Archives de catégorie : Debian

Debian, GNU/Linux, Logiciels Libres, Trucs & astuces, Ubuntu

Helping Debian help others (including Ubuntu)

Yesterday someone asked to be involved in a project I started long ago, involving translations, in Ubuntu. I’ve left a few dozen projects I used to participate in but my name remains in a few places. I understand how incredibly rewarding it is to start joining projects in Launchpad, start contributing and do so much in Ubuntu, I did it for a long time (and was hired at Canonical in part because of it).

I explained how I couldn’t help anymore there, to look for someone else in the community, and how my focus was now on other free software projects (including Debian). I mentioned how even helping elsewhere would help Ubuntu.

This was the next reply I got (translated):

« [I’ve] decided to make my [possible contributions] to Ubuntu less of a priority, I mean, instead of working with a specific distribution (like Ubuntu) and make it the only beneficiary, now I prefer to work with the [upstream] distribution Debian, so my contributions will benefit Debian, but also all of its derivatives. […] »

Debian, GNU/Linux, Trucs & astuces

Comment trouver la version de Debian GNU/Linux utilisée

Lorsqu’on intervient sur le système d’un client, ami ou collègue pour l’aider ou pour donner des conseils, il arrive que même la personne responsable de ce système ne sache plus exactment quelle version du système d’exploitation est utilisée.

Il est possible que cette personne ait elle-même hérité de cette responsabilité, ou bien que quelqu’un d’autre ait installé le système à sa place, lors d’un atelier ou à la demande d’un employeur, par exemple. On peut aussi vouloir vérifier la version qu’on utilise sur un système partagé.

Sur un système Debian, la commande lsb_release peut être utilisée. Si elle n’est pas installée, elle est disponible en installant le paquet lsb-release.

lsb-release: Utilitaire de rapport de version du Linux Standard Base

Le Linux Standard Base (http://www.linuxbase.org/) est un standard pour le coeur du système sur lequel des applications d’une tierce partie peuvent s’appuyer.
La commande lsb-release est un simple outil pour aider à identifier la distribution Linux utilisée et sa conformité avec le Linux Standard Base.
Cette conformité ne sera pas rapportée sauf si les métapaquets requis sont installés.
Bien qu’elle soit conçue pour être utilisée par les paquets LSB, cette commande peut aussi être utile pour distinguer une distribution Debian d’une version dérivée.

Voici un exemple de résultats avec une Debian 7:
$ lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Debian
Description: Debian GNU/Linux 7.0 (wheezy)
Release: 7.0
Codename: wheezy

On peut aussi examiner le fichiers correspondants dans /etc ainsi:
$ cat /etc/debian_version
7.0

$ cat /etc/os-release
PRETTY_NAME= »Debian GNU/Linux 7.0 (wheezy) »
NAME= »Debian GNU/Linux »
VERSION_ID= »7.0″
VERSION= »7.0 (wheezy) »
ID=debian
ANSI_COLOR= »1;31″
HOME_URL= »http://www.debian.org/ »
SUPPORT_URL= »http://www.debian.org/support/ »
BUG_REPORT_URL= »http://bugs.debian.org/ »

Annonces, Communautaire, Debian, GNU/Linux, Ubuntu, Ubuntu Planet

Debian Quebec is here :)

As many of you already know by now, Debian 7 is here!

I’ve been using Debian as my primary work environment for a few months now and Trisquel at home for the past year and a half or so. My advocacy work has changed as a result, and I stopped focusing on Ubuntu, while still recommending version 12.04 LTS that just works for many. There’s also Ubuntu Gnome (or is it Gnome Ubuntu) now, so there is still a good array of choices for those like me that like the GNOME 3 environment and find it productive. Oh, did I mention Cinnamon 1.8 was just released?

openlogo-100

I am happy to announce that there is now a Debian Quebec group, and we just got our mailing list approved in the Debian project. This was not as fast an easy as in Ubuntu-land, and I took the time to fully document the process to get the mailing list going, in case others may want to do the same. It may all seem too slow or difficult, but every step of the way several people helped and I learned a lot. I took this as an opportunity to contribute to the project and at the same time I found that it may be hard for new GNU/Linux users to get started in Debian – or even for experienced ones like me, coming from Ubuntu.

That’s why after a few IRC messages I started working on a Welcome to Debian resource (and team) aimed at people that use other distributions and come to Debian for the first time. It’s still very new and incomplete, but it’s what I wished was around when I started dedicating serious time to this distribution a few months ago.

As luck would have it, Debian 7 was just around the corner, just a few days/weeks after Ubuntu 13.04 and Trisquel 6 were released. This called for an all-distributions Debian 7 release party (we’ll have two locations, Montreal and Quebec City). There will be workshops and presentations from 12:30 to 5:30 PM and then a happy hour with CLibre and Libre Planet. Check the Agenda du Libre if you’re in Montreal this week (or any time soon), perhaps we can cross paths.

Debian, GNU/Linux, Trucs & astuces, Ubuntu, Ubuntu Planet

New LibrePlanet LiveCode users group

I’ve recently been involved in a project with a customer to set up their development team to use LiveCode on Debian workstations. If you haven’t heard about LiveCode, they recently had 3,342 backers pledge £493,795 of the initial £350,000 goal on Kickstarter. That’s quite an accomplishment! I am not involved in the development part of this project, only in providing infrastructure support and services.

Since we needed to start working on documentation and I already work with other colleagues via IRC, I thought it would be useful to start a wiki space and IRC channel, and other resources via the dedicated resources provided by the Free Software Foundation in addition to upcoming resources that may be provided by RunRev, the creators of LiveCode.

The goal here is to collaborate with the community and help RunRev in this initial transition to open sourcing LiveCode, while offloading some of the self support to the FSF infrastructure (via LibrePlanet which is their community portal/resource).

If anyone is interested, a few initial resources and links have been put together already.

It looks like many people are already using LiveCode on Ubuntu, judging by the many screenshots in existing tutorials and guides. I hope other Debian derivatives benefit from this and perhaps even other distributions.

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Debian, GNU/Linux, Ubuntu, Ubuntu Planet

A nicer LUKS full disk encryption passphrase prompt in Debian 7 (Wheezy)

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When installing Debian on a new system, if you don’t install Plymouth and you use full disk encryption, the passphrase prompt will come up in a text console which is not very pleasing to the modern eye:

LUKS-text-prompt.png

After much experimentation, I found the Joy theme from the available Plymouth themes provided a much better experience. It was created by Audrien Auburg and adapted from an Edubuntu theme by Jonathan Carter for use with Plymouth. This is an excellent example of Ubuntu functionality brought back into Debian for the benefit of all.

This is how to install such a boot theme in a new Debian system using an Intel graphics chipset:

$ sudo -s
# apt-get install plymouth plymouth-drm

Edit /etc/initramfs-tools/modules and add the modules required for modesetting:

# KMS
intel_agp
drm
i915 modeset=1

Apply the Joy theme and make the changes effective:


# /usr/sbin/plymouth-set-default-theme joy
# update-initramfs -u

And here is the result:

IMG_20130422_132413

If you have another graphics chipset, or if you want more details about setting Plymouth or changing to other themes, check the Debian wiki documentation about Plymouth for more specific instructions.

Also keep in mind this is not very useful on fast SSD-equiped systems: if you don’t use full-disk encryption, the boot sequence is so fast that you won’t see the theme much!

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