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#1 Re: Freedom Hacks » How will life be without gvfs? » Yesterday 20:09:36

Hello:

tux_99 wrote:

... don't know what's the root cause of your issues ...

Hmm ...
I have so many, but the root cause to any of them has eluded me from an early age.

Most of them can be found in any edition of Jon Winokur's 'The Portable Curmudgeon'.

... don't have any of those files you listed in that dbus folder ...

That is because I have gvfs installed and you do not.

I had to reinstall it.

Best,

A.

#2 Re: Freedom Hacks » How will life be without gvfs? » Yesterday 19:56:45

Hello:

greenjeans wrote:

... sorry Altoid ...

Whatever for?
We're just exchanging ideas.

And in a civilised manner.  ;^D

greenjeans wrote:

... gvfs works really well with PcmanFM ...

I also worked for me till I uninstalled it but quite a few things stopped working properly.
So I installed it again and I then had other issues.
Like I mentioned, getting rid of PCManFM solved the problem.

greenjeans wrote:

For me ...

No need to justify anything, to me or anyone else.

My objections to gvfs are based on it being wired, like the OP wrote, to be a jack-of-all-trades.
Does that approach to writing Linux applications sound familiar to you?

Best,

A.

#3 Re: Freedom Hacks » How will life be without gvfs? » Yesterday 16:29:45

Hello:

altoid wrote:

... then installed xfe, in my opinion ...

tux_99 wrote:

... file manager of choice is mc ...

greenjeans wrote:

... I think ranger is ...

tux_99 wrote:

... never heard of ranger before ...

We (YT included, obviously) seem to have drifted off a bit.
Happens ...  8^°

The problem I have detected is that even with the use of systemctl, there does not seem to be a way to keep the gvfs.* services from running and if you purge it, at least in Xfce, it screws up things.

Talk about being 'plumbed in'. 8^/

I'm not sure but it seems that dbus (surpise!!!) will start all of them even if they are masked.
See here:

https://askubuntu.com/questions/1285637 … art-0.html

$ ls -1 /usr/share/dbus-1/services | grep vfs
org.gtk.vfs.AfcVolumeMonitor.service
org.gtk.vfs.Daemon.service
org.gtk.vfs.GPhoto2VolumeMonitor.service
org.gtk.vfs.GoaVolumeMonitor.service
org.gtk.vfs.MTPVolumeMonitor.service
org.gtk.vfs.Metadata.service
org.gtk.vfs.UDisks2VolumeMonitor.service
$ 

Like I mentioned earlier, PCManFM had some issue with gvfs which I solved by purging it and installing a replacement.

But the uneeded gvfs crap is still running.
ie: org.gtk.vfs.AfcVolumeMonitor.service and org.gtk.vfs.GoaVolumeMonitor.service

Any ideas?

Best,

A.

#4 Re: Freedom Hacks » How will life be without gvfs? » Yesterday 14:22:51

Hello:

tux_99 wrote:

... file manager of choice is mc ...

mc is one of the first things I have always installed on any PC, it has been that way ever since I can remember.
Although at that time it was Norton Commander on MS-DOS.

I always use it to ssh into my proto-NAS (WD MBL on OpenWRT) or when do any maintenance on my box, RPi or 1000HE.

I guess it comes down to unconscious preferences (?).
But yes, it is probably the best out there.

A.

#5 Re: Freedom Hacks » How will life be without gvfs? » Yesterday 12:04:21

Hello:

Altoid wrote:

... report if and when I find something is not working properly ...
... see if getting rid of PCManFM cleans up some more of all this gvfs crap.

Well ...
It seems that, independently of what I did with sysmctl, things were not working as expected.
ie: same old gvfs screwing up things.

So I purged (with exreme prejudice) PCManFM and problem solved.
I then installed xfe, in my opinion a much underrated file manager that needs (?) gvfs but does not screw around with my mounting Android devices; lightweight and highly configurable.

I downloaded the latest version (2.1.5 *.run file) from sourceforge and installed it.
No issues for the time being.

I would also ditch Thunar but it seems not viable if using Xfce.

Will report if and when I find something is not working properly.

Best,

A.

#6 Re: Freedom Hacks » How will life be without gvfs? » 2026-03-21 13:25:48

Hello:

greenjeans wrote:

... may be the outlier here ...

Not necessarily so.

greenjeans wrote:

... hate what gnome has become ...

In my case, not hate as such.
I came across it many years ago when I was gifted a laptop (486?) and went looking for Linux to install.
There was something about it I disliked.
Gut feeling? No idea.

greenjeans wrote:

... gvfs and udisks ...

gvfs started acting up when I reinstalled it, fortunately I put paid to that by disabling the offending 'service' with systemctl, a systemd tool.   

I am 'on the fence' so to speak about the rest of the gvfs crap running in my box.
While I both understand and sympathise with what you say, as far as I am concerned the less gnome crap we have in our Devuan box, the better.

As for udisks2 and having read that post linked to by brocashelm, if there is something to replace it I think it is a good idea.

Because we must return to the KISS principle if we want to continue to use our boxes as we see fit.

I arrived late to MSDOS and soon came W3.11, which I actually liked.
The when W95 came along, I had no choice but to use it at work.
When I mentioned this to one of the chaps I knew in IT, he said that W95 was a fantastic user interface, the future of 'computing'. 

At that time, being a raw beginner in the use of a PC, I still remember the thought that crossed my mind sometime later:

"There will come a time when those who actually master the command line will be the only ones to have access to anything related to IT on their own terms."

And here we are ...
As always, just my $0.02

Best,

A.

#7 Re: Freedom Hacks » How will life be without gvfs? » 2026-03-19 21:31:24

Hello:

tux_99 wrote:

... you use Gnome or even just gnome-disks then I'm not surprised that removing gvfs gives you problems ...

Not only that.
If I do pkill gvfs.*, PCManFM will start it again.
Talk about invasive ...

To avoid the fuckups I have been getting I needed to at least disable gvfs-daemon.service.
Much to my chagrin, the only safe way I found on-line to do that was using systemctl, which I had to install.
Not happy about that. 8^/

When I ran it, I found that I also did not need to have these other services running:

# systemctl --user | grep gvfs
--- snip ---
gvfs-afc-volume-monitor.service	  loaded inactive dead   Virtual filesystem service - Apple File Conduit monitor
gvfs-goa-volume-monitor.service   loaded inactive dead   Virtual filesystem service - GNOME Online Accounts monitor
--- snip ---
#

So I disabled the ones I am certain I do not need:

# systemctl --user disable gvfs-daemon.service 
# systemctl --user disable gvfs-afc-volume-monitor.service 
# systemctl --user disable gvfs-goa-volume-monitor.service

Having to use a systemd tool utility to avoid running unneeded gvfs services is a very bad sign of things to come.
Grin and bear it, I guess.

I'll report if and when I find something is not working properly and in the mean time will see if getting rid of PCManFM cleans up some more of all this gvfs crap.

Sad state of affairs these are.

Best,

A.

#8 Re: Freedom Hacks » How will life be without gvfs? » 2026-03-19 11:35:16

Hello:

tyder wrote:

How will life be without gvfs?

Wanting a gnome-crap clean system, I purged most everything but when I purged gvfs I started having all sorts of issues.
One was that gnome-disks (the only useful gnome application I know of) would not work.

So I installed it again but then it screwed up my connection to a couple of android based thinguies (phone and tablet) when using PCManFM but not Thunar which I don't like as much but cannot get rid of as it is part of the actual XFCE clusterfuck.

I have since found that I can solve that by doing a "unplug thinguie, kill PCManFM, plug thinguie again, start PCManFM" dance.
Gets old in less that 30s.

I have also found that if I do pkill gvfs.* and run mtp-detect, then everything works fine.
Quite damning for gvfs ...
Note: without mtp-detect it does not work.

So ...

Q: how can I stop the gvfs service from running?
It is not listed when I run service --status-all | grep gvfs

But I found all these files which may hold a clue:

/usr/lib/systemd/user/gvfs-afc-volume-monitor.service
/usr/lib/systemd/user/gvfs-daemon.service                   <- ###### this?
/usr/lib/systemd/user/gvfs-goa-volume-monitor.service
/usr/lib/systemd/user/gvfs-gphoto2-volume-monitor.service
/usr/lib/systemd/user/gvfs-metadata.service
/usr/lib/systemd/user/gvfs-mtp-volume-monitor.service
/usr/lib/systemd/user/gvfs-udisks2-volume-monitor.service
~$ cat /usr/lib/systemd/user/gvfs-daemon.service

[Unit]
Description=Virtual filesystem service
PartOf=graphical-session.target

[Service]
ExecStart=/usr/libexec/gvfsd
Type=dbus
BusName=org.gtk.vfs.Daemon
Slice=session.slice
~$ 

How to (safely) deal with this so it will not run at boot and allow me to check if anything goes south?

Thanks in advance.

Best,

A.

#9 Re: Desktop and Multimedia » [SOLVED] init: No inittab.d directory found during boot log » 2026-03-18 22:43:54

Hello:

abower wrote:

... it will now be covered by the man page, which I think is appropriate.

Indeed it is.
Your doing.  8^D

abower wrote:

... wants a drop-in for this directory will implicitly create it, which is the normal way for directories in Debian ...

Well ...
Here's the thing.
Please correct me if I am wrong.

Debian uses systemd and Devuan uses sysvinit.
The /etc/inittab.d directory is directly related/of use to sysvinit and whoever puts *.tab files in it.

Unless I am mistaken, I understand that it is of no use to systemd (or Debian) because it is sysvinit-ware™.
ie: absolutely irrelevant to the systemd package, thus to Debian.

See https://github.com/systemd/systemd/releases/tag/v260

systemd v260 Release notes wrote:

* Support for System V service scripts has been removed. Please make
      sure to update your software *now* to include a native systemd unit
      file instead of a legacy System V script.

      The following components have been removed:

      • systemd-rc-local-generator and rc-local.service,
      • systemd-sysv-generator,
      • systemd-sysv-install (hook for systemctl enable/disable/is-enabled).

      The corresponding meson options '-Drc-local=', '-Dsysvinit-path=',
      and '-Dsysvrcnd-path=' are deprecated, and will be dropped in a future
      release.
--- snip ---

That being the case, it stands to reason that no Debian package will have a need to create the /etc/inittab.d directory.
So under no circumstance will it be 'normal' for a Debian package to create it, simply because it is written for Debian, a systemd enabled distribution.

Odds are that if a package required the use of /etc/inittab.d, it would not be allowed in the Debian repositories.

Don't have much else to add save a 'thank you' for the interesting exchange of ideas.

Best,

A.

#10 Re: Desktop and Multimedia » [SOLVED] init: No inittab.d directory found during boot log » 2026-03-18 21:29:51

Hello:

abower wrote:

And lo, it was done.
The message will be removed and documentation added ...

As long as what was done was the right thing, good going.
Congratulations. 8^D

I would not know how to use /etc/inittab.d so will not opine any further than this:

- the warning existed because sysvinit was looking for the /etc/inittab.d directory and did not find it.
- the (to me) obvious solution was to fix the installer to create it at install time; optional or not, sysvinit was looking for it.
- if there was some issue as how the *.tab files worked or had to be written, add the corresponding documentation.
- I am not too sure it is the right solution because the problem was not the warning, in itself a consequence.
- (to me) problem was the /etc/inittab.d not being where it should have been which generated the warning.

The use of /etc/inittab.d is a feature of sysvinit, maybe very few use it, maybe not.
The solution has only obscured its existence, I only learnt about it because of the warning and fsmithred's post.

As always, just my $0.02

Best,

A.

#11 Re: Desktop and Multimedia » [SOLVED] init: No inittab.d directory found during boot log » 2026-03-18 00:07:44

Hello:

abower wrote:

I would not be so sure!

Happened to me once and have seen it happen to others.
But things sometimes change.

And nothing is certain exept death and taxes.

abower wrote:

Waytogo !   8^)
Valiant effort, thanks for that.

Let's see what happens.

Best,

A.

#12 Re: Desktop and Multimedia » [SOLVED] init: No inittab.d directory found during boot log » 2026-03-17 22:56:27

Hello:

abower wrote:

... added in 2020 so it probably never was used in Debian ...

Yes ...
But sysvinit asks for it (see link) so it should be there.

abower wrote:

... wondering if we should get it added (via Debian) by default ...

Hmm ...

Added via Debian?
Something that is directly related to sysvinit?   8^D !!!

Right ...
You could try filing a bug against INIT: no inittab.d directory found with the Debian devs.
But you will not like the reply.

TL;DR:
Something along these lines ...

"On your way, mate. This is not a bug, sysvinit is not part of the default Debian configuration".

Eventually and only for completeness' sake, someone with the required knowledge could volunteer to write a small metapackage to do that.

If not, just add it manually and get rid on an unneeded warning in syslog.

Best,

A.

#13 Re: Desktop and Multimedia » [SOLVED] init: No inittab.d directory found during boot log » 2026-03-15 22:16:53

Hello:

fscara wrote:

INIT: no inittab.d directory found

My box runs on Devuan Daedalus ...

~$ uname -a
Linux devuan 6.1.0-44-amd64 #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Debian 6.1.164-1 (2026-03-09) x86_64 GNU/Linux
~$ 

... and I also get that printout in /var/log/syslog:

$ cat /var/log/syslog | grep inittab
Mar 15 04:08:48 localhost init: No inittab.d directory found
Mar 15 07:53:41 devuan init: No inittab.d directory found
Mar 15 10:10:50 devuan init: No inittab.d directory found
Mar 15 14:11:47 devuan init: No inittab.d directory found
$

That printout is not present in anywhere else.
ie: /boot, /debug, /kern.log, /messages or /user.log.

My system does not have a /etc/inittab.d directory but it is quite evident that some part of sysvinit routine is looking for it.

fsmithred wrote:

Something is programmed to check for files in that directory, and it's letting you know that there's nothing there.

Indeed ...
See here: https://fossies.org/linux/sysvinit/src/init.c

I think the best is to create the directory and remove the warning from the log.
It has probably been removed from the Debian installation process because systemd does not need it.

But Devuan does not use systemd.

Best,

A.

#14 Re: Freedom Hacks » Needs for better modularization of installs » 2026-03-09 21:27:06

Hello:

tyder wrote:

... the current setup that is forced upon us IMO breaks both the basic One Thing-principle

The basic Unix principle: Do one thing, and do it well has been broken for many years now.

tyder wrote:

... we should try to produce a proof of concept.

Hmm....

If we* means the already overworked / short staffed group of people working as well as they can to keep Devuan systemd free, you may want to stop and think a bit.

The die is cast: unless an important group of distributions turn their back on systemd (and I choose systemd as the prime example of the enshittification of the Linux ecosystem) I do not think anything is happening.

* I was going to attempt a humorous approach to this with a "whatyoumin we white man?" quip but I decided against it.
Political correction and all.

Best,

A.

#15 Re: Hardware & System Configuration » [SOLVED] Removing/purging Network Manager » 2026-03-09 10:32:10

Hello:

ralph.ronnquist wrote:

... use plain ifupdown configurations ...
... easy and straight-forward.
.. well documented.

+1
For me it was a huge step forward.

Best,

A.

#16 Re: Hardware & System Configuration » Accidental Success: Revived 2008 Toshiba with Devuan 6 & AI (Non-Tech) » 2026-03-07 23:54:38

Hello:

greenjeans wrote:

At least that's my understanding of it.

Indeed, that is what I understood.

Blacklisting probably has the added effect of keeping rogue agents from doing it.

Best,

A.

#17 Off-topic » GitHub and Dependabot » 2026-02-25 20:03:05

Altoid
Replies: 0

Hello:

Yes, you read right: Dependabot

------
Go library maintainer brands GitHub's Dependabot a 'noise machine'
When a one-line fix triggers thousands of PRs, something's off
by Tim Anderson                              Tue 24 Feb 2026 // 16:31 UTC
------

https://www.theregister.com/2026/02/24/ … /?td=rt-3a

Tim Anderson@The Register wrote:

A Go library maintainer has urged developers to turn off GitHub's Dependabot, arguing that false positives from the dependency-scanning tool "reduce security by causing alert fatigue."

Best,

A.

#18 Re: Off-topic » Password managers » 2026-02-17 09:20:02

Hello:

Andre4freedom wrote:

... Internet-based password managers are not safe.

Always been a matter of common sense / common knowledge to me.

Andre4freedom wrote:

... best to keep the passwords in a local and decent ...

Little black book.
In my opinion, any system can be (eventually) hacked.

Best,

A.

#19 Off-topic » Password managers » 2026-02-17 08:52:04

Altoid
Replies: 14

Hello:

From The Register:

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You probably can't trust your password manager if it's compromised
Researchers demo weaknesses affecting some of the most popular options
By Connor Jones
Mon 16 Feb 2026 // 16:20 UTC
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
https://www.theregister.com/2026/02/16/ … _managers/

Connr Jones @The Register wrote:

Academics say they found a series of flaws affecting three popular password managers, all of which claim to protect user credentials in the event that their servers are compromised.

Really?

I would have thought that a compromised server was indeed a compromised server.
No matter what the PMs vendors said.

Which is why I do not use passord managers.

Best,

A.

#20 Re: Freedom Hacks » UDisks2: Security Considerations » 2026-02-14 00:16:42

Hello:

IgnorantGuru@ Udisks2: Another Loss For Linux wrote:

This effectively turns Linux into Windows, where users can’t do much from a command line, and even when you should be authorized to do something on your own system, that system denies you permission.

Indeed ...
Note the date on the post: March 11, 2012

This chap was bitching about this a whole five years before I started.
Imagine how bad things are now ...

Best,

A.

#21 Re: Off-topic » XFCE is building a new WM and compositor for Wayland » 2026-02-05 21:27:07

Hello:

bracashelm wrote:

Xfce went downhill after 4.12.

Yes, a huge screw-up.

bracashelm wrote:

... it's going to get worse as GTK3 gets phased out ...

Based on what we have seen, I think we can expect exactly that.

Pity ...

Best,

A.

#22 Re: Installation » [SOLVED] how start ntp? » 2026-01-30 21:12:50

Hello:

greenjeans wrote:

Well that in of itself would explain the problems.

Methinks you nailed it.  8^°

Best,

A.

#23 Re: Installation » [SOLVED] how start ntp? » 2026-01-28 16:00:47

Hello:

Rolfie wrote:

... simply using npt.
No graphical tool ...

Around 12/22 I set up a cron job at /etc/cron.daily/dev-ntpdate to set time for my box.
Not my doing, picked it up somewhere along the line but cannot remember where.
Added my comments to make sure I had an idea as to what was going on.

It logs to /var/log/syslog

------
#!/bin/sh
# added to set time via ntpdate daily
# invoke ntpdate to set time from system clock
# -4    Force IPv4 DNS name resolution
# -6    Force IPv6 DNS name resolution
# -s    Log to syslog
# -t    N.N Specify timeout

if [ -x /usr/sbin/ntpdate ]; then
        /usr/sbin/ntpdate -4 -s -t 5 pool.ntp.org
fi
------

Here is today's log entry:

--- snip ---
Jan 28 06:23:24 devuan ntpdate: CLOCK: time stepped by -2.595612
Jan 28 06:23:24 devuan ntpdate: 2026-01-28 06:23:24.808991 (-0300) -2.595612 +/- 0.002286 pool.ntp.org 170.155.148.1 s2 no-leap

Only issue I had was around mid last year due to some command (-u?) having been deprecated.
Aside from that, it has worked properly.

Best,

A.

#24 Off-topic » Microsoft and encrypted data » 2026-01-24 10:14:35

Altoid
Replies: 9

Hello:

Have a read ...

From Forbes:

Thomas Brewster wrote:

Microsoft Gave FBI Keys To Unlock Encrypted Data, Exposing Major Privacy Flaw

https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrew … pted-data/

TL;DR

“If Apple can do it, if Google can do it, then Microsoft can do it.”
    Matt Green, associate professor at Johns Hopkins University

From The Register:

Thomas Claborn wrote:

Surrender as a service: Microsoft unlocks BitLocker for feds
If you're serious about encryption, keep control of your encryption keys

https://www.theregister.com/2026/01/23/ … microsoft/

TL;DR

Erica Portnoy from the EFF* wrote:

"... a clear message to activist organizations and law firms that Microsoft is not building their products for you."

* the epitome of understatements if anything at all 

Both articles point to a huge elephant in the room:
Who in their right mind (and having but the most basic common sense) would entrust Microsoft (et alia) to keep their encryption keys safe?
ie: available to you and to you only.

Best,

A.

#25 Re: Devuan » Devuan 6 Extremely Poor Quality Control. » 2026-01-23 10:46:51

Hello:

Devarch wrote:

... not Devuan's fault, Devuan is unsystemded Debian.

+1

Best,

A.

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