Jeg jobber til daglig ved Universitetet -i Oslo, en institusjon som lenge har vektlagt verdien av åpne -standarder og fri programvare. Men noe har endret seg, og for en -liten stund tilbake annonserte USIT at dagens fungerende e-postsystemet -basert på fri programvare skulle byttes ut med Microsoft Exchange og -at Microsoft Outlook skulle bli den best fungerende men antagelig ikke -eneste støttede e-postklienten. Annonseringen har ført til flere -protester og en -underskriftskampanje, initiert av Diana Santos, der så langt 253 -personer har signert. Prosjektet -NIKE (Ny integrert -kalender/e-post) ble initiert for å se på mulige løsninger med -utgangspunkt i at en kombinert epost/kalenderløsning var påkrevd, og -prosjektet -NIKE-implementasjon -er igang med å rulle ut MS Exchange ved Universitetet i Oslo.
- -For kun kort tid siden ble det annonsert at det blir et åpent møte -med ledelsen hos universitetet i Oslo med disse planene som tema:
- -Tid: Onsdag 2013-06-05 kl. 10:00
-
Sted: 9. etasje i Lucy Smiths hus (admin-bygget)
Det kan være en god plass å stille opp hvis en som meg ikke tror -valget av Microsoft Exchange som sentral epostinfrastruktur er et -heldig valg for Norges ledende forskningsuniversitet, men at en er mer -tjent med å selv -beholde -kontrollen over egen infrastruktur.
- -Saken har ført til endel presseoppslag så langt. Her er de jeg har -fått med meg:
- --
-
-
- 2013-05-29 - Forsvarer - nytt IT-system - Universitas - -
- 2013-05-23 - UiO - innfører nytt epost- og kalenderverktøy - Uniforum - - -
- 2013-05-22 - Protestgruppe - vil stanse IT-system - Universitas - - -
- 2013-05-15 - UiO - må ha kontroll over sitt eget epostsystem - Uniforum - -
Continuing my research into mesh networking, I was recommended to +use TP-Link 3040 and 3600 access points as mesh nodes, and the pair I +bought arrived on Friday. Here are my notes on how to set up the +MR3040 as a mesh node using +OpenWrt.
+ +I started by following the instructions on the OpenWRT wiki for +TL-MR3040, +and downloaded +the +recommended firmware image +(openwrt-ar71xx-generic-tl-mr3040-v2-squashfs-factory.bin) and +uploaded it into the original web interface. The flashing went fine, +and the machine was available via telnet on the ethernet port. After +logging in and setting the root password, ssh was available and I +could start to set it up as a batman-adv mesh node.
+ +I started off by reading the instructions from +Wireless +Africa, which had quite a lot of useful information, but +eventually I followed the recipe from the Open Mesh wiki for +using +batman-adv on OpenWrt. A small snag was the fact that the +opkg install kmod-batman-adv command did not work as it +should. The batman-adv kernel module would fail to load because its +dependency crc16 was not already loaded. I +reported the bug to +the openwrt project and hope it will be fixed soon. But the problem +only seem to affect initial testing of batman-adv, as configuration +seem to work when booting from scratch.
+ +The setup is done using files in /etc/config/. I did not bridge +the Ethernet and mesh interfaces this time, to be able to hook up the +box on my local network and log into it for configuration updates. +The following files were changed and look like this after modifying +them:
+ +/etc/config/network
+ ++ +config interface 'loopback' + option ifname 'lo' + option proto 'static' + option ipaddr '127.0.0.1' + option netmask '255.0.0.0' + +config globals 'globals' + option ula_prefix 'fdbf:4c12:3fed::/48' + +config interface 'lan' + option ifname 'eth0' + option type 'bridge' + option proto 'dhcp' + option ipaddr '192.168.1.1' + option netmask '255.255.255.0' + option hostname 'tl-mr3040' + option ip6assign '60' + +config interface 'mesh' + option ifname 'adhoc0' + option mtu '1528' + option proto 'batadv' + option mesh 'bat0' ++ +
/etc/config/wireless
++ +config wifi-device 'radio0' + option type 'mac80211' + option channel '11' + option hwmode '11ng' + option path 'platform/ar933x_wmac' + option htmode 'HT20' + list ht_capab 'SHORT-GI-20' + list ht_capab 'SHORT-GI-40' + list ht_capab 'RX-STBC1' + list ht_capab 'DSSS_CCK-40' + option disabled '0' + +config wifi-iface 'wmesh' + option device 'radio0' + option ifname 'adhoc0' + option network 'mesh' + option encryption 'none' + option mode 'adhoc' + option bssid '02:BA:00:00:00:01' + option ssid 'meshfx@hackeriet' ++
/etc/config/batman-adv
++ +config 'mesh' 'bat0' + option interfaces 'adhoc0' + option 'aggregated_ogms' + option 'ap_isolation' + option 'bonding' + option 'fragmentation' + option 'gw_bandwidth' + option 'gw_mode' + option 'gw_sel_class' + option 'log_level' + option 'orig_interval' + option 'vis_mode' + option 'bridge_loop_avoidance' + option 'distributed_arp_table' + option 'network_coding' + option 'hop_penalty' + +# yet another batX instance +# config 'mesh' 'bat5' +# option 'interfaces' 'second_mesh' ++ +
The mesh node is now operational. I have yet to test its range, +but I hope it is good. I have not yet tested the TP-Link 3600 box +still wrapped up in plastic.
Included in Debian Edu / -Skolelinux, there are quite a lot of educational software. -Created to help teachers teach, and pupils learn. We have tried to -tag them all using debtags use::learning and role::program, and using -the debtags I was happy to be able to create a collage of the -educational software packages installed by default, sorted by the -debtag field. Here it is. Click on a image to learn more about the -program.
- - - -field::arts
- - -field::astronomy
- - -field::biology:structural
- - -field::chemistry
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-[viewmol]
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field::electronics
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-[gpsim]
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If one of the points of switching to a new init system in Debian is +to get rid of huge +init.d scripts, I doubt we need to switch away from sysvinit and +init.d scripts at all. Here is an example init.d script, ie a rewrite +of /etc/init.d/rsyslog:
-field::geography
- ++#!/lib/init/init-d-script +### BEGIN INIT INFO +# Provides: rsyslog +# Required-Start: $remote_fs $time +# Required-Stop: umountnfs $time +# X-Stop-After: sendsigs +# Default-Start: 2 3 4 5 +# Default-Stop: 0 1 6 +# Short-Description: enhanced syslogd +# Description: Rsyslog is an enhanced multi-threaded syslogd. +# It is quite compatible to stock sysklogd and can be +# used as a drop-in replacement. +### END INIT INFO +DESC="enhanced syslogd" +DAEMON=/usr/sbin/rsyslogd +-
field::linguistics
- +Pretty minimalistic to me... For the record, the original sysv-rc +script was 137 lines, and the above is just 15 lines, most of it meta +info/comments.
-field::mathematics
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-
-
-
-
-[geomview]
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-
How to do this, you ask? Well, one create a new script +/lib/init/init-d-script looking something like this: -
field::physics
- ++#!/bin/sh + +# Define LSB log_* functions. +# Depend on lsb-base (>= 3.2-14) to ensure that this file is present +# and status_of_proc is working. +. /lib/lsb/init-functions + +# +# Function that starts the daemon/service + +# +do_start() +{ + # Return + # 0 if daemon has been started + # 1 if daemon was already running + # 2 if daemon could not be started + start-stop-daemon --start --quiet --pidfile $PIDFILE --exec $DAEMON --test > /dev/null \ + || return 1 + start-stop-daemon --start --quiet --pidfile $PIDFILE --exec $DAEMON -- \ + $DAEMON_ARGS \ + || return 2 + # Add code here, if necessary, that waits for the process to be ready + # to handle requests from services started subsequently which depend + # on this one. As a last resort, sleep for some time. +} + +# +# Function that stops the daemon/service +# +do_stop() +{ + # Return + # 0 if daemon has been stopped + # 1 if daemon was already stopped + # 2 if daemon could not be stopped + # other if a failure occurred + start-stop-daemon --stop --quiet --retry=TERM/30/KILL/5 --pidfile $PIDFILE --name $NAME + RETVAL="$?" + [ "$RETVAL" = 2 ] && return 2 + # Wait for children to finish too if this is a daemon that forks + # and if the daemon is only ever run from this initscript. + # If the above conditions are not satisfied then add some other code + # that waits for the process to drop all resources that could be + # needed by services started subsequently. A last resort is to + # sleep for some time. + start-stop-daemon --stop --quiet --oknodo --retry=0/30/KILL/5 --exec $DAEMON + [ "$?" = 2 ] && return 2 + # Many daemons don't delete their pidfiles when they exit. + rm -f $PIDFILE + return "$RETVAL" +} + +# +# Function that sends a SIGHUP to the daemon/service +# +do_reload() { + # + # If the daemon can reload its configuration without + # restarting (for example, when it is sent a SIGHUP), + # then implement that here. + # + start-stop-daemon --stop --signal 1 --quiet --pidfile $PIDFILE --name $NAME + return 0 +} + +SCRIPTNAME=$1 +scriptbasename="$(basename $1)" +echo "SN: $scriptbasename" +if [ "$scriptbasename" != "init-d-library" ] ; then + script="$1" + shift + . $script +else + exit 0 +fi + +NAME=$(basename $DAEMON) +PIDFILE=/var/run/$NAME.pid + +# Exit if the package is not installed +#[ -x "$DAEMON" ] || exit 0 + +# Read configuration variable file if it is present +[ -r /etc/default/$NAME ] && . /etc/default/$NAME + +# Load the VERBOSE setting and other rcS variables +. /lib/init/vars.sh + +case "$1" in + start) + [ "$VERBOSE" != no ] && log_daemon_msg "Starting $DESC" "$NAME" + do_start + case "$?" in + 0|1) [ "$VERBOSE" != no ] && log_end_msg 0 ;; + 2) [ "$VERBOSE" != no ] && log_end_msg 1 ;; + esac + ;; + stop) + [ "$VERBOSE" != no ] && log_daemon_msg "Stopping $DESC" "$NAME" + do_stop + case "$?" in + 0|1) [ "$VERBOSE" != no ] && log_end_msg 0 ;; + 2) [ "$VERBOSE" != no ] && log_end_msg 1 ;; + esac + ;; + status) + status_of_proc "$DAEMON" "$NAME" && exit 0 || exit $? + ;; + #reload|force-reload) + # + # If do_reload() is not implemented then leave this commented out + # and leave 'force-reload' as an alias for 'restart'. + # + #log_daemon_msg "Reloading $DESC" "$NAME" + #do_reload + #log_end_msg $? + #;; + restart|force-reload) + # + # If the "reload" option is implemented then remove the + # 'force-reload' alias + # + log_daemon_msg "Restarting $DESC" "$NAME" + do_stop + case "$?" in + 0|1) + do_start + case "$?" in + 0) log_end_msg 0 ;; + 1) log_end_msg 1 ;; # Old process is still running + *) log_end_msg 1 ;; # Failed to start + esac + ;; + *) + # Failed to stop + log_end_msg 1 + ;; + esac + ;; + *) + echo "Usage: $SCRIPTNAME {start|stop|status|restart|force-reload}" >&2 + exit 3 + ;; +esac + +: +-
field::TODO
- +It is based on /etc/init.d/skeleton, and could be improved quite a +lot. I did not really polish the approach, so it might not always +work out of the box, but you get the idea. I did not try very hard to +optimize it nor make it more robust either.
-In total, 61 applications. 3 of them lacked screen shots on -screenshot.debian.net. If -you know of some packages we should install by default, please let us -know on IRC, #debian-edu -on irc.debian.org, or our -mailing list -debian-edu@.
+A better argument for switching init system in Debian than reducing +the size of init scripts (which is a good thing to do anyway), is to +get boot system that is able to handle the kernel events sensibly and +robustly, and do not depend on the boot to run sequentially. The boot +and the kernel have not behaved sequentially in years.
Two days ago, I asked -how -I could install Linux on a Packard Bell EasyNote LV computer -preinstalled with Windows 8. I found a solution, but am horrified -with the obstacles put in the way of Linux users on a laptop with UEFI -and Windows 8.
- -I never found out if the cause of my problems were the use of UEFI -secure booting or fast boot. I suspect fast boot was the problem, -causing the firmware to boot directly from HD without considering any -key presses and alternative devices, but do not know UEFI settings -enough to tell.
- -There is no way to install Linux on the machine in question without -opening the box and disconnecting the hard drive! This is as far as I -can tell, the only way to get access to the firmware setup menu -without accepting the Windows 8 license agreement. I am told (and -found description on how to) that it is possible to configure the -firmware setup once booted into Windows 8. But as I believe the terms -of that agreement are completely unacceptable, accepting the license -was never an alternative. I do not enter agreements I do not intend -to follow.
- -I feared I had to return the laptops and ask for a refund, and -waste many hours on this, but luckily there was a way to get it to -work. But I would not recommend it to anyone planning to run Linux on -it, and I have become sceptical to Windows 8 certified laptops. Is -this the way Linux will be forced out of the market place, by making -it close to impossible for "normal" users to install Linux without -accepting the Microsoft Windows license terms? Or at least not -without risking to loose the warranty?
- -I've updated the -Linux Laptop -wiki page for Packard Bell EasyNote LV, to ensure the next person -do not have to struggle as much as I did to get Linux into the -machine.
- -Thanks to Bob Rosbag, Florian Weimer, Philipp Kern, Ben Hutching, -Michael Tokarev and others for feedback and ideas.
+ +The SPICE protocol for +remote display access is the preferred solution with oVirt and RedHat +Enterprise Virtualization, and I was sad to discover the other day +that the browser plugin needed to use these systems seamlessly was +missing in Debian. The request +for a package was from 2012-04-10 with no progress since +2013-04-01, so I decided to wrap up a package based on the great work +from Cajus Pollmeier and put it in a collab-maint maintained git +repository to get a package I could use. I would very much like +others to help me maintain the package (or just take over, I do not +mind), but as no-one had volunteered so far, I just uploaded it to +NEW. I hope it will be available in Debian in a few days.
+ +The source is now available from +http://anonscm.debian.org/gitweb/?p=collab-maint/spice-xpi.git;a=summary.