X-Git-Url: http://pere.pagekite.me/gitweb/homepage.git/blobdiff_plain/14c30fcadbf6b05cee38bda48e476b5393e1e2cf..370ca01630bcc562f24d76ef1cdf4b95d77f9804:/blog/index.html diff --git a/blog/index.html b/blog/index.html index 1a7368d446..3e773a0c13 100644 --- a/blog/index.html +++ b/blog/index.html @@ -20,97 +20,37 @@
-
Hvordan bør RFC 822-formattert epost lagres i en NOARK5-database?
-
7th March 2014
-

For noen uker siden ble NXCs fri programvarelisenserte -NOARK5-løsning -presentert hos -NUUG (video -på youtube -foreløbig), og det fikk meg til å titte litt mer på NOARK5, -standarden for arkivhåndtering i det offentlige Norge. Jeg lurer på -om denne kjernen kan være nyttig i et par av mine prosjekter, og for ett -av dem er det mest aktuelt å lagre epost. Jeg klarte ikke finne noen -anbefaling om hvordan RFC 822-formattert epost (aka Internett-epost) -burde lagres i NOARK5, selv om jeg vet at noen arkiver tar -PDF-utskrift av eposten med sitt epostprogram og så arkiverer PDF-en -(eller enda værre, tar papirutskrift og lagrer bildet av eposten som -PDF i arkivet).

- -

Det er ikke så mange formater som er akseptert av riksarkivet til -langtidsoppbevaring av offentlige arkiver, og PDF og XML er de mest -aktuelle i så måte. Det slo meg at det måtte da finnes en eller annen -egnet XML-representasjon og at det kanskje var enighet om hvilken som -burde brukes, så jeg tok mot til meg og spurte -SAMDOK, en gruppe tilknyttet -arkivverket som ser ut til å jobbe med NOARK-samhandling, om de hadde -noen anbefalinger: - -

-

Hei.

- -

Usikker på om dette er riktig forum å ta opp mitt spørsmål, men jeg -lurer på om det er definert en anbefaling om hvordan RFC -822-formatterte epost (aka vanlig Internet-epost) bør lages håndteres -i NOARK5, slik at en bevarer all informasjon i eposten -(f.eks. Received-linjer). Finnes det en anbefalt XML-mapping ala den -som beskrives på -<URL: https://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=32074 >? Mitt -mål er at det skal være mulig å lagre eposten i en NOARK5-kjerne og -kunne få ut en identisk formattert kopi av opprinnelig epost ved -behov.

-

- -

Postmottaker hos SAMDOK mente spørsmålet heller burde stilles -direkte til riksarkivet, og jeg fikk i dag svar derfra formulert av -seniorrådgiver Geir Ivar Tungesvik:

- -

-

Riksarkivet har ingen anbefalinger når det gjelder konvertering fra -e-post til XML. Det står arkivskaper fritt å eventuelt definere/bruke -eget format. Inklusive da - som det spørres om - et format der det er -mulig å re-etablere e-post format ut fra XML-en. XML (e-post) -dokumenter må være referert i arkivstrukturen, og det må vedlegges et -gyldig XML skjema (.xsd) for XML-filene. Arkivskaper står altså fritt -til å gjøre hva de vil, bare det dokumenteres og det kan dannes et -utrekk ved avlevering til depot.

- -

De obligatoriske kravene i Noark 5 standarden må altså oppfylles - -etter dialog med Riksarkivet i forbindelse med godkjenning. For -offentlige arkiv er det særlig viktig med filene loependeJournal.xml -og offentligJournal.xml. Private arkiv som vil forholde seg til Noark -5 standarden er selvsagt frie til å bruke det som er relevant for dem -av obligatoriske krav.

-

- -

Det ser dermed ut for meg som om det er et lite behov for å -standardisere XML-lagring av RFC-822-formatterte meldinger. Noen som -vet om god spesifikasjon i så måte? I tillegg til den omtalt over, -har jeg kommet over flere aktuelle beskrivelser (søk på "rfc 822 -xml", så finner du aktuelle alternativer).

- - - -

Finnes det andre og bedre spesifikasjoner for slik lagring? Send -meg en epost hvis du har innspill.

+ +
25th September 2014
+

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

+ +

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

@@ -118,110 +58,263 @@ meg en epost hvis du har innspill.

- -
28th February 2014
-

Her er noen lenker til tekster jeg har satt pris på å lese de siste -månedene. Det er mye om varsleren Edward Snowden, som burde få all -hjelp, støtte og beskyttelse Norge kan stille opp med for å ha satt -totalitær overvåkning på sakskartet, men også endel annet -tankevekkende og interessant.

- - + +
21st September 2014
+

Rundt omkring i Oslo og Østlandsområdet henger det bokser over +veiene som jeg har lurt på hva gjør. De har ut fra plassering og +vinkling sett ut som bokser som sniffer ut et eller annet fra +forbipasserende trafikk, men det har vært uklart for meg hva det er de +leser av. Her om dagen tok jeg bilde av en slik boks som henger under +ei +skibru på Sollihøgda:

+ +

+ +

Boksen er tydelig merket «Kapsch >>>», logoen til +det sveitsiske selskapet Kapsch som +blant annet lager sensorsystemer for veitrafikk. Men de lager mye +forskjellig, og jeg kjente ikke igjen boksen på utseendet etter en +kjapp titt på produktlista til selskapet.

+ +

I og med at boksen henger over veien E16, en riksvei vedlikeholdt +av Statens Vegvesen, så antok jeg at det burde være mulig å bruke +REST-API-et som gir tilgang til vegvesenets database over veier, +skilter og annet veirelatert til å finne ut hva i alle dager dette +kunne være. De har både +en +datakatalog og +et +søk, der en kan søke etter ulike typer oppføringer innen for et +gitt geografisk område. Jeg laget et enkelt shell-script for å hente +ut antall av en gitt type innenfor området skibrua dekker, og listet +opp navnet på typene som ble funnet. Orket ikke slå opp hvordan +URL-koding av aktuelle strenger kunne gjøres mer generisk, og brukte +en stygg sed-linje i stedet.

+ +
+#!/bin/sh
+urlmap() {
+    sed \
+    -e 's/  / /g'   -e 's/{/%7B/g'  \
+    -e 's/}/%7D/g'  -e 's/\[/%5B/g' \
+    -e 's/\]/%5D/g' -e 's/ /%20/g'  \
+    -e 's/,/%2C/g'  -e 's/\"/%22/g' \
+    -e 's/:/%3A/g'
+}
+
+lookup() {
+    url="$1"
+    curl -s -H 'Accept: application/vnd.vegvesen.nvdb-v1+xml' \
+       "https://www.vegvesen.no/nvdb/api$url" | xmllint --format -
+}
+
+for id in $(seq 1 874) ; do
+    search="{
+  lokasjon: {
+    bbox: \"10.34425,59.96386,10.34458,59.96409\",
+    srid: \"WGS84\"
+  },
+   objektTyper: [{
+     id: $id, antall: 10
+   }]
+}"
+
+    query=/sok?kriterie=$(echo $search | urlmap)
+    if lookup "$query" |
+    grep -q '<totaltAntallReturnert>0<'
+    then
+    :
+    else
+    echo $id
+    lookup "/datakatalog/objekttyper/$id" |grep '^  <navn>'
+    fi
+done
+
+exit 0
+
+ +Aktuelt ID-område 1-874 var riktig i datakatalogen da jeg laget +scriptet. Det vil endre seg over tid. Skriptet listet så opp +aktuelle typer i og rundt skibrua: + +
+5
+  <navn>Rekkverk</navn>
+14
+  <navn>Rekkverksende</navn>
+47
+  <navn>Trafikklomme</navn>
+49
+  <navn>Trafikkøy</navn>
+60
+  <navn>Bru</navn>
+79
+  <navn>Stikkrenne/Kulvert</navn>
+80
+  <navn>Grøft, åpen</navn>
+86
+  <navn>Belysningsstrekning</navn>
+95
+  <navn>Skiltpunkt</navn>
+96
+  <navn>Skiltplate</navn>
+98
+  <navn>Referansestolpe</navn>
+99
+  <navn>Vegoppmerking, langsgående</navn>
+105
+  <navn>Fartsgrense</navn>
+106
+  <navn>Vinterdriftsstrategi</navn>
+172
+  <navn>Trafikkdeler</navn>
+241
+  <navn>Vegdekke</navn>
+293
+  <navn>Breddemåling</navn>
+301
+  <navn>Kantklippareal</navn>
+318
+  <navn>Snø-/isrydding</navn>
+445
+  <navn>Skred</navn>
+446
+  <navn>Dokumentasjon</navn>
+452
+  <navn>Undergang</navn>
+528
+  <navn>Tverrprofil</navn>
+532
+  <navn>Vegreferanse</navn>
+534
+  <navn>Region</navn>
+535
+  <navn>Fylke</navn>
+536
+  <navn>Kommune</navn>
+538
+  <navn>Gate</navn>
+539
+  <navn>Transportlenke</navn>
+540
+  <navn>Trafikkmengde</navn>
+570
+  <navn>Trafikkulykke</navn>
+571
+  <navn>Ulykkesinvolvert enhet</navn>
+572
+  <navn>Ulykkesinvolvert person</navn>
+579
+  <navn>Politidistrikt</navn>
+583
+  <navn>Vegbredde</navn>
+591
+  <navn>Høydebegrensning</navn>
+592
+  <navn>Nedbøyningsmåling</navn>
+597
+  <navn>Støy-luft, Strekningsdata</navn>
+601
+  <navn>Oppgravingsdata</navn>
+602
+  <navn>Oppgravingslag</navn>
+603
+  <navn>PMS-parsell</navn>
+604
+  <navn>Vegnormalstrekning</navn>
+605
+  <navn>Værrelatert strekning</navn>
+616
+  <navn>Feltstrekning</navn>
+617
+  <navn>Adressepunkt</navn>
+626
+  <navn>Friksjonsmåleserie</navn>
+629
+  <navn>Vegdekke, flatelapping</navn>
+639
+  <navn>Kurvatur, horisontalelement</navn>
+640
+  <navn>Kurvatur, vertikalelement</navn>
+642
+  <navn>Kurvatur, vertikalpunkt</navn>
+643
+  <navn>Statistikk, trafikkmengde</navn>
+647
+  <navn>Statistikk, vegbredde</navn>
+774
+  <navn>Nedbøyningsmåleserie</navn>
+775
+  <navn>ATK, influensstrekning</navn>
+794
+  <navn>Systemobjekt</navn>
+810
+  <navn>Vinterdriftsklasse</navn>
+821
+  <navn>Funksjonell vegklasse</navn>
+825
+  <navn>Kurvatur, stigning</navn>
+838
+  <navn>Vegbredde, beregnet</navn>
+862
+  <navn>Reisetidsregistreringspunkt</navn>
+871
+  <navn>Bruksklasse</navn>
+
+ +

Av disse ser ID 775 og 862 mest relevant ut. ID 775 antar jeg +refererer til fotoboksen som står like ved brua, mens +«Reisetidsregistreringspunkt» kanskje kan være boksen som henger der. +Hvordan finner jeg så ut hva dette kan være for noe. En titt på +datakatalogsiden +for ID 862/Reisetidsregistreringspunkt viser at det er finnes 53 +slike målere i Norge, og hvor de er plassert, men gir ellers få +detaljer. Det er plassert 40 på østlandet og 13 i Trondheimsregionen. +Men siden nevner «AutoPASS», og hvis en slår opp oppføringen på +Sollihøgda nevner den «Ciber AS» som ID for eksternt system. (Kan det +være snakk om +Ciber +Norge AS, et selskap eid av Ciber Europe Bv?) Et nettsøk på + «Ciber AS autopass» fører meg til en artikkel fra NRK Trøndelag i + 2013 med tittel +«Sjekk +dette hvis du vil unngå kø». Artikkelen henviser til vegvesenets +nettside +reisetider.no +som har en +kartside +for Østlandet som viser at det måles mellom Sandvika og Sollihøgda. +Det kan dermed se ut til at jeg har funnet ut hva boksene gjør.

+ +

Hvis det stemmer, så er dette bokser som leser av AutoPASS-ID-en +til alle passerende biler med AutoPASS-brikke, og dermed gjør det mulig +for de som kontrollerer boksene å holde rede på hvor en gitt bil er +når den passerte et slikt målepunkt. NRK-artikkelen forteller at +denne informasjonen i dag kun brukes til å koble to +AutoPASS-brikkepasseringer passeringer sammen for å beregne +reisetiden, og at bruken er godkjent av Datatilsynet. Det er desverre +ikke mulig for en sjåfør som passerer under en slik boks å kontrollere +at AutoPASS-ID-en kun brukes til dette i dag og i fremtiden.

+ +

I tillegg til denne type AutoPASS-sniffere vet jeg at det også +finnes mange automatiske stasjoner som tar betalt pr. passering (aka +bomstasjoner), og der lagres informasjon om tid, sted og bilnummer i +10 år. Finnes det andre slike sniffere plassert ut på veiene?

+ +

Personlig har jeg valgt å ikke bruke AutoPASS-brikke, for å gjøre +det vanskeligere og mer kostbart for de som vil invadere privatsfæren +og holde rede på hvor bilen min beveger seg til enhver tid. Jeg håper +flere vil gjøre det samme, selv om det gir litt høyere private +utgifter (dyrere bompassering). Vern om privatsfæren koster i disse +dager.

+ +

Takk til Jan Kristian Jensen i Statens Vegvesen for tips om +dokumentasjon på vegvesenets REST-API.

@@ -229,37 +322,215 @@ på hasjbrukere - aftenposten.no
- -
22nd February 2014
-

Many years ago, I wrote a GPL licensed version of the netgroup and -innetgr tools, because I needed them in -Skolelinux. I called the project -ng-utils, and it has served me well. I placed the project under the -Hungry Programmer umbrella, and it was maintained in our CVS -repository. But many years ago, the CVS repository was dropped (lost, -not migrated to new hardware, not sure), and the project have lacked a -proper home since then.

- -

Last summer, I had a look at the package and made a new release -fixing a irritating crash bug, but was unable to store the changes in -a proper source control system. I applied for a project on -Alioth, but did not have time -to follow up on it. Until today. :)

- -

After many hours of cleaning and migration, the ng-utils project -now have a new home, and a git repository with the highlight of the -history of the project. I published all release tarballs and imported -them into the git repository. As the project is really stable and not -expected to gain new features any time soon, I decided to make a new -release and call it 1.0. Visit the new project home on -https://alioth.debian.org/projects/ng-utils/ -if you want to check it out. The new version is also uploaded into -Debian Unstable.

+ +
16th September 2014
+

The Debian installer could be +a lot quicker. When we install more than 2000 packages in +Skolelinux / Debian Edu using +tasksel in the installer, unpacking the binary packages take forever. +A part of the slow I/O issue was discussed in +bug #613428 about too +much file system sync-ing done by dpkg, which is the package +responsible for unpacking the binary packages. Other parts (like code +executed by postinst scripts) might also sync to disk during +installation. All this sync-ing to disk do not really make sense to +me. If the machine crash half-way through, I start over, I do not try +to salvage the half installed system. So the failure sync-ing is +supposed to protect against, hardware or system crash, is not really +relevant while the installer is running.

+ +

A few days ago, I thought of a way to get rid of all the file +system sync()-ing in a fairly non-intrusive way, without the need to +change the code in several packages. The idea is not new, but I have +not heard anyone propose the approach using dpkg-divert before. It +depend on the small and clever package +eatmydata, which +uses LD_PRELOAD to replace the system functions for syncing data to +disk with functions doing nothing, thus allowing programs to live +dangerous while speeding up disk I/O significantly. Instead of +modifying the implementation of dpkg, apt and tasksel (which are the +packages responsible for selecting, fetching and installing packages), +it occurred to me that we could just divert the programs away, replace +them with a simple shell wrapper calling +"eatmydata $program $@", to get the same effect. +Two days ago I decided to test the idea, and wrapped up a simple +implementation for the Debian Edu udeb.

+ +

The effect was stunning. In my first test it reduced the running +time of the pkgsel step (installing tasks) from 64 to less than 44 +minutes (20 minutes shaved off the installation) on an old Dell +Latitude D505 machine. I am not quite sure what the optimised time +would have been, as I messed up the testing a bit, causing the debconf +priority to get low enough for two questions to pop up during +installation. As soon as I saw the questions I moved the installation +along, but do not know how long the question were holding up the +installation. I did some more measurements using Debian Edu Jessie, +and got these results. The time measured is the time stamp in +/var/log/syslog between the "pkgsel: starting tasksel" and the +"pkgsel: finishing up" lines, if you want to do the same measurement +yourself. In Debian Edu, the tasksel dialog do not show up, and the +timing thus do not depend on how quickly the user handle the tasksel +dialog.

+ +

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
Machine/setupOriginal taskselOptimised taskselReduction
Latitude D505 Main+LTSP LXDE64 min (07:46-08:50)<44 min (11:27-12:11)>20 min 18%
Latitude D505 Roaming LXDE57 min (08:48-09:45)34 min (07:43-08:17)23 min 40%
Latitude D505 Minimal22 min (10:37-10:59)11 min (11:16-11:27)11 min 50%
Thinkpad X200 Minimal6 min (08:19-08:25)4 min (08:04-08:08)2 min 33%
Thinkpad X200 Roaming KDE19 min (09:21-09:40)15 min (10:25-10:40)4 min 21%

+ +

The test is done using a netinst ISO on a USB stick, so some of the +time is spent downloading packages. The connection to the Internet +was 100Mbit/s during testing, so downloading should not be a +significant factor in the measurement. Download typically took a few +seconds to a few minutes, depending on the amount of packages being +installed.

+ +

The speedup is implemented by using two hooks in +Debian +Installer, the pre-pkgsel.d hook to set up the diverts, and the +finish-install.d hook to remove the divert at the end of the +installation. I picked the pre-pkgsel.d hook instead of the +post-base-installer.d hook because I test using an ISO without the +eatmydata package included, and the post-base-installer.d hook in +Debian Edu can only operate on packages included in the ISO. The +negative effect of this is that I am unable to activate this +optimization for the kernel installation step in d-i. If the code is +moved to the post-base-installer.d hook, the speedup would be larger +for the entire installation.

+ +

I've implemented this in the +debian-edu-install +git repository, and plan to provide the optimization as part of the +Debian Edu installation. If you want to test this yourself, you can +create two files in the installer (or in an udeb). One shell script +need do go into /usr/lib/pre-pkgsel.d/, with content like this:

+ +

+#!/bin/sh
+set -e
+. /usr/share/debconf/confmodule
+info() {
+    logger -t my-pkgsel "info: $*"
+}
+error() {
+    logger -t my-pkgsel "error: $*"
+}
+override_install() {
+    apt-install eatmydata || true
+    if [ -x /target/usr/bin/eatmydata ] ; then
+        for bin in dpkg apt-get aptitude tasksel ; do
+            file=/usr/bin/$bin
+            # Test that the file exist and have not been diverted already.
+            if [ -f /target$file ] ; then
+                info "diverting $file using eatmydata"
+                printf "#!/bin/sh\neatmydata $bin.distrib \"\$@\"\n" \
+                    > /target$file.edu
+                chmod 755 /target$file.edu
+                in-target dpkg-divert --package debian-edu-config \
+                    --rename --quiet --add $file
+                ln -sf ./$bin.edu /target$file
+            else
+                error "unable to divert $file, as it is missing."
+            fi
+        done
+    else
+        error "unable to find /usr/bin/eatmydata after installing the eatmydata pacage"
+    fi
+}
+
+override_install
+

+ +

To clean up, another shell script should go into +/usr/lib/finish-install.d/ with code like this: + +

+#! /bin/sh -e
+. /usr/share/debconf/confmodule
+error() {
+    logger -t my-finish-install "error: $@"
+}
+remove_install_override() {
+    for bin in dpkg apt-get aptitude tasksel ; do
+        file=/usr/bin/$bin
+        if [ -x /target$file.edu ] ; then
+            rm /target$file
+            in-target dpkg-divert --package debian-edu-config \
+                --rename --quiet --remove $file
+            rm /target$file.edu
+        else
+            error "Missing divert for $file."
+        fi
+    done
+    sync # Flush file buffers before continuing
+}
+
+remove_install_override
+

+ +

In Debian Edu, I placed both code fragments in a separate script +edu-eatmydata-install and call it from the pre-pkgsel.d and +finish-install.d scripts.

+ +

By now you might ask if this change should get into the normal +Debian installer too? I suspect it should, but am not sure the +current debian-installer coordinators find it useful enough. It also +depend on the side effects of the change. I'm not aware of any, but I +guess we will see if the change is safe after some more testing. +Perhaps there is some package in Debian depending on sync() and +fsync() having effect? Perhaps it should go into its own udeb, to +allow those of us wanting to enable it to do so without affecting +everyone.

+ +

Update 2014-09-24: Since a few days ago, enabling this optimization +will break installation of all programs using gnutls because of +bug #702711. An updated +eatmydata package in Debian will solve it.

@@ -267,113 +538,62 @@ if you want to check it out. The new version is also uploaded into
- -
3rd February 2014
-

A few days ago I decided to try to help the Hurd people to get -their changes into sysvinit, to allow them to use the normal sysvinit -boot system instead of their old one. This follow up on the -great -Google Summer of Code work done last summer by Justus Winter to -get Debian on Hurd working more like Debian on Linux. To get started, -I downloaded a prebuilt hard disk image from -http://ftp.debian-ports.org/debian-cd/hurd-i386/current/debian-hurd.img.tar.gz, -and started it using virt-manager.

- -

The first think I had to do after logging in (root without any -password) was to get the network operational. I followed -the -instructions on the Debian GNU/Hurd ports page and ran these -commands as root to get the machine to accept a IP address from the -kvm internal DHCP server:

- -

-settrans -fgap /dev/netdde /hurd/netdde
-kill $(ps -ef|awk '/[p]finet/ { print $2}')
-kill $(ps -ef|awk '/[d]evnode/ { print $2}')
-dhclient /dev/eth0
-

- -

After this, the machine had internet connectivity, and I could -upgrade it and install the sysvinit packages from experimental and -enable it as the default boot system in Hurd.

- -

But before I did that, I set a password on the root user, as ssh is -running on the machine it for ssh login to work a password need to be -set. Also, note that a bug somewhere in openssh on Hurd block -compression from working. Remember to turn that off on the client -side.

- -

Run these commands as root to upgrade and test the new sysvinit -stuff:

+ +
10th September 2014
+

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of attending a talk with the +Norwegian Unix User Group about +the +OpenPGP keyserver pool sks-keyservers.net, and was very happy to +learn that there is a large set of publicly available key servers to +use when looking for peoples public key. So far I have used +subkeys.pgp.net, and some times wwwkeys.nl.pgp.net when the former +were misbehaving, but those days are ended. The servers I have used +up until yesterday have been slow and some times unavailable. I hope +those problems are gone now.

+ +

Behind the round robin DNS entry of the +sks-keyservers.net service +there is a pool of more than 100 keyservers which are checked every +day to ensure they are well connected and up to date. It must be +better than what I have used so far. :)

+ +

Yesterdays speaker told me that the service is the default +keyserver provided by the default configuration in GnuPG, but this do +not seem to be used in Debian. Perhaps it should?

+ +

Anyway, I've updated my ~/.gnupg/options file to now include this +line:

-cat > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/experimental.list <<EOF
-deb http://http.debian.net/debian/ experimental main
-EOF
-apt-get update
-apt-get dist-upgrade
-apt-get install -t experimental initscripts sysv-rc sysvinit \
-    sysvinit-core sysvinit-utils
-update-alternatives --config runsystem
+keyserver pool.sks-keyservers.net
 

-

To reboot after switching boot system, you have to use -reboot-hurd instead of just reboot, as there is not -yet a sysvinit process able to receive the signals from the normal -'reboot' command. After switching to sysvinit as the boot system, -upgrading every package and rebooting, the network come up with DHCP -after boot as it should, and the settrans/pkill hack mentioned at the -start is no longer needed. But for some strange reason, there are no -longer any login prompt in the virtual console, so I logged in using -ssh instead. - -

Note that there are some race conditions in Hurd making the boot -fail some times. No idea what the cause is, but hope the Hurd porters -figure it out. At least Justus said on IRC (#debian-hurd on -irc.debian.org) that they are aware of the problem. A way to reduce -the impact is to upgrade to the Hurd packages built by Justus by -adding this repository to the machine:

+

With GnuPG version 2 one can also locate the keyserver using SRV +entries in DNS. Just for fun, I did just that at work, so now every +user of GnuPG at the University of Oslo should find a OpenGPG +keyserver automatically should their need it:

-cat > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/hurd-ci.list <<EOF
-deb http://darnassus.sceen.net/~teythoon/hurd-ci/ sid main
-EOF
+% host -t srv _pgpkey-http._tcp.uio.no
+_pgpkey-http._tcp.uio.no has SRV record 0 100 11371 pool.sks-keyservers.net.
+%
 

-

At the moment the prebuilt virtual machine get some packages from -http://ftp.debian-ports.org/debian, because some of the packages in -unstable do not yet include the required patches that are lingering in -BTS. This is the completely list of "unofficial" packages installed:

- -

-# aptitude search '?narrow(?version(CURRENT),?origin(Debian Ports))'
-i   emacs                   - GNU Emacs editor (metapackage)
-i   gdb                     - GNU Debugger
-i   hurd-recommended        - Miscellaneous translators
-i   isc-dhcp-client         - ISC DHCP client
-i   isc-dhcp-common         - common files used by all the isc-dhcp* packages
-i   libc-bin                - Embedded GNU C Library: Binaries
-i   libc-dev-bin            - Embedded GNU C Library: Development binaries
-i   libc0.3                 - Embedded GNU C Library: Shared libraries
-i A libc0.3-dbg             - Embedded GNU C Library: detached debugging symbols
-i   libc0.3-dev             - Embedded GNU C Library: Development Libraries and Hea
-i   multiarch-support       - Transitional package to ensure multiarch compatibilit
-i A x11-common              - X Window System (X.Org) infrastructure
-i   xorg                    - X.Org X Window System
-i A xserver-xorg            - X.Org X server
-i A xserver-xorg-input-all  - X.Org X server -- input driver metapackage
-#
-

- -

All in all, testing hurd has been an interesting experience. :) -X.org did not work out of the box and I never took the time to follow -the porters instructions to fix it. This time I was interested in the -command line stuff.

+

Now if only +the +HKP lookup protocol supported finding signature paths, I would be +very happy. It can look up a given key or search for a user ID, but I +normally do not want that, but to find a trust path from my key to +another key. Given a user ID or key ID, I would like to find (and +download) the keys representing a signature path from my key to the +key in question, to be able to get a trust path between the two keys. +This is as far as I can tell not possible today. Perhaps something +for a future version of the protocol?

@@ -381,90 +601,116 @@ command line stuff.

- -
29th January 2014
-

Bitcoin is a incredible use of peer to peer communication and -encryption, allowing direct and immediate money transfer without any -central control. It is sometimes claimed to be ideal for illegal -activity, which I believe is quite a long way from the truth. At least -I would not conduct illegal money transfers using a system where the -details of every transaction are kept forever. This point is -investigated in -USENIX ;login: -from December 2013, in the article -"A -Fistful of Bitcoins - Characterizing Payments Among Men with No -Names" by Sarah Meiklejohn, Marjori Pomarole,Grant Jordan, Kirill -Levchenko, Damon McCoy, Geoffrey M. Voelker, and Stefan Savage. They -analyse the transaction log in the Bitcoin system, using it to find -addresses belong to individuals and organisations and follow the flow -of money from both Bitcoin theft and trades on Silk Road to where the -money end up. This is how they wrap up their article:

+ +
25th August 2014
+

Two years later, I am still not sure if it is legal here in Norway +to use or publish a video in H.264 or MPEG4 format edited by the +commercially licensed video editors, without limiting the use to +create "personal" or "non-commercial" videos or get a license +agreement with MPEG LA. If one +want to publish and broadcast video in a non-personal or commercial +setting, it might be that those tools can not be used, or that video +format can not be used, without breaking their copyright license. I +am not sure. +Back +then, I found that the copyright license terms for Adobe Premiere +and Apple Final Cut Pro both specified that one could not use the +program to produce anything else without a patent license from MPEG +LA. The issue is not limited to those two products, though. Other +much used products like those from Avid and Sorenson Media have terms +of use are similar to those from Adobe and Apple. The complicating +factor making me unsure if those terms have effect in Norway or not is +that the patents in question are not valid in Norway, but copyright +licenses are.

+ +

These are the terms for Avid Artist Suite, according to their +published +end user +license +text (converted to lower case text for easier reading):

-

"To demonstrate the usefulness of this type of analysis, we turned -our attention to criminal activity. In the Bitcoin economy, criminal -activity can appear in a number of forms, such as dealing drugs on -Silk Road or simply stealing someone else’s bitcoins. We followed the -flow of bitcoins out of Silk Road (in particular, from one notorious -address) and from a number of highly publicized thefts to see whether -we could track the bitcoins to known services. Although some of the -thieves attempted to use sophisticated mixing techniques (or possibly -mix services) to obscure the flow of bitcoins, for the most part -tracking the bitcoins was quite straightforward, and we ultimately saw -large quantities of bitcoins flow to a variety of exchanges directly -from the point of theft (or the withdrawal from Silk Road).

- -

As acknowledged above, following stolen bitcoins to the point at -which they are deposited into an exchange does not in itself identify -the thief; however, it does enable further de-anonymization in the -case in which certain agencies can determine (through, for example, -subpoena power) the real-world owner of the account into which the -stolen bitcoins were deposited. Because such exchanges seem to serve -as chokepoints into and out of the Bitcoin economy (i.e., there are -few alternative ways to cash out), we conclude that using Bitcoin for -money laundering or other illicit purposes does not (at least at -present) seem to be particularly attractive."

-

- -

These researches are not the first to analyse the Bitcoin -transaction log. The 2011 paper -"An Analysis of Anonymity in -the Bitcoin System" by Fergal Reid and Martin Harrigan is -summarized like this:

+

18.2. MPEG-4. MPEG-4 technology may be included with the +software. MPEG LA, L.L.C. requires this notice:

+ +

This product is licensed under the MPEG-4 visual patent portfolio +license for the personal and non-commercial use of a consumer for (i) +encoding video in compliance with the MPEG-4 visual standard (“MPEG-4 +video”) and/or (ii) decoding MPEG-4 video that was encoded by a +consumer engaged in a personal and non-commercial activity and/or was +obtained from a video provider licensed by MPEG LA to provide MPEG-4 +video. No license is granted or shall be implied for any other +use. Additional information including that relating to promotional, +internal and commercial uses and licensing may be obtained from MPEG +LA, LLC. See http://www.mpegla.com. This product is licensed under +the MPEG-4 systems patent portfolio license for encoding in compliance +with the MPEG-4 systems standard, except that an additional license +and payment of royalties are necessary for encoding in connection with +(i) data stored or replicated in physical media which is paid for on a +title by title basis and/or (ii) data which is paid for on a title by +title basis and is transmitted to an end user for permanent storage +and/or use, such additional license may be obtained from MPEG LA, +LLC. See http://www.mpegla.com for additional details.

+ +

18.3. H.264/AVC. H.264/AVC technology may be included with the +software. MPEG LA, L.L.C. requires this notice:

+ +

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.

+

+ +

Note the requirement that the videos created can only be used for +personal or non-commercial purposes.

+ +

The Sorenson Media software have +similar terms:

-"Anonymity in Bitcoin, a peer-to-peer electronic currency system, is a -complicated issue. Within the system, users are identified by -public-keys only. An attacker wishing to de-anonymize its users will -attempt to construct the one-to-many mapping between users and -public-keys and associate information external to the system with the -users. Bitcoin tries to prevent this attack by storing the mapping of -a user to his or her public-keys on that user's node only and by -allowing each user to generate as many public-keys as required. In -this chapter we consider the topological structure of two networks -derived from Bitcoin's public transaction history. We show that the -two networks have a non-trivial topological structure, provide -complementary views of the Bitcoin system and have implications for -anonymity. We combine these structures with external information and -techniques such as context discovery and flow analysis to investigate -an alleged theft of Bitcoins, which, at the time of the theft, had a -market value of approximately half a million U.S. dollars." -

-

I hope these references can help kill the urban myth that Bitcoin -is anonymous. It isn't really a good fit for illegal activites. Use -cash if you need to stay anonymous, at least until regular DNA -sampling of notes and coins become the norm. :)

+

With respect to a license from Sorenson pertaining to MPEG-4 Video +Decoders and/or Encoders: Any such product is licensed under the +MPEG-4 visual patent portfolio license for the personal and +non-commercial use of a consumer for (i) encoding video in compliance +with the MPEG-4 visual standard (“MPEG-4 video”) and/or (ii) decoding +MPEG-4 video that was encoded by a consumer engaged in a personal and +non-commercial activity and/or was obtained from a video provider +licensed by MPEG LA to provide MPEG-4 video. No license is granted or +shall be implied for any other use. Additional information including +that relating to promotional, internal and commercial uses and +licensing may be obtained from MPEG LA, LLC. See +http://www.mpegla.com.

+ +

With respect to a license from Sorenson pertaining to MPEG-4 +Consumer Recorded Data Encoder, MPEG-4 Systems Internet Data Encoder, +MPEG-4 Mobile Data Encoder, and/or MPEG-4 Unique Use Encoder: Any such +product is licensed under the MPEG-4 systems patent portfolio license +for encoding in compliance with the MPEG-4 systems standard, except +that an additional license and payment of royalties are necessary for +encoding in connection with (i) data stored or replicated in physical +media which is paid for on a title by title basis and/or (ii) data +which is paid for on a title by title basis and is transmitted to an +end user for permanent storage and/or use. Such additional license may +be obtained from MPEG LA, LLC. See http://www.mpegla.com for +additional details.

-

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

+

+ +

Some free software like +Handbrake and +FFMPEG uses GPL/LGPL licenses and do +not have any such terms included, so for those, there is no +requirement to limit the use to personal and non-commercial.

@@ -472,54 +718,167 @@ activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address
- -
14th January 2014
-

Coverity is a nice tool to -find problems in C, C++ and Java code using static source code -analysis. It can detect a lot of different problems, and is very -useful to find memory and locking bugs in the error handling part of -the source. The company behind it provide -check of free software projects as -a community service, and many hundred free software projects are -already checked. A few days ago I decided to have a closer look at -the Coverity system, and discovered that the -gnash and -ipmitool -projects I am involved with was already registered. But these are -fairly big, and I would also like to have a small and easy project to -check, and decided to request -checking of the chrpath project. It was -added to the checker and discovered seven potential defects. Six of -these were real, mostly resource "leak" when the program detected an -error. Nothing serious, as the resources would be released a fraction -of a second later when the program exited because of the error, but it -is nice to do it right in case the source of the program some time in -the future end up in a library. Having fixed all defects and added -a -mailing list for the chrpath developers, I decided it was time to -publish a new release. These are the release notes:

- -

New in 0.16 released 2014-01-14:

- -
    - -
  • Fixed all minor bugs discovered by Coverity.
  • -
  • Updated config.sub and config.guess from the GNU project.
  • -
  • Mention new project mailing list in the documentation.
  • - -
- -

You can -download the -new version 0.16 from alioth. Please let us know via the Alioth -project if something is wrong with the new release. The test suite -did not discover any old errors, so if you find a new one, please also -include a test suite check.

+ +
3rd August 2014
+

Lenge siden jeg har hatt tid til å publisere lenker til skriverier +jeg har hatt glede og nytte av av å lese. Her er en liten norsk +lenkesamling.

+ +

    + +
  • Sjøslag +om fiskemilliardene (NRK Ytring 2014-03-03) - litt om hvordan de +norske felles matressurser røves fra felleskapet.
  • + +
  • Matkrisen +kan komme til Norge (Aftenposten 2014-4-01) - hvordan miljøendringene vil gjøre matproduksjonen i Norge mer sÃ¥rbar.
  • + +
  • Norge +trenger kornlager (NRK Ytring 2014-06-07) Chr. Anton Smedshaug +forteller litt om Norges sÃ¥rbare matsituasjon etter at Staten solgte +Norges kornlager.
  • + +
  • PST +vil overvÃ¥ke datatastaturer (NRK 2014-03-04) - PST ønsker retten +til Ã¥ bryte seg inn pÃ¥ private PC-er og legge inn spionprogrammer. +Hvilket nok vil gjøre Linux mer populært, men gjør at en i enda mindre +grad enn i dag kan stole pÃ¥ datamaskiner - neppe en god ide for +samfunnet totalt sett.
  • + +
  • «Ruter +fremstÃ¥r som et pøbelvelde» (OsloBy 2014-03-05) - et eksempel pÃ¥ +hvordan kollektivtransportselskapet i Oslo hÃ¥ndterer sine kunder.
  • + +
  • Clear +Channel nektet Ã¥ vise Greenpeace-reklame i Oslo (Dagbladet +2014-03-05) - forteller litt om hvordan hvilke budskap som nÃ¥r ut i +det offentlige rom kontrolleres i Norge.
  • + +
  • Svarte +ikke pÃ¥ kritikken (Dagbladet 2014-03-06) - innlegg fra Norsk +presseforbund der de nok en gang tar opp det forkastelige i at +politiet nÃ¥ har full tilgang til Ã¥ bedrive telefonkontroll av +advokater.
  • + +
  • «Putin +spiller poker, ikke sjakk. I sjakk har man regler.» (Aftenposten +2014-03-08) - sjakklegenden Kasparov forklarer litt om hvordan han ser +at Russlands politikk fungerer, blant annet i lys av started av +Ukraina-krisen.
  • + +
  • I +seng med fienden (Aftenposten 2014-03-10) - kronikk fra Eirik +H. Vinje om hvordan menn og kvinner settes opp mot hverandre i det +offentlige ordskiftet, kanskje pÃ¥ sviktende grunnlag.
  • + +
  • Fritt +frem for skulk (Aftenposten 2014-03-14) - skildring av hvordan +norske elever i dag ikke lenger har rimelig krav om oppmøte pÃ¥ +skolen.
  • + +
  • «Datalagringsdirektiv» +avslørte abort, sykdom og vÃ¥penkjøp (Aftenposten 2014-03-14) - om +hvordan forskere har dokumentert hvordan innsamling av metadata om +telefoni og Internett-bruk kan være svært avslørende.
  • + +
  • Konsentrasjonssvikt +pÃ¥ pensum (Dagbladet 2014-03-14) - Kommentar om hvordan (feil) +bruk IKT i skolen kan ødelegge mer enn det bidrar til læring.
  • + +
  • Reservasjonsrettsstaten +(blogg fra Doremus 2014-02-09) - morsom beskrivelse om hvordan +regjeringens forslag til reservasjonsrett for leger kan utvides til Ã¥ +gjelde alles samvittighet.
  • + +
  • Autoritær +gjøkunge (Aftenposten 2014-03-25) - Kronikk av Bjørn Stærk om +snurpenots-overvÃ¥kningen som varsleren Snowden dokumenterte.
  • + +
  • Leveransekrise +i Offentlig sektor – mener Mike Bracken, Executive Director of Digital +in the Cabinet Office (blogg fra Friprog-senteret 2014-03-26).
  • + +
  • Norge +mÃ¥ stanse avlyttingen (Dagbladet 2014-03-26) - leserinnlegg fra +Felix Horne der han ber om at Norge gjør en innsats for Ã¥ fÃ¥ slutt pÃ¥ +overvÃ¥kning av innbyggerne som gjøres i Norge av Etiopiske +myndigheter.
  • + +
  • Demokrati +er ingen naturlig styreform (Aftenposten 2014-04-01) - kronikk av +Stein Ringen om hvordan demokrati som styreform gÃ¥r tapt nÃ¥r +innbyggerne tar det for gitt.
  • + +
  • Ytringsansvar +ere Enhver tilladte! (NRK Ytring 2014-04-01) - innspill fra Trygve +Svensson og Helge Svare om at hver enkelt av oss har et ansvar for Ã¥ +ytre oss i den offentlige debatten.
  • + +
  • Jeg +er ingen god samfunnsborger (Aftenposten 2014-04-16), kronikk av +Simen Tveitereid om alternative mÃ¥ter Ã¥ motiveres i samfunnet, uten Ã¥ +hige etter mer penger og flere ting.
  • + +
  • DLD-dommen: +Avgjørelsen fÃ¥r umiddelbar virkning (Aftenposten 2014-04-10) - +kronikk av Høyres Michael Tetzschner, en partiutbryter i DLD-saken som +stemte nei til DLD i Stortinget i 2011.
  • + +
  • Datalagringsdirektivets +endelikt (blogg fra John Wessel-Aas 2014-04-11) - oppsummering +av hvordan direktivet ble funnet ugyldig i EU-domstolen.
  • + +
  • Kronikk: +Kapitulasjonspresidenten (VG 2014-04-22) - kronikk av Einar +Kr. Steffenak om hvordan Stortingspresidenten og regjeringen viser sin +prinsippløshet i møte med Kina.
  • + +
  • Innerst +inne er alle nordmenn (Aftenposten 2014-04-27) - kronikk fra Bjørn +Stærk om hvordan vi i Vesten i stor grad baserer oss pÃ¥ en fantasi om +at alle i verden bærer pÃ¥ en drøm om Ã¥ bli som oss.
  • + +
  • Det +italienske senatet gav seg selv 134 milliarder euro i sluttpakke +(Aftenposten 2014-06-19) - forsker Simen Gaure forteller hvordan +løgner og fantasi fra nettkilder i stor grad blir akseptert som +sannhet - antagelig ogsÃ¥ av deg og meg.
  • + +
  • Et +forsvar for brÃ¥kmakerne (Dagbladet 2014-05-30) - kronikk av Dag +Øystein Nome som beskriver hvordan dagens skole ikke fungerer sÃ¥ godt +for mange elever.
  • + +
  • Betalte +med slitt seddel - havnet i arresten (Osloby 2014-06-25)) - +dokumentasjon av Oslopolitiets angrep pÃ¥ vÃ¥r alles rett til Ã¥ ferdes +uten elektronisk sporing. Jeg bruker kontanter i sÃ¥ stor grad som +mulig da banken ikke har noe med hvor jeg er og hva jeg kjøper. Vi +som gjør dette risikerer som beskrevet overgrep som frihetsberøvelse +og registrering og lagring av fingeravtrykk og bilde i politiets +database over mistenkte.
  • + +
  • Fredsprisen +til Snowden (Aftenposten 2014-06-28) - leder som forklarer hvorfor +varsleren Snowden bør fÃ¥ fredsprisen.
  • + +
  • Strategi +for politistaten (Dagbladet 2014-08-01) - leder som advarer om +sterke krefter som bruker terrortrusselen til Ã¥ lirke Norge nærmere Ã¥ +bli en politistat.
  • + +
  • Vi +mÃ¥ tenke nytt om narkotika (NRK Ytring 2014-08-03) - Mark Lewis +forklarer hvorfor legalisering og offentlig kontroll av +narkotikamarkedet er mye bedre enn Ã¥ overlate det til kriminelle.
  • + + +

@@ -527,211 +886,89 @@ include a test suite check.

- -
25th December 2013
-

The Debian Edu / Skolelinux -project consist of both newcomers and old timers, and this time I -was able to get an interview with a newcomer in the project who showed -up on the IRC channel a few weeks ago to let us know about his -successful installation of Debian Edu Wheezy in his School. Say hello -to Dominik -George.

- - + +
31st July 2014
+

The complete and free “out of the box” software solution for +schools, Debian Edu / +Skolelinux, is used quite a lot in Germany, and one of the people +involved is Bernd Zeitzen, who show up on the project mailing lists +from time to time with interesting questions and tips on how to adjust +the setup. I managed to interview him this summer.

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

-

I am a 23 year-old student from Germany who has spent half of his -life with open source. In "real life", I am, as already mentioned, a -student in the fields of Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, -Information Technologies and Anglistics. Due to my (only partially -voluntary) huge engagement in the open source world, these things are -a bit vacant right now however.

- -

I also have been working as a project teacher at a Gymasnium -(public school) for various years now. I took up that work some time -around 2005 when still attending that school myself and have continued -it until today. I also had been running the (kind of very advanced) -network of that school together with a team of very interested and -talented students in the age of 11 to 15 years, who took the chance to -learn a lot about open source and networking before I left the school -to help building another school's informational education concept from -scratch.

- -

That said, one might see me as a kind of "glue" between school kids -and the elderly of teachers as well as between the open source -ecosystem and the (even more complex) educational ecosystem.

- -

When I am not busy with open source or education, I like Geocaching -and cycling.

+

My name is Bernd Zeitzen and I'm married with Hedda, a self +employed physiotherapist. My former profession is tool maker, but I +haven't worked for 30 years in this job. 30 years ago I started to +support my wife and become her officeworker and a few years later the +administrator for a small computer network, today based on Ubuntu +Server (Samba, OpenVPN). For her daily work she has to use Windows +Desktops because the software she needs to organize her business only +works with Windows . :-(

+ +

In 1988 we started with one PC and DOS, then I learned to use +Windows 98, 2000, XP, …, 8, Ubuntu, MacOSX. Today we are running a +Linux server with 6 Windows clients and 10 persons (teacher of +children with special needs, speech therapist, occupational therapist, +psychologist and officeworkers) using our Samba shares via OpenVPN to +work with the documentations of our patients.

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

-

I think that happened some time around 2009 when I first attended -FrOSCon and visited the project -booth. I think I wasn't too interested back then because I used to -have an attitude of disliking software that does too much stuff on its -own. Maybe I was too inexperienced to realise the upsides of an -"out-of-the-box" solution ;).

- -

The first time I actively talked to Skolelinux people was at -OpenRheinRuhr 2011 when the -BiscuIT project, a home-grewn software used by my school for various -really cool things from timetables and class contact lists to lunch -ordering, student ID card printing and project elections first got to -a stage where it could have been published. I asked the Skolelinux -guys running the booth if the project were interested in it and gave a -small demonstration, but there wasn't any real feedback and the guys -seemed rather uninterested.

- -

After I left the school where I developed the software, it got -mostly lost, but I am now reimplementing it for my new school. I have -reusability and compatibility in mind, and I hop there will be a new -basis for contributing it to the Skolelinux project ;)!

+

Two years ago a friend of mine asked me, if I want to get a job in +his school (Gymnasium +Harsewinkel). They started with Skolelinux / Debian Edu and they +were looking for people to give support to the teachers using the +software and the network and teaching the pupils increasing their +computer skills in optional lessons. I'm spending 4-6 hours a week +with this job.

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

-

The most important advantage seems to be that it "just -works". After overcoming some minor (but still very annoying) glitches -in the installer, I got a fully functional, working school network, -without the month-long hassle I experienced when setting all that up -from scratch in earlier years. And above that, it rocked - I didn't -have any real hardware at hand, because the school was just founded -and has no money whatsoever, so I installed a combined server (main -server, terminal services and workstation) in a VM on my personal -notebook, bridging the LTSP network interface to the ethernet port, -and then PXE-booted the Windows notebooks that were lying around from -it. I could use 8 clients without any performance issues, by using a -tiny little VM on a tiny little notebook. I think that's enough to say -that it rocks!

- -

Secondly, there are marketing reasons. Life's bad, and so no -politician will ever permit a setup described as "Debian, an universal -operating system, with some really cool educational tools" while they -will be jsut fine with "Skolelinux, a single-purpose solution for your -school network", even if both turn out to be the very same thing (yes, -this is unfair towards the Skolelinux project, and must not be taken -too seriously - you get the idea, anyway).

- -

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

+

The independence.

-

I have not been involved with Skolelinux long enough to really -answer this question in a fair way. Thus, please allow me to put it in -other words: "What do you expect from Skolelinux to keep liking it?" I -can list a few points about that:

+

First: Every person is allowed to use, share and develop the +software. Even if you are poor, you are allowed to use the software +included in Skolelinux/Debian Edu and all the other Free Software.

-
    +

    Second: The software runs on old machines and this gives us the +possibility to recycle computers, weeded out from offices. The +servers and desktops are running for more than two years and they are +working reliable.

    -
  • always strive to get all things integrated into Debian upstream -
  • be open to discussion about changes and the like, even with newcomers -
  • be helpful at being helpful ;) +

    We have two servers (one tjener and one terminal server), 45 +workstations in three classrooms and seven laptops as a mobile +solution for all classrooms. These machines are all booting from the +terminal server. In the moment we are installing 30 laptops as mobile +workstations. Then the pupils have the possibility to work with these +machines in their classrooms. Internet access is realized by a WLAN +router, connected to the schools network. This is all done without a +dedicated system administrator or a computer science teacher.

    -
+

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

-

I'm really sorry I cannot say much more about that :(!

+

Teachers and pupils are Windows users. <Irony on> And Linux +isn't cool. It's software for freaks using the command line. <Irony +off> They don't realize the stability of the system.

Which free software do you use daily?

-

First of all, all software I use is free and open. I have abandoned -all non-free software (except for firmware on my darned phone) this -year.

- -

I run Debian GNU/Linux on all PC systems I use. On that, I mostly -run text tools. I use -mksh as shell, -jupp as very advanced -text editor (I even got the developer to help me write a script/macro -based full-featured student management software with the two), -mcabber for XMPP and -irssi for IRC. For that overly -coloured world called the WWW, I use -Iceweasel -(Firefox). Oh, and mutt for -e-mail.

- -

However, while I am personally aware of the fact that text tools -are more efficient and powerful than anything else, I also use (or at -least operate) some tools that are suitable to bring open source to -kids. One of these things is Jappix, -which I already introduced to some kids even before they got aware of -Facebook, making them see for themselves that they do not need -Facebook now ;).

+

Firefox, Thunderbird, LibreOffice, Ubuntu Server 12.04 (Samba, +Apache, MySQL, Joomla!, … and Skolelinux / Debian Edu)

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

-

Well, that's a two-sided thing. One side is what I believe, and one -side is what I have experienced.

- -

I believe that the right strategy is showing them the benefits. But -that won't work out as long as the acceptance of free alternatives -grows globally. What I mean is that if all the kids are almost forced -to use Windows, Facebook, Skype, you name it at home, they will not -see why they would want to use alternatives at school. I have seen -students take seat in front of a fully-functional, modern Debian -desktop that could do anything their Windows at home could do, and -they jsut refused to use it because "Linux sucks". It is something -that makes the council of our city spend around 600000 € to buy -software - not including hardware, mind you - for operating school -networks, and for installing a system that, as has been proved, does -not work. For those of you readers who are good at maths, have you -already found out how many lives could have been saved with that money -if we had instead used it to bring education to parts of the world -that need it? I have, and found it to be nothing less dramatic than -plain criminal.

- -

That said, the only feasible way appears to be the bottom up -method. We have to bring free software to kids and parents. I have -founded an association named -Teckids here in Germany that does -just that. We organise several events for kids and adolescents in the -area of free and open source software, for example the -FrogLabs, which share staff with -Teckids and are the youth programme of -the Free and Open Source Software -Conference (FrOSCon). We do a lot more than most other conferences -- this year, we first offered the FrogLabs as a holiday camp for kids -aged 10 to 16. It was a huge success, with approx. 30 kids taking part -and learning with and about free software through a whole weekend. All -of us had a lot of fun, and the results were really exciting.

- -

Apart from that, we are preparing a campaign that is supposed to bring -the message of free alternatives to stuff kids use every day to them and -their parents, e.g. the use of Jabber / Jappix instead of Facebook and -Skype. To make that possible, we are planning to get together a team of -clever kids who understand very well what their peers need and can bring -it across to them. So we will have a peer-driven network of adolescents -who teach each other and collect feedback from the community of minors. -We then take that feedback and our own experience to work closely with -open source projects, such as Skolelinux or Jappix, at improving their -software in a way that makes it more and more attractive for the target -group. At least I hope that we will have good cooperation with -Skolelinux in the future ;)!

- -

So in conclusion, what I believe is that, if it weren't for the world -being so bad, it should be very clear to the political decision makers -that the only way to go nowadays is free software for various reasons, -but I have learnt that the only way that seems to work is bottom up.

- - +

In Germany we have the situation: every school is free to decide +which software they want to use. This decision is influenced by +teachers who learned to use Windows and MS Office. They buy a PC with +Windows preinstalled and an additional testing version of MS +Office. They don't know about the possibility to use Free Software +instead. Another problem are the publisher of school books. They +develop their software, added to the school books, for Windows.

@@ -744,44 +981,39 @@ If that is wanted, just let me know ;).
- -
10th December 2013
-

Helga 18. og 19. januar 2014 arrangeres -Oslo Maker -Faire, og Dugnadsnett for -alle har fått plass! Planen er å ha et bord med en plakat der vi -forteller om hva Dugnadsnett for alle er for noe, og et lite verksted -der vi hjelper folk som er interessert i å få opp sin egen mesh-node. -Jeg gleder meg til å se hvordan prosjektet blir mottatt der.

- -

Målet med dugnadsnett for alle i Oslo er å få på plass et datanett -for kommunikasjon ved hjelp av radio-repeaterstasjoner (kalt -mesh-noder) som gjør at en kan direkte kommunisere med slekt, venner -og bekjente i Oslo via andre som deltar i dugnadsnettet, samt gjøre -det mulig komme ut på internett via dugnadsnettet. Første delmål er å -kunne sende SMS-meldinger vha. IP-telefoni løsningen -Serval project mellom -deltagerne i Dugnadsnett for alle i Oslo. Formålet er å ta tilbake -kontrollen over egen nett-infrastruktur og gjøre det dyrere å bedrive -massiv innsamling av informasjon om borgernes bruk av datanett.

- -

Høres dette interessant ut? Bli med på prosjektet, fortell oss -hvor du kunne tenke deg å sette opp en radio-repeater (slik at folk i -nærheten kan finne hverandre ved hjelp av -kartet over planlagte og -eksisterende radio-repeatere), bli med på epostlisten -dugnadsnett -(at) nuug.no og stikk innom -IRC-kanalen -#dugnadsnett.no. Så langt er det planlagt over 40 -radio-repeatere, med VPN-forbindelser via Internet for å la de delene -av nettet som ikke når hverandre via radio kunne snakke med hverandre -likevel.

+ +
23rd July 2014
+

This summer I finally had time to continue working on the Norwegian +docbook version of the 2004 book +Free Culture by Lawrence Lessig, +to get a Norwegian text explaining the problems with todays copyright +law. Yesterday, I finally completed translated the book text. There +are still some foot/end notes left to translate, the colophon page +need to be rewritten, and a few words and phrases still need to be +translated, but the Norwegian text is ready for the first proof +reading. :) More spell checking is needed, and several illustrations +need to be cleaned up. The work stopped up because I had to give +priority to other projects the last year, and the progress graph of +the translation show this very well:

+ +

+ +

If you want to read the result, check out the +github +project pages and the +PDF, +EPUB +and HTML version available in the +archive +directory.

+ +

Please report typos, bugs and improvements to the github project if +you find any.

@@ -789,129 +1021,111 @@ likevel.

- -
6th December 2013
-

It has been a while since I managed to publish the last interview, -but the Debian Edu / -Skolelinux community is still going strong, and yesterday we even -had a new school administrator show up on -#debian-edu to share -his success story with installing Debian Edu at their school. This -time I have been able to get some helpful comments from the creator of -Knoppix, Klaus Knopper, who was involved in a Skolelinux project in -Germany a few years ago.

- -

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

- -

I am Klaus Knopper. I have a master degree in electrical -engineering, and is currently professor in information management at -the university of applied sciences Kaiserslautern / Germany and -freelance Open Source software developer and consultant.

- -

All of this is pretty much of the work I spend my days with. Apart -from teaching, I'm also conducting some more or less experimental -projects like the Knoppix GNU/Linux live -system (Debian-based like Skolelinux), -ADRIANE -(a blind-friendly talking desktop system) and -LINBO -(Linux-based network boot console, a fast remote install and repair -system supporting various operating systems).

- -

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

- -

The credit for this have to go to Kurt Gramlich, who is the German -coordinator for Skolelinux. We were looking for an all-in-one open -source community-supported distribution for schools, and Kurt -introduced us to Skolelinux for this purpose.

- -

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

- -
    -
  • Quick installation,
  • -
  • works (almost) out of the box,
  • -
  • contains many useful software packages for teaching and learning,
  • -
  • is a purely community-based distro and not controlled by a - single company,
  • -
  • has a large number of supporters and teachers who share their - experience and problem solutions.
  • -
- -

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

- -
    -
  • Skolelinux is - as we had to learn - not easily upgradable to - the next version. Opposed to its genuine Debian base, upgrading to - a new version means a full new installation from scratch to get it - working again reliably. - -
  • Skolelinux is based on Debian/stable, and therefore always a - little outdated in terms of program versions compared to Edubuntu or - similar educational Linux distros, which rather use Debian/testing - as their base. - -
  • Skolelinux has some very self-opinionated and stubborn default - configuration which in my opinion adds unnecessary complexity and is - not always suitable for a schools needs, the preset network - configuration is actually a core definition feature of Skolelinux - and not easy to change, so schools sometimes have to change their - network configuration to make it "Skolelinux-compatible". - -
  • Some proposed extensions, which were made available as - contribution, like secure examination mode and lecture material - distribution and collection, were not accepted into the mainline - Skolelinux development and are now not easy to maintain in the - future because of Skolelinux somewhat undeterministic update - schemes.
  • - -
  • Skolelinux has only a very tiny number of base developers - compared to Debian.
  • - -
- -

For these reasons and experience from our project, I would now -rather consider using plain Debian for schools next time, until -Skolelinux is more closely integrated into Debian and becomes -upgradeable without reinstallation.

- -

Which free software do you use daily?

- -

GNU/Linux with LXDE desktop, bash for interactive dialog and -programming, texlive for documentation and correspondence, -occasionally LibreOffice for document format conversion. Various -programming languages for teaching.

- -

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

- -

Strong arguments are

- -
    - -
  • Knowledge is free, and so should be methods and tools for - teaching and learning.
  • - -
  • Students can learn with and use the same software at school, at - home, and at their working place without running into license or - conversion problems.
  • - -
  • Closed source or proprietary software hides knowledge rather - than exposing it, and proprietary software vendors try to bind - customers to certain products. But teachers need to teach - science, not products.
  • - -
  • If you have everything you for daily work as open source, what - would you need proprietary software for?
  • - -
+ +
17th June 2014
+

The Debian Edu / Skolelinux +project provide an instruction manual for teachers, system +administrators and other users that contain useful tips for setting up +and maintaining a Debian Edu installation. This text is about how the +text processing of this manual is handled in the project.

+ +

One goal of the project is to provide information in the native +language of its users, and for this we need to handle translations. +But we also want to make sure each language contain the same +information, so for this we need a good way to keep the translations +in sync. And we want it to be easy for our users to improve the +documentation, avoiding the need to learn special formats or tools to +contribute, and the obvious way to do this is to make it possible to +edit the documentation using a web browser. We also want it to be +easy for translators to keep the translation up to date, and give them +help in figuring out what need to be translated. Here is the list of +tools and the process we have found trying to reach all these +goals.

+ +

We maintain the authoritative source of our manual in the +Debian +wiki, as several wiki pages written in English. It consist of one +front page with references to the different chapters, several pages +for each chapter, and finally one "collection page" gluing all the +chapters together into one large web page (aka +the +AllInOne page). The AllInOne page is the one used for further +processing and translations. Thanks to the fact that the +MoinMoin installation on +wiki.debian.org support exporting pages in +the Docbook format, we can fetch +the list of pages to export using the raw version of the AllInOne +page, loop over each of them to generate a Docbook XML version of the +manual. This process also download images and transform image +references to use the locally downloaded images. The generated +Docbook XML files are slightly broken, so some post-processing is done +using the documentation/scripts/get_manual program, and the +result is a nice Docbook XML file (debian-edu-wheezy-manual.xml) and +a handfull of images. The XML file can now be used to generate PDF, HTML +and epub versions of the English manual. This is the basic step of +our process, making PDF (using dblatex), HTML (using xsltproc) and +epub (using dbtoepub) version from Docbook XML, and the resulting files +are placed in the debian-edu-doc-en binary package.

+ +

But English documentation is not enough for us. We want translated +documentation too, and we want to make it easy for translators to +track the English original. For this we use the +poxml package, +which allow us to transform the English Docbook XML file into a +translation file (a .pot file), usable with the normal gettext based +translation tools used by those translating free software. The pot +file is used to create and maintain translation files (several .po +files), which the translations update with the native language +translations of all titles, paragraphs and blocks of text in the +original. The next step is combining the original English Docbook XML +and the translation file (say debian-edu-wheezy-manual.nb.po), to +create a translated Docbook XML file (in this case +debian-edu-wheezy-manual.nb.xml). This translated (or partly +translated, if the translation is not complete) Docbook XML file can +then be used like the original to create a PDF, HTML and epub version +of the documentation.

+ +

The translators use different tools to edit the .po files. We +recommend using +lokalize, +while some use emacs and vi, others can use web based editors like +Poodle or +Transifex. All we care about +is where the .po file end up, in our git repository. Updated +translations can either be committed directly to git, or submitted as +bug reports +against the debian-edu-doc package.

+ +

One challenge is images, which both might need to be translated (if +they show translated user applications), and are needed in different +formats when creating PDF and HTML versions (epub is a HTML version in +this regard). For this we transform the original PNG images to the +needed density and format during build, and have a way to provide +translated images by storing translated versions in +images/$LANGUAGECODE/. I am a bit unsure about the details here. The +package maintainers know more.

+ +

If you wonder what the result look like, we provide +the content +of the documentation packages on the web. See for example the +Italian +PDF version or the +German +HTML version. We do not yet build the epub version by default, +but perhaps it will be done in the future.

+ +

To learn more, check out +the +debian-edu-doc package, +the +manual on the wiki and +the +translation instructions in the manual.

@@ -919,33 +1133,57 @@ get schools to use free software?

- -
30th November 2013
-

If you want the ability to electronically communicate directly with -your neighbors and friends using a network controlled by your peers in -stead of centrally controlled by a few corporations, or would like to -experiment with interesting network technology, the -Dugnasnett for alle i Oslo -might be project for you. 39 mesh nodes are currently being planned, -in the freshly started initiative from NUUG and Hackeriet to create a -wireless community network. The work is inspired by -Freifunk, -Athens Wireless Metropolitan -Network, Roofnet -and other successful mesh networks around the globe. Two days ago we -held a workshop to try to get people started on setting up their own -mesh node, and there we decided to create a new mailing list -dugnadsnett -(at) nuug.no and IRC channel -#dugnadsnett.no to -coordinate the work. See also the NUUG blog post -announcing -the mailing list and IRC channel.

+ +
16th June 2014
+

Jeg har fortsatt behov for å kunne laste ned innslag fra NRKs +nettsted av og til for å se senere når jeg ikke er på nett, men +min +oppskrift fra 2011 sluttet å fungere da NRK byttet +avspillermetode. I dag fikk jeg endelig lett etter oppdatert løsning, +og jeg er veldig glad for å fortelle at den enkleste måten å laste ned +innslag er å bruke siste versjon 2014.06.07 av +youtube-dl. Støtten i +youtube-dl kom +inn for 23 dager siden og +versjonen i +Debian fungerer fint også som backport til Debian Wheezy. Det er +et lite problem, det håndterer kun URLer med små bokstaver, men hvis +en har en URL med store bokstaver kan en bare gjøre alle store om til +små bokstaver for å få youtube-dl til å laste ned. Rapporterte +nettopp +problemet til +utviklerne, og antar de får fikset det snart.

+ +

Dermed er alt klart til å laste ned dokumentarene om +USAs +hemmelige avlytting og +Selskapene +bak USAs avlytting, i tillegg til +intervjuet +med Edward Snowden gjort av den tyske tv-kanalen ARD. Anbefaler +alle å se disse, sammen med +foredraget +til Jacob Appelbaum på siste CCC-konferanse, for å forstå mer om +hvordan overvåkningen av borgerne brer om seg.

+ +

Takk til gode venner på foreningen NUUGs IRC-kanal +#nuug på irc.freenode.net +for tipsene som fikk meg i mål.

+ +

Oppdatering 2014-06-17: Etter at jeg publiserte +denne, ble jeg tipset om bloggposten +"Downloading +HD content from tv.nrk.no" av Ingvar Hagelund, som har alternativ +implementasjon og tips for å lage mkv-fil med undertekstene inkludert. +Kanskje den passer bedre for deg? I tillegg ble feilen i youtube-dl +ble fikset litt senere ut på dagen i går, samt at youtube-dl fikk +støtte for å laste ned undertitler. Takk til Anders Einar Hilden for +god innsats og youtube-dl-utviklerne for rask respons.

- Tags: english, mesh network, nuug. + Tags: multimedia, norsk, video, web.
@@ -967,7 +1205,19 @@ the mailing list and IRC channel.

  • February (3)
  • -
  • March (1)
  • +
  • March (8)
  • + +
  • April (7)
  • + +
  • May (1)
  • + +
  • June (2)
  • + +
  • July (2)
  • + +
  • August (2)
  • + +
  • September (4)
  • @@ -1148,61 +1398,65 @@ the mailing list and IRC channel.

  • chrpath (2)
  • -
  • debian (94)
  • +
  • debian (102)
  • -
  • debian edu (144)
  • +
  • debian edu (149)
  • digistan (10)
  • -
  • docbook (10)
  • +
  • dld (15)
  • + +
  • docbook (12)
  • drivstoffpriser (4)
  • -
  • english (236)
  • +
  • english (254)
  • fiksgatami (21)
  • fildeling (12)
  • -
  • freeculture (12)
  • +
  • freeculture (13)
  • -
  • freedombox (5)
  • +
  • freedombox (8)
  • frikanalen (11)
  • -
  • intervju (39)
  • +
  • intervju (41)
  • -
  • isenkram (7)
  • +
  • isenkram (9)
  • -
  • kart (18)
  • +
  • kart (19)
  • -
  • ldap (8)
  • +
  • ldap (9)
  • -
  • lenker (7)
  • +
  • lenker (8)
  • ltsp (1)
  • -
  • mesh network (7)
  • +
  • mesh network (8)
  • -
  • multimedia (25)
  • +
  • multimedia (30)
  • -
  • norsk (241)
  • +
  • norsk (248)
  • -
  • nuug (161)
  • +
  • nuug (162)
  • -
  • offentlig innsyn (10)
  • +
  • offentlig innsyn (11)
  • open311 (2)
  • -
  • opphavsrett (45)
  • +
  • opphavsrett (48)
  • -
  • personvern (69)
  • +
  • personvern (75)
  • raid (1)
  • +
  • reactos (1)
  • +
  • reprap (11)
  • -
  • rfid (2)
  • +
  • rfid (3)
  • robot (9)
  • @@ -1212,29 +1466,29 @@ the mailing list and IRC channel.

  • scraperwiki (2)
  • -
  • sikkerhet (34)
  • +
  • sikkerhet (41)
  • sitesummary (4)
  • skepsis (4)
  • -
  • standard (44)
  • +
  • standard (45)
  • stavekontroll (3)
  • stortinget (9)
  • -
  • surveillance (21)
  • +
  • surveillance (26)
  • sysadmin (1)
  • valg (8)
  • -
  • video (39)
  • +
  • video (43)
  • vitenskap (4)
  • -
  • web (28)
  • +
  • web (33)