nullege.com: search python source code

the title sums it up pretty well. I know you can find just about anything using google, but supposedly nullege.com is a little smarter when it comes to python. it's a cool idea, at any rate. I haven't had a need to try it out yet, but I'm sure I will before long:


http://nullege.com/

let FCC know how you feel about AT&T/T-Mobile merger

as is most everything I post here, this isn't recent news, but the FCC has a comment filing system where you can let them know how you feel about the proposed acquisition of T-Mobile USA by AT&T. go here:

http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/ecfs/hotdocket/list

and select proceeding number "11-65".

source: http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/FCC-Wants-Your-Thoughts-On-ATT-TMobile-Merger-114028

libgssapiv2.so.2: undefined symbol: gss_nt_service_name

More compiling woes...

This time I was compiling cyrus-sasl 2.1.23 for use with OpenLDAP. I got it all compiled, and tried to run and ldapsearch using GSSAPI, but I got this error:
$ ldapsearch -b dc=example,dc=com -LLL
ldap_sasl_interactive_bind_s: Unknown authentication method (-6)
additional info: SASL(-4): no mechanism available: No worthy mechs found

When I looked at /var/log/messages, I saw this:
Apr 6 16:42:01 ldap ldapsearch: unable to dlopen /usr/local/lib/sasl2/libgssapiv2.so.2: /usr/local/lib/sasl2/libgssapiv2.so.2: undefined symbol: gss_nt_service_name
Apr 6 16:42:01 ldap ldapsearch: No worthy mechs found

I realized that for some reason the SASL GSSAPI plugin wasn't compiling, which I noticed when I ran /usr/local/sbin/pluginviewer -s (Plugin "gssapiv2" [loaded] wasn't in the list)

After googling, I found a possible solution here:
http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-questions/2011-January/226495.html

But I didn't like it because it seemed a little hackish. then I ran across a patch posted here:
http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-questions/2011-February/227044.html

It seemed like a much better solution, but there seemed to be quite a bit in the patch that wasn't relevant to my problem, so I trimmed it down to two changes:

--- configure.dist 2011-04-06 10:30:07.000000000 -0500
+++ configure 2011-04-06 11:25:17.000000000 -0500
@@ -11122 +11122 @@
- if test "$gss_impl" = "cybersafe" -o "$gss_impl" = "cybersafe03"; then
+ if test "$gss_impl" = "cybersafe" -o "$gss_impl" = "cybersafe03" -o "$gss_impl" = "heimdal"; then
@@ -11193 +11193 @@
- if test "$gss_impl" = "cybersafe" -o "$gss_impl" = "cybersafe03"; then
+ if test "$gss_impl" = "cybersafe" -o "$gss_impl" = "cybersafe03" -o "$gss_impl" = "heimdal"; then

You can download the raw patch here:
https://gist.github.com/bmaupin/2a4d08edc128d785ad46

elementary OS: T minus 9 hours and counting

if you've been to the elementary OS website lately, you've probably noticed it now consists of a countdown timer:

http://elementaryos.org/

it looks like it's counting down to midnight (00.00) april 1 (UTC), so I'm guessing that's when elementary OS will finally be released.

I can't wait! with a slick, clean interface and many of the elementary team's apps that I've posted about before, this just might be good enough to replace Ubuntu. I know I'll definitely be checking it out.

heimdal 1.4 missing lib/otp/version-script.map

I was compiling Heimdal kerberos 1.4 on RHEL 5.6 and got the following error:

/usr/bin/ld: cannot open linker script file ./version-script.map: No such file or directory

After some poking around, it appears that lib/otp/version-script.map is missing from the 1.4 source, which is weird since I downloaded it right from the big "Download 1.4" link from their website (http://www.h5l.org/), which links to http://www.h5l.org/dist/src/heimdal-1.4.tar.gz.

So, to fix the problem, you can download the missing file right from their git repo, here: https://github.com/heimdal/heimdal/raw/e3044663df2cfcafd5bf4e2ea6f2a1ba1503d8ea/lib/otp/version-script.map

Just place it in heimdal-1.4/lib/otp, and you should be good to go.

So the whole process would look something like this:

wget http://www.h5l.org/dist/src/heimdal-1.4.tar.gz
tar xvf heimdal-1.4.tar.gz
wget --no-check-certificate https://github.com/heimdal/heimdal/raw/e3044663df2cfcafd5bf4e2ea6f2a1ba1503d8ea/lib/otp/version-script.map -P heimdal-1.4/lib/otp

...and then you can go on with the configure, make, etc. to build it.

Edit:
Of course if you don't care about OTP (one time password) support, you can just disable this altogether when compiling and not worry about the missing file. Just add the "--disable-otp" flag when running the configure command:

./configure --disable-otp

AT&T to purchase T-Mobile; corporations: 1 consumers: 0

With the recently announced purchase of T-Mobile USA by AT&T, it's evident that the only winners are going to be AT&T and T-Mobile themselves.

There's nothing good in this for the consumers. T-Mobile is the cheapest out of the four major nationwide carriers in the US. They're definitely cheaper than AT&T. With them gone, US customers will be forced to pay higher rates. AT&T claims that by acquiring T-Mobile they can lower their costs, and supposedly (1) they're going to pass on some of that savings with the customers. Sure they will. When's the last time you heard of a major corporation lowering prices, unless it was forced to by competition? If they can get away with making more money, they're going to do everything in their power to do just that.

And that brings me to my next point: competition. With T-Mobile out of the picture, there's less competition. Somehow or another AT&T is actually claiming there's plenty of competition! (2) What a joke. It doesn't take a PhD in economics to realize that less corporations in a given market = less competition = higher prices.

To top it off, T-Mobile is one of the few US carriers (along with AT&T) using a GSM-based network. Most people probably don't care, but for those who travel and want to use their phone outside the country, the options are already limited, and will be even worse after the merger. So if you want a GSM carrier, guess who that leaves? AT&T. Not only will you have to put up with higher prices, but you'll have to put up with their silliness, like blocking non-Android market apps on Android phones.

Ultimately the consumers are the losers in this deal.


1 "AT&T has promised to spread some of that windfall around"
http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2011/03/21/att-mobile-merger-brings-efficiencies-but-will-consumers-see-the-benefit

2 "'The U.S. wireless industry is one of the most fiercely competitive markets in the world and will remain so after this deal'"
http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2011/03/20/att-mobile-and-verizon-is-sprint-third-place-in-a-two-man-race

Make free wifi/data calls on your android device

Update: I've blogged more recently on better ways to do this, so you might want to head here instead:  Free wifi/data calls on your smartphone, part 2


Note: this will only allow you to make calls to US numbers, excluding Alaska and Hawaii, as that's all the Whistle Phone service supports. See the last paragraph of this post for alternative options.

1. Go to whistlephone.com, download their software to your desktop, and register for a free account.


2. Download the CSipSimple app from the android market
   Here's the QR code:
   
3. Open CSipSimple, choose the integration you want, then click Add Account. Then scroll down to Generic wizards --> Advanced.
   
   
   
   • Account name: whatever you want
   
   
   • Caller ID: your whistle phone number
   
   
   • Server: proxy.whistlephone.com
   
   
   • Username: your whistle phone number
   
   
   • Password: your whistle phone account password
   
   
   • Use TCP: leave unchecked
   
   
   • Proxy: proxy.whistlephone.com

And that should be it. You can now make calls using your Android device's data connection (wifi, 3G, 4G). If you chose to integrate with the native dialer, just make sure to choose the whistle phone account you created. If not, just open up the CSipSimple app to make calls.

For outgoing calls, it seems to take a good while to connect (about 15 seconds), then you have to listen to 10-second ad. Incoming calls seem to go through pretty quickly, though, and neither you nor the calling party has to listen to any ads.

The CSipSimple app mentions lots of other SIP providers, so maybe one of them is free and has better connection times for outgoing calls (perhaps even ad-free), or will even allow you to call different countries for free, but I haven't checked any of the others out yet.

Update: since I posted this, Whistle Phone limited inbound and outbound calls to 20 minutes. you can read more about that here: https://www.whistlephone.com/naywa. also, I did take the time to look into the other US SIP providers mentioned in the CSipSimple app, and none of them allows you to make free calls except to users using their service. but if you do hear of a better SIP provider, let me know!