Security

Aptitude kept back on Ubuntu 12.04

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The occaisonal Ubuntu quirks continue. I’ve received a lot of positive feedback and hits on my other fix posts, and the amazing Nate Lawson said I should keep doing them, so here’s another quickie.

I found aptitude failing updates in the GUI (Update Manager) patch cycle, so I switched into terminal to read the output and check what’s what.

user@system:~$ sudo apt-get upgrade
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
The following packages have been kept back:
  aptitude
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 1 not upgraded.
user@system:

The failed package is clearly only “aptitude”. More info can be gleaned by looking at the install error for just that package.

user@system:~$ sudo apt-get install aptitude

That command made the system complain about dependency in libapt-pkg4.12.

I checked the update status for libapt-pkg4.12.

The update site showed “Latest version: 0.8.16~exp12ubuntu10.5” from 2012-10-24 18:06:55 UTC. I then checked my system and I still had 0.8.16~exp12ubuntu10.2 (2012-06-15 23:06:45 UTC). Not good. Fortunately I could see 10.2 was the latest security update (CVE-2012-0954 CVSS v2 Base Score:2.6) but the expectation of 10.5 was causing the update error.

Proceed at your own risk but this was the straightforward fix.

  1. Download the latest package, based on architecture: 
    wget http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/main/a/apt/libapt-pkg4.12_0.8.16~exp12ubuntu10.5_amd64.deb
  2. Force removal of old package: 
    sudo dpkg --force-depends -r libapt-pkg4.12
  3. Install new package you just downloaded in step 1: 
    sudo dpkg -i libapt-pkg4.12_0.8.16~exp12ubuntu10.5_amd64.deb

    This can be verified in /var/log/dpkg.log: “status installed libapt-pkg4.12 0.8.16~exp12ubuntu10.5”

  4. Upgrade and see if all dependencies are met: 
    sudo apt-get upgrade

It’s simple but annoying, especially on a LTS system.

Poetry, Security

Tweets from Gaza

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Reporters are rushing into Gaza to report. Their first words are appearing real-time via Twitter. I noticed this Tweet from @erinmcunningham, for example.

I couldn’t help but see the raw material perfect for a haiku. With a little editing I came up with this:

Inland from the sea
Just heard #Gaza explosion
Roar of F16s

One of the curious elements of live reporting is that much of it, on its own, is anecdotal and unverified. “I heard an explosion” is like saying “something just happened” and then we end up waiting on details that could never come. Loud unexpected noise is unnerving. Without details the report is what they are feeling more than what may be happening; it is easy to come to various conclusions. Perhaps in the near future the mobile video/audio devices will not only be Tweeting text but also incorporate real-time data on how many db was an explosion, the visual effects, etc.. Until then, poetic interpretation may be the best the public can get when we look for immediate reports.

Energy, Poetry, Security

Karma and the Winter’s Edge

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With that video in mind, Fisker recently took the top design award from Fast Company.

The judges praised the design’s boldness. “The Fisker shows what you can do by taking risks in sedan design,” says judge Erica Eden, a Femme Den founder at Smart Design, “and that’s really what consumers want.”

Risks in sedan design? Soon after recieving their award for “innovation” many Fiskers in NY exploded (due to hurricane Sandy).

We have confidence in the Fisker Karma and safety is our primary concern. While we intend to find the cause as quickly as possible, storm damage has restricted access to the port. We will issue a further statement once the root cause has been determined.

Ooops. Perhaps not what they meant by risky? I say design fail.

I point out the award and the explosion because another finalist in the same competition was a Faraday electric bicycle that weighs only 40 lbs.

We’re very excited to announce that the Faraday Porteur has been selected as a finalist for the Fast Company “Innovation By Design” awards, the winner of which will be announced October 16th in NYC.

Now imagine going backwards in time and adding resilience/survivability metrics to the design award criteria for innovation…

Here’s my suggestion to Fast Company and Faraday for a new promotion that would resonate in NYC: “Bicycles. They carry you around the city faster then automobiles, they cost a small fraction, and they don’t explode.” Performance, reliability, affordability. What else do you want?

Porteur

I’ve written before about the increase in bicycle sales after disasters and the social benefits of cycling. Fast Company really missed an opportunity to recognize the future direction of transportation.

A gasoline automobile gets the award? Really? Not innovative. But giving the award to a $100K gasoline vehicle that increases the risk of failure or injury…?

At least Consumer Reports had some usability perspective in their review of the Fisker.

We buy about 80 cars a year and this is the first time in memory that we have had a car that is undriveable before it has finished our check-in process.

Fast Company should do a retraction. Or maybe that’s too risky?