blog/data/2016-12-23-isenkram.txt

   1 Title: Appstream just learned how to map hardware to packages too!
   2 Tags: english, debian, isenkram
   3 Date: 2016-12-23 10:30
   4
   5 <p>I received a very nice Christmas present today.  As my regular
   6 readers probably know, I have been working on the
   7 <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/isenkram">the Isenkram
   8 system</a> for many years.  The goal of the Isenkram system is to make
   9 it easier for users to figure out what to install to get a given piece
  10 of hardware to work in Debian, and a key part of this system is a way
  11 to map hardware to packages.  Isenkram have its own mapping database,
  12 and also uses data provided by each package using the AppStream
  13 metadata format.  And today,
  14 <a href="https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/appstream">AppStream</a> in
  15 Debian learned to look up hardware the same way Isenkram is doing it,
  16 ie using fnmatch():</p>
  17
  18 <p><pre>
  19 % appstreamcli what-provides modalias \
  20   usb:v1130p0202d0100dc00dsc00dp00ic03isc00ip00in00
  21 Identifier: pymissile [generic]
  22 Name: pymissile
  23 Summary: Control original Striker USB Missile Launcher
  24 Package: pymissile
  25 % appstreamcli what-provides modalias usb:v0694p0002d0000
  26 Identifier: libnxt [generic]
  27 Name: libnxt
  28 Summary: utility library for talking to the LEGO Mindstorms NXT brick
  29 Package: libnxt
  30 ---
  31 Identifier: t2n [generic]
  32 Name: t2n
  33 Summary: Simple command-line tool for Lego NXT
  34 Package: t2n
  35 ---
  36 Identifier: python-nxt [generic]
  37 Name: python-nxt
  38 Summary: Python driver/interface/wrapper for the Lego Mindstorms NXT robot
  39 Package: python-nxt
  40 ---
  41 Identifier: nbc [generic]
  42 Name: nbc
  43 Summary: C compiler for LEGO Mindstorms NXT bricks
  44 Package: nbc
  45 %
  46 </pre></p>
  47
  48 <p>A similar query can be done using the combined AppStream and
  49 Isenkram databases using the isenkram-lookup tool:</p>
  50
  51 <p><pre>
  52 % isenkram-lookup usb:v1130p0202d0100dc00dsc00dp00ic03isc00ip00in00
  53 pymissile
  54 % isenkram-lookup usb:v0694p0002d0000
  55 libnxt
  56 nbc
  57 python-nxt
  58 t2n
  59 %
  60 </pre></p>
  61
  62 <p>You can find modalias values relevant for your machine using
  63 <tt>cat $(find /sys/devices/ -name modalias)</tt>.
  64
  65 <p>If you want to make this system a success and help Debian users
  66 make the most of the hardware they have, please help
  67 <a href="https://wiki.debian.org/AppStream/Guidelines">add AppStream
  68 metadata for your package following the guidelines</a> documented in
  69 the wiki.  So far only 11 packages provide such information, among the
  70 several hundred hardware specific packages in Debian. The Isenkram
  71 database on the other hand contain 101 packages, mostly related to USB
  72 dongles.  Most of the packages with hardware mapping in AppStream are
  73 LEGO Mindstorms related, because I have, as part of my involvement in
  74 <a href="https://wiki.debian.org/LegoDesigners">the Debian LEGO
  75 team</a> given priority to making sure LEGO users get proposed the
  76 complete set of packages in Debian for that particular hardware.  The
  77 team also got a nice Christmas present today.  The
  78 <a href="https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/nxt-firmware">nxt-firmware
  79 package</a> made it into Debian.  With this package in place, it is
  80 now possible to use the LEGO Mindstorms NXT unit with only free
  81 software, as the nxt-firmware package contain the source and firmware
  82 binaries for the NXT brick.</p>
  83
  84 <p>As usual, if you use Bitcoin and want to show your support of my
  85 activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address
  86 <b><a href="bitcoin:15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</a></b>.</p>