X-Git-Url: http://pere.pagekite.me/gitweb/homepage.git/blobdiff_plain/077386f9640db7ba0e157f7af2d1d1de94e4b1ce..e86168b0cae5e6a526a6b36eb97989829af60b9b:/blog/index.rss diff --git a/blog/index.rss b/blog/index.rss index 1fd7f8f154..92144c45c7 100644 --- a/blog/index.rss +++ b/blog/index.rss @@ -7,691 +7,888 @@ - 90 percent done with the Norwegian draft translation of Free Culture - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/90_percent_done_with_the_Norwegian_draft_translation_of_Free_Culture.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/90_percent_done_with_the_Norwegian_draft_translation_of_Free_Culture.html - Fri, 2 Aug 2013 10:40:00 +0200 - <p>It has been a while since my last update. Since last summer, I -have worked on a Norwegian -<a href="http://www.docbook.org/">docbook</a> version of the 2004 book -<a href="http://free-culture.cc/">Free Culture</a> by Lawrence Lessig, -to get a Norwegian text explaining the problems with the copyright -law. Yesterday, I finally broken the 90% mark, when counting the -number of strings to translate. Due to real life constraints, I have -not had time to work on it since March, but when the summer broke out, -I found time to work on it again. Still lots of work left, but the -first draft is nearing completion. I created a graph to show the -progress of the translation:</p> - -<p><img width="80%" align="center" src="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig/raw/master/progress.png"></p> - -<p>When the first draft is done, the translated text need to be -proof read, and the remaining formatting problems with images and SVG -drawings need to be fixed. There are probably also some index entries -missing that need to be added. This can be done by comparing the -index entries listed in the SiSU version of the book, or comparing the -English docbook version with the paper version. Last, the colophon -page with ISBN numbers etc need to be wrapped up before the release is -done. I should also figure out how to get correct Norwegian sorting -of the index pages. All docbook tools I have tried so far (xmlto, -docbook-xsl, dblatex) get the order of symbols and the special -Norwegian letters ÆØÅ wrong.</p> - -<p>There is still need for translators and people with docbook -knowledge, to be able to get a good looking book (I still struggle -with dblatex, xmlto and docbook-xsl) as well as to do the draft -translation and proof reading. And I would like the figures to be -redrawn as SVGs to make it easy to translate them. Any SVG master -around? There are also some legal terms that are unfamiliar to me. -If you want to help, please get in touch with me, and check out the -project files currently available from -<a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig">github</a>.</p> - -<p>If you are curious what the translated book currently look like, -the updated -<a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig/blob/master/archive/freeculture.nb.pdf?raw=true">PDF</a> -and -<a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig/blob/master/archive/freeculture.nb.epub?raw=true">EPUB</a> -are published on github. The HTML version is published as well, but -github hand it out with MIME type text/plain, confusing browsers, so I -saw no point in linking to that version.</p> - - - - - First beta release of Debian Edu/Skolelinux based on Debian Wheezy - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/First_beta_release_of_Debian_Edu_Skolelinux_based_on_Debian_Wheezy.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/First_beta_release_of_Debian_Edu_Skolelinux_based_on_Debian_Wheezy.html - Sat, 27 Jul 2013 20:30:00 +0200 - <p>The first wheezy based beta release of Debian Edu was wrapped up -today. This is the release announcement:</p> - -<p><strong>New features for Debian Edu 7.1+edu0~b0 released -2013-07-27</strong></p> - -<p>These are the release notes for for Debian Edu / Skolelinux -7.1+edu0~b0, based on Debian with codename "Wheezy".</p> - -<p><strong>About Debian Edu and Skolelinux</strong></p> - -<p><a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu, also known as -Skolelinux</a>, 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, DVD 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 -<a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Educational_applications_included_in_Debian_Edu___Skolelinux__the_screenshot_collection____.html">more -than 60 educational software packages</a> and more are available from -the Debian archive, and schools can choose between KDE, Gnome, LXDE -and Xfce desktop environment.</p> - -<p>This is the fifth test release based on Debian Wheezy. Basically -this is an updated and slightly improved version compared to the -Squeeze release.</p> - -<p>ALERT: Alpha based installations should reinstall or downgrade the -versions of gosa and libpam-mklocaluser to the ones used in this beta -release.</p> - -<p><strong>Software updates</strong></p> - -<ul> - -<li>Switched roaming workstation profiles from wicd to network-manager - for network configuration, as wicd didn't work any more.</li> -<li>Changed version numbers of patched gosa and libpam-mklocaluser - packages to make sure our locally patched versions will be replaced - by the official packages when they are released from Debian. Those - installing alpha version need to reinstall or manually downgrade gosa - and libpam-mklocaluser.</li> -<li>Added bluetooth tools to the default desktop (bluedevil, blueman).</li> -<li>Added tools for sharing the desktop on KDE (krdc, krfb).</li> -<li>Added valgrind to the default installation for easier debugging of - crash bugs.</li> - -</ul> - -<p><strong>Other changes</strong></p> + Språkkoder for POSIX locale i Norge + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Spr_kkoder_for_POSIX_locale_i_Norge.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Spr_kkoder_for_POSIX_locale_i_Norge.html + Fri, 11 Apr 2014 21:30:00 +0200 + <p>For 12 år siden, skrev jeg et lite notat om +<a href="http://i18n.skolelinux.no/localekoder.txt">bruk av språkkoder +i Norge</a>. Jeg ble nettopp minnet på dette da jeg fikk spørsmål om +notatet fortsatt var aktuelt, og tenkte det var greit å repetere hva +som fortsatt gjelder. Det jeg skrev da er fortsatt like aktuelt.</p> + +<p>Når en velger språk i programmer på unix, så velger en blant mange +språkkoder. For språk i Norge anbefales følgende språkkoder (anbefalt +locale i parantes):</p> + +<p><dl> +<dt>nb (nb_NO)</dt><dd>Bokmål i Norge</dd> +<dt>nn (nn_NO)</dt><dd>Nynorsk i Norge</dd> +<dt>se (se_NO)</dt><dd>Nordsamisk i Norge</dd> +</dl></p> + +<p>Alle programmer som bruker andre koder bør endres.</p> + +<p>Språkkoden bør brukes når .po-filer navngis og installeres. Dette +er ikke det samme som locale-koden. For Norsk Bokmål, så bør filene +være navngitt nb.po, mens locale (LANG) bør være nb_NO.</p> + +<p>Hvis vi ikke får standardisert de kodene i alle programmene med +norske oversettelser, så er det umulig å gi LANG-variablen ett innhold +som fungerer for alle programmer.</p> + +<p>Språkkodene er de offisielle kodene fra ISO 639, og bruken av dem i +forbindelse med POSIX localer er standardisert i RFC 3066 og ISO +15897. Denne anbefalingen er i tråd med de angitte standardene.</p> + +<p>Følgende koder er eller har vært i bruk som locale-verdier for +"norske" språk. Disse bør unngås, og erstattes når de oppdages:</p> + +<p><table> +<tr><td>norwegian</td><td>-> nb_NO</td></tr> +<tr><td>bokmål </td><td>-> nb_NO</td></tr> +<tr><td>bokmal </td><td>-> nb_NO</td></tr> +<tr><td>nynorsk </td><td>-> nn_NO</td></tr> +<tr><td>no </td><td>-> nb_NO</td></tr> +<tr><td>no_NO </td><td>-> nb_NO</td></tr> +<tr><td>no_NY </td><td>-> nn_NO</td></tr> +<tr><td>sme_NO </td><td>-> se_NO</td></tr> +</table></p> + +<p>Merk at når det gjelder de samiske språkene, at se_NO i praksis +henviser til nordsamisk i Norge, mens f.eks. smj_NO henviser til +lulesamisk. Dette notatet er dog ikke ment å gi råd rundt samiske +språkkoder, der gjør +<a href="http://www.divvun.no/">Divvun-prosjektet</a> en bedre +jobb.</p> + +<p><strong>Referanser:</strong></p> <ul> -<li>Fixed artwork package to work with gnome, no longer break - desktop=gnome installations.</li> -<li>Adjusted installer to now work when forced to use a proxy with the - netinst CD.</li> -<li>Fixed code detecting and setting/loading hardware specific - setup/firmware to work more robust out of the box.</li> -<li>Adjusted Kerberos setup to detect realm and server settings at - install time instead of dynamically at run time. This avoid a crash - with krb5-auth-dialog on diskless workstations without a DNS name.</li> -<li>Worked around misfeature in network-manager not calling the dhclient - exit hooks, causing automatic proxy configuration and automatic host - name setting at run time to work again.</li> -<li>Fixed feature setting the default Iceweasel start page from URL - fetched from LDAP, to allow schools to set the global default by - updating the dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no LDAP object.</li> -<li>Changed default host name on all networked machines to be unique - (generated from MAC or reverse DNS) after boot.</li> -<li>Adjusted partition sizes to make sure they are big enough.</li> - -</ul> - -<p><strong>Known issues</strong></p> + <li><a href="http://www.rfc-base.org/rfc-3066.html">RFC 3066 - Tags + for the Identification of Languages</a> (Erstatter RFC 1766)</li> + + <li><a href="http://www.loc.gov/standards/iso639-2/langcodes.html">ISO + 639</a> - Codes for the Representation of Names of Languages</li> + + <li><a href="http://std.dkuug.dk/jtc1/sc22/wg20/docs/n897-14652w25.pdf">ISO + DTR 14652</a> - locale-standard Specification method for cultural + conventions</li> + + <li><a href="http://std.dkuug.dk/jtc1/sc22/wg20/docs/n610.pdf">ISO + 15897: Registration procedures for cultural elements (cultural + registry)</a>, + <a href="http://std.dkuug.dk/jtc1/sc22/wg20/docs/n849-15897wd6.pdf">(nytt + draft)</a></li> + + <li><a href="http://std.dkuug.dk/jtc1/sc22/wg20/">ISO/IEC + JTC1/SC22/WG20</a> - Gruppen for i18n-standardisering i ISO</li> <ul> - -<li>Grub is missing the new artwork.</li> -<li>KDE fail to understand the wpad.dat file provided, causing it to - not use the http proxy as it should.</li> -<li>Chromium also fail to use the proxy.</li> - -</ul> - -<p><strong>Where to get it</strong></p> - -<p>To download the multiarch netinstall CD release you can use</p> - -<ul> - -<li><a href="ftp://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~b0-CD.iso">ftp://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~b0-CD.iso</a></li> - -<li><a href="http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~b0-CD.iso">http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~b0-CD.iso</a></li> - -<li>rsync -avzP ftp.skolelinux.org::skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~b0-CD.iso .</li> - -</ul> - -<p>The MD5SUM of this image is: 55d5de9765b6dccd5d9ec33cf1a07109 -<br>The SHA1SUM of this image is: 996a1d9517740e4d627d100de2d12b23dd545a3f</p> - -<p>To download the multiarch USB stick ISO release you can use</p> - -<ul> - -<li><a href="ftp://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~b0-USB.iso">ftp://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~b0-USB.iso</a></li> -<li><a href="http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~b0-USB.iso">http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~b0-USB.iso</a></li> -<li>rsync -avzP ftp.skolelinux.org::skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~b0-USB.iso .</li> - -</ul> - -<p>The MD5SUM of this image is: d8f0818c51a78d357de794066f289f69 -<br>The SHA1SUM of this image is: 49185ca354e8d0543240423746924f76a6cee733</p> - - -<p><strong>How to report bugs</strong></p> - -<p><a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/HowTo/ReportBugs">http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/HowTo/ReportBugs</a> - How to fix a Thinkpad X230 with a broken 180 GB SSD disk - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/How_to_fix_a_Thinkpad_X230_with_a_broken_180_GB_SSD_disk.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/How_to_fix_a_Thinkpad_X230_with_a_broken_180_GB_SSD_disk.html - Wed, 17 Jul 2013 23:50:00 +0200 - <p>Today I switched to -<a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/The_Thinkpad_is_dead__long_live_the_Thinkpad_X230_.html">my -new laptop</a>. I've previously written about the problems I had with -my new Thinkpad X230, which was delivered with an -<a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Intel_SSD_520_Series_180_GB_with_Lenovo_firmware_still_lock_up_from_sustained_writes.html">180 -GB Intel SSD disk with Lenovo firmware</a> that did not handle -sustained writes. My hardware supplier have been very forthcoming in -trying to find a solution, and after first trying with another -identical 180 GB disks they decided to send me a 256 GB Samsung SSD -disk instead to fix it once and for all. The Samsung disk survived -the installation of Debian with encrypted disks (filling the disk with -random data during installation killed the first two), and I thus -decided to trust it with my data. I have installed it as a Debian Edu -Wheezy roaming workstation hooked up with my Debian Edu Squeeze main -server at home using Kerberos and LDAP, and will use it as my work -station from now on.</p> - -<p>As this is a solid state disk with no moving parts, I believe the -Debian Wheezy default installation need to be tuned a bit to increase -performance and increase life time of the disk. The Linux kernel and -user space applications do not yet adjust automatically to such -environment. To make it easier for my self, I created a draft Debian -package <tt>ssd-setup</tt> to handle this tuning. The -<a href="http://anonscm.debian.org/gitweb/?p=collab-maint/ssd-setup.git">source -for the ssd-setup package</a> is available from collab-maint, and it -is set up to adjust the setup of the machine by just installing the -package. If there is any non-SSD disk in the machine, the package -will refuse to install, as I did not try to write any logic to sort -file systems in SSD and non-SSD file systems.</p> - -<p>I consider the package a draft, as I am a bit unsure how to best -set up Debian Wheezy with an SSD. It is adjusted to my use case, -where I set up the machine with one large encrypted partition (in -addition to /boot), put LVM on top of this and set up partitions on -top of this again. See the README file in the package source for the -references I used to pick the settings. At the moment these -parameters are tuned:</p> + S3QL, a locally mounted cloud file system - nice free software + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/S3QL__a_locally_mounted_cloud_file_system___nice_free_software.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/S3QL__a_locally_mounted_cloud_file_system___nice_free_software.html + Wed, 9 Apr 2014 11:30:00 +0200 + <p>For a while now, I have been looking for a sensible offsite backup +solution for use at home. My requirements are simple, it must be +cheap and locally encrypted (in other words, I keep the encryption +keys, the storage provider do not have access to my private files). +One idea me and my friends had many years ago, before the cloud +storage providers showed up, was to use Google mail as storage, +writing a Linux block device storing blocks as emails in the mail +service provided by Google, and thus get heaps of free space. On top +of this one can add encryption, RAID and volume management to have +lots of (fairly slow, I admit that) cheap and encrypted storage. But +I never found time to implement such system. But the last few weeks I +have looked at a system called +<a href="https://bitbucket.org/nikratio/s3ql/">S3QL</a>, a locally +mounted network backed file system with the features I need.</p> + +<p>S3QL is a fuse file system with a local cache and cloud storage, +handling several different storage providers, any with Amazon S3, +Google Drive or OpenStack API. There are heaps of such storage +providers. S3QL can also use a local directory as storage, which +combined with sshfs allow for file storage on any ssh server. S3QL +include support for encryption, compression, de-duplication, snapshots +and immutable file systems, allowing me to mount the remote storage as +a local mount point, look at and use the files as if they were local, +while the content is stored in the cloud as well. This allow me to +have a backup that should survive fire. The file system can not be +shared between several machines at the same time, as only one can +mount it at the time, but any machine with the encryption key and +access to the storage service can mount it if it is unmounted.</p> + +<p>It is simple to use. I'm using it on Debian Wheezy, where the +package is included already. So to get started, run <tt>apt-get +install s3ql</tt>. Next, pick a storage provider. I ended up picking +Greenqloud, after reading their nice recipe on +<a href="https://greenqloud.zendesk.com/entries/44611757-How-To-Use-S3QL-to-mount-a-StorageQloud-bucket-on-Debian-Wheezy">how +to use S3QL with their Amazon S3 service</a>, because I trust the laws +in Iceland more than those in USA when it come to keeping my personal +data safe and private, and thus would rather spend money on a company +in Iceland. Another nice recipe is available from the article +<a href="http://www.admin-magazine.com/HPC/Articles/HPC-Cloud-Storage">S3QL +Filesystem for HPC Storage</a> by Jeff Layton in the HPC section of +Admin magazine. When the provider is picked, figure out how to get +the API key needed to connect to the storage API. With Greencloud, +the key did not show up until I had added payment details to my +account.</p> + +<p>Armed with the API access details, it is time to create the file +system. First, create a new bucket in the cloud. This bucket is the +file system storage area. I picked a bucket name reflecting the +machine that was going to store data there, but any name will do. +I'll refer to it as <tt>bucket-name</tt> below. In addition, one need +the API login and password, and a locally created password. Store it +all in ~root/.s3ql/authinfo2 like this: + +<p><blockquote><pre> +[s3c] +storage-url: s3c://s.greenqloud.com:443/bucket-name +backend-login: API-login +backend-password: API-password +fs-passphrase: local-password +</pre></blockquote></p> + +<p>I create my local passphrase using <tt>pwget 50</tt> or similar, +but any sensible way to create a fairly random password should do it. +Armed with these details, it is now time to run mkfs, entering the API +details and password to create it:</p> + +<p><blockquote><pre> +# mkdir -m 700 /var/lib/s3ql-cache +# mkfs.s3ql --cachedir /var/lib/s3ql-cache --authfile /root/.s3ql/authinfo2 \ + --ssl s3c://s.greenqloud.com:443/bucket-name +Enter backend login: +Enter backend password: +Before using S3QL, make sure to read the user's guide, especially +the 'Important Rules to Avoid Loosing Data' section. +Enter encryption password: +Confirm encryption password: +Generating random encryption key... +Creating metadata tables... +Dumping metadata... +..objects.. +..blocks.. +..inodes.. +..inode_blocks.. +..symlink_targets.. +..names.. +..contents.. +..ext_attributes.. +Compressing and uploading metadata... +Wrote 0.00 MB of compressed metadata. +# </pre></blockquote></p> + +<p>The next step is mounting the file system to make the storage available. + +<p><blockquote><pre> +# mount.s3ql --cachedir /var/lib/s3ql-cache --authfile /root/.s3ql/authinfo2 \ + --ssl --allow-root s3c://s.greenqloud.com:443/bucket-name /s3ql +Using 4 upload threads. +Downloading and decompressing metadata... +Reading metadata... +..objects.. +..blocks.. +..inodes.. +..inode_blocks.. +..symlink_targets.. +..names.. +..contents.. +..ext_attributes.. +Mounting filesystem... +# df -h /s3ql +Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on +s3c://s.greenqloud.com:443/bucket-name 1.0T 0 1.0T 0% /s3ql +# +</pre></blockquote></p> + +<p>The file system is now ready for use. I use rsync to store my +backups in it, and as the metadata used by rsync is downloaded at +mount time, no network traffic (and storage cost) is triggered by +running rsync. To unmount, one should not use the normal umount +command, as this will not flush the cache to the cloud storage, but +instead running the umount.s3ql command like this: + +<p><blockquote><pre> +# umount.s3ql /s3ql +# +</pre></blockquote></p> + +<p>There is a fsck command available to check the file system and +correct any problems detected. This can be used if the local server +crashes while the file system is mounted, to reset the "already +mounted" flag. This is what it look like when processing a working +file system:</p> + +<p><blockquote><pre> +# fsck.s3ql --force --ssl s3c://s.greenqloud.com:443/bucket-name +Using cached metadata. +File system seems clean, checking anyway. +Checking DB integrity... +Creating temporary extra indices... +Checking lost+found... +Checking cached objects... +Checking names (refcounts)... +Checking contents (names)... +Checking contents (inodes)... +Checking contents (parent inodes)... +Checking objects (reference counts)... +Checking objects (backend)... +..processed 5000 objects so far.. +..processed 10000 objects so far.. +..processed 15000 objects so far.. +Checking objects (sizes)... +Checking blocks (referenced objects)... +Checking blocks (refcounts)... +Checking inode-block mapping (blocks)... +Checking inode-block mapping (inodes)... +Checking inodes (refcounts)... +Checking inodes (sizes)... +Checking extended attributes (names)... +Checking extended attributes (inodes)... +Checking symlinks (inodes)... +Checking directory reachability... +Checking unix conventions... +Checking referential integrity... +Dropping temporary indices... +Backing up old metadata... +Dumping metadata... +..objects.. +..blocks.. +..inodes.. +..inode_blocks.. +..symlink_targets.. +..names.. +..contents.. +..ext_attributes.. +Compressing and uploading metadata... +Wrote 0.89 MB of compressed metadata. +# +</pre></blockquote></p> + +<p>Thanks to the cache, working on files that fit in the cache is very +quick, about the same speed as local file access. Uploading large +amount of data is to me limited by the bandwidth out of and into my +house. Uploading 685 MiB with a 100 MiB cache gave me 305 kiB/s, +which is very close to my upload speed, and downloading the same +Debian installation ISO gave me 610 kiB/s, close to my download speed. +Both were measured using <tt>dd</tt>. So for me, the bottleneck is my +network, not the file system code. I do not know what a good cache +size would be, but suspect that the cache should e larger than your +working set.</p> + +<p>I mentioned that only one machine can mount the file system at the +time. If another machine try, it is told that the file system is +busy:</p> + +<p><blockquote><pre> +# mount.s3ql --cachedir /var/lib/s3ql-cache --authfile /root/.s3ql/authinfo2 \ + --ssl --allow-root s3c://s.greenqloud.com:443/bucket-name /s3ql +Using 8 upload threads. +Backend reports that fs is still mounted elsewhere, aborting. +# +</pre></blockquote></p> + +<p>The file content is uploaded when the cache is full, while the +metadata is uploaded once every 24 hour by default. To ensure the +file system content is flushed to the cloud, one can either umount the +file system, or ask S3QL to flush the cache and metadata using +s3qlctrl: + +<p><blockquote><pre> +# s3qlctrl upload-meta /s3ql +# s3qlctrl flushcache /s3ql +# +</pre></blockquote></p> + +<p>If you are curious about how much space your data uses in the +cloud, and how much compression and deduplication cut down on the +storage usage, you can use s3qlstat on the mounted file system to get +a report:</p> + +<p><blockquote><pre> +# s3qlstat /s3ql +Directory entries: 9141 +Inodes: 9143 +Data blocks: 8851 +Total data size: 22049.38 MB +After de-duplication: 21955.46 MB (99.57% of total) +After compression: 21877.28 MB (99.22% of total, 99.64% of de-duplicated) +Database size: 2.39 MB (uncompressed) +(some values do not take into account not-yet-uploaded dirty blocks in cache) +# +</pre></blockquote></p> + +<p>I mentioned earlier that there are several possible suppliers of +storage. I did not try to locate them all, but am aware of at least +<a href="https://www.greenqloud.com/">Greenqloud</a>, +<a href="http://drive.google.com/">Google Drive</a>, +<a href="http://aws.amazon.com/s3/">Amazon S3 web serivces</a>, +<a href="http://www.rackspace.com/">Rackspace</a> and +<a href="http://crowncloud.net/">Crowncloud</A>. The latter even +accept payment in Bitcoin. Pick one that suit your need. Some of +them provide several GiB of free storage, but the prize models are +quite different and you will have to figure out what suits you +best.</p> + +<p>While researching this blog post, I had a look at research papers +and posters discussing the S3QL file system. There are several, which +told me that the file system is getting a critical check by the +science community and increased my confidence in using it. One nice +poster is titled +"<a href="http://www.lanl.gov/orgs/adtsc/publications/science_highlights_2013/docs/pg68_69.pdf">An +Innovative Parallel Cloud Storage System using OpenStack’s SwiftObject +Store and Transformative Parallel I/O Approach</a>" by Hsing-Bung +Chen, Benjamin McClelland, David Sherrill, Alfred Torrez, Parks Fields +and Pamela Smith. Please have a look.</p> + +<p>Given my problems with different file systems earlier, I decided to +check out the mounted S3QL file system to see if it would be usable as +a home directory (in other word, that it provided POSIX semantics when +it come to locking and umask handling etc). Running +<a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Testing_if_a_file_system_can_be_used_for_home_directories___.html">my +test code to check file system semantics</a>, I was happy to discover that +no error was found. So the file system can be used for home +directories, if one chooses to do so.</p> + +<p>If you do not want a locally file system, and want something that +work without the Linux fuse file system, I would like to mention the +<a href="http://www.tarsnap.com/">Tarsnap service</a>, which also +provide locally encrypted backup using a command line client. It have +a nicer access control system, where one can split out read and write +access, allowing some systems to write to the backup and others to +only read from it.</p> + +<p>As usual, if you use Bitcoin and want to show your support of my +activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address +<b><a href="bitcoin:15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b&label=PetterReinholdtsenBlog">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</a></b>.</p> + + + + + EU-domstolen bekreftet i dag at datalagringsdirektivet er ulovlig + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/EU_domstolen_bekreftet_i_dag_at_datalagringsdirektivet_er_ulovlig.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/EU_domstolen_bekreftet_i_dag_at_datalagringsdirektivet_er_ulovlig.html + Tue, 8 Apr 2014 11:30:00 +0200 + <p>I dag kom endelig avgjørelsen fra EU-domstolen om +datalagringsdirektivet, som ikke overraskende ble dømt ulovlig og i +strid med borgernes grunnleggende rettigheter. Hvis du lurer på hva +datalagringsdirektivet er for noe, så er det +<a href="http://tv.nrk.no/program/koid75005313/tema-dine-digitale-spor-datalagringsdirektivet">en +flott dokumentar tilgjengelig hos NRK</a> som jeg tidligere +<a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Dokumentaren_om_Datalagringsdirektivet_sendes_endelig_p__NRK.html">har +anbefalt</a> alle å se.</p> -<ul> +<p>Her er et liten knippe nyhetsoppslag om saken, og jeg regner med at +det kommer flere ut over dagen. Flere kan finnes +<a href="http://www.mylder.no/?drill=datalagringsdirektivet&intern=1">via +mylder</a>.</p> -<li>Set up cryptsetup to pass TRIM commands to the physical disk - (adding discard to /etc/crypttab)</li> +<p><ul> -<li>Set up LVM to pass on TRIM commands to the underlying device (in - this case a cryptsetup partition) by changing issue_discards from - 0 to 1 in /etc/lvm/lvm.conf.</li> +<li><a href="http://e24.no/digital/eu-domstolen-datalagringsdirektivet-er-ugyldig/22879592">EU-domstolen: +Datalagringsdirektivet er ugyldig</a> - e24.no 2014-04-08 -<li>Set relatime as a file system option for ext3 and ext4 file - systems.</li> +<li><a href="http://www.aftenposten.no/nyheter/iriks/EU-domstolen-Datalagringsdirektivet-er-ulovlig-7529032.html">EU-domstolen: +Datalagringsdirektivet er ulovlig</a> - aftenposten.no 2014-04-08 -<li>Tell swap to use TRIM commands by adding 'discard' to - /etc/fstab.</li> +<li><a href="http://www.aftenposten.no/nyheter/iriks/politikk/Krever-DLD-stopp-i-Norge-7530086.html">Krever +DLD-stopp i Norge</a> - aftenposten.no 2014-04-08 -<li>Change I/O scheduler from cfq to deadline using a udev rule.</li> +<li><a href="http://www.p4.no/story.aspx?id=566431">Apenes: - En +gledens dag</a> - p4.no 2014-04-08 -<li>Run fstrim on every ext3 and ext4 file system every night (from - cron.daily).</li> +<li><a href="http://www.nrk.no/norge/_-datalagringsdirektivet-er-ugyldig-1.11655929">EU-domstolen: +– Datalagringsdirektivet er ugyldig</a> - nrk.no 2014-04-08</li> -<li>Adjust sysctl values vm.swappiness to 1 and vm.vfs_cache_pressure - to 50 to reduce the kernel eagerness to swap out processes.</li> +<li><a href="http://www.vg.no/nyheter/utenriks/data-og-nett/eu-domstolen-datalagringsdirektivet-er-ugyldig/a/10130280/">EU-domstolen: +Datalagringsdirektivet er ugyldig</a> - vg.no 2014-04-08</li> -</ul> +<li><a href="http://www.dagbladet.no/2014/04/08/nyheter/innenriks/datalagringsdirektivet/personvern/32711646/">- +Vi bør skrote hele datalagringsdirektivet</a> - dagbladet.no +2014-04-08</li> + +<li><a href="http://www.digi.no/928137/eu-domstolen-dld-er-ugyldig">EU-domstolen: +DLD er ugyldig</a> - digi.no 2014-04-08</li> + +<li><a href="http://www.irishtimes.com/business/sectors/technology/european-court-declares-data-retention-directive-invalid-1.1754150">European +court declares data retention directive invalid</a> - irishtimes.com +2014-04-08</li> + +<li><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/04/08/us-eu-data-ruling-idUSBREA370F020140408?feedType=RSS">EU +court rules against requirement to keep data of telecom users</a> - +reuters.com 2014-04-08</li> -<p>During installation, I cancelled the part where the installer fill -the disk with random data, as this would kill the SSD performance for -little gain. My goal with the encrypted file system is to ensure -those stealing my laptop end up with a brick and not a working -computer. I have no hope in keeping the really resourceful people -from getting the data on the disk (see -<a href="http://xkcd.com/538/">XKCD #538</a> for an explanation why). -Thus I concluded that adding the discard option to crypttab is the -right thing to do.</p> - -<p>I considered using the noop I/O scheduler, as several recommended -it for SSD, but others recommended deadline and a benchmark I found -indicated that deadline might be better for interactive use.</p> - -<p>I also considered using the 'discard' file system option for ext3 -and ext4, but read that it would give a performance hit ever time a -file is removed, and thought it best to that that slowdown once a day -instead of during my work.</p> - -<p>My package do not set up tmpfs on /var/run, /var/lock and /tmp, as -this is already done by Debian Edu.</p> - -<p>I have not yet started on the user space tuning. I expect -iceweasel need some tuning, and perhaps other applications too, but -have not yet had time to investigate those parts.</p> - -<p>The package should work on Ubuntu too, but I have not yet tested it -there.</p> - -<p>As for the answer to the question in the title of this blog post, -as far as I know, the only solution I know about is to replace the -disk. It might be possible to flash it with Intel firmware instead of -the Lenovo firmware. But I have not tried and did not want to do so -without approval from Lenovo as I wanted to keep the warranty on the -disk until a solution was found and they wanted the broken disks -back.</p> +</ul> +</p> + +<p>Jeg synes det er veldig fint at nok en stemme slår fast at +totalitær overvåkning av befolkningen er uakseptabelt, men det er +fortsatt like viktig å beskytte privatsfæren som før, da de +teknologiske mulighetene fortsatt finnes og utnyttes, og jeg tror +innsats i prosjekter som +<a href="https://wiki.debian.org/FreedomBox">Freedombox</a> og +<a href="http://www.dugnadsnett.no/">Dugnadsnett</a> er viktigere enn +noen gang.</p> + +<p><strong>Update 2014-04-08 12:10</strong>: Kronerullingen for å +stoppe datalagringsdirektivet i Norge gjøres hos foreningen +<a href="http://www.digitaltpersonvern.no/">Digitalt Personvern</a>, +som har samlet inn 843 215,- så langt men trenger nok mye mer hvis + +ikke Høyre og Arbeiderpartiet bytter mening i saken. Det var +<a href="http://www.holderdeord.no/parliament-issues/48650">kun +partinene Høyre og Arbeiderpartiet</a> som stemte for +Datalagringsdirektivet, og en av dem må bytte mening for at det skal +bli flertall mot i Stortinget. Se mer om saken +<a href="http://www.holderdeord.no/issues/69-innfore-datalagringsdirektivet">Holder +de ord</a>.</p> - Intel SSD 520 Series 180 GB with Lenovo firmware still lock up from sustained writes - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Intel_SSD_520_Series_180_GB_with_Lenovo_firmware_still_lock_up_from_sustained_writes.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Intel_SSD_520_Series_180_GB_with_Lenovo_firmware_still_lock_up_from_sustained_writes.html - Wed, 10 Jul 2013 13:30:00 +0200 - <p>A few days ago, I wrote about -<a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/The_Thinkpad_is_dead__long_live_the_Thinkpad_X230_.html">the -problems I experienced with my new X230 and its SSD disk</a>, which -was dying during installation because it is unable to cope with -sustained write. My supplier is in contact with -<a href="http://www.lenovo.com/">Lenovo</a>, and they wanted to send a -replacement disk to try to fix the problem. They decided to send an -identical model, so my hopes for a permanent fix was slim.</p> - -<p>Anyway, today I got the replacement disk and tried to install -Debian Edu Wheezy with encrypted disk on it. The new disk have the -same firmware version as the original. This time my hope raised -slightly as the installation progressed, as the original disk used to -die after 4-7% of the disk was written to, while this time it kept -going past 10%, 20%, 40% and even past 50%. But around 60%, the disk -died again and I was back on square one. I still do not have a new -laptop with a disk I can trust. I can not live with a disk that might -lock up when I download a new -<a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / Skolelinux</a> ISO or -other large files. I look forward to hearing from my supplier with -the next proposal from Lenovo.</p> - -<p>The original disk is marked Intel SSD 520 Series 180 GB, -11S0C38722Z1ZNME35X1TR, ISN: CVCV321407HB180EGN, SA: G57560302, FW: -LF1i, 29MAY2013, PBA: G39779-300, LBA 351,651,888, LI P/N: 0C38722, -Pb-free 2LI, LC P/N: 16-200366, WWN: 55CD2E40002756C4, Model: -SSDSC2BW180A3L 2.5" 6Gb/s SATA SSD 180G 5V 1A, ASM P/N 0C38732, FRU -P/N 45N8295, P0C38732.</p> - -<p>The replacement disk is marked Intel SSD 520 Series 180 GB, -11S0C38722Z1ZNDE34N0L0, ISN: CVCV315306RK180EGN, SA: G57560-302, FW: -LF1i, 22APR2013, PBA: G39779-300, LBA 351,651,888, LI P/N: 0C38722, -Pb-free 2LI, LC P/N: 16-200366, WWN: 55CD2E40000AB69E, Model: -SSDSC2BW180A3L 2.5" 6Gb/s SATA SSD 180G 5V 1A, ASM P/N 0C38732, FRU -P/N 45N8295, P0C38732.</p> - -<p>The only difference is in the first number (serial number?), ISN, -SA, date and WNPP values. Mentioning all the details here in case -someone is able to use the information to find a way to identify the -failing disk among working ones (if any such working disk actually -exist).</p> + ReactOS Windows clone - nice free software + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/ReactOS_Windows_clone___nice_free_software.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/ReactOS_Windows_clone___nice_free_software.html + Tue, 1 Apr 2014 12:10:00 +0200 + <p>Microsoft have announced that Windows XP reaches its end of life +2014-04-08, in 7 days. But there are heaps of machines still running +Windows XP, and depending on Windows XP to run their applications, and +upgrading will be expensive, both when it comes to money and when it +comes to the amount of effort needed to migrate from Windows XP to a +new operating system. Some obvious options (buy new a Windows +machine, buy a MacOSX machine, install Linux on the existing machine) +are already well known and covered elsewhere. Most of them involve +leaving the user applications installed on Windows XP behind and +trying out replacements or updated versions. In this blog post I want +to mention one strange bird that allow people to keep the hardware and +the existing Windows XP applications and run them on a free software +operating system that is Windows XP compatible.</p> + +<p><a href="http://www.reactos.org/">ReactOS</a> is a free software +operating system (GNU GPL licensed) working on providing a operating +system that is binary compatible with Windows, able to run windows +programs directly and to use Windows drivers for hardware directly. +The project goal is for Windows user to keep their existing machines, +drivers and software, and gain the advantages from user a operating +system without usage limitations caused by non-free licensing. It is +a Windows clone running directly on the hardware, so quite different +from the approach taken by <a href="http://www.winehq.org/">the Wine +project</a>, which make it possible to run Windows binaries on +Linux.</p> + +<p>The ReactOS project share code with the Wine project, so most +shared libraries available on Windows are already implemented already. +There is also a software manager like the one we are used to on Linux, +allowing the user to install free software applications with a simple +click directly from the Internet. Check out the +<a href="http://www.reactos.org/screenshots">screen shots on the +project web site</a> for an idea what it look like (it looks just like +Windows before metro).</p> + +<p>I do not use ReactOS myself, preferring Linux and Unix like +operating systems. I've tested it, and it work fine in a virt-manager +virtual machine. The browser, minesweeper, notepad etc is working +fine as far as I can tell. Unfortunately, my main test application +is the software included on a CD with the Lego Mindstorms NXT, which +seem to install just fine from CD but fail to leave any binaries on +the disk after the installation. So no luck with that test software. +No idea why, but hope someone else figure out and fix the problem. +I've tried the ReactOS Live ISO on a physical machine, and it seemed +to work just fine. If you like Windows and want to keep running your +old Windows binaries, check it out by +<a href="http://www.reactos.org/download">downloading</a> the +installation CD, the live CD or the preinstalled virtual machine +image.</p> - July 13th: Debian/Ubuntu BSP and Skolelinux/Debian Edu developer gathering in Oslo - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/July_13th__Debian_Ubuntu_BSP_and_Skolelinux_Debian_Edu_developer_gathering_in_Oslo.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/July_13th__Debian_Ubuntu_BSP_and_Skolelinux_Debian_Edu_developer_gathering_in_Oslo.html - Tue, 9 Jul 2013 10:40:00 +0200 - <p>The upcoming Saturday, 2013-07-13, we are organising a combined -Debian Edu developer gathering and Debian and Ubuntu bug squashing -party in Oslo. It is organised by <a href="http://www.nuug.no/">the -member assosiation NUUG</a> and -<a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">the Debian Edu / Skolelinux -project</a> together with <a href="http://bitraf.no/">the hack space -Bitraf</a>.</p> - -<p>It starts 10:00 and continue until late evening. Everyone is -welcome, and there is no fee to participate. There is on the other -hand limited space, and only room for 30 people. Please put your name -on <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/BSP/2013/07/13/no/Oslo">the event -wiki page</a> if you plan to join us.</p> + Debian Edu interview: Roger Marsal + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__Roger_Marsal.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__Roger_Marsal.html + Sun, 30 Mar 2014 11:40:00 +0200 + <p><a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / Skolelinux</a> +keep gaining new users. Some weeks ago, a person showed up on IRC, +<a href="irc://irc.debian.org/#debian-edu">#debian-edu</a>, with a +wish to contribute, and I managed to get a interview with this great +contributor Roger Marsal to learn more about his background.</p> + +<p><strong>Who are you, and how do you spend your days?</strong></p> + +<p>My name is Roger Marsal, I'm 27 years old (1986 generation) and I +live in Barcelona, Spain. I've got a strong business background and I +work as a patrimony manager and as a real estate agent. Additionally, +I've co-founded a British based tech company that is nowadays on the +last development phase of a new social networking concept.</p> + +<p>I'm a Linux enthusiast that started its journey with Ubuntu four years +ago and have recently switched to Debian seeking rock solid stability +and as a necessary step to gain expertise.</p> + +<p>In a nutshell, I spend my days working and learning as much as I +can to face both my job, entrepreneur project and feed my Linux +hunger.</p> + +<p><strong>How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux / Debian Edu +project?</strong></p> + +<p>I discovered the <a href="http://www.ltsp.org/">LTSP</a> advantages +with "Ubuntu 12.04 alternate install" and after a year of use I +started looking for an alternative. Even though I highly value and +respect the Ubuntu project, I thought it was necessary for me to +change to a more robust and stable alternative. As far as I was using +Debian on my personal laptop I thought it would be fine to install +Debian and configure an LTSP server myself. Surprised, I discovered +that the Debian project also supported a kind of Edubuntu equivalent, +and after having some pain I obtained a Debian Edu network up and +running. I just loved it.</p> + +<p><strong>What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux / Debian +Edu?</strong></p> + +<p>I found a main advantage in that, once you know "the tips and +tricks", a new installation just works out of the box. It's the most +complete alternative I've found to create an LTSP network. All the +other distributions seems to be made of plastic, Debian Edu seems to +be made of steel.</p> + +<p><strong>What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux / Debian +Edu?</strong></p> + +<p>I found two main disadvantages.</p> + +<p>I'm not an expert but I've got notions and I had to spent a considerable +amount of time trying to bring up a standard network topology. I'm quite +stubborn and I just worked until I did but I'm sure many people with few +resources (not big schools, but academies for example) would have switched +or dropped.</p> + +<p>It's amazing how such a complex system like Debian Edu has achieved +this out-of-the-box state. Even though tweaking without breaking gets +more difficult, as more factors have to be considered. This can +discourage many people too.</p> + +<p><strong>Which free software do you use daily?</strong></p> + +<p>I use Debian, Firefox, Okular, Inkscape, LibreOffice and +Virtualbox.</p> + + +<p><strong>Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to +get schools to use free software?</strong></p> + +<p>I don't think there is a need for a particular strategy. The free +attribute in both "freedom" and "no price" meanings is what will +really bring free software to schools. In my experience I can think of +the <a href="http://www.r-project.org/">"R" statistical language</a>; a +few years a ago was an extremely nerd tool for university people. +Today it's being increasingly used to teach statistics at many +different level of studies. I believe free and open software will +increasingly gain popularity, but I'm sure schools will be one of the +first scenarios where this will happen.</p> - The Thinkpad is dead, long live the Thinkpad X230? - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/The_Thinkpad_is_dead__long_live_the_Thinkpad_X230_.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/The_Thinkpad_is_dead__long_live_the_Thinkpad_X230_.html - Fri, 5 Jul 2013 08:30:00 +0200 - <p>Half a year ago, I reported that I had to find a -<a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Thank_you_Thinkpad_X41__for_your_long_and_trustworthy_service.html">replacement -for my trusty old Thinkpad X41</a>. Unfortunately I did not have much -time to spend on it, and it took a while to find a model I believe -will do the job, but two days ago the replacement finally arrived. I -ended up picking a -<a href="http://www.linlap.com/lenovo_thinkpad_x230">Thinkpad X230</a> -with SSD disk (NZDAJMN). I first test installed Debian Edu Wheezy as -a roaming workstation, and it seemed to work flawlessly. But my -second installation with encrypted disk was not as successful. More -on that below.</p> - -<p>I had a hard time trying to track down a good laptop, as my most -important requirements (robust and with a good keyboard) are never -listed in the feature list. But I did get good help from the search -feature at <a href="http://www.prisjakt.no/">Prisjakt</a>, which -allowed me to limit the list of interesting laptops based on my other -requirements. A bit surprising that SSD disk are not disks according -to that search interface, so I had to drop specifying the number of -disks from my search parameters. I also asked around among friends to -get their impression on keyboards and robustness.</p> - -<p>So the new laptop arrived, and it is quite a lot wider than the -X41. I am not quite convinced about the keyboard, as it is -significantly wider than my old keyboard, and I have to stretch my -hand a lot more to reach the edges. But the key response is fairly -good and the individual key shape is fairly easy to handle, so I hope -I will get used to it. My old X40 was starting to fail, and I really -needed a new laptop now. :)</p> - -<p>Turning off the touch pad was simple. All it took was a quick -visit to the BIOS during boot it disable it.</p> - -<p>But there is a fatal problem with the laptop. The 180 GB SSD disk -lock up during load. And this happen when installing Debian Wheezy -with encrypted disk, while the disk is being filled with random data. -I also tested to install Ubuntu Raring, and it happen there too if I -reenable the code to fill the disk with random data (it is disabled by -default in Ubuntu). And the bug with is already known. It was -reported to Debian as <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/691427">BTS -report #691427 2012-10-25</a> (journal commit I/O error on brand-new -Thinkpad T430s ext4 on lvm on SSD). It is also reported to the Linux -kernel developers as -<a href="https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=51861">Kernel bugzilla -report #51861 2012-12-20</a> (Intel SSD 520 stops working under load -(SSDSC2BW180A3L in Lenovo ThinkPad T430s)). It is also reported on the -Lenovo forums, both for -<a href="http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/T400-T500-and-newer-T-series/T430s-Intel-SSD-520-180GB-issue/m-p/1070549">T430 -2012-11-10</a> and for -<a href="http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/X-Series-ThinkPad-Laptops/x230-SATA-errors-with-180GB-Intel-520-SSD-under-heavy-write-load/m-p/1068147">X230 -03-20-2013</a>. The problem do not only affect installation. The -reports state that the disk lock up during use if many writes are done -on the disk, so it is much no use to work around the installation -problem and end up with a computer that can lock up at any moment. -There is even a -<a href="https://git.efficios.com/?p=test-ssd.git">small C program -available</a> that will lock up the hard drive after running a few -minutes by writing to a file.</p> - -<p>I've contacted my supplier and asked how to handle this, and after -contacting PCHELP Norway (request 01D1FDP) which handle support -requests for Lenovo, his first suggestion was to upgrade the disk -firmware. Unfortunately there is no newer firmware available from -Lenovo, as my disk already have the most recent one (version LF1i). I -hope to hear more from him today and hope the problem can be -fixed. :)</p> + Dokumentaren om Datalagringsdirektivet sendes endelig på NRK + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Dokumentaren_om_Datalagringsdirektivet_sendes_endelig_p__NRK.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Dokumentaren_om_Datalagringsdirektivet_sendes_endelig_p__NRK.html + Wed, 26 Mar 2014 09:50:00 +0100 + <p><a href="http://www.nuug.no/">Foreningen NUUG</a> melder i natt at +NRK nå har bestemt seg for +<a href="http://www.nuug.no/news/NRK_viser_filmen_om_Datalagringsdirektivet_f_rste_gang_2014_03_31.shtml">når +den norske dokumentarfilmen om datalagringsdirektivet skal +sendes</a> (se <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2832844/">IMDB</a> +for detaljer om filmen) . Første visning blir på NRK2 mandag +2014-03-31 kl. 19:50, og deretter visninger onsdag 2014-04-02 +kl. 12:30, fredag 2014-04-04 kl. 19:40 og søndag 2014-04-06 kl. 15:10. +Jeg har sett dokumentaren, og jeg anbefaler enhver å se den selv. Som +oppvarming mens vi venter anbefaler jeg Bjørn Stærks kronikk i +Aftenposten fra i går, +<a href="http://www.aftenposten.no/meninger/kronikker/Autoritar-gjokunge-7514915.html">Autoritær +gjøkunge</a>, der han gir en grei skisse av hvor ille det står til med +retten til privatliv og beskyttelsen av demokrati i Norge og resten +verden, og helt riktig slår fast at det er vi i databransjen som +sitter med nøkkelen til å gjøre noe med dette. Jeg har involvert meg +i prosjektene <a href="http://www.dugnadsnett.no/">dugnadsnett.no</a> +og <a href="https://wiki.debian.org/FreedomBox">FreedomBox</a> for å +forsøke å gjøre litt selv for å bedre situasjonen, men det er mye +hardt arbeid fra mange flere enn meg som gjenstår før vi kan sies å ha +gjenopprettet balansen.</p> + +<p>Jeg regner med at nettutgaven dukker opp på +<a href="http://tv.nrk.no/program/koid75005313/tema-dine-digitale-spor-datalagringsdirektivet">NRKs +side om filmen om datalagringsdirektivet</a> om fem dager. Hold et +øye med siden, og tips venner og slekt om at de også bør se den.</p> - The Thinkpad is dead, long live the Thinkpad X230 - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/The_Thinkpad_is_dead__long_live_the_Thinkpad_X230.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/The_Thinkpad_is_dead__long_live_the_Thinkpad_X230.html - Thu, 4 Jul 2013 09:20:00 +0200 - <p>Half a year ago, I reported that I had to find a replacement for my -trusty old Thinkpad X41. Unfortunately I did not have much time to -spend on it, but today the replacement finally arrived. I ended up -picking a <a href="http://www.linlap.com/lenovo_thinkpad_x230">Thinkpad -X230</a> with SSD disk (NZDAJMN). I first test installed Debian Edu -Wheezy as a roaming workstation, and it worked flawlessly. As I write -this, it is installing what I hope will be a more final installation, -with a encrypted hard drive to ensure any dope head stealing it end up -with an expencive door stop.</p> - -<p>I had a hard time trying to track down a good laptop, as my most -important requirements (robust and with a good keyboard) are never -listed in the feature list. But I did get good help from the search -feature at <ahref="http://www.prisjakt.no/">Prisjakt</a>, which -allowed me to limit the list of interesting laptops based on my other -requirements. A bit surprising that SSD disk are not disks, so I had -to drop number of disks from my search parameters.</p> - -<p>I am not quite convinced about the keyboard, as it is significantly -wider than my old keyboard, and I have to stretch my hand a lot more -to reach the edges. But the key response is fairly good and the -individual key shape is fairly easy to handle, so I hope I will get -used to it. My old X40 was starting to fail, and I really needed a -new laptop now. :)</p> - -<p>I look forward to figuring out how to turn off the touch pad.</p> + Public Trusted Timestamping services for everyone + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Public_Trusted_Timestamping_services_for_everyone.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Public_Trusted_Timestamping_services_for_everyone.html + Tue, 25 Mar 2014 12:50:00 +0100 + <p>Did you ever need to store logs or other files in a way that would +allow it to be used as evidence in court, and needed a way to +demonstrate without reasonable doubt that the file had not been +changed since it was created? Or, did you ever need to document that +a given document was received at some point in time, like some +archived document or the answer to an exam, and not changed after it +was received? The problem in these settings is to remove the need to +trust yourself and your computers, while still being able to prove +that a file is the same as it was at some given time in the past.</p> + +<p>A solution to these problems is to have a trusted third party +"stamp" the document and verify that at some given time the document +looked a given way. Such +<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notarius">notarius</a> service +have been around for thousands of years, and its digital equivalent is +called a +<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trusted_timestamping">trusted +timestamping service</a>. <a href="http://www.ietf.org/">The Internet +Engineering Task Force</a> standardised how such service could work a +few years ago as <a href="http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc3161">RFC +3161</a>. The mechanism is simple. Create a hash of the file in +question, send it to a trusted third party which add a time stamp to +the hash and sign the result with its private key, and send back the +signed hash + timestamp. Both email, FTP and HTTP can be used to +request such signature, depending on what is provided by the service +used. Anyone with the document and the signature can then verify that +the document matches the signature by creating their own hash and +checking the signature using the trusted third party public key. +There are several commercial services around providing such +timestamping. A quick search for +"<a href="https://duckduckgo.com/?q=rfc+3161+service">rfc 3161 +service</a>" pointed me to at least +<a href="https://www.digistamp.com/technical/how-a-digital-time-stamp-works/">DigiStamp</a>, +<a href="http://www.quovadisglobal.co.uk/CertificateServices/SigningServices/TimeStamp.aspx">Quo +Vadis</a>, +<a href="https://www.globalsign.com/timestamp-service/">Global Sign</a> +and <a href="http://www.globaltrustfinder.com/TSADefault.aspx">Global +Trust Finder</a>. The system work as long as the private key of the +trusted third party is not compromised.</p> + +<p>But as far as I can tell, there are very few public trusted +timestamp services available for everyone. I've been looking for one +for a while now. But yesterday I found one over at +<a href="https://www.pki.dfn.de/zeitstempeldienst/">Deutches +Forschungsnetz</a> mentioned in +<a href="http://www.d-mueller.de/blog/dealing-with-trusted-timestamps-in-php-rfc-3161/">a +blog by David Müller</a>. I then found +<a href="http://www.rz.uni-greifswald.de/support/dfn-pki-zertifikate/zeitstempeldienst.html">a +good recipe on how to use the service</a> over at the University of +Greifswald.</p> + +<p><a href="http://www.openssl.org/">The OpenSSL library</a> contain +both server and tools to use and set up your own signing service. See +the ts(1SSL), tsget(1SSL) manual pages for more details. The +following shell script demonstrate how to extract a signed timestamp +for any file on the disk in a Debian environment:</p> + +<p><blockquote><pre> +#!/bin/sh +set -e +url="http://zeitstempel.dfn.de" +caurl="https://pki.pca.dfn.de/global-services-ca/pub/cacert/chain.txt" +reqfile=$(mktemp -t tmp.XXXXXXXXXX.tsq) +resfile=$(mktemp -t tmp.XXXXXXXXXX.tsr) +cafile=chain.txt +if [ ! -f $cafile ] ; then + wget -O $cafile "$caurl" +fi +openssl ts -query -data "$1" -cert | tee "$reqfile" \ + | /usr/lib/ssl/misc/tsget -h "$url" -o "$resfile" +openssl ts -reply -in "$resfile" -text 1>&2 +openssl ts -verify -data "$1" -in "$resfile" -CAfile "$cafile" 1>&2 +base64 < "$resfile" +rm "$reqfile" "$resfile" +</pre></blockquote></p> + +<p>The argument to the script is the file to timestamp, and the output +is a base64 encoded version of the signature to STDOUT and details +about the signature to STDERR. Note that due to +<a href="http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=742553">a bug +in the tsget script</a>, you might need to modify the included script +and remove the last line. Or just write your own HTTP uploader using +curl. :) Now you too can prove and verify that files have not been +changed.</p> + +<p>But the Internet need more public trusted timestamp services. +Perhaps something for <a href="http://www.uninett.no/">Uninett</a> or +my work place the <a href="http://www.uio.no/">University of Oslo</a> +to set up?</p> - Fourth alpha release of Debian Edu/Skolelinux based on Debian Wheezy - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Fourth_alpha_release_of_Debian_Edu_Skolelinux_based_on_Debian_Wheezy.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Fourth_alpha_release_of_Debian_Edu_Skolelinux_based_on_Debian_Wheezy.html - Wed, 3 Jul 2013 14:00:00 +0200 - <p>The fourth wheezy based alpha release of Debian Edu was wrapped up -today. This is the release announcement:</p> - -<p><strong>New features for Debian Edu 7.1+edu0~alpha3 released -2013-07-03</strong></p> - -<p>These are the release notes for for Debian Edu / Skolelinux -7.1+edu0~alpha3, based on Debian with codename "Wheezy".</p> - -<p><strong>About Debian Edu and Skolelinux</strong></p> - -<p><a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu, also known as -Skolelinux</a>, 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, DVD 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 -<a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Educational_applications_included_in_Debian_Edu___Skolelinux__the_screenshot_collection____.html">more -than 60 educational software packages</a> and more are available from -the Debian archive, and schools can choose between KDE, Gnome, LXDE -and Xfce desktop environment.</p> - -<p>This is the fourth test release based on Debian Wheezy. Basically -this is an updated and slightly improved version compared to the -Squeeze release.</p> - -<p><strong>Software updates</strong></p> -<ul> - <li>Dropped ispell dictionaries from our default installation.</li> - <li>Dropped menu-xdg from the KDE desktop option, to drop the Debian - submenu. It was not included with Gnome, LXDE or Xfce, so this - brings KDE in line with the others.</li> - <li>Dropped xdrawchem, xjig and xsok from our default installation as - they don't have a desktop menu entry and thus won't show up in the - menu now that menu-xdg was removed.</li> - <li>Removed the killer system to kill left behind processes on - multi-user machines, as it was no longer able to understand when a - X display was in use and killed the processes of the active users - too.</li> - <li>Dropped the golearn (from goplay) package as the debtags in wheezy - are too few to make the package useful.</li> -</ul> -<p><strong>Other changes</strong></p> -<ul> - <li>Updated artwork matching http://wiki.debian.org/DebianArt/Themes/Joy - <li>Multi-arch i386/amd64 USB stick ISO available.</li> - <li>Got rid of ispell/wordlist related debconf questions that showed - up for some language options.</li> - <li>Switched to using http.debian.net as APT source by default.</li> - <li>Fixed proxy configuration on Main Server installations.</li> - <li>Changed LTSP setup to ask dpkg to use force-unsafe-io the same way - d-i is doing it.</li> - <li>Made sure root and user passwords were not left behind in the - debconf database after installation on Main Server installations.</li> - <li>Made Roaming Workstation dynamic setup more robust and added draft - script setup-ad-client to hook a Roaming Workstation up to a - Active Directory server instead of a Debian Edu Main Server.</li> - <li>Update system to install needed firmware packages during - installation, to work properly in Wheezy.</li> - <li>Update system to handle hardware quirks (debian-edu-hwsetup).</li> - <li>Corrected PXE installation setup to properly pass selected desktop - and keymap settings to PXE installation clients.</li> - <li>LTSP diskless workstations use sshfs by default, allowing them to - work without adding them to DNS and NIS netgroups for NFS access.</li> -</ul> -<p><strong>Known issues</strong></p> -<ul> - <li>No mass import of user account data in GOsa (ldif or csv) - available yet (698840).</li> - <li>Artwork not enabled for all desktops.</li> -</ul> -<p><strong>Where to get it</strong></p> - -<p>To download the multiarch netinstall CD release you can use</p> -<ul> - <li><a href="ftp://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~a3-CD.iso">ftp://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~a3-CD.iso</a></li> - <li><a href="http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~a3-CD.iso">http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~a3-CD.iso</a></li> - <li>rsync -avzP ftp.skolelinux.org::skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~a3-CD.iso .</li> -</ul> - -<p>The MD5SUM of this image is: 2b161a99d2a848c376d8d04e3854e30c -<br>The SHA1SUM of this image is: 498922e9c508c0a7ee9dbe1dfe5bf830d779c3c8</p> - -<p>To download the multiarch USB stick ISO release you can use</p> -<ul> - <li><a href="ftp://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~a3-USB.iso">ftp://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~a3-USB.iso</a></li> - <li><a href="http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~a3-USB.iso">http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~a3-USB.iso</a></li> - <li>rsync -avzP ftp.skolelinux.org::skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~a3-USB.iso .</li> -</ul> - -<p>The MD5SUM of this image is: 25e808e403a4c15dbef1d13c37d572ac -<br>The SHA1SUM of this image is: 15ecfc93eb6b4f453b7eb0bc04b6a279262d9721</p> - -<p><strong>How to report bugs</strong></p> - -<p><a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/HowTo/ReportBugs">http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/HowTo/ReportBugs</a></p> + Video DVD reader library / python-dvdvideo - nice free software + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Video_DVD_reader_library___python_dvdvideo___nice_free_software.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Video_DVD_reader_library___python_dvdvideo___nice_free_software.html + Fri, 21 Mar 2014 15:25:00 +0100 + <p>Keeping your DVD collection safe from scratches and curious +children fingers while still having it available when you want to see a +movie is not straight forward. My preferred method at the moment is +to store a full copy of the ISO on a hard drive, and use VLC, Popcorn +Hour or other useful players to view the resulting file. This way the +subtitles and bonus material are still available and using the ISO is +just like inserting the original DVD record in the DVD player.</p> + +<p>Earlier I used dd for taking security copies, but it do not handle +DVDs giving read errors (which are quite a few of them). I've also +tried using +<a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Ripping_problematic_DVDs_using_dvdbackup_and_genisoimage.html">dvdbackup +and genisoimage</a>, but these days I use the marvellous python library +and program +<a href="http://bblank.thinkmo.de/blog/new-software-python-dvdvideo">python-dvdvideo</a> +written by Bastian Blank. It is +<a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/p/python-dvdvideo.html">in Debian +already</a> and the binary package name is python3-dvdvideo. Instead +of trying to read every block from the DVD, it parses the file +structure and figure out which block on the DVD is actually in used, +and only read those blocks from the DVD. This work surprisingly well, +and I have been able to almost backup my entire DVD collection using +this method.</p> + +<p>So far, python-dvdvideo have failed on between 10 and +20 DVDs, which is a small fraction of my collection. The most common +problem is +<a href="https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=720831">DVDs +using UTF-16 instead of UTF-8 characters</a>, which according to +Bastian is against the DVD specification (and seem to cause some +players to fail too). A rarer problem is what seem to be inconsistent +DVD structures, as the python library +<a href="https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=723079">claim +there is a overlap between objects</a>. An equally rare problem claim +<a href="https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=741878">some +value is out of range</a>. No idea what is going on there. I wish I +knew enough about the DVD format to fix these, to ensure my movie +collection will stay with me in the future.</p> + +<p>So, if you need to keep your DVDs safe, back them up using +python-dvdvideo. :)</p> - Automatically locate and install required firmware packages on Debian (Isenkram 0.4) - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Automatically_locate_and_install_required_firmware_packages_on_Debian__Isenkram_0_4_.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Automatically_locate_and_install_required_firmware_packages_on_Debian__Isenkram_0_4_.html - Tue, 25 Jun 2013 11:50:00 +0200 - <p>It annoys me when the computer fail to do automatically what it is -perfectly capable of, and I have to do it manually to get things -working. One such task is to find out what firmware packages are -needed to get the hardware on my computer working. Most often this -affect the wifi card, but some times it even affect the RAID -controller or the ethernet card. Today I pushed version 0.4 of the -<a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/isenkram">Isenkram package</a> -including a new script isenkram-autoinstall-firmware handling the -process of asking all the loaded kernel modules what firmware files -they want, find debian packages providing these files and install the -debian packages. Here is a test run on my laptop:</p> - -<p><pre> -# isenkram-autoinstall-firmware -info: kernel drivers requested extra firmware: ipw2200-bss.fw ipw2200-ibss.fw ipw2200-sniffer.fw -info: fetching http://http.debian.net/debian/dists/squeeze/Contents-i386.gz -info: locating packages with the requested firmware files -info: Updating APT sources after adding non-free APT source -info: trying to install firmware-ipw2x00 -firmware-ipw2x00 -firmware-ipw2x00 -Preconfiguring packages ... -Selecting previously deselected package firmware-ipw2x00. -(Reading database ... 259727 files and directories currently installed.) -Unpacking firmware-ipw2x00 (from .../firmware-ipw2x00_0.28+squeeze1_all.deb) ... -Setting up firmware-ipw2x00 (0.28+squeeze1) ... -# -</pre></p> - -<p>When all the requested firmware is present, a simple message is -printed instead:</p> - -<p><pre> -# isenkram-autoinstall-firmware -info: did not find any firmware files requested by loaded kernel modules. exiting -# -</pre></p> - -<p>It could use some polish, but it is already working well and saving -me some time when setting up new machines. :)</p> - -<p>So, how does it work? It look at the set of currently loaded -kernel modules, and look up each one of them using modinfo, to find -the firmware files listed in the module meta-information. Next, it -download the Contents file from a nearby APT mirror, and search for -the firmware files in this file to locate the package with the -requested firmware file. If the package is in the non-free section, a -non-free APT source is added and the package is installed using -<tt>apt-get install</tt>. The end result is a slightly better working -machine.</p> - -<p>I hope someone find time to implement a more polished version of -this script as part of the hw-detect debian-installer module, to -finally fix <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/655507">BTS report -#655507</a>. There really is no need to insert USB sticks with -firmware during a PXE install when the packages already are available -from the nearby Debian mirror.</p> + Norsk utgave av Alaveteli / WhatDoTheyKnow på trappene + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Norsk_utgave_av_Alaveteli___WhatDoTheyKnow_p__trappene.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Norsk_utgave_av_Alaveteli___WhatDoTheyKnow_p__trappene.html + Sun, 16 Mar 2014 09:30:00 +0100 + <p>Det offentlige Norge har mye kunnskap og informasjon. Men hvordan +kan en få tilgang til den på en enkel måte? Takket være et lite +knippe lover og tilhørende forskrifter, blant annet +<a href="http://lovdata.no/dokument/NL/lov/2006-05-19-16">offentlighetsloven</a>, +<a href="http://lovdata.no/dokument/NL/lov/2003-05-09-31">miljøinformasjonsloven</a> +og +<a href="http://lovdata.no/dokument/NL/lov/1967-02-10/">forvaltningsloven</a> +har en rett til å spørre det offentlige og få svar. Men det finnes +intet offentlig arkiv over hva andre har spurt om, og dermed risikerer en +å måtte forstyrre myndighetene gang på gang for å få tak i samme +informasjonen på nytt. <a href="http://www.mysociety.org/">Britiske +mySociety</a> har laget tjenesten +<a href="http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/">WhatDoTheyKnow</a> som gjør +noe med dette. I Storbritannia blir WhatdoTheyKnow brukt i +<a href="http://www.mysociety.org/2011/07/01/whatdotheyknows-share-of-central-government-foi-requests-q2-2011/">ca +15% av alle innsynsforespørsler mot sentraladministrasjonen</a>. +Prosjektet heter <a href="http://www.alaveteli.org/">Alaveteli</A>, og +er takk i bruk en rekke steder etter at løsningen ble generalisert og +gjort mulig å oversette. Den hjelper borgerne med å be om innsyn, +rådgir ved purringer og klager og lar alle se hvilke henvendelser som +er sendt til det offentlige og hvilke svar som er kommet inn, i et +søkpart arkiv. Her i Norge holder vi i foreningen NUUG på å få opp en +norsk utgave av Alaveteli, og her trenger vi din hjelp med +oversettelsen.</p> + +<p>Så langt er 76 % av Alaveteli oversatt til norsk bokmål, men vi +skulle gjerne vært oppe i 100 % før lansering. Oversettelsen gjøres +på <a href="https://www.transifex.com/projects/p/alaveteli/">Transifex, +der enhver som registrerer seg</a> og ber om tilgang til +bokmålsoversettelsen får bidra. Vi har satt opp en test av tjenesten +(som ikke sender epost til det offentlige, kun til oss som holder på å +sette opp tjenesten) på maskinen +<a href="http://alaveteli-dev.nuug.no/">alaveteli-dev.nuug.no</a>, der +en kan se hvordan de oversatte meldingen blir seende ut på nettsiden. +Når tjenesten lanseres vil den hete +<a href="https://www.mimesbrønn.no/">Mimes brønn</a>, etter +visdomskilden som Odin måtte gi øyet sitt for å få drikke i. Den +nettsiden er er ennå ikke klar til bruk.</p> + +<p>Hvis noen vil oversette til nynorsk også, så skal vi finne ut +hvordan vi lager en flerspråklig tjeneste. Men i første omgang er +fokus på bokmålsoversettelsen, der vi selv har nok peiling til å ha +fått oversatt 76%, men trenger hjelp for å komme helt i mål. :)</p> - The value of a good distro wide test suite... - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/The_value_of_a_good_distro_wide_test_suite___.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/The_value_of_a_good_distro_wide_test_suite___.html - Sat, 22 Jun 2013 07:00:00 +0200 - <p>In the <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / -Skolelinux</a> project, we include a post-installation test suite, -which check that services are running, working, and return the -expected results. It runs automatically just after the first boot on -test installations (using test ISOs), but not on production -installations (using non-test ISOs). It test that the LDAP service is -operating, Kerberos is responding, DNS is replying, file systems are -online resizable, etc, etc. And it check that the PXE service is -configured, which is the topic of this post.</p> - -<p>The last week I've fixed the DVD and USB stick ISOs for our Debian -Edu Wheezy release. These ISOs are supposed to be able to install a -complete system without any Internet connection, but for that to -happen all the needed packages need to be on them. Thanks to our test -suite, I discovered that we had forgotten to adjust our PXE setup to -cope with the new names and paths used by the netboot d-i packages. -When Internet connectivity was available, the installer fall back to -using wget to fetch d-i boot images, but when offline it require -working packages to get it working. And the packages changed name -from debian-installer-6.0-netboot-$arch to -debian-installer-7.0-netboot-$arch, we no longer pulled in the -packages during installation. Without our test suite, I suspect we -would never have discovered this before release. Now it is fixed -right after we got the ISOs operational.</p> - -<p>Another by-product of the test suite is that we can ask system -administrators with problems getting Debian Edu to work, to run the -test suite using <tt>/usr/sbin/debian-edu-test-install</tt> and see if -any errors are detected. This usually pinpoint the subsystem causing -the problem.</p> - -<p>If you want to help us help kids learn how to share and create, -please join us on -<a href="irc://irc.debian.org/%23debian-edu">#debian-edu on -irc.debian.org</a> and the -<a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-edu/">debian-edu@</a> mailing -list.</p> + Freedombox on Dreamplug, Raspberry Pi and virtual x86 machine + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Freedombox_on_Dreamplug__Raspberry_Pi_and_virtual_x86_machine.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Freedombox_on_Dreamplug__Raspberry_Pi_and_virtual_x86_machine.html + Fri, 14 Mar 2014 11:00:00 +0100 + <p>The <a href="https://wiki.debian.org/FreedomBox">Freedombox +project</a> is working on providing the software and hardware for +making it easy for non-technical people to host their data and +communication at home, and being able to communicate with their +friends and family encrypted and away from prying eyes. It has been +going on for a while, and is slowly progressing towards a new test +release (0.2).</p> + +<p>And what day could be better than the Pi day to announce that the +new version will provide "hard drive" / SD card / USB stick images for +Dreamplug, Raspberry Pi and VirtualBox (or any other virtualization +system), and can also be installed using a Debian installer preseed +file. The Debian based Freedombox is now based on Debian Jessie, +where most of the needed packages used are already present. Only one, +the freedombox-setup package, is missing. To try to build your own +boot image to test the current status, fetch the freedom-maker scripts +and build using +<a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/vmdebootstrap">vmdebootstrap</a> +with a user with sudo access to become root: + +<pre> +git clone http://anonscm.debian.org/git/freedombox/freedom-maker.git \ + freedom-maker +sudo apt-get install git vmdebootstrap mercurial python-docutils \ + mktorrent extlinux virtualbox qemu-user-static binfmt-support \ + u-boot-tools +make -C freedom-maker dreamplug-image raspberry-image virtualbox-image +</pre> + +<p>Root access is needed to run debootstrap and mount loopback +devices. See the README for more details on the build. If you do not +want all three images, trim the make line. But note that thanks to <a +href="https://bugs.debian.org/741407">a race condition in +vmdebootstrap</a>, the build might fail without the patch to the +kpartx call.</p> + +<p>If you instead want to install using a Debian CD and the preseed +method, boot a Debian Wheezy ISO and use this boot argument to load +the preseed values:</p> + +<pre> +url=<a href="http://www.reinholdtsen.name/freedombox/preseed-jessie.dat">http://www.reinholdtsen.name/freedombox/preseed-jessie.dat</a> +</pre> + +<p>But note that due to <a href="https://bugs.debian.org/740673">a +recently introduced bug in apt in Jessie</a>, the installer will +currently hang while setting up APT sources. Killing the +'<tt>apt-cdrom ident</tt>' process when it hang a few times during the +installation will get the installation going. This affect all +installations in Jessie, and I expect it will be fixed soon.</p> + +<p>Give it a go and let us know how it goes on the mailing list, and help +us get the new release published. :) Please join us on +<a href="irc://irc.debian.org:6667/%23freedombox">IRC (#freedombox on +irc.debian.org)</a> and +<a href="http://lists.alioth.debian.org/mailman/listinfo/freedombox-discuss">the +mailing list</a> if you want to help make this vision come true.</p>