Nothing about Everything

Information on setting xen with NAT in debian lenny is scattered over the internet. One resource mention about patching some files. This guide is for people who want to do the setup with the most minimal change to debian default setup. 1. In /etc/xen/xen-config.sxp, comment (put # in front of) the "(network-script network-dummy)" and "(vif-script vif-bridge)". Comment out (erase # in front of) the "(network-script network-nat)" and "(vif-script vif-nat)". 2. Put "brctl addbr $2" after the line saying "echo $*". Then put "ifconfig $2 xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx" at the end of the file, where xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx is a local static IP address. 3. Set up your dhcp server accordingly by have it listen to the interface, the default is xenbr0. The ip of xenbr0 will be automatically set to xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx from step 2 above. Restart your dhcp server if necessary. 4. Run your xen image. 5. Then restart ipmasq by running /etc/init.d/ipmasq...

I thought I should write this down and let it be public knowledge before I forgot. There are many ways suggested in internet but none works for me. Install ttf-sazanami-gothic, which can be done by running "apt-get install ttf-sazanami-gothic".

Based on the information scattered here and there, if you want to use postgresql with Ruby on Rails on Debian/Ubuntu, you can use 2 approaches: The first approach based on various places and experiment is 1. Set adapter of database.yml to postgresql. 2. Install postgresql-server-dev-?.? (?.? = 8.3 in Debian Lenny). 3. Install the pg gem with "gem install pg" The above approach has been tested. Another approach based on http://www.williamchu.com/blog/?p=9 1. Set adapter of database.yml to jdbcpostgresql 2. Install the activerecord-jdbcpostgresql-adapter with "gem install activerecord-jdbcpostgresql-adapter jdbc-postgres " I don't bother to test this approach since it's using jdbc, which means another layer of complexity. But this might be useful if you use JRuby. In addition, this approach should work on other linux distro.

Since I noticed some people experienced the same problem, and the solution to this is scattered into multiple posts/comments, I'll just integrate it here. Basically if you install ruby 1.9 (or probably other versions) from source in Debian based distribution (like Ubuntu), the zlib part of Ruby won't be installed. This problem will reveal itself when you want to install Rubygems, for example Rails for Ruby on Rails. The solution is: 1. Clean up all that failed compiled files in the directory where you run "make". Just to be on the safe side. 2. Install zlib headers (zlib1g-dev in Debian Lenny) using your distro package manager. 2a. While you're at it, also install ssl headers (libssl-dev in Debian Lenny) using your distro package manager. 3. Run "./configure", "make", "make install". 4. Run "./configure", "make", "make install" again. It should work then. In my understanding, the problem is caused by Ruby...

Today almost 80% of my employees are holding a strike. The cause was pretty simple, one old employee who had a pretty bad track record was.. verbally disciplined. For whatever reason, he couldn't accept that reprimand so he told his work friends. Now, some of those friends were talented provocators (really. they were pretty good..) . I had awared of them since years ago but they behave well enough so... They coordinate a strike bringing almost 80% of them. The detail is rather sketchy since I wasn't present when the incidence happen. I'll update later. But one thing for sure, I now have a reasonable basis to fire those provocators. Yay! But now I must deal with some future consequences... *sigh*

Have you heard the story of boiling frog? Taken from wikipedia: "The boiling frog story states that a frog can be boiled alive if the water is heated slowly enough — it is said that if a frog is placed in boiling water, it will jump out, but if it is placed in cold water that is slowly heated, it will never jump out." This blog told me about a decision of a major ISP in Indonesia to censor the controversial fitna film. Regardless of whether that movie deserved to be ban or not, I fear that this censorship is the beginning of boiling frog phenomenon. The justification for the next censorships will be more and more ridiculous that it won't take too long for Indonesia returning to a police state again.. And I do think that the censorship decision is ridiculous. Yes it is probably important to ban this movie in Europe where a majority or people in power are not moslem, because the hatred towards moslem induced by that film put many minority moslems in trouble. But in Ind...