#acl PaulHowarth:read,write,admin,revert,delete All:read

=== Wednesday 14th May 2008 ===

==== Fedora 9 ====

I got a shiny new PC at work this week so of course Fedora 9 had to be the OS.
I'm up and running now after overcoming a few quirks.

===== Network =====

Fedora 9 uses [[http://www.gnome.org/projects/NetworkManager/|NetworkManager]] by default rather than the traditional
`network` initscript. A consequence of this is that the network comes up later in the boot sequence and the
hostname stays as `localhost.localdomain` unless you tell it to use something else.
I did this by using `system-config-network` and setting the hostname on the DNS tab.

However, this is not sufficient to support a usable workstation on the LAN
(i.e. one that uses network-based authentication and home directories),
so it's back to the old style for this release at least:
{{{
# chkconfig NetworkManager off
# chkconfig network on
# service NetworkManager stop
# service network start
}}}

===== 32-bit Application Support on x86_64 =====

For one reason or another, it's necessary to run some 32-bit applications on a 64-bit OS.
In Fedora 9, the default multilib policy is to install only 64-bit packages by default and
pull in 32-bit packages only when explicitly required. This differs from previous Fedora
releases where both 32- and 64-bit versions of packages were installed by default when available
(this mostly covers libraries and a few key applications like `wine`).

A consequence of this change is that some 32-bit applications may fail in strange ways
due to missing 32-bit support libraries, particularly where the dependencies aren't obvious
(e.g. with VMware, which has no explicit dependencies at all), or with `pam`, where the
dependencies depend on system configuration.

Since my company uses LDAP authentication, a lot of pain can be saved by installing the 32-bit `nss_ldap` package
if there is any intention of running 32-bit software like VMware or Sun's Java Web Start:
{{{
# yum install nss_ldap.i386
}}}

Without this, attempting to start `vmware` resulted in this:
{{{
$ vmware
Cannot get temporary directory for log file.


VMware Server Error:
VMware Server unrecoverable error: (vmui)
Cannot get temporary directory for log file.
Please request support.  
To collect files to submit to VMware support, run vm-support.
We will respond on the basis of your support entitlement.


Press "Enter" to continue...
}}}

I'd expect that most people using 32-bit software would at least need `pam.i386`.

===== VMware Server =====

{{{
# rpm -Uvh VMware-server-1.0.5-80187.i386.rpm
}}}

Before configuring VMware, it's necessary to install a few additional packages, patch the kernel modules, and make an SELinux tweak. VMware defaults to using a reserved port (902) for the server; it's easier to make it play
nice with SELinux by using an unreserved port such as 4800.
{{{
# yum install gcc-c++ kernel-devel xinetd 'perl(ExtUtils::MakeMaker)' 'perl(ExtUtils::Embed)' libXt.so.6 libXtst.so.6 libXrender.so.1 libz.so.1 libgdk-x11-2.0.so.0
# cd
# semanage port -a -t inetd_child_port_t -p tcp 4800
# wget http://download.rsbac.org/tmp/vmware-any-any-update117.tar.gz
# tar xf vmware-any-any-update117.tar.gz
# cd vmware-any-any-update117
# ./runme.pl
# restorecon -v /etc/services
}}}
{i} I found the `vmware-any-any-update117.tar.gz` reference at http://sidux.com/PNphpBB2-printview-t-8493-start-0.html

/!\ I found that I had to remove the computer account for my virtual machine on the domain and re-add it before I could log in using domain credentials. I suspect that this was a result of moving the virtual machine from my old machine to the new one but I'm not sure about that.

{i} Although VMware supply many of the GUI libraries needed for the console, there's a compatibility issue with Fedora 9. If the Fedora versions of `libgdk-x11-2.0.so.0` and its dependencies aren't installed, attempting to start `vmware` results in this:
{{{
$ vmware
/usr/share/themes/Nodoka/gtk-2.0/gtkrc:37: error: unexpected character `(', expected character `}'
Locking assertion failure.  Backtrace:
#0 /usr/lib/libxcb-xlib.so.0 [0x3a7767]
#1 /usr/lib/libxcb-xlib.so.0(xcb_xlib_unlock+0x31) [0x3a7831]
#2 /usr/lib/libX11.so.6(_XReply+0x244) [0x2e8f64]
#3 /usr/lib/vmware/lib/libXrender.so.1/libXrender.so.1(XRenderQueryFormats+0x109) [0x1d9969]
#4 /usr/lib/vmware/lib/libXrender.so.1/libXrender.so.1(XRenderFindFormat+0x4c) [0x1d9f4c]
#5 /usr/lib/vmware/lib/libgdk-x11-2.0.so.0/libgdk-x11-2.0.so.0 [0x538180]
#6 /usr/lib/vmware/lib/libgdk-x11-2.0.so.0/libgdk-x11-2.0.so.0 [0x538d2c]
#7 /usr/lib/vmware/lib/libgdk-x11-2.0.so.0/libgdk-x11-2.0.so.0(gdk_draw_pixbuf+0x270) [0x508c14]
#8 /usr/lib/vmware/lib/libgdk-x11-2.0.so.0/libgdk-x11-2.0.so.0 [0x51524f]
#9 /usr/lib/vmware/lib/libgdk-x11-2.0.so.0/libgdk-x11-2.0.so.0(gdk_draw_pixbuf+0x270) [0x508c14]
#10 /usr/lib/vmware/lib/libgdk-x11-2.0.so.0/libgdk-x11-2.0.so.0(gdk_pixbuf_render_pixmap_and_mask_for_colormap+0x255) [0x514b34]
#11 /usr/lib/vmware/lib/libgtk-x11-2.0.so.0/libgtk-x11-2.0.so.0 [0xaca298]
#12 /usr/lib/vmware/lib/libgtk-x11-2.0.so.0/libgtk-x11-2.0.so.0 [0xaca586]
#13 /usr/lib/vmware/lib/libgtk-x11-2.0.so.0/libgtk-x11-2.0.so.0 [0xacc77e]
#14 /usr/lib/vmware/lib/libgobject-2.0.so.0/libgobject-2.0.so.0(g_cclosure_marshal_VOID__VOID+0xd1) [0x218459]
#15 /usr/lib/vmware/lib/libgobject-2.0.so.0/libgobject-2.0.so.0 [0x2003a1]
#16 /usr/lib/vmware/lib/libgobject-2.0.so.0/libgobject-2.0.so.0(g_closure_invoke+0x1b1) [0x200076]
#17 /usr/lib/vmware/lib/libgobject-2.0.so.0/libgobject-2.0.so.0 [0x2176eb]
#18 /usr/lib/vmware/lib/libgobject-2.0.so.0/libgobject-2.0.so.0(g_signal_emit_valist+0x91e) [0x216d46]
#19 /usr/lib/vmware/lib/libgobject-2.0.so.0/libgobject-2.0.so.0(g_signal_emit+0x38) [0x2170b8]
Locking assertion failure.  Backtrace:
#0 /usr/lib/libxcb-xlib.so.0 [0x3a7767]
#1 /usr/lib/libxcb-xlib.so.0(xcb_xlib_lock+0x2e) [0x3a790e]
#2 /usr/lib/libX11.so.6 [0x2e8109]
#3 /usr/lib/libX11.so.6(XAddExtension+0x2c) [0x2ca23c]
#4 /usr/lib/vmware/lib/libXft.so.2/libXft.so.2(_XftDisplayInfoGet+0x77) [0x1eaed7]
#5 /usr/lib/vmware/lib/libXft.so.2/libXft.so.2 [0x1e98b1]
#6 /usr/lib/vmware/lib/libXft.so.2/libXft.so.2 [0x1e9d39]
#7 /usr/lib/vmware/lib/libXft.so.2/libXft.so.2(XftDrawPicture+0x10) [0x1e9ec0]
#8 /usr/lib/vmware/lib/libgdk-x11-2.0.so.0/libgdk-x11-2.0.so.0 [0x5369b6]
#9 /usr/lib/vmware/lib/libgdk-x11-2.0.so.0/libgdk-x11-2.0.so.0 [0x538d75]
#10 /usr/lib/vmware/lib/libgdk-x11-2.0.so.0/libgdk-x11-2.0.so.0(gdk_draw_pixbuf+0x270) [0x508c14]
#11 /usr/lib/vmware/lib/libgdk-x11-2.0.so.0/libgdk-x11-2.0.so.0 [0x51524f]
#12 /usr/lib/vmware/lib/libgdk-x11-2.0.so.0/libgdk-x11-2.0.so.0(gdk_draw_pixbuf+0x270) [0x508c14]
#13 /usr/lib/vmware/lib/libgdk-x11-2.0.so.0/libgdk-x11-2.0.so.0(gdk_pixbuf_render_pixmap_and_mask_for_colormap+0x255) [0x514b34]
#14 /usr/lib/vmware/lib/libgtk-x11-2.0.so.0/libgtk-x11-2.0.so.0 [0xaca298]
#15 /usr/lib/vmware/lib/libgtk-x11-2.0.so.0/libgtk-x11-2.0.so.0 [0xaca586]
#16 /usr/lib/vmware/lib/libgtk-x11-2.0.so.0/libgtk-x11-2.0.so.0 [0xacc77e]
#17 /usr/lib/vmware/lib/libgobject-2.0.so.0/libgobject-2.0.so.0(g_cclosure_marshal_VOID__VOID+0xd1) [0x218459]
#18 /usr/lib/vmware/lib/libgobject-2.0.so.0/libgobject-2.0.so.0 [0x2003a1]
#19 /usr/lib/vmware/lib/libgobject-2.0.so.0/libgobject-2.0.so.0(g_closure_invoke+0x1b1) [0x200076]
vmware: xcb_lock.c:77: _XGetXCBBuffer: Assertion `((int) ((xcb_req) - (dpy->request)) >= 0)' failed.
}}}
{i} '''Update:''' Since writing this, VMware-server version 1.0.6 has been released, which does not require the any-any-update to build the kernel modules in Fedora 9.

==== Fedora Project ====

 * Updated `pptp` to 1.7.2 in Rawhide; the newly-added Solaris compatibility in this version requires `stropts.h`, which isn't shipped in Fedora 9 onwards, though it was harmless to simply patch that out

==== Local Packages ====

 * Updated `pptp` to 1.7.2, with extra patch added to support building on Red Hat Linux 7 and 8.

==== PPTP Project ====

 * Updated `pptp.spec` in CVS for the new release, built the 1.7.2 packages for all supported distribution releases, and updated the repositories to support Fedora 9

----