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14 <a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/">Petter Reinholdtsen
</a>
23 <div class=
"title"><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Sleep_until_morning___home_automation_for_the_kids.html">Sleep until morning - home automation for the kids
</a></div>
24 <div class=
"date">10th February
2013</div>
25 <div class=
"body"><p><img align=
"left" style=
"margin-right:25px;" src=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-02-10-morning-light.jpeg"></p>
27 <p>With kids in the house, one challenge is getting them to sleep
28 during the night and wake up when it is morning. I mean, when I
29 believe it is morning, and not two hours earlier. In our household we
30 have decided that
07:
00 is the turning point, but getting the kids to
31 sleep until
07:
00 is a small challenge every day. They have adapted
32 quite well, and rarely wake up at
05:
00 any more, but some times wake
33 up at times like
05:
50,
06:
15,
06:
30 or
06:
45, and it is hard to put
34 the awake one to bed again without disturbing and waking the rest.
35 And I understand perfectly well that they fail to sleep until
07:
00
36 some times, as there is no way for them to know if it is before or
37 after the magic moment without coming and asking us parents.
</p>
39 <p>But yesterday I came up with a method to solve this problem. It
40 involve home automation. A few years ago I bought a
41 <a href=
"http://www.telldus.se/products/tellstick">Tellstick
</a> and RF
42 switches at the local
<a href=
"http://www.clasohlson.com/">Clas
43 Ohlson
</a> shop, allowing me to control lights and other electrical
44 gadgets using my Linux server. When I moved from the old flat to a
45 small house, I put away all this equipment as most of the lighting in
46 the house was not using wall sockets and thus not easy to connect to
47 the gadgets I had. But recently I bought a
48 <a href=
"http://www.telldus.se/products/tellstick_net">Tellstick
49 Net
</a> to be able to read sensor input as well as control power
50 sockets. I want to control ovens in the basement to avoid the pipes
51 to freeze, and monitor the humidity to detect flooding. The default
52 setup for Tellstick Net is to be controlled by the vendor web service,
53 which to me is a security problem, but it is also possible to build
55 <a href=
"http://developer.telldus.com/blog/2012/03/02/help-us-develop-local-access-using-tellstick-net-build-your-own-firmware">firmware
56 with local access
</A> instead of being controlled by a Swedish
57 company, thanks to the release of the GPL licensed firmware source
58 code. I plan to get that running before I let it control anything
59 important. But while working on this, one idea to make it easier for
60 the kids came to me yesterday. We can set up a night light controlled
61 by the computer, and turn it automatically on at
07:
00. The kids can
62 then check the light in the morning to know if they are supposed to
63 get up or not. They joined me in setting everything up, and I
64 repeated the concept several times before bed times to make sure they
65 remembered to check the light before getting up in the morning.
</p>
67 <p>We tested it this morning, and all the kids stayed in bed until
68 after
07:
00, and every one of them commented on the fact that the
69 "morning light" was turned on and signalled that the morning had
70 arrived. So this look like a success, and I am excited to see how
71 this develops the next few days. :) I really hope this can allow us
72 all to sleep a bit longer in the morning.
</p>
74 <p>A nice advantage of this setup is that we can remote control when
75 to tell the kids to get up. We do not have to wait until
07:
00, and
76 can also delay it if we want to.
</p>
81 Tags:
<a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english
</a>.
86 <div class=
"padding"></div>
89 <div class=
"title"><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Hva_stemte_hver_stortingsrepresentant_i_voteringene_om_datalagringsdirektivet_.html">Hva stemte hver stortingsrepresentant i voteringene om datalagringsdirektivet?
</a></div>
90 <div class=
"date"> 9th February
2013</div>
91 <div class=
"body"><p>Nytt stortingsvalg er på trappene, og folket får igjen mulighet til
92 å påvirke sammensetningen i vår lovgivende forsamling. Da er det
93 relevant å vite hvilke representanter og partier som har støttet
94 innføringen av brev- og besøkskontroll av hele den norske
95 befolkningen, det vil si datalagringsdirektivet.
</p>
97 <p>Hvis du vil vite hva hver enkelt stortingsrepresentant har stemt i
98 stortingsvoteringene om datalagringsdirektivet, så har nettstedet til
99 <a href=
"http://www.holderdeord.no/">Holder De Ord
</a> den (så vidt jeg
100 vet) eneste komplette oversikten på sin temaside om
101 <a href=
"http://beta.holderdeord.no/issues/innfore-datalagringsdirektivet">innføringen
102 av datalagringsdirektivet
</a>. Den har detaljene fra de
11 relevante
103 forslagene som har vært fremmet så lagt. De har vært votert over
104 2011-
04-
04,
2011-
04-
11,
2012-
06-
11,
2012-
10-
05 og
2012-
12-
06.
</p>
106 <p>Hvis du lurer på hva som er problemet med datalagringsdirektivet,
107 anbefaler jeg å lese
<a href=
"http://www.uhuru.biz/?cat=84">artiklene
108 fra Jon Wessel-Aas
</a> om temaet, samt informasjon fra foreningen
109 <a href=
"http://www.digitaltpersonvern.no/">Digitalt
115 Tags:
<a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/norsk">norsk
</a>,
<a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/personvern">personvern
</a>,
<a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/stortinget">stortinget
</a>,
<a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/surveillance">surveillance
</a>.
120 <div class=
"padding"></div>
123 <div class=
"title"><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/_kt_overv_kning_applauderes_igjen_av_Arbeiderpartiet__H_yre_og_Fremskrittspartiet.html">Økt overvåkning applauderes igjen av Arbeiderpartiet, Høyre og Fremskrittspartiet
</a></div>
124 <div class=
"date"> 4th February
2013</div>
125 <div class=
"body"><p>Jeg ser med gru at Arbeiderpartiet, Høyre og Fremskrittspartiet
126 <a href=
"http://www.aftenposten.no/nyheter/iriks/Positive-til-mer-smuglerovervaking-7110348.html">applauderer
127 tollvesenets forslag
</a> om å øke overvåkningen i Norge nok et hakk.
128 Det er ikke så rart, da de som uttaler seg jo også har støttet
129 innføringen av datalagringsdirektivet eller i hvert fall ikke veldig
130 aktivt har motarbeidet det. Innføringen av datalagringsdirektivet er
131 en lovendring som innebærer brev og besøkskontroll for hele
134 <p><a href=
"http://www.stortinget.no/no/Saker-og-publikasjoner/Saker/Sak/?p=48717">Datalagringsdirektivet
</a>
135 har vært oppe til votering i stortinget tre ganger så langt. Det ble
136 <a href=
"http://svartelisten.org/">vedtatt første gang
2011-
04-
04</a>
138 <a href=
"https://github.com/holderdeord/hdo-folketingparser/blob/master/data/votering-2011-04-11.xml">andre
139 gang
2011-
04-
11</a> (lovendringer voteres to ganger), og forslag om å
141 <a href=
"http://www.stortinget.no/no/Saker-og-publikasjoner/Saker/Sak/Voteringsoversikt/?p=53844&dnid=1">nedstemt
142 2012-
12-
06</a> (se også
143 <a href=
"http://beta.holderdeord.no/issues/innfore-datalagringsdirektivet">oversikt fra Holder De
146 <p>Jan Bøhler i Arbeiderpartiet stemte for å innføre
147 datalagringsdirektivet i lovverket i første votering, var ikke
148 tilstede i andre votering og støttet loven i tredje votering. André
149 Oktay Dahl i Høyre var ikke til stede i første og andre votering men
150 støttet loven i tredje votering. Ulf Leirstein i Fremskrittspartiet
151 stemte mot loven i første votering men var ikke til stede i andre og
154 <p>Hvis du lurer på hva som er problemet med datalagringsdirektivet,
155 anbefaler jeg å lese
<a href=
"http://www.uhuru.biz/?cat=84">artiklene
156 fra Jon Wessel-Aas
</a> om temaet, samt informasjon fra foreningen
157 <a href=
"http://www.digitaltpersonvern.no/">Digitalt
160 <p><strong>Oppdatering
2013-
03-
09</strong>: Endret lenke til Holder De
161 Ord, som har byttet mange lenker i forbindelse med import av
162 voteringsdata for
2010-
2011.
</p>
167 Tags:
<a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/norsk">norsk
</a>,
<a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/personvern">personvern
</a>,
<a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/surveillance">surveillance
</a>.
172 <div class=
"padding"></div>
175 <div class=
"title"><a href=
"http://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></div>
176 <div class=
"date"> 2nd February
2013</div>
177 <div class=
"body"><p>My
178 <a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/How_to_backport_bitcoin_qt_version_0_7_2_2_to_Debian_Squeeze.html">last
179 bitcoin related blog post
</a> mentioned that the new
180 <a href=
"http://packages.qa.debian.org/bitcoin">bitcoin package
</a> for
181 Debian was waiting in NEW. It was accepted by the Debian ftp-masters
182 2013-
01-
19, and have been available in unstable since then. It was
183 automatically copied to Ubuntu, and is available in their Raring
186 <p>But there is a strange problem with the build that block this new
187 version from being available on the i386 and kfreebsd-i386
188 architectures. For some strange reason, the autobuilders in Debian
189 for these architectures fail to run the test suite on these
190 architectures (
<a href=
"http://bugs.debian.org/672524">BTS #
672524</a>).
191 We are so far unable to reproduce it when building it manually, and
192 no-one have been able to propose a fix. If you got an idea what is
193 failing, please let us know via the BTS.
</p>
195 <p>One feature that is annoying me with of the bitcoin client, because
196 I often run low on disk space, is the fact that the client will exit
197 if it run short on space (
<a href=
"http://bugs.debian.org/696715">BTS
198 #
696715</a>). So make sure you have enough disk space when you run
201 <p>As usual, if you use bitcoin and want to show your support of my
202 activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address
203 <b><a href=
"bitcoin:15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b&label=PetterReinholdtsenBlog">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b
</a></b>.
</p>
208 Tags:
<a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/bitcoin">bitcoin
</a>,
<a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian
</a>,
<a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english
</a>.
213 <div class=
"padding"></div>
216 <div class=
"title"><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Welcome_to_the_world__Isenkram_.html">Welcome to the world, Isenkram!
</a></div>
217 <div class=
"date">22nd January
2013</div>
218 <div class=
"body"><p>Yesterday, I
219 <a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/First_prototype_ready_making_hardware_easier_to_use_in_Debian.html">asked
220 for testers
</a> for my prototype for making Debian better at handling
221 pluggable hardware devices, which I
222 <a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Lets_make_hardware_dongles_easier_to_use_in_Debian.html">set
223 out to create
</a> earlier this month. Several valuable testers showed
224 up, and caused me to really want to to open up the development to more
225 people. But before I did this, I want to come up with a sensible name
226 for this project. Today I finally decided on a new name, and I have
227 renamed the project from hw-support-handler to this new name. In the
228 process, I moved the source to git and made it available as a
229 <a href=
"http://anonscm.debian.org/gitweb/?p=collab-maint/isenkram.git">collab-maint
</a>
230 repository in Debian. The new name? It is
<strong>Isenkram
</strong>.
231 To fetch and build the latest version of the source, use
</p>
234 git clone http://anonscm.debian.org/git/collab-maint/isenkram.git
235 cd isenkram && git-buildpackage -us -uc
238 <p>I have not yet adjusted all files to use the new name yet. If you
239 want to hack on the source or improve the package, please go ahead.
240 But please talk to me first on IRC or via email before you do major
241 changes, to make sure we do not step on each others toes. :)
</p>
243 <p>If you wonder what 'isenkram' is, it is a Norwegian word for iron
244 stuff, typically meaning tools, nails, screws, etc. Typical hardware
245 stuff, in other words. I've been told it is the Norwegian variant of
246 the German word eisenkram, for those that are familiar with that
249 <p><strong>Update
2013-
01-
26</strong>: Added -us -us to build
250 instructions, to avoid confusing people with an error from the signing
253 <p><strong>Update
2013-
01-
27</strong>: Switch to HTTP URL for the git
254 clone argument to avoid the need for authentication.
</p>
259 Tags:
<a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian
</a>,
<a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english
</a>,
<a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/isenkram">isenkram
</a>.
264 <div class=
"padding"></div>
267 <div class=
"title"><a href=
"http://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></div>
268 <div class=
"date">21st January
2013</div>
269 <div class=
"body"><p>Early this month I set out to try to
270 <a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Lets_make_hardware_dongles_easier_to_use_in_Debian.html">improve
271 the Debian support for pluggable hardware devices
</a>. Now my
272 prototype is working, and it is ready for a larger audience. To test
274 <a href=
"http://anonscm.debian.org/viewvc/debian-edu/trunk/src/hw-support-handler/">source
275 from the Debian Edu subversion repository
</a>, build and install the
276 package. You might have to log out and in again activate the
277 autostart script.
</p>
279 <p>The design is simple:
</p>
283 <li>Add desktop entry in /usr/share/autostart/ causing a program
284 hw-support-handlerd to start when the user log in.
</li>
286 <li>This program listen for kernel events about new hardware (directly
287 from the kernel like udev does), not using HAL dbus events as I
290 <li>When new hardware is inserted, look up the hardware modalias in
291 the APT database, a database
292 <a href=
"http://anonscm.debian.org/viewvc/debian-edu/trunk/src/hw-support-handler/modaliases?view=markup">available
293 via HTTP
</a> and a database available as part of the package.
</li>
295 <li>If a package is mapped to the hardware in question, the package
296 isn't installed yet and this is the first time the hardware was
297 plugged in, show a desktop notification suggesting to install the
298 package or packages.
</li>
300 <li>If the user click on the 'install package now' button, ask
301 aptdaemon via the PackageKit API to install the requrired package.
</li>
303 <li>aptdaemon ask for root password or sudo password, and install the
304 package while showing progress information in a window.
</li>
308 <p>I still need to come up with a better name for the system. Here
309 are some screen shots showing the prototype in action. First the
310 notification, then the password request, and finally the request to
311 approve all the dependencies. Sorry for the Norwegian Bokmål GUI.
</p>
313 <p><img src=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-01-21-hw-support-1-notification.png">
314 <br><img src=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-01-21-hw-support-2-password.png">
315 <br><img src=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-01-21-hw-support-3-dependencies.png">
316 <br><img src=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-01-21-hw-support-4-installing.png">
317 <br><img src=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-01-21-hw-support-5-installing-details.png" width=
"70%"></p>
319 <p>The prototype still need to be improved with longer timeouts, but
320 is already useful. The database of hardware to package mappings also
321 need more work. It is currently compatible with the Ubuntu way of
322 storing such information in the package control file, but could be
323 changed to use other formats instead or in addition to the current
324 method. I've dropped the use of discover for this mapping, as the
325 modalias approach is more flexible and easier to use on Linux as long
326 as the Linux kernel expose its modalias strings directly.
</p>
328 <p><strong>Update
2013-
01-
21 16:
50</strong>: Due to popular demand,
329 here is the command required to check out and build the source: Use
331 svn://svn.debian.org/debian-edu/trunk/src/hw-support-handler/; cd
332 hw-support-handler; debuild
</tt>'. If you lack debuild, install the
333 devscripts package.
</p>
335 <p><strong>Update
2013-
01-
23 12:
00</strong>: The project is now
336 renamed to Isenkram and the source moved from the Debian Edu
337 subversion repository to a Debian collab-maint git repository. See
338 <a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Welcome_to_the_world__Isenkram_.html">build
339 instructions
</a> for details.
</p>
344 Tags:
<a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian
</a>,
<a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english
</a>,
<a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/isenkram">isenkram
</a>.
349 <div class=
"padding"></div>
352 <div class=
"title"><a href=
"http://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></div>
353 <div class=
"date">19th January
2013</div>
354 <div class=
"body"><p>This Christmas my trusty old laptop died. It died quietly and
355 suddenly in bed. With a quiet whimper, it went completely quiet and
356 black. The power button was no longer able to turn it on. It was a
357 IBM Thinkpad X41, and the best laptop I ever had. Better than both
358 Thinkpads X30, X31, X40, X60, X61 and X61S. Far better than the
359 Compaq I had before that. Now I need to find a replacement. To keep
360 going during Christmas, I moved the one year old SSD disk to my old
361 X40 where it fitted (only one I had left that could use it), but it is
362 not a durable solution.
364 <p>My laptop needs are fairly modest. This is my wishlist from when I
365 got a new one more than
10 years ago. It still holds true.:)
</p>
369 <li>Lightweight (around
1 kg) and small volume (preferably smaller
371 <li>Robust, it will be in my backpack every day.
</li>
372 <li>Three button mouse and a mouse pin instead of touch pad.
</li>
373 <li>Long battery life time. Preferable a week.
</li>
374 <li>Internal WIFI network card.
</li>
375 <li>Internal Twisted Pair network card.
</li>
376 <li>Some USB slots (
2-
3 is plenty)
</li>
377 <li>Good keyboard - similar to the Thinkpad.
</li>
378 <li>Video resolution at least
1024x768, with size around
12" (A4 paper
380 <li>Hardware supported by Debian Stable, ie the default kernel and
382 <li>Quiet, preferably fan free (or at least not using the fan most of
387 <p>You will notice that there are no RAM and CPU requirements in the
388 list. The reason is simply that the specifications on laptops the
389 last
10-
15 years have been sufficient for my needs, and I have to look
390 at other features to choose my laptop. But are there still made as
391 robust laptops as my X41? The Thinkpad X60/X61 proved to be less
392 robust, and Thinkpads seem to be heading in the wrong direction since
393 Lenovo took over. But I've been told that X220 and X1 Carbon might
396 <p>Perhaps I should rethink my needs, and look for a pad with an
397 external keyboard? I'll have to check the
398 <a href=
"http://www.linux-laptop.net/">Linux Laptops site
</a> for
399 well-supported laptops, or perhaps just buy one preinstalled from one
400 of the vendors listed on the
<a href=
"http://linuxpreloaded.com/">Linux
401 Pre-loaded site
</a>.
</p>
406 Tags:
<a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian
</a>,
<a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english
</a>.
411 <div class=
"padding"></div>
414 <div class=
"title"><a href=
"http://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></div>
415 <div class=
"date">18th January
2013</div>
416 <div class=
"body"><p>Some times I try to figure out which Iceweasel browser plugin to
417 install to get support for a given MIME type. Thanks to
418 <a href=
"https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MozillaTeam/Plugins">specifications
419 done by Ubuntu
</a> and Mozilla, it is possible to do this in Debian.
420 Unfortunately, not very many packages provide the needed meta
421 information, Anyway, here is a small script to look up all browser
422 plugin packages announcing ther MIME support using this specification:
</p>
428 def pkgs_handling_mimetype(mimetype):
433 version = pkg.candidate
435 version = pkg.installed
438 record = version.record
439 if not record.has_key('Npp-MimeType'):
441 mime_types = record['Npp-MimeType'].split(',')
443 t = t.rstrip().strip()
445 thepkgs.append(pkg.name)
447 mimetype = "audio/ogg"
448 if
1 < len(sys.argv):
449 mimetype = sys.argv[
1]
450 print "Browser plugin packages supporting %s:" % mimetype
451 for pkg in pkgs_handling_mimetype(mimetype):
455 <p>It can be used like this to look up a given MIME type:
</p>
458 % ./apt-find-browserplug-for-mimetype
459 Browser plugin packages supporting audio/ogg:
461 % ./apt-find-browserplug-for-mimetype application/x-shockwave-flash
462 Browser plugin packages supporting application/x-shockwave-flash:
467 <p>In Ubuntu this mechanism is combined with support in the browser
468 itself to query for plugins and propose to install the needed
469 packages. It would be great if Debian supported such feature too. Is
470 anyone working on adding it?
</p>
472 <p><strong>Update
2013-
01-
18 14:
20</strong>: The Debian BTS
473 request for icweasel support for this feature is
474 <a href=
"http://bugs.debian.org/484010">#
484010</a> from
2008 (and
475 <a href=
"http://bugs.debian.org/698426">#
698426</a> from today). Lack
476 of manpower and wish for a different design is the reason thus feature
477 is not yet in iceweasel from Debian.
</p>
482 Tags:
<a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian
</a>,
<a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english
</a>.
487 <div class=
"padding"></div>
490 <div class=
"title"><a href=
"http://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></div>
491 <div class=
"date">16th January
2013</div>
492 <div class=
"body"><p>The
<a href=
"http://wiki.debian.org/AppStreamDebianProposal">DEP-
11
493 proposal to add AppStream information to the Debian archive
</a>, is a
494 proposal to make it possible for a Desktop application to propose to
495 the user some package to install to gain support for a given MIME
496 type, font, library etc. that is currently missing. With such
497 mechanism in place, it would be possible for the desktop to
498 automatically propose and install leocad if some LDraw file is
499 downloaded by the browser.
</p>
501 <p>To get some idea about the current content of the archive, I decided
502 to write a simple program to extract all .desktop files from the
503 Debian archive and look up the claimed MIME support there. The result
505 <a href=
"http://ftp.skolelinux.org/pub/AppStreamTest">Skolelinux FTP
506 site
</a>. Using the collected information, it become possible to
507 answer the question in the title. Here are the
20 most supported MIME
508 types in Debian stable (Squeeze), testing (Wheezy) and unstable (Sid).
509 The complete list is available from the link above.
</p>
511 <p><strong>Debian Stable:
</strong></p>
515 ----- -----------------------
538 <p><strong>Debian Testing:
</strong></p>
542 ----- -----------------------
565 <p><strong>Debian Unstable:
</strong></p>
569 ----- -----------------------
592 <p>I am told that PackageKit can provide an API to access the kind of
593 information mentioned in DEP-
11. I have not yet had time to look at
594 it, but hope the PackageKit people in Debian are on top of these
597 <p><strong>Update
2013-
01-
16 13:
35</strong>: Updated numbers after
598 discovering a typo in my script.
</p>
603 Tags:
<a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian
</a>,
<a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english
</a>.
608 <div class=
"padding"></div>
611 <div class=
"title"><a href=
"http://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></div>
612 <div class=
"date">15th January
2013</div>
613 <div class=
"body"><p>Yesterday, I wrote about the
614 <a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Modalias_strings___a_practical_way_to_map__stuff__to_hardware.html">modalias
615 values provided by the Linux kernel
</a> following my hope for
616 <a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Lets_make_hardware_dongles_easier_to_use_in_Debian.html">better
617 dongle support in Debian
</a>. Using this knowledge, I have tested how
618 modalias values attached to package names can be used to map packages
619 to hardware. This allow the system to look up and suggest relevant
620 packages when I plug in some new hardware into my machine, and replace
621 discover and discover-data as the database used to map hardware to
624 <p>I create a modaliases file with entries like the following,
625 containing package name, kernel module name (if relevant, otherwise
626 the package name) and globs matching the relevant hardware
630 Package: package-name
631 <br>Modaliases: module(modaliasglob, modaliasglob, modaliasglob)
</p>
634 <p>It is fairly trivial to write code to find the relevant packages
635 for a given modalias value using this file.
</p>
637 <p>An entry like this would suggest the video and picture application
638 cheese for many USB web cameras (interface bus class
0E01):
</p>
642 <br>Modaliases: cheese(usb:v*p*d*dc*dsc*dp*ic0Eisc01ip*)
</p>
645 <p>An entry like this would suggest the pcmciautils package when a
646 CardBus bridge (bus class
0607) PCI device is present:
</p>
650 <br>Modaliases: pcmciautils(pci:v*d*sv*sd*bc06sc07i*)
653 <p>An entry like this would suggest the package colorhug-client when
654 plugging in a ColorHug with USB IDs
04D8:F8DA:
</p>
657 Package: colorhug-client
658 <br>Modaliases: colorhug-client(usb:v04D8pF8DAd*)
</p>
661 <p>I believe the format is compatible with the format of the Packages
662 file in the Debian archive. Ubuntu already uses their Packages file
663 to store their mappings from packages to hardware.
</p>
665 <p>By adding a XB-Modaliases: header in debian/control, any .deb can
666 announce the hardware it support in a way my prototype understand.
667 This allow those publishing packages in an APT source outside the
668 Debian archive as well as those backporting packages to make sure the
669 hardware mapping are included in the package meta information. I've
670 tested such header in the pymissile package, and its modalias mapping
671 is working as it should with my prototype. It even made it to Ubuntu
674 <p>To test if it was possible to look up supported hardware using only
675 the shell tools available in the Debian installer, I wrote a shell
676 implementation of the lookup code. The idea is to create files for
677 each modalias and let the shell do the matching. Please check out and
679 <a href=
"http://anonscm.debian.org/viewvc/debian-edu/trunk/src/hw-support-handler/hw-support-lookup?view=co">hw-support-lookup
</a>
680 shell script. It run without any extra dependencies and fetch the
681 hardware mappings from the Debian archive and the subversion
682 repository where I currently work on my prototype.
</p>
684 <p>When I use it on a machine with a yubikey inserted, it suggest to
685 install yubikey-personalization:
</p>
688 % ./hw-support-lookup
689 <br>yubikey-personalization
693 <p>When I run it on my Thinkpad X40 with a PCMCIA/CardBus slot, it
694 propose to install the pcmciautils package:
</p>
697 % ./hw-support-lookup
702 <p>If you know of any hardware-package mapping that should be added to
703 <a href=
"http://anonscm.debian.org/viewvc/debian-edu/trunk/src/hw-support-handler/modaliases?view=co">my
704 database
</a>, please tell me about it.
</p>
706 <p>It could be possible to generate several of the mappings between
707 packages and hardware. One source would be to look at packages with
708 kernel modules, ie packages with *.ko files in /lib/modules/, and
709 extract their modalias information. Another would be to look at
710 packages with udev rules, ie packages with files in
711 /lib/udev/rules.d/, and extract their vendor/model information to
712 generate a modalias matching rule. I have not tested any of these to
715 <p>If you want to help implementing a system to let us propose what
716 packages to install when new hardware is plugged into a Debian
717 machine, please send me an email or talk to me on
718 <a href=
"irc://irc.debian.org/%23debian-devel">#debian-devel
</a>.
</p>
723 Tags:
<a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian
</a>,
<a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english
</a>,
<a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/isenkram">isenkram
</a>.
728 <div class=
"padding"></div>
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