June 2015 - luv-main - example.com

Re: problems in a net upgrade to Debian 8.1On
by zlinw＠mcmedia.com.au 19 Jun '15

19 Jun '15

On Fri, 19 Jun 2015 11:26:49 Craig Sanders said, On Fri, Jun 19, 2015 at 04:39:26AM +1000, zlinw(a)mcmedia.com.au wrote: >> and _____BEFORE______ doing any dist-upgrade I ALWAYS check what will >> happen using dselect as unlike aptitude it will display every change >> that will be done. >that's what 'apt-get -d -u dist-upgrade' is for. it not only limits Thanks for the tip, I will give it a go, for various reasons though I prefer dselect. >> IMPORTANT point here apt and dselect use different package lists both >> these need to be updated separately to keep the system in sync. >please stop saying this because it's not true. >apt-get, aptitude, dselect, dpkg and even the GUI versions of same *ALL* >use >/var/lib/dpkg/status and /var/lib/dpkg/available. I beg to differ here, on my systems apt-get update does ___not___ touch /var/lib/dpkg/status and /var/lib/dpkg/available. Also after such an update dselect does ___not___ show any change, but after doing "dselect update", the /var/lib/dpkg/available but status remains as it was. >> Russell Coker said, >> >> >I've had ongoing problems with aptitude insisting on removing things >> >I want. >> >> I have checked this out and apt appears not te be aware of some >> packages. as previously stated in one of my cases "blender", apt >> wanted to remove it due to two missing dependencies, both packages >> were installed and dselect was aware of them apt was not. >if this actually happened as you remember it,then it was most likely due to >versioned dependencies. a dependency can be declared not just on a package The version numbers ___were___ correct, I checked this explicitly, for some reason apt simply ignored this while dselect and dpkg did not. From all of the above I have assumed apt and dselect ___do___ use different package and status lists. One thing I will restate is because of ___VERY___ poor and expensive internet up around this neck of the woods, I always do a cd (now dvd) install. Long experience shows that for some reason debians net upgrade does ___________NOT___________ like this and after a handfull of net updates the package system gets itself into a real twist. I have found keeping the apt and dselect package list in sync reduces but does not eliminate this confusion. Note: You can fix this usually with dpkg, it takes days though. After 3 or 4 updates its necesary to reinstall the system, with apt-move this is not as difficult as it may appear. I always keep my own updated repository for all versions of debian I use, these only containing the packages I require. To reinstall one uses the method in the debian docs to copy a system, uisng this it only takes 30 minutes or so to reinstall. Remember I am no newbe, I have been using linux since kernel 0.96d (earlish 1993) and having been using debian (the best linux distro) since debians very begining. Lindsay

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Re: problems in a net upgrade to Debian 8.1
by zlinw＠mcmedia.com.au 19 Jun '15

19 Jun '15

Firstly many thanks the replies, although just being able to explain a problem can give one much better insites, its always nice to get others experience. Chris Samuel said, >I'm puzzled by what you say here, you seem to imply the sequence is: >1) Install 7.x from DVD >2) Upgrade to Debian testing >3) Downgrade from testing to 8.1 That is correct, the important point though is the delay, the last upgrade was well over 6 months ago and _____BEFORE______ doing any dist-upgrade I ALWAYS check what will happen using dselect as unlike aptitude it will display every change that will be done. IMPORTANT point here apt and dselect use different package lists both these need to be updated separately to keep the system in sync. Russell Coker said, >I've had ongoing problems with aptitude insisting on removing things I >want. I have checked this out and apt appears not te be aware of some packages. as previously stated in one of my cases "blender", apt wanted to remove it due to two missing dependencies, both packages were installed and dselect was aware of them apt was not. From my experience the more dist-upgrades are done the more debians package system gets itself into a twist. I have previosuly solved this by building my own mirror using apt-move and doing a netinstall from that. This itself has its own problems due to apt as mentioned previously not being aware of some packages, this can be fixed to some extent using "apt-move sync". I nearly always have to fix some small issues using either dselect or even the ultimate debian package management tool dpkg. I will do this this time once I am sure all packages needed are in my local mirror. A remaining problem here is that apt and dpkg/dselect usually have a different idea on what one has on the system, dselect always showing more packages are installed. Note: I THINK this is because dselect will track old packages still installed apt appears not to be able to do that. Never a dull moment when mucking around with computors ;-),:-(. Lindsay

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Re: Cups and printer conundrums
by Mark Trickett 18 Jun '15

18 Jun '15

Hello All, Some further testing, had access to a Windows Notebook, installed Canon LBP-5050N printer with USB then network connections and printed test page successfully each time, so know that cables and printer work, so back to permissions and the like with CUPS and the printer drivers, and possibly network protocols. The Windows test page does declare the data format as raw. I think there is a bit of software that will log file access. Then I can see what is called and invoked when I try to print. Then I can see what the permissions are, and a better idea of what to look for in the configurations. There were comments about Arch having a blog with useful comments. It specified commands for systemd components that I could not find under Debian. I would appreciate some pointers to stopping services, and restarting. There are files that if I am to edit, I need to stop CUPS for the duration, then restart to test. I also wish to file a form of bug report on CUPS in Debian, that I found it necessary to add myself to the appropriate groups to be able to add a printer. I would expect that the initial install where I set myself as administrator would do that. I can cope with the command line, when I have an idea of what is happening, but how about the Windows refugee who is refused access to installing any printer. We can help if they ask rather than going back to Microsoft, but they are all too likely to just reload Windows. Regards, Mark Trickett

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Kernel oops issues in latest Debian Squeeze LTS kernel 2.6.32-48squeeze12
by Chris Samuel 17 Jun '15

17 Jun '15

Hi all, The latest security update for the Debian Squeeze LTS 2.6.32-48squeeze12 has some nasty regressions that cause lots of oops's according to posts on the debian-lts mailing list. IA32, AMD64 and PPC are affected (so far). Debian bug is: https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=789037 debian-lits mailing list thread starts here: https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts/2015/06/msg00061.html Fingers crossed it gets fixed soon. cheers, Chris -- Chris Samuel : http://www.csamuel.org/ : Melbourne, VIC

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Software Manager nor Synaptic won't start up
by Carl Turney 15 Jun '15

15 Jun '15

Hi All, Running a Mint Qiana 32bit MATE system. For the last month or two... Starting Software Manager gives no apparent response, as if nothing had happened. Starting Synaptic only gives the following error messages (and Synaptic won't run): ***** > An error occurred > The following details are provided: > > E: Encountered a section with no Package: header > E: Problem with MergeList /var/lib/apt/lists/ppa.launchpad.net_danielrichter2007_grub-customizer_ubuntu_dists_trusty_main_i18n_Translation-en > E: The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened. > E: _cache->open() failed, please report. ***** Can anyone give a basic explanation of what's happened, and/or a step-by-step on how I can fix it? My Mint Qiana 64bit MATE system has (as far as I know) exactly the same programs, repositories, etc. and doesn't have this problem. Thanks very much in advance. Carl Turney

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Re: Cups and printer conundrums
by zlinw＠mcmedia.com.au 14 Jun '15

14 Jun '15

On Sun, 14 Jun 2015 21:58:47 Mark Trickett said, >I am thinking of grabbing the ISO's of 8.1 when I can get near a >broadband connection, hopefully, and a fresh install and see what >happens. I have the first DVD of Debian 8.1 AMD 64 and will be getting the second disk latter this week. You are welcome to a copy. If you wish I can post you a USB key with the iso images, or even the two disks might be easier. These 2 disks will have 99% of whats required. I only have the first 2 as each iso image costs me $40 in line bandwidth. Lindsay, Near Benalla.

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Re: Cups and printer conundrums
by Mark Trickett 14 Jun '15

14 Jun '15

Hello All, More observing, now and then. This fragment from /etc/cups/cups-files.conf seems pertinent. # Default user and group for filters/backends/helper programs; this cannot be # any user or group that resolves to ID 0 for security reasons... #User lp #Group lp This in the light that all the bits and pieces I look at in the file manager appear to be owned by root. Perhaps this might be where I am having problems, such elements not being invoked because they have too much permissions? I am thinking of grabbing the ISO's of 8.1 when I can get near a broadband connection, hopefully, and a fresh install and see what happens. There is also the possibility of an earlier release, perhaps 5 or 6. A different direction is that I have magazine DVD's of SUSE and other distros. I have some idea now of what to go looking at and try to assess differences when things work. Regards, Mark Trickett

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SourceForge Not Making A Graceful Exit | FOSS Force
by Andrew McGlashan 13 Jun '15

13 Jun '15

More on SF, the reporters at FOSS.... they need support if you can mange to support them too [1]. http://fossforce.com/2015/06/sourceforge-not-making-a-graceful-exit/ [1] https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/foss-force-keeping-tech-free#/story A.

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Re: Cups and printer conundrums
by Mark Trickett 11 Jun '15

11 Jun '15

Hello All, Many thanks to Craig Sanders for some very valuable pointers. I have made some progress, but still not yet printing. markt@AcerNotebook:~$ uname -a Linux AcerNotebook 3.2.0-4-686-pae #1 SMP Debian 3.2.68-1+deb7u1 i686 GNU/Linux markt@AcerNotebook:~$ dpkg --print-architecture i386 My first thoughts from the uname command was that I had installed 64 bit, but no, the dpkg results was very informative. I managed to get hold of a later CAPT package than prior, thanks Craig for several steps. I managed to unpack and finally managed to install. As they were not listed in the available packages, synaptic did not see, but I did find ways with dpkg, when they were eventually in the right place. Significant use of sudo and even "sudo su" to sort out. The next stumble was not permitted to do admin in CUPS, solved that by adding myself to both lp and lpadmin groups. I know the default IP address of the printer, and leaving at factory default. Not certain of protocols at the moment, need some advice in due course. Now I can ping the printer, and get to the printer by ftp, but not yet printing. For this, I have a direct network cable. I am also struggling with NetManager, it has merit on a portable computer where I am attaching to various networks, but it also provides a stumbling block for setting up a fixed point. Having the interfaces unmanaged is a way I have tried, but I do not yet know enough to cope that way, nor am I coping with the interfaces managed. I comprehend what networking is about, and a lot of the detail, but a lack of practical experience is leading to mistakes and errors. I have a small switch/hub, TP-LINK TL-SF1005D, and trying to go through that does not work at the moment. I may have a defective cable, will do some more testing in due course. The printer address is 192.168.0.215, and eth0 is the wired connection on the notebook and I set that to 192.168.0.150. I am not well up on then setting the netmask and the like and would appreciate some pointers. Currently the network has only the two devices and no internet connection, although I am considering adding a RPi as a gateway device for the analog modem. Getting back to the printer, I am attaching two text files, one ftp'd from the printer, the other /etc/cups/printer.conf and I would appreciate thoughts on the protocol, currently try to print a test page and get a "Unable to write print data: Broken pipe" message on the CUPS web page while monitoring the attempt to print a test page. I hope that describing some of what I have done is helpful to other newer users. I can nose around, but without reason to use and refresh, too much slips away. Approaching 60, I no longer learn quite like I did in my 20's. Regards, Mark Trickett

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Iceweasel or ABC has sand in the gears?
by Erik Christiansen 10 Jun '15

10 Jun '15

While youtube clips show (watchable, but not entirely smooth) motion in iceweasel on my new debian 7.8.0 install, ABC clips bearing the simple two-circle Venn diagram symbol in the TLH corner show only a static video image, and even the audio feed is interrupted. Is there some way to diagnose where the pipe is most constricted? (The 10 MB file at http://mirror.internode.on.net/pub/test/ took 20 seconds.) Does anyone else have trouble with the ABC's new video clip dingus? Erik

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