/dev/chat

Q: Is there any env variable to turn --color (and the like) on for all commands?

5:28 AM

I do use aliases to turn on color for some commands by default. But I'm wondering if there's an easier way at telling my system, color is supported, don't make me use --color for grep, ls, etc.

command-line colors

5:43 AM

Q: Small apt based linux.

I want to setup some VMs running as small a Linux as I can. The criteria: 1) package system based on Apt. 2) Runs some GUI ( can be very small ). 3) Runs in as little ram as possible: in this context 64M is good and 256M is bordering on too much. 4) Install on a hd, not ram resident. 5) As littl...

linux small distro

Mark Underwood

6:03 AM

Hi all. anybody around? first time SE chat user

Q: stop pipe() opening stdin

Hi all, I've currently got code that forks two processes. The first reads a http streaming radio and pushes the data down a pipe (opened with pipe() ) for the second process to read, decode and output to the sound card using OSS. I've been trying to debug the decoding part (seperate issue) and ...

linux process c pipe

2 hours later…

Michael Mrozek

8:32 AM

@MarkUnderwood Hey :)

Mark Underwood

8:57 AM

just thought i'd have a poke around and see how this chat thing works:)

2 hours later…

11:06 AM

@MichaelMrozek can I change the owner of comments? e.g. if I delete an answer because it should have been a comment, can I post the comment and then change the owner? or something like that?

@xenoterracide I thought you'd have an ad-hoc action for that instead.

@badp idk, I fail at knowing what we can do

A: Convert to comment

This is now implemented, moderators can convert posts to comments. If you think something should be a comment please flag it.

hrm

well I can't get it to work

it keeps failing for me

there's a mods only room btw, "Teacher's Lounge" or whatever

they'll be more use to you :)

it must be chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/4 or chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/5

11:14 AM

yeah I know about that, though I never hang out there

or really on any of the chats

I guess, still you can ask there for help and/or report problems.

right

Talking of mod-only problems with non-mods is interesting for us non-mods, but not useful to you

alternatively report a bug upstream on MSO

right

Q: Internet(ADSL) connection doesn't seem to be working on Arch

I've already set up ADSL and used it already for a system update, so I'm sure the set up is ok but pacman suddenly stopped working and when I checked ping wasn't working too. How can I find out what went wrong and how can I fix it?

arch-linux pacman internet

1 hour later…

12:43 PM

@xenoterracide and @Gilles u guys r disagreeing here

Q: /etc/rc.d vs /etc/init.d

Is ubuntu's /etc/init.d directory exactly equivalent (functionally) to what I presume to be the more standard /etc/rc.d/ (at least on arch)? Is there any particular reason canonical used init.d instead of rc.d for startup scripts?

ubuntu init-script

@Tshepang Uh? I don't see where anyone is disagreeing on that thread (except maybe Rich and I on the relevance of SVR4 as a standard today)

@Gilles sorry, I think @xenoterracide must delete the comment on the question

@Gilles maybe reply to Rich's comment?

@Tshepang Why?

he kinda disagrees

'the standard'

1:03 PM

@Tshepang "must"?

@badp doesn't add any value on that thread

@Tshepang It looks relevant to me

Feel free to vote with your flags

@badp it was relevant until other people mentioned they've seen the init thing elsewhere

The asker seems to snob Ubuntu assuming that if Arch and Ubuntu aren't doing the same thing, Arch must be using the standard; xenoterracide said it wasn't that way

@Tshepang So? "the only distro that uses /etc/rc.d that I've seen... "

If he had enough info to answer, he'd have answered

oh, I get it

thanks

Q: How can I pause/resume rsync

1:10 PM

How can I pause an rsync that's running? First time I did Ctrl+C to kill it and used -P flag to run again. Is this prone to corrupt the current file transfer? Second time I simply put MacOS to sleep (by closing the lid). Looking at the running process I can see 2 (not sure why) with a status o...

debian process rsync

I better be more awake next time

@badp “Upstart's website claims Ubuntu has been using it since version 6.10”

where? because actually it's since 9.10 IIRC, certainly after 8.04

@Gilles upstart.ubuntu.com (the page you linked)

> Known Users: Ubuntu 6.10 and later

It may well be wrong, but that's what it says

Oh, actually no, 8.04 does have upstart, but it still has SysV-style scripts in /etc/init.d

don't they mean "by default"?

1:16 PM

My “since 9.10 IIRC” was about the upstart /etc/init/*.conf

I'm just checking on a hardy install, it does have upstart (Priority: required), but no /etc/init

actually I am SSHed in a copy of Ubuntu here, installed as Hardy and upgraded to Natty

badp@echo:~$ ls /etc/init.d/
acpid            fancontrol                  pcmciautils      skeleton
acpi-support     gdm                         plymouth         slashem-common
alsa-mixer-save  grub-common                 plymouth-log     speech-dispatcher
(snip)

although...

badp@echo:~$ head /etc/init.d/acpid
#!/bin/sh -e
# upstart-job
#
# Symlink target for initscripts that have been converted to Upstart.
(snip)

so I guess the SysVinit stuff is still there today.

3 hours later…

Q: Why is there a 4-layouts limit for keyboards?

4:44 PM

I just discovered that I couldn't add more than 4 layouts for my keyboard. Googling revealed that it was a universal limit (at least for GNU/Linux) and the only way(s) to get around it was to use some hackish way with scripts. Is there really a technical reason behind this? If yes, what is it?

keyboard limit

2 hours later…