Some Ubuntu 18.04 problems fixed today

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I’ve drafted but not published a long list of problems I’ve experienced with Ubuntu 18.04. In short it’s been one of the worst desktop releases of Ubuntu I’ve used. My experience on servers has been fine. Anyway I haven’t looked into the details of these patches but:

  • libwebkit2gtk-4.0-37:amd64 (2.22.6-0ubuntu0.18.04.1)
  • libjavascriptcoregtk-4.0-18:amd64 (2.22.6-0ubuntu0.18.04.1)

These package releases seem to have fixed some of my issues that have been present since May 2018. In particular Liferea has been broken on my desktop for that long. Better late than never I guess.

Shopping for a wired router

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I’ve often run a wired router at the front of my network (well immediately behind the modem). The only other topology has been a linux server at the front of the network. Then I like a network behind that where a wireless router can live. I keep my wireless router turned off when not in use, which is an uncommon setup it seems. Anyway, for 1 network I’m managing I’m considering replacing the linux system with a wired router. Wired routers are not super popular for SOHO uses as mos tpeople seem to prefer a wireless router to do everything. Because there is not a huge market options can be limited. Here are some products I’ve investigated.

Securing NTP Servers

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Rarely am I using ntpd to serve ntp information. It is more useful for clock-correction than a strict ntp/sntp client. Thus I don’t want the service listening on a wildcard address, even when there is certainly a firewall in place. I prefer the service to not be listening at all, or listening only to the loopback interface. Here is how to configure that in ntpd and chrony.

ntpd

interface ignore wildcard

chrony

bindaddress 127.0.0.1
port 0
bindcmdaddress 127.0.0.1
cmdport 0

How can I make chronyd more secure?

NTP Servers

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There are many NTP server implementations now. Here are some:

  • ntpd
  • chrony
  • ntpsec
  • openntpd
  • sntp clients
    • systemd-timesyncd
    • sntp
  • also:

Resources:

I plan to give chrony a try.

More Facebook Awfulness

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Firefox Monitor

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I’m quite happy with my initial use of Firefox Monitor. I’ve recommended it to family, friend, co-workers. I recommend signing up for continuous monitoring. Anyone who has had a password compromise should consider that password and permutations there-of to be public knowledge.

For me the near constant data breaches we’ve seen in recent months is more evidence that strict regulation of retained personal information is necessary in the US and that it would be wise for more websites to consider whether storing passwords is even wise. I have argued that most websites should not be storing user passwords.