Linux Blog

Howto label Linux partition

In linux, to label a partition, there are 3 tools that can be used. The tools are e2label, tune2fs and mke2fs.

To use e2label to label the second partition of the first hardisk with label DATA:
# e2label /dev/sda2 DATA

To use tune2fs to do the similar job as above:
# tune2fs -L DATA /dev/sda2

The third tool, mke2fs is actually a tool to build ext2/ext3 filesystem. So, if you want to build the partition's filesystem as ext2/ext3 and at the same time label it, this command can be used. Be careful though, because it will delete all existing data on that particular partition
# mke2fs -L DATA /dev/sda2

To view the label that you have set, there are 3 ways which are using e2label, blkid and viewing /dev/disk/by-label.

To check using e2label:
# e2label /dev/sda2
DATA

blkid tool is even more useful, because it can list out all the partitions that you have in the machine together with their labels,uuid and filesystem type:
# blkid
/dev/sda1: LABEL="/" UUID="1CC08F13C08EF276" TYPE="ext3"
/dev/sda2: LABEL="DATA" UUID="2063f830-fe5d-438e-b727-571b313cb89e" TYPE="ext3"
/dev/sda3: TYPE="swap" LABEL="SWAP" UUID="3e266b53-42e0-4f09-8fe3-d1cf79cb5d37"

To view the /dev/disk/by-label
# ls -l /dev/disk/by-label
total 0
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 2009-07-24 05:38 / -> ../../sda1
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 2009-07-24 05:38 DATA -> ../../sda2
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 2009-07-24 05:38 SWAP -> ../../sda3

Note that the label will stay with the partition although the disk is moved to another computer.

To use it in /etc/fstab:
LABEL=/ / ext3 defaults 1 1
LABEL=DATA /DATA ext3 defaults 1 2
LABEL=SWAP swap swap defaults 0 0

source: http://linuxwave.blogspot.com/2009/07/labeling-linux-partition.html

Open Source Java Library for Bluetooth - BlueCove

BlueCove is a JSR-82 J2SE implementation that currently interfaces with the Mac OS X, WIDCOMM, BlueSoleil and Microsoft Bluetooth stack found in Windows XP SP2 and newer. Originally developed by Intel Research and currently maintained by volunteers.

BlueCove runs on any JVM starting from version 1.1 or newer on Windows Mobile, Windows XP and Windows Vista, Mac OS X. Since version 2.1 BlueCove distributed under the Apache Software License, Version 2.0.

Linux BlueZ support added in BlueCove version 2.0.3 as additional GPL licensed module

Installation

BlueCove rely upon already installed native Bluetooth stack that comes with you operating system or Bluetooth USB device.

Installation of the binary (already compiled) version of BlueCove is as follows:

Download BlueCove binary release

Add bluecove.jar to your classpath

Also add bluecove-gpl.jar to your classpath if you are running application on Linux

HowTo Install Firefox, Thunderbird and SeaMonkey on Ubuntu using Ubuntuzilla

Ubuntuzilla allows the user to install the latest versions of Firefox, SeaMonkey, and Thunderbird on Ubuntu OS.

The Ubuntuzilla software is a python script that allows the user to install the latest versions of Mozilla Firefox, Mozilla SeaMonkey, and Mozilla Thunderbird on Ubuntu Linux. Ubuntuzilla has a support forum on the Ubuntu Forums in the 3rd party projects area, which you are encouraged to use if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions.

Here are some key features of "Ubuntuzilla":
* Automatically detects and downloads the newest Firefox, Thunderbird, SeaMonkey release from the Mozilla servers
* Allows you to make a choice of language for Firefox or Thunderbird
* Verifies the GPG signature (assures package integrity against malicious tampering or corrupt download) for Firefox or Thunderbird
* Verifies the MD5 sum for SeaMonkey
* Makes a date-stamped back-up of your Firefox, Thunderbird, SeaMonkey profile data
* Automatically integrates Firefox plugins that you have installed from the Ubuntu repositories
* Installs the new Firefox in /opt/firefox, Thunderbird in /opt/thunderbird, SeaMonkey in /opt/seamonkey
* Creates a SeaMonkey menu item in ''Applications -> Internet'' menu
* Checks all steps for successful execution
* Has a 'remove' action to remove the official Mozilla build and restore system to pre-installation state.
* Installs an update checker job that periodically performs automatic checks for new versions of Firefox, Thunderbird, or Seamonkey.
* Automatically checks for the latest Ubuntuzilla release and updates itself, to keep up with possible changes in the Mozilla website and release servers.
* Comes conveniently packaged in a .deb for easy installation
* Includes a very helpful man page, for those who don't like to read websites.

Install Ubuntuzilla
Install Dependencies: sudo apt-get install libstdc++5 libnotify-bin
Download deb package for Ubuntuzilla.
Double click to install the package. You can also use terminal to do the installation.

sudo dpkg -i /path/to/ubuntuzilla-4.6.1-0ubuntu1-i386.deb

Installing Firefox in Ubuntu
You’ll need to use a terminal to let Ubuntuzilla guide you through the installation.
Run this command to start: ubuntuzilla.py -a install -p firefox

Near the end of the process you should see The new Firefox version 3.5 has been installed successfully. Similarly if you want to install thunderbird or seamonkey, use following command

ubuntuzilla.py -a install -p thunderbird
ubuntuzilla.py -a install -p seamonkey

Removal:
Enter this command to run the script (choose one depending on which software you want to remove; copy and paste to avoid typos):

ubuntuzilla.py -a remove -p firefox
ubuntuzilla.py -a remove -p thunderbird
ubuntuzilla.py -a remove -p seamonkey

Updates
To install the automatic update checker, just run the installation, follow the prompts at the end of installation and choose 'yes' to enable automatic update checking. If you have already installed the Mozilla software at an earlier time, and just want to enable the automatic update checking, you can run Ubuntuzilla with action "installupdater" to install the updater job separately. Use the following command (choose one depending on which software you want to check for updates; copy and paste to avoid typos):

ubuntuzilla.py -a installupdater -p firefox
ubuntuzilla.py -a installupdater -p thunderbird
ubuntuzilla.py -a installupdater -p seamonkey

OpenSource HTTP Load Tester and Benchmarking Utility - Siege

Siege is an open source stress / regression test and benchmark utility. It can stress a single URL with a user defined number of simulated users or it can read many URLs into memory and stress them simultaneously.

Siege reports the total number of hits recorded, bytes transferred, response time, concurrency, and return status. Most features are configurable with command line options which also include default values to minimize the complexity of the program's invocation.

Siege allows you to stress a web server with 'n' number of users for 't' number of times, where n and t are defined by the user. It records the duration time of the test as well as the duration of each single transaction.

Siege reports the number of transactions, elapsed time, bytes transferred, response time, transaction rate, concurrency and the number of times the server responded OK, that is status code 200. Siege was designed and implemented by Jeffrey Fulmer in his position as Webmaster for Armstrong World Industries.

The latest version of siege can be obtained via anonymous ftp: siege-latest.tar.gz

Installation:
Extract the source code using command: tar -zxvf siege-latest.tar.gz

   $ ./configure
      --with-ssl=/some/dir -- where dir is where you installed ssl, this flag is used to enable https protocol.
   $ make
   $ make uninstall (if you have an older version installed in PREFIX)
   $ make install

Using: Here is the simple example of using siege

# siege --concurrent=50 --internet --benchmark --time=20m http://www.someurl.com/index.html

Check siege man pages for more options