Switched On Tech Design

Category: Debian

  • Easiest way of upgrading or updating Mediawiki version on Debian/Ubuntu/etc.

    So far this is the easiest way I have found to update Mediawiki. This presumes SSH access.   Back up your database and files first!   cd wget https://releases.wikimedia.org/mediawiki/1.31/mediawiki-1.31.1.tar.gz (if going for another version, replace with the appropriate link) tar -xvzf mediawiki-1.31.1.tar.gz cp -rf mediawiki-1.31.1/* /var/www/YOURSITE If your sites are stored elsewhere, replaces /var/www/YOURSITE with whatever…

  • Owncloud Nine: How to reset the admin password

    Well, about ten minutes after installing the new Owncloud Nine we found out that we had typo’d the admin password. Fortunately, it’s an easy fix. Run the following (this worked on Debian with a fresh Owncloud 9 install):   cd /path/to/owncloud sudo -u webserveruser php occ user:resetpassword adminaccountname   In our case the command was:…

  • How to install just ab (apachebench) on Debian or Ubuntu

    Running nginx (or lighttpd, or any other web server) but still want to make use of Apache’s useful ab (apachebench) benchmarking tool?   apt-get install apache2-utils   …should do it.

  • How to stop apache from starting on boot? Debian 7 and 8

    This little tip is handy for those who want to swap from apache to nginx:   update-rc.d -f apache2 remove   Easy done.

  • OpenSMTPD and Thunderbird: smtp-in: Bad input on session 5.5.1 Invalid command: Pipelining not supported

    While trying to connect to OpenSMTPD running on Debian Stretch Thunderbird couldn’t auto-configure the account and provided the following error in the logs:   email smtpd[566]: smtp-in: Bad input on session 6567905e3020707c: 500 5.5.1 Invalid command: Pipelining not supported   This is a Thunderbird config issue, not a server side issue. Change the settings from…

  • How to protect Debian from the Shellshock exploit

    Shellshock is quite a serious security hole found a couple of days ago in Bash; to check whether your Debian server is vulnerable run the following in a terminal: env VAR='() { :;}; echo Shellshock vulnerable!‘ bash -c “echo Bash Testing” If your system is vulnerable, you will see: Shellshock vulnerable! Bash testing If it…

  • tryst hookup

    Forgotten what it was you last updated, or want to check what someone else has been updating? There’s a log file for that, and it’s located at:   /var/log/apt/history.log   To view it, run:   less /var/log/apt/history.log   Looking for an older logfile? They’re kept, too. To see the other log files available, view the…

  • How to cache yum repositories on CentOS using apt-cacher-ng on Debian or Ubuntu

    How to cache yum repositories on CentOS using apt-cacher-ng on Debian or Ubuntu

      If you have a lot of virtual (or real) machines running Debian or Ubuntu and a limited internet connection, it can make a lot of sense to use apt-cacher-ng to create a local cache of the packages you use so that they are only downloaded once. The current version of apt-cacher-ng can also help…

  • Debian Wheezy: /etc/sudoers missing

      If you’re looking to add something to the /etc/sudoers file in a Debian Wheezy install, you may find that the file isn’t there! To create the file while logged in as the root user you need to install the sudo package:   apt-get install sudo   Once that install completes the file will appear:…