X-Git-Url: http://pere.pagekite.me/gitweb/homepage.git/blobdiff_plain/08633c20a7bfab68c83605641ad0ec80d09480a9..756e31d2872fbfcdf4bad79df6ab3e36cc6f3862:/blog/index.rss diff --git a/blog/index.rss b/blog/index.rss index 8b0f3435fa..5be2cbecbb 100644 --- a/blog/index.rss +++ b/blog/index.rss @@ -7,766 +7,744 @@ - Alle Stortingets mobiltelefoner kontrolleres fra USA... - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Alle_Stortingets_mobiltelefoner_kontrolleres_fra_USA___.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Alle_Stortingets_mobiltelefoner_kontrolleres_fra_USA___.html - Wed, 7 Oct 2015 09:55:00 +0200 - <p>Jeg lot meg fascinere av -<a href="http://www.aftenposten.no/nyheter/iriks/politikk/Stortinget-har-tilgang-til-a-fjernstyre-600-mobiler-8192692.html">en -artikkel i Aftenposten</a> der det fortelles at «over 600 telefoner som -benyttes av stortingsrepresentanter, rådgivere og ansatte på -Stortinget, kan «fjernstyres» ved hjelp av -<a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.airwatch.androidagent">programvaren -Airwatch</a>, et såkalte MDM-program (Mobile Device Managment)». Det -hele bagatelliseres av Stortingets IT-stab, men det er i hovedsak på -grunn av at journalisten ikke stiller de relevante spørsmålene. For -meg er det relevante spørsmålet hvem som har lovlig tilgang (i henhold -til lokal lovgiving, dvs. i hvert fall i Norge, Sverige, UK og USA) -til informasjon om og på telefonene, og hvor enkelt det er å skaffe -seg tilgang til hvor mobilene befinner seg og informasjon som befinner -seg på telefonene ved hjelp av utro tjenere, trusler, innbrudd og -andre ulovlige metoder.</p> - -<p>Bruken av AirWatch betyr i realiteten at USAs etteretning og -politimyndigheter har full tilgang til stortingets mobiltelefoner, -inkludert posisjon og innhold, takket være -<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_Intelligence_Surveillance_Act_of_1978_Amendments_Act_of_2008">FISAAA-loven</a> -og -"<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_security_letter">National -Security Letters</a>" og det enkle faktum at AirWatch er kontrollert -av et selskap i USA. I tillegg er det kjent at kan flere lands -etterretningstjenester kan lytte på trafikken når den passerer -landegrensene.</p> - -<p>Jeg har bedt om mer informasjon -<a href="https://www.mimesbronn.no/request/saksnummer_for_saker_anganede_br">fra -Stortinget om bruken av AirWatch</a> via Mimes brønn så får vi se hva -de har å fortelle om saken. Fant ingenting om 'airwatch' i -postjournalen til Stortinget, så jeg trenger hjelp før jeg kan be om -innsyn i konkrete dokumenter.</p> + UsingQR - "Electronic" paper invoices using JSON and QR codes + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/UsingQR____Electronic__paper_invoices_using_JSON_and_QR_codes.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/UsingQR____Electronic__paper_invoices_using_JSON_and_QR_codes.html + Sat, 19 Mar 2016 09:40:00 +0100 + <p>Back in 2013 I proposed +<a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/_Electronic__paper_invoices___using_vCard_in_a_QR_code.html">a +way to make paper and PDF invoices easier to process electronically by +adding a QR code with the key information about the invoice</a>. I +suggested using vCard field definition, to get some standard format +for name and address, but any format would work. I did not do +anything about the proposal, but hoped someone one day would make +something like it. It would make it possible to efficiently send +machine readable invoices directly between seller and buyer.</p> + +<p>This was the background when I came across a proposal and +specification from the web based accounting and invoicing supplier +<a href="http://www.visma.com/">Visma</a> in Sweden called +<a href="http://usingqr.com/">UsingQR</a>. Their PDF invoices contain +a QR code with the key information of the invoice in JSON format. +This is the typical content of a QR code following the UsingQR +specification (based on a real world example, some numbers replaced to +get a more bogus entry). I've reformatted the JSON to make it easier +to read. Normally this is all on one long line:</p> + +<p><img src="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2016-03-19-qr-invoice.png" align="right"><pre> +{ + "vh":500.00, + "vm":0, + "vl":0, + "uqr":1, + "tp":1, + "nme":"Din Leverandør", + "cc":"NO", + "cid":"997912345 MVA", + "iref":"12300001", + "idt":"20151022", + "ddt":"20151105", + "due":2500.0000, + "cur":"NOK", + "pt":"BBAN", + "acc":"17202612345", + "bc":"BIENNOK1", + "adr":"0313 OSLO" +} +</pre></p> + +</p>The interpretation of the fields can be found in the +<a href="http://usingqr.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/UsingQR_specification1.pdf">format +specification</a> (revision 2 from june 2014). The format seem to +have most of the information needed to handle accounting and payment +of invoices, at least the fields I have needed so far here in +Norway.</p> + +<p>Unfortunately, the site and document do not mention anything about +the patent, trademark and copyright status of the format and the +specification. Because of this, I asked the people behind it back in +November to clarify. Ann-Christine Savlid (ann-christine.savlid (at) +visma.com) replied that Visma had not applied for patent or trademark +protection for this format, and that there were no copyright based +usage limitations for the format. I urged her to make sure this was +explicitly written on the web pages and in the specification, but +unfortunately this has not happened yet. So I guess if there is +submarine patents, hidden trademarks or a will to sue for copyright +infringements, those starting to use the UsingQR format might be at +risk, but if this happen there is some legal defense in the fact that +the people behind the format claimed it was safe to do so. At least +with patents, there is always +<a href="http://www.paperspecs.com/paper-news/beware-the-qr-code-patent-trap/">a +chance of getting sued...</a></p> + +<p>I also asked if they planned to maintain the format in an +independent standard organization to give others more confidence that +they would participate in the standardization process on equal terms +with Visma, but they had no immediate plans for this. Their plan was +to work with banks to try to get more users of the format, and +evaluate the way forward if the format proved to be popular. I hope +they conclude that using an open standard organisation like +<a href="http://www.ietf.org/">IETF</a> is the correct place to +maintain such specification.</p> - French Docbook/PDF/EPUB/MOBI edition of the Free Culture book - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/French_Docbook_PDF_EPUB_MOBI_edition_of_the_Free_Culture_book.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/French_Docbook_PDF_EPUB_MOBI_edition_of_the_Free_Culture_book.html - Thu, 1 Oct 2015 13:20:00 +0200 - <p>As I wrap up the Norwegian version of -<a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig">Free -Culture</a> book by Lawrence Lessig (still waiting for my final proof -reading copy to arrive in the mail), my great -<a href="http://dblatex.sourceforge.net/">dblatex</a> helper and -developer of the dblatex docbook processor, Benoît Guillon, decided a -to try to create a French version of the book. He started with the -French translation available from the -<a href="http://www.wikilivres.ca/wiki/Culture_libre">Wikilivres wiki -pages</a>, and wrote a program to convert it into a PO file, allowing -the translation to be integrated into the po4a based framework I use -to create the Norwegian translation from the English edition. We meet -on the <a href="irc://irc.freenode.net/%23dblatex">#dblatex IRC -channel</a> to discuss the work. If you want to help create a French -edition, check out -<a href="https://github.com/marsgui/free-culture-lessig">his git -repository</a> and join us on IRC. If the French edition look good, -we might publish it as a paper book on lulu.com. A French version of -the drawings and the cover need to be provided for this to happen.</p> + Making battery measurements a little easier in Debian + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Making_battery_measurements_a_little_easier_in_Debian.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Making_battery_measurements_a_little_easier_in_Debian.html + Tue, 15 Mar 2016 15:00:00 +0100 + <p>Back in September, I blogged about +<a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/The_life_and_death_of_a_laptop_battery.html">the +system I wrote to collect statistics about my laptop battery</a>, and +how it showed the decay and death of this battery (now replaced). I +created a simple deb package to handle the collection and graphing, +but did not want to upload it to Debian as there were already +<a href="https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/battery-stats">a battery-stats +package in Debian</a> that should do the same thing, and I did not see +a point of uploading a competing package when battery-stats could be +fixed instead. I reported a few bugs about its non-function, and +hoped someone would step in and fix it. But no-one did.</p> + +<p>I got tired of waiting a few days ago, and took matters in my own +hands. The end result is that I am now the new upstream developer of +battery stats (<a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/battery-stats">available from github</a>) and part of the team maintaining +battery-stats in Debian, and the package in Debian unstable is finally +able to collect battery status using the <tt>/sys/class/power_supply/</tt> +information provided by the Linux kernel. If you install the +battery-stats package from unstable now, you will be able to get a +graph of the current battery fill level, to get some idea about the +status of the battery. The source package build and work just fine in +Debian testing and stable (and probably oldstable too, but I have not +tested). The default graph you get for that system look like this:</p> + +<p align="center"><img src="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2016-03-15-battery-stats-graph-example.png" width="70%" align="center"></p> + +<p>My plans for the future is to merge my old scripts into the +battery-stats package, as my old scripts collected a lot more details +about the battery. The scripts are merged into the upstream +battery-stats git repository already, but I am not convinced they work +yet, as I changed a lot of paths along the way. Will have to test a +bit more before I make a new release.</p> + +<p>I will also consider changing the file format slightly, as I +suspect the way I combine several values into one field might make it +impossible to know the type of the value when using it for processing +and graphing.</p> + +<p>If you would like I would like to keep an close eye on your laptop +battery, check out the battery-stats package in +<a href="https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/battery-stats">Debian</a> and +on +<a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/battery-stats">github</a>. +I would love some help to improve the system further.</p> - The life and death of a laptop battery - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/The_life_and_death_of_a_laptop_battery.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/The_life_and_death_of_a_laptop_battery.html - Thu, 24 Sep 2015 16:00:00 +0200 - <p>When I get a new laptop, the battery life time at the start is OK. -But this do not last. The last few laptops gave me a feeling that -within a year, the life time is just a fraction of what it used to be, -and it slowly become painful to use the laptop without power connected -all the time. Because of this, when I got a new Thinkpad X230 laptop -about two years ago, I decided to monitor its battery state to have -more hard facts when the battery started to fail.</p> - -<img src="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2015-09-24-laptop-battery-graph.png"/> - -<p>First I tried to find a sensible Debian package to record the -battery status, assuming that this must be a problem already handled -by someone else. I found -<a href="https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/battery-stats">battery-stats</a>, -which collects statistics from the battery, but it was completely -broken. I sent a few suggestions to the maintainer, but decided to -write my own collector as a shell script while I waited for feedback -from him. Via -<a href="http://www.ifweassume.com/2013/08/the-de-evolution-of-my-laptop-battery.html">a -blog post about the battery development on a MacBook Air</a> I also -discovered -<a href="https://github.com/jradavenport/batlog.git">batlog</a>, not -available in Debian.</p> - -<p>I started my collector 2013-07-15, and it has been collecting -battery stats ever since. Now my -/var/log/hjemmenett-battery-status.log file contain around 115,000 -measurements, from the time the battery was working great until now, -when it is unable to charge above 7% of original capacity. My -collector shell script is quite simple and look like this:</p> - -<pre> -#!/bin/sh -# Inspired by -# http://www.ifweassume.com/2013/08/the-de-evolution-of-my-laptop-battery.html -# See also -# http://blog.sleeplessbeastie.eu/2013/01/02/debian-how-to-monitor-battery-capacity/ -logfile=/var/log/hjemmenett-battery-status.log - -files="manufacturer model_name technology serial_number \ - energy_full energy_full_design energy_now cycle_count status" - -if [ ! -e "$logfile" ] ; then - ( - printf "timestamp," - for f in $files; do - printf "%s," $f - done - echo - ) > "$logfile" -fi - -log_battery() { - # Print complete message in one echo call, to avoid race condition - # when several log processes run in parallel. - msg=$(printf "%s," $(date +%s); \ - for f in $files; do \ - printf "%s," $(cat $f); \ - done) - echo "$msg" -} - -cd /sys/class/power_supply - -for bat in BAT*; do - (cd $bat && log_battery >> "$logfile") -done -</pre> - -<p>The script is called when the power management system detect a -change in the power status (power plug in or out), and when going into -and out of hibernation and suspend. In addition, it collect a value -every 10 minutes. This make it possible for me know when the battery -is discharging, charging and how the maximum charge change over time. -The code for the Debian package -<a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/battery-status">is now -available on github</a>.</p> - -<p>The collected log file look like this:</p> - -<pre> -timestamp,manufacturer,model_name,technology,serial_number,energy_full,energy_full_design,energy_now,cycle_count,status, -1376591133,LGC,45N1025,Li-ion,974,62800000,62160000,39050000,0,Discharging, -[...] -1443090528,LGC,45N1025,Li-ion,974,4900000,62160000,4900000,0,Full, -1443090601,LGC,45N1025,Li-ion,974,4900000,62160000,4900000,0,Full, -</pre> - -<p>I wrote a small script to create a graph of the charge development -over time. This graph depicted above show the slow death of my laptop -battery.</p> - -<p>But why is this happening? Why are my laptop batteries always -dying in a year or two, while the batteries of space probes and -satellites keep working year after year. If we are to believe -<a href="http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/how_to_prolong_lithium_based_batteries">Battery -University</a>, the cause is me charging the battery whenever I have a -chance, and the fix is to not charge the Lithium-ion batteries to 100% -all the time, but to stay below 90% of full charge most of the time. -I've been told that the Tesla electric cars -<a href="http://my.teslamotors.com/de_CH/forum/forums/battery-charge-limit">limit -the charge of their batteries to 80%</a>, with the option to charge to -100% when preparing for a longer trip (not that I would want a car -like Tesla where rights to privacy is abandoned, but that is another -story), which I guess is the option we should have for laptops on -Linux too.</p> - -<p>Is there a good and generic way with Linux to tell the battery to -stop charging at 80%, unless requested to charge to 100% once in -preparation for a longer trip? I found -<a href="http://askubuntu.com/questions/34452/how-can-i-limit-battery-charging-to-80-capacity">one -recipe on askubuntu for Ubuntu to limit charging on Thinkpad to -80%</a>, but could not get it to work (kernel module refused to -load).</p> - -<p>I wonder why the battery capacity was reported to be more than 100% -at the start. I also wonder why the "full capacity" increases some -times, and if it is possible to repeat the process to get the battery -back to design capacity. And I wonder if the discharge and charge -speed change over time, or if this stay the same. I did not yet try -to write a tool to calculate the derivative values of the battery -level, but suspect some interesting insights might be learned from -those.</p> - -<p>Update 2015-09-24: I got a tip to install the packages -acpi-call-dkms and tlp (unfortunately missing in Debian stable) -packages instead of the tp-smapi-dkms package I had tried to use -initially, and use 'tlp setcharge 40 80' to change when charging start -and stop. I've done so now, but expect my existing battery is toast -and need to be replaced. The proposal is unfortunately Thinkpad -specific.</p> + Creating, updating and checking debian/copyright semi-automatically + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Creating__updating_and_checking_debian_copyright_semi_automatically.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Creating__updating_and_checking_debian_copyright_semi_automatically.html + Fri, 19 Feb 2016 15:00:00 +0100 + <p>Making packages for Debian requires quite a lot of attention to +details. And one of the details is the content of the +debian/copyright file, which should list all relevant licenses used by +the code in the package in question, preferably in +<a href="https://www.debian.org/doc/packaging-manuals/copyright-format/1.0/">machine +readable DEP5 format</a>.</p> + +<p>For large packages with lots of contributors it is hard to write +and update this file manually, and if you get some detail wrong, the +package is normally rejected by the ftpmasters. So getting it right +the first time around get the package into Debian faster, and save +both you and the ftpmasters some work.. Today, while trying to figure +out what was wrong with +<a href="https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=686447">the +zfsonlinux copyright file</a>, I decided to spend some time on +figuring out the options for doing this job automatically, or at least +semi-automatically.</p> + +<p>Lucikly, there are at least two tools available for generating the +file based on the code in the source package, +<tt><a href="https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/debmake">debmake</a></tt> +and <tt><a href="https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/cme">cme</a></tt>. I'm +not sure which one of them came first, but both seem to be able to +create a sensible draft file. As far as I can tell, none of them can +be trusted to get the result just right, so the content need to be +polished a bit before the file is OK to upload. I found the debmake +option in +<a href="http://goofying-with-debian.blogspot.com/2014/07/debmake-checking-source-against-dep-5.html">a +blog posts from 2014</a>. + +<p>To generate using debmake, use the -cc option: + +<p><pre> +debmake -cc > debian/copyright +</pre></p> + +<p>Note there are some problems with python and non-ASCII names, so +this might not be the best option.</p> + +<p>The cme option is based on a config parsing library, and I found +this approach in +<a href="https://ddumont.wordpress.com/2015/04/05/improving-creation-of-debian-copyright-file/">a +blog post from 2015</a>. To generate using cme, use the 'update +dpkg-copyright' option: + +<p><pre> +cme update dpkg-copyright +</pre></p> + +<p>This will create or update debian/copyright. The cme tool seem to +handle UTF-8 names better than debmake.</p> + +<p>When the copyright file is created, I would also like some help to +check if the file is correct. For this I found two good options, +<tt>debmake -k</tt> and <tt>license-reconcile</tt>. The former seem +to focus on license types and file matching, and is able to detect +ineffective blocks in the copyright file. The latter reports missing +copyright holders and years, but was confused by inconsistent license +names (like CDDL vs. CDDL-1.0). I suspect it is good to use both and +fix all issues reported by them before uploading. But I do not know +if the tools and the ftpmasters agree on what is important to fix in a +copyright file, so the package might still be rejected.</p> + +<p>The devscripts tool <tt>licensecheck</tt> deserve mentioning. It +will read through the source and try to find all copyright statements. +It is not comparing the result to the content of debian/copyright, but +can be useful when verifying the content of the copyright file.</p> + +<p>Are you aware of better tools in Debian to create and update +debian/copyright file. Please let me know, or blog about it on +planet.debian.org.</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">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</a></b>.</p> + +<p><strong>Update 2016-02-20</strong>: I got a tip from Mike Gabriel +on how to use licensecheck and cdbs to create a draft copyright file + +<p><pre> +licensecheck --copyright -r `find * -type f` | \ + /usr/lib/cdbs/licensecheck2dep5 > debian/copyright.auto +</pre></p> + +<p>He mentioned that he normally check the generated file into the +version control system to make it easier to discover license and +copyright changes in the upstream source. I will try to do the same +with my packages in the future.</p> + +<p><strong>Update 2016-02-21</strong>: The cme author recommended +against using -quiet for new users, so I removed it from the proposed +command line.</p> - Book cover for the Free Culture book finally done - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Book_cover_for_the_Free_Culture_book_finally_done.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Book_cover_for_the_Free_Culture_book_finally_done.html - Thu, 3 Sep 2015 21:00:00 +0200 - <p>Creating a good looking book cover proved harder than I expected. -I wanted to create a cover looking similar to the original cover of -the -<a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig">Free -Culture</a> book we are translating to Norwegian, and I wanted it in -vector format for high resolution printing. But my inkscape knowledge -were not nearly good enough to pull that off. - -<p>But thanks to the great inkscape community, I was able to wrap up -the cover yesterday evening. I asked on the -<a href="irc://irc.freenode.net/%23inkscape">#inkscape IRC channel</a> -on Freenode for help and clues, and Marc Jeanmougin (Mc-) volunteered -to try to recreate it based on the PDF of the cover from the HTML -version. Not only did he create a -<a href="https://marc.jeanmougin.fr/share/copy1.svg ">SVG document with -the original and his vector version side by side</a>, he even provided -an <a href="https://marc.jeanmougin.fr/share/out-1.ogv">instruction -video</a> explaining how he did it</a>. But the instruction video is -not easy to follow for an untrained inkscape user. The video is a -recording on how he did it, and he is obviously very experienced as -the menu selections are very quick and he mentioned on IRC that he did -use some keyboard shortcuts that can't be seen on the video, but it -give a good idea about the inkscape operations to use to create the -stripes with the embossed copyright sign in the center.</p> - -<p>I took his SVG file, copied the vector image and re-sized it to fit -on the cover I was drawing. I am happy with the end result, and the -current english version look like this:</p> - -<img src="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2015-09-03-free-culture-cover.png" width="70%" align="center"/> - -<p>I am not quite sure about the text on the back, but guess it will -do. I picked three quotes from the official site for the book, and -hope it will work to trigger the interest of potential readers. The -Norwegian cover will look the same, but with the texts and bar code -replaced with the Norwegian version.</p> - -<p>The book is very close to being ready for publication, and I expect -to upload the final draft to Lulu in the next few days and order a -final proof reading copy to verify that everything look like it should -before allowing everyone to order their own copy of Free Culture, in -English or Norwegian Bokmål. I'm waiting to give the the productive -proof readers a chance to complete their work.</p> + Using appstream in Debian to locate packages with firmware and mime type support + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Using_appstream_in_Debian_to_locate_packages_with_firmware_and_mime_type_support.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Using_appstream_in_Debian_to_locate_packages_with_firmware_and_mime_type_support.html + Thu, 4 Feb 2016 16:40:00 +0100 + <p>The <a href="https://wiki.debian.org/DEP-11">appstream system</a> +is taking shape in Debian, and one provided feature is a very +convenient way to tell you which package to install to make a given +firmware file available when the kernel is looking for it. This can +be done using apt-file too, but that is for someone else to blog +about. :)</p> + +<p>Here is a small recipe to find the package with a given firmware +file, in this example I am looking for ctfw-3.2.3.0.bin, randomly +picked from the set of firmware announced using appstream in Debian +unstable. In general you would be looking for the firmware requested +by the kernel during kernel module loading. To find the package +providing the example file, do like this:</p> + +<blockquote><pre> +% apt install appstream +[...] +% apt update +[...] +% appstreamcli what-provides firmware:runtime ctfw-3.2.3.0.bin | \ + awk '/Package:/ {print $2}' +firmware-qlogic +% +</pre></blockquote> + +<p>See <a href="https://wiki.debian.org/AppStream/Guidelines">the +appstream wiki</a> page to learn how to embed the package metadata in +a way appstream can use.</p> + +<p>This same approach can be used to find any package supporting a +given MIME type. This is very useful when you get a file you do not +know how to handle. First find the mime type using <tt>file +--mime-type</tt>, and next look up the package providing support for +it. Lets say you got an SVG file. Its MIME type is image/svg+xml, +and you can find all packages handling this type like this:</p> + +<blockquote><pre> +% apt install appstream +[...] +% apt update +[...] +% appstreamcli what-provides mimetype image/svg+xml | \ + awk '/Package:/ {print $2}' +bkchem +phototonic +inkscape +shutter +tetzle +geeqie +xia +pinta +gthumb +karbon +comix +mirage +viewnior +postr +ristretto +kolourpaint4 +eog +eom +gimagereader +midori +% +</pre></blockquote> + +<p>I believe the MIME types are fetched from the desktop file for +packages providing appstream metadata.</p> - In my hand, a pocket book edition of the Norwegian Free Culture book! - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/In_my_hand__a_pocket_book_edition_of_the_Norwegian_Free_Culture_book_.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/In_my_hand__a_pocket_book_edition_of_the_Norwegian_Free_Culture_book_.html - Wed, 19 Aug 2015 22:10:00 +0200 - <p>Today, finally, my first printed draft edition of the Norwegian -translation of Free Culture I have been working on for the last few -years arrived in the mail. I had to fake a cover to get the interior -printed, and the exterior of the book look awful, but that is -irrelevant at this point. I asked for a printed pocket book version -to get an idea about the font sizes and paper format as well as how -good the figures and images look in print, but also to test what the -pocket book version would look like. After receiving the 500 page -pocket book, it became obvious to me that that pocket book size is too -small for this book. I believe the book is too thick, and several -tables and figures do not look good in the size they get with that -small page sizes. I believe I will go with the 5.5x8.5 inch size -instead. A surprise discovery from the paper version was how bad the -URLs look in print. They are very hard to read in the colophon page. -The URLs are red in the PDF, but light gray on paper. I need to -change the color of links somehow to look better. But there is a -printed book in my hand, and it feels great. :)</p> - -<p>Now I only need to fix the cover, wrap up the postscript with the -store behind the book, and collect the last corrections from the proof -readers before the book is ready for proper printing. Cover artists -willing to work for free and create a Creative Commons licensed vector -file looking similar to the original is most welcome, as my skills as -a graphics designer are mostly missing.</p> + Creepy, visualise geotagged social media information - nice free software + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Creepy__visualise_geotagged_social_media_information___nice_free_software.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Creepy__visualise_geotagged_social_media_information___nice_free_software.html + Sun, 24 Jan 2016 10:50:00 +0100 + <p>Most people seem not to realise that every time they walk around +with the computerised radio beacon known as a mobile phone their +position is tracked by the phone company and often stored for a long +time (like every time a SMS is received or sent). And if their +computerised radio beacon is capable of running programs (often called +mobile apps) downloaded from the Internet, these programs are often +also capable of tracking their location (if the app requested access +during installation). And when these programs send out information to +central collection points, the location is often included, unless +extra care is taken to not send the location. The provided +information is used by several entities, for good and bad (what is +good and bad, depend on your point of view). What is certain, is that +the private sphere and the right to free movement is challenged and +perhaps even eradicated for those announcing their location this way, +when they share their whereabouts with private and public +entities.</p> + +<p align="center"><img width="70%" src="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2016-01-24-nice-creepy-desktop-window.png"></p> + +<p>The phone company logs provide a register of locations to check out +when one want to figure out what the tracked person was doing. It is +unavailable for most of us, but provided to selected government +officials, company staff, those illegally buying information from +unfaithful servants and crackers stealing the information. But the +public information can be collected and analysed, and a free software +tool to do so is called +<a href="http://www.geocreepy.com/">Creepy or Cree.py</a>. I +discovered it when I read +<a href="http://www.aftenposten.no/kultur/Slik-kan-du-bli-overvaket-pa-Twitter-og-Instagram-uten-a-ane-det-7787884.html">an +article about Creepy</a> in the Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten i +November 2014, and decided to check if it was available in Debian. +The python program was in Debian, but +<a href="https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/creepy">the version in +Debian</a> was completely broken and practically unmaintained. I +uploaded a new version which did not work quite right, but did not +have time to fix it then. This Christmas I decided to finally try to +get Creepy operational in Debian. Now a fixed version is available in +Debian unstable and testing, and almost all Debian specific patches +are now included +<a href="https://github.com/jkakavas/creepy">upstream</a>.</p> + +<p>The Creepy program visualises geolocation information fetched from +Twitter, Instagram, Flickr and Google+, and allow one to get a +complete picture of every social media message posted recently in a +given area, or track the movement of a given individual across all +these services. Earlier it was possible to use the search API of at +least some of these services without identifying oneself, but these +days it is impossible. This mean that to use Creepy, you need to +configure it to log in as yourself on these services, and provide +information to them about your search interests. This should be taken +into account when using Creepy, as it will also share information +about yourself with the services.</p> + +<p>The picture above show the twitter messages sent from (or at least +geotagged with a position from) the city centre of Oslo, the capital +of Norway. One useful way to use Creepy is to first look at +information tagged with an area of interest, and next look at all the +information provided by one or more individuals who was in the area. +I tested it by checking out which celebrity provide their location in +twitter messages by checkout out who sent twitter messages near a +Norwegian TV station, and next could track their position over time, +making it possible to locate their home and work place, among other +things. A similar technique have been +<a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/maxseddon/does-this-soldiers-instagram-account-prove-russia-is-covertl">used +to locate Russian soldiers in Ukraine</a>, and it is both a powerful +tool to discover lying governments, and a useful tool to help people +understand the value of the private information they provide to the +public.</p> + +<p>The package is not trivial to backport to Debian Stable/Jessie, as +it depend on several python modules currently missing in Jessie (at +least python-instagram, python-flickrapi and +python-requests-toolbelt).</p> + +<p>(I have uploaded +<a href="https://screenshots.debian.net/package/creepy">the image to +screenshots.debian.net</a> and licensed it under the same terms as the +Creepy program in Debian.)</p> - First paper version of the Norwegian Free Culture book heading my way - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/First_paper_version_of_the_Norwegian_Free_Culture_book_heading_my_way.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/First_paper_version_of_the_Norwegian_Free_Culture_book_heading_my_way.html - Sun, 9 Aug 2015 10:15:00 +0200 - <p>Typesetting a book is harder than I hoped. As the translation is -mostly done, and a volunteer proof reader was going to check the text -on paper, it was time this summer to focus on formatting my translated -<a href="http://www.docbook.org/">docbook</a> based version of the -<a href="http://free-culture.cc/">Free Culture</a> book by Lawrence -Lessig. I've been trying to get both docboox-xsl+fop and dblatex to -give me a good looking PDF, but in the end I went with dblatex, because -its Debian maintainer and upstream developer were responsive and very -helpful in solving my formatting challenges.</p> - -<p>Last night, I finally managed to create a PDF that no longer made -<a href="http://www.lulu.com/">Lulu.com</a> complain after uploading, -and I ordered a text version of the book on paper. It is lacking a -proper book cover and is not tagged with the correct ISBN number, but -should give me an idea what the finished book will look like.</p> - -<p>Instead of using Lulu, I did consider printing the book using -<a href="http://www.createspace.com/">CreateSpace</a>, but ended up -using Lulu because it had smaller book size options (CreateSpace seem -to lack pocket book with extended distribution). I looked for a -similar service in Norway, but have not seen anything so far. Please -let me know if I am missing out on something here.</p> - -<p>But I still struggle to decide the book size. Should I go for -pocket book (4.25x6.875 inches / 10.8x17.5 cm) with 556 pages, Digest -(5.5x8.5 inches / 14x21.6 cm) with 323 pages or US Trade (6x8 inches / -15.3x22.9 cm) with 280 pages? Fewer pager give a cheaper book, and a -smaller book is easier to carry around. The test book I ordered was -pocket book sized, to give me an idea how well that fit in my hand, -but I suspect I will end up using a digest sized book in the end to -bring the prize down further.</p> - -<p>My biggest challenge at the moment is making nice cover art. My -inkscape skills are not yet up to the task of replicating the original -cover in SVG format. I also need to figure out what to write about -the book on the back (will most likely use the same text as the -description on web based book stores). I would love help with this, -if you are willing to license the art source and final version using -the same CC license as the book. My artistic skills are not really up -to the task.</p> - -<p>I plan to publish the book in both English and Norwegian and on -paper, in PDF form as well as EPUB and MOBI format. The current -status can as usual be found on -<a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig">github</a> -in the archive/ directory. So far I have spent all time on making the -PDF version look good. Someone should probably do the same with the -dbtoepub generated e-book. Help is definitely needed here, as I -expect to run out of steem before I find time to improve the epub -formatting.</p> - -<p>Please let me know via github if you find typos in the book or -discover translations that should be improved. The final proof -reading is being done right now, and I expect to publish the finished -result in a few months.</p> + Always download Debian packages using Tor - the simple recipe + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Always_download_Debian_packages_using_Tor___the_simple_recipe.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Always_download_Debian_packages_using_Tor___the_simple_recipe.html + Fri, 15 Jan 2016 00:30:00 +0100 + <p>During his DebConf15 keynote, Jacob Appelbaum +<a href="https://summit.debconf.org/debconf15/meeting/331/what-is-to-be-done/">observed +that those listening on the Internet lines would have good reason to +believe a computer have a given security hole</a> if it download a +security fix from a Debian mirror. This is a good reason to always +use encrypted connections to the Debian mirror, to make sure those +listening do not know which IP address to attack. In August, Richard +Hartmann observed that encryption was not enough, when it was possible +to interfere download size to security patches or the fact that +download took place shortly after a security fix was released, and +<a href="http://richardhartmann.de/blog/posts/2015/08/24-Tor-enabled_Debian_mirror/">proposed +to always use Tor to download packages from the Debian mirror</a>. He +was not the first to propose this, as the +<tt><a href="https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/apt-transport-tor">apt-transport-tor</a></tt> +package by Tim Retout already existed to make it easy to convince apt +to use <a href="https://www.torproject.org/">Tor</a>, but I was not +aware of that package when I read the blog post from Richard.</p> + +<p>Richard discussed the idea with Peter Palfrader, one of the Debian +sysadmins, and he set up a Tor hidden service on one of the central +Debian mirrors using the address vwakviie2ienjx6t.onion, thus making +it possible to download packages directly between two tor nodes, +making sure the network traffic always were encrypted.</p> + +<p>Here is a short recipe for enabling this on your machine, by +installing <tt>apt-transport-tor</tt> and replacing http and https +urls with tor+http and tor+https, and using the hidden service instead +of the official Debian mirror site. I recommend installing +<tt>etckeeper</tt> before you start to have a history of the changes +done in /etc/.</p> + +<blockquote><pre> +apt install apt-transport-tor +sed -i 's% http://ftp.debian.org/% tor+http://vwakviie2ienjx6t.onion/%' /etc/apt/sources.list +sed -i 's% http% tor+http%' /etc/apt/sources.list +</pre></blockquote> + +<p>If you have more sources listed in /etc/apt/sources.list.d/, run +the sed commands for these too. The sed command is assuming your are +using the ftp.debian.org Debian mirror. Adjust the command (or just +edit the file manually) to match your mirror.</p> + +<p>This work in Debian Jessie and later. Note that tools like +<tt>apt-file</tt> only recently started using the apt transport +system, and do not work with these tor+http URLs. For +<tt>apt-file</tt> you need the version currently in experimental, +which need a recent apt version currently only in unstable. So if you +need a working <tt>apt-file</tt>, this is not for you.</p> + +<p>Another advantage from this change is that your machine will start +using Tor regularly and at fairly random intervals (every time you +update the package lists or upgrade or install a new package), thus +masking other Tor traffic done from the same machine. Using Tor will +become normal for the machine in question.</p> + +<p>On <a href="https://wiki.debian.org/FreedomBox">Freedombox</a>, APT +is set up by default to use <tt>apt-transport-tor</tt> when Tor is +enabled. It would be great if it was the default on any Debian +system.</p> - Typesetting DocBook footnotes as endnotes with dblatex - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Typesetting_DocBook_footnotes_as_endnotes_with_dblatex.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Typesetting_DocBook_footnotes_as_endnotes_with_dblatex.html - Thu, 16 Jul 2015 18:10:00 +0200 - <p>I'm still working on the Norwegian version of the -<a href="http://free-culture.cc/">Free Culture book by Lawrence -Lessig</a>, and is now working on the final typesetting and layout. -One of the features I want to get the structure similar to the -original book is to typeset the footnotes as endnotes in the notes -chapter. Based on the -<a href="https://bugs.debian.org/685063">feedback from the Debian -maintainer and the dblatex developer</a>, I came up with this recipe I -would like to share with you. The proposal was to create a new LaTeX -class file and add the LaTeX code there, but this is not always -practical, when I want to be able to replace the class using a make -file variable. So my proposal misuses the latex.begindocument XSL -parameter value, to get a small fragment into the correct location in -the generated LaTeX File.</p> - -<p>First, decide where in the DocBook document to place the endnotes, -and add this text there:</p> - -<pre> -&lt;?latex \theendnotes ?&gt; -</pre> - -<p>Next, create a xsl stylesheet file dblatex-endnotes.xsl to add the -code needed to add the endnote instructions in the preamble of the -generated LaTeX document, with content like this:</p> - -<pre> -&lt;?xml version='1.0'?&gt; -&lt;xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" version='1.0'&gt; - &lt;xsl:param name="latex.begindocument"&gt; - &lt;xsl:text&gt; -\usepackage{endnotes} -\let\footnote=\endnote -\def\enoteheading{\mbox{}\par\vskip-\baselineskip } -\begin{document} - &lt;/xsl:text&gt; - &lt;/xsl:param&gt; -&lt;/xsl:stylesheet&gt; -</pre> - -<p>Finally, load this xsl file when running dblatex, for example like -this:</p> - -<pre> -dblatex --xsl-user=dblatex-endnotes.xsl freeculture.nb.xml -</pre> - -<p>The end result can be seen on github, where -<a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig">my -book project</a> is located.</p> + Nedlasting fra NRK, som Matroska med undertekster + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Nedlasting_fra_NRK__som_Matroska_med_undertekster.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Nedlasting_fra_NRK__som_Matroska_med_undertekster.html + Sat, 2 Jan 2016 13:50:00 +0100 + <p>Det kommer stadig nye løsninger for å ta lagre unna innslag fra NRK +for å se på det senere. For en stund tilbake kom jeg over et script +nrkopptak laget av Ingvar Hagelund. Han fjernet riktignok sitt script +etter forespørsel fra Erik Bolstad i NRK, men noen tok heldigvis og +gjorde det <a href="https://github.com/liangqi/nrkopptak">tilgjengelig +via github</a>.</p> + +<p>Scriptet kan lagre som MPEG4 eller Matroska, og bake inn +undertekster i fila på et vis som blant annet VLC forstår. For å +bruke scriptet, kopier ned git-arkivet og kjør</p> + +<p><pre> +nrkopptak/bin/nrk-opptak k <ahref="https://tv.nrk.no/serie/bmi-turne/MUHH45000115/sesong-1/episode-1">https://tv.nrk.no/serie/bmi-turne/MUHH45000115/sesong-1/episode-1</a> +</pre></p> + +<p>URL-eksemplet er dagens toppsak på tv.nrk.no. Argument 'k' ber +scriptet laste ned og lagre som Matroska. Det finnes en rekke andre +muligheter for valg av kvalitet og format.</p> + +<p>Jeg foretrekker dette scriptet fremfor youtube-dl, som +<a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Hvordan_enkelt_laste_ned_filmer_fra_NRK_med_den__nye__l_sningen.html"> +nevnt i 2014 støtter NRK</a> og en rekke andre videokilder, på grunn +av at nrkopptak samler undertekster og video i en enkelt fil, hvilket +gjør håndtering enklere på disk.</p> - Mimes brønn, norsk utgave av Alaveteli / WhatDoTheyKnow, endelig lansert - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Mimes_br_nn__norsk_utgave_av_Alaveteli___WhatDoTheyKnow__endelig_lansert.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Mimes_br_nn__norsk_utgave_av_Alaveteli___WhatDoTheyKnow__endelig_lansert.html - Thu, 9 Jul 2015 11:40:00 +0200 - <p>I går fikk vi endelig lansert en norsk version av mySocietys -<a href="https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/">WhatDoTheyKnow</a>. -Tjenesten heter Mimes brønn, og ble -<a href="http://www.nuug.no/news/NUUG_lanserer_innsynstjenesten_Mimes_Br_nn.shtml">annonsert -av NUUG</a> via blogg, epost og twitter til NUUG-assosierte personer. -Det har tatt noen år, men de siste dagene fikk vi endelig tid til å få -på plass de siste bitene. Vi er to, Gorm og meg selv, som har vært -primus motor for det hele, men vi har fått hjelp med oversettelser og -oppsett fra mange flere. Jeg vil si tusen takk til hver og en av dem, -og er veldig fornøyd med at vi klarte å få tjenesten opp å kjøre før -ferietiden slo inn for fullt.</p> - -<p>Vi er usikker på hvor mye belastning den virtuelle maskinen der -tjenesten kjører klarer, så vi har lansert litt i det stille og ikke -til for mange folk for å se hvordan maskinen klarer seg over sommeren, -før vi går mer aktivt ut og annonserer til høsten. Ta en titt, og se -om du kanskje har et spørsmål til det offentlige som er egnet å sende -inn via Mimes brønn.</p> - -<p>Hvis du lurer på hva i alle dager en slik tjenestes kan brukes til, -anbefaler jeg deg å se -<a href="http://beta.frikanalen.no/video/625321">TED-foredraget til -Heather Brook</a> om hvordan hun brukte WhatDoTheyKnow til å lære -hvordan offentlige midler ble misbrukt. Det er en inspirerende -historie.</p> + OpenALPR, find car license plates in video streams - nice free software + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/OpenALPR__find_car_license_plates_in_video_streams___nice_free_software.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/OpenALPR__find_car_license_plates_in_video_streams___nice_free_software.html + Wed, 23 Dec 2015 01:00:00 +0100 + <p>When I was a kid, we used to collect "car numbers", as we used to +call the car license plate numbers in those days. I would write the +numbers down in my little book and compare notes with the other kids +to see how many region codes we had seen and if we had seen some +exotic or special region codes and numbers. It was a fun game to pass +time, as we kids have plenty of it.</p> + +<p>A few days I came across +<a href="https://github.com/openalpr/openalpr">the OpenALPR +project</a>, a free software project to automatically discover and +report license plates in images and video streams, and provide the +"car numbers" in a machine readable format. I've been looking for +such system for a while now, because I believe it is a bad idea that the +<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automatic_number_plate_recognition">automatic +number plate recognition</a> tool only is available in the hands of +the powerful, and want it to be available also for the powerless to +even the score when it comes to surveillance and sousveillance. I +discovered the developer +<a href="https://bugs.debian.org/747509">wanted to get the tool into +Debian</a>, and as I too wanted it to be in Debian, I volunteered to +help him get it into shape to get the package uploaded into the Debian +archive.</p> + +<p>Today we finally managed to get the package into shape and uploaded +it into Debian, where it currently +<a href="https://ftp-master.debian.org//new/openalpr_2.2.1-1.html">waits +in the NEW queue</a> for review by the Debian ftpmasters.</p> + +<p>I guess you are wondering why on earth such tool would be useful +for the common folks, ie those not running a large government +surveillance system? Well, I plan to put it in a computer on my bike +and in my car, tracking the cars nearby and allowing me to be notified +when number plates on my watch list are discovered. Another use case +was suggested by a friend of mine, who wanted to set it up at his home +to open the car port automatically when it discovered the plate on his +car. When I mentioned it perhaps was a bit foolhardy to allow anyone +capable of placing his license plate number of a piece of cardboard to +open his car port, men replied that it was always unlocked anyway. I +guess for such use case it make sense. I am sure there are other use +cases too, for those with imagination and a vision.</p> + +<p>If you want to build your own version of the Debian package, check +out the upstream git source and symlink ./distros/debian to ./debian/ +before running "debuild" to build the source. Or wait a bit until the +package show up in unstable.</p> - MPEG LA on "Internet Broadcast AVC Video" licensing and non-private use - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/MPEG_LA_on__Internet_Broadcast_AVC_Video__licensing_and_non_private_use.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/MPEG_LA_on__Internet_Broadcast_AVC_Video__licensing_and_non_private_use.html - Tue, 7 Jul 2015 09:50:00 +0200 - <p>After asking the Norwegian Broadcasting Company (NRK) -<a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Hva_gj_r_at_NRK_kan_distribuere_H_264_video_uten_patentavtale_med_MPEG_LA_.html">why -they can broadcast and stream H.264 video without an agreement with -the MPEG LA</a>, I was wiser, but still confused. So I asked MPEG LA -if their understanding matched that of NRK. As far as I can tell, it -does not.</p> - -<p>I started by asking for more information about the various -licensing classes and what exactly is covered by the "Internet -Broadcast AVC Video" class that NRK pointed me at to explain why NRK -did not need a license for streaming H.264 video: - -<p><blockquote> - -<p>According to -<a href="http://www.mpegla.com/Lists/MPEG%20LA%20News%20List/Attachments/226/n-10-02-02.pdf">a -MPEG LA press release dated 2010-02-02</a>, there is no charge when -using MPEG AVC/H.264 according to the terms of "Internet Broadcast AVC -Video". I am trying to understand exactly what the terms of "Internet -Broadcast AVC Video" is, and wondered if you could help me. What -exactly is covered by these terms, and what is not?</p> - -<p>The only source of more information I have been able to find is a -PDF named -<a href="http://www.mpegla.com/main/programs/avc/Documents/avcweb.pdf">AVC -Patent Portfolio License Briefing</a>, which states this about the -fees:</p> - -<ul> - <li>Where End User pays for AVC Video - <ul> - <li>Subscription (not limited by title) – 100,000 or fewer - subscribers/yr = no royalty; &gt; 100,000 to 250,000 subscribers/yr = - $25,000; &gt;250,000 to 500,000 subscribers/yr = $50,000; &gt;500,000 to - 1M subscribers/yr = $75,000; &gt;1M subscribers/yr = $100,000</li> - - <li>Title-by-Title - 12 minutes or less = no royalty; &gt;12 minutes in - length = lower of (a) 2% or (b) $0.02 per title</li> - </ul></li> - - <li>Where remuneration is from other sources - <ul> - <li>Free Television - (a) one-time $2,500 per transmission encoder or - (b) annual fee starting at $2,500 for &gt; 100,000 HH rising to - maximum $10,000 for &gt;1,000,000 HH</li> - - <li>Internet Broadcast AVC Video (not title-by-title, not subscription) - – no royalty for life of the AVC Patent Portfolio License</li> - </ul></li> -</ul> - -<p>Am I correct in assuming that the four categories listed is the -categories used when selecting licensing terms, and that "Internet -Broadcast AVC Video" is the category for things that do not fall into -one of the other three categories? Can you point me to a good source -explaining what is ment by "title-by-title" and "Free Television" in -the license terms for AVC/H.264?</p> - -<p>Will a web service providing H.264 encoded video content in a -"video on demand" fashing similar to Youtube and Vimeo, where no -subscription is required and no payment is required from end users to -get access to the videos, fall under the terms of the "Internet -Broadcast AVC Video", ie no royalty for life of the AVC Patent -Portfolio license? Does it matter if some users are subscribed to get -access to personalized services?</p> - -<p>Note, this request and all answers will be published on the -Internet.</p> -</blockquote></p> - -<p>The answer came quickly from Benjamin J. Myers, Licensing Associate -with the MPEG LA:</p> - -<p><blockquote> -<p>Thank you for your message and for your interest in MPEG LA. We -appreciate hearing from you and I will be happy to assist you.</p> - -<p>As you are aware, MPEG LA offers our AVC Patent Portfolio License -which provides coverage under patents that are essential for use of -the AVC/H.264 Standard (MPEG-4 Part 10). Specifically, coverage is -provided for end products and video content that make use of AVC/H.264 -technology. Accordingly, the party offering such end products and -video to End Users concludes the AVC License and is responsible for -paying the applicable royalties.</p> - -<p>Regarding Internet Broadcast AVC Video, the AVC License generally -defines such content to be video that is distributed to End Users over -the Internet free-of-charge. Therefore, if a party offers a service -which allows users to upload AVC/H.264 video to its website, and such -AVC Video is delivered to End Users for free, then such video would -receive coverage under the sublicense for Internet Broadcast AVC -Video, which is not subject to any royalties for the life of the AVC -License. This would also apply in the scenario where a user creates a -free online account in order to receive a customized offering of free -AVC Video content. In other words, as long as the End User is given -access to or views AVC Video content at no cost to the End User, then -no royalties would be payable under our AVC License.</p> - -<p>On the other hand, if End Users pay for access to AVC Video for a -specific period of time (e.g., one month, one year, etc.), then such -video would constitute Subscription AVC Video. In cases where AVC -Video is delivered to End Users on a pay-per-view basis, then such -content would constitute Title-by-Title AVC Video. If a party offers -Subscription or Title-by-Title AVC Video to End Users, then they would -be responsible for paying the applicable royalties you noted below.</p> - -<p>Finally, in the case where AVC Video is distributed for free -through an "over-the-air, satellite and/or cable transmission", then -such content would constitute Free Television AVC Video and would be -subject to the applicable royalties.</p> - -<p>For your reference, I have attached -<a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2015-07-07-mpegla.pdf">a -.pdf copy of the AVC License</a>. You will find the relevant -sublicense information regarding AVC Video in Sections 2.2 through -2.5, and the corresponding royalties in Section 3.1.2 through 3.1.4. -You will also find the definitions of Title-by-Title AVC Video, -Subscription AVC Video, Free Television AVC Video, and Internet -Broadcast AVC Video in Section 1 of the License. Please note that the -electronic copy is provided for informational purposes only and cannot -be used for execution.</p> - -<p>I hope the above information is helpful. If you have additional -questions or need further assistance with the AVC License, please feel -free to contact me directly.</p> -</blockquote></p> - -<p>Having a fresh copy of the license text was useful, and knowing -that the definition of Title-by-Title required payment per title made -me aware that my earlier understanding of that phrase had been wrong. -But I still had a few questions:</p> - -<p><blockquote> -<p>I have a small followup question. Would it be possible for me to get -a license with MPEG LA even if there are no royalties to be paid? The -reason I ask, is that some video related products have a copyright -clause limiting their use without a license with MPEG LA. The clauses -typically look similar to this: - -<p><blockquote> - This product is licensed under the AVC patent portfolio license for - the personal and non-commercial use of a consumer to (a) encode - video in compliance with the AVC standard ("AVC video") and/or (b) - decode AVC video that was encoded by a consumer engaged in a - personal and non-commercial activity and/or AVC video that was - obtained from a video provider licensed to provide AVC video. No - license is granted or shall be implied for any other use. additional - information may be obtained from MPEG LA L.L.C. -</blockquote></p> - -<p>It is unclear to me if this clause mean that I need to enter into -an agreement with MPEG LA to use the product in question, even if -there are no royalties to be paid to MPEG LA. I suspect it will -differ depending on the jurisdiction, and mine is Norway. What is -MPEG LAs view on this?</p> -</blockquote></p> - -<p>According to the answer, MPEG LA believe those using such tools for -non-personal or commercial use need a license with them:</p> - -<p><blockquote> - -<p>With regard to the Notice to Customers, I would like to begin by -clarifying that the Notice from Section 7.1 of the AVC License -reads:</p> - -<p>THIS PRODUCT IS LICENSED UNDER THE AVC PATENT PORTFOLIO LICENSE FOR -THE PERSONAL USE OF A CONSUMER OR OTHER USES IN WHICH IT DOES NOT -RECEIVE REMUNERATION TO (i) ENCODE VIDEO IN COMPLIANCE WITH THE AVC -STANDARD ("AVC VIDEO") AND/OR (ii) DECODE AVC VIDEO THAT WAS ENCODED -BY A CONSUMER ENGAGED IN A PERSONAL ACTIVITY AND/OR WAS OBTAINED FROM -A VIDEO PROVIDER LICENSED TO PROVIDE AVC VIDEO. NO LICENSE IS GRANTED -OR SHALL BE IMPLIED FOR ANY OTHER USE. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION MAY BE -OBTAINED FROM MPEG LA, L.L.C. SEE HTTP://WWW.MPEGLA.COM</p> - -<p>The Notice to Customers is intended to inform End Users of the -personal usage rights (for example, to watch video content) included -with the product they purchased, and to encourage any party using the -product for commercial purposes to contact MPEG LA in order to become -licensed for such use (for example, when they use an AVC Product to -deliver Title-by-Title, Subscription, Free Television or Internet -Broadcast AVC Video to End Users, or to re-Sell a third party's AVC -Product as their own branded AVC Product).</p> - -<p>Therefore, if a party is to be licensed for its use of an AVC -Product to Sell AVC Video on a Title-by-Title, Subscription, Free -Television or Internet Broadcast basis, that party would need to -conclude the AVC License, even in the case where no royalties were -payable under the License. On the other hand, if that party (either a -Consumer or business customer) simply uses an AVC Product for their -own internal purposes and not for the commercial purposes referenced -above, then such use would be included in the royalty paid for the AVC -Products by the licensed supplier.</p> - -<p>Finally, I note that our AVC License provides worldwide coverage in -countries that have AVC Patent Portfolio Patents, including -Norway.</p> - -<p>I hope this clarification is helpful. If I may be of any further -assistance, just let me know.</p> -</blockquote></p> - -<p>The mentioning of Norwegian patents made me a bit confused, so I -asked for more information:</p> - -<p><blockquote> - -<p>But one minor question at the end. If I understand you correctly, -you state in the quote above that there are patents in the AVC Patent -Portfolio that are valid in Norway. This make me believe I read the -list available from &lt;URL: -<a href="http://www.mpegla.com/main/programs/AVC/Pages/PatentList.aspx">http://www.mpegla.com/main/programs/AVC/Pages/PatentList.aspx</a> -&gt; incorrectly, as I believed the "NO" prefix in front of patents -were Norwegian patents, and the only one I could find under Mitsubishi -Electric Corporation expired in 2012. Which patents are you referring -to that are relevant for Norway?</p> - -</blockquote></p> - -<p>Again, the quick answer explained how to read the list of patents -in that list:</p> - -<p><blockquote> - -<p>Your understanding is correct that the last AVC Patent Portfolio -Patent in Norway expired on 21 October 2012. Therefore, where AVC -Video is both made and Sold in Norway after that date, then no -royalties would be payable for such AVC Video under the AVC License. -With that said, our AVC License provides historic coverage for AVC -Products and AVC Video that may have been manufactured or Sold before -the last Norwegian AVC patent expired. I would also like to clarify -that coverage is provided for the country of manufacture and the -country of Sale that has active AVC Patent Portfolio Patents.</p> - -<p>Therefore, if a party offers AVC Products or AVC Video for Sale in -a country with active AVC Patent Portfolio Patents (for example, -Sweden, Denmark, Finland, etc.), then that party would still need -coverage under the AVC License even if such products or video are -initially made in a country without active AVC Patent Portfolio -Patents (for example, Norway). Similarly, a party would need to -conclude the AVC License if they make AVC Products or AVC Video in a -country with active AVC Patent Portfolio Patents, but eventually Sell -such AVC Products or AVC Video in a country without active AVC Patent -Portfolio Patents.</p> -</blockquote></p> - -<p>As far as I understand it, MPEG LA believe anyone using Adobe -Premiere and other video related software with a H.264 distribution -license need a license agreement with MPEG LA to use such tools for -anything non-private or commercial, while it is OK to set up a -Youtube-like service as long as no-one pays to get access to the -content. I still have no clear idea how this applies to Norway, where -none of the patents MPEG LA is licensing are valid. Will the -copyright terms take precedence or can those terms be ignored because -the patents are not valid in Norway?</p> + Using appstream with isenkram to install hardware related packages in Debian + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Using_appstream_with_isenkram_to_install_hardware_related_packages_in_Debian.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Using_appstream_with_isenkram_to_install_hardware_related_packages_in_Debian.html + Sun, 20 Dec 2015 12:20:00 +0100 + <p>Around three years ago, I created +<a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/isenkram">the isenkram +system</a> to get a more practical solution in Debian for handing +hardware related packages. A GUI system in the isenkram package will +present a pop-up dialog when some hardware dongle supported by +relevant packages in Debian is inserted into the machine. The same +lookup mechanism to detect packages is available as command line +tools in the isenkram-cli package. In addition to mapping hardware, +it will also map kernel firmware files to packages and make it easy to +install needed firmware packages automatically. The key for this +system to work is a good way to map hardware to packages, in other +words, allow packages to announce what hardware they will work +with.</p> + +<p>I started by providing data files in the isenkram source, and +adding code to download the latest version of these data files at run +time, to ensure every user had the most up to date mapping available. +I also added support for storing the mapping in the Packages file in +the apt repositories, but did not push this approach because while I +was trying to figure out how to best store hardware/package mappings, +<a href="http://www.freedesktop.org/software/appstream/docs/">the +appstream system</a> was announced. I got in touch and suggested to +add the hardware mapping into that data set to be able to use +appstream as a data source, and this was accepted at least for the +Debian version of appstream.</p> + +<p>A few days ago using appstream in Debian for this became possible, +and today I uploaded a new version 0.20 of isenkram adding support for +appstream as a data source for mapping hardware to packages. The only +package so far using appstream to announce its hardware support is my +pymissile package. I got help from Matthias Klumpp with figuring out +how do add the required +<a href="https://appstream.debian.org/html/sid/main/metainfo/pymissile.html">metadata +in pymissile</a>. I added a file debian/pymissile.metainfo.xml with +this content:</p> + +<blockquote><pre> +&lt;?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?&gt; +&lt;component&gt; + &lt;id&gt;pymissile&lt;/id&gt; + &lt;metadata_license&gt;MIT&lt;/metadata_license&gt; + &lt;name&gt;pymissile&lt;/name&gt; + &lt;summary&gt;Control original Striker USB Missile Launcher&lt;/summary&gt; + &lt;description&gt; + &lt;p&gt; + Pymissile provides a curses interface to control an original + Marks and Spencer / Striker USB Missile Launcher, as well as a + motion control script to allow a webcamera to control the + launcher. + &lt;/p&gt; + &lt;/description&gt; + &lt;provides&gt; + &lt;modalias&gt;usb:v1130p0202d*&lt;/modalias&gt; + &lt;/provides&gt; +&lt;/component&gt; +</pre></blockquote> + +<p>The key for isenkram is the component/provides/modalias value, +which is a glob style match rule for hardware specific strings +(modalias strings) provided by the Linux kernel. In this case, it +will map to all USB devices with vendor code 1130 and product code +0202.</p> + +<p>Note, it is important that the license of all the metadata files +are compatible to have permissions to aggregate them into archive wide +appstream files. Matthias suggested to use MIT or BSD licenses for +these files. A challenge is figuring out a good id for the data, as +it is supposed to be globally unique and shared across distributions +(in other words, best to coordinate with upstream what to use). But +it can be changed later or, so we went with the package name as +upstream for this project is dormant.</p> + +<p>To get the metadata file installed in the correct location for the +mirror update scripts to pick it up and include its content the +appstream data source, the file must be installed in the binary +package under /usr/share/appdata/. I did this by adding the following +line to debian/pymissile.install:</p> + +<blockquote><pre> +debian/pymissile.metainfo.xml usr/share/appdata +</pre></blockquote> + +<p>With that in place, the command line tool isenkram-lookup will list +all packages useful on the current computer automatically, and the GUI +pop-up handler will propose to install the package not already +installed if a hardware dongle is inserted into the machine in +question.</p> + +<p>Details of the modalias field in appstream is available from the +<a href="https://wiki.debian.org/DEP-11">DEP-11</a> proposal.</p> + +<p>To locate the modalias values of all hardware present in a machine, +try running this command on the command line:</p> + +<blockquote><pre> +cat $(find /sys/devices/|grep modalias) +</pre></blockquote> + +<p>To learn more about the isenkram system, please check out +<a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/isenkram/">my +blog posts tagged isenkram</a>.</p> - New laptop - some more clues and ideas based on feedback - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/New_laptop___some_more_clues_and_ideas_based_on_feedback.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/New_laptop___some_more_clues_and_ideas_based_on_feedback.html - Sun, 5 Jul 2015 21:40:00 +0200 - <p>Several people contacted me after my previous blog post about my -need for a new laptop, and provided very useful feedback. I wish to -thank every one of these. Several pointed me to the possibility of -fixing my X230, and I am already in the process of getting Lenovo to -do so thanks to the on site, next day support contract covering the -machine. But the battery is almost useless (I expect to replace it -with a non-official battery) and I do not expect the machine to live -for many more years, so it is time to plan its replacement. If I did -not have a support contract, it was suggested to find replacement parts -using <a href="http://www.francecrans.com/">FrancEcrans</a>, but it -might present a language barrier as I do not understand French.</p> - -<p>One tip I got was to use the -<a href="https://skinflint.co.uk/?cat=nb">Skinflint</a> web service to -compare laptop models. It seem to have more models available than -prisjakt.no. Another tip I got from someone I know have similar -keyboard preferences was that the HP EliteBook 840 keyboard is not -very good, and this matches my experience with earlier EliteBook -keyboards I tested. Because of this, I will not consider it any further. - -<p>When I wrote my blog post, I was not aware of Thinkpad X250, the -newest Thinkpad X model. The keyboard reintroduces mouse buttons -(which is missing from the X240), and is working fairly well with -Debian Sid/Unstable according to -<a href="http://www.corsac.net/X250/">Corsac.net</a>. The reports I -got on the keyboard quality are not consistent. Some say the keyboard -is good, others say it is ok, while others say it is not very good. -Those with experience from X41 and and X60 agree that the X250 -keyboard is not as good as those trusty old laptops, and suggest I -keep and fix my X230 instead of upgrading, or get a used X230 to -replace it. I'm also told that the X250 lack leds for caps lock, disk -activity and battery status, which is very convenient on my X230. I'm -also told that the CPU fan is running very often, making it a bit -noisy. In any case, the X250 do not work out of the box with Debian -Stable/Jessie, one of my requirements.</p> - -<p>I have also gotten a few vendor proposals, one was -<a href="http://pro-star.com">Pro-Star</a>, another was -<a href="http://shop.gluglug.org.uk/product/libreboot-x200/">Libreboot</a>. -The latter look very attractive to me.</p> - -<p>Again, thank you all for the very useful feedback. It help a lot -as I keep looking for a replacement.</p> - -<p>Update 2015-07-06: I was recommended to check out the -<a href="">lapstore.de</a> web shop for used laptops. They got several -different -<a href="http://www.lapstore.de/f.php/shop/lapstore/f/411/lang/x/kw/Lenovo_ThinkPad_X_Serie/">old -thinkpad X models</a>, and provide one year warranty.</p> + Bokhandeldistribusjon av boken Fri kultur av Lawrence Lessig + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Bokhandeldistribusjon_av_boken_Fri_kultur_av_Lawrence_Lessig.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Bokhandeldistribusjon_av_boken_Fri_kultur_av_Lawrence_Lessig.html + Mon, 14 Dec 2015 12:10:00 +0100 + <p><strong>Besøk +<a href="https://www.lulu.com/shop/lawrence-lessig/fri-kultur/paperback/product-22441576.html">lulu.com</a> +eller +<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Fri-kultur-Norwegian-Lawrence-Lessig/dp/8269018236/">Amazon</a> +for å kjøpe boken på papir, eller last ned ebook som +<a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig/raw/master/archive/freeculture.nb.pdf">PDF</a>, +<a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig/raw/master/archive/freeculture.nb.epub">ePub</a> +eller +<a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig/raw/master/archive/freeculture.nb.mobi">MOBI</a> +fra +<a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig/">github</a>.</strong></p> + +<p>Jeg ble gledelig overrasket i dag da jeg oppdaget at boken jeg har +gitt ut +<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Fri-kultur-Norwegian-Lawrence-Lessig/dp/8269018236/">hadde +dukket opp i Amazon</a>. Jeg hadde trodd det skulle ta lenger tid, da +jeg fikk beskjed om at det skulle ta seks til åtte uker. +Amazonoppføringen er et resultat av at jeg for noen uker siden +diskuterte prissetting og håndtering av profitt med forfatteren. Det +måtte avklares da bruksvilkårene til boken har krav om +ikke-kommersiell bruk. Vi ble enige om at overskuddet fra salg av +boken skal sendes til +<a href="https://creativecommons.org/">Creative Commons-stiftelsen</a>. +Med det på plass kunne jeg be +<a href="https://www.lulu.com/shop/lawrence-lessig/fri-kultur/paperback/product-22441576.html">lulu.com</a> +om å gi boken «utvidet» distribusjon. Årsaken til at +bokhandeldistribusjon var litt utfordrende er at bokhandlere krever +mulighet for profitt på bøkene de selger (selvfølgelig), og dermed +måtte de få lov til å selge til høyere pris enn lulu.com. I tillegg +er det krav om samme pris på lulu.com og i bokhandlene, dermed blir +prisen økt også hos lulu.com. Hva skulle jeg gjøre med den profitten +uten å bryte med klausulen om ikkekommersiell? Løsningen var å gi +bort profitten til CC-stiftelsen. Prisen på boken ble nesten +tredoblet, til $19.99 (ca. 160,-) pluss frakt, men synligheten øker +betraktelig når den kan finnes i katalogene til store nettbokhandlere. +Det betyr at hvis du allerede har kjøpt boken har du fått den veldig +billig, og kjøper du den nå, får du den fortsatt billig samt donerer i +tillegg noen tiere til fremme av Creative Commons.</p> + +<p>Mens jeg var i gang med å titte etter informasjon om boken +oppdaget jeg at den også var dukket opp på +<a href="https://books.google.no/books?id=uKUGCwAAQBAJ">Google +Books</a>, der en kan lese den på web. PDF-utgaven har ennå ikke +dukket opp hos <a href="https://www.nb.no/">Nasjonalbiblioteket</a>, +men det regner jeg med kommer på plass i løpet av noen uker. Boken er +heller ikke dukket opp hos +<a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/">Barnes & Noble</a> ennå, men +jeg antar det bare er et tidsspørsmål før dette er på plass.</p> + +<p>Boken er dessverre ikke tilgjengelig fra norske bokhandlere, og +kommer neppe til å bli det med det første. Årsaken er at for å få det +til måtte jeg personlig håndtere bestilling av bøker, hvilket jeg ikke +er interessert i å bruke tid på. Jeg kunne betalt ca 2000,- til +<a href="http://www.bokbasen.no/">den norske bokbasen</a>, en felles +database over bøker tilgjengelig for norske bokhandlere, for å få en +oppføring der, men da måtte jeg tatt imot bestillinger på epost og +sendt ut bøker selv. Det ville krevd at jeg var klar til å +sende ut bøker på kort varsel, dvs. holdt meg med ekstra bøker, +konvolutter og frimerker. Bokbasen har visst ikke opplegg for å be +bokhandlene bestille direkte via web, så jeg droppet oppføring der. +Jeg har spurt Haugen bok og Tronsmo direkte på epost om de er +interessert i å ta inn boken i sin bestillingskatalog, men ikke fått +svar, så jeg antar de ikke er interessert. Derimot har jeg fått en +hyggelig henvendelse fra Biblioteksentralen som fortalte at de har +lagt den inn i sin database slik at deres bibliotekskunder enkelt kan +bestille den via dem.</p> + +<p>Boken er i følge +<a href="http://bibsys-almaprimo.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/primo_library/libweb/action/display.do?tabs=detailsTab&ct=display&fn=search&doc=BIBSYS_ILS71518423420002201&indx=1&recIds=BIBSYS_ILS71518423420002201&recIdxs=0&elementId=0&renderMode=poppedOut&displayMode=full&frbrVersion=&dscnt=0&tab=library_catalogue&dstmp=1448543801124&vl(freeText0)=fri%20kultur&vid=UBO&mode=Basic">Bibsys/Oria</a> +og bokdatabasen til +<a href="https://www.deich.folkebibl.no/cgi-bin/websok?tnr=1819617">Deichmanske</a> +tilgjengelig fra flere biblioteker allerede, og alle eksemplarer er +visst allerede utlånt med ventetid. Det synes jeg er veldig gledelig +å se. Jeg håper mange kommer til å lese boken. Jeg tror den er +spesielt egnet for foreldre og bekjente av oss nerder for å forklare +hva slags problemer vi ser med dagens opphavsrettsregime.</p>