Copy Sparse Files with Rsync

Updating my backup script that is using rsync, I have just realized that without further options, rsync does not handle well copying sparse files (i.e. files that are for instance holding a file system and that just take the space needed by their actual size). A consequence is…

How to Know if a File on Linux is Sparse?

A sparse file is a file which does not take more space on disk than needed. Such a file is usually used to store a partition image on disk, for instance with a virtualization solution like Xen.

Ubuntu Nano Backspace Problem Fix

There is an annoying problem with Ubuntu. Using the command line editor nano, the backspace key acts sometimes as the delete key (deleting the first character on the right and not on the left).

You can fix this by adding the following line to your /etc/nanorc file:

set rebinddelete

Sparse Files — Commands Overview

I was just checking which commands are supporting sparse files. I post hereafter a short overview of what I found out (working on Linux).

• Create a sparse file of 20 GiB: 
   dd if=/dev/zero of=foo bs=1 count=1 seek=20G

Better Keyboard Shortcuts for Mac X11 Apps

I have always found the integration of X11 apps in Mac OS X quite alright, apart from the fact that for a native Mac application you use the apple key for keyboard shortcut and for an X11 app you use the control key. So, for instance, if you want to copy…

NFS Automount with Snow Leopard

Before upgrading to Snow Leopard, I was using the NFS automount capability of Mac OS X. It was a handy way for my laptop to connect to my home NAS server (a linux box running Ubuntu).

Xen on Ubuntu Feisty

I have just installed Ubuntu Feisty (7.04) server edition on my home server. Needless to say that it was a piece of cake, including the setup of the software RAID-1 array. I have been able to do everything using the text mode graphical installer. I did a minimal server installation with no…

Using Passbook for Boarding a Flight

On my trip to Berlin for the Scala Days conference, I used Passbook for the first time to store my boarding pass. I thought it would be interesting to share this first paperless boarding experience with you.