Leo:Ubuntu config

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Revision as of 08:53, 3 September 2015 by Leo (talk | contribs) (→‎Version control)
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This list gets updated as I remember or install new essentials for my Ubuntu environment.


Private config

I have my private config in a SVN repository, so I can update my various workspaces. Some examples for stuff in my configuration:

  • startup scripts: .bashrc and various dot-files
  • aliases
  • ~/bin - various custom scripts
  • ~/lib - custom libraries
  • icons
  • work environment configurations, for example, custom menus in Nautilus

One could keep the configuration in Dropbox or similar cloud storage, but I choose not to because of security reasons.


Before setup, BACKUP!

Remember to back up:

  • home directory
cp -prx /home/myuser /backup/home/myuser
  • /etc
  • /var
  • machine ssh keys, if you want to preserve them (from /etc/ssh)
  • mysql (and other) databases. May need to dump to files, or stop the server before backup. Also make sure you know the path to the database files, they may be somewhere else.

Config

Power button to shutdown, no prompts

sudo gedit /etc/acpi/events/powerbtn
  1. Add # to comment the line: # action=/etc/acpi/powerbtn.sh
  2. Add a new line: action=/sbin/poweroff
  3. Save file
sudo acpid restart


Restore machine key

Backup the old (source) machine keys (before the teardown or reinstall) from /etc/ssh, then copy to the target machine, same location. Modify the path below as needed. 

cp -prx /etc/ssh /etc/ssh

System essentials

Communication, access

SSH server for remote access, subversion 

sudo apt-get install openssh-server subversion

Desktop alternative

Gnome 3 and others 

sudo apt-get install gnome-shell

Tweak tools

The latest Ubuntu-tweak is not in standard repos, so add the latest: 

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:tualatrix/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install ubuntu-tweak

The other tweak tools: 

sudo apt-get install unity-tweak-tool
sudo apt-get install gnome-tweak-tool
sudo apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager

Development environment

Editors and IDEs

sudo apt-get install mc geany texinfo

Install Sublime Text editor from http://www.sublimetext.com/3

Build and test tools

sudo apt-get install build-essential gtkterm

Version control

sudo apt-get install git subversion rapidsvn meld

May also consider installing FreeFileSync for convenient file synchronization across directories or filesystems. 

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:freefilesync/ffs
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install freefilesync


Cloud storage

  • Back up the dropbox files
  • Download the latest deb from Dropbox
  • Configure

Media

Photos and graphics

sudo apt-get install gimp

Video playback and edit

sudo apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-extras flashplugin-installer mplayer avidemux vlc

To get DVDs playing nicely 

sudo apt-get install libdvdread4 
sudo /usr/share/doc/libdvdread4/install-css.sh

Media centers: Kodi/XBMC is now in Ubuntu repository. But I prefer the newer team-xbmc/ppa 

sudo apt-get install python-software-properties pkg-config software-properties-common
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:team-xbmc/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install kodi

Common codecs: 

sudo apt-get install libxine1-ffmpeg gxine mencoder totem-mozilla icedax tagtool easytag id3tool lame nautilus-script-audio-convert libmad0 mpg321

Latex

sudo apt-get install texlive texlive-latex-extra texlive-xetex texlive-fonts-recommended texlive-publishers texinfo


Microsoft fonts

...so that MS documents look better. 

sudo apt-get install msttcorefonts
sudo fc-cache -fv


Virtual Box

Get the latest VirtualBox for Linux here.

After that, restore your saved VirtualBox images. The location depends on your current version and setup, but here are a few usual suspects: ".VirtualBox", "VirtualBox VMs"


Secured Filesystem

Cloud file storage such as Dropbox is nice. Even nicer if it is encrypted. Here is how:

Install prerequisites

sudo apt-get install encfs libpam-mount
sudo adduser <<yourusername>> fuse

For syncing you may want dvcs-autosync for syncing with your own servers: 

sudo apt-get install dvcs-autosync

Set up the mount for secured filesystem

encfs path-to-mountpoint-dir path-to-storage-dir-for-encrypted-files

Enter the relevant parameters and the password (Same as for the logging in, if you want to auto-mount this at login). 'p' for paranoia parameters work, but 'x' for expert may yield better performance with the following options:

  • ‘1’ to use the AES cipher algorithm
  • ‘256’ for the key size
  • ‘1024’ for the block size
  • ‘1’ for block filename encoding
  • ‘y’ for filename initialization vector chaining
  • ‘n’ for per-file initialization vectors
  • ‘n’ for block authentication code headers
  • '0' for no random bytes to each block header
  • ‘y’ for file-hole pass-through

Note, the mounted directory may not be able to use hard links to files due to chaining enabled.

Setup auto-mount at login

sudo gedit /etc/security/pam_mount.conf.xml

Look for the line: 

<!-- Volume definitions -->

Add this new line below: 

<volume user="<yourusername>" fstype="fuse" path="encfs#/home/<yourusername>/<encfs-storage-dir>" mountpoint="/home/<yourusername>/<encfs-mountpoint>" />

Credit for this goes to this site.

Alternative: Add encfs password to keyring

Put the EncFS password into the keyring: 

python gkeyring.py --set -n "Dropbox Private" -p encfs=dropbox --keyring login
> Password: <enter EncFS password here>

Mounting the EncFS folder with a Python script. Add this script to the list of start-up applications: 

#!/usr/bin/python2.6

import os.path
import subprocess
import sys
import gtk
import gnomekeyring as gk

# paths constants:
PATH_ENCRYPTED = os.path.expanduser("~/Dropbox/Encrypted")
PATH_DECRYPTED = os.path.expanduser("~/Private")

# get the encfs-dropbox item:
try:
    items = gk.find_items_sync(gk.ITEM_GENERIC_SECRET, {"encfs": "dropbox"})
    item = items[0] # clean up your keyring if this list has multiple items
except gk.NoMatchError:
    print("no entry in keyring")
    sys.exit(1)

# run encfs:
cmd = ["encfs", "-S", PATH_ENCRYPTED, PATH_DECRYPTED]
p = subprocess.Popen(cmd, stdin=subprocess.PIPE)
err = p.communicate(input="%s\n" % item.secret)[1]

# either there is an error or we are done:
if err:
    print(err)
    sys.exit(1)

Credit for this goes to this site

SSD tweaks

These may become obsolete as the new OS versions take in account the SSD particularities automatically.

  • Add noatime option for the partition on SSD in /etc/fstab
UUID=my-partition-key  /  ext4    noatime,errors=remount-ro 0       1
  • Create /tmp in RAM by editing /etc/fstab
tmpfs /tmp tmpfs defaults,noatime,mode=1777 0 0
  • Set the scheduler to deadline (as opposed to cfq) in grub
    • Check for the options:
cat /sys/block/sda/queue/scheduler
    • Temporary change the scheduler
sudo su
echo deadline > /sys/block/sda/queue/scheduler
  • Move Firefox cache to /tmp/...
    • open [about:config] in firefox
    • create new string browser.cache.disk.parent_directory and set value to /tmp
  • Check the read speed of your HD:
sudo hdparm -t /dev/sda
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