Debian-Blog

I am please to announce the release of Laptop Mode Tools 1.68.1. The last release (1.68) was mostly about systemd integration, and so is this release. There were a couple of bugs reported, and most of them fixed, with this release. All downstreams are requested to upgrade. For RPM packages for Fedora and OpenSUSE (Tumbleweed), please see the homepage. 1.68.1 - Sun Sep 27 14:00:13 IST 2015 * Update details about runtime-pm in manpage * Revert "Drop out reload" * Log error more descriptively * Write to common stderr. [Read More]

So I got an email yesterday from Google’s Jess Hemerly, talking about how they care about encryption To quote a small snippet of the email: We use locks to keep our homes and our possessions safe offline. But how can we protect our digital things, like photos on a smartphone or email traveling across the web? **[The answer is encryption.](https://takeaction.withgoogle.com/page/m/1439db80/19cdc98/22666ed/3ed584ff/875135400/VEsE/ "http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Efacebook%2Ecom%2FGoogleTakeAction%2Fvideos%2Fvb%2E924932914232399%2F939211039471253%2F&utm_medium=email&utm_source=google&utm_content=2+-+The+answer+is+encryption&utm_campaign=20150910encryption1pm&source=20150910encryption1pm")** To change, it has to start from home. That means, add encryption support to Gmail. [Read More]

I am please to announce the release of Laptop Mode Tools, version 1.68. This release is mainly focused on integration with the newer init system, systemd. Without the help from the awesome Debian systemd maintainers, this would not have been possible. Thank you folks. While the focus now is on systemd, LMT will still support the older SysV Init. With this new release, there are some new files: laptop-mode.service, laptop- mode. [Read More]

A couple of us DDs met here on the weekend. It is always a fun time, being part of these meetings. We talked briefly about the status of Cross Compilation in Debian, on the tools that simplify the process. Next we touched upon licensing, discussing the benefits of particular licenses (BSD, Apache, GPL) from the point of view of the consumer. The consumer being an individual just wanting to use/improve software, to a consumer who’s building a (free / non-free) product on top of it. [Read More]

For this year’s Google Summer of Code, I have been mentoring Yuru Roy Shao, on Integrating Apport with Debian. Yuru is a CS student studying at University of Michigan, USA completing his PhD. For around 2+ years, Apport was packaged for Debian, but remained in Experimental. While we did have a separate (Debian BTS aware) crashdb, the general concerns (bug spam, too many duplicates etc) were the reason we held its inclusion. [Read More]

I am pleased to announce the release of Laptop Mode Tools, version 1.67. This release has many important bug fixes, and everyone is recommended to upgrade. Of the many, one important fix is to, more reliably check for Device Mapper based devices, which is common these days with Crypt and LVM. For the summary of changes to quote from git log: 1.67 - Thu Jul 2 17:05:07 IST 2015 * Relax minimum window size to accomodate low res screens * Fix variable name to comply with our "constants" assuptions * Get more aggressive in power saving for Intel HD Audio * Account Device Mapper devices * Add swsusp freeze support * Switch battery-level-polling default to True * Detect ethernet carrier, early and relibaly * changes the boolean setting *_ACTIVATE_SATA_POWER to a customizable *_SATA_POLICY, with backward-compatible defaults and documentation Thanks Yuir D'Elia PS: On a side note, over the years, Linux’s power savings functionality has improved a lot, all thanks to its use in the mobile worlds. [Read More]

**http://dictionary.reference.com/cite.html?qh=proprietary%20medicine &ia=ahsmd proprietary medicine ** _n. _ A medicinal compound whose formula and often mode of manufacture are owned by an individual or a corporation under a trademark or patent. The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary Copyright (C) 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. This is a topic which has gotten me wondering about what the practices are, that governments in different regions follow. And on what grounds. [Read More]

I recently acquired a [Lenovo Yoga 2 13](http://www.cnet.com/products/lenovo- yoga-2-13-inch/). While, at the time, the Yoga 3 was available, I decided to go for Yoga 2 13. The Yoga 3 comes with the newer Core M Broadwell family, which, in my opinion, [doesn’t really bring any astounding benefits](http://www.digitalversus.com/laptop/lenovo-ideapad- yoga-2-13-3-p18512/test.html). The Yoga 2 13 comes in mulitple variants worldwide. Infact these hardware variations have different effets when run under Linux. My varaint of Yoga 2 13 is: [Read More]

Another of my articles for self. Writing it down on the website is much better than pushing it on a 3rd party social site. Your data is yours. My site runs on Drupal. Given I’m not a web designer, it is not my core area. Thus I’ve always wanted to have minimal engagement with it. My practices have paid me well so far. And I should thank all the free tools that help do that. [Read More]