The Linux Questions Thread: a bunch of pitfalls, but technically it's possible

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Serious Hardware/Software Crap > The Linux Questions Thread: a bunch of pitfalls, but technically it's possible

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The Merkinman: Apr 22, 2007; I sell only quality merkins. What is a merkin you ask? Why, it's a wig for your genitals!

This is more of a general hardware question, but Ubuntu 9.04 is my main OS.

My Kingston Traveler 16GB drives keeps randomly unmounting. Now it doesn't seem to mount at all and lsusb says it's a CompUSA 128 Pen Drive.

# ? Jun 14, 2009 23:33

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# ? May 28, 2024 22:23

Hughmoris: Apr 21, 2007; Let's go to the abyss!

A family member has an infected computer running Windows XP. I need to back up her pictures and then flatten it to install Windows 7 or Ubuntu 9.04. If I have my choice, it will be Ubuntu for the very reason that she always gets viruses.

Anywho, I'm worried about plugging my external USB drive to her computer and get that infected as well. I read somewhere that I can pop in a Ubuntu 9.04 CD, run a LIVE session and backup the files that way. Will I be able to access pictures that are on a windows partition and move them to an external usb drive if I'm running a LIVE session?

# ? Jun 16, 2009 03:19

The Merkinman: Apr 22, 2007; I sell only quality merkins. What is a merkin you ask? Why, it's a wig for your genitals!

Hughmoris posted:

A family member has an infected computer running Windows XP. I need to back up her pictures and then flatten it to install Windows 7 or Ubuntu 9.04. If I have my choice, it will be Ubuntu for the very reason that she always gets viruses.

Anywho, I'm worried about plugging my external USB drive to her computer and get that infected as well. I read somewhere that I can pop in a Ubuntu 9.04 CD, run a LIVE session and backup the files that way. Will I be able to access pictures that are on a windows partition and move them to an external usb drive if I'm running a LIVE session?

Simply put, yes, as I've done this.

Also I managed to reformat my 16GB drive on a work computer.

# ? Jun 16, 2009 03:25

Hughmoris: Apr 21, 2007; Let's go to the abyss!

The Merkinman posted:

Simply put, yes, as I've done this.

Also I managed to reformat my 16GB drive on a work computer.

I just did a trial run on my computer, and it recognized my Windows XP partition just fine. Also mounted my external usb drive automatically. Great stuff.

# ? Jun 16, 2009 15:23

Beve Stuscemi: Jun 6, 2001

I am running an SFTP server on Ubuntu that accepts files into a directory via SFTP, then a cronjob runs every minute that copies them out to a mounted directory on another server.

Here is my setup:

All files received via SFTP are dumped in /home/SFTPDrop I have a shared directory on a windows server mounted to /mnt/dbsrv. Inside the SFTPDrop folder are various uploaded files, including some directories

Here is my fstab that mounts the directory:

code:

//10.0.0.8/incoming /mnt/dbsrv   cifs   credentials=/etc/.smbcredentials,iocharset=utf8,file_mode=0777,dir_mode=0777 0 0

/etc/.smbcredentials contains the following:

code:

username=username@domain
password=password

Mount reports the following:

code:

 //10.0.0.8/incoming on /mnt/dbsrv type cifs (rw,mand)

My Crontab contains this:

code:

*/2* *** root /mnt/copySFTP.sh

The file /mnt/copySFTP contains the following:

code:

#!/bin/sh

cp -r /home/SFTPDrop /mnt/dbsrv

This fails giving me the following error:

quote:

cp: cannot create symbolic link '/mnt/dbsrv/Files': Operation not supported

Anyone have any idea why this fails? Whats wrong here?

# ? Jun 16, 2009 20:49

Crush: Jan 18, 2004; jot bought me this account, I now have to suck him off.

What's the best way to allow ONLY a certain range of host masks access to a box running linux (actually a NAS) so that there is never even a prompt for username/password for anything (SSH, FTP, SFTP, Web (browser) Management, etc.) unless a computer within a certain host mask is trying to access it?

# ? Jun 16, 2009 21:16

Bob Morales: Aug 18, 2006; ~~Just wear the fucking mask, Bob~~

I don't care how many people I probably infected with COVID-19 while refusing to wear a mask, my comfort is far more important than the health and safety of everyone around me!

Crush posted:

What's the best way to allow ONLY a certain range of host masks access to a box running linux (actually a NAS) so that there is never even a prompt for username/password for anything (SSH, FTP, SFTP, Web (browser) Management, etc.) unless a computer within a certain host mask is trying to access it?

Can you edit the hosts allow/deny in the smb.conf?

also, which firewall is it using? for example, in iptables you can do something like:
# iptables -A INPUT -p tcp -s 192.168.0.0/16 --dport 80 -i ppp0 -j ACCEPT

to allow web traffic from 192.168.x.x

# ? Jun 16, 2009 21:38

Crush: Jan 18, 2004; jot bought me this account, I now have to suck him off.

Bob Morales posted:

Can you edit the hosts allow/deny in the smb.conf?

also, which firewall is it using? for example, in iptables you can do something like:
# iptables -A INPUT -p tcp -s 192.168.0.0/16 --dport 80 -i ppp0 -j ACCEPT

to allow web traffic from 192.168.x.x

the smb.conf file it has does not seem to have options like that. iptables does not seem to exist on this NAS.

I forgot to mention that I am wanting to remotely access this from outside the network while keeping it as locked down as possible (that's why I want to limit it to a host mask). Something like *.city.isp.com.

# ? Jun 16, 2009 22:01

cLin: Apr 21, 2003; lat3nt.net

I figure I'd ask here since this is in regards to my server running freebsd...Is there something I can use that'll generate screencaps or even just a screenshot for every media file in a certain folder on my server?

The files are completely legal, we lost some files when one of our techs deleted a directory by mistake and now I want to find certain video files without having to download each one and viewing it myself. I figure I can just download all the screencaps and find what I need there.

# ? Jun 17, 2009 21:38

Bob Morales: Aug 18, 2006; ~~Just wear the fucking mask, Bob~~

I don't care how many people I probably infected with COVID-19 while refusing to wear a mask, my comfort is far more important than the health and safety of everyone around me!

cLin posted:

I figure I'd ask here since this is in regards to my server running freebsd...Is there something I can use that'll generate screencaps or even just a screenshot for every media file in a certain folder on my server?

The files are completely legal, we lost some files when one of our techs deleted a directory by mistake and now I want to find certain video files without having to download each one and viewing it myself. I figure I can just download all the screencaps and find what I need there.

Browse them with a Windows PC and look at the thumbnails generated?

# ? Jun 17, 2009 23:16

cLin: Apr 21, 2003; lat3nt.net

Bob Morales posted:

Browse them with a Windows PC and look at the thumbnails generated?

That doesn't seem to generate any thumbnails. I did however try it on my computer with random media files and it does generate it although some file formats don't (ends up showing the VLC icon).

Maybe the files need to be on a windows pc?

# ? Jun 17, 2009 23:24

2.7182818284590: Dec 10, 2004; lol custom title more like custom DICKS

cLin posted:

That doesn't seem to generate any thumbnails. I did however try it on my computer with random media files and it does generate it although some file formats don't (ends up showing the VLC icon).

Maybe the files need to be on a windows pc?

Use a Ubuntu LiveCD and set the preview preferences in a nautilus window through Edit->Preferences->Preview.

That or you can use totem-video-thumbnailer.

# ? Jun 18, 2009 00:14

KICK BAMA KICK: Mar 2, 2009

On Ubuntu 9.04, I want to prepend the same string to the names of all files in a directory. (e.g., rename files "001.txt", "002.txt", "003.txt" to "abc-001.txt", "abc-002.txt" and "abc-003.txt" in one fell swoop). Is there a terminal command I could plausibly remember to do this?

# ? Jun 18, 2009 06:21

Tad Naff: Jul 8, 2004; _{I told you you'd be sorry buying an emoticon, but no, you were hung over. Well look at you now. It's not catching on at all!}

A Violence Gang posted:

On Ubuntu 9.04, I want to prepend the same string to the names of all files in a directory. (e.g., rename files "001.txt", "002.txt", "003.txt" to "abc-001.txt", "abc-002.txt" and "abc-003.txt" in one fell swoop). Is there a terminal command I could plausibly remember to do this?

rename?

# ? Jun 18, 2009 06:41

KICK BAMA KICK: Mar 2, 2009

FeloniousDrunk posted:

rename?

Oh awesome, the quick bash intros I'd read didn't bother to mention that, only mv. How would I format the command to add, for example, "abc-" to the beginning of every filename in the current directory? I'm not fluent with regexes or whatever it uses.

# ? Jun 18, 2009 07:34

Tad Naff: Jul 8, 2004; _{I told you you'd be sorry buying an emoticon, but no, you were hung over. Well look at you now. It's not catching on at all!}

A Violence Gang posted:

Oh awesome, the quick bash intros I'd read didn't bother to mention that, only mv. How would I format the command to add, for example, "abc-" to the beginning of every filename in the current directory? I'm not fluent with regexes or whatever it uses.

I don't think rename is part of bash, I think it's part of the "util-linux" package, in Ubuntu anyway.

To do what you describe,

code:

rename 's/^/abc-/' *

# ? Jun 18, 2009 07:43

KICK BAMA KICK: Mar 2, 2009

FeloniousDrunk posted:

I don't think rename is part of bash, I think it's part of the "util-linux" package, in Ubuntu anyway.

To do what you describe,
code:
rename 's/^/abc-/' *

Appreciated. Now I just have to invent a mnemonic for that.

e: or yeah I should just throw that in a script

# ? Jun 18, 2009 07:45

grumm3t: Jul 1, 2004; k

Crush posted:

the smb.conf file it has does not seem to have options like that. iptables does not seem to exist on this NAS.

I forgot to mention that I am wanting to remotely access this from outside the network while keeping it as locked down as possible (that's why I want to limit it to a host mask). Something like *.city.isp.com.

I'm not sure if you can block the resolved hostname via smb.conf, but the ISP probably has a block of IPs it puts clients on. You can probably take the first two octets and be relatively safe.

Ex. if you IP is 74.54.16.138 add

code:

hosts deny = ALL
hosts allow = 74.54. 127.0.0.1

Under your share. Without the loopback, some errors can be generated.

e: quoted wrong post

grumm3t fucked around with this message at 12:39 on Jun 18, 2009

# ? Jun 18, 2009 12:36

grumm3t: Jul 1, 2004; k

Phat_Albert posted:

Anyone have any idea why this fails? Whats wrong here?

The Files folder in /home/SFTPDrop is a symbolic link to somewhere. You can either remove the symbolic link (if possible) or tell cp to follow symbolic links with a -L flag.

e: clarity

# ? Jun 18, 2009 12:41

grumm3t: Jul 1, 2004; k

cLin posted:

That doesn't seem to generate any thumbnails. I did however try it on my computer with random media files and it does generate it although some file formats don't (ends up showing the VLC icon).

Maybe the files need to be on a windows pc?

This isn't really helpful but on some :filez:

sites there is a collection of thumbnails pulled from throughout the movie. If you can find the program for linux you could setup a bash script to grab each avi and pass it to the program, then downloaded the resultant thumbnails. Let me see if I can find said program.

e: Well ffmpeg and imagemagick can apparently do the trick if you have either installed.

ffmpeg: http://blog.prashanthellina.com/2008/03/29/creating-video-thumbnails-using-ffmpeg/
imagemagick: http://www.imagemagick.org/script/convert.php (try just `convert movie.avi screenshot.jpg` to start)

grumm3t fucked around with this message at 12:57 on Jun 18, 2009

# ? Jun 18, 2009 12:47

deong: Jun 13, 2001; I'll see you in heck!

A Violence Gang posted:

Appreciated. Now I just have to invent a mnemonic for that.

e: or yeah I should just throw that in a script

If you like visual, you can also use the Bulk Renamer for Thunar, although its a fairly bloated package for just a renamer.. you have to d/l the full thunar package. Works great though

# ? Jun 18, 2009 16:31

Crush: Jan 18, 2004; jot bought me this account, I now have to suck him off.

grumm3t posted:

I'm not sure if you can block the resolved hostname via smb.conf, but the ISP probably has a block of IPs it puts clients on. You can probably take the first two octets and be relatively safe.

Ex. if you IP is 74.54.16.138 add
code:
hosts deny = ALL
hosts allow = 74.54. 127.0.0.1
Under your share. Without the loopback, some errors can be generated.

e: quoted wrong post

Will modifying the smb.conf (that doesn't seem to have option for deny/allow) block access for EVERYTHING (SSH, FTP, SFTP, and Web Management (xxxx.dyndns.org:80)) or will it just deny access for file sharing itself?

# ? Jun 18, 2009 17:23

bitprophet: Jul 22, 2004; Taco Defender

Crush posted:

Will modifying the smb.conf (that doesn't seem to have option for deny/allow) block access for EVERYTHING (SSH, FTP, SFTP, and Web Management (xxxx.dyndns.org:80)) or will it just deny access for file sharing itself?

Don't read this in a mean tone of voice, but why would you think that modifying the SMB specific conf file, would prevent access to anything else on the system besides SMB? Serious question

# ? Jun 18, 2009 17:44

Crush: Jan 18, 2004; jot bought me this account, I now have to suck him off.

bitprophet posted:

Don't read this in a mean tone of voice, but why would you think that modifying the SMB specific conf file, would prevent access to anything else on the system besides SMB? Serious question

Yeah, that was what I was getting at. I didn't understand why everyone would want me to modify the smb config file for something that broad.

# ? Jun 19, 2009 01:00

bitprophet: Jul 22, 2004; Taco Defender

Crush posted:

Yeah, that was what I was getting at. I didn't understand why everyone would want me to modify the smb config file for something that broad.

Sorry, I'd been skimming the related posts up till now. Rereading, you definitely want /etc/hosts.(allow|deny), but that's not necessarily available on all systems, and I'm not at all sure it will work with DNS names like *.domain.tld -- it may well only work with IP addresses / networks. But it's the most widespread, general "block all network traffic for X / allow only network traffic from Y" mechanism I'm aware of, alongside firewalls like iptables / ipchains (god that's old now isn't it) / pf.

I'm sure there are solutions out there that can firewall in the way you want, though, I just don't know off the top of my head, and if you're using some sort of embedded/stripped-down Unix on a NAS, your options may be limited unless you're willing to roll up your sleeves and compile stuff from sources.

Do you know if the NAS is running a specific flavor/distro of Unix? That may help us find more info. If there's no docs telling you and the motd on login doesn't say anything, try looking for /etc/redhat-release, /etc/lsb-release, /etc/debian_version or similar files. Those would exist if it derives from RedHat or Debian based systems, at any rate.

# ? Jun 19, 2009 02:43

Crush: Jan 18, 2004; jot bought me this account, I now have to suck him off.

bitprophet posted:

Sorry, I'd been skimming the related posts up till now. Rereading, you definitely want /etc/hosts.(allow|deny), but that's not necessarily available on all systems, and I'm not at all sure it will work with DNS names like *.domain.tld -- it may well only work with IP addresses / networks. But it's the most widespread, general "block all network traffic for X / allow only network traffic from Y" mechanism I'm aware of, alongside firewalls like iptables / ipchains (god that's old now isn't it) / pf.

I'm sure there are solutions out there that can firewall in the way you want, though, I just don't know off the top of my head, and if you're using some sort of embedded/stripped-down Unix on a NAS, your options may be limited unless you're willing to roll up your sleeves and compile stuff from sources.

Do you know if the NAS is running a specific flavor/distro of Unix? That may help us find more info. If there's no docs telling you and the motd on login doesn't say anything, try looking for /etc/redhat-release, /etc/lsb-release, /etc/debian_version or similar files. Those would exist if it derives from RedHat or Debian based systems, at any rate.

This is the best I can do

quote:

Linux [hostname] 2.6.12.6-arm1 #31 Thu Mar 26 18:20:41 CST 2009 armv5tejl GNU/Linux

# ? Jun 19, 2009 02:49

bitprophet: Jul 22, 2004; Taco Defender

Crush posted:

This is the best I can do

The "GNU/Linux" implies it might be Debian related, though I'd be surprised if Debian was the _only_ distro that refers to itself as GNU/Linux. No /etc/debian_version file floating around? What about an "apt-get" binary?

At this point I'm not sure we can help much without actually sitting at a shell on this thing, so if you've looked for "ipchains" or "iptables" or "pf" and not finding any binaries with those names -- and there's no /etc/hosts.allow type files in /etc -- you may be SOL. (Do you have an external firewall, or could get one? That would be another way around this...)

# ? Jun 19, 2009 13:04

Accipiter: Jan 24, 2004; SINATRA.

bitprophet posted:

The "GNU/Linux" implies it might be Debian related

No.

# ? Jun 19, 2009 14:00

bitprophet: Jul 22, 2004; Taco Defender

Accipiter posted:

No.

Oh, don't be facile, they ARE well known for harping about being "Debian GNU/Linux" and get pissy when you call it just "Debian Linux". You're right, though, that uname will print GNU/Linux on at least some other distros, so my assumption based on just uname was incorrect v :shobon:

v

Since you're clearly more on top of things than I am, why don't you try helping Crush out? Or are you only here to correct people

# ? Jun 19, 2009 15:57

Accipiter: Jan 24, 2004; SINATRA.

bitprophet posted:

You're right, though, that uname will print GNU/Linux on at least some other distros, so my assumption based on just uname was incorrect vv

The information is pulled from the kernel, not the distribution.

In any case, whatever system it's running, it's an ARM port.

# ? Jun 19, 2009 16:13

bitprophet: Jul 22, 2004; Taco Defender

Accipiter posted:

The information is pulled from the kernel, not the distribution.

In any case, whatever system it's running, it's an ARM port.

Yea, I saw that. Not sure it tells us a lot, though; Debian has supported ARM directly for a long time, but there also seem to be RedHat-like distros for the architecture, and it could easily be something less well-known, or totally custom.

Is there anything else he should look for besides hosts.(allow|deny), ip(chains|tables) or pf?

(Speaking of hosts.allow/deny, I looked at a random manpage for it and at least on RedHat and Debian distros, it does support DNS lookups, so my earlier assumption that it works on IP/network addresses only was thankfully incorrect.)

# ? Jun 19, 2009 16:57

covener: Jan 10, 2004; You know, for kids!

Accipiter posted:

The information is pulled from the kernel, not the distribution.

Not the GNU/Linux part, that's baked into the GNU uname binary when it's built.

# ? Jun 19, 2009 18:22

Accipiter: Jan 24, 2004; SINATRA.

covener posted:

Not the GNU/Linux part, that's baked into the GNU uname binary when it's built.

I'm referring to the fact that it's not asking the distribution what kernel is running, but that it's talking to the kernel directly.

# ? Jun 19, 2009 19:23

Crush: Jan 18, 2004; jot bought me this account, I now have to suck him off.

bitprophet posted:

The "GNU/Linux" implies it might be Debian related, though I'd be surprised if Debian was the _only_ distro that refers to itself as GNU/Linux. No /etc/debian_version file floating around? What about an "apt-get" binary?

At this point I'm not sure we can help much without actually sitting at a shell on this thing, so if you've looked for "ipchains" or "iptables" or "pf" and not finding any binaries with those names -- and there's no /etc/hosts.allow type files in /etc -- you may be SOL. (Do you have an external firewall, or could get one? That would be another way around this...)

I have router, but that's about it. Is there any other way to just make this stupidly secure? I still want to be able to run Transmission on it without blocking access to that as well.

# ? Jun 19, 2009 19:30

maskenfreiheit: Dec 30, 2004

Edit: Double Post

maskenfreiheit fucked around with this message at 20:54 on Mar 13, 2017

# ? Jun 19, 2009 20:50

maskenfreiheit: Dec 30, 2004

Edit: Double Post

maskenfreiheit fucked around with this message at 20:50 on Mar 13, 2017

# ? Jun 19, 2009 21:55

ShoulderDaemon: Oct 9, 2003; support goon fund; Taco Defender

git clone, not git-clone. The variants with hyphens were deprecated a few versions ago.

# ? Jun 19, 2009 22:00

maskenfreiheit: Dec 30, 2004

Edit: Double Post

maskenfreiheit fucked around with this message at 20:54 on Mar 13, 2017

# ? Jun 19, 2009 22:19

HappyGrifter: Jul 25, 2003

I have a Centos 5 box and I want to export my display to my TV. My Video card and my PC both support HDMI, however my current on-board sound card is not supported in Centos 5 and it doesn't have a SPDIF connector.

I'm looking at new sound cards - something cheap and with an SPDIF pass through. Does anyone know if Linux compatability/drivers are required for the pass through to work? Or will I require a card with Centos support? I really just want sound through my TV.

# ? Jun 21, 2009 16:25

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# ? May 28, 2024 22:23

tripwire: Nov 19, 2004; _{ghost flow}

I'm trying to get a Canon MP600 series printer installed in Ubuntu and it is far more painful than it should be.

The process other people are following is to take a canon red hat package and convert it to a debian package with the alien utility.

Alien fails to convert this package because it cannot find any libraries.
These libraries should be available at /usr/lib so I have no idea why the gently caress it wouldn't look there but anyway, the error message it prints out is:

code:

To help dpkg-shlibdeps find private libraries, you might need to set LD_LIBRARY_PATH.
dpkg-shlibdeps: failure: couldn't find library libtiff.so.3 needed by debian/cnijfilter-mp600/usr/local/bin/cifmp600 (its RPATH is '').
Note: libraries are not searched in other binary packages that do not have any shlibs or symbols file.
To help dpkg-shlibdeps find private libraries, you might need to set LD_LIBRARY_PATH.
dh_shlibdeps: dpkg-shlibdeps returned exit code 2

I can edit the makefile it is using, but I don't know the makefile syntax for setting an environment variable.

I assume something like "export LD_LIBRARY_PATH = $LD_LIBRARY_PATH:/usr/lib" would do the trick.. how do you put that into a makefile?

# ? Jun 21, 2009 20:17

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Serious Hardware/Software Crap > The Linux Questions Thread: a bunch of pitfalls, but technically it's possible

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