Posts by Doctor Syntax

Systemd 255 is here with improved UKI support

Re: If you don't like it..

Don't need to for two reasons. A fork of systemd would still be a forked systemd and it's not needed as SysV init still exists.

Re: They're everywhere...

Once Debian went it was always going to be followed by most of the distros that are based on it (except for a few deliberate standouts such as Devuan). Chief among the distros that follow it directly is Ubuntu and that then dragged in all those that follow Ubuntu such as Mint.

I'm not sure why you would find Devuan more difficult than Debian. IME it Just Works as you'd expect Debian to do (if we draw a veil over linux-image-6.1.014 and Debian 12.3).

Re: I'll stick with a kernel panic message, thank you.

Who's this "they" you keep referring to. There are plenty of us who loath this stuff and make our views very clear. I agree that BSD developers wouldn't touch it, however.

Re: Merging /bin with /usr/bin and /sbin with /usr/sbin

"Part of me wonders if there's a Bloody-Stupid-Johnson type thing going on here, where patrons keep funding Poettering out of morbid fascination as to what he'll screw up next."

Remember who employs him and worry about

Systemd 365: It is a single binary blob. Everything else is eliminated and the entire system is now a thin client to run application in Microsoft's cloud. Google & AWS are complaining to the regulators and working on reverse engineering so they can fork it.

Re: There are places...

A log-file in plain text, Jake? What are you talking about? This is systemd.

Re: Everyone Hates systemd

In the IT world "modern" is a warning. It inevitably means that something that was important was chucked out and replaced with something that adds no value but possibly a vulnerability.

Re: /usr

A separate /var is useful, and I set it up to reformat at install time - I've seen an install messed up because there was prior content there. Of course this is a bit of an issue if the distro puts web server data and/or database data there. They should be in /srv and symlinked back to /var in case the system expects them to be there.

Re: /usr

You forgot the other bright idea: /u2

I'm with Vometia on this. The clean-up should have been to get the stuff that wasn't home directories out of there with maybe a /local for locally provided stuff. Letting /usr/bin gradually take over was just doubling down.

Re: K.I.S.S.

"with System V initscripts I can follow what happens"

You can even run them on the terminal to debug them with single stepping. Or you can insert some logging commands to see what's happening when run for real.

I spent a very long time trying to debug video on a MythTV box running Upstart because I couldn't work out how to monitor what was happening. It turned out that the TV was lying about its video resolution reporting itself as having the screen of a PDA. Then along came systemd like Upstart on steroids.

Re: systemd fixed a lot of issues

A well-written daemon wouldn't need to ban itself from doing what it doesn't need to do. A well-written daemon wouldn't have code to do what it didn't need to do. A well written daemon wouldn't need to ban itself from using code it didn't contain.

Re: GOTO hell systemd

Not actually a direct removal but-

sudo apt install init-system-helpers sysv-rc sysvinit sysvinit-core sysvinit-utils

Oh what a tangled web...

I suppose the BSOD is required to real with the binary logs that require the system to be able to boot to read the logs that tell you why the system hasn't booted.

To be, or not to be, in the office. Has returning to work stalled?

Re: Good points

"The owners of retail buildings on High Streets with upstairs space might want to think about turning some of those to shared space offices or just bare bones offices."

And all those close bank branches. I know of one where that has happened but there must be more.

Re: Some data from <company>

I suppose it gives a new meaning to "company laptop".

The 15-inch MacBook Air just nails it

Re: Cost as reviewed?

"The 14" Macbook Pro ... a higher resolution screen,"

I expect if I were comparing the two I'd take the bigger screen over the smaller pixels. And still complain it's too small. I suppose it depends what you're doing but a lot of my time is spent with two documents open side by side, one being worked on, one reference, and 15" is too small for comfort, however many pixels are squeezed into them.

Musk takes SEC 'Twitter sitter' consent decree appeal to US Supreme Court

Re: Simpler solution

AIUI this is only indirectly about X. It goes back to him making comments that affected Tesla's share price. Twitter then, X now was only the conduit, if it were run into the ground he'd still shoot his mouth off elsewhere if the decree were lifted.

Re: What's the problem?

"Musk broke the rules and agreed to the deal in lieu of a court case – as most companies to to avoid further liability cases."

Which goes back to my original point. Allow him to rescind the agreement if he wants to and let the case go back to the original court. His choice - keep the trap shut or take the consequences of not doing so.

Re: What's the problem?

That's why they fine him. I suppose they could also require him to compensate the other shareholders who lost out. In order to do that he might have to sell some shares. That would drive the price down, so he'd have to dig out more compensations so he'd....

Providing they're sure he'll pay them they'll keep submitting the cases. Why not? Money for old rope - that's the rope he tied himself up with to settle with the SEC in the first place. Perhaps the SEC should offer to set aside the agreement in return for whatever sanctions they'd have handed out instead.

Bank's datacenter died after travelling back in time to 1970

Re: good boss

Knowing that this is part of their job is one of those things that differentiates a manager from a mangler.

Re: Yearly tasks....

Some may be very "dangerous" if forgotten.

Wife's birthdays being the most dangerous.

A good while ago I was on the phone to an insurance sompany and had to give my wife's birthday. The agent told me I had it wrong (they had day and month numbers swapped). I assume he must have been young and unmarried.

Re: Yearly tasks....

The garage then forgets to reset the timer so when you get it back the car's still demanding that you get it serviced.

Re: Yearly tasks....

This is the Netware that shut down completely if what looked like a process (in Unix terms) was killed? Not even metaphorically bullet-proof.

Re: Yearly tasks....

In this case replacing it with something different would be a "Yes, you" situation for whoever unplugged it and the systems went down.

Re: battery powered network time clock?

"Why have a battery powered network time clock when everything that needs that time is dependent on electricity to run?"

People buy what's available for the given budget.

Re: Priorities

"some high-up DEMANDS that I attend a two-hour conference call to discuss why the fault has not been cleared."

The temptation to take it seriously might be irresistible.

Re: Priorities

"Do you know who I am ?"

"No, sorry, can't help you there."

The cleaner will just unplug it from the UPS for their vacuum cleaner.

Re: Priorities

Just don't answer the phone. You can explain this later by saying you were too busy fixing the problem. Once the problem is fixed it's difficult to argue against that. A variation would be that you were too short-handed to spare anyone to answer the phone, something that will need to be addressed in the post-incident review. Alternatively just unplug the phone and explain that the problem had taken the phones out as well.

Re: Priorities

"an estimate to resolution"

The answer to that is the same as that to "What's wrong?": "If I knew that it wouldn't be broken."

Google's Project Ellman: Merging photo and search data to create digital twin chatbot

I suppose as I get older it might be handy to have it remind me of things. Apart from that the main use of search is to find out things I don't yet know so the accumulation I already know or have seen would be of no use whatsoever - as the A/C above says, just like behavioural advertising.

Datacenters feeling the heat to turn hot air into cool solutions

I was reading somewhere of an idea to locate data-centres near wind turbines - in fact, right inside the hollow tower. The rationale was that the grid can't cope with the turbine output at highest wind levels and gets shut down entirely. By consuming some of the power on-site the grid doesn't get overloaded. As turbines are normally well away from possible uses of waste heat it would be a case of either/or.

Messed up metadata could be to blame for Microsoft's Windows printer woes

Re: A cunning plan.

You'd probably find Palantir has a contract for running the court.

Re: Stop collecting

That "If" has to do some heavy lifting.

"We asked Microsoft's Copilot "

At least it didn't send you a poop emoji.

BOFH: Just because we've had record revenues doesn't mean you get a Xmas bonus

Re: In the glorious past

You also need a lot of tomatoes. The upside is that when you do it the savings are baked in.

Re: In the glorious past

Costs could be cut to raise profit levels by canning some of the beancounters.

Re: Wow!

It's OK, I think most commentards got it.

I should also point out that C can stand for Calcium oxide.

Re: Wow!

C-suite? That was the board.

The C-suite will probably be on the carpet.

What's the golden age of online services? Well, now doesn't suck

Re: Not an angry place .

"when Google was new and actually worked"

Even better: when Altavista existed.

HP TV ads claim its printers are 'made to be less hated'

Re: When good companies go bad

"came on its own trolley"

Hopefully one with a better sense of direction than our former PM.

Re: HPLIP Good, Windows App Bad.

well first, it's "my" printer, morons!

This is not HP's view. Next thing, you'll be telling us it's "your" computer and not Microsoft's.

Re: Missed the target

"No printer -- correction, no product -- should require any personal information to work."

In fact, if you're in the EU or, pro tem. the UK, GDPR says so.

Re: I'm going out on a limb

Whether that sounds good or bad depends on when one's expectations of Laserjets were formed. Mine are rather old.

Re: I'm going out on a limb

Old and new HP kit might as well be from different planets.

Time for a Geeko remix: openSUSE is looking for a new logo

A hat coloured Geeko green.

Post-Brexit tariffs on EU-UK electric vehicle imports staved off till 2027

Let me take that like of argument to completion.

And magically prevented any other factors from making any changes whatsoever to anyone's economy. As a consequence any problems found in any economy must be solely and entirely attributed to Covid.

Yup. Completely believable.

Re: So, Brexit means Brexit, except when it doesn't

"someone who can put together a proper, costed, budget to cut tax, cut spending, shrink government and promote growth."

When you're in a hole, stop digging.

Re: Charge

"They are typically bought by more affluent people who want to virtue signal "

Evidence?

Openreach hits halfway mark in quest to hook up 25M premises with fiber broadband

I doubt redundancies will stop with Janssen's departure. It's been SOP at DT for decades. It's a wonder there's anybody left there at all by now.