Posts by alexkemp

alexkemp · Other Issues

ralph.ronnquist wrote:

Is this a PATH problem? (Non-root user typically lacks /sbin and /usr/sbin in PATH)

Hmm. I've only added one entry to my $PATH. Here is the result with that extra removed (under Daedalus):

$ echo $PATH
/usr/sbin:/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/local/games:/usr/games

alexkemp · Hardware & System Configuration

This is the one installed on my Daedalus system; ntpdate is also installed and, I believe, gets installed at the same time:

$ apt info ntpsec
Package: ntpsec
Version: 1.2.2+dfsg1-1+deb12u1
Priority: optional
Section: net
Maintainer: Richard Laager <rlaager@debian.org>
Installed-Size: 915 kB
Provides: time-daemon
Pre-Depends: init-system-helpers (>= 1.54~)
Depends: adduser, lsb-base, netbase, python3, python3-ntp (= 1.2.2+dfsg1-1+deb12u1), tzdata, libbsd0 (>= 0.0), libc6 (>= 2.34), libcap2 (>= 1:2.10), libssl3 (>= 3.0.0)
Recommends: systemd | cron | cron-daemon
Suggests: apparmor, certbot, ntpsec-doc, ntpsec-ntpviz
Conflicts: time-daemon
Breaks: ntp (<< 1:4.2.8p15+dfsg-2~)
Replaces: ntp (<< 1:4.2.8p15+dfsg-2~), time-daemon
Homepage: https://www.ntpsec.org
Tag: implemented-in::c, implemented-in::python, implemented-in::shell,
 interface::commandline, interface::daemon, network::client,
 network::server, role::program, use::timekeeping
Download-Size: 340 kB
APT-Manual-Installed: no
APT-Sources: http://deb.devuan.org/merged daedalus/main amd64 Packages
Description: Network Time Protocol daemon and utility programs
 NTP, the Network Time Protocol, is used to keep computer clocks
 accurate by synchronizing them over the Internet or a local network,
 or by following an accurate hardware receiver that interprets GPS,
 DCF-77, or similar time signals.
 .
 This package contains the NTP daemon and utility programs.  An NTP
 daemon needs to be running on each host that is to have its clock
 accuracy controlled by NTP.  The same NTP daemon is also used to
 provide NTP service to other hosts.
 .
 This is the NTPsec version of NTP.  NTPsec is a secure, hardened,
 and improved implementation derived from the original NTP project.
 NTPsec supports Network Time Security (NTS) which provides
 cryptographically authenticated time.
 .
 For more information about the NTP protocol and NTP server
 configuration and operation, install the package "ntpsec-doc".

alexkemp · Other Issues

Hi soren

Yeah, I had already looked at finding utilities such as pdfunite & may well end up using that. My main reason for NOT going that route is the following phrase in the most recent Order that I've received:

e. Documents required for a hearing should be in electronic form. PDF format, indexed, paginated and bookmarked.

It may well be possible to do that with pdfunite but the point for me was that LibreOffice can do it using Master Documents.

Also this:

f. For guidance on what is required see:- https://www.judiciary.uk/announcements/ … t-bundles/
g. For help in how to do this see https://st-philips.com/creating-and-usi … g-bundles/

I'm still in the process of learning how to use Master Documents, and I need to reduce all this new stuff if I'm ever going to get it all sorted in time.

I've made an early test with a Master Document and, frankly, it's a breeze. There will be lots of detail that will need sorting, but there is a solution in sight by going this route.

As you say, it needs a quick batch file to sort all those EML files.

Thanks for your input, soren - a lifesaver.

alexkemp · Other Issues

I've now installed mhonarc & used it in anger. It does exactly the job that it professes to do (the following is from info mhonarc):

NAME
       mhonarc - convert mail/news messages to HTML

SYNOPSIS
       mhonarc [options] [arguments]

DESCRIPTION
       MHonArc is a Perl program for converting mail, or news, messages into HTML archives.  MHonArc can also be used to convert
       individual messages into HTML documents.

       The documentation for MHonArc is distributed in HTML format.  Due to its size and organization, it is not suited for
       manpage format.  Consult your system administrator for where the documentation has been installed, or see "AVAILABILITY" on
       where you can access the documentation on the web.

<snip>

The following produces a single-page HTML file + saves "pdfwD701WIjT3.pdf" in the same directory (that is the attached PDF in the email). The HTML opens in Writer just fine (I do not think much of the default display choices, but that is a personal issue). The HTML has an embedded link that can open the attachment (no direct use for the PDF bundle):

$ mhonarc -single 2023-05-26-0418.eml > 2023-05-26-0418.html

So, so far mhonarc looks to be a viable option.

alexkemp · Other Issues

Thunderbird uses Firefox to display itself on the screen. That's how you can be absolutely certain that Firefox can display MHT files (I've written my own, and they display fine). I am using firefox-esr 115.10.0esr-1~deb12u1.

PS
Trying to open an EML file in Firefox gives an option to open it in Thunderbird / Save to disk; not helpful. Chromium just displays the text content, and ignores all formatting / embedded content; also not helpful.

PPS
The issue is not to be able to *open* the file. The issue is to be able convert it into a format that LO Writer can open & display.

Thanks for trying to help.

alexkemp · Other Issues

Thanks for that soren. I did investigate Pandoc but it does not mention EML at any point.

I work under Daedalus:

$ apt search mhonarc
Sorting... Done
Full Text Search... Done
mhonarc/stable 2.6.19-2.2 all
  Mail to HTML converter

$ apt info mhonarc
Package: mhonarc
Version: 2.6.19-2.2
Priority: optional
Section: mail
Maintainer: Jeff Breidenbach <jab@debian.org>
Installed-Size: 7,601 kB
Depends: perl:any
Recommends: libdigest-md5-perl
Tag: implemented-in::perl, interface::commandline, interface::web,
 mail::list, role::program, use::converting, use::organizing,
 use::storing, works-with-format::html, works-with::mail,
 works-with::text
Download-Size: 847 kB
APT-Sources: http://deb.devuan.org/merged daedalus/main amd64 Packages
Description: Mail to HTML converter
 MHonArc is a Perl mail-to-HTML converter. MHonArc provides HTML mail
 archiving with index, mail thread linking, etc; plus other capabilities
 including support for MIME and powerful user customization features.

I'm about to go to bed, so this waits until tomorrow. Many thanks for taking the time & trouble to help.

alexkemp · Other Issues

I've got a large number (101) of .eml files and wish to be able to convert them into .rtf files. My searching throws up a very large number of online websites to convert them (no thanks!) but I cannot find a Linux-friendly method.

Reason for Conversion

The 101 EML files have been sourced from Thunderbird-hosted emails. I wish to be able ultimately to place each one into a bundle of PDFs for supply to a UK District County Court "Document Upload Centre". The workload for that is:-

EML => Libreoffice => PDF

If LO was able to load the EML files as HTML / EHTML (which is essentially what they are) then there would be no need for help, but currently LO loads each EML file as plain text. If I can convert the EML files into RTF files (as one example) then that would fix my problem.

I've actually already got each file also in a PDF format (obtained via Print in Thunderbird), but to easily be able to create a "PDF Bundle" will need to be able to load them into LO Writer.

Help

EML files were originated by Microsoft and are Plain-Text files in MIME-format. They essentially have the identical format to MHT / MHTML files, which was an early MS-derived format for saving a webpage in a single-page format (it was originated in the days of Internet Explorer).

alexkemp · Devuan

Thank you jue-gen, a *very* interesting article.

alexkemp · Installation

FWIW:

$ apt search firefox | fgrep installed

WARNING: apt does not have a stable CLI interface. Use with caution in scripts.

firefox-esr/stable-security,stable-proposed-updates,now 115.9.1esr-1~deb12u1 amd64 [installed]
iceweasel/now 78.14.0esr-1~deb10u1 all [installed,local]

(I hand-removed all the language-variants in the following) (lots & lots & lots of them)

$ apt search firefox
Sorting... Done
Full Text Search... Done
activity-aware-firefox/stable 0.4.1-2 all
  wrapper to make Firefox aware of Plasma Desktop activities

firefox-esr/stable-security,stable-proposed-updates,now 115.9.1esr-1~deb12u1 amd64 [installed]
  Mozilla Firefox web browser - Extended Support Release (ESR)

firefox-esr-l10n-all/stable-security,stable-proposed-updates 115.9.1esr-1~deb12u1 all
  All language packages for Firefox ESR (meta)

firefox-esr-mobile-config/stable 3.2.0-1 all
  Default mobile-friendly configuration for Firefox ESR

iceweasel/now 78.14.0esr-1~deb10u1 all [installed,local]
  Web browser based on Firefox - Transitional package

libfirefox-marionette-perl/stable 1.35-1+deb12u1 all
  module to automate the Firefox browser with the Marionette protocol

plasma-browser-integration/stable 5.27.5-2 amd64
  Chromium, Google Chrome, Firefox integration for Plasma

webext-debianbuttons/stable 2.3-2 all
  Buttons for querying Debian-related pages with Firefox

webext-foxyproxy/stable 7.5.1+dfsg-3 all
  Advanced proxy management for Firefox

webext-ublock-origin-firefox/stable 1.46.0+dfsg-1 all
  lightweight and efficient ads, malware, trackers blocker (Firefox)

xul-ext-debianbuttons/stable 2.3-2 all
  Buttons for Firefox - Transitional package

alexkemp · Hardware & System Configuration

fwiw, this is from my system just now (daedalus):

$ apt search mtp | fgrep installed

WARNING: apt does not have a stable CLI interface. Use with caution in scripts.

jmtpfs/stable,now 0.5-4 amd64 [installed]
libmtp-common/stable,now 1.1.20-1 all [installed,automatic]
libmtp-runtime/stable,now 1.1.20-1 amd64 [installed,automatic]
libmtp9/stable,now 1.1.20-1 amd64 [installed,automatic]
libnet-smtp-ssl-perl/stable,now 1.04-2 all [installed,automatic]
mtp-tools/stable,now 1.1.20-1 amd64 [installed]

This is using just the common apt install from repository.

alexkemp · Hardware & System Configuration

Hmm

$ less /var/log/boot
/var/log/boot: No such file or directory

Also, nothing in /var/log/ that gets close.

$ cat boot
cat: boot: No such file or directory

Ah, bugger!

alexkemp · Installation

It is possible to set sudo to execute certain commands (which would normally require a password) without a password. That will meet your use-case. See the following as extra help:

https://linuxhandbook.com/sudo-without-password/

alexkemp · Installation

alexkemp wrote:

rclone copy appears to have the effect of deleting almost all of my dropbox. Yikes.

After boughtonp's helpful pointer to rcopy I've been trying to get to grips with it & particularly why it deletes all existing files in the dropbox before copying. The web-copy function actually does the same, but the whole point of rcopy was to avoid that. Finally, a month afterwards, I've both found out why & how to fix it.

tl:dr: use --dropbox-batch-mode sync

After stargate's link for Ralph Minderhoud's blog I switched to try rclone sync but got the following error during uplift:

rclone sync wrote:

Failed to copy: upload failed: batch upload failed: too_many_write_operations

The reference for that is in rclone.org/dropbox/:

Batch mode = off wrote:

It has the disadvantage that it is very likely to encounter too_many_requests errors like this: NOTICE: too_many_requests/.: Too many requests or write operations. Trying again in 15 seconds.

The info on the page appears to be misleading:-

It never mentions that all the existing files are first deleted and thus *all* files in the mirror have to be re-uplifted
--dropbox-batch-mode off was the default before rclone v1.55
(mine is rclone v1.60.1-DEV)

Well, whatever. I took another chance, and the following actually works, and only uplifts changed files:
(the following need to be set before (see also rclone sync commands):
$LOCAL_DIR
$DROPBOX_PROFILE # this is the dropbox name within the local dropbox profile
$REMOTE_DIR
$LOCAL_EXCLUDE_TXT_FILE):

$ rclone sync $LOCAL_DIR $DROPBOX_PROFILE:$REMOTE_DIR -P \
  --exclude-from $LOCAL_EXCLUDE_TXT_FILE --dropbox-batch-mode sync

I used this just now and, instead of replacing every single one of the 3,433 files it just added 4 new documents.

Here is $LOCAL_EXCLUDE_TXT_FILE:

# filter-exclude.txt
# use rclone … --exclude-from
# exclude all office-files
# ODG == draw; ODP == impress; ODS == calc; ODT == writer;
*.odg
*.odp
*.ods
*.odt

alexkemp · Off-topic

Ah. So the poison comes not from other folks. Oh dear.

alexkemp · Off-topic

@golinux:
Your comment is out of order. My remark carries zero disrespect, zero condescension & zero antagonism towards oui. The man is not a native English-speaker & I'm attempting a slight nudge to assist him in realising a linguistic error. I'm trying to help.

I'm sorry that your mind has been poisoned by other folks in these fora. I'm innocent of their claims.

alexkemp · Other Issues

My router has embedded Wifi (GByte speeds).
My Desktop also has embedded Wifi, though only 100 MB (same as Ethernet speeds).

Maybe a reason for differences on your system?

alexkemp · Off-topic

PS

It is "Command-Line Interpreter".

'Commando' is also a word in English, and completely different to your intention.

alexkemp · Other Issues

Routers (and WiFi cameras, and many other IoT devices) used to be targeted because their firmware was so seldom updated. Scammers & Spammers learnt how to take them over. As one example, millions became part of a botnet. That became so pervasive that the manufacturers finally decided to do something.

My Virgin-supplied cable-router phones home on every startup to check if there is a firmware update available. If so it gets & installs it. That will lead to several router reboots. Even if no update there will be at least one reboot.

alexkemp · Off-topic

The-Amnesiac-Philosopher wrote:

What I don't understand is your sense (or need) to try and humiliate someone asking for help nor to make them the laughing stock of your thought process.

Ah! Now I understand some of the differences between us:-

USA: Uses humor to humiliate other people
UK: Uses humour to highlight some of the absurdities of being alive

OK, got it.

I sure am glad that I am me & not you.

alexkemp · Off-topic

At a quick guess you are American & do not understand English humour, so I will give you a pass on that.

alexkemp · Off-topic

oui wrote:

How to start it commando line in the monitor?

What, you mean that you don't wear any underpants when you launch it? Oo-er.

alexkemp · Devuan

Hmm. How about this one:

$ apt search Leafpad
Sorting... Done
Full Text Search... Done
l3afpad/stable 0.8.18.1.11-4 amd64
  Simple text editor forked from Leafpad
$ grep ^[^#] /etc/apt/sources.list /etc/apt/sources.list.d/*
/etc/apt/sources.list:deb http://deb.devuan.org/merged daedalus                  main non-free-firmware non-free contrib
/etc/apt/sources.list:deb http://deb.devuan.org/merged daedalus-updates          main non-free-firmware non-free contrib
/etc/apt/sources.list:deb http://deb.devuan.org/merged daedalus-security         main non-free-firmware non-free contrib
/etc/apt/sources.list:deb http://deb.devuan.org/merged daedalus-proposed-updates main non-free-firmware non-free contrib
/etc/apt/sources.list:deb http://deb.devuan.org/merged daedalus-backports        main non-free-firmware non-free contrib
/etc/apt/sources.list.d/josm.list:deb https://josm.openstreetmap.de/apt/ alldist universe

alexkemp · Freedom Hacks

aluma wrote:

I have not come across a single mention that any Linux user’s computer was hacked from the network

This memory is from years ago... server hack via the internet. Discovery tool dropped to report back distro details. Then binary compiled by attack server to match profile discovered by discovery tool. Finally, attack binary dropped to carry out hack.

...and sorry, cannot recall any further details to allow you to read further. I think it may have been to expand net of compromised servers.

alexkemp · Installation

rclone update

I've installed and have been making intensive efforts to get to grips. It describes itself as "equivalent to rsync" and is supposed to be native for Dropbox (and many other similar).

I've hit a huge issue: rclone copy appears to have the effect of deleting almost all of my dropbox. Yikes.

I cannot show the live results since I do not want to delete most of my Dropbox again. However, here is the size of the current files. After the second command (which I stopped after a little while) there were less than 1,000 files left. I'm uncertain of the reason why. I had to fix by re-uploading via a browser page, and that means a complete 1.5GB upload.

(In the code that follows I have replaced the actual remote Dropbox + remote path + local dir with generic names; -P==show Progress; the filter file is to NOT upload certain files)

$ rclone size remote:path --tpslimit 12 --tpslimit-burst 0
Total objects: 3.401k (3401)
Total size: 1.468 GiB (1576509174 Byte)
$ rclone copy local-dir remote:path -P --filter-from filter-file.txt

# filter-file.txt
# exclude all office-files
# ODG == draw; ODP == impress; ODS == calc; ODT == writer;
- *.odg
- *.odp
- *.ods
- *.odt

I'm not going to be able to use rclone. I assume that it is something that I'm doing wrong, but my Hearings will be soon now & I cannot afford to suddenly lose all of the content of every Dropbox. In addition, I do not have the time to report the error, nor research the reason.

alexkemp · Hardware & System Configuration

rolfie wrote:

Looked at the linked FAQ:

Oh wow.

linked FAQ wrote:

(link)
Q: Does dpkg support merged-/usr-via-aliased-dirs?
A: No. This approach is considered broken by design and breaks many common expectations.
If you have a system that has been installed recently (since Debian buster) or switched via the usrmerge hack, you might want to consider … reinstalling. For further information see Teams/Dpkg/MergedUsr
Debian officially only supports merged-/usr-via-aliased-dirs systems. Converting to an unmerged-/usr setup might break the system in unexpected ways in the future, including data loss or failure to boot.

Teams/Dpkg/MergedUsr wiki wrote:

(link)
Description
The main goal of the merged-/usr proposal is to merge the contents of several top root directories (/bin, /sbin, /lib*) into their counterparts in /usr.
merged-/usr-via-aliased-dirs
This approach goes behind dpkg's back, and has caused and do now cause problems due to the aliased directories …
This approach is considered broken by design and is unsupported by dpkg. dpkg-buildinfo marks packages built on these systems as tainted in the .buildinfo file.

Debian truly has lost it's way.

The officially official Devuan Forum!

#1 Re: Other Issues » [SOLVED] crontab has no effect » Yesterday 14:15:34

#2 Re: Hardware & System Configuration » time at Devuan xfce not synced with bios » 2024-05-15 14:58:40

#3 Re: Other Issues » EML / MHT Files Convert to RTF: Help Required » 2024-05-14 12:34:35

#4 Re: Other Issues » EML / MHT Files Convert to RTF: Help Required » 2024-05-14 08:19:16

#5 Re: Other Issues » EML / MHT Files Convert to RTF: Help Required » 2024-05-14 07:46:22

#6 Re: Other Issues » EML / MHT Files Convert to RTF: Help Required » 2024-05-14 00:34:58

#7 Other Issues » EML / MHT Files Convert to RTF: Help Required » 2024-05-13 22:35:18

Reason for Conversion

Help

#8 Re: Devuan » liblzma CVE-2024-3094 » 2024-04-07 08:45:38

#9 Re: Installation » [SOLVED] Firefox and Firefox Nightly repos in Synaptic . . » 2024-04-05 10:14:55

#10 Re: Hardware & System Configuration » [SOLVED] mtp-tool will not start » 2024-03-27 00:24:05

#11 Re: Hardware & System Configuration » [SOLVED] modprobe: FATAL module not found » 2024-03-26 09:19:25

#12 Re: Installation » [SOLVED] Conky.conf problem » 2024-03-12 10:29:10

#13 Re: Installation » DropBox App Install » 2024-03-05 01:34:59

#14 Re: Off-topic » fantastic evolutions: one of the best ones - Refractasnapshot » 2024-03-05 00:08:49

#15 Re: Off-topic » fantastic evolutions: one of the best ones - Refractasnapshot » 2024-03-04 18:01:44

#16 Re: Other Issues » [SOLVED] Intermittent Network Disconnections » 2024-03-04 01:17:38

#17 Re: Off-topic » fantastic evolutions: one of the best ones - Refractasnapshot » 2024-03-04 01:13:47

#18 Re: Other Issues » [SOLVED] Intermittent Network Disconnections » 2024-02-28 09:34:13

#19 Re: Off-topic » Undergarment Brouhaha » 2024-02-26 14:06:04

#20 Re: Off-topic » Undergarment Brouhaha » 2024-02-24 11:57:36

#21 Off-topic » Undergarment Brouhaha » 2024-02-21 14:12:49

#22 Re: Devuan » APT source.list for Devuan 5.0.1 » 2024-02-13 14:58:34

#23 Re: Freedom Hacks » Securing my/our computer systems » 2024-02-09 13:20:44

#24 Re: Installation » DropBox App Install » 2024-02-03 00:09:51

rclone update

#25 Re: Hardware & System Configuration » merged /usr » 2024-01-29 20:23:33

Description

merged-/usr-via-aliased-dirs

Board footer