Investigating Kbunutu

[claydoh]

I have a standard installation of 14.04 and find that zeitgeist is installed. I then installed the gui: zeitgeist-explorer and ran it from Konsole (I forget the name of its executable /use/bin/zeitgeist-explorer, maybe). The gui opens and under Applications you can see what it is logging under each of your major apps. I could find no option to disable logging or whatever in this GUI. I removed the zeitgeist packages, autoremove removes some of them, and apt-get -s --purge remove tells you some more.

I kept going, but I did not remove libzeitgeist-1.0-1:
The following packages will be REMOVED:
libzeitgeist-1.0-1* nautilus* nautilus-sendto*

Anyone know anything about zeitgeist in Kubuntu?

Here, it is quite likely that Nautilus requires zeitgeist libraries, and installing this file manager pulled them in,

To further repeat myself, if you do not have the zeitgeist daemon running, which is from the package zeitgeist-datahub, you don't have zeitgeist, you have some system libraries that are for all intents and purposes are just sitting there.

[Qqmike]

From your link,

Zeitgeist (How do/did I use my items): is a service which logs the users’s activities and events, anywhere from files opened to websites visited and conversations.

That's what is was doing on my system. Through the gui I installed, I could see exactly the many data points it had collected. Being somewhat of a privacy freak, I found it uncomfortable. Tools like Bleachbit did not reach this Zeitgeist db to clean it, obviously!, or it would break Zeitgeist (or the efficacy of it).

To further repeat myself, if you do not have the zeitgeist daemon running, which is from the package zeitgeist-datahub, you don't have zeitgeist, you have some system libraries that are for all intents and purposes are just sitting there.

Yep, I did have -datahub installed, along with about half a dozen other supporting Zeitgeist packages (at least two of which were clearly just libraries).

For me, this is a non-issue now as I have removed it.

For anyone concerned with cleaning their system for privacy issues, this is a big deal IMO--the d*mnded thing tracks everything, almost: word processor, web browser, media player(s) ... not acceptable in my book without permission. I did nothing that I can think of to install this. The packages I install are all most basic (like Kaffeine), nothing exotic or out-of-the-ordinary. If it can appear that easily, that, imo, merits someone's attention: a user should at least be aware and be informed Zeitgeist is running and what it is collecting.

Btw, one has to install the gui, it does not appear in the K-menu (not in mine), you have to track down the /user/bin command to run it and open the gui, which had no provision for disabling logging. Plain and simple: ain't right. (14.04-64 bit, btw)

Thanks for your work on this claydoh. Been interesting.

[Qqmike]

fyi,
Remembered I kept notes, clips from Konsole output:

So, these were installed (not by me, not knowingly):

zeitgeist
gir1.2-atk-1.0
gir1.2-freedesktop
gir1.2-gdkpixbuf-2.0
gir1.2-gtk-3.0
gir1.2-pango-1.0
zeitgeist-core:
zeitgeist-core*, and zeitgeist-datahub*
libzeitgeist-2.0-0
libzeitgeist-1.0-1

Then I installed zeitgeist-explorer, hoping to investigate further; it shows the extensive logging (absolute path file names, websites, document names); it did not show any option for disabling logging or modifying what is logged. If it hadn't been for this thread, I would not have thought to check for this at all. Personal preference, personal tolerance for privacy issues. Do you not label/name your files descriptively (documents, vids, of course the websites have descriptive names), or build certain files and folders to keep certain things--legal, personal, family, business, hobby, personal interests/research, correspondence? Well, anyone on your PC could easily build one helluva profile of you and your activities simply by reading the logs of several (like a dozen or more) programs tracked by zeitgeist. Shame on anyone writing such a "hidden" program. Pretty sick, imo, and I'd tell him/her so to their face. (Separate from Kubuntu and zeitgeist, I've had a bad day!)

[claydoh]

Again, a little research may alleviate (or not) your fears.

https://wiki.gnome.org/action/show/A...ctivityJournal
http://zeitgeist-project.com/about/
Plus many many many web pages discussing it, mostly really old pages
Note who and what uses it, I doubt it is a terrible thing if Gnome *and* Unity, and Docky use it.

Also, this: https://apps.ubuntu.com/cat/applicat...y-log-manager/, which is an interface for those that use Zeitgeist to configure it.

[Qqmike]

Again, thanks for your work on this. I'll read the links soon. (On cursory searches, I didn't seem to come up with good links, but I'm sure they are there at some level of drilling.) Thanks.

[Qqmike]

OK, I read the links.
https://apps.ubuntu.com/cat/applicat...y-log-manager/
That's the ticket.

I installed activity-log-manager which installs activity-log-manager-control-center. The activity-log-manager shows up under K > Applications > Utilities.
In it, you can
Clear Usage Data;
Record file and application usage: turn this On or Off;
and include or exclude
chat logs, docs, music, pics, presentations, spreadsheets, or vids.

The authors do admit that if anyone has access to your computer, you may wish to control what is tracked and logged.

When I work, like research or writing a big paper, I do all the organizing myself (separate folders, new bookmark folders, etc.) so I can easily access and consult all the tidbits--no need to have such a program do it for me.

Thanks, again, claydoh. Looks safe enough. The option to Clear Usage Data is an easy cleaner one could do at will, as needed. Now I'll un-install all this--including the many packages installed along with the above two, including the -datahub and zeitgeist again.

[Qqmike]

Boy, the question is how do I determine what package caused Zeitgeist to be installed on my system?

Muon > History, March 6th, Nautilus was installed (automatic). Nautilus also causes Zeitgeist (core, engine) to be installed (see: apt-get install -s nautilus). But how/why was Nautilus installed on March 6th?

I'm investigating this, one foot in front of the other, but please drop any tips you can think of for tracing this back and getting to the root of it.

Edit: zeitgeist was installed on March 6th, according to Muon History.
I guess I can check Kubuntu 14.04 64-bit updates somewhere to see what happened on March 6th.
Edit: March 6th is the date I installed Kubuntu 14.04 64-bit on this new PC.
Something pulled in zeitgeist.

[Qqmike]

At the time zeitgeist core/datahub were installed, I can only see a few others: nautilus, yelp, brasero, gimp, none of which I chose to install, but were installed automatically. Does everyone else using 14.04 have nautilus installed?

[dequire]

At the time zeitgeist core/datahub were installed, I can only see a few others: nautilus, yelp, brasero, gimp, none of which I chose to install, but were installed automatically. Does everyone else using 14.04 have nautilus installed?

I have a pretty stock 14.04.2 install that I use for my daily (read: hardcore reliable) work PC. A cursory glance shows nothing Zeitgeist-oriented is installed.

But how/why was Nautilus installed on March 6th?

I think *THAT'S* the $64k question.

[Qqmike]

This issue has been resolved: Zeitgeist appeared on my Kubuntu 14.04 because I installed a program called Cheese, which led to a chain of recommended and required programs ... including Nautilus, which installed the zeitgeist. Zeitgeist was not installed automatically on my Kubuntu system. Basically, inadvertently, I installed it!

For details, see
https://www.kubuntuforums.net/showth...l=1#post369175

[dequire]

This issue has been resolved: Zeitgeist appeared on my Kubuntu 14.04 because I installed a program called Cheese, which led to a chain of recommended and required programs ... including Nautilus, which installed the zeitgeist. Zeitgeist was not installed automatically on my Kubuntu system. Basically, inadvertently, I installed it!

For details, see
https://www.kubuntuforums.net/showth...l=1#post369175

Congrats for finding the culprit!

PS: You should mark the thread as solved.

[claydoh]

I'd say that's a bug in Cheese's packaging. I don't recall it doing this in previous releases - I would not have installed it with those deps, not without using the --no-install-recommends option

[Qqmike]

Sounds right, claydoh. "I would not have installed it with those deps, not without using the --no-install-recommends option." Now that I know about Zeitgeist I can watch for it (and Nautilus pulling it in). But, open issue is, how is one to know about all such programs? You must stay in touch and informed on the forums, or research every package you see that you don't recognize. I mean to say, are you to remain vigilant 100%, it's a lot of fine print!

[claydoh]

No, i simply look at what muon offers when it tells me it tells me it has to install extra stuff, and when it is a lot of stuff, I look at the preview and see what is going to be added, and if something looks off, or I don't know what something is, or just out of curiosity, Im look at things. This is one reason I recommend GUI package managers over the command line, as this is sooo much easier to do in one, especially when they tell you in a popup - "Hey, you want cheese, but here is what is going to be installed as well, is this OK?", then in the preview window you can look at info about each individual package (or not). Then if I am still curious, I pulls out the web search. Total time involved is usually minimal.

[Qqmike]

Yeah, makes sense. Interestingly, after doing all this, just awhile ago, I thought about glabels for business cards. So happens, it installs Nautilus (which installs Zeitgeist).