Jeremys Awesome Blog

Ubuntu Server not completing upgrade

It’s been about seven months since I setup a Wireless GitLab server. Since then I’ve figured out how to list updatable packages on Ubuntu Server. I’ve also performed several updates using sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade.

gzip: stdout: No space left on device

Today I ran into a new problem. Upon trying to perform an update I was presented with a peculiar error. It said gzip: stdout: No space left on device and it told me to run apt-get -f install to fix things up. So… that’s what I tried doing. I tried running the apt-get -f install command but to no avail. The command would not complete successfully.

This is about the time when I start getting really annoyed with Linux and the command line and all the things associated with configuring things manually like do I really need to download the entirety of the Linux MAN files inside my HEAD? DO I NEED TO DO THAT? GAHasldkjsadljfsadfsdsdf!!!!

Calm yourself.

The /boot partition is 100% full

Ok, so it turns out that the apt-get process can fail if the /boot partition becomes 100% full. There were a number of suggestions online that indicated you needed to clean out the /boot partition by removing old linux-images that you don’t need anymore. Many of these suggestions involved using sudo apt-get remove [package-name] or using sudo apt-get autoremove which are both completely valid options… IF APT-GET WERE WORKING. But apt-get is not working, that’s the problem.

So… I Googled a lot and dug through a lot of forums. Finally I stumbled on this uber helpful answer on askUbuntu. I’ll go ahead and paraphrase the answer below so that I can easily find it again. Yes. This is all about me.

Cleaning up the /boot partition

In the case where your /boot partition becomes totally full you can use these steps to clean it up. (From flickerfly on AskUbuntu).

Run the following command to get a list of the linux-image files that you don’t need anymore.
```
sudo dpkg --list 'linux-image*'|awk '{ if ($1=="ii") print $2}'|grep -v `uname -r`
```
Create a command to remove the folders you don’t need anymore. You can do that with a command like this (where brace-expansion is used to save keystrokes). Use the output from the command above to build your command.
```
EXAMPLE
sudo rm -rf /boot/*-3.2.0-{23,45,49,51,52,53,54,55}-*
```
Now that apt-get has space to work with you can actually run sudo apt-get -f install to clean things up.
Use Purge to manually resolve issues with “Internal Errors” (if you get any internal errors).
```
EXAMPLE
sudo apt-get purge linux-image-3.2.0-56-generic
```
Run `sudo apt-get autoremove ` to clean up anything orphaned by the manual clean.
Now you can finally proceed with those updates you were wanting to do.
```
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade
```

Party?

We can party now I think.

Secrets were required, but not provided

Psst… tl:dr -> rebooting my wireless router fixed the problem.

A few months ago I setup a wireless Gitlab server. This server has been working great. Once in a while I check up on it via SSH and make sure it’s updated. Otherwise, I leave it alone and it’s happy.

That is until today.

Secrets were required, but not provided

Today, for some reason, I could not access my gitlab server via the web interface or push to it via the git cli. In fact, I couldn’t even SSH into it. I had to pull out the ol’ physical monitor and keyboard and MANUALLY connect. Shudder.

First thing I do upon connecting to the server is try to ping google.com of course. It didn’t work. The server could not find the address for Google, and as anyone knows, if you cannot find Google then the internet does not exist. Plain and simple. You might as well be trying to fly a kite in the Marianas trench.

Now, up until this point I’ve had no issues connecting to the internet. The server automatically connects to the WIFI no big deal. However, I thought that maybe the network authorization expired or something? Maybe I can only connect for a few months at a time before re-authenticating. So I tried just that. I whipped out my old friend nmcli and ran:

nmcli device wifi connect MyAccessPoint password 123456789ACB

This is when I see the dreaded Secrets were required, but not provided response. Well – I’m not sure what secrets it wants me to tell it but I mean, the password was right, and I’m certainly not telling it who my favorite little pony is or even if I like little ponies.

I tried several more times, I tried rebooting the server. Nothing worked. It was at that point that I, using another computer, logged into my wireless router and told it to reboot. Several minutes later everything is fine.

Rebooting my router fixed the problem

Why? I don’t know. There has been some talk that some routers will auto select channels that some linux machines do not like. I think that was likely the original issue. Rebooting the router worked because another channel was selected. In any case… long story short. If you are having issues with your wireless server not connecting to your network then try rebooting your router.

Comma delimited list of United States Abbreviations

I’m putting this here because I sometimes need a comma delimited list of the fifty states.

"AK", "AL", "AR", "AZ", "CA", "CO", "CT", "DE", "FL", "GA", "HI", "IA", "ID", "IL", "IN", "KS", "KY", "LA", "MA", "MD", "ME", "MI", "MN", "MO", "MS", "MT", "NC", "ND", "NE", "NH", "NJ", "NM", "NV", "NY", "OH", "OK", "OR", "PA", "RI", "SC", "SD", "TN", "TX", "UT", "VA", "VT", "WA", "WI", "WV", "WY"

Update 2020-01-28

There have been several comments adding a few helpful bits to this post. I figure I’d pull them up here.

Joe pointed out that we could be including the armed forces abbreviations as well as DC.

Comma Delimited List of States with Armed Forces and DC

"AA", "AE", "AK", "AL", "AP", "AR", "AZ", "CA", "CO", "CT", "DC", "DE", "FL", "GA", "HI", "IA", "ID", "IL", "IN", "KS", "KY", "LA", "MA", "MD", "ME", "MI", "MN", "MO", "MS", "MT", "NC", "ND", "NE", "NH", "NJ", "NM", "NV", "NY", "OH", "OK", "OR", "PA", "RI", "SC", "SD", "TN", "TX", "UT", "VA", "VT", "WA", "WI", "WV", "WY"

James Ball, provided the same list with single quotes as well as a list of Canadian provinces.

Single Quote comma Delimited List of United States Abbreviations

'AK', 'AL', 'AR', 'AZ', 'CA', 'CO', 'CT', 'DE', 'FL', 'GA', 'HI', 'IA', 'ID', 'IL', 'IN', 'KS', 'KY', 'LA', 'MA', 'MD', 'ME', 'MI', 'MN', 'MO', 'MS', 'MT', 'NC', 'ND', 'NE', 'NH', 'NJ', 'NM', 'NV', 'NY', 'OH', 'OK', 'OR', 'PA', 'RI', 'SC', 'SD', 'TN', 'TX', 'UT', 'VA', 'VT', 'WA', 'WI', 'WV', 'WY'

With Armed Forces and DC.

'AA', 'AE', 'AK', 'AL', 'AP', 'AR', 'AZ', 'CA', 'CO', 'CT', 'DC', 'DE', 'FL', 'GA', 'HI', 'IA', 'ID', 'IL', 'IN', 'KS', 'KY', 'LA', 'MA', 'MD', 'ME', 'MI', 'MN', 'MO', 'MS', 'MT', 'NC', 'ND', 'NE', 'NH', 'NJ', 'NM', 'NV', 'NY', 'OH', 'OK', 'OR', 'PA', 'RI', 'SC', 'SD', 'TN', 'TX', 'UT', 'VA', 'VT', 'WA', 'WI', 'WV', 'WY'

Comma Delimited list of Canadian Provinces & Territories

With double quotes.

"AB", "BC", "MB", "NB", "NL", "NS", "NT", "NU", "ON", "PE", "QC", "SK", "YT"

With single quotes.

'AB', 'BC', 'MB', 'NB', 'NL', 'NS', 'NT', 'NU', 'ON', 'PE', 'QC', 'SK', 'YT'

Thanks for the comments!

Hide the Action Center Icon in Windows 10

It’s the little things in life that annoy me. Things like Microsoft’s Edge browser icon re-appearing on my taskbar. Or, when Windows decides to update just before a meeting. I find these kinds of things to be very annoying. That’s why I was a smidgen irked when the Windows 10 Action Center icon popped up on my taskbar and showed no signs of leaving peacefully.

For those of you who do not know what the Action Center Icon in Windows 10 is then allow Leonardo to enlighten you.

Windows 10 Action Center Icon — aRGGG win10 icon, I’ll kill you!

And only now, at the end, do you see your mistake.

Remove the Action Center Icon

Now that we are all aware of the horribleness that is this awful Action Center icon we can set off on our quest to destr… err remove it.

Open the Windows menu
Search for Turn system icons on or off **
Find the Action Center icon.
1. If you are not sure where the Action Center icon is, let the WoW splash screen show you.
  DESTROY…
Turn if off
Rejoice in the boundless fruits of your labor.

**Alternatively, if you are old school and hate things like convenience, you can navigate to this setting section via the Control Panel. So hop on in your Conestoga Wagon and navigate to Control Panel > Appearance and Personalization > Taskbar and Navigation > Turn system icons on or off.

Git-SVN, Retrieve your Repo URL

Hi. My name is Jeremy and I use git-svn. You can cry for me if you would like, it’s fine. I’ll give you a moment.

Do you feel better now? Good!

Here is my problem. I often forget where my SVN repo is located. That’s probably because I spend most of my time working in Git and completely oblivious that an SVN repository even exists.

So here goes. You can get your SVN repo url by running the following git-svn command.

git svn info --url

See it’s easy. It’s just not easy to remember. But now it is forever written down for me to find in the future. Hi future Jeremy! I hope life is great!

The Truman Show is about Software Developers

I’m pretty sure that “The Truman Show” is an accurate description of what it’s like to be a software developer. Take the following clip for example starting at 55 seconds in:

“Blocked at every turn!”

I cannot tell you how many times I’ve thought about this line as it relates to the very real *struggle* it is being a software developer.

I mean here is Truman, he knows where he wants to go, Fiji. Getting to Fiji seems like it should be so simple. Really. All you need to do is get down to an Airport, hop on a few planes, maybe take a boat, and you are in Fiji in no time.

It should be so simple.

The reality is that it is not simple. In fact getting to Fiji is quite possibly the most difficult thing he has ever done in his entire life. He runs into issue after issue after issue trying to get to Fiji. He tries to implement solution after solution, and consistently fails. If that doesn’t reflect how I, a software developer, feel *every day* than I don’t know what does.

Here is the thing. Truman is persistent. He keeps going. He get’s creative. And in the end he finally benefits from all his hard work. The problem was *a lot* bigger than he could’ve ever thought. The problem was huge, but Truman solves the problem and he learned a heck of a lot along the way.

So, fellow Software Developers, as you struggle today remember Truman. Remember to be persistent. Remember to be creative. When you run into a blocker, back up, and try a different approach. I believe in you, you can do it.

List Updatable/Upgradable Packages in Ubuntu Server

A little while ago I setup a GitLab box using Ubuntu Server. When I log in to the server it shows me a short message about available updates. The message looks something like this:

Welcome to Ubuntu 16.04 LTS (GNU/Linux 4.4.0-24-generic x86_64)

 * Documentation:  https://help.ubuntu.com/

7 packages can be updated.
0 updates are security updates.

I know that I can update these packages by running `sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade` however, I’d like to know what I’m updating before I do it. In the past you could accomplish this by performing a “dry-run” of the command. This essentially showed you the output of the command without actually performing any updates. That worked alright – but honestly, I just want a list of the packages – not the entire output of the command.

Listing the Upgradable Packages

I stumbled upon this answer (made just a few days ago) by AskUbuntu user “doru“. Turns out that getting a list of updatable/upgradable packages is pretty easy. You just run this:

sudo apt list --upgradable

The list --upgradable command will list out all the packages that you can update, what their current versions are, and what the new version is. Boom! That’s exactly what I wanted.

Tell Git to ignore changes to a versioned file

There are times when you do not want git to track changes to a versioned file. In these cases you can update the git index so that it assumes the file is unchanged. This will only affect your local repo and it will take affect until you tell git otherwise.

Tell Git to Not Track Changes

You can tell git to not track changes by using

git update-index --assume-unchanged <file>

Tell Git to Track Changes (Again)

And when you want git to track changes again you can use

git update-index --no-assume-unchanged <file>

CIDR Slash Notation and Subnet Masks

I wrote a quick utility to help me figure out the available IP Address range when given a specific IPv4 address and slash number. You know something that looks like this: 192.168.0.0/16. The utility should tell you the range of IP addresses that covers.

I’m not saying I’m a master of CIDR Slash Notation or Subnet masks… but this seems to be providing good results 🙂

Checkout the Calculator

GitLab on Ubuntu Server with WiFi

Over the weekend I spent some time setting up GitLab on Ubuntu Server using a WiFi card. For those of you who do not know what GitLab is, check it out. I stumbled upon GitLab several years ago when I was looking for a self-hosted GitHub alternative. Since then, GitLab has greatly improved, and setting it up is fairly easy.

Setting up Ubuntu Server

First, you are going to want to obtain the Ubuntu Server install. You can download this from the Ubuntu Website.

The second step I took was to find an old desktop I wasn’t using anymore. This is going to be my server. I installed a PCI-E WiFi card in the sucker, because, honestly I’m too lazy to run the network cable.

Note: I tried to setup the server multiple times using just the WiFi card. I wouldn’t recommend it as it was a very frustrating process. I’d highly recommend hooking your new server up via an Ethernet cable at least until you setup the WiFi. It’s far easier and saves a ton of time.

After I hooked up my server with the Ethernet cable I booted to the Ubuntu Install disc and began the installation process. The process itself is really quite simple. There are a few questions you have to answer but the whole thing should be over in less than 30 minutes. I just overwrote everything on the hard disk. After it’s done installing it’s going to ask you to remove the installation media. At that point it should reboot, load up, and show the login screen.

Note: Ubuntu Server does not come with a GUI. Everything is done via the command line. You can install a GUI if you want, but there isn’t a GUI packaged in.

Now that I had Ubuntu Server installed I went ahead and logged in. The first thing it showed me was that there were some updates to be installed. So I ran the following commands to update the system:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade

Getting WiFi up and Running on Ubuntu Server

Now that the system was updated I wanted to get the WiFi working. In order to get the WiFi working I used nmcli. nmcli is a command line tool that comes with the Network Manager package. Some people might not like using this tool because I believe it installs some GUI dependencies. Honestly, nmcli was the easiest method I found to get the WiFi working, so I don’t really care about the small amount of dependencies that the Network Manager package comes with.

sudo apt install network-manager

Alright. I had the network-manager package installed. Now to connect to my WiFi network.

I read through the “man” page for nmcli. It looks like I can get a list of wifi access points in the area by running the following command.

nmcli device wifi list

Yes! That actually gave me a list of WiFi access points in my area. I saw my home network listed. I was so happy to see this because it meant I didn’t need to configure anything else. The Ubuntu server had recognized my wireless card and the card was working. That made me so happy… 🙂

Next step would be to actually connect to my WiFi access point. According to the nmcli man page I can connect using nmcli device wifi connect. My access point requires a key, and it looks like nmcli supports connecting to an access point with a key… so this is a good thing.

nmcli device wifi connect MyAccessPoint password 123456789ACB

Boom! I ran that sucker and it actually worked! I had been struggling and struggling with this before – nmcli is like my new favorite thing ever. EVER.

At this point I rebooted the server and disconnected the Ethernet cable. I wanted to see if the server would automatically connect to the WiFi access point on boot. It seemed to take a long time to start. After it started up I logged in. I tried to ping google.com. No dice. I waited a few moments and tried again… it worked!

I made sure OpenSSH was installed on the server so that I could manage it from another computer.

My WiFi was now working on the Ubuntu Server. It was connected to my home network, and it automatically connected after the server was turned on.

Setting Up GitLab on Ubuntu Server

Now that I had the WiFi connected I wanted to get GitLab all setup. Luckily, the folks at GitLab have made this incredibly easy. They have a great guide setup here. There are really only a few commands you need to run and then you are good to go. Let’s go ahead and list those commands really quick.

Install the Dependencies

sudo apt-get install curl openssh-server ca-certificates postfix

These are things that GitLab needs in order to run successfully.

Add the GitLab package server and install the package.

curl -sS https://packages.gitlab.com/install/repositories/gitlab/gitlab-ce/script.deb.sh | sudo bash
sudo apt-get install gitlab-ce

I used the above command. However, GitLab mentions an alternative if you aren’t comfortable with a piped script. You can find the alternative on their guide page.

Configure and Start GitLab

sudo gitlab-ctl reconfigure

The people behind GitLab have really made it incredibly easy to get this up and running. Now you just need to login to your new GitLab server. When you first visit the page you will be asked to create a new password. This password can be used in conjunction with the “root” username to login to the system.

Finishing Touches

That should be it. Your GitLab server is setup and working. You’ve setup the WiFi card so the server is connected to your network. You’ve got OpenSSH installed so you can manage the server from another machine. You’ve installed GitLab so you can host your own internal Git repositories (as well as collaborate with others on your team etc…).

The last things I would do:

Change your GitLab username from “root” to something else. You can do this within the GitLab interface.
Setup your router so that it always assigns a certain IP address to your server. This way you don’t have to worry about static IP addresses on the Ubuntu Server itself.
Update your internal DNS so that you can refer to your GitLab server by an actual domain name. I set mine up as “gitlab.jeremysawesome.com”.
Download PuTTY on your Windows machine so that you can remote manage your server.
1. Optionally hook this up with ConEmu 🙂
2. Optionally update with the Solarized theme for PuTTY.
Set your server up somewhere inconspicuous. Hey, you’ve got a WiFi server. Throw it somewhere out of the way.

Alright – that’s it. This post ended up being a bit longer than I thought, however I’m glad I’ve got it documented it. (Even if there wasn’t much to document).