Linux/BSD: sharing experiences

HowTo: Mounting NTFS partition in write mode on FreeBSD

2012-01-26T22:43:00.008Z

My brother's old laptop died and I got to keep its hard-drive. Being a Windows machine, it had a bunch of NTFS partitions. So this post explains how to identify a NTFS partition, mount it as read-only and finally learn how to mount it in write mode. I should mention that the FreeBSD machine run FreeBSD 7.4 but the same step should apply to latter versions of the OS.

Physically attached the hard-drive (in my case I plugged an USB HDD) and have a look at /var/log/messages to identify the harddrive.

% su

# tail -n 20 /var/log/messages
Jan 26 21:40:03 flumen kernel: da0: Fixed Direct Access SCSI-4 device
Jan 26 21:40:03 flumen kernel: da0: 40.000MB/s transfers
Jan 26 21:40:03 flumen kernel: da0: 114473MB (234441648 512 byte sectors: 255H 63S/T 14593C)

Similar information can be collected from dmesg.

# dmesg
umass0: on uhub4
da0 at umass-sim0 bus 0 target 0 lun 0
da0: Fixed Direct Access SCSI-4 device
da0: 40.000MB/s transfers
da0: 114473MB (234441648 512 byte sectors: 255H 63S/T 14593C)

Let's find out which is the NTFS partition:

# fdisk /dev/da0
******* Working on device /dev/da0 *******
parameters extracted from in-core disklabel are:
cylinders=14593 heads=255 sectors/track=63 (16065 blks/cyl)

Figures below won't work with BIOS for partitions not in cyl 1
parameters to be used for BIOS calculations are:
cylinders=14593 heads=255 sectors/track=63 (16065 blks/cyl)

Media sector size is 512
Warning: BIOS sector numbering starts with sector 1
Information from DOS bootblock is:

The data for partition 1 is:
sysid 18 (0x12),(Compaq diagnostics)
start 63, size 16611147 (8110 Meg), flag 0
beg: cyl 0/ head 1/ sector 1;
end: cyl 1023/ head 254/ sector 63
The data for partition 2 is:
sysid 7 (0x07),(OS/2 HPFS, NTFS, QNX-2 (16 bit) or Advanced UNIX)
start 16611210, size 117194175 (57223 Meg), flag 80 (active)
beg: cyl 1023/ head 0/ sector 1;
end: cyl 1023/ head 254/ sector 63
The data for partition 3 is:
sysid 15 (0x0f),(Extended DOS (LBA))
start 133805385, size 100631160 (49136 Meg), flag 0
beg: cyl 1023/ head 0/ sector 1;
end: cyl 1023/ head 254/ sector 63
The data for partition 4 is:

Issuing the following command will mount a NTFS partition in read-only mode:

# mount -t ntfs /dev/da0s2 /mnt/

To be able to write into a NTFS partition it is required to install the sysutils/fuse-ntfs port:

# cd /usr/ports/sysutils/fusefs-ntfs/ && make install clean

If you use, as described in the man page, mount -t ntfs-3g an error will occurr:

# mount -t ntfs-3g /dev/da0s2 /mnt/
mount: /dev/da0s2 : Operation not supported by device

To mount the NTFS partition in write mode issue:

# ntfs-3g /dev/da0s2 /mnt/

Let's make sure that the partition is mounted:

#mount
/dev/ad4s1a on / (ufs, local)
devfs on /dev (devfs, local)
/dev/ad4s1e on /tmp (ufs, local, soft-updates)
/dev/ad4s1f on /usr (ufs, local, soft-updates)
/dev/ad4s1d on /var (ufs, local, soft-updates)
/dev/ad5s1d on /mnt/1 (ufs, local, soft-updates)
/dev/fuse0 on /mnt/2 (fusefs, local, synchronous)

man ntfs-3g contains some Linuxisms and as such read the man page with a grain of salt ;)

Tip: Fixing Atheros L2 driver attachment on FreeBSD

2011-07-09T11:06:00.008+01:00

My personal server, a low-powered system based on an integrated motherboard ASUS I220GC, is using a D-Link DGE-528 Ethernet PCI card which runs fine on FreeBSD 7.4. However while toying with the system I decided to active the integrated Atheros L2 10/100 Ethernet device that I had disabled a long time ago.

Upon enabling the device on the BIOS and booting the system I came across an odd situation: ae(4) which is Atheros L2 driver wasn't loading properly.

# dmesg | less
Jul 8 22:07:22 flumen kernel: pci2: on pcib2
Jul 8 22:07:22 flumen kernel: pci2: at device 0.0 (no driver attached)

# pciconf -lv
none2@pci0:2:0:0: class=0x020000 card=0x82331043 chip=0x20481969 rev=0xa0 hdr=0x00
vendor = 'Attansic (Now owned by Atheros)'
device = 'Fast Ethernet 10/100 Base-T Controller (Atheros L2)'
class = network
subclass = ethernet

To fix this ae(4) driver has to be loaded and then it will attach himself to the PCI device (pci2 in my system):

# kldload -v if_ae
ae0: mem 0xdffc0000-0xdfffffff irq 17 at device 0.0 on pci2
ae0: Using MSI messages.
miibus1: on ae0
atphy0: PHY 0 on miibus1
atphy0: 10baseT, 10baseT-FDX, 100baseTX, 100baseTX-FDX, auto
ae0: Ethernet address: 00:1f:c6:dd:15:72
ae0: [FILTER]
Loaded if_ae, id=5

By running pciconf (8) we can confirm that the driver is now successfully attached:

# pciconf -lv
ae0@pci0:2:0:0: class=0x020000 card=0x82331043 chip=0x20481969 rev=0xa0 hdr=0x00
vendor = 'Attansic (Now owned by Atheros)'
device = 'Fast Ethernet 10/100 Base-T Controller (Atheros L2)'
class = network
subclass = ethernet

To load the driver as a module at boot time loader.conf(5) needs to be edited.

# echo 'if_ae_load="YES"' >> /boot/loader.conf

Now that the driver attachment at boot is solved rc.conf(5) needs to be edited so that FreeBSD assigns an interface to Atheros L2 device at boot:

# vim /etc/rc.conf
ifconfig_ae0="inet 192.168.1.1 netmask 255.255.255.0"

The next time the system is booted the next settings are applied and Atheros L2 is properly working (make sure you use your own network settings namely netmask and inet).

Sources:
man ae
man ifconfig
man loader.conf
man pciconf
man rc.conf

Tip: Fixing xorg-server 1.7.6 keyboard and mouse issues on Gentoo

2010-04-23T10:54:00.006+01:00

I came across a weird issue on my Gentoo box: both keyboard and mouse weren't working. I immediately though of hal and X11...

A quick stroll to the Gentoo Forums pointed to x11-drivers/xf86-input-keyboard, x11-drivers/xf86-input-mouse and x11-drivers/xf86-input-evdev has the culprits!

Here's how to fix the issue:

$ su
# eix-sync
# emerge -1 $(qlist -IC x11-drivers)

This will rebuild X11 drivers in you system and have you using your keyboard and mouse again. If you don't have qlist installed in your system just emerge app-portage/portage-utils.

Now wasn't that fun?

;)

HowTo: Upgrade FreeBSD 7.2 to 7.3

2010-03-25T13:48:00.002Z

Disclaimer: this post is for those that instead of using FreeBSD's excellent documentation maintain the bad habit of googling for things already covered in the project's official documentation. This is more or less a copy-paste of the FreeBSD 7.3-RELEASE Announcement instructions for upgrading 7.2 to 7.3.

These are needed steps to upgrade, through the binary upgrade method, the kernel and userland utilities to 7.3-RELEASE:

% su
# freebsd-update upgrade -r 7.3-RELEASE
# freebsd-update install
# shutdown -r now
% su
# freebsd-update install
# shutdown -r now

On step 1 we've started of by becoming the superuser. Step 2 initiates the freebsd-update utility pointing the upgrade to 7.3-RELEASE, after that we proceed with the installation of the kernel on step 3.

Upon rebooting the new kernel is enabled and we move into step 6. Here we end the upgrade process by updating the userland utilities.

That's it!

If you found this post useful that's actually a bad news: you aren't reading the project's official documentation! So please point to http://www.freebsd.org and educate yourself on FreeBSD ;)

Tip: Dealing with virtualbox-ose PUEL license on Gentoo

2010-03-06T09:54:00.007Z

I came across a peculiar message from portage when trying to install virtualbox-ose in Gentoo:

$ su
# eix-sync
# emerge --tree --ask --verbose virtualbox-ose

These are the packages that would be merged, in reverse order:

Calculating dependencies... done!

!!! All ebuilds that could satisfy "~app-emulation/virtualbox-ose-additions-3.1.4" have been masked.
!!! One of the following masked packages is required to complete your request:
- app-emulation/virtualbox-ose-additions-3.1.4 (masked by: PUEL license(s))
A copy of the 'PUEL' license is located at '/usr/portage/licenses/PUEL'.

(dependency required by "app-emulation/virtualbox-ose-3.1.4" [ebuild])
(dependency required by "virtualbox-ose" [argument])

For more information, see the MASKED PACKAGES section in the emerge
man page or refer to the Gentoo Handbook.

The solution is to add the PUEL license to the /etc/portage/package.license file:

# echo "app-emulation/virtualbox-ose-additions PUEL" >> /etc/portage/package.license
# echo "app-emulation/virtualbox-ose PUEL" >> /etc/portage/package.license

Now can finally get to emerge VirtualBox.

As a side note you can also use /etc/make.conf and make use of the ACCEPT_LICENSE variable. For instances adding ACCEPT_LICENSE="*" to /etc/make.conf unmasks all licenses. Alternatively you can unmask licenses one by one.

More information can be obtained reading make.conf and portage's man pages.

Tip: Dealing with nvidia-driver-195.22 on FreeBSD 7.2-RELEASE

2010-01-12T10:54:00.010Z

I haven't migrated to FreeBSD 8.0 as I came across visual artefacts while running 8.0, nvidia-driver-195.22 and Enemy Territory on a test install.

To update my installed ports I use for the most part csup to update the ports collection and sysutils/portmaster to actually update the ports with new versions.

Recently nvidia-driver-195.22 hit the Ports tree and upon running portmaster -a I found out that Nvidia's latest driver version requires FreeBSD-STABLE or FreeBSD-CURRENT. Guess who's running RELEASE?

Symptoms:

% su
# csup -L 2 -h cvsup2.uk.freebsd.org /usr/share/examples/cvsup/ports-supfile
# portmaster -L

===>>> nvidia-driver-185.18.36
===>>> New version available: nvidia-driver-195.22
===>>> This port is marked IGNORE
===>>> requires fairly recent FreeBSD-STABLE, or FreeBSD-CURRENT

# portmaster -a

===>>> Launching child to update nvidia-driver-185.18.36 to nvidia-driver-195.22

===>>> Port directory: /usr/ports/x11/nvidia-driver
===>>> This port is marked IGNORE
===>>> requires fairly recent FreeBSD-STABLE, or FreeBSD-CURRENT

===>>> If you are sure you can build it, remove the
IGNORE line in the Makefile and try again.

===>>> Update for nvidia-driver-185.18.36 failed
===>>> Aborting update

Solution:

# cd /var/db/pkg/nvidia-driver-185.18.36/
# touch +IGNOREME
# portmaster -a

===>>> Launching child to update nvidia-driver-185.18.36 to nvidia-driver-195.22

===>>> nvidia-driver-185.18.36 has an +IGNOREME file

===>>> Update anyway? [n]

answer "n"

Now portmaster -a ignores updates to the nvidia-driver port until the issue is fixed or I move to 8.0 ;)

HowTo: Mount EXT2FS partitions with inode 256 on FreeBSD

2009-09-18T21:43:00.009+01:00

Mounting ext2/ext3 slices (or "partitions" in the Linux world) is easy on FreeBSD... if the filesystem was NOT created with inode 256 that is!

If you are one of those unlucky bastards this post presents the required steps on how to patch the FreeBSD 7.2 kernel module that mounts ext2/ext3 filesystems.

First let's begin by installing the sysutils/e2fsprogs application that provides tune2fs which will allow us to confirm that the ext2/ext3 filesystem was in fact created with inode 256. Assuming that the target slice is in the /dev/ad4 disk:

% su
# cd /usr/ports/sysutils/e2fsprogs
# make install clean
# rehash
# fdisk /dev/ad4

******* Working on device /dev/ad4 *******
parameters extracted from in-core disklabel are:
cylinders=395136 heads=16 sectors/track=63 (1008 blks/cyl)

Figures below won't work with BIOS for partitions not in cyl 1
parameters to be used for BIOS calculations are:
cylinders=395136 heads=16 sectors/track=63 (1008 blks/cyl)

Media sector size is 512
Warning: BIOS sector numbering starts with sector 1
Information from DOS bootblock is:
The data for partition 1 is:
sysid 131 (0x83),(Linux native)
start 63, size 80262 (39 Meg), flag 80 (active)
beg: cyl 0/ head 1/ sector 1;
end: cyl 4/ head 254/ sector 63
The data for partition 2 is:
sysid 130 (0x82),(Linux swap or Solaris x86)
start 80325, size 1012095 (494 Meg), flag 0
beg: cyl 5/ head 0/ sector 1;
end: cyl 67/ head 254/ sector 63
The data for partition 3 is:
sysid 131 (0x83),(Linux native)
start 1092420, size 10008495 (4886 Meg), flag 0
beg: cyl 68/ head 0/ sector 1;
end: cyl 690/ head 254/ sector 63
The data for partition 4 is:
sysid 15 (0x0f),(Extended DOS (LBA))
start 11100915, size 350907795 (171341 Meg), flag 0
beg: cyl 691/ head 0/ sector 1;
end: cyl 1023/ head 254/ sector 63

# tune2fs -l /dev/ad4s1 | grep -i 'inode size'

fdisk is used to list the slices that exist on the disk. Sysid 131 means that a ext2/ext3 slice exists and this is target for tune2fs.

Next let's fetch the patch:

% wget http://pflog.net/~floyd/ext2fs.diff

In alternative, get the patch from here:

% wget http://pastebin.ca/raw/1280738

Now that we have the patch, let's proceed by applying it and build the patched module:

# cd /usr/src/sys/gnu/fs
# patch < /path/to/patch
# cd /usr/src/sys/modules/ext2fs
# make depend ; make obj ; make ; make ; make install ; make unload ; make load ; make clean

This way you'll build all dependencies for the module, build the module itself, install it, unload the current loaded module and finally load the new one.

Having the new module loaded you can now successfully mount your ext2/ext3 filesystem:

# mount -t -v ext2fs /dev/ad6s1 /mnt

That's it!

References:
kern/124621: [ext3] [patch] Cannot mount ext2fs partition
man mount
sysutils/e2fsprogs

Tip: Introducing the PKGDIR environment variable on FreeBSD

2009-09-17T22:42:00.001+01:00

Though I prefer using the ports tree to install applications on FreeBSD, the fact is that packages are way faster especially if your hardware is old or you just want to bring a test install online as fast as possible.

If you want to keep the downloaded packages, you need to set the PKGDIR environment variable pointing to the place where to store the downloaded .tbz files.

Here's how to set PKGDIR with the t/csh shell to /usr/ports/packages/All:

% su
# setenv PKGDIR /usr/ports/packages/All
# mkdir -p /usr/ports/packages/All

To download, store and install a package named foo:

# pkg_add -Kr foo

The -K switch informs pkg_add that you want to keep the downloaded package on the directory defined by PKGDIR.

Using packages is all fine and dandy, however not all applications in the ports tree are available as packages due to licensing issues.

I found out that after setting the PKGDIR, every single port that I tried to install failed with the same error: "Missing pkg-descr".

To fix the problem simply unset the PKGDIR environment variable like so:

# unsetenv PKGDIR

And voilá! You can now use the best of both worlds.

Tip: Fetch and password-protected web pages

2009-08-25T08:34:00.000+01:00

In order to make fetch (the FreeBSD downloading tool) ask for username/password when it encounters a password-protected web page, you can set the environment variable HTTP_AUTH to 'basic:*'.

Users of t/csh shells can temporarily set the environment variable like so:

% setenv HTTP_AUTH='basic:*'

To set it permanetly we need to add it to .cshrc:

% vim ~/.cshrc
setenv HTTP_AUTH 'basic:*'

And that's it.

HowTo: Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG on Debian

2009-08-25T01:07:00.006+01:00

I've recently dabbled with Debian Lenny on my Dell D620 and found myself needing to access my wireless network.

These are the required steps to activate the Intel PRO/Wireless 3945 ABG device on Debian GNU/Linux 5.0 Lenny:

$ su
# aptitude install firmware-iwlwifi
# modprobe -r iwl3945 && modprobe iwl3945
point to the Network Manager icon on Gnome's top panel and enter the details of your wireless network

Do notice that firmware-iwlwifi is a non-free firmware so you need to enable the non-free repositories. To do so point to System -> Administration -> Software Sources -> Debian Software and enable the non-free and contrib repositories.

I found the whole process of enabling and using 3945ABG on Debian very simple and straightforward which was a welcome change from the days of the old ipw driver ;)

Tip: FreshPorts search plugin for Firefox

2009-08-25T00:08:00.004+01:00

There are several ways to find software available for FreeBSD.

The FreshPorts website tracks changes to the third party applications in the ports tree as they occur. Users of the Firefox web browser can install a search engine to be able to search through http://www.freshports.org/ and find software available for FreeBSD on a friendly manner.

To do so point to http://www.searchplugins.net/pluginlist.aspx?q=freshports&mode=title and click to install the search engine. After installing it go to Firefox's search box where Google's engine usually sits and choose the newly installed FreshPorts search engine.

By doing so you can search for applications to install on FreeBSD from the comfort of Firefox.

Book Review: X Power Tools

2009-08-09T19:28:00.001+01:00

Short and to the point books.

That's the trend you'll notice after reading stuff like The Book of PF, Building a Server with FreeBSD 7 and BSD Unix Toolbox. X Power Tools happily joins the mentioned groups... with distinction.

The book is divided in 15 sections which are further organized into articles going over subjects such as the history of the Xorg server, configuration (how to build a xorg.conf), advanced configuration (including multiple displays) and troubleshooting in the book's Part I.

Client oriented subjects are brought in with Part II, which covers many of the rather unknown applications that are part of Xorg, e.g. xmag, xset, xdpyinfo, xfontsel and many others.

Part III exposes the reader to color, fonts and keyboard configuration.

Using X remotely is covered to a reasonable extent in the book's Part III. Here X tunneling with SSH and VNC are discussed alongside XDMCP and xauth.

In a rather unexpected way, the author chose to wrap-up the book by going over the details of configuring X for a kiosk.

As a side note it was nice to see that the author didn't focus only on Linux but also took into account FreeBSD when writing the book (moused settings are analysed).

It should be pointed out that the book was printed in late 2007, so HAL device configuration of keyboard, mouse and displays aren't discussed. However, in my opinion anyone wanting to read this book has already dealt with the situation and is looking into expanding his knowledge of Xorg into less focused things such as fonts, raw X terminal, xinit, etc.

X Power Tools is very handy and well structured making it a good alternative to those that avoid reading Xorg's extensive man page (such as yours truly).

If the Xorg subject appeals to you buy the book. Though a bit expensive, the book is a must have if you want to dwell on Xorg from a very hands-on approach.

Tip: Fix portaudit database error

2009-07-01T19:25:00.001+01:00

I use portaudit to check installed packages on my FreeBSD systems for knwon vulnerabilities. However the tool behaved quite ackwardy today.

By running:

# portaudit -Fda

It outputed:

auditfile.tbz 100% of 53 kB 56 kBps
portaudit: Database too old.
Old database restored.
portaudit: Download failed.

The workaround was posted on freebsd-questions mailing list and consists of editing portaudit's configuration file and changing the mirror address:

% su
# cp /usr/local/etc/portaudit.conf.sample /usr/local/etc/portaudit.conf
# vim /usr/local/etc/portaudit.conf

portaudit_sites="http://www.FreeBSD.org/ports/"

# portaudit -Fda

In a couple of days the mirror issues should be fixed so by then you can revert to the default portaudit_sites="http://portaudit.FreeBSD.org/".

For more info have a look at portaudit's man page and at http://docs.freebsd.org/cgi/getmsg.cgi?fetch=933878+0+current/freebsd-questions.

Tip: Scroll console output on FreeBSD

2009-06-30T19:13:00.000+01:00

People coming from Linux will find that they can't scroll back through the console output the same way on FreeBSD.

In FreeBSD you need to press "Scroll Lock" and use the arrow keys, PageUp and PageDown to be able to scroll backwards and forwards the console output. To go back to the prompt press "Scroll Lock" again.

Book Review: The Best of FreeBSD Basics

2009-05-13T18:04:00.001+01:00

Having read Lucas' Absolute FreeBSD any other BSD book I read ends up being measured against it.

The Best of FreeBSD Basics (TBFB) is essentially a compilation of Dru Lavigne's articles at O'Reilly Media and this is exactly the books weakness: there is no backbone, no underlying purpose or scope. When one picks up Absolute FreeBSD BSD that person will know that network/system administration is the book's focus, when one pick Builing a Server with FreeBSD 7 service installation and configuration is the core, with BSD Unix Toolbox the reader will acquire knowledge on tons of system configuration commands.

However with TBFB its purpose isn't discernible; sometimes it's a tip, on occasion a tutorial, at times advices, all in a very disconnected way between each other. Also, sometimes during the book you'll come across stuff that is just duplicated from a previous section/chapter which is just wrong.

The book does have its shinning stops. It brinks with Dru's love for the operating system by presenting small details that you won't find in any other BSD book. In this perspective the book is an adventure through the wonderful world of FreeBSD much like a blog dealing with one's notes of his adventure in exploring a new OS (like my own blog for instances).

Noticeable is the fact that some of the articles were "updated from FreeBSD 4 and 5 to reflect the usage on FreeBSD 6 and 7" as the book's back states. And that just comes back to haunt you, namely when csup and supfile usage is discussed in a way that's just outdated for FreeBSD 7.

Now... do I recommend it? First get Absolute FreeBSD. Next if you are into system administration get BSD Unix Toolbox and get yourself Building a Server with FreeBSD 7 if you are planning on building a personal server. After you've gone through these dive ahead and get The Best of FreeBSD Basics.

As an end note, I'd really like to see a BSD book by Dru written from scratch maybe even focusing on the BSD certification initiative. Now that would be pure gold ;)

HowTo: Enemy Territory on FreeBSD

2009-05-04T08:55:00.004+01:00

Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory is a free multiplayer FPS that takes place in the World World II pitting two teams (Allies and Axis) against each other for victory.

The game was originally going to be a retail expansion pack for Return To Castle Wolfenstein but the project was cancelled, Activision however decided to release it during 2003 for free.

In this post I'll detail the steps required to install and update Enemy Territory, the ET Pro mod, PunkBuster and XQF on FreeBSD.

1) Install and update Enemy Territory

Become the superuser:

% su

And install the required port:

# cd /usr/ports/games/linux-enemyterritory
# make install clean

This will pull Enemy Territory's installer from the web. If any port options pop up stick with the defaults and choose OK to continue.

If you don't have the Linux Compatibility Environment proceed to step 2, otherwise jump to step 3.

2) Enable the Linux Compatibility Environment

Enemy Territory needs both FreeBSD's Linux kernel module and near-minimal installation of a Linux distribution. By default, FreeBSD 7.x uses Fedora Core Linux 4.

The linux-enemyterritory port pulls in linux_base-fc4 so we just need to load the Linux kernel module at boot time. To do so run:

# echo 'linux_enable="YES"' >> /etc/rc.conf

3) Install Linux X.Org libraries

Wolfentein: Enemy Territory requires Linux X.Org libraries to load properly. To install them run the following command:

# cd /usr/ports/x11/linux-xorg-libs
# make install clean

4) Install the ET Pro mod

Next let's install Enemy Territory's best mod: ET Pro.

# cd /usr/ports/games/linux-enemyterritory-etpro
# make install clean

Now ET Pro will show under the Mods options in the games' main menu.

5) Update PunkBuster

Now start the game, create a player profile and quit. By doing so a .etwolf directory will be created in your home directory which includes a folder containing PunkBuster.

Point to http://www.evenbalance.com/index.php?page=pbsetup.php scroll down and follow the Linux download to download PunkBuster update application.

Change directory to where you've downloaded the pbsetup.run and:

# su
# chmod +x pbsetup.run
# exit
% cp pbsetup.run ~/.etwolf/pb
% ./pbsetup.run

PunkBuster will ask to fetch updates and prompt for a License Agreement. Afterwards point to "Add a Game option", choose Enemy Territory and its installation path.

On the main PunkBuster window click on Enemy Territory to select it and press "Check for Updates". Quit PunkBuster after updating it.

6) Install XQF

One can use the in game browser to search for server. However I recommend installing and using the XQF Game Server Browser as it a lot more flexible and complete:

# cd /usr/ports/games/xqf
# make install clean

XQF should identify the installed Enemy Territory so select the game and press "Update" to have XQF pull an updated server list.

I tend to play on www.Enemy-Territory.com by www.4netplayers.de server ;)

7) Fix sound issues

ET uses Linux's OSS sound infrastructure so you might come across issues. Here's how to enable sound on Enemy Territory under FreeBSD 7.x:

% su
# sysctl hw.snd.compat_linux_mmap=1
# echo "hw.snd.compat_linux_mmap=1" >> /etc/sysctl.conf
# exit

With the above commands sound will be enabled immediately and also at boot time.

And we're done!

See you on the battlefield I'll be the one with the tangram"FreeBSD~ name :D

HowTo: Upgrade FreeBSD 7.1 to 7.2

2009-05-04T08:40:00.001+01:00

Disclaimer: this post is for those that instead of using FreeBSD's excellent documentation maintain the bad habit of googling for things already covered in the project's official documentation. This is more or less a copy-paste of the FreeBSD 7.2-RELEASE Announcement instructions for upgrading 7.1 to 7.2.

These are needed steps to upgrade, through the binary upgrade method, the kernel and userland utilities to 7.2-RELEASE:

% su
# freebsd-update upgrade -r 7.2-RELEASE
# freebsd-update install
# shutdown -r now
% su
# freebsd-update install
# shutdown -r now

On step 1 we've started of by becoming the superuser. Step 2 initiates the freebsd-update utility pointing the upgrade to 7.2-RELEASE, after that we proceed with the installation of the kernel on step 3.

Upon rebooting the new kernel is enabled and we move into step 6. Here we end the upgrade process by updating the userland utilities.

That's it!

If you found this post useful that's actually a bad news: you aren't reading the project's official documentation! So please point to http://www.freebsd.org and educate yourself on FreeBSD ;)

HowTo: Using DenyHosts to help thwart SSH attacks on FreeBSD

2009-04-29T13:18:00.004+01:00

DenyHosts is a script intended to be run by UNIX-like system administrators to help thwart SSH server attacks (also known as dictionary based attacks and brute force attacks).

I've used it before on Gentoo Linux and liked it, so today I'll lay out the steps required to install and configure it on FreeBSD:

% su
# cd /usr/ports/security/denyhosts
# make install clean
# echo 'denyhosts_enable="YES"' >> /etc/rc.conf
# echo 'syslogd_flags="-s -c"' >> /etc/rc.conf
# echo "sshd : /etc/hosts.deniedssh : deny" >> /etc/hosts.allow
# echo "sshd : ALL : allow" >> /etc/hosts.allow
# touch /etc/hosts.deniedssh
Edit /usr/local/etc/denyhosts.conf and uncoment the BLOCK_SERVICE = sshd entry.
# /usr/local/etc/rc.d/denyhosts onestart

Steps 1 to 3 deal with the installation procedure.

From step 4 to 9, rc.conf is updated so that DenyHosts is started at boot time and can act as a daemon monitoring SSH unauthorized login attempts registering them in hosts.deniedssh.

Finally, step 10 starts DenyHosts imediattely.

If you wish to learn more about DenyHosts have a look at the project's homepage at http://denyhosts.sourceforge.net.

HowTo: Enemy Territory on Gentoo Linux

2009-04-24T11:50:00.001+01:00

$ su

And emerge the needed package:

# emerge enemy-territory

The game's License Agreement will appear to which you must press the q key so that the following prompt appears:

Do you accept the terms of this license (RTCW-ETEULA)? [yes/no]

Type yes.

Now start the game, create a player profile and quit. By doing so a .etwolf directory will be created in your home directory which includes a folder containing PunkBuster.

Inside the game you can check the installed version by pulling the console down by pressing ~ and typing version. It should output the following:

]\version

"version" is:"ET 2.60 linux-i386 Mar 10 2005" default:"ET 2.60 linux-i386 Mar 10 2005"

2) Install the ET Pro mod

To do so run:

# emerge enemy-territory-etpro

Now ET Pro will show under the Mods options in the games' main menu.

3) Update PunkBuster

Point to http://www.evenbalance.com/index.php?page=pbsetup.php scroll down and follow the Linux download to download PunkBuster update application.

Change directory to where you've downloaded the pbsetup.run and:

# su
# chmod +x pbsetup.run
# exit
$ cp pbsetup.run ~/.etwolf/pb
$ ./pbsetup.run

PunkBuster will ask to fetch updates and prompt for a License Agreement. Afterwards point to "Add a Game option", choose Enemy Territory and its installation path (/opt/enemy-territory).

On the main PunkBuster window click on Enemy Territory to select it and press "Check for Updates". Quit PunkBuster after updating it.

4) Install XQF

To browse and filter server I recommend installing and using the XQF Game Server Browser:

$ su
# emerge xqf

XQF will identify the installed Enemy Territory so select the game and press "Update" to have XQF pull an updated server list.

I tend to play on www.Enemy-Territory.com by www.4netplayers.de server ;)

5) Fix sound issues

ET uses Linux's OSS sound infrastructure so you might come across issues. If so please consult the Gentoo Linux Alsa Guide.

And we're done! See you on the battlefield :D

HowTo: Enemy Territory on Debian Linux

2009-04-22T00:29:00.015+01:00

Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory is a free multiplayer FPS that takes place in the World World II pitting two teams (Allies and Axis) against each other for victory.

In this post I'll detail the steps required to install and update Enemy Territory, the ET Pro mod, PunkBuster and XQF on Debian GNU/Linux. As a bonus I'll also describe how to workaround sound problems with Enemy Territory on Debian.

These steps can be pretty much be reproduced in any Linux distribution. It should be noted that the steps were performed on Debian Lenny but should translate to newer releases.

1) Install and update Enemy Territory

Let's start by fetching the games' installer, make the downloaded file executable and run it to install the game:

$ wget -c http://ftp.games.skynet.be/pub/wolfenstein/et-linux-2.60.x86.run
$ su
# chmod +x et-linux-2.60.x86.run
#./et-linux-2.60.x86.run

Press OK in the popup.

Agree with the License Agreement by pressing ENTER at the License Agreement prompt and choosing YES on "Do you agree with the license?" popup that follows.

Choose NO at the "Would you like to read the CHANGES file?" popup. You can allways read the CHANGES file latter on if you want.

Choose the installation path. And press in the Symlink path popup press ENTER.

Install both Enemy Territory and Punkbuster by pressing the TAB key to move to the OK option.

The License Agreement for Punkbuster shows up. Press ENTER twice.

Choose to install the startup menu entries.

After this the game installs. Don't choose to start the game imediatlely as we haven't finished installing everything.

Now download its update:

$ wget -c http://darkstar.ist.utl.pt/games/et-2.60b.zip

Unzip the file:

$ unzip et-2.60b.zip

Change directory of the unziped directory and copy the update files to games' directory:

$ cd Enemy\ Territory\ 2.60b/linux
$ su
# cp * /usr/local/games/enemy-territory/

Logout from the root account:

# exit

Now start the game, create a player profile and quit. By doing so a .etwolf directory will be created in your home directory which includes a folder containing PunkBuster.

Inside the game you can check the installed version by pulling the console down by pressing ~ and typing version. It should output the following:

]\version

"version" is:"ET 2.60b linux-i386 May 8 2006" default:"ET 2.60b linux-i386 May 8 2006"

2) Install the ET Pro mod

Next let's install Enemy Territory's best mod: ET Pro.

$ wget -c http://bani.anime.net/etpro/etpro-3_2_6.zip
$ unzip etpro-3_2_6.zip
$ et
$ cp -R etpro ~/.etwolf

Now ET Pro will show under the Mods options in the games' main menu.

Note: If have other users using ET I suggest copying etpro to /usr/local/games/enemy-territory instead thus making the mod available to every user.

3) Update PunkBuster

Point to http://www.evenbalance.com/index.php?page=pbsetup.php scroll down and follow the Linux download to download PunkBuster update application.

Change directory to where you've downloaded the pbsetup.run and:

# su
# chmod +x pbsetup.run
# exit
$ cp pbsetup.run ~/.etwolf/pb
$ ./pbsetup.run

PunkBuster will ask to fetch updates and prompt for a License Agreement. Afterwards point to "Add a Game option" and choose Enemy Territory. Punkbuster will point the installation path to your username's .etwolf directory.

Note: If you want all your users to have Punkbuster updated run the above steps as root and point to the game's install directory which should be /usr/local/games/enemy-territory.

On the main PunkBuster window click on Enemy Territory to select it and press "Check for Updates". Quit PunkBuster after updating it.

4) Install XQF

To browse and filter server I recommend installing and using the XQF Game Server Browser:

$ su
# aptitude install xqf

XQF will identify the installed Enemy Territory so select the game and press "Update" to have XQF pull an updated server list.

I tend to play on www.Enemy-Territory.com by www.4netplayers.de server ;)

5) Fix sound issues

ET uses Linux's OSS sound infrastructure. If you don't have sound here's how to enable the needed kernel module at boot time:

$ su
# echo "snd_pcm_oss" >> /etc/modules
# modprobe snd_pcm_oss

And we're done! See you on the battlefield :D

Bonus section: etpro launch script

If you play etpro if can repeat the following steps to launch etpro directly (I'm assuming your shell is Bash):

$ echo 'export PATH=$PATH:$HOME/bin' >> ~/.bashrc
$ mkdir ~/bin
$ touch ~/bin/et-pro
$ chmod +x ~/bin/et-pro
$ vim ~/bin/et-pro

Add the following lines:

#!/bin/sh
cd "/usr/local/games/enemy-territory/"
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$LD_LIBRARY_PATH:.
exec ./et.x86 "$@" +set fs_game etpro

Now you can launch etpro simply by:

$ et-pro

Book Review: Building a Server with FreeBSD 7

2009-04-16T13:23:00.002+01:00

I just love this book. Refreshing concept, clean, straight to the point and very very lean. In it you won't find any desktop related topics, this is an 100% server oriented book.

This is the book to get if you want to step up a server running services such as Apache, FTP, SAMBA, DNS, DHCP, NTP, VPN and so on. Chapter 1, presents the reader on clear and very straight to the option instructions on how to install FreeBSD and perform core administrative actions.

After this chapter we move to the core of the book: services. For here on the reader can choose the service he wants to install/configure and jump right to it.

For each service the author describes the application's background and history, software version used in the book, needed dependencies, install and configurations instructions. The book also shows how to test the service and points to further information. All this is a very systematic and streamlined manner.

BASWF7 is 288 pages long and makes a nice companion to set up services on FreeBSD for anyone acquainted with UNIX like systems. It's also a good complement to FreeBSD's own Handbook by moving into the territory where the Handbook falls short: third parties application configuration.

The book however isn't perfect. It should have in my opinion instructions on how to set up NFS and provide security hardening instructions/advice such as how to build a simple firewall to protect the server.

To sum up: I full hearty recommend this book to anyone wanting to build a server with FreeBSD.

Tip: D-Link DGE-528 on FreeBSD

2009-04-16T08:56:00.001+01:00

Here's how to enable 1000baseTX full-duplex on a D-Link DGE-528 network card:

% su
# pciconf -lv
# ifconfig
# ifconfig -m re0
# ifconfig re0 media 1000baseTX mediaopt full-duplex
# vim /etc/rc.conf
ifconfig_re0="inet 192.168.1.3 netmask 255.255.255.0 media 1000baseTX mediaopt full-duplex"

Start by becoming the superuser.

Steps 2, 3 and 4 help you determine where the card is (in my case re0) and collect more info on it.

On step 5 use ifconfig to apply the new setting and test the card out. If everything is ok add the ifconfig setting to /etc/rc.conf (steps 6 and 7) so that the next time you boot the next settings are applied.

Sources:
man 4 re
man 8 ifconfig

Tip: Fixing NVIDIA mismatched kernel module on Debian

2009-04-15T14:00:00.006+01:00

I've installed Debian 5 Lenny a few day ago and imagine my surprise when yesterday I decided to update it and came across a broken Xorg.

Upon boot X11 didn't load and presented the following error message:

Failed to load the NVIDIA kernel module!

One of the updated packages was the Linux kernel, so I suspected that the problem was with the NVIDIA package and a mismatched Linux kernel.

I had nvidia-kernel-2.6.26-1-686 installed and the new kernel was 2.6.26-2-686 so I needed a matching NVIDIA kernel module.

So here are the steps that I took to fix things up:

# aptitude search ~i~nvidia
# aptitude update
# aptitude purge nvidia-glx
# aptitude install nvidia-kernel-2.6-686
# aptitude install nvidia-glx
# /etc/init.d/gdm restart

On step 1 let's us check exactly what we have installed related with nvidia. Next we update the apt's database and proceed removing the nvidia-glx on setp 3.

With steps 4 nvidia-kernel-2.6.26-2-686 and nvidia-kernel-common are pulled in and you'll be syncronized with the installed Linux kernel.

The nvidia-glx package is installed in step 5 and finnally gdm (replace gdm by the login manager you are using) is restarted bringing X11 back online.

And we're done. Bloodly kernel upgrades ;)

Tip: Updating packages that don't want to be updated on Debian

2009-04-09T10:10:00.003+01:00

In my desktop I have a series of operating systems including Debian GNU/Linux. Having spent most of my time in FreeBSD running XFCE4 I figured I'd update my Debian Sid install whose last update as performed more that 6 months ago.

So after performing apt-get update, apt-get upgrade and apt-get dist-upgrade a few packages insisted on not wanting to be updated with APT screaming "The following packages have been kept back".

A quick jump to the Debian's own APT HOWTO at http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/apt-howto/index.en.html#contents presented some APT stuff that I were unaware.

So to know what's keeping a package from being updated you may use:

apt-get -o Debug::pkgProblemResolver=yes dist-upgrade

Running this command helped me out in figuring what to do, which involved removing and re-installing some packages in a specific order.

APT does have some interesting thing into it doesn't it?

;)

Tip: Build ports on multiple processing cores

2009-03-24T15:16:00.003Z

Ports framework supports building ports on multiple processing cores as announced today in the project's mailing list. This is achieved by passing -jX flag to make(1) running on vendor code.

Do notice that not all ports support this feature so ports that support this feature have their Makefile updated with MAKE_JOBS_SAFE=yes.

This feature is now enabled by default with the level of parallelization being equal to a number of processing cores in your computer. This value can however be overridden, for example if you want 6 jobs:

% su
# echo "MAKE_JOBS_NUMBER=6" >> /etc/make.conf

However if you want to disable this feature:

% su
% echo "DISABLE_MAKE_JOBS=yes" >> /etc/make.conf

You can read the announcement at http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-ports/2009-March/053736.html.

HowTo: Install and configure NVIDIA drivers on FreeBSD

2009-03-24T10:22:00.021Z

FreeBSD's Ports collection contains the official NVIDIA binary drivers for hardware OpenGL rendering in X, using the GLX extensions.The x11/nvidia-driver points to NVIDIA's latest stable driver set.

If you are using a legacy card check NVIDIA's site to see which driver set supports your card and browse the Ports tree for the suitable driver version and install that instead.

Bellow are the steps needed to install NVIDIA drivers on i386 FreeBSD 7.1:

% su
# portsnap fetch update
# cd /usr/ports/x11/nvidia-drivers
# make config
# make install clean
# echo 'nvidia_load="YES"' >> /boot/loader.conf
# echo 'linux_enable="YES"' >> /etc/rc.conf
# echo 'hint.agp.0.disabled="1"' >> boot/device.hints

Basically start by updating your ports tree, installing the driver and preparing FreeBSD to load the NVIDIA kernel module it at boot time. Consider selecting ACPI (enable support for ACPI Power Management) and LINUX (build with support for Linux compatibility) port options.

Now let's proceed by editing /etc/X11/xorg.conf to have it use the NVIDIA driver and add some options to increase performance:

edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf and change the driver value from "nv" to "nvidia":

Driver "nvidia"

under the Device section of xorg.conf add the following options:

Option "RenderAccel" "True"
Option "NoRenderExtension" "False"
Option "NoFlip" "False"
Option "UseEdid" "True"
Option "NvAGP" "1"

Additional performance options can be enabled, however these might affect stability. To enable Side Band Addressing and Fast Writes add the following sysctls to /etc/sysctl.conf:

# echo "hw.nvidia.registry.EnableAGPSBA=1" >> /etc/sysctl.conf
# echo "hw.nvidia.registry.EnableAGPFW=1" >> /etc/sysctl.conf

Finally:

# reboot

Further reading material can be found at:
http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en/books/handbook/x11.html
/usr/local/share/doc/NVDIA_GLX-1.0/

Tip: Use SUB_LIST to discover a port's VAR paths on FreeBSD

2009-03-23T14:34:00.005Z

I was looking for man pages, READMEs and assorted information on the nvidia-driver port and couldn't recall where I'd seen the port's installed documentation.

Enter SUB_LIST for the rescue:

% cd /usr/ports/x11/nvidia-driver
% make -V SUB_LIST

PREFIX=/usr/local LOCALBASE=/usr/local X11BASE=/usr/local DATADIR=/usr/local/share/nvidia-driver DOCSDIR=/usr/local/share/doc/NVIDIA_GLX-1.0 EXAMPLESDIR=/usr/local/share/examples/nvidia-driver WWWDIR=/usr/local/www/nvidia-driver ETCDIR=/usr/local/etc/nvidia-driver

SUB_LIST kindly outputs a list of VAR=VALUE pairs, showing useful information such as PREFIX and DOCSDIR.

Pretty nice eh? ;)

Point to http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en/books/porters-handbook/using-sub-files.html for further information on ports and SUB_LIST.

HowTo: Fix SATA DMA timeout issues on FreeBSD

2009-03-23T10:21:00.011Z

Update: added instructions for those using FreeBSD 8.x.

I've experienced heavy problems with a recently purchased 1TB SATA drive from Samsung on ICH7 motherboard running a fresh FreeBSD 7.1 install. The system was issuing loads of SATA timeout errors that culminated in system crashes, drive disconnection and data loss.

Here's a snip of my /var/log/messages:

kernel: ad4: WARNING - WRITE_DMA UDMA ICRC error (retrying request) LBA=26003999
kernel: ad4: WARNING - WRITE_DMA UDMA ICRC error (retrying request) LBA=56856991
kernel: ad4: WARNING - WRITE_DMA UDMA ICRC error (retrying request) LBA=57609503
kernel: ad4: TIMEOUT - READ_DMA retrying (1 retry left) LBA=174249023
kernel: ad4: TIMEOUT - READ_DMA retrying (1 retry left) LBA=190428031
kernel: ad4: WARNING - WRITE_DMA48 UDMA ICRC error (retrying request) LBA=1351930207
kernel: ad4: TIMEOUT - WRITE_DMA48 retrying (0 retries left) LBA=1351930207

Upon searching for solutions I came across Jeremy Chadwick's page on wiki.freebsd.org. Jeremy has been registering issues that are commonly reported by FreeBSD users and also published troubleshooting methods for ATA/SATA issues.

Jeremy informs that Volker Theile of the FreeNAS project had solved most of the problems by increasing a hard-coded arbitrary timeout value of 5 (seconds) in the ATA code to 10 or 15, while simultaneously making the timeout value adjustable via sysctl.

So I thought to myself "Might as well try the patch out and hope for the best". And I'm glad that I went along and tried it out as it fixed all of my issues.

Bellow are the needed steps to fetch the patch, apply it and compile a patched kernel:

% fetch http://freenas.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/freenas/trunk/build/kernel-patches/ata/files/patch-ata.diff
% su
# csup -h cvsup2.uk.freebsd.org -L 2 /usr/share/examples/cvsup/standard-supfile
# cd /usr/src/sys/dev
# patch < /path/to/patch
# cd /usr/src
# make kernel
# cp -Rp /boot/kernel.old /boot/kernel.SATA-ISSUES
# reboot

Start by fetching the patch (step 1), next change to root and fetch FreeBSD's source code as detailed in step3.

Note: if you are running FreeBSD 8.x fetch the patch file using this URL instead http://www.avenard.org/files/ata_timeout.patch. Replace the step 1 URL with this one.

Next, with steps 4 and 5 patch the source code with FreeNAS' patch and build a patched kernel. Do notice that I used csup pointing to /usr/share/examples/cvsup/standard-supfile as I'm running FreeBSD 7.1 (of simply use your own supfile). Further information on how to build a kernel can be found at http://www.freebsd.org/handbook/kernelconfig.html.

As a safety precaution back up the old kernel as described in step 9.

Finally reboot to the new kernel and monitor /var/log/messages for SATA timeout issues. After I've applied the patch my problems have stopped.

Props to:

Jeremy Chadwick and Volker Theile for the FreeBSD 7.x patch.

Jean-Yves Avenard for providing the URL a FreeBSD 8.x patch.

Sources:
http://wiki.freebsd.org/JeremyChadwick/ATA_issues_and_troubleshooting
http://freenas.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/freenas/trunk/build/kernel-patches/ata/files/patch-ata.diff?view=markup
http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/cvsup.html
http://www.freebsd.org/handbook/kernelconfig.html

Tip: Add color to man pages with most on FreeBSD

2009-03-17T11:01:00.005Z

man pages are formatted using FreeBSD less and more utilities which display text in blank and white colors. most on the other hand introduces the ability to view man pages formatted with colors.

most is a pager (like less and more) that displays, one windowful at a time, the contents of a file on a terminal. It pauses after each windowful and prints the following on the window status line: the screen, the file name, current line number, and the percentage of the file so far displayed.

Let's install most:

% su
# cd /usr/ports/sysutils/most
# make install clean
# rehash
# exit

Users of csh or tcsh shells can try most out by setting the PAGER environment variable like so:

% setenv PAGER most

Those that use the zsh shell can set the PAGER environment variable like this:

% export PAGER=most

If you like it editing you user shell configuration file and set the PAGER variable to most.

As most is a third party application I'd suggest that you don't use it as the default pager for the root account. I'm sure you don't want to find yourself in single user mode with only the root partition mounted and realize that your .cshrc defines most has the pager ;)

HowTo: Determine the fastest CVSup mirror on FreeBSD

2009-03-11T11:04:00.012Z

fastest_cvsup is a Perl script to find fastest CVSup server. Amongst it's feature it:

uses socket connections not just 'pings'
takes notice of server responses
connects to servers in countries specified on the command line - or - connects to the 'local' servers defined in the script - or - connects to ALL the servers in ALL the countries
returns either fastest server or top 3 (useful for scripts)
returns exit codes (useful for scripts)
can re-write itself to update the CVSup server list, obtained from the online FreeBSD Handbook
can easily add other CVSup servers (NetBSD/OpenBSD...etc)

Here's how to identify the fastest CVSup mirror:

% su
# cd /usr/ports/sysutils/fastest_cvsup
# make install clean
# rehash
# exit
% fastest_cvsup -Q -r -c all

We've started by becoming the superuser, proceeded by installing the port and finally ran it. After running the last command, the application will prompt the fastest mirror.

Change your /etc/make.conf or supfiles with the new mirror. In alternative pass the determined mirror at the command line when running csup.

For more options run:

% fastest_cvsup -h
% man fastest_cvsup

Some further examples of the script's usage:

times the FreeBSD CVSup servers in the United Kingdom, France and Germany:

% fastest_cvsup -c uk,fr,de

times the OpenBSD and NetBSD CVSup servers:

% fastest_cvsup -c openbsd,netbsd

shell script, finds the fastest UK FreeBSD CVSup server, then runs csup using that server:

#!/bin/sh
if SERVER=`fastest_cvsup -q -c uk`; then
csup -h $SERVER /usr/share/examples/cvsup/standard-supfile
fi

The project's website can be found at http://fastest-cvsup.sourceforge.net/.

Tip: Enable sudo completion in tcsh/csh shell

2009-03-09T14:22:00.006Z

Having installed and setup sudo I realized that the C shell (e.g. tcsh/csh) didn't autocomplete commands issued after typing sudo.

Place the following in your .cshrc file:

set complete = enhance
complete sudo 'n/-l/u/' 'p/1/c/'

And finally source the changes:

% source .cshrc

For more information visit tcsh(1) in the REFERENCE section under complete.

Tip: Allow users to shutdown the system on FreeBSD

2009-03-09T11:01:00.007Z

Operations such as shutdown and rebooting usually require root privileges. However, one may allow other users to run these commands with success.

To allow users to shutdown a FreeBSD system you basically have two options: add the user to the operator group or install and configure sudo to allow usage of the administrative command. I've already covered the latter option in a previous post so I'll only go over the remaining option here.

The steps consist in becoming root and using pw to add the user (in the example bellow username) to the operator group:

% su
# pw groupmod operator -m username
# exit

To reboot the system login to the user account that belongs to the operator group and run:

% shutdown -r now

If you want to power down the system run this instead:

% shutdown -p now

Do take a look at pw(8) and shutdown(8) manual pages for further information.

Tip: Solving the sudo redirect "problem"

2009-03-06T17:38:00.008Z

Upon using sudo more frequently I came across an issue while using redirects, for example:

% sudo echo WITHOUT_IPFILTER=yes > /etc/make.conf
root: Permission denied.

The key to solve the "problem" was to run the command in a sub-shell to make the redirection work, like so:

% sudo sh -c 'echo WITHOUT_IPFILTER=yes > /etc/make.conf'

The answer to this lies in man sudo ;)

HowTo: Using sudo on FreeBSD

2009-03-05T00:50:00.014Z

sudo is a great tool for granting specific privileges to users other that the root user. This application allows a permitted user to execute a command as the superuser or another user, as specified in the sudoers file.

Today I'll detail the steps needed to install and configure sudo on FreeBSD from a desktop/workstation perspective, in other words I'll dwell more on less on the common user.

Let's start by install the application and then proceed to configure the sudoers file with visudo:

% su
# cd /usr/ports/security/sudo ; make install clean
# visudo /usr/local/etc/sudoers

Uncomment the following line to allow users in the wheel group to run all commands:

%wheel ALL=(ALL) ALL

By enabing this line, users in wheel group will have full root privileges on the computer by providing their password in order to use administrative commands.

If you wish that users in the wheel to acquire these privileges without using a password then uncomment the next line instead:

%wheel ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: ALL

sudo can also be used to allow more restrictive usage, for instance to allow the user freebsduser to mount and unmount /cdrom the following line could be added to /usr/local/etc/sudoers:

freebsduser ALL=/sbin/mount /cdrom,/sbin/umount /cdrom

To allow members of the users group shutdown the computer add the following to the sudoers file:

%users localhost=/sbin/shutdown -h now

Add the following line to let user freebsduser access all privileges without entering password:

freebsduser ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: ALL

After editing the sudoers file you'll need to issue a :w! command in visudo as the file is read-only. To use sudo just prefix sudo before the command with specific privileges. For the %wheel ALL=(ALL) ALL example, if you are in the wheel group and want to shutdown the computer you'd type:

# sudo shutdown -h now

And insert your passoword.

Once you enter a correct password, sudo records the time and for the next 5 minutes it won't ask you for a password. After those 5 minutes you must re-authenticate. You can change the timeout value from 5 to another value by setting the password_timeout value in the /usr/local/etc/sudoers file).

Every use of sudo is logged in /var/log/messages, so do take a look and check for yourself.

I've only touched the tip of the iceberg on sudo so do take a look at its man page.

Tip: Disable OpenOffice splash screen in FreeBSD

2009-03-03T10:10:00.004Z

With time OpenOffice's splash screen becomes annoying so end up disabling it on all my machines. Today in FreeBSD mailing list I replied to fellow user who was asking on how to due this on FreeBSD so thought I should share the tip here also.

Here are the needed steps:

% su
# vim /usr/local/openoffice.org-3.0.0/openoffice.org3/program/sofficerc
Change the Logo variable from 1 to 0 like so

[Bootstrap]
Logo=0

We've started by becoming the superuser on step 1, and proceeded to change the Logo variable value defined in /usr/local/openoffice.org-3.0.0/openoffice.org3/program/sofficerc so that the splash is disabled.

If by any chance you want to renable the splash screen just change the Logo variable value back to 1.

Simple eh?

;)

Tip: Fix keyboard layout problem with Xorg Server 1.5.3 under FreeBSD

2009-02-09T15:47:00.005Z

The Xorg Server was updated to version 1.5.3 and with it came much controversy.

I had a nice xorg.conf customized for my hardware and it served me for over a year, however all of a sudden my keyboard layout options weren't read by Xorg. The way input devices were configured in Xorg changed, now being configured by hal.

Browsing the mailing lists, /usr/ports/UPDATING and forum I came across several solutions here's the one I decided to implement:

% su
# vi /etc/xorg.conf

Section "ServerFlags"
Option "AllowEmptyInput" "off"
Option "AutoAddDevices" "off"
EndSection

Basically I've edited xorg.conf and added options to disable Xorg's use of hal features. Do take notice that I use a window manager (lately Fluxbox) so I don't need hal.

Anyone needing hal will need to resort to other options. Browse FreeBSD's mailing lists between late January and early February for more info.

Tip: Mount ReiserFS partitions in FreeBSD

2009-01-29T10:51:00.004Z

My desktop dual boots Gentoo Linux and FreeBSD. When I installed Gentoo at the time I decided on splitting certain directories in distinct partition, so the I created a partition strictly for portage and opted for the ReiserFS filesystem.

Today I wanted to cut down on the bandwith and decided to copy over a needed distfile from the ReiserFS partition to FreeBSD.

Bellow you'll find the procedure to mount a ReiserFS in read-only mode. Do notice than the entire procedure is performed only on the FreeBSD system:

% man reiserfs
% su
# kldload reiserfs.ko
# mount -t reiserfs -o ro /dev/ad4s5 /mnt

On step 1 read reiserfs' man page, next become the superuser and proceeded to load the kernel module and finally mount the filesystem.

The -t switch lets you specify the filesystem and with -o decide in which mode should the filesystem be mounted (in this case in read-only mode).

My target partition was /dev/ad4s5 so change accordingly to your system. In my case I just viewed Gentoo's /etc/fstab and ran ls /dev/ad* to check if it added up ok.

Pretty simple eh?

Book Review: Absolute FreeBSD: The Complete Guide to FreeBSD, 2nd Edition

2009-01-26T11:52:00.010Z

In the past holidays I bought a few books about FreeBSD: Absolute FreeBSD: The Complete Guide to FreeBSD 2nd Edition, The Best of FreeBSD Basics, The Book of PF and Building a Server with FreeBSD 7.

I'm pretty happy with all of them and I recommend them, under certain criteria, to anyone looking into FreeBSD. Why under certain criteria? If you're looking for a book on desktop usage of FreeBSD you'll find The Book of PF pretty disapointing.

Absolute FreeBSD: The Complete Guide to FreeBSD, 2nd Edition is the perfect combination for FreeBSD's own Handbook. At times the Handbook might seem too straightforward by not offering advices or sharing experiences. Michael Lucas' Absolute FreeBSD on the other hand presents the reader with rich information, background, advice and reasoning although focusing on the network administrator and setting aside the desktop user.

If you are looking into a nice FreeBSD book to get your feet wet on Unix-like systems so that you can carry out mundane desktop tasks then I'm afraid that Absolute FreeBSD simply isn't for you. If you on the other hand enjoy FreeBSD, know Unix basics and want to expand your horizons and maybe setup a personal server and even make a living out of FreeBSD, Absolute FreeBSD is definitely for you.

I don't have an IT background though I know my way around Unix-like systems so I've found chapters like Chapter 6: The Network extremely useful to cement some disperse concepts that I have (had thanks to Lucas' book).

People new to FreeBSD and Unix-like systems in general will find the first two chapters filled with helpful advices on how to prepare yourself for the tasks of installing FreeBSD and seeking help, especially the Preinstall Decisions section. To help explore FreeBSD Chapter 10: Exploring /etc is simply golden as it goes over the files available in /etc while describing what each does.

I found Chapter 3: Start me Up! The Boot Process very insightful. Chapter 4 brought RCS to my bag of tricks. The security chapters (7 and 9) were also very interesting reading namely the part regarding Jails.

Personal favorites were Chapter 5: Kernel Games, Chapter8: Disks and Filesystems, Chapter 11: making your system useful, Chapter 12: Advanced Software Management, Chapter 13: Upgrading FreeBSD, Chapter 18: Disk Tricks with GEOM. These are the chapters I'll ended reading time and time again and are largely FreeBSD focused.

Chapters 15 and 17 focus on adding services to FreeBSD and go over SSH, FTP, NTP, Inetd and Apache web server. Pretty useful as I'm planning on setting up some personal web serving stuff.

I'm not much into email and DNS stuff so I didn't payed much attention to chapters 14 and 16, however if the reader is into the subjects I'm sure he'll find both chapters very important.

Props to chapter 20, 21 and the Afterword expand on what FreeBSD is, what it can be, how can you interact with it and what can you do to improve it.

To sum up, just go out and buy the book. It's worth every penny and more.

Tip: Remove all installed packages and ports on FreeBSD

2009-01-20T14:22:00.004Z

This post provides the steps required to remove every installed package and port on a FreeBSD system. By following the bellow steps you'll end up with a barebones system composed by FreeBSD's userland and kernel without any third party applications.

% su
# pkg_delete -f -a
# rm -rf /var/db/pkg /var/db/ports /usr/local

We've started by using pkg_delete to remove all packages and ports and finished by deleting every traces of them in the system (including ports selected build options).

And that's it!

HowTo: Using ccache on FreeBSD

2009-01-19T14:40:00.013Z

ccache is a compiler cache. It speeds up re-compilation of C/C++ code by caching previous compiles and detecting when the same compile is being done again.

The following is a step by step guide to how to enable and use ccache on FreeBSD 7.1:

% su
# cd /usr/ports/devel/ccache
# make install clean
# vim /etc/make.conf

.if (!empty(.CURDIR:M/usr/src*) || !empty(.CURDIR:M/usr/obj*)) && !defined(NOCCACHE)
CC=/usr/local/libexec/ccache/world-cc
CXX=/usr/local/libexec/ccache/world-c++
.endif

Basically we've started by installing ccache (steps 1 through 3) and proceeded by editing /etc/make.conf as to enable ccache on builds.

Now we need to update the environment.

If you are using csh/tcsh shell add the following to /root/.cshrc:

setenv PATH /usr/local/libexec/ccache:$PATH
setenv CCACHE_PATH /usr/bin:/usr/local/bin
setenv CCACHE_DIR /var/tmp/ccache
setenv CCACHE_LOGFILE /var/log/ccache.log

If you are using zsh add the following to your /root/.zshrc file:

export PATH=/usr/local/libexec/ccache:$PATH
export CCACHE_PATH=/usr/bin:/usr/local/bin
export CCACHE_DIR=/var/tmp/ccache
export CCACHE_LOGFILE=/var/log/ccache.log

After updating the dotfiles we update the environment. Users of csh/tcsh shells can update by:

# source /root/.cshrc

Anyone using zsh can update the environment by running the following command:

# source /root/.zshrc

And that's it: ccache is installed and the environment is updated. Your next build will be performed with ccache enabled.

To display statistics summary:

% ccache -s

To zero statistics:

% ccache -z

To check out the help file for a list of ccache options:

% ccache -h

If you come across a port that fails to build, disable ccache and try again:

# make NOCCACHE=yes install clean

You can find more information regarding ccache through:

% man ccache
% ccache -h
% less /ur/local/share/doc/ccache/ccache-howto-freebsd.txt
% links /ur/local/share/doc/ccache/index.html
http://forums.freebsd.org/showthread.php?t=174

Tip: Disable beep in Fedora

2009-01-15T16:32:00.005Z

The first thing I realized I just had to change on Fedora 10 was the bloody beep. Fedora ships with a kernel module for the PC speaker named pcspkr.ko that if left loaded will drive you mad.

With this module loaded you get to hear a lovely beep while using a terminal. To turn off the beep, simply remove the kernel module and blacklist it to have it gone for good.

Here's how:

$ su
# rmmod -v pcspkr
# echo "blacklist pcspkr" >> /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist

On step 1 become superuser, on step 2 we've removed the module for the running session and on step 3 we've prevented it from loading at boot.

These steps can be performed similarly in other distros.

Tip: Disable shutdown beep in FreeBSD

2009-01-15T16:24:00.004Z

Beeps are annoying and the one at shutdown is no different.

Here's how to get rid of shutdown beeps:

% su
# sysctl hw.syscons.bell=0
# echo "hw.syscons.bell=0" >> /etc/sysctl.conf
# exit

We've started by becoming the superuser and then on step 2 we've disable the console bell. To guarantee that on next boot that horrible beep doesn't crop up we've added a sysctl to disable it in /etc/sysctl.conf.

Tip: Log console messages in FreeBSD

2009-01-13T14:53:00.003Z

If you run FreeBSD without X11 you've noticed already that messages are presented in the console. Well you can log these messages with the help of syslog.

Here's how:

% su
# touch /var/log/console.log
# chmod 600 /var/log/console.log
# vim /etc/syslog.conf

Make sure that that the console.info /var/log/console.log is uncommented.

# /etc/rc.d/syslogd restart

And that's it!

HowTo: Upgrade FreeBSD 7.0 to 7.1

2009-01-07T10:26:00.010Z

Disclaimer: this post is for those that instead of using FreeBSD's excellent documentation maintain the bad habit of googling for things already covered in the project's official documentation. This is more or less a copy-paste of the FreeBSD 7.1-RELEASE Announcement instructions for upgrading 7.0 to 7.1.

These are needed steps to upgrade, through the binary path, the kernel and userland utilities to 7.1-RELEASE:

% su
# freebsd-update upgrade -r 7.1-RELEASE
# freebsd-update install
# reboot
% su
# freebsd-update install
# reboot

On step 1 we've started of by becoming the superuser. Step 2 initiates the freebsd-update utility pointing the upgrade to 7.1-RELEASE, after that we proceed with the installation of the kernel on step 3.

Upon rebooting the new kernel is enabled and we move into step 6. Here we end the upgrade process by updating the userland utilities.

That's it!

If you found this post useful that's actually a bad news: you aren't reading the project's official documentation! So please point to http://www.freebsd.org and educate yourself on FreeBSD ;)

Tip: Updating FreeBSD with freebsd-update with full filesystem

2008-12-17T21:55:00.004Z

My old 266 Mhz Celeron (soon to be replaced my an ASUS I220GC motherboard with integrated Celern 220 CPU) is installed on a 4GB HDD which leaves about 297Mb for the /var filesytem.

freebsd-update, the base tool to perform binary system updates, uses by default the /var filesystem. While updating to the recent FreeBSD 7.1-RC1 I couldn't finish the update due to a full filesystem.

Here's how solve the issue and fully update the system:

% su
# freebsd-update -d /path/to/big/path/directory/ upgrade -r 7.1-RC1
# freebsd-update -d /path/to/big/path/directory/ install
# shutdown -r now
# freebsd-update -d /path/to/big/path/directory/ install
# shutdown -r now

In other words, simply use freebsd-update's -d option. man freebsd-update and http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-stable/2008-December/047014.html for more info.

Happy updating ;)

Tip: Fix freebsd-update problems

2008-12-17T10:19:00.003Z

I tried to update my desktop from FreeBSD 7.1-PRERELEASE to 7.1-RC1 however I came across an error along the lines of "No mirrors remaining, giving up" .

Here's how to fix the issue:

% su
# env UNAME_r=7.1-PRERELEASE freebsd-update upgrade -r 7.1-RC1

Substitute the current and target versions according to you particular system and you should be able to update the system as usual.

Tip: Enable sound on Enemy Territory under FreeBSD

2008-12-05T00:53:00.006Z

Enemy Territory is available in FreeBSD's ports system under /usr/ports/games/linux-enemyterritory. The port's Makefile makes no mention that if you install the game and run it you'll be playing without sound.

Here's a quick tip on how to enable sound on Enemy Territory under FreeBSD 7.0:

% su
# sysctl hw.snd.compat_linux_mmap=1
# echo "hw.snd.compat_linux_mmap=1" >> /etc/sysctl.conf
# exit

Step 2 enables sound immediately and with step 3 sound will be enabled at boot time.

And that's it. Now hurry and go play the world great first-person shoot ever.

d^.^b

HowTo: Logitech MX500 under FreeBSD

2008-11-19T22:16:00.004Z

I have both a Logitech MX500 and a MX518, however I've loaned the MX518 to my brother. So I took my previous post on MX518 and mirrored it to MX500.

Being an Enemy Territory (ET) old timer I need to make full use of the MX500 mouse under FreeBSD, which means having the Back, Forward and the other weird button below the wheel working as available binds while playing ET.

The bellow xorg.conf settings were tested under FreeBSD 7.0 and X.Org X Server 1.4.2.

% su
# vim /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Mouse0"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Protocol" "auto"
Option "Device" "/dev/sysmouse"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
Option "ButtonMapping" "1 2 3 6 7 8 9 10 4 5"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "false"
EndSection

With these settings you're free to bind MOUSE4, MOUSE5 and KP_EQUALS to Enemy Territory.

As a bonus, you can now use the Back and Forward buttons under Opera.

HowTo: Activate keyboard numlock on KDE under Gentoo

2008-11-19T13:20:00.002Z

Having finished compiling KDE 3.5.9 as described here I proceeded fine tuning it which involves among other things enabling the keyboard numlock.

In this post I'll lay down some alternatives that will allow you to activate the keyboard numlock on the KDE desktop environment:

on a per user basis using KDE's autostart mechanism
through the KDM login manager
installing the kxkb package and graphically using the Kcontrol center

Alternative 1
You can activate the keyboard numlock on peer use basis like so:

$ su
# emerge --ask --tree --verbose numlockx
# exit
$ vim .kde3.5/Autostart/numlockx

#!/bin/sh
numlockx on

$ chmod +x .kde3.5/Autostart/numlockx

Alternative 2
In alternative if you use KDM as your login manager you can set it on system wide:

$ su
# echo "/usr/bin/numlockx on" >> /usr/kde/3.5/share/config/kdm/Xsetup

Alternative 3
Yet another alternative is to install kde-base/kxkb if you've installed KDE using split ebuilds (like I did here):

$ su
# emerge --ask --tree --verbose kxkb
browse to KDE's Control Center > Peripherals > Keyboard > NumLock > Turn on

As a side note the above procedures can easily be mirrored to any Unix like system.

Now go ahead and fully use your keyboard ;-)

Resources:
http://www.gentoo-wiki.info/TIP_Numlock
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Activating_Numlock_on_Bootup
http://linux-bsd-sharing.blogspot.com/2008/10/howto-install-and-setup-kde-35x-on.html

Tip: Fixing e2fsprogs block on Gentoo

2008-11-19T09:48:00.011Z

A portage block as popped up lately on the portage tree. The block regards sys-fs/e2fsprogs, sys-libs/e2fsprogs-libs, sys-libs/ss and sys-libs/com_err.

Normally when facing with blocks on world it just a matter of unmerging the blocking packages, resuming and running revdep-rebuild just in case. However in this particular block were dealing with the system set. This means that while unmerging the blocking packages there a good chance you'll break something... badly.

Here's how to deal with the e2fsprogs block:

$ su
# eix-sync
# emerge --fetchonly e2fsprogs e2fsprogs-libs
# emerge --unmerge com_err ss e2fsprogs
# emerge --oneshot e2fsprogs

Basically on step 3 we've fetched the source for e2fsprogs and e2fsprogs-libs. On step 4 we've unmerged the blockers and finally on step 5 emerge e2fsprogs.

Notice that by unmerging com_err or ss you'd break wget making it impossible to fetch the e2fsprogs and ef2progs-libs packages through portage (though you could fetch them manually). The --oneshot option is used on step 5 as e2fprogs is a system package and should not be in world.

Also consider as a safety precaution adding buildsyspkg to the FEATURES variables in /etc/make.conf as this enables the build of binary packages for just packages in the system set.

HowTo: Using Fstab entries to mount Samba shares on Linux

2008-10-29T14:49:00.000Z

Samba is an Open Source/Free Software suite that provides file and print services to all manner of SMB/CIFS clients. Samba is freely available, and allows for interoperability between Linux/Unix servers and Windows-based clients.

Samba shares can be accessed in several ways, such as issuing the mount command, using /etc/fstab entries, accessing it through file browsers such as Konqueror, Midnight Commander and Nautilus.

The current post addresses /etc/fstab entries on Linux systems.

To automatically mount a Samba share at boot time we need to edit the /etc/fstab file and add the necessary entry:

$ su
# vim /etc/fstab

//192.168.0.1/share /mnt/samba smbfs username=username,password=yourpassword 0 0

Due to security issues it’s not a good idea to put username/password in the /etc/fstab file. So you can change the username=username,password=password section and replace it with credentials=/root/.fstabcredentials:

# vim /etc/fstab

//192.168.0.1/share /mnt/samba smbfs credentials=/root/.fstabcredentials 0 0

Next we create the /root/.fstabcredentials file and add the needed information:

# vim /root/.fstabcredentials

username=username
password=password

Substitute the username and password arguments according to your system.

To further close access to the file we change it's permissions:

# chmod 600 /root/.fstabcredentials

And that's it!

Resources:
http://us3.samba.org/samba/

HowTo: Network traffic & bandwidth monitoring with darkstat on Gentoo

2008-10-29T10:24:00.006Z

Following the footsteps on installing darkstat on my old 266 Mhz FreeBSD machine I've mirrored the install procedures on my 1.3 Ghz Pentium-M Gentoo Hardened server. This post will cover the installation and configuration of darkstat on a x86 machine running Gentoo Hardened stable.

Darstat captures network traffic, calculates statistics about usage, and serves reports over HTTP.

Darstat provides the following features:

Traffic graphs, reports per host, shows ports for each host.
Embedded web-server with deflate compression.
Asynchronous reverse DNS resolution using a child process.
Small. Portable. Single-threaded. Efficient. Uncomplicated.

Follow the bellow steps to update the portage tree and install darkstat:

$ su
# eix-sync
# emerge --ask --tree --verbose darkstat

To enable darkstat at boot time add it to the default runlevel by:

# rc-update add darkstat default

Now let's edit /etc/conf.d/darkstat to identify the network interface (in my case eth0) that we wish to monitor and enable logging:

# vim /etc/conf.d/darkstat

INTERFACE="eth0"
DAYLOGFILE="darkstat.log"

The next step is to start darkstat by running the following command:

# /etc/init.d/darkstat start

To check darkstat daemon status:

# /etc/init.d/darkstat status

By default darkstat serves graphs to http://localhost:667, so fire up your browser and point to the location. If you are planning (like me) on accessing to the graphs for another location add port 667 (you can choose another port number in /etc/conf.d/darkstat) to your router Port Forwarding settings.

Hope you enjoy darkstat. I find it extremely useful and refreshing.

Resources:
man darkstat
http://dmr.ath.cx/net/darkstat/
http://linux-bsd-sharing.blogspot.com/2008/10/howto-network-traffic-bandwidth.html

HowTo: Setup a Rsync server on Gentoo

2008-10-28T13:28:00.013Z

I've been invited to write for TuxTraining and help it become a reference for open source users, so this and future posts will most likely be available at TuxTraining.

If you are looking for tutorials, tips and guides covering not only Linux but also BSD and Solaris visit the site. It's updated on a daily basis so I'm sure you'll find it to be very useful.

The goal of this tutorial is to detail the needed steps to setup a general purpose rsync server on Gentoo. Note: this guide doesn't focus on setting up your own Gentoo local rsync mirror, for that please consult Gentoo's official documentation on the matter, namely Gentoo Linux rsync Mirrors Policy and Guide.

rsync is an open source utility that provides fast incremental file transfer, available in multiple platforms such as Linux, *BSD and Solaris.

Let's begin by becoming the superuser, synchronize the portage tree and install rsync:

$ su
# eix-sync
# emerge --ask --tree --verbose net-misc/rsync

Having installed rsync let's add it to the default runlevel so that it automatically starts at boot time:

# rc-update add rsync default

Now we move into the rsync server configuration. The rsync server works with modules with are defined in the /etc/rsyncd.conf file. Let's set up a general purpose module:

# vim /etc/rsyncd.conf

motd file = /usr/local/etc/rsync.motd
log file = /var/log/rsyncd.log
pid file = /var/log/rsyncd.pid
lock file = /var/log/rsyncd.lock
transfer logging = true
use chroot = yes

[backup]
path = /home/username
read only = yes
list = yes
comment = Example of a rsync backup module
hosts allow = 192.168.1.0/24

It should be noted that a list of modules is returned from a rsync server when the server is queried:

$ rsync example.no-ip.org::

backup Example of a rsync backup module

To start the rsync server immediately:

$ su
# /etc/init.d/rsyncd start

An example of a client side synchronization:

$ rsync -av example.no-ip.org::backup/ /destination/

This would recursively transfer all files from the backup module directory on the example.no-ip.org machine into the /destination directory on the local machine. The files are transfered in "archive mode", which ensures that symbolic links, devices, attributes, permissions, ownership, etc are preserved in the transfer. Also, compression is used to reduce the size of data portions of the transfer.

Take a look at the utility's website for ideas on how to use rsync in useful ways.

Additional sources of information:
rsync website
man rsync
man rsyncd.conf

HowTo: IPFW firewall setup on FreeBSD

2008-10-21T12:10:00.013+01:00

Today I'll lay down the steps needed to enable and configure FreeBSD' IPFW firewall.

The IPFIREWALL (IPFW) is a FreeBSD sponsored firewall software application authored and maintained by FreeBSD volunteer staff members. It uses the legacy stateless rules and a legacy rule coding technique to achieve what is referred to as Simple Stateful logic.

I'm running FreeBSD 7.0 and use freebsd-update to update the system side of FreeBSD so this guide assumes that your using a stock kernel. However if you're running a custom kernel that a look here (Section 31.6.1) before using the current guide.

Let's start by becoming the superuser and enable IPFW at boot time:

% su
# vi /etc/rc.conf

firewall_enable="YES"
firewall_script="/usr/local/etc/ipfw.rules"
firewall_logging="YES"

Now we define an IPFW rule set. Bellow you'll find a rule set shamefully stolen from here and adapted to my needs:

# vi /usr/local/etc/ipw.rules

IPF="ipfw -q add"
ipfw -q -f flush

#loopback
$IPF 10 allow all from any to any via lo0
$IPF 20 deny all from any to 127.0.0.0/8
$IPF 30 deny all from 127.0.0.0/8 to any
$IPF 40 deny tcp from any to any frag

# statefull
$IPF 50 check-state
$IPF 60 allow tcp from any to any established
$IPF 70 allow all from any to any out keep-state
$IPF 80 allow icmp from any to any

# open port ftp (21), ssh (22), mail (25)
# http (80), dns (53), mldonkey (4080, 21452, 6882),
# darstat (667)
$IPF 110 allow tcp from any to any 21 in
$IPF 120 allow tcp from any to any 21 out
$IPF 130 allow tcp from any to any 22 in
$IPF 140 allow tcp from any to any 22 out
$IPF 150 allow tcp from any to any 25 in
$IPF 160 allow tcp from any to any 25 out
$IPF 170 allow udp from any to any 53 in
$IPF 175 allow tcp from any to any 53 in
$IPF 180 allow udp from any to any 53 out
$IPF 185 allow tcp from any to any 53 out
$IPF 200 allow tcp from any to any 80 in
$IPF 210 allow tcp from any to any 80 out
$IPF 220 allow tcp from any to any 4080 in
$IPF 230 allow udp from any to any 4080 out
$IPF 240 allow tcp from any to any 21452 in
$IPF 245 allow udp from any to any 21452 in
$IPF 250 allow tcp from any to any 21452 out
$IPF 255 allow udp from any to any 21452 out
$IPF 260 allow tcp from any to any 6882 in
$IPF 270 allow tcp from any to any 6882 out
$IPF 280 allow tcp from any to any 667 in
$IPF 290 allow tcp from any to any 667 out
$IPF 300 allow tcp from any to any 1024-65000 keep-state

# deny and log everything
$IPF 500 deny log all from any to any

If you aren't planning to use FTP remove the $IPF 300 allow tcp from any to any 1024-65000 keep-state line. This line circumvents IPFW troubles with FTP connections.

To enable logging run the following commands:

# vim /etc/syslog.conf

!ipfw
*.* /var/log/ipfw/ipfw.log

# mkdir /var/log/ipfw
# touch /var/log/ipfw/ipfw.log
# killall -HUP syslogd

The firewall_logging variable sets the net.inet.ip.fw.verbose_limit=5 to the value of 1. To increase the verbose level to the value of 5:

# echo "net.inet.ip.fw.verbose_limit=5" >> /etc/sysctl.conf
# sysctl net.inet.ip.fw.enable=1
# sysctl net.inet.ip.fw.verbose=1
# sysctl net.inet.ip.fw.verbose_limit=5

To start IPFW and load the rules set:

# vim /etc/rc.d/ipfw start
# sh /usr/local/etc/ipfw.rules

The following command shows the rules list that is currently loaded:

# ipfw list

And we're done. In future I plan to try OpenBSD's PF firewall so stay tuned ;-)

Resources:
http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/firewalls-ipfw.html
http://www.freebsd-howto.com/HOWTO/Ipfw-HOWTO
http://tuxtraining.com/2008/10/16/setting-up-firewall-using-ipfw-in-freebsd
http://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/howto-setup-freebsd-ipfw-firewall/

HowTo: Network traffic & bandwidth monitoring with darkstat on FreeBSD

2008-10-20T14:54:00.008+01:00

My old Celeron 266 Mhz runs a couple of network related services, namely MLDonkey and FTP.

With the goal of monitoring network and bandwidth traffic I used vnStat. vnStat is small and efficent console based application however I wanted something that could serve the statistic over HTTP and this is where darkstat fills the bill.

Darstat captures network traffic, calculates statistics about usage, and serves reports over HTTP.

Darstat provides the following features:

Traffic graphs, reports per host, shows ports for each host.
Embedded web-server with deflate compression.
Asynchronous reverse DNS resolution using a child process.
Small. Portable. Single-threaded. Efficient. Uncomplicated.

Follow the bellow steps to install darkstat on FreeBSD 7.0:

% su
# cd /usr/ports/net-mgmt/darkstat
# make install clean
# rehash

To enable darkstat at boot time add the following lines to /etc/rc.conf:

darkstat_enable="YES"
darkstat_interface="rl0"

Change the darkstat_interface to reflect your network interface (mine is rl0).

Bellow you'll find a set of optional configurations flags that can be added to /etc/rc.conf:

darkstat_dir="/var/run/darkstat"
darkstat_pidname="darkstat.pid"
darkstat_dropuser="nobody"
darkstat_flags=""

Now that we have darkstat installed and configured let's start it:

# /usr/local/etc/rc.d/darkstat start

To check darkstat daemon status:

# /usr/local/etc/rc.d/darkstat status

By default darkstat serves graphs to http://localhost:667, so fire up your browser and point to the location. If you are planning (like me) on accessing to the graphs for another location add port 667 to your router Port Forwarding settings.

Hope you enjoy darkstat. I find it extremely useful and refreshing.

Resources:
http://dmr.ath.cx/net/darkstat/
man darkstat

HowTo: Setup a Pure-FTPd server with virtual users on FreeBSD

2008-10-20T00:33:00.019+01:00

Having setup a FTP server using FreeBSD's own FTPd I decided to explore other FTP server options, namely Pure-FTPd.

Pure-FTPd is a free (BSD), secure, production-quality and standard-conformant FTP server.

This guide provides instructions for using the virtual user system to manage and control users. By using virtual users, FTP accounts can be administrated without affecting system accounts.

Let's initiate Pure-FTPd's installation by entering the following commands:

% su
# cd /usr/ports/ftp/pure-ftpd
# make config

A menu containing Pure-FTPd options will pop-up. In my case, I've opted to leave these options at their defaults.

# make install clean
# rehash

Having finished the installation process we now move into the configuration stage. We'll start by copying the sample configuration file and set the configuration options:

# cd /usr/local/etc
# cp pure-ftpd.conf.sample pure-ftpd.conf
# chmod 644 pure-ftpd.conf

The chmod command was run to be able to edit the file (default permissions are set to -r--r--r--).

# vi pure-ftpd.conf

VerboseLog yes
PureDB /usr/local/etc/pureftpd.pdb
CreateHomeDir yes

The CreateHomeDir option makes adding virtual users more easy by creating a user's home directory upon login (if it doesn't already exist).

We can either import users with system-level accounts (defined in /etc/master.passwd) at once or create new users manually. To import users that already exist on your system into the virtual user database, enter these commands:

# pure-pwconvert >> /usr/local/etc/pureftpd.passwd
# chmod 600 /usr/local/etc/pureftpd.passwd
# pure-pw mkdb

It should be noted that pure-pwconvert only imports accounts that have shell access. Accounts with the shell set to nologin have to be added manually.

To add users to the Pure-FTPd virtual user database manually, we need to create a system-level account that will be associated with virtual users. Create a new user named vftp like this:

# pw useradd vftp -s /sbin/nologin -w no -d /usr/home/vftp\
? -c "Virtual FTP user" -m

Having done this we can now add users to the virtual users database using the commands below:

# pure-pw useradd user -u vftp -g vftp -d /usr/home/vftp/user
# pure-pw mkdb

Replace user with the desired username. With -d flag, the user will be chrooted. If you want to give user access to the whole filesystem, use -D instead of -d.

If you want to add additional users, just repeat the commands above with a different user.

To remove a user:

# pure-pw userdel user

Now to start Pure-FTPd:

# /usr/local/etc/rc.d/pure-ftpd onestart

Initiate a FTP connection to test the server:

% ftp localhost

Trying 127.0.0.1...
Connected to localhost.
220---------- Welcome to Pure-FTPd [TLS] ----------
220-You are user number 2 of 50 allowed.
220-Local time is now 13:39. Server port: 21.
220-IPv6 connections are also welcome on this server.
220 You will be disconnected after 15 minutes of inactivity.
Name (localhost:username):

Now log in with a user account created as explained above. Commands such as ls, cp, pwd and less work just like in tcsh and bash shells. To quit the FTP session type exit.

To configure Pure-FTPd to start at boot time:

# echo 'pureftpd_enable="YES"' >> /etc/rc.conf

To restart Pure-FTPd and determine if it is running:

# /usr/local/etc/rc.d/pure-ftpd restart
# /usr/local/etc/rc.d/pure-ftpd status

Pure-FTPd provides useful features for personal users as well as hosting providers. I've only touched the tip of the iceberg so do take a look at the project's website for the excellent documentation that is available.

That's it for now. On a future post I'll explain how to setup Pure-FTPd for anonymous FTP access.

Resources:
http://www.pureftpd.org/project/pure-ftpd/doc

HowTo: Install and setup MLDonkey on Gentoo

2008-10-17T11:47:00.010+01:00

MLDonkey is an open source, free software multi-network peer-to-peer application. Currently the following protocols are supported: eDonkey, Overnet, Bittorrent, Gnutella, Gnutella2, Fasttrack, FileTP and Kademlia.

To cater to my brother's P2P needs I decided to install MLDonkey without X11 support leaving only the core with both telnet and web interfaces. The target computer was my 1.3GHz Pentium-M laptop headless server (faulty display) running Gentoo Hardened located at my parents house.

Bellow are the steps needed to install MLDonkey on Gentoo with Bittorrent, eDonkey and Overnet support:

$ su
# eix-sync
# echo "net-p2p/mldonkey ocamlopt -doc -fasttrack -gd -gnutella -gtk -guionly -magic" >> /etc/portage/package.use
# emerge -tav mldonkey

Now that MLDonkey is installed let's activate it at boot time and start the service:

# rc-update add mldonkey default
# /etc/init.d/mldonkey start

Now we are going to modify the MLDonkey configuration:

# /etc/init.d/mldonkey status
# exit
$ telnet 127.0.0.1 4000
> auth admin ""
> passwd newpassword
> set allowed_ips "127.0.0.1 192.168.1.0/24"
> save
> exit

Basically, we've checked to see if MLDonkey was running and accessed it through its telnet interface. Initially the application is configured without an admin password, so step 5 takes care of that. On step 6 we set the ips that are allowed to connect to the application, in the example the localhost and all clients in the local network.

MLDonkey's web server can be accessed on http://localhost:4080, so fire-up your browser and point to the address. If your planning to access the server from another computer replace localhost bit by the server's ip or hostname.

The following are a few useful commands that can be passed on to MLDonkey:

# /etc/init.d/mldonkey start
# /etc/init.d/mldonkey stop
# /etc/init.d/mldonkey restart
# /etc/init.d/mldonkey status

There are tons of configuration options available both in the telnet and web interfaces so I've opted to mention only the basic stuff. For more information I suggest browsing the project's website at http://mldonkey.sourceforge.net/.

Tip: Konqueror with Flash support (YouTube) on Gentoo

2008-10-14T21:15:00.004+01:00

Following the footsteps of my previous post on how to install and setup KDE 3.5.x on Gentoo I'll explain bellow how to get Flash support for Konqueror and with it YouTube heaven.

$ su
# emerge --ask --tree nsplugins netscape-flash
open Konqueror and point to Settings -> Configure Konqueror -> Plugins -> Scan for New Plugins.

We started becoming superuser, on step 2 the plugins packages were installed and on the final step we told Konqueror to re-scan all plugin directories.

It's done ;-)

HowTo: Install and setup KDE 3.5.x on Gentoo

2008-10-14T12:16:00.024+01:00

KDE is a powerful Open Source graphical desktop environment for Unix and Unix-like workstations. It combines ease of use and unparalel functionality.

Having married I can't "afford" running cool window managers such as dwm and Xmonad, so I began moving into desktop environments such as Gnome and KDE. KDE was there on my first contact with Linux and truth be said I prefer it over Gnome.

Bellow you'll find the steps I took to install and setup KDE 3.5.9 on Gentoo. Why 3.5.9? Because in my opinion KDE 4 is lacking taking into account the mature 3.5.x versions.

Let's begin by becoming the superuser:

$ su

Edit your /etc/make.conf file and make sure that the qt3, kde, hal, dbus and arts flags are enabled. If you access Samba shares consider adding the samba flag also.

# vim /etc/make.conf

Now we update the portage tree:

# eix-sync

List and select a desktop profile:

# eselect profile list
[1] default-linux/x86/2006.1
[2] default-linux/x86/2006.1/desktop
[3] default-linux/x86/2007.0
[4] default-linux/x86/2007.0/desktop
[5] hardened/x86/2.6
[6] selinux/2007.0/x86
[7] selinux/2007.0/x86/hardened
[8] default/linux/x86/2008.0
[9] default/linux/x86/2008.0/desktop *
[10] default/linux/x86/2008.0/developer
[11] default/linux/x86/2008.0/server
[12] hardened/linux/x86
# eselect profile set 9

Now let's update our system along with all package dependencies, removing unneeded dependencies in the process:

# emerge --ask --verbose --tree --update --newuse --deep world && emerge --depclean && revdep-rebuild

The fun stuff begins: the installation of kdebase-startkde. I choose this over kde-meta because I really don't need the full KDE environment. This takes around 2 hours on my desktop, a 2.2Ghz Athon XP-M.

# emerge --ask kdebase-startkde

Having installed the base environment I proceeded by installing the individual KDE applications that I like:

# emerge --ask --tree konsole kdm kpdf ktorrent ksnapshot amarok k3b kaffeine kmix kate kopete kcalc kolourpaint ark media-gfx/gwenview kget knetattach kchmviewer yakuake

From the previous package list special attention should be given to knetattach as this package allows Konqueror access to Samba shares.

Also, if you are planning on customizing KDE's look consider installing the following packages:

# emerge --ask --tree kdmtheme nuvox polymer qtcurve gtk-engines-qt gtk-engines-qtcurve x11-themes/crystal

After emerging the KDM graphical login manager let's activate it by editing the /etc/conf.d/xdm file and add it to the boot scripts:

# vim /etc/conf.d/xdm

DISPLAYMANAGER="kdm"

# rc-update add xdm default

To have KDE automatically mount CDROMs and USB sticks, we need to add hal and dbus to the default runlevel and add yourself to the plugdev group.

# rc-update add dbus default
# rc-update add hald default
# gpasswd -a plugdev

As I also want to access Samba shares I've also added samba to the default runlevel:

# rc-update add samba default

And that's it. Reboot your system and gaze upon the wonderful desktop environment that KDE is.

Resources:
http://www.gentoo.org/proj/en/desktop/kde/kde-config.xml
http://www.kde.org/

Tip: Getting Flash working on Debian

2008-10-13T21:24:00.003+01:00

I've been running Debian Testing (Lenny) for a while with Gnome and Iceweasel however only recently I've been using it regularly.

So I reached a point where I wanted to check a TV schedule and the TV station's website needed Flash. Latter on I've also found that YouTube required a Flash Player also.

To fix this and get myself Iceweasel working with Flash websites:

$ su
# apt-get install flashplayer-mozilla

Just fire up Firefox and happy YouTube browsing ;-)

HowTo: Setup an Anonymous FTP server on FreeBSD

2008-10-10T00:08:00.019+01:00

To test the speed differences between SFTP and FTP I decided to setup an anonymous FTP server on my trusted old 266 Mhz Celeron running FreeBSD 7.0.

The File Transfer Protocol (FTP) provides a simple and classic method for transferring files from one computer to another across the internet.

FreeBSD base install includes FTP server software, namely ftpd.

I'm fully aware of the security implications regarding FTP's transmission of usernames and passwords in clear text hence the choice of an anonymous FTP server in real-only mode.

Let's start by creating a ftp user:

% su
# adduser

Username: ftp
Full name: Anonymous FTP user
Uid (Leave empty for default):
Login group [ftp]:
Login group is ftp. Invite ftp into other groups? []:
Login class [default]:
Shell (sh csh tcsh bash rbash zsh nologin) [sh]: nologin
Home directory [/home/ftp]: /var/ftp
Use password-based authentication? [yes]: no
Lock out the account after creation? [no]: no
Username : ftp
Password :
Full Name : Anonymous FTP user
Uid : 1004
Class :
Groups : ftp
Home : /var/ftp
Shell : /usr/sbin/nologin
Locked : no
OK? (yes/no): yes
adduser: INFO: Successfully added (ftp) to the user database.
Add another user? (yes/no): no
Goodbye!

Anonymous FTP restricts access to the home directory of the user ftp. So let's create an additional directory:

# mkdir -p /var/ftp/pub
# chown ftp:ftp /var/ftp/pub

From the point of view of the user /var/ftp is the root directory, and he cannot access any files outside of the ftp directory.

To display a welcome notice before users login edit the /etc/ftpwelcome file:

# vi /etc/ftpwelcome

After a successful login the contents of the /etc/ftpmod file are displayed to the user.

# vi /etc/ftpmod

Next let's proceed by enabling the ftpd server in /etc/inetd.conf:

# echo "ftp stream tcp nowait root /usr/libexec/ftpd ftpd -l -S -A -r" >> /etc/inetd.conf

In which:

-l default flag
-r read-only mode
-o write-only mode
-A anonymous FTP connections only
-S logging of all anonymous FTP activity

The -S flag allows logging to /var/log/ftpd, however the file needs to exist before ftpd can use it:

# touch /var/log/ftpd

To start ftpd at boot time:

# echo 'inetd_enable="YES"' >> /etc/rc.conf

Having finished the configurations steps we can start ftpd immediately by:

# /ect/rc.d/inetd start

You can now log on to your FTP server by typing:

# exit
% ftp localhost

In which the username can be either ftp or anonymous and the password can be anything. Commands such as ls, cp, pwd and less work just like in tcsh and bash shells. To quit the FTP session type exit.

And we're done ;)

Additional information:
FreeBSD Handbook
man ftpchroot
man ftpd
man chroot
man inetd

Tip: Matching Ktorrent for KDE 3.5.9 on OpenSUSE

2008-09-26T21:46:00.004+01:00

I like KTorrent and I like KDE 3.5.9 on OpenSUSE. But I dislike the default KTorrent that came with the KDE 3.5.9 install: KTorrent 3.1.2 for KDE4.

So I decided to fix the issue. To do so I performed a zypper se ktorrent and found out that there is a ktorrent2 package with version 2.2.7 and a ktorrent package with version 3.1.2. A quick browse to http://ktorrent.org/ showed me that version 3.1.2 is for KDE4 while 2.2.7 is directed to KDE3.

To sum up:

$ su
# zypper rm ktorrent
# zypper in ktorrent2

End result is the right KTorrent for the right KDE ;-)

Tip: Multimedia codecs on OpenSUSE 11.0

2008-09-26T16:04:00.006+01:00

Support for some multimedia formats isn't on the openSUSE install media because they're proprietary, patented, Restricted Formats. Some of these include MP3, MPEG-4, playing of Encrypted DVDs, etc.

To enable support for multimedia codecs on OpenSUSE 11.0 point your web browser to http://opensuse-community.org/Multimedia.

If you are using the Gnome desktop environment refer to http://opensuse-community.org/codecs-gnome.ymp.

If you prefer the KDE desktop then point to http://opensuse-community.org/codecs-kde.ymp.

Both links point to a '1-Click' of the codec pack. If you prefer to perform the codec pack install manually:

$ su
# zypper in ffmpeg
# zypper in flash-player
# zypper in
# zypper in gst-fluendo-mp3
# zypper in java-1_5_0-sun-plugin
# zypper in k3b-codecs
# zypper in libdvdcss
# zypper in libxine1
# zypper in w32codec-all

Now go dig into your media collection for some stuff ;-)

HowTo: Install and setup MLDonkey on FreeBSD

2008-09-22T14:07:00.012+01:00

MLDonkey is an open source, free software multi-network peer-to-peer application. Currently the following protocols are supported: eDonkey, Overnet, Bittorrent, Gnutella, Gnutella2, Fasttrack, FileTP and Kademlia.

I wanted to put my 266 Mhz Celeron to good use so I've decided to install MLDonkey without X11 support leaving only the core with both telnet and web interfaces.

Bellow are the steps needed to install MLDonkey on FreeBSD 7.0:

% su
# cd /usr/ports/net-p2p/mldonkey
# make WITHOUT_GUI=yes WITHOUT_X11="YES" WITHOUT_TK="YES" install clean
# rehash

Now that MLDonkey is installed let's activate it at boot time:

# echo 'mlnet_enable="YES"' >> /etc/rc.conf
# echo 'mlnet_user="p2p"' >> /etc/rc.conf

Notice the mlnet_user option, for added security we'll create a p2p user:

# pw user add p2p
# mkdir /home/p2p
# chown p2p:p2p /home/p2p

Restart the system for the changes to apply.

Now we are going to modify the MLDonkey configuration:

% su
# /usr/local/etc/rc.d/mlnet status
# exit
% telnet 127.0.0.1 4000
> auth admin ""
> passwd newpassword
> set allowed_ips "127.0.0.1 192.168.1.0/24"
> save
> exit

Basically, we've checked to see if MLDonkey was running and accessed it through its telnet interface. Initially the application is configured without an admin password, so step 6 takes care of that. On step 7 we set the ips that are allowed to connect to the application, in the example the localhost and all clients in the local network.

MLDonkey's web server can be accessed on http://localhost:4080, so fire-up your browser and point to the address. If your planning to access the server from another computer replace localhost bit by the server's ip or hostname.

The following are a few useful commands that can be passed on to MLDonkey:

# /usr/local/etc/rc.d/mlnet start
# /usr/local/etc/rc.d/mlnet stop
# /usr/local/etc/rc.d/mlnet restart
# /usr/local/etc/rc.d/mlnet status

Tip: Add OpenSUSE Community repositories

2008-09-18T22:53:00.009+01:00

To use OpenSUSE to a fuller experience its more or less required that you add a few third-party software repositories. These repositories provide loads more packages, as well as some non-free formats which may be of use.

To enable the Community repository starting from the Gnome desktop environment, point to Computer -> YaST -> Software -> Software Management.

Then, in the menu: Repositories -> Repository Manager. Once there hit the Add -> Community Repositories, and select:

Main Repository (OSS)
Main Repository (Non-OSS)
Packman
Main Update Repository

And we're set. Lots of goodies just zypper install away. ;)

Tip: Add Google Linux software repository to OpenSUSE

2008-09-18T22:53:00.003+01:00

To add the Google repository start by becoming the superuser:

$ su

Add the repository using the Zypper package manager:

# zypper sa -t YUM http://dl.google.com/linux/rpm/stable/i386 google

Update the repositories and force Google repository's key import:

# zypper up

After running the above command you are prompted to answer yes/no twice, say yes on both ocasions.

HowTo: Setup a NFS server on Gentoo

2008-09-18T10:53:00.011+01:00

To share the content of my P2P workhorse (1.3Ghz Pentium-M laptop running Gentoo Hardened) across my other Unix like machine I've decided to use NFS (Network File System).

To serve as reminder if I ever need to setup a NFS server on Gentoo and to help anyone seeking help I'll lay down the need steps to achieve success.

First become superuser:

$ su

Before setting the sever we need to make sure that client and server machines have support for NFS volumes:

# cd /usr/src/linux
# make menuconfig
check if the following options are enabled in the kernel config:

File Systems --->
Network File Systems --->
<*> NFS file system support
[*] Provide NFSv3 client support
<*> NFS server support
[*] Provide NFSv3 server support

Save your kernel config and re-compile the kernel. If you need help on this please refer to Gentoo's documentation as kernel configuration isn't the focus of this post.

Now install the nfs-utils package from portage:

# emerge nfs-utils

Editing the /etc/exports file to identify what are your sharing and to whom:

# vim /etc/exports
to share the /downloads directory to all computers on 192.168.1 network add the following line:

/downloads 192.168.1.1/24(rw,sync,no_subtree_check)

Let's start the nfs service:

# /etc/init.d/nfs start

To have the nfs service starting at boot time:

# rc-update add nfs default

Also, the showmount command can be used to display the exports on the server:

# showmount -e

If you perform any changes changes to the /etc/exports file, reload it by:

# /etc/init.d/nfs reload

I've focused on the basis to setup a home network NFS share on Gentoo, however there are loads of performance tunning flags that can be set on both server and client sides.

For more detailed documentation take a look into:
http://nfs.sourceforge.net/nfs-howto/index.html
http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_Share_Directories_via_NFS
http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/handbook/handbook-x86.xml?full=1#book_part1_chap7
http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/kernel-upgrade.xml

HowTo: Install and boot RIPLinux

2008-09-17T16:44:00.005+01:00

RPLinux is a sysadmin distribution which comes with a vast array of tools for disk management, backup and troubleshooting. Despite the impressive number of tools it is still slim, fast and very well put together.

Bellow are the steps I took to install it from Windows XP to an USB flash drive and boot it in my laptop.

download the archive from http://www.tux.org/pub/people/kent-robotti/looplinux/rip/linux.exe
create a folder and move linux.exe into it
double-click to auto extract the contents of linux.exe (notice that a new linux folder was created)
insert an USB flash drive in the computer
click START -> MY COMPUTER -> right-click on the USB flash drive and select FORMAT -> choose FAT32 -> click OK
take notice of the drive letter of the USB flash drive
START -> Run
change directory of the created linux folder, typically it should be something like cd Desktop\linux
on the prompt type mkusb.bat h: in which h is the drive letter

Now we've created an USB flash drive capable of booting into RPLinux.

To boot it up, restart the computer and follow your BIOS instructions on how to boot from an USB device. On my laptop, a Dell Latitude D620, I simply press F12 and select the USB device and press ENTER; this of course changes from laptop to laptop so read your computer motherboard manual.

Resources:
http://www.tux.org/pub/people/kent-robotti/looplinux/rip/

HowTo: Monitor network traffic with vnStat on Gentoo

2008-09-17T14:08:00.011+01:00

Following an install of vnStat on FreeBSD I took the opportunity and had it installed also in my 1.3 Ghz Pentium-M laptop running Gentoo Hardened. This laptop serves my p2p needs namely runs MLDonkey, SSH, Samba and NFS making it the perfect machine to monitor network traffic on.

Let's proceed with the steps needed to install vnStat from portage:

$ su
# emerge vnstat

Now let's find out the system network interface(s) in use, which in my case is eth0.

# ifconfig -a

To create vnStat's database we run:

# vnstat -u -i eth0

Finally, to activate the cron job to feed vnStat's database uncomment lines 7 through 9 on /etc/cron.hourly/vnstat as instructed by the file itself.

A nice list of switches can be viewed typing the following command:

$ vnstat --help

To display the default statistics:

$ vnstat

To display daily traffic statistics use the -d switch:

$ vnstat -d

Monthly traffic statistics can be viewed with the -m switch:

$ vnstat -m

To display current transfer rate in real time until interrupted:

$ vnstat -l

Further info on vnStat can be obtained in the project's homepage and in my previous post regarding vnStat on FreeBSD.

HowTo: Install and configure MPD on OpenSUSE

2008-09-17T00:30:00.004+01:00

Following a previous post on how to install Music Player Daemon (MPD) on FreeBSD I'll be presenting the steps need to install it this time on OpenSUSE.

$ sudo su
# zypper ar http://packman.links2linux.de packman
# zypper mr -r packman
# zypper ref
# zypper install mpd
# vim /etc/mpd.conf
# /etc.init.d/mpd start
# chkconfig mpd on

With steps 2 to 4 we've added the Packman community repository and enable its auto-refresh and taken the opportunity to refresh the remaining repositories.

Step 6 deals with the configuration of MPD. Point to music_directory and type in the path of you music library.

On steps 7 and 8 we've started the MPD service and set MPD to start at each reboot.

If need you can update the database at any time by running:

# mpd --create-db

Now that we have the MPD server installed let's proceed by installing my favourite client: ncmpc.

# zypper install ncmpc
# exit
$ ncmpc -c

As a side note, the Packman Repository's ncmpc rpm was built without the clock and search build options. You can rebuild the rpm yourself if you really want to use the mentioned options.

An heads-up: don't end you Gnome session with ncmpc paused. It seems that the next time you restart your system the /dev/dsp device will be in use effectively stopping you from using programs that use the device, such as Mplayer. Simply stop ncmpc before exiting it, press Backspace to do so.

Additional and extremely useful information can be found under /usr/share/doc/mpd and /usr/share/doc/ncmpc.

HowTo: Monitor network traffic with vnStat on FreeBSD

2008-09-15T10:19:00.011+01:00

vnStat is a console-based network traffic monitor. It keeps a log of
hourly, daily and monthly network traffic for the selected interface(s).

Bellow you'll find the needed steps for its installation and setup on FreeBSD 7.0:

% su
# cd /usr/ports/net/vnstat ; make install clean
# rehash
# ifconfig -a
# vnstat -u -i rl0
# cat /usr/local/share/doc/vnstat/vnstat-cron >> /etc/crontab

On steps 1 to 3 we basically became to the superuser, changed to the vnStat's port directory, proceeded by compiling the port and rehashing the shell.

Step 4 purpose is to find out the system network interface(s) in use, which in my case is rl0.

Finally with step 6 we've activated the cron job to feed vnStat's database following the port's supplied example.

To display the default statistics:

% vnstat

To display daily traffic statistics use the -d switch:

% vnstat -d

Monthly traffic statistics can be viewed with the -m switch:

% vnstat -m

To display current transfer rate for the selected interface in real time until interrupted:

% vnstat -l -i rl0

A nice list of switches can be viewed typing the following command:

% vnstat --help

And we're done. ;)

Further documentation is available at http://humdi.net/vnstat/.

HowTo: Install Vim WITHOUT X11

2008-09-12T17:37:00.012+01:00

I like Vim and I like using those cool colour schemes available for the editor.

So in my ingenuity I changed directory to /usr/ports/editors/vim and ran make install clean... big mistake! It tried to install all sorts of X11 related stuff and of course X11 itself. Normally this wouldn't be a problem, however on a 266 MHZ headless server I really don't want a GUI of any sorts.

To address the situation I read the port's Makefile and noticed several options that could be passed on the make step, namely WITHOUT_X11.

Here's how to install Vim without X11:

% su
# cd /usr/ports/editors/vim
# make WITHOUT_X11=yes NO_GUI=yes LITE=yes install clean
# rehash

And that's it.

Now I can finally use those cool colour schemes again. :D

Fix: Touchpad not working on OpenSUSE 11.0

2008-09-11T21:40:00.005+01:00

All of a sudden the touchpad on my Dell D620 stopped working. After googling for an answer I came across a post on LinuxQuestions.org pointing to the solution.

To sum up, browse to Control Center > Sessions and deselect Touchpad from the Startup Programs tab. After restarting your session you'll be able to use the touchpad once again.

Note that the KDE desktop enviornment on OpenSUSE is unaffected by this bug, it only affects GNOME.

Props to LinuxQuestion.org user swampdog20002 having posed the question and posting updates on how he was solving the problem. That's the opensource spirit!

HowTo: Setup a NFS server on FreeBSD

2008-09-11T11:33:00.008+01:00

On a previous post I went through the needed steps to enable NFS client operations on FreeBSD 7.0 so now lets wrap up with the need steps to setup a NFS server.

Lets begin:

% su
# echo 'nfs_server_enable="YES"' >> /etc/rc.conf
# echo 'rpcbind_enable="YES"' >> /etc/rc.conf
# echo 'mountd_flags="-r"' >> /etc/rc.conf
# echo 'rpc_lockd_enable="YES"' >> /etc/rc.conf
# echo 'rpc_statd_enable="YES"' >> /etc/rc.conf

By passing these options we guarantee that NFS related daemons are started at boot time. Steps 2 to 4 are mandatory and enable the NFS daemons, steps 5 and 6 are optional and are used to guarantee file locking operations over NFS and monitor NFS client so that the NFS server can free resources when the host disappears.

Lets proceed by identifying what we want to share:

% su
# vi /etc/exports
add the following line:

/usr/ports/distfiles -network 192.168.1 -mask 255.255.255.0

Step 3 shares the /usr/ports/distfiles directory and make it available to any client with an IP address beginning in 192.168.1 and netmask of 255.255.255.0.

Now that we've enabled the NFS server settings and configured the exports file, lets start the server by:

% su
# rpcbind
# nfsd -u -t -n 4
# mountd -r

If you perform any changes changes to the exports file, reload it by:

% su
# /etc/rc.d/mountd onereload

Also, the showmount command can be used to display the exports on the server:

% su
# showmount -e

I've focused on the basis to setup a home network NFS share, however there are loads of performance tunning flags that can be set on both server and client sides.

For more detailed documentation take a look into:
http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en/books/handbook/network-nfs.html
http://nfs.sourceforge.net/nfs-howto/index.html

HowTo: Mount NFS shares on FreeBSD

2008-09-10T13:41:00.013+01:00

NFS (Network File System) is a nice and easy way to share files across Unix like systems such as *BSD, Solaris and Linux.

Here are the steps I took to enable the NFS client:

% su
# echo 'nfs_client_enable="YES"' >> /etc/rc.conf
# echo 'nfs_client_flags="-n 4"' >> /etc/rc.conf
# nfsiod -n 4

Basically steps 2 and 3 enable the NFS client at boot time, while step 4 starts the client immediately. In alternative to step 4 you can reboot or run /etc/rc.d/nfsclient start as root.

Now that we have the NFS client running we can proceed to accessing NFS shares. To mount NFS shares issue the following commands on the client:

% su
# mkdir /mnt/downloads
# mount -v 192.168.1.101:/usr/local/downloads /mnt/downloads

Step 2 creates a directory in which to mount the remote share. On step 3 I've mounted a NFS share available on the 192.168.1.101 server (if you have hosts information properly configured you can use the server hostname instead).

And that's it. Pretty simple and straightforward.

HowTo: Start, stop and restart the network on FreeBSD

2008-09-10T12:14:00.012+01:00

Having moved my old 266 Mhz Celeron to our apartment and facing a new (actually pretty old) router I needed to make adjustments to the FreeBSD 7.0 install, namely network related adjustments.

So here is a series of commands on how to start, stop and restart the network service on FreeBSD:

Start the network service:

% su
# /etc/rc.d/netif start

Stop the network service:

% su
# /etc/rc.d/netif stop

Restart the network service:

% su
# /etc/rc.d/netif restart

When performing network setting changes it's often necessary to restart the routing service:

% su
# /etc/rc.d/routing restart

To restart both the network and routing services simply combine the commands:

% su
# /etc/rc.d/netif restart && /etc/rc.d/routing restart

If you come accross a status: no carrier message, run the following (substitute re0 by your interface):

% su
ifconfig re0 down
ifconfig re0 up

Documentation on how to setup network interfaces can be found at http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en/books/handbook/config-network-setup.html.

Book Review: SUSE Linux Toolbox (follow-up)

2008-09-01T11:01:00.016+01:00

Roughly a month after buying the book I've finished reading it.

All my initial impressions were right on the spot: it is really a great book and was worth every euro.

During the holidays I managed to read the remaining chapters and learned a lot and also refreshed some concepts. Loved chapters 3 "Using the shell", 4 "Working with files" and 5 "Manipulating text". All 3 chapters were really useful and covered with tips applicable to the everyday use of the shell.

Chapter 6 "Playing with multimedia" was one of those chapters that I left for the end as the subject didn't appeal much and thought I wouldn't enjoy it. Well I was wrong, it was very enjoyable and didn't regret reading it one bit.

The only chapter I found lacking was the last one "Locking down security". I was expecting security tips to harden my server but the entire chapter was very light and shallow, and ended up not learning anything new or helpful for that matter.

Appendix A, B and C are top notch specially for anyone using Vim.

When at the computer during my holidays I did browse it as a quick-reference whenever I couldn't remember that exact command in Vim and also used it to fine tune some aspects of a recent OpenSUSE 11.0 install. The book's straight to the point approach is very practical, which aligned with the fact that the book is around 300 pages makes it ideal to carry around and quickly consult it.

Now I'll be searching for another gem but if I don't manage to find anything in the local bookstore I'll probably order something online. Absolute FreeBSD, FreeBSD Basics and Building a Server with FreeBSD have caught my eye so I'll try to get my hands on them.

HowTo: Widescreen resolutions on Enemy Territory

2008-08-29T09:49:00.008+01:00

One of the most often technical questions posed on ET servers are "How do I get ET to use a widescreen resolution?" "I have an new monitor but ET sucks on it. How do I fix it?".

ET, Quake 3, SOF2, RTCW, RTCW-demo and Tremulous use the same game engine, more precisely Quake 3's engine. So the bellow instructions also apply to those games.

Assuming you using a 19" monitor with a native resolution of 1440x900, add the following cvars to your autoexec.cfg:

set r_mode "-1"
set r_customwidth "1440"
set r_customheight "900"

If your want a different resolution changes the r_customheight and r_customwidht accordingly, e.g. on a 22" monitor with a native resolution of 1680x1050 you'd get r_customwidth "1680" and r_customheight "1050".

In alternative type the above commands in ET's console. Pull the console by pressing \ on an European keyboard or press ~ if you are using an US keyboard (or run the game under Linux or BSD).

When typing on the console make sure that there is a \ before typing or else when you hit enter it will come out as global chat instead of a command. Also when using the console there is no need for set or the ". A simple vid_restart command will get you up and running with the new resolution.

In a future post I'll explain the purpose of autoexec.cfg which is one of the cornerstones of setting up a proper config and scripting.

Happy frags. :D

Tip: Getting flash (YouTube) to work on OpenSUSE 11.0 KDE 3.5.9

2008-08-25T14:55:00.012+01:00

During my vacations I decided to install OpenSUSE's KDE (3.5.9) flavor on my desktop.

My laptop is running OpenSUSE (Gnome flavor) since 11.0 came out and I must that it impressed me. So having liked the Gnome environment I decided to install KDE 3.5.9 starting from the net install disk.

Surprisingly when I fired up Firefox and pointed to YouTube I came across a warming telling me that I didn't have the flash plugin installed.

Here's how to fix the issue:

First make sure that you have the Non-OSS repository enabled.

$ su
# zypper lr

If the list doesn't contain the Non-OSS repository add it by:

# zypper ar http://download.opensuse.org/distribution/11.0/repo/non-oss/ non-oss

To install the flashplayer package:

# zypper in flashplayer-player

Now fire up Firefox and happy YouTube browsing.

HowTo: Codecs and DVD support for Debian Lenny

2008-08-16T18:55:00.016+01:00

In this time and age we can't "survive" without multimedia support in our personal computers. To help those struggling to get codecs and DVD support under Debian Lenny I've compiled a series of steps to follow.

Let's start be becoming superuser:

$ su

Next we add the needed repositories to sources.list:

# echo "deb http://debian-multimedia.org/ lenny main" >> /etc/apt/sources.list
# echo "deb-src http://debian-multimedia.org/ lenny main" >> /etc/apt/sources.list
# apt-get update

Now let's get the gpg key for the repository:

# wget http://debian-multimedia.org/gpgkey.pub -O - | apt-key add - && apt-get install debian-multimedia-keyring

If the above step fails, do the following as alternative:

# exit

$ cd ~

$ wget -c http://www.debian-multimedia.org/pool/main/d/debian-multimedia-keyring/debian-multimedia-keyring_2007.02.14_all.deb

$ su

# dpkg -i debian-multimedia-keyring_2007.02.14_all.deb

After getting the key we move onto updating the database:

# apt-get update

Install the codecs and DVD support packages:

# apt-get install w32codecs libdvdcss2

If you plan on watching YouTube movies on Firefox I'd suggest:

# apt-get install flashplayer-mozilla

Finally we need a movie player. Here you have several options raging from Mplayer (my favorite) to VLC. Choose one and install it or try them all ;):

# apt-get install mplayer

# apt-get gnome-mplayer

# apt-get install smplayer

# apt-get install vlc

# apt-get install kaffeine

And we're done.

Resources:
http://debian-multimedia.org/faq.php
http://vivapinkfloyd.blogspot.com/2008/07/how-to-install-codecs-and-dvd-support.html

HowTo: Creative Audigy 4 under FreeBSD

2008-08-16T14:00:00.011+01:00

The snd_emu10kx driver provides support for Creative SoundBlaster Live! and Audigy sound cards, namely for Audigy 4.

Assuming that you are running FreeBSD 7's generic kernel it's simply a matter of loading the driver as a module at boot time.

To do so :

% su
# echo 'snd_emu10kx_load="YES"' >> /etc/loader.conf

If you are planning on compiling your own custom kernel, place the following lines in your kernel configuration file:

device sound
device snd_emu10kx

Just to be sure if the sound driver was correctly loaded run:

% cat /dev/sndstat

FreeBSD Audio Driver (newpcm: 32bit 2007061600/i386)
Installed devices:
pcm0: on emu10kx0 [MPSAFE] (4p:1v/1r:1v channels duplex default)
pcm1: on emu10kx0 [MPSAFE] (1p:1v/0r:0v channels)
pcm2: on emu10kx0 [MPSAFE] (1p:1v/0r:0v channels)
pcm3: on emu10kx0 [MPSAFE] (1p:1v/0r:0v channels)
pcm4: on emu10kx0 [MPSAFE] (1p:1v/0r:0v channels)

To setup sound output levels for various audio sources and frequency ranges you can use the FreeBSD mixer. To display the current mixer values do the following:

% mixer

Mixer vol is currently set to 75:75
Mixer pcm is currently set to 75:75
Mixer speaker is currently set to 75:75
Mixer line is currently set to 75:75
Mixer mic is currently set to 0:0
Mixer cd is currently set to 75:75
Mixer rec is currently set to 0:0
Mixer igain is currently set to 0:0
Mixer ogain is currently set to 50:50
Mixer line1 is currently set to 75:75
Mixer line2 is currently set to 0:0
Mixer line3 is currently set to 0:0
Mixer dig1 is currently set to 0:0
Mixer dig2 is currently set to 0:0
Mixer dig3 is currently set to 0:0
Mixer phin is currently set to 0:0
Mixer phout is currently set to 0:0
Mixer video is currently set to 75:75
Recording source: mic

To change mixer values you can type mixer followed by the name of the device and the desired level. If you wanted to change the CD output volume to 95 percent on left channel and 85 on the right channel:

# mixer cd 95:85

And were all done.

If you want additional information on the driver take a look at snd_emu10kx and mixer's man pages.

HowTo: Logitech MX518 under FreeBSD

2008-08-16T01:36:00.012+01:00

I have both a Logitech MX500 and a MX518. Being an Enemy Territory old timer I need to make full use of the MX518 mouse under FreeBSD, which means having the Back, Forward and the other weird button below the wheel working.

The bellow xorg.conf settings were tested under FreeBSD 7.0 and X.Org X Server 1.4.2.

% su
# vim /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Mouse0"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Protocol" "auto"
Option "Device" "/dev/sysmouse"
Option "Buttons" "10"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
Option "ButtonMapping" "1 2 3 6 7 8 9 10 4 5"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "false"
EndSection

With these settings you're free to bind MOUSE4, MOUSE5 and KP_EQUALS to Enemy Territory.

The sensitivity buttons work as their intended purpose: change the sensitivity on-the-fly. It was possible under Windows XP to change their behavior and bind them to keyboard keys however I'm not aware of how to do this under a *NIX system.

As a bonus, you can now use the Back and Forward buttons under Opera.

HowTo: Musicpd (Music Player Daemon) on FreeBSD

2008-08-16T00:24:00.012+01:00

MPD stands for Music Player Daemon. It is made to control music through a very unique way. MPD has support for MP3, Ogg, FLAC, AAC, Mod, and wav files.

Let's proceed with the steps needed to install musicpd from ports:

% su
# cd /usr/ports/audio/musicpd ; make install clean
if you want select additional audio formats such as AAC and MOD files

Now let's move onto the configuration by copying the port's supplied example and editing from there:

# cp /usr/local/share/doc/mpd/mpdconf.example /usr/local/etc/mpd.conf
# chmod 644 /usr/local/etc/mpd.conf
# vi /usr/local/etc/mpd.conf

music_directory "/mnt/music"
playlist_directory "~/playlists"
db_file "~/database"
log_file "~/log"
error_file "~/error"
pid_file "~/pid"
state_file "~/state"
user "musicpd"

port "6600"
bind_to_address "127.0.0.1"

audio_output {
type "oss"
name "OSS"
}

To prevent MPD running as root we can setup a new user (musicpd):

# adduser

Username: musicpd
Full name: Music Player Daemon
Uid (Leave empty for default):
Login group [musicpd]:
Login group is musicpd. Invite mpd into other groups? []:
Login class [default]: daemon
Shell (sh csh tcsh bash rbash nologin) [sh]: nologin
Home directory [/home/musicpd]:
Use password-based authentication? [yes]: no
Lock out the account after creation? [no]: yes
Username : musicpd
Password :
Full Name : Music Player Daemon
Uid : 1002
Class : daemon
Groups : musicpd
Home : /home/musicpd
Shell : /usr/sbin/nologin
Locked : yes
OK? (yes/no): yes
Add another user? (yes/no): no
Goodbye!

# mkdir -p /home/musicpd/playlists
# chown muiscpd:musicpd /home/musicpd/playlists

To start MPD at boot time:

# echo 'musicpd_enable="YES"' >> /etc/rc.conf

Finally we start MPD and create the database:

# /usr/local/bin/mpd --create-db /usr/local/etc/mpd.conf

Now that we have the daemon up and running we need to put it to good use. I use the NCMPC client for the job.

To install NCMPC from ports:

# cd /usr/ports/audio/ncmpc ; make install clean

That's it. ;)

I suggest the following websites to further research information on MPD:
http://musicpd.org/
http://mpd.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page
http://wiki.bsdforen.de/howto/mpd_einrichten
http://www.freebsdwiki.net/index.php/Icecast_and_Musicpd

Book Review: SUSE Linux Toolbox

2008-08-06T11:59:00.005+01:00

I like reading and I like Linux/BSD/Unix. So when I hop to the bookstore I have a tendency to check out any book related to Unix-like operating systems.

In the past Monday I came across SUSE Linux Toolbox on the Linux section. As the Linux section is always very small it caught my attention and decided to flip a couple of pages.

As I picked up the book I thought "A book for dummies, full of stupid GUI screenshot with no depth I bet". Well I couldn't be more wrong!

As flipped through I was amazed: the book was entirely focused on the CLI on a very straight to the point fashion. It was love at first sight and I ended up spending about 15 minutes in the bookstore reading a couple sections/topics.

My girlfriend was also checking out a book and as we were leaving she gazed upon my sad face as I took the book back to the shelf and suggested that I should buy it. I just thought "It's a book about SUSE and that's not exactly my favorite distro" so decided to place it back in the shelf. As I got there the bookstore guy had just finished re-arranging the shelf and there wasn't any room where the book originally was. It was destiny: I just had to buy the book!

So I did. For the past days I've gone through 4 of its 14 chapters and read several sections/topics of a couple more chapters and so far haven't come across a single incongruence.

It really is a great book and a wonderful purchase.

I've been running Linux for about one and a half years and gone through distros such as Debian, Gentoo, OpenSUSE, Ubuntu, PCLinuxOS and on the BSD side FreeBSD. I know my way around, I'm no guru but nor am I a newbie, and SUSE Linux Toolbox fits like a glove to anyone who enjoy tinkering with their system and learning.

The book contains tons of information that aren't distro specific while identifying SUSE only things such as the zypper's use on chapters 1 and 2.

Chapter 3 is all about the shell and how to use it. Chapters 4 and 5 expand on subjects like working with files and manipulating text.

From chapter 7 onwards it focuses on my main area of interest which is administration and does a damn good job at it in my humble opinion.

To sum up, great buy for anyone into Linux, CLI and widely applicable to any other distro. I for one am glad of the purchase.

On a final note there are 2 other books on the series: Ubuntu Linux Toolbox and Fedora Linux Toolbox.

HowTo: Add a new disk to FreeBSD

2008-07-28T15:20:00.009+01:00

I needed to add a 120GB IDE drive to my FreeBSD 7.0 install on the old Celeron 266.

Here are the steps:

become superuser
# mkdir /mnt/data
# sysinstall
Choose Configure -> Fdisk
If there are existing partitions press D to delete them
To create a slice press C. To use the entire disk press A
To commit changes press W. A warning pops up, choose YES.
When asked to install a boot manager choose STANDARD
Leave Fdisk by pressing Q
Choose Configure -> Label
Create a new partition by press C. Choose FS.
Type in the mountpoint, e.g. /mnt/data. Take note of the drive device node, e.g. /dev/ad4s1d
Commit changes by pressing W
Exist the sysinstall.
# vi /etc/fstab accordingly, e.g. /dev/sda4s1d /mnt/data ufs rw 2 2 in my case

I essentially used my 120GB drive to be entirely by FreeBSD and mounted under /mnt/data.

Take a look on section 18.3 "Adding disks" of the official FreeBSD Handbook for finner details.

Tip: Fix GCC upgrade problems on Gentoo

2008-07-12T14:37:00.008+01:00

Here's a typical problem on gcc upgrades:

configure:error: installation or configuration problem: C complier cannot create executables.

To solve the problem perform the following:

become superuser
gcc-config -l
gcc-config 1
source /etc/profile

Step 2 lists the available gcc versions. On step 3 select one from the list by number or typing the full name (in my case I only had one available).

Problem fixed. Happy emerging ;)

HowTo: Changing default mouse cursor in Debian

2008-07-12T14:10:00.003+01:00

Having just finished installing XFCE4 on Debian Lenny I've came across with X11's default cursor: an ugly jagged black cursor.

Here's the procedure on installing my favourite mouse cursor theme (DMZ-white) and how to change the cursor in Debian with update-alternatives:

become superuser
apt-get install dmz-cursor-theme
update-alternatives --config x-cursor-theme
enter selection number for DMZ-White

Under XFCE4, browse to Settings -> Mouse Preferences -> Cursor and select DMZ-White.

Logout from XFCE4 to commit the changes, Quit -> Logout.

That's it.