X-Git-Url: https://pere.pagekite.me/gitweb/homepage.git/blobdiff_plain/167f87237cabb69a2cd5f774633c2a75a7334021..c16a7f212d81abb5ef940383cdb41e168d8ce74f:/blog/index.html diff --git a/blog/index.html b/blog/index.html index 2c2e60be56..67053703c6 100644 --- a/blog/index.html +++ b/blog/index.html @@ -20,50 +20,37 @@
-
Learn to program with Minetest on Debian
-
15th December 2018
-

A fun way to learn how to program -Python is to follow the -instructions in the book -"Learn to program -with Minecraft", which introduces programming in Python to people -who like to play with Minecraft. The book uses a Python library to -talk to a TCP/IP socket with an API accepting build instructions and -providing information about the current players in a Minecraft world. -The TCP/IP API was first created for the Minecraft implementation for -Raspberry Pi, and has since been ported to some server versions of -Minecraft. The book contain recipes for those using Windows, MacOSX -and Raspian. But a little known fact is that you can follow the same -recipes using the free software construction game -Minetest.

- -

There is a -Minetest module implementing the same API, making it possible to -use the Python programs coded to talk to Minecraft with Minetest too. -I -uploaded -this module to Debian two weeks ago, and as soon as it clears the -FTP masters NEW queue, learning to program Python with Minetest on -Debian will be a simple 'apt install' away. The Debian package is -maintained as part of the Debian Games team, and -the -packaging rules are currently located under 'unfinished' on -Salsa.

- -

You will most likely need to install several of the Minetest -modules in Debian for the examples included with the library to work -well, as there are several blocks used by the example scripts that are -provided via modules in Minetest. Without the required blocks, a -simple stone block is used instead. My initial testing with a analog -clock did not get gold arms as instructed in the python library, but -instead used stone arms.

- -

I tried to find a way to add the API to the desktop version of -Minecraft, but were unable to find any working recipes. The -recipes -I found are only -working with a standalone Minecraft server setup. Are there any -options to use with the normal desktop version?

+ +
4th July 2019
+

Childs need to learn how to guard their privacy too. To help them, +European Digital Rights (EDRi) created +a colorful booklet providing information on several privacy related topics, +and tips on how to protect ones privacy in the digital age.

+ +

The 24 page booklet titled Digital Defenders is +available +in several languages. Thanks to the valuable contributions from +members of the Electronic Foundation Norway +(EFN) and others, it is also available in Norwegian Bokmål. +If you would like to have it available in your language too, +contribute +via Weblate and get in touch.

+ +

But a funny, well written and good looking PDF do not have much +impact, unless it is read by the right audience. To increase the +chance of kids reading it, I am currently assisting EFN in getting +copies printed on paper to distribute on the street and in class +rooms. Print the booklet was made possible thanks to a small et of +great sponsors. Thank you very much to each and every one of them! I +hope to have the printed booklet ready to hand out on Tuesday, when +the Norwegian Unix Users Group is +organizing its yearly +barbecue for geeks and free software zealots in the Oslo area. If +you are nearby, feel free to come by and check out the party and the +booklet.

+ +

If the booklet prove to be a success, it would be great to get +more sponsoring and distribute it to every kid in the country. :)

As usual, if you use Bitcoin and want to show your support of my activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address @@ -72,7 +59,7 @@ activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address

- Tags: debian, english. + Tags: english, nuug, personvern.
@@ -80,39 +67,228 @@ activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address
- -
12th December 2018
-

A few hours ago, a new and improved version (2.4) of -the VLC -bittorrent plugin was uploaded to Debian. This new version -include a complete rewrite of the bittorrent related code, which seem -to make the plugin non-blocking. This mean you can actually exit VLC -even when the plugin seem to be unable to get the bittorrent streaming -started. The new version also include support for filtering playlist -by file extension using command line options, if you want to avoid -processing audio, video or images. The package is currently in Debian -unstable, but should be available in Debian testing in two days. To -test it, simply install it like this:

- -

-apt install vlc-plugin-bittorrent
-

- -

After it is installed, you can try to use it to play a file -downloaded live via bittorrent like this: - -

-vlc https://archive.org/download/Glass_201703/Glass_201703_archive.torrent
-

+ +
21st June 2019
+

av Thomas Sødring (OsloMet) og Petter Reinholdtsen (foreningen +NUUG)

+ +

Nikita Noark 5-kjerne er et fri programvareprosjekt som tar i bruk +Arkivverkets spesifikasjonen for Noark 5 Tjenestegrensesnitt og tilbyr +et maskinlesbart grensesnitt (arkiv-API) til datasystemer som trenger å +arkivere dokumenter og informasjon. I tillegg tilbyr Nikita et +nettleserbasert brukergrensesnitt for brukere av arkivet. Dette +brukergrensesnittet benytter det maskinlesbare grensesnittet. Noark 5 +Tjenestegrensesnitt er en ny måte å tenke arkivering, med fokus på +automatisering og maskinell behandling av arkivmateriale, i stedet for +å fokusere på brukergrensesnitt. En kan tenke på +tjenestegrensesnittet som arkivet uten brukergrensesnitt, der flere +aktører kan koble til ulike brukergrensesnitt, tilpasset ulike +behov.

+ +

Historisk sett gjorde Noark standarden en veldig bra jobb med +overgangen fra +papir til digital saksbehandling, men det har kommet til kort på andre +områder. Den teknologiske utviklingen har brakt oss ditt at vi kan og +skal forvente langt mer fra en arkivkjerne enn før, men det offentlig +er ofte konservativ når det gjelder nytenking. For lengst skulle +begreper som samvirke mellom datasystemer, metadata, prosess og +tjenestegrensesnitt (API) vært dominerende når systemer kjøpes +inn. Dessverre er det slik at ikke alle ønsker samvirke mellom +datasystemer velkommen, og det kan være trygt å kjøpe «svarte bokser» +der du slipper å ta stilling til hvordan man skal få flere systemer +til å virke sammen. Men IT-arkitektur er et begrep arkivfolk også +begynner å ta inn over seg.

+ +

Slike systemer for å organisere metadata bør ha nettbaserte +tjenestegrensesnitt der brukergrensesnitt er tydelig adskilt fra +bakenforliggende system. Det finnes mange rapporter som snakker om å +bryte ned siloer i forvaltningen og standardiserte tjenestegrensesnitt +er det viktigste virkemiddel mot datasiloer og legger til rette for +økt samvirke mellom systemer. Et standardisert tjenestegrensesnitt er +et viktig middel for å få systemer til å samhandle da det sikrer at +ulike produsenters systemer kan snakke sammen på tvers. Samfunnet +fungerer ikke uten standardisering. Vi har alle samme strømstyrke og +kontakter i veggene og kjører alle på høyre side av veien i Norge. Det er i en slik +sammenheng at prosjektet «Noark 5 Tjenestegrensesnitt» er veldig +viktig. Hvis alle leverandører av arkivsystemer forholdt seg til et +standardisert tjenestegrensesnitt kunne kostnadene for arkivering +reduseres. Tenk deg at du er en kommune som ønsker et fagsystem integrert +med arkivløsningen din. I dag må fagsystemleverandøren vite og +tilpasse seg den spesifikke versjonen og varianten av arkivløsningen +du har. Hvis vi antar at alle leverandører av arkivkjerner har solgt +inn enten SOAP eller REST-grensesnitt til kunder de siste 10 årene og +det kommer endret versjon av grensesnittet innimellom, så gir det +veldig mange forskjellige tjenestegrensesnitt en fagsystemleverandør +må forholde seg til. Med 12 leverandører og kvartalsvise oppdateringer +kan det potensielt bli 96 ulike varianter hvert eneste år. Det sier +seg selv at det blir dyrt. Men det blir faktisk verre. Hvis du senere +ønsker å bytte ut arkivsystemet med et annet så er du avhengig å få +alle integrasjonene dine laget på nytt. Dette kan gjøre at du velger å +forbli hos en dårlig leverandør framfor å skaffe nytt system, fordi +det blir for vanskelig og dyrt å bytte. Dermed etableres det «små» +monopolsituasjoner som er vanskelig å bryte ut av. Dårlige valg i dag +kan ha uante kostander på sikt. I Nikita-prosjektet har vi kun jobbet +opp mot Noark 5 Tjenestegrensesnittet. Det har tatt en god del +ressurser å sette seg inn i spesifikasjonen og ta den i bruk, spesielt +på grunn av uklarheter i spesifikasjonen. Hvis vi måtte gjøre det +samme for alle versjoner og varianter av de forskjellige +tjenestegrensesnittene ville det blitt veldig tidkrevende og +kostbart.

+ +

For deg som arkivar er digitalisering og systemer som skal virke +sammen en del av den nye hverdagen. Du har kanskje blitt skånet for +det ved å kjøpe svarte bokser, men du risikerer at du gjør deg selv en +bjørnetjeneste. Det kan oppleves som kjedelig å fortelle kolleger at +du skal sette deg inn i et tjenestegrensesnitt, men dette er faktisk +veldig spennende. Tjenestegrensesnittet er på en måte blitt levende og +det er spesielt et begrep du bør merke deg: OData. Å trekke inn deler +av OData-standarden som en måte å filtrere entitetsøk i et arkivsystem +var et nyttig trekk i prosjektet. Følgende eksempel er en +OData-spørring det går an å sende inn til en standardisert +arkivkjerne:

-

As usual, if you use Bitcoin and want to show your support of my -activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address +

+.../sakarkiv/journalpost?filter=contains(tittel, 'nabovarsel') +

+ +

Spørringen over vil hente en liste av alle dine journalposter der +tittelen til journalposten inneholder ordet 'nabovarsel'. Alle +leverandører som implementerer tjenestegrensesnittet vil måtte tilby +dette. Det betyr at hvis du lærer dette språket for et system, vil det +være gjeldende for alle. Dette er egentlig en ny måte å søke i +arkivdatabasen på og vil være svært nyttig, for eksempel kan søk i +tjenestegrensesnittet antagelig brukes til å hente ut offentlig +postjournal. I arkivverden pleier vi å like teknologier som er +menneskelesbart, da vet vi det er enkelt og nyttig! OData er også +viktig fordi det kan bli en ny måte å svare innsynsforespørsler på i +tråd med offentlighetsloven § 9, der retten til å kreve innsyn i +sammenstilling fra databaser er nedfelt. I dag ser vi +forvaltningsorganer som avviser slike krav fordi det «ikke kan gjøres +med enkle framgangsmåter». Bruken av OData i tjenestegrensesnittet, +sammen med maskinlesbar markeringsformater kan være et viktig bidrag +til å åpne arkivene i tråd med prinsippene om en åpen og transparent +forvaltning.

+ +

Standardisering er viktig fordi det kan sikre samvirke. +Men den effekten kommer kun hvis standardiseringen sikrer at alle +forstår standarden på samme måte, dvs. at den er entydig og klar. En +god måte å sikre en entydig og klar spesifikasjon er ved å kreve at +det finnes minst to ulike implementasjoner som følger spesifikasjonen +og som kan snakke sammen, det vil si at de snakker samme språk, slik +IETF krever for alle sine standarder, før spesifikasjonen anses å være +ferdig. Tilbakemelding fra miljøet forteller at både leverandører og +kunder har et avslappet forhold til Noark 5 Tjenestegrensesnitt og det +er så langt kun Evry som har visst offentlig at de har en +implementasjon av tjenestegrensesnittet. Evry, HK Data og Fredrikstad +kommune er igang med et pilotprosjekt på Noark 5 +Tjenestegrensesnitt. For å redusere kostnadene for samvirkende +datasystemer betraktelig, er det veldig viktig at vi kommer i en +situasjon der alle leverandører har sine egne implementasjoner av +tjenestegrensesnittet, og at disse oppfører seg likt og i tråd med det +som er beskrevet i spesifikasjonen.

+ +

Det er her fri programvare spiller en viktig rolle. Med en uklar +standard blir det som en polsk riksdag, der ingenting fungerer. Nikita +er en fri programvareimplementasjon av tjenestegrensesnitt og kan +fungere som teknisk referanse slik at leverandører enklere kan se og +forstå hvordan standarden skal tolkes. Vi har i Nikitaprosjektet +erfart å ende opp med vidt forskjellige tolkninger når +prosjektmedlemmene leser spesifikasjonsteksten, en effekt av en uklar +spesifikasjon. Men Nikitaprosjektet har også utviklet et test-program +som sjekker om et tjenestegrensesnitt er i samsvar med standarden, og +prosjektet bruker det hele tiden for å sikre at endringer og +forbedringer fungerer. Egenerklæringsskjemaenes dager kan være talte! +Snart vil du selv kunne teste hver oppdatering av arkivsystemet med en +uavhengig sjekk.

+ +

Fri programvare representerer en demokratisering av kunnskap der +tolkning- og innlåsingsmakt flyttes fra leverandør til allmenheten. +Med fri programvare har du en litt annerledes verdikjede, der selve +produktet ikke holdes hemmelig for å tjene penger, slik en gjør med +ufri programvare og skytjenester som ikke bruker fri programvare, men +du kan tjene penger på andre deler av verdikjeden. Med fri programvare +kan samfunnet betale for å videreutvikle nyttig +fellesfunksjonalitet.

+ +

Nikita er en fri programvareimplementasjon av tjenestegrensesnittet og +kan fungere som en referanseimplementasjon dersom det er ønskelig. +Alle har lik tilgang til koden og det koster ingenting å ta den i bruk +og utforske det. Nikitaprosjektet ønsker tjenestegrensesnittet +velkommen og stiller veldig gjerne opp i diskusjoner om tolkning av +tjenestegrensesnittet. Nikita er bygget på moderne +programmeringsrammeverk og utviklet i full åpenhet. Men Nikita er ikke +noe du kan kjøpe. Nikita er først og fremst et verktøy for forsking og +utvikling laget for å fremme forskning på arkivfeltet. Systemer som +virker sammen har alltid vært hovedfokus og vil være det fremover. +Det brukes som undervisningsverktøy der studentene ved OsloMet lærer +om administrativt oppsett, saksbehandling, uttrekk og samvirkende +datasystemer. Det brukes også som forskningsobjekt der vi ser på +import av dokumentsamlinger, bruk av blokkjede og andre nyskapende +måter å tenke arkiv på. Det er dog helt greit om andre tar Nikita og +pakker det for å selge det som produkt. Forvaltningsorganer med +sterke drift- og utviklingsmiljøer kan også se på Nikita og utforske +hva som er mulig. Dette kan de gjøre uten å måtte betale for +bruksrettigheter eller tilgang til konsulenter. Men arkivering blir +ikke gratis på grunn av Nikita. Det trengs fortsatt folk med +kompetanse og tid til å ta i bruk Nikita.

+ +

Nikita har nylig kommet med en ny utgave, den sjette i rekken. +Systemet er ikke ferdig, mest på grunn av at API-spesifikasjonen for +Noark 5 Tjenestegrensesnitt ikke er ferdig, men allerede i dag kan en +bruke Nikita som arkiv. Vi har laget eksempelsystem for å importere +data fra deponi-XML og slik gjøre eksisterende arkivdata tilgjengelig +via et API. Vi har også laget en testklient som importerer epost inn +i arkivet med vedlegg der epostenes trådinformasjon brukes til å legge +eposttråder i samme arkivmappe, og en annen testklient som henter +epost ut av en arkivmappe på mbox-format slik at en vanlig epostklient +kan brukes til å lese igjennom og svare på epostene i en +arkivmappe. De som vil ta en titt på Nikita kan besøke +https://nikita.oslomet.no og +logge inn med brukernavn «admin@example.com» og passord «password». +Dette gir tilgang til det forenklede brukergrensesnittet som brukes +til undervisning. De som heller vil ta en titt under panseret kan +besøke +https://nikita.oslomet.no/browse.html +og der se hvordan API-et fungerer mer i detalj. Innloggingsdetaljer +her er det samme som for brukergrensesnittet.

+ +

Fremover er fokuset på forbedring av spesifikasjonen Noark 5 +Tjenestegrensesnitt. De som skrev tjenestegrensesnittet gjorde et +interessant og framtidsrettet grep, de skilte sak fra arkiv. +Tjenestegrensesnittet består av flere "pakker", der noen er +grunnleggende mens andre bygger på de grunnleggende pakkene. Pakkene +som er beskrevet så langt heter «arkivstruktur», «sakarkiv», +«administrasjon», «loggogsporing» og «moeter» (dessverre +planlagt +fjernet i første utgave). Etter hvert håper vi å utforske +prosses- og metadatabeskrivelser til flere fagområder og bidra til at +tjenestegrensesnittet kan legge til flere pakker som «byggarkiv», +«barnevern», «personal», «barnehage», der arkivfaglig metadata- og +dokumentasjonsbehov er kartlagt og standardisert.

+ +

Nikita utvikles av en liten prosjektgruppe, og vi er alltid +interessert å bli flere. Hvis en åpen, fri og standardisert tilnærming +til arkivering høres interessant ut, bli med oss på veien videre. Vi +er tilstede på IRC-kanalen #nikita hos FreeNode (tilgjengelig via +nettleser på +https://webchat.freenode.net?channels=#nikita), +og har en e-postliste nikita-noark@nuug.no hos NUUG (tilgjengelig for +påmelding og arkiv på +https://lists.nuug.no/mailman/listinfo/nikita-noark) +der en kan følge med eller være med oss på den spennende veien videre. +Spesifikasjonen for Noark 5 Tjenestegrensesnitt vedlikeholdes på +github, +https://github.com/arkivverket/noark5-tjenestegrensesnitt-standard/.

+ +

Som vanlig, hvis du bruker Bitcoin og ønsker å vise din støtte til +det jeg driver med, setter jeg pris på om du sender Bitcoin-donasjoner +til min adresse 15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b.

- Tags: english, verkidetfri, video. + Tags: noark5, norsk, standard.
@@ -120,55 +296,73 @@ activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address
- -
11th December 2018
-

FNs -menneskerettighetserklæring artikkel 13 første punkt lyder som -følger:

- -

-Enhver har rett til å bevege seg fritt og til fritt å velge -oppholdssted innenfor en stats grenser. -

- -

Det er altsÃ¥ en menneskerett Ã¥ kunne bevege seg fritt i landet. -For Ã¥ bevege seg fritt i landet, sÃ¥ mÃ¥ en kunne bevege seg uten Ã¥ bli -sporet. Det vil i dagens samfunn innebære Ã¥ bevege seg uten Ã¥ legge -igjen digitale spor og uten Ã¥ være radiomerket. Hvis en vet at ens -bevegelser, hvor en befinner seg nÃ¥r, og hvem som befinner seg i -nærheten, blir samlet inn og gjort tilgjengelig for fremmede, det være -seg myndighetene eller private organisasjoner, sÃ¥ kan en ikke lenger -bevege seg fritt. Dette gjør at det er en forutsetning for Ã¥ ha glede -av retten til Ã¥ bevege seg fritt i landet at en motstÃ¥r fristelsen til -Ã¥ legge igjen digitale spor nÃ¥r en betaler for seg. Rettigheter som -ikke blir brukt, blir fjernet. Den eneste mÃ¥ten i dag Ã¥ unngÃ¥ Ã¥ legge -igjen digitale spor nÃ¥r en betaler for seg, er Ã¥ betale med kontanter, -samt takke nei til Ã¥ legge igjen navn og adresse (slik f.eks. Elkjøp -ber om — jeg sier de kan legge inn «anonym anonym» nÃ¥r -datasystemet deres trenger et navn). Personlig anbefaler jeg Ã¥ -konsekvent bruke kontant betaling nÃ¥r man beveger seg rundt, for Ã¥ -bidra til forsvaret av menneskerettighetene i Norge. Kanskje noe ogsÃ¥ -for deg? Merk at det ikke er tilstrekkelig for Ã¥ unngÃ¥ sporing Ã¥ -betale med kontanter, men det er et lite steg i riktig retning.

- -

Det er flere andre argumenter i tillegg til -menneskerettighetsargumentet for å bruke kontanter. I går hadde -Dagbladet en utmerket kommentar av sin journalist John Olav Egeland om -hvilket -kontantløst -diktatur som venter oss hvis mange nok slutter å insistere på å -betale med kontanter. Jeg anbefaler deg å lese den.

+ +
19th June 2019
+

Some years ago, in 2016, I +wrote +for the first time about the Ring peer to peer messaging system. +It would provide messaging without any central server coordinating the +system and without requiring all users to register a phone number or +own a mobile phone. Back then, I could not get it to work, and put it +aside until it had seen more development. A few days ago I decided to +give it another try, and am happy to report that this time I am able +to not only send and receive messages, but also place audio and video +calls. But only if UDP is not blocked into your network.

+ +

The Ring system changed name earlier this year to +Jami. I +tried doing web search for 'ring' when I discovered it for the first +time, and can only applaud this change as it is impossible to find +something called Ring among the noise of other uses of that word. Now +you can search for 'jami' and this client and +the Jami system is the first hit at +least on duckduckgo.

+ +

Jami will by default encrypt messages as well as audio and video +calls, and try to send them directly between the communicating parties +if possible. If this proves impossible (for example if both ends are +behind NAT), it will use a central SIP TURN server maintained by the +Jami project. Jami can also be a normal SIP client. If the SIP +server is unencrypted, the audio and video calls will also be +unencrypted. This is as far as I know the only case where Jami will +do anything without encryption.

+ +

Jami is available for several platforms: Linux, Windows, MacOSX, +Android, iOS, and Android TV. It is included in Debian already. Jami +also work for those using F-Droid without any Google connections, +while Signal do not. +The +protocol is described in the Ring project wiki. The system uses a +distributed hash table (DHT) system (similar to BitTorrent) running +over UDP. On one of the networks I use, I discovered Jami failed to +work. I tracked this down to the fact that incoming UDP packages +going to ports 1-49999 were blocked, and the DHT would pick a random +port and end up in the low range most of the time. After talking to +the developers, I solved this by enabling the dhtproxy in the +settings, thus using TCP to talk to a central DHT proxy instead of + +peering directly with others. I've been told the developers are +working on allowing DHT to use TCP to avoid this problem. I also ran +into a problem when trying to talk to the version of Ring included in +Debian Stable (Stretch). Apparently the protocol changed between +beta2 and the current version, making these clients incompatible. +Hopefully the protocol will not be made incompatible in the +future.

+ +

It is worth noting that while looking at Jami and its features, I +came across another communication platform I have not tested yet. The +Tox protocol +and family of Tox clients. It might +become the topic of a future blog post.

-

Som vanlig, hvis du bruker Bitcoin og ønsker å vise din støtte til -det jeg driver med, setter jeg pris på om du sender Bitcoin-donasjoner -til min adresse -15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b. -Merk, betaling med bitcoin er ikke anonymt. :)

+

As usual, if you use Bitcoin and want to show your support of my +activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address +15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b.

@@ -176,45 +370,92 @@ Merk, betaling med bitcoin er ikke anonymt. :)

- -
9th December 2018
-

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of watching on Frikanalen the OWASP -talk by Scott Helme titled -"What We’ve Learned From -Billions of Security Reports". I had not heard of the -Content -Security Policy standard nor its ability to "call home" when a -browser detect a policy breach (I do not follow web page design -development much these days), and found the talk very illuminating.

- -

The mechanism allow a web site owner to use HTTP headers to tell -visitors web browser which sources (internal and external) are allowed to -be used on the web site. Thus it become possible to enforce a "only -local content" policy despite web designers urge to fetch programs -from random sites on the Internet, like the one -enabling -the attack reported by Scott Helme earlier this year.

- -

Using CSP seem like an obvious thing for a site admin to implement -to take some control over the information leak that occur when -external sources are used to render web pages, it is a mystery more -sites are not using CSP? It is being -standardized under W3C these -days, and is supposed by most web browsers

- -

I managed to find a -Django middleware for implementing CSP and was happy to discover -it was already in Debian. I plan to use it to add CSP support to the -Frikanalen web site soon.

- -

As usual, if you use Bitcoin and want to show your support of my -activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address -15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b.

+ +
11th June 2019
+

The first book I published, +Free Culture by Lawrence +Lessig, is still selling a few copies. Not a lot, but enough to +have contributed slightly over $500 to the Creative Commons Corporation +so far. All the profit is sent there. Most books are still sold via +Amazon (83 copies), with Ingram second (49) and Lulu (12) and Machette (7) as +minor channels. Bying directly from Lulu bring the largest cut to +Creative Commons. The English Edition sold 80 copies so far, the +French 59 copies, and Norwegian only 8 copies. Nothing impressive, +but nice to see the work we put down is still being appreciated. The +ebook edition is available for free from +Github.

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
Title / languageQuantity
2016 jan-jun2016 jul-dec2017 jan-jun2017 jul-dec2018 jan-jun2018 jul-dec2019 jan-may
Culture Libre / French361911767
Fri kultur / Norwegian7100000
Free Culture / English1427169373
Total24343520101310
+ +

It is fun to see the French edition being more popular than the +English one.

+ +

If you would like to translate and publish the book in your native +language, I would be happy to help make it happen. Please get in +touch.

- Tags: english, standard, web. + Tags: docbook, english, freeculture.
@@ -222,37 +463,27 @@ activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address
- -
8th November 2018
-

If you read my blog regularly, you probably know I am involved in -running and developing the Norwegian -TV channel Frikanalen. It is an open channel, allowing everyone -in Norway to publish videos on a TV channel with national coverage. -You can think of it as Youtube for national television. -In addition to distribution on RiksTV and Uninett, Frikanalen is also -available as a Kodi addon. The last few days I have updated the code -to add more features. A -new -and improved version 0.0.3 Frikanalen addon was just made -available via the Kodi repositories. This new version include a -option to browse videos by category, as well as free text search -in the video archive. It will now also show the video duration in the -video lists, which were missing earlier. A new and experimental -link to the HD video stream currently being worked on is provided, for -those that want to see what the CasparCG -output look like. The alternative is the SD video stream, generated -using MLT. CasparCG is controlled by our -mltplayout -server which instead of talking to mlt is giving PLAY instructions -to the CasparCG server when it is time to start a new program.

- -

By now, you are probably wondering what kind of content is being -played on the channel. These days, it is filled with technical -presentations like those from NUUG, -Debconf, Makercon, and TED, -but there are also some periods with -EMPT TV and -P7. +

+
4th June 2019
+

Just 15 days ago, +I +mentioned my submission to IANA to register an official MIME type +for the SOSI vector map format. This morning, just an hour ago, I was +notified that +the +MIME type "text/vnd.sosi" is registered for this format. In +addition to this registration, my +file(1) +patch for a pattern matching rule for SOSI files has been accepted +into the official source of that program (pending a new release), and +I've been told by the team behind +PRONOM that +the SOSI format will be included in the next release of PRONOM, which +they plan to release this summer around July.

+ +

I am very happy to see all of this fall into place, for use by +the +Noark 5 Tjenestegrensesnitt implementations.

As usual, if you use Bitcoin and want to show your support of my activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address @@ -261,7 +492,7 @@ activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address

@@ -269,33 +500,67 @@ activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address
- -
1st November 2018
-

As part of my involvement in -the Nikita -archive API project, I've been importing a fairly large lump of -emails into a test instance of the archive to see how well this would -go. I picked a subset of my -notmuch email database, all public emails sent to me via -@lists.debian.org, giving me a set of around 216 000 emails to import. -In the process, I had a look at the various attachments included in -these emails, to figure out what to do with attachments, and noticed -that one of the most common attachment formats do not have -an -official MIME type registered with IANA/IETF. The output from -diff, ie the input for patch, is on the top 10 list of formats -included in these emails. At the moment people seem to use either -text/x-patch or text/x-diff, but neither is officially registered. It -would be better if one official MIME type were registered and used -everywhere.

- -

To try to get one official MIME type for these files, I've brought -up the topic on -the -media-types mailing list. If you are interested in discussion -which MIME type to use as the official for patch files, or involved in -making software using a MIME type for patches, perhaps you would like -to join the discussion?

+ +
2nd June 2019
+

A while back a college and friend from Debian and the Skolelinux / +Debian Edu project approached me, asking if I knew someone that might +be interested in helping out with a technology project he was running +as a teacher at L'école +franco-danoise - the Danish-French school and kindergarden. The +kids were building robots, rovers. The story behind it is to build a +rover for use +on +the dark side of the moon, and remote control it. As travel cost +was a bit high for the final destination, and they wanted to test the +concept first, he was looking for volunteers to host a rover for the +kids to control in a foreign country. I ended up volunteering as a +host, and last week the rover arrived. It took a while to arrive +after it was +built and shipped, because of customs confusion. Luckily we were +able fix it quickly with help from my colleges at work.

+ +

This is what it looked like when the rover arrived. Note the cute +eyes looking up on me from the wrapping

+ + + + + +

Once the robot arrived, we needed to track +down batteries and figure out how to build custom firmware for it with +the appropriate wifi settings. I asked a friend if I could get two +18650 batteries from his pile of Tesla batteries (he had them from the +wrack of a crashed Tesla), so now the rover is running on Tesla +batteries.

+ +

Building +the rover +firmware proved a bit harder, as the code did not work out of the +box with the Arduino IDE package in Debian Buster. I suspect this is +due to a unsolved + license problem +with arduino blocking Debian from upgrading to the latest version. +In the end we gave up debugging why the IDE failed to find the +required libraries, and ended up using the Arduino Makefile from the +arduino-mk Debian +package instead. Unfortunately the camera library is missing from +the Arduino environment in Debian, so we disabled the camera support +for the first firmware build, to get something up and running. With +this reduced firmware, the robot could be controlled via the +controller server, driving around and measuring distance using its +internal acoustic sensor.

+ +

Next, With some help from my friend in Denmark, which checked in the +camera library into the gitlab repository for me to use, we were able +to build a new and more complete version of the firmware, and the +robot is now up and running. This is what the "commander" web page +look like after taking a measurement and a snapshot:

+ + + +

If you want to learn more about this project, you can check out the +The +Dark Side Challenge Hackaday web pages.

As usual, if you use Bitcoin and want to show your support of my activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address @@ -304,7 +569,7 @@ activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address

- Tags: debian, english, standard. + Tags: english, robot.
@@ -312,70 +577,64 @@ activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address
- -
22nd October 2018
-

- -

My current home stereo is a patchwork of various pieces I got on -flee markeds over the years. It is amazing what kind of equipment -show up there. I've been wondering for a while if it was possible to -measure how well this equipment is working together, and decided to -see how far I could get using free software. After trawling the web I -came across an article from DIY Audio and Video on -Speaker -Testing and Analysis describing how to test speakers, and it listing -several software options, among them -AUDio MEasurement -System (AUDMES). It is the only free software system I could find -focusing on measuring speakers and audio frequency response. In the -process I also found an interesting article from NOVO on -Understanding -Speaker Specifications and Frequency Response and an article from -ecoustics on -Understanding -Speaker Frequency Response, with a lot of information on what to -look for and how to interpret the graphs. Armed with this knowledge, -I set out to measure the state of my speakers.

- -

The first hurdle was that AUDMES hadn't seen a commit for 10 years -and did not build with current compilers and libraries. I got in -touch with its author, who no longer was spending time on the program -but gave me write access to the subversion repository on Sourceforge. -The end result is that now the code build on Linux and is capable of -saving and loading the collected frequency response data in CSV -format. The application is quite nice and flexible, and I was able to -select the input and output audio interfaces independently. This made -it possible to use a USB mixer as the input source, while sending -output via my laptop headphone connection. I lacked the hardware and -cabling to figure out a different way to get independent cabling to -speakers and microphone.

- -

Using this setup I could see how a large range of high frequencies -apparently were not making it out of my speakers. The picture show -the frequency response measurement of one of the speakers. Note the -frequency lines seem to be slightly misaligned, compared to the CSV -output from the program. I can not hear several of these are high -frequencies, according to measurement from -Free Hearing Test -Software, an freeware system to measure your hearing (still -looking for a free software alternative), so I do not know if they are -coming out out the speakers. I thus do not quite know how to figure -out if the missing frequencies is a problem with the microphone, the -amplifier or the speakers, but I managed to rule out the audio card in my -PC by measuring my Bose noise canceling headset using its own -microphone. This setup was able to see the high frequency tones, so -the problem with my stereo had to be in the amplifier or speakers.

- -

Anyway, to try to role out one factor I ended up picking up a new -set of speakers at a flee marked, and these work a lot better than the -old speakers, so I guess the microphone and amplifier is OK. If you -need to measure your own speakers, check out AUDMES. If more people -get involved, perhaps the project could become good enough to -include in Debian? And if -you know of some other free software to measure speakers and amplifier -performance, please let me know. I am aware of the freeware option -REW, but I want something -that can be developed also when the vendor looses interest.

+ +
22nd May 2019
+

This morning, a new release of +Nikita +Noark 5 core project was +announced +on the project mailing list. The Nikita free software solution is +an implementation of the Norwegian archive standard Noark 5 used by +government offices in Norway. These were the changes in version 0.4 +since version 0.3, see the email link above for links to a demo site:

+ +
    + +
  • Roll out OData handling to all endpoints where applicable
  • +
  • Changed the relation key for "ny-journalpost" to the official one.
  • +
  • Better link generation on outgoing links.
  • +
  • Tidy up code and make code and approaches more consistent throughout + the codebase
  • +
  • Update rels to be in compliance with updated version in the + interface standard
  • +
  • Avoid printing links on empty objects as they can't have links
  • +
  • Small bug fixes and improvements
  • +
  • Start moving generation of outgoing links to @Service layer so access + control can be used when generating links
  • +
  • Log exception that was being swallowed so it's traceable
  • +
  • Fix name mapping problem
  • +
  • Update templated printing so templated should only be printed if it + is set true. Requires more work to roll out across entire + application.
  • +
  • Remove Record->DocumentObject as per domain model of n5v4
  • +
  • Add ability to delete lists filtered with OData
  • +
  • Return NO_CONTENT (204) on delete as per interface standard
  • +
  • Introduce support for ConstraintViolationException exception
  • +
  • Make Service classes extend NoarkService
  • +
  • Make code base respect X-Forwarded-Host, X-Forwarded-Proto and + X-Forwarded-Port
  • +
  • Update CorrespondencePart* code to be more in line with Single + Responsibility Principle
  • +
  • Make package name follow directory structure
  • +
  • Make sure Document number starts at 1, not 0
  • +
  • Fix isues discovered by FindBugs
  • +
  • Update from Date to ZonedDateTime
  • +
  • Fix wrong tablename
  • +
  • Introduce Service layer tests
  • +
  • Improvements to CorrespondencePart
  • +
  • Continued work on Class / Classificationsystem
  • +
  • Fix feature where authors were stored as storageLocations
  • +
  • Update HQL builder for OData
  • +
  • Update OData search capability from webpage
  • + +
+ +

If free and open standardized archiving API sound interesting to +you, please contact us on IRC +(#nikita on +irc.freenode.net) or email +(nikita-noark +mailing list).

As usual, if you use Bitcoin and want to show your support of my activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address @@ -384,7 +643,7 @@ activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address

@@ -392,58 +651,50 @@ activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address
- -
21st October 2018
-

Bittorrent is as far as I know, currently the most efficient way to -distribute content on the Internet. It is used all by all sorts of -content providers, from national TV stations like -NRK, Linux distributors like -Debian and -Ubuntu, and of course the -Internet archive. - -

Almost a month ago -a new -package adding Bittorrent support to VLC became available in -Debian testing and unstable. To test it, simply install it like -this:

- -

-apt install vlc-plugin-bittorrent
-

- -

Since the plugin was made available for the first time in Debian, -several improvements have been made to it. In version 2.2-4, now -available in both testing and unstable, a desktop file is provided to -teach browsers to start VLC when the user click on torrent files or -magnet links. The last part is thanks to me finally understanding -what the strange x-scheme-handler style MIME types in desktop files -are used for. By adding x-scheme-handler/magnet to the MimeType entry -in the desktop file, at least the browsers Firefox and Chromium will -suggest to start VLC when selecting a magnet URI on a web page. The -end result is that now, with the plugin installed in Buster and Sid, -one can visit any -Internet -Archive page with movies using a web browser and click on the -torrent link to start streaming the movie.

- -

Note, there is still some misfeatures in the plugin. One is the -fact that it will hang and -block VLC -from exiting until the torrent streaming starts. Another is the -fact that it -will pick -and play a random file in a multi file torrent. This is not -always the video file you want. Combined with the first it can be a -bit hard to get the video streaming going. But when it work, it seem -to do a good job.

- -

For the Debian packaging, I would love to find a good way to test -if the plugin work with VLC using autopkgtest. I tried, but do not -know enough of the inner workings of VLC to get it working. For now -the autopkgtest script is only checking if the .so file was -successfully loaded by VLC. If you have any suggestions, please -submit a patch to the Debian bug tracking system.

+ +
20th May 2019
+

As part of my involvement in the work to +standardise +a REST based API for Noark 5, the Norwegian archiving standard, I +spent some time the last few months to try to register a +MIME type +and PRONOM +code for the SOSI file format. The background is that there is a +set of formats approved for long term storage and archiving in Norway, +and among these formats, SOSI is the only format missing a MIME type +and PRONOM code.

+ +

What is SOSI, you might ask? To quote Wikipedia: SOSI is short for +Samordnet Opplegg for Stedfestet Informasjon (literally "Coordinated +Approach for Spatial Information", but more commonly expanded in +English to Systematic Organization of Spatial Information). It is a +text based file format for geo-spatial vector information used in +Norway. Information about the SOSI format can be found in English +from Wikipedia. The +specification is available in Norwegian from +the +Norwegian mapping authority. The SOSI standard, which originated +in the beginning of nineteen eighties, was the inspiration and formed the +basis for the XML based +Geography +Markup Language.

+ +

I have so far written +a pattern matching +rule for the file(1) unix tool to recognize SOSI files, submitted +a request to the PRONOM project to have a PRONOM ID assigned to the +format (reference TNA1555078202S60), and today send a request to IANA +to register the "text/vnd.sosi" MIME type for this format (referanse +IANA +#1143144). If all goes well, in a few months, anyone implementing +the Noark 5 Tjenestegrensesnitt API spesification should be able to +use an official MIME type and PRONOM code for SOSI files. In +addition, anyone using SOSI files on Linux should be able to +automatically recognise the format and web sites handing out SOSI +files can begin providing a more specific MIME type. So far, SOSI +files has been handed out from web sites using the +"application/octet-stream" MIME type, which is just a nice way of +stating "I do not know". Soon, we will know. :)

As usual, if you use Bitcoin and want to show your support of my activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address @@ -452,7 +703,7 @@ activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address

@@ -460,71 +711,146 @@ activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address
- -
18th October 2018
-

This morning, the new release of the +

+
25th March 2019
+

As part of my involvement with the Nikita -Noark 5 core project was -announced -on the project mailing list. The free software solution is an -implementation of the Norwegian archive standard Noark 5 used by -government offices in Norway. These were the changes in version 0.2 -since version 0.1.1 (from NEWS.md): +Noark 5 core project, I have been proposing improvements to the +API specification created by The +National Archives of Norway and helped migrating the text from a +version control system unfriendly binary format (docx) to Markdown in +git. Combined with the migration to a public git repository (on +github), this has made it possible for anyone to suggest improvement +to the text.

+ +

The specification is filled with UML diagrams. I believe the +original diagrams were modelled using Sparx Systems Enterprise +Architect, and exported as EMF files for import into docx. This +approach make it very hard to track changes using a version control +system. To improve the situation I have been looking for a good text +based UML format with associated command line free software tools on +Linux and Windows, to allow anyone to send in corrections to the UML +diagrams in the specification. The tool must be text based to work +with git, and command line to be able to run it automatically to +generate the diagram images. Finally, it must be free software to +allow anyone, even those that can not accept a non-free software +license, to contribute.

+ +

I did not know much about free software UML modelling tools when I +started. I have used dia and inkscape for simple modelling in the +past, but neither are available on Windows, as far as I could tell. I +came across a nice +list +of text mode uml tools, and tested out a few of the tools listed +there. The PlantUML tool seemed +most promising. After verifying that the packages +is available in +Debian and found its +Java source under a GPL license on github, I set out to test if it +could represent the diagrams we needed, ie the ones currently in +the +Noark 5 Tjenestegrensesnitt specification. I am happy to report +that it could represent them, even thought it have a few warts here +and there.

+ +

After a few days of modelling I completed the task this weekend. A +temporary link to the complete set of diagrams (original and from +PlantUML) is available in +the +github issue discussing the need for a text based UML format, but +please note I lack a sensible tool to convert EMF files to PNGs, so +the "original" rendering is not as good as the original was in the +publised PDF.

+ +

Here is an example UML diagram, showing the core classes for +keeping metadata about archived documents:

-
    -
  • Fix typos in REL names
  • -
  • Tidy up error message reporting
  • -
  • Fix issue where we used Integer.valueOf(), not Integer.getInteger()
  • -
  • Change some String handling to StringBuffer
  • -
  • Fix error reporting
  • -
  • Code tidy-up
  • -
  • Fix issue using static non-synchronized SimpleDateFormat to avoid - race conditions
  • -
  • Fix problem where deserialisers were treating integers as strings
  • -
  • Update methods to make them null-safe
  • -
  • Fix many issues reported by coverity
  • -
  • Improve equals(), compareTo() and hash() in domain model
  • -
  • Improvements to the domain model for metadata classes
  • -
  • Fix CORS issues when downloading document
  • -
  • Implementation of case-handling with registryEntry and document upload
  • -
  • Better support in Javascript for OPTIONS
  • -
  • Adding concept description of mail integration
  • -
  • Improve setting of default values for GET on ny-journalpost
  • -
  • Better handling of required values during deserialisation
  • -
  • Changed tilknyttetDato (M620) from date to dateTime
  • -
  • Corrected some opprettetDato (M600) (de)serialisation errors.
  • -
  • Improve parse error reporting.
  • -
  • Started on OData search and filtering.
  • -
  • Added Contributor Covenant Code of Conduct to project.
  • -
  • Moved repository and project from Github to Gitlab.
  • -
  • Restructured repository, moved code into src/ and web/.
  • -
  • Updated code to use Spring Boot version 2.
  • -
  • Added support for OAuth2 authentication.
  • -
  • Fixed several bugs discovered by Coverity.
  • -
  • Corrected handling of date/datetime fields.
  • -
  • Improved error reporting when rejecting during deserializatoin.
  • -
  • Adjusted default values provided for ny-arkivdel, ny-mappe, - ny-saksmappe, ny-journalpost and ny-dokumentbeskrivelse.
  • -
  • Several fixes for korrespondansepart*.
  • -
  • Updated web GUI: -
      -
    • Now handle both file upload and download.
    • -
    • Uses new OAuth2 authentication for login.
    • -
    • Forms now fetches default values from API using GET.
    • -
    • Added RFC 822 (email), TIFF and JPEG to list of possible file formats.
    • -
  • -
+
+@startuml
+skinparam classAttributeIconSize 0
+
+!include media/uml-class-arkivskaper.iuml
+!include media/uml-class-arkiv.iuml
+!include media/uml-class-klassifikasjonssystem.iuml
+!include media/uml-class-klasse.iuml
+!include media/uml-class-arkivdel.iuml
+!include media/uml-class-mappe.iuml
+!include media/uml-class-merknad.iuml
+!include media/uml-class-registrering.iuml
+!include media/uml-class-basisregistrering.iuml
+!include media/uml-class-dokumentbeskrivelse.iuml
+!include media/uml-class-dokumentobjekt.iuml
+!include media/uml-class-konvertering.iuml
+!include media/uml-datatype-elektronisksignatur.iuml
+
+Arkivstruktur.Arkivskaper "+arkivskaper 1..*" <-o "+arkiv 0..*" Arkivstruktur.Arkiv
+Arkivstruktur.Arkiv o--> "+underarkiv 0..*" Arkivstruktur.Arkiv
+Arkivstruktur.Arkiv "+arkiv 1" o--> "+arkivdel 0..*" Arkivstruktur.Arkivdel
+Arkivstruktur.Klassifikasjonssystem "+klassifikasjonssystem [0..1]" <--o "+arkivdel 1..*" Arkivstruktur.Arkivdel
+Arkivstruktur.Klassifikasjonssystem "+klassifikasjonssystem [0..1]" o--> "+klasse 0..*" Arkivstruktur.Klasse
+Arkivstruktur.Arkivdel "+arkivdel 0..1" o--> "+mappe 0..*" Arkivstruktur.Mappe
+Arkivstruktur.Arkivdel "+arkivdel 0..1" o--> "+registrering 0..*" Arkivstruktur.Registrering
+Arkivstruktur.Klasse "+klasse 0..1" o--> "+mappe 0..*" Arkivstruktur.Mappe
+Arkivstruktur.Klasse "+klasse 0..1" o--> "+registrering 0..*" Arkivstruktur.Registrering
+Arkivstruktur.Mappe --> "+undermappe 0..*" Arkivstruktur.Mappe
+Arkivstruktur.Mappe "+mappe 0..1" o--> "+registrering 0..*" Arkivstruktur.Registrering
+Arkivstruktur.Merknad "+merknad 0..*" <--* Arkivstruktur.Mappe
+Arkivstruktur.Merknad "+merknad 0..*" <--* Arkivstruktur.Dokumentbeskrivelse
+Arkivstruktur.Basisregistrering -|> Arkivstruktur.Registrering
+Arkivstruktur.Merknad "+merknad 0..*" <--* Arkivstruktur.Basisregistrering
+Arkivstruktur.Registrering "+registrering 1..*" o--> "+dokumentbeskrivelse 0..*" Arkivstruktur.Dokumentbeskrivelse
+Arkivstruktur.Dokumentbeskrivelse "+dokumentbeskrivelse 1" o-> "+dokumentobjekt 0..*" Arkivstruktur.Dokumentobjekt
+Arkivstruktur.Dokumentobjekt *-> "+konvertering 0..*" Arkivstruktur.Konvertering
+Arkivstruktur.ElektroniskSignatur -[hidden]-> Arkivstruktur.Dokumentobjekt
+@enduml
+
-

The changes and improvements are extensive. Running diffstat on -the changes between git tab 0.1.1 and 0.2 show 1098 files changed, -108666 insertions(+), 54066 deletions(-).

+

The format is quite +compact, with little redundant information. The text expresses +entities and relations, and there is little layout related fluff. One +can reuse content by using include files, allowing for consistent +naming across several diagrams. The include files can be standalone +PlantUML too. Here is the content of +media/uml-class-arkivskaper.iuml:

-

If free and open standardized archiving API sound interesting to -you, please contact us on IRC -(#nikita on -irc.freenode.net) or email -(nikita-noark -mailing list).

+
+@startuml
+class Arkivstruktur.Arkivskaper  {
+  +arkivskaperID : string
+  +arkivskaperNavn : string
+  +beskrivelse : string [0..1]
+}
+@enduml
+
+ +

This is what the complete diagram for the PlantUML notation above +look like:

+ +

+ +

A cool feature of PlantUML is that the generated PNG files include +the entire original source diagram as text. The source (with include +statements expanded) can be extracted using for example +exiftool. Another cool feature is that parts of the entities +can be hidden after inclusion. This allow to use include files with +all attributes listed, even for UML diagrams that should not list any +attributes.

+ +

The diagram also show some of the warts. Some times the layout +engine place text labels on top of each other, and some times it place +the class boxes too close to each other, not leaving room for the +labels on the relationship arrows. The former can be worked around by +placing extra newlines in the labes (ie "\n"). I did not do it here +to be able to demonstrate the issue. I have not found a good way +around the latter, so I normally try to reduce the problem by changing +from vertical to horizontal links to improve the layout.

+ +

All in all, I am quite happy with PlantUML, and very impressed with +how quickly its lead developer responds to questions. So far I got an +answer to my questions in a few hours when I send an email. I +definitely recommend looking at PlantUML if you need to make UML +diagrams. Note, PlantUML can draw a lot more than class relations. +Check out the documention for a complete list. :)

As usual, if you use Bitcoin and want to show your support of my activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address @@ -533,7 +859,7 @@ activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address

@@ -541,102 +867,47 @@ activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address
- -
8th October 2018
-

I have earlier covered the basics of trusted timestamping using the -'openssl ts' client. See blog post for -2014, -2016 -and -2017 -for those stories. But some times I want to integrate the timestamping -in other code, and recently I needed to integrate it into Python. -After searching a bit, I found -the -rfc3161 library which seemed like a good fit, but I soon -discovered it only worked for python version 2, and I needed something -that work with python version 3. Luckily I next came across -the rfc3161ng library, -a fork of the original rfc3161 library. Not only is it working with -python 3, it have fixed a few of the bugs in the original library, and -it has an active maintainer. I decided to wrap it up and make it -available in -Debian, and a few days ago it entered Debian unstable and testing.

- -

Using the library is fairly straight forward. The only slightly -problematic step is to fetch the required certificates to verify the -timestamp. For some services it is straight forward, while for others -I have not yet figured out how to do it. Here is a small standalone -code example based on of the integration tests in the library code:

+ +
24th March 2019
+

Yesterday, a new release of +Nikita +Noark 5 core project was +announced +on the project mailing list. The free software solution is an +implementation of the Norwegian archive standard Noark 5 used by +government offices in Norway. These were the changes in version 0.3 +since version 0.2.1 (from NEWS.md):

-
-#!/usr/bin/python3
-
-"""
-
-Python 3 script demonstrating how to use the rfc3161ng module to
-get trusted timestamps.
-
-The license of this code is the same as the license of the rfc3161ng
-library, ie MIT/BSD.
-
-"""
-
-import os
-import pyasn1.codec.der
-import rfc3161ng
-import subprocess
-import tempfile
-import urllib.request
-
-def store(f, data):
-    f.write(data)
-    f.flush()
-    f.seek(0)
-
-def fetch(url, f=None):
-    response = urllib.request.urlopen(url)
-    data = response.read()
-    if f:
-        store(f, data)
-    return data
-
-def main():
-    with tempfile.NamedTemporaryFile() as cert_f,\
-    	 tempfile.NamedTemporaryFile() as ca_f,\
-    	 tempfile.NamedTemporaryFile() as msg_f,\
-    	 tempfile.NamedTemporaryFile() as tsr_f:
-
-        # First fetch certificates used by service
-        certificate_data = fetch('https://freetsa.org/files/tsa.crt', cert_f)
-        ca_data_data = fetch('https://freetsa.org/files/cacert.pem', ca_f)
-
-        # Then timestamp the message
-        timestamper = \
-            rfc3161ng.RemoteTimestamper('http://freetsa.org/tsr',
-                                        certificate=certificate_data)
-        data = b"Python forever!\n"
-        tsr = timestamper(data=data, return_tsr=True)
-
-        # Finally, convert message and response to something 'openssl ts' can verify
-        store(msg_f, data)
-        store(tsr_f, pyasn1.codec.der.encoder.encode(tsr))
-        args = ["openssl", "ts", "-verify",
-                "-data", msg_f.name,
-	        "-in", tsr_f.name,
-		"-CAfile", ca_f.name,
-                "-untrusted", cert_f.name]
-        subprocess.check_call(args)
-
-if '__main__' == __name__:
-   main()
-
+
    +
  • Improved ClassificationSystem and Class behaviour.
  • +
  • Tidied up known inconsistencies between domain model and hateaos links.
  • +
  • Added experimental code for blockchain integration.
  • +
  • Make token expiry time configurable at upstart from properties file.
  • +
  • Continued work on OData search syntax.
  • +
  • Started work on pagination for entities, partly implemented for Saksmappe.
  • +
  • Finalise ClassifiedCode Metadata entity.
  • +
  • Implement mechanism to check if authentication token is still + valid. This allow the GUI to return a more sensible message to the + user if the token is expired.
  • +
  • Reintroduce browse.html page to allow user to browse JSON API using + hateoas links.
  • +
  • Fix bug in handling file/mappe sequence number. Year change was + not properly handled.
  • +
  • Update application yml files to be in sync with current development.
  • +
  • Stop 'converting' everything to PDF using libreoffice. Only + convert the file formats doc, ppt, xls, docx, pptx, xlsx, odt, odp + and ods.
  • +
  • Continued code style fixing, making code more readable.
  • +
  • Minor bug fixes.
  • + +
-

The code fetches the required certificates, store them as temporary -files, timestamp a simple message, store the message and timestamp to -disk and ask 'openssl ts' to verify the timestamp. A timestamp is -around 1.5 kiB in size, and should be fairly easy to store for future -use.

+

If free and open standardized archiving API sound interesting to +you, please contact us on IRC +(#nikita on +irc.freenode.net) or email +(nikita-noark +mailing list).

As usual, if you use Bitcoin and want to show your support of my activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address @@ -645,7 +916,7 @@ activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address

@@ -660,6 +931,23 @@ activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address

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