February 3, 2010 by jerome
This might sound trivial to a lot of us – but i find it so useful so often… Maybe you have other practice for such use – just let me know!
Zip let’s you archive a whole directory wiht many subdirectories and files inside in one convenient file. It’s usually done trough the OS UI by simply right clicking on a directory and selecting compress or archive this from the contextual menu.
When you want to download an archive of a website or any files online it is sometimes a lot more effective and convenient to just use the same zip archive. Unfortunately FTP programms wont let you do any such thing – so you have to bypass – if you are the lucky user of a server with an SSH access nothing is simpler:
connect to the server using the terminal:
ssh username@myserver.com
insert the password
navigate to the top of the directory you want to archive
type:
zip -r archiveFileName directoryName
* this will archive the content of directoryName into a zip file called archiveFileName; -r stands for recursive
** according to the number and size of the files in your archive, the compressing can take very long – i like to have it running on a second screen exactly like an activity monitoring device of the server life – sort of an electronic presence of the machine.
*** you can then move the zip file around, transfert it to another ftp or use it locally – unzip command will let you un pack the archive and access the files.
**** if you are using fuse – don’t think the conextual menu is the best solution: you would be using zip on your computer and would download each files to be compressed on your local machine, and doing the compression on the distant disk. Latency time for read and write access will be HUGE. Chances are your are going to kill a couple of processes on your own machine, at best this will take ages (like in days). Just use the ssh via the terminal and all the compression task will happen on the distant server, leaving your computer free of sluggish clogging.
Tags: cli, electronic presence, terminal, webserver | Comments (0)
December 19, 2009 by jerome
* just came (again) across an issue spotted some times ago we didn’t solve at that time – if you don’t know what we are talking about you might like to read this post: On WordPress image resizing that explains visually the issue:
When using the auto generated images from wordpress, they are completely desatured compared to the original uploaded images.
The only way we found was to actually use images without any profile. You will have to edit your images in your favourites image editing software without any profile.
Photoshop users: Edit > Assign Profile > Don’t Color Manage This Document > Ok
Profiles are used to optimise image according to the medium they are displayed with.
Wordpress use imagecopyresampled from the PHP GD Library to generate the thumbnails (thumb, medium, large). GD is a sort of library that extends PHP language and allow it to manipulate image data in a simple way; unfortunately GD does not support profiles and any profile submited within an image will not only be ignored but also discarded.
** i would happilly receive any recommendation for image editing alternative on OSX, eventually open source (dont tell me Gimp) and procedure to discard profiles…
*** the Images look faded topic on WP forum being closed, we thought it might be helpful to someone else…
Tags: generated, images, resize, saturation, thumbnail, wordpress | Comments (0)
November 13, 2009 by jerome
The Go Programming Language.
* this is big; if you are into programming languages or at least keen on discovering new languages. This is the latest addition by Google rooted into Plan9 via Inferno. I am really keen on discovering more about it – even if just by curiosity and no particular projects. I think Plan 9 conception of computers as communication hub is brilliant and perfectly fit our no-yet-so current conception of the internet (read: electronci presence) – and thus any grand children of this very conception helps things happen/evolve a bit faster…
** give to Mike what “belongs” to him: Mike found out about the Plan 9 familly roots.
Tags: electronic presence, language | Comments (0)
July 3, 2008 by jerome
With WordPress 2.5 came a new way of handling files upload: the image gallery. Very neat and simple to use. One single issue made it so far a pain in the bum for me: for some reason, some times, it was impossible to use the button ‘Insert into Post’.
Firebug was indicating that the AJAX call was left with no answer – it is apparently related with server configuration – this happen all the time and it’s a real problem when developing on a shared hosting machine; I had these issues on a shared hosted account at IX web hosting and I still have to test on a DreamHost account to see if it solves this issue there too.
I finally found out a solution for my WP 2.5.1 installation:
Thanks to Otto42 on the WP forum, after following the whole discussion – i had to edit my .htaccess and add the following lines.
<IfModule mod_security.c>
SecFilterEngine Off
SecFilterScanPOST Off
</IfModule>
The ‘.htaccess’ file provides additional configuration instruction to the Apache server, specific for the files accessed in the same directory where it is located – in this case it should be the root directory of your WP installation, if you have no .htaccess file you can just create one and call it this way, with the dot in front of the name: it means the file will be hidden using http, but you still can see it trough ftp – when downloading this file, if your are on a Mac OS X, the file will not be listed in the directory, but it still is there, it is just hidden.
* Please note that disabling mod_security apparently opens wide door to comment and referrer spam, and possibly nastier attack of other forms.
Tags: gallery, image, insert, upload, wordpress | Comments (0)
April 3, 2008 by pierre
Jérôme did a nice use of the pilcrow sign in the Disclosures programme, we were discussing this with him and Martine a few days ago before going to the opening of the exhibition.
Being an amateur unicode explorer I was familiar with the wikipedia entry on sir U+00B6. Recently Jonathan Hoefler wrote an article* that very nicely updated what I knew about it. One of the thing I did not know was that it came from a “c” and not a “p”, this prompted us to the word “caragraphs”, the new official terms in lingonest for those block of text that sometime cannot afford white lines to separate them.
* being a perverse automator, I particularly like Jonathan Hoefler “8 fundamental questions that inform the space of the pilcrow” and the corresponding 768 possible outcomes at the end of the entry.
Tags: design, disclosures, pilcrow, typography | Comments (0)
March 26, 2008 by jerome
Since a few days I had quite some troubles to get my emails right… they were were all mixed up: when clicking on an email of Damien for some quick modifications on a project we did recently, I was accessing an email, from my mother, which I received just after. Not a really practical situation to read and answer emails.
My first fear was a corruption on the IMAP server, but Mail.app on other computers were syncing email header, title and email content correctly so it was not a server side issue. There was definitely a corruption in the SQLite file on my local Mail.app and I was wondering about radical best practice to get things back to normal, like un-installing/cleaning/installing the mail folders. I’ve read a few articles about how to flush the SQLite database.
Mail.app extensively use SQLite to store emails, it is a C library that implements a self-contained, embeddable, zero-configuration SQL database engine, it is driven toward fast performance and embed-ability in local application.
Finally, thinking there was a simpler solution (because there is always a simpler solution) I stumbled upon the Rebuild item inside the Mailbox menu. If it is greyed, it might be because you did not select a Mailbox first. Upon selection, Rebuild will re-fetch the emails headers, and re do the caching – this can take some time before it’s completed.
And Shazam!
All emails are back with their correct header/title/content …
Tags: email, header, issue, mail, osx, repair | Comments (1)
March 23, 2008 by pierre
Some parts are dreamhost centric.
Is it down just for me:
1/ ssh to another machine and: $ ping thedomain.com
2/ http://downforeveryoneorjustme.com/
Dreamhost status:
1/ http://www.dreamhoststatus.com/
2/ schedule tests
DNS status:
$ whois thedomain.com (check that the name servers are ns1.dreahmost.com, ns2.dreahmost.com, ns3.dreahmost.com)
$ host thedomain.com
$ dig thedomain.com
$ traceroute thedomain.com
Tags: down, hosting, issue, server, website | Comments (1)
March 17, 2008 by jerome
VI
Use Terminal’s vi as default text editor http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20080305012955463
DTerm
DTerm offers a command line anywhere and everywhere http://www.decimus.net/dterm.php
SIMBL
Smart InputManager Bundle Loader Problem: Some applications do about 90% of what I want. Solution: Develop my own applications. Better Solution: Patch the application myself…
http://www.culater.net/software/SIMBL/SIMBL.php
Visor
Visor provides a systemwide terminal window accessible via a hotkey, much like the consoles found in games such as Quake.
http://code.google.com/p/blacktree-visor/
Tags: cli, custom, osx, terminal, tool | Comments (0)
March 12, 2008 by jerome
The Man Watching
by Rainer Maria Rilke
I can tell by the way the trees beat, after
so many dull days, on my worried windowpanes
that a storm is coming,
and I hear the far-off fields say things
I can’t bear without a friend,
I can’t love without a sister
The storm, the shifter of shapes, drives on
across the woods and across time,
and the world looks as if it had no age:
the landscape like a line in the psalm book,
is seriousness and weight and eternity.
What we choose to fight is so tiny!
What fights us is so great!
If only we would let ourselves be dominated
as things do by some immense storm,
we would become strong too, and not need names.
When we win it’s with small things,
and the triumph itself makes us small.
What is extraordinary and eternal
does not want to be bent by us.
I mean the Angel who appeared
to the wrestlers of the Old Testament:
when the wrestler’s sinews
grew long like metal strings,
he felt them under his fingers
like chords of deep music.
Whoever was beaten by this Angel
(who often simply declined the fight)
went away proud and strengthened
and great from that harsh hand,
that kneaded him as if to change his shape.
Winning does not tempt that man.
This is how he grows: by being defeated, decisively,
by constantly greater beings.
Found on http://www.cdra.org.za/creativity/Rainer%20Maria%20Rilke%20-%20The%20Man%20Watching.htm
Via http://radar.oreilly.com/archives/2008/03/why-i-love-hackers.html
More on Rilke: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainer_Maria_Rilke
Comments (0)
March 9, 2008 by jerome
to keep my nerves in functioning order; I have to make sure that the Option click to position cursor tick box is checked it’s incredibly useful when the command line starts to be a bit long
Tags: cli, osx, terminal | Comments (0)
