Using audit2allow to solve SELinux problem

I had a SELinux problem in my Fedora Core 9 box the other day. I tried searching Google for a while, and I found out that we are able to solve SELinux permission problems based on particular SELinux error log messages. The SELinux error messages are logged by auditd daemon, so you may want to make sure that it has been started, and the logs are usually saved into /var/log/audit/audit.log. Note that unlike several notes using previous releases of FC that I found, we don't need selinux-policy-targeted-sources package to solve the problem in FC9.

In my case, the problem was about allowing httpd to connect to a CGI socket. Typing the following command:


audit2allow -l -i /var/log/audit/audit.log


generates:


#============= httpd_t ==============
allow httpd_t initrc_t:unix_stream_socket connectto;


So, to alleviate the problem, we only have to do the following steps (as also mentioned in FedoraProject's page):

1. audit2allow -m local -l -i /var/log/audit/audit.log > local.te


2. make sure that what is written in local.te is the process that you want to allow.


3. checkmodule -M -m -o local.mod local.te


4. semodule_package -o local.pp -m local.mod


5. semodule -i local.pp


6. check if your problem is solved now. It worked for me :)

Other References:
http://www.tummy.com/journals/entries/kevin_20050203_120753

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Emily

Several years ago, we were made surprised by Squaresoft's (now Square Enix) technology in its first (and sadly last) movie: Final Fantasy the Spirits Within. But although the graphics was extraordinary as static images, or when looked in single frames, the facial animation or the movement flow of the characters were just, well, still did not feel real.

Now we have a new breakthrough this year by Image Metrics (never heard of them before) with its project: "Emily". Check out this video and see for yourself whether she is real or not. You can follow the link below if you are interested in reading more about it. Combining this with Machinima, I think it perhaps won't be long before all of us can become movie producers.



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Do we need feedback when we type ?

I had a talk with one of my friends yesterday, and the person was complaining about iPhone's virtual keyboard, which generates no feedback when you type, unlike common buttons. This makes me think though, do we need feedback when we type ? Maybe unconsciously, we enjoy that "pleasure" that we got from the feedback of the typing activity, so although having a virtual keyboard sounds cool, practically, we still prefer the old common keyboard with that sound "Tick, tick tick".

For a second, try to imagine that your table on which your keyboard are put right now is a virtual keyboard, and imagine typing it. Even though the activity still generates some sort of vibration feedback to your fingers, unlike the virtual keyboard in iPhone, I doubt that most of us prefer using it to common keyboards. Now, maybe I am just behaving like a person from an older generation that prefer using typewriters instead of computers and we have to admit that the feedback of the typewriters is just, more (exciting ?), than computer keyboards.

But the question is, until what extent can we afford to lose that feedback ? Is it really worth developing a totally virtual keyboard like in science fiction movies where practically it's just formed by lights and you just type in the air, which does sound cool, actually ? Or is there a certain threshold which, no matter how cool the device is, we just can't afford to lose that "pleasure" ?

Right now, typing "feedback keyboard" into Google search box generates this as the first search result: iPhone Haptic Feedback Keyboard Prototype. It's kind of ironic that a technology which is cool has to be "improved" further to be similar to an older technology, just because it's not "human" enough.

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My PC and Desk in the News

I heard about this news video, which can be found in YouTube from one of my colleagues several days ago. The news is about the crazy thing in Akihabara about 2 months ago, and one of the employees of the company where I am working part time now: Gaiax was being interviewed in the news.

The strange thing is that, there is also a short clip displaying my PC and desk at my work place ! And two of my team members actually got their debut in the news. If I had worked that day, I would have appeared in the news too. Well, too bad. Anyway this is the news video. Another strange thing is that they don't mention Gaiax at all.



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Culture: Congratulations for your new relationship

I just had a chat with my Indonesian friend about congratulating friends who have just started a new relationship and I just realized that, perhaps because of the influence of the other cultures around here, I totally forgot that we had such culture in Indonesia. Of course there is also a possibility that I was just being ignorant.

But it seems to me that foreigners, that is people who are not Indonesian, don't or rarely congratulate someone just because they have just started new relationships. Of course if they are going to be engaged or if they are going to marry, then it's common to congratulate, or even hold a special party for it. Think about it, I am wondering if there is a short word in English that means "start a new relationship" ? In Japanese, I think it will be 付き合う (tsukiau), but even that is ambiguous since it can also mean "accompany".

So how about people in your country ? Do they have this culture too ?

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Flock: A Social Browser

I've just accidentally found out about a new browser called Flock from Mozilla. The latest version is based on Firefox 2, and they are making a new one which is based on Firefox 3, but what differentiates it from the other browsers is that they call it a social browser, meaning that it includes the inner capabilties to connect with social websites such as Flickr, Blogger, Facebook, GMail, etc.


I am trying it right now, and in fact I am publishing this post using Flock, and it does seem easier for me to blog compared to Firefox. Well, Flock has been around for some time actually, and that makes me wonder why it hasn't caught on with the other browsers ? But if you are a web guy, publishing a lot of posts in your blog, using Facebook, Digg often, then I think this browser will increase the effectiveness of your activities, a lot.

I'll play around with this browser for a while, doing what I have done with Firefox 3.0 until now before giving further comments. But really, in the era of the second browser war among IE, Safari, and Firefox, this is a great idea.

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Fireworks in Japan: Rinko Park, August 1, 2008

I've only been to a few places round the world, but I think the fireworks in Japan is the best on the Earth. (Please correct me if I am wrong here). But really, if you go to Japan in summer, you should not miss the fireworks, which they strangely don't have in New Year's eve.

I went to watch 神奈川新聞花火大会 (literally means: Kanagawa News Fireworks Festival) yesterday and maybe my eyeglasses were especially clean yesterday, or that we had really good spot (neither of which were true, I think), but it was the best fireworks that I've seen until now even compared to previous fireworks in Japan. They had these themed stages, like four clovers, or flying birds, which I'd never heard before.

For those of you who missed it or are outside Japan, you can still watch it on YouTube, and some Japanese people have actually uploaded several videos which have high quality versions. I am embedding some of the videos below, but you still have to go directly to YouTube site to watch the high quality versions. Unfortunately though on this age and day, recording fireworks, no matter how good your camera is, still pales before the live experience in watching it.

I think this was the first stage yesterday. Check out the last part where they launched the fireworks forming an "X"-like thing. I had never seen a variation like that before.


If you haven't seen fireworks forming hearts, stars, smileys, or rabbits before, check out this one. Thinking about it, Doraemon-shaped fireworks also appeared yesterday although I can't find its video.


Invisible Fireworks ? You thought it failed but, surprise !


This is not a high quality version, but if I am not mistaken, this was the finale. You know what that means, right ? People always save the best for last.


Aren't they just amazing or what !

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