Posts by Head_on_a_Stick

Head_on_a_Stick · Installation

I follow the official debmake guide, which makes things really simple:

https://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/debmake-doc/

You can also grab the source from PPAs and build Devuan packages from that:

https://wiki.debian.org/CreatePackageFromPPA

Note that Seamonkey's Linux tarball runs just fine in my Arch box so it would almost certainly work in Devuan also, no need to build any packages. Scribus is available in the Devuan repositories but it has been blocked from transitioning to testing, which is probably why you think it is unavailable:

https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/scribus

Head_on_a_Stick · Freedom Hacks

The creator of doas explains their reasons here:

https://flak.tedunangst.com/post/doas

Head_on_a_Stick · Other Issues

delgado wrote:

Package: *
Pin: release a=buster
Pin-Priority: 1001

I think that should be n=buster. See the apt policy output for the correct identifiers

Head_on_a_Stick · Other Issues

The sid version of the man page still says the same:

apt_preferences(5) wrote:

P >= 1000
causes a version to be installed even if this constitutes a downgrade of the package

https://manpages.debian.org/unstable/ap … Priorities

So can we see the full output of

cat /etc/apt/preferences{,.d/*}
apt policy

Thanks!

Head_on_a_Stick · Desktop and Multimedia

Tritonio wrote:

When you say "hand over to the normal user" what do you mean? Who is the normal user? Do you mean that GDM somehow start a new X under the user that just logged in?

Yes, that's right.

Check

ps -C Xorg -o user

^ That will show root under SLiM but under GDM or after startx it will show your normal, non-root, user.

This security improvement was pioneered by OpenBSD, who take it a stage further and run X under a chrooted special user.

Tritonio wrote:

Do I gain something by having a graphical login screen?

A bigger active code base and so more potential bugs and vulnerabilities. But I may be unduly cynical in that respect.

Tritonio wrote:

does startx do the cookie generation (.Xauthority) when it's run?

Yes.

Tritonio wrote:

X seems like a relatively simple program to understand how it works in terms of who can do what

Is that a joke? IMO Wayland is simpler than X.

Tritonio wrote:

what extra does Wayland offer?

Look it up. Many opinions are available.

Tritonio wrote:

Is the benefits of Wayland usable only when I have multiple graphical users logged into one X at the same time?

Wayland is intended to replace X. X can be run under Wayland for backwards compatibility.

Multiple graphical users can be logged into Wayland compositors at the same time.

Tritonio wrote:

I guess with slim I can't have multiple graphically logged in users

I think SLiM should allow that but it's been dead upstream for almost ten years now and it doesn't support login sessions correctly so you really shouldn't use it at all.

Tritonio wrote:

I've always wanted to try a tiling manager but I don't know if it will be worth it on a laptop screen.

GNOME offers a Wayland version OOTB. I think a Wayland Plasma (KDE) option can be added with the qtwayland5 package.

Head_on_a_Stick · Documentation

Don't try it with the stable release though. It is only appropriate for testing.

Head_on_a_Stick · Documentation

Yeah, that file often lies

Best to check the website: https://www.devuan.org/os/releases

Head_on_a_Stick · Documentation

Or you could add the unstable repositories and pin them to 100 so packages from there are treated like backports:

https://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/debi … le_literal

That would certainly be easier than adding a new thread every time a package is blocked from testing.

Head_on_a_Stick · Documentation

wingcommander1999 wrote:

The well-known ufw firewall GUI is not available by default on devuan 5

There is no "Devuan 5". I think you mean Devuan daedalus, which is the current testing branch.

A "feature" of the testing branch is that sometimes transitions from the unstable branch are blocked and this leads to the package being removed. This is entirely normal and it happens regularly.

Here is the bug that has caused gufw to be blocked from the testing branch:

https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugrepo … ug=1012402

Once it is fixed gufw will be allowed to transition and it will become available in testing again. If it is not fixed before Devuan 5 is actually released then it will not be part of that release.

Head_on_a_Stick · Desktop and Multimedia

If you are at all bothered by security in X then stop using SLiM. It runs X under the root user, which is really bad.

If you're wedded to a display manager then GDM will hand over X to the normal user rather than root but I would just use plain old startx from a console login.

Tritonio wrote:

Am I actually hardening my system when I disable them?

Only against local attackers using the same machine while you are at the desktop. Seems unlikely.

Tritonio wrote:

steal keystrokes etc

One of Wayland's selling points is user isolation in respect of keyboard input. Have you considered it? I use sway and it's wonderful IMO.

Head_on_a_Stick · Documentation

If gdebi is used to install the VirtualBox .deb it will pull in libvpx6 from the repositories automatically. No need to do it yourself like some hair-shirted Slackware user.

This works for me:

apt install -s ./virtualbox-6.1_6.1.36-152435~Debian~bullseye_amd64.deb

Remove the -s option if you actually do want to install the world's worst virtualisation solution.

Head_on_a_Stick · Other Issues

amaro wrote:

I was not sure which directories can be skipped

I follow https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Rsync# … tem_backup — that has a list of system directories which should be excluded (mostly the API filesystems). You would have to add your own exceptions for any other large files you don't want transferred.

/etc/fstab & GRUB for the new system can be configured with these commands run from sda4:

# apt install arch-install-scripts
# mount /dev/sda3 /mnt
# genfstab -U /mnt > /mnt/etc/fstab
# arch-chroot /mnt
[chroot]# dpkg-reconfigure grub-pc
[chroot]# grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg
[chroot]# exit
# umount /mnt
# apt purge arch-install-scripts # or keep it :-)

^ That presumes a non-UEFI system with only a single root (/) partition.

Head_on_a_Stick · Other Issues

Can you not just backup the system (with rsync), blow away sda4, make sda3 bigger then copy the system back? It would need some adjustment to the bootloader & /etc/fstab but you wouldn't be left with a useless extra partition.

EDIT: or just copy sda4 to sda3 then delete sda4 and expand sda3 if you don't have a backup medium. But you really should have a backup anyway.

Head_on_a_Stick · Other Issues

You can get scrollback in fbterm but it needs a dirty hack to work with a non-root user:

https://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php … 63#p756463

Head_on_a_Stick · Other Issues

steve_v wrote:

Patches exist to restore this functionality, but Debian/Devuan does not include them.

Both screen and tmux are available from the repositories

Head_on_a_Stick · Forum Feedback

Avatar upload page wrote:

An avatar is a small image that will be displayed under your username in your posts. It must not be any bigger than 60 x 60 pixels and 10,240 bytes (10 KiB).

(Added emphasis.)

EDIT: I use this to generate a 60x60 .png from a larger size .svg image:

inkscape --export-width=60 --export-height=60 --export-filename=avatar.png Anarchist_black_cat.svg

Head_on_a_Stick · Hardware & System Configuration

I would have tried blocking that pesky dell_wmi module:

# /etc/modprobe.d/dell_wmi.conf
install dell_wmi /bin/true

Vendor modules are always trouble.

Head_on_a_Stick · Other Issues

alexkemp wrote:

make a note that the TTY command gives a different result in Devuan to SystemD distros:
$ tty
/dev/pts/0

Nope:

archie:~$ cat /proc/1/comm
systemd
archie:~$ tty
/dev/pts/0
archie:~$

^ That output is normal for any graphical terminal emulator regardless of the init system.

Head_on_a_Stick · Hardware & System Configuration

You could use equivs to create a fake lsb package to satisfy the dependency. No idea if that would actually work though. I've never owned a printer. Thank "$DEITY".

EDIT: full quote to prevent globbing.

Head_on_a_Stick · Other Issues

That package supplies the sandbox for chromium. It cannot be used without chromium but chromium can be used without it if you want to decrease browsing security.

It is only a Recommends for chromium though so all those fools who have enabled APT::Install-Recommends "0"; in their APT configuration are running chromium without a sandbox. lol.

EDIT: to clarify this is for the chromium-sandbox package. I don't know about any "chrome-sandbox" package.

Head_on_a_Stick · Hardware & System Configuration

Gregors wrote:

swap is 11.8G [says fdisk]

The fdisk utility can't tell if the swap is activated and in use.

Use

cat /proc/swaps

Or

free -h

Head_on_a_Stick · Hardware & System Configuration

Did you create /etc/init.d/zram and enable the service to start every boot? I think that should work under openrc.

Head_on_a_Stick · Desktop and Multimedia

Looks like Xfce can only do integer scaling: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/HiDPI#Xfce

Head_on_a_Stick · Hardware & System Configuration

vm.swappiness does not control when swap is used. It only mediates what type of swap is used once it is activated.

EDIT: but yes, configuring sysctl.conf is identical under sysvinit (or even runit-init or openrc-init).

Head_on_a_Stick · Installation

Looks like it doesn't have a partition table ("super floppy"). That might confuse udisks2 or whatever pcmanfm is using for automounting.

Can you mount it manually?

# mount /dev/sdg /mnt
$ findmnt /mnt

The output of the second command should show the filesystem ("fstype").

The officially official Devuan Forum!

#626 Re: Installation » Build Packages » 2022-09-03 07:36:25

#627 Re: Freedom Hacks » Replacing sudo. » 2022-09-02 17:15:53

#628 Re: Other Issues » [SOLVED] apt pinning 1001 / automatic package version downgrade » 2022-08-31 20:51:20

#629 Re: Other Issues » [SOLVED] apt pinning 1001 / automatic package version downgrade » 2022-08-31 16:02:10

#630 Re: Desktop and Multimedia » The abstract and network socket for X » 2022-08-30 19:45:11

#631 Re: Documentation » [HowTo] Install VirtualBox 6.1.36 on DEVUAN 5 » 2022-08-30 17:23:34

#632 Re: Documentation » [HowTo] Install ufw gui on DEVUAN 5 » 2022-08-30 17:21:14

#633 Re: Documentation » [HowTo] Install VirtualBox 6.1.36 on DEVUAN 5 » 2022-08-30 17:15:09

#634 Re: Documentation » [HowTo] Install ufw gui on DEVUAN 5 » 2022-08-30 16:58:38

#635 Re: Desktop and Multimedia » The abstract and network socket for X » 2022-08-30 16:51:23

#636 Re: Documentation » [HowTo] Install VirtualBox 6.1.36 on DEVUAN 5 » 2022-08-30 16:34:17

#637 Re: Other Issues » move Devuan to a bigger partition » 2022-08-29 12:59:11

#638 Re: Other Issues » move Devuan to a bigger partition » 2022-08-29 11:16:58

#639 Re: Other Issues » [SOLVED] How to Navigate Back to a Previous XFCE Session? » 2022-08-29 09:43:05

#640 Re: Other Issues » [SOLVED] How to Navigate Back to a Previous XFCE Session? » 2022-08-28 15:01:27

#641 Re: Forum Feedback » avatar upload » 2022-08-28 09:09:17

#642 Re: Hardware & System Configuration » [SOLVED] Dell Vostro 3525 backlight does not work » 2022-08-28 09:07:14

#643 Re: Other Issues » [SOLVED] How to Navigate Back to a Previous XFCE Session? » 2022-08-28 09:04:55

#644 Re: Hardware & System Configuration » [SOLVED] Error: Package lsb is not installed ...?! » 2022-08-28 09:02:27

#645 Re: Other Issues » chromium-sandbox » 2022-08-28 08:57:17

#646 Re: Hardware & System Configuration » [done] Hibernate not working » 2022-08-25 14:18:05

#647 Re: Hardware & System Configuration » How to correctly configure devuan with openrc init to activate zram? » 2022-08-25 14:16:02

#648 Re: Desktop and Multimedia » (xfce) setting display scaling to 125% » 2022-08-24 19:26:12

#649 Re: Hardware & System Configuration » How to change swappiness in Devuan with sysvint ? » 2022-08-24 19:20:26

#650 Re: Installation » [SOLVED] Problems mounting SD card on card reader » 2022-08-22 19:57:34

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