S.A.K.C introducing SUSE Automatic Kernel Compiler

hi girls and guys,

in one of my lasts posts i briefly wrote about how you actually can install the latest kernel from Kernel:HEAD repository for your current release of opensuse using just the kernels src.rpm file.

Especially the last steps where you actually install the kernel and have to create a proper initrd as well as proper entries into /boot/grub/menu.lst are quiet tricky and messing them up may result in a system which no longer boots.

Spending some time in the opensuse forums i found this script. I also packaged an rpm in my :home Repository. So all you have to do now is to simply apply the patches and retar bz2 the sources and run the script.

If you get the Scripts from my repository you will find the script sakc and klist in the /usr/bin directory. I've modified them a little. Go to the ~/Kernel directory (if you don't have one create it) and type:

sakc ~/Download/linux-2.6.39.rc3.tar.bz2



The Script will unpack the sourcefile for you and configuring your kernel using the /proc/config.gz file. If you want to configure the kernel before sakc compiles it, you can do so. The script will ask if you want to configure it and is using make menuconfig. So you can spend some time to configure the kernel properly according to your needs.

Leaving the kernels configuration menu begins sakc to compile the kernel. The good thing is that the script determines how many cores you currently have and according to this uses the -j option to optimize the kernel compiling process.



After compiling is done you will be prompted for the root password, so don't leave the computer unwatched, and the script will not just install the kernel and its modules but also will create a valid initrd and a entry in
the /boot/grub/menu.lst

Putting users configuration under Git version control

Hi girls and guys,

today i want to show you something which a friend of mine
Reiner Herrmann pointed out for me.

There are two main reasons why you want to put your configuration under version control. You can document what you are changing and when you are changing files like ~/.bashrc or ~/.vimrc for example. At least those are the files which changes quite often on my machines. And the second reason is to simply providing an easy way to restore your configuration when things became messed up.

First make sure you have installed git. This should be in the main repository of your distribution. For Debian simply install it using apt-get install git.

I am now going to show you how you can put your ~/.bashrc under version control
using git.

If you are not familiar with git simply go to the website. You find all documentation
you will ever need on this website.

Let's assume for now i am under /home/matthias. Create a Directory ~/.local_gitrc

mkdir ~/.local_gitrc

and create the Git Repository by navigating in this particular directory you've just created. Here you can initialize your git Repository by typing:

git init

That's all. Your Git Repository have been initialized. Next you copy the original ~./bashrc to this
directory

cp ~/.bashrc bashrc

and add this to your git directory blob

git add bashrc

Make your first commit.

git commit -m " bashrc: initial commit"

Now as the final step link the Script in Your Git Repository to it's original location.

ln -sf /home/mattias/.local_gitrc/bashrc /home/matthias/.bashrc

There have been a lot of suggestions around the internet that you should be able to do this with the
/etc directory too. The result is a a script called etckeeper.



Thats it.

Mein Damen und Herren ich präsentiere

Das Linux Sheet das über die 8 Monate Lpic1/2 entstanden ist.
Das Sheet ist natürlich noch lange nicht fertig. Verbesserte Versionen folgen demnächst, da es als erste Version die offiziell im Web stehen darf trotzdem noch eine Menge Fehler enthält und einiger Ergänzungen bedarf. Ich hoffe dass es irgendjemanden etwas nützt.

Übersetzung in anderen Sprachen erwünscht.
PLease translate into other languages.

Setting up XWiki on Opensuse with mysql and tomcat

Hi girls and guys,

After spending hours with my setup of XWiki on Opensuse 11.3 i finally managed to fulfill this task.
Since it is pretty easy to install but has a lot of edges to deal with, i will detailed instruct you how to get this wiki up and running.

I only describe how to do this on opensuse. If you are looking for Debian just go ahead reading here

(1) First install these packages using zypper:

zypper ref && zypper in mysql-community-server mysql-community-server-client tomcat6, tomcat6-el-1_0-api tomcat6-jsp-2_1-api tomcat6-lib tomcat6-servlet-2_5-api
jakarta-commons-collections-tomcat5 mysql-connector-java java-1_6_0-sun

(2) Now copy your XWiki-enterprise-web-A.x.n.war to /srv/tomcat/xwiki.war and start the tomcat6 Server by issuing the following:

service tomcat6 start

(3) After waiting a couple of seconds this command unpacks your war archive and you should end up having a directory xwiki under /srv/tomcat/

Stop the tomcat Server by doing a

service tomcat6 stop

(4) We need to do some changes to the particular init scripts. First edit the /etc/init.d/tomcat6 Script and put

TOMCAT6_SECURITY=no

under the line with
PATH="/bin:/sbin"

and save the file. Next is the /etc/init.d/mysql. Find the line in the case constructor that says

echo -n "Starting service MySQL "

and add the following option line
--max_allowed_packet=32M \

!!!The \ in the end of the line is important here!!!

(6) Next create the database for your xwiki and grant the permissions by executing the follwoing

service mysql start && mysql_secure_installation
(this will finalize the installation of mysql for opensuse)
mysql -u root -p -e "create database xwiki"
(this will create the database xwiki)
mysql -u root -p -e "grant all privileges on xwiki.* to xwiki@127.0.0.1 identified by 'xwiki'"
(this will grant the permissions to Xwiki)

(7) Copy the mysql connector library from /usr/share/java/mysql-connector-java-5.1.6.jar to
/srv/tomcat6/webapps/xwiki/WEB-INF/lib/. A Symbolic link may also work. But i didn't try this out.

(8) You must now edit the /srv/tomcat/webapps/xwiki/WEB-INF/hibernate.cfg.xml file. And
comment out other database configurations you don't need. Especially the one hsqldb which is the line that is not comment out by default. Instead uncomment out the mysql section.

(9) Now you can restart the servers by issuing the following commands:
service mysql restart && service tomcat6 start

(10) You should add the servicedaemons permanently to avoid starting them manually each time.
chkconfig -a mysql && chkconfig -a tomcat6

The wiki should live on localhost:8080/xwiki. All you have to do now is to apply the xwiki-enterprise-wiki.A.x.n.xar file. But this should be no problem if you followed these steps.

You can get the latest XWiki and further Instructions here:
http://www.xwiki.org/xwiki/bin/view/Main/Download

Testing Gnome3

Hi guys and girls.

this time i tried out the upcomming gnome3 desktop for you. Gnome3 will be released if there is nothing standing in the way, in april 2011. First i was really sceptical about gnome3 relasing relatively soon after it was official annunced. You know, will it be the same fail as kde4 was. These kind of thoughts. But than i got really impressed. If you want to make the experience yourself, you are welcome to do so. Just download the iso here and get started.



Gnome3 did not just make a new release with all the new blinking and shining. They really did think about how to make a new dektop experience and how to design new interaction concepts and making things better and more userfriendly.

I would like to describe it this way: Think of a new way to organize and work with the desktop. The desktop no longer stands in the way when you want to work with applications. And applications no longer stands in the way when you want to organize your dektop.

When you click on the upper left side of the scren you can swith from running applications to organizing your desktop. In the activity panel you can now see what applications you are running. You can than move the windows across other virtual desktops which in gnome3 you are able to dynamicly add or remove by moving the mouse to the right side and clicking on the appearing plus or minus buttons.



You can also search for applications and start them right away or you click on the applications right next to the Windowbutton which leads you the gnome menu where you can as usual go through and select the application you
want to start. If you want to switch back to the applications just click of one of the application windows and you can continue working in with this program using a nearly fullsized window.

Your personal preferences can be set by cklicking on your user name on the top left side. you also will find your open chats and incomming messages. Surely this was adopted from ubuntu but has also greatly improved.

One last think to say. Setting up a personal desktop background is not working yet. You must install the xdg-user-dirs using

zypper in xdg-user-dirs

and Place the files in your ~/Pictures directory after logging the user out and in aagain. And sure there are still a lot of bugs and the preview should not be used in a productive environment but i hope most of them will be gone when the final version is out.