Stuff I've been working on
I’ve just (finally) set up the auto unit test run, PerlCritic and release build for the Release01x00 branch, and fixed the trunk builder.
Foswiki trunk gets built every 6 hours, and Release01x00 every 12 (based on my Sydney TZ).
If the unit tests fail, and email will be sent to the foswiki-discuss mailing list – no news is good news. See the build output areas:
where you will find the output log files, the built tar.gz and zip files and each of the component packages that make up a release.
I created the FamFamFamContrib Icons package for T(m)wiki and Foswiki a year or three ago, and now have added a FugueIconsContrib package today – containing the fabulous iconset by Yusuke Kamiyamane.
Now we have 2 possible icon sets to replace the very odd and aging DocumentGraphics topic – the only thing holding us back is a mapping from the old %ICON{}% names to new.
I’ll dig up the work I did last year some time and see if we can finish it 🙂
I was just asked on IRC how to protect some attachments without forcing all requested attachments to go through the viewfile cgi script (as that causes your foswiki images and css to load incredibly slowly), and here’s the howto I answered with:
I was just asked on IRC how to protect some attachments without forcing all requested attachments to go through the viewfile cgi script (as that causes your foswiki images and css to load incredibly slowly), and here’s the howto I answered with:
I coded foswiki 1.0’s viewfile script to work as an apache ErrorDocument, so If you can find a way to trigger a 404 or 401 error, you can get apache to run viewfile –
ErrorDocument 404 /foswiki/bin/viewfile ErrorDocument 401 /foswiki/bin/viewfile
If you place your pub dir somewhere outside where apache serves files and then softlink the non-protected webs into apache’s path (so it serves them full speed), then the secured webs will generate a 404, triggering the viewfile ErrorDocument – which will thus serve the file only to authenticated users
This will work irrespective of the authentication choices in your foswiki setup – and as the files that require securing are outside apache’s file serving areas, can be considered as secure as possible.
As an added bonus, any request to a file that does not exist will show a foswiki error page, rather than a static html.
Foswiki 1.0.4 has been released with more than 100 bug fixes and some small enhancements. Upgrading is highly recommended. If you did not upgrade from TWiki yet, now is a good time as Foswiki 1.0.4 fixes more around 300 bugs relative to TWiki 4.2.4.
Grab it now from : http://foswiki.org/Download/WebHome – the straight and upgrade archives, OSX installer and my Windows Installers are here.
My debian package repository now spans Foswiki 1.0.4 and 168 Foswiki extensions – its never been easier to install 🙂
see http://fosiki.com/Foswiki_debian
Over the 4 months of our project’s existence, 33 developers have been involved in making ~3000 commits – next up, the future !
For years (over 15) I’ve lived with the need to get about 10 hours sleep per night – initially to recover from Post-viral syndrome, and then later just because thats what it took to be at my most productive.
Like most people, I’ve longed to get some of those hours back, preferably without the insanity of Uberman zombie sleep.
Last week, we did it! I now wake up refreshed in 8-9 hours! every night, and less if I work through the wee hours.
The secret? We bought a new bed. Not a cheap one either – thou the 50% off sale made that decision much much easier. Total cost – equivalent to 30 hours consulting – which is a heck of a bargain, given that I now have ~ 300-600 more hours per year to work, rest and play.
So, if you need more time in your day, or perhaps just more regularly productive days – go out and buy a new bed.
I’ve set up a debian repository that you can help test the release package before it gets uploaded into debian proper.
To try it out, add the following to your /etc/apt/sources.list
deb http://fosiki.com/Foswiki_debian/ stable main contrib
deb-src http://fosiki.com/Foswiki_debian/ stable main contrib
and then run
gpg --keyserver the.earth.li --recv-keys 379393E0AAEE96F6
apt-key add /root/.gnupg/pubring.gpg
OR (if theearth.li doesn’t work for you)
wget http://fosiki.com/Foswiki_debian/FoswikiReleaseGpgKey.asc
apt-key add FoswikiReleaseGpgKey.asc
apt-get update
apt-get install apache2 foswiki
This repository contains about 281 (Apr2011) foswiki-extensions – auto updated nightly direct from foswiki.org. The packages have as many dependencies as I was able to coerce my build scripts to work out – but there is more work needed.
Yesterday I uploaded the first Foswiki Installer for windows to Foswiki Downloads. It will install Apache 2.2 (if you don’t already have it) and Strawberry Perl and then configure and install Foswiki v1.0.0 beta 3.
3 weeks into a fork compelled by the Trademark problems of the 10 year old TWiki name, and we’re almost fully reborn.
Foswiki – started out as Free, Open Source Wiki – When Community matters.
Next steps for us will be to create the Foswiki Association, and to release Foswiki v1.0 – all before Christmas 🙂
mirror 1 460MB (USA) TWiki 4.2.3, (does not include VMware):
Easy installation on Windows, Linux and OSX!
Trivial upgrades of TWiki and TWiki Plugins
Summary: This package enables you to quickly and easily install a pre-configured TWiki 4.2 ‘software appliance’ on Windows, by using the free VMware Player or VMware Server – like another computer running within your computer. This generally performs better than a normal WindowsInstallCookbook approach and is easier to install than IndigoPerlCookbook (takes just 5 minutes, a bit like installing a hard disk that has TWiki and Linux pre-installed). Although running TWiki on Linux on top of Windows may seem complicated, it’s actually much simpler than installing TWikiOnWindows – no TWiki or Linux knowledge is needed to get a working TWiki installation!
This uses TWiki VM 4.2.3 released on 12 September 2008. It is installed using SvenDowideit‘s fosiki TWiki debian package repository to make upgrades, and installation of TWiki Plugins (with external dependencies) easy.
I’m at the LgWebNetwork conference in Sydney at the moment – having seen John Allsopp do his thing on “The real and the virtual – closing the circle”, Bobert Beerworth not talking about Beer… and yet Social (networks), and James Robertson (ok, it was about CMS’s free and otherwise), and then Cameron Adams – designer guy and a session on Writing for the web (what no blog?) by Brian Hardy, I’m reminded at how much the Wiki community needs to get out more.
There are so many little improvements Wiki’s should make – just by leaning over the fence a little, and expanding the scope of an Enterprise Wiki into the serious CMS space. We already ‘compete’ reasonably well in the Knowledge Management and Collaboration areas, and by working on the Wiki’s accessibility, we should be able to make it more usable for the less regular users.
Interesting Take-Aways
All in all a refreshing reminder of the ideas I’ve had that get forgotten in the heat of working for clients.