X-Git-Url: http://pere.pagekite.me/gitweb/homepage.git/blobdiff_plain/014685d768ac8a7cfbb454654e81f8b18d7e0e64..2ee9b1f78f35dc0ff7232f2cf7c0671c32f815c5:/blog/index.html diff --git a/blog/index.html b/blog/index.html index f31f500741..6a4eab292e 100644 --- a/blog/index.html +++ b/blog/index.html @@ -20,75 +20,125 @@
-
Hvordan vurderer regjeringen H.264-patentutfordringen?
-
16th November 2014
-

For en stund tilbake spurte jeg Fornyingsdepartementet om hvilke -juridiske vurderinger rundt patentproblemstillingen som var gjort da -H.264 ble tatt inn i statens -referansekatalog over standarder. Stig Hornnes i FAD tipset meg -om følgende som står i oppsumeringen til høringen om -referansekatalogen versjon 2.0, som jeg siden ved hjelp av en -innsynsforespørsel fikk tak i -PDF-utgaven av -datert 2009-06-03 (saksnummer 200803291, saksbehandler Henrik -Linnestad).

- -

Der står det følgende om problemstillingen:

+
Hvem fører Medietilsynet tilsyn med?
+
28th June 2015
+

I en global verden med eierskap på tvers, trengs det informasjon om +hvem som har kontrollen i selskaper og bedrifter. Og for å få tilgang +til slik informasjon for alle som ønsker å analysere eierskap, holder +med ikke med nasjonale databaser over eierskap, det må globale +samledatabaser med åpne data til. Heldigvis finnes det en +internasjonal bevegelse for å gjøre selskapsinformasjon for alle land +offentlig tilgjengelig. En slik database heter +OpenCorporates, der +informasjonen er gratis tilgjengelig med en "del på samme +vilkår"-lisens. De samler inn selskapsinformasjon, eierskap, +konsesjonstildelinger og lignende. De manglet ganske mye for Norge, +da bruksvilkårene til Norsk offentlig informasjon i stor grad +blokkerer OpenCorporates fra å samle den inn.

+ +

Men jeg er jo involvert i +Frikanalen, som har +TV-konsesjon, og tenkte det kunne være fint om informasjon om alle +mediakonsesjoner var tilgjengelig i OpenCorporates, så jeg sendte +avgårde følgende spørsmål til Medietilsynet 2015-06-22:

+ +
+

Hei. Finnes det en oversikt over enhetene som Mediatilsynet fører +tilsyn med som åpne data? Jeg lette etter den på +<URL:http://data.norge.no/> og +<URL:http://hotell.difi.no/> uten å +finne noe der, og fant heller ikke noe under +<URL:http://www.medietilsynet.no/>.

+ +

Jeg tenker på alle som har fått kringkastingskonsesjon og alle som +er omtalt under +<URL:http://www.medietilsynet.no/mediebildet/>.

+ +

Jeg skulle gjerne hatt dette maskinlesbart, og inkludert +organisasjonsnummer og hva slags forhold mediatilsynet har til +organisasjonene. Tanken er å importere det i +<URL:https://opencorporates.com/> for analyse, så det bør ikke ha +bruksbegresninger som gjør dette umulig.

+
+ +

To dager senere fikk jeg svar, med de datasettene de hadde +tilgjengelig. Svaret fra Hanne Sekkelsten hos Medietilsynet var +informativt og imøtekommende.

+ +
+

Vi viser til din e-post av 22. juni, der du ber om å få tilsendt oversikter +over aktører Medietilsynet fører tilsyn med.

+ +

Medietilsynet fører tilsyn med kringkastere og audiovisuelle +bestillingstjenester som omfattes av kringkastingsloven, og med +eierskap i aviser, fjernsyn radio og elektroniske medier etter +medieeierskapsloven. I tillegg vil Medietilsynet etter at +beskyttelsesloven trer i kraft fra 1. juli ha tilsyn med en rekke nye +aktører. Nærmere informasjon om den nye loven finnes på Medietilsynets +nettsted, her: +http://www.medietilsynet.no/mediebransjen/bildeprogramloven/ +. Vi har ikke utarbeidet oversikter over alle aktørene, men vi sender +deg her de listene vi har utarbeidet, hentet fra våre databaser. Vi +har dessverre ikke ferdige rapporter som inneholder +organisasjonsnummer. Dersom du ønsker flere opplysninger ber vi om at +du tar kontakt med oss slik at vi kan finne ut av hvilke opplysninger +du trenger, og hvilke vi kan fremskaffe.

+ +

Vedlagt følger: -

-4.4 Patentproblematikk - -

NUUG og Opera ser det som særlig viktig at forslagene knyttet til -lyd og video baserer seg på de royalty-frie standardene Vorbis, Theora -og FLAC.

- -

Kommentarene relaterer seg til at enkelte standarder er åpne, men -inneholder tekniske prosedyrer som det i USA (og noen andre land som -Japan) er gitt patentrettigheter til. I vårt tilfelle berører dette -spesielt standardene Mp3 og H.264, selv om Politidirektoratet peker på -at det muligens kan være tilsvarende problematikk også for Theora og -Vorbis. Dette medfører at det i USA kan kreves royalties for bruk av -tekniske løsninger knyttet til standardene, et krav som også -håndheves. Patenter kan imidlertid bare hevdes i de landene hvor -patentet er gitt, så amerikanske patenter gjelder ikke andre steder -enn USA.

- -

Spesielt for utvikling av fri programvare er patenter -problematisk. GPL, en "grunnleggende" lisens for distribusjon av fri -programvare, avviser at programvare kan distribueres under denne -lisensen hvis det inneholder referanser til patenterte rutiner som -utløser krav om royalties. Det er imidlertid uproblematisk å -distribuere fri programvareløsninger under GPL som benytter de -aktuelle standardene innen eller mellom land som ikke anerkjenner -patentene. Derfor finner vi også flere implementeringer av Mp3 og -H.264 som er fri programvare, lisensiert under GPL.

- -

I Norge og EU er patentlovgivningen langt mer restriktiv enn i USA, -men det er også her mulig å få patentert metoder for løsning av et -problem som relaterer seg til databehandling. Det er AIF bekjent ikke -relevante patenter i EU eller Norge hva gjelder H.264 og Mp3, men -muligheten for at det finnes patenter uten at det er gjort krav om -royalties eller at det senere vil gis slike patenter kan ikke helt -avvises.

- -

AIF mener det er et behov for å gi offentlige virksomheter mulighet -til å benytte antatt royaltyfrie åpne standarder som et likeverdig -alternativ eller i tillegg til de markedsledende åpne standardene.

+
    -

+
  • Konsesjoner - lokalradio FM pr. 31.12.2014 [PDF (original)]
    • + +
  • Konsesjoner - lokalfjernsyn i det digitale bakkenettet for fjernsyn, pr. mars 2015 [DOCX (original), +PDF]
    • + +
  • Konsesjoner - DAB-radio, status mars 2015 [XPS (original), +PDF]
    • + +
  • Registreringspliktige kringkastere - status mars 2015: [XPS (original), PDF] -

    Det ser dermed ikke ut til at de har vurdert patentspørsmålet i -sammenheng med opphavsrettsvilkår slik de er formulert for f.eks. -Apple Final Cut Pro, Adobe Premiere Pro, Avid og Sorenson-verktøyene, -der det kreves brukstillatelse for patenter som ikke er gyldige i -Norge for å bruke disse verktøyene til annet en personlig og ikke -kommersiell aktivitet når det gjelder H.264-video. Jeg må nok lete -videre etter svar på det spørsmålet.

    +
      +
    • Kabelsendt fjernsyn +
    • Satellittsendt fjernsyn +
    • Nett-tv +
    • Kabelsendt radio +
    • Satellittsendt radio +
    • Nett-radio +
    • + + +

    Vi må ta forbehold om at det kan være enkelte feil i oversiktene +siden disse ikke er oppdaterte pr. dags dato. Vi vil foreta nye +oppdateringer i august.

    + +

    Med hilsen

    + +

    Hanne Nistad Sekkelsten +
    Seniorrådgiver | Senior Legal Adviser +
    Medietilsynet | Norwegian Media Authority +
    A: Nygata 4, NO-1607 Fredrikstad +
    T: [telefonnummer fjernet] +
    E: [adresse fjernet] | W: www.medietilsynet.no +

    +
    + +

    Desverre er formatene for ustrukturerte til maskinell behandling og +mangler endel informasjon, men det er gode oversikter over hvem +Medietilsynet fører tilsyn med. Filene er på formatene PDF, XPS +(XML-basert PDF-lignende format fra Microsoft) og DOCX, så det vil +være en stor jobb å strukturere informasjonen på en måte som kan +importeres i OpenCorporates. Svaret er ikke i tråd med +Forskrift +om IT-standarder i offentlig forvaltning som sier epostvedlegg +skal sendes som PDF, så jeg har gjorde PDF-utgaver av XPS og +DOCX-utgavene tilgjengelig for å gjøre det enklere for alle å se +innholdet.

    - Tags: multimedia, norsk, opphavsrett, standard, video, web. + Tags: norsk, offentlig innsyn.
    @@ -96,81 +146,79 @@ videre etter svar på det spørsmålet.

    -
    A Debian package for SMTP via Tor (aka SMTorP) using exim4
    -
    10th November 2014
    -

    The right to communicate with your friends and family in private, -without anyone snooping, is a right every citicen have in a liberal -democracy. But this right is under serious attack these days.

    - -

    A while back it occurred to me that one way to make the dragnet -surveillance conducted by NSA, GCHQ, FRA and others (and confirmed by -the whisleblower Snowden) more expensive for Internet email, -is to deliver all email using SMTP via Tor. Such SMTP option would be -a nice addition to the FreedomBox project if we could send email -between FreedomBox machines without leaking metadata about the emails -to the people peeking on the wire. I -proposed -this on the FreedomBox project mailing list in October and got a -lot of useful feedback and suggestions. It also became obvious to me -that this was not a novel idea, as the same idea was tested and -documented by Johannes Berg as early as 2006, and both -the -Mailpile and the Cables systems -propose a similar method / protocol to pass emails between users.

    - -

    To implement such system one need to set up a Tor hidden service -providing the SMTP protocol on port 25, and use email addresses -looking like username@hidden-service-name.onion. With such addresses -the connections to port 25 on hidden-service-name.onion using Tor will -go to the correct SMTP server. To do this, one need to configure the -Tor daemon to provide the hidden service and the mail server to accept -emails for this .onion domain. To learn more about Exim configuration -in Debian and test the design provided by Johannes Berg in his FAQ, I -set out yesterday to create a Debian package for making it trivial to -set up such SMTP over Tor service based on Debian. Getting it to work -were fairly easy, and -the -source code for the Debian package is available from github. I -plan to move it into Debian if further testing prove this to be a -useful approach.

    - -

    If you want to test this, set up a blank Debian machine without any -mail system installed (or run apt-get purge exim4-config to -get rid of exim4). Install tor, clone the git repository mentioned -above, build the deb and install it on the machine. Next, run -/usr/lib/exim4-smtorp/setup-exim-hidden-service and follow -the instructions to get the service up and running. Restart tor and -exim when it is done, and test mail delivery using swaks like -this:

    - -

    -torsocks swaks --server dutlqrrmjhtfa3vp.onion \
-  --to fbx@dutlqrrmjhtfa3vp.onion
-

    - -

    This will test the SMTP delivery using tor. Replace the email -address with your own address to test your server. :)

    - -

    The setup procedure is still to complex, and I hope it can be made -easier and more automatic. Especially the tor setup need more work. -Also, the package include a tor-smtp tool written in C, but its task -should probably be rewritten in some script language to make the deb -architecture independent. It would probably also make the code easier -to review. The tor-smtp tool currently need to listen on a socket for -exim to talk to it and is started using xinetd. It would be better if -no daemon and no socket is needed. I suspect it is possible to get -exim to run a command line tool for delivery instead of talking to a -socket, and hope to figure out how in a future version of this -system.

    - -

    Until I wipe my test machine, I can be reached using the -fbx@dutlqrrmjhtfa3vp.onion mail address, deliverable over -SMTorP. :)

    +
    Graphing the Norwegian company ownership structure
    +
    15th June 2015
    +

    It is a bit work to figure out the ownership structure of companies +in Norway. The information is publicly available, but one need to +recursively look up ownership for all owners to figure out the complete +ownership graph of a given set of companies. To save me the work in +the future, I wrote a script to do this automatically, outputting the +ownership structure using the Graphviz/dotty format. The data source +is web scraping from Proff, because +I failed to find a useful source directly from the official keepers of +the ownership data, Brønnøysundsregistrene.

    + +

    To get an ownership graph for a set of companies, fetch +the code from git and run it using the organisation number. I'm +using the Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet as an example here, as its +ownership structure is very simple:

    + +
    +% time ./bin/eierskap-dotty 958033540 > dagbladet.dot
+
+real    0m2.841s
+user    0m0.184s
+sys     0m0.036s
+%
+
    + +

    The script accept several organisation numbers on the command line, +allowing a cluster of companies to be graphed in the same image. The +resulting dot file for the example above look like this. The edges +are labeled with the ownership percentage, and the nodes uses the +organisation number as their name and the name as the label:

    + +
    +digraph ownership {
+rankdir = LR;
+"Aller Holding A/s" -> "910119877" [label="100%"]
+"910119877" -> "998689015" [label="100%"]
+"998689015" -> "958033540" [label="99%"]
+"974530600" -> "958033540" [label="1%"]
+"958033540" [label="AS DAGBLADET"]
+"998689015" [label="Berner Media Holding AS"]
+"974530600" [label="Dagbladets Stiftelse"]
+"910119877" [label="Aller Media AS"]
+}
+
    + +

    To view the ownership graph, run "dotty dagbladet.dot" or +convert it to a PNG using "dot -T png dagbladet.dot > +dagbladet.png". The result can be seen below:

    + + + +

    Note that I suspect the "Aller Holding A/S" entry to be incorrect +data in the official ownership register, as that name is not +registered in the official company register for Norway. The ownership +register is sensitive to typos and there seem to be no strict checking +of the ownership links.

    + +

    Let me know if you improve the script or find better data sources. +The code is licensed according to GPL 2 or newer.

    + +

    Update 2015-06-15: Since the initial post I've been told that +"Aller +Holding A/S" is a Danish company, which explain why it did not +have a Norwegian organisation number. I've also been told that there +is a web +services API available from Brønnøysundsregistrene, for those +willing to accept the terms or pay the price.

    - Tags: debian, english, freedombox, personvern, surveillance. + Tags: english, offentlig innsyn.
    @@ -178,192 +226,392 @@ SMTorP. :)

    -
    First Jessie based Debian Edu released (alpha0)
    -
    27th October 2014
    -

    I am happy to report that I on behalf of the Debian Edu team just -sent out -this -announcement:

    - -
    -The Debian Edu Team is pleased to announce the release of Debian Edu
-Jessie 8.0+edu0~alpha0
-
-Debian Edu is a complete operating system for schools. Through its
-various installation profiles you can install servers, workstations
-and laptops which will work together on the school network. With
-Debian Edu, the teachers themselves or their technical support can
-roll out a complete multi-user multi-machine study environment within
-hours or a few days. Debian Edu comes with hundreds of applications
-pre-installed, but you can always add more packages from Debian.
-
-For those who want to give Debian Edu Jessie a try, download and
-installation instructions are available, including detailed
-instructions in the manual[1] explaining the first steps, such as
-setting up a network or adding users. Please note that the password
-for the user your prompted for during installation must have a length
-of at least 5 characters!
-
- [1] <URL: https://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/Documentation/Jessie >
-
-Would you like to give your school's computer a longer life? Are you
-tired of sneaker administration, running from computer to computer
-reinstalling the operating system? Would you like to administrate all
-the computers in your school using only a couple of hours every week?
-Check out Debian Edu Jessie!
-
-Skolelinux is used by at least two hundred schools all over the world,
-mostly in Germany and Norway.
-
-About Debian Edu and Skolelinux
-===============================
-
-Debian Edu, also known as Skolelinux[2], is a Linux distribution based
-on Debian providing an out-of-the box environment of a completely
-configured school network. Immediately after installation a school
-server running all services needed for a school network is set up just
-waiting for users and machines being added via GOsa², a comfortable
-Web-UI. A netbooting environment is prepared using PXE, so after
-initial installation of the main server from CD or USB stick all other
-machines can be installed via the network.  The provided school server
-provides LDAP database and Kerberos authentication service,
-centralized home directories, DHCP server, web proxy and many other
-services.  The desktop contains more than 60 educational software
-packages[3] and more are available from the Debian archive, and
-schools can choose between KDE, Gnome, LXDE, Xfce and MATE desktop
-environment.
-
- [2] <URL: http://www.skolelinux.org/ >
- [3] <URL: http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Educational_applications_included_in_Debian_Edu___Skolelinux__the_screenshot_collection____.html >
-
-Full release notes and manual
-=============================
-
-Below the download URLs there is a list of some of the new features
-and bugfixes of Debian Edu 8.0+edu0~alpha0 Codename Jessie. The full
-list is part of the manual. (See the feature list in the manual[4] for
-the English version.) For some languages manual translations are
-available, see the manual translation overview[5].
+      
    Measuring and adjusting the loudness of a TV channel using bs1770gain
    
+      
    11th June 2015
    
+      
    Television loudness is the source of frustration for viewers
+everywhere.  Some channels are very load, others are less loud, and
+ads tend to shout very high to get the attention of the viewers, and
+the viewers do not like this.  This fact is well known to the TV
+channels.  See for example the BBC white paper
+"Terminology
+for loudness and level dBTP, LU, and all that" from 2011 for a
+summary of the problem domain.  To better address the need for even
+loadness, the TV channels got together several years ago to agree on a
+new way to measure loudness in digital files as one step in
+standardizing loudness.  From this came the ITU-R standard BS.1770,
+"Algorithms to
+measure audio programme loudness and true-peak audio level".
    
+
+
    The ITU-R BS.1770 specification describe an algorithm to measure
+loadness in LUFS (Loudness Units, referenced to Full Scale). But
+having a way to measure is not enough.  To get the same loudness
+across TV channels, one also need to decide which value to standardize
+on.  For European TV channels, this was done in the EBU Recommondaton
+R128, "Loudness
+normalisation and permitted maximum level of audio signals", which
+specifies a recommended level of -23 LUFS.  In Norway, I have been
+told that NRK, TV2, MTG and SBS have decided among themselves to
+follow the R128 recommondation for playout from 2016-03-01.
    
+
+
    There are free software available to measure and adjust the loudness
+level using the LUFS.  In Debian, I am aware of a library named
+libebur128
+able to measure the loudness and since yesterday morning a new binary
+named bs1770gain
+capable of both measuring and adjusting was uploaded and is waiting
+for NEW processing.  I plan to maintain the latter in Debian under the
+Debian
+multimedia umbrella.
    
+
+
    The free software based TV channel I am involved in,
+Frikanalen, plan to follow the
+R128 recommondation ourself as soon as we can adjust the software to
+do so, and the bs1770gain tool seem like a good fit for that part of
+the puzzle to measure loudness on new video uploaded to Frikanalen.
+Personally, I plan to use bs1770gain to adjust the loudness of videos
+I upload to Frikanalen on behalf of the
+NUUG member organisation.  The program seem to be able to measure
+the LUFS value of any media file handled by ffmpeg, but I've only
+successfully adjusted the LUFS value of WAV files.  I suspect it
+should be able to adjust it for all the formats handled by ffmpeg.
    
+
    
+      
    
+        
+        
+        Tags: english, frikanalen, multimedia, video. 
+        
+        
+      
    
+
    +
    + +
    +
    Hva gjør at NRK kan distribuere H.264-video uten patentavtale med MPEG LA?
    +
    10th June 2015
    +

    Helt siden jeg i 2012 fikk beskjed fra MPEG LA om at +NRK +trengte patentavtale med dem hvis de distribuerte H.264-video til +sluttbrukere, har jeg lurt på hva som gjør at NRK ikke har slik +avtale. For noen dager siden fikk jeg endelig gjort noe med min +undring, og sendte 2015-05-28 følgende epost til info (at) nrk.no med +tittel "Hva gjør at NRK kan distribuere H.264-video uten patentavtale +med MPEG LA?":

    - [4] <URL: https://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/Documentation/Jessie/Features > - [5] <URL: http://maintainer.skolelinux.org/debian-edu-doc/ > +

    +

    Jeg lurer på en ting rundt NRKs bruk av H.264-video på sine +websider samt distribusjon via RiksTV og kabel-TV. Har NRK vurdert om +det er behov for en patentavtale med +MPEG LA slik det står i +programvarelisensene til blant annet Apple Final Cut Studio, Adobe +Premiere Pro, Avid og Apples Final Cut Pro X?

    + +

    Hvis dere har vurdert dette, hva var utfallet av en slik vurdering?

    + +

    Hvis dere ikke har vurdert dette, har NRK planer om å vurdere behovet +for patentavtale?

    + +

    I følge en artikkel på +NRK +Beta i 2012 har NRK brukt eller testet både Apple Final Cut +Studio, Adobe Premiere Pro, Avid og Apples Final Cut Pro X til bruk +for å redigere video før sending. Alle disse har bruksvilkår +understøttet av opphavsretten som sier at de kun kan brukes til å lage +filmer til personlig og ikke-kommersiell bruk - med mindre en har en +lisensavtale med MPEG LA om bruk av patenter utstedt i USA for H.264. +Se f.eks. bruksvilkårene for Avid, Adobe Premiere og Apple Final +Cut Studio og søk etter "MPEG LA".

    + +

    Dette får meg til å lure på om det er brudd på opphavsretten å bruke +disse verktøyene i strid med bruksvilkårene uten patentavtale med MPEG +LA. Men NRK bruker jo tilsynelatende disse verktøyene uten patentavtale +med MPEG LA.

    + +

    I følge forfatteren av Open Broadcast Encoder finnes det to typer +H.264-relaterte avtaler en kan få med MPEG LA. Det er én for å lage +programvare og utstyr som produserer H.264-video, og en annen for å +kringkaste video som bruker H.264. Dette forteller meg at selv om +produsentene av utstyr og programvare som NRK bruker har en slik avtale +med MPEG LA, så trenges det en egen avtale for å kringkaste video på det +formatet.

    + +

    I følge Ryan Rodriguez hos MPEG LA, da jeg spurte ham på epost i +juni 2012, har NRK ikke en slik avtale med MPEG LA. Han sa videre at +NRK trenger en slik avtale hvis NRK tilbyr H.264-kodet video til +sluttbrukere. Jeg sjekket listen med +organisasjoner +med avtale med MPEG LA og NRK står fortsatt ikke der.

    + +

    Jeg lurer dermed på hva som gjør at NRK kan bruke de overnevnte +videoredigeringsverktøyene, som tilsynelatende har krav om avtale med +MPEG LA for å kunne brukes slik NRK bruker dem, til å lage videofiler +for distribusjon uten å ha en avtale med MPEG LA om distribusjon av +H.264-video? Dette er spesielt interessant å vite for oss andre som +også vurderer å spre H.264-video etter å ha redigert dem med disse mye +brukte videoredigeringsverktøyene.

    +

    -Where to get it ---------------- +

    Samme dag fikk jeg automatisk svar om at min henvendelse hadde fått +saksid 1294699. Jeg fikk deretter følgende respons fra NRK +2015-06-09:

    -To download the multiarch netinstall CD release (624 MiB) you can use +

    +

    Hei, beklager lang svartid, men det tok litt tid å finne ut hvem som kunne +svare på dette.

    - * ftp://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/debian-edu-8.0+edu0~alpha0-CD.iso - * http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/debian-edu-8.0+edu0~alpha0-CD.iso - * rsync -avzP ftp.skolelinux.org::skolelinux-cd/debian-edu-8.0+edu0~alpha0-CD.iso . +

    For selskaper som leverer h.264 til sluttbrukere på nett (f.eks +NRKs nett- tv utgaver som bruker h.264) - og som leverer slike +tjenester uten betaling fra forbrukere – er det heller ikke påkrevd +noen patentavtale.

    -The SHA1SUM of this image is: 361188818e036ce67280a572f757de82ebfeb095 +

    http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20100825006629/en/MPEG-LA%E2%80%99s-AVC-License-Charge-Royalties-Internet#.VWb2ws_774Y

    -New features for Debian Edu 8.0+edu0~alpha0 Codename Jessie released 2014-10-27 -=============================================================================== +

    Med vennlig hilsen +
    Gunn Helen Berg +
    Informasjonskonsulent, Publikumsservice

    +

    NRK +
    Strategidivisjonen +
    Sentralbord: +47 23 04 70 00 +
    Post: NRK Publikumsservice, 8608 Mo i Rana +
    nrk.no / info (at) nrk.no

    +

    -Installation changes --------------------- +Da dette ikke helt var svar på det jeg lurte på, sendte jeg samme dag +oppfølgerepost tilbake: - * PXE installation now installs firmware automatically for the hardware present. +

    +

    [Gunn Helen Berg] +
    > Hei, beklager lang svartid, men det tok litt tid å finne ut hvem som +
    > kunne svare på dette.

    + +

    Takk for svar. Men det besvarte ikke helt det jeg spurte om.

    + +

    > For selskaper som leverer h.264 til sluttbrukere på nett (f.eks NRKs +
    > nett- tv utgaver som bruker h.264) - og som leverer slike tjenester +
    > uten betaling fra forbrukere – er det heller ikke påkrevd noen +
    > patentavtale. +
    > +
    > http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20100825006629/en/MPEG-LA%E2%80%99s-AVC-License-Charge-Royalties-Internet#.VWb2ws_774Y

    + +

    Spørsmålet er ikke kun om MPEG LA krever patentavtale eller ikke +(hvilket ikke helt besvares av pressemeldingen omtalt over, gitt at +pressemeldingen kom i 2010, to år før MPEG LA ansvarlige for +internasjonal lisensiering egen Ryan Rodriguez fortalte meg på epost +at NRK trenger en lisens.

    + +

    Det er uklart fra pressemeldingen hva "Internet Broadcast AVC +Video" konkret betyr, men i følge en +presentasjon +fra MPEG LA med tema "AVC PAtent Portfoli License Briefing" datert +2015-05-15 gjelder "Internet Broadcast AVC Video" kun kringkasting +på Internet som ikke tilbyr valg av enkeltinnslag ("not +title-by-title"), hvilket jo NRK gjør på sine nettsider. I tillegg +kringkaster jo NRK H.264-video også utenom Internet (RiksTV, kabel, +satelitt), hvilket helt klart ikke er dekket av vilkårene omtalt i +pressemeldingen.

    + +

    Spørsmålet mitt er hvordan NRK kan bruke verktøy med bruksvilkår +som krever avtale med MPEG LA for det NRK bruker dem til, når NRK ikke +har avtale med MPEG LA. Hvis jeg forsto spørsmålet riktig, så mener +NRK at dere ikke trenger avtale med MPEG LA, men uten slik avtale kan +dere vel ikke bruke hverken Apple Final Cut Studio, Adobe Premiere +Pro, Avid eller Apples Final Cut Pro X for å redigere video før +sending?

    + +

    Mine konkrete spørsmål var altså:

    -Software updates ----------------- +
      -Everything which is new in Debian Jessie 8.0, eg: +
    • Hvis NRK har vurdert om det er behov for en patentavtale med MPEG LA + slik det er krav om i programvarelisensene til blant annet Apple + Final Cut Studio, Adobe Premiere Pro, Avid og Apples Final Cut Pro X, + hva var utfallet av en slik vurdering? Kan jeg fÃ¥ kopi av vurderingen + hvis den er gjort skriftlig?
      • - * Linux kernel 3.16.x - * Desktop environments KDE "Plasma" 4.11.12, GNOME 3.14, Xfce 4.10, - LXDE 0.5.6 and MATE 1.8 (KDE "Plasma" is installed by default; to - choose one of the others see manual.) - * the browsers Iceweasel 31 ESR and Chromium 38 - * !LibreOffice 4.3.3 - * GOsa 2.7.4 - * LTSP 5.5.4 - * CUPS print system 1.7.5 - * new boot framework: systemd - * Educational toolbox GCompris 14.07 - * Music creator Rosegarden 14.02 - * Image editor Gimp 2.8.14 - * Virtual stargazer Stellarium 0.13.0 - * golearn 0.9 - * tuxpaint 0.9.22 - * New version of debian-installer from Debian Jessie. - * Debian Jessie includes about 42000 packages available for - installation. - * More information about Debian Jessie 8.0 is provided in the release - notes[6] and the installation manual[7]. +
    • Hvis NRK ikke har vurdert dette, har NRK planer om Ã¥ vurdere behovet + for patentavtale?
      • - [6] <URL: http://www.debian.org/releases/jessie/releasenotes > - [7] <URL: http://www.debian.org/releases/jessie/installmanual > +
    • Hva slags saksnummer fikk min henvendelse i NRKs offentlige + postjournal? Jeg ser at postjournalen ikke er publisert for den + aktuelle perioden ennÃ¥, sÃ¥ jeg fikk ikke sjekket selv.
      • -Fixed bugs ----------- +
    +

    - * Inserting incorrect DNS information in Gosa will no longer break - DNS completely, but instead stop DNS updates until the incorrect - information is corrected (Debian bug #710362) - * and many others. +

    Det hjelper å ha funnet rette vedkommende i NRK, for denne gangen +fikk jeg svar tilbake dagen etter (2015-06-10), fra Geir Børdalen i +NRK:

    -Documentation and translation updates -------------------------------------- +

    +

    Hei Petter Reinholdtsen

    + +

    Jeg har sjekket saken med distribusjonssjef for tv, Arild Hellgren +(som var teknologidirektør da bakkenettet ble satt opp). NRK v/ +Hellgren hadde møte med MPEG LA sammen med den europeiske +kringkastingsunionen EBU før bakkenettet for TV ble satt opp +(igangsatt høsten 2007). I dette møtet ble det avklart at NRK/EBU ikke +trengte noen patentavtale for h.264 i forbindelse med oppsett av +bakkenettet eller bruk av MPEG4 h.264 som kompresjonsalgoritme fordi +tjenesten «in full»(nor: helt) var betalt av utsendelseselskapene og +ikke av forbrukerne.

    + +

    http://www.nrk.no/oppdrag/digitalt-bakkenett-1.3214555

    + +

    Det er også klart slått fast at selskaper som leverer video basert +på MPEG4 h.264 til sluttbrukere på nett, heller ikke påkrevd noen +patentavtale – så lenge de leverer slike tjenester uten betaling fra +sluttbrukere.

    + +http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20100825006629/en/MPEG-LA%E2%80%99s-AVC-License-Charge-Royalties-Internet#.VWb2ws_774Y + +

    “MPEG LA announced today that its AVC Patent Portfolio License will +continue not to charge royalties for Internet Video that is free to +end users (known as “Internet Broadcast AVC Video”) during the entire +life of this License. MPEG LA previously announced it would not charge +royalties for such video through December 31, 2015 (see +http://www.mpegla.com/Lists/MPEG%20LA%20News%20List/Attachments/226/n-10-02-02.pdf), +and today’s announcement makes clear that royalties will continue not +to be charged for such video beyond that time. Products and services +other than Internet Broadcast AVC Video continue to be +royalty-bearing.”

    + +

    Vi har derfor ikke noe behov for å vurdere noen patentavtale med +MPEG LA.

    + +

    Understreker for øvrig at NRK ikke er låst til MPEG4 – h.264 som +utsendelsesformat – og at vi har brukt og bruker flere andre +alternativer i våre tjenester. Ulike «devicer» har ofte behov for +forskjellige løsninger – og NRK har forsøkt å levere med best mulig +kvalitet /økonomi /stabilitet avhengig av +plattform. Produksjonsformater i NRK spenner for øvrig over en rekke +forskjellige formater – hvor MPEG4 bare er en av disse. Når NRK kjøper +teknisk utstyr er betaling for kodekstøtte ofte en del av +anskaffelsesprisen for denne maskinvaren (enten dette er spesialiserte +enkodere eller forskjellige typer produksjonsutstyr).

    + +

    Vennlig hilsen +
    Geir Børdalen

    + +

    ________________________________________ +
    Geir Børdalen +
    Investeringsansvarlig NRK / Hovedprosjektleder - Origo +
    Avdeling for utvikling, innovasjon, investering og eiendom +
    NRK medietjenester +
    Sentralbord: +47 23 04 70 00 +
    Post: NRK, AUTV (RBM5), Pb. 8500 Majorstuen, 0340 Oslo +
    nrk.no +

    - * The Debian Edu Jessie Manual is fully translated to German, French, - Italian, Danish and Dutch. Partly translated versions exist for - Norwegian Bokmal and Spanish. +

    Et godt og grundig svar, som var informativt om hvordan NRK tenker +rundt patentavtale med MPEG LA, men heller ikke helt besvarte det jeg +lurte på, så jeg sendte epostoppfølging samme dag.

    -Other changes -------------- +

    +

    [Geir Børdalen] +
    > Hei Petter Reinholdtsen

    + +

    Hei, og takk for raskt svar. Er min henvendelse journalført slik +at den dukker opp i NRKs postjournal?

    + +

    Svaret ditt var meget nyttig, og jeg forstår ut fra det du skriver +at avklaringen med MPEG LA rundt H.264-distribusjon via bakkenettet +gjelder alle TV-kanaler i Norge. Hvilke saksnummer fikk dokumenter +som ble opprettet i forbindelse med det omtalte møtet NRK v/Hellgren +og EBU hadde med MPEG LA (dvs. referater, avtaler, etc), +f.eks. dokumentet der formuleringen "in full" som du omtaler +finnes?

    + +

    Men det er et par ting jeg fortsatt ikke forstår. Det ene er +hvorfor NRKs forståelse av hva "Internet Broadcast AVC Video" dekker +ser ut til å avvike fra det som presenteres i +lysark +fra MPEG LA i mai, der MPEG LA på lysark med overskriften +"AVC/H.264 License Terms Participation Fees" og undertittel "Where +remuneration is from other sources" skriver "Internet Broadcast AVC +Video (not title-by-title, not subscription) – no royalty for life of +the AVC Patent Portfolio License".

    + +

    Her leser jeg MPEG LA dithen at det kun er kringkasting uten +abonnement via Internet som er dekket at vilkårne omtalt i +pressemeldingen, mens jeg forstår deg dithen at NRK mener NRKs +nettsider som også har enkeltfilmer og innslag (som jeg forstår dekket +av formuleringen "title-by-title") dekkes av "Internet Broadcast AVC +Video" fra MPEG LA. Hva baserer dere denne tolkningen på? Jeg har +ikke sett noe skriftlig fra MPEG LA som støtter NRKs tolkning, og +lurer på om dere har andre kilder enn den pressemeldingen fra 5 år +tilbake, der NRKS forståelse av hva "Internet Broadcast AVC Video" +dekker er beskrevet?

    + +

    Det andre er at eposten din ikke nevnte spørsmålet mitt om +bruksvilkårene til videoredigeringsverktøyene som NRK bruker. Disse +har som tidligere nevnt krav om at de kun skal brukes til private og +ikke-kommersielle formål med mindre en har avtale med MPEG LA, og uten +avtale med MPEG LA kan det jo virke som om NRK bruker verktøyene i +strid med bruksvilkårene. Hva gjør at disse bruksvilkårene ikke +gjelder for NRK?

    +

    - * Due to new Squid settings, powering off or rebooting the main - server takes more time. - * To manage printers localhost:631 has to be used, currently www:631 - doesn't work. +

    Noen minutter senere får jeg foreløpig siste svar i +føljetongen:

    -Regressions / known problems ----------------------------- +

    +

    Hei igjen

    - * Installing LTSP chroot fails with a bug related to eatmydata about - exim4-config failing to run its postinst (see Debian bug #765694 - and Debian bug #762103). - * Munin collection is not properly configured on clients (Debian bug - #764594). The fix is available in a newer version of munin-node. - * PXE setup for Main Server and Thin Client Server setup does not - work when installing on a machine without direct Internet access. - Will be fixed when Debian bug #766960 is fixed in Jessie. +

    Vårt dokumentarkiv har fått en kopi (journalføringsnr kan jeg +dessverre ikke gi deg).

    -See the status page[8] for the complete list. +

    > Svaret ditt var meget nyttig, og jeg forstår ut fra det du +
    > skriver at avklaringen med MPEG LA rundt H.264-distribusjon via +
    > bakkenettet gjelder alle TV-kanaler i Norge.

    - [8] <URL: https://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/Status/Jessie > +

    Svar: Kan ikke svare for andre enn for NRK/EBU - og for bakkenettet +i Norge er det kun NRK som er et lisensbasert selskap. Kan ikke gi noe +svar på saksnr på dokumenter eller ytterligere informasjon da jeg selv +ikke var del i dette.

    -How to report bugs ------------------- +

    > Men det er et par ting jeg fortsatt ikke forstår. ...

    -<URL: http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/HowTo/ReportBugs > +

    Svar: Kan ikke gå ytterligere inn i dette fra min side og mitt +fagfelt som er produksjon/publisering og systemstrukturene bak +disse. For øvrig ligger det etter vår formening ingen begrensninger +for NRK i mulighetene til publisering mht til kodek i +produksjonssystemer. Som tidligere skrevet mener vi at NRK ikke +trenger noen avtale med MPEG LA og støtter oss til det vi allerede har +kommunisert i forrige epost.

    -About Debian -============ +

    Mvh +
    Geir Børdalen

    +

    -The Debian Project was founded in 1993 by Ian Murdock to be a truly -free community project. Since then the project has grown to be one of -the largest and most influential open source projects. Thousands of -volunteers from all over the world work together to create and -maintain Debian software. Available in 70 languages, and supporting a -huge range of computer types, Debian calls itself the universal -operating system. +

    Det syntes vanskelig å komme videre når NRK ikke ønsker å gå inn i +problemstillingen rundt bruksvilkårene til videoredigeringsverktøyene +NRK bruker, så jeg sendte takk for svarene og avsluttet utvekslingen +så langt:

    -Contact Information -For further information, please visit the Debian web pages[9] or send -mail to press@debian.org. +

    +

    Tusen takk for rask respons, og oppklarende forklaring om hvordan +NRK tenker rundt MPEG LA.

    + +

    Jeg vil høre med NRK-arkivet for å se om de kan spore opp de +omtalte dokumentene. Jeg setter pris på om du kan dele titler, dato +eller annen informasjon som kan gjøre det enklere for arkivet å finne +dem.

    + +

    Når det gjelder hvordan bruksvilkårene til +videoredigeringsverktøyene skal tolkes, så skal jeg høre med MPEG LA +og produsentene av verktøyene for å forsøke å få klarhet i hva de +mener er rikgig rettstilstand.

    +

    - [9] <URL: http://www.debian.org/ > - +

    Jeg ble litt klokere, men fortsatt er det uklart for meg hva som er +grunnlaget til NRK for å se bort fra bruksvilkår i +videoredigeringsprogramvare som krever MPEG LA-avtale til alt annet +enn privat og ikke-kommersiell bruk.

    - Tags: debian edu, english. + Tags: h264, multimedia, norsk, opphavsrett, standard, video, web.
    @@ -371,129 +619,92 @@ mail to press@debian.org.
    -
    I spent last weekend recording MakerCon Nordic
    -
    23rd October 2014
    -

    I spent last weekend at Makercon -Nordic, a great conference and workshop for makers in Norway and -the surrounding countries. I had volunteered on behalf of the -Norwegian Unix Users Group (NUUG) to video record the talks, and we -had a great and exhausting time recording the entire day, two days in -a row. There were only two of us, Hans-Petter and me, and we used the -regular video equipment for NUUG, with a -dvswitch, a -camera and a VGA to DV convert box, and mixed video and slides -live.

    - -

    Hans-Petter did the post-processing, consisting of uploading the -around 180 GiB of raw video to Youtube, and the result is -now becoming -public on the MakerConNordic account. The videos have the license -NUUG always use on our recordings, which is -Creative -Commons Navngivelse-Del på samme vilkår 3.0 Norge. Many great -talks available. Check it out! :)

    -
    -
    - - - Tags: english, nuug, video. - - -
    -
    -
    - -
    -
    listadmin, the quick way to moderate mailman lists - nice free software
    -
    22nd October 2014
    -

    If you ever had to moderate a mailman list, like the ones on -alioth.debian.org, you know the web interface is fairly slow to -operate. First you visit one web page, enter the moderation password -and get a new page shown with a list of all the messages to moderate -and various options for each email address. This take a while for -every list you moderate, and you need to do it regularly to do a good -job as a list moderator. But there is a quick alternative, -the -listadmin program. It allow you to check lists for new messages -to moderate in a fraction of a second. Here is a test run on two -lists I recently took over:

    - -

    -% time listadmin xiph
-fetching data for pkg-xiph-commits@lists.alioth.debian.org ... nothing in queue
-fetching data for pkg-xiph-maint@lists.alioth.debian.org ... nothing in queue
-
-real    0m1.709s
-user    0m0.232s
-sys     0m0.012s
-%
-

    - -

    In 1.7 seconds I had checked two mailing lists and confirmed that -there are no message in the moderation queue. Every morning I -currently moderate 68 mailman lists, and it normally take around two -minutes. When I took over the two pkg-xiph lists above a few days -ago, there were 400 emails waiting in the moderator queue. It took me -less than 15 minutes to process them all using the listadmin -program.

    - -

    If you install -the listadmin -package from Debian and create a file ~/.listadmin.ini -with content like this, the moderation task is a breeze:

    - -

    -username username@example.org
-spamlevel 23
-default discard
-discard_if_reason "Posting restricted to members only. Remove us from your mail list."
-
-password secret
-adminurl https://{domain}/mailman/admindb/{list}
-mailman-list@lists.example.com
-
-password hidden
-other-list@otherserver.example.org
-

    - -

    There are other options to set as well. Check the manual page to -learn the details.

    - -

    If you are forced to moderate lists on a mailman installation where -the SSL certificate is self signed or not properly signed by a -generally accepted signing authority, you can set a environment -variable when calling listadmin to disable SSL verification:

    - -

    -PERL_LWP_SSL_VERIFY_HOSTNAME=0 listadmin
-

    - -

    If you want to moderate a subset of the lists you take care of, you -can provide an argument to the listadmin script like I do in the -initial screen dump (the xiph argument). Using an argument, only -lists matching the argument string will be processed. This make it -quick to accept messages if you notice the moderation request in your -email.

    - -

    Without the listadmin program, I would never be the moderator of 68 -mailing lists, as I simply do not have time to spend on that if the -process was any slower. The listadmin program have saved me hours of -time I could spend elsewhere over the years. It truly is nice free -software.

    - -

    As usual, if you use Bitcoin and want to show your support of my -activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address -15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b.

    - -

    Update 2014-10-27: Added missing 'username' statement in -configuration example. Also, I've been told that the -PERL_LWP_SSL_VERIFY_HOSTNAME=0 setting do not work for everyone. Not -sure why.

    +
    Blir det virkelig krav om fingeravtrykk i nasjonale ID-kort?
    +
    12th May 2015
    +

    Noen finner det vanskelig å tro at Stortinget faktisk har vedtatt å +kreve at alle norske borgerne må avgi fingeravtrykk til politiet for å +fungere i samfunnet. Jeg er blitt spurt hva som er grunnlaget for +min +påstand i forrige bloggpost om at det nå blir krav om å avgi +fingeravtrykk til politiet for å fungere som borger i Norge. De som +spør klarer ikke lese det ut fra det som er vedtatt. Her er en liten +oppsummering om hva jeg baserer det på. Det sies ikke direkte i +hverken proposisjon, innstilling eller vedtak, men fremgår når en ser +på indirekte formuleringer.

    + +

    I +stortingsproposisjon +66, avsnitt 6.3.5 (Avgivelse av biometriske personopplysninger) +står det

    + +

    + +

    Departementet foreslår at både ansiktsfoto og fingeravtrykk skal + kunne opptas og lagres som identifikasjonsdata i de nasjonale + ID-kortene, på samme måte som i passene. Lovforslaget er derfor + utformet i tråd med passloven § 6 annet ledd, som fastslår at det + til bruk for senere verifisering eller kontroll av passinnehaverens + identitet kan innhentes og lagres i passet biometrisk + personinformasjon i form av ansiktsfoto og fingeravtrykk (to + fingre). Dagens ordning med lagring av ansiktsfoto og fingeravtrykk + i et kontaktløst smartkort i passet er basert på internasjonale + standarder. Fingeravtrykkene i nasjonalt ID-kort vil bli beskyttet + på samme måte som fingeravtrykkene i passene.

    + +

    [...]

    + +

    For norske forhold understreker departementet at innføring av + nasjonale ID-kort sammen med innføring av nye systemer for sikrere + utstedelse og kontroll av pass og relaterte dokumenter gir mulighet + til å utforme ordningen slik at den best mulig møter utfordringene + forbundet med identitetskriminalitet. Det tilsier at fingeravtrykk + opptas og lagres i alle nasjonale ID-kort.

    +

    + +

    Departementet sier altså at sin anbefaling er at fingeravtrykk skal +opptas og lagres i alle nasjonale ID-kort. Det skrives som om det +blir valgfritt, på samme måten som det skrives passloven, der det i +loven sier at det kan +«innhentes +og lagres i passet biometrisk personinformasjon i form av ansiktsfoto +og fingeravtrykk (to fingre)». Men på tross av bruken av «kan» i +passloven er det innført krav om å avgi fingeravtrykk for å få et pass +i Norge. Proposisjonen sier i tillegg i del 1 (Proposisjonens +hovedinnhold) at ID-kortene skal være like pålitelig som pass og ha +samme sikkerhetsnivå som pass. Departementet foreslår altså at +ID-kortene skal gis etter samme regler som for pass.

    + +

    Formuleringene fra hovedinnholdet i proposisjonen er videreført i +innstillingen +fra stortingskomiteen, der det konkret står «De foreslåtte reglene +vil gi befolkningen tilbud om et offentlig utstedt identitetsbevis som +vil være like pålitelig som passet, og mer praktisk å bruke som +legitimasjon» og «Det nasjonale ID-kortet skal også holde samme +sikkerhetsnivå som passet». Komiteen har altså ingen kommentarer +eller innsigelser til dette forslaget, og gjorde i debatten da saken +ble vedtatt det klart at dette var en god sak og at en enstemmig +komité var glad for resultatet. Stortinget har dermed stilt seg helt +og fullt bak departementets forslag.

    + +

    For meg er det åpenbart når en leser proposisjonen at «like +pålitelig» og «samme sikkerhetsnivå» vil bli tolket av departementet +som «med samme biometrisk informasjon som i passene», og departementet +forklarer i tillegg i proposisjonen at de har tenkt at +fingeravtrykkene «vil bli beskyttet på samme måte som fingeravtrykkene +i passene». Jeg ser det dermed som åpenbart at den samme +tvangsinnhentingen av fingeravtrykk som gjelder for pass vil bli +viderført til de nasjonale ID-kortene.

    + +

    Det eneste som kan endre dette er massive protester fra +befolkningen på at folk som ikke er mistenkt for noe kriminelt skal +tvinges til å gi fingeravtrykket til politiet for å f.eks. kunne få +bankkonto eller stemme ved valg. Det kunne få departementet til å +snu. Det tror jeg ikke vil skje.

    - Tags: debian, english. + Tags: norsk, personvern, surveillance.
    @@ -501,114 +712,67 @@ sure why.

    -
    Debian Jessie, PXE and automatic firmware installation
    -
    17th October 2014
    -

    When PXE installing laptops with Debian, I often run into the -problem that the WiFi card require some firmware to work properly. -And it has been a pain to fix this using preseeding in Debian. -Normally something more is needed. But thanks to -my isenkram -package and its recent tasksel extension, it has now become easy -to do this using simple preseeding.

    - -

    The isenkram-cli package provide tasksel tasks which will install -firmware for the hardware found in the machine (actually, requested by -the kernel modules for the hardware). (It can also install user space -programs supporting the hardware detected, but that is not the focus -of this story.)

    - -

    To get this working in the default installation, two preeseding -values are needed. First, the isenkram-cli package must be installed -into the target chroot (aka the hard drive) before tasksel is executed -in the pkgsel step of the debian-installer system. This is done by -preseeding the base-installer/includes debconf value to include the -isenkram-cli package. The package name is next passed to debootstrap -for installation. With the isenkram-cli package in place, tasksel -will automatically use the isenkram tasks to detect hardware specific -packages for the machine being installed and install them, because -isenkram-cli contain tasksel tasks.

    - -

    Second, one need to enable the non-free APT repository, because -most firmware unfortunately is non-free. This is done by preseeding -the apt-mirror-setup step. This is unfortunate, but for a lot of -hardware it is the only option in Debian.

    - -

    The end result is two lines needed in your preseeding file to get -firmware installed automatically by the installer:

    - -

    -base-installer base-installer/includes string isenkram-cli
-apt-mirror-setup apt-setup/non-free boolean true
-

    - -

    The current version of isenkram-cli in testing/jessie will install -both firmware and user space packages when using this method. It also -do not work well, so use version 0.15 or later. Installing both -firmware and user space packages might give you a bit more than you -want, so I decided to split the tasksel task in two, one for firmware -and one for user space programs. The firmware task is enabled by -default, while the one for user space programs is not. This split is -implemented in the package currently in unstable.

    - -

    If you decide to give this a go, please let me know (via email) how -this recipe work for you. :)

    - -

    So, I bet you are wondering, how can this work. First and -foremost, it work because tasksel is modular, and driven by whatever -files it find in /usr/lib/tasksel/ and /usr/share/tasksel/. So the -isenkram-cli package place two files for tasksel to find. First there -is the task description file (/usr/share/tasksel/descs/isenkram.desc):

    - -

    -Task: isenkram-packages
-Section: hardware
-Description: Hardware specific packages (autodetected by isenkram)
- Based on the detected hardware various hardware specific packages are
- proposed.
-Test-new-install: show show
-Relevance: 8
-Packages: for-current-hardware
-
-Task: isenkram-firmware
-Section: hardware
-Description: Hardware specific firmware packages (autodetected by isenkram)
- Based on the detected hardware various hardware specific firmware
- packages are proposed.
-Test-new-install: mark show
-Relevance: 8
-Packages: for-current-hardware-firmware
-

    - -

    The key parts are Test-new-install which indicate how the task -should be handled and the Packages line referencing to a script in -/usr/lib/tasksel/packages/. The scripts use other scripts to get a -list of packages to install. The for-current-hardware-firmware script -look like this to list relevant firmware for the machine: - -

    -#!/bin/sh
-#
-PATH=/usr/sbin:$PATH
-export PATH
-isenkram-autoinstall-firmware -l
-

    - -

    With those two pieces in place, the firmware is installed by -tasksel during the normal d-i run. :)

    - -

    If you want to test what tasksel will install when isenkram-cli is -installed, run DEBIAN_PRIORITY=critical tasksel --test ---new-install to get the list of packages that tasksel would -install.

    - -

    Debian Edu will be -pilots in testing this feature, as isenkram is used there now to -install firmware, replacing the earlier scripts.

    +
    Norwegian citizens now required by law to give their fingerprint to the police
    +
    10th May 2015
    +

    5 days ago, the Norwegian Parliament decided, unanimously, that all +citizens of Norway, no matter if they are suspected of something +criminal or not, are +required to +give fingerprints to the police (vote details from Holder de +ord). The law make it sound like it will be optional, but in a few +years there will be no option any more. The ID will be required to +vote, to get a bank account, a bank card, to change address on the +post office, to receive an electronic ID or to get a drivers license +and many other tasks required to function in Norway. The banks plan +to stop providing their own ID on the bank cards when this new +national ID is introduced, and the national road authorities plan to +change the drivers license to no longer be usable as identity cards. +In effect, to function as a citizen in Norway a national ID card will +be required, and to get it one need to provide the fingerprints to +the police.

    + +

    In addition to handing the fingerprint to the police (which +promised to not make a copy of the fingerprint image at that point in +time, but say nothing about doing it later), a picture of the +fingerprint will be stored on the RFID chip, along with a picture of +the face and other information about the person. Some of the +information will be encrypted, but the encryption will be the same +system as currently used in the passports. The codes to decrypt will +be available to a lot of government offices and their suppliers around +the globe, but for those that do not know anyone in those circles it +is good to know that +the +encryption is already broken. And they +can +be read from 70 meters away. This can be mitigated a bit by +keeping it in a Faraday cage (metal box or metal wire container), but +one will be required to take it out of there often enough to expose +ones private and personal information to a lot of people that have no +business getting access to that information.

    + +

    The new Norwegian national IDs are a vehicle for identity theft, +and I feel sorry for us all having politicians accepting such invasion +of privacy without any objections. So are the Norwegian passports, +but it has been possible to function in Norway without those so far. +That option is going away with the passing of the new law. In this, I +envy the Germans, because for them it is optional how much biometric +information is stored in their national ID.

    + +

    And if forced collection of fingerprints was not bad enough, the +information collected in the national ID card register can be handed +over to foreign intelligence services and police authorities, "when +extradition is not considered disproportionate".

    + +

    Update 2015-05-12: For those unable to believe that the Parliament +really could make such decision, I wrote +a +summary of the sources I have for concluding the way I do +(Norwegian Only, as the sources are all in Norwegian).

    - Tags: debian, english, isenkram, sysadmin. + Tags: english, personvern, surveillance.
    @@ -616,23 +780,62 @@ install firmware, replacing the earlier scripts.

    -
    Ubuntu used to show the bread prizes at ICA Storo
    -
    4th October 2014
    -

    Today I came across an unexpected Ubuntu boot screen. Above the -bread shelf on the ICA shop at Storo in Oslo, the grub menu of Ubuntu -with Linux kernel 3.2.0-23 (ie probably version 12.04 LTS) was stuck -on a screen normally showing the bread types and prizes:

    - -

    - -

    If it had booted as it was supposed to, I would never had known -about this hidden Linux installation. It is interesting what -errors can reveal.

    +
    What would it cost to store all phone calls in Norway?
    +
    1st May 2015
    +

    Many years ago, a friend of mine calculated how much it would cost +to store the sound of all phone calls in Norway, and came up with the +cost of around 20 million NOK (2.4 mill EUR) for all the calls in a +year. I got curious and wondered what the same calculation would look +like today. To do so one need an idea of how much data storage is +needed for each minute of sound, how many minutes all the calls in +Norway sums up to, and the cost of data storage.

    + +

    The 2005 numbers are from +digi.no, +the 2012 numbers are from +a +NKOM report, and I got the 2013 numbers after asking NKOM via +email. I was told the numbers for 2014 will be presented May 20th, +and decided not to wait for those, as I doubt they will be very +different from the numbers from 2013.

    + +

    The amount of data storage per minute sound depend on the wanted +quality, and for phone calls it is generally believed that 8 Kbit/s is +enough. See for example a +summary +on voice quality from Cisco for some alternatives. 8 Kbit/s is 60 +Kbytes/min, and this can be multiplied with the number of call minutes +to get the storage requirements.

    + +

    Storage prices varies a lot, depending on speed, backup strategies, +availability requirements etc. But a simple way to calculate can be +to use the price of a TiB-disk (around 1000 NOK / 120 EUR) and double +it to take space, power and redundancy into account. It could be much +higher with high speed and good redundancy requirements.

    + +

    But back to the question, What would it cost to store all phone +calls in Norway? Not much. Here is a small table showing the +estimated cost, which is within the budget constraint of most medium +and large organisations:

    + + + + + + +
    YearCall minutesSizePrice in NOK / EUR
    200524 000 000 0001.3 PiB3 mill / 358 000
    201218 000 000 0001.0 PiB2.2 mill / 262 000
    201317 000 000 000950 TiB2.1 mill / 250 000
    + +

    This is the cost of buying the storage. Maintenance need to be +taken into account too, but calculating that is left as an exercise +for the reader. But it is obvious to me from those numbers that +recording the sound of all phone calls in Norway is not going to be +stopped because it is too expensive. I wonder if someone already is +collecting the data?

    - Tags: debian, english. + Tags: english, personvern, surveillance.
    @@ -640,49 +843,194 @@ about this hidden Linux installation. It is interesting what
    -
    New lsdvd release version 0.17 is ready
    -
    4th October 2014
    -

    The lsdvd project -got a new set of developers a few weeks ago, after the original -developer decided to step down and pass the project to fresh blood. -This project is now maintained by Petter Reinholdtsen and Steve -Dibb.

    - -

    I just wrapped up -a -new lsdvd release, available in git or from -the -download page. This is the changelog dated 2014-10-03 for version -0.17.

    +
    First Jessie based Debian Edu beta release
    +
    26th April 2015
    +

    I am happy to report that the Debian Edu team sent out +this +announcement today:

    -
      +
      +the Debian Edu / Skolelinux project is pleased to announce the first
+*beta* release of Debian Edu "Jessie" 8.0+edu0~b1, which for the first
+time is composed entirely of packages from the current Debian stable
+release, Debian 8 "Jessie".
+
+(As most reading this will know, Debian "Jessie" hasn't actually been
+released by now. The release is still in progress but should finish
+later today ;)
+
+We expect to make a final release of Debian Edu "Jessie" in the coming
+weeks, timed with the first point release of Debian Jessie. Upgrades
+from this beta release of Debian Edu Jessie to the final release will
+be possible and encouraged!
+
+Please report feedback to debian-edu@lists.debian.org and/or submit
+bugs: http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/HowTo/ReportBugs
+
+Debian Edu - sometimes also known as "Skolelinux" - is a complete
+operating system for schools, universities and other
+organisations. Through its pre- prepared installation profiles
+administrators can install servers, workstations and laptops which
+will work in harmony on the school network.  With Debian Edu, the
+teachers themselves or their technical support staff can roll out a
+complete multi-user, multi-machine study environment within hours or
+days.
+
+Debian Edu is already in use at several hundred schools all over the
+world, particularly in Germany, Spain and Norway. Installations come
+with hundreds of applications pre-installed, plus the whole Debian
+archive of thousands of compatible packages within easy reach.
+
+For those who want to give Debian Edu Jessie a try, download and
+installation instructions are available, including detailed
+instructions in the manual explaining the first steps, such as setting
+up a network or adding users.  Please note that the password for the
+user your prompted for during installation must have a length of at
+least 5 characters!
 
- 
    • Ignore 'phantom' audio, subtitle tracks
      • 
- 
    • Check for garbage in the program chains, which indicate that a track is
-   non-existant, to work around additional copy protection
      • 
- 
    • Fix displaying content type for audio tracks, subtitles
      • 
- 
    • Fix pallete display of first entry
      • 
- 
    • Fix include orders
      • 
- 
    • Ignore read errors in titles that would not be displayed anyway
      • 
- 
    • Fix the chapter count
      • 
- 
    • Make sure the array size and the array limit used when initialising
-   the palette size is the same.
      • 
- 
    • Fix array printing.
      • 
- 
    • Correct subsecond calculations.
      • 
- 
    • Add sector information to the output format.
      • 
- 
    • Clean up code to be closer to ANSI C and compile without warnings
-   with more GCC compiler warnings.
      • 
+== Where to download ==
 
-
    +A multi-architecture CD / usbstick image (649 MiB) for network booting +can be downloaded at the following locations: + + http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/debian-edu-8.0+edu0~b1-CD.iso + rsync -avzP ftp.skolelinux.org::skolelinux-cd/debian-edu-8.0+edu0~b1-CD.iso . + +The SHA1SUM of this image is: 54a524d16246cddd8d2cfd6ea52f2dd78c47ee0a + +Alternatively an extended DVD / usbstick image (4.9 GiB) is also +available, with more software included (saving additional download +time): + + http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/debian-edu-8.0+edu0~b1-USB.iso + rsync -avzP ftp.skolelinux.org::skolelinux-cd/debian-edu-8.0+edu0~b1-USB.iso -

    This change bring together patches for lsdvd in use in various -Linux and Unix distributions, as well as patches submitted to the -project the last nine years. Please check it out. :)

    +The SHA1SUM of this image is: fb1f1504a490c077a48653898f9d6a461cb3c636 + +Sources are available from the Debian archive, see +http://ftp.debian.org/debian-cd/8.0.0/source/ for some download +options. + +== Debian Edu Jessie manual in seven languages == + +Please see https://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/Documentation/Jessie/ for +the English version of the Debian Edu jessie manual. + +This manual has been fully translated to German, French, Italian, +Danish, Dutch and Norwegian Bokmål. A partly translated version exists +for Spanish. See http://maintainer.skolelinux.org/debian-edu-doc/ for +online version of the translated manual. + +More information about Debian 8 "Jessie" itself is provided in the +release notes and the installation manual: +- http://www.debian.org/releases/jessie/releasenotes +- http://www.debian.org/releases/jessie/installmanual + + +== Errata / known problems == + + It takes up to 15 minutes for a changed hostname to be updated via + DHCP (#780461). + + The hostname script fails to update LTSP server hostname (#783087). + +Workaround: run update-hostname-from-ip on the client to update the +hostname immediately. + +Check https://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/Status/Jessie for a possibly +more current and complete list. + +== Some more details about Debian Edu 8.0+edu0~b1 Codename Jessie released 2015-04-25 == + +=== Software updates === + +Everything which is new in Debian 8 Jessie, e.g.: + + * Linux kernel 3.16.7-ctk9; for the i386 architecture, support for + i486 processors has been dropped; oldest supported ones: i586 (like + Intel Pentium and AMD K5). + + * Desktop environments KDE Plasma Workspaces 4.11.13, GNOME 3.14, + Xfce 4.12, LXDE 0.5.6 + * new optional desktop environment: MATE 1.8 + * KDE Plasma Workspaces is installed by default; to choose one of + the others see the manual. + * the browsers Iceweasel 31 ESR and Chromium 41 + * LibreOffice 4.3.3 + * GOsa 2.7.4 + * LTSP 5.5.4 + * CUPS print system 1.7.5 + * new boot framework: systemd + * Educational toolbox GCompris 14.12 + * Music creator Rosegarden 14.02 + * Image editor Gimp 2.8.14 + * Virtual stargazer Stellarium 0.13.1 + * golearn 0.9 + * tuxpaint 0.9.22 + * New version of debian-installer from Debian Jessie. + * Debian Jessie includes about 43000 packages available for installation. + * More information about Debian 8 Jessie is provided in its release + notes and the installation manual, see the link above. + +=== Installation changes === + + Installations done via PXE now also install firmware automatically + for the hardware present. + +=== Fixed bugs === + +A number of bugs have been fixed in this release; the most noticeable +from a user perspective: + + * Inserting incorrect DNS information in Gosa will no longer break + DNS completely, but instead stop DNS updates until the incorrect + information is corrected (710362) + + * shutdown-at-night now shuts the system down if gdm3 is used (775608). + +=== Sugar desktop removed === + +As the Sugar desktop was removed from Debian Jessie, it is also not +available in Debian Edu jessie. + + +== About Debian Edu / Skolelinux == + +Debian Edu, also known as Skolelinux, is a Linux distribution based on +Debian providing an out-of-the box environment of a completely +configured school network. Directly after installation a school server +running all services needed for a school network is set up just +waiting for users and machines being added via GOsa², a comfortable +Web-UI. A netbooting environment is prepared using PXE, so after +initial installation of the main server from CD or USB stick all other +machines can be installed via the network. The provided school server +provides LDAP database and Kerberos authentication service, +centralized home directories, DHCP server, web proxy and many other +services. The desktop contains more than 60 educational software +packages and more are available from the Debian archive, and schools +can choose between KDE, GNOME, LXDE, Xfce and MATE desktop +environment. + +== About Debian == + +The Debian Project was founded in 1993 by Ian Murdock to be a truly +free community project. Since then the project has grown to be one of +the largest and most influential open source projects. Thousands of +volunteers from all over the world work together to create and +maintain Debian software. Available in 70 languages, and supporting a +huge range of computer types, Debian calls itself the universal +operating system. + +== Thanks == + +Thanks to everyone making Debian and Debian Edu / Skolelinux happen! +You rock. +
    - Tags: debian, english, lsdvd, multimedia. + Tags: debian edu, english.
    @@ -690,77 +1038,193 @@ project the last nine years. Please check it out. :)

    -
    How to test Debian Edu Jessie despite some fatal problems with the installer
    -
    26th September 2014
    -

    The Debian Edu / Skolelinux -project provide a Linux solution for schools, including a -powerful desktop with education software, a central server providing -web pages, user database, user home directories, central login and PXE -boot of both clients without disk and the installation to install Debian -Edu on machines with disk (and a few other services perhaps to small -to mention here). We in the Debian Edu team are currently working on -the Jessie based version, trying to get everything in shape before the -freeze, to avoid having to maintain our own package repository in the -future. The -current -status can be seen on the Debian wiki, and there is still heaps of -work left. Some fatal problems block testing, breaking the installer, -but it is possible to work around these to get anyway. Here is a -recipe on how to get the installation limping along.

    - -

    First, download the test ISO via -ftp, -http -or rsync (use -ftp.skolelinux.org::cd-edu-testing-nolocal-netinst/debian-edu-amd64-i386-NETINST-1.iso). -The ISO build was broken on Tuesday, so we do not get a new ISO every -12 hours or so, but thankfully the ISO we already got we are able to -install with some tweaking.

    - -

    When you get to the Debian Edu profile question, go to tty2 -(use Alt-Ctrl-F2), run

    - -

    -nano /usr/bin/edu-eatmydata-install
-

    - -

    and add 'exit 0' as the second line, disabling the eatmydata -optimization. Return to the installation, select the profile you want -and continue. Without this change, exim4-config will fail to install -due to a known bug in eatmydata.

    - -

    When you get the grub question at the end, answer /dev/sda (or if -this do not work, figure out what your correct value would be. All my -test machines need /dev/sda, so I have no advice if it do not fit -your need.

    - -

    If you installed a profile including a graphical desktop, log in as -root after the initial boot from hard drive, and install the -education-desktop-XXX metapackage. XXX can be kde, gnome, lxde, xfce -or mate. If you want several desktop options, install more than one -metapackage. Once this is done, reboot and you should have a working -graphical login screen. This workaround should no longer be needed -once the education-tasks package version 1.801 enter testing in two -days.

    - -

    I believe the ISO build will start working on two days when the new -tasksel package enter testing and Steve McIntyre get a chance to -update the debian-cd git repository. The eatmydata, grub and desktop -issues are already fixed in unstable and testing, and should show up -on the ISO as soon as the ISO build start working again. Well the -eatmydata optimization is really just disabled. The proper fix -require an upload by the eatmydata maintainer applying the patch -provided in bug #702711. -The rest have proper fixes in unstable.

    - -

    I hope this get you going with the installation testing, as we are -quickly running out of time trying to get our Jessie based -installation ready before the distribution freeze in a month.

    +
    Debian Edu interview: Shirish Agarwal
    +
    15th April 2015
    +

    It was a surprise to me to learn that project to create a complete +computer system for schools I've involved in, +Debian Edu / Skolelinux, was +being used in India. But apparently it is, and I managed to get an +interview with one of the friends of the project there, Shirish +Agarwal.

    + +

    Who are you, and how do you spend your days?

    + +

    My name is Shirish Agarwal. Based out of the educational and +historical city of Pune, from the western state of Maharashtra, India. +My bread comes from giving training, giving policy tips, +installations on free software to mom and pop shops in different +fields from Desktop publishing to retail shops as well as work with +few software start-ups as well.

    + +

    How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux / Debian Edu +project?

    + +

    It started innocently enough. I have been using Debian for a few +years and in one local minidebconf / debutsav I was asked if there was +anything for schools or education. I had worked / played with free +educational softwares such as Gcompris and Stellarium for my many +nieces and nephews so researched and found Debian Edu or Skolelinux as +it was known then. Since then I have started using the various +education meta-packages provided by the project.

    + +

    What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux / Debian +Edu?

    + +

    It's closest I have seen where a package full of educational +software are packed, which are free and open (both literally and +figuratively). Even if I take the simplest software which is +gcompris, the number of activities therein are amazing. Another one of +the softwares that I have liked for a long time is stellarium. Even +pysycache is cool except for couple of issues I encountered +#781841 and +#781842.

    + +

    I prefer software installed on the system over web based solutions, +as a web site can disappear any time but the software on disk has the +possibility of a larger life span. Of course with both it's more a +question if it has enough users who make it fun or sustainable or both +for the developer per-se.

    + +

    What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux / Debian +Edu?

    + +

    I do see that the Debian Edu team seems to be short-handed and I +think more efforts should be made to make it popular and ask and take +help from people and the larger community wherever possible.

    + +

    I don't see any disadvantage to use Skolelinux apart from the fact +that most apps. are generic which is good or bad how you see it. +However, saying that I do acknowledge the fact that the canvas is +pretty big and there are lot of interesting ideas that could be done +but for reasons not known not done or if done I don't know about them. +Let me share some of the ideas (these are more upstream based but +still) I have had for a long time :

    + +

    1. Classical maths question of two trains in opposing directions +each running @x kmph/mph at y distance, when they will meet and how +far would each travel and similar questions like these. + +

    The computer is a fantastic system where questions like these can +be drawn, animated and the methodology and answers teased out in +interactive manner. While sites such as the +Ask +Dr. Math FAQ on The Two Trains problem (as an example or point of +inspiration) can be used there is lot more that can be done. I dunno +if there is a free software which does something like this. The idea +being a blend of objects + animation + interaction which does +this. The whole interaction could be gamified with points or sounds or +colourful celebration whenever the user gets even part of the question +or/and methodology right. That would help reinforce good behaviour. +This understanding could be used to share/showcase everything from how +the first wheel came to be, to evolution to how astronomy started, +psychics and everything in-between.

    + +

    One specific idea in the train part was having the Linux mascot on +one train and the BSD or GNU mascot on the other train and they +meeting somewhere in-between. Characters from blender movies could +also be used.

    + +

    2. Loads of crossword-puzzles with reference to subjects: We have +enormous data sets in Wikipedia and Wikitionary. I don't think it +should be a big job to design crossword puzzles. Using categories and +sub-categories it should be doable to have Q&A single word answers +from the existing data-sets. What would make it easy or hard could be +the length of the word + existence of many or few vowels depending on +the user's input.

    + +

    3. Jigsaw puzzles - We already have a great software called +palapeli with number of slicers making it pretty interesting. What +needs to be done is to download large number of public domain and +copyleft images, tease and use IPTC tags to categorise them into +nature, history etc. and let it loose. This could turn to be really +huge collection of images. One source could be taken from +commons.wikimedia.org, others could be huge collection of royalty-free +stock photos. Potential is immense.

    + +

    Apart from this, free software suffers in two directions, we lag +both in development (of using new features per-se) and maintenance a +lot. This is more so in educational software as these applications +need to be timely and the opportunity cost of missing deadlines is +immense. If we are able to solve issues of funding for development and +maintenance of such software I don't see any big difficulties. I know +of few start-ups in and around India who would love to develop and +maintain such software if funding issues could be solved.

    + +

    Which free software do you use daily?

    + +

    That would be huge list. Some of the softwares are obviously apt, +aptitude, debdelta, leafpad, the shell of course (zsh nowadays), +quassel for IRC. In games I use shisen-sho while card-games are evenly +between kpat and Aiselriot. In desktops it's a tie between +gnome-flashback and mate.

    + +

    Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to +get schools to use free software?

    + +

    I think it should first start with using specific FOSS apps. in +whatever environment they are. If it's MS-Windows or Mac so be it. +Once they are habitual with the apps. and there is buy-in from the +school management then it could be installed anywhere. Most of the +people now understand the concept of a repository because of the +various online stores so it isn't hard to convince on that front.

    + +

    What is harder is having enough people with technical skills and +passion to service them. If you get buy-in from one or two teachers +then ideas like above could also be asked to be done as a project as +well.

    + +

    I think where we fall short more than anything is in marketing. For +instance, Debian has this whole range of fonts in its archive but +there isn't even a page where all those different fonts in the La +Ipsum format could be tried out for newcomers.

    + +

    One of the issues faced constantly in installations is with updates +and upgrades. People have this myth that each update and upgrade +means the user interface will / has to change. I have seen this +innumerable times. That perhaps is one of the reasons which browsers +like Iceweasel / Firefox change user interfaces so much, not because +it might be needed or be functional but because people believe that +changed user interfaces are better. This, can easily be pointed with +the user interfaces changed with almost every MS-Windows and Mac OS +releases.

    + +

    The problems with Debian Edu for deployment are many. The biggest +is the huge gap between what is taught in schools and what Debian Edu +is aimed at. + +

    Me and my friends did teach on week-ends in a government school for +around 2 years, and +gathered +some experience there. Some of the things we learnt/discovered +there was :

    + +
      + +
    1. Most of the teachers are very territorial about their subjects + and they do not want you to teach anything out of the + portion/syllabus given.
      2. + +
    2. They want any activity on the system in accordance to whatever + is in the syllabus.
      3. + +
    3. There are huge barriers both with the English language and at + times with objects or whatever. An example, let's say in gcompris + you have objects falling down and you have to name them and let's + say the falling object is a hat or a fedora hat, this would not be + as recognizable as say a + Puneri + Pagdi so there is need to inject local objects, words wherever + possible. Especially for word-games there are so many hindi words + which have become part of english vocabulary (for instance in + parley), those could be made into a hinglish collection or + something but that is something for upstream to do.
      4. + +
    - Tags: debian, debian edu, english. + Tags: debian edu, english, intervju.
    @@ -768,37 +1232,33 @@ installation ready before the distribution freeze in a month.

    -
    Suddenly I am the new upstream of the lsdvd command line tool
    -
    25th September 2014
    -

    I use the lsdvd tool -to handle my fairly large DVD collection. It is a nice command line -tool to get details about a DVD, like title, tracks, track length, -etc, in XML, Perl or human readable format. But lsdvd have not seen -any new development since 2006 and had a few irritating bugs affecting -its use with some DVDs. Upstream seemed to be dead, and in January I -sent a small probe asking for a version control repository for the -project, without any reply. But I use it regularly and would like to -get an updated version -into Debian. So two weeks ago I tried harder to get in touch with -the project admin, and after getting a reply from him explaining that -he was no longer interested in the project, I asked if I could take -over. And yesterday, I became project admin.

    - -

    I've been in touch with a Gentoo developer and the Debian -maintainer interested in joining forces to maintain the upstream -project, and I hope we can get a new release out fairly quickly, -collecting the patches spread around on the internet into on place. -I've added the relevant Debian patches to the freshly created git -repository, and expect the Gentoo patches to make it too. If you got -a DVD collection and care about command line tools, check out -the git source and join -the project mailing -list. :)

    +
    I'm going to the Open Source Developers' Conference Nordic 2015!
    +
    7th April 2015
    +

    I am happy to let you all know that I'm going to the Open Source Developers' +Conference Nordic 2015!

    + +

    It take place Friday 8th to Sunday 10th of May in Oslo next to +where I work, and I finally got around to submitting +a talk proposal for +it (dead link for most people until the talk is accepted). As +part of my involvement with the +Norwegian Unix User Group member +association I have been slightly involved in the planning of this +conference for a while now, with a focus on organising a Civic Hacking +Hackathon with our friends +over at mySociety and +Holder de ord. This part is +named the 'My Society' track in the program. There is still space for +more talks and participants. I hope to see you there.

    + +

    Check out the talks +submitted and accepted so far.

    - Tags: debian, english, lsdvd, multimedia. + Tags: english, fiksgatami, nuug, offentlig innsyn.
    @@ -813,6 +1273,23 @@ list. :)

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