Free LES Community Server from Hosteroid via MetalVPS!

Not_Oles · May 29

@cmeerw Thanks for everything! It looks like you have had quite some fun adventures! I confirm that I can get back into trixie at the moment.

@cmeerw said:

NetBSD now asks for a root device (and it looks like it hasn't detected the disk at all)

worse yet, the keyboard doesn't work, so there is no way to do anything

Obviously you probably already have thought of this, but, just in case not, maybe there is a virtual keyboard in the Hosteroid installer that might work?

Wherever you want to go from here is fine with me. We can stay with Debian, or OpenBSD, or FreeBSD, or fix the NetBSD install. Whatever schedule you want also is fine, and no need to tell me in advance.

Thanks especially for posting the details! Very much appreciated! Anything I can do to help, please let me know!

cmeerw · May 29

@Not_Oles said:
@cmeerw Thanks for everything! It looks like you have had quite some fun adventures! I confirm that I can get back into trixie at the moment.

@cmeerw said:

NetBSD now asks for a root device (and it looks like it hasn't detected the disk at all)

worse yet, the keyboard doesn't work, so there is no way to do anything

Obviously you probably already have thought of this, but, just in case not, maybe there is a virtual keyboard in the Hosteroid installer that might work?

Wherever you want to go from here is fine with me. We can stay with Debian, or OpenBSD, or FreeBSD, or fix the NetBSD install. Whatever schedule you want also is fine, and no need to tell me in advance.

Thanks especially for posting the details! Very much appreciated! Anything I can do to help, please let me know!

I think we can move to OpenBSD for some time then. The way it's currently set up is that if it's running OpenBSD, the ssh daemon is listening on a different port (Linux ssh port + 1), but I have copied all the root authorized ssh keys from Linux to OpenBSD, so you should be able to log in if it's running OpenBSD. For now, I'd leave the default boot to Linux, so if any of you guys want to do something on Linux and it's running OpenBSD, just do a reboot (btw, booting to OpenBSD would be via chainloader (hd0,msdos3)+1 in grub).

Not_Oles · May 29

@cmeerw Sounds great!

Like @cmeerw said, if anybody wants to do anything on Debian or on OpenBSD, our lovely server is available. Please check "How To Apply" in the OP.

Thanks yet again to @Hosteroid for our lovely server!

cmeerw · May 30

The server is now running OpenBSD. During installation I chose network autoconfig for both IPv4 and IPv6 - only IPv4 seems to work with autoconfig (DHCP), so I have now statically configured the IPv6 address (and IPv6 default route) in /etc/hostname.em1 and /etc/mygate

I had already added SSH keys for the root user. If you want to add your own user, adduser seems to be the preferred tool - you can also add yourself to group wheel to then be able to use doas to switch to root (I have just copied /etc/examples/doas.conf to /etc/doas.conf for that).

Not_Oles · May 30

@cmeerw Cool! If I do anything beyond checking in, I will set up a user, tom, and do as necessary with doas. /s It will be great fun to run OpenBSD permanently or for a shorter time until you or someone wants to switch back to Debian or to another OS. Thanks for the OpenBSD install! Excellent!

Not_Oles · May 30

Thanks yet again to @Hosteroid for our fun community server!

Now that we're running OpenBSD, if anyone wants to come aboard, you will be very welcome! Please review the How To Apply section of the OP.

Yunior2001 · June 1

Hello!

I’d like to kindly request one of the Free LES Community Servers.

Purpose: I plan to use the server to run a personal WireGuard VPN instance to help route my traffic securely. I live in Cuba, where access to certain sites is limited or slow, so this would help a lot for safe browsing and connectivity.
OS preference: Debian 12 minimal
I’ve read the rules and agree to follow them.
Location: Cuba (very light use, mostly for personal browsing)

Thank you very much for offering this to the community!

Not_Oles · June 1

@Yunior2001

Welcome to LES! I look forward to seeing more of your friendly and helpful comments here at LES! What still seems needed in your request is your "public presence" and "an identity that's easy to find," until "you are well enough known here."

From the OP:

How To Apply:

Please post in this thread. Please explain what you want to do on our server.

When you post in this thread about what you want to do on the server, please also post in this thread or email @Not_Oles at the address on his profile: links to your website, to your source code repository, and to other online profiles. Please remember that, quoting from the Rules above, "@Not_Oles must know who and where you are." Some people send scans of government and university ID. Other people send other or additional things. Unfortunately @Not_Oles can't see many pages on Twitter, Facebook, and on LinkedIn because logins are required. Sorry for any inconvenience!

One of our friendly Administrators here at LES, Mason, is a great example of somebody whose request for an account would be accepted right away. Thanks to @Mason for kind permission to link to his pages.

a community presence here at LES https://lowendspirit.com/profile/Mason,

a website at https://rowe.sh/,

a LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/masonrowe, and

a repository at https://github.com/masonr.

A little flexibility helps a lot. I haven't checked to see whether Mason's public pages contain an address with a street number. Maybe someone else does things a little differently than Mason but still has a public presence and an identity that's easy to find. There might be a few LESbians who are well enough known here that not much else is necessary.

I appreciate that many people here on the Low End have important and fully legitimate concerns about privacy. I respect those concerns! Happily there are many options available here on our beautiful Low End for people concerned about privacy.

I'm delighted to consider anything additional that you might want to add to your request. Also, if I missed anything, please remind me.

Always best wishes, and, again, welcome to LES!

Tom

Yunior2001 · June 1

Thank you for the warm welcome and for the detailed response!

I understand the need for a verifiable identity. While I don’t use LinkedIn actively, I do have a public profile here:
• 🔗 https://www.linkedin.com/in/yunior-lopez-76019a1a6?trk=contact-info

I also participate in other technical communities, like Móviles DualSIM, where I share knowledge and help others with mobile and tech-related topics:
• 🔗 https://www.movilesdualsim.com/tema/umidigi-bison-rojo-por-detras-version-2021-segun-el-imei.214659/page-4#post-2460370

My main goal is to set up a personal WireGuard VPN server to improve access to essential services from Cuba, where internet restrictions are significant. I’m also documenting the process to help others in similar conditions.

I’d be happy to provide any additional information if needed. Thanks again for your time and for keeping this community strong!

Not_Oles · June 1

@Yunior2001 said: I understand the need for a verifiable identity.

At least for this server, you do understand correctly.

I am sorry, but I don't understand how your movilsdualsim posts provide the needed verifiable identity.

Thanks!

Yunior2001 · June 1

@Not_Oles

Thank you again for your response and guidance!

I now have a public GitHub profile to support my request:
• 🔗 https://github.com/Yunior2001
• https://github.com/Yunior2001/wireguard-cuba

This repository explains my goal of creating a personal WireGuard VPN server to bypass internet restrictions from Cuba.

I also participate in other technical communities like Móviles DualSIM:
• 🔗 https://www.movilesdualsim.com/tema/umidigi-bison-rojo-por-detras-version-2021-segun-el-imei.214659/page-4#post-2460370

Again, thank you for your time and for considering my request. I’m happy to provide any more information if needed!

Not_Oles · June 1

@Yunior2001

@Not_Oles said: I am sorry, but I don't understand how your movilsdualsim posts provide the needed verifiable identity.

`s/movilsdualsim/Github'

Yunior2001 · June 1

@Not_Oles

Good evening

I understand that MóvilesDualSIM is not a verifiable source in this context. Here are the links to my profiles and post that may help provide better verification of my identity and intentions:

• LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yunior-lopez-76019a1a6?trk=contact-info

• GitHub Profile: https://github.com/Yunior2001

• GitHub Project (wireguard-cuba): https://github.com/Yunior2001/wireguard-cuba

Thank you for your attention. I hope this helps provide a clearer perspective on my verification as a real and serious user.

Not_Oles · June 1

@cmeerw

@Not_Oles said: I will set up a user, tom

Done.

hlcs# ls /home
_sysupgrade cmeerw
hlcs# adduser tom
Use option ``-silent'' if you don't want to see all warnings and questions.

Reading /etc/shells
Check /etc/master.passwd
Check /etc/group

Ok, let's go.
Don't worry about mistakes. There will be a chance later to correct any input.
Enter username []: tom
Enter full name []: Not_Oles
Enter shell csh git-shell ksh nologin sh [ksh]: sh
Uid [1001]: 
Login group tom [tom]: 
Login group is ``tom''. Invite tom into other groups: guest no 
[no]: wheel
Login class authpf bgpd build daemon default pbuild staff unbound vmd xenodm 
[default]: 
Enter password []: 
Enter password again []: 

Name:        tom
Password:    ****
Fullname:    Not_Oles
Uid:         1001
Gid:         1001 (tom)
Groups:      tom wheel
Login Class: default
HOME:        /home/tom
Shell:       /bin/sh
OK? (y/n) [y]: 
Added user ``tom''
Copy files from /etc/skel to /home/tom
Add another user? (y/n) [y]: n
Goodbye!
hlcs#

hlcs$ whoami
tom
hlcs$ doas whoami
doas ([email protected]) password: 
root
hlcs$

Not_Oles · June 1

@Yunior2001

Again from the OP:

@Not_Oles said: Please remember that, quoting from the Rules above, "@Not_Oles must know who and where you are." Some people send scans of government and university ID. Other people send other or additional things. Unfortunately @Not_Oles can't see many pages on Twitter, Facebook, and on LinkedIn because logins are required. Sorry for any inconvenience!

You are repeating the Github listing which previously did not qualify along with LinkedIn data which I can not see.

Let's stop now, until you have been a warmly appreciated and very helpful LESbian for 6 months.

Best wishes!

Not_Oles · June 1

Just for fun, I will complain that:

I asked for sh.

@Not_Oles said: Shell: /bin/sh

But I got ksh!

hlcs# echo $SHELL
/bin/ksh
hlcs# ps a  
  PID TT  STAT        TIME COMMAND
21168 p0  Sp       0:00.00 -ksh (ksh)
 2924 p0  R+pU/0   0:00.00 ps -a
 6995 p2  Ip       0:00.01 -ksh (ksh)
12376 p2  I+       0:00.05 build/bsd/x86_64/release/fcgisrv -b /var/www/run/mbtiles/socket -t 8
16854 C0  I+pU     0:00.00 /usr/libexec/getty std.9600 ttyC0
37335 C1  I+pU     0:00.00 /usr/libexec/getty std.9600 ttyC1
32558 C2  I+pU     0:00.00 /usr/libexec/getty std.9600 ttyC2
32852 C3  I+pU     0:00.00 /usr/libexec/getty std.9600 ttyC3
63521 C5  I+pU     0:00.00 /usr/libexec/getty std.9600 ttyC5
hlcs# who am i
root     ttyp0    Jun  1 05:22   (187.189.238.2)
hlcs#

Wondering why I didn't get sh. And why there are not one but two ksh processes shown in the ps output. Hints, please. Thanks!

Yunior2001 · June 1

@Not_Oles

Ok, thank you very much for the information. I regret not being able to provide my identification as you would have liked. If it helps to give you more assurance, I can send photos of my ID, if you wish. Otherwise, I will try to be active here for 6 months, as much as I can. Thank you for your attention and sorry for any inconvenience caused. Greetings from Cuba, a follower.

cmeerw · June 1

@Not_Oles said:
Just for fun, I will complain that:

I asked for sh.

@Not_Oles said: Shell: /bin/sh

But I got ksh!

~~~
hlcs# echo $SHELL
/bin/ksh
hlcs# ps a
PID TT STAT TIME COMMAND
21168 p0 Sp 0:00.00 -ksh (ksh)
2924 p0 R+pU/0 0:00.00 ps -a
6995 p2 Ip 0:00.01 -ksh (ksh)
12376 p2 I+ 0:00.05 build/bsd/x86_64/release/fcgisrv -b /var/www/run/mbtiles/socket -t 8
16854 C0 I+pU 0:00.00 /usr/libexec/getty std.9600 ttyC0
37335 C1 I+pU 0:00.00 /usr/libexec/getty std.9600 ttyC1
32558 C2 I+pU 0:00.00 /usr/libexec/getty std.9600 ttyC2
32852 C3 I+pU 0:00.00 /usr/libexec/getty std.9600 ttyC3
63521 C5 I+pU 0:00.00 /usr/libexec/getty std.9600 ttyC5
hlcs# who am i
root ttyp0 Jun 1 05:22 (187.189.238.2)

But that's the shell for root, not tom (the /etc/passwd entry for tom does show /bin/sh)

hlcs#
~~~

Wondering why I didn't get sh. And why there are not one but two ksh processes shown in the ps output. Hints, please. Thanks!

The 6995 p2 Ip 0:00.01 -ksh (ksh) one is from my tmux session that's running fcgisrv (just trying the bundled httpd - it's quite interested as it already supports FastCGI - fcgisrv is my FastCGI server for serving the mbtiles from tilemaker; the other interesting thing is that they have their own acme-client that I still need to try)

Not_Oles · June 1

@cmeerw Thanks! Haha, looks better when I am me instead of root:

hlcs$ date
Sun Jun  1 16:53:52 UTC 2025
hlcs$ whoami
tom
hlcs$ echo $SHELL
/bin/sh
hlcs$ ps a | head -n 3
  PID TT  STAT        TIME COMMAND
 5687 p0  Sp       0:00.01 -sh (sh)
80328 p0  R+pU/0   0:00.00 ps -a
hlcs$

But, haha, it's still ksh! /s

From man sh:

     This version of sh is actually ksh in disguise.  As such, it also
     supports the features described in ksh(1).  This manual page describes
     only the parts relevant to a POSIX compliant sh.  If portability is a
     concern, use only those features described in this page.

@cmeerw said: fcgisrv is my FastCGI server for serving the mbtiles from tilemaker; the other interesting thing is that they have their own acme-client that I still need to try)

I was looking around a little. I found https://github.com/Ezbob/fcgisrv/tree/master/src/fcgisrv and also https://github.com/systemed/tilemaker/tree/master/server/Simple-Web-Server.

hlcs$ man fcgisrv
man: No entry for fcgisrv in the manual.
hlcs$ which fcgisrv
which: fcgisrv: Command not found.
hlcs$

Maybe, sometime, if you want to, you might post a little more about fcgisrv and tilemaker's acme client, and where the source repositories are.

cmeerw · June 1

@Not_Oles said:

@cmeerw said: fcgisrv is my FastCGI server for serving the mbtiles from tilemaker; the other interesting thing is that they have their own acme-client that I still need to try)

I was looking around a little. I found https://github.com/Ezbob/fcgisrv/tree/master/src/fcgisrv and also https://github.com/systemed/tilemaker/tree/master/server/Simple-Web-Server.

That's actually this one - it's based on my socket abstractions for epoll/kevent.

Maybe, sometime, if you want to, you might post a little more about fcgisrv and tilemaker's acme client, and where the source repositories are.

The acme-client is from OpenBSD: https://man.openbsd.org/acme-client.1 (still haven't looked at it yet)

For now I am serving a map of Austria via http only (using OpenBSD's https://man.openbsd.org/httpd.8 and my fcgisrv to serve the map tiles via FastCGI for https).

I'll then need to take a look at acme-client to get a SSL certificate, and then run tilemaker on OpenBSD to generate map tiles for larger areas again.

Not_Oles · June 2

@cmeerw said: That's actually this one - it's based on my socket abstractions for epoll/kevent.

Thanks! I took very quick looks at your linked code and at epoll and kevent man pages:

@cmeerw said: For now I am serving a map of Austria via http only (using OpenBSD's https://man.openbsd.org/httpd.8 and my fcgisrv to serve the map tiles via FastCGI for https).

I confirm that the http only version works! The below screenshot is your map of Austria on my Chromebook with Chrome's Auto Dark Mode for Web Contents flag enabled:

cmeerw · June 2

@Not_Oles said:
I confirm that the http only version works! The below screenshot is your map of Austria on my Chromebook with Chrome's Auto Dark Mode for Web Contents flag enabled:

Got the SSL certificate created with acme-client - seems to be very similar in spirit to acme-tiny

Not_Oles · June 2

Looks like it worked!

cmeerw · June 3

Tried to use tilemaker on Europe, but this doesn't seem to work on OpenBSD:

Store size 24G | Block 445856/445929 libc++abi: terminating due to uncaught exception of type std::bad_alloc: std::bad_alloc
Abort trap (core dumped)

I did give it a temporary store path (same as on Linux), and it didn't even touch any of the swap space (as far as I can tell).

Not_Oles · June 3

@cmeerw Thanks for posting such interesting stuff, block level storage, and uncaught exceptions, which are below (in the sense that block level storrage and uncaught exceptions are, haha, above) my current experience!

I looked around[1] a bit and found a paper on implementing exception handling in C (not C++): http://bitsavers.informatik.uni-stuttgart.de/pdf/dec/tech_reports/SRC-RR-40.pdf

What, if anything, are you going to do to troubleshoot this? Maybe a debugger is needed?

(Maybe, just maybe, this could be a hint that you want to change OSes back to Linux? Or to something else. Let me say again that whatever you want to do is okay with me.)

[1] "C does not have try-catch exception handling, but uses return codes for error checking. The setjmp and longjmp standard library functions can be used to implement try-catch handling via macros.[14]" -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exception_handling_(programming)

Thanks to Hosteroid for our fun LES Community Server! If you want to hop on, it's free, please check the OP for How To Apply. Thanks!

cmeerw · June 3

@Not_Oles said:
@cmeerw Thanks for posting such interesting stuff, block level storage, and uncaught exceptions, which are below (in the sense that block level storrage and uncaught exceptions are, haha, above) my current experience!

I looked around[1] a bit and found a paper on implementing exception handling in C (not C++): http://bitsavers.informatik.uni-stuttgart.de/pdf/dec/tech_reports/SRC-RR-40.pdf

What, if anything, are you going to do to troubleshoot this? Maybe a debugger is needed?

Not sure a debugger will really help. Maybe it's just a configuration setting on OpenBSD that can be adjusted. Maybe just one of the ulimit settings?

hlcs$ ulimit -a
time(cpu-seconds)    unlimited
file(blocks)         unlimited
coredump(blocks)     unlimited
data(kbytes)         1572864
stack(kbytes)        4096
lockedmem(kbytes)    87381
memory(kbytes)       32441984
nofiles(descriptors) 512
processes            128

BTW, the other thing I noticed is that only 4 CPUs show up on OpenBSD as hyperthreading is disabled by default. Let's try enabling hyperthreading...

hlcs# sysctl hw.smt=1
hw.smt: 0 -> 1

And now we have 8 CPUs.

cmeerw · June 3

I have changed my login class to staff using chpass - see /etc/login.conf:

#
# Staff have fewer restrictions and can login even when nologins are set.
#
staff:\
        :datasize-cur=1536M:\
        :datasize-max=infinity:\
        :maxproc-max=512:\
        :maxproc-cur=256:\
        :ignorenologin:\
        :requirehome@:\
        :tc=default:

that then allowed me to increase the data limit:

hlcs$ ulimit -d 32441984
hlcs$ ulimit -a
time(cpu-seconds)    unlimited
file(blocks)         unlimited
coredump(blocks)     unlimited
data(kbytes)         32441984
stack(kbytes)        4096
lockedmem(kbytes)    87381
memory(kbytes)       32441984
nofiles(descriptors) 512
processes            256

and with that tilemaker is getting a lot further now (still running).

cmeerw · June 4

Oops, so I let it run overnight, as everything seemed to be fine. And this morning the server didn't respond with the console showing scsi_xfer pool exhausted!. Rebooted now.

Edit: dmesg (and in /var/log/messages) there also is:

Jun 4 01:05:10 hlcs /bsd: pagedaemon: wait_pla deadlock detected!

Edit2: It did create a europe.mbtiles with a timestamp of Jun 4 01:00 that might even be usable (I'll have to check if it really is) - so maybe OpenBSD only crashed when the program exited and tried to free the resources.

cmeerw · June 4

The generated mbtiles file for Europe seems to be fine - map of Europe

Not_Oles · June 4

@cmeerw I can see the map of Europe!

The map seems to zoom and scroll as expected.

Congrats!

Unfortunately, I was a bit too engaged elsewhere yesterday, so I still need to read through your posts from yesterday, and, as usual for me, look up some stuff. I always learn something from your posts, so they are very much appreciated! Thank you so much!

Free LES Community Server from Hosteroid via MetalVPS!

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