Reading Microsoft Office 2007 formats with OpenOffice

You can rename the .docx or whatever to .zip and look at the .xml files, or you can use this:

OpenOffice plugin for Microsoft XML document format:

http://www.novell.com/documentation/openwg/esd/di_ooo_openxml_translator.html

Staring SQL Developer or JDeveloper fails due to hidden messagebox

Can you spot why Oracle SQL Developer and JDeveloper aren't starting in this scenario?

You can't even see it on a white background (and there is no window in the taskbar) but there is a question box right behind the slash screen :-). Pay attention to the right edge of the splash...



Still, I love the new Java look.

Compiling GNU Screen, irssi and Emacs on Solaris with Sun Studio 12

Screen, Emacs and irssi aren't included in Solaris, and the Sun Freeware versions tend to be out of date. Blastwave usually pulls in too many depends. You can compile screen, irssi and emacs without any additional depends on SXCE 90 and you get to use SS12.

Here's how you compile them on SXCE 90 using Sun Studio 12.

1. Install Sun Studio 12. If you have SXCE, just use the Developer Tools installer from the DVD.
2. Export a PATH that includes Sun Studio (you can also just export CC):
   PATH=/usr/bin:/usr/dt/bin:/usr/openwin/bin:/usr/ucb:/usr/sbin:/opt/SUNWspro/bin
   export PATH
3. Download and untar the sources
4. ./configure --prefix=/usr/local; gmake; su; gmake install

If you're compiling screen, it will fail. It's because it assumes you're using Solaris 9 or older / no setenv.
Look for the offending line:

# if defined(linux) || defined(__convex__) || (BSD >= 199103)
setenv(var, value, 1);
# else
setenv(var, value);
# endif /* linux || convex || BSD >= 199103 */
#endif /* USESETENV */

Just replace setenv(var, value); to use 3 parameters: setenv(var, value, 1);


Better yet (pkgsrc):

1. Index: misc.c
2. --- misc.c.orig 2003-12-05 14:45:41 +0100
3. +++ misc.c 2006-07-13 18:00:46 +0200
4. @@ -613,7 +613,7 @@
5. */
6. # endif /* NEEDSETENV */
7. #else /* USESETENV */
8. -# if defined(linux) || defined(__convex__) || (BSD >= 199103)
9. +# if defined(linux) || defined(__convex__) || (BSD >= 199103) || defined(__sun)
10. setenv(var, value, 1);
11. # else
12. setenv(var, value);

Now screen will compile. You can also make packages.

Other software such as top, smartctl (smartmontools) and so on all compiles cleanly without the need for 3rd party depends.

GStreamer plugins to decode MP3 files in SXCE 90

Solaris Express no longer provides a GStreamer MP3 decoder plugin, so you'll need to install a 3rd party plugin (or the plugin from an older SXCE release).

Basically, when you plug in your iPod or run Rythmbox and add some mp3 song, you'll get something like:

"The GStreamer plugins to decode "MP3" files cannot be found.

You can download the MP3 decoder plugin for free from Fluendo (you still need to register and use the webshop interface to "buy" it for 0$).
http://www.fluendo.com/resources/fluendo_mp3.php

Select "Fluendo MP3 Decoder".

Read the documentation, and make sure the plugin is set to executable and all dependencies are resolved.

cthulhu% gst-inspect flump3dec

(gst-inspect:7948): GStreamer-WARNING **: Failed to load plugin '/export/home/cmihai/.gstreamer-0.10/plugins/libgstflump3dec.so': ld.so.1: gst-inspect-0.10: fatal: libgcc_s.so.1: open failed: No such file or directory
No such element or plugin 'flump3dec'

cthulhu% ldd ~/.gstreamer-0.10/plugins/libgstflump3dec.so
warning: ldd: /export/home/cmihai/.gstreamer-0.10/plugins/libgstflump3dec.so: is not executable
libgstreamer-0.10.so.0 => /usr/lib/libgstreamer-0.10.so.0

cthulhu% chmod +x ~/.gstreamer-0.10/plugins/libgstflump3dec.so
cthulhu% grep libgcc /var/sadm/install/contents
/usr/sfw/lib/amd64/libgcc_s.so=libgcc_s.so.1 s none SUNWgccruntime

cthulhu% export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/sfw/lib
cthulhu% gst-inspect flump3dec
Factory Details:
Long name: Fluendo MP3 Decoder (C build)
Class: Codec/Decoder/Audio
Description: Decodes MPEG-1 Layer 1, 2 and 3 streams to raw audio frames
Author(s): Fluendo Support
Rank: primary (256)

cthulhu% rhythmbox

Now you can play MP3 files in Rhythmbox, Totem, etc.

ZFS Root in Solaris Express Community Edition - SXCE 90

Solaris Express Community Edition now supports ZFS root. Pick Solaris Express Developer in the grub menu, exit the X gui installer (Ctrl - Alt - Backspace) and use the text mode installer (install-solaris from the console). Now select "ZFS root" :-).

You should now have a default ZFS rpool.

It also supports JumpStart:

http://opensolaris.org/os/community/zfs/boot/zfsbootFAQ/

Disable OpenSolaris Network Auto-Magic (NWAM)

NWAM is now enabled by default, but it has some limitations (only one NIC is enabled, etc). Personally, I like to configure the network interfaces myself.

To disable Network Auto-Magic on SXCE (Solaris Express Community
Edition) or Indiana (OpenSolaris):

# svcadm disable svc:/network/physical:nwam

Disk Cleanup Wizzard in Windows Server 2008

If you want to run the Disk Cleanup Wizzard (cleanmgr) on Windows 2008 Server you need to install the "Desktop Experience" Role and restart your computer.

So basically, start the Server Manager (CompMgmtLauncher.exe) - Features - Add Feature - Desktop Experience and restart your machine. IT doesn't mention this also adds the Cleanup Wizzard though, heh.



It's a bit counter-intuitive, but that's how it is. This also adds themes, Media Player, photo management and a few other useless things.

Digg down, suggests you watch some p0rn while they restart the servers

Digg was down for a couple of minutes. Check the highlighted links :-). I'm wondering if that's a bug or a feature...




Doesn't look like anything was hacked though, google indexed it and all.



Either way, some of the links aren't exactly "Safe for Work" and it seems pretty irresponsible to put them on the front page like that, heh.

Custom df (diskfree) column output in Solaris using nawk

Let's say you want to combine some features of "df -h" with "df -n" to show filesystem type and some other custom modifications to the output. This is where awk/nakw/gawk/whatever come in handy:

% df -g | nawk '{if (NR % 5 == 1) printf "%-22s", $1 ; if (NR % 5 == 4) printf "%-10s", "fstype " $1 "\n"; if (NR % 5 == 2) printf "%-30s",$1/2/1024/1024 " GB"; if (NR % 5 == 2) printf "%-30s", $4/2/1024/1024 " GB free "}'

/	33.6627 GB	18.4351 GB free	fstype ufs
/devices	0 GB	0 GB free	fstype devfs
/system/contract	0 GB	0 GB free	fstype ctfs
/proc	0 GB	0 GB free	fstype proc
/etc/mnttab	0 GB	0 GB free	fstype mntfs
/etc/svc/volatile	7.88214 GB	7.8813 GB free	fstype tmpfs
/system/object	0 GB	0 GB free	fstype objfs
/lib/libc.so.1	33.6627 GB	18.4351 GB free	fstype ufs
/dev/fd	0 GB	0 GB free	fstype fd
/tmp	7.88142 GB	7.8813 GB free	fstype tmpfs
/var/run	7.88134 GB	7.8813 GB free	fstype tmpfs
/export/home	74.4858 GB	1.87458 GB free	fstype ufs
/storage	108.639 GB	66.9259 GB free	fstype nfs

You can also add a comma (,) to the separators and output > csv (you can open the comma separated values table in Excel or OpenOffice or any other Spreadsheet application) :-).

OpenBSD Web Portal server (Drupal)

Configuring an OpenBSD Web Portal server Running Drupal on chrooted Apache + MOD_SSL + PHP + MySQL or PostgreSQL

Final goal: Drupal Web portal with TinyMCE JavaScript editor, Unicode and Locales support running on OpenBSD 4.3.

1. Installing and configuring OpenBSD – read the FAQ, partition.

a. You can install OpenBSD via cdrom (install43.iso or cd43.iso for netinstall) or netboot via TFTP / BOOTP / DHCPD. Read diskless(8) for details. On Windows, you can use TFTPD32 for DHCP/TFTP.

b. Partition the disk (read the FAQ on partitioning). Example partitioning scheme:

Partition	Mount location	Filesystem	Mount options
/dev/sd0a	/	ffs	rw,softdep	1 1
/dev/sd0b	swap	swap
/dev/sd0c	Whole disk
/dev/sd0d	/tmp	ffs	rw,softdep,nodev,nosuid	1 2
/dev/sd0e	/var	ffs	rw,softdep,nodev,nosuid	1 2
/dev/sd0f	/usr	ffs	rw,softdep,nodev	1 2
/dev/sd0g	/home	ffs	rw,softdep,nodev,nosuid	1 2

c. Disable non-critical services (like ident, time, daytime, etc.) from /etc/inetd.conf. Just comment out the lines you don’t want with a #.

d. Make sure you enable Soft Updates (softdep) mounts – they increase the Filesystem performance tenfold when it comes to writing a lot of small files. This is done by adding “softdep” to mount options in /etc/fstab.

e. Add a regular user account. You can use the useradd(8) script. Make sure you add the user to the wheel group to allow su – root.

f. For added security configure „sudo” by running visudo(8). You can permit all users in the wheel group to sudo root: %wheel ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: SETENV: ALL

i. It’s usually best to disable root logins and use “sudo” for root access (sudo –i or su – if you need a root sheel). Edit /etc/ssh/sshd_config. You can also change the default ssh port from 22 to some random port to mitigate against brute force attacks. Keeps them from filling out your logs with junk. Consider using ssh keys also.

ii. Port 6969

iii. PermitRootLogin no

iv. Restart the OpenSSH daemon: „pkill –HUP sshd”

g. Configure your user profile to use a ftp mirror. Add the following to your ~/.profile: (or whatever shell you’re using, eg: .bashrc, .zshrc): PKG_PATH=ftp://ftp.su.se/pub/OpenBSD/4.3/packages/i386/; export PKG_PATH

h. Restart the system (to mount softdep, etc.).

i. Install some “critical” packages:

i. pkg_add -vi mc zsh screen elinks zip unzip bzip2

j. Install ports

i. cd /usr
sudo ftp ftp://ftp.su.se/pub/OpenBSD/4.3/ports.tar.gz
sudo tar zxf ports.tar.gz

k. Unpack the OpenBSD source code (src and kernel – sys) – these are required for patching OpenBSD:

i. cd /usr/src
sudo ftp ftp://ftp.su.se/pub/OpenBSD/4.3/src.tar.gz
sudo ftp ftp://ftp.su.se/pub/OpenBSD/4.3/sys.tar.gz
sudo tar zxvf src.tar.gz
sudo tar zxvf sys.tar.gz

l. Apply OpenBSD security patches. You download patches from http://www.openbsd.org/errata43.html and you apply them using the instructions in the patch headers:

i. ftp ftp://ftp.openbsd.org/pub/OpenBSD/patches/4.3.tar.gz
You can put 001_openssh.patch, 002_openssh2.patch and the following patches in /usr/src and apply them. Read the header for the patches for instructions.

% head -11 001_openssh.patch
Apply by doing:
cd /usr/src
patch -p0 < install ="="> lib
===> ssh
install -c -s -o root -g bin -m 555 ssh /usr/bin/ssh
install -c -o root -g bin -m 444 ssh.cat1 /usr/share/man/cat1/ssh.0
install -c -o root -g bin -m 444 ssh_config.cat5 /usr/share/man/cat5/ssh_config.0
/usr/share/man/cat1/slogin.0 -> /usr/share/man/cat1/ssh.0
/usr/bin/slogin -> /usr/bin/ssh
===> sshd
install -c -s -o root -g bin -m 555 sshd /usr/sbin/sshd
install -c -o root -g bin -m 444 sshd.cat8 /usr/share/man/cat8/sshd.0
install -c -o root -g bin -m 444 sshd_config.cat5 /usr/share/man/cat5/sshd_config.0
===> ssh-add
install -c -s -o root -g bin -m 555 ssh-add /usr/bin/ssh-add
install -c -o root -g bin -m 444 ssh-add.cat1 /usr/share/man/cat1/ssh-add.0
===> ssh-keygen
install -c -s -o root -g bin -m 555 ssh-keygen /usr/bin/ssh-keygen
install -c -o root -g bin -m 444 ssh-keygen.cat1 /usr/share/man/cat1/ssh-keygen.0
===> ssh-agent
install -c -s -o root -g _sshagnt -m 2555 ssh-agent /usr/bin/ssh-agent
install -c -o root -g bin -m 444 ssh-agent.cat1 /usr/share/man/cat1/ssh-agent.0
===> scp
install -c -s -o root -g bin -m 555 scp /usr/bin/scp
install -c -o root -g bin -m 444 scp.cat1 /usr/share/man/cat1/scp.0
===> sftp-server
install -c -s -o root -g bin -m 555 sftp-server /usr/libexec/sftp-server
install -c -o root -g bin -m 444 sftp-server.cat8 /usr/share/man/cat8/sftp-server.0
===> ssh-keysign
install -c -s -o root -g bin -m 4555 ssh-keysign /usr/libexec/ssh-keysign
install -c -o root -g bin -m 444 ssh-keysign.cat8 /usr/share/man/cat8/ssh-keysign.0
===> ssh-keyscan
install -c -s -o root -g bin -m 555 ssh-keyscan /usr/bin/ssh-keyscan
install -c -o root -g bin -m 444 ssh-keyscan.cat1 /usr/share/man/cat1/ssh-keyscan.0
===> sftp
install -c -s -o root -g bin -m 555 sftp /usr/bin/sftp
install -c -o root -g bin -m 444 sftp.cat1 /usr/share/man/cat1/sftp.0
===> scard
install -c -m 444 -o root -g bin Ssh.bin /usr/libdata/ssh

• 2. Restart the system to apply patches (or just the affected services by using pkill –HUP for example if you didn’t patch the kernel).

3. Installing additional OpenBSD filesets if required by say php5-gd: (if you skipped this at install). You can read the FAQ, but this is basically it:

a. % cd / && sudo ftp ftp://ftp.su.se/pub/OpenBSD/4.3/i386/xbase43.tgz
% sudo tar xzvphf xbase43.tgz

% sudo ldconfig -m /usr/X11R6/lib

4. Install PHP 5 (and various libraries for image manipulation, database access and Unicode support):

a. % sudo pkg_add -vi php5-core php5-mysql php5-curl php5-mbstring php5-gd
Ambiguous: choose package for php5-gd
0:
1: php5-gd-5.2.5
2: php5-gd-5.2.5-no_x11
Your choice: 1
parsing php5-gd-5.2.5

b. Activate PHP modules by creating the various symbolic links:

i. % sudo ln -s /var/www/conf/modules.sample/php5.conf /var/www/conf/modules

ii. % sudo ln -fs /var/www/conf/php5.sample/curl.ini /var/www/conf/php5/curl.ini

iii. % sudo ln -fs /var/www/conf/php5.sample/gd.ini /var/www/conf/php5/gd.ini

iv. % sudo ln -fs /var/www/conf/php5.sample/mbstring.ini /var/www/conf/php5/mbstring.ini

v. % sudo ln -fs /var/www/conf/php5.sample/mysql.ini /var/www/conf/php5/mysql.ini

5. Install, configure and secure the MySQL database:

a. % sudo pkg_add -vi mysql-server

b. Installing the default database

i. % sudo /usr/local/bin/mysql_install_db

c. Starting the MySQL service:

i. % sudo /usr/local/bin/mysqld_safe&
[1] 32390
% Starting mysqld daemon with databases from /var/mysql

d. Secure the installation (delete anonymous users, the test database and set a root password). PS: don’t use # in your password, there’s a bug in the script. Set that manually if you want.

i. % sudo /usr/local/bin/mysql_secure_installation

e. Tune some sysctl parameters for MySQL:

i. Edit /etc/sysctl.conf:
kern.shminfo.shmall=32768
kern.maxfiles=8192

ii. Apply the changes
% sudo sysctl kern.shminfo.shmall=32768
kern.shminfo.shmall: 8192 -> 32768
% sudo sysctl kern.maxfiles=8192
kern.maxfiles: 3580 -> 8192

iii. Add a mysql login in /etc/login.conf:
mysql:\
:openfiles-cur=1536:\
:openfiles-max=3096:\
:tc=daemon:

iv. % sudo cap_mkdb /etc/login.conf

6. Configure SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) for Apache mod_ssl (https). Generate a self signed certificate (or sign one) by reading ssl(8).

a. % sudo openssl genrsa -out /etc/ssl/private/server.key 1024
% sudo openssl req -new -key /etc/ssl/private/server.key -out /etc/ssl/private/server.csr
% sudo openssl x509 -req -days 365 -in /etc/ssl/private/server.csr -signkey /etc/ssl/private/server.key -out /etc/ssl/server.crt

b. Test SSL support (lynx is ssl enabled):
% sudo apachectl startssl
% lynx https://localhost

7. Configure the Apache webserver:

a. Edit the Apache configuration file and setup PHP and server details /var/www/conf/httpd.conf
AddType application/x-httpd-php .php
ServerAdmin cmihai@website
DirectoryIndex index.html index.php
ServerName hostname(fqdn)

b. Configure PHP:

i. Edit the PHP config /var/www/conf/php.ini
upload_max_filesize = 12M

c. Test PHP:
ed /var/www/htdocs/index.php
a

Test PHP:
.
w
q
% lynx http://localhost/index.php

d. Configure Sendmail for supporting the Apache chroot[1]
% sudo pkg_add -vi mini_sendmail-chroot
parsing mini_sendmail-chroot-1.3.6p0
mini_sendmail-chroot-1.3.6p0: complete

% sudo mkdir -p /var/www/usr/sbin/
% sudo ln /var/www/bin/mini_sendmail /var/www/usr/sbin/sendmail
% sudo cp /bin/sh /var/www/bin

8. Configure services to start at boot (Apache and MySQL):

a. % sudo ed /etc/rc.conf
httpd_flags="-DSSL"

b. % sudo ed /etc/rc.local
if [ -x /usr/local/bin/mysqld_safe ] ; then
su -c mysql root -c '/usr/local/bin/mysqld_safe >/dev/null 2>&1 &'
echo -n ' mysql'
fi
# Crearea unui link pentru socketul MySQL in chrootul Apache
mkdir -p /var/www/var/run/mysql
sleep 5
ln -f /var/run/mysql/mysql.sock /var/www/var/run/mysql/mysql.sock

c. Reboot to test changes.

9. Crate a database for Drupal and a user. Grand permissions:

a. % sudo mysql -u root -p
CREATE USER drupal IDENTIFIED BY 'password';
CREATE DATABASE drupal CHARACTER SET utf8;
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON drupal.* to USER drupal@localhost IDENTIFIED BY 'password';

10.Install Drupal and modules:

a. % sudo pkg_add -vi drupal5-tinymce drupal5-link-to-content drupal5-imce drupal5-image drupal5-backup-migrate drupal5-autolocale drupal5-token drupal5-securelogin ImageMagick

11.Optionally configure .httauth for security:

a. % cd /var/www
% sudo htpasswd -c htpasswd username

Add .htaccess to /var/www/htdocs
AuthName "Nu este permis accesul"
AuthType Basic
AuthUserFile ../htpasswd
require valid-user

b. Add “Add AllowOverride All” în /var/www/conf/httpd.conf.

c. Restart Apache (apachectl stop && apachectl startssl).

You can now configure Drupal and the various modules. Be sure to setup a backup schedule. You can use the Drupal database backup and restore module.

You can also install Apache mod_security for additional security:
% sudo pkg_add -vi modsecurity-apache
% sudo /usr/local/sbin/mod_security-enable
% sudo apachectl stop && sudo apachectl startssl

Make sure you read /usr/local/share/doc/mod_security/modsecurity-manual.pdf

You should also keep an eye on your webserver. For monitoring, I recommend top(1), vmstat, (8), sysctl hw, pftop and mytop.

% sudo pkg_add -vi mytop pftop
% sudo /usr/local/sbin/pftop

To use mytop you'll need a ~/.mytop file (and set proper permissions on it). You can add something like:

prompt=1
pass=
user=drupal
db=drupal
delay=5
port=3306
socket=
batchmode=0
header=1
color=1
idle=1

% mytop


MyTOP in Action

You'll also want to setup Packet Filter. Read the PF User's Guide, pf.conf(5) and the example rulesets in /usr/share/pf/examples. Enable pf in /etc/rc.conf (pf=YES).

---

[1] Read chroot(2) ssl(8) afterboot(8), etc.