Ubuntu is composed of many software packages, the vast majority of which are distributed under a free software license. The only exceptions are some proprietary hardware drivers.The main license used is the GNU General Public License (GNU GPL) which, along with the GNU Lesser General Public License (GNU LGPL), explicitly declares that users are free to run, copy, distribute, study, change, develop and improve the software. On the other hand, there is also proprietary software available that can run on Ubuntu. Ubuntu focuses on usability, security and stability. The Ubiquity installer allows Ubuntu to be installed to the hard disk from within the Live CD environment, without the need for restarting the computer prior to installation. Ubuntu also emphasizes accessibility and internationalization to reach as many people as possible.
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Attention Jaunty Alpha eCryptfs Users...

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

The 2.6.28 Linux kernel used by each of the Ubuntu Jaunty Alphas (1-6) included a bug that may have written arbitrary kernel memory into your eCryptfs file headers.

Hardy and Intrepid are NOT affected. And the actual encrypted data content in your eCryptfs files is NOT affected.

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However, if you run 'strings' on your encrypted data, you may see some cleartext data used as padding in the first 2 pages of the file headers. You can check this with something like:

$ umount.ecryptfs_private && cd ~/.Private && mount.ecryptfs_private
$ find . -type f | xargs strings | egrep ".{20}"

For more information about the technical details and the fix for this bug, please reference:

The Ubuntu Jaunty Beta kernel includes the fix, which will correctly zero the 2 pages of kernel memory allocated for these file headers and prevent such data leakage on any eCryptfs file writes thereafter.

However, any files encrypted with a previous Jaunty Alpha kernel will need to be re-encrypted with the new kernel. Also in Ubuntu Jaunty Beta, I have included a new utility in ecryptfs-utils-73 to help you clean your files: ecryptfs-rewrite-file.

In that manpage, I give a hint for recursively re-encrypting all files in your eCryptfs mount point. Something along the lines of this:

$ cd $HOME/Private || cd $HOME
$ find . -xdev -print0 | xargs -r -0 /usr/bin/ecryptfs-rewrite-file
$ ecryptfs-umount-private
$ sync
$ ecryptfs-mount-private

To run this, I *strongly* recommend logging out of all graphical desktop sessions, and logging in via the tty console (ctrl-alt-f1), or via ssh. This will minimize the number of background processes you have running, and prevent races reading/writing the files in your home directory.

As a point of reference, when I ran this on my home directory, it took my dual-core, 2.4GHz t61p about 15 minutes to re-encrypt 2GB of data (25,000 files). I strongly recommend that you do the same, at your earliest possible convenience.

One final note... If you are the type that prefers to run 25-rounds-of-shred to thwart complex data recovery from magnetic disks, then you might consider backing up your cleartext data, shredding your disk, and reinstalling from scratch. In which case, I'm sorry (on multiple levels).

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Wah? Your Dell Inspiron Mini9 is an Ubuntu Server?

For ~4 years, I have maintained a Dell Optiplex sx240 at my parents house, 500 miles away from me, as my co-lo. Sadly, the little box died a quiet death about a month ago. She won't power on at all any more.
I checked the usual suspects, thought it might be the bios battery, but alas, none of those solved the problem, so I sent her on to the great silicon rehabilitation facility at Goodwill.
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I spent a week or so shopping for a replacement and settled, perhaps surprisingly, on a Dell Inspiron Mini9 netbook.


A strange choice for a server? you ask...

No way!

This little machine is:
  • Cheap -- $230
  • Small -- 4 lbs, 9"
  • Quiet -- SSD hard drive, tiny fan
  • Green -- 30W when running fully loaded
  • Warrantied -- 1 year
And it has:
  • Built-in UPS -- a good 4 hour battery
  • Built-in keyboard-video-mouse -- much easier maintenance, attended upgrades
  • External ports -- 3 usb, 1 svga, sound, pcmcia, sd-reader, 10/100 ethernet, wireless
  • Ubuntu! -- pre-loaded with 8.04 LTS
As a co-lo server, the tiny-keyboard doesn't bother me, since I access the machine almost exclusively via SSH. The simple 1.6GHz Atom processor is certainly sufficient for handling incoming rsync's. The 4GB hard drive is plenty of space for my Ubuntu Server footprint (~1GB), with my data living on a 1TB external USB hard drive.

It's small enough and quiet enough to sit under my parents cable modem and router--they don't even notice it's there. Hurricanes and thunderstorms are common in Cajun country, so the built-in battery keeps the machine alive through short (4 style="font-weight: bold;" size="4">A MythTV Frontend, Even?...

I also hooked up the external SVGA port to my 52" Samsung 1080p HDTV, and it spit out perfect 1920x1080 resolution. It was able to render full screen compressed HD content as well (haven't tried streaming HD yet). The only sound output is a stereo headphones jack (no 5.1 audio), and the wired ethernet is only 10/100mbps (no gigabit), so I won't be replacing my primary MythTV frontend yet. But there is some promise! At this price point, it's not much more expensive than a new Blu-Ray player. Heck, I think every $2500 TV should ship with one of these bolted onto the back ;-)

And then there's the Wife Factor...

I must say, it was strangely satisfying to open the new Dell packaging, catch the first whiff of brand new plastic, and see an Ubuntu 8.04LTS sealed cdrom attached to the manual. The first boot was also cool, answering the OEM questions, customizing the image for me. I didn't like the Dell desktop, so I immediately switched it back to the Ubuntu classic (I'll eventually reinstall the Ubuntu Server with no graphical desktop).

Now what happened next was even more surprising. My wife, Kim, says, "Oh my god, it's so cute! I love my new computer!"

Hah! Well, that was neither the reaction I was expecting, nor the intended purpose of this computer. But she's been using it quite a bit and she really likes it. She's gotten used to the keyboard, though it helps that her hands are smaller than mine and she doesn't use the | key or F-keys hundreds of times per day like I do ;-)

So it looks like I will be ordering another one now :-)


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To PulseAudio or Not To PulseAudio .


The last few releases of Ubuntu have left me scratching my head, and not just because of dandruff. The Developers and MOTUs for Ubuntu have seen fit to add PulseAudio to the audio stack.

And I do mean add it to the stack. It sits on top of Alsa and attempts to manage the way people use their audio. And yes, it sits on top of Alsa, not replaces it. Alsa is still there and functioning properly.

But then, PulseAudio comes in and makes further decisions about what’s available and what you can do with it.


This might not be too bad, except that PulseAudio STILL hasn’t reached 1.0.0 state. It has been functionally broken since it was first put into Ubuntu and activated by default, and it remains so, today. Originally, one could find PulseAudio in the Sessions Boot Start-Up, and turn it off. Likewise on could remove it from the services that are run.

Now, however, it’s rather well hidden. Somewhat in the manner of a Microsoft activity that someone is ashamed of.

My disgust with the fact that PulseAudio was arbitrarily relegating my audio to monaural, despite the abilities of my sound card, caused me to file the following bug report on March 30.


Bug #352164
PROBLEM: PulseAudio is unable to determine basic information about my sound system, despite the fact that the information is readily available.
System is a Dell Inspiron 530N
Processor - Intel Core2, 1.60GHz
Memory - 1 Gig
Video Card - NVidia GeForce 7300LE
Sound Card - Intel 82801I (ICH 9 family) HD Audio Controller
Operating System: Ubuntu 9.04 Beta (Jaunty Jackalope)
Linux Kernel - 2.6.28-11-generic
This system is up-to-date with package updates as of March 30, 2009, 10:54 PM Mountain Standard Time (UTC -7), or April 1, 2009, 05:54 UTC

This card is capable of AT LEAST 44100 Hz sampling and AT LEAST 5.1 Surround Sound. Yet what I get from PulseAudio (via the system log) is:
Mar 30 16:18:51 tyche-jaunty pulseaudio[3270]: alsa-util.c: Device hw:1 doesn’t support 44100 Hz, changed to 22050 Hz.
Mar 30 16:18:51 tyche-jaunty pulseaudio[3270]: alsa-util.c: Device hw:1 doesn’t support 2 channels, changed to 1.

This is an unacceptable situation, made worse by the fact that it takes extraordinary measures to turn off PulseAudio so that Alsa (which IS installed) can do it’s job. Monaural sound, to someone listening to serious, Classical music is unacceptable. Installing PulseAudio and initializing it by default is a regression of ability. Installing it and initializing it by default then hiding any ability to kill it is Microsoft style thinking. We are supposed to be better than that.

SOLUTION: Stop initializing PulseAudio by default. If people want to install it and use it, it should be a choice.

My purpose in publicly voicing my contempt for PulseAudio as a “sound manager” is to draw attention to the fact that, in all this time, it STILL is functionally broken to the point that use of it constitutes a regression in the ability of my system to produce reasonable and pleasing sound. And no, this is NOT the first time that I’ve filed a bug report or question with Launchpad on this subject. I grow rather tired of being ignored when I suggest that it not be activated by default. With something like this that lacks the functionality that people need and want, it should be up to the individual to make the choice of whether or not to use it. Activating it by default is unconscionable. Activating it by default and hiding it, to make turning it off an extremely difficult procedure for the uninitiate goes beyond that into the sort of thinking that have moved people away from Microsoft operating systems.

So, I ask once again - and publicly. Turn it off. Provide a means of allowing the individual to turn it on IF THEY WISH. But please don’t foist broken applications on an unsuspecting public and uninitiate new users simply because it’s the “new thing”.

Oh, and for those of you that are stuck with it running, and can’t find a way of turning it off, enter “killall -9 pulseaudio” into the Sessions and reboot.


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Ubuntu Drupal 6.3.1 Released

Saturday, March 28, 2009

With the coming of Ubuntu 9.04, it was time for a change to this package. Our latest release now has a countdown timer.

You can see available options for countdown images at http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/countdown. Unfortunately, this third option being an iframe means that we're unable to include it as an option.

The options available:
* Pick from 3 for the 4 images
* Set position
* Set size
* Set opacity
* Set visibility
* Even IE tested

You can grab the latest package at https://launchpad.net/ubuntu-drupal-releases/6.x.

Once installed, all the available options are listed in /admin/build/themes/settings/ubuntu-drupal. You can of course see a working example at http://sd.ubuntu-us.org/.
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Drupal Install on Debian or Ubuntu

I am running apache2 and mysql. All of my software packages were initially installed with apt-get. But when I did a "apt-get install drupal" I would always get a failure communicating with the mysql server. After getting stuck, and getting advice from 1 person I trust, and another person on a forum who sounded intelligent - you're better off installing drupal from source rather than apt-get. So I did. I downloaded "drupal-4.6.3.tar.gz" untarred it and followed "INSTALL.txt". This howto is intended to be followed along with the INSTALL.txt .

If I to leave details or if you are stuck on something I've left out, please add a comment or contact me for help. I'd be happy to further explain anything I did.
Step 0 - Prereqs

My system is currently using apache2 mysql5 and php5. You can install drupal with apache1, but unless you have a good reason to install apache1, you should use apache2. You could also install drupal with a postgres backend if you wish. If you need any of these programs, just do a:

apt-get install [package]
Where package can be any/all of the following:
apache2
php5
php5-mysql
php5-gd
libapache2-mod-php5
mysql-server-5.0
mysql-client-5.0
Step 1 - Get the Code

Go to the drupal site and download the latest drupal. For my original install, the latest drupal was: drupal-4.6.3 . Simply do this:
tar -zxvf drupal-x.y.z.tar.gz
mv drupal-x.y.z /your/full/path/to/site/www.mydrupal.com
Step 2 - Set up mysql

I got stuck on step 2 of INSTALL.txt . I did a "mysqladmin -u debian-sys-maint -p create drupal" and that worked fine. Then I got into the mysql database with this: "mysql -u debian-sys-maint -p" Note: "debian-sys-maint" is the user automatically created when you install mysql on a debian system. It is basically the admin account of mysql.

In MySQL you should create a seperate user for most databases, so you're going to create a new user like "drupaluser" or something else - and makeup or generate a new password. Your system's "root" mysql username (debian-sys-maint) and password are stored in /etc/mysql/debian.cnf . You'll make a new user with the MySQL GRANT command.

My problem was with the next command in INSTALL.txt:
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON drupal.* TO nobody@localhost IDENTIFIED BY 'password';

I was first confused by the line break and indentation - what was I supposed to enter? Keep in mind I had little experience with mysql - other than somehow getting it to work with slashcode. I soon realized that the line break is optional - it works with or without it. Whenever I entered this command in, substituting drupal for drupal, nobody for drualuser, and password for my password - I got a mysql syntax error. I finally figured out that the username, host, and password need to be encased in '' or ``

GRANT USAGE ON *.* TO 'drupaluser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'password';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON drupal.* TO 'drupaluser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'password';

The output for the above commands should be something like Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec)
Step 3 - Populate the mysql database

Make sure /sites/default/settings.php is writable by the webserver (chmod 666 sites/default/settings.php will do it). Go to http://www.mydrupalsite.com/install.php and fill out the information. After you are done, chmod the file back to something reasonable like 644(mod php) or 600(for fastcgi).
Step 4 - Cron tasks

You need some way of hitting http://www.drupalsite.com/cron.php every hour or so. The easiest way to do this is to set up a cron job. Crontab + curl is probably the best solution to this. If you don't have curl installed, just do a apt-get install curl

First you take the example script which is drupalsite/scripts/cron-curl.sh - and modify it to for your site, eg:

#!/bin/sh
curl --silent --compressed http://dimmeria.com/cron.php

Save it in drupalsite/scripts and do a chmod 755 drupal-lynx.sh .

Now type crontab -e this will open up your default editor, which may be vi. (side note: to change your default editor put export EDITOR=/usr/bin/vim in your .bashrc or .profile file (or equivalent command in equivlaent shell startup file. Change vim to your editor of choice).

If you don't know how to use vi - hit, you "i" for insert, then you can type your code in. When you are done, you hit escape and then ":wq" for write and quit.

Enter this line on a new line in your text editor:
17 * * * * /complete/path/to/drupalsite/scripts/cron-curl.sh

The 17 means that the script will execute on the 17th minute of every hour. Change this if you like. After you write and quit, type in "crontab -l" . If you see your new command in there, it worked.

For more drupal cron info:

* http://drupal.org/node/1181
* http://drupal.org/node/19520
* http://drupal.org/node/26265

Step 5 - What's not in INSTALL.txt, but should be

Under my administer menu, I noticed that my the php gd imaging program wasn't installed...because of drupal's very noticable warning message. I was missing a software package. The solution was to apt-get install php4-gd . The larger error message dissappeared.

Now drupal worked without errors, but something bothered me. Anyone could see my /database /scripts or /includes directory. I thought it was a file permissions problem at first - but it's not. Your webserver has to be able to read those directories for drupal to function..yet you want to keep out every web browser. The problem actually was that my apache2 config file for www.dimmeria.com had not been set up to allow my .htaccess file to functioin. I had to edit /etc/apache2/sites-available/www.dimmeria.com to read:

AllowOverride All

AllowOverride allows your .htaccess file to function. And drupal needs this .htaccess file to work. Here are the first lines of my .htaccess file:

Order deny,allow Deny from all


The letters separated by a pipe "|" and put in parentheses () are filetypes that are blocked from webbrowsers. To the right of those are directory names. I added "includes" "sites" and "database" myself because I'd rather keep people out of files they don't need to see. Also, you may want to move update.php into your updates folder, or somewhere else where it's not accessible. Just in case.
Step 6a exim4 - outgoing mail

So I thought drupal was set up right. Wrong. My friend tried to create an account, and he never got emailed his password. wtf, mate? Debian installed exim4 for me automatically when I installed - but it was not configured properly. Here is how you configure exim4 on debian so that it will work with drupal (and should work with everything else too). At the command line, run: dpkg-reconfigure exim4-config Go through the configuration script. Your setup may vary from mine. Here are the steps I took:

1. Do not break up the configuration file into smaller files - why make things more complicated for myself?
2. "internet site; mail is sent and received directly using SMTP"
3. mailname="dimmeria.com"
4. IPs to listen on ="127.0.0.1:192.168.0.x" where x is the last digit of my LAN ip. eg 192.168.0.5
5. other final destinations = blank
6. relay mail for domains - blank
7. Relay mail for local machines - 192.168.0.0/24 (meaning 192.168.0.[1-255])
8. Dial-on-demand: this is only necessary if you don't have a constant internet connection - you'll probably want to select no

Finally, do a
update-exim4.conf
/etc/init.d/exim4 restart

Then test your email with drupal. If anyone has any mail problems, please post them here in the comments.
Section 6b - exim4 alternate

I actually wrote section 6b before I wrote section 6a, but then my mail stopped working after 2 days. The steps in section 6a work for me, so I consider them better. For those who are brave, or desperate, here is an alternate configuration. At the command line, run: dpkg-reconfigure exim4-config Go through the configuration script. Your setup may vary from mine. Here are the steps I took:

1. Do not break up the configuration file into smaller files - why make things more complicated for myself?
2. "Mail sent by smarthost; received via SMTP or fetchmail"
3. mailname="dimmeria.com"
4. IPs to listen on ="127.0.0.1:192.168.0.x" where x is the last digit of my LAN ip. eg 192.168.0.5
5. other final destinations = blank
6. relay mail for LAN IPs only - "192.168.0.0/24"
7. hostname for outgoing mail: "smtp.dslextreme.com" This is because my isp is dslextreme.com. To make life easier for myself, I'm using their smtp server to send mail. I don't know how to configure exim to send mail to any mail server..such as gmail or yahoo. Yours might be "smtp.mywebhost.com" or "mail.myisp.com" .
8. Hide local mail name? This is up to you. If you want your mail to come from "mydrupalsite.com" then select no. If you want your mail to come from something you create eg "myemailaddress.com" then select yes. I selected no.
9. Dial-on-demand: this is only necessary if you don't have a constant internet connection - you'll probably want to select no

If you're lucky you might be done now. But I wasn't lucky. I had to set my mailserver to send my ISP username and password to login to my ISP's smtp server. Edit /etc/exim4/passwd.client Add a line like this:
mail.isp.com:ispusername:isppassword
eg
smtp.dslextreme.com:myusername@dslextreme.com:mypassword

Now you'll probably have to tell exim that it's okay to send clear-text passwords. Otherwise it will try to encrypt the password - which your isp may not like.

Edit /etc/exim4/exim4.conf.template Add these lines:
#For SMTP Auth
AUTH_CLIENT_ALLOW_NOTLS_PASSWORDS = 1

Finally, do a
update-exim4.conf
/etc/init.d/exim4 restart
note: If you connect to the internet through your isp, sending a clear-text password to them isn't much of a security risk...your password should only be travelling a short distance over your ISP's equipment. However, if you really care about your password security you should figure out how to send an encrypted password to your ISP with exim4 (in which case, do not add the above line). However, you'll have to read a different howto to figure that out.
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Portable Ubuntu (for Windows)

I discovered “Portable Ubuntu for Windows” by accident. It was linked in an odd thread on the Ubuntu Forums :

Can’t run native Linux applications in XP, PLEASE HELP. (See post # 45 )

The home page is here : Portable Ubuntu for Windows (sourceforge)

No, this is not dual booting Ubuntu from a flash drive, it is portable virtualization the runs in user space (no administrative access required).

Portable Ubuntu for Windows is CoLinux with an Ubuntu 8.04 (desktop) image and Xming. Colinux is bare metal (low overhead, no fancy gui or management tools) virtualization for Windows. Xming is a X server for windows (cygwin would be an alternate X server).

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Colinux home page
Xming home page

OK, I am familiar with CoLinux as I had taken it for a spin a few years ago. Time to take a second look at CoLinux and see what, if any progress had been made.

Portable Ubuntu, once the archive is decompressed, takes about 2 Gb of space on your hard drive / Flash drive.

The improvements are (in no particular order) :

The biggest improvement, IMO, is that Colinux and Xming are portable as advertised. They are distributed as a set of binaries and DO NOT require either installation onto the Windows host or administrative access.

Networking is obtained via NAT but does not require a TAP or change your Windows Network configuration. Again the Networking is all run in “user space” and does not require administrative access on Windows. iptables works well on the guest if you wish to firewall the guest. Ping does not work on the guest.

The Ubuntu guest runs on 256 Mb RAM. Despite this small amount of RAM it actually runs quite fast (from hard drive, slower if you run it from a flash drive). You could add swap disk if you wish (I have not done this yet).

The Ubuntu image can be increased in size from the Windows command line.

Integration between guest and host is outstanding. First there is a shared clipboard (on Xming) and copy-paste between host and guest works well, although in most applications you have to use the menu to copy and paste as the keyboard and mouse short cuts often fail. Sound integration also works out of the box and I was able to stream audio (radio stations) using audacious in Ubuntu and the sound was quite good on the Windows host.

Last file sharing is a snap. The Windows C:\ drive is mounted in the Ubuntu guest. No need for samba, NFS, ssh, ftp, etc to share files between host an guest. I was able to open documents on the Windows host, edit them, and save the changes with both gedit and Abiword (OpenOffice is NOT included on the Ubuntu image).

Conclusion: As you can see, I was impressed with the improvements in CoLinux since the last time I took it for a spin. Portable Ubuntu for Windows is a Open Source option which allows bare metal virtualization on Windows without requiring either installation onto the Windows host or administrative access.


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