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Daniel Mettler – Page 24 – A changelog by Daniel Mettler

Author: Daniel Mettler

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Gentoo: libsdl gone mad? Nope.

If you’ve emerge sync’ed today and the output of an ’emerge -puD world’ on your CLI-only box looks similar to mine..

o2 media-libs # emerge -pu lib-compat

These are the packages that I would merge, in order:

Calculating dependencies …done!
[ebuild N ] media-libs/audiofile-0.2.6-r1
[ebuild N ] media-sound/alsa-headers-1.0.8
[ebuild N ] media-libs/alsa-lib-1.0.8
[ebuild N ] x11-base/xorg-x11-6.8.2-r1
[ebuild N ] sys-apps/utempter-0.5.5.5-r1
[ebuild N ] x11-terms/xterm-200-r1
[ebuild N ] media-libs/lcms-1.13-r1
[ebuild N ] media-libs/libmng-1.0.4
[ebuild N ] x11-libs/qt-3.3.4-r3
[ebuild N ] kde-base/kde-env-3-r3
[ebuild N ] kde-base/arts-1.3.2-r1
[ebuild N ] media-libs/libsdl-1.2.8-r1
[ebuild N ] sys-libs/lib-compat-1.4

..you might want to adjust your USE flag settings to anticipate the recent soft dependency changes in libsdl. Add “-arts” (KDE sound server, not needed on a headless server) to your USE flags in /etc/make.conf and the output will look like

o2 media-libs # emerge -puD lib-compat

These are the packages that I would merge, in order:

Calculating dependencies …done!
[ebuild N ] media-libs/audiofile-0.2.6-r1
[ebuild N ] media-sound/alsa-headers-1.0.8
[ebuild N ] media-libs/alsa-lib-1.0.8
[ebuild N ] media-libs/libsdl-1.2.8-r1
[ebuild N ] sys-libs/lib-compat-1.4

Much better, isn’t it? ;) Of course, if you don’t like alsa, you can opt it out too.

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Bug tracking tools

Installed Bugzilla and Trac and a couple of other dev tools to complete the first development and runtime environment infrastructure of our[1] upcoming startup company (which will revolutionize quite some things in the blogosphere, if successful :)

If you take a close look at common OSS dev tools, it’s astonishing how limited most of them are. They usually follow a conservative, traditional “me too” approach to accomplish their tasks – despite of foreseeable drawbacks. I’d like to see more inventive and courageous approaches that lead to unconventional, but finally superior software instead of having a variety of very similar tools which are limited by design. It’s worth to take the time to think deeply about different (and also radically new :) approaches before digging into coding matters.

[1] So far, Ben’s and mine (interested to join? Contact us!)

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London sightseeing tips?

I’ll be off to London from 05.05.-09.05.2005. Regarding the current London agenda, all I know so far is that there will be UK elections 2005 on 5th of May (perhaps the reason why accommodation in London is so scarce ATM?).

Are there any other {unique, great, funky, unconventional} must-see events (sounds, arts, sports, tech, business,..) in London between 05.-09.? Any hints welcome! :)

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Swiss Gentoo derivative – Pentoo LiveCD

There’s a new Gentoo derivative:


“Pentoo” is an acronym for “PENetration on genTOO”. It is based on kernel version 2.6.10, uses the Gnome desktop environment, and aims to provide a complete platform for intrusion detection, penetration-testing and security assessment. The content of the LiveCD can be updated, allowing for
up-to-date fingerprint and vulnerability databases, for tools that require regular updates like the Nessus plugins, or scanner fingerprint files, metasploit etc. Users can optionaly store data on USB sticks for non-volatile storage support. Pentoo’s author, Michael Zanetta, emphasizes that “it
has to be considered beta as I have not much time to test it carefully,” so feedback and comments are very welcome, at bugs@pentoo.ch. A roadmap for the project is available, too.

(Source: Gentoo Weekly Newsletter: April 25th, 2005)

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read only access to a webdav share using apache2 mod_dav

did you know you can configure mod_dav to allow read-only access to your webdav share (apart from the usual read-write access)? all you need is set “Options Indexes”, point your browser to the webdav url and enter your credentials. basically, i have the following mod_dav configuration[1]:

BrowserMatch “^WebDAVFS/1.[012]” redirect-carefully
BrowserMatch “Microsoft Data Access Internet Publishing Provider” redirect-carefully
BrowserMatch “Microsoft-WebDAV-MiniRedir/5.1.2600” redirect-carefully
BrowserMatch “^WebDrive” redirect-carefully
BrowserMatch “^WebDAVFS” redirect-carefully

LoadModule dav_module modules/mod_dav.so
LoadModule dav_fs_module modules/mod_dav_fs.so
DavLockDB /var/lib/dav/lockdb

DavMinTimeout 600
<Directory /path/to/the/dav>
Options Indexes
Dav On
AuthType Basic
AuthName “Please enter your webshare credentials”
AuthUserFile /path/to/the/passwordfile
Require user johndoe
</Directory>

i had to remove <Limit> restrictions as basic auth didn’t work with it for some reason. configuring a share that can be both accessed (read-write) using samba/smb/cifs and webdav is a bit more tricky and depends on which linux distribution you use. in a nutshell, you need to fiddle with directory permissions (especially the “sgid – set group id” bit) and figure out which setting works best (and the most securely) for you.

note that for security reasons, you should only allow encrypted http access (https using tls/ssl) to your share (see the <Redirect> option for example).

[1] in gentoo, edit /etc/apache2/conf/modules.d/45_mod_dav.conf

(thanks to flo for the tip)

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nload – network bandwith monitor for the console

nload, a decent network bandwith monitor for the linux console (you can thus use it to quickly monitor the available bandwidth on your remote linux server):

www.roland-riegel.de – nload: monitor network traffic and bandwidth usage

# emerge nload (surprise, surprise ;)

usage (for example):

# nload -i 2000 -o 400

(where 2000 is the [i]ncoming/downstream and 400 the [o]utgoing/upstream bandwith of my server in kbit/s)

(note that it doesn’t brew coffee, though ;)

(kudos to Crypto from #gentoo for the hint)

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Sightseeing pictures around Schwyz, the Vierwaldstättersee and Zug

As the pictures of last Friday’s private sightseeing tour in Schwyz and Zug turned out surprisingly well (considering that I shot them rather carelessly using my compact digicam, i.e. amateur gear ;), I decided to make them public. I’ve removed any pictures with close-ups of people, therefore you may freely use these pictures for any purpose (credits welcome, however):

Some pictures I like particularly (more or less in chronological order; unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of the Kloster Ingenbohl SZ):

The Kollegium Schwyz (where my father went to school)

The chapel inside the Kollegium (where he had to celebrate high mass and sing in the choir way too often, as he told me ;)

The bottom of the lectern in the church of Schwyz (where he had to celebrate high mass way too often, again ;), showing the ‘Aufdermaur’ emblem (my grandma R.I.P. was an Aufdermaur)

The Ratshaus in Schwyz (SZ)

The Erlenkapelle (first built in 1485) in Ibach/Schwyz (my uncle wrote a not-yet-published chronicle about it I recently typewrote for him)

Some pics of the dock and the lakeside in Ingenbohl-Brunnen (where I happen to be citizen) at the border of the Vierwaldstättersee.

Note that there’s even a little bunker right at the foot of the famous Rütliwiese (where “Switzerland” was founded on August 1, 1291 AD according to the saga ;)

The rocky coastline of the Vierwaldstättersee (a rather deep lake with a depth of 214 m) (BTW Why go to Krabi if you can have rocky coasts in Switzerland? ;))

Bauen, a tiny village at the border of the Vierwaldstättersee where palms grow (due to the very mild climate).

Windsurfers in Flüelen (UR). The water was rather chilly despite of the sunny weather (hence the neoprene suits ;). Obviously nice winds nonetheless :)

The famous/notorious wall painting by Ferdinand Gehr (the people jokingly used to call the painted angels “Spiegeleier Gottes” [God’s fried eggs] due to their somewhat strange/simple shape reminding of fried eggs ;) in the Bruder Klaus church in Oberwil (ZG)

The lakeside and some cafes with a nice view on the lake in Zug (ZG)

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Weblogs and PR

“Weblogs werden in Zukunft als Werkzeug eine wichtige Rolle in PR-Kampagnen spielen”, says Stephan Oehen of Klaus J. Stöhlker AG (PDF). Therefore they launched their own Weblog in March/April, 2005.

As a professional PR agency with self acclaimed fast decision making, it’s pretty astonishing it took them that long to come to this conclusion.

So, know who you choose as your consultant.

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KURSBUCH Glockenstrauch by Salome Rebekka In-Albon

Yesterday evening reminded me of how multifarious life is – much more than just facts and figures we tend to be snowed under with – and the importance and elegance of art. Splendid finish and promising beginning. A milestone. A rarity so far, watch out for the “KURSBUCH Glockenstrauch” by Salome Rebekka In-Albon:

Von den Wellen hin und her geschmissen schaukelte ich im Meer, von Land weit und breit keine Spur. Nicht mit einem Horn, nicht mit einer Leuchtpistole, mit einem leisen Wort nur, war ich schlagartig umgeben von Menschen. An Ort und Stelle, jawohl, mitten auf dem Meer, zimmerten sie in geschickter Teamarbeit ein solides Schiff. Durch Böen, begleitet von Wolkenbrüchen, von Sonnenstrahlen, mal Tiefgang, mal weniger, volle Kraft voraus, grobe und glatte See, aber zielstrebig dem Land entgegen. Zeit genug, ein Kursbuch zu führen.

As a spark, I’m proud of and thankful for being part of this great work and endeavor. Salutations to the “crew” and associates:

Salome (The captain), Johanna, Clemens, Megy, Markus, Toni, Max, Yvonne, Nora, Nicolas, Gertrud, Heidi, Magdalena and all those who couldn’t be there.

Spring, a wonderful time for art to blossom.