X-Git-Url: http://pere.pagekite.me/gitweb/homepage.git/blobdiff_plain/df9f4bb26083e3b0b04e403d5c0299eac88af0dd..fe0fe16f8c3e50f6be016875c213887285ed4273:/blog/index.rss diff --git a/blog/index.rss b/blog/index.rss index 762fc9ffb6..1f70ff4d71 100644 --- a/blog/index.rss +++ b/blog/index.rss @@ -7,467 +7,901 @@ - A program should be able to open its own files on Linux - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/A_program_should_be_able_to_open_its_own_files_on_Linux.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/A_program_should_be_able_to_open_its_own_files_on_Linux.html - Sun, 5 Jun 2016 08:30:00 +0200 - <p>Many years ago, when koffice was fresh and with few users, I -decided to test its presentation tool when making the slides for a -talk I was giving for NUUG on Japhar, a free Java virtual machine. I -wrote the first draft of the slides, saved the result and went to bed -the day before I would give the talk. The next day I took a plane to -the location where the meeting should take place, and on the plane I -started up koffice again to polish the talk a bit, only to discover -that kpresenter refused to load its own data file. I cursed a bit and -started making the slides again from memory, to have something to -present when I arrived. I tested that the saved files could be -loaded, and the day seemed to be rescued. I continued to polish the -slides until I suddenly discovered that the saved file could no longer -be loaded into kpresenter. In the end I had to rewrite the slides -three times, condensing the content until the talk became shorter and -shorter. After the talk I was able to pinpoint the problem &ndash; -kpresenter wrote inline images in a way itself could not understand. -Eventually that bug was fixed and kpresenter ended up being a great -program to make slides. The point I'm trying to make is that we -expect a program to be able to load its own data files, and it is -embarrassing to its developers if it can't.</p> - -<p>Did you ever experience a program failing to load its own data -files from the desktop file browser? It is not a uncommon problem. A -while back I discovered that the screencast recorder -gtk-recordmydesktop would save an Ogg Theora video file the KDE file -browser would refuse to open. No video player claimed to understand -such file. I tracked down the cause being <tt>file --mime-type</tt> -returning the application/ogg MIME type, which no video player I had -installed listed as a MIME type they would understand. I asked for -<a href="http://bugs.gw.com/view.php?id=382">file to change its -behavour</a> and use the MIME type video/ogg instead. I also asked -several video players to add video/ogg to their desktop files, to give -the file browser an idea what to do about Ogg Theora files. After a -while, the desktop file browsers in Debian started to handle the -output from gtk-recordmydesktop properly.</p> - -<p>But history repeats itself. A few days ago I tested the music -system Rosegarden again, and I discovered that the KDE and xfce file -browsers did not know what to do with the Rosegarden project files -(*.rg). I've reported <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/825993">the -rosegarden problem to BTS</a> and a fix is commited to git and will be -included in the next upload. To increase the chance of me remembering -how to fix the problem next time some program fail to load its files -from the file browser, here are some notes on how to fix it.</p> - -<p>The file browsers in Debian in general operates on MIME types. -There are two sources for the MIME type of a given file. The output from -<tt>file --mime-type</tt> mentioned above, and the content of the -shared MIME type registry (under /usr/share/mime/). The file MIME -type is mapped to programs supporting the MIME type, and this -information is collected from -<a href="https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Specifications/desktop-entry-spec/">the -desktop files</a> available in /usr/share/applications/. If there is -one desktop file claiming support for the MIME type of the file, it is -activated when asking to open a given file. If there are more, one -can normally select which one to use by right-clicking on the file and -selecting the wanted one using 'Open with' or similar. In general -this work well. But it depend on each program picking a good MIME -type (preferably -<a href="http://www.iana.org/assignments/media-types/media-types.xhtml">a -MIME type registered with IANA</a>), file and/or the shared MIME -registry recognizing the file and the desktop file to list the MIME -type in its list of supported MIME types.</p> - -<p>The <tt>/usr/share/mime/packages/rosegarden.xml</tt> entry for -<a href="http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Specifications/shared-mime-info-spec">the -Shared MIME database</a> look like this:</p> - -<p><blockquote><pre> -&lt;?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?&gt; -&lt;mime-info xmlns="http://www.freedesktop.org/standards/shared-mime-info"&gt; - &lt;mime-type type="audio/x-rosegarden"&gt; - &lt;sub-class-of type="application/x-gzip"/&gt; - &lt;comment&gt;Rosegarden project file&lt;/comment&gt; - &lt;glob pattern="*.rg"/&gt; - &lt;/mime-type&gt; -&lt;/mime-info&gt; -</pre></blockquote></p> - -<p>This states that audio/x-rosegarden is a kind of application/x-gzip -(it is a gzipped XML file). Note, it is much better to use an -official MIME type registered with IANA than it is to make up ones own -unofficial ones like the x-rosegarden type used by rosegarden.</p> - -<p>The desktop file of the rosegarden program failed to list -audio/x-rosegarden in its list of supported MIME types, causing the -file browsers to have no idea what to do with *.rg files:</p> - -<p><blockquote><pre> -% grep Mime /usr/share/applications/rosegarden.desktop -MimeType=audio/x-rosegarden-composition;audio/x-rosegarden-device;audio/x-rosegarden-project;audio/x-rosegarden-template;audio/midi; -X-KDE-NativeMimeType=audio/x-rosegarden-composition -% -</pre></blockquote></p> - -<p>The fix was to add "audio/x-rosegarden;" at the end of the -MimeType= line.</p> + My own self balancing Lego Segway + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/My_own_self_balancing_Lego_Segway.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/My_own_self_balancing_Lego_Segway.html + Fri, 4 Nov 2016 10:15:00 +0100 + <p>A while back I received a Gyro sensor for the NXT +<a href="mindstorms.lego.com">Mindstorms</a> controller as a birthday +present. It had been on my wishlist for a while, because I wanted to +build a Segway like balancing lego robot. I had already built +<a href="http://www.nxtprograms.com/NXT2/segway/">a simple balancing +robot</a> with the kids, using the light/color sensor included in the +NXT kit as the balance sensor, but it was not working very well. It +could balance for a while, but was very sensitive to the light +condition in the room and the reflective properties of the surface and +would fall over after a short while. I wanted something more robust, +and had +<a href="https://www.hitechnic.com/cgi-bin/commerce.cgi?preadd=action&key=NGY1044">the +gyro sensor from HiTechnic</a> I believed would solve it on my +wishlist for some years before it suddenly showed up as a gift from my +loved ones. :)</p> + +<p>Unfortunately I have not had time to sit down and play with it +since then. But that changed some days ago, when I was searching for +lego segway information and came across a recipe from HiTechnic for +building +<a href="http://www.hitechnic.com/blog/gyro-sensor/htway/">the +HTWay</a>, a segway like balancing robot. Build instructions and +<a href="https://www.hitechnic.com/upload/786-HTWayC.nxc">source +code</a> was included, so it was just a question of putting it all +together. And thanks to the great work of many Debian developers, the +compiler needed to build the source for the NXT is already included in +Debian, so I was read to go in less than an hour. The resulting robot +do not look very impressive in its simplicity:</p> + +<p align="center"><img width="70%" src="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2016-11-04-lego-htway-robot.jpeg"></p> + +<p>Because I lack the infrared sensor used to control the robot in the +design from HiTechnic, I had to comment out the last task +(taskControl). I simply placed /* and */ around it get the program +working without that sensor present. Now it balances just fine until +the battery status run low:</p> + +<p align="center"><video width="70%" controls="true"> + <source src="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2016-11-04-lego-htway-balancing.ogv" type="video/ogg"> +</video></p> -<p>If you run into a file which fail to open the correct program when -selected from the file browser, please check out the output from -<tt>file --mime-type</tt> for the file, ensure the file ending and -MIME type is registered somewhere under /usr/share/mime/ and check -that some desktop file under /usr/share/applications/ is claiming -support for this MIME type. If not, please report a bug to have it -fixed. :)</p> +<p>Now we would like to teach it how to follow a line and take remote +control instructions using the included Bluetooth receiver in the NXT.</p> + +<p>If you, like me, love LEGO and want to make sure we find the tools +they need to work with LEGO in Debian and all our derivative +distributions like Ubuntu, check out +<a href="http://wiki.debian.org/LegoDesigners">the LEGO designers +project page</a> and join the Debian LEGO team. Personally I own a +RCX and NXT controller (no EV3), and would like to make sure the +Debian tools needed to program the systems I own work as they +should.</p> - Tor - from its creators mouth 11 years ago - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Tor___from_its_creators_mouth_11_years_ago.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Tor___from_its_creators_mouth_11_years_ago.html - Sat, 28 May 2016 14:20:00 +0200 - <p>A little more than 11 years ago, one of the creators of Tor, and -the current President of <a href="https://www.torproject.org/">the Tor -project</a>, Roger Dingledine, gave a talk for the members of the -<a href="http://www.nuug.no/">Norwegian Unix User group</a> (NUUG). A -video of the talk was recorded, and today, thanks to the great help -from David Noble, I finally was able to publish the video of the talk -on Frikanalen, the Norwegian open channel TV station where NUUG -currently publishes its talks. You can -<a href="http://frikanalen.no/se">watch the live stream using a web -browser</a> with WebM support, or check out the recording on the video -on demand page for the talk -"<a href="http://beta.frikanalen.no/video/625599">Tor: Anonymous -communication for the US Department of Defence...and you.</a>".</p> - -<p>Here is the video included for those of you using browsers with -HTML video and Ogg Theora support:</p> - -<p><video width="70%" poster="http://simula.gunkies.org/media/625599/large_thumb/20050421-tor-frikanalen.jpg" controls> - <source src="http://simula.gunkies.org/media/625599/theora/20050421-tor-frikanalen.ogv" type="video/ogg"/> -</video></p> - -<p>I guess the gist of the talk can be summarised quite simply: If you -want to help the military in USA (and everyone else), use Tor. :)</p> + Aktivitetsbånd som beskytter privatsfæren + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Aktivitetsb_nd_som_beskytter_privatsf_ren.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Aktivitetsb_nd_som_beskytter_privatsf_ren.html + Thu, 3 Nov 2016 09:55:00 +0100 + <p>Jeg ble så imponert over +<a href="https://www.nrk.no/norge/forbrukerradet-mener-aktivitetsarmband-strider-mot-norsk-lov-1.13209079">dagens +gladnyhet på NRK</a>, om at Forbrukerrådet klager inn vilkårene for +bruk av aktivitetsbånd fra Fitbit, Garmin, Jawbone og Mio til +Datatilsynet og forbrukerombudet, at jeg sendte følgende brev til +forbrukerrådet for å uttrykke min støtte: + +<blockquote> + +<p>Jeg ble veldig glad over å lese at Forbrukerrådet +<a href="http://www.forbrukerradet.no/siste-nytt/klager-inn-aktivitetsarmband-for-brudd-pa-norsk-lov/">klager +inn flere aktivitetsbånd til Datatilsynet for dårlige vilkår</a>. Jeg +har ønsket meg et aktivitetsbånd som kan måle puls, bevegelse og +gjerne også andre helserelaterte indikatorer en stund nå. De eneste +jeg har funnet i salg gjør, som dere også har oppdaget, graverende +inngrep i privatsfæren og sender informasjonen ut av huset til folk og +organisasjoner jeg ikke ønsker å dele aktivitets- og helseinformasjon +med. Jeg ønsker et alternativ som <em>ikke</em> sender informasjon til +skyen, men derimot bruker +<a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Fri_og__pen_standard__slik_Digistan_ser_det.html">en +fritt og åpent standardisert</a> protokoll (eller i det minste en +dokumentert protokoll uten patent- og opphavsrettslige +bruksbegrensinger) til å kommunisere med datautstyr jeg kontrollerer. +Er jo ikke interessert i å betale noen for å tilrøve seg +personopplysninger fra meg. Desverre har jeg ikke funnet noe +alternativ så langt.</p> + +<p>Det holder ikke å endre på bruksvilkårene for enhetene, slik +Datatilsynet ofte legger opp til i sin behandling, når de gjør slik +f.eks. Fitbit (den jeg har sett mest på). Fitbit krypterer +informasjonen på enheten og sender den kryptert til leverandøren. Det +gjør det i praksis umulig både å sjekke hva slags informasjon som +sendes over, og umulig å ta imot informasjonen selv i stedet for +Fitbit. Uansett hva slags historie som forteller i bruksvilkårene er +en jo både prisgitt leverandørens godvilje og at de ikke tvinges av +sitt lands myndigheter til å lyve til sine kunder om hvorvidt +personopplysninger spres ut over det bruksvilkårene sier. Det er +veldokumentert hvordan f.eks. USA tvinger selskaper vha. såkalte +National security letters til å utlevere personopplysninger samtidig +som de ikke får lov til å fortelle dette til kundene sine.</p> + +<p>Stå på, jeg er veldig glade for at dere har sett på saken. Vet +dere om aktivitetsbånd i salg i dag som ikke tvinger en til å utlevere +aktivitets- og helseopplysninger med leverandøren?</p> + +</blockquote> + +<p>Jeg håper en konkurrent som respekterer kundenes privatliv klarer å +nå opp i markedet, slik at det finnes et reelt alternativ for oss som +har full tillit til at skyleverandører vil prioritere egen inntjening +og myndighetspålegg langt foran kundenes rett til privatliv. Jeg har +ingen tiltro til at Datatilsynet vil kreve noe mer enn at vilkårene +endres slik at de forklarer eksplisitt i hvor stor grad bruk av +produktene utraderer privatsfæren til kundene. Det vil nok gjøre de +innklagede armbåndene «lovlige», men fortsatt tvinge kundene til å +dele sine personopplysninger med leverandøren.</p> - Isenkram with PackageKit support - new version 0.23 available in Debian unstable - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Isenkram_with_PackageKit_support___new_version_0_23_available_in_Debian_unstable.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Isenkram_with_PackageKit_support___new_version_0_23_available_in_Debian_unstable.html - Wed, 25 May 2016 10:20:00 +0200 - <p><a href="https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/isenkram">The isenkram -system</a> is a user-focused solution in Debian for handling hardware -related packages. The idea is to have a database of mappings between -hardware and packages, and pop up a dialog suggesting for the user to -install the packages to use a given hardware dongle. Some use cases -are when you insert a Yubikey, it proposes to install the software -needed to control it; when you insert a braille reader list it -proposes to install the packages needed to send text to the reader; -and when you insert a ColorHug screen calibrator it suggests to -install the driver for it. The system work well, and even have a few -command line tools to install firmware packages and packages for the -hardware already in the machine (as opposed to hotpluggable hardware).</p> - -<p>The system was initially written using aptdaemon, because I found -good documentation and example code on how to use it. But aptdaemon -is going away and is generally being replaced by -<a href="http://www.freedesktop.org/software/PackageKit/">PackageKit</a>, -so Isenkram needed a rewrite. And today, thanks to the great patch -from my college Sunil Mohan Adapa in the FreedomBox project, the -rewrite finally took place. I've just uploaded a new version of -Isenkram into Debian Unstable with the patch included, and the default -for the background daemon is now to use PackageKit. To check it out, -install the <tt>isenkram</tt> package and insert some hardware dongle -and see if it is recognised.</p> - -<p>If you want to know what kind of packages isenkram would propose for -the machine it is running on, you can check out the isenkram-lookup -program. This is what it look like on a Thinkpad X230:</p> + Experience and updated recipe for using the Signal app without a mobile phone + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Experience_and_updated_recipe_for_using_the_Signal_app_without_a_mobile_phone.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Experience_and_updated_recipe_for_using_the_Signal_app_without_a_mobile_phone.html + Mon, 10 Oct 2016 11:30:00 +0200 + <p>In July +<a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/How_to_use_the_Signal_app_if_you_only_have_a_land_line__ie_no_mobile_phone_.html">I +wrote how to get the Signal Chrome/Chromium app working</a> without +the ability to receive SMS messages (aka without a cell phone). It is +time to share some experiences and provide an updated setup.</p> + +<p>The Signal app have worked fine for several months now, and I use +it regularly to chat with my loved ones. I had a major snag at the +end of my summer vacation, when the the app completely forgot my +setup, identity and keys. The reason behind this major mess was +running out of disk space. To avoid that ever happening again I have +started storing everything in <tt>userdata/</tt> in git, to be able to +roll back to an earlier version if the files are wiped by mistake. I +had to use it once after introducing the git backup. When rolling +back to an earlier version, one need to use the 'reset session' option +in Signal to get going, and notify the people you talk with about the +problem. I assume there is some sequence number tracking in the +protocol to detect rollback attacks. The git repository is rather big +(674 MiB so far), but I have not tried to figure out if some of the +content can be added to a .gitignore file due to lack of spare +time.</p> + +<p>I've also hit the 90 days timeout blocking, and noticed that this +make it impossible to send messages using Signal. I could still +receive them, but had to patch the code with a new timestamp to send. +I believe the timeout is added by the developers to force people to +upgrade to the latest version of the app, even when there is no +protocol changes, to reduce the version skew among the user base and +thus try to keep the number of support requests down.</p> + +<p>Since my original recipe, the Signal source code changed slightly, +making the old patch fail to apply cleanly. Below is an updated +patch, including the shell wrapper I use to start Signal. The +original version required a new user to locate the JavaScript console +and call a function from there. I got help from a friend with more +JavaScript knowledge than me to modify the code to provide a GUI +button instead. This mean that to get started you just need to run +the wrapper and click the 'Register without mobile phone' to get going +now. I've also modified the timeout code to always set it to 90 days +in the future, to avoid having to patch the code regularly.</p> + +<p>So, the updated recipe for Debian Jessie:</p> + +<ol> + +<li>First, install required packages to get the source code and the +browser you need. Signal only work with Chrome/Chromium, as far as I +know, so you need to install it. + +<pre> +apt install git tor chromium +git clone https://github.com/WhisperSystems/Signal-Desktop.git +</pre></li> + +<li>Modify the source code using command listed in the the patch +block below.</li> + +<li>Start Signal using the run-signal-app wrapper (for example using +<tt>`pwd`/run-signal-app</tt>). + +<li>Click on the 'Register without mobile phone', will in a phone +number you can receive calls to the next minute, receive the +verification code and enter it into the form field and press +'Register'. Note, the phone number you use will be user Signal +username, ie the way others can find you on Signal.</li> + +<li>You can now use Signal to contact others. Note, new contacts do +not show up in the contact list until you restart Signal, and there is +no way to assign names to Contacts. There is also no way to create or +update chat groups. I suspect this is because the web app do not have +a associated contact database.</li> + +</ol> + +<p>I am still a bit uneasy about using Signal, because of the way its +main author moxie0 reject federation and accept dependencies to major +corporations like Google (part of the code is fetched from Google) and +Amazon (the central coordination point is owned by Amazon). See for +example +<a href="https://github.com/LibreSignal/LibreSignal/issues/37">the +LibreSignal issue tracker</a> for a thread documenting the authors +view on these issues. But the network effect is strong in this case, +and several of the people I want to communicate with already use +Signal. Perhaps we can all move to <a href="https://ring.cx/">Ring</a> +once it <a href="https://bugs.debian.org/830265">work on my +laptop</a>? It already work on Windows and Android, and is included +in <a href="https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/ring">Debian</a> and +<a href="https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ring">Ubuntu</a>, but not +working on Debian Stable.</p> + +<p>Anyway, this is the patch I apply to the Signal code to get it +working. It switch to the production servers, disable to timeout, +make registration easier and add the shell wrapper:</p> + +<pre> +cd Signal-Desktop; cat &lt;&lt;EOF | patch -p1 +diff --git a/js/background.js b/js/background.js +index 24b4c1d..579345f 100644 +--- a/js/background.js ++++ b/js/background.js +@@ -33,9 +33,9 @@ + }); + }); + +- var SERVER_URL = 'https://textsecure-service-staging.whispersystems.org'; ++ var SERVER_URL = 'https://textsecure-service-ca.whispersystems.org'; + var SERVER_PORTS = [80, 4433, 8443]; +- var ATTACHMENT_SERVER_URL = 'https://whispersystems-textsecure-attachments-staging.s3.amazonaws.com'; ++ var ATTACHMENT_SERVER_URL = 'https://whispersystems-textsecure-attachments.s3.amazonaws.com'; + var messageReceiver; + window.getSocketStatus = function() { + if (messageReceiver) { +diff --git a/js/expire.js b/js/expire.js +index 639aeae..beb91c3 100644 +--- a/js/expire.js ++++ b/js/expire.js +@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@ + ;(function() { + 'use strict'; +- var BUILD_EXPIRATION = 0; ++ var BUILD_EXPIRATION = Date.now() + (90 * 24 * 60 * 60 * 1000); + + window.extension = window.extension || {}; + +diff --git a/js/views/install_view.js b/js/views/install_view.js +index 7816f4f..1d6233b 100644 +--- a/js/views/install_view.js ++++ b/js/views/install_view.js +@@ -38,7 +38,8 @@ + return { + 'click .step1': this.selectStep.bind(this, 1), + 'click .step2': this.selectStep.bind(this, 2), +- 'click .step3': this.selectStep.bind(this, 3) ++ 'click .step3': this.selectStep.bind(this, 3), ++ 'click .callreg': function() { extension.install('standalone') }, + }; + }, + clearQR: function() { +diff --git a/options.html b/options.html +index dc0f28e..8d709f6 100644 +--- a/options.html ++++ b/options.html +@@ -14,7 +14,10 @@ + &lt;div class='nav'> + &lt;h1>{{ installWelcome }}&lt;/h1> + &lt;p>{{ installTagline }}&lt;/p> +- &lt;div> &lt;a class='button step2'>{{ installGetStartedButton }}&lt;/a> &lt;/div> ++ &lt;div> &lt;a class='button step2'>{{ installGetStartedButton }}&lt;/a> ++ &lt;br> &lt;a class="button callreg">Register without mobile phone&lt;/a> ++ ++ &lt;/div> + &lt;span class='dot step1 selected'>&lt;/span> + &lt;span class='dot step2'>&lt;/span> + &lt;span class='dot step3'>&lt;/span> +--- /dev/null 2016-10-07 09:55:13.730181472 +0200 ++++ b/run-signal-app 2016-10-10 08:54:09.434172391 +0200 +@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@ ++#!/bin/sh ++set -e ++cd $(dirname $0) ++mkdir -p userdata ++userdata="`pwd`/userdata" ++if [ -d "$userdata" ] && [ ! -d "$userdata/.git" ] ; then ++ (cd $userdata && git init) ++fi ++(cd $userdata && git add . && git commit -m "Current status." || true) ++exec chromium \ ++ --proxy-server="socks://localhost:9050" \ ++ --user-data-dir=$userdata --load-and-launch-app=`pwd` +EOF +chmod a+rx run-signal-app +</pre> -<p><blockquote><pre> -% isenkram-lookup -bluez -cheese -fprintd -fprintd-demo -gkrellm-thinkbat -hdapsd -libpam-fprintd -pidgin-blinklight -thinkfan -tleds -tp-smapi-dkms -tp-smapi-source -tpb -%p -</pre></blockquote></p> - -<p>The hardware mappings come from several places. The preferred way -is for packages to announce their hardware support using -<a href="https://www.freedesktop.org/software/appstream/docs/">the -cross distribution appstream system</a>. -See -<a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/isenkram/">previous -blog posts about isenkram</a> to learn how to do that.</p> +<p>As usual, if you use Bitcoin and want to show your support of my +activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address +<b><a href="bitcoin:15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b&label=PetterReinholdtsenBlog">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</a></b>.</p> - Discharge rate estimate in new battery statistics collector for Debian - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Discharge_rate_estimate_in_new_battery_statistics_collector_for_Debian.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Discharge_rate_estimate_in_new_battery_statistics_collector_for_Debian.html - Mon, 23 May 2016 09:35:00 +0200 - <p>Yesterday I updated the -<a href="https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/battery-stats">battery-stats -package in Debian</a> with a few patches sent to me by skilled and -enterprising users. There were some nice user and visible changes. -First of all, both desktop menu entries now work. A design flaw in -one of the script made the history graph fail to show up (its PNG was -dumped in ~/.xsession-errors) if no controlling TTY was available. -The script worked when called from the command line, but not when -called from the desktop menu. I changed this to look for a DISPLAY -variable or a TTY before deciding where to draw the graph, and now the -graph window pop up as expected.</p> - -<p>The next new feature is a discharge rate estimator in one of the -graphs (the one showing the last few hours). New is also the user of -colours showing charging in blue and discharge in red. The percentages -of this graph is relative to last full charge, not battery design -capacity.</p> - -<p align="center"><img src="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2016-05-23-battery-stats-rate.png"/></p> - -<p>The other graph show the entire history of the collected battery -statistics, comparing it to the design capacity of the battery to -visualise how the battery life time get shorter over time. The red -line in this graph is what the previous graph considers 100 percent: - -<p align="center"><img src="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2016-05-23-battery-stats-history.png"/></p> - -<p>In this graph you can see that I only charge the battery to 80 -percent of last full capacity, and how the capacity of the battery is -shrinking. :(</p> - -<p>The last new feature is in the collector, which now will handle -more hardware models. On some hardware, Linux power supply -information is stored in /sys/class/power_supply/ACAD/, while the -collector previously only looked in /sys/class/power_supply/AC/. Now -both are checked to figure if there is power connected to the -machine.</p> - -<p>If you are interested in how your laptop battery is doing, please -check out the -<a href="https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/battery-stats">battery-stats</a> -in Debian unstable, or rebuild it on Jessie to get it working on -Debian stable. :) The upstream source is available from <a -href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/battery-stats">github</a>. -Patches are very welcome.</p> - -<p>As usual, if you use Bitcoin and want to show your support of my -activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address -<b><a href="bitcoin:15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</a></b>.</p> + NRKs kildevern når NRK-epost deles med utenlands etterretning? + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/NRKs_kildevern_n_r_NRK_epost_deles_med_utenlands_etterretning_.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/NRKs_kildevern_n_r_NRK_epost_deles_med_utenlands_etterretning_.html + Sat, 8 Oct 2016 08:15:00 +0200 + <p>NRK +<a href="https://nrkbeta.no/2016/09/02/securing-whistleblowers/">lanserte +for noen uker siden</a> en ny +<a href="https://www.nrk.no/varsle/">varslerportal som bruker +SecureDrop til å ta imot tips</a> der det er vesentlig at ingen +utenforstående får vite at NRK er tipset. Det er et langt steg +fremover for NRK, og når en leser bloggposten om hva de har tenkt på +og hvordan løsningen er satt opp virker det som om de har gjort en +grundig jobb der. Men det er ganske mye ekstra jobb å motta tips via +SecureDrop, så varslersiden skriver "Nyhetstips som ikke krever denne +typen ekstra vern vil vi gjerne ha på nrk.no/03030", og 03030-siden +foreslår i tillegg til et webskjema å bruke epost, SMS, telefon, +personlig oppmøte og brevpost. Denne artikkelen handler disse andre +metodene.</p> + +<p>Når en sender epost til en @nrk.no-adresse så vil eposten sendes ut +av landet til datamaskiner kontrollert av Microsoft. En kan sjekke +dette selv ved å slå opp epostleveringsadresse (MX) i DNS. For NRK er +dette i dag "nrk-no.mail.protection.outlook.com". NRK har som en ser +valgt å sette bort epostmottaket sitt til de som står bak outlook.com, +dvs. Microsoft. En kan sjekke hvor nettverkstrafikken tar veien +gjennom Internett til epostmottaket vha. programmet +<tt>traceroute</tt>, og finne ut hvem som eier en Internett-adresse +vha. whois-systemet. Når en gjør dette for epost-trafikk til @nrk.no +ser en at trafikken fra Norge mot nrk-no.mail.protection.outlook.com +går via Sverige mot enten Irland eller Tyskland (det varierer fra gang +til gang og kan endre seg over tid).</p> + +<p>Vi vet fra +<a href="https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/FRA-loven">introduksjonen av +FRA-loven</a> at IP-trafikk som passerer grensen til Sverige avlyttes +av Försvarets radioanstalt (FRA). Vi vet videre takket være +Snowden-bekreftelsene at trafikk som passerer grensen til +Storbritannia avlyttes av Government Communications Headquarters +(GCHQ). I tillegg er er det nettopp lansert et forslag i Norge om at +forsvarets E-tjeneste skal få avlytte trafikk som krysser grensen til +Norge. Jeg er ikke kjent med dokumentasjon på at Irland og Tyskland +gjør det samme. Poenget er uansett at utenlandsk etterretning har +mulighet til å snappe opp trafikken når en sender epost til @nrk.no. +I tillegg er det selvsagt tilgjengelig for Microsoft som er underlagt USAs +jurisdiksjon og +<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jul/11/microsoft-nsa-collaboration-user-data">samarbeider +med USAs etterretning på flere områder</a>. De som tipser NRK om +nyheter via epost kan dermed gå ut fra at det blir kjent for mange +andre enn NRK at det er gjort.</p> + +<p>Bruk av SMS og telefon registreres av blant annet telefonselskapene +og er tilgjengelig i følge lov og forskrift for blant annet Politi, +NAV og Finanstilsynet, i tillegg til IT-folkene hos telefonselskapene +og deres overordnede. Hvis innringer eller mottaker bruker +smarttelefon vil slik kontakt også gjøres tilgjengelig for ulike +app-leverandører og de som lytter på trafikken mellom telefon og +app-leverandør, alt etter hva som er installert på telefonene som +brukes.</p> + +<p>Brevpost kan virke trygt, og jeg vet ikke hvor mye som registreres +og lagres av postens datastyrte postsorteringssentraler. Det vil ikke +overraske meg om det lagres hvor i landet hver konvolutt kommer fra og +hvor den er adressert, i hvert fall for en kortere periode. Jeg vet +heller ikke hvem slik informasjon gjøres tilgjengelig for. Det kan +være nok til å ringe inn potensielle kilder når det krysses med hvem +som kjente til aktuell informasjon og hvor de befant seg (tilgjengelig +f.eks. hvis de bærer mobiltelefon eller bor i nærheten).</p> + +<p>Personlig oppmøte hos en NRK-journalist er antagelig det tryggeste, +men en bør passe seg for å bruke NRK-kantina. Der bryter de nemlig +<a href="http://www.lovdata.no/all/hl-19850524-028.html#14">Sentralbanklovens +paragraf 14</a> og nekter folk å betale med kontanter. I stedet +krever de at en varsle sin bankkortutsteder om hvor en befinner seg +ved å bruke bankkort. Banktransaksjoner er tilgjengelig for +bankkortutsteder (det være seg VISA, Mastercard, Nets og/eller en +bank) i tillegg til politiet og i hvert fall tidligere med Se & Hør +(via utro tjenere, slik det ble avslørt etter utgivelsen av boken +«Livet, det forbannede» av Ken B. Rasmussen). Men hvor mange kjenner +en NRK-journalist personlig? Besøk på NRK på Marienlyst krever at en +registrerer sin ankost elektronisk i besøkssystemet. Jeg vet ikke hva +som skjer med det datasettet, men har grunn til å tro at det sendes ut +SMS til den en skal besøke med navnet som er oppgitt. Kanskje greit å +oppgi falskt navn.</p> + +<p>Når så tipset er kommet frem til NRK skal det behandles +redaksjonelt i NRK. Der vet jeg via ulike kilder at de fleste +journalistene bruker lokalt installert programvare, men noen bruker +Google Docs og andre skytjenester i strid med interne retningslinjer +når de skriver. Hvordan vet en hvem det gjelder? Ikke vet jeg, men +det kan være greit å spørre for å sjekke at journalisten har tenkt på +problemstillingen, før en gir et tips. Og hvis tipset omtales internt +på epost, er det jo grunn til å tro at også intern eposten vil deles +med Microsoft og utenlands etterretning, slik tidligere nevnt, men det +kan hende at det holdes internt i NRKs interne MS Exchange-løsning. +Men Microsoft ønsker å få alle Exchange-kunder over "i skyen" (eller +andre folks datamaskiner, som det jo innebærer), så jeg vet ikke hvor +lenge det i så fall vil vare.</p> + +<p>I tillegg vet en jo at +<a href="https://www.nrk.no/ytring/elektronisk-kildevern-i-nrk-1.11941196">NRK +har valgt å gi nasjonal sikkerhetsmyndighet (NSM) tilgang til å se på +intern og ekstern Internett-trafikk</a> hos NRK ved oppsett av såkalte +VDI-noder, på tross av +<a href="https://www.nrk.no/ytring/bekymring-for-nrks-kildevern-1.11941584">protester +fra NRKs journalistlag</a>. Jeg vet ikke om den vil kunne snappe opp +dokumenter som lagres på interne filtjenere eller dokumenter som lages +i de interne webbaserte publiseringssystemene, men vet at hva noden +ser etter på nettet kontrolleres av NSM og oppdateres automatisk, slik +at det ikke gir så mye mening å sjekke hva noden ser etter i dag når +det kan endres automatisk i morgen.</p> + +<p>Personlig vet jeg ikke om jeg hadde turt tipse NRK hvis jeg satt på +noe som kunne være en trussel mot den bestående makten i Norge eller +verden. Til det virker det å være for mange åpninger for +utenforstående med andre prioriteter enn NRKs journalistiske fokus. +Og den største truslen for en varsler er jo om metainformasjon kommer +på avveie, dvs. informasjon om at en har vært i kontakt med en +journalist. Det kan være nok til at en kommer i myndighetenes +søkelys, og de færreste har nok operasjonell sikkerhet til at vil tåle +slik flombelysning på sitt privatliv.</p> - French edition of Lawrence Lessigs book Cultura Libre on Amazon and Barnes & Noble - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/French_edition_of_Lawrence_Lessigs_book_Cultura_Libre_on_Amazon_and_Barnes___Noble.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/French_edition_of_Lawrence_Lessigs_book_Cultura_Libre_on_Amazon_and_Barnes___Noble.html - Sat, 21 May 2016 10:50:00 +0200 - <p>A few weeks ago the French paperback edition of Lawrence Lessigs -2004 book Cultura Libre was published. Today I noticed that the book -is now available from book stores. You can now buy it from -<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Culture-Libre-French-Lawrence-Lessig/dp/8269018260">Amazon</a> -($19.99), -<a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/culture-libre-lawrence-lessig/1123776705">Barnes -& Noble</a> ($?) and as always from -<a href="http://www.lulu.com/shop/lawrence-lessig/culture-libre/paperback/product-22645082.html">Lulu.com</a> -($19.99). The revenue is donated to the Creative Commons project. If -you buy from Lulu.com, they currently get $10.59, while if you buy -from one of the book stores most of the revenue go to the book store -and the Creative Commons project get much (not sure how much -less).</p> - -<p>I was a bit surprised to discover that there is a kindle edition -sold by Amazon Digital Services LLC on Amazon. Not quite sure how -that edition was created, but if you want to download a electronic -edition (PDF, EPUB, Mobi) generated from the same files used to create -the paperback edition, they are -<a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig">available -from github</a>.</p> + Isenkram, Appstream and udev make life as a LEGO builder easier + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Isenkram__Appstream_and_udev_make_life_as_a_LEGO_builder_easier.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Isenkram__Appstream_and_udev_make_life_as_a_LEGO_builder_easier.html + Fri, 7 Oct 2016 09:50:00 +0200 + <p><a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/isenkram">The Isenkram +system</a> provide a practical and easy way to figure out which +packages support the hardware in a given machine. The command line +tool <tt>isenkram-lookup</tt> and the tasksel options provide a +convenient way to list and install packages relevant for the current +hardware during system installation, both user space packages and +firmware packages. The GUI background daemon on the other hand provide +a pop-up proposing to install packages when a new dongle is inserted +while using the computer. For example, if you plug in a smart card +reader, the system will ask if you want to install <tt>pcscd</tt> if +that package isn't already installed, and if you plug in a USB video +camera the system will ask if you want to install <tt>cheese</tt> if +cheese is currently missing. This already work just fine.</p> + +<p>But Isenkram depend on a database mapping from hardware IDs to +package names. When I started no such database existed in Debian, so +I made my own data set and included it with the isenkram package and +made isenkram fetch the latest version of this database from git using +http. This way the isenkram users would get updated package proposals +as soon as I learned more about hardware related packages.</p> + +<p>The hardware is identified using modalias strings. The modalias +design is from the Linux kernel where most hardware descriptors are +made available as a strings that can be matched using filename style +globbing. It handle USB, PCI, DMI and a lot of other hardware related +identifiers.</p> + +<p>The downside to the Isenkram specific database is that there is no +information about relevant distribution / Debian version, making +isenkram propose obsolete packages too. But along came AppStream, a +cross distribution mechanism to store and collect metadata about +software packages. When I heard about the proposal, I contacted the +people involved and suggested to add a hardware matching rule using +modalias strings in the specification, to be able to use AppStream for +mapping hardware to packages. This idea was accepted and AppStream is +now a great way for a package to announce the hardware it support in a +distribution neutral way. I wrote +<a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Using_appstream_with_isenkram_to_install_hardware_related_packages_in_Debian.html">a +recipe on how to add such meta-information</a> in a blog post last +December. If you have a hardware related package in Debian, please +announce the relevant hardware IDs using AppStream.</p> + +<p>In Debian, almost all packages that can talk to a LEGO Mindestorms +RCX or NXT unit, announce this support using AppStream. The effect is +that when you insert such LEGO robot controller into your Debian +machine, Isenkram will propose to install the packages needed to get +it working. The intention is that this should allow the local user to +start programming his robot controller right away without having to +guess what packages to use or which permissions to fix.</p> + +<p>But when I sat down with my son the other day to program our NXT +unit using his Debian Stretch computer, I discovered something +annoying. The local console user (ie my son) did not get access to +the USB device for programming the unit. This used to work, but no +longer in Jessie and Stretch. After some investigation and asking +around on #debian-devel, I discovered that this was because udev had +changed the mechanism used to grant access to local devices. The +ConsoleKit mechanism from <tt>/lib/udev/rules.d/70-udev-acl.rules</tt> +no longer applied, because LDAP users no longer was added to the +plugdev group during login. Michael Biebl told me that this method +was obsolete and the new method used ACLs instead. This was good +news, as the plugdev mechanism is a mess when using a remote user +directory like LDAP. Using ACLs would make sure a user lost device +access when she logged out, even if the user left behind a background +process which would retain the plugdev membership with the ConsoleKit +setup. Armed with this knowledge I moved on to fix the access problem +for the LEGO Mindstorms related packages.</p> + +<p>The new system uses a udev tag, 'uaccess'. It can either be +applied directly for a device, or is applied in +/lib/udev/rules.d/70-uaccess.rules for classes of devices. As the +LEGO Mindstorms udev rules did not have a class, I decided to add the +tag directly in the udev rules files included in the packages. Here +is one example. For the nqc C compiler for the RCX, the +<tt>/lib/udev/rules.d/60-nqc.rules</tt> file now look like this: + +<p><pre> +SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ACTION=="add", ATTR{idVendor}=="0694", ATTR{idProduct}=="0001", \ + SYMLINK+="rcx-%k", TAG+="uaccess" +</pre></p> + +<p>The key part is the 'TAG+="uaccess"' at the end. I suspect all +packages using plugdev in their /lib/udev/rules.d/ files should be +changed to use this tag (either directly or indirectly via +<tt>70-uaccess.rules</tt>). Perhaps a lintian check should be created +to detect this?</p> + +<p>I've been unable to find good documentation on the uaccess feature. +It is unclear to me if the uaccess tag is an internal implementation +detail like the udev-acl tag used by +<tt>/lib/udev/rules.d/70-udev-acl.rules</tt>. If it is, I guess the +indirect method is the preferred way. Michael +<a href="https://github.com/systemd/systemd/issues/4288">asked for more +documentation from the systemd project</a> and I hope it will make +this clearer. For now I use the generic classes when they exist and +is already handled by <tt>70-uaccess.rules</tt>, and add the tag +directly if no such class exist.</p> + +<p>To learn more about the isenkram system, please check out +<a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/isenkram/">my +blog posts tagged isenkram</a>.</p> + +<p>To help out making life for LEGO constructors in Debian easier, +please join us on our IRC channel +<a href="irc://irc.debian.org/%23debian-lego">#debian-lego</a> and join +the <a href="https://alioth.debian.org/projects/debian-lego/">Debian +LEGO team</a> in the Alioth project we created yesterday. A mailing +list is not yet created, but we are working on it. :)</p> + +<p>As usual, if you use Bitcoin and want to show your support of my +activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address +<b><a href="bitcoin:15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b&label=PetterReinholdtsenBlog">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</a></b>.</p> - I want the courts to be involved before the police can hijack a news site DNS domain (#domstolkontroll) - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/I_want_the_courts_to_be_involved_before_the_police_can_hijack_a_news_site_DNS_domain___domstolkontroll_.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/I_want_the_courts_to_be_involved_before_the_police_can_hijack_a_news_site_DNS_domain___domstolkontroll_.html - Thu, 19 May 2016 14:00:00 +0200 - <p>I just donated to the -<a href="http://www.nuug.no/dns-beslag-donasjon.shtml">NUUG defence -"fond"</a> to fund the effort in Norway to get the seizure of the news -site popcorn-time.no tested in court. I hope everyone that agree with -me will do the same.</p> - -<p>Would you be worried if you knew the police in your country could -hijack DNS domains of news sites covering free software system without -talking to a judge first? I am. What if the free software system -combined search engine lookups, bittorrent downloads and video playout -and was called Popcorn Time? Would that affect your view? It still -make me worried.</p> - -<p>In March 2016, the Norwegian police seized (as in forced NORID to -change the IP address pointed to by it to one controlled by the -police) the DNS domain popcorn-time.no, without any supervision from -the courts. I did not know about the web site back then, and assumed -the courts had been involved, and was very surprised when I discovered -that the police had hijacked the DNS domain without asking a judge for -permission first. I was even more surprised when I had a look at -<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/*/http://popcorn-time.no">the web -site content on the Internet Archive</A>, and only found news coverage -about Popcorn Time, not any material published without the right -holders permissions.</p> - -<p>The seizure was widely covered in the Norwegian press (see for -example <a href="http://www.hegnar.no/Nyheter/Naeringsliv/2016/03/Popcorn-time.no-beslaglagt-av-OEkokrim">Hegnar Online</a> and -<a href="http://itavisen.no/2016/03/08/okokrim-har-beslaglagt-popcorn-time-no/">ITavisen<a/> -and -<a href="http://www.nrk.no/kultur/okokrim-gar-til-aksjon-mot-popcorn-time-1.12842452">NRK</a>), -at first due to the press release sent out by Økokrim, but then based -on -<a href="http://blogg.torvund.net/2016/03/09/okokrims-beslag-i-domenet-popcorn-time-no/">protests -from the law professor Olav Torvund</a> and -<a href="http://www.klassekampen.no/article/20160311/ARTICLE/160319995">lawyer -Jon Wessel-Aas</a>. It even got some -<a href="https://torrentfreak.com/norwegian-authorities-sued-over-popcorn-time-domain-seizure-160418/">coverage -on TorrentFreak</a>.</p> - -<p>I -<a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/NUUG_contests_Norwegian_police_DNS_seizure_of_popcorn_time_no.html"> -wrote about the case a month ago</a>, when the -<a href="http://www.nuug.no/">Norwegian Unix User Group</a> (NUUG), -where I am an active member, decided to ask the courts to test this seizure. -The request was denied, but NUUG and its co-requestor EFN have not -given up, and now they are rallying for support to get the seizure -legally challenged. They accept both bank and Bitcoin transfer for -those that want to support the request.</p> - -<p>If you as me believe news sites about free software should not be -censored, even if the free software have both legal and illegal -applications, and that DNS hijacking should be tested by the courts, I -suggest you <a href="http://www.nuug.no/dns-beslag-donasjon.shtml">show -your support by donating to NUUG</a>.</a> + 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> - Debian now with ZFS on Linux included - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_now_with_ZFS_on_Linux_included.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_now_with_ZFS_on_Linux_included.html - Thu, 12 May 2016 07:30:00 +0200 - <p>Today, after many years of hard work from many people, -<a href="http://zfsonlinux.org/">ZFS for Linux</a> finally entered -Debian. The package status can be seen on -<a href="https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/zfs-linux">the package tracker -for zfs-linux</a>. and -<a href="https://qa.debian.org/developer.php?login=pkg-zfsonlinux-devel@lists.alioth.debian.org">the -team status page</a>. If you want to help out, please join us. -<a href="http://anonscm.debian.org/gitweb/?p=pkg-zfsonlinux/zfs.git">The -source code</a> is available via git on Alioth. It would also be -great if you could help out with -<a href="https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/dkms">the dkms package</a>, as -it is an important piece of the puzzle to get ZFS working.</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 + +--> - What is the best multimedia player in Debian? - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/What_is_the_best_multimedia_player_in_Debian_.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/What_is_the_best_multimedia_player_in_Debian_.html - Sun, 8 May 2016 09:40:00 +0200 - <p><strong>Where I set out to figure out which multimedia player in -Debian claim support for most file formats.</strong></p> - -<p>A few years ago, I had a look at the media support for Browser -plugins in Debian, to get an idea which plugins to include in Debian -Edu. I created a script to extract the set of supported MIME types -for each plugin, and used this to find out which multimedia browser -plugin supported most file formats / media types. -<a href="https://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/BrowserMultimedia">The -result</a> can still be seen on the Debian wiki, even though it have -not been updated for a while. But browser plugins are less relevant -these days, so I thought it was time to look at standalone -players.</p> - -<p>A few days ago I was tired of VLC not being listed as a viable -player when I wanted to play videos from the Norwegian National -Broadcasting Company, and decided to investigate why. The cause is a -<a href="https://bugs.debian.org/822245">missing MIME type in the VLC -desktop file</a>. In the process I wrote a script to compare the set -of MIME types announced in the desktop file and the browser plugin, -only to discover that there is quite a large difference between the -two for VLC. This discovery made me dig up the script I used to -compare browser plugins, and adjust it to compare desktop files -instead, to try to figure out which multimedia player in Debian -support most file formats.</p> - -<p>The result can be seen on the Debian Wiki, as -<a href="https://wiki.debian.org/DebianMultimedia/PlayerSupport">a -table listing all MIME types supported by one of the packages included -in the table</a>, with the package supporting most MIME types being -listed first in the table.</p> - -</p>The best multimedia player in Debian? It is totem, followed by -parole, kplayer, mpv, vlc, smplayer mplayer-gui gnome-mpv and -kmplayer. Time for the other players to update their announced MIME -support?</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> - The Pyra - handheld computer with Debian preinstalled - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/The_Pyra___handheld_computer_with_Debian_preinstalled.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/The_Pyra___handheld_computer_with_Debian_preinstalled.html - Wed, 4 May 2016 10:00:00 +0200 - A friend of mine made me aware of -<a href="https://pyra-handheld.com/boards/pages/pyra/">The Pyra</a>, a -handheld computer which will be delivered with Debian preinstalled. I -would love to get one of those for my birthday. :)</p> - -<p>The machine is a complete ARM-based PC with micro HDMI, SATA, USB -plugs and many others connectors, and include a full keyboard and a 5" -LCD touch screen. The 6000mAh battery is claimed to provide a whole -day of battery life time, but I have not seen any independent tests -confirming this. The vendor is still collecting preorders, and the -last I heard last night was that 22 more orders were needed before -production started.</p> - -<p>As far as I know, this is the first handheld preinstalled with -Debian. Please let me know if you know of any others. Is it the -first computer being sold with Debian preinstalled?</p> + 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> - NUUG contests Norwegian police DNS seizure of popcorn-time.no - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/NUUG_contests_Norwegian_police_DNS_seizure_of_popcorn_time_no.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/NUUG_contests_Norwegian_police_DNS_seizure_of_popcorn_time_no.html - Mon, 18 Apr 2016 10:00:00 +0200 - <p>It is days like today I am really happy to be a member of -<a href="http://www.nuug.no/">the Norwegian Unix User group</a>, a -member association for those of us believing in free software, open -standards and unix-like operating systems. NUUG announced today it -will -<a href="http://www.nuug.no/news/Pressemelding__NUUG_og_EFN_begj_rer_rettslig_pr_ving_for_DNS_domenebeslag_av_popcorn_time_no.shtml">try -to bring the seizure of the DNS domain popcorn-time.no as -unlawful</a>, to stand up for the principle that writing about a -controversial topic is not infringing copyrights, and censuring web -pages by hijacking DNS domain should be decided by the courts, not the -police. The DNS domain was seized by the Norwegian National Authority -for Investigation and Prosecution of Economic and Environmental Crime -a month ago. I hope this bring more paying members to NUUG to give -the association the financial muscle needed to bring this case as far -as it must go to stop this kind of DNS hijacking.</p> + 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>