Upcoming moOde 8.3.0 release (Q1 2023)

[TheOldPresbyope]

@Tim Curtis 

I think you and I are looking through the telescope from opposite ends  

From my perspective, it's not that the Imager dev chose to support /home/pi but that by default in Linux new user accounts are assigned uid:gid in numeric order beginning at 1000:1000. Thus I have trouble with wording like "aliasing". There is no user pi (see /etc/passwd) to alias to.

Regards,
Kent

Right but our release image contains /home/pi with piano.sh, .dircolors and .xinitrc files. These are preserved if something other than pi is chosen as the userid in the Pi Imager which suggests that it's intelligently renaming /home/pi to /home/USERID instead of just creating an empty /home/USERID and leaving /home/pi as-is.

Ah, gotcha. Smarter than the average bear {for those of you who endured Saturday morning TV cartoons for the sake of your kids].

Meanwhile, there turns out to be an easy fix.

Quoting from man systemd.exec

User=, Group=
           Set the UNIX user or group that the processes are executed as, respectively. Takes a single user or group
           name, or a numeric ID as argument.

So, change the appropriate line in the localui.service unit file to read

Code:

# was User=pi
User=1000

and Bob's your uncle! The localui now starts in my test system.

Regards,
Kent

[Tim Curtis]

@Tim Curtis 

I think you and I are looking through the telescope from opposite ends  

From my perspective, it's not that the Imager dev chose to support /home/pi but that by default in Linux new user accounts are assigned uid:gid in numeric order beginning at 1000:1000. Thus I have trouble with wording like "aliasing". There is no user pi (see /etc/passwd) to alias to.

Regards,
Kent

Right but our release image contains /home/pi with piano.sh, .dircolors and .xinitrc files. These are preserved if something other than pi is chosen as the userid in the Pi Imager which suggests that it's intelligently renaming /home/pi to /home/USERID instead of just creating an empty /home/USERID and leaving /home/pi as-is.

Ah, gotcha. Smarter than the average bear {for those of you who endured Saturday morning TV cartoons for the sake of your kids].

Meanwhile, there turns out to be an easy fix.

Quoting from man systemd.exec

User=, Group=
           Set the UNIX user or group that the processes are executed as, respectively. Takes a single user or group
           name, or a numeric ID as argument.

So, change the appropriate line in the localui.service unit file to read

Code:

# was User=pi
User=1000

and Bob's your uncle! The localui now starts in my test system.

Regards,
Kent

Coolness. I'll add this to the TODO item "Eliminate hard coded /home/pi references" :-)

[suzywong]

Sorry guys, but this is beginning to sound like a whole heap of trouble, for little benefit to the user………

[Tim Curtis]

Sorry guys, but this is beginning to sound like a whole heap of trouble, for little benefit to the user………

Just a lot of dev discussion.

The fact is that it's easy using the Pi Imager to prep the image. Just a few entries in the screen and then click the WRITE button. It takes no more effort than using any other imager.

The big benefit is that it provides the opportunity for everyone to easily have a more secure moOde system.

[suzywong]

I’ll let you know…….

[Tim Curtis]

Here are the draft release notes for upcoming 8.3.0 release. The first ~pre image is being tested and is looking great :-) 

The changes since last post include: 

- UPD: Improve WiFi section in startup (faster AP mode activation)
- UPD: Update Chip Options help for Piano 2.1 DAC Stereo mode
- FIX: Error not logged when source mount fails
- FIX: Wrong PSK used in saved SSID's

There is also an updated Security section in the Setup Guide. Please read it carefully to understand whats required to setup the pi userid and password, WiFi SSID and password and Access Point password.

SECURITY

The ISO image does not contain the userid pi, SSH service, WiFi SSID or Access
Point password.

- The pi userid/password and WiFi SSID/password can can be created using the
  official Raspberry Pi Imager. Refer to the link below for information on
  operating system security and how to use the Raspberry Pi Imager.
  https://www.raspberrypi.com/news/raspber...pril-2022/

- The Access Point password can be entered via the WebUI, Network Config screen
  after the system starts or via an edited /boot/moodecfg.ini file. The file is
  described in this document in the CUSTOM CONFIGURATION section.

To access the operating system command console use Secure Shell (SSH). An easy
to use WebSSH terminal is available in System Config.

Release notes

Code:

################################################################################
#
# 2023-MM-DD TC moOde 8.3.0
#
################################################################################

New Features

- NEW: Volume type "CamillaDSP" software volume (64-bit with dither)
- NEW: CamillaDSP Loudness, Volume Control and Polarity Inversion configs
- NEW: Use ALSA instead of MPD to control Hardware volume
- NEW: Monitor in-place update via WebUI Status screen instead of SSH

Audio devices

- NEW: ProtoDAC TDA1387 X8 (I2S)

Security (new image only)

- UPD: The ISO image does not contain the userid pi, SSH service, WiFi SSID or
       Access Point password. Refer to the moOde Setup guide for details on
       how to set these up.

Updates

- UPD: Bump to MPD 0.23.12
- UPD: Bump to bluez-alsa 4.0.0
- UPD: Add CamillaDSP volume support to Airplay and Spotify Connect
- UPD: Add ALSA buffer_time option to MPD Config
- UPD: Add WPA3-Personal Transition Mode to Network Config
- UPD: Add Home button to configs header (returns to Playback view)
- UPD: Add quick jump indexes back to Pi Touch
- UPD: Add AlbumArtist to ashuffle mode to handle same name albums
- UPD: Add moodeutl option for printing ALSA hwparams
- UPD: Add System Config option for downloading the Startup log
- UPD: Improve readability of Receivers modal
- UPD: Improve help text and labels in CamillaDSP Config
- UPD: Improve viewswitch tabs in configs (use icons for mobile)
- UPD: Improve Airplay protocol option
- UPD: Improve WiFi section in startup (faster AP mode activation)
- UPD: Sync CoverView auto and toggle during startup
- UPD: Move Metadata file option to MPD section of Audio Config
- UPD: Update Chip Options help for Piano 2.1 DAC Stereo mode
- UPD: Sort the output from the Wifi SCAN
- UPD: Setup guide to reflect new security information

Bug fixes

- FIX: Session ID missing in moodeutl -i (autocfg-import.php)
- FIX: Mapped ALSA volume not being used to set ALSA volume max
- FIX: Allo Piano 2.1 mixer name "Digital" no longer used by driver
- FIX: Audioinfo does not report renderer info
- FIX: Default thumb image not showing in Queue for UPnP files
- FIX: Format of auto_coverview value in System info
- FIX: Error not logged when source mount fails
- FIX: Wrong PSK used in saved SSID's

Just a bump to get this thread back on track.