date:20080826

http://xs-dev.laptop.org/~cscott/olpc/streams/joyride/build2346

Changes in build 2346 from build: 2344

Size delta: 0.00M

-libertas-usb8388-firmware 2:5.110.22.p17.1-1.olpc3
+libertas-usb8388-firmware 2:5.110.22.p18-1.olpc2

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New release8.2 build 757

http://pilgrim.laptop.org/~pilgrim/xo-1/streams/8.2/build757

Changes in build 757 from build: 756

Size delta: 0.79M

-libertas-usb8388-firmware 2:5.110.22.p17.1-1.olpc3
+libertas-usb8388-firmware 2:5.110.22.p18-1.olpc2
-cerebro 2.9.12-1.olpc3
+cerebro 2.9.13-1.olpc3
-etoys 3.0.2076-1
+etoys 3.0.2100-1
-kernel 2.6.25-20080813.4.olpc.cc866cfe0c31220
+kernel 2.6.25-20080826.1.olpc.7bee90029d84945
-olpc-library-common 1-26
+olpc-library-common 1-28
-squeak-vm 3.10-3olpc7
+squeak-vm 3.10-3olpc8

--- Changes for cerebro 2.9.13-1.olpc3 from 2.9.12-1.olpc3 ---
  + 2.9.13: Disabled Cerebro on default start-up while working on #8128, #8108

--- Changes for etoys 3.0.2100-1 from 3.0.2076-1 ---
  + add translations ar, bg, fa_AF, ht, mn, mr, nl, ro, si, te, tr
  + update bn, el, en, es, fr, it, ko, ne, ps, pt, pt_BR, ru, sv, zh_TW
  + provide screen-corruption work-around (#8008)
  + fix text input (#7737)
  + fix sharing error (#8129)
  + save timestamp in Journal (#8152)
  + preserve name set in Journal (#8087)
  + fix 'obtrudes' tile (#7931)
  + hide broken audio chat and screen sharing (#7745, #7746)

--- Changes for olpc-library-common 1-28 from 1-26 ---
  + updated common to include wiki searchbar and devkey/release-notes links
  + removing core from /usr/share, moving to customization key

--- Changes for squeak-vm 3.10-3olpc8 from 3.10-3olpc7 ---
  + add translations ar, bg, fa_AF, ht, mn, mr, nl, ro, si, te, tr
  + update bn, el, en, es, fr, it, ko, ne, ps, pt, pt_BR, ru, sv, zh_TW
  + provide screen-corruption work-around (#8008)
  + fix text input (#7737)
  + fix sharing error (#8129)
  + save timestamp in Journal (#8152)
  + preserve name set in Journal (#8087)
  + fix 'obtrudes' tile (#7931)
  + hide broken audio chat and screen sharing (#7745, #7746)

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Re: qemu: generating ext3 images including activities

On Tue, Aug 26, 2008 at 09:40:09PM -0500, Daniel Drake wrote:
> On Tue, Aug 26, 2008 at 9:01 PM, Erik Garrison <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> > Currently I am stuck because I do not know how to write grub to an image
> > file.  Here is what happens when I try to write the bootloader [3] on a
> > loopback (produced via losetup /dev/loop0 os.img).
> >
> > Any ideas?  Someone out there constructed the qemu-bootable ext3 image
> > in the past.  Would you please step forward and advise?
> 
> Pretty sure I did this before without the image mounted. Unmount the
> loop device and destroy the loop mapping, then in grub do:
> 
> device (hd0) disk.img
> root (hd0,0)
> setup (hd0)

Yeah!  Simple.

Now I at least get grub, but I'm dropped into its shell without the
menu.  Any ideas?

Erik

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Re: Scratch fails to write to Scratch.activity/Projects

On Tue, Aug 26, 2008 at 08:40:34PM -0400, John Maloney wrote:
> Hi, Scott.
> 
> What's wrong with just making the directory Scratch.activity/Projects  
> writable by the world? Seems to me that it could not hurt other  
> applications. Scratch does not run any binary files from that folder,  
> so it should be pretty safe. At worse, some malicious software could  
> write a bogus project file that Scratch would refuse to open.

I personally find this an acceptable solution.  However, in the present
moment we have our hands tied, as the olpc-configure script which runs
on first boot now chmod 755's all directories in /home/olpc.  This is
problematic when activity bundles are installed prior to the first boot,
as they are when we use a 'customization' usb key, as all directories
will lose the permissions set by the bundle creators.

Customization key description:
[http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Customization_key] Peru has moved to using
this method to install activities.  This is good for local system
customization, but it has caused this issue to rear its head.

> The Scratch activity used to install that way but I suppose something  
> about the installation process has changed.

Specifically:
http://dev.laptop.org/git?p=projects/olpc-utils;a=blob;f=olpc-configure;h=0d6ef55ed49635672d63ae79831bff2a2eea4143;hb=db05cda6b8f36fe833bfa8a201d2b5467afbbd94#l138

This code is run once on first-boot.

> Is there a Wiki page that explains how to use the bug database?

Somewhat.  http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Trac

> Feel free to re-package the current Scratch activity installer to  
> include your patch, if you think that makes sense.

I have taken the Scratch-6.xo which C. Scott initially provided and got
it to work on the XO as-is.  This involved dropping the wrapper code
mentioned in the ticket [http://dev.laptop.org/ticket/8166] and placing
it into Scratch.activity/bin/scratch-activity and symlinking the
Projects directory to /tmp/scratch.  A patch to the scratch-activity
script is attached to the ticket.  An activity bundle (with a lang=es
line in its Scratch.ini) is available at
[http://dev.laptop.org/~erik/activities/Scratch-6.es.xo].

Erik

> On Aug 26, 2008, at 6:36 PM, C. Scott Ananian wrote:
> > In http://dev.laptop.org/ticket/8166 there's a problem reported: Peru
> > can't save their work in Scratch, because Scratch tries to write to
> > Scratch.activity/Projects, and this is not writable.  Luckily, there
> > is an easy workaround: the directory $SUGAR_ACTIVITY_ROOT/data is
> > persistent storage which is writable by the activity, and properly
> > protected.  On the trac page I've also provided a patch which wraps
> > Scratch so that it writes to the proper place.
> >
> > Tomeu also volunteered on IRC earlier today to help you implement
> > proper Journal support for Scratch.
> >
> > Finally: there are a number of bugs filed against scratch in our bug
> > tracker, but it doesn't appear to have a proper component and owner
> > created for it in the tracker.  We'd like to fix that: do you have a
> > username on the dev.laptop.org trac instance that we could make the
> > default owner of bugs filed against 'scratch-activity' so that you are
> > promptly notified if/when people have problems?
> >
> > Thanks for porting scratch, the kids in Peru seem to really like  
> > it. ;-)
> > --scott
> >
> > -- 
> > ( http://cscott.net/ )
> 
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Re: XO activity bundle .info format

On Tue, Aug 26, 2008 at 9:05 PM,  <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> bobby wrote:
> it's helpful, but could be better.  how should i, an individual
> contributor with no particular "domain" that i own or belong to,
> construct a name?  the given example of "com.redhat.Sugar.BrowserActivity"
> isn't much of a guideline in that case.  should i just make one
> up?  (and, in the case of my one and only activity, there was no
> python involved, so the entire second half of the paragraph was
> inapplicable.)

com.gmail.paulgfox.MyActivity is a reasonable interpretation of the
guidelines (assuming you are [EMAIL PROTECTED]).  You don't need to
own a domain; you just need to have a reasonable claim on some name at
that domain.  Setting up a free web host for information about your
activity, and using that subdomain is reasonable, too.  Heck, even
org.laptop.wiki.PageTitle is probably a reasonable bundle_id.  It's
just supposed to be rooted in some actual DNS-rooted namespace, and
these days there are lots of ways to bootstrap that.

You're right, I should probably include some better examples and 'best
practices' in the wiki docs.
 --scott

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Re: qemu: generating ext3 images including activities

2008-08-26 Thread Daniel Drake

On Tue, Aug 26, 2008 at 9:01 PM, Erik Garrison <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Currently I am stuck because I do not know how to write grub to an image
> file.  Here is what happens when I try to write the bootloader [3] on a
> loopback (produced via losetup /dev/loop0 os.img).
>
> Any ideas?  Someone out there constructed the qemu-bootable ext3 image
> in the past.  Would you please step forward and advise?

Pretty sure I did this before without the image mounted. Unmount the
loop device and destroy the loop mapping, then in grub do:

device (hd0) disk.img
root (hd0,0)
setup (hd0)
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New joyride build 2344

http://xs-dev.laptop.org/~cscott/olpc/streams/joyride/build2344

Changes in build 2344 from build: 2343

Size delta: 0.00M

-kernel 2.6.25-20080813.4.olpc.cc866cfe0c31220
+kernel 2.6.25-20080826.1.olpc.7bee90029d84945

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qemu: generating ext3 images including activities

I am trying to generate an image usable in Qemu for use by the Peru team
in the production of a series of videos about the XO.

I am generating this image because the existing ones are out of date
with respect to the current Peru deployment's software, and they have
requested if it would be possible to create a new image. It would be
sufficient to use an existing ext3 image [1] but I wanted to drop the
customization key activities which Peru has into the image.

Just mounting and doing this was not sufficient, as the image file
lacked free space for all the needed activities, so I had to first build
a new, larger sparse image file, which I did using this script (hacked
out of pilgrim) [2].

Then I mounted the sparse and existent image files via loopback devices
and copied the directory tree over, and then unzipped the activity
bundles I wanted into the new image file.

Currently I am stuck because I do not know how to write grub to an image
file. Here is what happens when I try to write the bootloader [3] on a
loopback (produced via losetup /dev/loop0 os.img).

Any ideas? Someone out there constructed the qemu-bootable ext3 image
in the past. Would you please step forward and advise?

Best,
Erik

[1]
http://download.laptop.org/xo-1/os/official/708/ext3/xo-1-olpc-stream-update.1-build-708-20080604_1540-devel_ext3.img.bz2
[2] http://dev.laptop.org/~erik/code/make_ext3_image_file
[3] http://pastebin.com/f7dc65ff9
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Re: XO activity bundle .info format

2008-08-26 Thread pgf

bobby wrote:
 > On Tue, Aug 26, 2008 at 7:56 PM, C. Scott Ananian <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
 > > On Tue, Aug 26, 2008 at 6:43 PM, Mikus Grinbergs <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
 > >> Undoubtedly people who are dbus developers understand the proper use
 > >> of the "organization_namespace".  But suppose someone in a far
 > >> corner of the world wishes to contribute.  All he knows is that a
 > >> three-part name-string gets applied to his Activity's interaction
 > >> with the rest of the system.  Since *he* never tests that name, he
 > >> may feel free to put anything at all into that name-string.
 > >>
 > >> I believe that life ought to be made as easy as possible for people
 > >> who want to enhance their Sugar systems.  Requiring "correctness" in
 > >> all parts of name-strings, when to non-insiders those name-strings
 > >> might seem meaningless, does not make their participation easier.
 > >
 > > Some time ago I tried to better document the expectations for
 > > bundle_id at http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Activity_bundles#.info_File_Format.
 > 
 > I found this page very helpful and clear when I was first bundling my
 > activity back in May, thanks Scott.  I think that requiring
 > correctness is actually helpful in the long term, if anything we
 > should try to make the documentation more accessible.

it's helpful, but could be better.  how should i, an individual
contributor with no particular "domain" that i own or belong to,
construct a name?  the given example of "com.redhat.Sugar.BrowserActivity"
isn't much of a guideline in that case.  should i just make one
up?  (and, in the case of my one and only activity, there was no
python involved, so the entire second half of the paragraph was
inapplicable.)

paul
=-
 paul fox, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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Re: Network transparent XS services - limitations and alternatives

On Wed, Aug 27, 2008 at 11:53 AM, C. Scott Ananian <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> a) Don't lie about DNS entries when you are connected.
> b) When you are disconnected, use a DNS server which allows you to map
> names to short lifetime addresses, then serve resources for those
> addresses.
> c) Don't try to provide services you can't.

The problem lies between b and c. There is a good chance for confusion
there, specially for services that don't have "virtualhost" support as
we have in HTTP.

> d) HTTP is one of the services you clearly can.

I would say it is one of the very few ones where I can do some stuff.

Unfortunately, this limits the reach of our "network principles".
Being able to deliver locally a subset of HTTP is good, but the world
does not end there. Our network principles need to pragmatically say:

 "for protocols that cannot be proxied transparently, flag X tells you
whether you're in a Schoolserver network, and it may be a good idea to
contact a host called 'schoolserver' or - if provided - a service
specific hostname (ie:'presence').".

> Maybe we should reboot this discussion.

Definitely.

>> I also asked a
>> few questions around points where you are saying that I "should know
>> better".
>
> You said, "Will we never care for end-user privacy?"  I said you
> should know better: we clearly do.  That's irrelevant to the
> HTTP-vs-HTTPS issue.

Some background: the XS will soon have various web-based tools for
collaboration. Top-of-the-list are Moodle and large (editable?)
wikislices. A webmail facility (for teachers, not for kids) is a very
popular request too. Initial implementation of this stuff will use
http, but I want to have a clear path should we want to switch to
https with a self-signed-cert to ensure better privacy.

We are also discussing patching Browse to perform a brief handshake
over https to do initial XO-to-XS authentication. It is one of the
alternatives - the handhsake could happen over ssh too.

So we might not be using https right now, but we are reasonably likely
to do soon, barring a watershed industry migration to something
better...

cheers,

m
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Re: XO activity bundle .info format

2008-08-26 Thread Bobby Powers

On Tue, Aug 26, 2008 at 7:56 PM, C. Scott Ananian <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> On Tue, Aug 26, 2008 at 6:43 PM, Mikus Grinbergs <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>>> ... found that people are using
>>> 'org.laptop' as a prefix incorrectly (if everyone uses org.laptop as a
>>> prefix, then OLPC loses the ability to assign unique names in this domain).
>>
>> Undoubtedly people who are dbus developers understand the proper use
>> of the "organization_namespace".  But suppose someone in a far
>> corner of the world wishes to contribute.  All he knows is that a
>> three-part name-string gets applied to his Activity's interaction
>> with the rest of the system.  Since *he* never tests that name, he
>> may feel free to put anything at all into that name-string.
>>
>> I believe that life ought to be made as easy as possible for people
>> who want to enhance their Sugar systems.  Requiring "correctness" in
>> all parts of name-strings, when to non-insiders those name-strings
>> might seem meaningless, does not make their participation easier.
>
> Some time ago I tried to better document the expectations for
> bundle_id at http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Activity_bundles#.info_File_Format.

I found this page very helpful and clear when I was first bundling my
activity back in May, thanks Scott.  I think that requiring
correctness is actually helpful in the long term, if anything we
should try to make the documentation more accessible.

bobby.

> If it were up to me, I'd just chose an opaque 64-bit UUID -- but I
> think most people feel like a human-readable string "makes
> participation easier".
>  --scott
>
> --
>  ( http://cscott.net/ )
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Re: Scratch fails to write to Scratch.activity/Projects

2008-08-26 Thread John Maloney

Hi, Scott.

What's wrong with just making the directory Scratch.activity/Projects  
writable by the world? Seems to me that it could not hurt other  
applications. Scratch does not run any binary files from that folder,  
so it should be pretty safe. At worse, some malicious software could  
write a bogus project file that Scratch would refuse to open.

The Scratch activity used to install that way but I suppose something  
about the installation process has changed.

I'm currently in the process of getting Scratch 1.3 out the door. When  
the dust settles from that I will see what I can do about making  
Scratch work better on the XO. But I don't think I want to add journal  
support even if is easy because I'd like to keep the same version of  
Scratch across all platforms, and Scratch was designed to be file-based.

Is there a Wiki page that explains how to use the bug database?

Feel free to re-package the current Scratch activity installer to  
include your patch, if you think that makes sense.

-- John

On Aug 26, 2008, at 6:36 PM, C. Scott Ananian wrote:
> In http://dev.laptop.org/ticket/8166 there's a problem reported: Peru
> can't save their work in Scratch, because Scratch tries to write to
> Scratch.activity/Projects, and this is not writable.  Luckily, there
> is an easy workaround: the directory $SUGAR_ACTIVITY_ROOT/data is
> persistent storage which is writable by the activity, and properly
> protected.  On the trac page I've also provided a patch which wraps
> Scratch so that it writes to the proper place.
>
> Tomeu also volunteered on IRC earlier today to help you implement
> proper Journal support for Scratch.
>
> Finally: there are a number of bugs filed against scratch in our bug
> tracker, but it doesn't appear to have a proper component and owner
> created for it in the tracker.  We'd like to fix that: do you have a
> username on the dev.laptop.org trac instance that we could make the
> default owner of bugs filed against 'scratch-activity' so that you are
> promptly notified if/when people have problems?
>
> Thanks for porting scratch, the kids in Peru seem to really like  
> it. ;-)
> --scott
>
> -- 
> ( http://cscott.net/ )

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New joyride build 2343

http://xs-dev.laptop.org/~cscott/olpc/streams/joyride/build2343

Changes in build 2343 from build: 2342

Size delta: 0.00M

-olpc-library-common 1-26
+olpc-library-common 1-28

--- Changes for olpc-library-common 1-28 from 1-26 ---
  + updated common to include wiki searchbar and devkey/release-notes links
  + removing core from /usr/share, moving to customization key

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Re: XO activity bundle .info format

On Tue, Aug 26, 2008 at 6:43 PM, Mikus Grinbergs <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>> ... found that people are using
>> 'org.laptop' as a prefix incorrectly (if everyone uses org.laptop as a
>> prefix, then OLPC loses the ability to assign unique names in this domain).
>
> Undoubtedly people who are dbus developers understand the proper use
> of the "organization_namespace".  But suppose someone in a far
> corner of the world wishes to contribute.  All he knows is that a
> three-part name-string gets applied to his Activity's interaction
> with the rest of the system.  Since *he* never tests that name, he
> may feel free to put anything at all into that name-string.
>
> I believe that life ought to be made as easy as possible for people
> who want to enhance their Sugar systems.  Requiring "correctness" in
> all parts of name-strings, when to non-insiders those name-strings
> might seem meaningless, does not make their participation easier.

Some time ago I tried to better document the expectations for
bundle_id at http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Activity_bundles#.info_File_Format.

If it were up to me, I'd just chose an opaque 64-bit UUID -- but I
think most people feel like a human-readable string "makes
participation easier".
 --scott

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Re: Network transparent XS services - limitations and alternatives

On Tue, Aug 26, 2008 at 7:40 PM, Martin Langhoff
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>> http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Network_principles#Disconnected_operation is
>> a principled means to substitute unavailable resources in the offline
>> case.
>
> The solution you suggest has problems, and I mentioned them in my
> previous email. Have you got any light to shed on them?

a) Don't lie about DNS entries when you are connected.
b) When you are disconnected, use a DNS server which allows you to map
names to short lifetime addresses, then serve resources for those
addresses.
c) Don't try to provide services you can't.
d) HTTP is one of the services you clearly can.
e) rsync is also surprisingly amenable, for niche uses.

Maybe we should reboot this discussion.

> I also asked a
> few questions around points where you are saying that I "should know
> better".

You said, "Will we never care for end-user privacy?"  I said you
should know better: we clearly do.  That's irrelevant to the
HTTP-vs-HTTPS issue.
 --scott

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Re: XO activity bundle .info format

2008-08-26 Thread Mikus Grinbergs

> ... found that people are using
> 'org.laptop' as a prefix incorrectly (if everyone uses org.laptop as a
> prefix, then OLPC loses the ability to assign unique names in this domain).

Undoubtedly people who are dbus developers understand the proper use 
of the "organization_namespace".  But suppose someone in a far 
corner of the world wishes to contribute.  All he knows is that a 
three-part name-string gets applied to his Activity's interaction 
with the rest of the system.  Since *he* never tests that name, he 
may feel free to put anything at all into that name-string.

I believe that life ought to be made as easy as possible for people 
who want to enhance their Sugar systems.  Requiring "correctness" in 
all parts of name-strings, when to non-insiders those name-strings 
might seem meaningless, does not make their participation easier.

mikus

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Re: Network transparent XS services - limitations and alternatives

On Wed, Aug 27, 2008 at 11:28 AM, C. Scott Ananian <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> That's a nice rhetorical trick.  And wrong.

No tricks with me. It is a development strategy I have been using for
years to deliver working code for users.

> http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Network_principles#Disconnected_operation is
> a principled means to substitute unavailable resources in the offline
> case.

The solution you suggest has problems, and I mentioned them in my
previous email. Have you got any light to shed on them? I also asked a
few questions around points where you are saying that I "should know
better".

If there's enough substance, I don't mind rudeness.

m
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Re: Network transparent XS services - limitations and alternatives

On Tue, Aug 26, 2008 at 7:17 PM, Martin Langhoff
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Network principles is a nice statement of desired ideal network
> topology. Which we may implement one day - but I am delivering a
> network topology and the _main source of XO services_ on a very  tight
> timeframe and with no room for pie-in-the-sky stuff. Simple, proven,
> effective, easy to implement.  That is the only game I can afford to
> play.

That's a nice rhetorical trick.  And wrong.

You are wasting your time when you reimplement multiple services "this
cheap way" instead of simply biting the bullet and properly
implementing the general solution.  Further, these solutions (such as
masking wiki.laptop.org) are far more brittle than just doing things
Right!  I'm tired of putting up with crap solutions.

http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Network_principles#Disconnected_operation is
a principled means to substitute unavailable resources in the offline
case.

As I wrote before, I do not think we should ever be masking DNS in a
connected scenario.
 --scott

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Re: Network transparent XS services - limitations and alternatives

On Wed, Aug 27, 2008 at 10:48 AM, C. Scott Ananian <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> On Tue, Aug 26, 2008 at 4:43 PM, Martin Langhoff
> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>>> HTTPS has many problems.  None of the basic XO protocols use HTTPS.
>>
>> Will we never care for end-user privacy?
>
> We do.  We just don't use HTTPS.  You should know better.

I "should know better"? Care to explain in clear - and hopefully polite - terms?

>> *Only* for HTTP. It is a problem for rsync, hence the --server patch
>> you saw from me. And it is still a problem for HTTP as per below...
>
> The upgrade server is a good example of how to make 'cachable' rsync
> work.

And it is a valuable but very limited hack. It cannot deal with
non-top-level resources, and cannot be made to stream, which means
timeouts for the clients. In the very limited use case you have, it
works, but it very far from a being a general solution.

> Also, olpc-update should be able to use patches served over
> http in the 9.1 time frame.

Cool!

>>> But preseeding a offline DNS cache in the same way we preseed a web
>>> cache seems an entirely reasonable solution, that will allow many
>>> things to "just work".
>>
>> It will break a lot of stuff. For starters
>>
>>  - In a connected scenario, faking DNS allows us to mask something
>> like rsync, but it breaks all other services from that host. And the
>> rsync masking is all-or-nothing too, not a per-path thing.
>
> If we are connected, we should not be faking DNS.  Why would you want to do 
> so?

If we had no  "--server" patch in olpc-update for example, I would
have to fake the DNS to make the upgrades local in school that is
connected via a slow link.

>>  - In a disconnected scenario, faking DNS affects the whole 'host'
>> entry. We just don't know what services we might be masking that may
>> not react well to being pointed at the XS.
>
> No one says the XS has to answer for a service it doesn't know about.
> Clearly, it shouldn't.

If we masked the dns name for server X, because we want to mask
service Y, as we have expensive resource Z, clients will also hit the
XS with requests for other resources and other protocols.

We may mask wiki.laptop.org to serve
http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Activities for sugar-update-control, which
means that we will get any requests for that host - other HTTP urls,
rsync connections, etc.

Most of this will be benign, but it is not hard to imagine examples
that confuse users and programs, and perhaps also cause pointless load
on the XS.

> We are *not* just returning the XS's address in response for a request
> for an inaccessible host.  See the discussion in [[Network
> principles]].

Hrmmm. I read Network principles again. I cannot find what you are
referring to. Do you mean the using the trick as per: "If a school
server is unavailable, we can provide a resolver which will form an
IPv6 link-local address from the lower 64 bits of the SHA-256 of the
domain name."

Is that what you mean? How does that help?

>> We are already doing this with Telepathy.
>
> Yeah, and how well is that working?

AFAICS, we are switching modes alright, the problems are further up the stack.

>>  -  masking specific host:proto:resource paths across protocols --
>> while connected -- without affecting other resources and protocols on
>> that host?
>>
>>  - how do we do the above in a disconnected scenario, without the
>> issues of clients assuming that the XS provides *all* the services of
>> the masked host?
>
> See above, and [[Network principles]].

I cannot see what strategy in that page you are referring to.

Network principles is a nice statement of desired ideal network
topology. Which we may implement one day - but I am delivering a
network topology and the _main source of XO services_ on a very  tight
timeframe and with no room for pie-in-the-sky stuff. Simple, proven,
effective, easy to implement.  That is the only game I can afford to
play.

cheers,

m
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Re: Network transparent XS services - limitations and alternatives

On Tue, Aug 26, 2008 at 4:43 PM, Martin Langhoff
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>> HTTPS has many problems.  None of the basic XO protocols use HTTPS.
>
> Will we never care for end-user privacy?

We do.  We just don't use HTTPS.  You should know better.

>>>  - At the protocol layer you mask a whole host:proto - not specific
>>> resources, unless you have a very smart proxy. In the case of HTTP, we
>>> can use squid+jesded to serve locally "just" some urls.
>>
>> So this isn't a problem.
>
> *Only* for HTTP. It is a problem for rsync, hence the --server patch
> you saw from me. And it is still a problem for HTTP as per below...

The upgrade server is a good example of how to make 'cachable' rsync
work.  Also, olpc-update should be able to use patches served over
http in the 9.1 time frame.

>> But preseeding a offline DNS cache in the same way we preseed a web
>> cache seems an entirely reasonable solution, that will allow many
>> things to "just work".
>
> It will break a lot of stuff. For starters
>
>  - In a connected scenario, faking DNS allows us to mask something
> like rsync, but it breaks all other services from that host. And the
> rsync masking is all-or-nothing too, not a per-path thing.

If we are connected, we should not be faking DNS.  Why would you want to do so?

>  - In a disconnected scenario, faking DNS affects the whole 'host'
> entry. We just don't know what services we might be masking that may
> not react well to being pointed at the XS.

No one says the XS has to answer for a service it doesn't know about.
Clearly, it shouldn't.

We are *not* just returning the XS's address in response for a request
for an inaccessible host.  See the discussion in [[Network
principles]].

> And most importantly, we miss out on the opportunity of having smart
> client code. XS aware interactions can be smarter as they can make
> stronger assumptions about locality and network availability.
>
> We are already doing this with Telepathy.

Yeah, and how well is that working?

> Aha, so can you please explain a suitable alternative to
>
>  -  masking specific host:proto:resource paths across protocols --
> while connected -- without affecting other resources and protocols on
> that host?
>
>  - how do we do the above in a disconnected scenario, without the
> issues of clients assuming that the XS provides *all* the services of
> the masked host?

See above, and [[Network principles]].
 --scott

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Scratch fails to write to Scratch.activity/Projects

In http://dev.laptop.org/ticket/8166 there's a problem reported: Peru
can't save their work in Scratch, because Scratch tries to write to
Scratch.activity/Projects, and this is not writable.  Luckily, there
is an easy workaround: the directory $SUGAR_ACTIVITY_ROOT/data is
persistent storage which is writable by the activity, and properly
protected.  On the trac page I've also provided a patch which wraps
Scratch so that it writes to the proper place.

Tomeu also volunteered on IRC earlier today to help you implement
proper Journal support for Scratch.

Finally: there are a number of bugs filed against scratch in our bug
tracker, but it doesn't appear to have a proper component and owner
created for it in the tracker.  We'd like to fix that: do you have a
username on the dev.laptop.org trac instance that we could make the
default owner of bugs filed against 'scratch-activity' so that you are
promptly notified if/when people have problems?

Thanks for porting scratch, the kids in Peru seem to really like it. ;-)
 --scott

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Re: CSound server questions

2008-08-26 Thread Chris Ball

Hi,

   > Did you ever get a satisfactory answer to your questions?  I think
   > Pippy contains the best examples of using csound to play sounds --
   > is that right, Chris?

Well, I'd say that TamTam does.  :)  But yes, Pippy does some basic
synthesis using sinewaves and music files with csound. 

- Chris.
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Re: CSound server questions

On Sun, Feb 3, 2008 at 12:31 PM, John Maloney <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> I am porting Scratch to the XO. (Scratch is an easy-to-learn
[...]
> Scratch includes commands to play notes and trigger drum sounds. On
> Windows and Mac OS, these commands use the underlying OS MIDI
> synthesizer. On the XO, I've been told that the best way to implement
> these commands is to send messages to the CSound Server (http://
> rhythmicdesign.com/CsoundXO/). I tried some of the Python examples on
> that page, but they did not work on my XO under build 653. (It
> appears that the path to the CSound Server was wrong.)

Did you ever get a satisfactory answer to your questions?  I think
Pippy contains the best examples of using csound to play sounds -- is
that right, Chris?
 --scott

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New joyride build 2342

http://xs-dev.laptop.org/~cscott/olpc/streams/joyride/build2342

Changes in build 2342 from build: 2331

Size delta: 0.65M

-etoys 3.0.2076-1
+etoys 3.0.2100-1
-squeak-vm 3.10-3olpc7
+squeak-vm 3.10-3olpc8

--- Changes for etoys 3.0.2100-1 from 3.0.2076-1 ---
  + add translations ar, bg, fa_AF, ht, mn, mr, nl, ro, si, te, tr
  + update bn, el, en, es, fr, it, ko, ne, ps, pt, pt_BR, ru, sv, zh_TW
  + provide screen-corruption work-around (#8008)
  + fix text input (#7737)
  + fix sharing error (#8129)
  + save timestamp in Journal (#8152)
  + preserve name set in Journal (#8087)
  + fix 'obtrudes' tile (#7931)
  + hide broken audio chat and screen sharing (#7745, #7746)

--- Changes for squeak-vm 3.10-3olpc8 from 3.10-3olpc7 ---
  + add translations ar, bg, fa_AF, ht, mn, mr, nl, ro, si, te, tr
  + update bn, el, en, es, fr, it, ko, ne, ps, pt, pt_BR, ru, sv, zh_TW
  + provide screen-corruption work-around (#8008)
  + fix text input (#7737)
  + fix sharing error (#8129)
  + save timestamp in Journal (#8152)
  + preserve name set in Journal (#8087)
  + fix 'obtrudes' tile (#7931)
  + hide broken audio chat and screen sharing (#7745, #7746)

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Re: increased transient traffic in #olpc-ayuda

On Tue, Aug 26, 2008 at 05:14:23PM -0400, Seth Woodworth wrote:
> During g1g1 the support-gang (even before it was formalized) answered
> questions in #olpc-help and many important questions get answered there on a
> regular basis.
> 
> If there were a few support-ganger's available we would have a great
> resource for providing documentation and structuring things for the actual
> kids we're supposed to be supporting.

Yeah!

> Personally I am going to use it as a great resource to help me learn written
> spanish.  Hopefully the kids just don't teach me 'My hovercraft is full of
> eels'.

Usually they write nonsense.  Or just hello.  But lately I've been
noting more 'real' questions, or attempts at questions, and that is what
led me to write the list.

> /me adds #olpc-ayuda to his freenode script

:)

Erik
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Re: increased transient traffic in #olpc-ayuda

2008-08-26 Thread Seth Woodworth

During g1g1 the support-gang (even before it was formalized) answered
questions in #olpc-help and many important questions get answered there on a
regular basis.

If there were a few support-ganger's available we would have a great
resource for providing documentation and structuring things for the actual
kids we're supposed to be supporting.

Personally I am going to use it as a great resource to help me learn written
spanish.  Hopefully the kids just don't teach me 'My hovercraft is full of
eels'.

/me adds #olpc-ayuda to his freenode script

--S

On Tue, Aug 26, 2008 at 1:26 AM, Martin Langhoff
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>wrote:

> On Tue, Aug 26, 2008 at 5:16 PM, Erik Garrison <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> > considering implementing
> > a helpbot there to explain ways to seek help
>
> Good idea! Do point them to a mailing list - IRC is an incredibly bad
> way to get support. You get no answers, or answers from whomever is
> there at the moment, with or without a clue. At any given time, the
> person with the knowledge you are after is sleeping or just not in
> IRC.
>
> Only very old tired FAQs have a reliable chance of getting good
> consistent replies over IRC. This is specially true in fast-moving
> projects.
>
> On a mailing list, a small group of clued in helpful people can do a
> lot of good spending a bit of time each day. Count with me to help on
> olpc-sur or similar.
>
> cheers,
>
>
>
> m
> --
>  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>  [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- School Server Architect
>  - ask interesting questions
>  - don't get distracted with shiny stuff - working code first
>  - http://wiki.laptop.org/go/User:Martinlanghoff
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Re: [Server-devel] resolv.conf

That sounds like network_config crashed on you. network_config is
responsible for creating /etc/resolv.conf.in and then domain_config
will do the rest. On xs-0.4, we call domain_config at install time
(and it defaults to random.xs.l.o).

> The answer is that /etc/resolv.conf should probably point to localhost,
> not the address of one of the interfaces (172.18.0.1).   Just in case...

Does BIND listen on localhost? If so, it's a good idea...

cheers,




m

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Re: Network transparent XS services - limitations and alternatives

On Wed, Aug 27, 2008 at 3:39 AM, C. Scott Ananian <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> I prefer a stronger assumption: network services are all based on cachable 
> HTTP.

Implementations of cacheable HTTP - both on the server and client -
are *caching*, not replacing.

We want to do partial replacement/substitution of resources, and we
are going to face a ton of bugs.

>> I agreed - even though I know that most TCP/IP protocols don't really
>> work that well, at least we could fake it with HTTP, in the great
>> tradition of transparent HTTP proxies.
>
> I have no objection to specifying a non-transparent proxy either, but
> it must be autoconfiguring so the network doesn't break when the
> laptop goes home.

Agreed. That's why I mentioned proxy autoconf protocols :-)

>>  - Limited to a few protocols. HTTP works. HTTPS does not.
>
> HTTPS has many problems.  None of the basic XO protocols use HTTPS.

Will we never care for end-user privacy?

>>  - At the protocol layer you mask a whole host:proto - not specific
>> resources, unless you have a very smart proxy. In the case of HTTP, we
>> can use squid+jesded to serve locally "just" some urls.
>
> So this isn't a problem.

*Only* for HTTP. It is a problem for rsync, hence the --server patch
you saw from me. And it is still a problem for HTTP as per below...

>>  - Clients still perform DNS lookups and attempt to establish direct
>> connections. This breaks really badly in disconnected scenarios - DNS
>> does not resolve, so the client will never request the URL via the
>> proxy. We can serve fake DNS names pointing to the XS, but that is
>> very ugly hack with innumerable downsides.
>
> This is a good reason to provide an explicit HTTP proxy, which
> explicitly handles these issues.

Agreed.

> But preseeding a offline DNS cache in the same way we preseed a web
> cache seems an entirely reasonable solution, that will allow many
> things to "just work".

It will break a lot of stuff. For starters

 - In a connected scenario, faking DNS allows us to mask something
like rsync, but it breaks all other services from that host. And the
rsync masking is all-or-nothing too, not a per-path thing.

 - In a disconnected scenario, faking DNS affects the whole 'host'
entry. We just don't know what services we might be masking that may
not react well to being pointed at the XS.

And most importantly, we miss out on the opportunity of having smart
client code. XS aware interactions can be smarter as they can make
stronger assumptions about locality and network availability.

We are already doing this with Telepathy.

> Again, it seems like you need an offline DNS solution.  Many legacy
> applications will assume they can resolve a DNS name to an address; it
> seems best to let them do this.

Let me clarify -- I've setup my first split-horizon DNS in 1998. I'm
not afraid of it, or unfamiliar with it.

>> So this is a heads up - in summary
>>
>>   We cannot assume network transparency on XS services.
>
> I totally disagree.

Aha, so can you please explain a suitable alternative to

 -  masking specific host:proto:resource paths across protocols --
while connected -- without affecting other resources and protocols on
that host?

 - how do we do the above in a disconnected scenario, without the
issues of clients assuming that the XS provides *all* the services of
the masked host?

cheers,




m
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Re: rpms not picked up

2008-08-26 Thread Michael Stone

On Tue, Aug 26, 2008 at 11:09:36AM +0200, Simon Schampijer wrote:
>Hi,
>
>as koji is up again i built a new xulrunner rpm 
>http://koji.fedoraproject.org/koji/buildinfo?buildID=60150 in the OLPC-3 
>branch.
>
>It has not been picked up by the builds yet. Are there any changes?

Yes, Dennis and Scott are rejiggering the koji tag system pursuant to
branching the build for release. We'll announce more details shortly.

Michael
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Re: Scratch activity problems

On Tue, Aug 26, 2008 at 2:27 PM, Daniel Drake <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> 2. Saving of files:
> Scratch does not use the Journal, it uses the regular filesystem.
> Rainbow prevents Scratch from saving in usual locations. So, Scratch
> ships with a world-writable "Projects" directory underneath the activity
> directory, but this does not work when the activity is installed from a
> customization key. (the directory is not writable in this case)

I'm not sure I'm convinced by the diagnosis here.  Since olpc-utils v
0.63, we've fixed up permissions for /home/olpc to make it world
eXecutable, in olpc-configure.  Perhaps the bug here is that you are
running the customization key *after* first boot, instead of doing the
tested reflash/customization procedure.  It's possible that old
versions of olpc-configure wouldn't re-configure /home after the
customization key?
 --scott

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Re: using wiki pageviews per country of origin to motivate translations

2008-08-26 Thread Brian Jordan

On Tue, Aug 26, 2008 at 1:12 AM, Erik Garrison <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> It has recently come to my attention that the majority of the traffic on
> the wiki is coming from Uruguay XO users (students it seems).

I think this could motivate activity developers as well -- it's
discouraging to think your new activity won't come "included on the
laptop", but very encouraging when considering how many Uruguay
students visit the activity download page each day (thousands, IIRC).

>
> Could we track, or are we already tracking, pageviews per page by
> country of origin on wiki.laptop.org?  It would be an extremely useful
> metric in deciding which pages should be translated into which
> languages.

Seth has been tracking this using Google Analytics -- do you have
interesting numbers to share?

>
> Erik
>
> (a list of requested spanish translations:
> http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Category:Deseada)
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Re: Scratch activity problems

2008-08-26 Thread Tomeu Vizoso

On Tue, Aug 26, 2008 at 8:27 PM, Daniel Drake <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> John Maloney (scratch developer) is aware of both issues. He is
> considering making Scratch use the journal in future, but this is a
> large amount of work.

May not be so much work? I would love to discuss this and help on what I can.

Regards,

Tomeu
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Sugar on OpenSuSE

2008-08-26 Thread Sayamindu Dasgupta

Apologies for the cross posting, but I thought some of you might find
this interesting:

http://dev.compiz-fusion.org/~cyberorg/2008/08/26/sugar-up-opensuse-a-hackweek-project/


The work is in progress, thanks to Fedora and our fantastic openSUSE
Build Service, most packages required are now in one place. I could
get it working on openSUSE at the end of the first day :). There is
still more work to be done.


Thanks,
Sayamindu


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Re: using wiki pageviews per country of origin to motivate translations

2008-08-26 Thread Jameson "Chema" Quinn

On Mon, Aug 25, 2008 at 11:12 PM, Erik Garrison <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

> It has recently come to my attention that the majority of the traffic on
> the wiki is coming from Uruguay XO users (students it seems).
>
> Could we track, or are we already tracking, pageviews per page by
> country of origin on wiki.laptop.org?  It would be an extremely useful
> metric in deciding which pages should be translated into which
> languages.
>
> Erik
>
> (a list of requested spanish translations:
> http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Category:Deseada)
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+1

(if somebody figures out how to do this query, and can without excessive
effort make the query available live, that would be even cooler).
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Re: Scratch activity problems

2008-08-26 Thread John Watlington


On Aug 26, 2008, at 2:27 PM, Daniel Drake wrote:

> Hi,
>
> Scott requested I pass on some information about 2 issues with the
> Scratch activity:
>
> 1. Version numbering:
> The version number in the activity bundle is wrong (it reads  
> version 2,
> but the bundle is Scratch-5.xo). This confuses the activity updater,
> which thinks you have version 2 installed, thinks version 5 is
> available, and hence always tries to get you to upgrade.
>
> 2. Saving of files:
> Scratch does not use the Journal, it uses the regular filesystem.
> Rainbow prevents Scratch from saving in usual locations. So, Scratch
> ships with a world-writable "Projects" directory underneath the  
> activity
> directory, but this does not work when the activity is installed  
> from a
> customization key. (the directory is not writable in this case)

Since Scratch is always installed from a customization key, starting  
with
build 703, does this mean that Scratch is no longer a supported  
activity ?

> John Maloney (scratch developer) is aware of both issues. He is
> considering making Scratch use the journal in future, but this is a
> large amount of work.
>
> Daniel
>
>
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Scratch activity problems

2008-08-26 Thread Daniel Drake

Hi,

Scott requested I pass on some information about 2 issues with the
Scratch activity:

1. Version numbering:
The version number in the activity bundle is wrong (it reads version 2,
but the bundle is Scratch-5.xo). This confuses the activity updater,
which thinks you have version 2 installed, thinks version 5 is
available, and hence always tries to get you to upgrade.

2. Saving of files:
Scratch does not use the Journal, it uses the regular filesystem.
Rainbow prevents Scratch from saving in usual locations. So, Scratch
ships with a world-writable "Projects" directory underneath the activity
directory, but this does not work when the activity is installed from a
customization key. (the directory is not writable in this case)

John Maloney (scratch developer) is aware of both issues. He is
considering making Scratch use the journal in future, but this is a
large amount of work.

Daniel


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Information re: power mgmt and software update (WAS: Re: Book sprint - AT update - Monday)

2008-08-26 Thread Christoph Derndorfer

[sorry, had to resend as I'm subscribed to library/devel/sugar with
different mail addresses... :-/]

Greg Smith schrieb:
> Hi Christoph et al,

Hey all,

I'm currently working on the chapter about the Sugar Control Panel for
the BookSprint and it looks like I need some more information,
especially regarding power management and software updates.

I appreciate any pointers to the mailing-list archives or relevant wiki
pages.

> 
> I may not make these meetings either but I'll try to keep up in e-mail.
> 
> On the 8.2 release notes: http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Release_Notes/8.2.0
> 
> I think you can make some good progress documenting the new sugar 
> control panel. However, there is very little good information on exactly 
> what those things do. You should probably take them one at a time.
> 
> This link has some info: 
> http://sugarlabs.org/go/ReleaseTeam/Releases/Sucrose/0.82
> 
> The timezone one should be pretty self explanatory. That said there is 
> one odd thing that needs to be explained. The name of the panel is date 
> and time, it only allows changing time zones right now.

Yes, I noticed that issue yesterday. Are there plans to add date/time
adjustments or to rename the panel to "Timezone"?

> We should explain the difference between "about my XO" and "About Me". 
> Hopefully you can get some sense of that by clicking on them. If you 
> need more input, please ask.
> 
> Frame is hopefully clear by clicking on it.
> 
> Power needs a lot of explanation. See the longer battery life section in 
> the release notes. See also this URL: 
> http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Tests/Suspend_Resume Chris Ball is the main 
> guy to explain power. Its changing some and we also need to explain when 
> and why the screen goes black sometimes vs. when it dims.

The main question I have so far is whether enabling "Extreme power
management" automatically also enables "Automatic power management" or
whether the latter needs to be enabled to use the "extreme" mode.

Also it seems as though the "extreme"-mode kicks in as soon as the
checkbox is clicked therefore potentially confusing users with regards
to having to use the "ok" button to confirm changes. Or am I missing
something here?

> 
> Software updater is a big one but I don't have any good links to its 
> documentation right now. Scott is the author of the code and I think 
> that Eben and Michael S know some about how it works too.
> 
> Network is important but not well documented. It is related but 
> different from the Register item in the popup menu on the XO guy on the 
> home screen. They should both be well documented for users with a school 
> server and without. You may get the best input on those from the server 
> li
> 
> I suggest you go right to engineering on the devel list if you can. 
> Otherwise let me know what open questions you have and I'll try to 
> connect you.
> 
> Thanks a lot for your time and effort!

Thanks in advance,
Christoph

> 
> Greg S
> Christoph Derndorfer wrote:
>> Hi all,
>>
>> I'm off for the day to attend some family business and thought I'd 
>> leave you with a quick summary:
>>
>> I've got a rough framework going for the "Personalising" chapter, need 
>> to investigate tomorrow to get lots more details about power saving 
>> options and especially software updates.
>>
>> Greg, as discussed in the call, maybe you can assist me there by 
>> pointing me to relevant resources on the wiki and the mailing-list 
>> archives.
>>
>> I'm afraid I won't make it to tomorrow's call but will try to set 
>> aside 2 or 3 hours in the evening to continue on the chapter. 
>> Wednesday and Thursday evening should work easier for me.
>>
>> Have fun sprinting everyone and see you tomorrow!
>>
>> Cheers,
>> Christoph
>> P.S. Adam Hyde, thanks a lot for all the support, it's much appreciated!
> 

-- 
Christoph Derndorfer
co-editor, olpcnews
url: www.olpcnews.com
e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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Re: [Server-devel] Network transparent XS services - limitations and alternatives

On Tue, Aug 26, 2008 at 11:39 AM, C. Scott Ananian <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Again, it seems like you need an offline DNS solution.  Many legacy
> applications will assume they can resolve a DNS name to an address; it
> seems best to let them do this.

Incidentally, http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Network_principles already
specifies a link-local DNS resolution mechanism which is entirely
appropriate for this offline application.  It seems like implementing
that completely obviates the need for offline DNS.  I'll add some text
to the principles page expanding on this.
 --scott

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Infrastructure Group meeting today 20080819 irc.oftc.net/#olpc-admin 5:15 pm EDT -04:00 UCT

2008-08-26 Thread Henry Edward Hardy

*OLPC's Volunteer Infrastructure Group (infrastructure-gang) will be meeting
today 2008-08-19

irc.oftc.net/#olpc-admin

5:15 pm EDT -04:00 UCT*

topics:

triage and migration of sysadmin docs from internalwiki
rt
pootle
wiki
drupal
big sister
content server
mailing list
installation/configuration of crank and pedal mirrors at 1cc
recruitment
update roles/responsibilities on wiki
general discussion

*There will be no further 4:00 pm internal sysadmin meetings until further
notice. These will be scheduled on an as-needed basis.*

--HH.
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Re: [Server-devel] Network transparent XS services - limitations and alternatives

On Mon, Aug 25, 2008 at 10:56 PM, Martin Langhoff
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Discussing the activity installer/updater control panel and
> olpc-update (a few days before) one design assumption from the XO team
> was very strong: that network clients on the XO could just ignore the
> XS and attempt direct connections to the desired host and service. If
> the XS is there, the logic goes, it will transparently intervene.

I prefer a stronger assumption: network services are all based on cachable HTTP.

> I agreed - even though I know that most TCP/IP protocols don't really
> work that well, at least we could fake it with HTTP, in the great
> tradition of transparent HTTP proxies.

I have no objection to specifying a non-transparent proxy either, but
it must be autoconfiguring so the network doesn't break when the
laptop goes home.

>  - Limited to a few protocols. HTTP works. HTTPS does not.

HTTPS has many problems.  None of the basic XO protocols use HTTPS.

>  - At the protocol layer you mask a whole host:proto - not specific
> resources, unless you have a very smart proxy. In the case of HTTP, we
> can use squid+jesded to serve locally "just" some urls.

So this isn't a problem.

>  - Clients still perform DNS lookups and attempt to establish direct
> connections. This breaks really badly in disconnected scenarios - DNS
> does not resolve, so the client will never request the URL via the
> proxy. We can serve fake DNS names pointing to the XS, but that is
> very ugly hack with innumerable downsides.

This is a good reason to provide an explicit HTTP proxy, which
explicitly handles these issues.

But preseeding a offline DNS cache in the same way we preseed a web
cache seems an entirely reasonable solution, that will allow many
things to "just work".  DNS already has all the infrastructure
required.

> Providing a "local activities installation service" for
> sugar-update-control is a good example. s-u-c can be told via a config
> file to look for a particular url, and the intention - as discussed
> with Scott - was to use the same URL for connected and disconnected
> schools. However, it just does not work in disconnected schools unless
> we completely fake DNS because the client wants a DNS entry for it.

Again, it seems like you need an offline DNS solution.  Many legacy
applications will assume they can resolve a DNS name to an address; it
seems best to let them do this.

> So this is a heads up - in summary
>
>   We cannot assume network transparency on XS services.

I totally disagree.
   --scott

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Re: XO activity bundle .info format