squeakland February 2007

squeakland@lists.squeakfoundation.org

21 participants
17 discussions

Re: [Squeakland] Squeak fails to run after install: security problems?
by Markus Schlager 11 Feb '07

11 Feb '07

On Wed, 7 Feb 2007, Simon Guest wrote: > > A workaround is to arrange other location for them by > > "SecureDirectory" setting in Squeak.INI, that is located > > in same folder as squeak.exe. The documentation for the > > INI file is: > > http://wiki.squeak.org/squeak/3274 . > > I changed the location of the UserDirectory and the SecureDirectory in > the squeak.ini file to point into my profile, like this: > > [Security] > UserDirectory=%USERPROFILE%\Application Data\Squeak\UserDirectory > SecureDirectory=C:\Documents and Settings\sjg\Application Data\Squeak\SecureDirectory > > This causes it all to work just fine as a normal user (sjg). Thanks > for the suggestion. > > However, I note that environment variables are not supported in the > SecureDirectory, so it's not actually possible to set this to > different directories for different users, which would be ideal. I > had a quick look at the file sqWin32Security.c in the VM source code. > Lines 226-230 (in the latest version) do this: > > /* Expand any environment variables in user directory. */ > dwSize = ExpandEnvironmentStrings(untrustedUserDirectory, tmp, MAX_PATH-1); > if(dwSize > 0 && dwSize < MAX_PATH) > strcpy(untrustedUserDirectory, tmp); > > but there is no corresponding line for the SecureDirectory. > Could I suggest a similar thing be done as this? Otherwise it is not > in fact possible, I think, to easily set up Squeak to run for > different users from the same installation. > Running squeak on Linux-machines, I'd apprechiate such a solution, too. For the moment I'm using forced symbolic links, which works, but is complicated, since the computers at our school are so-called multiseat-systems, whence up to four users are using the same image simultaniously at the same time. > I'm still investigating the effect of sharing an image file between > different users, and whether I need to address this as well. No problem with this on Linux - in my case, the image-file is write-protected. Markus ----------------------------------------------- Markus Schlager m.slg(at)gmx.de

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Squeak Board 2007 Elections
by Ron Teitelbaum 10 Feb '07

10 Feb '07

Hi All, I received another question about running for the board. As a reminder anyone that wants to run for the board needs to announce to squeak-dev by February 18, 2007. All you need to do is send an email to squeak-dev (squeak-dev(a)lists.squeakfoundation.org ) stating that you are running. We would like you to include why you are running, what your experience is and what you would like to work on if elected. We currently have 4 candidates for 7 positions: Cees, Tim, Craig, and Bert. Its going to be a very quick election if we do not get more candidates! Please consider serving your community by running for the board. Thanks, Ron Teitelbaum Squeak Elections Team Member

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Setting up a lab server for saving projects
by Guyren Howe 08 Feb '07

08 Feb '07

I'm having trouble setting up a shared file serving situation for a lab of Windows machines using Squeak. I tried putting a shortcut to a shared folder inside the folder Squeak saves to, but Squeak doesn't seem able to see it. There does seem to be some kind of online saving ability; if this was easy to do, it would be awfully fun if the kids could get at their projects at home if they cared to, but a file server at the school would be fine. TIA

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Squeak fails to run after install: security problems?
by Simon Guest 08 Feb '07

08 Feb '07

Hi, I'm a maths teacher (and ex software engineer), and have been playing with the developer version of Squeak for a while now, and although the learning curve is fairly steep, I am using it successfully in school. I see that the Squeakland release is recommended for teachers over the squeak.org version, I guess because etoys have been made to work nicely. However, I am experiencing severe frustration in getting it to run. What is the security model? Here's the problem. On WinXP, I install it as administrator. As soon as I try to run as a normal user, it fails ("a primitive has failed", although the error message is in German). I think this is because I cannot write to the image file, quite rightly, since it is owned by the administrator, and as a normal user I could not be trusted not to muck it up. So I copied the image file into my own directory, and ran the Squeakland vm on it, but it fails with the same error. Can anyone help? I'm a little discouraged, as I'm wondering how I will persuade much less technically oriented colleagues in school that Squeak is useful for teaching if the installation is a black art. I am sure my mode of use must be the most common among school users of Squeak. Could it not be supported by the default install? cheers, Simon

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Startup problems
by Stout J - Computing/MIS 07 Feb '07

07 Feb '07

Curiously enough I have had exactly the same problem and solved it in a different way. Our users cannot run programs apart from a few trusted locations and cannot create folders in other than, again, a few trusted locations. I installed the software on our public drive, then setup a batch file that copies the current image down to each user's private drive. I then setup a shortcut which runs the program from the public drive but specifies the image on their private drive: Public:\Public\squeak.exe Private:\Squeak\SqueakPlug.Image They could then run the program but got the German security warning. By clicking on the Programmieren button we could trace the problem to requiring a new folder in a prohibity location (C:\My Squeak\%USERNAME%). I'm afraid we then, because I needed it in a hurry, patched squeak.exe to change C:\Squeak\%USERNAME% to be C:\Local\%USERNAME% (the users can write to C:\Local) and it appears to work successfully. The only problem is that when users save their image they MUST put N:\Squeak\ at the beginning otherwise they will lose their work as the image is written to C:\Local (which is cleared out on logon). It looks as though there will be a more elegant way to do this on the Wiki which I'll have a look at tonight. John Stout -----Original Message----- Message: 1 Date: Tue, 06 Feb 2007 21:25:26 +0000 From: Simon Guest <simon.guest(a)tesujimath.org> Subject: [Squeakland] Squeak fails to run after install: security problems? To: squeakland org list <squeakland(a)squeakland.org> Message-ID: <ubqk7ugft.wl%simon.guest(a)tesujimath.org> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Hi, I'm a maths teacher (and ex software engineer), and have been playing with the developer version of Squeak for a while now, and although the learning curve is fairly steep, I am using it successfully in school. I see that the Squeakland release is recommended for teachers over the squeak.org version, I guess because etoys have been made to work nicely. However, I am experiencing severe frustration in getting it to run. What is the security model? Here's the problem. On WinXP, I install it as administrator. As soon as I try to run as a normal user, it fails ("a primitive has failed", although the error message is in German). I think this is because I cannot write to the image file, quite rightly, since it is owned by the administrator, and as a normal user I could not be trusted not to muck it up. So I copied the image file into my own directory, and ran the Squeakland vm on it, but it fails with the same error. Can anyone help? I'm a little discouraged, as I'm wondering how I will persuade much less technically oriented colleagues in school that Squeak is useful for teaching if the installation is a black art. I am sure my mode of use must be the most common among school users of Squeak. Could it not be supported by the default install? cheers, Simon ------------------------------

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Re: [Squeakland] Candidate Deadline Feb 18th 2007
by Marcus Denker 05 Feb '07

05 Feb '07

On 05.02.2007, at 02:36, Ron Teitelbaum wrote: > > > From memory, I know that Craig, Tim, and Bert are running again. I > do not > know about Cees, Yoshiki, and Marcus. > > I could be wrong about who has announced and who has not. If so > please > correct me. Hi, I decided to not run this time. Marcus

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Squeak Candidate Deadline Feb 18th 2007
by Ron Teitelbaum 05 Feb '07

05 Feb '07

All, I had someone ask me this question so I thought I'd remind everyone about our candidate deadline. http://weeklysqueak.wordpress.com/2007/02/01/2007-squeak-board-elections-ann ounced/ If you are planning on running for the board you need to announce that fact to this list (squeak-dev) by Feb 18th 2007. http://lists.squeakfoundation.org/mailman/listinfo/squeak-dev >From memory, I know that Craig, Tim, and Bert are running again. I do not know about Cees, Yoshiki, and Marcus. I could be wrong about who has announced and who has not. If so please correct me. Now is the time to encourage people to run. Also remember you will need an account on Squeak People http://people.squeakfoundation.org/ with a certification of at least apprentice to vote. If you have questions please feel free to ask the list or send me an email. Thank you for your participation, Ron Teitelbaum Ron(a)USMedRec.com Squeak Elections Team Member

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squeakland February 2007