- Roundtable - muug.ca

systemd-private PrivateTmp unwritable suddenly
by Trevor Cordes 08 Feb '25

08 Feb '25

RHEL9.5 box, fully updated. On a working system with no relevant (systemd/php/apache) updates in 2 weeks, all of a sudden php-fpm process(es) cannot write to its systemd PrivateTmp (forced by default) /tmp/systemd-private-*-php-fpm.service-* This caused fatal errors in the lowest level of a php site during simple logging, as tempnam was returning false when it really never should. I try really hard to work within the systemd paradigm on many things, especially when on paper it sounds helpful, like PrivateTmp. And it worked fine for many years. But now it suddenly does this and screws over a live web site. So it's PrivateTmp=false for me now! I've written all scripts using proper tmp file naming techniques, like php's tempnam (which uses secure code under the hood, or so I'm told). And there's no local users on the box anyhow to start trying to race symlinks, and no user-supplied input is used to create file names. So the whole idea of PrivateTmp to me is "meh". But I want to try to understand what happened here. There are a few oddities. systemd seems to make 2 privatetmp dirs in /tmp for php-fpm(?), yet when this bug hit only 1 existed(?). I suppose systemd-tmpfiles-clean or something may have screwed up and removed the dir? Everything is set to defaults for clean. And the dir seems to have existed via my in-script tests (see below). Most weirdly, the bug only hit one of the php-fpm pools we run! The other main one seemed to be able to write just fine!!?? This is especially confusing since there is only one "php-fpm: master process". There does not seem to be a separate master for each pool, so how could one pool work fine and not the other? There are separate pool worker processes, however. I guess php-fpm could somehow "speak" to systemd to tell it it needs 2 privatetmps, one for each pool? But I don't see how that could happen. Maybe the 2 dirs is a red herring. My personal box doesn't have more than 1 dir for php-fpm, and I have 3 pools. I added debugs to my scripts while the problem was still happening just to confirm the scripts were seeing the tmp dir properly and it was writable, etc. And it was: drwx as detected by php's is_writable, etc. And the subdirs systemd creates are rwxt (sticky, like normal /tmp). However, I couldn't figure out a way for the script to figure out what its real tmpdir was, as it is tricked by systemd into believe the subdir is just /tmp. However, the script saw a dir and thought it was writable and showed me its inode data with ls -l. Since I cannot reproduce the bug easily now that I've restarted php-fpm, and now that I've disabled PrivateTmp because I need 100% trustworthy tools on a production box, I will probably never know what really happened. That is why I plead for MUUGers to pick their brains trying to figure out how a script can see a dir inode and detect it's drwx by the current user and yet any write to it fails.... I know systemd is doing crazy wacky new-fangled mount or namespaces or cgroup or whatever tricks to make PrivateTmp work at all. (And it's slightly evil that there can be a dir sitting right there I can ls at the command line and all perms show I can write to it and yet even root cannot!) _______________________________________________ Roundtable mailing list -- roundtable(a)muug.ca To unsubscribe send an email to roundtable-leave(a)muug.ca

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Among other steps, Will U take 5 minutes by 4 p.m CST TODAY to preserve your right select Canada's next PM?
by eh＠eduardhiebert.com 28 Jan '25

28 Jan '25

In a time when we may experience many difficult circumstances locally and internationally, Hope this email finds you well! As a first next step among several: i) Over the last many days I made the following call to action and now pass on to you as well. Will U take 5 minutes by 4 p.m CST today to preserve your right to select Canada's next PM? Canadians who will be 14 years old or older on March 9 have the right to join the liberal party and thereby have the vote to choose Canada's very next PM on March 9. With the deadline later today please hurry. Without paying a dime you may register at https://liberal.ca/register/ Please note, this does not obligate you to vote liberal in the next election, only preserving your right to help select Canada's next PM! ii) Elections are usually the time when candidates are most open to discussing things of interest to ordinary constituents. Accordingly as an opportunity to push/pull the various candidates, with so many problems in the IT world, would the MUUG executive be interested framing concerns and questions directed at all the candidates of which one with 100% certainty will be Canada's next PM, even if only for a few weeks? This process could then serve as a warm-up as we do the same thing in the next upcoming election where we again have an opportunity to get the ear of the various party leaders seeking to gain electoral power on behalf of us the wider community? iii) I just spent the last 3 hours saving a lot of my open windows content as I needed to reboot before I could open yet another window to submit this request. Luckily Foxy Tab within Firefox makes one of these tasks easy and the url and subject line of all open window can be copied and pasted by one simple copy and paste. However only Wordstar to my knowledge has a non-document mode that can in one simple pass fix the copy and paste of the info just referenced as Foxy Tab does not register a carriage return, only line feed between the various open tabs copied making for an almost unintelligible document. In this round about way I ask is there a PDF reader that can search multiple documents for a key word or phrase? Preferably and possibly placing all results in an easy to use new file and referencing the source document? With my thanks and Best as we work for a better world! Eduard _______________________________________________ Roundtable mailing list -- roundtable(a)muug.ca To unsubscribe send an email to roundtable-leave(a)muug.ca

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Does the Linux world have the equivalent of Windows Phone?
by Hartmut W Sager 21 Jan '25

21 Jan '25

Does the Linux world have the equivalent of Windows Phone? By that, I am referring to the facility in Windows 11 (and 10?) to connect, via Bluetooth, to a turned-on mobi phone, and to make/receive calls and texts on the Windows Phone desktop app (using a full keyboard, screen, and mouse, of course!). Alternatively, a similar piece of Linux software that connects to a turned-on mobi phone via a LAN that both devices are connected to, might also be suitable. Hartmut _______________________________________________ Roundtable mailing list -- roundtable(a)muug.ca To unsubscribe send an email to roundtable-leave(a)muug.ca

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Christmas song for unix hackers (1985)
by Mark Jenkins 09 Dec '24

09 Dec '24

Okay, given the age this has got to be a repost. But, I couldn't find it in the archives, so here goes --------- Christmas song for unix hackers better !pout !cry better watchout lpr why santa clause < north pole > town cat /etc/password >list ncheck list ncheck list cat list | grep naughty >nogiftlist cat list | grep nice >giftlist santa clause < north pole > town who | grep sleeping who | grep awake who | egrep 'bad|good' for (goodness sake) { be good } (by Frank Carey, AT&T Bell Laboratories, 1985) _______________________________________________ Roundtable mailing list -- roundtable(a)muug.ca To unsubscribe send an email to roundtable-leave(a)muug.ca

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shaw email blacklist
by Scott Toderash 01 Dec '24

01 Dec '24

Does anyone here know things about Shaw's use of RBL etc? They appear to have some private lists they use, and it's outsourced somewhere so support is hard to come by. _______________________________________________ Roundtable mailing list -- roundtable(a)muug.ca To unsubscribe send an email to roundtable-leave(a)muug.ca

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Thunderbird bug, File Search Pgm?, WD install error AND low-cost USB C & A Flash Drive
by eh＠eduardhiebert.com 01 Dec '24

01 Dec '24

To lighten the TLDR, 4 TOC matters: 1) Thunderbird bug 2) Robust File Search Pgm Anyone? 3) External WD drive install error 4) $18 128G USB Flash Drive fits both C and A ports. 1) Thunderbird bug A client has two email addresses. The second one is designated as the default but for new messages TB still employs the first address listed which happens to be gmail. With my dyslexia etc. trying to pass on to Mozilla invariably becomes a never ending rabbit hole. Would someone do it for me, or help hold my hands with but a link or two to get it done? :) 2) A Robust File Search Pgm anyone? MsDos has two file search functions. The very inferior Find, but even the Findstr is not robust enough and fails because too many long lines and files it can't open before mssg memory exhausted. This likely RAM? but its a 16GB Ram cptr as detailed in next item. Can anyone recommend a much more robust search pgm for Windows but likely using MsDos? 3) External WD drive install error After my Seagate back-up drive failed prematurely bought two 4TB WD external drives. Did a full back up of an older Toshiba Window 7 machine no problem. Then used a newer Dell 16GB RAM with Windows 10 Pro to copy to the second drive. However for my second BU when I rotated to this drive the system gave the follow three mssgs: USB Mass Storage Device Ready to use WD Mypassport 2626 USB Device Ready to use WD SES Device USB Device No Driver found Windows volunteered to find and replace the third line with the following two WD SES Device USB Device Searching for Windows Update Unidentified Device No Driver found As it functions, is this an issue? Or should I have it exchanged or attempt another fix you can recommend? 4) Fyi BestBuy has tiny approx 1 inch long $18 128G USB Flash Drive engineered to fit either a USB C or USB A port. The "box" says its a Kingston DataTraveler micrDuo 3C 128GB 200MB/s [R] with a swivel so it fits both C and A ports. FWIW "Box" even says it has a 5 yr warranty. :) _______________________________________________ Roundtable mailing list -- roundtable(a)muug.ca To unsubscribe send an email to roundtable-leave(a)muug.ca

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WIRED: "The Confessions of Marcus Hutchins, the Hacker Who Saved the Internet"
by Gilbert Detillieux 14 Nov '24

14 Nov '24

I found the following article fascinating... The Confessions of Marcus Hutchins, the Hacker Who Saved the Internet by Andy Greenberg, for WIRED https://getpocket.com/explore/item/the-confessions-of-marcus-hutchins-the-h… -- Gilbert Detillieux E-mail: Gilbert.Detillieux(a)umanitoba.ca Computer Science Web: http://www.cs.umanitoba.ca/~gedetil/ University of Manitoba Phone: 204-474-8161 Winnipeg MB CANADA R3T 2N2 For best CS dept. service, contact <cs-support(a)lists.umanitoba.ca>. _______________________________________________ Roundtable mailing list -- roundtable(a)muug.ca To unsubscribe send an email to roundtable-leave(a)muug.ca

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Network cabling (Cat 5e)
by Kevin McGregor 31 Oct '24

31 Oct '24

Is anyone handy at running residential Cat 5e? I have done it in the past, but I'm not super motivated to do it again, at least without help. Compensation of some kind is negotiable. I could just buy some 50- or 100-foot cables and run those... but that's $0.50/foot, locally -- or $0.20/foot (Amazon) or $0.08/foot (Amazon, bare cable). Thoughts? _______________________________________________ Roundtable mailing list -- roundtable(a)muug.ca To unsubscribe send an email to roundtable-leave(a)muug.ca

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The Long Con - this year's speakers
by Gilbert Detillieux 28 Oct '24

28 Oct '24

Hi all. I just noticed that The Long Con's site now has posted the lists of speakers and schedule of talks for the upcoming conference (Nov 2-3)... https://thelongcon.ca/speakers/ There are a couple current/former MUUG members presenting, as well as some other recognizable names from previous events. Tickets have been on sale for a while... https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/the-long-con-2024-tickets-1024450869127 I've got my ticket - hope to see some/many of you there! Gilbert -- Gilbert E. Detillieux E-mail: <gedetil(a)muug.ca> Manitoba UNIX User Group Web: http://muug.ca/ _______________________________________________ Roundtable mailing list -- roundtable(a)muug.ca To unsubscribe send an email to roundtable-leave(a)muug.ca

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[Board] Re: [RndTbl] Hardware and Engineering books
by Vijay Sankar 27 Oct '24

27 Oct '24

Caution! This message was sent from outside the University of Manitoba. Hi, I have some 2-port gigabit NICs and USB keyboards (unused). Will those be appropriate as door prizes? All the software engineering and security and telecom books that could have been good door prizes (were signed by the authors etc) were all given away already. Also, someone is planning to come over this weekend to take all the cables and SSDs, switches, old laptops and desktops and such. But I still have a fair amount of engineering books (from the 1930’s onwards). If any of those are appropriate as door prizes, you can have those as well. You’re welcome to come over and take a look. If your schedule permits, please let me know. Thanks, Vijay Sent from my iPhone > On Oct 23, 2024, at 21:44, Bradford Vokey <brad(a)fsi.ca> wrote: > Hello Vijay! > > Do you still have any left over engineering books or equipment to get rid of? > > They might make for some good door prizes for our in-person MUUG meetings. > > Let me know. > > -- > Bradford C. Vokey > > Treasurer > Manitoba UNIX User Group > > On 2024-08-28 11:12 a.m., Vijay Sankar wrote: >> Hi, >> >> I have to get rid of a lot of engineering books (mostly old from 4 generations of engineers), computer tables, desks, couches, about a hundred 500GB, 1TB and 2TB hard drives, about 40 small SSDs, server rack and servers, book shelves, old desktops and laptops, iMacs and cables and so on. Please note that all but one of the systems have OpenBSD on them; not Windows or MacOS. >> >> If anyone is interested to pick any or preferably all of them, please let me know at vsankar(a)foretell.ca so that the list is not polluted. >> >> Thanks very much, >> >> Vijay >> >> Sent from my iPhone >> _______________________________________________ >> Roundtable mailing list >> Roundtable(a)muug.ca >> https://muug.ca/mailman/listinfo/roundtable _______________________________________________ Board mailing list -- board(a)muug.ca To unsubscribe send an email to board-leave(a)muug.ca

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