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#1 Re: Other Issues » Preliminary excalibur desktop-live isos need testing » Today 07:10:14
Hello:
... using Mate as the default DE would be better and easier by far ...
Indeed ...
But I'll raise you one:
The default for Devuan should be Openbox with Mate as the DE option.
Best,
A.
#2 Re: Hardware & System Configuration » [SOLVED] File in ~/.config/pulse » Today 06:52:52
Hello:
Good thought, but no.
It was worth a try.
... replacements for mpv, ffmpeg and guvcview ...
... prove tedious and not worth the effort.
Yes. I agree.
Probably by design. 8^°
Thought of vlc ...
That is what I use if and when I need to play anything.
Suits me fine for the little I do with multimedia.
I seems that libpulse0 will have to stay.
Soon we will neeed it to use a text editor.
Thanks for the effort.
Best,
A.
#3 Re: Hardware & System Configuration » [SOLVED] fstrim and HDDs » Yesterday 23:54:22
Hello:
... filesystem is ext4 which does support discard.
After thinking about this for a while I decided to contact WD support to see if they can explain if the [TRIM] command actually does something.
I should have a reply in a matter of days.
Then I found this page.
I don't undertsand much of what it says, but it would seem that the [TRIM] command does have a function in HDDs using SMR (Shingled Magnetic Recording).
See this white paper* https://www.senetic.ci/i/objects/mmo_76 … 06_478.pdf
* p. 3 - Benefits for an SMR Drive
I'll post again if / when I get a reply from WD.
Best,
A.
#4 Re: Hardware & System Configuration » [SOLVED] fstrim and HDDs » Yesterday 10:13:35
Hello:
... filesystem is ext4 which does support discard.
I see.
technically the logs are correct ...
fstrim simply has no way to know ...
Makes sense.
Thank you very much for taking the time to write it up.
Best,
A.
#5 Re: Hardware & System Configuration » [SOLVED] File in ~/.config/pulse » Yesterday 10:07:19
Hello:
Can't recall why I installed it.
Must have been dragged by some other application.
In my case, conky-all needs it.
In yours, it is mpv.
... purge libpulse0.
... broken libavdevice62, libguvcview-2.2, libsdl2 and mpv ...
Just thinking out loud.
Do libavdevice62, libguvcview-2.2, libsdl2 get removed if you purge mpv?
If so, you could use another media player and in the process rid yourself of libpulse0.
Best,
A.
#6 Re: Hardware & System Configuration » [SOLVED] fstrim and HDDs » Yesterday 00:23:52
Hello:
... depends on the specific hard drive ...
... accepts trim but ignores it ...
I'm just guessing.
I have not been able to find any information as to what is going on in a case such as mine.
But if the firmware ignores the TRIM command, why is it reported in the log?
/media/1TB/IMG: 109.2 GiB (117271797760 bytes) trimmed on /dev/sda1
/media/1TB/TS: 159.1 GiB (170784149504 bytes) trimmed on /dev/sda2Shouldn't it log something akin to this instead?
/media/1TB/IMG: 109.2 GiB - TRIM command ignored on /dev/sda1
/media/1TB/TS: 159.1 GiB - TRIM command ignored on /dev/sda2No matter, does not seem to cause any issues.
Thanks for your input.
Best,
A.
#7 Re: Off-topic » Question: Best/fastest repos in general for each continent? » 2025-11-25 20:10:05
Hello:
... but myself i'm sticking to the old format as long as possible.
Indeed ...
Makes two of us.
Best,
A.
#8 Re: Off-topic » Question: Best/fastest repos in general for each continent? » 2025-11-25 20:09:24
Hello:
... but myself i'm sticking to the old format as long as possible.
Indeed ...
Makes two of us.
Best,
A.
#9 Re: Hardware & System Configuration » [SOLVED] File in ~/.config/pulse » 2025-11-25 18:19:43
Hello:
Pulseaudio never installed.
Good first step.
Next one is to block it in /etc/apt/preferences.d.
apt list | grep installed | grep pulse* apulse/unstable,now 0.1.14-1 amd64 [installed] libpulse0/unstable,now 17.0+dfsg1-2+b1 amd64 [installed]
The apulse package is (?) a compatibility layer to allow pulseaudio applications to work with ALSA.
Q: do you want pulseaudio applications running in your box?
If not, check with aptitude why for the reason the apulse package was installed.
If there is no valid dependency, you can probably remove it.
All lines commented in libpulse0's /etc/pulse/client.conf.
aptitude why libpulse0 i mpv Depends libpulse0 (>= 0.99.4)Conky-std installed, no libpulse0 dep.
No idea why conky-all wants libpulse0.
See description here: https://packages.debian.org/sid/libpulse0
Apparently it is a package of pulseaudio libraries.
But if you do not have pulseaudio installed, what would the use case be?
BTW:
Please use the [ c ] tag for in-line code and [ code ] tag for blocks of code.
Thanks for your input.
Best,
A.
#10 Re: Hardware & System Configuration » [SOLVED] File in ~/.config/pulse » 2025-11-25 17:56:26
Hello:
ls -l ~/.config/pulse should tell you when ...
... then you can just delete it ...
Thanks.
But it has become a moot point.
Seeing that I purged it and then blocked it from being dragged in by any other package using an entry in /etc/apt/preferences.d, I decided to just nuke the remnants. ie: if I say 'no pulseaudio' I mean exactly that: 'no pulseaudio'
$ ls -1 /etc/apt/preferences.d
--- snip ---
avoid_pulseaudio
--- snip ---
$ $ cat /etc/apt/preferences.d/avoid_pulseaudio
Package: pulseaudio:*
Pin: version *
Pin-Priority: -1
$ Since this last pulseaudio clean-up, I have not found any more pulseaudio instances in my system.
Hopefully it will stay that way.
Thanks for your input.
Best,
A.
#11 Re: Hardware & System Configuration » [SOLVED] fstrim and HDDs » 2025-11-25 14:02:44
Hello:
sudo smartctl -i /dev/sda | grep Rotation
Right ...
# smartctl -i /dev/sda
smartctl 7.3 2022-02-28 r5338 [x86_64-linux-6.1.0-41-amd64] (local build)
Copyright (C) 2002-22, Bruce Allen, Christian Franke, www.smartmontools.org
=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Model Family: Western Digital Blue Mobile (SMR)
Device Model: WDC WD10SPZX-80Z10T2
Serial Number: WD-WXD2A70DDH3S
LU WWN Device Id: 5 0014ee 212db172a
Firmware Version: 04.01A04
User Capacity: 1,000,204,886,016 bytes [1.00 TB]
Sector Sizes: 512 bytes logical, 4096 bytes physical
Rotation Rate: 5400 rpm ##### <--- HDD / spinning rust
Form Factor: 2.5 inches
TRIM Command: Available, deterministic ##### <--- accepts TRIM
Device is: In smartctl database 7.3/5319
ATA Version is: ACS-3 T13/2161-D revision 5
SATA Version is: SATA 3.1, 6.0 Gb/s (current: 3.0 Gb/s)
Local Time is: Tue Nov 25 10:25:51 2025 -03
SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability.
SMART support is: Enabled
# My question was more than anything oriented to the utility of fstrim on spinning rust.
I have read on the web that, while it does no harm, it is also useless.
Edit:
It seems that while the firmware actually accepts the TRIM command, it is ignored.
---
TRIM is supported, but not actively used: The drive's specifications indicate that clearing unused data (TRIM) is "supported" as part of its general ATA command set (ACS-3). However, TRIM is primarily an optimization feature for SSDs, where it helps manage data blocks to maintain write performance and longevity.HDD operation: As a traditional HDD with spinning platters and magnetic storage, the WD10SPZX manages data internally through standard garbage collection and wear-leveling algorithms specific to mechanical drives. The TRIM command, while technically part of the command set, does no have the same functional effect as it does on flash-based storage (SSDs).
---
I guess that if fstrim is ignored by the HDD firmware (and does nothing in spite of reporting to the log file), I could leave things as they are.
Thanks for your input.
Best,
A.
#12 Hardware & System Configuration » [SOLVED] fstrim and HDDs » 2025-11-25 12:29:30
- Altoid
- Replies: 8
Hello:
Ever since I put my system on a 2.5" 120Gb SSD, I set up fstrim as per the instructions I found on-line:
$ ls -1 /etc/cron.weekly
--- snip ---
dev-fstrim
--- snip ---
$ $ cat /etc/cron.weekly/dev-fstrim
#!/bin/sh
# trim all mounted file systems which support it
# added 20200315
#
# PATH=/bin:/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/local/sbin
LOG=/var/log/trim.log
echo "On $(date -R):" >> $LOG
/sbin/fstrim -a -v >> "$LOG" 2>&1
$ I then took to checking /var/log/trim.log every so often to check that it was working and eventually stopped doing it.
fstrim was doing it's thing and doing it well.
If anything went south, my MTA (not Exim4, DMA*) would let me know.
Today I was looking through the logs and on opening /var/log/trim.log I see that it is also working (?) on a 2.5" 1Tb HDD that I set up inside my box to serve as the first repository of my weekly Clonezilla and daily Timeshift backups.
$ cat /var/log/trim.log
--- snip ---
On Thu, 20 Nov 2025 02:11:33 -0300:
/media/1TB/IMG: 109.2 GiB (117271797760 bytes) trimmed on /dev/sda1
/media/1TB/TS: 159.1 GiB (170784149504 bytes) trimmed on /dev/sda2
/home: 27.2 GiB (29253963776 bytes) trimmed on /dev/sdb6
/var/log: 669.7 MiB (702242816 bytes) trimmed on /dev/sdb5
/: 27.4 GiB (29410951168 bytes) trimmed on /dev/sdb1
$This was something I was not expecting.
And I understand that fstrim is not for use with HDDs, only for SDDs.
I recall adding the comments to the /etc/cron.weekly/dev-fstrim so I would remember what it was doing and the bit "# trim all mounted file systems which support it" stuck with me and I (incorrectly) assumed that support it meant that fstrim would act only on SSDs.
Unfortunately I neglected to add the link to the source of the data.
Q:
Should I leave things as they are or not?
If not, what to do?
Best,
A.
*Dragonfly Mail Agent <-- useful reading
#13 Re: Off-topic » Trying to explain what happened with Cloudflare? » 2025-11-25 05:57:30
Hello:
... picture is worth a thousand words.
Yes.
But only one word was needed: ineptitude.
Cloudfare is arguably an essential part of the web these days.
And those behind it (should) know it. Recent events make me wonder.
Whether that is the proper way to do things or not is for another discussion altogether.
But, like it or not, it is a fact: Cloudfare is a weak link without the needed redundancy.
Redundancy that the WWW was supposed to have, by design.
So it boils down to basic common sense: you do not fuck around with an essential part of the web.
Which is exactly what these DHs did.
A.
#14 Re: Packaging for Devuan » Packages that do not appear in the Synaptic package manager » 2025-11-25 00:24:49
Hello:
Thanks ...
You're welcome.
... problems are with version 6, "Excalibur."
Yes, I saw that.
The idea was to shed some light on the comment made by [stultumanto]:
... libc6-dev might be important.
ie: dependencies, etc.
Best,
A.
#15 Hardware & System Configuration » [SOLVED] File in ~/.config/pulse » 2025-11-24 21:34:53
- Altoid
- Replies: 8
Hello:
I run on Devuan Daedalus and thought I had safely purged all traces of pulseaudio.
$ apt list | grep installed | grep pulse*
--- snip ...
libpulse0/oldstable,now 16.1+dfsg1-2+b1 amd64 [installed,automatic]
libpulse0/oldstable,now 16.1+dfsg1-2+b1 i386 [installed,automatic]
$
$ apt list | grep installed | grep *audio
$ But it maybe that is not an accurate description (?) of my system's present situation.
libpulse0 is required by the conky-all package:
$ aptitude why libpulse0
i conky-all Depends libpulse0 (>= 0.99.1)
$ I still have a ~/.config/pulse directory with a dangling* symlink:
$ ls ~/.config/pulse
86091d88be5305f82484a8e9692432e0-runtime
$ $ readlink ~/.config/pulse/86091d88be5305f82484a8e9692432e0-runtime
/tmp/pulse-aHntD7qg1y0a
$ * terminal shows it in red and mc shows it both in red and with an exclamation mark
ie: !86091d88be5305f82484a8e9692432e0-runtime
But I cannot see it if I look for it in /tmp:
$ ls /tmp
Temp-a369b4bc-a28a-43a1-8f07-5cd9fe1dc0d8
dbus-AL25kJh8OL
dbus-zhBDcWiF0J
mc-groucho
ssh-KCuRXh08Mpzn
$Is something pulseaudio related generating that symlink?
If so, any idea what it may be?
Synaptic does not show any residual configuration files.
Best,
A.
#16 Re: Packaging for Devuan » Packages that do not appear in the Synaptic package manager » 2025-11-24 13:42:03
Hello:
libc6-dev might be important.
For my Daedalus installation aptitude says this:
$ aptitude why libc6-dev
i build-essential Depends g++ (>= 4:10.2)
i A g++ Depends g++-12 (>= 12.2.0-1~)
i A g++-12 Depends libstdc++-12-dev (= 12.2.0-14+deb12u1)
i A libstdc++-12-dev Depends libc6-dev (>= 2.23-1~)
$But then I also see this:
$ aptitude why build-essential
i udiskie Recommends gobject-introspection
i A gobject-introspection Depends build-essential
$And this:
$ aptitude why udiskie
Manually installed, current version 2.4.2-1, priority optional
No dependencies require to install udiskie
$From what I have read (just now) udiskie is a daemon for automounting USB drives, CD-Rs and such.
https://github.com/coldfix/udiskie?tab=readme-ov-file
udiskie gets started on login (?):
$ ps aux | grep udiskie
groucho 19075 0.0 0.0 3332 1568 pts/0 S+ 10:06 0:00 grep --color=always udiskie
$ No idea as to why I have it as manually installed.
If I understand all of the above correctly (?) ...
Installing udiskie dragged in gobject-introspection as a recommends.
As a result, gobject-introspection dragged in build-essential as a dependency.
And then build-essential dragged in all these as dependencies:
build-essential Depends g++ (>= 4:10.2)
g++ Depends g++-12 (>= 12.2.0-1~)
g++-12 Depends libstdc++-12-dev (= 12.2.0-14+deb12u1)
libstdc++-12-dev Depends libc6-dev (>= 2.23-1~)
TL;DR
It would seem that libc6-dev has been installed in my Daedalus system because whoever wrote udiskie thought that it was a good idea to put in gobject-introspection as a recommends.
Not too sure that I got it right so I'd appreciate some input on this.
Edit: maybe a good number of other packages depend on libc6-dev being installed.
Best,
A.
#17 Re: Installation » Upgrade from Devuan Daedalus 32-bit to Excalibur » 2025-11-23 22:41:38
Hello:
... if usrmerge is uninstalled?
You may want to take a few moments to read de Debian advisory I previously linked to.
TL;DR:
If you want to avoid this usrmerge thing you will have to stay at Daedalus; the caveat being that it was not a fresh install.
... installed as buster or bullseye there will be no change, as the new filesystem layout was already the default in these releases.
... the older layout is no longer supported, and systems using it will be converted to the new layout when they are upgraded to bookworm.
buster = Beowulf
bullseye = Chimaera
bookworm = Daedalus
My Devuan box started off as Jesse and was dist-upgraded sequentially to ascii, Beowulf, etc. and then Daedalus, so it retained the now deprecated layout, but that ended with Excalibur.
To upgrade to Excalibur, I have to previously apply the usrmerge package from the Daedalus repository.
But ....
Should I want to go back to a system without usrmerge, I would have to use the last back-up image from my Clonezilla repository.
It would not be Devuan Excalibur.
Excalibur is a usrmerge'd installation, no way around that.
Best,
A.
#18 Re: Freedom Hacks » The Absurdist Comedy » 2025-11-23 19:56:56
Hello:
... points users to /etc/alsa/conf.d/, a directory that often doesn’t exist or isn’t used, while the real defaults live in /usr/share/alsa/.
In my Daedalus install (originally Jesse ca. 2017 and dist-upgraded) /etc/alsa/conf.d has 12 symlinks to the same number of [*.conf] files in /usr/share/alsa/alsa.conf.d plus a file not linked to any other: 99-pulseaudio-default.conf.example
$ ls -1 /usr/share/alsa/alsa.conf.d
10-rate-lav.conf
10-samplerate.conf
10-speexrate.conf
50-arcam-av-ctl.conf
50-jack.conf
50-oss.conf
50-pulseaudio.conf
60-a52-encoder.conf
60-speex.conf
60-upmix.conf
60-vdownmix.conf
98-usb-stream.conf
$ $ ls -1 /etc/alsa/conf.d
10-rate-lav.conf
10-samplerate.conf
10-speexrate.conf
50-arcam-av-ctl.conf
50-jack.conf
50-oss.conf
50-pulseaudio.conf
60-a52-encoder.conf
60-speex.conf
60-upmix.conf
60-vdownmix.conf
98-usb-stream.conf
99-pulseaudio-default.conf.example
$ $ cat /etc/alsa/conf.d/99-pulseaudio-default.conf.example
# Default to PulseAudio
pcm.!default {
type pulse
hint {
show on
description "Default ALSA Output (currently PulseAudio Sound Server)"
}
}
ctl.!default {
type pulse
}
$ Best,
A.
#19 Re: Freedom Hacks » Why Zoom Doesn’t Work with Firefox’s ALSA Backend » 2025-11-23 16:03:18
Hello:
... ALSA as a fallback — a bare-bones option for when PulseAudio isn’t available.
... overlooks that ALSA, with its default software mixing, is quite capable.
Very practical of them.
How else will they get people to use Poettering's PulseAudio complication?
... a full rewrite — replacing fiction with fact — is the only sensible path forward.
I wonder what the odds on that happening are?
Maybe I'll call my bookie and ask. 8^°
Best,
A.
#20 Re: Freedom Hacks » Why Zoom Works with ALSA Out of the Box » 2025-11-23 02:22:35
Hello:
With this setup, Zoom Workplace delivers reliable audio performance on pure ALSA systems ...
I don't use zoom (no need for the time being) but in my PulseAudio-less Daedalus box your tests work as shown. 8^)
So thank you very much for taking the time to research and write up these very clear explanations / instructions.
Best,
A.
#21 Re: Hardware & System Configuration » [SOLVED] Haveged and available entropy » 2025-11-21 20:25:50
Hello:
... part of the linux kernel since version 5.4, making haveged largely obsolete.
Yes, I came across that after posting my question.
... few situations in which the haveged service may be useful ...
Yes, here the author makes a case of sorts:
... it's still useful. It can provide entropy early in the boot when /dev/random is not fully utilized.
On a fully booted system, it can be still used as an additional entropy source. It will insert entropy into the kernel every 60 seconds, thus diversifying your entropy sources.
The " ... diversifying your entropy sources." bit sounds good. Might as well keep it running.
... for real randomness security use a Pi, not your £2K workstation.
Indeed ... 8^D
I could have never paid £2K for a workstation but I am quite sure that you are right, a Pi would work great.
That said, I think that what I need (like most desktop users) is the best randomness available without much ado or expense.
Can't find the post now, but it seems that haveged is not at all expensive to run so my guess is that between the kernel and the haveged service running, I may be properly covered, at least randomness-wise.
Time will tell.
Thank you both for your input.
Much obliged.
Best,
A.
#22 Hardware & System Configuration » [SOLVED] Haveged and available entropy » 2025-11-21 15:13:37
- Altoid
- Replies: 3
Hello:
Disclaimer:
Reason for asking = a good deal (if not all) of this is over my head.
Not being sure about what to do about Excalibur, I have been having a look at various things related to security.
Yesterday I remembered haveged, checked that it was running and, recalling that I had set it a few years ago, checked the available entropy.
Turns out that it returned a value of 256.
But I recalled having changed it to a higher value (1024?) as suggested in various web pages.
A look at /etc/default/haveged revealed the present setting:
$ cat /etc/default/haveged
# Configuration file for haveged
# Options to pass to haveged:
# DAEMON_ARGS=" "
$ I checked the haveged service was running and the available entropy setting and poolsize:
$ cat /proc/sys/kernel/random/entropy_avail
256
$$ cat /proc/sys/kernel/random/poolsize
256
$ But that was not what I recalled having set as per the recommendations at that time.
So I looked up web pages I had bookmarked and edited the file, uncommenting the setting and editing it to what I remembered (?).
$ cat /etc/default/haveged
# Configuration file for haveged
# Options to pass to haveged:
DAEMON_ARGS="-w 1024"
$ That would give me a value over 1000 which was the accepted minimum value at the time I set it up.
Then I stopped / restarted the service, checked that it was running and the available entropy setting and poolsize:
$ cat /proc/sys/kernel/random/entropy_avail
256
$$ cat /proc/sys/kernel/random/poolsize
256
$ What was going on?
TL;DR
I seems that as of kernel 5.10.119, the value of 256 bytes has been hardcoded.
See this link:
https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/704737
TL;DR:
As long as your computer doesn't suffer from not enough entropy ever, you're generating secure numbers.
Even just 256 entropy once before starting to get random numbers, and then 0 for the rest of the lifetime of your system would be OK!
Having 256 at any time is way more than ever necessary.
Right ...
Like I said at the start of this post, all this is over my head, reason why I am asking about it.
I do know that entropy is important, more in servers that desktops, but still important.
The "As long as your computer doesn't ... " bit does not mean much to me, more so in the context of all that is going on with Linux these past few years.
And yes, the "... 256 at any time is way more than ever necessary." bit did bring a smile to my face.
That said, I'd appreciate the opinion of those members who actually understand / have a grip on this stuff.
Best,
A.
#23 Hardware & System Configuration » grub edit screen - setting font colour » 2025-11-21 12:23:12
- Altoid
- Replies: 0
Hello:
Running up to date Devuan Daedalus:
$ uname -a
Linux devuan 6.1.0-41-amd64 #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Debian 6.1.158-1 (2025-11-09) x86_64 GNU/Linux
$ Default grub:
# grub-install --version
grub-install (GRUB) 2.06-13+deb12u1
# I have a setting for the fonts in /etc/default/grub which suits me:
$ cat /etc/default/grub
--- snip ---
GRUB_COLOR_NORMAL="white/red"
GRUB_COLOR_HIGHLIGHT="yellow/red"
--- snip ---The thing is that when editing the command line in the grub screen, those values do not hold.
The font is green and cannot be distiguished properly because of the background I use.
ie: confetti.png from MiyoLinux
Q: is there a way to get same font colours on the [edit] screen?
Best,
A.
#24 Re: Freedom Hacks » ALSA software mixer enabled by default in Debian/Devuan » 2025-11-20 19:55:35
Hello:
@igorzwx Thanks for showing that alsa is actually capable ...
+1
Best,
A.
#25 Re: Desktop and Multimedia » aegisub-3.2: symbol lookup error: /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu » 2025-11-18 00:37:51
Hello:
... half the complex software not backed by huge corpos ...
... have produced that same symbol lookup error so far.
And will keep doing it if you are on Excalibur and till all that complex software you need catches up with this last Debian craze.
### You may want to consider patiently waiting it out till that happens ###.
ie: get out the backup* you made before the dist-upgrade and roll back to your last working non [usr-merge] Daedalus.
You will then be able to use that software you need once again, just like before.
* you have one, right? 8^°
As for me, I will (most) probably freeze my box at Daedalus using backṕorts (both kernels and packages) till it achieves [oldoldstable] status.
That should be in (maybe) three or four years in the future.
Five if I strech it a bit more? 8^°
In the meanwhile, I will think about what is going / has gone on in that time span and attempt to elucidate how to proceed.
No idea where we will be at that point.
There may no longer be a Debian.
I may not even care.
Best,
A.
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