1 <?xml version=
"1.0" encoding=
"utf-8"?>
2 <rss version='
2.0' xmlns:lj='http://www.livejournal.org/rss/lj/
1.0/' xmlns:
atom=
"http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom">
4 <title>Petter Reinholdtsen
</title>
5 <description></description>
6 <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/
</link>
7 <atom:link href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/index.rss" rel=
"self" type=
"application/rss+xml" />
10 <title>Combining PowerDNS and ISC DHCP LDAP objects
</title>
11 <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Combining_PowerDNS_and_ISC_DHCP_LDAP_objects.html
</link>
12 <guid isPermaLink=
"true">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Combining_PowerDNS_and_ISC_DHCP_LDAP_objects.html
</guid>
13 <pubDate>Wed,
14 Jul
2010 23:
45:
00 +
0200</pubDate>
15 <p
>For a while now, I have wanted to find a way to change the DNS and
16 DHCP services in Debian Edu to use the same LDAP objects for a given
17 computer, to avoid the possibility of having a inconsistent state for
18 a computer in LDAP (as in DHCP but no DNS entry or the other way
19 around) and make it easier to add computers to LDAP.
</p
>
21 <p
>I
've looked at how powerdns and dhcpd is using LDAP, and using this
22 information finally found a solution that seem to work.
</p
>
24 <p
>The old setup required three LDAP objects for a given computer.
25 One forward DNS entry, one reverse DNS entry and one DHCP entry. If
26 we switch powerdns to use its strict LDAP method (ldap-method=strict
27 in pdns-debian-edu.conf), the forward and reverse DNS entries are
28 merged into one while making it impossible to transfer the reverse map
29 to a slave DNS server.
</p
>
31 <p
>If we also replace the object class used to get the DNS related
32 attributes to one allowing these attributes to be combined with the
33 dhcphost object class, we can merge the DNS and DHCP entries into one.
34 I
've written such object class in the dnsdomainaux.schema file (need
35 proper OIDs, but that is a minor issue), and tested the setup. It
36 seem to work.
</p
>
38 <p
>With this test setup in place, we can get away with one LDAP object
39 for both DNS and DHCP, and even the LTSP configuration I suggested in
40 an earlier email. The combined LDAP object will look something like
43 <blockquote
><pre
>
44 dn: cn=hostname,cn=group1,cn=THINCLIENTS,cn=DHCP Config,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
47 objectclass: domainrelatedobject
48 objectclass: dnsdomainaux
49 associateddomain: hostname.intern
51 dhcphwaddress: ethernet
00:
00:
00:
00:
00:
00
52 dhcpstatements: fixed-address hostname
54 </pre
></blockquote
>
56 <p
>The DNS server uses the associateddomain and arecord entries, while
57 the DHCP server uses the dhcphwaddress and dhcpstatements entries
58 before asking DNS to resolve the fixed-adddress. LTSP will use
59 dhcphwaddress or associateddomain and the ldapconfig* attributes.
</p
>
61 <p
>I am not yet sure if I can get the DHCP server to look for its
62 dhcphost in a different location, to allow us to put the objects
63 outside the
"DHCP Config
" subtree, but hope to figure out a way to do
64 that. If I can
't figure out a way to do that, we can still get rid of
65 the hosts subtree and move all its content into the DHCP Config tree
66 (which probably should be renamed to be more related to the new
67 content. I suspect cn=dnsdhcp,ou=services or something like that
68 might be a good place to put it.
</p
>
70 <p
>If you want to help out with implementing this for Debian Edu,
71 please contact us on debian-edu@lists.debian.org.
</p
>
76 <title>Idea for storing LTSP configuration in LDAP
</title>
77 <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Idea_for_storing_LTSP_configuration_in_LDAP.html
</link>
78 <guid isPermaLink=
"true">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Idea_for_storing_LTSP_configuration_in_LDAP.html
</guid>
79 <pubDate>Sun,
11 Jul
2010 22:
00:
00 +
0200</pubDate>
81 <p
>Vagrant mentioned on IRC today that ltsp_config now support
82 sourcing files from /usr/share/ltsp/ltsp_config.d/ on the thin
83 clients, and that this can be used to fetch configuration from LDAP if
84 Debian Edu choose to store configuration there.
</p
>
86 <p
>Armed with this information, I got inspired and wrote a test module
87 to get configuration from LDAP. The idea is to look up the MAC
88 address of the client in LDAP, and look for attributes on the form
89 ltspconfigsetting=value, and use this to export SETTING=value to the
90 LTSP clients.
</p
>
92 <p
>The goal is to be able to store the LTSP configuration attributes
93 in a
"computer
" LDAP object used by both DNS and DHCP, and thus
94 allowing us to store all information about a computer in one place.
</p
>
96 <p
>This is a untested draft implementation, and I welcome feedback on
97 this approach. A real LDAP schema for the ltspClientAux objectclass
98 need to be written. Comments, suggestions, etc?
</p
>
100 <blockquote
><pre
>
101 # Store in /opt/ltsp/$arch/usr/share/ltsp/ltsp_config.d/ldap-config
103 # Fetch LTSP client settings from LDAP based on MAC address
105 # Uses ethernet address as stored in the dhcpHost objectclass using
106 # the dhcpHWAddress attribute or ethernet address stored in the
107 # ieee802Device objectclass with the macAddress attribute.
109 # This module is written to be schema agnostic, and only depend on the
110 # existence of attribute names.
112 # The LTSP configuration variables are saved directly using a
113 # ltspConfig prefix and uppercasing the rest of the attribute name.
114 # To set the SERVER variable, set the ltspConfigServer attribute.
116 # Some LDAP schema should be created with all the relevant
117 # configuration settings. Something like this should work:
119 # objectclass (
1.1.2.2 NAME
'ltspClientAux
'
122 # MAY ( ltspConfigServer $ ltsConfigSound $ ... )
124 LDAPSERVER=$(debian-edu-ldapserver)
125 if [
"$LDAPSERVER
" ] ; then
126 LDAPBASE=$(debian-edu-ldapserver -b)
127 for MAC in $(LANG=C ifconfig |grep -i hwaddr| awk
'{print $
5}
'|sort -u) ; do
128 filter=
"(|(dhcpHWAddress=ethernet $MAC)(macAddress=$MAC))
"
129 ldapsearch -h
"$LDAPSERVER
" -b
"$LDAPBASE
" -v -x
"$filter
" | \
130 grep
'^ltspConfig
' | while read attr value ; do
131 # Remove prefix and convert to upper case
132 attr=$(echo $attr | sed
's/^ltspConfig//i
' | tr a-z A-Z)
133 # bass value on to clients
134 eval
"$attr=$value; export $attr
"
138 </pre
></blockquote
>
140 <p
>I
'm not sure this shell construction will work, because I suspect
141 the while block might end up in a subshell causing the variables set
142 there to not show up in ltsp-config, but if that is the case I am sure
143 the code can be restructured to make sure the variables are passed on.
144 I expect that can be solved with some testing. :)
</p
>
146 <p
>If you want to help out with implementing this for Debian Edu,
147 please contact us on debian-edu@lists.debian.org.
</p
>
152 <title>jXplorer, a very nice LDAP GUI
</title>
153 <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/jXplorer__a_very_nice_LDAP_GUI.html
</link>
154 <guid isPermaLink=
"true">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/jXplorer__a_very_nice_LDAP_GUI.html
</guid>
155 <pubDate>Fri,
9 Jul
2010 12:
55:
00 +
0200</pubDate>
158 <a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/LUMA__a_very_nice_LDAP_GUI.html
">my
159 last post
</a
> about available LDAP tools in Debian, I was told about a
160 LDAP GUI that is even better than luma. The java application
161 <a href=
"http://jxplorer.org/
">jXplorer
</a
> is claimed to be capable of
162 moving LDAP objects and subtrees using drag-and-drop, and can
163 authenticate using Kerberos. I have only tested the Kerberos
164 authentication, but do not have a LDAP setup allowing me to rewrite
165 LDAP with my test user yet. It is
166 <a href=
"http://packages.qa.debian.org/j/jxplorer.html
">available in
167 Debian
</a
> testing and unstable at the moment. The only problem I
168 have with it is how it handle errors. If something go wrong, its
169 non-intuitive behaviour require me to go through some query work list
170 and remove the failing query. Nothing big, but very annoying.
</p
>
175 <title>MS Word krøller det til for politiet?
</title>
176 <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/MS_Word_kr__ller_det_til_for_politiet_.html
</link>
177 <guid isPermaLink=
"true">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/MS_Word_kr__ller_det_til_for_politiet_.html
</guid>
178 <pubDate>Thu,
8 Jul
2010 14:
00:
00 +
0200</pubDate>
180 <p
>De siste dagene har Aftenposten
181 <a href=
"http://www.aftenposten.no/nyheter/iriks/article3718597.ece
">fortalt
</a
>
182 <a href=
"http://www.aftenposten.no/nyheter/iriks/article3724249.ece
">hvordan
</a
>
183 politet har brukt skriveverktøy som ikke håndterer arabisk tekst og
184 tekst som skal skrives fra høyre mot venstre når de har laget
185 løpeseddel for å be om informasjon fra publikum. Resultatet har vært
186 en uleselig arabisk-bit på løpeseddelen. Feilen har oppstått når
187 teksten har blitt
"kopiert inn i programvare som ikke har støtte for
188 språk som skrives fra høyre mot venstre
", og jeg er ganske sikker på
189 at det er snakk om Microsoft Office i dette tilfellet. Er det slik at
190 MS Office i norsk språkdrakt ikke har støtte for tekst som skal
191 skrives fra høyre mot venstre? Jeg tror alle utgaver av
192 OpenOffice.org har slik støtte, og det er jo ikke veldig vanskelig å
193 la slik støtte finnes i alle utgaver av et program hvis støtten først
194 er utviklet. Aftenpostens melding får meg til å undre om problemet
195 ville vært unngått hvis politiet brukte OpenOffice.org i stedet for MS
198 <p
>Mon tro om det er flere eksempler på at MS Office har ødelagt for
199 offentlig myndighet?
</p
>
204 <title>Lenny-
>Squeeze upgrades, apt vs aptitude with the Gnome desktop
</title>
205 <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Lenny__Squeeze_upgrades__apt_vs_aptitude_with_the_Gnome_desktop.html
</link>
206 <guid isPermaLink=
"true">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Lenny__Squeeze_upgrades__apt_vs_aptitude_with_the_Gnome_desktop.html
</guid>
207 <pubDate>Sat,
3 Jul
2010 23:
55:
00 +
0200</pubDate>
209 <p
>Here is a short update on my
<a
210 href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/~pere/debian-upgrade-testing/
">my
211 Debian Lenny-
>Squeeze upgrade testing
</a
>. Here is a summary of the
212 difference for Gnome when it is upgraded by apt-get and aptitude. I
'm
213 not reporting the status for KDE, because the upgrade crashes when
214 aptitude try because of missing conflicts
215 (
<a href=
"http://bugs.debian.org/
584861">#
584861</a
> and
216 <a href=
"http://bugs.debian.org/
585716">#
585716</a
>).
</p
>
218 <p
>At the end of the upgrade test script, dpkg -l is executed to get a
219 complete list of the installed packages. Based on this I see these
220 differences when I did a test run today. As usual, I do not really
221 know what the correct set of packages would be, but thought it best to
222 publish the difference.
</p
>
224 <p
>Installed using apt-get, missing with aptitude
</p
>
226 <blockquote
><p
>
227 at-spi cpp-
4.3 finger gnome-spell gstreamer0.10-gnomevfs
228 libatspi1.0-
0 libcupsys2 libeel2-data libgail-common libgdl-
1-common
229 libgnomeprint2.2-data libgnomeprintui2.2-common libgnomevfs2-bin
230 libgtksourceview-common libpt-
1.10.10-plugins-alsa
231 libpt-
1.10.10-plugins-v4l libservlet2.4-java libxalan2-java
232 libxerces2-java openoffice.org-writer2latex openssl-blacklist p7zip
233 python-
4suite-xml python-eggtrayicon python-gtkhtml2
234 python-gtkmozembed svgalibg1 xserver-xephyr zip
235 </p
></blockquote
>
237 <p
>Installed using apt-get, removed with aptitude
</p
>
239 <blockquote
><p
>
240 bluez-utils dhcdbd djvulibre-desktop epiphany-gecko
241 gnome-app-install gnome-mount gnome-vfs-obexftp gnome-volume-manager
242 libao2 libavahi-compat-libdnssd1 libavahi-core5 libbind9-
50
243 libbluetooth2 libcamel1.2-
11 libcdio7 libcucul0 libcurl3
244 libdirectfb-
1.0-
0 libdvdread3 libedata-cal1.2-
6 libedataserver1.2-
9
245 libeel2-
2.20 libepc-
1.0-
1 libepc-ui-
1.0-
1 libexchange-storage1.2-
3
246 libfaad0 libgd2-noxpm libgda3-
3 libgda3-common libggz2 libggzcore9
247 libggzmod4 libgksu1.2-
0 libgksuui1.0-
1 libgmyth0 libgnome-desktop-
2
248 libgnome-pilot2 libgnomecups1.0-
1 libgnomeprint2.2-
0
249 libgnomeprintui2.2-
0 libgpod3 libgraphviz4 libgtkhtml2-
0
250 libgtksourceview1.0-
0 libgucharmap6 libhesiod0 libicu38 libisccc50
251 libisccfg50 libiw29 libkpathsea4 libltdl3 liblwres50 libmagick++
10
252 libmagick10 libmalaga7 libmtp7 libmysqlclient15off libnautilus-burn4
253 libneon27 libnm-glib0 libnm-util0 libopal-
2.2 libosp5
254 libparted1.8-
10 libpisock9 libpisync1 libpoppler-glib3 libpoppler3
255 libpt-
1.10.10 libraw1394-
8 libsensors3 libsmbios2 libsoup2.2-
8
256 libssh2-
1 libsuitesparse-
3.1.0 libswfdec-
0.6-
90 libtalloc1
257 libtotem-plparser10 libtrackerclient0 libvoikko1 libxalan2-java-gcj
258 libxerces2-java-gcj libxklavier12 libxtrap6 libxxf86misc1 libzephyr3
259 mysql-common swfdec-gnome totem-gstreamer wodim
260 </p
></blockquote
>
262 <p
>Installed using aptitude, missing with apt-get
</p
>
264 <blockquote
><p
>
265 gnome gnome-desktop-environment hamster-applet python-gnomeapplet
266 python-gnomekeyring python-wnck rhythmbox-plugins xorg
267 xserver-xorg-input-all xserver-xorg-input-evdev
268 xserver-xorg-input-kbd xserver-xorg-input-mouse
269 xserver-xorg-input-synaptics xserver-xorg-video-all
270 xserver-xorg-video-apm xserver-xorg-video-ark xserver-xorg-video-ati
271 xserver-xorg-video-chips xserver-xorg-video-cirrus
272 xserver-xorg-video-dummy xserver-xorg-video-fbdev
273 xserver-xorg-video-glint xserver-xorg-video-i128
274 xserver-xorg-video-i740 xserver-xorg-video-mach64
275 xserver-xorg-video-mga xserver-xorg-video-neomagic
276 xserver-xorg-video-nouveau xserver-xorg-video-nv
277 xserver-xorg-video-r128 xserver-xorg-video-radeon
278 xserver-xorg-video-radeonhd xserver-xorg-video-rendition
279 xserver-xorg-video-s3 xserver-xorg-video-s3virge
280 xserver-xorg-video-savage xserver-xorg-video-siliconmotion
281 xserver-xorg-video-sis xserver-xorg-video-sisusb
282 xserver-xorg-video-tdfx xserver-xorg-video-tga
283 xserver-xorg-video-trident xserver-xorg-video-tseng
284 xserver-xorg-video-vesa xserver-xorg-video-vmware
285 xserver-xorg-video-voodoo
286 </p
></blockquote
>
288 <p
>Installed using aptitude, removed with apt-get
</p
>
290 <blockquote
><p
>
291 deskbar-applet xserver-xorg xserver-xorg-core
292 xserver-xorg-input-wacom xserver-xorg-video-intel
293 xserver-xorg-video-openchrome
294 </p
></blockquote
>
296 <p
>I was told on IRC that the xorg-xserver package was
297 <a href=
"http://git.debian.org/?p=pkg-xorg/xserver/xorg-server.git;a=commit;h=
9c8080d06c457932d3bfec021c69ac000aa60120
">changed
298 in git
</a
> today to try to get apt-get to not remove xorg completely.
299 No idea when it hits Squeeze, but when it does I hope it will reduce
300 the difference somewhat.
305 <title>Caching password, user and group on a roaming Debian laptop
</title>
306 <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Caching_password__user_and_group_on_a_roaming_Debian_laptop.html
</link>
307 <guid isPermaLink=
"true">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Caching_password__user_and_group_on_a_roaming_Debian_laptop.html
</guid>
308 <pubDate>Thu,
1 Jul
2010 11:
40:
00 +
0200</pubDate>
310 <p
>For a laptop, centralized user directories and password checking is
311 a bit troubling. Laptops are typically used also when not connected
312 to the network, and it is vital for a user to be able to log in or
313 unlock the screen saver also when a central server is unavailable.
314 This is possible by caching passwords and directory information (user
315 and group attributes) locally, and the packages to do so are available
316 in Debian. Here follow two recipes to set this up in Debian/Squeeze.
317 It is also possible to set up in Debian/Lenny, but require more manual
318 setup there because pam-auth-update is missing in Lenny.
</p
>
320 <h2
>LDAP/Kerberos + nscd + libpam-ccreds + libpam-mklocaluser/pam_mkhomedir
</h2
>
322 This is the traditional method with a twist. The password caching is
323 provided by libpam-ccreds (version
10-
4 or later is needed on
324 Squeeze), and the directory caching is done by nscd. The directory
325 lookup and password checking is done using LDAP. If one want to use
326 Kerberos for password checking the libpam-ldapd package can be
327 replaced with libpam-krb5 or libpam-heimdal. If one is happy having a
328 local home directory with the path listed in LDAP, one can use the
329 pam_mkhomedir module from pam-modules to make this happen instead of
330 using libpam-mklocaluser. A setup for pam-auth-update to enable
331 pam_mkhomedir will have to be written until a fix for
332 <a href=
"http://bugs.debian.org/
568577">bug #
568577</a
> is in the
333 archive. Because I believe it is a bad idea to have local home
334 directories using misleading paths like /site/server/partition/, I
335 prefer to create a local user with the home directory in /home/. This
336 is done using the libpam-mklocaluser package.
</p
>
338 <p
>These packages need to be installed and configured
</p
>
340 <blockquote
><pre
>
341 libnss-ldapd libpam-ldapd nscd libpam-ccreds libpam-mklocaluser
342 </pre
></blockquote
>
344 <p
>The ldapd packages will ask for LDAP connection information, and
345 one have to fill in the values that fits ones own site. Make sure the
346 PAM part uses encrypted connections, to make sure the password is not
347 sent in clear text to the LDAP server. I
've been unable to get TLS
348 certificate checking for a self signed certificate working, which make
349 LDAP authentication unsafe for Debian Edu (nslcd is not checking if it
350 is talking to the correct LDAP server), and very much welcome feedback
351 on how to get this working.
</p
>
353 <p
>Because nscd do not have a default configuration fit for offline
354 caching until
<a href=
"http://bugs.debian.org/
485282">bug #
485282</a
>
355 is fixed, this configuration should be used instead of the one
356 currently in /etc/nscd.conf. The changes are in the fields
357 reload-count and positive-time-to-live, and is based on the
358 instructions I found in the
359 <a href=
"http://www.flyn.org/laptopldap/
">LDAP for Mobile Laptops
</a
>
360 instructions by Flyn Computing.
</p
>
362 <blockquote
><pre
>
364 reload-count unlimited
367 enable-cache passwd yes
368 positive-time-to-live passwd
2592000
369 negative-time-to-live passwd
20
370 suggested-size passwd
211
371 check-files passwd yes
372 persistent passwd yes
374 max-db-size passwd
33554432
375 auto-propagate passwd yes
377 enable-cache group yes
378 positive-time-to-live group
2592000
379 negative-time-to-live group
20
380 suggested-size group
211
381 check-files group yes
384 max-db-size group
33554432
385 auto-propagate group yes
387 enable-cache hosts no
388 positive-time-to-live hosts
2592000
389 negative-time-to-live hosts
20
390 suggested-size hosts
211
391 check-files hosts yes
394 max-db-size hosts
33554432
396 enable-cache services yes
397 positive-time-to-live services
2592000
398 negative-time-to-live services
20
399 suggested-size services
211
400 check-files services yes
401 persistent services yes
403 max-db-size services
33554432
404 </pre
></blockquote
>
406 <p
>While we wait for a mechanism to update /etc/nsswitch.conf
407 automatically like the one provided in
408 <a href=
"http://bugs.debian.org/
496915">bug #
496915</a
>, the file
409 content need to be manually replaced to ensure LDAP is used as the
410 directory service on the machine. /etc/nsswitch.conf should normally
411 look like this:
</p
>
413 <blockquote
><pre
>
417 hosts: files mdns4_minimal [NOTFOUND=return] dns mdns4
424 </pre
></blockquote
>
426 <p
>The important parts are that ldap is listed last for passwd, group,
427 shadow and netgroup.
</p
>
429 <p
>With these changes in place, any user in LDAP will be able to log
430 in locally on the machine using for example kdm, get a local home
431 directory created and have the password as well as user and group
434 <h2
>LDAP/Kerberos + nss-updatedb + libpam-ccreds +
435 libpam-mklocaluser/pam_mkhomedir
</h2
>
437 <p
>Because nscd have had its share of problems, and seem to have
438 problems doing proper caching, I
've seen suggestions and recipes to
439 use nss-updatedb to copy parts of the LDAP database locally when the
440 LDAP database is available. I have not tested such setup, because I
441 discovered sssd.
</p
>
443 <h2
>LDAP/Kerberos + sssd + libpam-mklocaluser
</h2
>
445 <p
>A more flexible and robust setup than the nscd combination
446 mentioned earlier that has shown up recently, is the
447 <a href=
"https://fedorahosted.org/sssd/
">sssd
</a
> package from Redhat.
448 It is part of the
<a href=
"http://www.freeipa.org/
">FreeIPA
</A
> project
449 to provide a Active Directory like directory service for Linux
450 machines. The sssd system combines the caching of passwords and user
451 information into one package, and remove the need for nscd and
452 libpam-ccreds. It support LDAP and Kerberos, but not NIS. Version
453 1.2 do not support netgroups, but it is said that it will support this
454 in version
1.5 expected to show up later in
2010. Because the
455 <a href=
"http://packages.qa.debian.org/s/sssd.html
">sssd package
</a
>
456 was missing in Debian, I ended up co-maintaining it with Werner, and
457 version
1.2 is now in testing.
459 <p
>These packages need to be installed and configured to get the
460 roaming setup I want
</p
>
462 <blockquote
><pre
>
463 libpam-sss libnss-sss libpam-mklocaluser
464 </pre
></blockquote
>
466 The complete setup of sssd is done by editing/creating
467 <tt
>/etc/sssd/sssd.conf
</tt
>.
469 <blockquote
><pre
>
471 config_file_version =
2
472 reconnection_retries =
3
480 reconnection_retries =
3
483 reconnection_retries =
3
487 cache_credentials = true
491 chpass_provider = ldap
493 ldap_uri = ldap://ldap
494 ldap_search_base = dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
495 ldap_tls_reqcert = never
496 ldap_tls_cacert = /etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt
497 </pre
></blockquote
>
499 <p
>I got the same problem here with certificate checking. Had to set
500 "ldap_tls_reqcert = never
" to get it working.
</p
>
502 <p
>With the libnss-sss package in testing at the moment, the
503 nsswitch.conf file is update automatically, so there is no need to
504 modify it manually.
</p
>
506 <p
>If you want to help out with implementing this for Debian Edu,
507 please contact us on debian-edu@lists.debian.org.
</p
>
512 <title>LUMA, a very nice LDAP GUI
</title>
513 <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/LUMA__a_very_nice_LDAP_GUI.html
</link>
514 <guid isPermaLink=
"true">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/LUMA__a_very_nice_LDAP_GUI.html
</guid>
515 <pubDate>Mon,
28 Jun
2010 00:
30:
00 +
0200</pubDate>
517 <p
>The last few days I have been looking into the status of the LDAP
518 directory in Debian Edu, and in the process I started to miss a GUI
519 tool to browse the LDAP tree. The only one I was able to find in
520 Debian/Squeeze and Lenny is
521 <a href=
"http://luma.sourceforge.net/
">LUMA
</a
>, which has proved to
522 be a great tool to get a overview of the current LDAP directory
523 populated by default in Skolelinux. Thanks to it, I have been able to
524 find empty and obsolete subtrees, misplaced objects and duplicate
525 objects. It will be installed by default in Debian/Squeeze. If you
526 are working with LDAP, give it a go. :)
</p
>
528 <p
>I did notice one problem with it I have not had time to report to
529 the BTS yet. There is no .desktop file in the package, so the tool do
530 not show up in the Gnome and KDE menus, but only deep down in in the
531 Debian submenu in KDE. I hope that can be fixed before Squeeze is
534 <p
>I have not yet been able to get it to modify the tree yet. I would
535 like to move objects and remove subtrees directly in the GUI, but have
536 not found a way to do that with LUMA yet. So in the mean time, I use
537 <a href=
"http://www.lichteblau.com/ldapvi/
">ldapvi
</a
> for that.
</p
>
539 <p
>If you have tips on other GUI tools for LDAP that might be useful
540 in Debian Edu, please contact us on debian-edu@lists.debian.org.
</p
>
542 <p
>Update
2010-
06-
29: Ross Reedstrom tipped us about the
543 <a href=
"http://packages.qa.debian.org/g/gq.html
">gq
</a
> package as a
544 useful GUI alternative. It seem like a good tool, but is unmaintained
545 in Debian and got a RC bug keeping it out of Squeeze. Unless that
546 changes, it will not be an option for Debian Edu based on Squeeze.
</p
>
551 <title>Idea for a change to LDAP schemas allowing DNS and DHCP info to be combined into one object
</title>
552 <link>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
</link>
553 <guid isPermaLink=
"true">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
</guid>
554 <pubDate>Thu,
24 Jun
2010 00:
35:
00 +
0200</pubDate>
556 <p
>A while back, I
557 <a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Time_for_new__LDAP_schemas_replacing_RFC_2307_.html
">complained
558 about the fact
</a
> that it is not possible with the provided schemas
559 for storing DNS and DHCP information in LDAP to combine the two sets
560 of information into one LDAP object representing a computer.
</p
>
562 <p
>In the mean time, I discovered that a simple fix would be to make
563 the dhcpHost object class auxiliary, to allow it to be combined with
564 the dNSDomain object class, and thus forming one object for one
565 computer when storing both DHCP and DNS information in LDAP.
</p
>
567 <p
>If I understand this correctly, it is not safe to do this change
568 without also changing the assigned number for the object class, and I
569 do not know enough about LDAP schema design to do that properly for
570 Debian Edu.
</p
>
572 <p
>Anyway, for future reference, this is how I believe we could change
574 <a href=
"http://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-ietf-dhc-ldap-schema-
00">DHCP
575 schema
</a
> to solve at least part of the problem with the LDAP schemas
576 available today from IETF.
</p
>
579 --- dhcp.schema (revision
65192)
580 +++ dhcp.schema (working copy)
582 objectclass (
2.16.840.1.113719.1.203.6.6
583 NAME
'dhcpHost
'
584 DESC
'This represents information about a particular client
'
588 MAY (dhcpLeaseDN $ dhcpHWAddress $ dhcpOptionsDN $ dhcpStatements $ dhcpComments $ dhcpOption)
589 X-NDS_CONTAINMENT (
'dhcpService
' 'dhcpSubnet
' 'dhcpGroup
') )
592 <p
>I very much welcome clues on how to do this properly for Debian
593 Edu/Squeeze. We provide the DHCP schema in our debian-edu-config
594 package, and should thus be free to rewrite it as we see fit.
</p
>
596 <p
>If you want to help out with implementing this for Debian Edu,
597 please contact us on debian-edu@lists.debian.org.
</p
>
602 <title>Calling tasksel like the installer, while still getting useful output
</title>
603 <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Calling_tasksel_like_the_installer__while_still_getting_useful_output.html
</link>
604 <guid isPermaLink=
"true">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Calling_tasksel_like_the_installer__while_still_getting_useful_output.html
</guid>
605 <pubDate>Wed,
16 Jun
2010 14:
55:
00 +
0200</pubDate>
607 <p
>A few times I have had the need to simulate the way tasksel
608 installs packages during the normal debian-installer run. Until now,
609 I have ended up letting tasksel do the work, with the annoying problem
610 of not getting any feedback at all when something fails (like a
611 conffile question from dpkg or a download that fails), using code like
614 <blockquote
><pre
>
615 export DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive
616 tasksel --new-install
617 </pre
></blockquote
>
619 This would invoke tasksel, let its automatic task selection pick the
620 tasks to install, and continue to install the requested tasks without
621 any output what so ever.
623 Recently I revisited this problem while working on the automatic
624 package upgrade testing, because tasksel would some times hang without
625 any useful feedback, and I want to see what is going on when it
626 happen. Then it occured to me, I can parse the output from tasksel
627 when asked to run in test mode, and use that aptitude command line
628 printed by tasksel then to simulate the tasksel run. I ended up using
631 <blockquote
><pre
>
632 export DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive
633 cmd=
"$(in_target tasksel -t --new-install | sed
's/debconf-apt-progress -- //
')
"
635 </pre
></blockquote
>
637 <p
>The content of $cmd is typically something like
"<tt
>aptitude -q
638 --without-recommends -o APT::Install-Recommends=no -y install
639 ~t^desktop$ ~t^gnome-desktop$ ~t^laptop$ ~pstandard ~prequired
640 ~pimportant
</tt
>", which will install the gnome desktop task, the
641 laptop task and all packages with priority standard , required and
642 important, just like tasksel would have done it during
643 installation.
</p
>
645 <p
>A better approach is probably to extend tasksel to be able to
646 install packages without using debconf-apt-progress, for use cases
652 <title>Vinmonopolet bryter loven åpenlyst - og flere planlegger å gjøre det samme
</title>
653 <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Vinmonopolet_bryter_loven___penlyst___og_flere_planlegger____gj__re_det_samme.html
</link>
654 <guid isPermaLink=
"true">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Vinmonopolet_bryter_loven___penlyst___og_flere_planlegger____gj__re_det_samme.html
</guid>
655 <pubDate>Wed,
16 Jun
2010 11:
00:
00 +
0200</pubDate>
657 <p
><a href=
"http://www.dagbladet.no/
2010/
06/
16/nyheter/innenriks/streik/arbeidsliv/
12157858/
">Dagbladet
658 melder
</a
> at Vinmonopolet med bakgrunn i vekterstreiken som pågår i
659 Norge for tiden, har bestemt seg for med vitende og vilje å bryte
660 sentralbanklovens paragraf
14 ved å nekte folk å betale med
661 kontanter, og at flere butikker planlegger å følge deres eksempel.
662 Jeg synes det er hårreisende hvis de slipper unna med et slikt
663 soleklart lovbrudd, og lurer på hva slags muligheter jeg vil ha hvis
664 jeg blir nektet å handle med kontanter. Jeg handler i hovedsak med
665 kontanter selv, da jeg anser det som en borgerrett å kunne handle
666 anonymt uten at det blir registrert. For meg er det et angrep på mitt
667 personvern å nekte å ta imot kontant betaling.
</p
>
669 <p
><a href=
"http://www.lovdata.no/all/tl-
19850524-
028-
003.html#
14">Paragrafen
670 i sentralbankloven
</a
> lyder:
</p
>
673 <p
>§
14. Tvungent betalingsmiddel
</p
>
675 <p
>Bankens sedler og mynter er tvungent betalingsmiddel i Norge. Ingen
676 er pliktig til i én betaling å ta imot mer enn femogtyve mynter av
677 hver enhet.
</p
>
679 <p
>Sterkt skadde sedler og mynter er ikke tvungent
680 betalingsmiddel. Banken gir nærmere forskrifter om erstatning for
681 bortkomne, brente eller skadde sedler og mynter.
</p
>
683 <p
>Selv om en avtale inneholder klausul om betaling av en
684 pengeforpliktelse i gullverdi, kan skyldneren frigjøre seg med tvungne
685 betalingsmidler uten hensyn til denne klausul.
</p
>
688 <p
>Det er med bakgrunn i denne lovet ikke tillatt å nekte å ta imot
689 kontakt betaling. Det er en lov jeg har sans for, og som jeg mener må
690 håndheves strengt.
</p
>