USB-monster

Command-line tool and GUI for creating massive number of USB memory sticks and cron scripts to download and unzip latest Abitti image files.

• src/ Write dd images and verifies written disks. A state-of-the-art curses-based UI displays progress etc. This is what we currently use at the MEB to write USB memory sticks.
• downloader/ Cron scripts which download latest Abitti images to /opt/abitti-images
• speed-test/ Scripts which have been used to benchmark USB memory sticks in the MEB tendering processes.

Installing USB-monster

USB-monster can be installed to recent versions of Debian and Ubuntu. The recommended way to install is described in the YTL Linux README.

However, you can install the latest package from the release page:

1. Get the latest .deb from release page
2. Install: sudo apt install ./digabi-usb-monster_X.X.X_all.deb

Using USB-monster

1. Download the image file. It can be raw disk image (typically .dd, .img or .iso) or a .zip file with the balenaEtcher file structure. Abitti is being shipped in the latter format.
2. Start the usb-digabi-monster from the start menu or from the command line (usb-digabi-monster).
3. Choose the image file.
4. To write the disk images you have to have sudo access. Enter your password to claim you ownership to these rights.
5. Insert USB sticks and press any key to scan the USBs.
6. Press Enter to start writing.

Using USB-monster from the command line

You can skip the GUI stuff and just execute the writer. This works for the raw images only.

• sudo /usr/local/lib/digabi-usb-monster/write_dd.py /path/to/image.dd
• Skip verification process:
  sudo /usr/local/lib/digabi-usb-monster/write_dd.py -n /path/to/image.dd

Disabling Abitti Downloader

To disable Abitti Downloader cron job edit /etc/default/abitti-downloader and comment the ENABLE_DOWNLOADER value:

# To disable automatic Abitti download comment following line or set value to empty
#ENABLE_DOWNLOADER=1

Publising a new version

1. Update Changelog (below) and src/VERSION, push changes and wait GitHub Action "Build And Publish" to finish
2. Go to releases. There should be a new draft release with a .deb file attached. Press the Edit button.
3. Enter the new version number to "Tag version" field (e.g. "v1.6.0" - note the "v")
4. Fill "Release title" Field
5. Copy release note markup from README.md to "Describe this release" textarea
6. Click "Publish release"

Changelog

1.2.1 Attack of the Cloned Sticks

• Show ABITTI/SERVER version string in temporary image file name when using Etcher-style image files
• Very integrity of the unzipped Etcher-style image
• Make temporary raw image files readable only to the current user
• Remove MD5 hashes of temporary raw image files

1.2.0 The Last Stick

• Runs on Python 3 instead of Python 2 for an easier install to Ubuntu 22.04
• Remove temporary raw image files on exit

1.1.0 A New Hope

• Open and write Etcher-style Abitti images
• Cron-based Abitti Downloader checks for new images every hour
• Write disk image with dd option oflag=dsync and 5M block size to increase accuracy of the write speed limit
• Removed USB-Monster specific repository in favour of YTL Linux repository
• Upgraded privilege escalation from sudo to pkexec
• Build .deb packages with GitHub Actions