Debian 5.0 Package Authentication

I've got a GNU Linux Debian 5.0 machine here. It's a Western Digital "MyBookLive" sort of machine. Network storage and media device. Have some nice features and runs Linux under the hood. You can log in with SSH and use the command line. I decided this machine needed to be updated with the latest security patches, since I'm use sure it hasn't happened in a long time.

When running the apt-get update command, I get this warning:

WARNING: GPG error: http://ftp.us.debian.org squeeze Release: The following signatures couldn't be verified because the public key is not available: NO_PUBKEY AED4B06F473041FA

"WARNING: The following packages cannot be authenticated!" http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/

The solution to this is to add the appropriate 'apt-keys' to allow for package digital signature verification. You can do this in Ubuntu as well, since it uses the Debian Package system. (Debian's apt system is one of my favorite features of the distro and all it's derivatives.) You use the program gpg to download the relevant key, fingerprint it, and export it into your armory while adding it as an apt-key.

gpg --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv AED4B06F473041FA
gpg --fingerprint AED4B06F473041FA

gpg --export --armor AED4B06F473041FA | sudo apt-key add -

Interesting I don't actually KNOW any Debian Key-server addresses, so I had to use an Ubuntu one, but I knew they would have it. Do this and your package authentication should work.

UPDATE: I discovered the updates I was trying to apply didn't work. Had an unusual error when trying to unpack the dpkg_1.15.8.12_powerpc.deb file. So I went through the web-interface to the device and tried to update there. Fixed the problem, but in an unexpected way. It seemed to roll the system back to previous set-point. Still, fixed my problem, and undid every change I made. I'm not complaining, since it did restore the system to proper working order. I'm not sure if my tweaks were what caused this or not. It even reset my SSHD configurations. (Should always use a non-standard port and limit allowed your users.)

Still, using the above solution does allow me to authenticate any new packages I want to install.

Ubuntu Graphics Session Fix after botched Kernel Upgrade

Overview
This post is about restoring graphics to your Linux Desktop session if you install some kernel updates that don't go so well. Particularly, ones that fail with your graphics drivers.

Quick Steps
If you get error message (when trying to upgrade kernel packages or kernel drivers): "Skipping (driver build) at this time because kernel-source is missing." Try the following steps:

Note: `uname -r` is a commandline option which will auto-substitute your kernel version and architecture into the install command. If installing via a GUI, just use the info output from running the console command `uname -r`.

sudo apt-get install linux-source-`uname -r` linux-headers-`uname -r`

If this does not automatically cause your nvidia drivers to compile, cause a manual install with:

sudo apt-get install nvidia-current

If that still doesn't work, try uninstalling and reinstalling nvidia-current.


Background
Today I noticed there were some kernel updates in Ubuntu, but they had been kept back. So I decided to manually install them, since they did not appear to be causing any package conflicts. I do updates from command line with 'apt-get' (because I'm awesome that way *wink*). While installing the held-back packages, being kernel updates, it tried to accommodate my Nvidia graphics drivers.

Apparently, this failed. I noticed the error on the console, and immediately downgraded my kernel back to the previous versions. But alas, it did no good. I rebooted and was confronted with a text-only machine. Now, I'm fine with this, since I spend a lot of time on console. (Screen, vim, ssh, and elinks are usually all I need for most rescue operations. Sometimes rtorrent, wget, and curl are handy too.)

After trying to get the packages to jive well together, I gave up trying to juggle the kernel packages and instead focused on the Nvidia drivers. I tried installing the nvidia-current package provided by the Ubuntu repositories. (I was running a later version from a PPA.). This failed, but triggered the same error.

"Skipping (driver build) at this time because kernel-source is missing." Now, I've seen this error before. So I quickly installed the linux-source-`uname -r` package. This did not quite do the trick, and I have been around long enough to know that the source-packages often require the header packages as well. So I install linux-headers-`uname -r` package.

Once installed that, I didn't even have to do anything. The system automatically compiled the missing nvidia drivers and installed them for me. A quick reboot later, and now I am blogging about this simple solution.

Source: I copied this article verbatim from http://www.unixmen.com/linux-distributions/4-ubuntu/1069-ppasearch-a-tool-that-search-and-add-ppa-repository-in-ubuntu-via-command-line

I am only keeping it as a personal backup here in case it moves. All credit goes to them for presenting this great tool.

PPASEARCH is a nice tool that search launchpad PPAs via command line and add them to Ubuntu repositories, it is available for Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx and Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat.

The use of PPAsearch is easy, just open terminal and type ppasearch .

Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx and Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat

Open terminal and enter the following commands:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:wrinkliez/ppasearch

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get  install ppasearch

Using PPASEARCH:

For example i want to search for deluge ppa, open terminal and type:

ppasearch deluge

You will got a list of PPAs that contain the package deluge, choose one by typing the number and confirm.

Ubuntu Linux software easy download support

This is mostly a thought piece or commentary. One reason to run a very popular distribution of Linux is that it tends to be widely supported. Ubuntu is certainly one of the most popular Linux Distributions in the world.

Just today, I checked out the www.pidgin.im website and to my delight I found, under the Downloads section, an explicit area for Ubuntu. It had easy to do instructions for adding automatic Pidgin updates into your Ubuntu system. These updates are made possible by members of the community running their own complimentary APT repositories (PPAs under the Launchpad website), which Ubuntu helps provide with bandwidth, tools, tutorials, etc.

The APT system is one of the greatest inventions in computer software management history, and one of the absolutely greatest features of Linux. Ubuntu has helped foster spreading of the marvel and ease of the APT system.

So, the one line conclusion: The APT system is great (if you didn't already know) and Ubuntu is continuing too expand and make great use of it.

Firefox plugin support under Ubuntu

So for some of you, this will be old news, but it was new to me.

In times (not so long) past, a major complaint concerning Linux was its plugin support for browsers. Namely, if you went to a website that needed, for example, QuickTime... Firefox would inform you that a certain plugin was missing and that's about as far as it would help. Installing the plugin (and anything else needed) would fall to the user, and sometimes that task was not easy.

Ubuntu continues to make the user experience better in their distribution, since they apparently have a solution to this problem. Ubuntu provides a package program called Ubufox which will assist users in automatically install plugins as necessary. It's a simple "Enter your password" and click Next solution, and doesn't get much smoother than that. I used this for the first time today and I didn't even have to restart Firefox. It just worked.

I haven't found something this nice since they automated Nvidia driver installation with the (KDE/Gnome)-Jockey program. Nicely done once again Ubuntu.

Firefox 3.6 for Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic

This news is a bit old, but Firefox 3.6 is out now. For Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic, this new version is not in the official repositories yet. Here is a way to install it for yourself.

For those who don't like to download and run the files straight from the getfirefox.com website, here is an apt repository for Ubuntu which works well.

The group's website is here: https://launchpad.net/~mozillateam/+archive/firefox-stable

They have instructions there for adding this software repo to your system, but basically you do the follow.

1) Close down Firefox completely. This includes all download and add-on windows.

2) Add these lines to your apt-sources list. You can do this by editing the file /etc/apt/sources.list or adding them through whatever graphical package manager you use (such as KPackageKit or Synaptic).

# Firefox Stable Channel Packages
deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/mozillateam/firefox-stable/ubuntu karmic main
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/mozillateam/firefox-stable/ubuntu karmic main

3) Add the repositories apt-authentication keys to your system, and thus help prevent man-in-the-middle attacks. Running this command on a console will do it for you.

sudo apt-key adv --recv-keys --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com CE49EC21

4) Refresh/Update your apt lists. (This downloads the newly listed software). You can install it by using whatever graphical package manager you use (such as KPackageKit or Synaptic) or from a console with this command:

sudo apt-get update

5) Install the program Firefox. Not firefox-3.6 (which won't really give you anything). You can install it by using whatever graphical package manager you use (such as KPackageKit or Synaptic) or from a console with this command:

sudo apt-get install firefox

There. You are done. Under KDE, you should be able to just click the firefox icon in the apps menu and in all Linux system you should be able to just run the command 'firefox' to load the browser. Happy browsing.