Russ Allbery: Review: The Mimicking of Known Successes
Series: | Mossa and Pleiti #1 |
Publisher: | Tordotcom |
Copyright: | 2023 |
ISBN: | 1-250-86051-2 |
Format: | Kindle |
Pages: | 169 |
Series: | Mossa and Pleiti #1 |
Publisher: | Tordotcom |
Copyright: | 2023 |
ISBN: | 1-250-86051-2 |
Format: | Kindle |
Pages: | 169 |
Series: | Monk & Robot #2 |
Publisher: | Tordotcom |
Copyright: | 2022 |
ISBN: | 1-250-23624-X |
Format: | Kindle |
Pages: | 151 |
A Wizard of Earthsea (1971) Ursula K. Le Guin How did it come to be that Harry Potter is the publishing sensation of the century, yet Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea is only a popular cult novel? Indeed, the comparisons and unintentional intertextuality with Harry Potter are entirely unavoidable when reading this book, and, in almost every respect, Ursula K. Le Guin's universe comes out the victor. In particular, the wizarding world that Le Guin portrays feels a lot more generous and humble than the class-ridden world of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Just to take one example from many, in Earthsea, magic turns out to be nurtured in a bottom-up manner within small village communities, in almost complete contrast to J. K. Rowling's concept of benevolent government departments and NGOs-like institutions, which now seems a far too New Labour for me. Indeed, imagine an entire world imbued with the kindly benevolence of Dumbledore, and you've got some of the moral palette of Earthsea. The gently moralising tone that runs through A Wizard of Earthsea may put some people off:
Vetch had been three years at the School and soon would be made Sorcerer; he thought no more of performing the lesser arts of magic than a bird thinks of flying. Yet a greater, unlearned skill he possessed, which was the art of kindness.Still, these parables aimed directly at the reader are fairly rare, and, for me, remain on the right side of being mawkish or hectoring. I'm thus looking forward to reading the next two books in the series soon.
Blood Meridian (1985) Cormac McCarthy Blood Meridian follows a band of American bounty hunters who are roaming the Mexican-American borderlands in the late 1840s. Far from being remotely swashbuckling, though, the group are collecting scalps for money and killing anyone who crosses their path. It is the most unsparing treatment of American genocide and moral depravity I have ever come across, an anti-Western that flouts every convention of the genre. Blood Meridian thus has a family resemblance to that other great anti-Western, Once Upon a Time in the West: after making a number of gun-toting films that venerate the American West (ie. his Dollars Trilogy), Sergio Leone turned his cynical eye to the western. Yet my previous paragraph actually euphemises just how violent Blood Meridian is. Indeed, I would need to be a much better writer (indeed, perhaps McCarthy himself) to adequately 0utline the tone of this book. In a certain sense, it's less than you read this book in a conventional sense, but rather that you are forced to witness successive chapters of grotesque violence... all occurring for no obvious reason. It is often said that books 'subvert' a genre and, indeed, I implied as such above. But the term subvert implies a kind of Puck-like mischievousness, or brings to mind court jesters licensed to poke fun at the courtiers. By contrast, however, Blood Meridian isn't funny in the slightest. There isn't animal cruelty per se, but rather wanton negligence of another kind entirely. In fact, recalling a particular passage involving an injured horse makes me feel physically ill. McCarthy's prose is at once both baroque in its language and thrifty in its presentation. As Philip Connors wrote back in 2007, McCarthy has spent forty years writing as if he were trying to expand the Old Testament, and learning that McCarthy grew up around the Church therefore came as no real surprise. As an example of his textual frugality, I often looked for greater precision in the text, finding myself asking whether who a particular 'he' is, or to which side of a fight some two men belonged to. Yet we must always remember that there is no precision to found in a gunfight, so this infidelity is turned into a virtue. It's not that these are fair fights anyway, or even 'murder': Blood Meridian is just slaughter; pure butchery. Murder is a gross understatement for what this book is, and at many points we are grateful that McCarthy spares us precision. At others, however, we can be thankful for his exactitude. There is no ambiguity regarding the morality of the puppy-drowning Judge, for example: a Colonel Kurtz who has been given free license over the entire American south. There is, thank God, no danger of Hollywood mythologising him into a badass hero. Indeed, we must all be thankful that it is impossible to film this ultra-violent book... Indeed, the broader idea of 'adapting' anything to this world is, beyond sick. An absolutely brutal read; I cannot recommend it highly enough.
Bodies of Light (2014) Sarah Moss Bodies of Light is a 2014 book by Glasgow-born Sarah Moss on the stirrings of women's suffrage within an arty clique in nineteenth-century England. Set in the intellectually smoggy cities of Manchester and London, this poignant book follows the studiously intelligent Alethia 'Ally' Moberly who is struggling to gain the acceptance of herself, her mother and the General Medical Council. You can read my full review from July.
House of Leaves (2000) Mark Z. Danielewski House of Leaves is a remarkably difficult book to explain. Although the plot refers to a fictional documentary about a family whose house is somehow larger on the inside than the outside, this quotidian horror premise doesn't explain the complex meta-commentary that Danielewski adds on top. For instance, the book contains a large number of pseudo-academic footnotes (many of which contain footnotes themselves), with references to scholarly papers, books, films and other articles. Most of these references are obviously fictional, but it's the kind of book where the joke is that some of them are not. The format, structure and typography of the book is highly unconventional too, with extremely unusual page layouts and styles. It's the sort of book and idea that should be a tired gimmick but somehow isn't. This is particularly so when you realise it seems specifically designed to create a fandom around it and to manufacturer its own 'cult' status, something that should be extremely tedious. But not only does this not happen, House of Leaves seems to have survived through two exhausting decades of found footage: The Blair Witch Project and Paranormal Activity are, to an admittedly lesser degree, doing much of the same thing as House of Leaves. House of Leaves might have its origins in Nabokov's Pale Fire or even Derrida's Glas, but it seems to have more in common with the claustrophobic horror of Cube (1997). And like all of these works, House of Leaves book has an extremely strange effect on the reader or viewer, something quite unlike reading a conventional book. It wasn't so much what I got out of the book itself, but how it added a glow to everything else I read, watched or saw at the time. An experience.
Milkman (2018) Anna Burns This quietly dazzling novel from Irish author Anna Burns is full of intellectual whimsy and oddball incident. Incongruously set in 1970s Belfast during The Irish Troubles, Milkman's 18-year-old narrator (known only as middle sister ), is the kind of dreamer who walks down the street with a Victorian-era novel in her hand. It's usually an error for a book that specifically mention other books, if only because inviting comparisons to great novels is grossly ill-advised. But it is a credit to Burns' writing that the references here actually add to the text and don't feel like they are a kind of literary paint by numbers. Our humble narrator has a boyfriend of sorts, but the figure who looms the largest in her life is a creepy milkman an older, married man who's deeply integrated in the paramilitary tribalism. And when gossip about the narrator and the milkman surfaces, the milkman beings to invade her life to a suffocating degree. Yet this milkman is not even a milkman at all. Indeed, it's precisely this kind of oblique irony that runs through this daring but darkly compelling book.
The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August (2014) Claire North Harry August is born, lives a relatively unremarkable life and finally dies a relatively unremarkable death. Not worth writing a novel about, I suppose. But then Harry finds himself born again in the very same circumstances, and as he grows from infancy into childhood again, he starts to remember his previous lives. This loop naturally drives Harry insane at first, but after finding that suicide doesn't stop the quasi-reincarnation, he becomes somewhat acclimatised to his fate. He prospers much better at school the next time around and is ultimately able to make better decisions about his life, especially when he just happens to know how to stay out of trouble during the Second World War. Yet what caught my attention in this 'soft' sci-fi book was not necessarily the book's core idea but rather the way its connotations were so intelligently thought through. Just like in a musical theme and varations, the success of any concept-driven book is far more a product of how the implications of the key idea are played out than how clever the central idea was to begin with. Otherwise, you just have another neat Borges short story: satisfying, to be sure, but in a narrower way. From her relatively simple premise, for example, North has divined that if there was a community of people who could remember their past lives, this would actually allow messages and knowledge to be passed backwards and forwards in time. Ah, of course! Indeed, this very mechanism drives the plot: news comes back from the future that the progress of history is being interfered with, and, because of this, the end of the world is slowly coming. Through the lives that follow, Harry sets out to find out who is passing on technology before its time, and work out how to stop them. With its gently-moralising romp through the salient historical touchpoints of the twentieth century, I sometimes got a whiff of Forrest Gump. But it must be stressed that this book is far less certain of its 'right-on' liberal credentials than Robert Zemeckis' badly-aged film. And whilst we're on the topic of other media, if you liked the underlying conceit behind Stuart Turton's The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle yet didn't enjoy the 'variations' of that particular tale, then I'd definitely give The First Fifteen Lives a try. At the very least, 15 is bigger than 7. More seriously, though, The First Fifteen Lives appears to reflect anxieties about technology, particularly around modern technological accelerationism. At no point does it seriously suggest that if we could somehow possess the technology from a decade in the future then our lives would be improved in any meaningful way. Indeed, precisely the opposite is invariably implied. To me, at least, homo sapiens often seems to be merely marking time until we can blow each other up and destroying the climate whilst sleepwalking into some crisis that might precipitate a thermonuclear genocide sometimes seems to be built into our DNA. In an era of cli-fi fiction and our non-fiction newspaper headlines, to label North's insight as 'prescience' might perhaps be overstating it, but perhaps that is the point: this destructive and negative streak is universal to all periods of our violent, insecure species.
The Goldfinch (2013) Donna Tartt After Breaking Bad, the second biggest runaway success of 2014 was probably Donna Tartt's doorstop of a novel, The Goldfinch. Yet upon its release and popular reception, it got a significant number of bad reviews in the literary press with, of course, an equal number of predictable think pieces claiming this was sour grapes on the part of the cognoscenti. Ah, to be in 2014 again, when our arguments were so much more trivial. For the uninitiated, The Goldfinch is a sprawling bildungsroman that centres on Theo Decker, a 13-year-old whose world is turned upside down when a terrorist bomb goes off whilst visiting the Metropolitan Museum of Art, killing his mother among other bystanders. Perhaps more importantly, he makes off with a painting in order to fulfil a promise to a dying old man: Carel Fabritius' 1654 masterpiece The Goldfinch. For the next 14 years (and almost 800 pages), the painting becomes the only connection to his lost mother as he's flung, almost entirely rudderless, around the Western world, encountering an array of eccentric characters. Whatever the critics claimed, Tartt's near-perfect evocation of scenes, from the everyday to the unimaginable, is difficult to summarise. I wouldn't label it 'cinematic' due to her evocation of the interiority of the characters. Take, for example: Even the suggestion that my father had close friends conveyed a misunderstanding of his personality that I didn't know how to respond it's precisely this kind of relatable inner subjectivity that cannot be easily conveyed by film, likely is one of the main reasons why the 2019 film adaptation was such a damp squib. Tartt's writing is definitely not 'impressionistic' either: there are many near-perfect evocations of scenes, even ones we hope we cannot recognise from real life. In particular, some of the drug-taking scenes feel so credibly authentic that I sometimes worried about the author herself. Almost eight months on from first reading this novel, what I remember most was what a joy this was to read. I do worry that it won't stand up to a more critical re-reading (the character named Xandra even sounds like the pharmaceuticals she is taking), but I think I'll always treasure the first days I spent with this often-beautiful novel.
Beyond Black (2005) Hilary Mantel Published about five years before the hyperfamous Wolf Hall (2004), Hilary Mantel's Beyond Black is a deeply disturbing book about spiritualism and the nature of Hell, somewhat incongruously set in modern-day England. Alison Harte is a middle-aged physic medium who works in the various towns of the London orbital motorway. She is accompanied by her stuffy assistant, Colette, and her spirit guide, Morris, who is invisible to everyone but Alison. However, this is no gentle and musk-smelling world of the clairvoyant and mystic, for Alison is plagued by spirits from her past who infiltrate her physical world, becoming stronger and nastier every day. Alison's smiling and rotund persona thus conceals a truly desperate woman: she knows beyond doubt the terrors of the next life, yet must studiously conceal them from her credulous clients. Beyond Black would be worth reading for its dark atmosphere alone, but it offers much more than a chilling and creepy tale. Indeed, it is extraordinarily observant as well as unsettlingly funny about a particular tranche of British middle-class life. Still, the book's unnerving nature that sticks in the mind, and reading it noticeably changed my mood for days afterwards, and not necessarily for the best.
The Wall (2019) John Lanchester The Wall tells the story of a young man called Kavanagh, one of the thousands of Defenders standing guard around a solid fortress that envelopes the British Isles. A national service of sorts, it is Kavanagh's job to stop the so-called Others getting in. Lanchester is frank about what his wall provides to those who stand guard: the Defenders of the Wall are conscripted for two years on the Wall, with no exceptions, giving everyone in society a life plan and a story. But whilst The Wall is ostensibly about a physical wall, it works even better as a story about the walls in our mind. In fact, the book blends together of some of the most important issues of our time: climate change, increasing isolation, Brexit and other widening societal divisions. If you liked P. D. James' The Children of Men you'll undoubtedly recognise much of the same intellectual atmosphere, although the sterility of John Lanchester's dystopia is definitely figurative and textual rather than literal. Despite the final chapters perhaps not living up to the world-building of the opening, The Wall features a taut and engrossing narrative, and it undoubtedly warrants even the most cursory glance at its symbolism. I've yet to read something by Lanchester I haven't enjoyed (even his short essay on cheating in sports, for example) and will be definitely reading more from him in 2022.
The Only Story (2018) Julian Barnes The Only Story is the story of Paul, a 19-year-old boy who falls in love with 42-year-old Susan, a married woman with two daughters who are about Paul's age. The book begins with how Paul meets Susan in happy (albeit complicated) circumstances, but as the story unfolds, the novel becomes significantly more tragic and moving. Whilst the story begins from the first-person perspective, midway through the book it shifts into the second person, and, later, into the third as well. Both of these narrative changes suggested to me an attempt on the part of Paul the narrator (if not Barnes himself), to distance himself emotionally from the events taking place. This effect is a lot more subtle than it sounds, however: far more prominent and devastating is the underlying and deeply moving story about the relationship ends up. Throughout this touching book, Barnes uses his mastery of language and observation to avoid the saccharine and the maudlin, and ends up with a heart-wrenching and emotive narrative. Without a doubt, this is the saddest book I read this year.
Series: | Monk & Robot #1 |
Publisher: | Tordotcom |
Copyright: | July 2021 |
ISBN: | 1-250-23622-3 |
Format: | Kindle |
Pages: | 160 |
Sometimes, a person reaches a point in their life when it becomes absolutely essential to get the fuck out of the city.Sibling Dex therefore decides to upend their life and travel the outlying villages doing tea service. And they do. They commission an ox-bike wagon, throw themselves into learning cultivation and herbs, experiment with different teas, and practice. It's a lot to learn, and they don't get it right from the start, but Sibling Dex is the sort of person who puts in the work to do something well. Before long, they have a new life as a traveling tea monk. It's better than living in the City. But it still isn't enough. We don't find out much about the moon of Panga in this story. Humans live there and it has a human-friendly biosphere with recognizable species, but it is clearly not Earth. The story does not reveal how humans came to live there. Dex's civilization is quite advanced and appears to be at least partly post-scarcity: people work and have professions, but money is rarely mentioned, poverty doesn't appear to be a problem, and Dex, despite being a monk with no obvious source of income, is able to commission the construction of a wagon home without any difficulty. They follow a religion that has no obvious Earth analogue. The most fascinating thing about Panga is an event in its history. It previously had an economy based on robot factories, but the robots became sentient. Since this is a Becky Chambers story, the humans reaction was to ask the robots what they wanted to do and respect their decision. The robots, not very happy about having their whole existence limited to human design, decided to leave, walking off into the wild. Humans respected their agreement, rebuilt their infrastructure without using robots or artificial intelligence, and left the robots alone. Nothing has been heard from them in centuries. As you might expect, Sibling Dex meets a robot. Its name is Mosscap, and it was selected to check in with humans. Their attempts to understand each other is much of the story. The rest is Dex's attempt to find what still seems to be missing from life, starting with an attempt to reach a ruined monastery out in the wild. As with Chambers's other books, A Psalm for the Wild-Built contains a lot of earnest and well-meaning people having thoughtful conversations. Unlike her other books, there is almost no plot apart from those conversations of self-discovery and a profile of Sibling Dex as a character. That plus the earnestness of two naturally introspective characters who want to put their thoughts into words gave this story an oddly didactic tone for me. There are moments that felt like the moral of a Saturday morning cartoon show (I am probably dating myself), although the morals are more sophisticated and conditional. Saying I disliked the tone would be going too far, but it didn't flow as well for me as Chambers's other novels. I liked the handling of religion, and I loved Sibling Dex's efforts to describe or act on an almost impossible to describe sense that their life isn't quite what they want. There are some lovely bits of description, including the abandoned monastery. The role of a tea monk in this imagined society is a neat, if small, bit of world-building: a bit like a counselor and a bit like a priest, but not truly like either because of the different focus on acceptance, listening, and a hot cup of tea. And Dex's interaction with Mosscap over offering and accepting food is a beautiful bit of characterization. That said, the story as a whole didn't entirely gel for me, partly because of the didactic tone and partly because I didn't find Mosscap or the described culture of the robots as interesting as I was hoping that I would. But I'm still invested enough that I would read the sequel. A Psalm for the Wild-Built feels like a prelude or character introduction more than a complete story. When we leave the characters, they're just getting started. You know more about the robots (and Sibling Dex) at the end than you did at the beginning, but don't expect much in the way of resolution. Followed by A Prayer for the Crown-Shy, scheduled for 2022. Rating: 7 out of 10
Last year's letter said that Ally was nervous, emotional and easily swayed, and that she should not allow her behaviour to be guided by feeling but remember always to assert her reason. Mamma would help her with early hours, plain food and plenty of exercise. Ally looks at the letter, plump in its cream envelope. She hopes Mamma wrote it before scolding her yesterday.The book makes the implicit argument that it is a far more robust argument against pervasive oppression to portray a character in, say, 'a comfortable house, a kind husband and a healthy child', yet they are nonetheless still deeply miserable, for reasons they can't quite put their finger on. And when we see Elizabeth perpetuating some generational trauma with her own children, it is telling that is pattern is not short-circuited by an improvement in their material conditions. Rather, it is arrested only by a kind of political consciousness in Ally's case, the education in a school. In fact, if there is a real hero in Bodies of Light, it is the very concept of female education. There's genuine shading to the book's ideological villains, despite finding their apotheosis in the jibes about 'plump Tories'. These remarks first stuck out to me as cheap thrills by the author; easy and inexpensive potshots that are unbecoming of the pages around them. But they soon prove themselves to be moments of much-needed humour. Indeed, when passages like this are read in their proper context, the proclamations made by sundry Victorian worthies start to serve as deadpan satire:
We have much evidence that the great majority of your male colleagues regard you as an aberration against nature, a disgusting, unsexed creature and a danger to the public.Funny as these remarks might be, however, these moments have a subtler and more profound purpose as well. Historical biography always has the risk of allowing readers to believe that the 'issue' has already been solved hence, perhaps, the enduring appeal of science fiction. But Moss providing these snippets from newspapers 150 years ago should make a clear connection to a near-identical moral panic today. On the other hand, setting your morality tale in the past has the advantage that you can show that progress is possible. And it can also demonstrate how that progress might come about as well. This book makes the argument for collective action and generally repudiates individualisation through ever-fallible martyrs. Ally always needs 'allies' not only does she rarely work alone, but she is helped in some way by almost everyone around her. This even includes her rather problematic mother, forestalling any simplistic proportioning of blame. (It might be ironic that Bodies of Light came out in 2014, the very same year that Sophia Amoruso popularised the term 'girl boss'.) Early on, Ally's schoolteacher is coded as the primary positive influence on her, but Ally's aunt later inherits this decisive role, continuing Ally's education on cultural issues and what appears to be the Victorian version of 'self-care'. Both the aunt and the schoolteacher are, of course, surrogate mother figures. After Ally arrives in the cut-throat capital, you often get the impression you are being shown discussions where each of the characters embodies a different school of thought within first-wave feminism. This can often be a fairly tedious device in fiction, the sort of thing you would find in a Sally Rooney novel, Pilgrim's Progress or some other ponderously polemical tract. Yet when Ally appears to 'win' an argument, it is only in the sense that the narrator continues to follow her, implicitly and lightly endorsing her point. Perhaps if I knew my history better, I might be able to associate names with the book's positions, but perhaps it is better (at least for the fiction-reading experience...) that I don't, as the baggage of real-world personalities can often get in the way. I'm reminded here of Regina King's One Night in Miami... (2020), where caricatures of Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali, Jim Brown and Sam Cooke awkwardly replay various arguments within an analogous emancipatory struggle. Yet none of the above will be the first thing a reader will notice. Each chapter begins with a description of an imaginary painting, providing a title and a date alongside a brief critical exegesis. The artworks serve a different purpose in each chapter: a puzzle to be unlocked, a fear to be confirmed, an unsolved enigma. The inclusion of (artificial) provenances is interesting as well, not simply because they add colour and detail to the chapter to come, but because their very inclusion feels reflective of how we see art today. To continue the question this piece began, how should an author conclude a story about an as-yet-unfinished struggle for emancipation? How can they? Moss' approach dares you to believe the ending is saccharine or formulaic, but what else was she meant to turn in yet another tale of struggle and suffering? After all, Thomas Hardy has already written Tess of the d'Urbervilles. All the same, it still feels slightly unsatisfying to end merely with Ally's muted, uncelebrated success. Nevertheless, I suspect many readers will dislike the introduction of a husband in the final pages, taking it as a betrayal of the preceding chapters. Yet Moss denies us from seeing the resolution as a Disney-style happy ending. True, Ally's husband turns out to be a rather dashing lighthouse builder, but isn't it Ally herself who is lighting the way in their relationship, warning other women away from running aground on the rocks of mental illness? And Tom feels more of a reflection of Ally's newly acquired self-acceptance instead of that missing piece she needed all along. We learn at one point that Tom's 'importance to her is frightening' this is hardly something a Disney princess would say. In fact, it is easy to argue that a heroic ending for Ally might have been an even more egregious betrayal. The evil of saints is that you can never live up to them, for the concept of a 'saint' embodies an unreachable ideal that no human can begin to copy. By being taken as unimpeachable and uncorrectable as well, saints preclude novel political action, and are therefore undoubtedly agents of reaction. Appreciating historical figures as the (flawed) people that they really were is the first step if you wish to continue or adapt their political ideas. I had acquired Bodies of Light after enjoying Moss' Summerwater (2020), which had the dubious honour of being touted as the 'first lockdown novel', despite it being finished before Covid-19. There are countless ways one might contrast the two, so I will limit myself to the sole observation that the strengths of one are perhaps the weaknesses of the other. It's not that Bodies of Light ends with a whimper, of course, as it quietly succeeds in concert with Ally. But by contrast, the tighter arc of Summerwater (which is set during a single day, switches protagonist between chapters, features a closed-off community, etc.) can reach a higher high with its handful of narrative artifices. Summerwater is perhaps like Phil Collins' solo career: 'more satisfying, in a narrower way.'
startproject
,
startapp
, runserver
)aip
flag which,
according to GA documentation, makes "the IP address of the sender
'anonymized'". It is not quite clear how that is done at Google and,
given that it is a proprietary platform, there is no way to verify
that claim. The proposal says it means that "we can't see, and Google
Analytics doesn't store, your actual IP". But that is not actually
what Google does: GA stores IP addresses, the documentation just says
they are anonymized, without explaining how.
GA is presented as a trade-off, since "Google's track record indicates
that they don't value privacy nearly as high" as the DSF does. The
alternative, deploying its own analytics software, was presented as
making sustainability problems worse. According to the proposal, Google
"can't track Django users. [...] The only thing Google could do would be
to lie about anonymizing IP addresses, and attempt to match users based
on their IPs".
The truth is that we don't actually know what Google means when it
"anonymizes" data: Jannis Leidel, a Django team member, commented
that "Google has previously been subjected to secret US court orders
and was required to collaborate in mass surveillance conducted by US
intelligence services" that limit even Google's capacity of ensuring
its users' anonymity. Leidel also argued that the legal framework of
the US may not apply elsewhere in the world: "for example the strict
German (and by extension EU) privacy laws would exclude the automatic
opt-in as a lawful option".
Furthermore, the proposal claims that "if we discovered Google was
lying about this, we'd obviously stop using them immediately", but it
is unclear exactly how this could be implemented if the software was
already deployed. There are also concerns that an
implementation could block normal operation, especially in countries
(like China) where Google itself may be blocked. Finally, some
expressed concerns that the information could constitute a
security problem, since it would unduly expose the version number of
Django that is running.
Software in Debian should not communicate over the network except: in order to, and as necessary to, perform their function[...]; or for other purposes with explicit permission from the user.In other words, opt-in only, period. Jackson explained that "when we originally wrote the core of the policy documents, the DFSG [Debian Free Software Guidelines], the SC [Social Contract], and so on, no-one would have considered this behaviour acceptable", which explains why no explicit formal policy has been adopted yet in the Debian project. One of the concerns with opt-out systems (or even prompts that default to opt-in) was well explained back then by Debian developer Bas Wijnen:
It very much resembles having to click through a license for every package you install. One of the nice things about Debian is that the user doesn't need to worry about such things: Debian makes sure things are fine.One could argue that Debian has its own tracking systems. For example, by default, Debian will "phone home" through the APT update system (though it only reports the packages requested). However, this is currently not automated by default, although there are plans to do so soon. Furthermore, Debian members do not consider APT as tracking, because it needs to connect to the network to accomplish its primary function. Since there are multiple distributed mirrors (which the user gets to choose when installing), the risk of surveillance and tracking is also greatly reduced. A better parallel could be drawn with Debian's popcon system, which actually tracks Debian installations, including package lists. But as Barry Warsaw pointed out in that discussion, "popcon is 'opt-in' and [...] the overwhelming majority in Debian is in favour of it in contrast to 'opt-out'". It should be noted that popcon, while opt-in,
I don't believe the increase we might get in the number of reports by making it harder to opt-out, can be worth the ill-will generated for people who might feel the reporting was "sneaked" upon them, or even those who feel they were nagged into participation rather than choosing to participate.Other options may also include gathering metrics in
pip
or PyPI,
which was proposed by Donald Stufft. Leidel also proposed
that the system could ask to opt-in only after a few times the
commands are called.
It is encouraging to see that a community can discuss such issues
without heating up too much and shows great maturity for the Django
project. Every free-software project may be confronted with funding and
sustainability issues. Django seems to be trying to address this in a
transparent way. The project is willing to engage with the whole
spectrum of the community, from the top leaders to downstream
distributors, including individual developers. This practice should
serve as a model, if not of how to do funding or tracking, at least of
how to discuss those issues productively.
Everyone seems to agree the point is not to surveil users, but improve
the software. As Lars Wirzenius, a Debian developer,
commented: "it's a very sad situation if free
software projects have to compromise on privacy to get
funded". Hopefully, Django will be able to improve its funding without
compromising its principles.
Note: this article first appeared in the Linux Weekly News.
native_libs.txt
files (#825857).SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH
.
Packages fixed
The following 9 packages have become reproducible due to changes in their
build dependencies:
cclib
librun-parts-perl
llvm-toolchain-snapshot
python-crypto
python-openid
r-bioc-shortread
r-bioc-variantannotation
ruby-hdfeos5
sqlparse
The following packages have become reproducible after being fixed:
SHELL
to static value.__DATE__
/__TIME__
macros, since gcc can handle it nowSOURCE_DATE_EPOCH
for embedded timestamp.SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH
for timestamps embedded into manpages.SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH
for embedded timestamp.SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH
for timestamps embedded into manpages.SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH
for embedded timestamp.printf
instead of non-portable echo
.$ gpg -K $MASTERKEY sec 4096R/0x6CACA448860CDC13 2010-09-14 Key fingerprint = F7D8 A928 26E3 16A1 9FA0 ACF0 6CAC A448 860C DC13 uid Norbert Preining <norbert@preining.info> uid Norbert Preining <preining@logic.at> uid Norbert Preining <preining@debian.org> uid Norbert Preining <preining@jaist.ac.jp> ssb 4096R/0xD1D2BD14810F62B3 2010-09-14 |
$ gpg --expert --edit-key $MASTERKEY |
$ gpg --expert --edit-key $MASTERKEY gpg (GnuPG) 1.4.20; Copyright (C) 2015 Free Software Foundation, Inc. This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it. There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law. Secret key is available. pub 4096R/0x6CACA448860CDC13 created: 2010-09-14 expires: never usage: SC trust: ultimate validity: ultimate sub 4096R/0xD1D2BD14810F62B3 created: 2010-09-14 expires: never usage: E [ultimate] (1). Norbert Preining <norbert@preining.info> [ultimate] (2) Norbert Preining <preining@logic.at> [ultimate] (3) Norbert Preining <preining@debian.org> [ultimate] (4) Norbert Preining <preining@jaist.ac.jp> gpg> expire Changing expiration time for the primary key. Please specify how long the key should be valid. 0 = key does not expire <n> = key expires in n days <n>w = key expires in n weeks <n>m = key expires in n months <n>y = key expires in n years Key is valid for? (0) 1y Key expires at Mon 06 Feb 2017 08:09:16 PM JST Is this correct? (y/N) y You need a passphrase to unlock the secret key for user: "Norbert Preining <norbert@preining.info>" 4096-bit RSA key, ID 0x6CACA448860CDC13, created 2010-09-14 Enter passphrase: pub 4096R/0x6CACA448860CDC13 created: 2010-09-14 expires: 2017-02-06 usage: SC trust: ultimate validity: ultimate sub 4096R/0xD1D2BD14810F62B3 created: 2010-09-14 expires: never usage: E [ultimate] (1). Norbert Preining <norbert@preining.info> [ultimate] (2) Norbert Preining <preining@logic.at> [ultimate] (3) Norbert Preining <preining@debian.org> [ultimate] (4) Norbert Preining <preining@jaist.ac.jp> gpg> key 1 pub 4096R/0x6CACA448860CDC13 created: 2010-09-14 expires: 2017-02-06 usage: SC trust: ultimate validity: ultimate sub* 4096R/0xD1D2BD14810F62B3 created: 2010-09-14 expires: never usage: E [ultimate] (1). Norbert Preining <norbert@preining.info> [ultimate] (2) Norbert Preining <preining@logic.at> [ultimate] (3) Norbert Preining <preining@debian.org> [ultimate] (4) Norbert Preining <preining@jaist.ac.jp> gpg> expire Changing expiration time for a subkey. Please specify how long the key should be valid. 0 = key does not expire <n> = key expires in n days <n>w = key expires in n weeks <n>m = key expires in n months <n>y = key expires in n years Key is valid for? (0) 1y Key expires at Mon 06 Feb 2017 08:09:27 PM JST Is this correct? (y/N) y You need a passphrase to unlock the secret key for user: "Norbert Preining <norbert@preining.info>" 4096-bit RSA key, ID 0x6CACA448860CDC13, created 2010-09-14 Enter passphrase: pub 4096R/0x6CACA448860CDC13 created: 2010-09-14 expires: 2017-02-06 usage: SC trust: ultimate validity: ultimate sub* 4096R/0xD1D2BD14810F62B3 created: 2010-09-14 expires: 2017-02-06 usage: E [ultimate] (1). Norbert Preining <norbert@preining.info> [ultimate] (2) Norbert Preining <preining@logic.at> [ultimate] (3) Norbert Preining <preining@debian.org> [ultimate] (4) Norbert Preining <preining@jaist.ac.jp> |
gpg> addphoto Pick an image to use for your photo ID. The image must be a JPEG file. Remember that the image is stored within your public key. If you use a very large picture, your key will become very large as well! Keeping the image close to 240x288 is a good size to use. Enter JPEG filename for photo ID: GPG/norbert-head.jpg Is this photo correct (y/N/q)? y You need a passphrase to unlock the secret key for user: "Norbert Preining <norbert@preining.info>" 4096-bit RSA key, ID 0x6CACA448860CDC13, created 2010-09-14 Enter passphrase: pub 4096R/0x6CACA448860CDC13 created: 2010-09-14 expires: 2017-02-06 usage: SC trust: ultimate validity: ultimate sub* 4096R/0xD1D2BD14810F62B3 created: 2010-09-14 expires: 2017-02-06 usage: E [ultimate] (1). Norbert Preining <norbert@preining.info> [ultimate] (2) Norbert Preining <preining@logic.at> [ultimate] (3) Norbert Preining <preining@debian.org> [ultimate] (4) Norbert Preining <preining@jaist.ac.jp> [ unknown] (5) [jpeg image of size 4185] |
gpg> addkey Key is protected. You need a passphrase to unlock the secret key for user: "Norbert Preining <norbert@preining.info>" 4096-bit RSA key, ID 0x6CACA448860CDC13, created 2010-09-14 Enter passphrase: Please select what kind of key you want: (3) DSA (sign only) (4) RSA (sign only) (5) Elgamal (encrypt only) (6) RSA (encrypt only) (7) DSA (set your own capabilities) (8) RSA (set your own capabilities) Your selection? 4 RSA keys may be between 1024 and 4096 bits long. What keysize do you want? (2048) Requested keysize is 2048 bits Please specify how long the key should be valid. 0 = key does not expire <n> = key expires in n days <n>w = key expires in n weeks <n>m = key expires in n months <n>y = key expires in n years Key is valid for? (0) 1y Key expires at Mon 06 Feb 2017 08:10:06 PM JST Is this correct? (y/N) y Really create? (y/N) y We need to generate a lot of random bytes. It is a good idea to perform some other action (type on the keyboard, move the mouse, utilize the disks) during the prime generation; this gives the random number generator a better chance to gain enough entropy. ....+++++ ..........+++++ pub 4096R/0x6CACA448860CDC13 created: 2010-09-14 expires: 2017-02-06 usage: SC trust: ultimate validity: ultimate sub* 4096R/0xD1D2BD14810F62B3 created: 2010-09-14 expires: 2017-02-06 usage: E sub 2048R/0xEC00B8DAD32266AA created: 2016-02-07 expires: 2017-02-06 usage: S [ultimate] (1). Norbert Preining <norbert@preining.info> [ultimate] (2) Norbert Preining <preining@logic.at> [ultimate] (3) Norbert Preining <preining@debian.org> [ultimate] (4) Norbert Preining <preining@jaist.ac.jp> [ unknown] (5) [jpeg image of size 4185] |
gpg> addkey Key is protected. You need a passphrase to unlock the secret key for user: "Norbert Preining <norbert@preining.info>" 4096-bit RSA key, ID 0x6CACA448860CDC13, created 2010-09-14 Enter passphrase: Please select what kind of key you want: (3) DSA (sign only) (4) RSA (sign only) (5) Elgamal (encrypt only) (6) RSA (encrypt only) (7) DSA (set your own capabilities) (8) RSA (set your own capabilities) Your selection? 6 RSA keys may be between 1024 and 4096 bits long. What keysize do you want? (2048) Requested keysize is 2048 bits Please specify how long the key should be valid. 0 = key does not expire <n> = key expires in n days <n>w = key expires in n weeks <n>m = key expires in n months <n>y = key expires in n years Key is valid for? (0) 1y Key expires at Mon 06 Feb 2017 08:10:20 PM JST Is this correct? (y/N) y Really create? (y/N) y We need to generate a lot of random bytes. It is a good idea to perform some other action (type on the keyboard, move the mouse, utilize the disks) during the prime generation; this gives the random number generator a better chance to gain enough entropy. ..+++++ ........+++++ pub 4096R/0x6CACA448860CDC13 created: 2010-09-14 expires: 2017-02-06 usage: SC trust: ultimate validity: ultimate sub* 4096R/0xD1D2BD14810F62B3 created: 2010-09-14 expires: 2017-02-06 usage: E sub 2048R/0xEC00B8DAD32266AA created: 2016-02-07 expires: 2017-02-06 usage: S sub 2048R/0xBF361ED434425B4C created: 2016-02-07 expires: 2017-02-06 usage: E [ultimate] (1). Norbert Preining <norbert@preining.info> [ultimate] (2) Norbert Preining <preining@logic.at> [ultimate] (3) Norbert Preining <preining@debian.org> [ultimate] (4) Norbert Preining <preining@jaist.ac.jp> [ unknown] (5) [jpeg image of size 4185] |
gpg> addkey Key is protected. You need a passphrase to unlock the secret key for user: "Norbert Preining <norbert@preining.info>" 4096-bit RSA key, ID 0x6CACA448860CDC13, created 2010-09-14 Enter passphrase: Please select what kind of key you want: (3) DSA (sign only) (4) RSA (sign only) (5) Elgamal (encrypt only) (6) RSA (encrypt only) (7) DSA (set your own capabilities) (8) RSA (set your own capabilities) Your selection? 8 Possible actions for a RSA key: Sign Encrypt Authenticate Current allowed actions: Sign Encrypt (S) Toggle the sign capability (E) Toggle the encrypt capability (A) Toggle the authenticate capability (Q) Finished Your selection? s Possible actions for a RSA key: Sign Encrypt Authenticate Current allowed actions: Encrypt (S) Toggle the sign capability (E) Toggle the encrypt capability (A) Toggle the authenticate capability (Q) Finished Your selection? e Possible actions for a RSA key: Sign Encrypt Authenticate Current allowed actions: (S) Toggle the sign capability (E) Toggle the encrypt capability (A) Toggle the authenticate capability (Q) Finished Your selection? a Possible actions for a RSA key: Sign Encrypt Authenticate Current allowed actions: Authenticate (S) Toggle the sign capability (E) Toggle the encrypt capability (A) Toggle the authenticate capability (Q) Finished Your selection? q RSA keys may be between 1024 and 4096 bits long. What keysize do you want? (2048) Requested keysize is 2048 bits Please specify how long the key should be valid. 0 = key does not expire <n> = key expires in n days <n>w = key expires in n weeks <n>m = key expires in n months <n>y = key expires in n years Key is valid for? (0) 1y Key expires at Mon 06 Feb 2017 08:10:34 PM JST Is this correct? (y/N) y Really create? (y/N) y We need to generate a lot of random bytes. It is a good idea to perform some other action (type on the keyboard, move the mouse, utilize the disks) during the prime generation; this gives the random number generator a better chance to gain enough entropy. ......+++++ +++++ pub 4096R/0x6CACA448860CDC13 created: 2010-09-14 expires: 2017-02-06 usage: SC trust: ultimate validity: ultimate sub* 4096R/0xD1D2BD14810F62B3 created: 2010-09-14 expires: 2017-02-06 usage: E sub 2048R/0xEC00B8DAD32266AA created: 2016-02-07 expires: 2017-02-06 usage: S sub 2048R/0xBF361ED434425B4C created: 2016-02-07 expires: 2017-02-06 usage: E sub 2048R/0x9C7CA4E294F04D49 created: 2016-02-07 expires: 2017-02-06 usage: A [ultimate] (1). Norbert Preining <norbert@preining.info> [ultimate] (2) Norbert Preining <preining@logic.at> [ultimate] (3) Norbert Preining <preining@debian.org> [ultimate] (4) Norbert Preining <preining@jaist.ac.jp> [ unknown] (5) [jpeg image of size 4185] gpg> save |
$ gpg --expert --edit-key $MASTERKEY gpg (GnuPG) 1.4.20; Copyright (C) 2015 Free Software Foundation, Inc. This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it. There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law. Secret key is available. gpg: checking the trustdb gpg: public key 0x0FC3EC02FBBB8AB1 is 58138 seconds newer than the signature gpg: 3 marginal(s) needed, 1 complete(s) needed, classic trust model gpg: depth: 0 valid: 2 signed: 28 trust: 0-, 0q, 0n, 0m, 0f, 2u gpg: depth: 1 valid: 28 signed: 41 trust: 28-, 0q, 0n, 0m, 0f, 0u gpg: next trustdb check due at 2016-11-02 pub 4096R/0x6CACA448860CDC13 created: 2010-09-14 expires: 2017-02-06 usage: SC trust: ultimate validity: ultimate sub 4096R/0xD1D2BD14810F62B3 created: 2010-09-14 expires: 2017-02-06 usage: E sub 2048R/0xEC00B8DAD32266AA created: 2016-02-07 expires: 2017-02-06 usage: S sub 2048R/0xBF361ED434425B4C created: 2016-02-07 expires: 2017-02-06 usage: E sub 2048R/0x9C7CA4E294F04D49 created: 2016-02-07 expires: 2017-02-06 usage: A [ultimate] (1). Norbert Preining <norbert@preining.info> [ultimate] (2) Norbert Preining <preining@logic.at> [ultimate] (3) Norbert Preining <preining@debian.org> [ultimate] (4) Norbert Preining <preining@jaist.ac.jp> [ultimate] (5) [jpeg image of size 4185] gpg> |
$ gpg --gen-revoke $MASTERKEY > GPG/revoke-certificate-$MASTERKEY.txt sec 4096R/0x6CACA448860CDC13 2010-09-14 Norbert Preining <norbert@preining.info> Create a revocation certificate for this key? (y/N) y Please select the reason for the revocation: 0 = No reason specified 1 = Key has been compromised 2 = Key is superseded 3 = Key is no longer used Q = Cancel (Probably you want to select 1 here) Your decision? 1 Enter an optional description; end it with an empty line: > Reason for revocation: Key has been compromised (No description given) Is this okay? (y/N) y You need a passphrase to unlock the secret key for user: "Norbert Preining <norbert@preining.info>" 4096-bit RSA key, ID 0x6CACA448860CDC13, created 2010-09-14 Enter passphrase: ASCII armored output forced. Revocation certificate created. |
$ killall gpg-agent |
$ gpg2 -K $MASTERKEY gpg: keyserver option 'ca-cert-file' is obsolete; please use 'hkp-cacert' in dirmngr.conf gpg: starting migration from earlier GnuPG versions gpg: porting secret keys from '/home/norbert/.gnupg/secring.gpg' to gpg-agent gpg: key 0xD2BF4AA309C5B094: secret key imported gpg: key 0x6CACA448860CDC13: secret key imported gpg: migration succeeded sec rsa4096/0x6CACA448860CDC13 2010-09-14 [SC] [expires: 2017-02-06] Key fingerprint = F7D8 A928 26E3 16A1 9FA0 ACF0 6CAC A448 860C DC13 uid [ultimate] Norbert Preining <norbert@preining.info> uid [ultimate] Norbert Preining <preining@logic.at> uid [ultimate] Norbert Preining <preining@debian.org> uid [ultimate] Norbert Preining <preining@jaist.ac.jp> uid [ultimate] [jpeg image of size 4185] ssb rsa4096/0xD1D2BD14810F62B3 2010-09-14 [E] [expires: 2017-02-06] ssb rsa2048/0xEC00B8DAD32266AA 2016-02-07 [S] [expires: 2017-02-06] ssb rsa2048/0xBF361ED434425B4C 2016-02-07 [E] [expires: 2017-02-06] ssb rsa2048/0x9C7CA4E294F04D49 2016-02-07 [A] [expires: 2017-02-06] |
%Assuan% socket=/dev/shm/S.gpg-agent |
$ gpg2 --edit-key $MASTERKEY gpg (GnuPG) 2.1.11; Copyright (C) 2016 Free Software Foundation, Inc. This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it. There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law. Secret key is available. sec rsa4096/0x6CACA448860CDC13 created: 2010-09-14 expires: 2017-02-06 usage: SC trust: ultimate validity: ultimate ssb rsa4096/0xD1D2BD14810F62B3 created: 2010-09-14 expires: 2017-02-06 usage: E ssb rsa2048/0xEC00B8DAD32266AA created: 2016-02-07 expires: 2017-02-06 usage: S ssb rsa2048/0xBF361ED434425B4C created: 2016-02-07 expires: 2017-02-06 usage: E ssb rsa2048/0x9C7CA4E294F04D49 created: 2016-02-07 expires: 2017-02-06 usage: A [ultimate] (1). Norbert Preining <norbert@preining.info> [ultimate] (2) Norbert Preining <preining@logic.at> [ultimate] (3) Norbert Preining <preining@debian.org> [ultimate] (4) Norbert Preining <preining@jaist.ac.jp> [ultimate] (5) [jpeg image of size 4185] gpg> key 2 sec rsa4096/0x6CACA448860CDC13 created: 2010-09-14 expires: 2017-02-06 usage: SC trust: ultimate validity: ultimate ssb rsa4096/0xD1D2BD14810F62B3 created: 2010-09-14 expires: 2017-02-06 usage: E ssb* rsa2048/0xEC00B8DAD32266AA created: 2016-02-07 expires: 2017-02-06 usage: S ssb rsa2048/0xBF361ED434425B4C created: 2016-02-07 expires: 2017-02-06 usage: E ssb rsa2048/0x9C7CA4E294F04D49 created: 2016-02-07 expires: 2017-02-06 usage: A [ultimate] (1). Norbert Preining <norbert@preining.info> [ultimate] (2) Norbert Preining <preining@logic.at> [ultimate] (3) Norbert Preining <preining@debian.org> [ultimate] (4) Norbert Preining <preining@jaist.ac.jp> [ultimate] (5) [jpeg image of size 4185] gpg> keytocard Please select where to store the key: (1) Signature key (3) Authentication key Your selection? 1 sec rsa4096/0x6CACA448860CDC13 created: 2010-09-14 expires: 2017-02-06 usage: SC trust: ultimate validity: ultimate ssb rsa4096/0xD1D2BD14810F62B3 created: 2010-09-14 expires: 2017-02-06 usage: E ssb* rsa2048/0xEC00B8DAD32266AA created: 2016-02-07 expires: 2017-02-06 usage: S ssb rsa2048/0xBF361ED434425B4C created: 2016-02-07 expires: 2017-02-06 usage: E ssb rsa2048/0x9C7CA4E294F04D49 created: 2016-02-07 expires: 2017-02-06 usage: A [ultimate] (1). Norbert Preining <norbert@preining.info> [ultimate] (2) Norbert Preining <preining@logic.at> [ultimate] (3) Norbert Preining <preining@debian.org> [ultimate] (4) Norbert Preining <preining@jaist.ac.jp> [ultimate] (5) [jpeg image of size 4185] gpg> key 2 sec rsa4096/0x6CACA448860CDC13 created: 2010-09-14 expires: 2017-02-06 usage: SC trust: ultimate validity: ultimate ssb rsa4096/0xD1D2BD14810F62B3 created: 2010-09-14 expires: 2017-02-06 usage: E ssb rsa2048/0xEC00B8DAD32266AA created: 2016-02-07 expires: 2017-02-06 usage: S ssb rsa2048/0xBF361ED434425B4C created: 2016-02-07 expires: 2017-02-06 usage: E ssb rsa2048/0x9C7CA4E294F04D49 created: 2016-02-07 expires: 2017-02-06 usage: A [ultimate] (1). Norbert Preining <norbert@preining.info> [ultimate] (2) Norbert Preining <preining@logic.at> [ultimate] (3) Norbert Preining <preining@debian.org> [ultimate] (4) Norbert Preining <preining@jaist.ac.jp> [ultimate] (5) [jpeg image of size 4185] gpg> key 3 sec rsa4096/0x6CACA448860CDC13 created: 2010-09-14 expires: 2017-02-06 usage: SC trust: ultimate validity: ultimate ssb rsa4096/0xD1D2BD14810F62B3 created: 2010-09-14 expires: 2017-02-06 usage: E ssb rsa2048/0xEC00B8DAD32266AA created: 2016-02-07 expires: 2017-02-06 usage: S ssb* rsa2048/0xBF361ED434425B4C created: 2016-02-07 expires: 2017-02-06 usage: E ssb rsa2048/0x9C7CA4E294F04D49 created: 2016-02-07 expires: 2017-02-06 usage: A [ultimate] (1). Norbert Preining <norbert@preining.info> [ultimate] (2) Norbert Preining <preining@logic.at> [ultimate] (3) Norbert Preining <preining@debian.org> [ultimate] (4) Norbert Preining <preining@jaist.ac.jp> [ultimate] (5) [jpeg image of size 4185] gpg> keytocard Please select where to store the key: (2) Encryption key Your selection? 2 sec rsa4096/0x6CACA448860CDC13 created: 2010-09-14 expires: 2017-02-06 usage: SC trust: ultimate validity: ultimate ssb rsa4096/0xD1D2BD14810F62B3 created: 2010-09-14 expires: 2017-02-06 usage: E ssb rsa2048/0xEC00B8DAD32266AA created: 2016-02-07 expires: 2017-02-06 usage: S ssb* rsa2048/0xBF361ED434425B4C created: 2016-02-07 expires: 2017-02-06 usage: E ssb rsa2048/0x9C7CA4E294F04D49 created: 2016-02-07 expires: 2017-02-06 usage: A [ultimate] (1). Norbert Preining <norbert@preining.info> [ultimate] (2) Norbert Preining <preining@logic.at> [ultimate] (3) Norbert Preining <preining@debian.org> [ultimate] (4) Norbert Preining <preining@jaist.ac.jp> [ultimate] (5) [jpeg image of size 4185] gpg> key 3 sec rsa4096/0x6CACA448860CDC13 created: 2010-09-14 expires: 2017-02-06 usage: SC trust: ultimate validity: ultimate ssb rsa4096/0xD1D2BD14810F62B3 created: 2010-09-14 expires: 2017-02-06 usage: E ssb rsa2048/0xEC00B8DAD32266AA created: 2016-02-07 expires: 2017-02-06 usage: S ssb rsa2048/0xBF361ED434425B4C created: 2016-02-07 expires: 2017-02-06 usage: E ssb rsa2048/0x9C7CA4E294F04D49 created: 2016-02-07 expires: 2017-02-06 usage: A [ultimate] (1). Norbert Preining <norbert@preining.info> [ultimate] (2) Norbert Preining <preining@logic.at> [ultimate] (3) Norbert Preining <preining@debian.org> [ultimate] (4) Norbert Preining <preining@jaist.ac.jp> [ultimate] (5) [jpeg image of size 4185] gpg> key 4 sec rsa4096/0x6CACA448860CDC13 created: 2010-09-14 expires: 2017-02-06 usage: SC trust: ultimate validity: ultimate ssb rsa4096/0xD1D2BD14810F62B3 created: 2010-09-14 expires: 2017-02-06 usage: E ssb rsa2048/0xEC00B8DAD32266AA created: 2016-02-07 expires: 2017-02-06 usage: S ssb rsa2048/0xBF361ED434425B4C created: 2016-02-07 expires: 2017-02-06 usage: E ssb* rsa2048/0x9C7CA4E294F04D49 created: 2016-02-07 expires: 2017-02-06 usage: A [ultimate] (1). Norbert Preining <norbert@preining.info> [ultimate] (2) Norbert Preining <preining@logic.at> [ultimate] (3) Norbert Preining <preining@debian.org> [ultimate] (4) Norbert Preining <preining@jaist.ac.jp> [ultimate] (5) [jpeg image of size 4185] gpg> keytocard Please select where to store the key: (3) Authentication key Your selection? 3 sec rsa4096/0x6CACA448860CDC13 created: 2010-09-14 expires: 2017-02-06 usage: SC trust: ultimate validity: ultimate ssb rsa4096/0xD1D2BD14810F62B3 created: 2010-09-14 expires: 2017-02-06 usage: E ssb rsa2048/0xEC00B8DAD32266AA created: 2016-02-07 expires: 2017-02-06 usage: S ssb rsa2048/0xBF361ED434425B4C created: 2016-02-07 expires: 2017-02-06 usage: E ssb* rsa2048/0x9C7CA4E294F04D49 created: 2016-02-07 expires: 2017-02-06 usage: A [ultimate] (1). Norbert Preining <norbert@preining.info> [ultimate] (2) Norbert Preining <preining@logic.at> [ultimate] (3) Norbert Preining <preining@debian.org> [ultimate] (4) Norbert Preining <preining@jaist.ac.jp> [ultimate] (5) [jpeg image of size 4185] gpg> key 4 sec rsa4096/0x6CACA448860CDC13 created: 2010-09-14 expires: 2017-02-06 usage: SC trust: ultimate validity: ultimate ssb rsa4096/0xD1D2BD14810F62B3 created: 2010-09-14 expires: 2017-02-06 usage: E ssb rsa2048/0xEC00B8DAD32266AA created: 2016-02-07 expires: 2017-02-06 usage: S ssb rsa2048/0xBF361ED434425B4C created: 2016-02-07 expires: 2017-02-06 usage: E ssb rsa2048/0x9C7CA4E294F04D49 created: 2016-02-07 expires: 2017-02-06 usage: A [ultimate] (1). Norbert Preining <norbert@preining.info> [ultimate] (2) Norbert Preining <preining@logic.at> [ultimate] (3) Norbert Preining <preining@debian.org> [ultimate] (4) Norbert Preining <preining@jaist.ac.jp> [ultimate] (5) [jpeg image of size 4185] gpg> save |
$ gpg2 -K $MASTERKEY gpg: keyserver option 'ca-cert-file' is obsolete; please use 'hkp-cacert' in dirmngr.conf sec rsa4096/0x6CACA448860CDC13 2010-09-14 [SC] [expires: 2017-02-06] Key fingerprint = F7D8 A928 26E3 16A1 9FA0 ACF0 6CAC A448 860C DC13 uid [ultimate] Norbert Preining <norbert@preining.info> uid [ultimate] Norbert Preining <preining@logic.at> uid [ultimate] Norbert Preining <preining@debian.org> uid [ultimate] Norbert Preining <preining@jaist.ac.jp> uid [ultimate] [jpeg image of size 4185] ssb rsa4096/0xD1D2BD14810F62B3 2010-09-14 [E] [expires: 2017-02-06] ssb> rsa2048/0xEC00B8DAD32266AA 2016-02-07 [S] [expires: 2017-02-06] ssb> rsa2048/0xBF361ED434425B4C 2016-02-07 [E] [expires: 2017-02-06] ssb> rsa2048/0x9C7CA4E294F04D49 2016-02-07 [A] [expires: 2017-02-06] $ gpg -K $MASTERKEY sec 4096R/0x6CACA448860CDC13 2010-09-14 [expires: 2017-02-06] Key fingerprint = F7D8 A928 26E3 16A1 9FA0 ACF0 6CAC A448 860C DC13 uid Norbert Preining <norbert@preining.info> uid Norbert Preining <preining@logic.at> uid Norbert Preining <preining@debian.org> uid Norbert Preining <preining@jaist.ac.jp> uid [jpeg image of size 4185] ssb 4096R/0xD1D2BD14810F62B3 2010-09-14 [expires: 2017-02-06] ssb 2048R/0xEC00B8DAD32266AA 2016-02-07 [expires: 2017-02-06] ssb 2048R/0xBF361ED434425B4C 2016-02-07 [expires: 2017-02-06] ssb 2048R/0x9C7CA4E294F04D49 2016-02-07 [expires: 2017-02-06] $ gpg2 --card-status .... Name of cardholder: Norbert Preining .... PIN retry counter : 3 3 3 Signature counter : 0 Signature key ....: 5871 F824 2DCC 3660 2362 BE7D EC00 B8DA D322 66AA created ....: 2016-02-07 11:10:06 Encryption key....: 2501 195C 90AB F4D2 3DEA A303 BF36 1ED4 3442 5B4C created ....: 2016-02-07 11:10:20 Authentication key: 9CFB 3775 C164 0E99 F0C8 014C 9C7C A4E2 94F0 4D49 created ....: 2016-02-07 11:10:34 General key info..: sub rsa2048/0xEC00B8DAD32266AA 2016-02-07 Norbert Preining <norbert@preining.info> sec rsa4096/0x6CACA448860CDC13 created: 2010-09-14 expires: 2017-02-06 ssb rsa4096/0xD1D2BD14810F62B3 created: 2010-09-14 expires: 2017-02-06 ssb> rsa2048/0xEC00B8DAD32266AA created: 2016-02-07 expires: 2017-02-06 card-no: 0006 03645719 ssb> rsa2048/0xBF361ED434425B4C created: 2016-02-07 expires: 2017-02-06 card-no: 0006 03645719 ssb> rsa2048/0x9C7CA4E294F04D49 created: 2016-02-07 expires: 2017-02-06 card-no: 0006 03645719 $ |
$ gpg2 --with-keygrip --list-key $MASTERKEY pub rsa4096/0x6CACA448860CDC13 2010-09-14 [SC] [expires: 2017-02-06] Key fingerprint = F7D8 A928 26E3 16A1 9FA0 ACF0 6CAC A448 860C DC13 Keygrip = 9DC1E90703856C1DE0EAC970CED7ABF5EE5EF79D uid [ultimate] Norbert Preining <norbert@preining.info> uid [ultimate] Norbert Preining <preining@logic.at> uid [ultimate] Norbert Preining <preining@debian.org> uid [ultimate] Norbert Preining <preining@jaist.ac.jp> uid [ultimate] [jpeg image of size 4185] sub rsa4096/0xD1D2BD14810F62B3 2010-09-14 [E] [expires: 2017-02-06] Keygrip = 4B8FF57434DD989243666377376903281D861596 sub rsa2048/0xEC00B8DAD32266AA 2016-02-07 [S] [expires: 2017-02-06] Keygrip = 39B14EF1392F2F251863A87AE4D44CE502755C39 sub rsa2048/0xBF361ED434425B4C 2016-02-07 [E] [expires: 2017-02-06] Keygrip = E41C8DDB2A22976AE0DA8D7D11F586EA793203EA sub rsa2048/0x9C7CA4E294F04D49 2016-02-07 [A] [expires: 2017-02-06] Keygrip = A337DE390143074C6DBFEA64224359B9859B02FC $ rm ~/.gnupg/private-keys-v1.d/9DC1E90703856C1DE0EAC970CED7ABF5EE5EF79D.key $ |
$ gpg2 -K $MASTERKEY sec# rsa4096/0x6CACA448860CDC13 2010-09-14 [SC] [expires: 2017-02-06] ... |
$ gpg --output secret-subkeys --export-secret-subkeys $MASTERKEY $ gpg --delete-secret-keys $MASTERKEY sec 4096R/0x6CACA448860CDC13 2010-09-14 Norbert Preining <norbert@preining.info> Delete this key from the keyring? (y/N) y This is a secret key! - really delete? (y/N) y $ gpg --import secret-subkeys gpg: key 0x6CACA448860CDC13: secret key imported gpg: key 0x6CACA448860CDC13: "Norbert Preining <norbert@preining.info>" not changed gpg: Total number processed: 1 gpg: unchanged: 1 gpg: secret keys read: 1 gpg: secret keys imported: 1 $ |
$ gpg2 -K $MASTERKEY sec# rsa4096/0x6CACA448860CDC13 2010-09-14 [SC] [expires: 2017-02-06] Key fingerprint = F7D8 A928 26E3 16A1 9FA0 ACF0 6CAC A448 860C DC13 uid [ultimate] Norbert Preining <norbert@preining.info> uid [ultimate] Norbert Preining <preining@logic.at> uid [ultimate] Norbert Preining <preining@debian.org> uid [ultimate] Norbert Preining <preining@jaist.ac.jp> uid [ultimate] [jpeg image of size 4185] ssb rsa4096/0xD1D2BD14810F62B3 2010-09-14 [E] [expires: 2017-02-06] ssb> rsa2048/0xEC00B8DAD32266AA 2016-02-07 [S] [expires: 2017-02-06] ssb> rsa2048/0xBF361ED434425B4C 2016-02-07 [E] [expires: 2017-02-06] ssb> rsa2048/0x9C7CA4E294F04D49 2016-02-07 [A] [expires: 2017-02-06] $ |
$ gpg -K $MASTERKEY sec# 4096R/0x6CACA448860CDC13 2010-09-14 [expires: 2017-02-06] Key fingerprint = F7D8 A928 26E3 16A1 9FA0 ACF0 6CAC A448 860C DC13 uid Norbert Preining <norbert@preining.info> uid Norbert Preining <preining@logic.at> uid Norbert Preining <preining@debian.org> uid Norbert Preining <preining@jaist.ac.jp> uid [jpeg image of size 4185] ssb 4096R/0xD1D2BD14810F62B3 2010-09-14 [expires: 2017-02-06] ssb 2048R/0xEC00B8DAD32266AA 2016-02-07 [expires: 2017-02-06] ssb 2048R/0xBF361ED434425B4C 2016-02-07 [expires: 2017-02-06] ssb 2048R/0x9C7CA4E294F04D49 2016-02-07 [expires: 2017-02-06] $ |
$ cp -a .gnupg .gnupg-mail $ cd .gnupg-mail $ rm -rf private-keys-v1.d/ pubring.gpg~ reader_0.status $ rm -rf S.gpg-agent* S.scdaemon .gpg-v21-migrated |
$ cd $HOME/.gnupg $ rm secring.gpg |
gpg --keyserver hkp://keyring.debian.org --send-key YOURMASTERKEYID |
gpg --keyserver hkp://pool.sks-keyservers.net --send-key $MASTERKEY |
These should work pretty well for Debian as well. I mean for the project in general, for getting all kinds of new people in, and getting them to stay, not just women, even if the gender imbalance is perhaps the biggest glaring problem we have. As a concrete suggestion, maybe it would be a good idea to continue the Debian party line that Joey set up for the squeeze release. We already have IRC, but having an audio chat with your Debian peers might be a nice addition. Specifically a social one, instead of something intended to boost productivity.
- Be a leader. Take responsibility for the tone of your group. If potential new members are being made to feel uncomfortable and aren t coming back, you re doing it wrong. As a leader, it is your job to prioritize the comfort of your attendees in programs, group dynamics, and communications. Try to put yourself in other members shoes and also ask for feedback.
- Promote a sense of community. Take the time to socialize and get to know each other. If you re group isn t primarily a social group, thinking about adding some social time. Go to breakfast before the protest, compose your letters to the editor over coffee, or grab a pizza and beer after that lecture. When you know each other, you have each others backs. Being a jerk isn t tolerated.
- Moderate discussions. Make sure everyone has the opportunity to participate- new people, quiet people, etc. Don t let conversation be dominated by one or two people who must win.
- Embrace and accept different ways of communicating. Whether someone is an aggressive debater or not, make sure they re still welcome. The other atheist in the room isn t your enemy.
- Encourage subgroups. Every event your group hosts doesn t need to appeal to your entire membership. Many women appreciate women-only space to express their nonbelief and to connect with other atheist women. Here at the Humanist Community of Central Ohio, we started a subgroup book club called Reasonable Women. When it grew to have about 25 regular members and was beginning to be a little too large and unwieldy to function as a book club, we created a second group, Heathen Chicks, which is just a social group that meets at a local cafe. It isn t just about creating women only space, for us, this has been a way to draw more women into other events our group hosts.
- Foster women in leadership. Groups with women in leadership positions tend to have more women. Encourage women in your group to be visible in leadership.
Next.