Failed to open VDPAU backend libvdpau_i965.so

Some packages have been giving me these and similar messages, irking me for a while now.

Failed to open VDPAU backend libvdpau_i965.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

I think I found a solution, which is not really a solution as I don't understand why vdpau should be called for i965.

Install the following packages:

libva-intel-driver
libvdpau-va-gl

Set the following environment variable:

VDPAU_DRIVER=va_gl

Alternatively, you could create a symlink instead of the environment variable.

# cd /usr/lib/vdpau/
# ln -s libvdpau_va_gl.so.1 libvdpau_i965.so.1

But this litters the system. I would rather set the environment variables for all users, if so required.

Firefox Quantum upgrade lost Profile data

Today, my voidlinux received an upgrade to firefox-esr v52 to v60. I backed up my firefox profile in ~/.mozilla, before starting the new upgraded firefox. In hindsight, this saved my ass.

I noticed firefox upgraded my profile, and certain bits got lost. My major concern was losing all my uMatrix rules. I had this same issue with Gentoo last year when they canned firefox-52.

When asking for help on voidlinux irc, the first response told me to build it myself. That first suggestion had me thinking of going back to gentoo, as my void box is runtime only with no development tools. That led to searching for the pkg build files, and I arrived here.

http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/52.0esr/linux-i686/en-GB/

Voila! Problem solved :)

Download the tar file, extract into /tmp. Re/move upgraded firefox profile, and restore ~/.mozilla from backup. Now I could simply run /tmp/firefox/firefox and it loaded up with my old profile. I could successfully export all my bookmarks, rules, and other required data.

Hopefully, this helps someone in similar situation.

Xiaomi Mi 8 Pro

Santa gave me a nice gift for this Christmas… a brand new shiny smartphone! I haven't had a new device in many many years. I have always used older discarded technology, if I may add, to great effect. My friends continuously chasing the latest gadgets are a boon to me, as I get their not so new devices which I can then put to good use.

All my current in-use Android devices are stock Eclair or Gingerbread. Subsequently, the manufacturer abandoned any software updates for those models. Custom ROMs have saved those devices from the scrapyard and given them a much longer life. I learned how to DIY. It was an exciting ride, though a bit scary on occasion as I was playing with my daily driver. Many a weekend has been ruined pulling out my hair. Thankfully, I survived along with all those devices.

For now I am still keeping my trusty old smartphone

environment

Perhaps time to revise/update my environment list… This is what I use right now.

*nix file system btrfs kernel linux-4.9 init runit window manager i3 firewall nftables shell tmux irc weechat media player mpv terminal st email client sylpheed browser firefox-esr-52

android Flavours KitKat, GingerBread, Eclair Home TinyLaunch 31k Keyboard Multiling O Keyboard 540k Browser Naked Browser 120k Email K-9 Mail 4.6m Maps RMaps 703k Text Editor Editor 100k SatNav OsmAnd 76m Messaging Messenger Lite 7.7m

Have I missed anything?

shell in colours

Sometimes it feels nice to see a bit of colour. One of the most common places is the shell prompt. The concept and usage is the same, whether you want some colour in your prompt or elsewhere.