Older blog entries for srl (starting at number 114)

Was up late last night working on a release candidate for Net::ICal. Discovered that the nifty Sourceforge data sucker that LotR wrote is now broken--- basically, it's a screen-scraper that lets you generate your BUGS list from the list that's on Sourceforge. I think SF changed their data format; I don't think the code was broken when it was committed. Gee, I wish they'd provide clean data export hooks to their system.

Anyway, I spent a while trying to coerce LotR's module into giving me a BUGS list, then gave up. Prepared a release candidate version of Net::ICal so that Skud and Simon will have something to talk about today. Earlier in the day, worked with Rich on Date::ICal, helping him figure out how to rework the internals. Date::ICal has a new version out (1.20); Rich has been great in working on it while he's at TPC/OSCon.

Went to bed at 2:30, then got up at 7:30 to bike to work and do it all again. I think I'm getting closer to my goal of 5 roundtrip bike commutes a week; this week I'll probably make it to 4, if I'm lucky. (That's 100 miles a week, which I know isn't a lot really, but it's a lot for me.)

Been hacking at Net::ICal the last few days, trying to get a releasable version out in time for Skud and Simon's talk at TPC/OSCon. Other than that, not much. I'm still here.

jfleck: Bravo. That's a great entry.

software

Still working on that release-management and configuration tool at work. Writing tests for Net::ICal in my spare time, trying to get things working so we can get a snapshot release out. Oh, and sleep and bike-commute too somewhere in there.

Wow, time seems to just disappear, and suddenly I've not written in a week. Much has been going on.

Reefknot

So, I had this brainstorm about a timezone server--- a web service, probably XML-RPC, that I can ask questions like, "I think it's noon. What timezone am I most likely in?" or "When's my next Daylight Savings Time shift?". Reefknot could use that.

We've all been running scared from timezones--- they're Hard to deal with in a sane way. For one thing, every platform that Perl runs on handles timezones differently--- a web service would reduce some of that complexity. This idea looks interesting enough that I want to make it work though--- as well as figuring out in my own mind whether web services are really useful or just The Next Big Buzzword.

So, I poked around with Damon Chaplin's Olsen->VTIMEZONE conversions, which give useful data for accomplishing the functions I want. That means I'll end up writing Timezone.pm, which we've (also) all been throwing up our hands and running away from.

Read a post from Miguel about why not to run away from scary technical problems. That provided me with some energy. Now all I have to do is focus it.

In fact, focusing the energy into a release right now would be Really Good. All I have to do is find some time.

YAPC::Boston 2002

So, I seem to be cat-herding volunteers for the idea of a YAPC in Boston next year. I've been meeting interesting people and talking to them about finding space at a college in Boston where geeks can have a conference. If you want to help, mail me. (Or even if you just know someone in Boston who could help us find space.)

Other things

Rearranged our home office/server room/rackspace this weekend. That's a large task, especially the first time. Hence, not enough time for Reefknot. Such is life. Oh, and I've been biking, which is making me happy.

Spent yesterday at Damian Conway's Advanced OOP class, which was really interesting. Got a new set of ideas and some inspiration, which is always good. Now to get my home network to behave again, so I can actually hack on those ideas.

I've also begun to collect volunteers who are interested in organizing the YAPC conference in Boston next year. I don't really want to be the chief cat-herd of that event, but it may yet happen. (If you're in Boston and want to know more, particularly if you have ideas for colleges who'd be good for hosting it, or if you know of good corporate sponsors, mail me.)

Listening to Who is Jill Scott?. Good stuff. I recommend it highly. Bought the New Riders book on Vim, and I'm absorbing it slowly.

It was a weekend of hacking. More work on Reefknot, some hardware hacking (rebuilding my firewall, mmm). Went to a Boston.pm barbecue and saw lots of people.

Hm, I seem to be feeling unusually terse today. Ah well. cwinters, come play with us. :)

Worked on Reefknot some more--- trying to convince Date::ICal to do the right thing. I'm working on an automated deployment system at work, so that we can use a consistent process to make developer sandboxes, staging servers, and production servers. Other than that, nothing much is going on.

Hacked a little this weekend, but mostly spent it hanging out with friends. Recruited some new potential Reefknot people, tried to get Time.pm and its tests to work (yet again). Bought a bike computer, which is proving to be interesting for comparing my day-to-day rides. Other than that, nothing much.

Reefknot

Worked on Net::ICal some more last night, trying to make sure that my integration patches for Date::ICal are working properly. Chatted with Schwern for a while on the API for Date::More and on automated testing. Committed patches and tests that I think make Net::ICal::Time saner. One file down, 10 or so to go. If you like testing and QA, or if you're just looking for somewhere to help out, mail me, we could use you.

Work

Packaging our internally-developed modules into CPAN-style packages, migrating from RCS to CVS, and thinking about automated testing of lots of homegrown Perl modules. Mmm, release management.

Worked on Date::ICal last night, adding a compare() function to it, and started trying to make Net::ICal inherit from Date::ICal in the right ways. Next up: finish that, work on testing.

Doing some cool stuff at work with our Perl modules there--- setting up tests and proper Makefile.PLs for the ad-hack modules we have lying around. Starting to think about how to do release management in a Perl development shop. It's fun.

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