Benvolgut uelo,

90 anys hui des de que vas nàixer… caram   Hui celebre el teu 90 aniversari amb un constipat de campionat. Jo que estava tan contenta de no haver-me posat malalta en quasibé dos anys!! ZoltarStark diu que és per culpa de l’estrés. Tinc molta faena darrerament. Com li vaig comentar a una molt benvolguda amiga fa uns mesos: treballe com una burra però gaudesc com una enana… seré un poni? He he he… jo no sé si serà que tinc calentura però encara em fa gràcia la frase a mi mateix. Tornant al treball un moment, estava pensant que t’hauria agradat rebre una postal meua de cada lloc on visite. És clar que a Mamela també… I ja posats, segur que reb hui un email de la meua germaneta dient-me quelcom com: “dona! per enviar postals, envia-li-les als teus germans a qui també els faria il·lusió!” I tot seguit ma mare dirà: “i  a mi! i a mi!” La veritat és que podria… però seria un esforç donat que els viatgets que faig últimament són curtíssims… Dit això als aeroports acostumen a vendre postals i segells… Res, que no tinc excusa… Serà aquesta la resolució “d’aniversari-uelo” d’enguany?

Al barri on visc a Brussel·les (ja veus, al maig faré dos anys a Brussel·les i encara no m’he cansat. És clar, que mai he estat més de 4 setmanes seguides ací ) cada mes reparteixen un full que fa el paper de diari parroquial/del barri. No t’agradaria saber el que realment pense d’ell, donat que vas passar de “republicà” de jove a catòlic “seriós” que no volia que els seus nets ateus s’apuntaren al teu pas (el de la Flagelació) i  que pensava que en realitat Franco era socialista (”socialiste” deies)… Mai vaig acabar d’entendre el teu raonament… El cas és que el diari aquest conté poesies i petites històries escrites per persones del barri i sempre em recorden a tu. És curiós com no canviem massa: el meu germà i jo acabem de publicar un article a una revista aragonesa i el primer que vam fer és enviar-lo a tota la família. I tu, cada cop que publicaves alguna cosa al diari de la Llar, ens feies una fotocòpia per tots els fills i nets.

El cas és que estem bé uelo. Alguns dels teus fills, nets i netes  han tingut algun entrebanc que un altre, però es pot dir que estem tots bé com sabràs. Tots t’enviem un petó ben fort pel teu aniversari, uelo.

Amb molta estima,

La teua néta, qui et troba a faltar cada dia.

Related post(s)

• 89 anys en faries hui (1)
• feliç aniversari uelo (7)

The Eurostar test to establish your breaking point, part 2

I took the train to Ebbsfleet International, as advised, at 5:25AM. Upon arrival, I endure what I will later learn to call a very very very short queue.

With only one train stopping at Ebbsfleet destined for Brussels (just after 1PM), I am advised to go to London St. Pancras to attempt boarding an earlier train. I explain I do not mind the wait, but I am further encouraged to travel to London when a train ticket is provided free of charge.

They make me rush to the platform only to have that train delayed and I am sent to yet another platform.

Shortly after 7AM I arrive to, quite possibly, the busiest train station I have ever seen and proceed to a ridiculously long queue in order to get a new ticket. It takes me half an hour to establish that my current queue, even though parallel to many others, is actually going nowhere. Proceed to change queues.

Now, the real test: four hours in the queue, surrounded by people from all nationalities, whose temper gets worse by the second, and no Eurostar employees to be seen. How are we managing to create a working queue system I will never know. I fear for my toes and fingers which are learning the meaning of frostbite, my bladder has definitely seen better days (the wonders of travelling on your own – no bathroom breaks whilst queueing) and, yet, I should be thankful I am not at the end of the line which has by now extended to the adjacent street outside the station.

Shortly after, the queue system breaks down and it takes the police a good while to restore a resemblance of order. Do you not love the people that complain for half an hour of individuals that jump a queue, proceed to jump the queue themselves, and continue to rant about such individuals for a further hour and a half?

Eurostar employees do not even have the common sense to divide passengers by destinations (France vs. Belgium) and outsiders start taking pictures (and even videos!) as if we were part of Edinburgh zoo’s penguin parade.

I eventually reach the ticket office and I am given a ticket for the train I would have boarded anyway, had I stayed in Ebbsfleet International. Exhaustion stops me from punching the lady placing the pretty sticker on my ticket. However, I do not leave her side without a grunt and a huff. I have a two-hour wait ahead of me.

In X-rays they are rude and pushy. I rush to passport check (highlight of the day so far: the guy at passport control has a stunning smile) and make my way to the toilets where, since I have not had enough, I get to queue a few more minutes.

Then I realise how light I feel. But it has nothing to do with my now empty bladder: I have forgotten my backpack at X-rays. I run there, where a security guard approaches me and asks sweetly if I am okay. My brain thinks “where should I begin?” but all that comes out of my mouth is: bag, mine. He nods, still smiling and I can feel all the blood in my face. I gather my belongings and proceed to a second round of passport control (I’ll take your number now…) and find a place on the floor of the station to sit.

Little by little the blood leaves my face and my hands stop shaking. As I start writing these words, I can see thousands of people waiting to board a Eurostar train. Different moods. Different nationalities. Different colours in their ticket’s stickers.

I am now finishing this text on the train. I am finally on my way to Brussels and, as I expected, I am already forgetting how much I have detested today. How frustrated I have felt. How much I would have liked to punch or yell at someone. It really was not that bad. I can feel my toes again. I will be at my sister’s in just over an hour.

I win, Eurostar. You did not break me.

A.Nurboe 1, Eurostar 0. Thanks for the story A.Nurboe and hope your next trip with Eurostar goes better! What? You are swimming next time? Oh dear…

Related post(s)

• The Eurostar test to establish your breaking point, part 1 (Guest blog) (0)
• April Fools’ Day (Guest post) (0)
• A Waterstone’s kindness (Guest post) (1)

The Eurostar test to establish your breaking point, part 1

Most of you will have heard of the recent chaos, compliments of the weather and/or Eurostar (who you choose to blame is completely up to you – the pretty Christamsy snow that welcomed the start of your holidays, or the train company unable to forsee and handle a crisis).

CEO Richard Brown has already apologised publicly for how things went down in the weekend before Christmas, where thousands of people were stranded in the tunnel connecting London with Paris and Brussels. Some passengers spent over half a day in the cold tunnel with no food or drink and uninformed of the actual situation. Several thousands were left in complete uncertainty in train stations, both waiting to board and waiting for loved ones to reach their destination.

Two days of disruption ensued and finally, on Tuesday 22nd, a system was put in place. There were some kinks in the plan but, all in all, it seemed fairly feasible.

I was one of the “lucky” ones to have a booked ticket for the week following the service interruptions, from Ashford International to Brussels Midi.

Now, it is important to state the outstanding ability I have for denial. I choose to believe things will work, I choose to believe that people will be logical and unattached during a crisis, I believe that chaos is not chaos at all, but a cumulus of forces acting under a distribution which I simply have not recognised.

This means that when they told me to come on Thursday for my Wednesday train journey, I accepted it. I even decided that, given the two days of practice under the revised timetable, things would run smoothly when my turn came.

Alas, nowhere in any of Eurostar’s websites was Ashford International mentioned. Most pieces of information referred to London St. Pancras and Paris. I phoned customer care and (after a few hours of unsuccessful dialing) I was told that it would be best to travel to Ebbsfleet International and board the Eurostar from there. Just as well since, as it turned out, no trains were to stop at Ashford International in its way to Brussels on this particular Wednesday at all.

In the early evening of Tuesday it was reported that the new system was woking so well, they were nearly finished with the backlog and were boarding people from future days. I called the call centre a second time to enquire if I should attempt boarding on the Wednesday after all. Not surprisingly, the phone agents’ guess was as good as mine. In accordance to my optimism, I opted to abandon plans of travelling on the Wednesday to give Eurostar an extra day to gather their bearings.

That same evening, Eurostar invited all remaining passengers to travel on Wednesday. Proceed to pack suitcase and set alarm clock bright and early.

I strongly believe Eurostar was merely testing its new customer relationship management programme by pushing its customers to breaking point. If this is not the case, I cannot comprehend how such an established company could arrange things so poorly, and I am willing to assign a zoo monkey the CEO position, for surely he could not have done the job worse.

Follow-up A.Nurboe’s adventures with Eurostar in part 2.

Related post(s)

• The Eurostar test to establish your breaking point, part 2 (Guest blog) (0)
• April Fools’ Day (Guest post) (0)
• A Waterstone’s kindness (Guest post) (1)

Unfortunately that’s nothing compared to the torture you’re going to endure for the next two hours. And all because you got duped by a well done trailer which had maybe 10% resemblance with the actual film. Yes, you do see the freaks, and yes there are vampires. Plus ‘vampaneze’. Yes, when I heard it I also went like WTF?! vampaneze as in ‘chimpanzee vampire’? Unless of course they meant ‘japanese vampires’. Because that would be like awesome, and super cool, dude. Not! Come on, when you come up with names like that you should be sent to re-education camp or something, before you spread your bullshit around. There is also some background story, which you get to hear bits and pieces. Kind of standard “destiny” thing. The pieces you get to know sound very cliché and don’t make much sense. Characters are not well developed. Beside being freaks they don’t have much else going on for them. They’re not beliveable nor noticeable. Which I guess is good since you definitely don’t want to remember this performance. Or maybe you do, in case they release a second part of this crap.

Related post(s)

• Serendipity, Oliver Twist and a nice soundtrack (3)

Here’s the new design for those of you who don’t have the new version yet (specially Linux users, as myself… Oh I just realized the Skype version I have in this laptop at home running Linux is Skype 2.0).

For the record:

• 24/06/2009 => 3 votes for Skype 2.0, one for Skype 4.0. New version not looking very good…

Related post(s)

• Too much success and popularity? (0)
• I can’t stop smiling… we got an Asus Eee PC! (2)
• Automatic backup of Windows computers using Linux (3)
• Setting up UPS on CentOS 5.2 with SELinux, part 2 (0)
• Setting up UPS on CentOS 5.2 with SELinux, part 1 (0)

I decided to upload the file with the File Manager which is accessible from Hostgator’s cpanel. When doing it, I discovered that various folders which belong to olivetalks’s WordPress installation can be easily seen in web browser by editing the URL in the address bar. For example, olivetalks.com/wp-content/uploads/ or olivetalks.com/wp-includes/

Currently these links are already fixed but here’s an image of how this was before:

Check your own WordPress blog, it’s possible that you will encounter the same issue even if your WordPress installation is not hosted with Hostgator.

Now that I got your attention, here’s a short description of how to fix this problem. In the main folder of your WordPress installation (the one which contains three folders wp-admin, wp-content and wp-includes) find file called .htaccess (dot at the beginning of the name is important). If the file is not there create it (and set the permissions to 0644). In any case edit the file and add this line:

Options -Indexes

This line will tell Apache (the most popular web server) not to show listings of directories. The configuration applies to the folder where the .htaccess file is located and recursively to all its sub-folders.

After updating .htaccess file – if you try any of the problematic folders you’ll see that their content cannot be seen any more:

Now it’s all right

Related post(s)

• Inodes 28 weeks later… (2)
• Is your colleague spying on you? (0)
• The 5 stages of bloggers (3)
• Blogging strategies: length, frequency and topics (3)
• The return of the inodes – tell me your package and I’ll tell you your inodes (6)

In my case the victim was the battery. First its capacity got drastically reduced to about 30% of the original capacity and then it completely refused to work. Good that batteries can be replaced

All this sounds pretty bad. Fortunately there is an easy way to prevent this problem.

Fedora 9 includes a tool called cpuspeed which can react to increasing system temperature and throttle down the CPU. cpuspeed is included in the default installation but it needs to be configured before it can prevent thermal damage to the laptop. The configuration is quite simple:

1. Download cpuspeed configuration file and save it as /etc/sysconfig/cpuspeed.
2. Adjust the saved file to match your system – especially options MAX_SPEED and MIN_SPEED.
3. Make sure cpuspeed daemon is configured to start automatically when system boots: /sbin/chkconfig cpuspeed on
4. Restart cpuspeed daemon: service cpuspeed restart

That’s it – I’ve been running my laptop with this configuration for a few months already and the CPU gets throttled down whenever the system gets hot.

Related post(s)

• Native resolution with Fujitsu Siemens Scaleoview L22W-7SD (0)
• What files did I change? (2)

It turns out the OS needs some help before it will automatically use the native mode. The modifications are limited to xorg.conf file.

First make sure DDC is NOT disabled in xorg.conf (/etc/X11/xorg.conf); this would be indicated by the line:

        Option      "DDC" "false"


make sure the above line is NOT present or comment it out.

Then add this section:

Section "Monitor"
        Identifier     "FUS L22W-7SD"
        Option         "DPMS" "true"
        Option         "PreferredMode" "1680x1050"
        Option         "RightOf" "LVDS"
EndSection


Finally look in the file for:

Section "Screen"


and within add this line:

        Option "monitor-VGA" "FUS L22W-7SD"


After that restart X server (in Fedora 9 it’s enough to logout).
Now you can enjoy the 1680×1050 resolution!

Related post(s)

• Stop your laptop from succumbing to thermal death (2)
• What files did I change? (2)

Related post(s)

• How to backup / download more than one Google doc at a time (part 3) (0)
• How to backup / download more than one Google doc at a time (part 2) (0)
• How to backup / download more than one Google doc at a time (part 1) (0)

Step one: Define the policy module

To define the policy module for nut CGI create a text file nutcgi.te with the following content:

module nutcgi 1.0.8;

require {
type unlabeled_t;
type xend_var_log_t;
type httpd_sys_script_exec_t;
type default_t;
type procmail_t;
type ping_t;
type httpd_t;
type httpd_sys_script_t;
type port_t;
class tcp_socket { write name_connect connect shutdown read create };
class lnk_file { read getattr };
class file append;
class dir search;
class packet { recv send };
}

#============= httpd_sys_script_t ==============
# src="httpd_sys_script_t" tgt="port_t" class="tcp_socket", perms="name_connect"
# comm="upsstats.cgi" exe="" path=""
allow httpd_sys_script_t port_t:tcp_socket name_connect;
# src="httpd_sys_script_t" tgt="httpd_sys_script_t" class="tcp_socket", perms="{ write read create connect shutdown }"
# comm="upsstats.cgi" exe="" path=""
allow httpd_sys_script_t self:tcp_socket { write read create connect shutdown };
# src="httpd_sys_script_t" tgt="unlabeled_t" class="packet", perms="{ recv send }"
# comm="upsstats.cgi" exe="" path=""
allow httpd_sys_script_t unlabeled_t:packet { recv send };

#============= httpd_t ==============
# src="httpd_t" tgt="httpd_sys_script_exec_t" class="lnk_file", perms="{ read getattr }"
# comm="httpd" exe="" path=""
allow httpd_t httpd_sys_script_exec_t:lnk_file { read getattr };

Save the file somewhere.

Step two : Compile the policy module

Execute the command:

checkmodule -M -m nutcgi.te -o nutcgi.mod

This will generate a binary file representing the policy module.

Step three: Create a SELinux policy module package

Execute the command:

semodule_package -o nutcgi.pp -m nutcgi.mod

This will create a SELinux policy module package which can then be installed.

Step four: Install the SELinux policy module package

Execute the command:

semodule -i nutcgi.pp

Now the policy module is installed. You can refresh the web page with UPS status in your web browser http://localhost/cgi-bin/upsstats.cgi

You can also verify that access to this web page from other machines works as intended. SELinux policy module installation is persistent – you don’t have to do it again if the system reboots.

Related post(s)

• Setting up UPS on CentOS 5.2 with SELinux, part 1 (0)
• Skype 4.0 for Windows is out: Pros and cons (compared with Linux Skype 2.0) (0)
• Eee PC 901 – aka Big Eee (0)
• What files did I change? (2)
• Too much success and popularity? (0)

Let’s start with the installation.

First things first – make sure the UPS is running and connected to the computer. Both power and a serial cable of some kind should be connected. The serial connection can be either via RS-232 or USB.

To install the software execute the following command:

# yum install nut nut-client nut-cgi

or if you’re running a 64 bit OS and don’t want 32-bit packages to be installed:

# yum install nut nut-client.x86_64 nut-cgi

Next step: Basic configuration

After the software is installed we need to configure it. Fire up your favourite text editor and open these files:

• /etc/ups/ups.conf
• /etc/ups/upsd.users
• /etc/ups/upsmon.conf
• /etc/ups/hosts.conf (only if you have installed nut-cgi)

In /etc/ups/ups.conf add at the end the following section:

user = nut            # execute the UPS driver as user nut - otherwise the upsd program won't be able to connect to the device

[pw3105]              # name of the UPS device
driver = bcmxcp_usb   # driver used to access the UPS device
port = auto           # serial port where the UPS is connected, bcmxcp_usb driver allows to enter 'auto' here
shutdown_delay = 0    # additional parameter supported by bcmxcp_usb driver, see 'man bcmxcp_usb'

The comments explain what is the purpose of each line. More details can be found in man page for ups.conf. The actual name of the UPS device and parameters for it depend on the UPS model you’re using. I have Powerware 3105 UPS which uses the bcmxcp_usb driver.

Second file to edit is /etc/ups/upsd.users where you should append these lines:

[server]                   # create a user 'server'
password = ups             # with password 'ups'
allowfrom = localhost      # allowing access only from this machine
instcmds = ALL             # user can execute all instant commands
upsmon master              # add actions necessary for a 'upsmon' process to work

Again the purpose of each line is explained in the comments. More information as usual in man page for upsd.users.

If you use different values in /etc/ups/upsd.users you have to make sure that you’ll use the same values also in the next file we’re going to edit, which is /etc/ups/upsmon.conf. Here add these lines at the end:

FINALDELAY 0                                     # don't wait before shutting down, allowed values depend on the UPS model
RUN_AS_USER nut                                  # don't run as root to avoid security issues
MONITOR pw3105@localhost 1 server ups master     # which UPS to monitor

The last line requires a bit of explanation:

• pw3105@localhost is the identifier of the UPS we want to monitor. pw3105 is the same name we have used before in /etc/ups/ups.conf so make sure it matches. @localhost indicates that we’re monitoring a UPS connected directly to the machine on which upsmon program is running. upsmon can also monitor UPSes connected to other machines on the network.
• 1 indicates that this particular UPS feeds 1 power supply on this system. That’s the usual value for this parameter.
• server and ups are the user name and password we have defined previously in /etc/ups/upsd.users
• master indicates relationship with upsd daemon and again must match what is defined in /etc/ups/upsd.users

More explanations can be found in man page for upsmon.conf.

After these modifications verify the permissions and ownership of the configuration files matches this:

# ll /etc/ups/ups.conf /etc/ups/upsd.users /etc/ups/upsmon.conf
-rw-r----- 1 root nut 3735 Jan 22 00:33 /etc/ups/ups.conf
-rw-r----- 1 root nut 2307 Jan 22 00:08 /etc/ups/upsd.users
-rw-r----- 1 root nut 11194 Jan 22 00:09 /etc/ups/upsmon.conf

and then you can start the software:

# service ups start

You should see this output:

Starting UPS driver controller: [ OK ]
Starting upsd: [ OK ]
Starting UPS monitor (master): [ OK ]

And make sure that UPS software will start automatically after system reboots:

# chkconfig nut on

Verify that the UPS is accessible by executing:

# upsc pw3105@localhost

which should print something like this:

driver.name: bcmxcp_usb
driver.parameter.pollinterval: 2
driver.parameter.port: auto
driver.parameter.shutdown_delay: 0
driver.version: 2.2.0-
driver.version.internal: 0.11
output.phases: 1
ups.alarm:
ups.firmware: Cont:00.80 Inve:00.60
ups.model: POWERWARE UPS 500VA
ups.power.nominal: 500
ups.serial:
ups.status: OL
ups.voltage.nominal: 230

The actual values depend on the UPS model.

At this point the system is configured to automatically shut down when the UPS will indicate that the battery is low on power. You should test this scenario on your system to make sure that it will work when you really need it.

Last step: Configure web access to upsmon

The last step is to configure monitoring of UPS status via a web browser. We have already installed nut-cgi package which contains the necessary CGI scripts. This package includes a file /var/www/nut-cgi-bin/upsstats.cgi which you should copy to /var/www/cgi-bin/ directory:

# cp /var/www/nut-cgi-bin/upsstats.cgi /var/www/cgi-bin/

After that modify file /etc/ups/hosts.conf by appending this line:

MONITOR pw3105@localhost "Local UPS"

As before pw3105@localhost is the name of UPS to monitor. “Local UPS” defines the name which will appear in the web page.

Now start your web server if it’s not running yet and (optionally) configure the firewall to allow access to port 80 from other machines.

You can now check status of the UPS via a web browser by typing the following in the address bar http://localhost/cgi-bin/upsstats.cgi

Unfortunately if you’re running with SELinux enabled then you won’t see much:

The reason for this is a missing SELinux policy module. Because of that you’ll see errors in /var/log/audit/audit.log and the web page won’t provide any useful information. How to install the missing SELinux policy module? This will be described in the follow up post coming soon.

Related post(s)

• Setting up UPS on CentOS 5.2 with SELinux, part 2 (0)
• Skype 4.0 for Windows is out: Pros and cons (compared with Linux Skype 2.0) (0)
• Eee PC 901 – aka Big Eee (0)
• What files did I change? (2)
• Too much success and popularity? (0)

I wanted my netbook to come with an English keyboard layout. The netbook of course had to run Linux It turns out the models with the English keyboard layout are a bit difficult to find in Germany. One can order a “custom” version but that delays the order by a few weeks.

Not satisfied with these extra delays I decided to expand my search and to look for distributors in UK and Ireland which would ship to Germany. After a bit of googling I found Laptops Direct website which had exactly what I was looking for (Here’s the link for those who prefer prices in pounds.) They ship anywhere within the Europe without charging you ridiculous postage charges. I ordered Eee PC 901 on their website and after a few days got it delivered.

As usual with other Eee models my netbook was ready to run straight out of the box with lots of programs already installed. Eee PC 901 comes with a bit newer version of the operating system and a different set of applications. Not much different from the 4G model so you can find the usual set of:

• web browser – Firefox
• VoIP software – Skype
• instant messaging client – Pidgin
• PDF reader – Adobe Acrobat Reader 7.0
• email client – Thunderbird
• office suite – Star Office 8 (based on OpenOffice.org)
• multimedia programs
• games
• other utilities

If you want to add more programs the easiest way to do it is use the “Eee Download” link which takes you to Asus website where you can find additional applications which have been prepackaged so they can be very easily installed on your Eee 901. At the moment there is over 3000 programs to choose from!

The hardware features of Eee PC 901 are:

• Intel Atom 1.6 GHz CPU
  
• 1 GB RAM
• 20 GB Solid State Drive
• 8.9′ TFT with resolution 1024 x 600
• Bluetooth
• 1.3 Megapixel webcam
• 1.1 kg weight
  

As you can see the improvements from Eee PC 4G are mainly faster CPU, more RAM, more storage and bigger screen. In the normal operation you’re going to notice primarily the bigger screen – about 60% increase of the screen area than Eee PC 4G. The dimensions of the netbook are exactly the same as for Eee PC 4G, increased screen size is possible because 4G had quite a wide frame around the screen which has been significantly reduced in the 901 model.

The slightly bigger weight is a bit of disadvantage although at 1.1 kg Eee PC 901 is still very light and easy to carry.

After using Eee PC 901for a few months I must say that I get less use of it than originally expected. At home and in the office I already have other computers with full size keyboards I can use and when I travel I usually take a laptop with me anyway. That means I don’t really make use of the high portability which is the main advantage of netbooks. Big Eee gets used mostly when I want to check something quickly online (my other PCs can’t beat the 15 seconds boot time) or when I need to take a computer to sofa but that’s about it. I guess I need to travel more to get more use out of a netbook…

Related post(s)

• I can’t stop smiling… we got an Asus Eee PC! (2)
• Skype 4.0 for Windows is out: Pros and cons (compared with Linux Skype 2.0) (0)
• Setting up UPS on CentOS 5.2 with SELinux, part 2 (0)
• Setting up UPS on CentOS 5.2 with SELinux, part 1 (0)
• Too much success and popularity? (0)

What I used to do was to keep a copy of all the relevant files as they were in the previous version and then modify the new installation accordingly. This solution was working for me but I was never sure whether the new configuration was exactly the same and if I hadn’t missed any settings in one of the configuration files.

A few days ago I found a better way to monitor the configuration files for changes. As long as you install all the software as RPMs (which makes sense anyway since it’s easier to deploy the same package on multiple machines or deal with reinstallation) you can use the rpm verification capability which is built into the rpm command.

The way this works is quite simple. For example, I want to know if I changed my firewall settings. Since the firewall I’m using is installed as part of the iptables RPM I need to execute (as root):

# rpm -V iptables

which produces the following output:

SM5....T c /etc/sysconfig/iptables-config

This means that since the RPM was installed the file /etc/sysconfig/iptables-config has changed. Specifically the output indicates that the following has changed:

• size of the file (S),
• permissions (M),
• MD5 checksum (5),
• modification time (T).

The properties which did not change are:

• device major/minor numbers (1st dot), if it did change we would see D
• path to which a symbolic link points to (2nd dot), if it did change we would see L
• user ownership (3rd dot), if it did change we would see U
• group ownership (4th dot), if it did change we would see G

Now I know that only this file from iptables RPM was modified.

If I want to look for all the changes in /etc folder I would execute:

# rpm -Va | grep "\/etc\/"

which produces quite a long output so I won’t list it here. Instead of writing “rpm -V” one can also use “rpmverify”.

RPM verification has a few more uses than just checking for changes you did to your own system. It can also be used to monitor your system for unauthorized changes.

This post was written based on information I have found on Novell website, rpm.org and man page for rpm command.

Related post(s)

• Xen p2v conversion in seven simple steps (0)
• Stop your laptop from succumbing to thermal death (2)
• Native resolution with Fujitsu Siemens Scaleoview L22W-7SD (0)
• Setting up UPS on CentOS 5.2 with SELinux, part 2 (0)
• Setting up UPS on CentOS 5.2 with SELinux, part 1 (0)

Random unrelated posts

• Setting up UPS on CentOS 5.2 with SELinux, part 1 (0)
• Silence affects everyone in the end… (1)
• After a French decade (0)
• NoNo post – Where did you go? (1)
• “Rio Laser Hair Remover” does it work? update 2 (9)

Qualsevol iniciativa o projecte per impulsar l’ús i/o coneixement del català té d’entrada la meua aprovació i normalment m’hi sume ràpidament.

Aquest cop, però, unes quantes coses m’han fet pensar-m’ho dues vegades. El col·lectiu Català Sempre, amb la seua campanya de “Petició d’adreces” m’ha semblat molt poc encertada. De fet, tan poc encertada, que no m’hi he pogut estar de criticar-la obertament. Els que em coneixen personalment saben que perquè jo critique alguna iniciativa catalana, ja pot haver-me tocat la moral.

La raó principal per la meua critica, apareix ja d’entrada al començament de l’email:

Petició d’adreces.

Feu atenció: no petició d’adherits, sinó d’adreces…

Us faig un extracte de l’email a continuació:

Petició d’adreces. Gener 2009

[...]

És per això que demanem la teva ajuda fent-nos arribar adreces de persones que podrien rebre la nostra informació. Tothom i cap i cal atraure, principalment, els indiferents i els joves.

En la captació de nous adherits, quedarà absolutament preservada la teva privacitat. [...]

A les adreces que ens faciliteu, ens hi dirigirem en aquests termes:

Benvinguda o benvingut a Català Sempre si ens voleu acompanyar.

Tenim la vostra adreça perquè algun dels nostres adherits ha considerat que us pot interessar conèixer l’objectiu del nostre col·lectiu.

Si obriu el fitxer que us adjuntem podreu entrar al nostre web i trobar més informació sobre l’origen i propòsit del nostre grup.

Us convidem a afegir-vos a la llista d’adherits i adherides i també a participar, si ho voleu, en el Grup de diàleg i debat.

Si no us interessa rebre la nostra informació, ens ho podeu comunicar responent aquest missatge.

Gràcies per l’atenció a la nostra invitació.

Cordialment vostres, Català Sempre

[...]

Quatre pegues que poden no ser res, però que m’han cridat l’atenció de forma molt negativa:

1. diuen que els dones l’adreça de gent que cregues que pot estar interessada i ells ja poden donar-se de baixa despres si volen…

“En la captació de nous adherits, quedarà absolutament preservada la teva privacitat.”

Té trellat, perquè si gent que em coneix, m’hi afegeix a iniciatives sense consultar-m’ho i/o dóna el meu email sense el meu consentiment, voldria saber qui són per dir-los 4 coses.

2. la gent dels emails que els hi dones, poden donar-se de baixa després si volen…

“Si no us interessa rebre la nostra informació, ens ho podeu comunicar responent aquest missatge.”

Per què he de perdre temps en donar-me de baixa d’un servei que no he demanat, sols perquè una altra persona ha pensat que jo hi hauria de ser? No, senyors, el que es fa es convidar a apuntar-se, no ficar dins la llista i després dir com desapuntar-se. El que esteu fent és crear una llista de gent a qui spamejar.

3. Des de quan per entrar a una web, es necessita un document i no una adreça web?

“Si obriu el fitxer que us adjuntem podreu entrar al nostre web…”

Sabeu que així és com funciona l’spam, no? sobretot quan es tenen virus als documents adjunts. Voleu que la gent us conega? Digueu: més informació a http://sempre.cat/ però mai com a document adjunt. I menys com a arxiu .doc!

4. La tercera crítica és menys seriosa, i fins i tot puc estar equivocada, però…

…però per quan he anat al vostre web, ja tenia els fums calfats. A la plana web posa:

per causar baixa enviar correu a la matixa adreça amb la paraula “baixa”

enviar correu??? hauria de ser

“envieu un correu”
o
“cal enviar un correu”… no?

Senyors i senyores de Català Sempre,

teniu una bona iniciativa, i estaria interessada en apuntar-m’hi. No ho faré, però, fins que no canvieu la forma que teniu de “reclutar” gent.

Si fos mal pensada, diria que no sou un grup català, sinó un d’espanyol demanant la gent que “delate” amics/coneguts que siguen catalanistes…

Related post(s)

• 89 anys en faries hui (1)
• feliç aniversari uelo (7)
• Va ser a la tardor del 1705… (4)