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  13  <h1>
  14      <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/">Petter Reinholdtsen</a>
  15
  16  </h1>
  17
  18 </div>
  19
  20
  21
  22     <div class="entry">
  23       <div class="title"><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/First_Jessie_based_Debian_Edu_released__alpha0_.html">First Jessie based Debian Edu released (alpha0)</a></div>
  24       <div class="date">27th October 2014</div>
  25       <div class="body"><p>I am happy to report that I just sent out
  26 <a href="https://lists.debian.org/debian-edu-announce/2014/10/msg00000.html">this
  27 announcement</a>:</p>
  28
  29 <pre>
  30 The Debian Edu Team is pleased to announce the release of Debian Edu
  31 Jessie 8.0+edu0~alpha0
  32
  33 Debian Edu is a complete operating system for schools. Through its
  34 various installation profiles you can install servers, workstations
  35 and laptops which will work together on the school network. With
  36 Debian Edu, the teachers themselves or their technical support can
  37 roll out a complete multi-user multi-machine study environment within
  38 hours or a few days. Debian Edu comes with hundreds of applications
  39 pre-installed, but you can always add more packages from Debian.
  40
  41 For those who want to give Debian Edu Jessie a try, download and
  42 installation instructions are available, including detailed
  43 instructions in the manual[1] explaining the first steps, such as
  44 setting up a network or adding users. Please note that the password
  45 for the user your prompted for during installation must have a length
  46 of at least 5 characters!
  47
  48  [1] &lt;URL: <a href="https://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/Documentation/Jessie">https://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/Documentation/Jessie</a> &gt;
  49
  50 Would you like to give your school's computer a longer life? Are you
  51 tired of sneaker administration, running from computer to computer
  52 reinstalling the operating system? Would you like to administrate all
  53 the computers in your school using only a couple of hours every week?
  54 Check out Debian Edu Jessie!
  55
  56 Skolelinux is used by at least two hundred schools all over the world,
  57 mostly in Germany and Norway.
  58
  59 About Debian Edu and Skolelinux
  60 ===============================
  61
  62 Debian Edu, also known as Skolelinux[2], is a Linux distribution based
  63 on Debian providing an out-of-the box environment of a completely
  64 configured school network. Immediately after installation a school
  65 server running all services needed for a school network is set up just
  66 waiting for users and machines being added via GOsa², a comfortable
  67 Web-UI. A netbooting environment is prepared using PXE, so after
  68 initial installation of the main server from CD or USB stick all other
  69 machines can be installed via the network.  The provided school server
  70 provides LDAP database and Kerberos authentication service,
  71 centralized home directories, DHCP server, web proxy and many other
  72 services.  The desktop contains more than 60 educational software
  73 packages[3] and more are available from the Debian archive, and
  74 schools can choose between KDE, Gnome, LXDE, Xfce and MATE desktop
  75 environment.
  76
  77  [2] &lt;URL: <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">http://www.skolelinux.org/</a> &gt;
  78  [3] &lt;URL: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Educational_applications_included_in_Debian_Edu___Skolelinux__the_screenshot_collection____.html">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Educational_applications_included_in_Debian_Edu___Skolelinux__the_screenshot_collection____.html</a> &gt;
  79
  80 Full release notes and manual
  81 =============================
  82
  83 Below the download URLs there is a list of some of the new features
  84 and bugfixes of Debian Edu 8.0+edu0~alpha0 Codename Jessie. The full
  85 list is part of the manual. (See the feature list in the manual[4] for
  86 the English version.) For some languages manual translations are
  87 available, see the manual translation overview[5].
  88
  89  [4] &lt;URL: <a href="https://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/Documentation/Jessie/Features">https://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/Documentation/Jessie/Features</a> &gt;
  90  [5] &lt;URL: <a href="http://maintainer.skolelinux.org/debian-edu-doc/">http://maintainer.skolelinux.org/debian-edu-doc/</a> &gt;
  91
  92 Where to get it
  93 ---------------
  94
  95 To download the multiarch netinstall CD release (624 MiB) you can use
  96
  97  * <a href="ftp://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/debian-edu-8.0+edu0~alpha0-CD.iso">ftp://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/debian-edu-8.0+edu0~alpha0-CD.iso</a>
  98  * <a href="http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/debian-edu-8.0+edu0~alpha0-CD.iso">http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/debian-edu-8.0+edu0~alpha0-CD.iso</a>
  99  * rsync -avzP ftp.skolelinux.org::skolelinux-cd/debian-edu-8.0+edu0~alpha0-CD.iso .
 100
 101 The SHA1SUM of this image is: 361188818e036ce67280a572f757de82ebfeb095
 102
 103 New features for Debian Edu 8.0+edu0~alpha0 Codename Jessie released 2014-10-27
 104 ===============================================================================
 105
 106
 107 Installation changes
 108 --------------------
 109
 110  * PXE installation now installs firmware automatically for the hardware present.
 111
 112 Software updates
 113 ----------------
 114
 115 Everything which is new in Debian Jessie 8.0, eg:
 116
 117  * Linux kernel 3.16.x
 118  * Desktop environments KDE "Plasma" 4.11.12, GNOME 3.14, Xfce 4.10,
 119    LXDE 0.5.6 and MATE 1.8 (KDE "Plasma" is installed by default; to
 120    choose one of the others see manual.)
 121  * the browsers Iceweasel 31 ESR and Chromium 38
 122  * !LibreOffice 4.3.3
 123  * GOsa 2.7.4
 124  * LTSP 5.5.4
 125  * CUPS print system 1.7.5
 126  * new boot framework: systemd
 127  * Educational toolbox GCompris 14.07
 128  * Music creator Rosegarden 14.02
 129  * Image editor Gimp 2.8.14
 130  * Virtual stargazer Stellarium 0.13.0
 131  * golearn 0.9
 132  * tuxpaint 0.9.22
 133  * New version of debian-installer from Debian Jessie.
 134  * Debian Jessie includes about 42000 packages available for
 135    installation.
 136  * More information about Debian Jessie 8.0 is provided in the release
 137    notes[6] and the installation manual[7].
 138
 139  [6] &lt;URL: <a href="http://www.debian.org/releases/jessie/releasenotes">http://www.debian.org/releases/jessie/releasenotes</a> &gt;
 140  [7] &lt;URL: <a href="http://www.debian.org/releases/jessie/installmanual">http://www.debian.org/releases/jessie/installmanual</a> &gt;
 141
 142 Fixed bugs
 143 ----------
 144
 145  * Inserting incorrect DNS information in Gosa will no longer break
 146    DNS completely, but instead stop DNS updates until the incorrect
 147    information is corrected (Debian bug #710362)
 148  * and many others.
 149
 150 Documentation and translation updates
 151 -------------------------------------
 152
 153  * The Debian Edu Jessie Manual is fully translated to German, French,
 154    Italian, Danish and Dutch. Partly translated versions exist for
 155    Norwegian Bokmal and Spanish.
 156
 157 Other changes
 158 -------------
 159
 160  * Due to new Squid settings, powering off or rebooting the main
 161    server takes more time.
 162  * To manage printers localhost:631 has to be used, currently www:631
 163    doesn't work.
 164
 165 Regressions / known problems
 166 ----------------------------
 167
 168  * Installing LTSP chroot fails with a bug related to eatmydata about
 169    exim4-config failing to run its postinst (see Debian bug #765694
 170    and Debian bug #762103).
 171  * Munin collection is not properly configured on clients (Debian bug
 172    #764594).  The fix is available in a newer version of munin-node.
 173  * PXE setup for Main Server and Thin Client Server setup does not
 174    work when installing on a machine without direct Internet access.
 175    Will be fixed when Debian bug #766960 is fixed in Jessie.
 176
 177 See the status page[8] for the complete list.
 178
 179  [8] &lt;URL: <a href="https://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/Status/Jessie">https://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/Status/Jessie</a> &gt;
 180
 181 How to report bugs
 182 ------------------
 183
 184 &lt;URL: <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/HowTo/ReportBugs">http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/HowTo/ReportBugs</a> &gt;
 185
 186 About Debian
 187 ============
 188
 189 The Debian Project was founded in 1993 by Ian Murdock to be a truly
 190 free community project. Since then the project has grown to be one of
 191 the largest and most influential open source projects. Thousands of
 192 volunteers from all over the world work together to create and
 193 maintain Debian software. Available in 70 languages, and supporting a
 194 huge range of computer types, Debian calls itself the universal
 195 operating system.
 196
 197 Contact Information
 198 For further information, please visit the Debian web pages[9] or send
 199 mail to press@debian.org.
 200
 201  [9] &lt;URL: <a href="http://www.debian.org/">http://www.debian.org/</a> &gt;
 202 </pre>
 203 </div>
 204       <div class="tags">
 205
 206
 207         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
 208
 209
 210       </div>
 211     </div>
 212     <div class="padding"></div>
 213
 214     <div class="entry">
 215       <div class="title"><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/I_spent_last_weekend_recording_MakerCon_Nordic.html">I spent last weekend recording MakerCon Nordic</a></div>
 216       <div class="date">23rd October 2014</div>
 217       <div class="body"><p>I spent last weekend at <a href="http://www.makercon.no/">Makercon
 218 Nordic</a>, a great conference and workshop for makers in Norway and
 219 the surrounding countries.  I had volunteered on behalf of the
 220 Norwegian Unix Users Group (NUUG) to video record the talks, and we
 221 had a great and exhausting time recording the entire day, two days in
 222 a row.  There were only two of us, Hans-Petter and me, and we used the
 223 regular video equipment for NUUG, with a
 224 <a href="http://dvswitch.alioth.debian.org/wiki/">dvswitch</a>, a
 225 camera and a VGA to DV convert box, and mixed video and slides
 226 live.</p>
 227
 228 <p>Hans-Petter did the post-processing, consisting of uploading the
 229 around 180 GiB of raw video to Youtube, and the result is
 230 <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/MakerConNordic/">now becoming
 231 public</a> on the MakerConNordic account.  The videos have the license
 232 NUUG always use on our recordings, which is
 233 <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/no/">Creative
 234 Commons Navngivelse-Del på samme vilkår 3.0 Norge</a>.  Many great
 235 talks available.  Check it out! :)</p>
 236 </div>
 237       <div class="tags">
 238
 239
 240         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/video">video</a>.
 241
 242
 243       </div>
 244     </div>
 245     <div class="padding"></div>
 246
 247     <div class="entry">
 248       <div class="title"><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/listadmin__the_quick_way_to_moderate_mailman_lists___nice_free_software.html">listadmin, the quick way to moderate mailman lists - nice free software</a></div>
 249       <div class="date">22nd October 2014</div>
 250       <div class="body"><p>If you ever had to moderate a mailman list, like the ones on
 251 alioth.debian.org, you know the web interface is fairly slow to
 252 operate.  First you visit one web page, enter the moderation password
 253 and get a new page shown with a list of all the messages to moderate
 254 and various options for each email address.  This take a while for
 255 every list you moderate, and you need to do it regularly to do a good
 256 job as a list moderator.  But there is a quick alternative,
 257 <a href="http://heim.ifi.uio.no/kjetilho/hacks/#listadmin">the
 258 listadmin program</a>.  It allow you to check lists for new messages
 259 to moderate in a fraction of a second.  Here is a test run on two
 260 lists I recently took over:</p>
 261
 262 <p><blockquote><pre>
 263 % time listadmin xiph
 264 fetching data for pkg-xiph-commits@lists.alioth.debian.org ... nothing in queue
 265 fetching data for pkg-xiph-maint@lists.alioth.debian.org ... nothing in queue
 266
 267 real    0m1.709s
 268 user    0m0.232s
 269 sys     0m0.012s
 270 %
 271 </pre></blockquote></p>
 272
 273 <p>In 1.7 seconds I had checked two mailing lists and confirmed that
 274 there are no message in the moderation queue.  Every morning I
 275 currently moderate 68 mailman lists, and it normally take around two
 276 minutes.  When I took over the two pkg-xiph lists above a few days
 277 ago, there were 400 emails waiting in the moderator queue.  It took me
 278 less than 15 minutes to process them all using the listadmin
 279 program.</p>
 280
 281 <p>If you install
 282 <a href="https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/listadmin">the listadmin
 283 package</a> from Debian and create a file <tt>~/.listadmin.ini</tt>
 284 with content like this, the moderation task is a breeze:</p>
 285
 286 <p><blockquote><pre>
 287 username username@example.org
 288 spamlevel 23
 289 default discard
 290 discard_if_reason "Posting restricted to members only. Remove us from your mail list."
 291
 292 password secret
 293 adminurl https://{domain}/mailman/admindb/{list}
 294 mailman-list@lists.example.com
 295
 296 password hidden
 297 other-list@otherserver.example.org
 298 </pre></blockquote></p>
 299
 300 <p>There are other options to set as well.  Check the manual page to
 301 learn the details.</p>
 302
 303 <p>If you are forced to moderate lists on a mailman installation where
 304 the SSL certificate is self signed or not properly signed by a
 305 generally accepted signing authority, you can set a environment
 306 variable when calling listadmin to disable SSL verification:</p>
 307
 308 <p><blockquote><pre>
 309 PERL_LWP_SSL_VERIFY_HOSTNAME=0 listadmin
 310 </pre></blockquote></p>
 311
 312 <p>If you want to moderate a subset of the lists you take care of, you
 313 can provide an argument to the listadmin script like I do in the
 314 initial screen dump (the xiph argument).  Using an argument, only
 315 lists matching the argument string will be processed.  This make it
 316 quick to accept messages if you notice the moderation request in your
 317 email.</p>
 318
 319 <p>Without the listadmin program, I would never be the moderator of 68
 320 mailing lists, as I simply do not have time to spend on that if the
 321 process was any slower. The listadmin program have saved me hours of
 322 time I could spend elsewhere over the years.  It truly is nice free
 323 software.</p>
 324
 325 <p>As usual, if you use Bitcoin and want to show your support of my
 326 activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address
 327 <b><a href="bitcoin:15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b&label=PetterReinholdtsenBlog">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</a></b>.</p>
 328
 329 <p>Update 2014-10-27: Added missing 'username' statement in
 330 configuration example.  Also, I've been told that the
 331 PERL_LWP_SSL_VERIFY_HOSTNAME=0 setting do not work for everyone.  Not
 332 sure why.</p>
 333 </div>
 334       <div class="tags">
 335
 336
 337         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>.
 338
 339
 340       </div>
 341     </div>
 342     <div class="padding"></div>
 343
 344     <div class="entry">
 345       <div class="title"><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Jessie__PXE_and_automatic_firmware_installation.html">Debian Jessie, PXE and automatic firmware installation</a></div>
 346       <div class="date">17th October 2014</div>
 347       <div class="body"><p>When PXE installing laptops with Debian, I often run into the
 348 problem that the WiFi card require some firmware to work properly.
 349 And it has been a pain to fix this using preseeding in Debian.
 350 Normally something more is needed.  But thanks to
 351 <a href="https://packages.qa.debian.org/i/isenkram.html">my isenkram
 352 package</a> and its recent tasksel extension, it has now become easy
 353 to do this using simple preseeding.</p>
 354
 355 <p>The isenkram-cli package provide tasksel tasks which will install
 356 firmware for the hardware found in the machine (actually, requested by
 357 the kernel modules for the hardware).  (It can also install user space
 358 programs supporting the hardware detected, but that is not the focus
 359 of this story.)</p>
 360
 361 <p>To get this working in the default installation, two preeseding
 362 values are needed.  First, the isenkram-cli package must be installed
 363 into the target chroot (aka the hard drive) before tasksel is executed
 364 in the pkgsel step of the debian-installer system.  This is done by
 365 preseeding the base-installer/includes debconf value to include the
 366 isenkram-cli package.  The package name is next passed to debootstrap
 367 for installation.  With the isenkram-cli package in place, tasksel
 368 will automatically use the isenkram tasks to detect hardware specific
 369 packages for the machine being installed and install them, because
 370 isenkram-cli contain tasksel tasks.</p>
 371
 372 <p>Second, one need to enable the non-free APT repository, because
 373 most firmware unfortunately is non-free.  This is done by preseeding
 374 the apt-mirror-setup step.  This is unfortunate, but for a lot of
 375 hardware it is the only option in Debian.</p>
 376
 377 <p>The end result is two lines needed in your preseeding file to get
 378 firmware installed automatically by the installer:</p>
 379
 380 <p><blockquote><pre>
 381 base-installer base-installer/includes string isenkram-cli
 382 apt-mirror-setup apt-setup/non-free boolean true
 383 </pre></blockquote></p>
 384
 385 <p>The current version of isenkram-cli in testing/jessie will install
 386 both firmware and user space packages when using this method.  It also
 387 do not work well, so use version 0.15 or later.  Installing both
 388 firmware and user space packages might give you a bit more than you
 389 want, so I decided to split the tasksel task in two, one for firmware
 390 and one for user space programs.  The firmware task is enabled by
 391 default, while the one for user space programs is not.  This split is
 392 implemented in the package currently in unstable.</p>
 393
 394 <p>If you decide to give this a go, please let me know (via email) how
 395 this recipe work for you. :)</p>
 396
 397 <p>So, I bet you are wondering, how can this work.  First and
 398 foremost, it work because tasksel is modular, and driven by whatever
 399 files it find in /usr/lib/tasksel/ and /usr/share/tasksel/.  So the
 400 isenkram-cli package place two files for tasksel to find.  First there
 401 is the task description file (/usr/share/tasksel/descs/isenkram.desc):</p>
 402
 403 <p><blockquote><pre>
 404 Task: isenkram-packages
 405 Section: hardware
 406 Description: Hardware specific packages (autodetected by isenkram)
 407  Based on the detected hardware various hardware specific packages are
 408  proposed.
 409 Test-new-install: show show
 410 Relevance: 8
 411 Packages: for-current-hardware
 412
 413 Task: isenkram-firmware
 414 Section: hardware
 415 Description: Hardware specific firmware packages (autodetected by isenkram)
 416  Based on the detected hardware various hardware specific firmware
 417  packages are proposed.
 418 Test-new-install: mark show
 419 Relevance: 8
 420 Packages: for-current-hardware-firmware
 421 </pre></blockquote></p>
 422
 423 <p>The key parts are Test-new-install which indicate how the task
 424 should be handled and the Packages line referencing to a script in
 425 /usr/lib/tasksel/packages/.  The scripts use other scripts to get a
 426 list of packages to install.  The for-current-hardware-firmware script
 427 look like this to list relevant firmware for the machine:
 428
 429 <p><blockquote><pre>
 430 #!/bin/sh
 431 #
 432 PATH=/usr/sbin:$PATH
 433 export PATH
 434 isenkram-autoinstall-firmware -l
 435 </pre></blockquote></p>
 436
 437 <p>With those two pieces in place, the firmware is installed by
 438 tasksel during the normal d-i run. :)</p>
 439
 440 <p>If you want to test what tasksel will install when isenkram-cli is
 441 installed, run <tt>DEBIAN_PRIORITY=critical tasksel --test
 442 --new-install</tt> to get the list of packages that tasksel would
 443 install.</p>
 444
 445 <p><a href="https://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/">Debian Edu</a> will be
 446 pilots in testing this feature, as isenkram is used there now to
 447 install firmware, replacing the earlier scripts.</p>
 448 </div>
 449       <div class="tags">
 450
 451
 452         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>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/sysadmin">sysadmin</a>.
 453
 454
 455       </div>
 456     </div>
 457     <div class="padding"></div>
 458
 459     <div class="entry">
 460       <div class="title"><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Ubuntu_used_to_show_the_bread_prizes_at_ICA_Storo.html">Ubuntu used to show the bread prizes at ICA Storo</a></div>
 461       <div class="date"> 4th October 2014</div>
 462       <div class="body"><p>Today I came across an unexpected Ubuntu boot screen.  Above the
 463 bread shelf on the ICA shop at Storo in Oslo, the grub menu of Ubuntu
 464 with Linux kernel 3.2.0-23 (ie probably version 12.04 LTS) was stuck
 465 on a screen normally showing the bread types and prizes:</p>
 466
 467 <p align="center"><img width="70%" src="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2014-10-04-ubuntu-ica-storo-crop.jpeg"></p>
 468
 469 <p>If it had booted as it was supposed to, I would never had known
 470 about this hidden Linux installation.  It is interesting what
 471 <a href="http://revealingerrors.com/">errors can reveal</a>.</p>
 472 </div>
 473       <div class="tags">
 474
 475
 476         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>.
 477
 478
 479       </div>
 480     </div>
 481     <div class="padding"></div>
 482
 483     <div class="entry">
 484       <div class="title"><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/New_lsdvd_release_version_0_17_is_ready.html">New lsdvd release version 0.17 is ready</a></div>
 485       <div class="date"> 4th October 2014</div>
 486       <div class="body"><p>The <a href="https://sourceforge.net/p/lsdvd/">lsdvd project</a>
 487 got a new set of developers a few weeks ago, after the original
 488 developer decided to step down and pass the project to fresh blood.
 489 This project is now maintained by Petter Reinholdtsen and Steve
 490 Dibb.</p>
 491
 492 <p>I just wrapped up
 493 <a href="https://sourceforge.net/p/lsdvd/mailman/message/32896061/">a
 494 new lsdvd release</a>, available in git or from
 495 <a href="https://sourceforge.net/projects/lsdvd/files/lsdvd/">the
 496 download page</a>.  This is the changelog dated 2014-10-03 for version
 497 0.17.</p>
 498
 499 <ul>
 500
 501  <li>Ignore 'phantom' audio, subtitle tracks</li>
 502  <li>Check for garbage in the program chains, which indicate that a track is
 503    non-existant, to work around additional copy protection</li>
 504  <li>Fix displaying content type for audio tracks, subtitles</li>
 505  <li>Fix pallete display of first entry</li>
 506  <li>Fix include orders</li>
 507  <li>Ignore read errors in titles that would not be displayed anyway</li>
 508  <li>Fix the chapter count</li>
 509  <li>Make sure the array size and the array limit used when initialising
 510    the palette size is the same.</li>
 511  <li>Fix array printing.</li>
 512  <li>Correct subsecond calculations.</li>
 513  <li>Add sector information to the output format.</li>
 514  <li>Clean up code to be closer to ANSI C and compile without warnings
 515    with more GCC compiler warnings.</li>
 516
 517 </ul>
 518
 519 <p>This change bring together patches for lsdvd in use in various
 520 Linux and Unix distributions, as well as patches submitted to the
 521 project the last nine years.  Please check it out. :)</p>
 522 </div>
 523       <div class="tags">
 524
 525
 526         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/lsdvd">lsdvd</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/multimedia">multimedia</a>.
 527
 528
 529       </div>
 530     </div>
 531     <div class="padding"></div>
 532
 533     <div class="entry">
 534       <div class="title"><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/How_to_test_Debian_Edu_Jessie_despite_some_fatal_problems_with_the_installer.html">How to test Debian Edu Jessie despite some fatal problems with the installer</a></div>
 535       <div class="date">26th September 2014</div>
 536       <div class="body"><p>The <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / Skolelinux
 537 project</a> provide a Linux solution for schools, including a
 538 powerful desktop with education software, a central server providing
 539 web pages, user database, user home directories, central login and PXE
 540 boot of both  clients without disk and the installation to install Debian
 541 Edu on machines with disk (and a few other services perhaps to small
 542 to mention here).  We in the Debian Edu team are currently working on
 543 the Jessie based version, trying to get everything in shape before the
 544 freeze, to avoid having to maintain our own package repository in the
 545 future.  The
 546 <a href="https://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/Status/Jessie">current
 547 status</a> can be seen on the Debian wiki, and there is still heaps of
 548 work left.  Some fatal problems block testing, breaking the installer,
 549 but it is possible to work around these to get anyway.  Here is a
 550 recipe on how to get the installation limping along.</p>
 551
 552 <p>First, download the test ISO via
 553 <a href="ftp://ftp.skolelinux.no/cd-edu-testing-nolocal-netinst/debian-edu-amd64-i386-NETINST-1.iso">ftp</a>,
 554 <a href="http://ftp.skolelinux.no/cd-edu-testing-nolocal-netinst/debian-edu-amd64-i386-NETINST-1.iso">http</a>
 555 or rsync (use
 556 ftp.skolelinux.org::cd-edu-testing-nolocal-netinst/debian-edu-amd64-i386-NETINST-1.iso).
 557 The ISO build was broken on Tuesday, so we do not get a new ISO every
 558 12 hours or so, but thankfully the ISO we already got we are able to
 559 install with some tweaking.</p>
 560
 561 <p>When you get to the Debian Edu profile question, go to tty2
 562 (use Alt-Ctrl-F2), run</p>
 563
 564 <p><blockquote><pre>
 565 nano /usr/bin/edu-eatmydata-install
 566 </pre></blockquote></p>
 567
 568 <p>and add 'exit 0' as the second line, disabling the eatmydata
 569 optimization.  Return to the installation, select the profile you want
 570 and continue.  Without this change, exim4-config will fail to install
 571 due to a known bug in eatmydata.</p>
 572
 573 <p>When you get the grub question at the end, answer /dev/sda (or if
 574 this do not work, figure out what your correct value would be.  All my
 575 test machines need /dev/sda, so I have no advice if it do not fit
 576 your need.</p>
 577
 578 <p>If you installed a profile including a graphical desktop, log in as
 579 root after the initial boot from hard drive, and install the
 580 education-desktop-XXX metapackage.  XXX can be kde, gnome, lxde, xfce
 581 or mate.  If you want several desktop options, install more than one
 582 metapackage.  Once this is done, reboot and you should have a working
 583 graphical login screen.  This workaround should no longer be needed
 584 once the education-tasks package version 1.801 enter testing in two
 585 days.</p>
 586
 587 <p>I believe the ISO build will start working on two days when the new
 588 tasksel package enter testing and Steve McIntyre get a chance to
 589 update the debian-cd git repository.  The eatmydata, grub and desktop
 590 issues are already fixed in unstable and testing, and should show up
 591 on the ISO as soon as the ISO build start working again.  Well the
 592 eatmydata optimization is really just disabled.  The proper fix
 593 require an upload by the eatmydata maintainer applying the patch
 594 provided in bug <a href="https://bugs.debian.org/702711">#702711</a>.
 595 The rest have proper fixes in unstable.</p>
 596
 597 <p>I hope this get you going with the installation testing, as we are
 598 quickly running out of time trying to get our Jessie based
 599 installation ready before the distribution freeze in a month.</p>
 600 </div>
 601       <div class="tags">
 602
 603
 604         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
 605
 606
 607       </div>
 608     </div>
 609     <div class="padding"></div>
 610
 611     <div class="entry">
 612       <div class="title"><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Suddenly_I_am_the_new_upstream_of_the_lsdvd_command_line_tool.html">Suddenly I am the new upstream of the lsdvd command line tool</a></div>
 613       <div class="date">25th September 2014</div>
 614       <div class="body"><p>I use the <a href="https://sourceforge.net/p/lsdvd/">lsdvd tool</a>
 615 to handle my fairly large DVD collection.  It is a nice command line
 616 tool to get details about a DVD, like title, tracks, track length,
 617 etc, in XML, Perl or human readable format.  But lsdvd have not seen
 618 any new development since 2006 and had a few irritating bugs affecting
 619 its use with some DVDs.  Upstream seemed to be dead, and in January I
 620 sent a small probe asking for a version control repository for the
 621 project, without any reply.  But I use it regularly and would like to
 622 get <a href="https://packages.qa.debian.org/lsdvd">an updated version
 623 into Debian</a>.  So two weeks ago I tried harder to get in touch with
 624 the project admin, and after getting a reply from him explaining that
 625 he was no longer interested in the project, I asked if I could take
 626 over.  And yesterday, I became project admin.</p>
 627
 628 <p>I've been in touch with a Gentoo developer and the Debian
 629 maintainer interested in joining forces to maintain the upstream
 630 project, and I hope we can get a new release out fairly quickly,
 631 collecting the patches spread around on the internet into on place.
 632 I've added the relevant Debian patches to the freshly created git
 633 repository, and expect the Gentoo patches to make it too.  If you got
 634 a DVD collection and care about command line tools, check out
 635 <a href="https://sourceforge.net/p/lsdvd/git/ci/master/tree/">the git source</a> and join
 636 <a href="https://sourceforge.net/p/lsdvd/mailman/">the project mailing
 637 list</a>. :)</p>
 638 </div>
 639       <div class="tags">
 640
 641
 642         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/lsdvd">lsdvd</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/multimedia">multimedia</a>.
 643
 644
 645       </div>
 646     </div>
 647     <div class="padding"></div>
 648
 649     <div class="entry">
 650       <div class="title"><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Hva_henger_under_skibrua_over_E16_p__Sollih_gda_.html">Hva henger under skibrua over E16 på Sollihøgda?</a></div>
 651       <div class="date">21st September 2014</div>
 652       <div class="body"><p>Rundt omkring i Oslo og Østlandsområdet henger det bokser over
 653 veiene som jeg har lurt på hva gjør.  De har ut fra plassering og
 654 vinkling sett ut som bokser som sniffer ut et eller annet fra
 655 forbipasserende trafikk, men det har vært uklart for meg hva det er de
 656 leser av.  Her om dagen tok jeg bilde av en slik boks som henger under
 657 <a href="http://www.openstreetmap.no/?zoom=19&mlat=59.96396&mlon=10.34443&layers=B00000">ei
 658 skibru på Sollihøgda</a>:</p>
 659
 660 <p align="center"><img width="60%" src="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2014-09-13-kapsch-sollihogda-crop.jpeg"></p>
 661
 662 <p>Boksen er tydelig merket «Kapsch >>>», logoen til
 663 <a href="http://www.kapsch.net/">det sveitsiske selskapet Kapsch</a> som
 664 blant annet lager sensorsystemer for veitrafikk.  Men de lager mye
 665 forskjellig, og jeg kjente ikke igjen boksen på utseendet etter en
 666 kjapp titt på produktlista til selskapet.</p>
 667
 668 <p>I og med at boksen henger over veien E16, en riksvei vedlikeholdt
 669 av Statens Vegvesen, så antok jeg at det burde være mulig å bruke
 670 REST-API-et som gir tilgang til vegvesenets database over veier,
 671 skilter og annet veirelatert til å finne ut hva i alle dager dette
 672 kunne være.  De har både
 673 <a href="https://www.vegvesen.no/nvdb/api/dokumentasjon/datakatalog">en
 674 datakatalog</a> og
 675 <a href="https://www.vegvesen.no/nvdb/api/dokumentasjon/sok">et
 676 søk</a>, der en kan søke etter ulike typer oppføringer innen for et
 677 gitt geografisk område.  Jeg laget et enkelt shell-script for å hente
 678 ut antall av en gitt type innenfor området skibrua dekker, og listet
 679 opp navnet på typene som ble funnet.  Orket ikke slå opp hvordan
 680 URL-koding av aktuelle strenger kunne gjøres mer generisk, og brukte
 681 en stygg sed-linje i stedet.</p>
 682
 683 <blockquote><pre>
 684 #!/bin/sh
 685 urlmap() {
 686     sed \
 687     -e 's/  / /g'   -e 's/{/%7B/g'  \
 688     -e 's/}/%7D/g'  -e 's/\[/%5B/g' \
 689     -e 's/\]/%5D/g' -e 's/ /%20/g'  \
 690     -e 's/,/%2C/g'  -e 's/\"/%22/g' \
 691     -e 's/:/%3A/g'
 692 }
 693
 694 lookup() {
 695     url="$1"
 696     curl -s -H 'Accept: application/vnd.vegvesen.nvdb-v1+xml' \
 697        "https://www.vegvesen.no/nvdb/api$url" | xmllint --format -
 698 }
 699
 700 for id in $(seq 1 874) ; do
 701     search="{
 702   lokasjon: {
 703     bbox: \"10.34425,59.96386,10.34458,59.96409\",
 704     srid: \"WGS84\"
 705   },
 706    objektTyper: [{
 707      id: $id, antall: 10
 708    }]
 709 }"
 710
 711     query=/sok?kriterie=$(echo $search | urlmap)
 712     if lookup "$query" |
 713     grep -q '&lt;totaltAntallReturnert>0&lt;'
 714     then
 715     :
 716     else
 717     echo $id
 718     lookup "/datakatalog/objekttyper/$id" |grep '^  &lt;navn>'
 719     fi
 720 done
 721
 722 exit 0
 723 </pre></blockquote>
 724
 725 Aktuelt ID-område 1-874 var riktig i datakatalogen da jeg laget
 726 scriptet.  Det vil endre seg over tid.  Skriptet listet så opp
 727 aktuelle typer i og rundt skibrua:
 728
 729 <blockquote><pre>
 730 5
 731   &lt;navn>Rekkverk&lt;/navn>
 732 14
 733   &lt;navn>Rekkverksende&lt;/navn>
 734 47
 735   &lt;navn>Trafikklomme&lt;/navn>
 736 49
 737   &lt;navn>Trafikkøy&lt;/navn>
 738 60
 739   &lt;navn>Bru&lt;/navn>
 740 79
 741   &lt;navn>Stikkrenne/Kulvert&lt;/navn>
 742 80
 743   &lt;navn>Grøft, åpen&lt;/navn>
 744 86
 745   &lt;navn>Belysningsstrekning&lt;/navn>
 746 95
 747   &lt;navn>Skiltpunkt&lt;/navn>
 748 96
 749   &lt;navn>Skiltplate&lt;/navn>
 750 98
 751   &lt;navn>Referansestolpe&lt;/navn>
 752 99
 753   &lt;navn>Vegoppmerking, langsgående&lt;/navn>
 754 105
 755   &lt;navn>Fartsgrense&lt;/navn>
 756 106
 757   &lt;navn>Vinterdriftsstrategi&lt;/navn>
 758 172
 759   &lt;navn>Trafikkdeler&lt;/navn>
 760 241
 761   &lt;navn>Vegdekke&lt;/navn>
 762 293
 763   &lt;navn>Breddemåling&lt;/navn>
 764 301
 765   &lt;navn>Kantklippareal&lt;/navn>
 766 318
 767   &lt;navn>Snø-/isrydding&lt;/navn>
 768 445
 769   &lt;navn>Skred&lt;/navn>
 770 446
 771   &lt;navn>Dokumentasjon&lt;/navn>
 772 452
 773   &lt;navn>Undergang&lt;/navn>
 774 528
 775   &lt;navn>Tverrprofil&lt;/navn>
 776 532
 777   &lt;navn>Vegreferanse&lt;/navn>
 778 534
 779   &lt;navn>Region&lt;/navn>
 780 535
 781   &lt;navn>Fylke&lt;/navn>
 782 536
 783   &lt;navn>Kommune&lt;/navn>
 784 538
 785   &lt;navn>Gate&lt;/navn>
 786 539
 787   &lt;navn>Transportlenke&lt;/navn>
 788 540
 789   &lt;navn>Trafikkmengde&lt;/navn>
 790 570
 791   &lt;navn>Trafikkulykke&lt;/navn>
 792 571
 793   &lt;navn>Ulykkesinvolvert enhet&lt;/navn>
 794 572
 795   &lt;navn>Ulykkesinvolvert person&lt;/navn>
 796 579
 797   &lt;navn>Politidistrikt&lt;/navn>
 798 583
 799   &lt;navn>Vegbredde&lt;/navn>
 800 591
 801   &lt;navn>Høydebegrensning&lt;/navn>
 802 592
 803   &lt;navn>Nedbøyningsmåling&lt;/navn>
 804 597
 805   &lt;navn>Støy-luft, Strekningsdata&lt;/navn>
 806 601
 807   &lt;navn>Oppgravingsdata&lt;/navn>
 808 602
 809   &lt;navn>Oppgravingslag&lt;/navn>
 810 603
 811   &lt;navn>PMS-parsell&lt;/navn>
 812 604
 813   &lt;navn>Vegnormalstrekning&lt;/navn>
 814 605
 815   &lt;navn>Værrelatert strekning&lt;/navn>
 816 616
 817   &lt;navn>Feltstrekning&lt;/navn>
 818 617
 819   &lt;navn>Adressepunkt&lt;/navn>
 820 626
 821   &lt;navn>Friksjonsmåleserie&lt;/navn>
 822 629
 823   &lt;navn>Vegdekke, flatelapping&lt;/navn>
 824 639
 825   &lt;navn>Kurvatur, horisontalelement&lt;/navn>
 826 640
 827   &lt;navn>Kurvatur, vertikalelement&lt;/navn>
 828 642
 829   &lt;navn>Kurvatur, vertikalpunkt&lt;/navn>
 830 643
 831   &lt;navn>Statistikk, trafikkmengde&lt;/navn>
 832 647
 833   &lt;navn>Statistikk, vegbredde&lt;/navn>
 834 774
 835   &lt;navn>Nedbøyningsmåleserie&lt;/navn>
 836 775
 837   &lt;navn>ATK, influensstrekning&lt;/navn>
 838 794
 839   &lt;navn>Systemobjekt&lt;/navn>
 840 810
 841   &lt;navn>Vinterdriftsklasse&lt;/navn>
 842 821
 843   &lt;navn>Funksjonell vegklasse&lt;/navn>
 844 825
 845   &lt;navn>Kurvatur, stigning&lt;/navn>
 846 838
 847   &lt;navn>Vegbredde, beregnet&lt;/navn>
 848 862
 849   &lt;navn>Reisetidsregistreringspunkt&lt;/navn>
 850 871
 851   &lt;navn>Bruksklasse&lt;/navn>
 852 </pre></blockquote>
 853
 854 <p>Av disse ser ID 775 og 862 mest relevant ut.  ID 775 antar jeg
 855 refererer til fotoboksen som står like ved brua, mens
 856 «Reisetidsregistreringspunkt» kanskje kan være boksen som henger der.
 857 Hvordan finner jeg så ut hva dette kan være for noe.  En titt på
 858 <a href="http://labs.vegdata.no/nvdb-datakatalog/862-Reisetidsregistreringspunkt/">datakatalogsiden
 859 for ID 862/Reisetidsregistreringspunkt</a> viser at det er finnes 53
 860 slike målere i Norge, og hvor de er plassert, men gir ellers få
 861 detaljer.  Det er plassert 40 på østlandet og 13 i Trondheimsregionen.
 862 Men siden nevner «AutoPASS», og hvis en slår opp oppføringen på
 863 Sollihøgda nevner den «Ciber AS» som ID for eksternt system.  (Kan det
 864 være snakk om
 865 <a href="http://www.proff.no/selskap/ciber-norge-as/oslo/internettdesign-og-programmering/Z0I3KMF4/">Ciber
 866 Norge AS</a>, et selskap eid av Ciber Europe Bv?)  Et nettsøk på
 867  «Ciber AS autopass» fører meg til en artikkel fra NRK Trøndelag i
 868  2013 med tittel
 869 «<a href="http://www.nrk.no/trondelag/sjekk-dette-hvis-du-vil-unnga-ko-1.11327947">Sjekk
 870 dette hvis du vil unngå kø</a>».  Artikkelen henviser til vegvesenets
 871 nettside
 872 <a href="http://www.reisetider.no/reisetid/forside.html">reisetider.no</a>
 873 som har en
 874 <a href="http://www.reisetider.no/reisetid/omrade.html?omrade=5">kartside
 875 for Østlandet</a> som viser at det måles mellom Sandvika og Sollihøgda.
 876 Det kan dermed se ut til at jeg har funnet ut hva boksene gjør.</p>
 877
 878 <p>Hvis det stemmer, så er dette bokser som leser av AutoPASS-ID-en
 879 til alle passerende biler med AutoPASS-brikke, og dermed gjør det mulig
 880 for de som kontrollerer boksene å holde rede på hvor en gitt bil er
 881 når den passerte et slikt målepunkt.  NRK-artikkelen forteller at
 882 denne informasjonen i dag kun brukes til å koble to
 883 AutoPASS-brikkepasseringer passeringer sammen for å beregne
 884 reisetiden, og at bruken er godkjent av Datatilsynet.  Det er desverre
 885 ikke mulig for en sjåfør som passerer under en slik boks å kontrollere
 886 at AutoPASS-ID-en kun brukes til dette i dag og i fremtiden.</p>
 887
 888 <p>I tillegg til denne type AutoPASS-sniffere vet jeg at det også
 889 finnes mange automatiske stasjoner som tar betalt pr. passering (aka
 890 bomstasjoner), og der lagres informasjon om tid, sted og bilnummer i
 891 10 år.  Finnes det andre slike sniffere plassert ut på veiene?</p>
 892
 893 <p>Personlig har jeg valgt å ikke bruke AutoPASS-brikke, for å gjøre
 894 det vanskeligere og mer kostbart for de som vil invadere privatsfæren
 895 og holde rede på hvor bilen min beveger seg til enhver tid.  Jeg håper
 896 flere vil gjøre det samme, selv om det gir litt høyere private
 897 utgifter (dyrere bompassering).  Vern om privatsfæren koster i disse
 898 dager.</p>
 899
 900 <p>Takk til Jan Kristian Jensen i Statens Vegvesen for tips om
 901 dokumentasjon på vegvesenets REST-API.</p>
 902 </div>
 903       <div class="tags">
 904
 905
 906         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/kart">kart</a>, <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/rfid">rfid</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/surveillance">surveillance</a>.
 907
 908
 909       </div>
 910     </div>
 911     <div class="padding"></div>
 912
 913     <div class="entry">
 914       <div class="title"><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Speeding_up_the_Debian_installer_using_eatmydata_and_dpkg_divert.html">Speeding up the Debian installer using eatmydata and dpkg-divert</a></div>
 915       <div class="date">16th September 2014</div>
 916       <div class="body"><p>The <a href="https://www.debian.org/">Debian</a> installer could be
 917 a lot quicker.  When we install more than 2000 packages in
 918 <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Skolelinux / Debian Edu</a> using
 919 tasksel in the installer, unpacking the binary packages take forever.
 920 A part of the slow I/O issue was discussed in
 921 <a href="https://bugs.debian.org/613428">bug #613428</a> about too
 922 much file system sync-ing done by dpkg, which is the package
 923 responsible for unpacking the binary packages.  Other parts (like code
 924 executed by postinst scripts) might also sync to disk during
 925 installation.  All this sync-ing to disk do not really make sense to
 926 me.  If the machine crash half-way through, I start over, I do not try
 927 to salvage the half installed system.  So the failure sync-ing is
 928 supposed to protect against, hardware or system crash, is not really
 929 relevant while the installer is running.</p>
 930
 931 <p>A few days ago, I thought of a way to get rid of all the file
 932 system sync()-ing in a fairly non-intrusive way, without the need to
 933 change the code in several packages.  The idea is not new, but I have
 934 not heard anyone propose the approach using dpkg-divert before.  It
 935 depend on the small and clever package
 936 <a href="https://packages.qa.debian.org/eatmydata">eatmydata</a>, which
 937 uses LD_PRELOAD to replace the system functions for syncing data to
 938 disk with functions doing nothing, thus allowing programs to live
 939 dangerous while speeding up disk I/O significantly.  Instead of
 940 modifying the implementation of dpkg, apt and tasksel (which are the
 941 packages responsible for selecting, fetching and installing packages),
 942 it occurred to me that we could just divert the programs away, replace
 943 them with a simple shell wrapper calling
 944 "eatmydata&nbsp;$program&nbsp;$@", to get the same effect.
 945 Two days ago I decided to test the idea, and wrapped up a simple
 946 implementation for the Debian Edu udeb.</p>
 947
 948 <p>The effect was stunning.  In my first test it reduced the running
 949 time of the pkgsel step (installing tasks) from 64 to less than 44
 950 minutes (20 minutes shaved off the installation) on an old Dell
 951 Latitude D505 machine.  I am not quite sure what the optimised time
 952 would have been, as I messed up the testing a bit, causing the debconf
 953 priority to get low enough for two questions to pop up during
 954 installation.  As soon as I saw the questions I moved the installation
 955 along, but do not know how long the question were holding up the
 956 installation.  I did some more measurements using Debian Edu Jessie,
 957 and got these results.  The time measured is the time stamp in
 958 /var/log/syslog between the "pkgsel: starting tasksel" and the
 959 "pkgsel: finishing up" lines, if you want to do the same measurement
 960 yourself.  In Debian Edu, the tasksel dialog do not show up, and the
 961 timing thus do not depend on how quickly the user handle the tasksel
 962 dialog.</p>
 963
 964 <p><table>
 965
 966 <tr>
 967 <th>Machine/setup</th>
 968 <th>Original tasksel</th>
 969 <th>Optimised tasksel</th>
 970 <th>Reduction</th>
 971 </tr>
 972
 973 <tr>
 974 <td>Latitude D505 Main+LTSP LXDE</td>
 975 <td>64 min (07:46-08:50)</td>
 976 <td><44 min (11:27-12:11)</td>
 977 <td>>20 min 18%</td>
 978 </tr>
 979
 980 <tr>
 981 <td>Latitude D505 Roaming LXDE</td>
 982 <td>57 min (08:48-09:45)</td>
 983 <td>34 min (07:43-08:17)</td>
 984 <td>23 min 40%</td>
 985 </tr>
 986
 987 <tr>
 988 <td>Latitude D505 Minimal</td>
 989 <td>22 min (10:37-10:59)</td>
 990 <td>11 min (11:16-11:27)</td>
 991 <td>11 min 50%</td>
 992 </tr>
 993
 994 <tr>
 995 <td>Thinkpad X200 Minimal</td>
 996 <td>6 min (08:19-08:25)</td>
 997 <td>4 min (08:04-08:08)</td>
 998 <td>2 min 33%</td>
 999 </tr>
1000
1001 <tr>
1002 <td>Thinkpad X200 Roaming KDE</td>
1003 <td>19 min (09:21-09:40)</td>
1004 <td>15 min (10:25-10:40)</td>
1005 <td>4 min 21%</td>
1006 </tr>
1007
1008 </table></p>
1009
1010 <p>The test is done using a netinst ISO on a USB stick, so some of the
1011 time is spent downloading packages.  The connection to the Internet
1012 was 100Mbit/s during testing, so downloading should not be a
1013 significant factor in the measurement.  Download typically took a few
1014 seconds to a few minutes, depending on the amount of packages being
1015 installed.</p>
1016
1017 <p>The speedup is implemented by using two hooks in
1018 <a href="https://www.debian.org/devel/debian-installer/">Debian
1019 Installer</a>, the pre-pkgsel.d hook to set up the diverts, and the
1020 finish-install.d hook to remove the divert at the end of the
1021 installation.  I picked the pre-pkgsel.d hook instead of the
1022 post-base-installer.d hook because I test using an ISO without the
1023 eatmydata package included, and the post-base-installer.d hook in
1024 Debian Edu can only operate on packages included in the ISO.  The
1025 negative effect of this is that I am unable to activate this
1026 optimization for the kernel installation step in d-i.  If the code is
1027 moved to the post-base-installer.d hook, the speedup would be larger
1028 for the entire installation.</p>
1029
1030 <p>I've implemented this in the
1031 <a href="https://packages.qa.debian.org/debian-edu-install">debian-edu-install</a>
1032 git repository, and plan to provide the optimization as part of the
1033 Debian Edu installation.  If you want to test this yourself, you can
1034 create two files in the installer (or in an udeb).  One shell script
1035 need do go into /usr/lib/pre-pkgsel.d/, with content like this:</p>
1036
1037 <p><blockquote><pre>
1038 #!/bin/sh
1039 set -e
1040 . /usr/share/debconf/confmodule
1041 info() {
1042     logger -t my-pkgsel "info: $*"
1043 }
1044 error() {
1045     logger -t my-pkgsel "error: $*"
1046 }
1047 override_install() {
1048     apt-install eatmydata || true
1049     if [ -x /target/usr/bin/eatmydata ] ; then
1050         for bin in dpkg apt-get aptitude tasksel ; do
1051             file=/usr/bin/$bin
1052             # Test that the file exist and have not been diverted already.
1053             if [ -f /target$file ] ; then
1054                 info "diverting $file using eatmydata"
1055                 printf "#!/bin/sh\neatmydata $bin.distrib \"\$@\"\n" \
1056                     > /target$file.edu
1057                 chmod 755 /target$file.edu
1058                 in-target dpkg-divert --package debian-edu-config \
1059                     --rename --quiet --add $file
1060                 ln -sf ./$bin.edu /target$file
1061             else
1062                 error "unable to divert $file, as it is missing."
1063             fi
1064         done
1065     else
1066         error "unable to find /usr/bin/eatmydata after installing the eatmydata pacage"
1067     fi
1068 }
1069
1070 override_install
1071 </pre></blockquote></p>
1072
1073 <p>To clean up, another shell script should go into
1074 /usr/lib/finish-install.d/ with code like this:
1075
1076 <p><blockquote><pre>
1077 #! /bin/sh -e
1078 . /usr/share/debconf/confmodule
1079 error() {
1080     logger -t my-finish-install "error: $@"
1081 }
1082 remove_install_override() {
1083     for bin in dpkg apt-get aptitude tasksel ; do
1084         file=/usr/bin/$bin
1085         if [ -x /target$file.edu ] ; then
1086             rm /target$file
1087             in-target dpkg-divert --package debian-edu-config \
1088                 --rename --quiet --remove $file
1089             rm /target$file.edu
1090         else
1091             error "Missing divert for $file."
1092         fi
1093     done
1094     sync # Flush file buffers before continuing
1095 }
1096
1097 remove_install_override
1098 </pre></blockquote></p>
1099
1100 <p>In Debian Edu, I placed both code fragments in a separate script
1101 edu-eatmydata-install and call it from the pre-pkgsel.d and
1102 finish-install.d scripts.</p>
1103
1104 <p>By now you might ask if this change should get into the normal
1105 Debian installer too?  I suspect it should, but am not sure the
1106 current debian-installer coordinators find it useful enough.  It also
1107 depend on the side effects of the change.  I'm not aware of any, but I
1108 guess we will see if the change is safe after some more testing.
1109 Perhaps there is some package in Debian depending on sync() and
1110 fsync() having effect?  Perhaps it should go into its own udeb, to
1111 allow those of us wanting to enable it to do so without affecting
1112 everyone.</p>
1113
1114 <p>Update 2014-09-24: Since a few days ago, enabling this optimization
1115 will break installation of all programs using gnutls because of
1116 <a href="https://bugs.debian.org/702711">bug #702711</a>.  An updated
1117 eatmydata package in Debian will solve it.</p>
1118
1119 <p>Update 2014-10-17: The bug mentioned above is fixed in testing and
1120 the optimization work again.  And I have discovered that the
1121 dpkg-divert trick is not really needed and implemented a slightly
1122 simpler approach as part of the debian-edu-install package.  See
1123 tools/edu-eatmydata-install in the source package.</p>
1124 </div>
1125       <div class="tags">
1126
1127
1128         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
1129
1130
1131       </div>
1132     </div>
1133     <div class="padding"></div>
1134
1135     <p style="text-align: right;"><a href="index.rss"><img src="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/xml.gif" alt="RSS feed" width="36" height="14" /></a></p>
1136     <div id="sidebar">
1137
1138
1139
1140 <h2>Archive</h2>
1141 <ul>
1142
1143 <li>2014
1144 <ul>
1145
1146 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2014/01/">January (2)</a></li>
1147
1148 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2014/02/">February (3)</a></li>
1149
1150 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2014/03/">March (8)</a></li>
1151
1152 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2014/04/">April (7)</a></li>
1153
1154 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2014/05/">May (1)</a></li>
1155
1156 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2014/06/">June (2)</a></li>
1157
1158 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2014/07/">July (2)</a></li>
1159
1160 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2014/08/">August (2)</a></li>
1161
1162 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2014/09/">September (5)</a></li>
1163
1164 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2014/10/">October (6)</a></li>
1165
1166 </ul></li>
1167
1168 <li>2013
1169 <ul>
1170
1171 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2013/01/">January (11)</a></li>
1172
1173 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2013/02/">February (9)</a></li>
1174
1175 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2013/03/">March (9)</a></li>
1176
1177 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2013/04/">April (6)</a></li>
1178
1179 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2013/05/">May (9)</a></li>
1180
1181 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2013/06/">June (10)</a></li>
1182
1183 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2013/07/">July (7)</a></li>
1184
1185 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2013/08/">August (3)</a></li>
1186
1187 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2013/09/">September (5)</a></li>
1188
1189 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2013/10/">October (7)</a></li>
1190
1191 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2013/11/">November (9)</a></li>
1192
1193 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2013/12/">December (3)</a></li>
1194
1195 </ul></li>
1196
1197 <li>2012
1198 <ul>
1199
1200 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/01/">January (7)</a></li>
1201
1202 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/02/">February (10)</a></li>
1203
1204 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/03/">March (17)</a></li>
1205
1206 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/04/">April (12)</a></li>
1207
1208 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/05/">May (12)</a></li>
1209
1210 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/06/">June (20)</a></li>
1211
1212 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/07/">July (17)</a></li>
1213
1214 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/08/">August (6)</a></li>
1215
1216 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/09/">September (9)</a></li>
1217
1218 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/10/">October (17)</a></li>
1219
1220 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/11/">November (10)</a></li>
1221
1222 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/12/">December (7)</a></li>
1223
1224 </ul></li>
1225
1226 <li>2011
1227 <ul>
1228
1229 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/01/">January (16)</a></li>
1230
1231 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/02/">February (6)</a></li>
1232
1233 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/03/">March (6)</a></li>
1234
1235 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/04/">April (7)</a></li>
1236
1237 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/05/">May (3)</a></li>
1238
1239 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/06/">June (2)</a></li>
1240
1241 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/07/">July (7)</a></li>
1242
1243 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/08/">August (6)</a></li>
1244
1245 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/09/">September (4)</a></li>
1246
1247 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/10/">October (2)</a></li>
1248
1249 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/11/">November (3)</a></li>
1250
1251 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/12/">December (1)</a></li>
1252
1253 </ul></li>
1254
1255 <li>2010
1256 <ul>
1257
1258 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/01/">January (2)</a></li>
1259
1260 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/02/">February (1)</a></li>
1261
1262 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/03/">March (3)</a></li>
1263
1264 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/04/">April (3)</a></li>
1265
1266 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/05/">May (9)</a></li>
1267
1268 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/06/">June (14)</a></li>
1269
1270 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/07/">July (12)</a></li>
1271
1272 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/08/">August (13)</a></li>
1273
1274 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/09/">September (7)</a></li>
1275
1276 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/10/">October (9)</a></li>
1277
1278 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/11/">November (13)</a></li>
1279
1280 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/12/">December (12)</a></li>
1281
1282 </ul></li>
1283
1284 <li>2009
1285 <ul>
1286
1287 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/01/">January (8)</a></li>
1288
1289 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/02/">February (8)</a></li>
1290
1291 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/03/">March (12)</a></li>
1292
1293 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/04/">April (10)</a></li>
1294
1295 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/05/">May (9)</a></li>
1296
1297 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/06/">June (3)</a></li>
1298
1299 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/07/">July (4)</a></li>
1300
1301 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/08/">August (3)</a></li>
1302
1303 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/09/">September (1)</a></li>
1304
1305 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/10/">October (2)</a></li>
1306
1307 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/11/">November (3)</a></li>
1308
1309 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/12/">December (3)</a></li>
1310
1311 </ul></li>
1312
1313 <li>2008
1314 <ul>
1315
1316 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2008/11/">November (5)</a></li>
1317
1318 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2008/12/">December (7)</a></li>
1319
1320 </ul></li>
1321
1322 </ul>
1323
1324
1325
1326 <h2>Tags</h2>
1327 <ul>
1328
1329  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/3d-printer">3d-printer (13)</a></li>
1330
1331  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/amiga">amiga (1)</a></li>
1332
1333  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/aros">aros (1)</a></li>
1334
1335  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/bankid">bankid (4)</a></li>
1336
1337  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/bitcoin">bitcoin (8)</a></li>
1338
1339  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/bootsystem">bootsystem (14)</a></li>
1340
1341  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/bsa">bsa (2)</a></li>
1342
1343  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/chrpath">chrpath (2)</a></li>
1344
1345  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian (107)</a></li>
1346
1347  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu (151)</a></li>
1348
1349  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/digistan">digistan (10)</a></li>
1350
1351  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/dld">dld (15)</a></li>
1352
1353  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/docbook">docbook (12)</a></li>
1354
1355  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/drivstoffpriser">drivstoffpriser (4)</a></li>
1356
1357  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english (261)</a></li>
1358
1359  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/fiksgatami">fiksgatami (21)</a></li>
1360
1361  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/fildeling">fildeling (12)</a></li>
1362
1363  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/freeculture">freeculture (13)</a></li>
1364
1365  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/freedombox">freedombox (8)</a></li>
1366
1367  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/frikanalen">frikanalen (11)</a></li>
1368
1369  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/intervju">intervju (41)</a></li>
1370
1371  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/isenkram">isenkram (10)</a></li>
1372
1373  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/kart">kart (19)</a></li>
1374
1375  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/ldap">ldap (9)</a></li>
1376
1377  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/lenker">lenker (8)</a></li>
1378
1379  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/lsdvd">lsdvd (2)</a></li>
1380
1381  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/ltsp">ltsp (1)</a></li>
1382
1383  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/mesh network">mesh network (8)</a></li>
1384
1385  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/multimedia">multimedia (31)</a></li>
1386
1387  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/norsk">norsk (248)</a></li>
1388
1389  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug (163)</a></li>
1390
1391  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/offentlig innsyn">offentlig innsyn (11)</a></li>
1392
1393  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/open311">open311 (2)</a></li>
1394
1395  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/opphavsrett">opphavsrett (48)</a></li>
1396
1397  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/personvern">personvern (75)</a></li>
1398
1399  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/raid">raid (1)</a></li>
1400
1401  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/reactos">reactos (1)</a></li>
1402
1403  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/reprap">reprap (11)</a></li>
1404
1405  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/rfid">rfid (3)</a></li>
1406
1407  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/robot">robot (9)</a></li>
1408
1409  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/rss">rss (1)</a></li>
1410
1411  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/ruter">ruter (4)</a></li>
1412
1413  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/scraperwiki">scraperwiki (2)</a></li>
1414
1415  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/sikkerhet">sikkerhet (41)</a></li>
1416
1417  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/sitesummary">sitesummary (4)</a></li>
1418
1419  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/skepsis">skepsis (4)</a></li>
1420
1421  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/standard">standard (45)</a></li>
1422
1423  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/stavekontroll">stavekontroll (3)</a></li>
1424
1425  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/stortinget">stortinget (9)</a></li>
1426
1427  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/surveillance">surveillance (26)</a></li>
1428
1429  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/sysadmin">sysadmin (2)</a></li>
1430
1431  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/valg">valg (8)</a></li>
1432
1433  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/video">video (44)</a></li>
1434
1435  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/vitenskap">vitenskap (4)</a></li>
1436
1437  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/web">web (33)</a></li>
1438
1439 </ul>
1440
1441
1442     </div>
1443     <p style="text-align: right">
1444  Created by <a href="http://steve.org.uk/Software/chronicle">Chronicle v4.6</a>
1445 </p>
1446
1447   </body>
1448 </html>