Dariusz on Software Quality

09/11/2011

Building packages from sources using Debian/Ubuntu

Filed under: en — Tags: , — dariusz.cieslak @

Sometimes you want to install latest version of selected software package while keeping base system stable. Then installing from source is a safe option to proceed.

First, you have to include sources from fresh system version, below is example taken from Ubuntu, I selected natty (/etc/apt/sources.list):

deb-src http://pl.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ natty main restricted

Then you should refresh package list:

sudo apt-get update

and install dependencies:

sudo apt-get build-dep ccache

and finally build the new version of a package (note that no root account is needed for that step):

apt-get -b source ccache

As a result there’s a *.deb package, install it:

sudo dpkg -i ccache*.deb

That’s all!

15/10/2011

Encryption Using GPG: Minimal HOWTO

Filed under: en — Tags: , — dariusz.cieslak @

I assume you want to encrypt some files using your public GPG key. I’ll focus on simplicity rather than completeness (minimal steps required to implement encryption).

First you have to generate key pair:

$ mkdir -p ~/.gnupg
$ gpg --gen-key

Then see your new key ID and export it to public key storage:

$ gpg --list-keys # get KEY_ID from output
$ gpg --keyserver "hkp://subkeys.pgp.net" --send-key <KEY_ID>

On remote machine import the key and make it trusted (to avoid warnings during encryption):

$ gpg --keyserver "hkp://subkeys.pgp.net" --recv-keys <KEY_ID>
$ gpg --edit-key <KEY_ID>
> trust

Then you can used this key to encrypt files and delete original (if needed):

$ gpg -r <KEY_ID> --output <FILE>.gpg --encrypt <FILE>
$ rm <FILE>

And the decryption (on host where private key is stored):

$ gpg -r <KEY_ID> --output <FILE> --decrypt <FILE>.gpg

21/09/2011

Automatic free disk space monitoring on Linux server

Filed under: en — Tags: , , — dariusz.cieslak @

The simplest way to monitor free disk space on Linux serwer, just place it in crontab:

0 8 * * *     df -h | awk '/^\// && $5 > 95 { print "missing space", $0 }'

and ensure e-mail to this user is forwarded to you then you will see e-mail when occupied space is higher than 95% on any disk.

Pretty simple.

17/09/2011

Simple SSH services status monitoring

Filed under: en — Tags: , , , — dariusz.cieslak @

Current project I’m working on benefits from automated test suite run on few Linux-based devices. Tests are running 24×7, but sometimes device hangs (reason is still under investigation) and SSH access is blocked then.

In order to track the problem I redirected syslog (busybox-based, BTW) via network and added local automatic monitoring service that will show me when a part of my test installation go down.

(more…)

15/09/2011

Show Incoming E-mails In System Notification Area in Gnome

Filed under: en — Tags: — dariusz.cieslak @

For delivering e-mail locally I’m using fetchmail (POP3 based) + local SMTP daemon (for outgoing e-mail). I’d like to see when new e-mail arrives to my desk. It’s pretty easy if you connect classic procmail with modern notification tools based on local message buses.

For GNOME command line interface to internal message is notify send. I’m adding call inside my ~/.procmailrc (after filtering out spam e-mail of course):

:0hc
| grep "^From:\|^Subject:" > /tmp/mail.notify-send; DISPLAY=:0.0 notify-send "`cat /tmp/mail.notify-send`"

The result looks like this:

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