Linux distributions | Technology Tales

ERROR: Can't find the archive-keyring

10^th April 2014

When I recently did my usual system update for the stable version Ubuntu GNOME, there were some updates pertaining to apt and the process failed when I executed the following command:

sudo apt-get upgrade

Usefully, some messages were issued and here's a flavour:

Setting up apt (0.9.9.1~ubuntu3.1) ... ERROR: Can't find the archive-keyring Is the ubuntu-keyring package installed? dpkg: error processing apt (--configure): subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1 Errors were encountered while processing: apt E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

Web searches indicated the issue was missing files in /usr/share/keyring, which I didn't delete. Since apt was disabled due to the missing keyring files, installing software for fixes was impossible. My solution was to copy the /usr/share/keyring files from an Ubuntu GNOME 14.04 virtual machine to the same location on my Ubuntu GNOME 13.10 host. For others without this setup, I've included these files in a zip file below. While other solutions like Y PPA were mentioned, they required prior installation, making them useless when tools like Synaptic were unavailable. I'd appreciate information on other fixes that don't involve reinstalling the operating system, potential causes for the file loss, and how to prevent it.

Ubuntu Keyrings

Installing FreeBSD in a VirtualBox Virtual Machine

2^nd March 2014

With UNIX being the basis of Linux, I have a soft spot for trying out any UNIX that can be installed on a PC. For a while, I had OpenSolaris on the go and even vaguely recall having a look at one of the BSD's. However, any recent attempt to install one of the latter, and there are quite a few around now, got stymied by some sort of kernel panic caused by using AMD CPU's. With the return to the Intel fold arising from the upgrade of my main home PC last year, it perhaps was time to try again.

The recent release of FreeBSD 10.0 was the cue and I downloaded a DVD image for a test installation in a VirtualBox virtual machine with 4 GB of memory and a 32 GB virtual hard drive attached (expanding storage was chosen so not all the allocated space has been taken so far). The variant of FreeBSD chosen was the 64-bit x86 one, and I set to installing it in there. Though not as pretty in appearance as those in various Linux distros, the installer was not that user unfriendly to me. Mind you, I have experience of installing Arch Linux, which might have acclimatised me somewhat.

Those installation screens ask about the keyboard mapping that you want, and I successfully chose one of the UK options. There was limited opportunity for adding extras, though there was a short list of a few from which I made some selections. Given that user account set up also was on offer, I would have been better off knowing what groups to assign for my personal user account to have to avoid needing to log in as root so often following system start up later. Otherwise, all the default options were sufficient.

When the installation process was complete, it was time to boot into the new system and all that was on offer was a command line log in session. After logging in as root, it was time to press pkg into service to get a desktop environment in place. The first step was to install X:

pkg install xorg

Then, it was time to install a desktop environment. While using XFCE or KDE were alternatives, I chose GNOME 2 due to familiarity and more extensive instructions on the corresponding FreeBSD handbook page. Issuing the following command added GNOME and all its helper applications:

pkg install gnome2

So that GNOME starts up at the next reboot, some extra steps are needed. The first of these is to add the following line into /etc/fstab:

proc /proc procfs rw 0 0

Then, two lines were needed in /etc/rc.conf:

gdm_enable="YES" gnome_enable="YES"

The first enables the GNOME display manager, while the second activates other GNOME programs that are needed for a desktop session to start. With each of these in place, I got a graphical login screen at the next boot time.

With FreeBSD being a VirtualBox Guest, it was time to consult the relevant FreeBSD manual page. Here, there are sections for a number of virtual machine tools, so a search was needed to find the one for VirtualBox. VirtualBox support for FreeBSD is incomplete in that there is no installation media for BSD systems, while Linux and Solaris are supported along with Windows. Therefore, it is over to the FreeBSD repositories for the required software:

pkg install virtualbox-ose-additions

Aside from the virtual machine session not capturing and releasing the mouse pointer automatically, that did everything that was needed, even if it was the open source edition of the drivers and their proprietary equivalents. To resolve the mouse pointer issue, I needed to temporarily disable the GNOME desktop session in /etc/rc.conf to drop to a console only session where xorg.conf could be generated using the following commands:

Xorg -configure cp xorg.conf.new /etc/xorg.conf

In the new xorg.conf file, the mouse section needs to be as follows:

Section "InputDevice" Identifier "Mouse0" Driver "vboxmouse" EndSection

If it doesn't look like the above, and it wasn't the case for me, then it needs changing. Also, any extra lines from the default set up also need removing, or the mouse will not function as it should. The ALT+F1 (for accessing GNOME menus) and ALT+F2 (for running commands) keyboard shortcuts then become crucial when your mouse is not working as it should and could avert a panic too; knowing that adjusting a single configuration file will resolve a problem when doing so is less accessible is not a good feeling as I discovered to my own cost. The graphics settings were fine by default, but here's what you should have in case it isn't for you:

Section "Device" ### Available Driver options are:- ### Values: <i>: integer, <f>: float, <bool>: "True"/"False", ### <string>: "String", <freq>: "<f> Hz/kHz/MHz" ### [arg]: arg optional Identifier "Card0" Driver "vboxvideo" VendorName "InnoTek Systemberatung GmbH" BoardName "VirtualBox Graphics Adapter" BusID "PCI:0:2:0" EndSection

The next step is to ensure that your HAL settings are as they should. I needed to create a file in /usr/local/etc/hal/fdi/policy called 90-vboxguest.fdi that contains the following:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>  <deviceinfo version="0.2"> <device> <match key="info.subsystem" string="pci"> <match key="info.product" string="VirtualBox guest Service"> <append key="info.capabilities" type="strlist">input</append> <append key="info.capabilities" type="strlist">input.mouse</append> <merge key="input.x11_driver" type="string">vboxmouse</merge> <merge key="input.device" type="string">/dev/vboxguest</merge> </match> </match> </device> </deviceinfo>

With all that set, it is time to ensure that the custom user account is added to the wheel and operator groups using this command:

pw user mod [user name] -G wheel operator

Executing the above as root means that the custom account can run the su command so that logging in as root at the start of a desktop session no longer is needed. That is what being in the wheel group allows, so anyone in the operator group can shut down or restart the system. Since both are facilities readily available on Linux, so I fancied having them in FreeBSD too.

Being able to switch to root in a terminal session meant that I could go on to add software like Firefox, LibreOffice, GIMP, EMACS, Geany, NetBeans, Banshee and so on. Though there may be a line of opinion that FreeBSD is a server operating system, all of these make it more than passable for serving as a desktop one too. There may be no package management GUI as such and the ones that come with GNOME do not work either, yet anyone familiar with command line working will get around that.

While FreeBSD may be conservative, that has its place too, and being able to build up a system one item at a time teaches far more than getting everything already sorted in one hit. So far, there is enough documentation to get me going, leaving me to see where else things go too. So far, the OS hasn't been that intimidating, which is good to see.

The bold gamble behind Linux Voice magazine

1^st March 2014

During the latter part of last year, the magazine Linux Format suffered a staff clear-out, and I was left wondering why. It was as if a load of folk left at once and, even if I have seen that sort of thing happening at my current place of work, I was asking if something went wrong at Future Publishing. Instead, I had missed the fact that the former Linux Format staff were starting their own magazine. They crowdfunded it on Indiegogo. It took the appearance of Linux Voice on a shelf in the Macclesfield WHSmith's for me to become enlightened about this.

It seems risky for a whole team from one publisher's magazine to leave and create their own similar publication, especially given the current instability of magazine publishing in the digital age. The mention of a non-compete agreement reminded me of my own workplace. Their former employers' reaction would be interesting to know, as mine might consider legal action if I did something similar, assuming it were possible; I too would be bound by a six-month non-compete clause after leaving.

Regarding the magazine's content, it is appropriately good. While occasional misspellings might occur, articles on OwnCloud and Arch Linux installation, along with reviews of Mageia 4 and FreeBSD 10, would interest me. Many familiar names from Linux Format are also present, creating a sense of continuity. The new magazine's design is less extravagant than its established competitor, and their coexistence will be worth observing.

New ideas take time to develop, and I wish the new magazine success. Its goals are positive: half of its profits will support open-source software, and articles will be openly accessible via a Creative Commons licence. However, its immediate financial stability is crucial, making the next few months significant. The experienced team behind the magazine is a strong asset and could prevent it from becoming like Walking World Ireland and Cycling World, which appear irregularly in stores. The support of an enthusiastic community is also beneficial. I might eventually have to choose between Linux Voice and Linux Format, similar to my choice between Linux Magazine and Linux User & Developer. Despite being a niche operating system, Linux users have a good selection of magazines.

A fallback method of installing Nightingale in Linux

3^rd December 2013

When I upgraded to Ubuntu GNOME 13.10 and went for the 64-bit variant, I tried a previously tried and tested approach for installing Nightingale that used a PPA, only for it not to work. At that point, the repository had not caught up with the latest Ubuntu release (it has by the time of writing) and other pre-compiled packages would not work either. However, there was one further possibility left, and that was downloading a copy of the source code and compiling that. My previous experiences of doing that kind of thing have not been universally positive, so it was not my first choice, but I gave it a go anyway.

To get the source code, I first needed to install Git so I could take a copy from the version controlled repository and the following command added the tool and all its dependencies:

sudo apt-get install git autoconf g++ libgtk2.0-dev libdbus-glib-1-dev libtag1-dev libgstreamer-plugins-base0.10-dev zip unzip

With that lot installed, it was time to check out a copy of the latest source code, and I went with the following:

git clone https://github.com/nightingale-media-player/nightingale-hacking.git

The next step was to go into the nightingale-hacking sub-folder and issue the following command:

./build.sh

That should produce a subdirectory named nightingale that contains the compiled executable files. If this exists, it can be copied into /opt. If not, then create a folder named nightingale under /opt using copy the files from ~/nightingale-hacking/compiled/dist into that location. Ubuntu GNOME 13.10 comes with GNOME Shell 3.8, the next step took a little fiddling before it was sorted: adding an icon to the application menu or dashboard. This involved adding a file called nightingale.desktop in /usr/share/applications/ with the following contents:

[Desktop Entry] Name=Nightingale Comment=Play music TryExec=/opt/nightingale/nightingale Exec=/opt/nightingale/nightingale Icon=/usr/share/pixmaps/nightingale.xpm Type=Application X-GNOME-DocPath=nightingale/index.html X-GNOME-Bugzilla-Bugzilla=Nightingale X-GNOME-Bugzilla-Product=nightingale X-GNOME-Bugzilla-Component=BugBuddyBugs X-GNOME-Bugzilla-Version=1.1.2 Categories=GNOME;Audio;Music;Player;AudioVideo; StartupNotify=true OnlyShowIn=GNOME;Unity; Keywords=Run; Actions=New X-Ubuntu-Gettext-Domain=nightingale

[Desktop Action New] Name=Nightingale Exec=/opt/nightingale/nightingale OnlyShowIn=Unity

It was created from a copy of another *.desktop file and the categories in there together with the link to the icon were as important as the title and took a little tinkering before all was in place. Also, you may find that /opt/nightingale/chrome/icons/default/default.xpm needs to be become /usr/share/pixmaps/nightingale.xpm using the cp command before your new menu entry gains an icon to go with it. While the steps that I describe here worked for me, there is more information on the Nightingale wiki if you need it.

Setting up a WD My Book Live NAS on Ubuntu GNOME 13.10

1^st December 2013

The official line from Western Digital is this: they do not support the use of their My Book Live NAS drives with Linux or UNIX. However, what that means is that they only develop tools for accessing their products for Windows and maybe OS X. It still doesn't mean that you cannot access the drive's configuration settings by pointing your web browser at http://mybooklive.local/. In fact, not having those extra tools is no drawback at all since the drive can be accessed through your file manager of choice under the Network section and the default name is MyBookLive too, so you easily can find the thing once it is connected to a router, or switch anyway.

Once you are in the server's web configuration area, you can do things like changing its name, updating its firmware, finding out what network has been assigned to it, creating and deleting file shares, password protecting file shares and other things. These are the kinds of things that come in handy if you are going to have a more permanent connection to the NAS from a PC that runs Linux. The steps that I describe have worked on Ubuntu 12.04 and 13.10 with the GNOME desktop environment.

What I was surprised to discover that you cannot just set up a symbolic link that points to a file share. Instead, it needs to be mounted and this can be done from the command line using mount or at start-up with /etc/fstab. For this to happen, you need the Common Internet File System utilities and these are added as follows if you need them (check in the Software Centre or in Synaptic):

sudo apt-get install cifs-utils

Once these are added, you can add a line like the following to /etc/fstab:

//[NAS IP address]/[file share name] /[file system mount point] cifs credentials=[full file location]/.creds, iocharset=utf8, sec=ntlm, gid=1000, uid=1000, file_mode=0775, dir_mode=0775 0 0

Though I have broken it over several lines above, this is one unwrapped line in /etc/fstab with all the fields in square brackets populated for your system and with no brackets around these. Though there are other ways to specify the server, using its IP address is what has given me the most success; this is found under Settings > Network on the web console. Next up is the actual file share name on the NAS; I have used a custom term instead of the default of Public. The NAS file share needs to be mounted to an actual directory in your file system like /media/nas or whatever you like; however, you will need to create this beforehand. After that, you have to specify the file system, and it is cifs instead of more conventional alternatives like ext4 or swap. After this and before the final two space delimited zeroes in the line comes the chunk that deals with the security of the mount point.

What I have done in my case is to have a password-protected file share and the user ID and password have been placed in a file in my home area with only the owner having read and write permissions for it (600 in chmod-speak). Preceding the filename with a "." also affords extra invisibility. That file then is populated with the user ID and password like the following. Of course, the bracketed values have to be replaced with what you have in your case.

username=[NAS file share user ID] password=[NAS file share password]

With the credentials file created, its options have to be set. First, there is the character set of the file (usually UTF-8 and I got error code 79 when I mistyped this) and the security that is to be applied to the credentials (ntlm in this case). To save having no write access to the mounted file share, the uid and gid for your user needs specification, with 1000 being the values for the first non-root user created on a Linux system. After that, it does no harm to set the file and directory permissions because they only can be set at mount time; using chmod, chown and chgrp afterwards, has no effect whatsoever. Here, I have set permissions to read, write and execute for the owner and the user group while only allowing read and execute access for everyone else (that's 775 in the world of chmod).

All of what I have described here worked for me and had to be gleaned from disparate sources like Mount Windows Shares Permanently from the Ubuntu Wiki, another blog entry regarding the permissions settings for a CIFS mount point and an Ubuntu forum posting on mounting CIFS with UTF-8 support. Because of the scattering of information, I just felt that it needed to all together in one place for others to use, and I hope that fulfils someone else's needs similarly to mine.

Installing Citrix Receiver 13.0 in Ubuntu GNOME 13.10 64-bit

28^th November 2013

Installing the latest version of Citrix Receiver (13.0 at the time of writing) on 64-bit Ubuntu should be as simple as downloading the required DEB package and double-clicking on the file so that Ubuntu Software Centre can work its magic. Unfortunately, the 64-bit DEB file is faulty, so that means that the Ubuntu community how-to guide for Citrix still is needed. In fact, any user of Linux Mint or another distro that uses Ubuntu as its base would do well to have a look at that Ubuntu link.

For the sake of completeness, I still am going to let you in on the process that worked for me. Once the DEB file has been downloaded, the first task is to create a temporary folder where the DEB file's contents can be extracted:

mkdir ica_temp

With that in place, it then is time to do the extraction, and it needs two commands with the second of these need to extract the control file while the first extracts everything else.

sudo dpkg-deb -x icaclient- ica_temp sudo dpkg-deb --control icaclient- ica_temp/DEBIAN

It is the control file that has been the cause of all the bother because it refers to unavailable dependencies that it really doesn't need anyway. To open the file for editing, issue the following command:

sudo gedit ica_temp/DEBIAN/control

Then change line 7 (it should begin with Depends:) to: Depends: libc6-i386 (>= 2.7-1), lib32z1, nspluginwrapper. While there are other software packages in there that Ubuntu no longer supports, they are not needed anyway. With the edit made, and the file saved, the next step is to build a new DEB package with the corrected control file:

dpkg -b ica_temp icaclient-modified.deb

Once you have the package, the next step is to install it using the following command:

sudo dpkg -i icaclient-modified.deb

If it fails, then you have missing dependencies and the following command should sort these before a re-run of the above command again:

sudo apt-get install libmotif4:i386 nspluginwrapper lib32z1 libc6-i386

With Citrix Receiver installed, there is one more thing that is needed before you can use it freely. This is to put Thawte security certificate files into /opt/Citrix/ICAClient/keystore/cacerts. What I had not realised until recently was that many of these already are in /usr/share/ca-certificates/mozilla and linking to them with the following command makes them available to Citrix Receiver:

sudo ln -s /usr/share/ca-certificates/mozilla/* /opt/Citrix/ICAClient/keystore/cacerts/

Another approach is to download the Thawte certificates and extract the archive to /tmp/. From there they can be copied to /opt/Citrix/ICAClient/keystore/cacerts and I copied the Thawte Personal Premium certificate as follows:

sudo cp /tmp/Thawte Root Certificates/Thawte Personal Premium CA/Thawte Personal Premium CA.cer /opt/Citrix/ICAClient/keystore/cacerts/

Until I found out about what was in the Mozilla folder, I simply picked out the certificate mentioned in the Citrix error message and copied it over like the above. Of course, all of this may seem like a lot of work to those who are non-tinkerers and I have added a repaired 64-bit DEB package that incorporates all of the above and should not need any further intervention aside from installing it using GDebi, Ubuntu's Software Centre, dpkg or anything else that does what's needed.

A way to get Rigo working again in Sabayon

23^rd October 2013

After having Sabayon running on a PC until it came to pieces after an attempted version upgrade, I went away from the Linux distro for a while and Linux Mint now runs on the aforementioned machine. It only was a certain curiosity that got me installing it into a virtual machine on VirtualBox to see if my command line method of keeping the system up to date was the cause or whether rolling or partially rolling distros have a certain fragility that is not seen in their discrete release counterparts.

Recently, that ran into a hitch, the Sabayon package manager Rigo failed to start up for me. After waiting to see if it sorted itself on its own, I looked into returning to those command line ways, and that line of enquiry led me to a method of restoring Rigo's functionality from Sabayon's wiki page on the underlying Entropy. The first step was to issue a command to become root:

su

That needed the appropriate password, and the next command issued updated Sabayon's repositories:

equo update

Once that had done its thing, it was time to install new versions of Entropy and Rigo:

equo install entropy rigo

With that complete, it was time to exit the root session with the exit command. Then, it was time to try running Rigo and it worked as expected. Any thoughts of adding in the superseded Sulfur (Rigo's predecessor) were banished on seeing that success.

Surveying changes coming in GNOME 3.10

20^th October 2013

GNOME 3.10 was released last month, but I only saw it when it appeared in the Arch and Antergos repositories. Despite stability risks, this showcases a strength of rolling distributions: they let you see the latest software before others. Otherwise, you might need to wait for the next Fedora release to view GNOME updates. This delay isn't always negative, as Ubuntu GNOME typically uses the previous version. Since many GNOME Shell extension developers don't update until Fedora includes the latest GNOME in a stable release, this approach ensures the desktop environment is well established before reaching Ubuntu. Debian takes this further by using a stable version from years ago, which has merits for system reliability.

As I regularly use GNOME Shell extensions, I'm interested in which ones still work, which need tweaking, and which no longer function. The main change in the top panel is the replacement of separate sound and user menus with a single combined menu. Extensions that modified the user menu now need reworking or abandoning. The GNOME project has adopted an irritating habit similar to WordPress, with frequent API changes that break extensions (or plugins in WordPress). However, GNOME should copy WordPress's approach to documentation, particularly for the API, which is barely documented anywhere.

GNOME Shell theme developers face challenges too. When I used Elementary Luna 3.4, a large border appeared around the panel, so I switched to XGnome Enhanced (found via GNOME-Look.org). The former theme is no longer maintained as its developer has stopped using GNOME Shell. Perhaps someone else could take it over, since it worked well until version 3.8. The new theme works well for me and will be an option if I upgrade to GNOME 3.10 on one of my PCs in the future.

Returning to the subject of extensions, I tested the included Applications Menu extension, which has improved stability and looks very usable. I no longer need to wait for the Frippery equivalent to be updated. The GNOME Shell backstage view hasn't changed much since 3.8, which may disappoint some, but the workaround works well. Several extensions I use frequently haven't been updated for GNOME Shell 3.10 yet. After some success before a possible upgrade to Ubuntu GNOME 13.10 and GNOME Shell 3.8 (though I'm staying with version 13.04 for now), I tried to port some of these to the latest interface. Below are my updated extensions, which you can use until they're officially updated on the GNOME Shell Extensions website:

Frippery Bottom Panel

Frippery Move Clock

Remove App Menu

Show Desktop

GNOME 3.10 brings other modifications beyond GNOME Shell, which is mainly a JavaScript construction. Application title bars continue to be consolidated in GNOME applications, with a prominent exit button now appearing. You can still apply the previously mentioned modifications to Nautilus (also called Files), many of which work with other applications like Gedit. Gedit now includes useful 'x of y' numbering for search results, showing the current match number and total matches. The GNOME Tweak Tool has been overhauled, but no longer includes the setting for showing folder paths in Nautilus. To enable this feature, open dconf-editor, navigate to org > gnome > nautilus > preferences and tick the always-use-location-entry box.

The GNOME project continues on its path established a few years ago. While I wish GNOME Shell were more mature, significant changes are still coming, making me wonder when this will stop. This might be the result of introducing a controversial experiment when users were content with GNOME 2. Fedora 20 should bring more updated GNOME shell extensions. Antergos provides a good way to see the latest GNOME version if it remains stable. Cinnamon fans may be happy that Cinnamon 2.0 is another desktop option for the Arch-based distribution, one that I may discuss this further once the Antergos installer stops failing at package downloads. I'm setting up a separate VM to examine Cinnamon because it destabilised GNOME during a previous review.

A look at Ubuntu GNOME 13.10

12^th October 2013

With Ubuntu GNOME 13.10's final release approaching, I decided to try the beta version to see what's coming. However, I accidentally downloaded and installed the 64-bit edition of 13.04 in a VirtualBox virtual machine. My plan to update this to the upcoming release failed due to instability, so I couldn't test an in-place upgrade to 13.10. Originally, I had intended to use this command:

gksu update-manager -d

However, I found another one when considering how Ubuntu Server might be upgraded without the GUI application that is the Update Manager. To update to a development version, the following command is what you need:

sudo do-release-upgrade -d

To upgrade to a final release of a new version of Ubuntu, drop the -d switch from the above to use the following:

sudo do-release-upgrade

There is one further option that isn't recommended for moving between Ubuntu versions, but I use it to get updates, such as new kernel subversions that are released:

sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

Rather than trying out the above, I downloaded the latest ISO image for the beta release of Ubuntu GNOME 13.10 and installed onto a VM that instead. Though it is the 32 bit version of the distro that is installed on my main home PC, it has been the 64 bit version that I have been trying. So far, that seems to be behaving itself even if it feels a little sluggish, but that could be down to the four-year-old PC that hosts the virtual machine. For a while, I have been playing with the possibility of an upgrade involving an Intel Core i5 4670K CPU and 16 GB of RAM (useful for running multiple virtual machines at a time) along with any motherboard that supports those, so looking at a 64-bit operating system has its uses.

The Linux kernel is 3.11, but that's not my main concern. Neither am I worried about LibreOffice 4.1.2.3 being included while GIMP (version 2.8.6) wasn't, since it can be added easily. What drew me to explore the upcoming release was the move to GNOME Shell 3.8, as I rely on many extensions. Like WordPress and its plugins, GNOME Shell has a difficult relationship with extensions, and I wanted to see which still worked. The backstage application view has changed. Now you either see all installed applications or must type the name of the one you want. Losing the categorical view from GNOME Shell 3.6 is a backward step, and I hope version 3.10 brings it back. Although you can add categories, the result is inferior to the original. Users shouldn't need to modify system internals for such basic functionality. With all these constant changes, it's unsurprising that Cinnamon has become independent with version 2.0, and that Debian considered not using GNOME for its latest version (7.1 at the time of writing, which wisely chose GNOME Shell 3.4).

Having had a look at other distribution that already have GNOME Shell 3.8, I knew that a few of my extensions worked with it. The list includes Frippery Bottom Panel, Frippery Move Clock, Places Status Indicator, Removable Drive Menu, Remove Rounded Corners (not really needed with the GNOME Shell theme that I use, Elementary Luna 3.4, but I retain it anyway), Show Desktop Button, User Themes and Ignore_Request_Hide_Titlebar. Because of the changes to the backstage view, I added the Frippery Applications Menu instead of the Applications Menu because I have found that to be unstable. Useful new discoveries have included Curtains Up and GNOME Shell Open Terminal, while Shell Restart User Menu Entry has made a return and found a use this time around too.

There have been some extensions that were not updated to work with GNOME Shell 3.8 that I have got working. In some cases, it was as simple as updating the metadata.json file for an extension with new version numbers of 3.8 and 3.84 to the list associated with the shell version property. All extensions are to be found in the .local/share/gnome-shell/extensions location in your home directory, and each has a dedicated file containing the aforementioned file.

With others, it was a matter of looking in the Looking Glass (execute lg in the box that ALT + F2 brings up on your screen to access this) and seeing what error messages were to be found in there before attempting to correct these in either the extensions' extension.js files or whatever JavaScript (*.js) file was causing the problem. With either or both of these remedies, I managed to port the four extensions below to GNOME Shell 3.8. In fact, you can download these zip files and install them yourself to see how you get on with them.

Advanced Settings in User Menu

Antisocial Menu

Remove App Menu

Restart Shell Entry

There is a Remove Panel App Menu that works with GNOME Shell 3.8, but I found that it got rid of the Places menu instead of the panel's App Menu, so I tried porting the older extension to see if it behaved itself and it does. With these in place, I have bent Ubuntu GNOME 13.10 to my will ahead of its final release next week, which includes customising Nautilus too. Other than a new version of GNOME Shell, it looks as if it will come with less in the way of drama and a breather like that is no bad thing given that personal computing incessantly remains in a state of flux these days.

Turning off seccomp sandbox in vsftpd

21^st September 2013

Within the last week, I set up a virtual web server using Arch Linux to satisfy my own curiosity, since the DIY nature of Arch means that you can build up exactly what you need without having any real constraints put upon you. Something that didn't surprise me about this was that it took me more work than the virtual server that I created using Ubuntu Server, yet I didn't expect Proftpd to be missing from the main repositories. Though the package can be found in the AUR, I didn't fancy the prospect of dragging more work on myself, so I went with vsftpd (Very Secure FTP Daemon) instead. In contrast to Proftpd, this is available in the standard repositories and there is a guide to its use in the Arch user documentation.

However, while vsftpd worked well just after installation, connections to the virtual FTP soon failed with FileZilla began issuing uninformative messages. In fact, it was the standard command line FTP client on my Ubuntu machine that was more revealing. It issued the following message that let me to the cause after my engaging the services of Google:

500 OOPS: priv_sock_get_cmd

With version 3.0 of vsftpd, a new feature was introduced, and it appears that this has caused problems for a few people. That feature is seccomp_sandbox and it can be turned off by adding the following line in /etc/vsftpd.conf:

seccomp_sandbox=NO

That solved my problem, and version 3.0.2 of vsftpd should address the issue with seccomp sandboxing anyway. In case, this solution isn't as robust as it should be because seccomp is not supported in the Linux kernel that you are using, turning off the new feature still needs to be an option, though.

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