One Suggestion by ... Calhariz

After sometime without looking into this problem, I decided to do another try. I do not found a way to do a complex crossgrade of my desktop without massively removing packages. And there are bug and bug that require to edit the config scripts of the packages.

So here is my another try to do a crossgrade of my desktop, this time for real.

apt-get update
apt-get upgrade
apt-get autoremove
apt-get clean
dpkg --list > original.dpkg
apt-get --download-only install dpkg:amd64 tar:amd64 apt:amd64 bash:amd64 dash:amd64 init:amd64 mawk:amd64
for pack32 in $(grep i386 original.dpkg | egrep "^ii " | awk '{print $2}' ) ; do 
  echo $pack32 ; 
  apt-get --download-only install -y --allow-remove-essential ${pack32%:i386}:amd64 ; 
done
cd /var/cache/apt/archives/
dpkg --install libacl1_*amd64.deb libattr1_*_amd64.deb libapt-pkg5.0_*amd64.deb libbz2-1.0_*amd64.deb dpkg_*amd64.deb tar_*amd64.deb apt_*amd64.deb bash_*amd64.deb dash_*amd64.deb 
dpkg --install --skip-same-version *.deb
dpkg --configure --pending
dpkg --install --skip-same-version *.deb
dpkg --remove libcurl4-openssl-dev:i386
dpkg --configure --pending
dpkg --remove libkdesu5 kde-runtime
apt-get --fix-broken install
apt-get install  $(egrep "^ii"  ~/original.dpkg | grep -v ":i386" | grep -v "all" | grep -v "aiccu" | grep -v "acroread" | grep -v "flashplayer-mozilla" | grep -v "flash-player-properties" | awk '{print $2}')

Reboot.

Then the system failed to boot, missing lvm2 package.

Boot with a live CD.

sudo -i
mount /dev/sdc2         /mnt
mount /dev/vg100/usr /mnt/usr
mount /dev/vg100/var /mnt/var
mount -o bind /proc    /mnt/proc
mount -o bind /sys     /mnt/sys
mount -o bind /dev/    /mnt/dev
mount -o bind /dev/pts  /mnt/dev/pts
chroot /mnt /bin/su -
apt-get install lvm2
exit
reboot

Still somethings do not work, like command fakeroot.

for pack32 in $(grep i386 original.dpkg  | egrep "^ii " | awk '{print $2}' ) ; do     
  echo $pack32 ;     
  if dpkg --status $pack32 | grep -q "Multi-Arch: same" ; then       
    apt-get -y install ${pack32%:i386}:amd64 ;     
  fi ;   
done

for pack32 in $(grep i386 original.dpkg  | egrep "^ii " | awk '{print $2}' ) ; do     
  echo $pack32 ;     
  apt-get -y install ${pack32%:i386}:amd64 ;     
done

Now is time to find what still does not work and how to solve it.

First you need to install a 64bits kernel and boot with it. See my previous post on how to do it.

Second you need to do a bootstrap of crossgrading:

 apt-get clean
 apt-get upgrade
 apt-get --download-only install dpkg:amd64 tar:amd64 apt:amd64 bash:amd64 dash:amd64 init:amd64 mawk:amd64
 dpkg --install /var/cache/apt/archives/*_amd64.deb
 dpkg --install /var/cache/apt/archives/*_amd64.deb
 dpkg --print-architecture
 dpkg --print-foreign-architectures

Third, do a crossgrade of the libraries:

 dpkg --list > original.dpkg
 apt-get --fix-broken --allow-remove-essential install
 for pack32 in $(grep :i386 original.dpkg | awk '{print $2}' ) ; do 
   if dpkg --status $pack32 | grep -q "Multi-Arch: same" ; then 
     apt-get install --yes --allow-remove-essential ${pack32%:i386} ; 
   fi ; 
 done

Forth, do a full crossgrade:

 if ! apt-get install --allow-remove-essential $(grep :i386 original.dpkg | awk '{print $2}' | sed -e s/:i386//) ; then
   apt-get --fix-broken --allow-remove-essential install
   apt-get install --allow-remove-essential $(grep :i386 original.dpkg | awk '{print $2}' | sed -e s/:i386//)
 fi

I have a very old installation of 32bits Debian running in new hardware. Until now running a 64bits kernel was enough to use efficiently more than 4GiB of RAM. The only problem I found was the proprietary drivers from AMD/ATI and NVIDIA, that did not like this mixed environment and some problems with openafs, easilly solved with the help of the package maintainers of openafs. Crossgrading the Qemu/KVM to 64 bits did not pose a problem, so I have been running 64bits VMs for some time.

But now the nouveau driver do not work with my new display adapter and I need to run tools from OpsCode not available as 32bits. So is time to do a CrossGrade. Finding some problems I can not recommend it to the inexperienced people. Is time investigate the issues and report bugreports to Debian were appropriate.

If you run 32bits Debian installation you can easily install a 64bits kernel . The procedure is simple and well tested.

dpkg --add-architecture amd64
apt-get update
apt-get install linux-image-amd64:amd64

And reboot to test the new kernel.

You can expect here more articles about crossgrading.

I bought a new laptop E200HA, because my previous was a MacBook and It broke after a fall into the ground.

I let it boot first in Win10 to check if everything was OK and because I could not found the way to enter in the UEFI/BIOS. It is F2 and is edge triggered. It boots fast into Win10, but I got the feeling of being a little slow. No worries because I it bought for running Debian and because of the autonomy of the battery, 14hours playing music according to Asus. A little research if the new laptop could run Linux almost return no hits, but one very valuable link on how to setup the Wifi. So I got the feeling that I needed a Debian stretch CD for installation. So I download the first installation DVD from here. Run a trial of the DVD image using kvm

kvm -m 2047 -cdrom debian-stretch-DI-alpha7-amd64-DVD-1.iso

Found that the installer DVD now have the functionality of Live CD. This will be useful. Copy the image to a USB stick using dd command.

I turned on the E200HA, entered into the UEFI/BIOS by pressing and releasing the F2 key. Turned off the secure boot and select USB storage for boot. The E200HA happily boot the Linux and I select the rescue mode. Using another USB stick of 32GB that was formatted in xfs, because of the lower slack for storing the inodes than ext3/4. In this USB stick I put a raw image of the internal storage of the E200HA, preserving this way the Win10.

Another reboot, this time for installation of Debian stretch. It detected the lack of firmware files, for the WiFi adaptor. This link come very handy. The instructions are for an older Linux kernel. So I recommend doing something similar to the following commands:

git clone https://github.com/ajaybhatia/Qualcomm-Atheros-QCA9377-Wifi-Linux
cd Qualcomm-Atheros-QCA9377-Wifi-Linux/firmware-only
tar cvf QCA9377.tar QCA9377

Copy the tar file to a a second USB stick and connect it to the other USB port. This tar is not the files the Debian installer are expecting, so you need to change to the second console "Alt-F2", press enter to activate a shell, and do the following commands:

cd /lib/firmware
mkdir ath10k
mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt
cd ath10k
tar xf /mnt/QCA9377.tar

Return to the first console "Alt-F1" and continue with the installation. The list of missing firmware files is reduced and the WiFi can work. I had problems with the WiFI, but was because a neighbor router was on the same channel, since I changed the channel of my router the WiFi is working as a charm.

The following links maybe useful in the future or as a reference:

kvalo/ath10k-firmware

kernel/git/firmware/linux-firmware.git

While I sort out a sponsor, my sponsor is very busy, here is a preview of the new packages. So anyone can install and test them on jessie.

The source of the packages is in collab-maint.The debs files for jessie are here:

amanda-common_3.3.8-1_cal0_i386.deb

amanda-server_3.3.8-1_cal0_i386.deb

amanda-client_3.3.8-1_cal0_i386.deb

Here comes the changelog:

amanda (1:3.3.8-1~cal0) unstable; urgency=low

  * New Upstream version
    * Changes for 3.3.8
      * s3 devices
          New NEARLINE S3-STORAGE-CLASS for Google storage.
          New AWS4 STORAGE-API
      * amcryptsimple
          Works with newer gpg2.
      * amgtar
          Default SPARSE value is NO if tar < 1.28.
          Because a bug in tar with some filesystem.
      * amstar
          support include in backup mode.
      * ampgsql
          Add FULL-WAL property.
      * Many bugs fix.
    * Changes for 3.3.7p1
      * Fix build in 3.3.7
    * Changes for 3.3.7
      * amvault
          new --no-interactivity argument.
          new --src-labelstr argument.
      * amdump
          compute crc32 of the streams and write them to the debug files.
      * chg-robot
          Add a BROKEN-DRIVE-LOADED-SLOT property.
      * Many bugs fix.
  * Refreshed patches.
  * Dropped patches that were applied by the upstream: fix-misc-typos,
    automake-add-missing, fix-amcheck-M.patch,
    fix-device-src_rait-device.c, fix-amreport-perl_Amanda_Report_human.pm
  * Change the email of the maintainer.
  * "wrap-and-sort -at" all control files.
  * swig is a new build depend.
  * Bump standard version to 3.9.6, no changes needed.
  * Replace deprecated dependency perl5 by perl, (Closes: #808209), thank
    you Gregor Herrmann for the NMU.

 -- Jose M Calhariz <jose@calhariz.com>  Tue, 02 Feb 2016 19:56:12 +0000

There was a long time since I published the last version of switchconf.

This time someone requested that I add support for systemd by adding a service file. This service file does not make switchconf depend on systemd. It will still work with svs init scripts.

As my knowledge of systemd is minimal, please review my changes.

To download use the following entries:

switchconf_0.0.14-2_wip4_all.deb

switchconf_0.0.14-2_wip4.debian.tar.xz

switchconf_0.0.14-2_wip4.dsc

switchconf_0.0.14-2_wip4_amd64.changes

switchconf_0.0.14.orig.tar.xz

I have made some quick benchmarks of my SD card on my Raspberry PI.

ionice -c 1 nice --20 hdparm -tT /dev/mmcblk0

/dev/mmcblk0:
 Timing cached reads:   280 MB in  2.00 seconds = 139.69 MB/sec
 Timing buffered disk reads:  32 MB in  3.13 seconds =  10.23 MB/sec

cat /sys/block/sda/queue/scheduler 
noop [deadline] cfq
./seeker /dev/mmcblk0
Seeker v2.0, 2007-01-15, http://www.linuxinsight.com/how_fast_is_your_disk.html
Benchmarking /dev/mmcblk0 [15193MB], wait 30 seconds
295223396
..............................
Results: 409 seeks/second, 2.443 ms random access time

for i in {1..32} ; do dd if=/dev/zero of=space.$i.4GiB.out bs=1M count=4096 ; done
4096+0 records in
4096+0 records out
4294967296 bytes (4.3 GB) copied, 802.682 s, 5.4 MB/s
^C902+0 records in
902+0 records out
945815552 bytes (946 MB) copied, 169.609 s, 5.6 MB/s

ionice -c 1 nice --20 bonnie++ -u root
Using uid:0, gid:0.
Writing a byte at a time...done
Writing intelligently...done
Rewriting...done
Reading a byte at a time...done
Reading intelligently...done
start 'em...done...done...done...done...done...
Create files in sequential order...done.
Stat files in sequential order...done.
Delete files in sequential order...done.
Create files in random order...done.
Stat files in random order...done.
Delete files in random order...done.
Version  1.96       ------Sequential Output------ --Sequential Input- --Random-
Concurrency   1     -Per Chr- --Block-- -Rewrite- -Per Chr- --Block-- --Seeks--
Machine        Size K/sec %CP K/sec %CP K/sec %CP K/sec %CP K/sec %CP  /sec %CP
raspberrypi      1G    47  98  5095   7  3618   7   349  99 12698  11 485.6  56
Latency               472ms   13531ms    8527ms   37039us   47144us   56047us
Version  1.96       ------Sequential Create------ --------Random Create--------
raspberrypi         -Create-- --Read--- -Delete-- -Create-- --Read--- -Delete--
              files  /sec %CP  /sec %CP  /sec %CP  /sec %CP  /sec %CP  /sec %CP
                 16  2752  63 +++++ +++  4110  60  2599  58 +++++ +++  4003  60
Latency             14651us    8503us    5143us    6866us     394us    3927us
1.96,1.96,raspberrypi,1,1363919597,1G,,47,98,5095,7,3618,7,349,99,12698,11,485.6,56,16,,,,,2752,63,+++++,+++,4110,60,2599,58,+++++,+++,4003,60,472ms,13531ms,8527ms,37039us,47144us,56047us,14651us,8503us,5143us,6866us,394us,3927us

I found an interesting article on how to use Debian testing/unstable/experimental and ways to contribute back to Debian.

http://bonedaddy.net/pabs3/log/2012/10/29/thoughts-on-debian-testing/

It was only some days ago that I made the decision to go, for the first time to the FOSDEM (Free and Open Source Software Developers' European Meeting). That was a good decision. The keynotes and the maintracks were very good, with good presentations and contents.

It is a big conference and this year, is not an exception. With 429 speakers and 430 talks at 21 rooms in only two days. It's impossible to see all the presentations. The only 5 rooms with a video camcorder to tape the talk, where: Janson, K.1.105, Ferrer, H.1301, H.1302. It's very dificult to choose what talks to see, what talks to see later in video and what talks to loose. What I leave here is my selection of talks. This selection is representative of my tastes, not of the quality of the presentations. I will give links for material that is available now. I will do periodic updates when the new material is available, the video or the slides.

• Re-thinking system and distro development

   Video

• OpenStack developers meeting & Distribution panel

• Linux Containers and OpenVZ

   Video

• Native KVM Tool

   Video

• Multiarch - why it's important

   Video

• Coping with wide-impact changes in a distribution

   Video

• Ganeti: "how we did it"

• Virtualization with KVM: bottom to top, past to future

   Video

• Spice "Open remote computing" introduction

• USB redirection over the network

• CoApp: Packaging Open Source software for Windows

• Ganeti: "how you can use it"

• Caching and Tuning fun for high scalability

   Slides

   Video

• Bringing monitoring into the 21st century

   Video

• coreboot - The last frontier: Laptops

   Video

• 29,000 packages in 24 hours - Releasing Debian

• ARM BoF

   Video

• Debian Secrets - what I wish I knew before joining Debian

   Video

• Deploying Xen: troubleshooting surgery & discussion with Xen.org developers

• Building app sandboxes on top of LXC and KVM with libvirt

   Slides

• From Dev to DevOps

• Continuous Integration / Continuous Delivery within a Linux Distribution

• Freedom, Out of the Box!

More resources:

http://lanyrd.com/2012/fosdem/