X-Git-Url: http://pere.pagekite.me/gitweb/homepage.git/blobdiff_plain/226f3937a7020f60bda963522dc220a5383045c6..eb973c52f2e5a325c7ca6df9b9ff95d4f0dc3100:/blog/archive/2012/12/12.rss diff --git a/blog/archive/2012/12/12.rss b/blog/archive/2012/12/12.rss index 35712991c9..61077fed88 100644 --- a/blog/archive/2012/12/12.rss +++ b/blog/archive/2012/12/12.rss @@ -6,6 +6,328 @@ http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/ + + A Christmas present for Skolelinux / Debian Edu + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/A_Christmas_present_for_Skolelinux___Debian_Edu.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/A_Christmas_present_for_Skolelinux___Debian_Edu.html + Fri, 28 Dec 2012 09:20:00 +0100 + <p>I was happy to discover a few days ago that the +<a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Skolelinux / Debian Edu</a> +project also this year received a Christmas present from Another +Agency in Trondheim. NOK 1000,- showed up on our donation account +December 24th. I want to express our thanks for this very welcome +present. As the Debian Edu / Skolelinux project is very short on +funding these days, and thus lack the money to do regular developer +gatherings, this donation was most welcome. One developer gathering +cost around NOK 15&nbsp;000,-, so we need quite a lot more to keep the +development pace we want. Thus, I hope their example this year is +followed by many others. :)</p> + +<p>The public list of donors can be found on +<a href="http://www.linuxiskolen.no/slxdebianlabs/donations.html">the +donation page</a> for the project, which also contain instructions if +you want to donate to the project.</p> + + + + + How to backport bitcoin-qt version 0.7.2-2 to Debian Squeeze + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/How_to_backport_bitcoin_qt_version_0_7_2_2_to_Debian_Squeeze.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/How_to_backport_bitcoin_qt_version_0_7_2_2_to_Debian_Squeeze.html + Tue, 25 Dec 2012 20:50:00 +0100 + <p>Let me start by wishing you all marry Christmas and a happy new +year! I hope next year will prove to be a good year.</p> + +<p><a href="http://www.bitcoin.org/">Bitcoin</a>, the digital +decentralised "currency" that allow people to transfer bitcoins +between each other with minimal overhead, is a very interesting +experiment. And as I wrote a few days ago, the bitcoin situation in +<a href="http://www.debian.org/">Debian</a> is about to improve a bit. +The <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/bitcoin">new debian source +package</a> (version 0.7.2-2) was uploaded yesterday, and is waiting +in <a href="http://ftp-master.debian.org/new.html">the NEW queue</A> +for one of the ftpmasters to approve the new bitcoin-qt package +name.</p> + +<p>And thanks to the great work of Jonas and the rest of the bitcoin +team in Debian, you can easily test the package in Debian Squeeze +using the following steps to get a set of working packages:</p> + +<blockquote><pre> +git clone git://git.debian.org/git/collab-maint/bitcoin +cd bitcoin +DEB_MAINTAINER_MODE=1 DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS=noupnp fakeroot debian/rules clean +DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS=noupnp git-buildpackage --git-ignore-new +</pre></blockquote> + +<p>You might have to install some build dependencies as well. The +list of commands should give you two packages, bitcoind and +bitcoin-qt, ready for use in a Squeeze environment. Note that the +client will download the complete set of bitcoin "blocks", which need +around 5.6 GiB of data on my machine at the moment. Make sure your +~/.bitcoin/ directory have lots of spare room if you want to download +all the blocks. The client will warn if the disk is getting full, so +there is not really a problem if you got too little room, but you will +not be able to get all the features out of the client.</p> + +<p>As usual, if you use bitcoin and want to show your support of my +activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address +<b><a href="bitcoin:15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</a></b>.</p> + + + + + A word on bitcoin support in Debian + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/A_word_on_bitcoin_support_in_Debian.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/A_word_on_bitcoin_support_in_Debian.html + Fri, 21 Dec 2012 23:59:00 +0100 + <p>It has been a while since I wrote about +<a href="http://www.bitcoin.org/">bitcoin</a>, the decentralised +peer-to-peer based crypto-currency, and the reason is simply that I +have been busy elsewhere. But two days ago, I started looking at the +state of <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/bitcoin">bitcoin in +Debian</a> again to try to recover my old bitcoin wallet. The package +is now maintained by a +<a href="https://alioth.debian.org/projects/pkg-bitcoin/">team of +people</a>, and the grunt work had already been done by this team. We +owe a huge thank you to all these team members. :) +But I was sad to discover that the bitcoin client is missing in +Wheezy. It is only available in Sid (and an outdated client from +backports). The client had several RC bugs registered in BTS blocking +it from entering testing. To try to help the team and improve the +situation, I spent some time providing patches and triaging the bug +reports. I also had a look at the bitcoin package available from Matt +Corallo in a +<a href="https://launchpad.net/~bitcoin/+archive/bitcoin">PPA for +Ubuntu</a>, and moved the useful pieces from that version into the +Debian package.</p> + +<p>After checking with the main package maintainer Jonas Smedegaard on +IRC, I pushed several patches into the collab-maint git repository to +improve the package. It now contains fixes for the RC issues (not from +me, but fixed by Scott Howard), build rules for a Qt GUI client +package, konqueror support for the bitcoin: URI and bash completion +setup. As I work on Debian Squeeze, I also created +<a href="http://lists.alioth.debian.org/pipermail/pkg-bitcoin-devel/Week-of-Mon-20121217/000041.html">a +patch to backport</a> the latest version. Jonas is going to look at +it and try to integrate it into the git repository before uploading a +new version to unstable. + +<p>I would very much like bitcoin to succeed, to get rid of the +centralized control currently exercised in the monetary system. I +find it completely unacceptable that the USA government is collecting +transaction data for almost all international money transfers (most are done in USD and transaction logs shipped to the spooks), and +that the major credit card companies can block legal money +transactions to Wikileaks. But for bitcoin to succeed, more people +need to use bitcoins, and more people need to accept bitcoins when +they sell products and services. Improving the bitcoin support in +Debian is a small step in the right direction, but not enough. +Unfortunately the user experience when browsing the web and wanting to +pay with bitcoin is still not very good. The bitcoin: URI is a step +in the right direction, but need to work in most or every browser in +use. Also the bitcoin-qt client is too heavy to fire up to do a +quick transaction. I believe there are other clients available, but +have not tested them.</p> + +<p>My +<a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Now_accepting_bitcoins___anonymous_and_distributed_p2p_crypto_money.html">experiment +with bitcoins</a> showed that at least some of my readers use bitcoin. +I received 20.15 BTC so far on the address I provided in my blog two +years ago, as can be +<a href="http://blockexplorer.com/address/15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b">seen +on the blockexplorer service</a>. Thank you everyone for your +donation. The blockexplorer service demonstrates quite well that +bitcoin is not quite anonymous and untracked. :) I wonder if the +number of users have gone up since then. If you use bitcoin and want +to show your support of my activity, please send Bitcoin donations to +the same address as last time, +<b><a href="bitcoin:15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</a></b>.</p> + + + + + Piratpartiet på opphavs-retrett? + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Piratpartiet_p__opphavs_retrett_.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Piratpartiet_p__opphavs_retrett_.html + Wed, 19 Dec 2012 13:10:00 +0100 + <p>Jeg ble overrasket over å se at Piratpartiet i +<a href="http://www.aftenposten.no/kultur/Piratpartiet-stiller-til-Stortingsvalget-7073298.html">Aftenposten</a> +er referert på følgende:</p> + +<blockquote> +Når det gjelder retten til opphavsrett for kulturproduktene, mener +Piratpartiet av levetid + 14 år er tilfredsstillende. +</blockquote> + +<p>Det betyr en vernetid langt ut over det kommersielle livet til de +aller fleste opphavsrettsbeskyttede verker, og er i strid med slik i +hvert fall jeg har tolket punkt 5 i +<a href="http://people.opera.com/howcome/2012/piratpartiet/kjerneprogram.html">kjerneprogrammet +til Piratpartiet</a>:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p><strong>5: Åndsverk og patenter: tilbake til start</strong></p> + +<table border="1"> +<tr><th>forslag:</th><td>14 års opphavsrett og ingen +programvarepatenter</td></tr> + +<tr><th>grunn:</th><td>Den første loven om opphavsrett spesifiserte 14 +års vernetid. Senere har mediabransjens lobbyister stadig presset +loven mot lengre vern, nå er det 70 år etter forfatters død. Dette +gjør at mange verk glemmes og går tapt, noe som er skadelig for norsk +språk og kultur. Vi til tilbake til start: 14 års +vernetid. Patentloven sier klart at dataprogrammer ikke kan +patenteres. Likevel klarer patentadvokater å lure gjennom +programvarepatenter. Slike patenter gjør dingsene våre dyrere og kan i +enkelte tilfelle stoppe dem helt.</th></tr> +</table> +</blockquote> + +<p>Den opprinnelige opphavsretten var på 14 år totalt, ikke 14 år +etter opphavspersonens død. Jeg tenkte først dette kanskje var +feilsitering fra Aftenposten, men jeg finner samme påstand i en <a +href="http://piratpartietnorge.org/om-gramo-og-piratpolitikken/">bloggpost +fra Geir Aaslid</a> på Piratpartietes offisielle nettsider. Der +skriver han følgende:</p> + +<blockquote> +Hva vi gjør med opphavsretten er mer komplisert fordi den omfavner så +mange bransjer, med ulike behov. Enhver reform er en forbedring men +det er nærliggende å anta at en opphavsrett på levetid + 14 år er +fullt ut tilfredstillende for musikk, film, litteratur og spill. +</blockquote> + +<p>Det virker dermed på meg som om Piratpartiet allerede har gjort +retrett fra sin beundringsverdige holdning om at det holdt med 14 års +total vernetid, til sin nye som tar utgangspunkt i levetiden til +opphavspersonen. Jeg håper det baserer seg på en misforståelse hos +piratlederen som blir korrigert tilbake til 14 års total vernetid før +partiet stiller til valg.</p> + +<p>Hvis du lurer på hvilke problemer lang vernetid bringer med seg, +anbefaler jeg å lese boken <a href="http://free-culture.cc/">Free +Culture</a> av Lawrence Lessig. Jeg og en liten gruppe andre er igang +med å +<a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig">oversette +boken til bokmål</a> og tar gjerne imot hjelp med oversettelse og +korrekturlesing.</p> + +<p><strong>Oppdatering 2012-12-20</strong>: Oppdaget at +<a href="http://piratpartietnorge.org/om-gramo-og-piratpolitikken/">bloggposten +til Geir Aaslid</a> er endret siden i går, og nå inneholder følgende +avsnitt i stedet for det jeg siterte over:</p> + +<blockquote> +Hva vi gjør med opphavsretten er mer komplisert fordi den omfavner så +mange bransjer, med ulike behov. Enhver reform er en forbedring men +det er nærliggende å anta at en opphavsrett lik levetiden, evt + 14 år +er fullt ut tilfredstillende for mange skapere av musikk, film, +litteratur og spill. Det er for det meste de store forlagene som er +imot enhver reform. +</blockquote> + +<p>I tillegg har det dukket opp en setning nederst "Dette dokumentet +er et utkast til svar på et angrep på Piratpartiet fra Gramo. Det +endrer seg derfor over tid og den endelige versjonen er det som blir +publisert på Hardware.no", som tyder på at originalformuleringen ikke +var veloverveid og sitatet i Aftenposten kanskje var basert på en +misforståelse.</p> + + + + + Ledger - double-entry accounting using text based storage format + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Ledger___double_entry_accounting_using_text_based_storage_format.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Ledger___double_entry_accounting_using_text_based_storage_format.html + Tue, 18 Dec 2012 23:30:00 +0100 + <p>A few days ago I came across +<a href="http://joeyh.name/blog/entry/hledger/">a blog post from Joey +Hess</a> describing <a href="http://ledger-cli.org/">ledger</a> and +hledger, a text based system for double-entry accounting. I found it +interesting, as I am involved with several organizations where +accounting is an issue, and I have not really become too friendly with +the different web based systems we use. I find it hard to find what I +look for in the menus and even harder try to get sensible data out of +the systems. Ledger seem different. The accounting data is kept in +text files that can be stored in a version control system, and there + +are at least <a href="https://github.com/ledger/ledger/wiki/Ports">five +different implementations</a> able to read the format. An example +entry look like this, and is simple enough that it will be trivial to +generate entries based on CVS files fetched from the bank:</p> + +<blockquote><pre> +2004-05-27 Book Store + Expenses:Books $20.00 + Liabilities:Visa +</pre></blockquote> + +<p>The concept seemed interesting enough for me to check it out and +look for others using it. I found blog posts from +<a href="http://blog.spang.cc/posts/hledger_rocks_my_world/">Christine +Spang</a>, +<a href="http://bugsplat.info/2010-05-23-keeping-finances-with-ledger.html">Pete +Keen</a>, +<a href="http://blog.andrewcantino.com/blog/2010/11/06/command-line-accounting-with-ledger-and-reckon/">Andrew +Cantino</a> and +<a href="http://blog.iphoting.com/blog/2012/11/29/command-line-double-entry-accounting/">Ronald +Ip</a> describing how they use it, as well as a post from +<a href="https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups=#!topic/ledger-cli/r0oWjwbQ9Bo">Bradley +M. Kuhn</a> at the Software Freedom Conservancy. All seemed like good +recommendations fitting my need.</p> + +<p>The <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/l/ledger.html">ledger</a> +package is available in Debian Squeeze, while the +<a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/h/haskell-hledger.html">hledger</a> +package only is available in Debian Sid. As I use Squeeze, ledger +seemed the best choice to get started.</p> + +<p>To get some real data to test on, I wrote a +<a href="http://www.nuug.no/tools/lodo2ledger">web scraper</a> for +<a href="http://www.lodo.no/">LODO</a>, the accounting system used by +the <a href="http://www.nuug.no/">NUUG</a> association, and started to +play with the data set. I'm not really deeply into accounting, but I +am able to get a simple balance and accounting status for example +using the "<tt>ledger balance</tt>" command. But I will have to +gather more experience before I know if the ledger way is a good fit +for the organisations I am involved in.</p> + + + + + 61 kommuner lenker nå til FiksGataMi fra sine nettsider + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/61_kommuner_lenker_n__til_FiksGataMi_fra_sine_nettsider.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/61_kommuner_lenker_n__til_FiksGataMi_fra_sine_nettsider.html + Tue, 11 Dec 2012 23:55:00 +0100 + <p>For noen dager siden omfavnet nok en kommune NUUGs +<a href="http://www.fiksgatami.no/">FiksGataMi</a>. Med 61 kommuner +som lenker til FiksGataMi fra sine hjemmesider er «markedsandelen» 14% +(av 429 kommuner). Siden +<a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/59_kommuner_omfavner_n__FiksGataMi.html">siste +oppdatering i november</a> har kommunene Re og Vågsøy kommet til og +slår følge med kommunene Askim, Askøy, Audnedal, Aure, Balestrand, +Bærum, Eide, Farsund, Flekkefjord, Folldal, Gran, Grue, Hadsel, +Halden, Halsa, Hamar, Hobøl, Holtålen, Hægebostad, Høyanger, +Kongsberg, Kristiansund, Kvinesdal, Kviteseid, Levanger, Lindesnes, +Luster, Lyngdal, Løten, Mandal, Marnardal, Moss, Namsos, Nissedal, +Nordreisa, Randaberg, Rindal, Sel, Sirdal, Skiptvet, Sortland, +Spydeberg, Stange, Stjørdal, Stord, Søgne, Sør-Odal, Tolga, Trysil, +Tynset, Tysvær, Ullensvang Herad, Utsira, Vennesla, Verdal, Vågan, +Vågå, Våler og Åseral. Oppdatert liste er tilgjengelig fra +<a href="http://wiki.nuug.no/grupper/fiksgatami/positivemottakere">NUUGs +wiki</a>. Kartet er dog ikke oppdatert med de siste kommunene.</p> + +<p>Kanskje du bør høre med din kommune om de vil bli mer aktive +brukere av FiksGataMi? Se +<a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/40_kommuner_lenker_n__til_FiksGataMi_fra_sine_nettsider___gj_r_din_.html">en +tidligere bloggpost</a> med tips om hvordan det kan gjøres.</p> + +<p>I snitt rapporteres det nå via FiksGataMi ca. 60 meldinger fra +innbyggerne i uka om feil på offentlig infrastruktur.</p> + + + Scripting the Cerebrum/bofhd user administration system using XML-RPC http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Scripting_the_Cerebrum_bofhd_user_administration_system_using_XML_RPC.html