• Environment : Steam / Debian Sid / Xfce
• Game : Elite Dangerous ; DLC : Odyssey
• Compatibility : no specific Steam Play compatibility tool

o7, CMDR: The game is functional without particular worries…

Configuration

• Installation folder of the game : steam/steamapps/common/Elite Dangerous/; this one is easily found in Steam, click D on the game, then “Properties”; menu “Installed files”; then click on the [ Browse… ] button that will open the directory in question.

• Path to the Binary EliteDangerous64.exe: steam/steamapps/common/Elite Dangerous/Products/elite-dangerous-odyssey-64/

• Path of the “windows” data of the game: steam/steamapps/compatdata/359320/pfx/drive_c/users/steamuser/AppData/Local/Frontier Developments/Elite Dangerous/

• Game backup folder: steam/steamapps/compatdata/359320/pfx/drive_c/users/steamuser/Saved Games/Frontier Developments/Elite Dangerous/

Keybinding

Setting up keyboard key management is not a part of the fun.

You must create a directory called “Bindings” in the subdirectory “Options” of the “windows” data folder of the game, such as:
steam/steamapps/compatdata/359320/pfx/drive_c/users/steamuser/AppData/Local/Frontier Developments/Elite Dangerous/Options/Bindings/.

⇒ Profiles are available mainly on EDRefCard.

Here is my version : Custom.4.2.binds ; remove the extension .txt ;)

• Relaunch the game and change the profile in the Game Options > Controls; then choose to change the presets.

Steam desktop shortcut

It’s possible that Steam created a game desktop launcher; but in fact, it won’t work.

• Right-click on the launcher to “Edit Launcher” and then in the “Order” field, fill in the absolute path to the Steam executable, such as (under Debian):
  /usr/games/steam steam://…

• To find out where the absolute path to the Steam binary is, in a console, run the following command:
  :$ command -v steam

This modification being made, the desktop launcher will indeed launch the game.

Desktop Authorizations

You must allow the file to be executed as a .desktop file.

If at the first launch, you refused, it does not matter; right click on the launcher:

• choose “Properties…”,

• click on the “Launcher” tab and in the “Security” section, click on the checkboxes in front:

  • Allow this file to be run as a .desktop file
  • Set this file as approved

Tools

All of the tools below run on Linux, with some configurations.

It is not, however, that it is necessary to install them all; in any case, ensure that only a single tool that collects them datas, (Inara, EDSM, etc.), such as EDMarketConnector or EDDiscovery for example.

For some, the use of the tool protontricks will be necessary; fortunately in many distributions, including Debian, it is provided as a package; install it!

EDHM-UI

EDHM-UI v3 is a tool to modify the graphical interface.

• Official website: https://bluemystical.github.io/edhm-api/
• Git: https://github.com/BlueMystical/EDHM_UI
• Used version: 3.0.67, 3.0.70

Once installed :

• Configuration files : $HOME/.local/share/EDHM-UI-V3/

In the repository, you have to go to the Release page and download:

• the archive edhm-ui-v3-linux-x64.zip
• the shell script linux_installer.sh

Once the archive is downloaded, unzip it and copy into the install script. Give the script execution rights and run it.

The tool is accessible from the system menu; with Xfce, in the “Accessories” menu.

By default, the tool seeks to communicate with the game for the correct setting; it is necessary to restore the absolute path of the directory “elite-dangerous-odyssey-64”; if you missed something in the step, choose the menu “Main menu” > “Settings”.

EDMarketConnector

EDMarketConnector is a python tool to “improve” trade in Elite Dangerous, mainly, although it is able to use secondary features through plugins.

Two versions exist: one via flatpak, and the other through the sources into the Git repository.

• Git: https://github.com/EDCD/EDMarketConnector

• Used version: 6.1.2

• Configuration files:

  • via flatpak: $HOME/.var/app/io.edcd.EDMarketConnector/
  • via git: $HOME/.local/share/EDMarketConnector/

• The main configuration file: config.toml.

⇒ Installation from the sources is done quite easily:

:$ git clone https://github.com/EDCD/EDMarketConnector.git

:$ cd EDMarketConnector
EDMarketConnector :$ python3 -m venv venv
EDMarketConnector :$ source venv/bin/activate
EDMarketConnector :$ pip3 install -r requirements.txt
EDMarketConnector :$ python3 EDMarketConnector.py

Since the tool must be launched in a python environment, I created a shell launcher:

#!/bin/bash

dir="~/Games/EDMarketConnector/"

cd "${dir}"

source venv/bin/activate

python3 EDMarketConnector.py

Then a desktop launcher that points to the shell script, while setting the icon with the icon of the tool at the root. (Choose “Files images”).
If the icon is not in the archive, you will find it in the repository.

• The functional plugins—which I use… :

⇒ cargo-manifest: it seems necessary to change the name of the main directory; from cargo-manifest to cargo_manifest.
With this slight modification, the plugin is functional!

⇒ docking-denied-raison

⇒ EDMC-Bioscan requires ExploData which requires sqlalchemy.

• If you are using the flatpak version of EDMC, download the named version ExploData-***-db-***-flatpak.zip; Because it embarks sqlalchemy.
• If you are using the sources, you will need to install python3-slqalchemy in the dedicated python3 environment!

⇒ EDMCHotKeys

⇒ EDMCModerOverlay

⇒ EDMC-NavRoute

⇒ EDMC-NeutronDancer

⇒ EDMC-Pioneer

⇒ EDMC-Screenshot-Linux

⇒ UpdateTD

Other plugins exist; they should work…

EDDiscovery

EDDiscovery is a complete dashboard to manage all the aspects that the game offers.

• Git: https://github.com/EDDiscovery/EDDiscovery/

• Used version: 19.1.9.0

• Steam:

  • forced compatibility option: Proton 9.0-4
  • launch option: none

From the ‘Release’ page of the repository, download the Portable zip archive; unzip it wherever you want.

In Steam:

• click on the “Games” menu > “Add a game name Steam to my library…”, choose the binary EDDiscovery.exe which is in the decompressed archive.
• right-click for the “game” properties, and force compatibility – currently, I’m using the “Proton 9.0-4” version.
• right click again for the “Manage” menu > “Create a shortcut on desktop”.

All the remarks made in the Steam desktop shortcut chapter are to be made!

Once EDD is opened, go to the “Settings” tab:

• In the “Settings” section, click the [ Add ] button, a new window will open called “CommanderForm”.
  • In the “Journal Related Information” section:
    • Write the name of your Commander, in the “Commander Name” field
    • click on the [ Browse ] button to select the game backup directory.
    • make any other desired configuration
    • click on the [ OK ] button to validate the configuration.
    • delete the profile named “Jameson (Default)”.

Return to the “History” tab, you will find the feedback related to the commander used in the game.

To be able to set the icons, and the desktop launcher, and in the Steam app, you need to unzip the archive eddwebsite.zip, located at the root of the Portable archive. The image to be used mainly is in the subdirectory “Images” and is called “EdLogo600.png”.

Note: Some plugins, such as those to display Inara, EDSM sites do not work because it lacks a tool called WebView2.

Elite Dangerous Monitor Daemon

Elite Dangerous Monitor Daemon alias EDMD is another complete dashboard to monitor in real time the game session, made for Linux natively (GTK4 interface).

• Git: https://github.com/Maldor/EDMD

Once installed :

• Configuration file: $HOME/.config/EDMD/config.toml

ED Odyssey Materials Helper

Elite Dangerous Odyssey Materials Helper is the tool that revolutionizes the acquisition of the necessary materials in the relations with engineers. It shows you what you have, what you miss, the relationship with such an engineer, and much more…

• website: https://edomh.nl/
• Git: https://github.com/jixxed/ed-odyssey-materials-helper/
• Discord: https://discord.gg/M8Rgz4AmmA
• Used version: 3.13.8, 3.13.12

From the ‘Release’ page, download at least the zip archive, but prefers the autoupdater .deb, .rpm package.

From the binary, everything is installed in the system where it is necessary and becomes accessible from the system menu; under Xfce, menu “Other” > “Elite Dangerous Odyssey Materials Helper”.

Once the application is open:

• Click on the “Settings” menu
• on “Folder Journal” line, click on the [ Select Directory ] button and choose the absolute path related to the game’s backup directory.

Then, do all the other configurations, such as the language, and then use the tool.

Min ED Launcher

Min ED Launcher is not a tool. It replaces the official launcher, while being very light, which is convenient under Linux, and has other practical aspects, including third-party tool execution, such as SRVSurvey.

• Git: https://github.com/Rfvgyhn/min-ed-launcher/

• Used version: 0.13.0

• Steam:

  • forced compatibility option : none
  • launch option : yes; read the explanations below.

Once installed:

• Configuration file: $HOME/.config/min-ed-launcher/settings.json
• log: $HOME/.local/state/min-ed-launcher/min-ed-launcher.log

From the ‘Release’ page, download the zip archive for Linux, and then unzip it.

• Copy the binary MinEdLauncher into the ED’s installation folder.

⇒ In Steam:

• Right-click to open the game properties
• in the launch options, write at least:
  • for Gnome—run too into Xfce4!:
    gnome-terminal -- ./MinEdLauncher %command% /autorun /autoquit
    • what works for me:
      gnome-terminal --hide-menubar -t "Min ED Launcher" -- ./MinEdLauncher %command% /autorun /autoquit waitForExit
  • for Xfce4:
    xfce4-terminal --disable-server -x ./MinEdLauncher %command% /autorun /autoquit waitForExit
    • what I’m using:
      xfce4-terminal --disable-server --hide-menubar --hide-scrollbar --hide-toolbar -T "Min ED Launcher" -x ./MinEdLauncher %command% /autorun /autoquit waitForExit

(It is possible to use other terminals in the launch options; please read the information on the repository!).

⇒ The archive provided a desktop launcher and icon. It is possible to copy the desktop launcher to your desktop. Then right-click to change the command, such as:
/usr/games/steam steam://rungameid/359320 /edo
This will run the launch of the Odyssey version of the game directly.

⇒ All the remarks made in the Steam desktop shortcut chapter are to be made!

⇒ It is imperative that the launch options are written in the general properties of the game; cf above!

Note:

• It is important that the two layers IPv4 AND IPv6 networks are functional, otherwise it will not work.

OD Explorer

OD Explorer is truly THE companion to Elite Dangerous, to help us in exploration and exobiology research.

Note: This tool is designed to work well with the English language of the game Elite Dangerous, in the other languages of the game, it will not be able to bring everything up properly. But if you understand the English language well enough: “go!”

• Git: https://github.com/WarmedxMints/OD-Explorer

• Used version: 2.0.14, 2.0.15

• Steam:

  • forced compatibility option: Proton 9.0-4
  • launch options: none

The Logo is available from the repository in the subdirectory Resources/ and is named Astronaut.png.

From the ‘Release’ page of the repository, download the ODExplorer-Portable.zip version.

Unwind it, for example, in such a way that you have it: ~/Games/ODExplorer-Portable

Then you have to use the protontricks tool.

That being done, in Steam:

• Click on the “Games” menu > “Add a game name Steam to my library…”.
• right-click for the “game” properties, and force compatibility – currently, I’m using the “Proton 9.0-4” version.

Click the [ Play ] button…

At the first launch, a window will open asking for the installation of the “runtime v8.0” of Microsoft Windows. Close the windows by pressing the [ No ] button.

Next, open Protontricks and target “Non-Steam shortcut: ODExplorer.exe: …”. Choose to install a component, select dotnetdesktop8.

Once the installation is complete, before running the binary from Steam again, right-click again and choose the “Manage” > “Create a shortcut on desktop” menu.

The remarks made for the game’s Steam desktop shortcut are exactly the same for this shortcut; so make the same changes.

PS: Although we have mono installable under Linux, the use of mono ODExplorer.exe does not work.

SRV Survey

SRV Survey is a useful support companion by displaying data on the game screen, during a game session; it is useful for organic scans during exploration, to track the player’s position, and useful on the sites of the “Guardians”.

• Git: https://github.com/njthomson/SrvSurvey
• Used version: 2.0.95.23

Here is the procedure to operate this tool:

• Min ED Launcher is required
• then the installation of SRV Survey, and a complementary script
• Then the use of protontricks.

⇒ 1. Download the zip archive from the “Releases” page, currently version 2.0.95.23.

• Uncompress the archive
• Go to the “Application Files” directory
• Copy the directory named SrvSurvey_number-version to the ED game installation directory
• Rename the directory in SrvSurvey.
• Download the shell script SRV_Survey.sh, provided by Maldor, the author of EDMD.
• Edit the SRV_Survey.sh shell script and copy to the “SrvSurvey” directory, previously copied, renamed to the installation directory of the game.

⇒ Concern Min ED Launcher: whatever your configuration, you must add a process declaration; change the key processes to a similar statement:

    "processes": [
        { "fileName": "/home/userid/.local/share/steam/steamapps/common/Elite Dangerous/SrvSurvey/SRV_Survey.sh" }
    ],

Change litteraly “/home/userid” by your!

⇒ SRV Survey requires the to be installed to work. This is where the use of the protontricks tool comes in:

• once protontricks is executed:

• select the line corresponding to the game “Elite Dangerous : 359320”, then click on the [ Validate ] button.

  

• different windows of error messages related to winetricks appear, click [ Validate ].

• the “Winetricks - choose a wineprefix” window ends up appearing: select, if not the case, the choice “( ) Select the default wineprefix” and then click on the [ Validate ] button.

  

• the “Winetricks - current prefix” window opens, choose “( ) Install a Windows DLL or component”, and then click the [ Validate ] button.

  

• a new window “Winetricks - current prefix” opens and asks which package is to be installed; scroll until you find the choice “[ ] dotnetdesktop9 MS . NET Desktop Runtime 9.0 LTS”, then click the [ Validate ] button.

  

• Once installed, click the [ Cancel ] buttons until the protontricks tool closes.

⇒ If SRV_Survey does not really launch, even Min Ed Launcher indicates that it’s, please read this section: Proton version!

With all these changes, SRV Survey should finally work!

Keep in mind that some features could crash the software. If so, close the game, and restart it so that Min ED Launcher will open both apps again.

Acknowledgements:

• https://github.com/njthomson/SrvSurvey/discussions/524

Squadron Manager

Squadron Manager is a tool to manage or participate one squadron. Yes, it’s possible to run this Windows app under Linux, by using protontricks and Steam.

You need to register first on website!

• Repository: https://github.com/SquadronManager/App/

• Logo: https://squadronmanager.comtac-fr.space/logos/logo2.png

• Website: https://squadronmanager.comtac-fr.space/

• Used version: 3.5.6

• Steam:

  • forced compatibility option: Proton 9.0-4
  • launch option: none

After download the exceutable Setup, clic-right to launch with protontricks.

• Select the wineprefix for Elite Dangerous line, and finish normally the installation.

The install folder is:
steamapps/compatdata/359320/pfx/drive_c/users/steamuser/AppData/Local/Programs/Squadron Manager/

⇒ Once the installation is complete, before running the binary from Steam again, right-click again and choose the “Manage” > “Create a shortcut on desktop” menu.

The remarks made for the game’s Steam desktop shortcut are exactly the same for this shortcut; so make the same changes. Use the website logo for the launcher icon, available on URL belowe.

A EDMC plugin, named Michelle, is needed to communicate correctly between EDMC and Squadron Manager.

• Repository: https://github.com/taloche1/Michelle/
• Used version: 3.86

to install into the EDMC’s plugins folder.

Elite Intel

Elite Intel is an AI voice assistant for Elite Dangerous, using NVIDIA Parakeet, and working either local LLM or cloud.

• version: 1.0

• GPU specs min.: 12 Go VRAM

• website: https://www.elite-intel.org/index.html

• Repository: https://github.com/SudoKrondor/EliteIntel

Troubleshooting

Proton version

⇒ A note regarding SRV_Survey and the version of Proton:

SRV_Survey must run on the same version of Proton as ED!

• SRV_Survey.sh modified:

#!/usr/bin/env bash
PROTON_Version="Proton 9.0 (Beta)"
sleep 10s
export STEAM_COMPAT_DATA_PATH="$HOME/.steam/steam/steamapps/compatdata/359320"
export STEAM_COMPAT_CLIENT_INSTALL_PATH="$HOME/.steam/steam"
 "$HOME/.steam/steam/steamapps/common/${PROTON_Version}/proton" run $HOME/steam/steamapps/common/Elite Dangerous/SrvSurvey/SRV_survey/SrvSurvey.exe

The Min ED Launcher log informs from the beginning which arguments it calls, such as:

----------
2026-06-21 11:38:57.294 +02:00 [INF] Elite Dangerous: Minimal Launcher - v0.13.0+6e50d0e0
2026-06-21 11:38:57.385 +02:00 [DBG]
    Args: [|"/home/myusername/.steam/debian-installation/ubuntu12_32/steam-launch-wrapper"; "--";
  "/home/myusername/.steam/debian-installation/ubuntu12_32/reaper"; "SteamLaunch";
  "AppId=359320"; "--";
  "/home/myusername/.steam/debian-installation/steamapps/common/SteamLinuxRuntime_sniper/_v2-entry-point";
  "--verb=waitforexitandrun"; "--";
  "/home/myusername/Games/Steam/steamapps/common/Proton 9.0 (Beta)/proton";
  "waitforexitandrun";
  "/run/media/myusername/games/SteamLibrary/steamapps/common/Elite Dangerous/EDLaunch.exe";
  "/Steam"; "/novr"; "/autorun"; "/autoquit"; "waitForExit"|]
    OS: Linux64
    Env: STEAM_COMPAT_DATA_PATH=/run/media/myusername/games/SteamLibrary/steamapps/compatdata/359320

(…)

cf the sixth line… "/home/myusername/Games/Steam/steamapps/common/Proton 9.0 (Beta)/proton"; ;-)

Because ED is launch with this Proton version!

No such file or directory

⇒ A mention about using SRV_Survey with Min Ed Launcher:

• If you see on Min Ed Launcher logfile, similar statements:

2026-08-01 21:07:05.623 -05:00 [INF] Starting process $HOME/.steam/steam/steamapps/common/Elite Dangerous/SrvSurvey/SRV_Survey.sh 2026-08-01 21:07:05.629 -05:00 [FTL] Unable to start process $HOME/.steam/steam/steamapps/common/Elite Dangerous/SrvSurvey/SRV_Survey.sh HRESULT: 0x80004005 Win32 Error Code: 2

System.ComponentModel.Win32Exception (2): ErrorStartingProcess, $HOME/.steam/steam/steamapps/common/Elite Dangerous/SrvSurvey/SRV_Survey.sh, $HOME/.steam/steam/steamapps/common/Elite Dangerous/SrvSurvey, No such file or directory

Modify into the Min Ed Launcher’s JSON file yours writing; you use $HOME instead of writing litteraly your home user, like: /home/michael!

$HOME is only a shell variable; JSON can’t use it because he doesn’t know what to do with it!

EOF

Here you go!

“Fly safe, or fly trouble… it’s up to you! or not…” o7

• Environment : Steam Linux / Debian Sid
• Game : Forza Horizon 5

NO! this little article is not to promote or learn to play any of the Forza Horizon.

Troubleshooting

Connection

When opening the game, a window prevents you from playing by stating that a mandatory connection is required.

Mandatory Connexion

You cannot continue without being logged in to a profile.

[ OK ]

• Stop the game

• Go to the game installation folder, accessible from the ‘Properties…’ menu, then go to the ‘Installed Files’ menu and click the [ Browse… ] button to open the file browser to the game installation folder.

  • Head to SteamLibrary/steamapps/compatdata/1551360/pfx/. You have to go back two files to get to the file steamapps from the installation directory of the game.

• Open the file user.reg.

• Search the key Xbl|DeviceKey; which should be around line 2040.

• Delete the entire block corresponding to the equivalent of the following:

[Software\\Wine\\Credential Manager\\Generic: Xbl|DeviceKey] 1781126654
#time=1dcf91f7c643250
@="Xbl|DeviceKey"
"Comment"="{3F754FAD-C788-48B1-A0F4-0F6279924F2A}|00000000|1"
"Flags"=dword:00000000
"LastWritten"=hex:eb,2e,64,7c,1f,f9,dc,01
"Password"=hex:(…)
"Persist"=dword:00000002
"Type"=dword:00000001

• Save

• Relaunching the game; normally the Microsoft login window must open and allow the connection (often by already having the user name filled).
  Once validated, the game will open.

Actually, Hugo (the SSG) is not capable to get a week number!
It’s ‘under consideration’!

However, Go language provides the IsoWeek() method.

Find the week number serves a purpose, whilst uncommon, is certainly useful.
As instance, a weekly newsletter :)

I’m going to show you two differents functions:

• by getIsoWeek
• or with getWeekNumber

getisoweek

First, create a partial template: /func/getIsoWeek:

{{- $date := time.AsTime . -}}
{{- $weekday := $date.Weekday }}
{{/* 1. Normalize Weekday (Mon=1 ... Sun=7) */}}
{{- $isoDay := cond (eq $weekday 0) 7 (int $weekday) -}}
{{/* 2. Find Thursday (ISO Week belongs to the year of its Thursday) */}}
{{- $offset := sub 4 $isoDay -}}
{{- $thursday := $date.AddDate 0 0 $offset -}}
{{/* 3. Calculate Week Number */}}
{{- $isoYear := $thursday.Year -}}
{{- $isoWeek := add (div (sub $thursday.YearDay 1) 7) 1 -}}
{{/* 4. Return the data */}}
{{- $str := dict "week" (printf "%02d" $isoWeek) "year" (printf "%04d" $isoYear) -}}
{{- $data := dict "week" $isoWeek "year" $isoYear "str" $str -}}
{{- return $data -}}

The call:

{{- partial "func/getisoweek" .Date -}}

Or any other varible using Time, such as now.

⇒ Remark about getIsoWeek :

• if I want values as int, I call $data.week and $data.year
• if I want values as str, I call $data.str.week and $data.str.year

Personnaly, I’ve too created another partial template, called utils/formatIsoDate.

The code as follows:

{{- $data := partial "func/getIsoWeek" . -}}
{{- $s := printf "w%s-y%s" $data.str.week $data.str.year -}}
{{- return $s -}}

I can call it either from the default archetypes, or anywhere into the templates or shortcodes, as I wish, such as:
{{ partial "utils/formatIsoDate" .Date }} ou {{ partial "utils/formatIsoDate" now }}.

getweeknumber

This second method for finding the week number is a little trickier!

This time, I have two main files.

⇒ The first function, func/splitNameYMO, is designed to “break down” a standardized date (YYYY-MM-DD) into the corresponding day, month, and year, and return a dictionary.

{{- $str := split . "-" -}}
{{- $d = (int (index $str 2)) -}}
{{- $m = (int (index $str 1)) -}}
{{- $y = (int (index $str 0)) -}}
{{- return (dict "day" $d "month" $m "year" $y) -}}

I created this file because I use it frequently throughout my code…

⇒ The second file is the main function, named func/getWeekNumber

{{- $date := "" -}}
{{- $tz := site.Params.timeZone -}}
{{- $week := 0 -}}

{{ $type := printf "%T" . }}

{{ if eq $type "string" }}

    {{- $data := partial "func/splitNameYMO" . }}
    {{- $date = time (printf "%04d-%02d-%02d" $data.year $data.month $data.day) $tz -}}

{{ else }}

    {{- $date = time . $tz -}}

{{- end -}}

{{/* Calcul 'doy: day of the year', 'dow: day of the week' */}}
{{- $doy := $date.YearDay -}}
{{- $dow := int $date.Weekday -}}
{{- $year := $date.Year -}}

{{/* calcul week number */}}
{{- $week = div (add (sub $doy $dow) 10) 7 -}}
{{- if eq $dow 0 -}}
    {{- $week = sub $week 1 -}}
{{- end -}}

{{- $str := dict "week" (printf "%02d" $week) "year" (printf "%04d" $year) -}}
{{- $data := dict "week" $week "year" $year "str" $str -}}
{{- return $data -}}

Explanations:

• First, I need to determine the type of the value I’m injecting into the file call — whether it’s a string or something else, in this case a timestamp — keep in mind that Hugo doesn’t know how to declare a value type for a timestamp, but in the repository, it is defined as Time.time.

• Next, I determine which day of the year the date ($doy) corresponds to, which day of the week it falls on ($dow), and finally the year, of course.

• Calcul of the week number is known:

  • subtract the day of the week from the day of the year
  • add 10
  • and divide the result by 7
  • and finally, if the day of the week is a Sunday, I subtract 1 from the week number found — this applies to Hugo, where weeks start on Sunday

Voila!

Documentation

• https://gohugo.io/quick-reference/methods/#time

Acknowledgements

• https://discourse.gohugo.io/t/group-content-by-week-number-of-year/11894/6

Xfce4 is a Desktop Environnement, available on OpenBSD.

⇒ Environnement:

• OpenBSD: 6.6 → 7.8
• Xfce4: 4.14 → 4.20

In this tutorial, I assume that OpenBSD has just been freshly installed, and that everything has to be done.

Installation

Usual: :# pkg_add xfce xfce-extras

Some dependancies are installed, like dbus, consolekit2.

Additionnal packages

By default, some packages are not installed.

• xfce4-icon-theme: additional icons pack
• xfce4-power-manager: power management for laptop
• xfce4-pulseaudio: plugin for the pulseaudio sound system - but, it’s not necessary… OSS works great!
• xfce4-xkb : switch between layers keyboard languages - but, is-it really useful, when using the command setxkbmap, or even just kbd, followed with the language code… is enough‽

Configuration

Since Xfce4 4.14, available on OpenBSD 6.6, it’s a bit easier to configure simply your personal environment system.

In a first step, I talk about a basic functional configuration; and, I’ll add information to improve your comfort.

.xsession

The first file to create is: ~/.xsession.

Add:

/usr/local/bin/ck-launch-session  xfce4-session

Voila!

It’s enough to run correctly Xfce4. Think to restart your session or the machine.

Now, let’s go a little further in the configuration, like setting the French language, or yours, and others useful tips.

.profile

Start setting your personal file: ~/.profile

to add the following mentions:

EDITOR=vi   # or nano, emacs, vim
ENV=$HOME/.kshrc
LC_MESSAGES=fr  # or fr_FR.UTF8; it's egual!

export EDITOR ENV LC_MESSAGES

⇒ Explains:

• I love nano as editor; into the base, vi is installed. The others need to be installed.
• We declare a personal ENVironment; here, the pdksh.
• Finally, define the language, as french.

And we export the three variables.

Of course, it’s possible to configure any environment variable, like PS1:

export PS1="[\t] \e[0;35m:\u@\h: \e[0;32m\w \e[0;36m\$ \e[m"

Here an complete instance:

# $OpenBSD: dot.profile,v 1.7 2020/01/24 02:09:51 okan Exp $
#
# sh/ksh initialization

PATH=$HOME/bin:/bin:/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/X11R6/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/games
export PATH HOME TERM

EDITOR=nano
ENV=$HOME/.kshrc
LC_MESSAGES=fr

export EDITOR ENV LC_MESSAGES

You need to change your personal file ~/.xsession to add your environment profile:

. $HOME/.profile

/usr/local/bin/ck-launch-session xfce4-session

Thus your graphic session will take account differents settings of your profile, such as language.

.kshrc

The content of this personal file is not complicated. Here is what to add to be functional:

. /etc/ksh.kshrc
. $HOME/.profile

HISTCONTROL=ignoredumps
HISTFILE=$HOME/.mksh_hist
HISTSIZE=10000
PAGER=less

export PAGER

/usr/local/bin/ck-launch-session xfce4-session

⇒ Useful explains:

• We source the global initialization for ksh to obtain a correct environment shell.

• We source your personal profil file.

• HIST variables are usefull to historize the orders commands:

  • HISTFILE: to define the backup file history
  • HISTSIZE: the number of commands to remember; do not confuse with the number of lines into file, defined with HISTFILESIZE - not here.
  • it’s not necessary to export them.

dbus

dbus is installed as dependancy.

The changes below are not essential, although useful. They’re reported on the relative pkg-readme file.

Add into your personal file ~/.xsession:

if [ -x /usr/local/bin/dbus-launch -a -z "${DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS}" ]; then
    eval `dbus-launch --sh-syntax --exit-with-x11`
fi

The file will look like this:

. $HOME/.profile

if [ -x /usr/local/bin/dbus-launch -a -z "${DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS}" ]; then
    eval `dbus-launch --sh-syntax --exit-with-x11`
fi

exec xfce4-session

Egual, pkg-readme upower informs us that it’s useful to run the apmd and messagebus services, so the power management system works; let’s go to enable the latter:

# rcctl enable messagebus
# rcctl start messagebus

⇒ if your machine is a laptop, think to install xfce4-powermanager package, which is not provided by default.

Printing

To print, install Cups:

# pkg_add  cups cups-filters cups-libs foomatic-db gutenprint

Start both services cupsd, and cups_browsed — this second is useful to detect printers on network using Bonjour broadcast messages.

# rcctl enable cupsd cups_browsed
# rcctl start cups cups_browsed

You can administrate by the webui of Cups, available on http://localhost:631, or by tools as cupsctl, lpadmin.

Since OpenBSD 6.2, binaries lpq, lpr, and lprm need to be symbolics links to run smoothly.

Edit again your personal file ~/.kshrc to add:

for i in lpq lpr lprm; do alias $i=/usr/local/bin/$i; done

Avahi

Avahi is, on OpenBSD, the DNS multicast discovery service.

Just install the avahi package, and after active and start the services:

# rcctl enable multicast avahi_daemon
# rcctl order messagebus avahi_daemon
# rcctl start avahi_daemon

Normally, messagebus is already started!

Performances

apmd

To use the sleep and hibernate functions, apmd need to be set. We set on automatic performance adjustement mode.

# rcctl enable apmd
# rcctl set apmd flags -A
# rcctl start apmd

obsdfreqd

If you have a laptop or would like the system to manage performance fine-tune performance, you may prefer to use the use of obsdfreqd.

obsdfreqd is a CPU frequency manager, created by Solène Rapenne, packaged since OpenBSD 7.1.

It replace the native apmd daemon.

# rcctl enable obsdfreqd
# rcctl stop apmd
# rcctl set apmd flags -L
# rcctl start apmd obsdfreqd

Explanations:

• it’s necessary to start apmd in the manual mode, for obsdfreqd can handle it.
• obsdfreqd’s defaults settings are enough.

Tips

PF

I’ve not discuted about firewall rules, but here is an example:

⇒ Cups :

pass in on egress proto tcp from egress:network to egress port 631 flags S/SA modulate state

⇒ Avahi :

pass proto udp from any to 224.0.0.251 port mdns allow-opts
pass inet6 proto udp from any to ff02::fb port mdns allow-opts

pass proto udp from any to 239.255.255.250 port ssdp allow-opts
pass inet6 proto udp from any to { ff02::c, ff05::c, ff08::c } port ssdp allow-opts

Of course, it’s up to you!

Voila

Think to restart your session, after modifying yours personals files.

After, you can install others packages…

Voila!

Documentations

• the differents pkg-readme files:
  • /usr/local/share/doc/pkg-readmes/xfce
  • /usr/local/share/doc/pkg-readmes/dbus
  • /usr/local/share/doc/pkg-readmes/upower

• Official FAQ: https://wiki.xfce.org/faq
• Official tips: https://wiki.xfce.org/tips

Having an Eaton Ellipse ECO UPS, I use the NUT project to manage it under OpenBSD.

⇒ OS:

• OpenBSD: 6.9 ⇒ 7.6

⇒ UPS Hardware: Eaton Ellipse ECO 650 VA USB FR, MGE ELLIPSE 1000

Installation

Like as : # pkg_add nut

Configuration

The nut-scanner tool allow to detect any UPS hardware connected, either by USB, or network.

With administrator rights:

• Example for Eaton Ellipse ECO 650 VA USB FR :

:$ doas nut-scanner
SNMP library not found. SNMP search disabled.
Neon library not found. XML search disabled.
AVAHI client library not found. AVAHI search disabled.
Scanning USB bus.
No start IP, skipping NUT bus (old connect method)
[nutdev1]
    driver = "usbhid-ups"
    port = "auto"
    vendorid = "0463"
    productid = "FFFF"
    product = "Ellipse ECO"
    serial = "000000000"
    vendor = "EATON"
    bus = "005"

• Example for MGE ELLIPSE 1000 :

Cannot load SNMP library (libnetsnmp.so) : file not found. SNMP search disabled.
Cannot load XML library (libneon.so) : file not found. XML search disabled.
Scanning USB bus.
No start IP, skipping NUT bus (old connect method)
Scanning NUT bus (avahi method).
[nutdev1]
    driver = "usbhid-ups"
    port = "auto"
    vendorid = "0463"
    productid = "FFFF"
    product = "ELLIPSE"
    serial = "1H6G4401F"
    vendor = "MGE UPS SYSTEMS"
    bus = "001"
    device = "002"
    busport = "002"
    ###NOTMATCHED-YET###bcdDevice = "4241"

Now, few configuration files are to be modified. Any change on one of them needs to restart the ad hoc services.

ups.conf

• Configuration file: /etc/nut/ups.conf

You have to fill this file with the returned informations by the software:

• Example for Eaton Ellipse ECO 650 VA USB FR :

(…)

[eaton]
    desc = "Eaton Ellipse ECO 650 VA USB FR"
    driver = "usbhid-ups"
    port = "auto"
    vendorid = "0463"
    productid = "FFFF"
    product = "Ellipse ECO"
    serial = "000000000"
    vendor = "EATON"
    bus = "005"

upsd.conf

• Configuration file: /etc/nut/upsd.conf

This file allow to set the access control to the managed datas by upds. By default, the server is only accessible on localhost, in IPv4, IPv6, on port 3493.

As instance, you need to set this file to use TLS.

upsd.users

• Configuration file: /etc/nut/upsd.users

This configuration file allow to set users who will have rights to interact with the upsd server.

:$ doas chmod 0400 /etc/nut/upsd.users

Now, set an user who will have the rights to comminucate between upsd and upmon servers:

[upsmon]
    password = ***
    upsmon master

More explains, here we are:

• an upsmon username into the brackets
• with master rights on upsmon service.
  • (this defines the role which, according to its dominance, will stop the system first or last, in the case of management of several connected OS; in the context of a single managed OS, the value master is imposed by itself).
• and, set the password value, by your choice.

Now, we modify the upsmon.conf file.

upsmon.conf

• Configuration file: /etc/nut/upsmon.conf

This configuration file allow the monitor service.

Following the modification of the upsd.users file to configure a upsmon user, we need to add a MONITOR directive, such as:

MONITOR eaton@localhost 1 upsmon *** master

(Change ‘***’ by your upsmon password)

⇒ Now, at least, we need to modify NOTIFYMSG, NOTIFYFLAG directives; please, see the official documentation…

⇒ About the NOTIFYFLAG directives, it is important to add the EXEC flag for the execution of commands. Without it, they will not be executed.

⇒ About the NOTIFYCMD directive: this is not set up correctly:

• first, uncomment it, and
• change the path to the upssched binary, like:
  NOTIFYCMD /usr/local/sbin/upssched

Now, the upsmon service will relay to upsched binary; this tool will read the upssched.conf configuration file.
See the Suppressing notify storms official documentation about why it’s needed!

upssched.conf

• Configuration file: /etc/nut/upssched.conf

This configuration file allow actions to plan.

It’s necessary to uncomment PIPEFN, LOCKFN, and AT directives.

⇒ About LOCKFN and PIPEFN: the absolute pathname by default not exists; you need to create and give access for the _ups user:

:# install -d -o _ups -g wheel -m 750 /var/db/nut/upssched

⇒ Now, we create the needed AT directives; as instance:

(…)
AT ONBATT * START-TIMER onbatt 15
AT ONBATT * START-TIMER onbattwarn 30
(…)
AT ONLINE * CANCEL-TIMER onbatt
AT ONLINE * CANCEL-TIMER onbattwarn
(…)
AT ONLINE * EXECUTE ups-back-on-line

FYI: it’s possible to modify the /usr/local/bin/upssched-cmd script to interact with the system according to the called event. See the official documentation…

upsset.conf

• Configuration file: /etc/nut/upsset.conf

This file allow to use CGI scripts, builded on the nut-cgi package. One only role: to certify that the configuration to use the CGI scripts is indeed (supposedly?) secure.

It is only useful in this context.

Permissions

During the installation, here are configured:

• an _ups user
• and an _ups group

It is necessary to configure user permissions in order to have access to the appropriate device node.

⇒ For the USB devices, you need to identify the USB controller to which the UPS device is connected, or even the ugen device node(s).

We use the usbdevs command, like as:

:$ doas usbdevs
(…)
Controller /dev/usb5:
addr 01: 1002:0000 ATI, OHCI root hub
addr 02: 0463:ffff EATON, Ellipse ECO
(…)

In this cas, the UPS device is connected on the usb5 controller, without specified device nodes.

Now, we change the rights user on the device; on this case:

:$ doas chown :_ups /dev/usb5 # ou, chgrp _ups /dev/usb5
:$ doas chmod g+w /dev/usb5

Now, the _ups group gained access to the controller!

Finally, let’s make sure we have user rights on the files into ‘/etc/nut’:

:$ doas chown _ups:_ups /etc/nut/ups*

Normally, this enough to start the services.

⇒ if the inverter is connected by RS232, either you need to:

• add the _ups user to the dialer group, or
• modify the user rights on the /dev/tty adequat, that the _ups user can manage it.

Services

About services, you have to enable and start those follow daemons:

• upsd: to manage network server
• upsmon: to manage the monitor

upsd need to start in first, before upsmon.

:$ doas rcctl enable upsd upsmon
:$ doas rcctl set upsd flags -u _ups
:$ doas rcctl start upsd upsmon

Normally, the daemon log notify thoses services:

(…)
Jul 17 13:25:34 sh1 usbhid-ups[47317]: Startup successful
Jul 17 13:25:34 sh1 upsd[83153]: listening on ::1 port 3493
Jul 17 13:25:34 sh1 upsd[83153]: listening on 127.0.0.1 port 3493
Jul 17 13:25:34 sh1 upsd[83153]: Connected to UPS [eaton]: usbhid-ups-eaton
Jul 17 13:25:34 sh1 upsd[90348]: Startup successful
Jul 17 13:25:34 sh1 upsmon[19005]: Startup successful
(…)

Check

Status

upsc is a tool to check the inverter status, like:
:$ upsc eaton est la même chose que faire $ upsc eaton@localhost

⇒ To known the battery status:

:$ upsc eaton ups.status
OL

Few explains:

• OL signify On Line; all is good!
• OB: On Battery: the inverter now only works on the battery
• LB: Low Battery: the battery is at its lowest charge level!

OB and LB must trigger actions; they are configured on upsmon.conf file, or even upssched.conf.

Process and files

You can check what are the process managed by the _ups user, and the opened files; as instance, with ps and fstat:

:$ ps aux -U _ups
USER       PID %CPU %MEM   VSZ   RSS TT  STAT   STARTED       TIME COMMAND
_ups     31655  0.0  0.0   836  1668 ??  S       5:07PM    0:00.70 /usr/local/bin/usbhid-ups -a eaton
_ups      4840  0.0  0.0   764  1308 ??  S       5:07PM    0:00.12 /usr/local/sbin/upsd -u _ups
_ups     65469  0.0  0.0   780  3084 ??  S       5:07PM    0:00.09 /usr/local/sbin/upsmon

:$ fstat -u _ups -n
USER     CMD          PID   FD  DEV      INUM        MODE   R/W    SZ|DV
_ups     upsmon     65469   wd  4,0    103712        40700    r      512
_ups     upsmon     65469    0  4,0     27162        20666   rw    2,2
_ups     upsmon     65469    1  4,0     27162        20666   rw    2,2
_ups     upsmon     65469    2  4,0     27162        20666   rw    2,2
_ups     upsmon     65469    3* internet stream tcp 0x0 127.0.0.1:26706 --> 127.0.0.1:3493
_ups     upsmon     65469    4 pipe 0x0 state:
_ups     upsd        4840   wd  4,4     26111        40700    r      512
_ups     upsd        4840    0  4,0     27162        20666   rw    2,2
_ups     upsd        4840    1  4,0     27162        20666   rw    2,2
_ups     upsd        4840    2  4,0     27162        20666   rw    2,2
_ups     upsd        4840    3* internet6 stream tcp 0x0 [::1]:3493
_ups     upsd        4840    4* internet stream tcp 0x0 127.0.0.1:3493
_ups     upsd        4840    5* unix stream 0x0
_ups     upsd        4840    6* internet stream tcp 0x0 127.0.0.1:3493 <-- 127.0.0.1:26706
_ups     usbhid-ups 31655   wd  4,4     26111        40700    r      512
_ups     usbhid-ups 31655    0  4,0     27162        20666   rw    2,2
_ups     usbhid-ups 31655    1  4,0     27162        20666   rw    2,2
_ups     usbhid-ups 31655    2  4,0     27162        20666   rw    2,2
_ups     usbhid-ups 31655    3 pipe 0x0 state:
_ups     usbhid-ups 31655    4 pipe 0x0 state:
_ups     usbhid-ups 31655    5* unix stream 0x0 /var/db/nut/usbhid-ups-eaton
_ups     usbhid-ups 31655    6* unix stream 0x0 /var/db/nut/usbhid-ups-eaton