Generated.

[homepage.git] / blog / index.rss

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<rss version='2.0' xmlns:lj='http://www.livejournal.org/rss/lj/1.0/' xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom">
        <channel>
                <title>Petter Reinholdtsen</title>
                <description></description>
                <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/</link>
                <atom:link href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/index.rss" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
        
        <item>
                <title>Sleep until morning - home automation for the kids</title>
                <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Sleep_until_morning___home_automation_for_the_kids.html</link>
                <guid isPermaLink="true">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Sleep_until_morning___home_automation_for_the_kids.html</guid>
                <pubDate>Sun, 10 Feb 2013 12:50:00 +0100</pubDate>
                <description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;img align=&quot;left&quot; style=&quot;margin-right:25px;&quot; src=&quot;http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-02-10-morning-light.jpeg&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;With kids in the house, one challenge is getting them to sleep
during the night and wake up when it is morning.  I mean, when I
believe it is morning, and not two hours earlier.  In our household we
have decided that 07:00 is the turning point, but getting the kids to
sleep until 07:00 is a small challenge every day.  They have adapted
quite well, and rarely wake up at 05:00 any more, but some times wake
up at times like 05:50, 06:15, 06:30 or 06:45, and it is hard to put
the awake one to bed again without disturbing and waking the rest.
And I understand perfectly well that they fail to sleep until 07:00
some times, as there is no way for them to know if it is before or
after the magic moment without coming and asking us parents.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;But yesterday I came up with a method to solve this problem.  It
involve home automation.  A few years ago I bought a
&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.telldus.se/products/tellstick&quot;&gt;Tellstick&lt;/a&gt; and RF
switches at the local &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.clasohlson.com/&quot;&gt;Clas
Ohlson&lt;/a&gt; shop, allowing me to control lights and other electrical
gadgets using my Linux server.  When I moved from the old flat to a
small house, I put away all this equipment as most of the lighting in
the house was not using wall sockets and thus not easy to connect to
the gadgets I had.  But recently I bought a
&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.telldus.se/products/tellstick_net&quot;&gt;Tellstick
Net&lt;/a&gt; to be able to read sensor input as well as control power
sockets.  I want to control ovens in the basement to avoid the pipes
to freeze, and monitor the humidity to detect flooding.  The default
setup for Tellstick Net is to be controlled by the vendor web service,
which to me is a security problem, but it is also possible to build
ones own
&lt;a href=&quot;http://developer.telldus.com/blog/2012/03/02/help-us-develop-local-access-using-tellstick-net-build-your-own-firmware&quot;&gt;firmware
with local access&lt;/A&gt; instead of being controlled by a Swedish
company, thanks to the release of the GPL licensed firmware source
code.  I plan to get that running before I let it control anything
important.  But while working on this, one idea to make it easier for
the kids came to me yesterday.  We can set up a night light controlled
by the computer, and turn it automatically on at 07:00.  The kids can
then check the light in the morning to know if they are supposed to
get up or not.  They joined me in setting everything up, and I
repeated the concept several times before bed times to make sure they
remembered to check the light before getting up in the morning.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;We tested it this morning, and all the kids stayed in bed until
after 07:00, and every one of them commented on the fact that the
&quot;morning light&quot; was turned on and signalled that the morning had
arrived.  So this look like a success, and I am excited to see how
this develops the next few days. :) I really hope this can allow us
all to sleep a bit longer in the morning.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;A nice advantage of this setup is that we can remote control when
to tell the kids to get up.  We do not have to wait until 07:00, and
can also delay it if we want to.&lt;/p&gt;
</description>
        </item>
        
        <item>
                <title>Hva stemte hver stortingsrepresentant i voteringene om datalagringsdirektivet?</title>
                <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Hva_stemte_hver_stortingsrepresentant_i_voteringene_om_datalagringsdirektivet_.html</link>
                <guid isPermaLink="true">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Hva_stemte_hver_stortingsrepresentant_i_voteringene_om_datalagringsdirektivet_.html</guid>
                <pubDate>Sat, 9 Feb 2013 18:10:00 +0100</pubDate>
                <description>&lt;p&gt;Nytt stortingsvalg er på trappene, og folket får igjen mulighet til
å påvirke sammensetningen i vår lovgivende forsamling.  Da er det
relevant å vite hvilke representanter og partier som har støttet
innføringen av brev- og besøkskontroll av hele den norske
befolkningen, det vil si datalagringsdirektivet.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Hvis du vil vite hva hver enkelt stortingsrepresentant har stemt i
stortingsvoteringene om datalagringsdirektivet, så har nettstedet til
&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.holderdeord.no/&quot;&gt;Holder De Ord&lt;/a&gt; den (så vidt jeg
vet) eneste komplette oversikten på sin temaside om
&lt;a href=&quot;http://beta.holderdeord.no/issues/innfore-datalagringsdirektivet&quot;&gt;innføringen
av datalagringsdirektivet&lt;/a&gt;.  Den har detaljene fra de 11 relevante
forslagene som har vært fremmet så lagt.  De har vært votert over
2011-04-04, 2011-04-11, 2012-06-11, 2012-10-05 og 2012-12-06.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Hvis du lurer på hva som er problemet med datalagringsdirektivet,
anbefaler jeg å lese &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.uhuru.biz/?cat=84&quot;&gt;artiklene
fra Jon Wessel-Aas&lt;/a&gt; om temaet, samt informasjon fra foreningen
&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.digitaltpersonvern.no/&quot;&gt;Digitalt
Personvern&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
</description>
        </item>
        
        <item>
                <title>Økt overvåkning applauderes igjen av Arbeiderpartiet, Høyre og Fremskrittspartiet</title>
                <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/_kt_overv_kning_applauderes_igjen_av_Arbeiderpartiet__H_yre_og_Fremskrittspartiet.html</link>
                <guid isPermaLink="true">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/_kt_overv_kning_applauderes_igjen_av_Arbeiderpartiet__H_yre_og_Fremskrittspartiet.html</guid>
                <pubDate>Mon, 4 Feb 2013 00:30:00 +0100</pubDate>
                <description>&lt;p&gt;Jeg ser med gru at Arbeiderpartiet, Høyre og Fremskrittspartiet
&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aftenposten.no/nyheter/iriks/Positive-til-mer-smuglerovervaking-7110348.html&quot;&gt;applauderer
tollvesenets forslag&lt;/a&gt; om å øke overvåkningen i Norge nok et hakk.
Det er ikke så rart, da de som uttaler seg jo også har støttet
innføringen av datalagringsdirektivet eller i hvert fall ikke veldig
aktivt har motarbeidet det.  Innføringen av datalagringsdirektivet er
en lovendring som innebærer brev og besøkskontroll for hele
befolkningen.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.stortinget.no/no/Saker-og-publikasjoner/Saker/Sak/?p=48717&quot;&gt;Datalagringsdirektivet&lt;/a&gt;
har vært oppe til votering i stortinget tre ganger så langt.  Det ble
&lt;a href=&quot;http://svartelisten.org/&quot;&gt;vedtatt første gang 2011-04-04&lt;/a&gt;
og
&lt;a href=&quot;https://github.com/holderdeord/hdo-folketingparser/blob/master/data/votering-2011-04-11.xml&quot;&gt;andre
gang 2011-04-11&lt;/a&gt; (lovendringer voteres to ganger), og forslag om å
stoppe loven ble
&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.stortinget.no/no/Saker-og-publikasjoner/Saker/Sak/Voteringsoversikt/?p=53844&amp;dnid=1&quot;&gt;nedstemt
2012-12-06&lt;/a&gt; (se også
&lt;a href=&quot;http://beta.holderdeord.no/issues/innfore-datalagringsdirektivet&quot;&gt;oversikt fra Holder De
Ord&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Jan Bøhler i Arbeiderpartiet stemte for å innføre
datalagringsdirektivet i lovverket i første votering, var ikke
tilstede i andre votering og støttet loven i tredje votering.  André
Oktay Dahl i Høyre var ikke til stede i første og andre votering men
støttet loven i tredje votering.  Ulf Leirstein i Fremskrittspartiet
stemte mot loven i første votering men var ikke til stede i andre og
tredje votering.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Hvis du lurer på hva som er problemet med datalagringsdirektivet,
anbefaler jeg å lese &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.uhuru.biz/?cat=84&quot;&gt;artiklene
fra Jon Wessel-Aas&lt;/a&gt; om temaet, samt informasjon fra foreningen
&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.digitaltpersonvern.no/&quot;&gt;Digitalt
Personvern&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Oppdatering 2013-03-09&lt;/strong&gt;: Endret lenke til Holder De
Ord, som har byttet mange lenker i forbindelse med import av
voteringsdata for 2010-2011.&lt;/p&gt;
</description>
        </item>
        
        <item>
                <title>Bitcoin GUI now available from Debian/unstable (and Ubuntu/raring)</title>
                <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Bitcoin_GUI_now_available_from_Debian_unstable__and_Ubuntu_raring_.html</link>
                <guid isPermaLink="true">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Bitcoin_GUI_now_available_from_Debian_unstable__and_Ubuntu_raring_.html</guid>
                <pubDate>Sat, 2 Feb 2013 09:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                <description>&lt;p&gt;My
&lt;a href=&quot;http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/How_to_backport_bitcoin_qt_version_0_7_2_2_to_Debian_Squeeze.html&quot;&gt;last
bitcoin related blog post&lt;/a&gt; mentioned that the new
&lt;a href=&quot;http://packages.qa.debian.org/bitcoin&quot;&gt;bitcoin package&lt;/a&gt; for
Debian was waiting in NEW.  It was accepted by the Debian ftp-masters
2013-01-19, and have been available in unstable since then.  It was
automatically copied to Ubuntu, and is available in their Raring
version too.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;But there is a strange problem with the build that block this new
version from being available on the i386 and kfreebsd-i386
architectures.  For some strange reason, the autobuilders in Debian
for these architectures fail to run the test suite on these
architectures (&lt;a href=&quot;http://bugs.debian.org/672524&quot;&gt;BTS #672524&lt;/a&gt;).
We are so far unable to reproduce it when building it manually, and
no-one have been able to propose a fix.  If you got an idea what is
failing, please let us know via the BTS.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;One feature that is annoying me with of the bitcoin client, because
I often run low on disk space, is the fact that the client will exit
if it run short on space (&lt;a href=&quot;http://bugs.debian.org/696715&quot;&gt;BTS
#696715&lt;/a&gt;).  So make sure you have enough disk space when you run
it. :)&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;As usual, if you use bitcoin and want to show your support of my
activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address
&lt;b&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;bitcoin:15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b&amp;label=PetterReinholdtsenBlog&quot;&gt;15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
</description>
        </item>
        
        <item>
                <title>Welcome to the world, Isenkram!</title>
                <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Welcome_to_the_world__Isenkram_.html</link>
                <guid isPermaLink="true">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Welcome_to_the_world__Isenkram_.html</guid>
                <pubDate>Tue, 22 Jan 2013 22:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                <description>&lt;p&gt;Yesterday, I
&lt;a href=&quot;http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/First_prototype_ready_making_hardware_easier_to_use_in_Debian.html&quot;&gt;asked
for testers&lt;/a&gt; for my prototype for making Debian better at handling
pluggable hardware devices, which I
&lt;a href=&quot;http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Lets_make_hardware_dongles_easier_to_use_in_Debian.html&quot;&gt;set
out to create&lt;/a&gt; earlier this month.  Several valuable testers showed
up, and caused me to really want to to open up the development to more
people.  But before I did this, I want to come up with a sensible name
for this project.  Today I finally decided on a new name, and I have
renamed the project from hw-support-handler to this new name.  In the
process, I moved the source to git and made it available as a
&lt;a href=&quot;http://anonscm.debian.org/gitweb/?p=collab-maint/isenkram.git&quot;&gt;collab-maint&lt;/a&gt;
repository in Debian.  The new name?  It is &lt;strong&gt;Isenkram&lt;/strong&gt;.
To fetch and build the latest version of the source, use&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;pre&gt;
git clone http://anonscm.debian.org/git/collab-maint/isenkram.git
cd isenkram &amp;&amp; git-buildpackage -us -uc
&lt;/pre&gt;

&lt;p&gt;I have not yet adjusted all files to use the new name yet.  If you
want to hack on the source or improve the package, please go ahead.
But please talk to me first on IRC or via email before you do major
changes, to make sure we do not step on each others toes. :)&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;If you wonder what &#39;isenkram&#39; is, it is a Norwegian word for iron
stuff, typically meaning tools, nails, screws, etc.  Typical hardware
stuff, in other words.  I&#39;ve been told it is the Norwegian variant of
the German word eisenkram, for those that are familiar with that
word.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update 2013-01-26&lt;/strong&gt;: Added -us -us to build
instructions, to avoid confusing people with an error from the signing
process.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update 2013-01-27&lt;/strong&gt;: Switch to HTTP URL for the git
clone argument to avoid the need for authentication.&lt;/p&gt;
</description>
        </item>
        
        <item>
                <title>First prototype ready making hardware easier to use in Debian</title>
                <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/First_prototype_ready_making_hardware_easier_to_use_in_Debian.html</link>
                <guid isPermaLink="true">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/First_prototype_ready_making_hardware_easier_to_use_in_Debian.html</guid>
                <pubDate>Mon, 21 Jan 2013 12:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                <description>&lt;p&gt;Early this month I set out to try to
&lt;a href=&quot;http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Lets_make_hardware_dongles_easier_to_use_in_Debian.html&quot;&gt;improve
the Debian support for pluggable hardware devices&lt;/a&gt;.  Now my
prototype is working, and it is ready for a larger audience.  To test
it, fetch the
&lt;a href=&quot;http://anonscm.debian.org/viewvc/debian-edu/trunk/src/hw-support-handler/&quot;&gt;source
from the Debian Edu subversion repository&lt;/a&gt;, build and install the
package.  You might have to log out and in again activate the
autostart script.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;The design is simple:&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;ul&gt;

&lt;li&gt;Add desktop entry in /usr/share/autostart/ causing a program
hw-support-handlerd to start when the user log in.&lt;/li&gt;

&lt;li&gt;This program listen for kernel events about new hardware (directly
from the kernel like udev does), not using HAL dbus events as I
initially did.&lt;/li&gt;

&lt;li&gt;When new hardware is inserted, look up the hardware modalias in
the APT database, a database
&lt;a href=&quot;http://anonscm.debian.org/viewvc/debian-edu/trunk/src/hw-support-handler/modaliases?view=markup&quot;&gt;available
via HTTP&lt;/a&gt; and a database available as part of the package.&lt;/li&gt;

&lt;li&gt;If a package is mapped to the hardware in question, the package
isn&#39;t installed yet and this is the first time the hardware was
plugged in, show a desktop notification suggesting to install the
package or packages.&lt;/li&gt;

&lt;li&gt;If the user click on the &#39;install package now&#39; button, ask
aptdaemon via the PackageKit API to install the requrired package.&lt;/li&gt;

&lt;li&gt;aptdaemon ask for root password or sudo password, and install the
package while showing progress information in a window.&lt;/li&gt;

&lt;/ul&gt;

&lt;p&gt;I still need to come up with a better name for the system.  Here
are some screen shots showing the prototype in action.  First the
notification, then the password request, and finally the request to
approve all the dependencies.  Sorry for the Norwegian Bokmål GUI.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-01-21-hw-support-1-notification.png&quot;&gt;
&lt;br&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-01-21-hw-support-2-password.png&quot;&gt;
&lt;br&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-01-21-hw-support-3-dependencies.png&quot;&gt;
&lt;br&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-01-21-hw-support-4-installing.png&quot;&gt;
&lt;br&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-01-21-hw-support-5-installing-details.png&quot; width=&quot;70%&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;The prototype still need to be improved with longer timeouts, but
is already useful.  The database of hardware to package mappings also
need more work.  It is currently compatible with the Ubuntu way of
storing such information in the package control file, but could be
changed to use other formats instead or in addition to the current
method.  I&#39;ve dropped the use of discover for this mapping, as the
modalias approach is more flexible and easier to use on Linux as long
as the Linux kernel expose its modalias strings directly.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update 2013-01-21 16:50&lt;/strong&gt;: Due to popular demand,
here is the command required to check out and build the source: Use
&#39;&lt;tt&gt;svn checkout
svn://svn.debian.org/debian-edu/trunk/src/hw-support-handler/; cd
hw-support-handler; debuild&lt;/tt&gt;&#39;.  If you lack debuild, install the
devscripts package.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update 2013-01-23 12:00&lt;/strong&gt;: The project is now
renamed to Isenkram and the source moved from the Debian Edu
subversion repository to a Debian collab-maint git repository.  See
&lt;a href=&quot;http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Welcome_to_the_world__Isenkram_.html&quot;&gt;build
instructions&lt;/a&gt; for details.&lt;/p&gt;
</description>
        </item>
        
        <item>
                <title>Thank you Thinkpad X41, for your long and trustworthy service</title>
                <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Thank_you_Thinkpad_X41__for_your_long_and_trustworthy_service.html</link>
                <guid isPermaLink="true">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Thank_you_Thinkpad_X41__for_your_long_and_trustworthy_service.html</guid>
                <pubDate>Sat, 19 Jan 2013 09:20:00 +0100</pubDate>
                <description>&lt;p&gt;This Christmas my trusty old laptop died.  It died quietly and
suddenly in bed.  With a quiet whimper, it went completely quiet and
black.  The power button was no longer able to turn it on.  It was a
IBM Thinkpad X41, and the best laptop I ever had.  Better than both
Thinkpads X30, X31, X40, X60, X61 and X61S.  Far better than the
Compaq I had before that.  Now I need to find a replacement.  To keep
going during Christmas, I moved the one year old SSD disk to my old
X40 where it fitted (only one I had left that could use it), but it is
not a durable solution.

&lt;p&gt;My laptop needs are fairly modest.  This is my wishlist from when I
got a new one more than 10 years ago.  It still holds true.:)&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;ul&gt;

&lt;li&gt;Lightweight (around 1 kg) and small volume (preferably smaller
  than A4).&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Robust, it will be in my backpack every day.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Three button mouse and a mouse pin instead of touch pad.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Long battery life time.  Preferable a week.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Internal WIFI network card.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Internal Twisted Pair network card.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Some USB slots (2-3 is plenty)&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Good keyboard - similar to the Thinkpad.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Video resolution at least 1024x768, with size around 12&quot; (A4 paper
size).&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Hardware supported by Debian Stable, ie the default kernel and
  X.org packages.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Quiet, preferably fan free (or at least not using the fan most of
  the time).

&lt;/ul&gt;

&lt;p&gt;You will notice that there are no RAM and CPU requirements in the
list.  The reason is simply that the specifications on laptops the
last 10-15 years have been sufficient for my needs, and I have to look
at other features to choose my laptop.  But are there still made as
robust laptops as my X41?  The Thinkpad X60/X61 proved to be less
robust, and Thinkpads seem to be heading in the wrong direction since
Lenovo took over.  But I&#39;ve been told that X220 and X1 Carbon might
still be useful.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Perhaps I should rethink my needs, and look for a pad with an
external keyboard?  I&#39;ll have to check the
&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.linux-laptop.net/&quot;&gt;Linux Laptops site&lt;/a&gt; for
well-supported laptops, or perhaps just buy one preinstalled from one
of the vendors listed on the &lt;a href=&quot;http://linuxpreloaded.com/&quot;&gt;Linux
Pre-loaded site&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
</description>
        </item>
        
        <item>
                <title>How to find a browser plugin supporting a given MIME type</title>
                <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/How_to_find_a_browser_plugin_supporting_a_given_MIME_type.html</link>
                <guid isPermaLink="true">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/How_to_find_a_browser_plugin_supporting_a_given_MIME_type.html</guid>
                <pubDate>Fri, 18 Jan 2013 10:40:00 +0100</pubDate>
                <description>&lt;p&gt;Some times I try to figure out which Iceweasel browser plugin to
install to get support for a given MIME type.  Thanks to
&lt;a href=&quot;https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MozillaTeam/Plugins&quot;&gt;specifications
done by Ubuntu&lt;/a&gt; and Mozilla, it is possible to do this in Debian.
Unfortunately, not very many packages provide the needed meta
information, Anyway, here is a small script to look up all browser
plugin packages announcing ther MIME support using this specification:&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;pre&gt;
#!/usr/bin/python
import sys
import apt
def pkgs_handling_mimetype(mimetype):
    cache = apt.Cache()
    cache.open(None)
    thepkgs = []
    for pkg in cache:
        version = pkg.candidate
        if version is None:
            version = pkg.installed
        if version is None:
            continue
        record = version.record
        if not record.has_key(&#39;Npp-MimeType&#39;):
            continue
        mime_types = record[&#39;Npp-MimeType&#39;].split(&#39;,&#39;)
        for t in mime_types:
            t = t.rstrip().strip()
            if t == mimetype:
                thepkgs.append(pkg.name)
    return thepkgs
mimetype = &quot;audio/ogg&quot;
if 1 &lt; len(sys.argv):
    mimetype = sys.argv[1]
print &quot;Browser plugin packages supporting %s:&quot; % mimetype
for pkg in pkgs_handling_mimetype(mimetype):
    print &quot;  %s&quot; %pkg
&lt;/pre&gt;

&lt;p&gt;It can be used like this to look up a given MIME type:&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;pre&gt;
% ./apt-find-browserplug-for-mimetype 
Browser plugin packages supporting audio/ogg:
  gecko-mediaplayer
% ./apt-find-browserplug-for-mimetype application/x-shockwave-flash
Browser plugin packages supporting application/x-shockwave-flash:
  browser-plugin-gnash
%
&lt;/pre&gt;

&lt;p&gt;In Ubuntu this mechanism is combined with support in the browser
itself to query for plugins and propose to install the needed
packages.  It would be great if Debian supported such feature too.  Is
anyone working on adding it?&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update 2013-01-18 14:20&lt;/strong&gt;: The Debian BTS
request for icweasel support for this feature is
&lt;a href=&quot;http://bugs.debian.org/484010&quot;&gt;#484010&lt;/a&gt; from 2008 (and
&lt;a href=&quot;http://bugs.debian.org/698426&quot;&gt;#698426&lt;/a&gt; from today).  Lack
of manpower and wish for a different design is the reason thus feature
is not yet in iceweasel from Debian.&lt;/p&gt;
</description>
        </item>
        
        <item>
                <title>What is the most supported MIME type in Debian?</title>
                <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/What_is_the_most_supported_MIME_type_in_Debian_.html</link>
                <guid isPermaLink="true">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/What_is_the_most_supported_MIME_type_in_Debian_.html</guid>
                <pubDate>Wed, 16 Jan 2013 10:10:00 +0100</pubDate>
                <description>&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://wiki.debian.org/AppStreamDebianProposal&quot;&gt;DEP-11
proposal to add AppStream information to the Debian archive&lt;/a&gt;, is a
proposal to make it possible for a Desktop application to propose to
the user some package to install to gain support for a given MIME
type, font, library etc. that is currently missing.  With such
mechanism in place, it would be possible for the desktop to
automatically propose and install leocad if some LDraw file is
downloaded by the browser.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;To get some idea about the current content of the archive, I decided
to write a simple program to extract all .desktop files from the
Debian archive and look up the claimed MIME support there.  The result
can be found on the
&lt;a href=&quot;http://ftp.skolelinux.org/pub/AppStreamTest&quot;&gt;Skolelinux FTP
site&lt;/a&gt;.  Using the collected information, it become possible to
answer the question in the title.  Here are the 20 most supported MIME
types in Debian stable (Squeeze), testing (Wheezy) and unstable (Sid).
The complete list is available from the link above.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Debian Stable:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;pre&gt;
  count MIME type
  ----- -----------------------
     32 text/plain
     30 audio/mpeg
     29 image/png
     28 image/jpeg
     27 application/ogg
     26 audio/x-mp3
     25 image/tiff
     25 image/gif
     22 image/bmp
     22 audio/x-wav
     20 audio/x-flac
     19 audio/x-mpegurl
     18 video/x-ms-asf
     18 audio/x-musepack
     18 audio/x-mpeg
     18 application/x-ogg
     17 video/mpeg
     17 audio/x-scpls
     17 audio/ogg
     16 video/x-ms-wmv
&lt;/pre&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Debian Testing:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;pre&gt;
  count MIME type
  ----- -----------------------
     33 text/plain
     32 image/png
     32 image/jpeg
     29 audio/mpeg
     27 image/gif
     26 image/tiff
     26 application/ogg
     25 audio/x-mp3
     22 image/bmp
     21 audio/x-wav
     19 audio/x-mpegurl
     19 audio/x-mpeg
     18 video/mpeg
     18 audio/x-scpls
     18 audio/x-flac
     18 application/x-ogg
     17 video/x-ms-asf
     17 text/html
     17 audio/x-musepack
     16 image/x-xbitmap
&lt;/pre&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Debian Unstable:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;pre&gt;
  count MIME type
  ----- -----------------------
     31 text/plain
     31 image/png
     31 image/jpeg
     29 audio/mpeg
     28 application/ogg
     27 image/gif
     26 image/tiff
     26 audio/x-mp3
     23 audio/x-wav
     22 image/bmp
     21 audio/x-flac
     20 audio/x-mpegurl
     19 audio/x-mpeg
     18 video/x-ms-asf
     18 video/mpeg
     18 audio/x-scpls
     18 application/x-ogg
     17 audio/x-musepack
     16 video/x-ms-wmv
     16 video/x-msvideo
&lt;/pre&gt;

&lt;p&gt;I am told that PackageKit can provide an API to access the kind of
information mentioned in DEP-11.  I have not yet had time to look at
it, but hope the PackageKit people in Debian are on top of these
issues.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update 2013-01-16 13:35&lt;/strong&gt;: Updated numbers after
discovering a typo in my script.&lt;/p&gt;
</description>
        </item>
        
        <item>
                <title>Using modalias info to find packages handling my hardware</title>
                <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Using_modalias_info_to_find_packages_handling_my_hardware.html</link>
                <guid isPermaLink="true">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Using_modalias_info_to_find_packages_handling_my_hardware.html</guid>
                <pubDate>Tue, 15 Jan 2013 08:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                <description>&lt;p&gt;Yesterday, I wrote about the
&lt;a href=&quot;http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Modalias_strings___a_practical_way_to_map__stuff__to_hardware.html&quot;&gt;modalias
values provided by the Linux kernel&lt;/a&gt; following my hope for
&lt;a href=&quot;http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Lets_make_hardware_dongles_easier_to_use_in_Debian.html&quot;&gt;better
dongle support in Debian&lt;/a&gt;.  Using this knowledge, I have tested how
modalias values attached to package names can be used to map packages
to hardware.  This allow the system to look up and suggest relevant
packages when I plug in some new hardware into my machine, and replace
discover and discover-data as the database used to map hardware to
packages.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;I create a modaliases file with entries like the following,
containing package name, kernel module name (if relevant, otherwise
the package name) and globs matching the relevant hardware
modalias.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;
Package: package-name
&lt;br&gt;Modaliases: module(modaliasglob, modaliasglob, modaliasglob)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;It is fairly trivial to write code to find the relevant packages
for a given modalias value using this file.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;An entry like this would suggest the video and picture application
cheese for many USB web cameras (interface bus class 0E01):&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;
Package: cheese
&lt;br&gt;Modaliases: cheese(usb:v*p*d*dc*dsc*dp*ic0Eisc01ip*)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;An entry like this would suggest the pcmciautils package when a
CardBus bridge (bus class 0607) PCI device is present:&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;
Package: pcmciautils
&lt;br&gt;Modaliases: pcmciautils(pci:v*d*sv*sd*bc06sc07i*)
&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;An entry like this would suggest the package colorhug-client when
plugging in a ColorHug with USB IDs 04D8:F8DA:&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;
Package: colorhug-client
&lt;br&gt;Modaliases: colorhug-client(usb:v04D8pF8DAd*)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;I believe the format is compatible with the format of the Packages
file in the Debian archive.  Ubuntu already uses their Packages file
to store their mappings from packages to hardware.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;By adding a XB-Modaliases: header in debian/control, any .deb can
announce the hardware it support in a way my prototype understand.
This allow those publishing packages in an APT source outside the
Debian archive as well as those backporting packages to make sure the
hardware mapping are included in the package meta information.  I&#39;ve
tested such header in the pymissile package, and its modalias mapping
is working as it should with my prototype.  It even made it to Ubuntu
Raring.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;To test if it was possible to look up supported hardware using only
the shell tools available in the Debian installer, I wrote a shell
implementation of the lookup code.  The idea is to create files for
each modalias and let the shell do the matching.  Please check out and
try the
&lt;a href=&quot;http://anonscm.debian.org/viewvc/debian-edu/trunk/src/hw-support-handler/hw-support-lookup?view=co&quot;&gt;hw-support-lookup&lt;/a&gt;
shell script.  It run without any extra dependencies and fetch the
hardware mappings from the Debian archive and the subversion
repository where I currently work on my prototype.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;When I use it on a machine with a yubikey inserted, it suggest to
install yubikey-personalization:&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;
% ./hw-support-lookup
&lt;br&gt;yubikey-personalization
&lt;br&gt;%
&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;When I run it on my Thinkpad X40 with a PCMCIA/CardBus slot, it
propose to install the pcmciautils package:&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;
% ./hw-support-lookup 
&lt;br&gt;pcmciautils
&lt;br&gt;%
&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;If you know of any hardware-package mapping that should be added to
&lt;a href=&quot;http://anonscm.debian.org/viewvc/debian-edu/trunk/src/hw-support-handler/modaliases?view=co&quot;&gt;my
database&lt;/a&gt;, please tell me about it.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;It could be possible to generate several of the mappings between
packages and hardware.  One source would be to look at packages with
kernel modules, ie packages with *.ko files in /lib/modules/, and
extract their modalias information.  Another would be to look at
packages with udev rules, ie packages with files in
/lib/udev/rules.d/, and extract their vendor/model information to
generate a modalias matching rule.  I have not tested any of these to
see if it work.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;If you want to help implementing a system to let us propose what
packages to install when new hardware is plugged into a Debian
machine, please send me an email or talk to me on
&lt;a href=&quot;irc://irc.debian.org/%23debian-devel&quot;&gt;#debian-devel&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
</description>
        </item>
        
        </channel>
</rss>