Change directories faster with zsh
Something I didn’t know until recently: zsh does not require cd to change directories. Using the directory as a command implies “cd”. For example, instead of doing:...
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Use Linux to build win32 installers for Python apps
A python-based project I’m working on has a win32 user that I need to support. Until yesterday I’ve been moving to a win32 laptop in order to run python setup.py bdist_wininst so I can...
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Making perl unit tests easier to run in emacs
It’s a hassle to have to switch from emacs to the shell, run unit tests, pick out the failure, switch back to emacs, navigate to the line, forget where you were supposed to go, switch back, etc...
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Make apt-get use an alternate sources.list
Since my company’s product is based on ubuntu, we use apt to distribute upgrades. We don’t normally want customers to pull upgrades from the upstream distribution, so we’ve pruned...
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An Interesting pid File Race
ISC’s dhcpd uses this code to check for an already-running daemon:
/* Read previous pid file. */
if ((i = open (path_dhcpd_pid, O_RDONLY)) >= 0) {
status = read (i, pbuf, (sizeof pbuf)...
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Using Lenny to Build Jaunty Packages
<shameless_plug>
I’m in the middle of putting together packages for the analog call generator my startup is building.
</shameless_plug>
The process for building debian packages...
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zsh history expansion
Exploring zsh features made me want to figure out some of the history-editing wizardry. (Bash has similar history tricks, I just never bothered to dive too deeply into them.)
If you want to...
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Data vs Code
I’ll take an array over a giant switch-case statement any day.
The array definition will be more compact and easier to see all at once.
Defining actions in an array enforces uniformity.
You...
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Set Your zsh Prompt
Since the beginning of time, all the cool kids have had really cool shell prompts. It's a great place to display helpful information, and zsh has features that let you have a flexible, informative,...
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Insist on Automatic Tests
At some point your team is going to be gone. Not all at once (well, maybe, but in that case you won’t care), but over time turnover will completely replace your team.
If you are the manager,...
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New HTML Parser: The long-awaited libxml2 based HTML parser code is live. It needs further work but already handles most markup better than the original parser.
Keep up with the latest Advogato features by reading the Advogato status blog.
If you're a C programmer with some spare time, take a look at the mod_virgule project page and help us with one of the tasks on the ToDo list!
