Month: March 2021

View what’s inside the Keystore

I have a file with java keystore type that I would like to inspect. Can the contents of the keystore of java be viewed if I don’t have it password? I want to verify an SSL certificate is inside of it. Maybe also check the details are correct, expiration date and so on. What tool can be used to open the keystore?

ANSWER

The normal notion that because the Java Keystore (JKS for short) asks for a password, then I cannot see what is in it is not entirely correct. The password for the JKS does not prevent that. Instead the purpose of the password is to protect the integrity of the JKS. The intention is that without the password, I should not be able to modify the contents, such as adding certificates or deleting some.

With the proper tool I can still read what is inside of a JKS. Normally we just use the keytool. This command line tool usually comes with the Java installation in your system. Try to find it in the installation directory of Java. It resides together with other Java binaries in the ../bin/ directory.

Without password warnings will be displayed, like this one:

*****************  WARNING WARNING WARNING  *****************
* The integrity of the information stored in your keystore  *
* has NOT been verified!  In order to verify its integrity, *
* you must provide your keystore password.                  *
*****************  WARNING WARNING WARNING  *****************

How to print what is inside the JKS:

(1) View all as a list

:~$ keytool -list -keystore /path/to/keystore/file

(2) View all as a list with details

:~$ keytool -list -v -keystore /path/to/keystore/file

(3) View a specific entry only using alias with details (The alias is the text that comes out in command #1 before the date, without the comma)

:~$ keytool -list -alias "the alias text" -v -keystore /path/to/keystore/file

How to fix error: snap “telegram-desktop” has “install-snap” change in progress

I enconter this error message when installing a Snap app Telegram for Desktop from the terminal command line. I followed instructions on how to do this from the Install button of the snapcraft.io website.

First one I select is use the GUI app store. But nothing happens when click install button. Installing progress starts but go back to install. Click again and same thing is happens.

When using the command line that is I got the error of:

error: snap "telegram-desktop" has "install-snap" change in progress

How to fix?

ANSWER

The error is because you are telling Snap to install an app that has already been scheduled for installation. It’s in the queue. The GUI app store is not very informative about this scenario. Hence, it will seem like the installation process failed when in fact that is not the case.

My guess is it is put on schedule for installation because a higher priority install needs to be done first, most likely Snap core updates that have not yet been applied to the system yet.

Either wait for the core updates to finish and wait for Telegram to get installed after, or force it to update right away.

At the command line, do:

:~$ snap changes

It will show something such as:

ID Status Spawn Ready Summary
101 Done yesterday at 20:33 PST yesterday at 20:34 PST Auto-refresh snap "intellij-idea-community"
102 Doing today at 11:36 PST - Install "slack" snap

Abort the scheduled install for the app listed there, in your case “telegram-desktop” snap using the following command:

:~$ sudo snap abort 102

In the example above, I chose to abort install scheduled with ID 102. Choose the ID of the app you are trying to install that you will see on your terminal after the command above.

Then install the snap app manually:

:~$ sudo snap install telegram-desktop

This should force snap to go ahead with the install, but first it may start with its core updates, followed by the telegram-desktop snap app.

It can be done for other Snap applications too where you’re facing this scenario. Just replace with the correct application name (use snap list to get the name of that application). The same can be said when instead of “install-snap” it’s the opposite – “remove-snap” – instead.

error: snap APP_NAME has "remove-snap" change in progress

If the abort option does not work, one other thing that has worked for me is by using the purge method,

:~$ sudo snap remove --purge APP_NAME

Change default app to open torrent magnet link

I installed a Popcorn-time desktop software on my Ubuntu linux to try that out. It appears to use a torrent technology to stream content as it downloads at the same time. Somehow that now gets the default to open magnet links for torrent files. Have not remembered any setting asking me to make the app open by default during installation or at download.

I don’t want this, don’t know how to change to my default torrent software – Transmission BitTorrent.

How to change back?

ANSWER

Add/edit it into the following files. Either or both is fine, but better to have it in for the system-wide list if you have multiple users.

  • System-wide: /usr/share/applications/defaults.list
  • User-specific: ~/.local/share/applications/mimeapps.list

The value of this entry – x-scheme-handler/magnet – needs to be set to the application you prefer.

For example, since you want it to be Transmission it will be similar as shown below:


x-scheme-handler/magnet=transmission-gtk.desktop

Just make sure the .desktop file for the desired application is correct. Again you can check for that file in the same directory where this list is found.

As an alternative, the following terminal commands will also help.

Find out what is the existing default app that will handle such mime-type for your existing user:

:~$ xdg-mime query default x-scheme-handler/magnet

Replace that by using the next command:

:-$ xdg-mime default transmission-gtk.desktop x-scheme-handler/magnet

Lastly, you can check again if the last command was successful by running the first one.