a look
 402 to see if there is any activity in IETF to standardise a video codec
 403 too, and I was happy to discover that there is some activity in this
 404 area.  A non-"working group" mailing list
 405 <a href="https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/video-codec">video-codec</a>
 406 was
 407 <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
 408 formal working group should be formed.</p>
 409
 410 <p>I look forward to see how this plays out.  There is already
 411 <a href="http://www.ietf.org/mail-archive/web/video-codec/current/msg00003.html">an
 412 email from someone</a> in the MPEG group at ISO asking people to
 413 participate in the ISO group.  Given how ISO failed with OOXML and given
 414 that it so far (as far as I can remember) only have produced
 415 multimedia formats requiring royalty payments, I suspect
 416 joining the ISO group would be a complete waste of time, but I am not
 417 involved in any codec work and my opinion will not matter much.</p>
 418
 419 <p>If one of my readers is involved with codec work, I hope she will
 420 join this work to standardise a royalty free video codec within
 421 IETF.</p>
 422
 423       </div>
 424       <div class="tags">
 425
 426
 427         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>.
 428
 429
 430       </div>
 431     </div>
 432     <div class="padding"></div>
 433
 434     <div class="entry">
 435       <div class="title">
 436         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/IETF_standardize_its_first_multimedia_codec__Opus.html">IETF standardize its first multimedia codec: Opus</a>
 437       </div>
 438       <div class="date">
 439         12th September 2012
 440       </div>
 441       <div class="body">
 442         <p>Yesterday, <a href="http://www.ietf.org/">IETF</a> announced the
 443 publication of of
 444 <a href="http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6716">RFC 6716, the Definition
 445 of the Opus Audio Codec</a>, a low latency, variable bandwidth, codec
 446 intended for both VoIP, film and music.  This is the first time, as
 447 far as I know, that IETF have standardized a multimedia codec.  In
 448 <a href="http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc3533">RFC 3533</a>, IETF
 449 standardized the OGG container format, and it has proven to be a great
 450 royalty free container for audio, video and movies.  I hope IETF will
 451 continue to standardize more royalty free codeces, after ISO and MPEG
 452 have proven incapable of securing everyone equal rights to publish
 453 multimedia content on the Internet.</p>
 454
 455 <p>IETF require two interoperating independent implementations to
 456 ratify a standard, and have so far ensured to only standardize royalty
 457 free specifications.  Both are key factors to allow everyone (rich and
 458 poor), to compete on equal terms on the Internet.</p>
 459
 460 <p>Visit the <a href="http://opus-codec.org/">Opus project page</a> if
 461 you want to learn more about the solution.</p>
 462
 463       </div>
 464       <div class="tags">
 465
 466
 467         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>.
 468
 469
 470       </div>
 471     </div>
 472     <div class="padding"></div>
 473
 474     <div class="entry">
 475       <div class="title">
 476         <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>
 477       </div>
 478       <div class="date">
 479          7th September 2012
 480       </div>
 481       <div class="body">
 482         <p>As I
 483 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Song_book_for_Computer_Scientists.html">mentioned
 484 this summer</a>, I have created a Computer Science song book a few
 485 years ago, and today I finally found time to create a public
 486 <a href="https://gitorious.org/pere-cs-songbook/pere-cs-songbook">Gitorious
 487 repository for the project</a>.</p>
 488
 489 <p>If you want to help out, please clone the source and submit patches
 490 to the HTML version.  To generate the PDF and PostScript version,
 491 please use prince XML, or let me know about a useful free software
 492 processor capable of creating a good looking PDF from the HTML.</p>
 493
 494 <p>Want to sing?  You can still find the song book in HTML, PDF and
 495 PostScript formats at
 496 <a href="http://www.hungry.com/~pere/cs-songbook/">Petter's Computer
 497 Science Songbook</a>.</p>
 498
 499       </div>
 500       <div class="tags">
 501
 502
 503         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>.
 504
 505
 506       </div>
 507     </div>
 508     <div class="padding"></div>
 509
 510     <div class="entry">
 511       <div class="title">
 512         <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>
 513       </div>
 514       <div class="date">
 515         23rd August 2012
 516       </div>
 517       <div class="body">
 518         <p>I came across a great comment from Simon Phipps today, about how
 519 <a href="http://www.infoworld.com/d/open-source-software/how-microsoft-was-forced-open-office-200233">Microsoft
 520 have been forced to open Office</a>, and it made me remember and
 521 revisit the great site
 522 <a href="http://www.officeshots.org/">officeshots</a> which allow you
 523 to check out how different programs present the ODF file format.  I
 524 recommend both to those of my readers interested in ODF. :)</p>
 525
 526       </div>
 527       <div class="tags">
 528
 529
 530         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>.
 531
 532
 533       </div>
 534     </div>
 535     <div class="padding"></div>
 536
 537     <div class="entry">
 538       <div class="title">
 539         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Half_way_there_with_translated_docbook_version_of_Free_Culture.html">Half way there with translated docbook version of Free Culture</a>
 540       </div>
 541       <div class="date">
 542         17th August 2012
 543       </div>
 544       <div class="body">
 545         <p>In my spare time, I currently work on a Norwegian
 546 <a href="http://www.docbook.org/">docbook</a> version of the 2004 book
 547 <a href="http://free-culture.cc/">Free Culture</a> by Lawrence Lessig,
 548 to get a Norwegian text explaining the problems with the copyright law
 549 I can give to my parents and others that are reluctant to read an
 550 English book.  It is a marvellous set of examples on how the ever
 551 expanding copyright regulations hurt culture and society.  When the
 552 translation is done, I hope to find funding to print and ship a copy
 553 to all the members of the Norwegian parliament, before they sit down
 554 to debate the latest revisions to the Norwegian copyright law.  This
 555 summer I
 556 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Dugnad_for___sende_norsk_versjon_av_Free_Culture_til_stortingets_representanter_.html">called
 557 for volunteers</a> to help me, and I have been able to secure the
 558 valuable contribution from at least one other Norwegian.</p>
 559
 560 <p>Two days ago, we finally broke the 50% mark.  Then more than 50% of
 561 the number of strings to translate (normally paragraphs, but also
 562 titles and index entries are also counted).  All parts from the
 563 beginning up to and including chapter four is translated.  So is
 564 chapters six, seven and the conclusion.  I created a graph to show the
 565 progress:</p>
 566
 567 <img width="80%" align="center" src="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig/raw/master/progress.png">
 568
 569 <p>The number of strings to translate increase as I insert the index
 570 entries into the docbook.  They were missing with the docbook version
 571 I initially started with.  There are still quite a few index entries
 572 missing, but everyone starting with A, B, O, Z and Y are done.  I
 573 currently focus on completing the index entries, to get a complete
 574 english version of the docbook source.</p>
 575
 576 <p>There is still need for translators and people with docbook
 577 knowledge, to be able to get a good looking book (I still struggle
 578 with dblatex, xmlto and docbook-xsl) as well as to do the draft
 579 translation and proof reading.  And I would like the figures to be
 580 redrawn as SVGs to make it easy to translate them.  Any SVG master
 581 around?  I am sure there are some legal terms that are unfamiliar to
 582 me.  If you want to help, please get in touch, and check out the
 583 project files currently available from <a
 584 href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig">github</a>.</p>
 585
 586 <p>If you are curious what the translated book currently look like,
 587 the updated
 588 <a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig/blob/master/archive/freeculture.nb.pdf?raw=true">PDF</a>
 589 and
 590 <a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig/blob/master/archive/freeculture.nb.epub?raw=true">EPUB</a>
 591 are published on github.  The HTML version is published as well, but
 592 github hand it out with MIME type text/plain, confusing browsers, so I
 593 saw no point in linking to that version.</p>
 594
 595       </div>
 596       <div class="tags">
 597
 598
 599         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>.
 600
 601
 602       </div>
 603     </div>
 604     <div class="padding"></div>
 605
 606     <div class="entry">
 607       <div class="title">
 608         <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>
 609       </div>
 610       <div class="date">
 611         10th August 2012
 612       </div>
 613       <div class="body">
 614         <p>In <a href="http://www.docbook.org/">docbook</a> one can specify
 615 the language used at the top, and the processing pipeline will use
 616 this information to pick the correct translations for 'chapter', 'see
 617 also', 'index' etc.  And for most languages used with docbook, I guess
 618 this work just fine.  For example a German user can start the document
 619 with &lt;book lang="de"&gt;, and the document will show up with the
 620 correct content with any of the docbook processors.  This is not the
 621 case for the language
 622 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Free_Culture_in_Norwegian___5_chapters_done__74_percent_left_to_do.html">I
 623 am working with at the moment</a>, Norwegian Bokmål.</p>
 624
 625 <p>For a while, I was confused about which language code to use,
 626 because I was unable to find any language code that would work across
 627 all tools.  I am currently testing dblatex, xmlto, docbook-xsl, and
 628 dbtoepub, and they do not handle Norwegian Bokmål the same way.  Some
 629 of them do not handle it at all.</p>
 630
 631 <p>A bit of background information is probably needed to understand
 632 this mess.  Norwegian is not one, but two written variants.  The
 633 variants are Norwegian Nynorsk and Norwegian Bokmål.  There are three
 634 two letter language codes associated with these languages, Norwegian
 635 is 'no', Norwegian Nynorsk is 'nn' and Norwegian Bokmål is 'nb'.
 636 Historically the 'no' language code was used for Norwegian Bokmål, but
 637 many years ago this was found to be å bad idea, and the recommendation
 638 is to use the most specific language code instead, to avoid confusion.
 639 In the transition period it is a good idea to make sure 'no' was an
 640 alias for 'nb'.</p>
 641
 642 <p>Back to docbook processing tools in Debian.  The dblatex tool only
 643 understand 'nn'.  There are translations for 'no', but not 'nb' (BTS
 644 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/684391">#684391</a>), but due to a bug
 645 (BTS <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/682936">#682936</a>) the 'no'
 646 language code is not recognised.  The docbook-xsl tool chain only
 647 recognise 'nn' and 'nb', but not 'no'.  The xmlto tool only recognise
 648 'nn' and 'nb', but not 'no'.  The end result that there is no language
 649 code I can use to get the docbook file working with all of these tools
 650 at the same time. :(</p>
 651
 652 <p>The correct solution is to use &lt;book lang="nb"&gt;, but it will
 653 take time before that will work with all the free software docbook
 654 processors. :(</p>
 655
 656 <p>Oh, the joy of well integrated tools. :/</p>
 657
 658       </div>
 659       <div class="tags">
 660
 661
 662         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>.
 663
 664
 665       </div>
 666     </div>
 667     <div class="padding"></div>
 668
 669     <div class="entry">
 670       <div class="title">
 671         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Best_way_to_create_a_docbook_book_.html">Best way to create a docbook book?</a>
 672       </div>
 673       <div class="date">
 674         31st July 2012
 675       </div>
 676       <div class="body">
 677         <p>I tried to send this text to the
 678 <a href="https://lists.oasis-open.org/archives/docbook-apps/">docbook-apps
 679 mailing list at lists.oasis-open.org</a>, but it only accept messages
 680 from subscribers and rejected my post, and I completely lack the
 681 bandwidth required to subscribe to another mailing list, so instead I
 682 try to post my message here and hope my blog readers can help me
 683 out.</p>
 684
 685 <p>I am quite new to docbook processing, and am climbing a steep
 686 learning curve at the moment.</p>
 687
 688 <p>To give you some background, I am working on a Norwegian
 689 translation of the book Free Culture by Lawrence Lessig, and I use
 690 docbook to handle the process.  The files to build the book are
 691 available from
 692 <a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig">github</a>.
 693 The book got around 400 pages with parts, images, footnotes, tables,
 694 index entries etc, which has proven to be a challenge for the free
 695 software docbook processors.  My build platform is Debian GNU/Linux
 696 Squeeze.</p>
 697
 698 <p>I want to build PDF, EPUB and HTML version of the book, and have
 699 tried different tool chains to do the conversion from docbook to these
 700 formats.  I am currently focusing on the PDF version, and have a few
 701 problems.</p>
 702
 703 <ul>
 704
 705 <li>Using dblatex, the &lt;part&gt; handling is not the way I want to,
 706    as &lt;/part&gt; do not really end the &lt;part&gt;. (See
 707    <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/683166">BTS report #683166</a>), the
 708    xetex backend (needed to process UTF-8) give incorrect hyphens in
 709    index references spanning several pages (See
 710    <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/682901">BTS report #682901</a>), and
 711    I am unable to get the norwegian template texts (See
 712    <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/682936">BTS report #682936</a>).</li>
 713
 714 <li>Using straight xmlto fail with some latex error (See
 715    <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/683163">BTS report
 716    #683163</a>).</li>
 717
 718 <li>Using xmlto with the fop backend fail to handle images (do not
 719    show up in the PDF), fail to handle a long footnote (overlap
 720    footnote and text body, see
 721    <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/683197">BTS report #683197</a>), and
 722    fail to create a correct index (some lack page ref, and the page
 723    refs listed are not right).</li>
 724
 725 <li>Using xmlto with the dblatex backend behave like dblatex.</li>
 726
 727 <li>Using docbook-xls with xsltproc + fop have the same footnote and
 728    index problems the xmlto + fop processing.</li>
 729
 730 </ul>
 731
 732 <p>So I wonder, what would be the best way to create the PDF version
 733 of this book?  Are some of the bugs found above solved in new or
 734 experimental versions of some docbook tool chain?</p>
 735
 736 <p>What about HTML and EPUB versions?</p>
 737
 738       </div>
 739       <div class="tags">
 740
 741
 742         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>.
 743
 744
 745       </div>
 746     </div>
 747     <div class="padding"></div>
 748
 749     <div class="entry">
 750       <div class="title">
 751         <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>
 752       </div>
 753       <div class="date">
 754         21st July 2012
 755       </div>
 756       <div class="body">
 757         <p>I reported earlier that I am working on
 758 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Dugnad_for___sende_norsk_versjon_av_Free_Culture_til_stortingets_representanter_.html">a
 759 norwegian version</a> of the book
 760 <a href="http://free-culture.cc/">Free Culture</a> by Lawrence Lessig.
 761 Progress is good, and yesterday I got a major contribution from Anders
 762 Hagen Jarmund completing chapter six.  The source files as well as a
 763 PDF and EPUB version of this book are available from
 764 <a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig">github</a>.</p>
 765
 766 <p>I am happy to report that the draft for the first two chapters
 767 (preface, introduction) is complete, and three other chapters are also
 768 completely translated.  This completes 26 percent of the number of
 769 strings (equivalent to paragraphs) in the book, and there is thus 74
 770 percent left to translate.  A graph of the progress is present at the
 771 bottom of the github project page.  There is still room for more
 772 contributors.  Get in touch or send github pull requests with fixes if
 773 you got time and are willing to help make this book make it to
 774 print. :)</p>
 775
 776 <p>The book translation framework could also be a good basis for other
 777 translations, if you want the book to be available in your
 778 language.</p>
 779
 780       </div>
 781       <div class="tags">
 782
 783
 784         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>.
 785
 786
 787       </div>
 788     </div>
 789     <div class="padding"></div>
 790
 791     <div class="entry">
 792       <div class="title">
 793         <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>
 794       </div>
 795       <div class="date">
 796         16th July 2012
 797       </div>
 798       <div class="body">
 799         <p>I am currently working on a
 800 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Dugnad_for___sende_norsk_versjon_av_Free_Culture_til_stortingets_representanter_.html">project
 801 to translate</a> the book
 802 <a href="http://free-culture.cc/">Free Culture</a> by Lawrence Lessig
 803 to Norwegian.  And the source we base our translation on is the
 804 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DocBook">docbook</a> version, to
 805 allow us to use po4a and .po files to handle the translation, and for
 806 this to work well the docbook source document need to be properly
 807 tagged.  The source files of this project is available from
 808 <a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig">github</a>.</p>
 809
 810 <p>The problem is that the docbook source have flaws, and we have
 811 no-one involved in the project that is a docbook expert.  Is there a
 812 docbook expert somewhere that is interested in helping us create a
 813 well tagged docbook version of the book, and adjust our build process
 814 for the PDF, EPUB and HTML version of the book?  This will provide a
 815 well tagged English version (our source document), and make it a lot
 816 easier for us to create a good Norwegian version.  If you can and want
 817 to help, please get in touch with me or fork the github project and
 818 send pull requests with fixes. :)</p>
 819
 820       </div>
 821       <div class="tags">
 822
 823
 824         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>.
 825
 826
 827       </div>
 828     </div>
 829     <div class="padding"></div>
 830
 831     <div class="entry">
 832       <div class="title">
 833         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__George_Bredberg.html">Debian Edu interview: George Bredberg</a>
 834       </div>
 835       <div class="date">
 836          9th July 2012
 837       </div>
 838       <div class="body">
 839         <p>The <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu /
 840 Skolelinux</a> project have users all over the globe, but until
 841 recently we have not known about any users in Norway's neighbour
 842 country Sweden.  This changed when George Bredberg showed up in March
 843 this year on the mailing list, asking interesting questions about how
 844 to adjust and scale the just released
 845 <a href="http://www.debian.org/News/2012/20120311.html">Debian Edu
 846 Wheezy</a> setup to his liking.  He granted me an interview, and I am
 847 happy to share his answers with you here.</p>
 848
 849 <p><strong>Who are you, and how do you spend your days?</strong></p>
 850
 851 <p>I'm a 44 year old country guy that have been working 12 years at
 852 the same school as 50% IT-manager and 50% Teacher. My educational
 853 background is fil.kand in history and religious beliefs, an exam as a
 854 "folkhighschool" teacher, that is, for teaching grownups.  In
 855 Norwegian I believe it's called "Vuxenupplaring". I also have a master
 856 in "Technology and social change". So I'm not really a tech guy, I
 857 just like to study how humans and technology interact and that is my
 858 perspective when working with IT.</p>
 859
 860 <p><strong>How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux/Debian Edu
 861 project?</strong></p>
 862
 863 I have followed the Skolelinux project for quite some time by
 864 now. Earlier I tested out the K12-LTSP project, which we used for some
 865 time, but I really like the idea of having a distribution aimed to be
 866 a complete solution for schools with necessary tools integrated. When
 867 K12-LTSP abandoned that idea some years ago, I started to look more
 868 seriously into Skolelinux instead.
 869
 870 <p><strong>What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux/Debian
 871 Edu?</strong></p>
 872
 873 The big point of Skolelinux to me is that it is a complete
 874 distribution, ready to install. It has LDAP-support, MS Windows
 875 integration tools and so forth already configured, saving an
 876 administrator a lot of time and headache. We were using another Linux
 877 based thin-client system called Thinlinc, that has served us very
 878 well. But that Skolelinux is based on VNC and LTSP, to me, is better
 879 when it comes to the kind of multimedia used in schools. That is
 880 showing videos from Youtube or educational TV. It is also easier to
 881 mix thin clients with workstations, since the user settings will be the
 882 same. In our VNC-based solution you had to "beat around the bush" by
 883 setting up a second, hidden, home-directory for user settings for the
 884 workstations, because they will be different from the ones used on the
 885 thin clients. Skolelinux support for diskless workstations are very
 886 convenient since a school today often need to use a class room
 887 projector showing videos in full screen. That is easily done with a
 888 small integrated media computer running as a diskless workstation. You
 889 have only two installs to update and configure. One for the thin
 890 clients and one for the workstations. Also saving a lot of time.  Our
 891 old system was also based on Redhat and CentOS. They are both very
 892 nice distributions, but they are sometimes painfully slow when it
 893 comes to updating multimedia support and multimedia programs (even
 894 such as Gimp), leaving us with a bit "oldish" applications. Debian is
 895 quicker to update.
 896
 897 <p><strong>What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux/Debian
 898 Edu?</strong></p>
 899
 900 <p>Debian is a bit too quick when it comes to updating. As an example
 901 we use old HP terminals as thinclients, and two times already this
 902 year (2012) the updates you get from the repositories has stopped
 903 sound from working with them.  It's a kernel/ALSA issue. So you have
 904 to be more careful properly testing the updates before you run them in
 905 a production environment. This has never happened with CentOS.</p>
 906
 907 <p>I also would like to be able to set my own domain-settings at
 908 install time.  In Skolelinux they are kind of hard coded into the
 909 distribution, when it comes to LDAP and at least samba integration.
 910 That is more a cosmetic/translation issue, and not a real problem.
 911 Running MS Windows applications within the Skolelinux environment needs
 912 to be better supported. That is, running them seamlessly via RDP, and
 913 support for single-sign on.  That will make the transition to free
 914 software easier, because you can keep the applications you really
 915 need.  No support will make it impossible if you work in a school where
 916 some applications can't be open source. As for us we really need to
 917 run Adobe InDesign in our journalist classes.  We run a journalist
 918 education, and is one of the very few non university ones that is ok:d
 919 by Svenska journalistförbundet (Swedish journalist association).  Our
 920 education gives the pupils the right of membership there, once they
 921 are done.  This is important if you want to get a job.</p>
 922
 923 <p>Adobe InDesign is the program most commonly used in newspapers and
 924 magazines.  We used Quark Express before, but they seem to loose there
 925 market to Adobe. The only "equivalent" to InDesign in the opensource
 926 world is Scribus, and its not advanced enough. At least not according
 927 to the teacher. I think it would be possible to use it, because they
 928 are not supposed to learn a program, they are supposed to learn how to
 929 edit and compile a newspaper.  But politically at our school we are not
 930 there yet.  And Scribus lacks a lot of things you find i InDesign.</p>
 931
 932 <p>We used even a windows program for sound editing when it comes to
 933 the radio-journalist part. The year to come we are going to try
 934 Audacity. That software has the same kind of limitations compared to
 935 Adobe Audition, but that teacher is a bit more open minded. We have
 936 tried Ardour also, but that instead is more like a music studio
 937 program, not intended for the kind of editing taking place in a radio
 938 studio. Its way to complex and the GUI is to scattered when you only
 939 want to cut, make pass-overs, add extra channels and normalise.  Those
 940 things you can do in Audacity, but its not as easy as in Audition. You
 941 have to do more things manually with envelopes, and that is a bit old
 942 fashion and timewasting. Its also harder to cut and move sound from
 943 one channel to another, which is a thing that you do frequently
 944 because you often find yourself needing to rearrange parts of the
 945 sound file.</p>
 946
 947 <p>So, I am not sure we will succeed in replacing even Audition, but we
 948 will try.  The problem is the students have certain expectations when
 949 they start an education towards a profession.  So the programs has to
 950 look and feel professional.  Good thing with radio, there are many
 951 programs out there, that radio studios use, so its not as standardised
 952 as Newspaper editing. That means, it does not really matter what
 953 program they learn, because once they start working they still have to
 954 learn the program the studio uses, so instead focus has to be to learn
 955 the editing part without to much focus on a specific software.</p>
 956
 957 <p><strong>Which free software do you use daily?</strong></p>
 958
 959 <p>Myself I'm running Linux Mint, or Ubuntu these days.  I use almost
 960 only open source software, and preferably Linux based. When it comes
 961 to most used applications its OpenOffice, and Firefox (of course ;)
 962 )</p>
 963
 964 <p><strong>Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to
 965 get schools to use free software?</strong></p>
 966
 967 <p>To get schools to use free software there has to be good open
 968 source software that are windows based, to ease the transition. But
 969 it's also very important that the multimedia support is working
 970 flawlessly.  The problems with Youtube, Twitter, Facebook and whatever
 971 will create problems when it comes to both teachers and
 972 students. Economy are also important for schools, so using thin
 973 clients, as long as they have good multimedia support, is a very good
 974 idea. It's also important that the open source software works even for
 975 the administration.  It's hard to convince the teachers to stick with
 976 open source, if the principal has to run Windows.  It also creates a
 977 problem if some classes has to use Windows for there tasks, since that
 978 will create a difference in "status" between classes, so a good
 979 support for running windows applications via the thin client (Linux)
 980 desktop is essential.  At least at our school, where we have mixed
 981 level of educations, from high-school to journalist-school.</p>
 982
 983 <p>Update 2012-07-09 08:30: Paul Wise tipped me on IRC about three
 984 useful sources related to Free Software for radio stations: the LWN
 985 article <a href="https://lwn.net/Articles/481607/">Radio station
 986 management with Airtime</a>,
 987 <a href="http://www.sourcefabric.org/en/airtime/">Airtime</a> which
 988 claim to be a Free open source radio automation software and
 989 <a href="http://www.rivendellaudio.org/">Rivendell</a> which claim to
 990 be complete radio broadcast automation solution.  All of them seem
 991 useful to the aspiring radio producer.</p>
 992
 993       </div>
 994       <div class="tags">
 995
 996
 997         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">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>.
 998
 999
1000       </div>
1001     </div>
1002     <div class="padding"></div>
1003
1004     <div class="entry">
1005       <div class="title">
1006         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Why_do_schools_waste_money_on_IT_.html">Why do schools waste money on IT?</a>
1007       </div>
1008       <div class="date">
1009          8th July 2012
1010       </div>
1011       <div class="body">
1012         <p>In the Debian Edu / Skolelinux project, we have realised that one
1013 of the major blockers for the project success is the purchasing skills
1014 in schools and municipalities.  We provide what the happy users of
1015 Debian Edu / Skolelinux say they need and to a lower cost than the
1016 alternatives, and yet so few schools decide to use our solution.  I
1017 was pleased to discover the same observation done by mySociety and Tom
1018 Steinberg in his blog post
1019 "<a href="http://www.mysociety.org/2012/06/19/can-you-recognize-the-million-pound-chair/">Can
1020 you recognize the million pound chair?</a>".  Read it and weep for the
1021 spending of your tax money.</p>
1022
1023 <p>Of course there are other factors involved as well, like our
1024 projects bad marketing skills and the Linux community fragmentation
1025 causing worry with the people on the outside, so we as a project need
1026 to keep working hard to gain users, but it is a up-hill battle when
1027 public decision makers are unable to understand computer system
1028 purchases.</p>
1029
1030       </div>
1031       <div class="tags">
1032
1033
1034         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
1035
1036
1037       </div>
1038     </div>
1039     <div class="padding"></div>
1040
1041     <div class="entry">
1042       <div class="title">
1043         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Free_Timetabling_Software___nice_free_software.html">Free Timetabling Software - nice free software</a>
1044       </div>
1045       <div class="date">
1046          7th July 2012
1047       </div>
1048       <div class="body">
1049         <p>Included in <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu /
1050 Skolelinux</a> is a large collection of end user and school specific
1051 software.  It is one of the packages not installed by default but
1052 provided in the Debian archive for schools to install if they want to,
1053 is a system to automatically plan the school time table using
1054 information about available teachers, classes and rooms, combined with
1055 the list of required courses and how many hours each topic should
1056 receive.  The software is
1057
1058 <a href="http://lalescu.ro/liviu/fet/">named FET</a>, and it provide a
1059 graphical user interface to input the required information, save the
1060 result in a fairly simple XML format, and generate time tables for
1061 both teachers and students.  It is available both for
1062 <a href="http://lalescu.ro/liviu/fet/download.html">Linux, MacOSX and
1063 Windows</a>.</p>
1064
1065 <p>This is <a href="http://lalescu.ro/liviu/fet/features.html">the
1066 feature list</a>, liftet from the project web site:</p>
1067
1068 <p><ul>
1069
1070   <li>FET is free software, licensed under the GNU GPL v2 or later.
1071     You can freely use, copy, modify and redistribute it </li>
1072
1073   <li>Localized to en_US (US English, default), ar (Arabic), ca
1074     (Catalan), da (Danish), de (German), el (Greek), es (Spanish), fa
1075     (Persian), fr (French), gl (Galician), he (Hebrew), hu
1076     (Hungarian), id (Indonesian), it (Italian), lt (Lithuanian), mk
1077     (Macedonian), ms (Malay), nl (Dutch), pl (Polish), pt_BR
1078     (Brazilian Portuguese), ro (Romanian), ru (Russian), si (Sinhala),
1079     sk (Slovak), sr (Serbian), tr (Turkish), uk (Ukrainian), uz
1080     (Uzbek) and vi (Vietnamese) (incompletely for some languages)
1081     </li>
1082
1083   <li>Fully automatic generation algorithm, allowing also
1084     semi-automatic or manual allocation</li>
1085
1086   <li>Platform independent implementation, allowing running on
1087     GNU/Linux, Windows, Mac and any system that Qt supports </li>
1088
1089   <li>Flexible modular XML format for the input file, allowing editing
1090     with an XML editor or by hand (besides FET interface)</li>
1091
1092   <li>Import/export from CSV format</li>
1093
1094   <li>The resulted timetables are exported into HTML, XML and CSV
1095     formats </li>
1096
1097   <li>Flexible students structure, organized into sets: years, groups
1098     and subgroups. FET allows overlapping years and groups and
1099     non-overlapping subgroups. You can even define individual students
1100     (as separate sets)</li>
1101
1102   <li>Each constraint has a weight percentage, from 0.0% to 100.0%
1103     (but some special constraints are allowed to have only 100% weight
1104     percentage)</li>
1105
1106   <li>Limits for the algorithm (all these limits can be increased on
1107     demand, as a custom version, because this would require a bit more
1108     memory):
1109     <ul>
1110       <li>Maximum total number of hours (periods) per day: 60</li>
1111       <li>Maximum number of working days per week: 35</li>
1112       <li>Maximum total number of teachers: 6000</li>
1113       <li>Maximum total number of sets of students: 30000</li>
1114       <li>Maximum total number of subjects: 6000</li>
1115       <li>Virtually unlimited number of activity tags</li>
1116       <li>Maximum number of activities: 30000</li>
1117       <li>Maximum number of rooms: 6000</li>
1118       <li>Maximum number of buildings: 6000</li>
1119       <li>Possibility of adding multiple teachers and
1120           students sets for each activity.  (it is possible
1121           also to have no teachers or no students sets for an
1122           activity)</li>
1123       <li>Virtually unlimited number of time constraints</li>
1124       <li>Virtually unlimited number of space constraints</li>
1125     </ul></li>
1126
1127   <li>A large and flexible palette of time constraints:
1128     <ul>
1129       <li>Break periods</li>
1130       <li>For teacher(s):
1131         <ul>
1132           <li>Not available periods</li>
1133           <li>Max/min days per week</li>
1134           <li>Max gaps per day/week</li>
1135           <li>Max hours daily/continuously</li>
1136           <li>Min hours daily</li>
1137           <li>Max hours daily/continuously with an activity tag</li>
1138
1139           <li>Respect working in an hourly interval a max number of
1140             days per week</li>
1141         </ul></li>
1142       <li>For students (sets):
1143         <ul>
1144           <li>Not available periods</li>
1145           <li>Begins early (specify max allowed beginnings at second hour)</li>
1146           <li>Max gaps per day/week</li>
1147           <li>Max hours daily/continuously</li>
1148           <li>Min hours daily</li>
1149           <li>Max hours daily/continuously with an activity tag</li>
1150
1151           <li>Respect working in an hourly interval a max number of
1152             days per week</li>
1153         </ul></li>
1154       <li>For an activity or a set of activities/subactivities:
1155         <ul>
1156           <li>A single preferred starting time</li>
1157           <li>A set of preferred starting times</li>
1158           <li>A set of preferred time slots</li>
1159           <li>Min/max days between them</li>
1160           <li>End(s) students day</li>
1161           <li>Same starting time/day/hour</li>
1162           <li>Occupy max time slots from selection (a complex and
1163             flexible constraint, useful in many situations)</li>
1164           <li>Consecutive, ordered, grouped (for 2 or 3 (sub)activities)</li>
1165           <li>Not overlapping</li>
1166           <li>Max simultaneous in selected time slots</li>
1167           <li>Min gaps between a set of (sub)activities</li>
1168         </ul></li>
1169     </ul></li>
1170
1171   <li>A large and flexible palette of space constraints:
1172     <ul>
1173       <li>Room not available periods</li>
1174       <li>For teacher(s):
1175         <ul>
1176           <li>Home room(s)</li>
1177           <li>Max building changes per day/week</li>
1178           <li>Min gaps between building changes</li>
1179         </ul>
1180       </li>
1181
1182       <li>For students (sets):
1183         <ul>
1184           <li>Home room(s)</li>
1185           <li>Max building changes per day/week</li>
1186           <li>Min gaps between building changes</li>
1187         </ul>
1188       </li>
1189       <li>Preferred room(s):
1190         <ul>
1191           <li>For a subject</li>
1192           <li>For an activity tag</li>
1193           <li>For a subject and an activity tag</li>
1194           <li>Individually for a (sub)activity</li>
1195         </ul>
1196       </li>
1197
1198       <li>For a set of activities:
1199         <ul>
1200           <li>Occupy a maximum number of different rooms</li>
1201         </ul>
1202       </li>
1203     </ul>
1204   </li>
1205 </ul></p>
1206
1207 <p>I have not used it myself, as I am not involved in time table
1208 planning at a school, but it seem to work fine when I test it.  If you
1209 need to set up your schools time table, and is tired of doing it
1210 manually, check it out.
1211
1212 A quick summary on how to use it can be found in
1213 <a href="http://marvelsoft.co.in/wp/2012/03/generate-timetable-for-state-cbse-icse-igcse-schools-free/">a
1214 blog post from MarvelSoft</a>.  If you find FET useful, please provide
1215 a recipe for the Debian Edu project in the
1216 <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu#Howtos">Debian Edu HowTo
1217 section</a>.</p>
1218
1219       </div>
1220       <div class="tags">
1221
1222
1223         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
1224
1225
1226       </div>
1227     </div>
1228     <div class="padding"></div>
1229
1230     <div class="entry">
1231       <div class="title">
1232         <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>
1233       </div>
1234       <div class="date">
1235          3rd July 2012
1236       </div>
1237       <div class="body">
1238         <p>In the NUUG <a href="http://www.fiksgatami.no/">FiksGataMi</a>
1239 project (Norwegian version of
1240 <a href="http://www.fixmystreet.com/">FixMyStreet</a> from
1241 <a href="http://www.mysociety.org/">mySociety</a>), we have discovered
1242 a problem with the municipalities using
1243 <a href="http://www.zimbra.com/">Zimbra</a>.  When FiksGataMi send a
1244 problem report to the government, the email From: address is set to
1245 the address of the person reporting the problem, while envelope sender
1246 is set to the FiksGataMi contact address.  The intention is to make
1247 sure the municipality send any replies to the person reporting the
1248 problem, while any email delivery problems are sent to us in NUUG.
1249 This work well in most cases, but not for Karmøy municipality using
1250 Zimbra.  Karmøy is using the vacation message function in Zimbra to
1251 send an automatic reply to report that the message has been received,
1252 and this message is sent to the envelope sender and not the address in
1253 the From: header.</p>
1254
1255 <p>This causes the automatic message from Karmøy to go to NUUGs
1256 request-tracker instance instead of to the person reporting the
1257 problem.  We can not really change the envelope sender address, as
1258 this would make it impossible for us to discover when there are
1259 problems with the MTAs receiving problem reports.  We have been in
1260 contact with the people at Karmøy municipality, and they are willing
1261 to adjust Zimbra if something can be changed there to get a better
1262 behaviour.</p>
1263
1264 <p>The default behaviour of Zimbra is as far as I can tell according
1265 to the specification in RFC 3834, which recommend that vacation
1266 messages are sent to the envelope sender and not to the From: address.
1267 But I wonder if it is possible to adjust or configure Zimbra to behave
1268 differently.  Anyone know?  Please let us know at
1269 <a href="http://lists.nuug.no/mailman/listinfo/fiksgatami">fiksgatami
1270 (at) nuug.no</a>.</p>
1271
1272       </div>
1273       <div class="tags">
1274
1275
1276         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>.
1277
1278
1279       </div>
1280     </div>
1281     <div class="padding"></div>
1282
1283     <div class="entry">
1284       <div class="title">
1285         <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>
1286       </div>
1287       <div class="date">
1288         26th June 2012
1289       </div>
1290       <div class="body">
1291         <p>I've been too busy at home, but finally I found time to wrap up
1292 another interview with the people behind
1293 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu and Skolelinux</a>.
1294 This time we get to know José Luis Redrejo Rodríguez, one of our great
1295 helpers from Spain.  His effort was the reason we added support for
1296 several desktop types (KDE, Gnome and most recently LXDE) in Debian
1297 Edu, and have all of these available in the recently published
1298 <a href="http://www.debian.org/News/2012/20120311.html">Debian Edu
1299 Squeeze</a> version.</p>
1300
1301 <p><strong>Who are you, and how do you spend your days?</strong></p>
1302
1303 <p>I'm a father, teacher and engineer who is working for the Education
1304 ministry of the Region of Extremadura (Spain) in the implementation of
1305 ICT in schools</p>
1306
1307 <p><strong>How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux/Debian Edu
1308 project?</strong></p>
1309
1310 <p>At 2006, I verified that both, we in Extremadura and Skolelinux
1311 project, had been working in parallel for some years, doing very
1312 similar things, using very similar tools and with similar targets, so
1313 I decided it was time to join forces as much as possible.</p>
1314
1315 <p><strong>What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux/Debian
1316 Edu?</strong></p>
1317
1318 <p>A community of highly skilled experts working together, with a
1319 really open schema of collaboration and work. I really love the
1320 concepts of Do-ocracy and Merit-ocracy and the way these concepts are
1321 been used everyday inside Debian Edu.</p>
1322
1323 <p><strong>What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux/Debian
1324 Edu?</strong></p>
1325
1326 <p>Sometimes the differences in the implementations, laws or
1327 economical and technical resources in the different countries don't
1328 allow us to agree in the same solution for all of us, and several
1329 approaches are needed, what is a waste of effort. Also, there is a
1330 lack of more man power to be able to follow the fast evolution of the
1331 technologies in school.</p>
1332
1333 <p><strong>Which free software do you use daily?</strong></p>
1334
1335 <p>Debian, of course, and due to my kind of job I am most of my time
1336 between Iceweasel, <a href="http://www.geany.org/">Geany</a> and
1337 <a href="http://www.ohloh.net/p/gnome-terminator">Terminator</a>.</p>
1338
1339 <p><strong>Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to
1340 get schools to use free software?</strong></p>
1341
1342 <p>I think there is not a single strategy because there are very
1343 different scenarios: schools with mixed proprietary and free
1344 environments, schools using only workstations, other schools using
1345 laptops, netbooks, tablets, interactive white-boards, etc.</p>
1346
1347 <p>Also the range of ages of the students is very broad and you can
1348 not use the same solutions for primary schools and secondary or even
1349 universities. So different strategies are needed.</p>
1350
1351 <p>But, looking at these differences, and looking back to the things
1352 we've done and implemented, and the places were we have spent most of
1353 our forces, I think we should focus as much as possible in free
1354 multi-platform environments, using only standards tools, and moving
1355 more and more to Internet or network solutions that could be deployed
1356 using wireless. I think we'll see more and more personal devices in
1357 the schools, devices the students and teachers will take home with
1358 them, so the solutions must be able to be taken at home and continue
1359 working there.</p>
1360
1361       </div>
1362       <div class="tags">
1363
1364
1365         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">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>.
1366
1367
1368       </div>
1369     </div>
1370     <div class="padding"></div>
1371
1372     <div class="entry">
1373       <div class="title">
1374         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Song_book_for_Computer_Scientists.html">Song book for Computer Scientists</a>
1375       </div>
1376       <div class="date">
1377         24th June 2012
1378       </div>
1379       <div class="body">
1380         <p>Many years ago, while studying Computer Science at the
1381 <a href="http://www.uit.no/">University of Tromsø</a>, I started
1382 collecting computer related songs for use at parties.  The original
1383 version was written in LaTeX, but a few years ago I got help from
1384 Håkon W. Lie, one of the inventors of W3C CSS, to convert it to HTML
1385 while keeping the ability to create a nice book in PDF format.  I have
1386 not had time to maintain the book for a while now, and guess I should
1387 put it up on some public version control repository where others can
1388 help me extend and update the book.  If anyone is volunteering to help
1389 me with this, send me an email.  Also let me know if there are songs
1390 missing in my book.</p>
1391
1392 <p>I have not mentioned the book on my blog so far, and it occured to
1393 me today that I really should let all my readers share the joys of
1394 singing out load about programming, computers and computer networks.
1395 Especially now that <a href="http://debconf12.debconf.org/">Debconf
1396 12</a> is about to start (and I am not going).  Want to sing?  Check
1397 out <a href="http://www.hungry.com/~pere/cs-songbook/">Petter's
1398 Computer Science Songbook</a>.
1399
1400       </div>
1401       <div class="tags">
1402
1403
1404         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>.
1405
1406
1407       </div>
1408     </div>
1409     <div class="padding"></div>
1410
1411     <div class="entry">
1412       <div class="title">
1413         <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>
1414       </div>
1415       <div class="date">
1416         11th June 2012
1417       </div>
1418       <div class="body">
1419         <p>During my work on
1420 <a href="http://www.debian.org/News/2012/20120311.nb.html">Debian Edu
1421 based on Squeeze</a>, I came across some issues that should be
1422 addressed in the Wheezy release.  I finally found time to wrap up my
1423 notes and provide quick summary of what I found, with a bit
1424 explanation.</p>
1425
1426 <p><ul>
1427
1428 <li>We need to rewrite our package installation framework, as tasksel
1429 changed from using tasksel tasks to using meta packages (aka packages
1430 with dependencies like our education-* packages), and our installation
1431 system depend on tasksel tasks in
1432 /usr/share/tasksel/debian-edu-tasks.desc for package
1433 installation.</li>
1434
1435 <li>Enable Kerberos login for more services.  Now with the Kerberos
1436 foundation in place, we should use it to get single sign on with more
1437 services, and avoiding unneeded password / login questions.  We should
1438 at least try to enable it for these services:
1439 <ul>
1440
1441   <li>CUPS for admins to add/configure printers and users when using
1442     quotas.</li>
1443   <li>Nagios for admins checking the system status.</li>
1444   <li>GOsa for admins updating LDAP and users changing their passwords.</li>
1445   <li>LDAP for admins updating LDAP.</li>
1446   <li>Squid for users when exam mode / filtering is active.</li>
1447   <li>ssh for admins and users to save a password prompt.</li>
1448
1449 </ul></li>
1450
1451 <li>When we move GOsa to use Kerberos instead of LDAP bind to
1452 authenticate users, we should try to block or at least limit access to
1453 use LDAP bind for authentication, to ensure Kerberos is used when it
1454 is intended, and nothing fall back to using the less safe LDAP bind</li>
1455
1456 <li>Merge debian-edu-config and debian-edu-install.  The split made
1457 sense when d-e-install did a lot more, but these days it is just an
1458 inconvenience when we update the debconf preseeding values.</li>
1459
1460 <li>Fix partman-auto to allow us to abort the installation before
1461 touching the disk if the disk is too small.  This is
1462 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/653305">BTS report #653305</a> and the
1463 d-i developers are fine with the patch and someone just need to apply
1464 it and upload.  After this is done we need to adjust
1465 debian-edu-install to use this new hook.</li>
1466
1467 <li>Adjust to new LTSP framework (boot time config instead of install
1468 time config).  LTSP changed its design, and our hooks to install
1469 packages and update the configuration is most likely not going to work
1470 in Wheezy.
1471
1472 <li>Consider switching to NBD instead of NFS for LTSP root, to allow
1473 the Kernel to cache files in its normal file cache, possibly speeding
1474 up KDE login on slow networks.</li>
1475
1476 <li>Make it possible to create expired user passwords that need to
1477 change on first login.  This is useful when handing out password on
1478 paper, to make sure only the user know the password.  This require
1479 fixes to the PAM handling of kdm and gdm.</li>
1480
1481 <li>Make GUI for adding new machines automatically from sitesummary.
1482 The current command line script is not very friendly to people most
1483 familiar with GUIs.  This should probably be integrated into GOsa to
1484 have it available where the admin will be looking for it..</li>
1485
1486 <li>We should find way for Nagios to check that the DHCP service
1487 actually is working (as in handling out IP addresses).  None of the
1488 Nagios checks I have found so far have been working for me.</li>
1489
1490 <li>We should switch from libpam-nss-ldapd to sssd for all profiles
1491 using LDAP, and not only on for roaming workstations, to have less
1492 packages to configure and consistent setup across all profiles.</li>
1493
1494 <li>We should configure Kerberos to update LDAP and Samba password
1495 when changing password using the Kerberos protocol.  The hook was
1496 requested in <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/588968">BTS report
1497 #588968</a> and is now available in Wheezy.  We might need to write a
1498 MIT Kerberos plugin in C to get this.</li>
1499
1500 <li>We should clean up the set of applications installed by default.
1501 <ul>
1502
1503 <li>reduce the number of chemistry visualisers</li>
1504 <li>consider dropping xpaint</li>
1505 <li>and probably more?</li>
1506 </ul></li>
1507
1508 <li>Some hardware need external firmware to work properly.  This is
1509 mostly the case for WiFi network cards, but there are some other
1510 examples too.  For popular laptops to work out of the box, such
1511 firmware need to be installed from non-free, and we should provide
1512 some GUI to do this.  Ubuntu already have this implemented, and we
1513 could consider using their packages.  At the moment we have some
1514 command line script to do this (one for the running system, another
1515 for the LTSP chroot).</li>
1516
1517
1518 <li>In Squeeze, we provide KDE, Gnome and LXDE as desktop options.  We
1519 should extend the list to Xfce and Sugar, and preferably find a way to
1520 install several and allow the admin or the user to select which one to
1521 use.</li>
1522
1523 <li>The golearn tool from the goplay package make it easy to check out
1524 interesting educational packages.  We should work on the package
1525 tagging in Debian to ensure it represent all the useful educational
1526 packages, and extend the tool to allow it to use packagekit to install
1527 new applications with a simple mouse click.</li>
1528
1529 <li>The Squeeze version got half a exam solution already in place,
1530 with the introduction of iptable based network blocking, but for it to
1531 be a complete exam solution the Squid proxy need to enable
1532 filtering/blocking as well when the exam mode is enabled.  We should
1533 implement a way to easily enable this for the schools that want it,
1534 instead of the "it is documented" method of today.</li>
1535
1536 <li>A feature used in several schools is the ability for a teacher to
1537 "take over" the desktop of individual or all computers in the room.
1538 There are at least three implementations,
1539 <a href="italc.sourceforge.net/">italc</a>,
1540 <a href="http://www.itais.net/help/en/">controlaula</a> og
1541 <a href="http://www.epoptes.org/">epoptes</a> and we should pick one of
1542 them and make it trivial to set it up in a school.  The challenges is
1543 how to distribute crypto keys and how to group computers in one room
1544 and how to set up which machine/user can control the machines in a
1545 given room.</li>
1546
1547 <li>Tablets and surf boards are getting more and more popular, and we
1548 should look into providing a good solution for integrating these into
1549 the Debian Edu network.  Not quite sure how.  Perhaps we should
1550 provide a installation profile with better touch screen support for
1551 them, or add some sync services to allow them to exchange
1552 configuration and data with the central server.  This should be
1553 investigated.</li>
1554
1555 </ul></p>
1556
1557 <p>I guess we will discover more as we continue to work on the Wheezy
1558 version.</p>
1559
1560       </div>
1561       <div class="tags">
1562
1563
1564         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
1565
1566
1567       </div>
1568     </div>
1569     <div class="padding"></div>
1570
1571     <div class="entry">
1572       <div class="title">
1573         <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>
1574       </div>
1575       <div class="date">
1576          9th June 2012
1577       </div>
1578       <div class="body">
1579         <p>Slashdot got a story about Intel planning a
1580 <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
1581 with face recognition</a> to recognise the viewer, and it occurred to
1582 me that it would be more interesting to turn it around, and do face
1583 recognition on the TV image itself.  It could let the viewer know who
1584 is present on the screen, and perhaps look up their credibility,
1585 company affiliation, previous appearances etc for the viewer to better
1586 evaluate what is being said and done.  That would be a feature I would
1587 be willing to pay for.</p>
1588
1589 <p>I would not be willing to pay for a TV that point a camera on my
1590 household, like the big brother feature apparently proposed by Intel.
1591 It is the telescreen idea fetched straight out of the book
1592 <a href="http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks01/0100021.txt">1984 by George
1593 Orwell</a>.</p>
1594
1595       </div>
1596       <div class="tags">
1597
1598
1599         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>.
1600
1601
1602       </div>
1603     </div>
1604     <div class="padding"></div>
1605
1606     <div class="entry">
1607       <div class="title">
1608         <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>
1609       </div>
1610       <div class="date">
1611          6th June 2012
1612       </div>
1613       <div class="body">
1614         <p>A few days ago
1615 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/SOAP_based_webservice_from_Dell_to_check_server_support_status.html">I
1616 reported how to get</a> the support status out of Dell using an
1617 unofficial and undocumented SOAP API, which I since have found out was
1618 <a href="http://lists.us.dell.com/pipermail/linux-poweredge/2012-February/045959.html">discovered
1619 by Daniel De Marco in february</a>.  Combined with my web scraping
1620 code for HP, Dell and IBM
1621 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Checking_server_hardware_support_status_for_Dell__HP_and_IBM_servers.html">from
1622 2009</a>, I got inspired and wrote
1623 <a href="https://views.scraperwiki.com/run/computer-hardware-support-status/">a
1624 web service</a> based on Scraperwiki to make it easy to look up the
1625 support status and get a machine readable result back.</p>
1626
1627 <p>This is what it look like at the moment when asking for the JSON
1628 output:
1629
1630 <blockquote><pre>
1631 % 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>
1632 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": ""})
1633 %
1634 </pre></blockquote>
1635
1636 <p>It currently support Dell and HP, and I am hoping for help to add
1637 support for other vendors.  The python source is available on
1638 Scraperwiki and I welcome help with adding more features.</p>
1639
1640       </div>
1641       <div class="tags">
1642
1643
1644         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>.
1645
1646
1647       </div>
1648     </div>
1649     <div class="padding"></div>
1650
1651     <div class="entry">
1652       <div class="title">
1653         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__Mike_Gabriel.html">Debian Edu interview: Mike Gabriel</a>
1654       </div>
1655       <div class="date">
1656          2nd June 2012
1657       </div>
1658       <div class="body">
1659         <p>Back in 2010, Mike Gabriel showed up on the
1660 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu and Skolelinux</a>
1661 mailing list.  He quickly proved to be a valuable developer, and
1662 thanks to his tireless effort we now have Kerberos integrated into the
1663 <a href="http://www.debian.org/News/2012/20120311.html">Debian Edu
1664 Squeeze</a> version.</p>
1665
1666 <p><strong>Who are you, and how do you spend your days?</strong></p>
1667
1668 <p>My name is Mike Gabriel, I am 38 years old and live near Kiel,
1669 Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. I live together with a wonderful partner
1670 (Angela Fuß) and two own children and two bonus children (contributed
1671 by Angela).</p>
1672
1673 <p>During the day I am part-time employed as a system administrator
1674 and part-time working as an IT consultant. The consultancy work
1675 touches free software topics wherever and whenever possible. During
1676 the nights I am a free software developer. In the gaps I also train in
1677 becoming an osteopath.</p>
1678
1679 <p>Starting in 2010 we (Andreas Buchholz, Angela Fuß, Mike Gabriel)
1680 have set up a free software project in the area of Kiel that aims at
1681 introducing free software into schools. The project's name is
1682 "IT-Zukunft Schule" (IT future for schools). The project links IT
1683 skills with communication skills.</p>
1684
1685 <p><strong>How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux/Debian Edu
1686 project?</strong></p>
1687
1688 <p>While preparing our own customised Linux distribution for
1689 "IT-Zukunft Schule" we were repeatedly asked if we really wanted to
1690 reinvent the wheel. What schools really need is already available,
1691 people said.  From this impulse we started evaluating other Linux
1692 distributions that target being used for school networks.</p>
1693
1694 <p>At the end we short-listed two approaches and compared them: a
1695 commercial Linux distribution developed by a company in Bremen,
1696 Germany, and Skolelinux / Debian Edu. Between 12/2010 and 03/2011 we
1697 went to several events and met people being responsible for marketing
1698 and development of either of the distributions. Skolelinux / Debian
1699 Edu was by far much more convincing compared to the other product that
1700 got short-listed beforehand--across the full spectrum. What was most
1701 attractive for me personally: the perspective of collaboration within
1702 the developmental branch of the Debian Edu project itself.</p>
1703
1704 <p>In parallel with this, we talked to many local and not-so-local
1705 people.  People teaching at schools, headmasters, politicians, data
1706 protection experts, other IT professionals.</p>
1707
1708 <p>We came to two conclusions:</p>
1709
1710 <p>First, a technical conclusion: What schools need is available in
1711 bits and pieces here and there, and none of the solutions really fit
1712 by 100%. Any school we have seen has a very individual IT setup
1713 whereas most of each school's requirements could mapped by a standard
1714 IT solution.  The requirement to this IT solution is flexibility and
1715 customisability, so that individual adaptations here and there are
1716 possible.  In terms of re-distributing and rolling out such a
1717 standardised IT system for schools (a system that is still to some
1718 degree customisable) there is still a lot of work to do here
1719 locally. Debian Edu / Skolelinux has been our choice as the starting
1720 point.</p>
1721
1722 <p>Second, a holistic conclusion: What schools need does not exist at
1723 all (or we missed it so far). There are several technical solutions
1724 for handling IT at schools that tend to make a good impression. What
1725 has been missing completely here in Germany, though, is the enrolment
1726 of people into using IT and teaching with IT. "IT-Zukunft Schule"
1727 tries to provide an approach for this.</p>
1728
1729 <p>Only some schools have some sort of a media concept which explains,
1730 defines and gives guidance on how to use IT in class. Most schools in
1731 Northern Germany do not have an IT service provider, the school's IT
1732 equipment is managed by one or (if the school is lucky) two (admin)
1733 teachers, most of the workload these admin teachers get done in there
1734 spare time.</p>
1735
1736 <p>We were surprised that only a very few admin teachers were
1737 networked with colleagues from other schools. Basically, every school
1738 here around has its individual approach of providing IT equipment to
1739 teachers and students and the exchange of ideas has been quasi
1740 non-existent until 2010/2011.</p>
1741
1742 <p>Quite some (non-admin) teachers try to avoid using IT technology in
1743 class as a learning medium completely. Several reasons for this
1744 avoidance do exist.</p>
1745
1746 <p>We discovered that no-one has ever taken a closer look at this
1747 social part of IT management in schools, so far. On our quest journey
1748 for a technical IT solution for schools, we discussed this issue with
1749 several teachers, headmasters, politicians, other IT professionals and
1750 they all confirmed: a holistic approach of considering IT management
1751 at schools, an approach that includes the people in place, will be new
1752 and probably a gain for all.</p>
1753
1754 <p><strong>What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux/Debian
1755 Edu?</strong></p>
1756
1757 <p>There is a list of advantages: international context, openness to
1758 any kind of contributions, do-ocracy policy, the closeness to Debian,
1759 the different installation scenarios possible (from stand-alone
1760 workstation to complex multi-server sites), the transparency within
1761 project communication, honest communication within the group of
1762 developers, etc.</p>
1763
1764 <p><strong>What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux/Debian
1765 Edu?</strong></p>
1766
1767 <p>Every coin has two sides:</p>
1768
1769 <p>Technically: <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/311188">BTS issue
1770 #311188</a>, tricky upgradability of a Debian Edu main server, network
1771 client installations on top of a plain vanilla Debian installation
1772 should become possible sometime in the near future, one could think
1773 about splitting the very complex package debian-edu-config into
1774 several portions (to make it easier for new developers to
1775 contribute).</p>
1776
1777 <p>Another issue I see is that we (as Debian Edu developers) should
1778 find out more about the network of people who do the marketing for
1779 Debian Edu / Skolelinux. There is a very active group in Germany
1780 promoting Skolelinux on the bigger Linux Days within Germany. Are
1781 there other groups like that in other countries? How can we bring
1782 these marketing people together (marketing group A with group B and
1783 all of them with the group of Debian Edu developers)? During the last
1784 meeting of the German Skolelinux group, I got the impression of people
1785 there being rather disconnected from the development department of
1786 Debian Edu / Skolelinux.</p>
1787
1788 <p><strong>Which free software do you use daily?</strong></p>
1789
1790 <p>For my daily business, I do not use commercial software at all.</p>
1791
1792 <p>For normal stuff I use Iceweasel/Firefox, Libreoffice.org. For
1793 serious text writing I prefer LaTeX. I use gimp, inkscape, scribus for
1794 more artistic tasks. I run virtual machines in KVM and Virtualbox.</p>
1795
1796 <p>I am one of the upstream developers of X2Go. In 2010 I started the
1797 development of a Python based X2Go Client, called PyHoca-GUI.
1798 PyHoca-GUI has brought forth a Python X2Go Client API that currently
1799 is being integrated in Ubuntu's software center.</p>
1800
1801 <p>For communications I have my own Kolab server running using Horde
1802 as web-based groupware client. For IRC I love to use irssi, for Jabber
1803 I have several clients that I use, mostly pidgin, though. I am also
1804 the Debian maintainer of Coccinella, a Jabber-based interactive
1805 whiteboard.</p>
1806
1807 <p>My favourite terminal emulator is KDE's Yakuake.</p>
1808
1809 <p><strong>Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to
1810 get schools to use free software?</strong></p>
1811
1812 <p>Communicate, communicate, communicate. Enrol people, enrol people,
1813 enrol people.</p>
1814
1815       </div>
1816       <div class="tags">
1817
1818
1819         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">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>.
1820
1821
1822       </div>
1823     </div>
1824     <div class="padding"></div>
1825
1826     <div class="entry">
1827       <div class="title">
1828         <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>
1829       </div>
1830       <div class="date">
1831          1st June 2012
1832       </div>
1833       <div class="body">
1834         <p>A few years ago I wrote
1835 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Checking_server_hardware_support_status_for_Dell__HP_and_IBM_servers.html">how
1836 to extract support status</a> for your Dell and HP servers.  Recently
1837 I have learned from colleges here at the
1838 <a href="http://www.uio.no/">University of Oslo</a> that Dell have
1839 made this even easier, by providing a SOAP based web service.  Given
1840 the service tag, one can now query the Dell servers and get machine
1841 readable information about the support status.  This perl code
1842 demonstrate how to do it:</p>
1843
1844 <p><pre>
1845 use strict;
1846 use warnings;
1847 use SOAP::Lite;
1848 use Data::Dumper;
1849 my $GUID = '11111111-1111-1111-1111-111111111111';
1850 my $App = 'test';
1851 my $servicetag = $ARGV[0] or die "Please supply a servicetag. $!\n";
1852 my ($deal, $latest, @dates);
1853 my $s = SOAP::Lite
1854     -> uri('http://support.dell.com/WebServices/')
1855     -> on_action( sub { join '', @_ } )
1856     -> proxy('http://xserv.dell.com/services/assetservice.asmx')
1857     ;
1858 my $a = $s->GetAssetInformation(
1859     SOAP::Data->name('guid')->value($GUID)->type(''),
1860     SOAP::Data->name('applicationName')->value($App)->type(''),
1861     SOAP::Data->name('serviceTags')->value($servicetag)->type(''),
1862 );
1863 print Dumper($a -> result) ;
1864 </pre></p>
1865
1866 <p>The output can look like this:</p>
1867
1868 <p><pre>
1869 $VAR1 = {
1870           'Asset' => {
1871                      'Entitlements' => {
1872                                        'EntitlementData' => [
1873                                                             {
1874                                                               'EntitlementType' => 'Expired',
1875                                                               'EndDate' => '2009-07-29T00:00:00',
1876                                                               'Provider' => '',
1877                                                               'StartDate' => '2006-07-29T00:00:00',
1878                                                               'DaysLeft' => '0'
1879                                                             },
1880                                                             {
1881                                                               'EntitlementType' => 'Expired',
1882                                                               'EndDate' => '2009-07-29T00:00:00',
1883                                                               'Provider' => '',
1884                                                               'StartDate' => '2006-07-29T00:00:00',
1885                                                               'DaysLeft' => '0'
1886                                                             },
1887                                                             {
1888                                                               'EntitlementType' => 'Expired',
1889                                                               'EndDate' => '2007-07-29T00:00:00',
1890                                                               'Provider' => '',
1891                                                               'StartDate' => '2006-07-29T00:00:00',
1892                                                               'DaysLeft' => '0'
1893                                                             }
1894                                                           ]
1895                                      },
1896                      'AssetHeaderData' => {
1897                                           'SystemModel' => 'GX620',
1898                                           'ServiceTag' => '8DSGD2J',
1899                                           'SystemShipDate' => '2006-07-29T19:00:00-05:00',
1900                                           'Buid' => '2323',
1901                                           'Region' => 'Europe',
1902                                           'SystemID' => 'PLX_GX620',
1903                                           'SystemType' => 'OptiPlex'
1904                                         }
1905                    }
1906         };
1907 </pre></p>
1908
1909 <p>I have not been able to find any documentation from Dell about this
1910 service outside the
1911 <a href="http://xserv.dell.com/services/assetservice.asmx?op=GetAssetInformation">inline
1912 documentation</a>, and according to
1913 <a href="http://iboyd.net/index.php/2012/02/14/updated-dell-warranty-information-script/">one
1914 comment</a> it can have stability issues, but it is a lot better than
1915 scraping HTML pages. :)</p>
1916
1917 <p>Wonder if HP and other server vendors have a similar service.  If
1918 you know of one, drop me an email. :)</p>
1919
1920       </div>
1921       <div class="tags">
1922
1923
1924         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>.
1925
1926
1927       </div>
1928     </div>
1929     <div class="padding"></div>
1930
1931     <div class="entry">
1932       <div class="title">
1933         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/First_monitor_calibration_using_ColorHug.html">First monitor calibration using ColorHug</a>
1934       </div>
1935       <div class="date">
1936         31st May 2012
1937       </div>
1938       <div class="body">
1939         <p>A few days ago my color calibration gadget
1940 <a href="http://www.hughski.com/index.html">ColorHug</a> arrived in the
1941 mail, and I've had a few days to test it.  As all my machines are
1942 running Debian Squeeze, where
1943 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/c/colorhug-client.html">the
1944 calibration software</a> is missing (it is present in Wheezy and Sid),
1945 I ran the calibration using the Fedora based live CD.  This worked
1946 just fine.  So far I have only done the quick calibration.  It was
1947 slow enough for me, so I will leave the more extensive calibration for
1948 another day.</p>
1949
1950 <p>After calibration, I get a
1951 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ICC_profile">ICC color
1952 profile</a> file that can be passed to programs understanding such
1953 tools.  KDE do not seem to understand it out of the box, so I searched
1954 for command line tools to use to load the color profile into X.
1955 xcalib was the first one I found, and it seem to work fine for single
1956 monitor setups.  But for my video player, a laptop with a flat screen
1957 attached, it was unable to load the color profile for the correct
1958 monitor.  After searching a bit, I
1959 <a href="http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1347896">discovered</a>
1960 that the dispwin tool from the argyll package would do what I wanted,
1961 and a simple</p>
1962
1963 <p><pre>
1964 dispwin -d 1 profile.icc
1965 </pre></p>
1966
1967 <p>later I had the color profile loaded for the correct monitor.  The
1968 result was a bit more pink than I expected.  I guess I picked the
1969 wrong monitor type for the "led" monitor I got, but the result is good
1970 enough for now.</p>
1971
1972       </div>
1973       <div class="tags">
1974
1975
1976         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
1977
1978
1979       </div>
1980     </div>
1981     <div class="padding"></div>
1982
1983     <div class="entry">
1984       <div class="title">
1985         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__Ralf_Gesellensetter.html">Debian Edu interview: Ralf Gesellensetter</a>
1986       </div>
1987       <div class="date">
1988         27th May 2012
1989       </div>
1990       <div class="body">
1991         <p>In 2003, a German teacher showed up on the
1992 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu and Skolelinux</a>
1993 mailing list with interesting problems and reports proving he setting
1994 up Linux for a (for us at the time) lot of pupils.  His name was Ralf
1995 Gesellensetter, and he has been an important tester and contributor
1996 since then, helping to make sure the
1997 <a href="http://www.debian.org/News/2012/20120311.html">Debian Edu
1998 Squeeze</a> release became as good as it is..</p>
1999
2000 <p><strong>Who are you, and how do you spend your days?</strong></p>
2001
2002 <p>I am a teacher from Germany, and my subjects are Geography,
2003 Mathematics, and Computer Science ("Informatik"). During the past 12
2004 years (since 2000), I have been working for a comprehensive (and soon,
2005 also inclusive) school leading to all kind of general levels, such as
2006 O- or A-level ("Abitur").  For quite as long, I've been taking care of
2007 our computer network.</p>
2008
2009 <p>Now, in my early 40s, I enjoy the privilege of spending a lot of my
2010 spare time together with my wife, our son (3 years) and our daughter
2011 (4 months).</p>
2012
2013 <p><strong>How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux/Debian Edu
2014 project?</strong></p>
2015
2016 <p>We had tried different Linux based school servers, when members of
2017 my local Linux User Group (LUG OWL) detected Skolelinux. I remember
2018 very well, being part of a party celebrating the Linux New Media Award
2019 ("Best Newcomer Distribution", also nominated: Ubuntu) that was given
2020 to Skolelinux at Linux World Exposition in Frankfurt, 2005 (IIRC). Few
2021 months later, I had the chance to join a developer meeting in Ulsrud
2022 (Oslo) and to hand out the award to Knut Yrvin and others.  For more
2023 than 7 years, Skolelinux is part of our schools infrastructure, namely
2024 our main server (tjener), one LTSP (today without thin clients), and
2025 approximately 50 work stations. Most of these have the option to boot a
2026 locally installed Skolelinux image.  As a consequence, I joined quite
2027 a few events dealing with free software or Linux, and met many Debian
2028 (Edu) developers. All of them seemed quite nice and competent to me,
2029 one more reason to stick to Skolelinux.</p>
2030
2031 <p><strong>What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux/Debian
2032 Edu?</strong></p>
2033
2034 <p>Debian driven, you are given all the advantages of a community
2035 project including well maintained updates. Once, you are familiar with
2036 the network layout, you can easily roll out an entire educational
2037 computer infrastructure, from just one installation media. As only
2038 free software (FOSS) is used, that supports even elderly hardware,
2039 up-sizing your IT equipment is only limited by space (i.e. available
2040 labs).  Especially if you run a LTSP thin client server, your
2041 administration costs tend towards zero.</p>
2042
2043 <p><strong>What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux/Debian
2044 Edu?</strong></p>
2045
2046 <p>While Debian's stability has loads of advantages for servers, this
2047 might be different in some cases for clients: Schools with unlimited
2048 budget might buy new hardware with components that are not yet
2049 supported by Debian stable, or wish to use more recent versions of
2050 office packages or desktop environments.  These schools have the
2051 option to run Debian testing or other distributions - if they have the
2052 capacity to do so.  Another issue is that Debian release cycles
2053 include a wide range of changes; therefor a high percentage of human
2054 power seems to be absorbed by just keeping the features of Skolelinux
2055 within the new setting of the version to come. During this process,
2056 the cogs of Debian Edu are getting more and more professional,
2057 i.e. harder to understand for novices.</p>
2058
2059 <p><strong>Which free software do you use daily?</strong></p>
2060
2061 <p>LibreOffice, Wikipedia, Openstreetmap, Iceweasel (Mozilla Firefox),
2062 KMail, Gimp, Inkscape - and of course the Linux Kernel (not only on
2063 PC, Laptop, Mobile, but also our SAT receiver)</p>
2064
2065 <p><strong>Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to
2066 get schools to use free software?</strong></p>
2067
2068 <p><ol>
2069
2070 <li>Support computer science as regular subject in schools to make
2071 people really "own" their hardware, to make them understand the
2072 difference between proprietary software products, and free software
2073 developing.</li>
2074
2075 <li>Make budget baskets corresponding: In Germany's public schools
2076 there are more or less fixed budgets for IT equipment (including
2077 licenses), so schools won't benefit from any savings here. This
2078 privilege is left to private schools which have consequently a large
2079 share among German Skolelinux schools.</li>
2080
2081 <li>Get free software in the seminars where would-be teachers are
2082 trained. In many cases, teachers' software customs are respected by
2083 decision makers rather than the expertise of any IT experts.</li>
2084
2085 <li>Don't limit ourself to free software run natively. Everybody uses
2086 free software or free licenses (for instance Wikipedia), and this
2087 general concept should get expanded to free educational content to be
2088 shared world wide (school books e.g.).</li>
2089
2090 <li>Make clear where ever you can that the market share of free (libre)
2091 office suites is much above 20 p.c. today, and that you pupils don't
2092 need to know the "ribbon menu" in order to get employed.</li>
2093
2094 <li>Talk about the difference between freeware and free software.</li>
2095
2096 <li>Spread free software, or even collections of portable free apps
2097 for USB pen drives. Endorse students to get a legal copy of
2098 Libreoffice rather than accepting them to use illegal serials.  And
2099 keep sending documents in ODF formats.</li>
2100
2101 </ol></p>
2102
2103       </div>
2104       <div class="tags">
2105
2106
2107         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">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>.
2108
2109
2110       </div>
2111     </div>
2112     <div class="padding"></div>
2113
2114     <div class="entry">
2115       <div class="title">
2116         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/The_cost_of_ODF_and_OOXML.html">The cost of ODF and OOXML</a>
2117       </div>
2118       <div class="date">
2119         26th May 2012
2120       </div>
2121       <div class="body">
2122         <p>I just come across a blog post from Glyn Moody reporting the
2123 claimed cost from Microsoft on requiring ODF to be used by the UK
2124 government.  I just sent him an email to let him know that his
2125 assumption are most likely wrong.  Sharing it here in case some of my
2126 blog readers have seem the same numbers float around in the UK.</p>
2127
2128 <p><blockquote> <p>Hi.  I just noted your
2129 <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>
2130 comment:</p>
2131
2132 <p><blockquote>"They're all in Danish, not unreasonably, but even
2133 with the help of Google Translate I can't find any figures about the
2134 savings of "moving to a flexible two standard" as claimed by the
2135 Microsoft email. But I assume it is backed up somewhere, so let's take
2136 it, and the £500 million figure for the UK, on trust."
2137 </blockquote></p>
2138
2139 <p>I can tell you that the Danish reports are inflated.  I believe it is
2140 the same reports that were used in the Norwegian debate around 2007,
2141 and Gisle Hannemyr (a well known IT commentator in Norway) had a look
2142 at the content.  In short, the reason it is claimed that using ODF
2143 will be so costly, is based on the assumption that this mean every
2144 existing document need to be converted from one of the MS Office
2145 formats to ODF, transferred to the receiver, and converted back from
2146 ODF to one of the MS Office formats, and that the conversion will cost
2147 10 minutes of work time for both the sender and the receiver.  In
2148 reality the sender would have a tool capable of saving to ODF, and the
2149 receiver would have a tool capable of reading it, and the time spent
2150 would at most be a few seconds for saving and loading, not 20 minutes
2151 of wasted effort.</p>
2152
2153 <p>Microsoft claimed all these costs were saved by allowing people to
2154 transfer the original files from MS Office instead of spending 10
2155 minutes converting to ODF. :)</p>
2156
2157 <p>See
2158 <a href="http://hannemyr.com/no/ms12_vl02.php">http://hannemyr.com/no/ms12_vl02.php</a>
2159 and
2160 <a href="http://hannemyr.com/no/ms12.php">http://hannemyr.com/no/ms12.php</a>
2161 for background information.  Norwegian only, sorry. :)</p>
2162 </blockquote></p>
2163
2164       </div>
2165       <div class="tags">
2166
2167
2168         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>.
2169
2170
2171       </div>
2172     </div>
2173     <div class="padding"></div>
2174
2175     <div class="entry">
2176       <div class="title">
2177         <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>
2178       </div>
2179       <div class="date">
2180         18th May 2012
2181       </div>
2182       <div class="body">
2183         <p>In january, I
2184 <a href="http://blog.cihar.com/archives/2012/01/17/colorhug-has-arrived/">discovered
2185 the ColorHug</a>, a USB dongle from
2186 <a href="http://www.hughski.com/index.html">Hughski</a> to calibrate
2187 the color on a computer screen.  The software required is
2188 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/c/colorhug-client.html">included
2189 in Debian</a>, and I decided back then to preorder from the next
2190 batch.  Yesterday I finally heard back from them, and got the
2191 opportunity to order.  Today I ordered mine, and eagerly await the
2192 delivery.  I hope it arrive next week, as I got a confirmation that it
2193 should go in the mail on monday. :)</p>
2194
2195 <p>If you want to ensure the colors on the screen match the intended
2196 colors, I suggest you check out this cheap tool with free software
2197 drivers. :)</p>
2198
2199       </div>
2200       <div class="tags">
2201
2202
2203         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
2204
2205
2206       </div>
2207     </div>
2208     <div class="padding"></div>
2209
2210     <div class="entry">
2211       <div class="title">
2212         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__J_rgen_Leibner.html">Debian Edu interview: Jürgen Leibner</a>
2213       </div>
2214       <div class="date">
2215         13th May 2012
2216       </div>
2217       <div class="body">
2218         <p>It has been a few busy weeks for me, but I am finally back to
2219 publish another interview with the people behind
2220 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu and Skolelinux</a>.
2221 This time it is one of our German developers, who have helped out over the
2222 years to make sure both a lot of major but also a lot of the minor
2223 details get right before release.
2224
2225 <p><strong>Who are you, and how do you spend your days?</strong></p>
2226
2227 <p>My name is Jürgen Leibner, I'm 49 years old and living in
2228 Bielefeld, a town in northern Germany.  I worked nearly 20 years as
2229 certified engineer in the department for plant design and layout of an
2230 international company for machinery and equipment.  Since 2011 I'm a
2231 certified technical writer (tekom e.V.) and doing technical
2232 documentations for a steam turbine manufacturer.  From April this year
2233 I will manage the department of technical documentation at a
2234 manufacturer of automation and assembly line engineering.</p>
2235
2236 <p>My first contact with linux was around 1993. Since that time I used
2237 it at work and at home repeatedly but not exclusively as I do now at
2238 home since 2006.</p>
2239
2240 <p><strong>How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux/Debian Edu
2241 project?</strong></p>
2242
2243 <p>Once a day in the early year of 2001 when I wanted to fetch my
2244 daughter from primary school, there was a teacher sitting in the
2245 middle of 20 old computers trying to boot them and he failed. I helped
2246 him to get them booting. That was seen by the school director and she
2247 asked me if I would like to manage that the school gets all that old
2248 computers in use. I answered: "Yes".</p>
2249
2250 <p>Some weeks later every of the 10 classrooms had one computer
2251 running Windows98. I began to collect old computers and equipment as
2252 gifts and installed the first computer room with a peer-to-peer
2253 network. I did my work at school without being payed in my spare time
2254 and with a lot of fun.  About one year later the school was connected
2255 to Internet and a local area network was installed in the school
2256 building.  That was the time to have a server and I knew it must be a
2257 Linux server to be able to fulfil all the wishes of the teachers and
2258 being able to do this in a transparent and economic way, without extra
2259 costs for things like licence and software.  So I searched for a
2260 school server system running under Linux and I found a couple of
2261 people nearby who founded 'skolelinux.de'. It was the Skolelinux
2262 prerelease 32 I first tried out for being used at the school.  I
2263 managed the IT of that school until the municipal authority took over
2264 the IT management and centralised the services for all schools in
2265 Bielefeld in December of 2006.</p>
2266
2267 <p><strong>What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux/Debian
2268 Edu?</strong></p>
2269
2270 <p>When I'm looking back to the beginning, there were other advantages
2271 for me as today.</p>
2272
2273 <p>In the past there were advantages like:</p>
2274
2275 <p><ul>
2276
2277 <li>I don't need to buy it so it generates no costs to the school as
2278 they had little money to spent for computers and software.</li>
2279
2280 <li>It has a licence which grands all rights to use it without
2281 cost.</li>
2282
2283 <li>It was more able to fit all requirements of a server system for
2284 schools than a Microsoft server system, even if there are only Windows
2285 clients because of it's preconfigured overall concept of being a
2286 infrastructure solution and community for schools, not only a
2287 server</li>
2288
2289 <li>I was able to configure the server to the needs of the
2290 school.</li>
2291
2292 </ul></p>
2293
2294 <p>Today some of the advantages has been lost, changed or new ones
2295 came up in this way:</p>
2296
2297 <p><ul>
2298
2299 <li>Most schools here do have money to buy hardware and software
2300 now.</li>
2301
2302 <li>They are today mostly managed from central IT departments which
2303 have own concepts which often do not fit to Debian Edu concepts
2304 because they are to close to Microsoft ideology.</li>
2305
2306 <li>With the Squeeze version of Debian Edu which now uses GOsa² for
2307 management I feel more able to manage the daily tasks than with the
2308 interfaces used in the past.</li>
2309
2310 <li>It is more modular than in the past and fits even better to the
2311 different needs.</li>
2312
2313 <li>The documentation is usable and gets better every day.</li>
2314
2315 <li>More people than ever before are using Debian Edu all over the
2316 world and so the community, which is an very important part I think,
2317 is sharing knowledge and minds.</li>
2318
2319 <li>Most, maybe all, of the technical requirements for schools are
2320 solved today by Debian Edu. </li>
2321
2322 </ul></p>
2323
2324 <p><strong>What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux/Debian
2325 Edu?</strong></p>
2326
2327 <p><ul>
2328
2329 <li>There are too few IT companies able to integrate Debian Edu into
2330 their product portfolio for serving schools with concepts or even
2331 whole municipality areas.</li>
2332
2333 <li>Debian Edu has beside other free and open software projects not
2334 enough lobbyists which promote free and open software to
2335 politicians.</li>
2336
2337 <li>Technically there are no disadvantages I'm aware of.</li>
2338
2339 </ul></p>
2340
2341 <p><strong>Which free software do you use daily?</strong></p>
2342
2343 <p>I use Debian stable on my home server and on my little desktop
2344 computer. On my laptop I use Debian testing/sid. The applications I
2345 use on my laptop and my desktop are Open/Libre-office, Iceweasel,
2346 KMail, DigiKam, Amarok, Dolphin, okular and all the other programs I
2347 need from the KDE environment.  On console I use newsbeuter, mutt,
2348 screen, irssi and all the other famous and useful tools.</p>
2349
2350 <p>My home server provides mail services with exim, dovecot, roundcube
2351 and mutt over ssh on the console, file services with samba, NFS,
2352 rsync, web services with apache, moinmoin-wiki, multimedia services
2353 with gallery2 and mediatomb and database services with MySQL for me
2354 and the whole family.  I probably forgot something.</p>
2355
2356 <p><strong>Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to
2357 get schools to use free software?</strong></p>
2358
2359 <p>I believe, we should provide concepts for IT companies to integrate
2360 Debian Edu into their product portfolio with use cases for different
2361 countries and areas all over the world.</p>
2362
2363       </div>
2364       <div class="tags">
2365
2366
2367         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">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>.
2368
2369
2370       </div>
2371     </div>
2372     <div class="padding"></div>
2373
2374     <div class="entry">
2375       <div class="title">
2376         <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>
2377       </div>
2378       <div class="date">
2379         30th April 2012
2380       </div>
2381       <div class="body">
2382         <p><!-- IMG_5869.JPG -->
2383 <img src="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/panasonic-er-1611.jpeg"></p>
2384
2385 <p>I normally cut my hair short, and my tool of choice has been a
2386 common hair/beard cutter, bought in a electrical shop here in Norway.
2387 But the last ones have not really been up to the task.  My last
2388 cutter, some model from Braun, could only cut a few of my hairs at the
2389 time, and cutting my head took forever.  And the one before that did
2390 not work very well either.  We have looked for something better for a
2391 while, but it was not until I ended up visiting a hairdresser that we
2392 discovered that there are indeed better tools available.  But these
2393 are not marketed and sold to "regular consumers".  The hair saloons
2394 can get them through their suppliers, but their suppliers only sell
2395 companies.  The models they sell, are very different from the ones
2396 available from Elkjøp and Lefdal.  The main difference is their
2397 efficiency.  It would cut my hair in 5 minutes, instead of the 30-40
2398 minutes required by my impotent Braun.  The hairdresser I visited had
2399 a Panasonic ER160, which unfortunately is no longer available from the
2400 producer.  But I found it had a successor, the Panasonic ER1611.</p>
2401
2402 <p>The next step was to find somewhere to buy it.  This was not
2403 straight forward.  The list of suppliers I got from the hairdresser
2404 did not want to sell anything to me.  But searching for the model on
2405 the web we found a supplier in Norway willing to sell it to us for
2406 around NOK 4000,-.  This was a bit much.  We kept searching and
2407 finally found a Danish supplier
2408 <a href="http://nicehair.dk/panasonic-er-1611-professionel-hartrimmer.html">selling
2409 it for around NOK 1800,-</a>.  We ordered one, and it arrived a few
2410 days ago.</p>
2411
2412 <p>The instructions said it had to charge for 8 hours when we started
2413 to use it, so we left it charging over night.  Normally it will only
2414 need one hour to charge.  The following evening we successfully tested
2415 it, and I can warmly recommend it to anyone looking for a real hair
2416 cutter.  The ones we have used until now have been hair cutter
2417 toys.</p>
2418
2419       </div>
2420       <div class="tags">
2421
2422
2423         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
2424
2425
2426       </div>
2427     </div>
2428     <div class="padding"></div>
2429
2430     <div class="entry">
2431       <div class="title">
2432         <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>
2433       </div>
2434       <div class="date">
2435         26th April 2012
2436       </div>
2437       <div class="body">
2438         <p>In <a href="http://www.idg.no/computerworld/article243690.ece">an
2439 article today</a> published by Computerworld Norway, the photographer
2440 <a href="http://www.urke.com/eirik/">Eirik Helland Urke</a> reports
2441 that the video editor application included with
2442 <a href="http://www.htc.com/www/smartphones/htc-one-x/#specs">HTC One
2443 X</a> have some quite surprising terms of use.  The article is mostly
2444 based on the twitter message from mister Urke, stating:
2445
2446 <p><blockquote>
2447 "<a href="http://twitter.com/urke/status/194062269724897280">Drøy
2448 brukeravtale: HTC kan bruke MINE redigerte videoer kommersielt. Selv
2449 kan jeg KUN bruke dem privat.</a>"
2450 </blockquote></p>
2451
2452 <p>I quickly translated it to this English message:</p>
2453
2454 <p><blockquote>
2455 "Arrogant user agreement: HTC can use MY edited videos
2456 commercially.  Although I can ONLY use them privately."
2457 </blockquote></p>
2458
2459 <p>I've been unable to find the text of the license term myself, but
2460 suspect it is a variation of the MPEG-LA terms I
2461 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Terms_of_use_for_video_produced_by_a_Canon_IXUS_130_digital_camera.html">discovered
2462 with my Canon IXUS 130</a>.  The HTC One X specification specifies that
2463 the recording format of the phone is .amr for audio and .mp3 for
2464 video.  AMR is
2465 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adaptive_Multi-Rate_audio_codec#Licensing_and_patent_issues">Adaptive
2466 Multi-Rate audio codec</a> with patents which according to the
2467 Wikipedia article require an license agreement with
2468 <a href="http://www.voiceage.com/">VoiceAge</a>.  MP4 is
2469 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H.264/MPEG-4_AVC#Patent_licensing">MPEG4 with
2470 H.264</a>, which according to Wikipedia require a licence agreement
2471 with <a href="http://www.mpegla.com/">MPEG-LA</a>.</p>
2472
2473 <p>I know why I prefer
2474 <a href="http://www.digistan.org/open-standard:definition">free and open
2475 standards</a> also for video.</p>
2476
2477       </div>
2478       <div class="tags">
2479
2480
2481         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>.
2482
2483
2484       </div>
2485     </div>
2486     <div class="padding"></div>
2487
2488     <div class="entry">
2489       <div class="title">
2490         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/RAND_terms___non_reasonable_and_discriminatory.html">RAND terms - non-reasonable and discriminatory</a>
2491       </div>
2492       <div class="date">
2493         19th April 2012
2494       </div>
2495       <div class="body">
2496         <p>Here in Norway, the
2497 <a href="http://www.regjeringen.no/nb/dep/fad.html?id=339"> Ministry of
2498 Government Administration, Reform and Church Affairs</a> is behind
2499 a <a href="http://standard.difi.no/forvaltningsstandarder">directory of
2500 standards</a> that are recommended or mandatory for use by the
2501 government.  When the directory was created, the people behind it made
2502 an effort to ensure that everyone would be able to implement the
2503 standards and compete on equal terms to supply software and solutions
2504 to the government.  Free software and non-free software could compete
2505 on the same level.</p>
2506
2507 <p>But recently, some standards with RAND
2508 (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reasonable_and_non-discriminatory_licensing">Reasonable
2509 And Non-Discriminatory</a>) terms have made their way into the
2510 directory.  And while this might not sound too bad, the fact is that
2511 standard specifications with RAND terms often block free software from
2512 implementing them.  The reasonable part of RAND mean that the cost per
2513 user/unit is low,and the non-discriminatory part mean that everyone
2514 willing to pay will get a license.  Both sound great in theory.  In
2515 practice, to get such license one need to be able to count users, and
2516 be able to pay a small amount of money per unit or user.  By
2517 definition, users of free software do not need to register their use.
2518 So counting users or units is not possible for free software projects.
2519 And given that people will use the software without handing any money
2520 to the author, it is not really economically possible for a free
2521 software author to pay a small amount of money to license the rights
2522 to implement a standard when the income available is zero.  The result
2523 in these situations is that free software are locked out from
2524 implementing standards with RAND terms.</p>
2525
2526 <p>Because of this, when I see someone claiming the terms of a
2527 standard is reasonable and non-discriminatory, all I can think of is
2528 how this really is non-reasonable and discriminatory.  Because free
2529 software developers are working in a global market, it does not really
2530 help to know that software patents are not supposed to be enforceable
2531 in Norway.  The patent regimes in other countries affect us even here.
2532 I really hope the people behind the standard directory will pay more
2533 attention to these issues in the future.</p>
2534
2535 <p>You can find more on the issues with RAND, FRAND and RAND-Z terms
2536 from Simon Phipps
2537 (<a href="http://blogs.computerworlduk.com/simon-says/2010/11/rand-not-so-reasonable/">RAND:
2538 Not So Reasonable?</a>).</p>
2539
2540 <p>Update 2012-04-21: Just came across a
2541 <a href="http://blogs.computerworlduk.com/open-enterprise/2012/04/of-microsoft-netscape-patents-and-open-standards/index.htm">blog
2542 post from Glyn Moody</a> over at Computer World UK warning about the
2543 same issue, and urging people to speak out to the UK government.  I
2544 can only urge Norwegian users to do the same for
2545 <a href="http://www.standard.difi.no/hoyring/hoyring-om-nye-anbefalte-it-standarder">the
2546 hearing taking place at the moment</a> (respond before 2012-04-27).
2547 It proposes to require video conferencing standards including
2548 specifications with RAND terms.</p>
2549
2550       </div>
2551       <div class="tags">
2552
2553
2554         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>.
2555
2556
2557       </div>
2558     </div>
2559     <div class="padding"></div>
2560
2561     <div class="entry">
2562       <div class="title">
2563         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__Andreas_Mundt.html">Debian Edu interview: Andreas Mundt</a>
2564       </div>
2565       <div class="date">
2566         15th April 2012
2567       </div>
2568       <div class="body">
2569         <p>Behind <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu and
2570 Skolelinux</a> there are a lot of people doing the hard work of
2571 setting together all the pieces.  This time I present to you Andreas
2572 Mundt, who have been part of the technical development team several
2573 years.  He was also a key contributor in getting GOsa and Kerberos set
2574 up in the recently released
2575 <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/Documentation/Squeeze">Debian
2576 Edu Squeeze</a> version.</p>
2577
2578 <p><strong>Who are you, and how do you spend your days?</strong></p>
2579
2580 <p>My name is Andreas Mundt, I grew up in south Germany.  After
2581 studying Physics I spent several years at university doing research in
2582 Quantum Optics.  After that I worked some years in an optics company.
2583 Finally I decided to turn over a new leaf in my life and started
2584 teaching 10 to 19 years old kids at school.  I teach math, physics,
2585 information technology and science/technology.</p>
2586
2587 <p><strong>How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux/Debian Edu
2588 project?</strong></p>
2589
2590 <p>Already before I switched to teaching, I followed the Debian Edu
2591 project because of my interest in education and Debian.  Within the
2592 qualification/training period for the teaching, I started
2593 contributing.</p>
2594
2595 <p><strong>What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux/Debian
2596 Edu?</strong></p>
2597
2598 <p>The advantages of Debian Edu are the well known name, the
2599 out-of-the-box philosophy and of course the great free software of the
2600 Debian Project!</p>
2601
2602 <p><strong>What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux/Debian
2603 Edu?</strong></p>
2604
2605 <p>As every coin has two sides, the out-of-the-box philosophy has its
2606 downside, too.  In my opinion, it is hard to modify and tweak the
2607 setup, if you need or want that.  Further more, it is not easily
2608 possible to upgrade the system to a new release.  It takes much too
2609 long after a Debian release to prepare the -Edu release, perhaps
2610 because the number of developers working on the core of the code is
2611 rather small and often busy elsewhere.</p>
2612
2613 <p>The <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianLAN">Debian LAN</a>
2614 project might fill the use case of a more flexible system.</p>
2615
2616 <p><strong>Which free software do you use daily?</strong></p>
2617
2618 <p>I am only using non-free software if I am forced to and run Debian
2619 on all my machines.  For documents I prefer LaTeX and PGF/TikZ, then
2620 mutt and iceweasel for email respectively web browsing.  At school I
2621 have Arduino and Fritzing in use for a micro controller project.</p>
2622
2623 <p><strong>Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to
2624 get schools to use free software?</strong></p>
2625
2626 <p>One of the major problems is the vendor lock-in from top to bottom:
2627 Especially in combination with ignorant government employees and
2628 politicians, this works out great for the "market-leader".  The school
2629 administration here in Baden-Wuerttemberg is occupied by that vendor.
2630 Documents have to be prepared in non-free, proprietary formats.  Even
2631 free browsers do not work for the school administration.  Publishers
2632 of school books provide software only for proprietary platforms.</p>
2633
2634 <p>To change this, political work is very important.  Parts of the
2635 political spectrum have become aware of the problem in the last years.
2636 However it takes quite some time and courageous politicians to 'free'
2637 the system.  There is currently some discussion about "Open Data" and
2638 "Free/Open Standards".  I am not sure if all the involved parties have
2639 a clue about the potential of these ideas, and probably only a
2640 fraction takes them seriously.  However it might slowly make free
2641 software and the philosophy behind it more known and popular.</p>
2642
2643       </div>
2644       <div class="tags">
2645
2646
2647         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">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>.
2648
2649
2650       </div>
2651     </div>
2652     <div class="padding"></div>
2653
2654     <div class="entry">
2655       <div class="title">
2656         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__Justin_B__Rye.html">Debian Edu interview: Justin B. Rye</a>
2657       </div>
2658       <div class="date">
2659          8th April 2012
2660       </div>
2661       <div class="body">
2662         <p>It take all kind of contributions to create a Linux distribution
2663 like <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / Skolelinux</a>,
2664 and this time I lend the ear to Justin B. Rye, who is listed as a big
2665 contributor to the
2666 <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/Documentation/Squeeze">Debian
2667 Edu Squeeze release manual</a>.
2668
2669 <p><strong>Who are you, and how do you spend your days?</strong></p>
2670
2671 <p>I'm a 44-year-old linguistics graduate living in Edinburgh who has
2672 occasionally been employed as a sysadmin.</p>
2673
2674 <p><strong>How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux/Debian Edu
2675 project?</strong></p>
2676
2677 <p>I'm neither a developer nor a Skolelinux/Debian Edu user!  The only
2678 reason my name's in the credits for the documentation is that I hang
2679 around on debian-l10n-english waiting for people to mention things
2680 they'd like a native English speaker to proofread...  So I did a sweep
2681 through the wiki for typos and Norglish and inconsistent spellings of
2682 "localisation".</p>
2683
2684 <p><strong>What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux/Debian
2685 Edu?</strong></p>
2686
2687 <p><strong>What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux/Debian
2688 Edu?</strong></p>
2689
2690 <p>These questions are too hard for me - I don't use it!  In fact I
2691 had hardly any contact with I.T. until long after I'd got out of the
2692 education system.</p>
2693
2694 <p>I can tell you the advantages of Debian for me though: it soaks up
2695 as much of my free time as I want and no more, and lets me do
2696 everything I want a computer for without ever forcing me to spend
2697 money on the latest hardware.</p>
2698
2699 <p><strong>Which free software do you use daily?</strong></p>
2700
2701 <p>I've been using Debian since Rex; popularity-contest says the
2702 software that I use most is xinit, xterm, and xulrunner (in other
2703 words, I use a distinctly retro sort of desktop).</p>
2704
2705 <p><strong>Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to
2706 get schools to use free software?</strong></p>
2707
2708 <p>Well, I don't know.  I suppose I'd be inclined to try reasoning
2709 with the people who make the decisions, but obviously if that worked
2710 you would hardly need a strategy.</p>
2711
2712       </div>
2713       <div class="tags">
2714
2715
2716         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">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>.
2717
2718
2719       </div>
2720     </div>
2721     <div class="padding"></div>
2722
2723     <div class="entry">
2724       <div class="title">
2725         <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>
2726       </div>
2727       <div class="date">
2728          6th April 2012
2729       </div>
2730       <div class="body">
2731         <p>Recently I have spent time with
2732 <a href="http://www.slxdrift.no/">Skolelinux Drift AS</a> on speeding
2733 up a <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / Skolelinux</a>
2734 Lenny installation using LTSP diskless workstations, and in the
2735 process I discovered something very surprising.  The reason the KDE
2736 menu was responding slow when using it for the first time, was mostly
2737 due to the way KDE find application icons.  I discovered that showing
2738 the Multimedia menu would cause more than 20 000 IP packages to be
2739 passed between the LTSP client and the NFS server.  Most of these were
2740
2741 NFS LOOKUP calls, resulting in a NFS3ERR_NOENT response.  Because the
2742 ping times between the client and the server were in the range 2-20
2743 ms, the menus would be very slow.  Looking at the strace of kicker in
2744 Lenny (or plasma-desktop i Squeeze - same problem there), I see that
2745 the source of these NFS calls are access(2) system calls for
2746 non-existing files.  KDE can do hundreds of access(2) calls to find
2747 one icon file.  In my example, just finding the mplayer icon required
2748 around 230 access(2) calls.</p>
2749
2750 <p>The KDE code seem to search for icons using a list of icon
2751 directories, and the list of possible directories is large.  In
2752 (almost) each directory, it look for files ending in .png, .svgz, .svg
2753 and .xpm.  The result is a very slow KDE menu when /usr/ is NFS
2754 mounted.  Showing a single sub menu may result in thousands of NFS
2755 requests.  I am not the first one to discover this.  I found a
2756 <a href="https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=211416">KDE bug report
2757 from 2009</a> about this problem, and it is still unsolved.</p>
2758
2759 <p>My solution to speed up the KDE menu was to create a package
2760 kde-icon-cache that upon installation will look at all .desktop files
2761 used to generate the KDE menu, find their icons, search the icon paths
2762 for the file that KDE will end up finding at run time, and copying the
2763 icon file to /var/lib/kde-icon-cache/.  Finally, I add symlinks to
2764 these icon files in one of the first directories where KDE will look
2765 for them.  This cut down the number of file accesses required to find
2766 one icon from several hundred to less than 5, and make the KDE menu
2767 almost instantaneous.  I'm not quite sure where to make the package
2768 publicly available, so for now it is only available on request.</p>
2769
2770 <p>The bug report mention that this do not only affect the KDE menu
2771 and icon handling, but also the login process.  Not quite sure how to
2772 speed up that part without replacing NFS with for example NBD, and
2773 that is not really an option at the moment.</p>
2774
2775 <p>If you got feedback on this issue, please let us know on debian-edu
2776 (at) lists.debian.org.</p>
2777
2778       </div>
2779       <div class="tags">
2780
2781
2782         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
2783
2784
2785       </div>
2786     </div>
2787     <div class="padding"></div>
2788
2789     <div class="entry">
2790       <div class="title">
2791         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_in_the_Linux_Weekly_News.html">Debian Edu in the Linux Weekly News</a>
2792       </div>
2793       <div class="date">
2794          5th April 2012
2795       </div>
2796       <div class="body">
2797         <p>About two weeks ago, I was interviewed via email about
2798 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu and Skolelinux</a> by
2799 Bruce Byfield in Linux Weekly News.  The result was made public for
2800 non-subscribers today.  I am pleased to see liked our Linux solution
2801 for schools.  Check out his article
2802 <a href="https://lwn.net/Articles/488805/">Debian Edu/Skolelinux: A
2803 distribution for education</a> if you want to learn more.</p>
2804
2805       </div>
2806       <div class="tags">
2807
2808
2809         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
2810
2811
2812       </div>
2813     </div>
2814     <div class="padding"></div>
2815
2816     <div class="entry">
2817       <div class="title">
2818         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__Wolfgang_Schweer.html">Debian Edu interview: Wolfgang Schweer</a>
2819       </div>
2820       <div class="date">
2821          1st April 2012
2822       </div>
2823       <div class="body">
2824         <p>Germany is a core area for the
2825 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu and Skolelinux</a>
2826 user community, and this time I managed to get hold of Wolfgang
2827 Schweer, a valuable contributor to the project from Germany.
2828
2829 <p><strong>Who are you, and how do you spend your days?</strong></p>
2830
2831 <p>I've studied Mathematics at the university 'Ruhr-Universität' in
2832 Bochum, Germany. Since 1981 I'm working as a teacher at the school
2833 "<a href="http://www.westfalenkolleg-dortmund.de/">Westfalen-Kolleg
2834 Dortmund</a>", a second chance school.  Here, young adults is given
2835 the opportunity to get further education in order to do the school
2836 examination 'Abitur', which will allow to study at a university. This
2837 second chance is of value for those who want a better job perspective
2838 or failed to get a higher school examination being teens.</p>
2839
2840 <p>Besides teaching I was involved in developing online courses for a
2841 blended learning project called 'abitur-online.nrw' and in some other
2842 information technology related projects. For about ten years I've been
2843 teacher and coordinator for the 'abitur-online' project at my
2844 school. Being now in my early sixties, I've decided to leave school at
2845 the end of April this year.</p>
2846
2847 <p><strong>How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux/Debian Edu
2848 project?</strong></p>
2849
2850 <p>The first information about Skolelinux must have come to my
2851 attention years ago and somehow related to LTSP (Linux Terminal Server
2852 Project).  At school, we had set up a network at the beginning of 1997
2853 using Suse Linux on the desktop, replacing a Novell network. Since
2854 2002, we used old machines from the city council of Dortmund as thin
2855 clients (LTSP, later Ubuntu/Lessdisks) cause new hardware was out of
2856 reach. At home I'm using Debian since years and - subscribed to the
2857 Debian news letter - heard from time to time about Skolelinux. About
2858 two years ago I proposed to replace the (somehow undocumented and only
2859 known to me) system at school by a well known Debian based system:
2860 Skolelinux.</p>
2861
2862 <p>Students and teachers appreciated the new system because of a
2863 better look and feel and an enhanced access to local media on thin
2864 clients.  The possibility to alter and/or reset passwords using a GUI
2865 was welcomed, too. Being able to do administrative tasks using a GUI
2866 and to easily set up workstations using PXE was of very high value for
2867 the admin teachers.</p>
2868
2869 <p><strong>What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux/Debian
2870 Edu?</strong></p>
2871
2872 <p>It's open source, easy to set up, stable and flexible due to it's
2873 Debian base. It integrates LTSP out-of-the-box. And it is documented!
2874 So it was a perfect choice.</p>
2875
2876 <p>Being open source, there are no license problems and so it's
2877 possible to point teachers and students to programs like
2878 OpenOffice.org, ViewYourMind (mind mapping) and The Gimp.  It's of
2879 high value to be able to adapt parts of the system to special needs of
2880 a school and to choose where to get support for this.</p>
2881
2882 <p><strong>What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux/Debian
2883 Edu?</strong></p>
2884
2885 <p>Nothing yet.</p>
2886
2887 <p><strong>Which free software do you use daily?</strong></p>
2888
2889 <p>At home (Debian Sid with Gnome Desktop): Iceweasel, LibreOffice,
2890 Mutt, Gedit, Document Viewer, Midnight Commander, flpsed (PDF
2891 Annotator).  At school (Skolelinux Lenny): Iceweasel, Gedit,
2892 LibreOffice.</p>
2893
2894 <p><strong>Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to
2895 get schools to use free software?</strong></p>
2896
2897 <p>Some time ago I thought it was enough to tell people about it. But
2898 that doesn't seem to work quite well. Now I concentrate on those more
2899 interested and hope to get multiplicators that way.</p>
2900
2901       </div>
2902       <div class="tags">
2903
2904
2905         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">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>.
2906
2907
2908       </div>
2909     </div>
2910     <div class="padding"></div>
2911
2912     <div class="entry">
2913       <div class="title">
2914         <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>
2915       </div>
2916       <div class="date">
2917         25th March 2012
2918       </div>
2919       <div class="body">
2920         <!-- Video HTML based on http://www.diveintohtml5.net/video.html -->
2921
2922 <p>The same Debian Edu developer that did the last screen cast I
2923 published, Wolfgang Schweer, has created a new screen cast showing how
2924 to set up Kmail in Debian Edu Squeze to authenticate using Kerberos,
2925 allowing users to check their local email account without providing
2926 any password. The video is embedded here in quarter size,
2927 and also available from <a href="https://vimeo.com/38601767">vimeo</a>
2928 and download as a
2929 <a href="http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux/press/screencasts/2012-03-14-Debian-Edu_Configure_Kmail_for_internal_usage.ogv">Ogg
2930 Theora</a> file.  Check it out below.</p>
2931
2932 <p><video id="kmail-kerberos-movie" width="256" height="184" preload controls>
2933   <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"' />
2934     <p>Download video as
2935       <a href="http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux/press/screencasts/2012-03-14-Debian-Edu_Configure_Kmail_for_internal_usage.ogv">Ogg</a>.</p>
2936 </video></p>
2937
2938       </div>
2939       <div class="tags">
2940
2941
2942         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
2943
2944
2945       </div>
2946     </div>
2947     <div class="padding"></div>
2948
2949     <div class="entry">
2950       <div class="title">
2951         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__John_Ingleby.html">Debian Edu interview: John Ingleby</a>
2952       </div>
2953       <div class="date">
2954         19th March 2012
2955       </div>
2956       <div class="body">
2957         <p><a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / Skolelinux</a>
2958 users are spread all across the globe.  The second inteview after
2959 <a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-edu-announce/2012/03/msg00001.html">the
2960 Squeeze release</a> was publised is with John Ingleby, a teacher and
2961 long time Linux user in United Kingdom.</p>
2962
2963 <p><strong>Who are you, and how do you spend your days?</strong></p>
2964
2965 <p>I teach ICT part time at the Rudolf Steiner School in Kings
2966 Langley, near London, UK. Previously I worked as a technical
2967 author/trainer while my children attended the school, and I also
2968 contributed to the Schoolforge UK community with the aim of
2969 encouraging UK schools to adopt free/open source software. Five or six
2970 years ago we had about 50 schools interested in some way, but we
2971 weren't able to convert many of them into sustainable
2972 installations.</p>
2973
2974 <p><strong>How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux/Debian Edu
2975 project?</strong></p>
2976
2977 <p>Skolelinux had two representatives at an early Edubuntu meeting in
2978 London which I attended. However at that time our school network had
2979 just been installed using CentOS, LTSP 4 and GNOME. When LTSP 5 came
2980 along we switched to Edubuntu thin client servers so now we have a
2981 mixed environment which includes Windows PCs and student laptops, as
2982 well as their MacBooks and iPads. However, the proprietary systems
2983 have always been rather problematic, and we never built a GUI for the
2984 LDAP server, so when I discovered Skolelinux is configured for all
2985 these things we decided to try it.</p>
2986
2987 <p><strong>What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux/Debian
2988 Edu?</strong></p>
2989
2990 <p>By far the biggest advantage is the Debian Edu community. Apart
2991 from that I have always believed in the same "sustainable computing"
2992 goals that Skolelinux is built on: installing Linux on computers which
2993 would otherwise be thrown away, to provide a reliable, secure and
2994 low-cost IT environment for schools. From my own experience I know
2995 that a part-time person can teach and manage a network of about 25
2996 Linux computers, but it would take much more of my time if we had
2997 proprietary software everywhere.</p>
2998
2999 <p><strong>What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux/Debian
3000 Edu?</strong></p>
3001
3002 <p>As a newcomer I'm just finding out who's who in the community and
3003 how you're organised, and what your procedures are for dealing with
3004 various things such as editing manual pages and so-on. The only
3005 English language mailing list seems to be for developers as well as
3006 users, so my inbox needs heavy pruning each day!</p>
3007
3008 <p><strong>Which free software do you use daily?</strong></p>
3009
3010 <p>Besides the software already mentioned at school we use Samba,
3011 OpenLDAP, CUPS, Nagios and Dansguardian for the network, and on the
3012 desktops we have LibreOffice, Firefox, GIMP and Inkscape. At home I
3013 use Ubuntu and an Android 4 eePad Transformer (but I'm not sure if
3014 that counts...)</p>
3015
3016 <p><strong>Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to
3017 get schools to use free software?</strong></p>
3018
3019 <p>That's a tough question! For very many years UK schools installed
3020 and taught only proprietary software, so that at the highest levels
3021 the notion of "computer" means simply "proprietary office
3022 applications".  However, schools today are experiencing budget
3023 constraints, and many are having to think hard about upgrading Windows
3024 XP.  At the same time, we have students showing teachers how to use
3025 iPads, MacBooks and Android, so the choice of operating system is no
3026 longer quite so automatic. What is more, our government at last
3027 realised that we need people with programming skills, so they're
3028 putting coding back in the curriculum! And it's encouraging that the
3029 first 10,000 Raspberry Pi units sold out in 2 hours.</p>
3030
3031 <p>I don't really know what strategy is going to get UK schools to use
3032 free software, but building an active community of Skolelinux/Debian
3033 Edu users in this country has to be part of it.</p>
3034
3035       </div>
3036       <div class="tags">
3037
3038
3039         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">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>.
3040
3041
3042       </div>
3043     </div>
3044     <div class="padding"></div>
3045
3046     <div class="entry">
3047       <div class="title">
3048         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Writing_and_translating_documentation_in_Debian_Edu.html">Writing and translating documentation in Debian Edu</a>
3049       </div>
3050       <div class="date">
3051         16th March 2012
3052       </div>
3053       <div class="body">
3054         <p>Documentation in Debian Edu is provided in several languages, and
3055 it is important to make it both easy to contribute and to keep the
3056 translated versions in sync.  To do this we have come up with what we
3057 believe is a very efficient work flow.</p>
3058
3059 <ol>
3060
3061 <li>The documentation is written in a
3062 <a href="http://moinmo.in">moinmoin wiki</a> (see for example
3063 <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/Documentation/Squeeze">the
3064 Squeeze release manual</a>) with support for exporting the content as
3065 docbook XML.</li>
3066
3067 <li>This docbook document is given to po4a to extract a gettext style
3068 .pot file with the content, which in turn is used to create .po files
3069 with the translated text.</li>
3070
3071 <li>The .po files are given to translators, and they can always tell
3072 which part of the original wiki document is new or changed.  They can
3073 use their normal translation tools like lokalize or poedit to write
3074 the translation.  There is even a system in place to handle translated
3075 images.</li>
3076
3077 <li>The translated .po files are combined with the original docbook
3078 XML document using po4a to create a translated docbook document.</li>
3079
3080 <li>The final step is to use all the generated docbook files and
3081 create PDF and HTML version of the original and translated documents.</li>
3082
3083 </ol>
3084
3085 <p>This setup work very well, but have a few issues.  The biggest
3086 issue is that <a href="http://moinmo.in/DocBook">the docbook support
3087 we use in moinmoin</a> is not actively maintained.  The docbook
3088 support is also buggy, and our build system contain workarounds to
3089 make sure the generated docbook is usable despite these bugs.</p>
3090
3091 <p>If you want to have a look at our setup, it is all there in the
3092 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/debian-edu-doc">debian-edu-doc
3093 package</a>.</p>
3094
3095       </div>
3096       <div class="tags">
3097
3098
3099         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
3100
3101
3102       </div>
3103     </div>
3104     <div class="padding"></div>
3105
3106     <div class="entry">
3107       <div class="title">
3108         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Skolelinux___Debian_Edu_Squeeze_is_out_.html">Skolelinux / Debian Edu Squeeze is out!</a>
3109       </div>
3110       <div class="date">
3111         11th March 2012
3112       </div>
3113       <div class="body">
3114         <p>This weekend we finally published the first stable release of
3115 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Skolelinux / Debian Edu</a> based
3116 on Debian/Squeeze.  The full announcement is
3117 <a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-edu-announce/2012/03/msg00001.html">available</a>
3118 from the project announcement list.  Now is a good time to test if it
3119 you have not done so already.</p>
3120
3121 <p>I plan to present the new version at
3122 <a href="http://www.nuug.no/aktiviteter/20120313-skolelinux/">a NUUG
3123 meeting</a> on tuesday.  I look forward to seeing you there if you are
3124 in Oslo, Norway.</p>
3125
3126       </div>
3127       <div class="tags">
3128
3129
3130         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
3131
3132
3133       </div>
3134     </div>
3135     <div class="padding"></div>
3136
3137     <div class="entry">
3138       <div class="title">
3139         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__Nigel_Barker.html">Debian Edu interview: Nigel Barker</a>
3140       </div>
3141       <div class="date">
3142          9th March 2012
3143       </div>
3144       <div class="body">
3145         <p>Inspired by <a href="http://raphaelhertzog.com/tag/interview/">the
3146 interview series</a> conducted by Raphael, I started a Norwegian
3147 interview series with people involved in the Debian Edu / Skolelinux
3148 community.  This was so popular that I believe it is time to move to a
3149 more international audience.</p>
3150
3151 <p>While <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu and
3152 Skolelinux</a> originated in France and Norway, and have most users in
3153 Europe, there are users all around the globe.  One of those far away
3154 from me is Nigel Barker, a long time Debian Edu system administrator
3155 and contributor.  It is thanks to him that Debian Edu is adjusted to
3156 work out of the box in Japan.  I got him to answer a few questions,
3157 and am happy to share the response with you. :)
3158
3159
3160 <p><strong>Who are you, and how do you spend your days?</strong></p>
3161
3162 <p>My name is Nigel Barker, and I am British. I am married to Yumiko,
3163 and we have three lovely children, aged 15, 14 and 4(!) I am the IT
3164 Coordinator at Hiroshima International School, Japan. I am also a
3165 teacher, and in fact I spend most of my day teaching Mathematics,
3166 Science, IT, and Chemistry. I was originally a Chemistry teacher, but
3167 I have always had an interest in computers. Another teacher teaches
3168 primary school IT, but apart from that I am the only computer person,
3169 so that means I am the network manager, technician and webmaster,
3170 also, and I help people with their computer problems. I teach python
3171 to beginners in an after-school club. I am way too busy, so I really
3172 appreciate the simplicity of Skolelinux.</p>
3173
3174 <p><strong>How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux/Debian Edu
3175 project?</strong></p>
3176
3177 <p>In around 2004 or 5 I discovered the ltsp project, and set up a
3178 server in the IT lab. I wanted some way to connect it to our central
3179 samba server, which I was also quite poor at configuring. I discovered
3180 Edubuntu when it came out, but it didn't really improve my setup. I
3181 did various desperate searches for things like "school Linux server"
3182 and ended up in a document called "Drift" something or other. Reading
3183 there it became clear that Skolelinux was going to solve all my
3184 problems in one go. I was very excited, but apprehensive, because my
3185 previous attempts to install Debian had ended in failure (I used
3186 Mandrake for everything - ltsp, samba, apache, mail, ns...). I
3187 downloaded a beta version, had some problems, so subscribed to the
3188 Debian Edu list for help. I have remained subscribed ever since, and
3189 my school has run a Skolelinux network since Sarge.</p>
3190
3191 <p><strong>What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux/Debian
3192 Edu?</strong></p>
3193
3194 <p>For me the integrated setup. This is not just the server, or the
3195 workstation, or the ltsp. Its all of them, and its all configured
3196 ready to go. I read somewhere in the early documentation that it is
3197 designed to be setup and managed by the Maths or Science teacher, who
3198 doesn't necessarily know much about computers, in a small Norwegian
3199 school. That describes me perfectly if you replace Norway with
3200 Japan.</p>
3201
3202 <p><strong>What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux/Debian
3203 Edu?</strong></p>
3204
3205 <p>The desktop is fairly plain. If you compare it with Edubuntu, who
3206 have fun themes for children, or with distributions such as Mint, who
3207 make the desktop beautiful. They create a good impression on people
3208 who don't need to understand how to use any of it, but who might be
3209 important to the school. School administrators or directors, for
3210 instance, or parents. Even kids. Debian itself usually has ugly
3211 default theme settings. It was my dream a few years back that some
3212 kind of integration would allow Edubuntu to do the desktop stuff and
3213 Debian Edu the servers, but now I realise how impossible that is.  A
3214 second disadvantage is that if something goes wrong, or you need to
3215 customise something, then suddenly the level of expertise required
3216 multiplies. For example, backup wasn't working properly in Lenny. It
3217 took me ages to learn how to set up my own server to do rsync backups.
3218 I am afraid of anything to do with ldap, but perhaps Gosa will
3219 help.</p>
3220
3221 <p><strong>Which free software do you use daily?</strong></p>
3222
3223 <p>Nowadays I only use Debian on my personal computers. I have one for
3224 studio work (I play guitar and write songs), running AV Linux
3225 (customised Debian) a netbook running Squeeze, and a bigger laptop
3226 still running Skolelinux Lenny workstation. I have a Tjener in my
3227 house, that's very useful for the family photos and music.  At school
3228 the students only use Skolelinux. (Some teachers and the office still
3229 have windows). So that means we only use free software all day every
3230 day. Open office, The GIMP, Firefox/Iceweasel, VLC and Audacity are
3231 installed on every computer in school, irrespective of OS.  We also
3232 have Koha on Debian for the library, and Apache, Moodle, b2evolution
3233 and Etomite on Debian for the www. The firewall is Untangle.</p>
3234
3235 <p><strong>Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to
3236 get schools to use free software?</strong></p>
3237
3238 <p>Current trends are in our favour. Open source is big in industry,
3239 and ordinary people have heard of it. The spread of Android and the
3240 popularity of Apple have helped to weaken the impression that you have
3241 to have Microsoft on everything. People complain to me much less about
3242 file formats and Word than they did 5 years ago.  The Edu aspect is
3243 also a selling point. This is all customised for schools. Where is the
3244 Windows-edu, or the Mac-edu?  But of course the main attraction is
3245 budget.The trick is to convince people that the quality is not
3246 compromised when you stop paying and use free software instead. That
3247 is one reason why I say the desktop experience is a weakness. People
3248 are not impressed when their USB drive doesn't work, or their browser
3249 doesn't play flash, for example.</p>
3250
3251       </div>
3252       <div class="tags">
3253
3254
3255         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">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>.
3256
3257
3258       </div>
3259     </div>
3260     <div class="padding"></div>
3261
3262     <div class="entry">
3263       <div class="title">
3264         <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>
3265       </div>
3266       <div class="date">
3267          7th March 2012
3268       </div>
3269       <div class="body">
3270         <!-- Video HTML based on http://www.diveintohtml5.net/video.html -->
3271
3272 <p>One of the Debian Edu developers, Wolfgang Schweer, just created a
3273 screen cast documenting how to create a lot of new users in LDAP on
3274 Debian Edu Squeeze.  The video is embedded here in quarter size, and
3275 also available from <a href="http://vimeo.com/37675399">vimeo</a> and
3276 download as a
3277 <a href="http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux/press/screencasts/2012-02-29-debian_edu_mass_create_user_accounts.ogv">Ogg
3278 Theora</a> file.  Check it out below.</p>
3279
3280 <p><video id="gosa-mass-user-create-movie" width="256" height="184" preload controls>
3281   <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"' />
3282     <p>Download video as
3283       <a href="http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux/press/screencasts/2012-02-29-debian_edu_mass_create_user_accounts.ogv">Ogg</a>.</p>
3284 </video></p>
3285
3286       </div>
3287       <div class="tags">
3288
3289
3290         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
3291
3292
3293       </div>
3294     </div>
3295     <div class="padding"></div>
3296
3297     <div class="entry">
3298       <div class="title">
3299         <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>
3300       </div>
3301       <div class="date">
3302          4th March 2012
3303       </div>
3304       <div class="body">
3305         <p>This weekend we wrapped up and published the third release
3306 candidate for <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu /
3307 Skolelinux</a> based on Squeeze.  The full announcement is
3308 <a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-edu-announce/2012/03/msg00000.html">available</a>
3309 from the project announcement list.  Check it out if you
3310 need a software solution for your school.</p>
3311
3312       </div>
3313       <div class="tags">
3314
3315
3316         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
3317
3318
3319       </div>
3320     </div>
3321     <div class="padding"></div>
3322
3323     <div class="entry">
3324       <div class="title">
3325         <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>
3326       </div>
3327       <div class="date">
3328          3rd March 2012
3329       </div>
3330       <div class="body">
3331         <p>Many years ago, the <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Skolelinux
3332 / Debian Edu project</a> initiated a student project to create a tool
3333 for making stop motion movies.  The proposal came from a teacher
3334 needing such tool on Skolelinux.  The project, called "stopmotion",
3335 was manned by two extraordinary students and won a school award and a
3336 national aware with this great project.  The project was initiated and
3337 mentored by Herman Robak, and manned by the students Bjørn Erik Nilsen
3338 and Fredrik Berg Kjølstad.  They got in touch with people at Aardman
3339 Animation studio and received feedback on how professionals would like
3340 such stopmotion tool to work, and the end result was and is used by
3341 animators around the globe.  But as is usual after studying, both got
3342 jobs and went elsewhere, and did not have time to properly tend to the
3343 project, and it has been lingering for a few years now.  Until last
3344 year...</p>
3345
3346 <p>Last year some of the users got together with Herman, and moved the
3347 project to Sourceforge and in effect restarted the project under a new
3348 name,
3349 <a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/linuxstopmotion/">linuxstopmotion</a>.
3350 The name change was done to make it possible to find the project using
3351 Internet search engines (try to search for 'stopmotion' to see what I
3352 mean). I've been following
3353 <a href="https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/linuxstopmotion-community">the
3354 mailing list</a> and the improvement already in place and planned for
3355 the future is encouraging.  If you want to make stop motion movies.
3356 Check it out. :)</p>
3357
3358       </div>
3359       <div class="tags">
3360
3361
3362         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">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>.
3363
3364
3365       </div>
3366     </div>
3367     <div class="padding"></div>
3368
3369     <div class="entry">
3370       <div class="title">
3371         <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>
3372       </div>
3373       <div class="date">
3374         27th February 2012
3375       </div>
3376       <div class="body">
3377         <p>This weekend we wrapped up and published the second release
3378 candidate for <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu /
3379 Skolelinux</a> based on Squeeze.  The full announcement did for some
3380 reason not make it the project announcement list, but is
3381 <a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2012/02/msg00015.html">available</a>
3382 from the Debian development announcement list.  Check it out if you
3383 need a software solution for your school.</p>
3384
3385       </div>
3386       <div class="tags">
3387
3388
3389         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
3390
3391
3392       </div>
3393     </div>
3394     <div class="padding"></div>
3395
3396     <div class="entry">
3397       <div class="title">
3398         <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>
3399       </div>
3400       <div class="date">
3401         19th February 2012
3402       </div>
3403       <div class="body">
3404         <p>One week delayed due to DVD build problems, we managed today to
3405 wrap up and publish the first release candidate for
3406 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / Skolelinux</a> based
3407 on Squeeze.  The full announcement is
3408 <a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-edu-announce/2012/02/msg00001.html">available</a>
3409 on the project announcement list.  Check it out if you need a software
3410 solution for your school.</p>
3411
3412       </div>
3413       <div class="tags">
3414
3415
3416         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
3417
3418
3419       </div>
3420     </div>
3421     <div class="padding"></div>
3422
3423     <div class="entry">
3424       <div class="title">
3425         <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>
3426       </div>
3427       <div class="date">
3428         14th February 2012
3429       </div>
3430       <div class="body">
3431         <p>Once in a while my home server have disk problems.  Thanks to Linux
3432 Software RAID, I have not lost data yet (but
3433 <a href="http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.linux.raid/34532">I was
3434 close</a> this summer :).  But once a disk is starting to behave
3435 funny, a practical problem present itself.  How to get from the Linux
3436 device name (like /dev/sdd) to something that can be used to identify
3437 the disk when the computer is turned off?  In my case I have SATA
3438 disks with a unique ID printed on the label.  All I need is a way to
3439 figure out how to query the disk to get the ID out.</p>
3440
3441 <p>After fumbling a bit, I
3442 <a href="http://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/linux-getting-scsi-ide-harddisk-information/">found
3443 that hdparm -I</a> will report the disk serial number, which is
3444 printed on the disk label.  The following (almost) one-liner can be
3445 used to look up the ID of all the failed disks:</p>
3446
3447 <blockquote><pre>
3448 for d in $(cat /proc/mdstat |grep '(F)'|tr ' ' "\n"|grep '(F)'|cut -d\[ -f1|sort -u);
3449 do
3450     printf "Failed disk $d: "
3451     hdparm -I /dev/$d |grep 'Serial Num'
3452 done
3453 </blockquote></pre>
3454
3455 <p>Putting it here to make sure I do not have to search for it the
3456 next time, and in case other find it useful.</p>
3457
3458 <p>At the moment I have two failing disk. :(</p>
3459
3460 <blockquote><pre>
3461 Failed disk sdd1:       Serial Number:      WD-WCASJ1860823
3462 Failed disk sdd2:       Serial Number:      WD-WCASJ1860823
3463 Failed disk sde2:       Serial Number:      WD-WCASJ1840589
3464 </blockquote></pre>
3465
3466 <p>The last time I had failing disks, I added the serial number on
3467 labels I printed and stuck on the short sides of each disk, to be able
3468 to figure out which disk to take out of the box without having to
3469 remove each disk to look at the physical vendor label.  The vendor
3470 label is at the top of the disk, which is hidden when the disks are
3471 mounted inside my box.</p>
3472
3473 <p>I really wish the check_linux_raid Nagios plugin for checking Linux
3474 Software RAID in the
3475 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/n/nagios-plugins.html">nagios-plugins-standard</a>
3476 debian package would look up this value automatically, as it would
3477 make the plugin a lot more useful when my disks fail.  At the moment
3478 it only report a failure when there are no more spares left (it really
3479 should warn as soon as a disk is failing), and it do not tell me which
3480 disk(s) is failing when the RAID is running short on disks.</p>
3481
3482       </div>
3483       <div class="tags">
3484
3485
3486         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>.
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/Automatic_proxy_configuration_with_Debian_Edu___Skolelinux.html">Automatic proxy configuration with Debian Edu / Skolelinux</a>
3496       </div>
3497       <div class="date">
3498         13th February 2012
3499       </div>
3500       <div class="body">
3501         <p>New in the Squeeze version of
3502 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / Skolelinux</a> is the
3503 ability for clients to automatically configure their proxy settings
3504 based on their environment.  We want all systems on the client to use
3505 the WPAD based proxy definition fetched from <tt>http://wpad/wpad.dat</tt>, to
3506 allow sites to control the proxy setting from a central place and make
3507 sure clients do not have hard coded proxy settings.  The schools can
3508 change the global proxy setting by editing
3509 <tt>tjener:/etc/debian-edu/www/wpad.dat</tt> and the change propagate
3510 to all Debian Edu clients in the network.</p>
3511
3512 <p>The problem is that some systems do not understand the WPAD system.
3513 In other words, how do one get from a WPAD file like this (this is a
3514 simple one, they can run arbitrary code):</p>
3515
3516 <blockquote><pre>
3517 function FindProxyForURL(url, host)
3518 {
3519    if (!isResolvable(host) ||
3520        isPlainHostName(host) ||
3521        dnsDomainIs(host, ".intern"))
3522       return "DIRECT";
3523    else
3524       return "PROXY webcache:3128; DIRECT";
3525 }
3526 </pre></blockquote>
3527
3528 <p>to a proxy setting in the process environment looking like this:</p>
3529
3530 <blockquote><pre>
3531 http_proxy=http://webcache:3128/
3532 ftp_proxy=http://webcache:3128/
3533 </pre></blockquote>
3534
3535 <p>To do this conversion I developed a perl script that will execute
3536 the javascript fragment in the WPAD file and return the proxy that
3537 would be used for
3538 <tt><a href="http://www.debian.org/">http://www.debian.org/</a></tt>,
3539 and insert this extracted proxy URL in <tt>/etc/environment</tt> and
3540 <tt>/etc/apt/apt.conf</tt>.  The perl script wpad-extract work just
3541 fine in Squeeze, but in Wheezy the library it need to run the
3542 javascript code is <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/631045">no longer
3543 able to build</a> because the C library it depended on is now a C++
3544 library.  I hope someone find a solution to that problem before Wheezy
3545 is frozen.  An alternative would be for us to rewrite wpad-extract to
3546 use some other javascript library currently working in Wheezy, but no
3547 known alternative is known at the moment.</p>
3548
3549 <p>This automatic proxy system allow the roaming workstation (aka
3550 laptop) setup in Debian Edu/Squeeze to use the proxy when the laptop
3551 is connected to the backbone network in a Debian Edu setup, and to
3552 automatically use any proxy present and announced using the WPAD
3553 feature when it is connected to other networks.  And if no proxy is
3554 announced, direct connections will be used instead.</p>
3555
3556 <p>Silently using a proxy announced on the network might be a privacy
3557 or security problem.  But those controlling DHCP and DNS on a network
3558 could just as easily set up a transparent proxy, and force all HTTP
3559 and FTP connections to use a proxy anyway, so I consider that
3560 distinction to be academic.  If you are afraid of using the wrong
3561 proxy, you should avoid connecting to the network in question in the
3562 first place.  In Debian Edu, the proxy setup is updated using dhcp and
3563 ifupdown hooks, to make sure the configuration is updated every time
3564 the network setup changes.</p>
3565
3566 <p>The WPAD system is documented in a
3567 <a href="http://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-ietf-wrec-wpad-01">IETF
3568 draft</a> and a
3569 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_Proxy_Autodiscovery_Protocol">Wikipedia
3570 page</a> for those that want to learn more.</p>
3571
3572       </div>
3573       <div class="tags">
3574
3575
3576         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
3577
3578
3579       </div>
3580     </div>
3581     <div class="padding"></div>
3582
3583     <div class="entry">
3584       <div class="title">
3585         <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>
3586       </div>
3587       <div class="date">
3588          5th February 2012
3589       </div>
3590       <div class="body">
3591         <p>Since the Lenny version of
3592 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / Skolelinux</a>, a
3593 feature to save power have been included.  It is as simple as it is
3594 practical: Shut down unused clients at night, and turn them on again
3595 in the morning.  This is done using the
3596 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/s/shutdown-at-night.html">shutdown-at-night</a> Debian package.</p>
3597
3598 <p>To enable this feature on a client, the machine need to be added to
3599 the netgroup shutdown-at-night-hosts.  For Debian Edu, this is done in
3600 LDAP, and once this is in place, the machine in question will check
3601 every hour from 16:00 until 06:00 to see if the machine is unused, and
3602 shut it down if it is.  If the hardware in question is supported by
3603 the
3604 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/n/nvram-wakeup.html">nvram-wakeup</a>
3605 package, the BIOS is told to turn the machine back on around 07:00 +-
3606 10 minutes.  If this isn't working, one can configure wake-on-lan to
3607 try to turn on the client.  The wake-on-lan option is only documented
3608 and not enabled by default in Debian Edu.</p>
3609
3610 <p>It is important to not turn all machines on at once, as this can
3611 blow a fuse if several computers are connected to the same fuse like
3612 the common setup for a classroom.  The nvram-wakeup method only work
3613 for machines with a functioning hardware/BIOS clock.  I've seen old
3614 machines where the BIOS battery were dead and the hardware clock were
3615 starting from 0 (or was it 1990?) every boot.  If you have one of
3616 those, you have to turn on the computer manually.</p>
3617
3618 <p>The shutdown-at-night package is completely self contained, and can
3619 also be used outside the Debian Edu environment.  For those without a
3620 central LDAP server with netgroups, one can instead touch the file
3621 <tt>/etc/shutdown-at-night/shutdown-at-night</tt> to enable it.
3622 Perhaps you too can use it to save some power?</p>
3623
3624       </div>
3625       <div class="tags">
3626
3627
3628         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
3629
3630
3631       </div>
3632     </div>
3633     <div class="padding"></div>
3634
3635     <div class="entry">
3636       <div class="title">
3637         <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>
3638       </div>
3639       <div class="date">
3640          4th February 2012
3641       </div>
3642       <div class="body">
3643         <p>I am happy to announce that finally we managed today to wrap up and
3644 publish the third beta version of
3645 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / Skolelinux</a> based
3646 on Squeeze.  If you want to test a LDAP backed Kerberos server with
3647 out of the box PXE configuration for running diskless machines and
3648 installing new machines, check it out.  If you need a software
3649 solution for your school, check it out too.  The full announcement is
3650 <a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-edu-announce/2012/02/msg00000.html">available</a>
3651 on the project announcement list.</p>
3652
3653 <p>I am very happy to report these changes and improvements since
3654 beta2 (there are more, see announcement for full list):</p>
3655
3656 <ul>
3657
3658 <li>It is now possible to change the pre-configured IP subnet from
3659   10.0.0.0/8 to something else by using the subnet-change tool after
3660   the installation.</li>
3661
3662 <li>Too full partitions are now automatically extended on the Main
3663   Server, based on the rules specified in /etc/fsautoresizetab.</li>
3664
3665 <li>The CUPS queues are now automatically flushed every night, and all
3666   disabled queues are restarted every hour.  This should cut down on
3667   the amount of manual administration needed for printers.</li>
3668
3669 <li>The set of initial users have been changed.  Now a personal user
3670   for the local system administrator is created during installation
3671   instead of the previously created localadmin and super-admin users,
3672   and this user is granted administrative privileges using group
3673   membership.  This reduces the number of passwords one need to keep
3674   up to date on the system.</li>
3675
3676 </ul>
3677
3678 <p>The new main server seem to work so well that I am testing it as my
3679 private DNS/LDAP/Kerberos/PXE/LTSP server at home.  I will use it look
3680 for issues we could fix to polish Debian Edu even further before the
3681 final Squeeze release is published.</p>
3682
3683 <p>Next weekend the project organise a
3684 <a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-edu-announce/2012/01/msg00001.html">developer
3685 gathering</a> in Oslo.  We will continue the work on the Squeeze
3686 version, and start initial planning for the Wheezy version.  Perhaps I
3687 will see you there?</p>
3688
3689       </div>
3690       <div class="tags">
3691
3692
3693         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
3694
3695
3696       </div>
3697     </div>
3698     <div class="padding"></div>
3699
3700     <div class="entry">
3701       <div class="title">
3702         <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>
3703       </div>
3704       <div class="date">
3705         27th January 2012
3706       </div>
3707       <div class="body">
3708         <p>With some computer hardware, one need non-free firmware blobs.
3709 This is the sad fact of todays computers.  In the next version of
3710 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / Skolelinux</a> based
3711 on Squeeze, we provide several scripts and modifications to make
3712 firmware blobs easier to handle.  The common use case I run into is a
3713 laptop with a wireless network card requiring non-free firmware to
3714 work, but there are other use cases as well.</p>
3715
3716 <p>First and foremost, Debian Edu provide ISO images for DVD and CD
3717 with all firmware packages in the Debian sections main and non-free
3718 included, to ensure debian-installer find and can install all of them
3719 during installation.  This take care firmware for network devices used
3720 by the installer when installing from from local media.  But for
3721 example multimedia devices are not activated in the installer and are
3722 not taken care of by this.</p>
3723
3724 <p>For non-network devices, we provide the script
3725 <tt>/usr/share/debian-edu-config/tools/auto-addfirmware</tt> which
3726 search through the <tt>dmesg</tt> output for drivers requesting extra
3727 firmware.  The firmware file name is looked up in the Contents-ARCH.gz
3728 file available in the package repository, and the packages providing
3729 the requested firmware file(s) is installed.  I have proposed to do
3730 something similar in debian-installer (BTS report
3731 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/655507">#655507</a>), to allow PXE
3732 installs of Debian to handle firmware installation better.  Run the
3733 script as root from the command line to fetch and install the needed
3734 firmware packages.</p>
3735
3736 <p>Debian Edu provide PXE installation of Debian out of the box, and
3737 because some machines need firmware to get their network cards
3738 working, the installation initrd some times need extra firmware
3739 included to be able to install at all.  To fill the PXE installation
3740 initrd with extra firmware, the
3741 <tt>/usr/share/debian-edu-config/tools/pxe-addfirmware</tt> script is
3742 provided.  Again, just run it as root on the command line to fill the
3743 PXE initrd with firmware packages.</p>
3744
3745 <p>Last, some LTSP clients might also need firmware to get their
3746 network cards working.  For this,
3747 <tt>/usr/share/debian-edu-config/tools/ltsp-addfirmware</tt> is
3748 provided to update the LTSP initrd with firmware blobs.  It is used
3749 the same way as the other firmware related tools.</p>
3750
3751 <p>At the moment, we do not run any of these during installation.  We
3752 do not know if this is acceptable for the local administrator to use
3753 non-free software, and it is their choice.</p>
3754
3755 <p>We plan to release beta3 this weekend.  You might want to give it a
3756 try.</p>
3757
3758       </div>
3759       <div class="tags">
3760
3761
3762         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
3763
3764
3765       </div>
3766     </div>
3767     <div class="padding"></div>
3768
3769     <div class="entry">
3770       <div class="title">
3771         <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>
3772       </div>
3773       <div class="date">
3774         25th January 2012
3775       </div>
3776       <div class="body">
3777         <p>The next version of <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu
3778 / Skolelinux</a> will include a new tool
3779 <tt>sitesummary2ldapdhcp</tt>, which can be used to quickly set up all
3780 the computers in a school without much manual labour.  Here is a short
3781 summary on how to use it to set up a new school.</p>
3782
3783 <p>First, install a combined Main Server and Thin Client Server as the
3784 central server in the network.  Next, PXE boot all the client machines
3785 as thin clients and wait 5 minutes after the last client booted to
3786 allow the clients to report their existence to the central server.  When
3787 this is done, log on to the central server and run
3788 <tt>sitesummary2ldapdhcp -a</tt> in the <tt>konsole</tt> to use the
3789 collected information to generate system objects in LDAP.  The output
3790 will look similar to this:</p>
3791
3792 <p><blockquote><pre>
3793 % sitesummary2ldapdhcp -a
3794 info: Updating machine tjener.intern [10.0.2.2] id ether-00:01:02:03:04:05.
3795 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.
3796
3797 Enter password if you want to activate these changes, and ^c to abort.
3798
3799 Connecting to LDAP as cn=admin,ou=ldap-access,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
3800 enter password: *******
3801 %
3802 </pre></blockquote></p>
3803
3804 <p>After providing the LDAP administrative password (the same as the
3805 root password set during installation), the LDAP database will be
3806 populated with system objects for each PXE booted machine with
3807 automatically generated names.  The final step to set up the school is
3808 then to log into <a href="https://oss.gonicus.de/labs/gosa/">GOsa</a>,
3809 the web based user, group and system administration system to change
3810 system names, add systems to the correct host groups and finally
3811 enable DHCP and DNS for the systems.  All clients that should be used
3812 as diskless workstations should be added to the workstation-hosts
3813 group.  After this is done, all computers can be booted again via PXE
3814 and get their assigned names and group based configuration
3815 automatically.</p>
3816
3817 <p>We plan to release beta3 with the updated version of this feature
3818 enabled this weekend.  You might want to give it a try.</p>
3819
3820 <p>Update 2012-01-28: When calling sitesummary2ldapdhcp to add new
3821 hosts, one need to add the option -a.  I forgot to mention this in my
3822 original text, and have added it to the text now.</p>
3823
3824       </div>
3825       <div class="tags">
3826
3827
3828         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">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>.
3829
3830
3831       </div>
3832     </div>
3833     <div class="padding"></div>
3834
3835     <div class="entry">
3836       <div class="title">
3837         <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>
3838       </div>
3839       <div class="date">
3840         10th January 2012
3841       </div>
3842       <div class="body">
3843         <p>In the Squeeze version of
3844 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / Skolelinux</a> soon
3845 to be released, users of the system will get their default browser
3846 start page set from LDAP, allowing the system administrator to point
3847 all users to the school web page by updating one setting in LDAP.  In
3848 addition to setting the default start page when a machine boots, users
3849 are shown the same page as a welcome page when they log in for the
3850 first time.</p>
3851
3852 <p>The LDAP object dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no have an attribute
3853 labeledURI with "http://www/ LDAP for Debian Edu/Skolelinux" as the
3854 default content.  By changing this value to another URL, all users get
3855 to see the page behind this new URL.</p>
3856
3857 <p>An easy way to update it is by using the ldapvi tool.  It can be
3858 called as "<tt>ldapvi -ZD '(cn=admin)'</tt>' to update LDAP with the
3859 new setting.</p>
3860
3861 <p>We have written the code to adjust the default start page and show
3862 the welcome page, and I wonder if there is an easier way to do this
3863 from within Iceweasel instead.</p>
3864
3865       </div>
3866       <div class="tags">
3867
3868
3869         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">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>.
3870
3871
3872       </div>
3873     </div>
3874     <div class="padding"></div>
3875
3876     <div class="entry">
3877       <div class="title">
3878         <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>
3879       </div>
3880       <div class="date">
3881          7th January 2012
3882       </div>
3883       <div class="body">
3884         <p>I am happy to announce that today we managed to wrap up and publish
3885 the second beta version of
3886 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / Skolelinux</a>.  If
3887 you want to test a LDAP backed Kerberos server with out of the box PXE
3888 configuration for running diskless machines and installing new
3889 machines, check it out.  If you need a software solution for your
3890 school, check it out too.  The full announcement is
3891 <a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-edu-announce/2012/01/msg00000.html">available</a>
3892 on the project announcement list.</p>
3893
3894       </div>
3895       <div class="tags">
3896
3897
3898         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
3899
3900
3901       </div>
3902     </div>
3903     <div class="padding"></div>
3904
3905     <div class="entry">
3906       <div class="title">
3907         <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>
3908       </div>
3909       <div class="date">
3910          3rd January 2012
3911       </div>
3912       <div class="body">
3913         <p>During christmas, I have been working getting the next version of
3914 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / Skolelinux</a> ready
3915 for release.  The initial problem I looked at was particularly
3916 interesting.</p>
3917
3918 <P>The installer would hang at the end when it was doing it
3919 post-installation configuration, and whatevery I did to try to find
3920 the cause and fix it always worked while I tested it, but never when I
3921 integrated it into the installer and ran the installation from
3922 scratch.  I would try to restart processes, close file descriptors,
3923 remove or create files, and the installer would always unblock and
3924 wrap up its tasks.</p>
3925
3926 <p>Eventually the cause was found.  The kernel was simply running out
3927 of entropy, causing the Kerberos setup to hang waiting for more.
3928 Pressing keys was adding entropy to the kernel, and thus all my tries
3929 to fix the problem worked not because what I was typing to fix it, but
3930 because I was typing.</P>
3931
3932 <p>The fix I implemented was to add a background process looking at
3933 the level of entropy in the kernel (by checking
3934 /proc/sys/kernel/random/entropy_avail), and if it was too small, the
3935 installer will flush the kernel file buffers and do 'find /' to
3936 generate some disk IO.  Disk IO generate entropy in the kernel, and is
3937 one of the few things that can be initated from within the system to
3938 generate entropy.</p>
3939
3940 <p>The fix is in
3941 <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/Documentation/Squeeze/Installation">beta1
3942 of the Debian Edu/Squeeze</a> version, and we
3943 <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu">welcome more testers and
3944 developers</a>.  We plan to release beta2 this weekend.</p>
3945
3946       </div>
3947       <div class="tags">
3948
3949
3950         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
3951
3952
3953       </div>
3954     </div>
3955     <div class="padding"></div>
3956
3957     <div class="entry">
3958       <div class="title">
3959         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Automatically_upgrading_server_firmware_on_Dell_PowerEdge.html">Automatically upgrading server firmware on Dell PowerEdge</a>
3960       </div>
3961       <div class="date">
3962         21st November 2011
3963       </div>
3964       <div class="body">
3965         <p>At work we have heaps of servers.  I believe the total count is
3966 around 1000 at the moment.  To be able to get help from the vendors
3967 when something go wrong, we want to keep the firmware on the servers
3968 up to date.  If the firmware isn't the latest and greatest, the
3969 vendors typically refuse to start debugging any problems until the
3970 firmware is upgraded.  So before every reboot, we want to upgrade the
3971 firmware, and we would really like everyone handling servers at the
3972 university to do this themselves when they plan to reboot a machine.
3973 For that to happen we at the unix server admin group need to provide
3974 the tools to do so.</p>
3975
3976 <p>To make firmware upgrading easier, I am working on a script to
3977 fetch and install the latest firmware for the servers we got.  Most of
3978 our hardware are from Dell and HP, so I have focused on these servers
3979 so far.  This blog post is about the Dell part.</P>
3980
3981 <p>On the Dell FTP site I was lucky enough to find
3982 <a href="ftp://ftp.us.dell.com/catalog/Catalog.xml.gz">an XML file</a>
3983 with firmware information for all 11th generation servers, listing
3984 which firmware should be used on a given model and where on the FTP
3985 site I can find it.  Using a simple perl XML parser I can then
3986 download the shell scripts Dell provides to do firmware upgrades from
3987 within Linux and reboot when all the firmware is primed and ready to
3988 be activated on the first reboot.</p>
3989
3990 <p>This is the Dell related fragment of the perl code I am working on.
3991 Are there anyone working on similar tools for firmware upgrading all
3992 servers at a site?  Please get in touch and lets share resources.</p>
3993
3994 <p><pre>
3995 #!/usr/bin/perl
3996 use strict;
3997 use warnings;
3998 use File::Temp qw(tempdir);
3999 BEGIN {
4000     # Install needed RHEL packages if missing
4001     my %rhelmodules = (
4002         'XML::Simple' => 'perl-XML-Simple',
4003         );
4004     for my $module (keys %rhelmodules) {
4005         eval "use $module;";
4006         if ($@) {
4007             my $pkg = $rhelmodules{$module};
4008             system("yum install -y $pkg");
4009             eval "use $module;";
4010         }
4011     }
4012 }
4013 my $errorsto = 'pere@hungry.com';
4014
4015 upgrade_dell();
4016
4017 exit 0;
4018
4019 sub run_firmware_script {
4020     my ($opts, $script) = @_;
4021     unless ($script) {
4022         print STDERR "fail: missing script name\n";
4023         exit 1
4024     }
4025     print STDERR "Running $script\n\n";
4026
4027     if (0 == system("sh $script $opts")) { # FIXME correct exit code handling
4028         print STDERR "success: firmware script ran succcessfully\n";
4029     } else {
4030         print STDERR "fail: firmware script returned error\n";
4031     }
4032 }
4033
4034 sub run_firmware_scripts {
4035     my ($opts, @dirs) = @_;
4036     # Run firmware packages
4037     for my $dir (@dirs) {
4038         print STDERR "info: Running scripts in $dir\n";
4039         opendir(my $dh, $dir) or die "Unable to open directory $dir: $!";
4040         while (my $s = readdir $dh) {
4041             next if $s =~ m/^\.\.?/;
4042             run_firmware_script($opts, "$dir/$s");
4043         }
4044         closedir $dh;
4045     }
4046 }
4047
4048 sub download {
4049     my $url = shift;
4050     print STDERR "info: Downloading $url\n";
4051     system("wget --quiet \"$url\"");
4052 }
4053
4054 sub upgrade_dell {
4055     my @dirs;
4056     my $product = `dmidecode -s system-product-name`;
4057     chomp $product;
4058
4059     if ($product =~ m/PowerEdge/) {
4060
4061         # on RHEL, these pacakges are needed by the firwmare upgrade scripts
4062         system('yum install -y compat-libstdc++-33.i686 libstdc++.i686 libxml2.i686 procmail');
4063
4064         my $tmpdir = tempdir(
4065             CLEANUP => 1
4066             );
4067         chdir($tmpdir);
4068         fetch_dell_fw('catalog/Catalog.xml.gz');
4069         system('gunzip Catalog.xml.gz');
4070         my @paths = fetch_dell_fw_list('Catalog.xml');
4071         # -q is quiet, disabling interactivity and reducing console output
4072         my $fwopts = "-q";
4073         if (@paths) {
4074             for my $url (@paths) {
4075                 fetch_dell_fw($url);
4076             }
4077             run_firmware_scripts($fwopts, $tmpdir);
4078         } else {
4079             print STDERR "error: Unsupported Dell model '$product'.\n";
4080             print STDERR "error: Please report to $errorsto.\n";
4081         }
4082         chdir('/');
4083     } else {
4084         print STDERR "error: Unsupported Dell model '$product'.\n";
4085         print STDERR "error: Please report to $errorsto.\n";
4086     }
4087 }
4088
4089 sub fetch_dell_fw {
4090     my $path = shift;
4091     my $url = "ftp://ftp.us.dell.com/$path";
4092     download($url);
4093 }
4094
4095 # Using ftp://ftp.us.dell.com/catalog/Catalog.xml.gz, figure out which
4096 # firmware packages to download from Dell.  Only work for Linux
4097 # machines and 11th generation Dell servers.
4098 sub fetch_dell_fw_list {
4099     my $filename = shift;
4100
4101     my $product = `dmidecode -s system-product-name`;
4102     chomp $product;
4103     my ($mybrand, $mymodel) = split(/\s+/, $product);
4104
4105     print STDERR "Finding firmware bundles for $mybrand $mymodel\n";
4106
4107     my $xml = XMLin($filename);
4108     my @paths;
4109     for my $bundle (@{$xml->{SoftwareBundle}}) {
4110         my $brand = $bundle->{TargetSystems}->{Brand}->{Display}->{content};
4111         my $model = $bundle->{TargetSystems}->{Brand}->{Model}->{Display}->{content};
4112         my $oscode;
4113         if ("ARRAY" eq ref $bundle->{TargetOSes}->{OperatingSystem}) {
4114             $oscode = $bundle->{TargetOSes}->{OperatingSystem}[0]->{osCode};
4115         } else {
4116             $oscode = $bundle->{TargetOSes}->{OperatingSystem}->{osCode};
4117         }
4118         if ($mybrand eq $brand && $mymodel eq $model && "LIN" eq $oscode)
4119         {
4120             @paths = map { $_->{path} } @{$bundle->{Contents}->{Package}};
4121         }
4122     }
4123     for my $component (@{$xml->{SoftwareComponent}}) {
4124         my $componenttype = $component->{ComponentType}->{value};
4125
4126         # Drop application packages, only firmware and BIOS
4127         next if 'APAC' eq $componenttype;
4128
4129         my $cpath = $component->{path};
4130         for my $path (@paths) {
4131             if ($cpath =~ m%/$path$%) {
4132                 push(@paths, $cpath);
4133             }
4134         }
4135     }
4136     return @paths;
4137 }
4138 </pre>
4139
4140 <p>The code is only tested on RedHat Enterprise Linux, but I suspect
4141 it could work on other platforms with some tweaking.  Anyone know a
4142 index like Catalog.xml is available from HP for HP servers?  At the
4143 moment I maintain a similar list manually and it is quickly getting
4144 outdated.</p>
4145
4146       </div>
4147       <div class="tags">
4148
4149
4150         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>.
4151
4152
4153       </div>
4154     </div>
4155     <div class="padding"></div>
4156
4157     <div class="entry">
4158       <div class="title">
4159         <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>
4160       </div>
4161       <div class="date">
4162          7th October 2011
4163       </div>
4164       <div class="body">
4165         <p>Here in Norway the public libraries are debating with the
4166 publishing houses how to handle electronic books.  Surprisingly, the
4167 libraries seem to be willing to accept digital restriction mechanisms
4168 (DRM) on books and renting e-books with artificial scarcity from the
4169 publishing houses.  Time limited renting (2-3 years) is one proposed
4170 model, and only allowing X borrowers for each book is another.
4171 Personally I find it amazing that libraries are even considering such
4172 models.</p>
4173
4174 <p>Anyway, while reading <a href="http://boklaben.no/?p=220">part of
4175 this debate</a>, it occurred to me that someone should present a more
4176 sensible approach to the libraries, to allow its borrowers to get used
4177 to a better model.  The idea is simple:</p>
4178
4179 <p>Create a computer system for the libraries, either in the form of a
4180 Live DVD or a installable distribution, that provide a simple kiosk
4181 solution to hand out free e-books.  As a start, the books distributed
4182 by <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/">Project Gutenberg</a> (about
4183 36,000 books), <a href="http://runeberg.org/">Project Runenberg</a>
4184 (1149 books) and <a href="http://www.archive.org/details/texts">The
4185 Internet Archive</a> (3,033,748 books) could be included, but any book
4186 where the copyright has expired or with a free licence could be
4187 distributed.</p>
4188
4189 <p>The computer system would make it easy to:</p>
4190
4191 <ul>
4192
4193 <li>Copy e-books into a USB stick, reading tablets, cell phones and
4194   other relevant equipment.</li>
4195
4196 <li>Show the books for reading on the the screen in the library.</li>
4197
4198 </ul>
4199
4200 <p>In addition to such kiosk solution, there should probably be a web
4201 site as well to allow people easy access to these books without
4202 visiting the library.  The site would be the distribution point for
4203 the kiosk systems, which would connect regularly to fetch any new
4204 books available.</p>
4205
4206 <p>Are there anyone working on a system like this?  I guess it would
4207 fit any library in the world, and not just the Norwegian public
4208 libraries. :)</p>
4209
4210       </div>
4211       <div class="tags">
4212
4213
4214         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>.
4215
4216
4217       </div>
4218     </div>
4219     <div class="padding"></div>
4220
4221     <div class="entry">
4222       <div class="title">
4223         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Ripping_problematic_DVDs_using_dvdbackup_and_genisoimage.html">Ripping problematic DVDs using dvdbackup and genisoimage</a>
4224       </div>
4225       <div class="date">
4226         17th September 2011
4227       </div>
4228       <div class="body">
4229         <p>For convenience, I want to store copies of all my DVDs on my file
4230 server.  It allow me to save shelf space flat while still having my
4231 movie collection easily available.  It also make it possible to let
4232 the kids see their favourite DVDs without wearing the physical copies
4233 down.  I prefer to store the DVDs as ISOs to keep the DVD menu and
4234 subtitle options intact.  It also ensure that the entire film is one
4235 file on the disk.  As this is for personal use, the ripping is
4236 perfectly legal here in Norway.</p>
4237
4238 <p>Normally I rip the DVDs using dd like this:</p>
4239
4240 <blockquote><pre>
4241 #!/bin/sh
4242 # apt-get install lsdvd
4243 title=$(lsdvd 2>/dev/null|awk '/Disc Title: / {print $3}')
4244 dd if=/dev/dvd of=/storage/dvds/$title.iso bs=1M
4245 </pre></blockquote>
4246
4247 <p>But some DVDs give a input/output error when I read it, and I have
4248 been looking for a better alternative.  I have no idea why this I/O
4249 error occur, but suspect my DVD drive, the Linux kernel driver or
4250 something fishy with the DVDs in question.  Or perhaps all three.</p>
4251
4252 <p>Anyway, I believe I found a solution today using dvdbackup and
4253 genisoimage.  This script gave me a working ISO for a problematic
4254 movie by first extracting the DVD file system and then re-packing it
4255 back as an ISO.
4256
4257 <blockquote><pre>
4258 #!/bin/sh
4259 # apt-get install lsdvd dvdbackup genisoimage
4260 set -e
4261 tmpdir=/storage/dvds/
4262 title=$(lsdvd 2>/dev/null|awk '/Disc Title: / {print $3}')
4263 dvdbackup -i /dev/dvd -M -o $tmpdir -n$title
4264 genisoimage -dvd-video -o $tmpdir/$title.iso $tmpdir/$title
4265 rm -rf $tmpdir/$title
4266 </pre></blockquote>
4267
4268 <p>Anyone know of a better way available in Debian/Squeeze?</p>
4269
4270 <p>Update 2011-09-18: I got a tip from Konstantin Khomoutov about the
4271 readom program from the wodim package.  It is specially written to
4272 read optical media, and is called like this: <tt>readom dev=/dev/dvd
4273 f=image.iso</tt>.  It got 6 GB along with the problematic Cars DVD
4274 before it failed, and failed right away with a Timmy Time DVD.</p>
4275
4276 <p>Next, I got a tip from Bastian Blank about
4277 <a href="http://bblank.thinkmo.de/blog/new-software-python-dvdvideo">his
4278 program python-dvdvideo</a>, which seem to be just what I am looking
4279 for.  Tested it with my problematic Timmy Time DVD, and it succeeded
4280 creating a ISO image.  The git source built and installed just fine in
4281 Squeeze, so I guess this will be my tool of choice in the future.</p>
4282
4283       </div>
4284       <div class="tags">
4285
4286
4287         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>.
4288
4289
4290       </div>
4291     </div>
4292     <div class="padding"></div>
4293
4294     <div class="entry">
4295       <div class="title">
4296         <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>
4297       </div>
4298       <div class="date">
4299          4th August 2011
4300       </div>
4301       <div class="body">
4302         <p>Wouter Verhelst have some
4303 <a href="http://grep.be/blog/en/retorts/pere_kubuntu_boot">interesting
4304 comments and opinions</a> on my blog post on
4305 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/What_should_start_from__etc_rcS_d__in_Debian____almost_nothing.html">the
4306 need to clean up /etc/rcS.d/ in Debian</a> and my blog post about
4307 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/What_is_missing_in_the_Debian_desktop__or_why_my_parents_use_Kubuntu.html">the
4308 default KDE desktop in Debian</a>.  I only have time to address one
4309 small piece of his comment now, and though it best to address the
4310 misunderstanding he bring forward:</p>
4311
4312 <p><blockquote>
4313 Currently, a system admin has four options: [...] boot to a
4314 single-user system (by adding 'single' to the kernel command line;
4315 this runs rcS and rc1 scripts)
4316 </blockquote></p>
4317
4318 <p>This make me believe Wouter believe booting into single user mode
4319 and booting into runlevel 1 is the same.  I am not surprised he
4320 believe this, because it would make sense and is a quite sensible
4321 thing to believe.  But because the boot in Debian is slightly broken,
4322 runlevel 1 do not work properly and it isn't the same as single user
4323 mode.  I'll try to explain what is actually happing, but it is a bit
4324 hard to explain.</p>
4325
4326 <p>Single user mode is defined like this in /etc/inittab:
4327 "<tt>~~:S:wait:/sbin/sulogin</tt>".  This means the only thing that is
4328 executed in single user mode is sulogin.  Single user mode is a boot
4329 state "between" the runlevels, and when booting into single user mode,
4330 only the scripts in /etc/rcS.d/ are executed before the init process
4331 enters the single user state.  When switching to runlevel 1, the state
4332 is in fact not ending in runlevel 1, but it passes through runlevel 1
4333 and end up in the single user mode (see /etc/rc1.d/S03single, which
4334 runs "init -t1 S" to switch to single user mode at the end of runlevel
4335 1.  It is confusing that the 'S' (single user) init mode is not the
4336 mode enabled by /etc/rcS.d/ (which is more like the initial boot
4337 mode).</p>
4338
4339 <p>This summary might make it clearer.  When booting for the first
4340 time into single user mode, the following commands are executed:
4341 "<tt>/etc/init.d/rc S; /sbin/sulogin</tt>".  When booting into
4342 runlevel 1, the following commands are executed: "<tt>/etc/init.d/rc
4343 S; /etc/init.d/rc 1; /sbin/sulogin</tt>".  A problem show up when
4344 trying to continue after visiting single user mode.  Not all services
4345 are started again as they should, causing the machine to end up in an
4346 unpredicatble state.  This is why Debian admins recommend rebooting
4347 after visiting single user mode.</p>
4348
4349 <p>A similar problem with runlevel 1 is caused by the amount of
4350 scripts executed from /etc/rcS.d/.  When switching from say runlevel 2
4351 to runlevel 1, the services started from /etc/rcS.d/ are not properly
4352 stopped when passing through the scripts in /etc/rc1.d/, and not
4353 started again when switching away from runlevel 1 to the runlevels
4354 2-5.  I believe the problem is best fixed by moving all the scripts
4355 out of /etc/rcS.d/ that are not <strong>required</strong> to get a
4356 functioning single user mode during boot.</p>
4357
4358 <p>I have spent several years investigating the Debian boot system,
4359 and discovered this problem a few years ago.  I suspect it originates
4360 from when sysvinit was introduced into Debian, a long time ago.</p>
4361
4362       </div>
4363       <div class="tags">
4364
4365
4366         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>.
4367
4368
4369       </div>
4370     </div>
4371     <div class="padding"></div>
4372
4373     <div class="entry">
4374       <div class="title">
4375         <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>
4376       </div>
4377       <div class="date">
4378         30th July 2011
4379       </div>
4380       <div class="body">
4381         <p>In the Debian boot system, several packages include scripts that
4382 are started from /etc/rcS.d/.  In fact, there is a bite more of them
4383 than make sense, and this causes a few problems.  What kind of
4384 problems, you might ask.  There are at least two problems.  The first
4385 is that it is not possible to recover a machine after switching to
4386 runlevel 1.  One need to actually reboot to get the machine back to
4387 the expected state.  The other is that single user boot will sometimes
4388 run into problems because some of the subsystems are activated before
4389 the root login is presented, causing problems when trying to recover a
4390 machine from a problem in that subsystem.  A minor additional point is
4391 that moving more scripts out of rcS.d/ and into the other rc#.d/
4392 directories will increase the amount of scripts that can run in
4393 parallel during boot, and thus decrease the boot time.</p>
4394
4395 <p>So, which scripts should start from rcS.d/.  In short, only the
4396 scripts that _have_ to execute before the root login prompt is
4397 presented during a single user boot should go there.  Everything else
4398 should go into the numeric runlevels.  This means things like
4399 lm-sensors, fuse and x11-common should not run from rcS.d, but from
4400 the numeric runlevels.  Today in Debian, there are around 115 init.d
4401 scripts that are started from rcS.d/, and most of them should be moved
4402 out.  Do your package have one of them?  Please help us make single
4403 user and runlevel 1 better by moving it.</p>
4404
4405 <p>Scripts setting up the screen, keyboard, system partitions
4406 etc. should still be started from rcS.d/, but there is for example no
4407 need to have the network enabled before the single user login prompt
4408 is presented.</p>
4409
4410 <p>As always, things are not so easy to fix as they sound.  To keep
4411 Debian systems working while scripts migrate and during upgrades, the
4412 scripts need to be moved from rcS.d/ to rc2.d/ in reverse dependency
4413 order, ie the scripts that nothing in rcS.d/ depend on can be moved,
4414 and the next ones can only be moved when their dependencies have been
4415 moved first.  This migration must be done sequentially while we ensure
4416 that the package system upgrade packages in the right order to keep
4417 the system state correct.  This will require some coordination when it
4418 comes to network related packages, but most of the packages with
4419 scripts that should migrate do not have anything in rcS.d/ depending
4420 on them.  Some packages have already been updated, like the sudo
4421 package, while others are still left to do.  I wish I had time to work
4422 on this myself, but real live constrains make it unlikely that I will
4423 find time to push this forward.</p>
4424
4425       </div>
4426       <div class="tags">
4427
4428
4429         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>.
4430
4431
4432       </div>
4433     </div>
4434     <div class="padding"></div>
4435
4436     <div class="entry">
4437       <div class="title">
4438         <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>
4439       </div>
4440       <div class="date">
4441         29th July 2011
4442       </div>
4443       <div class="body">
4444         <p>While at Debconf11, I have several times during discussions
4445 mentioned the issues I believe should be improved in Debian for its
4446 desktop to be useful for more people.  The use case for this is my
4447 parents, which are currently running Kubuntu which solve the
4448 issues.</p>
4449
4450 <p>I suspect these four missing features are not very hard to
4451 implement.  After all, they are present in Ubuntu, so if we wanted to
4452 do this in Debian we would have a source.</p>
4453
4454 <ol>
4455
4456 <li><strong>Simple GUI based upgrade of packages.</strong> When there
4457 are new packages available for upgrades, a icon in the KDE status bar
4458 indicate this, and clicking on it will activate the simple upgrade
4459 tool to handle it.  I have no problem guiding both of my parents
4460 through the process over the phone.  If a kernel reboot is required,
4461 this too is indicated by the status bars and the upgrade tool.  Last
4462 time I checked, nothing with the same features was working in KDE in
4463 Debian.</li>
4464
4465 <li><strong>Simple handling of missing Firefox browser
4466 plugins.</strong> When the browser encounter a MIME type it do not
4467 currently have a handler for, it will ask the user if the system
4468 should search for a package that would add support for this MIME type,
4469 and if the user say yes, the APT sources will be searched for packages
4470 advertising the MIME type in their control file (visible in the
4471 Packages file in the APT archive).  If one or more packages are found,
4472 it is a simple click of the mouse to add support for the missing mime
4473 type.  If the package require the user to accept some non-free
4474 license, this is explained to the user.  The entire process make it
4475 more clear to the user why something do not work in the browser, and
4476 make the chances higher for the user to blame the web page authors and
4477 not the browser for any missing features.</li>
4478
4479 <li><strong>Simple handling of missing multimedia codec/format
4480 handlers.</strong> When the media players encounter a format or codec
4481 it is not supporting, a dialog pop up asking the user if the system
4482 should search for a package that would add support for it.  This
4483 happen with things like MP3, Windows Media or H.264.  The selection
4484 and installation procedure is very similar to the Firefox browser
4485 plugin handling.  This is as far as I know implemented using a
4486 gstreamer hook.  The end result is that the user easily get access to
4487 the codecs that are present from the APT archives available, while
4488 explaining more on why a given format is unsupported by Ubuntu.</li>
4489
4490 <li><strong>Better browser handling of some MIME types.</strong> When
4491 displaying a text/plain file in my Debian browser, it will propose to
4492 start emacs to show it.  If I remember correctly, when doing the same
4493 in Kunbutu it show the file as a text file in the browser.  At least I
4494 know Opera will show text files within the browser.  I much prefer the
4495 latter behaviour.</li>
4496
4497 </ol>
4498
4499 <p>There are other nice features as well, like the simplified suite
4500 upgrader, but given that I am the one mostly doing the dist-upgrade,
4501 it do not matter much.</p>
4502
4503 <p>I really hope we could get these features in place for the next
4504 Debian release.  It would require the coordinated effort of several
4505 maintainers, but would make the end user experience a lot better.</p>
4506
4507       </div>
4508       <div class="tags">
4509
4510
4511         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>.
4512
4513
4514       </div>
4515     </div>
4516     <div class="padding"></div>
4517
4518     <div class="entry">
4519       <div class="title">
4520         <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>
4521       </div>
4522       <div class="date">
4523         26th July 2011
4524       </div>
4525       <div class="body">
4526         <p>The Norwegian <a href="http://www.fiksgatami.no/">FiksGataMi</A>
4527 site is build on Debian/Squeeze, and this platform was chosen because
4528 I am most familiar with Debian (being a Debian Developer for around 10
4529 years) because it is the latest stable Debian release which should get
4530 security support for a few years.</p>
4531
4532 <p>The web service is written in Perl, and depend on some perl modules
4533 that are missing in Debian at the moment.  It would be great if these
4534 modules were added to the Debian archive, allowing anyone to set up
4535 their own <a href="http://www.fixmystreet.com">FixMyStreet</a> clone
4536 in their own country using only Debian packages.  The list of modules
4537 missing in Debian/Squeeze isn't very long, and I hope the perl group
4538 will find time to package the 12 modules Catalyst::Plugin::SmartURI,
4539 Catalyst::Plugin::Unicode::Encoding, Catalyst::View::TT, Devel::Hide,
4540 Sort::Key, Statistics::Distributions, Template::Plugin::Comma,
4541 Template::Plugin::DateTime::Format, Term::Size::Any, Term::Size::Perl,
4542 URI::SmartURI and Web::Scraper to make the maintenance of FixMyStreet
4543 easier in the future.</p>
4544
4545 <p>Thanks to the great tools in Debian, getting the missing modules
4546 installed on my server was a simple call to 'cpan2deb Module::Name'
4547 and 'dpkg -i' to install the resulting package.  But this leave me
4548 with the responsibility of tracking security problems, which I really
4549 do not have time for.</p>
4550
4551       </div>
4552       <div class="tags">
4553
4554
4555         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>.
4556
4557
4558       </div>
4559     </div>
4560     <div class="padding"></div>
4561
4562     <div class="entry">
4563       <div class="title">
4564         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Free_Software_vs__proprietary_softare___.html">Free Software vs. proprietary softare...</a>
4565       </div>
4566       <div class="date">
4567         20th June 2011
4568       </div>
4569       <div class="body">
4570         <p>Reading
4571 <a href="http://blog.thingiverse.com/2011/06/20/open-source-vs-closed-source-eulas/">the
4572 thingiverse blog</a>, I came across two highlights of interesting
4573 parts of the
4574 <a href="http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Autodesk_EULA">Autodesk</a>
4575 and
4576 <a href="http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2011/06/things-you-cant-do-with-the-microsoft-kinect-sdk.html">Microsoft
4577 Kinect</a> End User License Agreements (EULAs), which illustrates
4578 quite well why I stay away from software with EULAs.  Whenever I take
4579 the time to read their content, the terms are simply unacceptable.</p>
4580
4581       </div>
4582       <div class="tags">
4583
4584
4585         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>.
4586
4587
4588       </div>
4589     </div>
4590     <div class="padding"></div>
4591
4592     <div class="entry">
4593       <div class="title">
4594         <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>
4595       </div>
4596       <div class="date">
4597         30th April 2011
4598       </div>
4599       <div class="body">
4600         <p>Today, the first draft implementation of an
4601 <a href="http://www.open311.org/">Open311 API</a> for the Norwegian
4602 service <a href="http://www.fiksgatami.no/">FiksGataMi</a> started to
4603 work.  It is only available on the developer server for now, and I
4604 have not tested it using any existing Open311 client (I lack the
4605 platforms needed to run the clients I have found so far), but it is
4606 able to query the database and extract a list of open and closed
4607 requests within a given category and reported to a given municipality.
4608 I believe that is a good start to create a useful service for those
4609 that want to do data mining on the requests submitted so far.</p>
4610
4611 <p>Where is it?  Visit
4612 <a href="http://fiksgatami-dev.nuug.no/open311.cgi/v2/">http://fiksgatami-dev.nuug.no/open311.cgi/v2/</a>
4613 to have a look.  Please send feedback to the
4614 <a href="http://lists.nuug.no/mailman/listinfo/fiksgatami">fiksgatami
4615 (at) nuug.no</a> mailing list.</p>
4616
4617       </div>
4618       <div class="tags">
4619
4620
4621         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>.
4622
4623
4624       </div>
4625     </div>
4626     <div class="padding"></div>
4627
4628     <div class="entry">
4629       <div class="title">
4630         <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>
4631       </div>
4632       <div class="date">
4633         29th April 2011
4634       </div>
4635       <div class="body">
4636         <p>The last few days I have spent some time trying to add support for
4637 the <a href="http://www.open311.org/">Open311 API</a> in the
4638 <a href="http://www.fiksgatami.no/">Norwegian FixMyStreet service</a>.
4639 Earlier I believed Open311 would be a useful API to use to submit
4640 reports to the municipalities, but when I noticed that the
4641 <a href="http://fixmystreet.org.nz/">New Zealand version</a> of
4642 FixMyStreet had implemented Open311 on the server side, it occurred to
4643 me that this was a nice way to allow the public, press and
4644 municipalities to do data mining directly in the FixMyStreet service.
4645 Thus I went to work implementing the Open311 specification for
4646 FixMyStreet.  The implementation is not yet ready, but I am starting
4647 to get a draft limping along.  In the process, I have discovered a few
4648 issues with the Open311 specification.</p>
4649
4650 <p>One obvious missing feature is the lack of natural language
4651 handling in the specification.  The specification seem to assume all
4652 reports will be written in English, and do not provide a way for the
4653 receiving end to specify which languages are understood there.  To be
4654 able to use the same client and submit to several Open311 receivers,
4655 it would be useful to know which language to use when writing reports.
4656 I believe the specification should be extended to allow the receivers
4657 of problem reports to specify which language they accept, and the
4658 submitter to specify which language the report is written in.
4659 Language of a text can also be automatically guessed using statistical
4660 methods, but for multi-lingual persons like myself, it is useful to
4661 know which language to use when writing a problem report.  I suspect
4662 some lang=nb,nn kind of attribute would solve it.</p>
4663
4664 <p>A key part of the Open311 API is the list of services provided,
4665 which is similar to the categories used by FixMyStreet.  One issue I
4666 run into is the need to specify both name and unique identifier for
4667 each category.  The specification do not state that the identifier
4668 should be numeric, but all example implementations have used numbers
4669 here.  In FixMyStreet, there is no number associated with each
4670 category.  As the specification do not forbid it, I will use the name
4671 as the unique identifier for now and see how open311 clients handle
4672 it.</p>
4673
4674 <p>The report format in open311 and the report format in FixMyStreet
4675 differ in a key part.  FixMyStreet have a title and a description,
4676 while Open311 only have a description and lack the title.  I'm not
4677 quite sure how to best handle this yet.  When asking for a FixMyStreet
4678 report in Open311 format, I just merge title an description into the
4679 open311 description, but this is not going to work if the open311 API
4680 should be used for submitting new reports to FixMyStreet.</p>
4681
4682 <p>The search feature in Open311 is missing a way to ask for problems
4683 near a geographic location.  I believe this is important if one is to
4684 use Open311 as the query language for mobile units.  The specification
4685 should be extended to handle this, probably using some new lat=, lon=
4686 and range= options.</p>
4687
4688 <p>The final challenge I see is that the FixMyStreet code handle
4689 several administrations in one interface, while the Open311 API seem
4690 to assume only one administration.  For FixMyStreet, this mean a
4691 report can be sent to several administrations, and the categories
4692 available depend on the location of the problem.  Not quite sure how
4693 to best handle this.  I've noticed
4694 <a href="http://seeclickfix.com/open311/">SeeClickFix</a> added
4695 latitude and longitude options to the services request, but it do not
4696 solve the problem of what to return when no location is specified.
4697 Will have to investigate this a bit more.</p>
4698
4699 <p>My distaste for web forums have kept me from bringing these issues
4700 up with the open311 developer group.  I really wish they had a email
4701 list available via <a href="http://www.gmane.org/">Gmane</a> to use for
4702 discussions instead of only
4703 <a href="http://lists.open311.org/groups/discuss">a forum<a/>.  Oh,
4704 well.  That will probably resolve itself, one way or another.  I've
4705 also tried visiting the IRC channel #open311 on FreeNode, but no-one
4706 seem to reply to my questions there.  This make me wonder if I just
4707 fail to understand how the open311 community work.  It sure do not
4708 work like the free software project communities I am used to.</p>
4709
4710       </div>
4711       <div class="tags">
4712
4713
4714         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>.
4715
4716
4717       </div>
4718     </div>
4719     <div class="padding"></div>
4720
4721     <div class="entry">
4722       <div class="title">
4723         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Gnash_enteres_Google_Summer_of_Code_2011.html">Gnash enteres Google Summer of Code 2011</a>
4724       </div>
4725       <div class="date">
4726          6th April 2011
4727       </div>
4728       <div class="body">
4729         <p><a href="http://www.getgnash.org/">The Gnash project</a> is still
4730 the most promising solution for a Free Software Flash implementation.
4731 A few days ago the project
4732 <a href="http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/gnash-dev/2011-04/msg00011.html">announced</a>
4733 that it will participate in Google Summer of Code.  I hope many
4734 students apply, and that some of them succeed in getting AVM2 support
4735 into Gnash.</p>
4736
4737       </div>
4738       <div class="tags">
4739
4740
4741         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>.
4742
4743
4744       </div>
4745     </div>
4746     <div class="padding"></div>
4747
4748     <div class="entry">
4749       <div class="title">
4750         <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>
4751       </div>
4752       <div class="date">
4753          3rd April 2011
4754       </div>
4755       <div class="body">
4756         <p>Here is a small update for my English readers.  Most of my blog
4757 posts have been in Norwegian the last few weeks, so here is a short
4758 update in English.</p>
4759
4760 <p>The kids still keep me too busy to get much free software work
4761 done, but I did manage to organise a project to get a Norwegian port
4762 of the British service
4763 <a href="http://www.fixmystreet.com/">FixMyStreet</a> up and running,
4764 and it has been running for a month now.  The entire project has been
4765 organised by me and two others.  Around Christmas we gathered sponsors
4766 to fund the development work.  In January I drafted a contract with
4767 <a href="http://www.mysociety.org/">mySociety</a> on what to develop,
4768 and in February the development took place.  Most of it involved
4769 converting the source to use GPS coordinates instead of British
4770 easting/northing, and the resulting code should be a lot easier to get
4771 running in any country by now.  The Norwegian
4772 <a href="http://www.fiksgatami.no/">FiksGataMi</a> is using
4773 <a href="http://www.openstreetmap.org/">OpenStreetmap</a> as the map
4774 source and the source for administrative borders in Norway, and
4775 support for this had to be added/fixed.</p>
4776
4777 <p>The Norwegian version went live March 3th, and we spent the weekend
4778 polishing the system before we announced it March 7th.  The system is
4779 running on a KVM instance of Debian/Squeeze, and has seen almost 3000
4780 problem reports in a few weeks.  Soon we hope to announce the Android
4781 and iPhone versions making it even easier to report problems with the
4782 public infrastructure.</p>
4783
4784 <p>Perhaps something to consider for those of you in countries without
4785 such service?</p>
4786
4787       </div>
4788       <div class="tags">
4789
4790
4791         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>.
4792
4793
4794       </div>
4795     </div>
4796     <div class="padding"></div>
4797
4798     <div class="entry">
4799       <div class="title">
4800         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Using_NVD_and_CPE_to_track_CVEs_in_locally_maintained_software.html">Using NVD and CPE to track CVEs in locally maintained software</a>
4801       </div>
4802       <div class="date">
4803         28th January 2011
4804       </div>
4805       <div class="body">
4806         <p>The last few days I have looked at ways to track open security
4807 issues here at my work with the University of Oslo.  My idea is that
4808 it should be possible to use the information about security issues
4809 available on the Internet, and check our locally
4810 maintained/distributed software against this information.  It should
4811 allow us to verify that no known security issues are forgotten.  The
4812 CVE database listing vulnerabilities seem like a great central point,
4813 and by using the package lists from Debian mapped to CVEs provided by
4814 the testing security team, I believed it should be possible to figure
4815 out which security holes were present in our free software
4816 collection.</p>
4817
4818 <p>After reading up on the topic, it became obvious that the first
4819 building block is to be able to name software packages in a unique and
4820 consistent way across data sources.  I considered several ways to do
4821 this, for example coming up with my own naming scheme like using URLs
4822 to project home pages or URLs to the Freshmeat entries, or using some
4823 existing naming scheme.  And it seem like I am not the first one to
4824 come across this problem, as MITRE already proposed and implemented a
4825 solution.  Enter the <a href="http://cpe.mitre.org/index.html">Common
4826 Platform Enumeration</a> dictionary, a vocabulary for referring to
4827 software, hardware and other platform components.  The CPE ids are
4828 mapped to CVEs in the <a href="http://web.nvd.nist.gov/">National
4829 Vulnerability Database</a>, allowing me to look up know security
4830 issues for any CPE name.  With this in place, all I need to do is to
4831 locate the CPE id for the software packages we use at the university.
4832 This is fairly trivial (I google for 'cve cpe $package' and check the
4833 NVD entry if a CVE for the package exist).</p>
4834
4835 <p>To give you an example.  The GNU gzip source package have the CPE
4836 name cpe:/a:gnu:gzip.  If the old version 1.3.3 was the package to
4837 check out, one could look up
4838 <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
4839 in NVD</a> and get a list of 6 security holes with public CVE entries.
4840 The most recent one is
4841 <a href="http://web.nvd.nist.gov/view/vuln/detail?vulnId=CVE-2010-0001">CVE-2010-0001</a>,
4842 and at the bottom of the NVD page for this vulnerability the complete
4843 list of affected versions is provided.</p>
4844
4845 <p>The NVD database of CVEs is also available as a XML dump, allowing
4846 for offline processing of issues.  Using this dump, I've written a
4847 small script taking a list of CPEs as input and list all CVEs
4848 affecting the packages represented by these CPEs.  One give it CPEs
4849 with version numbers as specified above and get a list of open
4850 security issues out.</p>
4851
4852 <p>Of course for this approach to be useful, the quality of the NVD
4853 information need to be high.  For that to happen, I believe as many as
4854 possible need to use and contribute to the NVD database.  I notice
4855 RHEL is providing
4856 <a href="https://www.redhat.com/security/data/metrics/rhsamapcpe.txt">a
4857 map from CVE to CPE</a>, indicating that they are using the CPE
4858 information.  I'm not aware of Debian and Ubuntu doing the same.</p>
4859
4860 <p>To get an idea about the quality for free software, I spent some
4861 time making it possible to compare the CVE database from Debian with
4862 the CVE database in NVD.  The result look fairly good, but there are
4863 some inconsistencies in NVD (same software package having several
4864 CPEs), and some inaccuracies (NVD not mentioning buggy packages that
4865 Debian believe are affected by a CVE).  Hope to find time to improve
4866 the quality of NVD, but that require being able to get in touch with
4867 someone maintaining it.  So far my three emails with questions and
4868 corrections have not seen any reply, but I hope contact can be
4869 established soon.</p>
4870
4871 <p>An interesting application for CPEs is cross platform package
4872 mapping.  It would be useful to know which packages in for example
4873 RHEL, OpenSuSe and Mandriva are missing from Debian and Ubuntu, and
4874 this would be trivial if all linux distributions provided CPE entries
4875 for their packages.</p>
4876
4877       </div>
4878       <div class="tags">
4879
4880
4881         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>.
4882
4883
4884       </div>
4885     </div>
4886     <div class="padding"></div>
4887
4888     <div class="entry">
4889       <div class="title">
4890         <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>
4891       </div>
4892       <div class="date">
4893         23rd January 2011
4894       </div>
4895       <div class="body">
4896         <p>In the
4897 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/discover-data">discover-data</a>
4898 package in Debian, there is a script to report useful information
4899 about the running hardware for use when people report missing
4900 information.  One part of this script that I find very useful when
4901 debugging hardware problems, is the part mapping loaded kernel module
4902 to the PCI device it claims.  It allow me to quickly see if the kernel
4903 module I expect is driving the hardware I am struggling with.  To see
4904 the output, make sure discover-data is installed and run
4905 <tt>/usr/share/bug/discover-data 3>&1</tt>.  The relevant output on
4906 one of my machines like this:</p>
4907
4908 <pre>
4909 loaded modules:
4910 10de:03eb i2c_nforce2
4911 10de:03f1 ohci_hcd
4912 10de:03f2 ehci_hcd
4913 10de:03f0 snd_hda_intel
4914 10de:03ec pata_amd
4915 10de:03f6 sata_nv
4916 1022:1103 k8temp
4917 109e:036e bttv
4918 109e:0878 snd_bt87x
4919 11ab:4364 sky2
4920 </pre>
4921
4922 <p>The code in question look like this, slightly modified for
4923 readability and to drop the output to file descriptor 3:</p>
4924
4925 <pre>
4926 if [ -d /sys/bus/pci/devices/ ] ; then
4927     echo loaded pci modules:
4928     (
4929         cd /sys/bus/pci/devices/
4930         for address in * ; do
4931             if [ -d "$address/driver/module" ] ; then
4932                 module=`cd $address/driver/module ; pwd -P | xargs basename`
4933                 if grep -q "^$module " /proc/modules ; then
4934                     address=$(echo $address |sed s/0000://)
4935                     id=`lspci -n -s $address | tail -n 1 | awk '{print $3}'`
4936                     echo "$id $module"
4937                 fi
4938             fi
4939         done
4940     )
4941     echo
4942 fi
4943 </pre>
4944
4945 <p>Similar code could be used to extract USB device module
4946 mappings:</p>
4947
4948 <pre>
4949 if [ -d /sys/bus/usb/devices/ ] ; then
4950     echo loaded usb modules:
4951     (
4952         cd /sys/bus/usb/devices/
4953         for address in * ; do
4954             if [ -d "$address/driver/module" ] ; then
4955                 module=`cd $address/driver/module ; pwd -P | xargs basename`
4956                 if grep -q "^$module " /proc/modules ; then
4957                     address=$(echo $address |sed s/0000://)
4958                     id=$(lsusb -s $address | tail -n 1 | awk '{print $6}')
4959                     if [ "$id" ] ; then
4960                         echo "$id $module"
4961                     fi
4962                 fi
4963             fi
4964         done
4965     )
4966     echo
4967 fi
4968 </pre>
4969
4970 <p>This might perhaps be something to include in other tools as
4971 well.</p>
4972
4973       </div>
4974       <div class="tags">
4975
4976
4977         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>.
4978
4979
4980       </div>
4981     </div>
4982     <div class="padding"></div>
4983
4984     <div class="entry">
4985       <div class="title">
4986         <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>
4987       </div>
4988       <div class="date">
4989         16th January 2011
4990       </div>
4991       <div class="body">
4992         <p>The video format struggle on the web continues, and the three
4993 contenders seem to be Ogg Theora, H.264 and WebM.  Most video sites
4994 seem to use H.264, while others use Ogg Theora.  Interestingly enough,
4995 the comments I see give me the feeling that a lot of people believe
4996 H.264 is the most supported video format in browsers, but according to
4997 the Wikipedia article on
4998 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTML5_video">HTML5 video</a>,
4999 this is not true.  Check out the nice table of supprted formats in
5000 different browsers there.  The format supported by most browsers is
5001 Ogg Theora, supported by released versions of Mozilla Firefox, Google
5002 Chrome, Chromium, Opera, Konqueror, Epiphany, Origyn Web Browser and
5003 BOLT browser, while not supported by Internet Explorer nor Safari.
5004 The runner up is WebM supported by released versions of Google Chrome
5005 Chromium Opera and Origyn Web Browser, and test versions of Mozilla
5006 Firefox.  H.264 is supported by released versions of Safari, Origyn
5007 Web Browser and BOLT browser, and the test version of Internet
5008 Explorer.  Those wanting Ogg Theora support in Internet Explorer and
5009 Safari can install plugins to get it.</p>
5010
5011 <p>To me, the simple conclusion from this is that to reach most users
5012 without any extra software installed, one uses Ogg Theora with the
5013 HTML5 video tag.   Of course to reach all those without a browser
5014 handling HTML5, one need fallback mechanisms.  In
5015 <a href="http://www.nuug.no/">NUUG</a>, we provide first fallback to a
5016 plugin capable of playing MPEG1 video, and those without such support
5017 we have a second fallback to the Cortado java applet playing Ogg
5018 Theora.  This seem to work quite well, as can be seen in an <a
5019 href="http://www.nuug.no/aktiviteter/20110111-semantic-web/">example
5020 from last week</a>.</p>
5021
5022 <p>The reason Ogg Theora is the most supported format, and H.264 is
5023 the least supported is simple.  Implementing and using H.264
5024 require royalty payment to MPEG-LA, and the terms of use from MPEG-LA
5025 are incompatible with free software licensing.  If you believed H.264
5026 was without royalties and license terms, check out
5027 "<a href="http://webmink.com/essays/h-264/">H.264 – Not The Kind Of
5028 Free That Matters</a>" by Simon Phipps.</p>
5029
5030 <p>A incomplete list of sites providing video in Ogg Theora is
5031 available from
5032 <a href="http://wiki.xiph.org/index.php/List_of_Theora_videos">the
5033 Xiph.org wiki</a>, if you want to have a look.  I'm not aware of a
5034 similar list for WebM nor H.264.</p>
5035
5036 <p>Update 2011-01-16 09:40: A question from Tollef on IRC made me
5037 realise that I failed to make it clear enough this text is about the
5038 &lt;video&gt; tag support in browsers and not the video support
5039 provided by external plugins like the Flash plugins.</p>
5040
5041       </div>
5042       <div class="tags">
5043
5044
5045         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>.
5046
5047
5048       </div>
5049     </div>
5050     <div class="padding"></div>
5051
5052     <div class="entry">
5053       <div class="title">
5054         <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>
5055       </div>
5056       <div class="date">
5057         12th January 2011
5058       </div>
5059       <div class="body">
5060         <p>Today I discovered
5061 <a href="http://www.digi.no/860070/google-dropper-h264-stotten-i-chrome">via
5062 digi.no</a> that the Chrome developers, in a surprising announcement,
5063 <a href="http://blog.chromium.org/2011/01/html-video-codec-support-in-chrome.html">yesterday
5064 announced</a> plans to drop H.264 support for HTML5 &lt;video&gt; in
5065 the browser.  The argument used is that H.264 is not a "completely
5066 open" codec technology.  If you believe H.264 was free for everyone
5067 to use, I recommend having a look at the essay
5068 "<a href="http://webmink.com/essays/h-264/">H.264 – Not The Kind Of
5069 Free That Matters</a>".  It is not free of cost for creators of video
5070 tools, nor those of us that want to publish on the Internet, and the
5071 terms provided by MPEG-LA excludes free software projects from
5072 licensing the patents needed for H.264.  Some background information
5073 on the Google announcement is available from
5074 <a href="http://www.osnews.com/story/24243/Google_To_Drop_H264_Support_from_Chrome">OSnews</a>.
5075 A good read. :)</p>
5076
5077 <p>Personally, I believe it is great that Google is taking a stand to
5078 promote equal terms for everyone when it comes to video publishing on
5079 the Internet.  This can only be done by publishing using free and open
5080 standards, which is only possible if the web browsers provide support
5081 for these free and open standards.  At the moment there seem to be two
5082 camps in the web browser world when it come to video support.  Some
5083 browsers support H.264, and others support
5084 <a href="http://www.theora.org/">Ogg Theora</a> and
5085 <a href="http://www.webmproject.org/">WebM</a>
5086 (<a href="http://www.diracvideo.org/">Dirac</a> is not really an option
5087 yet), forcing those of us that want to publish video on the Internet
5088 and which can not accept the terms of use presented by MPEG-LA for
5089 H.264 to not reach all potential viewers.
5090 Wikipedia keep <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTML5_video">an
5091 updated summary</a> of the current browser support.</p>
5092
5093 <p>Not surprising, several people would prefer Google to keep
5094 promoting H.264, and John Gruber
5095 <a href="http://daringfireball.net/2011/01/simple_questions">presents
5096 the mind set</a> of these people quite well.  His rhetorical questions
5097 provoked a reply from Thom Holwerda with another set of questions
5098 <a href="http://www.osnews.com/story/24245/10_Questions_for_John_Gruber_Regarding_H_264_WebM">presenting
5099 the issues with H.264</a>. Both are worth a read.</p>
5100
5101 <p>Some argue that if Google is dropping H.264 because it isn't free,
5102 they should also drop support for the Adobe Flash plugin.  This
5103 argument was covered by Simon Phipps in
5104 <a href="http://blogs.computerworlduk.com/simon-says/2011/01/google-and-h264---far-from-hypocritical/index.htm">todays
5105 blog post</a>, which I find to put the issue in context.  To me it
5106 make perfect sense to drop native H.264 support for HTML5 in the
5107 browser while still allowing plugins.</p>
5108
5109 <p>I suspect the reason this announcement make so many people protest,
5110 is that all the users and promoters of H.264 suddenly get an uneasy
5111 feeling that they might be backing the wrong horse.  A lot of TV
5112 broadcasters have been moving to H.264 the last few years, and a lot
5113 of money has been invested in hardware based on the belief that they
5114 could use the same video format for both broadcasting and web
5115 publishing.  Suddenly this belief is shaken.</p>
5116
5117 <p>An interesting question is why Google is doing this.  While the
5118 presented argument might be true enough, I believe Google would only
5119 present the argument if the change make sense from a business
5120 perspective.  One reason might be that they are currently negotiating
5121 with MPEG-LA over royalties or usage terms, and giving MPEG-LA the
5122 feeling that dropping H.264 completely from Chroome, Youtube and
5123 Google Video would improve the negotiation position of Google.
5124 Another reason might be that Google want to save money by not having
5125 to pay the video tax to MPEG-LA at all, and thus want to move to a
5126 video format not requiring royalties at all.  A third reason might be
5127 that the Chrome development team simply want to avoid the
5128 Chrome/Chromium split to get more help with the development of Chrome.
5129 I guess time will tell.</p>
5130
5131 <p>Update 2011-01-15: The Google Chrome team provided
5132 <a href="http://blog.chromium.org/2011/01/more-about-chrome-html-video-codec.html">more
5133 background and information on the move</a> it a blog post yesterday.</p>
5134
5135       </div>
5136       <div class="tags">
5137
5138
5139         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>.
5140
5141
5142       </div>
5143     </div>
5144     <div class="padding"></div>
5145
5146     <div class="entry">
5147       <div class="title">
5148         <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>
5149       </div>
5150       <div class="date">
5151         30th December 2010
5152       </div>
5153       <div class="body">
5154         <p>After trying to
5155 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Is_Ogg_Theora_a_free_and_open_standard_.html">compare
5156 Ogg Theora</a> to
5157 <a href="http://www.digistan.org/open-standard:definition">the Digistan
5158 definition</a> of a free and open standard, I concluded that this need
5159 to be done for more standards and started on a framework for doing
5160 this.  As a start, I want to get the status for all the standards in
5161 the Norwegian reference directory, which include UTF-8, HTML, PDF, ODF,
5162 JPEG, PNG, SVG and others.  But to be able to complete this in a
5163 reasonable time frame, I will need help.</p>
5164
5165 <p>If you want to help out with this work, please visit
5166 <a href="http://wiki.nuug.no/grupper/standard/digistan-analyse">the
5167 wiki pages I have set up for this</a>, and let me know that you want
5168 to help out.  The IRC channel #nuug on irc.freenode.net is a good
5169 place to coordinate this for now, as it is the IRC channel for the
5170 NUUG association where I have created the framework (I am the leader
5171 of the Norwegian Unix User Group).</p>
5172
5173 <p>The framework is still forming, and a lot is left to do.  Do not be
5174 scared by the sketchy form of the current pages. :)</p>
5175
5176       </div>
5177       <div class="tags">
5178
5179
5180         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>.
5181
5182
5183       </div>
5184     </div>
5185     <div class="padding"></div>
5186
5187     <div class="entry">
5188       <div class="title">
5189         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/The_many_definitions_of_a_open_standard.html">The many definitions of a open standard</a>
5190       </div>
5191       <div class="date">
5192         27th December 2010
5193       </div>
5194       <div class="body">
5195         <p>One of the reasons I like the Digistan definition of
5196 "<a href="http://www.digistan.org/open-standard:definition">Free and
5197 Open Standard</a>" is that this is a new term, and thus the meaning of
5198 the term has been decided by Digistan.  The term "Open Standard" has
5199 become so misunderstood that it is no longer very useful when talking
5200 about standards.  One end up discussing which definition is the best
5201 one and with such frame the only one gaining are the proponents of
5202 de-facto standards and proprietary solutions.</p>
5203
5204 <p>But to give us an idea about the diversity of definitions of open
5205 standards, here are a few that I know about.  This list is not
5206 complete, but can be a starting point for those that want to do a
5207 complete survey.  More definitions are available on the
5208 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_standard">wikipedia
5209 page</a>.</p>
5210
5211 <p>First off is my favourite, the definition from the European
5212 Interoperability Framework version 1.0.  Really sad to notice that BSA
5213 and others has succeeded in getting it removed from version 2.0 of the
5214 framework by stacking the committee drafting the new version with
5215 their own people.  Anyway, the definition is still available and it
5216 include the key properties needed to make sure everyone can use a
5217 specification on equal terms.</p>
5218
5219 <blockquote>
5220
5221 <p>The following are the minimal characteristics that a specification
5222 and its attendant documents must have in order to be considered an
5223 open standard:</p>
5224
5225 <ul>
5226
5227 <li>The standard is adopted and will be maintained by a not-for-profit
5228 organisation, and its ongoing development occurs on the basis of an
5229 open decision-making procedure available to all interested parties
5230 (consensus or majority decision etc.).</li>
5231
5232 <li>The standard has been published and the standard specification
5233 document is available either freely or at a nominal charge. It must be
5234 permissible to all to copy, distribute and use it for no fee or at a
5235 nominal fee.</li>
5236
5237 <li>The intellectual property - i.e. patents possibly present - of
5238 (parts of) the standard is made irrevocably available on a royalty-
5239 free basis.</li>
5240
5241 <li>There are no constraints on the re-use of the standard.</li>
5242
5243 </ul>
5244 </blockquote>
5245
5246 <p>Another one originates from my friends over at
5247 <a href="http://www.dkuug.dk/">DKUUG</a>, who coined and gathered
5248 support for <a href="http://www.aaben-standard.dk/">this
5249 definition</a> in 2004.  It even made it into the Danish parlament as
5250 <a href="http://www.ft.dk/dokumenter/tingdok.aspx?/samling/20051/beslutningsforslag/B103/som_fremsat.htm">their
5251 definition of a open standard</a>.  Another from a different part of
5252 the Danish government is available from the wikipedia page.</p>
5253
5254 <blockquote>
5255
5256 <p>En åben standard opfylder følgende krav:</p>
5257
5258 <ol>
5259
5260 <li>Veldokumenteret med den fuldstændige specifikation offentligt
5261 tilgængelig.</li>
5262
5263 <li>Frit implementerbar uden økonomiske, politiske eller juridiske
5264 begrænsninger på implementation og anvendelse.</li>
5265
5266 <li>Standardiseret og vedligeholdt i et åbent forum (en såkaldt
5267 "standardiseringsorganisation") via en åben proces.</li>
5268
5269 </ol>
5270
5271 </blockquote>
5272
5273 <p>Then there is <a href="http://www.fsfe.org/projects/os/def.html">the
5274 definition</a> from Free Software Foundation Europe.</p>
5275
5276 <blockquote>
5277
5278 <p>An Open Standard refers to a format or protocol that is</p>
5279
5280 <ol>
5281
5282 <li>subject to full public assessment and use without constraints in a
5283 manner equally available to all parties;</li>
5284
5285 <li>without any components or extensions that have dependencies on
5286 formats or protocols that do not meet the definition of an Open
5287 Standard themselves;</li>
5288
5289 <li>free from legal or technical clauses that limit its utilisation by
5290 any party or in any business model;</li>
5291
5292 <li>managed and further developed independently of any single vendor
5293 in a process open to the equal participation of competitors and third
5294 parties;</li>
5295
5296 <li>available in multiple complete implementations by competing
5297 vendors, or as a complete implementation equally available to all
5298 parties.</li>
5299
5300 </ol>
5301
5302 </blockquote>
5303
5304 <p>A long time ago, SUN Microsystems, now bought by Oracle, created
5305 its
5306 <a href="http://blogs.sun.com/dennisding/resource/Open%20Standard%20Definition.pdf">Open
5307 Standards Checklist</a> with a fairly detailed description.</p>
5308
5309 <blockquote>
5310 <p>Creation and Management of an Open Standard
5311
5312 <ul>
5313
5314 <li>Its development and management process must be collaborative and
5315   democratic:
5316
5317          <ul>
5318
5319          <li>Participation must be accessible to all those who wish to
5320             participate and can meet fair and reasonable criteria
5321             imposed by the organization under which it is developed
5322             and managed.</li>
5323
5324          <li>The processes must be documented and, through a known
5325             method, can be changed through input from all
5326             participants.</li>
5327
5328          <li>The process must be based on formal and binding commitments for
5329             the disclosure and licensing of intellectual property rights.</li>
5330
5331          <li>Development and management should strive for consensus,
5332             and an appeals process must be clearly outlined.</li>
5333
5334          <li>The standard specification must be open to extensive
5335             public review at least once in its life-cycle, with
5336             comments duly discussed and acted upon, if required.</li>
5337
5338          </ul>
5339
5340 </li>
5341
5342 </ul>
5343
5344 <p>Use and Licensing of an Open Standard</p>
5345 <ul>
5346
5347 <li>The standard must describe an interface, not an implementation,
5348   and the industry must be capable of creating multiple, competing
5349   implementations to the interface described in the standard without
5350   undue or restrictive constraints.  Interfaces include APIs,
5351   protocols, schemas, data formats and their encoding.</li>
5352
5353 <li> The standard must not contain any proprietary "hooks" that create
5354   a technical or economic barriers</li>
5355
5356 <li>Faithful implementations of the standard must
5357   interoperate. Interoperability means the ability of a computer
5358   program to communicate and exchange information with other computer
5359   programs and mutually to use the information which has been
5360   exchanged. This includes the ability to use, convert, or exchange
5361   file formats, protocols, schemas, interface information or
5362   conventions, so as to permit the computer program to work with other
5363   computer programs and users in all the ways in which they are
5364   intended to function.</li>
5365
5366 <li>It must be permissible for anyone to copy, distribute and read the
5367   standard for a nominal fee, or even no fee. If there is a fee, it
5368   must be low enough to not preclude widespread use.</li>
5369
5370 <li>It must be possible for anyone to obtain free (no royalties or
5371   fees; also known as "royalty free"), worldwide, non-exclusive and
5372   perpetual licenses to all essential patent claims to make, use and
5373   sell products based on the standard.  The only exceptions are
5374   terminations per the reciprocity and defensive suspension terms
5375   outlined below. Essential patent claims include pending, unpublished
5376   patents, published patents, and patent applications. The license is
5377   only for the exact scope of the standard in question.
5378
5379       <ul>
5380
5381       <li> May be conditioned only on reciprocal licenses to any of
5382         licensees' patent claims essential to practice that standard
5383         (also known as a reciprocity clause)</li>
5384
5385       <li> May be terminated as to any licensee who sues the licensor
5386         or any other licensee for infringement of patent claims
5387         essential to practice that standard (also known as a
5388         "defensive suspension" clause)</li>
5389
5390       <li> The same licensing terms are available to every potential
5391         licensor</li>
5392
5393       </ul>
5394 </li>
5395
5396 <li>The licensing terms of an open standards must not preclude
5397   implementations of that standard under open source licensing terms
5398   or restricted licensing terms</li>
5399
5400 </ul>
5401
5402 </blockquote>
5403
5404 <p>It is said that one of the nice things about standards is that
5405 there are so many of them.  As you can see, the same holds true for
5406 open standard definitions.  Most of the definitions have a lot in
5407 common, and it is not really controversial what properties a open
5408 standard should have, but the diversity of definitions have made it
5409 possible for those that want to avoid a level marked field and real
5410 competition to downplay the significance of open standards.  I hope we
5411 can turn this tide by focusing on the advantages of Free and Open
5412 Standards.</p>
5413
5414       </div>
5415       <div class="tags">
5416
5417
5418         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>.
5419
5420
5421       </div>
5422     </div>
5423     <div class="padding"></div>
5424
5425     <div class="entry">
5426       <div class="title">
5427         <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>
5428       </div>
5429       <div class="date">
5430         25th December 2010
5431       </div>
5432       <div class="body">
5433         <p><a href="http://www.digistan.org/open-standard:definition">The
5434 Digistan definition</a> of a free and open standard reads like this:</p>
5435
5436 <blockquote>
5437
5438 <p>The Digital Standards Organization defines free and open standard
5439 as follows:</p>
5440
5441 <ol>
5442
5443 <li>A free and open standard is immune to vendor capture at all stages
5444 in its life-cycle. Immunity from vendor capture makes it possible to
5445 freely use, improve upon, trust, and extend a standard over time.</li>
5446
5447 <li>The standard is adopted and will be maintained by a not-for-profit
5448 organisation, and its ongoing development occurs on the basis of an
5449 open decision-making procedure available to all interested
5450 parties.</li>
5451
5452 <li>The standard has been published and the standard specification
5453 document is available freely. It must be permissible to all to copy,
5454 distribute, and use it freely.</li>
5455
5456 <li>The patents possibly present on (parts of) the standard are made
5457 irrevocably available on a royalty-free basis.</li>
5458
5459 <li>There are no constraints on the re-use of the standard.</li>
5460
5461 </ol>
5462
5463 <p>The economic outcome of a free and open standard, which can be
5464 measured, is that it enables perfect competition between suppliers of
5465 products based on the standard.</p>
5466 </blockquote>
5467
5468 <p>For a while now I have tried to figure out of Ogg Theora is a free
5469 and open standard according to this definition.  Here is a short
5470 writeup of what I have been able to gather so far.  I brought up the
5471 topic on the Xiph advocacy mailing list
5472 <a href="http://lists.xiph.org/pipermail/advocacy/2009-July/001632.html">in
5473 July 2009</a>, for those that want to see some background information.
5474 According to Ivo Emanuel Gonçalves and Monty Montgomery on that list
5475 the Ogg Theora specification fulfils the Digistan definition.</p>
5476
5477 <p><strong>Free from vendor capture?</strong></p>
5478
5479 <p>As far as I can see, there is no single vendor that can control the
5480 Ogg Theora specification.  It can be argued that the
5481 <a href="http://www.xiph.org/">Xiph foundation</A> is such vendor, but
5482 given that it is a non-profit foundation with the expressed goal
5483 making free and open protocols and standards available, it is not
5484 obvious that this is a real risk.  One issue with the Xiph
5485 foundation is that its inner working (as in board member list, or who
5486 control the foundation) are not easily available on the web.  I've
5487 been unable to find out who is in the foundation board, and have not
5488 seen any accounting information documenting how money is handled nor
5489 where is is spent in the foundation.  It is thus not obvious for an
5490 external observer who control The Xiph foundation, and for all I know
5491 it is possible for a single vendor to take control over the
5492 specification.  But it seem unlikely.</p>
5493
5494 <p><strong>Maintained by open not-for-profit organisation?</strong></p>
5495
5496 <p>Assuming that the Xiph foundation is the organisation its web pages
5497 claim it to be, this point is fulfilled.  If Xiph foundation is
5498 controlled by a single vendor, it isn't, but I have not found any
5499 documentation indicating this.</p>
5500
5501 <p>According to
5502 <a href="http://media.hiof.no/diverse/fad/rapport_4.pdf">a report</a>
5503 prepared by Audun Vaaler og Børre Ludvigsen for the Norwegian
5504 government, the Xiph foundation is a non-commercial organisation and
5505 the development process is open, transparent and non-Discrimatory.
5506 Until proven otherwise, I believe it make most sense to believe the
5507 report is correct.</p>
5508
5509 <p><strong>Specification freely available?</strong></p>
5510
5511 <p>The specification for the <a href="http://www.xiph.org/ogg/doc/">Ogg
5512 container format</a> and both the
5513 <a href="http://www.xiph.org/vorbis/doc/">Vorbis</a> and
5514 <a href="http://theora.org/doc/">Theora</a> codeces are available on
5515 the web.  This are the terms in the Vorbis and Theora specification:
5516
5517 <blockquote>
5518
5519 Anyone may freely use and distribute the Ogg and [Vorbis/Theora]
5520 specifications, whether in private, public, or corporate
5521 capacity. However, the Xiph.Org Foundation and the Ogg project reserve
5522 the right to set the Ogg [Vorbis/Theora] specification and certify
5523 specification compliance.
5524
5525 </blockquote>
5526
5527 <p>The Ogg container format is specified in IETF
5528 <a href="http://www.xiph.org/ogg/doc/rfc3533.txt">RFC 3533</a>, and
5529 this is the term:<p>
5530
5531 <blockquote>
5532
5533 <p>This document and translations of it may be copied and furnished to
5534 others, and derivative works that comment on or otherwise explain it
5535 or assist in its implementation may be prepared, copied, published and
5536 distributed, in whole or in part, without restriction of any kind,
5537 provided that the above copyright notice and this paragraph are
5538 included on all such copies and derivative works.  However, this
5539 document itself may not be modified in any way, such as by removing
5540 the copyright notice or references to the Internet Society or other
5541 Internet organizations, except as needed for the purpose of developing
5542 Internet standards in which case the procedures for copyrights defined
5543 in the Internet Standards process must be followed, or as required to
5544 translate it into languages other than English.</p>
5545
5546 <p>The limited permissions granted above are perpetual and will not be
5547 revoked by the Internet Society or its successors or assigns.</p>
5548 </blockquote>
5549
5550 <p>All these terms seem to allow unlimited distribution and use, an
5551 this term seem to be fulfilled.  There might be a problem with the
5552 missing permission to distribute modified versions of the text, and
5553 thus reuse it in other specifications.  Not quite sure if that is a
5554 requirement for the Digistan definition.</p>
5555
5556 <p><strong>Royalty-free?</strong></p>
5557
5558 <p>There are no known patent claims requiring royalties for the Ogg
5559 Theora format.
5560 <a href="http://www.streamingmedia.com/Articles/ReadArticle.aspx?ArticleID=65782">MPEG-LA</a>
5561 and
5562 <a href="http://yro.slashdot.org/story/10/04/30/237238/Steve-Jobs-Hints-At-Theora-Lawsuit">Steve
5563 Jobs</a> in Apple claim to know about some patent claims (submarine
5564 patents) against the Theora format, but no-one else seem to believe
5565 them.  Both Opera Software and the Mozilla Foundation have looked into
5566 this and decided to implement Ogg Theora support in their browsers
5567 without paying any royalties.  For now the claims from MPEG-LA and
5568 Steve Jobs seem more like FUD to scare people to use the H.264 codec
5569 than any real problem with Ogg Theora.</p>
5570
5571 <p><strong>No constraints on re-use?</strong></p>
5572
5573 <p>I am not aware of any constraints on re-use.</p>
5574
5575 <p><strong>Conclusion</strong></p>
5576
5577 <p>3 of 5 requirements seem obviously fulfilled, and the remaining 2
5578 depend on the governing structure of the Xiph foundation.  Given the
5579 background report used by the Norwegian government, I believe it is
5580 safe to assume the last two requirements are fulfilled too, but it
5581 would be nice if the Xiph foundation web site made it easier to verify
5582 this.</p>
5583
5584 <p>It would be nice to see other analysis of other specifications to
5585 see if they are free and open standards.</p>
5586
5587       </div>
5588       <div class="tags">
5589
5590
5591         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>.
5592
5593
5594       </div>
5595     </div>
5596     <div class="padding"></div>
5597
5598     <div class="entry">
5599       <div class="title">
5600         <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>
5601       </div>
5602       <div class="date">
5603         25th December 2010
5604       </div>
5605       <div class="body">
5606         <p>A few days ago
5607 <a href="http://www.idg.no/computerworld/article189879.ece">an
5608 article</a> in the Norwegian Computerworld magazine about how version
5609 2.0 of
5610 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Interoperability_Framework">European
5611 Interoperability Framework</a> has been successfully lobbied by the
5612 proprietary software industry to remove the focus on free software.
5613 Nothing very surprising there, given
5614 <a href="http://news.slashdot.org/story/10/03/29/2115235/Open-Source-Open-Standards-Under-Attack-In-Europe">earlier
5615 reports</a> on how Microsoft and others have stacked the committees in
5616 this work.  But I find this very sad.   The definition of
5617 <a href="http://www.nuug.no/dokumenter/standard-presse-def-200506.txt">an
5618 open standard from version 1</a> was very good, and something I
5619 believe should be used also in the future, alongside
5620 <a href="http://www.digistan.org/open-standard:definition">the
5621 definition from Digistan</A>.  Version 2 have removed the open
5622 standard definition from its content.</p>
5623
5624 <p>Anyway, the news reminded me of the great reply sent by Dr. Edgar
5625 Villanueva, congressman in Peru at the time, to Microsoft as a reply
5626 to Microsofts attack on his proposal regarding the use of free software
5627 in the public sector in Peru.  As the text was not available from a
5628 few of the URLs where it used to be available, I copy it here from
5629 <a href="http://gnuwin.epfl.ch/articles/en/reponseperou/villanueva_to_ms.html">my
5630 source</a> to ensure it is available also in the future.  Some
5631 background information about that story is available in
5632 <a href="http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/6099">an article</a> from
5633 Linux Journal in 2002.</p>
5634
5635 <blockquote>
5636 <p>Lima, 8th of April, 2002<br>
5637 To: Señor JUAN ALBERTO GONZÁLEZ<br>
5638 General Manager of Microsoft Perú</p>
5639
5640 <p>Dear Sir:</p>
5641
5642 <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>
5643
5644 <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>
5645
5646 <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>
5647
5648 <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>
5649
5650 <p>
5651 <ul>
5652 <li>Free access to public information by the citizen. </li>
5653 <li>Permanence of public data. </li>
5654 <li>Security of the State and citizens.</li>
5655 </ul>
5656 </p>
5657
5658 <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>
5659
5660 <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>
5661
5662 <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>
5663
5664 <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>
5665
5666 <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>
5667
5668
5669 <p>From reading the Bill it will be clear that once passed:<br>
5670 <li>the law does not forbid the production of proprietary software</li>
5671 <li>the law does not forbid the sale of proprietary software</li>
5672 <li>the law does not specify which concrete software to use</li>
5673 <li>the law does not dictate the supplier from whom software will be bought</li>
5674 <li>the law does not limit the terms under which a software product can be licensed.</li>
5675
5676 </p>
5677
5678 <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>
5679
5680 <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>
5681
5682 <p>As for the observations you have made, we will now go on to analyze them in detail:</p>
5683
5684 <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>
5685
5686 <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>
5687
5688 <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>
5689
5690 <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>
5691
5692 <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>
5693
5694 <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>
5695
5696 <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>
5697
5698 <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>
5699
5700 <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>
5701
5702 <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>
5703
5704 <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>
5705
5706 <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>
5707
5708 <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>
5709
5710 <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>
5711
5712 <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>
5713
5714 <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>
5715
5716 <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>
5717
5718 <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>
5719
5720 <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>
5721
5722 <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>
5723
5724 <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>
5725
5726 <p>On security:</p>
5727
5728 <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>
5729
5730 <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>
5731
5732 <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>
5733
5734 <p>In respect of the guarantee:</p>
5735
5736 <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>
5737
5738 <p>On Intellectual Property:</p>
5739
5740 <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>
5741
5742 <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>
5743
5744 <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>
5745
5746 <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>
5747
5748 <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>
5749
5750 <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>
5751
5752 <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>
5753
5754 <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>
5755
5756 <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>
5757
5758 <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>
5759
5760 <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>
5761
5762 <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>
5763
5764 <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>
5765
5766 <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>
5767
5768 <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>
5769
5770 <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>
5771
5772 <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>
5773
5774 <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>
5775
5776 <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>
5777
5778 <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>
5779
5780 <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>
5781
5782 <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>
5783
5784 <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>
5785
5786 <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>
5787
5788 <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>
5789
5790 <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>
5791
5792 <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>
5793
5794 <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>
5795
5796 <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>
5797
5798 <p>Cordially,<br>
5799 DR. EDGAR DAVID VILLANUEVA NUÑEZ<br>
5800 Congressman of the Republic of Perú.</p>
5801 </blockquote>
5802
5803       </div>
5804       <div class="tags">
5805
5806
5807         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>.
5808
5809
5810       </div>
5811     </div>
5812     <div class="padding"></div>
5813
5814     <div class="entry">
5815       <div class="title">
5816         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Officeshots_still_going_strong.html">Officeshots still going strong</a>
5817       </div>
5818       <div class="date">
5819         25th December 2010
5820       </div>
5821       <div class="body">
5822         <p>Half a year ago I
5823 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Officeshots_taking_shape.html">wrote
5824 a bit</a> about <a href="http://www.officeshots.org/">OfficeShots</a>,
5825 a web service to allow anyone to test how ODF documents are handled by
5826 the different programs reading and writing the ODF format.</p>
5827
5828 <p>I just had a look at the service, and it seem to be going strong.
5829 Very interesting to see the results reported in the gallery, how
5830 different Office implementations handle different ODF features.  Sad
5831 to see that KOffice was not doing it very well, and happy to see that
5832 LibreOffice has been tested already (but sadly not listed as a option
5833 for OfficeShots users yet).  I am glad to see that the ODF community
5834 got such a great test tool available.</p>
5835
5836       </div>
5837       <div class="tags">
5838
5839
5840         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>.
5841
5842
5843       </div>
5844     </div>
5845     <div class="padding"></div>
5846
5847     <div class="entry">
5848       <div class="title">
5849         <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>
5850       </div>
5851       <div class="date">
5852         22nd December 2010
5853       </div>
5854       <div class="body">
5855         <p>The last few days I have spent at work here at the <a
5856 href="http://www.uio.no/">University of Oslo</a> testing if the new
5857 batch of computers will work with Linux.  Every year for the last few
5858 years the university have organised shared bid of a few thousand
5859 computers, and this year HP won the bid.  Two different desktops and
5860 five different laptops are on the list this year.  We in the UNIX
5861 group want to know which one of these computers work well with RHEL
5862 and Ubuntu, the two Linux distributions we currently handle at the
5863 university.</p>
5864
5865 <p>My test method is simple, and I share it here to get feedback and
5866 perhaps inspire others to test hardware as well.  To test, I PXE
5867 install the OS version of choice, and log in as my normal user and run
5868 a few applications and plug in selected pieces of hardware.  When
5869 something fail, I make a note about this in the test matrix and move
5870 on.  If I have some spare time I try to report the bug to the OS
5871 vendor, but as I only have the machines for a short time, I rarely
5872 have the time to do this for all the problems I find.</p>
5873
5874 <p>Anyway, to get to the point of this post.  Here is the simple tests
5875 I perform on a new model.</p>
5876
5877 <ul>
5878
5879 <li>Is PXE installation working?  I'm testing with RHEL6, Ubuntu Lucid
5880 and Ubuntu Maverik at the moment.  If I feel like it, I also test with
5881 RHEL5 and Debian Edu/Squeeze.</li>
5882
5883 <li>Is X.org working?  If the graphical login screen show up after
5884 installation, X.org is working.</li>
5885
5886 <li>Is hardware accelerated OpenGL working?  Running glxgears (in
5887 package mesa-utils on Ubuntu) and writing down the frames per second
5888 reported by the program.</li>
5889
5890 <li>Is sound working?  With Gnome and KDE, a sound is played when
5891 logging in, and if I can hear this the test is successful.  If there
5892 are several audio exits on the machine, I try them all and check if
5893 the Gnome/KDE audio mixer can control where to send the sound.  I
5894 normally test this by playing
5895 <a href="http://www.nuug.no/aktiviteter/20101012-chef/ ">a HTML5
5896 video</a> in Firefox/Iceweasel.</li>
5897
5898 <li>Is the USB subsystem working?  I test this by plugging in a USB
5899 memory stick and see if Gnome/KDE notices this.</li>
5900
5901 <li>Is the CD/DVD player working?  I test this by inserting any CD/DVD
5902 I have lying around, and see if Gnome/KDE notices this.</li>
5903
5904 <li>Is any built in camera working?  Test using cheese, and see if a
5905 picture from the v4l device show up.</li>
5906
5907 <li>Is bluetooth working?  Use the Gnome/KDE browsing tool to see if
5908 any bluetooth devices are discovered.  In my office, I normally see a
5909 few.</li>
5910
5911 <li>For laptops, is the SD or Compaq Flash reader working.  I have
5912 memory modules lying around, and stick them in and see if Gnome/KDE
5913 notice this.</li>
5914
5915 <li>For laptops, is suspend/hibernate working?  I'm testing if the
5916 special button work, and if the laptop continue to work after
5917 resume.</li>
5918
5919 <li>For laptops, is the extra buttons working, like audio level,
5920 adjusting background light, switching on/off external video output,
5921 switching on/off wifi, bluetooth, etc?  The set of buttons differ from
5922 laptop to laptop, so I just write down which are working and which are
5923 not.</li>
5924
5925 <li>Some laptops have smart card readers, finger print readers,
5926 acceleration sensors etc.  I rarely test these, as I do not know how
5927 to quickly test if they are working or not, so I only document their
5928 existence.</li>
5929
5930 </ul>
5931
5932 <p>By now I suspect you are really curious what the test results are
5933 for the HP machines I am testing.  I'm not done yet, so I will report
5934 the test results later.  For now I can report that HP 8100 Elite work
5935 fine, and hibernation fail with HP EliteBook 8440p on Ubuntu Lucid,
5936 and audio fail on RHEL6.  Ubuntu Maverik worked with 8440p.  As you
5937 can see, I have most machines left to test.  One interesting
5938 observation is that Ubuntu Lucid has almost twice the frame rate than
5939 RHEL6 with glxgears.  No idea why.</p>
5940
5941       </div>
5942       <div class="tags">
5943
5944
5945         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>.
5946
5947
5948       </div>
5949     </div>
5950     <div class="padding"></div>
5951
5952     <div class="entry">
5953       <div class="title">
5954         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Some_thoughts_on_BitCoins.html">Some thoughts on BitCoins</a>
5955       </div>
5956       <div class="date">
5957         11th December 2010
5958       </div>
5959       <div class="body">
5960         <p>As I continue to explore
5961 <a href="http://www.bitcoin.org/">BitCoin</a>, I've starting to wonder
5962 what properties the system have, and how it will be affected by laws
5963 and regulations here in Norway.  Here are some random notes.</p>
5964
5965 <p>One interesting thing to note is that since the transactions are
5966 verified using a peer to peer network, all details about a transaction
5967 is known to everyone.  This means that if a BitCoin address has been
5968 published like I did with mine in my initial post about BitCoin, it is
5969 possible for everyone to see how many BitCoins have been transfered to
5970 that address.  There is even a web service to look at the details for
5971 all transactions.  There I can see that my address
5972 <a href="http://blockexplorer.com/address/15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</a>
5973 have received 16.06 Bitcoin, the
5974 <a href="http://blockexplorer.com/address/1LfdGnGuWkpSJgbQySxxCWhv8MHqvwst3">1LfdGnGuWkpSJgbQySxxCWhv8MHqvwst3</a>
5975 address of Simon Phipps have received 181.97 BitCoin and the address
5976 <a href="http://blockexplorer.com/address/1MCwBbhNGp5hRm5rC1Aims2YFRe2SXPYKt">1MCwBbhNGp5hRm5rC1Aims2YFRe2SXPYKt</A>
5977 of EFF have received 2447.38 BitCoins so far.  Thank you to each and
5978 every one of you that donated bitcoins to support my activity. The
5979 fact that anyone can see how much money was transfered to a given
5980 address make it more obvious why the BitCoin community recommend to
5981 generate and hand out a new address for each transaction.  I'm told
5982 there is no way to track which addresses belong to a given person or
5983 organisation without the person or organisation revealing it
5984 themselves, as Simon, EFF and I have done.</p>
5985
5986 <p>In Norway, and in most other countries, there are laws and
5987 regulations limiting how much money one can transfer across the border
5988 without declaring it.  There are money laundering, tax and accounting
5989 laws and regulations I would expect to apply to the use of BitCoin.
5990 If the Skolelinux foundation
5991 (<a href="http://linuxiskolen.no/slxdebianlabs/donations.html">SLX
5992 Debian Labs</a>) were to accept donations in BitCoin in addition to
5993 normal bank transfers like EFF is doing, how should this be accounted?
5994 Given that it is impossible to know if money can across the border or
5995 not, should everything or nothing be declared?  What exchange rate
5996 should be used when calculating taxes?  Would receivers have to pay
5997 income tax if the foundation were to pay Skolelinux contributors in
5998 BitCoin?  I have no idea, but it would be interesting to know.</p>
5999
6000 <p>For a currency to be useful and successful, it must be trusted and
6001 accepted by a lot of users.  It must be possible to get easy access to
6002 the currency (as a wage or using currency exchanges), and it must be
6003 easy to spend it.  At the moment BitCoin seem fairly easy to get
6004 access to, but there are very few places to spend it.  I am not really
6005 a regular user of any of the vendor types currently accepting BitCoin,
6006 so I wonder when my kind of shop would start accepting BitCoins.  I
6007 would like to buy electronics, travels and subway tickets, not herbs
6008 and books. :) The currency is young, and this will improve over time
6009 if it become popular, but I suspect regular banks will start to lobby
6010 to get BitCoin declared illegal if it become popular.  I'm sure they
6011 will claim it is helping fund terrorism and money laundering (which
6012 probably would be true, as is any currency in existence), but I
6013 believe the problems should be solved elsewhere and not by blaming
6014 currencies.</p>
6015
6016 <p>The process of creating new BitCoins is called mining, and it is
6017 CPU intensive process that depend on a bit of luck as well (as one is
6018 competing against all the other miners currently spending CPU cycles
6019 to see which one get the next lump of cash).  The "winner" get 50
6020 BitCoin when this happen.  Yesterday I came across the obvious way to
6021 join forces to increase ones changes of getting at least some coins,
6022 by coordinating the work on mining BitCoins across several machines
6023 and people, and sharing the result if one is lucky and get the 50
6024 BitCoins.  Check out
6025 <a href="http://www.bluishcoder.co.nz/bitcoin-pool/">BitCoin Pool</a>
6026 if this sounds interesting.  I have not had time to try to set up a
6027 machine to participate there yet, but have seen that running on ones
6028 own for a few days have not yield any BitCoins througth mining
6029 yet.</p>
6030
6031 <p>Update 2010-12-15: Found an <a
6032 href="http://inertia.posterous.com/reply-to-the-underground-economist-why-bitcoi">interesting
6033 criticism</a> of bitcoin.  Not quite sure how valid it is, but thought
6034 it was interesting to read.  The arguments presented seem to be
6035 equally valid for gold, which was used as a currency for many years.</p>
6036
6037       </div>
6038       <div class="tags">
6039
6040
6041         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>.
6042
6043
6044       </div>
6045     </div>
6046     <div class="padding"></div>
6047
6048     <div class="entry">
6049       <div class="title">
6050         <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>
6051       </div>
6052       <div class="date">
6053         10th December 2010
6054       </div>
6055       <div class="body">
6056         <p>With this weeks lawless
6057 <a href="http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/12/06/wikileaks/index.html">governmental
6058 attacks</a> on Wikileak and
6059 <a href="http://www.salon.com/technology/dan_gillmor/2010/12/06/war_on_speech">free
6060 speech</a>, it has become obvious that PayPal, visa and mastercard can
6061 not be trusted to handle money transactions.
6062 A blog post from
6063 <a href="http://webmink.com/2010/12/06/now-accepting-bitcoin/">Simon
6064 Phipps on bitcoin</a> reminded me about a project that a friend of
6065 mine mentioned earlier.  I decided to follow Simon's example, and get
6066 involved with <a href="http://www.bitcoin.org/">BitCoin</a>.  I got
6067 some help from my friend to get it all running, and he even handed me
6068 some bitcoins to get started.  I even donated a few bitcoins to Simon
6069 for helping me remember BitCoin.</p>
6070
6071 <p>So, what is bitcoins, you probably wonder?  It is a digital
6072 crypto-currency, decentralised and handled using peer-to-peer
6073 networks.  It allows anonymous transactions and prohibits central
6074 control over the transactions, making it impossible for governments
6075 and companies alike to block donations and other transactions.  The
6076 source is free software, and while the key dependency wxWidgets 2.9
6077 for the graphical user interface is missing in Debian, the command
6078 line client builds just fine.  Hopefully Jonas
6079 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/578157">will get the package into
6080 Debian</a> soon.</p>
6081
6082 <p>Bitcoins can be converted to other currencies, like USD and EUR.
6083 There are <a href="http://www.bitcoin.org/trade">companies accepting
6084 bitcoins</a> when selling services and goods, and there are even
6085 currency "stock" markets where the exchange rate is decided.  There
6086 are not many users so far, but the concept seems promising.  If you
6087 want to get started and lack a friend with any bitcoins to spare,
6088 you can even get
6089 <a href="https://freebitcoins.appspot.com/">some for free</a> (0.05
6090 bitcoin at the time of writing).  Use
6091 <a href="http://www.bitcoinwatch.com/">BitcoinWatch</a> to keep an eye
6092 on the current exchange rates.</p>
6093
6094 <p>As an experiment, I have decided to set up bitcoind on one of my
6095 machines.  If you want to support my activity, please send Bitcoin
6096 donations to the address
6097 <b>15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</b>.  Thank you!</p>
6098
6099       </div>
6100       <div class="tags">
6101
6102
6103         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>.
6104
6105
6106       </div>
6107     </div>
6108     <div class="padding"></div>
6109
6110     <div class="entry">
6111       <div class="title">
6112         <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>
6113       </div>
6114       <div class="date">
6115          9th December 2010
6116       </div>
6117       <div class="body">
6118         <p>A few days ago, I was introduces to some students in the robot
6119 student assosiation <a href="http://www.robotica.no/">Robotica
6120 Osloensis</a> at the University of Oslo where I work, who planned to
6121 get their own 3D printer.  They wanted to learn from me based on my
6122 work in the area.  After having a short lunch meeting with them, I
6123 offered them to borrow my reprap kit, as I never had time to complete
6124 the build and this seem unlike to change any time soon.  I look
6125 forward to see how this goes.  This monday their volunteer driver
6126 picked up my kit and drove it to their lab, and tomorrow I am told the
6127 last exam is over so they can start work on getting the 3D printer
6128 operational.</p>
6129
6130 <p>The robotic group have already build several robots on their own,
6131 and seem capable of getting the reprap operational.  I really look
6132 forward to being able to print all the cool 3D designs published on
6133 <a href="http://www.thingiverse.com/">Thingiverse</a>.  I even got
6134 some 3D scans I got made during Dagen@IFI when one of the groups at
6135 the computer science department at the university demonstrated their
6136 very cool 3D scanner.</p>
6137
6138       </div>
6139       <div class="tags">
6140
6141
6142         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>.
6143
6144
6145       </div>
6146     </div>
6147     <div class="padding"></div>
6148
6149     <div class="entry">
6150       <div class="title">
6151         <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>
6152       </div>
6153       <div class="date">
6154         29th November 2010
6155       </div>
6156       <div class="body">
6157         <p>On friday, the first Debian Edu / Skolelinux
6158 <a href="http://www.friprogramvareiskolen.no/Gathering/2010-12-03-05-Oslo">development
6159 gathering</a> in a long time take place here in Oslo, Norway.  I
6160 really look forward to seeing all the good people working on the
6161 Squeeze release.  The gathering is open for everyone interested in
6162 learning more about Debian Edu / Skolelinux.</p>
6163
6164 <p>On Saturday, the Norwegian member organization taking care of
6165 organizing these development gatherings, Fri Programvare i Skolen,
6166 will hold its
6167 <a href="http://friprogramvareiskolen.no/Genfors/2010">General Assembly
6168 for 2010</a>.  Membership is open for all, and currently there are 388
6169 people registered as members.  Last year 32 members cast their vote in
6170 the memberdb based election system.  I hope more people find time to
6171 vote this year.</p>
6172
6173       </div>
6174       <div class="tags">
6175
6176
6177         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">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>.
6178
6179
6180       </div>
6181     </div>
6182     <div class="padding"></div>
6183
6184     <div class="entry">
6185       <div class="title">
6186         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Why_isn_t_Debian_Edu_using_VLC_.html">Why isn't Debian Edu using VLC?</a>
6187       </div>
6188       <div class="date">
6189         27th November 2010
6190       </div>
6191       <div class="body">
6192         <p>In the latest issue of Linux Journal, the readers choices were
6193 presented, and the winner among the multimedia player were VLC.
6194 Personally, I like VLC, and it is my player of choice when I first try
6195 to play a video file or stream.  Only if VLC fail will I drag out
6196 gmplayer to see if it can do better.  The reason is mostly the failure
6197 model and trust.  When VLC fail, it normally pop up a error message
6198 reporting the problem.  When mplayer fail, it normally segfault or
6199 just hangs.  The latter failure mode drain my trust in the program.<p>
6200
6201 <p>But even if VLC is my player of choice, we have choosen to use
6202 mplayer in <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian
6203 Edu/Skolelinux</a>.  The reason is simple.  We need a good browser
6204 plugin to play web videos seamlessly, and the VLC browser plugin is
6205 not very good.  For example, it lack in-line control buttons, so there
6206 is no way for the user to pause the video.  Also, when I
6207 <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/BrowserMultimedia">last
6208 tested the browser plugins</a> available in Debian, the VLC plugin
6209 failed on several video pages where mplayer based plugins worked.  If
6210 the browser plugin for VLC was as good as the gecko-mediaplayer
6211 package (which uses mplayer), we would switch.</P>
6212
6213 <p>While VLC is a good player, its user interface is slightly
6214 annoying.  The most annoying feature is its inconsistent use of
6215 keyboard shortcuts.  When the player is in full screen mode, its
6216 shortcuts are different from when it is playing the video in a window.
6217 For example, space only work as pause when in full screen mode.  I
6218 wish it had consisten shortcuts and that space also would work when in
6219 window mode.  Another nice shortcut in gmplayer is [enter] to restart
6220 the current video.  It is very nice when playing short videos from the
6221 web and want to restart it when new people arrive to have a look at
6222 what is going on.</p>
6223
6224       </div>
6225       <div class="tags">
6226
6227
6228         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>.
6229
6230
6231       </div>
6232     </div>
6233     <div class="padding"></div>
6234
6235     <div class="entry">
6236       <div class="title">
6237         <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>
6238       </div>
6239       <div class="date">
6240         22nd November 2010
6241       </div>
6242       <div class="body">
6243         <p>Michael Biebl suggested to me on IRC, that I changed my automated
6244 upgrade testing of the
6245 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/~pere/debian-upgrade-testing/">Lenny
6246 Gnome and KDE Desktop</a> to do <tt>apt-get autoremove</tt> when using apt-get.
6247 This seem like a very good idea, so I adjusted by test scripts and
6248 can now present the updated result from today:</p>
6249
6250 <p>This is for Gnome:</p>
6251
6252 <p>Installed using apt-get, missing with aptitude</p>
6253
6254 <blockquote><p>
6255   apache2.2-bin
6256   aptdaemon
6257   baobab
6258   binfmt-support
6259   browser-plugin-gnash
6260   cheese-common
6261   cli-common
6262   cups-pk-helper
6263   dmz-cursor-theme
6264   empathy
6265   empathy-common
6266   freedesktop-sound-theme
6267   freeglut3
6268   gconf-defaults-service
6269   gdm-themes
6270   gedit-plugins
6271   geoclue
6272   geoclue-hostip
6273   geoclue-localnet
6274   geoclue-manual
6275   geoclue-yahoo
6276   gnash
6277   gnash-common
6278   gnome
6279   gnome-backgrounds
6280   gnome-cards-data
6281   gnome-codec-install
6282   gnome-core
6283   gnome-desktop-environment
6284   gnome-disk-utility
6285   gnome-screenshot
6286   gnome-search-tool
6287   gnome-session-canberra
6288   gnome-system-log
6289   gnome-themes-extras
6290   gnome-themes-more
6291   gnome-user-share
6292   gstreamer0.10-fluendo-mp3
6293   gstreamer0.10-tools
6294   gtk2-engines
6295   gtk2-engines-pixbuf
6296   gtk2-engines-smooth
6297   hamster-applet
6298   libapache2-mod-dnssd
6299   libapr1
6300   libaprutil1
6301   libaprutil1-dbd-sqlite3
6302   libaprutil1-ldap
6303   libart2.0-cil
6304   libboost-date-time1.42.0
6305   libboost-python1.42.0
6306   libboost-thread1.42.0
6307   libchamplain-0.4-0
6308   libchamplain-gtk-0.4-0
6309   libcheese-gtk18
6310   libclutter-gtk-0.10-0
6311   libcryptui0
6312   libdiscid0
6313   libelf1
6314   libepc-1.0-2
6315   libepc-common
6316   libepc-ui-1.0-2
6317   libfreerdp-plugins-standard
6318   libfreerdp0
6319   libgconf2.0-cil
6320   libgdata-common
6321   libgdata7
6322   libgdu-gtk0
6323   libgee2
6324   libgeoclue0
6325   libgexiv2-0
6326   libgif4
6327   libglade2.0-cil
6328   libglib2.0-cil
6329   libgmime2.4-cil
6330   libgnome-vfs2.0-cil
6331   libgnome2.24-cil
6332   libgnomepanel2.24-cil
6333   libgpod-common
6334   libgpod4
6335   libgtk2.0-cil
6336   libgtkglext1
6337   libgtksourceview2.0-common
6338   libmono-addins-gui0.2-cil
6339   libmono-addins0.2-cil
6340   libmono-cairo2.0-cil
6341   libmono-corlib2.0-cil
6342   libmono-i18n-west2.0-cil
6343   libmono-posix2.0-cil
6344   libmono-security2.0-cil
6345   libmono-sharpzip2.84-cil
6346   libmono-system2.0-cil
6347   libmtp8
6348   libmusicbrainz3-6
6349   libndesk-dbus-glib1.0-cil
6350   libndesk-dbus1.0-cil
6351   libopal3.6.8
6352   libpolkit-gtk-1-0
6353   libpt2.6.7
6354   libpython2.6
6355   librpm1
6356   librpmio1
6357   libsdl1.2debian
6358   libsrtp0
6359   libssh-4
6360   libtelepathy-farsight0
6361   libtelepathy-glib0
6362   libtidy-0.99-0
6363   media-player-info
6364   mesa-utils
6365   mono-2.0-gac
6366   mono-gac
6367   mono-runtime
6368   nautilus-sendto
6369   nautilus-sendto-empathy
6370   p7zip-full
6371   pkg-config
6372   python-aptdaemon
6373   python-aptdaemon-gtk
6374   python-axiom
6375   python-beautifulsoup
6376   python-bugbuddy
6377   python-clientform
6378   python-coherence
6379   python-configobj
6380   python-crypto
6381   python-cupshelpers
6382   python-elementtree
6383   python-epsilon
6384   python-evolution
6385   python-feedparser
6386   python-gdata
6387   python-gdbm
6388   python-gst0.10
6389   python-gtkglext1
6390   python-gtksourceview2
6391   python-httplib2
6392   python-louie
6393   python-mako
6394   python-markupsafe
6395   python-mechanize
6396   python-nevow
6397   python-notify
6398   python-opengl
6399   python-openssl
6400   python-pam
6401   python-pkg-resources
6402   python-pyasn1
6403   python-pysqlite2
6404   python-rdflib
6405   python-serial
6406   python-tagpy
6407   python-twisted-bin
6408   python-twisted-conch
6409   python-twisted-core
6410   python-twisted-web
6411   python-utidylib
6412   python-webkit
6413   python-xdg
6414   python-zope.interface
6415   remmina
6416   remmina-plugin-data
6417   remmina-plugin-rdp
6418   remmina-plugin-vnc
6419   rhythmbox-plugin-cdrecorder
6420   rhythmbox-plugins
6421   rpm-common
6422   rpm2cpio
6423   seahorse-plugins
6424   shotwell
6425   software-center
6426   system-config-printer-udev
6427   telepathy-gabble
6428   telepathy-mission-control-5
6429   telepathy-salut
6430   tomboy
6431   totem
6432   totem-coherence
6433   totem-mozilla
6434   totem-plugins
6435   transmission-common
6436   xdg-user-dirs
6437   xdg-user-dirs-gtk
6438   xserver-xephyr
6439 </p></blockquote>
6440
6441 <p>Installed using apt-get, removed with aptitude</p>
6442
6443 <blockquote><p>
6444   cheese
6445   ekiga
6446   eog
6447   epiphany-extensions
6448   evolution-exchange
6449   fast-user-switch-applet
6450   file-roller
6451   gcalctool
6452   gconf-editor
6453   gdm
6454   gedit
6455   gedit-common
6456   gnome-games
6457   gnome-games-data
6458   gnome-nettool
6459   gnome-system-tools
6460   gnome-themes
6461   gnuchess
6462   gucharmap
6463   guile-1.8-libs
6464   libavahi-ui0
6465   libdmx1
6466   libgalago3
6467   libgtk-vnc-1.0-0
6468   libgtksourceview2.0-0
6469   liblircclient0
6470   libsdl1.2debian-alsa
6471   libspeexdsp1
6472   libsvga1
6473   rhythmbox
6474   seahorse
6475   sound-juicer
6476   system-config-printer
6477   totem-common
6478   transmission-gtk
6479   vinagre
6480   vino
6481 </p></blockquote>
6482
6483 <p>Installed using aptitude, missing with apt-get</p>
6484
6485 <blockquote><p>
6486   gstreamer0.10-gnomevfs
6487 </p></blockquote>
6488
6489 <p>Installed using aptitude, removed with apt-get</p>
6490
6491 <blockquote><p>
6492 [nothing]
6493 </p></blockquote>
6494
6495 <p>This is for KDE:</p>
6496
6497 <p>Installed using apt-get, missing with aptitude</p>
6498
6499 <blockquote><p>
6500   ksmserver
6501 </p></blockquote>
6502
6503 <p>Installed using apt-get, removed with aptitude</p>
6504
6505 <blockquote><p>
6506   kwin
6507   network-manager-kde
6508 </p></blockquote>
6509
6510 <p>Installed using aptitude, missing with apt-get</p>
6511
6512 <blockquote><p>
6513   arts
6514   dolphin
6515   freespacenotifier
6516   google-gadgets-gst
6517   google-gadgets-xul
6518   kappfinder
6519   kcalc
6520   kcharselect
6521   kde-core
6522   kde-plasma-desktop
6523   kde-standard
6524   kde-window-manager
6525   kdeartwork
6526   kdeartwork-emoticons
6527   kdeartwork-style
6528   kdeartwork-theme-icon
6529   kdebase
6530   kdebase-apps
6531   kdebase-workspace
6532   kdebase-workspace-bin
6533   kdebase-workspace-data
6534   kdeeject
6535   kdelibs
6536   kdeplasma-addons
6537   kdeutils
6538   kdewallpapers
6539   kdf
6540   kfloppy
6541   kgpg
6542   khelpcenter4
6543   kinfocenter
6544   konq-plugins-l10n
6545   konqueror-nsplugins
6546   kscreensaver
6547   kscreensaver-xsavers
6548   ktimer
6549   kwrite
6550   libgle3
6551   libkde4-ruby1.8
6552   libkonq5
6553   libkonq5-templates
6554   libnetpbm10
6555   libplasma-ruby
6556   libplasma-ruby1.8
6557   libqt4-ruby1.8
6558   marble-data
6559   marble-plugins
6560   netpbm
6561   nuvola-icon-theme
6562   plasma-dataengines-workspace
6563   plasma-desktop
6564   plasma-desktopthemes-artwork
6565   plasma-runners-addons
6566   plasma-scriptengine-googlegadgets
6567   plasma-scriptengine-python
6568   plasma-scriptengine-qedje
6569   plasma-scriptengine-ruby
6570   plasma-scriptengine-webkit
6571   plasma-scriptengines
6572   plasma-wallpapers-addons
6573   plasma-widget-folderview
6574   plasma-widget-networkmanagement
6575   ruby
6576   sweeper
6577   update-notifier-kde
6578   xscreensaver-data-extra
6579   xscreensaver-gl
6580   xscreensaver-gl-extra
6581   xscreensaver-screensaver-bsod
6582 </p></blockquote>
6583
6584 <p>Installed using aptitude, removed with apt-get</p>
6585
6586 <blockquote><p>
6587   ark
6588   google-gadgets-common
6589   google-gadgets-qt
6590   htdig
6591   kate
6592   kdebase-bin
6593   kdebase-data
6594   kdepasswd
6595   kfind
6596   klipper
6597   konq-plugins
6598   konqueror
6599   ksysguard
6600   ksysguardd
6601   libarchive1
6602   libcln6
6603   libeet1
6604   libeina-svn-06
6605   libggadget-1.0-0b
6606   libggadget-qt-1.0-0b
6607   libgps19
6608   libkdecorations4
6609   libkephal4
6610   libkonq4
6611   libkonqsidebarplugin4a
6612   libkscreensaver5
6613   libksgrd4
6614   libksignalplotter4
6615   libkunitconversion4
6616   libkwineffects1a
6617   libmarblewidget4
6618   libntrack-qt4-1
6619   libntrack0
6620   libplasma-geolocation-interface4
6621   libplasmaclock4a
6622   libplasmagenericshell4
6623   libprocesscore4a
6624   libprocessui4a
6625   libqalculate5
6626   libqedje0a
6627   libqtruby4shared2
6628   libqzion0a
6629   libruby1.8
6630   libscim8c2a
6631   libsmokekdecore4-3
6632   libsmokekdeui4-3
6633   libsmokekfile3
6634   libsmokekhtml3
6635   libsmokekio3
6636   libsmokeknewstuff2-3
6637   libsmokeknewstuff3-3
6638   libsmokekparts3
6639   libsmokektexteditor3
6640   libsmokekutils3
6641   libsmokenepomuk3
6642   libsmokephonon3
6643   libsmokeplasma3
6644   libsmokeqtcore4-3
6645   libsmokeqtdbus4-3
6646   libsmokeqtgui4-3
6647   libsmokeqtnetwork4-3
6648   libsmokeqtopengl4-3
6649   libsmokeqtscript4-3
6650   libsmokeqtsql4-3
6651   libsmokeqtsvg4-3
6652   libsmokeqttest4-3
6653   libsmokeqtuitools4-3
6654   libsmokeqtwebkit4-3
6655   libsmokeqtxml4-3
6656   libsmokesolid3
6657   libsmokesoprano3
6658   libtaskmanager4a
6659   libtidy-0.99-0
6660   libweather-ion4a
6661   libxklavier16
6662   libxxf86misc1
6663   okteta
6664   oxygencursors
6665   plasma-dataengines-addons
6666   plasma-scriptengine-superkaramba
6667   plasma-widget-lancelot
6668   plasma-widgets-addons
6669   plasma-widgets-workspace
6670   polkit-kde-1
6671   ruby1.8
6672   systemsettings
6673   update-notifier-common
6674 </p></blockquote>
6675
6676 <p>Running apt-get autoremove made the results using apt-get and
6677 aptitude a bit more similar, but there are still quite a lott of
6678 differences.  I have no idea what packages should be installed after
6679 the upgrade, but hope those that do can have a look.</p>
6680
6681       </div>
6682       <div class="tags">
6683
6684
6685         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>.
6686
6687
6688       </div>
6689     </div>
6690     <div class="padding"></div>
6691
6692     <div class="entry">
6693       <div class="title">
6694         <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>
6695       </div>
6696       <div class="date">
6697         22nd November 2010
6698       </div>
6699       <div class="body">
6700         <p>Most of the computers in use by the
6701 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu/Skolelinux project</a>
6702 are virtual machines.  And they have been Xen machines running on a
6703 fairly old IBM eserver xseries 345 machine, and we wanted to migrate
6704 them to KVM on a newer Dell PowerEdge 2950 host machine.  This was a
6705 bit harder that it could have been, because we set up the Xen virtual
6706 machines to get the virtual partitions from LVM, which as far as I
6707 know is not supported by KVM.  So to migrate, we had to convert
6708 several LVM logical volumes to partitions on a virtual disk file.</p>
6709
6710 <p>I found
6711 <a href="http://searchnetworking.techtarget.com.au/articles/35011-Six-steps-for-migrating-Xen-virtual-machines-to-KVM">a
6712 nice recipe</a> to do this, and wrote the following script to do the
6713 migration.  It uses qemu-img from the qemu package to make the disk
6714 image, parted to partition it, losetup and kpartx to present the disk
6715 image partions as devices, and dd to copy the data.  I NFS mounted the
6716 new servers storage area on the old server to do the migration.</p>
6717
6718 <pre>
6719 #!/bin/sh
6720
6721 # Based on
6722 # http://searchnetworking.techtarget.com.au/articles/35011-Six-steps-for-migrating-Xen-virtual-machines-to-KVM
6723
6724 set -e
6725 set -x
6726
6727 if [ -z "$1" ] ; then
6728     echo "Usage: $0 &lt;hostname&gt;"
6729     exit 1
6730 else
6731     host="$1"
6732 fi
6733
6734 if [ ! -e /dev/vg_data/$host-disk ] ; then
6735     echo "error: unable to find LVM volume for $host"
6736     exit 1
6737 fi
6738
6739 # Partitions need to be a bit bigger than the LVM LVs.  not sure why.
6740 disksize=$( lvs --units m | grep $host-disk | awk '{sum = sum + $4} END { print int(sum * 1.05) }')
6741 swapsize=$( lvs --units m | grep $host-swap | awk '{sum = sum + $4} END { print int(sum * 1.05) }')
6742 totalsize=$(( ( $disksize + $swapsize ) ))
6743
6744 img=$host.img
6745 #dd if=/dev/zero of=$img bs=1M count=$(( $disksize + $swapsize ))
6746 qemu-img create $img ${totalsize}MMaking room on the Debian Edu/Sqeeze DVD
6747
6748 parted $img mklabel msdos
6749 parted $img mkpart primary linux-swap 0 $disksize
6750 parted $img mkpart primary ext2 $disksize $totalsize
6751 parted $img set 1 boot on
6752
6753 modprobe dm-mod
6754 losetup /dev/loop0 $img
6755 kpartx -a /dev/loop0
6756
6757 dd if=/dev/vg_data/$host-disk of=/dev/mapper/loop0p1 bs=1M
6758 fsck.ext3 -f /dev/mapper/loop0p1 || true
6759 mkswap /dev/mapper/loop0p2
6760
6761 kpartx -d /dev/loop0
6762 losetup -d /dev/loop0
6763 </pre>
6764
6765 <p>The script is perhaps so simple that it is not copyrightable, but
6766 if it is, it is licenced using GPL v2 or later at your discretion.</p>
6767
6768 <p>After doing this, I booted a Debian CD in rescue mode in KVM with
6769 the new disk image attached, installed grub-pc and linux-image-686 and
6770 set up grub to boot from the disk image.  After this, the KVM machines
6771 seem to work just fine.</p>
6772
6773       </div>
6774       <div class="tags">
6775
6776
6777         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>.
6778
6779
6780       </div>
6781     </div>
6782     <div class="padding"></div>
6783
6784     <div class="entry">
6785       <div class="title">
6786         <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>
6787       </div>
6788       <div class="date">
6789         20th November 2010
6790       </div>
6791       <div class="body">
6792         <p>I'm still running upgrade testing of the
6793 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/~pere/debian-upgrade-testing/">Lenny
6794 Gnome and KDE Desktop</a>, but have not had time to spend on reporting the
6795 status.  Here is a short update based on a test I ran 20101118.</p>
6796
6797 <p>I still do not know what a correct migration should look like, so I
6798 report any differences between apt and aptitude and hope someone else
6799 can see if anything should be changed.</p>
6800
6801 <p>This is for Gnome:</p>
6802
6803 <p>Installed using apt-get, missing with aptitude</p>
6804
6805 <blockquote><p>
6806   apache2.2-bin aptdaemon at-spi baobab binfmt-support
6807   browser-plugin-gnash cheese-common cli-common cpp-4.3 cups-pk-helper
6808   dmz-cursor-theme empathy empathy-common finger
6809   freedesktop-sound-theme freeglut3 gconf-defaults-service gdm-themes
6810   gedit-plugins geoclue geoclue-hostip geoclue-localnet geoclue-manual
6811   geoclue-yahoo gnash gnash-common gnome gnome-backgrounds
6812   gnome-cards-data gnome-codec-install gnome-core
6813   gnome-desktop-environment gnome-disk-utility gnome-screenshot
6814   gnome-search-tool gnome-session-canberra gnome-spell
6815   gnome-system-log gnome-themes-extras gnome-themes-more
6816   gnome-user-share gs-common gstreamer0.10-fluendo-mp3
6817   gstreamer0.10-tools gtk2-engines gtk2-engines-pixbuf
6818   gtk2-engines-smooth hal-info hamster-applet libapache2-mod-dnssd
6819   libapr1 libaprutil1 libaprutil1-dbd-sqlite3 libaprutil1-ldap
6820   libart2.0-cil libatspi1.0-0 libboost-date-time1.42.0
6821   libboost-python1.42.0 libboost-thread1.42.0 libchamplain-0.4-0
6822   libchamplain-gtk-0.4-0 libcheese-gtk18 libclutter-gtk-0.10-0
6823   libcryptui0 libcupsys2 libdiscid0 libeel2-data libelf1 libepc-1.0-2
6824   libepc-common libepc-ui-1.0-2 libfreerdp-plugins-standard
6825   libfreerdp0 libgail-common libgconf2.0-cil libgdata-common libgdata7
6826   libgdl-1-common libgdu-gtk0 libgee2 libgeoclue0 libgexiv2-0 libgif4
6827   libglade2.0-cil libglib2.0-cil libgmime2.4-cil libgnome-vfs2.0-cil
6828   libgnome2.24-cil libgnomepanel2.24-cil libgnomeprint2.2-data
6829   libgnomeprintui2.2-common libgnomevfs2-bin libgpod-common libgpod4
6830   libgtk2.0-cil libgtkglext1 libgtksourceview-common
6831   libgtksourceview2.0-common libmono-addins-gui0.2-cil
6832   libmono-addins0.2-cil libmono-cairo2.0-cil libmono-corlib2.0-cil
6833   libmono-i18n-west2.0-cil libmono-posix2.0-cil
6834   libmono-security2.0-cil libmono-sharpzip2.84-cil
6835   libmono-system2.0-cil libmtp8 libmusicbrainz3-6
6836   libndesk-dbus-glib1.0-cil libndesk-dbus1.0-cil libopal3.6.8
6837   libpolkit-gtk-1-0 libpt-1.10.10-plugins-alsa
6838   libpt-1.10.10-plugins-v4l libpt2.6.7 libpython2.6 librpm1 librpmio1
6839   libsdl1.2debian libservlet2.4-java libsrtp0 libssh-4
6840   libtelepathy-farsight0 libtelepathy-glib0 libtidy-0.99-0
6841   libxalan2-java libxerces2-java media-player-info mesa-utils
6842   mono-2.0-gac mono-gac mono-runtime nautilus-sendto
6843   nautilus-sendto-empathy openoffice.org-writer2latex
6844   openssl-blacklist p7zip p7zip-full pkg-config python-4suite-xml
6845   python-aptdaemon python-aptdaemon-gtk python-axiom
6846   python-beautifulsoup python-bugbuddy python-clientform
6847   python-coherence python-configobj python-crypto python-cupshelpers
6848   python-cupsutils python-eggtrayicon python-elementtree
6849   python-epsilon python-evolution python-feedparser python-gdata
6850   python-gdbm python-gst0.10 python-gtkglext1 python-gtkmozembed
6851   python-gtksourceview2 python-httplib2 python-louie python-mako
6852   python-markupsafe python-mechanize python-nevow python-notify
6853   python-opengl python-openssl python-pam python-pkg-resources
6854   python-pyasn1 python-pysqlite2 python-rdflib python-serial
6855   python-tagpy python-twisted-bin python-twisted-conch
6856   python-twisted-core python-twisted-web python-utidylib python-webkit
6857   python-xdg python-zope.interface remmina remmina-plugin-data
6858   remmina-plugin-rdp remmina-plugin-vnc rhythmbox-plugin-cdrecorder
6859   rhythmbox-plugins rpm-common rpm2cpio seahorse-plugins shotwell
6860   software-center svgalibg1 system-config-printer-udev
6861   telepathy-gabble telepathy-mission-control-5 telepathy-salut tomboy
6862   totem totem-coherence totem-mozilla totem-plugins
6863   transmission-common xdg-user-dirs xdg-user-dirs-gtk xserver-xephyr
6864   zip
6865 </p></blockquote>
6866
6867 Installed using apt-get, removed with aptitude
6868
6869 <blockquote><p>
6870   arj bluez-utils cheese dhcdbd djvulibre-desktop ekiga eog
6871   epiphany-extensions epiphany-gecko evolution-exchange
6872   fast-user-switch-applet file-roller gcalctool gconf-editor gdm gedit
6873   gedit-common gnome-app-install gnome-games gnome-games-data
6874   gnome-nettool gnome-system-tools gnome-themes gnome-utils
6875   gnome-vfs-obexftp gnome-volume-manager gnuchess gucharmap
6876   guile-1.8-libs hal libavahi-compat-libdnssd1 libavahi-core5
6877   libavahi-ui0 libbind9-50 libbluetooth2 libcamel1.2-11 libcdio7
6878   libcucul0 libcurl3 libdirectfb-1.0-0 libdmx1 libdvdread3
6879   libedata-cal1.2-6 libedataserver1.2-9 libeel2-2.20 libepc-1.0-1
6880   libepc-ui-1.0-1 libexchange-storage1.2-3 libfaad0 libgadu3
6881   libgalago3 libgd2-noxpm libgda3-3 libgda3-common libggz2 libggzcore9
6882   libggzmod4 libgksu1.2-0 libgksuui1.0-1 libgmyth0 libgnome-desktop-2
6883   libgnome-pilot2 libgnomecups1.0-1 libgnomeprint2.2-0
6884   libgnomeprintui2.2-0 libgpod3 libgraphviz4 libgtk-vnc-1.0-0
6885   libgtkhtml2-0 libgtksourceview1.0-0 libgtksourceview2.0-0
6886   libgucharmap6 libhesiod0 libicu38 libisccc50 libisccfg50 libiw29
6887   libjaxp1.3-java-gcj libkpathsea4 liblircclient0 libltdl3 liblwres50
6888   libmagick++10 libmagick10 libmalaga7 libmozjs1d libmpfr1ldbl libmtp7
6889   libmysqlclient15off libnautilus-burn4 libneon27 libnm-glib0
6890   libnm-util0 libopal-2.2 libosp5 libparted1.8-10 libpisock9
6891   libpisync1 libpoppler-glib3 libpoppler3 libpt-1.10.10 libraw1394-8
6892   libsdl1.2debian-alsa libsensors3 libsexy2 libsmbios2 libsoup2.2-8
6893   libspeexdsp1 libssh2-1 libsuitesparse-3.1.0 libsvga1
6894   libswfdec-0.6-90 libtalloc1 libtotem-plparser10 libtrackerclient0
6895   libvoikko1 libxalan2-java-gcj libxerces2-java-gcj libxklavier12
6896   libxtrap6 libxxf86misc1 libzephyr3 mysql-common rhythmbox seahorse
6897   sound-juicer swfdec-gnome system-config-printer totem-common
6898   totem-gstreamer transmission-gtk vinagre vino w3c-dtd-xhtml wodim
6899 </p></blockquote>
6900
6901 <p>Installed using aptitude, missing with apt-get</p>
6902
6903 <blockquote><p>
6904   gstreamer0.10-gnomevfs
6905 </p></blockquote>
6906
6907 <p>Installed using aptitude, removed with apt-get</p>
6908
6909 <blockquote><p>
6910 [nothing]
6911 </p></blockquote>
6912
6913 <p>This is for KDE:</p>
6914
6915 <p>Installed using apt-get, missing with aptitude</p>
6916
6917 <blockquote><p>
6918   autopoint bomber bovo cantor cantor-backend-kalgebra cpp-4.3 dcoprss
6919   edict espeak espeak-data eyesapplet fifteenapplet finger gettext
6920   ghostscript-x git gnome-audio gnugo granatier gs-common
6921   gstreamer0.10-pulseaudio indi kaddressbook-plugins kalgebra
6922   kalzium-data kanjidic kapman kate-plugins kblocks kbreakout kbstate
6923   kde-icons-mono kdeaccessibility kdeaddons-kfile-plugins
6924   kdeadmin-kfile-plugins kdeartwork-misc kdeartwork-theme-window
6925   kdeedu kdeedu-data kdeedu-kvtml-data kdegames kdegames-card-data
6926   kdegames-mahjongg-data kdegraphics-kfile-plugins kdelirc
6927   kdemultimedia-kfile-plugins kdenetwork-kfile-plugins
6928   kdepim-kfile-plugins kdepim-kio-plugins kdessh kdetoys kdewebdev
6929   kdiamond kdnssd kfilereplace kfourinline kgeography-data kigo
6930   killbots kiriki klettres-data kmoon kmrml knewsticker-scripts
6931   kollision kpf krosspython ksirk ksmserver ksquares kstars-data
6932   ksudoku kubrick kweather libasound2-plugins libboost-python1.42.0
6933   libcfitsio3 libconvert-binhex-perl libcrypt-ssleay-perl libdb4.6++
6934   libdjvulibre-text libdotconf1.0 liberror-perl libespeak1
6935   libfinance-quote-perl libgail-common libgsl0ldbl libhtml-parser-perl
6936   libhtml-tableextract-perl libhtml-tagset-perl libhtml-tree-perl
6937   libio-stringy-perl libkdeedu4 libkdegames5 libkiten4 libkpathsea5
6938   libkrossui4 libmailtools-perl libmime-tools-perl
6939   libnews-nntpclient-perl libopenbabel3 libportaudio2 libpulse-browse0
6940   libservlet2.4-java libspeechd2 libtiff-tools libtimedate-perl
6941   libunistring0 liburi-perl libwww-perl libxalan2-java libxerces2-java
6942   lirc luatex marble networkstatus noatun-plugins
6943   openoffice.org-writer2latex palapeli palapeli-data parley
6944   parley-data poster psutils pulseaudio pulseaudio-esound-compat
6945   pulseaudio-module-x11 pulseaudio-utils quanta-data rocs rsync
6946   speech-dispatcher step svgalibg1 texlive-binaries texlive-luatex
6947   ttf-sazanami-gothic
6948 </p></blockquote>
6949
6950 <p>Installed using apt-get, removed with aptitude</p>
6951
6952 <blockquote><p>
6953   amor artsbuilder atlantik atlantikdesigner blinken bluez-utils cvs
6954   dhcdbd djvulibre-desktop imlib-base imlib11 kalzium kanagram kandy
6955   kasteroids katomic kbackgammon kbattleship kblackbox kbounce kbruch
6956   kcron kdat kdemultimedia-kappfinder-data kdeprint kdict kdvi kedit
6957   keduca kenolaba kfax kfaxview kfouleggs kgeography kghostview
6958   kgoldrunner khangman khexedit kiconedit kig kimagemapeditor
6959   kitchensync kiten kjumpingcube klatin klettres klickety klines
6960   klinkstatus kmag kmahjongg kmailcvt kmenuedit kmid kmilo kmines
6961   kmousetool kmouth kmplot knetwalk kodo kolf kommander konquest kooka
6962   kpager kpat kpdf kpercentage kpilot kpoker kpovmodeler krec
6963   kregexpeditor kreversi ksame ksayit kshisen ksig ksim ksirc ksirtet
6964   ksmiletris ksnake ksokoban kspaceduel kstars ksvg ksysv kteatime
6965   ktip ktnef ktouch ktron kttsd ktuberling kturtle ktux kuickshow
6966   kverbos kview kviewshell kvoctrain kwifimanager kwin kwin4 kwordquiz
6967   kworldclock kxsldbg libakode2 libarts1-akode libarts1-audiofile
6968   libarts1-mpeglib libarts1-xine libavahi-compat-libdnssd1
6969   libavahi-core5 libavc1394-0 libbind9-50 libbluetooth2
6970   libboost-python1.34.1 libcucul0 libcurl3 libcvsservice0
6971   libdirectfb-1.0-0 libdjvulibre21 libdvdread3 libfaad0 libfreebob0
6972   libgd2-noxpm libgraphviz4 libgsmme1c2a libgtkhtml2-0 libicu38
6973   libiec61883-0 libindex0 libisccc50 libisccfg50 libiw29
6974   libjaxp1.3-java-gcj libk3b3 libkcal2b libkcddb1 libkdeedu3
6975   libkdegames1 libkdepim1a libkgantt0 libkleopatra1 libkmime2
6976   libkpathsea4 libkpimexchange1 libkpimidentities1 libkscan1
6977   libksieve0 libktnef1 liblockdev1 libltdl3 liblwres50 libmagick10
6978   libmimelib1c2a libmodplug0c2 libmozjs1d libmpcdec3 libmpfr1ldbl
6979   libneon27 libnm-util0 libopensync0 libpisock9 libpoppler-glib3
6980   libpoppler-qt2 libpoppler3 libraw1394-8 librss1 libsensors3
6981   libsmbios2 libssh2-1 libsuitesparse-3.1.0 libswfdec-0.6-90
6982   libtalloc1 libxalan2-java-gcj libxerces2-java-gcj libxtrap6 lskat
6983   mpeglib network-manager-kde noatun pmount tex-common texlive-base
6984   texlive-common texlive-doc-base texlive-fonts-recommended tidy
6985   ttf-dustin ttf-kochi-gothic ttf-sjfonts
6986 </p></blockquote>
6987
6988 <p>Installed using aptitude, missing with apt-get</p>
6989
6990 <blockquote><p>
6991   dolphin kde-core kde-plasma-desktop kde-standard kde-window-manager
6992   kdeartwork kdebase kdebase-apps kdebase-workspace
6993   kdebase-workspace-bin kdebase-workspace-data kdeutils kscreensaver
6994   kscreensaver-xsavers libgle3 libkonq5 libkonq5-templates libnetpbm10
6995   netpbm plasma-widget-folderview plasma-widget-networkmanagement
6996   xscreensaver-data-extra xscreensaver-gl xscreensaver-gl-extra
6997   xscreensaver-screensaver-bsod
6998 </p></blockquote>
6999
7000 <p>Installed using aptitude, removed with apt-get</p>
7001
7002 <blockquote><p>
7003   kdebase-bin konq-plugins konqueror
7004 </p></blockquote>
7005
7006       </div>
7007       <div class="tags">
7008
7009
7010         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>.
7011
7012
7013       </div>
7014     </div>
7015     <div class="padding"></div>
7016
7017     <div class="entry">
7018       <div class="title">
7019         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Gnash_buildbot_slave_and_Debian_kfreebsd.html">Gnash buildbot slave and Debian kfreebsd</a>
7020       </div>
7021       <div class="date">
7022         20th November 2010
7023       </div>
7024       <div class="body">
7025         <p>Answering
7026 <a href="http://www.listware.net/201011/gnash-dev/67431-gnash-dev-buildbot-looking-for-slaves.html">the
7027 call from the Gnash project</a> for
7028 <a href="http://www.gnashdev.org:8010">buildbot</a> slaves to test the
7029 current source, I have set up a virtual KVM machine on the Debian
7030 Edu/Skolelinux virtualization host to test the git source on
7031 Debian/Squeeze.  I hope this can help the developers in getting new
7032 releases out more often.</p>
7033
7034 <p>As the developers want less main-stream build platforms tested to,
7035 I have considered setting up a <a
7036 href="http://www.debian.org/ports/kfreebsd-gnu/">Debian/kfreebsd</a>
7037 machine as well.  I have also considered using the kfreebsd
7038 architecture in Debian as a file server in NUUG to get access to the 5
7039 TB zfs volume we currently use to store DV video.  Because of this, I
7040 finally got around to do a test installation of Debian/Squeeze with
7041 kfreebsd.  Installation went fairly smooth, thought I noticed some
7042 visual glitches in the cdebconf dialogs (black cursor left on the
7043 screen at random locations).  Have not gotten very far with the
7044 testing.  Noticed cfdisk did not work, but fdisk did so it was not a
7045 fatal problem.  Have to spend some more time on it to see if it is
7046 useful as a file server for NUUG.  Will try to find time to set up a
7047 gnash buildbot slave on the Debian Edu/Skolelinux this weekend.</p>
7048
7049       </div>
7050       <div class="tags">
7051
7052
7053         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>.
7054
7055
7056       </div>
7057     </div>
7058     <div class="padding"></div>
7059
7060     <div class="entry">
7061       <div class="title">
7062         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_in_3D.html">Debian in 3D</a>
7063       </div>
7064       <div class="date">
7065          9th November 2010
7066       </div>
7067       <div class="body">
7068         <p><img src="http://thingiverse-production.s3.amazonaws.com/renders/23/e0/c4/f9/2b/debswagtdose_preview_medium.jpg"></p>
7069
7070 <p>3D printing is just great.  I just came across this Debian logo in
7071 3D linked in from
7072 <a href="http://blog.thingiverse.com/2010/11/09/participatory-branding/">the
7073 thingiverse blog</a>.</p>
7074
7075       </div>
7076       <div class="tags">
7077
7078
7079         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>.
7080
7081
7082       </div>
7083     </div>
7084     <div class="padding"></div>
7085
7086     <div class="entry">
7087       <div class="title">
7088         <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>
7089       </div>
7090       <div class="date">
7091          7th November 2010
7092       </div>
7093       <div class="body">
7094         <p>Prioritising packages for the Debian Edu /
7095 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Skolelinux</a> DVD, which is
7096 supposed provide a school with all the services and user applications
7097 needed on the pupils computer network has always been hard.  Even
7098 schools without Internet connections should be able to get Debian Edu
7099 working using this DVD.</p>
7100
7101 <p>The job became a lot harder when apt and aptitude started
7102 installing recommended packages by default.  We want the same set of
7103 packages to be installed when using the DVD and the netinst CD, and
7104 that means all recommended packages need to be on the DVD.  I created
7105 a patch for debian-cd in <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/601203">BTS
7106 report #601203</a> to do this, and since this change was applied to
7107 the Debian Edu DVD build, we have been seriously short on space.</p>
7108
7109 <p>A few days ago we decided to drop blender, wxmaxima and kicad from
7110 the default installation to save space on the DVD, believing that
7111 those needing these applications are few and can get them from the
7112 Debian archive.</p>
7113
7114 <p>Yesterday, I had a look what source packages to see which packages
7115 were using most space.  A few large packages are well know;
7116 openoffice.org, openclipart and fluid-soundfont.  But I also
7117 discovered that lilypond used 106 MiB and fglrx-driver used 53 MiB.
7118 The lilypond package is pulled in as a dependency for rosegarden, and
7119 when looking a bit closer I discovered that 99 MiB of the 106 MiB were
7120 the documentation package, which is recommended by the binary package.
7121 I decided to drop this documentation package from our DVD, as most of
7122 our users will use the GUI front-ends and do not need the lilypond
7123 documentation.  Similarly, I dropped the non-free fglrx-driver package
7124 which might be installed by d-i when its hardware is detected, as the
7125 free X driver should work.</p>
7126
7127 <p>With this change, we finally got space for the LXDE and Gnome
7128 desktop packages as well as the language specific packages making the
7129 DVD more useful again.</p>
7130
7131       </div>
7132       <div class="tags">
7133
7134
7135         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">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>.
7136
7137
7138       </div>
7139     </div>
7140     <div class="padding"></div>
7141
7142     <div class="entry">
7143       <div class="title">
7144         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Software_updates_2010_10_24.html">Software updates 2010-10-24</a>
7145       </div>
7146       <div class="date">
7147         24th October 2010
7148       </div>
7149       <div class="body">
7150         <p>Some updates.</p>
7151
7152 <p>My <a href="http://pledgebank.com/gnash-avm2">gnash pledge</a> to
7153 raise money for the project is going well.  The lower limit of 10
7154 signers was reached in 24 hours, and so far 13 people have signed it.
7155 More signers and more funding is most welcome, and I am really curious
7156 how far we can get before the time limit of December 24 is reached.
7157 :)</p>
7158
7159 <p>On the #gnash IRC channel on irc.freenode.net, I was just tipped
7160 about what appear to be a great code coverage tool capable of
7161 generating code coverage stats without any changes to the source code.
7162 It is called
7163 <a href="http://simonkagstrom.github.com/kcov/index.html">kcov</a>,
7164 and can be used using <tt>kcov &lt;directory&gt; &lt;binary&gt;</tt>.
7165 It is missing in Debian, but the git source built just fine in Squeeze
7166 after I installed libelf-dev, libdwarf-dev, pkg-config and
7167 libglib2.0-dev.  Failed to build in Lenny, but suspect that is
7168 solvable.  I hope kcov make it into Debian soon.</p>
7169
7170 <p>Finally found time to wrap up the release notes for <a
7171 href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-edu-announce/2010/10/msg00002.html">a
7172 new alpha release of Debian Edu</a>, and just published the second
7173 alpha test release of the Squeeze based Debian Edu /
7174 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Skolelinux</a>
7175 release.  Give it a try if you need a complete linux solution for your
7176 school, including central infrastructure server, workstations, thin
7177 client servers and diskless workstations.  A nice touch added
7178 yesterday is RDP support on the thin client servers, for windows
7179 clients to get a Linux desktop on request.</p>
7180
7181       </div>
7182       <div class="tags">
7183
7184
7185         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>.
7186
7187
7188       </div>
7189     </div>
7190     <div class="padding"></div>
7191
7192     <div class="entry">
7193       <div class="title">
7194         <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>
7195       </div>
7196       <div class="date">
7197         19th October 2010
7198       </div>
7199       <div class="body">
7200         <p><a href="http://www.getgnash.org/">The Gnash project</a> is the
7201 most promising solution for a Free Software Flash implementation. It
7202 has done great so far, but there is still far to go, and recently its
7203 funding has dried up.  I believe AVM2 support in Gnash is vital to the
7204 continued progress of the project, as more and more sites show up with
7205 AVM2 flash files.</p>
7206
7207 <p>To try to get funding for developing such support, I have started
7208 <a href="http://www.pledgebank.com/gnash-avm2">a pledge</a> with the
7209 following text:</P>
7210
7211 <p><blockquote>
7212
7213   <p>"I will pay 100$ to the Gnash project to develop AVM2 support but
7214   only if 10 other people will do the same."</p>
7215
7216   <p>- Petter Reinholdtsen, free software developer</p>
7217
7218   <p>Deadline to sign up by: 24th December 2010</p>
7219
7220   <p>The Gnash project need to get support for the new Flash file
7221   format AVM2 to work with a lot of sites using Flash on the
7222   web. Gnash already work with a lot of Flash sites using the old AVM1
7223   format, but more and more sites are using the AVM2 format these
7224   days. The project web page is available from
7225   http://www.getgnash.org/ . Gnash is a free software implementation
7226   of Adobe Flash, allowing those of us that do not accept the terms of
7227   the Adobe Flash license to get access to Flash sites.</p>
7228
7229   <p>The project need funding to get developers to put aside enough
7230   time to develop the AVM2 support, and this pledge is my way to try
7231   to get this to happen.</p>
7232
7233   <p>The project accept donations via the OpenMediaNow foundation,
7234   <a href="http://www.openmedianow.org/?q=node/32">http://www.openmedianow.org/?q=node/32</a> .</p>
7235
7236 </blockquote></p>
7237
7238 <p>I hope you will support this effort too.  I hope more than 10
7239 people will participate to make this happen.  The more money the
7240 project gets, the more features it can develop using these funds.
7241 :)</p>
7242
7243       </div>
7244       <div class="tags">
7245
7246
7247         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>.
7248
7249
7250       </div>
7251     </div>
7252     <div class="padding"></div>
7253
7254     <div class="entry">
7255       <div class="title">
7256         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/First_version_of_a_Perl_library_to_control_the_Spykee_robot.html">First version of a Perl library to control the Spykee robot</a>
7257       </div>
7258       <div class="date">
7259          9th October 2010
7260       </div>
7261       <div class="body">
7262         <p>This summer I got the chance to buy cheap Spykee robots, and since
7263 then I have worked on getting Linux software in place to control them.
7264 The firmware for the robot is available from the producer, and using
7265 that source it was trivial to figure out the protocol specification.
7266 I've started on a perl library to control it, and made some demo
7267 programs using this perl library to allow one to control the
7268 robots.</p>
7269
7270 <p>The library is quite functional already, and capable of controlling
7271 the driving, fetching video, uploading MP3s and play them.  There are
7272 a few less important features too.</p>
7273
7274 <p>Since a few weeks ago, I ran out of time to spend on this project,
7275 but I never got around to releasing the current source.  I decided
7276 today that it was time to do something about it, and uploaded the
7277 source to my Debian package store at people.skolelinux.org.</p>
7278
7279 <p>Because it was simpler for me, I made a Debian package and
7280 published the source and deb.  If you got a spykee robot, grab the
7281 source or binary package:</p>
7282
7283 <p><ul>
7284 <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>
7285 <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>
7286 <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>
7287 </ul></p>
7288
7289 <p>If you are interested in helping out with developing this library,
7290 please let me know.</p>
7291
7292       </div>
7293       <div class="tags">
7294
7295
7296         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>.
7297
7298
7299       </div>
7300     </div>
7301     <div class="padding"></div>
7302
7303     <div class="entry">
7304       <div class="title">
7305         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Links_for_2010_10_03.html">Links for 2010-10-03</a>
7306       </div>
7307       <div class="date">
7308          3rd October 2010
7309       </div>
7310       <div class="body">
7311         <p><ul>
7312
7313 <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
7314 is no Plan B: why the IPv4-to-IPv6 transition will be ugly</a></li>
7315
7316 <li>Scanner looking under clothes
7317 <a href="http://www.dagbladet.no/2010/10/03/nyheter/utenriks/reise/overvakingskamera/flyplasser/13667192/">has
7318 already been misused at Heathrow</a>.</li>
7319
7320 <li><a href="http://wiki.softwarelivre.org/Landell">Landell
7321 Webcasting</a> - interesting alternative for
7322 <ahref="http://dvswitch.alioth.debian.org/wiki/">DVSwitch</a> with
7323 simple setup.
7324
7325 </ul></p>
7326
7327       </div>
7328       <div class="tags">
7329
7330
7331         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>.
7332
7333
7334       </div>
7335     </div>
7336     <div class="padding"></div>
7337
7338     <div class="entry">
7339       <div class="title">
7340         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/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>
7341       </div>
7342       <div class="date">
7343          9th September 2010
7344       </div>
7345       <div class="body">
7346         <p>A few days ago I had the mixed pleasure of bying a new digital
7347 camera, a Canon IXUS 130.  It was instructive and very disturbing to
7348 be able to verify that also this camera producer have the nerve to
7349 specify how I can or can not use the videos produced with the camera.
7350 Even thought I was aware of the issue, the options with new cameras
7351 are limited and I ended up bying the camera anyway.  What is the
7352 problem, you might ask?  It is software patents, MPEG-4, H.264 and the
7353 MPEG-LA that is the problem, and our right to record our experiences
7354 without asking for permissions that is at risk.
7355
7356 <p>On page 27 of the Danish instruction manual, this section is
7357 written:</p>
7358
7359 <blockquote>
7360 <p>This product is licensed under AT&T patents for the MPEG-4 standard
7361 and may be used for encoding MPEG-4 compliant video and/or decoding
7362 MPEG-4 compliant video that was encoded only (1) for a personal and
7363 non-commercial purpose or (2) by a video provider licensed under the
7364 AT&T patents to provide MPEG-4 compliant video.</p>
7365
7366 <p>No license is granted or implied for any other use for MPEG-4
7367 standard.</p>
7368 </blockquote>
7369
7370 <p>In short, the camera producer have chosen to use technology
7371 (MPEG-4/H.264) that is only provided if I used it for personal and
7372 non-commercial purposes, or ask for permission from the organisations
7373 holding the knowledge monopoly (patent) for technology used.</p>
7374
7375 <p>This issue has been brewing for a while, and I recommend you to
7376 read
7377 "<a href="http://www.osnews.com/story/23236/Why_Our_Civilization_s_Video_Art_and_Culture_is_Threatened_by_the_MPEG-LA">Why
7378 Our Civilization's Video Art and Culture is Threatened by the
7379 MPEG-LA</a>" by Eugenia Loli-Queru and
7380 "<a href="http://webmink.com/2010/09/03/h-264-and-foss/">H.264 Is Not
7381 The Sort Of Free That Matters</a>" by Simon Phipps to learn more about
7382 the issue.  The solution is to support the
7383 <a href="http://www.digistan.org/open-standard:definition">free and
7384 open standards</a> for video, like <a href="http://www.theora.org/">Ogg
7385 Theora</a>, and avoid MPEG-4 and H.264 if you can.</p>
7386
7387       </div>
7388       <div class="tags">
7389
7390
7391         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>.
7392
7393
7394       </div>
7395     </div>
7396     <div class="padding"></div>
7397
7398     <div class="entry">
7399       <div class="title">
7400         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Some_notes_on_Flash_in_Debian_and_Debian_Edu.html">Some notes on Flash in Debian and Debian Edu</a>
7401       </div>
7402       <div class="date">
7403          4th September 2010
7404       </div>
7405       <div class="body">
7406         <p>In the <a href="http://popcon.debian.org/unknown/by_vote">Debian
7407 popularity-contest numbers</a>, the adobe-flashplugin package the
7408 second most popular used package that is missing in Debian.  The sixth
7409 most popular is flashplayer-mozilla.  This is a clear indication that
7410 working flash is important for Debian users.  Around 10 percent of the
7411 users submitting data to popcon.debian.org have this package
7412 installed.</p>
7413
7414 <p>In the report written by Lars Risan in August 2008
7415 («<a href="http://wiki.skolelinux.no/Dokumentasjon/Rapporter?action=AttachFile&do=view&target=Skolelinux_i_bruk_rapport_1.0.pdf">Skolelinux
7416 i bruk – Rapport for Hurum kommune, Universitetet i Agder og
7417 stiftelsen SLX Debian Labs</a>»), one of the most important problems
7418 schools experienced with <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian
7419 Edu/Skolelinux</a> was the lack of working Flash.  A lot of educational
7420 web sites require Flash to work, and lacking working Flash support in
7421 the web browser and the problems with installing it was perceived as a
7422 good reason to stay with Windows.</p>
7423
7424 <p>I once saw a funny and sad comment in a web forum, where Linux was
7425 said to be the retarded cousin that did not really understand
7426 everything you told him but could work fairly well.  This was a
7427 comment regarding the problems Linux have with proprietary formats and
7428 non-standard web pages, and is sad because it exposes a fairly common
7429 understanding of whose fault it is if web pages that only work in for
7430 example Internet Explorer 6 fail to work on Firefox, and funny because
7431 it explain very well how annoying it is for users when Linux
7432 distributions do not work with the documents they receive or the web
7433 pages they want to visit.</p>
7434
7435 <p>This is part of the reason why I believe it is important for Debian
7436 and Debian Edu to have a well working Flash implementation in the
7437 distribution, to get at least popular sites as Youtube and Google
7438 Video to working out of the box.  For Squeeze, Debian have the chance
7439 to include the latest version of Gnash that will make this happen, as
7440 the new release 0.8.8 was published a few weeks ago and is resting in
7441 unstable.  The new version work with more sites that version 0.8.7.
7442 The Gnash maintainers have asked for a freeze exception, but the
7443 release team have not had time to reply to it yet.  I hope they agree
7444 with me that Flash is important for the Debian desktop users, and thus
7445 accept the new package into Squeeze.</p>
7446
7447       </div>
7448       <div class="tags">
7449
7450
7451         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>.
7452
7453
7454       </div>
7455     </div>
7456     <div class="padding"></div>
7457
7458     <div class="entry">
7459       <div class="title">
7460         <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>
7461       </div>
7462       <div class="date">
7463          1st September 2010
7464       </div>
7465       <div class="body">
7466         <p>This evening I made my first Perl GUI application.  The last few
7467 days I have worked on a Perl module for controlling my recently
7468 aquired Spykee robots, and the module is now getting complete enought
7469 that it is possible to use it to control the robot driving at least.
7470 It was now time to figure out how to use it to create some GUI to
7471 allow me to drive the robot around.  I picked PerlQt as I have had
7472 positive experiences with the Qt API before, and spent a few minutes
7473 browsing the web for examples.  Using Qt Designer seemed like a short
7474 cut, so I ended up writing the perl GUI using Qt Designer and
7475 compiling it into a perl program using the puic program from
7476 libqt-perl.  Nothing fancy yet, but it got buttons to connect and
7477 drive around.</p>
7478
7479 <p>The perl module I have written provide a object oriented API for
7480 controlling the robot.  Here is an small example on how to use it:</p>
7481
7482 <p><pre>
7483 use Spykee;
7484 Spykee::discover(sub {$robot{$_[0]} = $_[1]});
7485 my $host = (keys %robot)[0];
7486 my $spykee = Spykee->new();
7487 $spykee->contact($host, "admin", "admin");
7488 $spykee->left();
7489 sleep 2;
7490 $spykee->right();
7491 sleep 2;
7492 $spykee->forward();
7493 sleep 2;
7494 $spykee->back();
7495 sleep 2;
7496 $spykee->stop();
7497 </pre></p>
7498
7499 <p>Thanks to the release of the source of the robot firmware, I could
7500 peek into the implementation at the other end to figure out how to
7501 implement the protocol used by the robot.  I've implemented several of
7502 the commands the robot understand, but is still missing the camera
7503 support to make it possible to control the robot from remote.  First I
7504 want to implement support for uploading new firmware and configuring
7505 the wireless network, to make it possible to bootstrap a Spykee robot
7506 without the producers Windows and MacOSX software (I only have Linux,
7507 so I had to ask a friend to come over to get the robot testing
7508 going. :).</p>
7509
7510 <p>Will release the source to the public soon, but need to figure out
7511 where to make it available first.  I will add a link to
7512 <a href="http://wiki.nuug.no/grupper/robot/">the NUUG wiki</a> for
7513 those that want to check back later to find it.</p>
7514
7515       </div>
7516       <div class="tags">
7517
7518
7519         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>.
7520
7521
7522       </div>
7523     </div>
7524     <div class="padding"></div>
7525
7526     <div class="entry">
7527       <div class="title">
7528         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Broken_hard_link_handling_with_sshfs.html">Broken hard link handling with sshfs</a>
7529       </div>
7530       <div class="date">
7531         30th August 2010
7532       </div>
7533       <div class="body">
7534         <p>Just got an email from Tobias Gruetzmacher as a followup on my
7535 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Broken_umask_handling_with_sshfs.html">previous
7536 post about sshfs</a>.  He reported another problem with sshfs.  It
7537 fail to handle hard links properly.  A simple way to spot this is to
7538 look at the . and .. entries in the directory tree.  These should have
7539 a link count >1, but on sshfs the count is 1.  I just tested to see
7540 what happen when trying to hardlink, and this fail as well:</p>
7541
7542 <pre>
7543 % ln foo bar
7544 ln: creating hard link `bar' => `foo': Function not implemented
7545 %
7546 </pre>
7547
7548 <p>I have not yet found time to implement a test for this in my file
7549 system test code, but believe having working hard links is useful to
7550 avoid surprised unix programs.  Not as useful as working file locking
7551 and symlinks, which are required to get a working desktop, but useful
7552 nevertheless. :)</p>
7553
7554 <p>The latest version of the file system test code is available via
7555 git from
7556 <a href="http://github.com/gebi/fs-test">http://github.com/gebi/fs-test</a></p>
7557
7558       </div>
7559       <div class="tags">
7560
7561
7562         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">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>.
7563
7564
7565       </div>
7566     </div>
7567     <div class="padding"></div>
7568
7569     <div class="entry">
7570       <div class="title">
7571         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Broken_umask_handling_with_sshfs.html">Broken umask handling with sshfs</a>
7572       </div>
7573       <div class="date">
7574         26th August 2010
7575       </div>
7576       <div class="body">
7577         <p>My file system sematics program
7578 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Testing_if_a_file_system_can_be_used_for_home_directories___.html">presented
7579 a few days ago</a> is very useful to verify that a file system can
7580 work as a unix home directory,and today I had to extend it a bit.  I'm
7581 looking into alternatives for home directory access here at the
7582 University of Oslo, and one of the options is sshfs.  My friend
7583 Finn-Arne mentioned a while back that they had used sshfs with Debian
7584 Edu, but stopped because of problems.  I asked today what the problems
7585 where, and he mentioned that sshfs failed to handle umask properly.
7586 Trying to detect the problem I wrote this addition to my fs testing
7587 script:</p>
7588
7589 <pre>
7590 mode_t touch_get_mode(const char *name, mode_t mode) {
7591   mode_t retval = 0;
7592   int fd = open(name, O_RDWR|O_CREAT|O_LARGEFILE, mode);
7593   if (-1 != fd) {
7594     unlink(name);
7595     struct stat statbuf;
7596     if (-1 != fstat(fd, &statbuf)) {
7597       retval = statbuf.st_mode & 0x1ff;
7598     }
7599     close(fd);
7600   }
7601   return retval;
7602 }
7603
7604 /* Try to detect problem discovered using sshfs */
7605 int test_umask(void) {
7606   printf("info: testing umask effect on file creation\n");
7607
7608   mode_t orig_umask = umask(000);
7609   mode_t newmode;
7610   if (0666 != (newmode = touch_get_mode("foobar", 0666))) {
7611     printf("  error: Wrong file mode %o when creating using mode 666 and umask 000\n",
7612            newmode);
7613   }
7614   umask(007);
7615   if (0660 != (newmode = touch_get_mode("foobar", 0666))) {
7616     printf("  error: Wrong file mode %o when creating using mode 666 and umask 007\n",
7617            newmode);
7618   }
7619
7620   umask (orig_umask);
7621   return 0;
7622 }
7623
7624 int main(int argc, char **argv) {
7625   [...]
7626   test_umask();
7627   return 0;
7628 }
7629 </pre>
7630
7631 <p>Sure enough.  On NFS to a netapp, I get this result:</p>
7632
7633 <pre>
7634 Testing POSIX/Unix sematics on file system
7635 info: testing symlink creation
7636 info: testing subdirectory creation
7637 info: testing fcntl locking
7638   Read-locking 1 byte from 1073741824
7639   Read-locking 510 byte from 1073741826
7640   Unlocking 1 byte from 1073741824
7641   Write-locking 1 byte from 1073741824
7642   Write-locking 510 byte from 1073741826
7643   Unlocking 2 byte from 1073741824
7644 info: testing umask effect on file creation
7645 </pre>
7646
7647 <p>When mounting the same directory using sshfs, I get this
7648 result:</p>
7649
7650 <pre>
7651 Testing POSIX/Unix sematics on file system
7652 info: testing symlink creation
7653 info: testing subdirectory creation
7654 info: testing fcntl locking
7655   Read-locking 1 byte from 1073741824
7656   Read-locking 510 byte from 1073741826
7657   Unlocking 1 byte from 1073741824
7658   Write-locking 1 byte from 1073741824
7659   Write-locking 510 byte from 1073741826
7660   Unlocking 2 byte from 1073741824
7661 info: testing umask effect on file creation
7662   error: Wrong file mode 644 when creating using mode 666 and umask 000
7663   error: Wrong file mode 640 when creating using mode 666 and umask 007
7664 </pre>
7665
7666 <p>So, I can conclude that sshfs is better than smb to a Netapp or a
7667 Windows server, but not good enough to be used as a home
7668 directory.</p>
7669
7670 <p>Update 2010-08-26: Reported the issue in
7671 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/594498">BTS report #594498</a></p>
7672
7673 <p>Update 2010-08-27: Michael Gebetsroither report that he found the
7674 script so useful that he created a GIT repository and stored it in
7675 <a href="http://github.com/gebi/fs-test">http://github.com/gebi/fs-test</a>.</p>
7676
7677       </div>
7678       <div class="tags">
7679
7680
7681         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">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>.
7682
7683
7684       </div>
7685     </div>
7686     <div class="padding"></div>
7687
7688     <div class="entry">
7689       <div class="title">
7690         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Rob_Weir__How_to_Crush_Dissent.html">Rob Weir: How to Crush Dissent</a>
7691       </div>
7692       <div class="date">
7693         15th August 2010
7694       </div>
7695       <div class="body">
7696         <p>I found the notes from Rob Weir on
7697 <a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/robweir/antic-atom/~3/VGb23-kta8c/how-to-crush-dissent.html">how
7698 to crush dissent</a> matching my own thoughts on the matter quite
7699 well.  Highly recommended for those wondering which road our society
7700 should go down.  In my view we have been heading the wrong way for a
7701 long time.</p>
7702
7703       </div>
7704       <div class="tags">
7705
7706
7707         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>.
7708
7709
7710       </div>
7711     </div>
7712     <div class="padding"></div>
7713
7714     <div class="entry">
7715       <div class="title">
7716         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/No_hardcoded_config_on_Debian_Edu_clients.html">No hardcoded config on Debian Edu clients</a>
7717       </div>
7718       <div class="date">
7719          9th August 2010
7720       </div>
7721       <div class="body">
7722         <p>As reported earlier, the last few days I have looked at how Debian
7723 Edu clients are configured, and tried to get rid of all hardcoded
7724 configuration settings on the clients.  I believe the work to be
7725 mostly done, and the clients seem to work just fine with dynamically
7726 generated configuration.</p>
7727
7728 <p>What is the point, you might ask?  The point is to allow a Debian
7729 Edu desktop to integrate into an existing network infrastructure
7730 without any manual configuration.</p>
7731
7732 <p>This is what happens when installing a Debian Edu client here at
7733 the University of Oslo using PXE.  With the PXE installation, I am
7734 asked for language (Norwegian Bokmål), locality (Norway) and keyboard
7735 layout (no-latin1), Debian Edu profile (Roaming Workstation), if I
7736 accept to reformat the hard drive (yes), if I want to submit info to
7737 popcon.debian.org (no) and root password (secret).  After answering
7738 these questions, the installer goes ahead and does its thing, and
7739 after around 50 minutes it is done.  I press enter to finish the
7740 installation, and the machine reboots into KDE.  When the machine is
7741 ready and kdm asks for login information, I enter my university
7742 username and password, am told by kdm that a local home directory has
7743 been created and that I must log in again, and finally log in with the
7744 same username and password to the KDE 4.4 desktop.  At no point during
7745 this process did it ask for university specific settings, and all the
7746 required configuration was dynamically detected using information
7747 fetched via DHCP and DNS.  The roaming workstation is now ready for
7748 use.</p>
7749
7750 <p>How was this done, you might wonder?  First of all, here is the
7751 list of things that need to be configured on the client to get it
7752 working properly out of the box:</p>
7753
7754 <ul>
7755 <li>IP address/netmask and DNS server.</li>
7756 <li>Web proxy URL.</li>
7757 <li>LDAP server for NSS directory information (user, group, etc).</li>
7758 <li>Kerberos server for PAM password checking.</li>
7759 <li>SMB mount point to access the network home directory. (*)</li>
7760 <li>Central syslog server to send syslog messages to. (*)</li>
7761 <li>Sitesummary collector URL to submit info to central server. (*)</li>
7762 </ul>
7763
7764 <p>(Hm, did I forget anything?  Let me knew if I did.)</p>
7765
7766 <p>The points marked (*) are not required to be able to use the
7767 machine, but needed to provide central storage and allowing system
7768 administrators to track their machines.  Since yesterday, everything
7769 but the sitesummary collector URL is dynamically discovered at boot
7770 and installation time in the svn version of Debian Edu.</p>
7771
7772 <p>The IP and DNS setup is fetched during boot using DHCP as usual.
7773 When a DHCP update arrives, the proxy setup is updated by looking for
7774 http://wpat/wpad.dat and using the content of this WPAD file to
7775 configure the http and ftp proxy in /etc/environment and
7776 /etc/apt/apt.conf.  I decided to update the proxy setup using a DHCP
7777 hook to ensure that the client stops using the Debian Edu proxy when
7778 it is moved outside the Debian Edu network, and instead uses any local
7779 proxy present on the new network when it moves around.</p>
7780
7781 <p>The DNS names of the LDAP, Kerberos and syslog server and related
7782 configuration are generated using DNS information at boot.  First the
7783 installer looks for a host named ldap in the current DNS domain.  If
7784 not found, it looks for _ldap._tcp SRV records in DNS instead.  If an
7785 LDAP server is found, its root DSE entry is requested and the
7786 attributes namingContexts and defaultNamingContext are used to
7787 determine which LDAP base to use for NSS.  If there are several
7788 namingContexts attibutes and the defaultNamingContext is present, that
7789 LDAP subtree is used as the base.  If defaultNamingContext is missing,
7790 the subtrees listed as namingContexts are searched in sequence for any
7791 object with class posixAccount or posixGroup, and the first one with
7792 such an object is used as the LDAP base.  For Kerberos, a similar
7793 search is done by first looking for a host named kerberos, and then
7794 for the _kerberos._tcp SRV record.  I've been unable to find a way to
7795 look up the Kerberos realm, so for this the upper case string of the
7796 current DNS domain is used.</p>
7797
7798 <p>For the syslog server, the hosts syslog and loghost are searched
7799 for, and the _syslog._udp SRV record is consulted if no such host is
7800 found.  This algorithm works for both Debian Edu and the University of
7801 Oslo.  A similar strategy would work for locating the sitesummary
7802 server, but have not been implemented yet.  I decided to fetch and
7803 save these settings during installation, to make sure moving to a
7804 different network does not change the set of users being allowed to
7805 log in nor the passwords required to log in.  Usernames and passwords
7806 will be cached by sssd when the user logs in on the Debian Edu
7807 network, and will not change as the laptop move around.  For a
7808 non-roaming machine, there is no caching, but given that it is
7809 supposed to stay in place it should not matter much.  Perhaps we
7810 should switch those to use sssd too?</p>
7811
7812 <p>The user's SMB mount point for the network home directory is
7813 located when the user logs in for the first time.  The LDAP server is
7814 consulted to look for the user's LDAP object and the sambaHomePath
7815 attribute is used if found.  If it isn't found, the home directory
7816 path fetched from NSS is used instead.  Assuming the path is of the
7817 form /site/server/directory/username, the second part is looked up in
7818 DNS and used to generate a SMB URL of the form
7819 smb://server.domain/username.  This algorithm works for both Debian
7820 edu and the University of Oslo.  Perhaps there are better attributes
7821 to use or a better algorithm that works for more sites, but this will
7822 do for now. :)</p>
7823
7824 <p>This work should make it easier to integrate the Debian Edu clients
7825 into any LDAP/Kerberos infrastructure, and make the current setup even
7826 more flexible than before.  I suspect it will also work for thin
7827 client servers, allowing one to easily set up LTSP and hook it into a
7828 existing network infrastructure, but I have not had time to test this
7829 yet.</p>
7830
7831 <p>If you want to help out with implementing these things for Debian
7832 Edu, please contact us on debian-edu@lists.debian.org.</p>
7833
7834 <p>Update 2010-08-09: Simon Farnsworth gave me a heads-up on how to
7835 detect Kerberos realm from DNS, by looking for _kerberos TXT entries
7836 before falling back to the upper case DNS domain name.  Will have to
7837 implement it for Debian Edu. :)</p>
7838
7839       </div>
7840       <div class="tags">
7841
7842
7843         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">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>.
7844
7845
7846       </div>
7847     </div>
7848     <div class="padding"></div>
7849
7850     <div class="entry">
7851       <div class="title">
7852         <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>
7853       </div>
7854       <div class="date">
7855          8th August 2010
7856       </div>
7857       <div class="body">
7858         <p>A few years ago, I was involved in a project planning to use
7859 Windows file servers as home directory servers for Debian
7860 Edu/Skolelinux machines.  This was thought to be no problem, as the
7861 access would be through the SMB network file system protocol, and we
7862 knew other sites used SMB with unix and samba as the file server to
7863 mount home directories without any problems.  But, after months of
7864 struggling, we had to conclude that our goal was impossible.</p>
7865
7866 <p>The reason is simply that while SMB can be used for home
7867 directories when the file server is Samba running on Unix, this only
7868 work because of Samba have some extensions and the fact that the
7869 underlying file system is a unix file system.  When using a Windows
7870 file server, the underlying file system do not have POSIX semantics,
7871 and several programs will fail if the users home directory where they
7872 want to store their configuration lack POSIX semantics.</p>
7873
7874 <p>As part of this work, I wrote a small C program I want to share
7875 with you all, to replicate a few of the problematic applications (like
7876 OpenOffice.org and GCompris) and see if the file system was working as
7877 it should.  If you find yourself in spooky file system land, it might
7878 help you find your way out again.  This is the fs-test.c source:</p>
7879
7880 <pre>
7881 /*
7882  * Some tests to check the file system sematics.  Used to verify that
7883  * CIFS from a windows server do not work properly as a linux home
7884  * directory.
7885  * License: GPL v2 or later
7886  *
7887  * needs libsqlite3-dev and build-essential installed
7888  * compile with: gcc -Wall -lsqlite3 -DTEST_SQLITE fs-test.c -o fs-test
7889 */
7890
7891 #define _FILE_OFFSET_BITS 64
7892 #define _LARGEFILE_SOURCE 1
7893 #define _LARGEFILE64_SOURCE 1
7894
7895 #define _GNU_SOURCE /* for asprintf() */
7896
7897 #include &lt;errno.h>
7898 #include &lt;fcntl.h>
7899 #include &lt;stdio.h>
7900 #include &lt;string.h>
7901 #include &lt;stdlib.h>
7902 #include &lt;sys/file.h>
7903 #include &lt;sys/stat.h>
7904 #include &lt;sys/types.h>
7905 #include &lt;unistd.h>
7906
7907 #ifdef TEST_SQLITE
7908 /*
7909  * Test sqlite open, as done by gcompris require the libsqlite3-dev
7910  * package and linking with -lsqlite3.  A more low level test is
7911  * below.
7912  * See also &lt;URL: http://www.sqlite.org./faq.html#q5 >.
7913  */
7914 #include &lt;sqlite3.h>
7915 #define CREATE_TABLE_USERS                                              \
7916   "CREATE TABLE users (user_id INT UNIQUE, login TEXT, lastname TEXT, firstname TEXT, birthdate TEXT, class_id INT ); "
7917 int test_sqlite_open(void) {
7918   char *zErrMsg;
7919   char *name = "testsqlite.db";
7920   sqlite3 *db=NULL;
7921   unlink(name);
7922   int rc = sqlite3_open(name, &db);
7923   if( rc ){
7924     printf("error: sqlite open of %s failed: %s\n", name, sqlite3_errmsg(db));
7925     sqlite3_close(db);
7926     return -1;
7927   }
7928
7929   /* create tables */
7930   rc = sqlite3_exec(db,CREATE_TABLE_USERS, NULL,  0, &zErrMsg);
7931   if( rc != SQLITE_OK ){
7932     printf("error: sqlite table create failed: %s\n", zErrMsg);
7933     sqlite3_close(db);
7934     return -1;
7935   }
7936   printf("info: sqlite worked\n");
7937   sqlite3_close(db);
7938   return 0;
7939 }
7940 #endif /* TEST_SQLITE */
7941
7942 /*
7943  * Demonstrate locking issue found in gcompris using sqlite3.  This
7944  * work with ext3, but not with cifs server on Windows 2003.  This is
7945  * done in the sqlite3 library.
7946  * See also
7947  * &lt;URL:http://www.cygwin.com/ml/cygwin/2001-08/msg00854.html> and the
7948  * POSIX specification
7949  * &lt;URL:http://www.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/009695399/functions/fcntl.html>.
7950  */
7951 int test_gcompris_locking(void) {
7952   struct flock fl;
7953   char *name = "testsqlite.db";
7954   unlink(name);
7955   int fd = open(name, O_RDWR|O_CREAT|O_LARGEFILE, 0644);
7956   printf("info: testing fcntl locking\n");
7957
7958   fl.l_whence = SEEK_SET;
7959   fl.l_pid    = getpid();
7960   printf("  Read-locking 1 byte from 1073741824");
7961   fl.l_start  = 1073741824;
7962   fl.l_len    = 1;
7963   fl.l_type   = F_RDLCK;
7964   if (0 != fcntl(fd, F_SETLK, &fl) ) printf(" - error!\n"); else printf("\n");
7965
7966   printf("  Read-locking 510 byte from 1073741826");
7967   fl.l_start  = 1073741826;
7968   fl.l_len    = 510;
7969   fl.l_type   = F_RDLCK;
7970   if (0 != fcntl(fd, F_SETLK, &fl) ) printf(" - error!\n"); else printf("\n");
7971
7972   printf("  Unlocking 1 byte from 1073741824");
7973   fl.l_start  = 1073741824;
7974   fl.l_len    = 1;
7975   fl.l_type   = F_UNLCK;
7976   if (0 != fcntl(fd, F_SETLK, &fl) ) printf(" - error!\n"); else printf("\n");
7977
7978   printf("  Write-locking 1 byte from 1073741824");
7979   fl.l_start  = 1073741824;
7980   fl.l_len    = 1;
7981   fl.l_type   = F_WRLCK;
7982   if (0 != fcntl(fd, F_SETLK, &fl) ) printf(" - error!\n"); else printf("\n");
7983
7984   printf("  Write-locking 510 byte from 1073741826");
7985   fl.l_start  = 1073741826;
7986   fl.l_len    = 510;
7987   if (0 != fcntl(fd, F_SETLK, &fl) ) printf(" - error!\n"); else printf("\n");
7988
7989   printf("  Unlocking 2 byte from 1073741824");
7990   fl.l_start  = 1073741824;
7991   fl.l_len    = 2;
7992   fl.l_type   = F_UNLCK;
7993   if (0 != fcntl(fd, F_SETLK, &fl) ) printf(" - error!\n"); else printf("\n");
7994
7995   close(fd);
7996   return 0;
7997 }
7998
7999 /*
8000  * Test if permissions of freshly created directories allow entries
8001  * below them.  This was a problem with OpenOffice.org and gcompris.
8002  * Mounting with option 'sync' seem to solve this problem while
8003  * slowing down file operations.
8004  */
8005 int test_subdirectory_creation(void) {
8006 #define LEVELS 5
8007   char *path = strdup("test");
8008   char *dirs[LEVELS];
8009   int level;
8010   printf("info: testing subdirectory creation\n");
8011   for (level = 0; level &lt; LEVELS; level++) {
8012     char *newpath = NULL;
8013     if (-1 == mkdir(path, 0777)) {
8014       printf("  error: Unable to create directory '%s': %s\n",
8015              path, strerror(errno));
8016       break;
8017     }
8018     asprintf(&newpath, "%s/%s", path, "test");
8019     free(path);
8020     path = newpath;
8021   }
8022   return 0;
8023 }
8024
8025 /*
8026  * Test if symlinks can be created.  This was a problem detected with
8027  * KDE.
8028  */
8029 int test_symlinks(void) {
8030   printf("info: testing symlink creation\n");
8031   unlink("symlink");
8032   if (-1 == symlink("file", "symlink"))
8033     printf("  error: Unable to create symlink\n");
8034   return 0;
8035 }
8036
8037 int main(int argc, char **argv) {
8038   printf("Testing POSIX/Unix sematics on file system\n");
8039   test_symlinks();
8040   test_subdirectory_creation();
8041 #ifdef TEST_SQLITE
8042   test_sqlite_open();
8043 #endif /* TEST_SQLITE */
8044   test_gcompris_locking();
8045   return 0;
8046 }
8047 </pre>
8048
8049 <p>When everything is working, it should print something like
8050 this:</p>
8051
8052 <pre>
8053 Testing POSIX/Unix sematics on file system
8054 info: testing symlink creation
8055 info: testing subdirectory creation
8056 info: sqlite worked
8057 info: testing fcntl locking
8058   Read-locking 1 byte from 1073741824
8059   Read-locking 510 byte from 1073741826
8060   Unlocking 1 byte from 1073741824
8061   Write-locking 1 byte from 1073741824
8062   Write-locking 510 byte from 1073741826
8063   Unlocking 2 byte from 1073741824
8064 </pre>
8065
8066 <p>I do not remember the exact details of the problems we saw, but one
8067 of them was with locking, where if I remember correctly, POSIX allow a
8068 read-only lock to be upgraded to a read-write lock without unlocking
8069 the read-only lock (while Windows do not).  Another was a bug in the
8070 CIFS/SMB client implementation in the Linux kernel where directory
8071 meta information would be wrong for a fraction of a second, making
8072 OpenOffice.org fail to create its deep directory tree because it was
8073 not allowed to create files in its freshly created directory.</p>
8074
8075 <p>Anyway, here is a nice tool for your tool box, might you never need
8076 it. :)</p>
8077
8078 <p>Update 2010-08-27: Michael Gebetsroither report that he found the
8079 script so useful that he created a GIT repository and stored it in
8080 <a href="http://github.com/gebi/fs-test">http://github.com/gebi/fs-test</a>.</p>
8081
8082       </div>
8083       <div class="tags">
8084
8085
8086         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">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>.
8087
8088
8089       </div>
8090     </div>
8091     <div class="padding"></div>
8092
8093     <div class="entry">
8094       <div class="title">
8095         <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>
8096       </div>
8097       <div class="date">
8098          7th August 2010
8099       </div>
8100       <div class="body">
8101         <p>A few days ago, I
8102 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_roaming_workstation___at_the_university_of_Oslo.html">tried
8103 to install</a> a Roaming workation profile from Debian Edu/Squeeze
8104 while on the university network here at the University of Oslo, and
8105 noticed how much had to change to get it operational using the
8106 university infrastructure.  It was fairly easy, but it occured to me
8107 that Debian Edu would improve a lot if I could get the client to
8108 connect without any changes at all, and thus let the client configure
8109 itself during installation and first boot to use the infrastructure
8110 around it.  Now I am a huge step further along that road.</p>
8111
8112 <p>With our current squeeze-test packages, I can select the roaming
8113 workstation profile and get a working laptop connecting to the
8114 university LDAP server for user and group and our active directory
8115 servers for Kerberos authentication.  All this without any
8116 configuration at all during installation.  My users home directory got
8117 a bookmark in the KDE menu to mount it via SMB, with the correct URL.
8118 In short, openldap and sssd is correctly configured.  In addition to
8119 this, the client look for http://wpad/wpad.dat to configure a web
8120 proxy, and when it fail to find it no proxy settings are stored in
8121 /etc/environment and /etc/apt/apt.conf.  Iceweasel and KDE is
8122 configured to look for the same wpad configuration and also do not use
8123 a proxy when at the university network.  If the machine is moved to a
8124 network with such wpad setup, it would automatically use it when DHCP
8125 gave it a IP address.</p>
8126
8127 <p>The LDAP server is located using DNS, by first looking for the DNS
8128 entry ldap.$domain.  If this do not exist, it look for the
8129 _ldap._tcp.$domain SRV records and use the first one as the LDAP
8130 server.  Next, it connects to the LDAP server and search all
8131 namingContexts entries for posixAccount or posixGroup objects, and
8132 pick the first one as the LDAP base.  For Kerberos, a similar
8133 algorithm is used to locate the LDAP server, and the realm is the
8134 uppercase version of $domain.</p>
8135
8136 <p>So, what is not working, you might ask.  SMB mounting my home
8137 directory do not work.  No idea why, but suspected the incorrect
8138 Kerberos settings in /etc/krb5.conf and /etc/samba/smb.conf might be
8139 the cause.  These are not properly configured during installation, and
8140 had to be hand-edited to get the correct Kerberos realm and server,
8141 but SMB mounting still do not work. :(</p>
8142
8143 <p>With this automatic configuration in place, I expect a Debian Edu
8144 roaming profile installation would be able to automatically detect and
8145 connect to any site using LDAP and Kerberos for NSS directory and PAM
8146 authentication.  It should also work out of the box in a Active
8147 Directory environment providing posixAccount and posixGroup objects
8148 with UID and GID values.</p>
8149
8150 <p>If you want to help out with implementing these things for Debian
8151 Edu, please contact us on debian-edu@lists.debian.org.</p>
8152
8153       </div>
8154       <div class="tags">
8155
8156
8157         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">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>.
8158
8159
8160       </div>
8161     </div>
8162     <div class="padding"></div>
8163
8164     <div class="entry">
8165       <div class="title">
8166         <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>
8167       </div>
8168       <div class="date">
8169          3rd August 2010
8170       </div>
8171       <div class="body">
8172         <p>The new roaming workstation profile in Debian Edu/Squeeze is fairly
8173 similar to the laptop setup am I working on using Ubuntu for the
8174 University of Oslo, and just for the heck of it, I tested today how
8175 hard it would be to integrate that profile into the university
8176 infrastructure.  In this case, it is the university LDAP server,
8177 Active Directory Kerberos server and SMB mounting from the Netapp file
8178 servers.</p>
8179
8180 <p>I was pleasantly surprised that the only three files needed to be
8181 changed (/etc/sssd/sssd.conf, /etc/ldap.conf and
8182 /etc/mklocaluser.d/20-debian-edu-config) and one file had to be added
8183 (/usr/share/perl5/Debian/Edu_Local.pm), to get the client working.
8184 Most of the changes were to get the client to use the university LDAP
8185 for NSS and Kerberos server for PAM, but one was to change a hard
8186 coded DNS domain name in the mklocaluser hook from .intern to
8187 .uio.no.</p>
8188
8189 <p>This testing was so encouraging, that I went ahead and adjusted the
8190 Debian Edu scripts and setup in subversion to centralise the roaming
8191 workstation setup a bit more and avoid the hardcoded DNS domain name,
8192 so that when I test this tomorrow, I expect to get away with modifying
8193 only /etc/sssd/sssd.conf and /etc/ldap.conf to get it to use the
8194 university servers.</p>
8195
8196 <p>My goal is to get the clients to have no hardcoded settings and
8197 fetch all their initial setup during installation and first boot, to
8198 allow them to be inserted also into environments where the default
8199 setup in Debian Edu has been changed or as with the university, where
8200 the environment is different but provides the protocols Debian Edu
8201 uses.</p>
8202
8203       </div>
8204       <div class="tags">
8205
8206
8207         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">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>.
8208
8209
8210       </div>
8211     </div>
8212     <div class="padding"></div>
8213
8214     <div class="entry">
8215       <div class="title">
8216         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Circular_package_dependencies_harms_apt_recovery.html">Circular package dependencies harms apt recovery</a>
8217       </div>
8218       <div class="date">
8219         27th July 2010
8220       </div>
8221       <div class="body">
8222         <p>I discovered this while doing
8223 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Automatic_upgrade_testing_from_Lenny_to_Squeeze.html">automated
8224 testing of upgrades from Debian Lenny to Squeeze</a>.  A few packages
8225 in Debian still got circular dependencies, and it is often claimed
8226 that apt and aptitude should be able to handle this just fine, but
8227 some times these dependency loops causes apt to fail.</p>
8228
8229 <p>An example is from todays
8230 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/~pere/debian-upgrade-testing//test-20100727-lenny-squeeze-kde-aptitude.txt">upgrade
8231 of KDE using aptitude</a>.  In it, a bug in kdebase-workspace-data
8232 causes perl-modules to fail to upgrade.  The cause is simple.  If a
8233 package fail to unpack, then only part of packages with the circular
8234 dependency might end up being unpacked when unpacking aborts, and the
8235 ones already unpacked will fail to configure in the recovery phase
8236 because its dependencies are unavailable.</p>
8237
8238 <p>In this log, the problem manifest itself with this error:</p>
8239
8240 <blockquote><pre>
8241 dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of perl-modules:
8242  perl-modules depends on perl (>= 5.10.1-1); however:
8243   Version of perl on system is 5.10.0-19lenny2.
8244 dpkg: error processing perl-modules (--configure):
8245  dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
8246 </pre></blockquote>
8247
8248 <p>The perl/perl-modules circular dependency is already
8249 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/527917">reported as a bug</a>, and will
8250 hopefully be solved as soon as possible, but it is not the only one,
8251 and each one of these loops in the dependency tree can cause similar
8252 failures.  Of course, they only occur when there are bugs in other
8253 packages causing the unpacking to fail, but it is rather nasty when
8254 the failure of one package causes the problem to become worse because
8255 of dependency loops.</p>
8256
8257 <p>Thanks to
8258 <a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2010/06/msg00116.html">the
8259 tireless effort by Bill Allombert</a>, the number of circular
8260 dependencies
8261 <a href="http://debian.semistable.com/debgraph.out.html">left in Debian
8262 is dropping</a>, and perhaps it will reach zero one day. :)</p>
8263
8264 <p>Todays testing also exposed a bug in
8265 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/590605">update-notifier</a> and
8266 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/590604">different behaviour</a> between
8267 apt-get and aptitude, the latter possibly caused by some circular
8268 dependency.  Reported both to BTS to try to get someone to look at
8269 it.</p>
8270
8271       </div>
8272       <div class="tags">
8273
8274
8275         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>.
8276
8277
8278       </div>
8279     </div>
8280     <div class="padding"></div>
8281
8282     <div class="entry">
8283       <div class="title">
8284         <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>
8285       </div>
8286       <div class="date">
8287         27th July 2010
8288       </div>
8289       <div class="body">
8290         <p>I just posted this announcement culminating several months of work
8291 with the next Debian Edu release.  Not nearly done, but one major step
8292 completed.</p>
8293
8294 <blockquote>
8295 <p>This is the first test release based on Squeeze. The focus of this
8296 release is to test the user application selection. To have a look,
8297 install the standalone profile and let the developers know if the set
8298 of installed packages i.e. applications should be modified. If some
8299 user application is missing, or if there are some applications that no
8300 longer make sense to be included in Debian Edu, please let us know.
8301 Also, if a useful application is missing the translation for your
8302 language of choice, please let us know too.</p>
8303
8304 <p>In addition, feedback and help to polish the desktop (menus,
8305 artwork, starters, etc.) is appreciated. We would like to ship a nice
8306 and handy KDE4 desktop targeted for schools out of the box.</p>
8307
8308 <p>The other profiles should be installable, but there is a lot more
8309 work left to be done before they are ready, so do not expect to
8310 much.</p>
8311
8312 <p>Changes compared to the lenny based version</p>
8313
8314 <ul>
8315 <li>Everything from Debian Squeeze
8316 <ul>
8317   <li>Desktop environment KDE 4.4 => the new KDE desktop in
8318          combination with some new artwork
8319   <li>Web browser Iceweasel 3.5
8320   <li>OpenOffice.org 3.2
8321   <li>Educational toolbox GCompris 9.3
8322   <li>Music creator Rosegarden 10.04.2
8323   <li>Image editor Gimp 2.6.10
8324   <li>Virtual universe Celestia 1.6.0
8325   <li>Virtual stargazer Stellarium 0.10.4
8326   <li>3D modeler Blender 2.49.2 (new application)
8327   <li>Video editor Kdenlive 0.7.7 (new application)
8328 </ul></li>
8329 <li>Now using Kerberos for password checking (migration not finished).
8330     Enabled for:
8331 <ul>
8332   <li>PAM
8333   <li>LDAP
8334   <li>IMAP
8335   <li>SMTP (sender verification)
8336 </ul>
8337 </li>
8338 <li>New experimental roaming workstation profile for laptops.</li>
8339 <li>Show welcome page to users when they first log in. The URL is
8340     fetched from LDAP.</li>
8341 <li>New LXDE desktop option, in addition to KDE (default) and Gnome.</li>
8342 <li>General cleanup (not finished)</li>
8343 </ul>
8344 <p>The following features are not working as they should</p>
8345
8346 <ul>
8347 <li>No web based administration tool for creating users and groups. The
8348     scripts ldap-createuser-krb and ldap-add-user-to-group can be used
8349     for testing.</li>
8350 <li>DVD installs are missing debian-installer images for the PXE boot,
8351     and do not set up the PXE menu on eth0 because of this. LTSP
8352     clients should still boot from eth1 on thin client servers.</li>
8353 <li>The restructured KDE menu is not implemented.</li>
8354 <li>The LDAP server setup need to be reviewed for security.</li>
8355 <li>The LDAP directory structure need to be reworked.</li>
8356 <li>Different sets of packages are installed when using the DVD and the
8357     netinst CD. More packages are installed using the netinst CD.</li>
8358 <li>The jackd package fail to install. This is believed to be caused by
8359     some ongoing transition, and hopefully should be solved soon. The
8360     jackd1 package can be installed manually for those that need it.</li>
8361 <li>Some packages lack translations. See
8362     http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/Status/Squeeze for updated status,
8363     and help out with translations.</li>
8364 </ul>
8365
8366 <p>To download this multiarch netinstall release you can use</p>
8367
8368 <ul>
8369 <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>
8370 <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>
8371 <li>rsync -avzP ftp.skolelinux.org::skolelinux-cd/squeeze-alpha/debian-edu-6.0.0+edua0-CD.iso</li>
8372 </ul>
8373 <p>To download this multiarch dvd release you can use</p>
8374
8375 <ul>
8376 <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>
8377 <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>
8378 <li>rsync -avzP ftp.skolelinux.org::skolelinux-cd/squeeze-alpha/debian-edu-6.0.0+edua0-DVD.iso</li>
8379 </ul>
8380
8381 <p>There is no source DVD available yet. It will be prepared when we
8382 get closer to the final release.</p>
8383
8384 <p>The MD5SUM of these images are</p>
8385
8386 <ul>
8387 <li>3dbf45d59f42a53518b6e3c9ec3b5eb6 debian-edu-6.0.0+edua0-CD.iso</li>
8388 <li>22f2cbfce281d1c6e478be452638675d debian-edu-6.0.0+edua0-DVD.iso</li>
8389 </ul>
8390
8391 <p>The SHA1SUM of these images are</p>
8392 <ul>
8393 <li>c53d1b69b40cf37cd27aefaf33f6f6a3821bedf0 debian-edu-6.0.0+edua0-CD.iso</li>
8394 <li>2ec29d7db676d59d32197b05c277ffe16348376c debian-edu-6.0.0+edua0-DVD.iso</li>
8395 </ul>
8396 <p>How to report bugs:
8397 http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/HowTo/ReportBugsInBugzilla</p>
8398
8399 <p>Please direct replies to debian-edu@lists.debian.org</p>
8400 </blockquote>
8401
8402       </div>
8403       <div class="tags">
8404
8405
8406         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">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>.
8407
8408
8409       </div>
8410     </div>
8411     <div class="padding"></div>
8412
8413     <div class="entry">
8414       <div class="title">
8415         <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>
8416       </div>
8417       <div class="date">
8418         25th July 2010
8419       </div>
8420       <div class="body">
8421         <p>The last few months me and the other Debian Edu developers have
8422 been working hard to get the Debian/Squeeze based version of Debian
8423 Edu/Skolelinux into shape.  This future version will use Kerberos for
8424 authentication, and services are slowly migrated to single signon,
8425 getting rid of password questions one at the time.</p>
8426
8427 <p>It will also feature a roaming workstation profile with local home
8428 directory, for laptops that are only some times on the Skolelinux
8429 network, and for this profile a shortcut is created in Gnome and KDE
8430 to gain access to the users home directory on the file server.  This
8431 shortcut uses SMB at the moment, and yesterday I had time to test if
8432 SMB mounting had started working in KDE after we added the cifs-utils
8433 package.  I was pleasantly surprised how well it worked.</p>
8434
8435 <p>Thanks to the recent changes to our samba configuration to get it
8436 to use Kerberos for authentication, there were no question about user
8437 password when mounting the SMB volume.  A simple click on the shortcut
8438 in the KDE menu, and a window with the home directory popped
8439 up. :)</p>
8440
8441 <p>One step closer to a single signon solution out of the box in
8442 Debian Edu.  We already had PAM, LDAP, IMAP and SMTP in place, and now
8443 also Samba.  Next step is Cups and hopefully also NFS.</p>
8444
8445 <p>We had planned a alpha0 release of Debian Edu for today, but thanks
8446 to the autobuilder administrators for some architectures being slow to
8447 sign packages, we are still missing the fixed LTSP package we need for
8448 the release.  It was uploaded three days ago with urgency=high, and if
8449 it had entered testing yesterday we would have been able to test it in
8450 time for a alpha0 release today.  As the binaries for ia64 and powerpc
8451 still not uploaded to the Debian archive, we need to delay the alpha
8452 release another day.</p>
8453
8454 <p>If you want to help out with implementing Kerberos for Debian Edu,
8455 please contact us on debian-edu@lists.debian.org.</p>
8456
8457       </div>
8458       <div class="tags">
8459
8460
8461         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">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>.
8462
8463
8464       </div>
8465     </div>
8466     <div class="padding"></div>
8467
8468     <div class="entry">
8469       <div class="title">
8470         <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>
8471       </div>
8472       <div class="date">
8473         18th July 2010
8474       </div>
8475       <div class="body">
8476         <p>Thanks to
8477 <a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Opengeodata/~3/wUTCzDZk3lc/project-of-the-week-which-way-home">todays
8478 opengeodata blog entry</a>, I just discovered that the
8479 OpenStreetmap.org site have gotten
8480 <a href="http://nroets.dev.openstreetmap.org/demo/index.html?layers=B000FTFTT">support
8481 for calculating routes</a>.  The support is still experimental and
8482 only available from the development server, until more experience is
8483 gathered on the user interface and any scalability issues.</p>
8484
8485 <p>Earlier, the routing I knew about using the OpenStreetmap.org data
8486 was provided by <a href="http://maps.cloudmade.com/">Cloudmade</a>,
8487 but having it on the main page is required to make everyone aware of
8488 the issue.  I've had people reject Openstreetmap.org as a viable
8489 alternative for them because the front page lacked routing support,
8490 and I hope their needs will be catered for when routing show up on the
8491 www.openstreetmap.org front page.</p>
8492
8493       </div>
8494       <div class="tags">
8495
8496
8497         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>.
8498
8499
8500       </div>
8501     </div>
8502     <div class="padding"></div>
8503
8504     <div class="entry">
8505       <div class="title">
8506         <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>
8507       </div>
8508       <div class="date">
8509         17th July 2010
8510       </div>
8511       <div class="body">
8512         <p>This is a
8513 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Time_for_new__LDAP_schemas_replacing_RFC_2307_.html">followup</a>
8514 on my
8515 <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
8516 work</a> on
8517 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Combining_PowerDNS_and_ISC_DHCP_LDAP_objects.html">merging
8518 all</a> the computer related LDAP objects in Debian Edu.</p>
8519
8520 <p>As a step to try to see if it possible to merge the DNS and DHCP
8521 LDAP objects, I have had a look at how the packages pdns-backend-ldap
8522 and dhcp3-server-ldap in Debian use the LDAP server.  The two
8523 implementations are quite different in how they use LDAP.</p>
8524
8525 To get this information, I started slapd with debugging enabled and
8526 dumped the debug output to a file to get the LDAP searches performed
8527 on a Debian Edu main-server.  Here is a summary.
8528
8529 <p><strong>powerdns</strong></p>
8530
8531 <a href="http://www.linuxnetworks.de/doc/index.php/PowerDNS_LDAP_Backend">Clues
8532 on how to</a> set up PowerDNS to use a LDAP backend is available on
8533 the web.
8534
8535 <p>PowerDNS have two modes of operation using LDAP as its backend.
8536 One "strict" mode where the forward and reverse DNS lookups are done
8537 using the same LDAP objects, and a "tree" mode where the forward and
8538 reverse entries are in two different subtrees in LDAP with a structure
8539 based on the DNS names, as in tjener.intern and
8540 2.2.0.10.in-addr.arpa.</p>
8541
8542 <p>In tree mode, the server is set up to use a LDAP subtree as its
8543 base, and uses a "base" scoped search for the DNS name by adding
8544 "dc=tjener,dc=intern," to the base with a filter for
8545 "(associateddomain=tjener.intern)" for the forward entry and
8546 "dc=2,dc=2,dc=0,dc=10,dc=in-addr,dc=arpa," with a filter for
8547 "(associateddomain=2.2.0.10.in-addr.arpa)" for the reverse entry.  For
8548 forward entries, it is looking for attributes named dnsttl, arecord,
8549 nsrecord, cnamerecord, soarecord, ptrrecord, hinforecord, mxrecord,
8550 txtrecord, rprecord, afsdbrecord, keyrecord, aaaarecord, locrecord,
8551 srvrecord, naptrrecord, kxrecord, certrecord, dsrecord, sshfprecord,
8552 ipseckeyrecord, rrsigrecord, nsecrecord, dnskeyrecord, dhcidrecord,
8553 spfrecord and modifytimestamp.  For reverse entries it is looking for
8554 the attributes dnsttl, arecord, nsrecord, cnamerecord, soarecord,
8555 ptrrecord, hinforecord, mxrecord, txtrecord, rprecord, aaaarecord,
8556 locrecord, srvrecord, naptrrecord and modifytimestamp.  The equivalent
8557 ldapsearch commands could look like this:</p>
8558
8559 <blockquote><pre>
8560 ldapsearch -h ldap \
8561   -b dc=tjener,dc=intern,ou=hosts,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no \
8562   -s base -x '(associateddomain=tjener.intern)' dNSTTL aRecord nSRecord \
8563   cNAMERecord sOARecord pTRRecord hInfoRecord mXRecord tXTRecord \
8564   rPRecord aFSDBRecord KeyRecord aAAARecord lOCRecord sRVRecord \
8565   nAPTRRecord kXRecord certRecord dSRecord sSHFPRecord iPSecKeyRecord \
8566   rRSIGRecord nSECRecord dNSKeyRecord dHCIDRecord sPFRecord modifyTimestamp
8567
8568 ldapsearch -h ldap \
8569   -b dc=2,dc=2,dc=0,dc=10,dc=in-addr,dc=arpa,ou=hosts,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no \
8570   -s base -x '(associateddomain=2.2.0.10.in-addr.arpa)'
8571   dnsttl, arecord, nsrecord, cnamerecord soarecord ptrrecord \
8572   hinforecord mxrecord txtrecord rprecord aaaarecord locrecord \
8573   srvrecord naptrrecord modifytimestamp
8574 </pre></blockquote>
8575
8576 <p>In Debian Edu/Lenny, the PowerDNS tree mode is used with
8577 ou=hosts,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no as the base, and these are two
8578 example LDAP objects used there.  In addition to these objects, the
8579 parent objects all th way up to ou=hosts,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
8580 also exist.</p>
8581
8582 <blockquote><pre>
8583 dn: dc=tjener,dc=intern,ou=hosts,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
8584 objectclass: top
8585 objectclass: dnsdomain
8586 objectclass: domainrelatedobject
8587 dc: tjener
8588 arecord: 10.0.2.2
8589 associateddomain: tjener.intern
8590
8591 dn: dc=2,dc=2,dc=0,dc=10,dc=in-addr,dc=arpa,ou=hosts,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
8592 objectclass: top
8593 objectclass: dnsdomain2
8594 objectclass: domainrelatedobject
8595 dc: 2
8596 ptrrecord: tjener.intern
8597 associateddomain: 2.2.0.10.in-addr.arpa
8598 </pre></blockquote>
8599
8600 <p>In strict mode, the server behaves differently.  When looking for
8601 forward DNS entries, it is doing a "subtree" scoped search with the
8602 same base as in the tree mode for a object with filter
8603 "(associateddomain=tjener.intern)" and requests the attributes dnsttl,
8604 arecord, nsrecord, cnamerecord, soarecord, ptrrecord, hinforecord,
8605 mxrecord, txtrecord, rprecord, aaaarecord, locrecord, srvrecord,
8606 naptrrecord and modifytimestamp.  For reverse entires it also do a
8607 subtree scoped search but this time the filter is "(arecord=10.0.2.2)"
8608 and the requested attributes are associateddomain, dnsttl and
8609 modifytimestamp.  In short, in strict mode the objects with ptrrecord
8610 go away, and the arecord attribute in the forward object is used
8611 instead.</p>
8612
8613 <p>The forward and reverse searches can be simulated using ldapsearch
8614 like this:</p>
8615
8616 <blockquote><pre>
8617 ldapsearch -h ldap -b ou=hosts,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no -s sub -x \
8618   '(associateddomain=tjener.intern)' dNSTTL aRecord nSRecord \
8619   cNAMERecord sOARecord pTRRecord hInfoRecord mXRecord tXTRecord \
8620   rPRecord aFSDBRecord KeyRecord aAAARecord lOCRecord sRVRecord \
8621   nAPTRRecord kXRecord certRecord dSRecord sSHFPRecord iPSecKeyRecord \
8622   rRSIGRecord nSECRecord dNSKeyRecord dHCIDRecord sPFRecord modifyTimestamp
8623
8624 ldapsearch -h ldap -b ou=hosts,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no -s sub -x \
8625   '(arecord=10.0.2.2)' associateddomain dnsttl modifytimestamp
8626 </pre></blockquote>
8627
8628 <p>In addition to the forward and reverse searches , there is also a
8629 search for SOA records, which behave similar to the forward and
8630 reverse lookups.</p>
8631
8632 <p>A thing to note with the PowerDNS behaviour is that it do not
8633 specify any objectclass names, and instead look for the attributes it
8634 need to generate a DNS reply.  This make it able to work with any
8635 objectclass that provide the needed attributes.</p>
8636
8637 <p>The attributes are normally provided in the cosine (RFC 1274) and
8638 dnsdomain2 schemas.  The latter is used for reverse entries like
8639 ptrrecord and recent DNS additions like aaaarecord and srvrecord.</p>
8640
8641 <p>In Debian Edu, we have created DNS objects using the object classes
8642 dcobject (for dc), dnsdomain or dnsdomain2 (structural, for the DNS
8643 attributes) and domainrelatedobject (for associatedDomain).  The use
8644 of structural object classes make it impossible to combine these
8645 classes with the object classes used by DHCP.</p>
8646
8647 <p>There are other schemas that could be used too, for example the
8648 dnszone structural object class used by Gosa and bind-sdb for the DNS
8649 attributes combined with the domainrelatedobject object class, but in
8650 this case some unused attributes would have to be included as well
8651 (zonename and relativedomainname).</p>
8652
8653 <p>My proposal for Debian Edu would be to switch PowerDNS to strict
8654 mode and not use any of the existing objectclasses (dnsdomain,
8655 dnsdomain2 and dnszone) when one want to combine the DNS information
8656 with DHCP information, and instead create a auxiliary object class
8657 defined something like this (using the attributes defined for
8658 dnsdomain and dnsdomain2 or dnszone):</p>
8659
8660 <blockquote><pre>
8661 objectclass ( some-oid NAME 'dnsDomainAux'
8662     SUP top
8663     AUXILIARY
8664     MAY ( ARecord $ MDRecord $ MXRecord $ NSRecord $ SOARecord $ CNAMERecord $
8665           DNSTTL $ DNSClass $ PTRRecord $ HINFORecord $ MINFORecord $
8666           TXTRecord $ SIGRecord $ KEYRecord $ AAAARecord $ LOCRecord $
8667           NXTRecord $ SRVRecord $ NAPTRRecord $ KXRecord $ CERTRecord $
8668           A6Record $ DNAMERecord
8669     ))
8670 </pre></blockquote>
8671
8672 <p>This will allow any object to become a DNS entry when combined with
8673 the domainrelatedobject object class, and allow any entity to include
8674 all the attributes PowerDNS wants.  I've sent an email to the PowerDNS
8675 developers asking for their view on this schema and if they are
8676 interested in providing such schema with PowerDNS, and I hope my
8677 message will be accepted into their mailing list soon.</p>
8678
8679 <p><strong>ISC dhcp</strong></p>
8680
8681 <p>The DHCP server searches for specific objectclass and requests all
8682 the object attributes, and then uses the attributes it want.  This
8683 make it harder to figure out exactly what attributes are used, but
8684 thanks to the working example in Debian Edu I can at least get an idea
8685 what is needed without having to read the source code.</p>
8686
8687 <p>In the DHCP server configuration, the LDAP base to use and the
8688 search filter to use to locate the correct dhcpServer entity is
8689 stored.  These are the relevant entries from
8690 /etc/dhcp3/dhcpd.conf:</p>
8691
8692 <blockquote><pre>
8693 ldap-base-dn "dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no";
8694 ldap-dhcp-server-cn "dhcp";
8695 </pre></blockquote>
8696
8697 <p>The DHCP server uses this information to nest all the DHCP
8698 configuration it need.  The cn "dhcp" is located using the given LDAP
8699 base and the filter "(&(objectClass=dhcpServer)(cn=dhcp))".  The
8700 search result is this entry:</p>
8701
8702 <blockquote><pre>
8703 dn: cn=dhcp,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
8704 cn: dhcp
8705 objectClass: top
8706 objectClass: dhcpServer
8707 dhcpServiceDN: cn=DHCP Config,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
8708 </pre></blockquote>
8709
8710 <p>The content of the dhcpServiceDN attribute is next used to locate the
8711 subtree with DHCP configuration.  The DHCP configuration subtree base
8712 is located using a base scope search with base "cn=DHCP
8713 Config,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no" and filter
8714 "(&(objectClass=dhcpService)(|(dhcpPrimaryDN=cn=dhcp,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no)(dhcpSecondaryDN=cn=dhcp,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no)))".
8715 The search result is this entry:</p>
8716
8717 <blockquote><pre>
8718 dn: cn=DHCP Config,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
8719 cn: DHCP Config
8720 objectClass: top
8721 objectClass: dhcpService
8722 objectClass: dhcpOptions
8723 dhcpPrimaryDN: cn=dhcp, dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
8724 dhcpStatements: ddns-update-style none
8725 dhcpStatements: authoritative
8726 dhcpOption: smtp-server code 69 = array of ip-address
8727 dhcpOption: www-server code 72 = array of ip-address
8728 dhcpOption: wpad-url code 252 = text
8729 </pre></blockquote>
8730
8731 <p>Next, the entire subtree is processed, one level at the time.  When
8732 all the DHCP configuration is loaded, it is ready to receive requests.
8733 The subtree in Debian Edu contain objects with object classes
8734 top/dhcpService/dhcpOptions, top/dhcpSharedNetwork/dhcpOptions,
8735 top/dhcpSubnet, top/dhcpGroup and top/dhcpHost.  These provide options
8736 and information about netmasks, dynamic range etc.  Leaving out the
8737 details here because it is not relevant for the focus of my
8738 investigation, which is to see if it is possible to merge dns and dhcp
8739 related computer objects.</p>
8740
8741 <p>When a DHCP request come in, LDAP is searched for the MAC address
8742 of the client (00:00:00:00:00:00 in this example), using a subtree
8743 scoped search with "cn=DHCP Config,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no" as
8744 the base and "(&(objectClass=dhcpHost)(dhcpHWAddress=ethernet
8745 00:00:00:00:00:00))" as the filter.  This is what a host object look
8746 like:</p>
8747
8748 <blockquote><pre>
8749 dn: cn=hostname,cn=group1,cn=THINCLIENTS,cn=DHCP Config,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
8750 cn: hostname
8751 objectClass: top
8752 objectClass: dhcpHost
8753 dhcpHWAddress: ethernet 00:00:00:00:00:00
8754 dhcpStatements: fixed-address hostname
8755 </pre></blockquote>
8756
8757 <p>There is less flexiblity in the way LDAP searches are done here.
8758 The object classes need to have fixed names, and the configuration
8759 need to be stored in a fairly specific LDAP structure.  On the
8760 positive side, the invidiual dhcpHost entires can be anywhere without
8761 the DN pointed to by the dhcpServer entries.  The latter should make
8762 it possible to group all host entries in a subtree next to the
8763 configuration entries, and this subtree can also be shared with the
8764 DNS server if the schema proposed above is combined with the dhcpHost
8765 structural object class.
8766
8767 <p><strong>Conclusion</strong></p>
8768
8769 <p>The PowerDNS implementation seem to be very flexible when it come
8770 to which LDAP schemas to use.  While its "tree" mode is rigid when it
8771 come to the the LDAP structure, the "strict" mode is very flexible,
8772 allowing DNS objects to be stored anywhere under the base cn specified
8773 in the configuration.</p>
8774
8775 <p>The DHCP implementation on the other hand is very inflexible, both
8776 regarding which LDAP schemas to use and which LDAP structure to use.
8777 I guess one could implement ones own schema, as long as the
8778 objectclasses and attributes have the names used, but this do not
8779 really help when the DHCP subtree need to have a fairly fixed
8780 structure.</p>
8781
8782 <p>Based on the observed behaviour, I suspect a LDAP structure like
8783 this might work for Debian Edu:</p>
8784
8785 <blockquote><pre>
8786 ou=services
8787   cn=machine-info (dhcpService) - dhcpServiceDN points here
8788     cn=dhcp (dhcpServer)
8789     cn=dhcp-internal (dhcpSharedNetwork/dhcpOptions)
8790       cn=10.0.2.0 (dhcpSubnet)
8791         cn=group1 (dhcpGroup/dhcpOptions)
8792     cn=dhcp-thinclients (dhcpSharedNetwork/dhcpOptions)
8793       cn=192.168.0.0 (dhcpSubnet)
8794         cn=group1 (dhcpGroup/dhcpOptions)
8795     ou=machines - PowerDNS base points here
8796       cn=hostname (dhcpHost/domainrelatedobject/dnsDomainAux)
8797 </pre></blockquote>
8798
8799 <P>This is not tested yet.  If the DHCP server require the dhcpHost
8800 entries to be in the dhcpGroup subtrees, the entries can be stored
8801 there instead of a common machines subtree, and the PowerDNS base
8802 would have to be moved one level up to the machine-info subtree.</p>
8803
8804 <p>The combined object under the machines subtree would look something
8805 like this:</p>
8806
8807 <blockquote><pre>
8808 dn: dc=hostname,ou=machines,cn=machine-info,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
8809 dc: hostname
8810 objectClass: top
8811 objectClass: dhcpHost
8812 objectclass: domainrelatedobject
8813 objectclass: dnsDomainAux
8814 associateddomain: hostname.intern
8815 arecord: 10.11.12.13
8816 dhcpHWAddress: ethernet 00:00:00:00:00:00
8817 dhcpStatements: fixed-address hostname.intern
8818 </pre></blockquote>
8819
8820 </p>One could even add the LTSP configuration associated with a given
8821 machine, as long as the required attributes are available in a
8822 auxiliary object class.</p>
8823
8824       </div>
8825       <div class="tags">
8826
8827
8828         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>.
8829
8830
8831       </div>
8832     </div>
8833     <div class="padding"></div>
8834
8835     <div class="entry">
8836       <div class="title">
8837         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Combining_PowerDNS_and_ISC_DHCP_LDAP_objects.html">Combining PowerDNS and ISC DHCP LDAP objects</a>
8838       </div>
8839       <div class="date">
8840         14th July 2010
8841       </div>
8842       <div class="body">
8843         <p>For a while now, I have wanted to find a way to change the DNS and
8844 DHCP services in Debian Edu to use the same LDAP objects for a given
8845 computer, to avoid the possibility of having a inconsistent state for
8846 a computer in LDAP (as in DHCP but no DNS entry or the other way
8847 around) and make it easier to add computers to LDAP.</p>
8848
8849 <p>I've looked at how powerdns and dhcpd is using LDAP, and using this
8850 information finally found a solution that seem to work.</p>
8851
8852 <p>The old setup required three LDAP objects for a given computer.
8853 One forward DNS entry, one reverse DNS entry and one DHCP entry.  If
8854 we switch powerdns to use its strict LDAP method (ldap-method=strict
8855 in pdns-debian-edu.conf), the forward and reverse DNS entries are
8856 merged into one while making it impossible to transfer the reverse map
8857 to a slave DNS server.</p>
8858
8859 <p>If we also replace the object class used to get the DNS related
8860 attributes to one allowing these attributes to be combined with the
8861 dhcphost object class, we can merge the DNS and DHCP entries into one.
8862 I've written such object class in the dnsdomainaux.schema file (need
8863 proper OIDs, but that is a minor issue), and tested the setup.  It
8864 seem to work.</p>
8865
8866 <p>With this test setup in place, we can get away with one LDAP object
8867 for both DNS and DHCP, and even the LTSP configuration I suggested in
8868 an earlier email.  The combined LDAP object will look something like
8869 this:</p>
8870
8871 <blockquote><pre>
8872   dn: cn=hostname,cn=group1,cn=THINCLIENTS,cn=DHCP Config,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
8873   cn: hostname
8874   objectClass: dhcphost
8875   objectclass: domainrelatedobject
8876   objectclass: dnsdomainaux
8877   associateddomain: hostname.intern
8878   arecord: 10.11.12.13
8879   dhcphwaddress: ethernet 00:00:00:00:00:00
8880   dhcpstatements: fixed-address hostname
8881   ldapconfigsound: Y
8882 </pre></blockquote>
8883
8884 <p>The DNS server uses the associateddomain and arecord entries, while
8885 the DHCP server uses the dhcphwaddress and dhcpstatements entries
8886 before asking DNS to resolve the fixed-adddress.  LTSP will use
8887 dhcphwaddress or associateddomain and the ldapconfig* attributes.</p>
8888
8889 <p>I am not yet sure if I can get the DHCP server to look for its
8890 dhcphost in a different location, to allow us to put the objects
8891 outside the "DHCP Config" subtree, but hope to figure out a way to do
8892 that.  If I can't figure out a way to do that, we can still get rid of
8893 the hosts subtree and move all its content into the DHCP Config tree
8894 (which probably should be renamed to be more related to the new
8895 content.  I suspect cn=dnsdhcp,ou=services or something like that
8896 might be a good place to put it.</p>
8897
8898 <p>If you want to help out with implementing this for Debian Edu,
8899 please contact us on debian-edu@lists.debian.org.</p>
8900
8901       </div>
8902       <div class="tags">
8903
8904
8905         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>.
8906
8907
8908       </div>
8909     </div>
8910     <div class="padding"></div>
8911
8912     <div class="entry">
8913       <div class="title">
8914         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Idea_for_storing_LTSP_configuration_in_LDAP.html">Idea for storing LTSP configuration in LDAP</a>
8915       </div>
8916       <div class="date">
8917         11th July 2010
8918       </div>
8919       <div class="body">
8920         <p>Vagrant mentioned on IRC today that ltsp_config now support
8921 sourcing files from /usr/share/ltsp/ltsp_config.d/ on the thin
8922 clients, and that this can be used to fetch configuration from LDAP if
8923 Debian Edu choose to store configuration there.</p>
8924
8925 <p>Armed with this information, I got inspired and wrote a test module
8926 to get configuration from LDAP.  The idea is to look up the MAC
8927 address of the client in LDAP, and look for attributes on the form
8928 ltspconfigsetting=value, and use this to export SETTING=value to the
8929 LTSP clients.</p>
8930
8931 <p>The goal is to be able to store the LTSP configuration attributes
8932 in a "computer" LDAP object used by both DNS and DHCP, and thus
8933 allowing us to store all information about a computer in one place.</p>
8934
8935 <p>This is a untested draft implementation, and I welcome feedback on
8936 this approach.  A real LDAP schema for the ltspClientAux objectclass
8937 need to be written.  Comments, suggestions, etc?</p>
8938
8939 <blockquote><pre>
8940 # Store in /opt/ltsp/$arch/usr/share/ltsp/ltsp_config.d/ldap-config
8941 #
8942 # Fetch LTSP client settings from LDAP based on MAC address
8943 #
8944 # Uses ethernet address as stored in the dhcpHost objectclass using
8945 # the dhcpHWAddress attribute or ethernet address stored in the
8946 # ieee802Device objectclass with the macAddress attribute.
8947 #
8948 # This module is written to be schema agnostic, and only depend on the
8949 # existence of attribute names.
8950 #
8951 # The LTSP configuration variables are saved directly using a
8952 # ltspConfig prefix and uppercasing the rest of the attribute name.
8953 # To set the SERVER variable, set the ltspConfigServer attribute.
8954 #
8955 # Some LDAP schema should be created with all the relevant
8956 # configuration settings.  Something like this should work:
8957 #
8958 # objectclass ( 1.1.2.2 NAME 'ltspClientAux'
8959 #     SUP top
8960 #     AUXILIARY
8961 #     MAY ( ltspConfigServer $ ltsConfigSound $ ... )
8962
8963 LDAPSERVER=$(debian-edu-ldapserver)
8964 if [ "$LDAPSERVER" ] ; then
8965     LDAPBASE=$(debian-edu-ldapserver -b)
8966     for MAC in $(LANG=C ifconfig |grep -i hwaddr| awk '{print $5}'|sort -u) ; do
8967         filter="(|(dhcpHWAddress=ethernet $MAC)(macAddress=$MAC))"
8968         ldapsearch -h "$LDAPSERVER" -b "$LDAPBASE" -v -x "$filter" | \
8969             grep '^ltspConfig' | while read attr value ; do
8970             # Remove prefix and convert to upper case
8971             attr=$(echo $attr | sed 's/^ltspConfig//i' | tr a-z A-Z)
8972             # bass value on to clients
8973             eval "$attr=$value; export $attr"
8974         done
8975     done
8976 fi
8977 </pre></blockquote>
8978
8979 <p>I'm not sure this shell construction will work, because I suspect
8980 the while block might end up in a subshell causing the variables set
8981 there to not show up in ltsp-config, but if that is the case I am sure
8982 the code can be restructured to make sure the variables are passed on.
8983 I expect that can be solved with some testing. :)</p>
8984
8985 <p>If you want to help out with implementing this for Debian Edu,
8986 please contact us on debian-edu@lists.debian.org.</p>
8987
8988 <p>Update 2010-07-17: I am aware of another effort to store LTSP
8989 configuration in LDAP that was created around year 2000 by
8990 <a href="http://www.pcxperience.com/thinclient/documentation/ldap.html">PC
8991 Xperience, Inc., 2000</a>.  I found its
8992 <a href="http://people.redhat.com/alikins/ltsp/ldap/">files</a> on a
8993 personal home page over at redhat.com.</p>
8994
8995       </div>
8996       <div class="tags">
8997
8998
8999         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>.
9000
9001
9002       </div>
9003     </div>
9004     <div class="padding"></div>
9005
9006     <div class="entry">
9007       <div class="title">
9008         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/jXplorer__a_very_nice_LDAP_GUI.html">jXplorer, a very nice LDAP GUI</a>
9009       </div>
9010       <div class="date">
9011          9th July 2010
9012       </div>
9013       <div class="body">
9014         <p>Since
9015 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/LUMA__a_very_nice_LDAP_GUI.html">my
9016 last post</a> about available LDAP tools in Debian, I was told about a
9017 LDAP GUI that is even better than luma.  The java application
9018 <a href="http://jxplorer.org/">jXplorer</a> is claimed to be capable of
9019 moving LDAP objects and subtrees using drag-and-drop, and can
9020 authenticate using Kerberos.  I have only tested the Kerberos
9021 authentication, but do not have a LDAP setup allowing me to rewrite
9022 LDAP with my test user yet.  It is
9023 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/j/jxplorer.html">available in
9024 Debian</a> testing and unstable at the moment.  The only problem I
9025 have with it is how it handle errors.  If something go wrong, its
9026 non-intuitive behaviour require me to go through some query work list
9027 and remove the failing query.  Nothing big, but very annoying.</p>
9028
9029       </div>
9030       <div class="tags">
9031
9032
9033         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>.
9034
9035
9036       </div>
9037     </div>
9038     <div class="padding"></div>
9039
9040     <div class="entry">
9041       <div class="title">
9042         <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>
9043       </div>
9044       <div class="date">
9045          3rd July 2010
9046       </div>
9047       <div class="body">
9048         <p>Here is a short update on my <a
9049 href="http://people.skolelinux.org/~pere/debian-upgrade-testing/">my
9050 Debian Lenny->Squeeze upgrade testing</a>.  Here is a summary of the
9051 difference for Gnome when it is upgraded by apt-get and aptitude.  I'm
9052 not reporting the status for KDE, because the upgrade crashes when
9053 aptitude try because of missing conflicts
9054 (<a href="http://bugs.debian.org/584861">#584861</a> and
9055 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/585716">#585716</a>).</p>
9056
9057 <p>At the end of the upgrade test script, dpkg -l is executed to get a
9058 complete list of the installed packages.  Based on this I see these
9059 differences when I did a test run today.  As usual, I do not really
9060 know what the correct set of packages would be, but thought it best to
9061 publish the difference.</p>
9062
9063 <p>Installed using apt-get, missing with aptitude</p>
9064
9065 <blockquote><p>
9066   at-spi cpp-4.3 finger gnome-spell gstreamer0.10-gnomevfs
9067   libatspi1.0-0 libcupsys2 libeel2-data libgail-common libgdl-1-common
9068   libgnomeprint2.2-data libgnomeprintui2.2-common libgnomevfs2-bin
9069   libgtksourceview-common libpt-1.10.10-plugins-alsa
9070   libpt-1.10.10-plugins-v4l libservlet2.4-java libxalan2-java
9071   libxerces2-java openoffice.org-writer2latex openssl-blacklist p7zip
9072   python-4suite-xml python-eggtrayicon python-gtkhtml2
9073   python-gtkmozembed svgalibg1 xserver-xephyr zip
9074 </p></blockquote>
9075
9076 <p>Installed using apt-get, removed with aptitude</p>
9077
9078 <blockquote><p>
9079   bluez-utils dhcdbd djvulibre-desktop epiphany-gecko
9080   gnome-app-install gnome-mount gnome-vfs-obexftp gnome-volume-manager
9081   libao2 libavahi-compat-libdnssd1 libavahi-core5 libbind9-50
9082   libbluetooth2 libcamel1.2-11 libcdio7 libcucul0 libcurl3
9083   libdirectfb-1.0-0 libdvdread3 libedata-cal1.2-6 libedataserver1.2-9
9084   libeel2-2.20 libepc-1.0-1 libepc-ui-1.0-1 libexchange-storage1.2-3
9085   libfaad0 libgd2-noxpm libgda3-3 libgda3-common libggz2 libggzcore9
9086   libggzmod4 libgksu1.2-0 libgksuui1.0-1 libgmyth0 libgnome-desktop-2
9087   libgnome-pilot2 libgnomecups1.0-1 libgnomeprint2.2-0
9088   libgnomeprintui2.2-0 libgpod3 libgraphviz4 libgtkhtml2-0
9089   libgtksourceview1.0-0 libgucharmap6 libhesiod0 libicu38 libisccc50
9090   libisccfg50 libiw29 libkpathsea4 libltdl3 liblwres50 libmagick++10
9091   libmagick10 libmalaga7 libmtp7 libmysqlclient15off libnautilus-burn4
9092   libneon27 libnm-glib0 libnm-util0 libopal-2.2 libosp5
9093   libparted1.8-10 libpisock9 libpisync1 libpoppler-glib3 libpoppler3
9094   libpt-1.10.10 libraw1394-8 libsensors3 libsmbios2 libsoup2.2-8
9095   libssh2-1 libsuitesparse-3.1.0 libswfdec-0.6-90 libtalloc1
9096   libtotem-plparser10 libtrackerclient0 libvoikko1 libxalan2-java-gcj
9097   libxerces2-java-gcj libxklavier12 libxtrap6 libxxf86misc1 libzephyr3
9098   mysql-common swfdec-gnome totem-gstreamer wodim
9099 </p></blockquote>
9100
9101 <p>Installed using aptitude, missing with apt-get</p>
9102
9103 <blockquote><p>
9104   gnome gnome-desktop-environment hamster-applet python-gnomeapplet
9105   python-gnomekeyring python-wnck rhythmbox-plugins xorg
9106   xserver-xorg-input-all xserver-xorg-input-evdev
9107   xserver-xorg-input-kbd xserver-xorg-input-mouse
9108   xserver-xorg-input-synaptics xserver-xorg-video-all
9109   xserver-xorg-video-apm xserver-xorg-video-ark xserver-xorg-video-ati
9110   xserver-xorg-video-chips xserver-xorg-video-cirrus
9111   xserver-xorg-video-dummy xserver-xorg-video-fbdev
9112   xserver-xorg-video-glint xserver-xorg-video-i128
9113   xserver-xorg-video-i740 xserver-xorg-video-mach64
9114   xserver-xorg-video-mga xserver-xorg-video-neomagic
9115   xserver-xorg-video-nouveau xserver-xorg-video-nv
9116   xserver-xorg-video-r128 xserver-xorg-video-radeon
9117   xserver-xorg-video-radeonhd xserver-xorg-video-rendition
9118   xserver-xorg-video-s3 xserver-xorg-video-s3virge
9119   xserver-xorg-video-savage xserver-xorg-video-siliconmotion
9120   xserver-xorg-video-sis xserver-xorg-video-sisusb
9121   xserver-xorg-video-tdfx xserver-xorg-video-tga
9122   xserver-xorg-video-trident xserver-xorg-video-tseng
9123   xserver-xorg-video-vesa xserver-xorg-video-vmware
9124   xserver-xorg-video-voodoo
9125 </p></blockquote>
9126
9127 <p>Installed using aptitude, removed with apt-get</p>
9128
9129 <blockquote><p>
9130   deskbar-applet xserver-xorg xserver-xorg-core
9131   xserver-xorg-input-wacom xserver-xorg-video-intel
9132   xserver-xorg-video-openchrome
9133 </p></blockquote>
9134
9135 <p>I was told on IRC that the xorg-xserver package was
9136 <a href="http://git.debian.org/?p=pkg-xorg/xserver/xorg-server.git;a=commit;h=9c8080d06c457932d3bfec021c69ac000aa60120">changed
9137 in git</a> today to try to get apt-get to not remove xorg completely.
9138 No idea when it hits Squeeze, but when it does I hope it will reduce
9139 the difference somewhat.
9140
9141       </div>
9142       <div class="tags">
9143
9144
9145         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>.
9146
9147
9148       </div>
9149     </div>
9150     <div class="padding"></div>
9151
9152     <div class="entry">
9153       <div class="title">
9154         <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>
9155       </div>
9156       <div class="date">
9157          1st July 2010
9158       </div>
9159       <div class="body">
9160         <p>For a laptop, centralized user directories and password checking is
9161 a bit troubling.  Laptops are typically used also when not connected
9162 to the network, and it is vital for a user to be able to log in or
9163 unlock the screen saver also when a central server is unavailable.
9164 This is possible by caching passwords and directory information (user
9165 and group attributes) locally, and the packages to do so are available
9166 in Debian.  Here follow two recipes to set this up in Debian/Squeeze.
9167 It is also possible to set up in Debian/Lenny, but require more manual
9168 setup there because pam-auth-update is missing in Lenny.</p>
9169
9170 <h2>LDAP/Kerberos + nscd + libpam-ccreds + libpam-mklocaluser/pam_mkhomedir</h2>
9171
9172 This is the traditional method with a twist.  The password caching is
9173 provided by libpam-ccreds (version 10-4 or later is needed on
9174 Squeeze), and the directory caching is done by nscd.  The directory
9175 lookup and password checking is done using LDAP.  If one want to use
9176 Kerberos for password checking the libpam-ldapd package can be
9177 replaced with libpam-krb5 or libpam-heimdal.  If one is happy having a
9178 local home directory with the path listed in LDAP, one can use the
9179 pam_mkhomedir module from pam-modules to make this happen instead of
9180 using libpam-mklocaluser.  A setup for pam-auth-update to enable
9181 pam_mkhomedir will have to be written until a fix for
9182 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/568577">bug #568577</a> is in the
9183 archive.  Because I believe it is a bad idea to have local home
9184 directories using misleading paths like /site/server/partition/, I
9185 prefer to create a local user with the home directory in /home/.  This
9186 is done using the libpam-mklocaluser package.</p>
9187
9188 <p>These packages need to be installed and configured</p>
9189
9190 <blockquote><pre>
9191 libnss-ldapd libpam-ldapd nscd libpam-ccreds libpam-mklocaluser
9192 </pre></blockquote>
9193
9194 <p>The ldapd packages will ask for LDAP connection information, and
9195 one have to fill in the values that fits ones own site.  Make sure the
9196 PAM part uses encrypted connections, to make sure the password is not
9197 sent in clear text to the LDAP server.  I've been unable to get TLS
9198 certificate checking for a self signed certificate working, which make
9199 LDAP authentication unsafe for Debian Edu (nslcd is not checking if it
9200 is talking to the correct LDAP server), and very much welcome feedback
9201 on how to get this working.</p>
9202
9203 <p>Because nscd do not have a default configuration fit for offline
9204 caching until <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/485282">bug #485282</a>
9205 is fixed, this configuration should be used instead of the one
9206 currently in /etc/nscd.conf.  The changes are in the fields
9207 reload-count and positive-time-to-live, and is based on the
9208 instructions I found in the
9209 <a href="http://www.flyn.org/laptopldap/">LDAP for Mobile Laptops</a>
9210 instructions by Flyn Computing.</p>
9211
9212 <blockquote><pre>
9213         debug-level             0
9214         reload-count            unlimited
9215         paranoia                no
9216
9217         enable-cache            passwd          yes
9218         positive-time-to-live   passwd          2592000
9219         negative-time-to-live   passwd          20
9220         suggested-size          passwd          211
9221         check-files             passwd          yes
9222         persistent              passwd          yes
9223         shared                  passwd          yes
9224         max-db-size             passwd          33554432
9225         auto-propagate          passwd          yes
9226
9227         enable-cache            group           yes
9228         positive-time-to-live   group           2592000
9229         negative-time-to-live   group           20
9230         suggested-size          group           211
9231         check-files             group           yes
9232         persistent              group           yes
9233         shared                  group           yes
9234         max-db-size             group           33554432
9235         auto-propagate          group           yes
9236
9237         enable-cache            hosts           no
9238         positive-time-to-live   hosts           2592000
9239         negative-time-to-live   hosts           20
9240         suggested-size          hosts           211
9241         check-files             hosts           yes
9242         persistent              hosts           yes
9243         shared                  hosts           yes
9244         max-db-size             hosts           33554432
9245
9246         enable-cache            services        yes
9247         positive-time-to-live   services        2592000
9248         negative-time-to-live   services        20
9249         suggested-size          services        211
9250         check-files             services        yes
9251         persistent              services        yes
9252         shared                  services        yes
9253         max-db-size             services        33554432
9254 </pre></blockquote>
9255
9256 <p>While we wait for a mechanism to update /etc/nsswitch.conf
9257 automatically like the one provided in
9258 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/496915">bug #496915</a>, the file
9259 content need to be manually replaced to ensure LDAP is used as the
9260 directory service on the machine.  /etc/nsswitch.conf should normally
9261 look like this:</p>
9262
9263 <blockquote><pre>
9264 passwd:         files ldap
9265 group:          files ldap
9266 shadow:         files ldap
9267 hosts:          files mdns4_minimal [NOTFOUND=return] dns mdns4
9268 networks:       files
9269 protocols:      files
9270 services:       files
9271 ethers:         files
9272 rpc:            files
9273 netgroup:       files ldap
9274 </pre></blockquote>
9275
9276 <p>The important parts are that ldap is listed last for passwd, group,
9277 shadow and netgroup.</p>
9278
9279 <p>With these changes in place, any user in LDAP will be able to log
9280 in locally on the machine using for example kdm, get a local home
9281 directory created and have the password as well as user and group
9282 attributes cached.
9283
9284 <h2>LDAP/Kerberos + nss-updatedb + libpam-ccreds +
9285   libpam-mklocaluser/pam_mkhomedir</h2>
9286
9287 <p>Because nscd have had its share of problems, and seem to have
9288 problems doing proper caching, I've seen suggestions and recipes to
9289 use nss-updatedb to copy parts of the LDAP database locally when the
9290 LDAP database is available.  I have not tested such setup, because I
9291 discovered sssd.</p>
9292
9293 <h2>LDAP/Kerberos + sssd + libpam-mklocaluser</h2>
9294
9295 <p>A more flexible and robust setup than the nscd combination
9296 mentioned earlier that has shown up recently, is the
9297 <a href="https://fedorahosted.org/sssd/">sssd</a> package from Redhat.
9298 It is part of the <a href="http://www.freeipa.org/">FreeIPA</A> project
9299 to provide a Active Directory like directory service for Linux
9300 machines.  The sssd system combines the caching of passwords and user
9301 information into one package, and remove the need for nscd and
9302 libpam-ccreds.  It support LDAP and Kerberos, but not NIS.  Version
9303 1.2 do not support netgroups, but it is said that it will support this
9304 in version 1.5 expected to show up later in 2010.  Because the
9305 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/s/sssd.html">sssd package</a>
9306 was missing in Debian, I ended up co-maintaining it with Werner, and
9307 version 1.2 is now in testing.
9308
9309 <p>These packages need to be installed and configured to get the
9310 roaming setup I want</p>
9311
9312 <blockquote><pre>
9313 libpam-sss libnss-sss libpam-mklocaluser
9314 </pre></blockquote>
9315
9316 The complete setup of sssd is done by editing/creating
9317 <tt>/etc/sssd/sssd.conf</tt>.
9318
9319 <blockquote><pre>
9320 [sssd]
9321 config_file_version = 2
9322 reconnection_retries = 3
9323 sbus_timeout = 30
9324 services = nss, pam
9325 domains = INTERN
9326
9327 [nss]
9328 filter_groups = root
9329 filter_users = root
9330 reconnection_retries = 3
9331
9332 [pam]
9333 reconnection_retries = 3
9334
9335 [domain/INTERN]
9336 enumerate = false
9337 cache_credentials = true
9338
9339 id_provider = ldap
9340 auth_provider = ldap
9341 chpass_provider = ldap
9342
9343 ldap_uri = ldap://ldap
9344 ldap_search_base = dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
9345 ldap_tls_reqcert = never
9346 ldap_tls_cacert = /etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt
9347 </pre></blockquote>
9348
9349 <p>I got the same problem here with certificate checking.  Had to set
9350 "ldap_tls_reqcert = never" to get it working.</p>
9351
9352 <p>With the libnss-sss package in testing at the moment, the
9353 nsswitch.conf file is update automatically, so there is no need to
9354 modify it manually.</p>
9355
9356 <p>If you want to help out with implementing this for Debian Edu,
9357 please contact us on debian-edu@lists.debian.org.</p>
9358
9359       </div>
9360       <div class="tags">
9361
9362
9363         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">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>.
9364
9365
9366       </div>
9367     </div>
9368     <div class="padding"></div>
9369
9370     <div class="entry">
9371       <div class="title">
9372         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/LUMA__a_very_nice_LDAP_GUI.html">LUMA, a very nice LDAP GUI</a>
9373       </div>
9374       <div class="date">
9375         28th June 2010
9376       </div>
9377       <div class="body">
9378         <p>The last few days I have been looking into the status of the LDAP
9379 directory in Debian Edu, and in the process I started to miss a GUI
9380 tool to browse the LDAP tree.  The only one I was able to find in
9381 Debian/Squeeze and Lenny is
9382 <a href="http://luma.sourceforge.net/">LUMA</a>, which has proved to
9383 be a great tool to get a overview of the current LDAP directory
9384 populated by default in Skolelinux.  Thanks to it, I have been able to
9385 find empty and obsolete subtrees, misplaced objects and duplicate
9386 objects.  It will be installed by default in Debian/Squeeze.  If you
9387 are working with LDAP, give it a go. :)</p>
9388
9389 <p>I did notice one problem with it I have not had time to report to
9390 the BTS yet.  There is no .desktop file in the package, so the tool do
9391 not show up in the Gnome and KDE menus, but only deep down in in the
9392 Debian submenu in KDE.  I hope that can be fixed before Squeeze is
9393 released.</p>
9394
9395 <p>I have not yet been able to get it to modify the tree yet.  I would
9396 like to move objects and remove subtrees directly in the GUI, but have
9397 not found a way to do that with LUMA yet.  So in the mean time, I use
9398 <a href="http://www.lichteblau.com/ldapvi/">ldapvi</a> for that.</p>
9399
9400 <p>If you have tips on other GUI tools for LDAP that might be useful
9401 in Debian Edu, please contact us on debian-edu@lists.debian.org.</p>
9402
9403 <p>Update 2010-06-29: Ross Reedstrom tipped us about the
9404 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/g/gq.html">gq</a> package as a
9405 useful GUI alternative.  It seem like a good tool, but is unmaintained
9406 in Debian and got a RC bug keeping it out of Squeeze.  Unless that
9407 changes, it will not be an option for Debian Edu based on Squeeze.</p>
9408
9409       </div>
9410       <div class="tags">
9411
9412
9413         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>.
9414
9415
9416       </div>
9417     </div>
9418     <div class="padding"></div>
9419
9420     <div class="entry">
9421       <div class="title">
9422         <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>
9423       </div>
9424       <div class="date">
9425         24th June 2010
9426       </div>
9427       <div class="body">
9428         <p>A while back, I
9429 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Time_for_new__LDAP_schemas_replacing_RFC_2307_.html">complained
9430 about the fact</a> that it is not possible with the provided schemas
9431 for storing DNS and DHCP information in LDAP to combine the two sets
9432 of information into one LDAP object representing a computer.</p>
9433
9434 <p>In the mean time, I discovered that a simple fix would be to make
9435 the dhcpHost object class auxiliary, to allow it to be combined with
9436 the dNSDomain object class, and thus forming one object for one
9437 computer when storing both DHCP and DNS information in LDAP.</p>
9438
9439 <p>If I understand this correctly, it is not safe to do this change
9440 without also changing the assigned number for the object class, and I
9441 do not know enough about LDAP schema design to do that properly for
9442 Debian Edu.</p>
9443
9444 <p>Anyway, for future reference, this is how I believe we could change
9445 the
9446 <a href="http://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-ietf-dhc-ldap-schema-00">DHCP
9447 schema</a> to solve at least part of the problem with the LDAP schemas
9448 available today from IETF.</p>
9449
9450 <pre>
9451 --- dhcp.schema    (revision 65192)
9452 +++ dhcp.schema    (working copy)
9453 @@ -376,7 +376,7 @@
9454  objectclass ( 2.16.840.1.113719.1.203.6.6
9455         NAME 'dhcpHost'
9456         DESC 'This represents information about a particular client'
9457 -       SUP top
9458 +       SUP top AUXILIARY
9459         MUST cn
9460         MAY  (dhcpLeaseDN $ dhcpHWAddress $ dhcpOptionsDN $ dhcpStatements $ dhcpComments $ dhcpOption)
9461         X-NDS_CONTAINMENT ('dhcpService' 'dhcpSubnet' 'dhcpGroup') )
9462 </pre>
9463
9464 <p>I very much welcome clues on how to do this properly for Debian
9465 Edu/Squeeze.  We provide the DHCP schema in our debian-edu-config
9466 package, and should thus be free to rewrite it as we see fit.</p>
9467
9468 <p>If you want to help out with implementing this for Debian Edu,
9469 please contact us on debian-edu@lists.debian.org.</p>
9470
9471       </div>
9472       <div class="tags">
9473
9474
9475         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>.
9476
9477
9478       </div>
9479     </div>
9480     <div class="padding"></div>
9481
9482     <div class="entry">
9483       <div class="title">
9484         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Calling_tasksel_like_the_installer__while_still_getting_useful_output.html">Calling tasksel like the installer, while still getting useful output</a>
9485       </div>
9486       <div class="date">
9487         16th June 2010
9488       </div>
9489       <div class="body">
9490         <p>A few times I have had the need to simulate the way tasksel
9491 installs packages during the normal debian-installer run.  Until now,
9492 I have ended up letting tasksel do the work, with the annoying problem
9493 of not getting any feedback at all when something fails (like a
9494 conffile question from dpkg or a download that fails), using code like
9495 this:
9496
9497 <blockquote><pre>
9498 export DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive
9499 tasksel --new-install
9500 </pre></blockquote>
9501
9502 This would invoke tasksel, let its automatic task selection pick the
9503 tasks to install, and continue to install the requested tasks without
9504 any output what so ever.
9505
9506 Recently I revisited this problem while working on the automatic
9507 package upgrade testing, because tasksel would some times hang without
9508 any useful feedback, and I want to see what is going on when it
9509 happen.  Then it occured to me, I can parse the output from tasksel
9510 when asked to run in test mode, and use that aptitude command line
9511 printed by tasksel then to simulate the tasksel run.  I ended up using
9512 code like this:
9513
9514 <blockquote><pre>
9515 export DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive
9516 cmd="$(in_target tasksel -t --new-install | sed 's/debconf-apt-progress -- //')"
9517 $cmd
9518 </pre></blockquote>
9519
9520 <p>The content of $cmd is typically something like "<tt>aptitude -q
9521 --without-recommends -o APT::Install-Recommends=no -y install
9522 ~t^desktop$ ~t^gnome-desktop$ ~t^laptop$ ~pstandard ~prequired
9523 ~pimportant</tt>", which will install the gnome desktop task, the
9524 laptop task and all packages with priority standard , required and
9525 important, just like tasksel would have done it during
9526 installation.</p>
9527
9528 <p>A better approach is probably to extend tasksel to be able to
9529 install packages without using debconf-apt-progress, for use cases
9530 like this.</p>
9531
9532       </div>
9533       <div class="tags">
9534
9535
9536         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>.
9537
9538
9539       </div>
9540     </div>
9541     <div class="padding"></div>
9542
9543     <div class="entry">
9544       <div class="title">
9545         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Officeshots_taking_shape.html">Officeshots taking shape</a>
9546       </div>
9547       <div class="date">
9548         13th June 2010
9549       </div>
9550       <div class="body">
9551         <p>For those of us caring about document exchange and
9552 interoperability, <a href="http://www.officeshots.org/">OfficeShots</a>
9553 is a great service.  It is to ODF documents what
9554 <a href="http://browsershots.org/">BrowserShots</a> is for web
9555 pages.</p>
9556
9557 <p>A while back, I was contacted by Knut Yrvin at the part of Nokia
9558 that used to be Trolltech, who wanted to help the OfficeShots project
9559 and wondered if the University of Oslo where I work would be
9560 interested in supporting the project.  I helped him to navigate his
9561 request to the right people at work, and his request was answered with
9562 a spot in the machine room with power and network connected, and Knut
9563 arranged funding for a machine to fill the spot.  The machine is
9564 administrated by the OfficeShots people, so I do not have daily
9565 contact with its progress, and thus from time to time check back to
9566 see how the project is doing.</p>
9567
9568 <p>Today I had a look, and was happy to see that the Dell box in our
9569 machine room now is the host for several virtual machines running as
9570 OfficeShots factories, and the project is able to render ODF documents
9571 in 17 different document processing implementation on Linux and
9572 Windows.  This is great.</p>
9573
9574       </div>
9575       <div class="tags">
9576
9577
9578         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>.
9579
9580
9581       </div>
9582     </div>
9583     <div class="padding"></div>
9584
9585     <div class="entry">
9586       <div class="title">
9587         <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>
9588       </div>
9589       <div class="date">
9590         13th June 2010
9591       </div>
9592       <div class="body">
9593         <p>My
9594 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Automatic_upgrade_testing_from_Lenny_to_Squeeze.html">testing
9595 of Debian upgrades</a> from Lenny to Squeeze continues, and I've
9596 finally made the upgrade logs available from
9597 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/debian-upgrade-testing/">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/debian-upgrade-testing/</a>.
9598 I am now testing dist-upgrade of Gnome and KDE in a chroot using both
9599 apt and aptitude, and found their differences interesting.  This time
9600 I will only focus on their removal plans.</p>
9601
9602 <p>After installing a Gnome desktop and the laptop task, apt-get wants
9603 to remove 72 packages when dist-upgrading from Lenny to Squeeze.  The
9604 surprising part is that it want to remove xorg and all
9605 xserver-xorg-video* drivers.  Clearly not a good choice, but I am not
9606 sure why.  When asking aptitude to do the same, it want to remove 129
9607 packages, but most of them are library packages I suspect are no
9608 longer needed.  Both of them want to remove bluetooth packages, which
9609 I do not know.  Perhaps these bluetooth packages are obsolete?</p>
9610
9611 <p>For KDE, apt-get want to remove 82 packages, among them kdebase
9612 which seem like a bad idea and xorg the same way as with Gnome. Asking
9613 aptitude for the same, it wants to remove 192 packages, none which are
9614 too surprising.</p>
9615
9616 <p>I guess the removal of xorg during upgrades should be investigated
9617 and avoided, and perhaps others as well.  Here are the complete list
9618 of planned removals.  The complete logs is available from the URL
9619 above.  Note if you want to repeat these tests, that the upgrade test
9620 for kde+apt-get hung in the tasksel setup because of dpkg asking
9621 conffile questions.  No idea why.  I worked around it by using
9622 '<tt>echo >> /proc/<em>pidofdpkg</em>/fd/0</tt>' to tell dpkg to
9623 continue.</p>
9624
9625 <p><b>apt-get gnome 72</b>
9626 <br>bluez-gnome cupsddk-drivers deskbar-applet gnome
9627   gnome-desktop-environment gnome-network-admin gtkhtml3.14
9628   iceweasel-gnome-support libavcodec51 libdatrie0 libgdl-1-0
9629   libgnomekbd2 libgnomekbdui2 libmetacity0 libslab0 libxcb-xlib0
9630   nautilus-cd-burner python-gnome2-desktop python-gnome2-extras
9631   serpentine swfdec-mozilla update-manager xorg xserver-xorg
9632   xserver-xorg-core xserver-xorg-input-all xserver-xorg-input-evdev
9633   xserver-xorg-input-kbd xserver-xorg-input-mouse
9634   xserver-xorg-input-synaptics xserver-xorg-input-wacom
9635   xserver-xorg-video-all xserver-xorg-video-apm xserver-xorg-video-ark
9636   xserver-xorg-video-ati xserver-xorg-video-chips
9637   xserver-xorg-video-cirrus xserver-xorg-video-cyrix
9638   xserver-xorg-video-dummy xserver-xorg-video-fbdev
9639   xserver-xorg-video-glint xserver-xorg-video-i128
9640   xserver-xorg-video-i740 xserver-xorg-video-imstt
9641   xserver-xorg-video-intel xserver-xorg-video-mach64
9642   xserver-xorg-video-mga xserver-xorg-video-neomagic
9643   xserver-xorg-video-nsc xserver-xorg-video-nv
9644   xserver-xorg-video-openchrome xserver-xorg-video-r128
9645   xserver-xorg-video-radeon xserver-xorg-video-radeonhd
9646   xserver-xorg-video-rendition xserver-xorg-video-s3
9647   xserver-xorg-video-s3virge xserver-xorg-video-savage
9648   xserver-xorg-video-siliconmotion xserver-xorg-video-sis
9649   xserver-xorg-video-sisusb xserver-xorg-video-tdfx
9650   xserver-xorg-video-tga xserver-xorg-video-trident
9651   xserver-xorg-video-tseng xserver-xorg-video-v4l
9652   xserver-xorg-video-vesa xserver-xorg-video-vga
9653   xserver-xorg-video-vmware xserver-xorg-video-voodoo xulrunner-1.9
9654   xulrunner-1.9-gnome-support</p>
9655
9656 <p><b>aptitude gnome 129</b>
9657
9658 <br>bluez-gnome bluez-utils cpp-4.3 cupsddk-drivers dhcdbd
9659   djvulibre-desktop finger gnome-app-install gnome-mount
9660   gnome-network-admin gnome-spell gnome-vfs-obexftp
9661   gnome-volume-manager gstreamer0.10-gnomevfs gtkhtml3.14 libao2
9662   libavahi-compat-libdnssd1 libavahi-core5 libavcodec51 libbluetooth2
9663   libcamel1.2-11 libcdio7 libcucul0 libcupsys2 libcurl3 libdatrie0
9664   libdirectfb-1.0-0 libdvdread3 libedataserver1.2-9 libeel2-2.20
9665   libeel2-data libepc-1.0-1 libepc-ui-1.0-1 libfaad0 libgail-common
9666   libgd2-noxpm libgda3-3 libgda3-common libgdl-1-0 libgdl-1-common
9667   libggz2 libggzcore9 libggzmod4 libgksu1.2-0 libgksuui1.0-1 libgmyth0
9668   libgnomecups1.0-1 libgnomekbd2 libgnomekbdui2 libgnomeprint2.2-0
9669   libgnomeprint2.2-data libgnomeprintui2.2-0 libgnomeprintui2.2-common
9670   libgnomevfs2-bin libgpod3 libgraphviz4 libgtkhtml2-0
9671   libgtksourceview-common libgtksourceview1.0-0 libgucharmap6
9672   libhesiod0 libicu38 libiw29 libkpathsea4 libltdl3 libmagick++10
9673   libmagick10 libmalaga7 libmetacity0 libmtp7 libmysqlclient15off
9674   libnautilus-burn4 libneon27 libnm-glib0 libnm-util0 libopal-2.2
9675   libosp5 libparted1.8-10 libpoppler-glib3 libpoppler3 libpt-1.10.10
9676   libpt-1.10.10-plugins-alsa libpt-1.10.10-plugins-v4l libraw1394-8
9677   libsensors3 libslab0 libsmbios2 libsoup2.2-8 libssh2-1
9678   libsuitesparse-3.1.0 libswfdec-0.6-90 libtalloc1 libtotem-plparser10
9679   libtrackerclient0 libxalan2-java libxalan2-java-gcj libxcb-xlib0
9680   libxerces2-java libxerces2-java-gcj libxklavier12 libxtrap6
9681   libxxf86misc1 libzephyr3 mysql-common nautilus-cd-burner
9682   openoffice.org-writer2latex openssl-blacklist p7zip
9683   python-4suite-xml python-eggtrayicon python-gnome2-desktop
9684   python-gnome2-extras python-gtkhtml2 python-gtkmozembed
9685   python-numeric python-sexy serpentine svgalibg1 swfdec-gnome
9686   swfdec-mozilla totem-gstreamer update-manager wodim
9687   xserver-xorg-video-cyrix xserver-xorg-video-imstt
9688   xserver-xorg-video-nsc xserver-xorg-video-v4l xserver-xorg-video-vga
9689   zip</p>
9690
9691 <p><b>apt-get kde 82</b>
9692
9693 <br>cupsddk-drivers karm kaudiocreator kcoloredit kcontrol kde kde-core
9694   kdeaddons kdeartwork kdebase kdebase-bin kdebase-bin-kde3
9695   kdebase-kio-plugins kdesktop kdeutils khelpcenter kicker
9696   kicker-applets knewsticker kolourpaint konq-plugins konqueror korn
9697   kpersonalizer kscreensaver ksplash libavcodec51 libdatrie0 libkiten1
9698   libxcb-xlib0 quanta superkaramba texlive-base-bin xorg xserver-xorg
9699   xserver-xorg-core xserver-xorg-input-all xserver-xorg-input-evdev
9700   xserver-xorg-input-kbd xserver-xorg-input-mouse
9701   xserver-xorg-input-synaptics xserver-xorg-input-wacom
9702   xserver-xorg-video-all xserver-xorg-video-apm xserver-xorg-video-ark
9703   xserver-xorg-video-ati xserver-xorg-video-chips
9704   xserver-xorg-video-cirrus xserver-xorg-video-cyrix
9705   xserver-xorg-video-dummy xserver-xorg-video-fbdev
9706   xserver-xorg-video-glint xserver-xorg-video-i128
9707   xserver-xorg-video-i740 xserver-xorg-video-imstt
9708   xserver-xorg-video-intel xserver-xorg-video-mach64
9709   xserver-xorg-video-mga xserver-xorg-video-neomagic
9710   xserver-xorg-video-nsc xserver-xorg-video-nv
9711   xserver-xorg-video-openchrome xserver-xorg-video-r128
9712   xserver-xorg-video-radeon xserver-xorg-video-radeonhd
9713   xserver-xorg-video-rendition xserver-xorg-video-s3
9714   xserver-xorg-video-s3virge xserver-xorg-video-savage
9715   xserver-xorg-video-siliconmotion xserver-xorg-video-sis
9716   xserver-xorg-video-sisusb xserver-xorg-video-tdfx
9717   xserver-xorg-video-tga xserver-xorg-video-trident
9718   xserver-xorg-video-tseng xserver-xorg-video-v4l
9719   xserver-xorg-video-vesa xserver-xorg-video-vga
9720   xserver-xorg-video-vmware xserver-xorg-video-voodoo xulrunner-1.9</p>
9721
9722 <p><b>aptitude kde 192</b>
9723 <br>bluez-utils cpp-4.3 cupsddk-drivers cvs dcoprss dhcdbd
9724   djvulibre-desktop dosfstools eyesapplet fifteenapplet finger gettext
9725   ghostscript-x imlib-base imlib11 indi kandy karm kasteroids
9726   kaudiocreator kbackgammon kbstate kcoloredit kcontrol kcron kdat
9727   kdeadmin-kfile-plugins kdeartwork-misc kdeartwork-theme-window
9728   kdebase-bin-kde3 kdebase-kio-plugins kdeedu-data
9729   kdegraphics-kfile-plugins kdelirc kdemultimedia-kappfinder-data
9730   kdemultimedia-kfile-plugins kdenetwork-kfile-plugins
9731   kdepim-kfile-plugins kdepim-kio-plugins kdeprint kdesktop kdessh
9732   kdict kdnssd kdvi kedit keduca kenolaba kfax kfaxview kfouleggs
9733   kghostview khelpcenter khexedit kiconedit kitchensync klatin
9734   klickety kmailcvt kmenuedit kmid kmilo kmoon kmrml kodo kolourpaint
9735   kooka korn kpager kpdf kpercentage kpf kpilot kpoker kpovmodeler
9736   krec kregexpeditor ksayit ksim ksirc ksirtet ksmiletris ksmserver
9737   ksnake ksokoban ksplash ksvg ksysv ktip ktnef kuickshow kverbos
9738   kview kviewshell kvoctrain kwifimanager kwin kwin4 kworldclock
9739   kxsldbg libakode2 libao2 libarts1-akode libarts1-audiofile
9740   libarts1-mpeglib libarts1-xine libavahi-compat-libdnssd1
9741   libavahi-core5 libavc1394-0 libavcodec51 libbluetooth2
9742   libboost-python1.34.1 libcucul0 libcurl3 libcvsservice0 libdatrie0
9743   libdirectfb-1.0-0 libdjvulibre21 libdvdread3 libfaad0 libfreebob0
9744   libgail-common libgd2-noxpm libgraphviz4 libgsmme1c2a libgtkhtml2-0
9745   libicu38 libiec61883-0 libindex0 libiw29 libk3b3 libkcal2b libkcddb1
9746   libkdeedu3 libkdepim1a libkgantt0 libkiten1 libkleopatra1 libkmime2
9747   libkpathsea4 libkpimexchange1 libkpimidentities1 libkscan1
9748   libksieve0 libktnef1 liblockdev1 libltdl3 libmagick10 libmimelib1c2a
9749   libmozjs1d libmpcdec3 libneon27 libnm-util0 libopensync0 libpisock9
9750   libpoppler-glib3 libpoppler-qt2 libpoppler3 libraw1394-8 libsmbios2
9751   libssh2-1 libsuitesparse-3.1.0 libtalloc1 libtiff-tools
9752   libxalan2-java libxalan2-java-gcj libxcb-xlib0 libxerces2-java
9753   libxerces2-java-gcj libxtrap6 mpeglib networkstatus
9754   openoffice.org-writer2latex pmount poster psutils quanta quanta-data
9755   superkaramba svgalibg1 tex-common texlive-base texlive-base-bin
9756   texlive-common texlive-doc-base texlive-fonts-recommended
9757   xserver-xorg-video-cyrix xserver-xorg-video-imstt
9758   xserver-xorg-video-nsc xserver-xorg-video-v4l xserver-xorg-video-vga
9759   xulrunner-1.9</p>
9760
9761
9762       </div>
9763       <div class="tags">
9764
9765
9766         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>.
9767
9768
9769       </div>
9770     </div>
9771     <div class="padding"></div>
9772
9773     <div class="entry">
9774       <div class="title">
9775         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Automatic_upgrade_testing_from_Lenny_to_Squeeze.html">Automatic upgrade testing from Lenny to Squeeze</a>
9776       </div>
9777       <div class="date">
9778         11th June 2010
9779       </div>
9780       <div class="body">
9781         <p>The last few days I have done some upgrade testing in Debian, to
9782 see if the upgrade from Lenny to Squeeze will go smoothly.  A few bugs
9783 have been discovered and reported in the process
9784 (<a href="http://bugs.debian.org/585410">#585410</a> in nagios3-cgi,
9785 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/584879">#584879</a> already fixed in
9786 enscript and <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/584861">#584861</a> in
9787 kdebase-workspace-data), and to get a more regular testing going on, I
9788 am working on a script to automate the test.</p>
9789
9790 <p>The idea is to create a Lenny chroot and use tasksel to install a
9791 Gnome or KDE desktop installation inside the chroot before upgrading
9792 it.  To ensure no services are started in the chroot, a policy-rc.d
9793 script is inserted.  To make sure tasksel believe it is to install a
9794 desktop on a laptop, the tasksel tests are replaced in the chroot
9795 (only acceptable because this is a throw-away chroot).</p>
9796
9797 <p>A naive upgrade from Lenny to Squeeze using aptitude dist-upgrade
9798 currently always fail because udev refuses to upgrade with the kernel
9799 in Lenny, so to avoid that problem the file /etc/udev/kernel-upgrade
9800 is created.  The bug report
9801 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/566000">#566000</a> make me suspect
9802 this problem do not trigger in a chroot, but I touch the file anyway
9803 to make sure the upgrade go well.  Testing on virtual and real
9804 hardware have failed me because of udev so far, and creating this file
9805 do the trick in such settings anyway.  This is a
9806 <a href="http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/debian-26/failed-dist-upgrade-due-to-udev-config_sysfs_deprecated-nonsense-804130/">known
9807 issue</a> and the current udev behaviour is intended by the udev
9808 maintainer because he lack the resources to rewrite udev to keep
9809 working with old kernels or something like that.  I really wish the
9810 udev upstream would keep udev backwards compatible, to avoid such
9811 upgrade problem, but given that they fail to do so, I guess
9812 documenting the way out of this mess is the best option we got for
9813 Debian Squeeze.</p>
9814
9815 <p>Anyway, back to the task at hand, testing upgrades.  This test
9816 script, which I call <tt>upgrade-test</tt> for now, is doing the
9817 trick:</p>
9818
9819 <blockquote><pre>
9820 #!/bin/sh
9821 set -ex
9822
9823 if [ "$1" ] ; then
9824     desktop=$1
9825 else
9826     desktop=gnome
9827 fi
9828
9829 from=lenny
9830 to=squeeze
9831
9832 exec &lt; /dev/null
9833 unset LANG
9834 mirror=http://ftp.skolelinux.org/debian
9835 tmpdir=chroot-$from-upgrade-$to-$desktop
9836 fuser -mv .
9837 debootstrap $from $tmpdir $mirror
9838 chroot $tmpdir aptitude update
9839 cat > $tmpdir/usr/sbin/policy-rc.d &lt;&lt;EOF
9840 #!/bin/sh
9841 exit 101
9842 EOF
9843 chmod a+rx $tmpdir/usr/sbin/policy-rc.d
9844 exit_cleanup() {
9845     umount $tmpdir/proc
9846 }
9847 mount -t proc proc $tmpdir/proc
9848 # Make sure proc is unmounted also on failure
9849 trap exit_cleanup EXIT INT
9850
9851 chroot $tmpdir aptitude -y install debconf-utils
9852
9853 # Make sure tasksel autoselection trigger.  It need the test scripts
9854 # to return the correct answers.
9855 echo tasksel tasksel/desktop multiselect $desktop | \
9856     chroot $tmpdir debconf-set-selections
9857
9858 # Include the desktop and laptop task
9859 for test in desktop laptop ; do
9860     echo > $tmpdir/usr/lib/tasksel/tests/$test &lt;&lt;EOF
9861 #!/bin/sh
9862 exit 2
9863 EOF
9864     chmod a+rx $tmpdir/usr/lib/tasksel/tests/$test
9865 done
9866
9867 DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive
9868 DEBIAN_PRIORITY=critical
9869 export DEBIAN_FRONTEND DEBIAN_PRIORITY
9870 chroot $tmpdir tasksel --new-install
9871
9872 echo deb $mirror $to main > $tmpdir/etc/apt/sources.list
9873 chroot $tmpdir aptitude update
9874 touch $tmpdir/etc/udev/kernel-upgrade
9875 chroot $tmpdir aptitude -y dist-upgrade
9876 fuser -mv
9877 </pre></blockquote>
9878
9879 <p>I suspect it would be useful to test upgrades with both apt-get and
9880 with aptitude, but I have not had time to look at how they behave
9881 differently so far.  I hope to get a cron job running to do the test
9882 regularly and post the result on the web.  The Gnome upgrade currently
9883 work, while the KDE upgrade fail because of the bug in
9884 kdebase-workspace-data</p>
9885
9886 <p>I am not quite sure what kind of extract from the huge upgrade logs
9887 (KDE 167 KiB, Gnome 516 KiB) it make sense to include in this blog
9888 post, so I will refrain from trying.  I can report that for Gnome,
9889 aptitude report 760 packages upgraded, 448 newly installed, 129 to
9890 remove and 1 not upgraded and 1024MB need to be downloaded while for
9891 KDE the same numbers are 702 packages upgraded, 507 newly installed,
9892 193 to remove and 0 not upgraded and 1117MB need to be downloaded</p>
9893
9894 <p>I am very happy to notice that the Gnome desktop + laptop upgrade
9895 is able to migrate to dependency based boot sequencing and parallel
9896 booting without a hitch.  Was unsure if there were still bugs with
9897 packages failing to clean up their obsolete init.d script during
9898 upgrades, and no such problem seem to affect the Gnome desktop+laptop
9899 packages.</p>
9900
9901       </div>
9902       <div class="tags">
9903
9904
9905         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>.
9906
9907
9908       </div>
9909     </div>
9910     <div class="padding"></div>
9911
9912     <div class="entry">
9913       <div class="title">
9914         <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>
9915       </div>
9916       <div class="date">
9917          6th June 2010
9918       </div>
9919       <div class="body">
9920         <p>If Debian is to migrate to upstart on Linux, I expect some init.d
9921 scripts to migrate (some of) their operations to upstart job while
9922 keeping the init.d for hurd and kfreebsd.  The packages with such
9923 needs will need a way to get their init.d scripts to behave
9924 differently when used with sysvinit and with upstart.  Because of
9925 this, I had a look at the environment variables set when a init.d
9926 script is running under upstart, and when it is not.</p>
9927
9928 <p>With upstart, I notice these environment variables are set when a
9929 script is started from rcS.d/ (ignoring some irrelevant ones like
9930 COLUMNS):</p>
9931
9932 <blockquote><pre>
9933 DEFAULT_RUNLEVEL=2
9934 previous=N
9935 PREVLEVEL=
9936 RUNLEVEL=
9937 runlevel=S
9938 UPSTART_EVENTS=startup
9939 UPSTART_INSTANCE=
9940 UPSTART_JOB=rc-sysinit
9941 </pre></blockquote>
9942
9943 <p>With sysvinit, these environment variables are set for the same
9944 script.</p>
9945
9946 <blockquote><pre>
9947 INIT_VERSION=sysvinit-2.88
9948 previous=N
9949 PREVLEVEL=N
9950 RUNLEVEL=S
9951 runlevel=S
9952 </pre></blockquote>
9953
9954 <p>The RUNLEVEL and PREVLEVEL environment variables passed on from
9955 sysvinit are not set by upstart.  Not sure if it is intentional or not
9956 to not be compatible with sysvinit in this regard.</p>
9957
9958 <p>For scripts needing to behave differently when upstart is used,
9959 looking for the UPSTART_JOB environment variable seem to be a good
9960 choice.</p>
9961
9962       </div>
9963       <div class="tags">
9964
9965
9966         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>.
9967
9968
9969       </div>
9970     </div>
9971     <div class="padding"></div>
9972
9973     <div class="entry">
9974       <div class="title">
9975         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/A_manual_for_standards_wars___.html">A manual for standards wars...</a>
9976       </div>
9977       <div class="date">
9978          6th June 2010
9979       </div>
9980       <div class="body">
9981         <p>Via the
9982 <a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/robweir/antic-atom/~3/QzU4RgoAGMg/weekly-links-10.html">blog
9983 of Rob Weir</a> I came across the very interesting essay named
9984 <a href="http://faculty.haas.berkeley.edu/shapiro/wars.pdf">The Art of
9985 Standards Wars</a> (PDF 25 pages).  I recommend it for everyone
9986 following the standards wars of today.</p>
9987
9988       </div>
9989       <div class="tags">
9990
9991
9992         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>.
9993
9994
9995       </div>
9996     </div>
9997     <div class="padding"></div>
9998
9999     <div class="entry">
10000       <div class="title">
10001         <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>
10002       </div>
10003       <div class="date">
10004          3rd June 2010
10005       </div>
10006       <div class="body">
10007         <p>When using sitesummary at a site to track machines, it is possible
10008 to get a list of the machine types in use thanks to the DMI
10009 information extracted from each machine.  The script to do so is
10010 included in the sitesummary package, and here is example output from
10011 the Skolelinux build servers:</p>
10012
10013 <blockquote><pre>
10014 maintainer:~# /usr/lib/sitesummary/hardware-model-summary
10015   vendor                    count
10016   Dell Computer Corporation     1
10017     PowerEdge 1750              1
10018   IBM                           1
10019     eserver xSeries 345 -[8670M1X]-     1
10020   Intel                         2
10021   [no-dmi-info]                 3
10022 maintainer:~#
10023 </pre></blockquote>
10024
10025 <p>The quality of the report depend on the quality of the DMI tables
10026 provided in each machine.  Here there are Intel machines without model
10027 information listed with Intel as vendor and no model, and virtual Xen
10028 machines listed as [no-dmi-info].  One can add -l as a command line
10029 option to list the individual machines.</p>
10030
10031 <p>A larger list is
10032 <a href="http://narvikskolen.no/sitesummary/">available from the the
10033 city of Narvik</a>, which uses Skolelinux on all their shools and also
10034 provide the basic sitesummary report publicly.  In their report there
10035 are ~1400 machines. I know they use both Ubuntu and Skolelinux on
10036 their machines, and as sitesummary is available in both distributions,
10037 it is trivial to get all of them to report to the same central
10038 collector.</p>
10039
10040       </div>
10041       <div class="tags">
10042
10043
10044         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>.
10045
10046
10047       </div>
10048     </div>
10049     <div class="padding"></div>
10050
10051     <div class="entry">
10052       <div class="title">
10053         <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>
10054       </div>
10055       <div class="date">
10056          1st June 2010
10057       </div>
10058       <div class="body">
10059         <p>It is strange to watch how a bug in Debian causing KDM to fail to
10060 start at boot when an NVidia video card is used is handled.  The
10061 problem seem to be that the nvidia X.org driver uses a long time to
10062 initialize, and this duration is longer than kdm is configured to
10063 wait.</p>
10064
10065 <p>I came across two bugs related to this issue,
10066 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/583312">#583312</a> initially filed
10067 against initscripts and passed on to nvidia-glx when it became obvious
10068 that the nvidia drivers were involved, and
10069 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/524751">#524751</a> initially filed against
10070 kdm and passed on to src:nvidia-graphics-drivers for unknown reasons.</p>
10071
10072 <p>To me, it seem that no-one is interested in actually solving the
10073 problem nvidia video card owners experience and make sure the Debian
10074 distribution work out of the box for these users.  The nvidia driver
10075 maintainers expect kdm to be set up to wait longer, while kdm expect
10076 the nvidia driver maintainers to fix the driver to start faster, and
10077 while they wait for each other I guess the users end up switching to a
10078 distribution that work for them.  I have no idea what the solution is,
10079 but I am pretty sure that waiting for each other is not it.</p>
10080
10081 <p>I wonder why we end up handling bugs this way.</p>
10082
10083       </div>
10084       <div class="tags">
10085
10086
10087         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>.
10088
10089
10090       </div>
10091     </div>
10092     <div class="padding"></div>
10093
10094     <div class="entry">
10095       <div class="title">
10096         <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>
10097       </div>
10098       <div class="date">
10099         27th May 2010
10100       </div>
10101       <div class="body">
10102         <p>A few days ago, parallel booting was enabled in Debian/testing.
10103 The feature seem to hold up pretty well, but three fairly serious
10104 issues are known and should be solved:
10105
10106 <p><ul>
10107
10108 <li>The wicd package seen to
10109 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/508289">break NFS mounting</a> and
10110 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/581586">network setup</a> when
10111 parallel booting is enabled.  No idea why, but the wicd maintainer
10112 seem to be on the case.</li>
10113
10114 <li>The nvidia X driver seem to
10115 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/583312">have a race condition</a>
10116 triggered more easily when parallel booting is in effect.  The
10117 maintainer is on the case.</li>
10118
10119 <li>The sysv-rc package fail to properly enable dependency based boot
10120 sequencing (the shutdown is broken) when old file-rc users
10121 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/575080">try to switch back</a> to
10122 sysv-rc.  One way to solve it would be for file-rc to create
10123 /etc/init.d/.legacy-bootordering, and another is to try to make
10124 sysv-rc more robust.  Will investigate some more and probably upload a
10125 workaround in sysv-rc to help those trying to move from file-rc to
10126 sysv-rc get a working shutdown.</li>
10127
10128 </ul></p>
10129
10130 <p>All in all not many surprising issues, and all of them seem
10131 solvable before Squeeze is released.  In addition to these there are
10132 some packages with bugs in their dependencies and run level settings,
10133 which I expect will be fixed in a reasonable time span.</p>
10134
10135 <p>If you report any problems with dependencies in init.d scripts to
10136 the BTS, please usertag the report to get it to show up at
10137 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/pkgreport.cgi?users=initscripts-ng-devel@lists.alioth.debian.org">the
10138 list of usertagged bugs related to this</a>.</p>
10139
10140 <p>Update: Correct bug number to file-rc issue.</p>
10141
10142       </div>
10143       <div class="tags">
10144
10145
10146         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>.
10147
10148
10149       </div>
10150     </div>
10151     <div class="padding"></div>
10152
10153     <div class="entry">
10154       <div class="title">
10155         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/More_flexible_firmware_handling_in_debian_installer.html">More flexible firmware handling in debian-installer</a>
10156       </div>
10157       <div class="date">
10158         22nd May 2010
10159       </div>
10160       <div class="body">
10161         <p>After a long break from debian-installer development, I finally
10162 found time today to return to the project.  Having to spend less time
10163 working dependency based boot in debian, as it is almost complete now,
10164 definitely helped freeing some time.</p>
10165
10166 <p>A while back, I ran into a problem while working on Debian Edu.  We
10167 include some firmware packages on the Debian Edu CDs, those needed to
10168 get disk and network controllers working.  Without having these
10169 firmware packages available during installation, it is impossible to
10170 install Debian Edu on the given machine, and because our target group
10171 are non-technical people, asking them to provide firmware packages on
10172 an external medium is a support pain.  Initially, I expected it to be
10173 enough to include the firmware packages on the CD to get
10174 debian-installer to find and use them.  This proved to be wrong.
10175 Next, I hoped it was enough to symlink the relevant firmware packages
10176 to some useful location on the CD (tried /cdrom/ and
10177 /cdrom/firmware/).  This also proved to not work, and at this point I
10178 found time to look at the debian-installer code to figure out what was
10179 going to work.</p>
10180
10181 <p>The firmware loading code is in the hw-detect package, and a closer
10182 look revealed that it would only look for firmware packages outside
10183 the installation media, so the CD was never checked for firmware
10184 packages.  It would only check USB sticks, floppies and other
10185 "external" media devices.  Today I changed it to also look in the
10186 /cdrom/firmware/ directory on the mounted CD or DVD, which should
10187 solve the problem I ran into with Debian edu.  I also changed it to
10188 look in /firmware/, to make sure the installer also find firmware
10189 provided in the initrd when booting the installer via PXE, to allow us
10190 to provide the same feature in the PXE setup included in Debian
10191 Edu.</p>
10192
10193 <p>To make sure firmware deb packages with a license questions are not
10194 activated without asking if the license is accepted, I extended
10195 hw-detect to look for preinst scripts in the firmware packages, and
10196 run these before activating the firmware during installation.  The
10197 license question is asked using debconf in the preinst, so this should
10198 solve the issue for the firmware packages I have looked at so far.</p>
10199
10200 <p>If you want to discuss the details of these features, please
10201 contact us on debian-boot@lists.debian.org.</p>
10202
10203       </div>
10204       <div class="tags">
10205
10206
10207         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>.
10208
10209
10210       </div>
10211     </div>
10212     <div class="padding"></div>
10213
10214     <div class="entry">
10215       <div class="title">
10216         <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>
10217       </div>
10218       <div class="date">
10219         19th May 2010
10220       </div>
10221       <div class="body">
10222         <p>Today, the last piece of the puzzle for roaming laptops in Debian
10223 Edu finally entered the Debian archive.  Today, the new
10224 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/libp/libpam-mklocaluser.html">libpam-mklocaluser</a>
10225 package was accepted.  Two days ago, two other pieces was accepted
10226 into unstable.  The
10227 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/p/pam-python.html">pam-python</a>
10228 package needed by libpam-mklocaluser, and the
10229 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/s/sssd.html">sssd</a> package
10230 passed NEW on Monday.  In addition, the
10231 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/libp/libpam-ccreds.html">libpam-ccreds</a>
10232 package we need is in experimental (version 10-4) since Saturday, and
10233 hopefully will be moved to unstable soon.</p>
10234
10235 <p>This collection of packages allow for two different setups for
10236 roaming laptops.  The traditional setup would be using libpam-ccreds,
10237 nscd and libpam-mklocaluser with LDAP or Kerberos authentication,
10238 which should work out of the box if the configuration changes proposed
10239 for nscd in <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/485282">BTS report
10240 #485282</a> is implemented.  The alternative setup is to use sssd with
10241 libpam-mklocaluser to connect to LDAP or Kerberos and let sssd take
10242 care of the caching of passwords and group information.</p>
10243
10244 <p>I have so far been unable to get sssd to work with the LDAP server
10245 at the University, but suspect the issue is some SSL/GnuTLS related
10246 problem with the server certificate.  I plan to update the Debian
10247 package to version 1.2, which is scheduled for next week, and hope to
10248 find time to make sure the next release will include both the
10249 Debian/Ubuntu specific patches.  Upstream is friendly and responsive,
10250 and I am sure we will find a good solution.</p>
10251
10252 <p>The idea is to set up the roaming laptops to authenticate using
10253 LDAP or Kerberos and create a local user with home directory in /home/
10254 when a usre in LDAP logs in via KDM or GDM for the first time, and
10255 cache the password for offline checking, as well as caching group
10256 memberhips and other relevant LDAP information.  The
10257 libpam-mklocaluser package was created to make sure the local home
10258 directory is in /home/, instead of /site/server/directory/ which would
10259 be the home directory if pam_mkhomedir was used.  To avoid confusion
10260 with support requests and configuration, we do not want local laptops
10261 to have users in a path that is used for the same users home directory
10262 on the home directory servers.</p>
10263
10264 <p>One annoying problem with gdm is that it do not show the PAM
10265 message passed to the user from libpam-mklocaluser when the local user
10266 is created.  Instead gdm simply reject the login with some generic
10267 message.  The message is shown in kdm, ssh and login, so I guess it is
10268 a bug in gdm.  Have not investigated if there is some other message
10269 type that can be used instead to get gdm to also show the message.</p>
10270
10271 <p>If you want to help out with implementing this for Debian Edu,
10272 please contact us on debian-edu@lists.debian.org.</p>
10273
10274       </div>
10275       <div class="tags">
10276
10277
10278         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">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>.
10279
10280
10281       </div>
10282     </div>
10283     <div class="padding"></div>
10284
10285     <div class="entry">
10286       <div class="title">
10287         <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>
10288       </div>
10289       <div class="date">
10290         14th May 2010
10291       </div>
10292       <div class="body">
10293         <p>Since this evening, parallel booting is the default in
10294 Debian/unstable for machines using dependency based boot sequencing.
10295 Apparently the testing of concurrent booting has been wider than
10296 expected, if I am to believe the
10297 <a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2010/05/msg00122.html">input
10298 on debian-devel@</a>, and I concluded a few days ago to move forward
10299 with the feature this weekend, to give us some time to detect any
10300 remaining problems before Squeeze is frozen.  If serious problems are
10301 detected, it is simple to change the default back to sequential boot.
10302 The upload of the new sysvinit package also activate a new upstream
10303 version.</p>
10304
10305 More information about
10306 <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/LSBInitScripts/DependencyBasedBoot">dependency
10307 based boot sequencing</a> is available from the Debian wiki.  It is
10308 currently possible to disable parallel booting when one run into
10309 problems caused by it, by adding this line to /etc/default/rcS:</p>
10310
10311 <blockquote><pre>
10312 CONCURRENCY=none
10313 </pre></blockquote>
10314
10315 <p>If you report any problems with dependencies in init.d scripts to
10316 the BTS, please usertag the report to get it to show up at
10317 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/pkgreport.cgi?users=initscripts-ng-devel@lists.alioth.debian.org">the
10318 list of usertagged bugs related to this</a>.</p>
10319
10320       </div>
10321       <div class="tags">
10322
10323
10324         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>.
10325
10326
10327       </div>
10328     </div>
10329     <div class="padding"></div>
10330
10331     <div class="entry">
10332       <div class="title">
10333         <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>
10334       </div>
10335       <div class="date">
10336         14th May 2010
10337       </div>
10338       <div class="body">
10339         <p>In the recent Debian Edu versions, the
10340 <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/HowTo/SiteSummary">sitesummary
10341 system</a> is used to keep track of the machines in the school
10342 network.  Each machine will automatically report its status to the
10343 central server after boot and once per night.  The network setup is
10344 also reported, and using this information it is possible to get the
10345 MAC address of all network interfaces in the machines.  This is useful
10346 to update the DHCP configuration.</p>
10347
10348 <p>To give some idea how to use sitesummary, here is a one-liner to
10349 ist all MAC addresses of all machines reporting to sitesummary.  Run
10350 this on the collector host:</p>
10351
10352 <blockquote><pre>
10353 perl -MSiteSummary -e 'for_all_hosts(sub { print join(" ", get_macaddresses(shift)), "\n"; });'
10354 </pre></blockquote>
10355
10356 <p>This will list all MAC addresses assosiated with all machine, one
10357 line per machine and with space between the MAC addresses.</p>
10358
10359 <p>To allow system administrators easier job at adding static DHCP
10360 addresses for hosts, it would be possible to extend this to fetch
10361 machine information from sitesummary and update the DHCP and DNS
10362 tables in LDAP using this information.  Such tool is unfortunately not
10363 written yet.</p>
10364
10365       </div>
10366       <div class="tags">
10367
10368
10369         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>.
10370
10371
10372       </div>
10373     </div>
10374     <div class="padding"></div>
10375
10376     <div class="entry">
10377       <div class="title">
10378         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/systemd__an_interesting_alternative_to_upstart.html">systemd, an interesting alternative to upstart</a>
10379       </div>
10380       <div class="date">
10381         13th May 2010
10382       </div>
10383       <div class="body">
10384         <p>The last few days a new boot system called
10385 <a href="http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/systemd">systemd</a>
10386 has been
10387 <a href="http://0pointer.de/blog/projects/systemd.html">introduced</a>
10388
10389 to the free software world.  I have not yet had time to play around
10390 with it, but it seem to be a very interesting alternative to
10391 <a href="http://upstart.ubuntu.com/">upstart</a>, and might prove to be
10392 a good alternative for Debian when we are able to switch to an event
10393 based boot system.  Tollef is
10394 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/580814">in the process</a> of getting
10395 systemd into Debian, and I look forward to seeing how well it work.  I
10396 like the fact that systemd handles init.d scripts with dependency
10397 information natively, allowing them to run in parallel where upstart
10398 at the moment do not.</p>
10399
10400 <p>Unfortunately do systemd have the same problem as upstart regarding
10401 platform support.  It only work on recent Linux kernels, and also need
10402 some new kernel features enabled to function properly.  This means
10403 kFreeBSD and Hurd ports of Debian will need a port or a different boot
10404 system.  Not sure how that will be handled if systemd proves to be the
10405 way forward.</p>
10406
10407 <p>In the mean time, based on the
10408 <a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2010/05/msg00122.html">input
10409 on debian-devel@</a> regarding parallel booting in Debian, I have
10410 decided to enable full parallel booting as the default in Debian as
10411 soon as possible (probably this weekend or early next week), to see if
10412 there are any remaining serious bugs in the init.d dependencies.  A
10413 new version of the sysvinit package implementing this change is
10414 already in experimental.  If all go well, Squeeze will be released
10415 with parallel booting enabled by default.</p>
10416
10417       </div>
10418       <div class="tags">
10419
10420
10421         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>.
10422
10423
10424       </div>
10425     </div>
10426     <div class="padding"></div>
10427
10428     <div class="entry">
10429       <div class="title">
10430         <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>
10431       </div>
10432       <div class="date">
10433          6th May 2010
10434       </div>
10435       <div class="body">
10436         <p>These days, the init.d script dependencies in Squeeze are quite
10437 complete, so complete that it is actually possible to run all the
10438 init.d scripts in parallell based on these dependencies.  If you want
10439 to test your Squeeze system, make sure
10440 <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/LSBInitScripts/DependencyBasedBoot">dependency
10441 based boot sequencing</a> is enabled, and add this line to
10442 /etc/default/rcS:</p>
10443
10444 <blockquote><pre>
10445 CONCURRENCY=makefile
10446 </pre></blockquote>
10447
10448 <p>That is it.  It will cause sysv-rc to use the startpar tool to run
10449 scripts in parallel using the dependency information stored in
10450 /etc/init.d/.depend.boot, /etc/init.d/.depend.start and
10451 /etc/init.d/.depend.stop to order the scripts.  Startpar is configured
10452 to try to start the kdm and gdm scripts as early as possible, and will
10453 start the facilities required by kdm or gdm as early as possible to
10454 make this happen.</p>
10455
10456 <p>Give it a try, and see if you like the result.  If some services
10457 fail to start properly, it is most likely because they have incomplete
10458 init.d script dependencies in their startup script (or some of their
10459 dependent scripts have incomplete dependencies).  Report bugs and get
10460 the package maintainers to fix it. :)</p>
10461
10462 <p>Running scripts in parallel could be the default in Debian when we
10463 manage to get the init.d script dependencies complete and correct.  I
10464 expect we will get there in Squeeze+1, if we get manage to test and
10465 fix the remaining issues.</p>
10466
10467 <p>If you report any problems with dependencies in init.d scripts to
10468 the BTS, please usertag the report to get it to show up at
10469 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/pkgreport.cgi?users=initscripts-ng-devel@lists.alioth.debian.org">the
10470 list of usertagged bugs related to this</a>.</p>
10471
10472       </div>
10473       <div class="tags">
10474
10475
10476         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>.
10477
10478
10479       </div>
10480     </div>
10481     <div class="padding"></div>
10482
10483     <div class="entry">
10484       <div class="title">
10485         <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>
10486       </div>
10487       <div class="date">
10488          2nd May 2010
10489       </div>
10490       <div class="body">
10491         <p>One interesting feature in Active Directory, is the ability to
10492 create a new user with an expired password, and thus force the user to
10493 change the password on the first login attempt.</p>
10494
10495 <p>I'm not quite sure how to do that with the LDAP setup in Debian
10496 Edu, but did some initial testing with a local account.  The account
10497 and password aging information is available in /etc/shadow, but
10498 unfortunately, it is not possible to specify an expiration time for
10499 passwords, only a maximum age for passwords.</p>
10500
10501 <p>A freshly created account (using adduser test) will have these
10502 settings in /etc/shadow:</p>
10503
10504 <blockquote><pre>
10505 root@tjener:~# chage -l test
10506 Last password change                                    : May 02, 2010
10507 Password expires                                        : never
10508 Password inactive                                       : never
10509 Account expires                                         : never
10510 Minimum number of days between password change          : 0
10511 Maximum number of days between password change          : 99999
10512 Number of days of warning before password expires       : 7
10513 root@tjener:~#
10514 </pre></blockquote>
10515
10516 <p>The only way I could come up with to create a user with an expired
10517 account, is to change the date of the last password change to the
10518 lowest value possible (January 1th 1970), and the maximum password age
10519 to the difference in days between that date and today.  To make it
10520 simple, I went for 30 years (30 * 365 = 10950) and January 2th (to
10521 avoid testing if 0 is a valid value).</p>
10522
10523 <p>After using these commands to set it up, it seem to work as
10524 intended:</p>
10525
10526 <blockquote><pre>
10527 root@tjener:~# chage -d 1 test; chage -M 10950 test
10528 root@tjener:~# chage -l test
10529 Last password change                                    : Jan 02, 1970
10530 Password expires                                        : never
10531 Password inactive                                       : never
10532 Account expires                                         : never
10533 Minimum number of days between password change          : 0
10534 Maximum number of days between password change          : 10950
10535 Number of days of warning before password expires       : 7
10536 root@tjener:~#
10537 </pre></blockquote>
10538
10539 <p>So far I have tested this with ssh and console, and kdm (in
10540 Squeeze) login, and all ask for a new password before login in the
10541 user (with ssh, I was thrown out and had to log in again).</p>
10542
10543 <p>Perhaps we should set up something similar for Debian Edu, to make
10544 sure only the user itself have the account password?</p>
10545
10546 <p>If you want to comment on or help out with implementing this for
10547 Debian Edu, please contact us on debian-edu@lists.debian.org.</p>
10548
10549 <p>Update 2010-05-02 17:20: Paul Tötterman tells me on IRC that the
10550 shadow(8) page in Debian/testing now state that setting the date of
10551 last password change to zero (0) will force the password to be changed
10552 on the first login.  This was not mentioned in the manual in Lenny, so
10553 I did not notice this in my initial testing.  I have tested it on
10554 Squeeze, and '<tt>chage -d 0 username</tt>' do work there.  I have not
10555 tested it on Lenny yet.</p>
10556
10557 <p>Update 2010-05-02-19:05: Jim Paris tells me via email that an
10558 equivalent command to expire a password is '<tt>passwd -e
10559 username</tt>', which insert zero into the date of the last password
10560 change.</p>
10561
10562       </div>
10563       <div class="tags">
10564
10565
10566         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">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>.
10567
10568
10569       </div>
10570     </div>
10571     <div class="padding"></div>
10572
10573     <div class="entry">
10574       <div class="title">
10575         <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>
10576       </div>
10577       <div class="date">
10578         28th April 2010
10579       </div>
10580       <div class="body">
10581         <p>For some years now, I have wondered how we should handle laptops in
10582 Debian Edu.  The Debian Edu infrastructure is mostly designed to
10583 handle stationary computers, and less suited for computers that come
10584 and go.</p>
10585
10586 <p>Now I finally believe I have an sensible idea on how to adjust
10587 Debian Edu for laptops, by introducing a new profile for them, for
10588 example called Roaming Workstations.  Here are my thought on this.
10589 The setup would consist of the following:</p>
10590
10591 <ul>
10592
10593  <li>During installation, the user name of the owner / primary user of
10594    the laptop is requested and a local home directory is set up for
10595    the user, with uid and gid information fetched from the LDAP
10596    server.  This allow the user to work also when offline.  The
10597    central home directory can be available in a subdirectory on
10598    request, for example mounted via CIFS.  It could be mounted
10599    automatically when a user log in while on the Debian Edu network,
10600    and unmounted when the machine is taken away (network down,
10601    hibernate, etc), it can be set up to do automatic mounting on
10602    request (using autofs), or perhaps some GUI button on the desktop
10603    can be used to access it when needed.  Perhaps it is enough to use
10604    the fish protocol in KDE?</li>
10605
10606  <li>Password checking is set up to use LDAP or Kerberos
10607    authentication when the machine is on the Debian Edu network, and
10608    to cache the password for offline checking when the machine unable
10609    to reach the LDAP or Kerberos server.  This can be done using
10610    <a href="http://www.padl.com/OSS/pam_ccreds.html">libpam-ccreds</a>
10611    or the Fedora developed
10612    <a href="https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Features/SSSD">System
10613    Security Services Daemon</a> packages.</li>
10614
10615  <li>File synchronisation with the central home directory is set up
10616    using a shared directory in both the local and the central home
10617    directory, using unison.</li>
10618
10619  <li>Printing should be set up to print to all printers broadcasting
10620    their existence on the local network, and should then work out of
10621    the box with CUPS.  For sites needing accurate printer quotas, some
10622    system with Kerberos authentication or printing via ssh could be
10623    implemented.</li>
10624
10625  <li>For users that should have local root access to their laptop,
10626    sudo should be used to allow this to the local user.</li>
10627
10628  <li>It would be nice if user and group information from LDAP is
10629    cached on the client, but given that there are entries for the
10630    local user and primary group in /etc/, it should not be needed.</li>
10631
10632 </ul>
10633
10634 <p>I believe all the pieces to implement this are in Debian/testing at
10635 the moment.  If we work quickly, we should be able to get this ready
10636 in time for the Squeeze release to freeze.  Some of the pieces need
10637 tweaking, like libpam-ccreds should get support for pam-auth-update
10638 (<a href="http://bugs.debian.org/566718">#566718</a>) and nslcd (or
10639 perhaps debian-edu-config) should get some integration code to stop
10640 its daemon when the LDAP server is unavailable to avoid long timeouts
10641 when disconnected from the net.  If we get Kerberos enabled, we need
10642 to make sure we avoid long timeouts there too.</p>
10643
10644 <p>If you want to help out with implementing this for Debian Edu,
10645 please contact us on debian-edu@lists.debian.org.</p>
10646
10647       </div>
10648       <div class="tags">
10649
10650
10651         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">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>.
10652
10653
10654       </div>
10655     </div>
10656     <div class="padding"></div>
10657
10658     <div class="entry">
10659       <div class="title">
10660         <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>
10661       </div>
10662       <div class="date">
10663         19th April 2010
10664       </div>
10665       <div class="body">
10666         <p>The last few weeks i have had the pleasure of reading a
10667 thought-provoking collection of essays by Cory Doctorow, on topics
10668 touching copyright, virtual worlds, the future of man when the
10669 conscience mind can be duplicated into a computer and many more. The
10670 book titled "Content: Selected Essays on Technology, Creativity,
10671 Copyright, and the Future of the Future" is available with few
10672 restrictions on the web, for example from
10673 <a href="http://craphound.com/content/">his own site</a>. I read the
10674 epub-version from
10675 <a href="http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2883">feedbooks</a> using
10676 <a href="http://www.fbreader.org/">fbreader</a> and my N810. I
10677 strongly recommend this book.</p>
10678
10679       </div>
10680       <div class="tags">
10681
10682
10683         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>.
10684
10685
10686       </div>
10687     </div>
10688     <div class="padding"></div>
10689
10690     <div class="entry">
10691       <div class="title">
10692         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Kerberos_for_Debian_Edu_Squeeze_.html">Kerberos for Debian Edu/Squeeze?</a>
10693       </div>
10694       <div class="date">
10695         14th April 2010
10696       </div>
10697       <div class="body">
10698         <p><a href="http://www.nuug.no/aktiviteter/20100413-kerberos/">Yesterdays
10699 NUUG presentation</a> about Kerberos was inspiring, and reminded me
10700 about the need to start using Kerberos in Skolelinux.  Setting up a
10701 Kerberos server seem to be straight forward, and if we get this in
10702 place a long time before the Squeeze version of Debian freezes, we
10703 have a chance to migrate Skolelinux away from NFSv3 for the home
10704 directories, and over to an architecture where the infrastructure do
10705 not have to trust IP addresses and machines, and instead can trust
10706 users and cryptographic keys instead.</p>
10707
10708 <p>A challenge will be integration and administration.  Is there a
10709 Kerberos implementation for Debian where one can control the
10710 administration access in Kerberos using LDAP groups?  With it, the
10711 school administration will have to maintain access control using flat
10712 files on the main server, which give a huge potential for errors.</p>
10713
10714 <p>A related question I would like to know is how well Kerberos and
10715 pam-ccreds (offline password check) work together.  Anyone know?</p>
10716
10717 <p>Next step will be to use Kerberos for access control in Lwat and
10718 Nagios.  I have no idea how much work that will be to implement.  We
10719 would also need to document how to integrate with Windows AD, as such
10720 shared network will require two Kerberos realms that need to cooperate
10721 to work properly.</p>
10722
10723 <p>I believe a good start would be to start using Kerberos on the
10724 skolelinux.no machines, and this way get ourselves experience with
10725 configuration and integration.  A natural starting point would be
10726 setting up ldap.skolelinux.no as the Kerberos server, and migrate the
10727 rest of the machines from PAM via LDAP to PAM via Kerberos one at the
10728 time.</p>
10729
10730 <p>If you would like to contribute to get this working in Skolelinux,
10731 I recommend you to see the video recording from yesterdays NUUG
10732 presentation, and start using Kerberos at home.  The video show show
10733 up in a few days.</p>
10734
10735       </div>
10736       <div class="tags">
10737
10738
10739         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">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>.
10740
10741
10742       </div>
10743     </div>
10744     <div class="padding"></div>
10745
10746     <div class="entry">
10747       <div class="title">
10748         <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>
10749       </div>
10750       <div class="date">
10751          6th March 2010
10752       </div>
10753       <div class="body">
10754         <p>6 years ago, as part of the Debian Edu development I am involved
10755 in, I asked for a hook in the kdm and gdm setup to run scripts as root
10756 when the user log out.  A bug was submitted against the xfree86-common
10757 package in 2004 (<a href="http://bugs.debian.org/230422">#230422</a>),
10758 and revisited every time Debian Edu was working on a new release.
10759 Today, this finally paid off.</p>
10760
10761 <p>The framework for this feature was today commited to the git
10762 repositry for the xorg package, and the git repository for xdm has
10763 been updated to use this framework.  Next on my agenda is to make sure
10764 kdm and gdm also add code to use this framework.</p>
10765
10766 <p>In Debian Edu, we want to ability to run commands as root when the
10767 user log out, to get rid of runaway processes and do general cleanup
10768 after a user.  With this framework in place, we finally can do that in
10769 a generic way that work with all display managers using this
10770 framework.  My goal is to get all display managers in Debian use it,
10771 similar to how they use the Xsession.d framework today.<p>
10772
10773       </div>
10774       <div class="tags">
10775
10776
10777         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">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>.
10778
10779
10780       </div>
10781     </div>
10782     <div class="padding"></div>
10783
10784     <div class="entry">
10785       <div class="title">
10786         <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>
10787       </div>
10788       <div class="date">
10789         11th February 2010
10790       </div>
10791       <div class="body">
10792         <p>On Tuesday, the Debian/Lenny based version of
10793 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Skolelinux</a> was finally
10794 shipped.  This was a major leap forward for the project, and I am very
10795 pleased that we finally got the release wrapped up.  Work on the first
10796 point release starts imediately, as we plan to get that one out a
10797 month after the major release, to include all fixes for bugs we found
10798 and fixed too late in the release process to include last Tuesday.</p>
10799
10800 <p>Perhaps it even is time for some partying?</p>
10801
10802 <p>After this first point release, my plan is to focus again on the
10803 next major release, based on Squeeze.  We will try to get as many of
10804 the fixes we need into the official Debian packages before the freeze,
10805 and have just a few weeks or months to make it happen.</p>
10806
10807       </div>
10808       <div class="tags">
10809
10810
10811         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">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>.
10812
10813
10814       </div>
10815     </div>
10816     <div class="padding"></div>
10817
10818     <div class="entry">
10819       <div class="title">
10820         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Automatic_Munin_and_Nagios_configuration.html">Automatic Munin and Nagios configuration</a>
10821       </div>
10822       <div class="date">
10823         27th January 2010
10824       </div>
10825       <div class="body">
10826         <p>One of the new features in the next Debian/Lenny based release of
10827 Debian Edu/Skolelinux, which is scheduled for release in the next few
10828 days, is automatic configuration of the service monitoring system
10829 Nagios.  The previous release had automatic configuration of trend
10830 analysis using Munin, and this Lenny based release take that a step
10831 further.</p>
10832
10833 <p>When installing a Debian Edu Main-server, it is automatically
10834 configured as a Munin and Nagios server.  In addition, it is
10835 configured to be a server for the
10836 <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/HowTo/SiteSummary">SiteSummary
10837 system</a> I have written for use in Debian Edu.  The SiteSummary
10838 system is inspired by a system used by the University of Oslo where I
10839 work.  In short, the system provide a centralised collector of
10840 information about the computers on the network, and a client on each
10841 computer submitting information to this collector.  This allow for
10842 automatic information on which packages are installed on each machine,
10843 which kernel the machines are using, what kind of configuration the
10844 packages got etc.  This also allow us to automatically generate Munin
10845 and Nagios configuration.</p>
10846
10847 <p>All computers reporting to the sitesummary collector with the
10848 munin-node package installed is automatically enabled as a Munin
10849 client and graphs from the statistics collected from that machine show
10850 up automatically on http://www/munin/ on the Main-server.</p>
10851
10852 <p>All non-laptop computers reporting to the sitesummary collector are
10853 automatically monitored for network presence (ping and any network
10854 services detected).  In addition, all computers (also laptops) with
10855 the nagios-nrpe-server package installed and configured the way
10856 sitesummary would configure it, are monitored for full disks, software
10857 raid status, swap free and other checks that need to run locally on
10858 the machine.</p>
10859
10860 <p>The result is that the administrator on a school using Debian Edu
10861 based on Lenny will be able to check the health of his installation
10862 with one look at the Nagios settings, without having to spend any time
10863 keeping the Nagios configuration up-to-date.</p>
10864
10865 <p>The only configuration one need to do to get Nagios up and running
10866 is to set the password used to get access via HTTP.  The system
10867 administrator need to run "<tt>htpasswd /etc/nagios3/htpasswd.users
10868 nagiosadmin</tt>" to create a nagiosadmin user and set a password for
10869 it to be able to log into the Nagios web pages.  After that,
10870 everything is taken care of.</p>
10871
10872       </div>
10873       <div class="tags">
10874
10875
10876         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">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>.
10877
10878
10879       </div>
10880     </div>
10881     <div class="padding"></div>
10882
10883     <div class="entry">
10884       <div class="title">
10885         <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>
10886       </div>
10887       <div class="date">
10888         12th August 2009
10889       </div>
10890       <div class="body">
10891         <p>Just for fun, I did a search right now on Google for a few file ODF
10892 and MS Office based formats (not to be mistaken for ISO or ECMA
10893 OOXML), to get an idea of their relative usage.  I searched using
10894 'filetype:odt' and equvalent terms, and got these results:</P>
10895
10896 <table>
10897 <tr><th>Type</th><th>ODF</th><th>MS Office</th></tr>
10898 <tr><td>Tekst</td> <td>odt:282000</td> <td>docx:308000</td></tr>
10899 <tr><td>Presentasjon</td> <td>odp:75600</td> <td>pptx:183000</td></tr>
10900 <tr><td>Regneark</td> <td>ods:26500     </td> <td>xlsx:145000</td></tr>
10901 </table>
10902
10903 <p>Next, I added a 'site:no' limit to get the numbers for Norway, and
10904 got these numbers:</p>
10905
10906 <table>
10907 <tr><th>Type</th><th>ODF</th><th>MS Office</th></tr>
10908 <tr><td>Tekst</td> <td>odt:2480 </td> <td>docx:4460</td></tr>
10909 <tr><td>Presentasjon</td> <td>odp:299   </td> <td>pptx:741</td></tr>
10910 <tr><td>Regneark</td> <td>ods:187       </td> <td>xlsx:372</td></tr>
10911 </table>
10912
10913 <p>I wonder how these numbers change over time.</p>
10914
10915 <p>I am aware of Google returning different results and numbers based
10916 on where the search is done, so I guess these numbers will differ if
10917 they are conduced in another country.  Because of this, I did the same
10918 search from a machine in California, USA, a few minutes after the
10919 search done from a machine here in Norway.</p>
10920
10921
10922 <table>
10923 <tr><th>Type</th><th>ODF</th><th>MS Office</th></tr>
10924 <tr><td>Tekst</td> <td>odt:129000</td> <td>docx:308000</td></tr>
10925 <tr><td>Presentasjon</td> <td>odp:44200</td> <td>pptx:93900</td></tr>
10926 <tr><td>Regneark</td> <td>ods:26500     </td> <td>xlsx:82400</td></tr>
10927 </table>
10928
10929 <p>And with 'site:no':
10930
10931 <table>
10932 <tr><th>Type</th><th>ODF</th><th>MS Office</th></tr>
10933 <tr><td>Tekst</td> <td>odt:2480</td> <td>docx:3410</td></tr>
10934 <tr><td>Presentasjon</td> <td>odp:175</td> <td>pptx:604</td></tr>
10935 <tr><td>Regneark</td> <td>ods:186       </td> <td>xlsx:296</td></tr>
10936 </table>
10937
10938 <p>Interesting difference, not sure what to conclude from these
10939 numbers.</p>
10940
10941       </div>
10942       <div class="tags">
10943
10944
10945         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>.
10946
10947
10948       </div>
10949     </div>
10950     <div class="padding"></div>
10951
10952     <div class="entry">
10953       <div class="title">
10954         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/ISO_still_hope_to_fix_OOXML.html">ISO still hope to fix OOXML</a>
10955       </div>
10956       <div class="date">
10957          8th August 2009
10958       </div>
10959       <div class="body">
10960         <p>According to <a
10961 href="http://twerner.blogspot.com/2009/08/defects-of-office-open-xml.html">a
10962 blog post from Torsten Werner</a>, the current defect report for ISO
10963 29500 (ISO OOXML) is 809 pages.  His interesting point is that the
10964 defect report is 71 pages more than the full ODF 1.1 specification.
10965 Personally I find it more interesting that ISO still believe ISO OOXML
10966 can be fixed in ISO.  Personally, I believe it is broken beyon repair,
10967 and I completely lack any trust in ISO for being able to get anywhere
10968 close to solving the problems.  I was part of the Norwegian committee
10969 involved in the OOXML fast track process, and was not impressed with
10970 Standard Norway and ISO in how they handled it.</p>
10971
10972 <p>These days I focus on ODF instead, which seem like a specification
10973 with the future ahead of it.  We are working in NUUG to organise a ODF
10974 seminar this autumn.</p>
10975
10976       </div>
10977       <div class="tags">
10978
10979
10980         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>.
10981
10982
10983       </div>
10984     </div>
10985     <div class="padding"></div>
10986
10987     <div class="entry">
10988       <div class="title">
10989         <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>
10990       </div>
10991       <div class="date">
10992         27th July 2009
10993       </div>
10994       <div class="body">
10995         <p>Since this evening, with the upload of sysvinit version 2.87dsf-2,
10996 and the upload of insserv version 1.12.0-10 yesterday, Debian unstable
10997 have been migrated to using dependency based boot sequencing.  This
10998 conclude work me and others have been doing for the last three days.
10999 It feels great to see this finally part of the default Debian
11000 installation.  Now we just need to weed out the last few problems that
11001 are bound to show up, to get everything ready for Squeeze.</p>
11002
11003 <p>The next step is migrating /sbin/init from sysvinit to upstart, and
11004 fixing the more fundamental problem of handing the event based
11005 non-predictable kernel in the early boot.</p>
11006
11007       </div>
11008       <div class="tags">
11009
11010
11011         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>.
11012
11013
11014       </div>
11015     </div>
11016     <div class="padding"></div>
11017
11018     <div class="entry">
11019       <div class="title">
11020         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Taking_over_sysvinit_development.html">Taking over sysvinit development</a>
11021       </div>
11022       <div class="date">
11023         22nd July 2009
11024       </div>
11025       <div class="body">
11026         <p>After several years of frustration with the lack of activity from
11027 the existing sysvinit upstream developer, I decided a few weeks ago to
11028 take over the package and become the new upstream.  The number of
11029 patches to track for the Debian package was becoming a burden, and the
11030 lack of synchronization between the distribution made it hard to keep
11031 the package up to date.</p>
11032
11033 <p>On the new sysvinit team is the SuSe maintainer Dr. Werner Fink,
11034 and my Debian co-maintainer Kel Modderman.  About 10 days ago, I made
11035 a new upstream tarball with version number 2.87dsf (for Debian, SuSe
11036 and Fedora), based on the patches currently in use in these
11037 distributions.  We Debian maintainers plan to move to this tarball as
11038 the new upstream as soon as we find time to do the merge.  Since the
11039 new tarball was created, we agreed with Werner at SuSe to make a new
11040 upstream project at <a href="http://savannah.nongnu.org/">Savannah</a>, and continue
11041 development there.  The project is registered and currently waiting
11042 for approval by the Savannah administrators, and as soon as it is
11043 approved, we will import the old versions from svn and continue
11044 working on the future release.</p>
11045
11046 <p>It is a bit ironic that this is done now, when some of the involved
11047 distributions are moving to upstart as a syvinit replacement.</p>
11048
11049       </div>
11050       <div class="tags">
11051
11052
11053         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>.
11054
11055
11056       </div>
11057     </div>
11058     <div class="padding"></div>
11059
11060     <div class="entry">
11061       <div class="title">
11062         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_boots_quicker_and_quicker.html">Debian boots quicker and quicker</a>
11063       </div>
11064       <div class="date">
11065         24th June 2009
11066       </div>
11067       <div class="body">
11068         <p>I spent Monday and tuesday this week in London with a lot of the
11069 people involved in the boot system on Debian and Ubuntu, to see if we
11070 could find more ways to speed up the boot system.  This was an Ubuntu
11071 funded
11072 <a href="https://wiki.ubuntu.com/FoundationsTeam/BootPerformance/DebianUbuntuSprint">developer
11073 gathering</a>. It was quite productive.  We also discussed the future
11074 of boot systems, and ways to handle the increasing number of boot
11075 issues introduced by the Linux kernel becoming more and more
11076 asynchronous and event base.  The Ubuntu approach using udev and
11077 upstart might be a good way forward.  Time will show.</p>
11078
11079 <p>Anyway, there are a few ways at the moment to speed up the boot
11080 process in Debian.  All of these should be applied to get a quick
11081 boot:</p>
11082
11083 <ul>
11084
11085 <li>Use dash as /bin/sh.</li>
11086
11087 <li>Disable the init.d/hwclock*.sh scripts and make sure the hardware
11088    clock is in UTC.</li>
11089
11090 <li>Install and activate the insserv package to enable
11091    <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/LSBInitScripts/DependencyBasedBoot">dependency
11092    based boot sequencing</a>, and enable concurrent booting.</li>
11093
11094 </ul>
11095
11096 These points are based on the Google summer of code work done by
11097 <a href="http://initscripts-ng.alioth.debian.org/soc2006-bootsystem/">Carlos
11098 Villegas</a>.
11099
11100 <p>Support for makefile-style concurrency during boot was uploaded to
11101 unstable yesterday.  When we tested it, we were able to cut 6 seconds
11102 from the boot sequence.  It depend on very correct dependency
11103 declaration in all init.d scripts, so I expect us to find edge cases
11104 where the dependences in some scripts are slightly wrong when we start
11105 using this.</p>
11106
11107 <p>On our IRC channel for this effort, #pkg-sysvinit, a new idea was
11108 introduced by Raphael Geissert today, one that could affect the
11109 startup speed as well.  Instead of starting some scripts concurrently
11110 from rcS.d/ and another set of scripts from rc2.d/, it would be
11111 possible to run a of them in the same process.  A quick way to test
11112 this would be to enable insserv and run 'mv /etc/rc2.d/S* /etc/rcS.d/;
11113 insserv'.  Will need to test if that work. :)</p>
11114
11115       </div>
11116       <div class="tags">
11117
11118
11119         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>.
11120
11121
11122       </div>
11123     </div>
11124     <div class="padding"></div>
11125
11126     <div class="entry">
11127       <div class="title">
11128         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/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>
11129       </div>
11130       <div class="date">
11131          2nd May 2009
11132       </div>
11133       <div class="body">
11134         <p>There are two software projects that have had huge influence on the
11135 quality of free software, and I wanted to mention both in case someone
11136 do not yet know them.</p>
11137
11138 <p>The first one is <a href="http://valgrind.org/">valgrind</a>, a
11139 tool to detect and expose errors in the memory handling of programs.
11140 It is easy to use, all one need to do is to run 'valgrind program',
11141 and it will report any problems on stdout.  It is even better if the
11142 program include debug information.  With debug information, it is able
11143 to report the source file name and line number where the problem
11144 occurs.  It can report things like 'reading past memory block in file
11145 X line N, the memory block was allocated in file Y, line M', and
11146 'using uninitialised value in control logic'.  This tool has made it
11147 trivial to investigate reproducible crash bugs in programs, and have
11148 reduced the number of this kind of bugs in free software a lot.
11149
11150 <p>The second one is
11151 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coverity">Coverity</a> which is
11152 a source code checker.  It is able to process the source of a program
11153 and find problems in the logic without running the program.  It
11154 started out as the Stanford Checker and became well known when it was
11155 used to find bugs in the Linux kernel.  It is now a commercial tool
11156 and the company behind it is running
11157 <a href="http://www.scan.coverity.com/">a community service</a> for the
11158 free software community, where a lot of free software projects get
11159 their source checked for free.  Several thousand defects have been
11160 found and fixed so far.  It can find errors like 'lock L taken in file
11161 X line N is never released if exiting in line M', or 'the code in file
11162 Y lines O to P can never be executed'.  The projects included in the
11163 community service project have managed to get rid of a lot of
11164 reliability problems thanks to Coverity.</p>
11165
11166 <p>I believe tools like this, that are able to automatically find
11167 errors in the source, are vital to improve the quality of software and
11168 make sure we can get rid of the crashing and failing software we are
11169 surrounded by today.</p>
11170
11171       </div>
11172       <div class="tags">
11173
11174
11175         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>.
11176
11177
11178       </div>
11179     </div>
11180     <div class="padding"></div>
11181
11182     <div class="entry">
11183       <div class="title">
11184         <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>
11185       </div>
11186       <div class="date">
11187         28th April 2009
11188       </div>
11189       <div class="body">
11190         <p>Julien Blache
11191 <a href="http://blog.technologeek.org/2009/04/12/214">claim that no
11192 patch is better than a useless patch</a>.  I completely disagree, as a
11193 patch allow one to discuss a concrete and proposed solution, and also
11194 prove that the issue at hand is important enough for someone to spent
11195 time on fixing it.  No patch do not provide any of these positive
11196 properties.</p>
11197
11198       </div>
11199       <div class="tags">
11200
11201
11202         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>.
11203
11204
11205       </div>
11206     </div>
11207     <div class="padding"></div>
11208
11209     <div class="entry">
11210       <div class="title">
11211         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Recording_video_from_cron_using_VLC.html">Recording video from cron using VLC</a>
11212       </div>
11213       <div class="date">
11214          5th April 2009
11215       </div>
11216       <div class="body">
11217         <p>One think I have wanted to figure out for a along time is how to
11218 run vlc from cron to do recording of video streams on the net.  The
11219 task is trivial with mplayer, but I do not really trust the security
11220 of mplayer (it crashes too often on strange input), and thus prefer
11221 vlc.  I finally found a way to do it today.  I spent an hour or so
11222 searching the web for recipes and reading the documentation.  The
11223 hardest part was to get rid of the GUI window, but after finding the
11224 dummy interface, the command line finally presented itself:</p>
11225
11226 <blockquote><pre>URL=http://www.ping.uio.no/video/rms-oslo_2009.ogg
11227 SAVEFILE=rms.ogg
11228 DISPLAY= vlc -q $URL \
11229   --sout="#duplicate{dst=std{access=file,url='$SAVEFILE'},dst=nodisplay}" \
11230   --intf=dummy</pre></blockquote>
11231
11232 <p>The command stream the URL and store it in the SAVEFILE by
11233 duplicating the output stream to "nodisplay" and the file, using the
11234 dummy interface.  The dummy interface and the nodisplay output make
11235 sure no X interface is needed.</p>
11236
11237 <p>The cron job then need to start this job with the appropriate URL
11238 and file name to save, sleep for the duration wanted, and then kill
11239 the vlc process with SIGTERM.  Here is a complete script
11240 <tt>vlc-record</tt> to use from <tt>at</tt> or <tt>cron</tt>:</p>
11241
11242 <blockquote><pre>#!/bin/sh
11243 set -e
11244 URL="$1"
11245 SAVEFILE="$2"
11246 DURATION="$3"
11247 DISPLAY= vlc -q "$URL" \
11248   --sout="#duplicate{dst=std{access=file,url='$SAVEFILE'},dst=nodisplay}" \
11249   --intf=dummy < /dev/null > /dev/null 2>&1 &
11250 pid=$!
11251 sleep $DURATION
11252 kill $pid
11253 wait $pid</pre></blockquote>
11254
11255       </div>
11256       <div class="tags">
11257
11258
11259         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>.
11260
11261
11262       </div>
11263     </div>
11264     <div class="padding"></div>
11265
11266     <div class="entry">
11267       <div class="title">
11268         <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>
11269       </div>
11270       <div class="date">
11271         30th March 2009
11272       </div>
11273       <div class="body">
11274         <p>Where I work at the University of Oslo, one decision stand out as a
11275 very good one to form a long lived computer infrastructure.  It is the
11276 simple one, lost by many in todays computer industry: Standardize on
11277 open network protocols and open exchange/storage formats, not applications.
11278 Applications come and go, while protocols and files tend to stay, and
11279 thus one want to make it easy to change application and vendor, while
11280 avoiding conversion costs and locking users to a specific platform or
11281 application.</p>
11282
11283 <p>This approach make it possible to replace the client applications
11284 independently of the server applications.  One can even allow users to
11285 use several different applications as long as they handle the selected
11286 protocol and format.  In the normal case, only one client application
11287 is recommended and users only get help if they choose to use this
11288 application, but those that want to deviate from the easy path are not
11289 blocked from doing so.</p>
11290
11291 <p>It also allow us to replace the server side without forcing the
11292 users to replace their applications, and thus allow us to select the
11293 best server implementation at any moment, when scale and resouce
11294 requirements change.</p>
11295
11296 <p>I strongly recommend standardizing - on open network protocols and
11297 open formats, but I would never recommend standardizing on a single
11298 application that do not use open network protocol or open formats.</p>
11299
11300       </div>
11301       <div class="tags">
11302
11303
11304         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>.
11305
11306
11307       </div>
11308     </div>
11309     <div class="padding"></div>
11310
11311     <div class="entry">
11312       <div class="title">
11313         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Returning_from_Skolelinux_developer_gathering.html">Returning from Skolelinux developer gathering</a>
11314       </div>
11315       <div class="date">
11316         29th March 2009
11317       </div>
11318       <div class="body">
11319         <p>I'm sitting on the train going home from this weekends Debian
11320 Edu/Skolelinux development gathering.  I got a bit done tuning the
11321 desktop, and looked into the dynamic service location protocol
11322 implementation avahi.  It look like it could be useful for us.  Almost
11323 30 people participated, and I believe it was a great environment to
11324 get to know the Skolelinux system.  Walter Bender, involved in the
11325 development of the Sugar educational platform, presented his stuff and
11326 also helped me improve my OLPC installation.  He also showed me that
11327 his Turtle Art application can be used in standalone mode, and we
11328 agreed that I would help getting it packaged for Debian.  As a
11329 standalone application it would be great for Debian Edu.  We also
11330 tried to get the video conferencing working with two OLPCs, but that
11331 proved to be too hard for us.  The application seem to need more work
11332 before it is ready for me.  I look forward to getting home and relax
11333 now. :)</p>
11334
11335       </div>
11336       <div class="tags">
11337
11338
11339         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>.
11340
11341
11342       </div>
11343     </div>
11344     <div class="padding"></div>
11345
11346     <div class="entry">
11347       <div class="title">
11348         <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>
11349       </div>
11350       <div class="date">
11351         29th March 2009
11352       </div>
11353       <div class="body">
11354         <p>The state of standardized LDAP schemas on Linux is far from
11355 optimal.  There is RFC 2307 documenting one way to store NIS maps in
11356 LDAP, and a modified version of this normally called RFC 2307bis, with
11357 some modifications to be compatible with Active Directory.  The RFC
11358 specification handle the content of a lot of system databases, but do
11359 not handle DNS zones and DHCP configuration.</p>
11360
11361 <p>In <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu/Skolelinux</a>,
11362 we would like to store information about users, SMB clients/hosts,
11363 filegroups, netgroups (users and hosts), DHCP and DNS configuration,
11364 and LTSP configuration in LDAP.  These objects have a lot in common,
11365 but with the current LDAP schemas it is not possible to have one
11366 object per entity.  For example, one need to have at least three LDAP
11367 objects for a given computer, one with the SMB related stuff, one with
11368 DNS information and another with DHCP information.  The schemas
11369 provided for DNS and DHCP are impossible to combine into one LDAP
11370 object.  In addition, it is impossible to implement quick queries for
11371 netgroup membership, because of the way NIS triples are implemented.
11372 It just do not scale.  I believe it is time for a few RFC
11373 specifications to cleam up this mess.</p>
11374
11375 <p>I would like to have one LDAP object representing each computer in
11376 the network, and this object can then keep the SMB (ie host key), DHCP
11377 (mac address/name) and DNS (name/IP address) settings in one place.
11378 It need to be efficently stored to make sure it scale well.</p>
11379
11380 <p>I would also like to have a quick way to map from a user or
11381 computer and to the net group this user or computer is a member.</p>
11382
11383 <p>Active Directory have done a better job than unix heads like myself
11384 in this regard, and the unix side need to catch up.  Time to start a
11385 new IETF work group?</p>
11386
11387       </div>
11388       <div class="tags">
11389
11390
11391         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>.
11392
11393
11394       </div>
11395     </div>
11396     <div class="padding"></div>
11397
11398     <div class="entry">
11399       <div class="title">
11400         <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>
11401       </div>
11402       <div class="date">
11403         28th February 2009
11404       </div>
11405       <div class="body">
11406         <p>At work, we have a few hundred Linux servers, and with that amount
11407 of hardware it is important to keep track of when the hardware support
11408 contract expire for each server.  We have a machine (and service)
11409 register, which until recently did not contain much useful besides the
11410 machine room location and contact information for the system owner for
11411 each machine.  To make it easier for us to track support contract
11412 status, I've recently spent time on extending the machine register to
11413 include information about when the support contract expire, and to tag
11414 machines with expired contracts to make it easy to get a list of such
11415 machines.  I extended a perl script already being used to import
11416 information about machines into the register, to also do some screen
11417 scraping off the sites of Dell, HP and IBM (our majority of machines
11418 are from these vendors), and automatically check the support status
11419 for the relevant machines.  This make the support status information
11420 easily available and I hope it will make it easier for the computer
11421 owner to know when to get new hardware or renew the support contract.
11422 The result of this work documented that 27% of the machines in the
11423 registry is without a support contract, and made it very easy to find
11424 them.  27% might seem like a lot, but I see it more as the case of us
11425 using machines a bit longer than the 3 years a normal support contract
11426 last, to have test machines and a platform for less important
11427 services.  After all, the machines without a contract are working fine
11428 at the moment and the lack of contract is only a problem if any of
11429 them break down.  When that happen, we can either fix it using spare
11430 parts from other machines or move the service to another old
11431 machine.</p>
11432
11433 <p>I believe the code for screen scraping the Dell site was originally
11434 written by Trond Hasle Amundsen, and later adjusted by me and Morten
11435 Werner Forsbring.  The HP scraping was written by me after reading a
11436 nice article in ;login: about how to use WWW::Mechanize, and the IBM
11437 scraping was written by me based on the Dell code.  I know the HTML
11438 parsing could be done using nice libraries, but did not want to
11439 introduce more dependencies.  This is the current incarnation:</p>
11440
11441 <pre>
11442 use LWP::Simple;
11443 use POSIX;
11444 use WWW::Mechanize;
11445 use Date::Parse;
11446 [...]
11447 sub get_support_info {
11448     my ($machine, $model, $serial, $productnumber) = @_;
11449     my $str;
11450
11451     if ( $model =~ m/^Dell / ) {
11452         # fetch website from Dell support
11453         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";
11454         my $webpage = get($url);
11455         return undef unless ($webpage);
11456
11457         my $daysleft = -1;
11458         my @lines = split(/\n/, $webpage);
11459         foreach my $line (@lines) {
11460             next unless ($line =~ m/Beskrivelse/);
11461             $line =~ s/&lt;[^>]+?>/;/gm;
11462             $line =~ s/^.+?;(Beskrivelse;)/$1/;
11463
11464             my @f = split(/\;/, $line);
11465             @f = @f[13 .. $#f];
11466             my $lastend = "";
11467             while ($f[3] eq "DELL") {
11468                 my ($type, $startstr, $endstr, $days) = @f[0, 5, 7, 10];
11469
11470                 my $start = POSIX::strftime("%Y-%m-%d",
11471                                             localtime(str2time($startstr)));
11472                 my $end = POSIX::strftime("%Y-%m-%d",
11473                                           localtime(str2time($endstr)));
11474                 $str .= "$type $start -> $end ";
11475                 @f = @f[14 .. $#f];
11476                 $lastend = $end if ($end gt $lastend);
11477             }
11478             my $today = POSIX::strftime("%Y-%m-%d", localtime(time));
11479             tag_machine_unsupported($machine)
11480                 if ($lastend lt $today);
11481         }
11482     } elsif ( $model =~ m/^HP / ) {
11483         my $mech = WWW::Mechanize->new();
11484         my $url =
11485             'http://www1.itrc.hp.com/service/ewarranty/warrantyInput.do';
11486         $mech->get($url);
11487         my $fields = {
11488             'BODServiceID' => 'NA',
11489             'RegisteredPurchaseDate' => '',
11490             'country' => 'NO',
11491             'productNumber' => $productnumber,
11492             'serialNumber1' => $serial,
11493         };
11494         $mech->submit_form( form_number => 2,
11495                             fields      => $fields );
11496         # Next step is screen scraping
11497         my $content = $mech->content();
11498
11499         $content =~ s/&lt;[^>]+?>/;/gm;
11500         $content =~ s/\s+/ /gm;
11501         $content =~ s/;\s*;/;;/gm;
11502         $content =~ s/;[\s;]+/;/gm;
11503
11504         my $today = POSIX::strftime("%Y-%m-%d", localtime(time));
11505
11506         while ($content =~ m/;Warranty Type;/) {
11507             my ($type, $status, $startstr, $stopstr) = $content =~
11508                 m/;Warranty Type;([^;]+);.+?;Status;(\w+);Start Date;([^;]+);End Date;([^;]+);/;
11509             $content =~ s/^.+?;Warranty Type;//;
11510             my $start = POSIX::strftime("%Y-%m-%d",
11511                                         localtime(str2time($startstr)));
11512             my $end = POSIX::strftime("%Y-%m-%d",
11513                                       localtime(str2time($stopstr)));
11514
11515             $str .= "$type ($status) $start -> $end ";
11516
11517             tag_machine_unsupported($machine)
11518                 if ($end lt $today);
11519         }
11520     } elsif ( $model =~ m/^IBM / ) {
11521         # This code ignore extended support contracts.
11522         my ($producttype) = $model =~ m/.*-\[(.{4}).+\]-/;
11523         if ($producttype &amp;&amp; $serial) {
11524             my $content =
11525                 get("http://www-947.ibm.com/systems/support/supportsite.wss/warranty?action=warranty&amp;brandind=5000008&amp;Submit=Submit&amp;type=$producttype&amp;serial=$serial");
11526             if ($content) {
11527                 $content =~ s/&lt;[^>]+?>/;/gm;
11528                 $content =~ s/\s+/ /gm;
11529                 $content =~ s/;\s*;/;;/gm;
11530                 $content =~ s/;[\s;]+/;/gm;
11531
11532                 $content =~ s/^.+?;Warranty status;//;
11533                 my ($status, $end) = $content =~ m/;Warranty status;([^;]+)\s*;Expiration date;(\S+) ;/;
11534
11535                 $str .= "($status) -> $end ";
11536
11537                 my $today = POSIX::strftime("%Y-%m-%d", localtime(time));
11538                 tag_machine_unsupported($machine)
11539                     if ($end lt $today);
11540             }
11541         }
11542     }
11543     return $str;
11544 }
11545 </pre>
11546
11547 <p>Here are some examples on how to use the function, using fake
11548 serial numbers.  The information passed in as arguments are fetched
11549 from dmidecode.</p>
11550
11551 <pre>
11552 print get_support_info("hp.host", "HP ProLiant BL460c G1", "1234567890"
11553                        "447707-B21");
11554 print get_support_info("dell.host", "Dell Inc. PowerEdge 2950", "1234567");
11555 print get_support_info("ibm.host", "IBM eserver xSeries 345 -[867061X]-",
11556                        "1234567");
11557 </pre>
11558
11559 <p>I would recommend this approach for tracking support contracts for
11560 everyone with more than a few computers to administer. :)</p>
11561
11562 <p>Update 2009-03-06: The IBM page do not include extended support
11563 contracts, so it is useless in that case.  The original Dell code do
11564 not handle extended support contracts either, but has been updated to
11565 do so.</p>
11566
11567       </div>
11568       <div class="tags">
11569
11570
11571         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>.
11572
11573
11574       </div>
11575     </div>
11576     <div class="padding"></div>
11577
11578     <div class="entry">
11579       <div class="title">
11580         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Using_bar_codes_at_a_computing_center.html">Using bar codes at a computing center</a>
11581       </div>
11582       <div class="date">
11583         20th February 2009
11584       </div>
11585       <div class="body">
11586         <p>At work with the University of Oslo, we have several hundred computers
11587 in our computing center.  This give us a challenge in tracking the
11588 location and cabling of the computers, when they are added, moved and
11589 removed.  Some times the location register is not updated when a
11590 computer is inserted or moved and we then have to search the room for
11591 the "missing" computer.</p>
11592
11593 <p>In the last issue of Linux Journal, I came across a project
11594 <a href="http://www.libdmtx.org/">libdmtx</a> to write and read bar
11595 code blocks as defined in the
11596 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_Matrix">The Data Matrix
11597 Standard</a>.  This is bar codes that can be read with a normal
11598 digital camera, for example that on a cell phone, and several such bar
11599 codes can be read by libdmtx from one picture.  The bar code standard
11600 allow up to 2 KiB to be written in the tag.  There is another project
11601 with <a href="http://www.terryburton.co.uk/barcodewriter/">a bar code
11602 writer written in postscript</a> capable of creating such bar codes,
11603 but this was the first time I found a tool to read these bar
11604 codes.</p>
11605
11606 <p>It occurred to me that this could be used to tag and track the
11607 machines in our computing center.  If both racks and computers are
11608 tagged this way, we can use a picture of the rack and all its
11609 computers to detect the rack location of any computer in that rack.
11610 If we do this regularly for the entire room, we will find all
11611 locations, and can detect movements and removals.</p>
11612
11613 <p>I decided to test if this would work in practice, and picked a
11614 random rack and tagged all the machines with their names.  Next, I
11615 took pictures with my digital camera, and gave the dmtxread program
11616 these JPEG pictures to see how many tags it could read.  This worked
11617 fairly well.  If the pictures was well focused and not taken from the
11618 side, all tags in the image could be read.  Because of limited space
11619 between the racks, I was unable to get a good picture of the entire
11620 rack, but could without problem read all tags from a picture covering
11621 about half the rack.  I had to limit the search time used by dmtxread
11622 to 60000 ms to make sure it terminated in a reasonable time frame.</p>
11623
11624 <p>My conclusion is that this could work, and we should probably look
11625 at adjusting our computer tagging procedures to use bar codes for
11626 easier automatic tracking of computers.</p>
11627
11628       </div>
11629       <div class="tags">
11630
11631
11632         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>.
11633
11634
11635       </div>
11636     </div>
11637     <div class="padding"></div>
11638
11639     <div class="entry">
11640       <div class="title">
11641         <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>
11642       </div>
11643       <div class="date">
11644         17th January 2009
11645       </div>
11646       <div class="body">
11647         <p>As part of the work we do in <a href="http://www.nuug.no">NUUG</a>
11648 to publish video recordings of our monthly presentations, we provide a
11649 page with embedded video for easy access to the recording.  Putting a
11650 good set of HTML tags together to get working embedded video in all
11651 browsers and across all operating systems is not easy.  I hope this
11652 will become easier when the &lt;video&gt; tag is implemented in all
11653 browsers, but I am not sure.  We provide the recordings in several
11654 formats, MPEG1, Ogg Theora, H.264 and Quicktime, and want the
11655 browser/media plugin to pick one it support and use it to play the
11656 recording, using whatever embed mechanism the browser understand.
11657 There is at least four different tags to use for this, the new HTML5
11658 &lt;video&gt; tag, the &lt;object&gt; tag, the &lt;embed&gt; tag and
11659 the &lt;applet&gt; tag.  All of these take a lot of options, and
11660 finding the best options is a major challenge.</p>
11661
11662 <p>I just tested the experimental Opera browser available from <a
11663 href="http://labs.opera.com">labs.opera.com</a>, to see how it handled
11664 a &lt;video&gt; tag with a few video sources and no extra attributes.
11665 I was not very impressed.  The browser start by fetching a picture
11666 from the video stream.  Not sure if it is the first frame, but it is
11667 definitely very early in the recording.  So far, so good. Next,
11668 instead of streaming the 76 MiB video file, it start to download all
11669 of it, but do not start to play the video.  This mean I have to wait
11670 for several minutes for the downloading to finish.  When the download
11671 is done, the playing of the video do not start!  Waiting for the
11672 download, but I do not get to see the video?  Some testing later, I
11673 discover that I have to add the controls="true" attribute to be able
11674 to get a play button to pres to start the video.  Adding
11675 autoplay="true" did not help.  I sure hope this is a misfeature of the
11676 test version of Opera, and that future implementations of the
11677 &lt;video&gt; tag will stream recordings by default, or at least start
11678 playing when the download is done.</p>
11679
11680 <p>The test page I used (since changed to add more attributes) is
11681 <a href="http://www.nuug.no/aktiviteter/20090113-foredrag-om-foredrag/">available
11682 from the nuug site</a>.  Will have to test it with the new Firefox
11683 too.</p>
11684
11685 <p>In the test process, I discovered a missing feature.  I was unable
11686 to find a way to get the URL of the playing video out of Opera, so I
11687 am not quite sure it picked the Ogg Theora version of the video.  I
11688 sure hope it was using the announced Ogg Theora support. :)</p>
11689
11690       </div>
11691       <div class="tags">
11692
11693
11694         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>.
11695
11696
11697       </div>
11698     </div>
11699     <div class="padding"></div>
11700
11701     <div class="entry">
11702       <div class="title">
11703         <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Software_video_mixer_on_a_USB_stick.html">Software video mixer on a USB stick</a>
11704       </div>
11705       <div class="date">
11706         28th December 2008
11707       </div>
11708       <div class="body">
11709         <p>The <a href="http://www.nuug.no/">Norwegian Unix User Group</a> is
11710 recording our montly presentation on video, and recently we have
11711 worked on improving the quality of the recordings by mixing the slides
11712 directly with the video stream.  For this, we use the
11713 <a href="http://dvswitch.alioth.debian.org/">dvswitch</a> package from
11714 the Debian video team.  As this require quite one computer per video
11715 source, and NUUG do not have enough laptops available, we need to
11716 borrow laptops.  And to avoid having to install extra software on
11717 these borrwed laptops, I have wrapped up all the programs needed on a
11718 bootable USB stick.  The software required is dvswitch with assosiated
11719 source, sink and mixer applications and
11720 <a href="http://www.kinodv.org/">dvgrab</a>.  To allow this setup to
11721 work without any configuration, I've patched dvswitch to use
11722 <a href="http://www.avahi.org/">avahi</a> to connect the various parts
11723 together.  And to allow us to use laptops without firewire plugs, I
11724 upgraded dvgrab to the one from Debian/unstable to get one that work
11725 with USB sources.  We have not yet tested this setup in a production
11726 setup, but I hope it will work properly, and allow us to set up a
11727 video mixer in a very short time frame.  We will need it for
11728 <a href="http://www.goopen.no/">Go Open 2009</a>.</p>
11729
11730 <p><a href="http://www.nuug.no/pub/video/bin/usbstick-dvswitch.img.gz">The
11731 USB image</a> is for a 1 GB memory stick, but can be used on any
11732 larger stick as well.</p>
11733
11734       </div>
11735       <div class="tags">
11736
11737
11738         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>.
11739
11740
11741       </div>
11742     </div>
11743     <div class="padding"></div>
11744
11745     <div class="entry">
11746       <div class="title">
11747         <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>
11748       </div>
11749       <div class="date">
11750          7th December 2008
11751       </div>
11752       <div class="body">
11753         <p>This weekend we had a small developer gathering for Debian Edu in
11754 Oslo.  Most of Saturday was used for the general assemly for the
11755 member organization, but the rest of the weekend I used to tune the
11756 LTSP installation.  LTSP now work out of the box on the 10-network.
11757 Acer Aspire One proved to be a very nice thin client, with both
11758 screen, mouse and keybard in a small box.  Was working on getting the
11759 diskless workstation setup configured out of the box, but did not
11760 finish it before the weekend was up.</p>
11761
11762 <p>Did not find time to look at the 4 VGA cards in one box we got from
11763 the Brazilian group, so that will have to wait for the next
11764 development gathering.  Would love to have the Debian Edu installer
11765 automatically detect and configure a multiseat setup when it find one
11766 of these cards.</p>
11767
11768       </div>
11769       <div class="tags">
11770
11771
11772         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>.
11773
11774
11775       </div>
11776     </div>
11777     <div class="padding"></div>
11778
11779     <div class="entry">
11780       <div class="title">
11781         <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>
11782       </div>
11783       <div class="date">
11784         25th November 2008
11785       </div>
11786       <div class="body">
11787         <p>Recently I have spent some time evaluating the multimedia browser
11788 plugins available in Debian Lenny, to see which one we should use by
11789 default in Debian Edu.  We need an embedded video playing plugin with
11790 control buttons to pause or stop the video, and capable of streaming
11791 all the multimedia content available on the web.  The test results and
11792 notes are available on
11793 <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/BrowserMultimedia">the
11794 Debian wiki</a>.  I was surprised how few of the plugins are able to
11795 fill this need.  My personal video player favorite, VLC, has a really
11796 bad plugin which fail on a lot of the test pages.  A lot of the MIME
11797 types I would expect to work with any free software player (like
11798 video/ogg), just do not work.  And simple formats like the
11799 audio/x-mplegurl format (m3u playlists), just isn't supported by the
11800 totem and vlc plugins.  I hope the situation will improve soon.  No
11801 wonder sites use the proprietary Adobe flash to play video.</p>
11802
11803 <p>For Lenny, we seem to end up with the mplayer plugin.  It seem to
11804 be the only one fitting our needs. :/</p>
11805
11806       </div>
11807       <div class="tags">
11808
11809
11810         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>.
11811
11812
11813       </div>
11814     </div>
11815     <div class="padding"></div>
11816
11817     <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>
11818     <div id="sidebar">
11819
11820
11821
11822 <h2>Archive</h2>
11823 <ul>
11824
11825 <li>2012
11826 <ul>
11827
11828 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/01/">January (7)</a></li>
11829
11830 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/02/">February (10)</a></li>
11831
11832 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/03/">March (17)</a></li>
11833
11834 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/04/">April (12)</a></li>
11835
11836 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/05/">May (12)</a></li>
11837
11838 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/06/">June (20)</a></li>
11839
11840 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/07/">July (17)</a></li>
11841
11842 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/08/">August (6)</a></li>
11843
11844 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/09/">September (9)</a></li>
11845
11846 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/10/">October (16)</a></li>
11847
11848 </ul></li>
11849
11850 <li>2011
11851 <ul>
11852
11853 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/01/">January (16)</a></li>
11854
11855 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/02/">February (6)</a></li>
11856
11857 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/03/">March (6)</a></li>
11858
11859 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/04/">April (7)</a></li>
11860
11861 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/05/">May (3)</a></li>
11862
11863 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/06/">June (2)</a></li>
11864
11865 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/07/">July (7)</a></li>
11866
11867 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/08/">August (6)</a></li>
11868
11869 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/09/">September (4)</a></li>
11870
11871 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/10/">October (2)</a></li>
11872
11873 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/11/">November (3)</a></li>
11874
11875 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/12/">December (1)</a></li>
11876
11877 </ul></li>
11878
11879 <li>2010
11880 <ul>
11881
11882 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/01/">January (2)</a></li>
11883
11884 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/02/">February (1)</a></li>
11885
11886 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/03/">March (3)</a></li>
11887
11888 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/04/">April (3)</a></li>
11889
11890 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/05/">May (9)</a></li>
11891
11892 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/06/">June (14)</a></li>
11893
11894 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/07/">July (12)</a></li>
11895
11896 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/08/">August (13)</a></li>
11897
11898 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/09/">September (7)</a></li>
11899
11900 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/10/">October (9)</a></li>
11901
11902 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/11/">November (13)</a></li>
11903
11904 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/12/">December (12)</a></li>
11905
11906 </ul></li>
11907
11908 <li>2009
11909 <ul>
11910
11911 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/01/">January (8)</a></li>
11912
11913 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/02/">February (8)</a></li>
11914
11915 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/03/">March (12)</a></li>
11916
11917 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/04/">April (10)</a></li>
11918
11919 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/05/">May (9)</a></li>
11920
11921 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/06/">June (3)</a></li>
11922
11923 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/07/">July (4)</a></li>
11924
11925 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/08/">August (3)</a></li>
11926
11927 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/09/">September (1)</a></li>
11928
11929 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/10/">October (2)</a></li>
11930
11931 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/11/">November (3)</a></li>
11932
11933 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/12/">December (3)</a></li>
11934
11935 </ul></li>
11936
11937 <li>2008
11938 <ul>
11939
11940 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2008/11/">November (5)</a></li>
11941
11942 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2008/12/">December (7)</a></li>
11943
11944 </ul></li>
11945
11946 </ul>
11947
11948
11949
11950 <h2>Tags</h2>
11951 <ul>
11952
11953  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/3d-printer">3d-printer (13)</a></li>
11954
11955  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/amiga">amiga (1)</a></li>
11956
11957  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/aros">aros (1)</a></li>
11958
11959  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/bitcoin">bitcoin (2)</a></li>
11960
11961  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/bootsystem">bootsystem (12)</a></li>
11962
11963  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/bsa">bsa (2)</a></li>
11964
11965  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian (57)</a></li>
11966
11967  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu (115)</a></li>
11968
11969  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/digistan">digistan (9)</a></li>
11970
11971  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/docbook">docbook (7)</a></li>
11972
11973  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/drivstoffpriser">drivstoffpriser (4)</a></li>
11974
11975  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english (156)</a></li>
11976
11977  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/fiksgatami">fiksgatami (19)</a></li>
11978
11979  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/fildeling">fildeling (12)</a></li>
11980
11981  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/freeculture">freeculture (8)</a></li>
11982
11983  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/frikanalen">frikanalen (8)</a></li>
11984
11985  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/intervju">intervju (31)</a></li>
11986
11987  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/kart">kart (17)</a></li>
11988
11989  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/ldap">ldap (8)</a></li>
11990
11991  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/lenker">lenker (4)</a></li>
11992
11993  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/ltsp">ltsp (1)</a></li>
11994
11995  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/multimedia">multimedia (25)</a></li>
11996
11997  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/norsk">norsk (209)</a></li>
11998
11999  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug (145)</a></li>
12000
12001  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/offentlig innsyn">offentlig innsyn (6)</a></li>
12002
12003  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/open311">open311 (2)</a></li>
12004
12005  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/opphavsrett">opphavsrett (37)</a></li>
12006
12007  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/personvern">personvern (54)</a></li>
12008
12009  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/raid">raid (1)</a></li>
12010
12011  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/reprap">reprap (11)</a></li>
12012
12013  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/rfid">rfid (2)</a></li>
12014
12015  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/robot">robot (4)</a></li>
12016
12017  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/rss">rss (1)</a></li>
12018
12019  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/ruter">ruter (4)</a></li>
12020
12021  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/scraperwiki">scraperwiki (2)</a></li>
12022
12023  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/sikkerhet">sikkerhet (24)</a></li>
12024
12025  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/sitesummary">sitesummary (4)</a></li>
12026
12027  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/skepsis">skepsis (4)</a></li>
12028
12029  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/standard">standard (38)</a></li>
12030
12031  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/stavekontroll">stavekontroll (3)</a></li>
12032
12033  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/stortinget">stortinget (5)</a></li>
12034
12035  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/surveillance">surveillance (11)</a></li>
12036
12037  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/valg">valg (7)</a></li>
12038
12039  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/video">video (35)</a></li>
12040
12041  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/vitenskap">vitenskap (4)</a></li>
12042
12043  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/web">web (26)</a></li>
12044
12045 </ul>
12046
12047
12048     </div>
12049     <p style="text-align: right">
12050  Created by <a href="http://steve.org.uk/Software/chronicle">Chronicle v4.4</a>
12051 </p>
12052
12053   </body>
12054 </html>