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).
- --
-
-
- XML MIME Transformation -protocol (XMTP) fra OpenHealth, sist oppdatert 2001. - -
- An -XML format for mail and other messages utkast fra IETF datert -2001. - -
- xMail: -E-mail as XML en artikkel fra 2003 som beskriver python-modulen -rfc822 som gir ut XML-representasjon av en RFC 822-formattert epost. - -
Finnes det andre og bedre spesifikasjoner for slik lagring? Send -meg en epost hvis du har innspill.
+ +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. :)
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.
- --
-
-
- 2013-12-21 -- -NSA tenker som Stasi - Dagbladet.no - -
- 2013-12-19 - -Staten har ikke rett til å vite alt om deg - DN.no - -
- 2013-12-21 -Nye -mål for NSAs spionasje avslørt - Dagbladet.no - -
- 2013-12-19 -«NSA -bør fjernes fra sin makt til å samle inn metadata fra amerikanske -telefonsamtaler» - Dagbladet.no - -
- 2013-12-18 -Etterretning, -overvåking, frihet og sikkerhet - Dagbladet.no - -
- 2013-12-17 -Snowden -angriper USA i åpent brev - nrk.no - -
- 2013-12-17 -Rettslig -nederlag for etterretning - digi.no - -
- 2013-12-21 -Truende -nedkjøling - dagbladet.no - -
- 2013-12-20 -Matematikk -og forståelse - aftenposten.no - -
- 2013-10-20 -Vi -søv for å reinse hjernen vår, ifølgje ny studie - nrk.no - -
- 2013-12-11 -Rotterace -i kloakken - nrk.no - -
- 2013-12-30 -Ã pne -brev og frie tanker - aftenposten.no - -
- 2014-01-12 -Stopp dagens kunnskapsapartheid! - aftenposten.no - -
- 2014-01-09 -EU-rapport: -Britisk og amerikansk overvåking ser ut til å være ulovlig - -aftenposten.no - -
- 2013-10-23 Professor Jan Arild Audestad -Advarer -mot konspirasjonsteori i digi.no og sier han ikke tror NSA kan -avlytte mobiltelefoner, mens han noen måneder senere forteller: - -
- 2014-01-09 -- -Vi ble presset til å svekke mobilsikkerheten på 80-tallet - -aftenposten.no - -
- 2014-02-12 -Et -møte med Edward Snowden - intervju sendt av nrk, tilgjengelig til -2015-01-31 - -
- 2014-02-17 -Litteraturredaktøren: -Helle Thornings tavshed om Snowden er en skandale - -politiken.dk - -
- 2014-02-21 -Bra å ha en «Storebror» - aftenposten.no - -
- 2014-02-28 -"Narkotikasiktet -Stortingsmann" - Spillet bak kulissene - John Christian Eldens -blogg - -
- 2014-02-28 -Heksejakt -på hasjbrukere - aftenposten.no - -
Rundt omkring i Oslo og ÃstlandsomrÃ¥det henger det bokser over +veiene som jeg har lurt pÃ¥ 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 pÃ¥ 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.
+ ++ +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: + ++#!/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 +
+ ++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 stÃ¥r like ved brua, mens +«Reisetidsregistreringspunkt» kanskje kan være boksen som henger der. +Hvordan finner jeg sÃ¥ ut hva dette kan være for noe. En titt pÃ¥ +datakatalogsiden +for ID 862/Reisetidsregistreringspunkt viser at det er finnes 53 +slike mÃ¥lere i Norge, og hvor de er plassert, men gir ellers fÃ¥ +detaljer. Det er plassert 40 pÃ¥ østlandet og 13 i Trondheimsregionen. +Men siden nevner «AutoPASS», og hvis en slÃ¥r opp oppføringen pÃ¥ +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 pÃ¥ + «Ciber AS autopass» fører meg til en artikkel fra NRK Trøndelag i + 2013 med tittel +«Sjekk +dette hvis du vil unngÃ¥ kø». Artikkelen henviser til vegvesenets +nettside +reisetider.no +som har en +kartside +for Ãstlandet som viser at det mÃ¥les 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.
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.
+ +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/setup | +Original tasksel | +Optimised tasksel | +Reduction | +
---|---|---|---|
Latitude D505 Main+LTSP LXDE | +64 min (07:46-08:50) | +<44 min (11:27-12:11) | +>20 min 18% | +
Latitude D505 Roaming LXDE | +57 min (08:48-09:45) | +34 min (07:43-08:17) | +23 min 40% | +
Latitude D505 Minimal | +22 min (10:37-10:59) | +11 min (11:16-11:27) | +11 min 50% | +
Thinkpad X200 Minimal | +6 min (08:19-08:25) | +4 min (08:04-08:08) | +2 min 33% | +
Thinkpad X200 Roaming KDE | +19 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.
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:
+ +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?
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:
+ +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 elseâs 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 (âMPEG-4 +videoâ) 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 (âAVC videoâ) 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 (âMPEG-4 videoâ) 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.
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.
+ +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 sårbar. + +
- Norge +trenger kornlager (NRK Ytring 2014-06-07) Chr. Anton Smedshaug +forteller litt om Norges sårbare matsituasjon etter at Staten solgte +Norges kornlager. + +
- PST +vil overvåke datatastaturer (NRK 2014-03-04) - PST ønsker retten +til å bryte seg inn på 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 på datamaskiner - neppe en god ide for +samfunnet totalt sett. + +
- «Ruter +fremstår som et pøbelvelde» (OsloBy 2014-03-05) - et eksempel på +hvordan kollektivtransportselskapet i Oslo håndterer sine kunder. + +
- Clear +Channel nektet å vise Greenpeace-reklame i Oslo (Dagbladet +2014-03-05) - forteller litt om hvordan hvilke budskap som når ut i +det offentlige rom kontrolleres i Norge. + +
- Svarte +ikke på kritikken (Dagbladet 2014-03-06) - innlegg fra Norsk +presseforbund der de nok en gang tar opp det forkastelige i at +politiet nå har full tilgang til å 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 på sviktende grunnlag. + +
- Fritt +frem for skulk (Aftenposten 2014-03-14) - skildring av hvordan +norske elever i dag ikke lenger har rimelig krav om oppmøte på +skolen. + +
- «Datalagringsdirektiv» +avslørte abort, sykdom og våpenkjøp (Aftenposten 2014-03-14) - om +hvordan forskere har dokumentert hvordan innsamling av metadata om +telefoni og Internett-bruk kan være svært avslørende. + +
- Konsentrasjonssvikt +på 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 å +gjelde alles samvittighet. + +
- Autoritær +gjøkunge (Aftenposten 2014-03-25) - Kronikk av Bjørn Stærk om +snurpenots-overvåkningen som varsleren Snowden dokumenterte. + +
- Leveransekrise +i Offentlig sektor â mener Mike Bracken, Executive Director of Digital +in the Cabinet Office (blogg fra Friprog-senteret 2014-03-26). + +
- Norge +må stanse avlyttingen (Dagbladet 2014-03-26) - leserinnlegg fra +Felix Horne der han ber om at Norge gjør en innsats for å få slutt på +overvåkning 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 går tapt når +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 å +ytre oss i den offentlige debatten. + +
- Jeg +er ingen god samfunnsborger (Aftenposten 2014-04-16), kronikk av +Simen Tveitereid om alternative måter å motiveres i samfunnet, uten å +hige etter mer penger og flere ting. + +
- DLD-dommen: +Avgjørelsen får 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 på en fantasi om +at alle i verden bærer på en drøm om å 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 også av deg og meg. + +
- Et +forsvar for brÃ¥kmakerne (Dagbladet 2014-05-30) - kronikk av Dag +Ãystein 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 på vår alles rett til å ferdes +uten elektronisk sporing. Jeg bruker kontanter i så 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 få fredsprisen. + +
- Strategi +for politistaten (Dagbladet 2014-08-01) - leder som advarer om +sterke krefter som bruker terrortrusselen til å lirke Norge nærmere å +bli en politistat. + +
- Vi +må tenke nytt om narkotika (NRK Ytring 2014-08-03) - Mark Lewis +forklarer hvorfor legalisering og offentlig kontroll av +narkotikamarkedet er mye bedre enn å overlate det til kriminelle. + + +
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.
- - + +The complete and free âout of the boxâ 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, â¦, 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.
--
+
- 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.
-
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.
-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.