blog/data/2018-03-02-ruter-debian-lenny.txt

   1 Title: Debian used in the subway info screens in Oslo, Norway
   2 Tags: english, ruter
   3 Date: 2018-03-02 13:10
   4
   5 <p>Today I was pleasantly surprised to discover my operating system of
   6 choice, Debian, was used in the info screens on the subway stations.
   7 While passing Nydalen subway station in Oslo, Norway, I discovered the
   8 info screen booting with some text scrolling.  I was not quick enough
   9 with my camera to be able to record a video of the scrolling boot
  10 screen, but I did get a photo from when the boot got stuck with a
  11 corrupt file system:
  12
  13 <p align="center"><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2018-03-02-ruter-debian-lenny.jpeg"><img align="center" width="40%" src="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2018-03-02-ruter-debian-lenny.jpeg" alt="[photo of subway info screen]"></a></p>
  14
  15 <p>While I am happy to see Debian used more places, some details of the
  16 content on the screen worries me.</p>
  17
  18 <p>The image show the version booting is 'Debian GNU/Linux lenny/sid',
  19 indicating that this is based on code taken from Debian Unstable/Sid
  20 after Debian Etch (version 4) was released 2007-04-08 and before
  21 Debian Lenny (version 5) was released 2009-02-14.  Since Lenny Debian
  22 has released version 6 (Squeeze) 2011-02-06, 7 (Wheezy) 2013-05-04, 8
  23 (Jessie) 2015-04-25 and 9 (Stretch) 2017-06-15, according to
  24 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debian_version_history">a Debian
  25 version history on Wikpedia</a>.  This mean the system is running
  26 around 10 year old code, with no security fixes from the vendor for
  27 many years.</p>
  28
  29 <p>This is not the first time I discover the Oslo subway company,
  30 Ruter, running outdated software.  In 2012,
  31 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Er_billettautomatene_til_kollektivtrafikken_i_Oslo_uten_sikkerhetsoppdateringer_.html">I
  32 discovered the ticket vending machines were running Windows 2000</a>,
  33 and this was
  34 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Fortsatt_ingen_sikkerhetsoppdateringer_for_billettautomatene_til_kollektivtrafikken_i_Oslo_.html">still
  35 the case in 2016</a>.  Given the response from the responsible people
  36 in 2016, I would assume the machines are still running unpatched
  37 Windows 2000.  Thus, an unpatched Debian setup come as no surprise.</p>
  38
  39 <p>The photo is made available under the license terms
  40 <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">Creative Commons
  41 4.0 Attribution International (CC BY 4.0)</a>.</p>
  42
  43 <p>As usual, if you use Bitcoin and want to show your support of my
  44 activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address
  45 <b><a href="bitcoin:15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</a></b>.</p>