elstel.org

Since python2 is no more installed by default on many systems or not even available as on MacOS we have ported the vpngate-extract script to python3. The old python2 version can still be downloaded as in the brackets. VPNgate-extract can be used to extract .ovpn files from a list with download URL given by --help in order to connect to free VPNs around the world. VPN stands for Virtual Private Network and it enables you to connect to another computer in some other country and see the internet as from there.

We have extended our documentation on how to create chroots for the rpm based distributions Fedora and Mageia. Programs like dnf, zypper and debootstrap are nowadays available for most distributions which facilitates the chroot creation by users without him/her having to install a whole system directly on hardware. Furthermore we have reordered the docuemtation items in a more logically consistent way.

Besides this I am currently packaging lots of the software at elstel.org for different distributions. Where to find online repositories is issued under /software. We will apply for xchroot and possibly other programs to get included into Debian while we have updated the openSUSE package. Additionally I am planning to update existing packages more frequently though only direct download from elstel.org may at times yield the most ultimate new version.

Xchroot v2.7.4 implements some important bugfixes towards v2.7. Due to an apparent regression in sudo, xchroot as user appears to have been temporarily broken. At first I thought it was one of the configuration issues merely pertinent to my own system like the ssh user being deleted from /etc/passwd or some removed execution right of a shared library or /etc/init.d file (I did already tell whom to thank.). However as it seems this was in deed a regression of sudo. Can now be fixed by executing xchroot inst-root-sudo. The new and buggy mirrtmp behaviour of v2.7 has been temporarily undone defaulting to mntmp as before. Mounting of /etc/resolv.conf may be needed for internet access, mounting /boot/efi for installing the bootloader and initctl may help for systemctl suspend. new feature: minimal chroots featuring only a busybox: see 'how to create a chroot', last example.

If you wanna support the work for xchroot, any other of our programs, if you want more content translated into your own language or if you like new content you may donate. You have now the possibility to donate via bank transfer with IBAN/BIC, a way that shall always work for everyone. This is important if you like this web page since at the moment I can not even pay for the hosting costs from what I get. Visit the Contact page also linked from xchroot/#downloads to see more. Support is free and if an email should get lost, I do now also have a landline phone number for you.

xchroot v2.7 starts an own dbus session for the target user by default as many applications expect and as desktop environments like Xfce, Gnome or KDE require. Desktop file creation has been improved and is also used for exporting X-sessions like KDE or Gnome out of a chroot. Chroot escapes now do also work if an intermediately run program has closed the file descriptors so that you can also use it for desktop sessions. Another new feature is that xchroot can now also be used for merely switching the user with maintained X-access where no chroot is performed. This may be useful if you want to run your favourite browser cleanly separated with two different bookmark/history/other settings at the same time. The documentation about audio and user support as well as the intro has also been updated. /tmp mirroring has been made more secure by only exporting /tmp/.X11-unix by default. The old, possibly more compatible behaviour can be achieved with --on mirrtmp or permanently by adding mirrtmp to the MNTON variable definition at the beginning of the xchroot script. If multiple chroots to the same root and user occur, then the XAUTH-cookies for all chroots will now be merged into one file.

webstats for multiple domains: domain:port is now viewed for the page directory and the visits unless you specify --nodom, usually in gray color unless -C is given. You can query with --domain elstel for a pattern or with --domain ^elstel.org$ only for the .org domain. logrotate has been updated and it now runs also without parameters; help screen, download file recognition (.bz2,.gz,.xz,.tar) and search engine recognition have also been updated (for ecosia,startpage,metager,crawlson,qwant)