#define to_cpumask(bitmap)                                              \
     ((struct cpumask *)(1 ? (bitmap)                                \
                         : (void *)sizeof(__check_is_bitmap(bitmap))))
static inline int __check_is_bitmap(const unsigned long *bitmap)
{
     return 1;
}


The above macro is nothing but just
#define to_cpumask(bitmap) (struct cpumask *)(bitmap)

But it also does a compile-time checking that the parameter passed is of type
(const unsigned long *). If it is defined as an function all these ugly magic is not
needed. But a function cannot be used as a static initializer. Try declaring a variable,
static int a = printf("ok");
and one would get an error, "Initializer element is not constant".

I really wonder whether gcc might one day optimize out your type-checking call to the unused
function in tha above macro?! A solution could be providing an official gcc extension to assert types?!
Also the above code compiles fine without sizeof constification as well i.e., just return a void * from the
__check_is_bitmap() and remove the sizeof and casting.

I found the above code in the linux kernel. See http://lkml.org/lkml/2009/3/25/22
for the discussion. Even the ubiquitous printf, printk or any vararg code does not check for types. So
I wonder whether kernel developers need such tricky^Wugly code just for type checking, given that
the callers would likely read the definition of the macro as well. It is not a closed api.

Any other project uses such type-checking macros?

I’m almost as sick of this Conficker stuff as I am going to be sick of April Fools Day stuff when I wake up tomorrow (not to mention I think this is a big promotional stunt for a movie called ‘Conficker’ coming out soon. You watch!), but I have to laugh when I see all these mainstream news organizations falling all over themselves to tell people how to get rid of this malware. In reality, all you have to tell your friends and family is to use one product that will protect them from Conficker and future viruses:

No joke. Happy April Fools Day, I guess.

We (Thomas Göttlicher, J. Daniel Schmidt and Arvin Schnell) have use all our
remaining ITO for this really cool feature.

Normally compiz (more precisely the cube module) shows each desktop on the
surface of a cuboid. Since we don’t have several desktops during installation
we decided to show the “wizard” steps on the cuboid. Pressing “Next” or “Back”
rotates the cuboid around the y-axis:

Entering a “subwizard” rotates the cuboid around the x-axis:

Fortunately most computers are fast enough to render the 3D-scene even without
special hardware support that we lack during installation.

Will be available in Factory within the next weeks. Comments are welcome.

I am using OpenSUSE on my main computers, so LUKS is a good option to encrypt my external hdd. I can use Truecrypt if I want to use the hdd with mac or windows, but here is not the case. You can also use LUKS under windows with FreeOTFE.

Here are the steps to encrypt the hdd:

1. be sure that the device is not part of filesystem

umount /dev/sdd1

2. Option 1: write some random data on hdd if you had critical files before

#slow method to fill hdd with semi-random data
dd if=/dev/urandom of=/dev/sdd1

3. Option 2:

#use next two commands to fill the hdd with "zero" data, much faster
dd if=/dev/urandom of=/dev/sdd1 count=2 bs=1M
dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdd1

3. start the encryption setup

cryptsetup -v --key-size 256 luksFormat /dev/sdd1
cryptsetup luksDump /dev/sdd1  #details for encrypted partition
cryptsetup luksOpen /dev/sdd1 buffalo

4. format hdd as ext3

/sbin/mkfs.ext3 /dev/mapper/buffalo

5. mount the encrypted hdd

mount /dev/mapper/buffalo /mnt/buffalo

6. add the entry in /etc/fstab

/dev/mapper/buffalo     /mnt/buffalo      ext3    acl,user_xattr        1 2

7. Optional step: try tune2fs -L MYLABEL /dev/mapper/buffalo if you want a nice label for your hdd.

Enjoy!

I am using sometimes

$ sudo dd if=/dev/urandom of=/dev/sdd1
$ sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdd1

and I would like to see the progress of dd command. So, do the following:

1. open a new terminal/console and type:

$ sudo killall -USR1

2. open the terminal/console where your dd is running and you will see something like this:

2242867712 bytes (2.2 GB) copied, 396.007 s, 5.7 MB/s
5625297+0 records in
5625297+0 records out

Anyway, your dd command will continue without any problem.
That's all!

Here are the basic steps to install Intel C/C++ and Fortran Compilers on OpenSUSE 11.1:

1. download Intel C/C++ and Fortran Compilers from their website. They are free for non-commercial use
2. unpack and start the installer
3. at some point I received:

Step no: 4 of 7 | Installation configuration - Missing Critical Pre-requisite
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The following required for installation commands are missing:
libstdc++.so.5 (library)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Finish with prerequisites and back to Critical Pre-requisites dialog
[default]
2. Back to Pre-requisite summary dialog

h. Help
b. Back to the previous menu
q. Quit
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Please type a selection or press "Enter" to accept default choice [1]:

4. let's stop the installer and install the necessary packages

vaio:/home/ionut # zypper install libstdc++33

vaio:/home/ionut # whereis libstdc++.so.5
libstdc++.so: /usr/lib/libstdc++.so.6 /usr/lib64/libstdc++.so.5 /usr/lib64/libstdc++.so.6

vaio:/home/ionut # zypper install libstdc++33-32bit

vaio:/home/ionut # zypper install binutils-32bit binutils-devel

5. let's run again the installer, now we have all packages installed

[...skip...]
Step no: 4 of 7 | Installation configuration - Missing Optional Pre-requisite
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There is one or more optional unresolved issues. It is highly recommended to fix
it all before you continue the installation. You can fix it without exiting from
the installation and re-check. Or you can quit from the installation, fix it and
run the installation again.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Missing optional pre-requisite
-- cannot determine operating system type
-- system glibc or kernel version not supported or not detectable
-- binutils version not supported or not detectable
------------------------------------------------------------
1. Skip missing optional pre-requisites [default]
2. Show the detailed info about issue(s)
3. Re-check the pre-requisites

h. Help
b. Back to the previous menu
q. Quit
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Please type a selection or press "Enter" to accept default choice [1]:

5. accept default choice and press Enter
6. Intel compiler is installed, do the same for the other compiler
7. enjoy :)

I have a Kingston Data Traveler 4 GB USB Drive, and a few days ago I decided to use it also as a rescue boot device (to be bootable in order to recover data when needed), as storage device (to move around some files, used on windows, mac, linux, freebsd), to have on it some personal files which I would like to be encrypted (for example: my ssh private keys, my bookmarks, my passwords, ...), but also to have with me some applications which I use day by day (firefox, thunderbird, keypass, ...).

So here is what I did:

As filesystem I used Fat32. I installed System RescueCD so I have a bootable linux distro with a lot of useful utilities like Partimage, GNU Parted, TestDisk, kernel for i386 and also for x86-64, ... The instructions to install it on fat32 filesystem are here: Installation On USB Memory Stick, I used "Instalation from Windows" part.

Next step was to install Truecrypt for windows in portable mode, a step by step guide how to do it, is available here, to be able to open my encrypted volume.

Now I can create an encrypted volume, using truecrypt, where we store all my personal files, let's say 2 giga.

In that encrypted volume I also installed PortableApps Suite and beeing a LaTeX user I also included USBTeX.

Ok, now I still have space to store some useful small iso images, like Clonezilla, Hiren Boot CD, Acronis True Image BootCD.

That's my setup for USB Memory Stick, I have it with me all the time, I can use it on any system, mac, windows, linux, I have a bootable linux disto on it, and also my personal files encrypted with some useful software. Maybe I should mention that Portable Apps Suite works well also with wine on linux.

I did a dd copy of my complete usb stick configuration/setup, immediately after I finished to install everything I needed, because if I will lose it, then to be able to recover everything quickly.