Migrating a Debian installation between architectures has always been difficult. The recommended way to
crossgrade an i386 Debian to amd64 Debian was to reinstall the system, move over data and configuration.
For the more brave, in-place crossgrades usually involved chroots, rescue CDs, a lot of ar p tar xf - data.tar.gz and
luck.
I have never been brave when it comes to system administration, have done a lot of architecture migrations with
reinstallation, and have always taken the opportunity to clear out the contamination that accumulates itself when a
system is running for a long time. I would even recommend doing this to most people even now. However, I have a few very
ugly systems in place that are still on i386 because I didn t dare going the reinstallation path.
Doing in-place crossgrades has become a lot easier since wheezy s release, since once now can have both i386 and
amd64 libraries installed in parallel, which allows to replace foo:i386 with foo:amd64 without influencing the other
parts of the system. The process is still full of pitfalls:
- apt removes a package before it reinstalls its new counterpart. This results in apt calling dpkg to remove dpkg, and
then calling dpkg again to install dpkg. Guess which operation fails and the state of the system after this failure.
Same applies to coreutils, which leaves the system without rm, which in turn dpkg of either architecture doesn t
like. Using apt-get --download-only install to resolve dependencies and downloading the debs, followed by a traditional
dpkg --install solves this issue since multiarch dpkg will replace a package with another one without deinstalling the
first one first.
- At least for the process, you need a kernel that can run both 32bit and 64bit binaries for the i386 architecture.
AFAIR, setting CONFIG_64BIT, CONFIG_X86_64 and CONFIG_IA32_EMULATION in the kernel configuration takes care of
this.
- During the process, apt wants to remove the better part of your system. It is important to not let it do this, as it
wants to deinstall essential packages as well.
- It looks like the process is not always exactly reproducible. During the first tries, I found myself without an
initrd at all, with an initrd that lacked the ext[234].ko kernel modules, without working e2fstools and in a number of
other undesireable states of the system.
I have only tried this yet with a freshly installed minimal wheezy server system. I do not, however, expect surprises
when it comes to using this process with real life systems. I will document other pitfalls I have fallen
into here at a later time. My minimal wheezy system was running in a KVM VM with its virtual disk as a LVM LV in the
host system. I took a snapshot before beginning and used lvconvert --merge numerous time to return my LV to the original
state. Be aware that lvconvert --merge removes the snapshot after merging it, so you ll need to re-create the
snapshot before trying again.
During the process, I discussed things with Paul Tagliamonte, who has done this before, but on a live system and with a
slightly more invasive approach. He has blogged about
this. Thank
you very much, your hints were very helpful.
Here is a commented typescript of what I have done. Be warned: This was a lab setting with a rather minimal system. If
you re going to try this with a production system, have a backup, or, if you re on snapshottable
infrastructure, take snapshots and be prepared to roll back if anything goes wrong.
First let s see what we have and save a list of installed packages.
mh@swivel:~$ ssh wheezyarch.zugschlus.de
$ uname -a
Linux wheezyarch 3.9.4-zgsrv2008064 #2 SMP PREEMPT Wed Jun 5 12:57:51 UTC 2013 x86_64 GNU/Linux
$ dpkg --print-architecture
i386
$ dpkg --print-foreign-architectures
$ dpkg --list grep i386 wc -l
175
$ dpkg --list grep amd64 wc -l
0
$ sudo dpkg --get-selections grep install awk print $1 sed s/:.*//;s/$/:amd64
install/; > get-selections.pre
So we have an i386 system running an x86_64 kernel.
Next, we add amd64 as an additional architecture which allows us to install amd64 packages. We download the amd64
packages files. Note that dpkg still considers this an i386 system with amd64 as a foreign arch.
$ sudo dpkg --add-architecture amd64
$ sudo apt-get update
Get:1 http://security.debian.org wheezy/updates Release.gpg [836 B]
( )
Fetched 6.155 kB in 4s (1.400 kB/s)
Reading package lists... Done
$ dpkg --print-architecture
i386
$ dpkg --print-foreign-architectures
amd64
$ dpkg --list grep i386 wc -l
175
$ dpkg --list grep amd64 wc -l
0
Next, download everything that is necessary to migrate dpkg and apt from i386 and amd64. We cannot directly apt things
as the remove-install cycle used by apt will leave us without working dpkg. One could work around this by un-aring the
dpkg.deb and directly forcing the amd64 files upon the system, but I think this approach is much cleaner. apt-get
download will not resolve dependices while apt-get --download install does. After the download, dpkg --install the
packages. dpkg is not particularly smart about installation order, so Pre-Depends may fail or not. If they fail, dpkg
will give a list of deb files that were affected, which is an easy help to finish their installation. One could also
choose the easy way (which I did here) and repeat the dpkg --install *.deb command. Since the Pre-Depends will already
be installed, the second install run will succeed.
$ sudo apt-get --download-only install dpkg:amd64 apt:amd64
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following extra packages will be installed:
gcc-4.7-base:amd64 libapt-pkg4.12:amd64 libbz2-1.0:amd64 libc6:amd64
libgcc1:amd64 liblzma5:amd64 libselinux1:amd64 libstdc++6:amd64
zlib1g:amd64
Suggested packages:
aptitude:amd64 synaptic:amd64 wajig:amd64 dpkg-dev:amd64 apt-doc:amd64
python-apt:amd64 glibc-doc:amd64 locales:amd64
The following packages will be REMOVED:
apt cron-apt dpkg
The following NEW packages will be installed:
apt:amd64 dpkg:amd64 gcc-4.7-base:amd64 libapt-pkg4.12:amd64
libbz2-1.0:amd64 libc6:amd64 libgcc1:amd64 liblzma5:amd64 libselinux1:amd64
libstdc++6:amd64 zlib1g:amd64
0 upgraded, 11 newly installed, 3 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 10,0 MB of archives.
After this operation, 14,9 MB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]?
Get:1 http://debian.debian.zugschlus.de/debian/ wheezy/main gcc-4.7-base amd64 4.7.2-5 [144 kB]
( )
Fetched 10,0 MB in 2s (3.535 kB/s)
Download complete and in download only mode
$ sudo dpkg --install /var/cache/apt/archives/*.deb
(Reading database ... 16586 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to replace apt 0.9.7.8 (using .../archives/apt_0.9.7.8_amd64.deb) ...
Unpacking replacement apt ...
dpkg: regarding .../dpkg_1.16.10_amd64.deb containing dpkg, pre-dependency problem:
dpkg pre-depends on libbz2-1.0
dpkg: error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/dpkg_1.16.10_amd64.deb (--install):
pre-dependency problem - not installing dpkg
Selecting previously unselected package gcc-4.7-base:amd64.
( )
Errors were encountered while processing:
/var/cache/apt/archives/dpkg_1.16.10_amd64.deb
$ sudo dpkg --install /var/cache/apt/archives/*.deb
(Reading database ... 16905 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to replace apt 0.9.7.8 (using .../archives/apt_0.9.7.8_amd64.deb) ...
Unpacking replacement apt ...
( )
$
From dpkg s point of view, the system is now already amd64, with i386 being a foreign arch. However, the majory of
packages is still i386.
$ dpkg --print-architecture
amd64
$ dpkg --print-foreign-architectures
i386
$ dpkg --list grep i386 wc -l
173
$ dpkg --list grep amd64 wc -l
11
$
The apt resolver is currently in a very bad broken state since the system is missing most essential packages in its
native architecture. This is not easily solved by apt-get -f install, as this would zap most of the existing system . We
let apt-get --download-only -f install download the packages that it wants to replace with its amd64 counterparts and
their dependencies, and, again, use dpkg --install *.deb to install them.
$ sudo apt-get --download-only -f install
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Correcting dependencies... Done
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
cpio gettext-base:i386 klibc-utils libapt-inst1.5 libasprintf0c2:i386
libcurl3-gnutls:i386 libfreetype6:i386 libfuse2:i386 libklibc
libreadline5:i386
Use apt-get autoremove to remove them.
The following extra packages will be installed:
acpid aide bsd-mailx cpio cron curl daemon dctrl-tools exim4-base
exim4-daemon-light initscripts insserv kbd klibc-utils less libbsd0
libcomerr2 libcurl3 libdb5.1 libexpat1 libgcrypt11 libgdbm3 libgnutls26
libgpg-error0 libgssapi-krb5-2 libidn11 libk5crypto3 libkeyutils1 libklibc
libkmod2 libkrb5-3 libkrb5support0 libldap-2.4-2 liblockfile1 libncursesw5
libnewt0.52 libp11-kit0 libpam-modules libpam0g libpcre3 libpopt0
libreadline6 librtmp0 libsasl2-2 libslang2 libsqlite3-0 libssh2-1
libssl1.0.0 libtasn1-3 libterm-readkey-perl libtinfo5 openssl perl
perl-base python2.7 python2.7-minimal sysvinit-utils whiptail
Suggested packages:
libarchive1 anacron logrotate checksecurity debtags mail-reader eximon4
exim4-doc-html exim4-doc-info spf-tools-perl swaks bootchart2 rng-tools
krb5-doc krb5-user libpam-doc perl-doc make python2.7-doc binutils
binfmt-support bootlogd sash
Recommended packages:
exim4 postfix mail-transport-agent psmisc mailx ca-certificates
krb5-locales libgpm2 libfribidi0 libsasl2-modules libpng12-0
The following packages will be REMOVED:
acpid:i386 aide:i386 aptitude:i386 bsd-mailx:i386 cpio:i386 cron:i386
curl:i386 daemon:i386 dctrl-tools:i386 debsecan dmsetup:i386 e2fsprogs:i386
exim4-base:i386 exim4-daemon-light:i386 git:i386 grub-common:i386
grub-pc:i386 grub-pc-bin:i386 grub2-common:i386 ifupdown:i386
initramfs-tools initscripts:i386 insserv:i386 ippl:i386 jed:i386 kbd:i386
klibc-utils:i386 less:i386 libdevmapper-event1.02.1:i386
libdevmapper1.02.1:i386 libklibc:i386 libnewt0.52:i386
libparted0debian1:i386 libterm-readkey-perl:i386 lsof:i386 lvm2:i386
molly-guard ntp:i386 openssh-server:i386 openssl:i386 parted:i386 perl:i386
perl-base:i386 procps:i386 python-apt:i386 python2.7:i386
python2.7-minimal:i386 rsyslog:i386 sysvinit:i386 sysvinit-utils:i386
udev:i386 util-linux:i386 whiptail:i386
The following NEW packages will be installed:
acpid aide bsd-mailx cpio cron curl daemon dctrl-tools exim4-base
exim4-daemon-light initscripts insserv kbd klibc-utils less libbsd0
libcomerr2 libcurl3 libdb5.1 libexpat1 libgcrypt11 libgdbm3 libgnutls26
libgpg-error0 libgssapi-krb5-2 libidn11 libk5crypto3 libkeyutils1 libklibc
libkmod2 libkrb5-3 libkrb5support0 libldap-2.4-2 liblockfile1 libncursesw5
libnewt0.52 libp11-kit0 libpam-modules libpam0g libpcre3 libpopt0
libreadline6 librtmp0 libsasl2-2 libslang2 libsqlite3-0 libssh2-1
libssl1.0.0 libtasn1-3 libterm-readkey-perl libtinfo5 openssl perl
perl-base python2.7 python2.7-minimal sysvinit-utils whiptail
0 upgraded, 58 newly installed, 53 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 23,4 MB of archives.
After this operation, 17,5 MB disk space will be freed.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]? Y
Get:1 http://security.debian.org/debian-security/ wheezy/updates/main libgnutls26 amd64 2.12.20-7 [619 kB]
( )
Fetched 23,4 MB in 11s (2.038 kB/s)
Download complete and in download only mode
$ sudo dpkg --install /var/cache/apt/archives/*.deb
(Reading database ... 16905 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to replace acpid 1:2.0.16-1+deb7u1 (using .../acpid_1%3a2.0.16-1+deb7u1_amd64.deb) ...
( )
Selecting previously unselected package libpam-modules:amd64.
dpkg: regarding .../libpam-modules_1.1.3-7.1_amd64.deb containing libpam-modules:amd64, pre-dependency problem:
libpam-modules pre-depends on libdb5.1
libdb5.1:amd64 is unpacked, but has never been configured.
dpkg: error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/libpam-modules_1.1.3-7.1_amd64.deb (--install):
pre-dependency problem - not installing libpam-modules:amd64
Selecting previously unselected package libpcre3:amd64.
Unpacking libpcre3:amd64 (from .../libpcre3_1%3a8.30-5_amd64.deb) ...
( )
Errors were encountered while processing:
/var/cache/apt/archives/libpam-modules_1.1.3-7.1_amd64.deb
$ sudo dpkg --install /var/cache/apt/archives/libpam-modules_1.1.3-7.1_amd64.deb
(Reading database ... 17007 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking libpam-modules:amd64 (from .../libpam-modules_1.1.3-7.1_amd64.deb) ...
Setting up libpam-modules:amd64 (1.1.3-7.1) ...
$ sudo apt-get clean
$ dpkg --print-architecture
amd64
$ dpkg --print-foreign-architectures
i386
$ dpkg --list grep i386 wc -l
151
$ dpkg --list grep amd64 wc -l
66
$
The concluding apt-get clean prevents packages from being reinstalled again in the next dpkg --install *.deb run.
Now, the apt resolver is kind of fixed, but apt will still want to remove most of the system. I haven t found a
way to get out of this mess short of allowing apt to de-install those packages and to manually install their amd64
counterparts later. First, we see what apt wants to do, and paste the The following packages will be
removed part of apt-get s output into a sed expression which fixes the architecture strings for us so that
we can use the resulting file as input for the following installation procedure. After that, we let apt-get do what
itself considers a bad thing and requires us to type a consent sentence. The key is that this deinstallation of
essential packages breaks the system, but not apt and dpkg, which allows us to un-break the system afterwards.
$ sudo apt-get -f install
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Correcting dependencies... Done
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
gettext-base:i386 libapt-inst1.5 libasprintf0c2:i386 libcurl3-gnutls:i386
libfreetype6:i386 libfuse2:i386 libreadline5:i386
Use apt-get autoremove to remove them.
The following extra packages will be installed:
sysvinit-utils:i386
Suggested packages:
bootlogd:i386 sash:i386
The following packages will be REMOVED:
adduser aide-common aptitude:i386 bsd-mailx console-common console-data
console-log cron curl debian-goodies debsecan dmsetup:i386 e2fsprogs:i386
exim4-base exim4-config exim4-daemon-light git:i386 grub-common:i386
grub-pc:i386 grub-pc-bin:i386 grub2-common:i386 ifupdown:i386
initramfs-tools initscripts ippl:i386 jed:i386 libcurl3
libdevmapper-event1.02.1:i386 libdevmapper1.02.1:i386 liberror-perl
libfile-find-rule-perl libnumber-compare-perl libparted0debian1:i386
libswitch-perl libterm-readkey-perl libterm-readline-perl-perl
libtext-glob-perl libtimedate-perl locales lsof:i386 lvm2:i386 molly-guard
ntp:i386 openssh-client:i386 openssh-server:i386 openssl openssl-blacklist
openssl-blacklist-extra parted:i386 perl perl-modules procps:i386
python-apt:i386 rsyslog:i386 stow sysv-rc sysvinit:i386 sysvinit-utils
tzdata ucf udev:i386 util-linux:i386
The following NEW packages will be installed:
sysvinit-utils:i386
WARNING: The following essential packages will be removed.
This should NOT be done unless you know exactly what you are doing!
e2fsprogs:i386 util-linux:i386 (due to e2fsprogs:i386) sysvinit:i386
sysvinit-utils tzdata (due to util-linux:i386)
0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 62 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 97,1 kB of archives.
After this operation, 131 MB disk space will be freed.
You are about to do something potentially harmful.
To continue type in the phrase Yes, do as I say! ? (abort with Ctrl-C)
$ sed s/:i386//g > removedpkg (paste The following packages will be REMOVED: stanza here and
type Ctrl-D afterwards)
adduser aide-common aptitude:i386 bsd-mailx console-common console-data
console-log cron curl debian-goodies debsecan dmsetup:i386 e2fsprogs:i386
exim4-base exim4-config exim4-daemon-light git:i386 grub-common:i386
grub-pc:i386 grub-pc-bin:i386 grub2-common:i386 ifupdown:i386
initramfs-tools initscripts ippl:i386 jed:i386 libcurl3
libdevmapper-event1.02.1:i386 libdevmapper1.02.1:i386 liberror-perl
libfile-find-rule-perl libnumber-compare-perl libparted0debian1:i386
libswitch-perl libterm-readkey-perl libterm-readline-perl-perl
libtext-glob-perl libtimedate-perl locales lsof:i386 lvm2:i386 molly-guard
ntp:i386 openssh-client:i386 openssh-server:i386 openssl openssl-blacklist
openssl-blacklist-extra parted:i386 perl perl-modules procps:i386
python-apt:i386 rsyslog:i386 stow sysv-rc sysvinit:i386 sysvinit-utils
tzdata ucf udev:i386 util-linux:i386
$ cat removedpkg
adduser aide-common aptitude bsd-mailx console-common console-data
console-log cron curl debian-goodies debsecan dmsetup e2fsprogs
exim4-base exim4-config exim4-daemon-light git grub-common
grub-pc grub-pc-bin grub2-common ifupdown
initramfs-tools initscripts ippl jed libcurl3
libdevmapper-event1.02.1 libdevmapper1.02.1 liberror-perl
libfile-find-rule-perl libnumber-compare-perl libparted0debian1
libswitch-perl libterm-readkey-perl libterm-readline-perl-perl
libtext-glob-perl libtimedate-perl locales lsof lvm2 molly-guard
ntp openssh-client openssh-server openssl openssl-blacklist
openssl-blacklist-extra parted perl perl-modules procps
python-apt rsyslog stow sysv-rc sysvinit sysvinit-utils
tzdata ucf udev util-linux
$ sudo apt-get -f install
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Correcting dependencies... Done
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
gettext-base:i386 libapt-inst1.5 libasprintf0c2:i386 libcurl3-gnutls:i386
libfreetype6:i386 libfuse2:i386 libreadline5:i386
Use apt-get autoremove to remove them.
The following extra packages will be installed:
sysvinit-utils:i386
Suggested packages:
bootlogd:i386 sash:i386
The following packages will be REMOVED:
adduser aide-common aptitude:i386 bsd-mailx console-common console-data
console-log cron curl debian-goodies debsecan dmsetup:i386 e2fsprogs:i386
exim4-base exim4-config exim4-daemon-light git:i386 grub-common:i386
grub-pc:i386 grub-pc-bin:i386 grub2-common:i386 ifupdown:i386
initramfs-tools initscripts ippl:i386 jed:i386 libcurl3
libdevmapper-event1.02.1:i386 libdevmapper1.02.1:i386 liberror-perl
libfile-find-rule-perl libnumber-compare-perl libparted0debian1:i386
libswitch-perl libterm-readkey-perl libterm-readline-perl-perl
libtext-glob-perl libtimedate-perl locales lsof:i386 lvm2:i386 molly-guard
ntp:i386 openssh-client:i386 openssh-server:i386 openssl openssl-blacklist
openssl-blacklist-extra parted:i386 perl perl-modules procps:i386
python-apt:i386 rsyslog:i386 stow sysv-rc sysvinit:i386 sysvinit-utils
tzdata ucf udev:i386 util-linux:i386
The following NEW packages will be installed:
sysvinit-utils:i386
WARNING: The following essential packages will be removed.
This should NOT be done unless you know exactly what you are doing!
e2fsprogs:i386 util-linux:i386 (due to e2fsprogs:i386) sysvinit:i386
sysvinit-utils tzdata (due to util-linux:i386)
0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 62 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 97,1 kB of archives.
After this operation, 131 MB disk space will be freed.
You are about to do something potentially harmful.
To continue type in the phrase Yes, do as I say!
?] Yes, do as I say! (actually type this!)
Get:1 http://debian.debian.zugschlus.de/debian/ wheezy/main sysvinit-utils i386 2.88dsf-41 [97,1 kB]
Fetched 97,1 kB in 0s (687 kB/s)
(Reading database ... 17050 files and directories currently installed.)
Removing aide-common ...
( )
dpkg: warning: overriding problem because --force enabled:
This is an essential package - it should not be removed.
Removing e2fsprogs ...
Removing sysv-rc ...
dpkg: warning: overriding problem because --force enabled:
This is an essential package - it should not be removed.
Removing sysvinit ...
dpkg: warning: overriding problem because --force enabled:
This is an essential package - it should not be removed.
Removing sysvinit-utils ...
dpkg: warning: overriding problem because --force enabled:
This is an essential package - it should not be removed.
Removing ucf ...
dpkg: warning: overriding problem because --force enabled:
This is an essential package - it should not be removed.
dpkg: warning: overriding problem because --force enabled:
This is an essential package - it should not be removed.
dpkg: warning: overriding problem because --force enabled:
This is an essential package - it should not be removed.
dpkg: warning: overriding problem because --force enabled:
This is an essential package - it should not be removed.
dpkg: warning: overriding problem because --force enabled:
This is an essential package - it should not be removed.
Removing libdevmapper1.02.1:i386 ...
Removing libswitch-perl ...
Removing perl ...
dpkg: warning: overriding problem because --force enabled:
This is an essential package - it should not be removed.
Removing dmsetup ...
Removing perl-modules ...
dpkg: warning: overriding problem because --force enabled:
This is an essential package - it should not be removed.
Removing util-linux ...
Removing tzdata ...
Processing triggers for mime-support ...
Selecting previously unselected package sysvinit-utils.
(Reading database ... 9802 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking sysvinit-utils (from .../sysvinit-utils_2.88dsf-41_i386.deb) ...
Setting up sysvinit-utils (2.88dsf-41) ...
$ sudo apt-get install $(cat removedpkg)
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
libasprintf0c2:i386 libcurl3-gnutls:i386 libfreetype6:i386 libfuse2:i386
libreadline5:i386
Use apt-get autoremove to remove them.
The following extra packages will be installed:
e2fslibs gettext-base libapt-inst1.5 libasprintf0c2 libattr1 libblkid1
libboost-iostreams1.49.0 libcap2 libcurl3-gnutls libcwidget3 libedit2
libept1.4.12 libfreetype6 libfuse2 libgpm2 libncurses5 libopts25 libprocps0
libreadline5 libsepol1 libsigc++-2.0-0c2a libss2 libudev0 libuuid1 libwrap0
libxapian22 logrotate
Suggested packages:
liblocale-gettext-perl tasksel debtags unicode-data anacron checksecurity
popularity-contest xdg-utils zenity gpart e2fsck-static mail-reader eximon4
exim4-doc-html exim4-doc-info spf-tools-perl swaks git-daemon-run
git-daemon-sysvinit git-doc git-el git-arch git-cvs git-svn git-email
git-gui gitk gitweb multiboot-doc grub-emu xorriso desktop-base
isc-dhcp-client dhcp-client ppp rdnssd net-tools gpm libcwidget-dev fuse
libparted0-dev libparted0-i18n xapian-tools ntp-doc ssh-askpass libpam-ssh
keychain monkeysphere rssh ufw parted-doc perl-doc make libpod-plainer-perl
python-apt-dbg python-gtk2 python-vte python-apt-doc rsyslog-mysql
rsyslog-pgsql rsyslog-doc rsyslog-gnutls rsyslog-gssapi rsyslog-relp
doc-base sysv-rc-conf bum bootlogd sash util-linux-locales dosfstools
Recommended packages:
aptitude-doc-en aptitude-doc apt-xapian-index libparse-debianchangelog-perl
exim4 postfix mail-transport-agent psmisc mailx patch rsync ssh-client
os-prober busybox busybox-initramfs busybox-static ca-certificates
uuid-runtime xauth ncurses-term iso-codes usbutils
The following packages will be REMOVED:
gettext-base:i386 libboost-iostreams1.49.0:i386 libcwidget3:i386
libept1.4.12:i386 libopts25:i386 libxapian22:i386 logrotate:i386
sysvinit-utils:i386
The following NEW packages will be installed:
adduser aide-common aptitude bsd-mailx console-common console-data
console-log cron curl debian-goodies debsecan dmsetup e2fslibs e2fsprogs
exim4-base exim4-config exim4-daemon-light gettext-base git grub-common
grub-pc grub-pc-bin grub2-common ifupdown initramfs-tools initscripts ippl
jed libapt-inst1.5 libasprintf0c2 libattr1 libblkid1
libboost-iostreams1.49.0 libcap2 libcurl3 libcurl3-gnutls libcwidget3
libdevmapper-event1.02.1 libdevmapper1.02.1 libedit2 libept1.4.12
liberror-perl libfile-find-rule-perl libfreetype6 libfuse2 libgpm2
libncurses5 libnumber-compare-perl libopts25 libparted0debian1 libprocps0
libreadline5 libsepol1 libsigc++-2.0-0c2a libss2 libswitch-perl
libterm-readkey-perl libterm-readline-perl-perl libtext-glob-perl
libtimedate-perl libudev0 libuuid1 libwrap0 libxapian22 locales logrotate
lsof lvm2 molly-guard ntp openssh-client openssh-server openssl
openssl-blacklist openssl-blacklist-extra parted perl perl-modules procps
python-apt rsyslog stow sysv-rc sysvinit sysvinit-utils tzdata ucf udev
util-linux
WARNING: The following essential packages will be removed.
This should NOT be done unless you know exactly what you are doing!
sysvinit-utils:i386
0 upgraded, 89 newly installed, 8 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 55.3 MB of archives.
After this operation, 134 MB of additional disk space will be used.
You are about to do something potentially harmful.
To continue type in the phrase Yes, do as I say!
?] Yes, do as I say! (actually type this!)
Get:1 http://debian.debian.zugschlus.de/debian/ wheezy/main e2fslibs amd64 1.42.5-1.1 [197 kB]
( )
Fetched 55.3 MB in 20s (2648 kB/s)
perl: warning: Setting locale failed.
( )
This process may re-ask some debconf questions that you have already answered during initial system setup. I find it
comforting to actually see that my answers were preserved, but you can always export DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive if
you want installation to be silent. If you know how this step can be done more elegantly, please comment.
We now, finally, have the resolver in a consistent state.
$ sudo apt-get -f install
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
libasprintf0c2:i386 libcurl3-gnutls:i386 libfreetype6:i386 libfuse2:i386
libreadline5:i386
Use apt-get autoremove to remove them.
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
$ dpkg --print-architecture
amd64
$ dpkg --print-foreign-architectures
i386
$ dpkg --list grep i386 wc -l
121
$ dpkg --list grep amd64 wc -l
119
$
Now we can force-crossgrade all i386 packages that are still left on the system. Again, we use the apt-get --download
install, dpkg --install stunt as coreutils gets crossgraded at this step and dpkg is less than happy if it finds itself
without /bin/rm. Remember, with --download, nothing is actually removed during this step even if apt-get claims to
remove things. Apt will also complain that many of these packages are already installed. Those are libs that were pulled
in previously. The first dpkg --install run in this step will complain about gazillions of dependency problems, which
will all be resolved in concluding apt-get -f install after the second dpkg --install run, this time a
manual one.
$ sudo apt-get --download-only install $(dpkg --list awk if( $1 == ii && $4 ==
i386 ) print $2 sed s/:i386// )
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
( )
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
libasprintf0c2:i386 libcurl3-gnutls:i386 libfreetype6:i386 libfuse2:i386
libreadline5:i386
Use apt-get autoremove to remove them.
Suggested packages:
powermgmt-base bash-doc bzip2-doc diffutils-doc wdiff mlocate locate
gnupg-doc xloadimage imagemagick eog libpcsclite1 iproute-doc resolvconf
avahi-autoipd nfs-common ncompress indent
Recommended packages:
bsdmainutils gnupg-curl libatm1
The following packages will be REMOVED:
anacron:i386 apt-utils:i386 base-files:i386 base-passwd:i386 bash:i386
( )
The following NEW packages will be installed:
anacron apt-utils base-files base-passwd bash bsdutils busybox bzip2
( )
0 upgraded, 56 newly installed, 49 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 24,1 MB of archives.
After this operation, 2.030 kB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]? y
Get:1 http://debian.debian.zugschlus.de/debian/ wheezy/main kmod amd64 9-3 [60,5 kB]
( )
Fetched 24,1 MB in 11s (2.120 kB/s)
Download complete and in download only mode
$ sudo dpkg --install /var/cache/apt/archives/*.deb
(Reading database ... 17098 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to replace adduser 3.113+nmu3 (using .../adduser_3.113+nmu3_all.deb) ...
Unpacking replacement adduser ...
( )
Errors were encountered while processing:
/var/cache/apt/archives/bash_4.2+dfsg-0.1_amd64.deb
/var/cache/apt/archives/coreutils_8.13-3.5_amd64.deb
initscripts
lvm2
procps
rsyslog
sysvinit
sysv-rc
udev
util-linux
aide-common
dmsetup
e2fsprogs
ifupdown
initramfs-tools
libdevmapper1.02.1:amd64
libdevmapper-event1.02.1:amd64
libparted0debian1:amd64
molly-guard
openssh-server
parted
grub-common
grub-pc
grub-pc-bin
grub2-common
$ sudo dpkg --install /var/cache/apt/archives/bash_4.2+dfsg-0.1_amd64.deb
/var/cache/apt/archives/coreutils_8.13-3.5_amd64.deb
(Reading database ... 17129 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to replace bash 4.2+dfsg-0.1 (using .../bash_4.2+dfsg-0.1_amd64.deb) ...
Unpacking replacement bash ...
Preparing to replace coreutils 8.13-3.5 (using .../coreutils_8.13-3.5_amd64.deb) ...
Unpacking replacement coreutils ...
Setting up bash (4.2+dfsg-0.1) ...
update-alternatives: using /usr/share/man/man7/bash-builtins.7.gz to provide /usr/share/man/man7/builtins.7.gz
(builtins.7.gz) in auto mode
Setting up coreutils (8.13-3.5) ...
$ sudo apt-get -f install
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Correcting dependencies... Done
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
libasprintf0c2:i386 libcurl3-gnutls:i386 libfreetype6:i386 libfuse2:i386
libreadline5:i386
Use apt-get autoremove to remove them.
The following extra packages will be installed:
sysvinit-utils
Suggested packages:
bootlogd sash
The following packages will be REMOVED:
libslang2-modules:i386 sysvinit-utils:i386
The following NEW packages will be installed:
sysvinit-utils
WARNING: The following essential packages will be removed.
This should NOT be done unless you know exactly what you are doing!
sysvinit-utils:i386
0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 2 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
23 not fully installed or removed.
Need to get 0 B/99,5 kB of archives.
After this operation, 328 kB disk space will be freed.
You are about to do something potentially harmful.
To continue type in the phrase Yes, do as I say!
?] Yes, do as I say! (actually type this!)
dpkg: warning: overriding problem because --force enabled:
This is an essential package - it should not be removed.
(Reading database ... 17129 files and directories currently installed.)
Removing sysvinit-utils ...
Selecting previously unselected package sysvinit-utils.
(Reading database ... 17105 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking sysvinit-utils (from .../sysvinit-utils_2.88dsf-41_amd64.deb) ...
Setting up sysvinit-utils (2.88dsf-41) ...
Setting up sysv-rc (2.88dsf-41) ...
Setting up initscripts (2.88dsf-41) ...
Setting up util-linux (2.20.1-5.3) ...
Setting up e2fsprogs (1.42.5-1.1) ...
Setting up sysvinit (2.88dsf-41) ...
sysvinit: restarting... done.
(Reading database ... 17129 files and directories currently installed.)
Removing libslang2-modules:i386 ...
Setting up ifupdown (0.7.8) ...
Setting up procps (1:3.3.3-3) ...
[ ok ] Setting kernel variables ... /etc/sysctl.conf...done.
Setting up udev (175-7.2) ...
[ ok ] Stopping the hotplug events dispatcher: udevd.
[ ok ] Starting the hotplug events dispatcher: udevd.
update-initramfs: deferring update (trigger activated)
Setting up rsyslog (5.8.11-3) ...
[ ok ] Stopping enhanced syslogd: rsyslogd.
[ ok ] Starting enhanced syslogd: rsyslogd.
Setting up aide-common (0.15.1-8) ...
Setting up initramfs-tools (0.109.1) ...
update-initramfs: deferring update (trigger activated)
Setting up openssh-server (1:6.0p1-4) ...
[ ok ] Restarting OpenBSD Secure Shell server: sshd.
Setting up molly-guard (0.4.5-1) ...
Setting up libdevmapper1.02.1:amd64 (2:1.02.74-7) ...
Setting up libdevmapper-event1.02.1:amd64 (2:1.02.74-7) ...
Setting up libparted0debian1:amd64 (2.3-12) ...
Setting up grub-common (1.99-27+deb7u1) ...
Setting up grub2-common (1.99-27+deb7u1) ...
Setting up grub-pc-bin (1.99-27+deb7u1) ...
Setting up grub-pc (1.99-27+deb7u1) ...
Installation finished. No error reported.
Generating grub.cfg ...
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-3.9.4-zgsrv2008064
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-3.9.4-zgsrv2008064
done
Setting up parted (2.3-12) ...
Setting up dmsetup (2:1.02.74-7) ...
update-initramfs: deferring update (trigger activated)
Setting up lvm2 (2.02.95-7) ...
[ ok ] Setting up LVM Volume Groups...done.
update-initramfs: deferring update (trigger activated)
Processing triggers for initramfs-tools ...
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-3.9.4-zgsrv2008064
Found 12 processes using old versions of upgraded files
( )
$ sudo apt-get -f install
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
libasprintf0c2:i386 libcurl3-gnutls:i386 libfreetype6:i386 libfuse2:i386
libreadline5:i386
Use apt-get autoremove to remove them.
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
$ dpkg --print-architecture
amd64
$ dpkg --print-foreign-architectures
i386
$ dpkg --list grep i386 wc -l
72
$ dpkg --list grep amd64 wc -l
175
$
We have completed the actual crossgrade. All non-multiarch packages are now amd64. The resolver is now fine as well.
At this current state, all i386 packages that are still installed should be unneeded libs. We can safely nuke them.
Careful minds may inspect the list of packages to be removed for important or non-lib items. After completion of the
command, a second call of the same command verifies that we were successful.
$ sudo apt-get remove $(dpkg --list awk if( $1 == ii && $4 == i386 ) print $2
)
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following packages will be REMOVED:
e2fslibs:i386 gcc-4.7-base:i386 libacl1:i386 libapt-inst1.5:i386
libapt-pkg4.12:i386 libasprintf0c2:i386 libattr1:i386 libblkid1:i386
libbsd0:i386 libbz2-1.0:i386 libc6:i386 libcap2:i386 libcomerr2:i386
libcurl3:i386 libcurl3-gnutls:i386 libdb5.1:i386 libedit2:i386
libexpat1:i386 libfreetype6:i386 libfuse2:i386 libgcc1:i386
libgcrypt11:i386 libgdbm3:i386 libgnutls26:i386 libgpg-error0:i386
libgpm2:i386 libgssapi-krb5-2:i386 libidn11:i386 libk5crypto3:i386
libkeyutils1:i386 libkmod2:i386 libkrb5-3:i386 libkrb5support0:i386
libldap-2.4-2:i386 liblockfile1:i386 liblzma5:i386 libmagic1:i386
libncurses5:i386 libncursesw5:i386 libp11-kit0:i386 libpam-modules:i386
libpam0g:i386 libpci3:i386 libpcre3:i386 libpng12-0:i386 libpopt0:i386
libprocps0:i386 libreadline5:i386 libreadline6:i386 librtmp0:i386
libsasl2-2:i386 libselinux1:i386 libsemanage1:i386 libsepol1:i386
libsigc++-2.0-0c2a:i386 libslang2:i386 libsqlite3-0:i386 libss2:i386
libssh2-1:i386 libssl1.0.0:i386 libstdc++6:i386 libtasn1-3:i386
libtinfo5:i386 libudev0:i386 libusb-0.1-4:i386 libustr-1.0-1:i386
libuuid1:i386 libwrap0:i386 linux-image-3.9.4-zgsrv2008064:i386 zlib1g:i386
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 70 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
After this operation, 67,5 MB disk space will be freed.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]? y
(Reading database ... 17111 files and directories currently installed.)
Removing e2fslibs:i386 ...
( )
$ sudo apt-get remove $(dpkg --list awk if( $1 == ii && $4 == i386 ) print $2
)
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
$ dpkg --print-architecture
amd64
$ dpkg --print-foreign-architectures
i386
$ dpkg --list grep i386 wc -l
70
$ dpkg --list grep amd64 wc -l
175
$
To finally make the packages really vanish from the system, we purge all packages that dpkg --list still reports in
state rc , which means removed, configuration still present . Thankfully, dpkg seems to handle
the case where a dpkg-conffile belongs to a transitioned package gracefully.
$ sudo dpkg --purge $(dpkg --list awk if ($1 == rc ) print $2 )
(Reading database ... 15868 files and directories currently installed.)
Removing e2fslibs:i386 ...
Purging configuration files for e2fslibs:i386 ...
( )
$ dpkg --print-architecture
amd64
$ dpkg --print-foreign-architectures
i386
$ dpkg --list grep i386 wc -l
0
$ dpkg --list grep amd64 wc -l
175
$
We now verify that all packages we have are either arch all or arch amd64.
$ dpkg --list grep -v \(amd64 all\)
Desired=Unknown/Install/Remove/Purge/Hold
Status=Not/Inst/Conf-files/Unpacked/halF-conf/Half-inst/trig-aWait/Trig-pend
/ Err?=(none)/Reinst-required (Status,Err: uppercase=bad)
/ Name Version Architecture Description
+++-===============================-=========================-============-========================================================================
As I found myself suddenly without e2fsprogs during one of my experiments, I check for e2fsprogs being present. If this
package is missing, you ll only find out after rebooting.
$ dpkg --list e2fsprogs
Desired=Unknown/Install/Remove/Purge/Hold
Status=Not/Inst/Conf-files/Unpacked/halF-conf/Half-inst/trig-aWait/Trig-pend
/ Err?=(none)/Reinst-required (Status,Err: uppercase=bad)
/ Name Version Architecture Description
+++-==============-============-============-=================================
ii e2fsprogs 1.42.5-1.1 amd64 ext2/ext3/ext4 file system utilit
My locally built amd64 kernel with 32 bit support was an arch i386 package as well, so it got zapped in the migration
process. Replace it with a real amd64 kernel. This step will vary if you use Debian kernels. Do not forget
the firmwares.
$ sudo apt-get -t wheezy-zg-experimental install kernel-image-zgserver linux-firmware-image
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following extra packages will be installed:
cpio initramfs-tools kernel-image-zgsrv20080 klibc-utils libklibc
linux-image-3.9.4-zgsrv20080
Suggested packages:
libarchive1
The following NEW packages will be installed:
cpio initramfs-tools kernel-image-zgserver kernel-image-zgsrv20080
klibc-utils libklibc linux-firmware-image linux-image-3.9.4-zgsrv20080
0 upgraded, 8 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 11,2 MB of archives.
After this operation, 30,5 MB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]?
Get:1 http://zg20110.debian.zugschlus.de/ wheezy-zg-experimental/main linux-image-3.9.4-zgsrv20080 amd64
3.9.4.20130605.0 [10,4 MB]
( )
I now make sure that the initrd I have built contains all file system modules and is of the right architecture:
$ cd /tmp
$ < /boot/initrd.img-3.9.4-zgsrv20080 gunzip cpio -i
32053 blocks
$ find . -name *ext*.ko
./lib/modules/3.9.4-zgsrv20080/kernel/fs/ext3/ext3.ko
./lib/modules/3.9.4-zgsrv20080/kernel/fs/ext2/ext2.ko
./lib/modules/3.9.4-zgsrv20080/kernel/fs/ext4/ext4.ko
$ file ./lib/modules/3.9.4-zgsrv20080/kernel/fs/ext4/ext4.ko
./lib/modules/3.9.4-zgsrv20080/kernel/fs/ext4/ext4.ko: ELF 64-bit LSB relocatable, x86-64, version 1 (SYSV),
BuildID[sha1]=0x259a642448805c9597932ee25c62c8e6a00a32ad, not stripped
$ cd
As the last step, remove i386 as an architecture and reboot into the newly migrated system. We verify that the system
considers itself amd64 with no foreign architectures.
$ sudo dpkg --remove-architecture i386
$ dpkg --print-architecture
amd64
$
$ dpkg --print-foreign-architectures
$ dpkg --list grep i386 wc -l
0
$ dpkg --list grep amd64 wc -l
181
$ sudo shutdown -r now
Broadcast message from root@wheezyarch (pts/0) (Wed Jun 12 16:09:24 2013):
The system is going down for reboot NOW!
$ Connection to wheezyarch.zugschlus.de closed by remote host.
Connection to wheezyarch.zugschlus.de closed.
$ ssh wheezyarch.zugschlus.de
Linux wheezyarch 3.9.4-zgsrv20080 #2 SMP PREEMPT Wed Jun 5 13:12:04 UTC 2013 x86_64
$ dpkg --print-architecture
amd64
$
We now check whether we have lost any packages in this process:
$ sudo dpkg --get-selections grep install awk print $1 sed s/:.*//;s/$/:amd64
install/; > get-selections.post
$ wc -l get-selections.*
234 get-selections.post
226 get-selections.pre
$ diff --unified=0 get-selections.pre get-selections.post
--- get-selections.pre 2013-06-12 19:47:40.278176000 +0200
+++ get-selections.post 2013-06-12 20:28:51.389874000 +0200
@@ -22,0 +23 @@
+cpio:amd64 install
@@ -58,0 +60 @@
+initramfs-tools:amd64 install
@@ -68,0 +71,3 @@
+kernel-image-zgserver:amd64 install
+kernel-image-zgsrv20080:amd64 install
+klibc-utils:amd64 install
@@ -108,0 +114 @@
+libklibc:amd64 install
@@ -163,0 +170,2 @@
+linux-firmware-image:amd64 install
+linux-image-3.9.4-zgsrv20080:amd64 install
So we have not actually lost things, but we have gained the pure amd64 kernel and the packages that are needed to build
a proper initrd. These were missing from the initial install of the i386 test VM.
The downside of the process is that we have lost most of the automatically installed markers in aptitude
which make sure to remove a library once nothing depends on it any more. If you make a point in having those markers
correctly set, as I do, this is tedious work to set it on every package in the aptitude curses interface, making
aptitude suggest removing the entire system, and then again remove it from the packages you actually intend to keep.
This should not result in anything being removed, otherwise you have goofed previously.
All Done! I am now off perfecting my upgrade process so that the i386 lenny and squeeze machines can first be moved to
wheezy and then to amd64.
Jacob and Oliver love trains, and this was the beginning of a 3-day train trip from Newton to Seattle that would take us through Kansas, Colorado, the Rocky Mountains of New Mexico, Arizona, Los Angeles, up the California coast, through the Cascades, and on to Seattle. Whew!
Here we are later that morning before breakfast:
Here s our train at a station stop in La Junta, CO:
And at the beautiful small mountain town of Raton, NM:
Some of the passing scenery in New Mexico:
Through it all, we found many things to pass the time. I don t think anybody was bored. I took the boys exploring the train several times we d walk from one end to the other and see what all was there. There was always the dining car for our meals, the lounge car for watching the passing scenery, and on the Coast Starlight, the Pacific Parlor Car.
Here we are getting ready for breakfast one morning.
Getting to select meals and order in the train restaurant was a big deal for the boys.
Laura brought one of her origami books, which even managed to pull the boys away from the passing scenery in the lounge car for quite some time.
Origami is serious business:
They had some fun wrapping themselves around my feet and challenging me to move. And were delighted when I could move even though they were trying to weight me down!
Several games of Uno were played, but even those sometimes couldn t compete with the passing scenery:
The Coast Starlight features the Pacific Parlor Car, which was built over 50 years ago for the Santa Fe Hi-Level trains. They ve been updated; the upper level is a lounge and small restaurant, and the lower level has been turned into a small theater. They show movies in there twice a day, but most of the time, the place is empty. A great place to go with little boys to run around and play games.
The boys and I sort of invented a new game: roadrunner and coyote, loosely based on the old Looney Tunes cartoons. Jacob and Oliver would be roadrunners, running around and yelling MEEP MEEP! Meanwhile, I was the coyote, who would try to catch them even briefly succeeding sometimes but ultimately fail in some hilarious way. It burned a lot of energy.
And, of course, the parlor car was good for scenery-watching too:
We were right along the Pacific Ocean for several hours sometimes there would be a highway or a town between us and the beach, but usually there was nothing at all between us and the coast. It was beautiful to watch the jagged coastline go by, to gaze out onto the ocean, watching the birds apparently so beautiful that I didn t even think to take some photos.
Laura s parents live in California, and took a connecting train. I had arranged for them to have a sleeping car room near ours, so for the last day of the trip, we had a group of 6. Here are the boys with their grandparents at lunch Wednesday:
We stepped off the train in Seattle into beautiful King Street Station.
Our first day in Seattle was a quiet day of not too much. Laura s relatives live near Lake Washington, so we went out there to play. The boys enjoyed gathering black rocks along the shore.
We went blackberry picking after that filled up buckets for a cobbler.
The next day, we rode the Seattle Monorail. The boys have been talking about this for months a kind of train they ve never been on. That was the biggest thing in their minds that they were waiting for. They got to ride in the very front, by the operator.
Nice view from up there.
We walked through the Pike Market I hadn t been in such a large and crowded place like that since I was in Guadalajara:
At the Seattle Aquarium, we all had a great time checking out all the exhibits. The please touch one was a particular hit.
Walking underneath the salmon tank was fun too.
We spent a couple of days doing things closer to downtown. Laura s cousin works at MOHAI, the Museum of History and Industry, so we spent a morning there. The boys particularly enjoyed the old periscope mounted to the top of the building, and the exhibit on chocolate (of course!)
They love any kind of transportation, so of course we had to get a ride on the Seattle Streetcar that comes by MOHAI.
All weekend long, we had been noticing the seaplanes taking off from Lake Washington and Lake Union (near MOHAI). So finally I decided to investigate, and one morning while Laura was doing things with her cousin, the boys and I took a short seaplane ride from one lake to another, and then rode every method of transportation we could except for ferries (we did that the next day). Here is our Kenmore Air plane:
The view of Lake Washington from 1000 feet was beautiful:
I think we got a better view than the Space Needle, and it probably cost about the same anyhow.
After splashdown, we took the streetcar to a place where we could eat lunch right by the monorail tracks. Then we rode the monorail again. Then we caught a train (it went underground a bit so it was a subway to them!) and rode it a few blocks.
There is even scenery underground, it seems.
We rode a bus back, and saved one last adventure for the next day: a ferry to Bainbridge Island.
Laura and I even got some time to ourselves to go have lunch at an amazing Greek restaurant to celebrate a year since we got engaged. It s amazing to think that, by now, it s only a few months until our wedding anniversary too!
There are many special memories of the weekend I could mention visiting with Laura s family, watching the boys play with her uncle s pipe organ (it s in his house!), watching the boys play with their grandparents, having all six of us on the train for a day, flying paper airplanes off the balcony, enjoying the cool breeze on the ferry and the beautiful mountains behind the lake. One of my favorites is waking up to high-pitched Meow? Meow meow meow! Wake up, brother! sorts of sounds. There was so much cat-play on the trip, and it was cute to hear. I have the feeling we won t hear things like that much more.
So many times on the trip I heard, Oh dad, I am so excited! I never get tired of hearing that. And, of course, I was excited, too.
Wow. 3G delta. I haven t booted this laptop for a while I think I m finally ready to make the move from gnome2 to gnome3. There are bits that still annoy me, but I think it s off to a good start. Upgrading perl from 5.10 to 5.14.
First of all, good news, MirBSD is not vulnerable to 
I have just uploaded a newer version of 
After running a QNAP TS-459 Pro+ for the last 3 or 4 years at home, my monitoring was alerting me about memory warnings cause I upgraded my 
It 
As you can see, the 16 chip design module has printed '9905428-189.A00lf' on and the 8 chip design '9931712-009.A00G'. It's something like in the Wireless LAN USB dongle business where they sell totally different hardware with the same Part Number but different Revisions.
To make it short, both 8 chips design modules worked like a charm, the M471B5773DH0-CH9 and the KVR1333D3S8S9/2G (9931712-009.A00G). - Please avoid the Adolf one from Kingston! ;)
I've been using disk encryption (via
![Isaac Newton by Sir Godfrey Kneller [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/39/GodfreyKneller-IsaacNewton-1689.jpg "Isaac Newton by Sir Godfrey Kneller [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons")
Yesterday, I pushed my first sizable contribution to GHC, the Haskell compiler. The feature solves the problem that newtypes are not always free: If we have newtype Age = MkAge Int, then we have all learned that the Age function has zero run-time cost. But if the Int that we want to convert is inside another type, the conversion is no longer free: Converting a Maybe Int to a Maybe Age using, for example, fmap Age, will cause time and space overhead at runtime, and there was no way around it. Well, there is unsafeCoerce, but really, that ought to be avoided.
So after some discussion with and encouragement of Simon Peyton Jones at 
They say that a certain billionaire is so rich that he would not spend 5 seconds bending over to pick up a $100 banknote on the ground because he makes $500 in 5 seconds anyway. A man from Ethiopia may well run a marathon for the same $100. This little anecdote underlines the point that no two people have exactly the same priorities and it is hard to provide a one-size-fits-all solution. A good technical solution needs to let the user have some control over their own priorities as that will go a lot further in respecting their preferences, their objectives and their environment.
A practical example: some users may not want to be disturbed by a 
Finally, after gathering all the events for the user in a mailbox like this, it would be possible for the plugin to be configured to interrupt the user only when some event reaches the user's own urgency/importance threshold. For example:
This weekend I have mostly been reading 
