Linuxlandit & The Conqueror Worm

The Siduction distribution is a desktop-oriented operating system and live medium based on the "unstable" branch of Debian GNU/Linux.

2012-01-21T08:06:00.000-08:00

The Siduction distribution is a desktop-oriented operating system and live medium based on the "unstable" branch of Debian GNU/Linux.

Forked from aptosid in late 2011, siduction offers three separate live media with KDE, LXDE and Xfce desktops.

The project also promises regular releases, an open development model, and friendly relationship with its developer and user community.

Updates (via Distrowatch):

Ferdinand Thommes has announced the release of siduction 11.1, a desktop-oriented distribution and live CD/DVD based on Debian's "unstable" branch, recently forked from aptosid: "We are excited to present to you, after last week's release candidate, the first final release of siduction, a new distribution based on our great mother Debian's 'Unstable' branch and forked from aptosid. This first release ships three desktop environments - KDE SC, Xfce and LXDE, all three in 32-bit and 64-bit editions.

The released images represent a snapshot of Debian 'Sid' from 2011-12-30, improved with a few useful packages and scripts, an installer, and our own, patched version of kernel 3.1-6 and X.Org server 1.11.2.902."

Read the remainder of the release notes for further details. Download: siduction-11.1-kde-i386.iso (965MB, SHA256), siduction-11.1-kde-amd64.iso (961MB, SHA256), siduction-11.1-lxde-i386.iso (630MB, SHA256), siduction-11.1-lxde-amd64.iso (625MB, SHA256), siduction-11.1-xfce-i386.iso (823MB, SHA256), siduction-11.1-xfce-amd64.iso (819MB, SHA256).

Recent versions:

• 2011-12-31: Distribution Release: siduction 11.1
• 2011-12-22: Development Release: siduction 11.1 RC

Download:

Siduction uses different mirrors for our users to obtain our images, kernel and packages in a most comfortable way. Please choose a mirror close to you. Mirrors that provide a deb-line can be used in /etc/apt/sources.list.d/siduction.list. We need more mirrors. If you can provide one or know someone that could, please contact us. A mirror needs to be able to handle heavy traffic, so universities and other institutions are the most likely hosters.

siduction, as a Linux-LIVE-DVD/CD, is heavily compressed. For that reason, please be careful, if you burn a CD/DVD to install from or run live. Please use DAO-mode (disk at once) and don't burn faster than 8x. Nowadays its a lot easier and more convenient to just use dd or cat to put the iso-image on a usb-pen and boot right of that. Please see the manual section about installs for that.

Download URLs, bitte gebt den Mirrors etwas Zeit zur Synchronisation:

Europa

Freie Universität Berlin/ spline (Student Project LInux NEtwork), Deutschland
ftp://ftp.spline.de/pub/siduction/iso

deb ftp://ftp.spline.de/pub/siduction/siduction unstable main 
deb ftp://ftp.spline.de/pub/siduction/fixes unstable main 
deb-src ftp://ftp.spline.de/pub/siduction/siduction unstable main
deb-src ftp://ftp.spline.de/pub/siduction/fixes unstable main

Nord Amerika

University of Delaware
http://mirror.lug.udel.edu/pub/siduction/iso
ftp://ftp.lug.udel.edu/pub/siduction/iso
rsync://rsync.lug.udel.edu/siduction/iso

deb ftp://ftp.lug.udel.edu/pub/siduction/siduction unstable main 
deb-src ftp://ftp.lug.udel.edu/pub/siduction/siduction unstable main  
deb ftp://ftp.lug.udel.edu/pub/siduction/fixes unstable main 
deb-src ftp://ftp.lug.udel.edu/pub/siduction/fixes unstable main

Georgia Tech
http://www.gtlib.gatech.edu/pub/siduction/iso
ftp://ftp.gtlib.gatech.edu/pub/siduction/iso
rsync://rsync.gtlib.gatech.edu/siduction/iso

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ExTiX is a desktop Linux distribution and live CD based on Ubuntu.

2012-01-18T08:52:00.000-08:00

Previous versions of ExTiX were based on KNOPPIX/Debian. Version 7.0 of ExTiX was based on the Swiss Linux System Paldo. Version 8 of ExTiX was based on Debian Sid.

ExTiX 9 x64 is a remaster of Ubuntu 11.10 released on 13 October 2011. The original system includes the Desktop Environment Unity with Gnome 3.2. After removing Unity I have installed Gnome Shell and Razor-qt so that everyone on the spot (during live operation) can compare the different Desktop Environments.

I have also replaced the original kernel 3.0.0-14-generic with "my" kernel 3.1.6-extix. Kernel 3.1.6 is the latest available stable kernel, which can be downloaded from kernel.org. The system language is English.

Updates (via Distrowatch):

Arne Exton has announced the release of ExTiX 9, an Ubuntu-based desktop distribution for 64-bit computers with GNOME Shell and Razor-qt as the available desktop environments and the latest stable Linux kernel: "ExTiX 9 x64 is a remastered build of Ubuntu 11.10. The original system includes the Unity desktop with GNOME 3.2. In ExTiX 9, I have installed GNOME Shell and Razor-qt so that everyone can compare the two desktop environments. I have replaced the original kernel 3.0.0-14-generic with 'my' kernel 3.1.6-extix. Why? Support for many different kinds of hardware has been added in the latest stable kernel. So if you have acquired new hardware which is not supported in Ubuntu 11.10 and/or Linux systems based on Ubuntu 11.10 it might be worth testing ExTiX 9. There is, among other things, support for brand-new USB devices, like printers and cameras."

Visit the project's home page to read the release announcement.

Download: extix-9-x64-gnome3-1260mb-111228.iso (1,292MB, MD5).

Recent versions:

• 2011-12-31: Distribution Release: ExTiX 9
• 2009-07-14: Distribution Release: ExTiX 7.0

Why has the kernel been replaced?.

Latest Ubuntu (11:10) uses kernel 3.0.0-14-generic. There has been added a lot of different kinds of hardware support etc. in the latest stable kernel 3.1.6. So if you have acquired new hardware, which is not supported in Ubuntu 11.10 and/or Linux systems based on Ubuntu 11.10 it might be worth testing ExTiX 9. There is, among other things, support for brand new USB devices, like printers and cameras, etc. Odd support: Wii (which is not supported in Ubuntu's latest kernel 3.0.0-14-generic). If you just want to switch to "my" newer kernel (in your already installed Ubuntu system) you shall do it like this.

A. Get the kernel

B. Get the kernel-headers

Run these commands as root:

1) dpkg -i linux-image-3.1.6-extix_3.1.6-extix-10.00.Custom_amd64.deb

2) dpkg -i linux-headers-3.1.6-extix_3.1.6-extix-10.00.Custom_amd64.deb

3) cd /lib/modules

4) update-initramfs -ck 3.1.6-extix

5) update-grub

Program content etc
Among many other programs LibreOffice, Thunderbird, Firefox, Brasero, VLC, Gimp and win32 codecs. In addition, Java and all necessary additions in order to install programs from source. All programs have been updated to the latest available stable version as of 28 December 2011.

Compatibility.

Differences: Ubuntu 11.10 and ExTiX 9 is different only in principle to the terms of program content. A general truth: If an original system can run on a particular computer a "Exton remaster" of the same original system can run on the same computer.

I never change a Linux system for the worse in terms of auto configuration and hardware detection, etc. It happens that I replace the original kernel (which I have done in ExTiX 9), but always to a "better" one with even more native support for various hardware etc.

One problem: If you choose to install ExTiX 9 to hard disk or USB disk (not using UNetbootin), you should first disconnect your USB webcam. Towards the end of the installation you are asked to take a "login picture" with the webcam.

Then Ubiquity hangs. Nevertheless the actual installation is complete, except for the Grub2 installation, so unless you intend to install Grub2 in MBR (/dev/sda) there is no problem. Just do your changes in Grub2 or Grub Legacy and then restart the computer. Without a webcam plugged in, however, the installation program (Ubiquity) works perfectly. I guess the “webcam problem” is the same in the original system.

Installation to hard disk.

The installation program is in Swedish (if you choose so). Note that you in advance (just in case) should create a partition of at least 8 GB for ExTiX 9 and a SWAP space double the size of your computer's RAM. Ie if you have RAM of 1024 MB or less. If you have RAM of 2 GB or more it's enough with a SWAP space of 2 GB. The installation program in ExTiX 9/Ubuntu is otherwise "intuitive". Choose manual partitioning and select the partition you created in advance for installation. Re. the "webcam problem" - see the previous paragraph.

USB installation.

You should use UNetbootin in Linux See a picture how it looks before the installation starts in Windows 7. There's other ways to do it, but using UNetbootin is the best/safest way.

Instructions.

Read more about ExTiX 9 (if you understand Swedish)...

Download.

The ISO file (extix-9-x64-gnome3-1260mb-111228.iso) can be downloaded from the Swedish Linux Society's server.

ExTiX 9 x64 can also be downloaded from Sourceforge.net - Fast, secure and free downloads from the largest Open Source applications and software directory.

md5sum for ExTiX 9 ISO which is of 1260 MB.

How do I run ExTiX?
In order to start the CD/DVD, first adjust the boot list in the BIOS Setup of your computer to boot from CD/DVD (before the hard drive). Put the DVD in and restart the computer. You run ExTiX as root (superadmin) or as the ordinary user live. Root's and live's password is root respectivly live. ExTiX 9 can also be installed to hard disk. Please use start alternative Install ExTiX to harddisk and Ubiquity will start. The program is very easy to use. Be sure to have one install partition of about 8 GB ready in advance though. You can also first test to run ExTiX 9 live and then start Ubiquity. Click on the Install icon on the desktop.

Internet connection
Normally, just start NetworkManager and do your settings. It pops up a box that alerts you that there is a Wireless network to join. Just insert your WAP/WEP password and connect! You can check which Wireless interface is correct by running the command iwconfig.

Maybe your Ethernet interface is eth1 or eth2 (instead of eth0). Check with the command ifconfig. Then change in Network Managers's Preferences and press Refresh!

How do I install and remove programs?
ExTiX/Ubuntu/Debian uses Apt/Synaptic. The most important commands are apt-get update and apt-get install program-name. You can read about package management with Apt HERE. Apt/Synaptic works extremely well. You can also install programs in ExTiX 9 from source using the commands 1) ./configure --prefix=/usr 2) make 3) make install.

Screenshots.

ExTiX 9 Gnome 3.2:

ExTiX 9 Gnome 3.2 with Nvidia graphic card:

ExtiX 9 Gnome Shell:

ExtiX 9 with Razor-qt running:

ExtiX 9 with LXDE :

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ABINIT is an open-source suite of programs for materials science, distributed under the GNU General Public License.

2012-01-15T01:21:00.000-08:00

ABINIT implements density functional theory, using a plane wave basis set and pseudopotentials, to compute the electronic density and derived properties of materials ranging from molecules to surfaces to solids.

It is developed collaboratively by researchers throughout the world.

A web-based easy-to-use graphical version, which includes access to a limited set of ABINIT's full functionality, is available for free use through the nanohub.

ABINIT implements density functional theory by solving the Kohn-Sham equations describing the electrons in a material, expanded in a plane wave basis set and using a self-consistent conjugate gradient method to determine the energy minimum. Computational efficiency is achieved through the use of fast Fourier transforms, and pseudopotentials to describe core electrons.

As an alternative to standard norm-conserving pseudopotentials, the projector augmented-wave method may be used. In addition to total energy, forces and stresses are also calculated so that geometry optimizations and ab initio molecular dynamics may be carried out.

Materials that can be treated by ABINIT include insulators, metals, and magnetically ordered systems including Mott-Hubbard insulators.

In addition to computing the electronic ground state of materials, ABINIT implements density functional perturbation theory to compute response functions including

    Phonons
    Dielectric response
    Born effective charges and IR oscillator strength tensor
    Response to strain and elastic properties
    Nonlinear responses, including piezoelectric response, Raman cross sections, and electro-optic response.

ABINIT can also compute excited state properties via

time-dependent density functional theory
many-body perturbation theory, using the GW approximation and Bethe-Salpeter equation.

ABINIT is a project that favours development and collaboration (short presentation of the ABINIT project - 10 pages in pdf).

Download:

ABINIT : ABINIT source packages ; Browse latest sources ; Distribution packages
Plugins : Plug-in sources (Information about these plugins : BigDFT; ETSF Tools - ETSF_IO and LibXC ; NetCDF; Wannier90).
Atomic data files : Pseudopotentials ; Atomic data files; PAW Atomic Data ; Atomic Densities
Post Processing tools : Vsim

Screenshots.

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The Perfect Server: Ubuntu 11.10 Oneiric Ocelot With Nginx , Chapter 3.

2012-01-10T12:03:00.000-08:00

After the reboot you can login with your previously created username (e.g. administrator).

Because we must run all the steps from this tutorial with root privileges, we can either prepend all commands in this tutorial with the string sudo, or we become root right now by typing

sudo su

(You can as well enable the root login by running

sudo passwd root

and giving root a password. You can then directly log in as root, but this is frowned upon by the Ubuntu developers and community for various reasons. See http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=765414.)

5. Install The SSH Server (Optional).

If you did not install the OpenSSH server during the system installation, you can do it now:

apt-get install ssh openssh-server

From now on you can use an SSH client such as PuTTY and connect from your workstation to your Ubuntu 11.10 server and follow the remaining steps from this tutorial.

6. Install vim-nox (Optional).

I'll use vi as my text editor in this tutorial. The default vi program has some strange behaviour on Ubuntu and Debian; to fix this, we install vim-nox:

apt-get install vim-nox

(You don't have to do this if you use a different text editor such as joe or nano.)

7. Configure The Network.

Because the Ubuntu installer has configured our system to get its network settings via DHCP, we have to change that now because a server should have a static IP address. Edit /etc/network/interfaces and adjust it to your needs (in this example setup I will use the IP address 192.168.0.100):

vi /etc/network/interfaces

# This file describes the network interfaces available on your system
# and how to activate them. For more information, see interfaces(5).

# The loopback network interface
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

# The primary network interface
auto eth0
iface eth0 inet static
        address 192.168.0.100
        netmask 255.255.255.0
        network 192.168.0.0
        broadcast 192.168.0.255
        gateway 192.168.0.1

Then restart your network:

/etc/init.d/networking restart

Then edit /etc/hosts. Make it look like this:

vi /etc/hosts

127.0.0.1       localhost.localdomain   localhost
192.168.0.100   server1.example.com     server1

# The following lines are desirable for IPv6 capable hosts
::1     ip6-localhost ip6-loopback
fe00::0 ip6-localnet
ff00::0 ip6-mcastprefix
ff02::1 ip6-allnodes
ff02::2 ip6-allrouters

Now run

echo server1.example.com > /etc/hostname
/etc/init.d/hostname restart

Afterwards, run

hostname
hostname -f

Both should show server1.example.com now.

8. Edit /etc/apt/sources.list And Update Your Linux Installation.

Edit /etc/apt/sources.list. Comment out or remove the installation CD from the file and make sure that the universe and multiverse repositories are enabled. It should look like this:

vi /etc/apt/sources.list

#

# deb cdrom:[Ubuntu-Server 11.10 _Oneiric Ocelot_ - Release amd64 (20111011)]/ dists/oneiric/main/binary-i386/
# deb cdrom:[Ubuntu-Server 11.10 _Oneiric Ocelot_ - Release amd64 (20111011)]/ dists/oneiric/restricted/binary-i386/
# deb cdrom:[Ubuntu-Server 11.10 _Oneiric Ocelot_ - Release amd64 (20111011)]/ oneiric main restricted

#deb cdrom:[Ubuntu-Server 11.10 _Oneiric Ocelot_ - Release amd64 (20111011)]/ dists/oneiric/main/binary-i386/
#deb cdrom:[Ubuntu-Server 11.10 _Oneiric Ocelot_ - Release amd64 (20111011)]/ dists/oneiric/restricted/binary-i386/
#deb cdrom:[Ubuntu-Server 11.10 _Oneiric Ocelot_ - Release amd64 (20111011)]/ oneiric main restricted

# See http://help.ubuntu.com/community/UpgradeNotes for how to upgrade to
# newer versions of the distribution.
deb http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ oneiric main restricted
deb-src http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ oneiric main restricted

## Major bug fix updates produced after the final release of the
## distribution.
deb http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ oneiric-updates main restricted
deb-src http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ oneiric-updates main restricted

## N.B. software from this repository is ENTIRELY UNSUPPORTED by the Ubuntu
## team. Also, please note that software in universe WILL NOT receive any
## review or updates from the Ubuntu security team.
deb http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ oneiric universe
deb-src http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ oneiric universe
deb http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ oneiric-updates universe
deb-src http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ oneiric-updates universe

## N.B. software from this repository is ENTIRELY UNSUPPORTED by the Ubuntu
## team, and may not be under a free licence. Please satisfy yourself as to
## your rights to use the software. Also, please note that software in
## multiverse WILL NOT receive any review or updates from the Ubuntu
## security team.
deb http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ oneiric multiverse
deb-src http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ oneiric multiverse
deb http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ oneiric-updates multiverse
deb-src http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ oneiric-updates multiverse

## N.B. software from this repository may not have been tested as
## extensively as that contained in the main release, although it includes
## newer versions of some applications which may provide useful features.
## Also, please note that software in backports WILL NOT receive any review
## or updates from the Ubuntu security team.
deb http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ oneiric-backports main restricted universe multiverse
deb-src http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ oneiric-backports main restricted universe multiverse

deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu oneiric-security main restricted
deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu oneiric-security main restricted
deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu oneiric-security universe
deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu oneiric-security universe
deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu oneiric-security multiverse
deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu oneiric-security multiverse

## Uncomment the following two lines to add software from Canonical's
## 'partner' repository.
## This software is not part of Ubuntu, but is offered by Canonical and the
## respective vendors as a service to Ubuntu users.
# deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu oneiric partner
# deb-src http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu oneiric partner

## Uncomment the following two lines to add software from Ubuntu's
## 'extras' repository.
## This software is not part of Ubuntu, but is offered by third-party
## developers who want to ship their latest software.
# deb http://extras.ubuntu.com/ubuntu oneiric main
# deb-src http://extras.ubuntu.com/ubuntu oneiric main

Then run

apt-get update

to update the apt package database and

apt-get upgrade

to install the latest updates (if there are any). If you see that a new kernel gets installed as part of the updates, you should reboot the system afterwards:

reboot

9. Change The Default Shell.

/bin/sh is a symlink to /bin/dash, however we need /bin/bash, not /bin/dash. Therefore we do this:

dpkg-reconfigure dash

Use dash as the default system shell (/bin/sh)? <-- No

If you don't do this, the ISPConfig installation will fail.

10. Disable AppArmor.

AppArmor is a security extension (similar to SELinux) that should provide extended security. In my opinion you don't need it to configure a secure system, and it usually causes more problems than advantages (think of it after you have done a week of trouble-shooting because some service wasn't working as expected, and then you find out that everything was ok, only AppArmor was causing the problem). Therefore I disable it (this is a must if you want to install ISPConfig later on).

We can disable it like this:

/etc/init.d/apparmor stop
update-rc.d -f apparmor remove
apt-get remove apparmor apparmor-utils

11. Synchronize the System Clock.

It is a good idea to synchronize the system clock with an NTP (network time protocol) server over the Internet. Simply run

apt-get install ntp ntpdate

and your system time will always be in sync.

We can install Postfix, Courier, Saslauthd, MySQL, rkhunter, and binutils with a single command:

apt-get install postfix postfix-mysql postfix-doc mysql-client mysql-server courier-authdaemon courier-authlib-mysql courier-pop courier-pop-ssl courier-imap courier-imap-ssl libsasl2-2 libsasl2-modules libsasl2-modules-sql sasl2-bin libpam-mysql openssl getmail4 rkhunter binutils maildrop

You will be asked the following questions:

New password for the MySQL "root" user: <-- yourrootsqlpassword
Repeat password for the MySQL "root" user: <-- yourrootsqlpassword
Create directories for web-based administration? <-- No
General type of mail configuration: <-- Internet Site
System mail name: <-- server1.example.com
SSL certificate required <-- Ok
If you find out (later after you have configured your first email account in ISPConfig) that you cannot send emails and get the following error in /var/log/mail.log...

SASL LOGIN authentication failed: no mechanism available

... please go to Ubuntu 11.10 + saslauthd: SASL PLAIN authentication failed: no mechanism available to learn how to resolve the issue.
We want MySQL to listen on all interfaces, not just localhost, therefore we edit /etc/mysql/my.cnf and comment out the line bind-address = 127.0.0.1:

vi /etc/mysql/my.cnf

[...]
# Instead of skip-networking the default is now to listen only on
# localhost which is more compatible and is not less secure.
#bind-address           = 127.0.0.1
[...]

Then we restart MySQL:

/etc/init.d/mysql restart

Now check that networking is enabled. Run

netstat -tap | grep mysql

The output should look like this:

root@server1:~# netstat -tap | grep mysql
tcp 0 0 *:mysql *:* LISTEN 22355/mysqld
root@server1:~#

During the installation, the SSL certificates for IMAP-SSL and POP3-SSL are created with the hostname localhost. To change this to the correct hostname (server1.example.com in this tutorial), delete the certificates...

cd /etc/courier
rm -f /etc/courier/imapd.pem
rm -f /etc/courier/pop3d.pem

... and modify the following two files; replace CN=localhost with CN=server1.example.com (you can also modify the other values, if necessary):

vi /etc/courier/imapd.cnf

[...]
CN=server1.example.com
[...]

vi /etc/courier/pop3d.cnf

[...]
CN=server1.example.com
[...]

Then recreate the certificates...

mkimapdcert
mkpop3dcert

... and restart Courier-IMAP-SSL and Courier-POP3-SSL:

/etc/init.d/courier-imap-ssl restart
/etc/init.d/courier-pop-ssl restart

13. Install Amavisd-new, SpamAssassin, And Clamav.

To install amavisd-new, SpamAssassin, and ClamAV, we run

apt-get install amavisd-new spamassassin clamav clamav-daemon zoo unzip bzip2 arj nomarch lzop cabextract apt-listchanges libnet-ldap-perl libauthen-sasl-perl clamav-docs daemon libio-string-perl libio-socket-ssl-perl libnet-ident-perl zip libnet-dns-perl

The ISPConfig 3 setup uses amavisd which loads the SpamAssassin filter library internally, so we can stop SpamAssassin to free up some RAM:

/etc/init.d/spamassassin stop
update-rc.d -f spamassassin remove

14.Install Nginx, PHP5 (PHP-FPM), And Fcgiwrap.

Nginx is available as a package for Ubuntu which we can install as follows:

apt-get install nginx

If Apache2 is already installed on the system, stop it now...

/etc/init.d/apache2 stop

... and remove Apache's system startup links:

insserv -r apache2

Start nginx afterwards:

/etc/init.d/nginx start

(If both Apache2 and nginx are installed, the ISPConfig 3 installer will ask you which one you want to use - answer nginx in this case. If only one of these both is installed, ISPConfig will do the necessary configuration automatically.)

We can make PHP5 work in nginx through PHP-FPM (PHP-FPM (FastCGI Process Manager) is an alternative PHP FastCGI implementation with some additional features useful for sites of any size, especially busier sites) which we install as follows:

apt-get install php5-fpm

PHP-FPM is a daemon process (with the init script /etc/init.d/php5-fpm) that runs a FastCGI server on port 9000.

To get MySQL support in PHP, we can install the php5-mysql package. It's a good idea to install some other PHP5 modules as well as you might need them for your applications. You can search for available PHP5 modules like this:

apt-cache search php5

Pick the ones you need and install them like this:

apt-get install php5-mysql php5-curl php5-gd php5-intl php-pear php5-imagick php5-imap php5-mcrypt php5-memcache php5-ming php5-ps php5-pspell php5-recode php5-snmp php5-sqlite php5-tidy php5-xmlrpc php5-xsl

APC is a free and open PHP opcode cacher for caching and optimizing PHP intermediate code. It's similar to other PHP opcode cachers, such as eAccelerator and XCache. It is strongly recommended to have one of these installed to speed up your PHP page.

APC can be installed as follows:

apt-get install php-apc

Now restart PHP-FPM:

/etc/init.d/php5-fpm restart

To get CGI support in nginx, we install Fcgiwrap.

Fcgiwrap is a CGI wrapper that should work also for complex CGI scripts and can be used for shared hosting environments because it allows each vhost to use its own cgi-bin directory.

Install the fcgiwrap package:

apt-get install fcgiwrap

After the installation, the fcgiwrap daemon should already be started; its socket is /var/run/fcgiwrap.socket. If it is not running, you can use the /etc/init.d/fcgiwrap script to start it.
That's it! Now when you create an nginx vhost, ISPConfig will take care of the correct vhost configuration.

14.1 Install phpMyAdmin.

Install phpMyAdmin as follows:

apt-get install phpmyadmin

You will see the following questions:

Web server to reconfigure automatically: <-- select none (because only apache2 and lighttpd are available as options)

Configure database for phpmyadmin with dbconfig-common? <-- No

You can now find phpMyAdmin in the /usr/share/phpmyadmin/ directory.

After you have installed ISPConfig 3, you can access phpMyAdmin as follows:

The ISPConfig apps vhost on port 8081 for nginx comes with a phpMyAdmin configuration, so you can use http://server1.example.com:8081/phpmyadmin or http://server1.example.com:8081/phpMyAdmin to access phpMyAdmin.

If you want to use a /phpmyadmin or /phpMyAdmin alias that you can use from your web sites, this is a bit more complicated than for Apache because nginx does not have global aliases (i.e., aliases that can be defined for all vhosts). Therefore you have to define these aliases for each vhost from which you want to access phpMyAdmin.

To do this, paste the following into the nginx Directives field on the Options tab of the web site in ISPConfig:

location /phpmyadmin {
               root /usr/share/;
               index index.php index.html index.htm;
               location ~ ^/phpmyadmin/(.+\.php)$ {
                       try_files $uri =404;
                       root /usr/share/;
                       fastcgi_pass 127.0.0.1:9000;
                       fastcgi_index index.php;
                       fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $request_filename;
                       include /etc/nginx/fastcgi_params;
                       fastcgi_param PATH_INFO $fastcgi_script_name;
                       fastcgi_buffer_size 128k;
                       fastcgi_buffers 256 4k;
                       fastcgi_busy_buffers_size 256k;
                       fastcgi_temp_file_write_size 256k;
                       fastcgi_intercept_errors on;
               }
               location ~* ^/phpmyadmin/(.+\.(jpg|jpeg|gif|css|png|js|ico|html|xml|txt))$ {
                       root /usr/share/;
               }
        }
        location /phpMyAdmin {
               rewrite ^/* /phpmyadmin last;
        }

If you use https instead of http for your vhost, you should add the line fastcgi_param HTTPS on; to your phpMyAdmin configuration like this:

location /phpmyadmin {
               root /usr/share/;
               index index.php index.html index.htm;
               location ~ ^/phpmyadmin/(.+\.php)$ {
                       try_files $uri =404;
                       root /usr/share/;
                       fastcgi_pass 127.0.0.1:9000;
                       fastcgi_param HTTPS on; # <-- add this line
                       fastcgi_index index.php;
                       fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $request_filename;
                       include /etc/nginx/fastcgi_params;
                       fastcgi_param PATH_INFO $fastcgi_script_name;
                       fastcgi_buffer_size 128k;
                       fastcgi_buffers 256 4k;
                       fastcgi_busy_buffers_size 256k;
                       fastcgi_temp_file_write_size 256k;
                       fastcgi_intercept_errors on;
               }
               location ~* ^/phpmyadmin/(.+\.(jpg|jpeg|gif|css|png|js|ico|html|xml|txt))$ {
                       root /usr/share/;
               }
        }
        location /phpMyAdmin {
               rewrite ^/* /phpmyadmin last;
        }

If you use both http and https for your vhost, you need to add the following section to the http {} section in /etc/nginx/nginx.conf (before any include lines) which determines if the visitor uses http or https and sets the $fastcgi_https variable (which we will use in our phpMyAdmin configuration) accordingly:

vi /etc/nginx/nginx.conf

[...]
http {
[...]
        ## Detect when HTTPS is used
        map $scheme $fastcgi_https {
          default off;
          https on;

        }
[...]
}
[...]

Don't forget to reload nginx afterwards:

/etc/init.d/nginx reload

Then go to the nginx Directives field again, and instead of fastcgi_param HTTPS on; you add the line fastcgi_param HTTPS $fastcgi_https; so that you can use phpMyAdmin for both http and https requests:

location /phpmyadmin {
               root /usr/share/;
               index index.php index.html index.htm;
               location ~ ^/phpmyadmin/(.+\.php)$ {
                       try_files $uri =404;
                       root /usr/share/;
                       fastcgi_pass 127.0.0.1:9000;
                       fastcgi_param HTTPS $fastcgi_https; # <-- add this line
                       fastcgi_index index.php;
                       fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $request_filename;
                       include /etc/nginx/fastcgi_params;
                       fastcgi_param PATH_INFO $fastcgi_script_name;
                       fastcgi_buffer_size 128k;
                       fastcgi_buffers 256 4k;
                       fastcgi_busy_buffers_size 256k;
                       fastcgi_temp_file_write_size 256k;
                       fastcgi_intercept_errors on;
               }
               location ~* ^/phpmyadmin/(.+\.(jpg|jpeg|gif|css|png|js|ico|html|xml|txt))$ {
                       root /usr/share/;
               }
        }
        location /phpMyAdmin {
               rewrite ^/* /phpmyadmin last;
        }

15 Install Mailman

Since version 3.0.4, ISPConfig also allows you to manage (create/modify/delete) Mailman mailing lists. If you want to make use of this feature, install Mailman as follows:

apt-get install mailman

Before we can start Mailman, a first mailing list called mailman must be created:

newlist mailman

root@server1:~# newlist mailman
Enter the email of the person running the list: <-- admin email address, e.g. info@example.com
Initial mailman password: <-- admin password for the mailman list
To finish creating your mailing list, you must edit your /etc/aliases (or
equivalent) file by adding the following lines, and possibly running the
`newaliases' program:

## mailman mailing list
mailman:              "|/var/lib/mailman/mail/mailman post mailman"
mailman-admin:        "|/var/lib/mailman/mail/mailman admin mailman"
mailman-bounces:      "|/var/lib/mailman/mail/mailman bounces mailman"
mailman-confirm:      "|/var/lib/mailman/mail/mailman confirm mailman"
mailman-join:         "|/var/lib/mailman/mail/mailman join mailman"
mailman-leave:        "|/var/lib/mailman/mail/mailman leave mailman"
mailman-owner:        "|/var/lib/mailman/mail/mailman owner mailman"
mailman-request:      "|/var/lib/mailman/mail/mailman request mailman"
mailman-subscribe:    "|/var/lib/mailman/mail/mailman subscribe mailman"
mailman-unsubscribe:  "|/var/lib/mailman/mail/mailman unsubscribe mailman"

Hit enter to notify mailman owner... <-- ENTER

root@server1:~#
Open /etc/aliases afterwards...

vi /etc/aliases

... and add the following lines:

[...]
mailman:              "|/var/lib/mailman/mail/mailman post mailman"
mailman-admin:        "|/var/lib/mailman/mail/mailman admin mailman"
mailman-bounces:      "|/var/lib/mailman/mail/mailman bounces mailman"
mailman-confirm:      "|/var/lib/mailman/mail/mailman confirm mailman"
mailman-join:         "|/var/lib/mailman/mail/mailman join mailman"
mailman-leave:        "|/var/lib/mailman/mail/mailman leave mailman"
mailman-owner:        "|/var/lib/mailman/mail/mailman owner mailman"
mailman-request:      "|/var/lib/mailman/mail/mailman request mailman"
mailman-subscribe:    "|/var/lib/mailman/mail/mailman subscribe mailman"
mailman-unsubscribe:  "|/var/lib/mailman/mail/mailman unsubscribe mailman"

Run

newaliases

afterwards and restart Postfix:

/etc/init.d/postfix restart

Then start the Mailman daemon:

/etc/init.d/mailman start

After you have installed ISPConfig 3, you can access Mailman as follows:

The ISPConfig apps vhost on port 8081 for nginx comes with a Mailman configuration, so you can use http://server1.example.com:8081/cgi-bin/mailman/admin/<listname> or http://server1.example.com:8081/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/<listname> to access Mailman.

If you want to use Mailman from your web sites, this is a bit more complicated than for Apache because nginx does not have global aliases (i.e., aliases that can be defined for all vhosts). Therefore you have to define these aliases for each vhost from which you want to access Mailman.

To do this, paste the following into the nginx Directives field on the Options tab of the web site in ISPConfig:

location /cgi-bin/mailman {
               root /usr/lib/;
               fastcgi_split_path_info (^/cgi-bin/mailman/[^/]*)(.*)$;
               include /etc/nginx/fastcgi_params;
               fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
               fastcgi_param PATH_INFO $fastcgi_path_info;
               fastcgi_param PATH_TRANSLATED $document_root$fastcgi_path_info;
               fastcgi_intercept_errors on;
               fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/fcgiwrap.socket;
        }

        location /images/mailman {
               alias /usr/share/images/mailman;
        }

        location /pipermail {
               alias /var/lib/mailman/archives/public;
               autoindex on;
        }

This defines the alias /cgi-bin/mailman/ for your vhost, which means you can access the Mailman admin interface for a list at http://<vhost>/cgi-bin/mailman/admin/<listname>, and the web page for users of a mailing list can be found at http://<vhost>/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/<listname>.
Under http://<vhost>/pipermail you can find the mailing list archives.

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Enabling Compiz On Linux Mint 12 Lisa desktop (GNOME Classic).

2012-01-02T00:46:00.000-08:00

This tutorial shows how you can enable Compiz on a Linux Mint 12 Lisa desktop (the system must have a 3D- capable graphics card –).

I'm using an NVIDIA GeForce 8200 here). With Compiz you can use beautiful 3D effects like wobbly windows or a desktop cube on your desktop.

1 Preliminary Note

I have tried this on a desktop computer with an NVIDIA GeForce 8200. It should work the same way with all other NVIDIA graphics cards. Compiz is not supported on GNOME 3 yet, that's why this how-to is applicable only for the classic GNOME desktop.

To switch to the classic desktop, log out of your current session and click on the cogwheel icon next to your username in the log-in screen:

Select GNOME Classic from the dropdown-menu and log back in:

2 Enabling The NVIDIA Driver

To use 3D effects on an NVIDIA graphics card, we need the proprietary NVIDIA driver which we can install from the Additional Drivers tool. The Additional Drivers tool can be started from Applications > System Tools > System Settings > Additional Drivers:

The Additional Drivers tool should tell you that there are NVIDIA graphics drivers available for your system - select the recommended one.

To install it, click on Activate. You will be asked to type in your password afterwards:

The NVIDIA driver is now being downloaded and installed:

The Additional Drivers tool should now tell you that a system restart is required to activate the driver. Click on Close to leave the Additional Drivers tool but don't restart yet:

To make sure that your machine uses the proprietary NVIDIA graphics driver after the reboot, specify them in your xorg.conf file, which is located in /etc/X11. List this directory's contents to see if the file is present:

ls -l /etc/X11

ctest-System-Product-Name X11 # ls -l /etc/X11
total 72
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 2011-04-26 01:06 app-defaults
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root    14 2011-04-26 01:04 default-display-manager
drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 4096 2011-04-26 01:01 fonts
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 17394 2010-02-19 01:02 rgb.txt
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root    13 2011-09-27 16:10 X -> /usr/bin/Xorg
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 2011-04-26 01:06 xinit
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 2011-02-08 14:27 xkb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   101 2011-09-29 14:57 xorg.conf <---
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root   709 2010-11-02 22:17 Xreset
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 2011-09-28 09:30 Xreset.d
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 2011-09-28 09:30 Xresources
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 3730 2010-12-02 04:34 Xsession
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 2011-09-30 15:09 Xsession.d
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   265 2010-02-19 01:02 Xsession.options
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   601 2011-04-26 00:55 Xwrapper.config
ctest-System-Product-Name X11 #

If there's no file named like that, create one with

sudo touch /etc/X11/xorg.conf

After you have found the file or created a new one, open it with

sudo gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf

If the file already existed, there should be a section called Device in it. Add the line Driver to it just like in the following example. If you created the file yourself, add the whole section to it:

Section "Device"
Identifier "Default Device"
Option "NoLogo" "True"
Driver  "nvidia"
EndSection

Save the file afterwards.

3 Install Compiz.

To install Compiz and all its components, open a terminal (Applications > Accessories > Terminal) and enter following:

sudo apt-get install compiz compiz-plugins compiz-plugins-main python-compizconfig compizconfig-settings-manager compiz-plugins-extra

4 Configuring Compiz To Start At Boot

To use Compiz, you need it to replace the current Window Manager on startup. To do that, open Startup Applications (Applications > Other > Startup Applications):

Click the Add button to add a new application to the startup list. On the appearing window, enter compiz --replace into the Command field. Give it some name so you can recognize it and click on Save:

Click on Close afterwards.

5 Configure Compiz

To configure the effects you would like to have, start CompizConfig Settings Manager by going to Applications > Other > CompizConfig Settings Manager:

There, check the checkboxes in front of the effects you want.What is important is to check Gnome Compatiblity:

Afterwards, restart your machine for all changes to take effect:

Here are some examples of what you can accomplish using Compiz:

6 Keyboard Shortcuts

Here's a list of the most common Compiz keyboard shortcuts. If they work for you depends on what effects you enabled in the CompizConfig Settings Manager.

SUPER+SHIFT+DRAG LEFT MOUSE = draw fire
SUPER+SHIFT+C = clear fire
CTRL+ALT+DRAG LEFT MOUSE = rotate cube
CTRL+ALT+LEFT ARROW = rotate cube
CTRL+ALT+DOWN ARROW = flat desktop
SHIFT+ALT+UP = initiate window picker
CTRL+ALT+DOWN = unfold cube
ALT+TAB = window switch
SUPER+TAB = flip switcher or ring switcher, depending on which is enabled.
ALT+F7 = initiate 'move windows'
SHIFT+F9 = water effect
SHIFT+F10 = slow animations
CTRL+ALT+D = show desktop

For Grouping and Tabbing:

SUPER+S = select single window
SUPER+T = tab group
SUPER+Left = change left tab
SUPER+Right = change right tab
SUPER+G = group windows
SUPER+U = ungroup windows
SUPER+R = remove group window
SUPER+C = close group
SUPER+X = ignore group
Hold the SUPER button then select the windows you want to group and then hit SUPER+G.

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Gource is an animated visualization tool for viewing GIT & CVS source repositories.

2011-12-29T13:25:00.000-08:00

Andrew Caudwell’s “Gource” is an animated visualization tool for viewing GIT & CVS source repositories.

From the description:

Software projects are displayed by Gource as an animated tree with the root directory of the project at its centre. Directories appear as branches with files as leaves. Developers can be seen working on the tree at the times they contributed to the project.

Gource is an amazing program for visualizing commit history in a git-based code project. What I like about it is that it can also show what areas of the project are active in an easy to understand way, to show whether there is community around a whole project or just aspects of it. What looks like a shiny useless visualization is, in fact, pretty useful stuff. I’ll get to that in a bit.

So, I needed something to scan and past OSS things I’ve been involved with were logical first targets. To index the history on Cobbler into a concise video, I ran the following:

gource -s 0.03 --auto-skip-seconds 0.1 --file-idle-time 500 --max-files 500 --multi-sampling -1280x720 --stop-at-end --output-ppm-stream - | ffmpeg -y -b 3000K -r 24 -f image2pipe -vcodec ppm -i - -vcodec mpeg4 gource.mp4

Want to run this yourself? You will likely have to build gource from source. I’ll warn you that building from source involves installing a ton of deps, though all are in Ubuntu 9.10, and once ./configure finally passes it does build fast. Fedora was downlevel with respect to ftgl, and compiling ftgl from source was difficult, hence the Ubuntu usage. The parameters I use above result in a large video (75MB) but are intended for YouTube HD.

The result is below. Note that I didn’t keep my source control commit attribution for the first couple of years on the project (lesson learned in how to use git!), I used to do development on devel and switched to master (this video shows master), and koan was grafted into the cobbler tree late in the game. Early on, I committed from two different user IDs. As a result, the video is not perfect — things tend to “pop” into view as releases happen. You’ll see the first outside attribution happen about 1/2 way through, though of course this was happening much much earlier. Still, the acceleration at the end, I think, means we achieved something pretty decent. Not all projects do.

Perhaps this is a start of a good meme. Get your code up on YouTube. Show us the life of your code and who you collaborate with.

I can see gource being immediately useful for a one major purpose. When evaluating OSS software for use in business, you always need to know if the community is solid and self sustaining. This allows you to watch a short video and find out. Coupled with looking through the mailing list archives, that’s a pretty good check. It can also help identify interesting patterns of large scale refactoring, new development, or stagnation.

Gource may also a great way to explain open source to people who don’t immediately understand how collaboration can work, and how contributors come and go.

That is what I call good TV. It is also rather trippy to look at. Please turn up the Floyd.

If we had a free supercomputer and infinite development time, my ultimate dream visualization would be a 20×20 foot wall section of these graphs, showing multiple projects side by side, with developers flying between projects. Who flies between projects? Is that common? What are the clustering patterns of these projects that share contributors? Where are the hubs and spokes? Are the hubs bigger projects than the spokes? (Can we get that in 3D?). There is something to be learned here, even if we don’t know what that is.

Download.

Screenshots.

The Linux Kernel.

A snapshot of a flurry of development on the Linux project.
As Linux is a huge C language project, the files being worked on are predominately a mix of .c (shown in green) and .h header files (in red).

Git SCM.

The Git SCM Project, one of the main version control systems supported by Gource.

Unlike many projects, most of the files of the Git project reside in several huge directories of hundreds of files, rather than being broken down into sub directories.

Git has a similar mix of colours to Linux as it is also written in C. The large orange directory contains .txt files (orange).

Papervision3D.

Papervision3D, a popular 3D library for Flash.

Blender.

Blender, a very popular free 3D graphics modeling and animation tool.

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Flashbake: free version-control for writers using git.

2011-12-29T13:11:00.000-08:00

For the past couple weeks, I've been working with Thomas "cmdln" Gideon (host of the fabulously nerdy Command Line podcast) on a free software project for writers called "Flashbake" (which is to say, I described what I wanted and Thomas wrote the code).

This is a set of Python scripts that check your hot files for changes every 15 minutes, and checks in any changed files to a local git repository. Git is a free "source control" program used by programmers to track changes to source-code, but it works equally well on any text file. If you write in a text-editor like I do, then Flashbake can keep track of your changes for you as you go.

I was prompted to do this after discussions with several digital archivists who complained that, prior to the computerized era, writers produced a series complete drafts on the way to publications, complete with erasures, annotations, and so on. These are archival gold, since they illuminate the creative process in a way that often reveals the hidden stories behind the books we care about. By contrast, many writers produce only a single (or a few) digital files that are modified right up to publication time, without any real systematic records of the interim states between the first bit of composition and the final draft.

Enter Flashbake. Every 15 minutes, Flashbake looks at any files that you ask it to check (I have it looking at all my fiction-in-progress, my todo list, my file of useful bits of information, and the completed electronic versions of my recent books), and records any changes made since the last check, annotating them with the current timezone on the system-clock, the weather in that timezone as fetched from Google, and the last three headlines with your by-line under them in your blog's RSS feed (I've been characterizing this as "Where am I, what's it like there, and what am I thinking about?"). It also records your computer's uptime. For a future version, I think it'd be fun to have the most recent three songs played by your music player.

The effect of this is to thoroughly -- exhaustively -- annotate the entire creative process, almost down to the keystroke level. Want to know what day you wrote a particular passage? Flashbake can tell you. Want to know what passage you wrote on a given day? That too. Plus, keeping track of my todo.txt file means that I get a searchable database of all the todo items I've ever used, with timestamps for their appearance and erasure.

Additionally, since git repositories are made to replicate, you can publish some or all of your projects to the public web or to a private site. I'm hoping that my publisher will use a public git repo to check out the most recent versions of my in-print books every time they go back to press for a new edition, and use the built-in compare ("diff") function to find all the typos I've fixed since the last edition.

It's all pretty nerdy, I admit. But if you're running some kind of Unix variant (I use Ubuntu Intrepid Ibex, but this'd probably do fine on a Mac with OS X, too) and you want to give it a whirl, Thomas has made all the scripts available as free software. He's working on a new version now with plugin support, which is exciting!

I love adapting programmers' tools for my writing. They tend to be extremely well-made and stable (because if they aren't, programmers will fix them or find better ones) -- it's like using chefs' knives in the kitchen.

Install.

Flashbake's installation and configuration documentation is already pretty complete, so I won't duplicate it here. In short, to run Flashbake, you'll need superuser access and the following installed as usual:

Python with the setuptools module
Git

Once you've laid that groundwork, download the latest version of Flashbake and extract it. In the extracted directory, run:

sudo python setup.py install

Now you're ready to start your project. Create a new folder—I called mine write—and cd into it. Then run:

git init

Make the first text file you're going to track with Flashbake, like my_novel.txt, and type a few lines. Now you're ready to start tracking its revisions with Flashbake. Create a new file in your project directory called .flashbake (don't forget the starting dot) and add the name of your text file to it. For example, my Flashbake project tracks two files, called my_novel.txt and this post in a file called flashbake_automates_version_control.txt. So the bottom of my .flashbake configuration file looks like this:

# "Hot files" for flashbake to commit, add yours here
my_novel.txt
flashbake_automates_version_control.txt

(Flashbake ignores the first line, which starts with the #, because it's a comment.)
Now we're almost ready to run Flashbake. First we've got to configure a plug-in or two.

Shake and Flashbake Plug-ins.

Flashbake plug-ins are the secret sauce that make it a worthy interface to Git. Plug-ins automatically add information to each version's commit notes, like feed items, the weather, and timezone.
Here's a full list of the default plug-ins that come with Flashbake. I used four plug-ins in my Flashbake project: weather, timezone, Twitter, and the feed plug-in. As the Flashbake plug-in documentation explains, list the plug-ins you want to use in your .flashbake file and its additional parameters below.

Publish Your Flashbake Git Repository to GitHub.

Now you've got a local Git repository of file versions. Great, right? Well, not if you can use 'em easily. Git newbs don't know all the commands to search and diff between versions, but luckily a pretty web hosting solution for Git means you don't have to know the commands. I published my local Git repository to GitHub to show off my file changes in this post. Register for a free account at GitHub and create a new repository there. Then, push your local repository to GitHub for cloud backup and a good-looking web interface to your project. Use GitHub's setup instructions to do just that. After I created a repository on GitHub called write, GitHub told me to run the following commands (where "existing_git_repo" is your project directory):

The git push origin master command is the magical command that pushes your local files to GitHub. By default, you have to do that remote push by hand, but if you're automating Flashbake's runs, you can make local commits automatically push to a remote host (like GitHub) using this handy command.
Flashbake is still a very young mechanism for driving Git, and more plug-ins and configuration options are becoming available, so we've only scratched the surface here. But adopting programmer version control for writing, lists, or notes is something more and more tech-savvy folks will do going forward. Thanks to Leo Laporte and Cory Doctorow for making me aware of Flashbake in this episode of This Week in Tech.

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Fossil simple, high-reliability, distributed software configuration management.

2011-12-20T21:47:00.000-08:00

Fossil is a distributed version control system, bug tracking system and wiki software server for use in software development created by D. Richard Hipp.

Fossil is a cross-platform server that runs on Linux, Mac and Windows. It is capable of performing distributed version control, bug tracking, wiki services, and blogging.

The software has a built-in web interface, which reduces project tracking complexity and promotes situational awareness. A user may simply type "fossil ui" from within any check-out and Fossil automatically opens the user's web browser in a page that gives detailed history and status information on that project.

Being distributed, Fossil requires no central server, although collaboration is made easier by using one.

Content is stored using a SQLite database so that transactions are atomic even if interrupted by a power loss or system crash.

Fossil is free software released under a BSD license[3] (previously GPL).

Fossil is used for version control by the SQLite project, which is itself a component of Fossil. SQLite transitioned to using Fossil for version control over CVS in September 2009.

Some examples of other projects using Fossil are:

There are plenty of open-source version control systems available on the internet these days. What makes Fossil worthy of attention?

Why Use Fossil?

Bug Tracking And Wiki - In addition to doing distributed version control like Git and Mercurial, Fossil also supports distributed bug tracking, distributed wiki, and a distributed blog mechanism all in a single integrated package.

Web Interface - Fossil has a built-in and easy-to-use web interface that simplifies project tracking and promotes situational awareness. Simply type "fossil ui" from within any check-out and Fossil automatically opens your web browser in a page that gives detailed graphical history and status information on that project.

This entire website (except the download page) is just a running instance of Fossil. The pages you see here are all wiki or embedded documentation. When you clone Fossil from one of its self-hosting repositories, you get more than just source code - you get this entire website.

Autosync - Fossil supports "autosync" mode which helps to keep projects moving forward by reducing the amount of needless forking and merging often associated with distributed projects.

Self-Contained - Fossil is a single stand-alone executable that contains everything needed to do configuration management. Installation is trivial: simply download a precompiled binary for Linux, Mac, or Windows and put it on your $PATH. Easy-to-compile source code is available for users on other platforms. Fossil sources are also mostly self-contained, requiring only the "zlib" library and the standard C library to build.

Simple Networking - Fossil uses plain old HTTP (with proxy support) for all network communications, meaning that it works fine from behind restrictive firewalls. The protocol is bandwidth efficient to the point that Fossil can be used comfortably over a dial-up internet connection.

CGI Enabled - No server is required to use fossil. But a server does make collaboration easier. Fossil supports three different yet simple server configurations. The most popular is a 2-line CGI script. This is the approach used by the self-hosting fossil repositories.

Robust & Reliable - Fossil stores content using an enduring file format in an SQLite database so that transactions are atomic even if interrupted by a power loss or system crash. Furthermore, automatic self-checks verify that all aspects of the repository are consistent prior to each commit. In over three years of operation, no work has ever been lost after having been committed to a Fossil repository.

Links For Fossil Users:

Testimonials from satisfied fossil users and Quotes about Fossil and other DVCSes.
FAQ
The concepts behind fossil
Quick Start guide to using fossil
Questions & Criticisms directed at fossil.
Building And Installing
Fossil supports embedded documentation that is versioned along with project source code.
Fossil uses an enduring file format that is designed to be readable, searchable, and extensible by people not yet born.
A tutorial on branching, what it means and how to do it using fossil.
The automatic self-check mechanism helps insure project integrity.
Fossil contains a built-in wiki.
An Event is a special kind of wiki page associated with a point in time rather than a name.
Settings control the behaviour of fossil.
Use SSL to encrypt communication with the server.
There is a mailing list (with publicly readable archives available for discussing fossil issues.
Performance statistics taken from real-world projects hosted on fossil.
How to delete content from a fossil repository.
How Fossil does password management.
Some (unfinished but expanding) extended reference documentation for the fossil command line.
Documentation on the TH1 Script Language used to configure the ticketing subsystem.
A free hosting server for Fossil repositories is available at http://chiselapp.com/.
How to set up a server for your repository.
Customizing the ticket system.
Methods to identify a specific check-in.
Import and export from and to Git.
Fossil versus Git.

Links For Fossil Developer:

Contributing code or documentation to the Fossil project.
Thoughts On The Design Of Fossil.
Principles Of Operation
A Technical Overview Of Fossil.
The file format used by every content file stored in the repository.
The format of deltas used to efficiently store changes between file revisions.
The encoder algorithm used to efficiently generate deltas.
The synchronization protocol.

Download.

Install.

Using A Pre-compiled Binary.

You can skip all of the following by downloading a pre-compiled binary appropriate for your platform and putting that self-contained binary someplace on your $PATH. To uninstall, simply delete the binary. To upgrade from an older release, just overwrite the older binary with the newer one.

Executive Summary.

Building and installing is very simple. Three steps:

Download and unpack a source tarball or ZIP.
./configure; make
Move or copy the resulting "fossil" executable to someplace on your $PATH.

Obtaining The Source Code.

Fossil is self-hosting, so you can obtain a ZIP archive containing a snapshot of the latest version directly from fossil's own fossil repository. Follow these steps:

Point your web browser at http://www.fossil-scm.org/. Click on the "Login" menu button.
Log in as anonymous. The password is shown on screen. The reason for requiring this login is to prevent spiders from walking the entire website, downloading ZIP archives of every historical version, and thereby soaking up all our bandwidth.
Click on the Timeline link at the top of the page.
Select a version of of fossil you want to download. Click on its link. Note that you must successfully log in as "anonymous" in step 1 above in order to see the link to the detailed version information.
Finally, click on one of the "Zip Archive" or "Tarball" links, according to your preference. These link will build a ZIP archive or a gzip-compressed tarball of the complete source code and download it to your browser.

Compiling.

Unpack the ZIP or tarball you downloaded into that directory then cd into the directory created.
(Optional, unix only) Run ./configure to construct a makefile.
1. If you do not have the OpenSSL library installed on your system, then add --with-openssl=none to omit the https functionality.
2. To build a statically linked binary (suitable for use inside a chroot jail) add the --static option.
3. Other configuration options can be seen by running ./configure --help
Run make to build the "fossil" or "fossil.exe" executable. The details depend on your platform and compiler.
1. Unix → the configure-generated Makefile should work on all unix and unix-like systems. Simply type "make".
2. Unix without running "configure" → if you prefer to avoid running configure, you can also use: make -f Makefile.classic. You may want to make minor edits to Makefile.classic to configure the build for your system.
3. Msys/MinGW → Use the mingw makefile: "make -f win/Makefile.mingw"
4. VC++ → Use the msc makefile. First change to the "win/" subdirectory ("cd win") then run "nmake /f Makefile.msc".

Note that Fossil requires the "zlib" compression library. This library is available by default on most unix systems, but it will typically have to be installed separately on windows systems. For windows builds, you may need to edit the makefile to tell it exactly where zlib is located on your system.

Installing.

The finished binary is named "fossil" (or "fossil.exe" on windows). Put this binary in a directory that is somewhere on your PATH environment variable. It does not matter where.
(Optional:) To uninstall, just delete the binary.

Additional Considerations.

If the makefiles that come with Fossil do not work for you, or for some other reason you want to know how to build Fossil manually, then refer to the Fossil Build Process document which describes in detail what the makefiles do behind the scenes.

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The cb2Bib is a free, open source, and multiplatform application for rapidly extracting unformatted.

2011-12-15T13:58:00.000-08:00

The cb2Bib is a free, open source, and multiplatform application for rapidly extracting unformatted, or unstandardized bibliographic references from email alerts, journal Web pages, and PDF files.

The cb2Bib facilitates the capture of single references from unformatted and non standard sources. Output references are written in BibTeX. Article files can be easily linked and renamed by dragging them onto the cb2Bib window. Additionally, it permits editing and browsing BibTeX files, citing references, searching references and the full contents of the referenced documents, inserting bibliographic metadata to documents, and writing short notes that interrelate several references.

Advanced features.

Advanced features, and processing and extraction details are described in the following sections:

Configuration information is described in the following sections:

Utilities and modules are described in the following sections:

Requirements.

Compilation.

To compile cb2Bib, the following libraries must be present and accessible:

Qt 4.4.0 or higher from Qt Nokia. On a Linux platform with Qt preinstalled, make sure that the devel packages and Qt tools are also present.

WebKit library (optional) to compile cb2Bib Annote viewer. It is already included in Qt > 4.4.0 library. No special action/flag is needed during compilation.

LZO 2.03 library and headers available at http://www.oberhumer.com/opensource/lzo. If LZO2 were unavailable on a particular platform, type configure --disable-lzo or, equivalently, qmake -config disable-lzo before compiling.

X11 header files if compiling on Unix platforms. Concretely, headers X11/Xlib.h and X11/Xatom.h are needed.

The header files fcntl.h and unistd.h from glibc-devel package are also required. Otherwise compilation will fail with referencelist.cpp:227: `::close' undeclared.

Deployment

Although not needed for running cb2Bib, the following tools extend cb2Bib applicability:

jsMath, available at http://www.math.union.edu/~dpvc/jsMath, for displaying mathematical notation. Simply, download and unzip it in a desired directory.

ExifTool, version 7.31 or later, available at http://www.sno.phy.queensu.ca/~phil/exiftool.

pdftotext, found packaged as xpdf, and downloadable from http://www.foolabs.com/xpdf.

The bib2xml and xml2end BibUtils, to test the postprocess script bib2end.bat on Windows platforms.

... and LaTeX and friends, to check for BibTeX file correctness and to get a nice printing through the shell script bib2pdf.

Current version: cb2Bib 1.4.6. (See ChangeLog File for a detailed list of changes and acknowledgments, and Release Notes for additional notes and information.).

Download.

Screenshots.

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Virtual MIDI Piano Keyboard (VMPK) is a MIDI events generator and receiver.

2011-12-08T13:28:00.000-08:00

Virtual MIDI Piano Keyboard is a MIDI events generator and receiver.

It doesn't produce any sound by itself, but can be used to drive a MIDI synthesizer (either hardware or software, internal or external).

You can use the computer's keyboard to play MIDI notes, and also the mouse.

You can use the Virtual MIDI Piano Keyboard to display the played MIDI notes from another instrument or MIDI file player.

To do so, connect the other MIDI port to the input port of VMPK.

VMPK has been tested in Linux, but maybe you can build it also in other systems.

The Virtual Keyboard by Takashi Iway (vkeybd) has been the inspiration for this one. It is a wonderful piece of software and has served us well for many years.

VMPK uses a modern GUI framework: Qt4, that gives excellent features and performance. RtMIDI provides MIDI input/output features. Both frameworks are free and platform independent, available for Linux, Windows and Mac OSX.

The alphanumeric keyboard mapping can be configured from inside the program using the GUI interface, and the settings are stored in XML files. Some maps for Spanish, German and French keyboard layouts are provided, translated from the ones provided by VKeybd.

VMPK can send program changes and controllers to a MIDI synth. The definitions for different standards and devices can be provided as .INS files, the same format used by QTractor and TSE3. It was developed by Cakewalk and used also in Sonar.

This software is in a very early alpha stage. See the TODO file for a list of pending features. Please feel free to contact the author to ask questions, report bugs, and propose new features. You can use the tracking system at SourceForge project site.

Virtual MIDI Piano Keyboard is free software licensed under the terms of the GPL v3 license.

Getting started.

MIDI concepts.

MIDI is an industry standard to connect musical instruments. It is based on transmitting the actions performed by a musician playing some instrument to another different instrument. Musical instruments enabled with MIDI interfaces typically have two DIN sockets labeled MIDI IN and MIDI OUT.

Sometimes there is a third socket labeled MIDI THRU. To connect a MIDI instrument to another one, you need a MIDI cable attached to the MIDI OUT socket of the sending instrument, and to the MIDI IN of the receiving one. You can find more information and tutorials like this one all around the Net.

There are also hardware MIDI interfaces for computers, providing MIDI IN and OUT ports, where you can attach MIDI cables to communicate the computer with external MIDI instruments. Without needing hardware interfaces, the computer can also use MIDI software. An example is VMPK, which provides MIDI IN and OUT ports. You can attach virtual MIDI cables to the VMPK's ports, to connect the program to other programs or to the computer's physical MIDI interface ports. More details about this coming later. You usually want to connect the MIDI output from VMPK to the input of some synthesizer which transforms MIDI into sound. Another common destination for the connection would be a MIDI monitor that translates MIDI events into readable text. This will help you to understand what kind of information is transmitted using the MIDI protocol. In Linux you can try KMidimon and in Windows MIDIOX.

VMPK doesn't produce any sound. You need a MIDI software synthesizer to hear the played notes. I recommend you to try QSynth, a graphical front-end to Fluidsynth. It is also possible to use the "Microsoft GS Wavetable SW Synth" that comes with XP. Of course, an external MIDI hardware synth would be an even better approach.

Keyboard maps and instrument definitions.

VMPK can help you to change sounds in your MIDI synthesizer, but only if you provide a definition for the synthesizer sounds first. The definitions are text files with the .INS extension, and the same format used by Qtractor (Linux).

When you start VMPK the first time, you should open the Preferences dialog and choose a definition file, and then select the instrument name among those provided by the definitions file. There should be one instrument definitions file installed in the VMPK's data directory (typically "/usr/share/vmpk" in Linux, and "C:\Program Files\VMPK" in Windows) named "gmgsxg.ins", containing definitions for the General MIDI, Roland GS and Yamaha XG standards. It is a very simple format, and you can use any text editor to look, change, and create a new one.

You can find a library of instruments definitions at the cakewalk ftp server.

Since the release 0.2.5 you can also import Sound Font files (in .SF2 or DLS formats) as instruments definitions, using a dialog available at menu File->Import SoundFont.

Another customization that you may want to tweak is the keyboard mapping. The default layout maps about two and half octaves for the QWERTY alphanumeric keyboard, but there are some more definitions in the data directory, adapted for other international layouts. You can even define your own mapping using a dialog box available in the Edit->Keyboard map menu. There are also options to load and save the maps as XML files.

The last loaded map will be remembered the next time you start VMPK. In fact, all your preferences, selected MIDI bank and program, and the controller values will be saved on exit, and restored when you restart VMPK the next time.

MIDI connections and virtual MIDI cables

To connect hardware MIDI devices you need physical MIDI cables. To connect MIDI software you need virtual cables. In Windows you can use some virtual MIDI cable software, like MIDI Yoke, Maple, LoopBe1 or Sony Virtual MIDI Router.

MIDI Yoke setup process will install the driver and a control panel applet to change the number of MIDI ports that will be available (you need to restart the computer after changing this setting). MIDI Yoke works sending every MIDI event written to an OUT port to the corresponding IN port. For instance, VMPK can connect the output to the port 1, and another program like QSynth can read the same events from the port 1.

Using MIDIOX you can add more routes between MIDI Yoke ports and other system MIDI ports. This program also provides other interesting functionalities, like a MIDI file player. You can listen the songs played in a MIDI Synth and at the same time see the played notes (only one channel at a time) in VMPK. To do so, you can use the "Routes" window in MIDIOX to connect the input port 1 to the Windows Synth port. Also, configure the player's MIDI port to send to MIDI Yoke 1. And configure VMPK Input port to read from MIDI Yoke 1. The player will send the events to the out port 1, which will be routed to both the input port 1 and at the same time to the synth port.

In Linux, you have ALSA sequencer to provide the virtual cables. The ports are dynamically created when you start a program, so there is not a fixed number of them like in MIDI Yoke. The command line utility "aconnect" allows to connect and disconnect the virtual MIDI cables between any ports, being hardware interfaces or applications.

A nice GUI utility for doing the same is QJackCtl. The main purpose of this program is to control the Jack daemon (start, stop and monitor the state). Jack provides virtual audio cables to connect your sound card ports and audio programs, in a similar way to the MIDI virtual cables, but for digital audio data.

Screenshots.

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Linuxlandit & The Conqueror Worm

The Siduction distribution is a desktop-oriented operating system and live medium based on the "unstable" branch of Debian GNU/Linux.

ExTiX is a desktop Linux distribution and live CD based on Ubuntu.

ABINIT is an open-source suite of programs for materials science, distributed under the GNU General Public License.

The Perfect Server: Ubuntu 11.10 Oneiric Ocelot With Nginx , Chapter 3.

15 Install Mailman

Enabling Compiz On Linux Mint 12 Lisa desktop (GNOME Classic).

1 Preliminary Note

2 Enabling The NVIDIA Driver

3 Install Compiz.

4 Configuring Compiz To Start At Boot

5 Configure Compiz

6 Keyboard Shortcuts

Gource is an animated visualization tool for viewing GIT & CVS source repositories.

Flashbake: free version-control for writers using git.

Fossil simple, high-reliability, distributed software configuration management.

Links For Fossil Users:

Links For Fossil Developer:

The cb2Bib is a free, open source, and multiplatform application for rapidly extracting unformatted.

Deployment

Virtual MIDI Piano Keyboard (VMPK) is a MIDI events generator and receiver.