Devs Unite!

[mcobit]

I wanted to share my experience with remote developement on the Pandora.
CreatureXL and I are working on a little project but he hasn't got a Pandora and I don't have the skills to perform the compiling and optimizing.

So what to do?

I just created an user-account for him and removed the sd card with my private things.
Then I configured my router to pass the port for ssh to the Pandora.
a quick ifconfig tells me what IP adress i have and that I passed on to CreatureXL who was able to connect to the Pandora.
Now I mounted the Dev-extends and everything is ready for remote-developement.

Sure this needs some trust but if you keep your personal data on SD it is not that bad. Pandora should be unbrickable, so you can always reflash if something goes wrong.

Protip ;-) : The output of the program he created was graphically and uses cluttermm effects (so it couldn't be streamed to his X-server). I set up a webcam in front of the screen and he could see what he was doing over skype.

Edit: It is a great learning-experience for non-coders to see how programs are compiled and dependency-hunting is performed. For that he exported the screen and I could watch with screen -x command.

This is just an idea for devs that don't have a Pandora and want to compile and test their software easily.
Also for people who don't know how to develope software and want to share their Pandora, maybe just when it's loading overnight.

 

[skeezix]

I was going to say .. most of this is normal (though rare for pandora of course , since the pandora is significantly more powerful than machines we've been using for servers for ages (heck, my mailserver is still a 300 or 400mhz machine) -- but you win the thread by setting up a webcam for remoters to see their gles displays. The main worry is that your Pandora is presumably 'inside your defences' (firewalls etc), so letting someone in means they could in turn launch attacks from the pandora to other machines on your network easier.

But man, total kudos for the webcam - that is _totally awesome_

jeff

 

[Stuckie]

You could chroot jail them to a specific set of directories so they can't escape and cause any badness! Much like most FTP servers do.

From the topic title and brief glance over the first post, I half expected some crazy people to have built a Pandora cluster with distributed compiling... wonder who's going to be mad enough to attempt that

 

[sebt3]

You could chroot jail them to a specific set of directories so they can't escape and cause any badness! Much like most FTP servers do.

From the topic title and brief glance over the first post, I half expected some crazy people to have built a Pandora cluster with distributed compiling... wonder who's going to be mad enough to attempt that

Setup a chroot-jailed sshd isn't a simple process.
And a chroot won't stop any bad guy to bring nessus inside the chroot jail and start messing with your systems. thus the chroot-jail is no answer to the threat skeezix was refering.
Any way, this is just a matter of trust. If you would trust the dev enough to run its pnds, than I can't see why you wouldn't do this.
Using screen to allow your host see what you are working on is an awesome way to help improve the trust

mcobit and CreatureXL you rock

 

[JayFoxRox]

if CreatureXL needs a unit so he can dev while he doesn't have his one he should just contact me as I can share my Pandora (like 3 days a week or so) once in a while probably.

 

[mcobit]

As I said, it is all about trusting the otherone, that he doesn't mess up your system or network.

This should encurage others to share their Pandoras for devwork. Especially those that don't have the ability to compile and develop software theirselves and are not aware of the possibility to share compiling- and testingtime on their machines.

Maybe some devs, that don't have Pandoras can test their programs like this and package them up so they don't have to go from crosscompiling into straight betatesting. These devs should post a request here and maybe they can get together with a person who can provide an online Pandora for this reason.

Edit: @JayFoxRox: I didn't hear anything from him for the last few days, but please write him a pm with your offer. I think he will be very happy! Even more so as my Pandora is gone to ED today for nubreplacement.

Edit: "Using screen to allow your host see what you are working on is an awesome way to help improve the trust "
That's right and even better when the other one is explaining over skype what he is doing and what are the next steps. Sometimes even I was able to help with some googeling and things I saw that he didn't while scrolling through makefiles. 4 eyes see more than 2

 

[Creature XL]

I am still here. Its just so warm that I am not often in front of my computer
There seem to be transparency problems with the cluttermm (clutter?). Is this a known problem?
ATM I am preparing a GLES test program on my PC. So I don't need a Pandora right now.


@JayFoxRox: your offer is tempting. However, if you really mean it, it would be really great. I hope it it Ok, that the first day would mainly used for "getting used to the Pandora" .