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#51 Re: Other Issues » amd64-microcode update for transient scheduler attacks » 2025-08-31 19:06:33
Hello:
After installing the microcode package ...
These are the first two lines in my dmesg printout:
$ sudo dmesg | more
groucho@devuan:~$ sudo dmesg
[ 0.000000] microcode: microcode updated early to revision 0xa0b, date = 2010-09-28
[ 0.000000] Linux version 6.1.0-38-amd64 (debian-kernel@lists.debian.org) (gcc-12 (Debian 12.2.0-14+deb12u1) ...
--- snip ---
$ie: first the microcode and then the kernel
Further on, I get this:
$ sudo dmesg | more
--- snip ---
[ 0.155960] MDS: Vulnerable: Clear CPU buffers attempted, no microcode
--- snip ---
[ 3.399828] microcode: sig=0x1067a, pf=0x10, revision=0xa0b
[ 3.400056] microcode: Microcode Update Driver: v2.2.
--- snip ---
$ I also have the intel-microcode package installed and the module blacklisted in /etc/modprobe.d.
$ apt list | grep installed | grep intel-microcode
--- snip ---
intel-microcode/stable-security,now 3.20250512.1~deb12u1 amd64 [installed]
$ The directory /lib/firmware/intel-ucode has 125 files in it, all with a Modify time = May 18 20:06, so they receive updates.
Some insight from Intel:
OS vendors may choose to provide an MCU that the kernel can consume for early loading. For example, Linux can apply an MCU very early in the kernel boot sequence. In situations where a BIOS update isn't available, early loading is the next best alternative to updating processor microcode. Microcode states are reset on a power reset, hence its required that the MCU be loaded every time during boot process.
I'd say that the module is blacklisted so that only the kernel deals with the respective microcode file at the very start of the boot process.
Just an edguess.
Best,
A.
#52 Re: Installation » [Solved] Beowulf - Nvidia legacy 340XX driver will not install. » 2025-08-30 14:07:36
Hello:
... if anyone out there had experimented with the various recipes ...
FYI, if interested, See here.
Interesting, but probably not worth all the hassle and risks involved.
-> Should I keep the source?
Yes, you will have to recompile the driver once in a while.
Some day the Debian team will deprecate these drivers and delete the source from the servers. < ######
Then you will have hard time finding the source elsewhere.-> How often should I recompile the driver?
I don't know the exact answer but I have few assumptions.Every time any of the dependencies is updated.
Every time GCC is updated.
If the driver stops working.
If dkms fails.
As always, YMMV.
Best,
A.
#53 Re: Installation » [Solved] Beowulf - Nvidia legacy 340XX driver will not install. » 2025-08-29 22:28:25
Hello:
... ceres, would that mean "excalibur" ...
Not so fast. 8^°
The current status of the Devuan releases can be seen here.
As you can see, the stable/maintained releases are these:
Daedalus / Bookworm
Chimaera / Bullseye
The archived releases are these:
Beowulf / Buster
ASCII / Stretch
Jessie / Jessie
The next* Devuan release, Excalibur (Trixie) is still in the developement / testing phase and has not been released yet.
* as always, it will be ready when it is ready.
Last but not least, there is Ceres, Devuan unstable (Sid).
It has not and will not ever (?) be a release as we know it.
It is a platform for experimentation which is why you have a 340XX package available.
As for the nvidia-legacy-340xx-driver, it is still available for Beowulf but not for Daedalus or Excalibur.
It has been so for a good while now and I have serious doubts as to its viability in future releases.
I asked (previous post) to see if anyone out there had experimented with the various recipes for installing that are making the rounds in the web lately.
Best,
A.
#54 Re: Installation » [Solved] Beowulf - Nvidia legacy 340XX driver will not install. » 2025-08-29 21:13:34
#55 Re: Other Issues » [SOLVED] Devuan package info down? » 2025-08-29 20:46:53
Hello:
Just checked ...
Hmm ...
Now it is working for me also.
It was down (for my end) for at least 10',
... a glitch ...
Most probably.
Best,
A.
#56 Other Issues » [SOLVED] Devuan package info down? » 2025-08-29 20:25:22
- Altoid
- Replies: 2
Hello:
Just a heads-up ...
As of just a few minutes ago, the Devuan package information page https://pkginfo.devuan.org/ issues a 504 Gateway Time-out reply.
ping and traceroute seem to be correct.
# ping pkginfo.devuan.org
PING www.devuan.org (116.202.138.214) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from www.devuan.org (116.202.138.214): icmp_seq=1 ttl=46 time=249 ms
64 bytes from www.devuan.org (116.202.138.214): icmp_seq=2 ttl=46 time=249 ms
--- snip ---
## traceroute pkginfo.devuan.org
traceroute to pkginfo.devuan.org (116.202.138.214), 30 hops max, 60 byte packets
1 192.168.1.1 (192.168.1.1) 0.454 ms 0.557 ms 0.682 ms
--- snip ---
19 ex9k1.dc1.nbg1.hetzner.com (213.239.203.222) 232.639 ms ex9k1.dc1.nbg1.hetzner.com (213.239.203.226) 240.921 ms ex9k1.dc1.nbg1.hetzner.com (213.239.203.222) 231.255 ms
20 www.devuan.org (116.202.138.214) 248.996 ms bonito.devuan.org (85.10.193.185) 245.106 ms 244.119 ms
# Best,
A.
#57 Re: Off-topic » Opinions about keypassXC » 2025-08-26 16:21:08
Hello:
... so difficult to recompile it?
For someone who knows zilch about any and all of that, the answer is, a definitive 'yes'.
It is both much easier and reassuring for me to simply avoid using keypassXC.
I am quite sure a great many Linux users think along the same lines.
Because ...
You know, "it might be a sort of spyware".
If it is about security, you have to compile it yourself.
Right ...
Well ...
That is but one way of looking at it.
If it were the only way, inherently trusted distributions and repsitories (Like Devuan Linux and others) would not even exist.
As always, YMMV.
A.
#58 Re: Off-topic » Opinions about keypassXC » 2025-08-26 12:37:41
Hello:
... tell the people who are making the keypassXC to remove dbus ...
Or to package it without any networking code.
ie:
Not optional
Not opt-in
Just no network access code.
KeePassXC needs network access for downloading website icons (favicons) for password entries.
Right ...
A very important and absolutely essential feature, eh?
What would I ever do without my lovely favicons? 8^°
A huge red flag for me.
As always, YMMV.
A.
#59 Re: Other Issues » [SOLVED] Devuan Thunderbird Release Channel v142? » 2025-08-25 21:29:36
Hello:
... why I seem a little "slow" ...
I cannot imagine why you would seem slow.
Your questions were clear enough for everyone to know what you were asking about.
... remember what I had for lunch.
Most times I can't, even if I cook it myself. 8^°
No big deal.
... grateful that people here ...
All part of the Devuan team.
... why it felt like Mozilla was pressuring me ...
Probably because that is exactly what they were doing.
Glad you were able to get things sorted.
Best,
A.
#60 Re: Other Issues » [SOLVED] Devuan Thunderbird Release Channel v142? » 2025-08-25 12:43:42
Hello:
... email journey/saga starts at aol and ends at claws-mail
Yes, it can be trying.
Fortunately I found my email client (in another life running W3.10 and the rest of them) after trying out a couple which did not make an impression on me.
I cannot recall the exact names but I'm sure one was called Eudora.
Never keen on any sort of webmail or IMAP, Pegasus Mail ended up being my email client for the last 26 years or so.
While not FOSS, it has always been free and community support has always been great.
Never let me down.
Being able to run it under Linux via WINE was the deal breaker in my definitive move to Linux back in late 2013 (?)
Best,
A.
#61 Re: Hardware & System Configuration » kernel (error): disabling IRQ:7 » 2025-08-25 12:13:40
Hello:
... this laptop does not sport a parallel port, if am not mistaken.
If it is not visible, it does not.
ie: a DB25F is a bulky thing. 8^)
My workstation does not have visible DBxx ports (male or female), but there is an available header on the MB and a BIOS setting to activate a serial port.
I doubt that is the case with your laptop.
Now, even though there is no parallel port available to Linux, the line printer module (lp) is loaded at boot time, probably (?) by CUPS and as a result, the other printer modules. eg: parport, ppdev and parport_pc.
You could check with dmesg and lsmod to see if they are being loaded by any other software and eventually blacklist them if they are not needed.
Best,
A.
#62 Re: Other Issues » [SOLVED] Devuan Thunderbird Release Channel v142? » 2025-08-24 22:43:55
Hello:
Where is the DEVUAN Thunderbird 142 package ...
As you surely know, Devuan packages come (basically) from the Debian repositories, unless they are in need of systemd sanitation, task performed by our (few and tireless) Devuan maintainers.
If for [reasons] that is not possible, the package in question is banned from the Devuan repositories, keeping things on the up&up , so to speak.
ie: our distribution in a healthy state. 8^°
This means that for a package to appear in the Devuan repositories, it first has to appear in the Debian repositories.
The latest Thunderbird package available in the Debian repositories (stable/Trixie) is 1:128.14.0esr-1~deb13u1.
See https://packages.debian.org/search?mode … hunderbird
As Devuan Excalibur is still in its development phase, the latest Thunderbird package available in the Devuan repositories (stable/Daedalus) is 1:128.14.0esr-1~deb12u1.
See https://pkginfo.devuan.org/cgi-bin/poli … d&x=submit
When Excalibur gets released as stable, the latest Thunderbird package available will be the same one as the one in the Debian repositories.
Scroll down this search page ...
I'm afraid you missed an important bit:
Auto-generated based on listed sources. May contain inaccuracies.
TL;DR
If you don't see a package in the Debian repository, you will not see it in the Devuan repository.
If you see it in the Debian repository and not in the Devuan repository, it is because it has been banned due to unfixable systemd dependencies.
And that is most probably the reason why no one is talking about this subject.
Best,
A.
#63 Re: Other Issues » [SOLVED] Excalibur and fail2ban » 2025-08-20 20:53:48
Hello:
Credit to golinux for first posting of the link ...
Indeed ...
And then, there's also this bit:
## Old Business
- Debian Trixie has been released
- And what a cluster-f*** it is!
Right on the dot. 8^)
Best,
A.
#64 Re: Hardware & System Configuration » excalibur dist-upgrade? » 2025-08-18 17:41:45
Hello:
Every single one of these projects requires ...
Very interesting post, never thought about it in monetary terms.
With more or less the same idea in mind, I've been posting about that for a few years now and the usual reply is "if you don't like it, why don't you blah, blah blah ...", obviously missing the point by millions of miles.
TL;DR
It seems that it's not possible (and probably won't ever be) to harness the creative work of the countless thousands of programmers, developers and contributors dedicated to this fantastic project started by Linus Torvalds in a way that that they just work together and come up with just 'one' 100% functional and scalable 'distro' instead of generating gadzillionz different flavours, forks of whatever is available out there.
One of the (few) negatives of open source and free licensing is that forking projects just for the sake of having their own project - "look Ma! I rolled my own distro!!!!" - has almost become the norm.
It is highly counter-productive and there is no logical reason for it.
Best,
A.
#65 Re: Off-topic » Why writing init scripts was so scary and people needed systemd for? » 2025-08-16 16:21:41
Hello:
... systemd and wayland are contingencies in preparation for the actual future of corporate Linux ...
Quite so.
And then, Devuan (and every other distribution built on it) will be toast.
Debian (fundamentally, the ecosystem* behind it) knows this because it is, for the most part, the path / timeline they have traced from the start.
Eventually, Debian (at least as we know it today) will also cease to exist and be replaced with whatever it is they eventually come up with.* MS, RH, IBM, Alphabet, etc.
The next step, already in motion, is this cross-distro unification idea.
And when that has become the norm, the question they will be asking will be "why do we have so many distributions?", the answer being quite obvious:Why not have just The One OS for everyone, much easier to maintain.
And control.Imagine, even a simple AI will be able to do it. 8^°
It is not a prophecy or any such thing, the writing has been on the wall for the longest time.
Way before Poettering's 2010 screed.
Best,
A.
#66 Hardware & System Configuration » excalibur dist-upgrade? » 2025-08-15 13:37:11
- Altoid
- Replies: 12
Hello:
As I have mentioned a few times, these days my main box runs on Devuan 5 / Daedalus, which I update and back-up once a week to a recovered WD-MBL running on OpenWRT:
$ uname -a
Linux devuan 6.1.0-38-amd64 #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Debian 6.1.147-1 (2025-08-02) x86_64 GNU/Linux
$ No issues save those which may have appeared while doing some housekeeping, more than anything to clean up stray matter / files / unnecessary packages left over from my system's dist-upgrade path beginning with ascii or Jesse. As it has been a while, I cannot exactly recall when, but it must have been ~ 05/2017.
I have recently seen quite a few posts from members (some quite eager) to do an upgrade to Devuan 6 / Excalibur, which I expect must be for a variety of valid reasons.
As for me, I cannot at least for the time being, find one to move from Daedalus, much the same way I was not able to find one to move from Beowulf with which I had no issues and was quite comfortable with (but was being mothballed) to Chimaera, process which was nothing short of a train-wreck for which I hold XFCE mainly responsible.
A last resort effort by way of yet another dist-upgrade to Devuan 5 / Daedalus straightened most everything out and thus avoided a tiresome roll-back or clean installation.
My box is a fully upgraded ca. 2008 BIOS boot only (ie: no secure boot crap) Sun Ultra24 workstation with an early version of the infamous Intel MEI which I keep at bay (?) by blacklisting the respective modules, and an Intel Q9550 CPU with 8.0Gb RAM which has been running perfectly well on Linux since late 2015 and on Devuan Linux since ~ 05/2017.
The MB has PCIe v2 / PCI v2.3 slots, USB2.0 controller and GbE.
Twin Quadro FX 580 cards feeding three 19" monitors run (well enough) with the latest nouveau driver and the LSI SAS1068E and the 2940U/UW SAS/SCSI controllers have worked perfectly well from the very first Linux installation.
So it would seem that (?) there is nothing that would require much of a dist-upgrade as I expect that any and all applicable Linux drivers / modules* are quite mature by now.
That said, I have no plan (or willingness) to spend my pension money on new (unneeded) hardware as everything works as expected.
My only (small) peeve is that the nouveau driver could do much better at running a 3x monitor desktop but that is about it.
In the 10+ years I have been running on Linux I have seen the size of each release grow and grow and cannot but wonder what more is in store.
eg:
Devuan Chimaera netinstall *.iso: 372.00 MB - UEFI installer: 0.754 MB
Devuan Daedalus netinstall *.iso: 477.80 MB - UEFI installer: 23.00 MB
30X more code was added to the UEFI partition on the road between Chimaera and Daedalus.
Frankly, I do not think I can expect anything in the way of improvements for my hardware.
And after reading this I cannot but to agree with this note:
## Old Business
- Debian Trixie has been released
- And what a cluster-f*** it is!
Not that I am wanting to do a dist-upgrade as I will probably be able to get by (like I did with Beowulf) by using a backported kernel if necessary but eventually the time will come to move forward albeit with the bare metal in my box in perfect working condition and unchanged, save maybe larger/faster drives or newer monitors.
I guess that, besides @greenjeans and I, there may be more members in a similar situation from which I would like to hear an opinion.
Best,
A.
* corrections welcome.
#67 Other Issues » Mozilla and LLMs » 2025-08-13 11:02:15
- Altoid
- Replies: 2
Hello:
From today's edition of The Register:
------------------------------------------------
Some users report their Firefox browser is scoffing CPU power
You guessed it: looks like it's a so-called AI
by Liam Proven
------------------------------------------------
https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/13/ … ing_power/
... in July we reported on the next installment: Firefox 141 now has an odious new feature Mozilla dubs AI-enhanced tab groups, to which the company adds a box called Things to keep in mind –
Firefox uses a local AI model to read your open tabs' titles and descriptions to suggest more tabs and group names. Everything happens on your device.
Best,
A.
#68 Re: Hardware & System Configuration » [SOLVED] Devuan 6 excalibur, OpenRC, networking, /etc/hosts ingnored » 2025-08-12 20:09:36
Hello:
... NetworkManager is always installed ...
Yes, that it is.
I eventually got tired of seeing my /etc/resolv.conf continually being tampered with.
Because, after all ... Just whose bloody $%& workstation is it?
Good old WiCD did not do that.
But, alas, it is no longer available.
So I just disabled the crap Network Manager and that was it.
My ethernet link comes up at boot and I just use ifdown / ifup when I want to do otherwise or connect to a friendly neighbour's AP if my fibre-link provider finds the opportunity to screw up something.
Doing that has made life much simpler.
As always, YMMV.
Best,
A.
#69 Re: Installation » any way to obtain Excalibur ISO? » 2025-08-11 22:56:53
Hello:
... Excalibur is not ready for prime-time ...
If it is in the repository, it is because it has been tested and works.
Otherwise it would not be there.
... "missing firmware" or something to that effect.
I take it you do not have a wired connection available?
ie: ethernet
From https://www.devuan.org/os/install:
Non-free firmware
Non-free firmware packages are available on all install media. These packages will only be installed if required by your wifi adapter. To avoid the automatic installation and loading of needed non-free firmware, choose the Expert install option during the installation process.
The desktop-live and minimal-live images have non-free firmware packages pre-installed. These packages may be removed after boot using the remove_firmware.sh script available under /root.
Best,
A.
#70 Re: Installation » any way to obtain Excalibur ISO? » 2025-08-10 23:21:42
Hello:
Thanks ...
You're welcome.
... "burning" was trying to do a migration from Debian ...
I see.
A bit trickier than Devuan to Devuan
Have heard that it is doable but never had to go there.
... always make back-ups.
The only way.
... try building a system with that ISO ...
If you have a bit of experience, can follow instructions and know what sort of system you want, the netinstall option is the best one.
You get to install exactly what you want.
Excluding unneeded recommends and avoiding choices made for you by the one size fits all packaging system makes for a win-win.
eg:
No need for exim4 as the default MTA in a desktop system.
Replacing it with DMA (DragonFly mail agent) is just one of many examples.
Start small / basic on a spare disk and build on that while keeping a log.
It will be very useful in the future.
When you are done, you can clone your Devuan system to your main HDD.
Do let us know how you fared.
Best,
A.
#71 Re: Installation » any way to obtain Excalibur ISO? » 2025-08-10 22:15:38
Hello:
... impatient to get an Excalibur ISO.
OK ... 8^°
... burned by migrating ...
Rare ...
But not unheard of.
... ISO available?
Have you tried checking for info in the usual places? eg: here.
That said and with your not wanting to risk a dist-upgrade, you may want to consider having a go at the recently uploaded netinstall.iso (20250809) and see how you fare with it.
Best,
A.
#72 Other Issues » Stardict - possibly problematic application? » 2025-08-08 21:24:32
- Altoid
- Replies: 4
Hello:
From today's edition of The Register:
------------------------------------------------
Star leaky app of the week: StarDict
Fun feature found in Debian 13: send your selected text to China – in plaintext
by Liam Proven - Fri 8 Aug 2025 // 15:29 UTC
------------------------------------------------
A discussion on the oss-security mailing list on OpenWall highlights an interesting feature of an apparently innocuous dictionary app that's included in Debian: StarDict, a Gtk app that looks up text and displays the definition in a tooltip. The alarm was raised by Vincent Lefèvre from INRIA in an email titled StarDict sends the user's X11 selection to the network:
With some plugins, StarDict sends the user's X11 selection from other applications to some servers: dict.youdao.com and dict.cn (both Chinese servers).
https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/08/ … p_of_week/
Best,
A.
#73 Re: Hardware & System Configuration » gnome related files shuffle / replacement » 2025-08-06 16:07:57
Hello:
... policykit-1-gnome is gone ...
... directly replaceable with the mate-polkit.
Being a virtual package and provided by some other package (NN-polikit), to me* it's a tomayto = tomahto situation.
ie: still a virtual package provided by a real one instead of a real, stand alone package to do just that and only that.
* ymmv, obviously.
So I'll just leave that one as-is and avoid the possibilty of something going south.
With respect to replacing pinentry-gnome3 with pinentry-curses, any ideas as how to do it without screwing up?
Thanks for your input.
Best,
A.
#74 Hardware & System Configuration » gnome related files shuffle / replacement » 2025-08-06 15:17:19
- Altoid
- Replies: 2
Hello:
Having had reasonable success in ridding my box of unnecessary gnome files, I still have two to solve: policykit-1-gnome and pinentry-gnome3.
I have taken care to check on all dependencies but you never know, I will post any complaints I get.
The remaining gnome related files are either by choice (gnome-disk-utility) or dependencies of (timeshift.
This is what aptitude prints out when asked about:
1. policykit-1-gnome
$ aptitude why policykit-1-gnome
i thunar Recommends policykit-1-gnome | polkit-1-auth-agent
$ and
2. pinentry-gnome3
$ aptitude why pinentry-gnome3
i gnupg Depends gpg-agent (< 2.2.40-1.1.1~)
i A gpg-agent Depends pinentry-curses | pinentry
i A pinentry-gnome3 Provides pinentry
$ If I understand correctly, the alternative to policykit-1-gnome would be polkit-1-auth-agent and the alternative to pinentry-gnome3 would be pinentry-curses.
Unfortunately, the first alternative is a virtual package provided, among others, by policykit-1-gnome.
See here: https://packages.debian.org/bookworm/po … auth-agent
So unless some other option is available, that will be it.
But pinentry-curses is available ...
$ apt list | grep pinentry-curses
--- snip ---
pinentry-curses/stable 1.2.1-1 amd64
--- snip ---
$ ... and can be installed to replace pinentry-gnome3.
$ aptitude why pinentry-curses
i gnupg Depends gpg-agent (< 2.2.40-1.1.1~)
i A gpg-agent Depends pinentry-curses | pinentry
$ Q: which would be the safe / proper manner to replace pinentry-gnome3 with pinentry-curses and not wreak havok in my system?
Thanks in advance.
Best,
A.
#75 Re: Devuan Derivatives » Keyring? » 2025-08-04 20:14:25
Hello:
Nice work ...
Thanks.
But the merit actually goes to a chap going by the handle Bentolor.
He posted about this same issue* back in 2019 and came up with the keyringrc.cfg file for setting the backend.
See https://github.com/jaraco/keyring/issues/391
* BiT fails because it cannot make sense of the ChainerBackend
A chap going by the handle Jaraco (autor of keyring?) explains the process further down.
You may want to give it a read, it may at some point be useful to you.
Best,
A.
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