Petter Reinholdtsen - Entries from January 2025

Welcome out of prison, Mickey, hope you find some freedom!

Wed, 1 Jan 2025 20:45:00 +0100

- -

Today, the animation figure Mickey Mouse finally was released from -the corporate copyright prison, as the 1928 movie -Steamboat -Willie entered the public domain in USA. This movie was the first -public appearance of Mickey Mouse. Sadly the figure is still on -probation, thanks to trademark laws and a the Disney corporations -powerful pack of lawyers, as described in the 2017 article -in "How -Mickey Mouse Evades the Public Domain" from Priceonomics. On the -positive side, the primary driver for repeated extentions of the -duration of copyright has been Disney thanks to Mickey Mouse and the -2028 movie, and as it now in the public domain I hope it will cause -less urge to extend the already unreasonable long copyright -duration.

- -

The first book I published, the 2004 book "Free Culture" by Lawrence Lessig, -published -2015 in English, French and Norwegian BokmÃ¥l, touch on the story -of Disney pushed for extending the copyright duration in USA. It is a -great book explaining problems with the current copyright regime and -why we need Creative Commons movement, and I strongly recommend -everyone to read it.

- -

This movie (with -IMDB ID tt0019422) -is now available from the Internet Archive. Two copies have been -uploaded so far, one uploaded -2015-11-04 -(torrent) -and the other -2023-01-01 -(torrent). -I am very happy to see -the -number of public domain movies increasing. I look forward to -when those are the majority. Perhaps it will reduce the urge of the -copyright industry to control its customers.

- -

A more -comprehensive -list of works entering the public domain in 2024 is available from -the Public Domain Review.

+ Frokostseminar om Noark 5 i Oslo fredag 2025-03-14 + http://www.hungry.com/~pere/blog/Frokostseminar_om_Noark_5_i_Oslo_fredag_2025_03_14.html + http://www.hungry.com/~pere/blog/Frokostseminar_om_Noark_5_i_Oslo_fredag_2025_03_14.html + Fri, 31 Jan 2025 11:00:00 +0100 +

Nikita-prosjektet, der jeg er involvert, inviterer i samarbeid med +forskningsgruppen METAINFO og foreningen NUUG, til et frokostseminar +om Noark 5 og Noark 5 Tjenestegrensesnitt fredag 2025-03-14. Fokus +denne gangen er pÃ¥ bevaring og kassasjon. Seminaret finner sted ved +OsloMet, Pilestredet 46. Vi hÃ¥per Ã¥ fÃ¥ til videostrÃ¸mming via +Internett av presentasjoner og paneldiskusjon. Oppdatert program og +lenker til pÃ¥meldingsskjema finner en via +arrangementets infoside. Arrangementet er gratis. +

Som vanlig, hvis du bruker Bitcoin og Ã¸nsker Ã¥ vise din stÃ¸tte til +det jeg driver med, setter jeg pris pÃ¥ om du sender Bitcoin-donasjoner +til min adresse +15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b. Merk, +betaling med bitcoin er ikke anonymt. :)

121 packages in Debian mapped to hardware for automatic recommendation

Sun, 19 Jan 2025 12:40:00 +0100

For some years now, I have been working on a automatic hardware +based package recommendation system for Debian and other Linux +distributions. The isenkram system I started on back in 2013 now +consist of two subsystems, one locating firmware files using the +information provided by apt-file, and one matching hardware to +packages using information provided by AppStream. The former is very +similar to the mechanism implemented in debian-installer to pick the +right firmware packages to install. This post is about the latter +system. Thanks to steady progress and good help from both other +Debian and upstream developers, I am happy to report that +the Isenkram +system now are able to recommend 121 packages using information +provided via +AppStream.

+ +

The mapping is done using modalias information provided by the +kernel, the same information used by udev when creating device files, +and the kernel when deciding which kernel modules to load. To get all +the modalias identifiers relevant for your machine, you can run the +following command on the command line:

+ +

+find /sys/devices -name modalias -print0 | xargs -0 sort -u
+

+ +

The modalias identifiers can look something like this:

+ +

+acpi:PNP0000
+cpu:type:x86,ven0000fam0006mod003F:feature:,0000,0001,0002,0003,0004,0005,0006,0007,0008,0009,000B,000C,000D,000E,000F,0010,0011,0013,0015,0016,0017,0018,0019,001A,001B,001C,001D,001F,002B,0034,003A,003B,003D,0068,006B,006C,006D,006F,0070,0072,0074,0075,0076,0078,0079,007C,0080,0081,0082,0083,0084,0085,0086,0087,0088,0089,008B,008C,008D,008E,008F,0091,0092,0093,0094,0095,0096,0097,0098,0099,009A,009B,009C,009D,009E,00C0,00C5,00E1,00E3,00EB,00ED,00F0,00F1,00F3,00F5,00F6,00F9,00FA,00FB,00FD,00FF,0100,0101,0102,0103,0111,0120,0121,0123,0125,0127,0128,0129,012A,012C,012D,0140,0160,0161,0165,016C,017B,01C0,01C1,01C2,01C4,01C5,01C6,01F9,024A,025A,025B,025C,025F,0282
+dmi:bvnDellInc.:bvr2.18.1:bd08/14/2023:br2.18:svnDellInc.:pnPowerEdgeR730:pvr:rvnDellInc.:rn0H21J3:rvrA09:cvnDellInc.:ct23:cvr:skuSKU=NotProvided
+pci:v00008086d00008D3Bsv00001028sd00000600bc07sc80i00
+platform:serial8250
+scsi:t-0x05
+usb:v413CpA001d0000dc09dsc00dp00ic09isc00ip00in00
+

+ +

The entries above are a selection of the complete set available on +a Dell PowerEdge R730 machine I have access to, to give an idea about +the various styles of hardware identifiers presented in the modalias +format. When looking up relevant packages in a Debian Testing +installation on the same R730, I get this list of packages +proposed:

+ +

+% sudo isenkram-lookup
+firmware-bnx2x
+firmware-nvidia-graphics
+firmware-qlogic
+megactl
+wsl
+%
+

+ +

The list consist of firmware packages requested by kernel modules, +as well packages with program to get the status from the RAID +controller and to maintain the LAN console. When the edac-utils +package providing tools to check the ECC RAM status will enter testing +in a few days, it will also show up as a proposal from isenkram. In +addition, once the mfiutil package we uploaded in October get past the +NEW processing, it will also propose a tool to configure the RAID +controller.

+ +

Another example is the trusty old Lenovo Thinkpad X230, which have +hardware handled by several packages in the archive. This is running +on Debian Stable:

+ +

+% isenkram-lookup 
+beignet-opencl-icd
+bluez
+cheese
+ethtool
+firmware-iwlwifi
+firmware-misc-nonfree
+fprintd
+fprintd-demo
+gkrellm-thinkbat
+hdapsd
+libpam-fprintd
+pidgin-blinklight
+thinkfan
+tlp
+tp-smapi-dkms
+tpb
+%
+

+ +

Here there proposal consist of software to handle the camera, +bluetooth, network card, wifi card, GPU, fan, fingerprint reader and +acceleration sensor on the machine.

+ +

Here is the complete set of packages currently providing hardware +mapping via AppStream in Debian Unstable: air-quality-sensor, +alsa-firmware-loaders, antpm, array-info, avarice, avrdude, +bmusb-v4l2proxy, brltty, calibre, colorhug-client, concordance-common, +consolekit, dahdi-firmware-nonfree, dahdi-linux, edac-utils, +eegdev-plugins-free, ekeyd, elogind, firmware-amd-graphics, +firmware-ath9k-htc, firmware-atheros, firmware-b43-installer, +firmware-b43legacy-installer, firmware-bnx2, firmware-bnx2x, +firmware-brcm80211, firmware-carl9170, firmware-cavium, +firmware-intel-graphics, firmware-intel-misc, firmware-ipw2x00, +firmware-ivtv, firmware-iwlwifi, firmware-libertas, +firmware-linux-free, firmware-mediatek, firmware-misc-nonfree, +firmware-myricom, firmware-netronome, firmware-netxen, +firmware-nvidia-graphics, firmware-qcom-soc, firmware-qlogic, +firmware-realtek, firmware-ti-connectivity, fpga-icestorm, g810-led, +galileo, garmin-forerunner-tools, gkrellm-thinkbat, goldencheetah, +gpsman, gpstrans, gqrx-sdr, i8kutils, imsprog, ledger-wallets-udev, +libairspy0, libam7xxx0.1, libbladerf2, libgphoto2-6t64, +libhamlib-utils, libm2k0.9.0, libmirisdr4, libnxt, libopenxr1-monado, +libosmosdr0, librem5-flash-image, librtlsdr0, libticables2-8, +libx52pro0, libykpers-1-1, libyubikey-udev, limesuite, +linuxcnc-uspace, lomoco, madwimax, media-player-info, megactl, mixxx, +mkgmap, msi-keyboard, mu-editor, mustang-plug, nbc, nitrokey-app, nqc, +ola, openfpgaloader, openocd, openrazer-driver-dkms, pcmciautils, +pcscd, pidgin-blinklight, ponyprog, printer-driver-splix, +python-yubico-tools, python3-btchip, qlcplus, rosegarden, scdaemon, +sispmctl, solaar, spectools, sunxi-tools, t2n, thinkfan, tlp, +tp-smapi-dkms, trezor, tucnak, ubertooth, usbrelay, uuu, viking, +w1retap, wsl, xawtv, xinput-calibrator, xserver-xorg-input-wacom and +xtrx-dkms.

+ +

In addition to these, there are several +with +patches pending in the Debian bug tracking system, and even more +where no-one wrote patches yet. Good candiates for the latter are +packages +with +udev rules but no AppStream hardware information.

+ +

The isenkram system consist of two packages, isenkram-cli with the +command line tools, and isenkram with a GUI background process. The +latter will listen for dbus events from udev emitted when new hardware +become available (like when inserting a USB dongle or discovering a +new bluetooth device), look up the modalias entry for this piece of +hardware in AppStream (and a hard coded list of mappings from isenkram +- currently working hard to move this list to AppStream), and pop up a +dialog proposing to install any not already installed packages +supporting this hardware. It work very well today when inserting the +LEGO Mindstorms RCX, NXT and EV3 controllers. :) If you want to make +sure more hardware related packages get recommended, please help out +fixing the remaining packages in Debian to provide AppStream metadata +with hardware mappings.

+ +

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

What is the most supported MIME type in Debian in 2025?

Sat, 18 Jan 2025 10:30:00 +0100

Seven +and +twelve +years ago, I measured what the most supported MIME type in Debian +was, first by analysing the desktop files in all packages in the +archive, then by analysing the DEP-11 AppStream data set. I guess it +is time to repeat the measurement, only for unstable as last time:

+ +

Debian Unstable:

+ +

+  count MIME type
+  ----- -----------------------
+     63 image/png
+     63 image/jpeg
+     57 image/tiff
+     54 image/gif
+     51 image/bmp
+     50 audio/mpeg
+     48 text/plain
+     42 audio/x-mp3
+     40 application/ogg
+     39 audio/x-wav
+     39 audio/x-flac
+     36 audio/x-vorbis+ogg
+     35 audio/x-mpeg
+     34 audio/x-mpegurl
+     34 audio/ogg
+     33 application/x-ogg
+     32 audio/mp4
+     31 audio/x-scpls
+     31 application/pdf
+     29 audio/x-ms-wma
+

+ +

The list was created like this using a sid chroot:

+ +

+cat /var/lib/apt/lists/*sid*_dep11_Components-amd64.yml.gz | \
+  zcat | awk '/^  - \S+\/\S+$/ {print $2 }' | sort | \
+  uniq -c | sort -nr | head -20
+

+ +

It is nice to see that the same number of packages now support PNG +and JPEG. Last time JPEG had more support than PNG. Most of the MIME +types are known to me, but the 'audio/x-scpls' one I have no idea what +represent, except it being an audio format. To find the packages +claiming support for this format, the appstreamcli command from the +appstream package can be used: + +

+% appstreamcli what-provides mediatype audio/x-scpls | grep Package: | sort -u
+Package: alsaplayer-common
+Package: amarok
+Package: audacious
+Package: brasero
+Package: celluloid
+Package: clapper
+Package: clementine
+Package: cynthiune.app
+Package: elisa
+Package: gtranscribe
+Package: kaffeine
+Package: kmplayer
+Package: kylin-burner
+Package: lollypop
+Package: mediaconch-gui
+Package: mediainfo-gui
+Package: mplayer-gui
+Package: mpv
+Package: mystiq
+Package: parlatype
+Package: parole
+Package: pragha
+Package: qmmp
+Package: rhythmbox
+Package: sayonara
+Package: shotcut
+Package: smplayer
+Package: soundconverter
+Package: strawberry
+Package: syncplay
+Package: vlc
+%
+

+ +

Look like several video and auto tools understand the format. +Similarly one can check out the number of packages supporting the STL +format commonly used for 3D printing:

+ +

+% appstreamcli what-provides mediatype model/stl | grep Package: | sort -u
+Package: cura
+Package: freecad
+Package: open3d-viewer
+%
+

+ +

How strange the +slic3r and +prusa-slicer +packages do not support STL. Perhaps just missing package metadata? +Luckily the amount of package metadata in Debian is getting better, +and hopefully this way of locating relevant packages for any file +format will be the preferred one soon. + +

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