Some of my students reported that they were having problems connecting to their repositories using TortoiseSVN. At first, quick checks from my end didn't reveal what caused these, but I realized soon that it wasn't a server issue. It seems like the client software that they were using (TortoiseSVN) didn't know what to make of the svn+ssh://[user]@[ip]:[port]/[repo] URL.

I use RabbitVCS on my Linux boxen and get the same "Network connection closed unexpectedly" message. A colleague at work suggested that since a non-standard port for SSH is used, I should modify my .subversion/config and append -p [port number] for the svn tunnel named ssh. Since this particular repository is just one among the dozens I access, I can't modify the default svn tunnel. Instead, I added a custom tunnel for each of the servers that use non-standard SSH ports.

For the repo that my students were trying to access, I used ssh2212 = $SVN_SSH ssh -q -o ControlMaster=no -p 2212. So the URL now looks like svn+ssh2212://[user]@[ip]:2212/[repo] and I was able to connect successfully.

In Windows, there are several ways to do this. Since the OS doesn't have a native SSH client executable, users will rely on Cygwin, Putty, or on TortoisePlink.exe (in newer versions of TortoiseSVN).

You can try any of the following solutions (they're all searchable in the Internets) and see if you can get around the problem. I've tried them all on a Windows guest OS on VirtualBox and only the last three solutions worked.

• Using Putty: Use saved session name from Putty in the URL: svn+ssh://[user]@[saved putty session name]/[repo]. Make sure that you configure the session to already use the correct port.
• Using Putty: Alternately, use IP:port format for the Putty saved session name so that you still use the svn+ssh://[user]@[ip]:[port]/[repo] URL format, but you're actually calling the saved session name.
• c. Using client packaged with Tortoise. In TortoiseSVN settings -> Network, change SSH client to "C:\Program Files\TortoiseSVN\bin\TortoisePlink.exe" and use standard svn+ssh://[user]@[ip]:[port]/[repo] URL.
• d. Same as d., but for the SSH client, append -P [port number]
• e. Using a wrapper script, such as the one provided here (excellent solution btw), and use it as the SSH client executable in TortoiseSVN settings -> Network.

Hope any one of these work for you. As an inside joke from one of my sysad friends, it was also suggested that I save myself the troubles and just log in to the server and revert to the default SSH port. LOL.

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I also moved my non-tech stuff to posterous.

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This post about copying TweetDeck settings in Windows explains this in detail, and I have been able to do the same for Ubuntu, replicating TweetDeck settings across 3 machines. Just take note of some of the differences that I'm going to point out here.

Adobe Air for Linux uses the .appdata directory in your home directory, for profile settings, configurations, etc. In the computer that has your groups and is the source for the export, change working directory into .appdata, and look for the TweetDeckFast.{some hash here}.

jon@jedi-ntbk:~$ cd .appdata
jon@jedi-ntbk:~/.appdata$ ls
Adobe
cookie_file.txt
de.makesoft.twhirl.0EA062BC275E7ED1E6EC3762EFFD73C7158ADF33.1
jrcf_H7t6Ap
jrcf_RA5I7w
jrcf_wdLW48
Snippage.B28FB424FD6880E47B18D7D649F6CC93BDE9B29B.1
TweetDeckFast.F9107117265DB7542C1A806C8DB837742CE14C21.1
jon@jedi-ntbk:~/.appdata$

Change directory to the one that says TweeDeckFast and list the contents. Change directory into Local Store and you should find two files that has your username. In my case, they are

preferences_jjdoblados.xml
td_26_jjdoblados.db

Simply copy these two files to any target machine in the same directory where you got them. Make sure that TweetDeck is closed before copying. When done copying, start TweetDeck and you will have all of your groups intact!

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PIIX3 cannot attach drive to the Secondary Master.
VBox status code: -102 (VERR_FILE_NOT_FOUND).

This thread in the forums explains that the virtual machine was looking for a disk that was supposed to be mounted and could not find it.  I was using an external DVD drive and had removed it before I shut down the VM.

You'd get the same problem if you set up a VM to use a mounted disk or some other mass storage device.  To fix this, simply uncheck the non-existent devices in the VM settings while the VM is powered down.  Alternately, you can plug the devices back in before you power up the VM.

If after doing these steps you still get the error, check if the devices do get mounted and are accessible from the host as you may be dealing with broken or non-functional devices.

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I did find this nice article on removing Adobe Air on Linux and gave it (well parts of it) a shot.

jon@jedi-ntbk:/opt$ sudo dpkg -S /opt/*
adobeair-enu: /opt/Adobe AIR
com.agileagenda.agileagenda.f49a4d8df78a1fee7a3be440dc11bab18d922274.1: /opt/AgileAgenda
de.makesoft.twhirl.0ea062bc275e7ed1e6ec3762effd73c7158adf33.1: /opt/twhirl

I merely copied the package name of AgileAgenda, ran dpkg with the right switches, and pfft app's gone! Menu entry seems to be gone too.

jon@jedi-ntbk:/opt$ sudo dpkg -P com.agileagenda.agileagenda.f49a4d8df78a1fee7a3be440dc11bab18d922274.1
(Reading database ... 128350 files and directories currently installed.)
Removing com.agileagenda.agileagenda.f49a4d8df78a1fee7a3be440dc11bab18d922274.1 ...
jon@jedi-ntbk:/opt$

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Unable to update hosting preferences: hosting update is failed: object ID is invalid

I didn't know exactly where to get the .skel directory, but some Googling led me to /home/httpd/vhosts/.skel/0, which after some directory skimming, I was able to verify as non-existent. I simply copied an existing .skel directory from one of our other servers and redid the physical hosting setup.

I'll see if I can find out what's causing the .skel directory to cease to exist. This is a fairly easier to solve issue. I so need to start looking in forums of Parallels (formerly SWSoft) for solutions.

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1. mm3-proxyswitch
2. regular expressions tester
3. del.icio.us
4. greasemonkey
4. better gmail
5. firegpg
6. downThemAll
7. save as image

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we do a lot of performance tuning on mysql, and as a result, we almost always manage to get plesk mangled. not its fault, it just can't run without mysql, doh.

not of preference, but plesk happens to be there to make handling domains easier, as a single editing point when you want to change something and not worry about missing something out.

so there's a custom /etc/my.cnf that we use, and with changes to limits done (both on mysql and via ulimit), you'd think that a reload of mysqld would do. (we use InnoDB btw)

normally, that's all you need to have mysqld read off the new settings. if you've grown so dependent on plesk (like i have), you would not notice that mysqld didn't actually start, and you will get an error when you load plesk, thinking that it's a plesk error:


ERROR: PleskMainDBException
MySQL query failed: Incorrect information in file: './psa/misc.frm'

0: /usr/local/psa/admin/plib/common_func.php3:218
db_query(string 'select param, val from misc')
1: /usr/local/psa/admin/plib/common_func.php3:497
get_param(string 'mysql41_compatible')
2: /usr/local/psa/admin/plib/common_func.php3:394
db_set_names()
3: /usr/local/psa/admin/plib/common_func.php3:373
db_connect_real(string 'localhost', string 'admin', string '********', string 'psa')
4: /usr/local/psa/admin/plib/common_func.php3:353
db_connect()
5: /usr/local/psa/admin/auto_prepend/auth.php3:82


even a restart of the plesk service will not work:


[root@jedi]# /etc/init.d/psa restart
Unable to query parameter by query select val from misc where param='mysql41_compatible': Incorrect information in file: './psa/misc.frm'
Unable to query parameter by query select val from misc where param='mysql41_compatible': Incorrect information in file: './psa/misc.frm'
Mysql error: Incorrect information in file: './psa/key_history.frm'
Processing config directory: /usr/local/psa/admin/conf/httpsd.*.include
Syntax OK
/usr/local/psa/admin/bin/httpsdctl restart: httpd restarted
ERROR 1033 (HY000) at line 1: Incorrect information in file: './psa/sessions.frm'


so this is a mysqld failing to start properly problem. to fix this, go to your mysql datadir and see if the sizes of your innodb log files match those in your .cnf. we usually set innodb_log_file_size = 256M and innodb_log_buffer_size = 256M in /etc/my.cnf.

if they don't match, stop mysqld, remove the ib_logfile0 and ib_logfile1 files, and start mysqld. be careful not to delete the ibdata1 or ibdata2 files or you lose your data. avoid using rm -r ib* (yea, wildcards and fast fingers give sysads their most stupefying moments)

innodb will recreate the log files to match your .cnf and mysqld now becomes available for plesk.

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up for this week is my dabbling with stuff around kicker, and using kblogger to do some much needed updates.

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1. Started a clan network. Okay, so most of them are really old and have no appreciation whatsoever for the internet, much less understand what emails are, and personalized email addresses at that. So I'll leave this up to the younger ones, who will help me teach the older ones the basics. They are yet to be informed of this new responsibility. LOL.

2. Upgraded desktop computer to Feisty Fawn Beta, and dual-booted Feisty and XP on my Pavilion dv2001tu lappy. So far, I have not had any hair-tearing frustrations with Feisty. Devices seem to work off-the-box, and the quick keys also seem to work fine (except of course for HP QuickPlay, which doesn't do anything). Touchpad, wireless, pcm+pcm2 with muting, and built-in mic all work. I've managed to get the built-in webcam to run with Ekiga (more details in a future post).

3. Started on my own list of what works and what doesn't for the HP Pavilion dv2001tu. Will try to make this as authoritative and as non-biased as possible. I love them Acer, Lenovo, and of course, Compaq notebooks too, but since I exclusively use my dv2000, I won't be able to vouch that the hacks I apply are going to work with the others.

4. Worked on more and more domains and hostings. I eat hostings for affiliate sites and stuff, day in and day out. I've optimized apache and mysql for several half-a-million traffic/day sites. Log analyzers are your best friends. I recommend Splunk for those who want to dig through files like search engines. But there's always the basic awk, grep, and myriad of other commands you can script together for the job.

5. Promised myself I'd start updating more often. 'Nuff said. =)

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I am officially bringing down my old tech blog after Holy Week. It has virtually become a sinkhole for all kinds of spam links and I have barely done anything to keep it up-to-date.

Two of the milestones that I've unknowingly and unwittingly accomplished would include (in order, sorry):

1. PR6 (yea, before it went offline for almost a month, and before Google deployed new algorithms sometime in Feb)

2. 20,453 spam comments since I replaced my Wordpress.com API key sometime in Nov, 2006.

Beginning today, I will post techie stuff in this blog. It's the same ol' renamed-a-hundred-times Blogger account, but with a different twist, now that it's using a personalized domain.

Fear not, for my old Blogger URI will still work. I'm just not sure if you will be redirected or if there will be a rewrite. TODO: find out how Blogger does this.

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Honestly, I haven't done any coding in the last 4 months, which is really odd, because I never thought I'd be this detached from programming. But I guess there's more to life than just developing or sustaining passion for singulars. So much for trying not to stay generalist.

So I have this personal domain now, and I'm just glad google apps isn't as stiff with the applications anymore. The new interface totally rocks too. I just need to host the domain somewhere, for sites and blogs and stuff.

If you're family, and you have a blogger account, I can get you your custom domain working. The default blogspot.com publishing URL will redirect to your custom domain, so I guess you won't be losing any visitors.

I'm not that sure about this, but I feel that there will be noticeable changes in how your blog fares with SE's. Some SEO stuff that I've picked up tell me you can't have same content in multiple sites, similar to double-posting. Seems like you can get penalized for that. Question is, will the application of this redirecting exercise on blog a (that has already been indexed) be seen as same content with blog b (which is where blog a will redirect to, if and only if you decide on a custom domain), from a search engine's view?

Anyway, I need a host. :) Ironically, I handle dozens of hosts; but I can't get anywhere close to those (all dedicated servers..boohoohoo) without first coughing up lots of cash. Yea I suppose I could just code for it.

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Here's the error I see:

Could not load file or assembly 'BizModules.UltraPhotoGallery' or one of its dependencies. There is not enough space on the disk. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80070070)

Description: An unhandled exception occurred during the execution of the current web request. Please review the stack trace for more information about the error and where it originated in the code.

Exception Details: System.IO.FileLoadException: Could not load file or assembly 'BizModules.UltraPhotoGallery' or one of its dependencies. There is not enough space on the disk. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80070070)

Source Error:

An assembly load trace and a very long stack trace follows. To cap that is this:

Version Information: Microsoft .NET Framework Version:2.0.50727.42; ASP.NET Version:2.0.50727.210

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So the hosting company eventually understood what was happening and started asking the right questions. The bug is that the system allowed network administrators to assign to new clients, the IP addresses that have already been assigned to a current client.

We spent crazy hours figuring out what happened. Since the domains were not loading our sites, and instead were redirecting to some domains we don’t own (real bad sites btw), we checked if .htaccess was modified and tested if it was working at all. I also did double checks on virtual host configurations and they all looked clean.

I started thinking that it was a routing issue. We were not using the publicly routable IPs for the virtual hosts; instead, we used internal IPs as mapped to the firewall hardware. A lookup on the domain/s that we were being redirected to reported different IP addresses, which didn’t readily confirm my suspicions, but stressed the possibility of IP-hijacking.

It’s not supposed to be taken in the context of BGP (border gateway protocol), as this is beyond me. Instead, think of your assumption over IP addresses that we’re using, to serve your websites. Sounds clear? I hope it does. I got pretty lost myself and it isn’t after deep digging at the hosting company’s end that their errors became apparent.

So in the light of this realization, I’ve already moved the domains to some other hosting. Way too much work and way uncool.

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I was not certain of the performance implications to this. I heard from a fellow Linux junkie here that there may be a slight penalties in terms of access speed, since /home was meant for generic read/write, whereas /var was accessed in a very quick manner. Gotta verify this. But for now, I dwell in the power of symbolic links.

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I love thinking. They say thinking burns as many calories as when you're having sex...so you may liken thinking to sex. Sounds good, eh? But be warned. Although you can easily fake either one, you don't lose as many calories as doing it for real!

This isn't a sex column, so it's best I get straight to the point and present my thoughts on what aggregated thinking is (and what constitutes faking it). Wiktionary defines aggregation as an act of bringing together, or collecting into a mass or sum.

We programmers are more familiar with aggregation as a slight modification of composition (yeah, we're no fun). Aggregation differs from ordinary composition in that it does not imply ownership. For example, an older model of a car engine will have a carburetor (yeah, it's spelled that way). Take away the engine and the carburetor will lose its usability. That's composition. Then there's a pond with a duck swimming about. Take away the pond and the duck will still be a waddling duck, and will continue to exist as one. That's aggregation.

When used to modify the verb thinking, aggregation may denote:

1. thinking as a process of collecting or bringing together facts, ideas, and other thoughts and try to make sense out of their fusion,
2. thinking in order to benefit not only yourself but everyone who is in your thought stream as well,
3. thinking in a radical way, such as being "one" with what is generally accepted but in a manner that retains one's identity and ownership over thoughts

Clearly, aggregated thinking is awesome brain calisthenics. So aggregate your thinking when you can. God did not create mindless people to go where  mindful" people go. If you lost your backbone, get one ASAP, and start thinking for real.

To fake all these, you can cheat! You can take public opinion and adopt that as your own. You can also squint your eyes and frown like you're in deep thought, trying to look busy! Whichever way, you don't burn calories, and you don't burn off any brain cells. :)

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There's a pretty slick Windows application that will allow you to post directly to your Blogger Beta account. The Firefox extension Deepest Sender, which allows posting to LJ, Blogger, and Wordpress, doesn't work with Blogger Beta yet, so here's a workaround that you can do meantime.

I prefer FOSS applications that run natively on GNU/Linux, but sometimes, you really need to use a platform where you are most productive. Writing stuff from anywhere will mean doing this from my Windows-run notebook. Not so much an issue, I hope.

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