Fixing small bugs in Ubuntu

A bugs like typo doesn't require you to have a great technical knowledge. Yet there are many bugs in launchpad that are related to typos. Once you start fixing this kinds of bugs chances are you will move on and start fixing more complex bug simple and small bugs.

So how do we get started ? If you haven't missed yesterday's #ubuntu-classroom you should have known a lot. Here I'm just trying to replay yesterday's class by dholbach on "Fixing small bugs in Ubuntu".

First of all lets prepare our system. It is recommended to use a development release. Its not important at this moment. For now open your terminal and type:

sudo apt-get install --no-install-recommends bzr ubuntu-dev-tools devscripts dpkg-dev cdbs

Now make sure you have 'Sources' enabled in System -> Administration -> Software Sources -> Ubuntu Software .

Now open ~/.bashrc file in your favorite text editor. Add the following line to it.

export DEBFULLNAME='Your Name'
export DEBEMAIL='youremail@domain.com'

Now save the file and run it by going to terminal and typing:

source ~/.bashrc

What this does is sets the variable DEBFULLNAME and DEBEMAIL for this session. After every restart the ~/.bashrc file is automatically run and sets the variable.

Now lets look at the bug https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/edubuntu-addon-meta/+bug/404608

The bug states a typo in package description.
Now lets get the source of the package edubuntu-addon-meta. Open your terminal and type:

apt-get source edubuntu-addon-meta

now cd to that directory(edubuntu-addon-meta-0.12)

The package description is in the file debian/control. Open that file, fix the typo and save it.

Now we need to document the change we made in debian/changelog.
For this we can use dch tool. Now run:

dch -i

This will create a changelog entry increment the version number.
Now put something like this as the actual changelog entry
debian/control: replaced "form" with "from". (LP: #404608)
This describes what action was done on what file and also mentions the bug number in special format. The format LP: #xxxxxxxxxx closes the bug automatically on upload. With detailed information it enables others to revisit the bug and better understand why you did you changes. Save the file now.

Now run:

debuild -S

which will rebuild the source package. You can ignore the signing part for now. Now if you cd .. then you'll see edubuntu-addon-meta_0.12.dsc edubuntu-addon-meta_0.12.tar.gz edubuntu-addon-meta_0.13.dsc edubuntu-addon-meta_0.13.tar.gz and few other files.
This means you successfully rebuilt the source package.

After fixing the bug it is must for you to test it before distributing.

Now run:

debdiff edubuntu-addon-meta_0.12.dsc edubuntu-addon-meta_0.13.dsc

This will show the difference in the version.
You can redirect the output to edubuntu-addon-meta.fix and attach to bug report.

Bug fixed.

Please go through the irc logs to see this in action and to see more bugs fixed.

Ubuntu Developers Week, don't miss

From Monday, 31st August 2009 to Friday, 4th September 2009 there is going to be Ubuntu developers week. This is a event you can't afford to miss and all you need to attend is an IRC.

Check your timetable for the class here.
If you need to prepare for the session click here.
Then join #ubuntu-classroom for your desired class. This class is muted so if you need to talk or ask question do it in #ubuntu-classroom-chat. Remember questions are prefixed with QUESTION.

More info here.

Animated Gif In Ubuntu

When you open animated gif in Unbunt it appears as a static gif image. To see the gif animation you need to install a program called 'gthumb'

Install it by opening terminal and typing

sudo aptitude install gthumb

Or go to Synaptic package manager and select 'gthumb'

If you are using Ubuntu, you can also click here to install it.

After installing it, save this cool 'super dog' photo to your computer and try viewing it with gthumb.

Offline Install or Update Ubuntu Packages (Without Internet)

So you have a machine without Internet or the Internet is very slow and you want to update or install Ubuntu and packages.

There is a simple way to install packages and softwares in machine that doesn't have Internet with it.

First go to the machine that doesn't have Internet, i.e. the machine you want to install packages.

1. Open Synaptic Package Manager from System-Administration Menu.
   
2. Select the packages you want to install.
3. Go to File and select Generate Package Download Script
   
   
4. Save the file and bring it to the computer that has Internet.
5. Run that file.
   
6. It will download all the packages and its dependencies.
7. Put them in a removable drive.
8. Bring the drive back to the old machine.
9. Open Synaptic Package Manger again.
10. From File menu choose Add Downloaded Packages.

You're done. That's 10 easy steps to install software and add packages to Ubuntu box which doesn't have Internet.

To update your system follow the same above procedures but instead of 'step 2' Go to Edit and Mark all Upgrades.

compiz problem in Jaunty solved

Today I upgrade few machines to Jaunty Jackalope 9.04. However in machines with Intel's graphic driver I faced two kind of problem with compiz.

Problem 1: After upgrading to Jaunty, compiz couldn't be enabled.
The error was saying that the driver was backlisted.

To solve this create a file ~/.config/compiz/compiz-manager and put

SKIP_CHECKS=yes

Now enable compiz and it should work.

Problem 2: After upgrading to Jaunty, compiz is very slow.
You'll easily notice the performance degradation.

To solve this you can revert to intrepid driver by following https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ReinhardTartler/X/RevertingIntelDriverTo2.4

But what I did was used "UXA" instead of "EXA". UXA is new and far better but this has some bug, which prevented it from being default in jaunty.
To do this open your /etc/X11/xorg.conf and add

Option "AccelMethod" "uxa"

under Section "Device"

Time to order free Jaunty Jackalope CD

https://shipit.ubuntu.com/

enjoy!!!

When ubuntu was created

I was going through an article and found one interesting piece of information presented below.

When Ubuntu was created back in 2004, Mark Shuttleworth recorded the very first bug in the online database. However, it wasn’t about software. Instead, it was a revolutionary call to arms. It read as follows: “Microsoft has a majority market share in the new desktop PC
marketplace. This is a bug, which Ubuntu is designed to fix”.

You can read it yourself here, https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/1

Ctrl-Alt-Backspace is now disabled

Ctrl-Alt-Backspace is key combination to restart X. But for Ubuntu users from Alpha5 of Jaunty Jackalope, this shortcut will be disabled. This can be enabled from xorg.conf or or via the command dontzap --disable.

The main reason for disabling Ctrl-Alt-Backspace shortcut is to protect newbies from accidentally restarting X.

Next version of Ubuntu announced

Next version of Ubuntu 9.10 is announced. It's going to be called Karmic Koala. Yes the next version of Ubuntu 9.10 is going to be called Karmic Koala.

Hear it from Mark Shuttleworth himself,
http://fridge.ubuntu.com/node/1831

Ubuntu 9.04 to be called Jaunty Jackalope

Jaunty Jackalope is known for its fastness, so will the next version of Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope.

The main goal on this release is to make boot up time or resume time very short and integrating desktop applications and web applications.

Hear from Mark Shuttleworth himself, link

Lenovo Y510 surround sound in Ubuntu

Lenovo Y510 has go 4.1 sound system with a sub-woofer (Dolby Home Theater)


Default installation of Ubuntu doesn't recognises all four speaker. There are few fix going on the Internet. There is one problem with those fixes, i.e. headphone doesn't mute the speakers. So you have to manually mute and un-mute the speaker while using the headphone.

However I have found one fix, that recognises all four speaker and one sub-woofer, mutes and un-mutes them while using headphone, and produces 5.1 surround sound.

Open /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base for editing. (you need root access)
Open /etc/modprobe.d/alsa.conf if you are using Fedora (Thanks to the Anonymous user)
add the following line at the end

options snd_hda_intel model=6stack-dell

save and reboot.

Now, go to Audio Preferences and select "6ch" under the options tab.

You are all done, test it with the command "speaker-test -Dplug:surround51 -c6 -twav"

Note: If you have updated your system to Maverick Meerkat, you have to repeat this process again.

Ubuntu has the strongest chance to take Linux mainstream

Interview with Samba's Jeremy Alliso

"Jeremy Allison's contributions to the free software world are legion, and yet the project he's best known for continues to be Samba, the open implementation of some of Microsoft's most important networking protocols.

Linux Format magazine asked him about KDE, NAS, LSB, DCs and other acronyms, and now his answers are here for your TLA titillation…"

Read it here.

Brightness reversed?

If your brightness function keys are reversed then here is the simplest solution you could possibly have.

Go to

• System, Preferences, Power Management
• Set "Set Display brightness to:" to zero (0)

That's it.

service command in ubuntu

Redhat, Fedora and CentOS users and server administrators uses service * start/stop/restart/status command. Where as Ubuntu users and server administrators uses /etc/init.d/* start/stop/restart.

With Ubuntu Intrepid Ibex 8.10 Ubuntu users can also use the service command to start/stop/restart the Ubuntu services.

Hope this make the Redhat and other administrators little homely while using Ubuntu :P.

device manager for Ubuntu

There are tools like lsusb, lspci, lspcmcia, lshw that provides wonderful information of your current hardware.

These tools are all command based and you wont find any wonderful GUI tools on the system menu.

If you want to see the details of your computer hardware in GUI mode then hardinfo is the program for you.



You can install it by:
sudo apt-get install hardinfo

Then launch application launcher by pressting ALT+F2 and typing hardinfo.

Thought the topic says this is not a device manager. It only displays information about the devices. So you can call it hardware information on Ubuntu.

Hardy Best cover ever

screen and graphics in Hardy

If you have upgraded to Hardy then you must be wondering where is Screen and Graphics option.



You may want it for certain reason or you may want it to setup your monitor or display driver or graphics driver in ubuntu. In some caseses you may want it to see your currents driver.

If its so then you can enable screen and graphics option in Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy by

1)Right click your Main Menu
2)Edit Menus
3)Others
4)Check Screen and graphics



After doing so you can find it on other submenu of the Main Menu.

Alternatively you can run it by typing gksu displayconfig-gtk in Run application box(ALT+F2)

view windows remote desktop from ubuntu

Softwares like VNC works great but once in a while you encounter problems like not being able to pass ALT+CTRL+DEL to windows remote machine to bring login dialog box. Also Windows doesn't comes installed with it. Instead it comes with handy utility remote desktop. So how can you use remote desktop of windows from your Linux machine? Well the answer is simple.
Press ALT+F2
type rdesktop windows_client_ip



Its very nice and small utility.

Top 10 Reasons Not to Use Ubuntu

By Brian Proffitt on October 31, 2007 10:34 AM
Top 10 Reasons Not to Use Ubuntu

How to setup network bridge

I have written following tutorial based on my system(Debian). It may work with little or no modification in your system too.

First of all what is a network bridge?
According to www.linux-foundation.org

A bridge is a way to connect two Ethernet segments together in a protocol independent way.

I assume if you are reading this then you must know lot more than this.

So how do we create a bridge then? In windows it is very simple, just select the interfaces, right-click them and select create bridge.

In Linux, you need to do it following:

Edit your /etc/network/interfaces file
vi /etc/network/interfaces

Add the following codes
iface br0 inet static
address 172.16.5.1
netmask 255.255.255.224
gateway 172.16.5.5
bridge_ports eth0 eth1

OR

iface br0 inet dhcp
bridge_ports eth0 eth1

Save and exit.
Go to Terminal.
sudo ifup br0

Doing so will produce the following error

SIOCSIFADDR: No such device
br0: ERROR while getting interface flags: No such device
br0: ERROR while getting interface flags: No such device
wifi0: unknown hardware address type 801
Bind socket to interface: No such device
Failed to bring up br0.


This is because you haven't installed the package bridge-utils
In terminal type sudo apt-get install bridge-utils

Bingo! you are done.

If you want the bridge to be up automatically then you can add auto br0 in the /etc/network/interfaces file somewhere near the above added lines.