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resolv.conf vs. Claus - 1:0 (11 Oct 2012)

After upgrading to Ubuntu 12.04, I started seeing pretty funny DNS behavior. For example, I could connect to a wireless network successfully, but still could not connect to external IP addresses because of DNS resolution problems.

After a lot of fiddling, I realized that the problem is probably related to resolvconf and its main configuration file, /etc/resolv.conf. On my system, this file sometimes disappears, and sometimes it loses its previous entries.

So far, I have learned that Ubuntu 12.04 indeed introduced a new approach of handling DNS resolution and in particular the resolv.conf file. If my understanding is correct, whenever the system finds a DHCP server, it is supposed to re-create the /etc/resolv.conf file using DNS information it receives via DHCP.

The discussion at http://askubuntu.com/questions/130452/how-do-i-add-a-dns-server-via-resolv-conf hints at similar problems. But I guess I do not know enough about Ubuntu's networking internals to really understand what is going on, unfortunately

The following voodoo script sometimes helps me to resurrect /etc/resolv.conf with sufficient DNS information in it. But it drives me mad that I don't have the slightest clue what I am doing there. If you read this and feel an urge to slap your forehead, feel free to consider me a raving idiot, but do drop me a line to help me educate myself on this issue. Thanks.

#! /bin/bash
pushd /etc
if [[ -r resolv.conf ]]; then
  if [[ ! -L resolv.conf ]]; then
    mv resolv.conf /run/resolvconf
    ln -s /run/resolvconf/resolv.conf
  fi
fi
popd
resolvconf --enable-updates

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Downloading streams on the command-line (11 Oct 2012)

MediathekView is a fine application, but for me, sometimes it fails to stream some shows. Fortunately, you can right-click any show and inquire its streaming URL.

On Ubuntu, rtmpdump then fills the gap for me, for example:

 rtmpdump -r 'rtmpt://foo/bla/fasel/foo.mp4' -o foo.mp4

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Oben bleiben (20 Feb 2012)

Das Ausmass der Zerstörungen im Mittleren Schlossgarten wird im Luftbild überdeutlich.

Und hier der direkte Vergleich:

Wäre die Bahn auf den Vermittlungsvorschlag des Prälaten Klumpp eingegangen, wäre den Bäumen wenigstens noch ein weiterer Frühling und Sommer vergönnt gewesen, und die Stuttgarter Bürger hätten ihre grüne Lunge noch einmal geniessen können. Und das alles ohne Einfluss auf die Baupläne der Bahn, wie auch immer man zu ihnen stehen mag. Aber die Machtdemonstration ging wohl vor.

Dank an Manfred Grohe für die Luftbilder - siehe auch https://picasaweb.google.com/114822899715980781311/GroheLuftbilderSchlosspark1622012.

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