Justin Hayes.com

Spy Shenanighans

Justin — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 21:04:49 +0000

I created this video of demo footage I took the other night playing Team Fortress 2 as spy. Not my best work by far, but it was fun making it,so I'll be making more with better action :)

Standard definition, high quality

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Installing Apache Tomcat 6 and Solr nightly on Ubuntu 8.04

Justin — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 20:30:22 +0000

Getting Solr to play nice with Tomcat on Ubuntu was an interesting journey, I almost gave up entirely at one point. I'm compiling this how-to from tips I got from multiple websites. I'll try to make as complete a list as I can remember at the end of this post.

First off, forget about using the Ubuntu packages of Tomcat and Solr, they're broken, as well as outdated. Download the latest release of Tomcat from their site, and grab a nightly build of Solr from here using wget or whatever method you prefer. Untar both of them in your home directory.

tar xfzv apache-tomcat-6.0.18.tar.gz
tar xfzv solr-2009-04-06.tgz

Now, move Tomcat to wherever you want to have it installed, I chose to put it in /usr/local/tomcat6.

sudo mv apache-tomcat-6.0.18/ /usr/local/tomcat6/

Next, copy the Solr .war file from apache-solr-nightly/dist/ to the webapps/ directory of tomcat6/, and the example webapp from apache-solr-nightly/example/solr/ to the tomcat6/ root directory.

sudo cp apache-solr-nightly/dist/apache-solr-nightly.war /usr/local/tomcat6/webapps/solr.war
sudo cp -r apache-solr-nightly/example/solr/ /usr/local/tomcat6/solr/

Now that all the files are in place, we need to create a config file to run Solr.

sudo mkdir /usr/local/tomcat6/conf/Catalina/
sudo mkdir /usr/local/tomcat6/conf/Catalina/localhost/
sudo nano /usr/local/tomcat6/conf/Catalina/localhost/solr.xml

In this file, insert the following code:

<Context docBase="/usr/local/tomcat6/webapps/solr.war" debug="0" crossContext="true" >
   <Environment name="solr/home" type="java.lang.String" value="/usr/local/tomcat6/solr" override="true" />
</Context>

Edit your .bashrc file in your home directory and add the following to it:

export JAVA_HOME=/usr/lib/jvm/java-6-sun
export JAVA_OPTS="$JAVA_OPTS -Dsolr.solr.home=/usr/local/tomcat6/solr"

If all went well, you should be able to start Tomcat and browse to http://your.servers.ip:8080/solr/admin and see the Solr admin page.

/usr/local/tomcat6/bin/startup.sh

If this worked, great, but now it's time to get Tomcat to autostart itself when your server reboots. First, open a new script in your /etc/init.d/ directory.

sudo nano /etc/init.d/tomcat6

Insert the following code:

# Tomcat auto-start
#
# description: Auto-starts tomcat
# processname: tomcat
# pidfile: /var/run/tomcat.pid

export JAVA_HOME=/usr/lib/jvm/java-6-sun
export JAVA_OPTS="$JAVA_OPTS -Dsolr.solr.home=/usr/local/tomcat6/solr"

case $1 in
start)
   sh /usr/local/tomcat6/bin/startup.sh
   ;;
stop)
   sh /usr/local/tomcat6/bin/shutdown.sh
   ;;
restart)
   sh /usr/local/tomcat6/bin/shutdown.sh
   sh /usr/local/tomcat6/bin/startup.sh
   ;;
esac
exit 0

Finally, to make sure it autostarts, run this command:

sudo update-rc.d tomcat6 start 91 2 3 4 5 . stop 20 0 1 6 .

Congratulations! If you've followed this how-to exactly, you should have a working install of Apache Tomcat and Solr.

Links I got tips from:

http://wiki.apache.org/solr/SolrTomcat
http://www.tc.umn.edu/~brams006/solr_ubuntu.html
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/linux/installing-tomcat-6-on-ubuntu/
http://lethain.com/entry/2009/mar/06/solango-and-tomcat-6-on-ubuntu-intrepid/
http://markmail.org/message/2xxiyry4y42hpodd
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=194559

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Screenshot upload script

Justin — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 18:30:21 +0000

I wrote up this script to take a screenshot and upload it to my webserver a while ago and I want to share it, so without further adieu, I give you ShotUp:

#!/bin/bash

## Screenshot Upload script

## by Justin Hayes

## variables

# screen capture delay

DELAY='2'

# screen capture quality

QUALITY='100'

# screen capture output format

OUTPUT='jpg'

# directory

DIR='/tmp'

# timestamp

TIMESTAMP=`date +%Y-%m-%d_%H-%M`

# hostname

HOST=`uname -n`

# remote user

RUSER='justin'

# remote host

RHOST='192.168.1.101'

# remote directory

RDIR='/var/www/justin-hayes.com/web/www/files/screenshots'

# web directory

WEBDIR='http://www.justin-hayes.com/files/screenshots'

## let's get down to business...

scrot -q $QUALITY -d $DELAY $DIR/screenshot_$HOST\_$TIMESTAMP.$OUTPUT

scp $DIR/screenshot_$HOST\_$TIMESTAMP.$OUTPUT $RUSER@$RHOST:$RDIR

firefox $WEBDIR/screenshot_$HOST\_$TIMESTAMP.$OUTPUT

Use the script by placing it in /usr/bin and calling the command shotup in the Gnome run dialog box or equivalent for other display environments. Please note that the upload will only work if you've setup SSH public key authentication.

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That does it for me

Justin — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 19:50:06 +0000

Last.fm had always been one of my favourite web services. Indeed, it was the first "social network" I ever joined. I've seen them go through a lot of transformations over the years, from the new website design, to being bought out by CBS, but I've always supported them. I have been a paying subscriber on and off for a while now. But the announcement they made today is just too much for me to bear.

I don't care that there's still plenty for free users to do, I don't care that the subscription cost is affordable, what I do care about though is the fact that it remains free in the three countries that could probably best afford it, while everyone else gets the shaft. Are you telling me there's not enough of an ad market to support free radio for Canadians? Because I'd have to call bullshit on that claim.

I'm sorry last.fm, but this is the last straw. I will not pay for something that has always been free for me, especially since paying subscribers no longer get all the same benefits they used to. Your service is cheap, but it's still not worth the money, so I will not be renewing my subscription until we get our choice back, or you bring more to the table.

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Apparently sharing my opinion in an intelligent manner makes me unpopular

Justin — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 03:38:22 +0000

New Facebook version came out recently and everyone's whining as they always do about it. I decided to share my opinions with one such group (http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=56865947818), and here's their response:

If we get a shiit load of people to join this... do you thinkk anything will change?

Al'x Dilliott (Ridgetown District High School): idk... i hope so :)

Ben Lorenc (Westdale Secondary School): didnt last time

Al'x Dilliott (Ridgetown District High School): jesus christ >:/

Jessica Josefik (Hamilton, ON): I hope so but i still doubt it. It didnt have an effect last time :(

Me: Of course it won't. Redesigning a site as big as Facebook costs hundreds of thousands of dollars in developer time. Are you going to pay for that? I thought not. So stop bitching about the FREE site you all use daily anyway.

Josh Daniel Beadman (Hamilton, ON): justin hayes, if it takes hundreds of thousands of dollars (in dev time) to change the site, why the f*** would they not change it 1 time and make ppl happy with it instead of changing it multiple times and waste money

suck it,
JB

Ayla DeBona (Hamilton, ON): Lmfao Owned.

Me: They'd only be wasting money if they went back on their changes. Your point is moot.

Little Coyner (Robert F. Hall Catholic Secondary School): Why is Justin even talking ? No one cares.. =/

Me: And to reply to Josh, the reason they don't just do it once and make everyone happy is because that's 1) impossible and 2) would eventually be outdated. The site has to evolve and meet the needs of the *majority*, not the vocal minority who find something wrong with it every time. Try running your own website sometime and see how hard it is to please everyone. It's like herding cats.

Kassandra Levesque-Wong (Sainte-Famille): dude, justin kid, it doesn't have to evolve every 1 to 2 months, are you dumb?

like,
did google evolve that much?
did myspace?
and I mean this in like,
a short period of time.

I think not.

so,
what you are saying,
pretty much makes no sense.

just face it,
right now,
facebook pretty much sucks,
and if you wanna kill the point of this group,
leave.

thankyou.

Tiana Leigh Thompson Doherty (Hamilton, ON): i dont think anything will change cuz it never did last time right away:P

Avery Brooks (Hamilton, ON): it wont change the only way it would is if people just stoped using facebook until it stopped changing i would do it

Ryan Simpson (Saltfleet District High School): no

Katie Petro (Hamilton, ON): honestly we can try to change it but unless millions of people write into the facebook admins and demand it to go back i highly doubt it will change...and it sucks

Me: Kassandra, maybe you should, like, get off Facebook if you don't like it so much, and like, go out and learn how to spell and punctuate correctly. Like, really.

The reason they've rushed to change it again probably has something to do with the fallout that occurred the last time they changed it. Heaven forbid that Facebook should try to improve their website for you all, free of charge.

Also, I find it funny that I'm accused of bitching on a group that was made for people to bitch. The inanity of this astounds me.

Mitchell Bierd: you are the minority Justin everybody likes old facebook. Why are you even in this group anyways?

Me: Because I enjoy challenging popular opinion and seeing the asinine responses I get. I may be the minority in here, but I think you'll find that you are the minority among Facebook users in general. Simple fact is, most people can accept change and deal with it. I suggest you learn something from the people that keep their mouths shut and just move on.

Imagine, if you will, if every site you ever used stayed exactly how it was when it first came out. At the very least, it would be boring after a while, and at worst... you miss out on all the new functionality that is introduced. Sometimes these changes require the layout to be modified, its a fact of web development and there's little that can be done about that.

Every time Facebook changes their design, people whine and bitch for about a month, and then they shut up. Some people just like to hear themselves talk and be validated by their peers. Case in point: the creation of this group. When the dust settles, new Facebook will be here to stay, and you'll have gotten used to it. I promise.

PS: I see we can now edit our thread posts. Evolution at work.

Katie Petro (Hamilton, ON): Wow...Justin, you have got a lot to say and I don't want to sound like a bitch but we don't want to hear it, okay?

So just go back to your little group about how you hate groups like these and talk to them.

P.S.: this group is meant for people who dislike the change, so it might be a good idea to get out of this group unless you really are supporting it because like I said before, we don't want to hear (well read) it.

Me: Am I forcing you to read my posts? Not at all. If you don't want to read them, then don't read them. Same with the site... if you hate it so much, stop using it and go back to MySpace or wherever you came from. It's that simple.

Oh wait, I forgot, just about all of you are nothing but talk. Face it, many of you can't live without Facebook, just as many people can't live without their cellphones. I don't seem to remember people bitching about cellphones getting more and more advanced (and complicated) every year. Facebook has never taken away functionality, they've only ever added it. You should be glad they do this instead of just stagnating like MySpace did. Only recently due to pressure from FB did they start even trying to improve.

Brandon Vella (Toronto, ON): Justin Hayes = winner.

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=12803411367

I invite you here.

Kristen Brady: I think someone should create a facebook group by the name 'for all those who hate justin hayes.

Just shut the fuck up
Because obviously no one here wants to have to scroll down your long boring messages.

Go back to masturbating to friggin shakesphere.

Me: I would laugh my damned ass off if someone made that group.

Here, I'll do it for you all, since you're apparently having trouble getting used to the new Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=76313185999

Lucas Oesterreich (Ancaster High School): Justin, you excel in the art of badassery. Reading your arguments brought tears to my eyes and a sudden stiffness in the pants.

May Raptor Jesus aid you in your ass-kicking.

Marliee Dawnn (Fanshawe): Alright, people.

I understand that Justin may have some opinions none of you agree with, but why should he be alright with your opinion if all you do is attack him for his? All of this name calling and profanity is getting to be absurd. If you have an issue, why do you not talk it out in a civil manner?

As to you,Justin.
I can find no disagreements to your posts, ( expemting the attacks on people themselves, but I admit, they kind of deserve it ), I actually agree with most of the points you have made, but I do not declare myself defeated, nor conformed. I dislike the new facebook, but I'm sure , as with the other layouts, I will get used to it in time, as will the rest of you.

Matthew Mills (M.M. Robinson High School): justin..change, is good, HOWEVER, if "change" is really that necessary, wouldnt you think it would be nice to, i dunno, maybe teach us about how the changes will work? from personal experiences i know that if people are not guided through the changes in "big deals" like facebook, they easily get lost trying to navigate they're ways around, which, I assume, is how you managed to wind up in a group protesting AGAINST the change, none of them want to here you're pointless bullshit, so just do us all a favor, and FUCK OFF

Marliee Dawnn (Fanshawe): Although I do not agree that the changes are something i LIKE, I agree that Justin has some very strong and valid points.

You people in here really need to learn some assertive conversational skills.
Telling people 'Shut the fuck up and get the fuck out' is not going to change his opinion.

Prove him wrong, IF you can.
Otherwise, wallow in your self pitty, hate the new facebook all you want, and disagree with Justins VALID points, but don't attack him, personally.

Tom Rolfe (Ancaster High School): justins arguement is bulletproof in my opinion, i agree with marliee, prove him wrong, until then use what little civilized conversational skills you have left and try to use them to conduct your arguement with justin in a way that does not flood this post thread with inane profanity and useless prattling

Me: Marliee and Tom both get cookies for understanding what it is I'm really after here, and that is intelligent discourse.

Yes, I agree change is pretty useless if nobody knows how to use it. Facebook could definitely do a better job of teaching it's users how to use the site, but then people would complain about the need for a "tutorial" just to socialize. You can't win with a userbase as large as Facebook's so all they can hope to do is please the majority and try to get more and more users, which Facebook has no problem doing.

Marliee Dawnn (Fanshawe): Kudos to you and your valid points ! and, thanks for the cookie! :)

Kaylynn Ludwig: >.> wow guys.

Matthew Mills (M.M. Robinson High School): in an honest sense, i not really here to argue over a truely pointless subject, but in truth, people like that just crease me, okay? like the group is protesting against the new facebook stuff, and yes, i do support them, and justin dose have valid points, but people who dont agree with the main subject/point of the group, really should'nt just "barge" in and explain to everyone how pathetic what they are trying to accomplish is, i understand change is good, and because you support it i respect you for it, but honestly, people that join a group or something like this just to tell the other people that they are wrong, just makes absolutely no sense to me in any way whatsoever, thanks for understanding my true point.

Kaylynn Ludwig: i understand your conern and i will gladly look into it..but u guys dont have to argue on what someone Belives.

Me: This topic asked a question, that question was basically: "Do you think anything will change back?". My answer was "no", and rather than just leave it at that, I explained why I believe in that answer. I have done nothing wrong.

Kaylynn Ludwig: but Listen Change is Possiable.

Its like Saying the Economic Crisis Willl never End

Its possiable and no one needs to fight About it
Or be a Smartass about it.

Marliee Dawnn (Fanshawe): Again, another valid point made by Justin.

My feeling is, i DO agree with the group.I think that the new facebook REALLY sucks, but in time, we will like it. If not like, then get used to.

I saw people lashing out at Justin, so I decided to see what all of the fuss was about, and as previously stated, I discovered the points he makes are valid.

Matthew Mills (M.M. Robinson High School): we are all aware we are entitled to our own opinions, but, no offense justin, i understand you had an answer to a question that was asked, and i totally support you for speaking your mind, but you could have just left it at that, rather than constantly commenting back at them, though your points were valid, someone has to be the bigger man, and ive decided it will be me, so any comments that are posted to offend me, dont expect to get an answer back, because everyone just needs to take a deep breath and think, what the hell is the point of this argument? and once you do that, congratulations.

Matthew Mills (M.M. Robinson High School): also marliee, if your going to "join in" on our little disagreement, you should really want to consider getting your OWN points, or at least adding more proof to the ones that have been pre-discussed, no offense, im not trying to get on anyone's bad side or start another argument, but just..please

Marliee Dawnn (Fanshawe): sorry, but I do believe I was in on the 'disagreement' before you were.

I'm not in favour of the new facebook, so I see no need for me to agree to the fullest extent, which would be to argue against my own feeling, to support and espand on Justins comments.

I was just sick of the hostility, and tried to be the voice of reason.

just because you disagree with something someone is saying does not mean youhave to be rude and use profain language.

that is the main point i was trying to make.

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RSS feed should be fixed now

Justin — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 08:04:09 +0000

I've moved my RSS feeds from FeedBurner's old backend to the new one at Google. I know this has caused some problems in the last week with the feed not being available, but everything should be fine again now. Don't worry, you haven't missed anything. I'll have some new stuff to post about soon, promise. I will say now though that I got a new job. More about that at a later date.

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Thoughts on faith from Nick

Justin — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 20:43:34 +0000

Ok, I'm kind of cheating here, republishing a comment my friend Nick made on my other friend, Dan's, blog. However, I thought it echoed my own opinions perfectly, so I'm re-posting it here with his permission. All I've edited is his spelling.

The idea of a god bewilders me to no end. The idea of some infinite paradise after death, attainable ONLY through the strict, virtually un-followable guidelines of a book lost in translation a hundred times over makes it impossible for me to believe. bare with me, as I feel like discussing this matter in some detail. *sorry*

First off, God is said to be omnipotent, or otherwise all powerful. I refer you to the omnipotence paradox. For those who are unfamiliar with this, it is as such: Can god create a stone with such mass that even he himself cannot lift it. If not, then he is not omnipotent, for there is something he cannot do. If he can, and is unable to lift said rock, he is again, not omnipotent, as there is again something he is unable to accomplish. My point being here is that god is perceived by most as an all powerful, super-being, which is impossible. it is not possible, nor is it feasible for such an entity to exist. But if you look carefully at society, in this age and any past. Those who question this fact, in almost all cases, are not blinded by religious propaganda, are not force fed misguided views since childhood. Their sense of wonderment is encouraged, instead of stifled, and develop a sense of their surroundings, and the fact that a god has never entered into it.

To quote your sister, Christians, and most other believers certainly do have an answer for everything, even if it makes no sense whatsoever. I have had this experience before. If you ask a Christian to prove to you there is a god, almost every time you will get something along the lines of "read the bible, it's all in there". I have a huge problem with this. The bible has been translated, and re-written so many times, that any other book in existence would have been cast aside as false, yet this book is guiding the lives of millions. Also, if you propose to them the fact that no matter how much you pray, act, call upon, etc.. the "Lord", you will never get a response. Again, the most common response is "thou shalt not tempt the Lord". Basically, no matter what you do, you will never see/hear/smell/touch or otherwise be granted any proof of existence. That is such a blindfolded view of life, it's almost sickening. Believing in a blade of grass makes more sense to me. At least there is physical, spiritual, and any other kind of proof you need of it's existence.

Religions are based on blind-faith, false prophets, and empty promises. You go to church, you are told what to believe, how to act, when to act, what to do, and what not to do. Like sheep you are herded and controlled until you die. Upon that you will realize (technically you wont, as you're dead) that all you have believed your entire life was false.

There is no Heaven, no Hell. No God or Devil, Angels or Demons. They are all perceptions given life by a society unwilling to accept the fact that there isn't a hand guiding them. That there is no guardian angel watching over them. You are alone. The fact that millions of people are unwilling to accept this blatant truth of life is bewildering to me.

I could go on, but I need some sleep.

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TaNDy

Justin — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 23:43:16 +0000

TaNDy (Twitter Notification Daemon) is a notification daemon that reports on system status to you via Twitter direct message (DM).

Daily report:

CPU load average
memory load average
disk I/O average
disk usage
up-time

Real-time report:

available updates
process status change (specified)
dramatic load spikes

This page will be updated as I add ideas. It is as yet, vapourware. I repeat, THIS SOFTWARE DOES NOT YET EXIST. I'm just recording ideas and collecting opinions for now.

My Drupal modules

Justin — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 03:31:43 +0000

Just thought I'd share with everyone all the modules I'm making use of here on my site since I've had a few people asking.

List of installed modules below:  Administration Menu - Renders a menu tree for administrative purposes as dropdown menu at the top of the window.

AJAX Comments - Provides AJAX comment fields to Drupal sites.

ApacheSolr *new* - This module integrates Drupal with the Apache Solr search platform.

Archive - Allows visitors to view content filtered by date or node type.

BBCode - Allow the use of BBCode in your posts.

Browscap - Provides statistics on browsers and a replacement for PHPs get_browser() function.

BUEditor - A plain textarea editor aiming to facilitate code writing.

Code Filter - Provides tags for automatically escaping and formatting large pieces of code.

Comment RSS - Provides RSS feeds for comments.

Drush - Drush (the drupal shell) provides a command line interface for Drupal.

External Links - Adds icon next to external links on the site.

Fasttoggle - Enables fast toggling of binary settings.

Feedburner - Integrates with FeedBurner services, primarily feed redirection.

Global Redirect - Searches for an alias of the current URL and 301 redirects if found. Stops duplicate content arising when path module is enabled.

Gravatar Integration - Integrate Gravatar pictures registered at Gravatar.com in Drupal sites.

Google Analytics - Adds Google Analytics javascript tracking code to all your site's pages.

Image - Allows uploading, resizing and viewing of images.

Lightbox2 - Enables Lightbox2 for Drupal.

Meta tags - Allows users to add meta tags, eg keywords or description.

Mobile Theme - Choose a mobile theme to use when the user is vising on a mobile device.

Mollom - Protects against comment and contact form spam.

Page Title - Enhanced control over the page title (in the tag).

Path Redirect - Redirect users from one URL to another.

Pathauto - Provides a mechanism for modules to automatically generate aliases for the content they manage.

Persistent Login - Provides a 'Remember Me' checkbox in the login form.

Pingback - A pingback user agent as defined per Pingback 1.0 Specification.

Printer-friendly pages - Adds a printer-friendly version link to content and administrative pages.

Quick Admin Modules - Add client-side dependency checking to Modules Admin page.

Quote - Allows users to quote posts or comments.

Secure Pages - Set which pages are always going to be used in secure mode (SSL) Warning: Do not enable this module without configuring your web server to handle SSL with this installation of Drupal.

SpamSpan - The SpamSpan module obfuscates email addresses to help prevent spambots from collecting them. It implements the technique at http://www.spamspan.com.

Tagadelic - Tagadelic makes weighted tag clouds from your taxonomy terms.

Teleport - Allows fast Quicksilver-like 'launching' to different pages. Searches node titles, menu items, users and taxonomy terms.

Token - Provides a shared API for replacement of textual placeholders with actual data.

Trackback - Allow for sending and receiving TrackBacks, which is a way for sites to notify another that they have commented on a post.

Video Filter - Filter to include videos from Youtube, Godtube etc.

WordPress Comments - Streamlines the appearance of the standard Drupal comment form to appear more like WordPress.

XML Sitemap - Creates an XML site map in accordance with the sitemaps.org specification.

Zend Framework *new* - The Zend Framework module is a Drupal API module that facilitates the installation and management of the Zend Framework, making sure it is properly accessible to other Drupal modules.

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Drupal automatic upgrade script

Justin — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 03:41:23 +0000

I got tired of always manually upgrading the necessary files for my Drupal installation and then copying the config back over. So I've automated almost the entire upgrade process with a shell script. All that I must do myself now is put Drupal into maintenance mode.

drupal_upgrade.sh (Don't forget to make it executable: chmod +x drupal_upgrade.sh)

Note: The script assumes that it and the extracted update is in the next directory up from Drupal. Don't forget to set the Drupal directory variable. Also, obligatory "I'm not responsible if you hose you database/Drupal install". TEST THIS SCRIPT IN A SAFE ENVIRONMENT FIRST.

#!/bin/bash

## Drupal Automatic Upgrade Script

TIMESTAMP=`date +%y%m%d%H%M`
BACKUPDIR=drupal_backup_$TIMESTAMP

## Drupal directory (relative to script)
DRUPALDIR='www'

## Database config
DBUSER='root'
DBPASS='password'
DBNAME='drupal'

## Backup Drupal files
mkdir $BACKUPDIR/

cp -pr $DRUPALDIR/includes/ $BACKUPDIR/
cp -pr $DRUPALDIR/misc/ $BACKUPDIR/
cp -pr $DRUPALDIR/modules/ $BACKUPDIR/
cp -pr $DRUPALDIR/profiles/ $BACKUPDIR/
cp -pr $DRUPALDIR/scripts/ $BACKUPDIR/
cp -pr $DRUPALDIR/sites/ $BACKUPDIR/
cp -pr $DRUPALDIR/themes/ $BACKUPDIR/
cp -p $DRUPALDIR/cron.php $BACKUPDIR/
cp -p $DRUPALDIR/index.php $BACKUPDIR/
cp -p $DRUPALDIR/robots.txt $BACKUPDIR/
cp -p $DRUPALDIR/update.php $BACKUPDIR/
cp -p $DRUPALDIR/xmlrpc.php $BACKUPDIR/
cp -p $DRUPALDIR/.htaccess $BACKUPDIR/

## Backup Drupal database
mysqldump -u $DBUSER -p$DBPASS $DBNAME > $BACKUPDIR/$DBNAME.sql

## Remove old and copy new files
rm -r $DRUPALDIR/includes
cp -pr drupal-6.*/includes/ $DRUPALDIR/

rm -r $DRUPALDIR/misc
cp -pr drupal-6.*/misc/ $DRUPALDIR/

rm -r $DRUPALDIR/modules
cp -pr drupal-6.*/modules/ $DRUPALDIR/

rm -r $DRUPALDIR/profiles
cp -pr drupal-6.*/profiles/ $DRUPALDIR/

rm -r $DRUPALDIR/scripts
cp -pr drupal-6.*/scripts/ $DRUPALDIR/

chmod -R +w $DRUPALDIR/sites/default
rm -r $DRUPALDIR/sites
cp -pr drupal-6.*/sites/ $DRUPALDIR/

rm -r $DRUPALDIR/themes
cp -pr drupal-6.*/themes/ $DRUPALDIR/

rm $DRUPALDIR/cron.php
cp -p drupal-6.*/cron.php $DRUPALDIR/

rm $DRUPALDIR/index.php
cp -p drupal-6.*/index.php $DRUPALDIR/

rm $DRUPALDIR/robots.txt
cp -p drupal-6.*/robots.txt $DRUPALDIR/

rm $DRUPALDIR/update.php
cp -p drupal-6.*/update.php $DRUPALDIR/

rm $DRUPALDIR/xmlrpc.php
cp -p drupal-6.*/xmlrpc.php $DRUPALDIR/

rm $DRUPALDIR/.htaccess
cp -p drupal-6.*/.htaccess $DRUPALDIR/

## Replace config
cp -pr $BACKUPDIR/sites/default/* $DRUPALDIR/sites/default/
chmod -w $DRUPALDIR/sites/default
chmod -w $DRUPALDIR/sites/default/settings.php
# Copy additional config files here

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I did something good!

Justin — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 07:45:41 +0000

I reported a simple bug in Adobe AIR yesterday that concerns opening links and got this response today:

Quote:

Justin
Thanks for reporting this. It has been fixed and will be available in the next public release.
- Ashutosh

-----Original Message-----
From: wildtang3nt [at] gmail [dot] com [mailto:wildtang3nt [at] gmail [dot] com]
Sent: Tuesday, December 09, 2008 3:36 AM
To: DL-AIR Wishlist
Subject: [ Bug Report ]

The following information was submitted on the Software Feature Request and Bug Report Form for Adobe AIR
Name                       : Justin Hayes
Email Address              : wildtang3nt [at] gmail [dot] com
Company/Institution        :
Feature Request/Bug Report : Bug Report
Product                    : Adobe AIR
Product Version            : beta 1
Browser                    : Firefox
Web Server                 :
Application Server         :
Database                   :
Operating System           : Linux
OS version                 : Ubuntu
HTTPREFERRER               : http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/mmform/index.cfm?name=wishform
Feedback Report            : ******BUG******
Concise problem statement:
Steps to reproduce bug:
 1.open link in any AIR desktop application
 Results: zombie xdg-open process for every link opened.
 Expected results:Certainly not the dawn of the dead.

Feels good to have contributed to such a big application, can't say any bug reports I've filed with other projects in the past were as significant in terms of people affected.

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Is Drupal right for me?

Justin — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 11:26:29 +0000

If you find yourself asking the above question, I hope to help you find the answer. In this post I'm going to look at what Drupal does well, and what some of it's competitors do better. I will not focus so much on what Drupal does that it's competitors don't do, because if I did, my post would be obsolete within a month. Everyone is emulating Drupal.

Drupal is beastly. I mean that in a literal sense. If you threw Drupal in a pit with all the other content management systems out there, I'm pretty sure Drupal would come out on top. Drupal is a very powerful system, but as Spiderman taught me, with great power, comes great responsibility. What I mean is, if you can't or are unwilling to put the time in to learn the ins and outs of Drupal, you probably won't be very impressed with what is otherwise an excellent piece of software.

So why would you choose it? Read on to find out...

The Good Stuff

Community

Well, for starters, you won't find another CMS out there that is as well supported by its own community as Drupal. I think their approach to keeping all things Drupal-related centrally organized at one online location (drupal.org) is the best thing they ever could have done. Need a module? Drupal.org. Need a theme? Drupal.org. Need some advice/help? Drupal.org. Basically, anything you could possibly need for Drupal is only one URL away. They allow module and theme developers to store their work on Drupal's CVS servers, and every project has an issue tracker as well. The only other free CMS that I've personally used that even comes close to this nucleus-approach is Wordpress, but there is still a lot of splintering going on there.

Scalability

I can say with confidence that nothing scales as well as Drupal, that's free anyway. There are a lot of high-profile sites using Drupal these days, including Ubuntu, The Onion, The New York Observer, Warner Brothers' Records, even the Grateful Dead (I'm sure Jerry would approve!). And many more.

Why are they using Drupal? Well, quite simply... nothing else performs as well under load, that's why. Take this comparison with Joomla, for example. It's pretty clear who wins. And I've seen more than enough "Wordpress could not connect to the database" errors after someone's poor blog gets linked on Digg or Slashdot. Not so many with Drupal.

Drupal comes with a very powerful caching system (it must be enabled first) that is miles ahead of the contributed modules for Wordpress, which you must first find out about and install yourself.

Extendability

I touched on modules and themes in the Community section. For almost anything you can think of, there is probably already a Drupal module built to do it. And if there isn't, you'll find Drupal's well-documented API is a big help in creating it yourself, if you're so inclined. And creating themes with the powerful templating engine is a snap too.

User-Management

Drupal was designed from the outset for building online communities mainly, and this is what it does best to this day. The permission and user-privilege structure is second to none. You can create as many user-roles as you want and give them granular access to every module and its various functions.

OK, what's the catch?

By now, you're probably wondering what (if anything) Drupal isn't that great for. While I feel Drupal can be very easily adapted to anything your mind can dream up, there are some cases where a much simpler solution will suffice. Drupal is very complex, and for such things as personal or small-group blogs and websites, pretty much akin to using a nuclear bomb where a good hammer will do just fine. If all you want is a simple blog, and don't plan to extend it very much, Wordpress is recommended. If you want a rich site filled with lots of different types of content, Drupal is the best tool for the job.

If you want a CMS your grandma could manage, you won't find it in Drupal (or, I'd venture to guess 90% or more of every other CMS out there, but there are certainly easier ones).

In the end, it all comes down to what you're comfortable with, so I highly suggest giving Drupal, as well as other content management systems a try to see what works best for you, and use this as a guide.

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Comment RSS feeds for everyone!

Justin — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 07:20:10 +0000

I went and installed the Comment RSS module so you can all enjoy subscriptions to active comment feeds. I'm sure those following my religious debates will appreciate it.

If you don't know what RSS is, don't worry about it. You probably won't think you're missing much.

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Atheism and Christmas

Justin — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 03:05:02 +0000

Yup, I am talking about religion again. This time I would like to share the fact that, despite my belief that there is no higher power(s), despite the fact that I am by no means a Christian (not anymore, anyway), I still celebrate Christmas. And I will tell you why: You do not have to be a Christian to enjoy quality time with your family. You don't even need a holiday as an excuse for it either, but whatever gets people to treat each other a little nicer for a couple months a year is OK with me.

So maybe I should not say I celebrate Christmas, maybe I should call it something else... who's to say. But I think we can all agree that this holiday has transcended religious boundaries in modern times and is simply a time of year that we should all enjoy and cherish. I call it Christmas because that's how I was raised and it is tradition for me, but you can call it whatever you like. Please, post your thoughts.

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Followup on my web server

Justin — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 04:33:43 +0000

Just a followup on this post I made a little while back about my plans for replacing my web server. I replaced it about 2 weeks ago now and I am only now getting around to writing about it. What can I say? I've been busy.

I used old parts I had laying around because I really couldn't justify spending money on a new server at this point in time but still felt I needed it. This was a compromise. I ended up with this:

P4 2.6ghz with hyper-threading
1gb (2gb soon) DDR-400
40gb system drive
160gb data drive

It seems like only a modest improvement over what I had before, but it is definitely noticeable. The improvement is most apparent with VMware Server, which I am using to host 4 virtual servers concurrently to handle other websites I host. I am still running my own sites on the hyper-visor.

The coolest thing about getting the new server though is that I now have a fully redundant backup in the old server. I use shell scripts and cron to keep the web root, Apache configuration, and databases synchronized. I could have used MySQL replication, but in the end I determined it to be of little value to me relative to the difficulty of setting up and maintaining it. I'll post my scripts below for others to use, should they have similar ideas. Sorry, had to gzip them, Drupal was throwing 403's with the shell files.

In conclusion, I didn't end up with a shiny new server, but at least this one is newer, and outperforms it's predecessor by a healthy margin.

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The hypocrisy of atheism

Justin — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 04:50:58 +0000

I'd like to share a recent... revelation? New insight? Sudden outbreak of common sense? Whatever you want to call it, I have recently decided that I shall no longer identify myself as an atheist. To anyone that has ever asked me about my religious inclinations, that has been my response, but I have realized that it does not truly fit my beliefs and what I think is right.

Atheists are, for the most part, hypocrites. Any "atheist" who is not should probably call themselves agnostic instead. The same people who constantly criticize Christians, or Mormons, or <insert _religion_here> for trying to force their beliefs down everyones' throats are essentially doing the same thing by telling them there is no god. Admit it, whether you like it or not, you are still engaging in something like a form of theism by not believing in a higher power, and then being just as much of a jerk by telling those that do believe that they are wrong and you are right. I do not believe in that, I believe in tolerance. I think everyone should be free to practice any religion they choose, believe in any god(s) they want, even the Flying Spaghetti Monster, if they are so inclined, as long as they are not stepping on anyone else's toes in so doing. By engaging in the anti-religious practices that I see many so-called atheists doing these days, you are no better than the Jehovah's Witnesses that wake me up at the crack of dawn to talk about god.

For now on, if anyone asks me, I will instead tell them I am tolerant, not atheist. And I ask other atheists to really think about this and what you are standing for. It is not right to force someone to believe in something, and it is not fair to tell them not to in response. Unless we're talking Scientology... but that is a subject for a different day :)

Update: It seems I may have inadequately expressed my message here. Let me state that I do not believe it is wrong to criticize others beliefs. It was pointed out to me that if that were the case, many things in our society would fail... politics, economics, etc, which I generally tend to agree with. I did not intend to impart on anyone that criticism was a bad thing, what I am trying to say is that it is no one else's place to interfere with another's beliefs so long as those beliefs do not include bringing harm to others.

Update 2: To all those following the comments on this post, I now have comment RSS feeds enabled (here's the feed for this post), so you may subscribe to those to get the latest comments right away in your feed reader.

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An alternate theory on laptop security

Justin — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 18:03:45 +0000

I was talking about the subject of laptop security with a friend the other week and I presented an alternative model to the current trend that security-minded folk are taking now, which I wanted to share here as well.

Currently, most corporations are doing their best to secure their field laptops, and laptops that employees take home with them, and this same technology is trickling down to consumers as well. One doesn't have to search for very long to find examples of stolen laptops that have lead to major security breaches within companies large and small, and even more worryingly, governments. The solutions being championed today are full disk encryption, fingerprint scanners (I won't even get into how much of a false sense of security these things give right now), and security software to tie it all together. Don't have the right fingerprint? There's a good chance the computer won't even finish booting.

While all this is well and good, and mostly effective, in that it would prevent a thief from accessing the data on the laptop, you've given him a useless laptop. And that could be the fatal flaw of the whole system. You've secured your notebook so that the important data on it will be inaccessible. Chances are, you still want this data back. Most laptop thieves probably aren't aware of any sensitive data stored on the laptop they've just stolen. If he can't even use that laptop though, what's he going to do with it? He's going to sell it, further complicating recovery, or he's simply going to trash it. To a big company, this probably doesn't matter all that much, laptops are easy to replace, and any IT department worth its salt will have backups of sensitive and important data. But what if you're a student whose laptop just got stolen, and your final term papers are all on it. Chances are, you're not in any position to just replace something as expensive as a laptop, and you NEED those term papers.

Instead of completely locking down the laptop, and making it useless to anyone that steals it, I propose that you welcome them. Create a guest account, most operating systems have options for them, and they're usually restricted enough not to do harm. Of course, you should still use encryption software to protect your own files. Why would you want someone else using your stolen laptop though? Because you want them to get nice and comfortable using it, to give you plenty of time to track them down with the software you previously installed on the laptop that either lets you remotely login to it, or reports its current IP to a server you can check. Both methods have been used to great effect in recovering stolen laptops, often before the police can even look into it. For tracking by IP, there's LoJack for Laptops (Win or Mac), or Adeona (all platforms, and free). And you've got the standard remote access solutions such as Microsoft RDP, VNC, Apple Remote Desktop, etc.

This obviously isn't going to stop someone who just wants to pawn off your laptop to someone else, but hopefully somewhere along the line, someone actually sits down and uses your laptop long enough for you to find out where it is and report it to the police, so you can get it back.

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My next web server

Justin — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 05:17:24 +0000

I think I'm long past due replacing my current web server with something more capable and powerful. While my current server does its job well, I'd like to expand it's roles and for that, I need beefier hardware. Currently, I am considering using virtualization to provide virtual servers for everything I need, rather than exposing the "bare-metal" to the internet. Right now I'm not completely sure on what hypervisor/virtualization software to use, but will most likely use something from VMware, specifically, VMware Server or VMware ESXi, both of which are free. There's also Xen and KVM to consider.

There are several advantages to using virtual "appliances", the biggest for me being:

Security - Each service is contained within it's own VM, security breaches are thus limited. The physical hardware is protected because it is not exposed directly to the internet.
Portability - VMs are easy to migrate from one machine to another. With some software, it is even possible to do so live (with the OS running).
Backups - Backing up a VM is as simple as performing a snapshot of its current configuration. No more messing with scripts to backup databases and web folders.

My current server has no problem hosting 2 live VMs, so the hardware requirements aren't too bad. I could use old parts I've got, but to get the most out of it, better hardware is needed. I expect a $500 hardware budget is reasonable.

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"I assure you, the rumours of my death are greatly exaggerated"

Justin — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 06:02:41 +0000

I'll post here again someday soon, life's a little crazy at the moment.

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Working nights is the second best cure for insomnia

Justin — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 10:43:59 +0000

I work night shift now, 4-5 nights a week. My shift runs from 10pm, until 6am, with three breaks: two half-hour breaks at 12:00 and 2:00, and a 15-minute break at 4:00.

I don' think I've ever slept so soundly since I was ~~young~~ a kid (guess I still am young), this job leaves me completely drained by the end of the night. Unfortunately, it's taking away time from a lot of other things I enjoy, like hanging out with my girlfriend and other friends, writing on this blog, coding up silly little projects for the hell of it, staying up until the early hours of the morning playing games. You get the picture.

Ah well, college doesn't pay for itself, and I don't want to take out any student loans. Oh, speaking of money... my first paycheck couldn't possibly come soon enough... I've accrued quite a list of things i basically have to buy, like a new cellphone to replace the one that got washed with my clothes, or a new pair of headphones so I don't go crazy listening to that elevator music crap they play at work. Fun times, I tell ya...

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