Mac

Fixing Mac software update NSURLErrorDomain error -1012

2013-10-28 Mac

Software Update for system components on my home Mac Pro has not worked in a while, and I have had to resort to manually downloading and applying updates. The updates just wouldn’t appear in the Mac App Store app where they normally should.

After upgrading to Mavericks, I finally figured out why. Instead of silently ignoring the updates, Mavericks displays a not-so-helpful error message “NSURLErrorDomain Error -1012”. On inspecting network traffic from the App Store app, I noticed it connects using TLS 1.2 to swdist.apple.com, then aborts. It then hit me – in 2011, after Comodo was hacked, apparently by elements affiliated with the Iranian government, I revoked the trust setting on their root certificates. The certificate for swdist.apple.com is signed by Comodo, and thus Software Update could no longer establish a secure connection to Apple and that’s why it was failing.

This is not the only time a Certificate Authority was hacked. Dutch CA Diginotar, which included the Dutch government among its clients, suffered a breach, apparently also involving Iran. Microsoft, Mozilla, Google and Apple promptly revoked Diginotar’s root CA certificates, which quickly led to the company going out of business. I guess Comodo is larger (the EFF calls them “too big to fail”) and better politically connected (it helps when you have people like Phillip Hallam-Baker on the payroll), and managed to elude the same punishment it richly deserved.

Apple should really step up its game and ditch a security provider which demonstrated incompetence at its alleged core competency, and I filed Radar bug report 15328323 to urge them to do so. In the meantime, the way to fix the error message is to temporarily reinstate trust in the Comodo root CA.

Update (2015-10-29)

At some point in the last 2 years they switched from Comodo to Symantec (probably 2014-04-13 when the current certificate was issued). Unfortunately, Symantec has its own problems.

Street sweeping reminders in iCal

2013-07-27 Mac Python San Francisco

Parking signSan Francisco sweeps streets twice a month in residential neighborhoods, and you will be fined if your car is parked on a street being swept. On my street, the schedule is the first and third Monday of each month, between 9am and 11am. I was trying to create reminders to myself in my calendar. Unfortunately, iCal does not have the ability to specify a recurring event with that definition.

No matter, Python to the rescue, the script below generates a year’s worth of reminders 12 hours before the event, in iCal vCalendar format. It does not correct for holidays, you will have to remove those yourself.

#!/usr/bin/python
"""Idora street sweeping calendar - 1st and 3rd Mondays of the month 9am-11am"""
import datetime
Monday = 0
one_day = datetime.timedelta(1)
today = datetime.date.today()
year = today.year
month = today.month

def output(day):
  print """
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTEND:%(end)s
SUMMARY:Idora street sweeping
DTSTART:%(start)s
BEGIN:VALARM
TRIGGER:-PT12H
ATTACH;VALUE=URI:Basso
ACTION:AUDIO
END:VALARM
END:VEVENT
""" % {
    'end': day.strftime('%Y%m%dT110000'),
    'start': day.strftime('%Y%m%dT090000')
    }

print """BEGIN:VCALENDAR
CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
VERSION:2.0"""

for i in range(12):
  day = datetime.date(year, month, 1)
  while day.weekday() != Monday:
    day += one_day
  output(day)
  output(day + 14 * one_day)
  month += 1
  if month > 12:
    month = 1
    year += 1

print "END:VCALENDAR"

Cheeky

2012-09-20 Mac

This is a popup the iOS6 App Store shows me when I try searching for a Google Maps app.

20120920-062922.jpg

Scanning your iTunes library for DRM-infested books

2012-07-21 IT Mac Python

Tor, the leading publisher for Science Fiction and Fantasy books, announced they would be doing away with DRM in their eBooks. The product pages for their books on iBooks now mention “At the publisher’s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management software (DRM) applied”. I figured it would be a good idea to uncripple the many Tor eBooks I have in my collection.

I wrote a quick little Python script to scan my growing iBooks library for books that could be updated. The procedure is to delete the book from both iTunes and iPads, then download it anew (restarting iTunes is also needed after deleting). Apple keeps track of your purchases and will not charge you again.

#!/usr/bin/env python
import sys, os.path, glob, zipfile, platform, xml.etree.ElementTree

# publishers who have forsaken DRM
good = ['Tom Doherty']

if platform.mac_ver()[0] > '10.8':
  bookdir = os.path.expanduser('~/Library/Containers/com.apple.BKAgentService/Data/Documents/iBooks')
else:
  bookdir = os.path.expanduser('~/Music/iTunes/iTunes Music/Books')

os.chdir(bookdir)

ok =  '\033[1;32mDRM-free    \033[0m'
bad = '\033[1;31mDRM-infested\033[0m'

count = 0
salvageable = 0

def extract(meta):
  creator = ''
  status = ''
  pub = ''
  et = xml.etree.ElementTree.fromstring(meta)
  try:
    creator = et.findall('*{http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/}creator')
    creator = creator[0].text
    title = et.findall('*{http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/}title')
    title = title[0].text
  except:
    assert '!DOCTYPE plist' in meta
    next_tag = None
    for e in et[0].iter():
      if e.tag == 'key' and e.text in ('artistName', 'itemName'):
        next_tag = e.text
        continue
      if next_tag == 'artistName':
        creator = e.text
        next_tag = None
        continue
      elif next_tag == 'itemName':
        title = e.text
        next_tag = None
        continue
  pub = [x for x in good if x in meta]
  return creator, title, pub

def find_meta(file_list, opener):
  for m in file_list:
    if m.endswith('.opf') or m == 'iTunesMetadata.plist':
      meta = opener(m).read()
      return extract(meta)
  
for fn in glob.glob('*/*.epub'):
  status = ok
  suffix = ''
  if os.path.isdir(fn):
    suffix = '(directory)'
    if os.path.exists(fn + '/META-INF/encryption.xml'):
      status = bad
      count += 1
    meta = find_meta(os.listdir(fn), lambda x: open(fn + '/' + x))
  else:
    z = zipfile.ZipFile(fn)
    try:
      i = z.getinfo('META-INF/encryption.xml')
      status = bad
    except KeyError:
      pass
    meta = find_meta(z.namelist(), z.open)
    z.close()
  creator, title, pub = meta
  print status, fn, suffix
  print '\t', creator
  print '\t', title
  if status == bad and pub:
    print '\t\033[1;32mThis is published by', pub[0],
    print 'and could be re-downloaded DRM-free\033[0m'
    salvageable += 1

print count, 'books are DRM-infested'
print salvageable, 'could be cured'

Unfortunately, it seems like the DRM-stripping is still work in progress. Out of the Wheel of Time series, for instance, only the first one is now DRM-free on the iBooks store.

undr ~>drmbooks.py
DRM-free     Books/0083D0AEC37E08453347DD12B1C6F980.epub 
	Greg Bear
	Blood Music
DRM-free     Books/09178837756A4DFF8347EC377345A37B.epub 
	Heinz Wittenbrink
	RSS and Atom
DRM-free     Books/0AD752E995042C7E12F11917AB58C6B8.epub 
	Wes McKinney
	Python for Data Analysis
DRM-free     Books/14BDC66A99E878EC232FFAFA73B341EF.epub 
	Fritz Leiber
	Swords and Deviltry-Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser-Book1
DRM-free     Books/15A1D7FE9B7D815C6FBE1A9A77D7143E.epub 
	Glen Cook
	A Fortress in Shadow
DRM-free     Books/1793F9DE1319B96FDE7E36EB8A1BC961.epub 
	Scalzi, John
	Old Man's War
DRM-free     Books/1D08BE221E8BC8F2A371EFEDE55029AC.epub 
	Ben Fry
	Visualizing Data
DRM-free     Books/24D6EC36CDEA0C1E8612CC61A89EA098.epub 
	None
	Node Cookbook
DRM-free     Books/29DA285F0051C431BD8BA3D1AEC5EAA6.epub 
	Fritz Leiber
	The Swords of Lankhmar: Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser-Book 5
DRM-free     Books/2E88CD68DFD8408CD0E7C0ACB1E78714.epub 
	Glen Cook
	A Cruel Wind: A Chronicle of the Dread Empire
DRM-free     Books/32996A9995040064818BAE4DFB66E92F.epub 
	Kelly Link
	Magic for Beginners
DRM-free     Books/34D3CD13D47E5FEBC6DCF7EF011113BD.epub 
	David Drake
	Lord of the Isles
DRM-infested Books/357298432.epub 
	Iain M. Banks
	The Player of Games
DRM-infested Books/357311036.epub 
	Iain M. Banks
	Use of Weapons
DRM-infested Books/357377857.epub 
	Iain M. Banks
	Against a Dark Background
DRM-infested Books/357396585.epub 
	Brent Weeks
	Night Angel: The Complete Trilogy
DRM-infested Books/357657026.epub 
	Iain M. Banks
	Transition
DRM-infested Books/357658374.epub 
	Po Bronson
	NurtureShock: New Thinking About Children
DRM-infested Books/357662058.epub 
	Iain M. Banks
	Consider Phlebas
DRM-infested Books/357669769.epub 
	Iain M. Banks
	Matter
DRM-infested Books/357914731.epub 
	Herbert, Frank
	Dune Messiah
DRM-infested Books/357918110.epub 
	Dalrymple, William
	City of Djinns
DRM-infested Books/357923567.epub 
	Patrick Rothfuss
	The Name of the Wind
DRM-infested Books/357929995.epub 
	Herbert, Frank
	Dune (40th Anniversary Edition)
DRM-infested Books/357969577.epub 
	Herbert, Frank
	God Emperor of Dune
DRM-infested Books/357987322.epub 
	Herbert, Frank
	Children of Dune
DRM-infested Books/357994537.epub 
	Herbert, Frank
	Heretics of Dune
DRM-infested Books/357994652.epub 
	William Dalrymple
	White Mughals: Love and Betrayal in Eighteenth-Century India
DRM-infested Books/357996119.epub 
	Stross, Charles
	Wireless
DRM-infested Books/360601506.epub 
	Ursula K. Le Guin
	The Dispossessed
DRM-infested Books/360609519.epub 
	Greg Egan
	Schild's Ladder
DRM-infested Books/360627712.epub 
	Raymond E. Feist
	Rides a Dread Legion
DRM-infested Books/360627930.epub 
	Neal Stephenson
	Anathem
DRM-infested Books/360628773.epub 
	Raymond E. Feist
	At the Gates of Darkness
DRM-infested Books/360641088.epub 
	Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
	Flow
DRM-free     Books/361491495.epub 
	Basil Hall Chamberlain
	Aino Folk-Tales
DRM-free     Books/361494664.epub 
	Poul William Anderson
	Industrial Revolution
DRM-free     Books/361523763.epub 
	Lafcadio Hearn
	The Romance of the Milky Way / And Other Studies & Stories
DRM-free     Books/361527545.epub 
	Saki
	When William Came
DRM-free     Books/361539032.epub 
	Saki
	The Chronicles of Clovis
DRM-free     Books/361557387.epub 
	Saki
	Reginald in Russia and other sketches
DRM-free     Books/361557834.epub 
	Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
	The Adventure of the Dying Detective
DRM-free     Books/361559391.epub 
	Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
	The Valley of Fear
DRM-free     Books/361560694.epub 
	Lafcadio Hearn
	Chita: a Memory of Last Island
DRM-free     Books/361561399.epub 
	Confucius
	The Analects of Confucius (from the Chinese Classics)
DRM-free     Books/361562678.epub 
	Saki
	The Toys of Peace, and other papers
DRM-free     Books/361562764.epub 
	Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
	The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes
DRM-free     Books/361564075.epub 
	Poul William Anderson
	The Burning Bridge
DRM-free     Books/361564898.epub 
	Henry David Thoreau
	Walden
DRM-free     Books/361565201.epub 
	Saki
	Beasts and Super-Beasts
DRM-free     Books/361565806.epub 
	Isaac Asimov
	Youth
DRM-free     Books/361572327.epub 
	Lafcadio Hearn
	Kokoro / Japanese Inner Life Hints
DRM-free     Books/361573126.epub 
	Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
	Through the Magic Door
DRM-free     Books/361575882.epub 
	Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
	Tales of Terror and Mystery
DRM-free     Books/361578744.epub 
	Lafcadio Hearn
	In Ghostly Japan
DRM-free     Books/361588265.epub 
	Lafcadio Hearn
	Books and Habits from the Lectures of Lafcadio Hearn
DRM-free     Books/361673695.epub 
	E. C. Babbitt
	More Jataka Tales
DRM-free     Books/361686559.epub 
	Poul William Anderson
	Security
DRM-free     Books/361713863.epub 
	Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
	The Return of Sherlock Holmes
DRM-free     Books/361721797.epub 
	Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
	The Adventure of the Cardboard Box
DRM-free     Books/361725352.epub 
	Saki
	The Unbearable Bassington
DRM-free     Books/361725959.epub 
	Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
	The Adventure of Wisteria Lodge
DRM-free     Books/361726975.epub 
	Saki
	Reginald
DRM-free     Books/361727237.epub 
	Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
	The Adventure of the Red Circle
DRM-free     Books/361732286.epub 
	Poul William Anderson
	The Valor of Cappen Varra
DRM-free     Books/361736043.epub 
	Lafcadio Hearn
	Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things
DRM-free     Books/361741563.epub 
	Lafcadio Hearn
	Japan: an Attempt at Interpretation
DRM-free     Books/361743007.epub 
	Ambrose Bierce
	The Devil's Dictionary
DRM-free     Books/361743953.epub 
	Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
	The Adventure of the Devil's Foot
DRM-free     Books/361744178.epub 
	Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
	His Last Bow
DRM-free     Books/361745602.epub 
	Poul William Anderson
	The Sensitive Man
DRM-infested Books/362435686.epub 
	Ansary, Tamim
	Destiny Disrupted
DRM-infested Books/366773380.epub 
	Esslemont, Ian C. C.
	Return of the Crimson Guard
	This is published by Tom Doherty and could be re-downloaded DRM-free
DRM-infested Books/373338999.epub 
	Jordan, Robert
	The Path of Daggers
	This is published by Tom Doherty and could be re-downloaded DRM-free
DRM-free     Books/375554215.epub 
	Orson Scott Card
	The Lost Gate
DRM-infested Books/376217648.epub 
	Steven Erikson
	Reaper’s Gale
	This is published by Tom Doherty and could be re-downloaded DRM-free
DRM-infested Books/376227359.epub 
	Jordan, Robert
	Winter's Heart
	This is published by Tom Doherty and could be re-downloaded DRM-free
DRM-infested Books/376227401.epub 
	Jordan, Robert
	Crossroads of Twilight
	This is published by Tom Doherty and could be re-downloaded DRM-free
DRM-infested Books/376227406.epub 
	Jordan, Robert
	Knife of Dreams
	This is published by Tom Doherty and could be re-downloaded DRM-free
DRM-infested Books/376227409.epub 
	Sanderson, Brandon
	The Gathering Storm
	This is published by Tom Doherty and could be re-downloaded DRM-free
DRM-infested Books/376227423.epub 
	Jordan, Robert
	New Spring
	This is published by Tom Doherty and could be re-downloaded DRM-free
DRM-free     Books/376231110.epub 
	Cook, Glen
	Surrender to the Will of the Night
DRM-infested Books/376231528.epub 
	Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson
	Towers of Midnight
	This is published by Tom Doherty and could be re-downloaded DRM-free
DRM-infested Books/378317076.epub 
	Jordan, Robert
	A Crown of Swords
	This is published by Tom Doherty and could be re-downloaded DRM-free
DRM-infested Books/378317808.epub 
	Robert Jordan
	Lord of Chaos
	This is published by Tom Doherty and could be re-downloaded DRM-free
DRM-free     Books/379451459.epub 
	Le Guin, Ursula K.
	Word for World is Forest, The
DRM-free     Books/37EC6E895E6BD70BEB48D9F1553D608E.epub 
	Eben Hewitt
	Cassandra: The Definitive Guide
DRM-free     Books/380490608.epub 
	Jordan, Robert
	The Eye of the World
DRM-free     Books/380494444.epub 
	Asimov, Isaac
	The End of Eternity
DRM-infested Books/381497257.epub 
	Harold McGee
	On Food and Cooking, The Science and Lore of the Kitchen
DRM-infested Books/381622032.epub 
	IAIN M. BANKS
	Look to Windward
DRM-infested Books/381683084.epub 
	Ursula K. Le Guin
	Tehanu
DRM-infested Books/381935940.epub 
	Richard Adams
	Watership Down
DRM-infested Books/382674388.epub 
	Steven Erikson
	Dust of Dreams
	This is published by Tom Doherty and could be re-downloaded DRM-free
DRM-infested Books/383912791.epub 
	Steven Erikson
	Bauchelain and Korbal Broach
	This is published by Tom Doherty and could be re-downloaded DRM-free
DRM-infested Books/385975662.epub 
	Jordan, Robert
	The Dragon Reborn
	This is published by Tom Doherty and could be re-downloaded DRM-free
DRM-infested Books/385981104.epub 
	Steven Erikson
	The Bonehunters
	This is published by Tom Doherty and could be re-downloaded DRM-free
DRM-infested Books/385981116.epub 
	Steven Erikson
	Midnight Tides
DRM-free     Books/385982966.epub 
	Brust, Steven
	To Reign in Hell
DRM-infested Books/385987858.epub 
	Steven Erikson
	Gardens of the Moon
	This is published by Tom Doherty and could be re-downloaded DRM-free
DRM-infested Books/385989170.epub 
	Steven Erikson
	House of Chains
DRM-infested Books/385992628.epub 
	Jordan, Robert
	The Fires of Heaven
	This is published by Tom Doherty and could be re-downloaded DRM-free
DRM-infested Books/385992927.epub 
	Steven Erikson
	Toll the Hounds
	This is published by Tom Doherty and could be re-downloaded DRM-free
DRM-infested Books/385992930.epub 
	Jordan, Robert
	The Great Hunt
	This is published by Tom Doherty and could be re-downloaded DRM-free
DRM-infested Books/385998417.epub 
	Jordan, Robert
	The Shadow Rising
	This is published by Tom Doherty and could be re-downloaded DRM-free
DRM-infested Books/386016540.epub 
	Esslemont, Ian C. C.
	Night of Knives
	This is published by Tom Doherty and could be re-downloaded DRM-free
DRM-infested Books/388403394.epub 
	Steven Erikson
	The Crippled God
DRM-infested Books/389191300.epub 
	Iain M. Banks
	Surface Detail
DRM-infested Books/390877859.epub 
	Loewen, James W.
	Lies My Teacher Told Me
DRM-infested Books/393310992.epub 
	Erikson, Steven
	Memories of Ice
DRM-infested Books/394745271.epub 
	Steven Erikson
	Deadhouse Gates
	This is published by Tom Doherty and could be re-downloaded DRM-free
DRM-free     Books/394745833.epub 
	Walton, Jo
	Among Others
DRM-free     Books/395536306.epub 
	Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
	The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
DRM-free     Books/395537209.epub 
	Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
	The Sign of the Four
DRM-free     Books/395539542.epub 
	Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
	A Study in Scarlet
DRM-free     Books/395540660.epub 
	Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
	The Hound of the Baskervilles
DRM-free     Books/395686685.epub 
	Dante Alighieri
	Divine Comedy, Longfellow's Translation, Complete
DRM-free     Books/395688318.epub 
	Edgar Rice Burroughs
	A Princess of Mars
DRM-free     Books/395688375.epub 
	Lafcadio Hearn
	Glimpses of an Unfamiliar Japan / First Series
DRM-infested Books/395926792.epub 
	Fukuyama, Francis
	Origins of Political Order
DRM-infested Books/396269736.epub 
	Herbert, Frank
	Chapterhouse: Dune
DRM-infested Books/398283114.epub 
	Rothfuss, Patrick
	The Wise Man's Fear
DRM-free     Books/3A5FBC58E821CFDF15C8C4E85657481E.epub 
	Jon Hicks
	The Icon Handbook
DRM-free     Books/410943153.epub 
	Edwin A. Abbott (A Square)
	Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions
DRM-free     Books/413463878.epub 
	Brust, Steven
	Tiassa
DRM-free     Books/418293515.epub 
	Heinlein, Robert A.
	Glory Road
DRM-infested Books/419950945.epub 
	Isaac Asimov
	Foundation
DRM-infested Books/419950970.epub 
	Isaac Asimov
	Foundation and Empire
DRM-infested Books/419950976.epub 
	Isaac Asimov
	Second Foundation
DRM-infested Books/419968238.epub 
	Scott Lynch
	The lies of Locke Lamora
DRM-infested Books/419968784.epub 
	Scott Lynch
	Red Seas Under Red Skies
DRM-infested Books/420037362.epub 
	Kim Stanley Robinson
	The Years of Rice and Salt
DRM-infested Books/420281728.epub 
	Richard Wiseman
	59 Seconds: Think a Little, Change a Lot
DRM-infested Books/420445771.epub 
	Isaac Asimov
	Foundation’s Edge
DRM-infested Books/420446058.epub 
	Isaac Asimov
	Foundation and Earth
DRM-infested Books/420725428.epub 
	Mike Resnick
	Kirinyaga: A Fable of Utopia
DRM-infested Books/421025353.epub 
	William Dalrymple
	The Last Mughal
DRM-free     Books/421124117.epub 
	Brust, Steven
	The Desecrator
DRM-infested Books/422530144.epub 
	Max Barry
	Machine Man
DRM-free     Books/422718511.epub 
	Apple Inc.
	Mac Integration Basics
DRM-free     Books/426914658.epub 
	Brust, Steven
	Five Hundred Years After
DRM-free     Books/428235697.epub 
	Vinge, Vernor
	A Fire Upon The Deep
DRM-infested Books/429173089.epub 
	Ursula K. Le Guin
	The Other Wind
DRM-infested Books/429173713.epub 
	Ursula K. Le Guin
	Tales from Earthsea
DRM-infested Books/429699133.epub 
	Rajaniemi, Hannu
	The Quantum Thief
	This is published by Tom Doherty and could be re-downloaded DRM-free
DRM-infested Books/431617578.epub 
	Walter Isaacson
	Steve Jobs
DRM-infested Books/432519291.epub 
	Susan Weinschenk
	100 Things: Every Designer Needs to Know About People
DRM-infested Books/434509014.epub 
	Stross, Charles
	Rule 34
DRM-free     Books/434522188.epub 
	Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle
	The Mote In God's Eye
DRM-free     Books/434811509.epub 
	Asher, Neal
	Cowl
DRM-infested Books/436646026.epub 
	Neal Stephenson
	Reamde
DRM-infested Books/436691174.epub 
	Julia Child
	Mastering the Art of French Cooking
DRM-infested Books/443149884.epub 
	Daniel Kahneman
	Thinking, Fast and Slow
DRM-infested Books/446155927.epub 
	Esslemont, Ian C. C.
	Stonewielder
	This is published by Tom Doherty and could be re-downloaded DRM-free
DRM-free     Books/447591195.epub 
	Asher, Neal
	The Skinner
DRM-infested Books/454252718.epub 
	William B. Norton
	The Internet Peering Playbook: Connecting to the Core of the Internet
DRM-infested Books/455525627.epub 
	Amar Chitra Katha
	Birbal The Genius
DRM-infested Books/458461362.epub 
	Pamela Druckerman
	Bringing Up Bebe
DRM-free     Books/45B90418E467D479DCDDF23B932C648C.epub 
	Douglas Crockford
	JavaScript: The Good Parts
DRM-infested Books/460822066.epub (directory)
	Scott Lynch
	The Republic of Thieves
DRM-free     Books/465679A557523FDB836005CF4BB9380E.epub 
	Scott Berkun
	Mindfire
DRM-infested Books/479594044.epub 
	Saladin Ahmed
	Throne of the Crescent Moon
DRM-infested Books/479717436.epub 
	David Crist
	The Twilight War: The Secret History of America’s Thirty-Year Conflict with Iran
DRM-infested Books/479771801.epub 
	William Dalrymple
	In Xanadu
DRM-infested Books/489957500.epub 
	Bruce Schneier
	Liars and Outliers
DRM-infested Books/491186678.epub 
	James Blish
	Cities in Flight
DRM-infested Books/491668459.epub 
	Neal Asher
	Shadow of the Scorpion
DRM-infested Books/491669284.epub 
	Glen Cook
	A Matter of Time
DRM-infested Books/491669288.epub 
	Glen Cook
	Darkwar
DRM-free     Books/492199230.epub 
	Frederik Pohl
	The Tunnel Under the World
DRM-free     Books/492199569.epub 
	Frederik Pohl
	The Knights of Arthur
DRM-infested Books/494939678.epub 
	Esslemont, Ian C. C.
	Orb Sceptre Throne
	This is published by Tom Doherty and could be re-downloaded DRM-free
DRM-infested Books/498634992.epub 
	Charles Stross
	The Apocalypse Codex
DRM-infested Books/499392787.epub 
	Daniel Suarez
	Kill Decision
DRM-free     Books/4AE7DDA54BEEFCD65157927546B18063.epub 
	Roberto Ierusalimschy
	Programming in Lua 2ed
DRM-free     Books/4DCFF682728B765A1CE221F3D7C21536.epub 
	Glen Cook
	Starfishers Volume 3: Stars' End
DRM-free     Books/501278407.epub 
	Colette
	Chéri
DRM-free     Books/501758197.epub 
	David Brin
	Existence
DRM-infested Books/501758516.epub 
	Scalzi, John
	Redshirts
	This is published by Tom Doherty and could be re-downloaded DRM-free
DRM-infested Books/503019669.epub 
	J.R.R. Tolkien
	The Lord of the Rings
DRM-infested Books/503153300.epub 
	J.R.R. Tolkien
	Tales from the Perilous Realm
DRM-infested Books/503154129.epub 
	J. R. R. Tolkien and Christopher Tolkien
	The Book of Lost Tales, Part One
DRM-infested Books/503154991.epub 
	J. R. R. Tolkien and Christopher Tolkien
	The Book of Lost Tales, Part Two
DRM-infested Books/503155327.epub 
	J.R.R. Tolkien
	The Children of Húrin
DRM-infested Books/503163148.epub 
	J.R.R. Tolkien
	The Hobbit Deluxe
DRM-infested Books/503164678.epub 
	J.R.R. Tolkien
	The Silmarillion
DRM-infested Books/503167303.epub 
	J.R.R. Tolkien
	Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth
DRM-infested Books/504209078.epub 
	Isaac Asimov
	Prelude to Foundation
DRM-infested Books/504371982.epub 
	Iain M. Banks
	The Hydrogen Sonata
DRM-free     Books/511060740.epub 
	Frederik Pohl
	The Hated
DRM-free     Books/511143617.epub 
	Frederik Pohl
	The Day of the Boomer Dukes
DRM-free     Books/511252896.epub 
	Frederik Pohl
	Pythias
DRM-free     Books/513357605.epub 
	Hannu Rajaniemi
	The Fractal Prince
DRM-free     Books/513868CF0AA46D293EE27F74BC399760.epub 
	Jerry Pournelle
	West of Honor
DRM-infested Books/520233773.epub 
	Nate Silver
	The Signal and the Noise
DRM-free     Books/520897403.epub 
	Hugh Howey
	Wool Omnibus
DRM-free     Books/525170910.epub 
	Cory Doctorow and Charles Stross
	The Rapture of the Nerds
DRM-infested Books/526136048.epub (directory)
	Hetty van de Rijt & Frans Plooij
	The Wonder Weeks
DRM-infested Books/529020127.epub 
	Neal Asher
	The Departure
DRM-infested Books/529424632.epub 
	Guy Gavriel Kay
	The Lions of Al-Rassan
DRM-infested Books/536312376.epub 
	Glen Cook
	Garrett for Hire
DRM-free     Books/537023027.epub 
	Erikson, Steven
	Forge of Darkness
DRM-infested Books/541673159.epub 
	Ursula K. Le Guin
	The Tombs of Atuan
DRM-infested Books/541673162.epub 
	Ursula K. Le Guin
	The Farthest Shore
DRM-infested Books/546126326.epub 
	Jan Morris
	HAV
DRM-infested Books/551241606.epub 
	Ursula K. Le Guin
	A Wizard of Earthsea
DRM-infested Books/551567785.epub 
	Murray R. Spiegel, PhD
	Schaum's Outline Mathematical Handbook of Formulas and Tables, Fourth Edition
DRM-infested Books/551747038.epub 
	Chris Hedges and Joe Sacco
	Days of Destruction Days of Revolt v2b
DRM-infested Books/552144691.epub 
	Tamim Ansary
	Games without Rules
DRM-free     Books/553878102.epub 
	Charles Stross
	A Tall Tail
DRM-infested Books/563408849.epub 
	Iain Banks
	Stonemouth
DRM-infested Books/568731449.epub 
	William Dalrymple
	Return of a King: The Battle for Afghanistan, 1839-42
DRM-infested Books/569232538.epub 
	Neil Gaiman
	The Ocean at the End of the Lane
DRM-free     Books/571678152.epub 
	Glen Cook
	The Return of the Black Company
DRM-free     Books/571678945.epub 
	Glen Cook
	The Many Deaths of the Black Company
DRM-free     Books/573656304.epub 
	Glen Cook
	Chronicles of the Black Company
DRM-free     Books/573656441.epub 
	Glen Cook
	The Books of the South
DRM-free     Books/576233114.epub 
	Jack Vance
	Demon Princes
DRM-infested Books/578851675.epub 
	Zilpha Keatley Snyder
	Below The Root
DRM-infested Books/580642602.epub 
	Max Barry
	Lexicon
DRM-infested Books/588794444.epub 
	Charles Stross
	Neptune's Brood
DRM-free     Books/5CCB889F91585202637A3C5FBFD8409F.epub 
	Glen Cook
	Starfishers-The Starfishers Trilogy Volume II
DRM-infested Books/600938002.epub 
	Gardner Dozois
	The Year’s Best Science Fiction: Thirtieth Annual Collection
DRM-free     Books/606232503.epub 
	Ian C. Esslemont
	Blood and Bone
DRM-free     Books/610920977.epub 
	Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson
	A Memory of Light
DRM-free     Books/6122FF30560866BD75257E6CCC264371.epub 
	Fritz Leiber
	Swords and Ice Magic-Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser-Book 6
DRM-infested Books/619483561.epub 
	Raymond E. Feist
	Magician's End
DRM-free     Books/622837311.epub 
	Le Comte De  Lautréamont
	Les chants de Maldoror
DRM-free     Books/62497334A4189B1D00E9BDFD95724E2E.epub 
	Fritz Leiber
	The Knight and Knave of Swords-Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser-Book 7
DRM-infested Books/645571245.epub 
	Iain Banks
	The Quarry
DRM-free     Books/647688922.epub 
	Steven Brust and Skyler White
	The Incrementalists
DRM-infested Books/651331715.epub 
	Susan Crawford
	Captive Audience
DRM-infested Books/654456347.epub 
	Iain Banks
	The Wasp Factory
DRM-infested Books/662310218.epub (directory)
	Various Authors
	Star Wars: Empire Volume 3 – The Imperial Perspective
DRM-infested Books/662310219.epub 
	Paul Gulacy
	Star Wars: Crimson Empire
DRM-infested Books/664297397.epub (directory)
	Various Authors
	Star Wars: Empire, Vol. 4: The Heart of the Rebellion
DRM-infested Books/664343525.epub (directory)
	Paul Chadwick, Doug Wheatley & Tomás Giorello
	Star Wars: Empire, Vol. 2: Darklighter
DRM-infested Books/664894567.epub 
	John Ostrander
	Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi Volume 1—Force Storm
DRM-infested Books/664910993.epub (directory)
	Scott Allie, Ryan Benjamin & Brian Horton
	Star Wars: Empire Vol. 1
DRM-free     Books/666772E4C21E2017E71C10F1990840BC.epub 
	Pieter Hintjens
	ZeroMQ - Connecting your Code
DRM-infested Books/674224604.epub (directory)
	Various Authors
	Star Wars: Empire, Vol. 5: Allies and Adversaries
DRM-infested Books/674226603.epub (directory)
	Thomas Andrews, Scott Allie & Various Authors
	Star Wars: Empire, Vol. 6: In the Shadows of Their Fathers
DRM-free     Books/697938901.epub 
	Charles Stross
	Equoid: A Laundry Novella
DRM-free     Books/6BBD61A64A46FFFF4AE7C5FCEB9CFCEE.epub 
	David Drake
	Balefires
DRM-free     Books/71C79A253586282ABE73C2975237EB08.epub 
	Glen Cook
	Sung in Blood
DRM-free     Books/73BC5DD0E51611BDC359CBAB48CC203F.epub (directory)
	Crane, Stephen
	The Red Badge of Courage
DRM-free     Books/7A0D1AEE343638A8A3769DABB90CD4CB.epub 
	Clay A. Johnson
	The Information Diet
DRM-free     Books/7B46914B55481714DED3D711288978FA.epub 
	Glen Cook
	Shadowline-The Starfishers Trilogy I
DRM-free     Books/809DCC75FE60E749458CB27636EE6777.epub 
	Mercedes Lackey
	The Secret World Chronicle
DRM-free     Books/8350F5DFECCD6AA88714400FDF4F6831.epub 
	François de La Rochefoucauld
	Réflexions ou Sentences et Maximes Morales
DRM-free     Books/853BD1C65277D276BA09E04EBFEB73EF.epub 
	None
	PostgreSQL 9 Administration Cookbook
DRM-free     Books/85907063B2351E91C6E7F5052C090BFD.epub 
	None
	PostgreSQL 9.0 High Performance
DRM-free     Books/8663E7BF735C06318FF450532A67F1C2.epub 
	Glen Cook
	Passage at Arms
DRM-free     Books/8690D69995483C5D2DF6AD38BE53C1D7.epub 
	Paolo Bacigalupi
	The Windup Girl - Second Electronic Edition
DRM-free     Books/8993920EF1C0E8FE8CB47A20BD955F53.epub 
	Fritz Leiber
	Swords Against Death-Fafhrd and Gray Mouser-Book 2
DRM-free     Books/8DC6ED0A99161EBB516E370A60ED1121.epub 
	Jonathan Zdziarski
	Hacking and Securing iOS Applications
DRM-free     Books/8DD0D22CD05B0B8D52DF9DB93FC8616B.epub 
	Fritz Leiber
	Swords in the Mist-Fafhrd And the Gray Mouser-Book 3
DRM-free     Books/912CB8B110736684549EAC4FC36665AB.epub 
	Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean
	Signal to Noise
DRM-free     Books/93061FDFD6EEC01FD8CE4295A049C97C.epub 
	Cory Doctorow
	Homeland
DRM-free     Books/9592D5001632B94D1FEFC98B3A40E049.epub 
	Kelly Link
	Stranger Things Happen
DRM-free     Books/990CA5799084407151488A7C563DF269.epub 
	Tom Hughes-Croucher
	Node: Up and Running
DRM-free     Books/9CCCA9E217602948B84BE9A7A21C2753.epub 
	Mike Resnick
	Birthright: The Book of Man
DRM-free     Books/9DA2C8D7E941C37FA83192E5849AA850.epub 
	Q. Ethan McCallum
	Parallel R
DRM-free     Books/A7DB557515983DB67F74E2BE351FC319.epub 
	Glen Cook
	Reap the East Wind
DRM-free     Books/B18AB85267B815E540C7E370F8D97726.epub 
	Lars George
	HBase: The Definitive Guide
DRM-free     Books/B1A586D24AE5F2450010F8664F8E059D.epub 
	Cory Doctorow
	Pirate Cinema
DRM-free     Books/B562B5D74F8677C946B0A6F81EB34F1B.epub 
	Gotthold Ephraim Lessing
	Nathan the Wise; a dramatic poem in five acts
DRM-free     Books/BE42D426242836AA171539B7415732E6.epub 
	Glen Cook
	The Swordbearer
DRM-free     Books/BE80AD93781746E45CF95607A7BEE687.epub 
	Charlie Stross
	Bit Rot
DRM-free     Books/C39FBC59673713A57D404D62BE85C4DC.epub 
	Lauren Beukes
	Zoo City
DRM-free     Books/C81CBBD470EFDBC62359BDAD12FDF551.epub 
	Thomas Hobbes
	Leviathan
DRM-free     Books/D17DC1A83BD90AFB24055A01831BFAB4.epub 
	Glen Cook
	The Dragon Never Sleeps
DRM-free     Books/DA8FBAB386EC503A0EF21E481D214521.epub 
	David Flanagan
	JavaScript: The Definitive Guide
DRM-free     Books/DBAD0DE7A4305B90F6AC33C673FE68E8.epub 
	Glen Cook
	A Path to Coldness of Heart
DRM-free     Books/DBCCB54B140D1158250B24B7E3E81B63.epub 
	Scott Chacon
	Pro Git
DRM-free     Books/DF6C56F9A8719294B13BA91BED5E1667.epub 
	Mike Resnick
	Ivory
DRM-free     Books/E8D76FDD351E68D92AE4A3F3AEA7EC6A.epub 
	Paolo Bacigalupi
	Pump Six and Other Stories
DRM-free     Books/EEE65A68378C2510E18DF24CD767AC9A.epub 
	Fritz Leiber
	Swords Against Wizardry-Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser-Book 4
DRM-free     Books/F3BC14466A16C96CCD8FFE00DCCF8147.epub 
	Glen Cook
	An Empire Unacquainted With Defeat
DRM-free     Books/F534835595041374B814D151A633E69D.epub 
	Peter Watts
	Blindsight
DRM-free     Books/F8BF760284ADC800B290DCA6D8EA7EF2.epub 
	Ben Klemens
	21st Century C
DRM-free     Books/FE8C57863E40B98CB732FEE4BFDB60BB.epub 
	Glen Cook
	An Ill Fate Marshalling
8 books are DRM-infested
26 could be cured

Update (2013-11-06):

OS X 10.9 Mavericks and the new iBooks app changed the location of the iBooks directory, I changed my script accordingly (and made it adjust depending on which OS version you have). Also, the file names have changed and no longer embed author and title, so I am extracting them from the XML metadata files.

Fixing Microsoft Office Mac 2011 font woes

2011-11-30 Mac PSA

This post may be of use to people experiencing the same problem I had. When I opened PowerPoint slides sent by a coworker, I was getting blank slides. Attempting to switch to outline view would crash PowerPoint. A search for possible solutions yielded inconclusive posts or dead-ends.

After much twiddling, it turns out the problem was with a misconfigured Arial font. Microsoft in its great wisdom installs a copy of Arial that conflicts with the system-supplied one, as explained in Kurt Lang’s must-read article on OS X font management, but that was not the root cause of the problem.

Arial was not appearing at all in the PowerPoint font menu, and opening the slides in Keynote yielded a font warning saying non-existent Arial was replaced by Arial Narrow. Clearly PowerPoint is much less resilient than Keynote to missing fonts (crashing in outline view mode is inexcusable, but that’s Microsoft coding sloppiness for you). If Arial is so vital, it should have been included as a resource in the application bundle itself, but I digress.

Font Book did show Arial as installed, with only a single copy after I purged the conflicting fonts as per Kurt Lang’s recommendations. Validating Arial in Font Book yielded a warning about duplicate fonts, but with no indication of where the duplicate may be, since Font Book itself did not know of any other instance.

It turns out I had an old pre-OpenType copy of Arial in my ~/Library/Fonts folder that was causing a conflict. It was functional enough to be picked up as conflicting and disabling Arial in PowerPoint and Keynote, but not functional enough to be listed by Font Book. I am not sure how it got there, possibly from an older version of Office and transferred over many machine upgrades. Removing the file fixed the problem. of blank slides and the crash in switching to outline view.

Of course, if you care at all about typography, you should use Helvetica rather than an inferior ersatz like Arial, but Arial is so prevalent in the taste-impaired Windows world that one cannot escape its gaucheness entirely.