Re: Linux is not for consumers!
On Thu, Dec 11, 2003 at 08:17:33PM +0200, David Baron wrote: > Few such as we are would lay out good money for something he/she could get > for free! Debian does take donations: http://www.debian.org/donations/ (though I seem to be having trouble reaching www.spi-inc.org at the moment.) When I donated this year I tried to make an estimate of how much I might have paid on proprietary software to do what I've been doing with free software over the last few years, and to contribute at least that much. To be honest I probably underestimated--it's easy to forget how expensive software can be. Anyway it's something to consider, since I know this is the time of year when a lot of people donate --Bruce Fields -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Hacked: .bash_history linked somewhere
On Fri, Nov 07, 2003 at 10:45:32AM -0800, Mike Egglestone wrote: > Hi, > My server was trojaned recently, not sure how. > It looks like /bin/ps was modified or replaced with > a trojan. Out of curiosity--how can you tell? > The /root/.bash_history file is set to this: > > chsslx1:~# ls -la .bash_history > -rw-r--r--1 root root0 Nov 7 05:31 .bash_history > > and I can't edit it or delete it. > It looks like its linked somewhere: > > chsslx1:~# rm .bash_history > rm: remove write-protected file `.bash_history'? y > rm: cannot unlink `.bash_history': Operation not permitted > > First off, nothing to much was compromised. Only /etc/samba/* was wiped. > (There may be more stuff but haven't detected yet) Indeed. > It seems that the only way to recover is to re-install? Yes. You can never > How does this happen in the first place? Does someone need to steal the root > password and login and plant the trojan, or could this be remotely exploited > through a security hole in one of my installed packages? Could be. > I don't understand how files can get overwritten with out manually doing it. What lead you to believe there was a compromise in the first place? Once you decide it was compromised, there's nothing you can do but start over (very carefuly!) from scratch. It's hard to know for sure that you've found all the backdoors.--b. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Single-use root account?
On Fri, Nov 07, 2003 at 08:19:00AM -0600, Ron Johnson wrote: > On Fri, 2003-11-07 at 07:55, J. Bruce Fields wrote: > > Why not? They already have physical access to the machine, what more > > would you give up to them by telling them the root password? For a home > > computer, I don't see much reason not to just stick the root password on > > a post-it note on the monitor You already trust anyone that's in a > > position to see it. > > And if a not-so-trustworthy "friend" or acquaintance wanders by, > he can destroy you. Sure. And the attack (memorize the password, go home, ssh in and do the dirty deed) is usually going to be easier than the attack without the password (remove the drive, do something with it, put it back in; or, if the BIOS is unprotected, just boot to your own floppy/cd). But I'd still argue that in a lot of situations the root-password-on-the-monitor is a pretty reasonable risk. > The all-privilege sudo is the best idea, since the actions are > audited. Though note that the auditing is there to keep the honest honest--surely the audit trail isn't truly secure against an user with "all-privilege sudo". --Bruce Fields -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Single-use root account?
On Fri, Nov 07, 2003 at 02:58:48AM -0600, Alex Malinovich wrote: > I've decided that it's about time I look for a solution to a problem > that's been bugging me. On certain occasions, I find it necessary to > have one of my roommates do something to the network at home when I'm > not there. As such, they generally will need root access to do it. While > I certainly trust them, I'm very security conscious and wouldn't feel > comfortable giving them my root password. Why not? They already have physical access to the machine, what more would you give up to them by telling them the root password? For a home computer, I don't see much reason not to just stick the root password on a post-it note on the monitor You already trust anyone that's in a position to see it. --Bruce Fields -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [OT] deleting pictures from digital camera via computer?
On Thu, Oct 30, 2003 at 12:39:55PM -0500, Kevin B. McCarty wrote: > Here is my question. Once the camera is mounted (in my case, I put it at > /mnt/camera), I can see the pictures here: /mnt/camera/dcim/100nikon/*.jpg > If I want to delete them, can I just do "rm -f /mnt/camera/dcim/100nikon/*.jpg" > or would this cause an internal database of the camera to get out of sync > with the pictures actually present? I've done this before with a different camera (actually a smartmedia card reader) mounted using usb-storage. It didn't seem to cause any problems. Obviously you want to make sure you unmount before unplugging the usb cable. If worst comes to worst, doesn't your camera have a way to reformat its internal memory and restart from scratch? --Bruce Fields > Please CC me since I'm not subscribed to the list. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: passwordless root login
On Mon, Oct 13, 2003 at 03:58:41PM -0400, Bijan Soleymani wrote: > On Sun, Oct 12, 2003 at 06:30:32PM -0400, J. Bruce Fields wrote: > > I'd like to configure a debian box to allow root logins without a > > password; what do I need to do? The relevant line in the password file > > is > > > > root::0:0:root:/root:/bin/bash > > > > I thought the empty password field would do the job, but apparently not. > > There is no /etc/shadow file. > > If you want to disable all passwords for login (and if there is no > password for root then people can just su to everyone else anyways) the > best way is to: > edit /etc/pam.d/login > comment out the line > #auth required pam_unix.so nullok > by placing a "#" at the beginning. > > Then the login program won't even ask for a password. That's what I use > on my console. All other programs like ftp and ssh will still ask for > passwords though. Just make sure you don't use telnet as it does use > login. If you need to disable passwords for any other program then > simply edit its pam file. Thanks, but with those lines removed I end up with all logins failing automatically and no request for a password. This may be something that changed sometime between stable and unstable--I used to use a similar trick to allow local gdm logins without a password, but that stopped working at some point--I think the pam stuff has changed a bit. --Bruce Fields -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: passwordless root login
On Tue, Oct 14, 2003 at 08:41:12AM -0700, Paul Johnson wrote: > Please don't reply to something on-topic in private. Sending back to > the list... I thought it was getting a little off-topic, but OK. > On Tue, Oct 14, 2003 at 11:37:50AM -0400, J. Bruce Fields wrote: > > On Tue, Oct 14, 2003 at 08:06:03AM -0700, Paul Johnson wrote: > > > -BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE- > > > Hash: SHA1 > > > > > > On Sun, Oct 12, 2003 at 06:30:32PM -0400, J. Bruce Fields wrote: > > > > I'd like to configure a debian box to allow root logins without a > > > > password; what do I need to do? > > > > > > Get a clue! This is *NOT* something you ever want to do! > > > > So your VCR prompts you for a root password every time you switch it on, > > does it? > > Not the same. Why not? I'm told that there are actually VCR-like devices out there running linux; for all I know they could be debian-based. My particular situation is this: I'm using Debian for a UML box, running on the host as a regular user, and not allowing any remote logins (sshd, telnetd, etc. are not installed). If you describe a real security hole here, I'd be grateful for the help. --Bruce Fields -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: passwordless root login
On Mon, Oct 13, 2003 at 02:24:54PM +0200, Haim Ashkenazi wrote: > J. Bruce Fields wrote: > > > On Mon, Oct 13, 2003 at 10:15:16AM +0800, Sacha Chua wrote: > >> "J. Bruce Fields" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > >> > >> > I'd like to configure a debian box to allow root logins without a > >> > password; what do I need to do? The relevant line in the password file > >> > is > >> > root::0:0:root:/root:/bin/bash > >> > I thought the empty password field would do the job, but apparently > >> > not. There is no /etc/shadow file. > >> > >> You probably don't want to do that, as that will give everyone access > >> to everything on your box. > > > > As far as I know I don't have anything (sshd, ftpd, etc.) installed that > > allows remote logins. I'm willing to trust anyone who has access to the > > console. > it's not only a question of trusting. it's a question of peaple making > mistakes under pressure (e.g. chmod -R ... in the wrong place). Of course, but this is a risk I'm willing to take--especially since this "box" is actually a UML running on a filesystem that I can rebuild from scratch using automated scripts in about 5 minutes. So an accidental chmod -R (or, for that matter, a rm -rf /) isn't a catastrophe. > GoodLuck (you'll need it) Oh well, that's true regardless. --Bruce Fields -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: passwordless root login
On Mon, Oct 13, 2003 at 10:15:16AM +0800, Sacha Chua wrote: > "J. Bruce Fields" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > > > I'd like to configure a debian box to allow root logins without a > > password; what do I need to do? The relevant line in the password file > > is > > root::0:0:root:/root:/bin/bash > > I thought the empty password field would do the job, but apparently not. > > There is no /etc/shadow file. > > You probably don't want to do that, as that will give everyone access > to everything on your box. As far as I know I don't have anything (sshd, ftpd, etc.) installed that allows remote logins. I'm willing to trust anyone who has access to the console. Anyway, to answer my original question, it looks like what I needed to do (in addition to making sure there was no root password in /etc/passwd) was add "nullok" after some pam_unix.so's in the files in /etc/pam.d/. --Bruce Fields -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
passwordless root login
I'd like to configure a debian box to allow root logins without a password; what do I need to do? The relevant line in the password file is root::0:0:root:/root:/bin/bash I thought the empty password field would do the job, but apparently not. There is no /etc/shadow file. --Bruce Fields -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Anyone using apt-listchanges?
On Thu, Oct 09, 2003 at 11:20:07AM -0700, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > I'm not clear how to use apt-listchanges. Can it be integrated into > apt-get? Yes. In fact I thought by default it would make apt-get display a list of the relevant bits of the changelogs before apt-get asks you if you want to continue with an upgrade. At least, that's what it did for me when I installed it. See /etc/apt/listchanges.conf (and "man apt-listchanges"). --Bruce Fields -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Holy Spam!
On Fri, Oct 03, 2003 at 02:21:20PM -0400, Dan Anderson wrote: > > So, again, please don't send automatic replies. > > Although you may not personally approve of the method it is an accepted > method of blocking spam. YMMV and such. There certainly is software out there (virus software at least) that does send automatic replies--my mail folders have ample evidence. I don't believe you're correct that this practice is "widely accepted", but in any case, that's not the right question. The question is whether this practice (widely accepted or not) is beneficial. In fact it is not, because it greatly increases the negative impact of spam and virus mail (most of which is sent with forged "from" addresses) by multiplying the amount of useless email that is sent. It's also worth thinking about what would happen if I did implement the sort of autoreply-to-unknown-from-addresses scheme you suggest, and if I ever subsequently received an email with your "from" address. (You can't be sure this will never happen--all it takes is for a correspondant with lax security to get infected with a virus that scans their inbox for email addresses.) In this case we'd end up with an infinite loop. If a lot of people start using such autoresponders, such loops will become inevitable. --Bruce Fields -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Holy Spam!
On Fri, Oct 03, 2003 at 02:00:52PM -0400, Dan Anderson wrote: > > It isn't just people on listserv's that will be annoyed: please never > > send automatic replies; the "from" address is a lie anyway. > > This is one of the reasons I put a caveat about listservs not following > rules. The problem I described isn't a problem with listservs. The problem is that there are infected machines out there which have nothing to do with me which are sending massive amounts of email with my address on them. (The "from" address is literally a lie; the worm just scraped it off a web page somewhere, I guess). The people sending automatic replies to those messages are shoveling nearly as much email into my mailbox as the original worm. So, again, please don't send automatic replies. > However, FWIW, on a business only address (which isn't > subscribing to a listserv) this can be a very good way to make sure a > vital e-mail isn't accidentally sent to /dev/null. On such an email address I'd be even more wary about using an autoresponder because I don't want people that are potentially offering me "multi million dollar" contracts to have to jump through extra hoops to contact me. --b. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Holy Spam!
On Fri, Oct 03, 2003 at 01:25:16PM -0400, Dan Anderson wrote: > 5) Make anybody e-mailing to your address who is not on your whitelist > (besides listservs!) respond to an automatic reply to be added to your > whitelist. Most spammers won't respond (although people on the listserv > may get angry and block your e-mail. See caveat re: listservs). It isn't just people on listserv's that will be annoyed: please never send automatic replies; the "from" address is a lie anyway. I'm assuming that this sort of automatic reply is the reason a large proportion of my junk mail appears to be bounce messages: the Swen virus, or something, is using my address on its mail as the "from" address and clueless virus software is sending me oh-so-helpful messages telling me I'm infected. --Bruce Fields -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Holy Spam!
On Fri, Oct 03, 2003 at 12:13:28PM -0400, Jon Earle wrote: > This open list policy that so many lists have, while it _may_, and I'm > placing a lot of faith and emphasis on the 'may', offer the occasional > newbie or (individual who couldn't be bothered to subscribe multiple > addresses) the ability to post[1], that, coupled with gatewaying to news, > I feel is just plain irresponsible. It's a _very_ poorly thought out > policy that I feel does more to harm the list community that help > (particularly the list gateway to news). I've solved a great deal of problems by doing things like googling on error messages. The (often very useful) results are usually found in lists like this one. It's not enough to be able to search the lists of one particular archive after joining that list; the usefulness of this technique comes from the fact that I can search so many lists at once. I suppose the emails could be blinded somehow before being passed on to archives or usenet groups, though it is occasionally useful for example to be able to follow up with someone whose bug report you find on a list. Personally I gave up on the idea of hiding my email address a long time ago. I want people with a legitimate reason to be able to reach me without jumping through hoops. With dictionary attacks against mail servers and third-party leaks of email addresses (think what a virus can do with a correspondant's inbox), I'm not convinced that obfusticating my email address is going to continue to be a good anti-spam solution anyway. --Bruce Fields -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: gdm and window managers
On Tue, Sep 23, 2003 at 08:06:45PM +0200, David Fokkema wrote: > I've been using kdm for a long time and was very comfortable with the > way a user can select the window manager to use at start up. I virtually > never choose KDE, but rather window maker or ion. Nevertheless, it > worked flawlessly. Currently, I have gnome, window maker and ion > installed and I use gdm for login. How can I select an other window > manager? Can this easily be done with gdm? I only seem to be able to run > gnome, which doesn't meet all my needs, currently. What I do: 1. Create a .xsession file in your home directory that runs your window manager; e.g.: #minimal .xsession exec ion > $HOME/.xsession-errors 2>&1 2. Choose "Xsession" from the sessions menu in gdm. --Bruce Fields -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Not impressed with 2.6.0-test2 so far...
On Tue, Sep 16, 2003 at 09:07:38PM -0400, Neal Lippman wrote: > I'm wondering if anyone has gotten 2.6.0-test2 compiled and runnign at > all Of course; tons of people are running it. It's what I use for most of my daily work. My laptop, alas, is a little unstable under 2.6, but two other computers at work are running fine. > and has any pointers? It probably won't be possible to do any troubleshooting without more detail about your particular situation: exact error messages, hardware involved, etc. --Bruce Fields -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: DMA doesn't seem to work with my custom 2.4.21 kernel
On Thu, Sep 11, 2003 at 05:38:33PM +0200, Pim Bliek wrote: > Hi, > > I've set the following in my kernel-config (2.4.21): > > CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDEDMA_PCI=y > CONFIG_IDEDMA_PCI_AUTO=y > CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDEDMA=y > > I have an ASUS A7N8X Deluxe rev 2.0 motherboard. > > When I run hdparm -d1 /dev/hda I get the following error: > > # hdparm -d1 /dev/hda > /dev/hda: > setting using_dma to 1 (on) > HDIO_SET_DMA failed: Operation not permitted > using_dma= 0 (off) > > I know this has worked on my system on a previous install (Gentoo). I > have quite a new WD HDD 80 GB. > > Anyone knows what I am missing? You may also need to enable support for the specific chipset on that motherboard in your kernel config. See ATA/IDE/MFM/RLL support ---> IDE, ATA and ATAPI Block devices ---> IDE chipset support/bugfixes. Some fooling around with lspci, dmesg, and/or your motherboard's documentation may help you figure out which option exactly you need. --Bruce Fields -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: gnome, mozilla question (potato)
On 31 Jan 2002, Mario Vukelic wrote: > On Thu, 2002-01-31 at 21:17, J. Bruce Fields wrote: > Why don't you use mozilla-0.9.7 from sid? Over the last year or so, there have been dramatic improvements to mozilla with each new version, so I haven't wanted to wait for a debian package to show up. Also, all it takes to install is a download and one tar -xzf command. Perhaps now that it's stabilizing a little, I should switch to using the debian packages; do you know of any real advantages to them? b.
Re: gnome, mozilla question (potato)
On 31 Jan 2002, Mario Vukelic wrote: > On Thu, 2002-01-31 at 20:18, J. Bruce Fields wrote: > > No, at least on my system, this still leaves the same problem--it brings > > up the correct browser, but opens the default home page, not the > > highlighted URL.---b. > Which gnome version? Beats me. I'm running testing, and the gnome-core pkg, e.g., is 1.4.0.4-15. Mozilla is 0.9.7, in a tarball that was installed at /usr/local/mozilla, with /usr/local/bin/mozilla a script that runs /usr/local/mozilla/mozilla with output redirected to /dev/null (I set it up that way some time ago when mozilla was still spitting out lots of debugging stuff to the terminal all the time). And, in fact, I now realize that this script was the source of the problem--the /usr/local/bin/mozilla script wasn't passing on its arguments to mozilla, so the URL was getting passed to mozilla. With that script fixed, everything works perfectly (though note that ``gnome-moz-remote --newwin "%s"'' is I think the preferred gnome-ish handler for URL's; it will respect your netscape/mozilla preference, and tell an existing instance of mozilla to open a new window instead of starting up a new instance). Anyway, thanks for motivating me to look into this (Note, however, that I'm not the original poster, who I think was running Potato, so his/her problem may still remain).---Bruce F.
Re: gnome, mozilla question (potato)
On 31 Jan 2002, Mario Vukelic wrote: > On Thu, 2002-01-31 at 18:50, Paul E Condon wrote: > > it brings up the home page, not the page pointed to by the highlighted URL. > > > > What is the correct way to select a new default browser? > > Hmm, I don't know about the version of gnome in potato, but in sid > (gnome 1.4) you would open gnome control-center. Locate the URL handlers > entry under Document Handlers. For protocols "http" and "https" set > commands to use to < mozilla "%s" > or < galeon "%s" > (without the > arrows). Other things you can do: protocol ftp set to < gftp "%s" >, > mailto to evolution "%s" (this won't work for mozilla mailto: URLs > though, only galeon) if you have those installed. No, at least on my system, this still leaves the same problem--it brings up the correct browser, but opens the default home page, not the highlighted URL.---b.
Re: HD spin down with hdparm : HD always wakes up !!!
> Everything is fine with /dev/hdc (/home), but /dev/hda will > always wake up after a few seconds of sleep ! Try just leaving a tail -f of some of the files in /var/log running in a window on your desktop while you work. This will may be enlightening. One particularly likely culprit: syslogd is started (I think) in /etc/init.d/sysklogd, and by default it logs a timestamp every 20 minutes; start it with the -m0 option to prevent this (see man syslogd). Check for cron jobs, too, of course. ---b.
Re: Sawmill: Adjusting Mouse Sensitivity
On Wed, 29 Aug 2001, Mike Pfleger wrote: > * Hall Stevenson ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) wrote: > > > Adjust it in the Gnome Control Panel or 'gnomecc' application. > > Errr.. I thought the original post was clear that _only_ sawfish/ > sawmill was being used. Or did I misunderstand that? I am pretty > interested in the answer to this, myself. How about xset? (try "man xset" for details).---jbf
Re: Dual-head G450 anyone?
On 8 Jun 2001, Gary Hennigan wrote: > Has anyone got a setup with a dual-head G450 card with two monitors > and, obviously, running Debian (potato or testing?). I'm planning on > getting a new system and now that I've had dual-head on my SGI for a > couple of years, don't think I could live without it! http://www.matrox.com/mga/support/drivers/files/linux_07.cfm Note that the software required is free-as-in-beer-not-as-in-speech, even though the drivers required if you don't need dual-head are free-as-in-speech.---b.
Re: What's up with the list?
On Sat, 19 May 2001, Erik Steffl wrote: > I get them too... probably some mailing list problem... No, we've all just decided to switch to German just to add some interest to a list that was otherwise getting a bit dull. Really, it'll be fun.---Bruce Fields
Re: Mozilla 0.8-Special setup required?
> I dl the 0.8 build, untarred and zipped it to /usr/local/share/mozilla > than ran /usr/local/share/mozilla/mozilla to get it started. I get lot's > of error message and changing themes crahses it cold. They couldn't have > released this as is, so it's me. Not necessarily; last I heard, I don't think they were really even claiming this to be "beta" software yet. Since you say that "changing themese crashes it cold", I assume you mean that it is able to do most other things? I've been using it happily for some time, but then, I don't change themes. > What haven't I done? If you just wanted to get rid of all that annoying debugging messages, you could run it with `/usr/local/share/mozilla/mozilla >/dev/null 2>&1'. I find it's a bit slow (and impossibly slow if you've got less than about 64 Megs of RAM), and there are occasional glitches, but it usually works pretty well for web browsing. --b.
Re: internet connection sharing
On Wed, 24 Jan 2001, David B.Harris wrote: > To quote Omar Shuja Siddiqui <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, > # i have recently installed a network of to Linux boxes. > # one of them is a working dial up machine. i want to > # share the internet connection with the other Linux box > # also. please tell me what is the whole procedure for > # doing this. > There is very good documentation available for this. Check out > http://www.linuxdoc.org . You want the "IP Masquerading HOWTO" or > something like that. It's a fairly involved procedure. I think that apt-get install ipmasq on the dial up machine should do it all for you, assuming your internal network is already set up in some reasonable way. Say "yes" when it asks whether you want to recalculate the firewall rules whenever pppd brings up or takes down a link.---Bruce F.
Re: GDM dont work
On Sat, 13 Jan 2001, ktb wrote: > On Fri, Jan 12, 2001 at 07:07:36PM +0100, Olivier Billet wrote: > > Hi all, > > > > I've the folowing issue : when I loggin under gdm I blinks like it's > > going to launch a window manager, but it dont do anything and then > > goes back to the login prompt. > > > > I tried with different users, so i think it's not related to the > > dotfiles of each user. > > > > Anyone seeing what's wrong ? > > > > Was everything working fine and then you changed some config files > and now it isn't? > kent Or I had this happen recently when I updated helix-gnome and something got screwed up Anyway, you could try something like the following: 1. alt-ctl-F1, to switch to a text console. 2. log in as one of the users you tried logging on as under gdm. 3. more .gnome-errors Perhaps that will give you some idea what's going on.---b.
Re: Can't log in after apt-get upgrade
On Tue, 12 Dec 2000, J. Bruce Fields wrote: > I had the identical systems. Logging in on a text console (alt-ctl-F1, ^^^err, meant to write "symptoms" there. Sorry, I'll proofread more carefully next time) > then log in), and examining the file .gnome-errors in my home directory, I > found that gnome was complaining about not being able to find a certain > shared library file. (Can't remember the name--something with pixbuf in > it somewhere.) I did dpkg -S , it > turned out that file was provided by a package that it claimed was > installed (can't remember the name of the package, either, sorry). But > the file didn't seem to be there. So, I apt-get remove'd that package (in > the process, it ended up removing a large chunk of my gnome installation I > think), then apt-get install'ed task-helix-gnome. All is now well. Don't > ask me---Bruce Fields > > On Tue, 12 Dec 2000, Ross Boylan wrote: > > > I just did an apt-get upgrade, my first in about 10 days. I'm now > > unable to log in (except if I set my GDM session to Debian, which is > > how I got on to send this message). > > > > My system is potato with a little woody to support GNOME. I use Helix > > gnome. After the upgrade the system locked up and started > > beeping--this seems to be standard when updating sawfish. > > Unfortunately, when I restarted I had the problem described above. > > When I enter a user name and password the login screen disappears, and > > the monitor makes a click as if resyncing. The login screen then > > comes back on. > > > > I'd appreciate any advice on where to look for the source of the > > problem. > > > > Thanks. > > > > System info: > > Linux wheat 2.2.17 #1 Sun Jun 25 09:24:41 EST 2000 i586 unknown > > > > Here's the start of the upgrade session, and then my apt.sources: > > > > Script started on Tue Dec 12 01:03:09 2000 > > wheat:/usr/local/rootlog# date > > Tue Dec 12 01:03:11 PST 2000 > > wheat:/usr/local/rootlog# apt-get -qu upgrade > > Reading Package Lists... > > Building Dependency Tree... > > The following packages have been kept back > > gnome-core gnome-help gnome-panel gnome-panel-data gnome-session > > gnome-terminal libgnomeprint11 > > The following packages will be upgraded > > cpp-doc cron dnsutils ed elvis-tiny gcc-doc gnome-bin gnome-control-center > > gnome-dev-doc gnome-faq gnome-help-data gnome-libs-data gs libart-dev > > libart2 libcapplet0 libgdk-pixbuf2 libgnome-dev libgnome32 > > libgnomesupport0 > > libgnomeui32 libgnorba-dev libgnorba27 libgnorbagtk0 libgtkxmhtml1 > > libncurses5 libncurses5-dev liborbit-dev liborbit0 libpanel-applet0 > > libreadlineg2 librep9 libzvt2 modutils ncurses-base ncurses-bin > > ncurses-term > > netscape-base-4 netscape-base-4-libc5 orbit rep rep-gtk rstart rstartd > > sawfish sawfish-gnome sgml-tools ssh ssh-askpass-gnome xbase-clients xext > > xf86setup xfree86-common xfs xlib6 xlib6g xlib6g-dev xmms xnest xproxy > > xprt > > xserver-common xserver-svga xserver-vga16 xsm xterm xvfb > > 67 packages upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 7 not upgraded. > > Need to get 24.9MB of archives. After unpacking 945kB will be used. > > > > > > [Nothing unusual in the rest of the log] > > > > [sources.list] > > deb-src cdrom:[Debian beta #2 bf 2.2.3]/ Debian/dists/potato/main/source/ > > deb cdrom:[Debian beta #2 bf 2.2.3]/ Debian/dists/potato/main/binary-i386/ > > deb cdrom:[Debian beta #2 bf 2.2.3]/ > > Debian/dists/potato/non-free/binary-i386/ > > deb cdrom:[beta Debian 2.2.3]/ Debian/dists/potato/main/binary-i386/ > > deb file:/ms/k/download/debian potato main > > #deb http://http.us.debian.org/debian woody main contrib non-free > > deb http://http.us.debian.org/debian potato main contrib non-free > > deb http://non-us.debian.org/ potato/non-US main non-free contrib > > #deb http://security.debian.org potato updates > > > > # Uncomment if you want the apt-get source function to work > > deb-src http://http.us.debian.org/debian potato main contrib non-free > > deb-src http://non-us.debian.org/ potato/non-US main non-free contrib > > > > #Helix > > deb file:/usr/local/download/Helix woody main > > deb-src file:/usr/local/download/Helix woody main > > deb http://spidermonkey.helixcode.com/distributions/debian unstable main > > deb-src http://spidermonkey.helixcode.com/distributions/debian unstable main > > >
Re: Can't log in after apt-get upgrade
I had the identical systems. Logging in on a text console (alt-ctl-F1, then log in), and examining the file .gnome-errors in my home directory, I found that gnome was complaining about not being able to find a certain shared library file. (Can't remember the name--something with pixbuf in it somewhere.) I did dpkg -S , it turned out that file was provided by a package that it claimed was installed (can't remember the name of the package, either, sorry). But the file didn't seem to be there. So, I apt-get remove'd that package (in the process, it ended up removing a large chunk of my gnome installation I think), then apt-get install'ed task-helix-gnome. All is now well. Don't ask me---Bruce Fields On Tue, 12 Dec 2000, Ross Boylan wrote: > I just did an apt-get upgrade, my first in about 10 days. I'm now > unable to log in (except if I set my GDM session to Debian, which is > how I got on to send this message). > > My system is potato with a little woody to support GNOME. I use Helix > gnome. After the upgrade the system locked up and started > beeping--this seems to be standard when updating sawfish. > Unfortunately, when I restarted I had the problem described above. > When I enter a user name and password the login screen disappears, and > the monitor makes a click as if resyncing. The login screen then > comes back on. > > I'd appreciate any advice on where to look for the source of the > problem. > > Thanks. > > System info: > Linux wheat 2.2.17 #1 Sun Jun 25 09:24:41 EST 2000 i586 unknown > > Here's the start of the upgrade session, and then my apt.sources: > > Script started on Tue Dec 12 01:03:09 2000 > wheat:/usr/local/rootlog# date > Tue Dec 12 01:03:11 PST 2000 > wheat:/usr/local/rootlog# apt-get -qu upgrade > Reading Package Lists... > Building Dependency Tree... > The following packages have been kept back > gnome-core gnome-help gnome-panel gnome-panel-data gnome-session > gnome-terminal libgnomeprint11 > The following packages will be upgraded > cpp-doc cron dnsutils ed elvis-tiny gcc-doc gnome-bin gnome-control-center > gnome-dev-doc gnome-faq gnome-help-data gnome-libs-data gs libart-dev > libart2 libcapplet0 libgdk-pixbuf2 libgnome-dev libgnome32 libgnomesupport0 > libgnomeui32 libgnorba-dev libgnorba27 libgnorbagtk0 libgtkxmhtml1 > libncurses5 libncurses5-dev liborbit-dev liborbit0 libpanel-applet0 > libreadlineg2 librep9 libzvt2 modutils ncurses-base ncurses-bin ncurses-term > netscape-base-4 netscape-base-4-libc5 orbit rep rep-gtk rstart rstartd > sawfish sawfish-gnome sgml-tools ssh ssh-askpass-gnome xbase-clients xext > xf86setup xfree86-common xfs xlib6 xlib6g xlib6g-dev xmms xnest xproxy xprt > xserver-common xserver-svga xserver-vga16 xsm xterm xvfb > 67 packages upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 7 not upgraded. > Need to get 24.9MB of archives. After unpacking 945kB will be used. > > > [Nothing unusual in the rest of the log] > > [sources.list] > deb-src cdrom:[Debian beta #2 bf 2.2.3]/ Debian/dists/potato/main/source/ > deb cdrom:[Debian beta #2 bf 2.2.3]/ Debian/dists/potato/main/binary-i386/ > deb cdrom:[Debian beta #2 bf 2.2.3]/ Debian/dists/potato/non-free/binary-i386/ > deb cdrom:[beta Debian 2.2.3]/ Debian/dists/potato/main/binary-i386/ > deb file:/ms/k/download/debian potato main > #deb http://http.us.debian.org/debian woody main contrib non-free > deb http://http.us.debian.org/debian potato main contrib non-free > deb http://non-us.debian.org/ potato/non-US main non-free contrib > #deb http://security.debian.org potato updates > > # Uncomment if you want the apt-get source function to work > deb-src http://http.us.debian.org/debian potato main contrib non-free > deb-src http://non-us.debian.org/ potato/non-US main non-free contrib > > #Helix > deb file:/usr/local/download/Helix woody main > deb-src file:/usr/local/download/Helix woody main > deb http://spidermonkey.helixcode.com/distributions/debian unstable main > deb-src http://spidermonkey.helixcode.com/distributions/debian unstable main >
Re: [OT] Navigator 4.75 hangs, any patches?
On 3 Dec 2000, Krzys Majewski wrote: > Gr. Navigator 4.75 hangs on some pages, eating all the CPU, and making > all open netscape windows unuseable. This is on an i686, mostly > potato. Any patches/workarounds for this sort of problem? -chris Hm, I have problems with netscape misbehaving, but it's not so particular--there aren't particular pages I know of that are guaranteed to make it hang. Mainly I've noticed that it has memory leaks. What works for me is I keep a memory monitor going (I run gnome, and have the memory/swap load monitors on the panel), and keep an eye out for creeping memory use. When I notice the memory use creeping up as I browse, I'll kill netscape and restart it before it puts Linux into full-time swapping hell. Turning off javascript and java might help too. Netscape can be a pain that way, though. Its the one program on my system that hangs fairly regularly. I feel your pain--Bruce Fields
Re: Laptops for Debian GNU/Linux?
On Sun, 3 Dec 2000, Nate Amsden wrote: > I would say > > Avoid toshiba This isn't quite fair to Mr. Amsden, who it seems has a lot of experience with linux on laptops, but--please be careful with statements that lump together all laptops of a certain brand. Experiences with a few representatives of a brand are not sufficient to generalize. If you look through Mr. Harker's linux-laptops page, you'll find some happy Toshiba users as well as some less happy ones, and the same is true across all brands. I'm guessing that only a very small percentage of laptop buyers are expecting to make significant use of GNU/Linux, and even fewer are planning to use exclusively GNU/Linux. As a result, no-one thinks too hard about, say, replacing a perfectly good hardware modem in one model with a winmodem in the next (otherwise extremely similar) model. So you just have to research individual models, unless you can find someone who will sell your OS of choice pre-installed. I'm quite happy with my Sony 505tr, but it's over a year old now (and it's discontinued), and from what I've heard the newer Sony 505's aren't as good for Linux. But, again, it may well depend on the particular model. Research, research, research --Bruce F.
Re: simple network card setup (netgear 10/100 tulip)
On Thu, 23 Nov 2000, Jeff Davis wrote: > "J. Bruce Fields" wrote: > > I'm using the newest "tulip" driver with a netgear (a FA310TX--the model > > number matters a lot, which is yours?), and it works fine. See > > http://www.scyld.com/network/tulip.html, and note that you actually have > > to download 3 different files and compile them seperately from the > > kernel.---jbf > > I go those files and comiled them seperately from the kernel. I got > kern_compat.h, pci-scan.c, tulip.c, pci-scan.h (actually that is four, I > assumed those were the right files). > . > and it says something about a 10mbps (it is an FA311 10/100) Yowza! Watch out for those model numbers, and don't assume two cards with similar names are really related. Apparently the FA311 does not use the tulip driver. Try a google search on FA311 and linux. It looks like some people have complaints about it, but if you plow through the hits you'll find some folks that say they've gotten it working. Best of luck---jbf
Re: simple network card setup (netgear 10/100 tulip)
On Wed, 22 Nov 2000, Cliff Rice wrote: > On Wed, Nov 22, 2000 at 07:43:34AM -0800, Jeff Davis wrote: > > I have a Netgear 10/100 card. I am sure it works, and I have used the > > same type of card with other distros. In it's "linux.txt" it describes > > an object file called "tulip.o", which I assume to be the same as in the > > Debian distro (I am using 2.2). I tried first to do "modprobe tulip" and > > I get an error from insmod (I think modprobe is just a higher-level > > version of insmod, but I am not sure of this. I tried both) like "device > > or resource busy" and then something about how I might try changing the > > parameters. > > Hi Jeff, I also use netgear cards. You may want to try "old_tulip" > instead. Here is the "Ethernet" section of my kernel config file: > (This is a custom kernel from www.kernel.org so YMMV on some options...) > I also chose to compile it in the kernal, btw. Oh yeah, kernel is > 2.2.17. I'm using the newest "tulip" driver with a netgear (a FA310TX--the model number matters a lot, which is yours?), and it works fine. See http://www.scyld.com/network/tulip.html, and note that you actually have to download 3 different files and compile them seperately from the kernel.---jbf
Re: wvdial
> Bruce F. writes: > > It seems to forget to set the permissions back maybe about a third of the > > time. > > Just with wvdial or with pon as well? I believe it happens with both. pon/poff continue to work, regardless. > What version of ppp? There was a > bug that did this, but I don't remember what version it was fixed in. $ pppd --version pppd version 2.3.11 --Bruce Fields
Re: wvdial
On 16 Nov 2000, John Hasler wrote: > Bruce F. writes: > > However, I've found that pppd, for some reason, occasionally changes the > > permissions of the modem device to crw-r,... > > It always does that, for security. If it exits normally it changes the > permissions back. It seems to forget to set the permissions back maybe about a third of the time. I don't believe that's because it's not exiting normally, though maybe I'm missing something. I assumed it was a bug. > > So I've switched to using pon and poff, and I've since had no problems. > > Just run "pppconfig" as route, and forget about wvdial, and you'll be > > happy. > > With pon and poff there is no need for the user to be in the dialout group. > He does have to be in the dip group, but you can set that in pppconfig. Oops, right, forgot to mention dip, thanks.---Bruce F.
Re: wvdial
On Thu, 16 Nov 2000, Marcelo Chiapparini wrote: > I am running a fresh debian machine as a single user. When I try to > connect to my ISP through wvdial or pon from my personal account I get a > message complaining that I have no privilege to do the operation, I should > be root to do it. I don't want to log as root each time I need the > connection. How should I define the right privileges in order to run > wvdial or pon from my personal account? You need to have permissions to read and write the modem device (ttyS0, ttyS1, or whatever). If you check, $ ls -l /dev/ttyS* crw-rw1 root dialout4, 64 Nov 12 20:41 /dev/ttyS0 crw-rw1 root dialout4, 65 Oct 15 12:42 /dev/ttyS1 crw-rw1 root dialout4, 66 Jul 5 13:44 /dev/ttyS2 crw-rw1 root dialout4, 67 Jul 5 13:44 /dev/ttyS3 you see that adding yourself to the "dialout" group does the job; so, issue the command # adduser myusername dialout and you should be OK (although some say it's a questionable security practice to give a regular user these kind of permissions). However, I've found that pppd, for some reason, occasionally changes the permissions of the modem device to crw-r, and every time that happens you have to su to root and chmod g+w /dev/ttyS0, which gets tiresome. So I've switched to using pon and poff, and I've since had no problems. Just run "pppconfig" as route, and forget about wvdial, and you'll be happy.---Bruce F.
Re: Mozilla M18 on potato (pentium100)
On Thu, 2 Nov 2000, Pap Tibor wrote: > On Thu, 2 Nov 2000, Kristian Rink wrote: > > In this case I recommend downloading the standard Mozilla build directly > > from > > > > http://www.mozilla.org/projects/seamonkey/release-notes/ > > > > where You will find several packages for Linux-x86 as generic Linux binaries > > On that page I've found Linux-i686 binaries only! This is the case, or > I've missed something? I suppose so that i686 binary won't run on simple > old pentium. I've run those "i686" binaries on a P150 and they work. They're much too slow to be usable, though that may be the fault of the memory (32 megs) and not the processor--Mozilla seemed to be spending a lot of time swapping the one time I tried it. On my other machine, a 300mmx with 64 megs, I find M18 is actually usable.---Bruce F.
Re: Wanted: Advice on Video Cards
I recently got myself a used Matrox Millenium (there are several---I got the one with the 220MHz RAMDAC and 4Megs WRAM), and am very happy with it. The online manual is available at http://www.matrox.com/mga/support/user_manuals/older/home.cfm if you want to check out the specs. It's an old card, but it seems able to handle plenty of bandwidth (e.g., I'm doing [EMAIL PROTECTED] without any trouble), and Xfree86 supports it well. (According to the 3.3.6 documentation at http://www.xfree86.org/3.3.6/MGA.html, "This server is very well accelerated, and is one of the fastest XFree86 X servers.") I assume it'd be pretty lame for 3D graphics and games, not that I'd know, but for text editing and such it's great. I paid something like $35 at a local shop, but I've seen them on ebay for around $10.---jbf On Tue, 17 Oct 2000, Chris Gray wrote: > On my home box I run Windows 98 for games and Debian(Woody) for serious > (non-graphics-intensive) work. I want to upgrade my video card. I'm more > interested in something that will be straightforward to install on both > platforms and will give respectable performance for a while to come. I want > to avoid the situation I'm in now. I have a cheap S3 Savage4 based AGP card > for which there is no X server in the Debian packages. I can get X servers > elsewhere but on exit they crash my system. > > At the moment I'm leaning toward an ATI Fury. I'd be grateful for any > advice, opinions, or caveats. > > AdTHANKSvance > Chris >
xpdf "Couldn't open temporary file"
Every time I run xpdf, I get messages of the form Error (21103): Couldn't open temporary file '' on stderr, and xpdf just shows me a blank page. It does allow me to change pages (using the right-arrow/left-arrow buttons at the bottom), but I get a new error and another blank page each time I do so. I've tried this on a number of different pdf files, all of which are read without any trouble by gv. Any ideas? --jbf
