August 2011
1 post
2 tags
Virtualenvs with different interpreters
Update 2011-09-27: Turns out virtualenv and virtualenvwrapper support this out of the box. Most of what’s written below is horrifically complex compared to just using the -p switch when you make your virtualenv. You simply need to do this:
$ mkvirtualenv -p /path/to/some/python coolname
That’ll create a new virtualenv called “coolname” that uses /path/to/some/python for...
June 2011
4 posts
2 tags
Elasticfox Forever
Tired of (yet again) fixing the Elasticfox Firefox extension to work with the latest version of Mozilla Firefox, I finally just made one with an absurd maximum version defined.
You can easily create one yourself. Since xpi files are zip files, it’s something like:
mkdir tangerine; cd tangerine
unzip /path/to/elasticfox.xpi
edit install.rdf so maxVersion is 99.0
zip -r9X...
3 tags
SSH Agent Forwarding
This is part of the mini-series OpenSSH for Devs.
SSH agent forwarding let’s you lock down remote hosts while making them easier to access and use in automated ways. One co-worker succinctly describes agent forwarding as “the shit”.
Example
Securely connect to a remote host from a remote host without a password.
laptop:~$ ssh -A host1.example.com
Linux host1...
3 tags
SSH Config
This is part of the mini-series OpenSSH for Devs.
An SSH config let’s you set options you use often (e.g., the user to login as or the port to connect to) globally or per-host. It can save a lot of typing and helps make SSH Just Work.
Example
Instead of typing:
ssh -p734 teamaster@sencha.example.com
You can type:
ssh sencha
By having this in your ~/.ssh/config:
Host sencha
...
2 tags
OpenSSH for Devs
There have been many surprises as I’ve moved from Sysadmin to Coder. Some of them are a product of switching contexts: what was once “common knowledge” is now “tips & tricks” (and vice versa). One tool that has regularly come up is SSH. It can be painful to watch developers jump through unnecessary hoops (over and over again) in order to access remote hosts.
In...
May 2011
2 posts
1 tag
Brewer's CAP Theorem →
Starting with the punk rock creation story, discusses the fascinating, proven, theorem that you can’t have all three of consistency, availability, and partition-tolerance in a distributed system.
A very interesting follow-up is: A CAP Solution (Proving Brewer Wrong). It approaches the problem by dynamically guaranteeing different CAP properties instead of trying to guarantee them all at...
2 tags
Released Virtualenv Burrito 2
This Python breakfast just got tastier. A major update to the way Virtualenv Burrito works was released this weekend. There is now full support for extension points and a less hackish way of managing the packages1 under the hood.
Already have Virtualenv Burrito installed? Run this:
virtualenv-burrito upgrade
New to Virtualenv Burrito? Read about it or run this:
curl -s...
March 2011
1 post
2 tags
Announcing Virtualenv Burrito
Over the weekend I finished1 a tool called Virtualenv Burrito. It’s goal was to be a single command which would setup Virtualenv and Virtualenvwrapper so you could start hacking on Python projects as quickly as possible. As a bonus, it installs the virtualenv-burrito command which will upgrade those packages to the latest versions I’ve tested.
Virtualenv Burrito was inspired by Pycon...
February 2011
7 posts
1 tag
Adam Simpson's 2011 BAFTA illustrations →
Gorgeous illustrations for the 5 Best Film nominees. Also see his BAFTA mask illustration used for the tickets.
2 tags
Latent Figure Protocol →
Paul Vanoue’s Latent Figure Protocol “utilizes known sequences in online [DNA] databases to produce ‘planned’ images” of ☠ and ©. Fantastic work!
1 tag
Bomb crater swimming pools →
“A trained civil engineer, he then turned the hole into a kidney-shaped swimming pool, flourished with a fine biomorphic indentation.”
3 tags
Carniverous furniture →
Disturbing and intriguing.
1 tag
Tools never die. Waddaya mean, never? →
1 tag
My neutrophils can kick your white blood cells'... →
4 tags
Autoinstall Ubuntu servers with a CD
Although it’s been a few years since I switched from full-time Sysadmin to full-time Coder, being in a startup means getting saddled with an opsy task now and again regardless of your “title”.
The problem: We bought a bunch of servers which need minimal OS, IP and a hostname before they’re racked. In otherwords, we want to drop them in a datacenter, turn them on, and...