Older blog entries for josh (starting at number 51)

I'm currently finishing up a script which interacts with the rpm database (via the python bindings) and utilizes various pieces of data to create the necessary files for Solaris pkgs. It's both cool and hacky at the same time.

Internal discussions at work are bringing me down a bit. Opinions coming from certain people are surprising. I really mis-read many of them.

Gnome 2

I was able to download/build/install it today on my 2nd laptop via the vicious-build-scripts so I look forward to using it a bit tomorrow. If things go fairly smoothly, I'll put it on my main laptop for everyday use.

Hacking

Unfortunately, none to speak of though I have some ideas which will hopefully see the light of day...

So, I'm writing this entry in Jericho but it's not the Java version. This part is in Jython. I've been looking at Jython the last few days and I'm really impressed so far. It has taken a couple of Swing classes down from 150 LOC to 35 without losing any functionality.

The key, of course, is to find uses for it at work so it won't just be another hacking language for me.

Another xml-rpc test but this time from Java.

Just a quick test from a xml-rpc. Better content here later

Put together a release of 0.7 of Jericho. It had been a bit since anyone had worked on the code but then all of a sudden, a couple of us hacked some good stuff...

There's still plenty to do and I'm looking to write an Advogato plugin which would allow you to post to Advogato from the app. That might be interesting...

Work

Ugh.. That's been my main quote for the past couple of weeks. The last few days I've been braving the wilds of rpm on Solaris. We are definitely not in Kansas anymore, Toto...

Heh. Sure the script downloads the right rpms but it doesn't do anything about new dependencies. I see now that I really need to make this more intelligent so it can utilize the xml files on the ftp site and then query the rpm db on a box to know if you need something.

Work

It sucked today. Nothing more to say than that.

So, I was tired of only getting 4kb/sec when I used Red Carpet, so I threw together a quick Python script which grabs the latest snapshot from the Ximian ftp site.

Of course, I wanted to get a Rube Goldberg-ish as possible so I'm reading the packageinfo.xml.gz file and then walking through the xml to get the correct filenames. Then I download those.

I think I'll use some of the rpm bindings for Python to automatically install the rpms as well... Hmm.. That would be fun..

I'll post the script when I'm done but if you want to see it earlier, just drop me a line.

Getting ready to move some modules from one machine to another so I've spent the last few hours documenting what needs to be done. It should be fairly smooth but of course, things always seem to go haywire when you get lax on preparation.

I was up in SF last week to do a presentation for our engineering group but I wish I could have rescheduled it to this week so I could have also snuck to LinuxWorld. Oh well, maybe next time.

I got commit privs to the Alexandria project the other day. The only work that was really being done was something in the 'proposal' section. I put together a few patches and before I knew it, I had commit access and people started to discuss things on the mailing list again. Woo!

Jericho

Added a few Manila methods to the code but nothing in the GUI yet. Hopefully I'll have more time tomorrow after the move is done.

I've created a new project on Sourceforge called Jericho which is both a Java GUI and library to interact with various Weblog servers that have XML-RPC interfaces. Currently, it only supports Blogger but I'm hoping to add Manila over the next couple of days.

Work

Been busy trying to get various automated builds/installs setup. Not quite as easy as I had hoped but over the next few days, all should be ready.

Things are interesting as pieces of a future architecture are being shown. There is always the danger of wanting to move full speed ahead to the new arch but I think we have set fairly realistic goals for how we can get there.

Civil

I've made it through almost the entire mail archive as well as going through the code. I have a list of things to post to the mailing list. Of course, that would mean that I have the time to do so. Thank goodness vacation is coming up...

Welcome back leonardr! Next time, write your password down...

Work

Set up continual builds so that every hour, our codebase can be checked out and built. Obviously, this isn't earth shattering but hopefully it will help developers keep an eye on their commits. I still have some things that I want to set up so hopefully I'll get a chance soon.

I head up to SF next week