Wherein I write some stuff that you may like to read. Or not, its up to you really.
Python’s setuptools is able to build source distributions from Subversion and CVS. But thanks to the wonders of plugins, and in particular the setuptools_hg plugin, you can now build a Python source package using setuptools from a Mercurial repository.
I’ve just added a couple of plugins to this here blog, in preference to writing something useful, can you do me a favour and leave me a comment. In it you can tell me if the funky new preview functionality works for you or not.
And if you are using Internet Explorer 6 you should be seeing a yellow bar at the top of the page. Shame on you and let me know, because then I will know that the plugin is working and I can remove you from my address book. Double bubble.
Just to prove that I am doing things even when I’m not posting here I am leaving my mark on the internet at these other places as well;
And you never know, I may actually post something technical here in the near future.
I have packaged and released version 0.2.4 of gerald. This is a minor release with a couple of little features and some documentation and admin updates. You can find all of the details in the CHANGELOG.txt file that comes with the source distribution (or view it here) but in a nutshell the changes from the last release are;
Please download, install and enjoy. Bug reports or tumultuous praise to the usual address please.
This isn’t going to be news to any Oracle DBAs reading this. So if you are one, can I suggest you move along quickly to the next item in your feed reader.
Anyone left is hopefully curious like I was to figure out the difference between ‘traditional’ oracle initialisation files (init.ora) and the new fangled server parameter files (sp files). Well wonder no further fair reader for I can explain all.
Prior to Oracle 9.2 (a long time ago in Oracle database years) it was only possible to permanently effect the configuration parameters of your database by changing the init.ora file and restarting your database instance. You could make changes whilst the database was running by using the ‘ALTER SYSTEM SET’ command but these would be lost the next time your database was restarted because the startup process would use the values in your init.ora file. This meant that any instance tuning would require some informed ‘twiddling’ by the DBA to settle on a suitable value for an instance parameter and that would then be followed by a restart, causing anyone using the database to be mightily inconvenienced.
With the introduction of server parameter files in 9.2 and above changes made interactively (using ‘ALTER SYSTEM SET’) are automatically persisted. This is because whenever a change is made this way it is automagically written to your spfile.
This article has a much more comprehensive description of the differences between the two different types of files. One of the useful things it mentions is the resolution order the database server uses to select an initialisation file on startup. This is;
Tick another thing off the list of ‘stuff that has been bothering me and I need to figure out’.
I’m currently in the foyer of the Sydney Masonic Centre setting up the registration desk for the Open Source Developer’s Conference 2008.
It may be late notice but if you want to see keynotes by Larry Wall, Chris DiBona, Anthony Baxter and Pia Waugh, not to mention interesting talks by another sixty or so speakers, you can still register up to the official conference opening tomorrow morning. More details can be found on the conference web site. Come and say hello if you make it.
Early bird registration for The Open Source Developers’ Conference 2008 is now open.
OSDC 2008 is a conference run by open source developers, for developers and business people. It covers numerous programming languages across a rangeof operating systems, and related topics such as business processes, licensing, and strategy. Talks vary from introductory pieces through to the deeply technical. This year we have an exciting selection of presenters and keynote speakers including:
Check out the draft program: http://www.osdc.com.au/2008/papers/
Please visit http://www.osdc.com.au/2008/registration/ to register. Early bird registration closes on the 27th October, 2008.
For more information about this event, please visit: http://www.osdc.com.au/.
Instructions: Take a picture of yourself right now. Don’t change your clothes, don’t fix your hair – just take a picture. Post that picture with NO editing. Post these instructions with the picture.
Hat tip – Steve Holden and Simon Brunning
I’m a big fan of Vimoutliner and use it for a variety of tasks. I recently managed to break my installation and thought I would document it here for future reference. Vimoutliner comes with a couple of plugins to support checkboxes next to items (for easy to do lists) and a technique called ‘hoisting’. Somehow in one of my frequent updates to my configuration I had lost support for both of these features.
It turns out that there is a small difference between the default configuration for Vimoutliner and the way I set up my Vim environment. By convention extension scripts for Vim are stored in a ‘plugin’ directory under your Vim home (which is ~/.vim by default) and that is where, amongst others, I had place vo_checkbox.vim and vo_hoist.vim. But for reasons known only to itself I have just discovered that Vimoutliner looks for extension scripts in a directory called ‘plugins’ (notice the plural). So a quick directory add and a couple of svn move‘s later and I was back in business.
I have packaged and released version 0.2.3 of gerald. This is mainly a tidy up and bug fix release, with numerous additional unit tests. You can find all of the details in the CHANGELOG.txt file that comes with the source distribution (or view it here) but in a nutshell the changes from the last release are;
Please download, install and enjoy. Bug reports or tumultuous praise to the usual address please.
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