Older blog entries for taw (starting at number 2)

Testing RHN stuff

Testing testing testing. Fixed an errata fetching bug found in the server code. The new client seems not to be using it, but, since it is "better" than the old client code, it needed to be fixed. NOTE: I hate SQL.

Did lots more testing though one never does enough.

Fixed daemon

Fixed the way one of our daemons gets serviced. I.e., added pretty [ok]/[failure] messages upon things like server xxx restart. Added restart! And status options. Neat stuff. Never did this before... kinda a hack, but oh well. It works.

Working on shelve2.py

shelve2.py as mentioned before allows you to have nearly any object as a shelve key. Unfortunately, cPickle doesn't always store the dumps result the same way in every case with the same object. This is bad. I spent some time trying to find the answer... well... I didn't. I looked at the C code (4.5K lines) and decided to send a message to comp.lang.python. I wrote a nice pickle test that illustrates the problem. You can download it here: pickleTest.py.

pickleTest.py illustrates how dumps(<object>) and dumps(loads(dumps(<object>))) can yield differing results (with cPickle), though they shouldn't!

National Guard this past weekend

For some time now, I have been in search of a decent tank unit (I moved from Ohio in February). Not only do I need a tank unit here in NC, I need one that has an open Tank Commander spot. So far I have met with much resistance. I am the outsider that threatens established NCOs who are gearing up for promotion. *sigh* There is no way around it... I am being threatened with administrative demotion, though I think I can fight it. We'll see. Luckily my old unit is giving me plenty of time to work things out. Oh well, at least I got to play with tanks this past weekend.

We'll have to see if I can get into this public diary concept. I have kept a journal here and there before, but this is... interesting. It will probably suffice as a way to keep track of my day to day activities sans private stuff. Anyway...

Monica goes home:

Saw Monica off to Ohio early this morning. She'll be gone for 10 days... I have a bachelor pad for 10 days!

need more sleep:

I had a nasty headache and therefore slept for the most of the day. I haven't been getting enough sleep anyway. I have National Guard tomorrow though, so I need a bit of rest.

work and shelve2.py:

Wandered into work this evening. I needed to complete this report generating crap that has been overcomplicating my life recently. It is overcomplicating things at work namely due to the fact that... it's overly complicated! I should just toss out all the code and start fresh, but that would be... painful.

Wrote a Python module that wraps around shelve. It allows you to make a mini database with any serializable object as a key. Very powerful for small databases (i.e. persistent objects). Unfortunately, there appears to be some weirdness with the cPickle version of pickle, so I have to use pickle instead which is MUCH slower. The really nasty part is that I am having difficulty replicating the error as misa pointed out to me in an email. Oi!

trying to find time to...

Things on my todo list:

sleep more often.

spend more time with Monica.

hit the gym every day.

buy a new machine, network Monica's to mine Probably make her piece of junk just an X-term.

get high-speed connectivity already!

finish xboids the xscreensaver boid plug in. It has to be written in C which I really need to brush up on.

more hacks... trying to boost my GUI skills, and other knowledge.

First entry... talking to myself.