dereenigne.org

By default, OpenJDK, the default Java virtual machine used by Debian and Ubuntu, does not obey system-wide proxy settings.

To rectify this, edit /etc/java-6-openjdk/net.properties, and change

java.net.useSystemProxies=false

to true.

I discovered the other day that Thunderbird supports Unix Movemail accounts. It seems to have supported them for a long while, but it wasn't very obvious from the Account options. This is dead handy as it allows me to retrieve the various system generated emails from /var/spool/mail automatically.

I got a Debian based VPS recently, and every so often I find myself needing to reboot the server. I keep forgetting to start my GNU Screen and Irssi windows again though.

Adding the following line to /etc/rc.local allows GNU Screen to automatically run at boot time. This line runs Screen from my unpriviledged account, loads Irssi within that Screen, and then backgrounds itself, ready for the next time I login.

/bin/su unprivilegeduser -c "/usr/bin/screen -dmS sessionname /usr/bin/irssi"

Having used PDFcreator on Windows for many years, a PDF printer is something that you miss very quickly on a fresh install operating system.

Linux is no exception, and cups-pdf provides a PDF printer for the most excellent CUPS. (I normally despise Apple software, but I have to give them credit for CUPS. )

To install on a Debian/Ubuntu machine:

apt-get install cups-pdf

Once installed, you should now have a new PDF printer showing up in CUPS.

Multiproxy-Switch is a pretty nifty Firefox addon for quickly changing web proxies.

With the release of each new Firefox version, many older add-ons get culled from the typical profile due to incompatibilities. Multiproxy-Switch is no exception, and no longer seems to be updated.

I've taken this add-on on, modified it to be compatible with Firefox 4.0, and will now maintain it on github.

You can download the latest version from github.

EDIT 22/05/2011: Updated to provide Firefox 5.0 support.
EDIT 16/08/2011: Updated to provide Firefox 6.0 support.
EDIT 26/10/2011: Updated to provide Firefox 7.0 support.
EDIT 08/11/2011: Updated to provide Firefox 8.0 support, and add auto-update support.
EDIT 20/12/2011: Updated to provide Firefox 9.0 support.
EDIT 19/04/2012: No update required. Firefox 10 onwards now mark add-ons as compatible by default.
EDIT 07/05/2012: Bug fix release, updated to explicitly add support for Firefox 12.0