UK Linux User Groups

Oooh… something wicked cool this way comes. I am excite. Expect some interesting blog posts over the next couple of weeks once DHL delivers.

Just over 3 years ago I wrote that guestfish supported 267 commands and I listed them out.

Today, in libguestfs 1.21.19, guestfish has 502 commands, listed below.

Command Description help display a list of commands or help on a command quit quit guestfish acl-delete-def-file delete the default POSIX ACL of a directory acl-get-file get the POSIX ACL attached to a file acl-set-file set the POSIX ACL attached to a file add-cdrom add a CD-ROM disc image to examine add-domain add the disc(s) from a named libvirt domain add-drive add an image to examine or modify add-drive-ro add a drive in snapshot mode (read-only) add-drive-ro-with-if add a drive read-only specifying the QEMU block emulation to use add-drive-with-if add a drive specifying the QEMU block emulation to use alloc allocate and add a disc file aug-clear clear Augeas path aug-close close the current Augeas handle aug-defnode define an Augeas node aug-defvar define an Augeas variable aug-get look up the value of an Augeas path aug-init create a new Augeas handle aug-insert insert a sibling Augeas node aug-load load files into the tree aug-ls list Augeas nodes under augpath aug-match return Augeas nodes which match augpath aug-mv move Augeas node aug-rm remove an Augeas path aug-save write all pending Augeas changes to disk aug-set set Augeas path to value available test availability of some parts of the API available-all-groups return a list of all optional groups base64-in upload base64-encoded data to file base64-out download file and encode as base64 blkid print block device attributes blockdev-flushbufs flush device buffers blockdev-getbsz get blocksize of block device blockdev-getro is block device set to read-only blockdev-getsize64 get total size of device in bytes blockdev-getss get sectorsize of block device blockdev-getsz get total size of device in 512-byte sectors blockdev-rereadpt reread partition table blockdev-setbsz set blocksize of block device blockdev-setro set block device to read-only blockdev-setrw set block device to read-write btrfs-device-add add devices to a btrfs filesystem btrfs-device-delete remove devices from a btrfs filesystem btrfs-filesystem-balance balance a btrfs filesystem btrfs-filesystem-resize resize a btrfs filesystem btrfs-filesystem-sync sync a btrfs filesystem btrfs-fsck check a btrfs filesystem btrfs-set-seeding enable or disable the seeding feature of device btrfs-subvolume-create create a btrfs snapshot btrfs-subvolume-delete delete a btrfs snapshot btrfs-subvolume-list list btrfs snapshots and subvolumes btrfs-subvolume-set-default set default btrfs subvolume btrfs-subvolume-snapshot create a writable btrfs snapshot canonical-device-name return canonical device name cap-get-file get the Linux capabilities attached to a file cap-set-file set the Linux capabilities attached to a file case-sensitive-path return true path on case-insensitive filesystem cat list the contents of a file checksum compute MD5, SHAx or CRC checksum of file checksum-device compute MD5, SHAx or CRC checksum of the contents of a device checksums-out compute MD5, SHAx or CRC checksum of files in a directory chmod change file mode chown change file owner and group command run a command from the guest filesystem command-lines run a command, returning lines compress-device-out output compressed device compress-out output compressed file config add qemu parameters copy-device-to-device copy from source device to destination device copy-device-to-file copy from source device to destination file copy-file-to-device copy from source file to destination device copy-file-to-file copy from source file to destination file copy-in copy local files or directories into an image copy-out copy remote files or directories out of an image copy-size copy size bytes from source to destination using dd cp copy a file cp-a copy a file or directory recursively dd copy from source to destination using dd debug debugging and internals debug-drives debug the drives (internal use only) debug-upload upload a file to the appliance (internal use only) delete-event delete a previously registered event handler device-index convert device to index df report file system disk space usage df-h report file system disk space usage (human readable) disk-format detect the disk format of a disk image disk-has-backing-file return whether disk has a backing file disk-virtual-size return virtual size of a disk display display an image dmesg return kernel messages download download a file to the local machine download-offset download a file to the local machine with offset and size drop-caches drop kernel page cache, dentries and inodes du estimate file space usage e2fsck check an ext2/ext3 filesystem e2fsck-f check an ext2/ext3 filesystem echo display a line of text echo-daemon echo arguments back to the client edit edit a file egrep return lines matching a pattern egrepi return lines matching a pattern equal test if two files have equal contents event register a handler for an event or events exists test if file or directory exists fallocate preallocate a file in the guest filesystem fallocate64 preallocate a file in the guest filesystem fgrep return lines matching a pattern fgrepi return lines matching a pattern file determine file type file-architecture detect the architecture of a binary file filesize return the size of the file in bytes filesystem-available check if filesystem is available fill fill a file with octets fill-dir fill a directory with empty files fill-pattern fill a file with a repeating pattern of bytes find find all files and directories find0 find all files and directories, returning NUL-separated list findfs-label find a filesystem by label findfs-uuid find a filesystem by UUID fsck run the filesystem checker fstrim trim free space in a filesystem get-append get the additional kernel options get-attach-method get the attach method get-autosync get autosync mode get-cachedir get the appliance cache directory get-direct get direct appliance mode flag get-e2attrs get ext2 file attributes of a file get-e2generation get ext2 file generation of a file get-e2label get the ext2/3/4 filesystem label get-e2uuid get the ext2/3/4 filesystem UUID get-libvirt-requested-credential-challenge challenge of i'th requested credential get-libvirt-requested-credential-defresult default result of i'th requested credential get-libvirt-requested-credential-prompt prompt of i'th requested credential get-libvirt-requested-credentials get list of credentials requested by libvirt get-memsize get memory allocated to the qemu subprocess get-network get enable network flag get-path get the search path get-pgroup get process group flag get-pid get PID of qemu subprocess get-qemu get the qemu binary get-recovery-proc get recovery process enabled flag get-selinux get SELinux enabled flag get-smp get number of virtual CPUs in appliance get-tmpdir get the temporary directory get-trace get command trace enabled flag get-umask get the current umask get-verbose get verbose mode getcon get SELinux security context getxattr get a single extended attribute getxattrs list extended attributes of a file or directory glob expand wildcards in command glob-expand expand a wildcard path grep return lines matching a pattern grepi return lines matching a pattern grub-install install GRUB 1 head return first 10 lines of a file head-n return first N lines of a file hexdump dump a file in hexadecimal hexedit edit with a hex editor hivex-close close the current hivex handle hivex-commit commit (write) changes back to the hive hivex-node-add-child add a child node hivex-node-children return list of nodes which are subkeys of node hivex-node-delete-child delete a node (recursively) hivex-node-get-child return the named child of node hivex-node-get-value return the named value hivex-node-name return the name of the node hivex-node-parent return the parent of node hivex-node-set-value set or replace a single value in a node hivex-node-values return list of values attached to node hivex-open open a Windows Registry hive file hivex-root return the root node of the hive hivex-value-key return the key field from the (key, datatype, data) tuple hivex-value-type return the data type from the (key, datatype, data) tuple hivex-value-utf8 return the data field from the (key, datatype, data) tuple hivex-value-value return the data field from the (key, datatype, data) tuple initrd-cat list the contents of a single file in an initrd initrd-list list files in an initrd inotify-add-watch add an inotify watch inotify-close close the inotify handle inotify-files return list of watched files that had events inotify-init create an inotify handle inotify-read return list of inotify events inotify-rm-watch remove an inotify watch inspect-get-arch get architecture of inspected operating system inspect-get-distro get distro of inspected operating system inspect-get-drive-mappings get drive letter mappings inspect-get-filesystems get filesystems associated with inspected operating system inspect-get-format get format of inspected operating system inspect-get-hostname get hostname of the operating system inspect-get-icon get the icon corresponding to this operating system inspect-get-major-version get major version of inspected operating system inspect-get-minor-version get minor version of inspected operating system inspect-get-mountpoints get mountpoints of inspected operating system inspect-get-package-format get package format used by the operating system inspect-get-package-management get package management tool used by the operating system inspect-get-product-name get product name of inspected operating system inspect-get-product-variant get product variant of inspected operating system inspect-get-roots return list of operating systems found by last inspection inspect-get-type get type of inspected operating system inspect-get-windows-current-control-set get Windows CurrentControlSet of inspected operating system inspect-get-windows-systemroot get Windows systemroot of inspected operating system inspect-is-live get live flag for install disk inspect-is-multipart get multipart flag for install disk inspect-is-netinst get netinst (network installer) flag for install disk inspect-list-applications get list of applications installed in the operating system inspect-list-applications2 get list of applications installed in the operating system inspect-os inspect disk and return list of operating systems found is-blockdev test if block device is-chardev test if character device is-config is in configuration state is-dir test if a directory is-fifo test if FIFO (named pipe) is-file test if a regular file is-lv test if device is a logical volume is-socket test if socket is-symlink test if symbolic link is-whole-device test if a device is a whole device is-zero test if a file contains all zero bytes is-zero-device test if a device contains all zero bytes isoinfo get ISO information from primary volume descriptor of ISO file isoinfo-device get ISO information from primary volume descriptor of device kill-subprocess kill the qemu subprocess launch launch the qemu subprocess lcd change working directory lchown change file owner and group ldmtool-create-all scan and create Windows dynamic disk volumes ldmtool-diskgroup-disks return the disks in a Windows dynamic disk group ldmtool-diskgroup-name return the name of a Windows dynamic disk group ldmtool-diskgroup-volumes return the volumes in a Windows dynamic disk group ldmtool-remove-all remove all Windows dynamic disk volumes ldmtool-scan scan for Windows dynamic disks ldmtool-scan-devices scan for Windows dynamic disks ldmtool-volume-hint return the hint field of a Windows dynamic disk volume ldmtool-volume-partitions return the partitions in a Windows dynamic disk volume ldmtool-volume-type return the type of a Windows dynamic disk volume lgetxattr get a single extended attribute lgetxattrs list extended attributes of a file or directory list-9p list 9p filesystems list-devices list the block devices list-disk-labels mapping of disk labels to devices list-dm-devices list device mapper devices list-events list event handlers list-filesystems list filesystems list-ldm-partitions list all Windows dynamic disk partitions list-ldm-volumes list all Windows dynamic disk volumes list-md-devices list Linux md (RAID) devices list-partitions list the partitions ll list the files in a directory (long format) llz list the files in a directory (long format with SELinux contexts) ln create a hard link ln-f create a hard link ln-s create a symbolic link ln-sf create a symbolic link lremovexattr remove extended attribute of a file or directory ls list the files in a directory ls0 get list of files in a directory lsetxattr set extended attribute of a file or directory lstat get file information for a symbolic link lstatlist lstat on multiple files luks-add-key add a key on a LUKS encrypted device luks-close close a LUKS device luks-format format a block device as a LUKS encrypted device luks-format-cipher format a block device as a LUKS encrypted device luks-kill-slot remove a key from a LUKS encrypted device luks-open open a LUKS-encrypted block device luks-open-ro open a LUKS-encrypted block device read-only lvcreate create an LVM logical volume lvcreate-free create an LVM logical volume in % remaining free space lvm-canonical-lv-name get canonical name of an LV lvm-clear-filter clear LVM device filter lvm-remove-all remove all LVM LVs, VGs and PVs lvm-set-filter set LVM device filter lvremove remove an LVM logical volume lvrename rename an LVM logical volume lvresize resize an LVM logical volume lvresize-free expand an LV to fill free space lvs list the LVM logical volumes (LVs) lvs-full list the LVM logical volumes (LVs) lvuuid get the UUID of a logical volume lxattrlist lgetxattr on multiple files man open the manual max-disks maximum number of disks that may be added md-create create a Linux md (RAID) device md-detail obtain metadata for an MD device md-stat get underlying devices from an MD device md-stop stop a Linux md (RAID) device mkdir create a directory mkdir-mode create a directory with a particular mode mkdir-p create a directory and parents mkdtemp create a temporary directory mke2fs create an ext2/ext3/ext4 filesystem on device mke2fs-J make ext2/3/4 filesystem with external journal mke2fs-JL make ext2/3/4 filesystem with external journal mke2fs-JU make ext2/3/4 filesystem with external journal mke2journal make ext2/3/4 external journal mke2journal-L make ext2/3/4 external journal with label mke2journal-U make ext2/3/4 external journal with UUID mkfifo make FIFO (named pipe) mkfs make a filesystem mkfs-b make a filesystem with block size mkfs-btrfs create a btrfs filesystem mklost-and-found make lost+found directory on an ext2/3/4 filesystem mkmountpoint create a mountpoint mknod make block, character or FIFO devices mknod-b make block device node mknod-c make char device node mkswap create a swap partition mkswap-L create a swap partition with a label mkswap-U create a swap partition with an explicit UUID mkswap-file create a swap file mktemp create a temporary file modprobe load a kernel module more view a file mount mount a guest disk at a position in the filesystem mount-9p mount 9p filesystem mount-local mount on the local filesystem mount-local-run run main loop of mount on the local filesystem mount-loop mount a file using the loop device mount-options mount a guest disk with mount options mount-ro mount a guest disk, read-only mount-vfs mount a guest disk with mount options and vfstype mountpoints show mountpoints mounts show mounted filesystems mv move a file nr-devices return number of whole block devices (disks) added ntfs-3g-probe probe NTFS volume ntfsclone-in restore NTFS from backup file ntfsclone-out save NTFS to backup file ntfsfix fix common errors and force Windows to check NTFS ntfsresize resize an NTFS filesystem ntfsresize-size resize an NTFS filesystem (with size) parse-environment parse the environment and set handle flags accordingly parse-environment-list parse the environment and set handle flags accordingly part-add add a partition to the device part-del delete a partition part-disk partition whole disk with a single primary partition part-get-bootable return true if a partition is bootable part-get-gpt-type get the type GUID of a GPT partition part-get-mbr-id get the MBR type byte (ID byte) from a partition part-get-parttype get the partition table type part-init create an empty partition table part-list list partitions on a device part-set-bootable make a partition bootable part-set-gpt-type set the type GUID of a GPT partition part-set-mbr-id set the MBR type byte (ID byte) of a partition part-set-name set partition name part-to-dev convert partition name to device name part-to-partnum convert partition name to partition number ping-daemon ping the guest daemon pread read part of a file pread-device read part of a device pvchange-uuid generate a new random UUID for a physical volume pvchange-uuid-all generate new random UUIDs for all physical volumes pvcreate create an LVM physical volume pvremove remove an LVM physical volume pvresize resize an LVM physical volume pvresize-size resize an LVM physical volume (with size) pvs list the LVM physical volumes (PVs) pvs-full list the LVM physical volumes (PVs) pvuuid get the UUID of a physical volume pwrite write to part of a file pwrite-device write to part of a device read-file read a file read-lines read file as lines readdir read directories entries readlink read the target of a symbolic link readlinklist readlink on multiple files realpath canonicalized absolute pathname remove-drive remove a disk image removexattr remove extended attribute of a file or directory rename rename a file on the same filesystem reopen close and reopen libguestfs handle resize2fs resize an ext2, ext3 or ext4 filesystem resize2fs-M resize an ext2, ext3 or ext4 filesystem to the minimum size resize2fs-size resize an ext2, ext3 or ext4 filesystem (with size) rm remove a file rm-f remove a file ignoring errors rm-rf remove a file or directory recursively rmdir remove a directory rmmountpoint remove a mountpoint rsync synchronize the contents of two directories rsync-in synchronize host or remote filesystem with filesystem rsync-out synchronize filesystem with host or remote filesystem scrub-device scrub (securely wipe) a device scrub-file scrub (securely wipe) a file scrub-freespace scrub (securely wipe) free space set-append add options to kernel command line set-attach-method set the attach method set-autosync set autosync mode set-cachedir set the appliance cache directory set-direct enable or disable direct appliance mode set-e2attrs set ext2 file attributes of a file set-e2generation set ext2 file generation of a file set-e2label set the ext2/3/4 filesystem label set-e2uuid set the ext2/3/4 filesystem UUID set-label set filesystem label set-libvirt-requested-credential pass requested credential back to libvirt set-libvirt-supported-credentials set libvirt credentials supported by calling program set-memsize set memory allocated to the qemu subprocess set-network set enable network flag set-path set the search path set-pgroup set process group flag set-qemu set the qemu binary set-recovery-proc enable or disable the recovery process set-selinux set SELinux enabled or disabled at appliance boot set-smp set number of virtual CPUs in appliance set-tmpdir set the temporary directory set-trace enable or disable command traces set-verbose set verbose mode setcon set SELinux security context setenv set an environment variable setxattr set extended attribute of a file or directory sfdisk create partitions on a block device sfdiskM create partitions on a block device sfdisk-N modify a single partition on a block device sfdisk-disk-geometry display the disk geometry from the partition table sfdisk-kernel-geometry display the kernel geometry sfdisk-l display the partition table sh run a command via the shell sh-lines run a command via the shell returning lines shutdown shutdown the qemu subprocess sleep sleep for some seconds sparse create a sparse disk image and add stat get file information statvfs get file system statistics strings print the printable strings in a file strings-e print the printable strings in a file supported list supported groups of commands swapoff-device disable swap on device swapoff-file disable swap on file swapoff-label disable swap on labeled swap partition swapoff-uuid disable swap on swap partition by UUID swapon-device enable swap on device swapon-file enable swap on file swapon-label enable swap on labeled swap partition swapon-uuid enable swap on swap partition by UUID sync sync disks, writes are flushed through to the disk image tail return last 10 lines of a file tail-n return last N lines of a file tar-in unpack tarfile to directory tar-out pack directory into tarfile tgz-in unpack compressed tarball to directory tgz-out pack directory into compressed tarball time print elapsed time taken to run a command touch update file timestamps or create a new file truncate truncate a file to zero size truncate-size truncate a file to a particular size tune2fs adjust ext2/ext3/ext4 filesystem parameters tune2fs-l get ext2/ext3/ext4 superblock details txz-in unpack compressed tarball to directory txz-out pack directory into compressed tarball umask set file mode creation mask (umask) umount unmount a filesystem umount-all unmount all filesystems umount-local unmount a locally mounted filesystem unsetenv unset an environment variable upload upload a file from the local machine upload-offset upload a file from the local machine with offset user-cancel cancel the current upload or download operation utimens set timestamp of a file with nanosecond precision utsname appliance kernel version version get the library version number vfs-label get the filesystem label vfs-type get the Linux VFS type corresponding to a mounted device vfs-uuid get the filesystem UUID vg-activate activate or deactivate some volume groups vg-activate-all activate or deactivate all volume groups vgchange-uuid generate a new random UUID for a volume group vgchange-uuid-all generate new random UUIDs for all volume groups vgcreate create an LVM volume group vglvuuids get the LV UUIDs of all LVs in the volume group vgmeta get volume group metadata vgpvuuids get the PV UUIDs containing the volume group vgremove remove an LVM volume group vgrename rename an LVM volume group vgs list the LVM volume groups (VGs) vgs-full list the LVM volume groups (VGs) vgscan rescan for LVM physical volumes, volume groups and logical volumes vguuid get the UUID of a volume group wc-c count characters in a file wc-l count lines in a file wc-w count words in a file wipefs wipe a filesystem signature from a device write create a new file write-append append content to end of file write-file create a file xfs-admin change parameters of an XFS filesystem xfs-growfs expand an existing XFS filesystem xfs-info get geometry of XFS filesystem xfs-repair repair an XFS filesystem zegrep return lines matching a pattern zegrepi return lines matching a pattern zero write zeroes to the device zero-device write zeroes to an entire device zero-free-space zero free space in a filesystem zerofree zero unused inodes and disk blocks on ext2/3 filesystem zfgrep return lines matching a pattern zfgrepi return lines matching a pattern zfile determine file type inside a compressed file zgrep return lines matching a pattern zgrepi return lines matching a pattern Use -h / help to show detailed help for a command.

This week’s live video Q&A is in a slightly later time slot this week on Wednesday at 8pm UTC (click here for the time in your location this week).

As usual everyone is welcome to bring any and all questions to the Q&A.

To join, head over to Ubuntu On Air at 8pm UTC on Wednesday and you can ask your questions in the embedded chat box.

Look forward to seeing you all there!

Thanks to infernix who contributed this tip on how to use libguestfs to access Ceph (and in theory, sheepdog, gluster, iscsi and more) devices.

If you apply this small patch to libguestfs you can use these distributed filesystems straight away by doing:

$ guestfish ><fs> set-attach-method appliance ><fs> add-drive /dev/null ><fs> config -set drive.hd0.file=rbd:pool/volume ><fs> run

… followed by usual guestfish commands.

This is a temporary hack, until we properly model Ceph (etc) through the libguestfs stable API. Nevertheless it works as follows:

1. The add-drive /dev/null adds a drive, known to libguestfs.
2. Implicitly this means that libguestfs adds a -drive option when it runs qemu.
3. The custom qemu -set drive.hd0.file=... parameter modifies the preceding -drive option added by libguestfs so that the file is changed from /dev/null to whatever you want. In this case, to a Ceph rbd:... path.

At long last, Blizzard has unleashed the next chapter of StarCraft, with the release of StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm (959 days since StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, and not a day too soon).

As I was slightly disorganised, I only got around to buying it last night, when I hopped onto amazon.co.uk and ordered the physical media. It cost me £26, with free expedited delivery (hurrah for Amazon Prime).

In preparation, I logged in to battle.net, and was horrified to see the “Upgrade now!” button in the middle of the screen. Maybe I could have got a digital copy earlier, and paid less money? Not so much … Blizzard are charging £32.99 for an online upgrade, a premium of £6.99 over the physical media that Amazon are shipping to me:

I guess those download servers are expensive to run?

Curious, I decided to compare prices elsewhere. Asda, Game, PC World, Play, Sainsburys, Tesco, who will be cheapest? Here’s what I found:

• Asda: £26.97
• Game: £27.99
• PC World: £26.99
• Play: £27.89
• Sainsburys: £25.99 (+50 nectar points, worth ~ 25p)
• Tesco: £26

And the kick in the teeth? Amazon are now selling it for £25.27, a whole 73 pence cheaper than just 12 hours ago when I bought it for £26:

So the cheapest is still Amazon (leveraging their offshore “we pay no taxes” advantage to beat “every little helps“?), and the most expensive (other than Blizzard’s digital upgrade) was Game. Are we surprised that Game is a struggling retailer, that halved in size last year? The mean purchase price: £26.64 … so I guess my hasty purchase last night was still a bargain.

Right, it’s time to go and wait impatiently beside the letterbox.

 

Hi,

https://nazar.karan.org/ services are going to be partially down as I migrate services over to a faster, more memory, lesser power consuming, many more cores machine. Everything should be back to production by midday Mar 12th, 2013. Services impacted include:

• git repos
• Reimzul's irc interface
• Alt.Bsys triggers

There is a backup instance running, so if anyone needs to get to some specific data in a rush, ping me on irc and we can get access setup.

- KB

A couple of weeks ago I saw Katy Manning in a tour of Agatha Christie’s “A Murder is Announced.” It’s a very traditional production: A single set and a cast of eleven, with scene changes covered by blackouts and music. Unusual in this day and age, but pleasant for it. Katy portrayed the central character of the piece and delivered a strong, confident performance. Some of the other cast members appeared to be playing well out of their age range: One character supposedly in her dotage was clearly played by a much younger actress (though Katy corrected me later on that point), and Dean Gaffney playing a student was stretching credulity somewhat! Overall the production was enjoyable and it was great to see Katy in action.

This weekend was the third of the BFI’s monthly Doctor Who screenings. “The Mind of Evil” was shown in colour for the first time in forty-two years in the UK, following a painstaking colour recovery process. I am even more convinced now that Doctor Who is at its best when watched with five hundred other fans in a cinema! The humour (intentional and otherwise) is emphasised, the action enhanced and the performances sparkle.

The panel afterwards comprised Timothy Combe (director), Terrance Dicks (script editor), Richard Franklin (Mike Yates), John Levene (Sgt. Benton) and, that’s right, Katy Manning (Jo Grant). The panel had a great energy, with several very vocal contributors.

Once again, James from The Doctor Who Podcast recorded our thoughts after the screening, which will be available from their Facebook page soon. (You can still download February’s “Tomb of the Cybermen” special episode.)

Finally, a massive thank you to everyone who responded to last week’s blog post. It’s been touching seeing some familiar names on the Sam Shaw Appeal page. The appeal has nearly reached 3% of the target. It’s a big target and that 3% represents an amazing contribution from a lot of people in a short time. Please give something if you can.

Pin It

Watched “Intouchables” last night. Absolutely brilliant movie; thoroughly recommended: imdb.com/title/tt167543…

Free download of @jonathanstark‘s PhoneGap training module available for a limited time bit.ly/PlV7iH

The next meeting will be on Monday 11th of March from 7:30 at Veritas for a social
meet-up.

Feel free to bring your Linux problems and issues down for the experts to take
a look at (laptops only, of course).

If you’re new to Linux and want a little hand-holding, do come along, or if
you just fancy a bit of geeky chat there’s always lively debate on a range of
geek and non-geek subjects.

I’m getting bored of the number of media outlets who are taking the slightest of comments that someone makes about the upcoming Doctor Who anniversary special and spinning it into a story packed full of completely unsubstantiated nonsense. Headlines like “No Doctors To Return For 50th Special” which, when you read them turn out to be based on the fact that Colin Baker hasn’t had a phone call from Steven Moffat.

Obviously it’s good for the show that it gets all of this publicity and I don’t, for one second, expect the production team to do anything to put a stop to it. They’ll tell us what they want us to know when they want us to know it. Not a moment sooner.

But in the meantime, anyone who has ever appeared in Doctor Who has to watch what they say for fear of it being overhead by a tabloid journalist and being used to reinforce what ever story the journalist wants to write.

In an attempt to counter this, I’ve set up whonews.tv. The plan is that I’ll read these stories, extract the actual facts that they are based on and explain what we can actually believe based on those facts. Forensic analysis of entertainment news, I suppose.

I’ve also got a page where I list the best current information we have about what is actually happening for the show’s 50th anniversary. I’ll try to keep that up to date as more details emerge over the coming months.

Oh, and there’s at Twitter account too – WhoNews50. You might want to follow that.

Let me know if you find it useful.

Related Posts:

• Doctor Who Series 7
• Watching the Press – Notes
• Web Site Links
• Gullible
• Neil Gaiman Explains Doctor Who

Heheh yellow snow #infanthumour RT @metofficeSEEng: Yellow Alert of Snow for London & South East England : Wed 13 Mar bit.ly/14JhoJ1

I've been a fan of nullmailer for some years now, so much so that I took ownership of the nullmailer package for Arch Linux.

> nullmailer is a sendmail/qmail/etc replacement MTA for hosts which > relay to a fixed set of smart relays. It is designed to be simple to > configure, secure, and easily extendable.

The other advantage nullmailer has compared to similar tools is that is queues email until it is able to deliver it upstream.

Install nullmailer as follows.

packer -S --noedit --noconfirm nullmailer

Configuring nullmailer to relay via Gmail can be achieved using SMTPS or MSA. nullmailer has had these capabilies since 1.10. The following provides some useful clues /usr/lib/nullmailer/smtp --help.

While these examples are specific to relaying via Gmail, you can sse it is trivial to adapt them to any other mail host.

Relay via Gmail using MSA

Add to following to /etc/nullmailer/remotes. I prefer this technique.

smtp.gmail.com smtp --port=587 --auth-login --user=you@gmail.com --pass=Yourpassword --starttls Relay via Gmail using SMTPS

Add to following to /etc/nullmailer/remotes.

smtp.gmail.com smtp --port=465 --auth-login --user=you@gmail.com --pass=Yourpassword --ssl

Once you've got /etc/nullmailer/remotes configured start the nullmailer service.

sudo systemctl start nullmailer

To test nullmailer can relay email correctly do the following.

echo "Test 1" | mailx -s "Test One" me@example.org

You can see what nullmailer is up to by checking the systemd journal or syslog (if you've syslog enabled systemd). This is how to get the logs from the systemd journal.

journalctl _SYSTEMD_UNIT=nullmailer.service

Or via syslog.

sudo grep nullmailer /var/log/daemon.log

When you're happy nullmailer is working enable the systemd unit.

sudo systemctl enable nullmailer

Email will now flow as required.

Jetlazzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Dear @HBO: please let me give you money (say ~ £30) for digital Game of Thrones. I don’t want physical media. I want to watch on TV & iPad.

Start: 2013-03-09 11:00 End: 2013-03-09 17:00

This month we are at LiNCORE offices (part of the ReigateHub) in Reigate on 9th March. Our thanks go to Jay Bennie for hosting us.

Bring a 'box', bring a notebook/netbook, bring anything that might run Linux, or just bring yourself and enjoy socialising, learning, teaching or simply chilling out!

New members are very welcome. We're not a cliquey bunch, so you won't feel out of place! Usually between 15 and 30 people come along.