X-Git-Url: http://pere.pagekite.me/gitweb/homepage.git/blobdiff_plain/2f788e9fce29a0b4ada9cb6110d5464ec7cb8ec0..aa4069048e4b39f85304deb4c9abc90695b8441c:/blog/index.rss diff --git a/blog/index.rss b/blog/index.rss index 19f3755d32..e42e39614e 100644 --- a/blog/index.rss +++ b/blog/index.rss @@ -7,765 +7,634 @@ - Alle Stortingets mobiltelefoner kontrolleres fra USA... - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Alle_Stortingets_mobiltelefoner_kontrolleres_fra_USA___.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Alle_Stortingets_mobiltelefoner_kontrolleres_fra_USA___.html - Wed, 7 Oct 2015 09:50:00 +0200 - <p>Jeg lot meg fascinere av -<a href="http://www.aftenposten.no/nyheter/iriks/politikk/Stortinget-har-tilgang-til-a-fjernstyre-600-mobiler-8192692.html">en -artikkel i Aftenposten</a> der det fortelles at over 600 telefoner som -benyttes av stortingsrepresentanter, rådgivere og ansatte på -Stortinget, kan «fjernstyres» ved hjelp av programvaren Airwatch, et -såkalte MDM-program (Mobile Device Managment). Det hele -bagatelliseres av Stortingets IT-stab, men det er i hovedsak på grunn -av at journalisten ikke stiller de relevante spørsmålene. For meg er -det relevante spørsmålet hvem som har lovlig tilgang (i henhold til -lokal lovgiving, dvs. i hvert fall i Norge, Sverige, UK og USA) til -informasjon om og på telefonene, og hvor enkelt det er å skaffe seg -tilgang til hvor mobilene befinner seg og informasjon som befinner seg -på telefonene ved hjelp av utro tjenere, trusler, innbrudd og andre -ulovlige metoder.</p> - -<p>Bruken av AirWatch betyr i realiteten at USAs etteretning og -politimyndigheter har full tilgang til stortingets mobiltelefoner, -inkludert posisjon og innhold, takket være -<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_Intelligence_Surveillance_Act_of_1978_Amendments_Act_of_2008">FISAAA-loven</a> -og -"<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_security_letter">National -Security Letters</a>" og det enkle faktum at AirWatch er kontrollert -av et selskap i USA. I tillegg er det kjent at kan flere lands -etterretningstjenester kan lytte på trafikken når den passerer -landegrensene.</p> - -<p>Jeg har bedt om mer informasjon -<a href="https://www.mimesbronn.no/request/saksnummer_for_saker_anganede_br">fra -Stortinget om bruken av AirWatch</a> via Mimes brønn så får vi se hva -de har å fortelle om saken. Fant ingenting om 'airwatch' i -postjournalen til Stortinget, så jeg trenger hjelp før jeg kan be om -innsyn i konkrete dokumenter.</p> + Idea for storing trusted timestamps in a Noark 5 archive + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Idea_for_storing_trusted_timestamps_in_a_Noark_5_archive.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Idea_for_storing_trusted_timestamps_in_a_Noark_5_archive.html + Wed, 7 Jun 2017 21:40:00 +0200 + <p><em>This is a copy of +<a href="https://lists.nuug.no/pipermail/nikita-noark/2017-June/000297.html">an +email I posted to the nikita-noark mailing list</a>. Please follow up +there if you would like to discuss this topic. The background is that +we are making a free software archive system based on the Norwegian +<a href="https://www.arkivverket.no/forvaltning-og-utvikling/regelverk-og-standarder/noark-standarden">Noark +5 standard</a> for government archives.</em></p> + +<p>I've been wondering a bit lately how trusted timestamps could be +stored in Noark 5. +<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trusted_timestamping">Trusted +timestamps</a> can be used to verify that some information +(document/file/checksum/metadata) have not been changed since a +specific time in the past. This is useful to verify the integrity of +the documents in the archive.</p> + +<p>Then it occured to me, perhaps the trusted timestamps could be +stored as dokument variants (ie dokumentobjekt referered to from +dokumentbeskrivelse) with the filename set to the hash it is +stamping?</p> + +<p>Given a "dokumentbeskrivelse" with an associated "dokumentobjekt", +a new dokumentobjekt is associated with "dokumentbeskrivelse" with the +same attributes as the stamped dokumentobjekt except these +attributes:</p> + +<ul> + +<li>format -> "RFC3161" +<li>mimeType -> "application/timestamp-reply" +<li>formatDetaljer -> "&lt;source URL for timestamp service&gt;" +<li>filenavn -> "&lt;sjekksum&gt;.tsr" + +</ul> + +<p>This assume a service following +<a href="https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc3161">IETF RFC 3161</a> is +used, which specifiy the given MIME type for replies and the .tsr file +ending for the content of such trusted timestamp. As far as I can +tell from the Noark 5 specifications, it is OK to have several +variants/renderings of a dokument attached to a given +dokumentbeskrivelse objekt. It might be stretching it a bit to make +some of these variants represent crypto-signatures useful for +verifying the document integrity instead of representing the dokument +itself.</p> + +<p>Using the source of the service in formatDetaljer allow several +timestamping services to be used. This is useful to spread the risk +of key compromise over several organisations. It would only be a +problem to trust the timestamps if all of the organisations are +compromised.</p> + +<p>The following oneliner on Linux can be used to generate the tsr +file. $input is the path to the file to checksum, and $sha256 is the +SHA-256 checksum of the file (ie the "<sjekksum>.tsr" value mentioned +above).</p> + +<p><blockquote><pre> +openssl ts -query -data "$inputfile" -cert -sha256 -no_nonce \ + | curl -s -H "Content-Type: application/timestamp-query" \ + --data-binary "@-" http://zeitstempel.dfn.de > $sha256.tsr +</pre></blockquote></p> + +<p>To verify the timestamp, you first need to download the public key +of the trusted timestamp service, for example using this command:</p> + +<p><blockquote><pre> +wget -O ca-cert.txt \ + https://pki.pca.dfn.de/global-services-ca/pub/cacert/chain.txt +</pre></blockquote></p> + +<p>Note, the public key should be stored alongside the timestamps in +the archive to make sure it is also available 100 years from now. It +is probably a good idea to standardise how and were to store such +public keys, to make it easier to find for those trying to verify +documents 100 or 1000 years from now. :)</p> + +<p>The verification itself is a simple openssl command:</p> + +<p><blockquote><pre> +openssl ts -verify -data $inputfile -in $sha256.tsr \ + -CAfile ca-cert.txt -text +</pre></blockquote></p> + +<p>Is there any reason this approach would not work? Is it somehow against +the Noark 5 specification?</p> - French Docbook/PDF/EPUB/MOBI edition of the Free Culture book - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/French_Docbook_PDF_EPUB_MOBI_edition_of_the_Free_Culture_book.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/French_Docbook_PDF_EPUB_MOBI_edition_of_the_Free_Culture_book.html - Thu, 1 Oct 2015 13:20:00 +0200 - <p>As I wrap up the Norwegian version of -<a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig">Free -Culture</a> book by Lawrence Lessig (still waiting for my final proof -reading copy to arrive in the mail), my great -<a href="http://dblatex.sourceforge.net/">dblatex</a> helper and -developer of the dblatex docbook processor, Benoît Guillon, decided a -to try to create a French version of the book. He started with the -French translation available from the -<a href="http://www.wikilivres.ca/wiki/Culture_libre">Wikilivres wiki -pages</a>, and wrote a program to convert it into a PO file, allowing -the translation to be integrated into the po4a based framework I use -to create the Norwegian translation from the English edition. We meet -on the <a href="irc://irc.freenode.net/%23dblatex">#dblatex IRC -channel</a> to discuss the work. If you want to help create a French -edition, check out -<a href="https://github.com/marsgui/free-culture-lessig">his git -repository</a> and join us on IRC. If the French edition look good, -we might publish it as a paper book on lulu.com. A French version of -the drawings and the cover need to be provided for this to happen.</p> + Når nynorskoversettelsen svikter til eksamen... + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/N_r_nynorskoversettelsen_svikter_til_eksamen___.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/N_r_nynorskoversettelsen_svikter_til_eksamen___.html + Sat, 3 Jun 2017 08:20:00 +0200 + <p><a href="http://www.aftenposten.no/norge/Krever-at-elever-ma-fa-annullert-eksamen-etter-rot-med-oppgavetekster-622459b.html">Aftenposten +melder i dag</a> om feil i eksamensoppgavene for eksamen i politikk og +menneskerettigheter, der teksten i bokmåls og nynorskutgaven ikke var +like. Oppgaveteksten er gjengitt i artikkelen, og jeg ble nysgjerring +på om den fri oversetterløsningen +<a href="https://www.apertium.org/">Apertium</a> ville gjort en bedre +jobb enn Utdanningsdirektoratet. Det kan se slik ut.</p> + +<p>Her er bokmålsoppgaven fra eksamenen:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>Drøft utfordringene knyttet til nasjonalstatenes og andre aktørers +rolle og muligheter til å håndtere internasjonale utfordringer, som +for eksempel flykningekrisen.</p> + +<p>Vedlegge er eksempler på tekster som kan gi relevante perspektiver +på temaet:</p> +<ol> +<li>Flykningeregnskapet 2016, UNHCR og IDMC +<li>«Grenseløst Europa for fall» A-Magasinet, 26. november 2015 +</ol> + +</blockquote> + +<p>Dette oversetter Apertium slik:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>Drøft utfordringane knytte til nasjonalstatane sine og rolla til +andre aktørar og høve til å handtera internasjonale utfordringar, som +til dømes *flykningekrisen.</p> + +<p>Vedleggja er døme på tekster som kan gje relevante perspektiv på +temaet:</p> + +<ol> +<li>*Flykningeregnskapet 2016, *UNHCR og *IDMC</li> +<li>«*Grenseløst Europa for fall» A-Magasinet, 26. november 2015</li> +</ol> + +</blockquote> + +<p>Ord som ikke ble forstått er markert med stjerne (*), og trenger +ekstra språksjekk. Men ingen ord er forsvunnet, slik det var i +oppgaven elevene fikk presentert på eksamen. Jeg mistenker dog at +"andre aktørers rolle og muligheter til ..." burde vært oversatt til +"rolla til andre aktørar og deira høve til ..." eller noe slikt, men +det er kanskje flisespikking. Det understreker vel bare at det alltid +trengs korrekturlesning etter automatisk oversettelse.</p> - The life and death of a laptop battery - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/The_life_and_death_of_a_laptop_battery.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/The_life_and_death_of_a_laptop_battery.html - Thu, 24 Sep 2015 16:00:00 +0200 - <p>When I get a new laptop, the battery life time at the start is OK. -But this do not last. The last few laptops gave me a feeling that -within a year, the life time is just a fraction of what it used to be, -and it slowly become painful to use the laptop without power connected -all the time. Because of this, when I got a new Thinkpad X230 laptop -about two years ago, I decided to monitor its battery state to have -more hard facts when the battery started to fail.</p> - -<img src="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2015-09-24-laptop-battery-graph.png"/> - -<p>First I tried to find a sensible Debian package to record the -battery status, assuming that this must be a problem already handled -by someone else. I found -<a href="https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/battery-stats">battery-stats</a>, -which collects statistics from the battery, but it was completely -broken. I sent a few suggestions to the maintainer, but decided to -write my own collector as a shell script while I waited for feedback -from him. Via -<a href="http://www.ifweassume.com/2013/08/the-de-evolution-of-my-laptop-battery.html">a -blog post about the battery development on a MacBook Air</a> I also -discovered -<a href="https://github.com/jradavenport/batlog.git">batlog</a>, not -available in Debian.</p> - -<p>I started my collector 2013-07-15, and it has been collecting -battery stats ever since. Now my -/var/log/hjemmenett-battery-status.log file contain around 115,000 -measurements, from the time the battery was working great until now, -when it is unable to charge above 7% of original capacity. My -collector shell script is quite simple and look like this:</p> - -<pre> -#!/bin/sh -# Inspired by -# http://www.ifweassume.com/2013/08/the-de-evolution-of-my-laptop-battery.html -# See also -# http://blog.sleeplessbeastie.eu/2013/01/02/debian-how-to-monitor-battery-capacity/ -logfile=/var/log/hjemmenett-battery-status.log - -files="manufacturer model_name technology serial_number \ - energy_full energy_full_design energy_now cycle_count status" - -if [ ! -e "$logfile" ] ; then - ( - printf "timestamp," - for f in $files; do - printf "%s," $f - done - echo - ) > "$logfile" -fi - -log_battery() { - # Print complete message in one echo call, to avoid race condition - # when several log processes run in parallel. - msg=$(printf "%s," $(date +%s); \ - for f in $files; do \ - printf "%s," $(cat $f); \ - done) - echo "$msg" -} - -cd /sys/class/power_supply - -for bat in BAT*; do - (cd $bat && log_battery >> "$logfile") -done -</pre> - -<p>The script is called when the power management system detect a -change in the power status (power plug in or out), and when going into -and out of hibernation and suspend. In addition, it collect a value -every 10 minutes. This make it possible for me know when the battery -is discharging, charging and how the maximum charge change over time. -The code for the Debian package -<a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/battery-status">is now -available on github</a>.</p> - -<p>The collected log file look like this:</p> - -<pre> -timestamp,manufacturer,model_name,technology,serial_number,energy_full,energy_full_design,energy_now,cycle_count,status, -1376591133,LGC,45N1025,Li-ion,974,62800000,62160000,39050000,0,Discharging, -[...] -1443090528,LGC,45N1025,Li-ion,974,4900000,62160000,4900000,0,Full, -1443090601,LGC,45N1025,Li-ion,974,4900000,62160000,4900000,0,Full, -</pre> - -<p>I wrote a small script to create a graph of the charge development -over time. This graph depicted above show the slow death of my laptop -battery.</p> - -<p>But why is this happening? Why are my laptop batteries always -dying in a year or two, while the batteries of space probes and -satellites keep working year after year. If we are to believe -<a href="http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/how_to_prolong_lithium_based_batteries">Battery -University</a>, the cause is me charging the battery whenever I have a -chance, and the fix is to not charge the Lithium-ion batteries to 100% -all the time, but to stay below 90% of full charge most of the time. -I've been told that the Tesla electric cars -<a href="http://my.teslamotors.com/de_CH/forum/forums/battery-charge-limit">limit -the charge of their batteries to 80%</a>, with the option to charge to -100% when preparing for a longer trip (not that I would want a car -like Tesla where rights to privacy is abandoned, but that is another -story), which I guess is the option we should have for laptops on -Linux too.</p> - -<p>Is there a good and generic way with Linux to tell the battery to -stop charging at 80%, unless requested to charge to 100% once in -preparation for a longer trip? I found -<a href="http://askubuntu.com/questions/34452/how-can-i-limit-battery-charging-to-80-capacity">one -recipe on askubuntu for Ubuntu to limit charging on Thinkpad to -80%</a>, but could not get it to work (kernel module refused to -load).</p> - -<p>I wonder why the battery capacity was reported to be more than 100% -at the start. I also wonder why the "full capacity" increases some -times, and if it is possible to repeat the process to get the battery -back to design capacity. And I wonder if the discharge and charge -speed change over time, or if this stay the same. I did not yet try -to write a tool to calculate the derivative values of the battery -level, but suspect some interesting insights might be learned from -those.</p> - -<p>Update 2015-09-24: I got a tip to install the packages -acpi-call-dkms and tlp (unfortunately missing in Debian stable) -packages instead of the tp-smapi-dkms package I had tried to use -initially, and use 'tlp setcharge 40 80' to change when charging start -and stop. I've done so now, but expect my existing battery is toast -and need to be replaced. The proposal is unfortunately Thinkpad -specific.</p> + Epost inn som arkivformat i Riksarkivarens forskrift? + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Epost_inn_som_arkivformat_i_Riksarkivarens_forskrift_.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Epost_inn_som_arkivformat_i_Riksarkivarens_forskrift_.html + Thu, 27 Apr 2017 11:30:00 +0200 + <p>I disse dager, med frist 1. mai, har Riksarkivaren ute en høring på +sin forskrift. Som en kan se er det ikke mye tid igjen før fristen +som går ut på søndag. Denne forskriften er det som lister opp hvilke +formater det er greit å arkivere i +<a href="http://www.arkivverket.no/arkivverket/Offentleg-forvalting/Noark/Noark-5">Noark +5-løsninger</a> i Norge.</p> + +<p>Jeg fant høringsdokumentene hos +<a href="https://www.arkivrad.no/aktuelt/riksarkivarens-forskrift-pa-horing">Norsk +Arkivråd</a> etter å ha blitt tipset på epostlisten til +<a href="https://github.com/hiOA-ABI/nikita-noark5-core">fri +programvareprosjektet Nikita Noark5-Core</a>, som lager et Noark 5 +Tjenestegresesnitt. Jeg er involvert i Nikita-prosjektet og takket +være min interesse for tjenestegrensesnittsprosjektet har jeg lest en +god del Noark 5-relaterte dokumenter, og til min overraskelse oppdaget +at standard epost ikke er på listen over godkjente formater som kan +arkiveres. Høringen med frist søndag er en glimrende mulighet til å +forsøke å gjøre noe med det. Jeg holder på med +<a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/noark5-tester/blob/master/docs/hoering-arkivforskrift.tex">egen +høringsuttalelse</a>, og lurer på om andre er interessert i å støtte +forslaget om å tillate arkivering av epost som epost i arkivet.</p> + +<p>Er du igang med å skrive egen høringsuttalelse allerede? I så fall +kan du jo vurdere å ta med en formulering om epost-lagring. Jeg tror +ikke det trengs så mye. Her et kort forslag til tekst:</p> + +<p><blockquote> + + <p>Viser til høring sendt ut 2017-02-17 (Riksarkivarens referanse + 2016/9840 HELHJO), og tillater oss å sende inn noen innspill om + revisjon av Forskrift om utfyllende tekniske og arkivfaglige + bestemmelser om behandling av offentlige arkiver (Riksarkivarens + forskrift).</p> + + <p>Svært mye av vår kommuikasjon foregår i dag på e-post.  Vi + foreslår derfor at Internett-e-post, slik det er beskrevet i IETF + RFC 5322, + <a href="https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc5322">https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc5322</a>. bør + inn som godkjent dokumentformat.  Vi foreslår at forskriftens + oversikt over godkjente dokumentformater ved innlevering i § 5-16 + endres til å ta med Internett-e-post.</p> + +</blockquote></p> + +<p>Som del av arbeidet med tjenestegrensesnitt har vi testet hvordan +epost kan lagres i en Noark 5-struktur, og holder på å skrive et +forslag om hvordan dette kan gjøres som vil bli sendt over til +arkivverket så snart det er ferdig. De som er interesserte kan +<a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/noark5-tester/blob/master/docs/epostlagring.md">følge +fremdriften på web</a>.</p> + +<p>Oppdatering 2017-04-28: I dag ble høringuttalelsen jeg skrev + <a href="https://www.nuug.no/news/NUUGs_h_ringuttalelse_til_Riksarkivarens_forskrift.shtml">sendt + inn av foreningen NUUG</a>.</p> - Book cover for the Free Culture book finally done - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Book_cover_for_the_Free_Culture_book_finally_done.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Book_cover_for_the_Free_Culture_book_finally_done.html - Thu, 3 Sep 2015 21:00:00 +0200 - <p>Creating a good looking book cover proved harder than I expected. -I wanted to create a cover looking similar to the original cover of -the -<a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig">Free -Culture</a> book we are translating to Norwegian, and I wanted it in -vector format for high resolution printing. But my inkscape knowledge -were not nearly good enough to pull that off. - -<p>But thanks to the great inkscape community, I was able to wrap up -the cover yesterday evening. I asked on the -<a href="irc://irc.freenode.net/%23inkscape">#inkscape IRC channel</a> -on Freenode for help and clues, and Marc Jeanmougin (Mc-) volunteered -to try to recreate it based on the PDF of the cover from the HTML -version. Not only did he create a -<a href="https://marc.jeanmougin.fr/share/copy1.svg ">SVG document with -the original and his vector version side by side</a>, he even provided -an <a href="https://marc.jeanmougin.fr/share/out-1.ogv">instruction -video</a> explaining how he did it</a>. But the instruction video is -not easy to follow for an untrained inkscape user. The video is a -recording on how he did it, and he is obviously very experienced as -the menu selections are very quick and he mentioned on IRC that he did -use some keyboard shortcuts that can't be seen on the video, but it -give a good idea about the inkscape operations to use to create the -stripes with the embossed copyright sign in the center.</p> - -<p>I took his SVG file, copied the vector image and re-sized it to fit -on the cover I was drawing. I am happy with the end result, and the -current english version look like this:</p> - -<img src="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2015-09-03-free-culture-cover.png" width="70%" align="center"/> - -<p>I am not quite sure about the text on the back, but guess it will -do. I picked three quotes from the official site for the book, and -hope it will work to trigger the interest of potential readers. The -Norwegian cover will look the same, but with the texts and bar code -replaced with the Norwegian version.</p> - -<p>The book is very close to being ready for publication, and I expect -to upload the final draft to Lulu in the next few days and order a -final proof reading copy to verify that everything look like it should -before allowing everyone to order their own copy of Free Culture, in -English or Norwegian Bokmål. I'm waiting to give the the productive -proof readers a chance to complete their work.</p> + Offentlig elektronisk postjournal blokkerer tilgang for utvalgte webklienter + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Offentlig_elektronisk_postjournal_blokkerer_tilgang_for_utvalgte_webklienter.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Offentlig_elektronisk_postjournal_blokkerer_tilgang_for_utvalgte_webklienter.html + Thu, 20 Apr 2017 13:00:00 +0200 + <p>Jeg oppdaget i dag at <a href="https://www.oep.no/">nettstedet som +publiserer offentlige postjournaler fra statlige etater</a>, OEP, har +begynt å blokkerer enkelte typer webklienter fra å få tilgang. Vet +ikke hvor mange det gjelder, men det gjelder i hvert fall libwww-perl +og curl. For å teste selv, kjør følgende:</p> + +<blockquote><pre> +% curl -v -s https://www.oep.no/pub/report.xhtml?reportId=3 2>&1 |grep '< HTTP' +< HTTP/1.1 404 Not Found +% curl -v -s --header 'User-Agent:Opera/12.0' https://www.oep.no/pub/report.xhtml?reportId=3 2>&1 |grep '< HTTP' +< HTTP/1.1 200 OK +% +</pre></blockquote> + +<p>Her kan en se at tjenesten gir «404 Not Found» for curl i +standardoppsettet, mens den gir «200 OK» hvis curl hevder å være Opera +versjon 12.0. Offentlig elektronisk postjournal startet blokkeringen +2017-03-02.</p> + +<p>Blokkeringen vil gjøre det litt vanskeligere å maskinelt hente +informasjon fra oep.no. Kan blokkeringen være gjort for å hindre +automatisert innsamling av informasjon fra OEP, slik Pressens +Offentlighetsutvalg gjorde for å dokumentere hvordan departementene +hindrer innsyn i +<a href="http://presse.no/dette-mener-np/undergraver-offentlighetsloven/">rapporten +«Slik hindrer departementer innsyn» som ble publiserte i januar +2017</a>. Det virker usannsynlig, da det jo er trivielt å bytte +User-Agent til noe nytt.</p> + +<p>Finnes det juridisk grunnlag for det offentlige å diskriminere +webklienter slik det gjøres her? Der tilgang gis eller ikke alt etter +hva klienten sier at den heter? Da OEP eies av DIFI og driftes av +Basefarm, finnes det kanskje noen dokumenter sendt mellom disse to +aktørene man kan be om innsyn i for å forstå hva som har skjedd. Men +<a href="https://www.oep.no/search/result.html?period=dateRange&fromDate=01.01.2016&toDate=01.04.2017&dateType=documentDate&caseDescription=&descType=both&caseNumber=&documentNumber=&sender=basefarm&senderType=both&documentType=all&legalAuthority=&archiveCode=&list2=196&searchType=advanced&Search=Search+in+records">postjournalen +til DIFI viser kun to dokumenter</a> det siste året mellom DIFI og +Basefarm. +<a href="https://www.mimesbronn.no/request/blokkering_av_tilgang_til_oep_fo">Mimes brønn neste</a>, +tenker jeg.</p> - In my hand, a pocket book edition of the Norwegian Free Culture book! - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/In_my_hand__a_pocket_book_edition_of_the_Norwegian_Free_Culture_book_.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/In_my_hand__a_pocket_book_edition_of_the_Norwegian_Free_Culture_book_.html - Wed, 19 Aug 2015 22:10:00 +0200 - <p>Today, finally, my first printed draft edition of the Norwegian -translation of Free Culture I have been working on for the last few -years arrived in the mail. I had to fake a cover to get the interior -printed, and the exterior of the book look awful, but that is -irrelevant at this point. I asked for a printed pocket book version -to get an idea about the font sizes and paper format as well as how -good the figures and images look in print, but also to test what the -pocket book version would look like. After receiving the 500 page -pocket book, it became obvious to me that that pocket book size is too -small for this book. I believe the book is too thick, and several -tables and figures do not look good in the size they get with that -small page sizes. I believe I will go with the 5.5x8.5 inch size -instead. A surprise discovery from the paper version was how bad the -URLs look in print. They are very hard to read in the colophon page. -The URLs are red in the PDF, but light gray on paper. I need to -change the color of links somehow to look better. But there is a -printed book in my hand, and it feels great. :)</p> - -<p>Now I only need to fix the cover, wrap up the postscript with the -store behind the book, and collect the last corrections from the proof -readers before the book is ready for proper printing. Cover artists -willing to work for free and create a Creative Commons licensed vector -file looking similar to the original is most welcome, as my skills as -a graphics designer are mostly missing.</p> + Free software archive system Nikita now able to store documents + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Free_software_archive_system_Nikita_now_able_to_store_documents.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Free_software_archive_system_Nikita_now_able_to_store_documents.html + Sun, 19 Mar 2017 08:00:00 +0100 + <p>The <a href="https://github.com/hiOA-ABI/nikita-noark5-core">Nikita +Noark 5 core project</a> is implementing the Norwegian standard for +keeping an electronic archive of government documents. +<a href="http://www.arkivverket.no/arkivverket/Offentlig-forvaltning/Noark/Noark-5/English-version">The +Noark 5 standard</a> document the requirement for data systems used by +the archives in the Norwegian government, and the Noark 5 web interface +specification document a REST web service for storing, searching and +retrieving documents and metadata in such archive. I've been involved +in the project since a few weeks before Christmas, when the Norwegian +Unix User Group +<a href="https://www.nuug.no/news/NOARK5_kjerne_som_fri_programvare_f_r_epostliste_hos_NUUG.shtml">announced +it supported the project</a>. I believe this is an important project, +and hope it can make it possible for the government archives in the +future to use free software to keep the archives we citizens depend +on. But as I do not hold such archive myself, personally my first use +case is to store and analyse public mail journal metadata published +from the government. I find it useful to have a clear use case in +mind when developing, to make sure the system scratches one of my +itches.</p> + +<p>If you would like to help make sure there is a free software +alternatives for the archives, please join our IRC channel +(<a href="irc://irc.freenode.net/%23nikita"">#nikita on +irc.freenode.net</a>) and +<a href="https://lists.nuug.no/mailman/listinfo/nikita-noark">the +project mailing list</a>.</p> + +<p>When I got involved, the web service could store metadata about +documents. But a few weeks ago, a new milestone was reached when it +became possible to store full text documents too. Yesterday, I +completed an implementation of a command line tool +<tt>archive-pdf</tt> to upload a PDF file to the archive using this +API. The tool is very simple at the moment, and find existing +<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fonds">fonds</a>, series and +files while asking the user to select which one to use if more than +one exist. Once a file is identified, the PDF is associated with the +file and uploaded, using the title extracted from the PDF itself. The +process is fairly similar to visiting the archive, opening a cabinet, +locating a file and storing a piece of paper in the archive. Here is +a test run directly after populating the database with test data using +our API tester:</p> + +<p><blockquote><pre> +~/src//noark5-tester$ ./archive-pdf mangelmelding/mangler.pdf +using arkiv: Title of the test fonds created 2017-03-18T23:49:32.103446 +using arkivdel: Title of the test series created 2017-03-18T23:49:32.103446 + + 0 - Title of the test case file created 2017-03-18T23:49:32.103446 + 1 - Title of the test file created 2017-03-18T23:49:32.103446 +Select which mappe you want (or search term): 0 +Uploading mangelmelding/mangler.pdf + PDF title: Mangler i spesifikasjonsdokumentet for NOARK 5 Tjenestegrensesnitt + File 2017/1: Title of the test case file created 2017-03-18T23:49:32.103446 +~/src//noark5-tester$ +</pre></blockquote></p> + +<p>You can see here how the fonds (arkiv) and serie (arkivdel) only had +one option, while the user need to choose which file (mappe) to use +among the two created by the API tester. The <tt>archive-pdf</tt> +tool can be found in the git repository for the API tester.</p> + +<p>In the project, I have been mostly working on +<a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/noark5-tester">the API +tester</a> so far, while getting to know the code base. The API +tester currently use +<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HATEOAS">the HATEOAS links</a> +to traverse the entire exposed service API and verify that the exposed +operations and objects match the specification, as well as trying to +create objects holding metadata and uploading a simple XML file to +store. The tester has proved very useful for finding flaws in our +implementation, as well as flaws in the reference site and the +specification.</p> + +<p>The test document I uploaded is a summary of all the specification +defects we have collected so far while implementing the web service. +There are several unclear and conflicting parts of the specification, +and we have +<a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/noark5-tester/tree/master/mangelmelding">started +writing down</a> the questions we get from implementing it. We use a +format inspired by how <a href="http://www.opengroup.org/austin/">The +Austin Group</a> collect defect reports for the POSIX standard with +<a href="http://www.opengroup.org/austin/mantis.html">their +instructions for the MANTIS defect tracker system</a>, in lack of an official way to structure defect reports for Noark 5 (our first submitted defect report was a <a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/noark5-tester/blob/master/mangelmelding/sendt/2017-03-15-mangel-prosess.md">request for a procedure for submitting defect reports</a> :). + +<p>The Nikita project is implemented using Java and Spring, and is +fairly easy to get up and running using Docker containers for those +that want to test the current code base. The API tester is +implemented in Python.</p> - First paper version of the Norwegian Free Culture book heading my way - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/First_paper_version_of_the_Norwegian_Free_Culture_book_heading_my_way.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/First_paper_version_of_the_Norwegian_Free_Culture_book_heading_my_way.html - Sun, 9 Aug 2015 10:15:00 +0200 - <p>Typesetting a book is harder than I hoped. As the translation is -mostly done, and a volunteer proof reader was going to check the text -on paper, it was time this summer to focus on formatting my translated -<a href="http://www.docbook.org/">docbook</a> based version of the -<a href="http://free-culture.cc/">Free Culture</a> book by Lawrence -Lessig. I've been trying to get both docboox-xsl+fop and dblatex to -give me a good looking PDF, but in the end I went with dblatex, because -its Debian maintainer and upstream developer were responsive and very -helpful in solving my formatting challenges.</p> - -<p>Last night, I finally managed to create a PDF that no longer made -<a href="http://www.lulu.com/">Lulu.com</a> complain after uploading, -and I ordered a text version of the book on paper. It is lacking a -proper book cover and is not tagged with the correct ISBN number, but -should give me an idea what the finished book will look like.</p> - -<p>Instead of using Lulu, I did consider printing the book using -<a href="http://www.createspace.com/">CreateSpace</a>, but ended up -using Lulu because it had smaller book size options (CreateSpace seem -to lack pocket book with extended distribution). I looked for a -similar service in Norway, but have not seen anything so far. Please -let me know if I am missing out on something here.</p> - -<p>But I still struggle to decide the book size. Should I go for -pocket book (4.25x6.875 inches / 10.8x17.5 cm) with 556 pages, Digest -(5.5x8.5 inches / 14x21.6 cm) with 323 pages or US Trade (6x8 inches / -15.3x22.9 cm) with 280 pages? Fewer pager give a cheaper book, and a -smaller book is easier to carry around. The test book I ordered was -pocket book sized, to give me an idea how well that fit in my hand, -but I suspect I will end up using a digest sized book in the end to -bring the prize down further.</p> - -<p>My biggest challenge at the moment is making nice cover art. My -inkscape skills are not yet up to the task of replicating the original -cover in SVG format. I also need to figure out what to write about -the book on the back (will most likely use the same text as the -description on web based book stores). I would love help with this, -if you are willing to license the art source and final version using -the same CC license as the book. My artistic skills are not really up -to the task.</p> - -<p>I plan to publish the book in both English and Norwegian and on -paper, in PDF form as well as EPUB and MOBI format. The current -status can as usual be found on -<a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig">github</a> -in the archive/ directory. So far I have spent all time on making the -PDF version look good. Someone should probably do the same with the -dbtoepub generated e-book. Help is definitely needed here, as I -expect to run out of steem before I find time to improve the epub -formatting.</p> - -<p>Please let me know via github if you find typos in the book or -discover translations that should be improved. The final proof -reading is being done right now, and I expect to publish the finished -result in a few months.</p> + Detecting NFS hangs on Linux without hanging yourself... + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Detecting_NFS_hangs_on_Linux_without_hanging_yourself___.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Detecting_NFS_hangs_on_Linux_without_hanging_yourself___.html + Thu, 9 Mar 2017 15:20:00 +0100 + <p>Over the years, administrating thousand of NFS mounting linux +computers at the time, I often needed a way to detect if the machine +was experiencing NFS hang. If you try to use <tt>df</tt> or look at a +file or directory affected by the hang, the process (and possibly the +shell) will hang too. So you want to be able to detect this without +risking the detection process getting stuck too. It has not been +obvious how to do this. When the hang has lasted a while, it is +possible to find messages like these in dmesg:</p> + +<p><blockquote> +nfs: server nfsserver not responding, still trying +<br>nfs: server nfsserver OK +</blockquote></p> + +<p>It is hard to know if the hang is still going on, and it is hard to +be sure looking in dmesg is going to work. If there are lots of other +messages in dmesg the lines might have rotated out of site before they +are noticed.</p> + +<p>While reading through the nfs client implementation in linux kernel +code, I came across some statistics that seem to give a way to detect +it. The om_timeouts sunrpc value in the kernel will increase every +time the above log entry is inserted into dmesg. And after digging a +bit further, I discovered that this value show up in +/proc/self/mountstats on Linux.</p> + +<p>The mountstats content seem to be shared between files using the +same file system context, so it is enough to check one of the +mountstats files to get the state of the mount point for the machine. +I assume this will not show lazy umounted NFS points, nor NFS mount +points in a different process context (ie with a different filesystem +view), but that does not worry me.</p> + +<p>The content for a NFS mount point look similar to this:</p> + +<p><blockquote><pre> +[...] +device /dev/mapper/Debian-var mounted on /var with fstype ext3 +device nfsserver:/mnt/nfsserver/home0 mounted on /mnt/nfsserver/home0 with fstype nfs statvers=1.1 + opts: rw,vers=3,rsize=65536,wsize=65536,namlen=255,acregmin=3,acregmax=60,acdirmin=30,acdirmax=60,soft,nolock,proto=tcp,timeo=600,retrans=2,sec=sys,mountaddr=129.240.3.145,mountvers=3,mountport=4048,mountproto=udp,local_lock=all + age: 7863311 + caps: caps=0x3fe7,wtmult=4096,dtsize=8192,bsize=0,namlen=255 + sec: flavor=1,pseudoflavor=1 + events: 61063112 732346265 1028140 35486205 16220064 8162542 761447191 71714012 37189 3891185 45561809 110486139 4850138 420353 15449177 296502 52736725 13523379 0 52182 9016896 1231 0 0 0 0 0 + bytes: 166253035039 219519120027 0 0 40783504807 185466229638 11677877 45561809 + RPC iostats version: 1.0 p/v: 100003/3 (nfs) + xprt: tcp 925 1 6810 0 0 111505412 111480497 109 2672418560317 0 248 53869103 22481820 + per-op statistics + NULL: 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 + GETATTR: 61063106 61063108 0 9621383060 6839064400 453650 77291321 78926132 + SETATTR: 463469 463470 0 92005440 66739536 63787 603235 687943 + LOOKUP: 17021657 17021657 0 3354097764 4013442928 57216 35125459 35566511 + ACCESS: 14281703 14290009 5 2318400592 1713803640 1709282 4865144 7130140 + READLINK: 125 125 0 20472 18620 0 1112 1118 + READ: 4214236 4214237 0 715608524 41328653212 89884 22622768 22806693 + WRITE: 8479010 8494376 22 187695798568 1356087148 178264904 51506907 231671771 + CREATE: 171708 171708 0 38084748 46702272 873 1041833 1050398 + MKDIR: 3680 3680 0 773980 993920 26 23990 24245 + SYMLINK: 903 903 0 233428 245488 6 5865 5917 + MKNOD: 80 80 0 20148 21760 0 299 304 + REMOVE: 429921 429921 0 79796004 61908192 3313 2710416 2741636 + RMDIR: 3367 3367 0 645112 484848 22 5782 6002 + RENAME: 466201 466201 0 130026184 121212260 7075 5935207 5961288 + LINK: 289155 289155 0 72775556 67083960 2199 2565060 2585579 + READDIR: 2933237 2933237 0 516506204 13973833412 10385 3190199 3297917 + READDIRPLUS: 1652839 1652839 0 298640972 6895997744 84735 14307895 14448937 + FSSTAT: 6144 6144 0 1010516 1032192 51 9654 10022 + FSINFO: 2 2 0 232 328 0 1 1 + PATHCONF: 1 1 0 116 140 0 0 0 + COMMIT: 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 + +device binfmt_misc mounted on /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc with fstype binfmt_misc +[...] +</pre></blockquote></p> + +<p>The key number to look at is the third number in the per-op list. +It is the number of NFS timeouts experiences per file system +operation. Here 22 write timeouts and 5 access timeouts. If these +numbers are increasing, I believe the machine is experiencing NFS +hang. Unfortunately the timeout value do not start to increase right +away. The NFS operations need to time out first, and this can take a +while. The exact timeout value depend on the setup. For example the +defaults for TCP and UDP mount points are quite different, and the +timeout value is affected by the soft, hard, timeo and retrans NFS +mount options.</p> + +<p>The only way I have been able to get working on Debian and RedHat +Enterprise Linux for getting the timeout count is to peek in /proc/. +But according to +<ahref="http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E19253-01/816-4555/netmonitor-12/index.html">Solaris +10 System Administration Guide: Network Services</a>, the 'nfsstat -c' +command can be used to get these timeout values. But this do not work +on Linux, as far as I can tell. I +<ahref="http://bugs.debian.org/857043">asked Debian about this</a>, +but have not seen any replies yet.</p> + +<p>Is there a better way to figure out if a Linux NFS client is +experiencing NFS hangs? Is there a way to detect which processes are +affected? Is there a way to get the NFS mount going quickly once the +network problem causing the NFS hang has been cleared? I would very +much welcome some clues, as we regularly run into NFS hangs.</p> - Typesetting DocBook footnotes as endnotes with dblatex - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Typesetting_DocBook_footnotes_as_endnotes_with_dblatex.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Typesetting_DocBook_footnotes_as_endnotes_with_dblatex.html - Thu, 16 Jul 2015 18:10:00 +0200 - <p>I'm still working on the Norwegian version of the -<a href="http://free-culture.cc/">Free Culture book by Lawrence -Lessig</a>, and is now working on the final typesetting and layout. -One of the features I want to get the structure similar to the -original book is to typeset the footnotes as endnotes in the notes -chapter. Based on the -<a href="https://bugs.debian.org/685063">feedback from the Debian -maintainer and the dblatex developer</a>, I came up with this recipe I -would like to share with you. The proposal was to create a new LaTeX -class file and add the LaTeX code there, but this is not always -practical, when I want to be able to replace the class using a make -file variable. So my proposal misuses the latex.begindocument XSL -parameter value, to get a small fragment into the correct location in -the generated LaTeX File.</p> - -<p>First, decide where in the DocBook document to place the endnotes, -and add this text there:</p> - -<pre> -&lt;?latex \theendnotes ?&gt; -</pre> - -<p>Next, create a xsl stylesheet file dblatex-endnotes.xsl to add the -code needed to add the endnote instructions in the preamble of the -generated LaTeX document, with content like this:</p> - -<pre> -&lt;?xml version='1.0'?&gt; -&lt;xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" version='1.0'&gt; - &lt;xsl:param name="latex.begindocument"&gt; - &lt;xsl:text&gt; -\usepackage{endnotes} -\let\footnote=\endnote -\def\enoteheading{\mbox{}\par\vskip-\baselineskip } -\begin{document} - &lt;/xsl:text&gt; - &lt;/xsl:param&gt; -&lt;/xsl:stylesheet&gt; -</pre> - -<p>Finally, load this xsl file when running dblatex, for example like -this:</p> - -<pre> -dblatex --xsl-user=dblatex-endnotes.xsl freeculture.nb.xml -</pre> - -<p>The end result can be seen on github, where -<a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig">my -book project</a> is located.</p> + How does it feel to be wiretapped, when you should be doing the wiretapping... + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/How_does_it_feel_to_be_wiretapped__when_you_should_be_doing_the_wiretapping___.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/How_does_it_feel_to_be_wiretapped__when_you_should_be_doing_the_wiretapping___.html + Wed, 8 Mar 2017 11:50:00 +0100 + <p>So the new president in the United States of America claim to be +surprised to discover that he was wiretapped during the election +before he was elected president. He even claim this must be illegal. +Well, doh, if it is one thing the confirmations from Snowden +documented, it is that the entire population in USA is wiretapped, one +way or another. Of course the president candidates were wiretapped, +alongside the senators, judges and the rest of the people in USA.</p> + +<p>Next, the Federal Bureau of Investigation ask the Department of +Justice to go public rejecting the claims that Donald Trump was +wiretapped illegally. I fail to see the relevance, given that I am +sure the surveillance industry in USA believe they have all the legal +backing they need to conduct mass surveillance on the entire +world.</p> + +<p>There is even the director of the FBI stating that he never saw an +order requesting wiretapping of Donald Trump. That is not very +surprising, given how the FISA court work, with all its activity being +secret. Perhaps he only heard about it?</p> + +<p>What I find most sad in this story is how Norwegian journalists +present it. In a news reports the other day in the radio from the +Norwegian National broadcasting Company (NRK), I heard the journalist +claim that 'the FBI denies any wiretapping', while the reality is that +'the FBI denies any illegal wiretapping'. There is a fundamental and +important difference, and it make me sad that the journalists are +unable to grasp it.</p> + +<p><strong>Update 2017-03-13:</strong> Look like +<a href="https://theintercept.com/2017/03/13/rand-paul-is-right-nsa-routinely-monitors-americans-communications-without-warrants/">The +Intercept report that US Senator Rand Paul confirm what I state above</a>.</p> - Mimes brønn, norsk utgave av Alaveteli / WhatDoTheyKnow, endelig lansert - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Mimes_br_nn__norsk_utgave_av_Alaveteli___WhatDoTheyKnow__endelig_lansert.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Mimes_br_nn__norsk_utgave_av_Alaveteli___WhatDoTheyKnow__endelig_lansert.html - Thu, 9 Jul 2015 11:40:00 +0200 - <p>I går fikk vi endelig lansert en norsk version av mySocietys -<a href="https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/">WhatDoTheyKnow</a>. -Tjenesten heter Mimes brønn, og ble -<a href="http://www.nuug.no/news/NUUG_lanserer_innsynstjenesten_Mimes_Br_nn.shtml">annonsert -av NUUG</a> via blogg, epost og twitter til NUUG-assosierte personer. -Det har tatt noen år, men de siste dagene fikk vi endelig tid til å få -på plass de siste bitene. Vi er to, Gorm og meg selv, som har vært -primus motor for det hele, men vi har fått hjelp med oversettelser og -oppsett fra mange flere. Jeg vil si tusen takk til hver og en av dem, -og er veldig fornøyd med at vi klarte å få tjenesten opp å kjøre før -ferietiden slo inn for fullt.</p> - -<p>Vi er usikker på hvor mye belastning den virtuelle maskinen der -tjenesten kjører klarer, så vi har lansert litt i det stille og ikke -til for mange folk for å se hvordan maskinen klarer seg over sommeren, -før vi går mer aktivt ut og annonserer til høsten. Ta en titt, og se -om du kanskje har et spørsmål til det offentlige som er egnet å sende -inn via Mimes brønn.</p> - -<p>Hvis du lurer på hva i alle dager en slik tjenestes kan brukes til, -anbefaler jeg deg å se -<a href="http://beta.frikanalen.no/video/625321">TED-foredraget til -Heather Brook</a> om hvordan hun brukte WhatDoTheyKnow til å lære -hvordan offentlige midler ble misbrukt. Det er en inspirerende -historie.</p> + Norwegian Bokmål translation of The Debian Administrator's Handbook complete, proofreading in progress + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Norwegian_Bokm_l_translation_of_The_Debian_Administrator_s_Handbook_complete__proofreading_in_progress.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Norwegian_Bokm_l_translation_of_The_Debian_Administrator_s_Handbook_complete__proofreading_in_progress.html + Fri, 3 Mar 2017 14:50:00 +0100 + <p>For almost a year now, we have been working on making a Norwegian +Bokmål edition of <a href="https://debian-handbook.info/">The Debian +Administrator's Handbook</a>. Now, thanks to the tireless effort of +Ole-Erik, Ingrid and Andreas, the initial translation is complete, and +we are working on the proof reading to ensure consistent language and +use of correct computer science terms. The plan is to make the book +available on paper, as well as in electronic form. For that to +happen, the proof reading must be completed and all the figures need +to be translated. If you want to help out, get in touch.</p> + +<p><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/debian-handbook/debian-handbook-nb-NO.pdf">A + +fresh PDF edition</a> in A4 format (the final book will have smaller +pages) of the book created every morning is available for +proofreading. If you find any errors, please +<a href="https://hosted.weblate.org/projects/debian-handbook/">visit +Weblate and correct the error</a>. The +<a href="http://l.github.io/debian-handbook/stat/nb-NO/index.html">state +of the translation including figures</a> is a useful source for those +provide Norwegian bokmål screen shots and figures.</p> - MPEG LA on "Internet Broadcast AVC Video" licensing and non-private use - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/MPEG_LA_on__Internet_Broadcast_AVC_Video__licensing_and_non_private_use.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/MPEG_LA_on__Internet_Broadcast_AVC_Video__licensing_and_non_private_use.html - Tue, 7 Jul 2015 09:50:00 +0200 - <p>After asking the Norwegian Broadcasting Company (NRK) -<a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Hva_gj_r_at_NRK_kan_distribuere_H_264_video_uten_patentavtale_med_MPEG_LA_.html">why -they can broadcast and stream H.264 video without an agreement with -the MPEG LA</a>, I was wiser, but still confused. So I asked MPEG LA -if their understanding matched that of NRK. As far as I can tell, it -does not.</p> - -<p>I started by asking for more information about the various -licensing classes and what exactly is covered by the "Internet -Broadcast AVC Video" class that NRK pointed me at to explain why NRK -did not need a license for streaming H.264 video: - -<p><blockquote> - -<p>According to -<a href="http://www.mpegla.com/Lists/MPEG%20LA%20News%20List/Attachments/226/n-10-02-02.pdf">a -MPEG LA press release dated 2010-02-02</a>, there is no charge when -using MPEG AVC/H.264 according to the terms of "Internet Broadcast AVC -Video". I am trying to understand exactly what the terms of "Internet -Broadcast AVC Video" is, and wondered if you could help me. What -exactly is covered by these terms, and what is not?</p> - -<p>The only source of more information I have been able to find is a -PDF named -<a href="http://www.mpegla.com/main/programs/avc/Documents/avcweb.pdf">AVC -Patent Portfolio License Briefing</a>, which states this about the -fees:</p> - -<ul> - <li>Where End User pays for AVC Video - <ul> - <li>Subscription (not limited by title) – 100,000 or fewer - subscribers/yr = no royalty; &gt; 100,000 to 250,000 subscribers/yr = - $25,000; &gt;250,000 to 500,000 subscribers/yr = $50,000; &gt;500,000 to - 1M subscribers/yr = $75,000; &gt;1M subscribers/yr = $100,000</li> - - <li>Title-by-Title - 12 minutes or less = no royalty; &gt;12 minutes in - length = lower of (a) 2% or (b) $0.02 per title</li> - </ul></li> - - <li>Where remuneration is from other sources - <ul> - <li>Free Television - (a) one-time $2,500 per transmission encoder or - (b) annual fee starting at $2,500 for &gt; 100,000 HH rising to - maximum $10,000 for &gt;1,000,000 HH</li> - - <li>Internet Broadcast AVC Video (not title-by-title, not subscription) - – no royalty for life of the AVC Patent Portfolio License</li> - </ul></li> -</ul> - -<p>Am I correct in assuming that the four categories listed is the -categories used when selecting licensing terms, and that "Internet -Broadcast AVC Video" is the category for things that do not fall into -one of the other three categories? Can you point me to a good source -explaining what is ment by "title-by-title" and "Free Television" in -the license terms for AVC/H.264?</p> - -<p>Will a web service providing H.264 encoded video content in a -"video on demand" fashing similar to Youtube and Vimeo, where no -subscription is required and no payment is required from end users to -get access to the videos, fall under the terms of the "Internet -Broadcast AVC Video", ie no royalty for life of the AVC Patent -Portfolio license? Does it matter if some users are subscribed to get -access to personalized services?</p> - -<p>Note, this request and all answers will be published on the -Internet.</p> -</blockquote></p> - -<p>The answer came quickly from Benjamin J. Myers, Licensing Associate -with the MPEG LA:</p> - -<p><blockquote> -<p>Thank you for your message and for your interest in MPEG LA. We -appreciate hearing from you and I will be happy to assist you.</p> - -<p>As you are aware, MPEG LA offers our AVC Patent Portfolio License -which provides coverage under patents that are essential for use of -the AVC/H.264 Standard (MPEG-4 Part 10). Specifically, coverage is -provided for end products and video content that make use of AVC/H.264 -technology. Accordingly, the party offering such end products and -video to End Users concludes the AVC License and is responsible for -paying the applicable royalties.</p> - -<p>Regarding Internet Broadcast AVC Video, the AVC License generally -defines such content to be video that is distributed to End Users over -the Internet free-of-charge. Therefore, if a party offers a service -which allows users to upload AVC/H.264 video to its website, and such -AVC Video is delivered to End Users for free, then such video would -receive coverage under the sublicense for Internet Broadcast AVC -Video, which is not subject to any royalties for the life of the AVC -License. This would also apply in the scenario where a user creates a -free online account in order to receive a customized offering of free -AVC Video content. In other words, as long as the End User is given -access to or views AVC Video content at no cost to the End User, then -no royalties would be payable under our AVC License.</p> - -<p>On the other hand, if End Users pay for access to AVC Video for a -specific period of time (e.g., one month, one year, etc.), then such -video would constitute Subscription AVC Video. In cases where AVC -Video is delivered to End Users on a pay-per-view basis, then such -content would constitute Title-by-Title AVC Video. If a party offers -Subscription or Title-by-Title AVC Video to End Users, then they would -be responsible for paying the applicable royalties you noted below.</p> - -<p>Finally, in the case where AVC Video is distributed for free -through an "over-the-air, satellite and/or cable transmission", then -such content would constitute Free Television AVC Video and would be -subject to the applicable royalties.</p> - -<p>For your reference, I have attached -<a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2015-07-07-mpegla.pdf">a -.pdf copy of the AVC License</a>. You will find the relevant -sublicense information regarding AVC Video in Sections 2.2 through -2.5, and the corresponding royalties in Section 3.1.2 through 3.1.4. -You will also find the definitions of Title-by-Title AVC Video, -Subscription AVC Video, Free Television AVC Video, and Internet -Broadcast AVC Video in Section 1 of the License. Please note that the -electronic copy is provided for informational purposes only and cannot -be used for execution.</p> - -<p>I hope the above information is helpful. If you have additional -questions or need further assistance with the AVC License, please feel -free to contact me directly.</p> -</blockquote></p> - -<p>Having a fresh copy of the license text was useful, and knowing -that the definition of Title-by-Title required payment per title made -me aware that my earlier understanding of that phrase had been wrong. -But I still had a few questions:</p> - -<p><blockquote> -<p>I have a small followup question. Would it be possible for me to get -a license with MPEG LA even if there are no royalties to be paid? The -reason I ask, is that some video related products have a copyright -clause limiting their use without a license with MPEG LA. The clauses -typically look similar to this: - -<p><blockquote> - This product is licensed under the AVC patent portfolio license for - the personal and non-commercial use of a consumer to (a) encode - video in compliance with the AVC standard ("AVC video") and/or (b) - decode AVC video that was encoded by a consumer engaged in a - personal and non-commercial activity and/or AVC video that was - obtained from a video provider licensed to provide AVC video. No - license is granted or shall be implied for any other use. additional - information may be obtained from MPEG LA L.L.C. -</blockquote></p> - -<p>It is unclear to me if this clause mean that I need to enter into -an agreement with MPEG LA to use the product in question, even if -there are no royalties to be paid to MPEG LA. I suspect it will -differ depending on the jurisdiction, and mine is Norway. What is -MPEG LAs view on this?</p> -</blockquote></p> - -<p>According to the answer, MPEG LA believe those using such tools for -non-personal or commercial use need a license with them:</p> - -<p><blockquote> - -<p>With regard to the Notice to Customers, I would like to begin by -clarifying that the Notice from Section 7.1 of the AVC License -reads:</p> - -<p>THIS PRODUCT IS LICENSED UNDER THE AVC PATENT PORTFOLIO LICENSE FOR -THE PERSONAL USE OF A CONSUMER OR OTHER USES IN WHICH IT DOES NOT -RECEIVE REMUNERATION TO (i) ENCODE VIDEO IN COMPLIANCE WITH THE AVC -STANDARD ("AVC VIDEO") AND/OR (ii) DECODE AVC VIDEO THAT WAS ENCODED -BY A CONSUMER ENGAGED IN A PERSONAL ACTIVITY AND/OR WAS OBTAINED FROM -A VIDEO PROVIDER LICENSED TO PROVIDE AVC VIDEO. NO LICENSE IS GRANTED -OR SHALL BE IMPLIED FOR ANY OTHER USE. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION MAY BE -OBTAINED FROM MPEG LA, L.L.C. SEE HTTP://WWW.MPEGLA.COM</p> - -<p>The Notice to Customers is intended to inform End Users of the -personal usage rights (for example, to watch video content) included -with the product they purchased, and to encourage any party using the -product for commercial purposes to contact MPEG LA in order to become -licensed for such use (for example, when they use an AVC Product to -deliver Title-by-Title, Subscription, Free Television or Internet -Broadcast AVC Video to End Users, or to re-Sell a third party's AVC -Product as their own branded AVC Product).</p> - -<p>Therefore, if a party is to be licensed for its use of an AVC -Product to Sell AVC Video on a Title-by-Title, Subscription, Free -Television or Internet Broadcast basis, that party would need to -conclude the AVC License, even in the case where no royalties were -payable under the License. On the other hand, if that party (either a -Consumer or business customer) simply uses an AVC Product for their -own internal purposes and not for the commercial purposes referenced -above, then such use would be included in the royalty paid for the AVC -Products by the licensed supplier.</p> - -<p>Finally, I note that our AVC License provides worldwide coverage in -countries that have AVC Patent Portfolio Patents, including -Norway.</p> - -<p>I hope this clarification is helpful. If I may be of any further -assistance, just let me know.</p> -</blockquote></p> - -<p>The mentioning of Norwegian patents made me a bit confused, so I -asked for more information:</p> - -<p><blockquote> - -<p>But one minor question at the end. If I understand you correctly, -you state in the quote above that there are patents in the AVC Patent -Portfolio that are valid in Norway. This make me believe I read the -list available from &lt;URL: -<a href="http://www.mpegla.com/main/programs/AVC/Pages/PatentList.aspx">http://www.mpegla.com/main/programs/AVC/Pages/PatentList.aspx</a> -&gt; incorrectly, as I believed the "NO" prefix in front of patents -were Norwegian patents, and the only one I could find under Mitsubishi -Electric Corporation expired in 2012. Which patents are you referring -to that are relevant for Norway?</p> - -</blockquote></p> - -<p>Again, the quick answer explained how to read the list of patents -in that list:</p> - -<p><blockquote> - -<p>Your understanding is correct that the last AVC Patent Portfolio -Patent in Norway expired on 21 October 2012. Therefore, where AVC -Video is both made and Sold in Norway after that date, then no -royalties would be payable for such AVC Video under the AVC License. -With that said, our AVC License provides historic coverage for AVC -Products and AVC Video that may have been manufactured or Sold before -the last Norwegian AVC patent expired. I would also like to clarify -that coverage is provided for the country of manufacture and the -country of Sale that has active AVC Patent Portfolio Patents.</p> - -<p>Therefore, if a party offers AVC Products or AVC Video for Sale in -a country with active AVC Patent Portfolio Patents (for example, -Sweden, Denmark, Finland, etc.), then that party would still need -coverage under the AVC License even if such products or video are -initially made in a country without active AVC Patent Portfolio -Patents (for example, Norway). Similarly, a party would need to -conclude the AVC License if they make AVC Products or AVC Video in a -country with active AVC Patent Portfolio Patents, but eventually Sell -such AVC Products or AVC Video in a country without active AVC Patent -Portfolio Patents.</p> -</blockquote></p> - -<p>As far as I understand it, MPEG LA believe anyone using Adobe -Premiere and other video related software with a H.264 distribution -license need a license agreement with MPEG LA to use such tools for -anything non-private or commercial, while it is OK to set up a -Youtube-like service as long as no-one pays to get access to the -content. I still have no clear idea how this applies to Norway, where -none of the patents MPEG LA is licensing are valid. Will the -copyright terms take precedence or can those terms be ignored because -the patents are not valid in Norway?</p> + Unlimited randomness with the ChaosKey? + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Unlimited_randomness_with_the_ChaosKey_.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Unlimited_randomness_with_the_ChaosKey_.html + Wed, 1 Mar 2017 20:50:00 +0100 + <p>A few days ago I ordered a small batch of +<a href="http://altusmetrum.org/ChaosKey/">the ChaosKey</a>, a small +USB dongle for generating entropy created by Bdale Garbee and Keith +Packard. Yesterday it arrived, and I am very happy to report that it +work great! According to its designers, to get it to work out of the +box, you need the Linux kernel version 4.1 or later. I tested on a +Debian Stretch machine (kernel version 4.9), and there it worked just +fine, increasing the available entropy very quickly. I wrote a small +test oneliner to test. It first print the current entropy level, +drain /dev/random, and then print the entropy level for five seconds. +Here is the situation without the ChaosKey inserted:</p> + +<blockquote><pre> +% cat /proc/sys/kernel/random/entropy_avail; \ + dd bs=1M if=/dev/random of=/dev/null count=1; \ + for n in $(seq 1 5); do \ + cat /proc/sys/kernel/random/entropy_avail; \ + sleep 1; \ + done +300 +0+1 oppføringer inn +0+1 oppføringer ut +28 byte kopiert, 0,000264565 s, 106 kB/s +4 +8 +12 +17 +21 +% +</pre></blockquote> + +<p>The entropy level increases by 3-4 every second. In such case any +application requiring random bits (like a HTTPS enabled web server) +will halt and wait for more entrpy. And here is the situation with +the ChaosKey inserted:</p> + +<blockquote><pre> +% cat /proc/sys/kernel/random/entropy_avail; \ + dd bs=1M if=/dev/random of=/dev/null count=1; \ + for n in $(seq 1 5); do \ + cat /proc/sys/kernel/random/entropy_avail; \ + sleep 1; \ + done +1079 +0+1 oppføringer inn +0+1 oppføringer ut +104 byte kopiert, 0,000487647 s, 213 kB/s +433 +1028 +1031 +1035 +1038 +% +</pre></blockquote> + +<p>Quite the difference. :) I bought a few more than I need, in case +someone want to buy one here in Norway. :)</p> + +<p>Update: The dongle was presented at Debconf last year. You might +find <a href="https://debconf16.debconf.org/talks/94/">the talk +recording illuminating</a>. It explains exactly what the source of +randomness is, if you are unable to spot it from the schema drawing +available from the ChaosKey web site linked at the start of this blog +post.</p> - New laptop - some more clues and ideas based on feedback - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/New_laptop___some_more_clues_and_ideas_based_on_feedback.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/New_laptop___some_more_clues_and_ideas_based_on_feedback.html - Sun, 5 Jul 2015 21:40:00 +0200 - <p>Several people contacted me after my previous blog post about my -need for a new laptop, and provided very useful feedback. I wish to -thank every one of these. Several pointed me to the possibility of -fixing my X230, and I am already in the process of getting Lenovo to -do so thanks to the on site, next day support contract covering the -machine. But the battery is almost useless (I expect to replace it -with a non-official battery) and I do not expect the machine to live -for many more years, so it is time to plan its replacement. If I did -not have a support contract, it was suggested to find replacement parts -using <a href="http://www.francecrans.com/">FrancEcrans</a>, but it -might present a language barrier as I do not understand French.</p> - -<p>One tip I got was to use the -<a href="https://skinflint.co.uk/?cat=nb">Skinflint</a> web service to -compare laptop models. It seem to have more models available than -prisjakt.no. Another tip I got from someone I know have similar -keyboard preferences was that the HP EliteBook 840 keyboard is not -very good, and this matches my experience with earlier EliteBook -keyboards I tested. Because of this, I will not consider it any further. - -<p>When I wrote my blog post, I was not aware of Thinkpad X250, the -newest Thinkpad X model. The keyboard reintroduces mouse buttons -(which is missing from the X240), and is working fairly well with -Debian Sid/Unstable according to -<a href="http://www.corsac.net/X250/">Corsac.net</a>. The reports I -got on the keyboard quality are not consistent. Some say the keyboard -is good, others say it is ok, while others say it is not very good. -Those with experience from X41 and and X60 agree that the X250 -keyboard is not as good as those trusty old laptops, and suggest I -keep and fix my X230 instead of upgrading, or get a used X230 to -replace it. I'm also told that the X250 lack leds for caps lock, disk -activity and battery status, which is very convenient on my X230. I'm -also told that the CPU fan is running very often, making it a bit -noisy. In any case, the X250 do not work out of the box with Debian -Stable/Jessie, one of my requirements.</p> - -<p>I have also gotten a few vendor proposals, one was -<a href="http://pro-star.com">Pro-Star</a>, another was -<a href="http://shop.gluglug.org.uk/product/libreboot-x200/">Libreboot</a>. -The latter look very attractive to me.</p> - -<p>Again, thank you all for the very useful feedback. It help a lot -as I keep looking for a replacement.</p> - -<p>Update 2015-07-06: I was recommended to check out the -<a href="">lapstore.de</a> web shop for used laptops. They got several -different -<a href="http://www.lapstore.de/f.php/shop/lapstore/f/411/lang/x/kw/Lenovo_ThinkPad_X_Serie/">old -thinkpad X models</a>, and provide one year warranty.</p> + Detect OOXML files with undefined behaviour? + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Detect_OOXML_files_with_undefined_behaviour_.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Detect_OOXML_files_with_undefined_behaviour_.html + Tue, 21 Feb 2017 00:20:00 +0100 + <p>I just noticed +<a href="http://www.arkivrad.no/aktuelt/riksarkivarens-forskrift-pa-horing">the +new Norwegian proposal for archiving rules in the goverment</a> list +<a href="http://www.ecma-international.org/publications/standards/Ecma-376.htm">ECMA-376</a> +/ ISO/IEC 29500 (aka OOXML) as valid formats to put in long term +storage. Luckily such files will only be accepted based on +pre-approval from the National Archive. Allowing OOXML files to be +used for long term storage might seem like a good idea as long as we +forget that there are plenty of ways for a "valid" OOXML document to +have content with no defined interpretation in the standard, which +lead to a question and an idea.</p> + +<p>Is there any tool to detect if a OOXML document depend on such +undefined behaviour? It would be useful for the National Archive (and +anyone else interested in verifying that a document is well defined) +to have such tool available when considering to approve the use of +OOXML. I'm aware of the +<a href="https://github.com/arlm/officeotron/">officeotron OOXML +validator</a>, but do not know how complete it is nor if it will +report use of undefined behaviour. Are there other similar tools +available? Please send me an email if you know of any such tool.</p>