Little me's questions

I reported a bug with LibreOffice (the 'official' bionic-upgrade version) and LO support person suggested upgrading to a current version from their site. They said I was using an old version.

I prefer to upgrade via 'Ubuntu Software' in an attempt to reduce risk (security and stability) so I looked there.

It caused me to wonder if the more up-to-date, snap version, which also appears in 'Ubuntu Software' alongside , is (more) trustworthy than the Canonical distributed one.

Basically, how much trust can be placed in snap of a provider? This obviously requires comparing it to the trustworthiness of Canonical Corp...!

p.s. Please don't simply suggest to learn to read code and I won't suggest you learn DIY open heart surgery; humans specialise.

Edited; hopefully to make more clear.

An old login password (twice since replaced) still seems to be the Gnome2 Key Storage password. Upon changing my (sole admin/user) login password (using System Settings GUI) I expected Ubuntu to update this password in the same way that it seems to try to change the LUKS password. Perhaps that expectation is an error.

As recent login password changes haven't been flawless (I posted a separate question about that here) I wonder:

• if these passwords should be harmonised by Ubuntu during login password change
• how I change the Gnome2 Key Storage password manually.

That is two questions, I know, but they're linked to resolving the same issue of harmonised passwords forking which is dangerous for less knowledgable users.

How long should it take to change the only user's password if there is an encrypted home?

This has been running for hours now.

It did ask me, after an age, for the keyring passphrase or whatever it's called but the dialogue box is just greyed out whilst the cursor shows the busy 'spinner'.

Previously, on another password change, this was interrupted which coincided with no end of mismatched password/passphrase headscratching...

Thanks!

(Although I'm playing with fire, please pitch advice to a Noob... Thanks)

Now then,

Trying a low level format of a 2TB damaged HDD so that it can use SMART to self mark bad sectors/blocks.

Followed advice at https://superuser.com/questions/203305/how-do-i-perform-a-low-level-format-of-a-sandforce-solid-state-disk/485949#485949

But got this output from this command:

sudo hdparm --user-master u --security-erase llformat /dev/sdc
security_password="llformat"

/dev/sdc:
 Issuing SECURITY_ERASE command, password="llformat", user=user
ERASE_PREPARE: Invalid argument

I have successfully enabled security. Here is output from hdparm -I /dev/sdc:

/dev/sdc:

ATA device, with non-removable media
    Model Number:       WDC WD20EARS-00MVWB0                    
    Serial Number:      WD-WCAZA7166342
    Firmware Revision:  51.0AB51
    Transport:          Serial, SATA 1.0a, SATA II Extensions, SATA Rev 2.5, SATA Rev 2.6
Standards:
    Supported: 8 7 6 5 
    Likely used: 8
Configuration:
    Logical     max current
    cylinders   16383   16383
    heads       16  16
    sectors/track   63  63
    --
    CHS current addressable sectors:   16514064
    LBA    user addressable sectors:  268435455
    LBA48  user addressable sectors: 3907029168
    Logical/Physical Sector size:           512 bytes
    device size with M = 1024*1024:     1907729 MBytes
    device size with M = 1000*1000:     2000398 MBytes (2000 GB)
    cache/buffer size  = unknown
Capabilities:
    LBA, IORDY(can be disabled)
    Queue depth: 32
    Standby timer values: spec'd by Standard, with device specific minimum
    R/W multiple sector transfer: Max = 16  Current = 0
    DMA: *mdma0 mdma1 mdma2 udma0 udma1 udma2 udma3 udma4 udma5 udma6 
         Cycle time: min=120ns recommended=120ns
    PIO: pio0 pio1 pio2 pio3 pio4 
         Cycle time: no flow control=120ns  IORDY flow control=120ns
Commands/features:
    Enabled Supported:
       *    SMART feature set
       *    Security Mode feature set
       *    Power Management feature set
       *    Write cache
       *    Look-ahead
       *    Host Protected Area feature set
       *    WRITE_BUFFER command
       *    READ_BUFFER command
       *    NOP cmd
       *    DOWNLOAD_MICROCODE
            Power-Up In Standby feature set
       *    SET_FEATURES required to spinup after power up
            SET_MAX security extension
       *    48-bit Address feature set
       *    Device Configuration Overlay feature set
       *    Mandatory FLUSH_CACHE
       *    FLUSH_CACHE_EXT
       *    SMART error logging
       *    SMART self-test
       *    General Purpose Logging feature set
       *    64-bit World wide name
       *    WRITE_UNCORRECTABLE_EXT command
       *    {READ,WRITE}_DMA_EXT_GPL commands
       *    Segmented DOWNLOAD_MICROCODE
       *    Gen1 signaling speed (1.5Gb/s)
       *    Gen2 signaling speed (3.0Gb/s)
       *    Native Command Queueing (NCQ)
       *    Host-initiated interface power management
       *    Phy event counters
       *    NCQ priority information
            DMA Setup Auto-Activate optimization
       *    Software settings preservation
       *    SMART Command Transport (SCT) feature set
       *    SCT Write Same (AC2)
       *    SCT Features Control (AC4)
       *    SCT Data Tables (AC5)
            unknown 206[12] (vendor specific)
            unknown 206[13] (vendor specific)
Security: 
    Master password revision code = 65534
        supported
        enabled
    not locked
    not frozen
    not expired: security count
        supported: enhanced erase
    Security level high
    378min for SECURITY ERASE UNIT. 378min for ENHANCED SECURITY ERASE UNIT. 
Logical Unit WWN Device Identifier: 50014ee205d8fa16
    NAA     : 5
    IEEE OUI    : 0014ee
    Unique ID   : 205d8fa16
Checksum: correct

I'm not expected to enter the password, am I?

After a crash probably relating to Firefox and or Suspend on a Ubuntu 14.04LTS install, Crash Reporter said that it was due to Apport and that Upgrade Status is "No upgrade log present (probably a fresh install)."

Well I'm unsure that this old install should reasonably be suggesting this. Suspicious or anything?

What say you?

Concerning Ubuntu 14.04 LTS (Trusty)

Software Updater lists but does not allow ticking (checking) of box to update:

[_] Libav codecs library (additional codecs meta-package)

It reports:

Changes for libavcodec-extra versions:

Installed version: 6:9.18-0ubuntu0.14.04.1

Available version: 6:11.3-1~trusty

This update does not come from a source that supports changelogs.

My streamed video playback is terrible (possibly because of bloatware on an old machine) but I'm wondering if I should update codecs.

1. Is there anything else to consider
2. How do I get it to automatically update (if it isn't properly)
3. Should I stop worrying and stop interfering?
4. I'm uncertain how Libavcodec54 relates to the version numbers above.
5. I don't want advice that leaves my system vulnerable or requiring future remembering of what I've done previously. e.g. see AskUbuntu question 851190

Advice pitched for a noob, please.

Ubuntu 14.04 LTS

I might have deleted the Kernel whilst trying to delete 10GB of old kernels. I haven't switched the PC off yet.

@Karel suggests an answer in a virtually identical question: Might have deleted kernel, but haven't shut off computer yet but it is vague on how to find grub (boot menu) device. I don't have enough reputation to comment there.

His answer:

sudo apt-get install --reinstall linux-image-generic  
sudo grub-install /dev/sdX
sudo update-grub

Disks program shows that, I have one SSD (device sda), split thus:

|             | Extended Partition |             |
|             |     Partition 3    |             |
| Filesystem  |        129GB       |  Filesystem |
| Partition 1 |____________________| Partition 2 |
| 25GB EXT4   |     Filesystem     |  102GB FAT  |
|             |     Partition 5    |             |
|             |     129GB EXT4     |             |

The 25GB is Linux (bootable); the 129GB is Linux and the 102GB is W95 FAT32

So I'm guessing that I need to replace the middle command with either sudo grub-install /dev/sda or sudo grub-install /dev/sda1 When @Karel suggests to enter the device name, I don't know if he means me to include the partition number.

I received the following error message; not sure what caused it, but it possibly followed opening LibreCalc's Cell Formatting options box, with Ctrl + 1.

Title: "Installing fonts on request isn't supported"
Message: "Currently auto-detection and installation of missing fonts is not supported"

Web showed no results for this error. Should I go to ask.LibreOffice.org?

Thx

I have a Kingston DataTraveler 3.1 64GB Thumb Drive. It is now a tiny brick, but unlike other bricked thumb drives in other questions...

Nautilus, Gparted and Disks do not see it. No recognition of its insertion or removal seems to take place, yet...

lsusb

reports:

Bus 001 Device 003: ID 0bda:0159 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. RTS5159 Card Reader Controller
Bus 001 Device 006: ID 0951:1666 Kingston Technology DataTraveler G4
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0c45:62c0 Microdia Sonix USB 2.0 Camera
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 005 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 003 Device 002: ID 045e:00e1 Microsoft Corp. Wireless Laser Mouse 6000 Reciever
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub

That's it identified at the second entry. Can this be made to work? Does Ubuntu remember it and name it or is it reporting it's name and therefore not COMPLETELY bricked?

The drive is similarly ignored on a Mac but, to my immediate surprise, Windoze has recognised it! I nearly didn't check. It sees it as 0 bytes and unformatted, but offers to format it. I haven't tried yet. Anyone care to work out why Windows does better in this case and tell me if this can be revived using Linux. From memory, there are encoded backups on there, but I don't mind losing the data. This is now just a learning/teaching Linux opportunity. There is a chance that this has been an encrypted drive that I could guess the password for...

Thanks!

edit for @Mark Williams and other interested parties: dmesg reports:

[36773.888116] usb 1-4: new high-speed USB device number 6 using ehci-pci
[36774.201457] usb 1-4: New USB device found, idVendor=0951, idProduct=1666
[36774.201471] usb 1-4: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
[36774.201479] usb 1-4: Product: DataTraveler 3.0
[36774.201486] usb 1-4: Manufacturer: Kingston
[36774.201493] usb 1-4: SerialNumber: 94DE807246B3EF5159B6E02F
[36774.202512] usb-storage 1-4:1.0: USB Mass Storage device detected
[36774.203011] scsi7 : usb-storage 1-4:1.0
[36775.291961] scsi 7:0:0:0: Direct-Access     Kingston DataTraveler 3.0 PMAP PQ: 0 ANSI: 6
[36775.293850] sd 7:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg2 type 0
[36776.972191] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdc] 122915328 512-byte logical blocks: (62.9 GB/58.6 GiB)
[36776.972949] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdc] Write Protect is off
[36776.972965] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdc] Mode Sense: 23 00 00 00
[36776.973696] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdc] No Caching mode page found
[36776.973712] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdc] Assuming drive cache: write through
[36777.014732]  sdc: sdc1
[36777.022713] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdc] Attached SCSI removable disk

I'm a relative noob.

Trying to add WiFi Direct to my 12.04 installation on an old netbook. I was following this advice: How to get wifi direct( wifi p2p) on my HP DM1 laptop?

First, I downloaded wpa_supplicant-2.3 to the root and unpacked it

myself@myself-AspireOne:~$ tar -xzf wpa_supplicant-2.3.tar.gz
myself@myself-AspireOne:~$ cd wpa_supplicant-2.3/wpa_supplicant

Then I created a file called .config from info based at https://wireless.wiki.kernel.org/en/developers/p2p/howto and started the compilation.

myself@myself-AspireOne:~/wpa_supplicant-2.3/wpa_supplicant$ cp wpa_supplicant.conf /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf
cp: cannot create regular file `/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf': Permission denied
myself@myself-AspireOne:~/wpa_supplicant-2.3/wpa_supplicant$ sudo cp wpa_supplicant.conf /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf
[sudo] password for myself: 
myself@myself-AspireOne:~/wpa_supplicant-2.3/wpa_supplicant$ sudo make && make install
  CC  config.c
  CC  notify.c
  CC  bss.c
  CC  eap_register.c
  CC  ../src/utils/common.c
  CC  ../src/utils/wpa_debug.c
  CC  ../src/utils/wpabuf.c
  CC  ../src/utils/os_unix.c
  CC  ../src/utils/eloop.c
  CC  config_file.c
  CC  ../src/rsn_supp/wpa.c
  CC  ../src/rsn_supp/preauth.c
  CC  ../src/rsn_supp/pmksa_cache.c
  CC  ../src/rsn_supp/peerkey.c
  CC  ../src/rsn_supp/wpa_ie.c
  CC  ../src/common/wpa_common.c
  CC  p2p_supplicant.c
  CC  ../src/p2p/p2p.c
  CC  ../src/p2p/p2p_utils.c
  CC  ../src/p2p/p2p_parse.c
  CC  ../src/p2p/p2p_build.c
  CC  ../src/p2p/p2p_go_neg.c
  CC  ../src/p2p/p2p_sd.c
  CC  ../src/p2p/p2p_pd.c
  CC  ../src/p2p/p2p_invitation.c
  CC  ../src/p2p/p2p_dev_disc.c
  CC  ../src/p2p/p2p_group.c
  CC  ../src/ap/p2p_hostapd.c
  CC  ../src/utils/bitfield.c
  CC  ../src/eap_peer/eap_tls.c
  CC  ../src/eap_peer/eap_peap.c
  CC  ../src/eap_common/eap_peap_common.c
  CC  ../src/eap_peer/eap_ttls.c
  CC  ../src/eap_peer/eap_md5.c
  CC  ../src/eap_peer/eap_mschapv2.c
  CC  ../src/eap_peer/mschapv2.c
  CC  ../src/eap_peer/eap_gtc.c
  CC  ../src/eap_peer/eap_otp.c
  CC  ../src/eap_peer/eap_leap.c
  CC  wps_supplicant.c
  CC  ../src/utils/uuid.c
  CC  ../src/eap_peer/eap_wsc.c
  CC  ../src/eap_common/eap_wsc_common.c
  CC  ../src/wps/wps.c
  CC  ../src/wps/wps_common.c
  CC  ../src/wps/wps_attr_parse.c
  CC  ../src/wps/wps_attr_build.c
  CC  ../src/wps/wps_attr_process.c
  CC  ../src/wps/wps_dev_attr.c
  CC  ../src/wps/wps_enrollee.c
  CC  ../src/wps/wps_registrar.c
  CC  ../src/eapol_supp/eapol_supp_sm.c
  CC  ../src/eap_peer/eap.c
  CC  ../src/eap_peer/eap_methods.c
  CC  ap.c
  CC  ../src/ap/hostapd.c
  CC  ../src/ap/wpa_auth_glue.c
  CC  ../src/ap/utils.c
  CC  ../src/ap/authsrv.c
  CC  ../src/ap/ap_config.c
  CC  ../src/utils/ip_addr.c
  CC  ../src/ap/sta_info.c
  CC  ../src/ap/tkip_countermeasures.c
  CC  ../src/ap/ap_mlme.c
  CC  ../src/ap/ieee802_1x.c
  CC  ../src/eapol_auth/eapol_auth_sm.c
  CC  ../src/ap/ieee802_11_auth.c
  CC  ../src/ap/ieee802_11_shared.c
  CC  ../src/ap/drv_callbacks.c
  CC  ../src/ap/ap_drv_ops.c
  CC  ../src/ap/beacon.c
  CC  ../src/ap/eap_user_db.c
  CC  ../src/ap/ctrl_iface_ap.c
  CC  ../src/eap_server/eap_server.c
  CC  ../src/eap_server/eap_server_identity.c
  CC  ../src/eap_server/eap_server_methods.c
  CC  ../src/ap/wmm.c
  CC  ../src/ap/ap_list.c
  CC  ../src/ap/ieee802_11.c
  CC  ../src/ap/hw_features.c
  CC  ../src/ap/dfs.c
  CC  ../src/ap/wps_hostapd.c
  CC  ../src/eap_server/eap_server_wsc.c
  CC  ../src/ap/wpa_auth.c
  CC  ../src/ap/wpa_auth_ie.c
  CC  ../src/ap/pmksa_cache_auth.c
  CC  ../src/ap/peerkey_auth.c
  CC  ../src/crypto/ms_funcs.c

All goes nicely until: The compilation eventually hits a snag.

  CC  ../src/eap_common/chap.c
  CC  ../src/eap_peer/eap_tls_common.c
../src/crypto/tls_openssl.c:19:25: fatal error: openssl/ssl.h: No such file or directory
compilation terminated.
make: *** [../src/crypto/tls_openssl.o] Error 1

Can anyone tell me what exactly is missing, why and how to fix it, using instructions that don't assume a lot of knowledge. This is my first use of the make command.

Thanks for helping a Noob.

Also, any suggestions if wpa_gui is safe to use; it asks for system password when ran.