Book Recommendation: Running Linux

If you are new to Linux and would like to learn more about it this book is likely to be a good investment. It is one of the classic getting-started with Linux books. The text is well written and easy to follow. Every few years it is updated with current information and a new edition is released. Here are some of the topics covered in this book:

Dovecot passwd-file Based Virtual Users

Dovecot passwd-file Based Virtual Users

To setup Dovecot using passwd-file the following steps should be taken:

  • Use the dovecotpw program to generate passwords for users
  • Create a file to contain users and passwords
  • Configure Dovecot to use the passwd-file to lookup virtual users

What Is Pbuilder And Why You Might Want To Use It

Pbuilder is a automated package building tool for Debian. It can build packages for any of the Debian distributions. It also handles package dependencies needed for the build automatically. It can be a very handy tool. The following is an explanation of why you might want to use pbuilder for building Debian packages.

Building Packages For Stable, Testing, or Unstable

Alpha DS25 Titan Video Kernel Patch Update 1

I tried the cleaned up patch provided by Steve Langasek. I applied the patches to 2.6.18.2 kernel sources. The patches applied without any issues. However the kernel failed to compile with the following errors:

In file included from include/asm/io.h:250,
from include/linux/dmapool.h:14,
from include/linux/pci.h:564,
from arch/alpha/kernel/alpha_ksyms.c:16:
include/asm/core_titan.h: In function 'titan_ioportmap':

Apache Virtual Hosts

Howto Setup Apache Virtual Hosts

This article relates to Apache2 running on Debian GNU/Linux.

Install Apache2

bash ~# apt-get install apache2

Use Default Config for New Virtual Host

Change directories to the site-available directory in the apache configuration
directory.

bash ~# cd /etc/apache2/sites-available/

There is a default site in this directory. To create a new site just cp the
default one to the name of your new site.

bash ~# cp default www.example.com

Alpha DS25 Linux Challenge Part 2

Installing Debian GNU/Linux on the Alpha DS25

Hello everyone. I'm back with my two cents regarding installing Debian GNU/Linux on the Alpha DS25. Let me explain the problem as best I can.

The Problem

On Alpha Titan type systems there is a problem in the linux kernel which causes most distributions to be unbootable. I am only a amatuer coder and I cannot begin to describe the problem and how to fix it. I can only say that I tried to boot Debian, FreeBSD, and OpenBSD which all failed.

Alpha DS25 Linux Challenge

The Challenge

I recently aquired two alpha DS25 servers. So of coures I wanted to run my favorite linux distribution on them which is Debian GNU/Linux. However Debian will not boot on these machines. Sucks don't you think? There are probably some other ways to get Debian installed on these machines. I will attempt them and updated this article based on my experiments. Hopefully others will find the information I provide here in this article valuable if they also have alpha servers and are struggling with the same challenge.

CentOS and Alpha Core 2

ProFTPD Virtual User Setup

Using virtual users/groups for ftp access is better because it allows ftp users/groups that are not actually system users/groups. This means if an ftp user/group is compromised only the ftp user/group login is obtained. There is no compromise of actual system accounts.

Configuration of the proftpd.conf File

Add these lines to /etc/proftpd/proftpd.conf after the
DenyFilter \*.*/' line.

Authentication Files
The settings below tell proftpd what authentication method to use and which files contain user/group information.

File: proftpd.conf

Mini-itx

Mini-itx looks like a cool platform. Small boards that have tons of nice features. These little systems could be used as a 3 or 4 interface linux firewall, pvr/dvr systems or other various media systems, web servers, and the list goes on.

Here are some links related to mini-itx:

www.mini-itx.com
www.via.com.tw
www.epiacenter.com

If you want to know what mini-itx is and a brief history here is the wikipedia link:

Using Git to Manage Source Code

Lately I have been using git for managing source code repositories. Git is a directory content manager. Most people would use git to manage source code repositories. Git is very fast and efficient even when working with large projects.

Cogito is a set of higher level tools that you can use to manage your git repositories. Cogito makes using git more user friendly.

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