Paul Sutton

Personal Blog

File integrity

If providing downloadable files, it is important to ensure that the downloaded file is the same as that provided on the host server, this ensures the file has not been tampered with in some way. The end user needs a way to check what they have downloaded is safe.

One way to do this is to create a file checksum with md5sum

let's say we have two files

-rw-rw-r-- 1 psutton psutton  67200 May  3 19:42 jcr.pdf
-rw-rw-r-- 1 psutton psutton 433231 Apr 28 17:50 southwest1.png

We want to create a checksum for both files. To do this we can run

md5sum southwest1.png 
502d4f9dacab9240f2622c032e6ea11f  southwest1.png
md5sum jcr.pdf 
b98edf4dd0afd0ede8ac6dabce66f522  jcr.pdf

This sends the checksum to stdout

So need a file to store this

md5sum jcr.pdf southwest1.png > md5sum2

We can then view the contents if this with

as previously discussed the > directs output to a specified file

cat md5sums
502d4f9dacab9240f2622c032e6ea11f  southwest1.png
b98edf4dd0afd0ede8ac6dabce66f522  jcr.pdf

In this example, we listed the files we want to create a checksum for.

If we were to add a 3rd file say tux.png then we can do this and append the new checksum with

md5sum tux.png >> md5sums

Then example our new md5sums file

cat md5sums
502d4f9dacab9240f2622c032e6ea11f  southwest1.png
b98edf4dd0afd0ede8ac6dabce66f522  jcr.pdf
d52cd5e7164eccd6da50e10d5a9c3dbf  tux.png

So now that we have 3 files and a md5sums file, we can check all the files listed

md5sum -c md5sums
southwest1.png: OK
jcr.pdf: OK
tux.png: OK

Chat

I am on the Devon and Cornwall Linux user group mailing list and also their matrix channel as zleap, it is better to ask there, that way others can answer too.

Tags

#Bash,#BashScripting,#Bashscripting,#md5sums,#md5sum,#file, #integrity,#check


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EU security bug database

This is good news, the EU is continuing its quest to run own services, from cloud, to security. The USA is no longer considered, by many, a reliable or trustworthy partner.

The EU is taking back control and running its own Security database.

Tags

#EU,#Software,#Security,#Database


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Linux support for 486 and other CPUs

Linux developers consider discontinuing support for 486 and other CPUs

Linux support for 486 processors

Chat

I am on the Devon and Cornwall Linux user group mailing list and also their matrix channel as zleap, it is better to ask there, that way others can answer too.

Tags

#IT #Linux #LinuxKernel #Prozessoren #news


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Fun bash stuff

While these are not bash commands, there are a few fun tools.

One is fortune, this displays a random quote on the console or terminal.

fortune
Many pages make a thick book, except for pocket Bibles which are on very
very thin paper.

Another is cowsay which takes an argument and prints a picture of a cow (there are options to change how it looks or to other characters)

cowsay hello
 _______
< hello >
 -------
        \   ^__^
         \  (oo)\_______
            (__)\       )\/\
                ||----w |
                ||     ||

As with other commands these can be combined

fortune | cowsay
 ________________________________________
/ I don't know half of you half as well  \
| as I should like; and I like less than |
| half of you half as well as you        |
| deserve.                               |
|                                        |
\ -- J. R. R. Tolkien                    /
 ----------------------------------------
        \   ^__^
         \  (oo)\_______
            (__)\       )\/\
                ||----w |
                ||     ||

Options

cowsay -f tux hello
 _______
< hello >
 -------
   \
    \
        .--.
       |o_o |
       |:_/ |
      //   \ \
     (|     | )
    /'\_   _/`\
    \___)=(___/

cowsay -f daemon hello
 _______
< hello >
 -------
   \         ,        ,
    \       /(        )`
     \      \ \___   / |
            /- _  `-/  '
           (/\/ \ \   /\
           / /   | `    \
           O O   ) /    |
           `-^--'`<     '
          (_.)  _  )   /
           `.___/`    /
             `-----' /
<----.     __ / __   \
<----|====O)))==) \) /====
<----'    `--' `.__,' \
             |        |
              \       /
        ______( (_  / \______
      ,'  ,-----'   |        \
      `--{__________)        \/

Chat

I am on the Devon and Cornwall Linux user group mailing list and also their matrix channel as zleap, it is better to ask there, that way others can answer too.

Tags

#Bash.#BashScripting,#Bashscripting,#Cowsay,#Fortune


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Docker Containers

I don't have any experience with Docker or similar tech, but as this is popular, I am going to try and link to some tutorials for popular services, If these are useful great. I will give this a go at some point, but it will be more for learning rather than production.

Links

Chat

I am on the Devon and Cornwall Linux user group mailing list and also their matrix channel as zleap, it is better to ask there, that way others can answer too.

Tags

#Container,#Docker,#Deployment,#Mastodon,#PixelFed,#Peertube,#NextCloud,#NGINX,#Ansible


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OpenAI Trying to Buy Chrome

OpenAI Trying to Buy Chrome So It Can Ingest Your Entire Online Life to Train AI

WHAT PART OF, WE DON'T WANT AI DO PEOPLE NOT UNDERSTAND?.

We don't want AI

Tags

#AI,#NO,#Intel,#Chrome.#ArtificialIntelligence,#Resist,#Fightback


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K2-18b

I think this Daily Mail article demonstrates how poor journalism is getting in 2025. This is their article on the Planet K2-18b.

While the JWST has found some indications that life may exist on the planet, due to the Hydrogen Atmosphere and also the discovery of

  • Di Methyl Sulfide
  • Dimethyl Disulfide

The WikiPedia article tells a much different story.

Even the first part of this quote is helpful in that it says the press release was irresponsible. And that the data collected so far is not enough to confirm any life.

Astrophysicist and science writer Ethan Siegel denounced the press release as "wildly irresponsible" and astronomer Ryan MacDonald pointed out that the team's analysis was flawed because it only compared a select few chemicals to the data.[5] According to MacDonald, a proper statistical analysis of DMS and DMDS in K2-18b's spectrum would instead give a false positive probability of about 28%, corresponding to a 1σ confidence for the these two chemicals.[5] A 1σ significance does not qualify as a meaningful detection.[5]

The fact that the DM article also somehow has a section where someone has used AI to extrapolate what life may look like is rather ridiculous, as is the fact that according to that, the frog has 3 eyes and looks as it does to allow for the lower light level on the planet, this is odd given the fact the Wikipedia article suggests the light level on K2-18b may be the same or similar as it is on Earth, due to the distance from its star and the size of the star as well as other factors.

I think whoever thinks using AI to extrapolate what alien life may look like is risking their entire science career and credibility and this person was apparently from Cambridge University, so the reputation of Cambridge university is also going to be questioned.

I am baffled as to how much of this gets passed editorial in mainstream press.

In the meantime, if you really want to learn more, I strongly suggest you read actual science papers.

Granted, I think arXiv is pre-prints, but at least these papers are written by people who have a clue as to what they are talking about. It is also essential to be able to dig deeper and do your own research so when asking questions you can refer to decent sources of information.

I think it is also important to remember this planet is >120 light years away, so the information being picked up took >120 years to reach the JWST, therefore we are looking back in time. So it is important to understand that what is there right now in 2025 may be different to what may or may not have been there in 1905 when that light started its journey. Or at least this is how I understand things

If you want to read and have a good laugh, then read the Daily mail and other mainstream media.

Tags

#Media,#Science,#Facts,#Credibility,#Papers,#NewsPapers


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Wikipedia data download

With the continued attacks on Wikipedia and other projects, there is a more to ensure more of this data is archived so it can be preserved. It is possible to download everything on Wikipedia [1]

  1. Wikipedia Database download
  2. Elon Musk & Wikipedia
  3. List of people / companies collaborating with MAGA

Tags

#WikiPedia,#Freedom,#Attacks,#Preservation,#FreeWeb


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More security : fail2ban

Fail2ban is a program that will help you with the security of your system.

There is a tutorial for this at Linux Handbook, so I have quoted the description, or part of, below.

This is where a tool like Fail2Ban comes into picture. Fail2Ban is a free and open source software that helps in securing your Linux server against malicious logins. Fail2Ban will ban the IP (for a certain time) if there is a certain number of failed login attempts. [1]

Links

[1] Linux handbook : fail2ban

Chat

I am on the Devon and Cornwall Linux user group mailing list and also their matrix channel as zleap, it is better to ask there, that way others can answer too.

Tags

#Linux,#Bash,#ssh,#Security,#fail2ban


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VE Day 80

May 8th sees 80 since the end of the Second World War in Europe.

2025 will mark the 80th anniversaries of VE Day (Victory in Europe Day) on 8 May and VJ Day (Victory over Japan Day) on 15 August.

Tags

#VEDay,#Eighty,#WW2Europe


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