X-Git-Url: http://pere.pagekite.me/gitweb/homepage.git/blobdiff_plain/2303a53e3000b721cc73c3bfe81b6d2911b51a35..593c044e495404e31dfa908b3606fa2890689f1f:/blog/index.rss diff --git a/blog/index.rss b/blog/index.rss index 69bfb04d9c..2c339785e6 100644 --- a/blog/index.rss +++ b/blog/index.rss @@ -6,6 +6,130 @@ http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/ + + The Pyra - handheld computer with Debian preinstalled + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/The_Pyra___handheld_computer_with_Debian_preinstalled.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/The_Pyra___handheld_computer_with_Debian_preinstalled.html + Wed, 4 May 2016 10:00:00 +0200 + A friend of mine made me aware of +<a href="https://pyra-handheld.com/boards/pages/pyra/">The Pyra</a>, a +handheld computer which will be delivered with Debian preinstalled. I +would love to get one of those for my birthday. :)</p> + +<p>The machine is a complete ARM-based PC with micro HDMI, SATA, USB +plugs and many others connectors, and include a full keyboard and a 5" +LCD touch screen. The 6000mAh battery is claimed to provide a whole +day of battery life time, but I have not seen any independent tests +confirming this. The vendor is still collecting preorders, and the +last I heard last night was that 22 more orders were needed before +production started.</p> + +<p>As far as I know, this is the first handheld preinstalled with +Debian. Please let me know if you know of any others. Is it the +first computer being sold with Debian preinstalled?</p> + + + + + NUUG contests Norwegian police DNS seizure of popcorn-time.no + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/NUUG_contests_Norwegian_police_DNS_seizure_of_popcorn_time_no.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/NUUG_contests_Norwegian_police_DNS_seizure_of_popcorn_time_no.html + Mon, 18 Apr 2016 10:00:00 +0200 + <p>It is days like today I am really happy to be a member of +<a href="http://www.nuug.no/">the Norwegian Unix User group</a>, a +member association for those of us believing in free software, open +standards and unix-like operating systems. NUUG announced today it +will +<a href="http://www.nuug.no/news/Pressemelding__NUUG_og_EFN_begj_rer_rettslig_pr_ving_for_DNS_domenebeslag_av_popcorn_time_no.shtml">try +to bring the seizure of the DNS domain popcorn-time.no as +unlawful</a>, to stand up for the principle that writing about a +controversial topic is not infringing copyrights, and censuring web +pages by hijacking DNS domain should be decided by the courts, not the +police. The DNS domain was seized by the Norwegian National Authority +for Investigation and Prosecution of Economic and Environmental Crime +a month ago. I hope this bring more paying members to NUUG to give +the association the financial muscle needed to bring this case as far +as it must go to stop this kind of DNS hijacking.</p> + + + + + Ny utgave (v2.2) av den frie norske stavekontrollen gitt ut + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Ny_utgave__v2_2__av_den_frie_norske_stavekontrollen_gitt_ut.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Ny_utgave__v2_2__av_den_frie_norske_stavekontrollen_gitt_ut.html + Fri, 15 Apr 2016 21:20:00 +0200 + <p>I dag tok jeg mot til meg og pakket sammen en ny versjon av den +frie norske stavekontrollen, ca. tre og et halvt år etter forrige +gang. Resultatet kan lastes ned fra +<a href="http://no.speling.org/">no.speling.org-prosjeksiden</a>, både +som kildekodepakke og som "pack"-fil som kanskje fortsatt kan brukes +av OpenOffice.org/LibreOffice. Byggesystemet trenger oppussing, men i +denne omgang hadde jeg bare tid til å fikse byggefeil forårsaket av +endringer i GNU grep. De øvrige endringene var gjort tidligere i +påvente av en ny utgave.</p> + +<p><strong>Her er det som er nytt (fra NEWS-fila i +kildekodepakken):</strong></p> + +<p>Release 2.2 (2016-04-15)</p> + +<ul> + + <li>Rewrite how scripts/speling2words handle tripple consonants, to + avoid importing duplicate words from no.speling.org, and getting + rid of the existing duplicates in norsk.words.</li> + <li>Remove duplicate entries with tripple consonants from norsk.words.</li> + <li>Update frequency for entries in norsk.words based on + <URL:http://helmer.aksis.uib.no/nta/ordlistf.zip> (ran 'make + freq-update').</li> + <li>Correct nn ispell build, avoid crash in munchlist causing lots of + words to fall out of the database.</li> + <li>Use grep -a to convince grep it is working on text files, to work + with newer grep versions.</li> + + <li>Remove some words disputed in the no.speling.org review process: + <ul> + <li>apparent (nb)</li> + <li>likke (nb)</li> + <li>ugjest, ugjesten, ugjestens (nb)</li> + </ul></li> + +</ul> + + + + + I.F. Stone - an inspiration for us all + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/I_F__Stone___an_inspiration_for_us_all.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/I_F__Stone___an_inspiration_for_us_all.html + Wed, 13 Apr 2016 21:20:00 +0200 + <p>I first got to know I.F. Stone when I came across an article by Jon +Schwarz on The Intercept +<a href="https://theintercept.com/2015/05/07/new-documentary-legacy-f-stone/">about +his extraordinary contribution to investigative journalism in +USA</a>. The article is about a new documentary in two parts +(<a href="https://vimeo.com/123974841">part one is 12 minutes</a> and +<a href="https://vimeo.com/123974842">part two is 30 minutes</a>), and +I found both truly fascinating. It is amazing what he was able to +find by digging up public sources and government papers. He +documented lots of government abuse and cover ups, and I find +<a href="http://www.ifstone.org/weekly.php">his weekly news letters</a> +inspiring to read even today.</p> + +<p><blockquote> +All governments are run by liars and nothing they say should be believed. +<br>- I. F. Stone +</blockquote></p> + +<p>His starting point was that reporters should not assume governments +and corporations are telling the truth, but verify all their claims as +much as possible. I wonder how many Norwegian reporters can be said +to follow the principles of I. F. Stone. They are definitely in short +supply. If you, like me half a year ago, have never heard of him, +check him out.</p> + + + A French paperback edition of the book Free Culture by Lawrence Lessig is now available http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/A_French_paperback_edition_of_the_book_Free_Culture_by_Lawrence_Lessig_is_now_available.html @@ -774,337 +898,5 @@ As always, patches are very welcome.</p> - - UsingQR - "Electronic" paper invoices using JSON and QR codes - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/UsingQR____Electronic__paper_invoices_using_JSON_and_QR_codes.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/UsingQR____Electronic__paper_invoices_using_JSON_and_QR_codes.html - Sat, 19 Mar 2016 09:40:00 +0100 - <p>Back in 2013 I proposed -<a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/_Electronic__paper_invoices___using_vCard_in_a_QR_code.html">a -way to make paper and PDF invoices easier to process electronically by -adding a QR code with the key information about the invoice</a>. I -suggested using vCard field definition, to get some standard format -for name and address, but any format would work. I did not do -anything about the proposal, but hoped someone one day would make -something like it. It would make it possible to efficiently send -machine readable invoices directly between seller and buyer.</p> - -<p>This was the background when I came across a proposal and -specification from the web based accounting and invoicing supplier -<a href="http://www.visma.com/">Visma</a> in Sweden called -<a href="http://usingqr.com/">UsingQR</a>. Their PDF invoices contain -a QR code with the key information of the invoice in JSON format. -This is the typical content of a QR code following the UsingQR -specification (based on a real world example, some numbers replaced to -get a more bogus entry). I've reformatted the JSON to make it easier -to read. Normally this is all on one long line:</p> - -<p><img src="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2016-03-19-qr-invoice.png" align="right"><pre> -{ - "vh":500.00, - "vm":0, - "vl":0, - "uqr":1, - "tp":1, - "nme":"Din Leverandør", - "cc":"NO", - "cid":"997912345 MVA", - "iref":"12300001", - "idt":"20151022", - "ddt":"20151105", - "due":2500.0000, - "cur":"NOK", - "pt":"BBAN", - "acc":"17202612345", - "bc":"BIENNOK1", - "adr":"0313 OSLO" -} -</pre></p> - -</p>The interpretation of the fields can be found in the -<a href="http://usingqr.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/UsingQR_specification1.pdf">format -specification</a> (revision 2 from june 2014). The format seem to -have most of the information needed to handle accounting and payment -of invoices, at least the fields I have needed so far here in -Norway.</p> - -<p>Unfortunately, the site and document do not mention anything about -the patent, trademark and copyright status of the format and the -specification. Because of this, I asked the people behind it back in -November to clarify. Ann-Christine Savlid (ann-christine.savlid (at) -visma.com) replied that Visma had not applied for patent or trademark -protection for this format, and that there were no copyright based -usage limitations for the format. I urged her to make sure this was -explicitly written on the web pages and in the specification, but -unfortunately this has not happened yet. So I guess if there is -submarine patents, hidden trademarks or a will to sue for copyright -infringements, those starting to use the UsingQR format might be at -risk, but if this happen there is some legal defense in the fact that -the people behind the format claimed it was safe to do so. At least -with patents, there is always -<a href="http://www.paperspecs.com/paper-news/beware-the-qr-code-patent-trap/">a -chance of getting sued...</a></p> - -<p>I also asked if they planned to maintain the format in an -independent standard organization to give others more confidence that -they would participate in the standardization process on equal terms -with Visma, but they had no immediate plans for this. Their plan was -to work with banks to try to get more users of the format, and -evaluate the way forward if the format proved to be popular. I hope -they conclude that using an open standard organisation like -<a href="http://www.ietf.org/">IETF</a> is the correct place to -maintain such specification.</p> - -<p><strong>Update 2016-03-20</strong>: Via Twitter I became aware of -<a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11319492">some comments -about this blog post</a> that had several useful links and references to -similar systems. In the Czech republic, the Czech Banking Association -standard #26, with short name SPAYD, uses QR codes with payment -information. More information is available from the Wikipedia page on -<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short_Payment_Descriptor">Short -Payment Descriptor</a>. And in Germany, there is a system named -<a href="http://www.bezahlcode.de/">BezahlCode</a>, -(<a href="http://www.bezahlcode.de/wp-content/uploads/BezahlCode_TechDok.pdf">specification -v1.8 2013-12-05 available as PDF</a>), which uses QR codes with -URL-like formatting using "bank:" as the URI schema/protocol to -provide the payment information. There is also the -<a href="http://www.ferd-net.de/front_content.php?idcat=231">ZUGFeRD</a> -file format that perhaps could be transfered using QR codes, but I am -not sure if it is done already. Last, in Bolivia there are reports -that tax information since november 2014 need to be printed in QR -format on invoices. I have not been able to track down a -specification for this format, because of my limited language skill -sets.</p> - - - - - Making battery measurements a little easier in Debian - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Making_battery_measurements_a_little_easier_in_Debian.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Making_battery_measurements_a_little_easier_in_Debian.html - Tue, 15 Mar 2016 15:00:00 +0100 - <p>Back in September, I blogged about -<a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/The_life_and_death_of_a_laptop_battery.html">the -system I wrote to collect statistics about my laptop battery</a>, and -how it showed the decay and death of this battery (now replaced). I -created a simple deb package to handle the collection and graphing, -but did not want to upload it to Debian as there were already -<a href="https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/battery-stats">a battery-stats -package in Debian</a> that should do the same thing, and I did not see -a point of uploading a competing package when battery-stats could be -fixed instead. I reported a few bugs about its non-function, and -hoped someone would step in and fix it. But no-one did.</p> - -<p>I got tired of waiting a few days ago, and took matters in my own -hands. The end result is that I am now the new upstream developer of -battery stats (<a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/battery-stats">available from github</a>) and part of the team maintaining -battery-stats in Debian, and the package in Debian unstable is finally -able to collect battery status using the <tt>/sys/class/power_supply/</tt> -information provided by the Linux kernel. If you install the -battery-stats package from unstable now, you will be able to get a -graph of the current battery fill level, to get some idea about the -status of the battery. The source package build and work just fine in -Debian testing and stable (and probably oldstable too, but I have not -tested). The default graph you get for that system look like this:</p> - -<p align="center"><img src="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2016-03-15-battery-stats-graph-example.png" width="70%" align="center"></p> - -<p>My plans for the future is to merge my old scripts into the -battery-stats package, as my old scripts collected a lot more details -about the battery. The scripts are merged into the upstream -battery-stats git repository already, but I am not convinced they work -yet, as I changed a lot of paths along the way. Will have to test a -bit more before I make a new release.</p> - -<p>I will also consider changing the file format slightly, as I -suspect the way I combine several values into one field might make it -impossible to know the type of the value when using it for processing -and graphing.</p> - -<p>If you would like I would like to keep an close eye on your laptop -battery, check out the battery-stats package in -<a href="https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/battery-stats">Debian</a> and -on -<a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/battery-stats">github</a>. -I would love some help to improve the system further.</p> - - - - - Creating, updating and checking debian/copyright semi-automatically - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Creating__updating_and_checking_debian_copyright_semi_automatically.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Creating__updating_and_checking_debian_copyright_semi_automatically.html - Fri, 19 Feb 2016 15:00:00 +0100 - <p>Making packages for Debian requires quite a lot of attention to -details. And one of the details is the content of the -debian/copyright file, which should list all relevant licenses used by -the code in the package in question, preferably in -<a href="https://www.debian.org/doc/packaging-manuals/copyright-format/1.0/">machine -readable DEP5 format</a>.</p> - -<p>For large packages with lots of contributors it is hard to write -and update this file manually, and if you get some detail wrong, the -package is normally rejected by the ftpmasters. So getting it right -the first time around get the package into Debian faster, and save -both you and the ftpmasters some work.. Today, while trying to figure -out what was wrong with -<a href="https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=686447">the -zfsonlinux copyright file</a>, I decided to spend some time on -figuring out the options for doing this job automatically, or at least -semi-automatically.</p> - -<p>Lucikly, there are at least two tools available for generating the -file based on the code in the source package, -<tt><a href="https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/debmake">debmake</a></tt> -and <tt><a href="https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/cme">cme</a></tt>. I'm -not sure which one of them came first, but both seem to be able to -create a sensible draft file. As far as I can tell, none of them can -be trusted to get the result just right, so the content need to be -polished a bit before the file is OK to upload. I found the debmake -option in -<a href="http://goofying-with-debian.blogspot.com/2014/07/debmake-checking-source-against-dep-5.html">a -blog posts from 2014</a>. - -<p>To generate using debmake, use the -cc option: - -<p><pre> -debmake -cc > debian/copyright -</pre></p> - -<p>Note there are some problems with python and non-ASCII names, so -this might not be the best option.</p> - -<p>The cme option is based on a config parsing library, and I found -this approach in -<a href="https://ddumont.wordpress.com/2015/04/05/improving-creation-of-debian-copyright-file/">a -blog post from 2015</a>. To generate using cme, use the 'update -dpkg-copyright' option: - -<p><pre> -cme update dpkg-copyright -</pre></p> - -<p>This will create or update debian/copyright. The cme tool seem to -handle UTF-8 names better than debmake.</p> - -<p>When the copyright file is created, I would also like some help to -check if the file is correct. For this I found two good options, -<tt>debmake -k</tt> and <tt>license-reconcile</tt>. The former seem -to focus on license types and file matching, and is able to detect -ineffective blocks in the copyright file. The latter reports missing -copyright holders and years, but was confused by inconsistent license -names (like CDDL vs. CDDL-1.0). I suspect it is good to use both and -fix all issues reported by them before uploading. But I do not know -if the tools and the ftpmasters agree on what is important to fix in a -copyright file, so the package might still be rejected.</p> - -<p>The devscripts tool <tt>licensecheck</tt> deserve mentioning. It -will read through the source and try to find all copyright statements. -It is not comparing the result to the content of debian/copyright, but -can be useful when verifying the content of the copyright file.</p> - -<p>Are you aware of better tools in Debian to create and update -debian/copyright file. Please let me know, or blog about it on -planet.debian.org.</p> - -<p>As usual, if you use Bitcoin and want to show your support of my -activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address -<b><a href="bitcoin:15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</a></b>.</p> - -<p><strong>Update 2016-02-20</strong>: I got a tip from Mike Gabriel -on how to use licensecheck and cdbs to create a draft copyright file - -<p><pre> -licensecheck --copyright -r `find * -type f` | \ - /usr/lib/cdbs/licensecheck2dep5 > debian/copyright.auto -</pre></p> - -<p>He mentioned that he normally check the generated file into the -version control system to make it easier to discover license and -copyright changes in the upstream source. I will try to do the same -with my packages in the future.</p> - -<p><strong>Update 2016-02-21</strong>: The cme author recommended -against using -quiet for new users, so I removed it from the proposed -command line.</p> - - - - - Using appstream in Debian to locate packages with firmware and mime type support - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Using_appstream_in_Debian_to_locate_packages_with_firmware_and_mime_type_support.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Using_appstream_in_Debian_to_locate_packages_with_firmware_and_mime_type_support.html - Thu, 4 Feb 2016 16:40:00 +0100 - <p>The <a href="https://wiki.debian.org/DEP-11">appstream system</a> -is taking shape in Debian, and one provided feature is a very -convenient way to tell you which package to install to make a given -firmware file available when the kernel is looking for it. This can -be done using apt-file too, but that is for someone else to blog -about. :)</p> - -<p>Here is a small recipe to find the package with a given firmware -file, in this example I am looking for ctfw-3.2.3.0.bin, randomly -picked from the set of firmware announced using appstream in Debian -unstable. In general you would be looking for the firmware requested -by the kernel during kernel module loading. To find the package -providing the example file, do like this:</p> - -<blockquote><pre> -% apt install appstream -[...] -% apt update -[...] -% appstreamcli what-provides firmware:runtime ctfw-3.2.3.0.bin | \ - awk '/Package:/ {print $2}' -firmware-qlogic -% -</pre></blockquote> - -<p>See <a href="https://wiki.debian.org/AppStream/Guidelines">the -appstream wiki</a> page to learn how to embed the package metadata in -a way appstream can use.</p> - -<p>This same approach can be used to find any package supporting a -given MIME type. This is very useful when you get a file you do not -know how to handle. First find the mime type using <tt>file ---mime-type</tt>, and next look up the package providing support for -it. Lets say you got an SVG file. Its MIME type is image/svg+xml, -and you can find all packages handling this type like this:</p> - -<blockquote><pre> -% apt install appstream -[...] -% apt update -[...] -% appstreamcli what-provides mimetype image/svg+xml | \ - awk '/Package:/ {print $2}' -bkchem -phototonic -inkscape -shutter -tetzle -geeqie -xia -pinta -gthumb -karbon -comix -mirage -viewnior -postr -ristretto -kolourpaint4 -eog -eom -gimagereader -midori -% -</pre></blockquote> - -<p>I believe the MIME types are fetched from the desktop file for -packages providing appstream metadata.</p> - - -