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FreeBSD, System Administration

Poudriere build failure: net-im/signal-desktop

I noticed, that my Poudriere build machine failed to compile net-im/signal-desktop for FreeBSD 14 with latest ports branch, because it require devel/esbuild 0.25.0, while build environment has 0.24.0. Tested 2025-03-07 and 2025-03-10.

✘ [ERROR] Cannot start service: Host version "0.24.0" does not match binary version "0.25.0"
1 error
Error: The service was stopped: write EPIPE
    at /wrkdirs/usr/ports/net-im/signal-desktop/work/Signal-Desktop-7.44.0/node_modules/esbuild/lib/main.js:968:34
    at responseCallbacks.<computed> (/wrkdirs/usr/ports/net-im/signal-desktop/work/Signal-Desktop-7.44.0/node_modules/esbuild/lib/main.js:622:9)
    at afterClose (/wrkdirs/usr/ports/net-im/signal-desktop/work/Signal-Desktop-7.44.0/node_modules/esbuild/lib/main.js:613:28)
    at /wrkdirs/usr/ports/net-im/signal-desktop/work/Signal-Desktop-7.44.0/node_modules/esbuild/lib/main.js:1988:18
    at onwriteError (node:internal/streams/writable:605:3)
    at process.processTicksAndRejections (node:internal/process/task_queues:84:21)
ERROR: "build:esbuild" exited with 1.
*** Error code 1
Stop.
make: stopped in /usr/ports/net-im/signal-desktop
=>> Cleaning up wrkdir
===>  Cleaning for signal-desktop-7.44.0_1
build of net-im/signal-desktop | signal-desktop-7.44.0_1 ended at Mon Mar 10 05:13:34 CET 2025
build time: 00:00:47
!!! build failure encountered !!!

I notified the FreeBSD maintainer. He kindly replied, that he has notified devel/esbuild and the issue will be fixed.

Earlier this year, I noticed, that a similar issue happened. The required version was 0.21, while build environment had 0.24. I notified the maintainer. It was fixed.

Prevent Signal from being removed during update.

As a consequence of the failed build, I locked Signal. This prevents it from being deinstalled, while it fails to build.

# pkg lock signal-desktop
signal-desktop-7.42.0: lock this package? [y/N]:

It can later be unlocked.

# pkg unlock signal-desktop

Work-around for “Shared object “libFLAC.so.12″ not found”.

The update, while Signal being locked, resulted in a problem with a link to a FLAC library.

$ signal-desktop &
$ ld-elf.so.1: Shared object "libFLAC.so.12" not found, required by "signal-desktop"

I fixed this with a temporary link to the correct FLAC library. This should automatically be fixed, when Signal is fixed upstream.

# pkg info -l flac | grep libFLAC
/usr/local/lib/libFLAC++.a
/usr/local/lib/libFLAC++.so
/usr/local/lib/libFLAC++.so.11
/usr/local/lib/libFLAC++.so.11.0.0
/usr/local/lib/libFLAC.a
/usr/local/lib/libFLAC.so
/usr/local/lib/libFLAC.so.14
/usr/local/lib/libFLAC.so.14.0.0
/usr/local/share/aclocal/libFLAC++.m4
/usr/local/share/aclocal/libFLAC.m4
# pkg which /usr/local/lib/libFLAC.so.12
/usr/local/lib/libFLAC.so.12 was not found in the database
# ln -s /usr/local/lib/libFLAC.so.14 /usr/local/lib/libFLAC.so.12
# ldconfig -R
$ signal-desktop &

It can later be removed.

# rm /usr/local/lib/libFLAC.so.12
# ldconfig -R

Fixed.

The port compiled again 2025-03-21 and the package could be unlocked and the symbolic link removed.

References.

FreeBSD, System Administration

Poudriere build failure: graphics/cmake

My Poudriere build machine suddently stopped at the following error, that seems to be caused by a problem with CMake or run-time dependency, which should be built automatically.

build started at Fri Mar  7 16:46:57 CET 2025
port directory: /usr/ports/graphics/evince
package name: evince-46.3.1
...
Poudriere version: poudriere-git-3.4.2
Host OSVERSION: 1402000
Jail OSVERSION: 1402000
...
Did not find CMake 'cmake'
Found CMake: NO
Run-time dependency gnome-desktop-3.0 found: NO (tried pkgconfig)
meson.build:237:20: ERROR: Dependency "gnome-desktop-3.0" not found, tried pkgconfig

Any tips for solutions are greatly appreciated.

References.

FreeBSD, System Administration

Tracker3 Core Dumps on FreeBSD with GNOME

Tracker3 core dumps on FreeBSD with GNOME.

If you have a FreeBSD desktop computer with the GNOME desktop environment, or similar open source desktop computer, you might have noticed random Tracker3 core dumps on the file system.

$ find . -name '*.core'
./bin/tracker3.core
./projects/tracker3.core

You might also have noticed messages about Tracker3 error, exit and core dumps in system logs.

$ dmesg
pid 2416 (tracker3), jid 0, uid 1001: exited on signal 10 (no core dump - other error)
pid 2451 (tracker3), jid 0, uid 1001: exited on signal 10 (no core dump - other error)
pid 2848 (tracker3), jid 0, uid 1001: exited on signal 10 (core dumped)

What is Tracker3?

A first approach to learning, what Tracker3 is, would be to open its manual page. Unfortunately, as often seen with utilities like this, they do not include a manual by default.

$ man tracker3
No manual entry for "tracker3"

A search for “tracker3 official website” on search engines does not give a clean answer. The utility seems to not have a website nor a coding home listed on search engines. Again, a sign of poor coding and project management skills.

Thanks to Freshports, more about the utility can be learned. Here, it is described as a system utility, that index and harvest meta data for GNOME utilities, such as the file management utility Nautilus. A rather useless feature, in my oppinion. Its undocumented operation is a privacy concern. It might even scan files across datasets and partitions, which could be privacy concern.

Tracker is a powerful desktop-neutral first class object database, tag/metadata
database, search tool and indexer.

Tracker is also extremely fast and super efficient with your systems memory when
compared with some other competing frameworks and is by far the fastest and most
memory efficient Nautilus search and Deskbar backends currently availble.

It consists of a common object database that allows entities to have an almost
infinte number of properties, metadata (both embedded/harvested as well as user
definable), a comprehensive database of keywords/tags and links to other
entities.

Freshports does have a reference to a page, which seems to be about Tracker3 by GNOME, but aligned with their poor views on privacy and security, the site either does not work or blocks privacy VPNs.

<Code>AccessDenied</Code>

It does not come with a manual by default. However, according to FreeBSD Manual Pages, there are no known manual for it. I even tried compiling it with option for installing its manual pages. It was not installed.

===> The following configuration options are available for tracker3-3.5.3_3:
DOCS=on: Build and/or install documentation
MAN=off: Install manual pages

It is a dependency of Nautilus, which does not have an option for disabling this.

Removing Tracker3 from GNOME and FreeBSD.

If a system utility, that index and harvest the file system for filenames and metadata in the background, is not needed or unwanted, it might be a logic approach, that Tracker3 is removed with the package manager. However, as seen in the output, it does not seem, that GNOME wanted that to be an option.

# pkg remove tracker3
Checking integrity... done (0 conflicting)
Deinstallation has been requested for the following 7 packages (of 0 packages in the universe):
Installed packages to be REMOVED:
evince: 43.1_11
gnome-lite: 42_5
gnome-terminal: 3.44.2_3
gnome-tweaks: 40.10_4
nautilus: 42.2_3
sushi: 42.0_5
tracker3: 3.5.3_3
Number of packages to be removed: 7
The operation will free 38 MiB.
Proceed with deinstalling packages? [y/N]:

Tracker3 in GNOME is a privacy concern.

Tracker3 is deeply embedded in GNOME. Tracker3 comes enabled without consent from the user. It is a forced installation, that comes with no clear information, warning nor documentation. It is difficult or impossible to disable or deinstall. It scans file systems, datasets and partitions. It stores metadata from files, that has been downloaded temporary. It stores metadata for files, that has been deleted. It stores metadata in internal database and hidden files. It does not have an interface to manage data. This is not a utility, that fits well with the UNIX philosophy. Tracker3 is a privacy concern.

Disabling Search and Tracker3 in GNOME.

Tracker3 can to some degree be disabled from within GNOME by going to the Settings menu and Search and then disabling Application Search. This also seems to reduce the amount of core dumps. However, I have been able to find any documentation about this.

Switching from GNOME to XFCE.

Switching desktop environment from GNOME to XFCE, or similar more simple, resource friendly and privacy focused desktop environment, could be a better over-all solution. The switch to XFCE should be fairly straight forward, because it is also based on X. Unfortunately, there is no guarantee, that XFCE will not implement the same or similar kind of file system metadata scanner at some point. A reason is, that some users and project contributors believe, that a desktop search feature is more important than privacy and security.

References.

FreeBSD

FreeBSD User Groups in Denmark

FreeBSD user groups in Denmark.

Here in Denmark, to my knowledge, there is no active FreeBSD user groups. We have had BSD and UNIX user groups in the past, but for reasons, unknown to me, they have become inactive or dissolved, despite that their inactive websites and public listings still exist. Examples of these are BSD-DK and DKUUG. DKUUG was probably the most influensive and active over the years and, to my knowledge, arranged meetings, workshops and conferences, such as Open Source Days.

While not being a user group, we also had a yearly 7 day camp type conference The Camp, which existed until recently.

Related user groups in Denmark?

We do have other user groups, that is more or lesss related to FreeBSD user groups.

Linux comes to mind as one of the first related systems, but for reasons, unknown to me, many, if not almost all, of our Linux user groups (LUGs) have also become inactive or dissolved. I have only head of Linux Roskilde, which should have regular meetings at the local university. Wikipedia has a list of some of the memorable LUGs. I remember the large SSLUG and the yearly Linuxforum conference from the good old days.

If I look at non-operating system related user groups, there is the more recently popular topic of technology, hacking and security. When I mention hacking, I mean it in its positive sense, where users invent, improve and change systems and technology. We have a very active user group Cryptohagen in Copenhagen which has been meeting monthly and discussing privacy related topics for 10 years.

If I look at more camp like conferences, we have a yearly 7 day camp type conference Bornhack, which, to my knowledge, attract hackers (in a positive sense), who like to build things and share diversity in a wide range of technical topics. We also have SommerHack, which I believe, is very similar. We have Labitat in Copenhagen, a very technical hacking or construction user group. It has been around for a long time, seems very active, and seems to be a very friendly user group.

If I look over to more web related user groups, WordPress Copenhagen comes to mind. This is a somewhat active user group, who announces their meetings on MeetUp.

Alternatives to user groups.

I can see, how the need for physical FreeBSD user groups has become less important in modern post-covid times, because users can seek and find practical advice on Internet platforms, such as FreeBSD Forums and the FreeBSD server on Discord. While these platforms are brilliant at solving technical issues, they are not so brilliant, when it comes to real life applications of solutions, career opportunities and social networking.

Create a FreeBSD user group?

I have been thinking about creating a FreeBSD user group for some time. The purpose would be to acknowledge the value of sharing a common interest or enthusiasm and meeting in real life in an informal and friendly environment to discuss FreeBSD, BSD and UNIX related subjects and projects over a nice cup of coffee with or without a computer at hand.

A good name for a FreeBSD user group?

The name for such a FreeBSD user group should probably be descriptive and follow the naming tradition for user groups, that can also be seen on FreeBSD User Groups. This has lead me to the name Copenhagen FreeBSD User Group with the shorter abbreviation CFUG.

What are your thoughts?

I would love to hear your thoughts about a creating a FreeBSD user group for users and enthusiasts in Copenhagen. You might even be interested in joining such a group or contributing with speaks on different topics.

References.

FreeBSD, System Administration

Converting Line Breaks To Paragraph

Some text files has line breaks, that might look good on fixed width screens, but can not be used as paragraph in other editing software. The is cause by line breaks.

$ cat input.txt 
The computer was a powerful WOPR machine for game simulation.
You can play a nice game of chess or an exciting war game.

This one-liner will replace line breaks with space and then remove any double spaces. It will also make sure, that the file ends with a new line, so it meets the POSIX standard definition of a text file.

$ (tr '\n' ' ' < input.txt | sed 's/  */ /g'; echo) > output.txt

The result is one clean paragraph, that will scale to any screen width or be used in other editing software.

$ cat output.txt 
The computer was a powerful WOPR machine for game simulation. You can play a nice game of chess or an exciting war game.