Distro-hoppers anonymous

Head_on_a_Stick · 2017-09-22 22:05:57

tknomanzr wrote:

Is it capable of handling timed events or would you go to cron for that in openrc?

I think cron is the standard option:

empty@alpine:~ $ cat /etc/init.d/crond   
#!/sbin/openrc-run

name="busybox $SVCNAME"
command="/usr/sbin/$SVCNAME"
pidfile="/var/run/$SVCNAME.pid"
command_args="$CRON_OPTS"

depend() {
	need localmount
	need logger
}
empty@alpine:~ $

Alpine uses the BusyBox version because minimal.

Last edited by Head_on_a_Stick (2017-09-22 22:07:12)

tknomanzr · 2017-09-23 01:53:51

Wikipedia wrote:

Linux desktop environments take advantage of the D-Bus facilities by instancing not one bus but many[15][6][16]:
a single system bus, available to all users and processes of the system, that provides access to system services (i.e. services provided by the operating system and also by any system daemons)
a session bus for each user login session, that provides desktop services to user applications in the same desktop session, and allows the integration of the desktop session as a whole

I think I just figured out that I really need to learn how to utilize dbus. My main frustration with systemd is that by design it does not utilize any IPC mechanism, because dbus is that mechanism. I had not connected all of the dots til now.

This is important because I have been struggling with how do I deal with asynchronous communication between a service and a gui element, such as a gtk.StatusIcon. Basically, all of my complaints about systemd revolve around not understanding how dbus is supposed to be the glue between systemd system and systemd user, or even between a service that can annouce an event such as "pending updates is true" to the gui portion of a progam.

martix · 2017-09-23 16:03:23

I'm struggling with systemd too sometimes. Right now I cannot figure out why it is showing a device (wwan) in iwconfig and ifconfig (the device is working fine), but asking for the status it shows:

wwp0.device
   Loaded: loaded
   Active: inactive (dead)

Trying "sudo systemctl try-reload-or-restart wwp0.device" did not do much either.

Head_on_a_Stick · 2017-09-23 16:12:13

^ Find out what the wwp0.device unit file is actually doing:

systemctl cat wwp0.device

You may need to grep the output of `systemctl --all` to find the correct name of the unit file.

I suspect that the unit file sets up the device on boot and then exits, hence the "dead" status.

You can also check the journal:

sudo journalctl -u wwp0.device

martix · 2017-09-23 22:13:35

@HoaS Thank you for those command! I clearly have to dig deeper into this topic as there were some other inactive outputs too. Great to have an overview though. Regarding the wwp0.device (actually it's got a bit longer name, just used this here for simplicity) I found something like

sys-devices-pci0000:00-0000:00:1d.0-usb4-4\x2d1-4\x2d1.4-4\x2d1.4:1.0-net-wwp0.device

and

sys-subsystem-net-devices-wwp0.device

but journalctl gave me: No entries (although this is the name shown by ifconfig and iwconfig too). Anyhow thanks for the hints, I'll have to look at this closer in order to get a basic understanding...

martix · 2017-09-25 17:01:18

Head_on_a_Stick wrote:

Scrot of my Alpine system with my flashplugin package letting me watch the Moto2 FP3 session to stay on topic:

How is Alpine in everyday use?

I read something about Alpine being a distro mainly for stuff like routers, vpns, firewalls - how is the distro for something like office work? Or multimedia (playing music, videos, editing, etc.) - same packages available like on Debian?

Head_on_a_Stick · 2017-09-25 18:34:38

martix wrote:

How is Alpine in everyday use?

The only things I'm missing are Steam and Dungeon Crawl (I can't get it to compile under Alpine's musl libc).

I read something about Alpine being a distro mainly for stuff like routers, vpns, firewalls

Well, that's certainly how distrowatch classify it but the "About" page on the Alpine site explains the focus very well:

Alpine Linux is an independent, non-commercial, general purpose Linux distribution designed for power users who appreciate security, simplicity and resource efficiency.

https://alpinelinux.org/about/

IMO, the features that make it suited to servers and containers (hardened kernel, PIE/ASLR, stack-smashing protection, exquisitely minimal base system that makes Arch look bloated) are all things I want in my box, thank you very much

how is the distro for something like office work? Or multimedia (playing music, videos, editing, etc.)

I use texlive for word processing duties and kodi for videos (I have an old-fashioned hi-fi for music) so it does what I need it to do.

same packages available like on Debian?

The package list is rather limited compared to Debian but it's still pretty respectable, especially if the testing repositories are added (these are Alpine's equivalent of Arch's AUR) and it is _very_ easy to create new packages locally thanks to the APKBUILD system which is almost identical to Arch's PKGBUILDs and Gentoo's Ebuilds so they can be copied and used in Alpine in most cases.

https://pkgs.alpinelinux.org/packages

I've split our chat out and moved it to the distrohopper's thread, hope you don't mind.

Last edited by Head_on_a_Stick (2017-09-25 18:36:31)

Head_on_a_Stick · 2017-09-25 18:45:21

And now for something completely different...

L4Linux

This is rather special — Linux running as a userspace program on top of an L4 microkernel 8)

What is L4Linux?
L4Linux is a port of the Linux kernel to the L4 microkernel API. It is a para-virtualized Linux kernel running on top of a hypervisor, completely without privileges.
L4Linux runs in user-mode on top of the µ-kernel, side-by-side with other µ-kernel applications such as real-time components. It is binary-compatible with the normal Linux/x86 and ARM kernel and can be used with any Linux distribution.

My mind is officially blown.

EDIT: I would use the seL4 microkernel, that's the best one:

https://sel4.systems/

Last edited by Head_on_a_Stick (2017-09-25 18:51:47)

martix · 2017-09-25 22:45:46

Head_on_a_Stick wrote:

IMO, the features that make it suited to servers and containers (hardened kernel, PIE/ASLR, stack-smashing protection, exquisitely minimal base system that makes Arch look bloated) are all things I want in my box, thank you very much

Thank you for the info about Alpine. It sounds interesting. And this is indeed the right thread for this kind of posts.

I'm wondering: Is it true to say that Alpine is security wise near to the level of FreeBSD? This is in focus of the Alpine development, but can a - hardened - linux kernel come near to the level of BSD?

Head_on_a_Stick · 2017-09-26 06:21:55

martix wrote:

Is it true to say that Alpine is security wise near to the level of FreeBSD?

Note: the following is just my personal opinion and I have no formal training in any field of information technology so I may be completely wrong but...

Although the latest release of FreeBSD includes some very welcome hardening options that can be selected during installation (thanks to the HardenedBSD team), the developers have so far been very much focused on the performance and features race (much like Linux) with no special significance attached to security-related issues.

As such, I would consider the security of a Alpine Linux system would be superior to that of FreeBSD (even with all their hardening options selected) because of the grsecurity kernel patches and the massive user base of the Linux kernel.

Having said all that, if security is a priority then there really is only one choice...

Puffy: ~ $ uname -a 
OpenBSD Puffy.lan 6.2 GENERIC.MP#106 amd64
Puffy: ~ $

O:)

martix · 2017-09-26 14:32:38

@HoaS First of all thank you for your opinion on those distros. Second silly me: I meant to ask it regarding OpenBSD, not FreeBSD. However, reading also between the lines, I might be able to puzzle the answer together to that question... 8)

Head_on_a_Stick · 2017-09-30 20:58:18

Decided to clear some space on the family AMD laptop and lay down an Alpine Linux system on a new partition.

Apparently the XFS filesystem is supported, although undocumented, this did the trick:

# ROOTFS=xfs setup-disk -m sys /mnt

And of course the modules=xfs kernel parameter is needed in the bootloader configuration.

I need to add some bits to the Alpine Wiki: Xorg set up was very similar to an Intel system:

# setup-xorg-base xf86-video-amdgpu # xf86-video-ati for old cards

Then enable KMS by first loading the video and framebuffer modules at boot:

# echo fbcon >> /etc/modules
# echo radeon >> /etc/modules

Install the mkinitfs package:

# apk add mkinitfs

The file at /etc/mkinitfs/mkinitfs.conf can then be edited and the kms module added thusly:

features="ata base ide kms scsi usb virtio xfs"

Finally, regenerate the initramfs:

# mkinitfs

Upon a reboot the X server could be started and TTY switching worked fine 8)

Last edited by Head_on_a_Stick (2017-09-30 23:20:47)

dolly · 2017-10-05 18:41:07

Fresh isos of Sparky is available now. If someone wants to go testing/unstable with Openbox the lazy way, then Sparky is a safe and very easy alternative.

beaker · 2017-10-05 19:40:04

I'm running Fedora 26 Workstation on a rescued HP Probook 650. Very nice.

PackRat · 2017-10-05 22:53:19

dolly wrote:

Fresh isos of Sparky is available now. If someone wants to go testing/unstable with Openbox the lazy way, then Sparky is a safe and very easy alternative.

They still providing Enlightenment and Wayland? Easy way to check out Wayland without Gnome, too.

jedi · 2017-10-06 05:35:48

dolly wrote:

Fresh isos of Sparky is available now. If someone wants to go testing/unstable with Openbox the lazy way, then Sparky is a safe and very easy alternative.

I could be wrong, (and usually am) 8) but last time I tried any of the Sparky ISO's, there was still no UEFI bootable version? Are any of the new ISO's UEFI capable?

edit: Uhm, I just realized, this isn't anonymous is it?

Last edited by jedi (2017-10-06 05:37:52)

jedi · 2017-10-06 05:38:48

@PackRat, I know your a big Void fan and was wondering the same about it? UEFI capabilities?

PackRat · 2017-10-06 10:44:25

jedi wrote:

@PackRat, I know your a big Void fan and was wondering the same about it? UEFI capabilities?

Yes. I built my own iso with the void-mklive scripts and installed UEFI on my laptop.

The official releases are also UEFI aware. The wiki has instructions for a regular and chroot install methods.

ratcheer · 2017-10-06 16:05:33

beaker wrote:

I'm running Fedora 26 Workstation on a rescued HP Probook 650. Very nice.

I agree, but yesterday I upgraded to the 27 Beta.

Tim

dolly · 2017-10-07 07:39:50

@PackRat; Enlightenment yes, Wayland, I do not know if there is any iso with it as default.

@jedi; UEFI, yes.

#581 2017-09-22 22:05:57

Re: Distro-hoppers anonymous

#582 2017-09-23 01:53:51

Re: Distro-hoppers anonymous

#583 2017-09-23 16:03:23

Re: Distro-hoppers anonymous

#584 2017-09-23 16:12:13

Re: Distro-hoppers anonymous

#585 2017-09-23 22:13:35

Re: Distro-hoppers anonymous

#586 2017-09-25 17:01:18

Re: Distro-hoppers anonymous

#587 2017-09-25 18:34:38

Re: Distro-hoppers anonymous

#588 2017-09-25 18:45:21

Re: Distro-hoppers anonymous

What is L4Linux?

#589 2017-09-25 22:45:46

Re: Distro-hoppers anonymous

#590 2017-09-26 06:21:55

Re: Distro-hoppers anonymous

#591 2017-09-26 14:32:38

Re: Distro-hoppers anonymous

#592 2017-09-30 20:58:18

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#593 2017-10-05 18:41:07

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#594 2017-10-05 19:40:04

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#595 2017-10-05 22:53:19

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#596 2017-10-06 05:35:48

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#597 2017-10-06 05:38:48

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#598 2017-10-06 10:44:25

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#599 2017-10-06 16:05:33

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#600 2017-10-07 07:39:50

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