X-Git-Url: http://pere.pagekite.me/gitweb/homepage.git/blobdiff_plain/c9bc299bc5f4c3d8d39656bf5e9117ebad8f85e0..e091c54b5b41495bd50d29a44edb3619effa08a8:/blog/index.rss diff --git a/blog/index.rss b/blog/index.rss index 9a4c3afe11..35669e8e13 100644 --- a/blog/index.rss +++ b/blog/index.rss @@ -7,522 +7,663 @@ - Lawrence Lessig interviewed Edward Snowden a year ago - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Lawrence_Lessig_interviewed_Edward_Snowden_a_year_ago.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Lawrence_Lessig_interviewed_Edward_Snowden_a_year_ago.html - Mon, 19 Oct 2015 11:50:00 +0200 - <p>Last year, <a href="https://lessig2016.us/">US president candidate -in the Democratic Party</a> Lawrence interviewed Edward Snowden. The -one hour interview was -<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_Sr96TFQQE">published by -Harvard Law School 2014-10-23 on Youtube</a>, and the meeting took -place 2014-10-20.</p> - -<p>The questions are very good, and there is lots of useful -information to be learned and very interesting issues to think about -being raised. Please check it out.</p> - -<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/o_Sr96TFQQE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> - -<p>I find it especially interesting to hear again that Snowden did try -to bring up his reservations through the official channels without any -luck. It is in sharp contrast to the answers made 2013-11-06 by the -Norwegian prime minister Erna Solberg to the Norwegian Parliament, -<a href="https://tale.holderdeord.no/speeches/s131106/68">claiming -Snowden is no Whistle-Blower</a> because he should have taken up his -concerns internally and using official channels. It make me sad -that this is the political leadership we have here in Norway.</p> + Aftenposten-redaktøren med lua i hånda + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Aftenposten_redakt_ren_med_lua_i_h_nda.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Aftenposten_redakt_ren_med_lua_i_h_nda.html + Fri, 9 Sep 2016 11:30:00 +0200 + <p>En av dagens nyheter er at Aftenpostens redaktør Espen Egil Hansen +bruker +<a href="https://www.nrk.no/kultur/aftenposten-brukar-heile-forsida-pa-facebook-kritikk-1.13126918">forsiden +av papiravisen på et åpent brev til Facebooks sjef Mark Zuckerberg om +Facebooks fjerning av bilder, tekster og sider de ikke liker</a>. Det +må være uvant for redaktøren i avisen Aftenposten å stå med lua i +handa og håpe på å bli hørt. Spesielt siden Aftenposten har vært med +på å gi Facebook makten de nå demonstrerer at de har. Ved å melde seg +inn i Facebook-samfunnet har de sagt ja til bruksvilkårene og inngått +en antagelig bindende avtale. Kanskje de skulle lest og vurdert +vilkårene litt nærmere før de sa ja, i stedet for å klage over at +reglende de har valgt å akseptere blir fulgt? Personlig synes jeg +vilkårene er uakseptable og det ville ikke falle meg inn å gå inn på +en avtale med slike vilkår. I tillegg til uakseptable vilkår er det +mange andre grunner til å unngå Facebook. Du kan finne en solid +gjennomgang av flere slike argumenter hos +<a href="https://stallman.org/facebook.html">Richard Stallmans side om +Facebook</a>. + +<p>Jeg håper flere norske redaktører på samme vis må stå med lua i +hånden inntil de forstår at de selv er med på å føre samfunnet på +ville veier ved å omfavne Facebook slik de gjør når de omtaler og +løfter frem saker fra Facebook, og tar i bruk Facebook som +distribusjonskanal for sine nyheter. De bidrar til +overvåkningssamfunnet og raderer ut lesernes privatsfære når de lenker +til Facebook på sine sider, og låser seg selv inne i en omgivelse der +det er Facebook, og ikke redaktøren, som sitter med makta.</p> + +<p>Men det vil nok ta tid, i et Norge der de fleste nettredaktører +<a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Snurpenot_overv_kning_av_sensitiv_personinformasjon.html">deler +sine leseres personopplysinger med utenlands etterretning</a>.</p> + +<p>For øvrig burde varsleren Edward Snowden få politisk asyl i +Norge.</p> - The Story of Aaron Swartz - Let us all weep! - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/The_Story_of_Aaron_Swartz___Let_us_all_weep_.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/The_Story_of_Aaron_Swartz___Let_us_all_weep_.html - Thu, 8 Oct 2015 12:10:00 +0200 - <p>The movie "<a href="http://www.takepart.com/internets-own-boy">The -Internet's Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz</a>" is both inspiring -and depressing at the same time. The work of Aaron Swartz has -inspired me in my work, and I am grateful of all the improvements he -was able to initiate or complete. I wish I am able to do as much good -in my life as he did in his. Every minute of this 1:45 long movie is -inspiring in documenting how much impact a single person can have on -improving the society and this world. And it is depressing in -documenting how the law enforcement of USA (and other countries) is -corrupted to a point where they can push a bright kid to his death for -downloading too many scientific articles. Aaron is dead. Let us all -weep.</p> - -<p>The movie is also available on -<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXr-2hwTk58">Youtube</a>. I -wish there were Norwegian subtitles available, so I could show it to -my parents.</p> + E-tjenesten ber om innsyn i eposten til partiene på Stortinget + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/E_tjenesten_ber_om_innsyn_i_eposten_til_partiene_p__Stortinget.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/E_tjenesten_ber_om_innsyn_i_eposten_til_partiene_p__Stortinget.html + Tue, 6 Sep 2016 23:00:00 +0200 + <p>I helga kom det et hårreisende forslag fra Lysne II-utvalget satt +ned av Forsvarsdepartementet. Lysne II-utvalget var bedt om å vurdere +ønskelista til Forsvarets etterretningstjeneste (e-tjenesten), og har +kommet med +<a href="http://www.aftenposten.no/norge/Utvalg-sier-ja-til-at-E-tjenesten-far-overvake-innholdet-i-all-internett--og-telefontrafikk-som-krysser-riksgrensen-603232b.html">forslag +om at e-tjenesten skal få lov til a avlytte all Internett-trafikk</a> +som passerer Norges grenser. Få er klar over at dette innebærer at +e-tjenesten får tilgang til epost sendt til de fleste politiske +partiene på Stortinget. Regjeringspartiet Høyre (@hoyre.no), +støttepartiene Venstre (@venstre.no) og Kristelig Folkeparti (@krf.no) +samt Sosialistisk Ventreparti (@sv.no) og Miljøpartiet de grønne +(@mdg.no) har nemlig alle valgt å ta imot eposten sin via utenlandske +tjenester. Det betyr at hvis noen sender epost til noen med en slik +adresse vil innholdet i eposten, om dette forslaget blir vedtatt, gjøres +tilgjengelig for e-tjenesten. Venstre, Sosialistisk Ventreparti og +Miljøpartiet De Grønne har valgt å motta sin epost hos Google, +Kristelig Folkeparti har valgt å motta sin epost hos Microsoft, og +Høyre har valgt å motta sin epost hos Comendo med mottak i Danmark og +Irland. Kun Arbeiderpartiet og Fremskrittspartiet har valgt å motta +eposten sin i Norge, hos henholdsvis Intility AS og Telecomputing +AS.</p> + +<p>Konsekvensen er at epost inn og ut av de politiske organisasjonene, +til og fra partimedlemmer og partiets tillitsvalgte vil gjøres +tilgjengelig for e-tjenesten for analyse og sortering. Jeg mistenker +at kunnskapen som slik blir tilgjengelig vil være nyttig hvis en +ønsker å vite hvilke argumenter som treffer publikum når en ønsker å +påvirke Stortingets representanter.</p + +<p>Ved hjelp av MX-oppslag i DNS for epost-domene, tilhørende +whois-oppslag av IP-adressene og traceroute for å se hvorvidt +trafikken går via utlandet kan enhver få bekreftet at epost sendt til +de omtalte partiene vil gjøres tilgjengelig for forsvarets +etterretningstjeneste hvis forslaget blir vedtatt. En kan også bruke +den kjekke nett-tjenesten <a href="http://ipinfo.io/">ipinfo.io</a> +for å få en ide om hvor i verden en IP-adresse hører til.</p> + +<p>På den positive siden vil forslaget gjøre at enda flere blir +motivert til å ta grep for å bruke +<a href="https://www.torproject.org/">Tor</a> og krypterte +kommunikasjonsløsninger for å kommunisere med sine kjære, for å sikre +at privatsfæren vernes. Selv bruker jeg blant annet +<a href="https://www.freedomboxfoundation.org/">FreedomBox</a> og +<a href="https://whispersystems.org/">Signal</a> til slikt. Ingen av +dem er optimale, men de fungerer ganske bra allerede og øker kostnaden +for dem som ønsker å invadere mitt privatliv.</p> + +<p>For øvrig burde varsleren Edward Snowden få politisk asyl i +Norge.</p> + +<!-- + +venstre.no + venstre.no mail is handled by 10 aspmx.l.google.com. + venstre.no mail is handled by 20 alt1.aspmx.l.google.com. + venstre.no mail is handled by 20 alt2.aspmx.l.google.com. + venstre.no mail is handled by 30 aspmx2.googlemail.com. + venstre.no mail is handled by 30 aspmx3.googlemail.com. + +traceroute to aspmx.l.google.com (173.194.222.27), 30 hops max, 60 byte packets + 1 uio-gw10.uio.no (129.240.6.1) 0.411 ms 0.438 ms 0.536 ms + 2 uio-gw8.uio.no (129.240.24.229) 0.375 ms 0.452 ms 0.548 ms + 3 oslo-gw1.uninett.no (128.39.65.17) 1.940 ms 1.950 ms 1.942 ms + 4 se-tug.nordu.net (109.105.102.108) 6.910 ms 6.949 ms 7.283 ms + 5 google-gw.nordu.net (109.105.98.6) 6.975 ms 6.967 ms 6.958 ms + 6 209.85.250.192 (209.85.250.192) 7.337 ms 7.286 ms 10.890 ms + 7 209.85.254.13 (209.85.254.13) 7.394 ms 209.85.254.31 (209.85.254.31) 7.586 ms 209.85.254.33 (209.85.254.33) 7.570 ms + 8 209.85.251.255 (209.85.251.255) 15.686 ms 209.85.249.229 (209.85.249.229) 16.118 ms 209.85.251.255 (209.85.251.255) 16.073 ms + 9 74.125.37.255 (74.125.37.255) 16.794 ms 216.239.40.248 (216.239.40.248) 16.113 ms 74.125.37.44 (74.125.37.44) 16.764 ms +10 * * * + +mdg.no + mdg.no mail is handled by 1 aspmx.l.google.com. + mdg.no mail is handled by 5 alt2.aspmx.l.google.com. + mdg.no mail is handled by 5 alt1.aspmx.l.google.com. + mdg.no mail is handled by 10 aspmx2.googlemail.com. + mdg.no mail is handled by 10 aspmx3.googlemail.com. +sv.no + sv.no mail is handled by 1 aspmx.l.google.com. + sv.no mail is handled by 5 alt1.aspmx.l.google.com. + sv.no mail is handled by 5 alt2.aspmx.l.google.com. + sv.no mail is handled by 10 aspmx3.googlemail.com. + sv.no mail is handled by 10 aspmx2.googlemail.com. +hoyre.no + hoyre.no mail is handled by 10 hoyre-no.mx1.comendosystems.com. + hoyre.no mail is handled by 20 hoyre-no.mx2.comendosystems.net. + +traceroute to hoyre-no.mx1.comendosystems.com (89.104.206.4), 30 hops max, 60 byte packets + 1 uio-gw10.uio.no (129.240.6.1) 0.450 ms 0.510 ms 0.591 ms + 2 uio-gw8.uio.no (129.240.24.229) 0.383 ms 0.508 ms 0.596 ms + 3 oslo-gw1.uninett.no (128.39.65.17) 0.311 ms 0.315 ms 0.300 ms + 4 se-tug.nordu.net (109.105.102.108) 6.837 ms 6.842 ms 6.834 ms + 5 dk-uni.nordu.net (109.105.97.10) 26.073 ms 26.085 ms 26.076 ms + 6 dix.1000m.soeborg.ip.comendo.dk (192.38.7.22) 15.372 ms 15.046 ms 15.123 ms + 7 89.104.192.65 (89.104.192.65) 15.875 ms 15.990 ms 16.239 ms + 8 89.104.192.179 (89.104.192.179) 15.676 ms 15.674 ms 15.664 ms + 9 03dm-com.mx1.staysecuregroup.com (89.104.206.4) 15.637 ms * * + +krf.no + krf.no mail is handled by 10 krf-no.mail.protection.outlook.com. + +traceroute to krf-no.mail.protection.outlook.com (213.199.154.42), 30 hops max, 60 byte packets + 1 uio-gw10.uio.no (129.240.6.1) 0.401 ms 0.438 ms 0.536 ms + 2 uio-gw8.uio.no (129.240.24.229) 11.076 ms 11.120 ms 11.204 ms + 3 oslo-gw1.uninett.no (128.39.65.17) 0.232 ms 0.234 ms 0.271 ms + 4 se-tug.nordu.net (109.105.102.108) 6.811 ms 6.820 ms 6.815 ms + 5 netnod-ix-ge-a-sth-4470.microsoft.com (195.245.240.181) 7.074 ms 7.013 ms 7.061 ms + 6 ae1-0.sto-96cbe-1b.ntwk.msn.net (104.44.225.161) 7.227 ms 7.362 ms 7.293 ms + 7 be-8-0.ibr01.ams.ntwk.msn.net (104.44.5.7) 41.993 ms 43.334 ms 41.939 ms + 8 be-1-0.ibr02.ams.ntwk.msn.net (104.44.4.214) 43.153 ms 43.507 ms 43.404 ms + 9 ae3-0.fra-96cbe-1b.ntwk.msn.net (104.44.5.17) 29.897 ms 29.831 ms 29.794 ms +10 ae10-0.vie-96cbe-1a.ntwk.msn.net (198.206.164.1) 42.309 ms 42.130 ms 41.808 ms +11 * ae8-0.vie-96cbe-1b.ntwk.msn.net (104.44.227.29) 41.425 ms * +12 * * * + +arbeiderpartiet.no + arbeiderpartiet.no mail is handled by 10 mail.intility.com. + arbeiderpartiet.no mail is handled by 20 mail2.intility.com. + +traceroute to mail.intility.com (188.95.245.87), 30 hops max, 60 byte packets + 1 uio-gw10.uio.no (129.240.6.1) 0.486 ms 0.508 ms 0.649 ms + 2 uio-gw8.uio.no (129.240.24.229) 0.416 ms 0.508 ms 0.620 ms + 3 oslo-gw1.uninett.no (128.39.65.17) 0.276 ms 0.278 ms 0.275 ms + 4 te3-1-2.br1.fn3.as2116.net (193.156.90.3) 0.374 ms 0.371 ms 0.416 ms + 5 he16-1-1.cr1.san110.as2116.net (195.0.244.234) 3.132 ms he16-1-1.cr2.oslosda310.as2116.net (195.0.244.48) 10.079 ms he16-1-1.cr1.san110.as2116.net (195.0.244.234) 3.353 ms + 6 te1-2-0.ar2.ulv89.as2116.net (195.0.243.194) 0.569 ms te5-0-0.ar2.ulv89.as2116.net (195.0.243.192) 0.661 ms 0.653 ms + 7 cD2EC45C1.static.as2116.net (193.69.236.210) 0.654 ms 0.615 ms 0.590 ms + 8 185.7.132.38 (185.7.132.38) 1.661 ms 1.808 ms 1.695 ms + 9 185.7.132.100 (185.7.132.100) 1.793 ms 1.943 ms 1.546 ms +10 * * * + +frp.no + frp.no mail is handled by 10 mx03.telecomputing.no. + frp.no mail is handled by 20 mx01.telecomputing.no. + +traceroute to mx03.telecomputing.no (95.128.105.102), 30 hops max, 60 byte packets + 1 uio-gw10.uio.no (129.240.6.1) 0.378 ms 0.402 ms 0.479 ms + 2 uio-gw8.uio.no (129.240.24.229) 0.361 ms 0.458 ms 0.548 ms + 3 oslo-gw1.uninett.no (128.39.65.17) 0.361 ms 0.352 ms 0.336 ms + 4 xe-2-2-0-0.san-peer2.osl.no.ip.tdc.net (193.156.90.16) 0.375 ms 0.366 ms 0.346 ms + 5 xe-2-0-2-0.ost-pe1.osl.no.ip.tdc.net (85.19.121.97) 0.780 ms xe-2-0-0-0.ost-pe1.osl.no.ip.tdc.net (85.19.121.101) 0.713 ms xe-2-0-2-0.ost-pe1.osl.no.ip.tdc.net (85.19.121.97) 0.759 ms + 6 cpe.xe-0-2-0-100.ost-pe1.osl.no.customer.tdc.net (85.19.26.46) 0.837 ms 0.755 ms 0.759 ms + 7 95.128.105.3 (95.128.105.3) 1.050 ms 1.288 ms 1.182 ms + 8 mx03.telecomputing.no (95.128.105.102) 0.717 ms 0.703 ms 0.692 ms + +--> - 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 09:55:00 +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 -<a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.airwatch.androidagent">programvaren -Airwatch</a>, 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 selskapet -<a href="http://www.airwatch.com/">AirWatch</a> er kontrollert av et -selskap i USA. I tillegg er det kjent at 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> - -<p>Oppdatering 2015-10-07: Jeg er blitt spurt hvorfor jeg antar at -AirWatch-agenten rapporterer til USA og ikke direkte til Stortingets -egen infrastruktur. Det stemmer at det er teknisk mulig å sette -opp mobiltelefonene til å rapportere til datamaskiner som eies av -Stortinget. Jeg antar det rapporteres til AirWatch sine sentrale -tjenester basert på det jeg leste fra beskrivelsen av -<a href="http://www.airwatch.com/solutions/mobile-device-management/">Mobile -Device Management</A> på AirWatch sine egne nettsider, koblet med at -det brukes en standard app som kan hentes fra "app-butikkene" for å få -tilgang. Enten må app-en settes opp individuelt hos Stortinget, eller -så får den beskjed fra AirWatch i USA om hvor den skal koble seg opp. -I det første tilfellet vil den ikke rapportere direkte til USA, men -til programvare utviklet av AirWatch som kjører på en maskin under -Stortingets kontroll. Det er litt bedre, men fortsatt vil det være -umulig for Stortinget å være sikker på hva programvaren som tar imot -forbindelser gjør. Jeg ser fra beskrivelsen av -<a href="http://www.airwatch.com/differentiators/enterprise-integration/">Enterprice -Integration</a> hos AirWatch at det er mulig å ha lokal installasjon, -og håper innsynsforespørsler mot Stortinget kan fortelle mer om -hvordan ting konkret fungerer der.</p> + First draft Norwegian Bokmål edition of The Debian Administrator's Handbook now public + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/First_draft_Norwegian_Bokm_l_edition_of_The_Debian_Administrator_s_Handbook_now_public.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/First_draft_Norwegian_Bokm_l_edition_of_The_Debian_Administrator_s_Handbook_now_public.html + Tue, 30 Aug 2016 10:10:00 +0200 + <p>In April we +<a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Lets_make_a_Norwegian_Bokm_l_edition_of_The_Debian_Administrator_s_Handbook.html">started +to work</a> on a Norwegian Bokmål edition of the "open access" book on +how to set up and administrate a Debian system. Today I am happy to +report that the first draft is now publicly available. You can find +it on <a href="https://debian-handbook.info/get/">get the Debian +Administrator's Handbook page</a> (under Other languages). The first +eight chapters have a first draft translation, and we are working on +proofreading the content. If you want to help out, please start +contributing using +<a href="https://hosted.weblate.org/projects/debian-handbook/">the +hosted weblate project page</a>, and get in touch using +<a href="http://lists.alioth.debian.org/mailman/listinfo/debian-handbook-translators">the +translators mailing list</a>. Please also check out +<a href="https://debian-handbook.info/contribute/">the instructions for +contributors</a>. A good way to contribute is to proofread the text +and update weblate if you find errors.</p> + +<p>Our goal is still to make the Norwegian book available on paper as well as +electronic form.</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> + Coz can help you find bottlenecks in multi-threaded software - nice free software + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Coz_can_help_you_find_bottlenecks_in_multi_threaded_software___nice_free_software.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Coz_can_help_you_find_bottlenecks_in_multi_threaded_software___nice_free_software.html + Thu, 11 Aug 2016 12:00:00 +0200 + <p>This summer, I read a great article +"<a href="https://www.usenix.org/publications/login/summer2016/curtsinger">coz: +This Is the Profiler You're Looking For</a>" in USENIX ;login: about +how to profile multi-threaded programs. It presented a system for +profiling software by running experiences in the running program, +testing how run time performance is affected by "speeding up" parts of +the code to various degrees compared to a normal run. It does this by +slowing down parallel threads while the "faster up" code is running +and measure how this affect processing time. The processing time is +measured using probes inserted into the code, either using progress +counters (COZ_PROGRESS) or as latency meters (COZ_BEGIN/COZ_END). It +can also measure unmodified code by measuring complete the program +runtime and running the program several times instead.</p> + +<p>The project and presentation was so inspiring that I would like to +get the system into Debian. I +<a href="https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=830708">created +a WNPP request for it</a> and contacted upstream to try to make the +system ready for Debian by sending patches. The build process need to +be changed a bit to avoid running 'git clone' to get dependencies, and +to include the JavaScript web page used to visualize the collected +profiling information included in the source package. +But I expect that should work out fairly soon.</p> + +<p>The way the system work is fairly simple. To run an coz experiment +on a binary with debug symbols available, start the program like this: + +<p><blockquote><pre> +coz run --- program-to-run +</pre></blockquote></p> + +<p>This will create a text file profile.coz with the instrumentation +information. To show what part of the code affect the performance +most, use a web browser and either point it to +<a href="http://plasma-umass.github.io/coz/">http://plasma-umass.github.io/coz/</a> +or use the copy from git (in the gh-pages branch). Check out this web +site to have a look at several example profiling runs and get an idea what the end result from the profile runs look like. To make the +profiling more useful you include &lt;coz.h&gt; and insert the +COZ_PROGRESS or COZ_BEGIN and COZ_END at appropriate places in the +code, rebuild and run the profiler. This allow coz to do more +targeted experiments.</p> + +<p>A video published by ACM +<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jE0V-p1odPg">presenting the +Coz profiler</a> is available from Youtube. There is also a paper +from the 25th Symposium on Operating Systems Principles available +titled +<a href="https://www.usenix.org/conference/atc16/technical-sessions/presentation/curtsinger">Coz: +finding code that counts with causal profiling</a>.</p> + +<p><a href="https://github.com/plasma-umass/coz">The source code</a> +for Coz is available from github. It will only build with clang +because it uses a +<a href="https://gcc.gnu.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=55606">C++ +feature missing in GCC</a>, but I've submitted +<a href="https://github.com/plasma-umass/coz/pull/67">a patch to solve +it</a> and hope it will be included in the upstream source soon.</p> + +<p>Please get in touch if you, like me, would like to see this piece +of software in Debian. I would very much like some help with the +packaging effort, as I lack the in depth knowledge on how to package +C++ libraries.</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> + Sales number for the Free Culture translation, first half of 2016 + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Sales_number_for_the_Free_Culture_translation__first_half_of_2016.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Sales_number_for_the_Free_Culture_translation__first_half_of_2016.html + Fri, 5 Aug 2016 22:45:00 +0200 + <p>As my regular readers probably remember, the last year I published +a French and Norwegian translation of the classic +<a href="http://www.free-culture.cc/">Free Culture book</a> by the +founder of the Creative Commons movement, Lawrence Lessig. A bit less +known is the fact that due to the way I created the translations, +using docbook and po4a, I also recreated the English original. And +because I already had created a new the PDF edition, I published it +too. The revenue from the books are sent to the Creative Commons +Corporation. In other words, I do not earn any money from this +project, I just earn the warm fuzzy feeling that the text is available +for a wider audience and more people can learn why the Creative +Commons is needed.</p> + +<p>Today, just for fun, I had a look at the sales number over at +Lulu.com, which take care of payment, printing and shipping. Much to +my surprise, the English edition is selling better than both the +French and Norwegian edition, despite the fact that it has been +available in English since it was first published. In total, 24 paper +books was sold for USD $19.99 between 2016-01-01 and 2016-07-31:</p> + +<table border="0"> +<tr><th>Title / language</th><th>Quantity</th></tr> +<tr><td><a href="http://www.lulu.com/shop/lawrence-lessig/culture-libre/paperback/product-22645082.html">Culture Libre / French</a></td><td align="right">3</td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="http://www.lulu.com/shop/lawrence-lessig/fri-kultur/paperback/product-22441576.html">Fri kultur / Norwegian</a></td><td align="right">7</td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="http://www.lulu.com/shop/lawrence-lessig/free-culture/paperback/product-22440520.html">Free Culture / English</a></td><td align="right">14</td></tr> +</table> + +<p>The books are available both from Lulu.com and from large book +stores like Amazon and Barnes&Noble. Most revenue, around $10 per +book, is sent to the Creative Commons project when the book is sold +directly by Lulu.com. The other channels give less revenue. The +summary from Lulu tell me 10 books was sold via the Amazon channel, 10 +via Ingram (what is this?) and 4 directly by Lulu. And Lulu.com tells +me that the revenue sent so far this year is USD $101.42. No idea +what kind of sales numbers to expect, so I do not know if that is a +good amount of sales for a 10 year old book or not. But it make me +happy that the buyers find the book, and I hope they enjoy reading it +as much as I did.</p> + +<p>The ebook edition is available for free from +<a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig">Github</a>.</p> + +<p>If you would like to translate and publish the book in your native +language, I would be happy to help make it happen. Please get in +touch.</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> + Vitenskapen tar som vanlig feil igjen - relativt feil + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Vitenskapen_tar_som_vanlig_feil_igjen___relativt_feil.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Vitenskapen_tar_som_vanlig_feil_igjen___relativt_feil.html + Mon, 1 Aug 2016 16:00:00 +0200 + <p>For mange år siden leste jeg en klassisk tekst som gjorde såpass +inntrykk på meg at jeg husker den fortsatt, flere år senere, og bruker +argumentene fra den stadig vekk. Teksten var «The Relativity of +Wrong» som Isaac Asimov publiserte i Skeptical Inquirer i 1989. Den +gir litt perspektiv rundt formidlingen av vitenskapelige resultater. +Jeg har hatt lyst til å kunne dele den også med folk som ikke +behersker engelsk så godt, som barn og noen av mine eldre slektninger, +og har savnet å ha den tilgjengelig på norsk. For to uker siden tok +jeg meg sammen og kontaktet Asbjørn Dyrendal i foreningen Skepsis om +de var interessert i å publisere en norsk utgave på bloggen sin, og da +han var positiv tok jeg kontakt med Skeptical Inquirer og spurte om +det var greit for dem. I løpet av noen dager fikk vi tilbakemelding +fra Barry Karr hos The Skeptical Inquirer som hadde sjekket og fått OK +fra Robyn Asimov som representerte arvingene i Asmiov-familien og gikk +igang med oversettingen.</p> + +<p>Resultatet, <a href="http://www.skepsis.no/?p=1617">«Relativt +feil»</a>, ble publisert på skepsis-bloggen for noen minutter siden. +Jeg anbefaler deg på det varmeste å lese denne teksten og dele den med +dine venner.</p> + +<p>For å håndtere oversettelsen og sikre at original og oversettelse +var i sync brukte vi git, po4a, GNU make og Transifex. Det hele +fungerte utmerket og gjorde det enkelt å dele tekstene og jobbe sammen +om finpuss på formuleringene. Hadde hosted.weblate.org latt meg +opprette nye prosjekter selv i stedet for å måtte kontakte +administratoren der, så hadde jeg brukt weblate i stedet.</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> + Techno TV broadcasting live across Norway and the Internet (#debconf16, #nuug) on @frikanalen + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Techno_TV_broadcasting_live_across_Norway_and_the_Internet___debconf16___nuug__on__frikanalen.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Techno_TV_broadcasting_live_across_Norway_and_the_Internet___debconf16___nuug__on__frikanalen.html + Mon, 1 Aug 2016 10:30:00 +0200 + <p>Did you know there is a TV channel broadcasting talks from DebConf +16 across an entire country? Or that there is a TV channel +broadcasting talks by or about +<a href="http://beta.frikanalen.no/video/625529/">Linus Torvalds</a>, +<a href="http://beta.frikanalen.no/video/625599/">Tor</a>, +<a href="http://beta.frikanalen.no/video/624019/">OpenID</A>, +<a href="http://beta.frikanalen.no/video/625624/">Common Lisp</a>, +<a href="http://beta.frikanalen.no/video/625446/">Civic Tech</a>, +<a href="http://beta.frikanalen.no/video/625090/">EFF founder John Barlow</a>, +<a href="http://beta.frikanalen.no/video/625432/">how to make 3D +printer electronics</a> and many more fascinating topics? It works +using only free software (all of it +<a href="http://github.com/Frikanalen">available from Github</a>), and +is administrated using a web browser and a web API.</p> + +<p>The TV channel is the Norwegian open channel +<a href="http://www.frikanalen.no/">Frikanalen</a>, and I am involved +via <a href="https://www.nuug.no/">the NUUG member association</a> in +running and developing the software for the channel. The channel is +organised as a member organisation where its members can upload and +broadcast what they want (think of it as Youtube for national +broadcasting television). Individuals can broadcast too. The time +slots are handled on a first come, first serve basis. Because the +channel have almost no viewers and very few active members, we can +experiment with TV technology without too much flack when we make +mistakes. And thanks to the few active members, most of the slots on +the schedule are free. I see this as an opportunity to spread +knowledge about technology and free software, and have a script I run +regularly to fill up all the open slots the next few days with +technology related video. The end result is a channel I like to +describe as Techno TV - filled with interesting talks and +presentations.</p> + +<p>It is available on channel 50 on the Norwegian national digital TV +network (RiksTV). It is also available as a multicast stream on +Uninett. And finally, it is available as +<a href="http://beta.frikanalen.no/">a WebM unicast stream</a> from +Frikanalen and NUUG. Check it out. :)</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> + Unlocking HTC Desire HD on Linux using unruu and fastboot + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Unlocking_HTC_Desire_HD_on_Linux_using_unruu_and_fastboot.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Unlocking_HTC_Desire_HD_on_Linux_using_unruu_and_fastboot.html + Thu, 7 Jul 2016 11:30:00 +0200 + <p>Yesterday, I tried to unlock a HTC Desire HD phone, and it proved +to be a slight challenge. Here is the recipe if I ever need to do it +again. It all started by me wanting to try the recipe to set up +<a href="https://blog.torproject.org/blog/mission-impossible-hardening-android-security-and-privacy">an +hardened Android installation</a> from the Tor project blog on a +device I had access to. It is a old mobile phone with a broken +microphone The initial idea had been to just +<a href="http://wiki.cyanogenmod.org/w/Install_CM_for_ace">install +CyanogenMod on it</a>, but did not quite find time to start on it +until a few days ago.</p> + +<p>The unlock process is supposed to be simple: (1) Boot into the boot +loader (press volume down and power at the same time), (2) select +'fastboot' before (3) connecting the device via USB to a Linux +machine, (4) request the device identifier token by running 'fastboot +oem get_identifier_token', (5) request the device unlocking key using +the <a href="http://www.htcdev.com/bootloader/">HTC developer web +site</a> and unlock the phone using the key file emailed to you.</p> + +<p>Unfortunately, this only work fi you have hboot version 2.00.0029 +or newer, and the device I was working on had 2.00.0027. This +apparently can be easily fixed by downloading a Windows program and +running it on your Windows machine, if you accept the terms Microsoft +require you to accept to use Windows - which I do not. So I had to +come up with a different approach. I got a lot of help from AndyCap +on #nuug, and would not have been able to get this working without +him.</p> + +<p>First I needed to extract the hboot firmware from +<a href="http://www.htcdev.com/ruu/PD9810000_Ace_Sense30_S_hboot_2.00.0029.exe">the +windows binary for HTC Desire HD</a> downloaded as 'the RUU' from HTC. +For this there is is <a href="https://github.com/kmdm/unruu/">a github +project named unruu</a> using libunshield. The unshield tool did not +recognise the file format, but unruu worked and extracted rom.zip, +containing the new hboot firmware and a text file describing which +devices it would work for.</p> + +<p>Next, I needed to get the new firmware into the device. For this I +followed some instructions +<a href="http://www.htc1guru.com/2013/09/new-ruu-zips-posted/">available +from HTC1Guru.com</a>, and ran these commands as root on a Linux +machine with Debian testing:</p> + +<p><pre> +adb reboot-bootloader +fastboot oem rebootRUU +fastboot flash zip rom.zip +fastboot flash zip rom.zip +fastboot reboot +</pre></p> + +<p>The flash command apparently need to be done twice to take effect, +as the first is just preparations and the second one do the flashing. +The adb command is just to get to the boot loader menu, so turning the +device on while holding volume down and the power button should work +too.</p> + +<p>With the new hboot version in place I could start following the +instructions on the HTC developer web site. I got the device token +like this:</p> + +<p><pre> +fastboot oem get_identifier_token 2>&1 | sed 's/(bootloader) //' +</pre> + +<p>And once I got the unlock code via email, I could use it like +this:</p> + +<p><pre> +fastboot flash unlocktoken Unlock_code.bin +</pre></p> + +<p>And with that final step in place, the phone was unlocked and I +could start stuffing the software of my own choosing into the device. +So far I only inserted a replacement recovery image to wipe the phone +before I start. We will see what happen next. Perhaps I should +install <a href="https://www.debian.org/">Debian</a> on it. :)</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> + How to use the Signal app if you only have a land line (ie no mobile phone) + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/How_to_use_the_Signal_app_if_you_only_have_a_land_line__ie_no_mobile_phone_.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/How_to_use_the_Signal_app_if_you_only_have_a_land_line__ie_no_mobile_phone_.html + Sun, 3 Jul 2016 14:20:00 +0200 + <p>For a while now, I have wanted to test +<a href="https://whispersystems.org/">the Signal app</a>, as it is +said to provide end to end encrypted communication and several of my +friends and family are already using it. As I by choice do not own a +mobile phone, this proved to be harder than expected. And I wanted to +have the source of the client and know that it was the code used on my +machine. But yesterday I managed to get it working. I used the +Github source, compared it to the source in +<a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/signal-private-messenger/bikioccmkafdpakkkcpdbppfkghcmihk?hl=en-US">the +Signal Chrome app</a> available from the Chrome web store, applied +patches to use the production Signal servers, started the app and +asked for the hidden "register without a smart phone" form. Here is +the recipe how I did it.</p> + +<p>First, I fetched the Signal desktop source from Github, using <pre> -&lt;?latex \theendnotes ?&gt; +git clone https://github.com/WhisperSystems/Signal-Desktop.git </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> +<p>Next, I patched the source to use the production servers, to be +able to talk to other Signal users:</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; +cat &lt;&lt;EOF | patch -p0 +diff -ur ./js/background.js userdata/Default/Extensions/bikioccmkafdpakkkcpdbppfkghcmihk/0.15.0_0/js/background.js +--- ./js/background.js 2016-06-29 13:43:15.630344628 +0200 ++++ userdata/Default/Extensions/bikioccmkafdpakkkcpdbppfkghcmihk/0.15.0_0/js/background.js 2016-06-29 14:06:29.530300934 +0200 +@@ -47,8 +47,8 @@ + }); + }); + +- var SERVER_URL = 'https://textsecure-service-staging.whispersystems.org'; +- var ATTACHMENT_SERVER_URL = 'https://whispersystems-textsecure-attachments-staging.s3.amazonaws.com'; ++ var SERVER_URL = 'https://textsecure-service-ca.whispersystems.org:4433'; ++ var ATTACHMENT_SERVER_URL = 'https://whispersystems-textsecure-attachments.s3.amazonaws.com'; + var messageReceiver; + window.getSocketStatus = function() { + if (messageReceiver) { +diff -ur ./js/expire.js userdata/Default/Extensions/bikioccmkafdpakkkcpdbppfkghcmihk/0.15.0_0/js/expire.js +--- ./js/expire.js 2016-06-29 13:43:15.630344628 +0200 ++++ userdata/Default/Extensions/bikioccmkafdpakkkcpdbppfkghcmihk/0.15.0_0/js/expire.js2016-06-29 14:06:29.530300934 +0200 +@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@ + ;(function() { + 'use strict'; +- var BUILD_EXPIRATION = 0; ++ var BUILD_EXPIRATION = 1474492690000; + + window.extension = window.extension || {}; + +EOF </pre> -<p>Finally, load this xsl file when running dblatex, for example like -this:</p> +<p>The first part is changing the servers, and the second is updating +an expiration timestamp. This timestamp need to be updated regularly. +It is set 90 days in the future by the build process (Gruntfile.js). +The value is seconds since 1970 times 1000, as far as I can tell.</p> + +<p>Based on a tip and good help from the #nuug IRC channel, I wrote a +script to launch Signal in Chromium.</p> <pre> -dblatex --xsl-user=dblatex-endnotes.xsl freeculture.nb.xml +#!/bin/sh +cd $(dirname $0) +mkdir -p userdata +exec chromium \ + --proxy-server="socks://localhost:9050" \ + --user-data-dir=`pwd`/userdata --load-and-launch-app=`pwd` </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> +<p> The script start the app and configure Chromium to use the Tor +SOCKS5 proxy to make sure those controlling the Signal servers (today +Amazon and Whisper Systems) as well as those listening on the lines +will have a harder time location my laptop based on the Signal +connections if they use source IP address.</p> + +<p>When the script starts, one need to follow the instructions under +"Standalone Registration" in the CONTRIBUTING.md file in the git +repository. I right clicked on the Signal window to get up the +Chromium debugging tool, visited the 'Console' tab and wrote +'extension.install("standalone")' on the console prompt to get the +registration form. Then I entered by land line phone number and +pressed 'Call'. 5 seconds later the phone rang and a robot voice +repeated the verification code three times. After entering the number +into the verification code field in the form, I could start using +Signal from my laptop. + +<p>As far as I can tell, The Signal app will leak who is talking to +whom and thus who know who to those controlling the central server, +but such leakage is hard to avoid with a centrally controlled server +setup. It is something to keep in mind when using Signal - the +content of your chats are harder to intercept, but the meta data +exposing your contact network is available to people you do not know. +So better than many options, but not great. And sadly the usage is +connected to my land line, thus allowing those controlling the server +to associate it to my home and person. I would prefer it if only +those I knew could tell who I was on Signal. There are options +avoiding such information leakage, but most of my friends are not +using them, so I am stuck with Signal for now.</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> + The new "best" multimedia player in Debian? + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/The_new__best__multimedia_player_in_Debian_.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/The_new__best__multimedia_player_in_Debian_.html + Mon, 6 Jun 2016 12:50:00 +0200 + <p>When I set out a few weeks ago to figure out +<a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/What_is_the_best_multimedia_player_in_Debian_.html">which +multimedia player in Debian claimed to support most file formats / +MIME types</a>, I was a bit surprised how varied the sets of MIME types +the various players claimed support for. The range was from 55 to 130 +MIME types. I suspect most media formats are supported by all +players, but this is not really reflected in the MimeTypes values in +their desktop files. There are probably also some bogus MIME types +listed, but it is hard to identify which one this is.</p> + +<p>Anyway, in the mean time I got in touch with upstream for some of +the players suggesting to add more MIME types to their desktop files, +and decided to spend some time myself improving the situation for my +favorite media player VLC. The fixes for VLC entered Debian unstable +yesterday. The complete list of MIME types can be seen on the +<a href="https://wiki.debian.org/DebianMultimedia/PlayerSupport">Multimedia +player MIME type support status</a> Debian wiki page.</p> + +<p>The new "best" multimedia player in Debian? It is VLC, followed by +totem, parole, kplayer, gnome-mpv, mpv, smplayer, mplayer-gui and +kmplayer. I am sure some of the other players desktop files support +several of the formats currently listed as working only with vlc, +toten and parole.</p> + +<p>A sad observation is that only 14 MIME types are listed as +supported by all the tested multimedia players in Debian in their +desktop files: audio/mpeg, audio/vnd.rn-realaudio, audio/x-mpegurl, +audio/x-ms-wma, audio/x-scpls, audio/x-wav, video/mp4, video/mpeg, +video/quicktime, video/vnd.rn-realvideo, video/x-matroska, +video/x-ms-asf, video/x-ms-wmv and video/x-msvideo. Personally I find +it sad that video/ogg and video/webm is not supported by all the media +players in Debian. As far as I can tell, all of them can handle both +formats.</p>