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  13  <h1>
  14      <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/">Petter Reinholdtsen</a>
  15
  16  </h1>
  17
  18 </div>
  19
  20
  21     <h3>Entries tagged "debian".</h3>
  22
  23     <div class="entry">
  24       <div class="title">
  25         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Is_the_desktop_recommending_your_program_for_opening_its_files_.html">Is the desktop recommending your program for opening its files?</a>
  26       </div>
  27       <div class="date">
  28         29th January 2023
  29       </div>
  30       <div class="body">
  31         <p>Linux desktop systems
  32 <a href="https://specifications.freedesktop.org/basedir-spec/basedir-spec-latest.html">have
  33 standardized</a> how programs present themselves to the desktop
  34 system.  If a package include a .desktop file in
  35 /usr/share/applications/, Gnome, KDE, LXDE, Xfce and the other desktop
  36 environments will pick up the file and use its content to generate the
  37 menu of available programs in the system.  A lesser known fact is that
  38 a package can also explain to the desktop system how to recognize the
  39 files created by the program in question, and use it to open these
  40 files on request, for example via a GUI file browser.</p>
  41
  42 <p>A while back I ran into a package that did not tell the desktop
  43 system how to recognize its files and was not used to open its files
  44 in the file browser and fixed it.  In the process I wrote a simple
  45 debian/tests/ script to ensure the setup keep working.  It might be
  46 useful for other packages too, to ensure any future version of the
  47 package keep handling its own files.</p>
  48
  49 <p>For this to work the file format need a useful MIME type that can
  50 be used to identify the format.  If the file format do not yet have a
  51 MIME type, it should define one and preferably also
  52 <a href="https://www.iana.org/assignments/media-types/media-types.xhtml">register
  53 it with IANA</a> to ensure the MIME type string is reserved.</p>
  54
  55 <p>The script uses the <tt>xdg-mime</tt> program from xdg-utils to
  56 query the database of standardized package information and ensure it
  57 return sensible values.  It also need the location of an example file
  58 for xdg-mime to guess the format of.</p>
  59
  60 <pre>
  61 #!/bin/sh
  62 #
  63 # Author: Petter Reinholdtsen
  64 # License: GPL v2 or later at your choice.
  65 #
  66 # Validate the MIME setup, making sure motor types have
  67 # application/vnd.openmotor+yaml associated with them and is connected
  68 # to the openmotor desktop file.
  69
  70 retval=0
  71
  72 mimetype="application/vnd.openmotor+yaml"
  73 testfile="test/data/real/o3100/motor.ric"
  74 mydesktopfile="openmotor.desktop"
  75
  76 filemime="$(xdg-mime query filetype "$testfile")"
  77
  78 if [ "$mimetype" != "$filemime" ] ; then
  79     retval=1
  80     echo "error: xdg-mime claim motor file MIME type is $filemine, not $mimetype"
  81 else
  82     echo "success: xdg-mime report correct mime type $mimetype for motor file"
  83 fi
  84
  85 desktop=$(xdg-mime query default "$mimetype")
  86
  87 if [ "$mydesktopfile" != "$desktop" ]; then
  88     retval=1
  89     echo "error: xdg-mime claim motor file should be handled by $desktop, not $mydesktopfile"
  90 else
  91     echo "success: xdg-mime agree motor file should be handled by $mydesktopfile"
  92 fi
  93
  94 exit $retval
  95 </pre>
  96
  97 <p>It is a simple way to ensure your users are not very surprised when
  98 they try to open one of your file formats in their file browser.</p>
  99
 100 <p>As usual, if you use Bitcoin and want to show your support of my
 101 activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address
 102 <b><a href="bitcoin:15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</a></b>.</p>
 103
 104       </div>
 105       <div class="tags">
 106
 107
 108         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
 109
 110
 111       </div>
 112     </div>
 113     <div class="padding"></div>
 114
 115     <div class="entry">
 116       <div class="title">
 117         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Opensnitch__the_application_level_interactive_firewall__heading_into_the_Debian_archive.html">Opensnitch, the application level interactive firewall, heading into the Debian archive</a>
 118       </div>
 119       <div class="date">
 120         22nd January 2023
 121       </div>
 122       <div class="body">
 123         <p>While reading a
 124 <a href="https://sneak.berlin/20230115/macos-scans-your-local-files-now/">blog
 125 post claiming MacOS X recently started scanning local files and
 126 reporting information about them to Apple</a>, even on a machine where
 127 all such callback features had been disabled, I came across a
 128 description of the Little Snitch application for MacOS X.  It seemed
 129 like a very nice tool to have in the tool box, and I decided to see if
 130 something similar was available for Linux.</p>
 131
 132 <p>It did not take long to find
 133 <a href="https://github.com/evilsocket/opensnitch">the OpenSnitch
 134 package</a>, which has been in development since 2017, and now is in
 135 version 1.5.0.  It has had a
 136 <a href="https://bugs.debian.org/909567">request for Debian
 137 packaging</a> since 2018, but no-one completed the job so far.  Just
 138 for fun, I decided to see if I could help, and I was very happy to
 139 discover that
 140 <a href="https://github.com/evilsocket/opensnitch/issues/304">upstream
 141 want a Debian package too</a>.</p>
 142
 143 <p>After struggling a bit with getting the program to run, figuring
 144 out building Go programs (and a little failed detour to look at eBPF
 145 builds too - help needed), I am very happy to report that I am
 146 sponsoring upstream to maintain the package in Debian, and it has
 147 since this morning been waiting in NEW for the ftpmasters to have a
 148 look.  Perhaps it can get into the archive in time for the Bookworm
 149 release?</p>
 150
 151 <p>As usual, if you use Bitcoin and want to show your support of my
 152 activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address
 153 <b><a href="bitcoin:15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</a></b>.</p>
 154
 155       </div>
 156       <div class="tags">
 157
 158
 159         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
 160
 161
 162       </div>
 163     </div>
 164     <div class="padding"></div>
 165
 166     <div class="entry">
 167       <div class="title">
 168         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/LinuxCNC_MQTT_publisher_component.html">LinuxCNC MQTT publisher component</a>
 169       </div>
 170       <div class="date">
 171          8th January 2023
 172       </div>
 173       <div class="body">
 174         <p>I watched <a href="https://yewtu.be/watch?v=jmKUV3aNLjk">a 2015
 175 video from Andreas Schiffler</a> the other day, where he set up
 176 <a href="https://linuxcnc.org/">LinuxCNC</a> to send status
 177 information to the MQTT broker IBM Bluemix.  As I also use MQTT for
 178 graphing, it occured to me that a generic MQTT LinuxCNC component
 179 would be useful and I set out to implement it.  Today I got the first
 180 draft limping along and submitted as
 181 <a href="https://github.com/LinuxCNC/linuxcnc/pull/2253">a patch to the
 182 LinuxCNC project</a>.</p>
 183
 184 <p>The simple part was setting up the MQTT publishing code in Python.
 185 I already have set up other parts submitting data to my Mosquito MQTT
 186 broker, so I could reuse that code.  Writing a LinuxCNC component in
 187 Python as new to me, but using existing examples in the code
 188 repository and the extensive documentation, this was fairly straight
 189 forward.  The hardest part was creating a automated test for the
 190 component to ensure it was working.  Testing it in a simulated
 191 LinuxCNC machine proved very useful, as I discovered features I needed
 192 that I had not thought of yet, and adjusted the code quite a bit to
 193 make it easier to test without a operational MQTT broker
 194 available.</p>
 195
 196 <p>The draft is ready and working, but I am unsure which LinuxCNC HAL
 197 pins I should collect and publish by default (in other words, the
 198 default set of information pieces published), and how to get the
 199 machine name from the LinuxCNC INI file.  The latter is a minor
 200 detail, but I expect it would be useful in a setup with several
 201 machines available.  I am hoping for feedback from the experienced
 202 LinuxCNC developers and users, to make the component even better
 203 before it can go into the mainland LinuxCNC code base.</p>
 204
 205 <p>Since I started on the MQTT component, I came across
 206 <a href="https://yewtu.be/watch?v=Bqa2grG0XtA">another video from Kent
 207 VanderVelden</a> where he combine LinuxCNC with a set of screen glasses
 208 controlled by a Raspberry Pi, and it occured to me that it would
 209 be useful for such use cases if LinuxCNC also provided a REST API for
 210 querying its status.  I hope to start on such component once the MQTT
 211 component is working well.</p>
 212
 213 <p>As usual, if you use Bitcoin and want to show your support of my
 214 activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address
 215 <b><a href="bitcoin:15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</a></b>.</p>
 216
 217       </div>
 218       <div class="tags">
 219
 220
 221         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/linuxcnc">linuxcnc</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/robot">robot</a>.
 222
 223
 224       </div>
 225     </div>
 226     <div class="padding"></div>
 227
 228     <div class="entry">
 229       <div class="title">
 230         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/ONVIF_IP_camera_management_tool_finally_in_Debian.html">ONVIF IP camera management tool finally in Debian</a>
 231       </div>
 232       <div class="date">
 233         24th December 2022
 234       </div>
 235       <div class="body">
 236         <p>Merry Christmas to you all.  Here is a small gift to all those with
 237 IP cameras following the <a href="https://www.onvif.org/">ONVIF
 238 specification</a>.  There is finally a nice command line and GUI tool
 239 in Debian to manage ONVIF IP cameras.  After working with upstream for
 240 a few months and sponsoring the upload, I am very happy to report that
 241 the <a href="https://tracker.debian.org/libonvif">libonvif package</a>
 242 entered Debian Sid last night.</p>
 243
 244 <p>The package provide a C library to communicate with such cameras, a
 245 command line tool to locate and update settings of (like password) the
 246 cameras and a GUI tool to configure and control the units as well as
 247 preview the video from the camera.  Libonvif is available on Both
 248 Linux and Windows and the GUI tool uses the Qt library.  The main
 249 competitors are non-free software, while libonvif is GNU GPL licensed.
 250 I am very glad Debian users in the future can control their cameras
 251 using a free software system provided by Debian.  But the ONVIF world
 252 is full of slightly broken firmware, where the cameras pretend to
 253 follow the ONVIF specification but fail to set some configuration
 254 values or refuse to provide video to more than one recipient at the
 255 time, and the onvif project is quite young and might take a while
 256 before it completely work with your camera.  Upstream seem eager to
 257 improve the library, so handling any broken camera might be just <a
 258 href="https://github.com/sr99622/libonvif/">a bug report away</a>.</p>
 259
 260 <p>The package just cleared NEW, and need a new source only upload
 261 before it can enter testing.  This will happen in the next few
 262 days.</p>
 263
 264 <p>As usual, if you use Bitcoin and want to show your support of my
 265 activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address
 266 <b><a href="bitcoin:15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</a></b>.</p>
 267
 268       </div>
 269       <div class="tags">
 270
 271
 272         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/multimedia">multimedia</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/standard">standard</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/surveillance">surveillance</a>.
 273
 274
 275       </div>
 276     </div>
 277     <div class="padding"></div>
 278
 279     <div class="entry">
 280       <div class="title">
 281         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Managing_and_using_ONVIF_IP_cameras_with_Linux.html">Managing and using ONVIF IP cameras with Linux</a>
 282       </div>
 283       <div class="date">
 284         19th October 2022
 285       </div>
 286       <div class="body">
 287         <p>Recently I have been looking at how to control and collect data
 288 from a handful IP cameras using Linux.  I both wanted to change their
 289 settings and to make their imagery available via a free software
 290 service under my control.  Here is a summary of the tools I found.</p>
 291
 292 <p>First I had to identify the cameras and their protocols.  As far as
 293 I could tell, they were using some SOAP looking protocol and their
 294 internal web server seem to only work with Microsoft Internet Explorer
 295 with some proprietary binary plugin, which in these days of course is
 296 a security disaster and also made it impossible for me to use the
 297 camera web interface.  Luckily I discovered that the SOAP looking
 298 protocol is actually following <a href="https://www.onvif.org/">the
 299 ONVIF specification</a>, which seem to be supported by a lot of IP
 300 cameras these days.</p>
 301
 302 <p>Once the protocol was identified, I was able to find what appear to
 303 be the most popular way to configure ONVIF cameras, the free software
 304 Windows tool named
 305 <a href="https://sourceforge.net/projects/onvifdm/">ONVIF Device
 306 Manager</a>.  Lacking any other options at the time, I tried
 307 unsuccessfully to get it running using Wine, but was missing a dotnet
 308 40 library and I found no way around it to run it on Linux.</p>
 309
 310 <p>The next tool I found to configure the cameras were a non-free Linux Qt
 311 client <a href="https://www.lingodigit.com/onvif_nvcdemo.html">ONVIF
 312 Device Tool</a>.  I did not like its terms of use, so did not spend
 313 much time on it.</p>
 314
 315 <p>To collect the video and make it available in a web interface, I
 316 found the Zoneminder tool in Debian.  A recent version was able to
 317 automatically detect and configure ONVIF devices, so I could use it to
 318 set up motion detection in and collection of the camera output.  I had
 319 initial problems getting the ONVIF autodetection to work, as both
 320 Firefox and Chromium <a href="https://bugs.debian.org/1001188">refused
 321 the inter-tab communication</a> being used by the Zoneminder web
 322 pages, but managed to get konqueror to work.  Apparently the "Enhanced
 323 Tracking Protection" in Firefox cause the problem.  I ended up
 324 upgrading to the Bookworm edition of Zoneminder in the process to try
 325 to fix the issue, and believe the problem might be solved now.</p>
 326
 327 <p>In the process I came across the nice Linux GUI tool
 328 <a href="https://gitlab.com/caspermeijn/onvifviewer/">ONVIF Viewer</a>
 329 allowing me to preview the camera output and validate the login
 330 passwords required.  Sadly its author has grown tired of maintaining
 331 the software, so it might not see any future updates.  Which is sad,
 332 as the viewer is sightly unstable and the picture tend to lock up.
 333 Note, this lockup might be due to limitations in the cameras and not
 334 the viewer implementation.  I suspect the camera is only able to
 335 provide pictures to one client at the time, and the Zoneminder feed
 336 might interfere with the GUI viewer.  I have
 337 <a href="https://bugs.debian.org/1000820">asked for the tool to be
 338 included in Debian</a>.</p>
 339
 340 <p>Finally, I found what appear to be very nice Linux free software
 341 replacement for the Windows tool, named
 342 <a href="https://github.com/sr99622/libonvif/">libonvif</a>.  It
 343 provide a C library to talk to ONVIF devices as well as a command line
 344 and GUI tool using the library.  Using the GUI tool I was able to change
 345 the admin passwords and update other settings of the cameras.  I have
 346 <a href="https://bugs.debian.org/1021980">asked for the package to be
 347 included in Debian</a>.</p>
 348
 349 <p>As usual, if you use Bitcoin and want to show your support of my
 350 activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address
 351 <b><a href="bitcoin:15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</a></b>.</p>
 352
 353 <p><strong>Update 2022-10-20</strong>: Since my initial publication of
 354 this text, I got several suggestions for more free software Linux
 355 tools.  There is <a href="https://github.com/quatanium/python-onvif">a
 356 ONVIF python library</a> (already
 357 <a href="https://bugs.debian.org/824240">requested into Debian</a>) and
 358 <a href="https://github.com/FalkTannhaeuser/python-onvif-zeep">a python 3
 359 fork</a> using a different SOAP dependency.  There is also
 360 <a href="https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/onvif/">support for
 361 ONVIF in Home Assistant</a>, and there is an alternative to Zoneminder
 362 called <a href="https://www.shinobi.video/">Shinobi</a>.  The latter
 363 two are not included in Debian either.  I have not tested any of these
 364 so far.</p>
 365
 366       </div>
 367       <div class="tags">
 368
 369
 370         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/multimedia">multimedia</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/standard">standard</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/surveillance">surveillance</a>.
 371
 372
 373       </div>
 374     </div>
 375     <div class="padding"></div>
 376
 377     <div class="entry">
 378       <div class="title">
 379         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Time_to_translate_the_Bullseye_edition_of_the_Debian_Administrator_s_Handbook.html">Time to translate the Bullseye edition of the Debian Administrator's Handbook</a>
 380       </div>
 381       <div class="date">
 382         12th September 2022
 383       </div>
 384       <div class="body">
 385         <p align="center"><img align="center" src="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2020-10-20-debian-handbook-nb-testprint.jpeg" width="60%"/></p>
 386
 387 <p>(The picture is of the previous edition.)</p>
 388
 389 <p>Almost two years after the previous Norwegian Bokmål translation of
 390 the "<a href="https://debian-handbook.info/">The Debian Administrator's
 391 Handbook</a>" was published, a new edition is finally being prepared.  The
 392 english text is updated, and it is time to start working on the
 393 translations.  Around 37 percent of the strings have been updated, one
 394 way or another, and the translations starting from a complete Debian Buster
 395 edition now need to bring their translation up from 63% to 100%.  The
 396 complete book is licensed using a Creative Commons license, and has
 397 been published in several languages over the years.  The translations
 398 are done by volunteers to bring Linux in their native tongue.  The
 399 last time I checked, it complete text was available in English,
 400 Norwegian Bokmål, German, Indonesian, Brazil Portuguese and Spanish.
 401 In addition, work has been started for Arabic (Morocco), Catalan,
 402 Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Croatian, Czech, Danish,
 403 Dutch, French, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Persian, Polish,
 404 Romanian, Russian, Swedish, Turkish and Vietnamese.</p>
 405
 406 <p>The translation is conducted on
 407 <a href="https://hosted.weblate.org/projects/debian-handbook/">the
 408 hosted weblate project page</a>.  Prospective translators are
 409 recommeded to subscribe to
 410 <a href="http://lists.alioth.debian.org/mailman/listinfo/debian-handbook-translators">the
 411 translators mailing list</a> and should also check out
 412 <a href="https://debian-handbook.info/contribute/">the instructions for
 413 contributors</a>.</p>
 414
 415 <p>I am one of the Norwegian Bokmål translators of this book, and we
 416 have just started.  Your contribution is most welcome.</p>
 417
 418 <p>As usual, if you use Bitcoin and want to show your support of my
 419 activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address
 420 <b><a href="bitcoin:15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</a></b>.</p>
 421
 422       </div>
 423       <div class="tags">
 424
 425
 426         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian-handbook">debian-handbook</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
 427
 428
 429       </div>
 430     </div>
 431     <div class="padding"></div>
 432
 433     <div class="entry">
 434       <div class="title">
 435         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Automatic_LinuxCNC_servo_PID_tuning_.html">Automatic LinuxCNC servo PID tuning?</a>
 436       </div>
 437       <div class="date">
 438         16th July 2022
 439       </div>
 440       <div class="body">
 441         <p>While working on a CNC with servo motors controlled by the
 442 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LinuxCNC">LinuxCNC</a>
 443 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PID_controller">PID
 444 controller</a>, I recently had to learn how to tune the collection of values
 445 that control such mathematical machinery that a PID controller is.  It
 446 proved to be a lot harder than I hoped, and I still have not succeeded
 447 in getting the Z PID controller to successfully defy gravity, nor X
 448 and Y to move accurately and reliably.  But while climbing up this
 449 rather steep learning curve, I discovered that some motor control
 450 systems are able to tune their PID controllers.  I got the impression
 451 from the documentation that LinuxCNC were not.  This proved to be not
 452 true.</p>
 453
 454 <p>The LinuxCNC
 455 <a href="http://linuxcnc.org/docs/html/man/man9/pid.9.html">pid
 456 component</a> is the recommended PID controller to use.  It uses eight
 457 constants <tt>Pgain</tt>, <tt>Igain</tt>, <tt>Dgain</tt>,
 458 <tt>bias</tt>, <tt>FF0</tt>, <tt>FF1</tt>, <tt>FF2</tt> and
 459 <tt>FF3</tt> to calculate the output value based on current and wanted
 460 state, and all of these need to have a sensible value for the
 461 controller to behave properly.  Note, there are even more values
 462 involved, theser are just the most important ones.  In my case I need
 463 the X, Y and Z axes to follow the requested path with little error.
 464 This has proved quite a challenge for someone who have never tuned a
 465 PID controller before, but there is at least some help to be found.
 466
 467 <p>I discovered that included in LinuxCNC was this old PID component
 468 at_pid claiming to have auto tuning capabilities.  Sadly it had been
 469 neglected since 2011, and could not be used as a plug in replacement
 470 for the default pid component.  One would have to rewriting the
 471 LinuxCNC HAL setup to test at_pid.  This was rather sad, when I wanted
 472 to quickly test auto tuning to see if it did a better job than me at
 473 figuring out good P, I and D values to use.</p>
 474
 475 <p>I decided to have a look if the situation could be improved.  This
 476 involved trying to understand the code and history of the pid and
 477 at_pid components.  Apparently they had a common ancestor, as code
 478 structure, comments and variable names were quite close to each other.
 479 Sadly this was not reflected in the git history, making it hard to
 480 figure out what really happened.  My guess is that the author of
 481 <a href="https://github.com/LinuxCNC/linuxcnc/blob/master/src/hal/components/at_pid.c">at_pid.c</a>
 482 took a version of
 483 <a href="https://github.com/LinuxCNC/linuxcnc/blob/master/src/hal/components/pid.c">pid.c</a>,
 484 rewrote it to follow the structure he wished pid.c to have, then added
 485 support for auto tuning and finally got it included into the LinuxCNC
 486 repository.  The restructuring and lack of early history made it
 487 harder to figure out which part of the code were relevant to the auto
 488 tuning, and which part of the code needed to be updated to work the
 489 same way as the current pid.c implementation.  I started by trying to
 490 isolate relevant changes in pid.c, and applying them to at_pid.c.  My
 491 aim was to make sure the at_pid component could replace the pid
 492 component with a simple change in the HAL setup loadrt line, without
 493 having to "rewire" the rest of the HAL configuration.  After a few
 494 hours following this approach, I had learned quite a lot about the
 495 code structure of both components, while concluding I was heading down
 496 the wrong rabbit hole, and should get back to the surface and find a
 497 different path.</p>
 498
 499 <p>For the second attempt, I decided to throw away all the PID control
 500 related part of the original at_pid.c, and instead isolate and lift
 501 the auto tuning part of the code and inject it into a copy of pid.c.
 502 This ensured compatibility with the current pid component, while
 503 adding auto tuning as a run time option.  To make it easier to identify
 504 the relevant parts in the future, I wrapped all the auto tuning code
 505 with '#ifdef AUTO_TUNER'.  The end result behave just like the current
 506 pid component by default, as that part of the code is identical.  The
 507 <a href="https://github.com/LinuxCNC/linuxcnc/pull/1820">end result
 508 entered the LinuxCNC master branch</a> a few days ago.</p>
 509
 510 <p>To enable auto tuning, one need to set a few HAL pins in the PID
 511 component.  The most important ones are <tt>tune-effort</tt>,
 512 <tt>tune-mode</tt> and <tt>tune-start</tt>.  But lets take a step
 513 back, and see what the auto tuning code will do.  I do not know the
 514 mathematical foundation of the at_pid algorithm, but from observation
 515 I can tell that the algorithm will, when enabled, produce a square
 516 wave pattern centered around the <tt>bias</tt> value on the output pin
 517 of the PID controller.  This can be seen using the HAL Scope provided
 518 by LinuxCNC.  In my case, this is translated into voltage (+-10V) sent
 519 to the motor controller, which in turn is translated into motor speed.
 520 So at_pid will ask the motor to move the axis back and forth.  The
 521 number of cycles in the pattern is controlled by the
 522 <tt>tune-cycles</tt> pin, and the extremes of the wave pattern is
 523 controlled by the <tt>tune-effort</tt> pin.  Of course, trying to
 524 change the direction of a physical object instantly (as in going
 525 directly from a positive voltage to the equivalent negative voltage)
 526 do not change velocity instantly, and it take some time for the object
 527 to slow down and move in the opposite direction.  This result in a
 528 more smooth movement wave form, as the axis in question were vibrating
 529 back and forth.  When the axis reached the target speed in the
 530 opposing direction, the auto tuner change direction again.  After
 531 several of these changes, the average time delay between the 'peaks'
 532 and 'valleys' of this movement graph is then used to calculate
 533 proposed values for Pgain, Igain and Dgain, and insert them into the
 534 HAL model to use by the pid controller.  The auto tuned settings are
 535 not great, but htye work a lot better than the values I had been able
 536 to cook up on my own, at least for the horizontal X and Y axis.  But I
 537 had to use very small <tt>tune-effort<tt> values, as my motor
 538 controllers error out if the voltage change too quickly.  I've been
 539 less lucky with the Z axis, which is moving a heavy object up and
 540 down, and seem to confuse the algorithm.  The Z axis movement became a
 541 lot better when I introduced a <tt>bias</tt> value to counter the
 542 gravitational drag, but I will have to work a lot more on the Z axis
 543 PID values.</p>
 544
 545 <p>Armed with this knowledge, it is time to look at how to do the
 546 tuning.  Lets say the HAL configuration in question load the PID
 547 component for X, Y and Z like this:</p>
 548
 549 <blockquote><pre>
 550 loadrt pid names=pid.x,pid.y,pid.z
 551 </pre></blockquote>
 552
 553 <p>Armed with the new and improved at_pid component, the new line will
 554 look like this:</p>
 555
 556 <blockquote><pre>
 557 loadrt at_pid names=pid.x,pid.y,pid.z
 558 </pre></blockquote>
 559
 560 <p>The rest of the HAL setup can stay the same.  This work because the
 561 components are referenced by name.  If the component had used count=3
 562 instead, all use of pid.# had to be changed to at_pid.#.</p>
 563
 564 <p>To start tuning the X axis, move the axis to the middle of its
 565 range, to make sure it do not hit anything when it start moving back
 566 and forth.  Next, set the <tt>tune-effort</tt> to a low number in the
 567 output range.  I used 0.1 as my initial value.  Next, assign 1 to the
 568 <tt>tune-mode</tt> value. Note, this will disable the pid controlling
 569 part and feed 0 to the output pin, which in my case initially caused a
 570 lot of drift.  In my case it proved to be a good idea with X and Y to
 571 tune the motor driver to make sure 0 voltage stopped the motor
 572 rotation.  On the other hand, for the Z axis this proved to be a bad
 573 idea, so it will depend on your setup.  It might help to set the
 574 <tt>bias</tt> value to a output value that reduce or eliminate the
 575 axis drift.  Finally, after setting <tt>tune-mode</tt>, set
 576 <tt>tune-start</tt> to 1 to activate the auto tuning.  If all go well,
 577 your axis will vibrate for a few seconds and when it is done, new
 578 values for Pgain, Igain and Dgain will be active.  To test them,
 579 change <tt>tune-mode</tt> back to 0.  Note that this might cause the
 580 machine to suddenly jerk as it bring the axis back to its commanded
 581 position, which it might have drifted away from during tuning.  To
 582 summarize with some halcmd lines:</p>
 583
 584 <blockquote><pre>
 585 setp pid.x.tune-effort 0.1
 586 setp pid.x.tune-mode 1
 587 setp pid.x.tune-start 1
 588 # wait for the tuning to complete
 589 setp pid.x.tune-mode 0
 590 </pre></blockquote>
 591
 592 <p>After doing this task quite a few times while trying to figure out
 593 how to properly tune the PID controllers on the machine in, I decided
 594 to figure out if this process could be automated, and wrote a script
 595 to do the entire tuning process from power on.  The end result will
 596 ensure the machine is powered on and ready to run, home all axis if it
 597 is not already done, check that the extra tuning pins are available,
 598 move the axis to its mid point, run the auto tuning and re-enable the
 599 pid controller when it is done.  It can be run several times.  Check
 600 out the
 601 <a href="https://github.com/SebKuzminsky/MazakVQC1540/blob/bon-dev/scripts/run-auto-pid-tuner">run-auto-pid-tuner</a>
 602 script on github if you want to learn how it is done.</p>
 603
 604 <p>My hope is that this little adventure can inspire someone who know
 605 more about motor PID controller tuning can implement even better
 606 algorithms for automatic PID tuning in LinuxCNC, making life easier
 607 for both me and all the others that want to use LinuxCNC but lack the
 608 in depth knowledge needed to tune PID controllers well.</p>
 609
 610 <p>As usual, if you use Bitcoin and want to show your support of my
 611 activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address
 612 <b><a href="bitcoin:15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</a></b>.</p>
 613
 614       </div>
 615       <div class="tags">
 616
 617
 618         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/3d-printer">3d-printer</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/linuxcnc">linuxcnc</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/robot">robot</a>.
 619
 620
 621       </div>
 622     </div>
 623     <div class="padding"></div>
 624
 625     <div class="entry">
 626       <div class="title">
 627         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/LinuxCNC_translators_life_just_got_a_bit_easier.html">LinuxCNC translators life just got a bit easier</a>
 628       </div>
 629       <div class="date">
 630          3rd June 2022
 631       </div>
 632       <div class="body">
 633         <p>Back in oktober last year, when I started looking at the
 634 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LinuxCNC">LinuxCNC</a> system, I
 635 proposed to change the documentation build system make life easier for
 636 translators.  The original system consisted of independently written
 637 documentation files for each language, with no automated way to track
 638 changes done in other translations and no help for the translators to
 639 know how much was left to translated.  By using
 640 <a href="https://po4a.org/">the po4a system</a> to generate POT and PO
 641 files from the English documentation, this can be improved.  A small
 642 team of LinuxCNC contributors got together and today our labour
 643 finally payed off.  Since a few hours ago, it is now possible to
 644 translate <a href="https://hosted.weblate.org/projects/linuxcnc/">the
 645 LinuxCNC documentation on Weblate</a>, alongside the program itself.</p>
 646
 647 <p>The effort to migrate the documentation to use po4a has been both
 648 slow and frustrating.  I am very happy we finally made it.</p>
 649
 650 <p>As usual, if you use Bitcoin and want to show your support of my
 651 activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address
 652 <b><a href="bitcoin:15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</a></b>.</p>
 653
 654       </div>
 655       <div class="tags">
 656
 657
 658         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/3d-printer">3d-printer</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/linuxcnc">linuxcnc</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/robot">robot</a>.
 659
 660
 661       </div>
 662     </div>
 663     <div class="padding"></div>
 664
 665     <div class="entry">
 666       <div class="title">
 667         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/geteltorito_make_CD_firmware_upgrades_a_breeze.html">geteltorito make CD firmware upgrades a breeze</a>
 668       </div>
 669       <div class="date">
 670         20th April 2022
 671       </div>
 672       <div class="body">
 673         <p>Recently I wanted to upgrade the firmware of my thinkpad, and
 674 located the firmware download page from Lenovo (which annoyingly do
 675 not allow access via Tor, forcing me to hand them more personal
 676 information that I would like).  The
 677 <a href="https://support.lenovo.com/no/en/search?query=thinkpad firmware bios upgrade iso&SearchType=Customer search&searchLocation=Masthead">download
 678 from Lenovo</a> is a bootable ISO image, which is a bit of a problem
 679 when all I got available is a USB memory stick.  I tried booting the
 680 ISO as a USB stick, but this did not work.  But genisoimage came to
 681 the rescue.</p>
 682
 683 <P>The geteltorito program in
 684 <a href="http://tracker.debian.org/cdrkit">the genisoimage binary
 685 package</a> is able to convert the bootable ISO image to a bootable
 686 USB stick using a simple command line recipe, which I then can write
 687 to the most recently inserted USB stick:</p>
 688
 689 <blockquote><pre>
 690 geteltorito -o usbstick.img lenovo-firmware.iso
 691 sudo dd bs=10M if=usbstick.img of=$(ls -tr /dev/sd?|tail -1)
 692 </pre></blockquote>
 693
 694 <p>This USB stick booted the firmware upgrader just fine, and in a few
 695 minutes my machine had the latest and greatest BIOS firmware in place.</p>
 696
 697       </div>
 698       <div class="tags">
 699
 700
 701         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
 702
 703
 704       </div>
 705     </div>
 706     <div class="padding"></div>
 707
 708     <div class="entry">
 709       <div class="title">
 710         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Run_your_industrial_metal_working_machine_using_Debian_.html">Run your industrial metal working machine using Debian?</a>
 711       </div>
 712       <div class="date">
 713          2nd March 2022
 714       </div>
 715       <div class="body">
 716         <p>After many months of hard work by the good people involved in
 717 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LinuxCNC">LinuxCNC</a>, the
 718 system was accepted Sunday
 719 <a href="https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/linuxcnc">into Debian</a>.
 720 Once it was available from Debian, I was surprised to discover from
 721 <a href="https://qa.debian.org/popcon.php?package=linuxcnc">its
 722 popularity-contest numbers</a> that people have been reporting its use
 723 since 2012.  <a href="http://linuxcnc.org/">Its project site</a> might
 724 be a good place to check out, but sadly is not working when visiting
 725 via Tor.</p>
 726
 727 <p>But what is LinuxCNC, you are probably wondering?  Perhaps a
 728 Wikipedia quote is in place?</p>
 729
 730 <blockquote>
 731 "LinuxCNC is a software system for numerical control of
 732 machines such as milling machines, lathes, plasma cutters, routers,
 733 cutting machines, robots and hexapods. It can control up to 9 axes or
 734 joints of a CNC machine using G-code (RS-274NGC) as input. It has
 735 several GUIs suited to specific kinds of usage (touch screen,
 736 interactive development)."
 737 </blockquote>
 738
 739 <p>It can even control 3D printers.  And even though the Wikipedia
 740 page indicate that it can only work with hard real time kernel
 741 features, it can also work with the user space soft real time features
 742 provided by the Debian kernel.
 743 <a href="https://github.com/linuxcnc/linuxcnc">The source code</a> is
 744 available from Github.  The last few months I've been involved in the
 745 translation setup for the program and documentation.  Translators are
 746 most welcome to
 747 <a href="https://hosted.weblate.org/engage/linuxcnc/">join the
 748 effort</a> using Weblate.</p>
 749
 750 <p>As usual, if you use Bitcoin and want to show your support of my
 751 activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address
 752 <b><a href="bitcoin:15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</a></b>.</p>
 753
 754       </div>
 755       <div class="tags">
 756
 757
 758         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/3d-printer">3d-printer</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/linuxcnc">linuxcnc</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/robot">robot</a>.
 759
 760
 761       </div>
 762     </div>
 763     <div class="padding"></div>
 764
 765     <div class="entry">
 766       <div class="title">
 767         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_still_an_excellent_choice_for_Lego_builders.html">Debian still an excellent choice for Lego builders</a>
 768       </div>
 769       <div class="date">
 770         24th October 2021
 771       </div>
 772       <div class="body">
 773         <p>The Debian Lego team saw a lot of activity the last few weeks.  All
 774 the packages under the team umbrella has been updated to fix
 775 packaging, lintian issues and BTS reports.  In addition, a new and
 776 inspiring team member appeared on both the
 777 <a href="https://alioth-lists.debian.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/debian-lego-team">debian-lego-team
 778 Team mailing list</a> and
 779 <a href="irc://irc.debian.org/%23debian-lego">IRC channel
 780 #debian-lego</a>.  If you are interested in Lego CAD design and LEGO
 781 Mindstorms programming, check out the
 782 <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/LegoDesigners">team wiki page</a> to
 783 see what Debian can offer the Lego enthusiast.</p>
 784
 785 <p>Patches has been sent upstream, causing new upstream releases, one
 786 even the first one in more than ten years, and old upstreams was
 787 released with new ones.  There are still a lot of work left, and the
 788 team welcome more members to help us make sure Debian is the Linux
 789 distribution of choice for Lego builders.  If you want to contribute,
 790 join us in the IRC channel and become part of
 791 <a href="https://salsa.debian.org/debian-lego-team/">the team on
 792 Salsa</a>.</p>
 793
 794 <p>As usual, if you use Bitcoin and want to show your support of my
 795 activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address
 796 <b><a href="bitcoin:15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</a></b>.</p>
 797
 798       </div>
 799       <div class="tags">
 800
 801
 802         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/lego">lego</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/robot">robot</a>.
 803
 804
 805       </div>
 806     </div>
 807     <div class="padding"></div>
 808
 809     <div class="entry">
 810       <div class="title">
 811         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Six_complete_translations_of_The_Debian_Administrator_s_Handbook_for_Buster.html">Six complete translations of The Debian Administrator's Handbook for Buster</a>
 812       </div>
 813       <div class="date">
 814          5th July 2021
 815       </div>
 816       <div class="body">
 817         <p>I am happy observe that the <a href="https://debian-handbook.info/">The
 818 Debian Administrator's Handbook</a> is available in six languages now.
 819 I am not sure which one of these are completely proof read, but the
 820 complete book is available in these languages:
 821
 822 <ul>
 823
 824 <li>English</li>
 825 <li>Norwegian Bokmål</li>
 826 <li>German</li>
 827 <li>Indonesian</li>
 828 <li>Brazil Portuguese</li>
 829 <li>Spanish</li>
 830
 831 </ul>
 832
 833 <p>This is the list of languages more than 70% complete, in other
 834 words with not too much left to do:</p>
 835
 836 <ul>
 837
 838 <li>Chinese (Simplified) - 90%</li>
 839 <li>French - 79%</li>
 840 <li>Italian - 79%</li>
 841 <li>Japanese - 77%</li>
 842 <li>Arabic (Morocco) - 75%</li>
 843 <li>Persian - 71%</li>
 844
 845 </ul>
 846
 847 <p>I wonder how long it will take to bring these to 100%.</p>
 848
 849 <p>Then there is the list of languages about halfway done:</p>
 850
 851 <ul>
 852
 853 <li>Russian - 63%</li>
 854 <li>Swedish - 53%</li>
 855 <li>Chinese (Traditional) - 46%</li>
 856 <li>Catalan - 45%</li>
 857
 858 </ul>
 859
 860 <p>Several are on to a good start:</p>
 861
 862 <ul>
 863
 864 <li>Dutch - 26%</li>
 865 <li>Vietnamese - 25%</li>
 866 <li>Polish - 23%</li>
 867 <li>Czech - 22%</li>
 868 <li>Turkish - 18%</li>
 869
 870 </ul>
 871
 872 <p>Finally, there are the ones just getting started:</p>
 873
 874 <ul>
 875
 876 <li>Korean - 4%</li>
 877 <li>Croatian - 2%</li>
 878 <li>Greek - 2%</li>
 879 <li>Danish - 1%</li>
 880 <li>Romanian - 1%</li>
 881
 882 </ul>
 883
 884 <p>If you want to help provide a Debian instruction book in your own
 885 language, visit
 886 <a href="https://hosted.weblate.org/projects/debian-handbook/#languages">Weblate</a>
 887 to contribute to the translations.</p>
 888
 889 <p>As usual, if you use Bitcoin and want to show your support of my
 890 activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address
 891 <b><a href="bitcoin:15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</a></b>.</p>
 892
 893       </div>
 894       <div class="tags">
 895
 896
 897         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian-handbook">debian-handbook</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
 898
 899
 900       </div>
 901     </div>
 902     <div class="padding"></div>
 903
 904     <div class="entry">
 905       <div class="title">
 906         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Latest_Jami_back_in_Debian_Testing__and_scriptable_using_dbus.html">Latest Jami back in Debian Testing, and scriptable using dbus</a>
 907       </div>
 908       <div class="date">
 909         12th January 2021
 910       </div>
 911       <div class="body">
 912         <p>After a lot of hard work by its maintainer Alexandre Viau and
 913 others, the decentralized communication platform
 914 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jami_(software)">Jami</a>
 915 (earlier known as Ring), managed to get
 916 <a href="https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/ring">its latest version</a>
 917 into Debian Testing.  Several of its dependencies has caused build and
 918 propagation problems, which all seem to be solved now.</p>
 919
 920 <p>In addition to the fact that Jami is decentralized, similar to how
 921 bittorrent is decentralized, I first of all like how it is not
 922 connected to external IDs like phone numbers.  This allow me to set up
 923 computers to send me notifications using Jami without having to find
 924 get a phone number for each computer.  Automatic notification via Jami
 925 is also made trivial thanks to the provided client side API (as a DBus
 926 service).  Here is my bourne shell script demonstrating how to let any
 927 system send a message to any Jami address.  It will create a new
 928 identity before sending the message, if no Jami identity exist
 929 already:</p>
 930
 931 <p><pre>
 932 #!/bin/sh
 933 #
 934 # Usage: $0 <jami-address> <message>
 935 #
 936 # Send <message> to <jami-address>, create local jami account if
 937 # missing.
 938 #
 939 # License: GPL v2 or later at your choice
 940 # Author: Petter Reinholdtsen
 941
 942
 943 if [ -z "$HOME" ] ; then
 944     echo "error: missing \$HOME, required for dbus to work"
 945     exit 1
 946 fi
 947
 948 # First, get dbus running if not already running
 949 DBUSLAUNCH=/usr/bin/dbus-launch
 950 PIDFILE=/run/asterisk/dbus-session.pid
 951 if [ -e $PIDFILE ] ; then
 952     . $PIDFILE
 953     if ! kill -0 $DBUS_SESSION_BUS_PID 2>/dev/null ; then
 954         unset DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS
 955     fi
 956 fi
 957 if [ -z "$DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS" ] && [ -x "$DBUSLAUNCH" ]; then
 958     DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS="unix:path=$HOME/.dbus"
 959     dbus-daemon --session --address="$DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS" --nofork --nopidfile --syslog-only < /dev/null > /dev/null 2>&1 3>&1 &
 960     DBUS_SESSION_BUS_PID=$!
 961     (
 962         echo DBUS_SESSION_BUS_PID=$DBUS_SESSION_BUS_PID
 963         echo DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS=\""$DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS"\"
 964         echo export DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS
 965     ) > $PIDFILE
 966     . $PIDFILE
 967 fi &
 968
 969 dringop() {
 970     part="$1"; shift
 971     op="$1"; shift
 972     dbus-send --session \
 973         --dest="cx.ring.Ring" /cx/ring/Ring/$part cx.ring.Ring.$part.$op $*
 974 }
 975
 976 dringopreply() {
 977     part="$1"; shift
 978     op="$1"; shift
 979     dbus-send --session --print-reply \
 980         --dest="cx.ring.Ring" /cx/ring/Ring/$part cx.ring.Ring.$part.$op $*
 981 }
 982
 983 firstaccount() {
 984     dringopreply ConfigurationManager getAccountList | \
 985       grep string | awk -F'"' '{print $2}' | head -n 1
 986 }
 987
 988 account=$(firstaccount)
 989
 990 if [ -z "$account" ] ; then
 991     echo "Missing local account, trying to create it"
 992     dringop ConfigurationManager addAccount \
 993       dict:string:string:"Account.type","RING","Account.videoEnabled","false"
 994     account=$(firstaccount)
 995     if [ -z "$account" ] ; then
 996         echo "unable to create local account"
 997         exit 1
 998     fi
 999 fi
1000
1001 # Not using dringopreply to ensure $2 can contain spaces
1002 dbus-send --print-reply --session \
1003   --dest=cx.ring.Ring \
1004   /cx/ring/Ring/ConfigurationManager \
1005   cx.ring.Ring.ConfigurationManager.sendTextMessage \
1006   string:"$account" string:"$1" \
1007   dict:string:string:"text/plain","$2"
1008 </pre></p>
1009
1010 <p>If you want to check it out yourself, visit the
1011 <a href="https://jami.net/">the Jami system project page</a> to learn
1012 more, and install the latest Jami client from Debian Unstable or
1013 Testing.</p>
1014
1015 <p>As usual, if you use Bitcoin and want to show your support of my
1016 activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address
1017 <b><a href="bitcoin:15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</a></b>.</p>
1018
1019       </div>
1020       <div class="tags">
1021
1022
1023         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/sikkerhet">sikkerhet</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/surveillance">surveillance</a>.
1024
1025
1026       </div>
1027     </div>
1028     <div class="padding"></div>
1029
1030     <div class="entry">
1031       <div class="title">
1032         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Buster_based_Bokm_l_edition_of_Debian_Administrator_s_Handbook.html">Buster based Bokmål edition of Debian Administrator's Handbook</a>
1033       </div>
1034       <div class="date">
1035         20th October 2020
1036       </div>
1037       <div class="body">
1038         <p align="center"><img align="center" src="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2020-10-20-debian-handbook-nb-testprint.jpeg" width="60%"/></p>
1039
1040 <p>I am happy to report that we finally made it!  Norwegian Bokmål
1041 became the first translation published on paper of the new Buster
1042 based edition of "<a href="https://debian-handbook.info/">The Debian
1043 Administrator's Handbook</a>".  The print proof reading copy arrived
1044 some days ago, and it looked good, so now the book is approved for
1045 general distribution.  This updated paperback edition <a
1046 href="https://debian-handbook.info/get/#norwegian">is available from
1047 lulu.com</a>.  The book is also available for download in electronic
1048 form as PDF, EPUB and Mobipocket, and can also be
1049 <a href="https://debian-handbook.info/browse/nb-NO/stable/">read online</a>.</p>
1050
1051 <p>I am very happy to wrap up this Creative Common licensed project,
1052 which concludes several months of work by several volunteers. The
1053 number of Linux related books published in Norwegian are few, and I
1054 really hope this one will gain many readers, as it is packed with deep
1055 knowledge on Linux and the Debian ecosystem.  The book will be
1056 available for various Internet book stores like Amazon and Barnes &
1057 Noble soon, but I recommend buying
1058 "<a href="https://www.lulu.com/en/us/shop/roland-mas-and-rapha%C3%ABl-hertzog/h%C3%A5ndbok-for-debian-administratoren/paperback/product-9j7qwq.html">Håndbok
1059 for Debian-administratoren</a>" directly from the source at Lulu.
1060
1061 <p>As usual, if you use Bitcoin and want to show your support of my
1062 activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address
1063 <b><a href="bitcoin:15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</a></b>.</p>
1064
1065       </div>
1066       <div class="tags">
1067
1068
1069         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian-handbook">debian-handbook</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
1070
1071
1072       </div>
1073     </div>
1074     <div class="padding"></div>
1075
1076     <div class="entry">
1077       <div class="title">
1078         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Buster_update_of_Norwegian_Bokm_l_edition_of_Debian_Administrator_s_Handbook_almost_done.html">Buster update of Norwegian Bokmål edition of Debian Administrator's Handbook almost done</a>
1079       </div>
1080       <div class="date">
1081         11th September 2020
1082       </div>
1083       <div class="body">
1084         <p>Thanks to the good work of several volunteers, the updated edition
1085 of the Norwegian translation for
1086 "<a href="https://debian-handbook.info/">The Debian Administrator's
1087 Handbook</a>" is now almost completed.  After many months of proof
1088 reading, I consider the proof reading complete enough for us to move
1089 to the next step, and have asked for the print version to be prepared
1090 and sent of to the print on demand service lulu.com.  While it is
1091 still not to late if you find any incorrect translations on
1092 <a href="https://hosted.weblate.org/languages/nb_NO/debian-handbook/">the
1093 hosted Weblate service</a>, but it will be soon. :) You can check out
1094 <a href=" https://debian-handbook.info/browse/nb-NO/stable/">the Buster
1095 edition on the web</a> until the print edition is ready.</p>
1096
1097 <p>The book will be for sale on lulu.com and various web book stores,
1098 with links available from the web site for the book linked to above.
1099 I hope a lot of readers find it useful.</p>
1100
1101 <p>As usual, if you use Bitcoin and want to show your support of my
1102 activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address
1103 <b><a href="bitcoin:15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</a></b>.</p>
1104
1105       </div>
1106       <div class="tags">
1107
1108
1109         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian-handbook">debian-handbook</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
1110
1111
1112       </div>
1113     </div>
1114     <div class="padding"></div>
1115
1116     <div class="entry">
1117       <div class="title">
1118         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Working_on_updated_Norwegian_Bokm_l_edition_of_Debian_Administrator_s_Handbook.html">Working on updated Norwegian Bokmål edition of Debian Administrator's Handbook</a>
1119       </div>
1120       <div class="date">
1121          4th July 2020
1122       </div>
1123       <div class="body">
1124         <p>Three years ago, the first Norwegian Bokmål edition of
1125 "<a href="https://debian-handbook.info/">The Debian Administrator's
1126 Handbook</a>" was published.  This was based on Debian Jessie.  Now a
1127 new and updated version based on Buster is getting ready.  Work on the
1128 updated Norwegian Bokmål edition has been going on for a few months
1129 now, and yesterday, we reached the first mile stone, with 100% of the
1130 texts being translated.  A lot of proof reading remains, of course,
1131 but a major step towards a new edition has been taken.</p>
1132
1133 <p>The book is translated by volunteers, and we would love to get some
1134 help with the proof reading.  The translation uses
1135 <a href="https://hosted.weblate.org/languages/nb_NO/debian-handbook/">the
1136 hosted Weblate service</a>, and we welcome everyone to have a look and
1137 submit improvements and suggestions.  There is also a proof readers
1138 PDF available on request, get in touch if you want to help out that
1139 way.</p>
1140
1141 <p>As usual, if you use Bitcoin and want to show your support of my
1142 activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address
1143 <b><a href="bitcoin:15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</a></b>.</p>
1144
1145       </div>
1146       <div class="tags">
1147
1148
1149         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian-handbook">debian-handbook</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
1150
1151
1152       </div>
1153     </div>
1154     <div class="padding"></div>
1155
1156     <div class="entry">
1157       <div class="title">
1158         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Secure_Socket_API___a_simple_and_powerful_approach_for_TLS_support_in_software.html">Secure Socket API - a simple and powerful approach for TLS support in software</a>
1159       </div>
1160       <div class="date">
1161          6th June 2020
1162       </div>
1163       <div class="body">
1164         <p>As a member of the <a href="https://www.nuug.no/">Norwegian Unix
1165 User Group</a>, I have the pleasure of receiving the
1166 <a href="https://www.usenix.org/">USENIX</a> magazine
1167 <a href="https://www.usenix.org/publications/login/">;login:</a>
1168 several times a year.  I rarely have time to read all the articles,
1169 but try to at least skim through them all as there is a lot of nice
1170 knowledge passed on there.  I even carry the latest issue with me most
1171 of the time to try to get through all the articles when I have a few
1172 spare minutes.</p>
1173
1174 <p>The other day I came across a nice article titled
1175 "<a href="https://www.usenix.org/publications/login/winter2018/oneill">The
1176 Secure Socket API: TLS as an Operating System Service</a>" with a
1177 marvellous idea I hope can make it all the way into the POSIX standard.
1178 The idea is as simple as it is powerful.  By introducing a new
1179 socket() option IPPROTO_TLS to use TLS, and a system wide service to
1180 handle setting up TLS connections, one both make it trivial to add TLS
1181 support to any program currently using the POSIX socket API, and gain
1182 system wide control over certificates, TLS versions and encryption
1183 systems used.  Instead of doing this:</p>
1184
1185 <p><blockquote><pre>
1186 int socket = socket(PF_INET, SOCK_STREAM, IPPROTO_TCP);
1187 </pre></blockquote></p>
1188
1189 <p>the program code would be doing this:<p>
1190
1191 <p><blockquote><pre>
1192 int socket = socket(PF_INET, SOCK_STREAM, IPPROTO_TLS);
1193 </pre></blockquote></p>
1194
1195 <p>According to the ;login: article, converting a C program to use TLS
1196 would normally modify only 5-10 lines in the code, which is amazing
1197 when compared to using for example the OpenSSL API.</p>
1198
1199 <p>The project has set up the
1200 <a href="https://securesocketapi.org/">https://securesocketapi.org/</a>
1201 web site to spread the idea, and the code for a kernel module and the
1202 associated system daemon is available from two github repositories:
1203 <a href="https://github.com/markoneill/ssa">ssa</a> and
1204 <a href="https://github.com/markoneill/ssa-daemon">ssa-daemon</a>.
1205 Unfortunately there is no explicit license information with the code,
1206 so its copyright status is unclear.  A
1207 <a href="https://github.com/markoneill/ssa/issues/2">request to solve
1208 this</a> about it has been unsolved since 2018-08-17.</p>
1209
1210 <p>I love the idea of extending socket() to gain TLS support, and
1211 understand why it is an advantage to implement this as a kernel module
1212 and system wide service daemon, but can not help to think that it
1213 would be a lot easier to get projects to move to this way of setting
1214 up TLS if it was done with a user space approach where programs
1215 wanting to use this API approach could just link with a wrapper
1216 library.</p>
1217
1218 <p>I recommend you check out this simple and powerful approach to more
1219 secure network connections. :)</p>
1220
1221 <p>As usual, if you use Bitcoin and want to show your support of my
1222 activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address
1223 <b><a href="bitcoin:15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</a></b>.</p>
1224
1225       </div>
1226       <div class="tags">
1227
1228
1229         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/sikkerhet">sikkerhet</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/sysadmin">sysadmin</a>.
1230
1231
1232       </div>
1233     </div>
1234     <div class="padding"></div>
1235
1236     <div class="entry">
1237       <div class="title">
1238         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Jami_as_a_Zoom_client__a_trick_for_password_protected_rooms___.html">Jami as a Zoom client, a trick for password protected rooms...</a>
1239       </div>
1240       <div class="date">
1241          8th May 2020
1242       </div>
1243       <div class="body">
1244         <p>Half a year ago,
1245 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Jami_Ring__finally_functioning_peer_to_peer_communication_client.html">I
1246 wrote</a> about <a href="https://jami.net/">the Jami communication
1247 client</a>, capable of peer-to-peer encrypted communication.  It
1248 handle both messages, audio and video.  It uses distributed hash
1249 tables instead of central infrastructure to connect its users to each
1250 other, which in my book is a plus.  I mentioned briefly that it could
1251 also work as a SIP client, which came in handy when the higher
1252 educational sector in Norway started to promote Zoom as its video
1253 conferencing solution.  I am reluctant to use the official Zoom client
1254 software, due to their <a href="https://zoom.us/terms">copyright
1255 license clauses</a> prohibiting users to reverse engineer (for example
1256 to check the security) and benchmark it, and thus prefer to connect to
1257 Zoom meetings with free software clients.</p>
1258
1259 <p>Jami worked OK as a SIP client to Zoom as long as there was no
1260 password set on the room.  The Jami daemon leak memory like crazy
1261 (approximately 1 GiB a minute) when I am connected to the video
1262 conference, so I had to restart the client every 7-10 minutes, which
1263 is not great.  I tried to get other SIP Linux clients to work
1264 without success, so I decided I would have to live with this wart
1265 until someone managed to fix the leak in the dring code base.  But
1266 another problem showed up once the rooms were password protected.  I
1267 could not get my dial tone signaling through from Jami to Zoom, and
1268 dial tone signaling is used to enter the password when connecting to
1269 Zoom.  I tried a lot of different permutations with my Jami and
1270 Asterisk setup to try to figure out why the signaling did not get
1271 through, only to finally discover that the fundamental problem seem to
1272 be that Zoom is simply not able to receive dial tone signaling when
1273 connecting via SIP.  There seem to be nothing wrong with the Jami and
1274 Asterisk end, it is simply broken in the Zoom end.  I got help from a
1275 very skilled VoIP engineer figuring out this last part.  And being a
1276 very skilled engineer, he was also able to locate a solution for me.
1277 Or to be exact, a workaround that solve my initial problem of
1278 connecting to password protected Zoom rooms using Jami.</p>
1279
1280 <p>So, how do you do this, I am sure you are wondering by now.  The
1281 trick is already
1282 <a href="https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/202405539-H-323-SIP-Room-Connector-Dial-Strings#sip">documented
1283 from Zoom</a>, and it is to modify the SIP address to include the room
1284 password.  What is most surprising about this is that the
1285 automatically generated email from Zoom with instructions on how to
1286 connect via SIP do not mention this.  The SIP address to use normally
1287 consist of the room ID (a number), an @ character and the IP address
1288 of the Zoom SIP gateway.  But Zoom understand a lot more than just the
1289 room ID in front of the at sign.  The format is "<tt>[Meeting
1290 ID].[Password].[Layout].[Host Key]</tt>", and you can here see how you
1291 can both enter password, control the layout (full screen, active
1292 presence and gallery) and specify the host key to start the meeting.
1293 The full SIP address entered into Jami to provide the password will
1294 then look like this (all using made up numbers):</p>
1295
1296 <p><blockquote>
1297 <tt>sip:657837644.522827@192.168.169.170</tt>
1298 </blockquote></p>
1299
1300 <p>Now if only jami would reduce its memory usage, I could even
1301 recommend this setup to others. :)</p>
1302
1303 <p>As usual, if you use Bitcoin and want to show your support of my
1304 activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address
1305 <b><a href="bitcoin:15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</a></b>.</p>
1306
1307       </div>
1308       <div class="tags">
1309
1310
1311         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/sikkerhet">sikkerhet</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/surveillance">surveillance</a>.
1312
1313
1314       </div>
1315     </div>
1316     <div class="padding"></div>
1317
1318     <div class="entry">
1319       <div class="title">
1320         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/GnuCOBOL__a_free_platform_to_learn_and_use_COBOL___nice_free_software.html">GnuCOBOL, a free platform to learn and use COBOL - nice free software</a>
1321       </div>
1322       <div class="date">
1323         29th April 2020
1324       </div>
1325       <div class="body">
1326         <p>The curiosity got the better of me when
1327 <a href="https://developers.slashdot.org/story/20/04/06/1424246/new-jersey-desperately-needs-cobol-programmers">Slashdot
1328 reported</a> that New Jersey was desperately looking for
1329 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COBOL">COBOL</a> programmers,
1330 and a few days later it was reported that
1331 <a href="https://onezero.medium.com/ibm-rallies-cobol-engineers-to-save-overloaded-unemployment-systems-eeadf13eddce">IBM
1332 tried to locate COBOL programmers</a>.</p>
1333
1334 <p>I thus decided to have a look at free software alternatives to
1335 learn COBOL, and had the pleasure to find
1336 <a href="https://sourceforge.net/projects/open-cobol/">GnuCOBOL</a> was
1337 already <a href="https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/gnucobol">in
1338 Debian</a>.  It used to be called Open Cobol, and is a "compiler"
1339 transforming COBOL code to C or C++ before giving it to GCC or Visual
1340 Studio to build binaries.</p>
1341
1342 <p>I managed to get in touch with upstream, and was impressed with the
1343 quick response, and also was happy to see a new Debian maintainer
1344 taking over when the original one recently asked to be replaced.  A
1345 new Debian upload was done as recently as yesterday.</p>
1346
1347 <p>Using the Debian package, I was able to follow a simple COBOL
1348 introduction and make and run simple COBOL programs.  It was fun to
1349 learn a new programming language.  If you want to test for yourself,
1350 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GnuCOBOL">the GnuCOBOL Wikipedia
1351 page</a> have a few simple examples to get you startet.</p>
1352
1353 <p>As I do not have much experience with COBOL, I do not know how
1354 standard compliant it is, but it claim to pass most tests from COBOL
1355 test suite, which sound good to me.  It is nice to know it is possible
1356 to learn COBOL using software without any usage restrictions, and I am
1357 very happy such nice free software project as this is available.  If
1358 you as me is curious about COBOL, check it out.</p>
1359
1360 <p>As usual, if you use Bitcoin and want to show your support of my
1361 activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address
1362 <b><a href="bitcoin:15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</a></b>.</p>
1363
1364       </div>
1365       <div class="tags">
1366
1367
1368         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nice free software">nice free software</a>.
1369
1370
1371       </div>
1372     </div>
1373     <div class="padding"></div>
1374
1375     <div class="entry">
1376       <div class="title">
1377         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Jami_Ring__finally_functioning_peer_to_peer_communication_client.html">Jami/Ring, finally functioning peer to peer communication client</a>
1378       </div>
1379       <div class="date">
1380         19th June 2019
1381       </div>
1382       <div class="body">
1383         <p>Some years ago, in 2016, I
1384 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Experience_and_updated_recipe_for_using_the_Signal_app_without_a_mobile_phone.html">wrote
1385 for the first time about</a> the Ring peer to peer messaging system.
1386 It would provide messaging without any central server coordinating the
1387 system and without requiring all users to register a phone number or
1388 own a mobile phone.  Back then, I could not get it to work, and put it
1389 aside until it had seen more development.  A few days ago I decided to
1390 give it another try, and am happy to report that this time I am able
1391 to not only send and receive messages, but also place audio and video
1392 calls.  But only if UDP is not blocked into your network.</p>
1393
1394 <p>The Ring system changed name earlier this year to
1395 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jami_(software)">Jami</a>.  I
1396 tried doing web search for 'ring' when I discovered it for the first
1397 time, and can only applaud this change as it is impossible to find
1398 something called Ring among the noise of other uses of that word.  Now
1399 you can search for 'jami' and this client and
1400 <a href="https://jami.net/">the Jami system</a> is the first hit at
1401 least on duckduckgo.</p>
1402
1403 <p>Jami will by default encrypt messages as well as audio and video
1404 calls, and try to send them directly between the communicating parties
1405 if possible.  If this proves impossible (for example if both ends are
1406 behind NAT), it will use a central SIP TURN server maintained by the
1407 Jami project.  Jami can also be a normal SIP client.  If the SIP
1408 server is unencrypted, the audio and video calls will also be
1409 unencrypted.  This is as far as I know the only case where Jami will
1410 do anything without encryption.</p>
1411
1412 <p>Jami is available for several platforms: Linux, Windows, MacOSX,
1413 Android, iOS, and Android TV.  It is included in Debian already.  Jami
1414 also work for those using F-Droid without any Google connections,
1415 while Signal do not.
1416 <a href="https://git.jami.net/savoirfairelinux/ring-project/wikis/technical/Protocol">The
1417 protocol</a> is described in the Ring project wiki.  The system uses a
1418 distributed hash table (DHT) system (similar to BitTorrent) running
1419 over UDP.  On one of the networks I use, I discovered Jami failed to
1420 work.  I tracked this down to the fact that incoming UDP packages
1421 going to ports 1-49999 were blocked, and the DHT would pick a random
1422 port and end up in the low range most of the time.  After talking to
1423 the developers, I solved this by enabling the dhtproxy in the
1424 settings, thus using TCP to talk to a central DHT proxy instead of
1425
1426 peering directly with others.  I've been told the developers are
1427 working on allowing DHT to use TCP to avoid this problem.  I also ran
1428 into a problem when trying to talk to the version of Ring included in
1429 Debian Stable (Stretch).  Apparently the protocol changed between
1430 beta2 and the current version, making these clients incompatible.
1431 Hopefully the protocol will not be made incompatible in the
1432 future.</p>
1433
1434 <p>It is worth noting that while looking at Jami and its features, I
1435 came across another communication platform I have not tested yet.  The
1436 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tox_(protocol)">Tox protocol</a>
1437 and <a href="https://tox.chat/">family of Tox clients</a>.  It might
1438 become the topic of a future blog post.</p>
1439
1440 <p>As usual, if you use Bitcoin and want to show your support of my
1441 activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address
1442 <b><a href="bitcoin:15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</a></b>.</p>
1443
1444       </div>
1445       <div class="tags">
1446
1447
1448         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/sikkerhet">sikkerhet</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/surveillance">surveillance</a>.
1449
1450
1451       </div>
1452     </div>
1453     <div class="padding"></div>
1454
1455     <div class="entry">
1456       <div class="title">
1457         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Strategispillet_Unknown_Horizons_n__tilgjengelig_p__bokm_l.html">Strategispillet Unknown Horizons nå tilgjengelig på bokmål</a>
1458       </div>
1459       <div class="date">
1460         23rd January 2019
1461       </div>
1462       <div class="body">
1463         <p>I høst ble jeg inspirert til å bidra til oversettelsen av
1464 <a href="http://unknown-horizons.org/">strategispillet Unknown
1465 Horizons</a>, og oversatte de nesten 200 strengene i prosjektet til
1466 bokmål.  Deretter har jeg gått å ventet på at det kom en ny utgave som
1467 inneholdt disse oversettelsene.  Nå er endelig ventetiden over.  Den
1468 nye versjonen kom på nyåret, og ble
1469 <a href="https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/unknown-horizons">lastet opp i
1470 Debian</a> for noen få dager siden.  I går kveld fikk jeg testet det ut, og
1471 må innrømme at oversettelsene fungerer fint.  Fant noen få tekster som
1472 måtte justeres, men ikke noe alvorlig.  Har oppdatert
1473 <a href="https://hosted.weblate.org/projects/uh/">oversettelsen på
1474 Weblate</a>, slik at neste utgave vil være enda bedre. :)</p>
1475
1476 <p>Spillet er et ressursstyringsspill ala Civilization, og er morsomt
1477 å spille for oss som liker slikt. :)</p>
1478
1479 <p>Som vanlig, hvis du bruker Bitcoin og ønsker å vise din støtte til
1480 det jeg driver med, setter jeg pris på om du sender Bitcoin-donasjoner
1481 til min adresse
1482 <b><a href="bitcoin:15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</a></b>.
1483 Merk, betaling med bitcoin er ikke anonymt. :)</p>
1484
1485       </div>
1486       <div class="tags">
1487
1488
1489         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/norsk">norsk</a>.
1490
1491
1492       </div>
1493     </div>
1494     <div class="padding"></div>
1495
1496     <div class="entry">
1497       <div class="title">
1498         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_now_got_everything_you_need_to_program_Micro_bit.html">Debian now got everything you need to program Micro:bit</a>
1499       </div>
1500       <div class="date">
1501         22nd January 2019
1502       </div>
1503       <div class="body">
1504         <p>I am amazed and very pleased to discover that since a few days ago,
1505 everything you need to program the <a href="https://microbit.org/">BBC
1506 micro:bit</a> is available from the Debian archive.  All this is
1507 thanks to the hard work of Nick Morrott and the Debian python
1508 packaging team.  The micro:bit project recommend the mu-editor to
1509 program the microcomputer, as this editor will take care of all the
1510 machinery required to injekt/flash micropython alongside the program
1511 into the micro:bit, as long as the pieces are available.</p>
1512
1513 <p>There are three main pieces involved.  The first to enter Debian
1514 was
1515 <a href="https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/python-uflash">python-uflash</a>,
1516 which was accepted into the archive 2019-01-12.  The next one was
1517 <a href="https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/mu-editor">mu-editor</a>, which
1518 showed up 2019-01-13.  The final and hardest part to to into the
1519 archive was
1520 <a href="https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/firmware-microbit-micropython">firmware-microbit-micropython</a>,
1521 which needed to get its build system and dependencies into Debian
1522 before it was accepted 2019-01-20.  The last one is already in Debian
1523 Unstable and should enter Debian Testing / Buster in three days.  This
1524 all allow any user of the micro:bit to get going by simply running
1525 'apt install mu-editor' when using Testing or Unstable, and once
1526 Buster is released as stable, all the users of Debian stable will be
1527 catered for.</p>
1528
1529 <p>As a minor final touch, I added rules to
1530 <a href="https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/isenkram">the isenkram
1531 package</a> for recognizing micro:bit and recommend the mu-editor
1532 package.  This make sure any user of the isenkram desktop daemon will
1533 get a popup suggesting to install mu-editor then the USB cable from
1534 the micro:bit is inserted for the first time.</p>
1535
1536 <p>This should make it easier to have fun.</p>
1537
1538 <p>As usual, if you use Bitcoin and want to show your support of my
1539 activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address
1540 <b><a href="bitcoin:15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</a></b>.</p>
1541
1542       </div>
1543       <div class="tags">
1544
1545
1546         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/robot">robot</a>.
1547
1548
1549       </div>
1550     </div>
1551     <div class="padding"></div>
1552
1553     <div class="entry">
1554       <div class="title">
1555         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Learn_to_program_with_Minetest_on_Debian.html">Learn to program with Minetest on Debian</a>
1556       </div>
1557       <div class="date">
1558         15th December 2018
1559       </div>
1560       <div class="body">
1561         <p>A fun way to learn how to program
1562 <a href="https://www.python.org/">Python</a> is to follow the
1563 instructions in the book
1564 "<a href="https://nostarch.com/programwithminecraft">Learn to program
1565 with Minecraft</a>", which introduces programming in Python to people
1566 who like to play with Minecraft.  The book uses a Python library to
1567 talk to a TCP/IP socket with an API accepting build instructions and
1568 providing information about the current players in a Minecraft world.
1569 The TCP/IP API was first created for the Minecraft implementation for
1570 Raspberry Pi, and has since been ported to some server versions of
1571 Minecraft.  The book contain recipes for those using Windows, MacOSX
1572 and Raspian.  But a little known fact is that you can follow the same
1573 recipes using the free software construction game
1574 <a href="https://minetest.net/">Minetest</a>.</p>
1575
1576 <p>There is <a href="https://github.com/sprintingkiwi/pycraft_mod">a
1577 Minetest module implementing the same API</a>, making it possible to
1578 use the Python programs coded to talk to Minecraft with Minetest too.
1579 I
1580 <a href="https://ftp-master.debian.org/new/minetest-mod-pycraft_0.20%2Bgit20180331.0376a0a%2Bdfsg-1.html">uploaded
1581 this module</a> to Debian two weeks ago, and as soon as it clears the
1582 FTP masters NEW queue, learning to program Python with Minetest on
1583 Debian will be a simple 'apt install' away.  The Debian package is
1584 maintained as part of the Debian Games team, and
1585 <a href="https://salsa.debian.org/games-team/unfinished/minetest-mod-pycraft">the
1586 packaging rules</a> are currently located under 'unfinished' on
1587 Salsa.</p>
1588
1589 <p>You will most likely need to install several of the Minetest
1590 modules in Debian for the examples included with the library to work
1591 well, as there are several blocks used by the example scripts that are
1592 provided via modules in Minetest.  Without the required blocks, a
1593 simple stone block is used instead.  My initial testing with a analog
1594 clock did not get gold arms as instructed in the python library, but
1595 instead used stone arms.</p>
1596
1597 <p>I tried to find a way to add the API to the desktop version of
1598 Minecraft, but were unable to find any working recipes.  The
1599 <a href="https://www.epiphanydigest.com/tag/minecraft-python-api/">recipes</a>
1600 I <a href="https://github.com/kbsriram/mcpiapi">found</a> are only
1601 working with a standalone Minecraft server setup.  Are there any
1602 options to use with the normal desktop version?</p>
1603
1604 <p>As usual, if you use Bitcoin and want to show your support of my
1605 activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address
1606 <b><a href="bitcoin:15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</a></b>.</p>
1607
1608       </div>
1609       <div class="tags">
1610
1611
1612         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
1613
1614
1615       </div>
1616     </div>
1617     <div class="padding"></div>
1618
1619     <div class="entry">
1620       <div class="title">
1621         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Time_for_an_official_MIME_type_for_patches_.html">Time for an official MIME type for patches?</a>
1622       </div>
1623       <div class="date">
1624          1st November 2018
1625       </div>
1626       <div class="body">
1627         <p>As part of my involvement in
1628 <a href="https://gitlab.com/OsloMet-ABI/nikita-noark5-core">the Nikita
1629 archive API project</a>, I've been importing a fairly large lump of
1630 emails into a test instance of the archive to see how well this would
1631 go.  I picked a subset of <a href="https://notmuchmail.org/">my
1632 notmuch email database</a>, all public emails sent to me via
1633 @lists.debian.org, giving me a set of around 216 000 emails to import.
1634 In the process, I had a look at the various attachments included in
1635 these emails, to figure out what to do with attachments, and noticed
1636 that one of the most common attachment formats do not have
1637 <a href="https://www.iana.org/assignments/media-types/media-types.xhtml">an
1638 official MIME type</a> registered with IANA/IETF.  The output from
1639 diff, ie the input for patch, is on the top 10 list of formats
1640 included in these emails.  At the moment people seem to use either
1641 text/x-patch or text/x-diff, but neither is officially registered.  It
1642 would be better if one official MIME type were registered and used
1643 everywhere.</p>
1644
1645 <p>To try to get one official MIME type for these files, I've brought
1646 up the topic on
1647 <a href="https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/media-types">the
1648 media-types mailing list</a>.  If you are interested in discussion
1649 which MIME type to use as the official for patch files, or involved in
1650 making software using a MIME type for patches, perhaps you would like
1651 to join the discussion?</p>
1652
1653 <p>As usual, if you use Bitcoin and want to show your support of my
1654 activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address
1655 <b><a href="bitcoin:15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</a></b>.</p>
1656
1657       </div>
1658       <div class="tags">
1659
1660
1661         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/noark5">noark5</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/standard">standard</a>.
1662
1663
1664       </div>
1665     </div>
1666     <div class="padding"></div>
1667
1668     <div class="entry">
1669       <div class="title">
1670         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Automatic_Google_Drive_sync_using_grive_in_Debian.html">Automatic Google Drive sync using grive in Debian</a>
1671       </div>
1672       <div class="date">
1673          4th October 2018
1674       </div>
1675       <div class="body">
1676         <p>A few days, I rescued a Windows victim over to Debian.  To try to
1677 rescue the remains, I helped set up automatic sync with Google Drive.
1678 I did not find any sensible Debian package handling this
1679 automatically, so I rebuild the grive2 source from
1680 <a href="http://www.webupd8.org/">the Ubuntu UPD8 PPA</a> to do the
1681 task and added a autostart desktop entry and a small shell script to
1682 run in the background while the user is logged in to do the sync.
1683 Here is a sketch of the setup for future reference.</p>
1684
1685 <p>I first created <tt>~/googledrive</tt>, entered the directory and
1686 ran '<tt>grive -a</tt>' to authenticate the machine/user.  Next, I
1687 created a autostart hook in <tt>~/.config/autostart/grive.desktop</tt>
1688 to start the sync when the user log in:</p>
1689
1690 <p><blockquote><pre>
1691 [Desktop Entry]
1692 Name=Google drive autosync
1693 Type=Application
1694 Exec=/home/user/bin/grive-sync
1695 </pre></blockquote></p>
1696
1697 <p>Finally, I wrote the <tt>~/bin/grive-sync</tt> script to sync
1698 ~/googledrive/ with the files in Google Drive.</p>
1699
1700 <p><blockquote><pre>
1701 #!/bin/sh
1702 set -e
1703 cd ~/
1704 cleanup() {
1705     if [ "$syncpid" ] ; then
1706         kill $syncpid
1707     fi
1708 }
1709 trap cleanup EXIT INT QUIT
1710 /usr/lib/grive/grive-sync.sh listen googledrive 2>&1 | sed "s%^%$0:%" &
1711 syncpdi=$!
1712 while true; do
1713     if ! xhost >/dev/null 2>&1 ; then
1714         echo "no DISPLAY, exiting as the user probably logged out"
1715         exit 1
1716     fi
1717     if [ ! -e /run/user/1000/grive-sync.sh_googledrive ] ; then
1718         /usr/lib/grive/grive-sync.sh sync googledrive
1719     fi
1720     sleep 300
1721 done 2>&1 | sed "s%^%$0:%"
1722 </pre></blockquote></p>
1723
1724 <p>Feel free to use the setup if you want.  It can be assumed to be
1725 GNU GPL v2 licensed (or any later version, at your leisure), but I
1726 doubt this code is possible to claim copyright on.</p>
1727
1728 <p>As usual, if you use Bitcoin and want to show your support of my
1729 activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address
1730 <b><a href="bitcoin:15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</a></b>.</p>
1731
1732       </div>
1733       <div class="tags">
1734
1735
1736         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
1737
1738
1739       </div>
1740     </div>
1741     <div class="padding"></div>
1742
1743     <div class="entry">
1744       <div class="title">
1745         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Using_the_Kodi_API_to_play_Youtube_videos.html">Using the Kodi API to play Youtube videos</a>
1746       </div>
1747       <div class="date">
1748          2nd September 2018
1749       </div>
1750       <div class="body">
1751         <p>I continue to explore my Kodi installation, and today I wanted to
1752 tell it to play a youtube URL I received in a chat, without having to
1753 insert search terms using the on-screen keyboard.  After searching the
1754 web for API access to the Youtube plugin and testing a bit, I managed
1755 to find a recipe that worked.  If you got a kodi instance with its API
1756 available from http://kodihost/jsonrpc, you can try the following to
1757 have check out a nice cover band.</p>
1758
1759 <p><blockquote><pre>curl --silent --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
1760   --data-binary '{ "id": 1, "jsonrpc": "2.0", "method": "Player.Open",
1761   "params": {"item": { "file":
1762   "plugin://plugin.video.youtube/play/?video_id=LuRGVM9O0qg" } } }' \
1763   http://projector.local/jsonrpc</pre></blockquote></p>
1764
1765 <p>I've extended kodi-stream program to take a video source as its
1766 first argument.  It can now handle direct video links, youtube links
1767 and 'desktop' to stream my desktop to Kodi.  It is almost like a
1768 Chromecast. :)</p>
1769
1770 <p>As usual, if you use Bitcoin and want to show your support of my
1771 activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address
1772 <b><a href="bitcoin:15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</a></b>.</p>
1773
1774       </div>
1775       <div class="tags">
1776
1777
1778         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/kodi">kodi</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/video">video</a>.
1779
1780
1781       </div>
1782     </div>
1783     <div class="padding"></div>
1784
1785     <div class="entry">
1786       <div class="title">
1787         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Sharing_images_with_friends_and_family_using_RSS_and_EXIF_XMP_metadata.html">Sharing images with friends and family using RSS and EXIF/XMP metadata</a>
1788       </div>
1789       <div class="date">
1790         31st July 2018
1791       </div>
1792       <div class="body">
1793         <p>For a while now, I have looked for a sensible way to share images
1794 with my family using a self hosted solution, as it is unacceptable to
1795 place images from my personal life under the control of strangers
1796 working for data hoarders like Google or Dropbox.  The last few days I
1797 have drafted an approach that might work out, and I would like to
1798 share it with you.  I would like to publish images on a server under
1799 my control, and point some Internet connected display units using some
1800 free and open standard to the images I published.  As my primary
1801 language is not limited to ASCII, I need to store metadata using
1802 UTF-8.  Many years ago, I hoped to find a digital photo frame capable
1803 of reading a RSS feed with image references (aka using the
1804 &lt;enclosure&gt; RSS tag), but was unable to find a current supplier
1805 of such frames.  In the end I gave up that approach.</p>
1806
1807 <p>Some months ago, I discovered that
1808 <a href="https://www.jwz.org/xscreensaver/">XScreensaver</a> is able to
1809 read images from a RSS feed, and used it to set up a screen saver on
1810 my home info screen, showing images from the Daily images feed from
1811 NASA.  This proved to work well.  More recently I discovered that
1812 <a href="https://kodi.tv">Kodi</a> (both using
1813 <a href="https://www.openelec.tv/">OpenELEC</a> and
1814 <a href="https://libreelec.tv">LibreELEC</a>) provide the
1815 <a href="https://github.com/grinsted/script.screensaver.feedreader">Feedreader</a>
1816 screen saver capable of reading a RSS feed with images and news.  For
1817 fun, I used it this summer to test Kodi on my parents TV by hooking up
1818 a Raspberry PI unit with LibreELEC, and wanted to provide them with a
1819 screen saver showing selected pictures from my selection.</p>
1820
1821 <p>Armed with motivation and a test photo frame, I set out to generate
1822 a RSS feed for the Kodi instance.  I adjusted my <a
1823 href="https://freedombox.org/">Freedombox</a> instance, created
1824 /var/www/html/privatepictures/, wrote a small Perl script to extract
1825 title and description metadata from the photo files and generate the
1826 RSS file.  I ended up using Perl instead of python, as the
1827 libimage-exiftool-perl Debian package seemed to handle the EXIF/XMP
1828 tags I ended up using, while python3-exif did not.  The relevant EXIF
1829 tags only support ASCII, so I had to find better alternatives.  XMP
1830 seem to have the support I need.</p>
1831
1832 <p>I am a bit unsure which EXIF/XMP tags to use, as I would like to
1833 use tags that can be easily added/updated using normal free software
1834 photo managing software.  I ended up using the tags set using this
1835 exiftool command, as these tags can also be set using digiKam:</p>
1836
1837 <blockquote><pre>
1838 exiftool -headline='The RSS image title' \
1839   -description='The RSS image description.' \
1840   -subject+=for-family photo.jpeg
1841 </pre></blockquote>
1842
1843 <p>I initially tried the "-title" and "keyword" tags, but they were
1844 invisible in digiKam, so I changed to "-headline" and "-subject".  I
1845 use the keyword/subject 'for-family' to flag that the photo should be
1846 shared with my family.  Images with this keyword set are located and
1847 copied into my Freedombox for the RSS generating script to find.</p>
1848
1849 <p>Are there better ways to do this?  Get in touch if you have better
1850 suggestions.</p>
1851
1852 <p>As usual, if you use Bitcoin and want to show your support of my
1853 activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address
1854 <b><a href="bitcoin:15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</a></b>.</p>
1855
1856       </div>
1857       <div class="tags">
1858
1859
1860         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
1861
1862
1863       </div>
1864     </div>
1865     <div class="padding"></div>
1866
1867     <div class="entry">
1868       <div class="title">
1869         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Simple_streaming_the_Linux_desktop_to_Kodi_using_GStreamer_and_RTP.html">Simple streaming the Linux desktop to Kodi using GStreamer and RTP</a>
1870       </div>
1871       <div class="date">
1872         12th July 2018
1873       </div>
1874       <div class="body">
1875         <p>Last night, I wrote
1876 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Streaming_the_Linux_desktop_to_Kodi_using_VLC_and_RTSP.html">a
1877 recipe to stream a Linux desktop using VLC to a instance of Kodi</a>.
1878 During the day I received valuable feedback, and thanks to the
1879 suggestions I have been able to rewrite the recipe into a much simpler
1880 approach requiring no setup at all.  It is a single script that take
1881 care of it all.</p>
1882
1883 <p>This new script uses GStreamer instead of VLC to capture the
1884 desktop and stream it to Kodi.  This fixed the video quality issue I
1885 saw initially.  It further removes the need to add a m3u file on the
1886 Kodi machine, as it instead connects to
1887 <a href="https://kodi.wiki/view/JSON-RPC_API/v8">the JSON-RPC API in
1888 Kodi</a> and simply ask Kodi to play from the stream created using
1889 GStreamer.  Streaming the desktop to Kodi now become trivial.  Copy
1890 the script below, run it with the DNS name or IP address of the kodi
1891 server to stream to as the only argument, and watch your screen show
1892 up on the Kodi screen.  Note, it depend on multicast on the local
1893 network, so if you need to stream outside the local network, the
1894 script must be modified.  Also note, I have no idea if audio work, as
1895 I only care about the picture part.</p>
1896
1897 <blockquote><pre>
1898 #!/bin/sh
1899 #
1900 # Stream the Linux desktop view to Kodi.  See
1901 # http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Streaming_the_Linux_desktop_to_Kodi_using_VLC_and_RTSP.html
1902 # for backgorund information.
1903
1904 # Make sure the stream is stopped in Kodi and the gstreamer process is
1905 # killed if something go wrong (for example if curl is unable to find the
1906 # kodi server).  Do the same when interrupting this script.
1907 kodicmd() {
1908     host="$1"
1909     cmd="$2"
1910     params="$3"
1911     curl --silent --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
1912          --data-binary "{ \"id\": 1, \"jsonrpc\": \"2.0\", \"method\": \"$cmd\", \"params\": $params }" \
1913          "http://$host/jsonrpc"
1914 }
1915 cleanup() {
1916     if [ -n "$kodihost" ] ; then
1917         # Stop the playing when we end
1918         playerid=$(kodicmd "$kodihost" Player.GetActivePlayers "{}" |
1919                             jq .result[].playerid)
1920         kodicmd "$kodihost" Player.Stop "{ \"playerid\" : $playerid }" > /dev/null
1921     fi
1922     if [ "$gstpid" ] && kill -0 "$gstpid" >/dev/null 2>&1; then
1923         kill "$gstpid"
1924     fi
1925 }
1926 trap cleanup EXIT INT
1927
1928 if [ -n "$1" ]; then
1929     kodihost=$1
1930     shift
1931 else
1932     kodihost=kodi.local
1933 fi
1934
1935 mcast=239.255.0.1
1936 mcastport=1234
1937 mcastttl=1
1938
1939 pasrc=$(pactl list | grep -A2 'Source #' | grep 'Name: .*\.monitor$' | \
1940   cut -d" " -f2|head -1)
1941 gst-launch-1.0 ximagesrc use-damage=0 ! video/x-raw,framerate=30/1 ! \
1942   videoconvert ! queue2 ! \
1943   x264enc bitrate=8000 speed-preset=superfast tune=zerolatency qp-min=30 \
1944   key-int-max=15 bframes=2 ! video/x-h264,profile=high ! queue2 ! \
1945   mpegtsmux alignment=7 name=mux ! rndbuffersize max=1316 min=1316 ! \
1946   udpsink host=$mcast port=$mcastport ttl-mc=$mcastttl auto-multicast=1 sync=0 \
1947   pulsesrc device=$pasrc ! audioconvert ! queue2 ! avenc_aac ! queue2 ! mux. \
1948   > /dev/null 2>&1 &
1949 gstpid=$!
1950
1951 # Give stream a second to get going
1952 sleep 1
1953
1954 # Ask kodi to start streaming using its JSON-RPC API
1955 kodicmd "$kodihost" Player.Open \
1956         "{\"item\": { \"file\": \"udp://@$mcast:$mcastport\" } }" > /dev/null
1957
1958 # wait for gst to end
1959 wait "$gstpid"
1960 </pre></blockquote>
1961
1962 <p>I hope you find the approach useful.  I know I do.</p>
1963
1964 <p>As usual, if you use Bitcoin and want to show your support of my
1965 activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address
1966 <b><a href="bitcoin:15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</a></b>.</p>
1967
1968       </div>
1969       <div class="tags">
1970
1971
1972         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/kodi">kodi</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/video">video</a>.
1973
1974
1975       </div>
1976     </div>
1977     <div class="padding"></div>
1978
1979     <div class="entry">
1980       <div class="title">
1981         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Streaming_the_Linux_desktop_to_Kodi_using_VLC_and_RTSP.html">Streaming the Linux desktop to Kodi using VLC and RTSP</a>
1982       </div>
1983       <div class="date">
1984         12th July 2018
1985       </div>
1986       <div class="body">
1987         <p>PS: See
1988 <ahref="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Simple_streaming_the_Linux_desktop_to_Kodi_using_GStreamer_and_RTP.html">the
1989 followup post</a> for a even better approach.</p>
1990
1991 <p>A while back, I was asked by a friend how to stream the desktop to
1992 my projector connected to Kodi.  I sadly had to admit that I had no
1993 idea, as it was a task I never had tried.  Since then, I have been
1994 looking for a way to do so, preferable without much extra software to
1995 install on either side.  Today I found a way that seem to kind of
1996 work.  Not great, but it is a start.</p>
1997
1998 <p>I had a look at several approaches, for example
1999 <a href="https://github.com/mfoetsch/dlna_live_streaming">using uPnP
2000 DLNA as described in 2011</a>, but it required a uPnP server, fuse and
2001 local storage enough to store the stream locally.  This is not going
2002 to work well for me, lacking enough free space, and it would
2003 impossible for my friend to get working.</p>
2004
2005 <p>Next, it occurred to me that perhaps I could use VLC to create a
2006 video stream that Kodi could play.  Preferably using
2007 broadcast/multicast, to avoid having to change any setup on the Kodi
2008 side when starting such stream.  Unfortunately, the only recipe I
2009 could find using multicast used the rtp protocol, and this protocol
2010 seem to not be supported by Kodi.</p>
2011
2012 <p>On the other hand, the rtsp protocol is working!  Unfortunately I
2013 have to specify the IP address of the streaming machine in both the
2014 sending command and the file on the Kodi server.  But it is showing my
2015 desktop, and thus allow us to have a shared look on the big screen at
2016 the programs I work on.</p>
2017
2018 <p>I did not spend much time investigating codeces.  I combined the
2019 rtp and rtsp recipes from
2020 <a href="https://wiki.videolan.org/Documentation:Streaming_HowTo/Command_Line_Examples/">the
2021 VLC Streaming HowTo/Command Line Examples</a>, and was able to get
2022 this working on the desktop/streaming end.</p>
2023
2024 <blockquote><pre>
2025 vlc screen:// --sout \
2026   '#transcode{vcodec=mp4v,acodec=mpga,vb=800,ab=128}:rtp{dst=projector.local,port=1234,sdp=rtsp://192.168.11.4:8080/test.sdp}'
2027 </pre></blockquote>
2028
2029 <p>I ssh-ed into my Kodi box and created a file like this with the
2030 same IP address:</p>
2031
2032 <blockquote><pre>
2033 echo rtsp://192.168.11.4:8080/test.sdp \
2034   > /storage/videos/screenstream.m3u
2035 </pre></blockquote>
2036
2037 <p>Note the 192.168.11.4 IP address is my desktops IP address.  As far
2038 as I can tell the IP must be hardcoded for this to work.  In other
2039 words, if someone elses machine is going to do the steaming, you have
2040 to update screenstream.m3u on the Kodi machine and adjust the vlc
2041 recipe.  To get started, locate the file in Kodi and select the m3u
2042 file while the VLC stream is running.  The desktop then show up in my
2043 big screen. :)</p>
2044
2045 <p>When using the same technique to stream a video file with audio,
2046 the audio quality is really bad.  No idea if the problem is package
2047 loss or bad parameters for the transcode.  I do not know VLC nor Kodi
2048 enough to tell.</p>
2049
2050 <p><strong>Update 2018-07-12</strong>: Johannes Schauer send me a few
2051 succestions and reminded me about an important step.  The "screen:"
2052 input source is only available once the vlc-plugin-access-extra
2053 package is installed on Debian.  Without it, you will see this error
2054 message: "VLC is unable to open the MRL 'screen://'.  Check the log
2055 for details."  He further found that it is possible to drop some parts
2056 of the VLC command line to reduce the amount of hardcoded information.
2057 It is also useful to consider using cvlc to avoid having the VLC
2058 window in the desktop view.  In sum, this give us this command line on
2059 the source end
2060
2061 <blockquote><pre>
2062 cvlc screen:// --sout \
2063   '#transcode{vcodec=mp4v,acodec=mpga,vb=800,ab=128}:rtp{sdp=rtsp://:8080/}'
2064 </pre></blockquote>
2065
2066 <p>and this on the Kodi end<p>
2067
2068 <blockquote><pre>
2069 echo rtsp://192.168.11.4:8080/ \
2070   > /storage/videos/screenstream.m3u
2071 </pre></blockquote>
2072
2073 <p>Still bad image quality, though.  But I did discover that streaming
2074 a DVD using dvdsimple:///dev/dvd as the source had excellent video and
2075 audio quality, so I guess the issue is in the input or transcoding
2076 parts, not the rtsp part.  I've tried to change the vb and ab
2077 parameters to use more bandwidth, but it did not make a
2078 difference.</p>
2079
2080 <p>I further received a suggestion from Einar Haraldseid to try using
2081 gstreamer instead of VLC, and this proved to work great!  He also
2082 provided me with the trick to get Kodi to use a multicast stream as
2083 its source.  By using this monstrous oneliner, I can stream my desktop
2084 with good video quality in reasonable framerate to the 239.255.0.1
2085 multicast address on port 1234:
2086
2087 <blockquote><pre>
2088 gst-launch-1.0 ximagesrc use-damage=0 ! video/x-raw,framerate=30/1 ! \
2089   videoconvert ! queue2 ! \
2090   x264enc bitrate=8000 speed-preset=superfast tune=zerolatency qp-min=30 \
2091   key-int-max=15 bframes=2 ! video/x-h264,profile=high ! queue2 ! \
2092   mpegtsmux alignment=7 name=mux ! rndbuffersize max=1316 min=1316 ! \
2093   udpsink host=239.255.0.1 port=1234 ttl-mc=1 auto-multicast=1 sync=0 \
2094   pulsesrc device=$(pactl list | grep -A2 'Source #' | \
2095     grep 'Name: .*\.monitor$' |  cut -d" " -f2|head -1) ! \
2096   audioconvert ! queue2 ! avenc_aac ! queue2 ! mux.
2097 </pre></blockquote>
2098
2099 <p>and this on the Kodi end<p>
2100
2101 <blockquote><pre>
2102 echo udp://@239.255.0.1:1234 \
2103   > /storage/videos/screenstream.m3u
2104 </pre></blockquote>
2105
2106 <p>Note the trick to pick a valid pulseaudio source.  It might not
2107 pick the one you need.  This approach will of course lead to trouble
2108 if more than one source uses the same multicast port and address.
2109 Note the ttl-mc=1 setting, which limit the multicast packages to the
2110 local network.  If the value is increased, your screen will be
2111 broadcasted further, one network "hop" for each increase (read up on
2112 multicast to learn more. :)!</p>
2113
2114 <p>Having cracked how to get Kodi to receive multicast streams, I
2115 could use this VLC command to stream to the same multicast address.
2116 The image quality is way better than the rtsp approach, but gstreamer
2117 seem to be doing a better job.</p>
2118
2119 <blockquote><pre>
2120 cvlc screen:// --sout '#transcode{vcodec=mp4v,acodec=mpga,vb=800,ab=128}:rtp{mux=ts,dst=239.255.0.1,port=1234,sdp=sap}'
2121 </pre></blockquote>
2122
2123 <p>As usual, if you use Bitcoin and want to show your support of my
2124 activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address
2125 <b><a href="bitcoin:15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</a></b>.</p>
2126
2127       </div>
2128       <div class="tags">
2129
2130
2131         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/kodi">kodi</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/video">video</a>.
2132
2133
2134       </div>
2135     </div>
2136     <div class="padding"></div>
2137
2138     <div class="entry">
2139       <div class="title">
2140         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/What_is_the_most_supported_MIME_type_in_Debian_in_2018_.html">What is the most supported MIME type in Debian in 2018?</a>
2141       </div>
2142       <div class="date">
2143          9th July 2018
2144       </div>
2145       <div class="body">
2146         <p>Five years ago,
2147 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/What_is_the_most_supported_MIME_type_in_Debian_.html">I
2148 measured what the most supported MIME type in Debian was</a>, by
2149 analysing the desktop files in all packages in the archive.  Since
2150 then, the DEP-11 AppStream system has been put into production, making
2151 the task a lot easier.  This made me want to repeat the measurement,
2152 to see how much things changed.  Here are the new numbers, for
2153 unstable only this time:
2154
2155 <p><strong>Debian Unstable:</strong></p>
2156
2157 <pre>
2158   count MIME type
2159   ----- -----------------------
2160      56 image/jpeg
2161      55 image/png
2162      49 image/tiff
2163      48 image/gif
2164      39 image/bmp
2165      38 text/plain
2166      37 audio/mpeg
2167      34 application/ogg
2168      33 audio/x-flac
2169      32 audio/x-mp3
2170      30 audio/x-wav
2171      30 audio/x-vorbis+ogg
2172      29 image/x-portable-pixmap
2173      27 inode/directory
2174      27 image/x-portable-bitmap
2175      27 audio/x-mpeg
2176      26 application/x-ogg
2177      25 audio/x-mpegurl
2178      25 audio/ogg
2179      24 text/html
2180 </pre>
2181
2182 <p>The list was created like this using a sid chroot: "cat
2183 /var/lib/apt/lists/*sid*_dep11_Components-amd64.yml.gz| zcat | awk '/^
2184 - \S+\/\S+$/ {print $2 }' | sort | uniq -c | sort -nr | head -20"</p>
2185
2186 <p>It is interesting to see how image formats have passed text/plain
2187 as the most announced supported MIME type.  These days, thanks to the
2188 AppStream system, if you run into a file format you do not know, and
2189 want to figure out which packages support the format, you can find the
2190 MIME type of the file using "file --mime &lt;filename&gt;", and then
2191 look up all packages announcing support for this format in their
2192 AppStream metadata (XML or .desktop file) using "appstreamcli
2193 what-provides mimetype &lt;mime-type&gt;.  For example if you, like
2194 me, want to know which packages support inode/directory, you can get a
2195 list like this:</p>
2196
2197 <p><blockquote><pre>
2198 % appstreamcli what-provides mimetype inode/directory | grep Package: | sort
2199 Package: anjuta
2200 Package: audacious
2201 Package: baobab
2202 Package: cervisia
2203 Package: chirp
2204 Package: dolphin
2205 Package: doublecmd-common
2206 Package: easytag
2207 Package: enlightenment
2208 Package: ephoto
2209 Package: filelight
2210 Package: gwenview
2211 Package: k4dirstat
2212 Package: kaffeine
2213 Package: kdesvn
2214 Package: kid3
2215 Package: kid3-qt
2216 Package: nautilus
2217 Package: nemo
2218 Package: pcmanfm
2219 Package: pcmanfm-qt
2220 Package: qweborf
2221 Package: ranger
2222 Package: sirikali
2223 Package: spacefm
2224 Package: spacefm
2225 Package: vifm
2226 %
2227 </pre></blockquote></p>
2228
2229 <p>Using the same method, I can quickly discover that the Sketchup file
2230 format is not yet supported by any package in Debian:</p>
2231
2232 <p><blockquote><pre>
2233 % appstreamcli what-provides mimetype  application/vnd.sketchup.skp
2234 Could not find component providing 'mimetype::application/vnd.sketchup.skp'.
2235 %
2236 </pre></blockquote></p>
2237
2238 <p>Yesterday I used it to figure out which packages support the STL 3D
2239 format:</p>
2240
2241 <p><blockquote><pre>
2242 % appstreamcli what-provides mimetype  application/sla|grep Package
2243 Package: cura
2244 Package: meshlab
2245 Package: printrun
2246 %
2247 </pre></blockquote></p>
2248
2249 <p>PS: A new version of Cura was uploaded to Debian yesterday.</p>
2250
2251 <p>As usual, if you use Bitcoin and want to show your support of my
2252 activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address
2253 <b><a href="bitcoin:15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</a></b>.</p>
2254
2255       </div>
2256       <div class="tags">
2257
2258
2259         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/isenkram">isenkram</a>.
2260
2261
2262       </div>
2263     </div>
2264     <div class="padding"></div>
2265
2266     <div class="entry">
2267       <div class="title">
2268         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_APT_upgrade_without_enough_free_space_on_the_disk___.html">Debian APT upgrade without enough free space on the disk...</a>
2269       </div>
2270       <div class="date">
2271          8th July 2018
2272       </div>
2273       <div class="body">
2274         <p>Quite regularly, I let my Debian Sid/Unstable chroot stay untouch
2275 for a while, and when I need to update it there is not enough free
2276 space on the disk for apt to do a normal 'apt upgrade'.  I normally
2277 would resolve the issue by doing 'apt install &lt;somepackages&gt;' to
2278 upgrade only some of the packages in one batch, until the amount of
2279 packages to download fall below the amount of free space available.
2280 Today, I had about 500 packages to upgrade, and after a while I got
2281 tired of trying to install chunks of packages manually.  I concluded
2282 that I did not have the spare hours required to complete the task, and
2283 decided to see if I could automate it.  I came up with this small
2284 script which I call 'apt-in-chunks':</p>
2285
2286 <p><blockquote><pre>
2287 #!/bin/sh
2288 #
2289 # Upgrade packages when the disk is too full to upgrade every
2290 # upgradable package in one lump.  Fetching packages to upgrade using
2291 # apt, and then installing using dpkg, to avoid changing the package
2292 # flag for manual/automatic.
2293
2294 set -e
2295
2296 ignore() {
2297     if [ "$1" ]; then
2298         grep -v "$1"
2299     else
2300         cat
2301     fi
2302 }
2303
2304 for p in $(apt list --upgradable | ignore "$@" |cut -d/ -f1 | grep -v '^Listing...'); do
2305     echo "Upgrading $p"
2306     apt clean
2307     apt install --download-only -y $p
2308     for f in /var/cache/apt/archives/*.deb; do
2309         if [ -e "$f" ]; then
2310             dpkg -i /var/cache/apt/archives/*.deb
2311             break
2312         fi
2313     done
2314 done
2315 </pre></blockquote></p>
2316
2317 <p>The script will extract the list of packages to upgrade, try to
2318 download the packages needed to upgrade one package, install the
2319 downloaded packages using dpkg.  The idea is to upgrade packages
2320 without changing the APT mark for the package (ie the one recording of
2321 the package was manually requested or pulled in as a dependency).  To
2322 use it, simply run it as root from the command line.  If it fail, try
2323 'apt install -f' to clean up the mess and run the script again.  This
2324 might happen if the new packages conflict with one of the old
2325 packages.  dpkg is unable to remove, while apt can do this.</p>
2326
2327 <p>It take one option, a package to ignore in the list of packages to
2328 upgrade.  The option to ignore a package is there to be able to skip
2329 the packages that are simply too large to unpack.  Today this was
2330 'ghc', but I have run into other large packages causing similar
2331 problems earlier (like TeX).</p>
2332
2333 <p>Update 2018-07-08: Thanks to Paul Wise, I am aware of two
2334 alternative ways to handle this.  The "unattended-upgrades
2335 --minimal-upgrade-steps" option will try to calculate upgrade sets for
2336 each package to upgrade, and then upgrade them in order, smallest set
2337 first.  It might be a better option than my above mentioned script.
2338 Also, "aptutude upgrade" can upgrade single packages, thus avoiding
2339 the need for using "dpkg -i" in the script above.</p>
2340
2341 <p>As usual, if you use Bitcoin and want to show your support of my
2342 activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address
2343 <b><a href="bitcoin:15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</a></b>.</p>
2344
2345       </div>
2346       <div class="tags">
2347
2348
2349         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
2350
2351
2352       </div>
2353     </div>
2354     <div class="padding"></div>
2355
2356     <div class="entry">
2357       <div class="title">
2358         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Version_3_1_of_Cura__the_3D_print_slicer__is_now_in_Debian.html">Version 3.1 of Cura, the 3D print slicer, is now in Debian</a>
2359       </div>
2360       <div class="date">
2361         13th February 2018
2362       </div>
2363       <div class="body">
2364         <p>A new version of the
2365 <a href="https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/cura">3D printer slicer
2366 software Cura</a>, version 3.1.0, is now available in Debian Testing
2367 (aka Buster) and Debian Unstable (aka Sid).  I hope you find it
2368 useful.  It was uploaded the last few days, and the last update will
2369 enter testing tomorrow.  See the
2370 <a href="https://ultimaker.com/en/products/cura-software/release-notes">release
2371 notes</a> for the list of bug fixes and new features.  Version 3.2
2372 was announced 6 days ago.  We will try to get it into Debian as
2373 well.</p>
2374
2375 <p>More information related to 3D printing is available on the
2376 <a href="https://wiki.debian.org/3DPrinting">3D printing</a> and
2377 <a href="https://wiki.debian.org/3D-printer">3D printer</a> wiki pages
2378 in Debian.</p>
2379
2380 <p>As usual, if you use Bitcoin and want to show your support of my
2381 activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address
2382 <b><a href="bitcoin:15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</a></b>.</p>
2383
2384       </div>
2385       <div class="tags">
2386
2387
2388         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/3d-printer">3d-printer</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
2389
2390
2391       </div>
2392     </div>
2393     <div class="padding"></div>
2394
2395     <div class="entry">
2396       <div class="title">
2397         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Cura__the_nice_3D_print_slicer__is_now_in_Debian_Unstable.html">Cura, the nice 3D print slicer, is now in Debian Unstable</a>
2398       </div>
2399       <div class="date">
2400         17th December 2017
2401       </div>
2402       <div class="body">
2403         <p>After several months of working and waiting, I am happy to report
2404 that the nice and user friendly 3D printer slicer software Cura just
2405 entered Debian Unstable.  It consist of five packages,
2406 <a href="https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/cura">cura</a>,
2407 <a href="https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/cura-engine">cura-engine</a>,
2408 <a href="https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/libarcus">libarcus</a>,
2409 <a href="https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/fdm-materials">fdm-materials</a>,
2410 <a href="https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/libsavitar">libsavitar</a> and
2411 <a href="https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/uranium">uranium</a>.  The last
2412 two, uranium and cura, entered Unstable yesterday.  This should make
2413 it easier for Debian users to print on at least the Ultimaker class of
2414 3D printers.  My nearest 3D printer is an Ultimaker 2+, so it will
2415 make life easier for at least me. :)</p>
2416
2417 <p>The work to make this happen was done by Gregor Riepl, and I was
2418 happy to assist him in sponsoring the packages.  With the introduction
2419 of Cura, Debian is up to three 3D printer slicers at your service,
2420 Cura, Slic3r and Slic3r Prusa.  If you own or have access to a 3D
2421 printer, give it a go. :)</p>
2422
2423 <p>The 3D printer software is maintained by the 3D printer Debian
2424 team, flocking together on the
2425 <a href="http://lists.alioth.debian.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/3dprinter-general">3dprinter-general</a>
2426 mailing list and the
2427 <a href="irc://irc.debian.org/#debian-3dprinting">#debian-3dprinting</a>
2428 IRC channel.</p>
2429
2430 <p>The next step for Cura in Debian is to update the cura package to
2431 version 3.0.3 and then update the entire set of packages to version
2432 3.1.0 which showed up the last few days.</p>
2433
2434       </div>
2435       <div class="tags">
2436
2437
2438         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/3d-printer">3d-printer</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
2439
2440
2441       </div>
2442     </div>
2443     <div class="padding"></div>
2444
2445     <div class="entry">
2446       <div class="title">
2447         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Generating_3D_prints_in_Debian_using_Cura_and_Slic3r__prusa_.html">Generating 3D prints in Debian using Cura and Slic3r(-prusa)</a>
2448       </div>
2449       <div class="date">
2450          9th October 2017
2451       </div>
2452       <div class="body">
2453         <p>At my nearby maker space,
2454 <a href="http://sonen.ifi.uio.no/">Sonen</a>, I heard the story that it
2455 was easier to generate gcode files for theyr 3D printers (Ultimake 2+)
2456 on Windows and MacOS X than Linux, because the software involved had
2457 to be manually compiled and set up on Linux while premade packages
2458 worked out of the box on Windows and MacOS X.  I found this annoying,
2459 as the software involved,
2460 <a href="https://github.com/Ultimaker/Cura">Cura</a>, is free software
2461 and should be trivial to get up and running on Linux if someone took
2462 the time to package it for the relevant distributions.  I even found
2463 <a href="https://bugs.debian.org/706656">a request for adding into
2464 Debian</a> from 2013, which had seem some activity over the years but
2465 never resulted in the software showing up in Debian.  So a few days
2466 ago I offered my help to try to improve the situation.</p>
2467
2468 <p>Now I am very happy to see that all the packages required by a
2469 working Cura in Debian are uploaded into Debian and waiting in the NEW
2470 queue for the ftpmasters to have a look.  You can track the progress
2471 on
2472 <a href="https://qa.debian.org/developer.php?email=3dprinter-general%40lists.alioth.debian.org">the
2473 status page for the 3D printer team</a>.</p>
2474
2475 <p>The uploaded packages are a bit behind upstream, and was uploaded
2476 now to get slots in <a href="https://ftp-master.debian.org/new.html">the NEW
2477 queue</a> while we work up updating the packages to the latest
2478 upstream version.</p>
2479
2480 <p>On a related note, two competitors for Cura, which I found harder
2481 to use and was unable to configure correctly for Ultimaker 2+ in the
2482 short time I spent on it, are already in Debian.  If you are looking
2483 for 3D printer "slicers" and want something already available in
2484 Debian, check out
2485 <a href="https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/slic3r">slic3r</a> and
2486 <a href="https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/slic3r-prusa">slic3r-prusa</a>.
2487 The latter is a fork of the former.</p>
2488
2489 <p>As usual, if you use Bitcoin and want to show your support of my
2490 activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address
2491 <b><a href="bitcoin:15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</a></b>.</p>
2492
2493       </div>
2494       <div class="tags">
2495
2496
2497         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/3d-printer">3d-printer</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
2498
2499
2500       </div>
2501     </div>
2502     <div class="padding"></div>
2503
2504     <div class="entry">
2505       <div class="title">
2506         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Visualizing_GSM_radio_chatter_using_gr_gsm_and_Hopglass.html">Visualizing GSM radio chatter using gr-gsm and Hopglass</a>
2507       </div>
2508       <div class="date">
2509         29th September 2017
2510       </div>
2511       <div class="body">
2512         <p>Every mobile phone announce its existence over radio to the nearby
2513 mobile cell towers.  And this radio chatter is available for anyone
2514 with a radio receiver capable of receiving them.  Details about the
2515 mobile phones with very good accuracy is of course collected by the
2516 phone companies, but this is not the topic of this blog post.  The
2517 mobile phone radio chatter make it possible to figure out when a cell
2518 phone is nearby, as it include the SIM card ID (IMSI).  By paying
2519 attention over time, one can see when a phone arrive and when it leave
2520 an area.  I believe it would be nice to make this information more
2521 available to the general public, to make more people aware of how
2522 their phones are announcing their whereabouts to anyone that care to
2523 listen.</p>
2524
2525 <p>I am very happy to report that we managed to get something
2526 visualizing this information up and running for
2527 <a href="http://norwaymakers.org/osf17">Oslo Skaperfestival 2017</a>
2528 (Oslo Makers Festival) taking place today and tomorrow at Deichmanske
2529 library.  The solution is based on the
2530 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Easier_recipe_to_observe_the_cell_phones_around_you.html">simple
2531 recipe for listening to GSM chatter</a> I posted a few days ago, and
2532 will show up at the stand of <a href="http://sonen.ifi.uio.no/">Åpen
2533 Sone from the Computer Science department of the University of
2534 Oslo</a>.  The presentation will show the nearby mobile phones (aka
2535 IMSIs) as dots in a web browser graph, with lines to the dot
2536 representing mobile base station it is talking to. It was working in
2537 the lab yesterday, and was moved into place this morning.</p>
2538
2539 <p>We set up a fairly powerful desktop machine using Debian
2540 Buster/Testing with several (five, I believe) RTL2838 DVB-T receivers
2541 connected and visualize the visible cell phone towers using an
2542 <a href="https://github.com/marlow925/hopglass">English version of
2543 Hopglass</a>.  A fairly powerfull machine is needed as the
2544 grgsm_livemon_headless processes from
2545 <a href="https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/gr-gsm">gr-gsm</a> converting
2546 the radio signal to data packages is quite CPU intensive.</p>
2547
2548 <p>The frequencies to listen to, are identified using a slightly
2549 patched scan-and-livemon (to set the --args values for each receiver),
2550 and the Hopglass data is generated using the
2551 <a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/IMSI-catcher/tree/meshviewer-output">patches
2552 in my meshviewer-output branch</a>.  For some reason we could not get
2553 more than four SDRs working.  There is also a geographical map trying
2554 to show the location of the base stations, but I believe their
2555 coordinates are hardcoded to some random location in Germany, I
2556 believe.  The code should be replaced with code to look up location in
2557 a text file, a sqlite database or one of the online databases
2558 mentioned in
2559 <a href="https://github.com/Oros42/IMSI-catcher/issues/14">the github
2560 issue for the topic</a>.
2561
2562 <p>If this sound interesting, visit the stand at the festival!</p>
2563
2564       </div>
2565       <div class="tags">
2566
2567
2568         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/personvern">personvern</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/surveillance">surveillance</a>.
2569
2570
2571       </div>
2572     </div>
2573     <div class="padding"></div>
2574
2575     <div class="entry">
2576       <div class="title">
2577         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Easier_recipe_to_observe_the_cell_phones_around_you.html">Easier recipe to observe the cell phones around you</a>
2578       </div>
2579       <div class="date">
2580         24th September 2017
2581       </div>
2582       <div class="body">
2583         <p>A little more than a month ago I wrote
2584 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Simpler_recipe_on_how_to_make_a_simple__7_IMSI_Catcher_using_Debian.html">how
2585 to observe the SIM card ID (aka IMSI number) of mobile phones talking
2586 to nearby mobile phone base stations using Debian GNU/Linux and a
2587 cheap USB software defined radio</a>, and thus being able to pinpoint
2588 the location of people and equipment (like cars and trains) with an
2589 accuracy of a few kilometer.  Since then we have worked to make the
2590 procedure even simpler, and it is now possible to do this without any
2591 manual frequency tuning and without building your own packages.</p>
2592
2593 <p>The <a href="https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/gr-gsm">gr-gsm</a>
2594 package is now included in Debian testing and unstable, and the
2595 IMSI-catcher code no longer require root access to fetch and decode
2596 the GSM data collected using gr-gsm.</p>
2597
2598 <p>Here is an updated recipe, using packages built by Debian and a git
2599 clone of two python scripts:</p>
2600
2601 <ol>
2602
2603 <li>Start with a Debian machine running the Buster version (aka
2604   testing).</li>
2605
2606 <li>Run '<tt>apt install gr-gsm python-numpy python-scipy
2607   python-scapy</tt>' as root to install required packages.</li>
2608
2609 <li>Fetch the code decoding GSM packages using '<tt>git clone
2610   github.com/Oros42/IMSI-catcher.git</tt>'.</li>
2611
2612 <li>Insert USB software defined radio supported by GNU Radio.</li>
2613
2614 <li>Enter the IMSI-catcher directory and run '<tt>python
2615   scan-and-livemon</tt>' to locate the frequency of nearby base
2616   stations and start listening for GSM packages on one of them.</li>
2617
2618 <li>Enter the IMSI-catcher directory and run '<tt>python
2619   simple_IMSI-catcher.py</tt>' to display the collected information.</li>
2620
2621 </ol>
2622
2623 <p>Note, due to a bug somewhere the scan-and-livemon program (actually
2624 <a href="https://github.com/ptrkrysik/gr-gsm/issues/336">its underlying
2625 program grgsm_scanner</a>) do not work with the HackRF radio.  It does
2626 work with RTL 8232 and other similar USB radio receivers you can get
2627 very cheaply
2628 (<a href="https://www.ebay.com/sch/items/?_nkw=rtl+2832">for example
2629 from ebay</a>), so for now the solution is to scan using the RTL radio
2630 and only use HackRF for fetching GSM data.</p>
2631
2632 <p>As far as I can tell, a cell phone only show up on one of the
2633 frequencies at the time, so if you are going to track and count every
2634 cell phone around you, you need to listen to all the frequencies used.
2635 To listen to several frequencies, use the --numrecv argument to
2636 scan-and-livemon to use several receivers.  Further, I am not sure if
2637 phones using 3G or 4G will show as talking GSM to base stations, so
2638 this approach might not see all phones around you.  I typically see
2639 0-400 IMSI numbers an hour when looking around where I live.</p>
2640
2641 <p>I've tried to run the scanner on a
2642 <a href="https://wiki.debian.org/RaspberryPi">Raspberry Pi 2 and 3
2643 running Debian Buster</a>, but the grgsm_livemon_headless process seem
2644 to be too CPU intensive to keep up.  When GNU Radio print 'O' to
2645 stdout, I am told there it is caused by a buffer overflow between the
2646 radio and GNU Radio, caused by the program being unable to read the
2647 GSM data fast enough.  If you see a stream of 'O's from the terminal
2648 where you started scan-and-livemon, you need a give the process more
2649 CPU power.  Perhaps someone are able to optimize the code to a point
2650 where it become possible to set up RPi3 based GSM sniffers?  I tried
2651 using Raspbian instead of Debian, but there seem to be something wrong
2652 with GNU Radio on raspbian, causing glibc to abort().</p>
2653
2654       </div>
2655       <div class="tags">
2656
2657
2658         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/personvern">personvern</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/surveillance">surveillance</a>.
2659
2660
2661       </div>
2662     </div>
2663     <div class="padding"></div>
2664
2665     <div class="entry">
2666       <div class="title">
2667         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Simpler_recipe_on_how_to_make_a_simple__7_IMSI_Catcher_using_Debian.html">Simpler recipe on how to make a simple $7 IMSI Catcher using Debian</a>
2668       </div>
2669       <div class="date">
2670          9th August 2017
2671       </div>
2672       <div class="body">
2673         <p>On friday, I came across an interesting article in the Norwegian
2674 web based ICT news magazine digi.no on
2675 <a href="https://www.digi.no/artikler/sikkerhetsforsker-lagde-enkel-imsi-catcher-for-60-kroner-na-kan-mobiler-kartlegges-av-alle/398588">how
2676 to collect the IMSI numbers of nearby cell phones</a> using the cheap
2677 DVB-T software defined radios.  The article refered to instructions
2678 and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjwgNd_as30">a recipe by
2679 Keld Norman on Youtube on how to make a simple $7 IMSI Catcher</a>, and I decided to test them out.</p>
2680
2681 <p>The instructions said to use Ubuntu, install pip using apt (to
2682 bypass apt), use pip to install pybombs (to bypass both apt and pip),
2683 and the ask pybombs to fetch and build everything you need from
2684 scratch.  I wanted to see if I could do the same on the most recent
2685 Debian packages, but this did not work because pybombs tried to build
2686 stuff that no longer build with the most recent openssl library or
2687 some other version skew problem.  While trying to get this recipe
2688 working, I learned that the apt->pip->pybombs route was a long detour,
2689 and the only piece of software dependency missing in Debian was the
2690 gr-gsm package.  I also found out that the lead upstream developer of
2691 gr-gsm (the name stand for GNU Radio GSM) project already had a set of
2692 Debian packages provided in an Ubuntu PPA repository.  All I needed to
2693 do was to dget the Debian source package and built it.</p>
2694
2695 <p>The IMSI collector is a python script listening for packages on the
2696 loopback network device and printing to the terminal some specific GSM
2697 packages with IMSI numbers in them.  The code is fairly short and easy
2698 to understand.  The reason this work is because gr-gsm include a tool
2699 to read GSM data from a software defined radio like a DVB-T USB stick
2700 and other software defined radios, decode them and inject them into a
2701 network device on your Linux machine (using the loopback device by
2702 default).  This proved to work just fine, and I've been testing the
2703 collector for a few days now.</p>
2704
2705 <p>The updated and simpler recipe is thus to</p>
2706
2707 <ol>
2708
2709 <li>start with a Debian machine running Stretch or newer,</li>
2710
2711 <li>build and install the gr-gsm package available from
2712 <a href="http://ppa.launchpad.net/ptrkrysik/gr-gsm/ubuntu/pool/main/g/gr-gsm/">http://ppa.launchpad.net/ptrkrysik/gr-gsm/ubuntu/pool/main/g/gr-gsm/</a>,</li>
2713
2714 <li>clone the git repostory from <a href="https://github.com/Oros42/IMSI-catcher">https://github.com/Oros42/IMSI-catcher</a>,</li>
2715
2716 <li>run grgsm_livemon and adjust the frequency until the terminal
2717 where it was started is filled with a stream of text (meaning you
2718 found a GSM station).</li>
2719
2720 <li>go into the IMSI-catcher directory and run 'sudo python simple_IMSI-catcher.py' to extract the IMSI numbers.</li>
2721
2722 </ol>
2723
2724 <p>To make it even easier in the future to get this sniffer up and
2725 running, I decided to package
2726 <a href="https://github.com/ptrkrysik/gr-gsm/">the gr-gsm project</a>
2727 for Debian (<a href="https://bugs.debian.org/871055">WNPP
2728 #871055</a>), and the package was uploaded into the NEW queue today.
2729 Luckily the gnuradio maintainer has promised to help me, as I do not
2730 know much about gnuradio stuff yet.</p>
2731
2732 <p>I doubt this "IMSI cacher" is anywhere near as powerfull as
2733 commercial tools like
2734 <a href="https://www.thespyphone.com/portable-imsi-imei-catcher/">The
2735 Spy Phone Portable IMSI / IMEI Catcher</a> or the
2736 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stingray_phone_tracker">Harris
2737 Stingray</a>, but I hope the existance of cheap alternatives can make
2738 more people realise how their whereabouts when carrying a cell phone
2739 is easily tracked.  Seeing the data flow on the screen, realizing that
2740 I live close to a police station and knowing that the police is also
2741 wearing cell phones, I wonder how hard it would be for criminals to
2742 track the position of the police officers to discover when there are
2743 police near by, or for foreign military forces to track the location
2744 of the Norwegian military forces, or for anyone to track the location
2745 of government officials...</p>
2746
2747 <p>It is worth noting that the data reported by the IMSI-catcher
2748 script mentioned above is only a fraction of the data broadcasted on
2749 the GSM network.  It will only collect one frequency at the time,
2750 while a typical phone will be using several frequencies, and not all
2751 phones will be using the frequencies tracked by the grgsm_livemod
2752 program.  Also, there is a lot of radio chatter being ignored by the
2753 simple_IMSI-catcher script, which would be collected by extending the
2754 parser code.  I wonder if gr-gsm can be set up to listen to more than
2755 one frequency?</p>
2756
2757       </div>
2758       <div class="tags">
2759
2760
2761         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/personvern">personvern</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/surveillance">surveillance</a>.
2762
2763
2764       </div>
2765     </div>
2766     <div class="padding"></div>
2767
2768     <div class="entry">
2769       <div class="title">
2770         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Norwegian_Bokm_l_edition_of_Debian_Administrator_s_Handbook_is_now_available.html">Norwegian Bokmål edition of Debian Administrator's Handbook is now available</a>
2771       </div>
2772       <div class="date">
2773         25th July 2017
2774       </div>
2775       <div class="body">
2776         <p align="center"><img align="center" src="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2017-07-25-debian-handbook-nb-testprint.png"/></p>
2777
2778 <p>I finally received a copy of the Norwegian Bokmål edition of
2779 "<a href="https://debian-handbook.info/">The Debian Administrator's
2780 Handbook</a>".  This test copy arrived in the mail a few days ago, and
2781 I am very happy to hold the result in my hand.   We spent around one and a half year translating it. This paperbook edition
2782 <a href="https://debian-handbook.info/get/#norwegian">is available
2783 from lulu.com</a>.  If you buy it quickly, you save 25% on the list
2784 price.  The book is also available for download in electronic form as
2785 PDF, EPUB and Mobipocket, as can be
2786 <a href="https://debian-handbook.info/browse/nb-NO/stable/">read online
2787 as a web page</a>.</p>
2788
2789 <p>This is the second book I publish (the first was the book
2790 "<a href="http://free-culture.cc/">Free Culture</a>" by Lawrence Lessig
2791 in
2792 <a href="http://www.lulu.com/shop/lawrence-lessig/free-culture/paperback/product-22440520.html">English</a>,
2793 <a href="http://www.lulu.com/shop/lawrence-lessig/culture-libre/paperback/product-22645082.html">French</a>
2794 and
2795 <a href="http://www.lulu.com/shop/lawrence-lessig/fri-kultur/paperback/product-22441576.html">Norwegian
2796 Bokmål</a>), and I am very excited to finally wrap up this
2797 project.  I hope
2798 "<a href="http://www.lulu.com/shop/rapha%C3%ABl-hertzog-and-roland-mas/h%C3%A5ndbok-for-debian-administratoren/paperback/product-23262290.html">Håndbok
2799 for Debian-administratoren</a>" will be well received.</p>
2800
2801       </div>
2802       <div class="tags">
2803
2804
2805         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian-handbook">debian-handbook</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
2806
2807
2808       </div>
2809     </div>
2810     <div class="padding"></div>
2811
2812     <div class="entry">
2813       <div class="title">
2814         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/N_r_nynorskoversettelsen_svikter_til_eksamen___.html">Når nynorskoversettelsen svikter til eksamen...</a>
2815       </div>
2816       <div class="date">
2817          3rd June 2017
2818       </div>
2819       <div class="body">
2820         <p><a href="http://www.aftenposten.no/norge/Krever-at-elever-ma-fa-annullert-eksamen-etter-rot-med-oppgavetekster-622459b.html">Aftenposten
2821 melder i dag</a> om feil i eksamensoppgavene for eksamen i politikk og
2822 menneskerettigheter, der teksten i bokmåls og nynorskutgaven ikke var
2823 like.  Oppgaveteksten er gjengitt i artikkelen, og jeg ble nysgjerring
2824 på om den fri oversetterløsningen
2825 <a href="https://www.apertium.org/">Apertium</a> ville gjort en bedre
2826 jobb enn Utdanningsdirektoratet.  Det kan se slik ut.</p>
2827
2828 <p>Her er bokmålsoppgaven fra eksamenen:</p>
2829
2830 <blockquote>
2831 <p>Drøft utfordringene knyttet til nasjonalstatenes og andre aktørers
2832 rolle og muligheter til å håndtere internasjonale utfordringer, som
2833 for eksempel flykningekrisen.</p>
2834
2835 <p>Vedlegge er eksempler på tekster som kan gi relevante perspektiver
2836 på temaet:</p>
2837 <ol>
2838 <li>Flykningeregnskapet 2016, UNHCR og IDMC
2839 <li>«Grenseløst Europa for fall» A-Magasinet, 26. november 2015
2840 </ol>
2841
2842 </blockquote>
2843
2844 <p>Dette oversetter Apertium slik:</p>
2845
2846 <blockquote>
2847 <p>Drøft utfordringane knytte til nasjonalstatane sine og rolla til
2848 andre aktørar og høve til å handtera internasjonale utfordringar, som
2849 til dømes *flykningekrisen.</p>
2850
2851 <p>Vedleggja er døme på tekster som kan gje relevante perspektiv på
2852 temaet:</p>
2853
2854 <ol>
2855 <li>*Flykningeregnskapet 2016, *UNHCR og *IDMC</li>
2856 <li>«*Grenseløst Europa for fall» A-Magasinet, 26. november 2015</li>
2857 </ol>
2858
2859 </blockquote>
2860
2861 <p>Ord som ikke ble forstått er markert med stjerne (*), og trenger
2862 ekstra språksjekk.  Men ingen ord er forsvunnet, slik det var i
2863 oppgaven elevene fikk presentert på eksamen.  Jeg mistenker dog at
2864 "andre aktørers rolle og muligheter til ..." burde vært oversatt til
2865 "rolla til andre aktørar og deira høve til ..." eller noe slikt, men
2866 det er kanskje flisespikking.  Det understreker vel bare at det alltid
2867 trengs korrekturlesning etter automatisk oversettelse.</p>
2868
2869       </div>
2870       <div class="tags">
2871
2872
2873         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/norsk">norsk</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/stavekontroll">stavekontroll</a>.
2874
2875
2876       </div>
2877     </div>
2878     <div class="padding"></div>
2879
2880     <div class="entry">
2881       <div class="title">
2882         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Detecting_NFS_hangs_on_Linux_without_hanging_yourself___.html">Detecting NFS hangs on Linux without hanging yourself...</a>
2883       </div>
2884       <div class="date">
2885          9th March 2017
2886       </div>
2887       <div class="body">
2888         <p>Over the years, administrating thousand of NFS mounting linux
2889 computers at the time, I often needed a way to detect if the machine
2890 was experiencing NFS hang.  If you try to use <tt>df</tt> or look at a
2891 file or directory affected by the hang, the process (and possibly the
2892 shell) will hang too.  So you want to be able to detect this without
2893 risking the detection process getting stuck too.  It has not been
2894 obvious how to do this.  When the hang has lasted a while, it is
2895 possible to find messages like these in dmesg:</p>
2896
2897 <p><blockquote>
2898 nfs: server nfsserver not responding, still trying
2899 <br>nfs: server nfsserver OK
2900 </blockquote></p>
2901
2902 <p>It is hard to know if the hang is still going on, and it is hard to
2903 be sure looking in dmesg is going to work.  If there are lots of other
2904 messages in dmesg the lines might have rotated out of site before they
2905 are noticed.</p>
2906
2907 <p>While reading through the nfs client implementation in linux kernel
2908 code, I came across some statistics that seem to give a way to detect
2909 it.  The om_timeouts sunrpc value in the kernel will increase every
2910 time the above log entry is inserted into dmesg.  And after digging a
2911 bit further, I discovered that this value show up in
2912 /proc/self/mountstats on Linux.</p>
2913
2914 <p>The mountstats content seem to be shared between files using the
2915 same file system context, so it is enough to check one of the
2916 mountstats files to get the state of the mount point for the machine.
2917 I assume this will not show lazy umounted NFS points, nor NFS mount
2918 points in a different process context (ie with a different filesystem
2919 view), but that does not worry me.</p>
2920
2921 <p>The content for a NFS mount point look similar to this:</p>
2922
2923 <p><blockquote><pre>
2924 [...]
2925 device /dev/mapper/Debian-var mounted on /var with fstype ext3
2926 device nfsserver:/mnt/nfsserver/home0 mounted on /mnt/nfsserver/home0 with fstype nfs statvers=1.1
2927         opts:   rw,vers=3,rsize=65536,wsize=65536,namlen=255,acregmin=3,acregmax=60,acdirmin=30,acdirmax=60,soft,nolock,proto=tcp,timeo=600,retrans=2,sec=sys,mountaddr=129.240.3.145,mountvers=3,mountport=4048,mountproto=udp,local_lock=all
2928         age:    7863311
2929         caps:   caps=0x3fe7,wtmult=4096,dtsize=8192,bsize=0,namlen=255
2930         sec:    flavor=1,pseudoflavor=1
2931         events: 61063112 732346265 1028140 35486205 16220064 8162542 761447191 71714012 37189 3891185 45561809 110486139 4850138 420353 15449177 296502 52736725 13523379 0 52182 9016896 1231 0 0 0 0 0
2932         bytes:  166253035039 219519120027 0 0 40783504807 185466229638 11677877 45561809
2933         RPC iostats version: 1.0  p/v: 100003/3 (nfs)
2934         xprt:   tcp 925 1 6810 0 0 111505412 111480497 109 2672418560317 0 248 53869103 22481820
2935         per-op statistics
2936                 NULL: 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2937              GETATTR: 61063106 61063108 0 9621383060 6839064400 453650 77291321 78926132
2938              SETATTR: 463469 463470 0 92005440 66739536 63787 603235 687943
2939               LOOKUP: 17021657 17021657 0 3354097764 4013442928 57216 35125459 35566511
2940               ACCESS: 14281703 14290009 5 2318400592 1713803640 1709282 4865144 7130140
2941             READLINK: 125 125 0 20472 18620 0 1112 1118
2942                 READ: 4214236 4214237 0 715608524 41328653212 89884 22622768 22806693
2943                WRITE: 8479010 8494376 22 187695798568 1356087148 178264904 51506907 231671771
2944               CREATE: 171708 171708 0 38084748 46702272 873 1041833 1050398
2945                MKDIR: 3680 3680 0 773980 993920 26 23990 24245
2946              SYMLINK: 903 903 0 233428 245488 6 5865 5917
2947                MKNOD: 80 80 0 20148 21760 0 299 304
2948               REMOVE: 429921 429921 0 79796004 61908192 3313 2710416 2741636
2949                RMDIR: 3367 3367 0 645112 484848 22 5782 6002
2950               RENAME: 466201 466201 0 130026184 121212260 7075 5935207 5961288
2951                 LINK: 289155 289155 0 72775556 67083960 2199 2565060 2585579
2952              READDIR: 2933237 2933237 0 516506204 13973833412 10385 3190199 3297917
2953          READDIRPLUS: 1652839 1652839 0 298640972 6895997744 84735 14307895 14448937
2954               FSSTAT: 6144 6144 0 1010516 1032192 51 9654 10022
2955               FSINFO: 2 2 0 232 328 0 1 1
2956             PATHCONF: 1 1 0 116 140 0 0 0
2957               COMMIT: 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2958
2959 device binfmt_misc mounted on /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc with fstype binfmt_misc
2960 [...]
2961 </pre></blockquote></p>
2962
2963 <p>The key number to look at is the third number in the per-op list.
2964 It is the number of NFS timeouts experiences per file system
2965 operation.  Here 22 write timeouts and 5 access timeouts.  If these
2966 numbers are increasing, I believe the machine is experiencing NFS
2967 hang.  Unfortunately the timeout value do not start to increase right
2968 away.  The NFS operations need to time out first, and this can take a
2969 while.  The exact timeout value depend on the setup.  For example the
2970 defaults for TCP and UDP mount points are quite different, and the
2971 timeout value is affected by the soft, hard, timeo and retrans NFS
2972 mount options.</p>
2973
2974 <p>The only way I have been able to get working on Debian and RedHat
2975 Enterprise Linux for getting the timeout count is to peek in /proc/.
2976 But according to
2977 <ahref="http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E19253-01/816-4555/netmonitor-12/index.html">Solaris
2978 10 System Administration Guide: Network Services</a>, the 'nfsstat -c'
2979 command can be used to get these timeout values.  But this do not work
2980 on Linux, as far as I can tell.  I
2981 <ahref="http://bugs.debian.org/857043">asked Debian about this</a>,
2982 but have not seen any replies yet.</p>
2983
2984 <p>Is there a better way to figure out if a Linux NFS client is
2985 experiencing NFS hangs?  Is there a way to detect which processes are
2986 affected?  Is there a way to get the NFS mount going quickly once the
2987 network problem causing the NFS hang has been cleared?  I would very
2988 much welcome some clues, as we regularly run into NFS hangs.</p>
2989
2990       </div>
2991       <div class="tags">
2992
2993
2994         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/sysadmin">sysadmin</a>.
2995
2996
2997       </div>
2998     </div>
2999     <div class="padding"></div>
3000
3001     <div class="entry">
3002       <div class="title">
3003         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Norwegian_Bokm_l_translation_of_The_Debian_Administrator_s_Handbook_complete__proofreading_in_progress.html">Norwegian Bokmål translation of The Debian Administrator's Handbook complete, proofreading in progress</a>
3004       </div>
3005       <div class="date">
3006          3rd March 2017
3007       </div>
3008       <div class="body">
3009         <p>For almost a year now, we have been working on making a Norwegian
3010 Bokmål edition of <a href="https://debian-handbook.info/">The Debian
3011 Administrator's Handbook</a>.  Now, thanks to the tireless effort of
3012 Ole-Erik, Ingrid and Andreas, the initial translation is complete, and
3013 we are working on the proof reading to ensure consistent language and
3014 use of correct computer science terms.  The plan is to make the book
3015 available on paper, as well as in electronic form.  For that to
3016 happen, the proof reading must be completed and all the figures need
3017 to be translated.  If you want to help out, get in touch.</p>
3018
3019 <p><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/debian-handbook/debian-handbook-nb-NO.pdf">A
3020
3021 fresh PDF edition</a> in A4 format (the final book will have smaller
3022 pages) of the book created every morning is available for
3023 proofreading.  If you find any errors, please
3024 <a href="https://hosted.weblate.org/projects/debian-handbook/">visit
3025 Weblate and correct the error</a>.  The
3026 <a href="http://l.github.io/debian-handbook/stat/nb-NO/index.html">state
3027 of the translation including figures</a> is a useful source for those
3028 provide Norwegian bokmål screen shots and figures.</p>
3029
3030       </div>
3031       <div class="tags">
3032
3033
3034         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian-handbook">debian-handbook</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
3035
3036
3037       </div>
3038     </div>
3039     <div class="padding"></div>
3040
3041     <div class="entry">
3042       <div class="title">
3043         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Unlimited_randomness_with_the_ChaosKey_.html">Unlimited randomness with the ChaosKey?</a>
3044       </div>
3045       <div class="date">
3046          1st March 2017
3047       </div>
3048       <div class="body">
3049         <p>A few days ago I ordered a small batch of
3050 <a href="http://altusmetrum.org/ChaosKey/">the ChaosKey</a>, a small
3051 USB dongle for generating entropy created by Bdale Garbee and Keith
3052 Packard.  Yesterday it arrived, and I am very happy to report that it
3053 work great!  According to its designers, to get it to work out of the
3054 box, you need the Linux kernel version 4.1 or later.  I tested on a
3055 Debian Stretch machine (kernel version 4.9), and there it worked just
3056 fine, increasing the available entropy very quickly.  I wrote a small
3057 test oneliner to test.  It first print the current entropy level,
3058 drain /dev/random, and then print the entropy level for five seconds.
3059 Here is the situation without the ChaosKey inserted:</p>
3060
3061 <blockquote><pre>
3062 % cat /proc/sys/kernel/random/entropy_avail; \
3063   dd bs=1M if=/dev/random of=/dev/null count=1; \
3064   for n in $(seq 1 5); do \
3065      cat /proc/sys/kernel/random/entropy_avail; \
3066      sleep 1; \
3067   done
3068 300
3069 0+1 oppføringer inn
3070 0+1 oppføringer ut
3071 28 byte kopiert, 0,000264565 s, 106 kB/s
3072 4
3073 8
3074 12
3075 17
3076 21
3077 %
3078 </pre></blockquote>
3079
3080 <p>The entropy level increases by 3-4 every second.  In such case any
3081 application requiring random bits (like a HTTPS enabled web server)
3082 will halt and wait for more entrpy.  And here is the situation with
3083 the ChaosKey inserted:</p>
3084
3085 <blockquote><pre>
3086 % cat /proc/sys/kernel/random/entropy_avail; \
3087   dd bs=1M if=/dev/random of=/dev/null count=1; \
3088   for n in $(seq 1 5); do \
3089      cat /proc/sys/kernel/random/entropy_avail; \
3090      sleep 1; \
3091   done
3092 1079
3093 0+1 oppføringer inn
3094 0+1 oppføringer ut
3095 104 byte kopiert, 0,000487647 s, 213 kB/s
3096 433
3097 1028
3098 1031
3099 1035
3100 1038
3101 %
3102 </pre></blockquote>
3103
3104 <p>Quite the difference. :) I bought a few more than I need, in case
3105 someone want to buy one here in Norway. :)</p>
3106
3107 <p>Update: The dongle was presented at Debconf last year.  You might
3108 find <a href="https://debconf16.debconf.org/talks/94/">the talk
3109 recording illuminating</a>.  It explains exactly what the source of
3110 randomness is, if you are unable to spot it from the schema drawing
3111 available from the ChaosKey web site linked at the start of this blog
3112 post.</p>
3113
3114       </div>
3115       <div class="tags">
3116
3117
3118         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
3119
3120
3121       </div>
3122     </div>
3123     <div class="padding"></div>
3124
3125     <div class="entry">
3126       <div class="title">
3127         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Where_did_that_package_go___mdash__geolocated_IP_traceroute.html">Where did that package go? &mdash; geolocated IP traceroute</a>
3128       </div>
3129       <div class="date">
3130          9th January 2017
3131       </div>
3132       <div class="body">
3133         <p>Did you ever wonder where the web trafic really flow to reach the
3134 web servers, and who own the network equipment it is flowing through?
3135 It is possible to get a glimpse of this from using traceroute, but it
3136 is hard to find all the details.  Many years ago, I wrote a system to
3137 map the Norwegian Internet (trying to figure out if our plans for a
3138 network game service would get low enough latency, and who we needed
3139 to talk to about setting up game servers close to the users.  Back
3140 then I used traceroute output from many locations (I asked my friends
3141 to run a script and send me their traceroute output) to create the
3142 graph and the map.  The output from traceroute typically look like
3143 this:
3144
3145 <p><pre>
3146 traceroute to www.stortinget.no (85.88.67.10), 30 hops max, 60 byte packets
3147  1  uio-gw10.uio.no (129.240.202.1)  0.447 ms  0.486 ms  0.621 ms
3148  2  uio-gw8.uio.no (129.240.24.229)  0.467 ms  0.578 ms  0.675 ms
3149  3  oslo-gw1.uninett.no (128.39.65.17)  0.385 ms  0.373 ms  0.358 ms
3150  4  te3-1-2.br1.fn3.as2116.net (193.156.90.3)  1.174 ms  1.172 ms  1.153 ms
3151  5  he16-1-1.cr1.san110.as2116.net (195.0.244.234)  2.627 ms he16-1-1.cr2.oslosda310.as2116.net (195.0.244.48)  3.172 ms he16-1-1.cr1.san110.as2116.net (195.0.244.234)  2.857 ms
3152  6  ae1.ar8.oslosda310.as2116.net (195.0.242.39)  0.662 ms  0.637 ms ae0.ar8.oslosda310.as2116.net (195.0.242.23)  0.622 ms
3153  7  89.191.10.146 (89.191.10.146)  0.931 ms  0.917 ms  0.955 ms
3154  8  * * *
3155  9  * * *
3156 [...]
3157 </pre></p>
3158
3159 <p>This show the DNS names and IP addresses of (at least some of the)
3160 network equipment involved in getting the data traffic from me to the
3161 www.stortinget.no server, and how long it took in milliseconds for a
3162 package to reach the equipment and return to me.  Three packages are
3163 sent, and some times the packages do not follow the same path.  This
3164 is shown for hop 5, where three different IP addresses replied to the
3165 traceroute request.</p>
3166
3167 <p>There are many ways to measure trace routes.  Other good traceroute
3168 implementations I use are traceroute (using ICMP packages) mtr (can do
3169 both ICMP, UDP and TCP) and scapy (python library with ICMP, UDP, TCP
3170 traceroute and a lot of other capabilities).  All of them are easily
3171 available in <a href="https://www.debian.org/">Debian</a>.</p>
3172
3173 <p>This time around, I wanted to know the geographic location of
3174 different route points, to visualize how visiting a web page spread
3175 information about the visit to a lot of servers around the globe.  The
3176 background is that a web site today often will ask the browser to get
3177 from many servers the parts (for example HTML, JSON, fonts,
3178 JavaScript, CSS, video) required to display the content.  This will
3179 leak information about the visit to those controlling these servers
3180 and anyone able to peek at the data traffic passing by (like your ISP,
3181 the ISPs backbone provider, FRA, GCHQ, NSA and others).</p>
3182
3183 <p>Lets pick an example, the Norwegian parliament web site
3184 www.stortinget.no.  It is read daily by all members of parliament and
3185 their staff, as well as political journalists, activits and many other
3186 citizens of Norway.  A visit to the www.stortinget.no web site will
3187 ask your browser to contact 8 other servers: ajax.googleapis.com,
3188 insights.hotjar.com, script.hotjar.com, static.hotjar.com,
3189 stats.g.doubleclick.net, www.google-analytics.com,
3190 www.googletagmanager.com and www.netigate.se.  I extracted this by
3191 asking <a href="http://phantomjs.org/">PhantomJS</a> to visit the
3192 Stortinget web page and tell me all the URLs PhantomJS downloaded to
3193 render the page (in HAR format using
3194 <a href="https://github.com/ariya/phantomjs/blob/master/examples/netsniff.js">their
3195 netsniff example</a>.  I am very grateful to Gorm for showing me how
3196 to do this).  My goal is to visualize network traces to all IP
3197 addresses behind these DNS names, do show where visitors personal
3198 information is spread when visiting the page.</p>
3199
3200 <p align="center"><a href="www.stortinget.no-geoip.kml"><img
3201 src="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2017-01-09-www.stortinget.no-geoip-small.png" alt="map of combined traces for URLs used by www.stortinget.no using GeoIP"/></a></p>
3202
3203 <p>When I had a look around for options, I could not find any good
3204 free software tools to do this, and decided I needed my own traceroute
3205 wrapper outputting KML based on locations looked up using GeoIP.  KML
3206 is easy to work with and easy to generate, and understood by several
3207 of the GIS tools I have available.  I got good help from by NUUG
3208 colleague Anders Einar with this, and the result can be seen in
3209 <a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/kmltraceroute">my
3210 kmltraceroute git repository</a>.  Unfortunately, the quality of the
3211 free GeoIP databases I could find (and the for-pay databases my
3212 friends had access to) is not up to the task.  The IP addresses of
3213 central Internet infrastructure would typically be placed near the
3214 controlling companies main office, and not where the router is really
3215 located, as you can see from <a href="www.stortinget.no-geoip.kml">the
3216 KML file I created</a> using the GeoLite City dataset from MaxMind.
3217
3218 <p align="center"><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2017-01-09-www.stortinget.no-scapy.svg"><img
3219 src="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2017-01-09-www.stortinget.no-scapy-small.png" alt="scapy traceroute graph for URLs used by www.stortinget.no"/></a></p>
3220
3221 <p>I also had a look at the visual traceroute graph created by
3222 <a href="http://www.secdev.org/projects/scapy/">the scrapy project</a>,
3223 showing IP network ownership (aka AS owner) for the IP address in
3224 question.
3225 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2017-01-09-www.stortinget.no-scapy.svg">The
3226 graph display a lot of useful information about the traceroute in SVG
3227 format</a>, and give a good indication on who control the network
3228 equipment involved, but it do not include geolocation.  This graph
3229 make it possible to see the information is made available at least for
3230 UNINETT, Catchcom, Stortinget, Nordunet, Google, Amazon, Telia, Level
3231 3 Communications and NetDNA.</p>
3232
3233 <p align="center"><a href="https://geotraceroute.com/index.php?node=4&host=www.stortinget.no"><img
3234 src="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2017-01-09-www.stortinget.no-geotraceroute-small.png" alt="example geotraceroute view for www.stortinget.no"/></a></p>
3235
3236 <p>In the process, I came across the
3237 <a href="https://geotraceroute.com/">web service GeoTraceroute</a> by
3238 Salim Gasmi.  Its methology of combining guesses based on DNS names,
3239 various location databases and finally use latecy times to rule out
3240 candidate locations seemed to do a very good job of guessing correct
3241 geolocation.  But it could only do one trace at the time, did not have
3242 a sensor in Norway and did not make the geolocations easily available
3243 for postprocessing.  So I contacted the developer and asked if he
3244 would be willing to share the code (he refused until he had time to
3245 clean it up), but he was interested in providing the geolocations in a
3246 machine readable format, and willing to set up a sensor in Norway.  So
3247 since yesterday, it is possible to run traces from Norway in this
3248 service thanks to a sensor node set up by
3249 <a href="https://www.nuug.no/">the NUUG assosiation</a>, and get the
3250 trace in KML format for further processing.</p>
3251
3252 <p align="center"><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2017-01-09-www.stortinget.no-geotraceroute-kml-join.kml"><img
3253 src="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2017-01-09-www.stortinget.no-geotraceroute-kml-join.png" alt="map of combined traces for URLs used by www.stortinget.no using geotraceroute"/></a></p>
3254
3255 <p>Here we can see a lot of trafic passes Sweden on its way to
3256 Denmark, Germany, Holland and Ireland.  Plenty of places where the
3257 Snowden confirmations verified the traffic is read by various actors
3258 without your best interest as their top priority.</p>
3259
3260 <p>Combining KML files is trivial using a text editor, so I could loop
3261 over all the hosts behind the urls imported by www.stortinget.no and
3262 ask for the KML file from GeoTraceroute, and create a combined KML
3263 file with all the traces (unfortunately only one of the IP addresses
3264 behind the DNS name is traced this time.  To get them all, one would
3265 have to request traces using IP number instead of DNS names from
3266 GeoTraceroute).  That might be the next step in this project.</p>
3267
3268 <p>Armed with these tools, I find it a lot easier to figure out where
3269 the IP traffic moves and who control the boxes involved in moving it.
3270 And every time the link crosses for example the Swedish border, we can
3271 be sure Swedish Signal Intelligence (FRA) is listening, as GCHQ do in
3272 Britain and NSA in USA and cables around the globe.  (Hm, what should
3273 we tell them? :) Keep that in mind if you ever send anything
3274 unencrypted over the Internet.</p>
3275
3276 <p>PS: KML files are drawn using
3277 <a href="http://ivanrublev.me/kml/">the KML viewer from Ivan
3278 Rublev<a/>, as it was less cluttered than the local Linux application
3279 Marble.  There are heaps of other options too.</p>
3280
3281 <p>As usual, if you use Bitcoin and want to show your support of my
3282 activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address
3283 <b><a href="bitcoin:15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</a></b>.</p>
3284
3285       </div>
3286       <div class="tags">
3287
3288
3289         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/kart">kart</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/personvern">personvern</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/stortinget">stortinget</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/surveillance">surveillance</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/web">web</a>.
3290
3291
3292       </div>
3293     </div>
3294     <div class="padding"></div>
3295
3296     <div class="entry">
3297       <div class="title">
3298         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Appstream_just_learned_how_to_map_hardware_to_packages_too_.html">Appstream just learned how to map hardware to packages too!</a>
3299       </div>
3300       <div class="date">
3301         23rd December 2016
3302       </div>
3303       <div class="body">
3304         <p>I received a very nice Christmas present today.  As my regular
3305 readers probably know, I have been working on the
3306 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/isenkram">the Isenkram
3307 system</a> for many years.  The goal of the Isenkram system is to make
3308 it easier for users to figure out what to install to get a given piece
3309 of hardware to work in Debian, and a key part of this system is a way
3310 to map hardware to packages.  Isenkram have its own mapping database,
3311 and also uses data provided by each package using the AppStream
3312 metadata format.  And today,
3313 <a href="https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/appstream">AppStream</a> in
3314 Debian learned to look up hardware the same way Isenkram is doing it,
3315 ie using fnmatch():</p>
3316
3317 <p><pre>
3318 % appstreamcli what-provides modalias \
3319   usb:v1130p0202d0100dc00dsc00dp00ic03isc00ip00in00
3320 Identifier: pymissile [generic]
3321 Name: pymissile
3322 Summary: Control original Striker USB Missile Launcher
3323 Package: pymissile
3324 % appstreamcli what-provides modalias usb:v0694p0002d0000
3325 Identifier: libnxt [generic]
3326 Name: libnxt
3327 Summary: utility library for talking to the LEGO Mindstorms NXT brick
3328 Package: libnxt
3329 ---
3330 Identifier: t2n [generic]
3331 Name: t2n
3332 Summary: Simple command-line tool for Lego NXT
3333 Package: t2n
3334 ---
3335 Identifier: python-nxt [generic]
3336 Name: python-nxt
3337 Summary: Python driver/interface/wrapper for the Lego Mindstorms NXT robot
3338 Package: python-nxt
3339 ---
3340 Identifier: nbc [generic]
3341 Name: nbc
3342 Summary: C compiler for LEGO Mindstorms NXT bricks
3343 Package: nbc
3344 %
3345 </pre></p>
3346
3347 <p>A similar query can be done using the combined AppStream and
3348 Isenkram databases using the isenkram-lookup tool:</p>
3349
3350 <p><pre>
3351 % isenkram-lookup usb:v1130p0202d0100dc00dsc00dp00ic03isc00ip00in00
3352 pymissile
3353 % isenkram-lookup usb:v0694p0002d0000
3354 libnxt
3355 nbc
3356 python-nxt
3357 t2n
3358 %
3359 </pre></p>
3360
3361 <p>You can find modalias values relevant for your machine using
3362 <tt>cat $(find /sys/devices/ -name modalias)</tt>.
3363
3364 <p>If you want to make this system a success and help Debian users
3365 make the most of the hardware they have, please
3366 help<a href="https://wiki.debian.org/AppStream/Guidelines">add
3367 AppStream metadata for your package following the guidelines</a>
3368 documented in the wiki.  So far only 11 packages provide such
3369 information, among the several hundred hardware specific packages in
3370 Debian. The Isenkram database on the other hand contain 101 packages,
3371 mostly related to USB dongles.  Most of the packages with hardware
3372 mapping in AppStream are LEGO Mindstorms related, because I have, as
3373 part of my involvement in
3374 <a href="https://wiki.debian.org/LegoDesigners">the Debian LEGO
3375 team</a> given priority to making sure LEGO users get proposed the
3376 complete set of packages in Debian for that particular hardware.  The
3377 team also got a nice Christmas present today.  The
3378 <a href="https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/nxt-firmware">nxt-firmware
3379 package</a> made it into Debian.  With this package in place, it is
3380 now possible to use the LEGO Mindstorms NXT unit with only free
3381 software, as the nxt-firmware package contain the source and firmware
3382 binaries for the NXT brick.</p>
3383
3384 <p>As usual, if you use Bitcoin and want to show your support of my
3385 activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address
3386 <b><a href="bitcoin:15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</a></b>.</p>
3387
3388       </div>
3389       <div class="tags">
3390
3391
3392         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/isenkram">isenkram</a>.
3393
3394
3395       </div>
3396     </div>
3397     <div class="padding"></div>
3398
3399     <div class="entry">
3400       <div class="title">
3401         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Isenkram_updated_with_a_lot_more_hardware_package_mappings.html">Isenkram updated with a lot more hardware-package mappings</a>
3402       </div>
3403       <div class="date">
3404         20th December 2016
3405       </div>
3406       <div class="body">
3407         <p><a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/isenkram">The Isenkram
3408 system</a> I wrote two years ago to make it easier in Debian to find
3409 and install packages to get your hardware dongles to work, is still
3410 going strong.  It is a system to look up the hardware present on or
3411 connected to the current system, and map the hardware to Debian
3412 packages.  It can either be done using the tools in isenkram-cli or
3413 using the user space daemon in the isenkram package.  The latter will
3414 notify you, when inserting new hardware, about what packages to
3415 install to get the dongle working.  It will even provide a button to
3416 click on to ask packagekit to install the packages.</p>
3417
3418 <p>Here is an command line example from my Thinkpad laptop:</p>
3419
3420 <p><pre>
3421 % isenkram-lookup
3422 bluez
3423 cheese
3424 ethtool
3425 fprintd
3426 fprintd-demo
3427 gkrellm-thinkbat
3428 hdapsd
3429 libpam-fprintd
3430 pidgin-blinklight
3431 thinkfan
3432 tlp
3433 tp-smapi-dkms
3434 tp-smapi-source
3435 tpb
3436 %
3437 </pre></p>
3438
3439 <p>It can also list the firware package providing firmware requested
3440 by the load kernel modules, which in my case is an empty list because
3441 I have all the firmware my machine need:
3442
3443 <p><pre>
3444 % /usr/sbin/isenkram-autoinstall-firmware -l
3445 info: did not find any firmware files requested by loaded kernel modules.  exiting
3446 %
3447 </pre></p>
3448
3449 <p>The last few days I had a look at several of the around 250
3450 packages in Debian with udev rules.  These seem like good candidates
3451 to install when a given hardware dongle is inserted, and I found
3452 several that should be proposed by isenkram.  I have not had time to
3453 check all of them, but am happy to report that now there are 97
3454 packages packages mapped to hardware by Isenkram.  11 of these
3455 packages provide hardware mapping using AppStream, while the rest are
3456 listed in the modaliases file provided in isenkram.</p>
3457
3458 <p>These are the packages with hardware mappings at the moment.  The
3459 <strong>marked packages</strong> are also announcing their hardware
3460 support using AppStream, for everyone to use:</p>
3461
3462 <p>air-quality-sensor, alsa-firmware-loaders, argyll,
3463 <strong>array-info</strong>, avarice, avrdude, b43-fwcutter,
3464 bit-babbler, bluez, bluez-firmware, <strong>brltty</strong>,
3465 <strong>broadcom-sta-dkms</strong>, calibre, cgminer, cheese, colord,
3466 <strong>colorhug-client</strong>, dahdi-firmware-nonfree, dahdi-linux,
3467 dfu-util, dolphin-emu, ekeyd, ethtool, firmware-ipw2x00, fprintd,
3468 fprintd-demo, <strong>galileo</strong>, gkrellm-thinkbat, gphoto2,
3469 gpsbabel, gpsbabel-gui, gpsman, gpstrans, gqrx-sdr, gr-fcdproplus,
3470 gr-osmosdr, gtkpod, hackrf, hdapsd, hdmi2usb-udev, hpijs-ppds, hplip,
3471 ipw3945-source, ipw3945d, kde-config-tablet, kinect-audio-setup,
3472 <strong>libnxt</strong>, libpam-fprintd, <strong>lomoco</strong>,
3473 madwimax, minidisc-utils, mkgmap, msi-keyboard, mtkbabel,
3474 <strong>nbc</strong>, <strong>nqc</strong>, nut-hal-drivers, ola,
3475 open-vm-toolbox, open-vm-tools, openambit, pcgminer, pcmciautils,
3476 pcscd, pidgin-blinklight, printer-driver-splix,
3477 <strong>pymissile</strong>, python-nxt, qlandkartegt,
3478 qlandkartegt-garmin, rosegarden, rt2x00-source, sispmctl,
3479 soapysdr-module-hackrf, solaar, squeak-plugins-scratch, sunxi-tools,
3480 <strong>t2n</strong>, thinkfan, thinkfinger-tools, tlp, tp-smapi-dkms,
3481 tp-smapi-source, tpb, tucnak, uhd-host, usbmuxd, viking,
3482 virtualbox-ose-guest-x11, w1retap, xawtv, xserver-xorg-input-vmmouse,
3483 xserver-xorg-input-wacom, xserver-xorg-video-qxl,
3484 xserver-xorg-video-vmware, yubikey-personalization and
3485 zd1211-firmware</p>
3486
3487 <p>If you know of other packages, please let me know with a wishlist
3488 bug report against the isenkram-cli package, and ask the package
3489 maintainer to
3490 <a href="https://wiki.debian.org/AppStream/Guidelines">add AppStream
3491 metadata according to the guidelines</a> to provide the information
3492 for everyone.  In time, I hope to get rid of the isenkram specific
3493 hardware mapping and depend exclusively on AppStream.</p>
3494
3495 <p>Note, the AppStream metadata for broadcom-sta-dkms is matching too
3496 much hardware, and suggest that the package with with any ethernet
3497 card.  See <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/838735">bug #838735</a> for
3498 the details.  I hope the maintainer find time to address it soon.  In
3499 the mean time I provide an override in isenkram.</p>
3500
3501       </div>
3502       <div class="tags">
3503
3504
3505         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/isenkram">isenkram</a>.
3506
3507
3508       </div>
3509     </div>
3510     <div class="padding"></div>
3511
3512     <div class="entry">
3513       <div class="title">
3514         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Oolite__a_life_in_space_as_vagabond_and_mercenary___nice_free_software.html">Oolite, a life in space as vagabond and mercenary - nice free software</a>
3515       </div>
3516       <div class="date">
3517         11th December 2016
3518       </div>
3519       <div class="body">
3520         <p align="center"><img width="70%" src="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2016-12-11-nice-oolite.png"/></p>
3521
3522 <p>In my early years, I played
3523 <a href="http://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/Classic_Elite">the epic game
3524 Elite</a> on my PC.  I spent many months trading and fighting in
3525 space, and reached the 'elite' fighting status before I moved on.  The
3526 original Elite game was available on Commodore 64 and the IBM PC
3527 edition I played had a 64 KB executable.  I am still impressed today
3528 that the authors managed to squeeze both a 3D engine and details about
3529 more than 2000 planet systems across 7 galaxies into a binary so
3530 small.</p>
3531
3532 <p>I have known about <a href="http://www.oolite.org/">the free
3533 software game Oolite inspired by Elite</a> for a while, but did not
3534 really have time to test it properly until a few days ago.  It was
3535 great to discover that my old knowledge about trading routes were
3536 still valid.  But my fighting and flying abilities were gone, so I had
3537 to retrain to be able to dock on a space station.  And I am still not
3538 able to make much resistance when I am attacked by pirates, so I
3539 bougth and mounted the most powerful laser in the rear to be able to
3540 put up at least some resistance while fleeing for my life. :)</p>
3541
3542 <p>When playing Elite in the late eighties, I had to discover
3543 everything on my own, and I had long lists of prices seen on different
3544 planets to be able to decide where to trade what.  This time I had the
3545 advantages of the
3546 <a href="http://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/Main_Page">Elite wiki</a>,
3547 where information about each planet is easily available with common
3548 price ranges and suggested trading routes.  This improved my ability
3549 to earn money and I have been able to earn enough to buy a lot of
3550 useful equipent in a few days.  I believe I originally played for
3551 months before I could get a docking computer, while now I could get it
3552 after less then a week.</p>
3553
3554 <p>If you like science fiction and dreamed of a life as a vagabond in
3555 space, you should try out Oolite.  It is available for Linux, MacOSX
3556 and Windows, and is included in Debian and derivatives since 2011.</p>
3557
3558 <p>As usual, if you use Bitcoin and want to show your support of my
3559 activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address
3560 <b><a href="bitcoin:15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</a></b>.</p>
3561
3562       </div>
3563       <div class="tags">
3564
3565
3566         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nice free software">nice free software</a>.
3567
3568
3569       </div>
3570     </div>
3571     <div class="padding"></div>
3572
3573     <div class="entry">
3574       <div class="title">
3575         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Quicker_Debian_installations_using_eatmydata.html">Quicker Debian installations using eatmydata</a>
3576       </div>
3577       <div class="date">
3578         25th November 2016
3579       </div>
3580       <div class="body">
3581         <p>Two years ago, I did some experiments with eatmydata and the Debian
3582 installation system, observing how using
3583 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Speeding_up_the_Debian_installer_using_eatmydata_and_dpkg_divert.html">eatmydata
3584 could speed up the installation</a> quite a bit.  My testing measured
3585 speedup around 20-40 percent for Debian Edu, where we install around
3586 1000 packages from within the installer.  The eatmydata package
3587 provide a way to disable/delay file system flushing.  This is a bit
3588 risky in the general case, as files that should be stored on disk will
3589 stay only in memory a bit longer than expected, causing problems if a
3590 machine crashes at an inconvenient time.  But for an installation, if
3591 the machine crashes during installation the process is normally
3592 restarted, and avoiding disk operations as much as possible to speed
3593 up the process make perfect sense.
3594
3595 <p>I added code in the Debian Edu specific installation code to enable
3596 <a href="https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/libeatmydata">eatmydata</a>,
3597 but did not have time to push it any further.  But a few months ago I
3598 picked it up again and worked with the libeatmydata package maintainer
3599 Mattia Rizzolo to make it easier for everyone to get this installation
3600 speedup in Debian.  Thanks to our cooperation There is now an
3601 eatmydata-udeb package in Debian testing and unstable, and simply
3602 enabling/installing it in debian-installer (d-i) is enough to get the
3603 quicker installations.  It can be enabled using preseeding.  The
3604 following untested kernel argument should do the trick:</p>
3605
3606 <blockquote><pre>
3607 preseed/early_command="anna-install eatmydata-udeb"
3608 </pre></blockquote>
3609
3610 <p>This should ask d-i to install the package inside the d-i
3611 environment early in the installation sequence.  Having it installed
3612 in d-i in turn will make sure the relevant scripts are called just
3613 after debootstrap filled /target/ with the freshly installed Debian
3614 system to configure apt to run dpkg with eatmydata.  This is enough to
3615 speed up the installation process.  There is a proposal to
3616 <a href="https://bugs.debian.org/841153">extend the idea a bit further
3617 by using /etc/ld.so.preload instead of apt.conf</a>, but I have not
3618 tested its impact.</p>
3619
3620
3621       </div>
3622       <div class="tags">
3623
3624
3625         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
3626
3627
3628       </div>
3629     </div>
3630     <div class="padding"></div>
3631
3632     <div class="entry">
3633       <div class="title">
3634         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Oversette_bokm_l_til_nynorsk__enklere_enn_du_tror_takket_v_re_Apertium.html">Oversette bokmål til nynorsk, enklere enn du tror takket være Apertium</a>
3635       </div>
3636       <div class="date">
3637         24th November 2016
3638       </div>
3639       <div class="body">
3640         <p>I Norge er det mange som trenger å skrive både bokmål og nynorsk.
3641 Eksamensoppgaver, offentlige brev og nyheter er eksempler på tekster
3642 der det er krav om skriftspråk.  I tillegg til alle skoleoppgavene som
3643 elever over det ganske land skal levere inn hvert år.  Det mange ikke
3644 vet er at selv om de kommersielle alternativene
3645 <a href="https://translate.google.com/">Google Translate</a> og
3646 <a href="https://www.bing.com/translator/">Bing Translator</a> ikke kan
3647 bidra med å oversette mellom bokmål og nynorsk, så finnes det et
3648 utmerket fri programvarealternativ som kan.  Oversetterverktøyet
3649 Apertium har støtte for en rekke språkkombinasjoner, og takket være
3650 den utrettelige innsatsen til blant annet Kevin Brubeck Unhammer, kan
3651 en bruke webtjenesten til å fylle inn en tekst på bokmål eller
3652 nynorsk, og få den automatoversatt til det andre skriftspråket.
3653 Resultatet er ikke perfekt, men et svært godt utgangspunkt.  Av og til
3654 er resultatet så bra at det kan benyttes uten endringer.  Jeg vet
3655 f.eks. at store deler av Joomla ble oversatt til nynorsk ved hjelp
3656 Apertium.  Høres det ut som noe du kan ha bruk for?  Besøk i så fall
3657 <a href="https://www.apertium.org/">Apertium.org</a> og fyll inn
3658 teksten din i webskjemaet der.
3659
3660 <p>Hvis du trenger maskinell tilgang til den bakenforliggende
3661 teknologien kan du enten installere pakken
3662 <a href="https://tracker.debian.org/apertium-nno-nob">apertium-nno-nob</a>
3663 på en Debian-maskin eller bruke web-API-et tilgjengelig fra
3664 api.apertium.org.  Se
3665 <a href="http://wiki.apertium.org/wiki/Apertium-apy">API-dokumentasjonen</a>
3666 for detaljer om web-API-et.  Her kan du se hvordan resultatet blir for
3667 denne teksten som ble skrevet på bokmål over maskinoversatt til
3668 nynorsk.</p>
3669
3670 <hr/>
3671
3672 <p>I Noreg er det mange som treng å skriva både bokmål og nynorsk.
3673 Eksamensoppgåver, offentlege brev og nyhende er døme på tekster der
3674 det er krav om skriftspråk.  I tillegg til alle skuleoppgåvene som
3675 elevar over det ganske land skal levera inn kvart år.  Det mange ikkje
3676 veit er at sjølv om dei kommersielle alternativa
3677 <a href="https://translate.google.com/">Google *Translate</a> og
3678 <a href="https://www.bing.com/translator/">Bing *Translator</a> ikkje
3679 kan bidra med å omsetja mellom bokmål og nynorsk, så finst det eit
3680 utmerka fri programvarealternativ som kan.  Omsetjarverktøyet
3681 *Apertium har støtte for ei rekkje språkkombinasjonar, og takka vera
3682 den utrøyttelege innsatsen til blant anna Kevin Brubeck Unhammer, kan
3683 ein bruka *webtjenesten til å fylla inn ei tekst på bokmål eller
3684 nynorsk, og få den *automatoversatt til det andre skriftspråket.
3685 Resultatet er ikkje perfekt, men eit svært godt utgangspunkt.  Av og
3686 til er resultatet så bra at det kan nyttast utan endringar.  Eg veit
3687 t.d. at store delar av *Joomla vart omsett til nynorsk ved hjelp
3688 *Apertium.  Høyrast det ut som noko du kan ha bruk for?  Besøk i så
3689 fall <a href="https://www.apertium.org/">*Apertium.org</a> og fyll inn
3690 teksta di i *webskjemaet der.
3691
3692 <p>Viss du treng *maskinell tilgjenge til den *bakenforliggende
3693 teknologien kan du anten installera pakken
3694 <a href="https://tracker.debian.org/apertium-nno-nob">*apertium-*nno-*nob</a>
3695 på ein *Debian-maskin eller bruka *web-*API-eit tilgjengeleg frå
3696 *api.*apertium.org.  Sjå
3697 <a href="http://wiki.apertium.org/wiki/Apertium-apy">*API-dokumentasjonen</a>
3698 for detaljar om *web-*API-eit.  Her kan du sjå korleis resultatet vert
3699 for denne teksta som vart skreva på bokmål over *maskinoversatt til
3700 nynorsk.</p>
3701
3702       </div>
3703       <div class="tags">
3704
3705
3706         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/norsk">norsk</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/stavekontroll">stavekontroll</a>.
3707
3708
3709       </div>
3710     </div>
3711     <div class="padding"></div>
3712
3713     <div class="entry">
3714       <div class="title">
3715         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Coz_profiler_for_multi_threaded_software_is_now_in_Debian.html">Coz profiler for multi-threaded software is now in Debian</a>
3716       </div>
3717       <div class="date">
3718         13th November 2016
3719       </div>
3720       <div class="body">
3721         <p><a href="http://coz-profiler.org/">The Coz profiler</a>, a nice
3722 profiler able to run benchmarking experiments on the instrumented
3723 multi-threaded program, finally
3724 <a href="https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/coz-profiler">made it into
3725 Debian unstable yesterday</A>.  Lluís Vilanova and I have spent many
3726 months since
3727 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Coz_can_help_you_find_bottlenecks_in_multi_threaded_software___nice_free_software.html">I
3728 blogged about the coz tool</a> in August working with upstream to make
3729 it suitable for Debian.  There are still issues with clang
3730 compatibility, inline assembly only working x86 and minimized
3731 JavaScript libraries.</p>
3732
3733 <p>To test it, install 'coz-profiler' using apt and run it like this:</p>
3734
3735 <p><blockquote>
3736 <tt>coz run --- /path/to/binary-with-debug-info</tt>
3737 </blockquote></p>
3738
3739 <p>This will produce a profile.coz file in the current working
3740 directory with the profiling information.  This is then given to a
3741 JavaScript application provided in the package and available from
3742 <a href="http://plasma-umass.github.io/coz/">a project web page</a>.
3743 To start the local copy, invoke it in a browser like this:</p>
3744
3745 <p><blockquote>
3746 <tt>sensible-browser /usr/share/coz-profiler/viewer/index.htm</tt>
3747 </blockquote></p>
3748
3749 <p>See the project home page and the
3750 <a href="https://www.usenix.org/publications/login/summer2016/curtsinger">USENIX
3751 ;login: article on Coz</a> for more information on how it is
3752 working.</p>
3753
3754       </div>
3755       <div class="tags">
3756
3757
3758         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
3759
3760
3761       </div>
3762     </div>
3763     <div class="padding"></div>
3764
3765     <div class="entry">
3766       <div class="title">
3767         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/My_own_self_balancing_Lego_Segway.html">My own self balancing Lego Segway</a>
3768       </div>
3769       <div class="date">
3770          4th November 2016
3771       </div>
3772       <div class="body">
3773         <p>A while back I received a Gyro sensor for the NXT
3774 <a href="mindstorms.lego.com">Mindstorms</a> controller as a birthday
3775 present.  It had been on my wishlist for a while, because I wanted to
3776 build a Segway like balancing lego robot.  I had already built
3777 <a href="http://www.nxtprograms.com/NXT2/segway/">a simple balancing
3778 robot</a> with the kids, using the light/color sensor included in the
3779 NXT kit as the balance sensor, but it was not working very well.  It
3780 could balance for a while, but was very sensitive to the light
3781 condition in the room and the reflective properties of the surface and
3782 would fall over after a short while.  I wanted something more robust,
3783 and had
3784 <a href="https://www.hitechnic.com/cgi-bin/commerce.cgi?preadd=action&key=NGY1044">the
3785 gyro sensor from HiTechnic</a> I believed would solve it on my
3786 wishlist for some years before it suddenly showed up as a gift from my
3787 loved ones. :)</p>
3788
3789 <p>Unfortunately I have not had time to sit down and play with it
3790 since then.  But that changed some days ago, when I was searching for
3791 lego segway information and came across a recipe from HiTechnic for
3792 building
3793 <a href="http://www.hitechnic.com/blog/gyro-sensor/htway/">the
3794 HTWay</a>, a segway like balancing robot.  Build instructions and
3795 <a href="https://www.hitechnic.com/upload/786-HTWayC.nxc">source
3796 code</a> was included, so it was just a question of putting it all
3797 together.  And thanks to the great work of many Debian developers, the
3798 compiler needed to build the source for the NXT is already included in
3799 Debian, so I was read to go in less than an hour.  The resulting robot
3800 do not look very impressive in its simplicity:</p>
3801
3802 <p align="center"><img width="70%" src="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2016-11-04-lego-htway-robot.jpeg"></p>
3803
3804 <p>Because I lack the infrared sensor used to control the robot in the
3805 design from HiTechnic, I had to comment out the last task
3806 (taskControl).  I simply placed /* and */ around it get the program
3807 working without that sensor present.  Now it balances just fine until
3808 the battery status run low:</p>
3809
3810 <p align="center"><video width="70%" controls="true">
3811    <source src="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2016-11-04-lego-htway-balancing.ogv" type="video/ogg">
3812 </video></p>
3813
3814 <p>Now we would like to teach it how to follow a line and take remote
3815 control instructions using the included Bluetooth receiver in the NXT.</p>
3816
3817 <p>If you, like me, love LEGO and want to make sure we find the tools
3818 they need to work with LEGO in Debian and all our derivative
3819 distributions like Ubuntu, check out
3820 <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/LegoDesigners">the LEGO designers
3821 project page</a> and join the Debian LEGO team.  Personally I own a
3822 RCX and NXT controller (no EV3), and would like to make sure the
3823 Debian tools needed to program the systems I own work as they
3824 should.</p>
3825
3826       </div>
3827       <div class="tags">
3828
3829
3830         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/lego">lego</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/robot">robot</a>.
3831
3832
3833       </div>
3834     </div>
3835     <div class="padding"></div>
3836
3837     <div class="entry">
3838       <div class="title">
3839         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Experience_and_updated_recipe_for_using_the_Signal_app_without_a_mobile_phone.html">Experience and updated recipe for using the Signal app without a mobile phone</a>
3840       </div>
3841       <div class="date">
3842         10th October 2016
3843       </div>
3844       <div class="body">
3845         <p>In July
3846 <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
3847 wrote how to get the Signal Chrome/Chromium app working</a> without
3848 the ability to receive SMS messages (aka without a cell phone).  It is
3849 time to share some experiences and provide an updated setup.</p>
3850
3851 <p>The Signal app have worked fine for several months now, and I use
3852 it regularly to chat with my loved ones.  I had a major snag at the
3853 end of my summer vacation, when the the app completely forgot my
3854 setup, identity and keys.  The reason behind this major mess was
3855 running out of disk space.  To avoid that ever happening again I have
3856 started storing everything in <tt>userdata/</tt> in git, to be able to
3857 roll back to an earlier version if the files are wiped by mistake.  I
3858 had to use it once after introducing the git backup.  When rolling
3859 back to an earlier version, one need to use the 'reset session' option
3860 in Signal to get going, and notify the people you talk with about the
3861 problem.  I assume there is some sequence number tracking in the
3862 protocol to detect rollback attacks.  The git repository is rather big
3863 (674 MiB so far), but I have not tried to figure out if some of the
3864 content can be added to a .gitignore file due to lack of spare
3865 time.</p>
3866
3867 <p>I've also hit the 90 days timeout blocking, and noticed that this
3868 make it impossible to send messages using Signal.  I could still
3869 receive them, but had to patch the code with a new timestamp to send.
3870 I believe the timeout is added by the developers to force people to
3871 upgrade to the latest version of the app, even when there is no
3872 protocol changes, to reduce the version skew among the user base and
3873 thus try to keep the number of support requests down.</p>
3874
3875 <p>Since my original recipe, the Signal source code changed slightly,
3876 making the old patch fail to apply cleanly.  Below is an updated
3877 patch, including the shell wrapper I use to start Signal.  The
3878 original version required a new user to locate the JavaScript console
3879 and call a function from there.  I got help from a friend with more
3880 JavaScript knowledge than me to modify the code to provide a GUI
3881 button instead.  This mean that to get started you just need to run
3882 the wrapper and click the 'Register without mobile phone' to get going
3883 now.  I've also modified the timeout code to always set it to 90 days
3884 in the future, to avoid having to patch the code regularly.</p>
3885
3886 <p>So, the updated recipe for Debian Jessie:</p>
3887
3888 <ol>
3889
3890 <li>First, install required packages to get the source code and the
3891 browser you need.  Signal only work with Chrome/Chromium, as far as I
3892 know, so you need to install it.
3893
3894 <pre>
3895 apt install git tor chromium
3896 git clone https://github.com/WhisperSystems/Signal-Desktop.git
3897 </pre></li>
3898
3899 <li>Modify the source code using command listed in the the patch
3900 block below.</li>
3901
3902 <li>Start Signal using the run-signal-app wrapper (for example using
3903 <tt>`pwd`/run-signal-app</tt>).
3904
3905 <li>Click on the 'Register without mobile phone', will in a phone
3906 number you can receive calls to the next minute, receive the
3907 verification code and enter it into the form field and press
3908 'Register'.  Note, the phone number you use will be user Signal
3909 username, ie the way others can find you on Signal.</li>
3910
3911 <li>You can now use Signal to contact others.  Note, new contacts do
3912 not show up in the contact list until you restart Signal, and there is
3913 no way to assign names to Contacts.  There is also no way to create or
3914 update chat groups.  I suspect this is because the web app do not have
3915 a associated contact database.</li>
3916
3917 </ol>
3918
3919 <p>I am still a bit uneasy about using Signal, because of the way its
3920 main author moxie0 reject federation and accept dependencies to major
3921 corporations like Google (part of the code is fetched from Google) and
3922 Amazon (the central coordination point is owned by Amazon).  See for
3923 example
3924 <a href="https://github.com/LibreSignal/LibreSignal/issues/37">the
3925 LibreSignal issue tracker</a> for a thread documenting the authors
3926 view on these issues.  But the network effect is strong in this case,
3927 and several of the people I want to communicate with already use
3928 Signal.  Perhaps we can all move to <a href="https://ring.cx/">Ring</a>
3929 once it <a href="https://bugs.debian.org/830265">work on my
3930 laptop</a>?  It already work on Windows and Android, and is included
3931 in <a href="https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/ring">Debian</a> and
3932 <a href="https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ring">Ubuntu</a>, but not
3933 working on Debian Stable.</p>
3934
3935 <p>Anyway, this is the patch I apply to the Signal code to get it
3936 working.  It switch to the production servers, disable to timeout,
3937 make registration easier and add the shell wrapper:</p>
3938
3939 <pre>
3940 cd Signal-Desktop; cat &lt;&lt;EOF | patch -p1
3941 diff --git a/js/background.js b/js/background.js
3942 index 24b4c1d..579345f 100644
3943 --- a/js/background.js
3944 +++ b/js/background.js
3945 @@ -33,9 +33,9 @@
3946          });
3947      });
3948
3949 -    var SERVER_URL = 'https://textsecure-service-staging.whispersystems.org';
3950 +    var SERVER_URL = 'https://textsecure-service-ca.whispersystems.org';
3951      var SERVER_PORTS = [80, 4433, 8443];
3952 -    var ATTACHMENT_SERVER_URL = 'https://whispersystems-textsecure-attachments-staging.s3.amazonaws.com';
3953 +    var ATTACHMENT_SERVER_URL = 'https://whispersystems-textsecure-attachments.s3.amazonaws.com';
3954      var messageReceiver;
3955      window.getSocketStatus = function() {
3956          if (messageReceiver) {
3957 diff --git a/js/expire.js b/js/expire.js
3958 index 639aeae..beb91c3 100644
3959 --- a/js/expire.js
3960 +++ b/js/expire.js
3961 @@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
3962  ;(function() {
3963      'use strict';
3964 -    var BUILD_EXPIRATION = 0;
3965 +    var BUILD_EXPIRATION = Date.now() + (90 * 24 * 60 * 60 * 1000);
3966
3967      window.extension = window.extension || {};
3968
3969 diff --git a/js/views/install_view.js b/js/views/install_view.js
3970 index 7816f4f..1d6233b 100644
3971 --- a/js/views/install_view.js
3972 +++ b/js/views/install_view.js
3973 @@ -38,7 +38,8 @@
3974              return {
3975                  'click .step1': this.selectStep.bind(this, 1),
3976                  'click .step2': this.selectStep.bind(this, 2),
3977 -                'click .step3': this.selectStep.bind(this, 3)
3978 +                'click .step3': this.selectStep.bind(this, 3),
3979 +                'click .callreg': function() { extension.install('standalone') },
3980              };
3981          },
3982          clearQR: function() {
3983 diff --git a/options.html b/options.html
3984 index dc0f28e..8d709f6 100644
3985 --- a/options.html
3986 +++ b/options.html
3987 @@ -14,7 +14,10 @@
3988          &lt;div class='nav'>
3989            &lt;h1>{{ installWelcome }}&lt;/h1>
3990            &lt;p>{{ installTagline }}&lt;/p>
3991 -          &lt;div> &lt;a class='button step2'>{{ installGetStartedButton }}&lt;/a> &lt;/div>
3992 +          &lt;div> &lt;a class='button step2'>{{ installGetStartedButton }}&lt;/a>
3993 +           &lt;br> &lt;a class="button callreg">Register without mobile phone&lt;/a>
3994 +
3995 +         &lt;/div>
3996            &lt;span class='dot step1 selected'>&lt;/span>
3997            &lt;span class='dot step2'>&lt;/span>
3998            &lt;span class='dot step3'>&lt;/span>
3999 --- /dev/null   2016-10-07 09:55:13.730181472 +0200
4000 +++ b/run-signal-app   2016-10-10 08:54:09.434172391 +0200
4001 @@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
4002 +#!/bin/sh
4003 +set -e
4004 +cd $(dirname $0)
4005 +mkdir -p userdata
4006 +userdata="`pwd`/userdata"
4007 +if [ -d "$userdata" ] && [ ! -d "$userdata/.git" ] ; then
4008 +    (cd $userdata && git init)
4009 +fi
4010 +(cd $userdata && git add . && git commit -m "Current status." || true)
4011 +exec chromium \
4012 +  --proxy-server="socks://localhost:9050" \
4013 +  --user-data-dir=$userdata --load-and-launch-app=`pwd`
4014 EOF
4015 chmod a+rx run-signal-app
4016 </pre>
4017
4018 <p>As usual, if you use Bitcoin and want to show your support of my
4019 activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address
4020 <b><a href="bitcoin:15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</a></b>.</p>
4021
4022       </div>
4023       <div class="tags">
4024
4025
4026         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/sikkerhet">sikkerhet</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/surveillance">surveillance</a>.
4027
4028
4029       </div>
4030     </div>
4031     <div class="padding"></div>
4032
4033     <div class="entry">
4034       <div class="title">
4035         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Isenkram__Appstream_and_udev_make_life_as_a_LEGO_builder_easier.html">Isenkram, Appstream and udev make life as a LEGO builder easier</a>
4036       </div>
4037       <div class="date">
4038          7th October 2016
4039       </div>
4040       <div class="body">
4041         <p><a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/isenkram">The Isenkram
4042 system</a> provide a practical and easy way to figure out which
4043 packages support the hardware in a given machine.  The command line
4044 tool <tt>isenkram-lookup</tt> and the tasksel options provide a
4045 convenient way to list and install packages relevant for the current
4046 hardware during system installation, both user space packages and
4047 firmware packages. The GUI background daemon on the other hand provide
4048 a pop-up proposing to install packages when a new dongle is inserted
4049 while using the computer.  For example, if you plug in a smart card
4050 reader, the system will ask if you want to install <tt>pcscd</tt> if
4051 that package isn't already installed, and if you plug in a USB video
4052 camera the system will ask if you want to install <tt>cheese</tt> if
4053 cheese is currently missing.  This already work just fine.</p>
4054
4055 <p>But Isenkram depend on a database mapping from hardware IDs to
4056 package names.  When I started no such database existed in Debian, so
4057 I made my own data set and included it with the isenkram package and
4058 made isenkram fetch the latest version of this database from git using
4059 http.  This way the isenkram users would get updated package proposals
4060 as soon as I learned more about hardware related packages.</p>
4061
4062 <p>The hardware is identified using modalias strings.  The modalias
4063 design is from the Linux kernel where most hardware descriptors are
4064 made available as a strings that can be matched using filename style
4065 globbing.  It handle USB, PCI, DMI and a lot of other hardware related
4066 identifiers.</p>
4067
4068 <p>The downside to the Isenkram specific database is that there is no
4069 information about relevant distribution / Debian version, making
4070 isenkram propose obsolete packages too.  But along came AppStream, a
4071 cross distribution mechanism to store and collect metadata about
4072 software packages.  When I heard about the proposal, I contacted the
4073 people involved and suggested to add a hardware matching rule using
4074 modalias strings in the specification, to be able to use AppStream for
4075 mapping hardware to packages.  This idea was accepted and AppStream is
4076 now a great way for a package to announce the hardware it support in a
4077 distribution neutral way.  I wrote
4078 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Using_appstream_with_isenkram_to_install_hardware_related_packages_in_Debian.html">a
4079 recipe on how to add such meta-information</a> in a blog post last
4080 December.  If you have a hardware related package in Debian, please
4081 announce the relevant hardware IDs using AppStream.</p>
4082
4083 <p>In Debian, almost all packages that can talk to a LEGO Mindestorms
4084 RCX or NXT unit, announce this support using AppStream.  The effect is
4085 that when you insert such LEGO robot controller into your Debian
4086 machine, Isenkram will propose to install the packages needed to get
4087 it working.  The intention is that this should allow the local user to
4088 start programming his robot controller right away without having to
4089 guess what packages to use or which permissions to fix.</p>
4090
4091 <p>But when I sat down with my son the other day to program our NXT
4092 unit using his Debian Stretch computer, I discovered something
4093 annoying.  The local console user (ie my son) did not get access to
4094 the USB device for programming the unit.  This used to work, but no
4095 longer in Jessie and Stretch.  After some investigation and asking
4096 around on #debian-devel, I discovered that this was because udev had
4097 changed the mechanism used to grant access to local devices.  The
4098 ConsoleKit mechanism from <tt>/lib/udev/rules.d/70-udev-acl.rules</tt>
4099 no longer applied, because LDAP users no longer was added to the
4100 plugdev group during login.  Michael Biebl told me that this method
4101 was obsolete and the new method used ACLs instead.  This was good
4102 news, as the plugdev mechanism is a mess when using a remote user
4103 directory like LDAP.  Using ACLs would make sure a user lost device
4104 access when she logged out, even if the user left behind a background
4105 process which would retain the plugdev membership with the ConsoleKit
4106 setup.  Armed with this knowledge I moved on to fix the access problem
4107 for the LEGO Mindstorms related packages.</p>
4108
4109 <p>The new system uses a udev tag, 'uaccess'.  It can either be
4110 applied directly for a device, or is applied in
4111 /lib/udev/rules.d/70-uaccess.rules for classes of devices.  As the
4112 LEGO Mindstorms udev rules did not have a class, I decided to add the
4113 tag directly in the udev rules files included in the packages.  Here
4114 is one example.  For the nqc C compiler for the RCX, the
4115 <tt>/lib/udev/rules.d/60-nqc.rules</tt> file now look like this:
4116
4117 <p><pre>
4118 SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ACTION=="add", ATTR{idVendor}=="0694", ATTR{idProduct}=="0001", \
4119     SYMLINK+="rcx-%k", TAG+="uaccess"
4120 </pre></p>
4121
4122 <p>The key part is the 'TAG+="uaccess"' at the end.  I suspect all
4123 packages using plugdev in their /lib/udev/rules.d/ files should be
4124 changed to use this tag (either directly or indirectly via
4125 <tt>70-uaccess.rules</tt>).  Perhaps a lintian check should be created
4126 to detect this?</p>
4127
4128 <p>I've been unable to find good documentation on the uaccess feature.
4129 It is unclear to me if the uaccess tag is an internal implementation
4130 detail like the udev-acl tag used by
4131 <tt>/lib/udev/rules.d/70-udev-acl.rules</tt>.  If it is, I guess the
4132 indirect method is the preferred way.  Michael
4133 <a href="https://github.com/systemd/systemd/issues/4288">asked for more
4134 documentation from the systemd project</a> and I hope it will make
4135 this clearer.  For now I use the generic classes when they exist and
4136 is already handled by <tt>70-uaccess.rules</tt>, and add the tag
4137 directly if no such class exist.</p>
4138
4139 <p>To learn more about the isenkram system, please check out
4140 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/isenkram/">my
4141 blog posts tagged isenkram</a>.</p>
4142
4143 <p>To help out making life for LEGO constructors in Debian easier,
4144 please join us on our IRC channel
4145 <a href="irc://irc.debian.org/%23debian-lego">#debian-lego</a> and join
4146 the <a href="https://alioth.debian.org/projects/debian-lego/">Debian
4147 LEGO team</a> in the Alioth project we created yesterday.  A mailing
4148 list is not yet created, but we are working on it. :)</p>
4149
4150 <p>As usual, if you use Bitcoin and want to show your support of my
4151 activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address
4152 <b><a href="bitcoin:15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</a></b>.</p>
4153
4154       </div>
4155       <div class="tags">
4156
4157
4158         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/isenkram">isenkram</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/lego">lego</a>.
4159
4160
4161       </div>
4162     </div>
4163     <div class="padding"></div>
4164
4165     <div class="entry">
4166       <div class="title">
4167         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/First_draft_Norwegian_Bokm_l_edition_of_The_Debian_Administrator_s_Handbook_now_public.html">First draft Norwegian Bokmål edition of The Debian Administrator's Handbook now public</a>
4168       </div>
4169       <div class="date">
4170         30th August 2016
4171       </div>
4172       <div class="body">
4173         <p>In April we
4174 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Lets_make_a_Norwegian_Bokm_l_edition_of_The_Debian_Administrator_s_Handbook.html">started
4175 to work</a> on a Norwegian Bokmål edition of the "open access" book on
4176 how to set up and administrate a Debian system.  Today I am happy to
4177 report that the first draft is now publicly available.  You can find
4178 it on <a href="https://debian-handbook.info/get/">get the Debian
4179 Administrator's Handbook page</a> (under Other languages).  The first
4180 eight chapters have a first draft translation, and we are working on
4181 proofreading the content.  If you want to help out, please start
4182 contributing using
4183 <a href="https://hosted.weblate.org/projects/debian-handbook/">the
4184 hosted weblate project page</a>, and get in touch using
4185 <a href="http://lists.alioth.debian.org/mailman/listinfo/debian-handbook-translators">the
4186 translators mailing list</a>.  Please also check out
4187 <a href="https://debian-handbook.info/contribute/">the instructions for
4188 contributors</a>.  A good way to contribute is to proofread the text
4189 and update weblate if you find errors.</p>
4190
4191 <p>Our goal is still to make the Norwegian book available on paper as well as
4192 electronic form.</p>
4193
4194       </div>
4195       <div class="tags">
4196
4197
4198         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian-handbook">debian-handbook</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
4199
4200
4201       </div>
4202     </div>
4203     <div class="padding"></div>
4204
4205     <div class="entry">
4206       <div class="title">
4207         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Coz_can_help_you_find_bottlenecks_in_multi_threaded_software___nice_free_software.html">Coz can help you find bottlenecks in multi-threaded software - nice free software</a>
4208       </div>
4209       <div class="date">
4210         11th August 2016
4211       </div>
4212       <div class="body">
4213         <p>This summer, I read a great article
4214 "<a href="https://www.usenix.org/publications/login/summer2016/curtsinger">coz:
4215 This Is the Profiler You're Looking For</a>" in USENIX ;login: about
4216 how to profile multi-threaded programs.  It presented a system for
4217 profiling software by running experiences in the running program,
4218 testing how run time performance is affected by "speeding up" parts of
4219 the code to various degrees compared to a normal run.  It does this by
4220 slowing down parallel threads while the "faster up" code is running
4221 and measure how this affect processing time.  The processing time is
4222 measured using probes inserted into the code, either using progress
4223 counters (COZ_PROGRESS) or as latency meters (COZ_BEGIN/COZ_END).  It
4224 can also measure unmodified code by measuring complete the program
4225 runtime and running the program several times instead.</p>
4226
4227 <p>The project and presentation was so inspiring that I would like to
4228 get the system into Debian.  I
4229 <a href="https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=830708">created
4230 a WNPP request for it</a> and contacted upstream to try to make the
4231 system ready for Debian by sending patches.  The build process need to
4232 be changed a bit to avoid running 'git clone' to get dependencies, and
4233 to include the JavaScript web page used to visualize the collected
4234 profiling information included in the source package.
4235 But I expect that should work out fairly soon.</p>
4236
4237 <p>The way the system work is fairly simple.  To run an coz experiment
4238 on a binary with debug symbols available, start the program like this:
4239
4240 <p><blockquote><pre>
4241 coz run --- program-to-run
4242 </pre></blockquote></p>
4243
4244 <p>This will create a text file profile.coz with the instrumentation
4245 information.  To show what part of the code affect the performance
4246 most, use a web browser and either point it to
4247 <a href="http://plasma-umass.github.io/coz/">http://plasma-umass.github.io/coz/</a>
4248 or use the copy from git (in the gh-pages branch).  Check out this web
4249 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
4250 profiling more useful you include &lt;coz.h&gt; and insert the
4251 COZ_PROGRESS or COZ_BEGIN and COZ_END at appropriate places in the
4252 code, rebuild and run the profiler.  This allow coz to do more
4253 targeted experiments.</p>
4254
4255 <p>A video published by ACM
4256 <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jE0V-p1odPg">presenting the
4257 Coz profiler</a> is available from Youtube.  There is also a paper
4258 from the 25th Symposium on Operating Systems Principles available
4259 titled
4260 <a href="https://www.usenix.org/conference/atc16/technical-sessions/presentation/curtsinger">Coz:
4261 finding code that counts with causal profiling</a>.</p>
4262
4263 <p><a href="https://github.com/plasma-umass/coz">The source code</a>
4264 for Coz is available from github.  It will only build with clang
4265 because it uses a
4266 <a href="https://gcc.gnu.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=55606">C++
4267 feature missing in GCC</a>, but I've submitted
4268 <a href="https://github.com/plasma-umass/coz/pull/67">a patch to solve
4269 it</a> and hope it will be included in the upstream source soon.</p>
4270
4271 <p>Please get in touch if you, like me, would like to see this piece
4272 of software in Debian.  I would very much like some help with the
4273 packaging effort, as I lack the in depth knowledge on how to package
4274 C++ libraries.</p>
4275
4276       </div>
4277       <div class="tags">
4278
4279
4280         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nice free software">nice free software</a>.
4281
4282
4283       </div>
4284     </div>
4285     <div class="padding"></div>
4286
4287     <div class="entry">
4288       <div class="title">
4289         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Unlocking_HTC_Desire_HD_on_Linux_using_unruu_and_fastboot.html">Unlocking HTC Desire HD on Linux using unruu and fastboot</a>
4290       </div>
4291       <div class="date">
4292          7th July 2016
4293       </div>
4294       <div class="body">
4295         <p>Yesterday, I tried to unlock a HTC Desire HD phone, and it proved
4296 to be a slight challenge.  Here is the recipe if I ever need to do it
4297 again.  It all started by me wanting to try the recipe to set up
4298 <a href="https://blog.torproject.org/blog/mission-impossible-hardening-android-security-and-privacy">an
4299 hardened Android installation</a> from the Tor project blog on a
4300 device I had access to.  It is a old mobile phone with a broken
4301 microphone The initial idea had been to just
4302 <a href="http://wiki.cyanogenmod.org/w/Install_CM_for_ace">install
4303 CyanogenMod on it</a>, but did not quite find time to start on it
4304 until a few days ago.</p>
4305
4306 <p>The unlock process is supposed to be simple: (1) Boot into the boot
4307 loader (press volume down and power at the same time), (2) select
4308 'fastboot' before (3) connecting the device via USB to a Linux
4309 machine, (4) request the device identifier token by running 'fastboot
4310 oem get_identifier_token', (5) request the device unlocking key using
4311 the <a href="http://www.htcdev.com/bootloader/">HTC developer web
4312 site</a> and unlock the phone using the key file emailed to you.</p>
4313
4314 <p>Unfortunately, this only work fi you have hboot version 2.00.0029
4315 or newer, and the device I was working on had 2.00.0027.  This
4316 apparently can be easily fixed by downloading a Windows program and
4317 running it on your Windows machine, if you accept the terms Microsoft
4318 require you to accept to use Windows - which I do not.  So I had to
4319 come up with a different approach.  I got a lot of help from AndyCap
4320 on #nuug, and would not have been able to get this working without
4321 him.</p>
4322
4323 <p>First I needed to extract the hboot firmware from
4324 <a href="http://www.htcdev.com/ruu/PD9810000_Ace_Sense30_S_hboot_2.00.0029.exe">the
4325 windows binary for HTC Desire HD</a> downloaded as 'the RUU' from HTC.
4326 For this there is is <a href="https://github.com/kmdm/unruu/">a github
4327 project named unruu</a> using libunshield.  The unshield tool did not
4328 recognise the file format, but unruu worked and extracted rom.zip,
4329 containing the new hboot firmware and a text file describing which
4330 devices it would work for.</p>
4331
4332 <p>Next, I needed to get the new firmware into the device.  For this I
4333 followed some instructions
4334 <a href="http://www.htc1guru.com/2013/09/new-ruu-zips-posted/">available
4335 from HTC1Guru.com</a>, and ran these commands as root on a Linux
4336 machine with Debian testing:</p>
4337
4338 <p><pre>
4339 adb reboot-bootloader
4340 fastboot oem rebootRUU
4341 fastboot flash zip rom.zip
4342 fastboot flash zip rom.zip
4343 fastboot reboot
4344 </pre></p>
4345
4346 <p>The flash command apparently need to be done twice to take effect,
4347 as the first is just preparations and the second one do the flashing.
4348 The adb command is just to get to the boot loader menu, so turning the
4349 device on while holding volume down and the power button should work
4350 too.</p>
4351
4352 <p>With the new hboot version in place I could start following the
4353 instructions on the HTC developer web site.  I got the device token
4354 like this:</p>
4355
4356 <p><pre>
4357 fastboot oem get_identifier_token 2>&1 | sed 's/(bootloader) //'
4358 </pre>
4359
4360 <p>And once I got the unlock code via email, I could use it like
4361 this:</p>
4362
4363 <p><pre>
4364 fastboot flash unlocktoken Unlock_code.bin
4365 </pre></p>
4366
4367 <p>And with that final step in place, the phone was unlocked and I
4368 could start stuffing the software of my own choosing into the device.
4369 So far I only inserted a replacement recovery image to wipe the phone
4370 before I start.  We will see what happen next.  Perhaps I should
4371 install <a href="https://www.debian.org/">Debian</a> on it. :)</p>
4372
4373       </div>
4374       <div class="tags">
4375
4376
4377         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/bootsystem">bootsystem</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/opphavsrett">opphavsrett</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/sikkerhet">sikkerhet</a>.
4378
4379
4380       </div>
4381     </div>
4382     <div class="padding"></div>
4383
4384     <div class="entry">
4385       <div class="title">
4386         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/How_to_use_the_Signal_app_if_you_only_have_a_land_line__ie_no_mobile_phone_.html">How to use the Signal app if you only have a land line (ie no mobile phone)</a>
4387       </div>
4388       <div class="date">
4389          3rd July 2016
4390       </div>
4391       <div class="body">
4392         <p>For a while now, I have wanted to test
4393 <a href="https://whispersystems.org/">the Signal app</a>, as it is
4394 said to provide end to end encrypted communication and several of my
4395 friends and family are already using it.  As I by choice do not own a
4396 mobile phone, this proved to be harder than expected.  And I wanted to
4397 have the source of the client and know that it was the code used on my
4398 machine.  But yesterday I managed to get it working.  I used the
4399 Github source, compared it to the source in
4400 <a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/signal-private-messenger/bikioccmkafdpakkkcpdbppfkghcmihk?hl=en-US">the
4401 Signal Chrome app</a> available from the Chrome web store, applied
4402 patches to use the production Signal servers, started the app and
4403 asked for the hidden "register without a smart phone" form.  Here is
4404 the recipe how I did it.</p>
4405
4406 <p>First, I fetched the Signal desktop source from Github, using
4407
4408 <pre>
4409 git clone https://github.com/WhisperSystems/Signal-Desktop.git
4410 </pre>
4411
4412 <p>Next, I patched the source to use the production servers, to be
4413 able to talk to other Signal users:</p>
4414
4415 <pre>
4416 cat &lt;&lt;EOF | patch -p0
4417 diff -ur ./js/background.js userdata/Default/Extensions/bikioccmkafdpakkkcpdbppfkghcmihk/0.15.0_0/js/background.js
4418 --- ./js/background.js  2016-06-29 13:43:15.630344628 +0200
4419 +++ userdata/Default/Extensions/bikioccmkafdpakkkcpdbppfkghcmihk/0.15.0_0/js/background.js    2016-06-29 14:06:29.530300934 +0200
4420 @@ -47,8 +47,8 @@
4421          });
4422      });
4423
4424 -    var SERVER_URL = 'https://textsecure-service-staging.whispersystems.org';
4425 -    var ATTACHMENT_SERVER_URL = 'https://whispersystems-textsecure-attachments-staging.s3.amazonaws.com';
4426 +    var SERVER_URL = 'https://textsecure-service-ca.whispersystems.org:4433';
4427 +    var ATTACHMENT_SERVER_URL = 'https://whispersystems-textsecure-attachments.s3.amazonaws.com';
4428      var messageReceiver;
4429      window.getSocketStatus = function() {
4430          if (messageReceiver) {
4431 diff -ur ./js/expire.js userdata/Default/Extensions/bikioccmkafdpakkkcpdbppfkghcmihk/0.15.0_0/js/expire.js
4432 --- ./js/expire.js      2016-06-29 13:43:15.630344628 +0200
4433 +++ userdata/Default/Extensions/bikioccmkafdpakkkcpdbppfkghcmihk/0.15.0_0/js/expire.js2016-06-29 14:06:29.530300934 +0200
4434 @@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
4435  ;(function() {
4436      'use strict';
4437 -    var BUILD_EXPIRATION = 0;
4438 +    var BUILD_EXPIRATION = 1474492690000;
4439
4440      window.extension = window.extension || {};
4441
4442 EOF
4443 </pre>
4444
4445 <p>The first part is changing the servers, and the second is updating
4446 an expiration timestamp.  This timestamp need to be updated regularly.
4447 It is set 90 days in the future by the build process (Gruntfile.js).
4448 The value is seconds since 1970 times 1000, as far as I can tell.</p>
4449
4450 <p>Based on a tip and good help from the #nuug IRC channel, I wrote a
4451 script to launch Signal in Chromium.</p>
4452
4453 <pre>
4454 #!/bin/sh
4455 cd $(dirname $0)
4456 mkdir -p userdata
4457 exec chromium \
4458   --proxy-server="socks://localhost:9050" \
4459   --user-data-dir=`pwd`/userdata --load-and-launch-app=`pwd`
4460 </pre>
4461
4462 <p> The script start the app and configure Chromium to use the Tor
4463 SOCKS5 proxy to make sure those controlling the Signal servers (today
4464 Amazon and Whisper Systems) as well as those listening on the lines
4465 will have a harder time location my laptop based on the Signal
4466 connections if they use source IP address.</p>
4467
4468 <p>When the script starts, one need to follow the instructions under
4469 "Standalone Registration" in the CONTRIBUTING.md file in the git
4470 repository.  I right clicked on the Signal window to get up the
4471 Chromium debugging tool, visited the 'Console' tab and wrote
4472 'extension.install("standalone")' on the console prompt to get the
4473 registration form.  Then I entered by land line phone number and
4474 pressed 'Call'.  5 seconds later the phone rang and a robot voice
4475 repeated the verification code three times.  After entering the number
4476 into the verification code field in the form, I could start using
4477 Signal from my laptop.
4478
4479 <p>As far as I can tell, The Signal app will leak who is talking to
4480 whom and thus who know who to those controlling the central server,
4481 but such leakage is hard to avoid with a centrally controlled server
4482 setup.  It is something to keep in mind when using Signal - the
4483 content of your chats are harder to intercept, but the meta data
4484 exposing your contact network is available to people you do not know.
4485 So better than many options, but not great.  And sadly the usage is
4486 connected to my land line, thus allowing those controlling the server
4487 to associate it to my home and person.  I would prefer it if only
4488 those I knew could tell who I was on Signal.  There are options
4489 avoiding such information leakage, but most of my friends are not
4490 using them, so I am stuck with Signal for now.</p>
4491
4492 <p><strong>Update 2017-01-10</strong>: There is an updated blog post
4493 on this topic in
4494 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Experience_and_updated_recipe_for_using_the_Signal_app_without_a_mobile_phone.html">Experience
4495 and updated recipe for using the Signal app without a mobile
4496 phone</a>.</p>
4497
4498       </div>
4499       <div class="tags">
4500
4501
4502         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/sikkerhet">sikkerhet</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/surveillance">surveillance</a>.
4503
4504
4505       </div>
4506     </div>
4507     <div class="padding"></div>
4508
4509     <div class="entry">
4510       <div class="title">
4511         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/The_new__best__multimedia_player_in_Debian_.html">The new "best" multimedia player in Debian?</a>
4512       </div>
4513       <div class="date">
4514          6th June 2016
4515       </div>
4516       <div class="body">
4517         <p>When I set out a few weeks ago to figure out
4518 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/What_is_the_best_multimedia_player_in_Debian_.html">which
4519 multimedia player in Debian claimed to support most file formats /
4520 MIME types</a>, I was a bit surprised how varied the sets of MIME types
4521 the various players claimed support for.  The range was from 55 to 130
4522 MIME types.  I suspect most media formats are supported by all
4523 players, but this is not really reflected in the MimeTypes values in
4524 their desktop files.  There are probably also some bogus MIME types
4525 listed, but it is hard to identify which one this is.</p>
4526
4527 <p>Anyway, in the mean time I got in touch with upstream for some of
4528 the players suggesting to add more MIME types to their desktop files,
4529 and decided to spend some time myself improving the situation for my
4530 favorite media player VLC.  The fixes for VLC entered Debian unstable
4531 yesterday. The complete list of MIME types can be seen on the
4532 <a href="https://wiki.debian.org/DebianMultimedia/PlayerSupport">Multimedia
4533 player MIME type support status</a> Debian wiki page.</p>
4534
4535 <p>The new "best" multimedia player in Debian?  It is VLC, followed by
4536 totem, parole, kplayer, gnome-mpv, mpv, smplayer, mplayer-gui and
4537 kmplayer.  I am sure some of the other players desktop files support
4538 several of the formats currently listed as working only with vlc,
4539 toten and parole.</p>
4540
4541 <p>A sad observation is that only 14 MIME types are listed as
4542 supported by all the tested multimedia players in Debian in their
4543 desktop files: audio/mpeg, audio/vnd.rn-realaudio, audio/x-mpegurl,
4544 audio/x-ms-wma, audio/x-scpls, audio/x-wav, video/mp4, video/mpeg,
4545 video/quicktime, video/vnd.rn-realvideo, video/x-matroska,
4546 video/x-ms-asf, video/x-ms-wmv and video/x-msvideo.  Personally I find
4547 it sad that video/ogg and video/webm is not supported by all the media
4548 players in Debian.  As far as I can tell, all of them can handle both
4549 formats.</p>
4550
4551       </div>
4552       <div class="tags">
4553
4554
4555         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/multimedia">multimedia</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/video">video</a>.
4556
4557
4558       </div>
4559     </div>
4560     <div class="padding"></div>
4561
4562     <div class="entry">
4563       <div class="title">
4564         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/A_program_should_be_able_to_open_its_own_files_on_Linux.html">A program should be able to open its own files on Linux</a>
4565       </div>
4566       <div class="date">
4567          5th June 2016
4568       </div>
4569       <div class="body">
4570         <p>Many years ago, when koffice was fresh and with few users, I
4571 decided to test its presentation tool when making the slides for a
4572 talk I was giving for NUUG on Japhar, a free Java virtual machine.  I
4573 wrote the first draft of the slides, saved the result and went to bed
4574 the day before I would give the talk.  The next day I took a plane to
4575 the location where the meeting should take place, and on the plane I
4576 started up koffice again to polish the talk a bit, only to discover
4577 that kpresenter refused to load its own data file.  I cursed a bit and
4578 started making the slides again from memory, to have something to
4579 present when I arrived.  I tested that the saved files could be
4580 loaded, and the day seemed to be rescued.  I continued to polish the
4581 slides until I suddenly discovered that the saved file could no longer
4582 be loaded into kpresenter.  In the end I had to rewrite the slides
4583 three times, condensing the content until the talk became shorter and
4584 shorter.  After the talk I was able to pinpoint the problem &ndash;
4585 kpresenter wrote inline images in a way itself could not understand.
4586 Eventually that bug was fixed and kpresenter ended up being a great
4587 program to make slides.  The point I'm trying to make is that we
4588 expect a program to be able to load its own data files, and it is
4589 embarrassing to its developers if it can't.</p>
4590
4591 <p>Did you ever experience a program failing to load its own data
4592 files from the desktop file browser?  It is not a uncommon problem.  A
4593 while back I discovered that the screencast recorder
4594 gtk-recordmydesktop would save an Ogg Theora video file the KDE file
4595 browser would refuse to open.  No video player claimed to understand
4596 such file.  I tracked down the cause being <tt>file --mime-type</tt>
4597 returning the application/ogg MIME type, which no video player I had
4598 installed listed as a MIME type they would understand.  I asked for
4599 <a href="http://bugs.gw.com/view.php?id=382">file to change its
4600 behavour</a> and use the MIME type video/ogg instead.  I also asked
4601 several video players to add video/ogg to their desktop files, to give
4602 the file browser an idea what to do about Ogg Theora files.  After a
4603 while, the desktop file browsers in Debian started to handle the
4604 output from gtk-recordmydesktop properly.</p>
4605
4606 <p>But history repeats itself.  A few days ago I tested the music
4607 system Rosegarden again, and I discovered that the KDE and xfce file
4608 browsers did not know what to do with the Rosegarden project files
4609 (*.rg).  I've reported <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/825993">the
4610 rosegarden problem to BTS</a> and a fix is commited to git and will be
4611 included in the next upload.  To increase the chance of me remembering
4612 how to fix the problem next time some program fail to load its files
4613 from the file browser, here are some notes on how to fix it.</p>
4614
4615 <p>The file browsers in Debian in general operates on MIME types.
4616 There are two sources for the MIME type of a given file.  The output from
4617 <tt>file --mime-type</tt> mentioned above, and the content of the
4618 shared MIME type registry (under /usr/share/mime/).  The file MIME
4619 type is mapped to programs supporting the MIME type, and this
4620 information is collected from
4621 <a href="https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Specifications/desktop-entry-spec/">the
4622 desktop files</a> available in /usr/share/applications/.  If there is
4623 one desktop file claiming support for the MIME type of the file, it is
4624 activated when asking to open a given file.  If there are more, one
4625 can normally select which one to use by right-clicking on the file and
4626 selecting the wanted one using 'Open with' or similar.  In general
4627 this work well.  But it depend on each program picking a good MIME
4628 type (preferably
4629 <a href="http://www.iana.org/assignments/media-types/media-types.xhtml">a
4630 MIME type registered with IANA</a>), file and/or the shared MIME
4631 registry recognizing the file and the desktop file to list the MIME
4632 type in its list of supported MIME types.</p>
4633
4634 <p>The <tt>/usr/share/mime/packages/rosegarden.xml</tt> entry for
4635 <a href="http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Specifications/shared-mime-info-spec">the
4636 Shared MIME database</a> look like this:</p>
4637
4638 <p><blockquote><pre>
4639 &lt;?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?&gt;
4640 &lt;mime-info xmlns="http://www.freedesktop.org/standards/shared-mime-info"&gt;
4641   &lt;mime-type type="audio/x-rosegarden"&gt;
4642     &lt;sub-class-of type="application/x-gzip"/&gt;
4643     &lt;comment&gt;Rosegarden project file&lt;/comment&gt;
4644     &lt;glob pattern="*.rg"/&gt;
4645   &lt;/mime-type&gt;
4646 &lt;/mime-info&gt;
4647 </pre></blockquote></p>
4648
4649 <p>This states that audio/x-rosegarden is a kind of application/x-gzip
4650 (it is a gzipped XML file).  Note, it is much better to use an
4651 official MIME type registered with IANA than it is to make up ones own
4652 unofficial ones like the x-rosegarden type used by rosegarden.</p>
4653
4654 <p>The desktop file of the rosegarden program failed to list
4655 audio/x-rosegarden in its list of supported MIME types, causing the
4656 file browsers to have no idea what to do with *.rg files:</p>
4657
4658 <p><blockquote><pre>
4659 % grep Mime /usr/share/applications/rosegarden.desktop
4660 MimeType=audio/x-rosegarden-composition;audio/x-rosegarden-device;audio/x-rosegarden-project;audio/x-rosegarden-template;audio/midi;
4661 X-KDE-NativeMimeType=audio/x-rosegarden-composition
4662 %
4663 </pre></blockquote></p>
4664
4665 <p>The fix was to add "audio/x-rosegarden;" at the end of the
4666 MimeType= line.</p>
4667
4668 <p>If you run into a file which fail to open the correct program when
4669 selected from the file browser, please check out the output from
4670 <tt>file --mime-type</tt> for the file, ensure the file ending and
4671 MIME type is registered somewhere under /usr/share/mime/ and check
4672 that some desktop file under /usr/share/applications/ is claiming
4673 support for this MIME type.  If not, please report a bug to have it
4674 fixed. :)</p>
4675
4676       </div>
4677       <div class="tags">
4678
4679
4680         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
4681
4682
4683       </div>
4684     </div>
4685     <div class="padding"></div>
4686
4687     <div class="entry">
4688       <div class="title">
4689         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Isenkram_with_PackageKit_support___new_version_0_23_available_in_Debian_unstable.html">Isenkram with PackageKit support - new version 0.23 available in Debian unstable</a>
4690       </div>
4691       <div class="date">
4692         25th May 2016
4693       </div>
4694       <div class="body">
4695         <p><a href="https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/isenkram">The isenkram
4696 system</a> is a user-focused solution in Debian for handling hardware
4697 related packages.  The idea is to have a database of mappings between
4698 hardware and packages, and pop up a dialog suggesting for the user to
4699 install the packages to use a given hardware dongle.  Some use cases
4700 are when you insert a Yubikey, it proposes to install the software
4701 needed to control it; when you insert a braille reader list it
4702 proposes to install the packages needed to send text to the reader;
4703 and when you insert a ColorHug screen calibrator it suggests to
4704 install the driver for it.  The system work well, and even have a few
4705 command line tools to install firmware packages and packages for the
4706 hardware already in the machine (as opposed to hotpluggable hardware).</p>
4707
4708 <p>The system was initially written using aptdaemon, because I found
4709 good documentation and example code on how to use it.  But aptdaemon
4710 is going away and is generally being replaced by
4711 <a href="http://www.freedesktop.org/software/PackageKit/">PackageKit</a>,
4712 so Isenkram needed a rewrite.  And today, thanks to the great patch
4713 from my college Sunil Mohan Adapa in the FreedomBox project, the
4714 rewrite finally took place.  I've just uploaded a new version of
4715 Isenkram into Debian Unstable with the patch included, and the default
4716 for the background daemon is now to use PackageKit.  To check it out,
4717 install the <tt>isenkram</tt> package and insert some hardware dongle
4718 and see if it is recognised.</p>
4719
4720 <p>If you want to know what kind of packages isenkram would propose for
4721 the machine it is running on, you can check out the isenkram-lookup
4722 program.  This is what it look like on a Thinkpad X230:</p>
4723
4724 <p><blockquote><pre>
4725 % isenkram-lookup
4726 bluez
4727 cheese
4728 fprintd
4729 fprintd-demo
4730 gkrellm-thinkbat
4731 hdapsd
4732 libpam-fprintd
4733 pidgin-blinklight
4734 thinkfan
4735 tleds
4736 tp-smapi-dkms
4737 tp-smapi-source
4738 tpb
4739 %p
4740 </pre></blockquote></p>
4741
4742 <p>The hardware mappings come from several places.  The preferred way
4743 is for packages to announce their hardware support using
4744 <a href="https://www.freedesktop.org/software/appstream/docs/">the
4745 cross distribution appstream system</a>.
4746 See
4747 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/isenkram/">previous
4748 blog posts about isenkram</a> to learn how to do that.</p>
4749
4750       </div>
4751       <div class="tags">
4752
4753
4754         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/isenkram">isenkram</a>.
4755
4756
4757       </div>
4758     </div>
4759     <div class="padding"></div>
4760
4761     <div class="entry">
4762       <div class="title">
4763         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Discharge_rate_estimate_in_new_battery_statistics_collector_for_Debian.html">Discharge rate estimate in new battery statistics collector for Debian</a>
4764       </div>
4765       <div class="date">
4766         23rd May 2016
4767       </div>
4768       <div class="body">
4769         <p>Yesterday I updated the
4770 <a href="https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/battery-stats">battery-stats
4771 package in Debian</a> with a few patches sent to me by skilled and
4772 enterprising users.  There were some nice user and visible changes.
4773 First of all, both desktop menu entries now work.  A design flaw in
4774 one of the script made the history graph fail to show up (its PNG was
4775 dumped in ~/.xsession-errors) if no controlling TTY was available.
4776 The script worked when called from the command line, but not when
4777 called from the desktop menu.  I changed this to look for a DISPLAY
4778 variable or a TTY before deciding where to draw the graph, and now the
4779 graph window pop up as expected.</p>
4780
4781 <p>The next new feature is a discharge rate estimator in one of the
4782 graphs (the one showing the last few hours).  New is also the user of
4783 colours showing charging in blue and discharge in red.  The percentages
4784 of this graph is relative to last full charge, not battery design
4785 capacity.</p>
4786
4787 <p align="center"><img src="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2016-05-23-battery-stats-rate.png"/></p>
4788
4789 <p>The other graph show the entire history of the collected battery
4790 statistics, comparing it to the design capacity of the battery to
4791 visualise how the battery life time get shorter over time.  The red
4792 line in this graph is what the previous graph considers 100 percent:
4793
4794 <p align="center"><img src="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2016-05-23-battery-stats-history.png"/></p>
4795
4796 <p>In this graph you can see that I only charge the battery to 80
4797 percent of last full capacity, and how the capacity of the battery is
4798 shrinking. :(</p>
4799
4800 <p>The last new feature is in the collector, which now will handle
4801 more hardware models.  On some hardware, Linux power supply
4802 information is stored in /sys/class/power_supply/ACAD/, while the
4803 collector previously only looked in /sys/class/power_supply/AC/.  Now
4804 both are checked to figure if there is power connected to the
4805 machine.</p>
4806
4807 <p>If you are interested in how your laptop battery is doing, please
4808 check out the
4809 <a href="https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/battery-stats">battery-stats</a>
4810 in Debian unstable, or rebuild it on Jessie to get it working on
4811 Debian stable. :) The upstream source is available from <a
4812 href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/battery-stats">github</a>.
4813 Patches are very welcome.</p>
4814
4815 <p>As usual, if you use Bitcoin and want to show your support of my
4816 activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address
4817 <b><a href="bitcoin:15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</a></b>.</p>
4818
4819       </div>
4820       <div class="tags">
4821
4822
4823         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
4824
4825
4826       </div>
4827     </div>
4828     <div class="padding"></div>
4829
4830     <div class="entry">
4831       <div class="title">
4832         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_now_with_ZFS_on_Linux_included.html">Debian now with ZFS on Linux included</a>
4833       </div>
4834       <div class="date">
4835         12th May 2016
4836       </div>
4837       <div class="body">
4838         <p>Today, after many years of hard work from many people,
4839 <a href="http://zfsonlinux.org/">ZFS for Linux</a> finally entered
4840 Debian.  The package status can be seen on
4841 <a href="https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/zfs-linux">the package tracker
4842 for zfs-linux</a>.  and
4843 <a href="https://qa.debian.org/developer.php?login=pkg-zfsonlinux-devel@lists.alioth.debian.org">the
4844 team status page</a>. If you want to help out, please join us.
4845 <a href="http://anonscm.debian.org/gitweb/?p=pkg-zfsonlinux/zfs.git">The
4846 source code</a> is available via git on Alioth.  It would also be
4847 great if you could help out with
4848 <a href="https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/dkms">the dkms package</a>, as
4849 it is an important piece of the puzzle to get ZFS working.</p>
4850
4851       </div>
4852       <div class="tags">
4853
4854
4855         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
4856
4857
4858       </div>
4859     </div>
4860     <div class="padding"></div>
4861
4862     <div class="entry">
4863       <div class="title">
4864         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/What_is_the_best_multimedia_player_in_Debian_.html">What is the best multimedia player in Debian?</a>
4865       </div>
4866       <div class="date">
4867          8th May 2016
4868       </div>
4869       <div class="body">
4870         <p><strong>Where I set out to figure out which multimedia player in
4871 Debian claim support for most file formats.</strong></p>
4872
4873 <p>A few years ago, I had a look at the media support for Browser
4874 plugins in Debian, to get an idea which plugins to include in Debian
4875 Edu.  I created a script to extract the set of supported MIME types
4876 for each plugin, and used this to find out which multimedia browser
4877 plugin supported most file formats / media types.
4878 <a href="https://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/BrowserMultimedia">The
4879 result</a> can still be seen on the Debian wiki, even though it have
4880 not been updated for a while.  But browser plugins are less relevant
4881 these days, so I thought it was time to look at standalone
4882 players.</p>
4883
4884 <p>A few days ago I was tired of VLC not being listed as a viable
4885 player when I wanted to play videos from the Norwegian National
4886 Broadcasting Company, and decided to investigate why.  The cause is a
4887 <a href="https://bugs.debian.org/822245">missing MIME type in the VLC
4888 desktop file</a>.  In the process I wrote a script to compare the set
4889 of MIME types announced in the desktop file and the browser plugin,
4890 only to discover that there is quite a large difference between the
4891 two for VLC.  This discovery made me dig up the script I used to
4892 compare browser plugins, and adjust it to compare desktop files
4893 instead, to try to figure out which multimedia player in Debian
4894 support most file formats.</p>
4895
4896 <p>The result can be seen on the Debian Wiki, as
4897 <a href="https://wiki.debian.org/DebianMultimedia/PlayerSupport">a
4898 table listing all MIME types supported by one of the packages included
4899 in the table</a>, with the package supporting most MIME types being
4900 listed first in the table.</p>
4901
4902 </p>The best multimedia player in Debian?  It is totem, followed by
4903 parole, kplayer, mpv, vlc, smplayer mplayer-gui gnome-mpv and
4904 kmplayer.  Time for the other players to update their announced MIME
4905 support?</p>
4906
4907       </div>
4908       <div class="tags">
4909
4910
4911         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/multimedia">multimedia</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/video">video</a>.
4912
4913
4914       </div>
4915     </div>
4916     <div class="padding"></div>
4917
4918     <div class="entry">
4919       <div class="title">
4920         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/The_Pyra___handheld_computer_with_Debian_preinstalled.html">The Pyra - handheld computer with Debian preinstalled</a>
4921       </div>
4922       <div class="date">
4923          4th May 2016
4924       </div>
4925       <div class="body">
4926         A friend of mine made me aware of
4927 <a href="https://pyra-handheld.com/boards/pages/pyra/">The Pyra</a>, a
4928 handheld computer which will be delivered with Debian preinstalled.  I
4929 would love to get one of those for my birthday. :)</p>
4930
4931 <p>The machine is a complete ARM-based PC with micro HDMI, SATA, USB
4932 plugs and many others connectors, and include a full keyboard and a 5"
4933 LCD touch screen.  The 6000mAh battery is claimed to provide a whole
4934 day of battery life time, but I have not seen any independent tests
4935 confirming this.  The vendor is still collecting preorders, and the
4936 last I heard last night was that 22 more orders were needed before
4937 production started.</p>
4938
4939 <p>As far as I know, this is the first handheld preinstalled with
4940 Debian.  Please let me know if you know of any others.  Is it the
4941 first computer being sold with Debian preinstalled?</p>
4942
4943       </div>
4944       <div class="tags">
4945
4946
4947         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
4948
4949
4950       </div>
4951     </div>
4952     <div class="padding"></div>
4953
4954     <div class="entry">
4955       <div class="title">
4956         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Lets_make_a_Norwegian_Bokm_l_edition_of_The_Debian_Administrator_s_Handbook.html">Lets make a Norwegian Bokmål edition of The Debian Administrator's Handbook</a>
4957       </div>
4958       <div class="date">
4959         10th April 2016
4960       </div>
4961       <div class="body">
4962         <p>During this weekends
4963 <a href="http://www.nuug.no/news/Oslo__Takk_for_feilfiksingsfesten.shtml">bug
4964 squashing party and developer gathering</a>, we decided to do our part
4965 to make sure there are good books about Debian available in Norwegian
4966 Bokmål, and got in touch with the people behind the
4967 <a href="http://debian-handbook.info/">Debian Administrator's Handbook
4968 project</a> to get started.  If you want to help out, please start
4969 contributing using
4970 <a href="https://hosted.weblate.org/projects/debian-handbook/">the
4971 hosted weblate project page</a>, and get in touch using
4972 <a href="http://lists.alioth.debian.org/mailman/listinfo/debian-handbook-translators">the
4973 translators mailing list</a>.  Please also check out
4974 <a href="https://debian-handbook.info/contribute/">the instructions for
4975 contributors</a>.</p>
4976
4977 <p>The book is already available on paper in English, French and
4978 Japanese, and our goal is to get it available on paper in Norwegian
4979 Bokmål too.  In addition to the paper edition, there are also EPUB and
4980 Mobi versions available.  And there are incomplete translations
4981 available for many more languages.</p>
4982
4983       </div>
4984       <div class="tags">
4985
4986
4987         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian-handbook">debian-handbook</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
4988
4989
4990       </div>
4991     </div>
4992     <div class="padding"></div>
4993
4994     <div class="entry">
4995       <div class="title">
4996         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/One_in_two_hundred_Debian_users_using_ZFS_on_Linux_.html">One in two hundred Debian users using ZFS on Linux?</a>
4997       </div>
4998       <div class="date">
4999          7th April 2016
5000       </div>
5001       <div class="body">
5002         <p>Just for fun I had a look at the popcon number of ZFS related
5003 packages in Debian, and was quite surprised with what I found.  I use
5004 ZFS myself at home, but did not really expect many others to do so.
5005 But I might be wrong.</p>
5006
5007 <p>According to
5008 <a href="https://qa.debian.org/popcon.php?package=spl-linux">the popcon
5009 results for spl-linux</a>, there are 1019 Debian installations, or
5010 0.53% of the population, with the package installed.  As far as I know
5011 the only use of the spl-linux package is as a support library for ZFS
5012 on Linux, so I use it here as proxy for measuring the number of ZFS
5013 installation on Linux in Debian.  In the kFreeBSD variant of Debian
5014 the ZFS feature is already available, and there
5015 <a href="https://qa.debian.org/popcon.php?package=zfsutils">the popcon
5016 results for zfsutils</a> show 1625 Debian installations or 0.84% of
5017 the population.  So I guess I am not alone in using ZFS on Debian.</p>
5018
5019 <p>But even though the Debian project leader Lucas Nussbaum
5020 <a href="https://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2015/04/msg00006.html">announced
5021 in April 2015</a> that the legal obstacles blocking ZFS on Debian were
5022 cleared, the package is still not in Debian.  The package is again in
5023 the NEW queue.  Several uploads have been rejected so far because the
5024 debian/copyright file was incomplete or wrong, but there is no reason
5025 to give up.  The current status can be seen on
5026 <a href="https://qa.debian.org/developer.php?login=pkg-zfsonlinux-devel@lists.alioth.debian.org">the
5027 team status page</a>, and
5028 <a href="http://anonscm.debian.org/gitweb/?p=pkg-zfsonlinux/zfs.git">the
5029 source code</a> is available on Alioth.</p>
5030
5031 <p>As I want ZFS to be included in next version of Debian to make sure
5032 my home server can function in the future using only official Debian
5033 packages, and the current blocker is to get the debian/copyright file
5034 accepted by the FTP masters in Debian, I decided a while back to try
5035 to help out the team.  This was the background for my blog post about
5036 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Creating__updating_and_checking_debian_copyright_semi_automatically.html">creating,
5037 updating and checking debian/copyright semi-automatically</a>, and I
5038 used the techniques I explored there to try to find any errors in the
5039 copyright file.  It is not very easy to check every one of the around
5040 2000 files in the source package, but I hope we this time got it
5041 right.  If you want to help out, check out the git source and try to
5042 find missing entries in the debian/copyright file.</p>
5043
5044       </div>
5045       <div class="tags">
5046
5047
5048         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
5049
5050
5051       </div>
5052     </div>
5053     <div class="padding"></div>
5054
5055     <div class="entry">
5056       <div class="title">
5057         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Full_battery_stats_collector_is_now_available_in_Debian.html">Full battery stats collector is now available in Debian</a>
5058       </div>
5059       <div class="date">
5060         23rd March 2016
5061       </div>
5062       <div class="body">
5063         <p>Since this morning, the battery-stats package in Debian include an
5064 extended collector that will collect the complete battery history for
5065 later processing and graphing.  The original collector store the
5066 battery level as percentage of last full level, while the new
5067 collector also record battery vendor, model, serial number, design
5068 full level, last full level and current battery level.  This make it
5069 possible to predict the lifetime of the battery as well as visualise
5070 the energy flow when the battery is charging or discharging.</p>
5071
5072 <p>The new tools are available in <tt>/usr/share/battery-stats/</tt>
5073 in the version 0.5.1 package in unstable.  Get the new battery level graph
5074 and lifetime prediction by running:
5075
5076 <p><pre>
5077 /usr/share/battery-stats/battery-stats-graph /var/log/battery-stats.csv
5078 </pre></p>
5079
5080 <p>Or select the 'Battery Level Graph' from your application menu.</p>
5081
5082 <p>The flow in/out of the battery can be seen by running (no menu
5083 entry yet):</p>
5084
5085 <p><pre>
5086 /usr/share/battery-stats/battery-stats-graph-flow
5087 </pre></p>
5088
5089 <p>I'm not quite happy with the way the data is visualised, at least
5090 when there are few data points.  The graphs look a bit better with a
5091 few years of data.</p>
5092
5093 <p>A while back one important feature I use in the battery stats
5094 collector broke in Debian.  The scripts in
5095 <tt>/usr/lib/pm-utils/power.d/</tt> were no longer executed.  I
5096 suspect it happened when Jessie started using systemd, but I do not
5097 know.  The issue is reported as
5098 <a href="https://bugs.debian.org/818649">bug #818649</a> against
5099 pm-utils.  I managed to work around it by adding an udev rule to call
5100 the collector script every time the power connector is connected and
5101 disconnected.  With this fix in place it was finally time to make a
5102 new release of the package, and get it into Debian.</p>
5103
5104 <p>If you are interested in how your laptop battery is doing, please
5105 check out the
5106 <a href="https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/battery-stats">battery-stats</a>
5107 in Debian unstable, or rebuild it on Jessie to get it working on
5108 Debian stable. :) The upstream source is available from
5109 <a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/battery-stats">github</a>.
5110 As always, patches are very welcome.</p>
5111
5112       </div>
5113       <div class="tags">
5114
5115
5116         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
5117
5118
5119       </div>
5120     </div>
5121     <div class="padding"></div>
5122
5123     <div class="entry">
5124       <div class="title">
5125         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Making_battery_measurements_a_little_easier_in_Debian.html">Making battery measurements a little easier in Debian</a>
5126       </div>
5127       <div class="date">
5128         15th March 2016
5129       </div>
5130       <div class="body">
5131         <p>Back in September, I blogged about
5132 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/The_life_and_death_of_a_laptop_battery.html">the
5133 system I wrote to collect statistics about my laptop battery</a>, and
5134 how it showed the decay and death of this battery (now replaced).  I
5135 created a simple deb package to handle the collection and graphing,
5136 but did not want to upload it to Debian as there were already
5137 <a href="https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/battery-stats">a battery-stats
5138 package in Debian</a> that should do the same thing, and I did not see
5139 a point of uploading a competing package when battery-stats could be
5140 fixed instead.  I reported a few bugs about its non-function, and
5141 hoped someone would step in and fix it.  But no-one did.</p>
5142
5143 <p>I got tired of waiting a few days ago, and took matters in my own
5144 hands.  The end result is that I am now the new upstream developer of
5145 battery stats (<a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/battery-stats">available from github</a>) and part of the team maintaining
5146 battery-stats in Debian, and the package in Debian unstable is finally
5147 able to collect battery status using the <tt>/sys/class/power_supply/</tt>
5148 information provided by the Linux kernel.  If you install the
5149 battery-stats package from unstable now, you will be able to get a
5150 graph of the current battery fill level, to get some idea about the
5151 status of the battery.  The source package build and work just fine in
5152 Debian testing and stable (and probably oldstable too, but I have not
5153 tested).  The default graph you get for that system look like this:</p>
5154
5155 <p align="center"><img src="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2016-03-15-battery-stats-graph-example.png" width="70%" align="center"></p>
5156
5157 <p>My plans for the future is to merge my old scripts into the
5158 battery-stats package, as my old scripts collected a lot more details
5159 about the battery.  The scripts are merged into the upstream
5160 battery-stats git repository already, but I am not convinced they work
5161 yet, as I changed a lot of paths along the way.  Will have to test a
5162 bit more before I make a new release.</p>
5163
5164 <p>I will also consider changing the file format slightly, as I
5165 suspect the way I combine several values into one field might make it
5166 impossible to know the type of the value when using it for processing
5167 and graphing.</p>
5168
5169 <p>If you would like I would like to keep an close eye on your laptop
5170 battery, check out the battery-stats package in
5171 <a href="https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/battery-stats">Debian</a> and
5172 on
5173 <a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/battery-stats">github</a>.
5174 I would love some help to improve the system further.</p>
5175
5176       </div>
5177       <div class="tags">
5178
5179
5180         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
5181
5182
5183       </div>
5184     </div>
5185     <div class="padding"></div>
5186
5187     <div class="entry">
5188       <div class="title">
5189         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Creating__updating_and_checking_debian_copyright_semi_automatically.html">Creating, updating and checking debian/copyright semi-automatically</a>
5190       </div>
5191       <div class="date">
5192         19th February 2016
5193       </div>
5194       <div class="body">
5195         <p>Making packages for Debian requires quite a lot of attention to
5196 details.  And one of the details is the content of the
5197 debian/copyright file, which should list all relevant licenses used by
5198 the code in the package in question, preferably in
5199 <a href="https://www.debian.org/doc/packaging-manuals/copyright-format/1.0/">machine
5200 readable DEP5 format</a>.</p>
5201
5202 <p>For large packages with lots of contributors it is hard to write
5203 and update this file manually, and if you get some detail wrong, the
5204 package is normally rejected by the ftpmasters.  So getting it right
5205 the first time around get the package into Debian faster, and save
5206 both you and the ftpmasters some work..  Today, while trying to figure
5207 out what was wrong with
5208 <a href="https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=686447">the
5209 zfsonlinux copyright file</a>, I decided to spend some time on
5210 figuring out the options for doing this job automatically, or at least
5211 semi-automatically.</p>
5212
5213 <p>Lucikly, there are at least two tools available for generating the
5214 file based on the code in the source package,
5215 <tt><a href="https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/debmake">debmake</a></tt>
5216 and <tt><a href="https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/cme">cme</a></tt>.  I'm
5217 not sure which one of them came first, but both seem to be able to
5218 create a sensible draft file.  As far as I can tell, none of them can
5219 be trusted to get the result just right, so the content need to be
5220 polished a bit before the file is OK to upload.  I found the debmake
5221 option in
5222 <a href="http://goofying-with-debian.blogspot.com/2014/07/debmake-checking-source-against-dep-5.html">a
5223 blog posts from 2014</a>.
5224
5225 <p>To generate using debmake, use the -cc option:
5226
5227 <p><pre>
5228 debmake -cc > debian/copyright
5229 </pre></p>
5230
5231 <p>Note there are some problems with python and non-ASCII names, so
5232 this might not be the best option.</p>
5233
5234 <p>The cme option is based on a config parsing library, and I found
5235 this approach in
5236 <a href="https://ddumont.wordpress.com/2015/04/05/improving-creation-of-debian-copyright-file/">a
5237 blog post from 2015</a>.  To generate using cme, use the 'update
5238 dpkg-copyright' option:
5239
5240 <p><pre>
5241 cme update dpkg-copyright
5242 </pre></p>
5243
5244 <p>This will create or update debian/copyright.  The cme tool seem to
5245 handle UTF-8 names better than debmake.</p>
5246
5247 <p>When the copyright file is created, I would also like some help to
5248 check if the file is correct.  For this I found two good options,
5249 <tt>debmake -k</tt> and <tt>license-reconcile</tt>.  The former seem
5250 to focus on license types and file matching, and is able to detect
5251 ineffective blocks in the copyright file.  The latter reports missing
5252 copyright holders and years, but was confused by inconsistent license
5253 names (like CDDL vs. CDDL-1.0).  I suspect it is good to use both and
5254 fix all issues reported by them before uploading.  But I do not know
5255 if the tools and the ftpmasters agree on what is important to fix in a
5256 copyright file, so the package might still be rejected.</p>
5257
5258 <p>The devscripts tool <tt>licensecheck</tt> deserve mentioning.  It
5259 will read through the source and try to find all copyright statements.
5260 It is not comparing the result to the content of debian/copyright, but
5261 can be useful when verifying the content of the copyright file.</p>
5262
5263 <p>Are you aware of better tools in Debian to create and update
5264 debian/copyright file.  Please let me know, or blog about it on
5265 planet.debian.org.</p>
5266
5267 <p>As usual, if you use Bitcoin and want to show your support of my
5268 activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address
5269 <b><a href="bitcoin:15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</a></b>.</p>
5270
5271 <p><strong>Update 2016-02-20</strong>: I got a tip from Mike Gabriel
5272 on how to use licensecheck and cdbs to create a draft copyright file
5273
5274 <p><pre>
5275 licensecheck --copyright -r `find * -type f` | \
5276   /usr/lib/cdbs/licensecheck2dep5 > debian/copyright.auto
5277 </pre></p>
5278
5279 <p>He mentioned that he normally check the generated file into the
5280 version control system to make it easier to discover license and
5281 copyright changes in the upstream source.  I will try to do the same
5282 with my packages in the future.</p>
5283
5284 <p><strong>Update 2016-02-21</strong>: The cme author recommended
5285 against using -quiet for new users, so I removed it from the proposed
5286 command line.</p>
5287
5288       </div>
5289       <div class="tags">
5290
5291
5292         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
5293
5294
5295       </div>
5296     </div>
5297     <div class="padding"></div>
5298
5299     <div class="entry">
5300       <div class="title">
5301         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Using_appstream_in_Debian_to_locate_packages_with_firmware_and_mime_type_support.html">Using appstream in Debian to locate packages with firmware and mime type support</a>
5302       </div>
5303       <div class="date">
5304          4th February 2016
5305       </div>
5306       <div class="body">
5307         <p>The <a href="https://wiki.debian.org/DEP-11">appstream system</a>
5308 is taking shape in Debian, and one provided feature is a very
5309 convenient way to tell you which package to install to make a given
5310 firmware file available when the kernel is looking for it.  This can
5311 be done using apt-file too, but that is for someone else to blog
5312 about. :)</p>
5313
5314 <p>Here is a small recipe to find the package with a given firmware
5315 file, in this example I am looking for ctfw-3.2.3.0.bin, randomly
5316 picked from the set of firmware announced using appstream in Debian
5317 unstable.  In general you would be looking for the firmware requested
5318 by the kernel during kernel module loading.  To find the package
5319 providing the example file, do like this:</p>
5320
5321 <blockquote><pre>
5322 % apt install appstream
5323 [...]
5324 % apt update
5325 [...]
5326 % appstreamcli what-provides firmware:runtime ctfw-3.2.3.0.bin | \
5327   awk '/Package:/ {print $2}'
5328 firmware-qlogic
5329 %
5330 </pre></blockquote>
5331
5332 <p>See <a href="https://wiki.debian.org/AppStream/Guidelines">the
5333 appstream wiki</a> page to learn how to embed the package metadata in
5334 a way appstream can use.</p>
5335
5336 <p>This same approach can be used to find any package supporting a
5337 given MIME type.  This is very useful when you get a file you do not
5338 know how to handle.  First find the mime type using <tt>file
5339 --mime-type</tt>, and next look up the package providing support for
5340 it.  Lets say you got an SVG file.  Its MIME type is image/svg+xml,
5341 and you can find all packages handling this type like this:</p>
5342
5343 <blockquote><pre>
5344 % apt install appstream
5345 [...]
5346 % apt update
5347 [...]
5348 % appstreamcli what-provides mimetype image/svg+xml | \
5349   awk '/Package:/ {print $2}'
5350 bkchem
5351 phototonic
5352 inkscape
5353 shutter
5354 tetzle
5355 geeqie
5356 xia
5357 pinta
5358 gthumb
5359 karbon
5360 comix
5361 mirage
5362 viewnior
5363 postr
5364 ristretto
5365 kolourpaint4
5366 eog
5367 eom
5368 gimagereader
5369 midori
5370 %
5371 </pre></blockquote>
5372
5373 <p>I believe the MIME types are fetched from the desktop file for
5374 packages providing appstream metadata.</p>
5375
5376       </div>
5377       <div class="tags">
5378
5379
5380         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
5381
5382
5383       </div>
5384     </div>
5385     <div class="padding"></div>
5386
5387     <div class="entry">
5388       <div class="title">
5389         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Creepy__visualise_geotagged_social_media_information___nice_free_software.html">Creepy, visualise geotagged social media information - nice free software</a>
5390       </div>
5391       <div class="date">
5392         24th January 2016
5393       </div>
5394       <div class="body">
5395         <p>Most people seem not to realise that every time they walk around
5396 with the computerised radio beacon known as a mobile phone their
5397 position is tracked by the phone company and often stored for a long
5398 time (like every time a SMS is received or sent).  And if their
5399 computerised radio beacon is capable of running programs (often called
5400 mobile apps) downloaded from the Internet, these programs are often
5401 also capable of tracking their location (if the app requested access
5402 during installation).  And when these programs send out information to
5403 central collection points, the location is often included, unless
5404 extra care is taken to not send the location.  The provided
5405 information is used by several entities, for good and bad (what is
5406 good and bad, depend on your point of view).  What is certain, is that
5407 the private sphere and the right to free movement is challenged and
5408 perhaps even eradicated for those announcing their location this way,
5409 when they share their whereabouts with private and public
5410 entities.</p>
5411
5412 <p align="center"><img width="70%" src="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2016-01-24-nice-creepy-desktop-window.png"></p>
5413
5414 <p>The phone company logs provide a register of locations to check out
5415 when one want to figure out what the tracked person was doing.  It is
5416 unavailable for most of us, but provided to selected government
5417 officials, company staff, those illegally buying information from
5418 unfaithful servants and crackers stealing the information.  But the
5419 public information can be collected and analysed, and a free software
5420 tool to do so is called
5421 <a href="http://www.geocreepy.com/">Creepy or Cree.py</a>.  I
5422 discovered it when I read
5423 <a href="http://www.aftenposten.no/kultur/Slik-kan-du-bli-overvaket-pa-Twitter-og-Instagram-uten-a-ane-det-7787884.html">an
5424 article about Creepy</a> in the Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten i
5425 November 2014, and decided to check if it was available in Debian.
5426 The python program was in Debian, but
5427 <a href="https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/creepy">the version in
5428 Debian</a> was completely broken and practically unmaintained.  I
5429 uploaded a new version which did not work quite right, but did not
5430 have time to fix it then.  This Christmas I decided to finally try to
5431 get Creepy operational in Debian.  Now a fixed version is available in
5432 Debian unstable and testing, and almost all Debian specific patches
5433 are now included
5434 <a href="https://github.com/jkakavas/creepy">upstream</a>.</p>
5435
5436 <p>The Creepy program visualises geolocation information fetched from
5437 Twitter, Instagram, Flickr and Google+, and allow one to get a
5438 complete picture of every social media message posted recently in a
5439 given area, or track the movement of a given individual across all
5440 these services.  Earlier it was possible to use the search API of at
5441 least some of these services without identifying oneself, but these
5442 days it is impossible.  This mean that to use Creepy, you need to
5443 configure it to log in as yourself on these services, and provide
5444 information to them about your search interests.  This should be taken
5445 into account when using Creepy, as it will also share information
5446 about yourself with the services.</p>
5447
5448 <p>The picture above show the twitter messages sent from (or at least
5449 geotagged with a position from) the city centre of Oslo, the capital
5450 of Norway.  One useful way to use Creepy is to first look at
5451 information tagged with an area of interest, and next look at all the
5452 information provided by one or more individuals who was in the area.
5453 I tested it by checking out which celebrity provide their location in
5454 twitter messages by checkout out who sent twitter messages near a
5455 Norwegian TV station, and next could track their position over time,
5456 making it possible to locate their home and work place, among other
5457 things.  A similar technique have been
5458 <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/maxseddon/does-this-soldiers-instagram-account-prove-russia-is-covertl">used
5459 to locate Russian soldiers in Ukraine</a>, and it is both a powerful
5460 tool to discover lying governments, and a useful tool to help people
5461 understand the value of the private information they provide to the
5462 public.</p>
5463
5464 <p>The package is not trivial to backport to Debian Stable/Jessie, as
5465 it depend on several python modules currently missing in Jessie (at
5466 least python-instagram, python-flickrapi and
5467 python-requests-toolbelt).</p>
5468
5469 <p>(I have uploaded
5470 <a href="https://screenshots.debian.net/package/creepy">the image to
5471 screenshots.debian.net</a> and licensed it under the same terms as the
5472 Creepy program in Debian.)</p>
5473
5474       </div>
5475       <div class="tags">
5476
5477
5478         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nice free software">nice free software</a>.
5479
5480
5481       </div>
5482     </div>
5483     <div class="padding"></div>
5484
5485     <div class="entry">
5486       <div class="title">
5487         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Always_download_Debian_packages_using_Tor___the_simple_recipe.html">Always download Debian packages using Tor - the simple recipe</a>
5488       </div>
5489       <div class="date">
5490         15th January 2016
5491       </div>
5492       <div class="body">
5493         <p>During his DebConf15 keynote, Jacob Appelbaum
5494 <a href="https://summit.debconf.org/debconf15/meeting/331/what-is-to-be-done/">observed
5495 that those listening on the Internet lines would have good reason to
5496 believe a computer have a given security hole</a> if it download a
5497 security fix from a Debian mirror.  This is a good reason to always
5498 use encrypted connections to the Debian mirror, to make sure those
5499 listening do not know which IP address to attack.  In August, Richard
5500 Hartmann observed that encryption was not enough, when it was possible
5501 to interfere download size to security patches or the fact that
5502 download took place shortly after a security fix was released, and
5503 <a href="http://richardhartmann.de/blog/posts/2015/08/24-Tor-enabled_Debian_mirror/">proposed
5504 to always use Tor to download packages from the Debian mirror</a>.  He
5505 was not the first to propose this, as the
5506 <tt><a href="https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/apt-transport-tor">apt-transport-tor</a></tt>
5507 package by Tim Retout already existed to make it easy to convince apt
5508 to use <a href="https://www.torproject.org/">Tor</a>, but I was not
5509 aware of that package when I read the blog post from Richard.</p>
5510
5511 <p>Richard discussed the idea with Peter Palfrader, one of the Debian
5512 sysadmins, and he set up a Tor hidden service on one of the central
5513 Debian mirrors using the address vwakviie2ienjx6t.onion, thus making
5514 it possible to download packages directly between two tor nodes,
5515 making sure the network traffic always were encrypted.</p>
5516
5517 <p>Here is a short recipe for enabling this on your machine, by
5518 installing <tt>apt-transport-tor</tt> and replacing http and https
5519 urls with tor+http and tor+https, and using the hidden service instead
5520 of the official Debian mirror site.  I recommend installing
5521 <tt>etckeeper</tt> before you start to have a history of the changes
5522 done in /etc/.</p>
5523
5524 <blockquote><pre>
5525 apt install apt-transport-tor
5526 sed -i 's% http://ftp.debian.org/% tor+http://vwakviie2ienjx6t.onion/%' /etc/apt/sources.list
5527 sed -i 's% http% tor+http%' /etc/apt/sources.list
5528 </pre></blockquote>
5529
5530 <p>If you have more sources listed in /etc/apt/sources.list.d/, run
5531 the sed commands for these too.  The sed command is assuming your are
5532 using the ftp.debian.org Debian mirror.  Adjust the command (or just
5533 edit the file manually) to match your mirror.</p>
5534
5535 <p>This work in Debian Jessie and later.  Note that tools like
5536 <tt>apt-file</tt> only recently started using the apt transport
5537 system, and do not work with these tor+http URLs.  For
5538 <tt>apt-file</tt> you need the version currently in experimental,
5539 which need a recent apt version currently only in unstable.  So if you
5540 need a working <tt>apt-file</tt>, this is not for you.</p>
5541
5542 <p>Another advantage from this change is that your machine will start
5543 using Tor regularly and at fairly random intervals (every time you
5544 update the package lists or upgrade or install a new package), thus
5545 masking other Tor traffic done from the same machine.  Using Tor will
5546 become normal for the machine in question.</p>
5547
5548 <p>On <a href="https://wiki.debian.org/FreedomBox">Freedombox</a>, APT
5549 is set up by default to use <tt>apt-transport-tor</tt> when Tor is
5550 enabled.  It would be great if it was the default on any Debian
5551 system.</p>
5552
5553       </div>
5554       <div class="tags">
5555
5556
5557         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/sikkerhet">sikkerhet</a>.
5558
5559
5560       </div>
5561     </div>
5562     <div class="padding"></div>
5563
5564     <div class="entry">
5565       <div class="title">
5566         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/OpenALPR__find_car_license_plates_in_video_streams___nice_free_software.html">OpenALPR, find car license plates in video streams - nice free software</a>
5567       </div>
5568       <div class="date">
5569         23rd December 2015
5570       </div>
5571       <div class="body">
5572         <p>When I was a kid, we used to collect "car numbers", as we used to
5573 call the car license plate numbers in those days.  I would write the
5574 numbers down in my little book and compare notes with the other kids
5575 to see how many region codes we had seen and if we had seen some
5576 exotic or special region codes and numbers.  It was a fun game to pass
5577 time, as we kids have plenty of it.</p>
5578
5579 <p>A few days I came across
5580 <a href="https://github.com/openalpr/openalpr">the OpenALPR
5581 project</a>, a free software project to automatically discover and
5582 report license plates in images and video streams, and provide the
5583 "car numbers" in a machine readable format.  I've been looking for
5584 such system for a while now, because I believe it is a bad idea that the
5585 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automatic_number_plate_recognition">automatic
5586 number plate recognition</a> tool only is available in the hands of
5587 the powerful, and want it to be available also for the powerless to
5588 even the score when it comes to surveillance and sousveillance.  I
5589 discovered the developer
5590 <a href="https://bugs.debian.org/747509">wanted to get the tool into
5591 Debian</a>, and as I too wanted it to be in Debian, I volunteered to
5592 help him get it into shape to get the package uploaded into the Debian
5593 archive.</p>
5594
5595 <p>Today we finally managed to get the package into shape and uploaded
5596 it into Debian, where it currently
5597 <a href="https://ftp-master.debian.org//new/openalpr_2.2.1-1.html">waits
5598 in the NEW queue</a> for review by the Debian ftpmasters.</p>
5599
5600 <p>I guess you are wondering why on earth such tool would be useful
5601 for the common folks, ie those not running a large government
5602 surveillance system?  Well, I plan to put it in a computer on my bike
5603 and in my car, tracking the cars nearby and allowing me to be notified
5604 when number plates on my watch list are discovered.  Another use case
5605 was suggested by a friend of mine, who wanted to set it up at his home
5606 to open the car port automatically when it discovered the plate on his
5607 car.  When I mentioned it perhaps was a bit foolhardy to allow anyone
5608 capable of placing his license plate number of a piece of cardboard to
5609 open his car port, men replied that it was always unlocked anyway.  I
5610 guess for such use case it make sense.  I am sure there are other use
5611 cases too, for those with imagination and a vision.</p>
5612
5613 <p>If you want to build your own version of the Debian package, check
5614 out the upstream git source and symlink ./distros/debian to ./debian/
5615 before running "debuild" to build the source.  Or wait a bit until the
5616 package show up in unstable.</p>
5617
5618       </div>
5619       <div class="tags">
5620
5621
5622         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nice free software">nice free software</a>.
5623
5624
5625       </div>
5626     </div>
5627     <div class="padding"></div>
5628
5629     <div class="entry">
5630       <div class="title">
5631         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Using_appstream_with_isenkram_to_install_hardware_related_packages_in_Debian.html">Using appstream with isenkram to install hardware related packages in Debian</a>
5632       </div>
5633       <div class="date">
5634         20th December 2015
5635       </div>
5636       <div class="body">
5637         <p>Around three years ago, I created
5638 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/isenkram">the isenkram
5639 system</a> to get a more practical solution in Debian for handing
5640 hardware related packages.  A GUI system in the isenkram package will
5641 present a pop-up dialog when some hardware dongle supported by
5642 relevant packages in Debian is inserted into the machine.  The same
5643 lookup mechanism to detect packages is available as command line
5644 tools in the isenkram-cli package.  In addition to mapping hardware,
5645 it will also map kernel firmware files to packages and make it easy to
5646 install needed firmware packages automatically.  The key for this
5647 system to work is a good way to map hardware to packages, in other
5648 words, allow packages to announce what hardware they will work
5649 with.</p>
5650
5651 <p>I started by providing data files in the isenkram source, and
5652 adding code to download the latest version of these data files at run
5653 time, to ensure every user had the most up to date mapping available.
5654 I also added support for storing the mapping in the Packages file in
5655 the apt repositories, but did not push this approach because while I
5656 was trying to figure out how to best store hardware/package mappings,
5657 <a href="http://www.freedesktop.org/software/appstream/docs/">the
5658 appstream system</a> was announced.  I got in touch and suggested to
5659 add the hardware mapping into that data set to be able to use
5660 appstream as a data source, and this was accepted at least for the
5661 Debian version of appstream.</p>
5662
5663 <p>A few days ago using appstream in Debian for this became possible,
5664 and today I uploaded a new version 0.20 of isenkram adding support for
5665 appstream as a data source for mapping hardware to packages.  The only
5666 package so far using appstream to announce its hardware support is my
5667 pymissile package.  I got help from Matthias Klumpp with figuring out
5668 how do add the required
5669 <a href="https://appstream.debian.org/html/sid/main/metainfo/pymissile.html">metadata
5670 in pymissile</a>.  I added a file debian/pymissile.metainfo.xml with
5671 this content:</p>
5672
5673 <blockquote><pre>
5674 &lt;?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?&gt;
5675 &lt;component&gt;
5676   &lt;id&gt;pymissile&lt;/id&gt;
5677   &lt;metadata_license&gt;MIT&lt;/metadata_license&gt;
5678   &lt;name&gt;pymissile&lt;/name&gt;
5679   &lt;summary&gt;Control original Striker USB Missile Launcher&lt;/summary&gt;
5680   &lt;description&gt;
5681     &lt;p&gt;
5682       Pymissile provides a curses interface to control an original
5683       Marks and Spencer / Striker USB Missile Launcher, as well as a
5684       motion control script to allow a webcamera to control the
5685       launcher.
5686     &lt;/p&gt;
5687   &lt;/description&gt;
5688   &lt;provides&gt;
5689     &lt;modalias&gt;usb:v1130p0202d*&lt;/modalias&gt;
5690   &lt;/provides&gt;
5691 &lt;/component&gt;
5692 </pre></blockquote>
5693
5694 <p>The key for isenkram is the component/provides/modalias value,
5695 which is a glob style match rule for hardware specific strings
5696 (modalias strings) provided by the Linux kernel.  In this case, it
5697 will map to all USB devices with vendor code 1130 and product code
5698 0202.</p>
5699
5700 <p>Note, it is important that the license of all the metadata files
5701 are compatible to have permissions to aggregate them into archive wide
5702 appstream files.  Matthias suggested to use MIT or BSD licenses for
5703 these files.  A challenge is figuring out a good id for the data, as
5704 it is supposed to be globally unique and shared across distributions
5705 (in other words, best to coordinate with upstream what to use).  But
5706 it can be changed later or, so we went with the package name as
5707 upstream for this project is dormant.</p>
5708
5709 <p>To get the metadata file installed in the correct location for the
5710 mirror update scripts to pick it up and include its content the
5711 appstream data source, the file must be installed in the binary
5712 package under /usr/share/appdata/.  I did this by adding the following
5713 line to debian/pymissile.install:</p>
5714
5715 <blockquote><pre>
5716 debian/pymissile.metainfo.xml usr/share/appdata
5717 </pre></blockquote>
5718
5719 <p>With that in place, the command line tool isenkram-lookup will list
5720 all packages useful on the current computer automatically, and the GUI
5721 pop-up handler will propose to install the package not already
5722 installed if a hardware dongle is inserted into the machine in
5723 question.</p>
5724
5725 <p>Details of the modalias field in appstream is available from the
5726 <a href="https://wiki.debian.org/DEP-11">DEP-11</a> proposal.</p>
5727
5728 <p>To locate the modalias values of all hardware present in a machine,
5729 try running this command on the command line:</p>
5730
5731 <blockquote><pre>
5732 cat $(find /sys/devices/|grep modalias)
5733 </pre></blockquote>
5734
5735 <p>To learn more about the isenkram system, please check out
5736 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/isenkram/">my
5737 blog posts tagged isenkram</a>.</p>
5738
5739       </div>
5740       <div class="tags">
5741
5742
5743         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/isenkram">isenkram</a>.
5744
5745
5746       </div>
5747     </div>
5748     <div class="padding"></div>
5749
5750     <div class="entry">
5751       <div class="title">
5752         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/The_GNU_General_Public_License_is_not_magic_pixie_dust.html">The GNU General Public License is not magic pixie dust</a>
5753       </div>
5754       <div class="date">
5755         30th November 2015
5756       </div>
5757       <div class="body">
5758         <p>A blog post from my fellow Debian developer Paul Wise titled
5759 "<a href="http://bonedaddy.net/pabs3/log/2015/11/27/sfc-supporter/">The
5760 GPL is not magic pixie dust</a>" explain the importance of making sure
5761 the <a href="http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html">GPL</a> is enforced.
5762 I quote the blog post from Paul in full here with his permission:<p>
5763
5764 <blockquote>
5765
5766 <p><a href="https://sfconservancy.org/supporter/"><img src="https://sfconservancy.org/img/supporter-badge.png" width="194" height="90" alt="Become a Software Freedom Conservancy Supporter!" align="right" border="0" /></a></p>
5767
5768 <blockquote>
5769 The GPL is not magic pixie dust. It does not work by itself.<br/>
5770
5771 The first step is to choose a
5772 <a href="https://copyleft.org/">copyleft</a> license for your
5773 code.<br/>
5774
5775 The next step is, when someone fails to follow that copyleft license,
5776 <b>it must be enforced</b><br/>
5777
5778 and its a simple fact of our modern society that such type of
5779 work<br/>
5780
5781 is incredibly expensive to do and incredibly difficult to do.
5782 </blockquote>
5783
5784 <p><small>-- <a href="http://ebb.org/bkuhn/">Bradley Kuhn</a>, in
5785 <a href="http://faif.us/" title="Free as in Freedom">FaiF</a>
5786 <a href="http://faif.us/cast/2015/nov/24/0x57/">episode
5787 0x57</a></small></p>
5788
5789 <p>As the Debian Website
5790 <a href="https://bugs.debian.org/794116">used</a>
5791 <a href="https://anonscm.debian.org/viewvc/webwml/webwml/english/intro/free.wml?r1=1.24&amp;r2=1.25">to</a>
5792 imply, public domain and permissively licensed software can lead to
5793 the production of more proprietary software as people discover useful
5794 software, extend it and or incorporate it into their hardware or
5795 software products.  Copyleft licenses such as the GNU GPL were created
5796 to close off this avenue to the production of proprietary software but
5797 such licenses are not enough.  With the ongoing adoption of Free
5798 Software by individuals and groups, inevitably the community's
5799 expectations of license compliance are violated, usually out of
5800 ignorance of the way Free Software works, but not always.  As Karen
5801 and Bradley explained in <a href="http://faif.us/" title="Free as in
5802 Freedom">FaiF</a>
5803 <a href="http://faif.us/cast/2015/nov/24/0x57/">episode 0x57</a>,
5804 copyleft is nothing if no-one is willing and able to stand up in court
5805 to protect it.  The reality of today's world is that legal
5806 representation is expensive, difficult and time consuming.  With
5807 <a href="http://gpl-violations.org/">gpl-violations.org</a> in hiatus
5808 <a href="http://gpl-violations.org/news/20151027-homepage-recovers/">until</a>
5809 some time in 2016, the <a href="https://sfconservancy.org/">Software
5810 Freedom Conservancy</a> (a tax-exempt charity) is the major defender
5811 of the Linux project, Debian and other groups against GPL violations.
5812 In March the SFC supported a
5813 <a href="https://sfconservancy.org/news/2015/mar/05/vmware-lawsuit/">lawsuit
5814 by Christoph Hellwig</a> against VMware for refusing to
5815 <a href="https://sfconservancy.org/linux-compliance/vmware-lawsuit-faq.html">comply
5816 with the GPL</a> in relation to their use of parts of the Linux
5817 kernel.  Since then two of their sponsors pulled corporate funding and
5818 conferences
5819 <a href="https://sfconservancy.org/blog/2015/nov/24/faif-carols-fundraiser/">blocked
5820 or cancelled their talks</a>.  As a result they have decided to rely
5821 less on corporate funding and more on the broad community of
5822 individuals who support Free Software and copyleft.  So the SFC has
5823 <a href="https://sfconservancy.org/news/2015/nov/23/2015fundraiser/">launched</a>
5824 a <a href="https://sfconservancy.org/supporter/">campaign</a> to create
5825 a community of folks who stand up for copyleft and the GPL by
5826 supporting their work on promoting and supporting copyleft and Free
5827 Software.</p>
5828
5829 <p>If you support Free Software,
5830 <a href="https://sfconservancy.org/blog/2015/nov/26/like-what-I-do/">like</a>
5831 what the SFC do, agree with their
5832 <a href="https://sfconservancy.org/linux-compliance/principles.html">compliance
5833 principles</a>, are happy about their
5834 <a href="https://sfconservancy.org/supporter/">successes</a> in 2015,
5835 work on a project that is an SFC
5836 <a href="https://sfconservancy.org/members/current/">member</a> and or
5837 just want to stand up for copyleft, please join
5838 <a href="https://identi.ca/cwebber/image/JQGPA4qbTyyp3-MY8QpvuA">Christopher
5839 Allan Webber</a>,
5840 <a href="https://sfconservancy.org/blog/2015/nov/24/faif-carols-fundraiser/">Carol
5841 Smith</a>,
5842 <a href="http://www.jonobacon.org/2015/11/25/supporting-software-freedom-conservancy/">Jono
5843 Bacon</a>, myself and
5844 <a href="https://sfconservancy.org/sponsors/#supporters">others</a> in
5845 becoming a
5846 <a href="https://sfconservancy.org/supporter/">supporter</a>.  For the
5847 next week your donation will be
5848 <a href="https://sfconservancy.org/news/2015/nov/27/black-friday/">matched</a>
5849 by an anonymous donor.  Please also consider asking your employer to
5850 match your donation or become a sponsor of SFC.  Don't forget to
5851 spread the word about your support for SFC via email, your blog and or
5852 social media accounts.</p>
5853
5854 </blockquote>
5855
5856 <p>I agree with Paul on this topic and just signed up as a Supporter
5857 of Software Freedom Conservancy myself.  Perhaps you should be a
5858 supporter too?</p>
5859
5860       </div>
5861       <div class="tags">
5862
5863
5864         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/opphavsrett">opphavsrett</a>.
5865
5866
5867       </div>
5868     </div>
5869     <div class="padding"></div>
5870
5871     <div class="entry">
5872       <div class="title">
5873         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/PGP_key_transition_statement_for_key_EE4E02F9.html">PGP key transition statement for key EE4E02F9</a>
5874       </div>
5875       <div class="date">
5876         17th November 2015
5877       </div>
5878       <div class="body">
5879         <p>I've needed a new OpenPGP key for a while, but have not had time to
5880 set it up properly.  I wanted to generate it offline and have it
5881 available on <a href="http://shop.kernelconcepts.de/#openpgp">a OpenPGP
5882 smart card</a> for daily use, and learning how to do it and finding
5883 time to sit down with an offline machine almost took forever.  But
5884 finally I've been able to complete the process, and have now moved
5885 from my old GPG key to a new GPG key.  See
5886 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2015-11-17-new-gpg-key-transition.txt">the
5887 full transition statement, signed with both my old and new key</a> for
5888 the details.  This is my new key:</p>
5889
5890 <pre>
5891 pub   3936R/<a href="http://pgp.cs.uu.nl/stats/111D6B29EE4E02F9.html">111D6B29EE4E02F9</a> 2015-11-03 [expires: 2019-11-14]
5892       Key fingerprint = 3AC7 B2E3 ACA5 DF87 78F1  D827 111D 6B29 EE4E 02F9
5893 uid                  Petter Reinholdtsen &lt;pere@hungry.com&gt;
5894 uid                  Petter Reinholdtsen &lt;pere@debian.org&gt;
5895 sub   4096R/87BAFB0E 2015-11-03 [expires: 2019-11-02]
5896 sub   4096R/F91E6DE9 2015-11-03 [expires: 2019-11-02]
5897 sub   4096R/A0439BAB 2015-11-03 [expires: 2019-11-02]
5898 </pre>
5899
5900 <p>The key can be downloaded from the OpenPGP key servers, signed by
5901 my old key.</p>
5902
5903 <p>If you signed my old key
5904 (<a href="http://pgp.cs.uu.nl/stats/DB4CCC4B2A30D729.html">DB4CCC4B2A30D729</a>),
5905 I'd very much appreciate a signature on my new key, details and
5906 instructions in the transition statement. I m happy to reciprocate if
5907 you have a similarly signed transition statement to present.</p>
5908
5909       </div>
5910       <div class="tags">
5911
5912
5913         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/sikkerhet">sikkerhet</a>.
5914
5915
5916       </div>
5917     </div>
5918     <div class="padding"></div>
5919
5920     <div class="entry">
5921       <div class="title">
5922         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/The_life_and_death_of_a_laptop_battery.html">The life and death of a laptop battery</a>
5923       </div>
5924       <div class="date">
5925         24th September 2015
5926       </div>
5927       <div class="body">
5928         <p>When I get a new laptop, the battery life time at the start is OK.
5929 But this do not last.  The last few laptops gave me a feeling that
5930 within a year, the life time is just a fraction of what it used to be,
5931 and it slowly become painful to use the laptop without power connected
5932 all the time.  Because of this, when I got a new Thinkpad X230 laptop
5933 about two years ago, I decided to monitor its battery state to have
5934 more hard facts when the battery started to fail.</p>
5935
5936 <img src="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2015-09-24-laptop-battery-graph.png"/>
5937
5938 <p>First I tried to find a sensible Debian package to record the
5939 battery status, assuming that this must be a problem already handled
5940 by someone else.  I found
5941 <a href="https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/battery-stats">battery-stats</a>,
5942 which collects statistics from the battery, but it was completely
5943 broken.  I sent a few suggestions to the maintainer, but decided to
5944 write my own collector as a shell script while I waited for feedback
5945 from him.  Via
5946 <a href="http://www.ifweassume.com/2013/08/the-de-evolution-of-my-laptop-battery.html">a
5947 blog post about the battery development on a MacBook Air</a> I also
5948 discovered
5949 <a href="https://github.com/jradavenport/batlog.git">batlog</a>, not
5950 available in Debian.</p>
5951
5952 <p>I started my collector 2013-07-15, and it has been collecting
5953 battery stats ever since. Now my
5954 /var/log/hjemmenett-battery-status.log file contain around 115,000
5955 measurements, from the time the battery was working great until now,
5956 when it is unable to charge above 7% of original capacity.  My
5957 collector shell script is quite simple and look like this:</p>
5958
5959 <pre>
5960 #!/bin/sh
5961 # Inspired by
5962 # http://www.ifweassume.com/2013/08/the-de-evolution-of-my-laptop-battery.html
5963 # See also
5964 # http://blog.sleeplessbeastie.eu/2013/01/02/debian-how-to-monitor-battery-capacity/
5965 logfile=/var/log/hjemmenett-battery-status.log
5966
5967 files="manufacturer model_name technology serial_number \
5968     energy_full energy_full_design energy_now cycle_count status"
5969
5970 if [ ! -e "$logfile" ] ; then
5971     (
5972         printf "timestamp,"
5973         for f in $files; do
5974             printf "%s," $f
5975         done
5976         echo
5977     ) > "$logfile"
5978 fi
5979
5980 log_battery() {
5981     # Print complete message in one echo call, to avoid race condition
5982     # when several log processes run in parallel.
5983     msg=$(printf "%s," $(date +%s); \
5984         for f in $files; do \
5985             printf "%s," $(cat $f); \
5986         done)
5987     echo "$msg"
5988 }
5989
5990 cd /sys/class/power_supply
5991
5992 for bat in BAT*; do
5993     (cd $bat && log_battery >> "$logfile")
5994 done
5995 </pre>
5996
5997 <p>The script is called when the power management system detect a
5998 change in the power status (power plug in or out), and when going into
5999 and out of hibernation and suspend.  In addition, it collect a value
6000 every 10 minutes.  This make it possible for me know when the battery
6001 is discharging, charging and how the maximum charge change over time.
6002 The code for the Debian package
6003 <a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/battery-status">is now
6004 available on github</a>.</p>
6005
6006 <p>The collected log file look like this:</p>
6007
6008 <pre>
6009 timestamp,manufacturer,model_name,technology,serial_number,energy_full,energy_full_design,energy_now,cycle_count,status,
6010 1376591133,LGC,45N1025,Li-ion,974,62800000,62160000,39050000,0,Discharging,
6011 [...]
6012 1443090528,LGC,45N1025,Li-ion,974,4900000,62160000,4900000,0,Full,
6013 1443090601,LGC,45N1025,Li-ion,974,4900000,62160000,4900000,0,Full,
6014 </pre>
6015
6016 <p>I wrote a small script to create a graph of the charge development
6017 over time.  This graph depicted above show the slow death of my laptop
6018 battery.</p>
6019
6020 <p>But why is this happening?  Why are my laptop batteries always
6021 dying in a year or two, while the batteries of space probes and
6022 satellites keep working year after year.  If we are to believe
6023 <a href="http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/how_to_prolong_lithium_based_batteries">Battery
6024 University</a>, the cause is me charging the battery whenever I have a
6025 chance, and the fix is to not charge the Lithium-ion batteries to 100%
6026 all the time, but to stay below 90% of full charge most of the time.
6027 I've been told that the Tesla electric cars
6028 <a href="http://my.teslamotors.com/de_CH/forum/forums/battery-charge-limit">limit
6029 the charge of their batteries to 80%</a>, with the option to charge to
6030 100% when preparing for a longer trip (not that I would want a car
6031 like Tesla where rights to privacy is abandoned, but that is another
6032 story), which I guess is the option we should have for laptops on
6033 Linux too.</p>
6034
6035 <p>Is there a good and generic way with Linux to tell the battery to
6036 stop charging at 80%, unless requested to charge to 100% once in
6037 preparation for a longer trip?  I found
6038 <a href="http://askubuntu.com/questions/34452/how-can-i-limit-battery-charging-to-80-capacity">one
6039 recipe on askubuntu for Ubuntu to limit charging on Thinkpad to
6040 80%</a>, but could not get it to work (kernel module refused to
6041 load).</p>
6042
6043 <p>I wonder why the battery capacity was reported to be more than 100%
6044 at the start.  I also wonder why the "full capacity" increases some
6045 times, and if it is possible to repeat the process to get the battery
6046 back to design capacity.  And I wonder if the discharge and charge
6047 speed change over time, or if this stay the same.  I did not yet try
6048 to write a tool to calculate the derivative values of the battery
6049 level, but suspect some interesting insights might be learned from
6050 those.</p>
6051
6052 <p>Update 2015-09-24: I got a tip to install the packages
6053 acpi-call-dkms and tlp (unfortunately missing in Debian stable)
6054 packages instead of the tp-smapi-dkms package I had tried to use
6055 initially, and use 'tlp setcharge 40 80' to change when charging start
6056 and stop.  I've done so now, but expect my existing battery is toast
6057 and need to be replaced.  The proposal is unfortunately Thinkpad
6058 specific.</p>
6059
6060       </div>
6061       <div class="tags">
6062
6063
6064         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
6065
6066
6067       </div>
6068     </div>
6069     <div class="padding"></div>
6070
6071     <div class="entry">
6072       <div class="title">
6073         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/New_laptop___some_more_clues_and_ideas_based_on_feedback.html">New laptop - some more clues and ideas based on feedback</a>
6074       </div>
6075       <div class="date">
6076          5th July 2015
6077       </div>
6078       <div class="body">
6079         <p>Several people contacted me after my previous blog post about my
6080 need for a new laptop, and provided very useful feedback.  I wish to
6081 thank every one of these.  Several pointed me to the possibility of
6082 fixing my X230, and I am already in the process of getting Lenovo to
6083 do so thanks to the on site, next day support contract covering the
6084 machine.  But the battery is almost useless (I expect to replace it
6085 with a non-official battery) and I do not expect the machine to live
6086 for many more years, so it is time to plan its replacement.  If I did
6087 not have a support contract, it was suggested to find replacement parts
6088 using <a href="http://www.francecrans.com/">FrancEcrans</a>, but it
6089 might present a language barrier as I do not understand French.</p>
6090
6091 <p>One tip I got was to use the
6092 <a href="https://skinflint.co.uk/?cat=nb">Skinflint</a> web service to
6093 compare laptop models.  It seem to have more models available than
6094 prisjakt.no.  Another tip I got from someone I know have similar
6095 keyboard preferences was that the HP EliteBook 840 keyboard is not
6096 very good, and this matches my experience with earlier EliteBook
6097 keyboards I tested.  Because of this, I will not consider it any further.
6098
6099 <p>When I wrote my blog post, I was not aware of Thinkpad X250, the
6100 newest Thinkpad X model.  The keyboard reintroduces mouse buttons
6101 (which is missing from the X240), and is working fairly well with
6102 Debian Sid/Unstable according to
6103 <a href="http://www.corsac.net/X250/">Corsac.net</a>.  The reports I
6104 got on the keyboard quality are not consistent.  Some say the keyboard
6105 is good, others say it is ok, while others say it is not very good.
6106 Those with experience from X41 and and X60 agree that the X250
6107 keyboard is not as good as those trusty old laptops, and suggest I
6108 keep and fix my X230 instead of upgrading, or get a used X230 to
6109 replace it.  I'm also told that the X250 lack leds for caps lock, disk
6110 activity and battery status, which is very convenient on my X230.  I'm
6111 also told that the CPU fan is running very often, making it a bit
6112 noisy.  In any case, the X250 do not work out of the box with Debian
6113 Stable/Jessie, one of my requirements.</p>
6114
6115 <p>I have also gotten a few vendor proposals, one was
6116 <a href="http://pro-star.com">Pro-Star</a>, another was
6117 <a href="http://shop.gluglug.org.uk/product/libreboot-x200/">Libreboot</a>.
6118 The latter look very attractive to me.</p>
6119
6120 <p>Again, thank you all for the very useful feedback.  It help a lot
6121 as I keep looking for a replacement.</p>
6122
6123 <p>Update 2015-07-06: I was recommended to check out the
6124 <a href="">lapstore.de</a> web shop for used laptops.  They got several
6125 different
6126 <a href="http://www.lapstore.de/f.php/shop/lapstore/f/411/lang/x/kw/Lenovo_ThinkPad_X_Serie/">old
6127 thinkpad X models</a>, and provide one year warranty.</p>
6128
6129       </div>
6130       <div class="tags">
6131
6132
6133         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
6134
6135
6136       </div>
6137     </div>
6138     <div class="padding"></div>
6139
6140     <div class="entry">
6141       <div class="title">
6142         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Time_to_find_a_new_laptop__as_the_old_one_is_broken_after_only_two_years.html">Time to find a new laptop, as the old one is broken after only two years</a>
6143       </div>
6144       <div class="date">
6145          3rd July 2015
6146       </div>
6147       <div class="body">
6148         <p>My primary work horse laptop is failing, and will need a
6149 replacement soon.  The left 5 cm of the screen on my Thinkpad X230
6150 started flickering yesterday, and I suspect the cause is a broken
6151 cable, as changing the angle of the screen some times get rid of the
6152 flickering.</p>
6153
6154 <p>My requirements have not really changed since I bought it, and is
6155 still as
6156 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Thank_you_Thinkpad_X41__for_your_long_and_trustworthy_service.html">I
6157 described them in 2013</a>.  The last time I bought a laptop, I had
6158 good help from
6159 <a href="http://www.prisjakt.no/category.php?k=353">prisjakt.no</a>
6160 where I could select at least a few of the requirements (mouse pin,
6161 wifi, weight) and go through the rest manually.  Three button mouse
6162 and a good keyboard is not available as an option, and all the three
6163 laptop models proposed today (Thinkpad X240, HP EliteBook 820 G1 and
6164 G2) lack three mouse buttons).  It is also unclear to me how good the
6165 keyboard on the HP EliteBooks are.  I hope Lenovo have not messed up
6166 the keyboard, even if the quality and robustness in the X series have
6167 deteriorated since X41.</p>
6168
6169 <p>I wonder how I can find a sensible laptop when none of the options
6170 seem sensible to me?  Are there better services around to search the
6171 set of available laptops for features?  Please send me an email if you
6172 have suggestions.</p>
6173
6174 <p>Update 2015-07-23: I got a suggestion to check out the FSF
6175 <a href="http://www.fsf.org/resources/hw/endorsement/respects-your-freedom">list
6176 of endorsed hardware</a>, which is useful background information.</p>
6177
6178       </div>
6179       <div class="tags">
6180
6181
6182         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
6183
6184
6185       </div>
6186     </div>
6187     <div class="padding"></div>
6188
6189     <div class="entry">
6190       <div class="title">
6191         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/How_to_stay_with_sysvinit_in_Debian_Jessie.html">How to stay with sysvinit in Debian Jessie</a>
6192       </div>
6193       <div class="date">
6194         22nd November 2014
6195       </div>
6196       <div class="body">
6197         <p>By now, it is well known that Debian Jessie will not be using
6198 sysvinit as its boot system by default.  But how can one keep using
6199 sysvinit in Jessie?  It is fairly easy, and here are a few recipes,
6200 courtesy of
6201 <a href="http://www.vitavonni.de/blog/201410/2014102101-avoiding-systemd.html">Erich
6202 Schubert</a> and
6203 <a href="http://smcv.pseudorandom.co.uk/2014/still_universal/">Simon
6204 McVittie</a>.
6205
6206 <p>If you already are using Wheezy and want to upgrade to Jessie and
6207 keep sysvinit as your boot system, create a file
6208 <tt>/etc/apt/preferences.d/use-sysvinit</tt> with this content before
6209 you upgrade:</p>
6210
6211 <p><blockquote><pre>
6212 Package: systemd-sysv
6213 Pin: release o=Debian
6214 Pin-Priority: -1
6215 </pre></blockquote><p>
6216
6217 <p>This file content will tell apt and aptitude to not consider
6218 installing systemd-sysv as part of any installation and upgrade
6219 solution when resolving dependencies, and thus tell it to avoid
6220 systemd as a default boot system.  The end result should be that the
6221 upgraded system keep using sysvinit.</p>
6222
6223 <p>If you are installing Jessie for the first time, there is no way to
6224 get sysvinit installed by default (debootstrap used by
6225 debian-installer have no option for this), but one can tell the
6226 installer to switch to sysvinit before the first boot.  Either by
6227 using a kernel argument to the installer, or by adding a line to the
6228 preseed file used.  First, the kernel command line argument:
6229
6230 <p><blockquote><pre>
6231 preseed/late_command="in-target apt-get install --purge -y sysvinit-core"
6232 </pre></blockquote><p>
6233
6234 <p>Next, the line to use in a preseed file:</p>
6235
6236 <p><blockquote><pre>
6237 d-i preseed/late_command string in-target apt-get install -y sysvinit-core
6238 </pre></blockquote><p>
6239
6240 <p>One can of course also do this after the first boot by installing
6241 the sysvinit-core package.</p>
6242
6243 <p>I recommend only using sysvinit if you really need it, as the
6244 sysvinit boot sequence in Debian have several hardware specific bugs
6245 on Linux caused by the fact that it is unpredictable when hardware
6246 devices show up during boot.  But on the other hand, the new default
6247 boot system still have a few rough edges I hope will be fixed before
6248 Jessie is released.</p>
6249
6250 <p>Update 2014-11-26: Inspired by
6251 <ahref="https://www.mirbsd.org/permalinks/wlog-10-tg_e20141125-tg.htm#e20141125-tg_wlog-10-tg">a
6252 blog post by Torsten Glaser</a>, added --purge to the preseed
6253 line.</p>
6254
6255       </div>
6256       <div class="tags">
6257
6258
6259         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/bootsystem">bootsystem</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
6260
6261
6262       </div>
6263     </div>
6264     <div class="padding"></div>
6265
6266     <div class="entry">
6267       <div class="title">
6268         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/A_Debian_package_for_SMTP_via_Tor__aka_SMTorP__using_exim4.html">A Debian package for SMTP via Tor (aka SMTorP) using exim4</a>
6269       </div>
6270       <div class="date">
6271         10th November 2014
6272       </div>
6273       <div class="body">
6274         <p>The right to communicate with your friends and family in private,
6275 without anyone snooping, is a right every citicen have in a liberal
6276 democracy.  But this right is under serious attack these days.</p>
6277
6278 <p>A while back it occurred to me that one way to make the dragnet
6279 surveillance conducted by NSA, GCHQ, FRA and others (and confirmed by
6280 the whisleblower Snowden) more expensive for Internet email,
6281 is to deliver all email using SMTP via Tor.  Such SMTP option would be
6282 a nice addition to the FreedomBox project if we could send email
6283 between FreedomBox machines without leaking metadata about the emails
6284 to the people peeking on the wire.  I
6285 <a href="http://lists.alioth.debian.org/pipermail/freedombox-discuss/2014-October/006493.html">proposed
6286 this on the FreedomBox project mailing list in October</a> and got a
6287 lot of useful feedback and suggestions.  It also became obvious to me
6288 that this was not a novel idea, as the same idea was tested and
6289 documented by Johannes Berg as early as 2006, and both
6290 <a href="https://github.com/pagekite/Mailpile/wiki/SMTorP">the
6291 Mailpile</a> and <a href="http://dee.su/cables">the Cables</a> systems
6292 propose a similar method / protocol to pass emails between users.</p>
6293
6294 <p>To implement such system one need to set up a Tor hidden service
6295 providing the SMTP protocol on port 25, and use email addresses
6296 looking like username@hidden-service-name.onion.  With such addresses
6297 the connections to port 25 on hidden-service-name.onion using Tor will
6298 go to the correct SMTP server.  To do this, one need to configure the
6299 Tor daemon to provide the hidden service and the mail server to accept
6300 emails for this .onion domain.  To learn more about Exim configuration
6301 in Debian and test the design provided by Johannes Berg in his FAQ, I
6302 set out yesterday to create a Debian package for making it trivial to
6303 set up such SMTP over Tor service based on Debian.  Getting it to work
6304 were fairly easy, and
6305 <a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/exim4-smtorp">the
6306 source code for the Debian package</a> is available from github.  I
6307 plan to move it into Debian if further testing prove this to be a
6308 useful approach.</p>
6309
6310 <p>If you want to test this, set up a blank Debian machine without any
6311 mail system installed (or run <tt>apt-get purge exim4-config</tt> to
6312 get rid of exim4).  Install tor, clone the git repository mentioned
6313 above, build the deb and install it on the machine.  Next, run
6314 <tt>/usr/lib/exim4-smtorp/setup-exim-hidden-service</tt> and follow
6315 the instructions to get the service up and running.  Restart tor and
6316 exim when it is done, and test mail delivery using swaks like
6317 this:</p>
6318
6319 <p><blockquote><pre>
6320 torsocks swaks --server dutlqrrmjhtfa3vp.onion \
6321   --to fbx@dutlqrrmjhtfa3vp.onion
6322 </pre></blockquote></p>
6323
6324 <p>This will test the SMTP delivery using tor.  Replace the email
6325 address with your own address to test your server. :)</p>
6326
6327 <p>The setup procedure is still to complex, and I hope it can be made
6328 easier and more automatic.  Especially the tor setup need more work.
6329 Also, the package include a tor-smtp tool written in C, but its task
6330 should probably be rewritten in some script language to make the deb
6331 architecture independent.  It would probably also make the code easier
6332 to review.  The tor-smtp tool currently need to listen on a socket for
6333 exim to talk to it and is started using xinetd.  It would be better if
6334 no daemon and no socket is needed.  I suspect it is possible to get
6335 exim to run a command line tool for delivery instead of talking to a
6336 socket, and hope to figure out how in a future version of this
6337 system.</p>
6338
6339 <p>Until I wipe my test machine, I can be reached using the
6340 <tt>fbx@dutlqrrmjhtfa3vp.onion</tt> mail address, deliverable over
6341 SMTorP. :)</p>
6342
6343       </div>
6344       <div class="tags">
6345
6346
6347         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/freedombox">freedombox</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/personvern">personvern</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/surveillance">surveillance</a>.
6348
6349
6350       </div>
6351     </div>
6352     <div class="padding"></div>
6353
6354     <div class="entry">
6355       <div class="title">
6356         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/listadmin__the_quick_way_to_moderate_mailman_lists___nice_free_software.html">listadmin, the quick way to moderate mailman lists - nice free software</a>
6357       </div>
6358       <div class="date">
6359         22nd October 2014
6360       </div>
6361       <div class="body">
6362         <p>If you ever had to moderate a mailman list, like the ones on
6363 alioth.debian.org, you know the web interface is fairly slow to
6364 operate.  First you visit one web page, enter the moderation password
6365 and get a new page shown with a list of all the messages to moderate
6366 and various options for each email address.  This take a while for
6367 every list you moderate, and you need to do it regularly to do a good
6368 job as a list moderator.  But there is a quick alternative,
6369 <a href="http://heim.ifi.uio.no/kjetilho/hacks/#listadmin">the
6370 listadmin program</a>.  It allow you to check lists for new messages
6371 to moderate in a fraction of a second.  Here is a test run on two
6372 lists I recently took over:</p>
6373
6374 <p><blockquote><pre>
6375 % time listadmin xiph
6376 fetching data for pkg-xiph-commits@lists.alioth.debian.org ... nothing in queue
6377 fetching data for pkg-xiph-maint@lists.alioth.debian.org ... nothing in queue
6378
6379 real    0m1.709s
6380 user    0m0.232s
6381 sys     0m0.012s
6382 %
6383 </pre></blockquote></p>
6384
6385 <p>In 1.7 seconds I had checked two mailing lists and confirmed that
6386 there are no message in the moderation queue.  Every morning I
6387 currently moderate 68 mailman lists, and it normally take around two
6388 minutes.  When I took over the two pkg-xiph lists above a few days
6389 ago, there were 400 emails waiting in the moderator queue.  It took me
6390 less than 15 minutes to process them all using the listadmin
6391 program.</p>
6392
6393 <p>If you install
6394 <a href="https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/listadmin">the listadmin
6395 package</a> from Debian and create a file <tt>~/.listadmin.ini</tt>
6396 with content like this, the moderation task is a breeze:</p>
6397
6398 <p><blockquote><pre>
6399 username username@example.org
6400 spamlevel 23
6401 default discard
6402 discard_if_reason "Posting restricted to members only. Remove us from your mail list."
6403
6404 password secret
6405 adminurl https://{domain}/mailman/admindb/{list}
6406 mailman-list@lists.example.com
6407
6408 password hidden
6409 other-list@otherserver.example.org
6410 </pre></blockquote></p>
6411
6412 <p>There are other options to set as well.  Check the manual page to
6413 learn the details.</p>
6414
6415 <p>If you are forced to moderate lists on a mailman installation where
6416 the SSL certificate is self signed or not properly signed by a
6417 generally accepted signing authority, you can set a environment
6418 variable when calling listadmin to disable SSL verification:</p>
6419
6420 <p><blockquote><pre>
6421 PERL_LWP_SSL_VERIFY_HOSTNAME=0 listadmin
6422 </pre></blockquote></p>
6423
6424 <p>If you want to moderate a subset of the lists you take care of, you
6425 can provide an argument to the listadmin script like I do in the
6426 initial screen dump (the xiph argument).  Using an argument, only
6427 lists matching the argument string will be processed.  This make it
6428 quick to accept messages if you notice the moderation request in your
6429 email.</p>
6430
6431 <p>Without the listadmin program, I would never be the moderator of 68
6432 mailing lists, as I simply do not have time to spend on that if the
6433 process was any slower. The listadmin program have saved me hours of
6434 time I could spend elsewhere over the years.  It truly is nice free
6435 software.</p>
6436
6437 <p>As usual, if you use Bitcoin and want to show your support of my
6438 activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address
6439 <b><a href="bitcoin:15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</a></b>.</p>
6440
6441 <p>Update 2014-10-27: Added missing 'username' statement in
6442 configuration example.  Also, I've been told that the
6443 PERL_LWP_SSL_VERIFY_HOSTNAME=0 setting do not work for everyone.  Not
6444 sure why.</p>
6445
6446       </div>
6447       <div class="tags">
6448
6449
6450         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nice free software">nice free software</a>.
6451
6452
6453       </div>
6454     </div>
6455     <div class="padding"></div>
6456
6457     <div class="entry">
6458       <div class="title">
6459         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Jessie__PXE_and_automatic_firmware_installation.html">Debian Jessie, PXE and automatic firmware installation</a>
6460       </div>
6461       <div class="date">
6462         17th October 2014
6463       </div>
6464       <div class="body">
6465         <p>When PXE installing laptops with Debian, I often run into the
6466 problem that the WiFi card require some firmware to work properly.
6467 And it has been a pain to fix this using preseeding in Debian.
6468 Normally something more is needed.  But thanks to
6469 <a href="https://packages.qa.debian.org/i/isenkram.html">my isenkram
6470 package</a> and its recent tasksel extension, it has now become easy
6471 to do this using simple preseeding.</p>
6472
6473 <p>The isenkram-cli package provide tasksel tasks which will install
6474 firmware for the hardware found in the machine (actually, requested by
6475 the kernel modules for the hardware).  (It can also install user space
6476 programs supporting the hardware detected, but that is not the focus
6477 of this story.)</p>
6478
6479 <p>To get this working in the default installation, two preeseding
6480 values are needed.  First, the isenkram-cli package must be installed
6481 into the target chroot (aka the hard drive) before tasksel is executed
6482 in the pkgsel step of the debian-installer system.  This is done by
6483 preseeding the base-installer/includes debconf value to include the
6484 isenkram-cli package.  The package name is next passed to debootstrap
6485 for installation.  With the isenkram-cli package in place, tasksel
6486 will automatically use the isenkram tasks to detect hardware specific
6487 packages for the machine being installed and install them, because
6488 isenkram-cli contain tasksel tasks.</p>
6489
6490 <p>Second, one need to enable the non-free APT repository, because
6491 most firmware unfortunately is non-free.  This is done by preseeding
6492 the apt-mirror-setup step.  This is unfortunate, but for a lot of
6493 hardware it is the only option in Debian.</p>
6494
6495 <p>The end result is two lines needed in your preseeding file to get
6496 firmware installed automatically by the installer:</p>
6497
6498 <p><blockquote><pre>
6499 base-installer base-installer/includes string isenkram-cli
6500 apt-mirror-setup apt-setup/non-free boolean true
6501 </pre></blockquote></p>
6502
6503 <p>The current version of isenkram-cli in testing/jessie will install
6504 both firmware and user space packages when using this method.  It also
6505 do not work well, so use version 0.15 or later.  Installing both
6506 firmware and user space packages might give you a bit more than you
6507 want, so I decided to split the tasksel task in two, one for firmware
6508 and one for user space programs.  The firmware task is enabled by
6509 default, while the one for user space programs is not.  This split is
6510 implemented in the package currently in unstable.</p>
6511
6512 <p>If you decide to give this a go, please let me know (via email) how
6513 this recipe work for you. :)</p>
6514
6515 <p>So, I bet you are wondering, how can this work.  First and
6516 foremost, it work because tasksel is modular, and driven by whatever
6517 files it find in /usr/lib/tasksel/ and /usr/share/tasksel/.  So the
6518 isenkram-cli package place two files for tasksel to find.  First there
6519 is the task description file (/usr/share/tasksel/descs/isenkram.desc):</p>
6520
6521 <p><blockquote><pre>
6522 Task: isenkram-packages
6523 Section: hardware
6524 Description: Hardware specific packages (autodetected by isenkram)
6525  Based on the detected hardware various hardware specific packages are
6526  proposed.
6527 Test-new-install: show show
6528 Relevance: 8
6529 Packages: for-current-hardware
6530
6531 Task: isenkram-firmware
6532 Section: hardware
6533 Description: Hardware specific firmware packages (autodetected by isenkram)
6534  Based on the detected hardware various hardware specific firmware
6535  packages are proposed.
6536 Test-new-install: mark show
6537 Relevance: 8
6538 Packages: for-current-hardware-firmware
6539 </pre></blockquote></p>
6540
6541 <p>The key parts are Test-new-install which indicate how the task
6542 should be handled and the Packages line referencing to a script in
6543 /usr/lib/tasksel/packages/.  The scripts use other scripts to get a
6544 list of packages to install.  The for-current-hardware-firmware script
6545 look like this to list relevant firmware for the machine:
6546
6547 <p><blockquote><pre>
6548 #!/bin/sh
6549 #
6550 PATH=/usr/sbin:$PATH
6551 export PATH
6552 isenkram-autoinstall-firmware -l
6553 </pre></blockquote></p>
6554
6555 <p>With those two pieces in place, the firmware is installed by
6556 tasksel during the normal d-i run. :)</p>
6557
6558 <p>If you want to test what tasksel will install when isenkram-cli is
6559 installed, run <tt>DEBIAN_PRIORITY=critical tasksel --test
6560 --new-install</tt> to get the list of packages that tasksel would
6561 install.</p>
6562
6563 <p><a href="https://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/">Debian Edu</a> will be
6564 pilots in testing this feature, as isenkram is used there now to
6565 install firmware, replacing the earlier scripts.</p>
6566
6567       </div>
6568       <div class="tags">
6569
6570
6571         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/isenkram">isenkram</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/sysadmin">sysadmin</a>.
6572
6573
6574       </div>
6575     </div>
6576     <div class="padding"></div>
6577
6578     <div class="entry">
6579       <div class="title">
6580         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Ubuntu_used_to_show_the_bread_prizes_at_ICA_Storo.html">Ubuntu used to show the bread prizes at ICA Storo</a>
6581       </div>
6582       <div class="date">
6583          4th October 2014
6584       </div>
6585       <div class="body">
6586         <p>Today I came across an unexpected Ubuntu boot screen.  Above the
6587 bread shelf on the ICA shop at Storo in Oslo, the grub menu of Ubuntu
6588 with Linux kernel 3.2.0-23 (ie probably version 12.04 LTS) was stuck
6589 on a screen normally showing the bread types and prizes:</p>
6590
6591 <p align="center"><img width="70%" src="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2014-10-04-ubuntu-ica-storo-crop.jpeg"></p>
6592
6593 <p>If it had booted as it was supposed to, I would never had known
6594 about this hidden Linux installation.  It is interesting what
6595 <a href="http://revealingerrors.com/">errors can reveal</a>.</p>
6596
6597       </div>
6598       <div class="tags">
6599
6600
6601         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
6602
6603
6604       </div>
6605     </div>
6606     <div class="padding"></div>
6607
6608     <div class="entry">
6609       <div class="title">
6610         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/New_lsdvd_release_version_0_17_is_ready.html">New lsdvd release version 0.17 is ready</a>
6611       </div>
6612       <div class="date">
6613          4th October 2014
6614       </div>
6615       <div class="body">
6616         <p>The <a href="https://sourceforge.net/p/lsdvd/">lsdvd project</a>
6617 got a new set of developers a few weeks ago, after the original
6618 developer decided to step down and pass the project to fresh blood.
6619 This project is now maintained by Petter Reinholdtsen and Steve
6620 Dibb.</p>
6621
6622 <p>I just wrapped up
6623 <a href="https://sourceforge.net/p/lsdvd/mailman/message/32896061/">a
6624 new lsdvd release</a>, available in git or from
6625 <a href="https://sourceforge.net/projects/lsdvd/files/lsdvd/">the
6626 download page</a>.  This is the changelog dated 2014-10-03 for version
6627 0.17.</p>
6628
6629 <ul>
6630
6631  <li>Ignore 'phantom' audio, subtitle tracks</li>
6632  <li>Check for garbage in the program chains, which indicate that a track is
6633    non-existant, to work around additional copy protection</li>
6634  <li>Fix displaying content type for audio tracks, subtitles</li>
6635  <li>Fix pallete display of first entry</li>
6636  <li>Fix include orders</li>
6637  <li>Ignore read errors in titles that would not be displayed anyway</li>
6638  <li>Fix the chapter count</li>
6639  <li>Make sure the array size and the array limit used when initialising
6640    the palette size is the same.</li>
6641  <li>Fix array printing.</li>
6642  <li>Correct subsecond calculations.</li>
6643  <li>Add sector information to the output format.</li>
6644  <li>Clean up code to be closer to ANSI C and compile without warnings
6645    with more GCC compiler warnings.</li>
6646
6647 </ul>
6648
6649 <p>This change bring together patches for lsdvd in use in various
6650 Linux and Unix distributions, as well as patches submitted to the
6651 project the last nine years.  Please check it out. :)</p>
6652
6653       </div>
6654       <div class="tags">
6655
6656
6657         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/lsdvd">lsdvd</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/multimedia">multimedia</a>.
6658
6659
6660       </div>
6661     </div>
6662     <div class="padding"></div>
6663
6664     <div class="entry">
6665       <div class="title">
6666         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/How_to_test_Debian_Edu_Jessie_despite_some_fatal_problems_with_the_installer.html">How to test Debian Edu Jessie despite some fatal problems with the installer</a>
6667       </div>
6668       <div class="date">
6669         26th September 2014
6670       </div>
6671       <div class="body">
6672         <p>The <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / Skolelinux
6673 project</a> provide a Linux solution for schools, including a
6674 powerful desktop with education software, a central server providing
6675 web pages, user database, user home directories, central login and PXE
6676 boot of both  clients without disk and the installation to install Debian
6677 Edu on machines with disk (and a few other services perhaps to small
6678 to mention here).  We in the Debian Edu team are currently working on
6679 the Jessie based version, trying to get everything in shape before the
6680 freeze, to avoid having to maintain our own package repository in the
6681 future.  The
6682 <a href="https://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/Status/Jessie">current
6683 status</a> can be seen on the Debian wiki, and there is still heaps of
6684 work left.  Some fatal problems block testing, breaking the installer,
6685 but it is possible to work around these to get anyway.  Here is a
6686 recipe on how to get the installation limping along.</p>
6687
6688 <p>First, download the test ISO via
6689 <a href="ftp://ftp.skolelinux.no/cd-edu-testing-nolocal-netinst/debian-edu-amd64-i386-NETINST-1.iso">ftp</a>,
6690 <a href="http://ftp.skolelinux.no/cd-edu-testing-nolocal-netinst/debian-edu-amd64-i386-NETINST-1.iso">http</a>
6691 or rsync (use
6692 ftp.skolelinux.org::cd-edu-testing-nolocal-netinst/debian-edu-amd64-i386-NETINST-1.iso).
6693 The ISO build was broken on Tuesday, so we do not get a new ISO every
6694 12 hours or so, but thankfully the ISO we already got we are able to
6695 install with some tweaking.</p>
6696
6697 <p>When you get to the Debian Edu profile question, go to tty2
6698 (use Alt-Ctrl-F2), run</p>
6699
6700 <p><blockquote><pre>
6701 nano /usr/bin/edu-eatmydata-install
6702 </pre></blockquote></p>
6703
6704 <p>and add 'exit 0' as the second line, disabling the eatmydata
6705 optimization.  Return to the installation, select the profile you want
6706 and continue.  Without this change, exim4-config will fail to install
6707 due to a known bug in eatmydata.</p>
6708
6709 <p>When you get the grub question at the end, answer /dev/sda (or if
6710 this do not work, figure out what your correct value would be.  All my
6711 test machines need /dev/sda, so I have no advice if it do not fit
6712 your need.</p>
6713
6714 <p>If you installed a profile including a graphical desktop, log in as
6715 root after the initial boot from hard drive, and install the
6716 education-desktop-XXX metapackage.  XXX can be kde, gnome, lxde, xfce
6717 or mate.  If you want several desktop options, install more than one
6718 metapackage.  Once this is done, reboot and you should have a working
6719 graphical login screen.  This workaround should no longer be needed
6720 once the education-tasks package version 1.801 enter testing in two
6721 days.</p>
6722
6723 <p>I believe the ISO build will start working on two days when the new
6724 tasksel package enter testing and Steve McIntyre get a chance to
6725 update the debian-cd git repository.  The eatmydata, grub and desktop
6726 issues are already fixed in unstable and testing, and should show up
6727 on the ISO as soon as the ISO build start working again.  Well the
6728 eatmydata optimization is really just disabled.  The proper fix
6729 require an upload by the eatmydata maintainer applying the patch
6730 provided in bug <a href="https://bugs.debian.org/702711">#702711</a>.
6731 The rest have proper fixes in unstable.</p>
6732
6733 <p>I hope this get you going with the installation testing, as we are
6734 quickly running out of time trying to get our Jessie based
6735 installation ready before the distribution freeze in a month.</p>
6736
6737       </div>
6738       <div class="tags">
6739
6740
6741         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
6742
6743
6744       </div>
6745     </div>
6746     <div class="padding"></div>
6747
6748     <div class="entry">
6749       <div class="title">
6750         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Suddenly_I_am_the_new_upstream_of_the_lsdvd_command_line_tool.html">Suddenly I am the new upstream of the lsdvd command line tool</a>
6751       </div>
6752       <div class="date">
6753         25th September 2014
6754       </div>
6755       <div class="body">
6756         <p>I use the <a href="https://sourceforge.net/p/lsdvd/">lsdvd tool</a>
6757 to handle my fairly large DVD collection.  It is a nice command line
6758 tool to get details about a DVD, like title, tracks, track length,
6759 etc, in XML, Perl or human readable format.  But lsdvd have not seen
6760 any new development since 2006 and had a few irritating bugs affecting
6761 its use with some DVDs.  Upstream seemed to be dead, and in January I
6762 sent a small probe asking for a version control repository for the
6763 project, without any reply.  But I use it regularly and would like to
6764 get <a href="https://packages.qa.debian.org/lsdvd">an updated version
6765 into Debian</a>.  So two weeks ago I tried harder to get in touch with
6766 the project admin, and after getting a reply from him explaining that
6767 he was no longer interested in the project, I asked if I could take
6768 over.  And yesterday, I became project admin.</p>
6769
6770 <p>I've been in touch with a Gentoo developer and the Debian
6771 maintainer interested in joining forces to maintain the upstream
6772 project, and I hope we can get a new release out fairly quickly,
6773 collecting the patches spread around on the internet into on place.
6774 I've added the relevant Debian patches to the freshly created git
6775 repository, and expect the Gentoo patches to make it too.  If you got
6776 a DVD collection and care about command line tools, check out
6777 <a href="https://sourceforge.net/p/lsdvd/git/ci/master/tree/">the git source</a> and join
6778 <a href="https://sourceforge.net/p/lsdvd/mailman/">the project mailing
6779 list</a>. :)</p>
6780
6781       </div>
6782       <div class="tags">
6783
6784
6785         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/lsdvd">lsdvd</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/multimedia">multimedia</a>.
6786
6787
6788       </div>
6789     </div>
6790     <div class="padding"></div>
6791
6792     <div class="entry">
6793       <div class="title">
6794         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Speeding_up_the_Debian_installer_using_eatmydata_and_dpkg_divert.html">Speeding up the Debian installer using eatmydata and dpkg-divert</a>
6795       </div>
6796       <div class="date">
6797         16th September 2014
6798       </div>
6799       <div class="body">
6800         <p>The <a href="https://www.debian.org/">Debian</a> installer could be
6801 a lot quicker.  When we install more than 2000 packages in
6802 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Skolelinux / Debian Edu</a> using
6803 tasksel in the installer, unpacking the binary packages take forever.
6804 A part of the slow I/O issue was discussed in
6805 <a href="https://bugs.debian.org/613428">bug #613428</a> about too
6806 much file system sync-ing done by dpkg, which is the package
6807 responsible for unpacking the binary packages.  Other parts (like code
6808 executed by postinst scripts) might also sync to disk during
6809 installation.  All this sync-ing to disk do not really make sense to
6810 me.  If the machine crash half-way through, I start over, I do not try
6811 to salvage the half installed system.  So the failure sync-ing is
6812 supposed to protect against, hardware or system crash, is not really
6813 relevant while the installer is running.</p>
6814
6815 <p>A few days ago, I thought of a way to get rid of all the file
6816 system sync()-ing in a fairly non-intrusive way, without the need to
6817 change the code in several packages.  The idea is not new, but I have
6818 not heard anyone propose the approach using dpkg-divert before.  It
6819 depend on the small and clever package
6820 <a href="https://packages.qa.debian.org/eatmydata">eatmydata</a>, which
6821 uses LD_PRELOAD to replace the system functions for syncing data to
6822 disk with functions doing nothing, thus allowing programs to live
6823 dangerous while speeding up disk I/O significantly.  Instead of
6824 modifying the implementation of dpkg, apt and tasksel (which are the
6825 packages responsible for selecting, fetching and installing packages),
6826 it occurred to me that we could just divert the programs away, replace
6827 them with a simple shell wrapper calling
6828 "eatmydata&nbsp;$program&nbsp;$@", to get the same effect.
6829 Two days ago I decided to test the idea, and wrapped up a simple
6830 implementation for the Debian Edu udeb.</p>
6831
6832 <p>The effect was stunning.  In my first test it reduced the running
6833 time of the pkgsel step (installing tasks) from 64 to less than 44
6834 minutes (20 minutes shaved off the installation) on an old Dell
6835 Latitude D505 machine.  I am not quite sure what the optimised time
6836 would have been, as I messed up the testing a bit, causing the debconf
6837 priority to get low enough for two questions to pop up during
6838 installation.  As soon as I saw the questions I moved the installation
6839 along, but do not know how long the question were holding up the
6840 installation.  I did some more measurements using Debian Edu Jessie,
6841 and got these results.  The time measured is the time stamp in
6842 /var/log/syslog between the "pkgsel: starting tasksel" and the
6843 "pkgsel: finishing up" lines, if you want to do the same measurement
6844 yourself.  In Debian Edu, the tasksel dialog do not show up, and the
6845 timing thus do not depend on how quickly the user handle the tasksel
6846 dialog.</p>
6847
6848 <p><table>
6849
6850 <tr>
6851 <th>Machine/setup</th>
6852 <th>Original tasksel</th>
6853 <th>Optimised tasksel</th>
6854 <th>Reduction</th>
6855 </tr>
6856
6857 <tr>
6858 <td>Latitude D505 Main+LTSP LXDE</td>
6859 <td>64 min (07:46-08:50)</td>
6860 <td><44 min (11:27-12:11)</td>
6861 <td>>20 min 18%</td>
6862 </tr>
6863
6864 <tr>
6865 <td>Latitude D505 Roaming LXDE</td>
6866 <td>57 min (08:48-09:45)</td>
6867 <td>34 min (07:43-08:17)</td>
6868 <td>23 min 40%</td>
6869 </tr>
6870
6871 <tr>
6872 <td>Latitude D505 Minimal</td>
6873 <td>22 min (10:37-10:59)</td>
6874 <td>11 min (11:16-11:27)</td>
6875 <td>11 min 50%</td>
6876 </tr>
6877
6878 <tr>
6879 <td>Thinkpad X200 Minimal</td>
6880 <td>6 min (08:19-08:25)</td>
6881 <td>4 min (08:04-08:08)</td>
6882 <td>2 min 33%</td>
6883 </tr>
6884
6885 <tr>
6886 <td>Thinkpad X200 Roaming KDE</td>
6887 <td>19 min (09:21-09:40)</td>
6888 <td>15 min (10:25-10:40)</td>
6889 <td>4 min 21%</td>
6890 </tr>
6891
6892 </table></p>
6893
6894 <p>The test is done using a netinst ISO on a USB stick, so some of the
6895 time is spent downloading packages.  The connection to the Internet
6896 was 100Mbit/s during testing, so downloading should not be a
6897 significant factor in the measurement.  Download typically took a few
6898 seconds to a few minutes, depending on the amount of packages being
6899 installed.</p>
6900
6901 <p>The speedup is implemented by using two hooks in
6902 <a href="https://www.debian.org/devel/debian-installer/">Debian
6903 Installer</a>, the pre-pkgsel.d hook to set up the diverts, and the
6904 finish-install.d hook to remove the divert at the end of the
6905 installation.  I picked the pre-pkgsel.d hook instead of the
6906 post-base-installer.d hook because I test using an ISO without the
6907 eatmydata package included, and the post-base-installer.d hook in
6908 Debian Edu can only operate on packages included in the ISO.  The
6909 negative effect of this is that I am unable to activate this
6910 optimization for the kernel installation step in d-i.  If the code is
6911 moved to the post-base-installer.d hook, the speedup would be larger
6912 for the entire installation.</p>
6913
6914 <p>I've implemented this in the
6915 <a href="https://packages.qa.debian.org/debian-edu-install">debian-edu-install</a>
6916 git repository, and plan to provide the optimization as part of the
6917 Debian Edu installation.  If you want to test this yourself, you can
6918 create two files in the installer (or in an udeb).  One shell script
6919 need do go into /usr/lib/pre-pkgsel.d/, with content like this:</p>
6920
6921 <p><blockquote><pre>
6922 #!/bin/sh
6923 set -e
6924 . /usr/share/debconf/confmodule
6925 info() {
6926     logger -t my-pkgsel "info: $*"
6927 }
6928 error() {
6929     logger -t my-pkgsel "error: $*"
6930 }
6931 override_install() {
6932     apt-install eatmydata || true
6933     if [ -x /target/usr/bin/eatmydata ] ; then
6934         for bin in dpkg apt-get aptitude tasksel ; do
6935             file=/usr/bin/$bin
6936             # Test that the file exist and have not been diverted already.
6937             if [ -f /target$file ] ; then
6938                 info "diverting $file using eatmydata"
6939                 printf "#!/bin/sh\neatmydata $bin.distrib \"\$@\"\n" \
6940                     > /target$file.edu
6941                 chmod 755 /target$file.edu
6942                 in-target dpkg-divert --package debian-edu-config \
6943                     --rename --quiet --add $file
6944                 ln -sf ./$bin.edu /target$file
6945             else
6946                 error "unable to divert $file, as it is missing."
6947             fi
6948         done
6949     else
6950         error "unable to find /usr/bin/eatmydata after installing the eatmydata pacage"
6951     fi
6952 }
6953
6954 override_install
6955 </pre></blockquote></p>
6956
6957 <p>To clean up, another shell script should go into
6958 /usr/lib/finish-install.d/ with code like this:
6959
6960 <p><blockquote><pre>
6961 #! /bin/sh -e
6962 . /usr/share/debconf/confmodule
6963 error() {
6964     logger -t my-finish-install "error: $@"
6965 }
6966 remove_install_override() {
6967     for bin in dpkg apt-get aptitude tasksel ; do
6968         file=/usr/bin/$bin
6969         if [ -x /target$file.edu ] ; then
6970             rm /target$file
6971             in-target dpkg-divert --package debian-edu-config \
6972                 --rename --quiet --remove $file
6973             rm /target$file.edu
6974         else
6975             error "Missing divert for $file."
6976         fi
6977     done
6978     sync # Flush file buffers before continuing
6979 }
6980
6981 remove_install_override
6982 </pre></blockquote></p>
6983
6984 <p>In Debian Edu, I placed both code fragments in a separate script
6985 edu-eatmydata-install and call it from the pre-pkgsel.d and
6986 finish-install.d scripts.</p>
6987
6988 <p>By now you might ask if this change should get into the normal
6989 Debian installer too?  I suspect it should, but am not sure the
6990 current debian-installer coordinators find it useful enough.  It also
6991 depend on the side effects of the change.  I'm not aware of any, but I
6992 guess we will see if the change is safe after some more testing.
6993 Perhaps there is some package in Debian depending on sync() and
6994 fsync() having effect?  Perhaps it should go into its own udeb, to
6995 allow those of us wanting to enable it to do so without affecting
6996 everyone.</p>
6997
6998 <p>Update 2014-09-24: Since a few days ago, enabling this optimization
6999 will break installation of all programs using gnutls because of
7000 <a href="https://bugs.debian.org/702711">bug #702711</a>.  An updated
7001 eatmydata package in Debian will solve it.</p>
7002
7003 <p>Update 2014-10-17: The bug mentioned above is fixed in testing and
7004 the optimization work again.  And I have discovered that the
7005 dpkg-divert trick is not really needed and implemented a slightly
7006 simpler approach as part of the debian-edu-install package.  See
7007 tools/edu-eatmydata-install in the source package.</p>
7008
7009 <p>Update 2014-11-11: Unfortunately, a new
7010 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/765738">bug #765738</a> in eatmydata only
7011 triggering on i386 made it into testing, and broke this installation
7012 optimization again.  If <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/768893">unblock
7013 request 768893</a> is accepted, it should be working again.</p>
7014
7015       </div>
7016       <div class="tags">
7017
7018
7019         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
7020
7021
7022       </div>
7023     </div>
7024     <div class="padding"></div>
7025
7026     <div class="entry">
7027       <div class="title">
7028         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Good_bye_subkeys_pgp_net__welcome_pool_sks_keyservers_net.html">Good bye subkeys.pgp.net, welcome pool.sks-keyservers.net</a>
7029       </div>
7030       <div class="date">
7031         10th September 2014
7032       </div>
7033       <div class="body">
7034         <p>Yesterday, I had the pleasure of attending a talk with the
7035 <a href="http://www.nuug.no/">Norwegian Unix User Group</a> about
7036 <a href="http://www.nuug.no/aktiviteter/20140909-sks-keyservers/">the
7037 OpenPGP keyserver pool sks-keyservers.net</a>, and was very happy to
7038 learn that there is a large set of publicly available key servers to
7039 use when looking for peoples public key.  So far I have used
7040 subkeys.pgp.net, and some times wwwkeys.nl.pgp.net when the former
7041 were misbehaving, but those days are ended.  The servers I have used
7042 up until yesterday have been slow and some times unavailable.  I hope
7043 those problems are gone now.</p>
7044
7045 <p>Behind the round robin DNS entry of the
7046 <a href="https://sks-keyservers.net/">sks-keyservers.net</a> service
7047 there is a pool of more than 100 keyservers which are checked every
7048 day to ensure they are well connected and up to date.  It must be
7049 better than what I have used so far. :)</p>
7050
7051 <p>Yesterdays speaker told me that the service is the default
7052 keyserver provided by the default configuration in GnuPG, but this do
7053 not seem to be used in Debian.  Perhaps it should?</p>
7054
7055 <p>Anyway, I've updated my ~/.gnupg/options file to now include this
7056 line:</p>
7057
7058 <p><blockquote><pre>
7059 keyserver pool.sks-keyservers.net
7060 </pre></blockquote></p>
7061
7062 <p>With GnuPG version 2 one can also locate the keyserver using SRV
7063 entries in DNS.  Just for fun, I did just that at work, so now every
7064 user of GnuPG at the University of Oslo should find a OpenGPG
7065 keyserver automatically should their need it:</p>
7066
7067 <p><blockquote><pre>
7068 % host -t srv _pgpkey-http._tcp.uio.no
7069 _pgpkey-http._tcp.uio.no has SRV record 0 100 11371 pool.sks-keyservers.net.
7070 %
7071 </pre></blockquote></p>
7072
7073 <p>Now if only
7074 <a href="http://ietfreport.isoc.org/idref/draft-shaw-openpgp-hkp/">the
7075 HKP lookup protocol</a> supported finding signature paths, I would be
7076 very happy.  It can look up a given key or search for a user ID, but I
7077 normally do not want that, but to find a trust path from my key to
7078 another key.  Given a user ID or key ID, I would like to find (and
7079 download) the keys representing a signature path from my key to the
7080 key in question, to be able to get a trust path between the two keys.
7081 This is as far as I can tell not possible today.  Perhaps something
7082 for a future version of the protocol?</p>
7083
7084       </div>
7085       <div class="tags">
7086
7087
7088         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/personvern">personvern</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/sikkerhet">sikkerhet</a>.
7089
7090
7091       </div>
7092     </div>
7093     <div class="padding"></div>
7094
7095     <div class="entry">
7096       <div class="title">
7097         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/From_English_wiki_to_translated_PDF_and_epub_via_Docbook.html">From English wiki to translated PDF and epub via Docbook</a>
7098       </div>
7099       <div class="date">
7100         17th June 2014
7101       </div>
7102       <div class="body">
7103         <p>The <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / Skolelinux
7104 project</a> provide an instruction manual for teachers, system
7105 administrators and other users that contain useful tips for setting up
7106 and maintaining a Debian Edu installation.  This text is about how the
7107 text processing of this manual is handled in the project.</p>
7108
7109 <p>One goal of the project is to provide information in the native
7110 language of its users, and for this we need to handle translations.
7111 But we also want to make sure each language contain the same
7112 information, so for this we need a good way to keep the translations
7113 in sync.  And we want it to be easy for our users to improve the
7114 documentation, avoiding the need to learn special formats or tools to
7115 contribute, and the obvious way to do this is to make it possible to
7116 edit the documentation using a web browser.  We also want it to be
7117 easy for translators to keep the translation up to date, and give them
7118 help in figuring out what need to be translated. Here is the list of
7119 tools and the process we have found trying to reach all these
7120 goals.</p>
7121
7122 <p>We maintain the authoritative source of our manual in the
7123 <a href="https://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/Documentation/Wheezy/">Debian
7124 wiki</a>, as several wiki pages written in English.  It consist of one
7125 front page with references to the different chapters, several pages
7126 for each chapter, and finally one "collection page" gluing all the
7127 chapters together into one large web page (aka
7128 <a href="https://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/Documentation/Wheezy/AllInOne">the
7129 AllInOne page</a>).  The AllInOne page is the one used for further
7130 processing and translations.  Thanks to the fact that the
7131 <a href="http://moinmo.in/">MoinMoin</a> installation on
7132 wiki.debian.org support exporting pages in
7133 <a href="http://www.docbook.org/">the Docbook format</a>, we can fetch
7134 the list of pages to export using the raw version of the AllInOne
7135 page, loop over each of them to generate a Docbook XML version of the
7136 manual.  This process also download images and transform image
7137 references to use the locally downloaded images.  The generated
7138 Docbook XML files are slightly broken, so some post-processing is done
7139 using the <tt>documentation/scripts/get_manual</tt> program, and the
7140 result is a nice Docbook XML file (debian-edu-wheezy-manual.xml) and
7141 a handfull of images.  The XML file can now be used to generate PDF, HTML
7142 and epub versions of the English manual.  This is the basic step of
7143 our process, making PDF (using dblatex), HTML (using xsltproc) and
7144 epub (using dbtoepub) version from Docbook XML, and the resulting files
7145 are placed in the debian-edu-doc-en binary package.</p>
7146
7147 <p>But English documentation is not enough for us.  We want translated
7148 documentation too, and we want to make it easy for translators to
7149 track the English original.  For this we use the
7150 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/p/poxml.html">poxml</a> package,
7151 which allow us to transform the English Docbook XML file into a
7152 translation file (a .pot file), usable with the normal gettext based
7153 translation tools used by those translating free software.  The pot
7154 file is used to create and maintain translation files (several .po
7155 files), which the translations update with the native language
7156 translations of all titles, paragraphs and blocks of text in the
7157 original.  The next step is combining the original English Docbook XML
7158 and the translation file (say debian-edu-wheezy-manual.nb.po), to
7159 create a translated Docbook XML file (in this case
7160 debian-edu-wheezy-manual.nb.xml).  This translated (or partly
7161 translated, if the translation is not complete) Docbook XML file can
7162 then be used like the original to create a PDF, HTML and epub version
7163 of the documentation.</p>
7164
7165 <p>The translators use different tools to edit the .po files.  We
7166 recommend using
7167 <a href="http://www.kde.org/applications/development/lokalize/">lokalize</a>,
7168 while some use emacs and vi, others can use web based editors like
7169 <a href="http://pootle.translatehouse.org/">Poodle</a> or
7170 <a href="https://www.transifex.com/">Transifex</a>.  All we care about
7171 is where the .po file end up, in our git repository.  Updated
7172 translations can either be committed directly to git, or submitted as
7173 <a href="https://bugs.debian.org/src:debian-edu-doc">bug reports
7174 against the debian-edu-doc package</a>.</p>
7175
7176 <p>One challenge is images, which both might need to be translated (if
7177 they show translated user applications), and are needed in different
7178 formats when creating PDF and HTML versions (epub is a HTML version in
7179 this regard).  For this we transform the original PNG images to the
7180 needed density and format during build, and have a way to provide
7181 translated images by storing translated versions in
7182 images/$LANGUAGECODE/.  I am a bit unsure about the details here.  The
7183 package maintainers know more.</p>
7184
7185 <p>If you wonder what the result look like, we provide
7186 <a href="http://maintainer.skolelinux.org/debian-edu-doc/">the content
7187 of the documentation packages on the web</a>.  See for example the
7188 <a href="http://maintainer.skolelinux.org/debian-edu-doc/it/debian-edu-wheezy-manual.pdf">Italian
7189 PDF version</a> or the
7190 <a href="http://maintainer.skolelinux.org/debian-edu-doc/de/debian-edu-wheezy-manual.html">German
7191 HTML version</a>.  We do not yet build the epub version by default,
7192 but perhaps it will be done in the future.</p>
7193
7194 <p>To learn more, check out
7195 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/d/debian-edu-doc.html">the
7196 debian-edu-doc package</a>,
7197 <a href="https://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/Documentation/Wheezy/">the
7198 manual on the wiki</a> and
7199 <a href="https://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/Documentation/Wheezy/Translations">the
7200 translation instructions</a> in the manual.</p>
7201
7202       </div>
7203       <div class="tags">
7204
7205
7206         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/docbook">docbook</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
7207
7208
7209       </div>
7210     </div>
7211     <div class="padding"></div>
7212
7213     <div class="entry">
7214       <div class="title">
7215         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Install_hardware_dependent_packages_using_tasksel__Isenkram_0_7_.html">Install hardware dependent packages using tasksel (Isenkram 0.7)</a>
7216       </div>
7217       <div class="date">
7218         23rd April 2014
7219       </div>
7220       <div class="body">
7221         <p>It would be nice if it was easier in Debian to get all the hardware
7222 related packages relevant for the computer installed automatically.
7223 So I implemented one, using
7224 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/isenkram">my Isenkram
7225 package</a>.  To use it, install the tasksel and isenkram packages and
7226 run tasksel as user root.  You should be presented with a new option,
7227 "Hardware specific packages (autodetected by isenkram)".  When you
7228 select it, tasksel will install the packages isenkram claim is fit for
7229 the current hardware, hot pluggable or not.<p>
7230
7231 <p>The implementation is in two files, one is the tasksel menu entry
7232 description, and the other is the script used to extract the list of
7233 packages to install.  The first part is in
7234 <tt>/usr/share/tasksel/descs/isenkram.desc</tt> and look like
7235 this:</p>
7236
7237 <p><blockquote><pre>
7238 Task: isenkram
7239 Section: hardware
7240 Description: Hardware specific packages (autodetected by isenkram)
7241  Based on the detected hardware various hardware specific packages are
7242  proposed.
7243 Test-new-install: mark show
7244 Relevance: 8
7245 Packages: for-current-hardware
7246 </pre></blockquote></p>
7247
7248 <p>The second part is in
7249 <tt>/usr/lib/tasksel/packages/for-current-hardware</tt> and look like
7250 this:</p>
7251
7252 <p><blockquote><pre>
7253 #!/bin/sh
7254 #
7255 (
7256     isenkram-lookup
7257     isenkram-autoinstall-firmware -l
7258 ) | sort -u
7259 </pre></blockquote></p>
7260
7261 <p>All in all, a very short and simple implementation making it
7262 trivial to install the hardware dependent package we all may want to
7263 have installed on our machines.  I've not been able to find a way to
7264 get tasksel to tell you exactly which packages it plan to install
7265 before doing the installation.  So if you are curious or careful,
7266 check the output from the isenkram-* command line tools first.</p>
7267
7268 <p>The information about which packages are handling which hardware is
7269 fetched either from the isenkram package itself in
7270 /usr/share/isenkram/, from git.debian.org or from the APT package
7271 database (using the Modaliases header).  The APT package database
7272 parsing have caused a nasty resource leak in the isenkram daemon (bugs
7273 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/719837">#719837</a> and
7274 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/730704">#730704</a>).  The cause is in
7275 the python-apt code (bug
7276 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/745487">#745487</a>), but using a
7277 workaround I was able to get rid of the file descriptor leak and
7278 reduce the memory leak from ~30 MiB per hardware detection down to
7279 around 2 MiB per hardware detection.  It should make the desktop
7280 daemon a lot more useful.  The fix is in version 0.7 uploaded to
7281 unstable today.</p>
7282
7283 <p>I believe the current way of mapping hardware to packages in
7284 Isenkram is is a good draft, but in the future I expect isenkram to
7285 use the AppStream data source for this.  A proposal for getting proper
7286 AppStream support into Debian is floating around as
7287 <a href="https://wiki.debian.org/DEP-11">DEP-11</a>, and
7288 <a href="https://wiki.debian.org/SummerOfCode2014/Projects#SummerOfCode2014.2FProjects.2FAppStreamDEP11Implementation.AppStream.2FDEP-11_for_the_Debian_Archive">GSoC
7289 project</a> will take place this summer to improve the situation.  I
7290 look forward to seeing the result, and welcome patches for isenkram to
7291 start using the information when it is ready.</p>
7292
7293 <p>If you want your package to map to some specific hardware, either
7294 add a "Xb-Modaliases" header to your control file like I did in
7295 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/pymissile">the pymissile
7296 package</a> or submit a bug report with the details to the isenkram
7297 package.  See also
7298 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/isenkram/">all my
7299 blog posts tagged isenkram</a> for details on the notation.  I expect
7300 the information will be migrated to AppStream eventually, but for the
7301 moment I got no better place to store it.</p>
7302
7303       </div>
7304       <div class="tags">
7305
7306
7307         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/isenkram">isenkram</a>.
7308
7309
7310       </div>
7311     </div>
7312     <div class="padding"></div>
7313
7314     <div class="entry">
7315       <div class="title">
7316         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/FreedomBox_milestone___all_packages_now_in_Debian_Sid.html">FreedomBox milestone - all packages now in Debian Sid</a>
7317       </div>
7318       <div class="date">
7319         15th April 2014
7320       </div>
7321       <div class="body">
7322         <p>The <a href="https://wiki.debian.org/FreedomBox">Freedombox
7323 project</a> is working on providing the software and hardware to make
7324 it easy for non-technical people to host their data and communication
7325 at home, and being able to communicate with their friends and family
7326 encrypted and away from prying eyes.  It is still going strong, and
7327 today a major mile stone was reached.</p>
7328
7329 <p>Today, the last of the packages currently used by the project to
7330 created the system images were accepted into Debian Unstable.  It was
7331 the freedombox-setup package, which is used to configure the images
7332 during build and on the first boot.  Now all one need to get going is
7333 the build code from the freedom-maker git repository and packages from
7334 Debian.  And once the freedombox-setup package enter testing, we can
7335 build everything directly from Debian. :)</p>
7336
7337 <p>Some key packages used by Freedombox are
7338 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/freedombox-setup">freedombox-setup</a>,
7339 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/plinth">plinth</a>,
7340 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/pagekite">pagekite</a>,
7341 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/tor">tor</a>,
7342 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/privoxy">privoxy</a>,
7343 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/owncloud">owncloud</a> and
7344 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/dnsmasq">dnsmasq</a>.  There
7345 are plans to integrate more packages into the setup.  User
7346 documentation is maintained on the Debian wiki.  Please
7347 <a href="https://wiki.debian.org/FreedomBox/Manual/Jessie">check out
7348 the manual</a> and help us improve it.</p>
7349
7350 <p>To test for yourself and create boot images with the FreedomBox
7351 setup, run this on a Debian machine using a user with sudo rights to
7352 become root:</p>
7353
7354 <p><pre>
7355 sudo apt-get install git vmdebootstrap mercurial python-docutils \
7356   mktorrent extlinux virtualbox qemu-user-static binfmt-support \
7357   u-boot-tools
7358 git clone http://anonscm.debian.org/git/freedombox/freedom-maker.git \
7359   freedom-maker
7360 make -C freedom-maker dreamplug-image raspberry-image virtualbox-image
7361 </pre></p>
7362
7363 <p>Root access is needed to run debootstrap and mount loopback
7364 devices.  See the README in the freedom-maker git repo for more
7365 details on the build.  If you do not want all three images, trim the
7366 make line.  Note that the virtualbox-image target is not really
7367 virtualbox specific.  It create a x86 image usable in kvm, qemu,
7368 vmware and any other x86 virtual machine environment.  You might need
7369 the version of vmdebootstrap in Jessie to get the build working, as it
7370 include fixes for a race condition with kpartx.</p>
7371
7372 <p>If you instead want to install using a Debian CD and the preseed
7373 method, boot a Debian Wheezy ISO and use this boot argument to load
7374 the preseed values:</p>
7375
7376 <p><pre>
7377 url=<a href="http://www.reinholdtsen.name/freedombox/preseed-jessie.dat">http://www.reinholdtsen.name/freedombox/preseed-jessie.dat</a>
7378 </pre></p>
7379
7380 <p>I have not tested it myself the last few weeks, so I do not know if
7381 it still work.</p>
7382
7383 <p>If you wonder how to help, one task you could look at is using
7384 systemd as the boot system.  It will become the default for Linux in
7385 Jessie, so we need to make sure it is usable on the Freedombox.  I did
7386 a simple test a few weeks ago, and noticed dnsmasq failed to start
7387 during boot when using systemd.  I suspect there are other problems
7388 too. :) To detect problems, there is a test suite included, which can
7389 be run from the plinth web interface.</p>
7390
7391 <p>Give it a go and let us know how it goes on the mailing list, and help
7392 us get the new release published. :) Please join us on
7393 <a href="irc://irc.debian.org:6667/%23freedombox">IRC (#freedombox on
7394 irc.debian.org)</a> and
7395 <a href="http://lists.alioth.debian.org/mailman/listinfo/freedombox-discuss">the
7396 mailing list</a> if you want to help make this vision come true.</p>
7397
7398       </div>
7399       <div class="tags">
7400
7401
7402         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/freedombox">freedombox</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/sikkerhet">sikkerhet</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/surveillance">surveillance</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/web">web</a>.
7403
7404
7405       </div>
7406     </div>
7407     <div class="padding"></div>
7408
7409     <div class="entry">
7410       <div class="title">
7411         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/S3QL__a_locally_mounted_cloud_file_system___nice_free_software.html">S3QL, a locally mounted cloud file system - nice free software</a>
7412       </div>
7413       <div class="date">
7414          9th April 2014
7415       </div>
7416       <div class="body">
7417         <p>For a while now, I have been looking for a sensible offsite backup
7418 solution for use at home.  My requirements are simple, it must be
7419 cheap and locally encrypted (in other words, I keep the encryption
7420 keys, the storage provider do not have access to my private files).
7421 One idea me and my friends had many years ago, before the cloud
7422 storage providers showed up, was to use Google mail as storage,
7423 writing a Linux block device storing blocks as emails in the mail
7424 service provided by Google, and thus get heaps of free space.  On top
7425 of this one can add encryption, RAID and volume management to have
7426 lots of (fairly slow, I admit that) cheap and encrypted storage.  But
7427 I never found time to implement such system.  But the last few weeks I
7428 have looked at a system called
7429 <a href="https://bitbucket.org/nikratio/s3ql/">S3QL</a>, a locally
7430 mounted network backed file system with the features I need.</p>
7431
7432 <p>S3QL is a fuse file system with a local cache and cloud storage,
7433 handling several different storage providers, any with Amazon S3,
7434 Google Drive or OpenStack API.  There are heaps of such storage
7435 providers.  S3QL can also use a local directory as storage, which
7436 combined with sshfs allow for file storage on any ssh server.  S3QL
7437 include support for encryption, compression, de-duplication, snapshots
7438 and immutable file systems, allowing me to mount the remote storage as
7439 a local mount point, look at and use the files as if they were local,
7440 while the content is stored in the cloud as well.  This allow me to
7441 have a backup that should survive fire.  The file system can not be
7442 shared between several machines at the same time, as only one can
7443 mount it at the time, but any machine with the encryption key and
7444 access to the storage service can mount it if it is unmounted.</p>
7445
7446 <p>It is simple to use.  I'm using it on Debian Wheezy, where the
7447 package is included already.  So to get started, run <tt>apt-get
7448 install s3ql</tt>.  Next, pick a storage provider.  I ended up picking
7449 Greenqloud, after reading their nice recipe on
7450 <a href="https://greenqloud.zendesk.com/entries/44611757-How-To-Use-S3QL-to-mount-a-StorageQloud-bucket-on-Debian-Wheezy">how
7451 to use S3QL with their Amazon S3 service</a>, because I trust the laws
7452 in Iceland more than those in USA when it come to keeping my personal
7453 data safe and private, and thus would rather spend money on a company
7454 in Iceland.  Another nice recipe is available from the article
7455 <a href="http://www.admin-magazine.com/HPC/Articles/HPC-Cloud-Storage">S3QL
7456 Filesystem for HPC Storage</a> by Jeff Layton in the HPC section of
7457 Admin magazine.  When the provider is picked, figure out how to get
7458 the API key needed to connect to the storage API.  With Greencloud,
7459 the key did not show up until I had added payment details to my
7460 account.</p>
7461
7462 <p>Armed with the API access details, it is time to create the file
7463 system.  First, create a new bucket in the cloud.  This bucket is the
7464 file system storage area.  I picked a bucket name reflecting the
7465 machine that was going to store data there, but any name will do.
7466 I'll refer to it as <tt>bucket-name</tt> below.  In addition, one need
7467 the API login and password, and a locally created password.  Store it
7468 all in ~root/.s3ql/authinfo2 like this:
7469
7470 <p><blockquote><pre>
7471 [s3c]
7472 storage-url: s3c://s.greenqloud.com:443/bucket-name
7473 backend-login: API-login
7474 backend-password: API-password
7475 fs-passphrase: local-password
7476 </pre></blockquote></p>
7477
7478 <p>I create my local passphrase using <tt>pwget 50</tt> or similar,
7479 but any sensible way to create a fairly random password should do it.
7480 Armed with these details, it is now time to run mkfs, entering the API
7481 details and password to create it:</p>
7482
7483 <p><blockquote><pre>
7484 # mkdir -m 700 /var/lib/s3ql-cache
7485 # mkfs.s3ql --cachedir /var/lib/s3ql-cache --authfile /root/.s3ql/authinfo2 \
7486   --ssl s3c://s.greenqloud.com:443/bucket-name
7487 Enter backend login:
7488 Enter backend password:
7489 Before using S3QL, make sure to read the user's guide, especially
7490 the 'Important Rules to Avoid Loosing Data' section.
7491 Enter encryption password:
7492 Confirm encryption password:
7493 Generating random encryption key...
7494 Creating metadata tables...
7495 Dumping metadata...
7496 ..objects..
7497 ..blocks..
7498 ..inodes..
7499 ..inode_blocks..
7500 ..symlink_targets..
7501 ..names..
7502 ..contents..
7503 ..ext_attributes..
7504 Compressing and uploading metadata...
7505 Wrote 0.00 MB of compressed metadata.
7506 # </pre></blockquote></p>
7507
7508 <p>The next step is mounting the file system to make the storage available.
7509
7510 <p><blockquote><pre>
7511 # mount.s3ql --cachedir /var/lib/s3ql-cache --authfile /root/.s3ql/authinfo2 \
7512   --ssl --allow-root s3c://s.greenqloud.com:443/bucket-name /s3ql
7513 Using 4 upload threads.
7514 Downloading and decompressing metadata...
7515 Reading metadata...
7516 ..objects..
7517 ..blocks..
7518 ..inodes..
7519 ..inode_blocks..
7520 ..symlink_targets..
7521 ..names..
7522 ..contents..
7523 ..ext_attributes..
7524 Mounting filesystem...
7525 # df -h /s3ql
7526 Filesystem                              Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
7527 s3c://s.greenqloud.com:443/bucket-name  1.0T     0  1.0T   0% /s3ql
7528 #
7529 </pre></blockquote></p>
7530
7531 <p>The file system is now ready for use.  I use rsync to store my
7532 backups in it, and as the metadata used by rsync is downloaded at
7533 mount time, no network traffic (and storage cost) is triggered by
7534 running rsync.  To unmount, one should not use the normal umount
7535 command, as this will not flush the cache to the cloud storage, but
7536 instead running the umount.s3ql command like this:
7537
7538 <p><blockquote><pre>
7539 # umount.s3ql /s3ql
7540 #
7541 </pre></blockquote></p>
7542
7543 <p>There is a fsck command available to check the file system and
7544 correct any problems detected.  This can be used if the local server
7545 crashes while the file system is mounted, to reset the "already
7546 mounted" flag.  This is what it look like when processing a working
7547 file system:</p>
7548
7549 <p><blockquote><pre>
7550 # fsck.s3ql --force --ssl s3c://s.greenqloud.com:443/bucket-name
7551 Using cached metadata.
7552 File system seems clean, checking anyway.
7553 Checking DB integrity...
7554 Creating temporary extra indices...
7555 Checking lost+found...
7556 Checking cached objects...
7557 Checking names (refcounts)...
7558 Checking contents (names)...
7559 Checking contents (inodes)...
7560 Checking contents (parent inodes)...
7561 Checking objects (reference counts)...
7562 Checking objects (backend)...
7563 ..processed 5000 objects so far..
7564 ..processed 10000 objects so far..
7565 ..processed 15000 objects so far..
7566 Checking objects (sizes)...
7567 Checking blocks (referenced objects)...
7568 Checking blocks (refcounts)...
7569 Checking inode-block mapping (blocks)...
7570 Checking inode-block mapping (inodes)...
7571 Checking inodes (refcounts)...
7572 Checking inodes (sizes)...
7573 Checking extended attributes (names)...
7574 Checking extended attributes (inodes)...
7575 Checking symlinks (inodes)...
7576 Checking directory reachability...
7577 Checking unix conventions...
7578 Checking referential integrity...
7579 Dropping temporary indices...
7580 Backing up old metadata...
7581 Dumping metadata...
7582 ..objects..
7583 ..blocks..
7584 ..inodes..
7585 ..inode_blocks..
7586 ..symlink_targets..
7587 ..names..
7588 ..contents..
7589 ..ext_attributes..
7590 Compressing and uploading metadata...
7591 Wrote 0.89 MB of compressed metadata.
7592 #
7593 </pre></blockquote></p>
7594
7595 <p>Thanks to the cache, working on files that fit in the cache is very
7596 quick, about the same speed as local file access.  Uploading large
7597 amount of data is to me limited by the bandwidth out of and into my
7598 house.  Uploading 685 MiB with a 100 MiB cache gave me 305 kiB/s,
7599 which is very close to my upload speed, and downloading the same
7600 Debian installation ISO gave me 610 kiB/s, close to my download speed.
7601 Both were measured using <tt>dd</tt>.  So for me, the bottleneck is my
7602 network, not the file system code.  I do not know what a good cache
7603 size would be, but suspect that the cache should e larger than your
7604 working set.</p>
7605
7606 <p>I mentioned that only one machine can mount the file system at the
7607 time.  If another machine try, it is told that the file system is
7608 busy:</p>
7609
7610 <p><blockquote><pre>
7611 # mount.s3ql --cachedir /var/lib/s3ql-cache --authfile /root/.s3ql/authinfo2 \
7612   --ssl --allow-root s3c://s.greenqloud.com:443/bucket-name /s3ql
7613 Using 8 upload threads.
7614 Backend reports that fs is still mounted elsewhere, aborting.
7615 #
7616 </pre></blockquote></p>
7617
7618 <p>The file content is uploaded when the cache is full, while the
7619 metadata is uploaded once every 24 hour by default.  To ensure the
7620 file system content is flushed to the cloud, one can either umount the
7621 file system, or ask S3QL to flush the cache and metadata using
7622 s3qlctrl:
7623
7624 <p><blockquote><pre>
7625 # s3qlctrl upload-meta /s3ql
7626 # s3qlctrl flushcache /s3ql
7627 #
7628 </pre></blockquote></p>
7629
7630 <p>If you are curious about how much space your data uses in the
7631 cloud, and how much compression and deduplication cut down on the
7632 storage usage, you can use s3qlstat on the mounted file system to get
7633 a report:</p>
7634
7635 <p><blockquote><pre>
7636 # s3qlstat /s3ql
7637 Directory entries:    9141
7638 Inodes:               9143
7639 Data blocks:          8851
7640 Total data size:      22049.38 MB
7641 After de-duplication: 21955.46 MB (99.57% of total)
7642 After compression:    21877.28 MB (99.22% of total, 99.64% of de-duplicated)
7643 Database size:        2.39 MB (uncompressed)
7644 (some values do not take into account not-yet-uploaded dirty blocks in cache)
7645 #
7646 </pre></blockquote></p>
7647
7648 <p>I mentioned earlier that there are several possible suppliers of
7649 storage.  I did not try to locate them all, but am aware of at least
7650 <a href="https://www.greenqloud.com/">Greenqloud</a>,
7651 <a href="http://drive.google.com/">Google Drive</a>,
7652 <a href="http://aws.amazon.com/s3/">Amazon S3 web serivces</a>,
7653 <a href="http://www.rackspace.com/">Rackspace</a> and
7654 <a href="http://crowncloud.net/">Crowncloud</A>.  The latter even
7655 accept payment in Bitcoin.  Pick one that suit your need.  Some of
7656 them provide several GiB of free storage, but the prize models are
7657 quite different and you will have to figure out what suits you
7658 best.</p>
7659
7660 <p>While researching this blog post, I had a look at research papers
7661 and posters discussing the S3QL file system.  There are several, which
7662 told me that the file system is getting a critical check by the
7663 science community and increased my confidence in using it.  One nice
7664 poster is titled
7665 "<a href="http://www.lanl.gov/orgs/adtsc/publications/science_highlights_2013/docs/pg68_69.pdf">An
7666 Innovative Parallel Cloud Storage System using OpenStack’s SwiftObject
7667 Store and Transformative Parallel I/O Approach</a>" by Hsing-Bung
7668 Chen, Benjamin McClelland, David Sherrill, Alfred Torrez, Parks Fields
7669 and Pamela Smith.  Please  have a look.</p>
7670
7671 <p>Given my problems with different file systems earlier, I decided to
7672 check out the mounted S3QL file system to see if it would be usable as
7673 a home directory (in other word, that it provided POSIX semantics when
7674 it come to locking and umask handling etc).  Running
7675 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Testing_if_a_file_system_can_be_used_for_home_directories___.html">my
7676 test code to check file system semantics</a>, I was happy to discover that
7677 no error was found.  So the file system can be used for home
7678 directories, if one chooses to do so.</p>
7679
7680 <p>If you do not want a locally file system, and want something that
7681 work without the Linux fuse file system, I would like to mention the
7682 <a href="http://www.tarsnap.com/">Tarsnap service</a>, which also
7683 provide locally encrypted backup using a command line client.  It have
7684 a nicer access control system, where one can split out read and write
7685 access, allowing some systems to write to the backup and others to
7686 only read from it.</p>
7687
7688 <p>As usual, if you use Bitcoin and want to show your support of my
7689 activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address
7690 <b><a href="bitcoin:15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</a></b>.</p>
7691
7692       </div>
7693       <div class="tags">
7694
7695
7696         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nice free software">nice free software</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/personvern">personvern</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/sikkerhet">sikkerhet</a>.
7697
7698
7699       </div>
7700     </div>
7701     <div class="padding"></div>
7702
7703     <div class="entry">
7704       <div class="title">
7705         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Freedombox_on_Dreamplug__Raspberry_Pi_and_virtual_x86_machine.html">Freedombox on Dreamplug, Raspberry Pi and virtual x86 machine</a>
7706       </div>
7707       <div class="date">
7708         14th March 2014
7709       </div>
7710       <div class="body">
7711         <p>The <a href="https://wiki.debian.org/FreedomBox">Freedombox
7712 project</a> is working on providing the software and hardware for
7713 making it easy for non-technical people to host their data and
7714 communication at home, and being able to communicate with their
7715 friends and family encrypted and away from prying eyes.  It has been
7716 going on for a while, and is slowly progressing towards a new test
7717 release (0.2).</p>
7718
7719 <p>And what day could be better than the Pi day to announce that the
7720 new version will provide "hard drive" / SD card / USB stick images for
7721 Dreamplug, Raspberry Pi and VirtualBox (or any other virtualization
7722 system), and can also be installed using a Debian installer preseed
7723 file.  The Debian based Freedombox is now based on Debian Jessie,
7724 where most of the needed packages used are already present.  Only one,
7725 the freedombox-setup package, is missing.  To try to build your own
7726 boot image to test the current status, fetch the freedom-maker scripts
7727 and build using
7728 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/vmdebootstrap">vmdebootstrap</a>
7729 with a user with sudo access to become root:
7730
7731 <pre>
7732 git clone http://anonscm.debian.org/git/freedombox/freedom-maker.git \
7733   freedom-maker
7734 sudo apt-get install git vmdebootstrap mercurial python-docutils \
7735   mktorrent extlinux virtualbox qemu-user-static binfmt-support \
7736   u-boot-tools
7737 make -C freedom-maker dreamplug-image raspberry-image virtualbox-image
7738 </pre>
7739
7740 <p>Root access is needed to run debootstrap and mount loopback
7741 devices.  See the README for more details on the build. If you do not
7742 want all three images, trim the make line.  But note that thanks to <a
7743 href="https://bugs.debian.org/741407">a race condition in
7744 vmdebootstrap</a>, the build might fail without the patch to the
7745 kpartx call.</p>
7746
7747 <p>If you instead want to install using a Debian CD and the preseed
7748 method, boot a Debian Wheezy ISO and use this boot argument to load
7749 the preseed values:</p>
7750
7751 <pre>
7752 url=<a href="http://www.reinholdtsen.name/freedombox/preseed-jessie.dat">http://www.reinholdtsen.name/freedombox/preseed-jessie.dat</a>
7753 </pre>
7754
7755 <p>But note that due to <a href="https://bugs.debian.org/740673">a
7756 recently introduced bug in apt in Jessie</a>, the installer will
7757 currently hang while setting up APT sources.  Killing the
7758 '<tt>apt-cdrom ident</tt>' process when it hang a few times during the
7759 installation will get the installation going.  This affect all
7760 installations in Jessie, and I expect it will be fixed soon.</p>
7761
7762 <p>Give it a go and let us know how it goes on the mailing list, and help
7763 us get the new release published. :) Please join us on
7764 <a href="irc://irc.debian.org:6667/%23freedombox">IRC (#freedombox on
7765 irc.debian.org)</a> and
7766 <a href="http://lists.alioth.debian.org/mailman/listinfo/freedombox-discuss">the
7767 mailing list</a> if you want to help make this vision come true.</p>
7768
7769       </div>
7770       <div class="tags">
7771
7772
7773         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/freedombox">freedombox</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/sikkerhet">sikkerhet</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/surveillance">surveillance</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/web">web</a>.
7774
7775
7776       </div>
7777     </div>
7778     <div class="padding"></div>
7779
7780     <div class="entry">
7781       <div class="title">
7782         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/New_home_and_release_1_0_for_netgroup_and_innetgr__aka_ng_utils_.html">New home and release 1.0 for netgroup and innetgr (aka ng-utils)</a>
7783       </div>
7784       <div class="date">
7785         22nd February 2014
7786       </div>
7787       <div class="body">
7788         <p>Many years ago, I wrote a GPL licensed version of the netgroup and
7789 innetgr tools, because I needed them in
7790 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Skolelinux</a>.  I called the project
7791 ng-utils, and it has served me well.  I placed the project under the
7792 <a href="http://www.hungry.com/">Hungry Programmer</a> umbrella, and it was maintained in our CVS
7793 repository.  But many years ago, the CVS repository was dropped (lost,
7794 not migrated to new hardware, not sure), and the project have lacked a
7795 proper home since then.</p>
7796
7797 <p>Last summer, I had a look at the package and made a new release
7798 fixing a irritating crash bug, but was unable to store the changes in
7799 a proper source control system.  I applied for a project on
7800 <a href="https://alioth.debian.org/">Alioth</a>, but did not have time
7801 to follow up on it.  Until today. :)</p>
7802
7803 <p>After many hours of cleaning and migration, the ng-utils project
7804 now have a new home, and a git repository with the highlight of the
7805 history of the project.  I published all release tarballs and imported
7806 them into the git repository.  As the project is really stable and not
7807 expected to gain new features any time soon, I decided to make a new
7808 release and call it 1.0.  Visit the new project home on
7809 <a href="https://alioth.debian.org/projects/ng-utils/">https://alioth.debian.org/projects/ng-utils/</a>
7810 if you want to check it out.  The new version is also uploaded into
7811 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/n/ng-utils.html">Debian Unstable</a>.</p>
7812
7813       </div>
7814       <div class="tags">
7815
7816
7817         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
7818
7819
7820       </div>
7821     </div>
7822     <div class="padding"></div>
7823
7824     <div class="entry">
7825       <div class="title">
7826         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Testing_sysvinit_from_experimental_in_Debian_Hurd.html">Testing sysvinit from experimental in Debian Hurd</a>
7827       </div>
7828       <div class="date">
7829          3rd February 2014
7830       </div>
7831       <div class="body">
7832         <p>A few days ago I decided to try to help the Hurd people to get
7833 their changes into sysvinit, to allow them to use the normal sysvinit
7834 boot system instead of their old one.  This follow up on the
7835 <a href="https://teythoon.cryptobitch.de//categories/gsoc.html">great
7836 Google Summer of Code work</a> done last summer by Justus Winter to
7837 get Debian on Hurd working more like Debian on Linux.  To get started,
7838 I downloaded a prebuilt hard disk image from
7839 <a href="http://ftp.debian-ports.org/debian-cd/hurd-i386/current/debian-hurd.img.tar.gz">http://ftp.debian-ports.org/debian-cd/hurd-i386/current/debian-hurd.img.tar.gz</a>,
7840 and started it using virt-manager.</p>
7841
7842 <p>The first think I had to do after logging in (root without any
7843 password) was to get the network operational.  I followed
7844 <a href="https://www.debian.org/ports/hurd/hurd-install">the
7845 instructions on the Debian GNU/Hurd ports page</a> and ran these
7846 commands as root to get the machine to accept a IP address from the
7847 kvm internal DHCP server:</p>
7848
7849 <p><blockquote><pre>
7850 settrans -fgap /dev/netdde /hurd/netdde
7851 kill $(ps -ef|awk '/[p]finet/ { print $2}')
7852 kill $(ps -ef|awk '/[d]evnode/ { print $2}')
7853 dhclient /dev/eth0
7854 </pre></blockquote></p>
7855
7856 <p>After this, the machine had internet connectivity, and I could
7857 upgrade it and install the sysvinit packages from experimental and
7858 enable it as the default boot system in Hurd.</p>
7859
7860 <p>But before I did that, I set a password on the root user, as ssh is
7861 running on the machine it for ssh login to work a password need to be
7862 set.  Also, note that a bug somewhere in openssh on Hurd block
7863 compression from working.  Remember to turn that off on the client
7864 side.</p>
7865
7866 <p>Run these commands as root to upgrade and test the new sysvinit
7867 stuff:</p>
7868
7869 <p><blockquote><pre>
7870 cat > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/experimental.list &lt;&lt;EOF
7871 deb http://http.debian.net/debian/ experimental main
7872 EOF
7873 apt-get update
7874 apt-get dist-upgrade
7875 apt-get install -t experimental initscripts sysv-rc sysvinit \
7876     sysvinit-core sysvinit-utils
7877 update-alternatives --config runsystem
7878 </pre></blockquote></p>
7879
7880 <p>To reboot after switching boot system, you have to use
7881 <tt>reboot-hurd</tt> instead of just <tt>reboot</tt>, as there is not
7882 yet a sysvinit process able to receive the signals from the normal
7883 'reboot' command.  After switching to sysvinit as the boot system,
7884 upgrading every package and rebooting, the network come up with DHCP
7885 after boot as it should, and the settrans/pkill hack mentioned at the
7886 start is no longer needed.  But for some strange reason, there are no
7887 longer any login prompt in the virtual console, so I logged in using
7888 ssh instead.
7889
7890 <p>Note that there are some race conditions in Hurd making the boot
7891 fail some times.  No idea what the cause is, but hope the Hurd porters
7892 figure it out.  At least Justus said on IRC (#debian-hurd on
7893 irc.debian.org) that they are aware of the problem.  A way to reduce
7894 the impact is to upgrade to the Hurd packages built by Justus by
7895 adding this repository to the machine:</p>
7896
7897 <p><blockquote><pre>
7898 cat > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/hurd-ci.list &lt;&lt;EOF
7899 deb http://darnassus.sceen.net/~teythoon/hurd-ci/ sid main
7900 EOF
7901 </pre></blockquote></p>
7902
7903 <p>At the moment the prebuilt virtual machine get some packages from
7904 http://ftp.debian-ports.org/debian, because some of the packages in
7905 unstable do not yet include the required patches that are lingering in
7906 BTS.  This is the completely list of "unofficial" packages installed:</p>
7907
7908 <p><blockquote><pre>
7909 # aptitude search '?narrow(?version(CURRENT),?origin(Debian Ports))'
7910 i   emacs                   - GNU Emacs editor (metapackage)
7911 i   gdb                     - GNU Debugger
7912 i   hurd-recommended        - Miscellaneous translators
7913 i   isc-dhcp-client         - ISC DHCP client
7914 i   isc-dhcp-common         - common files used by all the isc-dhcp* packages
7915 i   libc-bin                - Embedded GNU C Library: Binaries
7916 i   libc-dev-bin            - Embedded GNU C Library: Development binaries
7917 i   libc0.3                 - Embedded GNU C Library: Shared libraries
7918 i A libc0.3-dbg             - Embedded GNU C Library: detached debugging symbols
7919 i   libc0.3-dev             - Embedded GNU C Library: Development Libraries and Hea
7920 i   multiarch-support       - Transitional package to ensure multiarch compatibilit
7921 i A x11-common              - X Window System (X.Org) infrastructure
7922 i   xorg                    - X.Org X Window System
7923 i A xserver-xorg            - X.Org X server
7924 i A xserver-xorg-input-all  - X.Org X server -- input driver metapackage
7925 #
7926 </pre></blockquote></p>
7927
7928 <p>All in all, testing hurd has been an interesting experience. :)
7929 X.org did not work out of the box and I never took the time to follow
7930 the porters instructions to fix it.  This time I was interested in the
7931 command line stuff.<p>
7932
7933       </div>
7934       <div class="tags">
7935
7936
7937         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/bootsystem">bootsystem</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
7938
7939
7940       </div>
7941     </div>
7942     <div class="padding"></div>
7943
7944     <div class="entry">
7945       <div class="title">
7946         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/New_chrpath_release_0_16.html">New chrpath release 0.16</a>
7947       </div>
7948       <div class="date">
7949         14th January 2014
7950       </div>
7951       <div class="body">
7952         <p><a href="http://www.coverity.com/">Coverity</a> is a nice tool to
7953 find problems in C, C++ and Java code using static source code
7954 analysis.  It can detect a lot of different problems, and is very
7955 useful to find memory and locking bugs in the error handling part of
7956 the source.  The company behind it provide
7957 <a href="https://scan.coverity.com/">check of free software projects as
7958 a community service</a>, and many hundred free software projects are
7959 already checked.  A few days ago I decided to have a closer look at
7960 the Coverity system, and discovered that the
7961 <a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/gnash/">gnash</a> and
7962 <a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/ipmitool/">ipmitool</a>
7963 projects I am involved with was already registered.  But these are
7964 fairly big, and I would also like to have a small and easy project to
7965 check, and decided to <a href="http://scan.coverity.com/projects/1179">request
7966 checking of the chrpath project</a>.  It was
7967 added to the checker and discovered seven potential defects.  Six of
7968 these were real, mostly resource "leak" when the program detected an
7969 error.  Nothing serious, as the resources would be released a fraction
7970 of a second later when the program exited because of the error, but it
7971 is nice to do it right in case the source of the program some time in
7972 the future end up in a library.  Having fixed all defects and added
7973 <a href="https://lists.alioth.debian.org/mailman/listinfo/chrpath-devel">a
7974 mailing list for the chrpath developers</a>, I decided it was time to
7975 publish a new release.  These are the release notes:</p>
7976
7977 <p>New in 0.16 released 2014-01-14:</p>
7978
7979 <ul>
7980
7981   <li>Fixed all minor bugs discovered by Coverity.</li>
7982   <li>Updated config.sub and config.guess from the GNU project.</li>
7983   <li>Mention new project mailing list in the documentation.</li>
7984
7985 </ul>
7986
7987 <p>You can
7988 <a href="https://alioth.debian.org/frs/?group_id=31052">download the
7989 new version 0.16 from alioth</a>.  Please let us know via the Alioth
7990 project if something is wrong with the new release.  The test suite
7991 did not discover any old errors, so if you find a new one, please also
7992 include a test suite check.</p>
7993
7994       </div>
7995       <div class="tags">
7996
7997
7998         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/chrpath">chrpath</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
7999
8000
8001       </div>
8002     </div>
8003     <div class="padding"></div>
8004
8005     <div class="entry">
8006       <div class="title">
8007         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/New_chrpath_release_0_15.html">New chrpath release 0.15</a>
8008       </div>
8009       <div class="date">
8010         24th November 2013
8011       </div>
8012       <div class="body">
8013         <p>After many years break from the package and a vain hope that
8014 development would be continued by someone else, I finally pulled my
8015 acts together this morning and wrapped up a new release of chrpath,
8016 the command line tool to modify the rpath and runpath of already
8017 compiled ELF programs.  The update was triggered by the persistence of
8018 Isha Vishnoi at IBM, which needed a new config.guess file to get
8019 support for the ppc64le architecture (powerpc 64-bit Little Endian) he
8020 is working on.  I checked the
8021 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/chrpath">Debian</a>,
8022 <a href="https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/chrpath">Ubuntu</a> and
8023 <a href="https://admin.fedoraproject.org/pkgdb/acls/name/chrpath">Fedora</a>
8024 packages for interesting patches (failed to find the source from
8025 OpenSUSE and Mandriva packages), and found quite a few nice fixes.
8026 These are the release notes:</p>
8027
8028 <p>New in 0.15 released 2013-11-24:</p>
8029
8030 <ul>
8031
8032   <li>Updated config.sub and config.guess from the GNU project to work
8033    with newer architectures.  Thanks to isha vishnoi for the heads
8034    up.</li>
8035
8036   <li>Updated README with current URLs.</li>
8037
8038   <li>Added byteswap fix found in Ubuntu, credited Jeremy Kerr and
8039    Matthias Klose.</li>
8040
8041   <li>Added missing help for -k|--keepgoing option, using patch by
8042    Petr Machata found in Fedora.</li>
8043
8044   <li>Rewrite removal of RPATH/RUNPATH to make sure the entry in
8045    .dynamic is a NULL terminated string.  Based on patch found in
8046    Fedora credited Axel Thimm and Christian Krause.</li>
8047
8048 </ul>
8049
8050 <p>You can
8051 <a href="https://alioth.debian.org/frs/?group_id=31052">download the
8052 new version 0.15 from alioth</a>.  Please let us know via the Alioth
8053 project if something is wrong with the new release.  The test suite
8054 did not discover any old errors, so if you find a new one, please also
8055 include a testsuite check.</p>
8056
8057       </div>
8058       <div class="tags">
8059
8060
8061         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/chrpath">chrpath</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
8062
8063
8064       </div>
8065     </div>
8066     <div class="padding"></div>
8067
8068     <div class="entry">
8069       <div class="title">
8070         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_init_d_boot_script_example_for_rsyslog.html">Debian init.d boot script example for rsyslog</a>
8071       </div>
8072       <div class="date">
8073          2nd November 2013
8074       </div>
8075       <div class="body">
8076         <p>If one of the points of switching to a new init system in Debian is
8077 <a href="http://thomas.goirand.fr/blog/?p=147">to get rid of huge
8078 init.d scripts</a>, I doubt we need to switch away from sysvinit and
8079 init.d scripts at all.  Here is an example init.d script, ie a rewrite
8080 of /etc/init.d/rsyslog:</p>
8081
8082 <p><pre>
8083 #!/lib/init/init-d-script
8084 ### BEGIN INIT INFO
8085 # Provides:          rsyslog
8086 # Required-Start:    $remote_fs $time
8087 # Required-Stop:     umountnfs $time
8088 # X-Stop-After:      sendsigs
8089 # Default-Start:     2 3 4 5
8090 # Default-Stop:      0 1 6
8091 # Short-Description: enhanced syslogd
8092 # Description:       Rsyslog is an enhanced multi-threaded syslogd.
8093 #                    It is quite compatible to stock sysklogd and can be
8094 #                    used as a drop-in replacement.
8095 ### END INIT INFO
8096 DESC="enhanced syslogd"
8097 DAEMON=/usr/sbin/rsyslogd
8098 </pre></p>
8099
8100 <p>Pretty minimalistic to me... For the record, the original sysv-rc
8101 script was 137 lines, and the above is just 15 lines, most of it meta
8102 info/comments.</p>
8103
8104 <p>How to do this, you ask?  Well, one create a new script
8105 /lib/init/init-d-script looking something like this:
8106
8107 <p><pre>
8108 #!/bin/sh
8109
8110 # Define LSB log_* functions.
8111 # Depend on lsb-base (>= 3.2-14) to ensure that this file is present
8112 # and status_of_proc is working.
8113 . /lib/lsb/init-functions
8114
8115 #
8116 # Function that starts the daemon/service
8117
8118 #
8119 do_start()
8120 {
8121         # Return
8122         #   0 if daemon has been started
8123         #   1 if daemon was already running
8124         #   2 if daemon could not be started
8125         start-stop-daemon --start --quiet --pidfile $PIDFILE --exec $DAEMON --test > /dev/null \
8126                 || return 1
8127         start-stop-daemon --start --quiet --pidfile $PIDFILE --exec $DAEMON -- \
8128                 $DAEMON_ARGS \
8129                 || return 2
8130         # Add code here, if necessary, that waits for the process to be ready
8131         # to handle requests from services started subsequently which depend
8132         # on this one.  As a last resort, sleep for some time.
8133 }
8134
8135 #
8136 # Function that stops the daemon/service
8137 #
8138 do_stop()
8139 {
8140         # Return
8141         #   0 if daemon has been stopped
8142         #   1 if daemon was already stopped
8143         #   2 if daemon could not be stopped
8144         #   other if a failure occurred
8145         start-stop-daemon --stop --quiet --retry=TERM/30/KILL/5 --pidfile $PIDFILE --name $NAME
8146         RETVAL="$?"
8147         [ "$RETVAL" = 2 ] && return 2
8148         # Wait for children to finish too if this is a daemon that forks
8149         # and if the daemon is only ever run from this initscript.
8150         # If the above conditions are not satisfied then add some other code
8151         # that waits for the process to drop all resources that could be
8152         # needed by services started subsequently.  A last resort is to
8153         # sleep for some time.
8154         start-stop-daemon --stop --quiet --oknodo --retry=0/30/KILL/5 --exec $DAEMON
8155         [ "$?" = 2 ] && return 2
8156         # Many daemons don't delete their pidfiles when they exit.
8157         rm -f $PIDFILE
8158         return "$RETVAL"
8159 }
8160
8161 #
8162 # Function that sends a SIGHUP to the daemon/service
8163 #
8164 do_reload() {
8165         #
8166         # If the daemon can reload its configuration without
8167         # restarting (for example, when it is sent a SIGHUP),
8168         # then implement that here.
8169         #
8170         start-stop-daemon --stop --signal 1 --quiet --pidfile $PIDFILE --name $NAME
8171         return 0
8172 }
8173
8174 SCRIPTNAME=$1
8175 scriptbasename="$(basename $1)"
8176 echo "SN: $scriptbasename"
8177 if [ "$scriptbasename" != "init-d-library" ] ; then
8178     script="$1"
8179     shift
8180     . $script
8181 else
8182     exit 0
8183 fi
8184
8185 NAME=$(basename $DAEMON)
8186 PIDFILE=/var/run/$NAME.pid
8187
8188 # Exit if the package is not installed
8189 #[ -x "$DAEMON" ] || exit 0
8190
8191 # Read configuration variable file if it is present
8192 [ -r /etc/default/$NAME ] && . /etc/default/$NAME
8193
8194 # Load the VERBOSE setting and other rcS variables
8195 . /lib/init/vars.sh
8196
8197 case "$1" in
8198   start)
8199         [ "$VERBOSE" != no ] && log_daemon_msg "Starting $DESC" "$NAME"
8200         do_start
8201         case "$?" in
8202                 0|1) [ "$VERBOSE" != no ] && log_end_msg 0 ;;
8203                 2) [ "$VERBOSE" != no ] && log_end_msg 1 ;;
8204         esac
8205         ;;
8206   stop)
8207         [ "$VERBOSE" != no ] && log_daemon_msg "Stopping $DESC" "$NAME"
8208         do_stop
8209         case "$?" in
8210                 0|1) [ "$VERBOSE" != no ] && log_end_msg 0 ;;
8211                 2) [ "$VERBOSE" != no ] && log_end_msg 1 ;;
8212         esac
8213         ;;
8214   status)
8215         status_of_proc "$DAEMON" "$NAME" && exit 0 || exit $?
8216         ;;
8217   #reload|force-reload)
8218         #
8219         # If do_reload() is not implemented then leave this commented out
8220         # and leave 'force-reload' as an alias for 'restart'.
8221         #
8222         #log_daemon_msg "Reloading $DESC" "$NAME"
8223         #do_reload
8224         #log_end_msg $?
8225         #;;
8226   restart|force-reload)
8227         #
8228         # If the "reload" option is implemented then remove the
8229         # 'force-reload' alias
8230         #
8231         log_daemon_msg "Restarting $DESC" "$NAME"
8232         do_stop
8233         case "$?" in
8234           0|1)
8235                 do_start
8236                 case "$?" in
8237                         0) log_end_msg 0 ;;
8238                         1) log_end_msg 1 ;; # Old process is still running
8239                         *) log_end_msg 1 ;; # Failed to start
8240                 esac
8241                 ;;
8242           *)
8243                 # Failed to stop
8244                 log_end_msg 1
8245                 ;;
8246         esac
8247         ;;
8248   *)
8249         echo "Usage: $SCRIPTNAME {start|stop|status|restart|force-reload}" >&2
8250         exit 3
8251         ;;
8252 esac
8253
8254 :
8255 </pre></p>
8256
8257 <p>It is based on /etc/init.d/skeleton, and could be improved quite a
8258 lot.  I did not really polish the approach, so it might not always
8259 work out of the box, but you get the idea.  I did not try very hard to
8260 optimize it nor make it more robust either.</p>
8261
8262 <p>A better argument for switching init system in Debian than reducing
8263 the size of init scripts (which is a good thing to do anyway), is to
8264 get boot system that is able to handle the kernel events sensibly and
8265 robustly, and do not depend on the boot to run sequentially.  The boot
8266 and the kernel have not behaved sequentially in years.</p>
8267
8268       </div>
8269       <div class="tags">
8270
8271
8272         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/bootsystem">bootsystem</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
8273
8274
8275       </div>
8276     </div>
8277     <div class="padding"></div>
8278
8279     <div class="entry">
8280       <div class="title">
8281         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Browser_plugin_for_SPICE__spice_xpi__uploaded_to_Debian.html">Browser plugin for SPICE (spice-xpi) uploaded to Debian</a>
8282       </div>
8283       <div class="date">
8284          1st November 2013
8285       </div>
8286       <div class="body">
8287         <p><a href="http://www.spice-space.org/">The SPICE protocol</a> for
8288 remote display access is the preferred solution with oVirt and RedHat
8289 Enterprise Virtualization, and I was sad to discover the other day
8290 that the browser plugin needed to use these systems seamlessly was
8291 missing in Debian.  The <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/668284">request
8292 for a package</a> was from 2012-04-10 with no progress since
8293 2013-04-01, so I decided to wrap up a package based on the great work
8294 from Cajus Pollmeier and put it in a collab-maint maintained git
8295 repository to get a package I could use.  I would very much like
8296 others to help me maintain the package (or just take over, I do not
8297 mind), but as no-one had volunteered so far, I just uploaded it to
8298 NEW.  I hope it will be available in Debian in a few days.</p>
8299
8300 <p>The source is now available from
8301 <a href="http://anonscm.debian.org/gitweb/?p=collab-maint/spice-xpi.git;a=summary">http://anonscm.debian.org/gitweb/?p=collab-maint/spice-xpi.git;a=summary</a>.</p>
8302
8303       </div>
8304       <div class="tags">
8305
8306
8307         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
8308
8309
8310       </div>
8311     </div>
8312     <div class="padding"></div>
8313
8314     <div class="entry">
8315       <div class="title">
8316         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Teaching_vmdebootstrap_to_create_Raspberry_Pi_SD_card_images.html">Teaching vmdebootstrap to create Raspberry Pi SD card images</a>
8317       </div>
8318       <div class="date">
8319         27th October 2013
8320       </div>
8321       <div class="body">
8322         <p>The
8323 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/v/vmdebootstrap.html">vmdebootstrap</a>
8324 program is a a very nice system to create virtual machine images.  It
8325 create a image file, add a partition table, mount it and run
8326 debootstrap in the mounted directory to create a Debian system on a
8327 stick.  Yesterday, I decided to try to teach it how to make images for
8328 <a href="https://wiki.debian.org/RaspberryPi">Raspberry Pi</a>, as part
8329 of a plan to simplify the build system for
8330 <a href="https://wiki.debian.org/FreedomBox">the FreedomBox
8331 project</a>.  The FreedomBox project already uses vmdebootstrap for
8332 the virtualbox images, but its current build system made multistrap
8333 based system for Dreamplug images, and it is lacking support for
8334 Raspberry Pi.</p>
8335
8336 <p>Armed with the knowledge on how to build "foreign" (aka non-native
8337 architecture) chroots for Raspberry Pi, I dived into the vmdebootstrap
8338 code and adjusted it to be able to build armel images on my amd64
8339 Debian laptop.  I ended up giving vmdebootstrap five new options,
8340 allowing me to replicate the image creation process I use to make
8341 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/A_Raspberry_Pi_based_batman_adv_Mesh_network_node.html">Debian
8342 Jessie based mesh node images for the Raspberry Pi</a>.  First, the
8343 <tt>--foreign /path/to/binfm_handler</tt> option tell vmdebootstrap to
8344 call debootstrap with --foreign and to copy the handler into the
8345 generated chroot before running the second stage.  This allow
8346 vmdebootstrap to create armel images on an amd64 host.  Next I added
8347 two new options <tt>--bootsize size</tt> and <tt>--boottype
8348 fstype</tt> to teach it to create a separate /boot/ partition with the
8349 given file system type, allowing me to create an image with a vfat
8350 partition for the /boot/ stuff.  I also added a <tt>--variant
8351 variant</tt> option to allow me to create smaller images without the
8352 Debian base system packages installed.  Finally, I added an option
8353 <tt>--no-extlinux</tt> to tell vmdebootstrap to not install extlinux
8354 as a boot loader.  It is not needed on the Raspberry Pi and probably
8355 most other non-x86 architectures.  The changes were accepted by the
8356 upstream author of vmdebootstrap yesterday and today, and is now
8357 available from
8358 <a href="http://git.liw.fi/cgi-bin/cgit/cgit.cgi/vmdebootstrap/">the
8359 upstream project page</a>.</p>
8360
8361 <p>To use it to build a Raspberry Pi image using Debian Jessie, first
8362 create a small script (the customize script) to add the non-free
8363 binary blob needed to boot the Raspberry Pi and the APT source
8364 list:</p>
8365
8366 <p><pre>
8367 #!/bin/sh
8368 set -e # Exit on first error
8369 rootdir="$1"
8370 cd "$rootdir"
8371 cat &lt;&lt;EOF > etc/apt/sources.list
8372 deb http://http.debian.net/debian/ jessie main contrib non-free
8373 EOF
8374 # Install non-free binary blob needed to boot Raspberry Pi.  This
8375 # install a kernel somewhere too.
8376 wget https://raw.github.com/Hexxeh/rpi-update/master/rpi-update \
8377     -O $rootdir/usr/bin/rpi-update
8378 chmod a+x $rootdir/usr/bin/rpi-update
8379 mkdir -p $rootdir/lib/modules
8380 touch $rootdir/boot/start.elf
8381 chroot $rootdir rpi-update
8382 </pre></p>
8383
8384 <p>Next, fetch the latest vmdebootstrap script and call it like this
8385 to build the image:</p>
8386
8387 <pre>
8388 sudo ./vmdebootstrap \
8389     --variant minbase \
8390     --arch armel \
8391     --distribution jessie \
8392     --mirror http://http.debian.net/debian \
8393     --image test.img \
8394     --size 600M \
8395     --bootsize 64M \
8396     --boottype vfat \
8397     --log-level debug \
8398     --verbose \
8399     --no-kernel \
8400     --no-extlinux \
8401     --root-password raspberry \
8402     --hostname raspberrypi \
8403     --foreign /usr/bin/qemu-arm-static \
8404     --customize `pwd`/customize \
8405     --package netbase \
8406     --package git-core \
8407     --package binutils \
8408     --package ca-certificates \
8409     --package wget \
8410     --package kmod
8411 </pre></p>
8412
8413 <p>The list of packages being installed are the ones needed by
8414 rpi-update to make the image bootable on the Raspberry Pi, with the
8415 exception of netbase, which is needed by debootstrap to find
8416 /etc/hosts with the minbase variant.  I really wish there was a way to
8417 set up an Raspberry Pi using only packages in the Debian archive, but
8418 that is not possible as far as I know, because it boots from the GPU
8419 using a non-free binary blob.</p>
8420
8421 <p>The build host need debootstrap, kpartx and qemu-user-static and
8422 probably a few others installed.  I have not checked the complete
8423 build dependency list.</p>
8424
8425 <p>The resulting image will not use the hardware floating point unit
8426 on the Raspberry PI, because the armel architecture in Debian is not
8427 optimized for that use.  So the images created will be a bit slower
8428 than <a href="http://www.raspbian.org/">Raspbian</a> based images.</p>
8429
8430       </div>
8431       <div class="tags">
8432
8433
8434         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/freedombox">freedombox</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/mesh network">mesh network</a>.
8435
8436
8437       </div>
8438     </div>
8439     <div class="padding"></div>
8440
8441     <div class="entry">
8442       <div class="title">
8443         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Good_causes__Debian_Outreach_Program_for_Women__EFF_documenting_the_spying_and_Open_access_in_Norway.html">Good causes: Debian Outreach Program for Women, EFF documenting the spying and Open access in Norway</a>
8444       </div>
8445       <div class="date">
8446         15th October 2013
8447       </div>
8448       <div class="body">
8449         <p>The last few days I came across a few good causes that should get
8450 wider attention.  I recommend signing and donating to each one of
8451 these. :)</p>
8452
8453 <p>Via <a href="http://www.debian.org/News/weekly/2013/18/">Debian
8454 Project News for 2013-10-14</a> I came across the Outreach Program for
8455 Women program which is a Google Summer of Code like initiative to get
8456 more women involved in free software.  One debian sponsor has offered
8457 to match <a href="http://debian.ch/opw2013">any donation done to Debian
8458 earmarked</a> for this initiative.  I donated a few minutes ago, and
8459 hope you will to. :)</p>
8460
8461 <p>And the Electronic Frontier Foundation just announced plans to
8462 create <a href="https://supporters.eff.org/donate/nsa-videos">video
8463 documentaries about the excessive spying</a> on every Internet user that
8464 take place these days, and their need to fund the work.  I've already
8465 donated.  Are you next?</p>
8466
8467 <p>For my Norwegian audience, the organisation Studentenes og
8468 Akademikernes Internasjonale Hjelpefond is collecting signatures for a
8469 statement under the heading
8470 <a href="http://saih.no/Bloggers_United/">Bloggers United for Open
8471 Access</a> for those of us asking for more focus on open access in the
8472 Norwegian government.  So far 499 signatures.  I hope you will sign it
8473 too.</p>
8474
8475       </div>
8476       <div class="tags">
8477
8478
8479         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/opphavsrett">opphavsrett</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/surveillance">surveillance</a>.
8480
8481
8482       </div>
8483     </div>
8484     <div class="padding"></div>
8485
8486     <div class="entry">
8487       <div class="title">
8488         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Videos_about_the_Freedombox_project___for_inspiration_and_learning.html">Videos about the Freedombox project - for inspiration and learning</a>
8489       </div>
8490       <div class="date">
8491         27th September 2013
8492       </div>
8493       <div class="body">
8494         <p>The <a href="http://www.freedomboxfoundation.org/">Freedombox
8495 project</a> have been going on for a while, and have presented the
8496 vision, ideas and solution several places.  Here is a little
8497 collection of videos of talks and presentation of the project.</p>
8498
8499 <ul>
8500
8501 <li><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukvUz5taxvA">FreedomBox -
8502 2,5 minute marketing film</a> (Youtube)</li>
8503
8504 <li><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzW25QTVWsE">Eben Moglen
8505 discusses the Freedombox on CBS news 2011</a> (Youtube)</li>
8506
8507 <li><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ae8SZbxfE0g">Eben Moglen -
8508 Freedom in the Cloud - Software Freedom, Privacy and and Security for
8509 Web 2.0 and Cloud computing at ISOC-NY Public Meeting 2010</a>
8510 (Youtube)</li>
8511
8512 <li><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNaIji_3xBE">Fosdem 2011
8513 Keynote by Eben Moglen presenting the Freedombox</a> (Youtube)</li>
8514
8515 <li><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bDDUyJSQ9s">Presentation of
8516 the Freedombox by James Vasile at Elevate in Gratz 2011</a> (Youtube)</li>
8517
8518 <li><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQTmnk27g9s"> Freedombox -
8519 Discovery, Identity, and Trust by Nick Daly at Freedombox Hackfest New
8520 York City in 2012</a> (Youtube)</li>
8521
8522 <li><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkbSB4Ba7Ck">Introduction
8523 to the Freedombox at Freedombox Hackfest New York City in 2012</a>
8524 (Youtube)</li>
8525
8526 <li><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-P2Jaeg0aQ">Freedom, Out
8527 of the Box! by Bdale Garbee at linux.conf.au Ballarat, 2012</a> (Youtube) </li>
8528
8529 <li><a href="https://archive.fosdem.org/2013/schedule/event/freedombox/">Freedombox
8530 1.0 by Eben Moglen and Bdale Garbee at Fosdem 2013</a> (FOSDEM) </li>
8531
8532 <li><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1LpYX2zVYg">What is the
8533 FreedomBox today by Bdale Garbee at Debconf13 in Vaumarcus
8534 2013</a> (Youtube)</li>
8535
8536 </ul>
8537
8538 <p>A larger list is available from
8539 <a href="https://wiki.debian.org/FreedomBox/TalksAndPresentations">the
8540 Freedombox Wiki</a>.</p>
8541
8542 <p>On other news, I am happy to report that Freedombox based on Debian
8543 Jessie is coming along quite well, and soon both Owncloud and using
8544 Tor should be available for testers of the Freedombox solution. :) In
8545 a few weeks I hope everything needed to test it is included in Debian.
8546 The withsqlite package is already in Debian, and the plinth package is
8547 pending in NEW.  The third and vital part of that puzzle is the
8548 metapackage/setup framework, which is still pending an upload.  Join
8549 us on <a href="irc://irc.debian.org:6667/%23freedombox">IRC
8550 (#freedombox on irc.debian.org)</a> and
8551 <a href="http://lists.alioth.debian.org/mailman/listinfo/freedombox-discuss">the
8552 mailing list</a> if you want to help make this vision come true.</p>
8553
8554       </div>
8555       <div class="tags">
8556
8557
8558         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/freedombox">freedombox</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/sikkerhet">sikkerhet</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/surveillance">surveillance</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/web">web</a>.
8559
8560
8561       </div>
8562     </div>
8563     <div class="padding"></div>
8564
8565     <div class="entry">
8566       <div class="title">
8567         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Recipe_to_test_the_Freedombox_project_on_amd64_or_Raspberry_Pi.html">Recipe to test the Freedombox project on amd64 or Raspberry Pi</a>
8568       </div>
8569       <div class="date">
8570         10th September 2013
8571       </div>
8572       <div class="body">
8573         <p>I was introduced to the
8574 <a href="http://www.freedomboxfoundation.org/">Freedombox project</a>
8575 in 2010, when Eben Moglen presented his vision about serving the need
8576 of non-technical people to keep their personal information private and
8577 within the legal protection of their own homes.  The idea is to give
8578 people back the power over their network and machines, and return
8579 Internet back to its intended peer-to-peer architecture.  Instead of
8580 depending on a central service, the Freedombox will give everyone
8581 control over their own basic infrastructure.</p>
8582
8583 <p>I've intended to join the effort since then, but other tasks have
8584 taken priority.  But this summers nasty news about the misuse of trust
8585 and privilege exercised by the "western" intelligence gathering
8586 communities increased my eagerness to contribute to a point where I
8587 actually started working on the project a while back.</p>
8588
8589 <p>The <a href="https://alioth.debian.org/projects/freedombox/">initial
8590 Debian initiative</a> based on the vision from Eben Moglen, is to
8591 create a simple and cheap Debian based appliance that anyone can hook
8592 up in their home and get access to secure and private services and
8593 communication.  The initial deployment platform have been the
8594 <a href="http://www.globalscaletechnologies.com/t-dreamplugdetails.aspx">Dreamplug</a>,
8595 which is a piece of hardware I do not own.  So to be able to test what
8596 the current Freedombox setup look like, I had to come up with a way to install
8597 it on some hardware I do have access to.  I have rewritten the
8598 <a href="https://github.com/NickDaly/freedom-maker">freedom-maker</a>
8599 image build framework to use .deb packages instead of only copying
8600 setup into the boot images, and thanks to this rewrite I am able to
8601 set up any machine supported by Debian Wheezy as a Freedombox, using
8602 the previously mentioned deb (and a few support debs for packages
8603 missing in Debian).</p>
8604
8605 <p>The current Freedombox setup consist of a set of bootstrapping
8606 scripts
8607 (<a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/freedombox-setup">freedombox-setup</a>),
8608 and a administrative web interface
8609 (<a href="https://github.com/NickDaly/Plinth">plinth</a> + exmachina +
8610 withsqlite), as well as a privacy enhancing proxy based on
8611 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/privoxy">privoxy</a>
8612 (freedombox-privoxy).  There is also a web/javascript based XMPP
8613 client (<a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/jwchat">jwchat</a>)
8614 trying (unsuccessfully so far) to talk to the XMPP server
8615 (<a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/ejabberd">ejabberd</a>).  The
8616 web interface is pluggable, and the goal is to use it to enable OpenID
8617 services, mesh network connectivity, use of TOR, etc, etc.  Not much of
8618 this is really working yet, see
8619 <a href="https://github.com/NickDaly/freedombox-todos/blob/master/TODO">the
8620 project TODO</a> for links to GIT repositories.  Most of the code is
8621 on github at the moment.  The HTTP proxy is operational out of the
8622 box, and the admin web interface can be used to add/remove plinth
8623 users.  I've not been able to do anything else with it so far, but
8624 know there are several branches spread around github and other places
8625 with lots of half baked features.</p>
8626
8627 <p>Anyway, if you want to have a look at the current state, the
8628 following recipes should work to give you a test machine to poke
8629 at.</p>
8630
8631 <p><strong>Debian Wheezy amd64</strong></p>
8632
8633 <ol>
8634
8635 <li>Fetch normal Debian Wheezy installation ISO.</li>
8636 <li>Boot from it, either as CD or USB stick.</li>
8637 <li><p>Press [tab] on the boot prompt and add this as a boot argument
8638 to the Debian installer:<p>
8639 <pre>url=<a href="http://www.reinholdtsen.name/freedombox/preseed-wheezy.dat">http://www.reinholdtsen.name/freedombox/preseed-wheezy.dat</a></pre></li>
8640
8641 <li>Answer the few language/region/password questions and pick disk to
8642 install on.</li>
8643
8644 <li>When the installation is finished and the machine have rebooted a
8645 few times, your Freedombox is ready for testing.</li>
8646
8647 </ol>
8648
8649 <p><strong>Raspberry Pi Raspbian</strong></p>
8650
8651 <ol>
8652
8653 <li>Fetch a Raspbian SD card image, create SD card.</li>
8654 <li>Boot from SD card, extend file system to fill the card completely.</li>
8655 <li><p>Log in and add this to /etc/sources.list:</p>
8656 <pre>
8657 deb <a href="http://www.reinholdtsen.name/freedombox/">http://www.reinholdtsen.name/freedombox</a> wheezy main
8658 </pre></li>
8659 <li><p>Run this as root:</p>
8660 <pre>
8661 wget -O - http://www.reinholdtsen.name/freedombox/BE1A583D.asc | \
8662    apt-key add -
8663 apt-get update
8664 apt-get install freedombox-setup
8665 /usr/lib/freedombox/setup
8666 </pre></li>
8667 <li>Reboot into your freshly created Freedombox.</li>
8668
8669 </ol>
8670
8671 <p>You can test it on other architectures too, but because the
8672 freedombox-privoxy package is binary, it will only work as intended on
8673 the architectures where I have had time to build the binary and put it
8674 in my APT repository.  But do not let this stop you.  It is only a
8675 short "<tt>apt-get source -b freedombox-privoxy</tt>" away. :)</p>
8676
8677 <p>Note that by default Freedombox is a DHCP server on the
8678 192.168.1.0/24 subnet, so if this is your subnet be careful and turn
8679 off the DHCP server by running "<tt>update-rc.d isc-dhcp-server
8680 disable</tt>" as root.</p>
8681
8682 <p>Please let me know if this works for you, or if you have any
8683 problems.  We gather on the IRC channel
8684 <a href="irc://irc.debian.org:6667/%23freedombox">#freedombox</a> on
8685 irc.debian.org and the
8686 <a href="http://lists.alioth.debian.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/freedombox-discuss">project
8687 mailing list</a>.</p>
8688
8689 <p>Once you get your freedombox operational, you can visit
8690 <tt>http://your-host-name:8001/</tt> to see the state of the plint
8691 welcome screen (dead end - do not be surprised if you are unable to
8692 get past it), and next visit <tt>http://your-host-name:8001/help/</tt>
8693 to look at the rest of plinth.  The default user is 'admin' and the
8694 default password is 'secret'.</p>
8695
8696       </div>
8697       <div class="tags">
8698
8699
8700         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/freedombox">freedombox</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/sikkerhet">sikkerhet</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/surveillance">surveillance</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/web">web</a>.
8701
8702
8703       </div>
8704     </div>
8705     <div class="padding"></div>
8706
8707     <div class="entry">
8708       <div class="title">
8709         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Intel_180_SSD_disk_with_Lenovo_firmware_can_not_use_Intel_firmware.html">Intel 180 SSD disk with Lenovo firmware can not use Intel firmware</a>
8710       </div>
8711       <div class="date">
8712         18th August 2013
8713       </div>
8714       <div class="body">
8715         <p>Earlier, I reported about
8716 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/How_to_fix_a_Thinkpad_X230_with_a_broken_180_GB_SSD_disk.html">my
8717 problems using an Intel SSD 520 Series 180 GB disk</a>.  Friday I was
8718 told by IBM that the original disk should be thrown away.  And as
8719 there no longer was a problem if I bricked the firmware, I decided
8720 today to try to install Intel firmware to replace the Lenovo firmware
8721 currently on the disk.</p>
8722
8723 <p>I searched the Intel site for firmware, and found
8724 <a href="https://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&ProdId=3472&DwnldID=18363&ProductFamily=Solid-State+Drives+and+Caching&ProductLine=Intel%c2%ae+High+Performance+Solid-State+Drive&ProductProduct=Intel%c2%ae+SSD+520+Series+(180GB%2c+2.5in+SATA+6Gb%2fs%2c+25nm%2c+MLC)&lang=eng">issdfut_2.0.4.iso</a>
8725 (aka Intel SATA Solid-State Drive Firmware Update Tool) which
8726 according to the site should contain the latest firmware for SSD
8727 disks.  I inserted the broken disk in one of my spare laptops and
8728 booted the ISO from a USB stick.  The disk was recognized, but the
8729 program claimed the newest firmware already were installed and refused
8730 to insert any Intel firmware.  So no change, and the disk is still
8731 unable to handle write load. :( I guess the only way to get them
8732 working would be if Lenovo releases new firmware.  No idea how likely
8733 that is.  Anyway, just blogging about this test for completeness.  I
8734 got a working Samsung disk, and see no point in spending more time on
8735 the broken disks.</p>
8736
8737       </div>
8738       <div class="tags">
8739
8740
8741         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
8742
8743
8744       </div>
8745     </div>
8746     <div class="padding"></div>
8747
8748     <div class="entry">
8749       <div class="title">
8750         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/How_to_fix_a_Thinkpad_X230_with_a_broken_180_GB_SSD_disk.html">How to fix a Thinkpad X230 with a broken 180 GB SSD disk</a>
8751       </div>
8752       <div class="date">
8753         17th July 2013
8754       </div>
8755       <div class="body">
8756         <p>Today I switched to
8757 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/The_Thinkpad_is_dead__long_live_the_Thinkpad_X230_.html">my
8758 new laptop</a>.  I've previously written about the problems I had with
8759 my new Thinkpad X230, which was delivered with an
8760 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Intel_SSD_520_Series_180_GB_with_Lenovo_firmware_still_lock_up_from_sustained_writes.html">180
8761 GB Intel SSD disk with Lenovo firmware</a> that did not handle
8762 sustained writes.  My hardware supplier have been very forthcoming in
8763 trying to find a solution, and after first trying with another
8764 identical 180 GB disks they decided to send me a 256 GB Samsung SSD
8765 disk instead to fix it once and for all.  The Samsung disk survived
8766 the installation of Debian with encrypted disks (filling the disk with
8767 random data during installation killed the first two), and I thus
8768 decided to trust it with my data.  I have installed it as a Debian Edu
8769 Wheezy roaming workstation hooked up with my Debian Edu Squeeze main
8770 server at home using Kerberos and LDAP, and will use it as my work
8771 station from now on.</p>
8772
8773 <p>As this is a solid state disk with no moving parts, I believe the
8774 Debian Wheezy default installation need to be tuned a bit to increase
8775 performance and increase life time of the disk.  The Linux kernel and
8776 user space applications do not yet adjust automatically to such
8777 environment.  To make it easier for my self, I created a draft Debian
8778 package <tt>ssd-setup</tt> to handle this tuning.  The
8779 <a href="http://anonscm.debian.org/gitweb/?p=collab-maint/ssd-setup.git">source
8780 for the ssd-setup package</a> is available from collab-maint, and it
8781 is set up to adjust the setup of the machine by just installing the
8782 package.  If there is any non-SSD disk in the machine, the package
8783 will refuse to install, as I did not try to write any logic to sort
8784 file systems in SSD and non-SSD file systems.</p>
8785
8786 <p>I consider the package a draft, as I am a bit unsure how to best
8787 set up Debian Wheezy with an SSD.  It is adjusted to my use case,
8788 where I set up the machine with one large encrypted partition (in
8789 addition to /boot), put LVM on top of this and set up partitions on
8790 top of this again.  See the README file in the package source for the
8791 references I used to pick the settings.  At the moment these
8792 parameters are tuned:</p>
8793
8794 <ul>
8795
8796 <li>Set up cryptsetup to pass TRIM commands to the physical disk
8797     (adding discard to /etc/crypttab)</li>
8798
8799 <li>Set up LVM to pass on TRIM commands to the underlying device (in
8800     this case a cryptsetup partition) by changing issue_discards from
8801     0 to 1 in /etc/lvm/lvm.conf.</li>
8802
8803 <li>Set relatime as a file system option for ext3 and ext4 file
8804     systems.</li>
8805
8806 <li>Tell swap to use TRIM commands by adding 'discard' to
8807     /etc/fstab.</li>
8808
8809 <li>Change I/O scheduler from cfq to deadline using a udev rule.</li>
8810
8811 <li>Run fstrim on every ext3 and ext4 file system every night (from
8812     cron.daily).</li>
8813
8814 <li>Adjust sysctl values vm.swappiness to 1 and vm.vfs_cache_pressure
8815     to 50 to reduce the kernel eagerness to swap out processes.</li>
8816
8817 </ul>
8818
8819 <p>During installation, I cancelled the part where the installer fill
8820 the disk with random data, as this would kill the SSD performance for
8821 little gain.  My goal with the encrypted file system is to ensure
8822 those stealing my laptop end up with a brick and not a working
8823 computer.  I have no hope in keeping the really resourceful people
8824 from getting the data on the disk (see
8825 <a href="http://xkcd.com/538/">XKCD #538</a> for an explanation why).
8826 Thus I concluded that adding the discard option to crypttab is the
8827 right thing to do.</p>
8828
8829 <p>I considered using the noop I/O scheduler, as several recommended
8830 it for SSD, but others recommended deadline and a benchmark I found
8831 indicated that deadline might be better for interactive use.</p>
8832
8833 <p>I also considered using the 'discard' file system option for ext3
8834 and ext4, but read that it would give a performance hit ever time a
8835 file is removed, and thought it best to that that slowdown once a day
8836 instead of during my work.</p>
8837
8838 <p>My package do not set up tmpfs on /var/run, /var/lock and /tmp, as
8839 this is already done by Debian Edu.</p>
8840
8841 <p>I have not yet started on the user space tuning.  I expect
8842 iceweasel need some tuning, and perhaps other applications too, but
8843 have not yet had time to investigate those parts.</p>
8844
8845 <p>The package should work on Ubuntu too, but I have not yet tested it
8846 there.</p>
8847
8848 <p>As for the answer to the question in the title of this blog post,
8849 as far as I know, the only solution I know about is to replace the
8850 disk.  It might be possible to flash it with Intel firmware instead of
8851 the Lenovo firmware.  But I have not tried and did not want to do so
8852 without approval from Lenovo as I wanted to keep the warranty on the
8853 disk until a solution was found and they wanted the broken disks
8854 back.</p>
8855
8856       </div>
8857       <div class="tags">
8858
8859
8860         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
8861
8862
8863       </div>
8864     </div>
8865     <div class="padding"></div>
8866
8867     <div class="entry">
8868       <div class="title">
8869         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Intel_SSD_520_Series_180_GB_with_Lenovo_firmware_still_lock_up_from_sustained_writes.html">Intel SSD 520 Series 180 GB with Lenovo firmware still lock up from sustained writes</a>
8870       </div>
8871       <div class="date">
8872         10th July 2013
8873       </div>
8874       <div class="body">
8875         <p>A few days ago, I wrote about
8876 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/The_Thinkpad_is_dead__long_live_the_Thinkpad_X230_.html">the
8877 problems I experienced with my new X230 and its SSD disk</a>, which
8878 was dying during installation because it is unable to cope with
8879 sustained write.  My supplier is in contact with
8880 <a href="http://www.lenovo.com/">Lenovo</a>, and they wanted to send a
8881 replacement disk to try to fix the problem.  They decided to send an
8882 identical model, so my hopes for a permanent fix was slim.</p>
8883
8884 <p>Anyway, today I got the replacement disk and tried to install
8885 Debian Edu Wheezy with encrypted disk on it.  The new disk have the
8886 same firmware version as the original.  This time my hope raised
8887 slightly as the installation progressed, as the original disk used to
8888 die after 4-7% of the disk was written to, while this time it kept
8889 going past 10%, 20%, 40% and even past 50%.  But around 60%, the disk
8890 died again and I was back on square one.  I still do not have a new
8891 laptop with a disk I can trust.  I can not live with a disk that might
8892 lock up when I download a new
8893 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / Skolelinux</a> ISO or
8894 other large files.  I look forward to hearing from my supplier with
8895 the next proposal from Lenovo.</p>
8896
8897 <p>The original disk is marked Intel SSD 520 Series 180 GB,
8898 11S0C38722Z1ZNME35X1TR, ISN: CVCV321407HB180EGN, SA: G57560302, FW:
8899 LF1i, 29MAY2013, PBA: G39779-300, LBA 351,651,888, LI P/N: 0C38722,
8900 Pb-free 2LI, LC P/N: 16-200366, WWN: 55CD2E40002756C4, Model:
8901 SSDSC2BW180A3L 2.5" 6Gb/s SATA SSD 180G 5V 1A, ASM P/N 0C38732, FRU
8902 P/N 45N8295, P0C38732.</p>
8903
8904 <p>The replacement disk is marked Intel SSD 520 Series 180 GB,
8905 11S0C38722Z1ZNDE34N0L0, ISN: CVCV315306RK180EGN, SA: G57560-302, FW:
8906 LF1i, 22APR2013, PBA: G39779-300, LBA 351,651,888, LI P/N: 0C38722,
8907 Pb-free 2LI, LC P/N: 16-200366, WWN: 55CD2E40000AB69E, Model:
8908 SSDSC2BW180A3L 2.5" 6Gb/s SATA SSD 180G 5V 1A, ASM P/N 0C38732, FRU
8909 P/N 45N8295, P0C38732.</p>
8910
8911 <p>The only difference is in the first number (serial number?), ISN,
8912 SA, date and WNPP values.  Mentioning all the details here in case
8913 someone is able to use the information to find a way to identify the
8914 failing disk among working ones (if any such working disk actually
8915 exist).</p>
8916
8917       </div>
8918       <div class="tags">
8919
8920
8921         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
8922
8923
8924       </div>
8925     </div>
8926     <div class="padding"></div>
8927
8928     <div class="entry">
8929       <div class="title">
8930         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/July_13th__Debian_Ubuntu_BSP_and_Skolelinux_Debian_Edu_developer_gathering_in_Oslo.html">July 13th: Debian/Ubuntu BSP and Skolelinux/Debian Edu developer gathering in Oslo</a>
8931       </div>
8932       <div class="date">
8933          9th July 2013
8934       </div>
8935       <div class="body">
8936         <p>The upcoming Saturday, 2013-07-13, we are organising a combined
8937 Debian Edu developer gathering and Debian and Ubuntu bug squashing
8938 party in Oslo.  It is organised by <a href="http://www.nuug.no/">the
8939 member assosiation NUUG</a> and
8940 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">the Debian Edu / Skolelinux
8941 project</a> together with <a href="http://bitraf.no/">the hack space
8942 Bitraf</a>.</p>
8943
8944 <p>It starts 10:00 and continue until late evening.  Everyone is
8945 welcome, and there is no fee to participate.  There is on the other
8946 hand limited space, and only room for 30 people.  Please put your name
8947 on <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/BSP/2013/07/13/no/Oslo">the event
8948 wiki page</a> if you plan to join us.</p>
8949
8950       </div>
8951       <div class="tags">
8952
8953
8954         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug</a>.
8955
8956
8957       </div>
8958     </div>
8959     <div class="padding"></div>
8960
8961     <div class="entry">
8962       <div class="title">
8963         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/The_Thinkpad_is_dead__long_live_the_Thinkpad_X230_.html">The Thinkpad is dead, long live the Thinkpad X230?</a>
8964       </div>
8965       <div class="date">
8966          5th July 2013
8967       </div>
8968       <div class="body">
8969         <p>Half a year ago, I reported that I had to find a
8970 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Thank_you_Thinkpad_X41__for_your_long_and_trustworthy_service.html">replacement
8971 for my trusty old Thinkpad X41</a>.  Unfortunately I did not have much
8972 time to spend on it, and it took a while to find a model I believe
8973 will do the job, but two days ago the replacement finally arrived.  I
8974 ended up picking a
8975 <a href="http://www.linlap.com/lenovo_thinkpad_x230">Thinkpad X230</a>
8976 with SSD disk (NZDAJMN).  I first test installed Debian Edu Wheezy as
8977 a roaming workstation, and it seemed to work flawlessly.  But my
8978 second installation with encrypted disk was not as successful.  More
8979 on that below.</p>
8980
8981 <p>I had a hard time trying to track down a good laptop, as my most
8982 important requirements (robust and with a good keyboard) are never
8983 listed in the feature list.  But I did get good help from the search
8984 feature at <a href="http://www.prisjakt.no/">Prisjakt</a>, which
8985 allowed me to limit the list of interesting laptops based on my other
8986 requirements.  A bit surprising that SSD disk are not disks according
8987 to that search interface, so I had to drop specifying the number of
8988 disks from my search parameters.  I also asked around among friends to
8989 get their impression on keyboards and robustness.</p>
8990
8991 <p>So the new laptop arrived, and it is quite a lot wider than the
8992 X41.  I am not quite convinced about the keyboard, as it is
8993 significantly wider than my old keyboard, and I have to stretch my
8994 hand a lot more to reach the edges.  But the key response is fairly
8995 good and the individual key shape is fairly easy to handle, so I hope
8996 I will get used to it.  My old X40 was starting to fail, and I really
8997 needed a new laptop now. :)</p>
8998
8999 <p>Turning off the touch pad was simple.  All it took was a quick
9000 visit to the BIOS during boot it disable it.</p>
9001
9002 <p>But there is a fatal problem with the laptop.  The 180 GB SSD disk
9003 lock up during load.  And this happen when installing Debian Wheezy
9004 with encrypted disk, while the disk is being filled with random data.
9005 I also tested to install Ubuntu Raring, and it happen there too if I
9006 reenable the code to fill the disk with random data (it is disabled by
9007 default in Ubuntu).  And the bug with is already known.  It was
9008 reported to Debian as <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/691427">BTS
9009 report #691427 2012-10-25</a> (journal commit I/O error on brand-new
9010 Thinkpad T430s ext4 on lvm on SSD).  It is also reported to the Linux
9011 kernel developers as
9012 <a href="https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=51861">Kernel bugzilla
9013 report #51861 2012-12-20</a> (Intel SSD 520 stops working under load
9014 (SSDSC2BW180A3L in Lenovo ThinkPad T430s)). It is also reported on the
9015 Lenovo forums, both for
9016 <a href="http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/T400-T500-and-newer-T-series/T430s-Intel-SSD-520-180GB-issue/m-p/1070549">T430
9017 2012-11-10</a> and for
9018 <a href="http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/X-Series-ThinkPad-Laptops/x230-SATA-errors-with-180GB-Intel-520-SSD-under-heavy-write-load/m-p/1068147">X230
9019 03-20-2013</a>.  The problem do not only affect installation.  The
9020 reports state that the disk lock up during use if many writes are done
9021 on the disk, so it is much no use to work around the installation
9022 problem and end up with a computer that can lock up at any moment.
9023 There is even a
9024 <a href="https://git.efficios.com/?p=test-ssd.git">small C program
9025 available</a> that will lock up the hard drive after running a few
9026 minutes by writing to a file.</p>
9027
9028 <p>I've contacted my supplier and asked how to handle this, and after
9029 contacting PCHELP Norway (request 01D1FDP) which handle support
9030 requests for Lenovo, his first suggestion was to upgrade the disk
9031 firmware.  Unfortunately there is no newer firmware available from
9032 Lenovo, as my disk already have the most recent one (version LF1i).  I
9033 hope to hear more from him today and hope the problem can be
9034 fixed. :)</p>
9035
9036       </div>
9037       <div class="tags">
9038
9039
9040         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
9041
9042
9043       </div>
9044     </div>
9045     <div class="padding"></div>
9046
9047     <div class="entry">
9048       <div class="title">
9049         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/The_Thinkpad_is_dead__long_live_the_Thinkpad_X230.html">The Thinkpad is dead, long live the Thinkpad X230</a>
9050       </div>
9051       <div class="date">
9052          4th July 2013
9053       </div>
9054       <div class="body">
9055         <p>Half a year ago, I reported that I had to find a replacement for my
9056 trusty old Thinkpad X41.  Unfortunately I did not have much time to
9057 spend on it, but today the replacement finally arrived.  I ended up
9058 picking a <a href="http://www.linlap.com/lenovo_thinkpad_x230">Thinkpad
9059 X230</a> with SSD disk (NZDAJMN).  I first test installed Debian Edu
9060 Wheezy as a roaming workstation, and it worked flawlessly.  As I write
9061 this, it is installing what I hope will be a more final installation,
9062 with a encrypted hard drive to ensure any dope head stealing it end up
9063 with an expencive door stop.</p>
9064
9065 <p>I had a hard time trying to track down a good laptop, as my most
9066 important requirements (robust and with a good keyboard) are never
9067 listed in the feature list.  But I did get good help from the search
9068 feature at <ahref="http://www.prisjakt.no/">Prisjakt</a>, which
9069 allowed me to limit the list of interesting laptops based on my other
9070 requirements.  A bit surprising that SSD disk are not disks, so I had
9071 to drop number of disks from my search parameters.</p>
9072
9073 <p>I am not quite convinced about the keyboard, as it is significantly
9074 wider than my old keyboard, and I have to stretch my hand a lot more
9075 to reach the edges.  But the key response is fairly good and the
9076 individual key shape is fairly easy to handle, so I hope I will get
9077 used to it.  My old X40 was starting to fail, and I really needed a
9078 new laptop now. :)</p>
9079
9080 <p>I look forward to figuring out how to turn off the touch pad.</p>
9081
9082       </div>
9083       <div class="tags">
9084
9085
9086         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
9087
9088
9089       </div>
9090     </div>
9091     <div class="padding"></div>
9092
9093     <div class="entry">
9094       <div class="title">
9095         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Automatically_locate_and_install_required_firmware_packages_on_Debian__Isenkram_0_4_.html">Automatically locate and install required firmware packages on Debian (Isenkram 0.4)</a>
9096       </div>
9097       <div class="date">
9098         25th June 2013
9099       </div>
9100       <div class="body">
9101         <p>It annoys me when the computer fail to do automatically what it is
9102 perfectly capable of, and I have to do it manually to get things
9103 working.  One such task is to find out what firmware packages are
9104 needed to get the hardware on my computer working.  Most often this
9105 affect the wifi card, but some times it even affect the RAID
9106 controller or the ethernet card.  Today I pushed version 0.4 of the
9107 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/isenkram">Isenkram package</a>
9108 including a new script isenkram-autoinstall-firmware handling the
9109 process of asking all the loaded kernel modules what firmware files
9110 they want, find debian packages providing these files and install the
9111 debian packages.  Here is a test run on my laptop:</p>
9112
9113 <p><pre>
9114 # isenkram-autoinstall-firmware
9115 info: kernel drivers requested extra firmware: ipw2200-bss.fw ipw2200-ibss.fw ipw2200-sniffer.fw
9116 info: fetching http://http.debian.net/debian/dists/squeeze/Contents-i386.gz
9117 info: locating packages with the requested firmware files
9118 info: Updating APT sources after adding non-free APT source
9119 info: trying to install firmware-ipw2x00
9120 firmware-ipw2x00
9121 firmware-ipw2x00
9122 Preconfiguring packages ...
9123 Selecting previously deselected package firmware-ipw2x00.
9124 (Reading database ... 259727 files and directories currently installed.)
9125 Unpacking firmware-ipw2x00 (from .../firmware-ipw2x00_0.28+squeeze1_all.deb) ...
9126 Setting up firmware-ipw2x00 (0.28+squeeze1) ...
9127 #
9128 </pre></p>
9129
9130 <p>When all the requested firmware is present, a simple message is
9131 printed instead:</p>
9132
9133 <p><pre>
9134 # isenkram-autoinstall-firmware
9135 info: did not find any firmware files requested by loaded kernel modules.  exiting
9136 #
9137 </pre></p>
9138
9139 <p>It could use some polish, but it is already working well and saving
9140 me some time when setting up new machines. :)</p>
9141
9142 <p>So, how does it work?  It look at the set of currently loaded
9143 kernel modules, and look up each one of them using modinfo, to find
9144 the firmware files listed in the module meta-information.  Next, it
9145 download the Contents file from a nearby APT mirror, and search for
9146 the firmware files in this file to locate the package with the
9147 requested firmware file.  If the package is in the non-free section, a
9148 non-free APT source is added and the package is installed using
9149 <tt>apt-get install</tt>.  The end result is a slightly better working
9150 machine.</p>
9151
9152 <p>I hope someone find time to implement a more polished version of
9153 this script as part of the hw-detect debian-installer module, to
9154 finally fix <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/655507">BTS report
9155 #655507</a>.  There really is no need to insert USB sticks with
9156 firmware during a PXE install when the packages already are available
9157 from the nearby Debian mirror.</p>
9158
9159       </div>
9160       <div class="tags">
9161
9162
9163         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/isenkram">isenkram</a>.
9164
9165
9166       </div>
9167     </div>
9168     <div class="padding"></div>
9169
9170     <div class="entry">
9171       <div class="title">
9172         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Fixing_the_Linux_black_screen_of_death_on_machines_with_Intel_HD_video.html">Fixing the Linux black screen of death on machines with Intel HD video</a>
9173       </div>
9174       <div class="date">
9175         11th June 2013
9176       </div>
9177       <div class="body">
9178         <p>When installing RedHat, Fedora, Debian and Ubuntu on some machines,
9179 the screen just turn black when Linux boot, either during installation
9180 or on first boot from the hard disk.  I've seen it once in a while the
9181 last few years, but only recently understood the cause.  I've seen it
9182 on HP laptops, and on my latest acquaintance the Packard Bell laptop.
9183 The reason seem to be in the wiring of some laptops.  The system to
9184 control the screen background light is inverted, so when Linux try to
9185 turn the brightness fully on, it end up turning it off instead.  I do
9186 not know which Linux drivers are affected, but this post is about the
9187 i915 driver used by the
9188 <a href="http://www.linlap.com/packard_bell_easynote_lv">Packard Bell
9189 EasyNote LV</a>, Thinkpad X40 and many other laptops.</p>
9190
9191 <p>The problem can be worked around two ways.  Either by adding
9192 i915.invert_brightness=1 as a kernel option, or by adding a file in
9193 /etc/modprobe.d/ to tell modprobe to add the invert_brightness=1
9194 option when it load the i915 kernel module.  On Debian and Ubuntu, it
9195 can be done by running these commands as root:</p>
9196
9197 <pre>
9198 echo options i915 invert_brightness=1 | tee /etc/modprobe.d/i915.conf
9199 update-initramfs -u -k all
9200 </pre>
9201
9202 <p>Since March 2012 there is
9203 <a href="http://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=4dca20efb1a9c2efefc28ad2867e5d6c3f5e1955">a
9204 mechanism in the Linux kernel</a> to tell the i915 driver which
9205 hardware have this problem, and get the driver to invert the
9206 brightness setting automatically.  To use it, one need to add a row in
9207 <a href="http://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/intel_display.c">the
9208 intel_quirks array</a> in the driver source
9209 <tt>drivers/gpu/drm/i915/intel_display.c</tt> (look for "<tt>static
9210 struct intel_quirk intel_quirks</tt>"), specifying the PCI device
9211 number (vendor number 8086 is assumed) and subdevice vendor and device
9212 number.</p>
9213
9214 <p>My Packard Bell EasyNote LV got this output from <tt>lspci
9215 -vvnn</tt> for the video card in question:</p>
9216
9217 <p><pre>
9218 00:02.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Intel Corporation \
9219     3rd Gen Core processor Graphics Controller [8086:0156] \
9220     (rev 09) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
9221  Subsystem: Acer Incorporated [ALI] Device [1025:0688]
9222  Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- \
9223     ParErr- Stepping- SE RR- FastB2B- DisINTx+
9224  Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- \
9225     <TAbort- <MAbort->SERR- <PERR- INTx-
9226  Latency: 0
9227  Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 42
9228  Region 0: Memory at c2000000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4M]
9229  Region 2: Memory at b0000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=256M]
9230  Region 4: I/O ports at 4000 [size=64]
9231  Expansion ROM at <unassigned> [disabled]
9232  Capabilities: <access denied>
9233  Kernel driver in use: i915
9234 </pre></p>
9235
9236 <p>The resulting intel_quirks entry would then look like this:</p>
9237
9238 <p><pre>
9239 struct intel_quirk intel_quirks[] = {
9240        ...
9241         /* Packard Bell EasyNote LV11HC needs invert brightness quirk */
9242         { 0x0156, 0x1025, 0x0688, quirk_invert_brightness },
9243        ...
9244 }
9245 </pre></p>
9246
9247 <p>According to the kernel module instructions (as seen using
9248 <tt>modinfo i915</tt>), information about hardware needing the
9249 invert_brightness flag should be sent to the
9250 <a href="http://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/dri-devel">dri-devel
9251 (at) lists.freedesktop.org</a> mailing list to reach the kernel
9252 developers.  But my email about the laptop sent 2013-06-03 have not
9253 yet shown up in
9254 <a href="http://lists.freedesktop.org/archives/dri-devel/2013-June/thread.html">the
9255 web archive for the mailing list</a>, so I suspect they do not accept
9256 emails from non-subscribers.  Because of this, I sent my patch also to
9257 the Debian bug tracking system instead as
9258 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/710938">BTS report #710938</a>, to make
9259 sure the patch is not lost.</p>
9260
9261 <p>Unfortunately, it is not enough to fix the kernel to get Laptops
9262 with this problem working properly with Linux.  If you use Gnome, your
9263 worries should be over at this point.  But if you use KDE, there is
9264 something in KDE ignoring the invert_brightness setting and turning on
9265 the screen during login.  I've reported it to Debian as
9266 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/711237">BTS report #711237</a>, and
9267 have no idea yet how to figure out exactly what subsystem is doing
9268 this.  Perhaps you can help?  Perhaps you know what the Gnome
9269 developers did to handle this, and this can give a clue to the KDE
9270 developers?  Or you know where in KDE the screen brightness is changed
9271 during login?  If so, please update the BTS report (or get in touch if
9272 you do not know how to update BTS).</p>
9273
9274 <p>Update 2013-07-19: The correct fix for this machine seem to be
9275 acpi_backlight=vendor, to disable ACPI backlight support completely,
9276 as the ACPI information on the machine is trash and it is better to
9277 leave it to the intel video driver to control the screen
9278 backlight.</p>
9279
9280       </div>
9281       <div class="tags">
9282
9283
9284         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
9285
9286
9287       </div>
9288     </div>
9289     <div class="padding"></div>
9290
9291     <div class="entry">
9292       <div class="title">
9293         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/How_to_install_Linux_on_a_Packard_Bell_Easynote_LV_preinstalled_with_Windows_8.html">How to install Linux on a Packard Bell Easynote LV preinstalled with Windows 8</a>
9294       </div>
9295       <div class="date">
9296         27th May 2013
9297       </div>
9298       <div class="body">
9299         <p>Two days ago, I asked
9300 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/How_can_I_install_Linux_on_a_Packard_Bell_Easynote_LV_preinstalled_with_Windows_8_.html">how
9301 I could install Linux on a Packard Bell EasyNote LV computer
9302 preinstalled with Windows 8</a>.  I found a solution, but am horrified
9303 with the obstacles put in the way of Linux users on a laptop with UEFI
9304 and Windows 8.</p>
9305
9306 <p>I never found out if the cause of my problems were the use of UEFI
9307 secure booting or fast boot.  I suspect fast boot was the problem,
9308 causing the firmware to boot directly from HD without considering any
9309 key presses and alternative devices, but do not know UEFI settings
9310 enough to tell.</p>
9311
9312 <p>There is no way to install Linux on the machine in question without
9313 opening the box and disconnecting the hard drive!  This is as far as I
9314 can tell, the only way to get access to the firmware setup menu
9315 without accepting the Windows 8 license agreement.  I am told (and
9316 found description on how to) that it is possible to configure the
9317 firmware setup once booted into Windows 8.  But as I believe the terms
9318 of that agreement are completely unacceptable, accepting the license
9319 was never an alternative.  I do not enter agreements I do not intend
9320 to follow.</p>
9321
9322 <p>I feared I had to return the laptops and ask for a refund, and
9323 waste many hours on this, but luckily there was a way to get it to
9324 work.  But I would not recommend it to anyone planning to run Linux on
9325 it, and I have become sceptical to Windows 8 certified laptops.  Is
9326 this the way Linux will be forced out of the market place, by making
9327 it close to impossible for "normal" users to install Linux without
9328 accepting the Microsoft Windows license terms?  Or at least not
9329 without risking to loose the warranty?</p>
9330
9331 <p>I've updated the
9332 <a href="http://www.linlap.com/packard_bell_easynote_lv">Linux Laptop
9333 wiki page for Packard Bell EasyNote LV</a>, to ensure the next person
9334 do not have to struggle as much as I did to get Linux into the
9335 machine.</p>
9336
9337 <p>Thanks to Bob Rosbag, Florian Weimer, Philipp Kern, Ben Hutching,
9338 Michael Tokarev and others for feedback and ideas.</p>
9339
9340       </div>
9341       <div class="tags">
9342
9343
9344         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
9345
9346
9347       </div>
9348     </div>
9349     <div class="padding"></div>
9350
9351     <div class="entry">
9352       <div class="title">
9353         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/How_can_I_install_Linux_on_a_Packard_Bell_Easynote_LV_preinstalled_with_Windows_8_.html">How can I install Linux on a Packard Bell Easynote LV preinstalled with Windows 8?</a>
9354       </div>
9355       <div class="date">
9356         25th May 2013
9357       </div>
9358       <div class="body">
9359         <p>I've run into quite a problem the last few days.  I bought three
9360 new laptops for my parents and a few others.  I bought Packard Bell
9361 Easynote LV to run Kubuntu on and use as their home computer.  But I
9362 am completely unable to figure out how to install Linux on it.  The
9363 computer is preinstalled with Windows 8, and I suspect it uses UEFI
9364 instead of a BIOS to boot.</p>
9365
9366 <p>The problem is that I am unable to get it to PXE boot, and unable
9367 to get it to boot the Linux installer from my USB stick.  I have yet
9368 to try the DVD install, and still hope it will work.  when I turn on
9369 the computer, there is no information on what buttons to press to get
9370 the normal boot menu.  I expect to get some boot menu to select PXE or
9371 USB stick booting.  When booting, it first ask for the language to
9372 use, then for some regional settings, and finally if I will accept the
9373 Windows 8 terms of use.  As these terms are completely unacceptable to
9374 me, I have no other choice but to turn off the computer and try again
9375 to get it to boot the Linux installer.</p>
9376
9377 <p>I have gathered my findings so far on a Linlap page about the
9378 <a href="http://www.linlap.com/packard_bell_easynote_lv">Packard Bell
9379 EasyNote LV</a> model.  If you have any idea how to get Linux
9380 installed on this machine, please get in touch or update that wiki
9381 page.  If I can't find a way to install Linux, I will have to return
9382 the laptop to the seller and find another machine for my parents.</p>
9383
9384 <p>I wonder, is this the way Linux will be forced out of the market
9385 using UEFI and "secure boot" by making it impossible to install Linux
9386 on new Laptops?</p>
9387
9388       </div>
9389       <div class="tags">
9390
9391
9392         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
9393
9394
9395       </div>
9396     </div>
9397     <div class="padding"></div>
9398
9399     <div class="entry">
9400       <div class="title">
9401         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/How_to_transform_a_Debian_based_system_to_a_Debian_Edu_installation.html">How to transform a Debian based system to a Debian Edu installation</a>
9402       </div>
9403       <div class="date">
9404         17th May 2013
9405       </div>
9406       <div class="body">
9407         <p><a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / Skolelinux</a> is
9408 an operating system based on Debian intended for use in schools.  It
9409 contain a turn-key solution for the computer network provided to
9410 pupils in the primary schools.  It provide both the central server,
9411 network boot servers and desktop environments with heaps of
9412 educational software.  The project was founded almost 12 years ago,
9413 2001-07-02.  If you want to support the project, which is in need for
9414 cash to fund developer gatherings and other project related activity,
9415 <a href="http://www.linuxiskolen.no/slxdebianlabs/donations.html">please
9416 donate some money</a>.
9417
9418 <p>A topic that come up again and again on the Debian Edu mailing
9419 lists and elsewhere, is the question on how to transform a Debian or
9420 Ubuntu installation into a Debian Edu installation.  It isn't very
9421 hard, and last week I wrote a script to replicate the steps done by
9422 the Debian Edu installer.</p>
9423
9424 <p>The script,
9425 <a href="http://anonscm.debian.org/viewvc/debian-edu/branches/wheezy/debian-edu-config/share/debian-edu-config/tools/debian-edu-bless?view=markup">debian-edu-bless<a/>
9426 in the debian-edu-config package, will go through these six steps and
9427 transform an existing Debian Wheezy or Ubuntu (untested) installation
9428 into a Debian Edu Workstation:</p>
9429
9430 <ol>
9431
9432 <li>Add skolelinux related APT sources.</li>
9433 <li>Create /etc/debian-edu/config with the wanted configuration.</li>
9434 <li>Install debian-edu-install to load preseeding values and pull in
9435     our configuration.</li>
9436 <li>Preseed debconf database with profile setup in
9437     /etc/debian-edu/config, and run tasksel to install packages
9438     according to the profile specified in the config above,
9439     overriding some of the Debian automation machinery.</li>
9440 <li>Run debian-edu-cfengine-D installation to configure everything
9441     that could not be done using preseeding.</li>
9442 <li>Ask for a reboot to enable all the configuration changes.</li>
9443
9444 </ol>
9445
9446 <p>There are some steps in the Debian Edu installation that can not be
9447 replicated like this.  Disk partitioning and LVM setup, for example.
9448 So this script just assume there is enough disk space to install all
9449 the needed packages.</p>
9450
9451 <p>The script was created to help a Debian Edu student working on
9452 setting up <a href="http://www.raspberrypi.org">Raspberry Pi</a> as a
9453 Debian Edu client, and using it he can take the existing
9454 <a href="http://www.raspbian.org/FrontPage‎">Raspbian</a> installation and
9455 transform it into a fully functioning Debian Edu Workstation (or
9456 Roaming Workstation, or whatever :).</p>
9457
9458 <p>The default setting in the script is to create a KDE Workstation.
9459 If a LXDE based Roaming workstation is wanted instead, modify the
9460 PROFILE and DESKTOP values at the top to look like this instead:</p>
9461
9462 <p><pre>
9463 PROFILE="Roaming-Workstation"
9464 DESKTOP="lxde"
9465 </pre></p>
9466
9467 <p>The script could even become useful to set up Debian Edu servers in
9468 the cloud, by starting with a virtual Debian installation at some
9469 virtual hosting service and setting up all the services on first
9470 boot.</p>
9471
9472       </div>
9473       <div class="tags">
9474
9475
9476         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
9477
9478
9479       </div>
9480     </div>
9481     <div class="padding"></div>
9482
9483     <div class="entry">
9484       <div class="title">
9485         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian__the_Linux_distribution_of_choice_for_LEGO_designers_.html">Debian, the Linux distribution of choice for LEGO designers?</a>
9486       </div>
9487       <div class="date">
9488         11th May 2013
9489       </div>
9490       <div class="body">
9491         <P>In January,
9492 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/New_IRC_channel_for_LEGO_designers_using_Debian.html">I
9493 announced a</a> new <a href="irc://irc.debian.org/%23debian-lego">IRC
9494 channel #debian-lego</a>, for those of us in the Debian and Linux
9495 community interested in <a href="http://www.lego.com/">LEGO</a>, the
9496 marvellous construction system from Denmark.  We also created
9497 <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/LegoDesigners">a wiki page</a> to have
9498 a place to take notes and write down our plans and hopes.  And several
9499 people showed up to help.  I was very happy to see the effect of my
9500 call.  Since the small start, we have a debtags tag
9501 <a href="http://debtags.debian.net/search/bytag?wl=hardware::hobby:lego">hardware::hobby:lego</a>
9502 tag for LEGO related packages, and now count 10 packages related to
9503 LEGO and <a href="http://mindstorms.lego.com/">Mindstorms</a>:</p>
9504
9505 <p><table>
9506 <tr><td><a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/brickos">brickos</a></td><td>alternative OS for LEGO Mindstorms RCX. Supports development in C/C++</td></tr>
9507 <tr><td><a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/leocad">leocad</a></td><td>virtual brick CAD software</td></tr>
9508 <tr><td><a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/libnxt">libnxt</a></td><td>utility library for talking to the LEGO Mindstorms NX</td></tr>
9509 <tr><td><a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/lnpd">lnpd</a></td><td>daemon for LNP communication with BrickOS</td></tr>
9510 <tr><td><a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/nbc">nbc</a></td><td>compiler for LEGO Mindstorms NXT bricks</td></tr>
9511 <tr><td><a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/nqc">nqc</a></td><td>Not Quite C compiler for LEGO Mindstorms RCX</td></tr>
9512 <tr><td><a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/python-nxt">python-nxt</a></td><td>python driver/interface/wrapper for the Lego Mindstorms NXT robot</td></tr>
9513 <tr><td><a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/python-nxt-filer">python-nxt-filer</a></td><td>simple GUI to manage files on a LEGO Mindstorms NXT</td></tr>
9514 <tr><td><a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/scratch">scratch</a></td><td>easy to use programming environment for ages 8 and up</td></tr>
9515 <tr><td><a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/t2n">t2n</a></td><td>simple command-line tool for Lego NXT</td></tr>
9516 </table></p>
9517
9518 <p>Some of these are available in Wheezy, and all but one are
9519 currently available in Jessie/testing.  leocad is so far only
9520 available in experimental.</p>
9521
9522 <p>If you care about LEGO in Debian, please join us on IRC and help
9523 adding the rest of the great free software tools available on Linux
9524 for LEGO designers.</p>
9525
9526       </div>
9527       <div class="tags">
9528
9529
9530         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/lego">lego</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/robot">robot</a>.
9531
9532
9533       </div>
9534     </div>
9535     <div class="padding"></div>
9536
9537     <div class="entry">
9538       <div class="title">
9539         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Wheezy_is_out___and_Debian_Edu___Skolelinux_should_soon_follow___newinwheezy.html">Debian Wheezy is out - and Debian Edu / Skolelinux should soon follow! #newinwheezy</a>
9540       </div>
9541       <div class="date">
9542          5th May 2013
9543       </div>
9544       <div class="body">
9545         <p>When I woke up this morning, I was very happy to see that the
9546 <a href="http://www.debian.org/News/2013/20130504">release announcement
9547 for Debian Wheezy</a> was waiting in my mail box.  This is a great
9548 Debian release, and I expect to move my machines at home over to it fairly
9549 soon.</p>
9550
9551 <p>The new debian release contain heaps of new stuff, and one program
9552 in particular make me very happy to see included.  The
9553 <a href="http://scratch.mit.edu/">Scratch</a> program, made famous by
9554 the <a href="http://www.code.org/">Teach kids code</a> movement, is
9555 included for the first time.  Alongside similar programs like
9556 <a href="http://edu.kde.org/kturtle/">kturtle</a> and
9557 <a href="http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Activities/Turtle_Art">turtleart</a>,
9558 it allow for visual programming where syntax errors can not happen,
9559 and a friendly programming environment for learning to control the
9560 computer.  Scratch will also be included in the next release of Debian
9561 Edu.</a>
9562
9563 <p>And now that Wheezy is wrapped up, we can wrap up the next Debian
9564 Edu/Skolelinux release too.  The
9565 <a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-edu/2013/04/msg00132.html">first
9566 alpha release</a> went out last week, and the next should soon
9567 follow.<p>
9568
9569       </div>
9570       <div class="tags">
9571
9572
9573         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
9574
9575
9576       </div>
9577     </div>
9578     <div class="padding"></div>
9579
9580     <div class="entry">
9581       <div class="title">
9582         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Isenkram_0_2_finally_in_the_Debian_archive.html">Isenkram 0.2 finally in the Debian archive</a>
9583       </div>
9584       <div class="date">
9585          3rd April 2013
9586       </div>
9587       <div class="body">
9588         <p>Today the <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/isenkram">Isenkram
9589 package</a> finally made it into the archive, after lingering in NEW
9590 for many months.  I uploaded it to the Debian experimental suite
9591 2013-01-27, and today it was accepted into the archive.</p>
9592
9593 <p>Isenkram is a system for suggesting to users what packages to
9594 install to work with a pluggable hardware device.  The suggestion pop
9595 up when the device is plugged in.  For example if a Lego Mindstorm NXT
9596 is inserted, it will suggest to install the program needed to program
9597 the NXT controller.  Give it a go, and report bugs and suggestions to
9598 BTS. :)</p>
9599
9600       </div>
9601       <div class="tags">
9602
9603
9604         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/isenkram">isenkram</a>.
9605
9606
9607       </div>
9608     </div>
9609     <div class="padding"></div>
9610
9611     <div class="entry">
9612       <div class="title">
9613         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Bitcoin_GUI_now_available_from_Debian_unstable__and_Ubuntu_raring_.html">Bitcoin GUI now available from Debian/unstable (and Ubuntu/raring)</a>
9614       </div>
9615       <div class="date">
9616          2nd February 2013
9617       </div>
9618       <div class="body">
9619         <p>My
9620 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/How_to_backport_bitcoin_qt_version_0_7_2_2_to_Debian_Squeeze.html">last
9621 bitcoin related blog post</a> mentioned that the new
9622 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/bitcoin">bitcoin package</a> for
9623 Debian was waiting in NEW.  It was accepted by the Debian ftp-masters
9624 2013-01-19, and have been available in unstable since then.  It was
9625 automatically copied to Ubuntu, and is available in their Raring
9626 version too.</p>
9627
9628 <p>But there is a strange problem with the build that block this new
9629 version from being available on the i386 and kfreebsd-i386
9630 architectures.  For some strange reason, the autobuilders in Debian
9631 for these architectures fail to run the test suite on these
9632 architectures (<a href="http://bugs.debian.org/672524">BTS #672524</a>).
9633 We are so far unable to reproduce it when building it manually, and
9634 no-one have been able to propose a fix.  If you got an idea what is
9635 failing, please let us know via the BTS.</p>
9636
9637 <p>One feature that is annoying me with of the bitcoin client, because
9638 I often run low on disk space, is the fact that the client will exit
9639 if it run short on space (<a href="http://bugs.debian.org/696715">BTS
9640 #696715</a>).  So make sure you have enough disk space when you run
9641 it. :)</p>
9642
9643 <p>As usual, if you use bitcoin and want to show your support of my
9644 activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address
9645 <b><a href="bitcoin:15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</a></b>.</p>
9646
9647       </div>
9648       <div class="tags">
9649
9650
9651         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/bitcoin">bitcoin</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
9652
9653
9654       </div>
9655     </div>
9656     <div class="padding"></div>
9657
9658     <div class="entry">
9659       <div class="title">
9660         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Welcome_to_the_world__Isenkram_.html">Welcome to the world, Isenkram!</a>
9661       </div>
9662       <div class="date">
9663         22nd January 2013
9664       </div>
9665       <div class="body">
9666         <p>Yesterday, I
9667 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/First_prototype_ready_making_hardware_easier_to_use_in_Debian.html">asked
9668 for testers</a> for my prototype for making Debian better at handling
9669 pluggable hardware devices, which I
9670 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Lets_make_hardware_dongles_easier_to_use_in_Debian.html">set
9671 out to create</a> earlier this month.  Several valuable testers showed
9672 up, and caused me to really want to to open up the development to more
9673 people.  But before I did this, I want to come up with a sensible name
9674 for this project.  Today I finally decided on a new name, and I have
9675 renamed the project from hw-support-handler to this new name.  In the
9676 process, I moved the source to git and made it available as a
9677 <a href="http://anonscm.debian.org/gitweb/?p=collab-maint/isenkram.git">collab-maint</a>
9678 repository in Debian.  The new name?  It is <strong>Isenkram</strong>.
9679 To fetch and build the latest version of the source, use</p>
9680
9681 <pre>
9682 git clone http://anonscm.debian.org/git/collab-maint/isenkram.git
9683 cd isenkram && git-buildpackage -us -uc
9684 </pre>
9685
9686 <p>I have not yet adjusted all files to use the new name yet.  If you
9687 want to hack on the source or improve the package, please go ahead.
9688 But please talk to me first on IRC or via email before you do major
9689 changes, to make sure we do not step on each others toes. :)</p>
9690
9691 <p>If you wonder what 'isenkram' is, it is a Norwegian word for iron
9692 stuff, typically meaning tools, nails, screws, etc.  Typical hardware
9693 stuff, in other words.  I've been told it is the Norwegian variant of
9694 the German word eisenkram, for those that are familiar with that
9695 word.</p>
9696
9697 <p><strong>Update 2013-01-26</strong>: Added -us -us to build
9698 instructions, to avoid confusing people with an error from the signing
9699 process.</p>
9700
9701 <p><strong>Update 2013-01-27</strong>: Switch to HTTP URL for the git
9702 clone argument to avoid the need for authentication.</p>
9703
9704       </div>
9705       <div class="tags">
9706
9707
9708         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/isenkram">isenkram</a>.
9709
9710
9711       </div>
9712     </div>
9713     <div class="padding"></div>
9714
9715     <div class="entry">
9716       <div class="title">
9717         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/First_prototype_ready_making_hardware_easier_to_use_in_Debian.html">First prototype ready making hardware easier to use in Debian</a>
9718       </div>
9719       <div class="date">
9720         21st January 2013
9721       </div>
9722       <div class="body">
9723         <p>Early this month I set out to try to
9724 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Lets_make_hardware_dongles_easier_to_use_in_Debian.html">improve
9725 the Debian support for pluggable hardware devices</a>.  Now my
9726 prototype is working, and it is ready for a larger audience.  To test
9727 it, fetch the
9728 <a href="http://anonscm.debian.org/viewvc/debian-edu/trunk/src/hw-support-handler/">source
9729 from the Debian Edu subversion repository</a>, build and install the
9730 package.  You might have to log out and in again activate the
9731 autostart script.</p>
9732
9733 <p>The design is simple:</p>
9734
9735 <ul>
9736
9737 <li>Add desktop entry in /usr/share/autostart/ causing a program
9738 hw-support-handlerd to start when the user log in.</li>
9739
9740 <li>This program listen for kernel events about new hardware (directly
9741 from the kernel like udev does), not using HAL dbus events as I
9742 initially did.</li>
9743
9744 <li>When new hardware is inserted, look up the hardware modalias in
9745 the APT database, a database
9746 <a href="http://anonscm.debian.org/viewvc/debian-edu/trunk/src/hw-support-handler/modaliases?view=markup">available
9747 via HTTP</a> and a database available as part of the package.</li>
9748
9749 <li>If a package is mapped to the hardware in question, the package
9750 isn't installed yet and this is the first time the hardware was
9751 plugged in, show a desktop notification suggesting to install the
9752 package or packages.</li>
9753
9754 <li>If the user click on the 'install package now' button, ask
9755 aptdaemon via the PackageKit API to install the requrired package.</li>
9756
9757 <li>aptdaemon ask for root password or sudo password, and install the
9758 package while showing progress information in a window.</li>
9759
9760 </ul>
9761
9762 <p>I still need to come up with a better name for the system.  Here
9763 are some screen shots showing the prototype in action.  First the
9764 notification, then the password request, and finally the request to
9765 approve all the dependencies.  Sorry for the Norwegian Bokmål GUI.</p>
9766
9767 <p><img src="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-01-21-hw-support-1-notification.png">
9768 <br><img src="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-01-21-hw-support-2-password.png">
9769 <br><img src="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-01-21-hw-support-3-dependencies.png">
9770 <br><img src="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-01-21-hw-support-4-installing.png">
9771 <br><img src="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-01-21-hw-support-5-installing-details.png" width="70%"></p>
9772
9773 <p>The prototype still need to be improved with longer timeouts, but
9774 is already useful.  The database of hardware to package mappings also
9775 need more work.  It is currently compatible with the Ubuntu way of
9776 storing such information in the package control file, but could be
9777 changed to use other formats instead or in addition to the current
9778 method.  I've dropped the use of discover for this mapping, as the
9779 modalias approach is more flexible and easier to use on Linux as long
9780 as the Linux kernel expose its modalias strings directly.</p>
9781
9782 <p><strong>Update 2013-01-21 16:50</strong>: Due to popular demand,
9783 here is the command required to check out and build the source: Use
9784 '<tt>svn checkout
9785 svn://svn.debian.org/debian-edu/trunk/src/hw-support-handler/; cd
9786 hw-support-handler; debuild</tt>'.  If you lack debuild, install the
9787 devscripts package.</p>
9788
9789 <p><strong>Update 2013-01-23 12:00</strong>: The project is now
9790 renamed to Isenkram and the source moved from the Debian Edu
9791 subversion repository to a Debian collab-maint git repository.  See
9792 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Welcome_to_the_world__Isenkram_.html">build
9793 instructions</a> for details.</p>
9794
9795       </div>
9796       <div class="tags">
9797
9798
9799         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/isenkram">isenkram</a>.
9800
9801
9802       </div>
9803     </div>
9804     <div class="padding"></div>
9805
9806     <div class="entry">
9807       <div class="title">
9808         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Thank_you_Thinkpad_X41__for_your_long_and_trustworthy_service.html">Thank you Thinkpad X41, for your long and trustworthy service</a>
9809       </div>
9810       <div class="date">
9811         19th January 2013
9812       </div>
9813       <div class="body">
9814         <p>This Christmas my trusty old laptop died.  It died quietly and
9815 suddenly in bed.  With a quiet whimper, it went completely quiet and
9816 black.  The power button was no longer able to turn it on.  It was a
9817 IBM Thinkpad X41, and the best laptop I ever had.  Better than both
9818 Thinkpads X30, X31, X40, X60, X61 and X61S.  Far better than the
9819 Compaq I had before that.  Now I need to find a replacement.  To keep
9820 going during Christmas, I moved the one year old SSD disk to my old
9821 X40 where it fitted (only one I had left that could use it), but it is
9822 not a durable solution.
9823
9824 <p>My laptop needs are fairly modest.  This is my wishlist from when I
9825 got a new one more than 10 years ago.  It still holds true.:)</p>
9826
9827 <ul>
9828
9829 <li>Lightweight (around 1 kg) and small volume (preferably smaller
9830   than A4).</li>
9831 <li>Robust, it will be in my backpack every day.</li>
9832 <li>Three button mouse and a mouse pin instead of touch pad.</li>
9833 <li>Long battery life time.  Preferable a week.</li>
9834 <li>Internal WIFI network card.</li>
9835 <li>Internal Twisted Pair network card.</li>
9836 <li>Some USB slots (2-3 is plenty)</li>
9837 <li>Good keyboard - similar to the Thinkpad.</li>
9838 <li>Video resolution at least 1024x768, with size around 12" (A4 paper
9839 size).</li>
9840 <li>Hardware supported by Debian Stable, ie the default kernel and
9841   X.org packages.</li>
9842 <li>Quiet, preferably fan free (or at least not using the fan most of
9843   the time).
9844
9845 </ul>
9846
9847 <p>You will notice that there are no RAM and CPU requirements in the
9848 list.  The reason is simply that the specifications on laptops the
9849 last 10-15 years have been sufficient for my needs, and I have to look
9850 at other features to choose my laptop.  But are there still made as
9851 robust laptops as my X41?  The Thinkpad X60/X61 proved to be less
9852 robust, and Thinkpads seem to be heading in the wrong direction since
9853 Lenovo took over.  But I've been told that X220 and X1 Carbon might
9854 still be useful.</p>
9855
9856 <p>Perhaps I should rethink my needs, and look for a pad with an
9857 external keyboard?  I'll have to check the
9858 <a href="http://www.linux-laptop.net/">Linux Laptops site</a> for
9859 well-supported laptops, or perhaps just buy one preinstalled from one
9860 of the vendors listed on the <a href="http://linuxpreloaded.com/">Linux
9861 Pre-loaded site</a>.</p>
9862
9863       </div>
9864       <div class="tags">
9865
9866
9867         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
9868
9869
9870       </div>
9871     </div>
9872     <div class="padding"></div>
9873
9874     <div class="entry">
9875       <div class="title">
9876         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/How_to_find_a_browser_plugin_supporting_a_given_MIME_type.html">How to find a browser plugin supporting a given MIME type</a>
9877       </div>
9878       <div class="date">
9879         18th January 2013
9880       </div>
9881       <div class="body">
9882         <p>Some times I try to figure out which Iceweasel browser plugin to
9883 install to get support for a given MIME type.  Thanks to
9884 <a href="https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MozillaTeam/Plugins">specifications
9885 done by Ubuntu</a> and Mozilla, it is possible to do this in Debian.
9886 Unfortunately, not very many packages provide the needed meta
9887 information, Anyway, here is a small script to look up all browser
9888 plugin packages announcing ther MIME support using this specification:</p>
9889
9890 <pre>
9891 #!/usr/bin/python
9892 import sys
9893 import apt
9894 def pkgs_handling_mimetype(mimetype):
9895     cache = apt.Cache()
9896     cache.open(None)
9897     thepkgs = []
9898     for pkg in cache:
9899         version = pkg.candidate
9900         if version is None:
9901             version = pkg.installed
9902         if version is None:
9903             continue
9904         record = version.record
9905         if not record.has_key('Npp-MimeType'):
9906             continue
9907         mime_types = record['Npp-MimeType'].split(',')
9908         for t in mime_types:
9909             t = t.rstrip().strip()
9910             if t == mimetype:
9911                 thepkgs.append(pkg.name)
9912     return thepkgs
9913 mimetype = "audio/ogg"
9914 if 1 < len(sys.argv):
9915     mimetype = sys.argv[1]
9916 print "Browser plugin packages supporting %s:" % mimetype
9917 for pkg in pkgs_handling_mimetype(mimetype):
9918     print "  %s" %pkg
9919 </pre>
9920
9921 <p>It can be used like this to look up a given MIME type:</p>
9922
9923 <pre>
9924 % ./apt-find-browserplug-for-mimetype
9925 Browser plugin packages supporting audio/ogg:
9926   gecko-mediaplayer
9927 % ./apt-find-browserplug-for-mimetype application/x-shockwave-flash
9928 Browser plugin packages supporting application/x-shockwave-flash:
9929   browser-plugin-gnash
9930 %
9931 </pre>
9932
9933 <p>In Ubuntu this mechanism is combined with support in the browser
9934 itself to query for plugins and propose to install the needed
9935 packages.  It would be great if Debian supported such feature too.  Is
9936 anyone working on adding it?</p>
9937
9938 <p><strong>Update 2013-01-18 14:20</strong>: The Debian BTS
9939 request for icweasel support for this feature is
9940 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/484010">#484010</a> from 2008 (and
9941 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/698426">#698426</a> from today).  Lack
9942 of manpower and wish for a different design is the reason thus feature
9943 is not yet in iceweasel from Debian.</p>
9944
9945       </div>
9946       <div class="tags">
9947
9948
9949         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
9950
9951
9952       </div>
9953     </div>
9954     <div class="padding"></div>
9955
9956     <div class="entry">
9957       <div class="title">
9958         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/What_is_the_most_supported_MIME_type_in_Debian_.html">What is the most supported MIME type in Debian?</a>
9959       </div>
9960       <div class="date">
9961         16th January 2013
9962       </div>
9963       <div class="body">
9964         <p>The <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/AppStreamDebianProposal">DEP-11
9965 proposal to add AppStream information to the Debian archive</a>, is a
9966 proposal to make it possible for a Desktop application to propose to
9967 the user some package to install to gain support for a given MIME
9968 type, font, library etc. that is currently missing.  With such
9969 mechanism in place, it would be possible for the desktop to
9970 automatically propose and install leocad if some LDraw file is
9971 downloaded by the browser.</p>
9972
9973 <p>To get some idea about the current content of the archive, I decided
9974 to write a simple program to extract all .desktop files from the
9975 Debian archive and look up the claimed MIME support there.  The result
9976 can be found on the
9977 <a href="http://ftp.skolelinux.org/pub/AppStreamTest">Skolelinux FTP
9978 site</a>.  Using the collected information, it become possible to
9979 answer the question in the title.  Here are the 20 most supported MIME
9980 types in Debian stable (Squeeze), testing (Wheezy) and unstable (Sid).
9981 The complete list is available from the link above.</p>
9982
9983 <p><strong>Debian Stable:</strong></p>
9984
9985 <pre>
9986   count MIME type
9987   ----- -----------------------
9988      32 text/plain
9989      30 audio/mpeg
9990      29 image/png
9991      28 image/jpeg
9992      27 application/ogg
9993      26 audio/x-mp3
9994      25 image/tiff
9995      25 image/gif
9996      22 image/bmp
9997      22 audio/x-wav
9998      20 audio/x-flac
9999      19 audio/x-mpegurl
10000      18 video/x-ms-asf
10001      18 audio/x-musepack
10002      18 audio/x-mpeg
10003      18 application/x-ogg
10004      17 video/mpeg
10005      17 audio/x-scpls
10006      17 audio/ogg
10007      16 video/x-ms-wmv
10008 </pre>
10009
10010 <p><strong>Debian Testing:</strong></p>
10011
10012 <pre>
10013   count MIME type
10014   ----- -----------------------
10015      33 text/plain
10016      32 image/png
10017      32 image/jpeg
10018      29 audio/mpeg
10019      27 image/gif
10020      26 image/tiff
10021      26 application/ogg
10022      25 audio/x-mp3
10023      22 image/bmp
10024      21 audio/x-wav
10025      19 audio/x-mpegurl
10026      19 audio/x-mpeg
10027      18 video/mpeg
10028      18 audio/x-scpls
10029      18 audio/x-flac
10030      18 application/x-ogg
10031      17 video/x-ms-asf
10032      17 text/html
10033      17 audio/x-musepack
10034      16 image/x-xbitmap
10035 </pre>
10036
10037 <p><strong>Debian Unstable:</strong></p>
10038
10039 <pre>
10040   count MIME type
10041   ----- -----------------------
10042      31 text/plain
10043      31 image/png
10044      31 image/jpeg
10045      29 audio/mpeg
10046      28 application/ogg
10047      27 image/gif
10048      26 image/tiff
10049      26 audio/x-mp3
10050      23 audio/x-wav
10051      22 image/bmp
10052      21 audio/x-flac
10053      20 audio/x-mpegurl
10054      19 audio/x-mpeg
10055      18 video/x-ms-asf
10056      18 video/mpeg
10057      18 audio/x-scpls
10058      18 application/x-ogg
10059      17 audio/x-musepack
10060      16 video/x-ms-wmv
10061      16 video/x-msvideo
10062 </pre>
10063
10064 <p>I am told that PackageKit can provide an API to access the kind of
10065 information mentioned in DEP-11.  I have not yet had time to look at
10066 it, but hope the PackageKit people in Debian are on top of these
10067 issues.</p>
10068
10069 <p><strong>Update 2013-01-16 13:35</strong>: Updated numbers after
10070 discovering a typo in my script.</p>
10071
10072       </div>
10073       <div class="tags">
10074
10075
10076         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
10077
10078
10079       </div>
10080     </div>
10081     <div class="padding"></div>
10082
10083     <div class="entry">
10084       <div class="title">
10085         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Using_modalias_info_to_find_packages_handling_my_hardware.html">Using modalias info to find packages handling my hardware</a>
10086       </div>
10087       <div class="date">
10088         15th January 2013
10089       </div>
10090       <div class="body">
10091         <p>Yesterday, I wrote about the
10092 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Modalias_strings___a_practical_way_to_map__stuff__to_hardware.html">modalias
10093 values provided by the Linux kernel</a> following my hope for
10094 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Lets_make_hardware_dongles_easier_to_use_in_Debian.html">better
10095 dongle support in Debian</a>.  Using this knowledge, I have tested how
10096 modalias values attached to package names can be used to map packages
10097 to hardware.  This allow the system to look up and suggest relevant
10098 packages when I plug in some new hardware into my machine, and replace
10099 discover and discover-data as the database used to map hardware to
10100 packages.</p>
10101
10102 <p>I create a modaliases file with entries like the following,
10103 containing package name, kernel module name (if relevant, otherwise
10104 the package name) and globs matching the relevant hardware
10105 modalias.</p>
10106
10107 <p><blockquote>
10108 Package: package-name
10109 <br>Modaliases: module(modaliasglob, modaliasglob, modaliasglob)</p>
10110 </blockquote></p>
10111
10112 <p>It is fairly trivial to write code to find the relevant packages
10113 for a given modalias value using this file.</p>
10114
10115 <p>An entry like this would suggest the video and picture application
10116 cheese for many USB web cameras (interface bus class 0E01):</p>
10117
10118 <p><blockquote>
10119 Package: cheese
10120 <br>Modaliases: cheese(usb:v*p*d*dc*dsc*dp*ic0Eisc01ip*)</p>
10121 </blockquote></p>
10122
10123 <p>An entry like this would suggest the pcmciautils package when a
10124 CardBus bridge (bus class 0607) PCI device is present:</p>
10125
10126 <p><blockquote>
10127 Package: pcmciautils
10128 <br>Modaliases: pcmciautils(pci:v*d*sv*sd*bc06sc07i*)
10129 </blockquote></p>
10130
10131 <p>An entry like this would suggest the package colorhug-client when
10132 plugging in a ColorHug with USB IDs 04D8:F8DA:</p>
10133
10134 <p><blockquote>
10135 Package: colorhug-client
10136 <br>Modaliases: colorhug-client(usb:v04D8pF8DAd*)</p>
10137 </blockquote></p>
10138
10139 <p>I believe the format is compatible with the format of the Packages
10140 file in the Debian archive.  Ubuntu already uses their Packages file
10141 to store their mappings from packages to hardware.</p>
10142
10143 <p>By adding a XB-Modaliases: header in debian/control, any .deb can
10144 announce the hardware it support in a way my prototype understand.
10145 This allow those publishing packages in an APT source outside the
10146 Debian archive as well as those backporting packages to make sure the
10147 hardware mapping are included in the package meta information.  I've
10148 tested such header in the pymissile package, and its modalias mapping
10149 is working as it should with my prototype.  It even made it to Ubuntu
10150 Raring.</p>
10151
10152 <p>To test if it was possible to look up supported hardware using only
10153 the shell tools available in the Debian installer, I wrote a shell
10154 implementation of the lookup code.  The idea is to create files for
10155 each modalias and let the shell do the matching.  Please check out and
10156 try the
10157 <a href="http://anonscm.debian.org/viewvc/debian-edu/trunk/src/hw-support-handler/hw-support-lookup?view=co">hw-support-lookup</a>
10158 shell script.  It run without any extra dependencies and fetch the
10159 hardware mappings from the Debian archive and the subversion
10160 repository where I currently work on my prototype.</p>
10161
10162 <p>When I use it on a machine with a yubikey inserted, it suggest to
10163 install yubikey-personalization:</p>
10164
10165 <p><blockquote>
10166 % ./hw-support-lookup
10167 <br>yubikey-personalization
10168 <br>%
10169 </blockquote></p>
10170
10171 <p>When I run it on my Thinkpad X40 with a PCMCIA/CardBus slot, it
10172 propose to install the pcmciautils package:</p>
10173
10174 <p><blockquote>
10175 % ./hw-support-lookup
10176 <br>pcmciautils
10177 <br>%
10178 </blockquote></p>
10179
10180 <p>If you know of any hardware-package mapping that should be added to
10181 <a href="http://anonscm.debian.org/viewvc/debian-edu/trunk/src/hw-support-handler/modaliases?view=co">my
10182 database</a>, please tell me about it.</p>
10183
10184 <p>It could be possible to generate several of the mappings between
10185 packages and hardware.  One source would be to look at packages with
10186 kernel modules, ie packages with *.ko files in /lib/modules/, and
10187 extract their modalias information.  Another would be to look at
10188 packages with udev rules, ie packages with files in
10189 /lib/udev/rules.d/, and extract their vendor/model information to
10190 generate a modalias matching rule.  I have not tested any of these to
10191 see if it work.</p>
10192
10193 <p>If you want to help implementing a system to let us propose what
10194 packages to install when new hardware is plugged into a Debian
10195 machine, please send me an email or talk to me on
10196 <a href="irc://irc.debian.org/%23debian-devel">#debian-devel</a>.</p>
10197
10198       </div>
10199       <div class="tags">
10200
10201
10202         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/isenkram">isenkram</a>.
10203
10204
10205       </div>
10206     </div>
10207     <div class="padding"></div>
10208
10209     <div class="entry">
10210       <div class="title">
10211         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Modalias_strings___a_practical_way_to_map__stuff__to_hardware.html">Modalias strings - a practical way to map "stuff" to hardware</a>
10212       </div>
10213       <div class="date">
10214         14th January 2013
10215       </div>
10216       <div class="body">
10217         <p>While looking into how to look up Debian packages based on hardware
10218 information, to find the packages that support a given piece of
10219 hardware, I refreshed my memory regarding modalias values, and decided
10220 to document the details.  Here are my findings so far, also available
10221 in
10222 <a href="http://anonscm.debian.org/viewvc/debian-edu/trunk/src/hw-support-handler/">the
10223 Debian Edu subversion repository</a>:
10224
10225 <p><strong>Modalias decoded</strong></p>
10226
10227 <p>This document try to explain what the different types of modalias
10228 values stands for.  It is in part based on information from
10229 &lt;URL: <a href="https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Modalias">https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Modalias</a> &gt;,
10230 &lt;URL: <a href="http://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/26132/how-to-assign-usb-driver-to-device">http://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/26132/how-to-assign-usb-driver-to-device</a> &gt;,
10231 &lt;URL: <a href="http://code.metager.de/source/history/linux/stable/scripts/mod/file2alias.c">http://code.metager.de/source/history/linux/stable/scripts/mod/file2alias.c</a> &gt; and
10232 &lt;URL: <a href="http://cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewvc/dmidecode/dmidecode.c?root=dmidecode&view=markup">http://cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewvc/dmidecode/dmidecode.c?root=dmidecode&view=markup</a> &gt;.
10233
10234 <p>The modalias entries for a given Linux machine can be found using
10235 this shell script:</p>
10236
10237 <pre>
10238 find /sys -name modalias -print0 | xargs -0 cat | sort -u
10239 </pre>
10240
10241 <p>The supported modalias globs for a given kernel module can be found
10242 using modinfo:</p>
10243
10244 <pre>
10245 % /sbin/modinfo psmouse | grep alias:
10246 alias:          serio:ty05pr*id*ex*
10247 alias:          serio:ty01pr*id*ex*
10248 %
10249 </pre>
10250
10251 <p><strong>PCI subtype</strong></p>
10252
10253 <p>A typical PCI entry can look like this.  This is an Intel Host
10254 Bridge memory controller:</p>
10255
10256 <p><blockquote>
10257 pci:v00008086d00002770sv00001028sd000001ADbc06sc00i00
10258 </blockquote></p>
10259
10260 <p>This represent these values:</p>
10261
10262 <pre>
10263  v   00008086  (vendor)
10264  d   00002770  (device)
10265  sv  00001028  (subvendor)
10266  sd  000001AD  (subdevice)
10267  bc  06        (bus class)
10268  sc  00        (bus subclass)
10269  i   00        (interface)
10270 </pre>
10271
10272 <p>The vendor/device values are the same values outputted from 'lspci
10273 -n' as 8086:2770.  The bus class/subclass is also shown by lspci as
10274 0600.  The 0600 class is a host bridge.  Other useful bus values are
10275 0300 (VGA compatible card) and 0200 (Ethernet controller).</p>
10276
10277 <p>Not sure how to figure out the interface value, nor what it
10278 means.</p>
10279
10280 <p><strong>USB subtype</strong></p>
10281
10282 <p>Some typical USB entries can look like this.  This is an internal
10283 USB hub in a laptop:</p>
10284
10285 <p><blockquote>
10286 usb:v1D6Bp0001d0206dc09dsc00dp00ic09isc00ip00
10287 </blockquote></p>
10288
10289 <p>Here is the values included in this alias:</p>
10290
10291 <pre>
10292  v    1D6B  (device vendor)
10293  p    0001  (device product)
10294  d    0206  (bcddevice)
10295  dc     09  (device class)
10296  dsc    00  (device subclass)
10297  dp     00  (device protocol)
10298  ic     09  (interface class)
10299  isc    00  (interface subclass)
10300  ip     00  (interface protocol)
10301 </pre>
10302
10303 <p>The 0900 device class/subclass means hub.  Some times the relevant
10304 class is in the interface class section.  For a simple USB web camera,
10305 these alias entries show up:</p>
10306
10307 <p><blockquote>
10308 usb:v0AC8p3420d5000dcEFdsc02dp01ic01isc01ip00
10309 <br>usb:v0AC8p3420d5000dcEFdsc02dp01ic01isc02ip00
10310 <br>usb:v0AC8p3420d5000dcEFdsc02dp01ic0Eisc01ip00
10311 <br>usb:v0AC8p3420d5000dcEFdsc02dp01ic0Eisc02ip00
10312 </blockquote></p>
10313
10314 <p>Interface class 0E01 is video control, 0E02 is video streaming (aka
10315 camera), 0101 is audio control device and 0102 is audio streaming (aka
10316 microphone).  Thus this is a camera with microphone included.</p>
10317
10318 <p><strong>ACPI subtype</strong></p>
10319
10320 <p>The ACPI type is used for several non-PCI/USB stuff.  This is an IR
10321 receiver in a Thinkpad X40:</p>
10322
10323 <p><blockquote>
10324 acpi:IBM0071:PNP0511:
10325 </blockquote></p>
10326
10327 <p>The values between the colons are IDs.</p>
10328
10329 <p><strong>DMI subtype</strong></p>
10330
10331 <p>The DMI table contain lots of information about the computer case
10332 and model.  This is an entry for a IBM Thinkpad X40, fetched from
10333 /sys/devices/virtual/dmi/id/modalias:</p>
10334
10335 <p><blockquote>
10336 dmi:bvnIBM:bvr1UETB6WW(1.66):bd06/15/2005:svnIBM:pn2371H4G:pvrThinkPadX40:rvnIBM:rn2371H4G:rvrNotAvailable:cvnIBM:ct10:cvrNotAvailable:
10337 </blockquote></p>
10338
10339 <p>The values present are</p>
10340
10341 <pre>
10342  bvn  IBM            (BIOS vendor)
10343  bvr  1UETB6WW(1.66) (BIOS version)
10344  bd   06/15/2005     (BIOS date)
10345  svn  IBM            (system vendor)
10346  pn   2371H4G        (product name)
10347  pvr  ThinkPadX40    (product version)
10348  rvn  IBM            (board vendor)
10349  rn   2371H4G        (board name)
10350  rvr  NotAvailable   (board version)
10351  cvn  IBM            (chassis vendor)
10352  ct   10             (chassis type)
10353  cvr  NotAvailable   (chassis version)
10354 </pre>
10355
10356 <p>The chassis type 10 is Notebook.  Other interesting values can be
10357 found in the dmidecode source:</p>
10358
10359 <pre>
10360   3 Desktop
10361   4 Low Profile Desktop
10362   5 Pizza Box
10363   6 Mini Tower
10364   7 Tower
10365   8 Portable
10366   9 Laptop
10367  10 Notebook
10368  11 Hand Held
10369  12 Docking Station
10370  13 All In One
10371  14 Sub Notebook
10372  15 Space-saving
10373  16 Lunch Box
10374  17 Main Server Chassis
10375  18 Expansion Chassis
10376  19 Sub Chassis
10377  20 Bus Expansion Chassis
10378  21 Peripheral Chassis
10379  22 RAID Chassis
10380  23 Rack Mount Chassis
10381  24 Sealed-case PC
10382  25 Multi-system
10383  26 CompactPCI
10384  27 AdvancedTCA
10385  28 Blade
10386  29 Blade Enclosing
10387 </pre>
10388
10389 <p>The chassis type values are not always accurately set in the DMI
10390 table.  For example my home server is a tower, but the DMI modalias
10391 claim it is a desktop.</p>
10392
10393 <p><strong>SerIO subtype</strong></p>
10394
10395 <p>This type is used for PS/2 mouse plugs.  One example is from my
10396 test machine:</p>
10397
10398 <p><blockquote>
10399 serio:ty01pr00id00ex00
10400 </blockquote></p>
10401
10402 <p>The values present are</p>
10403
10404 <pre>
10405   ty  01  (type)
10406   pr  00  (prototype)
10407   id  00  (id)
10408   ex  00  (extra)
10409 </pre>
10410
10411 <p>This type is supported by the psmouse driver.  I am not sure what
10412 the valid values are.</p>
10413
10414 <p><strong>Other subtypes</strong></p>
10415
10416 <p>There are heaps of other modalias subtypes according to
10417 file2alias.c.  There is the rest of the list from that source: amba,
10418 ap, bcma, ccw, css, eisa, hid, i2c, ieee1394, input, ipack, isapnp,
10419 mdio, of, parisc, pcmcia, platform, scsi, sdio, spi, ssb, vio, virtio,
10420 vmbus, x86cpu and zorro.  I did not spend time documenting all of
10421 these, as they do not seem relevant for my intended use with mapping
10422 hardware to packages when new stuff is inserted during run time.</p>
10423
10424 <p><strong>Looking up kernel modules using modalias values</strong></p>
10425
10426 <p>To check which kernel modules provide support for a given modalias,
10427 one can use the following shell script:</p>
10428
10429 <pre>
10430   for id in $(find /sys -name modalias -print0 | xargs -0 cat | sort -u); do \
10431     echo "$id" ; \
10432     /sbin/modprobe --show-depends "$id"|sed 's/^/  /' ; \
10433   done
10434 </pre>
10435
10436 <p>The output can look like this (only the first few entries as the
10437 list is very long on my test machine):</p>
10438
10439 <pre>
10440   acpi:ACPI0003:
10441     insmod /lib/modules/2.6.32-5-686/kernel/drivers/acpi/ac.ko
10442   acpi:device:
10443   FATAL: Module acpi:device: not found.
10444   acpi:IBM0068:
10445     insmod /lib/modules/2.6.32-5-686/kernel/drivers/char/nvram.ko
10446     insmod /lib/modules/2.6.32-5-686/kernel/drivers/leds/led-class.ko
10447     insmod /lib/modules/2.6.32-5-686/kernel/net/rfkill/rfkill.ko
10448     insmod /lib/modules/2.6.32-5-686/kernel/drivers/platform/x86/thinkpad_acpi.ko
10449   acpi:IBM0071:PNP0511:
10450     insmod /lib/modules/2.6.32-5-686/kernel/lib/crc-ccitt.ko
10451     insmod /lib/modules/2.6.32-5-686/kernel/net/irda/irda.ko
10452     insmod /lib/modules/2.6.32-5-686/kernel/drivers/net/irda/nsc-ircc.ko
10453   [...]
10454 </pre>
10455
10456 <p>If you want to help implementing a system to let us propose what
10457 packages to install when new hardware is plugged into a Debian
10458 machine, please send me an email or talk to me on
10459 <a href="irc://irc.debian.org/%23debian-devel">#debian-devel</a>.</p>
10460
10461 <p><strong>Update 2013-01-15:</strong> Rewrite "cat $(find ...)" to
10462 "find ... -print0 | xargs -0 cat" to make sure it handle directories
10463 in /sys/ with space in them.</p>
10464
10465       </div>
10466       <div class="tags">
10467
10468
10469         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/isenkram">isenkram</a>.
10470
10471
10472       </div>
10473     </div>
10474     <div class="padding"></div>
10475
10476     <div class="entry">
10477       <div class="title">
10478         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Moved_the_pymissile_Debian_packaging_to_collab_maint.html">Moved the pymissile Debian packaging to collab-maint</a>
10479       </div>
10480       <div class="date">
10481         10th January 2013
10482       </div>
10483       <div class="body">
10484         <p>As part of my investigation on how to improve the support in Debian
10485 for hardware dongles, I dug up my old Mark and Spencer USB Rocket
10486 Launcher and updated the Debian package
10487 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/pymissile">pymissile</a> to make
10488 sure udev will fix the device permissions when it is plugged in.  I
10489 also added a "Modaliases" header to test it in the Debian archive and
10490 hopefully make the package be proposed by jockey in Ubuntu when a user
10491 plug in his rocket launcher.  In the process I moved the source to a
10492 git repository under collab-maint, to make it easier for any DD to
10493 contribute.  <a href="http://code.google.com/p/pymissile/">Upstream</a>
10494 is not very active, but the software still work for me even after five
10495 years of relative silence.  The new git repository is not listed in
10496 the uploaded package yet, because I want to test the other changes a
10497 bit more before I upload the new version.  If you want to check out
10498 the new version with a .desktop file included, visit the
10499 <a href="http://anonscm.debian.org/gitweb/?p=collab-maint/pymissile.git">gitweb
10500 view</a> or use "<tt>git clone
10501 git://anonscm.debian.org/collab-maint/pymissile.git</tt>".</p>
10502
10503       </div>
10504       <div class="tags">
10505
10506
10507         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/isenkram">isenkram</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/robot">robot</a>.
10508
10509
10510       </div>
10511     </div>
10512     <div class="padding"></div>
10513
10514     <div class="entry">
10515       <div class="title">
10516         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Lets_make_hardware_dongles_easier_to_use_in_Debian.html">Lets make hardware dongles easier to use in Debian</a>
10517       </div>
10518       <div class="date">
10519          9th January 2013
10520       </div>
10521       <div class="body">
10522         <p>One thing that annoys me with Debian and Linux distributions in
10523 general, is that there is a great package management system with the
10524 ability to automatically install software packages by downloading them
10525 from the distribution mirrors, but no way to get it to automatically
10526 install the packages I need to use the hardware I plug into my
10527 machine.  Even if the package to use it is easily available from the
10528 Linux distribution.  When I plug in a LEGO Mindstorms NXT, it could
10529 suggest to automatically install the python-nxt, nbc and t2n packages
10530 I need to talk to it.  When I plug in a Yubikey, it could propose the
10531 yubikey-personalization package.  The information required to do this
10532 is available, but no-one have pulled all the pieces together.</p>
10533
10534 <p>Some years ago, I proposed to
10535 <a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2010/05/msg01206.html">use
10536 the discover subsystem to implement this</a>.  The idea is fairly
10537 simple:
10538
10539 <ul>
10540
10541 <li>Add a desktop entry in /usr/share/autostart/ pointing to a program
10542   starting when a user log in.</li>
10543
10544 <li>Set this program up to listen for kernel events emitted when new
10545   hardware is inserted into the computer.</li>
10546
10547 <li>When new hardware is inserted, look up the hardware ID in a
10548   database mapping to packages, and take note of any non-installed
10549   packages.</li>
10550
10551 <li>Show a message to the user proposing to install the discovered
10552   package, and make it easy to install it.</li>
10553
10554 </ul>
10555
10556 <p>I am not sure what the best way to implement this is, but my
10557 initial idea was to use dbus events to discover new hardware, the
10558 discover database to find packages and
10559 <a href="http://www.packagekit.org/">PackageKit</a> to install
10560 packages.</p>
10561
10562 <p>Yesterday, I found time to try to implement this idea, and the
10563 draft package is now checked into
10564 <a href="http://anonscm.debian.org/viewvc/debian-edu/trunk/src/hw-support-handler/">the
10565 Debian Edu subversion repository</a>.  In the process, I updated the
10566 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/d/discover-data.html">discover-data</a>
10567 package to map the USB ids of LEGO Mindstorms and Yubikey devices to
10568 the relevant packages in Debian, and uploaded a new version
10569 2.2013.01.09 to unstable.  I also discovered that the current
10570 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/d/discover.html">discover</a>
10571 package in Debian no longer discovered any USB devices, because
10572 /proc/bus/usb/devices is no longer present.  I ported it to use
10573 libusb as a fall back option to get it working.  The fixed package
10574 version 2.1.2-6 is now in experimental (didn't upload it to unstable
10575 because of the freeze).</p>
10576
10577 <p>With this prototype in place, I can insert my Yubikey, and get this
10578 desktop notification to show up (only once, the first time it is
10579 inserted):</p>
10580
10581 <p align="center"><img src="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-01-09-hw-autoinstall.png"></p>
10582
10583 <p>For this prototype to be really useful, some way to automatically
10584 install the proposed packages by pressing the "Please install
10585 program(s)" button should to be implemented.</p>
10586
10587 <p>If this idea seem useful to you, and you want to help make it
10588 happen, please help me update the discover-data database with mappings
10589 from hardware to Debian packages.  Check if 'discover-pkginstall -l'
10590 list the package you would like to have installed when a given
10591 hardware device is inserted into your computer, and report bugs using
10592 reportbug if it isn't.  Or, if you know of a better way to provide
10593 such mapping, please let me know.</p>
10594
10595 <p>This prototype need more work, and there are several questions that
10596 should be considered before it is ready for production use.  Is dbus
10597 the correct way to detect new hardware?  At the moment I look for HAL
10598 dbus events on the system bus, because that is the events I could see
10599 on my Debian Squeeze KDE desktop.  Are there better events to use?
10600 How should the user be notified?  Is the desktop notification
10601 mechanism the best option, or should the background daemon raise a
10602 popup instead?  How should packages be installed?  When should they
10603 not be installed?</p>
10604
10605 <p>If you want to help getting such feature implemented in Debian,
10606 please send me an email. :)</p>
10607
10608       </div>
10609       <div class="tags">
10610
10611
10612         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/isenkram">isenkram</a>.
10613
10614
10615       </div>
10616     </div>
10617     <div class="padding"></div>
10618
10619     <div class="entry">
10620       <div class="title">
10621         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/New_IRC_channel_for_LEGO_designers_using_Debian.html">New IRC channel for LEGO designers using Debian</a>
10622       </div>
10623       <div class="date">
10624          2nd January 2013
10625       </div>
10626       <div class="body">
10627         <p>During Christmas, I have worked a bit on the Debian support for
10628 <a href="http://mindstorms.lego.com/en-us/Default.aspx">LEGO Mindstorm
10629 NXT</a>.  My son and I have played a bit with my NXT set, and I
10630 discovered I had to build all the tools myself because none were
10631 already in Debian Squeeze.  If Debian support for LEGO is something
10632 you care about, please join me on the IRC channel
10633 <a href="irc://irc.debian.org/%23debian-lego">#debian-lego</a> (server
10634 irc.debian.org).  There is a lot that could be done to improve the
10635 Debian support for LEGO designers.  For example both CAD software
10636 and Mindstorm compilers are missing. :)</p>
10637
10638 <p>Update 2012-01-03: A
10639 <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/LegoDesigners">project page</a>
10640 including links to Lego related packages is now available.</p>
10641
10642       </div>
10643       <div class="tags">
10644
10645
10646         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/lego">lego</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/robot">robot</a>.
10647
10648
10649       </div>
10650     </div>
10651     <div class="padding"></div>
10652
10653     <div class="entry">
10654       <div class="title">
10655         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/How_to_backport_bitcoin_qt_version_0_7_2_2_to_Debian_Squeeze.html">How to backport bitcoin-qt version 0.7.2-2 to Debian Squeeze</a>
10656       </div>
10657       <div class="date">
10658         25th December 2012
10659       </div>
10660       <div class="body">
10661         <p>Let me start by wishing you all marry Christmas and a happy new
10662 year!  I hope next year will prove to be a good year.</p>
10663
10664 <p><a href="http://www.bitcoin.org/">Bitcoin</a>, the digital
10665 decentralised "currency" that allow people to transfer bitcoins
10666 between each other with minimal overhead, is a very interesting
10667 experiment.  And as I wrote a few days ago, the bitcoin situation in
10668 <a href="http://www.debian.org/">Debian</a> is about to improve a bit.
10669 The <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/bitcoin">new debian source
10670 package</a> (version 0.7.2-2) was uploaded yesterday, and is waiting
10671 in <a href="http://ftp-master.debian.org/new.html">the NEW queue</A>
10672 for one of the ftpmasters to approve the new bitcoin-qt package
10673 name.</p>
10674
10675 <p>And thanks to the great work of Jonas and the rest of the bitcoin
10676 team in Debian, you can easily test the package in Debian Squeeze
10677 using the following steps to get a set of working packages:</p>
10678
10679 <blockquote><pre>
10680 git clone git://git.debian.org/git/collab-maint/bitcoin
10681 cd bitcoin
10682 DEB_MAINTAINER_MODE=1 DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS=noupnp fakeroot debian/rules clean
10683 DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS=noupnp git-buildpackage --git-ignore-new
10684 </pre></blockquote>
10685
10686 <p>You might have to install some build dependencies as well.  The
10687 list of commands should give you two packages, bitcoind and
10688 bitcoin-qt, ready for use in a Squeeze environment.  Note that the
10689 client will download the complete set of bitcoin "blocks", which need
10690 around 5.6 GiB of data on my machine at the moment.  Make sure your
10691 ~/.bitcoin/ directory have lots of spare room if you want to download
10692 all the blocks.  The client will warn if the disk is getting full, so
10693 there is not really a problem if you got too little room, but you will
10694 not be able to get all the features out of the client.</p>
10695
10696 <p>As usual, if you use bitcoin and want to show your support of my
10697 activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address
10698 <b><a href="bitcoin:15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</a></b>.</p>
10699
10700       </div>
10701       <div class="tags">
10702
10703
10704         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/bitcoin">bitcoin</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
10705
10706
10707       </div>
10708     </div>
10709     <div class="padding"></div>
10710
10711     <div class="entry">
10712       <div class="title">
10713         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/A_word_on_bitcoin_support_in_Debian.html">A word on bitcoin support in Debian</a>
10714       </div>
10715       <div class="date">
10716         21st December 2012
10717       </div>
10718       <div class="body">
10719         <p>It has been a while since I wrote about
10720 <a href="http://www.bitcoin.org/">bitcoin</a>, the decentralised
10721 peer-to-peer based crypto-currency, and the reason is simply that I
10722 have been busy elsewhere.  But two days ago, I started looking at the
10723 state of <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/bitcoin">bitcoin in
10724 Debian</a> again to try to recover my old bitcoin wallet.  The package
10725 is now maintained by a
10726 <a href="https://alioth.debian.org/projects/pkg-bitcoin/">team of
10727 people</a>, and the grunt work had already been done by this team.  We
10728 owe a huge thank you to all these team members. :)
10729 But I was sad to discover that the bitcoin client is missing in
10730 Wheezy.  It is only available in Sid (and an outdated client from
10731 backports).  The client had several RC bugs registered in BTS blocking
10732 it from entering testing.  To try to help the team and improve the
10733 situation, I spent some time providing patches and triaging the bug
10734 reports.  I also had a look at the bitcoin package available from Matt
10735 Corallo in a
10736 <a href="https://launchpad.net/~bitcoin/+archive/bitcoin">PPA for
10737 Ubuntu</a>, and moved the useful pieces from that version into the
10738 Debian package.</p>
10739
10740 <p>After checking with the main package maintainer Jonas Smedegaard on
10741 IRC, I pushed several patches into the collab-maint git repository to
10742 improve the package.  It now contains fixes for the RC issues (not from
10743 me, but fixed by Scott Howard), build rules for a Qt GUI client
10744 package, konqueror support for the bitcoin: URI and bash completion
10745 setup.  As I work on Debian Squeeze, I also created
10746 <a href="http://lists.alioth.debian.org/pipermail/pkg-bitcoin-devel/Week-of-Mon-20121217/000041.html">a
10747 patch to backport</a> the latest version.  Jonas is going to look at
10748 it and try to integrate it into the git repository before uploading a
10749 new version to unstable.
10750
10751 <p>I would very much like bitcoin to succeed, to get rid of the
10752 centralized control currently exercised in the monetary system.  I
10753 find it completely unacceptable that the USA government is collecting
10754 transaction data for almost all international money transfers (most are done in USD and transaction logs shipped to the spooks), and
10755 that the major credit card companies can block legal money
10756 transactions to Wikileaks.  But for bitcoin to succeed, more people
10757 need to use bitcoins, and more people need to accept bitcoins when
10758 they sell products and services.  Improving the bitcoin support in
10759 Debian is a small step in the right direction, but not enough.
10760 Unfortunately the user experience when browsing the web and wanting to
10761 pay with bitcoin is still not very good.  The bitcoin: URI is a step
10762 in the right direction, but need to work in most or every browser in
10763 use.  Also the bitcoin-qt client is too heavy to fire up to do a
10764 quick transaction.  I believe there are other clients available, but
10765 have not tested them.</p>
10766
10767 <p>My
10768 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Now_accepting_bitcoins___anonymous_and_distributed_p2p_crypto_money.html">experiment
10769 with bitcoins</a> showed that at least some of my readers use bitcoin.
10770 I received 20.15 BTC so far on the address I provided in my blog two
10771 years ago, as can be
10772 <a href="http://blockexplorer.com/address/15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b">seen
10773 on the blockexplorer service</a>.  Thank you everyone for your
10774 donation.  The blockexplorer service demonstrates quite well that
10775 bitcoin is not quite anonymous and untracked. :) I wonder if the
10776 number of users have gone up since then.  If you use bitcoin and want
10777 to show your support of my activity, please send Bitcoin donations to
10778 the same address as last time,
10779 <b><a href="bitcoin:15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</a></b>.</p>
10780
10781       </div>
10782       <div class="tags">
10783
10784
10785         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/bitcoin">bitcoin</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
10786
10787
10788       </div>
10789     </div>
10790     <div class="padding"></div>
10791
10792     <div class="entry">
10793       <div class="title">
10794         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Git_repository_for_song_book_for_Computer_Scientists.html">Git repository for song book for Computer Scientists</a>
10795       </div>
10796       <div class="date">
10797          7th September 2012
10798       </div>
10799       <div class="body">
10800         <p>As I
10801 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Song_book_for_Computer_Scientists.html">mentioned
10802 this summer</a>, I have created a Computer Science song book a few
10803 years ago, and today I finally found time to create a public
10804 <a href="https://gitorious.org/pere-cs-songbook/pere-cs-songbook">Gitorious
10805 repository for the project</a>.</p>
10806
10807 <p>If you want to help out, please clone the source and submit patches
10808 to the HTML version.  To generate the PDF and PostScript version,
10809 please use prince XML, or let me know about a useful free software
10810 processor capable of creating a good looking PDF from the HTML.</p>
10811
10812 <p>Want to sing?  You can still find the song book in HTML, PDF and
10813 PostScript formats at
10814 <a href="http://www.hungry.com/~pere/cs-songbook/">Petter's Computer
10815 Science Songbook</a>.</p>
10816
10817       </div>
10818       <div class="tags">
10819
10820
10821         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/multimedia">multimedia</a>.
10822
10823
10824       </div>
10825     </div>
10826     <div class="padding"></div>
10827
10828     <div class="entry">
10829       <div class="title">
10830         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Gratulerer_med_19__rsdagen__Debian_.html">Gratulerer med 19-årsdagen, Debian!</a>
10831       </div>
10832       <div class="date">
10833         16th August 2012
10834       </div>
10835       <div class="body">
10836         <p>I dag fyller
10837 <a href="http://www.debian.org/News/2012/20120813">Debian-prosjektet 19
10838 år</a>.  Jeg har fulgt det de siste 12 årene, og er veldig glad for å kunne
10839 si gratulerer med dagen, Debian!</p>
10840
10841       </div>
10842       <div class="tags">
10843
10844
10845         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/norsk">norsk</a>.
10846
10847
10848       </div>
10849     </div>
10850     <div class="padding"></div>
10851
10852     <div class="entry">
10853       <div class="title">
10854         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Song_book_for_Computer_Scientists.html">Song book for Computer Scientists</a>
10855       </div>
10856       <div class="date">
10857         24th June 2012
10858       </div>
10859       <div class="body">
10860         <p>Many years ago, while studying Computer Science at the
10861 <a href="http://www.uit.no/">University of Tromsø</a>, I started
10862 collecting computer related songs for use at parties.  The original
10863 version was written in LaTeX, but a few years ago I got help from
10864 Håkon W. Lie, one of the inventors of W3C CSS, to convert it to HTML
10865 while keeping the ability to create a nice book in PDF format.  I have
10866 not had time to maintain the book for a while now, and guess I should
10867 put it up on some public version control repository where others can
10868 help me extend and update the book.  If anyone is volunteering to help
10869 me with this, send me an email.  Also let me know if there are songs
10870 missing in my book.</p>
10871
10872 <p>I have not mentioned the book on my blog so far, and it occured to
10873 me today that I really should let all my readers share the joys of
10874 singing out load about programming, computers and computer networks.
10875 Especially now that <a href="http://debconf12.debconf.org/">Debconf
10876 12</a> is about to start (and I am not going).  Want to sing?  Check
10877 out <a href="http://www.hungry.com/~pere/cs-songbook/">Petter's
10878 Computer Science Songbook</a>.
10879
10880       </div>
10881       <div class="tags">
10882
10883
10884         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/multimedia">multimedia</a>.
10885
10886
10887       </div>
10888     </div>
10889     <div class="padding"></div>
10890
10891     <div class="entry">
10892       <div class="title">
10893         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Automatically_upgrading_server_firmware_on_Dell_PowerEdge.html">Automatically upgrading server firmware on Dell PowerEdge</a>
10894       </div>
10895       <div class="date">
10896         21st November 2011
10897       </div>
10898       <div class="body">
10899         <p>At work we have heaps of servers.  I believe the total count is
10900 around 1000 at the moment.  To be able to get help from the vendors
10901 when something go wrong, we want to keep the firmware on the servers
10902 up to date.  If the firmware isn't the latest and greatest, the
10903 vendors typically refuse to start debugging any problems until the
10904 firmware is upgraded.  So before every reboot, we want to upgrade the
10905 firmware, and we would really like everyone handling servers at the
10906 university to do this themselves when they plan to reboot a machine.
10907 For that to happen we at the unix server admin group need to provide
10908 the tools to do so.</p>
10909
10910 <p>To make firmware upgrading easier, I am working on a script to
10911 fetch and install the latest firmware for the servers we got.  Most of
10912 our hardware are from Dell and HP, so I have focused on these servers
10913 so far.  This blog post is about the Dell part.</P>
10914
10915 <p>On the Dell FTP site I was lucky enough to find
10916 <a href="ftp://ftp.us.dell.com/catalog/Catalog.xml.gz">an XML file</a>
10917 with firmware information for all 11th generation servers, listing
10918 which firmware should be used on a given model and where on the FTP
10919 site I can find it.  Using a simple perl XML parser I can then
10920 download the shell scripts Dell provides to do firmware upgrades from
10921 within Linux and reboot when all the firmware is primed and ready to
10922 be activated on the first reboot.</p>
10923
10924 <p>This is the Dell related fragment of the perl code I am working on.
10925 Are there anyone working on similar tools for firmware upgrading all
10926 servers at a site?  Please get in touch and lets share resources.</p>
10927
10928 <p><pre>
10929 #!/usr/bin/perl
10930 use strict;
10931 use warnings;
10932 use File::Temp qw(tempdir);
10933 BEGIN {
10934     # Install needed RHEL packages if missing
10935     my %rhelmodules = (
10936         'XML::Simple' => 'perl-XML-Simple',
10937         );
10938     for my $module (keys %rhelmodules) {
10939         eval "use $module;";
10940         if ($@) {
10941             my $pkg = $rhelmodules{$module};
10942             system("yum install -y $pkg");
10943             eval "use $module;";
10944         }
10945     }
10946 }
10947 my $errorsto = 'pere@hungry.com';
10948
10949 upgrade_dell();
10950
10951 exit 0;
10952
10953 sub run_firmware_script {
10954     my ($opts, $script) = @_;
10955     unless ($script) {
10956         print STDERR "fail: missing script name\n";
10957         exit 1
10958     }
10959     print STDERR "Running $script\n\n";
10960
10961     if (0 == system("sh $script $opts")) { # FIXME correct exit code handling
10962         print STDERR "success: firmware script ran succcessfully\n";
10963     } else {
10964         print STDERR "fail: firmware script returned error\n";
10965     }
10966 }
10967
10968 sub run_firmware_scripts {
10969     my ($opts, @dirs) = @_;
10970     # Run firmware packages
10971     for my $dir (@dirs) {
10972         print STDERR "info: Running scripts in $dir\n";
10973         opendir(my $dh, $dir) or die "Unable to open directory $dir: $!";
10974         while (my $s = readdir $dh) {
10975             next if $s =~ m/^\.\.?/;
10976             run_firmware_script($opts, "$dir/$s");
10977         }
10978         closedir $dh;
10979     }
10980 }
10981
10982 sub download {
10983     my $url = shift;
10984     print STDERR "info: Downloading $url\n";
10985     system("wget --quiet \"$url\"");
10986 }
10987
10988 sub upgrade_dell {
10989     my @dirs;
10990     my $product = `dmidecode -s system-product-name`;
10991     chomp $product;
10992
10993     if ($product =~ m/PowerEdge/) {
10994
10995         # on RHEL, these pacakges are needed by the firwmare upgrade scripts
10996         system('yum install -y compat-libstdc++-33.i686 libstdc++.i686 libxml2.i686 procmail');
10997
10998         my $tmpdir = tempdir(
10999             CLEANUP => 1
11000             );
11001         chdir($tmpdir);
11002         fetch_dell_fw('catalog/Catalog.xml.gz');
11003         system('gunzip Catalog.xml.gz');
11004         my @paths = fetch_dell_fw_list('Catalog.xml');
11005         # -q is quiet, disabling interactivity and reducing console output
11006         my $fwopts = "-q";
11007         if (@paths) {
11008             for my $url (@paths) {
11009                 fetch_dell_fw($url);
11010             }
11011             run_firmware_scripts($fwopts, $tmpdir);
11012         } else {
11013             print STDERR "error: Unsupported Dell model '$product'.\n";
11014             print STDERR "error: Please report to $errorsto.\n";
11015         }
11016         chdir('/');
11017     } else {
11018         print STDERR "error: Unsupported Dell model '$product'.\n";
11019         print STDERR "error: Please report to $errorsto.\n";
11020     }
11021 }
11022
11023 sub fetch_dell_fw {
11024     my $path = shift;
11025     my $url = "ftp://ftp.us.dell.com/$path";
11026     download($url);
11027 }
11028
11029 # Using ftp://ftp.us.dell.com/catalog/Catalog.xml.gz, figure out which
11030 # firmware packages to download from Dell.  Only work for Linux
11031 # machines and 11th generation Dell servers.
11032 sub fetch_dell_fw_list {
11033     my $filename = shift;
11034
11035     my $product = `dmidecode -s system-product-name`;
11036     chomp $product;
11037     my ($mybrand, $mymodel) = split(/\s+/, $product);
11038
11039     print STDERR "Finding firmware bundles for $mybrand $mymodel\n";
11040
11041     my $xml = XMLin($filename);
11042     my @paths;
11043     for my $bundle (@{$xml->{SoftwareBundle}}) {
11044         my $brand = $bundle->{TargetSystems}->{Brand}->{Display}->{content};
11045         my $model = $bundle->{TargetSystems}->{Brand}->{Model}->{Display}->{content};
11046         my $oscode;
11047         if ("ARRAY" eq ref $bundle->{TargetOSes}->{OperatingSystem}) {
11048             $oscode = $bundle->{TargetOSes}->{OperatingSystem}[0]->{osCode};
11049         } else {
11050             $oscode = $bundle->{TargetOSes}->{OperatingSystem}->{osCode};
11051         }
11052         if ($mybrand eq $brand && $mymodel eq $model && "LIN" eq $oscode)
11053         {
11054             @paths = map { $_->{path} } @{$bundle->{Contents}->{Package}};
11055         }
11056     }
11057     for my $component (@{$xml->{SoftwareComponent}}) {
11058         my $componenttype = $component->{ComponentType}->{value};
11059
11060         # Drop application packages, only firmware and BIOS
11061         next if 'APAC' eq $componenttype;
11062
11063         my $cpath = $component->{path};
11064         for my $path (@paths) {
11065             if ($cpath =~ m%/$path$%) {
11066                 push(@paths, $cpath);
11067             }
11068         }
11069     }
11070     return @paths;
11071 }
11072 </pre>
11073
11074 <p>The code is only tested on RedHat Enterprise Linux, but I suspect
11075 it could work on other platforms with some tweaking.  Anyone know a
11076 index like Catalog.xml is available from HP for HP servers?  At the
11077 moment I maintain a similar list manually and it is quickly getting
11078 outdated.</p>
11079
11080       </div>
11081       <div class="tags">
11082
11083
11084         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
11085
11086
11087       </div>
11088     </div>
11089     <div class="padding"></div>
11090
11091     <div class="entry">
11092       <div class="title">
11093         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/How_is_booting_into_runlevel_1_different_from_single_user_boots_.html">How is booting into runlevel 1 different from single user boots?</a>
11094       </div>
11095       <div class="date">
11096          4th August 2011
11097       </div>
11098       <div class="body">
11099         <p>Wouter Verhelst have some
11100 <a href="http://grep.be/blog/en/retorts/pere_kubuntu_boot">interesting
11101 comments and opinions</a> on my blog post on
11102 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/What_should_start_from__etc_rcS_d__in_Debian____almost_nothing.html">the
11103 need to clean up /etc/rcS.d/ in Debian</a> and my blog post about
11104 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/What_is_missing_in_the_Debian_desktop__or_why_my_parents_use_Kubuntu.html">the
11105 default KDE desktop in Debian</a>.  I only have time to address one
11106 small piece of his comment now, and though it best to address the
11107 misunderstanding he bring forward:</p>
11108
11109 <p><blockquote>
11110 Currently, a system admin has four options: [...] boot to a
11111 single-user system (by adding 'single' to the kernel command line;
11112 this runs rcS and rc1 scripts)
11113 </blockquote></p>
11114
11115 <p>This make me believe Wouter believe booting into single user mode
11116 and booting into runlevel 1 is the same.  I am not surprised he
11117 believe this, because it would make sense and is a quite sensible
11118 thing to believe.  But because the boot in Debian is slightly broken,
11119 runlevel 1 do not work properly and it isn't the same as single user
11120 mode.  I'll try to explain what is actually happing, but it is a bit
11121 hard to explain.</p>
11122
11123 <p>Single user mode is defined like this in /etc/inittab:
11124 "<tt>~~:S:wait:/sbin/sulogin</tt>".  This means the only thing that is
11125 executed in single user mode is sulogin.  Single user mode is a boot
11126 state "between" the runlevels, and when booting into single user mode,
11127 only the scripts in /etc/rcS.d/ are executed before the init process
11128 enters the single user state.  When switching to runlevel 1, the state
11129 is in fact not ending in runlevel 1, but it passes through runlevel 1
11130 and end up in the single user mode (see /etc/rc1.d/S03single, which
11131 runs "init -t1 S" to switch to single user mode at the end of runlevel
11132 1.  It is confusing that the 'S' (single user) init mode is not the
11133 mode enabled by /etc/rcS.d/ (which is more like the initial boot
11134 mode).</p>
11135
11136 <p>This summary might make it clearer.  When booting for the first
11137 time into single user mode, the following commands are executed:
11138 "<tt>/etc/init.d/rc S; /sbin/sulogin</tt>".  When booting into
11139 runlevel 1, the following commands are executed: "<tt>/etc/init.d/rc
11140 S; /etc/init.d/rc 1; /sbin/sulogin</tt>".  A problem show up when
11141 trying to continue after visiting single user mode.  Not all services
11142 are started again as they should, causing the machine to end up in an
11143 unpredicatble state.  This is why Debian admins recommend rebooting
11144 after visiting single user mode.</p>
11145
11146 <p>A similar problem with runlevel 1 is caused by the amount of
11147 scripts executed from /etc/rcS.d/.  When switching from say runlevel 2
11148 to runlevel 1, the services started from /etc/rcS.d/ are not properly
11149 stopped when passing through the scripts in /etc/rc1.d/, and not
11150 started again when switching away from runlevel 1 to the runlevels
11151 2-5.  I believe the problem is best fixed by moving all the scripts
11152 out of /etc/rcS.d/ that are not <strong>required</strong> to get a
11153 functioning single user mode during boot.</p>
11154
11155 <p>I have spent several years investigating the Debian boot system,
11156 and discovered this problem a few years ago.  I suspect it originates
11157 from when sysvinit was introduced into Debian, a long time ago.</p>
11158
11159       </div>
11160       <div class="tags">
11161
11162
11163         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/bootsystem">bootsystem</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
11164
11165
11166       </div>
11167     </div>
11168     <div class="padding"></div>
11169
11170     <div class="entry">
11171       <div class="title">
11172         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/What_should_start_from__etc_rcS_d__in_Debian____almost_nothing.html">What should start from /etc/rcS.d/ in Debian? - almost nothing</a>
11173       </div>
11174       <div class="date">
11175         30th July 2011
11176       </div>
11177       <div class="body">
11178         <p>In the Debian boot system, several packages include scripts that
11179 are started from /etc/rcS.d/.  In fact, there is a bite more of them
11180 than make sense, and this causes a few problems.  What kind of
11181 problems, you might ask.  There are at least two problems.  The first
11182 is that it is not possible to recover a machine after switching to
11183 runlevel 1.  One need to actually reboot to get the machine back to
11184 the expected state.  The other is that single user boot will sometimes
11185 run into problems because some of the subsystems are activated before
11186 the root login is presented, causing problems when trying to recover a
11187 machine from a problem in that subsystem.  A minor additional point is
11188 that moving more scripts out of rcS.d/ and into the other rc#.d/
11189 directories will increase the amount of scripts that can run in
11190 parallel during boot, and thus decrease the boot time.</p>
11191
11192 <p>So, which scripts should start from rcS.d/.  In short, only the
11193 scripts that _have_ to execute before the root login prompt is
11194 presented during a single user boot should go there.  Everything else
11195 should go into the numeric runlevels.  This means things like
11196 lm-sensors, fuse and x11-common should not run from rcS.d, but from
11197 the numeric runlevels.  Today in Debian, there are around 115 init.d
11198 scripts that are started from rcS.d/, and most of them should be moved
11199 out.  Do your package have one of them?  Please help us make single
11200 user and runlevel 1 better by moving it.</p>
11201
11202 <p>Scripts setting up the screen, keyboard, system partitions
11203 etc. should still be started from rcS.d/, but there is for example no
11204 need to have the network enabled before the single user login prompt
11205 is presented.</p>
11206
11207 <p>As always, things are not so easy to fix as they sound.  To keep
11208 Debian systems working while scripts migrate and during upgrades, the
11209 scripts need to be moved from rcS.d/ to rc2.d/ in reverse dependency
11210 order, ie the scripts that nothing in rcS.d/ depend on can be moved,
11211 and the next ones can only be moved when their dependencies have been
11212 moved first.  This migration must be done sequentially while we ensure
11213 that the package system upgrade packages in the right order to keep
11214 the system state correct.  This will require some coordination when it
11215 comes to network related packages, but most of the packages with
11216 scripts that should migrate do not have anything in rcS.d/ depending
11217 on them.  Some packages have already been updated, like the sudo
11218 package, while others are still left to do.  I wish I had time to work
11219 on this myself, but real live constrains make it unlikely that I will
11220 find time to push this forward.</p>
11221
11222       </div>
11223       <div class="tags">
11224
11225
11226         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/bootsystem">bootsystem</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
11227
11228
11229       </div>
11230     </div>
11231     <div class="padding"></div>
11232
11233     <div class="entry">
11234       <div class="title">
11235         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/What_is_missing_in_the_Debian_desktop__or_why_my_parents_use_Kubuntu.html">What is missing in the Debian desktop, or why my parents use Kubuntu</a>
11236       </div>
11237       <div class="date">
11238         29th July 2011
11239       </div>
11240       <div class="body">
11241         <p>While at Debconf11, I have several times during discussions
11242 mentioned the issues I believe should be improved in Debian for its
11243 desktop to be useful for more people.  The use case for this is my
11244 parents, which are currently running Kubuntu which solve the
11245 issues.</p>
11246
11247 <p>I suspect these four missing features are not very hard to
11248 implement.  After all, they are present in Ubuntu, so if we wanted to
11249 do this in Debian we would have a source.</p>
11250
11251 <ol>
11252
11253 <li><strong>Simple GUI based upgrade of packages.</strong> When there
11254 are new packages available for upgrades, a icon in the KDE status bar
11255 indicate this, and clicking on it will activate the simple upgrade
11256 tool to handle it.  I have no problem guiding both of my parents
11257 through the process over the phone.  If a kernel reboot is required,
11258 this too is indicated by the status bars and the upgrade tool.  Last
11259 time I checked, nothing with the same features was working in KDE in
11260 Debian.</li>
11261
11262 <li><strong>Simple handling of missing Firefox browser
11263 plugins.</strong> When the browser encounter a MIME type it do not
11264 currently have a handler for, it will ask the user if the system
11265 should search for a package that would add support for this MIME type,
11266 and if the user say yes, the APT sources will be searched for packages
11267 advertising the MIME type in their control file (visible in the
11268 Packages file in the APT archive).  If one or more packages are found,
11269 it is a simple click of the mouse to add support for the missing mime
11270 type.  If the package require the user to accept some non-free
11271 license, this is explained to the user.  The entire process make it
11272 more clear to the user why something do not work in the browser, and
11273 make the chances higher for the user to blame the web page authors and
11274 not the browser for any missing features.</li>
11275
11276 <li><strong>Simple handling of missing multimedia codec/format
11277 handlers.</strong> When the media players encounter a format or codec
11278 it is not supporting, a dialog pop up asking the user if the system
11279 should search for a package that would add support for it.  This
11280 happen with things like MP3, Windows Media or H.264.  The selection
11281 and installation procedure is very similar to the Firefox browser
11282 plugin handling.  This is as far as I know implemented using a
11283 gstreamer hook.  The end result is that the user easily get access to
11284 the codecs that are present from the APT archives available, while
11285 explaining more on why a given format is unsupported by Ubuntu.</li>
11286
11287 <li><strong>Better browser handling of some MIME types.</strong> When
11288 displaying a text/plain file in my Debian browser, it will propose to
11289 start emacs to show it.  If I remember correctly, when doing the same
11290 in Kunbutu it show the file as a text file in the browser.  At least I
11291 know Opera will show text files within the browser.  I much prefer the
11292 latter behaviour.</li>
11293
11294 </ol>
11295
11296 <p>There are other nice features as well, like the simplified suite
11297 upgrader, but given that I am the one mostly doing the dist-upgrade,
11298 it do not matter much.</p>
11299
11300 <p>I really hope we could get these features in place for the next
11301 Debian release.  It would require the coordinated effort of several
11302 maintainers, but would make the end user experience a lot better.</p>
11303
11304       </div>
11305       <div class="tags">
11306
11307
11308         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/h264">h264</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/multimedia">multimedia</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/web">web</a>.
11309
11310
11311       </div>
11312     </div>
11313     <div class="padding"></div>
11314
11315     <div class="entry">
11316       <div class="title">
11317         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Perl_modules_used_by_FixMyStreet_which_are_missing_in_Debian_Squeeze.html">Perl modules used by FixMyStreet which are missing in Debian/Squeeze</a>
11318       </div>
11319       <div class="date">
11320         26th July 2011
11321       </div>
11322       <div class="body">
11323         <p>The Norwegian <a href="http://www.fiksgatami.no/">FiksGataMi</A>
11324 site is build on Debian/Squeeze, and this platform was chosen because
11325 I am most familiar with Debian (being a Debian Developer for around 10
11326 years) because it is the latest stable Debian release which should get
11327 security support for a few years.</p>
11328
11329 <p>The web service is written in Perl, and depend on some perl modules
11330 that are missing in Debian at the moment.  It would be great if these
11331 modules were added to the Debian archive, allowing anyone to set up
11332 their own <a href="http://www.fixmystreet.com">FixMyStreet</a> clone
11333 in their own country using only Debian packages.  The list of modules
11334 missing in Debian/Squeeze isn't very long, and I hope the perl group
11335 will find time to package the 12 modules Catalyst::Plugin::SmartURI,
11336 Catalyst::Plugin::Unicode::Encoding, Catalyst::View::TT, Devel::Hide,
11337 Sort::Key, Statistics::Distributions, Template::Plugin::Comma,
11338 Template::Plugin::DateTime::Format, Term::Size::Any, Term::Size::Perl,
11339 URI::SmartURI and Web::Scraper to make the maintenance of FixMyStreet
11340 easier in the future.</p>
11341
11342 <p>Thanks to the great tools in Debian, getting the missing modules
11343 installed on my server was a simple call to 'cpan2deb Module::Name'
11344 and 'dpkg -i' to install the resulting package.  But this leave me
11345 with the responsibility of tracking security problems, which I really
11346 do not have time for.</p>
11347
11348       </div>
11349       <div class="tags">
11350
11351
11352         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/fiksgatami">fiksgatami</a>.
11353
11354
11355       </div>
11356     </div>
11357     <div class="padding"></div>
11358
11359     <div class="entry">
11360       <div class="title">
11361         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/A_Norwegian_FixMyStreet_have_kept_me_busy_the_last_few_weeks.html">A Norwegian FixMyStreet have kept me busy the last few weeks</a>
11362       </div>
11363       <div class="date">
11364          3rd April 2011
11365       </div>
11366       <div class="body">
11367         <p>Here is a small update for my English readers.  Most of my blog
11368 posts have been in Norwegian the last few weeks, so here is a short
11369 update in English.</p>
11370
11371 <p>The kids still keep me too busy to get much free software work
11372 done, but I did manage to organise a project to get a Norwegian port
11373 of the British service
11374 <a href="http://www.fixmystreet.com/">FixMyStreet</a> up and running,
11375 and it has been running for a month now.  The entire project has been
11376 organised by me and two others.  Around Christmas we gathered sponsors
11377 to fund the development work.  In January I drafted a contract with
11378 <a href="http://www.mysociety.org/">mySociety</a> on what to develop,
11379 and in February the development took place.  Most of it involved
11380 converting the source to use GPS coordinates instead of British
11381 easting/northing, and the resulting code should be a lot easier to get
11382 running in any country by now.  The Norwegian
11383 <a href="http://www.fiksgatami.no/">FiksGataMi</a> is using
11384 <a href="http://www.openstreetmap.org/">OpenStreetmap</a> as the map
11385 source and the source for administrative borders in Norway, and
11386 support for this had to be added/fixed.</p>
11387
11388 <p>The Norwegian version went live March 3th, and we spent the weekend
11389 polishing the system before we announced it March 7th.  The system is
11390 running on a KVM instance of Debian/Squeeze, and has seen almost 3000
11391 problem reports in a few weeks.  Soon we hope to announce the Android
11392 and iPhone versions making it even easier to report problems with the
11393 public infrastructure.</p>
11394
11395 <p>Perhaps something to consider for those of you in countries without
11396 such service?</p>
11397
11398       </div>
11399       <div class="tags">
11400
11401
11402         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/fiksgatami">fiksgatami</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/kart">kart</a>.
11403
11404
11405       </div>
11406     </div>
11407     <div class="padding"></div>
11408
11409     <div class="entry">
11410       <div class="title">
11411         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Using_NVD_and_CPE_to_track_CVEs_in_locally_maintained_software.html">Using NVD and CPE to track CVEs in locally maintained software</a>
11412       </div>
11413       <div class="date">
11414         28th January 2011
11415       </div>
11416       <div class="body">
11417         <p>The last few days I have looked at ways to track open security
11418 issues here at my work with the University of Oslo.  My idea is that
11419 it should be possible to use the information about security issues
11420 available on the Internet, and check our locally
11421 maintained/distributed software against this information.  It should
11422 allow us to verify that no known security issues are forgotten.  The
11423 CVE database listing vulnerabilities seem like a great central point,
11424 and by using the package lists from Debian mapped to CVEs provided by
11425 the testing security team, I believed it should be possible to figure
11426 out which security holes were present in our free software
11427 collection.</p>
11428
11429 <p>After reading up on the topic, it became obvious that the first
11430 building block is to be able to name software packages in a unique and
11431 consistent way across data sources.  I considered several ways to do
11432 this, for example coming up with my own naming scheme like using URLs
11433 to project home pages or URLs to the Freshmeat entries, or using some
11434 existing naming scheme.  And it seem like I am not the first one to
11435 come across this problem, as MITRE already proposed and implemented a
11436 solution.  Enter the <a href="http://cpe.mitre.org/index.html">Common
11437 Platform Enumeration</a> dictionary, a vocabulary for referring to
11438 software, hardware and other platform components.  The CPE ids are
11439 mapped to CVEs in the <a href="http://web.nvd.nist.gov/">National
11440 Vulnerability Database</a>, allowing me to look up know security
11441 issues for any CPE name.  With this in place, all I need to do is to
11442 locate the CPE id for the software packages we use at the university.
11443 This is fairly trivial (I google for 'cve cpe $package' and check the
11444 NVD entry if a CVE for the package exist).</p>
11445
11446 <p>To give you an example.  The GNU gzip source package have the CPE
11447 name cpe:/a:gnu:gzip.  If the old version 1.3.3 was the package to
11448 check out, one could look up
11449 <a href="http://web.nvd.nist.gov/view/vuln/search?cpe=cpe%3A%2Fa%3Agnu%3Agzip:1.3.3">cpe:/a:gnu:gzip:1.3.3
11450 in NVD</a> and get a list of 6 security holes with public CVE entries.
11451 The most recent one is
11452 <a href="http://web.nvd.nist.gov/view/vuln/detail?vulnId=CVE-2010-0001">CVE-2010-0001</a>,
11453 and at the bottom of the NVD page for this vulnerability the complete
11454 list of affected versions is provided.</p>
11455
11456 <p>The NVD database of CVEs is also available as a XML dump, allowing
11457 for offline processing of issues.  Using this dump, I've written a
11458 small script taking a list of CPEs as input and list all CVEs
11459 affecting the packages represented by these CPEs.  One give it CPEs
11460 with version numbers as specified above and get a list of open
11461 security issues out.</p>
11462
11463 <p>Of course for this approach to be useful, the quality of the NVD
11464 information need to be high.  For that to happen, I believe as many as
11465 possible need to use and contribute to the NVD database.  I notice
11466 RHEL is providing
11467 <a href="https://www.redhat.com/security/data/metrics/rhsamapcpe.txt">a
11468 map from CVE to CPE</a>, indicating that they are using the CPE
11469 information.  I'm not aware of Debian and Ubuntu doing the same.</p>
11470
11471 <p>To get an idea about the quality for free software, I spent some
11472 time making it possible to compare the CVE database from Debian with
11473 the CVE database in NVD.  The result look fairly good, but there are
11474 some inconsistencies in NVD (same software package having several
11475 CPEs), and some inaccuracies (NVD not mentioning buggy packages that
11476 Debian believe are affected by a CVE).  Hope to find time to improve
11477 the quality of NVD, but that require being able to get in touch with
11478 someone maintaining it.  So far my three emails with questions and
11479 corrections have not seen any reply, but I hope contact can be
11480 established soon.</p>
11481
11482 <p>An interesting application for CPEs is cross platform package
11483 mapping.  It would be useful to know which packages in for example
11484 RHEL, OpenSuSe and Mandriva are missing from Debian and Ubuntu, and
11485 this would be trivial if all linux distributions provided CPE entries
11486 for their packages.</p>
11487
11488       </div>
11489       <div class="tags">
11490
11491
11492         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/sikkerhet">sikkerhet</a>.
11493
11494
11495       </div>
11496     </div>
11497     <div class="padding"></div>
11498
11499     <div class="entry">
11500       <div class="title">
11501         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Which_module_is_loaded_for_a_given_PCI_and_USB_device_.html">Which module is loaded for a given PCI and USB device?</a>
11502       </div>
11503       <div class="date">
11504         23rd January 2011
11505       </div>
11506       <div class="body">
11507         <p>In the
11508 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/discover-data">discover-data</a>
11509 package in Debian, there is a script to report useful information
11510 about the running hardware for use when people report missing
11511 information.  One part of this script that I find very useful when
11512 debugging hardware problems, is the part mapping loaded kernel module
11513 to the PCI device it claims.  It allow me to quickly see if the kernel
11514 module I expect is driving the hardware I am struggling with.  To see
11515 the output, make sure discover-data is installed and run
11516 <tt>/usr/share/bug/discover-data 3>&1</tt>.  The relevant output on
11517 one of my machines like this:</p>
11518
11519 <pre>
11520 loaded modules:
11521 10de:03eb i2c_nforce2
11522 10de:03f1 ohci_hcd
11523 10de:03f2 ehci_hcd
11524 10de:03f0 snd_hda_intel
11525 10de:03ec pata_amd
11526 10de:03f6 sata_nv
11527 1022:1103 k8temp
11528 109e:036e bttv
11529 109e:0878 snd_bt87x
11530 11ab:4364 sky2
11531 </pre>
11532
11533 <p>The code in question look like this, slightly modified for
11534 readability and to drop the output to file descriptor 3:</p>
11535
11536 <pre>
11537 if [ -d /sys/bus/pci/devices/ ] ; then
11538     echo loaded pci modules:
11539     (
11540         cd /sys/bus/pci/devices/
11541         for address in * ; do
11542             if [ -d "$address/driver/module" ] ; then
11543                 module=`cd $address/driver/module ; pwd -P | xargs basename`
11544                 if grep -q "^$module " /proc/modules ; then
11545                     address=$(echo $address |sed s/0000://)
11546                     id=`lspci -n -s $address | tail -n 1 | awk '{print $3}'`
11547                     echo "$id $module"
11548                 fi
11549             fi
11550         done
11551     )
11552     echo
11553 fi
11554 </pre>
11555
11556 <p>Similar code could be used to extract USB device module
11557 mappings:</p>
11558
11559 <pre>
11560 if [ -d /sys/bus/usb/devices/ ] ; then
11561     echo loaded usb modules:
11562     (
11563         cd /sys/bus/usb/devices/
11564         for address in * ; do
11565             if [ -d "$address/driver/module" ] ; then
11566                 module=`cd $address/driver/module ; pwd -P | xargs basename`
11567                 if grep -q "^$module " /proc/modules ; then
11568                     address=$(echo $address |sed s/0000://)
11569                     id=$(lsusb -s $address | tail -n 1 | awk '{print $6}')
11570                     if [ "$id" ] ; then
11571                         echo "$id $module"
11572                     fi
11573                 fi
11574             fi
11575         done
11576     )
11577     echo
11578 fi
11579 </pre>
11580
11581 <p>This might perhaps be something to include in other tools as
11582 well.</p>
11583
11584       </div>
11585       <div class="tags">
11586
11587
11588         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
11589
11590
11591       </div>
11592     </div>
11593     <div class="padding"></div>
11594
11595     <div class="entry">
11596       <div class="title">
11597         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/How_to_test_if_a_laptop_is_working_with_Linux.html">How to test if a laptop is working with Linux</a>
11598       </div>
11599       <div class="date">
11600         22nd December 2010
11601       </div>
11602       <div class="body">
11603         <p>The last few days I have spent at work here at the <a
11604 href="http://www.uio.no/">University of Oslo</a> testing if the new
11605 batch of computers will work with Linux.  Every year for the last few
11606 years the university have organised shared bid of a few thousand
11607 computers, and this year HP won the bid.  Two different desktops and
11608 five different laptops are on the list this year.  We in the UNIX
11609 group want to know which one of these computers work well with RHEL
11610 and Ubuntu, the two Linux distributions we currently handle at the
11611 university.</p>
11612
11613 <p>My test method is simple, and I share it here to get feedback and
11614 perhaps inspire others to test hardware as well.  To test, I PXE
11615 install the OS version of choice, and log in as my normal user and run
11616 a few applications and plug in selected pieces of hardware.  When
11617 something fail, I make a note about this in the test matrix and move
11618 on.  If I have some spare time I try to report the bug to the OS
11619 vendor, but as I only have the machines for a short time, I rarely
11620 have the time to do this for all the problems I find.</p>
11621
11622 <p>Anyway, to get to the point of this post.  Here is the simple tests
11623 I perform on a new model.</p>
11624
11625 <ul>
11626
11627 <li>Is PXE installation working?  I'm testing with RHEL6, Ubuntu Lucid
11628 and Ubuntu Maverik at the moment.  If I feel like it, I also test with
11629 RHEL5 and Debian Edu/Squeeze.</li>
11630
11631 <li>Is X.org working?  If the graphical login screen show up after
11632 installation, X.org is working.</li>
11633
11634 <li>Is hardware accelerated OpenGL working?  Running glxgears (in
11635 package mesa-utils on Ubuntu) and writing down the frames per second
11636 reported by the program.</li>
11637
11638 <li>Is sound working?  With Gnome and KDE, a sound is played when
11639 logging in, and if I can hear this the test is successful.  If there
11640 are several audio exits on the machine, I try them all and check if
11641 the Gnome/KDE audio mixer can control where to send the sound.  I
11642 normally test this by playing
11643 <a href="http://www.nuug.no/aktiviteter/20101012-chef/ ">a HTML5
11644 video</a> in Firefox/Iceweasel.</li>
11645
11646 <li>Is the USB subsystem working?  I test this by plugging in a USB
11647 memory stick and see if Gnome/KDE notices this.</li>
11648
11649 <li>Is the CD/DVD player working?  I test this by inserting any CD/DVD
11650 I have lying around, and see if Gnome/KDE notices this.</li>
11651
11652 <li>Is any built in camera working?  Test using cheese, and see if a
11653 picture from the v4l device show up.</li>
11654
11655 <li>Is bluetooth working?  Use the Gnome/KDE browsing tool to see if
11656 any bluetooth devices are discovered.  In my office, I normally see a
11657 few.</li>
11658
11659 <li>For laptops, is the SD or Compaq Flash reader working.  I have
11660 memory modules lying around, and stick them in and see if Gnome/KDE
11661 notice this.</li>
11662
11663 <li>For laptops, is suspend/hibernate working?  I'm testing if the
11664 special button work, and if the laptop continue to work after
11665 resume.</li>
11666
11667 <li>For laptops, is the extra buttons working, like audio level,
11668 adjusting background light, switching on/off external video output,
11669 switching on/off wifi, bluetooth, etc?  The set of buttons differ from
11670 laptop to laptop, so I just write down which are working and which are
11671 not.</li>
11672
11673 <li>Some laptops have smart card readers, finger print readers,
11674 acceleration sensors etc.  I rarely test these, as I do not know how
11675 to quickly test if they are working or not, so I only document their
11676 existence.</li>
11677
11678 </ul>
11679
11680 <p>By now I suspect you are really curious what the test results are
11681 for the HP machines I am testing.  I'm not done yet, so I will report
11682 the test results later.  For now I can report that HP 8100 Elite work
11683 fine, and hibernation fail with HP EliteBook 8440p on Ubuntu Lucid,
11684 and audio fail on RHEL6.  Ubuntu Maverik worked with 8440p.  As you
11685 can see, I have most machines left to test.  One interesting
11686 observation is that Ubuntu Lucid has almost twice the frame rate than
11687 RHEL6 with glxgears.  No idea why.</p>
11688
11689       </div>
11690       <div class="tags">
11691
11692
11693         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
11694
11695
11696       </div>
11697     </div>
11698     <div class="padding"></div>
11699
11700     <div class="entry">
11701       <div class="title">
11702         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Some_thoughts_on_BitCoins.html">Some thoughts on BitCoins</a>
11703       </div>
11704       <div class="date">
11705         11th December 2010
11706       </div>
11707       <div class="body">
11708         <p>As I continue to explore
11709 <a href="http://www.bitcoin.org/">BitCoin</a>, I've starting to wonder
11710 what properties the system have, and how it will be affected by laws
11711 and regulations here in Norway.  Here are some random notes.</p>
11712
11713 <p>One interesting thing to note is that since the transactions are
11714 verified using a peer to peer network, all details about a transaction
11715 is known to everyone.  This means that if a BitCoin address has been
11716 published like I did with mine in my initial post about BitCoin, it is
11717 possible for everyone to see how many BitCoins have been transfered to
11718 that address.  There is even a web service to look at the details for
11719 all transactions.  There I can see that my address
11720 <a href="http://blockexplorer.com/address/15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</a>
11721 have received 16.06 Bitcoin, the
11722 <a href="http://blockexplorer.com/address/1LfdGnGuWkpSJgbQySxxCWhv8MHqvwst3">1LfdGnGuWkpSJgbQySxxCWhv8MHqvwst3</a>
11723 address of Simon Phipps have received 181.97 BitCoin and the address
11724 <a href="http://blockexplorer.com/address/1MCwBbhNGp5hRm5rC1Aims2YFRe2SXPYKt">1MCwBbhNGp5hRm5rC1Aims2YFRe2SXPYKt</A>
11725 of EFF have received 2447.38 BitCoins so far.  Thank you to each and
11726 every one of you that donated bitcoins to support my activity. The
11727 fact that anyone can see how much money was transfered to a given
11728 address make it more obvious why the BitCoin community recommend to
11729 generate and hand out a new address for each transaction.  I'm told
11730 there is no way to track which addresses belong to a given person or
11731 organisation without the person or organisation revealing it
11732 themselves, as Simon, EFF and I have done.</p>
11733
11734 <p>In Norway, and in most other countries, there are laws and
11735 regulations limiting how much money one can transfer across the border
11736 without declaring it.  There are money laundering, tax and accounting
11737 laws and regulations I would expect to apply to the use of BitCoin.
11738 If the Skolelinux foundation
11739 (<a href="http://linuxiskolen.no/slxdebianlabs/donations.html">SLX
11740 Debian Labs</a>) were to accept donations in BitCoin in addition to
11741 normal bank transfers like EFF is doing, how should this be accounted?
11742 Given that it is impossible to know if money can cross the border or
11743 not, should everything or nothing be declared?  What exchange rate
11744 should be used when calculating taxes?  Would receivers have to pay
11745 income tax if the foundation were to pay Skolelinux contributors in
11746 BitCoin?  I have no idea, but it would be interesting to know.</p>
11747
11748 <p>For a currency to be useful and successful, it must be trusted and
11749 accepted by a lot of users.  It must be possible to get easy access to
11750 the currency (as a wage or using currency exchanges), and it must be
11751 easy to spend it.  At the moment BitCoin seem fairly easy to get
11752 access to, but there are very few places to spend it.  I am not really
11753 a regular user of any of the vendor types currently accepting BitCoin,
11754 so I wonder when my kind of shop would start accepting BitCoins.  I
11755 would like to buy electronics, travels and subway tickets, not herbs
11756 and books. :) The currency is young, and this will improve over time
11757 if it become popular, but I suspect regular banks will start to lobby
11758 to get BitCoin declared illegal if it become popular.  I'm sure they
11759 will claim it is helping fund terrorism and money laundering (which
11760 probably would be true, as is any currency in existence), but I
11761 believe the problems should be solved elsewhere and not by blaming
11762 currencies.</p>
11763
11764 <p>The process of creating new BitCoins is called mining, and it is
11765 CPU intensive process that depend on a bit of luck as well (as one is
11766 competing against all the other miners currently spending CPU cycles
11767 to see which one get the next lump of cash).  The "winner" get 50
11768 BitCoin when this happen.  Yesterday I came across the obvious way to
11769 join forces to increase ones changes of getting at least some coins,
11770 by coordinating the work on mining BitCoins across several machines
11771 and people, and sharing the result if one is lucky and get the 50
11772 BitCoins.  Check out
11773 <a href="http://www.bluishcoder.co.nz/bitcoin-pool/">BitCoin Pool</a>
11774 if this sounds interesting.  I have not had time to try to set up a
11775 machine to participate there yet, but have seen that running on ones
11776 own for a few days have not yield any BitCoins througth mining
11777 yet.</p>
11778
11779 <p>Update 2010-12-15: Found an <a
11780 href="http://inertia.posterous.com/reply-to-the-underground-economist-why-bitcoi">interesting
11781 criticism</a> of bitcoin.  Not quite sure how valid it is, but thought
11782 it was interesting to read.  The arguments presented seem to be
11783 equally valid for gold, which was used as a currency for many years.</p>
11784
11785       </div>
11786       <div class="tags">
11787
11788
11789         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/bitcoin">bitcoin</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/personvern">personvern</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/sikkerhet">sikkerhet</a>.
11790
11791
11792       </div>
11793     </div>
11794     <div class="padding"></div>
11795
11796     <div class="entry">
11797       <div class="title">
11798         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Now_accepting_bitcoins___anonymous_and_distributed_p2p_crypto_money.html">Now accepting bitcoins - anonymous and distributed p2p crypto-money</a>
11799       </div>
11800       <div class="date">
11801         10th December 2010
11802       </div>
11803       <div class="body">
11804         <p>With this weeks lawless
11805 <a href="http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/12/06/wikileaks/index.html">governmental
11806 attacks</a> on Wikileak and
11807 <a href="http://www.salon.com/technology/dan_gillmor/2010/12/06/war_on_speech">free
11808 speech</a>, it has become obvious that PayPal, visa and mastercard can
11809 not be trusted to handle money transactions.
11810 A blog post from
11811 <a href="http://webmink.com/2010/12/06/now-accepting-bitcoin/">Simon
11812 Phipps on bitcoin</a> reminded me about a project that a friend of
11813 mine mentioned earlier.  I decided to follow Simon's example, and get
11814 involved with <a href="http://www.bitcoin.org/">BitCoin</a>.  I got
11815 some help from my friend to get it all running, and he even handed me
11816 some bitcoins to get started.  I even donated a few bitcoins to Simon
11817 for helping me remember BitCoin.</p>
11818
11819 <p>So, what is bitcoins, you probably wonder?  It is a digital
11820 crypto-currency, decentralised and handled using peer-to-peer
11821 networks.  It allows anonymous transactions and prohibits central
11822 control over the transactions, making it impossible for governments
11823 and companies alike to block donations and other transactions.  The
11824 source is free software, and while the key dependency wxWidgets 2.9
11825 for the graphical user interface is missing in Debian, the command
11826 line client builds just fine.  Hopefully Jonas
11827 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/578157">will get the package into
11828 Debian</a> soon.</p>
11829
11830 <p>Bitcoins can be converted to other currencies, like USD and EUR.
11831 There are <a href="http://www.bitcoin.org/trade">companies accepting
11832 bitcoins</a> when selling services and goods, and there are even
11833 currency "stock" markets where the exchange rate is decided.  There
11834 are not many users so far, but the concept seems promising.  If you
11835 want to get started and lack a friend with any bitcoins to spare,
11836 you can even get
11837 <a href="https://freebitcoins.appspot.com/">some for free</a> (0.05
11838 bitcoin at the time of writing).  Use
11839 <a href="http://www.bitcoinwatch.com/">BitcoinWatch</a> to keep an eye
11840 on the current exchange rates.</p>
11841
11842 <p>As an experiment, I have decided to set up bitcoind on one of my
11843 machines.  If you want to support my activity, please send Bitcoin
11844 donations to the address
11845 <b>15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</b>.  Thank you!</p>
11846
11847       </div>
11848       <div class="tags">
11849
11850
11851         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/bitcoin">bitcoin</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/personvern">personvern</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/sikkerhet">sikkerhet</a>.
11852
11853
11854       </div>
11855     </div>
11856     <div class="padding"></div>
11857
11858     <div class="entry">
11859       <div class="title">
11860         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Why_isn_t_Debian_Edu_using_VLC_.html">Why isn't Debian Edu using VLC?</a>
11861       </div>
11862       <div class="date">
11863         27th November 2010
11864       </div>
11865       <div class="body">
11866         <p>In the latest issue of Linux Journal, the readers choices were
11867 presented, and the winner among the multimedia player were VLC.
11868 Personally, I like VLC, and it is my player of choice when I first try
11869 to play a video file or stream.  Only if VLC fail will I drag out
11870 gmplayer to see if it can do better.  The reason is mostly the failure
11871 model and trust.  When VLC fail, it normally pop up a error message
11872 reporting the problem.  When mplayer fail, it normally segfault or
11873 just hangs.  The latter failure mode drain my trust in the program.<p>
11874
11875 <p>But even if VLC is my player of choice, we have choosen to use
11876 mplayer in <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian
11877 Edu/Skolelinux</a>.  The reason is simple.  We need a good browser
11878 plugin to play web videos seamlessly, and the VLC browser plugin is
11879 not very good.  For example, it lack in-line control buttons, so there
11880 is no way for the user to pause the video.  Also, when I
11881 <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/BrowserMultimedia">last
11882 tested the browser plugins</a> available in Debian, the VLC plugin
11883 failed on several video pages where mplayer based plugins worked.  If
11884 the browser plugin for VLC was as good as the gecko-mediaplayer
11885 package (which uses mplayer), we would switch.</P>
11886
11887 <p>While VLC is a good player, its user interface is slightly
11888 annoying.  The most annoying feature is its inconsistent use of
11889 keyboard shortcuts.  When the player is in full screen mode, its
11890 shortcuts are different from when it is playing the video in a window.
11891 For example, space only work as pause when in full screen mode.  I
11892 wish it had consisten shortcuts and that space also would work when in
11893 window mode.  Another nice shortcut in gmplayer is [enter] to restart
11894 the current video.  It is very nice when playing short videos from the
11895 web and want to restart it when new people arrive to have a look at
11896 what is going on.</p>
11897
11898       </div>
11899       <div class="tags">
11900
11901
11902         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/multimedia">multimedia</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/video">video</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/web">web</a>.
11903
11904
11905       </div>
11906     </div>
11907     <div class="padding"></div>
11908
11909     <div class="entry">
11910       <div class="title">
11911         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Lenny__Squeeze_upgrades_of_the_Gnome_and_KDE_desktop__now_with_apt_get_autoremove.html">Lenny->Squeeze upgrades of the Gnome and KDE desktop, now with apt-get autoremove</a>
11912       </div>
11913       <div class="date">
11914         22nd November 2010
11915       </div>
11916       <div class="body">
11917         <p>Michael Biebl suggested to me on IRC, that I changed my automated
11918 upgrade testing of the
11919 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/~pere/debian-upgrade-testing/">Lenny
11920 Gnome and KDE Desktop</a> to do <tt>apt-get autoremove</tt> when using apt-get.
11921 This seem like a very good idea, so I adjusted by test scripts and
11922 can now present the updated result from today:</p>
11923
11924 <p>This is for Gnome:</p>
11925
11926 <p>Installed using apt-get, missing with aptitude</p>
11927
11928 <blockquote><p>
11929   apache2.2-bin
11930   aptdaemon
11931   baobab
11932   binfmt-support
11933   browser-plugin-gnash
11934   cheese-common
11935   cli-common
11936   cups-pk-helper
11937   dmz-cursor-theme
11938   empathy
11939   empathy-common
11940   freedesktop-sound-theme
11941   freeglut3
11942   gconf-defaults-service
11943   gdm-themes
11944   gedit-plugins
11945   geoclue
11946   geoclue-hostip
11947   geoclue-localnet
11948   geoclue-manual
11949   geoclue-yahoo
11950   gnash
11951   gnash-common
11952   gnome
11953   gnome-backgrounds
11954   gnome-cards-data
11955   gnome-codec-install
11956   gnome-core
11957   gnome-desktop-environment
11958   gnome-disk-utility
11959   gnome-screenshot
11960   gnome-search-tool
11961   gnome-session-canberra
11962   gnome-system-log
11963   gnome-themes-extras
11964   gnome-themes-more
11965   gnome-user-share
11966   gstreamer0.10-fluendo-mp3
11967   gstreamer0.10-tools
11968   gtk2-engines
11969   gtk2-engines-pixbuf
11970   gtk2-engines-smooth
11971   hamster-applet
11972   libapache2-mod-dnssd
11973   libapr1
11974   libaprutil1
11975   libaprutil1-dbd-sqlite3
11976   libaprutil1-ldap
11977   libart2.0-cil
11978   libboost-date-time1.42.0
11979   libboost-python1.42.0
11980   libboost-thread1.42.0
11981   libchamplain-0.4-0
11982   libchamplain-gtk-0.4-0
11983   libcheese-gtk18
11984   libclutter-gtk-0.10-0
11985   libcryptui0
11986   libdiscid0
11987   libelf1
11988   libepc-1.0-2
11989   libepc-common
11990   libepc-ui-1.0-2
11991   libfreerdp-plugins-standard
11992   libfreerdp0
11993   libgconf2.0-cil
11994   libgdata-common
11995   libgdata7
11996   libgdu-gtk0
11997   libgee2
11998   libgeoclue0
11999   libgexiv2-0
12000   libgif4
12001   libglade2.0-cil
12002   libglib2.0-cil
12003   libgmime2.4-cil
12004   libgnome-vfs2.0-cil
12005   libgnome2.24-cil
12006   libgnomepanel2.24-cil
12007   libgpod-common
12008   libgpod4
12009   libgtk2.0-cil
12010   libgtkglext1
12011   libgtksourceview2.0-common
12012   libmono-addins-gui0.2-cil
12013   libmono-addins0.2-cil
12014   libmono-cairo2.0-cil
12015   libmono-corlib2.0-cil
12016   libmono-i18n-west2.0-cil
12017   libmono-posix2.0-cil
12018   libmono-security2.0-cil
12019   libmono-sharpzip2.84-cil
12020   libmono-system2.0-cil
12021   libmtp8
12022   libmusicbrainz3-6
12023   libndesk-dbus-glib1.0-cil
12024   libndesk-dbus1.0-cil
12025   libopal3.6.8
12026   libpolkit-gtk-1-0
12027   libpt2.6.7
12028   libpython2.6
12029   librpm1
12030   librpmio1
12031   libsdl1.2debian
12032   libsrtp0
12033   libssh-4
12034   libtelepathy-farsight0
12035   libtelepathy-glib0
12036   libtidy-0.99-0
12037   media-player-info
12038   mesa-utils
12039   mono-2.0-gac
12040   mono-gac
12041   mono-runtime
12042   nautilus-sendto
12043   nautilus-sendto-empathy
12044   p7zip-full
12045   pkg-config
12046   python-aptdaemon
12047   python-aptdaemon-gtk
12048   python-axiom
12049   python-beautifulsoup
12050   python-bugbuddy
12051   python-clientform
12052   python-coherence
12053   python-configobj
12054   python-crypto
12055   python-cupshelpers
12056   python-elementtree
12057   python-epsilon
12058   python-evolution
12059   python-feedparser
12060   python-gdata
12061   python-gdbm
12062   python-gst0.10
12063   python-gtkglext1
12064   python-gtksourceview2
12065   python-httplib2
12066   python-louie
12067   python-mako
12068   python-markupsafe
12069   python-mechanize
12070   python-nevow
12071   python-notify
12072   python-opengl
12073   python-openssl
12074   python-pam
12075   python-pkg-resources
12076   python-pyasn1
12077   python-pysqlite2
12078   python-rdflib
12079   python-serial
12080   python-tagpy
12081   python-twisted-bin
12082   python-twisted-conch
12083   python-twisted-core
12084   python-twisted-web
12085   python-utidylib
12086   python-webkit
12087   python-xdg
12088   python-zope.interface
12089   remmina
12090   remmina-plugin-data
12091   remmina-plugin-rdp
12092   remmina-plugin-vnc
12093   rhythmbox-plugin-cdrecorder
12094   rhythmbox-plugins
12095   rpm-common
12096   rpm2cpio
12097   seahorse-plugins
12098   shotwell
12099   software-center
12100   system-config-printer-udev
12101   telepathy-gabble
12102   telepathy-mission-control-5
12103   telepathy-salut
12104   tomboy
12105   totem
12106   totem-coherence
12107   totem-mozilla
12108   totem-plugins
12109   transmission-common
12110   xdg-user-dirs
12111   xdg-user-dirs-gtk
12112   xserver-xephyr
12113 </p></blockquote>
12114
12115 <p>Installed using apt-get, removed with aptitude</p>
12116
12117 <blockquote><p>
12118   cheese
12119   ekiga
12120   eog
12121   epiphany-extensions
12122   evolution-exchange
12123   fast-user-switch-applet
12124   file-roller
12125   gcalctool
12126   gconf-editor
12127   gdm
12128   gedit
12129   gedit-common
12130   gnome-games
12131   gnome-games-data
12132   gnome-nettool
12133   gnome-system-tools
12134   gnome-themes
12135   gnuchess
12136   gucharmap
12137   guile-1.8-libs
12138   libavahi-ui0
12139   libdmx1
12140   libgalago3
12141   libgtk-vnc-1.0-0
12142   libgtksourceview2.0-0
12143   liblircclient0
12144   libsdl1.2debian-alsa
12145   libspeexdsp1
12146   libsvga1
12147   rhythmbox
12148   seahorse
12149   sound-juicer
12150   system-config-printer
12151   totem-common
12152   transmission-gtk
12153   vinagre
12154   vino
12155 </p></blockquote>
12156
12157 <p>Installed using aptitude, missing with apt-get</p>
12158
12159 <blockquote><p>
12160   gstreamer0.10-gnomevfs
12161 </p></blockquote>
12162
12163 <p>Installed using aptitude, removed with apt-get</p>
12164
12165 <blockquote><p>
12166 [nothing]
12167 </p></blockquote>
12168
12169 <p>This is for KDE:</p>
12170
12171 <p>Installed using apt-get, missing with aptitude</p>
12172
12173 <blockquote><p>
12174   ksmserver
12175 </p></blockquote>
12176
12177 <p>Installed using apt-get, removed with aptitude</p>
12178
12179 <blockquote><p>
12180   kwin
12181   network-manager-kde
12182 </p></blockquote>
12183
12184 <p>Installed using aptitude, missing with apt-get</p>
12185
12186 <blockquote><p>
12187   arts
12188   dolphin
12189   freespacenotifier
12190   google-gadgets-gst
12191   google-gadgets-xul
12192   kappfinder
12193   kcalc
12194   kcharselect
12195   kde-core
12196   kde-plasma-desktop
12197   kde-standard
12198   kde-window-manager
12199   kdeartwork
12200   kdeartwork-emoticons
12201   kdeartwork-style
12202   kdeartwork-theme-icon
12203   kdebase
12204   kdebase-apps
12205   kdebase-workspace
12206   kdebase-workspace-bin
12207   kdebase-workspace-data
12208   kdeeject
12209   kdelibs
12210   kdeplasma-addons
12211   kdeutils
12212   kdewallpapers
12213   kdf
12214   kfloppy
12215   kgpg
12216   khelpcenter4
12217   kinfocenter
12218   konq-plugins-l10n
12219   konqueror-nsplugins
12220   kscreensaver
12221   kscreensaver-xsavers
12222   ktimer
12223   kwrite
12224   libgle3
12225   libkde4-ruby1.8
12226   libkonq5
12227   libkonq5-templates
12228   libnetpbm10
12229   libplasma-ruby
12230   libplasma-ruby1.8
12231   libqt4-ruby1.8
12232   marble-data
12233   marble-plugins
12234   netpbm
12235   nuvola-icon-theme
12236   plasma-dataengines-workspace
12237   plasma-desktop
12238   plasma-desktopthemes-artwork
12239   plasma-runners-addons
12240   plasma-scriptengine-googlegadgets
12241   plasma-scriptengine-python
12242   plasma-scriptengine-qedje
12243   plasma-scriptengine-ruby
12244   plasma-scriptengine-webkit
12245   plasma-scriptengines
12246   plasma-wallpapers-addons
12247   plasma-widget-folderview
12248   plasma-widget-networkmanagement
12249   ruby
12250   sweeper
12251   update-notifier-kde
12252   xscreensaver-data-extra
12253   xscreensaver-gl
12254   xscreensaver-gl-extra
12255   xscreensaver-screensaver-bsod
12256 </p></blockquote>
12257
12258 <p>Installed using aptitude, removed with apt-get</p>
12259
12260 <blockquote><p>
12261   ark
12262   google-gadgets-common
12263   google-gadgets-qt
12264   htdig
12265   kate
12266   kdebase-bin
12267   kdebase-data
12268   kdepasswd
12269   kfind
12270   klipper
12271   konq-plugins
12272   konqueror
12273   ksysguard
12274   ksysguardd
12275   libarchive1
12276   libcln6
12277   libeet1
12278   libeina-svn-06
12279   libggadget-1.0-0b
12280   libggadget-qt-1.0-0b
12281   libgps19
12282   libkdecorations4
12283   libkephal4
12284   libkonq4
12285   libkonqsidebarplugin4a
12286   libkscreensaver5
12287   libksgrd4
12288   libksignalplotter4
12289   libkunitconversion4
12290   libkwineffects1a
12291   libmarblewidget4
12292   libntrack-qt4-1
12293   libntrack0
12294   libplasma-geolocation-interface4
12295   libplasmaclock4a
12296   libplasmagenericshell4
12297   libprocesscore4a
12298   libprocessui4a
12299   libqalculate5
12300   libqedje0a
12301   libqtruby4shared2
12302   libqzion0a
12303   libruby1.8
12304   libscim8c2a
12305   libsmokekdecore4-3
12306   libsmokekdeui4-3
12307   libsmokekfile3
12308   libsmokekhtml3
12309   libsmokekio3
12310   libsmokeknewstuff2-3
12311   libsmokeknewstuff3-3
12312   libsmokekparts3
12313   libsmokektexteditor3
12314   libsmokekutils3
12315   libsmokenepomuk3
12316   libsmokephonon3
12317   libsmokeplasma3
12318   libsmokeqtcore4-3
12319   libsmokeqtdbus4-3
12320   libsmokeqtgui4-3
12321   libsmokeqtnetwork4-3
12322   libsmokeqtopengl4-3
12323   libsmokeqtscript4-3
12324   libsmokeqtsql4-3
12325   libsmokeqtsvg4-3
12326   libsmokeqttest4-3
12327   libsmokeqtuitools4-3
12328   libsmokeqtwebkit4-3
12329   libsmokeqtxml4-3
12330   libsmokesolid3
12331   libsmokesoprano3
12332   libtaskmanager4a
12333   libtidy-0.99-0
12334   libweather-ion4a
12335   libxklavier16
12336   libxxf86misc1
12337   okteta
12338   oxygencursors
12339   plasma-dataengines-addons
12340   plasma-scriptengine-superkaramba
12341   plasma-widget-lancelot
12342   plasma-widgets-addons
12343   plasma-widgets-workspace
12344   polkit-kde-1
12345   ruby1.8
12346   systemsettings
12347   update-notifier-common
12348 </p></blockquote>
12349
12350 <p>Running apt-get autoremove made the results using apt-get and
12351 aptitude a bit more similar, but there are still quite a lott of
12352 differences.  I have no idea what packages should be installed after
12353 the upgrade, but hope those that do can have a look.</p>
12354
12355       </div>
12356       <div class="tags">
12357
12358
12359         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
12360
12361
12362       </div>
12363     </div>
12364     <div class="padding"></div>
12365
12366     <div class="entry">
12367       <div class="title">
12368         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Migrating_Xen_virtual_machines_using_LVM_to_KVM_using_disk_images.html">Migrating Xen virtual machines using LVM to KVM using disk images</a>
12369       </div>
12370       <div class="date">
12371         22nd November 2010
12372       </div>
12373       <div class="body">
12374         <p>Most of the computers in use by the
12375 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu/Skolelinux project</a>
12376 are virtual machines.  And they have been Xen machines running on a
12377 fairly old IBM eserver xseries 345 machine, and we wanted to migrate
12378 them to KVM on a newer Dell PowerEdge 2950 host machine.  This was a
12379 bit harder that it could have been, because we set up the Xen virtual
12380 machines to get the virtual partitions from LVM, which as far as I
12381 know is not supported by KVM.  So to migrate, we had to convert
12382 several LVM logical volumes to partitions on a virtual disk file.</p>
12383
12384 <p>I found
12385 <a href="http://searchnetworking.techtarget.com.au/articles/35011-Six-steps-for-migrating-Xen-virtual-machines-to-KVM">a
12386 nice recipe</a> to do this, and wrote the following script to do the
12387 migration.  It uses qemu-img from the qemu package to make the disk
12388 image, parted to partition it, losetup and kpartx to present the disk
12389 image partions as devices, and dd to copy the data.  I NFS mounted the
12390 new servers storage area on the old server to do the migration.</p>
12391
12392 <pre>
12393 #!/bin/sh
12394
12395 # Based on
12396 # http://searchnetworking.techtarget.com.au/articles/35011-Six-steps-for-migrating-Xen-virtual-machines-to-KVM
12397
12398 set -e
12399 set -x
12400
12401 if [ -z "$1" ] ; then
12402     echo "Usage: $0 &lt;hostname&gt;"
12403     exit 1
12404 else
12405     host="$1"
12406 fi
12407
12408 if [ ! -e /dev/vg_data/$host-disk ] ; then
12409     echo "error: unable to find LVM volume for $host"
12410     exit 1
12411 fi
12412
12413 # Partitions need to be a bit bigger than the LVM LVs.  not sure why.
12414 disksize=$( lvs --units m | grep $host-disk | awk '{sum = sum + $4} END { print int(sum * 1.05) }')
12415 swapsize=$( lvs --units m | grep $host-swap | awk '{sum = sum + $4} END { print int(sum * 1.05) }')
12416 totalsize=$(( ( $disksize + $swapsize ) ))
12417
12418 img=$host.img
12419 #dd if=/dev/zero of=$img bs=1M count=$(( $disksize + $swapsize ))
12420 qemu-img create $img ${totalsize}MMaking room on the Debian Edu/Sqeeze DVD
12421
12422 parted $img mklabel msdos
12423 parted $img mkpart primary linux-swap 0 $disksize
12424 parted $img mkpart primary ext2 $disksize $totalsize
12425 parted $img set 1 boot on
12426
12427 modprobe dm-mod
12428 losetup /dev/loop0 $img
12429 kpartx -a /dev/loop0
12430
12431 dd if=/dev/vg_data/$host-disk of=/dev/mapper/loop0p1 bs=1M
12432 fsck.ext3 -f /dev/mapper/loop0p1 || true
12433 mkswap /dev/mapper/loop0p2
12434
12435 kpartx -d /dev/loop0
12436 losetup -d /dev/loop0
12437 </pre>
12438
12439 <p>The script is perhaps so simple that it is not copyrightable, but
12440 if it is, it is licenced using GPL v2 or later at your discretion.</p>
12441
12442 <p>After doing this, I booted a Debian CD in rescue mode in KVM with
12443 the new disk image attached, installed grub-pc and linux-image-686 and
12444 set up grub to boot from the disk image.  After this, the KVM machines
12445 seem to work just fine.</p>
12446
12447       </div>
12448       <div class="tags">
12449
12450
12451         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
12452
12453
12454       </div>
12455     </div>
12456     <div class="padding"></div>
12457
12458     <div class="entry">
12459       <div class="title">
12460         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Lenny__Squeeze_upgrades__apt_vs_aptitude_with_the_Gnome_and_KDE_desktop.html">Lenny->Squeeze upgrades, apt vs aptitude with the Gnome and KDE desktop</a>
12461       </div>
12462       <div class="date">
12463         20th November 2010
12464       </div>
12465       <div class="body">
12466         <p>I'm still running upgrade testing of the
12467 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/~pere/debian-upgrade-testing/">Lenny
12468 Gnome and KDE Desktop</a>, but have not had time to spend on reporting the
12469 status.  Here is a short update based on a test I ran 20101118.</p>
12470
12471 <p>I still do not know what a correct migration should look like, so I
12472 report any differences between apt and aptitude and hope someone else
12473 can see if anything should be changed.</p>
12474
12475 <p>This is for Gnome:</p>
12476
12477 <p>Installed using apt-get, missing with aptitude</p>
12478
12479 <blockquote><p>
12480   apache2.2-bin aptdaemon at-spi baobab binfmt-support
12481   browser-plugin-gnash cheese-common cli-common cpp-4.3 cups-pk-helper
12482   dmz-cursor-theme empathy empathy-common finger
12483   freedesktop-sound-theme freeglut3 gconf-defaults-service gdm-themes
12484   gedit-plugins geoclue geoclue-hostip geoclue-localnet geoclue-manual
12485   geoclue-yahoo gnash gnash-common gnome gnome-backgrounds
12486   gnome-cards-data gnome-codec-install gnome-core
12487   gnome-desktop-environment gnome-disk-utility gnome-screenshot
12488   gnome-search-tool gnome-session-canberra gnome-spell
12489   gnome-system-log gnome-themes-extras gnome-themes-more
12490   gnome-user-share gs-common gstreamer0.10-fluendo-mp3
12491   gstreamer0.10-tools gtk2-engines gtk2-engines-pixbuf
12492   gtk2-engines-smooth hal-info hamster-applet libapache2-mod-dnssd
12493   libapr1 libaprutil1 libaprutil1-dbd-sqlite3 libaprutil1-ldap
12494   libart2.0-cil libatspi1.0-0 libboost-date-time1.42.0
12495   libboost-python1.42.0 libboost-thread1.42.0 libchamplain-0.4-0
12496   libchamplain-gtk-0.4-0 libcheese-gtk18 libclutter-gtk-0.10-0
12497   libcryptui0 libcupsys2 libdiscid0 libeel2-data libelf1 libepc-1.0-2
12498   libepc-common libepc-ui-1.0-2 libfreerdp-plugins-standard
12499   libfreerdp0 libgail-common libgconf2.0-cil libgdata-common libgdata7
12500   libgdl-1-common libgdu-gtk0 libgee2 libgeoclue0 libgexiv2-0 libgif4
12501   libglade2.0-cil libglib2.0-cil libgmime2.4-cil libgnome-vfs2.0-cil
12502   libgnome2.24-cil libgnomepanel2.24-cil libgnomeprint2.2-data
12503   libgnomeprintui2.2-common libgnomevfs2-bin libgpod-common libgpod4
12504   libgtk2.0-cil libgtkglext1 libgtksourceview-common
12505   libgtksourceview2.0-common libmono-addins-gui0.2-cil
12506   libmono-addins0.2-cil libmono-cairo2.0-cil libmono-corlib2.0-cil
12507   libmono-i18n-west2.0-cil libmono-posix2.0-cil
12508   libmono-security2.0-cil libmono-sharpzip2.84-cil
12509   libmono-system2.0-cil libmtp8 libmusicbrainz3-6
12510   libndesk-dbus-glib1.0-cil libndesk-dbus1.0-cil libopal3.6.8
12511   libpolkit-gtk-1-0 libpt-1.10.10-plugins-alsa
12512   libpt-1.10.10-plugins-v4l libpt2.6.7 libpython2.6 librpm1 librpmio1
12513   libsdl1.2debian libservlet2.4-java libsrtp0 libssh-4
12514   libtelepathy-farsight0 libtelepathy-glib0 libtidy-0.99-0
12515   libxalan2-java libxerces2-java media-player-info mesa-utils
12516   mono-2.0-gac mono-gac mono-runtime nautilus-sendto
12517   nautilus-sendto-empathy openoffice.org-writer2latex
12518   openssl-blacklist p7zip p7zip-full pkg-config python-4suite-xml
12519   python-aptdaemon python-aptdaemon-gtk python-axiom
12520   python-beautifulsoup python-bugbuddy python-clientform
12521   python-coherence python-configobj python-crypto python-cupshelpers
12522   python-cupsutils python-eggtrayicon python-elementtree
12523   python-epsilon python-evolution python-feedparser python-gdata
12524   python-gdbm python-gst0.10 python-gtkglext1 python-gtkmozembed
12525   python-gtksourceview2 python-httplib2 python-louie python-mako
12526   python-markupsafe python-mechanize python-nevow python-notify
12527   python-opengl python-openssl python-pam python-pkg-resources
12528   python-pyasn1 python-pysqlite2 python-rdflib python-serial
12529   python-tagpy python-twisted-bin python-twisted-conch
12530   python-twisted-core python-twisted-web python-utidylib python-webkit
12531   python-xdg python-zope.interface remmina remmina-plugin-data
12532   remmina-plugin-rdp remmina-plugin-vnc rhythmbox-plugin-cdrecorder
12533   rhythmbox-plugins rpm-common rpm2cpio seahorse-plugins shotwell
12534   software-center svgalibg1 system-config-printer-udev
12535   telepathy-gabble telepathy-mission-control-5 telepathy-salut tomboy
12536   totem totem-coherence totem-mozilla totem-plugins
12537   transmission-common xdg-user-dirs xdg-user-dirs-gtk xserver-xephyr
12538   zip
12539 </p></blockquote>
12540
12541 Installed using apt-get, removed with aptitude
12542
12543 <blockquote><p>
12544   arj bluez-utils cheese dhcdbd djvulibre-desktop ekiga eog
12545   epiphany-extensions epiphany-gecko evolution-exchange
12546   fast-user-switch-applet file-roller gcalctool gconf-editor gdm gedit
12547   gedit-common gnome-app-install gnome-games gnome-games-data
12548   gnome-nettool gnome-system-tools gnome-themes gnome-utils
12549   gnome-vfs-obexftp gnome-volume-manager gnuchess gucharmap
12550   guile-1.8-libs hal libavahi-compat-libdnssd1 libavahi-core5
12551   libavahi-ui0 libbind9-50 libbluetooth2 libcamel1.2-11 libcdio7
12552   libcucul0 libcurl3 libdirectfb-1.0-0 libdmx1 libdvdread3
12553   libedata-cal1.2-6 libedataserver1.2-9 libeel2-2.20 libepc-1.0-1
12554   libepc-ui-1.0-1 libexchange-storage1.2-3 libfaad0 libgadu3
12555   libgalago3 libgd2-noxpm libgda3-3 libgda3-common libggz2 libggzcore9
12556   libggzmod4 libgksu1.2-0 libgksuui1.0-1 libgmyth0 libgnome-desktop-2
12557   libgnome-pilot2 libgnomecups1.0-1 libgnomeprint2.2-0
12558   libgnomeprintui2.2-0 libgpod3 libgraphviz4 libgtk-vnc-1.0-0
12559   libgtkhtml2-0 libgtksourceview1.0-0 libgtksourceview2.0-0
12560   libgucharmap6 libhesiod0 libicu38 libisccc50 libisccfg50 libiw29
12561   libjaxp1.3-java-gcj libkpathsea4 liblircclient0 libltdl3 liblwres50
12562   libmagick++10 libmagick10 libmalaga7 libmozjs1d libmpfr1ldbl libmtp7
12563   libmysqlclient15off libnautilus-burn4 libneon27 libnm-glib0
12564   libnm-util0 libopal-2.2 libosp5 libparted1.8-10 libpisock9
12565   libpisync1 libpoppler-glib3 libpoppler3 libpt-1.10.10 libraw1394-8
12566   libsdl1.2debian-alsa libsensors3 libsexy2 libsmbios2 libsoup2.2-8
12567   libspeexdsp1 libssh2-1 libsuitesparse-3.1.0 libsvga1
12568   libswfdec-0.6-90 libtalloc1 libtotem-plparser10 libtrackerclient0
12569   libvoikko1 libxalan2-java-gcj libxerces2-java-gcj libxklavier12
12570   libxtrap6 libxxf86misc1 libzephyr3 mysql-common rhythmbox seahorse
12571   sound-juicer swfdec-gnome system-config-printer totem-common
12572   totem-gstreamer transmission-gtk vinagre vino w3c-dtd-xhtml wodim
12573 </p></blockquote>
12574
12575 <p>Installed using aptitude, missing with apt-get</p>
12576
12577 <blockquote><p>
12578   gstreamer0.10-gnomevfs
12579 </p></blockquote>
12580
12581 <p>Installed using aptitude, removed with apt-get</p>
12582
12583 <blockquote><p>
12584 [nothing]
12585 </p></blockquote>
12586
12587 <p>This is for KDE:</p>
12588
12589 <p>Installed using apt-get, missing with aptitude</p>
12590
12591 <blockquote><p>
12592   autopoint bomber bovo cantor cantor-backend-kalgebra cpp-4.3 dcoprss
12593   edict espeak espeak-data eyesapplet fifteenapplet finger gettext
12594   ghostscript-x git gnome-audio gnugo granatier gs-common
12595   gstreamer0.10-pulseaudio indi kaddressbook-plugins kalgebra
12596   kalzium-data kanjidic kapman kate-plugins kblocks kbreakout kbstate
12597   kde-icons-mono kdeaccessibility kdeaddons-kfile-plugins
12598   kdeadmin-kfile-plugins kdeartwork-misc kdeartwork-theme-window
12599   kdeedu kdeedu-data kdeedu-kvtml-data kdegames kdegames-card-data
12600   kdegames-mahjongg-data kdegraphics-kfile-plugins kdelirc
12601   kdemultimedia-kfile-plugins kdenetwork-kfile-plugins
12602   kdepim-kfile-plugins kdepim-kio-plugins kdessh kdetoys kdewebdev
12603   kdiamond kdnssd kfilereplace kfourinline kgeography-data kigo
12604   killbots kiriki klettres-data kmoon kmrml knewsticker-scripts
12605   kollision kpf krosspython ksirk ksmserver ksquares kstars-data
12606   ksudoku kubrick kweather libasound2-plugins libboost-python1.42.0
12607   libcfitsio3 libconvert-binhex-perl libcrypt-ssleay-perl libdb4.6++
12608   libdjvulibre-text libdotconf1.0 liberror-perl libespeak1
12609   libfinance-quote-perl libgail-common libgsl0ldbl libhtml-parser-perl
12610   libhtml-tableextract-perl libhtml-tagset-perl libhtml-tree-perl
12611   libio-stringy-perl libkdeedu4 libkdegames5 libkiten4 libkpathsea5
12612   libkrossui4 libmailtools-perl libmime-tools-perl
12613   libnews-nntpclient-perl libopenbabel3 libportaudio2 libpulse-browse0
12614   libservlet2.4-java libspeechd2 libtiff-tools libtimedate-perl
12615   libunistring0 liburi-perl libwww-perl libxalan2-java libxerces2-java
12616   lirc luatex marble networkstatus noatun-plugins
12617   openoffice.org-writer2latex palapeli palapeli-data parley
12618   parley-data poster psutils pulseaudio pulseaudio-esound-compat
12619   pulseaudio-module-x11 pulseaudio-utils quanta-data rocs rsync
12620   speech-dispatcher step svgalibg1 texlive-binaries texlive-luatex
12621   ttf-sazanami-gothic
12622 </p></blockquote>
12623
12624 <p>Installed using apt-get, removed with aptitude</p>
12625
12626 <blockquote><p>
12627   amor artsbuilder atlantik atlantikdesigner blinken bluez-utils cvs
12628   dhcdbd djvulibre-desktop imlib-base imlib11 kalzium kanagram kandy
12629   kasteroids katomic kbackgammon kbattleship kblackbox kbounce kbruch
12630   kcron kdat kdemultimedia-kappfinder-data kdeprint kdict kdvi kedit
12631   keduca kenolaba kfax kfaxview kfouleggs kgeography kghostview
12632   kgoldrunner khangman khexedit kiconedit kig kimagemapeditor
12633   kitchensync kiten kjumpingcube klatin klettres klickety klines
12634   klinkstatus kmag kmahjongg kmailcvt kmenuedit kmid kmilo kmines
12635   kmousetool kmouth kmplot knetwalk kodo kolf kommander konquest kooka
12636   kpager kpat kpdf kpercentage kpilot kpoker kpovmodeler krec
12637   kregexpeditor kreversi ksame ksayit kshisen ksig ksim ksirc ksirtet
12638   ksmiletris ksnake ksokoban kspaceduel kstars ksvg ksysv kteatime
12639   ktip ktnef ktouch ktron kttsd ktuberling kturtle ktux kuickshow
12640   kverbos kview kviewshell kvoctrain kwifimanager kwin kwin4 kwordquiz
12641   kworldclock kxsldbg libakode2 libarts1-akode libarts1-audiofile
12642   libarts1-mpeglib libarts1-xine libavahi-compat-libdnssd1
12643   libavahi-core5 libavc1394-0 libbind9-50 libbluetooth2
12644   libboost-python1.34.1 libcucul0 libcurl3 libcvsservice0
12645   libdirectfb-1.0-0 libdjvulibre21 libdvdread3 libfaad0 libfreebob0
12646   libgd2-noxpm libgraphviz4 libgsmme1c2a libgtkhtml2-0 libicu38
12647   libiec61883-0 libindex0 libisccc50 libisccfg50 libiw29
12648   libjaxp1.3-java-gcj libk3b3 libkcal2b libkcddb1 libkdeedu3
12649   libkdegames1 libkdepim1a libkgantt0 libkleopatra1 libkmime2
12650   libkpathsea4 libkpimexchange1 libkpimidentities1 libkscan1
12651   libksieve0 libktnef1 liblockdev1 libltdl3 liblwres50 libmagick10
12652   libmimelib1c2a libmodplug0c2 libmozjs1d libmpcdec3 libmpfr1ldbl
12653   libneon27 libnm-util0 libopensync0 libpisock9 libpoppler-glib3
12654   libpoppler-qt2 libpoppler3 libraw1394-8 librss1 libsensors3
12655   libsmbios2 libssh2-1 libsuitesparse-3.1.0 libswfdec-0.6-90
12656   libtalloc1 libxalan2-java-gcj libxerces2-java-gcj libxtrap6 lskat
12657   mpeglib network-manager-kde noatun pmount tex-common texlive-base
12658   texlive-common texlive-doc-base texlive-fonts-recommended tidy
12659   ttf-dustin ttf-kochi-gothic ttf-sjfonts
12660 </p></blockquote>
12661
12662 <p>Installed using aptitude, missing with apt-get</p>
12663
12664 <blockquote><p>
12665   dolphin kde-core kde-plasma-desktop kde-standard kde-window-manager
12666   kdeartwork kdebase kdebase-apps kdebase-workspace
12667   kdebase-workspace-bin kdebase-workspace-data kdeutils kscreensaver
12668   kscreensaver-xsavers libgle3 libkonq5 libkonq5-templates libnetpbm10
12669   netpbm plasma-widget-folderview plasma-widget-networkmanagement
12670   xscreensaver-data-extra xscreensaver-gl xscreensaver-gl-extra
12671   xscreensaver-screensaver-bsod
12672 </p></blockquote>
12673
12674 <p>Installed using aptitude, removed with apt-get</p>
12675
12676 <blockquote><p>
12677   kdebase-bin konq-plugins konqueror
12678 </p></blockquote>
12679
12680       </div>
12681       <div class="tags">
12682
12683
12684         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
12685
12686
12687       </div>
12688     </div>
12689     <div class="padding"></div>
12690
12691     <div class="entry">
12692       <div class="title">
12693         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Gnash_buildbot_slave_and_Debian_kfreebsd.html">Gnash buildbot slave and Debian kfreebsd</a>
12694       </div>
12695       <div class="date">
12696         20th November 2010
12697       </div>
12698       <div class="body">
12699         <p>Answering
12700 <a href="http://www.listware.net/201011/gnash-dev/67431-gnash-dev-buildbot-looking-for-slaves.html">the
12701 call from the Gnash project</a> for
12702 <a href="http://www.gnashdev.org:8010">buildbot</a> slaves to test the
12703 current source, I have set up a virtual KVM machine on the Debian
12704 Edu/Skolelinux virtualization host to test the git source on
12705 Debian/Squeeze.  I hope this can help the developers in getting new
12706 releases out more often.</p>
12707
12708 <p>As the developers want less main-stream build platforms tested to,
12709 I have considered setting up a <a
12710 href="http://www.debian.org/ports/kfreebsd-gnu/">Debian/kfreebsd</a>
12711 machine as well.  I have also considered using the kfreebsd
12712 architecture in Debian as a file server in NUUG to get access to the 5
12713 TB zfs volume we currently use to store DV video.  Because of this, I
12714 finally got around to do a test installation of Debian/Squeeze with
12715 kfreebsd.  Installation went fairly smooth, thought I noticed some
12716 visual glitches in the cdebconf dialogs (black cursor left on the
12717 screen at random locations).  Have not gotten very far with the
12718 testing.  Noticed cfdisk did not work, but fdisk did so it was not a
12719 fatal problem.  Have to spend some more time on it to see if it is
12720 useful as a file server for NUUG.  Will try to find time to set up a
12721 gnash buildbot slave on the Debian Edu/Skolelinux this weekend.</p>
12722
12723       </div>
12724       <div class="tags">
12725
12726
12727         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug</a>.
12728
12729
12730       </div>
12731     </div>
12732     <div class="padding"></div>
12733
12734     <div class="entry">
12735       <div class="title">
12736         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_in_3D.html">Debian in 3D</a>
12737       </div>
12738       <div class="date">
12739          9th November 2010
12740       </div>
12741       <div class="body">
12742         <p><img src="http://thingiverse-production.s3.amazonaws.com/renders/23/e0/c4/f9/2b/debswagtdose_preview_medium.jpg"></p>
12743
12744 <p>3D printing is just great.  I just came across this Debian logo in
12745 3D linked in from
12746 <a href="http://blog.thingiverse.com/2010/11/09/participatory-branding/">the
12747 thingiverse blog</a>.</p>
12748
12749       </div>
12750       <div class="tags">
12751
12752
12753         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/3d-printer">3d-printer</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
12754
12755
12756       </div>
12757     </div>
12758     <div class="padding"></div>
12759
12760     <div class="entry">
12761       <div class="title">
12762         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Software_updates_2010_10_24.html">Software updates 2010-10-24</a>
12763       </div>
12764       <div class="date">
12765         24th October 2010
12766       </div>
12767       <div class="body">
12768         <p>Some updates.</p>
12769
12770 <p>My <a href="http://pledgebank.com/gnash-avm2">gnash pledge</a> to
12771 raise money for the project is going well.  The lower limit of 10
12772 signers was reached in 24 hours, and so far 13 people have signed it.
12773 More signers and more funding is most welcome, and I am really curious
12774 how far we can get before the time limit of December 24 is reached.
12775 :)</p>
12776
12777 <p>On the #gnash IRC channel on irc.freenode.net, I was just tipped
12778 about what appear to be a great code coverage tool capable of
12779 generating code coverage stats without any changes to the source code.
12780 It is called
12781 <a href="http://simonkagstrom.github.com/kcov/index.html">kcov</a>,
12782 and can be used using <tt>kcov &lt;directory&gt; &lt;binary&gt;</tt>.
12783 It is missing in Debian, but the git source built just fine in Squeeze
12784 after I installed libelf-dev, libdwarf-dev, pkg-config and
12785 libglib2.0-dev.  Failed to build in Lenny, but suspect that is
12786 solvable.  I hope kcov make it into Debian soon.</p>
12787
12788 <p>Finally found time to wrap up the release notes for <a
12789 href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-edu-announce/2010/10/msg00002.html">a
12790 new alpha release of Debian Edu</a>, and just published the second
12791 alpha test release of the Squeeze based Debian Edu /
12792 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Skolelinux</a>
12793 release.  Give it a try if you need a complete linux solution for your
12794 school, including central infrastructure server, workstations, thin
12795 client servers and diskless workstations.  A nice touch added
12796 yesterday is RDP support on the thin client servers, for windows
12797 clients to get a Linux desktop on request.</p>
12798
12799       </div>
12800       <div class="tags">
12801
12802
12803         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/multimedia">multimedia</a>.
12804
12805
12806       </div>
12807     </div>
12808     <div class="padding"></div>
12809
12810     <div class="entry">
12811       <div class="title">
12812         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Some_notes_on_Flash_in_Debian_and_Debian_Edu.html">Some notes on Flash in Debian and Debian Edu</a>
12813       </div>
12814       <div class="date">
12815          4th September 2010
12816       </div>
12817       <div class="body">
12818         <p>In the <a href="http://popcon.debian.org/unknown/by_vote">Debian
12819 popularity-contest numbers</a>, the adobe-flashplugin package the
12820 second most popular used package that is missing in Debian.  The sixth
12821 most popular is flashplayer-mozilla.  This is a clear indication that
12822 working flash is important for Debian users.  Around 10 percent of the
12823 users submitting data to popcon.debian.org have this package
12824 installed.</p>
12825
12826 <p>In the report written by Lars Risan in August 2008
12827 («<a href="http://wiki.skolelinux.no/Dokumentasjon/Rapporter?action=AttachFile&do=view&target=Skolelinux_i_bruk_rapport_1.0.pdf">Skolelinux
12828 i bruk – Rapport for Hurum kommune, Universitetet i Agder og
12829 stiftelsen SLX Debian Labs</a>»), one of the most important problems
12830 schools experienced with <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian
12831 Edu/Skolelinux</a> was the lack of working Flash.  A lot of educational
12832 web sites require Flash to work, and lacking working Flash support in
12833 the web browser and the problems with installing it was perceived as a
12834 good reason to stay with Windows.</p>
12835
12836 <p>I once saw a funny and sad comment in a web forum, where Linux was
12837 said to be the retarded cousin that did not really understand
12838 everything you told him but could work fairly well.  This was a
12839 comment regarding the problems Linux have with proprietary formats and
12840 non-standard web pages, and is sad because it exposes a fairly common
12841 understanding of whose fault it is if web pages that only work in for
12842 example Internet Explorer 6 fail to work on Firefox, and funny because
12843 it explain very well how annoying it is for users when Linux
12844 distributions do not work with the documents they receive or the web
12845 pages they want to visit.</p>
12846
12847 <p>This is part of the reason why I believe it is important for Debian
12848 and Debian Edu to have a well working Flash implementation in the
12849 distribution, to get at least popular sites as Youtube and Google
12850 Video to working out of the box.  For Squeeze, Debian have the chance
12851 to include the latest version of Gnash that will make this happen, as
12852 the new release 0.8.8 was published a few weeks ago and is resting in
12853 unstable.  The new version work with more sites that version 0.8.7.
12854 The Gnash maintainers have asked for a freeze exception, but the
12855 release team have not had time to reply to it yet.  I hope they agree
12856 with me that Flash is important for the Debian desktop users, and thus
12857 accept the new package into Squeeze.</p>
12858
12859       </div>
12860       <div class="tags">
12861
12862
12863         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/multimedia">multimedia</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/video">video</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/web">web</a>.
12864
12865
12866       </div>
12867     </div>
12868     <div class="padding"></div>
12869
12870     <div class="entry">
12871       <div class="title">
12872         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Circular_package_dependencies_harms_apt_recovery.html">Circular package dependencies harms apt recovery</a>
12873       </div>
12874       <div class="date">
12875         27th July 2010
12876       </div>
12877       <div class="body">
12878         <p>I discovered this while doing
12879 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Automatic_upgrade_testing_from_Lenny_to_Squeeze.html">automated
12880 testing of upgrades from Debian Lenny to Squeeze</a>.  A few packages
12881 in Debian still got circular dependencies, and it is often claimed
12882 that apt and aptitude should be able to handle this just fine, but
12883 some times these dependency loops causes apt to fail.</p>
12884
12885 <p>An example is from todays
12886 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/~pere/debian-upgrade-testing//test-20100727-lenny-squeeze-kde-aptitude.txt">upgrade
12887 of KDE using aptitude</a>.  In it, a bug in kdebase-workspace-data
12888 causes perl-modules to fail to upgrade.  The cause is simple.  If a
12889 package fail to unpack, then only part of packages with the circular
12890 dependency might end up being unpacked when unpacking aborts, and the
12891 ones already unpacked will fail to configure in the recovery phase
12892 because its dependencies are unavailable.</p>
12893
12894 <p>In this log, the problem manifest itself with this error:</p>
12895
12896 <blockquote><pre>
12897 dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of perl-modules:
12898  perl-modules depends on perl (>= 5.10.1-1); however:
12899   Version of perl on system is 5.10.0-19lenny2.
12900 dpkg: error processing perl-modules (--configure):
12901  dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
12902 </pre></blockquote>
12903
12904 <p>The perl/perl-modules circular dependency is already
12905 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/527917">reported as a bug</a>, and will
12906 hopefully be solved as soon as possible, but it is not the only one,
12907 and each one of these loops in the dependency tree can cause similar
12908 failures.  Of course, they only occur when there are bugs in other
12909 packages causing the unpacking to fail, but it is rather nasty when
12910 the failure of one package causes the problem to become worse because
12911 of dependency loops.</p>
12912
12913 <p>Thanks to
12914 <a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2010/06/msg00116.html">the
12915 tireless effort by Bill Allombert</a>, the number of circular
12916 dependencies
12917 <a href="http://debian.semistable.com/debgraph.out.html">left in Debian
12918 is dropping</a>, and perhaps it will reach zero one day. :)</p>
12919
12920 <p>Todays testing also exposed a bug in
12921 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/590605">update-notifier</a> and
12922 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/590604">different behaviour</a> between
12923 apt-get and aptitude, the latter possibly caused by some circular
12924 dependency.  Reported both to BTS to try to get someone to look at
12925 it.</p>
12926
12927       </div>
12928       <div class="tags">
12929
12930
12931         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug</a>.
12932
12933
12934       </div>
12935     </div>
12936     <div class="padding"></div>
12937
12938     <div class="entry">
12939       <div class="title">
12940         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/What_are_they_searching_for___PowerDNS_and_ISC_DHCP_in_LDAP.html">What are they searching for - PowerDNS and ISC DHCP in LDAP</a>
12941       </div>
12942       <div class="date">
12943         17th July 2010
12944       </div>
12945       <div class="body">
12946         <p>This is a
12947 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Time_for_new__LDAP_schemas_replacing_RFC_2307_.html">followup</a>
12948 on my
12949 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Idea_for_a_change_to_LDAP_schemas_allowing_DNS_and_DHCP_info_to_be_combined_into_one_object.html">previous
12950 work</a> on
12951 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Combining_PowerDNS_and_ISC_DHCP_LDAP_objects.html">merging
12952 all</a> the computer related LDAP objects in Debian Edu.</p>
12953
12954 <p>As a step to try to see if it possible to merge the DNS and DHCP
12955 LDAP objects, I have had a look at how the packages pdns-backend-ldap
12956 and dhcp3-server-ldap in Debian use the LDAP server.  The two
12957 implementations are quite different in how they use LDAP.</p>
12958
12959 To get this information, I started slapd with debugging enabled and
12960 dumped the debug output to a file to get the LDAP searches performed
12961 on a Debian Edu main-server.  Here is a summary.
12962
12963 <p><strong>powerdns</strong></p>
12964
12965 <a href="http://www.linuxnetworks.de/doc/index.php/PowerDNS_LDAP_Backend">Clues
12966 on how to</a> set up PowerDNS to use a LDAP backend is available on
12967 the web.
12968
12969 <p>PowerDNS have two modes of operation using LDAP as its backend.
12970 One "strict" mode where the forward and reverse DNS lookups are done
12971 using the same LDAP objects, and a "tree" mode where the forward and
12972 reverse entries are in two different subtrees in LDAP with a structure
12973 based on the DNS names, as in tjener.intern and
12974 2.2.0.10.in-addr.arpa.</p>
12975
12976 <p>In tree mode, the server is set up to use a LDAP subtree as its
12977 base, and uses a "base" scoped search for the DNS name by adding
12978 "dc=tjener,dc=intern," to the base with a filter for
12979 "(associateddomain=tjener.intern)" for the forward entry and
12980 "dc=2,dc=2,dc=0,dc=10,dc=in-addr,dc=arpa," with a filter for
12981 "(associateddomain=2.2.0.10.in-addr.arpa)" for the reverse entry.  For
12982 forward entries, it is looking for attributes named dnsttl, arecord,
12983 nsrecord, cnamerecord, soarecord, ptrrecord, hinforecord, mxrecord,
12984 txtrecord, rprecord, afsdbrecord, keyrecord, aaaarecord, locrecord,
12985 srvrecord, naptrrecord, kxrecord, certrecord, dsrecord, sshfprecord,
12986 ipseckeyrecord, rrsigrecord, nsecrecord, dnskeyrecord, dhcidrecord,
12987 spfrecord and modifytimestamp.  For reverse entries it is looking for
12988 the attributes dnsttl, arecord, nsrecord, cnamerecord, soarecord,
12989 ptrrecord, hinforecord, mxrecord, txtrecord, rprecord, aaaarecord,
12990 locrecord, srvrecord, naptrrecord and modifytimestamp.  The equivalent
12991 ldapsearch commands could look like this:</p>
12992
12993 <blockquote><pre>
12994 ldapsearch -h ldap \
12995   -b dc=tjener,dc=intern,ou=hosts,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no \
12996   -s base -x '(associateddomain=tjener.intern)' dNSTTL aRecord nSRecord \
12997   cNAMERecord sOARecord pTRRecord hInfoRecord mXRecord tXTRecord \
12998   rPRecord aFSDBRecord KeyRecord aAAARecord lOCRecord sRVRecord \
12999   nAPTRRecord kXRecord certRecord dSRecord sSHFPRecord iPSecKeyRecord \
13000   rRSIGRecord nSECRecord dNSKeyRecord dHCIDRecord sPFRecord modifyTimestamp
13001
13002 ldapsearch -h ldap \
13003   -b dc=2,dc=2,dc=0,dc=10,dc=in-addr,dc=arpa,ou=hosts,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no \
13004   -s base -x '(associateddomain=2.2.0.10.in-addr.arpa)'
13005   dnsttl, arecord, nsrecord, cnamerecord soarecord ptrrecord \
13006   hinforecord mxrecord txtrecord rprecord aaaarecord locrecord \
13007   srvrecord naptrrecord modifytimestamp
13008 </pre></blockquote>
13009
13010 <p>In Debian Edu/Lenny, the PowerDNS tree mode is used with
13011 ou=hosts,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no as the base, and these are two
13012 example LDAP objects used there.  In addition to these objects, the
13013 parent objects all th way up to ou=hosts,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
13014 also exist.</p>
13015
13016 <blockquote><pre>
13017 dn: dc=tjener,dc=intern,ou=hosts,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
13018 objectclass: top
13019 objectclass: dnsdomain
13020 objectclass: domainrelatedobject
13021 dc: tjener
13022 arecord: 10.0.2.2
13023 associateddomain: tjener.intern
13024
13025 dn: dc=2,dc=2,dc=0,dc=10,dc=in-addr,dc=arpa,ou=hosts,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
13026 objectclass: top
13027 objectclass: dnsdomain2
13028 objectclass: domainrelatedobject
13029 dc: 2
13030 ptrrecord: tjener.intern
13031 associateddomain: 2.2.0.10.in-addr.arpa
13032 </pre></blockquote>
13033
13034 <p>In strict mode, the server behaves differently.  When looking for
13035 forward DNS entries, it is doing a "subtree" scoped search with the
13036 same base as in the tree mode for a object with filter
13037 "(associateddomain=tjener.intern)" and requests the attributes dnsttl,
13038 arecord, nsrecord, cnamerecord, soarecord, ptrrecord, hinforecord,
13039 mxrecord, txtrecord, rprecord, aaaarecord, locrecord, srvrecord,
13040 naptrrecord and modifytimestamp.  For reverse entires it also do a
13041 subtree scoped search but this time the filter is "(arecord=10.0.2.2)"
13042 and the requested attributes are associateddomain, dnsttl and
13043 modifytimestamp.  In short, in strict mode the objects with ptrrecord
13044 go away, and the arecord attribute in the forward object is used
13045 instead.</p>
13046
13047 <p>The forward and reverse searches can be simulated using ldapsearch
13048 like this:</p>
13049
13050 <blockquote><pre>
13051 ldapsearch -h ldap -b ou=hosts,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no -s sub -x \
13052   '(associateddomain=tjener.intern)' dNSTTL aRecord nSRecord \
13053   cNAMERecord sOARecord pTRRecord hInfoRecord mXRecord tXTRecord \
13054   rPRecord aFSDBRecord KeyRecord aAAARecord lOCRecord sRVRecord \
13055   nAPTRRecord kXRecord certRecord dSRecord sSHFPRecord iPSecKeyRecord \
13056   rRSIGRecord nSECRecord dNSKeyRecord dHCIDRecord sPFRecord modifyTimestamp
13057
13058 ldapsearch -h ldap -b ou=hosts,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no -s sub -x \
13059   '(arecord=10.0.2.2)' associateddomain dnsttl modifytimestamp
13060 </pre></blockquote>
13061
13062 <p>In addition to the forward and reverse searches , there is also a
13063 search for SOA records, which behave similar to the forward and
13064 reverse lookups.</p>
13065
13066 <p>A thing to note with the PowerDNS behaviour is that it do not
13067 specify any objectclass names, and instead look for the attributes it
13068 need to generate a DNS reply.  This make it able to work with any
13069 objectclass that provide the needed attributes.</p>
13070
13071 <p>The attributes are normally provided in the cosine (RFC 1274) and
13072 dnsdomain2 schemas.  The latter is used for reverse entries like
13073 ptrrecord and recent DNS additions like aaaarecord and srvrecord.</p>
13074
13075 <p>In Debian Edu, we have created DNS objects using the object classes
13076 dcobject (for dc), dnsdomain or dnsdomain2 (structural, for the DNS
13077 attributes) and domainrelatedobject (for associatedDomain).  The use
13078 of structural object classes make it impossible to combine these
13079 classes with the object classes used by DHCP.</p>
13080
13081 <p>There are other schemas that could be used too, for example the
13082 dnszone structural object class used by Gosa and bind-sdb for the DNS
13083 attributes combined with the domainrelatedobject object class, but in
13084 this case some unused attributes would have to be included as well
13085 (zonename and relativedomainname).</p>
13086
13087 <p>My proposal for Debian Edu would be to switch PowerDNS to strict
13088 mode and not use any of the existing objectclasses (dnsdomain,
13089 dnsdomain2 and dnszone) when one want to combine the DNS information
13090 with DHCP information, and instead create a auxiliary object class
13091 defined something like this (using the attributes defined for
13092 dnsdomain and dnsdomain2 or dnszone):</p>
13093
13094 <blockquote><pre>
13095 objectclass ( some-oid NAME 'dnsDomainAux'
13096     SUP top
13097     AUXILIARY
13098     MAY ( ARecord $ MDRecord $ MXRecord $ NSRecord $ SOARecord $ CNAMERecord $
13099           DNSTTL $ DNSClass $ PTRRecord $ HINFORecord $ MINFORecord $
13100           TXTRecord $ SIGRecord $ KEYRecord $ AAAARecord $ LOCRecord $
13101           NXTRecord $ SRVRecord $ NAPTRRecord $ KXRecord $ CERTRecord $
13102           A6Record $ DNAMERecord
13103     ))
13104 </pre></blockquote>
13105
13106 <p>This will allow any object to become a DNS entry when combined with
13107 the domainrelatedobject object class, and allow any entity to include
13108 all the attributes PowerDNS wants.  I've sent an email to the PowerDNS
13109 developers asking for their view on this schema and if they are
13110 interested in providing such schema with PowerDNS, and I hope my
13111 message will be accepted into their mailing list soon.</p>
13112
13113 <p><strong>ISC dhcp</strong></p>
13114
13115 <p>The DHCP server searches for specific objectclass and requests all
13116 the object attributes, and then uses the attributes it want.  This
13117 make it harder to figure out exactly what attributes are used, but
13118 thanks to the working example in Debian Edu I can at least get an idea
13119 what is needed without having to read the source code.</p>
13120
13121 <p>In the DHCP server configuration, the LDAP base to use and the
13122 search filter to use to locate the correct dhcpServer entity is
13123 stored.  These are the relevant entries from
13124 /etc/dhcp3/dhcpd.conf:</p>
13125
13126 <blockquote><pre>
13127 ldap-base-dn "dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no";
13128 ldap-dhcp-server-cn "dhcp";
13129 </pre></blockquote>
13130
13131 <p>The DHCP server uses this information to nest all the DHCP
13132 configuration it need.  The cn "dhcp" is located using the given LDAP
13133 base and the filter "(&(objectClass=dhcpServer)(cn=dhcp))".  The
13134 search result is this entry:</p>
13135
13136 <blockquote><pre>
13137 dn: cn=dhcp,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
13138 cn: dhcp
13139 objectClass: top
13140 objectClass: dhcpServer
13141 dhcpServiceDN: cn=DHCP Config,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
13142 </pre></blockquote>
13143
13144 <p>The content of the dhcpServiceDN attribute is next used to locate the
13145 subtree with DHCP configuration.  The DHCP configuration subtree base
13146 is located using a base scope search with base "cn=DHCP
13147 Config,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no" and filter
13148 "(&(objectClass=dhcpService)(|(dhcpPrimaryDN=cn=dhcp,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no)(dhcpSecondaryDN=cn=dhcp,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no)))".
13149 The search result is this entry:</p>
13150
13151 <blockquote><pre>
13152 dn: cn=DHCP Config,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
13153 cn: DHCP Config
13154 objectClass: top
13155 objectClass: dhcpService
13156 objectClass: dhcpOptions
13157 dhcpPrimaryDN: cn=dhcp, dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
13158 dhcpStatements: ddns-update-style none
13159 dhcpStatements: authoritative
13160 dhcpOption: smtp-server code 69 = array of ip-address
13161 dhcpOption: www-server code 72 = array of ip-address
13162 dhcpOption: wpad-url code 252 = text
13163 </pre></blockquote>
13164
13165 <p>Next, the entire subtree is processed, one level at the time.  When
13166 all the DHCP configuration is loaded, it is ready to receive requests.
13167 The subtree in Debian Edu contain objects with object classes
13168 top/dhcpService/dhcpOptions, top/dhcpSharedNetwork/dhcpOptions,
13169 top/dhcpSubnet, top/dhcpGroup and top/dhcpHost.  These provide options
13170 and information about netmasks, dynamic range etc.  Leaving out the
13171 details here because it is not relevant for the focus of my
13172 investigation, which is to see if it is possible to merge dns and dhcp
13173 related computer objects.</p>
13174
13175 <p>When a DHCP request come in, LDAP is searched for the MAC address
13176 of the client (00:00:00:00:00:00 in this example), using a subtree
13177 scoped search with "cn=DHCP Config,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no" as
13178 the base and "(&(objectClass=dhcpHost)(dhcpHWAddress=ethernet
13179 00:00:00:00:00:00))" as the filter.  This is what a host object look
13180 like:</p>
13181
13182 <blockquote><pre>
13183 dn: cn=hostname,cn=group1,cn=THINCLIENTS,cn=DHCP Config,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
13184 cn: hostname
13185 objectClass: top
13186 objectClass: dhcpHost
13187 dhcpHWAddress: ethernet 00:00:00:00:00:00
13188 dhcpStatements: fixed-address hostname
13189 </pre></blockquote>
13190
13191 <p>There is less flexiblity in the way LDAP searches are done here.
13192 The object classes need to have fixed names, and the configuration
13193 need to be stored in a fairly specific LDAP structure.  On the
13194 positive side, the invidiual dhcpHost entires can be anywhere without
13195 the DN pointed to by the dhcpServer entries.  The latter should make
13196 it possible to group all host entries in a subtree next to the
13197 configuration entries, and this subtree can also be shared with the
13198 DNS server if the schema proposed above is combined with the dhcpHost
13199 structural object class.
13200
13201 <p><strong>Conclusion</strong></p>
13202
13203 <p>The PowerDNS implementation seem to be very flexible when it come
13204 to which LDAP schemas to use.  While its "tree" mode is rigid when it
13205 come to the the LDAP structure, the "strict" mode is very flexible,
13206 allowing DNS objects to be stored anywhere under the base cn specified
13207 in the configuration.</p>
13208
13209 <p>The DHCP implementation on the other hand is very inflexible, both
13210 regarding which LDAP schemas to use and which LDAP structure to use.
13211 I guess one could implement ones own schema, as long as the
13212 objectclasses and attributes have the names used, but this do not
13213 really help when the DHCP subtree need to have a fairly fixed
13214 structure.</p>
13215
13216 <p>Based on the observed behaviour, I suspect a LDAP structure like
13217 this might work for Debian Edu:</p>
13218
13219 <blockquote><pre>
13220 ou=services
13221   cn=machine-info (dhcpService) - dhcpServiceDN points here
13222     cn=dhcp (dhcpServer)
13223     cn=dhcp-internal (dhcpSharedNetwork/dhcpOptions)
13224       cn=10.0.2.0 (dhcpSubnet)
13225         cn=group1 (dhcpGroup/dhcpOptions)
13226     cn=dhcp-thinclients (dhcpSharedNetwork/dhcpOptions)
13227       cn=192.168.0.0 (dhcpSubnet)
13228         cn=group1 (dhcpGroup/dhcpOptions)
13229     ou=machines - PowerDNS base points here
13230       cn=hostname (dhcpHost/domainrelatedobject/dnsDomainAux)
13231 </pre></blockquote>
13232
13233 <P>This is not tested yet.  If the DHCP server require the dhcpHost
13234 entries to be in the dhcpGroup subtrees, the entries can be stored
13235 there instead of a common machines subtree, and the PowerDNS base
13236 would have to be moved one level up to the machine-info subtree.</p>
13237
13238 <p>The combined object under the machines subtree would look something
13239 like this:</p>
13240
13241 <blockquote><pre>
13242 dn: dc=hostname,ou=machines,cn=machine-info,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
13243 dc: hostname
13244 objectClass: top
13245 objectClass: dhcpHost
13246 objectclass: domainrelatedobject
13247 objectclass: dnsDomainAux
13248 associateddomain: hostname.intern
13249 arecord: 10.11.12.13
13250 dhcpHWAddress: ethernet 00:00:00:00:00:00
13251 dhcpStatements: fixed-address hostname.intern
13252 </pre></blockquote>
13253
13254 </p>One could even add the LTSP configuration associated with a given
13255 machine, as long as the required attributes are available in a
13256 auxiliary object class.</p>
13257
13258       </div>
13259       <div class="tags">
13260
13261
13262         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/ldap">ldap</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug</a>.
13263
13264
13265       </div>
13266     </div>
13267     <div class="padding"></div>
13268
13269     <div class="entry">
13270       <div class="title">
13271         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Combining_PowerDNS_and_ISC_DHCP_LDAP_objects.html">Combining PowerDNS and ISC DHCP LDAP objects</a>
13272       </div>
13273       <div class="date">
13274         14th July 2010
13275       </div>
13276       <div class="body">
13277         <p>For a while now, I have wanted to find a way to change the DNS and
13278 DHCP services in Debian Edu to use the same LDAP objects for a given
13279 computer, to avoid the possibility of having a inconsistent state for
13280 a computer in LDAP (as in DHCP but no DNS entry or the other way
13281 around) and make it easier to add computers to LDAP.</p>
13282
13283 <p>I've looked at how powerdns and dhcpd is using LDAP, and using this
13284 information finally found a solution that seem to work.</p>
13285
13286 <p>The old setup required three LDAP objects for a given computer.
13287 One forward DNS entry, one reverse DNS entry and one DHCP entry.  If
13288 we switch powerdns to use its strict LDAP method (ldap-method=strict
13289 in pdns-debian-edu.conf), the forward and reverse DNS entries are
13290 merged into one while making it impossible to transfer the reverse map
13291 to a slave DNS server.</p>
13292
13293 <p>If we also replace the object class used to get the DNS related
13294 attributes to one allowing these attributes to be combined with the
13295 dhcphost object class, we can merge the DNS and DHCP entries into one.
13296 I've written such object class in the dnsdomainaux.schema file (need
13297 proper OIDs, but that is a minor issue), and tested the setup.  It
13298 seem to work.</p>
13299
13300 <p>With this test setup in place, we can get away with one LDAP object
13301 for both DNS and DHCP, and even the LTSP configuration I suggested in
13302 an earlier email.  The combined LDAP object will look something like
13303 this:</p>
13304
13305 <blockquote><pre>
13306   dn: cn=hostname,cn=group1,cn=THINCLIENTS,cn=DHCP Config,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
13307   cn: hostname
13308   objectClass: dhcphost
13309   objectclass: domainrelatedobject
13310   objectclass: dnsdomainaux
13311   associateddomain: hostname.intern
13312   arecord: 10.11.12.13
13313   dhcphwaddress: ethernet 00:00:00:00:00:00
13314   dhcpstatements: fixed-address hostname
13315   ldapconfigsound: Y
13316 </pre></blockquote>
13317
13318 <p>The DNS server uses the associateddomain and arecord entries, while
13319 the DHCP server uses the dhcphwaddress and dhcpstatements entries
13320 before asking DNS to resolve the fixed-adddress.  LTSP will use
13321 dhcphwaddress or associateddomain and the ldapconfig* attributes.</p>
13322
13323 <p>I am not yet sure if I can get the DHCP server to look for its
13324 dhcphost in a different location, to allow us to put the objects
13325 outside the "DHCP Config" subtree, but hope to figure out a way to do
13326 that.  If I can't figure out a way to do that, we can still get rid of
13327 the hosts subtree and move all its content into the DHCP Config tree
13328 (which probably should be renamed to be more related to the new
13329 content.  I suspect cn=dnsdhcp,ou=services or something like that
13330 might be a good place to put it.</p>
13331
13332 <p>If you want to help out with implementing this for Debian Edu,
13333 please contact us on debian-edu@lists.debian.org.</p>
13334
13335       </div>
13336       <div class="tags">
13337
13338
13339         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/ldap">ldap</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug</a>.
13340
13341
13342       </div>
13343     </div>
13344     <div class="padding"></div>
13345
13346     <div class="entry">
13347       <div class="title">
13348         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Idea_for_storing_LTSP_configuration_in_LDAP.html">Idea for storing LTSP configuration in LDAP</a>
13349       </div>
13350       <div class="date">
13351         11th July 2010
13352       </div>
13353       <div class="body">
13354         <p>Vagrant mentioned on IRC today that ltsp_config now support
13355 sourcing files from /usr/share/ltsp/ltsp_config.d/ on the thin
13356 clients, and that this can be used to fetch configuration from LDAP if
13357 Debian Edu choose to store configuration there.</p>
13358
13359 <p>Armed with this information, I got inspired and wrote a test module
13360 to get configuration from LDAP.  The idea is to look up the MAC
13361 address of the client in LDAP, and look for attributes on the form
13362 ltspconfigsetting=value, and use this to export SETTING=value to the
13363 LTSP clients.</p>
13364
13365 <p>The goal is to be able to store the LTSP configuration attributes
13366 in a "computer" LDAP object used by both DNS and DHCP, and thus
13367 allowing us to store all information about a computer in one place.</p>
13368
13369 <p>This is a untested draft implementation, and I welcome feedback on
13370 this approach.  A real LDAP schema for the ltspClientAux objectclass
13371 need to be written.  Comments, suggestions, etc?</p>
13372
13373 <blockquote><pre>
13374 # Store in /opt/ltsp/$arch/usr/share/ltsp/ltsp_config.d/ldap-config
13375 #
13376 # Fetch LTSP client settings from LDAP based on MAC address
13377 #
13378 # Uses ethernet address as stored in the dhcpHost objectclass using
13379 # the dhcpHWAddress attribute or ethernet address stored in the
13380 # ieee802Device objectclass with the macAddress attribute.
13381 #
13382 # This module is written to be schema agnostic, and only depend on the
13383 # existence of attribute names.
13384 #
13385 # The LTSP configuration variables are saved directly using a
13386 # ltspConfig prefix and uppercasing the rest of the attribute name.
13387 # To set the SERVER variable, set the ltspConfigServer attribute.
13388 #
13389 # Some LDAP schema should be created with all the relevant
13390 # configuration settings.  Something like this should work:
13391 #
13392 # objectclass ( 1.1.2.2 NAME 'ltspClientAux'
13393 #     SUP top
13394 #     AUXILIARY
13395 #     MAY ( ltspConfigServer $ ltsConfigSound $ ... )
13396
13397 LDAPSERVER=$(debian-edu-ldapserver)
13398 if [ "$LDAPSERVER" ] ; then
13399     LDAPBASE=$(debian-edu-ldapserver -b)
13400     for MAC in $(LANG=C ifconfig |grep -i hwaddr| awk '{print $5}'|sort -u) ; do
13401         filter="(|(dhcpHWAddress=ethernet $MAC)(macAddress=$MAC))"
13402         ldapsearch -h "$LDAPSERVER" -b "$LDAPBASE" -v -x "$filter" | \
13403             grep '^ltspConfig' | while read attr value ; do
13404             # Remove prefix and convert to upper case
13405             attr=$(echo $attr | sed 's/^ltspConfig//i' | tr a-z A-Z)
13406             # bass value on to clients
13407             eval "$attr=$value; export $attr"
13408         done
13409     done
13410 fi
13411 </pre></blockquote>
13412
13413 <p>I'm not sure this shell construction will work, because I suspect
13414 the while block might end up in a subshell causing the variables set
13415 there to not show up in ltsp-config, but if that is the case I am sure
13416 the code can be restructured to make sure the variables are passed on.
13417 I expect that can be solved with some testing. :)</p>
13418
13419 <p>If you want to help out with implementing this for Debian Edu,
13420 please contact us on debian-edu@lists.debian.org.</p>
13421
13422 <p>Update 2010-07-17: I am aware of another effort to store LTSP
13423 configuration in LDAP that was created around year 2000 by
13424 <a href="http://www.pcxperience.com/thinclient/documentation/ldap.html">PC
13425 Xperience, Inc., 2000</a>.  I found its
13426 <a href="http://people.redhat.com/alikins/ltsp/ldap/">files</a> on a
13427 personal home page over at redhat.com.</p>
13428
13429       </div>
13430       <div class="tags">
13431
13432
13433         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/ldap">ldap</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug</a>.
13434
13435
13436       </div>
13437     </div>
13438     <div class="padding"></div>
13439
13440     <div class="entry">
13441       <div class="title">
13442         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/jXplorer__a_very_nice_LDAP_GUI.html">jXplorer, a very nice LDAP GUI</a>
13443       </div>
13444       <div class="date">
13445          9th July 2010
13446       </div>
13447       <div class="body">
13448         <p>Since
13449 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/LUMA__a_very_nice_LDAP_GUI.html">my
13450 last post</a> about available LDAP tools in Debian, I was told about a
13451 LDAP GUI that is even better than luma.  The java application
13452 <a href="http://jxplorer.org/">jXplorer</a> is claimed to be capable of
13453 moving LDAP objects and subtrees using drag-and-drop, and can
13454 authenticate using Kerberos.  I have only tested the Kerberos
13455 authentication, but do not have a LDAP setup allowing me to rewrite
13456 LDAP with my test user yet.  It is
13457 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/j/jxplorer.html">available in
13458 Debian</a> testing and unstable at the moment.  The only problem I
13459 have with it is how it handle errors.  If something go wrong, its
13460 non-intuitive behaviour require me to go through some query work list
13461 and remove the failing query.  Nothing big, but very annoying.</p>
13462
13463       </div>
13464       <div class="tags">
13465
13466
13467         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/ldap">ldap</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug</a>.
13468
13469
13470       </div>
13471     </div>
13472     <div class="padding"></div>
13473
13474     <div class="entry">
13475       <div class="title">
13476         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Lenny__Squeeze_upgrades__apt_vs_aptitude_with_the_Gnome_desktop.html">Lenny->Squeeze upgrades, apt vs aptitude with the Gnome desktop</a>
13477       </div>
13478       <div class="date">
13479          3rd July 2010
13480       </div>
13481       <div class="body">
13482         <p>Here is a short update on my <a
13483 href="http://people.skolelinux.org/~pere/debian-upgrade-testing/">my
13484 Debian Lenny->Squeeze upgrade testing</a>.  Here is a summary of the
13485 difference for Gnome when it is upgraded by apt-get and aptitude.  I'm
13486 not reporting the status for KDE, because the upgrade crashes when
13487 aptitude try because of missing conflicts
13488 (<a href="http://bugs.debian.org/584861">#584861</a> and
13489 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/585716">#585716</a>).</p>
13490
13491 <p>At the end of the upgrade test script, dpkg -l is executed to get a
13492 complete list of the installed packages.  Based on this I see these
13493 differences when I did a test run today.  As usual, I do not really
13494 know what the correct set of packages would be, but thought it best to
13495 publish the difference.</p>
13496
13497 <p>Installed using apt-get, missing with aptitude</p>
13498
13499 <blockquote><p>
13500   at-spi cpp-4.3 finger gnome-spell gstreamer0.10-gnomevfs
13501   libatspi1.0-0 libcupsys2 libeel2-data libgail-common libgdl-1-common
13502   libgnomeprint2.2-data libgnomeprintui2.2-common libgnomevfs2-bin
13503   libgtksourceview-common libpt-1.10.10-plugins-alsa
13504   libpt-1.10.10-plugins-v4l libservlet2.4-java libxalan2-java
13505   libxerces2-java openoffice.org-writer2latex openssl-blacklist p7zip
13506   python-4suite-xml python-eggtrayicon python-gtkhtml2
13507   python-gtkmozembed svgalibg1 xserver-xephyr zip
13508 </p></blockquote>
13509
13510 <p>Installed using apt-get, removed with aptitude</p>
13511
13512 <blockquote><p>
13513   bluez-utils dhcdbd djvulibre-desktop epiphany-gecko
13514   gnome-app-install gnome-mount gnome-vfs-obexftp gnome-volume-manager
13515   libao2 libavahi-compat-libdnssd1 libavahi-core5 libbind9-50
13516   libbluetooth2 libcamel1.2-11 libcdio7 libcucul0 libcurl3
13517   libdirectfb-1.0-0 libdvdread3 libedata-cal1.2-6 libedataserver1.2-9
13518   libeel2-2.20 libepc-1.0-1 libepc-ui-1.0-1 libexchange-storage1.2-3
13519   libfaad0 libgd2-noxpm libgda3-3 libgda3-common libggz2 libggzcore9
13520   libggzmod4 libgksu1.2-0 libgksuui1.0-1 libgmyth0 libgnome-desktop-2
13521   libgnome-pilot2 libgnomecups1.0-1 libgnomeprint2.2-0
13522   libgnomeprintui2.2-0 libgpod3 libgraphviz4 libgtkhtml2-0
13523   libgtksourceview1.0-0 libgucharmap6 libhesiod0 libicu38 libisccc50
13524   libisccfg50 libiw29 libkpathsea4 libltdl3 liblwres50 libmagick++10
13525   libmagick10 libmalaga7 libmtp7 libmysqlclient15off libnautilus-burn4
13526   libneon27 libnm-glib0 libnm-util0 libopal-2.2 libosp5
13527   libparted1.8-10 libpisock9 libpisync1 libpoppler-glib3 libpoppler3
13528   libpt-1.10.10 libraw1394-8 libsensors3 libsmbios2 libsoup2.2-8
13529   libssh2-1 libsuitesparse-3.1.0 libswfdec-0.6-90 libtalloc1
13530   libtotem-plparser10 libtrackerclient0 libvoikko1 libxalan2-java-gcj
13531   libxerces2-java-gcj libxklavier12 libxtrap6 libxxf86misc1 libzephyr3
13532   mysql-common swfdec-gnome totem-gstreamer wodim
13533 </p></blockquote>
13534
13535 <p>Installed using aptitude, missing with apt-get</p>
13536
13537 <blockquote><p>
13538   gnome gnome-desktop-environment hamster-applet python-gnomeapplet
13539   python-gnomekeyring python-wnck rhythmbox-plugins xorg
13540   xserver-xorg-input-all xserver-xorg-input-evdev
13541   xserver-xorg-input-kbd xserver-xorg-input-mouse
13542   xserver-xorg-input-synaptics xserver-xorg-video-all
13543   xserver-xorg-video-apm xserver-xorg-video-ark xserver-xorg-video-ati
13544   xserver-xorg-video-chips xserver-xorg-video-cirrus
13545   xserver-xorg-video-dummy xserver-xorg-video-fbdev
13546   xserver-xorg-video-glint xserver-xorg-video-i128
13547   xserver-xorg-video-i740 xserver-xorg-video-mach64
13548   xserver-xorg-video-mga xserver-xorg-video-neomagic
13549   xserver-xorg-video-nouveau xserver-xorg-video-nv
13550   xserver-xorg-video-r128 xserver-xorg-video-radeon
13551   xserver-xorg-video-radeonhd xserver-xorg-video-rendition
13552   xserver-xorg-video-s3 xserver-xorg-video-s3virge
13553   xserver-xorg-video-savage xserver-xorg-video-siliconmotion
13554   xserver-xorg-video-sis xserver-xorg-video-sisusb
13555   xserver-xorg-video-tdfx xserver-xorg-video-tga
13556   xserver-xorg-video-trident xserver-xorg-video-tseng
13557   xserver-xorg-video-vesa xserver-xorg-video-vmware
13558   xserver-xorg-video-voodoo
13559 </p></blockquote>
13560
13561 <p>Installed using aptitude, removed with apt-get</p>
13562
13563 <blockquote><p>
13564   deskbar-applet xserver-xorg xserver-xorg-core
13565   xserver-xorg-input-wacom xserver-xorg-video-intel
13566   xserver-xorg-video-openchrome
13567 </p></blockquote>
13568
13569 <p>I was told on IRC that the xorg-xserver package was
13570 <a href="http://git.debian.org/?p=pkg-xorg/xserver/xorg-server.git;a=commit;h=9c8080d06c457932d3bfec021c69ac000aa60120">changed
13571 in git</a> today to try to get apt-get to not remove xorg completely.
13572 No idea when it hits Squeeze, but when it does I hope it will reduce
13573 the difference somewhat.
13574
13575       </div>
13576       <div class="tags">
13577
13578
13579         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
13580
13581
13582       </div>
13583     </div>
13584     <div class="padding"></div>
13585
13586     <div class="entry">
13587       <div class="title">
13588         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/LUMA__a_very_nice_LDAP_GUI.html">LUMA, a very nice LDAP GUI</a>
13589       </div>
13590       <div class="date">
13591         28th June 2010
13592       </div>
13593       <div class="body">
13594         <p>The last few days I have been looking into the status of the LDAP
13595 directory in Debian Edu, and in the process I started to miss a GUI
13596 tool to browse the LDAP tree.  The only one I was able to find in
13597 Debian/Squeeze and Lenny is
13598 <a href="http://luma.sourceforge.net/">LUMA</a>, which has proved to
13599 be a great tool to get a overview of the current LDAP directory
13600 populated by default in Skolelinux.  Thanks to it, I have been able to
13601 find empty and obsolete subtrees, misplaced objects and duplicate
13602 objects.  It will be installed by default in Debian/Squeeze.  If you
13603 are working with LDAP, give it a go. :)</p>
13604
13605 <p>I did notice one problem with it I have not had time to report to
13606 the BTS yet.  There is no .desktop file in the package, so the tool do
13607 not show up in the Gnome and KDE menus, but only deep down in in the
13608 Debian submenu in KDE.  I hope that can be fixed before Squeeze is
13609 released.</p>
13610
13611 <p>I have not yet been able to get it to modify the tree yet.  I would
13612 like to move objects and remove subtrees directly in the GUI, but have
13613 not found a way to do that with LUMA yet.  So in the mean time, I use
13614 <a href="http://www.lichteblau.com/ldapvi/">ldapvi</a> for that.</p>
13615
13616 <p>If you have tips on other GUI tools for LDAP that might be useful
13617 in Debian Edu, please contact us on debian-edu@lists.debian.org.</p>
13618
13619 <p>Update 2010-06-29: Ross Reedstrom tipped us about the
13620 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/g/gq.html">gq</a> package as a
13621 useful GUI alternative.  It seem like a good tool, but is unmaintained
13622 in Debian and got a RC bug keeping it out of Squeeze.  Unless that
13623 changes, it will not be an option for Debian Edu based on Squeeze.</p>
13624
13625       </div>
13626       <div class="tags">
13627
13628
13629         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/ldap">ldap</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug</a>.
13630
13631
13632       </div>
13633     </div>
13634     <div class="padding"></div>
13635
13636     <div class="entry">
13637       <div class="title">
13638         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Idea_for_a_change_to_LDAP_schemas_allowing_DNS_and_DHCP_info_to_be_combined_into_one_object.html">Idea for a change to LDAP schemas allowing DNS and DHCP info to be combined into one object</a>
13639       </div>
13640       <div class="date">
13641         24th June 2010
13642       </div>
13643       <div class="body">
13644         <p>A while back, I
13645 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Time_for_new__LDAP_schemas_replacing_RFC_2307_.html">complained
13646 about the fact</a> that it is not possible with the provided schemas
13647 for storing DNS and DHCP information in LDAP to combine the two sets
13648 of information into one LDAP object representing a computer.</p>
13649
13650 <p>In the mean time, I discovered that a simple fix would be to make
13651 the dhcpHost object class auxiliary, to allow it to be combined with
13652 the dNSDomain object class, and thus forming one object for one
13653 computer when storing both DHCP and DNS information in LDAP.</p>
13654
13655 <p>If I understand this correctly, it is not safe to do this change
13656 without also changing the assigned number for the object class, and I
13657 do not know enough about LDAP schema design to do that properly for
13658 Debian Edu.</p>
13659
13660 <p>Anyway, for future reference, this is how I believe we could change
13661 the
13662 <a href="http://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-ietf-dhc-ldap-schema-00">DHCP
13663 schema</a> to solve at least part of the problem with the LDAP schemas
13664 available today from IETF.</p>
13665
13666 <pre>
13667 --- dhcp.schema    (revision 65192)
13668 +++ dhcp.schema    (working copy)
13669 @@ -376,7 +376,7 @@
13670  objectclass ( 2.16.840.1.113719.1.203.6.6
13671         NAME 'dhcpHost'
13672         DESC 'This represents information about a particular client'
13673 -       SUP top
13674 +       SUP top AUXILIARY
13675         MUST cn
13676         MAY  (dhcpLeaseDN $ dhcpHWAddress $ dhcpOptionsDN $ dhcpStatements $ dhcpComments $ dhcpOption)
13677         X-NDS_CONTAINMENT ('dhcpService' 'dhcpSubnet' 'dhcpGroup') )
13678 </pre>
13679
13680 <p>I very much welcome clues on how to do this properly for Debian
13681 Edu/Squeeze.  We provide the DHCP schema in our debian-edu-config
13682 package, and should thus be free to rewrite it as we see fit.</p>
13683
13684 <p>If you want to help out with implementing this for Debian Edu,
13685 please contact us on debian-edu@lists.debian.org.</p>
13686
13687       </div>
13688       <div class="tags">
13689
13690
13691         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/ldap">ldap</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug</a>.
13692
13693
13694       </div>
13695     </div>
13696     <div class="padding"></div>
13697
13698     <div class="entry">
13699       <div class="title">
13700         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Calling_tasksel_like_the_installer__while_still_getting_useful_output.html">Calling tasksel like the installer, while still getting useful output</a>
13701       </div>
13702       <div class="date">
13703         16th June 2010
13704       </div>
13705       <div class="body">
13706         <p>A few times I have had the need to simulate the way tasksel
13707 installs packages during the normal debian-installer run.  Until now,
13708 I have ended up letting tasksel do the work, with the annoying problem
13709 of not getting any feedback at all when something fails (like a
13710 conffile question from dpkg or a download that fails), using code like
13711 this:
13712
13713 <blockquote><pre>
13714 export DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive
13715 tasksel --new-install
13716 </pre></blockquote>
13717
13718 This would invoke tasksel, let its automatic task selection pick the
13719 tasks to install, and continue to install the requested tasks without
13720 any output what so ever.
13721
13722 Recently I revisited this problem while working on the automatic
13723 package upgrade testing, because tasksel would some times hang without
13724 any useful feedback, and I want to see what is going on when it
13725 happen.  Then it occured to me, I can parse the output from tasksel
13726 when asked to run in test mode, and use that aptitude command line
13727 printed by tasksel then to simulate the tasksel run.  I ended up using
13728 code like this:
13729
13730 <blockquote><pre>
13731 export DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive
13732 cmd="$(in_target tasksel -t --new-install | sed 's/debconf-apt-progress -- //')"
13733 $cmd
13734 </pre></blockquote>
13735
13736 <p>The content of $cmd is typically something like "<tt>aptitude -q
13737 --without-recommends -o APT::Install-Recommends=no -y install
13738 ~t^desktop$ ~t^gnome-desktop$ ~t^laptop$ ~pstandard ~prequired
13739 ~pimportant</tt>", which will install the gnome desktop task, the
13740 laptop task and all packages with priority standard , required and
13741 important, just like tasksel would have done it during
13742 installation.</p>
13743
13744 <p>A better approach is probably to extend tasksel to be able to
13745 install packages without using debconf-apt-progress, for use cases
13746 like this.</p>
13747
13748       </div>
13749       <div class="tags">
13750
13751
13752         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug</a>.
13753
13754
13755       </div>
13756     </div>
13757     <div class="padding"></div>
13758
13759     <div class="entry">
13760       <div class="title">
13761         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Lenny__Squeeze_upgrades__removals_by_apt_and_aptitude.html">Lenny->Squeeze upgrades, removals by apt and aptitude</a>
13762       </div>
13763       <div class="date">
13764         13th June 2010
13765       </div>
13766       <div class="body">
13767         <p>My
13768 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Automatic_upgrade_testing_from_Lenny_to_Squeeze.html">testing
13769 of Debian upgrades</a> from Lenny to Squeeze continues, and I've
13770 finally made the upgrade logs available from
13771 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/debian-upgrade-testing/">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/debian-upgrade-testing/</a>.
13772 I am now testing dist-upgrade of Gnome and KDE in a chroot using both
13773 apt and aptitude, and found their differences interesting.  This time
13774 I will only focus on their removal plans.</p>
13775
13776 <p>After installing a Gnome desktop and the laptop task, apt-get wants
13777 to remove 72 packages when dist-upgrading from Lenny to Squeeze.  The
13778 surprising part is that it want to remove xorg and all
13779 xserver-xorg-video* drivers.  Clearly not a good choice, but I am not
13780 sure why.  When asking aptitude to do the same, it want to remove 129
13781 packages, but most of them are library packages I suspect are no
13782 longer needed.  Both of them want to remove bluetooth packages, which
13783 I do not know.  Perhaps these bluetooth packages are obsolete?</p>
13784
13785 <p>For KDE, apt-get want to remove 82 packages, among them kdebase
13786 which seem like a bad idea and xorg the same way as with Gnome. Asking
13787 aptitude for the same, it wants to remove 192 packages, none which are
13788 too surprising.</p>
13789
13790 <p>I guess the removal of xorg during upgrades should be investigated
13791 and avoided, and perhaps others as well.  Here are the complete list
13792 of planned removals.  The complete logs is available from the URL
13793 above.  Note if you want to repeat these tests, that the upgrade test
13794 for kde+apt-get hung in the tasksel setup because of dpkg asking
13795 conffile questions.  No idea why.  I worked around it by using
13796 '<tt>echo >> /proc/<em>pidofdpkg</em>/fd/0</tt>' to tell dpkg to
13797 continue.</p>
13798
13799 <p><b>apt-get gnome 72</b>
13800 <br>bluez-gnome cupsddk-drivers deskbar-applet gnome
13801   gnome-desktop-environment gnome-network-admin gtkhtml3.14
13802   iceweasel-gnome-support libavcodec51 libdatrie0 libgdl-1-0
13803   libgnomekbd2 libgnomekbdui2 libmetacity0 libslab0 libxcb-xlib0
13804   nautilus-cd-burner python-gnome2-desktop python-gnome2-extras
13805   serpentine swfdec-mozilla update-manager xorg xserver-xorg
13806   xserver-xorg-core xserver-xorg-input-all xserver-xorg-input-evdev
13807   xserver-xorg-input-kbd xserver-xorg-input-mouse
13808   xserver-xorg-input-synaptics xserver-xorg-input-wacom
13809   xserver-xorg-video-all xserver-xorg-video-apm xserver-xorg-video-ark
13810   xserver-xorg-video-ati xserver-xorg-video-chips
13811   xserver-xorg-video-cirrus xserver-xorg-video-cyrix
13812   xserver-xorg-video-dummy xserver-xorg-video-fbdev
13813   xserver-xorg-video-glint xserver-xorg-video-i128
13814   xserver-xorg-video-i740 xserver-xorg-video-imstt
13815   xserver-xorg-video-intel xserver-xorg-video-mach64
13816   xserver-xorg-video-mga xserver-xorg-video-neomagic
13817   xserver-xorg-video-nsc xserver-xorg-video-nv
13818   xserver-xorg-video-openchrome xserver-xorg-video-r128
13819   xserver-xorg-video-radeon xserver-xorg-video-radeonhd
13820   xserver-xorg-video-rendition xserver-xorg-video-s3
13821   xserver-xorg-video-s3virge xserver-xorg-video-savage
13822   xserver-xorg-video-siliconmotion xserver-xorg-video-sis
13823   xserver-xorg-video-sisusb xserver-xorg-video-tdfx
13824   xserver-xorg-video-tga xserver-xorg-video-trident
13825   xserver-xorg-video-tseng xserver-xorg-video-v4l
13826   xserver-xorg-video-vesa xserver-xorg-video-vga
13827   xserver-xorg-video-vmware xserver-xorg-video-voodoo xulrunner-1.9
13828   xulrunner-1.9-gnome-support</p>
13829
13830 <p><b>aptitude gnome 129</b>
13831
13832 <br>bluez-gnome bluez-utils cpp-4.3 cupsddk-drivers dhcdbd
13833   djvulibre-desktop finger gnome-app-install gnome-mount
13834   gnome-network-admin gnome-spell gnome-vfs-obexftp
13835   gnome-volume-manager gstreamer0.10-gnomevfs gtkhtml3.14 libao2
13836   libavahi-compat-libdnssd1 libavahi-core5 libavcodec51 libbluetooth2
13837   libcamel1.2-11 libcdio7 libcucul0 libcupsys2 libcurl3 libdatrie0
13838   libdirectfb-1.0-0 libdvdread3 libedataserver1.2-9 libeel2-2.20
13839   libeel2-data libepc-1.0-1 libepc-ui-1.0-1 libfaad0 libgail-common
13840   libgd2-noxpm libgda3-3 libgda3-common libgdl-1-0 libgdl-1-common
13841   libggz2 libggzcore9 libggzmod4 libgksu1.2-0 libgksuui1.0-1 libgmyth0
13842   libgnomecups1.0-1 libgnomekbd2 libgnomekbdui2 libgnomeprint2.2-0
13843   libgnomeprint2.2-data libgnomeprintui2.2-0 libgnomeprintui2.2-common
13844   libgnomevfs2-bin libgpod3 libgraphviz4 libgtkhtml2-0
13845   libgtksourceview-common libgtksourceview1.0-0 libgucharmap6
13846   libhesiod0 libicu38 libiw29 libkpathsea4 libltdl3 libmagick++10
13847   libmagick10 libmalaga7 libmetacity0 libmtp7 libmysqlclient15off
13848   libnautilus-burn4 libneon27 libnm-glib0 libnm-util0 libopal-2.2
13849   libosp5 libparted1.8-10 libpoppler-glib3 libpoppler3 libpt-1.10.10
13850   libpt-1.10.10-plugins-alsa libpt-1.10.10-plugins-v4l libraw1394-8
13851   libsensors3 libslab0 libsmbios2 libsoup2.2-8 libssh2-1
13852   libsuitesparse-3.1.0 libswfdec-0.6-90 libtalloc1 libtotem-plparser10
13853   libtrackerclient0 libxalan2-java libxalan2-java-gcj libxcb-xlib0
13854   libxerces2-java libxerces2-java-gcj libxklavier12 libxtrap6
13855   libxxf86misc1 libzephyr3 mysql-common nautilus-cd-burner
13856   openoffice.org-writer2latex openssl-blacklist p7zip
13857   python-4suite-xml python-eggtrayicon python-gnome2-desktop
13858   python-gnome2-extras python-gtkhtml2 python-gtkmozembed
13859   python-numeric python-sexy serpentine svgalibg1 swfdec-gnome
13860   swfdec-mozilla totem-gstreamer update-manager wodim
13861   xserver-xorg-video-cyrix xserver-xorg-video-imstt
13862   xserver-xorg-video-nsc xserver-xorg-video-v4l xserver-xorg-video-vga
13863   zip</p>
13864
13865 <p><b>apt-get kde 82</b>
13866
13867 <br>cupsddk-drivers karm kaudiocreator kcoloredit kcontrol kde kde-core
13868   kdeaddons kdeartwork kdebase kdebase-bin kdebase-bin-kde3
13869   kdebase-kio-plugins kdesktop kdeutils khelpcenter kicker
13870   kicker-applets knewsticker kolourpaint konq-plugins konqueror korn
13871   kpersonalizer kscreensaver ksplash libavcodec51 libdatrie0 libkiten1
13872   libxcb-xlib0 quanta superkaramba texlive-base-bin xorg xserver-xorg
13873   xserver-xorg-core xserver-xorg-input-all xserver-xorg-input-evdev
13874   xserver-xorg-input-kbd xserver-xorg-input-mouse
13875   xserver-xorg-input-synaptics xserver-xorg-input-wacom
13876   xserver-xorg-video-all xserver-xorg-video-apm xserver-xorg-video-ark
13877   xserver-xorg-video-ati xserver-xorg-video-chips
13878   xserver-xorg-video-cirrus xserver-xorg-video-cyrix
13879   xserver-xorg-video-dummy xserver-xorg-video-fbdev
13880   xserver-xorg-video-glint xserver-xorg-video-i128
13881   xserver-xorg-video-i740 xserver-xorg-video-imstt
13882   xserver-xorg-video-intel xserver-xorg-video-mach64
13883   xserver-xorg-video-mga xserver-xorg-video-neomagic
13884   xserver-xorg-video-nsc xserver-xorg-video-nv
13885   xserver-xorg-video-openchrome xserver-xorg-video-r128
13886   xserver-xorg-video-radeon xserver-xorg-video-radeonhd
13887   xserver-xorg-video-rendition xserver-xorg-video-s3
13888   xserver-xorg-video-s3virge xserver-xorg-video-savage
13889   xserver-xorg-video-siliconmotion xserver-xorg-video-sis
13890   xserver-xorg-video-sisusb xserver-xorg-video-tdfx
13891   xserver-xorg-video-tga xserver-xorg-video-trident
13892   xserver-xorg-video-tseng xserver-xorg-video-v4l
13893   xserver-xorg-video-vesa xserver-xorg-video-vga
13894   xserver-xorg-video-vmware xserver-xorg-video-voodoo xulrunner-1.9</p>
13895
13896 <p><b>aptitude kde 192</b>
13897 <br>bluez-utils cpp-4.3 cupsddk-drivers cvs dcoprss dhcdbd
13898   djvulibre-desktop dosfstools eyesapplet fifteenapplet finger gettext
13899   ghostscript-x imlib-base imlib11 indi kandy karm kasteroids
13900   kaudiocreator kbackgammon kbstate kcoloredit kcontrol kcron kdat
13901   kdeadmin-kfile-plugins kdeartwork-misc kdeartwork-theme-window
13902   kdebase-bin-kde3 kdebase-kio-plugins kdeedu-data
13903   kdegraphics-kfile-plugins kdelirc kdemultimedia-kappfinder-data
13904   kdemultimedia-kfile-plugins kdenetwork-kfile-plugins
13905   kdepim-kfile-plugins kdepim-kio-plugins kdeprint kdesktop kdessh
13906   kdict kdnssd kdvi kedit keduca kenolaba kfax kfaxview kfouleggs
13907   kghostview khelpcenter khexedit kiconedit kitchensync klatin
13908   klickety kmailcvt kmenuedit kmid kmilo kmoon kmrml kodo kolourpaint
13909   kooka korn kpager kpdf kpercentage kpf kpilot kpoker kpovmodeler
13910   krec kregexpeditor ksayit ksim ksirc ksirtet ksmiletris ksmserver
13911   ksnake ksokoban ksplash ksvg ksysv ktip ktnef kuickshow kverbos
13912   kview kviewshell kvoctrain kwifimanager kwin kwin4 kworldclock
13913   kxsldbg libakode2 libao2 libarts1-akode libarts1-audiofile
13914   libarts1-mpeglib libarts1-xine libavahi-compat-libdnssd1
13915   libavahi-core5 libavc1394-0 libavcodec51 libbluetooth2
13916   libboost-python1.34.1 libcucul0 libcurl3 libcvsservice0 libdatrie0
13917   libdirectfb-1.0-0 libdjvulibre21 libdvdread3 libfaad0 libfreebob0
13918   libgail-common libgd2-noxpm libgraphviz4 libgsmme1c2a libgtkhtml2-0
13919   libicu38 libiec61883-0 libindex0 libiw29 libk3b3 libkcal2b libkcddb1
13920   libkdeedu3 libkdepim1a libkgantt0 libkiten1 libkleopatra1 libkmime2
13921   libkpathsea4 libkpimexchange1 libkpimidentities1 libkscan1
13922   libksieve0 libktnef1 liblockdev1 libltdl3 libmagick10 libmimelib1c2a
13923   libmozjs1d libmpcdec3 libneon27 libnm-util0 libopensync0 libpisock9
13924   libpoppler-glib3 libpoppler-qt2 libpoppler3 libraw1394-8 libsmbios2
13925   libssh2-1 libsuitesparse-3.1.0 libtalloc1 libtiff-tools
13926   libxalan2-java libxalan2-java-gcj libxcb-xlib0 libxerces2-java
13927   libxerces2-java-gcj libxtrap6 mpeglib networkstatus
13928   openoffice.org-writer2latex pmount poster psutils quanta quanta-data
13929   superkaramba svgalibg1 tex-common texlive-base texlive-base-bin
13930   texlive-common texlive-doc-base texlive-fonts-recommended
13931   xserver-xorg-video-cyrix xserver-xorg-video-imstt
13932   xserver-xorg-video-nsc xserver-xorg-video-v4l xserver-xorg-video-vga
13933   xulrunner-1.9</p>
13934
13935
13936       </div>
13937       <div class="tags">
13938
13939
13940         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
13941
13942
13943       </div>
13944     </div>
13945     <div class="padding"></div>
13946
13947     <div class="entry">
13948       <div class="title">
13949         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Automatic_upgrade_testing_from_Lenny_to_Squeeze.html">Automatic upgrade testing from Lenny to Squeeze</a>
13950       </div>
13951       <div class="date">
13952         11th June 2010
13953       </div>
13954       <div class="body">
13955         <p>The last few days I have done some upgrade testing in Debian, to
13956 see if the upgrade from Lenny to Squeeze will go smoothly.  A few bugs
13957 have been discovered and reported in the process
13958 (<a href="http://bugs.debian.org/585410">#585410</a> in nagios3-cgi,
13959 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/584879">#584879</a> already fixed in
13960 enscript and <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/584861">#584861</a> in
13961 kdebase-workspace-data), and to get a more regular testing going on, I
13962 am working on a script to automate the test.</p>
13963
13964 <p>The idea is to create a Lenny chroot and use tasksel to install a
13965 Gnome or KDE desktop installation inside the chroot before upgrading
13966 it.  To ensure no services are started in the chroot, a policy-rc.d
13967 script is inserted.  To make sure tasksel believe it is to install a
13968 desktop on a laptop, the tasksel tests are replaced in the chroot
13969 (only acceptable because this is a throw-away chroot).</p>
13970
13971 <p>A naive upgrade from Lenny to Squeeze using aptitude dist-upgrade
13972 currently always fail because udev refuses to upgrade with the kernel
13973 in Lenny, so to avoid that problem the file /etc/udev/kernel-upgrade
13974 is created.  The bug report
13975 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/566000">#566000</a> make me suspect
13976 this problem do not trigger in a chroot, but I touch the file anyway
13977 to make sure the upgrade go well.  Testing on virtual and real
13978 hardware have failed me because of udev so far, and creating this file
13979 do the trick in such settings anyway.  This is a
13980 <a href="http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/debian-26/failed-dist-upgrade-due-to-udev-config_sysfs_deprecated-nonsense-804130/">known
13981 issue</a> and the current udev behaviour is intended by the udev
13982 maintainer because he lack the resources to rewrite udev to keep
13983 working with old kernels or something like that.  I really wish the
13984 udev upstream would keep udev backwards compatible, to avoid such
13985 upgrade problem, but given that they fail to do so, I guess
13986 documenting the way out of this mess is the best option we got for
13987 Debian Squeeze.</p>
13988
13989 <p>Anyway, back to the task at hand, testing upgrades.  This test
13990 script, which I call <tt>upgrade-test</tt> for now, is doing the
13991 trick:</p>
13992
13993 <blockquote><pre>
13994 #!/bin/sh
13995 set -ex
13996
13997 if [ "$1" ] ; then
13998     desktop=$1
13999 else
14000     desktop=gnome
14001 fi
14002
14003 from=lenny
14004 to=squeeze
14005
14006 exec &lt; /dev/null
14007 unset LANG
14008 mirror=http://ftp.skolelinux.org/debian
14009 tmpdir=chroot-$from-upgrade-$to-$desktop
14010 fuser -mv .
14011 debootstrap $from $tmpdir $mirror
14012 chroot $tmpdir aptitude update
14013 cat > $tmpdir/usr/sbin/policy-rc.d &lt;&lt;EOF
14014 #!/bin/sh
14015 exit 101
14016 EOF
14017 chmod a+rx $tmpdir/usr/sbin/policy-rc.d
14018 exit_cleanup() {
14019     umount $tmpdir/proc
14020 }
14021 mount -t proc proc $tmpdir/proc
14022 # Make sure proc is unmounted also on failure
14023 trap exit_cleanup EXIT INT
14024
14025 chroot $tmpdir aptitude -y install debconf-utils
14026
14027 # Make sure tasksel autoselection trigger.  It need the test scripts
14028 # to return the correct answers.
14029 echo tasksel tasksel/desktop multiselect $desktop | \
14030     chroot $tmpdir debconf-set-selections
14031
14032 # Include the desktop and laptop task
14033 for test in desktop laptop ; do
14034     echo > $tmpdir/usr/lib/tasksel/tests/$test &lt;&lt;EOF
14035 #!/bin/sh
14036 exit 2
14037 EOF
14038     chmod a+rx $tmpdir/usr/lib/tasksel/tests/$test
14039 done
14040
14041 DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive
14042 DEBIAN_PRIORITY=critical
14043 export DEBIAN_FRONTEND DEBIAN_PRIORITY
14044 chroot $tmpdir tasksel --new-install
14045
14046 echo deb $mirror $to main > $tmpdir/etc/apt/sources.list
14047 chroot $tmpdir aptitude update
14048 touch $tmpdir/etc/udev/kernel-upgrade
14049 chroot $tmpdir aptitude -y dist-upgrade
14050 fuser -mv
14051 </pre></blockquote>
14052
14053 <p>I suspect it would be useful to test upgrades with both apt-get and
14054 with aptitude, but I have not had time to look at how they behave
14055 differently so far.  I hope to get a cron job running to do the test
14056 regularly and post the result on the web.  The Gnome upgrade currently
14057 work, while the KDE upgrade fail because of the bug in
14058 kdebase-workspace-data</p>
14059
14060 <p>I am not quite sure what kind of extract from the huge upgrade logs
14061 (KDE 167 KiB, Gnome 516 KiB) it make sense to include in this blog
14062 post, so I will refrain from trying.  I can report that for Gnome,
14063 aptitude report 760 packages upgraded, 448 newly installed, 129 to
14064 remove and 1 not upgraded and 1024MB need to be downloaded while for
14065 KDE the same numbers are 702 packages upgraded, 507 newly installed,
14066 193 to remove and 0 not upgraded and 1117MB need to be downloaded</p>
14067
14068 <p>I am very happy to notice that the Gnome desktop + laptop upgrade
14069 is able to migrate to dependency based boot sequencing and parallel
14070 booting without a hitch.  Was unsure if there were still bugs with
14071 packages failing to clean up their obsolete init.d script during
14072 upgrades, and no such problem seem to affect the Gnome desktop+laptop
14073 packages.</p>
14074
14075       </div>
14076       <div class="tags">
14077
14078
14079         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/bootsystem">bootsystem</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
14080
14081
14082       </div>
14083     </div>
14084     <div class="padding"></div>
14085
14086     <div class="entry">
14087       <div class="title">
14088         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Upstart_or_sysvinit___as_init_d_scripts_see_it.html">Upstart or sysvinit - as init.d scripts see it</a>
14089       </div>
14090       <div class="date">
14091          6th June 2010
14092       </div>
14093       <div class="body">
14094         <p>If Debian is to migrate to upstart on Linux, I expect some init.d
14095 scripts to migrate (some of) their operations to upstart job while
14096 keeping the init.d for hurd and kfreebsd.  The packages with such
14097 needs will need a way to get their init.d scripts to behave
14098 differently when used with sysvinit and with upstart.  Because of
14099 this, I had a look at the environment variables set when a init.d
14100 script is running under upstart, and when it is not.</p>
14101
14102 <p>With upstart, I notice these environment variables are set when a
14103 script is started from rcS.d/ (ignoring some irrelevant ones like
14104 COLUMNS):</p>
14105
14106 <blockquote><pre>
14107 DEFAULT_RUNLEVEL=2
14108 previous=N
14109 PREVLEVEL=
14110 RUNLEVEL=
14111 runlevel=S
14112 UPSTART_EVENTS=startup
14113 UPSTART_INSTANCE=
14114 UPSTART_JOB=rc-sysinit
14115 </pre></blockquote>
14116
14117 <p>With sysvinit, these environment variables are set for the same
14118 script.</p>
14119
14120 <blockquote><pre>
14121 INIT_VERSION=sysvinit-2.88
14122 previous=N
14123 PREVLEVEL=N
14124 RUNLEVEL=S
14125 runlevel=S
14126 </pre></blockquote>
14127
14128 <p>The RUNLEVEL and PREVLEVEL environment variables passed on from
14129 sysvinit are not set by upstart.  Not sure if it is intentional or not
14130 to not be compatible with sysvinit in this regard.</p>
14131
14132 <p>For scripts needing to behave differently when upstart is used,
14133 looking for the UPSTART_JOB environment variable seem to be a good
14134 choice.</p>
14135
14136       </div>
14137       <div class="tags">
14138
14139
14140         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/bootsystem">bootsystem</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
14141
14142
14143       </div>
14144     </div>
14145     <div class="padding"></div>
14146
14147     <div class="entry">
14148       <div class="title">
14149         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/A_manual_for_standards_wars___.html">A manual for standards wars...</a>
14150       </div>
14151       <div class="date">
14152          6th June 2010
14153       </div>
14154       <div class="body">
14155         <p>Via the
14156 <a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/robweir/antic-atom/~3/QzU4RgoAGMg/weekly-links-10.html">blog
14157 of Rob Weir</a> I came across the very interesting essay named
14158 <a href="http://faculty.haas.berkeley.edu/shapiro/wars.pdf">The Art of
14159 Standards Wars</a> (PDF 25 pages).  I recommend it for everyone
14160 following the standards wars of today.</p>
14161
14162       </div>
14163       <div class="tags">
14164
14165
14166         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/standard">standard</a>.
14167
14168
14169       </div>
14170     </div>
14171     <div class="padding"></div>
14172
14173     <div class="entry">
14174       <div class="title">
14175         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Sitesummary_tip__Listing_computer_hardware_models_used_at_site.html">Sitesummary tip: Listing computer hardware models used at site</a>
14176       </div>
14177       <div class="date">
14178          3rd June 2010
14179       </div>
14180       <div class="body">
14181         <p>When using sitesummary at a site to track machines, it is possible
14182 to get a list of the machine types in use thanks to the DMI
14183 information extracted from each machine.  The script to do so is
14184 included in the sitesummary package, and here is example output from
14185 the Skolelinux build servers:</p>
14186
14187 <blockquote><pre>
14188 maintainer:~# /usr/lib/sitesummary/hardware-model-summary
14189   vendor                    count
14190   Dell Computer Corporation     1
14191     PowerEdge 1750              1
14192   IBM                           1
14193     eserver xSeries 345 -[8670M1X]-     1
14194   Intel                         2
14195   [no-dmi-info]                 3
14196 maintainer:~#
14197 </pre></blockquote>
14198
14199 <p>The quality of the report depend on the quality of the DMI tables
14200 provided in each machine.  Here there are Intel machines without model
14201 information listed with Intel as vendor and no model, and virtual Xen
14202 machines listed as [no-dmi-info].  One can add -l as a command line
14203 option to list the individual machines.</p>
14204
14205 <p>A larger list is
14206 <a href="http://narvikskolen.no/sitesummary/">available from the the
14207 city of Narvik</a>, which uses Skolelinux on all their shools and also
14208 provide the basic sitesummary report publicly.  In their report there
14209 are ~1400 machines. I know they use both Ubuntu and Skolelinux on
14210 their machines, and as sitesummary is available in both distributions,
14211 it is trivial to get all of them to report to the same central
14212 collector.</p>
14213
14214       </div>
14215       <div class="tags">
14216
14217
14218         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/sitesummary">sitesummary</a>.
14219
14220
14221       </div>
14222     </div>
14223     <div class="padding"></div>
14224
14225     <div class="entry">
14226       <div class="title">
14227         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/KDM_fail_at_boot_with_NVidia_cards___and_no_one_try_to_fix_it_.html">KDM fail at boot with NVidia cards - and no one try to fix it?</a>
14228       </div>
14229       <div class="date">
14230          1st June 2010
14231       </div>
14232       <div class="body">
14233         <p>It is strange to watch how a bug in Debian causing KDM to fail to
14234 start at boot when an NVidia video card is used is handled.  The
14235 problem seem to be that the nvidia X.org driver uses a long time to
14236 initialize, and this duration is longer than kdm is configured to
14237 wait.</p>
14238
14239 <p>I came across two bugs related to this issue,
14240 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/583312">#583312</a> initially filed
14241 against initscripts and passed on to nvidia-glx when it became obvious
14242 that the nvidia drivers were involved, and
14243 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/524751">#524751</a> initially filed against
14244 kdm and passed on to src:nvidia-graphics-drivers for unknown reasons.</p>
14245
14246 <p>To me, it seem that no-one is interested in actually solving the
14247 problem nvidia video card owners experience and make sure the Debian
14248 distribution work out of the box for these users.  The nvidia driver
14249 maintainers expect kdm to be set up to wait longer, while kdm expect
14250 the nvidia driver maintainers to fix the driver to start faster, and
14251 while they wait for each other I guess the users end up switching to a
14252 distribution that work for them.  I have no idea what the solution is,
14253 but I am pretty sure that waiting for each other is not it.</p>
14254
14255 <p>I wonder why we end up handling bugs this way.</p>
14256
14257       </div>
14258       <div class="tags">
14259
14260
14261         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/bootsystem">bootsystem</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
14262
14263
14264       </div>
14265     </div>
14266     <div class="padding"></div>
14267
14268     <div class="entry">
14269       <div class="title">
14270         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Parallellized_boot_seem_to_hold_up_well_in_Debian_testing.html">Parallellized boot seem to hold up well in Debian/testing</a>
14271       </div>
14272       <div class="date">
14273         27th May 2010
14274       </div>
14275       <div class="body">
14276         <p>A few days ago, parallel booting was enabled in Debian/testing.
14277 The feature seem to hold up pretty well, but three fairly serious
14278 issues are known and should be solved:
14279
14280 <p><ul>
14281
14282 <li>The wicd package seen to
14283 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/508289">break NFS mounting</a> and
14284 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/581586">network setup</a> when
14285 parallel booting is enabled.  No idea why, but the wicd maintainer
14286 seem to be on the case.</li>
14287
14288 <li>The nvidia X driver seem to
14289 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/583312">have a race condition</a>
14290 triggered more easily when parallel booting is in effect.  The
14291 maintainer is on the case.</li>
14292
14293 <li>The sysv-rc package fail to properly enable dependency based boot
14294 sequencing (the shutdown is broken) when old file-rc users
14295 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/575080">try to switch back</a> to
14296 sysv-rc.  One way to solve it would be for file-rc to create
14297 /etc/init.d/.legacy-bootordering, and another is to try to make
14298 sysv-rc more robust.  Will investigate some more and probably upload a
14299 workaround in sysv-rc to help those trying to move from file-rc to
14300 sysv-rc get a working shutdown.</li>
14301
14302 </ul></p>
14303
14304 <p>All in all not many surprising issues, and all of them seem
14305 solvable before Squeeze is released.  In addition to these there are
14306 some packages with bugs in their dependencies and run level settings,
14307 which I expect will be fixed in a reasonable time span.</p>
14308
14309 <p>If you report any problems with dependencies in init.d scripts to
14310 the BTS, please usertag the report to get it to show up at
14311 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/pkgreport.cgi?users=initscripts-ng-devel@lists.alioth.debian.org">the
14312 list of usertagged bugs related to this</a>.</p>
14313
14314 <p>Update: Correct bug number to file-rc issue.</p>
14315
14316       </div>
14317       <div class="tags">
14318
14319
14320         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/bootsystem">bootsystem</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
14321
14322
14323       </div>
14324     </div>
14325     <div class="padding"></div>
14326
14327     <div class="entry">
14328       <div class="title">
14329         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/More_flexible_firmware_handling_in_debian_installer.html">More flexible firmware handling in debian-installer</a>
14330       </div>
14331       <div class="date">
14332         22nd May 2010
14333       </div>
14334       <div class="body">
14335         <p>After a long break from debian-installer development, I finally
14336 found time today to return to the project.  Having to spend less time
14337 working dependency based boot in debian, as it is almost complete now,
14338 definitely helped freeing some time.</p>
14339
14340 <p>A while back, I ran into a problem while working on Debian Edu.  We
14341 include some firmware packages on the Debian Edu CDs, those needed to
14342 get disk and network controllers working.  Without having these
14343 firmware packages available during installation, it is impossible to
14344 install Debian Edu on the given machine, and because our target group
14345 are non-technical people, asking them to provide firmware packages on
14346 an external medium is a support pain.  Initially, I expected it to be
14347 enough to include the firmware packages on the CD to get
14348 debian-installer to find and use them.  This proved to be wrong.
14349 Next, I hoped it was enough to symlink the relevant firmware packages
14350 to some useful location on the CD (tried /cdrom/ and
14351 /cdrom/firmware/).  This also proved to not work, and at this point I
14352 found time to look at the debian-installer code to figure out what was
14353 going to work.</p>
14354
14355 <p>The firmware loading code is in the hw-detect package, and a closer
14356 look revealed that it would only look for firmware packages outside
14357 the installation media, so the CD was never checked for firmware
14358 packages.  It would only check USB sticks, floppies and other
14359 "external" media devices.  Today I changed it to also look in the
14360 /cdrom/firmware/ directory on the mounted CD or DVD, which should
14361 solve the problem I ran into with Debian edu.  I also changed it to
14362 look in /firmware/, to make sure the installer also find firmware
14363 provided in the initrd when booting the installer via PXE, to allow us
14364 to provide the same feature in the PXE setup included in Debian
14365 Edu.</p>
14366
14367 <p>To make sure firmware deb packages with a license questions are not
14368 activated without asking if the license is accepted, I extended
14369 hw-detect to look for preinst scripts in the firmware packages, and
14370 run these before activating the firmware during installation.  The
14371 license question is asked using debconf in the preinst, so this should
14372 solve the issue for the firmware packages I have looked at so far.</p>
14373
14374 <p>If you want to discuss the details of these features, please
14375 contact us on debian-boot@lists.debian.org.</p>
14376
14377       </div>
14378       <div class="tags">
14379
14380
14381         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
14382
14383
14384       </div>
14385     </div>
14386     <div class="padding"></div>
14387
14388     <div class="entry">
14389       <div class="title">
14390         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Parallellized_boot_is_now_the_default_in_Debian_unstable.html">Parallellized boot is now the default in Debian/unstable</a>
14391       </div>
14392       <div class="date">
14393         14th May 2010
14394       </div>
14395       <div class="body">
14396         <p>Since this evening, parallel booting is the default in
14397 Debian/unstable for machines using dependency based boot sequencing.
14398 Apparently the testing of concurrent booting has been wider than
14399 expected, if I am to believe the
14400 <a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2010/05/msg00122.html">input
14401 on debian-devel@</a>, and I concluded a few days ago to move forward
14402 with the feature this weekend, to give us some time to detect any
14403 remaining problems before Squeeze is frozen.  If serious problems are
14404 detected, it is simple to change the default back to sequential boot.
14405 The upload of the new sysvinit package also activate a new upstream
14406 version.</p>
14407
14408 More information about
14409 <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/LSBInitScripts/DependencyBasedBoot">dependency
14410 based boot sequencing</a> is available from the Debian wiki.  It is
14411 currently possible to disable parallel booting when one run into
14412 problems caused by it, by adding this line to /etc/default/rcS:</p>
14413
14414 <blockquote><pre>
14415 CONCURRENCY=none
14416 </pre></blockquote>
14417
14418 <p>If you report any problems with dependencies in init.d scripts to
14419 the BTS, please usertag the report to get it to show up at
14420 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/pkgreport.cgi?users=initscripts-ng-devel@lists.alioth.debian.org">the
14421 list of usertagged bugs related to this</a>.</p>
14422
14423       </div>
14424       <div class="tags">
14425
14426
14427         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/bootsystem">bootsystem</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
14428
14429
14430       </div>
14431     </div>
14432     <div class="padding"></div>
14433
14434     <div class="entry">
14435       <div class="title">
14436         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Sitesummary_tip__Listing_MAC_address_of_all_clients.html">Sitesummary tip: Listing MAC address of all clients</a>
14437       </div>
14438       <div class="date">
14439         14th May 2010
14440       </div>
14441       <div class="body">
14442         <p>In the recent Debian Edu versions, the
14443 <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/HowTo/SiteSummary">sitesummary
14444 system</a> is used to keep track of the machines in the school
14445 network.  Each machine will automatically report its status to the
14446 central server after boot and once per night.  The network setup is
14447 also reported, and using this information it is possible to get the
14448 MAC address of all network interfaces in the machines.  This is useful
14449 to update the DHCP configuration.</p>
14450
14451 <p>To give some idea how to use sitesummary, here is a one-liner to
14452 ist all MAC addresses of all machines reporting to sitesummary.  Run
14453 this on the collector host:</p>
14454
14455 <blockquote><pre>
14456 perl -MSiteSummary -e 'for_all_hosts(sub { print join(" ", get_macaddresses(shift)), "\n"; });'
14457 </pre></blockquote>
14458
14459 <p>This will list all MAC addresses assosiated with all machine, one
14460 line per machine and with space between the MAC addresses.</p>
14461
14462 <p>To allow system administrators easier job at adding static DHCP
14463 addresses for hosts, it would be possible to extend this to fetch
14464 machine information from sitesummary and update the DHCP and DNS
14465 tables in LDAP using this information.  Such tool is unfortunately not
14466 written yet.</p>
14467
14468       </div>
14469       <div class="tags">
14470
14471
14472         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/sitesummary">sitesummary</a>.
14473
14474
14475       </div>
14476     </div>
14477     <div class="padding"></div>
14478
14479     <div class="entry">
14480       <div class="title">
14481         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/systemd__an_interesting_alternative_to_upstart.html">systemd, an interesting alternative to upstart</a>
14482       </div>
14483       <div class="date">
14484         13th May 2010
14485       </div>
14486       <div class="body">
14487         <p>The last few days a new boot system called
14488 <a href="http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/systemd">systemd</a>
14489 has been
14490 <a href="http://0pointer.de/blog/projects/systemd.html">introduced</a>
14491
14492 to the free software world.  I have not yet had time to play around
14493 with it, but it seem to be a very interesting alternative to
14494 <a href="http://upstart.ubuntu.com/">upstart</a>, and might prove to be
14495 a good alternative for Debian when we are able to switch to an event
14496 based boot system.  Tollef is
14497 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/580814">in the process</a> of getting
14498 systemd into Debian, and I look forward to seeing how well it work.  I
14499 like the fact that systemd handles init.d scripts with dependency
14500 information natively, allowing them to run in parallel where upstart
14501 at the moment do not.</p>
14502
14503 <p>Unfortunately do systemd have the same problem as upstart regarding
14504 platform support.  It only work on recent Linux kernels, and also need
14505 some new kernel features enabled to function properly.  This means
14506 kFreeBSD and Hurd ports of Debian will need a port or a different boot
14507 system.  Not sure how that will be handled if systemd proves to be the
14508 way forward.</p>
14509
14510 <p>In the mean time, based on the
14511 <a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2010/05/msg00122.html">input
14512 on debian-devel@</a> regarding parallel booting in Debian, I have
14513 decided to enable full parallel booting as the default in Debian as
14514 soon as possible (probably this weekend or early next week), to see if
14515 there are any remaining serious bugs in the init.d dependencies.  A
14516 new version of the sysvinit package implementing this change is
14517 already in experimental.  If all go well, Squeeze will be released
14518 with parallel booting enabled by default.</p>
14519
14520       </div>
14521       <div class="tags">
14522
14523
14524         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/bootsystem">bootsystem</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug</a>.
14525
14526
14527       </div>
14528     </div>
14529     <div class="padding"></div>
14530
14531     <div class="entry">
14532       <div class="title">
14533         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Parallellizing_the_boot_in_Debian_Squeeze___ready_for_wider_testing.html">Parallellizing the boot in Debian Squeeze - ready for wider testing</a>
14534       </div>
14535       <div class="date">
14536          6th May 2010
14537       </div>
14538       <div class="body">
14539         <p>These days, the init.d script dependencies in Squeeze are quite
14540 complete, so complete that it is actually possible to run all the
14541 init.d scripts in parallell based on these dependencies.  If you want
14542 to test your Squeeze system, make sure
14543 <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/LSBInitScripts/DependencyBasedBoot">dependency
14544 based boot sequencing</a> is enabled, and add this line to
14545 /etc/default/rcS:</p>
14546
14547 <blockquote><pre>
14548 CONCURRENCY=makefile
14549 </pre></blockquote>
14550
14551 <p>That is it.  It will cause sysv-rc to use the startpar tool to run
14552 scripts in parallel using the dependency information stored in
14553 /etc/init.d/.depend.boot, /etc/init.d/.depend.start and
14554 /etc/init.d/.depend.stop to order the scripts.  Startpar is configured
14555 to try to start the kdm and gdm scripts as early as possible, and will
14556 start the facilities required by kdm or gdm as early as possible to
14557 make this happen.</p>
14558
14559 <p>Give it a try, and see if you like the result.  If some services
14560 fail to start properly, it is most likely because they have incomplete
14561 init.d script dependencies in their startup script (or some of their
14562 dependent scripts have incomplete dependencies).  Report bugs and get
14563 the package maintainers to fix it. :)</p>
14564
14565 <p>Running scripts in parallel could be the default in Debian when we
14566 manage to get the init.d script dependencies complete and correct.  I
14567 expect we will get there in Squeeze+1, if we get manage to test and
14568 fix the remaining issues.</p>
14569
14570 <p>If you report any problems with dependencies in init.d scripts to
14571 the BTS, please usertag the report to get it to show up at
14572 <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/pkgreport.cgi?users=initscripts-ng-devel@lists.alioth.debian.org">the
14573 list of usertagged bugs related to this</a>.</p>
14574
14575       </div>
14576       <div class="tags">
14577
14578
14579         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/bootsystem">bootsystem</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
14580
14581
14582       </div>
14583     </div>
14584     <div class="padding"></div>
14585
14586     <div class="entry">
14587       <div class="title">
14588         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_has_switched_to_dependency_based_boot_sequencing.html">Debian has switched to dependency based boot sequencing</a>
14589       </div>
14590       <div class="date">
14591         27th July 2009
14592       </div>
14593       <div class="body">
14594         <p>Since this evening, with the upload of sysvinit version 2.87dsf-2,
14595 and the upload of insserv version 1.12.0-10 yesterday, Debian unstable
14596 have been migrated to using dependency based boot sequencing.  This
14597 conclude work me and others have been doing for the last three days.
14598 It feels great to see this finally part of the default Debian
14599 installation.  Now we just need to weed out the last few problems that
14600 are bound to show up, to get everything ready for Squeeze.</p>
14601
14602 <p>The next step is migrating /sbin/init from sysvinit to upstart, and
14603 fixing the more fundamental problem of handing the event based
14604 non-predictable kernel in the early boot.</p>
14605
14606       </div>
14607       <div class="tags">
14608
14609
14610         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/bootsystem">bootsystem</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug</a>.
14611
14612
14613       </div>
14614     </div>
14615     <div class="padding"></div>
14616
14617     <div class="entry">
14618       <div class="title">
14619         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Taking_over_sysvinit_development.html">Taking over sysvinit development</a>
14620       </div>
14621       <div class="date">
14622         22nd July 2009
14623       </div>
14624       <div class="body">
14625         <p>After several years of frustration with the lack of activity from
14626 the existing sysvinit upstream developer, I decided a few weeks ago to
14627 take over the package and become the new upstream.  The number of
14628 patches to track for the Debian package was becoming a burden, and the
14629 lack of synchronization between the distribution made it hard to keep
14630 the package up to date.</p>
14631
14632 <p>On the new sysvinit team is the SuSe maintainer Dr. Werner Fink,
14633 and my Debian co-maintainer Kel Modderman.  About 10 days ago, I made
14634 a new upstream tarball with version number 2.87dsf (for Debian, SuSe
14635 and Fedora), based on the patches currently in use in these
14636 distributions.  We Debian maintainers plan to move to this tarball as
14637 the new upstream as soon as we find time to do the merge.  Since the
14638 new tarball was created, we agreed with Werner at SuSe to make a new
14639 upstream project at <a href="http://savannah.nongnu.org/">Savannah</a>, and continue
14640 development there.  The project is registered and currently waiting
14641 for approval by the Savannah administrators, and as soon as it is
14642 approved, we will import the old versions from svn and continue
14643 working on the future release.</p>
14644
14645 <p>It is a bit ironic that this is done now, when some of the involved
14646 distributions are moving to upstart as a syvinit replacement.</p>
14647
14648       </div>
14649       <div class="tags">
14650
14651
14652         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/bootsystem">bootsystem</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug</a>.
14653
14654
14655       </div>
14656     </div>
14657     <div class="padding"></div>
14658
14659     <div class="entry">
14660       <div class="title">
14661         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_boots_quicker_and_quicker.html">Debian boots quicker and quicker</a>
14662       </div>
14663       <div class="date">
14664         24th June 2009
14665       </div>
14666       <div class="body">
14667         <p>I spent Monday and tuesday this week in London with a lot of the
14668 people involved in the boot system on Debian and Ubuntu, to see if we
14669 could find more ways to speed up the boot system.  This was an Ubuntu
14670 funded
14671 <a href="https://wiki.ubuntu.com/FoundationsTeam/BootPerformance/DebianUbuntuSprint">developer
14672 gathering</a>. It was quite productive.  We also discussed the future
14673 of boot systems, and ways to handle the increasing number of boot
14674 issues introduced by the Linux kernel becoming more and more
14675 asynchronous and event base.  The Ubuntu approach using udev and
14676 upstart might be a good way forward.  Time will show.</p>
14677
14678 <p>Anyway, there are a few ways at the moment to speed up the boot
14679 process in Debian.  All of these should be applied to get a quick
14680 boot:</p>
14681
14682 <ul>
14683
14684 <li>Use dash as /bin/sh.</li>
14685
14686 <li>Disable the init.d/hwclock*.sh scripts and make sure the hardware
14687    clock is in UTC.</li>
14688
14689 <li>Install and activate the insserv package to enable
14690    <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/LSBInitScripts/DependencyBasedBoot">dependency
14691    based boot sequencing</a>, and enable concurrent booting.</li>
14692
14693 </ul>
14694
14695 These points are based on the Google summer of code work done by
14696 <a href="http://initscripts-ng.alioth.debian.org/soc2006-bootsystem/">Carlos
14697 Villegas</a>.
14698
14699 <p>Support for makefile-style concurrency during boot was uploaded to
14700 unstable yesterday.  When we tested it, we were able to cut 6 seconds
14701 from the boot sequence.  It depend on very correct dependency
14702 declaration in all init.d scripts, so I expect us to find edge cases
14703 where the dependences in some scripts are slightly wrong when we start
14704 using this.</p>
14705
14706 <p>On our IRC channel for this effort, #pkg-sysvinit, a new idea was
14707 introduced by Raphael Geissert today, one that could affect the
14708 startup speed as well.  Instead of starting some scripts concurrently
14709 from rcS.d/ and another set of scripts from rc2.d/, it would be
14710 possible to run a of them in the same process.  A quick way to test
14711 this would be to enable insserv and run 'mv /etc/rc2.d/S* /etc/rcS.d/;
14712 insserv'.  Will need to test if that work. :)</p>
14713
14714       </div>
14715       <div class="tags">
14716
14717
14718         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/bootsystem">bootsystem</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
14719
14720
14721       </div>
14722     </div>
14723     <div class="padding"></div>
14724
14725     <div class="entry">
14726       <div class="title">
14727         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/BSAs_p_stander_om_piratkopiering_m_ter_motstand.html">BSAs påstander om piratkopiering møter motstand</a>
14728       </div>
14729       <div class="date">
14730         17th May 2009
14731       </div>
14732       <div class="body">
14733         <p>Hvert år de siste årene har BSA, lobbyfronten til de store
14734 programvareselskapene som Microsoft og Apple, publisert en rapport der
14735 de gjetter på hvor mye piratkopiering påfører i tapte inntekter i
14736 ulike land rundt om i verden.  Resultatene er tendensiøse.  For noen
14737 dager siden kom
14738 <a href="http://global.bsa.org/globalpiracy2008/studies/globalpiracy2008.pdf">siste
14739 rapport</a>, og det er flere kritiske kommentarer publisert de siste
14740 dagene.  Et spesielt interessant kommentar fra Sverige,
14741 <a href="http://www.idg.se/2.1085/1.229795/bsa-hoftade-sverigesiffror">BSA
14742 höftade Sverigesiffror</a>, oppsummeres slik:</p>
14743
14744 <blockquote>
14745 I sin senaste rapport slår BSA fast att 25 procent av all mjukvara i
14746 Sverige är piratkopierad. Det utan att ha pratat med ett enda svenskt
14747 företag. "Man bör nog kanske inte se de här siffrorna som helt
14748 exakta", säger BSAs Sverigechef John Hugosson.
14749 </blockquote>
14750
14751 <p>Mon tro om de er like metodiske når de gjetter på andelen piratkopiering i Norge?  To andre kommentarer er <a
14752 href="http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/comment/2242134/bsa-piracy-figures-shot-reality">BSA
14753 piracy figures need a shot of reality</a> og <a
14754 href="http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/3958/125/">Does The WIPO
14755 Copyright Treaty Work?</a></p>
14756
14757 <p>Fant lenkene via <a
14758 href="http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/05/17/1632242">oppslag
14759 på Slashdot</a>.</p>
14760
14761       </div>
14762       <div class="tags">
14763
14764
14765         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/bsa">bsa</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/fildeling">fildeling</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/norsk">norsk</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/opphavsrett">opphavsrett</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/personvern">personvern</a>.
14766
14767
14768       </div>
14769     </div>
14770     <div class="padding"></div>
14771
14772     <div class="entry">
14773       <div class="title">
14774         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/IDG_mener_linux_i_servermarkedet_vil_vokse_med_21__i_2009.html">IDG mener linux i servermarkedet vil vokse med 21% i 2009</a>
14775       </div>
14776       <div class="date">
14777          7th May 2009
14778       </div>
14779       <div class="body">
14780         <p>Kom over
14781 <a href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-13505_3-10216873-16.html">interessante
14782 tall</a> fra IDG om utviklingen av linuxservermarkedet.  Fikk meg til
14783 å tenke på antall tjenermaskiner ved Universitetet i Oslo der jeg
14784 jobber til daglig.  En rask opptelling forteller meg at vi har 490
14785 (61%) fysiske unix-tjener (mest linux men også noen solaris) og 196
14786 (25%) windowstjenere, samt 112 (14%) virtuelle unix-tjenere.  Med den
14787 bakgrunnskunnskapen kan jeg godt tro at IDG er inne på noe.</p>
14788
14789       </div>
14790       <div class="tags">
14791
14792
14793         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/norsk">norsk</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug</a>.
14794
14795
14796       </div>
14797     </div>
14798     <div class="padding"></div>
14799
14800     <div class="entry">
14801       <div class="title">
14802         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Kryptert_harddisk___naturligvis.html">Kryptert harddisk - naturligvis</a>
14803       </div>
14804       <div class="date">
14805          2nd May 2009
14806       </div>
14807       <div class="body">
14808         <p><a href="http://www.dagensit.no/trender/article1658676.ece">Dagens
14809 IT melder</a> at Intel hevder at det er dyrt å miste en datamaskin,
14810 når en tar tap av arbeidstid, fortrolige dokumenter,
14811 personopplysninger og alt annet det innebærer.  Det er ingen tvil om
14812 at det er en kostbar affære å miste sin datamaskin, og det er årsaken
14813 til at jeg har kryptert harddisken på både kontormaskinen og min
14814 bærbare.  Begge inneholder personopplysninger jeg ikke ønsker skal
14815 komme på avveie, den første informasjon relatert til jobben min ved
14816 Universitetet i Oslo, og den andre relatert til blant annet
14817 foreningsarbeide.  Kryptering av diskene gjør at det er lite
14818 sannsynlig at dophoder som kan finne på å rappe maskinene får noe ut
14819 av dem.  Maskinene låses automatisk etter noen minutter uten bruk,
14820 og en reboot vil gjøre at de ber om passord før de vil starte opp.
14821 Jeg bruker Debian på begge maskinene, og installasjonssystemet der
14822 gjør det trivielt å sette opp krypterte disker.  Jeg har LVM på toppen
14823 av krypterte partisjoner, slik at alt av datapartisjoner er kryptert.
14824 Jeg anbefaler alle å kryptere diskene på sine bærbare.  Kostnaden når
14825 det er gjort slik jeg gjør det er minimale, og gevinstene er
14826 betydelige.  En bør dog passe på passordet.  Hvis det går tapt, må
14827 maskinen reinstalleres og alt er tapt.</p>
14828
14829 <p>Krypteringen vil ikke stoppe kompetente angripere som f.eks. kjøler
14830 ned minnebrikkene før maskinen rebootes med programvare for å hente ut
14831 krypteringsnøklene.  Kostnaden med å forsvare seg mot slike angripere
14832 er for min del høyere enn gevinsten.  Jeg tror oddsene for at
14833 f.eks. etteretningsorganisasjoner har glede av å titte på mine
14834 maskiner er minimale, og ulempene jeg ville oppnå ved å forsøke å
14835 gjøre det vanskeligere for angripere med kompetanse og ressurser er
14836 betydelige.</p>
14837
14838       </div>
14839       <div class="tags">
14840
14841
14842         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/norsk">norsk</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/sikkerhet">sikkerhet</a>.
14843
14844
14845       </div>
14846     </div>
14847     <div class="padding"></div>
14848
14849     <div class="entry">
14850       <div class="title">
14851         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Two_projects_that_have_improved_the_quality_of_free_software_a_lot.html">Two projects that have improved the quality of free software a lot</a>
14852       </div>
14853       <div class="date">
14854          2nd May 2009
14855       </div>
14856       <div class="body">
14857         <p>There are two software projects that have had huge influence on the
14858 quality of free software, and I wanted to mention both in case someone
14859 do not yet know them.</p>
14860
14861 <p>The first one is <a href="http://valgrind.org/">valgrind</a>, a
14862 tool to detect and expose errors in the memory handling of programs.
14863 It is easy to use, all one need to do is to run 'valgrind program',
14864 and it will report any problems on stdout.  It is even better if the
14865 program include debug information.  With debug information, it is able
14866 to report the source file name and line number where the problem
14867 occurs.  It can report things like 'reading past memory block in file
14868 X line N, the memory block was allocated in file Y, line M', and
14869 'using uninitialised value in control logic'.  This tool has made it
14870 trivial to investigate reproducible crash bugs in programs, and have
14871 reduced the number of this kind of bugs in free software a lot.
14872
14873 <p>The second one is
14874 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coverity">Coverity</a> which is
14875 a source code checker.  It is able to process the source of a program
14876 and find problems in the logic without running the program.  It
14877 started out as the Stanford Checker and became well known when it was
14878 used to find bugs in the Linux kernel.  It is now a commercial tool
14879 and the company behind it is running
14880 <a href="http://www.scan.coverity.com/">a community service</a> for the
14881 free software community, where a lot of free software projects get
14882 their source checked for free.  Several thousand defects have been
14883 found and fixed so far.  It can find errors like 'lock L taken in file
14884 X line N is never released if exiting in line M', or 'the code in file
14885 Y lines O to P can never be executed'.  The projects included in the
14886 community service project have managed to get rid of a lot of
14887 reliability problems thanks to Coverity.</p>
14888
14889 <p>I believe tools like this, that are able to automatically find
14890 errors in the source, are vital to improve the quality of software and
14891 make sure we can get rid of the crashing and failing software we are
14892 surrounded by today.</p>
14893
14894       </div>
14895       <div class="tags">
14896
14897
14898         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
14899
14900
14901       </div>
14902     </div>
14903     <div class="padding"></div>
14904
14905     <div class="entry">
14906       <div class="title">
14907         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/No_patch_is_not_better_than_a_useless_patch.html">No patch is not better than a useless patch</a>
14908       </div>
14909       <div class="date">
14910         28th April 2009
14911       </div>
14912       <div class="body">
14913         <p>Julien Blache
14914 <a href="http://blog.technologeek.org/2009/04/12/214">claim that no
14915 patch is better than a useless patch</a>.  I completely disagree, as a
14916 patch allow one to discuss a concrete and proposed solution, and also
14917 prove that the issue at hand is important enough for someone to spent
14918 time on fixing it.  No patch do not provide any of these positive
14919 properties.</p>
14920
14921       </div>
14922       <div class="tags">
14923
14924
14925         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug</a>.
14926
14927
14928       </div>
14929     </div>
14930     <div class="padding"></div>
14931
14932     <div class="entry">
14933       <div class="title">
14934         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Standardize_on_protocols_and_formats__not_vendors_and_applications.html">Standardize on protocols and formats, not vendors and applications</a>
14935       </div>
14936       <div class="date">
14937         30th March 2009
14938       </div>
14939       <div class="body">
14940         <p>Where I work at the University of Oslo, one decision stand out as a
14941 very good one to form a long lived computer infrastructure.  It is the
14942 simple one, lost by many in todays computer industry: Standardize on
14943 open network protocols and open exchange/storage formats, not applications.
14944 Applications come and go, while protocols and files tend to stay, and
14945 thus one want to make it easy to change application and vendor, while
14946 avoiding conversion costs and locking users to a specific platform or
14947 application.</p>
14948
14949 <p>This approach make it possible to replace the client applications
14950 independently of the server applications.  One can even allow users to
14951 use several different applications as long as they handle the selected
14952 protocol and format.  In the normal case, only one client application
14953 is recommended and users only get help if they choose to use this
14954 application, but those that want to deviate from the easy path are not
14955 blocked from doing so.</p>
14956
14957 <p>It also allow us to replace the server side without forcing the
14958 users to replace their applications, and thus allow us to select the
14959 best server implementation at any moment, when scale and resouce
14960 requirements change.</p>
14961
14962 <p>I strongly recommend standardizing - on open network protocols and
14963 open formats, but I would never recommend standardizing on a single
14964 application that do not use open network protocol or open formats.</p>
14965
14966       </div>
14967       <div class="tags">
14968
14969
14970         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/standard">standard</a>.
14971
14972
14973       </div>
14974     </div>
14975     <div class="padding"></div>
14976
14977     <div class="entry">
14978       <div class="title">
14979         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Returning_from_Skolelinux_developer_gathering.html">Returning from Skolelinux developer gathering</a>
14980       </div>
14981       <div class="date">
14982         29th March 2009
14983       </div>
14984       <div class="body">
14985         <p>I'm sitting on the train going home from this weekends Debian
14986 Edu/Skolelinux development gathering.  I got a bit done tuning the
14987 desktop, and looked into the dynamic service location protocol
14988 implementation avahi.  It look like it could be useful for us.  Almost
14989 30 people participated, and I believe it was a great environment to
14990 get to know the Skolelinux system.  Walter Bender, involved in the
14991 development of the Sugar educational platform, presented his stuff and
14992 also helped me improve my OLPC installation.  He also showed me that
14993 his Turtle Art application can be used in standalone mode, and we
14994 agreed that I would help getting it packaged for Debian.  As a
14995 standalone application it would be great for Debian Edu.  We also
14996 tried to get the video conferencing working with two OLPCs, but that
14997 proved to be too hard for us.  The application seem to need more work
14998 before it is ready for me.  I look forward to getting home and relax
14999 now. :)</p>
15000
15001       </div>
15002       <div class="tags">
15003
15004
15005         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug</a>.
15006
15007
15008       </div>
15009     </div>
15010     <div class="padding"></div>
15011
15012     <div class="entry">
15013       <div class="title">
15014         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Time_for_new__LDAP_schemas_replacing_RFC_2307_.html">Time for new  LDAP schemas replacing RFC 2307?</a>
15015       </div>
15016       <div class="date">
15017         29th March 2009
15018       </div>
15019       <div class="body">
15020         <p>The state of standardized LDAP schemas on Linux is far from
15021 optimal.  There is RFC 2307 documenting one way to store NIS maps in
15022 LDAP, and a modified version of this normally called RFC 2307bis, with
15023 some modifications to be compatible with Active Directory.  The RFC
15024 specification handle the content of a lot of system databases, but do
15025 not handle DNS zones and DHCP configuration.</p>
15026
15027 <p>In <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu/Skolelinux</a>,
15028 we would like to store information about users, SMB clients/hosts,
15029 filegroups, netgroups (users and hosts), DHCP and DNS configuration,
15030 and LTSP configuration in LDAP.  These objects have a lot in common,
15031 but with the current LDAP schemas it is not possible to have one
15032 object per entity.  For example, one need to have at least three LDAP
15033 objects for a given computer, one with the SMB related stuff, one with
15034 DNS information and another with DHCP information.  The schemas
15035 provided for DNS and DHCP are impossible to combine into one LDAP
15036 object.  In addition, it is impossible to implement quick queries for
15037 netgroup membership, because of the way NIS triples are implemented.
15038 It just do not scale.  I believe it is time for a few RFC
15039 specifications to cleam up this mess.</p>
15040
15041 <p>I would like to have one LDAP object representing each computer in
15042 the network, and this object can then keep the SMB (ie host key), DHCP
15043 (mac address/name) and DNS (name/IP address) settings in one place.
15044 It need to be efficently stored to make sure it scale well.</p>
15045
15046 <p>I would also like to have a quick way to map from a user or
15047 computer and to the net group this user or computer is a member.</p>
15048
15049 <p>Active Directory have done a better job than unix heads like myself
15050 in this regard, and the unix side need to catch up.  Time to start a
15051 new IETF work group?</p>
15052
15053       </div>
15054       <div class="tags">
15055
15056
15057         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/ldap">ldap</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug</a>.
15058
15059
15060       </div>
15061     </div>
15062     <div class="padding"></div>
15063
15064     <div class="entry">
15065       <div class="title">
15066         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Endelig_er_Debian_Lenny_gitt_ut.html">Endelig er Debian Lenny gitt ut</a>
15067       </div>
15068       <div class="date">
15069         15th February 2009
15070       </div>
15071       <div class="body">
15072         <p>Endelig er <a href="http://www.debian.org/">Debian</a>
15073 <a href="http://www.debian.org/News/2009/20090214">Lenny</a> gitt ut.
15074 Et langt steg videre for Debian-prosjektet, og en rekke nye
15075 programpakker blir nå tilgjengelig for de av oss som bruker den
15076 stabile utgaven av Debian.  Neste steg er nå å få
15077 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Skolelinux</a> /
15078 <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/">Debian Edu</a> ferdig
15079 oppdatert for den nye utgaven, slik at en oppdatert versjon kan
15080 slippes løs på skolene.  Takk til alle debian-utviklerne som har
15081 gjort dette mulig.  Endelig er f.eks. fungerende avhengighetsstyrt
15082 bootsekvens tilgjengelig i stabil utgave, vha pakken
15083 <tt>insserv</tt>.</p>
15084
15085       </div>
15086       <div class="tags">
15087
15088
15089         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/norsk">norsk</a>.
15090
15091
15092       </div>
15093     </div>
15094     <div class="padding"></div>
15095
15096     <div class="entry">
15097       <div class="title">
15098         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Devcamp_brought_us_closer_to_the_Lenny_based_Debian_Edu_release.html">Devcamp brought us closer to the Lenny based Debian Edu release</a>
15099       </div>
15100       <div class="date">
15101          7th December 2008
15102       </div>
15103       <div class="body">
15104         <p>This weekend we had a small developer gathering for Debian Edu in
15105 Oslo.  Most of Saturday was used for the general assemly for the
15106 member organization, but the rest of the weekend I used to tune the
15107 LTSP installation.  LTSP now work out of the box on the 10-network.
15108 Acer Aspire One proved to be a very nice thin client, with both
15109 screen, mouse and keybard in a small box.  Was working on getting the
15110 diskless workstation setup configured out of the box, but did not
15111 finish it before the weekend was up.</p>
15112
15113 <p>Did not find time to look at the 4 VGA cards in one box we got from
15114 the Brazilian group, so that will have to wait for the next
15115 development gathering.  Would love to have the Debian Edu installer
15116 automatically detect and configure a multiseat setup when it find one
15117 of these cards.</p>
15118
15119       </div>
15120       <div class="tags">
15121
15122
15123         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/ltsp">ltsp</a>.
15124
15125
15126       </div>
15127     </div>
15128     <div class="padding"></div>
15129
15130     <div class="entry">
15131       <div class="title">
15132         <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/The_sorry_state_of_multimedia_browser_plugins_in_Debian.html">The sorry state of multimedia browser plugins in Debian</a>
15133       </div>
15134       <div class="date">
15135         25th November 2008
15136       </div>
15137       <div class="body">
15138         <p>Recently I have spent some time evaluating the multimedia browser
15139 plugins available in Debian Lenny, to see which one we should use by
15140 default in Debian Edu.  We need an embedded video playing plugin with
15141 control buttons to pause or stop the video, and capable of streaming
15142 all the multimedia content available on the web.  The test results and
15143 notes are available on
15144 <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/BrowserMultimedia">the
15145 Debian wiki</a>.  I was surprised how few of the plugins are able to
15146 fill this need.  My personal video player favorite, VLC, has a really
15147 bad plugin which fail on a lot of the test pages.  A lot of the MIME
15148 types I would expect to work with any free software player (like
15149 video/ogg), just do not work.  And simple formats like the
15150 audio/x-mplegurl format (m3u playlists), just isn't supported by the
15151 totem and vlc plugins.  I hope the situation will improve soon.  No
15152 wonder sites use the proprietary Adobe flash to play video.</p>
15153
15154 <p>For Lenny, we seem to end up with the mplayer plugin.  It seem to
15155 be the only one fitting our needs. :/</p>
15156
15157       </div>
15158       <div class="tags">
15159
15160
15161         Tags: <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/multimedia">multimedia</a>, <a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/web">web</a>.
15162
15163
15164       </div>
15165     </div>
15166     <div class="padding"></div>
15167
15168     <p style="text-align: right;"><a href="debian.rss"><img src="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/xml.gif" alt="RSS Feed" width="36" height="14" /></a></p>
15169     <div id="sidebar">
15170
15171
15172
15173 <h2>Archive</h2>
15174 <ul>
15175
15176 <li>2023
15177 <ul>
15178
15179 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2023/01/">January (3)</a></li>
15180
15181 </ul></li>
15182
15183 <li>2022
15184 <ul>
15185
15186 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2022/02/">February (1)</a></li>
15187
15188 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2022/03/">March (3)</a></li>
15189
15190 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2022/04/">April (2)</a></li>
15191
15192 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2022/06/">June (2)</a></li>
15193
15194 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2022/07/">July (1)</a></li>
15195
15196 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2022/09/">September (1)</a></li>
15197
15198 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2022/10/">October (1)</a></li>
15199
15200 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2022/12/">December (1)</a></li>
15201
15202 </ul></li>
15203
15204 <li>2021
15205 <ul>
15206
15207 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2021/01/">January (2)</a></li>
15208
15209 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2021/02/">February (1)</a></li>
15210
15211 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2021/05/">May (1)</a></li>
15212
15213 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2021/06/">June (1)</a></li>
15214
15215 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2021/07/">July (3)</a></li>
15216
15217 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2021/08/">August (1)</a></li>
15218
15219 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2021/09/">September (1)</a></li>
15220
15221 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2021/10/">October (1)</a></li>
15222
15223 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2021/12/">December (1)</a></li>
15224
15225 </ul></li>
15226
15227 <li>2020
15228 <ul>
15229
15230 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2020/02/">February (2)</a></li>
15231
15232 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2020/03/">March (2)</a></li>
15233
15234 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2020/04/">April (2)</a></li>
15235
15236 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2020/05/">May (3)</a></li>
15237
15238 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2020/06/">June (2)</a></li>
15239
15240 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2020/07/">July (1)</a></li>
15241
15242 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2020/09/">September (1)</a></li>
15243
15244 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2020/10/">October (1)</a></li>
15245
15246 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2020/11/">November (1)</a></li>
15247
15248 </ul></li>
15249
15250 <li>2019
15251 <ul>
15252
15253 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2019/01/">January (4)</a></li>
15254
15255 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2019/02/">February (3)</a></li>
15256
15257 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2019/03/">March (3)</a></li>
15258
15259 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2019/05/">May (2)</a></li>
15260
15261 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2019/06/">June (5)</a></li>
15262
15263 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2019/07/">July (2)</a></li>
15264
15265 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2019/08/">August (1)</a></li>
15266
15267 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2019/09/">September (1)</a></li>
15268
15269 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2019/11/">November (1)</a></li>
15270
15271 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2019/12/">December (4)</a></li>
15272
15273 </ul></li>
15274
15275 <li>2018
15276 <ul>
15277
15278 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2018/01/">January (1)</a></li>
15279
15280 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2018/02/">February (5)</a></li>
15281
15282 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2018/03/">March (5)</a></li>
15283
15284 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2018/04/">April (3)</a></li>
15285
15286 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2018/06/">June (2)</a></li>
15287
15288 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2018/07/">July (5)</a></li>
15289
15290 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2018/08/">August (3)</a></li>
15291
15292 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2018/09/">September (3)</a></li>
15293
15294 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2018/10/">October (5)</a></li>
15295
15296 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2018/11/">November (2)</a></li>
15297
15298 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2018/12/">December (4)</a></li>
15299
15300 </ul></li>
15301
15302 <li>2017
15303 <ul>
15304
15305 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2017/01/">January (4)</a></li>
15306
15307 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2017/02/">February (3)</a></li>
15308
15309 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2017/03/">March (5)</a></li>
15310
15311 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2017/04/">April (2)</a></li>
15312
15313 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2017/06/">June (5)</a></li>
15314
15315 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2017/07/">July (1)</a></li>
15316
15317 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2017/08/">August (1)</a></li>
15318
15319 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2017/09/">September (3)</a></li>
15320
15321 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2017/10/">October (5)</a></li>
15322
15323 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2017/11/">November (3)</a></li>
15324
15325 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2017/12/">December (4)</a></li>
15326
15327 </ul></li>
15328
15329 <li>2016
15330 <ul>
15331
15332 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2016/01/">January (3)</a></li>
15333
15334 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2016/02/">February (2)</a></li>
15335
15336 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2016/03/">March (3)</a></li>
15337
15338 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2016/04/">April (8)</a></li>
15339
15340 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2016/05/">May (8)</a></li>
15341
15342 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2016/06/">June (2)</a></li>
15343
15344 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2016/07/">July (2)</a></li>
15345
15346 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2016/08/">August (5)</a></li>
15347
15348 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2016/09/">September (2)</a></li>
15349
15350 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2016/10/">October (3)</a></li>
15351
15352 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2016/11/">November (8)</a></li>
15353
15354 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2016/12/">December (5)</a></li>
15355
15356 </ul></li>
15357
15358 <li>2015
15359 <ul>
15360
15361 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2015/01/">January (7)</a></li>
15362
15363 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2015/02/">February (6)</a></li>
15364
15365 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2015/03/">March (1)</a></li>
15366
15367 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2015/04/">April (4)</a></li>
15368
15369 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2015/05/">May (3)</a></li>
15370
15371 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2015/06/">June (4)</a></li>
15372
15373 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2015/07/">July (6)</a></li>
15374
15375 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2015/08/">August (2)</a></li>
15376
15377 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2015/09/">September (2)</a></li>
15378
15379 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2015/10/">October (9)</a></li>
15380
15381 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2015/11/">November (6)</a></li>
15382
15383 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2015/12/">December (3)</a></li>
15384
15385 </ul></li>
15386
15387 <li>2014
15388 <ul>
15389
15390 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2014/01/">January (2)</a></li>
15391
15392 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2014/02/">February (3)</a></li>
15393
15394 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2014/03/">March (8)</a></li>
15395
15396 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2014/04/">April (7)</a></li>
15397
15398 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2014/05/">May (1)</a></li>
15399
15400 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2014/06/">June (2)</a></li>
15401
15402 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2014/07/">July (2)</a></li>
15403
15404 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2014/08/">August (2)</a></li>
15405
15406 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2014/09/">September (5)</a></li>
15407
15408 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2014/10/">October (6)</a></li>
15409
15410 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2014/11/">November (3)</a></li>
15411
15412 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2014/12/">December (5)</a></li>
15413
15414 </ul></li>
15415
15416 <li>2013
15417 <ul>
15418
15419 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2013/01/">January (11)</a></li>
15420
15421 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2013/02/">February (9)</a></li>
15422
15423 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2013/03/">March (9)</a></li>
15424
15425 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2013/04/">April (6)</a></li>
15426
15427 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2013/05/">May (9)</a></li>
15428
15429 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2013/06/">June (10)</a></li>
15430
15431 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2013/07/">July (7)</a></li>
15432
15433 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2013/08/">August (3)</a></li>
15434
15435 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2013/09/">September (5)</a></li>
15436
15437 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2013/10/">October (7)</a></li>
15438
15439 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2013/11/">November (9)</a></li>
15440
15441 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2013/12/">December (3)</a></li>
15442
15443 </ul></li>
15444
15445 <li>2012
15446 <ul>
15447
15448 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/01/">January (7)</a></li>
15449
15450 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/02/">February (10)</a></li>
15451
15452 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/03/">March (17)</a></li>
15453
15454 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/04/">April (12)</a></li>
15455
15456 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/05/">May (12)</a></li>
15457
15458 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/06/">June (20)</a></li>
15459
15460 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/07/">July (17)</a></li>
15461
15462 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/08/">August (6)</a></li>
15463
15464 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/09/">September (9)</a></li>
15465
15466 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/10/">October (17)</a></li>
15467
15468 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/11/">November (10)</a></li>
15469
15470 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/12/">December (7)</a></li>
15471
15472 </ul></li>
15473
15474 <li>2011
15475 <ul>
15476
15477 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/01/">January (16)</a></li>
15478
15479 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/02/">February (6)</a></li>
15480
15481 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/03/">March (6)</a></li>
15482
15483 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/04/">April (7)</a></li>
15484
15485 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/05/">May (3)</a></li>
15486
15487 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/06/">June (2)</a></li>
15488
15489 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/07/">July (7)</a></li>
15490
15491 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/08/">August (6)</a></li>
15492
15493 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/09/">September (4)</a></li>
15494
15495 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/10/">October (2)</a></li>
15496
15497 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/11/">November (3)</a></li>
15498
15499 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/12/">December (1)</a></li>
15500
15501 </ul></li>
15502
15503 <li>2010
15504 <ul>
15505
15506 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/01/">January (2)</a></li>
15507
15508 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/02/">February (1)</a></li>
15509
15510 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/03/">March (3)</a></li>
15511
15512 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/04/">April (3)</a></li>
15513
15514 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/05/">May (9)</a></li>
15515
15516 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/06/">June (14)</a></li>
15517
15518 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/07/">July (12)</a></li>
15519
15520 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/08/">August (13)</a></li>
15521
15522 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/09/">September (7)</a></li>
15523
15524 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/10/">October (9)</a></li>
15525
15526 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/11/">November (13)</a></li>
15527
15528 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/12/">December (12)</a></li>
15529
15530 </ul></li>
15531
15532 <li>2009
15533 <ul>
15534
15535 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/01/">January (8)</a></li>
15536
15537 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/02/">February (8)</a></li>
15538
15539 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/03/">March (12)</a></li>
15540
15541 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/04/">April (10)</a></li>
15542
15543 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/05/">May (9)</a></li>
15544
15545 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/06/">June (3)</a></li>
15546
15547 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/07/">July (4)</a></li>
15548
15549 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/08/">August (3)</a></li>
15550
15551 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/09/">September (1)</a></li>
15552
15553 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/10/">October (2)</a></li>
15554
15555 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/11/">November (3)</a></li>
15556
15557 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/12/">December (3)</a></li>
15558
15559 </ul></li>
15560
15561 <li>2008
15562 <ul>
15563
15564 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2008/11/">November (5)</a></li>
15565
15566 <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2008/12/">December (7)</a></li>
15567
15568 </ul></li>
15569
15570 </ul>
15571
15572
15573
15574 <h2>Tags</h2>
15575 <ul>
15576
15577  <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/3d-printer">3d-printer (19)</a></li>
15578
15579  <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/amiga">amiga (1)</a></li>
15580
15581  <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/aros">aros (1)</a></li>
15582
15583  <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/bankid">bankid (4)</a></li>
15584
15585  <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/betalkontant">betalkontant (9)</a></li>
15586
15587  <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/bitcoin">bitcoin (12)</a></li>
15588
15589  <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/bootsystem">bootsystem (17)</a></li>
15590
15591  <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/bsa">bsa (2)</a></li>
15592
15593  <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/chrpath">chrpath (2)</a></li>
15594
15595  <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian (187)</a></li>
15596
15597  <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu (159)</a></li>
15598
15599  <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian-handbook">debian-handbook (9)</a></li>
15600
15601  <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/digistan">digistan (11)</a></li>
15602
15603  <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/dld">dld (18)</a></li>
15604
15605  <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/docbook">docbook (30)</a></li>
15606
15607  <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/drivstoffpriser">drivstoffpriser (4)</a></li>
15608
15609  <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english (443)</a></li>
15610
15611  <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/fiksgatami">fiksgatami (23)</a></li>
15612
15613  <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/fildeling">fildeling (14)</a></li>
15614
15615  <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/freeculture">freeculture (34)</a></li>
15616
15617  <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/freedombox">freedombox (9)</a></li>
15618
15619  <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/frikanalen">frikanalen (20)</a></li>
15620
15621  <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/h264">h264 (20)</a></li>
15622
15623  <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/intervju">intervju (43)</a></li>
15624
15625  <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/isenkram">isenkram (16)</a></li>
15626
15627  <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/kart">kart (23)</a></li>
15628
15629  <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/kodi">kodi (4)</a></li>
15630
15631  <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/ldap">ldap (9)</a></li>
15632
15633  <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/lego">lego (5)</a></li>
15634
15635  <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/lenker">lenker (8)</a></li>
15636
15637  <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/linuxcnc">linuxcnc (4)</a></li>
15638
15639  <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/lsdvd">lsdvd (2)</a></li>
15640
15641  <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/ltsp">ltsp (1)</a></li>
15642
15643  <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/madewithcc">madewithcc (3)</a></li>
15644
15645  <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/mesh network">mesh network (8)</a></li>
15646
15647  <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/multimedia">multimedia (44)</a></li>
15648
15649  <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nice free software">nice free software (13)</a></li>
15650
15651  <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/noark5">noark5 (23)</a></li>
15652
15653  <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/norsk">norsk (320)</a></li>
15654
15655  <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug (198)</a></li>
15656
15657  <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/offentlig innsyn">offentlig innsyn (40)</a></li>
15658
15659  <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/open311">open311 (2)</a></li>
15660
15661  <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/opphavsrett">opphavsrett (75)</a></li>
15662
15663  <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/personvern">personvern (114)</a></li>
15664
15665  <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/raid">raid (2)</a></li>
15666
15667  <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/reactos">reactos (1)</a></li>
15668
15669  <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/reprap">reprap (11)</a></li>
15670
15671  <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/rfid">rfid (3)</a></li>
15672
15673  <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/robot">robot (17)</a></li>
15674
15675  <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/rss">rss (1)</a></li>
15676
15677  <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/ruter">ruter (7)</a></li>
15678
15679  <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/scraperwiki">scraperwiki (2)</a></li>
15680
15681  <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/sikkerhet">sikkerhet (59)</a></li>
15682
15683  <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/sitesummary">sitesummary (4)</a></li>
15684
15685  <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/skepsis">skepsis (5)</a></li>
15686
15687  <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/standard">standard (74)</a></li>
15688
15689  <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/stavekontroll">stavekontroll (7)</a></li>
15690
15691  <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/stortinget">stortinget (14)</a></li>
15692
15693  <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/surveillance">surveillance (64)</a></li>
15694
15695  <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/sysadmin">sysadmin (5)</a></li>
15696
15697  <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/usenix">usenix (2)</a></li>
15698
15699  <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/valg">valg (9)</a></li>
15700
15701  <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/verkidetfri">verkidetfri (20)</a></li>
15702
15703  <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/video">video (77)</a></li>
15704
15705  <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/vitenskap">vitenskap (4)</a></li>
15706
15707  <li><a href="https://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/web">web (42)</a></li>
15708
15709 </ul>
15710
15711
15712     </div>
15713     <p style="text-align: right">
15714  Created by <a href="http://steve.org.uk/Software/chronicle">Chronicle v4.6</a>
15715 </p>
15716
15717   </body>
15718 </html>