bc <<<"scale = 1; ($(date +%s) - $(stat -c%Y /vmlinuz)) / 86400"

Above shows days elapsed since the last kernel update, to tenths of a day.
To change the precision, adjust the scale accordingly.

Il Tue, 14 Jan 2025 04:44:06 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence D'Oliveiro ha scritto:

> bc <<<"scale = 1; ($(date +%s) - $(stat -c%Y /vmlinuz)) / 86400"

Well, here vmlinuz is in /boot: so /boot/vmlinuz, above.

If you like to know when the system has been installed, and / is on a
fileystem like ext4, that nowadays saves the creation time, an option is:

$ ls -l -d --time=birth /

But be careful: sometimes it could just not work, or be inaccurate.
--
Bye, Lem
Talis erit dies qualem egeris

On Tue, 14 Jan 2025 10:13:03 -0000 (UTC), Lem Novantotto wrote:

> ... that nowadays saves the creation time ...

I would never trust that.

On Tue, 14 Jan 2025 23:52:58 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence D'Oliveiro
<ldo@nz.invalid> wrote in <vm6tcp$2klvb$1@dont-email.me>:

> On Tue, 14 Jan 2025 10:13:03 -0000 (UTC), Lem Novantotto wrote:
>
>> ... that nowadays saves the creation time ...
>
> I

Have a real problem with snipping.

stat(1) has %w/%W for "birth":

$ stat -c%w /
2023-10-12 05:05:50.000000000 -0700

$ stat -c%w /ubuntu
2022-07-05 07:41:14.000000000 -0700

$ bc <<<"scale = 1; ($(date +%s) - $(stat -c%W / )) / 86400"
460.5

BTW, same issue here -- no /vmlinuz, it's in /boot.

$ bc <<<"scale = 1; ($(date +%s) - $(stat -c%Y /boot/vmlinuz)) / 86400"
1.2

$ uname -a
Linux lm 6.13.0-rc7 #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Mon Jan 13 08:29:02 PST 2025
x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

--
-v System76 Thelio Mega v1.1 x86_64 NVIDIA RTX 3090 Ti
OS: Linux 6.13.0-rc7 Release: Mint 21.3 Mem: 258G
"Recovery program for excessive talkers: On-and-on-Anon."

On 15 Jan 2025 01:37:09 GMT, vallor wrote:

> Have a real problem with snipping.

I wonder why ... considering that the entire thread is still available for
you not just to read, but also to copy/paste from.

On Wed, 15 Jan 2025 02:11:52 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence D'Oliveiro
<ldo@nz.invalid> wrote in <vm75h8$2lnf2$3@dont-email.me>:

> On 15 Jan 2025 01:37:09 GMT, vallor wrote:
>
>> Have a real problem with snipping.
>
> I wonder why ... considering that the entire thread is still available
> for you not just to read, but also to copy/paste from.

Lawrence, Lawrence, Lawrence -- take a look around.

You snipped again, removing all Linux content from the post,
so you could make a meta-point.

Wouldn't it be nice if we could talk about Linux in the Linux
newsgroup?

ObLinux:

I was running Linux 6.13-rc7, but have gone back to 6.12.9.
Turns out Microsoft screwed the pooch on a patch submission
to the new kernel:

https://www.theregister.com/2025/01/14/microsoft_linux_change_pulled/

h/t to rbowman for posting about that in cola.

--
-v System76 Thelio Mega v1.1 x86_64 NVIDIA RTX 3090 Ti
OS: Linux 6.12.9 Release: Mint 21.3 Mem: 258G
I did this 'cause Linux gives me a woody. It doesn't generate revenue.
(Dave '-ddt->` Taylor, announcing DOOM for Linux)

On 15 Jan 2025 02:51:53 GMT, vallor wrote:

> You snipped again, removing all [irrelevant] content from the post,
> so you could make a meta-point.

That is how you do it.

On 2025-01-15, vallor <vallor@cultnix.org> wrote:
> On Wed, 15 Jan 2025 02:11:52 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence D'Oliveiro
><ldo@nz.invalid> wrote in <vm75h8$2lnf2$3@dont-email.me>:
>
>> On 15 Jan 2025 01:37:09 GMT, vallor wrote:
>>
>>> Have a real problem with snipping.
>>
>> I wonder why ... considering that the entire thread is still available
>> for you not just to read, but also to copy/paste from.
>
> Lawrence, Lawrence, Lawrence -- take a look around.
>
> You snipped again, removing all Linux content from the post,
> so you could make a meta-point.

Snipping can be good or bad. Long threads usually drift, and the thing I
want to follow up on may be far removed from most of the (by now
obsolete) text cluttering the top. And also from the subject line, ion
which case it is imperative to change the subject and strip out what is
not related to the current subject.

My newsreader these days is /slrn/, and getting back to the posts read
in past sessions is a fairly combersome distraction, while in
Thunderbird it is super-easy. So I see both sides.

> Wouldn't it be nice if we could talk about Linux in the Linux
> newsgroup?

We do, occasionally ;-) but this group overlaps with
alt.folklore.computers as a social medium for septugenarian nerds. Much
of that chatter would probably be better in a group of its own, but then
our fellow auld farts would never find it.

I used to think that a Quora space would be the best place for it, but
Quora has mostly lost the good guys due to bad housekeeping and
overblown monetization. Maybe BlueSky can get there?

> ObLinux:
>
> I was running Linux 6.13-rc7, but have gone back to 6.12.9.
> Turns out Microsoft screwed the pooch on a patch submission
> to the new kernel:
>
> https://www.theregister.com/2025/01/14/microsoft_linux_change_pulled/
>
> h/t to rbowman for posting about that in cola.

While reading that, I came about this article,
https://www.theregister.com/2025/01/14/the_end_of_absolute_linux/
which ends up talking about the tradeoffs between static linking and
shared object libraries.

I recently had one of my photo management program scripts break.
In iOS 18, Apple made some subtle changes is their use of the .HEIC
file format, causing libheif to fail. I had to go out and find
the Fedora Rawhide version of the fixed libheif, and all is good
again. Kudos to .so libraries. But when I build programs to give to
others, it would be much easier if I could link them statically
rather than track down all the dependencies to make sure to help
my "clients" find them before they can use my program.

On 2025-01-15, Lars Poulsen <lars@cleo.beagle-ears.com> wrote:

> On 2025-01-15, vallor <vallor@cultnix.org> wrote:
>
>> Wouldn't it be nice if we could talk about Linux in the Linux
>> newsgroup?
>
> We do, occasionally ;-) but this group overlaps with
> alt.folklore.computers as a social medium for septugenarian nerds. Much
> of that chatter would probably be better in a group of its own, but then
> our fellow auld farts would never find it.
>
> I used to think that a Quora space would be the best place for it, but
> Quora has mostly lost the good guys due to bad housekeeping and
> overblown monetization. Maybe BlueSky can get there?

I occasionally read another forum that's on Quora. I considered
replying to a thread, but then I saw that button labeled "Do not
sell my data." That means that if you forget - even once - to
click on that button while replying, whatever personal data you
give them is theirs to do whatever they want with. There's no
way in hell I'll ever register on such a forum - they'll just
have to do without my pearls of wisdom.

--
/~\ Charlie Gibbs | Growth for the sake of
\ / <cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid> | growth is the ideology
X I'm really at ac.dekanfrus | of the cancer cell.
/ \ if you read it the right way. | -- Edward Abbey

On Wed, 15 Jan 2025, Charlie Gibbs wrote:

> On 2025-01-15, Lars Poulsen <lars@cleo.beagle-ears.com> wrote:
>
>> On 2025-01-15, vallor <vallor@cultnix.org> wrote:
>>
>>> Wouldn't it be nice if we could talk about Linux in the Linux
>>> newsgroup?
>>
>> We do, occasionally ;-) but this group overlaps with
>> alt.folklore.computers as a social medium for septugenarian nerds. Much
>> of that chatter would probably be better in a group of its own, but then
>> our fellow auld farts would never find it.
>>
>> I used to think that a Quora space would be the best place for it, but
>> Quora has mostly lost the good guys due to bad housekeeping and
>> overblown monetization. Maybe BlueSky can get there?
>
> I occasionally read another forum that's on Quora. I considered
> replying to a thread, but then I saw that button labeled "Do not
> sell my data." That means that if you forget - even once - to
> click on that button while replying, whatever personal data you
> give them is theirs to do whatever they want with. There's no
> way in hell I'll ever register on such a forum - they'll just
> have to do without my pearls of wisdom.

I agree! That's revolting! No light:ish trolling to make everyones day
from me either! ;)

I keep to usenet and 2 mailinglists I enjoy, and that's about it. Oh, and
mastodon for the occasional meme-party, but there are about 2-3 regular
people there I discuss politics with, and not much else. Too bad they
won't join us around the camp fire here on usenet! =(

Lars Poulsen <lars@cleo.beagle-ears.com> wrote:
> While reading that, I came about this article,
> https://www.theregister.com/2025/01/14/the_end_of_absolute_linux/

For "smallest, simplest, lightest-weight distros", my pick has been
Tiny Core Linux FWIW.

> I recently had one of my photo management program scripts break.
> In iOS 18, Apple made some subtle changes is their use of the .HEIC
> file format, causing libheif to fail. I had to go out and find
> the Fedora Rawhide version of the fixed libheif, and all is good
> again. Kudos to .so libraries. But when I build programs to give to
> others, it would be much easier if I could link them statically
> rather than track down all the dependencies to make sure to help
> my "clients" find them before they can use my program.

It works so long as you stick to libraries that support static
linking, or pay for the privilege in the case of Qt. Building a
full-featured Linux distro on just software that statically links
would be really hard though.

--
__ __
#_ < |\| |< _#

On Tue, 14 Jan 2025 10:13:03 -0000 (UTC), Lem Novantotto
<Lem@none.invalid> wrote in <vm5dbe$2b9fo$2@dont-email.me>:

> Il Tue, 14 Jan 2025 04:44:06 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence D'Oliveiro ha
> scritto:
>
>> bc <<<"scale = 1; ($(date +%s) - $(stat -c%Y /vmlinuz)) / 86400"
>
> Well, here vmlinuz is in /boot: so /boot/vmlinuz, above.

I just looked in /boot, and discovered /boot/vmlinuz is a symlink
to the actual file. While the time is usually pretty close
to the actual kernel file, it might not be.

So it would be:

bc <<<"scale = 1; ($(date +%s) - $(stat -L -c%Y /boot/vmlinuz)) / 86400"

--
-v System76 Thelio Mega v1.1 x86_64 NVIDIA RTX 3090 Ti
OS: Linux 6.12.9 Release: Mint 21.3 Mem: 258G
"I'm not a complete idiot - several parts are missing!"

The last-modified time on the kernel file would come from the installation
package, and would reflect when it was built, not when it was installed.

That’s why I was checking the last-mod-date on the symlink itself, which
does indeed reflect the time you did the installation.