linux

iotop - IO/disk activity measurment

Submitted by bdillahu on Fri, 04/30/2010 - 13:11

Looking for a way to see what processes are beating your disk? Always seemed like something 'top' would show, but it doesn't. Here's a little utility that does.

iotop

smbclient to Windows 7 fails

Submitted by bdillahu on Sun, 01/17/2010 - 22:13

If you are trying to use smbclient from Samba to attach from a Linux box to a Windows machine sharing a directory and get an error that looks like:

session setup failed: SUCCESS - 0

Try removing the Windows Live Sign-In Assistant program (Add/Remove Control Panel).

Worked for me.

NFS problem debugging

Submitted by bdillahu on Thu, 12/10/2009 - 12:27

A friend (thanks Monte!) passes over the tips to improve the ability to debug NFS problems:

- cat 1024 >/proc/sys/sunrpc/nfs_debug

and/or

- nfsd_debug

Both helps improve the verbosity of log messages that appear in syslog.

XWii and MythTV

Submitted by bdillahu on Tue, 10/27/2009 - 22:44

I have been using MythTV as an open-source "Tivo" for years. In the last year or so, we've had a Nintendo Wii hooked up to the same TV, and I used the Wii remote to control MythTV.

One way to do this is with Benjie Gillam's MythPyWii. Used that successfully and was happy with it. Check it out if it fits your setup.

rdfind - Linux file duplicate finder

Submitted by bdillahu on Mon, 10/26/2009 - 11:14

I have searched off and on for years for a good duplicate file finder/cleanup tool for linux. Doesn't look like it would be that obscure need, but there aren't that many out there, at least that I found.

fdupes is the one I have seen referred to most often, and it does work fine, but never quite what I wanted.

I recently found rdfind. I don't know where its been hiding, but check this tool out!

Moving a mysql installation

Submitted by bdillahu on Wed, 04/29/2009 - 19:32

Friend of mine was needing to move an entire mysql installation over to a new machine. Did the expected 'mysqldump -p --all-databases >all_databases.sql', moved the file over to the new machine and reloaded it.

All the data was there, but user permissions weren't.

Apparently the 'mysql' table where those user accounts and permissions are stored is not included in '--all-databases' by default. Guess I can see that, but...

Anyway, did a 'mysqldump -p mysql >mysql.sql' and moved it over, restarted mysql (doesn't read this table unless you restart) and all was well.

KDE/kdm autologin from command line

Submitted by bdillahu on Sat, 01/24/2009 - 15:01

If you need set KDE/kdm (the KDE window manager) to allow a default, no-password logon, but need to set it up from the command line, check your kdmrc file.

On Ubuntu/Kubuntu its /etc/kde4/kdm/kdmrc

These fields are important:

NoPassEnable = true
NoPassUsers = username

Obviously, this can be a big security hole. Use with care and know what you are doing.

See also: Allow X to connect to KDE

Linux Citrix Security Warning

Submitted by bdillahu on Sat, 01/24/2009 - 14:53

The newer versions of the Linux Citrix client do not always work due to a missing security certificate.

Here's the fix:

wget http://www.geotrust.com/resources/root_certificates/certificates/Equifax... && cp Equifax_Secure_Certificate_Authority_DER.cer /usr/lib/ICAClient/keystore/cacerts/Equifax_Secure_Certificate_Authority_DER.crt && exit

From: http://blandname.com/2008/11/10/you-have-not-chosen-to-trust-equifax-sec...

Distributed Version Control

Submitted by bdillahu on Thu, 05/29/2008 - 22:51

A couple of very good and interesting posts covering Distributed Version Control and version control thoughts in general. Both have some very good discussion and the comments are well worth a read.

The Risks of Distributed Version Control - Discusses a potential "community" problem with distributed version control systems (such as git, mercurial, etc.) where people "go away", work on something by themselves and then return with a huge mass of code. Not a technical/tool problem, but a group dynamics issue.

Git Workflow - with diagrams

Submitted by bdillahu on Thu, 05/22/2008 - 12:20

Oliver Steele posts a nice blog entry titled "My Git Workflow". You may or may not like how he's using Git, but he includes some diagrams that deal with the Index (a core Git concept) that explain it better than anything else I've seen.

These diagrams need to be in the core documentation!

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