1 <?xml version=
"1.0" encoding=
"utf-8"?>
2 <rss version='
2.0' xmlns:lj='http://www.livejournal.org/rss/lj/
1.0/' xmlns:
atom=
"http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom">
4 <title>Petter Reinholdtsen
</title>
5 <description></description>
6 <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/
</link>
7 <atom:link href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/index.rss" rel=
"self" type=
"application/rss+xml" />
10 <title>Økt overvåkning applauderes igjen av Arbeiderpartiet, Høyre og Fremskrittspartiet
</title>
11 <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/_kt_overv_kning_applauderes_igjen_av_Arbeiderpartiet__H_yre_og_Fremskrittspartiet.html
</link>
12 <guid isPermaLink=
"true">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/_kt_overv_kning_applauderes_igjen_av_Arbeiderpartiet__H_yre_og_Fremskrittspartiet.html
</guid>
13 <pubDate>Mon,
4 Feb
2013 00:
30:
00 +
0100</pubDate>
14 <description><p
>Jeg ser med gru at Arbeiderpartiet, Høyre og Fremskrittspartiet
15 <a href=
"http://www.aftenposten.no/nyheter/iriks/Positive-til-mer-smuglerovervaking-
7110348.html
">applauderer
16 tollvesenets forslag
</a
> om å øke overvåkningen i Norge nok et hakk.
17 Det er ikke så rart, da de som uttaler seg jo også har støttet
18 innføringen av datalagringsdirektivet eller i hvert fall ikke veldig
19 aktivt har motarbeidet det. Innføringen av datalagringsdirektivet er
20 en lovendring som innebærer brev og besøkskontroll for hele
21 befolkningen.
</p
>
23 <p
><a href=
"http://www.stortinget.no/no/Saker-og-publikasjoner/Saker/Sak/?p=
48717">Datalagringsdirektivet
</a
>
24 har vært oppe til votering i stortinget tre ganger så langt. Det ble
25 <a href=
"http://svartelisten.org/
">vedtatt første gang
2011-
04-
04</a
>
27 <a href=
"https://github.com/holderdeord/hdo-folketingparser/blob/master/data/votering-
2011-
04-
11.xml
">andre
28 gang
2011-
04-
11</a
> (lovendringer voteres to ganger), og forslag om å
30 <a href=
"http://www.stortinget.no/no/Saker-og-publikasjoner/Saker/Sak/Voteringsoversikt/?p=
53844&dnid=
1">nedstemt
31 2012-
12-
06</a
> (se også
32 <a href=
"http://beta.holderdeord.no/votes/
2715">oversikt fra Holder De
33 Ord
</a
>).
</p
>
35 <p
>Jan Bøhler i Arbeiderpartiet stemte for å innføre
36 datalagringsdirektivet i lovverket i første votering, var ikke
37 tilstede i andre votering og støttet loven i tredje votering. André
38 Oktay Dahl i Høyre var ikke til stede i første og andre votering men
39 støttet loven i tredje votering. Ulf Leirstein i Fremskrittspartiet
40 stemte mot loven i første votering men var ikke til stede i andre og
41 tredje votering.
</p
>
43 <p
>Hvis du lurer på hva som er problemet med datalagringsdirektivet,
44 anbefaler jeg å lese
<a href=
"http://www.uhuru.biz/?cat=
84">artiklene
45 fra Jon Wessel-Aas
</a
> om temaet, samt informasjon fra foreningen
46 <a href=
"http://www.digitaltpersonvern.no/
">Digitalt
47 Personvern
</a
>.
</p
>
52 <title>Bitcoin GUI now available from Debian/unstable (and Ubuntu/raring)
</title>
53 <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Bitcoin_GUI_now_available_from_Debian_unstable__and_Ubuntu_raring_.html
</link>
54 <guid isPermaLink=
"true">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Bitcoin_GUI_now_available_from_Debian_unstable__and_Ubuntu_raring_.html
</guid>
55 <pubDate>Sat,
2 Feb
2013 09:
00:
00 +
0100</pubDate>
56 <description><p
>My
57 <a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/How_to_backport_bitcoin_qt_version_0_7_2_2_to_Debian_Squeeze.html
">last
58 bitcoin related blog post
</a
> mentioned that the new
59 <a href=
"http://packages.qa.debian.org/bitcoin
">bitcoin package
</a
> for
60 Debian was waiting in NEW. It was accepted by the Debian ftp-masters
61 2013-
01-
19, and have been available in unstable since then. It was
62 automatically copied to Ubuntu, and is available in their Raring
63 version too.
</p
>
65 <p
>But there is a strange problem with the build that block this new
66 version from being available on the i386 and kfreebsd-i386
67 architectures. For some strange reason, the autobuilders in Debian
68 for these architectures fail to run the test suite on these
69 architectures (
<a href=
"http://bugs.debian.org/
672524">BTS #
672524</a
>).
70 We are so far unable to reproduce it when building it manually, and
71 no-one have been able to propose a fix. If you got an idea what is
72 failing, please let us know via the BTS.
</p
>
74 <p
>One feature that is annoying me with of the bitcoin client, because
75 I often run low on disk space, is the fact that the client will exit
76 if it run short on space (
<a href=
"http://bugs.debian.org/
696715">BTS
77 #
696715</a
>). So make sure you have enough disk space when you run
80 <p
>As usual, if you use bitcoin and want to show your support of my
81 activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address
82 <b
><a href=
"bitcoin:
15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b
&label=PetterReinholdtsenBlog
">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b
</a
></b
>.
</p
>
87 <title>Welcome to the world, Isenkram!
</title>
88 <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Welcome_to_the_world__Isenkram_.html
</link>
89 <guid isPermaLink=
"true">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Welcome_to_the_world__Isenkram_.html
</guid>
90 <pubDate>Tue,
22 Jan
2013 22:
00:
00 +
0100</pubDate>
91 <description><p
>Yesterday, I
92 <a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/First_prototype_ready_making_hardware_easier_to_use_in_Debian.html
">asked
93 for testers
</a
> for my prototype for making Debian better at handling
94 pluggable hardware devices, which I
95 <a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Lets_make_hardware_dongles_easier_to_use_in_Debian.html
">set
96 out to create
</a
> earlier this month. Several valuable testers showed
97 up, and caused me to really want to to open up the development to more
98 people. But before I did this, I want to come up with a sensible name
99 for this project. Today I finally decided on a new name, and I have
100 renamed the project from hw-support-handler to this new name. In the
101 process, I moved the source to git and made it available as a
102 <a href=
"http://anonscm.debian.org/gitweb/?p=collab-maint/isenkram.git
">collab-maint
</a
>
103 repository in Debian. The new name? It is
<strong
>Isenkram
</strong
>.
104 To fetch and build the latest version of the source, use
</p
>
107 git clone http://anonscm.debian.org/git/collab-maint/isenkram.git
108 cd isenkram
&& git-buildpackage -us -uc
111 <p
>I have not yet adjusted all files to use the new name yet. If you
112 want to hack on the source or improve the package, please go ahead.
113 But please talk to me first on IRC or via email before you do major
114 changes, to make sure we do not step on each others toes. :)
</p
>
116 <p
>If you wonder what
'isenkram
' is, it is a Norwegian word for iron
117 stuff, typically meaning tools, nails, screws, etc. Typical hardware
118 stuff, in other words. I
've been told it is the Norwegian variant of
119 the German word eisenkram, for those that are familiar with that
122 <p
><strong
>Update
2013-
01-
26</strong
>: Added -us -us to build
123 instructions, to avoid confusing people with an error from the signing
126 <p
><strong
>Update
2013-
01-
27</strong
>: Switch to HTTP URL for the git
127 clone argument to avoid the need for authentication.
</p
>
132 <title>First prototype ready making hardware easier to use in Debian
</title>
133 <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/First_prototype_ready_making_hardware_easier_to_use_in_Debian.html
</link>
134 <guid isPermaLink=
"true">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/First_prototype_ready_making_hardware_easier_to_use_in_Debian.html
</guid>
135 <pubDate>Mon,
21 Jan
2013 12:
00:
00 +
0100</pubDate>
136 <description><p
>Early this month I set out to try to
137 <a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Lets_make_hardware_dongles_easier_to_use_in_Debian.html
">improve
138 the Debian support for pluggable hardware devices
</a
>. Now my
139 prototype is working, and it is ready for a larger audience. To test
141 <a href=
"http://anonscm.debian.org/viewvc/debian-edu/trunk/src/hw-support-handler/
">source
142 from the Debian Edu subversion repository
</a
>, build and install the
143 package. You might have to log out and in again activate the
144 autostart script.
</p
>
146 <p
>The design is simple:
</p
>
150 <li
>Add desktop entry in /usr/share/autostart/ causing a program
151 hw-support-handlerd to start when the user log in.
</li
>
153 <li
>This program listen for kernel events about new hardware (directly
154 from the kernel like udev does), not using HAL dbus events as I
155 initially did.
</li
>
157 <li
>When new hardware is inserted, look up the hardware modalias in
158 the APT database, a database
159 <a href=
"http://anonscm.debian.org/viewvc/debian-edu/trunk/src/hw-support-handler/modaliases?view=markup
">available
160 via HTTP
</a
> and a database available as part of the package.
</li
>
162 <li
>If a package is mapped to the hardware in question, the package
163 isn
't installed yet and this is the first time the hardware was
164 plugged in, show a desktop notification suggesting to install the
165 package or packages.
</li
>
167 <li
>If the user click on the
'install package now
' button, ask
168 aptdaemon via the PackageKit API to install the requrired package.
</li
>
170 <li
>aptdaemon ask for root password or sudo password, and install the
171 package while showing progress information in a window.
</li
>
175 <p
>I still need to come up with a better name for the system. Here
176 are some screen shots showing the prototype in action. First the
177 notification, then the password request, and finally the request to
178 approve all the dependencies. Sorry for the Norwegian Bokmål GUI.
</p
>
180 <p
><img src=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/
2013-
01-
21-hw-support-
1-notification.png
">
181 <br
><img src=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/
2013-
01-
21-hw-support-
2-password.png
">
182 <br
><img src=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/
2013-
01-
21-hw-support-
3-dependencies.png
">
183 <br
><img src=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/
2013-
01-
21-hw-support-
4-installing.png
">
184 <br
><img src=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/
2013-
01-
21-hw-support-
5-installing-details.png
" width=
"70%
"></p
>
186 <p
>The prototype still need to be improved with longer timeouts, but
187 is already useful. The database of hardware to package mappings also
188 need more work. It is currently compatible with the Ubuntu way of
189 storing such information in the package control file, but could be
190 changed to use other formats instead or in addition to the current
191 method. I
've dropped the use of discover for this mapping, as the
192 modalias approach is more flexible and easier to use on Linux as long
193 as the Linux kernel expose its modalias strings directly.
</p
>
195 <p
><strong
>Update
2013-
01-
21 16:
50</strong
>: Due to popular demand,
196 here is the command required to check out and build the source: Use
197 '<tt
>svn checkout
198 svn://svn.debian.org/debian-edu/trunk/src/hw-support-handler/; cd
199 hw-support-handler; debuild
</tt
>'. If you lack debuild, install the
200 devscripts package.
</p
>
202 <p
><strong
>Update
2013-
01-
23 12:
00</strong
>: The project is now
203 renamed to Isenkram and the source moved from the Debian Edu
204 subversion repository to a Debian collab-maint git repository. See
205 <a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Welcome_to_the_world__Isenkram_.html
">build
206 instructions
</a
> for details.
</p
>
211 <title>Thank you Thinkpad X41, for your long and trustworthy service
</title>
212 <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Thank_you_Thinkpad_X41__for_your_long_and_trustworthy_service.html
</link>
213 <guid isPermaLink=
"true">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Thank_you_Thinkpad_X41__for_your_long_and_trustworthy_service.html
</guid>
214 <pubDate>Sat,
19 Jan
2013 09:
20:
00 +
0100</pubDate>
215 <description><p
>This Christmas my trusty old laptop died. It died quietly and
216 suddenly in bed. With a quiet whimper, it went completely quiet and
217 black. The power button was no longer able to turn it on. It was a
218 IBM Thinkpad X41, and the best laptop I ever had. Better than both
219 Thinkpads X30, X31, X40, X60, X61 and X61S. Far better than the
220 Compaq I had before that. Now I need to find a replacement. To keep
221 going during Christmas, I moved the one year old SSD disk to my old
222 X40 where it fitted (only one I had left that could use it), but it is
223 not a durable solution.
225 <p
>My laptop needs are fairly modest. This is my wishlist from when I
226 got a new one more than
10 years ago. It still holds true.:)
</p
>
230 <li
>Lightweight (around
1 kg) and small volume (preferably smaller
232 <li
>Robust, it will be in my backpack every day.
</li
>
233 <li
>Three button mouse and a mouse pin instead of touch pad.
</li
>
234 <li
>Long battery life time. Preferable a week.
</li
>
235 <li
>Internal WIFI network card.
</li
>
236 <li
>Internal Twisted Pair network card.
</li
>
237 <li
>Some USB slots (
2-
3 is plenty)
</li
>
238 <li
>Good keyboard - similar to the Thinkpad.
</li
>
239 <li
>Video resolution at least
1024x768, with size around
12" (A4 paper
241 <li
>Hardware supported by Debian Stable, ie the default kernel and
242 X.org packages.
</li
>
243 <li
>Quiet, preferably fan free (or at least not using the fan most of
248 <p
>You will notice that there are no RAM and CPU requirements in the
249 list. The reason is simply that the specifications on laptops the
250 last
10-
15 years have been sufficient for my needs, and I have to look
251 at other features to choose my laptop. But are there still made as
252 robust laptops as my X41? The Thinkpad X60/X61 proved to be less
253 robust, and Thinkpads seem to be heading in the wrong direction since
254 Lenovo took over. But I
've been told that X220 and X1 Carbon might
255 still be useful.
</p
>
257 <p
>Perhaps I should rethink my needs, and look for a pad with an
258 external keyboard? I
'll have to check the
259 <a href=
"http://www.linux-laptop.net/
">Linux Laptops site
</a
> for
260 well-supported laptops, or perhaps just buy one preinstalled from one
261 of the vendors listed on the
<a href=
"http://linuxpreloaded.com/
">Linux
262 Pre-loaded site
</a
>.
</p
>
267 <title>How to find a browser plugin supporting a given MIME type
</title>
268 <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/How_to_find_a_browser_plugin_supporting_a_given_MIME_type.html
</link>
269 <guid isPermaLink=
"true">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/How_to_find_a_browser_plugin_supporting_a_given_MIME_type.html
</guid>
270 <pubDate>Fri,
18 Jan
2013 10:
40:
00 +
0100</pubDate>
271 <description><p
>Some times I try to figure out which Iceweasel browser plugin to
272 install to get support for a given MIME type. Thanks to
273 <a href=
"https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MozillaTeam/Plugins
">specifications
274 done by Ubuntu
</a
> and Mozilla, it is possible to do this in Debian.
275 Unfortunately, not very many packages provide the needed meta
276 information, Anyway, here is a small script to look up all browser
277 plugin packages announcing ther MIME support using this specification:
</p
>
283 def pkgs_handling_mimetype(mimetype):
288 version = pkg.candidate
290 version = pkg.installed
293 record = version.record
294 if not record.has_key(
'Npp-MimeType
'):
296 mime_types = record[
'Npp-MimeType
'].split(
',
')
298 t = t.rstrip().strip()
300 thepkgs.append(pkg.name)
302 mimetype =
"audio/ogg
"
303 if
1 < len(sys.argv):
304 mimetype = sys.argv[
1]
305 print
"Browser plugin packages supporting %s:
" % mimetype
306 for pkg in pkgs_handling_mimetype(mimetype):
307 print
" %s
" %pkg
310 <p
>It can be used like this to look up a given MIME type:
</p
>
313 % ./apt-find-browserplug-for-mimetype
314 Browser plugin packages supporting audio/ogg:
316 % ./apt-find-browserplug-for-mimetype application/x-shockwave-flash
317 Browser plugin packages supporting application/x-shockwave-flash:
322 <p
>In Ubuntu this mechanism is combined with support in the browser
323 itself to query for plugins and propose to install the needed
324 packages. It would be great if Debian supported such feature too. Is
325 anyone working on adding it?
</p
>
327 <p
><strong
>Update
2013-
01-
18 14:
20</strong
>: The Debian BTS
328 request for icweasel support for this feature is
329 <a href=
"http://bugs.debian.org/
484010">#
484010</a
> from
2008 (and
330 <a href=
"http://bugs.debian.org/
698426">#
698426</a
> from today). Lack
331 of manpower and wish for a different design is the reason thus feature
332 is not yet in iceweasel from Debian.
</p
>
337 <title>What is the most supported MIME type in Debian?
</title>
338 <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/What_is_the_most_supported_MIME_type_in_Debian_.html
</link>
339 <guid isPermaLink=
"true">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/What_is_the_most_supported_MIME_type_in_Debian_.html
</guid>
340 <pubDate>Wed,
16 Jan
2013 10:
10:
00 +
0100</pubDate>
341 <description><p
>The
<a href=
"http://wiki.debian.org/AppStreamDebianProposal
">DEP-
11
342 proposal to add AppStream information to the Debian archive
</a
>, is a
343 proposal to make it possible for a Desktop application to propose to
344 the user some package to install to gain support for a given MIME
345 type, font, library etc. that is currently missing. With such
346 mechanism in place, it would be possible for the desktop to
347 automatically propose and install leocad if some LDraw file is
348 downloaded by the browser.
</p
>
350 <p
>To get some idea about the current content of the archive, I decided
351 to write a simple program to extract all .desktop files from the
352 Debian archive and look up the claimed MIME support there. The result
354 <a href=
"http://ftp.skolelinux.org/pub/AppStreamTest
">Skolelinux FTP
355 site
</a
>. Using the collected information, it become possible to
356 answer the question in the title. Here are the
20 most supported MIME
357 types in Debian stable (Squeeze), testing (Wheezy) and unstable (Sid).
358 The complete list is available from the link above.
</p
>
360 <p
><strong
>Debian Stable:
</strong
></p
>
364 ----- -----------------------
387 <p
><strong
>Debian Testing:
</strong
></p
>
391 ----- -----------------------
414 <p
><strong
>Debian Unstable:
</strong
></p
>
418 ----- -----------------------
441 <p
>I am told that PackageKit can provide an API to access the kind of
442 information mentioned in DEP-
11. I have not yet had time to look at
443 it, but hope the PackageKit people in Debian are on top of these
446 <p
><strong
>Update
2013-
01-
16 13:
35</strong
>: Updated numbers after
447 discovering a typo in my script.
</p
>
452 <title>Using modalias info to find packages handling my hardware
</title>
453 <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Using_modalias_info_to_find_packages_handling_my_hardware.html
</link>
454 <guid isPermaLink=
"true">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Using_modalias_info_to_find_packages_handling_my_hardware.html
</guid>
455 <pubDate>Tue,
15 Jan
2013 08:
00:
00 +
0100</pubDate>
456 <description><p
>Yesterday, I wrote about the
457 <a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Modalias_strings___a_practical_way_to_map__stuff__to_hardware.html
">modalias
458 values provided by the Linux kernel
</a
> following my hope for
459 <a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Lets_make_hardware_dongles_easier_to_use_in_Debian.html
">better
460 dongle support in Debian
</a
>. Using this knowledge, I have tested how
461 modalias values attached to package names can be used to map packages
462 to hardware. This allow the system to look up and suggest relevant
463 packages when I plug in some new hardware into my machine, and replace
464 discover and discover-data as the database used to map hardware to
467 <p
>I create a modaliases file with entries like the following,
468 containing package name, kernel module name (if relevant, otherwise
469 the package name) and globs matching the relevant hardware
472 <p
><blockquote
>
473 Package: package-name
474 <br
>Modaliases: module(modaliasglob, modaliasglob, modaliasglob)
</p
>
475 </blockquote
></p
>
477 <p
>It is fairly trivial to write code to find the relevant packages
478 for a given modalias value using this file.
</p
>
480 <p
>An entry like this would suggest the video and picture application
481 cheese for many USB web cameras (interface bus class
0E01):
</p
>
483 <p
><blockquote
>
485 <br
>Modaliases: cheese(usb:v*p*d*dc*dsc*dp*ic0Eisc01ip*)
</p
>
486 </blockquote
></p
>
488 <p
>An entry like this would suggest the pcmciautils package when a
489 CardBus bridge (bus class
0607) PCI device is present:
</p
>
491 <p
><blockquote
>
493 <br
>Modaliases: pcmciautils(pci:v*d*sv*sd*bc06sc07i*)
494 </blockquote
></p
>
496 <p
>An entry like this would suggest the package colorhug-client when
497 plugging in a ColorHug with USB IDs
04D8:F8DA:
</p
>
499 <p
><blockquote
>
500 Package: colorhug-client
501 <br
>Modaliases: colorhug-client(usb:v04D8pF8DAd*)
</p
>
502 </blockquote
></p
>
504 <p
>I believe the format is compatible with the format of the Packages
505 file in the Debian archive. Ubuntu already uses their Packages file
506 to store their mappings from packages to hardware.
</p
>
508 <p
>By adding a XB-Modaliases: header in debian/control, any .deb can
509 announce the hardware it support in a way my prototype understand.
510 This allow those publishing packages in an APT source outside the
511 Debian archive as well as those backporting packages to make sure the
512 hardware mapping are included in the package meta information. I
've
513 tested such header in the pymissile package, and its modalias mapping
514 is working as it should with my prototype. It even made it to Ubuntu
517 <p
>To test if it was possible to look up supported hardware using only
518 the shell tools available in the Debian installer, I wrote a shell
519 implementation of the lookup code. The idea is to create files for
520 each modalias and let the shell do the matching. Please check out and
522 <a href=
"http://anonscm.debian.org/viewvc/debian-edu/trunk/src/hw-support-handler/hw-support-lookup?view=co
">hw-support-lookup
</a
>
523 shell script. It run without any extra dependencies and fetch the
524 hardware mappings from the Debian archive and the subversion
525 repository where I currently work on my prototype.
</p
>
527 <p
>When I use it on a machine with a yubikey inserted, it suggest to
528 install yubikey-personalization:
</p
>
530 <p
><blockquote
>
531 % ./hw-support-lookup
532 <br
>yubikey-personalization
534 </blockquote
></p
>
536 <p
>When I run it on my Thinkpad X40 with a PCMCIA/CardBus slot, it
537 propose to install the pcmciautils package:
</p
>
539 <p
><blockquote
>
540 % ./hw-support-lookup
541 <br
>pcmciautils
543 </blockquote
></p
>
545 <p
>If you know of any hardware-package mapping that should be added to
546 <a href=
"http://anonscm.debian.org/viewvc/debian-edu/trunk/src/hw-support-handler/modaliases?view=co
">my
547 database
</a
>, please tell me about it.
</p
>
549 <p
>It could be possible to generate several of the mappings between
550 packages and hardware. One source would be to look at packages with
551 kernel modules, ie packages with *.ko files in /lib/modules/, and
552 extract their modalias information. Another would be to look at
553 packages with udev rules, ie packages with files in
554 /lib/udev/rules.d/, and extract their vendor/model information to
555 generate a modalias matching rule. I have not tested any of these to
556 see if it work.
</p
>
558 <p
>If you want to help implementing a system to let us propose what
559 packages to install when new hardware is plugged into a Debian
560 machine, please send me an email or talk to me on
561 <a href=
"irc://irc.debian.org/%
23debian-devel
">#debian-devel
</a
>.
</p
>
566 <title>Modalias strings - a practical way to map
"stuff
" to hardware
</title>
567 <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Modalias_strings___a_practical_way_to_map__stuff__to_hardware.html
</link>
568 <guid isPermaLink=
"true">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Modalias_strings___a_practical_way_to_map__stuff__to_hardware.html
</guid>
569 <pubDate>Mon,
14 Jan
2013 11:
20:
00 +
0100</pubDate>
570 <description><p
>While looking into how to look up Debian packages based on hardware
571 information, to find the packages that support a given piece of
572 hardware, I refreshed my memory regarding modalias values, and decided
573 to document the details. Here are my findings so far, also available
575 <a href=
"http://anonscm.debian.org/viewvc/debian-edu/trunk/src/hw-support-handler/
">the
576 Debian Edu subversion repository
</a
>:
578 <p
><strong
>Modalias decoded
</strong
></p
>
580 <p
>This document try to explain what the different types of modalias
581 values stands for. It is in part based on information from
582 &lt;URL:
<a href=
"https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Modalias
">https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Modalias
</a
> &gt;,
583 &lt;URL:
<a href=
"http://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/
26132/how-to-assign-usb-driver-to-device
">http://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/
26132/how-to-assign-usb-driver-to-device
</a
> &gt;,
584 &lt;URL:
<a href=
"http://code.metager.de/source/history/linux/stable/scripts/mod/file2alias.c
">http://code.metager.de/source/history/linux/stable/scripts/mod/file2alias.c
</a
> &gt; and
585 &lt;URL:
<a href=
"http://cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewvc/dmidecode/dmidecode.c?root=dmidecode
&view=markup
">http://cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewvc/dmidecode/dmidecode.c?root=dmidecode
&view=markup
</a
> &gt;.
587 <p
>The modalias entries for a given Linux machine can be found using
588 this shell script:
</p
>
591 find /sys -name modalias -print0 | xargs -
0 cat | sort -u
594 <p
>The supported modalias globs for a given kernel module can be found
595 using modinfo:
</p
>
598 % /sbin/modinfo psmouse | grep alias:
599 alias: serio:ty05pr*id*ex*
600 alias: serio:ty01pr*id*ex*
604 <p
><strong
>PCI subtype
</strong
></p
>
606 <p
>A typical PCI entry can look like this. This is an Intel Host
607 Bridge memory controller:
</p
>
609 <p
><blockquote
>
610 pci:v00008086d00002770sv00001028sd000001ADbc06sc00i00
611 </blockquote
></p
>
613 <p
>This represent these values:
</p
>
618 sv
00001028 (subvendor)
619 sd
000001AD (subdevice)
625 <p
>The vendor/device values are the same values outputted from
'lspci
626 -n
' as
8086:
2770. The bus class/subclass is also shown by lspci as
627 0600. The
0600 class is a host bridge. Other useful bus values are
628 0300 (VGA compatible card) and
0200 (Ethernet controller).
</p
>
630 <p
>Not sure how to figure out the interface value, nor what it
633 <p
><strong
>USB subtype
</strong
></p
>
635 <p
>Some typical USB entries can look like this. This is an internal
636 USB hub in a laptop:
</p
>
638 <p
><blockquote
>
639 usb:v1D6Bp0001d0206dc09dsc00dp00ic09isc00ip00
640 </blockquote
></p
>
642 <p
>Here is the values included in this alias:
</p
>
645 v
1D6B (device vendor)
646 p
0001 (device product)
649 dsc
00 (device subclass)
650 dp
00 (device protocol)
651 ic
09 (interface class)
652 isc
00 (interface subclass)
653 ip
00 (interface protocol)
656 <p
>The
0900 device class/subclass means hub. Some times the relevant
657 class is in the interface class section. For a simple USB web camera,
658 these alias entries show up:
</p
>
660 <p
><blockquote
>
661 usb:v0AC8p3420d5000dcEFdsc02dp01ic01isc01ip00
662 <br
>usb:v0AC8p3420d5000dcEFdsc02dp01ic01isc02ip00
663 <br
>usb:v0AC8p3420d5000dcEFdsc02dp01ic0Eisc01ip00
664 <br
>usb:v0AC8p3420d5000dcEFdsc02dp01ic0Eisc02ip00
665 </blockquote
></p
>
667 <p
>Interface class
0E01 is video control,
0E02 is video streaming (aka
668 camera),
0101 is audio control device and
0102 is audio streaming (aka
669 microphone). Thus this is a camera with microphone included.
</p
>
671 <p
><strong
>ACPI subtype
</strong
></p
>
673 <p
>The ACPI type is used for several non-PCI/USB stuff. This is an IR
674 receiver in a Thinkpad X40:
</p
>
676 <p
><blockquote
>
677 acpi:IBM0071:PNP0511:
678 </blockquote
></p
>
680 <p
>The values between the colons are IDs.
</p
>
682 <p
><strong
>DMI subtype
</strong
></p
>
684 <p
>The DMI table contain lots of information about the computer case
685 and model. This is an entry for a IBM Thinkpad X40, fetched from
686 /sys/devices/virtual/dmi/id/modalias:
</p
>
688 <p
><blockquote
>
689 dmi:bvnIBM:bvr1UETB6WW(
1.66):bd06/
15/
2005:svnIBM:pn2371H4G:pvrThinkPadX40:rvnIBM:rn2371H4G:rvrNotAvailable:cvnIBM:ct10:cvrNotAvailable:
690 </blockquote
></p
>
692 <p
>The values present are
</p
>
695 bvn IBM (BIOS vendor)
696 bvr
1UETB
6WW(
1.66) (BIOS version)
697 bd
06/
15/
2005 (BIOS date)
698 svn IBM (system vendor)
699 pn
2371H4G (product name)
700 pvr ThinkPadX40 (product version)
701 rvn IBM (board vendor)
702 rn
2371H4G (board name)
703 rvr NotAvailable (board version)
704 cvn IBM (chassis vendor)
706 cvr NotAvailable (chassis version)
709 <p
>The chassis type
10 is Notebook. Other interesting values can be
710 found in the dmidecode source:
</p
>
714 4 Low Profile Desktop
727 17 Main Server Chassis
730 20 Bus Expansion Chassis
731 21 Peripheral Chassis
733 23 Rack Mount Chassis
742 <p
>The chassis type values are not always accurately set in the DMI
743 table. For example my home server is a tower, but the DMI modalias
744 claim it is a desktop.
</p
>
746 <p
><strong
>SerIO subtype
</strong
></p
>
748 <p
>This type is used for PS/
2 mouse plugs. One example is from my
749 test machine:
</p
>
751 <p
><blockquote
>
752 serio:ty01pr00id00ex00
753 </blockquote
></p
>
755 <p
>The values present are
</p
>
764 <p
>This type is supported by the psmouse driver. I am not sure what
765 the valid values are.
</p
>
767 <p
><strong
>Other subtypes
</strong
></p
>
769 <p
>There are heaps of other modalias subtypes according to
770 file2alias.c. There is the rest of the list from that source: amba,
771 ap, bcma, ccw, css, eisa, hid, i2c, ieee1394, input, ipack, isapnp,
772 mdio, of, parisc, pcmcia, platform, scsi, sdio, spi, ssb, vio, virtio,
773 vmbus, x86cpu and zorro. I did not spend time documenting all of
774 these, as they do not seem relevant for my intended use with mapping
775 hardware to packages when new stuff is inserted during run time.
</p
>
777 <p
><strong
>Looking up kernel modules using modalias values
</strong
></p
>
779 <p
>To check which kernel modules provide support for a given modalias,
780 one can use the following shell script:
</p
>
783 for id in $(find /sys -name modalias -print0 | xargs -
0 cat | sort -u); do \
784 echo
"$id
" ; \
785 /sbin/modprobe --show-depends
"$id
"|sed
's/^/ /
' ; \
789 <p
>The output can look like this (only the first few entries as the
790 list is very long on my test machine):
</p
>
794 insmod /lib/modules/
2.6.32-
5-
686/kernel/drivers/acpi/ac.ko
796 FATAL: Module acpi:device: not found.
798 insmod /lib/modules/
2.6.32-
5-
686/kernel/drivers/char/nvram.ko
799 insmod /lib/modules/
2.6.32-
5-
686/kernel/drivers/leds/led-class.ko
800 insmod /lib/modules/
2.6.32-
5-
686/kernel/net/rfkill/rfkill.ko
801 insmod /lib/modules/
2.6.32-
5-
686/kernel/drivers/platform/x86/thinkpad_acpi.ko
802 acpi:IBM0071:PNP0511:
803 insmod /lib/modules/
2.6.32-
5-
686/kernel/lib/crc-ccitt.ko
804 insmod /lib/modules/
2.6.32-
5-
686/kernel/net/irda/irda.ko
805 insmod /lib/modules/
2.6.32-
5-
686/kernel/drivers/net/irda/nsc-ircc.ko
809 <p
>If you want to help implementing a system to let us propose what
810 packages to install when new hardware is plugged into a Debian
811 machine, please send me an email or talk to me on
812 <a href=
"irc://irc.debian.org/%
23debian-devel
">#debian-devel
</a
>.
</p
>
814 <p
><strong
>Update
2013-
01-
15:
</strong
> Rewrite
"cat $(find ...)
" to
815 "find ... -print0 | xargs -
0 cat
" to make sure it handle directories
816 in /sys/ with space in them.
</p
>
821 <title>Moved the pymissile Debian packaging to collab-maint
</title>
822 <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Moved_the_pymissile_Debian_packaging_to_collab_maint.html
</link>
823 <guid isPermaLink=
"true">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Moved_the_pymissile_Debian_packaging_to_collab_maint.html
</guid>
824 <pubDate>Thu,
10 Jan
2013 20:
40:
00 +
0100</pubDate>
825 <description><p
>As part of my investigation on how to improve the support in Debian
826 for hardware dongles, I dug up my old Mark and Spencer USB Rocket
827 Launcher and updated the Debian package
828 <a href=
"http://packages.qa.debian.org/pymissile
">pymissile
</a
> to make
829 sure udev will fix the device permissions when it is plugged in. I
830 also added a
"Modaliases
" header to test it in the Debian archive and
831 hopefully make the package be proposed by jockey in Ubuntu when a user
832 plug in his rocket launcher. In the process I moved the source to a
833 git repository under collab-maint, to make it easier for any DD to
834 contribute.
<a href=
"http://code.google.com/p/pymissile/
">Upstream
</a
>
835 is not very active, but the software still work for me even after five
836 years of relative silence. The new git repository is not listed in
837 the uploaded package yet, because I want to test the other changes a
838 bit more before I upload the new version. If you want to check out
839 the new version with a .desktop file included, visit the
840 <a href=
"http://anonscm.debian.org/gitweb/?p=collab-maint/pymissile.git
">gitweb
841 view
</a
> or use
"<tt
>git clone
842 git://anonscm.debian.org/collab-maint/pymissile.git
</tt
>".
</p
>