Linux

Stuff about Linux: mostly Slackware and Ubuntu

PHP: Fixing “pear.php.net is using a unsupported protocol – This should never happen.” (again)

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On servers using PHP 5.6.38, PHP 7.2.11, and PHP 7.3.0RC2, when I run pecl upgrade, I get the error message: pear.php.net is using a unsupported protocol – This should never happen. upgrade failed I looked at my previous blog post and found that, back then (2014), the solution was to run: pear upgrade –force xml_util. … Read more PHP: Fixing “pear.php.net is using a unsupported protocol – This should never happen.” (again)

VLC Media Player Fails with: vlc cannot instantiate dialogs provider

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I recently installed Slackware64 current on my home workstation. After installing VLC Media Player from Alien Bob’s restricted Slackbuilds,, I discovered that VLC would not start. After poking around, I found that VLC was giving the error: cannot instantiate dialogs provider. Some searching around, revealed the answer on linuxquestions.org and in the file http://slackware.uk/people/alien/restricted_slackbuilds/vlc/pkg64/current/vlc-3.0.3-x86_64-1alien.dep That … Read more VLC Media Player Fails with: vlc cannot instantiate dialogs provider

VirtualBox Kernel Modules Won’t Compile with Linux 4.14.24

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This morning, I tried to run VirtualBox on my workstation–running Slackware64 Current–at work and found that the kernel modules were not installed. Knowing that I had upgraded the kernel (to 4.14.24) this morning, I tried to build the modules: cd /usr/src/vboxhost-5.2.8 make and got a horrible message (and feeling -): /opt/VirtualBox/src/vboxhost/vboxdrv/Makefile.include.header:141: *** Error: unable to … Read more VirtualBox Kernel Modules Won’t Compile with Linux 4.14.24

KRDC Fails on Slackware Current (a.k.a 14.2) with Could not start “xfreerdp”; make sure xfreerdp is properly installed.

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Along with the excellence of Slackware current comes a broken version of KRDC (KDE Remote Desktop Client) that doesn’t work for RDP connections.  It fails with a dialog saying: Could not start “xfreerdp”; make sure xfreerdp is properly installed. After poking around the source code, I got rather frustrated as I found the KDE source … Read more KRDC Fails on Slackware Current (a.k.a 14.2) with Could not start “xfreerdp”; make sure xfreerdp is properly installed.

Segfault Running perl on Slackware Current (2015-12-22)

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This morning, Tuesday 2015-12-22, I noticed that some PERL scripts which had worked in the past now segfault on Slackware64 Current. My investigation revealed that the issue is with Term::ReadKey, as when I run: perl -d -MCPAN -eshell I get: Loading DB routines from perl5db.pl version 1.49 Editor support available. Enter h or ‘h h’ … Read more Segfault Running perl on Slackware Current (2015-12-22)

Slackware Current Updates Friday August 21: Firefox Aurora Now Requires libepoxy

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This morning I installed last Friday’s updates to Slackware-current on my home workstation. Afterwords, I noticed that Firefox 42.0a2 (2015-08-24) won’t start, complaining about the lack of libepoxy. UPDATE: 2015-08-25: The Friday updates to -current included the addition of libepoxy to the official Slackware install.  I failed to do install-new. The easiest fix would have … Read more Slackware Current Updates Friday August 21: Firefox Aurora Now Requires libepoxy

Building Linux kernel 3.2.70 for Slackware 13.37 (32-bit)

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While updating my Slackware virtual machines, I ran into issues compiling Linux 3.2.70 on Slackware 13.37 (32-bit). Running make oldconfig in the kernel directory failed with the following error: Makefile:484: /usr/src/linux-3.2.71/arch/i686/Makefile: No such file or directory make: *** No rule to make target `/usr/src/linux-3.2.71/arch/i686/Makefile’. Stop. I checked in the arch directory of the kernel source, … Read more Building Linux kernel 3.2.70 for Slackware 13.37 (32-bit)

Building SLiM on Slackware 13.0, 13.1, 13.37 and 14.0

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I’ve recently built virtual machines of Slackware64 13.0, Slackware64 13,1, Slackware 13.37, Slackware 64 13.37 and Slackware64 14.0 on which I build custom packages to support our Linux servers. For convenience, I installed X.org and XFCE on the virtual machines. For installs like this, I typically use SLiM as my login manager. On both Slackware … Read more Building SLiM on Slackware 13.0, 13.1, 13.37 and 14.0

Getting Ready for 2016: SHA-2 (SHA256) Certificates and Apache

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It seems Google has declared SHA-1 encryption insecure. Chrome now complains about sites using this protocol for secure (https) connections. From what I understand, certificates and servers should be upgraded before 2016 in order to be viewable by Chrome users. Once again, I turned to Qualys SSL Labs for help. Their SSL Server Test is … Read more Getting Ready for 2016: SHA-2 (SHA256) Certificates and Apache

Yes, Virginia (and all other locales), there is an Opera 27-now 65-for Linux!

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Like many others, I have been running Opera 12.16 on my Slackware box for a long time. Regular checks at www.opera.com told me that this was the latest version available for Linux. In March 2015, I discovered that Opera 27 was available for 64-bit Linux. With a bit of exploration and fiddling, I was able … Read more Yes, Virginia (and all other locales), there is an Opera 27-now 65-for Linux!