Java 1.7.x on Debian Squeeze manual install

Recently Oracle made changes in java package license and it will be no longer shipped with Debian. Debian people said that this prevents even updates for old packages to be released. For more information read here: https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=649594

Here is solution how to install newer java packages manually on Debian Squeeze.

Download the package and unpack it in /usr/lib/jvm/

# zcat jdk-7u71-linux-i586.tar.gz|tar xvf -
# mv jdk1.7.0_71 /usr/lib/jvm/java-1.7
# chown -R root:root /usr/lib/jvm/java-1.7/*

Now use update-alternatives script to add it to /etc/alternatives

# update-alternatives --install "/usr/bin/java" "java" "/usr/lib/jvm/java-1.7/bin/java" 1
# update-alternatives --install "/usr/bin/javaws" "javaws" "/usr/lib/jvm/java-1.7/bin/javaws" 1
# update-alternatives --install "/usr/bin/javac" "javac" "/usr/lib/jvm/java-1.7/bin/javac" 1

Now set the new java binaries as default (choose the one with the right path):

# update-alternatives --config java
# update-alternatives --config javac
# update-alternatives --config javaws

Debian Squeeze 6.x on HP DL360gen8 not detecting the raid controller

Debian Squeeze cannot detect RAID controller on HP ProLiant DL360gen8.
In expert mode when installer prompts that it cannot detect hard disk, open a console (Alt+F2, hit Enter) and then type:

# modprobe -r hpsa

# modprobe hpsa hpsa_allow_any=1

First remove the driver if loaded and then load it again with hpsa_allow_any=1 parameter. Here is the result:

[    1.314375] scsi0 : hpsa
[    1.316649] hpsa 0000:02:00.0: RAID              device c0b0t0l0 added.
[    1.316654] hpsa 0000:02:00.0: Direct-Access     device c0b0t0l1 added.
[    1.316827] scsi 0:0:0:0: RAID              HP       P420i            4.66 PQ: 0 ANSI: 5
[    1.316958] scsi 0:0:0:1: Direct-Access     HP       LOGICAL VOLUME   4.66 PQ: 0 ANSI: 5

Now swtich back to installer (Alt+F1) and try again 'detect hard disks'. Now you can partition your raid logical volume.

Installing ezmlm on Debian squeeze with existing qmail and vpopmail system.

This is a quick explanation how to install and configure ezmlm-idx on Debian Squeeze on existing qmail/vpopmail installation.

Since ezmlm-idx is not on an official Debian release we need to build our own deb package. First we need to add experimental sources in /etc/apt/sources.list:

deb-src http://ftp.bg.debian.org/debian/ experimental main contrib non-free

Update and get the source:

# apt-get update
# apt-get source ezmlm-idx

Install additional packages needed by ezmlm-idx (if you are planning to use it with mysql/pgsql):

# apt-get install libmysqlclient-dev libpq-dev

There is a Debian specific bug (probably that is why ezmlm-idx is not in the official release) inside this package and it is path to qmail-queue program. The path to qmail-queue is hardcoded in file conf-qmail: "/var/lib/qmail" and ezmlm-manage tries to launch it from there. Solutions are either to edit conf-qmail file and change path to /usr/sbin or to make a link:

# mkdir /var/lib/qmail
# ln -s /usr/sbin /var/lib/qmail/bin

Now build the package:

# cd ezmlm-idx-7.1.1
# dpkg-buildpackage -uc -rfakeroot

If everything is ok there will be three new deb packages.

# ls -la
total 2232
drwxr-xr-x  3 root root    4096 Apr  8 11:58 .
drwxr-xr-x 10 root root    4096 Apr  8 11:50 ..
drwxr-xr-x  5 root root   24576 Apr  8 11:58 ezmlm-idx-7.1.1
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  104602 Apr  8 11:58 ezmlm-idx-mysql_7.1.1-1~exp0_i386.deb
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  105098 Apr  8 11:58 ezmlm-idx-pgsql_7.1.1-1~exp0_i386.deb
-rw-r--r--  1 root root    5508 Apr  8 11:57 ezmlm-idx_7.1.1-1~exp0.diff.gz
-rw-r--r--  1 root root     837 Apr  8 11:57 ezmlm-idx_7.1.1-1~exp0.dsc
-rw-r--r--  1 root root    2447 Apr  8 11:58 ezmlm-idx_7.1.1-1~exp0_i386.changes
-rw-r--r--  1 root root 1284294 Apr  8 11:58 ezmlm-idx_7.1.1-1~exp0_i386.deb
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  718954 Apr 17  2012 ezmlm-idx_7.1.1.orig.tar.gz

Install it:

# dpkg -i ezmlm-idx_7.1.1-1~exp0_i386.deb
Selecting previously deselected package ezmlm-idx.
(Reading database ... 42574 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking ezmlm-idx (from ezmlm-idx_7.1.1-1~exp0_i386.deb) ...
Setting up ezmlm-idx (7.1.1-1~exp0) ...
Processing triggers for man-db ...
#

Now we can make our mailing list. If vpopmail is installed in /home/vpopmail here is the command to make new mailing list:

# ezmlm-make /home/vpopmail/domains/lists.example.com/testlist /home/vpopmail/domains/lists.example.com/.qmail-testlist testlist lists.example.com

Change ownership of newly created files and directories.

# chown vpopmail:vchkpw  /home/vpopmail/domains/lists.example.com/* -R
# chown vpopmail:vchkpw  /home/vpopmail/domains/lists.example.com/.* -R

This will make mailing list "testlist" on domain lists.example.com. You can subscribe by sending mail at address testlist-subscribe@lists.example.com. For more information you can see man pages of ezmlm and by sending mail to testlist-help@lists.example.com.

How to install djbdns in Debian Squeeze as deb package

Djbdns deb package is missing from latest Debian release (squeeze). There is a discussion regarding rapid dns cache poisoning attack which prevented djbdns package to be included in Debian squeeze release. There are two packages for djbdns in debian - djbdns which is original package of djbdns + 3 minor patches fixing some problems and dbndns which is debian fork of djbdns + ipv6 support patch. If you need ipv6 support in your dns install dbndns, if you don't need it i suggest you to install djbdns package.

Here is how can you install it on Debian squeeze as a deb package.

Add this line to /etc/apt/sources.list

deb-src http://ftp.bg.debian.org/debian/ sid main non-free contrib

You can choose another debian mirror if you like.

# apt-get update
# apt-get source djbdns

This will download source of the package and unpack it in your current directory. We need build-essential meta package installed so we can build some custom packages.

# apt-get install build-essential

Now all we need is to enter the directory of the unpacked djbdns package and run:

# dpkg-buildpackage -uc -rfakeroot

If there is no error the result of the above command will produce djbdns_1.05-8_i386.deb package which contains tinydns, dnscache, axfrdns ... etc. and dnscache-run_1.05-8_all.deb which contains run scripts for daemontools. All you need is to install them as follow:

# dpkg -i djbdns_1.05-8_i386.deb dnscache-run_1.05-8_all.deb 

Just to be sure that nothing goes wrong after upgrade we need to 'hold' these packages

# echo djbdns hold | dpkg --set-selections
# echo dnscache-run hold | dpkg --set-selections

Make sure to check this readme  /usr/share/doc/djbdns/README.Debian

Note: /service directory is moved under /etc/service to match debian configuration standarts.

That is all, now you have working djbdns (or dbndns) as a Debian package in squeeze