Archive for the 'misc' Category

Apache 2.2.13 upgrade breaks my SSL configuration

Today I upgraded my Apache installation to 2.2.13 on my FreeBSD server. (Thankfully I first upgraded my internal server before upgrading the server this blog is on).
The server didn’t start:

[error] Server should be SSL-aware but has no certificate configured [Hint: SSLCertificateFile]

To solve this problem I usually fall back to google…

Finding some discussions about this problem I tried the following:
Moving the SSLCerticateFile and SSLCertificateKey outside a virtualhost tag as suggested, I’ve got the following error:

[error] Illegal attempt to re-initialise SSL for server (theoretically shouldn’t happen!)

More info wasn’t available…

After some debuggin/playing I found out I must remove ALL SSL stuff out of my directives except for the line SSLEngine ON.
So in short my config file :

# Those two lines are placed OUTSIDE the tag
SSLCertificateFile /usr/local/etc/apache22/ssl.crt/server.crt
SSLCertificateKeyFile /usr/local/etc/apache22/ssl.key/server.key

# in a virtual host file:
<VirtualHost *:443>
ServerName sample.com
DocumentRoot /usr/local/www/sample

SSLEngine on

<Directory /usr/local/www/sample >
Options Indexes FollowSymLinks MultiViews
AllowOverride All
Order allow,deny
allow from all
</Directory>
</VirtualHost>

Finally the sites are up again. Besides the Apache warning about SSL and virtual hosts everything runs find. PHeeew!

[warn] Init: You should not use name-based virtual hosts in conjunction with SSL!!

Now I must update this server, so If you can read this, the upgrade was succesful ;-)

Victory: Installing JBuilder 2006 on VISTA

No I really don’t like JBuilder that much. But I really hate the workspace thing in Eclipse.

The problem:
At the company I work for, we have a lot of modules written in JBuilder. The gui designer layouts are not compatible with any other IDE. Even The newest JBuilder, which simply is Eclipse doesn’t support these gui designs…
Borland: This is a VERY BAD company policy…!!!
We will migrate the GUI to netbean.. Ha!

JBuilder 2006 doesn’t work in Vista anymore
JBuilder 2006 doesn’t activate anymore

The solution for Vista Install:

  • Before installing disable the fancy vista layout and select classic windows (else you have invisible checkboxes in the setup)
  • Run setup as Administrator! (Right mouseclick exe, “Run as Administator”
  • Install JBuilder the normal way
  • Download the latest JDK1.5 and replace the JDK1.5 in the JBuilder director
  • In the startmenu, rightmouse click on the Jbuilder start icon, choose properties and set the compatibility mode to Windows XP. Disable visual themes. And enable ” Run as admninistrator”

The solution for activating:

  • Make sure you have the registrationmail/file: reg674.txt
  • Copy this file in your user directory: C:\Users\username (in vista) or c:\Documents and Settings\username (in windows xp)
  • Set the date of your PC to the year and month you’ve downloaded the file. My working date is 25 october 2005 (I guess the activation is +/- 30 days valid)
  • Start JBuilder and activate with the given file
  • Run JBuilder and exit it again
  • restore the computer date
  • et voila.. JBuilder works !

UPDATE 2008-11-07

Working with JBuilder I found it had some redraw problems. Scrolling didn’t go wel…
I solved this by setting the following lines in the file bin\jdk.config

#vmparam -Dsun.java2d.ddoffscreen=false
vmparam -Dsun.java2d.noddraw
vmparam -Dsun.java2d.d3d=false

I found the solution for these redraw problems here.

Synchronization of calendar, contacts on my (windows) mobile, horde and thunderbird.

(Sorry for the format, it’s a straight copy from my DokuWiki)

This is my situation:

* I’ve got a FreeBSD server which runs PHP, Apache, Mysql, Courier Imap.
* I’ve multiple clients which run Thunderbird as my mail client. I’m using imap for mail access
* My thunderbird clients also run lightning for agenda functionality
* I also have a mobile phone HTC Touch with Windows Mobile 6.

I would like to share my contacts, agenda items, notes and tasks with all my clients.
My phone syncs all these items.
Thunderbird only the contacts an agenda..

This document describes the installation of this system. I assume you already
have a working server like described above.

Install Horde

I downloaded the Horde Groupware Webmail Edition. WARNING this **must** be at least
the 1.1 edition. At this moment it’s still a Release Candidate. (Horde Groupware Webmail Edition 1.1-RC3)

http://www.horde.org/download/app/?app=webmail

Complete Install manual of horde can be find here:

http://www.horde.org/webmail/docs/

Summary of this setup:

* Extract this file to a web directory (horde-webmail-1.1-rc3.tar.gz)
* run the setup script: php scripts/setup.php
* build the database, enter the database settings etc.
* enter the name of your IMAP user that gets administrator rights for horde

Things to know:

* you can login to horde with your IMAP username and password
* The syncML url for horde is: http://yourserver/horde-setup-location/rpc.php
* Use your IMAP username and password for this synchronisation

Thunderbird

I assume you already have thunderbird running with lightning. I’ve got the latest versions:
Thunderbird 2.0.0.9
Lightning plugin 0.8

 * At the Thunderbird extensions site download Funambol Plugin
   * You can find it at the source:
       http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=149326
   * Choose Funambol Mozilla PIM plugin
   * I've tested version 0.4.4: Funambol-Pim-Plugin-win32-v0.4.4.xp
 * Change the config for this plugin
   * Thunderbird Menu: Extra => Funambol Plugin
   * Choose Options
     * Enter your server details:
           http://yourserver/horde-setup-location/rpc.php
     * Enter your IMAP username and password settings
     * Goto tab 'Synchronize'
       * Enable contacts, press details,
                and enter 'contacts' (without quotes) in the remote name.
       * Enable calendar, press details,
               and enter 'calendar' (without quotes) in the remote name.
       * tasks are not (yet) available :-(  too bad.

Make your phone support SyncML

Download Funambol: http://www.funambol.com/opensource/downloads.php
Tested with version: funambol-pocketpc-plugin-6.5.14.cab

  * Install this cab file on your phone.
  * Start Funambol
  * Choose Menu / Account
    * Again enter the Server and login details
  * Choose Menu / Settings
    * Enable only: contacts, calendar, tasks and notes! Disable the others!!
    * Choose Menu / Advanced
      * Enter the following names for the items:
        * contacts: contacts
        * calendar: calendar
        * tasks: tasks
        * notes: notes

This was all that it took to sync all my devices!

Choosing a direction for Rich Internet Applications

Currently we’re at the point of a big shift/hype of (Web) Application Development. The development of Rich Internet Applications. (RIA). A RIA is an application that runs via the web, probably via a webbrowser though this isn’t a requirement.
The idea is that RIA makes this application work like a local desktop application. This could mean the application should be capable of running offline and online.

There are severy solutions for this purpose:

  • Ajax Based ~ This is wat I’m used to, but it has it’s limitations.
  • Google Gears ~ Browser Plugin Based. Look Nice, browser plugin offline application use
  • Adobe FLEX/Flash ~ Via the Flash plugin that’s installed on almost every PC
  • Adobe Air ~ To run applications from the desktop
  • Microsoft Silverlight ~ Microsoft attempt to join the club
  • JavaFX ~ Beta, Looks nice. unfortunally I’m not a big fan of the large overhead the Java plugin has.
  • Ajax isn’t an ideal solution because it never gives me access to the local user’s PC and doesn’t work offline.

    Now is my Problem, what direction should I choose?! Staying with Ajax for now seems like a safe choice, because it will run probably on the most platforms..

    This is something that requires some good Research!

    I would like a limit per join in sql!

    Currently I’m busy optimizing a query.

    I’ve got the following query:

    SELECT a.*, c.*
    FROM a
    LEFT JOIN b ON a.id = b.a_id
    LEFT JOIN c ON b.c_id = c.id
    WHERE x

    I’m only interested in 1 row of the table c. I don’t care for others..
    I can only reach table c via table b.
    There are many b tables with an a_id.

    For performance reasons I would like to implement this like this.

    SELECT a.*, c.*
    FROM a
    LEFT JOIN b ON a.id = b.a_id LIMIT 1
    LEFT JOIN c ON b.c_id = c.id
    WHERE x

    Why isn’t (a form of this contruct) not an sql standard. And hasn’t any database implemented this contruct. Or am I missing something?

    When you have many indirect joins this can be a huge time saver.

    Btw. Alternative syntax for sql server:

    SELECT a.*, c.*
    FROM a
    LEFT JOIN TOP 1 b ON a.id = b.a_id
    LEFT JOIN c ON b.c_id = c.id
    WHERE x

    ** btw The database I need this construct for, has got many redundant records.

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