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[Alug]Compiling kernel and modules
by Barry Samuels 11 Jun '03

11 Jun '03

I have compiled kernels many times but it has just occurred to me that after compiling and installing the new modules they are now running under the current (old) kernel until the new kernel is booted. How long could this situation go on without causing problems? Would it cause problems at all? Barry Samuels http://www.beenthere-donethat.org.uk The Unofficial Guide to Great Britain

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[Alug]Bourne shell script for APM: help request
by Dan Hatton 10 Jun '03

10 Jun '03

I'm trying to run the command sleepd --sleep-command "/usr/bin/apm -S" -u 900 to conserve some energy, by putting my computer in standby after 15 minute of idling. This command works fine when I type it at a tcsh or sh prompt, but now I want to run it at boot time. The Debian booting structure is guiding me to do this via a distro-provided script, /etc/rc5.d/S20sleepd (a symlink to somewhere else, IIRC.) I've appended the full text of this script below, but I think the crucial bits are #! /bin/sh DAEMON=/usr/sbin/sleepd NAME=sleepd PARAMS="" if [ -e /etc/default/sleepd ]; then . /etc/default/sleepd fi case "$1" in start) start-stop-daemon --start --quiet --pidfile /var/run/$NAME.pid \ --exec $DAEMON -- $PARAMS ;; esac exit 0 I'm supposed to set things up the way I like them by editing a line in /etc/default/sleepd that says PARAMS=something-or-other. I've tried various permutations, all of which give error messages, e.g. PARAMS=--sleep-command "apm -S" -u 900 -> /etc/rc5.d/S20sleepd: apm -S: command not found PARAMS='--sleep-command "apm -S" -u 900' -> /usr/sbin/sleepd: invalid option -- S /usr/sbin/sleepd: invalid option -- " PARAMS=--sleep-command apm -S -u 900 -> usage: apm [-VvmMsSd] [--verbose] [--minutes] [--monitor] [--suspend] [--standby] I suspect the problems result from my poor understanding of how the Bourne shell handles quotes. Any ideas, please? Here's the full script: #! /bin/sh DAEMON=/usr/sbin/sleepd NAME=sleepd DESC="APM sleep daemon" test -f $DAEMON || exit 0 set -e # Source defaults file; edit that file to configure this script. PARAMS="" if [ -e /etc/default/sleepd ]; then . /etc/default/sleepd fi case "$1" in start) # Ensure apm module is loaded. test -e /dev/apm_bios && touch /dev/apm_bios echo -n "Starting $DESC: " start-stop-daemon --start --quiet --pidfile /var/run/$NAME.pid \ --exec $DAEMON -- $PARAMS echo "$NAME." ;; stop) echo -n "Stopping $DESC: " start-stop-daemon --stop --quiet --oknodo --pidfile /var/run/$NAME.pid \ --exec $DAEMON -- $PARAMS echo "$NAME." ;; restart|force-reload) echo -n "Restarting $DESC: " start-stop-daemon --stop --quiet --oknodo --pidfile \ /var/run/$NAME.pid --exec $DAEMON -- $PARAMS sleep 1 start-stop-daemon --start --quiet --pidfile \ /var/run/$NAME.pid --exec $DAEMON -- $PARAMS echo "$NAME." ;; *) echo "Usage: /etc/init.d/$NAME {start|stop|restart|force-reload}" >&2 exit 1 ;; esac exit 0 -- Ta Dan Hatton

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[Alug]RE: Bourne shell script for APM: help request
by Andrew Wallis 10 Jun '03

10 Jun '03

Unless I missed something, only one person mentioned "eval" and then seemed to dismiss it almost immediately. I think that's a pity because it's just these sorts of problems that "eval" is designed for. The following two scriptettes demonstrate: --------- script -------------- #!/bin/sh PARMS='p1 p2 --command "this is a command" p5' eval ./daemon $PARMS ------- end script ------------ --------- daemon -------------- #!/bin/sh declare -i PN=1 for PARM in "$@" do echo "parameter $PN = \"$PARM\"" PN=PN+1 done ------- end daemon ------------ Gives: parameter 1 = "p1" parameter 2 = "p2" parameter 3 = "--command" parameter 4 = "this is a command" parameter 5 = "p5" which is what was wanted wasn't it? I probably missed something as I'm seriously advanced in the senility stakes. Regards Andrew Wallis

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[Alug]IPMasq file structure
by Paul Tansom 10 Jun '03

10 Jun '03

Does anyone know of a good website to help me get my head around the file structure for the configuration files of IPMasq? I've just installed it on a server I've setup and I'd like to make a few changes to the IPChain configurations, but although I can see the idea behind splitting up the config into a collection of files I can't get my head around which files to alter or how to add any - probably largely due to the fact that they are coded as fairly generic solutions and read info from the system configuration. Of course the other reason could be that I'm practically dead on my feet and my brain isn't on top form! :-) -- Paul Tansom: - contact paul(a)aptanet.com for more information Internet and Intranet Solutions -- http://www.aptanet.com/

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[Alug]Knoppix boot problem
by Ben Francis 09 Jun '03

09 Jun '03

I'm getting a bit frustrated. Firstly, I'm not talking about booting off the CD-ROM, I can do that fine. I've installed Knoppix to the hard disk of a computer, with great ease I might add, so it's now meant to be a Debian system (see other thread somewhere or other...) Every time I boot the system from cold it freezes half way through booting X at a sickly grey screen and an immobile X cursor in the centre. If the computer has been turned on a while and I shut it down, it boots up again fine. I don't quite know what to do, I suspect it could be a hardware problem? The hardware is all quite a few years old and from various dubious second hand locations. (A poor geek has to get his kit from somewhere, can't afford to buy it new!) Thanks in advance Ben "tola" Francis

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[Alug]Weekly IRC reminder
by Neill Newman 09 Jun '03

09 Jun '03

This is the automated ALUG IRC meeting reminder sent to remind you that there is an IRC meeting tonight (Monday) at 8.00pm. The meeting takes place on the irc server irc.alug.org.uk in the #alug channel. Most IRC clients should allow you to get there with the commands "/server irc.alug.org.uk" and "/join #alug". Popular IRC clients include tkirc, bitchx, xchat and EPIC on Unix, and Mirc under windows. Here are some links to help you get started with irc. Unix http://www.xchat.org/ http://freshmeat.net/ http://www.epicsol.org/ Windows http://www.mirc.com (loads of help with irc for newbies!)

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[Alug]/etc/rc.d/init.d/functions and the right way
by Wayne Stallwood 08 Jun '03

08 Jun '03

Could somebody please mail me a copy of this file. SuSE seems to follow a different convention whereby the file is in /etc/init.d/ and defines a different set of functions. For example in my version there is no gprintf function Most of my system scripts work as such (using rc.status) case "$1" in start) echo -n "Starting snmpd:" startproc $SNMPD -c /etc/ucdsnmpd.conf -r -A -l /var/log/ucd-snmpd.log -P /var/run/snmpd.pid rc_status -v ;; stop) echo -n "Shutting down snmpd:" killproc -TERM $SNMPD rc_status -v ;; etc...etc The one I want to add is like the following case "$1" in start) # Start daemon. gprintf "Starting spamd: " daemon spamd -d -c -a RETVAL=$? touch /var/lock/spamd echo ;; stop) # Stop daemons. gprintf "Shutting down spamd: " killproc spamd RETVAL=$? rm -f /var/lock/spamd echo ;; Which way is the "right" way and why oh why are their two seemingly incompatible ways. Gahhhh For now I have converted the bottom script to work like the top one. Wayne

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[Alug]Knoppix
by Jenny_Hopkins＠toby-churchill.com 07 Jun '03

07 Jun '03

Hi, I know we did knoppix onlist a few weeks back, but a pal of mine discovered knoppix the other day and was very impressed. He did ask me: >I want to know what you can't do with Knoppix that I could by doing a >full install. I presume a proper install would give better performance. And of course, I don't know. I'm going to be grilled on this as he'll presume I'm some sort of linux expert, and I need to have some answers ready so I don't tumble from my pedestal :-) Thanks, Jen

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[Alug]POP3 Mail and Spam Questions
by Keith Watson 06 Jun '03

06 Jun '03

I was having a tidy-up of my Debian install last night and trying to sort out some sort of spam filtering. To access mail I simply use Sylpheed as a straight dial-up POP3 client. I don't use procmail, sendmail or any sort of MTA (or at least I don't think I do :o) ). So I did a apropos search on 'mail' and came up with a long list of things that had been installed as part of the base install. Given they way I access my email can I uninstall things like procmail, sendmail, and various MTAs? or is this likely to break something else? I'm thinking of using 'mailfilter' (mainly because it can act as a POP3 client) to scan the mail headers on the ISP server and delete any spam before I download it. Given my setup, are there any alternatives I should also look at? As part of setting up mailfilter I need to set up a set of regex entries to identify possible spam. I'm reasonably happy with regex itself but if anyone has some anti-spam regexs I can crib I would be most grateful :o) What would be nice would be to use some of the DNS blacklist servers e.g. spamcop, ordb, etc., in some way, can I do this with this sort of configuration without actually downloading the headers 1st? Keith

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[Alug]Gentoo/MacOSX Announced
by Craig 06 Jun '03

06 Jun '03

Check out gentoo.org small news on this. Looks like fink may have some competition? ;) -- (o_ - Craig Butcher //\ - IT Technician / Unix Support MTH/ENV @ UEA V_/_ - http://www.wizball.co.uk

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