X-Git-Url: http://pere.pagekite.me/gitweb/homepage.git/blobdiff_plain/212faa34bf604fac8f0b85563ff1a2ff6b0fe086..55ce0004fb554c520b1de9665ac208e8eba1c85b:/blog/index.html diff --git a/blog/index.html b/blog/index.html index 9b4ce80295..892cf1ba15 100644 --- a/blog/index.html +++ b/blog/index.html @@ -20,32 +20,92 @@
-
I spent last weekend recording MakerCon Nordic
-
23rd October 2014
-

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

- -

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

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

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

+ +

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

+ +

+ +

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

+ +

[...]

+ +

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

+

+ +

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

+ +

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

+ +

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

+ +

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

- Tags: english, nuug, video. + Tags: norsk, personvern, surveillance.
@@ -53,91 +113,62 @@ talks available. Check it out! :)

-
listadmin, the quick way to moderate mailman lists - nice free software
-
22nd October 2014
-

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

- -

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

- -

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

- -

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

- -

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

- -

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

- -

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

- -

-PERL_LWP_SSL_VERIFY_HOSTNAME=0 listadmin
-

- -

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

- -

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

- -

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

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

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

+ +

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

+ +

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

+ +

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

- Tags: debian, english. + Tags: english, personvern, surveillance.
@@ -145,114 +176,62 @@ activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address
-
Debian Jessie, PXE and automatic firmware installation
-
17th October 2014
-

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

- -

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

- -

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

- -

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

- -

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

- -

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

- -

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

- -

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

- -

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

- -

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

- -

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

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

- -

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

- -

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

- -

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

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

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

+ +

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

+ +

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

+ +

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

+ +

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

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

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

- Tags: debian, english, isenkram, sysadmin. + Tags: english, personvern, surveillance.
@@ -260,23 +239,194 @@ install firmware, replacing the earlier scripts.

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

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

- -

- -

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

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

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

+ +
+the Debian Edu / Skolelinux project is pleased to announce the first
+*beta* release of Debian Edu "Jessie" 8.0+edu0~b1, which for the first
+time is composed entirely of packages from the current Debian stable
+release, Debian 8 "Jessie".
+
+(As most reading this will know, Debian "Jessie" hasn't actually been
+released by now. The release is still in progress but should finish
+later today ;)
+
+We expect to make a final release of Debian Edu "Jessie" in the coming
+weeks, timed with the first point release of Debian Jessie. Upgrades
+from this beta release of Debian Edu Jessie to the final release will
+be possible and encouraged!
+
+Please report feedback to debian-edu@lists.debian.org and/or submit
+bugs: http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/HowTo/ReportBugs
+
+Debian Edu - sometimes also known as "Skolelinux" - is a complete
+operating system for schools, universities and other
+organisations. Through its pre- prepared installation profiles
+administrators can install servers, workstations and laptops which
+will work in harmony on the school network.  With Debian Edu, the
+teachers themselves or their technical support staff can roll out a
+complete multi-user, multi-machine study environment within hours or
+days.
+
+Debian Edu is already in use at several hundred schools all over the
+world, particularly in Germany, Spain and Norway. Installations come
+with hundreds of applications pre-installed, plus the whole Debian
+archive of thousands of compatible packages within easy reach.
+
+For those who want to give Debian Edu Jessie a try, download and
+installation instructions are available, including detailed
+instructions in the manual explaining the first steps, such as setting
+up a network or adding users.  Please note that the password for the
+user your prompted for during installation must have a length of at
+least 5 characters!
+
+== Where to download ==
+
+A multi-architecture CD / usbstick image (649 MiB) for network booting
+can be downloaded at the following locations:
+
+    http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/debian-edu-8.0+edu0~b1-CD.iso
+    rsync -avzP ftp.skolelinux.org::skolelinux-cd/debian-edu-8.0+edu0~b1-CD.iso . 
+
+The SHA1SUM of this image is: 54a524d16246cddd8d2cfd6ea52f2dd78c47ee0a
+
+Alternatively an extended DVD / usbstick image (4.9 GiB) is also
+available, with more software included (saving additional download
+time):
+
+    http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/debian-edu-8.0+edu0~b1-USB.iso
+    rsync -avzP ftp.skolelinux.org::skolelinux-cd/debian-edu-8.0+edu0~b1-USB.iso 
+
+The SHA1SUM of this image is: fb1f1504a490c077a48653898f9d6a461cb3c636
+
+Sources are available from the Debian archive, see
+http://ftp.debian.org/debian-cd/8.0.0/source/ for some download
+options.
+
+== Debian Edu Jessie manual in seven languages ==
+
+Please see https://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/Documentation/Jessie/ for
+the English version of the Debian Edu jessie manual.
+
+This manual has been fully translated to German, French, Italian,
+Danish, Dutch and Norwegian Bokmål. A partly translated version exists
+for Spanish.  See http://maintainer.skolelinux.org/debian-edu-doc/ for
+online version of the translated manual.
+
+More information about Debian 8 "Jessie" itself is provided in the
+release notes and the installation manual:
+- http://www.debian.org/releases/jessie/releasenotes
+- http://www.debian.org/releases/jessie/installmanual
+
+
+== Errata / known problems ==
+
+    It takes up to 15 minutes for a changed hostname to be updated via
+    DHCP (#780461).
+
+    The hostname script fails to update LTSP server hostname (#783087). 
+
+Workaround: run update-hostname-from-ip on the client to update the
+hostname immediately.
+
+Check https://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/Status/Jessie for a possibly
+more current and complete list.
+
+== Some more details about Debian Edu 8.0+edu0~b1 Codename Jessie released 2015-04-25 ==
+
+=== Software updates ===
+
+Everything which is new in Debian 8 Jessie, e.g.:
+
+ * Linux kernel 3.16.7-ctk9; for the i386 architecture, support for
+   i486 processors has been dropped; oldest supported ones: i586 (like
+   Intel Pentium and AMD K5).
+
+ * Desktop environments KDE Plasma Workspaces 4.11.13, GNOME 3.14,
+   Xfce 4.12, LXDE 0.5.6
+   * new optional desktop environment: MATE 1.8
+   * KDE Plasma Workspaces is installed by default; to choose one of
+     the others see the manual.
+ * the browsers Iceweasel 31 ESR and Chromium 41
+ * LibreOffice 4.3.3
+ * GOsa 2.7.4
+ * LTSP 5.5.4
+ * CUPS print system 1.7.5
+ * new boot framework: systemd
+ * Educational toolbox GCompris 14.12
+ * Music creator Rosegarden 14.02
+ * Image editor Gimp 2.8.14
+ * Virtual stargazer Stellarium 0.13.1
+ * golearn 0.9
+ * tuxpaint 0.9.22
+ * New version of debian-installer from Debian Jessie.
+ * Debian Jessie includes about 43000 packages available for installation.
+ * More information about Debian 8 Jessie is provided in its release
+   notes and the installation manual, see the link above.
+
+=== Installation changes ===
+
+    Installations done via PXE now also install firmware automatically
+    for the hardware present.
+
+=== Fixed bugs ===
+
+A number of bugs have been fixed in this release; the most noticeable
+from a user perspective:
+
+ * Inserting incorrect DNS information in Gosa will no longer break
+   DNS completely, but instead stop DNS updates until the incorrect
+   information is corrected (710362)
+
+ * shutdown-at-night now shuts the system down if gdm3 is used (775608). 
+
+=== Sugar desktop removed ===
+
+As the Sugar desktop was removed from Debian Jessie, it is also not
+available in Debian Edu jessie.
+
+
+== About Debian Edu / Skolelinux ==
+
+Debian Edu, also known as Skolelinux, is a Linux distribution based on
+Debian providing an out-of-the box environment of a completely
+configured school network. Directly after installation a school server
+running all services needed for a school network is set up just
+waiting for users and machines being added via GOsa², a comfortable
+Web-UI. A netbooting environment is prepared using PXE, so after
+initial installation of the main server from CD or USB stick all other
+machines can be installed via the network. The provided school server
+provides LDAP database and Kerberos authentication service,
+centralized home directories, DHCP server, web proxy and many other
+services.  The desktop contains more than 60 educational software
+packages and more are available from the Debian archive, and schools
+can choose between KDE, GNOME, LXDE, Xfce and MATE desktop
+environment.
+
+== About Debian ==
+
+The Debian Project was founded in 1993 by Ian Murdock to be a truly
+free community project. Since then the project has grown to be one of
+the largest and most influential open source projects. Thousands of
+volunteers from all over the world work together to create and
+maintain Debian software. Available in 70 languages, and supporting a
+huge range of computer types, Debian calls itself the universal
+operating system.
+
+== Thanks ==
+
+Thanks to everyone making Debian and Debian Edu / Skolelinux happen!
+You rock.
+
- Tags: debian, english. + Tags: debian edu, english.
@@ -284,49 +434,193 @@ about this hidden Linux installation. It is interesting what
-
New lsdvd release version 0.17 is ready
-
4th October 2014
-

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

- -

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

- -
    - -
  • Ignore 'phantom' audio, subtitle tracks
    • -
  • Check for garbage in the program chains, which indicate that a track is - non-existant, to work around additional copy protection
    • -
  • Fix displaying content type for audio tracks, subtitles
    • -
  • Fix pallete display of first entry
    • -
  • Fix include orders
    • -
  • Ignore read errors in titles that would not be displayed anyway
    • -
  • Fix the chapter count
    • -
  • Make sure the array size and the array limit used when initialising - the palette size is the same.
    • -
  • Fix array printing.
    • -
  • Correct subsecond calculations.
    • -
  • Add sector information to the output format.
    • -
  • Clean up code to be closer to ANSI C and compile without warnings - with more GCC compiler warnings.
    • - -
- -

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

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

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

+ +

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

+ +

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

+ +

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

+ +

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

+ +

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

+ +

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

+ +

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

+ +

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

+ +

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

+ +

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

+ +

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

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

+ +

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

+ +

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

+ +

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

+ +

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

+ +

Which free software do you use daily?

+ +

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

+ +

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

+ +

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

+ +

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

+ +

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

+ +

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

+ +

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

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

+ +
    + +
  1. Most of the teachers are very territorial about their subjects + and they do not want you to teach anything out of the + portion/syllabus given.
    2. + +
  2. They want any activity on the system in accordance to whatever + is in the syllabus.
    3. + +
  3. There are huge barriers both with the English language and at + times with objects or whatever. An example, let's say in gcompris + you have objects falling down and you have to name them and let's + say the falling object is a hat or a fedora hat, this would not be + as recognizable as say a + Puneri + Pagdi so there is need to inject local objects, words wherever + possible. Especially for word-games there are so many hindi words + which have become part of english vocabulary (for instance in + parley), those could be made into a hinglish collection or + something but that is something for upstream to do.
    4. + +
- Tags: debian, english, lsdvd, multimedia. + Tags: debian edu, english, intervju.
@@ -334,77 +628,33 @@ project the last nine years. Please check it out. :)

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

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

- -

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

- -

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

- -

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

- -

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

- -

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

- -

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

- -

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

- -

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

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

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

+ +

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

+ +

Check out the talks +submitted and accepted so far.

- Tags: debian, debian edu, english. + Tags: english, fiksgatami, nuug, offentlig innsyn.
@@ -412,37 +662,30 @@ installation ready before the distribution freeze in a month.

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

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

- -

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

+
Proof reading the Norwegian translation of Free Culture by Lessig
+
4th April 2015
+

During eastern I had some time to continue working on the Norwegian +docbook version of the 2004 book +Free Culture by Lawrence Lessig. +At the moment I am proof reading the finished text, looking for typos, +inconsistent wordings and sentences that do not flow as they should. +I'm more than two thirds done with the text, and welcome others to +check the text up to chapter 13. The current status is available on the +github +project pages. You can also check out 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.

- Tags: debian, english, lsdvd, multimedia. + Tags: docbook, english, freeculture.
@@ -450,263 +693,61 @@ list. :)

-
Hva henger under skibrua over E16 på Sollihøgda?
-
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.

+
Frikanalen, Norwegian TV channel for technical topics
+
9th March 2015
+

The Norwegian Unix User Group, +where I am a member, and where people interested in free software, +open standards and UNIX like operating systems like Linux and the BSDs +come together, record our monthly technical presentations on video. +The purpose is to document the talks and spread them to a wider +audience. For this, the the Norwegian nationwide open channel +Frikanalen is a useful venue. +Since a few days ago, when I figured out the +REST API to program the +channel time schedule, +the channel has been filled with NUUG talks, related recordings and +some Creative Commons licensed TED talks (from archive.org). I fill +all "leftover bits" on the channel with content from NUUG, which at +the moment is almost 17 of 24 hours every day.

+ +

The list of NUUG videos +uploaded so far +include things like a +one hour talk by John +Perry Barlow when he visited Oslo, a presentation of +Haiku, the BeOS +re-implementation, the +history of FiksGataMi, +the Norwegian version of FixMyStreet, the good old +Warriors of the net +video and many others.

+ +

We have a large backlog of NUUG talks not yet uploaded to +Frikanalen, and plan to upload every useful bit to the channel to +spread the word there. I also hope to find useful recordings from the +Chaos Computer Club and Debian conferences and spread them on the +channel as well. But this require locating the videos and their meta +information (title, description, license, etc), and preparing the +recordings for broadcast, and I have not yet had the spare time to +focus on this. Perhaps you want to help. Please join us on IRC, +#nuug on irc.freenode.net +if you want to help make this happen.

+ +

But as I said, already the channel is already almost exclusively +filled with technical topics, and if you want to learn something new +today, check out the Ogg Theora +web stream or use one of the other ways to get access to the +channel. Unfortunately the Ogg Theora recoding for distribution still +do not properly sync the video and sound. It is generated by recoding +a internal MPEG transport stream with MPEG4 coded video (ie H.264) to +Ogg Theora / Vorbis, and we have not been able to find a way that +produces acceptable quality. Help needed, please get in touch if you +know how to fix it using free software.

- Tags: kart, norsk, personvern, rfid, surveillance. + Tags: english, frikanalen, nuug, video.
@@ -714,221 +755,36 @@ dokumentasjon på vegvesenets REST-API.

-
Speeding up the Debian installer using eatmydata and dpkg-divert
-
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.

- -

Update 2014-10-17: The bug mentioned above is fixed in testing and -the optimization work again. And I have discovered that the -dpkg-divert trick is not really needed and implemented a slightly -simpler approach as part of the debian-edu-install package. See -tools/edu-eatmydata-install in the source package.

+
The Citizenfour documentary on the Snowden confirmations to Norway
+
28th February 2015
+

Today I was happy to learn that the documentary +Citizenfour by +Laura Poitras +finally will show up in Norway. According to the magazine +Montages, a deal has finally been +made for +Cinema +distribution in Norway and the movie will have its premiere soon. +This is great news. As part of my involvement with +the Norwegian Unix User Group, me and +a friend have +tried +to get the movie to Norway ourselves, but obviously +we +were too late and Tor Fosse beat us to it. I am happy he did, as +the movie will make its way to the public and we do not have to make +it happen ourselves. +The trailer +can be seen on youtube, if you are curious what kind of film this +is.

+ +

The whistle blower Edward Snowden really deserve political asylum +here in Norway, but I am afraid he would not be safe.

- Tags: debian, debian edu, english. + Tags: english, nuug, personvern, surveillance.
@@ -936,62 +792,59 @@ tools/edu-eatmydata-install in the source package.

-
Good bye subkeys.pgp.net, welcome pool.sks-keyservers.net
-
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:

- -

-keyserver pool.sks-keyservers.net
-

- -

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:

- -

-% host -t srv _pgpkey-http._tcp.uio.no
-_pgpkey-http._tcp.uio.no has SRV record 0 100 11371 pool.sks-keyservers.net.
-%
-

- -

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?

+
The Norwegian open channel Frikanalen - 24x7 on the Internet
+
25th February 2015
+

The Norwegian nationwide open channel +Frikanalen is still going +strong. It allow everyone to send the video they want on national +television. It is a TV station administrated completely using a web +browser, running only Free +Software, providing a REST +api for administrators and members, and with distribution on the +national DVB-T distribution network RiksTV. But only between 12:00 +and 17:30 Norwegian time. This has finally changed, after many years +with limited distribution. A few weeks ago, we set up a Ogg Theora +stream via icecast to allow everyone with Internet access to check out +the channel the rest of the day. This is presented on +the Frikanalen web site now. And +since a few days ago, the channel is also available +via multicast on +UNINETT, available for those using IPTV TVs and set-top boxes in +the Norwegian National Research and Education network.

+ +

If you want to see what is on the channel, point your media player +to one of these sources. The first should work with most players and +browsers, while as far as I know, the multicast UDP stream only work +with VLC.

+ + + +

The Ogg Theora / icecast stream is not working well, as the video +and audio is slightly out of sync. We have not been able to figure +out how to fix it. It is generated by recoding a internal MPEG +transport stream with MPEG4 coded video (ie H.264) to Ogg Theora / +Vorbis, and the result is less then stellar. If you have ideas how to +fix it, please let us know on frikanalen (at) nuug.no. We currently +use this with ffmpeg2theora 0.29:

+ +
+./ffmpeg2theora.linux <OBE_gemini_URL.ts> -F 25 -x 720 -y 405 \
+ --deinterlace --inputfps 25 -c 1 -H 48000 --keyint 8 --buf-delay 100 \
+ --nosync -V 700 -o - | oggfwd video.nuug.no 8000 <pw> /frikanalen.ogv
+
+ +

If you get the multicast UDP stream working, please let me know, as +I am curious how far the multicast stream reach. It do not make it to +my home network, nor any other commercially available network in +Norway that I am aware of.

- Tags: debian, english, personvern, sikkerhet. + Tags: english, frikanalen, nuug, video.
@@ -1006,6 +859,21 @@ for a future version of the protocol?

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